RP Smash [IC/Conditional Acceptance/PG-16]

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"Let's go with this one guys!"

 

The song that Xia had chosen was power metal, and Aria found herself in a position where all at once she wanted to enjoy the music... but couldn't because of Xia's singing. Still, as uncomfortable as a situation that was, Xia was very much enjoying herself, and despite her inability to sing, her enthusiasm was enough to redeem her singing. Once the song was done, she skipped back down to the others with gleeful expression on her face.

 

"Man, this karaoke stuff is fun!" She exclaimed.

 

Aria was still scrolling through the songs, until she finally found the band she was looking for, music that she hadn't heard for months since her lock-in with Lore. She scrolled through the songs, and considered for a moment that the song will definitely not hold up to the same speed and intensity as Xia's music, but all at once it had been forever since she had last heard the song.

 

"Hey I wanna take a turn now, if that's okay!" Aria exclaimed, selecting the song as everyone nodded. Aria skipped up to the stage and the song began to play. The light percussion track began to play, along with the bass line and finally the synth as well. Aria's singing was, at first, a little off. Even to someone that wasn't versed in music could tell that it was some time since she had last done it. However, as the song went on and as Aria began to sing it more, she began to shake the dust off of her vocal chords and really got into the music. Halfway through the song, Aria's performance began to really get into it, adding more movement to the rhythm and a light dance on the spot. Closer to the end, her own vocals began to put more power and volume into the song than the light vocal lines of the original artist.

 

The song was done, and Aria was quiet for a moment before beginning to laugh. "Two days ago I had no idea what the hell those lyrics were saying! But since comin' here I can speak the same language somehow, and... it's been a long time since I listened to that! Man I missed this sheet!"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Let's go with this one guys!"

 

And so, the next few minutes were spent by Angela being dumbfounded by both the song Xia chose, and how she behaved herself during it. It was weird and unexpected, and well...to tell the truth, Angela didn't really like the song. It was too hard and loud for her, although perhaps some of it were also from the off-sync notes Xia sang. EIther way, she still clapped once Xia was done, and when Aria picked her own choice of music. Angela liked this one better, though she wouldn't say it'd be her favorite. She listened as Aria started off a bit wonky, but gradually built up and sang more smoothly and energetically. It was a nice performance in the end, and Angela clapped for her too. And so, it would soon be her turn to choose.

 

From the list of songs, she tried to move around the list and see what she could probably sing. But well...none of them were really something she knew, so she ended up picking something at random. As the song played, Angela readied herself, and attempted to be immersed with the song. She felt that she liked the melody, and soon she sang as if she was immersed on the atmosphere of the song, although a bit off on some notes. Her singing was decent, but it would soon be noticeable that despite her appearance, Angela didn't really click with the song, and it sounded somewhat off due to it. Nevertheless, it was pretty fun for her to sing this song compared to the anime songs earlier, and she also liked the audience she had.

 

"You know though, singing like this is fun, but is there any way to make it even more fun? With a lack of familiarity here...iunno, maybe we should do even more here."

 

---

[Yui]

---

3:00PM

Points: 40

W/L Record: 0/0

BGM

So far so good, Aurora confirmed to herself. She felt a little guilty for fighting a dog, but setting that aside, this fight was going pretty well for her. She mostly chalked it up to Caleb having poor accuracy with his lasers. Perhaps he was still getting used to them? That's a shame. I'll need to get a rematch sometime when he's more used to them. And speaking of lasers, Aurora saw four more headed her way right at that moment! Their directions were pretty inconsistent though. He was definitely still getting used to them, evidenced by Aurora being able to evade one and the other three missing entirely, with the one she dodged hitting an unfortunate ghost behind her. Not wanting to push herself too much all at once, Aurora kept her retaliation simple, by creating a small icicle in her hand and throwing it at Caleb. The icicle hit its mark, striking the dog.

 

Caleb, in return, started running around the battlefield, firing laser after laser. Some ghosts were simply ran over by the dashing dog, and others were in the line of fire for his lasers. They still weren't super-precise, but by the amount of them, Aurora wasn't dodging every laser. No way. Aurora got hit by one of the lasers, and while regaining her balance from the hit, a second one struck her as well. The kiddie gloves would probably have to come off soon. No longer content to retaliate with just a small icicle, Aurora went a little bigger, and fired what seemed to be a laser of her own, made entirely out of ice and aimed for the ground near Caleb. As the ice beam hit the ground, the point of impact rose up to become an ice spike that caught Caleb from beneath, and the ground around it froze up. The dog seemed to be getting desperate, as he fired forth a barrage of lasers and shockwave barks. Aurora wasn't going to be able to avoid that much all at once. Not with her mobility.

 

She opted instead to just prevent it from reaching her. Aurora conjured forth a thick wall of ice between the attacks and herself, though it fell apart in short order under all the pressure Caleb had given out. As it collapsed, however, Aurora froze the ground behind her, before pulling the layer of ice up from the ground and firing it at Caleb in the form of a trio of large icicles. In an attempt to cut off his best escape route, Aurora also fired another ice beam, where she'd imagined he'd be going. This is easy. A long fight, but not too tough at all. As she said that and saw her icicles connect however, she felt a twinge of cold in her arms. A bit TOO long apparently. I'll have to either end this quickly or be more careful.

 

Either Caleb caught on that something wasn't quite right on Aurora's end, or he just had spectacular timing. Whichever it was, Aurora watched as the dog - boosted by jetpack - leapt high into the air, sending another barrage of barks and lasers in her direction and diving straight for her. There was really no good option here. Another thick wall meant pushing herself harder than she wanted to right now, but just taking all those attacks would probably do her in. Dodging wasn't an option; the downside to her hero suit being heavy and meant for maximum insulation was it robbing her of mobility. Aurora created another wall, but a much weaker one meant to take the brunt of the assault then break, with the wall going down just as quickly as it came up. And coming in through the broken wall was Caleb, who tackled Aurora to the ground again. Stuck in the same situation as before, but Aurora wasn't about to do the exact same move twice.

 

Rather than a small icicle - and directly in contrast to her desire to not push herself - Aurora created a dome of ice surrounding herself and Caleb, though it didn't have much in the way of wiggle room. Her plan was to lock the two in there until Aurora went through enough icicles to almost finish the fight, the collapse the impromptu igloo in on Caleb to end the fight. She started with the first icicle, driving it into Caleb as with the first, only to receive a bite on the shoulder in exchange. She could actually feel the dog's teeth piercing her skin. But that means...

 

Aurora didn't have much time to think about it, before a new surprise came up. From the front of Caleb's collar came a stun gun, driving its metal prongs through Aurora's suit and into her chest before firing, sending a powerful jolt of electricity through her body. However, it seemed that with the close proximity, Caleb was also affected. It also appeared to overheat his lasers, sending multiple bursts out from the igloo and killing several more ghosts. As she was there, wrestling with a dog, Aurora realized this probably wasn't the best idea she'd had. Aurora then broke down her makeshift igloo into several small icicles, firing them all into Caleb and slipping out from under him while he was taking the hits. For good measure, Aurora then focused her attention on all the frozen patches of ground, pulling the ice up and converting it all into a few large icicles, which also fired down upon Caleb. It gave her plenty of time to put some distance between herself and her foe, and killed even more ghosts. By her count, that was now a whole hundred ghosts dead! Maybe something will happen! Oh how right she was.

 

As soon as the 100th ghost was destroyed, there was a sound that echoed throughout the vast emptiness. A shattering sound. Suddenly, next to the two fighters, cracks appeared in the ground.

 

 

A large creature broke into the battlefield, through the cracks in the ground. It would be expected to have left behind a hole and yet as the beast emerged the battlefield went back to how it looked before. The creature was ferocious, letting out a loud hiss as it swiped at the two combatants. Aurora and Caleb - both opting to get some distance from the monster - avoided the swiping attack by the skin of their teeth. Aurora put a wall up between her and it for good measure, although she knew full well that it could just reach over the wall anyway. "Hey, Caleb!" Aurora called out. "How 'bout a truce so we can handle this thing first!?"

 

Before she could receive an answer, the monster spit out steaming hot water at Aurora's wall, melting it seemingly on the spot. From where she was standing, she could see its tail swinging around and constricting Caleb. Time to be a hero. Aurora extended a hand, and slowly - yet precisely - began forming a weapon of solid ice. A battleaxe. Picking up the axe as it was finished and taking the weapon into her hands, Aurora ran across the battlefield to the monster's tail, ducking under a swiping hand of claws along the way. Once she was within weapon's reach, Aurora firmly swung the axe with both of her hands, striking the monster's tail and giving Caleb just enough wiggle room to jetpack out, landing on the floor safe and sound, albeit a bit shaky. He then fired off a barrage of lasers, one of which struck Aurora in the back, but most of which either hit the monster or avoided everything else in the room.

 

"Not sure about you, but I'd rather take this thing down fast. Sound good?"

 

"Uhh, can't we just go finish the fight way over there instead?"

 

"What? No way! We're supposed to be entertaining the people in this Rama-Whatever place! It ain't fun to watch people just run from some big monster, and I've got my pride as a hero to see to. We're fighting it!"

---

[Andx]

Caleb couldn't quite believe what he was seeing or hearing. Aurora was intent on fighting this monstrosity that had appeared in front of them for the entertainment of the people. All the dog could take notice of was the claws and teeth, as well as the overall size, and that was enough for him to know he wanted nothing to do with it. His opponent was proposing a momentary truce to take it out which got the canine to thinking. "This is still a fight between us... and this is all virtual... so if we end our fight..." the thought process went. Ultimately he settled upon what he felt would be the fastest way to get away from the monster approaching him.

 

"Okay lets do it." Caleb said to the girl. She seemed content with the response and suggested they attack the eyes first. It was a reasonable first target on the creature but the dog still had no desire to get close to the thing again. "Why don't you lead the charge, I'll give you cover fire." he suggested to Aurora. The girl agreed and ran in with her ice ax at the ready. The creature slowed its own advance as the girl approached and was met with a solid strike to the chest from the frozen blade. The creature was enraged and moved to rend the girl with its claws. Caleb meanwhile had no intention of actually giving Aurora cover fire and instead fired three bursts off aimed at the girl's back. Aurora took the lasers from behind and the claws from the front, taking a lot of damage in the process. She yelled about the two still working together, perhaps she was assuming Caleb hadn't aimed properly. She swung again the ax into the creature's chest and it let out a scream as she did so. However she also erected a thick ice wall behind her to ensure Caleb wouldn't be hitting her again.

 

The security dog meanwhile received a message from his gear that his jetpack was back online. They reappeared and with a quick burst of thrust from them, Caleb ascended to the top of the ice wall. It was remarkably cold on his paw pads but he had enough other things to focus on it didn't take priority. From this height he let out two empowered barks that sent shockwaves out toward Aurora and the beast she was fighting. Then for good measure he fired two laser pulses each at the monster and his opponent. Aurora was hit by only one of the lasers and at this point seemed to clearly suspect the dog was up to no good. She broke the wall from beneath his feet into four spikes, two each aimed at Caleb and the monster. To top it off she then threw her ax in Caleb's direction. She then proceeded to create a new weapon just like the now projectile and swing it into the monster again.

 

On his fall, Caleb was hit by both of the spikes and panicked for a moment when he saw the large ax hurled his way. With a quick use of his jetpack he managed to dodge that at the least. The monster meanwhile was understandably upset with the repeated ax injuries it was sustaining. And so it spewed forth scalding hot water at both combatants who were both hit and burned by the water. Caleb took the opportunity to back up some and fired off three more lasers at Aurora as he moved. They found their mark on Aurora who no longer had a weapon in hand due to the water melting it. The girl fired a beam at Caleb which hit the ground and soon a spike propelled forth from the spot which stabbed the dog in the underside. With another use of his jetpack Caleb was able to get away from the icy ground and get a more stable footing. His opponent was moving away from him and the beast and so Caleb ran off after her, firing two more lasers in the process. The monster now pursued the both of them, readying it's claws to swipe at them.

 

Aurora yelled something at Caleb. He couldn't entirely make it out. Definitely something about not following her, and something else about a boss battle. If he had to guess she was saying not to follow her given the thing chasing them both. The girl erected another ice wall to block the lasers and the claws of the monster. She created another ax then drew ice out of the ground and fired it at Caleb who managed to dodge it. There came with it a brief lull in the two. Neither was immediately ready to attack the other. And with it came a repeated offer of a truce from the girl. Her abilities were beginning to harm her now and she was low on hp as it was. Still that just seemed like all the more reason to Caleb to end the fight quickly. He was about to reply when the monster, with no ice wall blocking him from the dog, swiped his claws at him and knocked him away. The impact only added to the damage from the claws and Caleb moaned, taking another moment to ponder how his life had taken him down this path.

 

Aurora still seemed to have plenty in her as she created a large igloo around the monster, not unlike the one she had trapped the two of them in before, and began firing off ice lasers all around. Five surrounded the igloo while five surrounded the dog who was still getting to his feet. There wasn't going to be any time to dodge these and all Caleb could think to do was fire two more lasers off at Aurora. The monster meanwhile was attempting to melt through the igloo it was trapped in with the hot water it could produce. Aurora collapsed the igloo onto the monster then redirected all ten would-be ground spikes into projectiles aimed at the monster. Every attack landed and the monster was decisively defeated in a remarkable display of damage. However, all her focus had been on defeating the monster and so the girl never saw the lasers fired her way. The two found their mark and with them came the end of the battle.

 

The battlefield fades away and the fighters are left back in their original positions in the room without any injuries

The screen from before now has a score on it

Caleb: 190

Aurora: 0

Winner, Caleb, due to HP

 

Caleb looked at his watch to see he had been awarded 60 points for the victory. If Aurora checked hers she would see she had earned 15 points instead of the usual 10 for losing. An extra award for slaying the monster that had appeared.

 

After a moment Caleb had to look himself over. He wasn't hurt. He wasn't cold. Aurora seemed fine. Nothing particularly made sense about what had just happened. Did he still have that jetpack? Or those lasers? As the two were escorted out he admittedly felt a little awkward for not taking her up on her repeated truce offers. "So, uhh... nice fight? Game?" he started out not entirely sure how to sum up the experience.

[👀 REP 👀]

Cyanthrax jerked forward when released from whatever was holding him, as he had been trying to escape it as soon as they appeared on the arena. He took a look around him to take in his new environment. He had never seen anything like it: There seemed to be buildings larger than even some of the biggest castles littered everywhere in this strange place. Looking over the edge of the building he was on, he could barely keep up with what was happening below - there seemed to be a river of people speeding along without a care, many of them holding strange boxed with bright lights. Next to these rivers were metallic machines going even faster than the people, seemingly on their own designated area. "What the funk..." He said out loud, perplexion in his voice.

 

“Cyanthrax.” Elijah rolled his neck muscles, and redid his scarf, tucking the ends into the front so they didn’t dangle. “I didn’t think you’d do it, but from the fact that you’re here... you must be working for the Authority now. So you should probably know…” He raised his fists and put one foot back, preparing to run, “I won’t go down without a fight!” And burst into a sprint towards his opponent, winding up for an obvious haymaker. The demon’s ears perked up as he heard his name. “Ah? Oh right.” He had almost forgotten why we was summoned to this strange place. Raising his head, his eyes met those of his opponent - Elijah. “I’d hope not.” He clenched his fists as the young man charged at his. “Let’s get this sheet started!” Placing his right hand forward, he fired off a fireball at the so-called King, roughly the size of his own fist.

 

Elijah saw the attack, and ducked, sliding a little as the fire barely missed him. He wouldn’t be that lucky twice. He needed to even the playing field, but how?
Cyanthrax smirked as Elijah shifted from attacking to barely dodging his fireball with a slide. Preparing another Fireball in his right hand, he looked down at him. “Good dodge. Now lets see you dodge this!” He prepared himself to toss it at Elijah. Elijah leapt back a few steps to avoid the second attack, but found himself getting further from his opponent, much to his distaste. Goddamnit! He hasn't moved and he’s fending me off like it's nothing! I`ve got to close the distance, but the closer I get, the more accurate his attacks will be.

 

Cyanthrax let out a laugh as the young man backed away to dodge the second fireball. “You’re pretty good at this dodging thing, aren’t you?” He taunted, a trio of fireballs appearing out of thin air around the demon’s head. The small fireballs surrounding him would suddenly merge into one bigger fireball above his head. “Burn!” As he shouted, the fireball seemed to be hurled at Elijah by seemingly nothing, its speed much faster than the 2 fireballs he had launched before.
Elijah’s eyes widened, and he froze up, desperately throwing both arms up to protect himself, the way he would brace himself in a Duel, and squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for some serious pain. But it didn’t reach him.

 

Raising his eyes, he saw that there was something attached to his arm. An irregular, triangular shield made of red crystal and golden metal, with a trio of sharp spikes on it. He’d summoned Magnum Shield, one of his commonly-used Equip Spells! He lowered it and put on his confident face again, staying in-character as he reasoned that if he could summon a shield, maybe he could summon a weapon? He threw one hand out and grabbed at the air, as though he was drawing a sword. Like an object combusting in reverse, flames materialized and swirled together, cooling to leave a familiar sword in his hand. An odd mixture of a longsword and a Desert Eagle pistol. Igknight Crusader’s sword! Yes! He was still in this!

 

Cyanthrax’s eyes widened a bit as the strange shield appeared in front of Elijah, completely blocking the fireball that had been launched at him. Even more surprising, a strange looking blade seemed to materialize out of flames and into his opponent’s hand. His shocked expression quickly shifted into a grin, however. “So, I see you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve, eh?”

 

“Eh,” Elijah shrugged, “I was never one for tricks. So, are you planning to just stand there this whole time, or are you gonna get over here and fight me like a man!?” he levelled his sword in a challenging gesture, pointing it directly at Cyanthrax. “With pleasure! But first…” Cyanthrax extended out his left arm. Similar to Elijah, he too would materialize a sword, although rather than fire it was a dark, purple smoke. Out of the smoke emerged a dark purple rapier surrounded in fire; a ghastly after-image followed the sword when he swung it around, the flames fading away. “...alright, let’s go!” He dashed forward, aiming his newly formed weapon at Elijah.

 

Elijah rushed in to meet his opponent. If he recalled correctly, Magnum Shield combined the user’s offensive and defensive stats so that only one could be used at a time. Time to see if that extended to this world. The two competitors rushed into each other, meeting roughly at the center of the rooftop. When they finally got close enough to each other, Cyanthrax raised his blade and, with the tip of the rapier lit with a bright fire, thrust it towards Elijah’s chest. Elijah struck his enemy’s weapon to the side, and drove his body forward, slamming the flat of his shield into Cyanthrax’s chest. This caught Cyanthrax off-guard and, due to the close proximity of the two, he took the full blunt of the hit, causing him to stagger in order to not fall. He cursed under his breath before returning his gaze back to Elijah. Catching his breathe, he spoke. “Heh...that’s pretty good.” He pointed his weapon at the king; the tip of the sword was still lit. “This won’t be as easy as I thought, huh? Good.” Turning the helm of his blade side-ways, he unleashed a flurry of flames from the tip of the sword and towards Elijah. “Mark of Pride indeed.” Elijah taunted, raising his shield against the oncoming flames. “But you should never underestimate your opponent.”

 

“Hmph. I don’t take lessons from mortals!” As the anger of his voice increased, so too did the intensity of the flames. On his right hand, he prepared two fireballs - roughly the size of a large marble. He tossed the two fireballs small towards Elijah’s feet. Elijah, already in high-gear combat-mode, was slightly offset by the forming of two tiny balls of fire. But when they were thrown at him, he decided to take his own advice from a second ago, and step back a few more.

 

The fireballs landed where he once stood, exploding upon impacting the ground. In response to his opponent backing up to avoid his attacks, Cyanthrax pressed forward, keeping the stream of flames constant. Two small fireballs emerged from his right hand again as he prepared to repeat his previous action. Elijah’s sword and shield dispersed, and he held his hands back, where two knives, each crossed with a Derringer pistol, formed in-between his fingers and palms, one in each hand. Just as Cyanthrax attacked, so did he, lobbing these knives at his opponent and summoning new ones in a steady pattern, until he’d thrown six and he decided to let his shoulders rest. He unleashed the fireballs from his hand, his shoulder taking the full blunt of the first two knives. He grit his teeth, although he did not stop walking. However, he suddenly felt something where the knives landed, as if the knives themselves were attacking him. Finally letting up on his assault, he used his Rapier alongside a fireball to block the rest of the knives. “What the funk was that!?” He yelled loudly, turning his head to his shoulder. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any blood or even scars where the knives had landed. Suddenly, however...

---

 

 

Fire erupts from the earth and a large, shadowy, demon appears in the foreground. He is unable to be reached by the fighters. Nor will the army of smaller demons that begin to assault the civilians. However that isn't to say the fighters are unaffected. Every so often the demon will rain large fireballs that will deal 50 damage each upon impact and a mighty wind will blow the fighters away from each other on occasion.

---

 

“So, this is what you and the Authority have been up to?” Elijah growled and clenched his fists. “Figured they were already going to hell, might as well strike deals with the devil?!” He wheeled on Cyanthrax, and in each hand, a new weapon formed: A Kukri-Riot-Gun, curved wickedly and gleamed in the firelight. Cyanthrax was caught off-guard by the change of scenery, although he was rather stoked that it was starting to seem more familiar. “I don’t know who this ‘Authority’ you speak of is, or what the hell is going on…” As Elijah rolled over him, the space between the two seemed to suddenly burst into flames, burning both of them. “...but the show must go on!” As he said those last words, he snapped his fingers. The air around them would start to feel a lot denser than before; a sudden rise of tension sweeping both of them. Of course, Cyanthrax was used to this type of Pressure. “En Guard!” He pointed his sword towards Elijah, preparing for him to strike.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Elijah roared, stalking towards his opponent with his weapons dragging through the air at his sides. What was this weird pressure? Was this the arena or Cyanthrax? Agh, whatever! Do what you have to! “We used to fight the system, and we did it together. We fought for freedom, for the people! But that didn’t really matter to you, did it? In the end, you’re just a sellout.“ He did his best to slip in a wink as he talked: Not so subtle that Cyan wouldn’t see it, but enough that the audience might miss it unless the obviously existing cameras had gone for a close-up of his face. He charged his opponent, taking a broad horizontal swing with his right kukri-gun.

 

He wasn’t entirely sure what the wink meant, but he didn’t really care. All Cyanthrax cared about was that his opponent was attacking him. He let out a wicked grin as he dashed straight at Elijah. The freedom fighter’s blade would be met with a smokey presence where the demon once stood. Seemingly stepping out of a shadow, Cyanthrax appeared behind his assailant and slashed at Elijah’s back with his obsidian sword. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, freedom fighter! Bwahaha!” Elijah arched his back in pain as Cyanthrax struck from behind. His teeth clamped down and he whirled, pointing both weapons and pulling the triggers. From the front of the guns, jets of flame erupted, sweeping across the space between them like crossing whips. The demon was taken by surprise as the stream of fire erupted from his injured opponent’s weapons and stumbled back a bit from the attack. “Not bad!” He looked down and noticed the lack of burn marks on his chest and, turning back to his opponent, the lack of any blood on his opponent. ‘Well that’s no fun’ He thought to himself before letting out a laugh. “Looks like things are heating up here!” He mocked before unleashing a hellish stream of fire from his mouth towards Elijah.

 

Elijah bit down as the flames initially struck him, but he discarded one of his guns and summoned a new Magnum Shield to stop further damage, the red crystal glowing with the oncoming heat. Then, when the flames died, he dispelled both his weapons in favor of an unholy crossbreed between a minigun and a quiver of jagged arrows . Igknight Lancer’s weapon of choice began to spin up with a loud SCREE of metal. “You call that heat?” He roared, unleashing a volley of flaming arrows on his opponent, and when the spears were gone, the gun kept firing a steady stream of little blazing bullets that made tiny explosions on impact, like 50. caliber firecrackers.

 

The demon was barely able to dodge some of the arrows with a Shadow Step before being greeted by the volley of blazing bullets, knocking him down. Gritting his teeth as he stood up, the air around him seem to ignite, blowing up the bullets before they could reach him. He clutched his chest where the bullets had hit him, before turning back to his opponent. “What the hell was that?” He roared at his opponent, whom seemed to have an arsenal of strange weapons. The demon started walking towards Elijah, the air around him still igniting the bullets. He grit his teeth as a few of the bullets made it through his shield of fire and into his chest, but he did not stop his advance. “I’m done playing around!” He barked as he marched forward, sword in hand.

 

Elijah dispelled his minigun and summoned the longsword from before again. “You never should have started.” He lunged forward and slashed at Cyanthrax’s waist, a broad, reckless attack, and easy to sidestep too. He was staying in-character well, but he realized too late that he was getting too fired up. Cyanthrax blocked the incoming attack with ease using his own sword, and kept marching forward. He raised his right fist and prepared to punch Elijah. However, before he could manage to throw a punch, he was suddenly struck by one of the many fireballs that were raining from the sky. The fireball caused him to stagger a bit to the side, but he managed to not fall over. Brushing off his shoulder, he started dashing towards Elijah, sword prepared to lunge into him.

 

Elijah twisted to avoid Cyanthrax’s oncoming punch, but was abruptly hit straight in the face by a fireball himself, blinding him and sending him reeling backwards. Needless to say, he broke character, and swore. Loudly. Rubbing the ash and embers out of his eyes, he looked up and saw Cyanthrax going in for an attack again. Unfortunately, he did not move in time and the sword shot through his torso and out his lower back. A loud, shuddering gasp filled the space between them, and Elijah’s eyes widened in shock and pain. A grin stretched across Cyanthrax’s face as his sword impaled his opponent. While not as satisfying as it would be in real life, it still felt good. Twisting the hilt of his sword, he ignited the obsidian rod.

 

Elijah’s guts roiled with pain, but he bit down on his own teeth and decided at this point, he probably had little left to lose. Of his abilities in this arena, he noticed that they were all named after Spells and Traps he used in his Duel Monsters deck. All fire and knight-themed, of course. One had caught his attention and he has resolved to use it as a his penultimate attack.

 

 

Chaos Burst....

 

 

This was going to hurt.

[ChampionZero]

Throwing his arms around Cyanthrax’s neck and pulling him into a hug, Elijah felt more flames rise up between them and explode from the floor beneath them, a bud of flames blooming into a flower of agony that would engulf them both and blast them apart. Obviously they wouldn’t take the same amount of damage, right? That’s how it worked back home.

 

“What the fu-AAUUUGH” Cyanthrax’s confusion quickly shifted to excruciating pain as the ground below them seemed to erupt into flames. The explosion, despite his best efforts to stay grounded, had sent him flying in the opposite direction - the strong winds that were blowing in the arena didn’t help at all. He crashed into the ground, sliding a bit on his back. “Damn…” He thought, lying on the ground. He struggled to get back onto his feet, but eventually did manage. He let out a surprisingly hearty laugh, stopping to cough and wheeze once or twice. “Cool moves ya’ got there, bud...” He managed to say, breathing heavily between words. He turned to his hand and noticed that his sword seemed to be missing. Instinctively, he wiped off the blood that wasn’t on his mouth.

 

Elijah, on the other hand, sat up and found that he still had a sword sheathed in his stomach. Grabbing it, he screamed in pain as he pulled it back out the way it came, leaving no visible wound. Looking up, he stood shakily as he saw Cyanthrax was still standing too. “If you think that was cool, you’re gonna love this… or hate it, I can’t accurately predict your… ah whatever.” He held both hands at chest level, and flames began to ignite across his shoulders, arms, back, legs and head. They burned through him, and he felt new energy running through his veins. His blood was magma. His skin was steel. His eyes and hair and teeth were flames. He was fury.

 

The flames died, mostly, leaving a circle of scorched concrete and a new contestant in Elijah’s place. Standing close to nine feet tall, and wrapped entirely in form-fitting armor so snug it had abs of its own to show off its wearer’s. The armor was steel-grey, with golden accents on the shoulders, helmet, elbows and knees, knuckles, boots, and. The cylindrical helmet had a row of vertical slots in it that gushed flame in a white-hot crown atop his head. On his left arm, a heavy, circular war shield the size of a table was held high and proud. A circle of blue, diamond-shaped crystals decorated the rim. In his right hand, held as though it were no heavier than a kitchen knife, was a sword easily as long as Elijah was tall, with a long gun of some kind built into the leaf-shaped blade, and a pointed red jewel on the pommel. His eyes were two colors, one red on his right, one blue on the left. Emblazoned on his chest, pulsing like an angry heartbeat, was a crest. A blazing bird, wings spread, its wingtips and tail trailing into flame-like tongues, and its head raised to the sky above. A phoenix.

 

Elijah -or whoever this warrior of steel-and-flame was, stepped forward silently, the soles of his feet igniting the ground he walked on as he strode forward, then threw his shield like a frisbee, the rim lighting up with flames as it sailed in a sideways arc to strike at Cyanthrax.

 

The demon whistled as what was once Elijah transformed into the steel-clad soldier that stood in front of him now. “Now that’s a good look for you!” His opponent, however, seemed to not care for small talk as he launched his shield like a flaming wheel. Smirking, he seemed to disappear into thin air as the infernal disk came close, before reappearing in the same place. “That’s not very nice!” Despite his cocky demeanor, however, his teeth were gritting and his brow was sweating. It had been a relatively close call, as prevalent by the small trail of smoke on the collar of his jacket. Snapping his fingers on his right hand, a flame emerged from it and, like before, the obsidian rapier seemingly returned to its rightful owner. Lifting it to the heavens, a fireball appeared at the tip of it. However, instead of flinging it like he had before, this time it stayed floating in mid-air, growing in size. “Let’s end this on a bang, shall we?”

 

The warrior caught his flying shield as it returned to him and flipped it back onto his arm, where it stuck like a magnet. Breaking suddenly into a run far faster than Elijah normally would be capable of, the warrior raised his sword and pointed it at his opponent, charging with the intent to pay him back the impaling from before. Whatever that ball was, he was eager to find out any way but first-hand.

 

Cyanthrax barely had time to block the incoming attack with his sword, sending his assailant’s blade off to the side. However, due to the speed of his opponent, the blade still manage to cut through his side. “Not bad…” He said, gritting his teeth in pain as the hot steel touched him. Withdrawing from his attacker, he prepared himself in a defensive position for his next attack. He turned to the fireball he had prepped before remained floating above the two fighters ominously, although it was growing at a lower rate than it was before. At the moment it was roughly the size of Cyanthrax himself. “Just a little longer….” He thought to himself, returning his gaze to his opponent.

 

The flaming warrior growled, a low sound like boiling water. He’d decided to just disconnect Cyanthrax from the problem. And since he was significantly taller, he simply took his sword in both hands and swung it full force, as if to cut off Cyanthrax’ arm at the elbow. Of course, his arm wouldn't REALLY come off in this simulation, but it would feel like it.

 

Seeing the attack coming, Cyanthrax used his own sword to block the incoming attack of his assailant. This time, he was using both hands to try and stop the attack. He grit his teeth, clearly struggling to keep the sword at bay. Still, he was able to successfully block the attack with his own sword. However, he was unable to perform any form of counter attack - he didn’t need to, seeing as the fireball was still growing at a relatively slow rate. He stared down his opponent, waiting to see what other action they would take.

 

Enraged, the warrior drove his armored knee towards Cyanthrax’s gut, going for a stunning blow. While he had seen the attack coming, there wasn’t much he could do to stop him other then prepare his gut for the knee. So he did, as the iron-clad knee slammed into the demon’s gut. He let out a grunt, spitting at the floor below him. He turned his head back up to the knight.

 

The knight followed up by wordlessly slamming his shield into Cyanthrax’s nose. The hot metal slammed against his face, causing him to stumble a bit. Catching himself, he again wiped the blood that wasn’t on his face instinctively before turning back to his foe. He got into a defensive position with his blade, sticking out his left arm. “Is that all you got?” He called, gesturing with his hand for the knight to make his move.

 

The warrior brought his sword down on Cyanthrax in a sweeping, curved slash at the demon’s right shoulder with both hands. Now normally an attack like this would be 90% gravity, 10% effort. But when this guy did it, the force applied became 10% gravity and 90% effort (That’s approximate, but even so, it was a pretty heavy swing). Worse still, the red blade glowed searing-hot and erupted into bright red flames, leaving scorched, stale air and the smell of burning wires all the way down.

 

Cyanthrax swung his sword to meet the knights. As the two swords clashed, the earth beneath the demon cracked under the pressure. Despite clearly struggling, he started to chuckle softly. The fireball above the two suddenly moved downwards at alarming speeds, homing in at the knight. As it did, however, Cyanthrax’s block finally gave in as the blade hit him in the shoulder.

 

The knight’s vision was already tinted violet from his visor, but he saw a number in the corner of his screen flash, and a digitized tone played. A timer counting down from ten. He didn’t have much time left, and if he didn’t finish this, the match might as well be a loss. So, desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

Vents all along his suit popped open, (9) and a red hot glow gushed out of his arms, chest, back, hips, legs, and helmet, (8) like he was breathing fire out of every pore in his skin and preparing to blast it out through his armor. (7) Letting go of the sword with both hands, he looped his arms around Cyanthrax (6) and attempted to pull him in for what could be mistaken for a hug (5) if he wasn’t spontaneously conflagrating at that precise moment. (4) This was His last-ditch effort, and the King of Flames sighed inside his helmet. (3)

 

“Sorry boss. That’s all I’ve got.” He admitted dejectedly.

 

2.

 

“S o l a r i s   o u t .”

 

1.

 

The phoenix emblem on his breastplate flared white-hot and every inch of the warrior’s armor, inside and out, combusted, turning him into a pillar of blinding flame, like a tiny human star. The last of him Cyanthrax could see were two glowing crystal eyes: one red, one blue.

 

0.

 

“So that’s yer gameplan, huh?” He spoke as the knight wrapped his now flaming arms around him. “Alrighty then, let’s see which of us can last the longest!” As he shouted, his body seemed to ignite alongside the knight, increase the intensity of the flames that consumed both of them. As if trying to join the chaos of flames, the fireball had finally made its destination - the fireball crashed into the source of the pillar of flames. Cyanthrax let out a yell of pain as their combined fire burned his skin, although it was shortly followed by mad cackling.

 

As the pair was engulfed in the blazing inferno; they would feel their health rapidly dropping. Stuck in one place, they were hit with a barrage of the stage’s own fireballs as well. The flames grew more and more intense until, finally, one of the pair reached 0 HP and the battle ended abruptly, the simulation around them fading away.

 

The two were left facing each other, in their original positions, with not a single injury to be seen.

The screen from earlier was between them and gave the final score.

 

Elijah: 5

Cyanthrax: 0

Winner, Elijah, due to HP

 

Elijah blinked a few times, realized his jacket and scarf were on him again, and he was no longer in any form of pain. With a massively relieved sigh, and an equally large break in character, he face-palmed and walked over to arena room floor to Cyanthrax, offering a handshake.

 

"Goddamn, Cy, you know how to make a guy work for it! I wasn't sure how that was going to go down."

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

Angela picked the next song, one that sounded a lot more... generic for Aria's tastes, but Angela was able to perform it decently well enough. Once she was done, she sat down with the rest of them.

 

"You know though, singing like this is fun, but is there any way to make it even more fun? With a lack of familiarity here...iunno, maybe we should do even more here." Angela asked. Aria looked at Xia, who had an expression of blissful unawareness to her at this proposition, but Aria had to admit she was just as much confused.

 

"...What were you thinking of? I haven't been to any karaoke place that had anything else to do, well unless you were of age or had a fake ID or somethin'" Aria asked, scratching her chin.

 

"Gimme a minute, I had an idea," Angela replied, picking up a phone that was placed on the table. "Hello? Yeah this the party of three. Bring me a bottle of the strong stuff I had last night, and two more things, one sec," Angela passed the phone over to Xia, who, confused at first, placed her order, then passed it over to Aria. Aria began to clue in that what they were ordering wasn't just soda or juice.

 

"Oh, I don't... really know what to get... or if they'll..." Aria began to stutter, unsure of how to handle the situation.

 

"Oh, I got you covered, you'll like this." Angela ordered essentially the same thing that she was getting. It wasn't long until the door opened, and the girl from the front brought in three bottles and placed them on the table.

 

"Enjoy!" She chirped, and then left the room.

 

"...Just like that? They didn't ID me or anything... am I allowed to drink this?" Aria asked, holding up the bottle and looked at it. Angela was already getting right into her own bottle, but Aria just continued to look at the bottle, unsure of what to do. This is like what her mother used to drink all the time...

[Tesability Black]

Tesability's curiosity got to the better of her as she tried to climb up onto the stage, her hindpaws cutely scrambling against the stage as she tried to get up. After a few moments, she remembered that she had wings and instead flew up towards the stage and mic.

Putting a paw onto the machine, Tesability appeared to shift into a mass of minute black and white 1s and 0s that were all constantly shifting and changing while maintaining her shape. A few seconds later, her form condensed into a stream before disappearing into the screen of the karaoke machine...

~~~

Inside the machine, Tesability found herself in what looked like a storage place, a variety of music tapes held throughout the entire area. She knew she was in a machine, since the floor and ceiling were tinted the same kind of green that she was using to seeing. She wasn't sure how she was to search such a large area, but the answer came in the form of a small computer against one wall, one she recognized as a 'data indexer' for places like this.

Placing a paw on it, she soon found a song she liked the lyrics of, realizing quick that this machine was designed to sing along with the songs while the actual lyrics of the original song are missing. Pulling back the paw and placing it under her muzzle in thought, she thought about how she was going to do this karaoke.

She remembered her old Hunter mention 'music videos' and how they sometimes tell a story alongside the song with visuals. That thought in her mind, she began to scheme...

"...Just like that? They didn't ID me or anything... am I allowed to drink this?"

The electricity suddenly turned off. The only sources of light left were from any machines that were touched by magical energy as well. The televisions, seemingly under their own power, turned on as well as a song started playing.

On each of the screens, a small figure sat against green. The ground was a far darker shade of green than the ceiling, but both were marked with lines of lime-green that made perfect squares if one did not look at them from an angle.

Hold on for a second, if words can be weapons
Then what Isay can effect it, they’re not just words on a record
The figure began to move once the song began to play, dark-gray wings stretched out to reveal gold underwings as the figured lifted its head to open up pitch-black eyes.
And I can choose to respect it, or choose to infect it
But once it hits the water, it’s too late to be selective

Tesability was somehow on every television screen at once.

‘Cause one voice is enough to make sleeping giants wake up
To make armies put their hands up and watch whole nations stand up
It’s one belief, one spark, one faith and one restart
And we can reboot the whole chart before it all falls apart

There were two voices echoing from the various speakers. Those whom may have heard her speak would recognize the higher childish voice as hers while the other, masculine voice belonged to no one in sight.

If anyone asked, she would tell them that the voice belonged to a long-lost friend of hers.

So stand up, shout it out, and put ‘em in the air if you like it loud
We only got one shot, so let’s make it count, it’satake down, nobody can stop us now
Stand up, shout it out, sing it loud, so the world can’t drown us out
And before we depart, let’s leave a mark
Suddenly, the televisions appeared to darken once more, leaving only Tesability's appearance illuminated only by the lightning that now surrounded her.
‘cause light shines brighter in the dark

Two more figures stood now next to her, one appearing as a simplistic mechanical form of a humanoid nature that was primarily a light-blue coloration. No discernable face could be seen under the black half-dome that covered the head and each arm ended in a weapon, one arm a long spike, the other a machine gun seamlessly built into the arm. The other was clearly a human female wearing a battle dress uniform of a dark-blue color, the right side of her chest showing how decorated in medals she was. It was at this point that a third voice joined in, a feminine one that spoke with an intense amount of self-confidence.

And they all sung together.

When we scream, our lips don’t make a sound
We march, with feet on solid ground
We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road

Tesability raised a paw as the scene shifted, showing a battle featuring the trio and a large white feline with an angelic glow. The human stood back, but concern showed on her face as both dragon and mech fought against the cat, the feline displaying a cocky grin as the halo above his head began to glow to blind them.

So hold on for a moment, if we’re not scared of opponents
Then with what we have we can own it, we’ll just plant the seed and keep growin’ it
And when that light shines in the mornin’, they’ll still be waken’ up yawning
But we’ll be smilin’ like we expected, with sweet victory one method

‘Cause one voice is enough to make sleeping giants wake up
To make armies put their hands up and watch whole nations stand up
It’s one belief, one spark, one faith and one restart
And we can reboot the whole chart before it all falls apart

The mech fired off a barrage of bullets at the cat before the scene changed, showing the three walking up towards an infinitely-tall tower, the human petting Tesability on the head with a smile on her face.

So stand up, shout it out, and put ‘em in the air if you like it loud
We only got one shot, so let’s make it count, it’s a take down, nobody can stop us now
Stand up, shout it out, sing it loud, so the world can’t drown us out
Before we depart, let’s leave a mark ‘cause light shines brighter in the dark

The scene changed, showing in the air a figure floating in the air dressed entirely in black. It was impossible to see what was under the black robes, especially with the red aura projected that seemed to block any chance of seeing in. From the figure, an orb of yellow, blue and red that blended together in sickly ways forced itself of its chest, floating in the air as the figure fell.

When we scream, our lips don’t make a sound
We march, with feet on solid ground
We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road

The orb exploded, sending a huge shockwave throughout the area seen. Buildings toppled and crumbled instantly. The many creatures on the ground tried to run, but the wave instantly evaporated them, some of them turning into small crystals.

When we scream, our lips don't make a sound
We march, with feet on solid ground
We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road

This time, Tesability sat alone, sitting in front of an unmarked grave as she shed a tear. Wiping it away with a paw, she stood away before turning her back to the screen and flying away...causing the televisions to now display the same dragon from earlier, sitting alone among green.

And I can choose to respect it, or choose to infect it
But once it hits the water, it's too late to be selective
'Cause one voice is enough to make sleeping giants wake up
To make armies put their hands up and watch whole nations stand up
It's one belief, one spark, one faith and one restart
And we can reboot the whole chart before it all falls apart

When we scream, our lips don't make a sound
We march, with feet on solid ground
We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road

When we scream, our lips don't make a sound
We march with feet onsoild ground
We walk, where no one wants to go, on this untraveled road
On this untraveled road
On this untraveled road...

Once the song was done, the electricity reverted back to normal, as if nothing had happened, and Tesability re-emerged near the karaoke machine. "...Ai mae du dat agaensh shoonsh..."

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

Suddenly, the pain went away. Actually, the whole arena they'd been fighting in had disappeared. Looking, he looked at the score board before whistling. "Goddamn, Cy, you know how to make a guy work for it! I wasn't sure how that was going to go down." He turned to his opponent before letting out a slight chuckle. "Look who's talking! I thought you couldn't fight!" He spoke, shaking his opponent's hand. However, he quickly pulled on Elijah until the demon's forehead was pressed up against his. "Just wait until next time, chump." There was a slight hint of unintentional anger behind the wide grin on his face. He then pushed the young champion away from him before letting out a laugh, pointing at Elijah. "Next time I won't be going so easy on you, you got that?" He started to walk the other way, not having a set goal as to what to do next. While he hadn't taken the lose lightly, he couldn't help but grin the whole time. "When was the last time I fought like that? This place might not be so bad after all..." He let out a chuckle as he made his way out. "I might have to actually try for once!"

[Alaina]

 

Xia sat back and watched while the other two had gone on to sing their songs, eyes wide with excitement and wonder as they did so. Clapping as they both went and finished their songs she said, "you guys were great!" It was then that Angela had decided to make things a little more fun for the Karaoke. Xia was already having loads of fun, so she had no idea how exactly she was planning on making it more so, but she definitely welcomed the idea. While Aria seemed to be in a similar state of confusion, Angela seemed to start calling up someone and asking to get something to drink. When given the phone to order herself, Xia had no idea what was going on and just said, "uuuuh. I'll take the same thing!"

 

After they had all ordered their drinks, Xia looked at it quizzically. She wasn't sure how it was supposed to make things more fun, but figured that being thirsty was no fun. Before she got to drinking it, though, the power seemed to go out. "Is this part of the fun?" Xia wondered aloud. It was then that the screen they had been using earlier started to display what looked to be Tes. Xia was a bit confused as to why she was there, and even more so at the strange double voice and the visuals, she still watched intently. As the scenery played out before her, Xia could feel a certain sadness from what she saw and once they were over she clapped. "Man that was fun," she stated once everything had returned to normal. Looking at the drink, she said, "so what did we need the drinks for?" As she asked, she figured to take a gulp of it down anyway, and thus did so. 

[Yui]

---

4:30PM

Points: 55

W/L Record: 0/1

The fight was over. Aurora had taken down the big monster like she wanted to, but it ultimately cost her the match as one of Caleb's lasers finished the job. It was unfortunate, and Aurora wasn't exactly happy with the repeated betrayals, but that was probably her own fault. She'd tunnel visioned a bit, got too focused on her goal, and paid for it. She told herself not to let her own goals get in the way of winning next time. Speaking of goals, she could have sworn her next one would be to go find something really hot to warm back up with. However, as the arena around her and Caleb dissipated, the chills from overusing her powers found themselves fading away. And she wasn't injured either! Even her suit seemed to have been repaired!

 

Could get used to that right quick. Aurora removed the goggles and mask from her face, and pulled her scarf and hood down. Now she looked less like a winter astronaut and more like an actual person. She didn't want to change out of the Arctica costume quite yet though. Even if it hampered her mobility a bit from the sheer thickness, it was cozy, though she knew from experience it wouldn't stay that way too long. As she and Caleb were escorted out of the arena, her watch received a notification. Today was April Fool's on Rama-Indri apparently, and a point bonus would be given to anyone who managed to prank somebody would get ten points. Aurora immediately tried to think of something...and wasn't really having any success.

 

"So, uhh... nice fight? Game?"

 

"It was fun," Aurora agreed. "I got to down the monster like I wanted, you got to win, everyone's happy. Next time though, I ain't gonna just ignore you and try to do my own thing. Whenever we get a rematch, it'll be serious business." Aurora's tone was part-serious, and also part-teasing. She meant every word of what she was saying, however. "Plus, I needed to get a fight in eventually. Doing it on the first day makes sense. And speaking of things I need to do..." Aurora pulled up her watch's interface. She'd left herself a little note in the corner with things she had to do. Interview, photoshoot, all that jazz.

 

Could really go for an interview; sounds fun and makes enough sense to do one right after I fought. Even if I did lose. Let's do it! Bringing the interface back down, Aurora looked down to Caleb and said "I was thinking of heading over to the TV station to get my interview in. So unless you particularly wanna tag along, we'll be splitting up here."

 

...

 

I should probably go change back into something a bit more casual, not to mention lighter. No way this'll stay comfy the whole way there and back. That thought in mind, Aurora made for the elevator to get to her room. She had some superhero costumes to change out of, and then an interview to do. And who knew, perhaps she'd bump into someone along the way.

---

[ChampionZero]

Elijah wasn't honestly sure how to process any of what Cyanthrax did. But he was pretty cool, and so he decided he'd keep working on him. But for now, he needed to shower and change, because that hologram stuff did NOT prevent sweat, and he was dying in this outfit. So, he made his way back to wherever the showers were, and eventually found them.

 

Slowly shedding his Anti-Hero costume, peeling his skin free of each clinging article of clothing layer by layer, Elijah eventually managed to get into a shower and start burning away the layer of sweat and that had accumulated over the course of the day. Damn, so far everything felt like school. Even let out at the same time.

 

As he did his best to freshen up, using whatever soap or shampoo was available, he considered what he'd been able to do back in the arena. He'd transformed... no, replaced himself with Solaris, his ace card. Solaris had fought in his place to help him win the fight. And when the king of flames wasn't good enough? He detonated himself to finish the job. That was hardcore as hell.

 

...wait a minute...

 

That creepy little girl he kept seeing on his voyage always talked about Duel Monster Spirits. Maybe, even if the cards weren't with him, the Igknights were giving him some support? It was a long shot, but... Hmm...

 

Elijah made a mental note to save up enough points to wish to have his cards with him. Maybe they'd give him a confidence boost, or a little bit of good luck. Ooh, but then why not wish for his candy stash? Or to go home? Hmm... No, he was going to earn his way home. Through grit, spit, and determination.

 

At that point, he'd finished cleaning up, changed back into his normal clothes plus the Anti-Hero trench coat, and was a walking ball of toasty-warm cheerfulness as he used his watch to check if there was any way to know how his performance had been received? After all, the audience here wasn't the same as back home. They might prefer one of his other personas to the Anti-Hero.

 

As he walked down the hallway, he carried a small aura of glowing pride, and skipped his way back through the arena to get to the food trucks and grab something edible. Naturally, he found himself at the elevator doors at the same time as a familiar girl... "Hey, Aurora, right?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Damn, I think that battle earlier makes me get drunk easier. Like really, now it's like the karaoke machine is singing on its own!

 

And yes Aria, just drink as much as you like! I myself been drinking this since I'm eleven~"

 

As Angela start drinking, she enjoyed the track currently being played, and it was at the time when she noticed a message on her watch. It was apparently a notification regarding an event of sort. She read what was being told there, and a smile grew on her face. She tried to think for a moment and after doing so, she went outside for a bit and asked for a stack of cards, which she paid for a few points. When she returned, her smile was still in full display.

 

"Anyone wants to play a game of cards? Also, the drink is just so things get a lot more fun, so it's best if you two drink more.

 

Loser can probably try singing a song picked by the others, and failing miserably at that. Or well, I have other ideas too but let's just play for a bit~"

 

---

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

The power flickered and the machines seem to have had gone haywire as the music began to play itself on the screen. At first Aria was worried, but her questions were soon answered when she spotted Tesability on the screen. Aria looked down at the dragon once she had emerged back from the machine.

 

"That's not really how karaoke works," Aria pointed out quietly, chuckling to herself as the power returned. She could hear the staff outside making a commotion over what was going on.

 

"Damn, I think that battle earlier makes me get drunk easier. Like really, now it's like the karaoke machine is singing on its own! And yes Aria, just drink as much as you like! I myself been drinking this since I'm eleven~" Angela replied to Aria, taking a big swig from her bottle.

 

Aria looked down at her bottle for a few seconds, contemplative. It wasn't anything like what her mother had been doing... this was to have fun with friends, not to forget bad things... Aria slowly brought the bottle to her lips, and then paused for a second, realizing something about what Angela had said.

 

"I'm pretty sure it's super bad if you drink at that young 'a' age," Aria said, before throwing her head back and chugging down the bottle. Liquid fire poured down her throat, and Aria's eyes began to water. Angela returned with a deck of cards and was soon cheering at what Aria was doing, who at this point was desperately trying to finish the bottle as fast as possible so she wouldn't have to drink it anymore. Aria finished the bottle and haphazardly placed it on the table, although she basically almost dropped it in doing so. The whole room began to spin, and she was beginning to feel really light headed. She spent almost a full minute visibly cringing hard from the taste, gagging a couple times.

 

But she also felt a lot more... comfortable.

 

"WOW that stuff tastes like sheet!" Aria announced, her voice slightly slurred from the alcohol already.

 

"Anyone wants to play a game of cards? Also, the drink is just so things get a lot more fun, so it's best if you two drink more. Loser can probably try singing a song picked by the others, and failing miserably at that. Or well, I have other ideas too but let's just play for a bit~" Angela proposed. Aria sat more forward on her seat, but seemed to be swaying a little on the spot.

 

"And whaddya have in mind?" Aria asked with a sly, yet drunk, grin.

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

Cyanthrax, having no idea what to do next, made his way to the one place that was familiar to him here - the bar. He gave his watch a dejected look as he scrolled through the activities that he could actually do. 'Damn it...' All that was really left was a Commercial and an Interview...whatever the hell those words meant. He let out a sigh as he slumped on the bar, holding an empty cup of shitty rum in his hands. He let out a loud sigh in annoyance, inspecting his body. "No visible injuries despite that happened...not even a sign of burns anyways. I wonder how the hell that sheet works..." He thought out loud, getting up from his seat. "This place is fucking weird..." He made his way out of the bar, not having any clue as to where he was going to go next. He would eventually stumble upon something interesting, right? He made his way outside the main building and started walking around outside.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Fight comments

 

After the fights ended between Cyanthrax and Elijah, and Aurora and Caleb, as with the others, comments began to pour in.

For Cyanthrax vs Elijah.

 

"Since he's a demon isn't that kind of home field advantage?"
"Seriously, after all that talk he lost?"
"Wow Cyanthrax's such a prick"

"That sword was pretty cool though."
"He's kinda hot, isn't he?"

 

"Is this guy one of those chunni things?"

"Whoa, clutch victory, what a showman!"

"That was totally staged are you kidding me?"

"So. Many. Weapons!"

 

"Do they know each other?"
"I ship it."

 

And for Aurora and Caleb.

 

"She's not very bright, is she, taking on the monster like that."
"She's really brave, isn't she, taking on the monster like that."
"omg she's cute. *sigh* if only I were a guy..."

 

"Who let the dog in?"
"What a cute doggy!"

"SOMEONE GAVE A DOG A JETPACK ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"Kind of an underhand way to win wasn't it?"

"Whoa that dog is a genius."

Cyanthrax

 

As Cyan left the building he'd notice some people pointing and whispering, though none of them seemed very keen on walking up to him. He hadn't gone very far from the building before someone else came out of it behind him. It was the waitress girl from the bar. She was still wearing her work uniform so either she was on her way home or on a break. She noticed Cyanthrax and paused for a moment. "Ah, hello." She said, not looking directly at the man. "You're that...fighter, the one who keeps getting drinks...Erm, are you lost?" She didn't seem to be very interested in having a lengthy conversation, and her expression was decidedly uncomfortable, but she appeared willing to help him out.

---

Tesability

 

As the dragon left the screen she would find herself facing a rather awkward scene. It had seemed that the room she entered was the room of a young couple who were in a state of partial undress. They stared in shock at the dragon before the girl started shouting in hysterics, the boy trying to calm her down. He looked over at Tes and stammered. "I, uh, I think you have the wrong room."

[Tesability Black]

"I, uh, I think you have the wrong room."

 

Lifting her head a little before turning her muzzle towards the direction of the voice. "Ish yu hashin' a tickwl waw?" Tesability asked, a snicker in her voice due to the lack of understanding what was really happening in front of her before digitizing and disappearing right into the screen once more...

 

 

She re-emerged within a different room from one of the karaoke screens, at least one familiar flash of blue among her vision as she looked around the room to see so many others within it. "...'dish ish nawt mai wum."

[Yui]

---

4:30PM

Points: 55

W/L Record: 0/1

"Hey, Aurora, right?"

 

Aurora turned her attention to the boy who had called out her name. Another of the fighters; she recognized him from when everybody was in that room. Not to mention this guy - much like the majority of the fighters it seemed - looked pretty normal next to the denizens of Rama-Indri. Or at least, the ones she'd seen so far. Aurora thought back to the first day as best she could, trying to remember who everyone was. She was Aurora obviously, the dog was Caleb and the dragon was Tesh, the demon guy had some weird name Aurora couldn't quite remember...

 

His name flashed in her head! She remembered! "That's me, hi there Eli!" The elevator doors opened, and Aurora - and presumably Elijah as well - stepped inside. Aurora hit the button for the apartments, and rather doubted they had the same destination. "You just finish up a fight too? How'd it go?"

---

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"So there really was an audience, huh?" He spoke under his breath as he read the comments. He felt a mix of emotions, but out of all them them confusion stood out. 'How the hell did they watch the battle anyways? I didn't see anyone around us and there weren't any "camera's"' He sighed loudly. All this technology stuff, it was like magic to him. He turned his attention to the people whispering and pointing at him, simply returning a death glare to them before returning to his wandering. Suddenly, he saw someone that seemed familiar. "Ah, hello." She spoke, seemingly at him, although she seemed to be avoiding eye contact. "Yo." He recognized this women - she was one of the waitresses at the bar. "You're that...fighter, the one who keeps getting drinks...Erm, are you lost?"

 

"N-No! I'm just...errgh..." He let out another sigh. "....yeah, I guess you could say that..." He responded, begrudgingly. The girl seemed to be a bit uncomfortable around him, so he decided to keep things relatively short. "Where can I go to do this..."Commercial" thing? And what the hell is a "Commercial" anyways?" He said, using air quotes around the word commercial. Hopefully she'd be able to point him in the right direction - it certainly beat wandering with no goal.

[ChampionZero]

Elijah adjusted the strap on his duffel bag (It had twisted itself again, and was digging into his shoulder) and smiled. "Clutch as all HELL! Cyanthrax was tough, but I just barely beat him. I haven't had an awful lot of opponents like that in the past, so that was a nice start. And check out these comments!" He shows her the screen, reading them for himself at the same time as her.

 

"'Do they know each other? -- I ship it.' " He slapped his thigh. "Hah! That's cute. Although Cyanthrax is a little too headstrong for my taste. And probably not into guys, anyway." He glanced over at her and winked. "His loss."

 

On the other hand, Snowboots seems pretty nice. Hmm. Hopefully she gets to meet the Heartbreaker.

[Yui]

---

4:30PM

Points: 55

W/L Record: 0/1

"Clutch as all HELL! Cyanthrax was tough, but I just barely beat him. I haven't had an awful lot of opponents like that in the past, so that was a nice start. And check out these comments! Do they know each other? -- I ship it.'  Hah! That's cute. Although Cyanthrax is a little too headstrong for my taste. And probably not into guys, anyway." The boy then glanced over to Aurora, and winked at her. "His loss."

 

"Yeah, I bet..." Is he flirting with me? I hope he's not flirting with me. As the elevator started moving, Aurora brought her own screen up and looked over the comments for her own fight. May as well read one of hers aloud too, she figured; it was only fair after Eli had read one of his. "Here's one from mine. 'omg she's cute. *sigh* if only I were a guy...' O-Oh." Aurora blushed a bit. It took her a second or two to realize just what that second bit implied. Girls swung that way here, apparently? She'd never heard any mention of the girls in Texas liking other girls - and Aurora herself wasn't into girls - so this was awkward for her. "Well, there's uh, plenty of fish in the sea, you know what they say."

 

DING!

 

The elevator doors opened, and before Aurora was the entrance to the apartments. "Sorry, this is my stop. Unless you're tagging along, guess we're splitting up here." With that, Aurora hurried along out the door, slowed a bit by the bulk and weight of her suit. She still had thing to do today, and she wanted to see them done today.

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Cyanthrax

 

"....yeah, I guess you could say that...Where can I go to do this...Commercial" thing? And what the hell is a "Commercial" anyways?"

 

The girl seemed to be confused by his confusion. Then it dawned on her that these people weren't from around these parts. She glanced down at her watch. "I have some time...I guess I can bring you there." She said, walking in the direction of the TV Station. She plucked at her sleeve as she walked, keeping in front of Cyan and not turning around to face him. She seemed extra fidgety at the looks that people around were giving them. Some must be thinking the two are together and the realization made her begin to walk slower with her embarrassment. "Er, a commercial...It's um. You know those screens that show things, like the one Miss Mauvache used to announce your fight? It's something that the TV Station can show to showcase you and advertise the arena using those screens."

---

Gabby and Ty

 

"Curses, we didn't get to interview them all before they fought. Wouldn't that have been great? To be the first to interview the new fighters before they even were seen." Gabby let out an audibly sigh, munching on a hot dog by the fountain where she interviewed Caleb earlier.

The irony was not lost on her.

 

"It's not a big deal, is it? We'll get to the rest I'm sure." Ty responded.

 

"You don't get it! We need to be first!" She shook her head. "Ever since that woman came around we've been slipping. Why is that? In this day an age who listens to the radio?"

 

She popped the last of the hot dog in her mouth and spoke again, mumbling through the food. "Let's go, I'm sure we can find another of them soon, no time to waste!"

[ChampionZero]

"Oh. OK, see you Aur-round!" He joked, tapping the button for the floor closest to the food trucks. Though, this time he probably wasn't going to go for those corn dog things. Those things were still messing with his bowels, and he did not need more of that tonight.

 

Going through his mental list, he checked off the Anti-Hero and tossed up a few of his other characters he could use. Sadly, since he didn't know who he was fighting next, he just had to pick one and hope it turned out entertaining. Probably he'd go for his Kid persona next, get some comedy in to contrast with the tragedy of his last character. Some spray paint, ludicrous dialogue and antics, and a bright-and-cheery personality would definitely be a surprise.

 

Or he could switch to the Rockstar. Similar attitude, but not very comedic, not compared to the Kid. Raw power and the thrill of an adrenaline-charged performance was also much different than the grungy, dark attitude that the Anti-Hero embodied. Probably. Ehhh, he'd flip a coin when it came time to shoot the promos. For now, he needed a sammich and then he needed to maybe go for the photo shoot. Unless he was going to have a few fights and then take the photo. Hey, maybe he'd do one in each costume, scatter them around a little.

 

(OOC: Elijah would totally do an interview if approached right now.)

[Alaina]

 

As the drinking had started, Xia watched as the other two guzzled their bottles rather quickly. Not one to exclude herself from the fun, Xia guzzled down her bottle with relative ease as well before letting out a deep breath. She wondered why the people she used to live with were so intent on not getting her to drink any of this stuff before, as while it wasn't the best thing Xia had ever drank, she certainly didn't see any harm in it. As the others seemed to get in the mood to go and play card games, Xia's face perked up once more. "Oooh, I love cards! And more singing always sounds fun!" It was then that someone had just appeared in the room, to which Xia hadn't seemed taken aback by this at all, and instead looked towards the newcomer. "Hiya Tes! Are you here to play cards with us too?"

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"I have some time...I guess I can bring you there." Cyanthrax followed the waitress towards their destination. He noticed all the people looking at them as the two walked towards the TV Station. "What're they lookin at?" He returned a menacing leer to those that were staring as he continued behind the nervous girl. Finally, after a walk of silence, the girl broke the silence with a rather embarrassed look on her face. "Er, a commercial...It's um. You know those screens that show things, like the one Miss Mauvache used to announce your fight? It's something that the TV Station can show to showcase you and advertise the arena using those screens." Cyanthrax took a second to process the information before cracking into a dumb grin. "Ah! Now that sounds like something I can get behind! Thank you, er..." It was then that he had no idea what her name was "...waitress...girl. I think I got this from here on out." He gave the waitress a wave before rushing towards the TV Station.