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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Nunnally had wondered if she'd be able to reach the lobby in 10 minutes in her wheelchair, but it was lucky she'd been just outside. It was with wide eyes she listened to what the girl told them though. Dying... for real? That had to be a joke. It was a joke, wasn't it?

...or not, it seemed, when she saw her own shadow suddenly form in front of her. She didn't want to fight!

Like hell.

Like hell it was going to end this way. After all this, a massacre? How utterly pointless.

"Suzaku! Kallen!" Lelouch shouted as he ran as best he could to one side. He was making for the stage. Defensive high ground as well as tactical advantage of being able to see what's going on. He searched the crowd for his comrades, sisters, and brother as he went, intending to bring them with him.

What.

Sora stares, brain turning over and over with the effort to understand why or how; she can't tear her eyes away from her shadow, standing tall on the stage surrounded by the doubles of her princesses. Then the shadows have started to move, and she immediately presses her hand to her own chest, hoping beyond her entire being that the others are behind her.

"Utopia is here!"

Kotarou had started backing away before she'd even finished speaking, and by the time the shadows had begun to advance, he was beside Huashi and looking completely terrified.

"No way," he looked up at her, then back to the shadow version of himself. It had started to toss the pendant from hand to hand, expression still blank. "Why is this happening?!"

The minute the announcer had said "alive," Kevin had gotten this sinking feeling in his gut. The same feeling he would always get when his father had at the bottle, though for the love of him he couldn't remember why. As his shadow went up to join the others and he realized the kind of danger they were now in- that they had always been in- Kevin's hand inched towards his neck where his memory charm lay. Despite only having one, the return of the memory had been important... and absurd.

He shouldn't have to fight for what was rightfully his, memories or life, and now these assholes were going to try and take both? "Screw that." He hissed, moving to draw his own weapon and-

Pain. As a gunshot rang out through the air over the sounds of battle, Kevin felt an agonizing burn in his side and nearly crumpled on the spot. He'd been shot? When had he been shot? And who the hell-!?

Wrenching his gaze upwards to try and find his shadow, Kevin was utterly surprised when he found himself staring down at the ground. Why the fuck was he so disorientated? Was he losing blood? Or was it the effects of his copy's weapon? But that shouldn't be possible, not when he hadn't unlocked any- when is life ever fair?- his mind reminded him in a scathing voice.

"You gotta be kidding me...!"

She'd come into the lobby five minutes before and just stared at the too-cheerful woman, but now... What... When the her shadow takes shape it doesn't look like her. Well, it does, but there's cables coming from from her head, from her spine, from the shoulders and hips, like from the girl in the nightmare---

Grenn gasped and pushed backwards, but sitting in a wheelchair you're not getting very far. Reflexively, she pulled out her two frisbees, gripping them as she stared at her shadow self, who wasn't sitting in a wheelchair, or even a hoverchair, and not using prostethics. No, instead the thing was floating in the air, the cables moving lazily about it.

It swooshed up close, but blocking isn't too hard, but there's electricity running down her arms, burning her fingers. She swore, and her shadow looked up at her, smirked... and disappeared.

What..? She needed to move.

The Exaclan Lady was there in the flesh! Forget the horrible shadow dopplegangers for now. Mei realized the danger they presented, but that couldn't distract her from this opportunity. The tiny girl pulled her Exaclan glove on and put both hands to her chest, never once taking her eyes off the woman who had been tormenting them this whole time.

"Utopia!"

"Is!"

"Here!"

Light flashed as she drew all six kunai, each held between her fingers, handled the way they were meant to be. This time no amateur was fumbling with the six sharp blades. The second after they were arranged in her hands, the tiny girl took off like a freakin' arrow through the crowd. She leapt, scaling one person, then leapt again to the shoulder of a taller "student", then once more into the air, taking aim. She had shifted two kunai to the other hand, leaving just one in her dominant. The last jump had a spin on it and she put all that momentum into the throw.

One lone kunai, flying across the lobby, the black and white ribbons trailing through the air, right for that awful lady's head...

Molly yawned when the lady called them out, figuring it would be a boring announcement about how checkers didn't count as a battle and that they really had to fight. Needless to say, the announcement shocked her.

When the shadows appeared, Molly drew her weapon, brass knuckles, out of her chest and slipped them onto her hands. She hit hard, but that was mostly when she had her mutant power, without them she didn't really know how to fight. Sadly she's not aware of this fact.

Skulking in the shadows and just out of sight, the only sound that emanated from the shadow's lips was the faint echo of crazed laughter and an eerily quiet chant.

"HAHAHA... who wants to plaaaaay....?"

Edited 2011-01-24 22:01 (UTC)

Okay, that had just been really, really creepy. Grenn looked over her shoulder, but Yuki's shadow was nowhere to be found, and she hadn't run into her o-- When she faced forward again, there her shadow was, hanging almost serenely in the air in front of her.

"Hello, Self... Don't look so afraid! This is a game isn't it? A game, a holographic playground, a program! USE YOUR HEAD!" The last bit was shouted, almost deafening Grenn as her shadow tossed its own version of Altair and Vega. She managed to block one, while the other was diverted in the air.

"What do you even mean, this isn't---" Then it's up in her face, this close, and grinning wide. The gums are red.

"A GAME. Do you never use your head, Self?"

Grenn shook her head, stared, and almost distractedly blocked an attempt to bash her head in, another rush of electricity bringing the smell of burned flesh. A game? Wait... That girl. She'd said 'maintenance' and 'get rid of you for a while'. This wasn't---

"Ohhh, I am so proud of you, Self. Remember this when you push retry!" Her shadow disappeared (teleported, she realized), and then there's suddenly two shadow frisbees coming at her too quickly to--

"Whoa there!" First one, then the other disc spun away, deflected by the flat side of Gino's halberd. Like the shadowy Grenn, he was floating several feet in the air like it was perfectly normal. "This is a little unfair, don't you think? Let's fix that."

"This should even it out!"

It looked like Gino himself wasn't the only one taking advantage of the tall knight's defiance of gravity. He hadn't come to the rescue alone, after all! Even if he hadn't realized someone had followed after him on his route to Grenn! A light weight hit him in the back, ran right up it, and, upon getting a foothold on one of his shoulders, the tiny Xingese girl used him as a springboard to send herself flying right at the floating monstrosity that was Grenn's shadow. All in a matter of seconds.

"Hya!"

The leap took her up above them all, giving her the perfect vantage point to send all six of her kunai flying down at the shadow, like a deadly rain of metal.

A few of the cables were clipped by the kunai, writhing like live snakes had that been cut in half, as shadow!Grenn shrieked. The sound had a metallic tone to it, but wasn't an echo. Only one kunai was actually flicked off its path by one of the shadow discus.

"I'd say something about this being a cutscene and that you shouldn't be able to do that, but I have a feeling you won't understand it," Grenn's shadow hissed, but there was a mocking amusement in its voice.

"Nope, sorry~," Gino darted forward, reversing his grip on Tristan for a slash that severed the few remaining cables that had writhed into a shield. He righted himself in the air, and lunged. The shadow screamed again as the halberd's spearpoint went through her neck; the force of the attack took up almost half of the weapon's hilt before its body vanished.

Conveniently, the charge had also put him directly in Mei's path, the princess landing on his shoulders yet again. This time she crouched there, a hand on his head to steady herself. Effectively, she was perching on him. If the circumstances hadn't been "in the middle of a bloody fight", it may have been cute. "I dunno. I would say you sure cut her scene!"

This was, sadly, not followed up by Mei putting on sunglasses or anything of that sort. Sorry. At least it got a laugh out of Gino, if a brittle one.

Kallen, no, this wasn't her. This version of her was deadly. You thought Kallen was a good fighter, imagine her with her skills and an unlocked weapon. Sonar.... revenge... these skills were deadly and she just knew how to use them.

She was no Euphemia slaughtering the Japanese, that's for sure. Her aim is more controlled, not rapid wild fire. She don't have the mind to reason or the time to talk to you. You got time to talk, you have the time to drop dead right in front of her.

If you're moving, she's shooting and she's hitting you. Good luck protecting yourself, IF you can because if you hide, she WILL find you.

Think, if you will, for just a moment. Ranked at Lieutenant, Sulu is no pushover, having gone through several years of military training, in addition to personal training in fencing. And, in Sulu-speak, "fencing" usually tends to mean "wipe the floor with your sorry ass." But there is a stark contrast between he and his shadow: Sulu shows compassion. He doesn't fight to kill unless you're fighting to kill first. This thing doesn't follow those rules. He will kill you with cold indifference and deadly accuracy.

He twirls the long, thin foil with one hand, eyes glimmering with a look not unlike that of predator stalking his prey. You want to go after him, go ahead. He won't show any compassion, and he certainly won't show any mercy.

And if you think he can't do any damage with that foil, you are sadly mistaken.

Scott had gotten to the announcement on time -- that was odd for him, he would have normally been chillaxing in his room or something instead. Instead, however, he was there. And listened to the accounncement... not only that, but he saw his shadow leaving him.

That was about 10 minutes ago. As soon as the shadowy creature had risen up, Scott's face had gone a tiny bit pale. To anybody else, the monocrome version of Scott may be creepy, sure. It might even be a bit scary. But, to Scott? He knew that face, that lineface-like look, with the semi-hollow eyes and the lack of colour.

It looked like NegaScott. But it wasn't *quite* him -- NegaScott wouldn't attack straight away, if Scott knew him well enough to think that. Which... he doesn't. Plus, NegaScott wasn't living in his shadow, they were different people.
But as soon as the shadow creature had appeared, it had started to attack Scott, a dark grin over its' face. Scott, in slight shock, had drawn his own weak weapon. This is what he wanted, right? To fight. "I'm ready, shadow guy!" Scott shouted, starting to attack.

But the shadow could parry all his moves, attacking more defensivly then Scott ever would. As soon as Scott left an opening, however, it struck him. That's what happened over those 10 minutes -- and now Scott was on the ground, his shadow stepping on him.

"Come on, Scott," he said, his fully-powered blade pointed at the true Scotts' neck. Scott gulped, as the shadow grinned. But, oddly enough, it wasn't giving the death blow. Who knows why? Well, it knows. Scott's... too much of a pushover. It wants to hear his struggle a bit more -- a perfect chance for people to attack, huh?

Of course, it might just be waiting for somebody else to be there, to witness his victory.

El was at least hoping he could get through a few more weeks without having to fight. It was so much better, having to stay on the sidelines and simply observing the outcome of the battles. That, and there were always others who would do the fighting for him. Besides, even without doing anything, it too gave him experience, ideas and strategies just from watching. That, and he didn't want to show what he could do anyway. But this time's a life-or-death situation, much to his disdain. There was no choice on the matter.

Still if anyone needed to survive this round, it had to be him. The one who survives would get the most information after all.

Without any kind of flairs whatsoever - it's a life-or-death situation, there's no need for shouting any kind of mantra - he calmly reaches out inside him and pulls out two swords, a short and a long one, wielding each on one hand, just as his mirror image walks up to him in the same calm fashion. How ironic that it bore El's face, not Karin's.

"That face doesn't suit you at all."

One swift movement and El blocks the incoming attack with the dagger then easily slashes that face that used to belong to him. Those movements, obviously he knows them. It's his own form after all and what a stupid thing to do, to use his own style against him. He smiles carelessly, whipping his own blade as if to remove the shadow that still clung to it. Hopefully, it would die and dissolve before anyone were to see it and connect it with him.

"Nor does yours suit you as well." Now where were the others?

Mai had managed to avoid fighting until now, even with her second-class status here. But this...things just became a bit different.

"What...how can you...?" she had tried to yell back at the woman on the stage, but the shiver as her shadow moved took caught the words in her throat. The pool of darkness crept creepily across the ground. Almost like an Orphan...

The figure that appeared directly in front of her was familiar, but...wrong. A face, hateful and sneering. A face that stared back at her, shadowy mockeries of her Element spinning around its wrists as it floated above the stage. It wasted no time getting started.

Mai was nearly hit by the first blast of shadowy flame, only able to half-fall, half-roll to the side to get just out of the trajectory. Although the floor was unaffected, she could feel the harsh heat against her ski.

"You always were too weak. Give up now!" the shadowy figure called out, floating closer.

Mai struggled to get up, still unarmed as the shadowy her raised her arms together, dark flames engulfing the rings once more.

Her jet black hair ran in a stream behind her as Rapunzels shadow held the whip in hand. What was gold was now a shimmering black, red eyes just visible behind her long hair.

"Oh come on out now, no use hiding Rapunzel~ Mother always said we mumbled too much. Speak up, show yourself now." She stepped on the trail of golden hair still winding about the room and waited for the girl to move, to trip and be yanked back. Then she would find her.

It was only a matter of waiting.

The instant the shadows coalesced into animate forms, Fletcher gasped in worry and stepped behind his brother, clinging to his sleeve. "Brother!"

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."

Edited 2011-01-25 18:59 (UTC)

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!"

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.

....

Wait, what?

Meryl didn't even have time to think before bullets started flying past her head. She didn't even think to see who it was before pulling her gun and trying to shoot.

"Utopia is-"

Too slow, apparently. She was shot through the heart before she had a chance to think.

"Hehehe... Idiot. Maybe you should have spent less time gawking."

Shadow Euphemia loads her gun, flipping the switch and aiming carefully, then firing. She's got a big smile on her face, blood splattered across her torn dress and face. And maybe the bullet she's just fired is headed in your direction!

Suzaku helped Kallen as they struggled the way through the room. So many dead... Suzaku's brain couldn't take it all in, they were all dead. This place had kidnapped them, forced them to play their sick and twisted games and now where just massacring them... He wanted to just... Stop; just let some shadow take him. He didn't deserve to live when he had failed so many.

But there were still people alive, innocent people who weren’t traitorous murders. Kallen was one, Kotarou and Huashi two others. Suzaku would do his best.

They were almost there... "Kotarou, Huashi, Oichi!"

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EASY PICKINGS RIGHT HERE KIDS. TAKING ANY AND ALL COMERS

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PRE-DEATH POST FYI

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