[When last we parted, Hope had just run off to some undetermined place in order to find and level punishment upon the head of Tulpa, who is in possession of her archenemy's soul.] * Hope attempts to find Tulpa! * Hope goes.. uh.. damn. I knew where I was going last week. * Hope goes to the library! * The library is in the basement, strangely. It seems somewhat suitable for the bookworms who hate light, few of them though there may be at this particular school. It definitely serves the generals of darkness who seem to flock here, though. Tulpa, where the hell are you? * The only person in view as you enter through the large double doors is a student librarian, who looks over at you as you scream, puts his finger to his lips, and lets out a "SHHHHHHHH!" that blows you three feet backwards and up against the wall. * Hope coughs and whispers. "Err.Sorry." * The student librarian looks satisfied and turns back to checking in and organizing books. * There is no answer from Tulpa, if he's in the library at all. * Hope grumbles. Fricking evil darkness guys, Never where they need to be. * The student librarian looks up again. "The Library is not for fighting. And your opponent left several minutes ago, anyway. Now be quiet. * Hope looks up at the librarian and whispers. "Where did 'e go?" I don't know. Back to his room, maybe? Ask around, I suppose. It's hard to miss a guy with a glowing green eye. * Hope wanders out of the library and tries to remember where the hell Tulpa lives. * Hope growls and starts asking anyone who passes by if they've spotted someone matching Tulpa's very obvious description. * Hope gets a few nasty looks and not a lot of answers from the first few upperclassmen she stops, but she finally finds someone she recognizes when Ken Haggar turns the corner, dripping sweat from whatever workout he's been doing. Ken, you seen Tulpa? Big guy, green eye, really evil? Uh? Green eye? There are lots of people with green eyes around here. Glowing. One glowing green eye. It's really hard to miss. Glowing green eyes? Oh, ONE glowing green eye. You mean that freak Tulpa who looks like your captain. Are they brothers or something? Donno, don't care. Tulpa stole somethin', I'm goin' to get it back. * Hope grins. "And I'm the captain now." Yeah, that's the guy. Seen 'em? Oh. Sorry. Well, uh... I think he lives in Wukong hall. I forget which room. S'good enough for me. Thanks Ken. Sure. Good luck. * Hope heads for Donk.. err, Wukong hall. * Ken shakes his head as Hope walks off and mutters, "Somebody's in for a beating." * Wukong hall is fairly easy to find, as it has one of the most distinctive statues pointing the way. Probably the only one easier to find is Tecumseh Hall. * Hope wanders up and looks around. "Hey! TULPA! Get your ass out here!" * Several heads come poking out of the doors for room 101, 103, and 104. Sadly, none of them bear a glowing green eye. * The faces look curiously at Hope. * The pair of faces from Wukong 101, in particular, look familiar. Aw, come on. He's gotta be here. Where the hell is he? * Mui raises his still squeaky voice. "Why are you yelling in our hall?" Tulpa took somethin'. Heard he was here. Need to kick his ass and get it back. He resides in 102. Do try to keep it down. I'll try. * Hope walks to 102 and knocks on the door. * The door opens and Max Spitz stares out at Hope, one eye glowing bright green. "What do you want?" Tulpa, y'all took a soul. I want it back. I was _traded_ a soul, and I will not give it back. Go away while we... I pacify it. Rather, Karasu gave ya somethin' he had no right to, but even so, I'm takin' it back. So you gonna do this the easy way or do I gotta get rough? Naw, you can't just trade souls. They ain't bottlecaps. No happier with Karasu, but since your the one with the soul, it's your ass I gotta be kickin'. * Tulpa sneers, revealing the same slightly elongated canines that took a chunk out of Hope's shoulder last time. Ya oughta see a dentist about that. Now, like I asked, easy way or hard way? You're welcome to try, little girl. This soul remembers the taste of your blood. Aw, that's it. You wanna wreck your room or go somewhere else. We will go outside. I have better things to do than detention. * Tulpa lashes out and grabs Hope by the shoulder. The two sink into the shadow cast by the door out into the hall and are gone. * They reappear in the afternoon shadow of the castle wall, on the mountain's eastern slope. * Hope pulls free. "Cute trick." She reads her Zanbatou. "Ready when you are." * Tulpa holds his hand out to his side. The side of the mountain rumbles angrily, and a massive stone greatsword leaps upwards into his hand. Very impressive. You will be an amusing diversion. * Hope rushes forward and brings her gigantic phallic blade slashing directly at the even larger giant phallic blade, hoping to castrate it. * Tulpa frowns as his blade is chopped neatly in half. "How... vexing." He was certain this would be unbreakable. Oh well. Don't trust everythin' you hear. * Tulpa lashes out with the flat of the remaining blade at Hope's shins. * Hope brings her own big sword around to block the back, but the force still slams the blade into her leg, causing her to grunt. * Hope quickly brings the blade around and slams it directly towards Tulpa in a familar baseball bat swing. "MEGA.. HIT!" * Tulpa catches the blade on what's left of his own. Another inch of blade breaks off. * Tulpa lunges forward, stabbing with the blunted end of his blade at Hope's stomach. * Hope is slammed in the stomach, and lets out a gasp. "Man, that one hurt." * Tulpa grins evilly. * Hope quickly brings her blade around and slashes repeatedly with blinding speed. "FLURRY OF BLOWS!"? * Tulpa blocks each blow of the flurry. Unfortunately, the last of his stone sword crumbles away from the pounding it's taken. * Tulpa looks down at the stone hilt in his hands and shrugs. He drops it to the mountainside, where it crumbles quickly away into sand. * Hope slashes directly at Tulpa with another MEGA HIT. * Tulpa raises his forearm and grunts as the blade slams home. The blade is left with a forearm shaped dent in it, and Tulpa's arm begins streaming blood from the rent torn by the blade. Man, now I'm gonna need to get that fixed. ...a powerful weapon. Well, it's really really big. * Tulpa clenches his right hand into a massive fist and sends it rocketing into Hope's gut before she can bring her massive blade back into position. The force of the blow lifts her a dozen feet off the ground. Thankfully, Tulpa doesn't appear to either have or be willing to use a follow-up. * Hope grunts in pain. "OW." * Hope quickly brings her weapon around again. She doesn't have a lot of tactics, but they work. "MEGA-HIT!" * Ao-Lang crouches on the wall above Hope and Tulpa, watching intently. * Tulpa spins inside Hope's reach and grabs ahold of the massive hilt of her zanbatou. "Dark Reversal." * Tulpa yanks on the hilt of the blade, exhibiting a surge of strength that even Hope's intense grip cannot resist for more than a moment. The blade is yanked free, leaving her palms stinging, and Tulpa winds up, mimicking Hope's own baseball swing style. * Ao-Lang flicks Wave into her left hand and throws it, intent on disrupting Tulpa. * Tulpa screams in pain as Wave bites into his hand. He loses his grip on the zanbatou as his hand weakens for just a moment, and it slips from his swinging grip to fly over Hope's head and embed itself into the wall. * Ao-Lang catches the tessen as it arcs back to her. "I think you made your point." * Hope thanks her lucky stars and winds up and PUNCHES directly at Tulpa. "Don't touch my freaking sword! MEGA PUNCH!" * Tulpa takes a step backward as the punch smashes into his nose, snapping it neatly and sending blood streaming down his chin. * Tulpa looks back and forth between Ao-Lang and Hope for a moment, then sinks into the shadows and disappears. Aw damn! * Hope looks up. "Thanks." * Ao-Lang waves back, grin falling into place. She hops off the wall and lands easily next to Hope. "Well, ya don't look dead. That's a plus." The bastard didn't give the soul back tho'. Bastard. You expected him to? Naw, not really. Was more hopin' I could beat it outta him. * Ao-Lang laughs. "I was hoping you could, too. But I didn't think it'd happen. Remember to thank Ryo, too; finding you was his idea." * Hope pulls her sword outta the wall and growls. "Man, that guy is a freaking bastard." He uses souls. 'Course he's a bastard. * Ao-Lang studies Hope. "Didja find anything out, though?" * Hope balls her fists. "Nothin' except where the fucker lives." * Ao-Lang 's eyes light up at that. "Yeah? Where?" Wukong 102. Wukong 102? Last I saw, they were about middle of the pack. Gonna be doin' better now that Tulpa's got Max's soul. Maybe. * Hope sighs. "I shoulda been able to beat him. Now he's still got the soul. " Wait, wait. Beating him would make him let go of the soul? No idea, but if I knocked 'em out, I coulda found some way to tie 'em up until he let go of it. * Ao-Lang sighs. "I dunno. Come on, we'd better let my partner in crime know you don't have any broken bones." She starts walking. * Hope follows after her. * Ao-Lang considers, then asks, "Do you feel better, at least? Breaking his nose had to be satisfying." Aw yeah. * Hope looks at Ao. "Still... not happy with Karasu." * Ao-Lang snorts. "Karasu's not happy with Karasu." Don't wanna sound m.. aww hell, yes I do. He should. * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. "Yeah, he should." But the way I see it, Max wasn't careful what he wished for. And he got it. Oh, he asked for it, but I think Karasu went to far with the trade. Way too far. So you'd rather Kai be stuck in Tulpa's body. Of course not. Then what the hell do you want? A happy, easy answer that leaves everyone satisfied? Sure, why not? * Hope grins. "I know it isn't that easy." 'Course not. Anyone with half a brain and a decently realistic outlook on life knows it's not that easy. The thing with Max, it's temporary. We can start lookin' for ways to get his soul back. Not that I think the bastard deserves it, but hey. It'll make my team happy. * Ao-Lang shrugs. "In the meantime, we've got Kai back. He's an okay guy." Yeah, that's the truth. * Ao-Lang snickers and looks over at Hope. "Which part?" All of the above. See, that's why you guys should listen to me more. I speak truth. * Ao-Lang winks. Now let's get back. That's where we're going, innit? Of course.