rakuen | [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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

"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!"

"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.

[Round Zero: part 1]

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