*I will say this again like I did last time READ BOTH OF MY OTHER STORIES IN THIS SERIES FIRST! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOTH RUNAWAY OTAKU AND LOVE IS WAR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED! THANK YOU!*
Hello again my good people! I decided that I would give EVERYONE a Christmas present this year (Only I didn't upload this on Christmas!), and start the first of the side stories of what I'm going to soon start calling the "Runaway Love Trilogy" (You know, including the three main stories, Runaway Otaku, Love is War, and whatever I call the last big story. I might figure out a way to combine the names into one cool sounding trilogy once I figure out what I'm gonna call the last in the series.). Anyways this story I'm starting right now is the first out of multiple stories that will bridge the gap between the second and third stories, because, while I could start the third one right away, I also have a CRAP TON of things I want to write, and I can't combine them all into the last story or else it'll seem all over the place. So this story, and 3 or maybe even 4 others, will go over events that take place between the events of Love is War, and the events of the third story. Now these stories will not be as long as Love is War or the third story (at least I hope they wont be... but you never know what I might come up with) and if it goes as I plan, they will be maybe 5 or 6 chapters long, and will wrap up the story much more nicely. Now onto the back story of THIS particular story, which I already explained but feel like explaining again for no apparent reason! I came up with this story in the middle of Love is War (just like every other story, because it took me so bloody friggin long) after seeing the first Hunger Games movie (funny enough the night I started typing this up was after I watched the NEW one) and about that time was also when I started reading the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series, and I sort of combined them into one big TV show about Larping. Anyways, I had technically planned on having this posted DURING Love is War, and I was even gonna include a few characters who are not with us anymore, but because I decided that would be a horrible idea, I had to rewrite a few things. Now I'm ready and geared up to start this LARP FEST! Welcome to the newest story in the Runaway Love Trilogy! Good Luck and have fun! May your sword be ever stronger in these Orochi Games!
"We've got big news for all those Orochi Games fans out there!" a commercial screamed out on the TV. Kyon, Kagami, and Konata were at the Izumi residence watching anime and the commercial cut in during the normal commercial break, catching their attention. "The Orochi games are looking for new faces to light up the new arena, and we'd like to invite YOU! The Orochi Games are starting their new season EARLY because of how excited they are for their new state of the art battling system, which is unlike anything before! New virtual reality technology has made it possible for our new contestants to compete in full virtual reality and not even move an inch! It's the same Orochi Games but the fighting is more intense! The weapons will feel almost real, and now never before seen dangers haunt the battlegrounds. Over the entirety of the arena, animals will attack, freezing mountains and hot deserts will prove an obstacle, and now an entire army of Orcs lies in waiting, ready to attack any, or even be lead by a worthy leader. The Orochi Games is new and revamped and ready for you to sign up! Just get a group of eight people together, no more, no less, and you might be chosen to compete in the next Orochi Games! Sing up online at the website shown below! The groups that were chosen will be revealed on Friday the 13th of this month. Hopefully your luck is good that day. Hope to see you there!" The narrator for the commercial said, as a website link flashed at the bottom of the screen.
"Konata, can you put that link into the computer quick? I wanna check this out!" Kyon said, looking over at the small girl who was already starting towards her room, her long blue hair flowing behind her.
"Already on my way to do that." she said as Kyon and Kagami followed behind her. When they got upstairs and typed in the link, they were taken to the Orochi Games Website and they found a large amount of new things the TV show had planned. In the right hand column was a PDF of an application form along with the rules and regulations to apply. On the left were links to pictures, maps, and demo's all explaining what the new show would consist of. The maps were all of the new arena's that the creators had drawn up for the games. There were a total of five, each with it's own unique areas, buildings, towns, and obstacles. There was The Game of Ice and Fire, which was a map that had lava and volcanoes on one side and a land of ice on the other. The second map was the World Janus Only Knows which was split in half by a large river and had two differing sides, one being dark and dangerous, and the other being more open and with many friendly towns. The third map was called Torn by War and was in the middle of a large civil war between the small towns and their capital. The fourth was called the Walls of Heaven, and was probably a reference to Attack on Titan, as the entire map was three walls with cities and land in the middle. The final one was simply called Furior, and was a basic RPG map without very much to it, and it was probably the first of the five maps to have been made guessing because of how basic it was. The pictures section had photographs of the machines they used for the virtual reality, and their controls. Finally, the demo's had short video's going through the land of each of the maps, showing off their cities, lands, and monsters. Just looking at the website gave Konata, Kagami, and Kyon a sense of excitement.
"We should totally apply!" Kyon said, looking to Konata, who had already pulled up the PDF and was starting to print it out for them to fill out.
"Wait, we should really think this over. We'd need 8 people to compete, but where are we gonna get those 8 people?" Kagami said, trying to seem in charge while hiding her excitement.
"Well, there's us three, plus Tsukasa and Miyuki, that makes 5." Konata said
"I can probably ask Jet, and I bet he'll want to join in." Kyon said "That makes 6, now we just need two more people."
"How about Yu-chan and Minami?" Konata asked, but then she thought it over "Wait, I doubt they would want to join, Yu-chan would probably get scared and Minami doesn't seem like she'd be into video games that much. Oh, and now that I look at the rules it even says that the contestants need to be 18 years or older, so Patty-chan and Hiyori are out of the question too."
"What about Ayano?" Kyon asked Kagami "She would probably have fun."
"I guess she might enjoy that, she could use a bit of cheering up since what happened to Misao." Kagami responded, thinking about it.
"Now who else likes to play video games and is over 18?" Kyon asked
"And presumably doesn't have a life and/or a boyfriend?" Konata also asked "And is presumably a teacher..."
"Yes, Konata we get it." Kagami said, hitting the small girl on the head to get her to stop "You can ask Ms. Kuroi."
"Ok, well, we should text Tsukasa and Miyuki and ask them if they want to join first of all." Kyon said, pulling out his phone and starting to text Tsukasa, while Konata texted Miyuki. Soon enough, both girls sent their replies and both were interested. Miyuki was excited because she liked watching the show, and liked the idea since it was based heavily on fantasy, which she loved reading. Also since it was virtual reality, she didn't have to worry about getting hurt. Tsukasa, on the other hand, was a bit scared since she wasn't used to virtual reality and was worried that she might get hurt. Luckily, Kyon managed to explain it all to her, and once she looked up a bit about it online, she was also excited for it too. Konata and Kyon then asked them if they could come over, and a half hour later, they were all together inside Konata's house.
"So now that the four of us are on board with this, we need to get in contact with the others, and ask if they want to join as well, I can ask Teach about it online and see if she wants to join." Konata said already booting up her computer.
"I already texted Ayano asking if she wants to join, and I'm waiting for her response." Kagami said, pulling out her phone to check again.
"I'll go to the hotel and talk to Jet." Kyon said before he had a good idea. "Why don't I show you guys the hotel while I'm going over there, Konata, you were the only one to actually go there before, and we were a little busy then, so you didn't get a proper tour. You girls wanna come?"
"Oh that sounds like fun, I haven't seen Jet in a long time!" Konata said happily
"I guess it could be fun." Kagami said
"I have to agree with Konata-san and Kagami-san, it does sound like fun." Miyuki said
"I hope they don't hurt me..." Tsukasa said, scared, as they started to leave
At the Hotel:
"Hey guys it's been a while!" Kyon said as the five of them walked through the door. The moment they stepped in, every man's eyes instantly turned to the five of them, or more specifically, the four girls. They didn't say anything at all, they just stared at the girls. "Uhh... guys..."
"FEMALES!" someone in the crowd suddenly yelled and all of the Freedom Fighters instantly rushed the group. Suddenly, the five of them were surrounded by the men and each guy tried to force their hand in to touch the girls hair or clothes or possibly something else if they got a chance. Kyon didn't have a chance to react, but when he came back from the shock, he had to fight his way through the crowd trying to protect the girls at the same time, while tons of guys came running at them. A few he even had to push away, and one he had to punch, before they finally managed to make it to the elevator. Luckily no one made it into the elevator with them, so they were able to get away unscathed.
"Haa...haa Thank God... Luckily Jet won't be like that... and he can probably help us get out the door when we need to leave." Kyon said, out of breath
"That was hell..." Kagami said, fixing her clothes, which got ruffled around.
"They didn't react that way when I came here last time..." Konata said, brushing her hair down a bit.
"That's probably because they were getting ready for the battle last time." Kyon said, starting to catch his breath again. "They were so nervous about dying that they didn't even think to notice that you were a girl."
"How are we going to leave if they're down there like that?" Tsukasa asked, worried.
"Well, if we can get Jet to help us out, maybe he can stop them when we get down there." Kyon said as the elevator slowly reached the top floor where Jet's office was at. Finally, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to the same hallway that Kyon had been to earlier. Walking down the hallway, they were wary of any other guy's they might have passed, but they made it to Jet's door without any issue.
"Hey Jet, it's Kyon!" Kyon yelled, knocking on the door and opening it. Inside Jet was at his desk, and Kyoko was there next to him. The two of them were working on something at his desk, but when Kyon arrived, they looked up.
"Oh hey Kyon!" Jet said, glad to see him again. "How's it been since what happened in the spring?"
"Pretty good, though it was pretty hectic trying to get up here." he responded, sweat-dropping.
"Hey Kyon! It's been a while!" Kyoko said, waving.
"Pretty good. Oh, I want to introduce you guys to my friends." Kyon said as the four girls walked in. "You guys remember Konata, and these two are the twins, Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi, and finally we have Miyuki."
"Hey again!" Konata said, striking a pose.
"Hi there." Kagami said, waving
"Hi..." Tsukasa said, embarrassed.
"Very nice to meet you." Miyuki said, bowing slightly.
"How's it going?" Kyoko said, grinning.
The only person who didn't say anything was Jet. When Kyon looked over to him, he seemed to be in a sort of trance. When he followed his eyes, he realized that Jet was staring intently at Miyuki, who had also realized his stares and was getting red. This went on for a bit before everyone had realized it, and Kyoko had stared nudging Jet to ask whats up. Suddenly, Jet shot up out of his seat, swung over the desk, knocking over everything on it, and ran over to Miyuki.
"BOOOOOOBS!" he cried as he tackle the screaming Miyuki to the ground. Before he could move he had Kyon grabbing his collar and Kagami slapping him across the face. Two minutes later, he was tied to his office chain with a red face and he was slightly crying.
"I'm sorry..." Jet cried softly
"I thought we already talked about this Jet." Kyoko said standing over him with a magazine rolled up in her hand.
"We did." he said quietly.
"I thought you were over this?"
"I was..."
"Just because you don't see girls very often you can't do this, you'll be arrested, then what'll happen to us and the hotel?" she said hitting him over the head with the magazine.
"I know... but..."
"No buts!" she yelled hitting him even harder with the magazine making him cry out in pain slightly. Kyon, Kagami and Konata were standing in front of the desk watching while Miyuki was in a chair in the corner of the office with Tsukasa comforting her. She was just in shock from what happened, and luckily she was a kind girl or else Jet would have been in some legal trouble for what he did.
"Ok Jet, now for what we came here for." Kyon said as Kyoko turned the chair around so that Jet could face Kyon. "We're going to apply to compete in the new Orochi Games season. Since they're doing it in Virtual Reality we don't have to worry about about strength or even getting sweaty. We need a group of eight people, and so far we have us five, one of our friends, Ayano, and an old teacher of ours. We just need one more person to join. You want in Jet?"
"Yeah, sure, I could use something to do over the summer anyways." Jet said raising his head up as much as the rope would let him.
"Well sweet, that was easy!" Kyon said, looking to the other girls. "The results are gonna be announced on the 13th and we have to go to the arena on the 14th if we get in for a big dinner and a meet and greet. You know where it is right?"
"Yeah it was built a few blocks from here, right?" Jet asked
"Yeah that one." Kyon said, confirming the location "That's where the whole thing will take place this season."
"No more room in your group? I'd love to join too." Kyoko said, coming around to his side of the desk and sitting on top of it as she took a new piece of pocky out of the box and put in in her mouth.
"Sorry Kyoko, but we're all full. If someone cancels on us I'll let you know, but we can't have more than 8 people." Kyon said, apologetic.
"Ah, whatever, it was worth a shot. I never really got into the show myself, so I probably wouldn't understand what's even goin' on." She said before sticking out her box of pocky towards the three who were standing in front of her. "Want one?"
"Sure, I'll take one, thanks Kyoko." Kyon said, taking one of the sticks from the box.
"Uh, I'll pass... I'm on a diet." Kagami said, hesitant to accept or not.
"Oh come on Kagamin..." Konata cooed "You know you want one..."
"Shut it shorty..." the taller girl said before hitting Konata on the head. The sound she made ironically resembled the noise Jet had made earlier when he was hit.
"Ok, well, we should probably get going guys. Thanks a lot Jet!" Kyon said before remembering what had happened to them earlier. "Oh yeah, Kyoko we also had a little trouble down in the lobby, the guys all rushed in towards us... any chance you can help us with that?"
"Oh jeez, not again... I guess I should have expected that..." she said going over to a cabinet on the wall, and opening it. Inside there were multiple weapons, including katanas, knives, the two hardballers that Jet had brought out before the battle a few months ago, and a set of two tasers. She grabbed the tasers saying: "Yeah, they do that sometimes too... you wouldn't believe the crap I put up with when I first came here. Don't worry, I'll help you out."
"Thanks Kyoko, we appreciate it." Kyon said going over to Miyuki and helping her stand up "Don't worry Miyuki, Jet is a good guy, right Jet?"
"Yes! I swear I'm a great guy usually! I love helping the elderly cross the street and getting kittens out of trees! Please don't have me arrested." Jet pleaded before being hit by a flying pocky stick from Kyoko and letting out an audible yelp.
"Ok, well if we get in we'll see you at the arena on the 14th Jet!" Kyon said, following Kyoko and the rest of the girls to the door.
"Yup, see you guys there!" Jet said before realizing hat Kyoko was leaving with them "Wait Kyoko you haven't untied me y.." he started to say before Kyoko closed the room, cutting him off.
As they walked down the hallway towards the elevator, they talked about random things among themselves, including the events of what happened in the spring.
"So Kyoko, what happened to Suijin after the battle? Is he still at the hotel?" Kyon asked
"Nah, we got rid of him a while ago." Kyoko responded "We had to do a shit ton of stuff to get rid of him though. At first we had no idea what to do with him. We thought we could just keep him in the freezer, but soon enough he started trying to absorb ice to heal himself... the result of which was hilarious looking, but it meant that he could still heal himself, even if it only meant he could heal slowly. Finally after some hard thinking, we decided to dump him on some Underground Mafia guys that helped Jet when he was trapped in China, and they used some sources to actually dump him off in the middle of the Sahara desert. How they managed to get him out there is beyond me." she finished, laughing
"Well that's good. He's off my back then." Kyon said, heaving a sigh of relief.
"I wouldn't say that..." Kyoko said "the entire time we had him in the freezer, he didn't eat a single thing. He doesn't need food or water to survive... I wouldn't be surprised if he can survive for years in that desert."
"Well, he can't move very fast without arms and legs and I doubt he'll be able to move very fast. If I ever do see him again, it'll probably be multiple years from now." Kyon said, reassuring himself and the other girls.
"God, you and Jet both never try to look at the consequences down the road." Kyoko said, sighing. "Speaking of which, Miyuki, hun, are you feeling better?" she continued, looking over to the girl.
"Yes... I'm okay... thanks for asking." Miyuki responded
"Jet was serious about what he said though... well not the old people and small animals part but the part about him being a good person. He just... has some bad habits... I promise you he will never do that again." Kyoko said to Miyuki before getting a scary look on her face "And if he does I will personally kick his ass and I'll let you get a punch or two in."
"Oh please don't do that, I wouldn't want him to get too badly hurt... please." the timid girl said, finally speaking up.
"Okay, okay. I won't do that, but do tell me." Kyoko said before pulling Kyon back a bit behind the rest of the group and whispering to him "Hey, Kyon... What's up with her? She seems almost too timid, even for a girl who just got jumped."
"Well there's kinda two reasons. One, she's always kinda timid, and so she hardly speaks up." Kyon explained "but also, the guy who attacked us in the school was also pretending to be her boyfriend. Ever since she found out that her boyfriend was pretending all along and tried to kill her best friends, she hasn't been able to trust too many guys."
"Jeez... so she's had it rough... I didn't even know..." Kyoko said, looking at the girl "Maybe I can talk to Jet again and see if I can try to convince him to try to show her that not all guys are asses... of course he didn't start off with a good example..."
"If you could that'd be awesome. Thanks Kyoko." Kyon said, smiling at her, making the girl blush a little.
"N...no problem." she stammered, remembering how she kissed him the night of the fight and thinking how stupid she was for doing that.
When they reached the elevator, Kyoko got to the front, brandishing her tasers and ready to take on the onslaught of people in the lobby as the elevator slowly made its way down. Finally, when it reached the lobby, the doors opened, and all the boys in the lobby looked to the newly opened doors. Seeing the girls again, they rushed towards the elevator but stopped dead in their tracks when Kyoko stepped out holding the tasers right at them.
"NOBODY MOVE!" she screamed, making sure everyone heard it. "If you make one single move towards anyone in this group I will PERSONALLY fry your ass!"
None of the freedom fighters moved. They all stood, staring at Kyoko, who in return, stared back at them with the tasers raised, and after a while, she started moving forwards, bringing the group along with her. The boys all split apart slowly, allowing the group to pass by, but Kyoko still had the tasers raised, ready to attack anyone who tried to make a move. Suddenly, one of the boys moved forward, trying to grab one of Kagami's pigtails, since she was walking in the back, and he thought that was where Kyoko would be the most defenseless. Unfortunately for him, he was wrong. Kyoko saw him coming, twirled her way through the group until she was right in front of the oncoming boy, raised the tasers to his chest level, and let loose every volt into the boy's chest. She let go of the triggers, causing the boy to slump to the ground unconscious, and Kyoko yelled out: "Anyone else have any bright ideas they want to share?!"
Nobody moved an inch towards the group, and most of the guys moved back away from the group, as to avoid the tasers that were still raised. This gave the group a chance to make it to the front door without any more issues.
"Sorry about that Kyon." Kyoko said from the door as he and the others stood on the sidewalk. "I'll make sure they know what they did wrong and that they won't do it again."
"Don't worry about it Kyoko, no one got hurt and its not like they had any ill intent." Kyon said, laughing as he looked over to the windows where all of the freedom fighters had their faces pressed against the windows as to get a look at the girls. "How do they not do this to you?"
"Well I did have to deal with it at first but it wasn't ever this bad I think the main reason was... well.." she said, embarrassed, but she couldn't finish the sentence.
"What?" Kyon asked, confused
"Uhhh.. it's kinda embarrassing..." Kyoko said covering her chest. Suddenly the reason why popped into Konata's head.
"Oh! That's why they didn't react that way when I first came in too!" the smaller girl said loudly "It's because we're both flat chested!" she said happily before being hit on the head by Kagami. Kyon looked at Kyoko thinking that it couldn't be the reason, but her extremely red face gave it away.
"Uhhh... well, we're gonna get going." Kyon said awkwardly trying to help her out "See you Kyoko."
"Yeah, bye Kyon, nice meeting all of you..." Kyoko said as they left. After getting over her embarrassment, she turned around and shouted "Someone pick him up off the floor! You people are going to be working EXTRA or else none of you are getting dinner!"
After they had already gotten the entire 8 person group together, they all anxiously awaited the 13th, and finally when the results came out, their group name was on the list. (A/N: Of course it was, if it wasn't this would be one hell of a boring story) Finally, as the 14th came around, and the group met outside the arena, they were extremely excited to get started with the fight.
At the Arena: On the 14th
"Hello Ayano! It's been a while!" Kyon said as Ayano walked up to the group
"Hello everyone." Ayano said, happy to see everyone again since she hadn't seen any of them since the spring.
"And now everyone is here, so lets get inside." Ms. Kuroi said, leading the group towards the doors. (A/N: And making her first appearance in one of my stories in literally YEARS... Sorry Ms. Kuroi...)
As they made their ways to the doors, they were suddenly spotted the news reporters rushing towards them, ready to barrage them with questions about the games, knowing it would be big news. Kyon knew that some of the group would be fine with answering the questions, but Miyuki, Tsukasa, and Ayano might not be as comfortable. He started rushing them towards the doors only for the News Reporters to start catching up even faster. Right as the group reached the doors, they braced themsleves for the barrage of questions, but suddenly four large men dressed in suits came out and pushed the reporters away (A/N: Originally I had the reporters asking questions but then Windows decided it wanted to do a random update and restarted my computer making me lose ALL of the past 1000 words and I decided to leave it out. Originally, Konata made mention to the face that she and Kagami were a couple and even made reference to how Gay marriage was legalized in America the day I wrote that scene.)
"Are you Team Star?" One of the men asked, looking at Kuroi, thinking she was the leader because she looked the oldest.
"Oh, yes that's us, Kyon said. Causing the man to look down at him, not expecting the smaller man to be the leader.
"Ok, well you're the last group to make it here, you're going to go in, sign in at the front desk, and you'll follow the hallway down to the Reception area. Mr. Oro will meet you there." The large man said, opening the door for them.
"Thank you." Kyon said, walking in and going up to the reception desk.
After everyone signed in, the receptionist pointed the group down the hallway to a pair of double doors. When they made it inside they were in a medium sized meeting room with all of the teams sitting at their own table. "Team Star" was written on a card that was over their table.
"Well, I see that our final team has arrived!" An energetic man at the front of the room said, getting up out of his seat and walking to a podium. "Hello and welcome to all of our contestants for the 12th season of The Orochi Games! I am Oro Minagashi, the Executive Director and host of the Orochi Games. Thank you all for volunteering to compete in our new season, especially since we're experimenting with our new Virtual Reality technology." Oro said, as a slide-show started behind him showing the machines he was talking about. "As you know this technology is totally new and because of that it might still have a few kinks to work out, but if you're patient with us, we hope to have the technology perfected by the end of the month, which is when the games themselves will be starting."
Everyone looked on with awe at the different slides. Here there was a picture of the virtual reality machine, next was a picture of one of the maps inside of the game, showing a town that was vibrant with people and animals.
"Now then, a little history of the games. Obviously, the Orochi Games is a reference to two things. First of all, its my Games and so of course I can use my name, Oro, in the title. Ha ha ha." he laughed "Also its reference to the old legend of Orochi. Originally I had designed the show to be a game where the four teams would attempt to slay the beast Orochi, and whoever would succeed first would win. Unfortunately, we didn't have the kind of technology we have now back when I started, and so it soon turned into a sort of Team Deathmatch. Now with the virtual reality technology we would be able to make that a reality... but then everyone who loves to watch the Team Deathmatch part of the show would get bored, so we're sticking with that."
While Oro went over the long history of the multiple seasons they had before, Kyon looked over to his group of friends at the other side of the table. Konata and Kuroi looked as excited as ever to be playing a game in virtual reality, while Kagami and Jet listened to the history with interest. The rest of the group, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and Ayano looked puzzled and confused, but still kind of interested in what was being said. After he got his look at the group, he looked at the three groups sitting at the other tables. Team 2 was made up of a bunch of guys who looked like they were members of the soccer team. They were athletic, and looked like they were a good team when working together. Team 3 looked more like Kyon's group. They looked like a group of average friends who probably liked the show and wanted to sign up for the fun of being on the show. Team 4 was the one that confused Kyon. It was made up of mostly kind of weak, nerdy teenagers who looked like they were there to have fun and play the video game, but the last person in the group was staggeringly different from the rest. This guy was huge, and looked like he was made of bricks. He looked strong, and probably was stronger than even the soccer players from team 2. In fact he looked more like he belonged in team 2 that the team he was in. As he turned back to listen to Oro again, he prayed that he didn't have to fight that guy.
"Now that I've gone over the history of the games lets get into the actual games themselves." Oro said, as the slide behind him changed to a chart with all the different classes on them "These are the four main classes, Knight, Wizard, Dwarf, and Elf. They're your stereotypical fantasy characters that you would see in any other RPG. Knight is the usual sword class where you can choose between using a sword and a shield, or a two handed long-sword. They have average health, above average strength, and high armor and magical resistance. That and their damage is pretty high too. The only problem is that they have low agility and speed, and they have no magical ability at all, so don't even try casting a spell!" he laughed "Next comes the wizard class. They obviously use spells and that's all you need to know about them!" Oro said, getting a chuckle out of the audience. "But really, they use a magic staff for their main weapon and they have above average health and high magical ability and damage. They have a few weaknesses though. They are actually able to take quite a bit of damage from other magic users if they aren't careful and put up a shield, and they have low stats in armor and strength, also their agility and speed is more on the average side, so they'll have a hard time getting out of a sticky situation. Next comes the dwarf class for all you midgets and loli's out there!" Oro said, causing Kagami to turn and smirk at Konata, who in return gave her usual catgrin back. "The dwarf class is the strongest of the regular classes, with high health strength and armor, and above average damage. That plus their small bodies make them pretty quick on their feet, so they're agile. Besides that though, because of their main choice of hammers or axes as their weapons, their attacks are slow. Finally comes everyone's favorite class, the elves. These guys are the fastest of the classes, with very high agility and speed and above average magical abilities. Their health, damage and magical resistance are average, but they're so quick that they can whittle down an enemies health in no time. They have low armor though, so they can take too much damage at a time or else they're down quickly. They use bows and knives as their main weapons, so they can either stay at a distance or sneak up close. And that concludes our main four classes!" He finished, as the entire audience started talking to their group of friends telling them what class they were going to choose. They almost didn't notice that he still wasn't done, they were so excited.
"Okay, okay settle down everyone. I'm not done yet, I have two more classes to go over." he said, and once people heard there were two more classes they instantly turned their attention towards him. "Thank you. Now then, this year we have two new "sub-classes" that we are having as part of these games for the first time. We weren't able to pull of sub-classes before because it would be hard to do in real life, but now that we have virtual reality on our side we can introduce to you our two new sub-classes; Berserker and Thief!" Oro said as the slide behind him changed to a new chart with two more classes on there. The stats for these classes were high, but had weaknesses that were even lower than the regular classes, but still the thought of the high stats made everyone excited. "Now then, as you can see these classes have higher stats than the other classes in certain areas, that is to make the game more interesting. Sorry to say, however, that only two people can be a sub-class, and they are chosen at random according to whoever chooses the class they are from. First comes the Berserker sub-class. This class is the strongest in the entire game, with a huge amount of health, strength, armor, damage and magical resistance. Also his endurance is so high that he can still keep fighting mere moments from death. The other stats for this class are horribly low, so low, in fact, that it's almost unfair for them! Their agility and speed is very low, so they are slow to move, and their attacks aren't too hard to dodge. Also, to make it more fair, their health regenerates at half the speed of the regular classes, so if you take their damage down over time, they can fall to any of the regular classes. They have a huge long-sword, one even bigger than what the knight can wield, but which is much heavier. That sub-class is picked at random from one of the people who chooses the knight class. Finally, comes the Thief sub-class, which is chosen from someone who chose the Elf class. This class is someone who prefers stealth over regular action, and with their high speed and agility, they can sneak in and out of a base without ever being seen. They have average strength, magical resistance and armor, and below average health, but their magical ability and damage is above average. As a bonus treat, when they stealth kill a person, it has a 75% chance of being an instant kill, and it will definitely take their health down to half if it isn't an instant kill. Unfortunately, they aren't very helpful in actual battle, but if you have them sneak around they can easily be an asset." Oro finished taking a sip of water after that long explanation. "Now then who wants to go for a tour of the facility?"
The arena itself was a little like a sports arena where there was a large open area with turf, but none of the actual events took place in the open area. That was saved for the awards ceremony after the winning team was announced. That only made up only about a quarter of the arena itself, with the area where the virtual reality machines were held taking up another small portion of the place, and the rest of it being meeting rooms, dining halls, places for the people who have been eliminated to sit and watch the rest of the games, and the entrances. The rest of it was off limits to the public and the contestants and was where the computers to run the virtual reality machines were held along with the offices of the executives, and all of the other departments of the show. All in all, it was very obvious that they put a lot of money into the entire place, and it had to be a lot of money just to maintain all of the equipment they were using.
"Hey Miyuki-chan, I have to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." Tsukasa said to Miyuki as they toured the back offices. This part of the arena was a maze, and Tsukasa had been trying to find a bathroom for nearly ten minutes. When she finally noticed one, she decided to go rather than take the chance of not finding another one for a while.
"That's fine, hurry back, you don't want to be left behind." Miyuki said, waving to her as she left.
Unfortunately, Tsukasa didn't get out of the bathroom in time, and the group had already moved on, and she couldn't even hear them anymore. They were too far away for her to tell which way they had even gone. As she started to tear up, worrying that she would be stuck there, someone else came out of the boys bathroom.
"Aw shit, did they leave already?" the boy said, catching up to her "I had been hoping that Oro wouldn't leave before I got back."
Tsukasa turned to him, thankful that someone else was with her. She instantly recognized him, mostly because he stood out so much compared to the rest.
"You.. you're from team four aren't you?" She said, a little intimidated. It was the large guy who stood out from the rest of the group. He looked like he could squash the smaller girl in one of his hands, he was so much larger than her.
"Yeah, I'm Katsuo Minagashi, from Group four. Which group are you from?" Katsuo asked
"I'm from group one... I'm Tsukasa... Tsukasa Hiiragi." she said, nervously. "I'm a little lost do you know how to get to the group?"
"Well, I don't know where they are, but I can help you get back to the main lobby." Katsuo said, waving her to walk with him "I live here so I know the ins and outs of the place."
"You live here?" Tsukasa asked surprised
"Yup, I have a room down in the area below the arena, by the water pumps." he said as they walked down a hallway and entered a set of stairs. Going down, he said: "This way leads to the underground area's which will take us under the field, and it'll come up right next to the lobby. It can be like... an adventure."
"O...okay." She said, kind of nervous. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they opened the door, which led to a large room full of pipes, metal walkways, and two huge pools of water in the middle.
"These pools apparently feed water to the entirety of the arena. From the sprinklers outside to the water fountains. It goes through a filter and comes right up through all these pipes." Katsuo explained, walking on the metal walkway that went over the whole room. "That big room at the end of the walkway is my room, I'll show you it when we get over there. These pools have the most clear water I've ever seen though. Don't you agree?" He asked, looking down into the pool they were standing over. It was completely clear, and was a light blue that made anyone want to just jump in.
"You said your last name was Minagashi...? Wasn't that the name of the owner?" Tsukasa remembered, looking over the railing into the water. She wanted to learn more about him, rather than have the awkward conversation just be one sided.
"Owner? You mean Oro? Yeah that's his last name, I'm surprised you remembered that with how much he rambled on today." Katsuo said laughing a bit, starting to walk down the metal walkway again. "He's not my father, but I take his last name anyways. I live here at the arena, mostly because I can't stand to live with my actual parents. They always expect too much of me, perfect grades, perfect scores in soccer and basketball, perfect this, perfect that. Oro was a friend of the family that owned a gym that my parents would make me go to every day. Finally, I had a breakdown two years ago, and Oro let me move into his place. He didn't have a wife and always wanted a son, so he let me stay with him when I ran away." They reached the room at the far end of the walkway, and Katsuo opened the door saying "When he got the arena finished, I found this room down here and asked if I could stay here. Oro didn't object, and made sure to get air-conditioning and heating installed to the room. It would have originally been an office for whoever was in charge down here, but they found it wasn't really needed. It's pretty cool isn't it?"
The room was nice, despite the look of the area outside. It was sealed in so that the sounds of the machinery outside were almost completely shut out, and the walls were covered in wallpaper, almost making the room look like one in an actual house. That and the room held a queen sized bed, two couches, a full kitchen, and a flat screen TV, There were also two doors for a closet and for a bathroom. "Oro made sure I had all the necessary things for me to live in this room, so the fridge is always stocked!" he said, proud of the room he had "Plus, if I want a full cooked meal, I can always go up to the kitchen and get something from the chefs up there. They cook the best food."
Tsukasa didn't know how to take this all in. She had been so used to her regular home life that this room that had everything needed to survive seemed so abnormal to her.
"Well I guess that's enough showing off, I guess we should go up to the lobby for now." Katsuo said, turning off the lights to the room and opening the door.
Tsukasa followed him out and he locked the door, walking along the wall towards a door that was nearby the room. Tsukasa was curious about what happened with his parents, but she decided againt asking more about it, figuring it was a sore subject. Instead she asked about his team.
"Why... are you on Team four? You look like you hardly know the rest of the group." She asked
"That's because it's true. I don't know any of the rest of the group. I wanted to be in the games after having heard it would be in virtual reality, but Oro said it wouldn't be very likely that I could get in. Luckily that group had a member quit right after they put in their application, and when they tried to withdraw, Oro said that I could be a replacement, I got talking to them, and they're nice people, but I don't know how helpful they could be though..." he said, kind of sad. "I want to win this game, and I just don't want anyone holding me back."
They reached the door when he said this, and opening it revealed it was another set of stairs, as they went up, Tsukasa asked: "Why do you want to win the games so badly Katsuo-san?"
He looked back at her an gave a little sigh. "I guess it's because I just want to win my parent's approval for once. I think they would finally be proud of me if I win this... I guess it's kind of futile, but I just want them to accept me." Katsuo said, sadly "I don't want them to let me live with them again, but I just want them to finally accept that I've done something they're proud of, rather than say they want more from me."
Tsukasa was silent, having asked a question that brought up a sore subject that she had been purposefully avoiding, she didn't want to make him feel any worse. He was silent as well as they walked up to the lobby, and right back to where the group was at. Oro had finished with his tour and the groups were all talking amongst themselves
"Oh there you are Katsuo, I had been wondering when you disappeared down into your catacombs down there." Oro said, giving a hearty laugh "I also see you found a friend while you were down there."
"Oh, ha ha, Oro. Very funny. This is Tsukasa from Group 1. She and I got separated from you guys because you always forget to stop for bathroom breaks when your giving tours. I just took her down there for a shortcut rather than trying to follow you through that god awful maze of an office section." Katsuo said, going up to Oro.
"Well it's very nice to meet you Tsukasa, I hope you enjoy the games." Oro said, giving her a nice smile and a polite bow.
"Thank you for letting me play the games." she said, bowing back before walking off towards her group.
"Tsukasa, there you are!" Kyon said, waving to here "Where were you?"
"Oh... I got lost, but got help from someone from another group." Tsukasa said meekly.
"Well, Oro explained a little about how some of the virtual reality works and also explained some things he didn't say before." Kyon said before Konata took over the conversation,
"It's like the website said, there are actual NPC's that we can have full conversations with and we can even control the Orcs that are littered around the maps if we kill their leader and rally them behind us. Imagine our group having an Orc Army!" Konata said, overly excited.
"We're going to be picking our classes when we start the games, and we're to meet Oro here in the lobby again at 10:00." Kagami said "So you're going to have to get up early again."
"I don't mind it Onee-chan. I can't wait for the games to start!" Tsukasa said, happy to be having fun with her friends.
The Day Of the Games:
"Now then, when you go into the virtual reality machine before you make the dive you will get the option to choose your class." Oro said as each person lined up next to their own personal VR machine. It was a large, egg shaped device that had a leather seat reclined back. Once they were inside, the top would close and they would be inside the machine. The helmets they had on their heads were connected to the machines and they would be able to move around inside the game without moving their actual bodies. It worked a lot like S**** A** O*****, but without the crazy guy trying to trap them inside the game. "Once you all have chosen your classes, the two random people will be selected for the Berserker and Thief classes. Then the final thing that will be picked will be the map. I can assume you all have taken a look at the different maps that are available on our website, which have each team's spawn point marked on each location. Once you are in the game you can pull the map of the entire game and your inventory up by swiping across like this." He said, making the motion in the air. "Then once you first look in your inventory, if your class has a choice of two different weapons, then the first one you pick will be your official weapon, and the other will be discarded annnnddd... that seems to be it." Oro said, finishing up as he looked back up to the four groups "Once your in the VR machine you'll get the choice of class so this is where I leave. Good luck and have fun everyone. And may your sword be ever stronger in these Orochi Games!"
With that, he left the room and everyone was ushered into their respective VR machine. Kyon got into his, and it immediately closed down, trapping him in darkness. It was hard to tell, but he hadn't realized that the darkness wasn't just from the VR machine having closed. The second it closed, his helmet turned on, and he dove into the machine, and his mind was already in the game.
"WELCOME TO THE OROCHI GAMES VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATION TRANSPORTER" were the words that flashed over his vision lighting up the darkness.
"THIS IS THE SIMULATION CLASS SELECTION: YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FOUR CLASSES, NOTICE, ONCE YOU HAVE MADE YOUR DECISION, YOU CANNOT COME BACK." It said before the four different class choices popped up in front of him.
"KNIGHT"
"WIZARD"
"DWARF"
"ELF"
"PICK ONE AND THEN PRESS THIS BUTTON: (ENTER)"
When Kyon stuck his hand out and pressed on one of the four classes, each of the stats as well as a short description of the class popped into view. After looking them all over again, Kyon clicked on the Knight class and pressed on the large (ENTER) button at the bottom.
After a long moment of silence and more darkness, while the others chose their classes and the two Sub-Classes were given to specific people, more words flashed in front of Kyon's view.
"THANK YOU ALL FOR PLAYING THE OROCHI GAMES! WE SHALL NOW CHOOSE THE OFFICIAL 12TH ANNUAL OROCHI GAMES MAP!"
Then the maps that were shown on the website showed up in Kyon's view. The one in the middle of them all was the map labeled "A GAME OF FIRE AND ICE" and the other one's went upwards or downwards like they were on a wheel. Then the randomizer seemed to have spun the wheel because each of the maps spun downwards like the random selection for an old video game map. Finally, it came to rest on the map labeled "THE WORLD JANUS ONLY KNOWS."
"YOUR MAP HAS BEEN CHOSEN!" The words flashed in front of Kyon's view for the final time before going to black once again: "GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN! MAY YOUR SWORD BE EVER STRONGER IN THESE OROCHI GAMES!"
For Gods sake that took me a year... So a lot has happened in the last year since I posted the final chapter of Love is War, and I swear to you I had actually planned on posting this last Christmas. I do solemnly swear that I plan to finish this story up before another year has passed, however. This story is actually really cool with everything I've set up, and I'm REALLY excited to finally write everything down for you guys to read! It was just that this was the really big and annoyingly boring part that I wasn't very into writing... why is it that the most important part of a story is usually the most boring...? Anyways, if you found this part to be boring, I'm sorry, but I swear to you the rest of this story is gonna be a BLAST! So an update on me since it's been a year now. I'm officially graduated from High School and I'm now in College, and I actually plan on trying to get a book published! I'll give you more details when I get more of it finished, but unfortunately that story suffered the same fate as this chapter did... my computer ended up losing the work, and the auto-recovery program didn't do it's job... I lost about 500 words on this story back in like, June or July, and on my story I want published I lost a HUGE 2000 words! Believe me when I say NO ONE wants to rewrite a large chunk of a story they lost, but 2,000 words is HORRIBLE! Also I must mention, the second to last chapter of Love is War used to be the longest chapter I had ever written at around 8,800 words, but this chapter has now taken the first place spot at just over 9,500 words. Acsuperman... I don't know how you do this for every chapter... anyways, I had actually planned on the whole scene with Katsuo and Tsukasa own at Katsuo's room to be more Phantom of the Opera like, and I was even thinking of having Katsuo singing Music of the Night... but I decided at the last minute to not do that, and just focus on getting this out. Believe me, I'll have much more exciting musical numbers coming in the future. (Like Orc's singing Be Prepared from the Lion King.) I can't wait to get the rest of this story out for you guys, and I hope you'll all stay tuned and enjoy these Orochi Games!