[Round Zero: part 1]

[utopiamods]

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.]

Comments

[queenscheckmate]

Kallen instantly turned her head and... not only was their Gino, but some little girl and now... Le-- no, that wasn't Lelouch, just how that wasn't Gino. And it didn't help when the shadow redirected their attention to the fallen Nunnally and aftermath of Kallen's shadow killing Euphemia. That--

"Sulu, I know I'm asking too much of in you a short amount of time, but get I need you to get Lelouch out of here, now." It was a command, not a suggestion. She didn't know Sulu's strength and quite honestly, she needed Suzaku to fight.

She took the time to finally draw her weapon. She hadn't read much of the manual, but she remembered that much. "Utopia is here!"

Kallen was never a player, so she was always a weapon. But she never made a contract with anyone so this was the first time she had ever seen her weapon or experienced of the pain of it being drawn from her. Thankfully, the weapon was familiar to her and she was grateful for that.

The pain finally subsided and Kallen locked eyes with Gino. His once blue eyes now red disturbed her. But they were all gathered around in the same area and there was little space to fight. Kallen missed a shot at Gino on purpose to get his attention.

"You want to fight, then come on." Kallen knew she had to move away from everyone, so she did.

[idkmybffxiao]

Even if the order was pointless, Dark Mei let go of his wrist and stood. She checked her sleeves for something and frowned, then turned away briefly from Lelouch's struggles to make a gesture with a hand, like she was calling something over.

Ah. She was.

Three kunai of shadow came flying back to her, yanked out of whatever poor sap she'd stuck them in last. She caught them between her fingers and looked back down at Lelouch. "Don't be dumb! I thought you were smart?" The shadow child giggled. "Your sisters, silly! They died! It was sooo terrible!"

[firstlady]

"So it's everyone's first time. No wonder."

He felt El get tense. Normally he would have shrugged off Kuchinawa's advances by now. He knew how much El disliked being touched. But here he was, letting him rest on his shoulder. He laughed.

El got himself into a lot of trouble precisely because he was this type of person. He worried about a lot of unnecessary things. It would be a lot easier for him if he had just abandoned Kuchinawa. On the other hand, it would probably make El feel better if he told him just how he got injured. But not telling him shouldn't hinder their progress much.

"Worried?" His hand snaked down El's arm. Finally grabbing hold of El's hand, he tried to coax him to loosen his grip on his weapon just a bit. It must have hurt, after he had cut his hand repeatedly from trying to make apple bunny slices. (Besides, it would be more comfortable to rest on the shoulder of a more relaxed man.)

"I'll be fine. Just tell me when they're close." Whether this they meant Shoujou and Togyu, Sora and her friends or another shadow didn't really matter. He doubted that El would be willing to have other people see them like this.

[persuades]

Worried? Him? He had no reason to be. He always had full confidence in his own Council even in the midst of him using them for his own gain. And it truly would be advantageous for him to simply leave Kuchinawa behind; his own priority was to survive after all, to gain more information about this place.

But leaving him would be against everything he'd done so far, including his morals and principles. Picking up strays, it was that one habit of his that had always gotten questioned.

"Don't do unnecessary things, Kuchinawa."

The grip on the sword remained tight despite the hand that tried to loosen it. His wounds from earlier were burning with pain, like tiny needles pricking his skin all at the same time, though he gave no indication of it whatsoever. He was used to pain, having dealt with the warning penalties before over and over again.

"And since when did I worry?" Still, he shifted the dagger slightly so that the blade would cut his arm instead in order to drag Kuchinawa towards a blind spot behind one of the pillars. If anyone were to see him and were to ask what he was doing, well, Karin Asagiya was a knight of justice after all. He was merely helping someone else without a second thought of who it was.

Pain!

[swordofzero]

Before Suzaku could reach Lelouch he ran into Lelouch, but it was not real Lelouch, real Lelouch was trapped under Gino, this was shadow Lelouch and he was angry. Suzaku stumbled backwards as the knife came to his throat. He had to get to Lelouch, this shadow was in the way.

In the way and speaking; Suzaku reeled backwards. Because it was all true; everything the shadow said. Suzaku almost couldn't move, it was all true... he was a traitor... he had betrayed...

No he had to get to Lelouch, real Lelouch; even if real Lelouch felt the same way as his shadow... and he probably did... he still had promised to protect him; he would not fail. He let out a roar of pain and waved his sword in front of him not caring if he hit the shadow or not, he had to get to Lelouch. He might be a murderous traitor but he would not... fail... Lelouch, not this time!

between Kallen, Suzaku, and their shadow counterparts

[queenscheckmate]

Okay, so that Dark Sulu and Kallen fight... didn't go as planned. In trying to avoid his attacks, Kallen's arm was bleeding pretty badly. She just needed a moment and since things were silent, she had to take advantage of that. She knew she had to regroup with Suzaku and Lelouch, but if she steadily bled out before then, then what what use would she even serve?

Kallen sat down on the ground, placed her gun next to her, and tore off the bottom of her shirt. She had to at least put pressure on it to stop bleeding without the help of first aid. And a moment later, she tied the fabric around her arm and winced at the pain.

All right. Time to regroup with the others.

As she stood erect, something pressed itself to the back of her head. Kallen didn't turn around (more so, she couldn't). Damn it, her gun was still on the ground. She tried her best to keep her composure, but considering the numbers that were slaughtered, she had a pretty good guess as to who... no, what was behind her.



"Where do you think you're going?"

"Decided it was finally my time? You've been avoiding me."

"What can I say? I know a little about tactics."

[swordofzero]

Lelouch was dead, Lelouch was dead and so were Euphemia, Gino and Nunnally. Kallen's friend who had been with them had disappeared and never returned, Suzaku thought he was dead also and he hadn't seen Kallen since the shadows of Gino and Mei had attacked them. He had assumed she was dead as well; everyone else he knew seemed to be dead or dying.

But no! There was Kallen; she was alive! But there, near her, a shadow version of herself. Suzaku rushed over he had to help her!

[frozen_desires]

And Shadow!Tougyu, creeper that he is, just watches.

[queenscheckmate]

"Tactics?" she said smoothly, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were afraid to face me."




"Or saving the best for last."

Good point.

Kallen couldn't think of a way for her to move out of the way, get her gun, and successfully take down her shadow. Suzaku was approaching, but the male was out of her line of sight.

Re: Pain!

[veepofchess]

Suzaku's blade did knock the shadow's aside, and the shadow mostly seemed to be enjoying toying with him. He let Suzaku get past him, and laughed. Loudly, maniacally. It was a laugh that Suzaku and Kallen were used to hearing being directed toward their enemy. But no. He was laughing at their pathetic attempts to save their pathetic commander.

[veepofchess]

Finally, Lelouch kicked his way out from under the body. He was smeared with Gino's blood now, not that it fazed him.

Until she said that. He froze. He stared at her. For a moment, his mind completely shut off. All strategy was gone. All he could think of was Nunnally and Euphemia. He should have told Suzaku to protect them. If his head were clearer, he'd know that there hadn't been opportunity to order them to do anything in this chaos. This was no battlefield, it was a slaughterhouse.

He didn't even recover enough of himself to respond to her.

[idkmybffxiao]

Oh. Did he break?

The shadowy little girl inched closer and reached to tug on his sleeve. "...hello?" Huh. The smile faded and the shadow managed to look sympathetic. "Aww. C'mon. Maybe it missed them!" Without further ado, Dark Mei grabbed ahold of one of Lelouch's wrists again and turned to drag him off towards the wreckage of Nunnally's wheelchair.

...and further away from his entourage.

"Let's go, let's go! This way!"

[veepofchess]

Being dragged snapped Lelouch back to reality. "You're a liar! Let me go!" he roared as he struggled to get to his feet. But she had him off balance, and his shoes only squeaked uselessly on the floor.

[hairwag]

Tomoko felt like she was going to be ill, she was so frightened. She wasn't with the others when she entered the room- and now this? Die?! No, she couldn't! She just couldn't! She was too young for that, she hadn't helped Himoto-san out nearly enough, and... she just really didn't want to die. She had to stay alive. Himoto-san needed her!

With a shaking voice and shaking hands, she drew her weapon. "Utopia is here!"

[chainedbyred]

"Are you sure this is utopia?" mocked a cool voice from beside her. "Well, I don't know, this is pretty fun." When she looked, she'd see the shadow of a tall, blond teenager, hands in his pockets, shield strap looped around one arm. He seemed entirely confident for the situation. "It works for us, I guess!" He laughed.

"So are you going to die pathetically or go down in a blaze of glory? Let's see what you've got!"

[hairwag]

Tomoko clenched onto her spear tightly when she heard the voice, and cast a look in his direction. A....shield? That was it? She bit down on her lip, then shook her head quickly.

"I-I'm not going to die at all! I'm going to survive!" For Himoto-san. Sh had to! She was an important part of Himoto-san's team, she needed to live and be useful, live and help save the other girls. Still terrified, but much more self-assured, she took one step back.

Then she charged straight at him with her spear.

[chainedbyred]

He raised the shield and used it to absorb the blow and guide her spear off to one side. "Everybody dies! It's how the world works!"

[idkmybffxiao]

She drags him all the way to the smoking wreckage and lets go of him, immediately putting a safe distance between herself and Lelouch. He was angry! He might do something.

"No way! I don't lie! Just look~"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher's shadow noticed the older boy focusing on him, though, and in that brief moment when Russel closed his eyes and struggled with himself, it darted out to one side so that it was moving when Russel re-aimed and shot. It only stopped once the bolt of energy had flown past it, aimed its own bow at the human, and let a shot of red energy fly.

"You're going to shoot me, Brother?"

[greennotgold]

"Ah-- good." Fletcher sighed in relied.

"Y-yeah. We should get out of here..." He looked around, trying to find his brother, but in the crowd of people and shadows he'd already lost him.

He had to be okay, though. His shield was still here, which probably meant he was still conscious.

[chainedbyred]

"You're not my brother," he snarled as he pulled the bowstring back again. "And I'm not going to let you kill him." He fired again, and a few more times in quick succession, shifting aim slightly with each shot.

[greennotgold]

"But, Brother--!" It flailed and jumped aside, trying its best to dodge, but it couldn't avoid them all. Eventually one of them grazed its side, and with one last big-eyed, betrayed-looking glance at Russel, it vanished in a poof of smoke.

[veepofchess]

If the thought of it had broken him before, here, he's utterly shattered. He stays on the floor, shaking. He reaches up toward the chair, and touches her leg. She is still faintly warm, but there is no mistaking it.

His eyes flew over her body. Something had cut through the motor of her chair. That probably immobilized her. Then the death blow. She'd been hunted by one of these monsters.

They were going to pay.

And Euphemia... the blood in her pink hair a few feet away said enough.

His whole body shook with rage. There was nothing, nothing left for him. Euphemia and Nunnally were dead. Kallen and Suzaku, no matter how strong they were, wouldn't stand long against the emotional warfare these creatures were capable of unleashing. And Rolo... he had no idea where he was.

He slowly got to his feet. He started pulling out his sword again, muttering to himself, "Utopia is..." he paused. "A LIE!" he shouted, jerking the sword out of himself.

If it was blood these people wanted, it was blood they were going to get.

[bitofafiction]

Another sibling. Of course.

Sherlock finds it more difficult than he expected to straighten up from where he is leaning against the wall nearby. It was only going to be for a moment. He hesitates, watching Lelouch and the shadow girl, fairly sure that he should intervene but not entirely sure that he can.

[veepofchess]

Lelouch's shadow was on the prowl. His real self was dead, and he had nothing but the freedom to mess with everyone that weakling cared about. Destroy everything he cared about. It's a shame someone else got to Nunnally first.

"Rolo~~" he called out. "My dear Rolo~~ Where are you?" The fake sibling would do just fine. Wouldn't be as fun as Suzaku, though.