[Last Time, so, so long ago, on El WHAT?!: The group arrived all together at a tournament at the same arena as the wish tournament, though only six months have passed. They've all trained a great deal, and this world has proved ideal for learning the martial arts. The prize of this tournament is a draught that is said to increase the power of the drinker greatly, though only time will tell who earns this prize.] [Right in the middle of the lobby, as you enter, Shiho, Daphne, and Ichi, the three best fighters in the group, all strobe with light and disappear, dropping to the ground a moment later as plushies. People around you gape for a moment, and then move on peacefully, though there's a somewhat tense undercurrent to the hum of conversation around you.] [Session Start] * Taro blinks, then quickly runs towards the plushies. * Taro gathers them up * Cara laughs nervously, scratching the back of her head. "Eheheheh...this happens all the time. Really." Heh. ^^; * Taro frowns. Looks like we'll have to try even harder. Division 1 competitors, follow the signs to your assigned fighting area according to your fighter number. * Cara nods to Taro. "We'll do out best." * Taro nods Well, good luck * Taro follows the signs You too. * The signs seem to be steering you both in the same direction, there being eight numbers assigned to each fighting area. When you emerge onto the sands of the arena floor, you see that the arena has been divided into what must be twenty or thirty smaller chambers by large temporary walls, with four fighting rings in each small area. * Cara heads on. Wow. Must be a lot of fighters. * Each ring has two numbered sides, corresponding to the eight numbers that were directed to come to this area. Some of the numbers already have fighters standing near them. Over your heads, the crowd hoots and hollers as fighters continue entering. Yeah... * Cara looks around at the others in her fighting area. * Opposite Taro's number 31 is a Filipino man whose hands appear to be... on fire. He's wearing only a loincloth for clothing. * Taro blinks. * Opposite Cara's number is an empty space, numbered 27, her opponent appears not to have arrived yet. Um... hiya. ^_^; My name's Taro. What's your name? * Cara stands and waits for her opponent to arrive and looks at some of the other fighters in the area. * The other two rings are occupied by a man in a shiny silver uniform with a flaming eagle on the back, with a large knife in each hand, opposite him an unarmed woman standing calmly with her eyes closed, and the other holds an english man with a lance and his unarmed opponent, an equally tall fighter who looks far more solid. My name is Mui. Remember it, fuel. You've got a lot of wonderful cloth all over you, yes you do. You'll burn nicely. * Taro frowns. And hair... * Mui rubs his bald head and chest. "I've burned all of mine off so many times..." YOu won't mind if I use yours, right? Right?! Actually, I kinda do. ^^; IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU MIND! You're nothing but fuel for my flames... a thousand flames I have, for the thousand flames of my school... And you'll feel them all! Hm. What school would that be? The school of a thousand fireS! Fires that burn you to ash and burn the ash away to nothing! Ah. I'm a member of the Swearing Spaniard school. .... spitting. I meant to say, spitting. * The woman that must be Amy's opponent enters the arena, riding on the back of an immense bear, flanked by a tiger, with a bird of some sort riding on her arm, which is held carefully before her. She looks rather familiar. In fact, as she approaches closer, you can see that Cara's opponent is Amy O'Neal, your long lost companion. * Amy rides in and hops off the bear. She then bows to Cara. "Hi! So, you're my opponent?" AMY! * Cara runs up to Amy and grabs her in a hug. * Amy blinks. "That's my name. How do you know it?" * Amy stares at the strange girl hugging her. "If.. this is some sort of new attack, it's really not very effective. You really should squeeze harder." * Cara releases the girl and backs up. "I'm Cara! Don't you remember me?" Nope. Did we fight before? * Cara looks quite crestfallen. "You look just like a friend of mine...Amy O'Neal. I haven't seen her in a long time..." That's my name! Strange. Maybe she's a long lost sister or something. * Amy pulls a long wooden staff from a holder on the adorable Bear-chan. "So, are you ready to fight? ^_^" * Cara backs up. "Yeah." * Cara produces her sketchpad and pencil and stands with them at the ready. Ready Bear-chan! Tiger-chan! Eagle-san! * Amy gets into a well-practiced fighting stance as the three animals flank her. * Cara looks at the girl's neck for a tattoo. * Amy is tattoo-less. Fighters READY! * Cara purses her lips in thought as she settles into a pseudo-fighting stance. * Shiho's plushie, complete with attached Rocky, begins glowing as the announcer is aobut to say "FIGHT!" It rockets up into the sky and arcs somewhere else in the arena, and a flash rises above the crowd. * Taro blinks. o_o;;; That was odd. WHAT AN ENTRANCE! What an amazing entrance on the part of Shiho Yamaguchi, folks! Look at what they're teaching the Blazing Arrows school! ... ^_^;;; * Cara sweatdrops briefly. She'll be one to watch, folks! Keep your eye on the spitfire with the bow! Flashy fighters arn't very cute. ;-; * Amy doesn't hesitate. She rushes forward as her staff glows with energy. Quicker then the eye can follow, she strikes! "CLAW OF THE TIGER! TATATATATATATATATATATA!" * Amy's flurry of clawhand strikes slams straight through Cara's attempt to block, tearing rents in her flesh in spite of Amy's lack of claws. * Cara screams in pain and staggers away from Amy. Sorry, was that a bit too hard? ^_^; * Cara gathers herself. "You're...you're really strong. So...I'll try one thing, and if it doesn't work..." * Amy watches curiously. * Cara focusses her will through her pencil and draws a sketch of Amy lying on the ring, sleeping. * Amy falls to the ground, snoring. * Cara braces herself. * Amy sleeps while the wolf, bear and eagle rush at Cara. * The bear lopes forward with that terrifying speed that they have, rears up, and falls on Cara, squishing her quiet well beneath its bulk. Gah! * Cara attempts to wriggle out from under the bear. Oooh, look at the lower end of division one, folks! It looks like both combatants are down, one out and one pinned under... a BEAR!? The ref isn't counting at all, folks! Ohta, what's going on down there? * Amy snores. I've just asked the ref, and he says that the downed competitor is temporarily asleep! This is NOT a KO, though it will give her opponent a free hit if she can get out from under that bear. Yes, a bear. The sleeping girl also has, get this, a tiger AND an eagle! She's a veritable beastmaster! * Cara continues to struggle. * Amy snoozes. * The bear rolls off of Cara and readies its claws. * Cara runs over to Amy, picks her up, and dumps her out of the ring, hoping that they have a ring out rule. Fukui-san! The non-sleeping competitor down here just scored a ring out, taking advantage of her opponent's slumber to dump her out of the ring! * Cara lets out a sigh of relief. * Taro draws his longsword and Mighty Rod, with his buckler at his arm * Taro crouches for a sec, then BLASTS into the air, longsword drawn, speeding down towards Mui, ready to strike as he lands. * Mui flares his fire in preparation for attack, but doesn't get out of the way of Taro's sword strike at all. It tears a line of blood down his chest, and he barely reacts as his flames sear the cut shut. * Taro proceeds to dash AWAY from Mui, pointing the rod at him and muttering something, attempting to put a bit of distance between them * Mui blinks as his flames disappear. * Mui looks down at himself. * Taro blinks, then sweatdrops. * Mui closes his eyes and concentrates. * Mui opens his eyes and SCREAMS as nothing happens. * Mui thrusts one palm forcefully at Taro, and falls to his knees when nothing whatsoever happens. Um... sorry? ^^;; * Taro looks kinda embarassed. * Mui raises an arm and slaps the ground hard, twice, sobbing loudly. I don't believe it! A win by submission! Amazing! ^_^;;;; * Taro puts his stuff away, then offers his hand to Mui. * Mui ignores Taro. Don't worry. I'm sure it'll come back. ^^; I mean, you managed to set yourself ablaze once before. I'm sure you could probably do it again with some effort. * On the other side of the stadium, Shiho flashes into existence opposite her opponent, a tawny-haired girl wearing only a tank top and tiny pair of shorts. She is unarmed, and is curled up on the floor of the ring when Shiho arrives. FSSSST. * Tanisha uncurls from her position on the floor and rises slowly, stretching broadly. * Shiho looks around, then readies her weapon. It doesn't take much to figure out what's going on. Rowwrr... why do I get stuck with the pointy bow people? * Tanisha runs forward on all fours, lashing out with one clawlike hand for Shiho's chest. * Tanisha tears a path through Shiho's shirt, leaving a trio of parallel claw cuts on her chest across her breasts. * Shiho moves to the side a bit, and fires twice in rapid succession. * Tanisha grabs one arrow out of the air as it approaches, but the other speeds up right behind it and spears her right through the wrist. RAAAAAAAOWR! * Tanisha snaps the arrow off in a fit of rage and shakes her hand, sending the two halves flying. * Tanisha cradles her arm against her. * Tanisha rushes forward on her feet, uninjured arm flung out behind her, screaming "INSTANT CLAW SHREDDER!" just as she comes within reach of Shiho. * Tanisha lashes out again and again with her single hand, blurring into invisibility, and sending spurts of blood flying from Shiho's now badly mauled chest. * Shiho struggles to keep conscious. But rather than give up, she fires two more arrows at the crazy cat person. * Tanisha reels backwards as she's pinned by an arrow in each shoulder. She falls over backwards and writhes like an injured kitten, but does not rise as the referee counts to ten. And it looks like the spitfire with the great entrance has pulled out a win, people! The last fight has just finished, let's hear it for the winners of the first round! * The crowd roars in approval of all the fights. * The fighters who can still move quickly make their way out of the arena floor to the lounges, eager to talk with other competitors. * Taro walks into the lounge area, and waves to Cara and Shiho. Yo. ^_^ * Cara staggers into the lounge area. "Hi Taro...where's the infirmary?" Eeeek. * Amy walks in, followed by her adorable cute followers. You're pretty badly mangled. @_@ * Taro looks for anyone who might know * Cara waves weakly to Amy. "You're incredibly strong. I can't believe I managed to win." * Amy walks up to Cara and slaps her. "That was unfair! You broke the rules. I can't believe they didn't disqualify you." If you not going to fight fair, you shouldn't be here. * Amy looks very very upset. Does anyone know where the infirmary is? * Cara holds her cheek. "I...I...that's just how I fight! I use magic! And you have all those animals fighting for you! How's THAT fair?" * Shiho staggers into the lounge, wearing a new shirt. She's been bandaged, but the blood's already starting to soak through. ... Shiho... o_o Tourniment Rule #4. All Arcane and Divine magics are prohibited during a fight. * Taro looks for an attendant or any kind. ...nobody ever told me that. * Amy sniffs. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard, but you didn't have to do that in return." I guess...I should withdraw. I didn't know. I'm sorry. * Cara hangs her head. * Shiho staggers over. "...Amy?" Anybody know where the infi-.... *blink* * Taro looks. ... Amy? Is that really you? * Amy looks at Shiho. "Why do all these people know my name?" S'not her. She doesn't have the tattoo. ... oh. Sorry. A friend of ours who looks just like you went missing a few months ago * Shiho looks down, with a disappointed "Mm." Missing? How funny. * Amy patpats Bear-chan and looks back at Cara. "You didn't know it was against the rules? but how could you not know?" * Rocky peers at Amy. Well, uhm... We're uh, really not from around here. Hm. Well, there is a way we can settle this. ^_^ It was listed somewhere, actually... * Shiho finds a seat before her legs give out. * Referee walks past the lounge, carrying a tray of bandages. "Get your bandages!" If we find a ref, and tell him, he can decide what is to happen. It's also in the rules. Right after "A fighter who kills another fighter is disqualified." Excuse me sir, is there an infirmary or hospital or anything like that around here? ^^; Huh? * Cara grabs some bandages. "Thanks!" Well, my friends here are pretty badly hurt... There's one near every main entrance. Don't go there, though. They're overstaffed with the beaten fighters. ... not sure if just bandages are going to cut it, tho-... ah. * Referee holds out his tray of bandages. "Here. On the house." * Cara takes off her coat. "Can someone help me with these?" Alrighty. The next round of fights is in three days, so people can heal up. * Taro nods. Excuse me, Referee-san? May we discuss something? Oh, yeah... Huh? Sure. What do you need? Taro, get me a few of those, will you? Not sure if I have the strength to stand up. Sure. * Taro grabs some, then gives them to Shiho * Referee peanut-tosses a halfdozen bandages across the room, which are eagerly recieved by the fighters. My opponent used a Divine or Arcane magic on me during the fight. She, however, was unaware of the rule prohibiting them. Really? Didn't she read the rules at signup? * Cara looks at the referee. "I'm, well, a sorceress...I didn't know it wasn't allowed." Oh. Okay... um... let's see... who was the winner? * Shiho pulls off the old ones (now soaked through) and applies the new bandages. Under her shirt, thankyou very much. I assume it was the sorceress. I was. NOt much can stand up to magic. So Amy wins by default, right? It was. She cast some sort of Sleep spell on me. Wasn't her fault tho', she didn't know. That's up to the higherups. I'm just a field ref. I'll pass it on to them, and the announcement will be made tomorrow morning. * Cara nods. "Thank you." Thanks. Thank you Referee-san! ^__^ 'ey, no problem. Have some bandages. * Referee hands out bandages. ... um. Does using magical items such as potions, or rods that put out fires count as use of magic? ^^; * Cara takes a seat and attempts to bandage herself. Getcher bandages! Nice and warm, or nice and cold, I've got both! * Shiho shakes her head. "Just spells." Ah * Referee wanders away, distributing bandages. * Taro looks over Shiho and Cara. * Amy blinks and notices the adorable Rocky. "Aww. Is this yours? It's so CUTE! Hi there little guy.". After she says that, she follows it up by saying something in a strange language. * Cara sighs. "I guess I won't be in the other tournament then, either. I can fight a little without magic, but not much." ... I feel kinda guilty now, walking out of my fight without a scratch. ;_; * Rocky peeeers at Amy. "Say what?" And he can talk Human as well? What a smart little Raccoon! * Cara blinks at Taro. "Hey, that's right, you're okay. How'd you manage to win so easily? I didn't see you fight..." * Rocky tilts his head at Amy. Yeah, that raccoon's pretty smart. And he likes shiny objects. Umm... the other guy was on fire, so I put him out. Then he gave up. ...okaaaaaaay. * Amy reaches into her pack and pulls out a piece of shiny metal. "Look! I've got a Shiny." Yeah, it was a bit weird. * Cara looks a little confused. Yes. He likes shinies. Give him shinies. Lots and lots of shinies. * Rocky grabs at it. He was kinda cloaked in flame. And he seemed obsessed with fire. @_@ * Cara lowers her shirt back over the bandaged area, then puts her coat back on. I was afraid that the plushies might have gotten burned... * Amy gives the tiny little piece of shiny metal to Rocky and giggles. "Raccoon-san is so cute." So I decided to use this handy dandy mighty rod of fire extinguishing here. * Taro holds it up a bit. * Rocky peers at the shiny. .... so, the fire went out, and he kinda... just gave up right there. I feel sorry for him. I guess Daphne and Ichi are disqualified 'cause they couldn't get to their matches. It seems that way... * Taro frowns. Unless there's some sort of delay... rule thigny Well, we could ask. I'd doubt it. Yeah. Probably worth a try, though * Amy looks confused. "Your friends.. fight as stuffed animals?" But...yeah, Shiho's probably right. Not... quite. Every once in a while, we just turn into plushies That's the strangest fighting style since the guy who tried to lose every match! There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern at all. Probably some kind of curse. It's somehow linked to these... weird tattoo things that imprinted themselves on us Weird! * A small woman leads a goat into the room. She doesn't look like she's been touched at all, with any sort of attack. She sits down near the group and looks around. * Cara blinks at the goat. * Taro blinks at the goat Ohh! How cute! * Woman blinks at Cara as the goat takes a bite out of a coffee table. * Shiho is too tired to pay attention to the goat. Rocky, on the other hand... He's not cute. He's ornery. * Amy walks over to the woman and the goat. "Hi! I'm Amy. And this is Bear-chan, Tiger-chan and Eagle-san. Who is this adorable little guy?" He's as cute as a button, yes he is. Does he fight with you? _HE_ is Grandfather. I'm Demeter. * Taro blinks. And he's my mount, basically. I ride him into battle. Demeter? Greek Goddess, I believe. ...I guess riding a goat isn't the weirdest thing I've seen. He must be very smart. ^_^ * Taro blinks at the woman, then blinks at the goat, then blinks at the woman again I know, but... He's not very smart at all. But he's smart enough to know what's edible and what's not. Or should I say, _who's_ not. * Taro blinks. And yes, I was named for the goddess. ^_^; ... ah. Named for. ^^; Oh, that's not very nice. I can look in his eyes and see the spark of intellgence. ^_^ How else would he be a good ally to ride into battle? ... urgh. I need to refresh my studies. * Taro shakes his head. So, why's he named Grandfather? Because he's an old, old goat. * Cara looks Demeter over. Ah. * Demeter is quite obviously greek, and has a sort of exotic beauty about her. She wears very tight clothes, and wears them confidently, knowing that she looks good. * Amy yawns and streaches. "I'm exausted. Goodbye Cara, goodbye Raccoon-san, goodbye Demeter and goodbye Grandfather. Good luck in your future fights." She bows and walks off, followed by her gathering of creatures. Mind if I pet him? * Demeter lashes out at Grandfather with a kick in the side as he takes another bite out of the coffee table. "Stop that!" Go ahead, but it's not my fault if you lose your hand. * Shiho waves weakly after Amy. Bye Amy. Good luck. ... I think I'll pass, then. ^_^; Bye, Amy. Hope to see you again * Cara smiles at rhe depareting girl, a little sadly. * Taro blinks as Demeter kicks the goat. o_o * Grandfather ignores the kick and calmly eats the ancient oak. ... I take it he's a pretty tough goat? ^^; Very tough. Wow How old is he now? Oh, about thirty years. Ah I've always wanted to pick up a pet of some kind myself. Although it doesn't exactly suit my constantly travelling lifestyle. ^^; * Cara looks at the floor. "I miss her." Pets are useless. An animal companion, then * Taro offers Cara another bandage. :/ * Shiho hmms thoughtfully. We'll find her. I know we will. We already did. She just left. * Cara looks at Rocky. "She didn't have the tattoo. She didn't know us." * Taro looks for a set of the tournament rules anywhere We already ran into alternate versions of people we knew. * Rocky mutters, "Looked like Amy to me." Bah. * Demeter slams her fist down on the arm of her chair. * Shiho looks around at the other fighters. * Cara looks at the ground again. "It couldn't be. It just couldn't." * Taro frowns Could to. * There are only a few other fighters in this lounge, now. One person in full samurai armor, complete with ugly snarling mempo concealing everything but his eyes, of which one is glowing an evil green, and Demeter, who is sitting near you, along with a man polishing an immense claymore. * Taro blinks I can't believe I didn't get to fight. You Too? I Don't Believe That Two People Registered And Then Disappeared. * Cara eeps a little bit at the samurai's words. Why the hell would someone register and then not show up? I mean, they didn't even announce our opponents! Maybe they were busy. It Could Have Been An Evil Plot To Have Fewer Competitors. I Would Approve Heartily Of Such An Evil Plot. * Shiho considers. "Maybe it was." I Am Filled With Evil Wrath That I Did Not Think Of It First. Yeah, it was probably the result of some kind of Evil Plot. It's pathetic, that's what it is. * Cara puts her hat on and tugs it down over her eyes, hoping that the angry people won't see the comprehension dawning on her face. Bah. [Session End]