[Last Time, on Battle High: Karasu's decision to trade Max's soul for Kairi's had rather a lot more fallout than expected. Lots and lots of stuff happened, to the tune of eleven separate logs over the span of one week. No less than three dates were had, and lots of fun was had in general. And lots of no-fun was had, too.] [It's a new week now, and time for another fight, though only time will tell who you'll fight against. Aside from Amanda's connection, of course.] [The sun is just beginning to rise, and people are just starting to wake up.] [Connection Battle... FIGHT!] * Ao-Lang hears the alarm go off again and just rolls out of bed, landing gracelessly on the floor in a tangle of blankets and sheets. * Karasu is already up, surprise surprise, and sitting in the common room. * There's the vague sound of somebody beating the stuffing -- perhaps literally -- out of a practice dummy in the training room. * Kai is asleep in a comfy chair, his Geometry book covering his face as he... snores. Cutely, but still. * Isaac rolls over and opens his eyes. ~Wakey Wakey time!~ * Ao-Lang gets to her feet and walks out of her room, looking rather like a zombie. She dumps the blankets and sheets on the sleeping Kairi before she shuffles into the bathroom and shuts the door. * Isaac looks down at Kai, frowning. His eyes flash red. * Kai doesn't seem to notice his new covering, but at least he's been muffled some. * "... okay, I think that's enough for now." Mariah comes walking out of the training room; from the looks of her, she's been at this for a while. "Anyone mind if I call dibs on the next shower?" ~Not me.~ * Kai suddenly lets out one hellova "GAH!" and sits bolt-upright... and still covered by blankets and sheets. "... Issac..." ~Hey. You weren't waking up, so... We have a fight today! Yeah... I think.~ * Isaac smiles innocently. * Hope gets up and walks out to join the others. "'mornin'" ~'lo Hope. At least you get up without much encouragement.~ Morning, Hope! * Mariah goes to wait for Ao-Lang to get out of the bathroom. * Ao-Lang can be heard knocking something over in the bathroom, followed by cursing. * Isaac 's eyes flash red again. He does this a lot... can'tcha tell? ... everything okay in there? * Kai de-covers and frowns slightly. "... was having a nice dream..." His Geometry book falls onto his lap. He looks sad. -_- * Hope crinks her neck and grins. * Isaac goes into Ao's room and fishes thru the clothing... * Ao-Lang shrieks, followed with, "Isaac, don't DO that!" * Mariah pauses for a moment before covering her mouth to suppress a snicker. ... heh. ^^ * Kai stands, stretches, and drags himself to get prepared for showertime. "... hey. Any idea who we're going to fight?" * Ao-Lang opens the door and walks out, mostly dry, but wrapped in nothing but a towel. She heads into her room and points at the door. "Out, Isaac." * Mariah heads into the bathroom. Huzzah for shower. * Isaac frowns. ~Be that way. I'm only trying to help.~ He floats out of Ao's room into the common room... thru the wall. * Ao-Lang shuts the door after he leaves. You know, Isaac, people can be sensitive about others rummaging through their clothes. * Isaac blinks. ~Why?~ * Hope lounges and waits for the shower to get free. Personal things, I guess. Some people do like privacy. * Kai is waiting as well, patiently. Just like a good little martial arts fanatic. * Isaac shrugs. ~I let people have their privacy...~ * Mariah emerges from the shower a few minutes later. "Okay, go ahead, whoever's next..." She goes to her door and knocks. "Ao! Okay to come in?" Hope? * Ao-Lang emerges from the room, dressed and brushing/braiding her hair. "Yup. Wouldn't care if you came in, anyway." She shoots Isaac a look. * Mariah goes in, then, and shuts the door. * Isaac looks at Ao with a completly innocent and slightly confused look. ~What's wrong?~ * Ao-Lang grins. "Nothin'." She has a seat on the sofa and looks at the text Kairi's holding. "Having trouble with geometry?" * Hope looks up. "Wassup Kai?" Geometry is a greater opponent than any other fighters... and you can use the shower next, Hope. ^^ * Hope heads into the shower. Really? I could help you study. You get a certain number of questions wrong, you have to do the dare of my choice. That'll force you to learn real quick. * Isaac smiles evilly. ~Can I make the questions?~ ^_^ ... * Ao-Lang considers. "Maybe." * Kai blinksblinks a few times. "Isaac, you traitor." * Mariah comes back out into the common room, carrying her tarot cards, and begins to deal out the day's fortune. "This math stuff... well, I *think* I can do it now. I hope." ~Or you could go up against Mariah! Yeah!~ ~Battle of the minds. Who will have to do Ao's dare? Who will escape unscathed? Who knows?~ * Ao-Lang cackles. * Hope emerges from the shower, fresh, dressed and clean. "What's so funny?" ... hey! No volunteering me! ~Yo momma!~ Almost makes a failure sound worthwhile. * Ao-Lang smiles. "See, Karasu likes the idea." Let me volunteer myself, okay? ... that's why they call it volunteering. * Kai darts into the shower without fail or hesitation. ~Sorry, you've been volentold.~ [Today's reading features heavily The Fool, The High Priestess, the Ace of Cups reversed, and the Three of Wands Reversed.] * Isaac floats over to Mariah and looks over her shoulder. ~Whazzat mean?~ * Ao-Lang finishes her hair and picks up Kai's book, looking at the section he was reading. Not that bad. ~What's he reading?~ * Hope yawns and streaches. "Any word on our fight for the day?" * Karasu taps his fingers. * The long awaited sound of paper sliding under the front door finally sounds. * Ao-Lang sets the book to one side and gets up, walking over to her boots. She checks them over before pulling them on. "Quadratic." * Ao-Lang reaches down to pick up the paper and unfold it. ~Ah, the quadratic. Lovely equation... always works.~ ^_^ It really is. Alexander the Great 103 vs Son Wukong 103, Fight Room 501, . * Hope looks over Ao's shoulder. "Hm. Wukong 103." * Karasu peers at the note. Yeah. They're rank five. ~Wukong 103? Who're they?~ * Kai darts out of the bathroom, into his room, then comes back out in a bit in his standard overalls-and-shirt combo. "... wuh?" * Mariah looks up from the cards. "... rank five? ... guess we've got a fight on our hands." * Ao-Lang tosses the paper to Isaac. "The team whose ass we're gonna kick." Donno, but they're right next to Tulpa. * Isaac stops it in midair and makes it float nicely into his field of view. ~Man, 's gotta suck to be them.~ Heh, sounds like a challenge! * Mariah glances again at the card array. "... guys? Be careful today. And don't get cocky..." * Karasu shrugs. ~Righteo.~ * Ao-Lang smirks at Mariah. "Me? Cocky?" * Kai tries, and fails, to hide that mindless eagerness of his. I know it's silly, but... hey, it never hurts to be careful, right? * Mariah casually lays a hand on the Ace of Cups and de-reverses it, idly. * Hope looks over at Mariah. "Hey, if ya say so. You're the one with the cards 'n all." * Isaac smiles. ~What's that mean, anyways?~ Yeah. And we all know our future's predetermined. * Ao-Lang folds her arms and leans, looking at the clock. * Isaac nods. ~What do you say we get down to the fight room now?~ * Karasu cracks his knuckles. Got nothin' better to do. ... well, it sort of *is.* I mean, we know what we're doing this morning, right? ... yeah, let's go... Might as well get there early, see what the competition looks like. * Hope leads the way. "Let's kick ass and take names." * Ao-Lang grins. "In that order?" She follows. * Mariah grabs her staff and heads out. ~But we're all out of names!~ He follows. * Karasu stands and follows. "Whatever." * Kai tags along, all smiles. "Names, then... er... ass." ... wow, I've never said that before. ~Oh com'on. It's a vital part of your anatomy. If you didn't have an ass, what would you sit on?~ What, 'ass'? ~Well, yeah.~ Not you. Yeah, I don't really curse much. ~Oh, I thought you were referring to me referring to the word, not referring to the answerer of the question being a male donkey.~ I think the word gets used too much, you know? People need to be more creative. Hm. Creative verbal abuse. ~Do you want me to be creative? I'm sure I can come up with some interesting ones... Espically if I start looking in other languages.~ All languages are the same here. They believe in communication over diversity. I donno. I like the word ass. Nice and to the point. Er... I'll just speak with my bo. ^^; Does it talk back? ~So? It doesn't matter if the word doesn't have a direct translation... I don't think.~ No, but it's rather good at getting the point across when it's jammed in someone's stomach. ^^; ~That's not nice.~ Fighting isn't nice. It's fighting. ~You should aim for the esophagus. Then they start to suffocate.~ I dunno, I always thought people don't say "bloody damn" enough. It's kind of got some flavor to it... Kinda frowned on in this school, Isaac. You should wait 'till you're outside, *then* aim for the esophagus. Or you can just crush their soul. * Ao-Lang snaps her fingers. "That'd work, too." * Mariah frowns. "... I don't want to accidentally kill someone. That'd be... bad. And weird." ~You could just kick them in the nuts if they're a guy.~ * Ao-Lang nods and says with a perfectly straight face, "If ya kill someone, do it in purpose." * Isaac frowns. ~Killing is pretty bad, though. It's... It really isn't like anything you've felt.~ * Hope resists the urge to deck Karasu. So fighting is good and killing is bad. Right. * Ao-Lang laughs. ~Simple, to the point. I like it.~ ^_^ Well, I don't want to kill anyone at *all*, but... * Ao-Lang keeps a-walkin'. "But. I heard a 'but' in there." * It doesn't take long to climb all the way to the fifth floor of the Fight Tower, and it seems somehow longer than it did before. * The door to fight room 501 is closed when you arrive. * Hope opens it up. ^_^ * Isaac blinks and peeks thru the door. * There's nobody inside, and the room is dark. ~So we're early for once. Unless...~ * Ao-Lang steps in and looks for the light switch. * Isaac closes his eyes. Unless it's a trap. * Karasu walks right in, even with his shades still on. ~I'm not picking anyone up. Nobody's here.~ Help, I'm being swallowed by the darkness! Nooooo, not you, too! * The lights come on as Ao-Lang steps inside. The room still seems slightly dim, though. * Ao-Lang grabs Karasu's arm. * Hope clutches her Zanbatou and follows Ao-Lang in. "Come out, come out, wherever you are?" ~Dude, nobody's here.~ * Karasu looks down at Ao-Lang. * Ao-Lang grins unashamedly at Karasu. "What?" * Isaac floats into the room. He looks around. * Karasu doesn't say anything, looking back at the room instead. * Hope pulls the note from her pocket and looks again. * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes and lets go of Karasu's arm, walking in farther and glancing around. She shrugs to herself and has a seat on one of the team benches. I think this is the right place.. What the hell? Yes, the negative side of being early: You have to wait for everyone else. ~What time is it?~ Unless it's a trick, in which case I'm going to find Wukong and beat the crap out of them myself. Paranoid much? * Ao-Lang checks her watch. * It's about fifteen minutes until your fight. Yeah, we've got plenty of time. * Hope grins at Ao. "Never hurts." * Ao-Lang stretches. "Shoulda brought cards." ~Or electric tape.~ If it shut you up, Isaac, I'd consider it. ~Why would you want to shut me up?~ ^_^ * Ao-Lang glances at Isaac and starts thinking of all the reasons why. * Kai has been, for the most part of the trip, perky and perhaps even a bit cheery. That explains the humming and whistling. * Isaac nods. ~Those're some decent reasons. But not enough.~ He sticks his tounge out at Ao-Lang. Hey, it's always better to be early than to be late... ... this place is kinda creepy. In a good haunted house sorta way. I rather like it. * Ao-Lang folds her hands behind her head. "Just an arena." * Isaac looks at the two other guys in the team. ~You two would.~ * Mariah looks around. "Hey, it's not bad... * About five minutes later, the sound of footsteps sounds out in the hall, coming rapidly towards the doorway. Run, run, or you'll be well done. o/~ Better tell them they're too late to ambush us. * Ao-Lang cracks up. Bet that's Wukong. * Isaac floats to where his team is sitting and sticks behind them. * First through the door is Demetri Spyros, someone Mariah and Atsuko met waaaaaaay back a couple weeks ago, is a blonde-haired but otherwise obviously greek boy riding on the back of a goat. He dismounts as he enters, and the goat starts gnawing on the side of the ring. ... hey, look, a goat! * Isaac blinks. ~That's not natural.~ I think it's kinda endearing. I think it'll eat you. * Isaac grins. ~I think it'- Out of my head Ao. I'm supposed to be the psychic here.~ * Ao-Lang smirks. Maybe it's a friendly goat. Hungry and friendly. * The next through the door is a pretty blond boy with medium-length, very wavy hair, wearing a no-dachi strapped on his back over the same sort of strange white armor that several others at the school have been known to wear, this set with sky blue hilights. ... but mostly friendly. Oh! Hi! * Hope grins and waves. "'lo there." * Sage and Demetri wave happily as they see Mariah. .. yeah, it's kind of a ... stuff-eating goat. Should fight it, Kai. Have an eating contest. I'd win. * Third through the door is a large but not amazingly well built badboy. You can tell because not only is his head shaved, but he's got a pair of Chinese dragon tattoos running from his temples down the sides of his head and onto his back. Nobody can out-eat the goat. * Ao-Lang appraises the badboy. ~I dunno if he's your type Ao-Lang.~ * Strangely, though he bears Chinese tattoos, he doesn't appear at all Asian. In fact, he looks decidedly British, or perhaps American. Hey, you haven't met me, buddy. ^_^ Yeah, he's not mean enough. Wonder if he's got substance to back up the style. ~Knowing everyone here? I bet.~ * Karasu shrugs. * Mather perks up a little as he sees Mariah. "Heya, didn't expect to fight you guys." I don't need to have met you. Nothing and nobody can out-eat the goat. * Mariah waves back. "Hey, Sage!" Unless you can eat steel, of course. Then you might stand a chance. ... I'll work on that! I wouldn't put it past Kai. Yeah, me neither. But this should be pretty cool... * Kai shrinks back nonetheless, slightly miffed at being bested in the gastro-intestinal arts. ~Where's the rest of their team?~ This everyone? * Fourth through the door is another person that Mariah knows, Tyrone. He's got a pair of daggers sheathed at his waist, and he flows through the door barely seeming to move his legs. "Hey, Mariah! Long time no see!" * Tyrone waves to Mariah. Man, you sure are popular Mariah. Yeah, Mariah. Yeesh, I gotta hang around you more often. Oh, yeah! Hey, Tyrone... * Mariah blushes. * The last person to walk through the door is kinda hard to see, since he's smaller than the ring. In point of fact, he's about a foot and a half shorter than Isaac, even ghost-Isaac, and he carries a naginata that's about three times as long as he is tall. He's got medium-length, spiky black hair, with a sharp cowlick sticking up from the back. When you finally catch sight of his eyes, they glower angrily at everybody, even his team. * Ao-Lang raises an eyebrow. "Issues?" * Isaac blinks. ~Definite issues.~ * Behind him, and much easier to see, is an IMMENSE ghost. You can tell he's a ghost because he floats through the doorway, since his shoulders are about twice as wide as the doorway. The ghost is wearing ancient Chinese armor, and looks most formidible. * Isaac looks up at the ghost. ~Oh shit.~ * Ao-Lang whistles. "Hey, Isaac. Why don't you have funky armor?" Yeah. He looks way cooler than you. ~'cuz I died two years ago, not six hundered years ago.~ ~Hey~ Woah. * Isaac pouts. Oh, so it's your own damn fault. * Mariah 's eyes widen. "... oh, *man.*" * Isaac 's eyes flash red. ... wow. Yeah, guys, I don't think you know Ren. He's our team captain. * Kai leans forward and just stares. [Fight... Postponed!]