[Last Time, on Battle High: The Logo got commissioned, but that's a metagame thing. The party woke up, yes WOKE UP, even Karasu, who seems to be nearly immune to the need for sleep, to discover that Atsuko was gone. Principal Nagawa explained that she'd been taken in the night by her mother, who was most displeased with her daughter's performance. The principal proceeded to introduce a new fighter, Ao-Lang, who would be joining their team. She'd been pushed up from a lower school, Toriyama High, because she was completely dominating every fighter there, of every class. Now, the team is faced with their first fight with a new member, which is ALSO their first fight on an alternate playing field, AND they're still down Kairi, whose soul is still in the keeping of the sinister freshman known as "Tulpa."] [Alternate Field Battle... Fight!] * There are but ten minutes left before your fight in the school pool building. Ready guys? * Karasu nods. * Ao-Lang flexes her wrists and glances around. "Always ready." * Mariah nods. "I think so... Let's go. * Hope hefts her big-ass sword and heads for the pool. * Ao-Lang walks lightly after Hope, folding her hands behind her back. * Mariah nods and follows, staff slung on her back. * Karasu follows, trenchcoat trailing behind him like a cloak. * Luckily, the pool building proves much easier to find than the normal fight rooms, and as you enter the large double doors, the smell of chlorine hits you like a ton of bricks. The pool might be a little over-chlorinated. The air is a little hard to breathe, in fact. * Ao-Lang coughs. "Damn. I like swimming, but this is silly." * Hope waves her hand in front of her face. "Jeez. This is nuts." * Mariah coughs. "This is gonna be hard to fight in..." * Ao-Lang wipes at her eyes. "Bet that's the idea." She looks around. I guess so. * As you walk into the main pool area, the stench of chlorine becomes even stronger. There's a referee here, a tiny young man, not even in his thirties, with a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. Gah. This could double as chemical warfare. * Ao-Lang waves at the guy even as she tries to keep her eyes from watering. * Strangely, the pool doesn't look particularly deep, and the depth doesn't seem to change at all, though there are diving boards at one end. * Mariah looks to the referee. "Hello?" Ah, good morning. You're... * Referee checks his notes. "Great Al 103?" That's us! Good, good. Tecumseh 101 should be here any time now, then. * No sooner do the words come out of his mouth than the doors fairly burst open and in lumbers an immense... man? Boy? It's kinda hard to tell, he's so damn BIG. He's at least six feet tall, with a bare chest and a pair of worn green overalls. * Hope does her best to get used to the smell of this toxic dump. "Man, I smelled locker rooms less pungent then this." * Ao-Lang stares up at the guy. "That's... one." ... we're fighting him? * Following behind him is a pale man with a vaguely egyptian cast to his features and, strangely, red hair, wearing black armor and carrying a kusari-gama easily in his hands, * Karasu looks over the guy calmly. * Mariah watches the other team walk in silently. * Two people follow him, a well build american boy with a katana at his side. In spite of being american, he is dressed in a formal japanese fighting outfit from one of the iaido schools. Beside him is a strange woman with dark, olive skin, dressed in horribly gaudy clothes that make your eyes want to commit suicide. Across her back she bears a pair of longswords. * Hope eyes the people. "Yo." * Mariah winces and looks down at her own crystal pendant sheepishly. "... uh, hi..." * Behind them, a young woman follows, gently catching the doors so that they close almost silently. As she turns, you can see a katana at her side, though she bears no markings of school. As she turns back towards you, her hair parts down the middle to reveal her face, and most importantly, her forehead, which has a tattoo of a lightning bolt in the center. * The last woman speaks quietly to her team a single word, and as one they bow to you. * Ao-Lang flicks her multicolored eyes over the other team, then grins. "Hiya." * Karasu nods to them. * Hope bows back, as best she can. * Mariah returns the bow. My name is Ken Haggar. I am pleased to fight you. *** Yu-Mei has left IRC * The rest of his team appears to be waiting for something. Hm. * Ao-Lang glances at her team, looks to the opposing one, then takes the hint. "I'm Ao-Lang Shen. Nice to meetcha." Hope Fayth, Nice ta meetcha. I am Anubis the Ogre. I am pleased to fight you. I'm Mariah Ritter... And I'm Karasu Kage. I am Darryl Rentas. I am pleased to fight you. * Ao-Lang tilts her head. I am Esmeralda Ferrera. I am pleased to fight you. * Hope idly wonders if these people are robots. I am Benita Haselden. My team is pleased to fight you. * Ao-Lang grins more, eyes twinkling at some unsaid joke. She nods. Very well, now that you're introduced, I can explain the battlefield. * Hope waits. Your battleground is the pool. The boundaries are the pool walls. Don't go outside the pool. Inside the pool, there's a false floor we've put in, so that you'll always be at a depth of one foot of water. * Mariah nods and waits for said explanation. This will impede your movement, and it also makes ice, water, and lightning attacks commensurately more powerful, used properly. You may also have noticed that the air is a little hard to breathe, and stings the eyes somewhat. If you get dunked and the water gets in your eyes, it'll be even worse. Try not to do that. Now that that's taken care of... I see that Tecumseh is up a fighter, so they can choose first. ... okay... Our first fighter will be Anubis. * Anubis steps forward to the edge of the pool. * Ao-Lang looks over at Anubis, then glances back at her team. * Hope eyes the guy for a second. * Hope looks over her team. Hm. * Karasu looks at Hope. "I'd be willing." Whoever you think... I need a moment to think. Hm. Okay, I'll do this one. * Karasu shrugs. Okay. Good luck! * Hope looks at Karasu. "If I'm knocked out, you take over." * Hope walks to the edge of the pool. Very well. Good luck. * Ao-Lang grins. "Kick his ass. I mean that in a nice way, 'course." * Anubis hops down into the pool, making a large splash. * Hope hops into the water. *** RDMgryphon is on IRC * Anubis walks slowly forward, making sure of his footing. In one hand he holds the kama and with the other he twirls the chain that makes up its other half. * Hope rushes forward, with surprising speed for being in a pool. She slashes her gigantic sword at Anubis, probably getting anyone nearby wet at the same time. * Anubis whips his chain out, playing right into Hope's intent, but the flexible weapon loops around the sword easily, and the links do not part on the sword's edge. * Anubis rushes in toward Hope, leaping upwards and pulling the sword's blade with him. He's brought up short, however, as he passes over Hope and she catches the upper haft of the sword on her shoulder, neatly stopping him in midair, leaving him dangling by his chain. ... ooh. * Ao-Lang snerks despite herself. * Hope pulls back, and with immense strength, tosses her sword AND Anubis towards the end of the ring. * The sword flies straight and true, and embeds itself in the wall of the pool building, with Anubis hanging from it by the chain of his weapon. Impressive. Is that a ring-out? * Hope poses with a V sign. "Victory!" At least he didn't make a crater in the wall. * Ao-Lang giggles. He's out of the pool, innithe? * Anubis flips himself forward and wraps his legs around the haft of the sword, quickly untangling the chain from the blade and flipping up to stand on the haft of the weapon. I think he has to touch the floor. He hasn't touched the ground outside of the pool, or the walls. No ring out. Hm. ... oh, yeah, you're right. This is really weird... * Ao-Lang shrugs. "Not really. Most ring-outs are ruled like that; it's just usually not an issue." Well, not like the ruling is weird, but... like how are they going to fight? * Hope moves forward a bit, gets into a fighting stance and waits. A bothersome rule. If Anubis gets back to the pool, they can go at it again. If he touches the ground first... well. * Ao-Lang glances at Karasu. "Guess so, but you probably wouldn't think so if it were *you* on that sword." * Anubis readies himself, balancing uneasily on the haft of the sword. He tests its flex once, twice, and then leaps upward, arcing almost to the ceiling, coming down towards a ready and waiting Hope in the near corner of the pool. Perhaps. If it happens, we'll see. * Hope leans back, and aims a SOLID punch at the incoming man. "MEGA.. PUNCH!" * Anubis impacts solidly on Hope's fist and bounces back the way he came. Strangely, though, there appears to be a connection between him and Hope. His chain appears to have been locked around Hope's wrist, it's about to snap taut. * Ao-Lang winces. * Hope doesn't wait, and instead PULLS with the hooked arm. With her other fist, she readies another punch. * Anubis comes hurtling back with amazing speed, crashing into Hope's arm again, getting used like a human paddleball. Bits of his armor fly off, and when the chain jerks straight again, he falls in a curving path to the ground, shattering several pool tiles when he lands. * Hope grins at the ref. "Is THAT a win?" * Mariah winces. "... the poor guy." That's a win. By unconsciousness, unless I miss my guess. * Ao-Lang peers at Anubis. "'That poor guy' about covers it." * Hope hops out of the pool, pulls the chain off, grabs her sword and walks back to her team. * Ken walks over and retrieves Anubis easily. Great Al, declare your fighter. Hm. Karasu, I'm going for you. * Benita squints a little, peering intently at Karasu. * Karasu shrugs. * Ao-Lang looks over at Karasu. "Good luck." * Mariah nods. "Go ahead, Karasu..." Darryl will fight Karasu. * Darryl steps forward into the pool, his robes quickly soaking up water and weighing him down. If you wanna take your shirt off and give us a show, feel free Karasu. ^_^ * Ao-Lang snickers. * Karasu steps into the pool as well, with his trenchcoat and all. :P Actually, do that anyw.. damn, that's gonna slow him down. But they've both got heavy clothes, so it should be equal... It'll be like watching a video on slow motion. Begin! * Ao-Lang yells, "Come on, guys! Strip!" * Mariah blushes. * Darryl shrugs and pulls his upper robes off before settling into an iaijutsu stance. * Darryl has that sort of smooth-chested muscularity that Kenshin had. * Ao-Lang whistles. "Nice." The girl has no shame. * Karasu stands casually and starts pulsing with a darkish energy. * Darryl stands calmly and waits. How dramatic and brooding. I wonder if I could sell this to MTV. ... one of them's just got to attack... Sure, but we'd need to add some wind effects. ... Lots of wind effects. C'mon Karasu! You can kick his ass! * Karasu waits for Darryl to make the first move. * Ao-Lang eyes the fight. "Assuming either wants to kick the other's ass. We could be at this all day." Anyone got a pack of cards? ... c'mon, one of you can do it... Sure, but I left it in my room. * One minute passes, and then another, and another... * Ao-Lang goes back to pondering. "But the MTV thing, that has merit. We'd need to add bad rap to the background." I've got my Tarots, if you *really* want them. * Neither competitor moves a muscle, save to occasionally blink. Modern playing cards were based on those, right? Basically... You can play solitaire if you're willing to fudge it. Hey! Karasu! I'll treat you to an ice cream if you beat this guy! So fight already! * Ao-Lang looks back at the fight, then turns to the referee. "Is there a time limit on these things?" * Karasu roars "RAVEN NINE-NEEDLE SLASHER!" BLADE OF LIGHT! * Mariah 's eyes widen. "There they go! * Ao-Lang jerks her head back to the fight. Holy.. * Water splashes everywhere as the two fighters rush together, obscuring the entire pool with the tidal wave pushed to either side. When the water clears from the air, each fighter stands where his opponent stood a moment before. ... I guess they both took your ice cream offer seriously. * Karasu falls over. .. Well, damn. ... man. * Darryl jumps quickly to Karasu's side and lifts him in thin but very strong arms. Damn. C'mon, Karasu! You can't be out! * Darryl lays Karasu at the edge of the pool nearest his teammates. "He is defeated. He had excellent patience." * Darryl has an immense bruise developing on his chest where Karasu's hand impacted. * Hope picks Karasu up and moves him away from the pool. "Nice win. Told the boy he shoulda took off his shirt." * Darryl climbs slowly out of the pool, taking care not to shift his ribs too much. Ken Haggar will fight next. * Ken steps forward and hops easily down into the pool, barefoot. * Ao-Lang nods, then blinks at Benita's proclimation, looking over at Ken. * Hope peers at the guy. * Mariah looks at Ken uneasily. Hm. * Ao-Lang turns her attention to Hope and shakes her head. * Hope closes her eyes and thinks. "Mariah, Go." ... me? Okay. * Ao-Lang breathes a sigh. "We're rootin' for you." * Mariah slips her pendant off before unholstering her staff and hopping into the water. You're our best bet. Fight! * Mariah looks around for a moment before flourishing her non-staff hand ... downward, in the direction of Ken's lower legs. "Let's hope this works! Frostbite!" * Ken's feet begin to freeze over, but as the ice begins to link together into a single mass of ice, he yanks his feet apart, leaving him with shiny new boots of ice. He grimaces in pain, and begins pushing himself forward. * Mariah changes her hand gesture again, pointing forward with the staff at Ken. "Acid Splash!" With one flourish, a viscous bolt of acid goes streaking at him. Waaaaaah! Ow. That has to hurt. ... Did I just hear him 'wah'? * Ken ducks wildly, skimming along the surface of the water in spite of his immense weight. He crashes into Mariah, bowling her over and sending them both underwater for a moment. * Ken flings himself upward again, wiping his eyes furiously. * Mariah struggles back to the surface, spitting out a mouthful of water and squiting; one hand quickly readjusting her glasses. * NinjaDebugger lashes out with a hamhand in Mariah's direction, latching on to her left bicep with a painful iron grip. * Mariah grimaces and concentrates for a moment, her staff charging with power before she attempts to slam its end into Ken's chest. "Let go! THUNDERING STAFF!" * Ken takes the staff in his chest and screams angrily, voice warbling as the vibrations threaten to crack even his oversized teenage ribs, but he does not let go of Mariah's arm. * Ken wraps his other fist around Mariah's neck and lifts her into the air. * Ao-Lang 's eyes widen. "Shit, Mariah!" * Ken pumps Mariah in the air once, and once more, and then leaps straight up. "DEEEEEEEEEEP..." O_O ... * Ken falls back towards the pool, positioning Mariah beneath him to take the full impact of his weight and the ground. "IMPACT!" Damn. Mariah! * Ken slams Mariah down and the false floor shudders under the impact, but holds, barely. * Ken jumps up and away, absorbing the recoil of his attack. C'mon Mariah.. get up.. you can do it.. * Mariah is slammed quite thoroughly and takes a moment to stagger to her feet... "... this really stings. You want to know what stings more, though? *This!* ACID SPLASH!" Another flourish of the hand, and another acid bolt released in the larger boy's direction. * Ao-Lang nearly jumps when Mariah gets back up. She stares. "Amazing." * Hope grins. "I knew she could do it. Mariah is tougher then she looks." No kidding. A lot tougher. * Ken raises his hand in front of his face and the acid grabs on, eagerly eating away at his flesh. "AAAAAAAAAAUGH!" He thrusts his arm down into the water for a moment and then rushes forward at Mariah, leaping into the air. "Thunder Body PRESS!" C'mon Mariah... you can dodge him. * Mariah looks briefly terrified... and then her eyes harden with a terrible determination as she gets a grip on the middle of her staff, and begins spinning it, faster and faster... "... no. You're not. Wheel of fortune, hear me, and show me the way! GUIDING THE WHEEL!!" * The staff's rotation blurs, and out from it projects a circular field of force, spinning frantically and flickering in color... until it seems to disintegrate into air, and a massive cylindrical gust of wind whooshes in Ken's direction, roaring with speed and force. Yow! * Ken's eyes widen as his direction quickly reverses in the torrent of air. He slams into the ceiling and keeps going, and the ceiling shudders in response, several chunks falling into the pool, making large splashes. Ken, however, keeps going, and wherever he lands, it won't be in the pool building. Very impressive. Damn, Mariah. I mean... *damn*. * Referee looks over towards Benita. "Can that boy fly?" * Benita looks displeased. "No, he cannot." * Hope grins at Mariah. "Remind me never to piss you off." Then I declare this a ring out. * Mariah exhales. "... wow." That goes double for me. How do you know all those... geez. Get out of the pool, girl. * Mariah climbs out of the pool slowly; she looks *exhausted,* to put it mildly, and takes a seat on the ground cross-legged. "That... just kinda *came* to me..." Great Al, you can send up your next fighter. * Ao-Lang studies Mariah for a moment, then snerks. "I can only hope the same kinda thing happens to me." She looks over at Hope. * Hope points at Ao-Lang. "Good luck. You're our last option, y'know?" I figured, but I've never done this kinda thing before, remember? For all I know, maybe you could fight twice in a row. * Hope pats Mariah on the back. "That was damn impressive." * Ao-Lang sits unceremoniously and pulls off her boots, then stuffs her socks in them. Thanks. ... really took it out of me, though... if I fall asleep, wake me up, okay? If you fall asleep, you probably need the sleep. * Benita scowls at Ao-Lang. "...I will fight her." * Ao-Lang sets her boots aside, jumps to her feet, and grins at Benita. "Sounds like a date. * Ao-Lang heads on over to one end of the pool. 'kay. I will not date you. Aww! Now I'm hurt. What, I'm not pretty enough? * Ao-Lang pouts. You are the new student, are you not? * Ao-Lang shrugs. "Like it's a secret. Yeah." I will show the school that you are nothing special. That you do not belong here. That the exception made for you was a mistake. Oh, now I'm pissed. Kick her ass Ao-Lang! * Mariah closes her eyes and mumbles. "... don't let 'em tell you that..." ... 'cause they don't make mistakes. Really. I will break your spirit, and I will break your body, and when I am through, you will withdraw in disgrace. * Ao-Lang looks steadily at Benita, the smile leaving her eyes, but not her mouth. "Sure, sweetheart. Done?" * Benita shrugs and hops into the water, leaving her katana undrawn. FIGHT! * Mariah is quiet. If anybody checks, she does look to have fallen asleep. * Benita jumps high into the air, nearly touching the ceiling. At the height of her jump, she draws her katana and falls point first at Ao-Lang. Lightning gathers on the blade as she falls and screams, "Lighting STORM!" * Karasu wakes up. * Hope shakes Mariah, as promised. * Ao-Lang snaps the tessen out of her sleeves and spreads them open, taking the attack full on. She staggers back, splashing water as she does so, but spins and snaps the left one to Benita's side. "Strike of Flowing Water!" * Mariah is shaken and wakes up quite suddenly. "-- wuh? -- Oh, okay, they *are* fighting now..." * Benita is left completely off guard from her fall and she is flung to the side as Wave slams into the side of her head, glowing blue. She stands quickly, but she seems to droop a little, as if she weren't feeling very well. * Benita glares at Ao-Lang through her long, black hair. * Ao-Lang smirks right back, tessen closed and ready. Yow. * Benita raises her katana in front of her and dashes forward across the top of the water, encased in an aura of electricity. She thrusts forward and the electricity arcs forward, striking both Ao-Lang and the water around her. ... oh, that's going to hurt... Both of them, one would think.. C'mon Ao-Lang! You can do it! * Ao-Lang tries to dodge, but nearly trips as she does, and is caught in the electricity anyway. She closes her eyes and screams. * Benita stops on a dime and stands over Ao-Lang, looking down scornfully. * Mariah nods. "'s why I didn't Shock Bolt; would have hurt me, too... oh, no." * Hope growls. "I wanna beat that smug bitch's face in. I hope Ao-Lang wins." ... if she doesn't, we'll prolly fight them later... * Ao-Lang coughs as the sparks abate, then looks over at Benita. She gives a shaky smile, but her eyes show that she'd like nothing more than to kill the girl before her. "That's the way you wanna play? That's the way we'll play." * Ao-Lang jumps at Benita, not getting far due to being scorched and battered, but then, she didn't need to go far anyway. She slices her tessen in a cross-slash as she screams, "Chaos Stream!" * Benita is propelled backwards the long way across the pool, skipping once, and twice, and three more times, a total of five skips as she crosses the pool propelled by a stream of water and lightning, her final skip ending as she slams into the support of the high dive, putting a large dent in it. She does not rise. ... ... That's it! That looks like a win by knockout to me. Winners, Alexander the Great room 103. * Ao-Lang splashes to her hands and knees, gasping. "Bitch." .. Wooo-HOOOOO! * As the referee pronounces the win, the ceiling decides that it's had enough of all this indoors thunderstorm, and begins to collapse. I hereby declare this fight over, and we should all get out of here! * Referee flees the building. * Hope grabs Karasu. He may be awake, but I'm not sure if he can walk. * Mariah smiles... and looks up. "... yeah, let's..." She wobbles to her feet, picks up her things, and finds enough presence of mind to get the heck out. Mariah, you need help? C'mon Ao-Lang! I think 'm okay... * Karasu can walk well enough to leave the room. * Ao-Lang looks up. "... Hell." She climbs to her feet and struggles out of the pool, then moves as quickly as she can out of the building. "Yeah, yeah. Keep your pants on!" ... gonna have to get a nap before class, though... Don't forget your boots. Huh? My boots! * Benita is carried out by the gypsy-girl, and the team flees just behind you. As the last of you make it out, the last support structures give way and half of the pool building collapses. * Hope holds onto Mariah to make sure she gets out, and fails to put Karasu down. She then gets the hell out of there. * Sadly, Ao-Lang's boots are buried. * Ao-Lang panicks and somehow moves faster, going back to grab her boots before running after the rest of you. Hey! Well, damn. * Ao-Lang kicks at the rubble. "Ow! Damnit!" I hope they don't expect us to fix that too. * Several people are looking at the rubble, impressed by the destruction. * Hope drops Karasu. "Nice win Ao-Lang. I'm damn glad you bitchslapped that.. err.. bitch!" * Karasu smirks. "Now you see why I kept my trenchcoat on." * Ao-Lang runs after them, cursing. "I loved those boots. God fucking- oh, shut up, Karasu." No, it happened in the course of a legal fight. You only get detention when you do it on your own initiative. * Mariah sighs and slumps, leaning on her staff, and slipping her pendant back on with one hand. "... I hope not. But... it was both teams, really, so at least we'll have help... Oh. That's good... Awesome. [Battle... win by knockout, Great Al 103!]