[Last Time, on Battle High: People talked, and talked, and talked, and talked, and talked. Then they talked a bit more. Then Karasu went and bought some snacks from the overpriced vending machine. Then people talked. Nobody knows exactly what conclusions they reached, not even the ones who did the talking.] [Regardless, the night has passed, and sleep was had, and lo did the next day arrive, like whoa, and with it, a day of classes. There is a test tomorrow (that's friday, for those playing the home game), and TONIGHT, oh, tonight, there is one of the most highly anticipated matches of the tournament, Son Wukong 102 v Musashi 103.] [This match is highly anticipated because, in spite of the massive gap in the ranks of the two teams (Wukong at #1, Musashi at #7), Musashi has a pair of massive advantages. Not only are they up one man on Wukong, they ALSO have three elemental advantages swinging in their favor, and none against.] [The morning's classes passed terribly slowly, especially given that your professors, bastards to the end, do no review. They keep teaching new material right up to the day of the test, though luckily, the contents of the test only cover up to last friday.] [VERY oddly, both teams, though they be scheduled to fight at noon, attended the morning's classes as though they weren't about to fight, and the confidence they displayed only served to heighten the air of anticipation.] [The final bell of the morning's classes has sounded, and that means it's time. Time to either get lunch, or watch the rumble on the wall.] [Ready... FIGHT!] * As the final bell sounds, the classroom begins to empty like whoa. Not only are people taking the stairs, the more acrobatically inclined have started vacating class tower via the second and third story windows. ~Eager today, aren't they?~ I can't blame them. We'd better rush to get somewhere decent to sit... * Karasu shrugs. Excitement! ~Yeah, let's get moving.~ * Ao-Lang snaps her notebook shut, gathers her books, and dashes out of there, ducking around the taller students as she goes. * Mariah` gets on getting on, gathering her books as quickly as she can manage before making the dash. * Mariah` is now known as Mariah * Isaac follows Ao-Lang, deftly taking the quickest route through the forest of people. * Karasu follows after! * Most of the students have opted to sacrifice lunch in favor of getting better seats, and as you pass by one of the windows on the way out, you can see that the real prime viewing spot, the first floor roof, is almost completely taken. There's one flat spot left, but all the bleacher-like sloped roof bits are already taken. ... hmm... where to go... * There's plenty of less advantageous viewing space left on the ground, though. * Ao-Lang spots that seat and comments to Isaac, who's nearby, "I'm going to make sure I get a good view of this. See you after the fight." And she starts weaving through students to the little gap remaining. * Isaac nods. ~I'll see through you if you don't mind, and I can't find a good spot?~ * Ao-Lang thinks back: ~Okay.~ * Ao-Lang is situated in just a few minutes, being acrobatically inclined, and it's not surprising that by the time Isaac, Mariah, and Karasu get downstairs, she's there, and it looks like everybody else has assumed she's saving the spot for her team, because it's still pretty much open. * Karasu takes a spot. Hey, it's open. * Isaac takes the spot near Ao-Lang that's still open, assuming it can accomidate them adequately. * Ao-Lang is there, and making herself comfortable. She sure didn't discourage the impression that she's saving the place for everyone else, as she's putting her books away without comment. Hey, her team's coming back! Fancy that. * Mariah will take it, then! * Karasu glances upwards. * Ao-Lang waves Karasu back up when he looks that way. * Karasu shakes his head and concentrates his gaze on the battleground. * Some two minutes later, as the crow flies, the clock strikes twelve. You can tell, not because of the clock tower, which Battle High doesn't have, but because of the massive intake and holding of breath as the students wait for the appearance of our competitors. * Ao-Lang shrugs. His loss. She goes about watching from her nice viewing spot. * Mariah settles in to watch. * The first team to come out is Wukong 102, prompting a massive sigh as 90% of the freshmen let out their breath all at once. They walk out, ignoring the crowd, until someone with a sense of humor turns on a song and cranks the volume. o/~ ...and it's so easy when you're eeeeevil! o/~ * Isaac giggles mentally. ... that's... kind of appropriate. * Ao-Lang coughs into her hand. * Karasu doesn't change expressions. * At that, Tulpa turns around, green eye glowing visibly even in the bright noon light, looks up towards the roof, and nods after listening for a moment. * Then he turns back towards the wall and completes his walk, leaping easily up onto the roof, along with his team. They take up positions at a signifigant distance from each other along the wall. * Ao-Lang stretches her legs, looking over Wukong 102. * Wukong 102 looks rather like they don't expect much of a fight at all. They look... almost bored, in fact, aside from Tulpa, who is still amused by that song. * The song finishes playing just in time for Musashi 103 to exit the main gate of the castle, Ryo in the lead, for the first time clad in his almost robotic-looking red samurai armor. Flanking him in a single rank of four is the rest of his team. Arthur's armor and shield are painfully bright, and the aura of blackness radiating from Tanisha adds an uncomfortable contrast, making it seem even brighter. Wow! ~This is gonna be good.~ * You almost don't recognize Rowan, clad in sky blue armor similar in style, if not detail, to Ryo's, already bearing his massive polearm, and beside the rest of his team, Ikea appears particularly plain, his folding chair held propped on his shoulder, already flaming. * Ao-Lang squints, shading her eyes. I wonder. * As they near the wall, they leap straight up, landing staggered throughout the ranks of their opponents, with no apparent regard for strengths or weaknesses. The wall is only wide enough for two people to stand side by side in the narrow dimension, and neither team is using even that much. * At the top of Fight Tower, Principal Nagawa appears, apparently having decided to referee this match personally. He steps off the roof and falls five floors down, landing as though he hadn't jumped more than a few feet, then perches atop the fixture looking out from the front gates of the school. Wukong, Ready? * Tanisha (Of the Opie variety), already crouched into a rather feral looking stance, growls on behalf of her team, "READY." Musashi, Ready? * Ryo calls out loudly, voice sounding odd from behind his mempo, "READY!" * Principal Nagawa raises one arm, then after a moment, lets it drop as he calls, "BEGIN!" * Before the word is even fully out of the principal's mouth, Musashi 103 has leapt into action. Literally. They're all in the air except Arthur, who charges past Tanisha Opie, shield extended before him. He slams into Tulpa, then plants one foot, pivots, and slams his longsword into Tulpa's own armor, cutting deeply into whatever it's made of. It's certainly not metal, or at least, doesn't SOUND like it. * Tulpa looks down at the sword, then raises one gauntleted fist and slams it into Arthur's cheek, knocking him several feet straight back, his armored boots throwing up a trail of sparks until he manages to throw one leg back and stop himself. * In the air above the wall, odd and acrobatic things are happening. Ryo and Ikea meet in the air, turning as one, and dive for Lance Haverland, Wukong's unfortunate Ice-based fighter, chair and twin katana blazing with fire. * Karasu watches intently. * Below them, Lance whips his namesake weapon around his body, trailing a line of frost, then sets it, business-end first right in the path of the oncoming fighters. * Mariah watches. ".. wow..." * Ao-Lang winces pre-emptively. ~That won't end well.~ * At the last moment, Ikea twists and slams Ryo off to the side, and lands, flaming chair first, on the point of the lance. As he slides down the shaft, flaming chair in the lead, Ryo lands heavily several feet to the side, nearly off the wall entirely. .. either they've got something *wild* planned, or this is about to get bad. * Karasu cups his chin, eyes hidden by his shades. * Ikea's flaming chair collides with Lance's skull with a dull thunk, and it finally becomes apparent what his plan was. His body, even as it reels backward, unconsious, erupts, ice growing out in an explosion-like pattern. Inside a large central crystal, Ikea and Lance are trapped together in a pose of mutual destruction, while several feet away, Ryo is trapped in another large icicle, a look of surprise and anger captured on his face. * Mariah eeps. * Ao-Lang frowns slightly. * Isaac frowns. * Higher still above Ikea and Ryo, Rowan and Tanisha meet in the air, both looking as though they were born to fly. Their feet meet at the apex of their twin leap, and they use each other as a push-point. Tanisha rockets down the wall at literally insane speeds for her opposite number, Tanisha Opie. The cry of "Dwell in Darkness!" echoes across the campus as she impacts, but detail is lost as the pair are cloaked in a large globe of darkness. * Rowan plummets toward his own opposite number, naginata extended before him like some fantastic Dragoon. Lonnie Knupp does the one thing everybody expects, and it's not a bad move here, actually. As Rowan falls toward him at terrific speeds, he pulls from some other place a massive log, balanced on both hands, and heaves it upward, straight at Rowan. * Unfortunately, the expected move proves to be exactly the WRONG move, as Rowan twists in the air, lands feet first on top of the caber, and with a magically assisted squat-thrust, sends it back to slam straight into its thrower, while pushing himself back up into the air at the same time. .. dang! * Ao-Lang nods. * Isaac winces. * On the other end of the wall, in the globe of darkness... there's a feral scream of "DARK LION RAGE!", and a stream of blood erupts from the near side of the globe. * Arthur catches his balance and wipes the blood from his cheek, the crouches slightly and rockets into the air. His armor and shield flash brightly at the apex, though luckily the crowd is spared most of the blinding effect. With a cry of "SHINING FORCE!" he rockets downward, shield leading the way, sword cocked back to strike. * Tulpa raises his hands as Arthur comes down, holding them out palms first, as though to ward him off. A moment later, Arthur impacts, and an immense black hexagon flashes out from the point of impact. Beneath Tulpa, the entire section of wall on which he is standing just... buckles, slumping under the strain, though not yet falling. * Arthur growls in anger and whips his sword forward at the barrier, but it passes straight through. * Tulpa reaches out with one gauntleted hand, grabs the sword by its blade, and flings Arthur twenty feet down the wall, until he skids to a stop over the gates and slowly rolls to his feet. * From inside the globe of darkness, another scream of "DARK LION RAGE!" is immediately followed by the answer of "DARK MIRROR!". A fraction of a second later, Tanisha Opie, face twisted into her customary mask of rage, flies out of the darkness and skids down the wall, covered in cuts from her own attack. They may yet stand a chance. Ryo and Ikea being out hurts them. A lot. * Isaac nods. ~Well, they were counting on those two. They were taken out by one member.~ ~Giving the other side the advantage.~ * It takes her even less time to recover than to finish her skid, and she rockets back into the globe, letting her screem echo wildly out of it, "DARK LION RAVAGER!" An almost ultrasonic scream lashes out from the globe, and a camera in the hands of a sophomore next to you shatters. Plastic, glass, and all. One of the seniors curses as his own reading glasses shatter under the impact, and even Karasu's shades crack in three places. They've definitely got a fight in front of them, at least - gah! * The globe of light drops, and Tanisha Hoveland rockets down the wall, slamming into Arthur's back and ricocheting off to roll down the mountain. If she's not unconsious, she's -definitely- ring-out. * Ao-Lang grimaces as she gets a few cuts. She brushes glass off of herself. * The sophomore beside Ao-Lang curses loudly and in three different languages, though it's hard to tell which, through the translation effect. * Mariah winces. "That... ow. Geez!" ~Really brutal.~ * On the opposite end of the wall, Rowan reaches the top of his flight. He turns in midair, spinning wildly, then extends his naginata, gathering all the momentum into it. An instant later, the attack, visible only as a ripple in the air, is on its way with a cry of "VACUUM BREAK!" * The cutting blade of nothing spirals down through the air, cutting the caber into two distinct but intertwined pieces, and cuts deeply into Lonnie's chest, sending blood spurting to either side. * Inside his icy prison, Ryo is apparently down, but not out, as he lights himself on fire. The massive spike of ice in which he is imprisoned tries to resist, but in the end, ice rarely stands against fire, and the icicle shatters, freeing Ryo to kick some ass. * Isaac points at Ryo and nudges Ao. * Karasu removes his shades, blinking at them. He folds them up and puts them into his trenchcoat pocket, withdrawing a new pair from the same place. He slips them on. * Ao-Lang nods. She's grinning. .. c'mon, give it your all... ~Someone's gonna get their butts kicked. Ryo's got surprise on his side for the time being.~ * Still "hovering" in the air, Rowan summons a whirlwind, spinning himself at such speeds that most people couldn't possibly avoid getting sick. The whirlwind turns suddenly and spits him out, launching him across the wall, naginata first, at Tanisha. She jerks out of the wall only barely, and realises her mistake a split second later, as the first of Ryo's katana neatly impales her through one shoulder and rips free. * Ryo rips the katana free, spinning to bring his other blade forward, but rather than impaling her, slugs her square in the front teeth with his packed left fist, sending her sailing off the wall to roll down the mountain. * Arthur throws his shield aside and takes his sword in a double handed grip. Holding it horizontally behind him, the blade begins to glow brightly... and then it grows. For nearly two seconds, it grows quickly, until the sword is a bar of light a foot wide and at least ten feet long, and as painful to look at as the sun itself. .. when'd he learn how to do that? ~Dunno, but it looks cool!~ * Arthur races along the wall, no anger showing in his voice, only the absolute surety that he will win, as he cries, "SHINING... DESTINY!" * He whips the blade of light around from the side, fast as lightningm, but Tulpa's arm is already there, gauntlet of darkness raised in defense. * The blade barely slows as it slices through the gauntlet, then through the wrist inside it, and out the other side, only stopping when it slams into Tulpa's shoulder. The severed hand slides off the all-too-solid blade of light to land with a sickening thud on the wall. * Mariah winces. "... that's..." ~Naaaaasty.~ * Tulpa stops. * Tulpa looks down at the severed hand on the ground. * Ao-Lang blanches. * Tulpa looks up at Arthur. * Tulpa looks down at the severed hand on the ground. * Tulpa looks up at Arthur. This... this is going to be bad. ~Yeah, somethin's not right.~ * Tulpa raises his other hand above his head and clenches it into a fist. * Tulpa slams his fist down onto the flat of the sword of light, and it shatters into a million tiny pieces, each one fading away as it falls, until only the tiny bits that were made of steel are left to rain on the surface of the wall. * Tulpa's ominous voice is heard for the first time in the fight, and its words are nearly as ominous as the tone in which they are pronounced, "Dying Of The Light." .. oh, God. * Tulpa's gauntleted fist flashes outward in a crescent of darkness. There is an audible crunch of metal as his fist slams into Arthur's breastplate, and then Arthur is flying. Sort of. Much like Karasu earlier in the week, he is lofted out over the mountain... but unlike Karasu, he has no blood magic to call on, and he falls. * Arthur falls in the expected parabolic arc, his velocity such that by the time he actually hits the ground, he's very nearly to the bottom of the mountain, and he slams into it and rolls the rest of the way, stopped only when he luckily slams into a stoplight, keeping him from rolling out into the street. * The light from Tulpa's green eye flares, and a shroud of shadow falls over the castle grounds, making the ominous glow even more eerie. * Ao-Lang swallows dryly. "That was..." * On the other end of the wall, Rowan and Ryo turn as one and run down the wall, hopping lightly over the icy minefield left by Lance. Rowan, with his higher speed and longer reach, will obviously be the first to reach Tulpa. * Tulpa, in a move totally uncharacteristic of him, drops back twenty feet, but the reason becomes clear a moment later. Rowan's left foot slams down on the already weakened section of the wall and it begins to give way. He slows down, just for a moment, to catch his stride, and that is more than enough. * Tulpa launches himself forward and slams his fist into the wall's surface with a cry that has shades of Max in it, "Pull Them Down." I don't like this. At all. The two of them will likely not be able to handle him alone. He's using the wall to his advantage. It's smart. * The wall vanishes beneath Rowan's feet as the entire section of wall crumbles in an instant, leaving him nothing to push off. He continues his forward motion even as he falls, and slams into the other edge of the wall with a sharp crack. He stumbles backwards for a moment, then falls over on his back, unmoving. * Ryo, in Tulpa's moment of preoccupation, leaps over the gap in the wall, letting out a cry of "WHITE BLAZE!" The massive flaming tiger that is his signature energy blast slams into Tulpa, sending him reeling back several steps, his defenses totally open. * Ryo lands, both katana ready, and stabs forward, impaling Tulpa straight through the gut with both blades, rather like an insect on a pin-board. Oh... Maybe he's still got a chance! Doubtful. * Ao-Lang watches intently. * Tulpa's evil green eye flashes, and he raises his voice for the first time that anyone has ever heard. "FADE TO BLACK." * Tulpa reaches out with his one good hand and grabs hold of Ryo's face. Then, much like Mariah's New Moon Rising, the entire section of wall goes black, and all that can be heard is Ryo's scream of unholy pain. * Ao-Lang jumps to her feet. "Ryo!" she yells, though she's totally drowned out by his screaming. * The scream seems to go on and on forever. When it finally cuts off, it takes only a moment more for the darkness to disappear, showing Ryo, his armor and swords vanished, hanging limply by his head, still gripped in Tulpa's claw. * Karasu hops off the wall as soon as the fight ends, heading for the main gate. ..my God! -- Ryo! * Tulpa raises his other hand, takes hold of Ryo's collar, adn throws him to the ground inside the wall. * Tulpa waits a moment, then looks expectantly at Principal Nagawa. The winners, Son Wukong 102. * Principal Nagawa leaps off the gate into the inner courtyard, stopping beside Ryo. Should we do something? * Ao-Lang jumps from the roof at the principal's statement, landing on the ground and running over to him and Ryo. * Karasu is! 'Cause he's not there. * Mariah takes that as her cue and follows! * The principal kneels beside Ryo and carefully checks his pulse. * Quentin carefully scoops up Ryo in his arms and looks down at Ao-Lang, as if waiting for her to ask a question. * Ao-Lang reaches them. She looks at Ryo, then up at the principal, and asks, "He's fine, right?" * Principal Nagawa's expression doesn't change as he shakes his head slightly. * Ao-Lang hesitates, but she does say, "What's wrong?" ~Um... Seems like he's not fine.~ ... I... that's... oh God. He's alive, but I'm afraid you won't be seeing him for a while. Why not? * Mariah looks a little shell-shocked. She glances down the mountain, in the direction of where Arthur landed. * Isaac nods to Mariah. ~Go get Arthur, could you?~ He looks at the remaining fighters. Lance and Ikea are fine, if frozen? * Tulpa walks by, on his way back to his room, seemingly unconcerned for his team. He raises his left hand to salute Ao-Lang as he passes. Around the gauntlet of darkness, a thin rim of fire takes hold, and Tulpa says softly, "Ryo Wildfire Is A Bit Busy." * Mariah nods and starts heading down the mountain, incidentally totally missing Tulpa's gesture. * Tulpa lowers his hand and keeps walking, his green glowing eye lighting the path before him. * Ao-Lang turns and watches Tulpa go, her gaze hardening into a glare. "I see." * When Mariah arrives at the castle gates, she sees Karasu at the bottom already, holding Tanisha close. A moment later, he begins walking towards where Arthur is curled around the light pole, still holding Tanisha's hand. * Mariah heads down as well. "Is he okay?" * Tanisha looks up at Mariah and calls out, "It doesn't look good!" * Karasu hasn't gotten there yet, so he doesn't respond! God, what did Tulpa *do*? He's... that was terrible! * Mariah hustles! * Ao-Lang focuses on Ryo again and takes one of his hands, even though the principal's holding him. She looks at it thoughtfully. ~They didn't regroup.~ ~If they had attacked Tulpa in a similar fashion to us taking on Clinton (I think that's the guy's name?), they probably would have won.~ * Ryo's hand is limp and lifeless, though it's thankfully not cooling. ~But, um... That can't be good. Or legal, really. That just doesn't seem right what he did to Ryo. Maybe we can beat it out of him if we end up facing him?~ * At the bottom of the mountain, freeing Arthur from the light pole proves to be easier than anticipated, but carrying him up is going to be a real problem, given that his armor joints have locked, forcing him into an awkwardly curved position. * Ao-Lang says, mostly to herself, "I wonder if I can figure out how this works." .. could you guys help me? * Tanisha leans down and slowly shoulders him into some semblance of a standing position, then slowly works him into a bad imitation of a fireman's carry. He's... *UHF* He's my teammate. I'll do it. * Tanisha staggers a bit under the load. * Karasu would have offered, but oh well. Really, I can help... * Karasu puts a hand on Mariah's shoulder, and shakes his head. But... Let her do this. .. okay. But.. I should be doing something. Everything's going wrong. * Tanisha starts working her way slowly up the mountain. * Ao-Lang waits by the principal and Ryo. The rest of the guy's team should be showing up eventually. * Karasu follows! * Mariah follows as well. * Principal Nagawa walks into the castle, taking Ryo's body with him. ~We can fix it by kicking his butt?~ * At the foot of the wall, Rowan slowly picks himself up off the ground, holding onto the wall to keep himself up. * Ao-Lang watches him go, then heads to Rowan. "Can you walk?" Gimme a bit. Still dizzy. * Ao-Lang glances down, then stoops to pick up something at his feet. She comes up with Tulpa's hand. "Oh, ew." This doesn't mean she drops it, mind, just holds it with two fingers. * Isaac glances at Ao. ~Hmmm, what are you going to do with that? It's icky.~ * Ao-Lang says, with a straight face, "I'm thinking I can make my very own Tulpa clone." If it regenerates one direction, it should work the other, right? [And on that grim note...] [Fight, END!]