[Last Time, on Battle High: Oh the fur it was a-flyin', and the angst it was a poolin', and Ao-Lang stormed out just like a teenager, and then Mariah sorta guilt tripped a bit, and learned how the horsey moves.] [At about 4:30, half an hour or so before the little party to watch the fight, Ao-Lang finally comes back, walking in on Isaac and Mariah necki^W playing chess, while Karasu watches In The Army, starring Pauley Shore.] [Session... START!] * Ao-Lang walks in. She's... muddy. Caked in mud, and her shirt's still ripped and her hair's still messed from the fights earlier that day. * Ao-Lang looks around dully. * Mariah looks up from a game of chess. (It doesn't look to be going terribly well for her.) "Hi. How are you doing?" * Ao-Lang shrugs. She walks across the room, tracking mud with her bare feet, and closes the bathroom door behind her. It locks, and the water turns on. .. okay. I hope whatever she did in the mud helped. * Karasu is there, too. * Isaac sighs. * Mariah looks impassive. * Karasu gets up and walks off. * The door knocks. * No, that's not right. Somebody knocks on the door. Should I get tat? (that) * Karasu gets it, since he's there. ~Yeah, get it...~ * A wild Arthur appears. * Isaac attacks! Not really. He does wave to The Arthur, though. * Arthur smiles happily. "Hey, Isaac. Karasu. You guys ready? The others'll be over in a few minutes." ~Ao's seriously pissed.~ * Karasu shrugs and moves aside so he can get in. * Isaac sent that to Arthur. Oh, hi! Yeah, I think we're as ready as we're going to get. * Arthur looks oddly at Karasu, then steps inside and starts pulling the snacks out of the bags and opening them. It's been hard trying to avoid the buzz this afternoon, a lot of people watched this video right after lunch. There's *buzz*? I'd hate to hear the spoilers. Yeah, half the people who saw it are in awe of your skill, the rest are... um... really, REALLY angry. .. why? Did they have money against us? Or what? Dunno, I was trying not to listen. I heard a lot of comments about you guys not being real fighters, though. Oh, I bet it was the... oh, yeah. Well, they're going to have to deal with it. * Karasu smirks at that. He doesn't say anything, though. * Isaac rolls his eyes. * Mariah stands up and surveys the state of the common room. "Do you think we need to do anything with the furniture?" * Karasu reclaims his easychair. Not really. If you need more, Ikea can hook you up. Okay. It might not be a bad idea to have more chairs, unless people are okay with the floor. Well, even if we don't need more, Ikea always brings his own chair, so I don't think we need to worry. If you're sure. * Ao-Lang keeps showering! At least, one would assume so, since the water keeps going. * Tanisha sticks her head in the door and knocks loudly. "Hey, you guys ready?" -- yeah! As much as we're ever going to be! Well, Ao-Lang's still in the shower, but other than that... * Tanisha smiles and walks in all the way, grabbing a seat at one end of a couch. "Well, Ryo's still in the shower, too. Came in muddy as hell and soaked to the bone." * Mariah takes a seat before they all fill up. "I'd ask what the heck they were up to, but... I dunno if I want to know." I'm sure it's nothing like THAT. Rowan and Ikea will be over as soon as they finish the last of today's homework. * Isaac blinks. ~Did we have homework to do?~ .. we might. I don't really remember. * Karasu shrugs. "I finished all the work I had some time ago." * Ikea and Rowan walk through the door, one after the other. Ikea gives a small wave, and Rowan calls out, "Howdy. You guys ready?" I guess so. Ao's still in the shower; maybe we should wait for her? * Isaac nods. You guys were excused for today, on account of the fight. You should probably do the homework anyway, though. Exams are soon. Yeah, I think I'm gonna do some cramming. I'm worried about math. * Ao-Lang finally turns off the shower. She doesn't immediately come out, though. Her voice starts to come through the door; it sounds like she's doing something in between singing and praying. You're so lucky to have Ao-Lang and Isaac on this team. I'm stuck with the biggest bunch of lunkheads in the year. Not a shred of math skill in any of 'em. * Mariah nods. "I don't want to lean on Isaac too much, but... I'm going to need some help with this geometry stuff. You don't mind, right, Isaac?" * Isaac shakes his head, a little distracted but still paying attention. ^^ Thanks. If there's anything I can help you with, I'd be glad to, but you're really a better student than I am, you know? * Isaac nods. * Rowan hops over the couch and plops down next to Tanisha. * Ikea pulls a chair out of nowhere, sets it on the floor, and sits carefully, avoiding obscuring anybody's view. * Isaac has a seat on the sofa. * Ao-Lang opens the door and emerges from the shower clad, as is typical for her, in just a towel. Well, and there's one in her hair, too, so two towers. She's still damp. * Isaac waves at Ao-Lang. * Ao-Lang looks around blankly for a moment before she seems to notice other people are there. "Oh, hey guys." Hi. (er, two towels, not two towers. Maybe I've heard of too much LotR lately.) Ryo's not here. * The bathroom door swings slowly shut behind Ao-Lang. * Ao-Lang stands there, drippy and just wearing a towel, idly talking to Isaac. Yup, most normal thing in the world. * Ryo walks in the door, having forsaken his armor for shorts and a t-shirt, both black. Hey, everybody ready? * Ao-Lang waves at Ryo as he walks in. She smiles a little. I think so... * Ryo waves happily, then grabs a glass and pours himself some Coke(r) * Rowyn turns his head a bit, looking back over his shoulder, and doubletakes. * Ao-Lang starts toweling off her hair and walking towards Ryo, which basically means walking past everyone else. "Stupid mud took forever to wash out." * Ao-Lang walks, but her towel... doesn't. It appears to have a corner stuck in the bathroom door. * Rowan doubletakes again and stares, eyes bugging out. About half a second later, he catches Tanisha's elbow in the nose and then he can't see anything but PAIN. * Arthur turns beet red and turns his head away, shielding his eyes. * Ikea... doesn't appear to notice. * Ao-Lang yelps and trips as her towel refuses to go with her, and then she falls, and she's... naked. And wet. On the floor. * Mariah sees just enough reaction in her peripheral vision to keep eyes forward. * Ao-Lang curses in Chinese, with translates as well as it might. She sounds more annoyed with herself than embarrassed as she goes about trying to grab the towel from the door it's caught in. * Tanisha hops up off the floor and pops the bathroom door open. * Ao-Lang yanks the towel from the door. "Thanks." * Isaac doesn't notice. * Isaac doesn't seem to notice, anyways. * Tanisha laughs and stands between Ao and everybody else. "No problem." * Ao-Lang takes half a moment to glance at everyone else, gauging their reactions and Rowan's poor possibly broken nose, and then rushes to her bedroom and shuts the door. * Ryo doesn't move. At all. * Mariah attempts to look totally clueless. It sort of works. * Tanisha pulls the tape out of her backpack and slips it into the VCR, but doesn't start it just yet. * Arthur fairly jumps off the couch and says quickly, "Mariah, you want any snacks?" Sure! Remind me what all we have? Um, Doritos(r), popcorn, some strawberry pocky, some odd japanese stuff with little bits in it, coke, pepsi, and sprite. * Arthur pours himself a glass of Pepsi while Mariah decides. Pass the Pocky? And a Sprite, if you wouldn't mind. * Arthur pours a sprite, too, and grabs a pack of pocky and a bag of doritos, then plops down next to Mariah. * Karasu fills a glass half with Coke, half with Pepsi, takes a bag of white popcorn, and returns to his seat. Any reaction to nakedivity? Nope. But he's bishi, so he's probably gay anyhow. * Tanisha shifts over to sit on the end of the couch next to Karasu. * Rowan stands up slowly and grabs some sprite and one of the packs of pocky. * Mariah takes pocky and Sprite. "Thanks!" * Tanisha raises her voice a bit and says loudly, "Ao-Lang, you ready yet?" * Ao-Lang opens the door and emerges from her room. Now she's dressed, and in red and gold, matching silk outfit: shorts and a sleeveless shirt. It looks like they could very well be pajamas, but she doesn't seem to care. Her hair's combed, too, though still wet. "Yeah." * Isaac waves to Ao. ^^ * Ao-Lang pads over to Ryo. She's barefoot, yup. * Ryo doesn't respond. * Ao-Lang waves her hand in front of Ryo's face. * Ryo doesn't move. Not even to blink. * Ao-Lang sneaks her face in and up, kissing him on the mouth. * Ryo falls over backwards. * Isaac blinks. * Ao-Lang laughs into his mouth and grabs onto Ryo, trying to keep him from falling. ... okaaay... * Tanisha laughs and reaches out to push the tape in. The VCR starts up, replacing Pauley Shore with... the opening room of sub-basement 5, where your opponents are just tromping into the room. * The camera zooms in on Isaac's face as his eyes turn red for a moment. What the heck was that? Tanisha, back that up, will you? * Mariah leans forward. She looks as surprised as anyone. "... what?" * Tanisha obligingly pauses and rewinds a bit, freezing the frame on Isaac's red eyes. * Isaac blinks. * Karasu eats popcorn. * Arthur eyes Isaac. "You not telling us something, Isaac?" What's with the red eyes? * Isaac looks at Arthur, his eyes flashing red briefly when they make contact. Yeah, what's up with that? * Isaac shrugs. * Arthur's eyes widen. "Ooooooh, you can do it offensively, can't you?" * In the back of the room, Ryo takes a half-step back, catching his balance. Read minds. Telepathy. Knowing what the opponent is thinking before he gets around to doing it. * Ao-Lang keeps clinging to Ryo and stands on her toes, whispering something in his ear. .. you should probably tell me about this later. * Tanisha goes pale. "You mean... you can do more than just talk at people? * Isaac nods, sending a message to the people in the room. ~Not much more, honest.~ ^^; Yah, bud you gan see what dey gudda do. * Ao-Lang leads Ryo over to the seating area by the hand. She finds a nice spot on the floor and has a seat, pulling him down. * Ryo sits down right next to Ao-Lang, leaning back against one side of the couch. ~Is there, um, something wrong with that? I don't try to do it, it just kinda happens!~ That's a huge tactical advantage. * Ao-Lang leans against Ryo. Wet hair! He probably doesn't mind. * Tanisha unpauses the video. Principal Quentin appears now, and says softly, "It's time to learn about the special conditions of this fight." * The camera fragments, showing the face of each of the fighters, many of whom look utterly shocked. * Karasu eats popcorn and drinks Coke. And Pepsi! At the same time! * Mariah sips her Sprite. "Oh, yeah, this was pretty weird." * Karasu does not look utterly shocked. In the video or here. Behind me is an immense underground complex, essentially a dungeon. Your fight will take place entirely inside the dungeon. Because of the cramped space within, it will be effectively impossible to hold a large brawl between the entirety of both teams. In addition to this, one team will enter first, with a head start of one minute. One minute after you enter, the other team will be loosed to hunt you down. The last team with standing members wins. It is up to you how you decide who will be first in, and who will be second. * Arthur whistles. "How dungeony was it, really?" ~Very!~ .. well, there weren't rats or anything, but it was pretty twisty. ~No boobie traps, though. ~ * Ao-Lang yawns a little. "There was a lot of space for a dungeon." * On screen, after a moment's hesitation, Clinton says "We will allow them to choose." Tanisha pauses the video instantly. * Arthur snarfs soda all over himself. * Rowan and Ryo both crack up laughing, having been lucky enough to NOT be drinking soda at the time. How could he possibly be that stupid? What was going on in his head? Beats me. * Arthur blinks away tears from the pain of carbonated nose, and looks at Isaac. "I bet he does." I think he was hoping we'd make a mistake? It's hard to tell. * Arthur reaches out and grabs a napkin to clean soda off his shirt. * Tanisha unpauses the video as she shoots an odd look at Isaac. * Isaac smiles sheepishly. * On screen, Karasu chooses to go first, with quick confirmation from Ao-Lang and Isaac. * Mariah glances at Isaac and frowns slightly. * Quentin's lips twitch just a little, as if he would like to smile, then steps aside, towards Clinton. "Then enter. Your sixty seconds begins as soon as the last of you is through the door. * It's quite obvious that Isaac, Mariah, and Ao-Lang are all participating in an impromptu telepathic conference on screen. EItehr that, or they have an entire language composed of nothing but facial expressions. When Mariah fails to follow the other three into the maze, Arthur cracks up laughing. * Ao-Lang smiles, still snuggled into Ryo. .. hey, it made sense at the time! * The screen splits, half watching Mariah, half following the other three, and it's really funny watching the other team getting antsy. No wonder they're pissed at you. I can't believe you did this. It was so obvious. You would've done it. I wouldn't've. You're crazy. Only because you're not smart enough to think of it. I'd have thought of it, and made you guys do it. * Mariah shrugs. "Well, it was fair, wasn't it? And it wasn't like it won the fight for us alone." If they'd outfought us, we still would have lost. Yeah, but their entire initial advantage is gone, at this point. You have more time than they thought, better coordination, mindreading... * On screen, Yarslov decks Kale before he can call Mariah a naughty name. Correction, you guys are ahead at this point. We were also outnumbered. That advantage is gone now. * Karasu nods. We were also pretty shaken up, you know. They gave it up when they let you go in first, and when you guys took the extra time at the beginning. Didn't have to be gone. * Ao-Lang sounds kind of sleepy. * Arthur looks to his side at Mariah. "reading the energy fields?" * Isaac blinks. ~Huh?~ * Mariah shrugs and takes another sip of her Sprite. "They needed an excuse, didn't they?" * On screen, Mariah takes off into the maze. * Over the next minute, the screen shows your starting positions, especially the massive ambush set up by Ao-Lang, Mariah, and Isaac. Then the perspective shifts to Karasu just in time for the resounding CRASH of Clayton going straight through a door. What the hell was THAT? Clayton. That was their berserker. * On-screen, Karasu backs around a corner and watches as Clayton runs past in a frenzy. They can see flecks of foam flying off his mouth as he runs, the picture is so good. * Ao-Lang yawns again. "That's kinda gross." Why'd you run away? ~Are YOU going to stand in front of that?~ He really was worked up, wasn't he? Wow. * Tanisha's eyes go wide as Clayton gets caught in an immense crossfire of three people, and comes out of it wet and angry. * Rowan whistles. "Daaaaamn, how'd he take that much punishment?" It was a part of my plan. * Isaac eyes Karasu. * As if triggered by Karasu's statement, the dark raven of energy slams into Clayton's back and the berserker goes running back down the corridor, being peppered with attacks all the way. Ooooh, nice plan. I'm impressed. Lemme guess, he was all psyched up to kill Karasu, so you lured him to the end of the longest corridor, then made him run all the way down? * Isaac nods. * Karasu nods. * Mariah nods. "That was the size of it." Yeah, I wanted him angry at me. ~You did a good job of that!~ * Ao-Lang doesn't respond. Of course they'd sic him on Karasu, they've got two people that Karasu could punk in one hit. * Tanisha pauses as the camera stops to watch what appears to be another telepathic conference. "What were you guys saying, here? That's the problem with telepathy, it's so damn hard to review later." I don't remember. Weren't we just doing play-by-play? We had to take him out fast. I thought we were making too much noise, so we had to take him out fast. * Tanisha nods and unpauses it. Clayton speeds down the hall. ...he wasn't that fast before. Yeah, we don't know what happened. He really sped up. * Tanisha pales as Clayton jumps up over Karasu's head for the downward special. "He means to kill there. I swear, he does. He could have KILLED YOU!" Is he INSANE?! * Karasu nods and says nothing. * On screen, Karasu blocks, then lashes out with the pointed hand and roundhouse kick that very nearly took Clayton's head off, and Tanisha calms down a little. .. I think he is. The next time we fight them, I'm going to teach him the true meaning of pain. ~Crazy, nuts... yeah. I remember an outrage of emotion there...~ * The camera cuts back to Ao-Lang, Mariah, and Isaac as Yarslov pursues Mariah right into a three way crossfire and goes down in a hail of special attacks. The room goes silent. * Ao-Lang smiles a little. * Isaac grins. * The screen goes split again as Karasu engages Kale and Sekmet, but Tanisha pauses it there. ...three on one? Isaac didn't really get his hit in, but it coulda been. Well, I can see why half the school is angry with you. Not terribly sporting. * Isaac nods. It's in the rules. The other team would've done it if they thought of it. It happens everytime there's a free-for-all. You don't automatically pair up. Maybe. I know a lot of people would have tried to pair off. Then they deserve to lose. * Karasu folds his legs. "Precisely. This was, after all, a team event." * Ryo nods. And the setup with the dungeon made it kind of clear that it was all about ambushes and tactical use of terrain. It wasn't the nicest thing we could have done, but I don't think it was unfair. * Ao-Lang snorts, but she doesn't say anything. Just as long as you're prepared to defend that to all the people who think it -was- an unfair thing to do. * Tanisha snorts. "If those plebians aren't smart enough to make the rules work for them, they deserve what they get. If people want to take it up with us, they can do that. I think we're able to defend ourselves. * Tanisha unpauses again and lets the tape run. On screen, the badly wounded Karasu ducks out from cover and fires a pair of raven wings at Kale, blowing straight through his frantic block and dropping him in a matter of seconds. Tanisha applauds. "That's two kills for my Karasu!" * The camera cuts back to the other group, and this time you can see the ripple of air as a crescent of wind whips around a corner and into Ao-Lang, lashing out around her like a loose electric line. * Arthur winces. "That's one of Clint's specials. He's way too good at firing around corners." * Karasu eats popcorn, watching without expression. Angst angst angst. Clint's a really strong fighter. ~He was pretty scary during the fight.~ Yeah, he always has been. Did they tell you guys that Clint's school is designed specifically for fighting against groups of enemies? I don't think they did. * Isaac shakes his head. Yeah, if you ever fight him again, back off and fight him one on one. I guess you guys had to find out the hard way. THis is gonna be painful. I figured it out during the fight, but then it was too late. * On screen, Clinton redirects Mariah's pebble spray straight into Ao-Lang's face, nearly penetrating her guard. Oh, yeah. We did that. * A small picture-in-picture box shows Karasu wandering around, following nothing. Karasu, what WERE you doing? You'll see. * Tanisha's eyes go wide as Sekmet appears behind Karasu after two feints, lashing out with a nasty looking poison special. She inhales as Karasu blocks and throws a raven wing in response, then jumps to her feet cheering when the roundhouse kick nearly takes Sekmet's head off and sends him flying down the hall. "YES! BEAUTIFUL!" * Tanisha pauses, rewinds, and lets everybody see that one again. Would you look at that? LOOK AT THAT! * Ao-Lang says, sleepily, "Yeah, we know you're in love." * Tanisha glares at Ao-Lang. * Isaac shrugs. * Rowan hooks one foot around Tanisha's ankle and pushes with the other, sitting her back down with a loud *THUMP* * Karasu grins and eats more popcorn. * On screen, the camera cuts back to Ao-Lang as she throws open the door to reveal Clinton, and behind him, Isaac. ~Karasu was good this fight.~ ^^ ... yeah, this is where it starts to get a little nasty. Oh no, you didn't. ~We still won, though.~ Yeah, but it can't be long before Ao-Lang gets put down. ~That was Mariah's fault, really.~ * The first round of attacks starts, and Clinton deflects Isaac's attack, then catches Mariah's pebble spray on his staff. * Ao-Lang murmurs, "'Riah shoulda known. First spray." She snuggles into Ryo's lap and closes her eyes. I'm sorry; it took me longer than it should have to catch on. So yeah, my bad. * On screen, Ao-Lang takes half the pebble spray right in the face, with Isaac taking the rest, and counterattacking fiercely. See, right here's the big problem. Karasu just came in, and there's no spot in hand to hand left. I bet he goes ranged. ~Good guess.~ * On screen, Karasu does just that, sailing a Raven Wing in over Isaac's head, which is promptly grabbed by Clinton and used to take Ao-Lang out of the fight. Yeah, ranged attacks are always a bad idea against Clinton. Your own, your buddies, whatever. THey're HIS. * Ao-Lang doesn't even react, really. She's just about dozed off. I didn't think an energy projectile could be grabbed at all. We know that now. We made a lot of mistakes here, really, but if we have a rematch we'll know better. Still, doesn't matter. They gave up too many advantages too early. And Ao-Lang put the ending blow in on Clinton before the little crossfire really got started. * On screen, time slows down even from the slow motion Tanisha has been using, as Isaac slams attack after attack into Clinton's guard, snapping the staff at the visible gouge from the tessen strike earlier. * The tape cuts out as the Principal appears to declare Alexander 103 the winners. An impressive example of how much some teams have to learn. * Ikea stands up, his chair vanishes in an instant, and he walks out of the room. * Isaac blinks and watches Ikea leave. ~What's his problem?~ .. I dunno. I guess he's just really into it? No problem. He's always like that. Really serious. Raised in a monastery. .. oh, that'd do it. I'd give a week's worth of homework to know if he was talking about you or them, though. * Karasu finishes his popcorn and heads to the bathroom to wash off his hands. That artificial cheese stuff is a pain to get off. I don't think I want to know. Like I said before... if people have problems with us, they can take them up with us. * Ao-Lang doesn't comment. She's probably asleep. ~Hmm, I'm not sure, actually... Ie's just... displeased. Is he always unhappy like this?~ I didn't think he's EVER unhappy. Or happy, for that matter. * Isaac nods. ~I guess that would make sense.~ * Tanisha rewinds it to the beginning and starts it playing again. [Session... END!]