Tasque

This stray cat is in need of some management.

When checking Tasque, Chapter 2

Tasque (JP: タスク) (pronounced "task") is a Darkner enemy in the Cyber World that is encountered in Cyber Field and Queen's Mansion.

Profile

Appearance

Tasque's appearance resembles a cat. Its body parts are square-shaped, except for its tail. It is entirely white with a few cyan spots, including its ears, eyes and the tip of its tail. It also possesses a mouth with fangs, but it is not visible unless it is meowing. Its ears resemble tabs used in modern web browsers, with the X symbols being the "Close Tab" buttons.

Personality

Tasque acts like a cat and makes sounds that resemble meowing. Its name is a reference to computer tasks, an abstraction referring to the units of work performed by computers, and as such can be managed by Tasque Manager. Tasques are either unable or unwilling to speak.

Main story

Chapter 2

Tasques first appear in Cyber Field, popping out of hologram-like windows. One Tasque gets stuck in it while trying to ambush the party.

They are later met in Queen's Mansion, with Tasque Manager acting as their boss. Mirroring their ambush tactics in Cyber Field, they appear in paintings within the mansion. When encountering Maice, Susie's Upgrade X-ACT makes them run away by calling a Tasque, but then the Tasque has to be defeated.

If the Weird Route is initiated in Cyber City, Tasque can be fought there. To proceed with said route, Tasque must be frozen (and, by extension, LOST).

If recruited, Tasque contributes to the Thrash Machine during the GIGA Queen battle.

A Tasque appears alongside Tasque Manager in the Cafe in Castle Town. If Tasque Manager is not present, one Tasque can be found near the Great Door instead.

Chapter 4

If Tasque Manager is present, the Cafe turns into a Cat Cafe. Tasque Manager is performing on the stage, with multiple Tasques and Shadowguys dancing in front. If Shuttah is present, a Tasque is a part of its "wildlife fashion shoot" at the entrance of Ralsei's castle.

Chapter 5

A Tasque appears in Castle Town, in the newly built church, praying for the Maus next to it to be "smashed with a giant cartoon mallet".

Creation and development

Toby Fox's concept art of Tusque, an early version of Tasque as seen in the Autumn 2024 Newsletter

Tasque was originally named Tusque with the appearance of a lion instead of a cat. It would also be controlled by a lion tamer known as Tasque, who later became Tasque Manager.

Defeating Tusque would involve petting/praising it and overloading its senses. The idea behind Tusque's sparing condition originated from a childhood memory of Toby's where he and his brothers played with his cousin's Aibo robot dog toy.

In battle

Appears with

• Werewire
• Virovirokun
• Tasque Manager
• Maus (when Upgrade is used on a Maus)
• Poppup (unused)

Attacks

• Tasque throws balls of yarn in an arc that fall into the bullet board.
• Tasque shoots long streams of sound waves aimed directly at the SOUL.

Available ACTs

Increases the targeted Tasque's MERCY by 100%.

Inflicts TIRED on all Tasques.

Increases all Tasques' MERCY by 100% and any other enemies' by 50%.

Increases all enemies' MERCY by 100%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Strategy

In addition to ACTs, several other conditions allow for Tasque to be spared:

• Sparing (when its name is not yellow) increases MERCY by 20% for one Tasque.
• Using TakeCareX on Virovirokun while Tasque is also present increases MERCY by 50% for all Tasques.
• Using TrapAll on a Maus and successfully catching a Tasque increases MERCY by 100%.
• Sparing Tasque Manager automatically spares all Tasques as well.

Quotes

• meowowme owowmeow [Neutral]
• meowowme meowmeow [Neutral]
• meowowme owowowow [Neutral]
• meowowow meowowow [Neutral]
• owowowmememeowme owmemeowowmemeow owmeowmemeowmeow [Petting]

Flavor text

Any encounter

• This stray cat is in need of some management. [Check]
• Tasque cleans with a sawtooth tongue. [Neutral]
• Tasque wags its tail in a sine wave. [Neutral]
• Tasque is meowing to be minimized/maximized. [Neutral]
• Tasque is batting a ball of low-poly yarn. [Neutral]
• Smells like plastic cartridge. [Neutral]
• You pet Tasque. It liked that. [Petting]
  • You pet Tasque! [Shortened]
• [Roar]
  • Susie roared!! The enemies became TIRED.
  • [Susie] Who's king of the jungle now!?
    • [Ralsei] It's just a cat...
• [SoftVoice]
  • Ralsei talked in a soft voice to the enemies!
  • [Ralsei] There, there, it's okay, little kitty...
    • [Susie] Isn't that just how he normally talks?
• Susie yelled at Tasque to get off her lawn. [S-Action]
  • Susie roared like a lion! [Shortened]
• Ralsei cooed gently at Tasque! [R-Action]
  • Ralsei blinks at Tasque! [Shortened]
• Tasque is beeping dangerously. [Low HP/TIRED]
• Tasque is emitting an 8-bit purr. [Spare conditions met]

Cyber World

• Tasques crossed your path! [Encounter with another Tasque]
• Smorgasbord 2. [Encounter with Werewire and Virovirokun]
• Tasque crossed your path! [Encounter]
• Tasque and Co. drew near! [Encounter with other Virovirokun's]
• Tasque Manager blocks the way! [Encounter with another Tasque and Tasque Manager]
• Tasques zoomed towards you! [Encounter with other Tasque; unused]
• Animal house. [Encounter with Poppup; unused]
• [PettingX]
  • You and Noelle pet the enemies!
  • [Noelle] Th-there, there... (It's not too different from Catti...)
• Noelle got rubbed on by Tasque! [N-Action #1]
• Tasque showed its belly to Noelle! [N-Action #2+]

Ch2 All Stars

• Round Three! [Encounter with another Tasque and Maus]

Gallery

• 
  Tasque shooting out soundwaves from its mouth
• 
  Tasque stuck in a hologram-like window
• 
  A Tasque painting from Queen's Mansion
• 
  A Tasque dancing in Castle Town

Trivia

• Tasque speaks in binary, where every "me" represents a 0 and every "ow" represents a 1. This binary can be converted into UTF-8 text.
  • Its four neutral quotes make "m", "e", "o", and "w" (meow).
  • Its quote when pet is a heart emoji (♥).
  • In Japanese, Tasque's dialogues differ in that they use "ny" for 0 and "an" for 1, for "nyan", the Japanese onomatopoeia for meowing. The UTF-8 text generated are "N", "Y", "A", and "GOR" when pet (possibly short for "gorogoro", an onomatopoeia for rumbling or purring).
  • This may be a reference to Becquerel from Homestuck, who was synthesized from a similarly-patterned "meow code".
• The flavor text about Tasque meowing to be minimized or maximized may be a reference to a common behavior among house cats of being indecisive over wanting to be indoors or outdoors, constantly asking to be let in or out of the house.
• Ralsei's act of blinking at Tasques is a reference to the belief that when a domestic cat blinks slowly it is expressing comfort and happiness, and that repeating the gesture towards them communicates the same thing.
• The flavor text that appears when Tasque is at low health may be a reference to the Pokémon games, in which a beeping sound occurs when the player's Pokémon is at low health.
• The dancing Tasque animation resembles the dancing cat animation used in /rarecats/ from the Spamton Sweepstakes Silence links and the Battat game of the Mike minigames in Chapter 4.