BahamutZero

OOC: Though, actually, Gerden's going for both schools, and when Megumi finds that out, she will too...

OOC: Have you also noticed that the Mountain students all have Japanese and Chinese names, while the Tempest students have American or European names?

Gerden looked questioningly at Reishi and said, "Now, we have to grow our own food, but what do we do about food while we're waiting for the stuff to grow? Plants and animals take time to grow, and even though I packed plenty of extra food, some of us didn't have that opportunity." Then, while still listening to Reishi for her answer, he turned to Jake and somewhat softly said, "Which of us is offense and which is defense? Do you want to draw lots, or flip a coin, or roll a die? Rock-paper-scissors is out of the question..."

Megumi turned to her teammates, "Now, we have to be careful. Don't get cocky because there are more of us. Both of those two seem well suited for this game; Gerden's speed will really help their team, and the satyr," with an apologetic look at Jake, "whose name I unfortunately can't remember, seems to have a power advantage. I know the Reishi girl said that power isn't necessarily an advantage, but..."

OOC: Oh, I thought only the Mountain students were called to the field. I'll post IC later, I'm just not feeling up to it right now.

OOC: Gerden is still Tempest...

Heh. I ignore most of the forums aside from RP and occaisinally this one.

Gerden almost fell when the poison glob hit him. Fortunately, he avoided spilling any of the tea. As he struggled to regain his balance with lightning-quick adjustments to his center of gravity, he thought, I guess this isn't going to be as easy as I thought. Finally achieving his balance, he stood and waited for the poison to wear off. With his metabolism, the poison should be out of his system faster than the others.

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Megumi turned to Yin and said, "I was trained in the Raptor School style. Every ten years, the Raptor School sends one student to these Temples. My mother was that student last time. I... This year... the match was so close - that's how the instructors choose whom to send, through a tournament - that they decided to send two students... Gerden and I." She looks a bit uneasy at this point, but continues, "The Raptor School specializes in an aerial assault, but aside from jump-enhancement and flight, we really don't have that many chi-manipulation techniques. Nothing spectacular, like firing beams from our eyes and hands, if that's what you mean... In any event, the reason Gerden and I were picked," again looking uneasy, "is because we are mutants. You've seen Gerden's speed; in battle, it makes him a formidable opponent. I can manipulate a strange power, a sort of 'dark energy,' if you will."

[ QUOTE ]
“That doesn’t seem like proper training... Not many can aspire to be something great without friends, loved ones and rivals to keep pushing us forward.”

[/ QUOTE ]

"That's certainly true," Megumi replied while swimming aimlessly. "Especially the rivals part. I know Gerden and I wouldn't be nearly as strong without each other, egging us on to become stronger. In fact, the whole reason I wanted to come here was because of him. I didn't really want to be so far from my family and friends for so long, but I couldn't let him come and get that much stronger than me, could I? You should start up a friendly rivalry with someone. It'll do you a world of good, Kagura. But not Gerden; he's my rival, and no one else can have him," she finished with mock severity, a smile on her face.

OOC: And Plague, I finally remember what was bugging me about the name "Reishi." It's the name of a martial art from the manga/anime YuYu Hakusho.

Solar Freeze turned to Hallucinogen with a start. "Now that's an idea that I hadn't considered. It may not be the solution, but considering our situation, I don't think we can ignore any possibility, no matter how remote..." Walking over to the door (OOC: Assuming this cell has one... I don't see that good of a description anywhere...) Solar Freeze states simply, "May we please be let out?"

"I didn't mean to upset you," Megumi replied. "And I don't think that being surrounded by people is a bad thing, especially here. If the group we've already met is any indication, I think you'll get to like it here. The sooner you ditch the agoraphobia, the happier you'll be."

Gerden grinned. This challenge would be easy. A special technique of the Raptor School, called the Perching Eagle, would help here. He stood astride the bamboo pole with buckets in each hand and teacup on his head, and focused a small amount of his chi into his muscles, just right, to lock them in place. As long as his concentration went uninterrupted, he could stand, locked in place, for nearly 36 hours (and he had tested this once, just for fun). The use of his chi was minimal, after the initial surge to lock his muscles in place.

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Megumi frowned at learning that Master Halven was serious, but after looking around, she saw that no one else seemed to be having any real problems with it, so she dove in, fully clothed. After hearing the conversation between Kagura and "Yuri," she said plainly to Kagura, "That may be true, but there are gonna be a lot of people around from now on, so you'd better get used to it."

Halven looked surprised as Jack spoke up. "Oh, yes, you are. I'm sorry, I must be getting old. So hard to keep track of everything nowadays. Well, then, I'll be off to allow you to get acquainted with your new students." At that, Halven began walking away towards the Mountain building, shaking his head sadly and muttering to himself. Snippets of his mutterings could be heard by the asembled group, "...just not doing as well as I used to... ...maybe time I passed the title on..." Then he rounded a corner and was gone.

OOC: That's my way of apologizing for having the memory span of a fish, both in game and out...

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Gerden simply shrugged at the mention of an all-nighter and sat down on a rock. "Anything else we need to do in the meantime, or is it just a 'don't go to sleep and don't die' kind of thing?"

"Hmmm... Condensation? Rust? Definitely no teleportation or incorporeality..." Solar Freeze was in the middle of rattling off ideas when he heard Cali claim to not be able to "see" the riddle. "There's a riddle written on the wall. 'A man is locked into a Prison Cell seven years. His only access to water was in the room next to him. A thick iron door stood between him and the water. Yet the man managed to survive his sentence. The Gaurds Never gave him water, only food and he had no tools to make a hole in the door or wall. How did he survive?' Now, it never says he doesn't bypass the door, but that would be the obvious way. I'm thinking the solution ignores the door completely."

Halven turned to his small troupe. "While my methods are perhaps not as... difficult... as those of my counterpart, do not assume that the Mountain school is a cake walk. Seeing as the Mountain teachers have not arrived yet, I will personally be seeing to your first night of training. Those who wish to take baths, you may now do so. However, you are not going to use the Mountain baths. No, there," he said, pointing to a waterfall near the Mountain temple structure, "is where you will be taking your first bath." When Megumi snickered, he turned to her and stated evenly, "Is there something funny about my method of training?"

"It just seems a bit cliche, Halvan-sensei," she responded. "I was expecting something a bit more... original."

"Some traditions are cliche; those things need to be thrown out and replaced with better traditions," Halvan countered. "But then there are the traditions that are there for a reason, and those we must respect and honor. This tradition is one of the latter."

That fall had happened far too quickly. No time to even activate his flight thrusters. And now we're in some kind of trap, Solar Freeze thought. Calmly walking over to the wall with the riddle written on it, he proceeded to read it over slowly, a few times.

"Maybe some water leaked through the cracks at the bottom and sides of the door," he said. Probably not the solution, but it could be a start.

OOC: Wait, what? I thought it had to be open so that the Masters could get out to the students. The Masters definitely live in the Temples. The teachers may have the time to take sabbaticals, but the administrators definitely have to remain in there. Or is there some facet of our entrance I'm missing? Did we teleport out?

Gerden walked over beside the Tempest master and said, "I chose the Tempest school specifically because I'm better at defense than at offense. I plan to master both schools, but improving my weak point seems to be the best way to start."

"I chose my school for a similar reason," Megumi stated plainly. "When I fight Gerden, he almost always wins, because he can land a million blows before I hit him once, even though that blow can knock him flat in one strike. If I learn to dodge and block better, and maybe to use some defensive chi powers, maybe I'll win the next time I fight him."

Halven turned to the assembled students. "Well, I believe that is everyone. Unless there is somebody I'm forgetting, we should probably be heading in now. It's really getting rather late."

"I hate to say it, but Solid Shot has the right idea," Solar Freeze replied. "I'll head up to see what the new arrival has found. Hermod, join me ASAP so we can start putting out the fires after. Solid, can you and Cali take care of the goons in there?" Not even looking to see if anyone did as he asked, he started flying up through the hole in the ceiling to the floor where the new hero on the scene said he had captured one. He arrived just as the hero was about to put his boot in the nearly-unconscious thug's face.

"Maybe we should save that until after we start asking him questions," he stated simply. "This should hold him until we can ask a few." A blast from Solar Freeze's negation wave rooted the thug in place, forming an icy mound encasing the Hellion. Turning to the new hero, he said, "There's a whole roomful down there. Can you either help the two down there fight or help us put out the fires?"

OOC: *Bumps thread* My char is currently waiting on Hermod, but he'll respond if someone tries to strike up a conversation with him...

[ QUOTE ]
"I'm Solid Shot. And do you always give people stuff on your first date?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Solar Freeze looked a bit flustered for a moment, until he realized that Solid Shot was only joking. He had kept his communicator activated, so the others could hear his interaction with the other hero, and come to his aid, if necessary.

"I'm Solar Freeze. Technology-based blaster, if you hadn't guessed already. Let's get going; I'm sure we don't have much time left." He ran towards the staircase and down it. Back on the third floor, he raced towards the room that the Molotov cocktail had been thrown from. Opening the door, he saw a group of Hellions in the largest room yet; there were quite a few, including a few Damned. Fortunately, they seemed to be muttering about what to do when the heroes got here, and not paying attention enough to know that there was a hero here.

Withdrawing a ways, Solar Freeze said quietly into the comm unit, "Found what seems to be the main group. Too big for me alone. Let's regroup up here before we go in."

OOC: Uh, whoops. Forgot that the other guy had that name already... Thought he had something more Chinese-sounding. Just make my guy Halven, then.

Upon hearing the commotion above him, Solar Freeze said into the comm unit, "Hold that thought a sec, Hermod... I think that something's happening above me. I'm heading up to investigate." Solar Freeze headed back up the stairs that he had recently descended. Heading towards the source of the sounds, he discovered another hero fighting a group of Hellions that he had somehow bypassed on the way down. I thought I had checked the whole floor, but I must have missed a room...

"Uh, greetings," he said to the other hero. "I'm Solar Freeze. I think I can guess why you're here. We should work together if we want to do this right. What do you say?" He extended a hand, holding a communicator in it. "This device will allow us to communicate. It's safe; none of the Hellions have the knowledge to crack it."

Following the old man was a middle-aged man with traditional martial arts robes on. His face jovial and welcoming, he nodded to the assembled group. Emblazoned on the chest of his gi was a red falcon's head. He had tanned skin, and thinning dark hair.

"Well, I see we have a somewhat paltry group this year. And all so young. Normally the group is thrice your size and twice your age, at least. Let's hope that the quality of the entrants has increased to match..." His eyes glimmered as he looked upon Reishi, "And I see one of the old group has come back... So, Miss Tenryuu, back to show our students a thing or two? Or could you just not resist causing some more property damage here, at our Temples?" He then looked surprised. "Oh, dear. How rude of me. I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Halven Salwar, Master of the Mountain School, but those of you who join my school must call me Halven-sensei."

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Gerden looked with vindication at the red falcon emblazoned upon the Mountain Master's gi. So there is a Raptor School master in the Temples!, he thought. He bowed respectfully to both Masters and said, "I am Gerden Darman, of the Raptor School. I seek entrance into the Tempest School."

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Megumi was surprised at the validation of the rumors. She had always assumed that the rumors that one of the Raptor School entrants was teaching at the Temples was an empty boast of the school, an attempt to increase its standing among the millions of other martial arts schools in the world. Also bowing respectfully, she introduced herself. "I am Megumi Hakaroo of the Raptor School. I seek entrance into the Mountain School."

Edit: *Waves arm* There is no plothole...

While the strange reporter circled them with a camera, Solar Freeze did his level best to ignore the man and concentrate on the situation at hand. The hero who had just introduced himself as Hermod had entered the building. Which means Solar Freeze should be making his own entrance. Activating his energy thrusters with a short voice command, he flew to the top of the building and over to the roof access door, stopping only briefly to toss a comm unit to the still-hovering woman who had assisted him before. He quickly tried the door handle, only to discover the door locked. "Activate energizing wave. Reduce area dispersion to 10%," came the voice command, and the small indentations on the palms of his gauntlets changed color from blue to red. He blasted the locking mechanism with a quick, ultra-focused burst of heat-energizing energy, melting the lock and opening the door. Through the doorway he went, and entered the burning building. The flames tapered and died about 15 feet from Solar Freeze, due to the negation-wave "shield" that was being emitted from his battlesuit. This was not nearly as powerful or focused as his negation wave attack, but still brought the area around him to about room temperature.

Heading down the stairs, he entered a small room with a few Hellions in it. One of their number, a Damned, cut loose with a powerful fire blast upon noticing Solar Freeze, which was rendered useless by his shield. When the others heard their leader attack, they all turned and drew guns on Solar Freeze. Ironically, the thugs are more dangerous in this instance than their boss, he thought. "Activate negating wave. Set dispersion to normal." The next blast froze one of the thugs, who was brandishing a shotgun. His weapon useless and the rubber in his shoes frozen to the floor, the thug had been essentially negated in one swift blow. However, the remaining thugs had time to fire their weapons, and the Damned tried another fire blast. Fortunately, one thug missed, the other shot bounced off his armor, and the Damned still could not summon enough power to overcome the negation field. However, this convinced Solar Freeze that he needed to shore up his defenses. "Increase negation wave power by 130%. Set area dispersion to 300%." The next blast formed a wall of ice - created by instantly freezing the water vapor in the air - directly in front of Solar Freeze, and anchored to the ground. The Hellions' next three gunshots merely ricocheted off the wall. With a start, Solar Freeze realized the Damned must have drawn his own gun, which was fortunately only a low-caliber pistol and lacked the penetrating power to punch through the wall. He reset the power and dispersal on his negation wave back to normal. Poking his head around the wall, he fired off another negation wave, anchoring another Hellion and, this time, knocking him unconscious. Quickly withdrawing behind the wall as the next volley came, Solar Freeze repeated the process on the next thug, with similar results. Then it was just him and the Damned. Then the Hellion got smart. He fired his gun, at the same time creating a small wall of flame at the exit to the gun's barrel. As the bullet passed through, the gunpowder contained within exploded, momentum carrying it to the wall of ice, which shattered. The surprised Solar Freeze was showered with cold water and ice shards, several of which nicked his unprotected face. I really have to get a helmet... he thought idly, then steeled himself for battle with the Damned. Firing a few blasts to stall the Hellion for a few seconds, he quickly realized that the Hellion had employed a similar strategy to his own; he had raised the temperature of the area around him; thus creating a zone in which Solar Freeze's own blasts were less effective. Quickly an idea formed in his head, and he activated his flight thrusters... straight at the Hellion. Slamming into the Damned shoulder-first, Solar Freeze rammed the Hellion into the door at the other end of the room. Keeping his flight thrusters activated, he went through the door and into the hall, splinters flying all around him. When he landed on the other side of the doorway, the Hellion flopped to the ground, unconscious. Now, I need to move quickly and hope nobody heard that. I think this is just the beginning...

"Solar Freeze to Hermod. Seems like it's the Hellions; I got four up here. What's going on down there?"

I say #2. Especially if you set it during the Rikti War.