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

[warpwhatsir]

He turns to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "Hardly a school. Schools don't normally pit other students against each other without some kind of intellectual value." This is, of course, speculation, as this could have very well happened to him in his school. He's just unaware.

[leftthesafetyon]

"Or kidnap their students out of nowhere." There was more to this, and everyone knew it. She could swear the classes were the same every day, and half of the students already graduated.

[warpwhatsir]

It is a little much. Even for Sulu, who loves dueling and sparring. But he shrugs. "A system like this is bound to fail. I mean, if the participants are reluctant, there's really no point, right? It's just a matter of biding time and playing along."

[leftthesafetyon]

"It doesn't really matter though, these bastards have to get caught sooner or later." A mass exodus was slightly suspicious, or she would be telling everyone to meet. No, if she could sneak out and report the school to the authorities, then this could get dealt with in no time flat. Plus, then she could come back with her real guns.

[warpwhatsir]

"I think if it were possible, they would've been caught already."

[leftthesafetyon]

"It's only been two weeks for the first arrivals. It takes 3 days to be declared missing, let alone found on an island." She was fairly certain that they wouldn't be found for a good long while without help, no matter how... determined... people tended to be.

[warpwhatsir]

Yeah, Sulu's getting the feeling that the time barrier is getting in serious way of any of his understand of how law enforcement works. "Wouldn't something like this be kind of... pathetically easy to find?"

[leftthesafetyon]

Meryl's not even aware that something like the time barrier exists. All she knows is that she was kidnapped and in a remote location. "How many small island do you think there are in the Pacific Ocean alone? Satellite technology may make it easier, but where would you begin looking for unrelated missing people?"

[warpwhatsir]

"Um, over 30,000 as far as I'm aware. But they were all monitored last I checked."

[leftthesafetyon]

"Noone has that kind of time or money on their hands, do they?" Honestly, his claim was a little staggering. Still, she was more willing to believe it then she seemed after everything she's been through.

[warpwhatsir]

For Sulu, any island on Earth not being discovered, let alone monitored is a staggering thought. But oh yeah, over two hundred year difference. Whoops. "No, uh, I suppose they don't."

[leftthesafetyon]

Two hundred years seems like an awfully long time, but a breach of privacy is still just that. "Right."

"So what's the plan for the meantime?" She asked casually. She didn't know if she could trust this guy well enough to suggest breaking out, but he didn't seem that bad.

[warpwhatsir]

Yeaaaah, but breaches are a bit harder to come by where he's from. Not that they don't happen, of course. He shrugs again, because there's not much else he can do. "Play along, I guess. There's not much else to do. You've got to learn the rules first before you start trying to break them."

[leftthesafetyon]

"And maybe the game really will lead to the truth about this nonsense." Probably not, but any sort of optimism is good at this point.

"So you're fighting, huh?" Meryl needed both weapons and opponents, if only to put on a good show before she left. She can justify it all she wants, but she really just wants a good opportunity to show just how tough she was.

[warpwhatsir]

"I'd much rather be a Player," he said, a little disgruntled. "But for the time being I'll just... yeah, play along, I guess." He rubbed at his neck. "There's not really much else to do at the moment, except bide time."

[leftthesafetyon]

"Most people just don't want to fight at all. I can't blame them, really." She knew firsthand that war was a terrible and tragic thing, and she really couldn't see herself subjecting others to that. Should she really be trying to look?

"So you don't have a player yet?" This guy said he was playing along, right?

[warpwhatsir]

Sulu can attest to that right along with you, but part of his job involves fighting. "Not yet, no."

[leftthesafetyon]

Well, it's hard to help it when that's what you've been trained to do.

"Are you looking for one?"

[warpwhatsir]

Here's where he considered the options. On one hand, Sulu didn't really like being anything but in the front lines, up and fighting, but on the other hand there's apparent repercussions this time around if he doesn't go with it. Only one choice, then.

"Yeah, I am."

[warpwhatsir]

"Sounds like a plan to me,," is his curt reply. "I'm new myself. And if it's a step towards getting out of here I'm willing to take it."

[leftthesafetyon]

"Right." Well, that went reasonably well.

Oh right, she had had to give him permission to do anything around here. She quickly write up a note, listing off everything she could think of.

"Here, you'll need this to use most of everything here."

[warpwhatsir]

At least Sulu's used to needing permission before doing certain tasks. He takes the note and studies it for a moment before slipping it into his pocket.

"Do you plan on fighting?

[leftthesafetyon]

Needing permission for certain tasks is standard military protocol, which is probably why some people are so well adjusted to it. Meryl, on the other hand, is slightly confused; isn't the lower-ranking person supposed to be out on the field?

"If it leads to some answers, yea." She nodded. "I'll call you if I need your help."

sorry, my post got eaten.

[leftthesafetyon]

There were obvious risks to being both. If you're a weapon, you may get hurt if your player isn't careful, and if you're a player, you run the risk of estranging people for the same reason.

"I know this is kind of sudden, but..." Well, might as well spit it out. "I just got here a few days back, and I don't know anyone who's playing along. Even if you don't have any reason to trust me, we can help each-other out, right?"