[The three months since Principal Nagawa invited you to Battle High have passed like a summer storm, short and intense. You never seemed to have enough time to train, let alone to slack, you were just so focused on getting better at hurling your attacks. Three challengers came and were sent away on stretchers. You barely remember the fights, because you've been thinking ahead to your imminent trip to Battle High.] [Finally, the date on the ticket arrived and you boarded your plane for parts unknown, finding that you and your baggage were the sole occupants of a small passenger plane. Now, the plane has landed, and you've just stepped out into an empty airport terminal. Your only directions from this point are to report to the school. You're not even told where the school is.] [Team Intro Battle... FIGHT!] * Mariah walks out into the terminal, pulling a big ol' rolling suitcase behind her. "... hey, where is everyone?" * There is no answer. * Mariah looks around more. "Huh." * Mariah , at a loss, heads outside. * As you exit the airport, the reason you have no directions to the school becomes apparent. You're in a small town at the base of a mountain, and perched on top of that mountain is a gigantic castle that practically screams "BATTLE HIGH STUDENTS, REPORT HERE." ... okay. There we are! * Mariah ... starts walking! * It doesn't take long to get to the base of the mountain, and you can see several other people already roughly halfway up the mountain, though they appear to be struggling along. The mountain itself is rather steeply sloped, roughly forty degrees or so, so while it won't require special equipment, it's gonna be a bit of a climb. ... good thing I got the suitcase with wheels. * Mariah begins the trek. "Still.." * Almost immediately after you set foot on the mountain, you discover why those people were having trouble. The mountain is far more difficult to climb than its slope would indicate, and it's not because of slippery ground. Every step seems to get harder to take, and before you've taken a dozen steps, you're drenched in sweat. ... oh, geez. Oh, geez. ... Is this, like, another test? * By the time you get halfway up the mountain, you feel like your legs are about to fall off. It just keeps getting harder to pull the suitcase along with you, let alone to take the next step up. * Mariah just keeps going as best she can. * A half dozen steps later, you feel your suitcase starting to slip back down the mountain, right out of your grip. * Mariah stops and grabs at it, trying to keep it from rolling away... * You're barely able to grab it, and to keep it from pulling you down the mountain face first, you're forced to sit down. * Sitting down feels VERY GOOD. ... I shouldn't, but... maybe just for a little while, 'til I catch my breath... * A few minutes later, you feel ready to continue on. * Mariah stands up and continues on, then. * With a little rest, you're able to make it the rest of the way up the mountain. Waiting for you at the top are a pair of immense gates, which are currently standing open, revealing one tent to each side, one marked "New Students" and the other marked "Returning Students" * Mariah breathes a sigh of relief and heads for the "New Students" tent. * Inside the tent, standing behind a table with boxes full of files is a woman who would be described by many as a drop dead gorgeous woman suitable for sacrificing your life to, but by an equally large number would be called a secretary. * Secretary looks up at Mariah enters. ... uh. Hi. * Secretary blinks. "So THERE you are." I'm really sorry! Am I late? You're late, you know. The rest of your team already arrived. How did you manage to be late? I dunno -- I just went where I was supposed to... No curing it now. You're in cluster 103 of Alexander the Great wing. I'll take you there, since there's nobody else. Uh, okay... * Secretary walks out from behind the table. "Follow me, dear. I'm sure your team is eager to meet you." * Secretary walks out the other side of the tent and makes for the main doors into Battle High. * Mariah follows, still looking a little nervous. * Secretary walks in through the immense main doors, which are propped open to accomodate the large number of students coming in. Inside is an immense entryway lined with statues and doorways. This is the main hall. It'll be helpful if you memorize the positions of various statues, those are the most often used turn references. * Mariah nods. "Okay, that makes sense... * Secretary walks straight past all of the statues to a set of double doors that are just as wide as the main doors, but only about half the height. She withdraws a key and opens them. "Through here is the cafeteria. It's not open until tomorrow, but it's one of the perks of power that I don't have to take the long way." * Secretary slips through and holds the door open for Mariah. * Mariah walks through. "Thanks..." * Secretary closes the door behind her and relocks it. * Secretary weaves her way across the darkened cafeteria. * Mariah attempts to follow as best she can. * Mariah stubs her toe on the foot of a chair. Hard. ... Ouch! Oh dear. What happened? Oh, nothing, I'm okay, just took a wrong step... It's the darkness, isn't it? It's a bit hard to see in, really... although... Okay. * Secretary raises her hand in the air. It starts glowing. No, really. You shouldn't be surprised by this. Can you see now? * Mariah nods. "Yeah!" .oO(She did it before I could. Darn.) * Secretary continues on across the cafeteria, which appears fairly modern, in spite of the building it's housed in. * Secretary stops next to a statue labeled Alexander the Great. The statue does, indeed, appear to be of Alexander the Great. ... is this it? This is your hall. Okay... * Secretary unlocks the doors and edges them open. "Here you go. The first door on the left is your complex. Just go on in, your teammates are probably wondering where you are. * Mariah nods and heads through, opening the first door on the left and heading inside. * Atsuko looks up as the door opens, and hops to her feet, smiling widely. * Hope is sitting on a couch in the commons room, cleaning a rather large sword. She looks up as Mariah enters. Hi! Are you our last team member? * Kai is there, sitting on a couch and apparently reading a book. He hears the door open and turns. "... oh! There you are!" Uh, yeah, I think so! * Hope is a rather pretty girl. She's got long straight black hair and bright green eyes. She's wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I'm really really sorry; I guess I'm late... Hey. Welcome to the room. We've been waitin' for ya. * Hope stands up and waves at Mariah. "Yo. I'm Hope Fayth. Nice ta meetcha." Well, at least we can go about choosing a captain, then. Kairi Yoshida. A pleasure to mee you. * Hope waves with one hand, and holds the damn large sword with the other. She must be stronger then she looks. Yeah, it's nice to finally be here! I'm Mariah Ritter... * Atsuko is a small, very cute girl with short, pale purple hair held in place by a white hairband and wide green eyes covered by large round glasses. She's wearing a white t-shirt and a blue skirt. Nice to meet you! I'm Atsuko Matsura. ^_^ * Mariah is not particularly pretty; she's a little tall and gangly, with glasses, and wears her long brown hair in a ponytail. She's wearing a lavender T-shirt and jeans, and she carries a staff slung on her back (and, of course, her suitcase.) * Kai happens to be a athletic-looking young man with long white hair, red eyes and a big ol' friendly smile, the whole stuck in a t-shirt and overalls. "So, we're a team... I'm just so eager to see what they're going to throw at us." Yeah, well, after that mountain, I wouldn't be surprised at anything! Neither would I. Gonna be interestin'. 'course, we gotta choose a captain first. Yup. A captain? How do we do that? * Atsuko looks over at Karasu. "Aren't you going to greet her, too?" We pick one. Oh, just so ya know, don't worry 'bout killin' anyone. The prinicpal said there is somethin' about this mountain that sorta makes that hard to do. And we heal pretty quickly, too. It's something else. * Mariah finds somewhere to sit down. "Oh, there's magick here? Of *course* ... I don't wanna kill anyone, anyway." It's pretty neat. 'ya missed some sparring matches between Kai and Karasu and me and Atsuko. Or something like that. It's like an ultimate training ground, or something. ^_^ I wouldn't call my match 'sparring', per se... * Kai smiles in a vaguely embarrased manner. * Karasu comes in from the training room. He's tall and lanky, yet incredibly handsome. He wears black jeans and a black trenchcoat over a black shirt. His shoulder-length hair is black, and his eyes are covered by shades. Yeah, lotsa black here. "Hm? What's this now?" Oh, I just missed sparring? Okay... S'our new team mate. ... oh! Hi! * Mariah waves at Karasu. Ah, you must be our missing teammate. Meet Mariah, Karasu. * Karasu bows part way, European style. "A pleasure." I'm so sorry, I *just* got here... It's alright, really. Don't fret too much. ... sorry. Still nervous, kinda. Dontcha worry. * Kai chuckles. "Sit down, relax. Talk... calm down, especially. We're all in the same boat." Okay... okay... * Mariah makes herself comfortable. It's okay. We're all on the same team, so we should be friends! ^_^ Yeah! Yep. Gonna have ta work together. * Hope rubs the back of her head. "Although, we still gotta choose a captain." Uhuh...how do you think we should choose? ... I dunno. * Karasu shrugs. * Kai purses his lips and thinks. "Dunno..." I'd say we have some sorta tournament. I mean, we already had two fights. Me 'n Kar could fight, and then the winner could fight Mariah. But she hasn't fought anyone yet. * Atsuko pushes her glasses back up her nose and then looks up at the ceiling. "We could vote, but we don't really know much about each other, so it'd be kinda hard to decide." ... yeah, I don't wanna cut in line or anything. Besides, I don't think the most rational way to choose a captain is simply by deciding which of us is the strongest. Good point. Strongst ain't always the best leader. ... I'd say paper-rock-scissors, but that's just silly. Hrm. This is really hard. Why don't they give us more time? Well, we could all say why we'd be a good leader, then we c'ld vote. That's how they elected class president at school. I don't think they gave us a deadline, actually. Though I'd presume we need to choose a captain before class starts. Huh.. Well, we do have time to get to know each other better...that'd probably help us decide. Well, we really can't wait. We're out of beds. So unless someone wants ta bunk together, we're gonna kinda need to decide. You have a point. Point. Well... perhaps we should talk about ourselves. Any particular subject? ... uh, I dunno. Maybe you guys should start? I'll go first if ya want. * Kai nods. "Sure thing." Okay. Kay.. Uh.. Well, my name is Hope Fayth. I've been a fighter for a while. Was the champ of boxing back at my old school. Uh.. Not sure what else I should say. Ask a question or somethin'. Why do you think you should be captain? Uh.. I'm pretty easy to like, I can come up with good ideas.. I'm a good fighter.. * Hope rubs the back of her head. " I donno. I was president of the boxin' club if that matters at all." * Karasu nods. "I'll keep it in mind." Hm. I see. Uh. Don't know what else to say, so... any other questions? * Atsuko nods. * Mariah shakes her head. "Not here." What do you expect out of us? Have fun, and get stronger. S'about all I can think of. Someone else wanna go now? .... I guess I'll go. Okay... Okay. ^_^ * Karasu nods, * Kai leans back and takes a deep breath. "Well, I'm Kairi Yoshida. I took to the fight about... 4 years ago, but I got really serious when I turned 12. So I'm not really a career fighter... but I did well. A few local tournament wins... the usual deal." Wow, really? That's pretty good... Still, I've got the heart to try and be my best, as I'm sure all do as well. Else we wouldn't be talking, would we? ^^ * Kai hrms. "Um... I just want you all to be friends first... and allies and competition a very close tie for second. Er... anything else?" Four years? That's awesome! Why do you feel you should be captain? Only four years? Damn, ya must learn fast. I may not be the strongest, or the most experienced, but I'd like to think I can be an inspiration. And it's natural talent, mom said. I guess she's right. * Kai looks suddenly nervous under all the complementing. So.. who's gonna go next? I'll go. ^_^ Well, like I already said, my name's Atsuko. I'm fifteen years old. My mom's the descendant of some ancient ninja clan or something, and she's been training me to be her succesor since I was about five. She doesn't think I take it seriously enough, which is silly, cause I do! I just like other things, too, like singing, and drama... Well, there's more to life than the fight, like it or not. Um...what else... There is, but the other stuff innit as fun. I dunno. It depends on the stuff. Why do you feel you should be captain? Uh...I don't, really. I'm not really a leader. ^^; I've played the lead roles in a few plays, and I was an officer in the junior high drama club, but I'm not much for being in charge. People say I've got a lot of energy and spirit, and I don't give up easily, but I dunno. Kay. * Mariah nods. * Karasu nods. * Kai nods, smiling a little. Aiight. Who wantsta go next? ... I could, I guess. Alright! Don't be nervous Mariah. * Atsuko smiles encouragingly at Mariah. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." * Mariah pauses before beginning. "... okay. Well, uh.. I'm 14, and I did a lot of stuff at school, I guess. But I only really started fighting a few years ago. And that was just because of my magic." * Atsuko blinks. "You do magic?" Magic, huh? Neat. * Karasu nods. Yeah. I'm still learning, but I can do magic. It's really neat! * Atsuko looks very impressed. Oh-ho... Why do you feel you should be captain? ... most of it isn't good to do indoors, though. Too dangerous. I've been trying to learn how to do tarot cards right, but... Oh! Uh.. well, if you elected me, I think I'd do a good job. That's all, really. Big honkin' explodin' magic huh? Very cool. Well, unless my math is screwed up, I think that leave one more person. That'd be me. Go forth. Go ahead! * Atsuko smiles at Karasu. * Karasu folds his arms behind his back and turns partially to the side. "Well, my name is Karasu Kage. I'm fifteen years old. Unlike the rest of you, I haven't done much in school, and I don't think I'm as interested in fighting as the rest of you. Therefore, I doubt I'd make a good captain." * Kai leans forward, listening intently. I don't mind that, because I don't particularly want the job. I'm sure that the luxury of having your own room comes at some sort of price. Most likely involving a lot of red tape I'd rather not deal with. If ya don't wanna be captain, we won't force ya. * Karasu turns his head towards the others, "So." Okay. Weel. Zat's everyone. How do we vote? Show of hands? I guess... * Atsuko looks at Karasu, looking rather confused. "You're not as interested in martial arts? But you had that really cool technique..." Depends. Secret ballot might be better. * Karasu looks to Atsuko. "I can fight. I don't go out of my way to do it." * Hope looks around for some paper and pens. ... yeah, secret ballot is kinda better. Well, one shouldn't really be *too* eager to fight... * Atsuko scratches her head. "I don't go out of my way, either. I mean, I spent nearly ten years pretending to be a normal girl." ^^; * Mariah nods. "I dunno if I'd fight if I couldn't do what I can." * Hope goes into the girl's room and comes out with a peace of paper, some pens and a hat. She tears the paper up and hands a slip and a pen to everyone. But you can. Here we go. We just gotta write what we want, then put 'em in the hat. * Mariah uncaps her pen and looks down for a moment at the slip. * Hope writes a name down and slips it into the hat, then holds the hat out for the others. * Atsuko looks embarassed. "I beat up a bully when I was in the first grade...everybody thought I was some sort of crazy violent tomboy. So I switched schools and pretended to just be a regular girl." * Mariah writes something down before folding her slip and putting it into the hat. * Karasu spins his pen around with his fingers as he considers. * Atsuko scribbles something down on her scrap of paper, folds it, and sticks it in the hat. Hmmmm. * Kai looks at his paper, then writes on it, folds it up, and wings it into the hat. "There." * Karasu comes to a decision. He writes a name, folds the paper and puts it in the hat. Kay. I'll pick 'em out and read 'em. * Hope does so. * Hope pulls the first. * Kai * Hope pulls the second. * Kai * Hope pulls the third. * Hope * Hope pulls the fourth. * Atsuko * Hope pulls the final. * Hope ... Uh-oh. We've got a tie. ... oh, geez. * Atsuko scratches her head. "Oops." ^^; * Hope grins at Kai. "We could spar for it. ^_^" Very well, redo it. Pick between Hope and Kai. Do over? 'kay. I guess that works. * Hope tears off a few more pieces from the paper and hands them out. Here we go. * Atsuko takes a piece and scribbles something down again, before placing it in the hat. * Karasu repeats the voting process. Heh. * Mariah writes quickly, folds her slip, and puts it in the hat. * Kai writes again, blushing slightly for some reason. * Hope writes hers and throws it into the hat. Okay. I'll pull 'em out again. * Hope draws the first. * Kai * Hope draws the second. * Kai * Hope draws the third. * Hope * Hope draws the foruth. * Kai * Hope draws the fifth. "Kai's the winner." * Kai * Karasu nods. ... erm. W-well. Congrats, Kai! * Atsuko grins. "Good for you, Kai!" * Kai nods to that. Hell, he's probably the most surprised person right now. "Thank you... I shall do my best." * Hope pats Kai on the back. "Okay Cappin. You've already got a problem ta solve. What do we do about the boy and girl who gotta bunk together?" ... oh! That! Well. ... yeah. What do we do? Too bad it didn't come down ta two girls. Woulda made things easier. Any ideas cappin? * Kai shrugs. "I'd assume that we're all mature enough to not do anything... um... well. I guess it comes down to finding one of you who wouldn't mind rooming with Karasu." * Karasu shoves his hands in his trenchcoat pocket. Eh. I'll do it. Long as he keeps his hands to 'emself, there shouldn't be any problems. Otherwise, I'll kick his balls in and the problem 'll be solved anyway. I'm sure you're a mature person, Karasu. ^_^ * Atsuko smiles at Mariah. "Guess we're roomies, then." * Karasu shrugs. "If you're that worried, you can stay with the others. I certainly wouldn't mind my own room." * Mariah breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah." .oO(About the best it could be.) I would, cept I'm not a fan of sleepin' on the floor. * Hope goes to move her stuff from the girl's room to the other. Well, I'm gonna unpack then! ^_^ * Atsuko gets up and heads to the girl's room. Okay... * Kai chuckles and hops off of the couch. "Well, time to unpack." * Mariah nods and stands up to fetch her suitcase. "Yeah..." * Hope finishes moving her stuff and returns to the commons room, wearing the hat that was just part of the voting. "So. Anyone up for a sparrin' match?" * Mariah goes to the girl's room to unpack. Hm... I'll pass for now, Hope. Perhaps you should ask Mariah, Hope. * Kai looks to the captain's room, and takes a moment to just let it all absorb. * Mariah looks back out into the common room. "Uh, not right now? I'm kinda tired. From the trip." * Hope peers at Mariah. "Didn't they giva ya any of that magic gatoraid?" * Karasu blinks. "Really? I guess you didn't have any of that medicine." ... I don't think so. Unless I forgot. Must have been because I was so late. Not very nice of 'em. Aw. * Kai finally wheels on into the room with his suitcases. "Odd. They should've given you something to help..." Eh, I'll be okay soon enough. You didn't meet that Alan guy, then? ... oh! Mariah? -- Alan? No... and what is it, Kai? * Kai comes out of the room, carring a familiar bottle. "Catch." He lobs the bottle to her. "Tastes horrible, but it works." Heh, they gave ya your own supply of that? Cool. * Atsuko nods and makes a face. "It's really icky." * Mariah catches. "That's okay." Not that bad. Sides, it peps ya right up. * Mariah takes a sip... and swallows quickly. "... wow. It really is." * Mariah then looks down at it before taking another drink. Works like a charm tho'. Yeah! * Hope grins at Mariah. "So, up for a match then?" She grins in a nice way, but it still looks oddly creepy. ... I dunno. Can I unpack? Sure. ^_^ * Atsuko starts setting up a very compact stereo system. Well... Anyway, I need to unpack as well. If you need anything or just want to pick on me, you know where to find me. ^^; Sorry if I'm bein' a pain for asking so much.. but after seein' Alan and the Principal, I'm kinda worried I'll be behind. Wanna get into practice. * Kai strolls back into his room. * Hope remembers the Principal's speed and shivers. Oh, the principal? He's tough, isn't he? He was scary. Yeah, me too. He's so strong... He was insane. I'm gonna get that strong some day, and beat him. He's something else. I hope to be that powerful one day. If the school really can make you that strong... * Atsuko grins mischeviously. "Maybe after a year here, I can get mom to start teaching me the secret techniques." Heh. That'd be somethin' to see all right. ... wow. So nobody's interested in a sparrin' match then? Darn. See, s'why I'm worried I'm gonna be behind. Don't got any special magic or anything> I'm just really strong. I just don't know. I've still got to get my bearings. Well, I just know how to fight, too...and you're a lot stronger than me, and I'm not THAT much faster... ... and I may have magic, but I'm not very fast or strong, really. Yeah, but.. it's MAGIC. * Kai returns and sits down in thecommon room. "Use what you've got, and use it well. Fix what doesn't work." I mean, that stuffs impressive. And Kai and Karasu have all sorts of weird powers, and Atsuko's got ninja skills. It's kinda creepy. But... I dunno. I like fighting, but sometimes I wonder if I'm a real fighter. * Atsuko looks around for a place to put her speakers. Well, if yer not, I'm sure this place will make ya one. I guess so. * Mariah goes back into the girls' room to unpack. * Atsuko finishes placing her speakers, and walks back into the common room. * Hope is idly fooling around with her zanbatou. ... my powers aren't weird. They're... um. Well. * Atsuko flops down on the couch. * Kai sighs and stares at the ceiling. Hmm...I wonder what kind of training I could do... Well. We could so some sparrin.. or ya could lift weights.. or ya could work on dodgin attacks. I could help ya out there... * Atsuko nods. "Sure!" Uh.. which one? * Mariah comes back in; it looks like she's run a comb through her hair, and she's now wearing a necklace, what looks like a quartz-crystal pendant on a pewter chain. "That's better..." Dodging attacks, I think. * Kai closes his eyes. "We've got to make a good first impression. I'm sure we can and all...." 'kay. * Hope peers at Mariah. "Love the necklace." * Hope grins at Atsuko. "kay. Howzabout we head into the trainin' room then?" Thanks! * Mariah doesn't seem to get any irony implicit in Hope's statement. * Atsuko gets up and heads into the training room. * Hope looks back over at Mariah. "Wanna watch?" * Kai glances over. "Huh. Nice. You two have fun... I need to sort out a few things in my head." You sure Kai? Ya can watch too. I'm alright. Just a tad overwhelmed with the whole captain thing. I know it's probably not much, but... * Kai shrugs again. Sure, I'll watch. Hey, dont'cha get too worried. I'm sure it's nothin' big. Hope so. * Hope heads into the training room. She looks towards Atsuko and gets into a battle stance, holding her sword at ready. "Okay. You ready?" * Hope starts off slow. She moves forward, and swings the blade. * Atsuko gets smacked by the sword a bit. Sorry. * Hope brings the sword around again. She slashes, but is still holding back. S'okay. ^^; * Hope holds back so much she misses. Silly Hope. * Atsuko assumes Hope was just taking a practice swing, and prepares herself. * Hope gives it another go, not holding back quite as much. * Karasu watches from the sidelines. * Atsuko attempts to dodge out of the way, but still manages to get smacked a bit. Ow. Just not on my toes tonihgt, I gues... ^^; Err.. Sorry. ^_^; Why don't you try hitting me? * Hope gets into a defensive stance. "Maybe that'll wake ya up a bit." * Atsuko nods, and dashes quickly towards Hope, pivoting and throwing out a straight kick. * Hope tries to bring her sword around to defend, but is a bit too slow and is nailed by the kick. "That's that way! Try it again." * Atsuko grins. "Okay!" * Atsuko leaps into the air, lashing out a kick at Hope's head. * Hope again brings her sword around to block, but is a bit too slow. "Ow! More awake now? Ready to try dodging again?" * Atsuko lands. "Eep! Sorry!" ^^; "Sure, let's go back to that. * Hope swings her blade, not holdin back much anymore. * Atsuko gets thwacked, but grits her teeth and bears it. You sure you wanna keep up with this? One more time. Alright. * Hope brings her blade around again. * Hope misses! Maybe her playing is worried too much about MC2, which he is going to join now. * Atsuko looks embarassed and hangs her head a bit. "Sorry...that didn't go very well." Hey, that's why we gotta practice. You hit me a lot too. * Hope rubs her head. "And it hurt too." Eheheh. * Mariah stands up. "That was good, though! You two can really fight." Maybe if I'd spent as much time training as my mom wanted, I'd do better... I gotta fight you some time without holdin' back. That'd be a good fight. Well, now that you're here, you'll get that chance. Yeah... * Hope pats Atsuko. "Hey, you just gotta practice a bit. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time." * Atsuko smiles and blushes a bit. "Thanks." * Atsuko looks over at Mariah. "We haven't seen how you fight yet, though...I wanna see your magic!" Oh, I can show you later... * Hope streaches. "I gotta go take a shower or somethin'. Talk to ya later." * Hope heads out to do exactly that. * Mariah nods and heads out as well. "I've still got things to arrange... * Atsuko waves to Hope. * Atsuko looks a bit dissappointed. "Aw...okay." * Karasu shrugs. "Suit yourself, but you've got to let the captain know sooner or later." * Kai is still sitting on the couch. He looks to be... asleep? * Atsuko stretches and walks back into the common room. "Owie...that really hurt. Good thing we heal fast here, or I'd have some really bad bruises." ^^; * Karasu takes to training in the now empty room. * Mariah wanders back into the girls' room and closes the door behind her. * Atsuko plops down on the couch. ... how'd it go? Not too good. I just wasn't on my toes. We all have offdays. * Kai doesn't open his eyes for a moment. It's just...you guys all seem so much better than me., ... I hope I do a good job. I think you will. You just seem like the kind of person who'd be a good leader, to me. * Hope heads back into the commons room, now showered and dressed. She still has the hat on however. "Yo." Heh. I hope so, anyway. * Hope noogies Kai. "Cheer up Cappin. You'll do a fine job. They voted for ya, didn't they?" * Atsuko smiles at Hope. "Hi." * Kai squirms slightly. "Hey, mind the hair..." He smiles brightly. "I know, I'm just kinda rolling it around in my head. A while ago, I was content to play soccer. Now... I'm here." Huge step, that. I could see that. Not so big for me. I was boxin' and training even before I came here. Hey, you're the captain. Ya can't keep moping. No frowning, no sad face. * Atsuko nods. "Yeah, I've always been doing this...but never so focussed, y'know?" Hey, it's not that big a deal. You're gonna train hard here, so that's what matters. I'm not moping. Just thinking too hard. Uhuh! * Kai baps himself on the head, then opens his eyes. "... now then. I... could use some rest." Go and sleep, mien capitan. Gonna have a long day ahead of us. * Hope prepares to go do that same thing. Yeah, g'night. ^_^ * Atsuko gets up and heads to her room. [Team Intro Fight... Draw]