[Last Time, on Battle High: The fight started in session 11 was finished, with not one, but TWO fights ending in Humiliations! Karasu gained a new (and slightly unhinged) girlfriend, who wants to have "fun" with him, and a prettyboy's hair got ruined, which is something we can all cheer about.] [Now, our heroes have finally finished detention for the day, and it's friday night! It's time to paaaaaaaartay! Or not. Either way, stuff's gonna happen, and it's dinnertime. The bell's just rung. Getchoasses movin'] [Friday Battle... FIGHT!] * Ao-Lang perks as the bell rings. "Yes! Food!" She gets moving, but not just because the GM said so. * Isaac 's stomach rumbles. ~Anyone else hungry?~ * Hope crinks her neck. "Starvin'." She grins and heads for dinner. * Karasu heads out silently. * Isaac shrugs and follows the people who know where they're going. * Strangely, when you arrive at the temporary lunchroom in the courtyard, the line is amazingly short. There aren't very many people eating already, either. Maybe they're all slower than you guys for once. * Ao-Lang looks around, then shrugs and just gets in line. Their own damn fault for being slower than her. * Hope blinks. "Wow. What next, the world ends?" * Mariah will file into line, too. "Hey, just good luck for once... ... or there's something going on that we don't know about. * Isaac gets in line behind whoever is in front of him. ~Maybe, what's different?~ * Karasu gets into line. "Wouldn't be the first time." Probably the second. And naw, I don't think the world's ending just yet. * Clinton drapes her arm around Mariah's shoulders. "Are you actually gonna eat this stuff tonight?" Wonder what we're missin'. Usually it's a lot longer than this. * Ao-Lang blinks at the appearance of Clinton. She must be stealthy like the ninja. * Ryo waves as he emerges from the main building. "Hey, guys! Wanna hit the town?" -- Oh! Hi! *^^* ... uh, is there something else? * Ao-Lang waves at Ryo. "Hey! You offerin'?" Hit the town? That's an option? Oh, a bunch of us are gonna go hit the town for dinner and whatever looks fun. Oh? That sounds cool -- I could stand to get out... * Isaac smiles. He speaks to the group. ~Whatever you guys want to do.~ * Hope grins and steps out of line. "Sounds like a plan." Absolutely! We can find an arcade or something, see who rocks the most at Battle High! * Isaac looks at all the new people. I'll take ya on. ^_^ * Mariah laughs. "Yeah!" * Ao-Lang laughs, then shrugs. "Sure, I'm game for leaving campus." I suppose. * Clinton looks over at Ao-Lang. "Oh, you must be the new fighter, the one that's not supposed to be here!" Hey, she's got every right to be here! Trust me, I've still got bruises! * Ao-Lang scratches at the back of her head. "I'm s'posed to be here, and haven't I met you before? You're Clinton, right?" * Isaac signs. Oh yeah! How could I forget you? Beats me, but it looks like you did. * Hope smacks her head. "Oh yeah. Guys, this is Issac, if ya don't know 'em." * Greg blinks. "You changed your name?" No~ot quite. It's a long story. * Greg blinkblinks again. "Hey, what's with the photo-eyes?" * Ao-Lang blinks at Greg's comment, then takes a look at Isaac's face. .oO("Photo eyes?") * Isaac 's looks at Ao-Lang. Just as he makes contact, his eyes flash a bright red, then fade back to normal. Your eyes, man. Huh. It's gone. Your eyes went all red like the demon-eyes in a photograph. * Ao-Lang grins. "Hey, cool!" Do it again! Look away, then look at me. ... they did? ... That's too weird. * Isaac looks up, then looks back at Ao-Lang. Same thing happens. Yup, definitely not an isolated incident. Try it on Hope or somethin'. * Hope eyes Issac. * Isaac shrugs and looks at Hope. His eyes do the same thing that happened before. This is *way* too weird... What the hell? That's just weird. Well, I like it. It's neat and all, but.. weird. ~Will someone please tell me what's going on?~ No. Why don'tcha just look at yourself in the mirror sometime, Isaac? * Karasu shrugs. * Isaac 's eyes flash as he projects that as well. ~I haven't had a chance to yet.~ You've got... like... this red eye-flash thing. It's weird. You ought to try a mirror... Well, do it when we get to our room to get ready to go out. We *are* going out, right? We're going out. * Isaac smirks. * A somewhat plain looking girl with long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail and pretty green eyes approaches slowly, but doesn't say anything. * Mariah glances at the brown-haired girl. * Isaac looks at the girl. * Ao-Lang glances, then grins madly and looks at the sky. * The girl jumps a little as Isaac meets her eyes. * Isaac signs. * Hope eyes the girl. "Yo. Whoare ya?" You sure did. Er... I'm Diana. Yo. I don't mean to bother you, but my mom said you gotta bother people to make friends, and I'm sorry, I should go... * Hope grins and walks over to Diana. "Where ya goin'. We're not that scary, are we?" * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. ... oh! Hi, Diana... * Isaac walks over and signs. * Karasu turns to regard Diana but doesn't say anything. It was... er... the eyes. They're sorta... aheh... * Diana trails off. * Ao-Lang looks Diana in the eyes, her own mismatched set mildly annoyed. "Weird? There's lotsa weird stuff around here." * Isaac looks at Diana. There are all sortsa weird people here. It's fun. * Diana looks for a moment like she's not going to respond, and then she shakes her head a little, blushes, and signs back at Isaac, * Isaac shakes his head. * Ao-Lang snerks and thinks something rather hard. Oh, okay. So... where's your team? They, um, went to the library... our class has a report due on monday... I did mine yesterday, though... ... oh, that's rough. Yeah, I've got lots of time. Well, that settles it! You're comin' with us! Well, why dontcha come to town with us? Yeah, come out with us! It'll be fun. No, we're weirder. It's a badge to wear with pride. Some of us. * Mariah remains silent on the weirdness point. * Ao-Lang glances around. "Yeah, well, it's a team effort, y'know? I'm gonna get ready for town-time." * Ao-Lang waves and scoots over to the room. * A cry comes from nowhere, slowly getting louder in accordance with the Doppler effect. "KaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAARRRRRRAAAAAAAASSUUUUUUUUUU!" The sound ends as Karasu is glomped forcefully from behind by his opponent from earlier today. * Mariah nods. "... yeah, I should do that." She too heads roomward. * Ao-Lang just snickers as she keeps going to the room. She doesn't need to turn around to see who that was. Hey, Karasu. Looks like you got some kinda growth comin' off your back. Might wanna get that looked at. * Isaac smiles back at Diana and nods. ~Good luck with that Karasu. You'll need it.~ * Hope heads back to the room as well. Looks like you made quite an impression on Tanisha, Karasu. * Karasu casually looks over his shoulder at her. "Oh?" * Ao-Lang winks at Ryo as she walks by. "Give 'em some time alone, eh?" Hey, you want me to come to your room, I'm all over that! * Ryo trails along behind Ao-Lang. Wanna paint the town black, Karasu?! * Ao-Lang laughs, not bothering to correct Ryo. Perhaps. * Isaac starts walking back to the room. ~I definetly have to see what's up with my eyes...~ .oO("Paint the town black?" *Maaan*...) * Greg lounges easily on the castle wall, waiting for people to return from their preparations. * Mariah will return to the room and go to change her clothes. * Hope gets into some nicer (read: Not fighting-centric) clothing and tries to decide if she should bring her sword or not. * Karasu has no need to return to the room, since he always wears the same thing anyhow. * Isaac returns from his preperations. He doesn't look much different: Apparently Kairi didn't have much in the selection department. * Ao-Lang starts looking through clothes. "Whaddaya think," she says to anyone nearby, "blue or purple?" * Ryo pipes up from outside the door, "Blue. Definitely blue." Blue, okay! * Hope returns and has to wonder how bad Karasu's clothes smell by now. * Karasu doesn't smell bad at all. * Ao-Lang grabs that and rushes into the bathroom. * Karasu smells rather nice, in fact. * Mariah emerges, changed into something actually nice-looking (if not even remotely fight-practical). She's still got her staff and pendant, though. "Okay!" * Greg and Clinton let out a pair of whistles as Mariah emerges. * Isaac sits down, pulls out Song, and starts to inspect the dented blade. ~Man, I'm gonna have to fix this now... Dad was right when he said doing that would ruin the blade. I hope they have the appropriate facilities for this.~ I'm sure they do Isaac. I mean, come on. Lookit this place. * Mariah blushes. We'll soon see, I suppose. * Isaac hides his blade ~Not every place has an operational smithy, unfortunately. Lookin' good Mariah.~ * Hope stretches. "It'll be nice to get out of this place for a while." * Isaac closes his eyes. ~We don't have all night Ao. Hurry it up already.~ * Ao-Lang pops out of the bathroom; it's apparent that she put a bit of make-up on (though it's not heavy), and she's wearing a long-sleeved, dark blue shirt with a wide neckline, a short black skirt, and (of course) her black leather boots. She's rebraiding her hair, but other than that, looks good to go. Oh, shut up, Isaac. * Ryo's jaw drops. I think some bugs are flyin' in your mouth Ryo. * Isaac signs. * Ryo closes his mouth and gulps dryly. Sorry. * Ryo does his best to look sheepish. He's good at it. * Ao-Lang finishes the braids and smiles mischievously at Ryo. "You're the one who wanted blue." Y-yeah. * Mariah looks at Ryo. "Geesh... you really are something." Ya took the words right out of my mouth Mariah. ~And out of my head too.~ * Ryo grins. "I try!" * Ao-Lang laughs. "C'mon, let's go before people start huntin' for us." She heads off. * Ryo follows Ao-Lang happily. * Hope heads out. "So, we just climbin' down or is there a train or somethin' we gotta take?" * As Ao-Lang emerges into the courtyard, Clinton and Greg turn and just stare. * Mariah nods and heads off, following Ao-Lang. * Hope rolls her eyes. "Come on boys, we already went through this with Ryo." ... I don't know. Thought there was a bus or something... Well, it's not *exactly* the same. Their jaws didn't drop. 'Sides, maybe they're lookin' at you, Hope. * Clinton scampers up to Ao-Lang. "Ooooh, you loook SO GOOD! This shirt is just beautiful!" * Isaac looks at Clinton strangely. * Ao-Lang blinks. "Thanks. I have another one, just green, if you want to borrow it." * Hope grins at Ao. "Maybe, but considering the drool.." * Mariah frowns. .oO(... I hope he just likes the shirt.) Oh, I couldn't. I wouldn't fill it out so well, not nearly, even if we ARE about the same height... * Isaac blinks. ~He?~ Is this silk? It feels kinda like it... Yeah. I'm really fond of silk. Light, easy to move in, nice texture. ~ Uh, yeah. Unless he lied to me. ... you didn't think... ~ It is, but it's so expensive, and easy to ruin... It is? Not in China, really. ~Because I'd hate to break it to you, but 'he' looks like a she.~ ~ ... well, yeah, okay, I *know* that. ~ * Clinton pulls back and looks around, tossing his hair over her shoulder. Hey, we're all here, should we get going? I was just thinkin' that, actually. Yeah, we should! Sure. So, how ARE we getting there? * Isaac nods and looks at Ao-Lang. ~Seems that 'girl' is actually a guy. Or at least that's what Mariah says.~ * Ryo smacks Greg on the back of the head and winces. "Hey, wake up. And quit staring." I'd assume we walk. * Ao-Lang starts. ~Who, you mean Clinton? You've gotta be kidding me.~ * Greg snaps back to himself and shakes his head sadly. "Ooooooh boy." * Clinton shakes her head at Greg and starts walking towards the gates. "C'mon, everybody!" I *guess* we walk... ~Clinton? Yeah, definetly a guy's name.~ ~It is? And all this time I thought... well, shit. No harm done.~ * Mariah starts walking... well, as fast as she can in a skirt, anyway. * Isaac smiles at some silent joke. * Isaac starts headin' up and movin' out. * Ao-Lang shakes her head, actually looking a bit embarrassed, and heads out. She moves without much trouble in that skirt; probably used to it. * Karasu walks after the others. * Hope walks, glad she wore jeans. * Ryo falls into step alongside Ao-Lang, and various people fall in beside their preferred partners, if they have one, and others just walk wherever they end up. * Ao-Lang grins as Ryo walks beside her. "So, whaddaya do besides fight, Ryo?" Besides fight? Whaddaya mean? * Isaac smirks. His eyes flash red. * The group starts down the mountain. Going down appears to be much easier than going up. I mean, you got any hobbies besides fighting? Cards, model planes, checking out girls and rating them? * Hope grins at Greg. "So, how you guys doin' on the rankings?" Huh? Why would I need to rate girls? None of 'em can beat me. * Isaac looks at Ryo to see if he has ANY brains in that skull of his. We won, so I figure we'll go up a rank. * Ao-Lang looks vaguely amused at that, for some reason. "Not what I meant, sweetheart." * Hope ponders punching Ryo, then decides against it. * Ryo turns pink when Ao-Lang calls him sweetheart. And you'd better watch it when you say that, 'cause I know at least one girl who'd *love* to beat ya in a fight. I hope the same. We did really good. Hell, Ao-Lang was kickin' ass until that armor stuff. * Isaac shivers as he walks. ~That armor was just... Something wasn't right there.~ Well, yeah. That's because I'm only at a quarter strength without the armor! It doesn't help that I'm weak against her, too. That much is evident. Yeah, you have a weakness for pretty girls. * Ao-Lang laughs. * Isaac sends the universal ~Zing!~ out. ...true, but that's not what I meant! * Hope grins. Sure it isn't. The armor's really weird. Is it magic? Besides, I'll never judge pretty the same way again. * Greg snorts loudly and stumbles, rolling the rest of the way down the mountain. God, how many times have you used THAT line? * Ao-Lang watches, shielding her eyes with her hand. "And off he goes!" .. Ow. Poor bastard. * Greg lands at the bottom of the mountain and cracks up. * Isaac winces with each rock he hits. * Greg's laughter is audible all the way up where you are. Looked kinda fun.. if it wasn't so painful. ~Definetly faster than walking.~ What do you mean, how many times have I used that line? Them's fightin' words, girlie! * Hope grins at Ryo. "I'll take you on any day. ^_^" * Mariah winces. "... I dunno, that didn't look *that* fun." Later. Later. Food and... um... arcade today. yeah, the arcade! * Ao-Lang grins and skids down the mountain a little, carefully stopping before long. "Arcade?" ~Hell yeah arcade.~ Yeah! They've probably got this year's Battle High game by now! Dibs on Argo Gulsky! Oh, cool. I've never actually played that. * Ao-Lang yells down the mountain, "And you can't call dibs 'till you're with the group!" Yeah, arcade! And whatever else is around... I haven't seen the town much. * Greg stands up and dashes the twenty feet or so up the mountain, then turns around and walks with the group. "Like I said, dibs on Argo." Dancing. I demand dancing. * Ao-Lang blinks at Greg, then bursts out laughing. Argo? Oh, you can have him... Hah! My Domon will tear you apart! ~I suspect I'm gonna need a wardrobe. This Kairi guy didn't leave much for me to go off of.~ Oh, come ON, Domon is PURE CHEESE! ... it's so weird now that we actually saw these guys in person and stuff. * Hope grins at Greg. "So, that fall hurt?" Nope. Not at all. Wanna race? Of COURSE Domon is pure cheese, he's fire type. I mean, look at me! Pure cheese, huh? ... well, fire *is* a pretty good element... but it's not hard to beat if you know what you're doing. * Isaac smiles. ~Yeah. Just hose them down.~ Dunk a bucket of water over 'em. * Hope pokes Greg. "So, c'mon. Wanna race down?" * Greg looks confused. "Race twenty feet?" * Karasu looks at the town for anything that stands out. * Ao-Lang keeps walking. Naw. Race to the arcade. * Mariah gazes around at the town as it comes into view. * The town has come to life, with store fronts lit up brightly, and closing times listed late, late at night. There are stores of every sort, and as you come to the base of the mountain onto the main street, there's a Denny's, a Pizza Pit, and a Dairy Penguin all within sight, along with an immense two floor arcade, and across from the arcade, a number of clothing stores, among which are The Gap, Banana Republic, and Tommy Hilfucker. Fancy place. Oh, wow... this is pretty decent... * Isaac looks around and blinks. ~Niiiice.~ * Karasu shrugs. So, what are we thinking for dinner? Food. I like pizza! * Isaac nods. ~Food.~ Pizza's okay. If we get some, though, there'd better be something else to eat there. Pizza isn't bad. * Ao-Lang shrugs. "I can't handle lots of cheese." ~Man, that's gotta suck.~ It's not like it'll be a long wait. They make pizza the old fashioned way, so it takes like, five minutes. * Ryo gets a slightly crazed look on his face. "They've got a seven hundred degree open fire oven that they use to cook the pizzas. ~Someone's lost it.~ Pizza's pretty good... * Ao-Lang eyes Ryo. "Ah, so you wanna go there to see the fires of hell, don'tcha?" * Hope eyes Ryo. "You're not a pyromaniac, are you?" The fires of hell are NOTHING compared to the Pizza Pit. * Ao-Lang snickers. No, no, no. No pyromania here. ... hehehe. I'm NOTHING like those freaks. * Isaac looks at Ryo. So you've met a pyro before? What, the rest of my family? I LIVED with them. * Ao-Lang starts towards the Pizza Pit. If they really do make pizza that fast, she can special order one with less cheese. * Isaac smiles. ~Your thoughts betray you Ryo.~ * Mariah looks back at Ryo. "'Methinks thou dost protest too much." * Hope heads for the Pizza Pit. "C'mon slowpokes. I'm hungry." My thoughts WHAT? What the hell are you talkin' about? * Mariah heads in the direction of Ye Olde Pizza Pitte. * Greg snickers. * Ao-Lang goes into a coughing fit. * Isaac signs. * Karasu heads thataway. * Isaac 's stomach rumbles. Dude, if you finish that sign, I'm going to burn your fingers off. * Isaac snickers and heads into... THE PIT! And you said you were not a pyro. My faith is shattered. I'm NOT a pyro, damn it! ~Sure you're not.~ Sure, sure. You're not a pyro. * Ryo throws back his head and screams. "AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!" * Ao-Lang snerks. * Isaac turns around and just looks at Ryo. ~Was it something I thought?~ Chill out! I feel better now. Really. * Ao-Lang nods and decides to direct the conversation back to its proper course. "Pizza." * Mariah shrugs. "It's part of being Fire-type. Wouldn't be any better if you were Earth or something." Hey, I take offense at that. * Ao-Lang gives up on that. "Earth doesn't have the same ring to it. What're you gonna call them, mud-slinger?" * Isaac shrugs. ~Yes.~ Hey. ~And if they're into wind their windbags.~ Do I have to pop you one? * Ao-Lang sticks her tongue out at Hope. "Just try it!" * Hope laughs and grins. "Oooh, just you wait." No, *you* wait. You got lucky last time. * Greg turns on Ao-Lang, too. "Hey, you might get one, but the other will get you." He grins widely. * Ao-Lang hmphs in mock-superiority. "Sure, mud-slinger." She dashes for the Pizza Pit. * Isaac shakes his head. ~I'm never going to understand her.~ * Karasu shoves his hands in his pockets. "She's all wet." Oh, bring it wethead. * Greg chases after Ao-Lang, with Ryo right behind. * Isaac shrugs and runs after them. ~This'll be good.~ * Hope runs after Ao-Lang. * Ao-Lang laughs, but doesn't slow. "Karasu needs a nightlight!" * Karasu stalks after not too quickly. He's headed that way anyhow. * Inside, the pizza pit is amazingly hot. There's a large kitchen right in the middle of everything, and it's easy to see the pit that the place takes its name from, since the flames are about ten feet tall, and the heat washes over the room in waves. * Ao-Lang bursts into the Pizza Pit, skids to a halt, and blinks. * Diana and Tanisha walk into the place after Karasu, but balk at the heat. * Hope heads in and stops. "Yow!" Yow about covers it. This is insane. * Isaac almost falls over. ~That's just... crazy.~ * Ao-Lang backs up to the door and opens it. Cool air, cool air. * Karasu stops outside the doors and lets the flames reflect off his shades. "Perhaps we should go somewhere else." * Ryo grins and walks right in. "If you guys can't take the heat, I can bring your pizzas out for you. Just lemme know what you want." * Mariah walks in and winces a little bit but lets it go. "... man, Ryo wasn't lying." If Ryo can handle it, I can. I... I *think* I'll be okay... * Hope wipes her brow. "Whew. I wonder how the hell the people who work here stand it." They're probably all Fire-types... y'know, pyros. * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. "I don't want to start sweatin' just to order pizza. Green peppers, black olives, less cheese." * Isaac signals ~Crazy I tell you, crazy.~ to everyone but Ryo. * Ryo winks at Ao-Lang. "That's not a pizza, but I'll get it anyway." He grins and vanishes into the Pizza Pit. * Isaac closes his eyes. * Ao-Lang sticks her tongue out at where Ryo used to be. * Mariah looks around for anything resembling a toppings menu. * There's a handy menu posted just outside the door, actually. * Ao-Lang waits outside. Not inside. Outside. * Mariah reads it, then. * Inside, Ryo jumps about six feet into the air and bangs his head on the ceiling. * Ao-Lang blinks at that. * Isaac gets out of the doorway and out of the restraunt. * Hope heads inside. * A few minutes later, Ryo emerges with three pizzas in small boxes, tosses one to Isaac, and offers the top remaining pizza to Ao-Lang * Isaac catches the one Ryo tossed him. ~What's on it?~ * Ao-Lang takes pizza and grins. "Thanks. What happened in there, anyway, thought I heard something hit the ceiling." ... okay, Ryo, I've got mine. Could you get me... chicken and green peppers, if that's okay? * Ryo rubs the top of his head. "Thank mister psychic over there." * Ao-Lang snerks. "Isaac, you ass!" * Isaac smiles. ~What?~ * Diana jumps and turns to look at Isaac. "Psychic?!" * Hope doesn't head inside then. Don't give me that. And now the cat's outta the bag. * Hope gets her pizza. @_@ * Ao-Lang opens the box. "Let me know when you're over the shock." She munches. ~Well shoot... Man, ya want some food and people just go psycho.~ * Ryo shrugs and Mariah. "Sure." He walks back inside and gets in line. * Diana looks strangely at Isaac. "You're psychic?" * Hope comes out with her pizza, sweating. * Isaac munches on his pizza. He eats whatever's on it, regardless of how it looks or might taste. * Karasu wonders if Ryo is planning to do this one person at a time. * Isaac looks at Diana. ~Yeah, oh, I can tell him what ya want if you want me to.~ This really *is* quick... Uh... I'll wait and get some... ice cream? I don't eat much... It shows. * Ao-Lang snerks. ~Oh com'on. You know this tastes good... I think. Hey, does this taste good?~ * Ryo emerges with two more pizza boxes, tosses one to Mariah, and one to Karasu. My pizza tastes good. Your pizza probably doesn't taste like my pizza, and such. ~ ... you can't taste it? ~ * Mariah catches her pizza and looks to see what Isaac's has on it. * Karasu looks at the pizza. * Isaac shrugs. ~Not really.~ * Isaac's pizza has salami, anchovies, and purple olives. * Karasu's pizza is plain old sausage and extra cheese. * Hope munches her plain cheese pizza. ~The texture's kinda strange, but I don't mind.~ * Isaac finishes off the pizza with no problem whatsoever. ... it could taste okay. It's kinda weird. * Karasu eats pizza. * Mariah opens her pizza box and starts on it. * Ryo just stares at Isaac. "...that's so wrong, it's a crime." * Ao-Lang eyes Isaac for a moment, then shrugs and finishes the rest of her pizza, tossing the box into the appropriate recepticle. "Considerin' how he downs those disgusting healing drinks, I'm not surprised." Just... that's weird. I thought Kairi could taste things okay, and if you have his mouth... * Isaac looks up at the sky. ~Well, Kairi could talk too, couldn't he?~ ... yeah, that's kinda true. Sorry. * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. ~No need to be. I'm going to have to come to terms with it sooner or later.~ * Hope munches. and finishes. "Not bad. I've had better, but not bad." * Mariah just nods and keeps working on her pizza. Let's hit the Dairy Penguin. Some of us don't care for pizza. Okay... Sounds good. * Greg starts off toward the Dairy Penguin. "And after that... the arcade." * Karasu offers pizza to Tanisha and Clinton, since they didn't say whether they wanted pizza or not and Ryo didn't offer. * Ao-Lang whistles as Greg said that. "Gotta learn how to make a thunderclap at appropriately ominous moments," she decides. * Clinton waves apologetically. "No thanks." ^_^ * Hope follows. * Tanisha giggles girlishly and takes a piece of Karasu's pizza. * Isaac shrugs. ~Yes, yes you do.~ I could arrange that... * Ao-Lang walks, too, calmly ignoring Tanisha's girlish giggle. Head breakage does not need to happen. Hey, really? Neat! * Mariah finishes off her pizza quickly and deposits the box before heading Penguin-ward, gesturing to Clinton to follow along. * Karasu finishes the rest of his pizza and throws the box away, then follows. * Isaac raises an eyebrow. ~Well, I guess I'm not the only one who can do things besides fight.~ * Clinton falls into step beside Mariah. * Ao-Lang notices Ryo isn't following, decides he's probably distracted by the fire through the windows of the Pizza Pit, and goes back to grab him by the arm and pull. You'd be surprised what some of us can do. * Ryo is dragged, but this is what he intended. He keeps ahold of Ao-Lang's arm as he falls into step beside her. * Isaac smiles. ~Maybe. Care to expand?~ * Ao-Lang blinks at that, then smirks. * Karasu walks and walks and walks. * Diana pictures Karasu expanding and cracks up. * Hope shakes her head and grins * Our heroes arrive at the Dairy Penguin! They get ice cream and other treats, including but not limited to hamburgers and fries! * Mariah just looks at Diana oddly for a moment. I'm sorry, hehehe, I just pictured him expanding, like a balloon. * Hope just gets a a small ice cone That would be amusing, but I don't believe I have any such ability. ... okay. * Isaac walks up and gets a hot dog bun with two scoops of icecream in it. No, seriously. * Karasu gets chocolate ice cream. Dark chocolate. * Mariah gets one of those slushy float things. * Ao-Lang gets a chocolate-dipped cone. She ignores Isaac's... interesting food choice. * Diana gets a Dairy Shock, and Tanisha opts for a popsicle, which she proceeds to... lick... in Karasu's general direction. * Isaac eats his cream-dog. * Greg opts for a rock-candy malt. * Ao-Lang notices that, edges over to Tanisha, and sidewhispers, "You need to suck more." She then whistles and heads over to a table. * Karasu doesn't give any indication of actually noticing Tanisha. Or Ao-Lang. He just eats ice cream. * Tanisha almost chokes on her popsicle. * Isaac snickers. ~Man, that really sucks!~ * Ao-Lang just grins. * Mariah doesn't notice the little exchange. This is probably best for everyone involved. * Hope does her best to ignore it. * Greg doesn't wait, and heads for the arcade! For anybody who missed it last time, Dibs on Argo! * Isaac finishes his icecream. ~And where do you think you're going?~ He runs after Greg. * Karasu finishes eating and heads to the arcade. * Hope runs after Greg, and tries to beat him. ^_^ * Ao-Lang finishes her cone, takes a moment to wash up, and checks to make sure Ryo's coming with her this time. * Mariah finishes the slushy part and heads arcadeward. * The arcade is crowded, but not packed, and they've planned ahead. There's an entire wall lined with nothing but Battle High Class of 2002 machines, and there are actually a couple vacant. * Hope jumps on a vacant one. "C'mon Greg! I challenge you." * Karasu idly looks to see what else they have. * Ao-Lang looks around, her eyes settling on said Battle High machines. "So that's what it looks like." Bang the gong, we're ON! ~Yeah. I'll play ya.~ * Isaac smiles at Ao. Never played this one before, but if it's anything like other fightin' games, I should be pretty good. * Ao-Lang walks on over to the machines. Sure, Isaac. Ever play this before? * Isaac shakes his head. ~Never really played video games. Usually did it with the mouse.~ Right. What do you want ridin' on it. ~It always has to do with money, doesn't it?~ * Ao-Lang looks back over her shoulder and calls, "Hey, Ryo! Help me pick out a character!" * Ao-Lang smirks. "It's no fun if you don't have stakes. Well, not as much fun." * Isaac shuffles through his pockets. ~I don't know what I have...~ * There are lots and lots of characters to play as, the most notable of which are the Shuffle Alliance, who won last year's Principal's Favor tournament. Other fighters include Kyo Yagami, Iori Kusanagi, and Allenby Ashby, whose fighting costume is the subject of much drooling by teenage boys. * Hope picks Allenby, because of the serious lack of girl characters. She must rectify this. * Greg snickers at Hope's choice and picks Argo, the hulking brute with a ball and chain. * Isaac scratches his head and puts a dollar on the machine. ~That good?~ * Karasu watches the others. * Greg gapes in amazement as he is defeated in less than thirty seconds as Hope accidentally activates Allenby's hidden Berserker Mode and tears him to shreds. * Mariah just stands back for now. "I'd better watch a bit; I'm not that good at this stuff..." ...no fuckin' way. I thought you'd never played this before?! ... wow! I havn't. ^_^ * Ao-Lang looks. "Sure. That'd be about equal to..." She looks through her wallet and pulls out a five and two ones. "There," she says as she sets it on the machine. "Seven yuan. My currency's so damn weak around here." Wow, this is fun. Wanna go again? ~Weird.~ Nah, just the exchange rate. Family had to deal with foreign currency from time to time. Beginner's luck. Of COURSE I want to go again! ~But I guess chinese dollars don't get very far, do they? Wanna go by US quarters instead?~ * Ao-Lang snorts. "No way. C'mon, kid. Let's activate our beginner's luck." Let's fight! * Isaac smiles. ~If we have any luck.~ Luck is something you create. Or lack thereof. Whatever. Ryo, you still need to help me pick a character! * Hope picks Allenby again. She's nifty. * Mariah stands back so she can watch both Ao-Lang and Isaac's game and Greg and Hope's. * Greg takes Argo again. * Isaac moves his cursor around... ~Man, I don't know any of these people. Well, time to pick at random.~ He goes and clicks on the random picture. * Ao-Lang glances back to see what's occupying Ryo so much. * Argo and Allenby go almost to the time limit, but then Greg finally manages to pull off the combination for the Gaia Crusher, and Allenby goes splat real good while Hope frantically tries to reactivate the berserker mode. Damn! * Isaac ends up with Shingo Hibiki! * Ryo steps over beside Ao-Lang. "You called"? Let's go again! * Hope picks a random character this time. Yeah, well. Was gonna ask you for advice on picking a character, seeing as I've never played a video fighting game before in my life, but maybe I should just random it. How'd you random it, Isaac? ~It's the picture with nobody on it.~ * Ao-Lang nods and does that. Random, baby. * Ao-Lang ends up with Kyo Yagami! * Hope and Greg fight again, and again, and again! What's with the lack of girls? Bah. ~They're sexist, that's all.~ * Ao-Lang proves she's a true gamer at heart and begins beating down Isaac with a vengeance, since all Isaac can seem to do is taunt. This continues for some five minutes, because Shingo seems to take next to no damage. * Ao-Lang presses buttons like crazy. "Geez, Isaac! Can'tcha do anything but call me names?" * Ao-Lang shouldn't have said anything. No sooner does she taunt Isaac than he discovers a combination of buttons that causes Shingo to absorb one of Kyo's special attacks and spit it right back out with twice the power. * Ao-Lang blinks as her character goes flying. "Well, shit." ~Sweet! How'd I do that?~ Don't find out! * Mariah 's attention eventually strays from the game, and she looks around the arcade to see what else they might have. * Mariah's gaze drifts across several copies of every Battle High game, as well as a number of other games, like Shinobi 3: Legend of the Return of Invincible Destruction, and Chicken Hawk 3: Fighter Pilot Supreme, and a number of other games that the GM isn't really going to make up. * Ao-Lang fights back, since Isaac can't seem to get either the button-press or timing down right to reflect the attack. Ao Finally wins through sheer persistence. ... hmmmm... ~Man, that guy was... weird.~ Victory and cash is mine! * Ao-Lang cackles and takes the money. * Isaac looks sadly at the machine. ~I lost... but it was fun! Wanna go again?~ Sure. But I wanna go dancing before the night is out. * Ao-Lang looks at Ryo. "You're goin' with me, right?" It wasn't stated quite as a question. Aw... why not? I don't know how to dance, but I sure can try. * Isaac puts another dollar on the machine. ~I'm gonna win this time. I know it! Because you're gonna burn the floor.~ Dancin'? Oh boy, I gotta go, just to see Karasu dance. * Ao-Lang smirks. "I'll teach ya. You strike me as a natural." I won't be going. * Hope grabs Karasu by the arm. "Sure you will. ^_^" ~Oh yes you will.~ Aw, why not? * Tanisha looks up at Karasu with the dreadful evil puppy eyes. "Awwww, won't you go dancing with me... pleeeeeeeeease? * Ao-Lang then places the dollar she won from Isaac on the machine and picks a character at semi-random (since she doesnt' want Shingo). No. * Isaac does the same. Because Shingo is lame. C'mon, it'll be fun. ... I can't dance either, so you don't have anything to worry about. * Hope jabs Karasu lightly in the arm. "As Team Captain, I order you to. C'mon, don't be a bish in the mud." * Ao-Lang ends up with a guy who looks rather disturbingly like the grim reaper, and is named "Bill Door." ~I bet Tanisha would want to see you dance.~ * Isaac ends up with Domon Kasshu, the king of cheese. And hearts. ~Is this cheese boy?~ His name says Domon. What do you think? ~Yeah, that's cheese.~ Come on Bishy boy, you gotta go dancing. It'll be fun...nny. ... how soon are we leaving? 'cause I think I want to try this. ~Right... after... this... game...~ Right after this game! It doesn't interest me. * Bill Door puts up a good fight with his scythe that appears to have a hit range that extends beyond the icon onscreen, but Isaac proves why Domon is the King of Cheese as he defeats Ao without ever using a special move. * Ao-Lang glares at the screen. She points at Domon. "You," she says, "are cheddar." * Hope pokes Karasu. "I think you're just scared." * Isaac takes his dollar back. ~Yeah, he is. But I got stuck with Shingo the first time.~ Yeah, well. Play you again. Next time we're in town. Dancing now! C'mon Mariah, Ao. Help me convince him. ~Yes, dance now.~ * Ao-Lang looks at Hope. "Convince who of whatnow?" * Isaac looks around for Tanisha. Oh where is she who would want to see Karasu dance? * Tanisha takes hold of Karasu's arm and tries to drag him. C'mon, pleeeeease? Karasu doesn't wanna dance. I say he should. Oh. Well, does he not want to dance, or does he not want to go? * Isaac sends to Karasu: ~Com'on Karasu. She's eating out of the palm of your hand.~ He's just scared to dance I think. C'mon, we can teach him. ^_^ C'mon, Karasu! Just come with us, okay? For what reason? You don't have to dance if you don't want to. * Diana joins in trying to pull KArasu along. "Won't you please come dance?" She uses the REAL puppydog eyes. * Isaac sees Diana. ~Oh com'on Karasu. You can't turn THAT down.~ * Ao-Lang smirks and folds her arms, watching. * Karasu looks over at Isaac. "I'm not like you." ~Hell, I'm not like me. But this isn't about me, it's about you.~ * Isaac smiles. ~I think Karasu's tickilish.~ * Karasu shrugs. "I suppose I'll watch." * Hope grins evil. "Come dancing or we'll tickle you." Aww. Where's the fun if you don't dance? You don't get it, Hope. Step one is just getting him to come. Step two, which can wait for later, is gettin' him to dance. If nothing else, you can watch us and make fun of us... ~You know anyone who's this serious all the time has GOT to be tickilish.~ * Ao-Lang pokes Isaac in the side to see if he's ticklish. Good enough! Let's go. * Hope grabs Karasu and drags him to the club. * Isaac reacts just as someone who's ticklish. ~Don't do that!~ * And so Our Heroes (and some other people) head off to the dance hall! [Fight... win by submission!]