verycoolname
Not actually cool
Canon Danny was tall, balding, and had a bit of a dad bod. I suspect that while his altered ancestry and newly attained chakra have improved his looks, they haven't completely erased them.
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
- Location
- Neptune
He's a bit too old and experienced to play that much of an edgelord.So I forget, as Sub-Zero does Danny look like this:
She didn't see him though. Just some admittedly kind-of attractive guy of unusual height and with a slight midriff paunch like her Dad... Wait.
What in Hades' name?
Neatly trimmed beard? Baldness replaced with a thick black chin-length hair? Muscular but in the manner of a power lifter. Raising a shaggy eyebrow at her as she gaped at him?
Straight from the last chapter.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
"Ice Spear - a weapon only usable for those without pants."Added his ice spear.
I know, I know, image generation is tricky. At least his greaves and sandals suggest he's not had an encounter with gnurrs...
Looks like the hosting site wasn't a good choice. I'll see if I can find another.
And now fixed. I lost the first image I had with the spear, but put a new one in. At least this one looks to be made of ice.
And just because I'm having fun with the images, here's one of Danny in civilian clothes.
and another one with him standing by his truck.
And now fixed. I lost the first image I had with the spear, but put a new one in. At least this one looks to be made of ice.
And just because I'm having fun with the images, here's one of Danny in civilian clothes.
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Arimai
Curmudgeon
Oorochimaru will hate Jack. He's exactly the type of person Ooro was in his youth, that Ooro reborn hates
- Location
- united states
And now I am picturing Emma having a crush on Danny and contributing to her insanity as she tries to romance sub zero.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Excuse me while I vomit in the corner. I hate crazies, especially stalker type nutjobs.
Young Oorochi had a goal. Jack just wants carnage.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Yes. But he was also an ignoramus just like Cauldron and Jack
- Location
- united states
With all the leather she wears him cooling down an area so she doesn't die of heat exhaustion will be taken as a love confession.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
I hope this isn't one of those 'horribly inevitable' things...
Arimai
Curmudgeon
That's nasty. I had a ranch hand who was into questionable things. One day he forgot to close the common use computer I had in the bunk cabin for the workers and I regret seeing that kink
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Speaking of horribly inevitable, I'm writing chapter 17 and hit a point that justifies a roll. Since you're a frequent commenter, Ace, could you roll a d20 or digital equivalent?
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Dug-out, rolled, physical D20 say two (2).
(Yeah, I could have used SV, Discord, Roll20, a BASIC RNG, five coins (re-throw if >20), etc., etc., but, I thought, 'real die'.
)((Originally, 'd20' were 20-sided dice, marked 0-9, twice, and a d6 was rolled as well, 4-6 meaning 'add 10' - I'm sure I hear grumbling, "Kids these days, they have it so easy!".
))
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Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Interesting. Especially as I rolled a 1 off the resulting table. Especially as she could share that roll to the Intermediate level or go full points for herself. Her father having gotten enough change in his life recently (she's still a bit in shock from seeing the changes due to Altered Ancestry) that leaves some possibilities that could make this very divergent.
EDIT: made it clear that Taylor's still a bit in shock at her now quite buff (ninja training + Ares bloodline) father.
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Still an interesting story, but like, 90% of the last ten chapters have been other point of views. Some of them only tangentially Taylor related.
Anyways, wasn't Oni Lee in custody? I don't remember any mention of him being broken out.
Also, how does her dad still have "paunch" after a year trained by orochi and a year by sarurobi? (Then didn't he get even more training? Can't remember.)
Anyways, wasn't Oni Lee in custody? I don't remember any mention of him being broken out.
Also, how does her dad still have "paunch" after a year trained by orochi and a year by sarurobi? (Then didn't he get even more training? Can't remember.)
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
I blame his fondness for Italian food.
Yeah, it's entirely possible to be strong, and quick, and have a 'beer belly'. And, ninja training? If it shows, you're doing it wrong, because it is supposed to let you be a secret ninja. Slouch, extra fat, apparently poor eyesight, all quite correct - then you power through the entire gang of body-builder thugs!
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- Location
- Neptune
He's not a bodybuilder and he doesn't train for low body fat.
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Look at the pictures of some of the "strongest men competition" when they're not clenching their belly muscles. Like Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. He's got a bit of pudge there. They don't try for the sculpted muscle look, but they have muscle under that.
17. Dojo & Perspectives
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
17: Dojo & Perspectives
* Friday, October 2, 2009 *
* Vista *
She wasn't sure what to expect of this introductory course. There were all sorts of arguments about whether or not to try it with various other people, but it came down to her for some reason.
"Okay, this will seem a little weird," said Zenko as she walked in front of the class. "But that's okay. If any of you go on with classes, you'll find that 'weird ninja sh... crap' is more than just a tag on PHO."
A glance to either side revealed that she was one of six hopefuls and the only one in costume. Also the youngest at 10 years old.
"The first thing we're doing is trying to get you a feel for your chakra," continued Zenko. "I put my hand on your chest and send unaspected chakra into you. You nod as soon as you feel something. Do NOT do this yourself to anyone. Unaspected chakra in small amounts is fine. Unless you've managed to filter it down to unaspected chakra, trying to send chakra into someone else will hurt them."
Vista flicked her full attention back to Zenko as apparently the ninja foxgirl had noticed and was about to forehead-flick her.
"Pay attention when potentially life-altering decisions are explained," chided Zenko with a frown. "Okay, we'll start at this end with... Mister Veder."
Why did Zenko make that name sound so distasteful? Why did she hesitate touching the boy? Was it because she was a little older-looking but still in the same age-range?
Huh, ninjas and weirdness already. Zenko was right about that much at least.
"I'm sending just a tiny amount of chakra this time," said Zenko, touching two fingers to this Veder guy's chest. "Less than you'd need for any technique."
Vista watched as there was a brief moment before Zenko moved to the next person in line.
"I didn't feel anything!" protested Veder.
"Next time down the line I'll try twice that amount of chakra," said Zenko, already touching the next guy.
"AH! That was so weird!" said the guy.
"You have a lot of physical energy and less spiritual energy," said Zenko. "I'll show you some meditation techniques to try and balance out later."
"What about me?!" demanded the Veder kid.
"Almost no physical energy, very little spiritual energy, and you need to lay off the energy drinks and all those sugars," said Zenko before moving to the woman who was next in line.
Vista blinked. Was that some sort of Striker power like Panacea was supposed to have? That could be really handy with doing triage in the after-action portion of a cape fight. People were always sticking around to record stuff instead of running away.
Some people had NO self-survival instinct.
"AH! It felt like my liver just got tickled. Is that normal?" asked the woman.
"High physical energy, fair amount of spiritual. You get working on meditation too," said Zenko. "You're over-relying on salads though. You'll need to up your protein if you continue with training."
"I like salads," complained the woman.
"So get some with some meat in there like a Caesar Chicken," advised the guy next to her.
One more guy, then Zenko was in front of her, putting her hand out. Waiting for an objection, then touching her chest.
It was VERY weird, to the point where she couldn't help flinching a bit. A feeling like someone touching her with a feather, but inside her. Vista could see why everyone kept reacting to it, except Veder-kid.
"Unusual that we get three people in a row at this level," commented Zenko. "You need to lay off the energy drinks, or at least cut back on them. You don't want to end up like Greg Veder do you?"
"Hey!" protested the Veder kid.
"No!" exclaimed Vista.
"Hey!" repeated the Veder kid.
"Low physical energy, higher spiritual energy. To balance out you should do more physical exercises," said Zenko before moving on to the next person.
Vista started tuning things out, concentrating on the memory of that weird feeling. What it was like, how it felt. Also trying to figure out why her power was feeling... startled? Curious? Like some drowsing cat that had just had a curious object plopped in front of it?
Yeah, she'd think about THAT a whole lot later.
Zenko finished the line, came back to the ones who hadn't felt anything on her first try, and used larger amounts of this chakra-stuff to do that probe thing.
This time without comments about diets.
A really really old guy (must have been at least 50) showed up to demonstrate two of the basic techniques for manipulating chakra, exercises to develop chakra and control it. "You just take any leaf, pull a bit of chakra out, and stick the leaf to your forehead like so."
Vista concentrated on the weird feeling, tried to imagine it seeping out of her forehead, touched the leaf to that spot... and it stuck like a refrigerator magnet. Huh.
"That's just static electricity or sap," protested Veder. "When can we do the cool stuff?"
"If that's all it is, you should be able to do it right away," said the old guy. "Vista's already doing it."
"Now the leaf's stuck to my hand," complained one of the guys, waving a hand around and sure enough his leaf was sticking to it like it was glued. But it was the same kind of leaf she had, so Vista knew it was dry.
Suddenly her leaf dropped and she felt like dropping herself.
"Anyone feeling tired, there's electrolyte water over there. Grab a bottle and rest. We'll meet again next week so practice the exercises in the flyers by the door."
* PRT ENE HQ *
* Conference Room D *
"New cape gift boxes?" asked Miss Militia. "Oh, the 'Militia Morning Blend Coffee' - I did want to try this."
Armsmaster set the little boxes in the center of the table. "Took me some time to get ahold of these."
"Little first aid kit. Pamphlets for beginning capes. Armsmaster logo zip-tie dispenser." Miss Militia went through the little Protectorate-logo pack quickly. "Oh. Little cards with emergency translations in Spanish, Chinese, and..."
"I have no idea why 'my hovercraft is full of eels' is included in the emergency phrases," admitted Armsmaster.
"I do," said Miss Militia. She did not expand upon that though.
Armsmaster waited a few seconds to see if Miss Militia would say anything more but apparently not.
Assault and Battery were the next to arrive. "Another meeting? Seriously?"
"What's this?" asked Assault.
"Gift boxes given out to new heroes," said Armsmaster.
"They get gift boxes? I never got a gift box," complained Assault.
"None of us did," commented Miss Militia. "Morning Assault Black Tea?"
"Whoa, gimmee," responded Assault. "I didn't even know that had been approved."
"I get a cellphone charger?" asked Battery. "With the charger lighting up when in use... Okay, where's my copy?"
"Well, all of you are here and... what are THOSE?" asked Director Piggot.
"Affiliate Gift Boxes," said Miss Militia. "Copies of 'So Now You're A Parahuman, What Now?' and pamphlets on the benefits of joining the PRT. There are sections for joining the Wards, the Protectorate, becoming a Rogue or Independent, and expected standards of behavior for each."
"Why the hell haven't we had these years ago?" asked Velocity.
"Where did you get them?" asked Director Piggot, looking half-pissed and half-curious herself.
"Several of the troops had them, this is all I was able to acquire," said Armsmaster.
"I'll follow up on this," grumbled Director Piggot. "First though. I've received an update on Coil. This is all Security Level 5, so if Armsmaster will oblige?"
Armsmaster placed a device on the table and it began humming and lit up.
"No, the other one," amended Director Piggot.
Armsmaster glanced at her, then began to slowly smile before he pulled out a different gadget and set it on the table.
"Is that... The Thing?" asked Assault.
"I've wanted to use this for so long," admitted Armsmaster.
The Thing began beeping faster and faster and then sent out a sphere of energy that enclosed the entire room.
"What IS that?" asked Battery.
"That," said Assault. "Is The Thing."
"I thought that The Thing was the domestic robot he made to keep his lab clean," said Battery.
"No, that is That Thing," said Assault.
"If you're all done," said Director Piggot.
"Okay, seriously, what was that and why does it look like a glowing dunce cap?" asked Battery.
"That is the Cone of Silence," said Assault proudly.
"Seriously?" asked Battery.
"Yes, it erects a force field specifically tuned to audible frequencies," said Armsmaster. "Assault suggested the idea during lunch in the cafeteria. Anyone attempting to listen in either in person or electronically gets one of three presets instead."
(Elsewhere, a spy for Empire 88 was wondering why someone was singing about never going to give you up, never going to let you down, and so on.)
"Now that we're private," said Director Piggot, steering things back to actual meeting matters. "Top secret and tell no one outside this building. Coil is dead."
"He didn't seem hurt during the Endbringer fight," pointed out Assault.
"The one pretending to be Coil is actually the person who killed him and took over his criminal organization," said Director Piggot. "This is high-level black department stuff, the sort of spook operation where you have levels of plausible deniability and people tend to disappear if they make too much fuss. Coil's operations will be scaling back and at the end of it I suspect will leave the Bay altogether."
"'Black Department' like Operation Blowhole?" asked Velocity.
"What's 'Operation Blowhole'?" asked Battery.
"Exactly," said Director Piggot.
"No, I seriously don't know, what is 'Operation Blowhole'?" asked Battery.
"If you don't already know, then you can't be told about it," said Assault.
"I'm surprised you know about it," commented Velocity.
"Some things even I'm not going to joke about," pointed out Assault.
"So, yes, exactly that sort of thing," said Director Piggot, swearing internally that sometimes it felt like she was herding cats. "The reason all of you are being told about it, is that you'll have to know when to avoid something going on locally. If you hear Console flagging a Code Ophinicus, that's a back-the-hell-up and observe at a safe distance signal."
* Saturday, October 3 2009 *
* Docks *
Bright and early were two things she did not want to deal with on a non-school day.
Still they were planning out the major project of clearing the Ship Graveyard so that was something that had to be done. Sub-Zero was there already, in one hand a spear whose head was like a leaf from an olive tree except that it was a dark blue ice.
Zenko walked up to Sub-Zero and said very quietly while looking at the assembled workers just a little distance away. "Any idea where the random points and rolls keep coming from?"
"Got a theory, don't think you'll like it," said Danny Hebert.
Zenko's ears went flat briefly and her tail twitched. "What?"
"Dojo right?" asked Sub-Zero. "You can share or even shift off rolls, right?"
Zenko nodded, pretty sure whatever was coming she was NOT going to like. "Yeah. Thing said it was 'milestone' so when something's been accomplished? But I was in the shower when it came up last night and I woke up with another."
Sub-Zero glanced around, making sure that nobody was close. "I think whenever a student hits a milestone, or when someone in the know because you did something that made their accomplishment possible? You get some points, probably lower than if you accomplished something."
"That makes way too much sense," complained Zenko, not going any further as the rest of the workers got closer.
Each of the rolls so far had come up with "Insufficient Points" and roll over on the totals. She wasn't sure what the total was, she'd been at least half-asleep for the most recent one, but it was high.
Some of those missed rolls had sounded really intriguing too. Especially "With A Single Spell" and "True Resurrection" - when she'd realized what THAT meant she had been very sorry that she hadn't had the points.
Also the much earlier "Roll on other Celestial Table" with "Forge" and "Domain: Databases: Mundane" and then "Capsule Calamity"? How cool would it have been to have that, where she could do the fuuinjutsu storage thing with a tech method? Armsmaster would be just SO envious. She'd have been able to bribe him off with a couple of those as long as he stopped trying to recruit her.
Though, now that she thought about it, he hadn't done that recently.
(BOOM!) went an explosion far away.
Everyone looked to the tiny dot arcing across the sky.
"Is that Lung?" asked Zenko.
"Too far away to tell," said Zephron, adjusting his sunglasses.
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK) went a roulette wheel on another plane of existence.
"That reminds me. I captured Oni Lee but I heard he's been out awhile," said Zenko.
"He got a judge who ordered the blindfold off so he could face his accusers," said Zephron with a shrug.
"You... you're kidding. Right?" asked Sub-Zero.
"No, I heard the same thing." Lacey shrugged. "They probably would have let him go during that Endbringer fight as long as he volunteered to go anyway."
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK)
(02 - Ki, Chi, Cosmos and other enhanced fighting techniques)
"Is it any wonder this city is as screwed up as it is?" asked Sub-Zero.
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK)
"Share," mumbled Zenko, though a glance at Sub-Zero got a subtle shake of his head. Understandable, getting the hang of new abilities was always tricky and having a new one get thrust in just made it worse.
Then came a moment of panic as she realized she didn't know who else to share with.
"So Oni Lee escaped. How many died?" asked Sub-Zero.
"None, apparently he was very polite about it all, even when escaping," said Zephron. "Probably helped that he didn't have any of his usual weapons."
(01 - Kame Style)
Zenko looked around. Kurt, Lacey, Zephron, her father. Who could she use the share function with? It meant sharing her secret, or at least A secret, so who could she trust?
In a brief moment of panic, she chose.
* Friday, October 2, 2009 *
* Vista *
She wasn't sure what to expect of this introductory course. There were all sorts of arguments about whether or not to try it with various other people, but it came down to her for some reason.
"Okay, this will seem a little weird," said Zenko as she walked in front of the class. "But that's okay. If any of you go on with classes, you'll find that 'weird ninja sh... crap' is more than just a tag on PHO."
A glance to either side revealed that she was one of six hopefuls and the only one in costume. Also the youngest at 10 years old.
"The first thing we're doing is trying to get you a feel for your chakra," continued Zenko. "I put my hand on your chest and send unaspected chakra into you. You nod as soon as you feel something. Do NOT do this yourself to anyone. Unaspected chakra in small amounts is fine. Unless you've managed to filter it down to unaspected chakra, trying to send chakra into someone else will hurt them."
Vista flicked her full attention back to Zenko as apparently the ninja foxgirl had noticed and was about to forehead-flick her.
"Pay attention when potentially life-altering decisions are explained," chided Zenko with a frown. "Okay, we'll start at this end with... Mister Veder."
Why did Zenko make that name sound so distasteful? Why did she hesitate touching the boy? Was it because she was a little older-looking but still in the same age-range?
Huh, ninjas and weirdness already. Zenko was right about that much at least.
"I'm sending just a tiny amount of chakra this time," said Zenko, touching two fingers to this Veder guy's chest. "Less than you'd need for any technique."
Vista watched as there was a brief moment before Zenko moved to the next person in line.
"I didn't feel anything!" protested Veder.
"Next time down the line I'll try twice that amount of chakra," said Zenko, already touching the next guy.
"AH! That was so weird!" said the guy.
"You have a lot of physical energy and less spiritual energy," said Zenko. "I'll show you some meditation techniques to try and balance out later."
"What about me?!" demanded the Veder kid.
"Almost no physical energy, very little spiritual energy, and you need to lay off the energy drinks and all those sugars," said Zenko before moving to the woman who was next in line.
Vista blinked. Was that some sort of Striker power like Panacea was supposed to have? That could be really handy with doing triage in the after-action portion of a cape fight. People were always sticking around to record stuff instead of running away.
Some people had NO self-survival instinct.
"AH! It felt like my liver just got tickled. Is that normal?" asked the woman.
"High physical energy, fair amount of spiritual. You get working on meditation too," said Zenko. "You're over-relying on salads though. You'll need to up your protein if you continue with training."
"I like salads," complained the woman.
"So get some with some meat in there like a Caesar Chicken," advised the guy next to her.
One more guy, then Zenko was in front of her, putting her hand out. Waiting for an objection, then touching her chest.
It was VERY weird, to the point where she couldn't help flinching a bit. A feeling like someone touching her with a feather, but inside her. Vista could see why everyone kept reacting to it, except Veder-kid.
"Unusual that we get three people in a row at this level," commented Zenko. "You need to lay off the energy drinks, or at least cut back on them. You don't want to end up like Greg Veder do you?"
"Hey!" protested the Veder kid.
"No!" exclaimed Vista.
"Hey!" repeated the Veder kid.
"Low physical energy, higher spiritual energy. To balance out you should do more physical exercises," said Zenko before moving on to the next person.
Vista started tuning things out, concentrating on the memory of that weird feeling. What it was like, how it felt. Also trying to figure out why her power was feeling... startled? Curious? Like some drowsing cat that had just had a curious object plopped in front of it?
Yeah, she'd think about THAT a whole lot later.
Zenko finished the line, came back to the ones who hadn't felt anything on her first try, and used larger amounts of this chakra-stuff to do that probe thing.
This time without comments about diets.
A really really old guy (must have been at least 50) showed up to demonstrate two of the basic techniques for manipulating chakra, exercises to develop chakra and control it. "You just take any leaf, pull a bit of chakra out, and stick the leaf to your forehead like so."
Vista concentrated on the weird feeling, tried to imagine it seeping out of her forehead, touched the leaf to that spot... and it stuck like a refrigerator magnet. Huh.
"That's just static electricity or sap," protested Veder. "When can we do the cool stuff?"
"If that's all it is, you should be able to do it right away," said the old guy. "Vista's already doing it."
"Now the leaf's stuck to my hand," complained one of the guys, waving a hand around and sure enough his leaf was sticking to it like it was glued. But it was the same kind of leaf she had, so Vista knew it was dry.
Suddenly her leaf dropped and she felt like dropping herself.
"Anyone feeling tired, there's electrolyte water over there. Grab a bottle and rest. We'll meet again next week so practice the exercises in the flyers by the door."
* PRT ENE HQ *
* Conference Room D *
"New cape gift boxes?" asked Miss Militia. "Oh, the 'Militia Morning Blend Coffee' - I did want to try this."
Armsmaster set the little boxes in the center of the table. "Took me some time to get ahold of these."
"Little first aid kit. Pamphlets for beginning capes. Armsmaster logo zip-tie dispenser." Miss Militia went through the little Protectorate-logo pack quickly. "Oh. Little cards with emergency translations in Spanish, Chinese, and..."
"I have no idea why 'my hovercraft is full of eels' is included in the emergency phrases," admitted Armsmaster.
"I do," said Miss Militia. She did not expand upon that though.
Armsmaster waited a few seconds to see if Miss Militia would say anything more but apparently not.
Assault and Battery were the next to arrive. "Another meeting? Seriously?"
"What's this?" asked Assault.
"Gift boxes given out to new heroes," said Armsmaster.
"They get gift boxes? I never got a gift box," complained Assault.
"None of us did," commented Miss Militia. "Morning Assault Black Tea?"
"Whoa, gimmee," responded Assault. "I didn't even know that had been approved."
"I get a cellphone charger?" asked Battery. "With the charger lighting up when in use... Okay, where's my copy?"
"Well, all of you are here and... what are THOSE?" asked Director Piggot.
"Affiliate Gift Boxes," said Miss Militia. "Copies of 'So Now You're A Parahuman, What Now?' and pamphlets on the benefits of joining the PRT. There are sections for joining the Wards, the Protectorate, becoming a Rogue or Independent, and expected standards of behavior for each."
"Why the hell haven't we had these years ago?" asked Velocity.
"Where did you get them?" asked Director Piggot, looking half-pissed and half-curious herself.
"Several of the troops had them, this is all I was able to acquire," said Armsmaster.
"I'll follow up on this," grumbled Director Piggot. "First though. I've received an update on Coil. This is all Security Level 5, so if Armsmaster will oblige?"
Armsmaster placed a device on the table and it began humming and lit up.
"No, the other one," amended Director Piggot.
Armsmaster glanced at her, then began to slowly smile before he pulled out a different gadget and set it on the table.
"Is that... The Thing?" asked Assault.
"I've wanted to use this for so long," admitted Armsmaster.
The Thing began beeping faster and faster and then sent out a sphere of energy that enclosed the entire room.
"What IS that?" asked Battery.
"That," said Assault. "Is The Thing."
"I thought that The Thing was the domestic robot he made to keep his lab clean," said Battery.
"No, that is That Thing," said Assault.
"If you're all done," said Director Piggot.
"Okay, seriously, what was that and why does it look like a glowing dunce cap?" asked Battery.
"That is the Cone of Silence," said Assault proudly.
"Seriously?" asked Battery.
"Yes, it erects a force field specifically tuned to audible frequencies," said Armsmaster. "Assault suggested the idea during lunch in the cafeteria. Anyone attempting to listen in either in person or electronically gets one of three presets instead."
(Elsewhere, a spy for Empire 88 was wondering why someone was singing about never going to give you up, never going to let you down, and so on.)
"Now that we're private," said Director Piggot, steering things back to actual meeting matters. "Top secret and tell no one outside this building. Coil is dead."
"He didn't seem hurt during the Endbringer fight," pointed out Assault.
"The one pretending to be Coil is actually the person who killed him and took over his criminal organization," said Director Piggot. "This is high-level black department stuff, the sort of spook operation where you have levels of plausible deniability and people tend to disappear if they make too much fuss. Coil's operations will be scaling back and at the end of it I suspect will leave the Bay altogether."
"'Black Department' like Operation Blowhole?" asked Velocity.
"What's 'Operation Blowhole'?" asked Battery.
"Exactly," said Director Piggot.
"No, I seriously don't know, what is 'Operation Blowhole'?" asked Battery.
"If you don't already know, then you can't be told about it," said Assault.
"I'm surprised you know about it," commented Velocity.
"Some things even I'm not going to joke about," pointed out Assault.
"So, yes, exactly that sort of thing," said Director Piggot, swearing internally that sometimes it felt like she was herding cats. "The reason all of you are being told about it, is that you'll have to know when to avoid something going on locally. If you hear Console flagging a Code Ophinicus, that's a back-the-hell-up and observe at a safe distance signal."
* Saturday, October 3 2009 *
* Docks *
Bright and early were two things she did not want to deal with on a non-school day.
Still they were planning out the major project of clearing the Ship Graveyard so that was something that had to be done. Sub-Zero was there already, in one hand a spear whose head was like a leaf from an olive tree except that it was a dark blue ice.
Zenko walked up to Sub-Zero and said very quietly while looking at the assembled workers just a little distance away. "Any idea where the random points and rolls keep coming from?"
"Got a theory, don't think you'll like it," said Danny Hebert.
Zenko's ears went flat briefly and her tail twitched. "What?"
"Dojo right?" asked Sub-Zero. "You can share or even shift off rolls, right?"
Zenko nodded, pretty sure whatever was coming she was NOT going to like. "Yeah. Thing said it was 'milestone' so when something's been accomplished? But I was in the shower when it came up last night and I woke up with another."
Sub-Zero glanced around, making sure that nobody was close. "I think whenever a student hits a milestone, or when someone in the know because you did something that made their accomplishment possible? You get some points, probably lower than if you accomplished something."
"That makes way too much sense," complained Zenko, not going any further as the rest of the workers got closer.
Each of the rolls so far had come up with "Insufficient Points" and roll over on the totals. She wasn't sure what the total was, she'd been at least half-asleep for the most recent one, but it was high.
Some of those missed rolls had sounded really intriguing too. Especially "With A Single Spell" and "True Resurrection" - when she'd realized what THAT meant she had been very sorry that she hadn't had the points.
Also the much earlier "Roll on other Celestial Table" with "Forge" and "Domain: Databases: Mundane" and then "Capsule Calamity"? How cool would it have been to have that, where she could do the fuuinjutsu storage thing with a tech method? Armsmaster would be just SO envious. She'd have been able to bribe him off with a couple of those as long as he stopped trying to recruit her.
Though, now that she thought about it, he hadn't done that recently.
(BOOM!) went an explosion far away.
Everyone looked to the tiny dot arcing across the sky.
"Is that Lung?" asked Zenko.
"Too far away to tell," said Zephron, adjusting his sunglasses.
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK) went a roulette wheel on another plane of existence.
"That reminds me. I captured Oni Lee but I heard he's been out awhile," said Zenko.
"He got a judge who ordered the blindfold off so he could face his accusers," said Zephron with a shrug.
"You... you're kidding. Right?" asked Sub-Zero.
"No, I heard the same thing." Lacey shrugged. "They probably would have let him go during that Endbringer fight as long as he volunteered to go anyway."
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK)
(02 - Ki, Chi, Cosmos and other enhanced fighting techniques)
"Is it any wonder this city is as screwed up as it is?" asked Sub-Zero.
(TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK)
"Share," mumbled Zenko, though a glance at Sub-Zero got a subtle shake of his head. Understandable, getting the hang of new abilities was always tricky and having a new one get thrust in just made it worse.
Then came a moment of panic as she realized she didn't know who else to share with.
"So Oni Lee escaped. How many died?" asked Sub-Zero.
"None, apparently he was very polite about it all, even when escaping," said Zephron. "Probably helped that he didn't have any of his usual weapons."
(01 - Kame Style)
Zenko looked around. Kurt, Lacey, Zephron, her father. Who could she use the share function with? It meant sharing her secret, or at least A secret, so who could she trust?
In a brief moment of panic, she chose.
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Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Shorter than intended because I finally figured out what that nagging "something missing" feeling was and had to cut a chunk of this chapter.
Going to saboten con tomorrow, so putting this out tonight. I may wear my Sabaton shirt at Saboten just because. Wasn't impressed with the $30 to park for the two hours I was there today...
Going to saboten con tomorrow, so putting this out tonight. I may wear my Sabaton shirt at Saboten just because. Wasn't impressed with the $30 to park for the two hours I was there today...
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Me? I think it's Zephron. The sorts of things he could do with the Turtle Hermit's arts...
(Assuming I've got that right, we're talking 'Dragon Ball', where Son Goku and Krillin train under Master Roshi... That's nasty training. His boast is than in training students over 500yrs, few have been killed by his training. Crippled, yes, but, thems the risks. Excessive? It took him 50yrs to figure-out one technique...)
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