[Last Time, on Battle High: Kairi dated a BOY. So did Mariah and Ao-Lang. Karasu practiced while Isaac... well, we'll find out about Isaac in just a minute.] [We open on the door of ATG 103 just as it opens on us, revealing Mariah, holding a pair of expensive looking books. Watch the look on her face as she realizes that the common room is trashed. Literally. Furniture moved, bits of stuff everywhere... and a pair of kegs sitting on the counter.] [FIGHT!] .. uh, hi? Anyone around? * A pair of voices, one familiar, one not, come from inside, just out of sight. * A bright, cheery female voice pipes up, "Come on in, the party's over, but there's still beer!" * Mariah walks towards the voice, looking cautious and glancing around for the voice's source. "Uh.. that's okay. What's going on?" * Isaac calls back. ~Hi Mariah! Just had a party, is all.~ * Sitting in midair next to Isaac is a girl, can't be older than the high teens, holding a big mug of something drinkable. * Karasu is there too, leaning against a wall and brooding. .. oh, wow. Who all'd you invite? Looks like you got a pretty big crowd. * The girl waves to Mariah. "Oh, most of the ghosts in the castle, really. A real dead man's party." I'm Naomi, by the way. * Isaac scratches the back of his head. ~Aheh.~ * Mariah finds somewhere vaguely clean and horizontal to sit down, still keeping a careful hold on the books. "Hi! I'm Mariah. Are you a friend of Isaac's?" * Naomi smiles brightly. "I am now!" ~Yup! Now she is, anyways. ^^;~ I hadn't expected you to throw a party while we were out. You probably should have warned us -- Ao-Lang's going to hit the roof, I just know it.. ~Nah, she'll be fine with it! We left the rooms alone after all.~ It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. * Mariah glances at Karasu. ".. am I forgetting the other times?" I seem to remember the captain's room suffering a similar fate at one time. ~Not my fault!~ True enough. Relax, it'll get cleaned up. I mean... it's not like we tore down the walls. Except for a couple pictures. And none of the furniture is -ruined- Are you guys going to need any help? I mean, I can pitch in.. Hey, no problem. You wanna clean up, clean up. * Isaac smiles. ~That'd be great if you want to help.~ ^^ Let me go put these away, okay? I'll help out. Thanks, Karasu! With four people this should go pretty fast. * Ryo appears in the doorway, his arm around Ao's shoulders, giving her more than a little support. Whoa. What happened in here? ~Just some fun. Hey, what happened to Ao?~ * Mariah walks back towards her room with the books, notices Ryo and Ao in the door, and stops. "Um... Isaac? Maybe you should explain." ~Aheh. ^^; Some of the other spirits decided to have a party and they set up camp here?~ * Ao-Lang is helped in! She looks like she did when she left... mostly. Well, the dark green shirt and black jeans are intact, her leather boots are on, and her hair's still done up in a ponytail, if a touch frayed. She's flushed, though, and (as previously stated) leaning on Ryo. She looks around and blinks a few times. Why'd they party here? You let them in, Isaac? Hey, he wasn't all that bad at partying himself! Now if only we could get him to drink. * Ao-Lang eyes Naomi. "An' who's she?" * Mariah heads into the room while Isaac is explaining. ~Just a friend I made. Naomi, this is Ao-Lang and Ryo. Ao-Lang and Ryo, this is Naomi.~ ^^ Yeah, 'kay. You let them in, Isaac? ~More like they came in on their own.~ ^^; Well, 'm not cleaning up. 's your party, so you and your friends can do it. Yeah, we went out and drank at a restaraunt, like civilized people! * Kairi decides it's a great time to peek on in, giving the common room a glance of pure shock once he gets an idea of what's going on. "... what... in the world? Who had the party, and why didn't they ask for permission?" * Ao-Lang points at Isaac. * Kairi homes in on Isaac. * Mariah comes back out. ".. oh boy." * Isaac waves to Kairi. ~Hi Kairi! The other spirits have a party every so often and, aheh, set up camp in here. ^^; They didn't ask though...~ He glances at Naomi. Then make *them* clean up. People live here, too. Like me. I live here. * Ao-Lang looks at Ryo. "I live here, right?" Pretty sure this is your room. Doesn't look like mine. Right, 'cause there are two rooms in this castle, mine and Ryo's. ... Wait, that's not right. .. she, uh, kind of has a point. Do you think they'd be willing to help clean, at least? THey didn't ask. Figures. Well... They're gone already. Jeez. You guys are so stuffy. * Kairi taps a finger to his lips, his own books in hand. "Well, can you help? I don't mind making this place look liveable again, but some assistance would be appreciated." Well, no offense, and I'm willing to help, but it 's really just polite. I mean, if you're going to come and party... * Ao-Lang rolls her eyes. "Y'guys are pushovers." They come and party and leave our room like this, an' then you'll clean up their mess? That's not fair. Not much is, sometimes. ^_^ I'm just saying I'll help if we're doing it. I mean, someone has to clean up. And you! Jeez. Fine, fine. I'll do some cleaning. Man, I hate cleaning. * Ao-Lang points at Naomi. "You don't live here! Don't you come in tellin' if I'm stuffy or-" She breaks off with a yawn. "Yeah, so do I, but that's why I don't make a mess in the first place. Not like you have to live in this." ~I'm gonna help, geeze. But... Well, I'm sorry the room's messed up. There wasn't much I could do, and it's not like there are many people I can 'talk' to...~ You look a little tired, Ao... get some rest. I bet you had a blast with Ryo. ^_^ Doesn't give them a right to walk all over you, Isaac. Wish I could kick their asses for- oh, yeah! It was fun. Besides, it'll be ages before you have to host again. It's not a big deal. Don't get so worked up over nothng. ~When's the next one?~ Glad you had a good time, anyway.. but yeah, maybe you should get some rest? Next friday, but we all take turns hosting. * Kairi is already getting to the cleaning and the thing. * Isaac nods and gets to work cleaning. ~Okay. Maybe I can take this chance as an excuse to remodel of the furniture...~ * Ao-Lang decides to ignore Naomi and look to Ryo. "Think I'm gonna go pass out now. It was fun, even if ghosts are stupid." ~Hey, I'm not stupid!~ Even if ghosts who aren't Isaac are stupid. * Isaac nods. Ao, be nice. Ghosts are people, too. Just mostly-dead. Yeah. Most people're stupid, too. ~I dunno, I feel all dead.~ Yeah, let's get you in bed, Ao. I think we all do sometimes. I just feel weird... not dead, though. I feel... here. * Ao-Lang brightens. "You're gonna read me a bedtime story?" She heads to her room, probably with Ryo still helping her. "I always liked the one with the ricepot..." * Kairi nods, as if that explains *everything*. Ricepot, huh? I don't think I know that one. You'll have to tell me. * The two stumble off to Ao's room. ~Your sense of not-knowing is the envy of all Zen Masters everywhere, Kairi.~ * Mariah exhales. ".. oh boy. That went better than I'd thought. Sort of." * Naomi makes a few halfhearted attempts at cleaning things up. 'kay, well, there's this old lady with a ricepot, and she doesn't have enough money for food. Just one coin. And, see, this coin... * Ao-Lang shuts the door after she gets into her and Mariah's room. Ao sees like she's really happy, which is good. She's better when she's happy. ^_^ I hope she stays happy. And looks like I'm getting the couch tonight. * Kairi mm-hmms. "... oh, hey! That book joint! Did you find anything good?" Yeah, I found a couple things... they have a really interesting selection. Some of the really interesting ones already got sold, though. ~Huh? What books?~ I just put them away -- they have this "Spirits of the Zodiac" series. * Kairi holds up the two he's carrying. One seems to be 'One Hundred Percent: How to Get the Most Out of Your Ghost'. The other's titled 'True You: A Teenager's Guide To Alternative Sexuality'. "Got these two. I think I'm going to need both." ^_^; .. wow. ... so, uh, did you and Arthur hit it off? Well, no, but... it wasn't like I'd died or anything, so I'm kinda wondering. -_- Well, whatever works for you. As long as you're happy, it's okay. * Karasu finishes what he was doing. * Isaac peeks over and snickers mentally. Life is an adventure, mom always said. This must be the part where you need to buy new equipment. * Mariah laughs. "Oh, wow. Glad it was a weird evening for both of us!" ~Uh... Yeah.~ * Kairi shrugs a little, then dumps a handful of trash into the closest bin. "I'll probably have a better grasp of things after some sleep. Still, you had fun, I had... fun, we all enjoyed ourselves. We need more days like this." Hmm. Yeah... maybe after I get some sleep it'll all fit together better. ... think it's safe to go in? And make Ao angry? When is that ever safe? * Ryo slips out the door of Ao and Mariah's room and closes it gently behind him. * Mariah shrugs. "Never mind. She'll never respect me if I sleep on the couch. -- Hey, Ryo. Is she asleep?" * Ryo nods. "Yeah. She tried to use me as a pillow, but I got her a teddybear instead. ~... Ao has a teddy bear?~ She does now. Okay. Guess now's the best time... if she kills me, you guys can split up my stuff. * Isaac cackles in your heads. It's... Well,it sounds like it's out of an 80's cartoon show. Don't worry too much about waking her up, she's pleasantly drunk, so she'll sleep like the dead now. * Mariah nods. "Okay." She opens the door to her and Ao's bedroom and heads in, closing it behind her. ~Good night Mariah!~ * Kairi looks at Ryo, then smiles. "... you know, you're an awesome guy. Come calm down---er, visit Ao as much as you want." ^_^ And have a nice rest, Mariah. I'm gonna do some reading in here. * Ao-Lang KILLS MARIAH IN HER SLEEP. Ao's sleep, not Mariah's. Well, maybe not. * Ryo laughs. "I'll see you guys tomorrow in class." * Isaac waves goodbye to Ryo. * Kairi waves as well, then sits down and starts looking through the shaman book. [...the next morning, just after dawn...] * A loud *THUMP THUMP THUMP* echoes through the suite. * Karasu is already up somehow, so he goes to check. * Ao-Lang stirs, rolling over and hugging her teddy bear. * Isaac goes to check! What else is he gonna do? * Mariah wakes up with a start, grabbing her glasses and giving her hair only a cursory smoothing before she heads towards the common room. * Kairi SNORKS awake, having fallen asleep on the couch. He thankfully did not drool on his books. "... uwah?" * It seems to be coming from the front of the suite. Maybe the door. *THUMP THUMP THUMP8 * Mariah goes to open the door. "Hello?" * Ao-Lang opens her eyes groggily at the repeated thumping. "Ugh." * Isaac turns to the door. * Principal Nagawa is standing there, right outside the door, holding another large manilla envelope. .. uh.. hi, Principal Nagawa! * Ao-Lang , always ahead of the game, kindasorta rolls out of bed and lands on the floor with a thump of her own. She walks into the common room, hair loose and messed up, same clothes she wore last night (minus boots), and clutching a big, white, fluffy teddy bear to her chest. * Ao-Lang blinks at the principal a few times, as if she's trying to figure out who he is. * Kairi blinkblinks, then rises. "Uh... hello, sir! What can we do for you?" ^^; Think 's the next fight, Kai. * Quentin looks around the room. "Normally, I would deliver this to your team captain, but she seems to be absent." Bet we're up against Musashi 102. * Mariah nods, slowly. "I was going to go look for her today, but..." So it would seem * Ao-Lang yawns again, covering her mouth. "Probly still broken up." * Isaac frowns. So... um. So someone take it. 's not that hard. You are entirely correct, Miss Shen. Thanks, I'm always at my most brilliant at five in the morning or whatever time it is. I'll take it if nobody else wants it. * Quentin holds out the envelope to Mariah. "And now, unless you've any questions, I must depart." * Ao-Lang raises her hand. "I got one." Yes, Miss Shen? * Ao-Lang goes back to using that arm to hug the teddy bear. "'s pretty obvious that you guys didn't group us so the teams are balanced. It seems like you put the weakest with the weakest, even, and strongest with strongest. Like we're some of the only guys... maybe *the* only people who haven't gone ta fighting schools before." Why'd you do that? So that if you lack the spark necessary to advance under this school's admittedly harsh system, you would wash out and go where you belong. * Ao-Lang yawns. "How's grouping the strongest with the strongest prove they got spark?" .. it's harsh, but it's fair. Rather. * Isaac sighs. * Kairi hrms. "I imagine that finding the real gems requires seeing who'll ride to the end, and who'll drop." The strongest of the strong will show when those below them show the spark and surpass them. That is the nature of this school. * Ao-Lang nods. "Cool. Thought so. Thanks, sir." * Isaac nodnods. You are quite welcome, Miss Shen. Now, if there is nothing else, I must go. Your fight is on monday, during the lunch hour, in Sub-Basement five. All right. Thank you, sir. * Quentin turns on his heel and leaves. * Ao-Lang looks to the others. "You guys are my witnesses. Ryo owes me ten bucks." It would have to be during lunch ~Whyzzat Ao?~ * Ao-Lang grins. "He bet Mr. Nagawa wouldn't tell me." ~Score!~ ~... USD right?~ Yeah. ... during lunch. ~Niiiice.~ Harsh. * Kairi sighs, shaking his head. ~What's so big about eating?~ Food's good for you! * Mariah shrugs. "We'll live. It'll be okay." ... and I'm not my best on an empty stomach, but I'll manage. We can eat before the lunch hour. We get class off that day. ~Get something from town before then.~ Yeah. * Ao-Lang walks over to Mariah, taking the envelope from her and going to one of the couches, flopping onto it. She looks tired. Wonder why. ... um. Well... I overspent a little on the books, so... yeah, I might hafta skip anyway. Ah well, what doesn't kill me...--OH! ~You feeling okay Ao?~ * Kairi goes to get said books and checks them for droolstains. * Ao-Lang arranges the teddy bear on her lap and opens the envelope, pulling out the contents. "'m fucking tired, thanks." * Mariah sits down on the couch. "Yeah. Okay. So who is it?" Like I said, bet it's Musashi 102. It'd fit the pattern. * Ao-Lang takes a look. * The first page of the packet shows Clinton Sweigart. * Karasu shrugs. Hello, looks like I was right. And if it's no---... wuhoh. * Kairi makes a face. "Rather right." .. oh boy. This should be something. * Ao-Lang passes pictures and pages down when she's done with them. Mariah gets them! She's sitting next to her. * Isaac nods as he looks at the pictures. * Kairi just looks over shoulders. Friends fight friends here. Ryo totally pasted me. Get over it. * Mariah looks at the pictures and pages and passes them along. "I didn't mean it would be a bad something." Her expression is concerned, but not overly so. You needn't fight your friend necessarily. * The second picture shows a large boy with dark hair and equally dark eyes, though that's probably more the mood than anything. The name shows as "Clayton Vanvliet" Now that's a last name. Ooh, I see some angst. Maybe Karasu's soulmate? Would have thought it was two words, but maybe that's a typo. Huh. I would doubt it. * The third picture shows a boy in dark, jagged-edged black armor with a red facemask, holding a pair of short, straight swords, by the name of "Sekmet Cobra". Another armor guy... Mmm hmm. * The fourth picture shows a boy in very similar, dark armor, holding a sword second only in size to Hope's zanbatou. * The name reads "Kale Panther" Hmph. It's like we're fighting clones. .. two of those guys on one team. Okay... Who's Clinton's clone? Kai? Perhaps. Armor, armor, armor... and I dunno. Maybe. * The fifth and final picture shows a happily smiling boy with tanned skin and bright blond hair, lounging on a folding beach chair, with the name "Yarslov Popovych". * Mariah frowns. "Why am I most worried about the happy ones?" It's always the happy ones, they say... ^^ Well, he's cute. me passes that one off, too. "Very testosterone heavy. Wonder if that's part of why Clinton's all feminine." ~Could be.~ I think he's been that way since middle school, at least. It's probably just his style. Hmmmm... this is probably going to be a really tough fight. Like, majorly tough. They know us, at least a little. They get the same info we do. * Ao-Lang is looking through said info now. Yeah, we both have time to plan ahead. * Karasu nods. Even still... I mean, more on a personal level. At least Clinton does. And there's something about knowing a person that way... ~I doubt you talk about top sekrit battle plans while doing whatever icky stuff you do.~ .. well, if you're worried about it, we could make sure that we don't pair up anyone with anyone they know. Hey, 's not that icky. * Ao-Lang pauses. "Least, it isn't with Ryo. Who knows about Clinton." ... * Kairi doesn't pry, or think about that too much. * Ao-Lang keeps looking through the stuff! Uh... we better look at their stats. * Karasu nods. * Yarslov's profile reveals him to be a born and bred california beach bum who fights mixed close and mid range. His power ratings show him as pretty much average in every category, though a bit higher on speed than everything else. He's noted as fighting, oddly, using a folding beach chair, and is lightly aligned to Fire. .. okay, that's sort of weird... Only sort-of, mind. Remember the guy with the goat? Oh, I'm sure he can fight. He wouldn't be here otherwise, right? * Isaac nods. Reminds me of Ikea. Maybe they're secretly related. * As a matter of fact, Yarslov is noted as having studied roughly the same style, though his style is noted as being much more... rough around the edges. * Ao-Lang goes backwards and checks out Kyle Panther. * That's Kale Panther, missy. He's noted as being a very powerful Shadow fighter, extremely heavy on speed and strength, but seriously weak on defense and a zero rating for range. Okay... * The armor, while it adds some protective value, appears to be not nearly enough to cover for his lack of defensive technique. * Ao-Lang rubs at her eyes. Not much up-close. Hm. * Further, Kale is noted as being extremely vulnerable to Dark, even to the point of total darkness canceling out some of his techniques. ... 'kay, Karasu? You'd totally destroy this guy. * Ao-Lang holds the sheet up to him. * Isaac thinks... Raven Wing would do it, I bet. * Ao-Lang looks at Sekmet's now. * Karasu nods. "I'll fight him then." Well, taking him out early'd be good. He'll cause damage if he can get in on a team up against us. So, maybe I can help or something. Just get him from range first thing. Hmmm... really need someone I can handle... * Sekmet is noted as a more moderate fighter than Kale, with less speed and strength, but MUCH better defense, and several mid-range techniques to complement a strong melee rating. He's also noted as being aligned with both Shadow and Poison, with moderate weakness to both Earth and Dark. * Ao-Lang grumbles. "Hope'd be good to at least stall this guy, if she's still alive." Hmm.. yeah, this is an interesting lineup. Not a whole lot of weaknesses against us, but not a lot of strength. This guy sounds like you need endurance... * Ao-Lang continues with the information dump, going to Clayton. More than endurance... a little luck, too, and a strong melee game. * Mariah nods. "He'll be tricky." Like I said, Hope'd be good. Get someone to roam and punk him if she has him occupied... * Clayton is noted as coming from a hard-headed berserker school, even heavier on strength than Kale, with no defense at all, and much less speed, but his strength rating is literally off the chart. He's listed, strangely, as non-typed, making him one of the few jokers in the school. Okay, this guy isn't such a big deal. Just stay out of his reach. * Ao-Lang frowns a little. "Gonna check out how big that basement is today." ... yeah, we got our powerhouse here. Got a feeling you either dodge or get creamed. Yeah -- maybe you'd be good, Kai? You're fast. * Karasu nods. I'm... alright. * Ao-Lang flips to Clinton's sheet. "I think we should *all* stay out of range." We have range. Use it. We're all faster than that guy. Yeah, we're going to have to go very range-focused. ~I have some range!~ * Last, but definitely not least, is Mariah's date from last night, Clinton. He's noted as being strongly air-typed, with a large weakness to Earth, coming from a school that emphasises deflection and avoidance of attack to wear down the opponent. Low strength and range, very high speed and defense. Hey, he *is* Kai's double. I thought so. Wow, weird... * Ao-Lang sighs and slumps. "Hope'd be helpful here. Okay, take out the heavy hitters first. You give them time and they'll walk over you. That means Clayton and Kale." ~That's funky fresh.~ They can't dodge, either, which'll make things easy. * Ao-Lang pauses. "Well, relatively easy." * Mariah nods. "That makes sense.. keep our distance and drop them fast?" ... wow. he really is. huh. Yeah. Just first thing. I'm gonna check the basement after school and see if we got room to start at a distance. ~You want me to come with Ao?~ If we don't, we *really* need to drop them, y'know? Uh, sure. Why not. Okay. I kind of want to go find Hope today. * Ao-Lang hands the rest of the sheets to Mariah. "And the rest... heh, Hope'd spaz, with me acting like leader. Yeah, send out the rescue party." I'll be alright... still need to do some more reading. I'm gonna sleep on it. I'll try to come up with some sort of plan. G'night. * Ao-Lang stands and stumbles back to her bed. * Ao-Lang has the teddy bear, too, so nyah. * Mariah nods, setting the papers down on the table. "Okay. .. maybe I should get an early start. I mean, I'm already up." Night again, Ao. ~You're smart Ao. I think you do make a better leader.~ * Ao-Lang looks at Isaac and smiles a little. "Thanks." And she heads into her and Mariah's room, flopping into bed. * Kairi smiles a little, but wisely doesn't say anything. ... this could be hard. Oh, well. Guess tomorrow's gonna be training day. Want to come hunt too, or am I on my own? * Isaac smiles back. I'll come with you, Mariah. I could help out, too. Might as well try together. That'd be good. I'm not sure where to start looking and if she's going to be in any mood to come back, so... the more the merrier. * Karasu shrugs. "I'm merely bored." [Fight... END!]