[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Ichi plushified, and missed the big collaring of Carmen Sandiego! Except... Cara and Taro declined to capture her. Maybe they were right, and they couldn't have, maybe they were wrong. Either way, they restored Tokyo Tower to its proper place and took a portal to another world. They're just about to arrive.] [Sliding through the portal is rather like being on a really, really long waterslide, only there's no water, and you feel like you're gonna be sick from all the twists and turns.] [Session Start] X_x * Daphne slides along. "Oog." * In between a pair of fighters, a whirling blue vortex opens. I think I'm gonna be sick... Yeah.... * Cara is ejected from the portal and lands flat on her back on the grassy ground. Oof! * Five seconds later, Daphne is ejected from the portal, landing right on top of Cara. Gah! * Daphne grunts and quickly gets off of Cara. * Five seconds later, Taro is ejected from the portal, landing right on top of Cara. His ending is soft and cushy, at least. WAH! *THUD* ... o.o * Cara 'oofs' again. * Taro scrambles to get off Sorry! Sorry! * Taro stands up and starts bowing apologetically repeatedly * Cara rolls out of the path of the portal after Taro gets off. * Five seconds later, Shiho lands on the ground, face first, eating turf. x.x * Five seconds later, Ichi is ejected from the portal, landing right on top of Shiho. Go Ichi! * Cara gets to her feet and dusts herself off, straightening her coat out. * Shiho pulls herself to her feet. "...Ow." Hey I'm BaOOF! * The portal sucks its edges into itself, closing in a few seconds. * Daphne stands and looks around. * Cara looks around. "So..." * Shiho goes right back down @_@ Hm. Wonder where we've got to now. * Taro looks around What the hell are you doing? Ichi. Move. Now. * Ichi rolls off of Shiho. "Oww." * Cara looks at the person who spoke. "Uh..." * Shiho pulls herself to her feet, dusts herself off, and looks around. I'm sorry about that. * Daphne turns to face whoever said that. "We're falling out of a bloody dimensional portal. What the hell does it look like?" * You've apparently landed in the middle of a fight about to begin, between a man in his twenties, dressed in a white gi and wearing a red headband, and a younger man, perhaps fifteen, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. They've both got short, spiky black hair, and big beautiful eyes. Yeah, and interrupting a fight. Get outta the way. Um...sorry! Sorry! ^_^;;; * Taro gets out of the way * Cara hurriedly gets out of the way. It would appear they did not mean to interrupt the fight. There is no need to shout. * Ichi stands up and follows the others out of the way. * Daphne nods. "Yeah, what he said." She gets out of the way anywhoo, tho. Aw, fuck it. I'm not in the mood anymore. * Shiho gets out of the way. "Fine by me." She surveys the surroundings. ...as you wish. * Ryo turns his back on you all and walks away. * Cara scratches her head. * Ryu seats himself on the lawn and begins meditating. * Taro frowns. What was that all about? * Cara eyes this Ryu guy. * Taro looks at the Ryu person, then looks around the area some more to get a clearer picture of where he is Wait. Our appearance here just stopped you from having to beat up that loud punk over there? * You appear to have been deposited outside a colliseum of some sort. It's rather modern, as opposed to the one you fought in on Athas, it looks to be at least 1990s technology level. There's a fair crowd of people gathered, waiting for something. ...I'm so very sorry. It is not a concern. If his skill is sufficient to face me, we will meet in the tournament. Huh... What's the tournament called? Oh...uhm...good luck to you. * Daphne blinks. "Tournament?" This tournament is the Dragon's Wish. So called because the winner is granted one wish, within certain limits. * Cara scratches her head. Reeeeally? ... ooh. Wow. * Shiho turns and starts paying more attention at that. What sort of tournament is it? Whatcha gotta do to win? * Cara blinks. "Nice." It is a fighting tournament, held once each year. It is open to fighters of any style. * Rocky is inside Shiho's bag. Huh... * Daphne grins. "Hey, alright." I take it it's a bit late to register for this year's tournament? It is but one of many tournaments, though the prize draws many excellent fighters. Because you cannot wish to become immortal, or to become invincible, however, many of the more powerful do not go out of their way to attend. I was in the area, and so I will sign up when registration opens. * Taro nods Which should be in five minutes and thirty two seconds, if my calculations are correct. I see. An' when's... ah. Where do I register, then? You have only to follow me. Works fer me. * Taro nods If you are skilled, perhaps we shall meet. ... hey, Cara? Wanna open the envelope now? Oh! Right! * Ichi looks over Taro's shoulder, "I've been wondering what's in there since you got it." * Taro takes out the brown envelope. A picture of Carmen Sandiego. The face underneath the hat and hair. * Taro waits for those who are interested to gather round * Daphne nods at the fighter guy and then looks over Taro's shoulder. * Cara snatches it out of Taro's hands and starts to open it eagerly. * Shiho is certainly interested in seeing who it is, so she peers at the envelope. o.o ^_^;;; * Taro looks at the envelope * Cara pulls the picture out, revealing an 8x11 glossy photo of Carmen Sandiego. Strangely, staring out at her from beneath the trademark hat is the grinning face of Taro's archnemesis, Shaun Sullivan. * Ichi blinks and moves around Taro so he can see again. * Taro blinks. .... Shaun. * Daphne blinks. "Shaun?" * Cara blinks. "A boy?" * Daphne cracks up. * Shiho blinks once. Then stares. "Shaun." * Ichi tries to think... ... I wonder. Was that our Shaun, or an otherwordly counterpart. Hey, he's from our school to! * Peeking out from the slightly open collar of his coat and shirt, you can see the top of a tattoo... a key. * Daphne smirks. "Our Shaun." ...oops. I think we shoulda caught him. ^^: .... yeah. * Taro nods... Does this mean we have to go back and track him down again? ... yeah. * Cara looks horribly embarassed. * Shiho eyes Cara, then focusses her attention on Ryu. * Daphne snickers, then turns back to Ryu. "So, which way's registration?" ... yeah, we'll definitely have to track down Shaun again. * Ryu stands up in one smooth motion. Follow me. * Taro mentally adds "Track down Shaun" to his mental notepad. * Taro follows Ryu. Yay. Now we have to locate another student. * Ichi follows Taro to reg. * Shiho follows Ryu, fists clenched. * Ryu walks over to the crowd, and once a few people realize who he is, the crowd starts parting leaving a path for him, and you. * Daphne nods and follows Ryu. * Cara follows Shiho, face burning with shame. Don't worry, Cara. I'm sure we can set things straight again. ^_^;;; * Registrar looks up at Ryu as he approaches. "Ryu Kasugano. I've got your information memorized. You're number five. Go ahead and go inside." * Registrar looks up at Daphne. "Name?" * Ryu turns without word and walks inside the colliseum. Daphne McAlpin. Style? Whatever works. Your number is eight. Go inside. Next! * Daphne walks on in. Urashi-.... no. Taro Urashima. Style? Um...where do we go to watch? ^^ Sword fighting. * Registrar points to the other side of the table. Spectators go that way. Your number is twenty eight. Go inside. * Taro nods, then heads inside. See you later, Cara! Bye Taro. ^^;;;; Next! * Ichi walks up table. * Cara waves and heads to the spectator section. "I guess I'll just be watching you guys." Name? Ichi Aoyoma. * Shiho looks around for a convient list of rules, or something. Style? Kend...er this isn't the right sword for... Self-Taught Swordfighting. * There're leaflets on the table for the taking. The gist of it is fights are to KO, if you kill, you're disqualified, and if you touch the ground outside the ring, you're disqualified. Yeah, that's it. Your number is eighteen. Go inside. * Ichi nods and takes a few leaflets. "Wish us luck Cara." * Ichi goes in. Next! * Shiho steps up. Name? * Cara grabs one of the leaflets to peruse. Shiho Yamaguchi. Style? Archery. Your number is twelve. Go inside. * Shiho heads on in. Good luck, Shiho! * Cara heads for the stands. * Rocky scampers out of Shiho's bag and follows Cara to the spectator's table. * Inside, the fighters' passage leads out to the colliseum floor, where fighters are slowly filing in. Many use weapons, but many do not, and the weapons cover the whole gamut from throwing weapons to gigantic swords and hockey sticks. * Cara's passage leads up to the stands, where she's able to get a seat in the second row, among many other fans. * Ichi looks around at the all the other fighters. * Cara takes her seat. * Ichi sees, among others, Ryu and Ryo, though fighters of every nationality he can think of are present. * The first three fights fly past, lasting only a few minutes each. A japanese man by the name of Domon Kasshu rockets through his opponent with a strange style that uses a katana combined with unarmed attacks, though he never uses a special. One Edyth Omary is victorious in her match, her claymore cutting her opponent down like christmas bitch, and your acquaintance Ryu Kasugano tears his opponent Alvaro apart without moving from his position. "FIGHT FOUR! Number eight, Daphne McAlpin, versus Kento Hardrock! Give 'em your best cheers!" * Kento is a really, really large kid. He's gotta be six feet tall and weigh at least 250 pounds, though it's a remarkably muscular 250. He's holding a naginata perched on his shoulder, and wearing a light suit of armor that looks like it might be plastic. Alright! Go Daphne! * Kento nods gravely to Daphne and hops lightly into the ring. * Daphne steps into the ring looks the big fellow over, and shrugs. Ready... FIGHT! * Kento drops into a low stance, naginata blade low, and dashes forward to swipe at Daphne's legs. "If you can't move, you can't fight!" * Daphne throws herself into the air to get above it, but Kento pulls the blade up at the last minute, cutting a deep gash in her calf. * Daphne curses and throws her (good) fist at the guy's jaw. * In the crowd, an old man waves a naginata in the air, shouting "Go Naginata-guy! You're the best!" C'mon, Daphne! Kick his butt! * Kento brings the haft of his naginata around, catching Daphne's hand on it, and suddenly the haft breaks into three parts connected by chains. He brings the ends in towards the middle in a vicious attack that will be extremely hard to dodge. * Daphne can't pull back enough, and the blunt end slams into her gut just as the blade bites into her shoulder, releasing a spray of blood. Too slow, little girl! * Daphne screams through clenched teeth. Daphne! Erk... * Daphne swings at the overgrown asswipe again. * Kento lets go of his naginata-chucks with one hand as they pull back together into a naginata and catches Daphne's punch. "Ha. You're as weak as a child. Go practice some more." Daphne! * Daphne snarls. * Kento drops the naginata altogether, turns, and throws Daphne helluva far. * Daphne flips clumsily in the air and manages to land JUST inside the ring. * Kento leans down, picks up his naginata, and drops into a defensive stance. "Bring it." * Daphne charges at Kento, fist drawn back to punch, and then apparently decides to kick at his side instead. * Kento hops lightly over the leg, much more lightly than you'd expect for such a big guy, and brings his naginata crashing down at Daphne's head. "NOt tricky enough!" * Kento turns his blow aside at last second, cutting into Daphne's shoulder, and through her collarbone. SHIT! * Daphne screams again. * Shiho stands up from her seat with the other fighters. * Kento withdraws his naginata and slaps a hand over the wound. * Cara screams out "DAPHNE~!" MEDICS! Daphne... Medics are ON THE WAY! Daphne! NO! * Daphne shuffles her feet like to stand and falls over instead. She stops moving. She bleeds a whole lot. * A team of six medics come hustling out to the ring and slowly lift Daphne onto a stretcher, applying lots of pressure with nice, clean, white bandages. ..urk * Cara gets out of her seat and rushes out of the stands, heading for those medics and Daphne. ....................... * Taro turns pale. * Ichi is torn between rushing after Daphne and waiting his turn..."Argh!" ::runs after Daph:: .... Ichi. We need to withdraw. * Kento looks down at his hand, which is covered with blood. * Ichi is not there to hear Taro. ... Shiho. It's that gut feeling again. We can't win here. Not now. We should wait for next year's tournament. * Kento stumbles slowly out of the ring. It's pretty obvious. Yeah. We can't do this. * Taro frowns. * Shiho clenches her fist. "Dammit. I KNEW I should have stopped her." * Cara looks for Daphne and the medics. "Daphne! Where are you?" * Taro looks around for official-type peole * Ichi continues to give chase. * Daphne is probably not in any condition to respond. * Rocky makes his way to Shiho. * There's a screen of medics keeping spectators out of the area. * The only 'official' on the arena floor is the announcer. * Cara scowls at the medics. "Let me through! My friend was hurt!" * Ichi stops running in front of one of the medics "I'm *pant* a friend of hers." No can do, Miss. You might disturb them. Your friend's gonna be just fine. * Taro looks for anyplace he can head to from here to withdraw. * Cara hmph's and folds her arms angrily. * Shiho heads back to the receptionist. Shiho! What's going on? * Receptionist is watching the matches on a closed circuit TV. "Can I help you?" * Taro also heads there. We're withdrawing, Cara. We can't win this. ... not this year. * Cara nods. "That's good. Good idea." That's the idea. * Cara is breathing heavily, and looks like she may break into hysterics at any moment. * Ichi follows Cara from the medics to Reg. "Another *pant* year." Withdrawing already? Cara, please calm down.. ^^; Yes. Names? We're obviously outclassed. Taro Urashima. * Receptionist picks up a phone. "Taro Urashima, number 28, is withdrawing." Ladies and gentlemen, we've just been notified that number 28, Taro Urashima, has withdrawn from the tournament! Number 27, Hal Belcastro, will recieve a bye! * Receptionist looks at Shiho and Ichi. "You two withdrawing, too?" * Ichi nods, "Number eighteen, Ichi Aoyoma." * Cara wrings her hands. * Receptionist waits for Shiho. * Shiho nods. "Number twelve, Shiho Yamaguchi." * Receptionist relays into the phone, "Number twelve, Shiho Yamaguchi, and number eighteen, Ichi Aoyoma, are also withdrawing." "Amazing! Numbers twelve and eighteen, Shiho Yamaguchi and Ichi Aoyoma, are withdrawing too! Their opponents, Rachel Neighbours and Kendrick Goldtrap, will also recieve byes. Done. * Medic approaches quietly from behind Cara. "Miss?" * Cara jumps a bit, and turns around. "Yes?" They've got your friend patched up a little. She'll be able to move in the morning, but you can see her now, if you're quiet. That's great news... * Cara nods. "Okay. Thank you!" Where is she? Just follow me. * Medic moves slowly off into the infirmary. * Taro nods, then follows the nice person. * Cara follows the medic. * Ichi walks after the medic. * Shiho follows the medic. * Daphne is lying on an infirmary cot, shoulder heavily bandaged and splinted. She's blessedly unconscious. * Taro looks over Daphne. Daphne...oh, this was such a bad idea... * Taro shakes his head. * Ryu steps up behind Shiho. I should have voiced my doubts earlier. * Shiho looks over her shoulder. * Ichi stands next to Daphne's bed, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you, now, and the other day..." She was virtually untrained. Why did she think she could compete? We didn't realize the skill level of the fighters here. * Cara looks over at Ryu. "We've only been doing this kinda stuff for about a year." ... That and she had a broken hand. Where we come from, Daphne was really strong... Fighting with a broken hand. That sounds like something the Iron Hand school would do. She's not an Iron Hander, though. * Ichi nods, "We needed to get back where we were to remove a curse, and this seemed the best way to do it." No, she's just...a brawler, I guess. We're trying to find a way home, and to rescue other people who were transported to other worlds who were from our own home No, she's deffinately not. ...a brawler. * Ryu snorts. No brawler has a chance in this tournament. It may not always attract the best, but it attracts good enough people to defeat any brawler handily. She was lucky that Kento guy could turn his blow at the last second. So we've seen. * Taro nods.. * Ichi nods. * Ichi turns back to Daphne. Can you help us find places to train? It's not hard. Most of the fighters here could direct you to their dojo. Just pick one whose style you like and ask them to take you there. * Cara puts a hand on Daphne's shoulder and frowns sadly. * Taro nods... What about Daphne? Will they still be here when she wakes up? Most of them, yes. Only the first round of the tournament happens today. * Ichi nods, "I see, thankyou." How many rounds are there? There were thirty two entrants. Work it out from there. * Daphne groans lightly. * Ichi turns his attention back to Daph. * Taro begins strobing with light. * A moment later, Taro is gone, and all that remains is a cute little plushie. * Medic gapes. * Ryu blinks. Twice. Like I said...cursed. * Cara scratches the back of her head and laughs nervously. "It's magic." ...that's no curse I've ever seen. And I've been to cursed training grounds by the dozen. Well, I could explain it, but... No need. The effects are more than enough. Anyway, that happens to all of us from time to time. * Shiho nods. * Ichi also nods and turns back to Daphne, who may or may not be waking up. * Daphne does not appear to be waking up. * Cara looks at Shiho. "If you guys are all gonna train to fight, what should I do? I'm not a fighter..." * Shiho shrugs. "Find something else to do, then." She looks bad to Ryu. "These dojos... Do they provide accomidations?" Most will, if the student is promising enough. Uhm...art lessions maybe? All people benefit from learning martial arts, whether they be fighters or no. He's got a point. I guess... Learn how to not get killed. I suggest you leave your friend alone now, so she may recover. * Ryu walks away slowly. * Shiho nods. Alright... I hope she gets better soon... In the mean time, we may as well look for people to train with. Someone grab Taro. * Cara picks up plushie Taro. * Shiho makes her way out of the room. * Cara follows after Shiho. * Ichi follows Shiho to the stands. * Shiho looks around at the other fighters. * As you emerge into the stands and take seats midway up the bleachers, the fight in progress is a young man who appears to be alternately throwing a giant boomerang and using that same boomerang as a melee weapon, and he's fighting Ryo, from before, who is now wearing armor quite similar to Kento's, but he is wielding a pair of katana rather than a naginata. * Ichi watches Ryo fight. * The young man with the boomerang puts up an excellent fight, eventually forcing Ryo to use what must be his most powerful move, which involves a lot of posing and calling a pillar of fire down on the poor guy. Wow. O.O The winner, Ryo Wildfire, of the Raging Inferno School! Kendrick Goldtrap has a bye, caused by the withdrawal of his opponent! You'll all have to wait to see the Blazing Arrow school in action! * Shiho perks up at that. Next up, Rita Perzanowski of the Falling Mountain school, against Kit Gustave, of the Swinging Pirate school! ...swinging pirate? I'm not sure I want to know.. * Two young women come out as their names are called. One is dressed in a gi and carrying a wicked looking tetsubo, while the other is dressed in a loose blouse and leather pants, with a sabre strapped to her side and a whip opposite it. * Shiho makes her way to the place where the fighters hang out. * Shiho stops in midstride, and goes to the receptionist instead. * Cara keeps follows Shiho. * Receptionist eyes Shiho. "You can't get back in, sorry." I'm not looking to. I'm trying to find a dojo for a particular school. I was hoping you might know of it. * What proceeds is a stirring reccommendation for the Swinging Pirate school as its student demonstrates how to anchor a whip in midair and swing from it to gain momentum for your attacks, and to do crazy midair stunts that amaze your opponent at the same time as it flattens them. I might. * In the end, the swinging pirate student appears to be far above the meager skill level of her opponent, as she knocks her opponent out of the ring without taking a single solid hit. Wow. Your winner, Kit Gustave, of the Swinging Pirate school! Which school? Blazing Arrow. How strange. ^^; Next up, Valene Beaushaw, our second Shotokan practicioner, versus Son Becze of the Gentle Tornado school! The main dojo is somewhere in western Nebraska, in the United States. There are branches all over, though. Is there one around here? No, though there's one about three days drive away. * Shiho nods. "Thank you." * Shiho heads for the exit. * A young man and woman come out into the ring and proceed to have a rather interesting fight. The shotoclone is, of course, unarmed, but the Gentle Tornado school appears to use the bo, and boy do they ever use it. The young man's bo never stops moving, and most of the time it moves at speeds that make it almost impossible to see. * His constant stream of wind attacks simply overpowers the young girl, sending her out of the ring in only two minutes. The winner, Son Becze! Where are you going, Shiho? It's a three day drive; I'd better get started. * Cara nods. "Okay. Good luck." ^_^ * Ichi looks at Son Becze "If only I was as bo fighter..." Our next fight is another bye, so we'll move on to the next, Delsie Mittler of the Blue Eyed Dragon school, and Brain Derbes of the Wily Dog school! * Cara goes back to watch the fights. * An older woman and a young man come out into the ring, the man is unarmed, and the woman has an undrawn katana at her side. What follows, you can't quite tell. One moment, they're ten feet apart, and the next, the old woman is on the other side of the poor boy. * The boy crumples to the ground and stays there. The winner, Delsie Mittler! O.O Wh...wow... * Cara blinks. "Maybe you should talk to her, Ichi." * Ichi nodnodnods. Next up, Ali Roethler of the Silent Glaive school versus Larita Melichar of the Pouncing Tiger school! * There's a muted flash of light from Taro, and then he deplushifies. * Cara drops the plushie in surprise. * Taro blinks. @_@ Gah... what happened? * Taro looks up at Cara * Taro ends up sitting in Cara's lap, she didn't quite drop him fast enough. * Taro gets off her lap. Sorry, sorry. @_@ * Cara looks shocked and somewhat horrified. Guh..uh...uh... Sorry, Cara... I'll make this up to you somehow. I promise. @_@ * Cara shakes her head. "I...I...I'm okay. It's okay." * A young woman comes out to the ring carrying a glaive that's at least three times her size. * Her opponent does not appear. Larita Melichar, you have one minute! If you don't appear, you'll forfeit the match! * The audience slowly grows more and more tense... Thirty seconds! * Ichi looks around for the missing fighter. * Taro watches... Delaying for dramatic effect, I wonder? * Someone point into the sky. "LOOK!" Almost instantly, the crowd's attention, and the announcer's, is directed into the sky, where can be seen someone falling towards the ring from far, far up. No way. * Cara looks up. * Ichi looks up. She's here! FIGHT! * Taro looks up. * What follows is the second shortest fight of the tournament. In an act of remarkable practicality and cruelty, the girl with the glaive waits for the falling woman and impales her through the gut. The woman tried to avoid it, but her speed was simply too great. Grrk! Di...Is she? * Medics come tramping out of the sidelines and retrieve the woman. She's declared dead, not of the glaive wound, strangely enough, but because she broke her neck when she couldn't land properly. .... ack... She... .... how horrible... * Cara cries out in horror. ...Why... Your winner, Ali Roethler! Because the death was caused by the opposing fighter's own stupidity, the judges have ruled that she WILL PROGRESS! ... ... I suppose even without the glaive, she would have died. But that doesn't make things much better... * Cara looks away. * Shiho says nothing. 'Cause she's not there, and stuff. Our next fight, Marcel Fitzner of the Greased Lightning school versus Nenita Midthun of the Tyson School of Boxing! * Cara lets out a little sob. * Ichi is thankfull that Daphne lived. * A man and woman come out. The man bears a rapier on his hip, while the woman wears a pair of boxing gloves. * Taro also looks away. Most notably, down. * What follows is a demonstration not only of why a boxer shouldn't fight someone with a rapier, but also a demonstration of why you should never let someone trained by Tyson anywhere near your body. THe man wins, but is less an ear for his trouble. ... * Cara runs out of the stands. Your winner, Marcel Fitzner! If he wins, he might be wishing for a new ear, though. Those Tyson students, they're wacky! Cara... * Taro runs after Cara. Next up, Kendrick Trancoso of the Grim Reaper school versus Elwood Ipson, of the Raging Blues school! I don't know what this Raging Blues school is either, let's hope it's impressive! * Ichi fails to notice that he's the only one left in the stands. * Ichi does wonder why two people are named Kendrick. * The student of the Grim Reaper school is easy to recognize, as he comes out to the ring toting a great big scythe. * After a few moments, a middle-aged man follows him out. Strangely, he's not dressed in a gi, or robes like his opponent, or even street clothes like some fighters. He's wearing a blue suit, a matching hat, and a pair of sunglasses. He's also carrying a bass guitar. * The crowd starts laughing, and somewhat incongrously, so does his opponent. The sight of a laughing grim reaper is somewhat unnerving. * The crowd stops laughing when he reaches down to his guitar and pulls a string, causing the guitar to rev up like a chainsaw. He drops into a defensive stance and waits for his opponent. * The crowd goes from silent amusement to slack-jawed awe as the two rush together, their weapons sending sparks flying everywhere. The battle goes on like this for five minutes, and then ten, with no decisive blows struck. * Ichi watches the fight in aw. * The telling blow is struck just after the fifteen minute mark as the Reaper overextends himself and Elwood chops the head off his scythe, steps towards him, and nails him right in the gut with the chain-bass, sending him not only out of the ring, but halfway up the stands, where he knocks a popcorn vendor out cold. Your winner, by knockout, Elwood Ipson! What an AMAZING showing from the Raging Blues school! * Ichi stands up to aplaud Elwood, and then turns to Taro so he can comment, and then notices that he's not there. Next up, another bye, Hal Belcastro advancing to the next round without a fight. On to the next fight, Hal Mittiga of the Flying Panther school versus Alvaro Sakasegawa of the Spitting Spaniard school! * Ichi looks wildly around for everyone else. "Taro? Cara? Where are you?" * Two men come out to the ring, one unarmed, one armed with a longsword in one hand, and a shortsword in the other. * The match starts, and the two go at it for some time, neither able to do anything decisive. It seems to be a real stalemate. * Ichi tries to watch the fight and look for his friends at the same time...with little success. * This changes at the twenty minute mark, when Hal Mittiga decides he's had enough and takes to the air, revealing why it's called the Flying Panther school. He jumps and fails to come down. This doesn't seem like much of an advantage, but then he starts raining down projectiles of energy at his opponent, who is forced to dodge frantically. Wow that's u...Gotta find people. * After a couple minutes of dodging projectiles, the Spaniard decides he's had enough, flips his longsword in the air once, and launches it at his opponent. The sword spins twice in the air and then impales the man through the chest, bringing him down in short order. O.O Your winner, Alvaro Sakasegawa! * The medics come and carry off Hal. It appears that Hal Mittiga WILL survive! He was only impaled through ONE lung! ...I'm glad we withdrew...Maybe they all went back to Daphne? ...Nah.. It's time for the last fight of the day, and of the first round! The final fight! Delsie Onorati of the Ugly Bull school versus Allenby Beardsley! * Ichi tries to think again, and decides he might as well watch the last fight before he goes back to panick-searching. * The final two fighters emerge. It's easy to tell the practicioner of the Ugly Bull school. She's big, and bad, and looks ready to faint. Her opponent is a much smaller woman with spiky greenish blue hair, wearing a skintight outfit with a bow on the chest, who idly twirls a long ribbon as she walks out to the ring. * The fight, such as it is, is short and brutal. The large woman is no match whatsoever for the smaller woman, who tosses her around like a beanbag, both with the ribbon and her bare hands. You wouldn't _think_ there was that much strength in the girl, but nobody seems particularly surprised at this. * It ends after just a few minutes, as the large girl concedes defeat. Your winner, Allenby Beardsley! That concludes the first round! Have a good night, everybody! * Announcer heads off the field. * Taro returns, and waves to Ichi. Taro! Where did you go? You all disapeared! * Cara returns to the infirmary. Cara ran off, so I followed here. Let's go to Daphne. That's wehre Cara's going now. She did? Whe..right. * Taro walks towards the medical place. * Ichi follows Taro to Daphne's cot. * Cara is sitting next to Daphne, her hat pulled down low. Hi, Cara. * Taro looks around for a medic-type person Uhm...I'm sorry I didn't see you leave. * Medic is going about some business. Excuse me... do you know when Daphne is going to fully recover? Or at least enough to be able to talk or walk around. * Cara doesn't say anything. She should be able to walk tomorrow morning, at least enough to see the rest of the matches. * Taro nods Thanks. * Taro walks back towards Cara. * Ichi sits on the floor near the cot, and sighes. Medic says that Daphne should be up and walking by tomorrow morning. * Cara nods almost imperceptibly. That's good to know. Uhm....what will we do untill then? I suppose we find a place to stay. ...I'm staying here. That Ryu person seemed nice enough. Maybe he could help us. * Taro nods. ... I suppose you have a point. We should be there for Daphne when she wakes up. Let's go ask if they have someplace to put us here. How did I know I'd find you guys here? Because you're realy good at that sort of thing? * Ryu shrugs. Round's over. I was just about to leave. * Taro nods. If you haven't decided who you're gonna approach, you probably should start thinking about it. I'm gonna go back to camp. * Taro nods. * Ichi nods, "Camp?" Yeah. I'm camping out a couple miles west of here. Ah. Laters. Do you think they'd let us stay here untill Daphne gets better? Well, I've been thinking about asking you. I'm still thinking it over, though. ^^; Here? No, there's not enough room. This is a short term place. There's space at the campsite, though. * Taro nods * Cara suddenly looks up. "Mr. Ryu...can I ask you something?" * Ryu smiles down at Cara. "Anything you like." Why are there so many people who fight like this? Why do -you- fight? We fight to get better, and for the joy of winning. But...why? That person DIED! For something like that? She knew going in that she could die. We _all_ could. It's the price of getting better. ... still, it feels wrong. * Ryu said that, damn it. ...so it's just to get better. That's an end in itself. Bah. The end is to be the best. For at least a while. Why? Who cares who's the best? All thoes people out there seem to... If you're the best, you can protect anybody you want to. That's enough for some. For others, it's so that nobody can oppose your aims. To protect someone... As long as the latter exist, then the former will rise to oppose them, and they'll claw their way over each other to be the best. * Taro nods... I don't know why that person in particular died. I didn't know her. * Ichi nods slowly. I'm off to get some rest. Alright. * Ryu exits stage left. [Session End]