[Last Time, on Battle High: Karasu talked with Hope for a while and then left to find adventure, or at least something to do besides incessant training, possibly involving other people. * Karasu starts where he left off, just leaving GreatAl 103 to explore the school, maybe. * Karasu leaves to explore the school! * Karasu looks for a library. * Oooh, good one. How studious of you. * There doesn't seem to be much in the way of students wandering the halls right now, the only times you catch sight of any are when they're heading outside. * After walking the entire first floor of the castle, there appears to be no library, nor any signs of where one might be, only stairwells going up and down. * Karasu goes... up! He tries the one in the tower where all the classes are held. * As you emerge from the hidden stairwell onto the first floor, you're struck by the sheer emptiness of the halls. Quiet sounds of people at work emerge from various rooms, and there seem to be far more doors on this floro than on the other floors of this towre. * Karasu mentally takes note of where everything is. * The sounds range from typing from a few rooms to the turning of pages and the quiet squeak of red markers on tests and homework. * Karasu side-glances as he passes a few of the rooms, but doesn't stop. * The rooms are small, apparently offices, and most of them have doors open, revealing teachers at work inside. * Karasu takes note. Particuarly, of where his two teachers are located, as well as the principal. * The Principal's office does not appear to be present on this floor, but your two teachers thus far are. They are, in fact, at opposite ends of the floor, which is probably a good thing. * There also does not, after canvassing the whole floor, appear to be a library. * Though many of the professors have shelves full of books for personal use. * The floor appears to be nothing but faculty offices. * Karasu heads to the next after finishing this one, then. * The second floor appears to be several classrooms, currently occupied by upper classes. * Strangely, one of the rooms is resonating with periodic explosions. Small ones, but it's still startling. * Karasu decides to take a look there, without actually going in and disrupting class. That'd be bad. * The door is currently closed, though the window in the door isn't frosted. You'll have to stand up on your toes to look through. * Karasu wonders if this is worth the trouble, but decides to do it. * Inside, students seem to be experimenting with various chemical concoctions. Primarily by throwing it at each other, which often causes explosions. * None of them seem to notice you, they're absorbed in throwing and dodging. * Karasu moves on before they do notice, then. * Your peeping seems to have gone unnoticed. * You sense a presence behind you. * Karasu casually turns around. * Someone ducks around the corner just as you turn. * Whoever they are, they're small. Probably a freshman. * Karasu keeps going, but stays at the ready. * As you round the corner, you see no person, but one of the stairwell doors is just swinging shut. * Karasu walks casually until he finds another corner. He waits behind that one for whoever it is. * Five minutes pass, and noone comes. * Karasu goes on, then! Until the person makes his appearance again, at least. * The sound of many pairs of feet comes from the hall as a class dismisses. * Karasu continues, but more slowly now. * Twelve upperclassmen come tromping through the hall, being noisier than they really have to. One of them, a pretty girl a couple years older than you, with long blonde hair and pretty blue eyes, stops behind you. "Hey, whatcha doin' up here?" Nothing in particular. Oh. Just wanderin', huh? * Karasu nods. A'ight. If ya got any questions, you can ask anybody, really. Most of the teachers and students are pretty helpful, even if they're mean about it. * Karasu nods again. "I'll do that." This school's a real maze when you first get here. All the stairways are hidden, and some floors are only accessible through a single stairway. There's only one way to the Principal's office, and it's hidden pretty well. And if you're late, you're in trouble. It's a real pain. * Karasu nods. "I agree." Anyway, I'm Eve. Pleased ta meetcha. * Eve offers her hand to Karasu. * Karasu shakes Eve's hand. Karasu. You're kidding. I'm not. THE Karasu? The guy who oneshotted his first opponent? * Karasu nods. "Yes, although I'm surprised word spread so quickly." There's only a hundred or so students here, man. Gossip travels faster than light. ( Only a hundred? c.c ) The word was out by lunch the day it happened. Everybody and their brother's gunning for you. Well, among the freshmen, anyway. * Karasu frowns. "Rather bothersome. They're over-estimating me." It happens sometimes. The Melasora kid was saying you weren't that good, but nobody believes it. * Karasu shrugs. "It doesn't matter to me." Anyway, seeya around. I gotta get ready for this afternoon's fight. * NinjaDebugger waves and runs off down a stairway. * Karasu nods. "Farewell." * Karasu heads off down the hall again. He hasn't forgotten about that other person yet, nosiree. * The person, whoever they were, does not appear again. * Karasu explores the next floor after he finishes this one, then. * The third floor appears to be more classrooms, all empty, as classes have already dismissed. * Karasu tries the next one! * The fourth floor, where the primary freshmen classes are, hasn't been used yet today, and so is empty. This is as far up as you appear to be able to go. * Karasu considers for a second. * Karasu looks for a staircase. The other tower had five floors, so why not this one? * There are several staircases, but none of them appear to lead upwards. * Karasu gives up after a while, and heads back down. * You head down a staircase and at the first floor exit, you can either go bakc out onto the first floor or down into the first basement. * Karasu goes to the basement! Never saw that before. * The stairway leads out into a single hallway with no turns. There are four doors on one side, presumably coming from staircases, including one you're coming from, and two sets of double doors on the other side. * Karasu looks behind the double doors. * Opening one of the double doors reveals your original goal, the library! A pep looks up at you from the front desk and places a finger over where its mouth should be. * There are shelves upon shelves behind shelves next to shelves of books here. * There's also a card catalog, and a pair of ancient looking computers next to it. * Karasu takes a step in and looks around, partly wondering why he was looking for this room in the first place. Oh well, at least now he knows where it is if he needs it. * Kairi walks walks out of a side room and walks behind one shelf of books. * Karasu immediately follows once he notices. * You follow quickly, and as you round the stack, you see what appears to be Kairi, but he's wearing unfamiliar clothing and appears to be browsing a book on biology. * Karasu approaches, not trying to keep his presence hidden. * Kairi ignores you. As you get closer, you start to see distinct differences between this person and your team captain. The nose is a little longer, and his lips a little fuller, and his eyes are a different color. He turns his head to look at you as you approach, revealing that his right eye glows an evil green, and a scar runs down his face crossing over it. * Karasu stops when he sees that. Case of mistaken identity? Sure looks that way. You... I know you. I'd almost say the same thing. You resemble someone I know. * The boy grins evilly. * Yes... I do... Kairi, his name is. * Karasu nods. "That's him." * The boy tilts his head to one side. Do you want him back? Are you saying you know what's happened to him? Can't you tell? Don't I feel like him? You look like him. Heh. Heheh. You'll understand soon enough. In the meantime, we'd like him back, yes. Too bad. I'm not done with him yet. He'll do until I find a new one. * Karasu frowns a bit. "Just who are you, anyhow?" You may call me... Tulpa. I'll make a note of it. So, you're somewhat of a doppleganger, then? Something like that. Something. So why choose Kairi? He was... available. Convient. Out of his body for a time. Out of his body? You weren't the one who attacked him, then? Oh no... I just took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself. You need to look elsewhere for his... attacker. An attacker who wore the face of a friend. * Tulpa taps his temple. "I have his memories, some of them." Interesting. Do you have memories of the attacker, then? Only vague ones. Sleepy memories, blurry. I remember seeing a friend. The attack was a surprise, coming that way. Very devious. There is a shapeshifter in our midst. A shapeshifter? hmm... I can't imagine why he would attack Kai, though. I'm no detective. Unless I absorb one, anyway, but I don't happen to have Sherlock Holmes handy. * Karasu nods. "That's fine. I'm trying to solve this for my own interests." So you absorb people, then. What, does that mean? I steal their souls. Heheh. Use their skills, their power. And this is temporary? Mostly. Mostly? It lasts until I release them, or they die, or I die. But they don't die any quicker? Sometimes. If they're not cared for, usually. What kind of care? We can't have Kairi dying on us, after all. Otherwise, Atsuko would never shut up. Heh. He's just unconscious, mostly. Feed him. Water him. Kind of like a pet, really. * Karasu nods. "I see." Or give him to the nurse's office. They're used to that sort of thing. * Karasu nods in acknowledgement. "So you've been doing this for a while, I gather?" Just a few. This school is a good place. Lots of strong people. I can imagine. Suppose I were to find you someone else. Would you release Kai? Maybe. If they were stronger. And if I could get them out of their body. * Karasu nods. "I'll keep it in mind." In the meantime, I'm going to look for Kairi's attacker. Can I assume you come to the library often? Knowledge is power. I'll take that as a yes. Mmm. * Tulpa goes back to browsing his book. * Karasu turns and heads out of the library. [Session End]