utopiamods: (The right way to fight Exaclan)
Rakuen Moderators ([personal profile] utopiamods) wrote in [community profile] rakuen2011-02-20 01:24 am

Round 2 [all characters and round announcement]

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

- I remember now. It's a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her.

The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess.

No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--


The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep.

"Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. This tramline terminates here; all change. Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. All change."

Sunlight streams through the windows of the long carriage, making the seats almost uncomfortably warm beneath its waking passengers. The air is muggy and thick, the atmosphere deeply tired. Your nausea settles, slowly. The last of the dream fades.

"We have arrived at Utopia. Repeat, we have arrived at Utopia Academy. Could all passengers please leave the tram, as it is terminating here."

The tram pulls to a stop outside the academy station, and anyone onboard is ushered off and directed to the front lobby of the school. You can't miss it; there are signs up pointing toward the main entrance, reading "New student orientation" in big, bright letters. If anyone should care to move off the path, try exploring somewhere else, a teacher will conveniently appear to shoo them back toward the lobby, assuring them that "all your questions will be answered inside".

The lobby is big and spacious, looking more like a university or perhaps a fancy international hotel than a high school. Stood around are any number of students in the uniform of the school. Some of them even look awake. There are several receptionists at the desk towards the back of the lobby, but for now they seem busy with paperwork.

Anyway, the many screens are far more interesting. Once a good number of students are gathered inside the building, they all activate at once to show a cheerful, almost cavity-inducing woman in the school uniform. She smiles, waves, and launches into her speech without further ado.

"Good afternoon to our new students here at Utopia Academy! Thank you for choosing to enroll with us for this, our first semester of the new year. Our battle system is the best in the world, set up for you, our students! I hope that you all had a fun journey here, and that you've all made some new friends! You're going to need them soon, so keep them close, okay?

"Unfortunately, some of you have had to leave unexpectedly... This is a little upsetting, because they didn't finish paying their fees. So they've left a few things behind. Their friends should collect those to remember them by! After all, they might not come back, or they might be back next round! You never know.

"Now, I'm going to explain the rules for you. Make sure to listen carefully, and remember, you can find all of this and more in the Exaclan manual!"

She outlines the battle system for the newbies as she has every round previous, then claps her hands. The screen goes blank for a second, and then shows a blue screen with FIRST ANNUAL EXACLAN TOURNAMENT in scrolling white text. The girl appears again in a smaller window in one corner of the screen, and resumes talking.

"This is a special round! Exciting, isn't it? Of course, you can keep fighting as you normally do, too, but we'll also be running a tournament! Every Player has to take part, even if you don't make it through the preliminaries, but you should try hard! There's a big prize for those of you who make it to the last rounds. Now, there are twelve of you this time, and you'll all be fighting in the preliminaries."

The screen changes, to show first the list of Players, then a tree-style tournament diagram. The matches for Day 1 are as follows:

Rafiel vs. Hikaru Sulu
Lloyd Asplund vs. Montblanc
Mai Tokiha vs. Yuka Osada


The matches for Day 2 are:

Shoryu vs. Kallen Stadtfeld
Road Kamelot vs. Grenn Atair
Molly Hayes vs. Miwako Ihara


"After you all fight, we'll have six Players left. That means the third day will have three fights again! Ah, the last three days are for finalists only, but we'll talk about that later! If you have any more questions, ask at the desk, okay? Bye for now, and work hard! The fights start tomorrow~"
magicallife: (☆ Gentle thoughts)

[personal profile] magicallife 2011-02-21 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
...Yeah, she knew it probably wouldn't work, but oh well.

"I was just kidding," Marino replied with a slight smile, back to a usual tone. Looking over to the nearest wall, she motioned to it for Mizuno. "Let's go over there where it's not quite as noisy." There was a lot of chatter, to be fair, but she was more concerned about being overheard than that.
lifeismagical: (pic#743668)

[personal profile] lifeismagical 2011-02-21 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
"It wasn't a very good joke."

Mizuno followed her sister's lead, fidgeting a little. "Um, Marino...I'm sorry. About last night, I mean. I shouldn't have said those things to you." And even if she can't remember why she said them... "I didn't mean it."
magicallife: (★ Something of a Mystery)

[personal profile] magicallife 2011-02-21 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
Marino was about to respond to the first statement with something rather whimsical, but what Mizuno said took her attention. She turned back to her sister. "Sorry, what part of last night do you mean?" Sure, they'd talked last night, but she couldn't remember anything that particularly would jump out at her.
lifeismagical: (if you say you're all right enough)

[personal profile] lifeismagical 2011-02-21 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Which part...?"

That didn't make any sense, either. It seemed to Mizuno like something that would jump out at Marino, especially since it'd upset Marino enough that she'd left and hadn't come back by morning. She almost asked if her sister had been kidding about that, too, but that wasn't the kind of thing Marino would make a joke about.

She didn't remember, then? That didn't make a lot of sense, either, but then Mizuno couldn't remember why she'd said those horrible things or how she'd ended up here. "Well...if you don't remember it, it's probably better that way.

"Either way, I'm sorry."
magicallife: (☆ Daily pleasures)

[personal profile] magicallife 2011-02-21 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't worry," the masked girl responded. "Whatever it was, it's nothing to worry about." She smiled back, and almost reached up to stroke the side of Mizuno's head gently. But she couldn't act too close like this, or someone might find out her identity and connect her to Mizuno. Why that was important, she couldn't quite remember, but it still weighed on her mind.

So far she hadn't seen anyone, but it's unlikely they were the only two brought to whatever this school was...
allurprincess: (ilu the MOSTEST)

[personal profile] allurprincess 2011-02-21 09:42 am (UTC)(link)
Sora nodded along with the vow, her expression simply encouraging and delighted. When she'd finished, she added,

"Yes! I will be your Weapon, Yuka. And... I swear I'll serve you and protect you, too."
lifeismagical: (this is an ice cream spoon)

[personal profile] lifeismagical 2011-02-21 09:47 am (UTC)(link)
She still thought it was kind of important, but... "Okay. If you think I shouldn't worry about it, Marino, I'll try not to."

Mizuno paused, idly playing with her hair. "Hey, Marino, why are you dressed like that, anyway?"
magicallife: (★ A playful mistress)

[personal profile] magicallife 2011-02-21 09:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Because I'm a protector of justice, of course," came the facetious response.
lifeismagical: (pic#744256)

[personal profile] lifeismagical 2011-02-21 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Really? Like a tokusatsu hero?"
tenwholeryou: (idk that sounds shady to me)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 09:59 am (UTC)(link)
Kotarou shook his head at Kallen's question. He'd been in the forest most days, so all of the battles had passed him by. Huashi seemed capable of speaking for him, so he just tucked his arms behind his head and watched them both through narrow eyes.

"Hey, can we have our permission slips?" He added, once they'd apparently come to some kind of conclusion. It wasn't like he missed dessert or anything, no way.
magicallife: (★ Something of a Mystery)

[personal profile] magicallife 2011-02-21 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
"That's correct!" Marino continued to build up the brief lie. "That's why we can't be seen together while I'm in this disguise."

"But I guess you're safe for the moment," she added.
goodtobetheking: (question; this could be problematic)

[personal profile] goodtobetheking 2011-02-21 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
What indeed. Shōryū would have preferred that he hadn't arrived in his robes; the first impressions given by that would set him back in terms of meeting the other people brought here. According to the registers and the crowds, there must be at least forty people - 'students' - attending, most of them children, with more arriving. He headed for the doors, and then out into the main compound. It was certainly an interesting place, architecturally.

"'We'? I have to change, and then I have some work to do. You can do as you please."
queenscheckmate: we are young (listening carefully; go on)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Permission slips?" Kallen questioned, looking down at Kotarou.
tenwholeryou: (that makes no sense at all)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 01:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's what I said," he nodded, "I want to use the gym this afternoon, and they won't let me in if I don't have one."
queenscheckmate: we are young (clear mind and thoughts; listening)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"I see. Is there anything specific it has to say?"
tenwholeryou: (soooo about that thing you said)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
He shrugged impatiently. That she'd never had the experience of being anything other than a Discard didn't even occur to him. "Ichi's just said I could do what I wanted. Huashi's too. Write that."
queenscheckmate: we are young (in all seriousness; well then)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"I can't do that. I'm responsible for you, so I can't just let you do whatever you want nor am I going to assume responsibility for someone I don't know. I can write one for you and Huashi to use the gym, not to do whatever you want."
tenwholeryou: (you sure? it looks poisonous)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Drat, a responsible adult. He scowled for a moment. "What about dessert?"
queenscheckmate: we are young (softly with words that flow; sincere)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"What about it?"
tenwholeryou: (... the shit is this)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
... They should have chosen a different Player, he thinks, belatedly.

"Can we have it?"
queenscheckmate: we are young (tell you how it is; calmly)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why ask me for something like that?"
tenwholeryou: (you are making no sense at all)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2011-02-21 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"You have to give us permission."
queenscheckmate: we are young (i got this; believe me in)

[personal profile] queenscheckmate 2011-02-21 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Seriously? "I'll give you permission for that--"

Wait a second? Those who were weapons had no... right? Or at least at the luxuries.

"I'll do that for you. Is there anything else?"
choseanidiot: (that's the dumbest thing)

[personal profile] choseanidiot 2011-02-21 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think I'm almost impressed," Enki mocked, but his face reflected suspicion; Shōryū hadn't mentioned any vow, yet. Could he get away with dragging that out, and not get any idiot-mandated upgrades?

... Only until Shōryū had read everything he could find, he supposed, and that then depended on how quickly he did that.

"Can't tell you who has swords as weapons, I've only seen two battles," Enki frowned as he spoke, voice going sour as he remembered the stomach-turning brutality of how the first ended; giant axe-blade to the head--- That the injury hadn't been mortal didn't matter; the idea of seeing anyone here, especially Shōryū take another such hit...
brokencrane: (☂ listen; look happy you'll make it)

[personal profile] brokencrane 2011-02-21 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, the embarrassment was mostly over now that she'd finished saying it. Except then she heard Sora's statement, and blushed a little again; she was pretty sure the Player was supposed to protect the Weapon, not the other way around, and really she didn't know very much about Himoto-san. But she did seem to know what she was doing a bit better than Yuka did, and it was kind of comforting to hear. "...Thanks."

Page 5 of 7