[Last Time, On Battle High: Atsuko blew up the cafeteria! Well, not really, but she threw the attack that started the massive firefight that blew it up, which was close enough for government work, and earned her entire team detentions for a week helping the little ninjalike Peps rebuild the cafeteria. After finishing and getting a little rest, they went out to eat, and were ambushed by the captain of the number one team. They defeated... ...her handily by way of a triple tech straight out of Chrono Trigger, and proceeded to get dinner and rest for the night, restoring their badly depleted energy reserves.] [It's still dinner time, and the temporary cafeteria is still serving food, though it's starting to slow down quite a bit as most of the students have finished eating and are gathered in large and small groups talking, fighting, and having fun in general. Serena was hauled away by another girl, presumably one of her teammates, and most of the other people have seemed reluctant to approach you.] [Trial by Combat Battle... FIGHT!] * Hope chows her food and gets ready to go train. * Mariah continues to work on what passes for dinner, gratefully enough. * Atsuko eats, still a bit wary. * A formal looking letter appears as if by magic on Hope's lap. It bears a wax seal imprinted with the school crest, and is addressed to "Alexander The Great 103 Acting Captain." * Karasu eats, not particularly caring about the general reluctance. * Hope opens it curiously. * Atsuko looks over at Hope. "What's that?" Yeah, what is it? * Hope peers. Huh. Blondie challenged us to a duel. * Atsuko sighs. "No surprise. When?" ... yeah, it kinda makes sense. When? Tomorrow? 9 AM tommorow. Fight Room 501. Sounds like a waste of time. It's an offical fight Karasu, and we're going to fight. I wonder what the rest of her team is like... * Hope grins. "Besides. They're the #1 team. This will be a good chance to see how far we've come." I dunno. It's gonna be a weird fight. * Karasu shrugs and goes back to eating. Yeah... Let's hope it's a good fight. * Hope stands up and streches. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go train a bit. Anyone wanna come? We're gonna need to be in top form, considering they outnumber us." Yeah. I need to practice. * Atsuko gets to her feet. * Mariah nods. "Sounds like a good idea... * Karasu shrugs and stands up. * Hope heads back to the dorm to do some training. * Atsuko follows Hope. * Karasu follows. * Mariah follows. [Having practiced, they all got some sleep. Well, except for Kai, who was unconscious and didn't practice, and Karasu, who didn't sleep. He brooded mightily. BUt other than that, they practiced and slept. Let's see what good it did them.] [The next morning, 6 AM] * Hope is up, and doing some warm-up exercises. * Karasu is already up, of course. * Mariah is up and, yes, dealing her morning Tarot. * You all feel quite refreshed, and much better for having recovered from last night's unusual exhaustion. * Atsuko gets out of bed, and cleans herself up before warming up as well. ... this isn't looking good, guys. * Atsuko blinks. "What isn't?" * Hope throws a few punches. "I'm not surprised." * Mariah frowns over her Tarot array and then points towards two of the cards. "Five of Swords and the reversed Chariot. Both real bad signs..." * Karasu doesn't say he told them so :P * Hope launches into a quick combo of punches and kicks. "They're the number one team in the school." But we don't have a choice. It's an offical match. Yeah, we've got to fight, but... guess I just have to work up my courage. * Atsuko shrugs. "I don't believe in fate." * Hope grins at Mariah. "Don't psych yourself out before the match, okay?" * Karasu shrugs. * Mariah nods and clears away the cards. "I'll try." * Hope flips over and does a handstand. "Even if we don't win, we're gonna at least make it hard for them." And yeah, if we even give them a fight, it'll be a pretty big upset, won't it be? * Atsuko stretches. * Hope is balancing on one hand now. "Yep." Statistics. * Hope pushes off into the air and lands on her feet. We're down a man and vs the best team in school. Well, best team in our class at least. Even if we only win one match, that's still nothing to scoff at. ... it could be worse. We could be fighting those senior guys. That's the way. Look on the bright side. * Hope checks her watch. [It doesn't take long for time to pass. It seems to speed by at a much faster than the normal rate of one second per second. In no time at all, it's 8:30.] [Okay, so 'tis 8:30, and your duel is at 9. Looks like it's time to get a move on, or at least think about that.] ... we'd better go. * Hope gets a move on, grabbing her sword on the way. * Atsuko follows after Hope. * Karasu follows the others. With style. :P * Mariah grabs her staff and her glasses-strap and heads out. * You proceed up to the fifth floor, and finding fight room 501 is no problem at all. It appears to be the _only_ room on the floor. The door is closed as you approach, though the frosted window is lit, indicating that someone is likely inside. * Hope heads there. * Atsuko goes inside. * As you open the door, you can't help but be stunned into silence at the sheer size of the regulation arena. It's easily the size of four of the relatively small rings you've fought in thus far, being a square formed of an 18x18 matrix of smaller stone squares. Standing in the middle is the Principal, along with Serena and what must be the rest of her team. Five people await you as you enter the battlefield, four girls and a boy, all of whom bear weapons. The only boy bears an immense greatsword, nearly as big as Hope's, and a set of full plate armor in dark, almost glowing black. He bows his head as you enter and introduces himself as Max Spitz. * Hope looks around. Serena Albon, who you already know, simply sneers are you and notes that you're STILL down a man. A girl with a slighly overlong katana bows low in her rather formal looking kimono, and the name Yogo Shidachi reaches your ears. A girl of obvious Italian descent swings a great falchion over her head in a stretching pattern, bending over backwards toward you. With both her head and feet on the ground, she calls out her name to you, "Roxie Ditullio." And the last, and smallest, bearing a pair of daggers, one each strapped to her inner forearms, slightly obscured by the long sleeves of her white t-shirt, flips her long black hair over her shoulder as she turns to look at you. With a voice as small as her body, yet still radiating menace, she says, "I'm Elinor Giannone. I'm fighting first. Send your first pig out to the slaughter." * Hope bows back, as she's obviously polite. * PrincipalNagawa glares at the small girl, but says nothing about her arrogant attitude. ... uh, hi. So, who wants to go first? * PrincipalNagawa looks over at you as you enter. "Are you ready for this?" We're down a man, but.. yeah. As we'll ever be I guess. Does it matter? If you're not ready, you should either forfeit or apologize, and be done with it. We're ready. I think we're ready. I'm ready. * Elinor grins evilly. "Good. I don't WANT to accept an apology." * PrincipalNagawa nods. "So be it." Knockout will be determined by full tencount. Only knockouts, ring outs, and submissions will end a match. Interference constitutes a submission. * PrincipalNagawa nods to Hope. "Acting captain, declare your first fighter." * Hope thinks.. Atsuko.. You go, okay? * Atsuko nods. "Okay." Good luck, Atsuko! * Serena scowls angrily. Thanks! ^_^ * Atsuko steps into the ring. * Serena leads the rest of her team off to their side of the ring. * Elinor crouches down a quarter of the way across the ring, opposite Atsuko, and flicks her wrists, bringing her daggers easily into her hands. * PrincipalNagawa sighs. Fighters ready? * Atsuko settles into a low stance. * Elinor nods. Ready. Ready. Begin! * Elinor dashes forward, blurring until Atsuko can barely see her lightning fast advance. In an instant, she's on Atsuko, jumping up into the air and coming down in a jump kick. * Atsuko crosses her arms and blocks the kick, staggering back a bit. * Atsuko uncrosses her arms and raises them, gathering energy. "Heaven's Glory!" She then thrusts them forward and fires the light burst. * Elinor comes down to the ground, reappearing as the light fades away. Crouched at Atsuko's feet, she lashes out with one foot in a sweep right at Atsuko's knee. Urgh! * Atsuko takes the kick, dropping to one knee, but rising to her feet quickly and then leaping upwards. "Atsuko KICK!" * Elinor disappears and Atsuko's kick makes a small crater in the arena floor. FROM ABOVE! Why does everyone yell that? * Elinor plummets at Atsuko from above, driving a kick straight at Atsuko's head. * Atsuko slides out of the way so fast that she blurs. * Atsuko spins around as she dodges, lashing out with a kick at her descending assailant. * Elinor takes the kick in her side, but still lands easily on her feet, lunging forward with her left dagger straight for Atsuko's midsection. * Atsuko leaps over Elinor, landing behind her. She spins around and throws herself skyward again. "Atsuko KICK!" * Elinor has already thrown herself to the side as Atsuko jumps into the air the second time. A bright red aura springs into being around her and she disappears, only to reappear an instant later just behind Atsuko, dagger poised at her throat, just barely drawing a line of blood. "I suggest you surrender now." * Atsuko pales. "I...forfeit." * Hope sighs. * Mariah whispers to Hope. "... is that even fair?" No idea. Win by submission, Elinor Giannone. Score stands at 1-0, Musashi 101. * Atsuko 's shoulders slump in defeat. * Elinor lowers her dagger from Atsuko's neck and plants a hand between her shoulder blades, shoving her away. * Elinor turns her back contemptuously on Atsuko and walks out of the ring. * Atsuko is shoved and continues to walk out of the ring, not looking back towards the bloodthirsty psychopath. Next fighter, Alexander 103. * Mariah waits for Hope to make a choice. * Atsuko walks over to the rest of the team. "Sorry, guys. I couldn't beat her." * Hope thinks. * Karasu shrugs. .. Mariah, go. ... uh, okay. * Mariah swallows hard and walks into the ring, getting her staff in a firm grip. * Shidachi hops easily up onto the ring as soon as Mariah's name is called. * PrincipalNagawa shakes his head. Fighters ready? ... Yes. Begin! * Shidachi rests her left hand on the hilt of her katana, raises her right hand to Mariah, and makes a "bring it" motion. * Atsuko sits down to watch. "You can do it, Mariah!" * Mariah brings her staff to the ready and takes a stance, attempting to stare down Shidachi. * Shidachi nods gravely to Mariah, and then gestures behind her as an exact copy of her appears halfway between Mariah and her teammates. * Mariah doesn't bother to look behind her and charges forward at Shidachi, spinning her staff as it charges up before striking out... "Thundering Staff!" * Shidachi does not move as Mariah passes straight through the afterimage. <...you missed.> The copy that was behind her dashes across the arena, drawing her katana and slashing at Mariah's left knee. * Mariah takes the knee shot with an "ow" before spinning around to attempt to slam the staff into Shidachi. * Shidachi brings her katana up, pressing her off hand against the back of the blade to keep the staff from slamming through her defense. The vibrations of the staff rock her arms, though, forcing her back a few feet. * Shidachi jumps away, crossing the arena in two long jumps. * Atsuko watches, wide-eyed. <...surrender now, while you still can.> I can't! I won't let the others down! SHOCK BOLT! * Mariah brings back one hand and then thrusts it forward, sending a burst of electricity flying in Shidachi's direction. * Shidachi draws her blade in an instant, stabbing it into the ground and hiding behind it as the electricity grounds itself out. * Shidachi stands up, hand on her katana's hilt, and draws it out, dragging it behind for a moment. She whips it forward, sending a shadowy bolt of force along the ground at Mariah. * Mariah stumbles back a step and brings up her staff to intercept the bolt; the impact is hard, though, and she looks shaken to her foundations. * Hope looks upset. Mariah... ... I don't have a choice. Mariah, pull out. ... why should I pull out? Shouldn't I keep trying? You.. you could get killed if you keep fighting. * Shidachi bows her head. Do you think you can win? I'm sorry, Hope. I'm really sorry. But... I have to try. Mariah, please... * Hope sighs. I.. can't stop you, can I? * Mariah looks down and concentrates... "Take me away from the chariot in a thousand points of light. The One Is Many." Her figure blurs and disassociates into the mass of swirling light motes that should be familiar to her teammates. * Shidachi narrows her eyes and blinks away the many afterimages the lights are leaving constantly. * Shidachi raises her katana over her head and begins glowing with a red aura streaked with darkness. Mariah! * The swarm of motes hesitates for a moment in the air before surging forward at Shidachi. * Karasu scowls. * Shidachi leaps forward into the swarm as it attacks, laying about her with the katana. With each strike, a light dies out, but burnt points appear on her kimono, more numerous than the small number of darting lights that have been silenced. * Hope frowns. * Atsuko watches, eyes wide and face pale. * The mass of light reforms on the other side of Shidachi and just hangs in the air for a long moment. * Shidachi swings around to face the lights, katana held ready. * Karasu watches the principal's face. * The lights fly upwards, forming into a column that dive-bombs down again at Shidachi's head. * PrincipalNagawa is staring intently at the lights, not daring to blink. * Shidachi leaps upwards through the swarm, slicing through still more lights before reversing direction and plunging through the swarm one more time, taking still more damage. * On the other side of Shidachi, the lights reform and waver again before touching back down to earth and re-coalescing. Mariah slumps. "That's all I can do. I forfeit." * PrincipalNagawa sighs in decidely un-bishonenly relief. You did good Mariah. The best you could have. Win by submission, Musashi 101. Score stands at 2-0 Musashi. * Shidachi bows to Mariah. * Shidachi disappears and reappears at the side of her team captain. * Mariah manages to bow in return before returning to the bench and sitting down. She doesn't immediately reply to either Hope or Shidachi, if only because it looks like she's catching her breath. Musashi, next fighter. * Max jumps into the ring, black plate armor clattering loudly. * Atsuko gives Mariah a quick hug. "You did really good." ... thanks. ... I really... tried. I swear. * Karasu nods. "It was well fought." * Hope frowns and thinks. We're down a man so.. * Hope looks at the Principal. "Someone has to fight twice, right?" Only if you get that far. You'd have to win the next two fights. * Hope nods and thinks. I'll go. * Karasu nods. "Good luck." * Hope hops into the ring, and gets into a battle stance. * PrincipalNagawa nods. Good luck... * Max drops into a ready stance, blade angled down to cover most of his body. Fighters ready? Go for it, Hope. * Hope nods. Ready. Begin! * Hope rushes for and brings her sword around, slashing as hard as she can. "MEGA.. SLASH!" * Max stands perfectly still, until the immense sword slams into his side, slamming him across the ring in a clatter of metal against stone. He skids to a stop with one leg hanging out of the ring, but not touching the floor. One. Two. * Max twitches, and then pushes himself up to his knees with one hand, and then stands. * Max settles down into a defensive stance once more, waiting for Hope. You just gonna sit there all day? * Max smiles grimly. You won't hit me again. * Hope gets into a defensive stance. "We'll see." * Max shrugs and drops his guard, and walks across the ring straight towards Hope. * Max walks right up to the edge of HOpe's reach, and then steps inside. * Hope frowns.. and goes for another Mega-Hit * Max reaches out with one hand and catches the blade, skidding only a few inches from the momentum. * Atsuko boggles. * Karasu doesn't show any surprise, but that's normal. * Mariah just watches; she seems too tired to be shocked. * Max flips his greatsword casually in his hand and stabs it into the ground. A foot wide chasm opens between Hope's braced legs. A moment later, it erupts with darkness, appearing to almost cut her in half. OOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! * Atsuko plugs her ears and grits her teeth. * Karasu folds his arms and bows his head, as if in thought. * Hope screams in pain. * PrincipalNagawa scowls in irritation. Whether it's at the fight or the laughing is hard to tell. B..bastard. No. Just evil. * Max smiles, reavealing nasty looking fangs. * Atsuko flinches a bit. * Hope stands up and wobbles. "Mon..monster." ... ... oh. If I were a monster, would I be willing to accept your surrender? * Hope growls in anger. "I.. won't.. give up to a monster like you." * Max shrugs. "Fine with me." * Hope brings her sword around again and again, slashing rapidly. "FLURRY OF BLOWS!" * Max raises his greatsword in both hands, just in time to take blow after blow on it. WHen the flurry subsides, half of the blade falls off, clanging loudly on the arena floor. ... that's the way, Hope! * Karasu nods. ...well. Yeah! * Max drops the other half of his useless sword and lunges forward, clamping his left hand down on Hope's right shoulder, while grabbing her left bicep with his right hand. * Max pulls Hope towards him, opens his mouth wide, and clamps his jaws down right on the junction between her neck and her left shoulder. O_o Oh...! * Karasu stares, eyes widening for just an instant. He looks over at the Principal. * PrincipalNagawa is staring down at the floor, shaking his head. * Hope screams. LET ME GO! YOU BASTARD. He IS a monster. * Max visibly bites down still harder and then jerks his head from side to side, and finally jerks his head straight back, freeing a large chunk of flesh. Blood sprays into the air, blood that should be going to Hope's brain. He's a... thing of darkness! * Hope falls over knocked out. * Karasu grinds his teeth. * Max spits out the flesh near Hope's feet. Win by knockout. Match over. Wait. I haven't fought yet. * PrincipalNagawa looks over at Karasu. "Get her to the infirmary. NOW. * Mariah stands up and rushes (as best she can; that knee ain't lookin' too hot) to Hope's side./ * Atsuko rushes over to Hope as well. * Karasu does as he's told, but looks none too pleased. * Atsuko gives Karasu an annoyed look. * Max walks out of the ring, ignoring the blood that has sprayed all over his armor. * Karasu ignores Atsuko, picks up Hope, and dashes to the infirmary. Really, REALLY damn quick. Now you know not to gang up on your betters. * Serena walks out of the arena followed closely by her team. * Atsuko glares at Serena. "Gang up? You ambushed ME!" * Mariah follows Karasu, pausing only to cast a look of disapproval and... disappointment? ... at the other team. * Atsuko storms out of the arena. * Daphne looks up as you all enter the infirmary. Is something wrong? * Karasu lays Hope onna bed. She needs immediate medical attention. * Daphne gasps at all the blood. * Atsuko is seething, hands clenched into fists. What happened!? ... yes. * Daphne grabs a large bandage off the table and slaps it down on the large wound. She got bitten. * Daphne shudders. What kind of sick school uses _biting?_ He was... some kind of monster. He had fangs. * Karasu nods. "It was no school... It was..." * Karasu scowls. "I'm heading back to the room. Can't stand all this blood." * Karasu heads out. * Daphne shudders. One of THOSE. * Daphne grabs another bandage as that one soaks through and slaps it on. * Daphne starts taping it down. Those? How many are there? There are always a few schools like that. They like to imitate vampires and other such thigns. Why would they bring such monstrous people here? Because they're often quite powerful. That's awful. The school doesn't discriminate between good and evil. * Hope is all knocked out and stuff, and so the player is getting snackcakes. How horrible... ... oh. ... I guess it's something to worry about. * Daphne sighs as the second bandage soaks through. * Daphne grabs a bottle marked "XXXXXXXXX" off a shelf and pops the cork. A small wisp of smoke trickles out of the neck. * Mariah watches Daphne work with a trace of nervousness. * Daphne works HOpe's jaw open with one hand, while plugging her nose, and then upends the bottle into Hope's mouth. * Hope's body jolts upwards as the liquid slides down her throat. The stain on the bandage stops spreading. * Daphne sighs and takes the bottle away. * Atsuko watches curiously. "What did you give her?" Liquid health. It'll cure pretty much anything, but it's rare. I'm not supposed to use it at all, but I figure the trouble is worth it. * Hope coughs. * Hope sits up. "Motherfucking vampire. I swear, I'll slay his ass if it's the last thing I do." Are...are you okay now, Hope? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. * Daphne leans over and tears the bandages off, along with the tape. * Mariah nods. "Serena didn't even fight us. ... I think she's a paper tiger." * Hope grumbles and nods at Daphne. "Thanks." No problem. Remember the trouble I'm about to get into when we fight. ^_^ Will do. .. Where's Karasu? Off brooding? Probably. * Atsuko blinks. "When we fight?" * Daphne smiles at Atsuko. I'm just an assistant. I'll probably fight you eventually. Unless you're at the bottom of the rankings. Oh, okay! ^_^ ... I don't know where we are in the rankings anymore. Well, I have to fill out all the forms for that potion... * Daphne waves as she sits down at the desk and pulls out a pen. We're pretty much as the bottom. Probably at the bottom now. * Hope sighs. I dunno; if they were the best team, can we really be knocked down for losing? Hard to say. A loss is a loss. If they're far enough above you... I don't know how they do the scoring. Nobody does, really. * Daphne shoos you all out of the office. "Go, go. It's gonna take FOREVER to get these forms done." * Atsuko bows to Daphne before she leaves. "Thank you for your help!" * Mariah is shoo'd out. "... yeah, thanks... * Hope heads back to the rom. * See bh05a.txt He made us all angry. I'm glad somebody could take him on. * Atsuko stares at the unconcious Max. "That was...incredible." * Karasu walks towards the others and picks up Hope. He staggers a bit, but somehow seems like he could keep going on if he had to. * Karasu takes her to the room. .. but I'd like to go rest now, if that's okay. * Mariah follows Karasu to the room. * Atsuko follows in the back, still looking astonished. Yes. You do that. * Mariah will, as soon as they're back, go take a nap. Big surprise. [Challenge Fight... Loss by Submission, Submission, and KO. Karasu's Challenge, Win by KO.]