rakuen | [Round Zero: part 1]

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[Round Zero: part 1]

At noon on the rest day, every screen in the campus lights up. It's the girl from the introduction again! She's grinning fit to burst, and her voice is bright and excited.

"Good morning, everyone! Round Minus-One is now officially over, so we'd like you to all report to the lobby for a special announcement, immediately! It starts in ten minutes, so don't be late."

The screens all go blank, before simply displaying the flashing text ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO THE LOBBY FOR 12:10.

Reaching the lobby, you find it empty of the usual staff. However, the doors to the tramstation are blocked by a large stage, spanning the entire south wall. In the centre stands the girl, in the flesh and just as sickeningly cheerful as her broadcast.

"Hi, everyone!" She waves, tilting sideways as she does so, and then clasps her hands together. "Wow, it's really great to see you all in person at last! You've all tried a lot harder this week, and it shows! We're really, really impressed with everyone. Ah, even though there was a bit of cheating..." she pouts, and shakes her head lightly, "But that's okay. We forgive you! You all know better now.

"But what we've called you here to say is this! We've been working extra hard too, and we've gotten a lot done with your help. So much that we're nearly ready for Round One!

"However..."

She's still smiling. It's a little unnerving, "We have to do some maintenance first, okay? And I'm afraid it would be a problem if you were all alive for that... you could cause us a lot of problems. So we're going to get rid of you for a little while. Think of this as a final test!"

She snaps her fingers, and your shadows disappear. No, not disappear. That's the wrong word. It's more like... they're abandoning you. Nearly forty pools of darkness flow up onto the stage, and suddenly explode upwards in tendrils and globs of black. The girl laughs as they finish changing, as they take on your shapes. As they reach into themselves and pull out inky replicas of your own weapons. They all laugh with her, in the emotionless tones of the Voice from your dreams.

"You can all draw your own weapons now, okay? Fight hard!"

[mod notice: NOW EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS OOC POST BEFORE THEY REPLY.]

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"Go away," he growled, wriggling out from under the body. Out of his periphery, he saw Kallen and Suzaku distracted by the dark Gino. Once his chest was free, he began to pull his sword out. It was long, and this was close quarters, but it was all he had.

What a way to start a new school term. No sooner had Kuchinawa moved in that he found Sora Himoto and her weapons having a meeting in the supposedly empty dorm room next to his. Leaving the room to explore this "new school", he met a boy who showed him Exaclan's rulebook, which was played differently from how he remembered it. Pondering on the possibility that he might have forgotten something simple yet important (the boy had forgotten how to read), he passed by the library to borrow a simple book on fairy tales. Stopping by the cafeteria for lunch, he found El-- no, Asagiya Karin -- hard at work at attempting to cut an apple into bunny slices. It was then that he learned that he could not make heads or tales of this simple narrative -- among other things.

Like all the students in this school (some looked familiar, some not), he found himself in the Lobby after the announcement. There was some chaos the moment their shadows took lives of their own. "Utopia is here," Kuchinawa whispered as he drew out what seemed to be a sword from his own chest.

His shadow smiled at him with its painted lips, and he was obliged to do the same. He had no qualms against fighting his own shadow. Was he supposed to believe that this ill formed thing was supposed to be him in the first place? He charged at it immediately, and his shadow did the same. He won. The shadow merely managed to give him a small gash on the right of his torso. He shook his weapon once, locking its hinges so it could retain its simplest shape. Now that that was done, Kuchinawa decided that it would be best if he found El.

Found him. Still dressed as the "ally of women" wasn't he? Not that it would deter Kuchinawa. If it was going to be disadvantageous for El to be approached by a member of the student council, he would be able to do something about it himself. Kuchinawa yawned before approaching the man, never letting go of the weapon he just obtained.

"Oops. What do you think you're doing with that?"

The shadow child moved with the speed and precision of a martial artist, which, well, she was, to catch Lelouch's wrist before he could get the sword out too far. "You don't need that! The people you were supposed to protect are already dead!" Mei's smile never faltered. She may as well have been talking about a puppy.

Fletcher had listened to Russel when he said to run and hide... but on his way to find some place to hide, he stumbled across Scott's shadow beating the living daylights out of him.

Mr. Pilgrim had been his weapon just one day earlier. He'd promised to protect him if it came to that. The vow was no longer binding, but... He couldn't just stand by and watch him be hurt, could he?

Gripping his brother's shield for dear life, holding it in front of himself, he shouted: "H-hey! Leave him alone!"

Suzkau let Kallen hold him back, he couldn't reach the shadow version of Gino and she was right, they had to protect Lelouch that came first...

But then the shadow spoke again and Suzaku looked over to where he pointed, he hadn't seen them fight but he could see over there now because the hall was decidedly more empty than before. "NO!" It couldn't be... Euphie... and Nunnally...

Rage and pain filled his mind and he swung round to Lelouch; Lelouch couldn't know... it would crush him. His eyes widened, there was Lelouch on the floor with a shadow that looked terrifyingly similar to little Mei.

He wanted to kill the shadow of Gino so much, he had long since accepted he was a murderer and that monster... thing had killed his friends, but Lelouch was in danger so...

"Lelouch!" He turned and ran back to where the dead body of Gino was pinning Lelouch to the ground.

Meanwhile, Fletcher's shadow had noticed its counterpart and decided to give chase, bow at the ready. If someone didn't stop it, it might just get a lucky shot in.

"Mm?" the shadow semi-asked, looking over at the person shouting at him. They... wanted him to stop? Hell no, he'd continue... after entertaining this person for a tiny bit, of course.
Scott also looked over, leting out a small whimper. It was his former player-person! If he didn't have a blade to his neck, he'd be calling out for help. But, well, he did, and so he wasn't calling out like a complete coward.

What was Fletcher supposed to do with only a shield to protect himself? He was nowhere close to being a fighter, and the lack of a proper weapon only made it worse.

"I--I mean it!" he added. "Get away from him!"

He might have made a more imposing figure if he wasn't stuttering and shaking in his boots.

Ah... this could be fun. Moving his sword from Scotts' neck, the shadowy Scott pointed it towards Fletcher, a smug grin appearing on his face.

"...Make me."

As he moved the sword away, however, Scott started to struggle a little, though it was hard with a powerful foot resting on his body.

Fletcher winced. But it was okay; he had his brother's shield. It would protect him, right? That's why he'd given it to him. (At the same time, something was gnawing on the back of his mind... something he should remember about using this shield. But he was too scared and stressed out to recall it.)

It wasn't like this shadow was a real person, right? He'd seen some other people taking out other shadows and they'd just disappeared in puffs of smoke. Real people didn't do that when they died. It was just... an illusion of some kind. A dangerous one, but not real. So if he hit it enough times...

...with a shield.

He stepped backward. "He--he didn't do anything! Why are you all doing this?!"

And the shadow Scott stepped forward... off of Scott. With a cold smile, it looked to Scott. "Don't move. You're next, Scott," it said, before turning back to Fletcher, starting to walk towards him. And... Scott wasn't moving. It was really odd, for him to get this intimidated, but... it's understandable, if you know Scott well.

"Why? It's simple... but at the same time, too complex to explain right now," the shadow explained, leaping up slightly... well, more then a normal person could. He then leaped up again, trying to leap behind Fletcher, with the power of Defy Gravity.

That wasn't helpful at all. Fletcher shouted and spun around as quickly as he could when Scott leapt up behind him, but wound up tripping over his feet and falling on his behind.

Hey, on the plus side, he's so tiny that the shield he's holding covers most of him pretty well when he's not standing up.

...Yeah, and sadly, shadow Scott doesn't have 'break shield' as one of his abilities. In fact, that would be a very stupid ability to have, all things considered. He slightly leaned over the shield-covered boy, with a grin. "Scared yet?" he asked, holding his sword by his side. It was positioned in a way that he could easily be raised again, if that shield wasn't in the damned way.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, Scott got to his feet, and started to run away. He was getting outta here, man! Even if it meant the death of his old player. Scott's life was more important then anybody else, in this situation.

Well, this was a problem. Dark Scott would attack Fletcher if he moved the shield, but Fletcher couldn't get away or fight back unless he moved the shield. What could he do? He couldn't just keep cowering here forever. He would almost certainly be taken out if he didn't get to safety.

Maybe if he could just get Dark Scott away from him long enough to get up and run... Hm, that might work. As suddenly as he could, he pulled his arms out of the straps on back of the shield and then tossed it at the shadow. What he wasn't expecting was the sudden POOF and disappearance of his opponent.

Where had it gone? Was this another trick?

It didn't matter. He had to run. He grabbed the shield, got to his feet, and bolted.

Yes, it was gone. And Scott was still visible, in the distance. Though he had run... he kinda wanted to see how the battle had turned out. As soon as his shadow self disappeared, however, he sighed a bit. Relieved... a little. He still had to get away from this crazy school, hopefully soon!

"Mr. Pilgrim!" Fletcher ran after him, hefting the shield along as he did so. "Mr. Pilgrim, are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He wasn't at all upset at being abandoned. He was just glad Scott had gotten away.

Sora curled over the body for a few more seconds, her bangs growing sticky with Tsuki's blood as her grief slowly shifted to a dark, furious resolve. She scrubbed at her eyes with her gloved hand, accidentally smearing blood across her forehead, and looked up at Romeo with eyes that promised murder.

"No one else is going to die," she promised him - promised her dead friend, promised the other girls around her - before laying Tsuki gently back onto the floor and picking up her sword once more.

Reiko was being attacked. Their second mistake. The chain of the flail tangled around her sword as she lunged; she wrenched the blade away from them both, ducked under the mace as it swung with the force of the move, and sent Reiko's shadow flying with a spinning kick to the stomach whilst she was off-balance. It exploded into black smoke against the column it slammed into; Sora was already moving for the next shadow.

When his wrist was stopped, he went back to his first strategy of getting the dead weight off. No pun intended. The fact that it was a dead body didn't even bother him. It was the fact that it was encumbering him so much. "What are you talking about?! Release me!" he snapped. But the order was pointless. He couldn't get his contacts off like this.

He couldn't see anything but legs, pants, and skirts, some dark, some normal, all scurrying in different directions. He didn't see wheels, that was for sure.

"I... I'm a little bruised," Scott mumbled, looking over his body, frowning a little. Even though he might not show some visible bruises, his ego hurt. How could he be beaten like that? "This school-place is totally crazy, though!"

But there was another Lelouch. Darker, with some blood on him. Whose was unknown. He stepped between Suzaku and his real self and raised his sword. He brought the tip up mere inches from Suzaku's throat. As long as the blade was, there was a large gap for Suzaku to fill if he wanted to take him out.

"Traitor!" the shadow's voice accused. "Assassin! Take my mask, take everything I had worked for for yourself and give me nothing but death! You betrayed Japan, you betrayed Euphemia, and you betrayed me!" He spoke as though the betrayal to himself were the worst offense of the three.

"Go! Run!" Russel told his brother, accepting the bow, and watching the shadow version catch up to them. Once Fletcher was clear, his movements became only lightly more relaxed. If he was going to protect Fletcher, the real one, he had to do this.

He raised the bow, and pulled back the string. An arrow of green energy appeared where the normal arrow would go. He took a long moment to take proper aim. But he couldn't get over the fact that it was Fletcher's face on that creature. He closed his eyes, still standing ready to fire.

No. He would protect Fletcher. At all costs.

He reached deep within himself. Pulled out, kicking and screaming, the cold, ruthless scientist he'd been a long time ago. The person that pushed himself single-mindedly to a single goal.

He opened his eyes. Retook his aim. Released the string.

Before Sherlock can react is an oversimplification.

This is what happens while Euphemia is busy dying:

He aims for Kallen's shadow, bracing the gun with his bad arm. This is a mistake. It would have been less of a mistake if he hadn't instinctively tried to move his fingers. He can't correct his aim in time; having missed the girl on the stage already, he won't fire unless he is sure.

By the time he is sure, he doesn't have a gun anymore.

Very consciously not thinking about why that is, because if he lets himself dwell on it he will stop thinking at all, Sherlock crosses to where she started running and picks up his sword. The fact that he never once lets Kallen's shadow have a clear line of sight on him is purely automatic.

At this point, El was pretty sure that everyone was preoccupied with their own shadows to fight that he could half-care about his playacting. His head was starting to hurt from all this commotion and he couldn't decide whether Iwahijiri was less of a sadist than this group of people.

The word that woman had mentioned caught his attention however. Maintenance. What did that mean exactly, doing some maintenance but without them being alive? But he knew that kind of information would be more than difficult to dig up, especially in a setting where he no longer had power.

For now, it could wait since such thoughts was distracting enough in the middle of a melee.

El turned around to find Sora Himoto, busy fighting alongside her own princesses, but made no move to help them in any way. The girl was more than capable of handling herself in a fight - as Shoujou had quoted earlier, she's only clever in fighting. And besides, Karin Asagiya was the passive type of knight and if anything, would rather not fight, ally of women or not.

As he turned back around, he was greeted by Kuchinawa who seemed more relax than ever and with a weapon in hand. And he was yawning in the middle of the battle. Really now. He lifted an eyebrow, gaze falling to the dark stain on his uniform. It wasn't a normal Exaclan battle, that much he knew.

"Can you still fight?"

He followed El's gaze. Ah. The wound didn't hurt that much. He was sure he wasn't going to bleed to death either. But he did feel a bit sleepy. Perhaps it was the effect of his shadow's weapon. Perhaps if he got enough upgrades...

"If I have to." He wraps his arm around El's for leverage, and rests his forehead on his shoulder. He breathes heavily, trying to get more oxygen in his system. Because he can't fall asleep here. Seeing as how other people's shadows have managed to kill their originals and were now resorting to attacking anyone that provoked them, Kuchinawa was sure that he would have to fight again.

"Does maintenance happen often?"

El almost pulled away.

Almost since it was an instinctive reaction honed in him whenever someone - this was mostly Kuchinawa anyway - would drape on him as if he was some couch. Because really, was this the time to be all touchy-feely with him?

But he didn't when he felt the considerable weight placed on his arm as well as the labored breathing coming from the other male. Not a good sign, especially when they're in the dead center of the entire fight and the shadows were becoming aggravating with their powers exceeding theirs. He gave him another glance over, noting if he had acquired other injuries or if the cut was deeper than it seemed. Nothing, and yet Kuchinawa seemed exhausted already.

How many did he fight off anyway before he found him?

"Not that I know of." Considering the more than evident look of surprise on everyone's face at the announcement. El looked around again, eyes alert for anything that might attack them, gripping the scimitar's hilt tightly. "Are you okay?"

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Page 7 of 13

[Round Zero: part 1]

Re: HI WHATS GOIN ON IN THIS THREAD 8D

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Re: /makes a separate thread while Mei kills your shared boyfriend

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You called?

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