Koukami - Fighting Kings of the New World (IC Thread)

**Janx** · July 20th, 2016, 12:00 AM

????????? - Forest Clearing - Arena 7
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“Rosa!” Calista let out her own sigh of relief as the girl called back to her. Even though her heart desired to explore this new world, she still desired the companionship of some familiar faces.

The pirate wrapped the noblewoman in another embrace, though just as the Rosalind did not blush, this hug was not one meant to tease. Rather a symbol of their friendship in face of the challenges ahead.

Thankfully it did not take long for the Italian to find them.

"Did Singnoritas call for me?"

“Why of course my dear Alonzo. You have a habit of wondering off on me. I’m going to have to get a leash for you one day.” Calista gently lets go of Rosalind and gives Alonzo a fake pout, “I was hoping to get the crew back together to go on a bit of scouting of our surroundings. Albeit, I seem to have misplaced our new recruit…”

That’s when it dawned on her. She suddenly ignores the man in front of her and darted her gaze around. Looking around, it seem the vast majority of people were either staff or former spectators. She may not have known most the other fighters, but most seemed to have a bit of an…outlandish look to them. It seemed like the only ones were from her team and those who were fighting.

Caslita then took on a surprisingly somber countenance, “It seems…like the only fighters here are us and the Russians, and the Japanese teams.”

**palad1n** · July 20th, 2016, 06:15 AM

Rosalind Ainslee
????????? - Forest Clearing - Arena 7
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Originally Posted by Alonzo

"Did singnoritas called for me?"

"Mister Alonzo." Rosalind nodded at the last member of team Europe, still impressed at the spin recovery that he did after stumbling. "It is good to see you are alright." She finished with a small smile.

And with the arrival of the Immortal Composer, team Europe is now complete, and Rosalind truly thinks that it is the best team that she could ever ask for. Calista might get a little too friendly and close from time to time, but she acts like an older sister and basically looked after her; Alonzo himself, while a little bit eccentric, is a gentleman at heart. It was thanks to them that she is not so nervous entering the tournament, and she thought they have a rather good chemistry.

But, just as she started to focus on those beautiful memories...

Reality once again came crashing down.

Originally Posted by Calista

“It seems…like the only fighters here are us and the Russians, and the Japanese teams.”

"What?"

Rosalind's eyes immediately scanned her surroundings, at the people and crowds that had been gathered here. There are over one hundred people here, so surely that can't be right...

But as her hawk-like eyes looked at them one by one, it became apparent that what Calista said was indeed the truth. Despite the fact that there are other teams participating in the tournament, only team Japan, Russia and Europe is here. Even Annabel and team South Africa, despite being only a few inches apart from her and Calista when it happened, are absent.

The weight of reality became apparent to the English girl after that.

'We're... going to be responsible to protect hundreds of lives...'

Rosalind Ainslee is, aside from her talent in archery, a normal girl. She has no terrible hidden superpowers, she was not a part of an elite organization, and she had no dark and troubled past that is beyond normal. While she had seen someone near a state of death, she had never seen someone died before, nor had she been responsible to protect innocent lives.

Simply put, this situation is truly out of this world for Rosalind.

But...

'If I worry too much, I won't be able to do anything.'

Soon enough, the girl has calmed down, violet eyes blazing with determination. Her train of thought is simple enough: she'll worry about the larger things and strange details later, because she cannot shut down now, not at an important time like this. The thought of her family, of Estrella, of everything else that doesn't matter right now, is thrown out of the window; there are 11 of them, all world-class fighters, and there must be certain actions that needs to be done.

She looked at where the Russians are. The one whom fighting style she cannot grasp, Sergei, has suggested scouting. The two Japanese near him wanted to organize the survivors. Meanwhile, the German doctor wanted to investigate the arena.

Rosalind muses about it for a while before speaking to her team.

"With only 11 fighters here, we should divide the work carefully. Mister Alonzo, perhaps you could help the Japanese organize the people here." Rosalind began as she looked at the blond composer. "You have mastered multiple languages, so I am sure it will help. Besides, should anything happens, your techniques would be most suitable to fight and protect the civilians at the same time."

"I myself will help scout the area." The archer continues while absentmindedly playing with her hair ribbon, the only sign of the English girl's nervousness. "I was trained extensively in archery, including the basics of hunting, and this eyes and bow of mine would be more useful for such purpose than staying here."

"And Calista..." Rosalind stopped for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts, before continuing. "... can do any of the three. You are very sociable, so organizing the people would be natural; Finding clues in the arena might pique your curiosity as well. Lastly, you can join the scout if wanted to satisfy your need for an adventure. The choice is yours."

Having finished what she wanted to say, Rosalind then looked at her two teammates, and despite her utmost effort to look calm and composed, the slightest hint of uncertainty and doubt could be seen on her face.

But still the Bow Princess pushed forward, and those uncertainty disappears soon after.

"If there is no objection, then we can immediately start preparing ourselves."

**Katie** · July 20th, 2016, 08:23 AM

Kaede Kitamura
????????? - Forest Clearing - Arena 7
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Mood: Cold Vengeance

“Oh, I’m Kaede Kitamura. A-apologies that we couldn’t have met in better standards.” She wasn’t sure why she was apologizing at all, but somewhere in her gut she felt that this was her fault, somehow, someway. That feeling soaked into her very bones, weighing her down, making her hesitate. Trying to conceal the grimace on her face with a false smile, she turned to the Russian, who was miffed.

A joke like her did have that effect quite often. Namely, he called her out for picming fights, and well… It probably wouldn’t have gone better in either swing, but at least she was less willing to back up her words in this one. Her limbs felt like lead, and her very breath seemed to be heavy. Time slow, erratic, despite the adrenaline rush situation.

“Yeah, yeah, alright. Let’s just round up everyone and make sure they know where you and everyone going, so they don’t get all pissy or do something stupid. Trust is hard to build, as I’m sure you know, so let’s not all get off on the wrong foot.” Wishing that she had the capacity to change her aggravated, cold, tired tone, she stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“And don’t give her the wrong advice. Tsundere is pretty trite, and it never works. Better to be cold than to give someone mixed messages.” As she said this, the idiot’s face burned bright red in an embarrassed blush as she went down memory lane, before settling back down to that distant expression.

I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die

“E-experience,” the moron hammered out after a bit, wishing she hadn’t brought that up because it was seriously bothering her about how she retarded she was and how retarded she looked right now and this wasn’t really good for her in the slightest

But even if her face had finally managed to settle on a neutral, if grumpy experession, it didn’t change the fact her breath was visibly forming into mist. Giving a hesitant look, her eyes said everything to Daigo.

Bail me out!

**Mellon** · July 21st, 2016, 04:41 AM

Kaede Kitamura, Sergei B. Adaksin, Daigo Shime
????????? - Forest Clearing - Arena 7
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“I think you should rather try tsundere. Your hairstyle isn’t exactly the one typically worn by such characters, but it is close enough, and I suspect it might be more fitting, da?”

The slight smile that that Anastasia gave to Sergei was as cold as the Siberian tundra during the winter. Truly spectacular! With every passing second, her demeanor became more and more akin the archetype she was supposed to act out. Perhaps she was some kind of acting prodigy that got more and more into as she interacted with those around her? Perhaps soon she would truly become the perfect incarnation of the fabled kuudere?

She needed to tone down the expressiveness in her eyes, though. A bit too passionate, if you were completely honest.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Mr. Adaksin.“ Her eyes flicked over to Kaede, the frostiness on her face not even fading for a second. “You as well, Ms. Kitamura. Your truly wise observations on my behavior have been noted.”

“I’ll see what the others are doing, gramps."

Slipping out of her “role” for a moment the auburn-haired girl walked out of the small clearing, leaving the other four people behind. Francesco was quietly snored , oblivious to the entire matter, as Vassili let out a deep sigh at the younger girl’s behavior, his eyes locked to the now disappearing back of the younger girl.

“Fiery, that one. Gets that from her mother, I’m afraid. I’ll talk with her later, once she has managed to cool down.” The ex-soldier's eyes flickered away from her granddaughter and over to the trio in front of him. “Though I can’t say that was truly her fault either. I don’t mind if you heard our earlier conversation, but goading her like that was not wise. You saw how she reacted to just to my minor comment earlier, right?”

“As for you girl, you should learn from your blonde-haired friend. If you have no wise advice to give on the matter and you haven’t been asked, just don’t. By extending this conversation, you just further irritated her.”

"Since it seems a good number of the fighters from Arena 7 landed with us, splitting up into groups of 3-4 could be be best for each job."

“Agreed. We should also arrange the timing in a way that camp doesn’t remain undefended. We haven’t seen anyone or anything, but even if this is an abandoned island somewhere in the middle of nowhere, there might still be bears or wolves roaming around, so we should at least be somewhat careful on that front.”

Suddenly, the buzzing of voices from the wider field started dying out.

“Hmm. That suited girl must have managed to divide up some basic tasks between everyone.” An amused grunt echoed out of the older man. “Though, you guys will probably have to bear the brunt of doing things other just carrying firewood.”

[Interlude - Start of a New World - Finished]

Relationship Update - Vasili and Ana

**Mellon** · July 25th, 2016, 05:17 AM

Mihoshi Kurosawa, Haruna Fujibayashi, Albrecht von Kirchensittenbach
Forest Clearing - In front of Arena 7
Day 2
Afternoon

Status Update

The broken stone monstrosity in front of you kind of reminded you the leaning Tower of Pisa in a way, with its slightly tilted angle. Even without any architectural knowledge, the three of you could definitely see why Hiroshi had been so hesitant to explore this place during his initial survey of your surroundings. That thing didn’t look stable at all and was liable to collapse on any unwary surveyor. At least you might have the chance of making it out of the remnants before the entire thing collapsed on you. People less supernatural, however…

“Heya, guys. Ready to head in then?”

Hiroshi Tanamura’s rather enthusiastic voice reached the three martial artists.

The Jinkai engineer dressed was dressed in his somewhat grimy yellow overalls and was flanked by six other men. From what little conversation you had had with the optimistic man over the past couple of days, he seemed relatively reliable. And, most importantly, cool-headed, judging from how quickly he had tried to ensure everyone's safety after your impromptu arrival. He was the one who had organized the small transport crew that had been recommended by Albrecht, although they were adamant about not entering before the three of you had made sure it was safe first.

And so, with a cheerful wave from Hiroshi as your farewell token, the three of you entered into the dim interior of the Arena.

As you made your way past the first corner, you were greeted by a sight that was not completely unexpected. The entire place was completely wrecked, littered with chunks of concrete and dust. One of the tables that had been used for ticket sales had now flipped over and lay in the lower corner of the slightly tilted entrance hall. However, there were some surprises here. Most importantly…

The lights, despite flickering constantly, were still working.

This meant that this place still had electricity, at least to some extent. As it was quite unlikely that this place had its own power plant stuck to it, this suggested the presence of a generator some sort. Whether fuel for it was available or not, was another matter of course. Regardless, you might be able to scavenge it. And who knew? There might be some way to get that thing working later. A chance at electricity was better than no chance, right?

With those thoughts in mind, you started to carefully look through the various rooms and hallways of the broken arena section. While at first glance, it would seem that a lot of the things you found were useless junk, they could, potentially, be put into great use in your current situation. The half smashed gift-shop, for example, despite being filled with tacky national paraphernalia, such as flag covered shirts, scarves, and caps, would probably be a life saver, as none of you had your own spare clothes. Likewise for the two smashed vending machines that were filled to the brim with worst junk food and soda drinks imaginable. Carefully, you collected what you could and moved it into one central location, so that the others would have an easier time of moving it, once they would come in.

Scavenging Results - Arena 7 Remnants

All that paled, however, compared to your final discovery.

Entering through a rather unassuming door, you found yourself in a large steel room, with a sturdy bridge in the middle of it. The size of it, quite frankly, outstripped every other room in the broken arena combined. But that was not the unnerving aspect. As you made your way across the bridge and looked down, you saw an ominous azure glow pulsing underneath you. From what, you couldn’t tell. And judging from the distance of the glow, a jump down there would be hazardous, even for you. As you made your way across the steel bridge, a large steel door, almost akin to a massive hangar door, loomed in front of you, with a small bright panel next to it. As you moved closer to examine the entry panel a bit closer, a mechanical “eye” at the top of the door suddenly activated, whirling into life and filling the entire area with red light. A feminine computerized voice echoed out through the room.

UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY. SCANNING. SCANNING. INTRUDERS IDENTIFIED AS MEMBERS OF “SALVATION PROJECT 4”. ARGO CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN MET. ENTRY GRAnte….

The voice sputtered out mid-sentence, its eye suddenly flickering off.

Challenge

**Mellon** · July 26th, 2016, 05:41 AM

Rosalind Ainslee, Sergei. B. Adaksin, Viola Santiago, Calista Tomás
Strange Forest
Day 4
Dawn

The air here was thick with moisture and the scent of leaves.

You couldn’t quite notice it in the camp, but this forest felt primal, almost as if it had never been touched by human hands before. Spiritual energy was awash here, permeating almost everything to a level you hade never felt before back home. The trees were tall and their leaves were thick enough to almost completely block out the direct rays of the sun, except for the few spots where sunlight managed break through the sea of emerald leaves.

Your search of the areas surrounding the camp was scant in terms of finding any new information about this strange place, but worthwhile nonetheless. Based on Mihoshi’s impromptu “scouting” , the nearby area didn’t have any notable landmarks or particular points of interest to examine. Though, as she was quick to point out, the thick leaf coverage meant that seeing smaller things close to the ground was nigh impossible. Therefore, you decided to run a quick survey of the nearby area nonetheless. For starters, there didn’t seem to be any type of wildlife around. None whatsoever. If you had to hazard a guess, you would probably pin it down to what seemed to be a rather loud entry and the movement of more than a hundred people after that. Judging from the untouched nature of the forest, it was quite likely that any animal near to the camp simply fled and would approach due to the noise the survivors were making. If you wanted to hunt, you needed to head deeper into the forest proper. But while you didn’t find signs of any lifeforms, with the exception of the constant and ceaseless bird song, thanks to Viola’s sharp eyes, you did manage to find a small stream of fresh water rushing out from a small crevice next to a a rather large boulder. You had already determined that the water from the large waterfalls near your current location was salt-water, rather than fresh water, so this should, at least for the time being, solve your most important problem. Thirst.

Challenge Result

Now that the nearby area had been scouted, you had to decide where you would strike out next. Thanks to Mihoshi, you now at least had a decent understanding of the nearby layout. To the north lay a large mountain and a coastline. From the looks of it, this forest was located rather close to the sea, though figuring out whether you were on an island, on a peninsula or simply near the continental coast was impossible for you at the moment. In this aspect, heading towards the mountain might give you an even better layout of the area than simply looking at things from Mihoshi’s rather smaller snake-pillar.

Towards the other side, however, Mihoshi could only make out a curtain of white. A wall of mist suddenly seemed to cut through the forest, almost as if encircling it off from… something. If it was a natural formation, it was an incredibly bizarre one and you couldn’t even begin to hypothesise what could be the potential cause of such a strange phenomena. What was clear however, was that you couldn’t see through it, at least not from the ground level or from the height of Mihoshi’s pillar. Another thing that you noticed was that the mist didn’t encircle the entire area, but rather formed an almost half-circle to the coastline in the north.

Now the question remained… where to next?

Map Updated!

GM Note

**Zagrin** · July 26th, 2016, 07:03 AM

Albrecht von Kirchensittenbach
Forest Clearing - In front of Arena 7
Day 2
Afternoon

This day was just full of surprises it seemed! After all who could have expected that their little group of scavengers would end up finding such an out of place room, compared to the rest of Arena. After all this steel room seemed to be completely undamaged, pristine even, as if it had been specifically created to withstand their unexpected trip. Not only that it seemed that power was also still circulating throughout the room if the blinking lights were anything to go by.

"How fascinating."

Albrecht was completely enraptured by what he was seeing, his interest growing even greater thanks to the words of the artificial voice that had greeted them. Salvation Project 4? Conditions have been met? It seemed as though someone had expected their little group to eventually reach to this room although for what purpose was still a mystery.

"Interesting, very interesting! Ah, but even when we're so close the hand of fate comes down to bar us from entry, but perhaps that's being a bit too dramatic. Over the last couple years Jinkai's technology had started getting a bit...sub-par, I suppose we should just be grateful that the door hasn't died on us like our little friend did. Now then, let's see..."

It seemed that Albrecht was speaking more to himself than the rest of his group, indeed it seemed as though he had forgotten about everything else and was now completely focusing on the door and what potentially lay behind it. Not even bothering to hear what anyone else may have to say on the subject he walked towards the control panel near the door and placed his hand on it.

"Hmm I see. No doubt this here opens the door, but knowing Jinkai we need some password or something...ah well!"

With one swift motion he ripped the cover of the panel off, exposing the wiring and other electronics contained within. A smile was now on his face as he began to fiddle with the panel's inner workings, making use of his mechanical know how in order to open the doors before them.

"Tsk, tsk, I expected more...I doubt this will take too long."

**Mellon** · July 26th, 2016, 11:54 AM

Daigo Shime, Kaede Kitamura, Max Steele, Alonzo Toloni
Forest Clearing - Arena 7
Day 3
Noon

A rather eclectic group of individuals was sitting around a rather large stump.

“Well then. Shall we get to work then?”

The blue haired woman that opened up the conversation was the one that had addressed everyone earlier, during your rather abrupt arrival. Dana Mulloy. Thirty-one years old. Irish. An executive of Acedia Therapeutics, a rather large pharmaceutical conglomerate originating from the US. Based on your first impressions, she was calm, collected and good at both organisation and speaking, as evidenced by that initial gathering. Well, it was extremely unlikely that one could climb that high on the corporate ladder without picking up those skills, especially at her age.

“Ye...Yes we should. If we want to find some way to get back home, we need to organise ourselves for the time being.”

Francesco Abbiati, the dusky-skinned host, had seemingly been completely drained from his bravado by the sudden circumstances. At least the man had gained some composure back and despite his rather hesitant manner of speaking, a glint of determination flickered in his eye. No doubt due to his white-haired co-host, who was now standing behind him, his face set in stony silence and flanked by his young grandaughter. Vasili didn’t even need to say a word to get his point across, as it was perfectly evident in his body language.

Get on with it.

The first part of the discussion was focused on more the pressing concerns, such as structural organisation and how to organise the gathering of basic necessities such as food and water. The key issue here would be how to divide up your current workforce. Would it be better to divide into smaller teams so that you would be able to tackle more tasks and achieve things quicker, or organise yourselves into larger teams that would be able to able to do things more efficiently?

Team Composition

The second part of the discussion was rather clearly focused on governance. What specific method of governance would be best for the camp as a whole? And, more importantly, would be accepted by te camp as a whole. This is where many of those present had differing opinions. While no-one suggested a flat out dictatorship, it was clear that Vasili vastly preferred a clear chain of command, with people electing a single leader who would then have a large amount of authority over rest of the camp. Francesco and Dana were, however, suggesting a representative democracy based on the aforementioned teams, with every team sending a representative to form some sort of Council that would decide on matters. Even Ana, who had been almost silent for rest of the meeting (discounting the occasional icy “Hnn..”) broke from her grandfather’s opinion and made her case for direct voting, by arguing that since the group wasn’t that large, you could still rather efficiently decide things via votes, should the need arise.

Now the question was, which one would you back?

Governance Methods

**Kuroyuki** · July 26th, 2016, 09:22 PM

Haruna Fujibayashi
Forest Clearing - In front of Arena 7
Day 2
Afternoon

Joining the group exploring the arena was entertaining to say the least. Then again, it's not every day I get to talk to someone who has /that/ in her, a Herr Doktor, and a far too calm engineer. And amusingly enough I can say I trust the Herr Doktor more than I can trust the engineer. He's too optimistic and cool-headed to just be a mere engineer. He seems to have some kind of training besides being just an Engineer. After all, most people's reactions were to be confused or shocked at the change in events.

The only people who were composed in this scenario are people are constantly under high stress such as executives, people who have been in combat, and people who have to deal with both. So it strikes me as extremely odd for an engineer to be calm in this scenario. So after a brief bit of separation and the appearance of this door, I decided it was time to make my move to see if our good friend was indeed waiting for us and not removing information.

"Hmm... It would be easier if I just recharged the system with a littlllle shock. But I'll let the Doc do his thing in the mean time, I'll go see if I can find the back-up generators for this place. Maybe I can give them a kickstart with my lightning ninjutsu! So I'll be right back!"

With that said, I ran off seemingly enthusiastic about finding where the generator. After leaving their view, I made a few quick mudras and sent my observer on its way to stealthily observe the engineer and his team before I returned to my "real" mission of trying to find the stadium's power supply or back-up generators while the Doktor worked on fixing the wiring. Let's see if I can find the generators.

Actions:
Haruna used ???

**Ayakashi** · July 27th, 2016, 02:24 AM

Mihoshi Kurosawa
Forest Clearing - In front of Arena 7
Day 2
Afternoon

"Ugh."

Mihoshi had never been a big fan of technology. As she followed the others into this room, the girl felt a particularly painful headache, some might call it post-traumatic stress disorder. After having been abducted and turned into Jinkai Corporation's guinea pig, seeing any form of the Zaibatsu's advanced machinery was not a very pleasant experience.

She might as well have had immediately destroyed the eye-shaped... thing the moment it began speaking, was it not for the rather interesting bit of dialogue that the AI sputtered before losing power.

"How quaint."

The immediate, logical answer for Mihoshi when it seemed like this gate barred the way, was to put test the various demons inside her and see if mere brute force would suffice to overcome this obstacle. However, knowing that solving mechanical dilemmas was Albrecht's forte, she tempered her rage and frustration with a little dose of pragmatism. She had used up some of her strength at any rate summoning that massive pillar of snakes earlier, so using more of her own reserves to act as a convenient problem-solver seemed a little bit too generous.

What did not escape her attention however, was the Kunoichi splitting off from the group to go find the backup generators.

"Our dear Doktor here shouldn't take long too..."

Before Mihoshi could finish her sentence, Haruna was already gone.

The Shrine Maiden could only wonder why Haruna would expect that there'd be backup generators outside of the place rather than inside it. If there was some trouble the kunoichi could probably handle herself, but... something about letting that girl rummage about without having eyes over her did not particularly please Mihoshi.

Perhaps that possibility that she'd fine something and would do something stupid before contacting the rest of the team? Likely, but not guaranteed.

Deciding to see how it all plays out, Mihoshi stared at the corridor in which Haruna disappeared for a moment, before letting out a mildly annoyed "hmph' and turning her attention back at Albrecht.

"I'm not one to run after rabbits, so I suppose that just waiting for her to come back to us would be the better alternative."

Originally Posted by Action

Observes Albrecht.

**Mellon** · July 28th, 2016, 03:25 PM

Mihoshi Kurosawa, Albrecht von Kirchensittenbach
Forest Clearing - Arena 7 - Interior
Day 2
Afternoon

With little to no fanfare, Albrecht ripped off the steel panel next to the door, before discarding the crumpled steel sheet with a casual motion. A mass of black insulated wires poured out of the hole, revealing a number of circuit boards a bit further back. The German doctor’s hands flew into practiced motions, as he dug through the mass of electronics with the aim of opening the large door in front of you. As usual, there were several nasty “surprises” woven into the electronic panel to stop the very thing you were currently attempting, but none of them really proved that much of an issue.

After all, you had designed a significant number of these countermeasures yourself.

However, you did learn a few interesting things even from this panel. To start off with, the power supply in this place was somewhat bizarre. It was… surging, for the lack of a better term, variating between extremely low output and extremely high output almost seemingly at random. The identification system might have not ran out of power in the first place, rather the sudden surge of electricity might have overloaded and fried the system. However this place was powered, it wasn’t that stable from the looks of it.

Secondly, the door was connected to some sort of secondary system. Security, probably. You were capable of cutting it off from here, but if you had decided to force the door via brute force, you would have probably activated it, whatever it was. Your gut feeling pointed towards some sort of automated defense system, as that was what Jinkai usually used to protect valuable installations, but it had been some time since your defection.

Maybe they came up with some new tricks?

Accompanied by the grinding of mechanical gears and the sound of sliding steel, the massive steel door opened, revealing another long corridor into the distance.

As Albrecht and Mihoshi walked down an empty hallway, they could not help but frown at the sight that greeted them. The conditions in this part of the arena were far better than in the outer part you had just passed through. It was almost as if this place had been constructed exactly with the current circumstances in mind. At least this part was not in any clear danger of collapse. In fact, judging by the signs and directional that adorned the walls, this place reminded you of a survival bunker. An extremely advanced and wide-scale survival bunker, but a bunker nonetheless.

However, that was not to say that this place had been unarmed. In a cruel twist of fate, the line that led you towards “Storage” ended up in a hallway that had been seemingly sheared in half by a scalpel and completely filled with soil and dirt. From the looks of it, the “Storage” hadn’t been invited along with you on your merry little trip. All was not lost, however. For a bunker, this place was incredibly well equipped and during your casual search you found living quarters, cooking facilities and more. Heck, you even managed to discover a rather elaborate medical laboratory, stocked to the brim with various pharmaceuticals. To Albrecht’s great disappointment however, a lot of the medical equipment there been fried by the either the massively fluctuating power or the trip itself.

Discovery - Arena 7

The “Armory” line led you towards… well, an armory. One stocked with a large number of various small arms and bullets. On closer inspection, you could even spot a case or two of military-issue grenades! Nothing too large-scale and probably not that useful for any of the martial artists in the camp, but a discovery of this nature would surely encourage the less supernatural individuals in the camp. Though, how and whether these guns should even be handed out would no doubt end up a problematic question in the long run. In fact, now that you were pondering on the matter, it might even be reasonable to destroy the entire stockpile. Making it look like another “accidental consequence” of your trip wouldn’t be that difficult, after all.

Discovery - Arena 7

Still pondering on what you found in the Armory, you made your way towards your final destination, a room labeled only as “CAS”. What the abbreviation meant quickly became clear as you reached the room itself, as the words "Cells Alive System" were embolized in rather large letters above the sturdy looking door. As the door opened, you were greeted by a number of rather strange sights. For starters, there was a rather large motorcycle in the room. While it was covered by a sheet and some… rather feminine looking pants (?), you could clearly tell it was a cruiser of some sort. In the corner, there was a tall stack of hastily arranged boxes in a pillar that was clearly far taller than common sense dictated. And… was that gasoline? And an ashtray right on top of it? And why were there discarded clothes literally everywhere?!

And the most pressing question of all.

Why, suspended a tank of steel and azure, was there cryogenically frozen woman in the middle of the room?

Haruna Fujibayashi
Forest Clearing - Arena 7 - Interior
Day 2
Afternoon

In a strange twist of fate, despite splitting up from your team to look for whatever it was that was still generating power for this place, your search led you to follow in their footsteps nonetheless. Searching the rest of the Arena didn’t reveal any hidden passages or staircases leading to your destination. Which meant that your destination had to lay behind the steel door your teammates had opened and passed through mere moments ago.

With light steps befitting of one who carried the moniker of shinobi, you made your way into the pristine hallways ahead.

It didn’t take you that long to find what you were looking for. Even though there were no overt directions leading you to it, your sharp eyes caught a rather unassuming door, which upon closer inspection, revealed a long spiral staircase heading downwards. The trip below itself was quite unnerving if you were completely honest. The lights flickered on and off ominously, causing you to almost trip on the narrow staircase at times. Unlike the rooms above, the staircase with its reinforced steel frame gave off an almost utilitarian vibe. At the end of your trip, you found a heavy-set door, far thicker than any that you had seen so far.

In the end, you were forced to open in manually, as the electronic systems responsible for opening it normally seemed to be out of order. No electronic wizardry was needed here, however, as the door seemed to have a rotary handle for just such an occasion. Flashes of deep blue light almost blinded you as you stepped into what could only be described as some sort of control room. The computer screens and dashboard lights were flickering with an almost manic intensity as they seemed to measure some kind of parameters you couldn’t even identify. Mainly because of the constant flashes of blue that shone through the large reinforced window, emitted by some kind of massive contraption in the middle of the room. The large warning popups, however, those you could figure out straight away.

During one of the brief moments of calm, your eyes fell on one of the signs posted next to the large window overlooking the contraption.

**MssrNeko** · July 29th, 2016, 01:19 AM

Max Steele
Forest Clearing - Arena 7
Day 3
Noon

Tension choked the atmosphere of the displaced arena like a snake squeezing the life out of its prey. The important persons and leftover combatants debate and argue over what and how to proceed from their precarious situation. Yet in the middle of it all, a certain American wrestler furrowed his brow as the gears in his head whirled furiously. Max stands apart from the group in a ridiculous pose informally dubbed "Mind of Steel" by his fanbase, his knees bent slightly and his back to the front as his arms and fingers point to his head. A curious position that, according to Max, he inherited from his father.

Max's brain parses through everything that had happened over the past few hectic. It all seemed like some crazy dream sequence from a comic book: during a raging fight of the first round of the Steel Tournament, everyone in Arena 7 was warped to some wacko jungle forest. Now here Max was in the middle of some brainstorm to decide how to lead this unfortunate group of stragglers. Max frowned. There was something incredibly fishy about this entire incident and Max was not about to be played like some damn fiddle. Jinkies Zabeetus will have hell to pay if they thought they could pull the wool over the eyes of ----

Max Steele
American Hero

At that moment, Gin-Cow Corporation flashed through his mind as his brain pieced together the puzzle. Jean'Clau Zootopia is a major company and is sponsoring a fighting tournament. And despite all the hype, this sudden change of environment and switch to a more survivalist atmosphere. Add in all this sudden CG special effects and clever acting......

The execs must made this a survival show to shake up the ratings! he thinks with misplaced enlightenment. While flashy fights could hold the attention of viewers, too much can cause a program to decay into boredom and staleness. With the super saturation of Hollywood super action from the Bay estate, these Japanese suits must have realized they would have to up the ante. Thus the sudden swerve to a Survival program that will easily land them on a Prime Time slot! Haha, I'm so smart the musclehead thinks with a mental pat on the back.

Quickly breaking out of his pose, Max flashes a brilliant smile. Just put up a great Face and keep up the kayfabe.

"Small groups are fine with me. And I say we have a round of votes to choose our leader," Max says to the script. "After all---"

"Democracy is a leadership of the people, by the people, for the people."

**Katie** · July 29th, 2016, 02:14 AM

Kaede Kitamura
Forest Clearing - Arena 7
Day 3
Noon
Mood: Cold Vengeance

She was in a bitter mood. Kaede had always had her extreme highs and lows, of course, but this had seemed quite persistent, if anything. Sure, she’d have her brief periods of calmness or manic fervor, but it seemed that the ever encompassing shadow had to weigh her down. Perhaps it was the change in the environment, or the fact she probably would never get home—but regardless, she was in the dumps.

At the very least, she didn’t cry, if only because people looked up to her (why, she would never understand) since she was a fighter, one of the rare people capable of self-defense. To be strong for the people, while breaking on the inside. That was how heroism was, she supposed.

But damn, did she really have to be in a political meeting? She was only nineteen, for fuck’s sake. Not even eligible to vote in her home country. Her knowledge of politics and governance were superficial at best, but here they were, weighing her opinion like it mattered. Everything was just so… crazy.

She listened though. Keeping her mouth shut tight was something she was good at, since she never had anything good to say anyway. But they probably wanted her to talk, and it was better to just do it rather than make a fuss.

“Sure, democracy is by the people, for the people, of the people, but…” Her voice trailed off, and knowing how bad that sounded, she coughed a bit too loudly, in the way a child thought it made you seem more important. “The people are slow to act. They are afraid of being judged. They want to be just like their neighbor, sheep without real thought.”

With a sigh, she went into her tirade about the flaws of humanity. No optimism from her today, it seemed.

“One man might make a decision, but the more voices we add, the more he’ll begin to doubt himself. And we can’t have those sorts of doubts in a situation like this—if we waste time, people will end up suffering. We have to be fast and direct, because even if the wrong decision was made, at least we tried. Not take forever with ‘red tape’ and leave people out to dry.”

“Besides, I’m sure that with either more democratic option, the people would find someone to blame just as easily when things go south. Someone to absolve themselves of responsibility.” People would split into groups eventually, with their own differing ideologies, each blaming each other for their faults. Better to give them a scapegoat straight up when times were… alright, rather than let them pick one out over time, when things are south.

“But I guess I shouldn’t be so hasty as to judge humanity for the worst it can be. It’s perfectly fine if we have teams that vote in a council, but I want us to elect a leader in case of emergencies, someone willing to make the final decision when we need decisive action. That’s all.” Hating the sound of her own voice, Kaede grows quiet, not sure if her suggestion would really work out. It was a clear hole in this democratic working, something to be exploited.

But she hated the idea of losing people to inaction even more.

**Mormarth** · July 29th, 2016, 02:34 AM

Viola Santiago
Strange Forest
Day 4
Dawn

The air was thick with vapor and the scent of greenery, and despite the constant noise of birdsong. Not really other wildlife, and, as I cast my eyes across the earth, searching for tracks or droppings or any evidence of passage, no signs of life at all.

Still, while I was casting my eyes around for anything that stood out, I spotted a small stream of what, upon close examination and no one really wanting to test it, was revealed to be fresh water, as opposed to the number of waterfalls surrounding what was once an arena, which, curiously, were saltwater. Are we on some sort of island?

Possible campsite?

Perhaps, but the day is young.

Still, the immediate area was patted down, time to move out.

I paused for a moment, frowning over the possible routes, deciding to speak up for the first time in several hours.

"We need a vantage point to get a solid grasp on the geography of the area, we've already been using that snake-thing for a top-down view, so let's scale up while we're at it. The coast, as far as we know, is a coast, I'm no expert on surveying or whatever, but I don't feel like it's going to give us too much information."

I scratched my head, "'If your current situation is unintelligible, seek a new angle to examine it from', or something."

Sniffing a bit self-consciously, I wasn't really one for words, s'why I didn't hang out back at the now former-arena, "And, uh, despite all the birds chirpin' and carrying on, we haven't really seen any, or, like, anything alive at all, and, uh, I was thinkin about trying to shake out some of the local flavor."

"Fresh meat's good for ya." I mumbled under my breath.

Then I lapsed back into an awkward, uncomfortable silence.

"I-I'm pretty good at livin' off the land and stuff, y'know, hehe."

**palad1n** · July 29th, 2016, 04:38 AM

Rosalind Ainslee
Strange Forest
Day 4
Dawn

The air is thick with scent of moisture and leaves.

It's not the first time that Rosalind has gone to a forest - she had done so numerous time in the past to practice - but this is the first time that she had seen one which is clearly untouched by human hands. No, perhaps calling it 'forest' back home was wrong; with it being properly taken care of, little to no insect, and grasses of the same height, it would be more accurate to call them a garden or a park. Sure they are deep and have numerous wildlife within, but it's still made as such to give it a beautiful appearance.

Before coming to this place - a real forest - Rosalind, too, thought that forest and nature is beautiful.

After seeing the real thing, it's clear that the so-called beauty is made and shaped by human hands. There is still beauty in the real thing, but it's not as clean and orderly as one might imagine.

Perhaps because of her musing, she failed to spot the small spring which Viola thankfully found. She is an archer for goodness sake, and yet she failed to notice such an important discovery!

Slapping her own cheeks twice in order to regain her focus, Rosalind took a deep breath. She must stay focused at the task at hand, or else her participation on the exploration team would be a waste...

Originally Posted by Viola

"We need a vantage point to get a solid grasp on the geography of the area, we've already been using that snake-thing for a top-down view, so let's scale up while we're at it. The coast, as far as we know, is a coast, I'm no expert on surveying or whatever, but I don't feel like it's going to give us too much information. 'If your current situation is unintelligible, seek a new angle to examine it from', or something."

So what she was saying is...

"By going to the mountain, we'll be able to better observe our surroundings." Rosalind concludes as she looked at the black-haired woman and nods. "I agree with miss Viola. We might find out where we are if we climb the mountain, and perhaps we might be able to see beyond that mist in the other side."

After she had said her piece, Rosalind's mind began to wander to the strange shrine maiden - Mihoshi - because of how she used a snake to help the exploration team. The snake-pillar certainly had helped a lot, and despite her initial assessment maybe Mihoshi is not so bad. That is, apart from her love for women if her interaction with the ninja is of any indication...

'Bad girl Rosalind, bad girl!' The English girl shook her head as she felt her cheeks warming, trying to clear her thoughts of the two female interactions before sighing. 'I'm really bad at keeping my mind straight...'

Originally Posted by Viola

"And, uh, despite all the birds chirpin' and carrying on, we haven't really seen any, or, like, anything alive at all, and, uh, I was thinkin about trying to shake out some of the local flavor. Fresh meat's good for ya."

Thankfully, Viola managed to get her mind back on track.

"The local wildlife might have been scared of our rather... sudden arrival. We might have to go deeper if we want to hunt one, but that doesn't mean it's a bad plan too; we'll need food sooner or later."

"Also," Rosalind paused as she looked at the surrounding trees, "This won't be a problem if we go to the mist or to the coast, but it might be a good idea to bring some branches and woods to start a fire if we go to the mountain."

**Janx** · July 29th, 2016, 08:29 PM

Calista Tomás
Strange Forest
Day 4
Dawn

Calista took in another deep breath woodland scents to try and calm her rapidly beating heart. All that fighting in an arena business was just a means to an end. But out here, exploring the unknown, looking for booty. This was what she lived for!

To make things even better, they seemed to be the very first humans to step foot in these lands. A seemingly impossible feat for a modern human unless one was of the lucky few who got involved with the space programs.

Even then, she’d have been stuck in an overly clunky suit in an environment that’d kill her if she could take it off. Here though, she could see, touch, feel, and smell her environment. And she could do it all while wearing what she wanted to.

Despite her excitement, however, the lack of animals did seem odd. At least the birds gave some sign of life. Perhaps what ever science/magic mumbo-jumbo had gotten them here had scared them off.

Calista found herself almost tripping over a root. How clumsy of her. This whole scenario really had her head in the clouds.

Originally Posted by Viola

"We need a vantage point to get a solid grasp on the geography of the area, we've already been using that snake-thing for a top-down view, so let's scale up while we're at it. The coast, as far as we know, is a coast, I'm no expert on surveying or whatever, but I don't feel like it's going to give us too much information. 'If your current situation is unintelligible, seek a new angle to examine it from', or something."

Originally Posted by Rosalind

"By going to the mountain, we'll be able to better observe our surroundings.I agree with miss Viola. We might find out where we are if we climb the mountain, and perhaps we might be able to see beyond that mist in the other side."

“Aye, I’m for the mountains as well. What better than a view from the bird’s nest?” she chimed in. Admittedly, she would have chosen to scout the coast or the fog wall. She was always more of a shoot first and ask questions later type. But she wasn’t opposed to scouting out the mountains for a better view, it made sense to her.

Of course, bringing Mihoshi’s snake pillar there might have afforded them even better insight as to their location. But the mysterious shrine maiden had chosen to stay behind for whatever agenda she seemed to have. Calista still wanted to talk to her, a kindred soul of deteriorating humanity. A given how Mihoshi had interacted with the ninja earlier, it could even be quite fun.

Originally Posted by Viola

"And, uh, despite all the birds chirpin' and carrying on, we haven't really seen any, or, like, anything alive at all, and, uh, I was thinkin about trying to shake out some of the local flavor. Fresh meat's good for ya."

“Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day!” Calista beamed as she suddenly wrapped her arms around Rosalind from behind, “I was beginning to think I was going to have to start nibbling on my teammate here.”

**Zagrin** · August 1st, 2016, 04:51 PM

Albrecht von Kirchensittenbach
Forest Clearing - Arena 7 - Interior
Day 2
Afternoon

Albrecht's interest in the arena expedition had begun to wane after having solved the mystery of the sealed security door though the fault was partly his own. He had expected something a little more once they had opened that door, but all they had ended up finding was some working medical equipment and a stash of firearms and explosives. True, it was good to know that the arena contained the appropriate facilities should he ever need to practice his craft in this new world it didn't change the fact that it was still all fairly mundane. As for the weapons he recognized that there was both pros and cons to either keeping or destroying them, but in the end he really didn't mind whichever choice was made and thus kept to himself when it came to deciding what to do with the find.

Thankfully their last destination renewed Albrecht's enthusiasm as they found themselves in a most peculiar room. A motorcycle, clothing all over the place, hastily piled up boxes...honestly this room looked more like some sort of teenager's or very irresponsible adult's rather than any sort of secret Jinkai facility containing something as important sounding as the Cells Alive System. However he didn't just feel excited at the sight of the room, but also just a little confused just because of how out of place it seemed.

"This is quite unexpected..."

If he had to take a guess those clothes most likely belonged to the woman in the tank. Though the possibility that they might have belonged to someone else was there if one considered that no one else other than their expedition seemed to be currently in the arena along with the manner that they were scattered across the room (perhaps someone had been in a rush?) Albrecht was fairly certain that wouldn't be the case. As for the stack of boxes perhaps some important documents were contained inside? Surely those boxes couldn't be just standing there for the sake of standing there, could they? And then there was the bike which looked to be in pretty good condition, at least based on what little could be seen thanks to the sheet.

"If nobody minds I think I'll go see if there's any console or the like that may control that tank over there or at least is monitoring the woman inside. I'd think that something like that should be situated in this room at least. I'd appreciate it however if someone could try look through those boxes stacked over there, there might just be something informative contained in them. Oh and also...could someone move that ashtray somewhere far away from that gasoline?"

**RacingeR** · August 1st, 2016, 06:17 PM

Sergei B. Adaksin
Strange Forest
Day 4
Dawn

Sergei examined the nearest tree with curiosity, trying to determine if it was of a species he recognized or not. They… weren’t. Which was worrying, but not too much. He hardly was an expert on trees, and they could be in an island somewhere in the Pacific or some remote place like that, for all he knew. Still, if the place was full of unknown species, it meant that his half-remembered lessons in foraging were mostly useless.

He had received quite a lot of survival training back at the Facility, so he knew how to deal with this… sort of. To be fair, he was more accustomed at hunting human targets while quietly slipping around a big city than hunting game or sneaking around in a forest, but it wasn’t quite the first rodeo in such an environment. In fact, he had once chased a man through a Russian jungle for an entire week, playing a waiting game that had ended once his target had walked into one of his traps. Still, it had been a while.

After a moment, he stared at one of the nearby branches, and with a quick movement, he drew a knife from… somewhere and cut the branch off, catching it with his other hand before it hit the floor. He examined it more closely, then nodded after making sure it was of the ideal length. It wouldn’t serve of much more than a walking stick, but it could prove useful to making sure dubious terrain was safe, and it could be an outright necessity if they were to go mountain-climbing.

“I agree, going to the mountain should be our first priority. Not only because it’d allow us to survey the land, but it’s also the nearest landmark to our camp, that we know of, and we’d need to make sure of what’s in there.” He also though the position of the mountain relative to the coast was rather… odd, but he didn’t mention that. He turned around to examine his team, wearing a blank, neutral expression that lacked his normal smirk.

After he had been done talking with Kuznetsov, he had gone to recruit Viola into their scouting expedition. Mihoshi had already made other plans, and he decided to trust her a bit into this. After all, it looked like half of the people in this camp were crazier than her. Well, he couldn’t fault them for being touchy after this whole shock, but still, it didn’t look like it’d be easy, or even enjoyable to interact with anyone in here, and given the survival situation, Sergei had… issues with the attitude most people had decided to adopt of easy enmity and randomly picking fights.

He had to admit he wasn’t sure of why Kaede’s… challenge had bothered him so much back then, but his impression of the people of the camp had worsened considerably as a result of her words and Ana’s reaction. After the two European girls had introduced themselves and formed part of the team, he hadn’t bothered to interact much with them, keeping to himself for now. Although they seemed refreshingly normal in comparison.

“I agree that we should hunt if we get the chance, but with all the noise the camp has made, I doubt we’d find much game in the surroundings for a while. I say that if we get the chance, we try to hunt something down, but we shouldn’t go out of our way to do so. Well, we may find more prey farther away from the camp.” He added the last part with a shrug.

**arkturus** · August 2nd, 2016, 03:45 AM

Alonzo Toloni
Forest Clearing - Arena 7
Day 3
Noon

Ever since rejoining the his trio, the composer began to take in his surroundings. A song of panic and despair fluttered in the air, a disjointed chorus only united by fear's oppressive rhythm. It was a morbidly fascinating piece, the likes of which rarely graced his ears on his travels. Immediately Alonzo pulled out the toilet roll that he had acquired from the stadium bathroom and his hand began furiously writing, committing the burst of inspiration to paper. Satisfied, he placed them aside and joined the discussion.

It was time to compose the bridge to the second act.

"Io vedo~. Any newly formed ensemble requires the guiding hand of a conductor, especially one of such size. A single, strong leader to unite the entire concert would make the most senso until we secure everything that is necessary for survival. Hopefully by then all players will have gotten used to each other's rhythms and will be able to produce a beautiful song of camaraderie. Then it will be safe to group them into sections and have the first chairs delegated."

**Mellon** · August 3rd, 2016, 06:56 AM

Rosalind Ainslee, Sergei. B. Adaksin, Viola Santiago, Calista Tomás
Strange Forest
Day 4
Mid-day

The mountain in front of you, with its snowy peak, seemingly loomed over everything in this part of the forest. The thick vegetation, that had been characteristic of the woodlands near the Arena, was more limited in these parts. The trees were more sparse and sunlight more plentiful. If you had to hazard a guess, you would pin it on the stony soil that surrounded the mountain. That being said, it was still a rather dense forest. Just not the massive jungle that seemed to surround your camp.

The closer you moved towards the mountain, the more you felt reassured of your earlier suspicions. The animal life was staying away from your camp, for one reason or another. Most of you had hunting experience and could, therefore make out the tell-tale signs of animal habitation. Small paw tracks, a dropping here and there, some tufts of fur. In some ways, you were rather relived that the animal life in this place seemed to at least somewhat resemble the species back home. Most of the tracks were rather small... Perhaps around the size of a small rabbit? With quiet steps, you attempted to track the small beasts to their lair.

Challenge

“Njuuf! Njuuf!”

Your suspicions were confirmed when Sergei and Rosalind spotted two… tiny doglike creatures? Covered in black and white fur, coupled with rabbit-like ears and emerald eyes, the two figures were energetically munching on some kind of tree nut or cone. They couldn’t be much larger than a small puppy, so they wouldn’t be much of a meal, but… any bit helps, right? Besides, you could probably use the pelts somewhere. Granted you weren’t quite sure if they were even edible, but if you didn’t try out these things you would never know, right?

Hunting Decision

Having dealt with the critters, for the time being, you continued your trek upwards the slope towards the base of the mountain. Even from this far, you could tell that you would need to be prepared for a rather steep ascent. For normal humans, it would probably be impossible without some extremely specialized climbing gear. For trained martial artists such as yourself, however, the climb would merely be challenging. However, as you were pondering on this, you discovered something you weren’t quite expecting amidst all this plant life.

A paved path.

Granted, it was in considerable disrepair, but it was undoubtedly a stone path that had been purposefully made by someone in the past and leading towards the mountain. With hesitant steps, you followed the path towards its destination. Tufts of green rose through the stone cracks and certain parts of the road were almost completely overtaken by nature. In one place, a massive tree had grown right in the middle of the road, bisecting it in half, forcing you to circle around it to return to the path on the other side.

In the end, the path led you to a collection of ruins nestled right at the base of the mountain.

The only thing that was clear at first glance was that this place had not been inhabited for a considerable time. The ruined stone pillars were wrapped in weeds and greenery and no immediate signs of human habitation were present. All this told you was that, whoever lived in this place, they were long gone. Perhaps for centuries already. The architecture and layout of this place reminded you of an oriental temple of some kind, but for some reason, you couldn’t find anything that you could construe as religious symbology. So less like a church and more like a monastery?

A quick survey of the area revealed that most of the buildings were in such a state of disrepair that repairing them would take considerable effort. Nevertheless, while the repairs would need to be considerable, it would still be easier to repair whatever is here than build something from scratch. The foundations were still there, after all, and better than anything you could currently cobble up. However, it was quite far away from your current location and the trip would undoubtedly take at least a couple of days at the very least. In addition to the wrecked arches, you could also make out a rather large cave of some sort that led straight into the mountain.

Just as you were about to check the ominous looking cave, you heard a loud, ear-splitting roar echo throughout the ruins.

A pack of bizarre beasts swooped down from the sky, roaring defiantly at you. They looked like black armored lions, only you had never seen lions in your life that had huge black wings and could fly. In fact, you still couldn’t believe it, as common sense seemed to suggest that lions wouldn’t be particularly aerodynamic. Though… considering that you just saw them do that very thing perhaps common sense wasn’t your greatest ally in these circumstances.

And why were they armored again?

Your desperate thought went ignored, as the black beasts charged you.

Turn Order and Starting Placement

Thread: Koukami - Fighting Kings of the New World (IC Thread)

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