Hush: Welcome to Purgatory

The sun shone bright down on Middlebroke High School and the streams of students entering its gates. Even though September had arrived, the weather would still be warm for several weeks, much to the pleasure of its student body. Some greeted friends genially, others dragged their feet, wishing they were still tucked up at home in bed. A group of first years huddled together for mutual support; they were easy to pick out from the nervous looks on their faces, in stark contrast to the confident ones worn by their older peers, who were used to, and now totally unphased by everyday life here.

A boy jumped a little as a hand was clamped on his shoulder. He looked round to see a large boy towering over him, grinning. ‘Friday, 6, go to the sports hall if you want to see the coolest thing ever,’ he said to the startled first year. ‘And bring your friends.’ He was referring to the Start of Term Exhibition Battle, a ritual that everyone who knew about it took for granted. To ‘celebrate’ the beginning of the school term, everybody who was anybody flocked to watch the strong, the battle-loving, the wannabes fighting it out either for the hell of it or to prove their worth to the rest of the school. Word was already spreading like wildfire to the ears of the disbelieving newcomers of the underground mafia-style warring that went on within the school’s walls. All the major players would be at the Battle, either demonstrating their prowess as a warning to others or looking for new recruits to their cause among the most capable fighters.

‘Join the Upper Crust if you wanna stay alive!’ one girl was yelling as she walked into the school. All around her took note. A greasy haired, long-faced young man snorted in contempt.

‘The Upper Crust or nothing but a bunch of socialite bimbos and jocks,’ he said, pushing his glasses up his nose and sneering. ‘We’ll have control of the school by Christmas.’ This was a member of Omnia Veritas, one of the two strongest groups in the school. Around him a group of half a dozen friends nodded and agreed.


At the bus lanes, another crowd of students emerged from a bus and headed into the building. Among them was a girl wearing predominantly black, including the heavy boots she had on and her hair, which was as dark as night if you ignored the left hand side of it, which was as blue as day. Beside her strode a good-looking young man whose brown hair was blown around in the breeze. Both carried bags across their shoulders; in hers were books for the day’s lessons. In his was a pair of tonfa, his weapon of choice in battle.

‘Gonna be fighting on Friday?’ the girl asked coolly as they turned right immediately upon entering the school and proceeded down the stairs before them.

‘Oh yeah,’ he replied with a grin as they descended. ‘Wonder if there’ll be anyone worth watching, apart from me of course,’ he continued arrogantly, while a group of girls walked up the stairs past them. Johan Marlowe knew by experience that such was the informative power of the Outside Organisation that merely speaking this information in public would guarantee his name to be on the list of those fighting on Friday.

He and the girl, Emaline Gates, had reached the bottom of the stairs now, and with a quick glance around her to make sure they were unobserved, slipped a key from her pocket into a door, twisted it, and pushed. The two of them hurried in and shut the door behind them. A dimly lit set of stairs led them downwards into the basement, the secret headquarters of Sanguerone, one of the most prominent groups in the school. The room had been well-equipped for comfort; several cushioned sofas and chairs were spread around the room, and a drinks machine sat in one corner. At the opposite end of the room there was another corridor which led to the other hidden entrance. A solitary computer, very occasionally used by members for school work was set up on a desk along the left-hand wall.

Up from the most comfortable chair leapt a long-haired blonde boy. ‘Johan!’ he yelled with glee, and ran into the arms of his friend.

‘Quintus!’ The two embraced each other warmly. This was Greg ‘Quintus’ Quinn, who, much to the surprise of everyone who learnt of the fact, was leader of Sanguerone, and the only person to command enough respect from Johan Marlowe for him ever to follow their instructions.

‘You two are like an old-married couple,’ joked a pretty girl with long, bleach blonde hair who wore a flowery yellow dress that matched perfectly her personality.

‘Hey Kate,’ Emaline greeted her as she sat down on the sofa beside her. ‘How are you?’ Quintus and Johan joined them and the four fell into amicable conversation while they waited for their friends to join them.


Back on ground level, a tall, well-built man with short spiky hair walked through the school’s corridors. On his arm was an attractive girl with a vacant grin. He was Jack Bailey, all-round sports king. She was Belle Griffins, all-round bimbo. Despite being the closest thing the Upper Crust had to leaders, it was a well-recognised fact that the two of them didn’t have two brain cells between them to rub together and start a fire. Nevertheless, as he strolled up to the student lounge on the top floor, Jack’s mind was lost in thought. He was thinking over his conversation with the visitor he had had the night before.

He had been walking home from an afternoon at a friend’s, feeling pretty pleased with himself when a skinny, four-eyed kid had come up to him and demanded to speak with him.

‘What do you want, ugly?’ he had replied, and carried on walking. The kid had followed behind.

‘You are Jack Bailey, soon to be third-year of Middlebroke High School. You sit on the highest rung of the social ladder, and are captain of no less than four school sports teams.’

‘What are you, my stalker?’ Jack turned and grabbed the kid, who remained completely composed.

‘A man in your position could rule the school, if he knew how.’

‘Oh, and how is that?’ He thought this kid must be joking.

‘Take control of the Upper Crust and you’re half way there. You are already a senior member, are you not?’

‘Yeah, I am. The seniorist. But it’s just a group of dumb kids who want to get recognised. We don’t have an official leader, and even if I became it, how am I supposed to use it to rule the school?’ The kid had known Jack wasn’t a thinker, but he thought this ridiculous. The man thought on far too small a scale.

‘Organisation!’

Jess sat at the back of the bus that was taking her near to Middlebrooke in a languid position while half-staring, half-reading her morning newspaper. The first years sat nervously looking around them and when one caught her glance she sneered at them, she was not in a good mood, it was just too early to be awake and functioning. Glancing out the window at the progress of the journey she saw that she was in a traffic jam. Well that's just bloody fantastic, first day back and I'm late already. She knew this area of traffic jam very well, it was the same everyday. She hit her forehead against the window and sighed, it was just too early to be dealing with this kind of thing.

*

One good thing about returning to Middlebrooke was the fights; she had spent most of her summer preparing to get higher in the Upper Crust. How she had missed ruthlessly defeating those weaker (and sometimes stronger than her.) She was sitting in one of her hiding spots on the second floor behind book cases in the Library with her eyes closed balancing her wakizashi on her fingers, when her friend Juliette Francis with her bright smile jumped on Jess.
"Wow thanks Jules, my beautiful face is now smushed against the carpet," she glared at her friends manic grin. Stupid friend's, stupid floor.
"Butttttt I brought you waffles!" The manic grin was still there.
"Well I suppose that makes it alright then," Jess said grabbing the waffles and stuffing them in her mouth. "Mmhmmmm, waffley goodness!" It was good to be back she supposed, she had a plan for the year ahead after all.

Yuji listened the to talk about a Start of Term Exhibition Battle while he sat on the bus. The thought of beating up people for attention just made his whole body tingle. This school already beats my old one. he thought to himself. He exited the bus first, not because he was faster then everyone else but because he was the only second year on a bus full of first years. He exited the bus and looked at the campus. "Wow." he breathed silently. The amount of students that flooded the grounds just made Yuji's blood boil. He couldn't help but scream "Watch out Middlebroke High School, Yuji Takehisa is here to kick some ass!" Now that is how you start your highschool term he thought laughing to himself.

Looks of amusement, bewilderment and some just looked pissed at how loud he was. Whatever the reason people were looking at him, people were looking at him which was all he cared about right now. He began walking toward the middle of school grounds, looking for someone who would fight him. A fight on the first day will definitely get me some attention. he thought.

The bus rolled to a screeching stop, " First and your last stop! Middlebroke High School, now get the hell out of my bus!" the driver said in a jokingly fashion over the speakers. The first years slowly dragged themselves out of the bus, the look of fear on most of their faces, the rest were probably just anxious to get it over with. V was the second to last one out of the bus.

"Thanks for getting us here alive, Frank. See you tomorrow." V told the bus driver as he exited. "Yeah, lets try for some C's this time!" 'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' V thought as the doors of the bus closed behind him. He leaned back and took a deep breath, it was too early for him but the warm September air was refreshing even if it wasn't going to last very long. V's bus was one of the earlier ones, so he made his way up to the school gates and sat against the right gate pillar. His mind began to wander about the summer that past, his last summer of freedom he thought it as.

'It was pretty relaxing, all things set aside. Boy, I'm going to miss sleeping in.' The freshman that exited his bus finally wound up enough courage to pass through the gates and V had something to say about most of them. 'He's ganna pee himself today, ha ha. Oh! and look at his friend who's pretty much holding his hand, he can't even walk a straight line he's shaking so much! Ha ha.' The crowd stared at him with worried looks when they heard him laughing under his breath to his thoughts.

"..Boo." He said, just to tease them but only a few quickened their pace.

It wasn't too long until the school was flooded with the student body. Some students yelled comments to all the others as they entered, like: "Join the Upper Crust if you wanna stay alive!" and "The Upper Crust or nothing but a bunch of socialite bimbos and jocks, we’ll have control of the school by Christmas." But V's favorite came a little while after those, "Watch out Middlebroke High School, Yuji Takehisa is here to kick some ass!"

"I'll bet you twenty bucks and three weeks of lunch money that guys hospitalized or dead by next week." A familiar voice spoke out from behind V.
"Larry! Good to see you, but that Yuji fella' seems to have some spunk in him.. ..Three weeks I say." V replied, laughing as he greeted Larry with a hug. Larry was V's right hand man, he was going to entrust Larry to lead their little group after he graduates. Larry is also the only person V entrusts to run a mission either alone and/or to make the right decision when V is absent or cannot be reached.
"Good to see you too man, but onto business; I rallied the troops and their waiting for you in the balcony."

"Wow, the first day of school and you're already taking charge. I like that, keep it up and you'll be in my shoes next year." 'Even if it wasn't obvious enough already that the position is yours already.'

Yuji had walked towards the centre of the school grounds; that meant the middle of the football (soccer) pitch. It was behind the school, but the grounds had another entrance at the back which as many, if not more students chose to enter by, so he was observed by many. The football pitch wasn't meant to be walked across, but since no one enforced this rule, several students were choosing to ignore this ruke. Other more conscientious travellers were passing around it and up the slope that led to the main school building. Most looked over at Yuji, wondering who the loudmouth was. Some, mostly first years, looked frightened by him. A few others snickered.

More spectators watched from outside the cafeteria. One girl who had heard Yuji's declaration detached herself from this group and walked boldly towards him. She was slim, with blondish hair, and wore a cold look completed with a definite pout. This expression wasn't exclusively to deal with the reckless, it was the one she always wore.

She began speaking before she had even reached her prey. 'I suggest you be quiet if you want to last 'til the end of the week here,' she said imperiously. She pointed towards the building at a balcony above the cafeteria. 'That's the staff room,' she warned. 'And although this school is renowned as a safe haven for hoodlums and delinquents, there are some rules.' She lowered her arm and continued; 'And if you don't get roped in by the Principal, you'll be mauled by those same hoodlums and delinquents for risking the safety of that same haven. I won’t go into details as to what they’d do to you if you got the police involved here.’

The haughty girl turned to go, but then some thought seemed to come to her. ‘But if you like fighting so much, come to the sports hall at 6 on Friday. I can make sure your name is on the list to take part. What do you think?’

*

The students lounge was much larger and more comfortable than its staff counterpart. It could fit at least eighty, provided no one minded the din and general hubbub. It usually only had about half that number in though, since now only the highest up in the Upper Crust were allowed in it, a rule made by themselves of course. A plasma screen television hung on the wall, but no one had bothered turning it on – at eighty forty-five in the morning the best you could find to watch were kids’ cartoons, and everyone in the room was too cool to admit they’d ever watched them.

Around him, Jack Bailey’s friends all sat, laughed and chatted, but for once, he wasn’t being his loud and aggressive self. A few people noticed that he was more quiet than usual. He was, in fact, trying to make a decision.

It didn’t take long for the topic of conversation to turn to the subject of the Battle. On hearing his friends speak of it, Jack’s ears pricked up. He sat forward in his seat, a decisive look on his face. ‘I’ve decided,’ he said, interrupting a guy who’d been bragging about the brass knuckles he’d bought over the summer. ‘I want everyone in the Upper Crust to fight on Friday.’

‘What, really?’

‘How come man?’
‘We gotta make an impression on the other groups, show ‘em we’re still top dogs,’ he reasoned. ‘So spread the word, everyone in the Upper Crust is fighting on Friday.’

Some of those around him were taken aback; Jack was the closest thing they’d had to a leader last year, but he had never exactly been pro-active. He was more content to sit around simply enjoying his position.

‘But Boss, if everyone in the Upper Crust fought, most of us would just be fighting each other,’ the quickest thinker of the group observed. ‘We outnumber any other group that much.’

‘Exactly, it’ll separate those who should be at the top with those that shouldn’t.’ One or two of his listeners became shifty, as if they thought under those kinds of rules they’d probably not be staying on top for long.

‘What about girls?’ one asked. Jack considered briefly, before deciding he wouldn’t mind seeing some cat fights, his old misogynist ways shining through again.

‘Yeah, why not?’

*

Down in the Sanguerone headquarters, Quintus, Johan, Emaline and Kate were still sitting round talking. They had been joined by two more of the group’s inner ring; the quiet but kind Alice Alban, Quintus’ girlfriend, sat beside him. Opposite Johan lounged Eric Copeland; tall, blonde and conceited, he was everything Johan hated. But even he had to admit that his skill with the shikomizue, a cane concealing a sword within, that he carried with him was impressive.

‘Joining in on Friday?’ Eric asked Quintus.

‘No, I want to use Friday to observe the other teams, see what they have up their sleeves. What about you?’

‘Me neither, you know I don’t do that kind of thing.’

‘Yeah, ‘cause you’re scared of losing in front of the entire school,’ Johan couldn’t stop himself from saying aggressively.

‘Unlike you, I don’t feel the need to prove myself to others,’ Eric snapped back. Their distaste for each other was mutual.

‘It’s nice to see you two haven’t changed,’ observed Kate, interrupting before their words got any more heated.

‘I’ll beat the crap out of whoever I’m up against in five minutes,’ Johan continued. ‘Because I am, as the French say, le best. Then crowds of people will flock to worship me, and who can blame them? They are but human.’ Alice, Quintus and Kate laughed a little, and Emaline muttered something about pride, a fall, and one coming before the other.

"I can make sure your name is on the list to take part. What do you think?" the girl asked. Without a moments hesitation he nodded. "Anything to get some attention. So where do I sign?" he finished with a fist pump. This school year is off to a great start, and if I could meet some more hot chicks like this one why not have some fun as well. He looked around at the many other students walk past him without so much as a glance. "Also, do you know where I could get a brawl started? It's been weeks since I broke a bone or knocked someone out."

Caught between stifling a yawn and pushing her blue-streaked highlights out of her face, Ivii Chua stumbled out of the bus in a somewhat un-womanly fashion. It would even be safe to say that she had fallen off the steep stairs of the vehicle and would have splattered herself unabashedly all over the sidewalk had it not been for Iven, ever the vigilant old brother, steering her in the direction of the school gates.

Once the crisis of inhaling poisonous hair, and perhaps falling dead on the first day of high school, was averted by uncharacteristically clumsy hands, she proceeded to smack said hands soundly against her face twice. Thus drawing odd stares from students about herself, which were swiftly diverted somewhere, anywhere, upon feeling the frosty glare of death that Iven had directed at them.

"Middlebroke High?" Ivii inquired as she finally managed a good look at the buildings that loomed before her, and only grew larger with each step they took.

A half exasperated positive response was provided beside her, and she bit back the instinctive apology that threatened to spill from her lips. Well it was technically her fault for being too nervous the previous night, which resulted in her waking up with less than three hours sleep early in the morning when Iven had to half drag her sleepy arse to the dojo for their daily morning workouts, and thus leading to herself being sprawled out over both Evee and Iven's lap, snoring in oblivious peace, on the school bus once the adrenaline wore off. Of course, the teeny weeny part where her still dripping hair had drenched a large spatter on both Evee's shorts and her teddy bear bag could have contributed rather largely to their youngest triplet's moment of grouchiness. But still, the soft, cozy fur of Mr. Snugglekins (the teddy bear bag) was just too much for her to resist...

"Watch your steps." Ivii momentarily awoke from her daydream (at Mr. Snugglekins' incredibly soft fur) as Evee's less than grouchy warning reached her ears, and her legs automatically raised themselves to meet higher ground. As they marched up the stairs, she managed to pick up the conversation around them three. Something about an Exhibition Battle...?

"What's an Exhibition Battle?" she asked at no one in particular.

Jess looked out the window to the football pitch in which, as usual, some weirdo was proclaiming his greatness to the entire student body.He won't last 10 minutes in the Exhibition Battle. Her attention turned towards the forth-coming battle and who from the Upper Crust would be fighting, and who from Sanguerone more importantly would be fighting. The small group of loyal friends intrigued her especially Quintus, her long term acquaintance from her studies, though she doubted that he would be fighting, that wouldn't be his style. Though she doubted that the narcissistic and arrogant Johan and Eric would be as sophisticated as their leader, also fellows in her studies. Sanguerone wasn't as secretive about its members as the Outside Organization or Untamed. Sneering at the thought of those two, she shouldered her orange bag which had a cute little mouse on it, much to the amusement of Jules.

Bringing her out of her thoughts was a vibration in her pocket, her phone was signaling that she had received a text. Jess loathed message tones so her phone was constantly on vibrate. checking the message it was from the "Boss" though she used the term very loosely, hew was an annoying but necessary person to her. The leader of the Upper Crust, Jack Bailey, had texted her, but as the message continued it seemed that he had text everyone in the Upper Crust. Raising an eyebrow at the message, she smiled at Jules who was currently rushing her Economics essay for Ian Barton, their strict but very much adored Economics teacher.

"Well this is gonna be fun.." Jess murmured.
"Huh? Wha?" Jules looked up confused.
"We're fighting Friday."
"Who are? Where?"
"All of us. All of the UC. On Friday. This is gonna be fantastic. Looks like my plans are gonna be put into practice much sooner than I thought."
"Huh? You were talking?" Jess sighed then smiled, one of the best points about Jules was that she was so ditzy that she forgot you were talking to her. At least she was going to have fun on Friday. She grabbed her sword and hit Jules playfully round her head. "Come on you dumbass, let's not be late."



OOC: Hope I haven't overstepped myself with making up a teacher

“What’s an Exhibition Battle?” Ivii had asked.

“I don’t care” which Evee had snapped back. Saying she was unhappy was the understatement of the year. Matted fur stuck out where Ivii had splattered water on and now her bear looks like someone had attempted to dry him from an accidental drop into a puddle of water and failed badly at it. She looked apologetic at Mr Snugglekins and unable to control herself, she smacked Ivii on the head.

“Get your own bear!” she growled out and stalked into the building with Mr Snugglekins in her arms. She glared at whoever that dared to so much as glance at her bear and went in search of the restroom. After following couple of signs, she managed to find one and went in. Ignoring the stares, she put her bear under the hand dryer and proceeded to dry it the best she could.

When she was satisfied and grinning happily at her now dried bear, she realized she lost track of time. She walked out to find Iven and Ivii waiting for her and she smiled at them. “ Oops! I guessed I took too long but have you found out what is an exhibition battle?”

OOC: Just to bring the timeline for the triplets a bit forward but I have posted a few questions in the OOC thread before we could move on further.

V walked down the halls with Larry right by his side. It seems the first years stayed in groups possibly thinking that they wouldn't get picked on if they stayed in numbers, a valiant strategy but they misjudge their opponents, if that be the case. "Strategy in numbers?" commented Larry, "Possibly," V replied "But they don't know what they're up against, and that's their downfall."
The two continued down the hall to the auditorium, being very careful about who's watching them or possibly following them. They strolled by the bathrooms where a girl with red highlights in her hair walked out rather cheerfully holding what looked like a bear in her hands and approached two others. "Cute bear" Larry commented as the walked by while V overheard them talking about an Exhibition Battle. V didn't care for the response they gave Larry and continued like nothing happened, his mind was now focused on the Exhibition Battle.

V and Larry found themselves in front of the doors of the Auditorium, they took one more glance around to make sure no one knew where they were, "All clear?" asked V to test Larry, "No one followed us."

Opening the large double doors to a vacant passageway, to the right a set of stairs to the balcony, and in front of them was another set of doors leading to the auditorium. Climbing the stairs, they found Jake guarding the doors to the auditorium. Jake was a second year student and a reliable guy when it came to easy tasks.
"Welcome back, V." He said.
"Good to be back, Jake. Lets get to business." On that note, Jake opened the doors to a set of kids sitting around a set of chairs. Some sat in them, other on top. "Everyone's here?" V whispered to Larry, "As far as I know."

They all stood up when they entered, a little bit due to respect, mostly because they wanted to get up to the spot. V lead the group into a room on the side of the balcony which was typically used for storage of lighting equipment. It only took a few seconds to set up a table for them to stand on and climb through the ceiling into the catwalks. The catwalks lead them rounding the ceiling of the auditorium where the top lights are set. Walking on only a two-by-four was pretty dangerous because if they fell, the ceiling could give out and send the clumsy oaf plummeting to his death.
There was enough room on the catwalks to store alcohol, or any other items kids brought into the school if they knew about the walks. V spoke in a loud voice, " You know those stains the principal and those sh**s say was caused from smoking came from?" "You mean when the " responded someone in the back, "It's from all the parties up here that they're hiding from you, ha ha, I bet it was them who spilled the beer up here!" They all let out a small laugh because they knew it was true.

Eventually the walks led the to a door where other lighting equipment was stored, but hadn't been used in years because everything is done by computers. Aside from a few cobwebs from the summers events, the place was the same as always. In their tiny hideout which was about twenty feet by fifteen. It was a lot smaller when V found it exploring in his first year, but after moving all the equipment to the catwalks, it was a lot more roomy. It seems the old tech students, had moved two small couches up there probably by putting it on wheels and pushing it over the two-by-fours, but it was way before his time and didn't care for details. On the walls were there masks, neatly stacked next to eachother hanging from exposed nails.

V sat down on his usual seat on the far couch on the right side, Larry beside him, the others piled and fought for seats or arms. "Welcome back guys, hope you had the time of your life over the summer, it might be your last." V opened with, the guys just laughed.
"But onto serious business." The laughing silenced itself, "I overheard chat about this years Exhibition Battle. Someone with more details want to share?"

A random voice spoke out, "I walked past these, the chick was talking in low tone but it didn't take much to overhear.. Something about at six, and sports hall." It started a debate;
"Yeah, but you have to register! Did you hear anything about registering?"
"It's no register, idiot, you just jump in and don't die and people think you're tough."

"Okay okay! quiet down, I don't want a quarrel right now!" V tried to take control, "Not now, its the first day, save it for tomorrow when I get more sleep. Anyways, you can't necessarily registers, the double O just kind of hears you talking about fighting and puts you on the list. Now! we need to discuss if we're going to make an appearance and recruit, recruit and fight, or just watch."

"Masks or no masks?"

"Masks, of course, to make an appearance about us, you need to look like us." V replied.

"However, V, with all due respect, I think we need to do something about our hair, I'm no expert but I think people can identify other people who have similar looking hair. For example, lets say that blue chick with the bear joined, not saying she is or we want her too, but once someone notices it, they might put two and two together?" Larry explained.

The group seemed to nod in agreement, taking their secrecy very seriously. If it wasn't for eachother, they would be nobody's. V scratched at his chin while sitting back relaxing. "Who wants to recruit?" V asked the group, several hands rose, "Those wanting to recruit Must go home and find a suitable hoody to wear over their mask to cover their hair from exposure. Those fighting, myself included, shall go as newcomers and no masks. To those fighting, I don't care if you win or lose, but if you do win, approach our recruiters to gain them publicity. To the recruiters, I don't want many more members, our space in limited as well as our.. utilities, so double confirm with Larry and I shall do a final screening to the newcomers, if any."

"But V, how will we get on the list?"

"Just boast about wanting to fight in the upcoming event, I guarantee you at least One double-O will overhear you." Larry replied.

There was a long pause of silence, not much talk for the beginning at the year, until the door sprung open and a small first year stumbled in. Everyone rose from their place.
"Grab him! Make sure no one followed him! You and you," V said pointing at two random people, "Go check the entrance and seal it shut! knock five times before coming back in, GO!"
The four remaining lifted the tiny first year into a metal chair, one remained behind him to hold his hands back, two held his legs and the last guy took his small backpack and put it in the kids mouth to stop him from screaming. The kid was scared, probably to scared to even scream.

"As you can see, Kid, we take the secrecy of this place Very Very seriously. Now, I'll have my guys backpack removed from your face if you promise not to scream, we wont hurt you just yet." V said in an interrogating voice, the little kid nodded. "Remove it."
Following orders, his member removed his bag, "I'm sor-" the kid was breathing to hard to speak yet still tried, "I didn't mean.. too-"

"Shut and catch your breath, we'll ask the questions, you strictly give only answers or the bag goes back until we reach an agreement." Larry spoke angrily. The first year glanced back and forth from V to Larry. V got in close to whisper, "Yea, this guys nuts, don't f**k with him."
"What you say to him?" Larry asked
"Nuttin.." V replied jokingly, the guys holding the first year laughed in Larry's ignorance. Larry rolled is eyes.

"How did you get here?" V asked.

"Followed.. you."

"I locked the door before we got up here, you break through the window and crawl in it?" Larry asked

"No.. Picked the.. lock." Larry and V exchanged glances, they were thinking the same thing, This kid can come in handy with that skill.

"You must be a first year then, huh?" V continued.

He nodded.

"What do you say we do with him boys?" V announced.

"I say we kill him, stash the body with the others and keep our secret a secret!" Said the guy holding his hands. The first-years eyes widened until V thought his eyes were going to roll out of his head, this expression was hilarious to him and Larry. "No no, killing to too rash!"
"We can eat him?" Larry said nudging V smiling. It seemed the first-year was about to cry.

"Lets wait until the other two return and come to a decision on what to do with this nuisance, Kill him, Eat him or possibly Use him." Larry commented.

Kichi stepped off the last bus with a smile. He took a giant inhale of the Middlebroke High School air. Damn... the third year already. As he skimmed the sea of students he saw familiar and unfamiliar faces. Groups of young ladies glanced at him with a smile and giggled amongst themselves as he caught them. Every other guy he made eye contact with gave him a quick wave of acknowledgment. "Here we go again," said an ex-classmate of Kichi looking for a quick conversation. "I'll enjoy every minute of it." Kichi replied as he cracked his knuckles out of habit. He began to walk towards the inside of the building.

"Have you heard about the Exhibition match?" The kid asked.

"Even if I said I didn't, they do this every year. The leaders of the big groups get all anxious and cant even get to their homerooms before they start organizing for another year." While he was in conversation with his peer he was shaking hands with old friends as they walked by. The amount of trading welcomes could make the president seem non-social. "Although I have been getting a gut feeling this year is going to be different, I don't know why." Before he got to finish his rant the kid handed him a booklet. No words were exchanged as Kichi read what was written on this notepad. This kid seemed to be snooping around school collecting as much information as possible. "Will you be joining the rest of the bandwagon and show them what your made of?" He asked. Kichi smiled at the remark and nodded in response. "I've been waiting on this all summer."

"Can't wait to see you there Kichirou." Stated the student.

Kichirou was shocked by the information. Dammit... all of The Upper Crust, but why? His mind raced at what could possibly have been planned. Well this is certainly... Different... Damn Jack, what do you have up your sleeve now.

"Hello?" His peer had been trying to get his attention for a couple seconds now.

"Oh, sorry."

"Mhm, You should read all the names so your ready for the competition, I know I am."

He chucked at the advice. "Thanks but I think I read all I needed to know"

Kichirou handed back the notes and broke off from the path with the kid and began in another direction.

----

Kichi entered the student lounge with a smile on his face and clapping obnoxiously loud but awkwardly slow. Of course at this time everyone in the room had their eyes on him.

"Jacky-jack the MAN... Mind telling me whats going on in that brilliant mind of yours? Too many members in the group so you decided get some killed to open spaces?"

'No need to sign anywhere, consider it done,' the girl told Yuji. 'As to starting a fight, I'd wait at least until Friday when you've seen what some people are capable of.' She turned to go and began walking away, but stopped and called back over her shoulder: 'Be careful when you pick a fight with someone here. You never know whose friend they may be!'

*

As Evee emerged from the bathroom and asked her siblings about the Exhibition Match, one of the Third Years who'd been spreading the word happened to walk by and here. He stopped and began explaining. 'You want to know about the Exhibition Match? Well, heh, all I'll say is, come to the Sports Hall of Friday at 6, and if you like fighting, just mention very loudly that you want to take part!' He laughed and departed swiftly.

***

Friday, 6pm. The Sports Hall.

The first two days of school had passed by at varying speeds for different students. The first years had inevitably found it the longest, as well as the most eventful; many had heard of the Underground wars, and almost the whole school had turned out to watch. It was a bigger event to the student body than any sports match or exam. Students lined the walls of not just the sports hall but the whole school building; the Exhibition Match took place throughout.

The Sports Hall was where most of the battles took place; a dozen caged rings had been put in place by the Outside Organisation. Their efficieny was frightening. They had done it without anoyne's knowledge during the day, and by the morning they would all be gone without a trace.

Other classrooms, including the library, the swimming pool, the roof and the cafeteria were also to hold battles. These, however, were reserved for the only most well-known fighters. They often attracted as much attention as the regular battles, and were sometimes pitted against more than one enemy in order to force them to pull out all the stops, giving the crowds a better show.

Back in the Sports Hall, fights had already begun. Many were just between members of the Upper Crust. In all twelve cages battles raged. Some were one-sided, others were between participants too scared to swing a punch. As soon as one ended, the speakers blared out the names of the next two fighters.

‘ Terry Bellucci, Jeremy Corrighan, Ring 4!’

An arrogant-looking third year and a scared-looking second year (one of the lowest members of the Upper Crust who had been forced into the event) walked towards their designated arena.

Jack Bailey watched his subordinates battling each other as feelings of mixed feelings of anticipation and apprehension coursed through his body. As had been predicted, some of the higher-ups in his group were being beaten by those previously below them. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the skinny kid watching him from where he stood alone, undistinguished and unrecognised, in a corner. Not for the first time, Jack wondered whether it had been a good idea to go along with his plan.


Those members of Sanguerone that had been in their headquarters first thing on Wednesday entered the Hall together. One or two glances were sent their way. Johan glanced back, while Eric immediately turned his attention to the fights. They walked down one side of the hall until they were nearly in the middle and began to talk over the hubbub of the crowds. ‘Looks like the Upper Crust really has made a full turn-out,’ Emaline noted as, in the nearest cage, Jeremy Corrighan was knocked out by Terry Bellucci.

Johan watched quietly from where he stood leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, an affected smirk on his face. ‘My blood’s boiling,’ he thought. ‘Good. First fight in months, I’ve got to win it.’[i] Johan prided himself on being one of the strongest fighters in the school, but he felt the constant need to prove that fact. He would have to win to retain his status. [i]‘Hope they put me somewhere other than here, and I hope I get someone strong.’ The roof would be nice, better than the cafeteria which was full of tables and chairs, or the swimming pool, where he always managed to slip on the wetness and make an idiot of himself.


‘Juliette Francis, Billy Bawden, Ring 7!’

Jules, Jess’ friend, was another of those who had been forced into joining in today. She walked fearfully towards her cage, where she was greeted by a guffaw of laughter from her opponent, the oafish Billy, a mid-level member of the Upper Crust. ‘Sick, I’m gonna win this easy!’ he shouted triumphantly, jumping up and down stupidly as he saw his opponent.


‘Yuji Takehisa, Leo Smith, Ring 12!’

Yuji’s allotted opponent was a fellow second year, a tall guy with a cold look in his eye. He was waiting for him in the ring where he stood straight up, feet apart, a bo staff held firmly in both hands. Unlike many in the hall, he was a talented fighter and one that stood no nonsense. No trash-talking from him, just plain honest fighting.

(OOC: Once you’ve read this, read my latest post in the OOC thread for more details.)

Two days ago

Tommy walked trought the halls looking for a third year until he came across somebody. "Would you happen to know how I can get into this fight everyone is talking about?" he asked the student.

"That, my friend, can be taken care of. What year might you be?"

"I am a third year, but I just got to this school, why?"

"Just wondering," he continued, "And what might your name be?"

"My name, I am Tommy, people used to call me Riot back home though, never figured out why."

After a couple of more, rather piercing questions, Tommy left the third yearto his buisness.

Later that day, after school, he had decided to walk to the place his parents had him staying in. About half way there, a young man walked up to him. "You think you can fight in the ring, you got another thing commin' bi***."

Shaking his head at the mans comment, Tommy lifted his arm up to him, his bladed knuckles already on his hand. "And what makes you so damn sure ass hole?"

Not liking thse comment, the man ran at Tommy, obviously no the best fighter, Tommy caught him and threw him to the ground. "Don't get up, or your blood will be all over the damn place. I am not in the mood to deal with idiots such as yourself. I am in a hurry, got stuff to get done anyways." Tommy began to walk off, but the young man ran at him again. Once again catching the young man, and using his own momentum to throw him. The young man landed and bounced, and as he began to stand, Tommy followed up with a kick to the groin. The man went down, and Tommy headed home. "Damned bafoon."

Friday 6th

Tommy woke up, went through his daily process, and, as today was a special day, decided to wear his top hat instead of the standard plaid beret.

After that, he was headed off to school for the grand event.

Ivii was hyped. Ivii was beyond hyped. Ivii was, without doubt, an ultimate fighting competition fangirl.

Heck she was practically bouncing in her seat as though either her seat or butt was instilled with springs that threw her centimetres in the air as she watched the ongoing fights with glee no older than a five year old. Even her hair appeared to be as hyped as her as locks that had escaped the tie that held the hair in a messy bun fought to stay in mid-air, appearing almost a little spiky.

Beside the mentally five-year-old fangirl were her siblings, appearing much much more laidback in comparison. On her left sat Evee, who slurped her vanilla float as her eyes locked onto the fights. On her right, Iven glanced at the battles cursorily with no more than a bored look. Despite appearance, however, both were watching Ivii just as intently as she was watching the battles, both ready to pounce on her, tie her up, and trot her home if she showed the slightest indication of raising her hand, or voice, to join in any of the skirmishes within the cages.

This of course, did not escape the notice of the fifteen-year-old-turned-five-year-old. With her brain uncharacteristically working perfectly finely outside of a sparring session, she formulated her plan. Getting through Evee was practically impossible. The girl had been holding a mean grudge against her since her getting Mr. Snugglekins' fur wet on the first day and if preventing her from entering one of the fights was Evee's way of getting back at her... No, Evee would be impossible.

Iven on the other hand...

Careful to not alert Evee in any way, Ivii sneaked a pitieous, kicked puppy dog look at her brother.

Iven paled.

Yuji looked around the caged area for anything he could use to his advantage. Without no results in sight he simply sighed. Guess I have to get under his guard before I can end this fight. He looks pretty calm, clearly not a beginner but who ever said I liked an easy win. Yuji thought, grinning as he reached in and pulled both of his butterfly knives. "Just don't cry when were done." he joked. Without waiting for a response he lunged forward, both knives held reverse and ready to slash.

If Yuji gets under Leo's guard, he will slash at his tendons, or stab him in the stomach. If Leo is able to block or parries the blows, Yuji will try to tackle him and just start brawling.

Jess looked on horrified as Jules was beaten relentlessly by her opponent, even after she hit the floor. Her nose as bleeding, her lip split and obviously hurt in many other places. Jess wished she could help her friend but couldn't, the cages were locked as soon as the participants were inside, so instead she was slowly edging towards the only entrance to the cage her hand on her sheath, easing it out of its strap down her right thigh. If she was going to make the b*****d pay for beating her best friend to a bloody pulp she would have to do it fast. The announcement came across the PA "Juliette Francis loses to Billy Bawden."

Now was her chance running quickly through the milling crowd as Billy exited the cage, she ran head long into him, rolling quickly she pounced on the prone form of the jerk who beat Jules. Smashing the sheath of her sword into his nose she relished the noise that came from his nose breaking, which she quickly followed up with swift kick to his abdomen. By now people were starting to gather around them and she knew that Billy's friends wouldn't be far off, so she had to be satisfied with the damage she had done.

Leaning down quickly she whispered in his ear "How do you like it boy? To be beaten senseless when you don't have a chance to fight back at all? You go near her again and I will let my blade meet very delicate parts of you, understand? Beating up defenseless people is not big and it is not clever. Now I'm not big but I am clever, and I can get very angry and use that cleverness to hurt you, so I advise you not to do anything like this again. Goodbye you worthless maggot." She just managed to say her goodbye to Billy when a group of people pulled her off him.

They lead her away from Billy and pushed her roughly to show their displeasure in her actions. Anger quickly replaced with worry, she shoved her way back through the crowd to get Jules out the cage to get her some first aid, glaring at everyone that came near the both of them. Her first priority was to see to Jules then she could concentrate the rest of her anger on her upcoming match. She wouldn't lose.

Tommy walked throught the building, sticking to the empty halls until he reached the sports room. As he began to enter the crowd, he heard his name on the announcement.

"Tommy Groshong, Philip Stephens, Ring 8"

He stopped and turned around, heading towards the appropriate ring. As he stepped inside on his half, he realized he had left his weapons in the appartment. "F*ck it," he mumbled as he stood in the ring. The gate closed and locked behind him. At the same time, the other man walked into the ring, he was about the same size as Tommy, but a little thicker.

"You are goin down fresh meat." He said to Tommy as the ring gate closed and locked behind him.

Tommy let a chuckle lose, "Are you in this school this stuck up?" he asked remembering the guy from the other day. This did not go well with the mans temper, Philip charged at him. Tommy jumped to the side, but only to get caught with a bat to the side of the leg. Tommy fell to the ground, his leg not broken, hut definitely bruised.

"What now Fresh meat?" Philip said, lifting his bat over his head. He brought it down, and Tommy rolled to the side, the bat hitting the floor, and cracking from the impact. Philip threw his bat aside and grabbed Tommy by the neck, adn under his shoulder.

As he was lift into the air, Tommy smirked. "You foolish pathetic little man, "Tommy said threw gritted teeth. Tommy grabbed the mans arm, and pulled it from his throat, then with his arm that had philips other arm under his pit, knocked it out of his pit. He pulled Philip almost nose to nose, then, reaching back his head, he snapped his head forward, and smashed Philips nose. The man fell to the ground, grabbing his nose.

Tommy turned around and looked to see if the cage was unlocked, as he began to turn around, the baseball bat met with the back of his head, the bat now split in two. "You worthless idiot," Tommy said turning around, "the bat was already broken, you are not going to get anywhere fighting like that."

"What the hell," Philip punched at Tommy, but he stepped back to quickly, just out of reach of the punch. Then, Tommy followed up with a puch of his own, hitting Philip in the nose again. "Mrpher grumpher," was all that could be understood through Philips hands and the bloody mess on his face.

Tommy kicked him in the side of the leg, he fell to the ground. Followed by a knee to the side of the head. "Good night, Useless Flab of meat." Tommy kicked Philip in the temple, knocking him out cold. "Can I get out of here now, this boy stinks?" Tommy asked waling towards the edge of the cell as the announcment came on.

"Tommy wins, Ring 8"

As Tommy headed up to the crowd, he noticed the same man he had spoken to in the hall that got him here staring at him. "If that ain't just odd," he mumbled to himself.

"NEXT UP TO FIGHT! KICHIROU MASARU!!!!!!!"

Screams of enjoyment can be heard from the crowd. Women and children holding up signs that say 'We love Kichi.' He stepped into the cage hands held high as if to wave to everyone at once. His opponent on the other side of the ring, throwing air punches, waiting for the fight to begin. The man Kichi was fighting looked 7 feet tall and 300 pounds. The applause was continuous for a couple minutes until the announcer spoke again in his dramatic voice.

"FIGHT!!!!"

Not a second later Kichi dashed at the opponent, 6 feet in the air from a jump. The enemy had no time to react before his face met contact with the most powerful kick he has ever experienced. The fighter flew back from the force of the kick and his body leaned against the cage wall, holding on for dear life. Kichi landed on his feet and one hand, then dashed on foot towards the wounded fighter. "Please have mercy!" He screamed like a women. Kichi stopped right in front of the fighter's face, and cocked back his right arm with a slow hesitation. "Mercy is for the weak." Kichi stated. Instantly after he bolted the fist into the enemy's stomach, piercing skin as blood dripped down his hand. Kichi took a step back but kept his eyes on him. The fatally wounded opponent dropped to his knees, both hands dragging on the floor. Eyes rolled to the back of his head before landed face first into the ground.

"AND THE WINNER IS KICHIROU MASARU!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The crowd entered a raging applause of delight and glee. Kichi stood there with one fist raised in the sky as he heard the crowd chant.

"KICHI! KICHI! KICHI! KICHI! BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!"

"Huh?" Kichi mumbled. The alarm clock had been ringing for a minute now. He opened his eyes to find himself in his bed, awoken by the sound of his school time alarm. It was just a dream... Dammit. He forgot to thank god its Friday as he turn off the alarm, for he remembered that the fights are going on today, I told that kid with the notebook I was going to fight, I have to show up now. Time to show and prove.

---
Kichi entered the Sports Hall along with a few other kids he wasn't with. A dull roar of kids chatting and fights could be heard through out the whole building. He made sure to keep a smile on as he entered. Many kids noticed him as soon as he walked in and gave him a wave or a quick shout. He waved back as he made his way towards the fights. He found himself studying the other matches for some last minute ideas for survival.

"Tommy Groshong, Philip Stephens, Ring 8"

That Tom kid is rough. He seemed as if he was not shaken at all by Phil's weapon choice. Still he managed to overcome his enemy's tactics. He must be really brave or just very cool headed.

‘Juliette Francis, Billy Bawden, Ring 7!’

Ouch. Billy was a little harsh but he was smart to be relentless, who knows who might have a hidden knife to just instantly turn the tables. Then he witnessed Juliette's friend who beat Billy senseless by surprise. Wow, that's not even allowed. Guess i have to watch out with who i hurt around here. Then he heard an announcement that shook his heart.

"Kichirou Masaru, Tim Stalone, Ring 7!" stated the P.A. system

#####... Its go time.

A few fighters standing close by clapped for Kichi as they entered the caged ring. He studied his opponent. He was a little taller then him, but way bigger. Tim had a belly the size of a beer keg and arms to match. He looked at Kichi in the eyes ad smiled an evil grin. "This is going to be easy." Tim said. He sounded like he always had a burger in his mouth. "##### you, easy this!" Kichi replied. The door to the cage locked and the fight began. Kichi charged at the fat adversary with a fist in the air yelling his battle cry. There was some girls on the outside that smiled and giggled to each other that seemed to be turned on by Kichi's bravery. "Ha!" Kichi threw one of his hardest punches into the giant's cheek bone. The sound of the impact reminded everyone the sound of fat being pounded upon. Tim had been standing there lazily as Kichi attacked, he took the punch dead on. Kichi looked up at Tim's face and noticed he was not flinched by the attack. Tim's laughter entered the hall so loudly now that everyone was watching 'Ring 7'. Kichi took a quick step back then jumped into the air and drop kicked Tim in the chest. He stepped back as to not fall over but you could tell from the look on his face it did not hurt what so ever. Whispering could be heard from right outside the cage. What the ##### is going on. This is not good, I have to do something quick. Tim laughed again except this time harder, then folded his hands as if entertained and wanting to see more. "This kid is a joke." Tim stated. Kichi used his foot to talk back accompanied with a loud, "shut your face!" Tim predicted the movement and caught Kichi's kick with one hand. Followed by a scoop with his other hand lifting Kichi in the air by his right leg. "Ah #####!" is all Kichi could say or do at this point. Tim turned around and slammed Kichi into the floor, shattering the ground beneath him. Kichirou felt his leg disconnect with a pop as well as his left arm crack. "AHH!" Kichi screamed. The pain he experience could be heard through his shout. At this point most of the sports hall audience who were close enough to watch were in awe. Tim raised his foot above Kichi's face to finish the job. "The ring is no place for pretty boy wimps like you!" Kichi became desperate for his life. His mind racing back and forth, too fast to make anything out. His right arm was deeply cut from a sharp piece of the broken floor that jolted upwards. He looked Tim in the eyes as he raised his foot for the knockout blow. Kichi couldn't move let alone roll out the way. He refused to throw in the white towel. Suddenly Kichi's hand felt for the sharp floor piece and broke it off. Tim gave out a menacing laugh as he brought his foot down with a heavy speed. Kichi yelled as loud as he could before the foot would crush his skull and threw the sharp floor piece at Tim's face. The sharp end rammed into Tim's eye. "AHHHHHHH!" Tim screamed in agony. Blood rushed from his eye and all over his hand covering it. "You ##### bitch, what did you do to my eye." A Group of gasping and one girl screaming from the sudden turnover filled the hall. Tim lowered his foot and dropped to his knees right in front of Kichi. Still feeling the rage of the fight, Kichi noticed he was weak and unaware so he and used his left leg to kick Tim's nose in, instantly knocking him out. The crowd grew silent and all that could be heard is Kichi's loud breathing. The silence was broken by a cold voice over the P.A. system.

"Kichirou Masaru wins, Ring 7."

Everyone's face turned into one of disgust at the news of this sudden victory. "I can't move." Kichi stated laying there. Some random kids, most likely Double Os, lifted him up and out of the cage. As they took him out the Sports Hall someone could be heard saying, "if you cant fight for ##### you shouldn't even be in there." Kichi acted as if he was in too much pain to hear anything. But he heard and saw everything, from the snickers too the faces of disappointment.

This is not what I had in mind for today...

As Tommy walked out into the halls again to go and get some ice for his head, another student ran into him. The student dropped a sheet of paper, and Tommy reached down to pick it up. When he turned around, the other student was gone. "Damnit, didn't get a galnce at him, my vision is to blurred right now." He mumbled to himself looking at the paper, then he noticed his name on it, first name and last, not to mention an old nickname. "That damned kid had more than 'just askin' as a reason to ask me about myself." Tommy walked down the hall, and into the cafeteria, he headed into the off limits area, and found some ice, and baggies. He put the ice in the baggy, and put some water in it, then sat it on his head while reading the letter.

Check the locker #372. You will find what you a very useful object for your next fight. Code is 39-14-and the day of the month you were charged with battery is the final #.

"How the hell would they know that, and what could possibly be so usefull?" He asked himself leaving the back room of the cafeteria and heading back towards the locker area.

"Iv, you're not playing fair. We didn't even register for this Exhibition Battle thing, how are you going to join in?" Iven sighed and rubbed the spot between his eyebrow with a knuckle, ignoring the way Evee was staring accusingly at Ivii. Their youngest had caught on to why he had spoken and was glaring fiery death at her sister who was only senior to her by a matter of minutes.

Iven was more than used to Evee's wrath towards Ivii by now, and was pretty determined to leave them be until it died out with time. He was more concerned with keeping them out of trouble in this very strange school. In most of the other high schools he heard about, fighting in school campus was more or less discouraged and usually quickly got into the ears of the staff. For some reason, this one that they were now studying in was very different. And he was sitting there, with a bunch of other students, to watch exactly how different it was.

The world must have gone mad somehow.

Not that it was altogether a bad thing, for the school to have an underground power struggle that includes a fighting culture. While he may actually have to put in some effort in defending his sisters now, if what he heard was right, there will be no more of all that troublesome matter of dealing with the authorities and the parents of those he 'bullied'. Since three days ago, he was still waiting for the school and the parents of the second year whose left shoulder he had dislocated to confront him and make him apologize for assaulting another student. But now, as he watched students beat the crap out of each other publicly in school, he had a feeling he could forget about waiting anymore.

At times however, he really wished that they had attended a more normal high school. In fact, he was wishing it rather strongly at the moment. Exhaling deeply, he then stabbed the pouting Ivii with a piercing stare. "Give me three reasons why I shouldn't stop you and haul your ass home if you interrupt any of the fights later, like how that girl did earlier? If I don't like them, I'm going home."

Ayalea sat quietly watching the matches, her personal assistant taking any notes that Ayalea saw as worth taking. After A match labeled as 'Tommy Groshong, Philip Stephens, Ring 8' ... "Give me his paper." Ayalea said quietly to Jeremy, referring to the papers on all the students they had obtained by way of hacking into the school's mainframe. He handed her a pale yellow sheet of paper, "Yellow? New transfer... hmmm... English... Math.... Debate? ... "

"Do you wish to send him an invitation, ma'am?" Jeremy had long ago given up the dream of running Omnia Veritas, but filled the position of 'assistant' very well...

"Not just yet, let's see who else is after him, and what they offer..." She handed the yellow sheet back to her assistant who quickly filed it back in place. She was a firm believer in slowly analyzing every aspect before acting.

"Yuji" Ayalea whispered to her assistant, He slowly handed her a red-tinted sheet, "Let's see what we have here." she hesitated, "Unknown reason for expulsion, English 3, Biology, Shop class...." After a moment, she noticed his age, "He's sixteen... hmmmmm.... Interesting, See if you can convince him to have a small meeting with a few of us in the library, he may prove very useful, but first, let's enjoy the match." She reclined as far back as she could.

"Kichirou Masaru wins, Ring seven" Ayalea's ears perked up, she sat in a more upright position, at this Jeremy handed her a sheet of blue.

"Third year... History, Art , Math... Rather unspectacular, but he does have skill..." She mulled over the paper for a moment, "Make sure he receives treatment from one of our best medics..." At this, Jeremy stood, and walked briskly out one of the doors, only to reemerge moments later with four others, dressed in solid white. They walked quickly towards ring seven, and upon reaching the unlocked door, Jeremy rushed in, leaned near Kichirou's ear, and whispered, "Ayalea Vermina has shown interest in your particular abilities, she wishes to extend the proverbial 'olive branch' ..." He motioned towards the medics, "There is no current obligation, we are only offering our medics, and a meeting with the leader of our group, Omnia Veritas," Jeremy hesitated, waiting for Kichirou's reply...

Ivii flattened her lips in dejection. Iven knew that her brain was not expansive enough to come up with three good reasons. Maybe one or two at max, but three?

But at least he had given her a chance.

And a chance was better than no chance at all.

Racking her brain cells for the second time that day, she struggled to put together her 'reasons'. "Well.. firstly you know I won't do that. Because it's dishonourable to assault someone outside of the sparring ring! And er, because you know me enough to know that I won't fight for revenge ever again, and if it was because he, or uh she, was dishonourable in the first place, at the very least, I will choose to challenge that person, er someone, straight on rather than interrupting the fight like that.."

Under Iven's waiting stare and Evee's disgruntled glare, she finally managed to piece together her third and final reason. "Besides, this place is the only other place outside of the dojos where sparring is not illegal. So uh it would defeat my intention if I tried to do that and cause you to have to drag me home and then I wouldn't be able to fight any other opponents beside our sempais at the dojos and you wouldn't be able to either, because you don't want me to go in either, and Evee wouldn't either because she won't if we don't and then I'll be the reason why we didn't improve as much as we could because I ruined our only chance to improve from fighting with other people and then we won't be as strong as we can be and won't be able to protect Evee from those pervs and and...."


[OOC: Just in case any who's reading this didn't notice, Ivii is thoroughly confused now ^^ She has no idea what she's rambling anymore (side effect of thinking too hard) and is speaking everything that comes to mind in a never-ending jumbled sentence.]

Kichi laid in the medical bed of some strange surroundings. The bed was surrounded by curtains. There was a medic in all white that seemed to be looking at his medical chart, if that. He awoke from his slumber. Am I in a hospital? Would the Double O let me go to the hospital? He tried his best to think back to earlier that day to figure out what could of happened.

---

"Ayalea Vermina has shown interest in your particular abilities."

---

Kichi looked down at his left arm. It was resting in a cast perfectly, and his right leg was back in its socket. He felt surprisingly better then he thought he should. I'm not at a hospital.

---

"There is no current obligation, we are only offering our medics, and a meeting with the leader of our group, Omnia Veritas,"

"Sure just get me out of here." He remembered saying before carried out.

---

There was a trashcan full of bloody cotton balls in the corner. He examined his right arm and noticed his cut was stitched up brilliantly. Ayalea doesn't play around with this organization #####. The whole left side of Kichi was bruised soft, and had a greenish-purple look. He sat up right in the bed and gained his balance, then turned to the right and stood up straight. There was a note at the foot of the bed. He read it. They want me to attend a meeting with their boss. He pocketed the note and limped out of the room. He needed to head home.

Leo, was no slouch, but Yuji was better. He dodged passed his guard and slashed at his opponent's tendons. Leo dodged aside in time, but Yuji was still too close for him to hit him with his bo staff. He felt hard steel enter his stomach and fell to the floor. Knowing he was beaten, he called 'I quit, stop!' This was Yuji's victory then, which made it unecessary for him to carry on attacking. Leo knew this, and fear of a continued assault had driven him to give. Better to do so now, while he could still speak.

'Yuji Takehisa wins!' the announcer blared. Yuji reluctantly left the cage as friends of Leo rushed in to attend to him.


Watching from the sidelines, Jack heard his phone telling him he had a text. He read it; it was from an unknown number. 'Yuji Takehisa,' it read. He looked up at the skinny kid that still watched him. He nodded at Jack certainly.

Jack went forward, straight up to Yuji as he walked away from the cage. 'Yuji Takehisa, right? I'm Jack Bailey, pretty much leader of the Upper Crust. You may have heard of us. You're a strong fighter, and I was wondering if you would consider joining us. Not as some low-rank nobody, of course. You'll have some power. Don't answer right now, but please come to the student lounge at Monday lunchtime if you're interested.’

Their attention was distracted momentarily by an uproar from somewhere in the middle of the room. Two people he recognised, a guy and a girl, were brawling. The girl looked livid, and as pummelling him for all she was worth. Jack’s phone went off again. ‘Keep an eye on her, Jessica Wiles,’ it read this time.

In another cage, that Masaru guy had won, but it looked like he had come out worse than his opponent. ‘Serves him right,’ he thought, remembering back to their conversation on Wednesday.

‘What’s it to you what I do?!’ Jack had demanded. He wasn’t the most cool-headed of people, and not being the cleverest either, he was easily jibed into anger. Meanwhile Kichirou noticed a crowd of UC goons shuffle in between him and the door, blocking him in. Other stepped forward in an intimidating fashion, flashing butterfly knives and knuckle dusters. ‘What’s going to stop me beating the crap out of you and throwing your body out for the crows?’ Jack had continued loudly.


‘Man, Jess is really going for him,’ Eric said admiringly. He was common knowledge that he had always held something of a candle for her. At the opposite end of the spectrum was Johan, who disliked her intensely.

‘Psycho,’ he said under his breath. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t like to be in Billy’s shoes. He had been friends with Billy when they were younger, and had hung around with his clique for his first year at Middlebroke. They still acknowledged each other in the corridor, but their acquaintanceship was little more than that. He certainly wasn’t too bothered about seeing him beaten and humiliated in front of the school. In fact, he found it rather amusing.

‘Poor Jules!’ Emaline said with a worried tone in her voice. She and Kate ran over to her, where they joined Jess in tending to her. Alice, a trained medic, went with them.

‘She’s not badly hurt,’ he said after analysing her quickly. ‘I’ll get her some help.’ Quintus, Johan and Eric, who had followed behind at a slower pace, carried her to the sidelines. As they went however, Jess’ name was called to fight in the same ring Jules had just been beaten in and she was forced to leave her friend.

‘I’m alright,’ Jules insisted as they put her down gently.

‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Alice insisted.


‘Vorst McFadden, proceed to the cafeteria! Johan Marlowe, proceed to the roof! Jack Bailey, proceed to the swimming pool!’ The announcement came louder than the others; it was for the showcased fights that took place elsewhere in the school.

‘Excuse me, I gotta go,’ Jack said to Yuji. ‘Like I said, student lounge, lunchtime on Monday.’ He left the main hall, accompanied by Belle and a loyal band of followers, to the swimming pool.

‘Want us to come with you?’ Quintus asked Johan.

‘No, it’s okay,’ he replied. He never liked his friends watching him fight. Johan put a hand on his shoulder and wished him good luck.

Johan left the building, and walked towards the main school. There he entered, and proceeded all the way up the stairs to the roof. As he went he took out his tonfa from his bag, which he tossed aside. He opened to door to the roof, one in either hand, where he was met by a light breeze. Being that it was late autumn, it was still light at this time of early evening, good conditions for a fight.

The roof was wide and flat, save for the entrances onto it which were mounted in sloping roofs which dropped sharply on the side with the door, naturally. All around the edge was caging, to stop anyone from falling, but this caging was a permanent feature, and as such far less impenetrable than that of the OO. This cage also had no roof.

Nearly the entire roof was the battleground, spectators had to watch from the small area cordoned off on the opposite side. This area was full of those itching to see a spectacular fight. Among them were several cute girls who Johan didn’t want to disappoint.

His opponents were two guys. Both wore rollerblades and the accompanying protective pads and helmets. ‘Two opponents, lucky me,’ Johan said as he walked confidently forward, a gleeful smirk on his face. Nevertheless, his legs shook a little as they always did before a fight. He spun one of his tonfa in practice. It swept round 360 degrees effortlessly.

‘Let’s begin, shall we?’


When V reached the cafeteria, also in the main building, ground floor, he would be met with just as many fight-hungry spectators and just as many opponents. He was to fight a pair of second-years who specialised in fighting in tandem, often leaping at the opponent and attempting to scratch at them with long metal nails they wore protruding from rings on all ten fingers, shredding their flesh viciously. They would also take full advantage of the surroundings; they could use the many chairs and round tables that absolutely crowded the large room to duck and dive behind, or jump from.


(OOC: Just giving you a little background on your opponents fighting style so you can use ‘em properly. Hope you don’t mind me choosing your opponent for you. Also, they’re stronger than the average cage fighter but then, so is V.

Kiyoshi, is it okay if you don’t proceed so quickly with your character’s plot? He’s in danger of leaving many of the others behind; at the moment he’s lost consciousness and been treated in the time its taken most people to have their fight. I appreciate your zeal, and I know its tempting to rush on, but I think there’s a call for patience needed sometimes.)

“…..we won’t be as strong as we can be and won’t be able to protect Evee from those pervs and and….” Ivii was rambling, it is so obvious she is confused and does not know what she is saying from how her eyes seems to roll from side to side as if what she sprouted was spontaneous. It is evident that Ivii desperately wants to join the exhibition match, being a fighting competition fan girl and all.

Evee sighed, her resolve weakened. However, on a second thought, this does not mean she could not get anything out of her sister by granting her wish.

“STOP!” Evee put a hand in front of Ivii’s face so that her spontaneous train of thoughts would end. “Well~ since I am interested too, We could join…“ The wide grin, hopeful starry eyed look that appeared on Ivii’s face was priceless. “However, I want 3 boxes of your recently imported chocolates and I want all white ones.”

It was almost comical how fast Ivii’s face fell and Evee grinned evilly.

“Time is running out~”

Ivii’s face was twisted in pain but surprisingly, she nodded.

“White chocolate banzai!” Evee threw her hands in the air and jumped up and down.

Next, she looked at Ivii’s eyes conspiratorially and they both nodded. They proceeded to shine the kicked puppy dog look at Iven and said in innocent pleading voices, “ Pwetty pweeeeese?”

If there were people able to resist the twin looks that he was being subjected to, Iven was not one of them. With another deep sigh, he held his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. "I give up. Do whatever you want. But you get to come up with excuses for Dad and Mum if you get any injuries."

Ivii and Evee nodded meekly in response, and Iven turned to look at the fights with a bored look before they could drag him into anything else. All things considered, he should have known that things would boil down to this. He was not all that against their participating, he just did not really want to deal with any additional trouble that could arise out of it. Evee was the only reason why Ivii had not went and gotten them all registered anyway, but since she relented, then he would just have to look out for them. As per usual.

Now he would see how things could go. If his luck was good, he may not have anything to worry about.

[OOC: Sorry for it being so short, can't really think of much to continue. Need to discuss with yume and sui.]

Jess was reluctant to leave Jules, but she knew she was in good hands with Emaline and Kate.
"Sorry Jules, seems I have to go beat down another lame-ass," she said to her friend half smiling, thanking both of the girls as she left. Pushing her way through the crowds to where she had just beaten Billy she saw that she had got the attention of quite a few spectators, but most seem to be scowling at her. There were three what she assumed to be siblings seemingly tutting at her, on with red highlights, one with blue, and the last a boy with gold and silver in his fringe. Jess knew that beating contestants up outside the ring was frowned upon so was reading for the response, she also had no doubt that she would be in trouble in the UC for causing a scene. But it was the UC's fault anyway, they should know the strength of its members and putting those that cannot fight very well into the ring was just plain foolish in her eyes. Shaking off teh dsoubt of her previous actions she entered the ring to face her opponent. Right let's see, tall and bony with weedy arms, but those knives could cause a problem if I'm not quick enough.

"Jessica Wiles vs David Langford, fight commence."

Taking out her wakizashi from its strap on the side of her jeans and withdrew it from the sheath, holding the blade in her right hand with the sheath facing backwards in her left, she took up a offensive stance then dove forwards. David neatly side stepped to her left, but her sheath made a glancing blow to his stomach. Fast but not fast enough. Turning back to face him too slowly she was met by a hard kick to her jaw, splitting her lip. Neither opponent wishing to waste breath on slurring the other, all their energy put into thinking of how to break the other one down.

Both of them breathing hard after the 5 minutes their fight had been going on, Jess with a deep cut on her left thigh and bloody lip and David with a slight limp where she had kicked him behind the knee. David lunged at her, his knife grazing her arm drawing a little blood. Sighing, knowing she had to up her game if she was going to win this. Surging up from her crouched position from where she dodged, she angled the back of her blade and sheath for his head, tucking herself up she bowled into her opponent forcing them both to the ground. Stabbing her blade through his shirt sleeve pinning him to the ground so to give her a have a little more chance than her weight would normally allow a skinny girl to be sitting on his upper torso and left arm. A little bit bored and more than a lot worried about Jules, Jess raised her sheath then quickly poked him in the pressure point just below the jaw bone with enough intensity to knock him out.

“Jessica Wiles wins.” YAAAAAYYYYY!!! Pity I’m so knackered. She came out the cage to a few cheers but not much else, most people had gone to watch Johan or V fight on the roof or in the canteen. Eric was there smiling at her, Oh joys creepy crust is here to offer me his undying love again. She quickly hurried over to where she had left Jules with Kate and Emaline to avoid Eric. She also wanted to get out to watch Johan, how she would love to see that smug look wiped off his face in front of his adoring fan girls.

"AH! ##### that hurts!" Kichi exclaimed to himself. He was rolling over in his bed to find a more comfortable position when prevented by the bruises on his left side. He had the stereo at a very high volume. One of the local radio stations was playing the hottest countdown of new music. His television was playing a Bruce Lee movie, but on mute. He knew all the words for it anyway. But it seemed as though he was ignoring both while deep in thought staring at his ceiling fan. I really messed up. That's not how a champion wins battles... They shouldn't have given me such a big opponent. At that thought he looked over at Bruce Lee, trashing 5 enemies at a time with ease. That's not what Bruce would of said, he wouldn't have gotten beaten up so badly either. I have to get my respect back, but how? His mind was in a storm of thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the note. The bottom corner was signed O.V. I wonder what the meeting is about... Maybe this is my chance to redeem myself, from being the most disgraced fighter in school. Dammit. Now I can't even watch the other fights. I wonder how thick brick head Jack and the Upper Crust are doing. He should of taken my advice when he had the chance.

His mind wondered to earlier that week.

Kichi was surrounded by U.C. members ready to give a beat down at his slightest slip-up. "Jack listen here and listen good." Kichi began. "You are the biggest influence in Upper Crust, the kids look up to you, but making them all fight is foolishness. You have a big percent of the fighting student body in this group and most of them are friends with each other and friends of mine." The fighters around him dropped their arms as if they related to the statement. "If they all go through with it, which I'm sure they will, if anything wrong goes down it's all on you tough guy." Kichi pointed a finger at Jack on this statement. Then not wasting anymore time in such a tense situation he made his way to the door. He paused and waited for the U.C. members to move out of his way, then escaped with a final word before closing the door. "It's not just fighting that makes you strong Jack, look at Gandhi or something.

They're probably laughing at me. Even though Kichi had won that day, deep down he felt like he had lost something more. His pride.

Tommy walked around in the building a little lost until he found the lokcer in an empty hall, "Odd, whatever," he said to him self as he opened the locker. Inside of it were a pair of brand new, steel knuckes with compressed steel blades that had the word 'Riot' engraved on each grip of the knuckles. "Nice, I gues this wil come in handy later." he said to himself. As he turned around, he saw another person. "How may I help you?" Tommy asked with a sarcastic tone, putting his knuckles on his hands behind his back.

"You beat Philip, made a fool out of him." the guy said, "And now I am going to kick your a** for it."

Tommy didn't hesitate to act quickly as the guy struck at him, dodgeing aside causing the guy to hit the locker. He seemed unphased as he left a huge dent in the cheap metal. The guy then kicked at Tommy in mid role, hitting him in the gut. Tommy went down. The guy brougth his foot down Tommys stomache, knocking the wind out of him. Thinking quickly, Tommy slashed at him with his steel blades, cutting open the guys leg. "You Mother Fu**er," he said kicking Tommy again. Tommy rolled over from the blow, grabbing his side in pain. Tommy rolled over again just in time to avoid another stomp on his side.

Standing up quickly, Tommy took several steps back, trying to get some distance to better avoid his opponent. Bad move he thought as the guy pulled out a chain that was wrapped around his waist several times. The man swung at him, Tommy rolled to the side and stopped quickly as the chain was slammed into the ground in front of him. The guy swung the chain again, hitting the lockers and smashing a few up a little. Tommy ran at him, but right as the chain came down, he jumped towards the wall, kicking off of the locker and hitting the guy right in the face with his combat boots. The guy stumbled backwards, but did not fall.

"Who do you think I am anyways, hmm?" the guy asked looking at Tommy, his nosenow bleeding.

"Just shut up, I just got here, I don't need to put up with this sh*t." He jumped to the side as the chain came back down at him. What the hell did I get myself into? Tommy thought to himself as he dodged the chain again and again, only getting in a couple of kicks here and there...

ooc: Note that this is not an official match, just some friend of Philips coming to get back Philips' pride.

Surreptitiously waiting for their brother to turn away with that usual bored look of his, Ivii and Evee erupted with twin cheers, high five-ing each other and even Mr. Snugglekins.

Their whoops and cheers died down quickly, as the speaker overhead crackled to life and proceeded to blare off more names alongside their respective battle rings.

"Evee Chua, Benjamin Jennings, Ring 4!"

"Derreck Corrighan, Ivii Chua, Ring 12!"

"Oops, looks like that's us." Ivii whispered tightly. The faintest of trembles had crept up on her, and apparently the same could be said of Evee as they squeezed each other's hands for the last time.

"Itekkimasu." they bowed ceremoniously under Iven's watchful eye and turned towards their respective rings when he replied with a soft "Iterashai."

Ivii strode away quickly while Evee stayed behind to leave Mr. Snugglekins in their brother's care. She rubbed her trembling hands together and stretched her slightly shaky legs as she walked. She had always gotten these trembles before her matches and never quite managed to overcome them. Well, at least they didn't affect her as much as those she got before her examinations. And they faded once the matches started anyway.

She stepped into the ring about the same time her opponent did at the opposite entrance. A small smirk appeared on her face as she noticed that he was shaking even more than she.

Derreck had obviously noticed her expression, for he sneered back quickly, then approached the middle of the ring.

Stretching her thighs for the last time, Ivii mimicked him just as the gates grated shut and locked behind them.

It was with some amount of shock that she recognized the weapon that Derreck had carried into the ring.

With a distinct snap, the Naginata that had been in halves were joined at the handle and towered above Derreck by at least half a metre. Never mind that they were usually half of its normal length when separated into two, how had he managed to smuggle them to school ?

With a quick ceremonial bow at her opponent, Ivii quickly slipped back a feet or two, well out of the Naginata's range, and raised her fists loosely before her. With such a long weapon against her, she had to figure out how to get far into Derreck's effective range without getting her head chopped off in the process.

For several seconds, there was absolute silence within the ring, except for the light tap, taps as Ivii bounced back and forth, left and right, but never leaving her position. On occasions, she feinted forward, only to step back before Derreck could manage a swipe anywhere near her.

It was Derreck who finally made the first move however, and attempted a vertical swipe down when she had slid within range. Had she ducked to her left half a second slower, she would surely be left with a permanent scarring at the top of her head, front to back. Quickly recovering, he managed a wide horizontal swipe, which she thankfully managed to duck again.

Grabbing his moment of vulnerability, Ivii slipped to Derreck's left, within his guard, and jabbed her left sneaker hard against his left knee, then followed up with another to his waist. With a wheezed oomf, Derreck stumbled several steps to land against his backside, knee weakened from her kick earlier, while Ivii skipped back out of his range again.

Once Derreck picked himself off the ground, he shot forward armed with a flurry of furious jabs at Ivii's neck and torso. For a moment, they danced around the ring as Ivii back stepped continuously, unable to either fully escape Derreck's attack or find an opening between his jabs to slide into.

She ducked a sharp jab at her neck narrowly after her back finally hit the ring's metal bars, and as Derreck overextended his Naginata through the gap between the bars, she darted to his left again, this time with a leg slamming full into his stomach.

By then he had freed his Naginata from the metal bars and swiped it at her in a wild sweep, one that caught her in surprise even as she maneuvered backwards, away from him. Instinctively raising her hands to grasp at the swinging handle and managing a wild kick in Derreck's direction in the process, she was lifted in the sweep and launched several metres away where she landed against her hip and rolled to recovery, safely out of range.

As she finally stood from where she had stopped rolling, she noticed Derreck spitting blood some metres away. From the partial dirt print she glanced on his lower jaw, she realized her wild kick must have scored a hit at his chin somehow.

Wiping the moisture from his mouth with a sleeved arm, Derreck readied his Naginata again. His stance was less steady than before. The two areas on his torso where she had landed her kicks had to be aching. She had not trained hard with Iven and her senseis for nothing after all.

Raising her fists before herself again, Ivii prepared herself. If she managed to get under his guard again, she might be able to land the last hit in this battle.

Much calmer this time, Derreck stabbed the Naginata's blade at her torso, then swung it quickly in the direction she had dodged. Instead of ducking, which was hardly useful against a strike so low in the mid-waist regions, Ivii dropped into a crouch, and rolled to the opposite direction where he had swung the Naginata. Pulling back the weapon, Derreck attempted to jab at her with its end, only to hit ground again, as she swiftly pushed herself up and backwards, before sliding in and turning to smash the soles of her left sneaker unto his face with a back round house kick.

With a thud, Derreck fell to the ground. If he was not knocked out, he would at least be suffering from a bad concussion from the impact. After several seconds of him attempting to get up from where he laid but failing terribly, the announcer announced Ivii's win, and she hurried forward the help her fallen opponent as he struggled somewhat uselessly to sit up.

She had just about helped him up on his feet rather wobbly when the gates lifted open fully and another youth dashed in to ease him off of her shoulder carefully. He spotted identical features as Derreck, save the dark foot print Derreck spotted on his face, but with cuts and even a deep gash littered on him.

With a soft muttered thanks the two hobbled out of the ring with Ivii following closely behind. She hurried toward Iven, anxious for his comments and news of Evee's fight.

[OOC: Finally managed to edit this fully ^^ I've added the complete fight scene into the post. Hope it is alright. ]

OOC: Back early and crap, I've been reading (or moreso c/p in word and then reading, ew black background) and something that caught my eye is that you people censor swearing words, and as some sort of disclaimer, I don't.

Also Tame, I hope I'm not putting locks on you by throwing Amadi in Sasquerone, reason is a (now much less) subtle hint in what affliation I'm prefering aftrer reading 't all ;x

Exhibition matches already, double O sure had big plans for this year. Beating the living hell outta inexperienced freshman's wasn't really Sissi's style however and was not fond of some of the cage-fights. She knew that all of the UC would try to show off it's 'oh-so-awesome' strength to everyone, their numbers were incredible and the people had filled almost every single inch in the building, had they all been coming to fight or something? The idiots, the Godforsaken idiots.

Sissi detested the UC, in the beginning of the previous school-year one of them had approached her with the suggestion to roll her in some fancy position. After declining, or moreso after breaking down in laughter, their messenger had jumped on her and had punched her cold to put oil on the fire. Jack Bailey, JB, or Jock Bull'c'ock as he was nicknamed by the crowds not particularly fond of him, was his name. Sissi had gotten back at Jack though, she had trashed the living hell outta the idiot during an exhibition match and he hadn’t been capable of going to Middlebroke High for two weeks and the month after he had been sitting in a wheelchair, not being able to participate in sporting events to Jack’s great annoyance. Most of the UC had been walking a mile around Sissi ever since.

The effect was still there, even after the summer break. Wherever Sissi put her feet people hurried aside. Sissi frowned, ‘t was pathetic, kids stepped away and gazed at her in awe everywhere she went, they were all so interested but didn’t have the guts to talk to her.

“Heya sis! Good seein’ ya my giiiirl!” A dark, broad shouldered guy had torn himself from the crowd and now ran up to her in a hugging fashion. Sissi let herself be lifted and embraced, hissing at some spectators from over Amadi’s shoulder.

“Whaddaya want Amadi?” The guy put Sissi back down on the ground.

“Nothin’, nothin’, just saying hi to an old pal. I was just going to the roof and then I saw a large open space in the crowd, so I fig-”

Sissi cut him off, “Yea, yea very funny.” hardly hiding the sarcastic undertone in her voice. “What’s happenin’ on the roof anyway cap’n?”

“Johan’s fightin’ on the roof, figured he promises to be a better watch than Jock Bullock or one of those masked freaks from, erh, Untamed wasn’t it?”

“I don’t care, they’re just a ragtag of nobodies. Ask again if they gain any power.”

Sissi and Amadi proceeded to the roof, Sissi leading the way, creating a path for herself and her friend. Amadi had been a friend of Sissi’s since the first year, he was a jolly guy, the type which would probably make a great father if he just matured a little. Matured a little and gave up fighting, Amadi was one heck of a competitor in and outside the ring. Like Sissi he had been part of the swimming team, albeit the male variant, unlike Sissi quitting it had been by free will. Amadi was forced to choose between swimming and football, the second got the upper hand and he even made it to captain when Jack Bailey was inable to play, which he was Sissi very grateful for.

The two arrived at the roof, the fight had just begun. Sissi and Amadi got their selves a spot at the lines of battle, Amadi had demanded two chairs from a group of second-years on which they took place.

“Those rollerblade punks don’t know what they’re up against!” Amadi laughed.

Sissi sneered at him, punching him in the shoulder. “Oh shut it Amadi, you sound like one of those flippin’ groupies of his!” Amadi barely flinched, the guy was made of steel.

“I’m just proud of my man, we’re gonna take Sasguerone high this year, you’ll see sis!”

As Evee walked towards ring 4, she started to observe this Benjamin Jennings. Muscular and tall, Benjamin Jennings looks like a wrestler. However, he must be heavy with all that muscles, which surely gave Evee an advantage.

Once the cage was locked, the fight started. Evee stood at one end of the cage, watching Benjamin while giving him a innocent look complete with watery eyes. However, it did not have any effect on Benjamin, it did make him smirk though.
With a roar intended to scare, he charged head first at Evee but at the very last minute before impact, Evee sidestepped, leaving behind a foot to trip Benjamin and gave him a push at the back with her elbow. Benjamin fell face first onto the floor. Evee swiftly turned around, jumped on Benjamin's back to keep him on the floor if he had the intention to stand and landed to the left of Benjamin's head. She grabbed his left hand and twisted it into a painful hand lock forty-five degrees from his head.

She slowly applied pressure on his hand, letting him feel the pain as it became unbearable. He tried to stop Evee with his right hand however it could not reach her and he knew that anymore movement could possibly break his wrist. Having no choice, he shouted out, "I give! Now let me go!"”

"Evee Chua wins."”

She released Benjamin's hand and stepped away from Benjamin. As she was about to cross over him, she tripped on her foot and Benjamin, who was already getting up but not yet standing, served as the cushion and went down face first to the ground again.

"Oops, sorry!" Evee apologised and quickly stood up. She tried to help him up but his friends had already rushed in, shushed Evee away and helped Benjamin out of the cage.

[OOC:Easy win but i hope its not godmodding >.<;;;;]

Ayalea sat in silent stupor as two identical girls managed to destroy their opponents with little if any effort. "Who's the one in ring four?" Ayalea asked once her assistant had returned.

"Evee Chua," he stated simply. "She's related to two others, apparently triplets..." He handed her the white page.

"Ohhh... New blood." Ayalea smiled at the opportunity to find people untainted by the effects of this school. "Quite a few subjects... The other?" Jeremy had hardly noticed it was a question, and scrambled for her page. "Ivii... Invite them to a class 2 meeting."

"Both? Are you sure, ma'am?" Jeremy was surprised at the mention of a class 2 meeting, let alone the idea of two participants.

"Are you questioning my authority?" Ayalea brightened, and stared, smiling at her assistant. He swallowed hard, regretting his next action.

"Yes I am.. Uh.. Ma'am." Ayalea could see the sweat starting to bead on his forehead. "I don't know if it's a great idea to ummmm, invite 2 participants, let alone invoking a class two meeting, even you weren't invited in to a class two meeting." Ayalea pondered his words, recalling the class three meeting that cost her two weeks in the hospital, and her left ovary.

"Scars heal, bruises fade... I think they will fare far better than you did," She laughed, recalling his invitation was the same meeting she wished to invoke now. "First let's see if they will consider the meeting, then we shall put it to a vote. First we shall make our presence know to both, then we shall deal with Kichi, then we shall meet with Ivii and Evee Chua. Are you happy with this plan?" She looked at her assistant who looked swiftly away.

"Yes, ma'am... Who shall we send?"

"I'll go myself."

"Yourself? what if they attack?"

"Do you believe me to be weak, or unable to defend myself?"

"Oh, no, of course not." He said, nerves pervading his voice, "But why go yourself?"

"They are two separate beings, it may very well get complicated. I would rather be there myself, than have to deal with a messenger, that may be attacked." she added the last statement to patronize his earlier attempt to protect her. "I shall go myself, and that is that, it is not up for debate." at this, she stood, and walked towards the exit, she paused, and turned, "I'll see you later, ok?" She smiled gently, her soft features kind, and warm; she turned, and left.

'Crack' the chain hit the ground again, sending another clatter through the hall. How do I deal with this, he is fast, and I can't get in close enough to hit him, except with a kick here and there. Tommy dodged again as the chain hit the ground, this time though, he grabbed the chain before the guy could pull it back. Giving a yank, Tommy fell off balance, but then quickly regained it, pulling the chain himself. It was a tug of war. Tommy, though, began to pull himself towards the man, keeping the chain tight to avoid any possibilty of getting it free. Once he was in range, he swung at the guy, cutting chest open, and leaving a large gash.

The man dropped the chain and swung at Tommy, hitting in the jaw with the chain still wrapped around his fist. Tommy stumbled backwards, his lip bleeding, and spit out a tooth. "You are really getting on my nerves *ss hole." Tommy said as he slashed the man again, and then kneed him in the stomache. He grabbed him and slammed the guy into a locker. The man stumbled back, and Tommy followed with a kick to the side of the knee, breaking it.

"Jesus f*cking christ," the man said collapsing. He began to purt out a stream of curses and screams. Tommy kicked him the face for extra measure, breaking the mans nose.

Tommy turned around and headed back for the sports room.

Johan's two opponents charged towards him at full speed, one slightly ahead of the other. As the closer one approached he jumped, directing a kick at his head. His target ducked and the attacking leg went straight over him, only for him to be met with a kick directed at his mid-riff from the other rollerblader. He dodged aside, narrowly avoiding contact. One of the things Johan prided himself on was his agility.

The two men both continued forward after landing, skating up the side of the fence and into the air. The first went higher; as he reached the peak of his jump he was met by the second, who grabbed his arm in two places. As he turned in midair he launched his partner towards their enemy. With plenty of time to avoid it, however, Johan quickly got out of the way of the human projectile, who landed, sped past him, and grinded along the curved edges of one of the roofs, stopping on top of it.

Meanwhile his partner had leapt in the air as he approached his target, both legs scissoring the air where Johan's head would have been, had he not ducked lithely under them, rolling out of danger. The second blader joined the first on the smaller roof, both looking down at their enemy.

'Let us introduce ourselves,' one said. 'We're the great blading brothers, Omar and Cedric!'

'And we will defeat you here, making names for ourselves throughout the school!'

Johan heard this, but didn't try and think of a response. He was thinking of more important things, namely analysing their attacks and coming up with a way to combat them. 'Being hit by one of their attacks will hurt a lot, they're coming at me fast enough. But it'll work against them too - if I can get one good on hit on each of them that should do. They'll continue attacking in tandem, so if I take one out as they approach, I'll get hit by the other. And I can't chase after them because they're way quicker than me. I have to somehow separate them and get them one at a time as they approach.'

His thoughts were cut short by more attacks; Omar and Cedric stayed close to him now, circling around him and alternating their attacks. It was all Johan could do to avoid the worst of them, mostly jumping and weaving his way between them, occasionally blocking with his tonfa. He only took a few minor hits and possibly a dead leg, he wouldn't be able to tell until the fight was over, but after a couple of minutes he was getting tired of being constantly on the move.

The rollerbladers had obviously noticed this, and soon divided and hurried away to either side of the roof. While their opponent had been wearing himself out under the barrage of their attacks, they had remained fairly fresh; blading took up a fraction of the energy. Now they meant to take advantage of this, fully employing their speed to take their worn-out opponent down.

‘Why’s he laughing?’ one spectator asked their friend. Indeed, it was true. As he had avoided the attacks of his enemies, a smile had emerged on Johan’s face. With each blow that he successfully dodged the smile had grown. By the time Omar and Cedric had separated it was a wide grin, and despite the fact he was panting heavily, close observers could see a glint in his eye that hadn’t been there before. He was clearly enjoying himself.

They charged him from either speed, faster now than previously, one from either side. Johan turned away from the spectators, not wanting any distractions from the crowds, and so that he stood side-on to both bladders. His heart was racing but he breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. The grin and glint both remained.

Cedric leapt into the air, his leg extending into a kick meant for his head. Omar jumped, not quite so high, his leg extending to a kick meant for his stomach. Johan extended his left leg behind him, ducking simultaneously, and raised his arms in front of him, the tonfa guarding them. Cedric went flying straight over his head. Omar’s kick collided with his tonfa, but with his back leg as a buffer, Johan only moved back an inch. In one fluid movement he straightened up, turning to his left, whipping his tonfa round in the same direction. The end of the left one hit Omar in the gut, the end of the right hitting him in the face.

Another blow with the butt of his tonfa knocked Omar to the ground and cleared the path for him to charge after the retreating form of Cedric. He was already approaching the opposite fence and his lead was only getting wider; he outmatched Johan in speed by miles. As before, he rode up the side of it and into the air, higher this time than before, and turned smoothly in the air. As he descended he saw his pursuer there below him. Guarding his body with his left tonfa, he swung his right one into the side of Cedric’s neck.

Johan collided with the fence ungracefully, but Cedric skidded across the floor to his left even more ungracefully. His protective gear did its job well, but he was bleeding in several places and his helmet had smashed. Omar was in better condition, but both had lost the will to fight. Johan leant, back against the fence, breathing quickly. As cheers and claps came from the spectator’s spot, Cedric addressed him from his place on the floor where he was nursing his wounds.

‘Were you aiming for my head?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, but then I remembered those helmets are only meant to take one hit,’ he replied, still breathing quickly. ‘If I’d broken it, it would’ve been your head that smashed when you hit the ground.’

‘Don’t expect me to thank you.’

‘I don’t.’

He raised his head and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, turning it a pleasing pink colour. The slowly drifting clouds were orange. Johan smiled at them.

"Brilliant! Amadi had jumped up from the edge of his chair and his face was decorated with a broad grin. His shout could even be heard over the screams of Johan's female admirers. "I told'cha sis, Johan's the man!"

Sissi frowned; "He'd be the one down if those kids would've planned their moves more carefully and he knows it. Johan's an opportunist, a fast opportunist, but a mere opportunist nonetheless. Just wait, one day he'll meet his match and when he does his lucky streak is over.

"Heh, so ya reckon y'can beat him sis?" Amadi stuck out his tongue.

Sissi looked at her friend, he was teasing her, the man was too fond of Johan's ability, he really was like one of his fan girls. "You could beat him dammit, he's using Goddamn tonfas! He shouldn't even be able to close in without getting stabbed if you don't give him the chance like those punks did."

"Yeah but he's so fast sis, he could probably-"

"Speed is nothing compared to technique."

It wasn't as if Sissi hated Johan, she never even talked to him or even fought with the guy. What annoyed her was his, in her eyes, unjustified popularity. Half the school taught way more of him than he actually was because of a few lucky wins and giving beat to weaker kids. What made it worse was that Amadi idolized him, while in Sissi's opinion Amadi was a much better competitor than Sasguerone's figurehead. Sure, Johan outdid most of the school, but most of the school was easily crushed and tossed aside anyway.

"Look cap'n, there's four categories I put the fighters over here in, one; the common crowds, easily dominated by simply swinging my flail defensively while forcing the opponent in a corner, without a sufficient range most of 'em either charge, resulting in an inevitable blow from the morning star, or are cornered and unable to evade incoming attacks. Likewise you keep them at bay with your spear, stabbing quickly to avoid them getting hold of the pole."

Amadi nodded, though he had heard this story before, he knew it wasn't a smart thing to interrupt Sissi's lectures.

"Then there's the ones with proper spacing, Johan for example, if you make a mistake they have a chance, the trick is not to make a mistake and keep them busy. They'll run out of stamina eventually and then they'll either make the same mistakes as the common crowds, run out of stamina or fail to avoid an incoming attack."

Amadi continued nodding, in a more hastily fashion now because he wanted to talk to Johan before he'd be gone.

"Thirdly you have the smarter kiddos, who picked a proper weapon but are still lacking skill. Disarm and treat them like the common crowds. Lastly, there's the kinds like you and me, people with proper weapons and skill, fighting the likes of us requires a lot more and differs with the person."

"Yeah, yeah, I got alla that sis, but what if he blocks eh?"

Sissi laughed; "Block a spear point or a flail with those wooden bracers of his!? Y'gotta be kiddin' me." She punched Amadi in the shoulder; "Well I s'pose y'wanna talk to your idol now cap'n, scram!" Amadi put up his fake incensed face, which amused Sissi even more. Then he turned his head over his shoulder to see if Johan was still there and though hard to see because of the crowds surrounding him now he still was.

"Hey sis, mind makin' a path for me?" Amadi teased Sissi. "Dun wanna be ran over or hurt any chicks." He stuck out his tongue again.

Sissi replied with a snide remark; "Fine, fine. Cap'n of the football team, liftin' cars, stabbin' the hell outta dozens of guys, piece a cake, but ya can't get through a crowd without the help of a girl."

She walked straight up to Johan, pushing some people aside with little effort. As soon as they turned to see who's hand it was, most of them moved to the side their selves. Johan looked up when Amadi shouted his name out loud.

"Johan my man! How are ya? Sure been teachin' those punks a lesson haven'tcha? We saw it all man, we saw it all. Haven't changed a bit durin' the summer eh?" Amadi was being his over-enthusiastic self again, witnessing her friend talking like that frustrated Sissi. She kept about a metre of distance and tried to find something else to watch, but she didn't get much of a chance for that.

"Say man, y'haven't ever met Sissi over there yet have ya? She's a pretty big fish 'round here herself. Heya sis, c'mere and say hi to my pal!"

Sissi sighed and walked towards the two men, looking at every step she took, severely annoyed by Amadi. She threw up her head and looked Johan straight in the eyes and said; "'sup?"

Kichi had become bored and felt it wasn't coming to an end anytime soon. He looked out his bedroom window only to see some trees and the sunset that was filling his room with a more orange light now. His phone was in hand and he was scanning through his contacts. No one is answering my damn calls... maybe their just busy watching the fights. He also text a few people in hopes of a quick reply, but found himself to be left in suspense. Maybe I should move to another school and change my name. Ha that would b-. His thoughts were cut off by a call from his father. He told him that his older cousin Sonni is here to say hello. Sonni was 22 years old, but he liked to connect with his family. Kichi was years younger but they had things in common that they appreciated, like kung-fu movies.

"Cuzzo!" Sonni exclaimed has he entered the room.

"Hey, Sonni-son." They both laughed loudly at the name.

"It never gets old with us huh? I heard your back in school now, how was your first week?" Sonni asked to be polite as his older relative, but they both know they have better things to talk about, so its usually kept short by Kichi.

"Good I guess man, you know just school stuff." When Kichi stated this he seemed to be trying to hide his cast. "What's new with you?" Sonni noticed his gesture and became interested. Wanting to get to the bottom of it he began to ask questions.

"I just stopped by to see if you wanted to catch that movie that just came out... So what's with the cast?"

Dammit. Think fast. "I fell." He immediately realized how weak his lie was.

"Well judging from that stitched up cut on your other arm, I'd say it was a serious fall." Sonni was not amused with the look of his terribly damaged family member. He looked away too the T.V.

He knows I lied. Might as well. "I got into a fight after school... Caught me talking to his girlfriend you know the weirdos." Kichi was not a good liar, he knew it and his whole family knew it. Sonni turned back to face Kichi at this news. After noticing Kichirou seemed down enough already, he decided to skip the adult talk this time.

"Well don't you know the secret to fighting young grasshopper?" Sonni asked.

"What's that old wise one?" Kichi's eyebrow raised at this obvious introduction. Then kept his eyes on Sonni as he watched him stand-up. He entered a simple fighting stance and commanded Kichi.

"Ok... Throw a punch at me." Sonni had a smile on his face like he knew Kichi was going to appreciate the lesson. Kichi raised out his seat with the speed of an old man. He raised his right arm and threw the weak attempt at his cousin laughing. Suddenly, he realized Sonni's swift movement to his right while pulling his punch even more forward then intended. Done laughing, the forward thrust through him off balance followed by Sonni tripping him. Kichi was left stumbling and held onto the wall to not hit the ground.

"Use the enemy's force against themselves, you still have a lot to learn" Sonni continued. He gave off the attitude that this whole lesson was just fun and games. His smile never leaving his face.

"Ha, your right I should keep that in mind." Of course... its perfect. They shared a quick laugh as Sonni made his way to the room door.

"Well you look like you need some rest so... We'll go out next time." His cousin added, hinting his departure.

"Thanks a lot cuzzo, see you soon..." Kichi was alone again. Use the enemy's force against themselves... He looked at his phone, still lifeless on his bed. After everyone's reaction, I'm sure the enemies are in huge numbers by now. He made himself laugh. It's just a fight... Right? Then he remembered an old fighting movie where an old kung-fu master would defend himself with using the enemies attacks to create openings for new attacks. He decided not to waste anymore time and dug into his box of old tapes and movies. Blowing the dust off some to read the name he found the movie he was looking for. He sneezed a couple times and played the tape. Kichi studied the extremely old man's form and moves, sometimes imitating them himself. He watched the movies into the night.

‘Hey, Amadi,’ Johan greeted, straightening up, no longer leaning against the fence. ‘How ya been?’ He liked Amadi, but he found it hard to be himself completely around someone who idolised him. “Adoration is the state furthest from understanding,” so