Aberrant: Quantum Zero - Nippontai High

[Centimane]

As the shadow creatures leap to the attack, Kazuo mutters under his breath, 'Well at least someone around here knows how this is done...'

Then, his face outwardly calm and expressionless, he focuses mostly on not getting hit.

((OOC: Just thought I'd mention (cuz Sky seemed a bit miffed at me about it the other night) that Kazuo's seeming nonchalance in this situation isn't because he's actually unafraid or really doesn't care. He's got high wits, very high willpower, and the kind of prideful, strong-willed personality that doesn't like to show weakness, so he's acting like he's all 'ho-hum' about this, but that's just his way of coping. Plus he tends to get angry really quickly, and anger has a way of overriding fear responses.))

[Expendable]

Eruption!:

The pain in her head blossoming until it seems to burst out of her in great floods it takes a moment or two before Akira realises that she's no longer in the darkness, no longer being held down &... touched... Instead she finds she's kneeling on the cool tile floor of the bathroom, the boy nowhere to be seen...

... Maybe it was all a dream? Just her imagination? Could she have dropped off in the bathroom, or - considering the pain still throbbing in her brain - slipped & banged her head? But then why were her clothes still ripped..?

Clutching one of the sinks Akira drags herself upright - then glimpses her reflection, & knows that nothing will ever be the same again... ::blink

[Time to describe Akira's tranformation into a Quantum god(ling)!]

Akira gasped and looked around. She was in the bathroom...?

"Tell me it was just a dream," she sighed, resting her face in her hands for a moment. Uncovering her face, she rose, turning towards the sink - and caught her reflection in the mirror. Her clothes were torn, her exposed skin scuffed and scratched. She could even see where the red mark on her face where the unseen hand had clamped down so hard....! Her face! How did her eyes become suddenly that perfect shade of blue?Her nose, more slender like her mother's?

"NO!" she screamed, blinded by tears as she lashed out blindly with her fist at the mirror. She could hear the broken shards falling into the sink - and a soft hissing noise. Blinking, she looked at the fist that had slammed into the mirror - it was covered by a strange glowing light.....

She fainted, the quantum field around her fist fading away as she collapsed onto the floor.

[Alex Green]

While Kenshi's classmates are, no doubt, rather stunned by this turn of events, Kenshi himself doesn't yet seem to have noticed - still running on adrenalin & rage he swings another punch at Kitsune. The many-tailed fox, however, doesn't seem surprised at all by Kenshi's new found talent for levitation & leaps away from his punch, landing amongst the branches of a neighboring tree, with almost contemptuous ease. Kenshi's punch, meanwhile, connects with the trunk of the tree she's just vacated: the thick timber shatters into splinters in response to the blow, the top half of the tree crashing down to the ground! Kitsune sports a broad grin on her face,

'Yes!' she proclaims, pumping her fist in the air in victory, 'I got one! In your face Shinobi!' ::laugh

To Kenshi it’s obvious what just happened: He threw a punch, she dodged and used her ’Make-things-go-wrong’ power to make the tree fall. Her celebration of downing the tree was a little more mysterious, maybe it had landed on someone Kenshi didn’t see?, but of no relevance at the moment.

...the pupils left on the terra firma have little time to react as (just in case they didn't have enough to cope with) the very shadows around them suddenly 'ooze' forward & bubble up until four jet-black figures, each dressed as a ninja, surround them! ::ninja …

Kenshi thinks,

*Oh, look, it’s an obvious distraction. Not that I have a choice… and why did everyone move down hill?*

Kenshi launches himself in the air(?) and sends himself down hill(?) with a flying kick at the closest ninja who (hopefully) has his back towards him.

[phoenix]

To Jinsei, it seems that something is exploding, somewhere. There's a deadly pressure in his head and his ears.

But as the shapeless ninja forms attack, Jinsei has never felt more balanced; never more in control.

He grabs one by where its lapels should be, pulling it towards the ground, pulling it off balance. Using it as leverage, he shifts his weight fluidly and throws a high kick into the head of a second ninja.

[Throw one ninja, then kick another one.]

[Jeremiah]

Elsewhere...

Halfway through his race Seiji is making the circuit past the woods when he hears a rather disturbing 'crashing' noise from within... something... maybe a little voice in his head... tells him that something's very wrong... ::unsure

Seiji slows to a jog on the track and looks into the woods.

"OH WHAT IS THAT! You could have beaten him, he used up all his energy on the first bit, you had him in the second leg...oh it's the woods again, is it? Of course...Well, if you really wanna check it out so badly, lets go."

Seiji smirks, "Oh really? Lets go? So I have your permission then? Well, thank god.."

Seiji looks around to take stock of the locations of various authority figures and hurries into the woods once the coast is clear. Once there he slows down, picking through the woods as quietly as possible. He can't seem to shake this uneasy feeling and he's trying to take stock of the situation before he gets noticed.

[SkyLion]

'Yes!' she proclaims, pumping her fist in the air in victory, 'I got one! In your face Shinobi!' ::laugh

Between jaw-dropping shock at Kenshi's defiance of gravity & the sudden necessity to dodge a shower of splinters & falling logs the pupils left on the terra firma have little time to react as (just in case they didn't have enough to cope with) the very shadows around them suddenly 'ooze' forward & bubble up until four jet-black figures, each dressed as a ninja, surround them! ::ninja

Yushiro barely has time to register that Kenshi is floating 12 feet up in the air, ::ohmy , when half the tree shatters.

*Shit!*

Moving with instict he dive rolls out of the way, with only a few splinters of shrapnel glancing off his back.

*Shit!*

Then the shadows spring to menacing life and it finally dawns on Tora that the situation is more serious than he had at first surmised. With his playful spirit now dampened, he turns his thoughts to a different sort of fun...

"Hey Foxy-babe!...you're no fun anymore...and you can just forget about our date now!"

On the tree branch next to Kitsune a figure steps out of the shadows...

*Huh? Another one??? Stupid party crashers...*

On the ground below, silently, the four ninja take fighting stances & leap to attack the pupils...

Facing his opponent, Tora feints left then suddenly switches directions! Running at full speed seemingly headlong into a nearby tree, he jumps at the last second, his feet proppelling him vertically along its trunk. At the apex of his momentum he kicks off with one leg, his torso twisting as he again shifts direction into a flying roundhouse kick aimed straight at Shinobi!

,,

[i'd like to spend a WP on this one please...Tora's getting serious now...]

[Expendable]

Akira awoke on the floor, confused, until the memories of what happen made her sit up with a groan. Everything looked so hazy. But when she took off her glasses, the room came into focus.

"If it wasn't a dream," she whispered, taking in the tatters she was now wearing, "Then... I must have become a nova. But that's....."

Impossible. People like her didn't become novas. Trendy kids became novas. All she wanted was to study hard and to get into Tokyo University. Didn't she?

Getting up, she glanced at herself in what was left of the big mirror that was hung over the sinks. Then at the broken part. It looked as if something had chewed it.....

"Did I... do that?" she asked, staring at her right hand. Looking up, she stared at her reflection. Her face seemed thinner. In fact, her profile....!

Akira's eyes grew wider. She plucked at her blouse and looked, her worse fears realized.

"But.... how....?" she sputtered - then scowled angrily, raising her fist "It was him! He did this to me!"

Out of nowhere, a small angrily hissing black cloud of quantum covered her fist. Where did she meet him? The black cloud swelled, swallowing her arm and the rest of her, turning her into a black silhouette with strange golden eyes glaring. Oh yes. The edge of the forest behind the school. She knew exactly where it was.

She vanished with a soft pop.

[ezekiel]

Keiko steps back behind Akaji and the President continues

"So as you see, Morioka-Sensei, Tetsu and Jinsei did nothing wrong. It would be sad indeed for our Judoka to miss the championship tonight after so much practice due to a misunderstanding."

Akaji turns back towards Keiko and she hands him a printout from her comp-pad.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you of my intention to have the debating team raise funds for our school trip. While the price is reasonable, it should not be a barrier to our less fortunate students..."

Akaji bows low before the principle

"I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.."

[Expendable]

Akira's headache spiked as she appeared at the edge of the forest.

"Aaaagh!" she managed as the blackness retreated to her hands as she fell on all fours. "Why won't this go away... huh?"

The hissing from the blackness covering her hand had grown louder as they chewed at the ground, creating a small cloud of dust and dirt around them. Akira rocked back, taking her hands away - immediately the hissing grew softer as the dust cloud began settling with a rustle of as the larger pellets fell away - leaving two shallow holes in the ground, a shoulder's width apart.

Akira swallowed, staring at the hissing blackness covering her hands. And then she heard it - somewhere to her right. A fight? Would Kimono-man be there?

Akira climbed to her feet, heading towards the battle.

[ProfPotts]

Presidential Business:

"I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.."

Since Morioka-Sensei is (as is often the case) absent from the school at the moment Gushiken-sensei, the deputy principle (a middle-aged, balding, tall & rotund gent clad in a surprisingly well-tailored suit) is filling in. Peering through thick-lensed steel-rimmed round glasses at the printout handed over by Keiko he nods a few times before looking up at Akaji,

'I'll take your information about the... shall we say "scuffle"... this morning under advisment & inform Morioka-Sensei, although I won't unilaterally reverse her descision. Your point about the school's team & reputation is well put, however, & I'll be sure to emphasise that very point to the principle when she returns.'

Once more the deputy-principle glances at the printout before adding,

'As for this fund-raising concept: it's a good idea - as long as it doesn't interfere with your members' studies. If you have specific requests to make as far as space or equipment are concerned then feel free to submit them through the usual channels.'

'Now,' Gushiken-sensei glances up again, 'I believe you two are late for classes? Best you hurry.' ::sly

Leaving the principle's office & heading towards the changing rooms, Keiko is quietly complimenting Akaji on his presentation to the deputy principle when they both hear multiple screams coming from the direction of the school swimming pool! ::ohmy

If You Go Into the Woods Today...:

"Oh really? Lets go? So I have your permission then? Well, thank god.."

Slipping away from the physical education lesson Seiji's hurrying through the woods, towards the continuing sounds of battle when...

"Aaaagh! Why won't this go away... huh?"

The scream comes from a black sillhouette of a figure which seems to pop into existence, on all fours, just in front of Seiji, stopping him dead in his tracks! As he watches, goggle-eyed, the 'blackness' seems to flow across the figure's body until it's concentrated just in its hands, where it appears to be 'consuming' the ground beneath into hissing clouds of dust. ::blink After blinking a few times Seiji realises that the figure 'underneath' the black energy looks like that new kid, Akira - only her clothes are now covered in small rips all over, & her body appears somehow more toned, more vital, than before: whereas he'd have a hard time noticing her earlier, now there's something (apart from the weird black stuff) which seems to suggest energy & power... whatever's happened to her, it hasn't helped her figure fill out any though... ::blush

Pushing herself to her feet Akira turns towards the sounds of the fight, seemingly too distracted to notice Seiji staring in disbelief just a few yards away.

Ninjastic Action!:

'Well at least someone around here knows how this is done...'

Muttering those words Kazuo agily ducks under a kick aimed at his head by the nearest of the 'shadow ninja' figures...

Jinsei, meanwhile, grabs the nearest ninja by its collar & swings round it, pulling it over as his feet swing high over the head of another of the dark figures but fail to connect. The ninja Jinsei grabbed, however, tumbles head over heads across the ground, before shaking its head & pushing itself back upright. Jinsei completes the move by nimbly landing in a fighting stance...

Tora feigns a strike at the nearest ninja, causing his dark opponent to respond with a wasted block as Tora himself leaps for the trees: in a quite spectacular display of acrobatic prowess he manages to run a few steps up the trunk before pushing off & sailing through the air in a graceful arcing backflip, turning as he does to aim a kick at the newly-appeared kimono-clad figure... a figure who's still far out of reach in the top-most branches as Tora's near-perect display of baseline teenage gymnastic talent fails to even come close to matching the Nova-level athletics displayed by Kitsune moments before. Recovering well Tora lands back on the ground with the other zips... ::sly

'Ooh,' coos Kitsune as she watches Tora's display with obvious amusement, 'someone thinks he's a Nova!' she bursts out laughing... ::laugh

Propelling himself towards the ground, fueled more by raging emotion than sense or skill, Kenshi aims to kick the nearest ninja in the back - still not really registering that he's not pushing off anything or actually jumping to do so... For a moment Kenshi's vision blurs as the ninja, & the ground, zoom up towards him much faster than gravity would dictate: at the last moment the ninja dives to one side & an uncontrolled Kenshi rocket-slams foot-first into the earth! The impact sends a blast of force, dirt, & splintered tree-roots radiating away from Kenshi's ungraceful landing, leaving him lying in a shallow crater, & the ninjas & his fellow pupils lying scattered, several meters away, around the perimeter where the blast throws them!

[Expendable]

Ducking slightly, Akira jogged towards the sounds of the fighting, craning her neck to try and get a glance of who was fighting.

the clearning wasn't that far away. Peering from behind a tree, she found some of the boys from her class fighting... ninjas? And a girl with fox tails?

Where was the man who'd attacked her? Was he not here?

[Jeremiah]

Seiji stands still for a moment, his mouth hanging open and collecting flies.

...

...

"YO KID! Snap out of it and follow here. I don't think you're getting your quiet time in the woods, but something is certainly going on."

Seiji snaps to and slowly creeps forward, trying not to make any noise. He pauses at every loud scream, crash, and (finally) explosion. He starts to hurry a bit more after this, muttering,

"I think I could have brought the marching band and still been rather unnoticed at this party..."

He peers through some leaves at the scene in front of him, his mind boggled for a moment as he takes it all in. ::blink

"I...I've gotta help them..."

Seiji looks around for the biggest thing he can pick up, a branch or rock or something, then sneaks around behind one of the ninjas and throws it at his back as hard as he can.

"I'm just so damn proud of you. If I had a face I'd have a big smile on it right now, lemme tell ya..."

Seiji goes on the defensive after making his presence known.

[Alex Green]

Ninjastic Action!:

Propelling himself towards the ground, fueled more by raging emotion than sense or skill, Kenshi aims to kick the nearest ninja in the back - still not really registering that he's not pushing off anything or actually jumping to do so... For a moment Kenshi's vision blurs as the ninja, & the ground, zoom up towards him much faster than gravity would dictate: at the last moment the ninja dives to one side & an uncontrolled Kenshi rocket-slams foot-first into the earth! The impact sends a blast of force, dirt, & splintered tree-roots radiating away from Kenshi's ungraceful landing, leaving him lying in a shallow crater, & the ninjas & his fellow pupils lying scattered, several meters away, around the perimeter where the blast throws them!

Someone watching Kenshi closely might notice that his power level has continued to increase. The flying kick to the ground was *much* faster and stronger than the move which knocked down the tree. Then things get worse. Although still angry, Kenshi realizes something is going on, starts to think about it, and with nova powers, thought is action.

Before Kenshi's horrified gaze a large rock touching him loudly shatters, then so does another. Cracks in the ground spread out from where he's lying and waves of heat-like distortions ripple over him as an unseen force pushes against the air. Kenshi looks up at the female nova in the trees and yells,

"You! This is your d..." Kenshi's accussation becomes a yelp as an unseen force launches him like a missile at the unknown novas. Before there was a sort of grace to his flight, now it looks more like an air-born belly flop as Kenshi thrashes in mid-air and panics.

[SkyLion]

"Oof!"

,,

A moment after sticking his landing in perfect fighting stance, Tora was blasted off his feet by Kenshi's meteor strike.

,,

Executing a no handed kip-up he regains his footing then immediately leaps into the air Bruce Lee style, seeming to float in the air for a moment. As the hang-time peaks and he begins to feel gravity tug him back down he extends his legs through a tightened core, attempting to savagely land both feet into the chest of the nearest prone shadow-ninja!

,,

Every muscle in his body is taught with force, as Yushiro forms his resolve into a killing intent. The time to end this fight is now, before any of them get really hurt...

,,

((So not sure if you use the kip-up rules from other WW games, but if not then it will just be a split action to get up and the second to execute the kick))

[phoenix]

Under the trees

The 'ninja' stand back for a turn few seconds. Jinsei takes a fighting stance.

He can feel blood throbbing in his ears. It feels like there's no longer enough room in his skull for his brain, and the gray matter's being squeezed... Any second now, it'll start leaking out his nose and ears.

Jinsei closes his eyes.

Conscious thought sizzles out of his mind like water on a hot woodstove. So he doesn't think about his own self-defense. With his eyes closed, his head doesn't hurt as much.

But even so -- Gods, what a feeling! Like shards of hot metal are sliding around under Jinsei's skin.

Tora [perhaps] looks over. Jinsei is floating in the air, apparently unconscious, suspended by a massive quantity of metal spines that protrude from his body! Several of these are digging into the ground, and apparently strong enough to support the young student's entire weight... ::ohmy

Edit: I've been asked for a description of these spines; so, here goes. They're about as thick, wide and sharp as steak knives, except without any dull edges. As for their length, imagine that Jinsei slumped backwards as though falling asleep, but these things shot out of him and held him upright from the ground - so, around 5 - 5.5 feet. There are a lot of them, although not so many that they couldn't all be connected solidly to his skeleton. He looks much heavier, almost unweildy now.

[ezekiel]

"Thank you Keiko"

they both hear multiple screams coming from the direction of the school

"What was that?!"

Akaji runs towards the screams

[Centimane]

'Gee, this is fun', thinks Kazuo as he flies through the air like a scowling, one-eyed, badly scarred, but strangely aerodynamic projectile. 'I'm just so glad I got to do this today... I can't believe I'm going through all this for a frickin' discuss!' ::glare

When he impacts with the ground Kazuo can't help but feel a little nostalgic as he is again reminded of just how firm and unyielding it is, and how entirely unpleasant crashing into it at high speed can be. He'd almost forgotten. ::indifferent

After his face has been thoroughly reaquainted with the ground, pleasantries have been exchanged, and promises to stay in touch and not become strangers have been made, Kazuo attempts to roll back onto his feet as quickly as possible.

((He rolls MA to get back up without losing his action.))

Once up, he dusts himself off and strides - he doesn't walk, stroll, or even prance, no sir, he strides - over to the nearest ninja. Once there Kazuo gets right in its masked, shadow-black face and glares at it. And he waits.

The instant the ninja attacks, Kazuo attempts to dodge the attack and then use its momentum to throw it good and far.

((OOC: split action: one dodge, one throw. Kazuo will delay his throw until after the ninja acts. Then he'll attempt to dodge it, then he'll attempt to throw it.))