ROUND -1

[utopiamods]

This morning, the marks of ownership disappear from the bodies of every Weapon who was owned during the previous round. The woman from the introductory video appears on the Exaclan video screens across campus, and on all of the computer screens as well.

She doesn't look very happy.

"My, you weren't very enthusiastic this time, were you?" she says, frowning and waving one finger in disappointment. "That's no good. If you don't fight, you can't earn Tokens to buy your powers or your memories back! If you don't even have those, imagine how hard it'll be to earn Legend Fragments!"

She smiles; the shift from her previous expression is sudden and startling. "You know, if you hear the legend, you just might learn a few things!

"We didn't want to do this, but it looks like we're going to have to. Okay! From now on, Players, you can only go three days without fighting. After that, we'll start taking away one Token a day. And you want your Tokens, don't you?" She smiles even more widely, as though she has no idea why anyone might be upset at being forced into such a situation. "To get you all started, we've given you some free tokens! You already had three each, you know, and we've added seven more. That means you all have ten tokens, so visit a booth and get spending."

She pauses, and then snaps her fingers, "Ah, but only Players can do that, so if any of your Weapons want to buy something, you should do it for them, okay?

"I know you can do it! Believe in yourselves and each other, and you'll achieve utopia!

"Now, here are the Players for this round!"

The screen goes blank, and the following appears:

PLAYERS FOR ROUND -1:
Fletcher Tringham
Kevin Smith
Mei Chang
Meryl Silverburgh
Oichi
Suzaku Kururugi
Tsuki Aoi

Comments

[imperceptible]

... say what? Now they had to fight?

"What kind of screwed up school is this?" The blond muttered, mostly to himself as he watched the next list of names come up and- well go figure. He was up to fight already. Not a bad thing in hindsight, really. He was getting pretty tired of being tossed around like a trading card and his current list of players hadn't left him too eager to go back to being a weapon anytime soon.

Still, the fact that he was now the fighter was troubling. He still hadn't gotten through most of the manual and using weapons he'd never handled before was going to be difficult.

Oh well, better make the most of it. He thought and began scanning the area for prospective partners. As if to mark himself as a player this round, he pulled out his glove, ever present on him... somewhere, and pulled it on, frowning minutely at the strange feel of it.

Yeah, he couldn't wait until he got out of this place...

[trollofthree]

"Congratulations!" For such a tall guy, Gino sure could sneak up on someone. He didn't really expect Kevin would want him to stick around, so he just held out his hand and the silvery charm he'd gotten the day before. Whilst he'd been tempted to just wait until the guy called him on it, keeping his bargain would be better in the long run. Thus, "Here, as promised."

[imperceptible]

"GEEZUS-!" Kevin yelped, leaping a foot into the air. Spinning on Gino with an angry, startled and embarrassed look on his face, Kevin looked up (way up) and scowled at the pilot.

Here was definitely one thing he wouldn't miss about being paired with this guy. ... how would he even get Gino's weapon out if they were paired? ... note to self: find average sized partners for dignity's sake.

"Don't do that!" Kevin snapped before fixing his attention on the charm with a mildly befuddled frown. "What's this?"

[trollofthree]

"It's a memory charm." He turned his hand over, the chain caught between thumb and index finger so that the pendant swung like a hypnotist's watch. Or a cat toy, depending on how you saw the scene in general. "Cool, huh? I didn't think it'd be this small either."

[imperceptible]

"That's what they look like?" Kevin asked as he shifted to look at the dangling charm. It was only after a moment's thought that he realized Gino was offering it to him.

"Wait- why are you handing this over to me?" The youth inquired, raising an eyebrow. It had yet to occur to him just how seriously Gino might have taken his oath to Kevin. It was hard to remember the other was a "knight" when Gino was... being Gino.

[trollofthree]

"Can't use one you bought yourself," he pointed out, twitching his hand so the chain jingled. "And anyway, it's not your fault I lost you so early."

[imperceptible]

"Then why buy it?" He pestered, still eying the trinket like it came with a plethora of hidden strings.

At the mention of their loss, Kevin's face darkened with annoyance. Gino could say it wasn't his fault and, hell, maybe it wasn't but a loss never sat well with the athlete. Doubtless, it never would.

[trollofthree]

"Because," and here Gino just leaned down, took Kevin's hand, turned it palm-up, and dropped the charm into it, all in one quick motion, "We made a deal." He let go and straightened, folding his arms so the boy couldn't give it back. He almost suggested that Kevin return the favour, if he disliked the idea of just taking the charm so much Given that he tended to avoid doing anything Gino said, that would be counterproductive to the extreme. So, no.

Instead, he just grinned again, gave him a casual salute, and offered a, "Good luck with the round!" before he walked away. Importantly, gone before Kevin had time to argue.

[imperceptible]

"We never-!" Kevin began as Gino deposited the charm into his hand and all but pulled a Houdini afterward. Left with the necklace in hand, the blond vainly scanned the area for the giant and- nothing.

How did someone that big disappear like that!?

"Freak," Kevin mumbled quietly and glanced down at the necklace frowning. The word wasn't said unkindly but more from embarrassment at having been hit and run by Gino's kindness. Whether the pilot liked it or not, the tennis player owed him one.

Still, realizing he was stuck with it and wanting to retrieve his memories as quickly as possible, Kevin gave the pendant one last look before sighing and pulling the chain over his neck. As soon as the pendant came settled against his collarbone (it was a long chain,) a series of images clicked into place.

Soft and gentle- long tresses, tumbling over shoulders... a pair of lipstick colored lips curving in a kind smile. Blue eyes, bright as a clear sky, staring at-

Kevin stumbled and quickly adjusted his footing to balance himself, all the while cursing quietly. That was a memory Kevin hadn't even realized he'd lost. One of the ones he hadn't figured out.

Holding a hand over his forehead, Kevin glanced up and scanned his surroundings in vain, trying to find Gino so he could... punch him. Kick him!

... thank him.

That bastard had just given him back the face of his mother.