- “I cannot be bought. Perchance I can be seduced, but never bought, handsome vampire.”
- ―Tok Shinobu to Spike[src]
Tok Shinobu was a ninja who specialized in battling vampires and other supernatural threats. She was a friend and ally to the heroic vampire Spike, with whom she helped put an end to the Japanese version of the demonic children's show Smile Time.
Biography
Early life
- “Much goes on that cannot be explained. Much goes on that cannot be believed. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have to be dealt with.”
- ―Tok[src]
Tok Shinobu grew up in Matsumoto, Japan. On her third birthday, she found her father's blood-drained corpse in her family's front lawn after he had been killed by vampires. Afterwards, Tok dedicated herself to ridding the world of vampires and demons; she began training as a ninja and eventually went underground to protect her family from the evils she faced. Circa 2002, she returned home to visit her younger sister Kaori, only to find that she was in a coma. Kaori had fallen victim to Smile Time, a children's television show secretly run by demonic puppets; these demons sucked children's souls out through the television set, leaving them in a smiling, catatonic state.[1]
Smile Time
- “If the handsome vampire's plan fails, everyone you see here with the definite exception of me is doomed.”
- ―Tok[src]
Circa 2004, Tok teamed up with Beck, a young pyrokinetic who she met through the website Crage's List. Beck had come to Japan with her friend Betta George to investigate Smile Time after learning that the show was going global, creating an entire franchse and leaking their soul-sucking episodes on the internet. Requiring more back-up, Beck also enlisted the help of her old ally Spike, a vampire-with-a-soul who Tok developed an attraction to. The group attacked Smile Time studios, but in the process, Spike, Lorne, and George were transformed into puppets. Tok battled the puppet Fauna to learn about Smile Time's plan, "Operation: Duck and Cover". Spike concluded that Smile Time were going to carry out their plan during the airing of Dicky Duck, a rival children's show. During the final showdown, Tok battled and killed Snuff, a puppet dragon, while Beck destroyed the Nest Egg, defeating Smile Time for good. As a result of the Nest Egg's destructions, all of the children's souls were released and Kaori awoke from her coma, happily reuniting with her sister.[1]
With Smile Time gone, Tok recruited their ninja puppet minions as her own personal army. With them, she battled a group of Japanese Gentlemen.[1]
Powers and abilities
Tok was a trained ninja and expert with weapons, both technological and mystical. She apparently built her own weapons, getting nostalgic over a bomb she made when she was sixteen. She also claimed to have literally performed disembowelings in her sleep.[1]