Enter The Oasis: Tezuka

[Ms.Ezra]

Our Main Clan Page​

Tezuka is the name of the universe which holds multiple different 'Earths' that correspond to the worlds of various Anime/ Manga worlds. Most are named after the author/artist who created them.

Such is the case of Toriyama, the Earth of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump series. It is distinctive due to the fact it is the only one which lacks a moon, only a small field of debris in its orbit.

​

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Tezuka
Toriyama

The seats around the white marble ring were filled with avatars, no filler NPCs to be seen. People wanted to be here, in the seats, even though they could watch from anywhere else in The Oasis like they did in the first two rounds of this tournament. No, this round was no longer just the players invited to fight; these were the ones who had earned the right to keep fighting. They wanted to see as 'live' as possible how these contenders kept going.

And Damagi loved it.

She stands beside her opponent at the fighter entrance watching the time clock on her HUD countdown to the moment the match was going to start. She was one of the hundred and twenty-five fighters for today's round. Not bad, considering there were thousands in the first. At Level 18, the Saiyan woman was the 'weakest' avatar in the brackets right now, and the highest was 40. But that doesn't matter for her. Those were just numbers trying to quantify what could only be decided in the moments two players really came to blows.

And hers was here as the countdown hit zero and in the middle of the ring The Announcer spawned.

"Welcome ladies, gentlemen, vagabonds and heroes of all identities tooooo the Tezuka Invitational Tournament!" The crowd erupted in applause and cheers that sent a ripple of excitement all across Damagi's real body. "Our first contender is a pirate of the high seas come to show his skills are just as potent on land! Meeeeet Captain L30!"

Captain L30

Captain L30 pounces out of the entrance onto the ring in his beast form, and transformed into his humanoid to let loose a thunderous roar. An avatar with a Zoan Type Devil Fruit power. Dangerous at any level, more so with the three level difference between them. The prospect only makes Damagi smile wider.

"And in this corner: a true Saiyan warrior if I've ever seen one….Damagi!"

Damagi jumps out and the moment her feet touch the ring floor she powers up. Her aura is red and flame-like, and causes The Announcer to step back. Her eyes meet the those of her opponent, who huffs and growls as he crosses his arms over his chest. Damagi smirks and stops.

The Announcer steps between them. "Rules are same as the other rounds: No weapons aside from claws, teeth, and others part of your avatar. No flying. Should any part of you touch the ground, you lose. Deplete your opponent's HP, you are disqualified. Do both parties agree to these terms?"

"I'll try my best not to get her to zero. So yes, I agree." Captain L30 says in a voice that is low and rumbling.

"Agreed. " Damagi replies while her avatar mirrors her actual act of cracking her knuckles.

"Then without further ado," The Announcer raises his hands up "Fight!" He then disappears.

Captain L30 brings up his clawed hands, and takes a stance as he circles around Damagi; who assumes a Hung Gar stance of legs spread wide apart, and arms out. Not very intimidating given Damagi is almost a head shorter than most, but is two shorter than her opponent. You wouldn't know that looking at her though. Her eyes are fixed on him, still smiling.

"Are you ready?" asks Captain L30.

"Aye aye, Captain." Damagi answers and L30 pounces on her, casting a shadow down on her form.

 

[Camleen]

Yep, Damagi is really in her element here. She definately loved this kind of thing. The competition, the posturing, the chance to show just what she's made of. The crowd cheering for her gets her even more into the competition. And the crowd cheering against her makes her want to prove them wrong. Or at least that's just how Iria sees it.

While Damagi goes out to the center of the squared ring, Iria remains at the sidelines. Her avatar is modeled after a race from the Final Fantasy series… not particularly her favorite race, but one of the more lovely looking ones. Iria is conceited enough to take something because it's more pretty than powerful. Or intimidating. And intimidating is one thing Iria really doesn't seem to be. She seems polar opposite in that (in many) regard to Damagi. Perhaps that's what makes them such good partners. She wears a dark colored robe, it accentuating the darker shade of her skin. Her hands are folded in front of her as she paces the sidelines absently, her big blue eyes staring out towards the ring. An expression of worry upon her Avatar's features. While Damagi has been fighting for what seems (to Iria) to be a week, she has really had to restrain herself. No, she's not going to run out there and punch out the person that might knock Damagi around. She couldn't even if she wanted to. No she has to restrain herself from using her Healing Magic to help Damagi. She's already been warned twice about it… she tried to without thinking twice and once more she'll be thrown out. Both incidents were just force of habit. While Healing Magic isn't her strongest suit, it's certainly one she is very familiar and comfortable with. Her strongest suit, her main class (as she sees it), is actually demonstrated by the creature following in her footsteps.

It's called an 'Air Spirit', and one of the hallmarks of a Summoner. A mage specializing in… wait for it… summoning Guardians to aid in battle. Or in this case, just keep the Summoner company. The green/red 'tendrils' making up it's body swirl around a softly glowing center (a small green crystal actually), wisps of wind dancing around the elemental. It's the only Summoning spell she has access to at this moment. The others she could have are just to expensive right now, or rare drops. But the Air Spirit, it's pretty cheap on the market. And usually the first Summon one gains, just because its so easy. She's been saving up her Credits to buy some of the other Summons… but there's a specific one she needs first. The chance just hasn't come to finish the quest as yet. But that can wait, she knows how important this tournament is to Damagi.

While her presence draws more than a few eyes… it's not the Air Spirit that people have been looking towards. She spent hours on her own character model, needing it to be just right. Needing it to be pretty. Needing it to be the kind of pretty she knows she isn't, and won't ever be in her real life. She stands at about 5'6", unlike the normal in game models of her type which are usually 6' even at their shortest. But being a little shorter is more comfortable for her.

The combatants are introduced, the opponent first. Iria claps for the pirate (it would be rude not to), but her light applause is drowned out by the rest of the arena practically exploding in cheers and applause of its own. She sees just how much bigger L30 is compared to Damagi… and she lets out a cute soft whine of worry. Oh dear, he looks really tough. But she doesn't doubt Damagi's power, or her will. So when Damagi is introduced, now she shouts out. "Wooo!" thrusting a fist into the air. She claps loudly, her Air Spirit spinning a little more quickly (and making a little more wind which causes her robes to sway a moment) as she gets more excited. Iria hops up and down… once again reminding herself not to grab the wand hanging on her hip. Her wand looking like nothing more than a healthy tree branch with blue colored flowers blooming along it.

And when Damagi takes her en-guarde stance, she calls out, her hands cupping around her mouth. "Yeah! Kung fu 'im into submiiiiiiission! Woo!" She thrusts her fist once more into the air. She's fairly sure Damagi won't be able to hear her over the crowd, especially since the match suddenly has started. But she'll make sure Damagi knows she's here.

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Damagi does not flinch as her opponent comes down on her with a quick swipe of his right paw. She dodges it easily, and does something expected. She leaps up and grabs L30 by the head, holding it in place so she can give him a hard knee right to the face. L30 reels back, and swipes wildly at Damagi as she actually kicks off from his wide chest and lands on her feet. The Saiyan sprints at the lion man with hands radiating red ki, making it appear as if she's wearing red boxing gloves.

L30 roars and unleashes a barrage of punches at Damagi. With her speed Damagi is able to put up her arms and block all of his blows. When she sees an opening, she goes for a jab yelling "IRON MIKE!"

Her punch connects with his abdomen, and he is hit not only with the physical force of her punch, but the ki stored in the fist as well. His HP gauge drops by three , and he makes a loud yowl as he is sent a couple inches back. He clutches his chest, but does not let himself be rattled. He spins in place, which brings his tail and the large orange ball at the end swinging around with the force of a large whip. Damagi jumps to avoid this. But L30 has counted on this; he jumps up and with his right fist spikes Damagi into the ring like a volleyball.

Damagi hits the ring floor, making a small crater. She leaps to her feet with four less HP, but as always still smiling. Her left hand is still shrouded in the red Ki, but now her feet glow as well. "Not bad, catboy. Got another in ya?" she mocks.

L30 huffs "I got more than you can handle." He roars and transforms into his beast form.

"Hehe. Promises, promises, all you boys promise what you can't rise up to." Damagi mocks again.

"All talk. No bite!" L30 roars again and charges her.

Over the next twenty minutes Damagi and L30 keep the audience riveted with displays of speed, strength, and in Damagi's case pure persistence. At one point she is seized by the legs, and slammed into the ring floor like a ragdoll six times before she frees herself by blasting him full in the face with several Ki Blasts. Damagi holds her own for that time despite these and several blows, but persistence and skill could only take her so far this time.

At the end, L30 kicks Damagi out of the ring to a storm of applause. Her clothing is dirty, even ripped in the legs and back from L30's claws. To her credit, L30 is no less damaged and dirtied from their bout. The bottoms of his pants are charred, and even panting with exhaustion just like Damagi. He raises his arms, and roars in triumph as The Announcer reappears to declare "And the winner is Captain L30! What a match! Let's give both contenders a big round of applause!"

Damagi rises to her feet, fists raised high as she pants heavily. Whether by exhaustion or something more, only she knows. Her HP is down to the final 10 points, but she appears not the lease concerned as she basks in admiration. She looks up at L30, who actually gives her a toothy grin back. Damagi gives him a thumbs-up and sends him a message. A message his player is very embarassed by, as L30 freezes and blushes to mimic his player. Damagi winks and starts walking out, her avatar limping.

 

[Camleen]

Iria knows how Damagi fights. They've been in more than their share of fights… and it's always Damagi that does most of the actual fighting. She often thinks she needs to get a more offensive minded Skillset… like attack magic (obviously). And maybe she will.. but she knows once she has at least a starting roster of her Guardians, she'll be of more use to Damagi. And to whatever pick-up group they come across. For now… as it is far to often… all she can do is watch and hope for the best.

At least that's something she's good at, hoping for the best.

She knows once Damagi is allowed inside of L30's defenses, she'll take full advantage. That's a tactic she'll need to keep in mind for the future. If nothing else, perhaps she could serve as a distraction to allow Damagi to fight to her full potential. Her dark brows furrow as now L30 mounts jab after jab onto Damagi, and Damagi doesn't move. So she's sacrificing some of her health for an opening. And as is on cue… Damagi unleashes one of her Composite Skills. But it's to early in the fight for that to be a finishing move, not to a beast like Captain L30. Iria feels herself wincing as he retaliates, and she actually looks away from the fight. Not because she doesn't want to see Damagi getting hurt… I mean that's part of it… but also because she knows she can't cast any Healing. Which makes this all the more difficult.

But all of these near constant doubts about herself and her abilities, about her usefulness, she keeps to herself. She always does, not wanting to give any hint of them in her heart. Not being able to help right now just amplifies such thoughts.

The rest of the fight, for Iria, continues in this same way. Damagi is doing far better than anyone expected, but not Iria. This kind of tenacity and drive is exactly what she knew would be coming out in this fight. She may have never had any real chance of victory, but that's never stoppe either of them before. Maybe that shared bullheadedness is part of the reason they succeed as a team.

And then… Damagi hits the ground outside of the ring. Iria lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding for the passed few seconds. She saw Damagi slowing (but perhaps everyone else in the arena wouldn't have been able to spot that), and she knew the end was near. Her partner picks herself up off of the ground, and Iria's right hand reaches over her waist to grasp her wand. The wand isn't absolutely necessary for her to cast spells, but it does help her focus. She watches as Damagi now takes in the cheers and applause, and she finds herself smiling a little sad smile. Her first instinct is to heal her right away… but she doesn't. She waits until Damagi is more out of sight of the arena as a whole, more towards the sidelines. Because by this time most of the arena has its attention back on Captain L30 as he gives his victory speech. She waits because she didn't want to take away any of the limelight from Damagi. So she waits. She moves towards Damagi at the sidelines, and she raises her wand as her eyes close. She chants under her breath "~Tayata Om Bekanze Bekanze Maha Bekanze Radza Samudgate Soha~" Her wand pulses with a gentle blue energy, and the whole of Damagi's form is suddenly encompassed in the same kind of energy. A warm, nurturing energy shimmering all around her. A simple Cure II spell, and quickly Damagi's HP would begin to fill up once more. This is probably not necessary, really, but she feels the need to do it anyways.

Now Iria moves towards Damagi, replacing her wand to her hip as she smiles widely to Damagi, her Air Spirit in tow. "That was… so amazing. I've never seen anything like that!" She says with a nod, locks of her dark red hair bobbing forward a little as she does. In all actuality, she isn't sure what to say. But she knows she has to offer something in support.

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Damagi smiles and gives Iria a thumbs-up as they meet each other on the sidelines. The woman sits still while being healed, grinning when she calls her latest bout amazing. She laughs and flicks her nose while grinning "Did you expect anything else?" Then a light bulb appears over her head and lights up, and her cheery grin turns a little more mischievous.

"Oh oh, check this out." Damagi opened her messages window and made it visible to Iria before turning it around so she could see it. "Sent that message to him as I was leaving. Really made him blush, if you didn't catch that."

Iria will see the message to Captain L3O reads

Great fight!
If you got the gear and time, I'd like to have a more private 'sparring match' with you sometime.
Knock 'em down in the next rounds. I'll be watching.

Sincerely, Damagi

Damagi giggles and asks "Think he'll take the bait?" Before closing the window. "I mean, not that I'm desperate or anything." She shrugs and resumes walking out of the arena.

When they leave the arena proper, Damagi stops in her tracks as she gets a message notification and is visibly surprised. "Oh? Does the big kitty wanna play already?" She asks herself mostly before she even checks the message. When she does, she makes a pouty face. "Nope not the Captain. An invite for early access to Yautja Prime. I guess in the last twenty-four hours they want to get one more bout of hype going." She rocks her head side-to-side, before tapping the message window and saying "Decline. Following my instincts on this one."

 

[Camleen]

With a smirk Iria looks down a little from Damagi and speaks in almost a sheepish tone "No, no I didn't expect anything less from ya." she looks back to Damagi as she grins a little, giving her a nod. And when Damagi directs her attention to the message window, she leans in and looks towards it with widened eyes. She does glance towards the former opponent when Damagi mentions him blushing, blinking a little in disbelief. He certainly didn't seem the type to blush… but her attention is drawn to the message once more, and she starts to laugh softly, and one of her hands comes up to cover her lips, as if not wanting anyone to see she's laughing at the Captain.

"Poor fella… he has Damagi's attention now." She says with another little giggle, implying it could be a rough time for Captain if he accepted the invitation. "If just that message made 'im blush… IIIIIIIIIII don't think we'll be hearing from him again." Now both hands cover her lips, and she laughs into those hands gently.

With a gentle sigh and a grin she now follows Damagi from the arena, her Air Spirit obediently in tow. Whenever someone walks close to Iria, the Air Spirit seems to swerve towards them discretely. As if to prepare itself to defend her from some attack. She is following Damagi… and lets out a soft squeak noise when Damagi abruptly stops, Iria almost running right into her. She takes a hopping step back, looking at her with wide eyes. "Seriously? He got back to you already? Good for him!" She says in a delighted tone. But when she confirms it's not him "Aw…" But she seems to change expressions on a dime when she mentions Yuajta Prime. Her eyes widen and she quickly steps towards Damagi "Oh wow you got an invite? That's so cool.." Damagi always gets things like that. She's so much more outgoing than Iria. She involves herself in so much more… and Iria just kind of follows along or fades into the background. But in this instance… "Wait!" She suddenly hops towards Damagi, both her hands wrapping around her wrist. "Wait wait! Maaaaaaybe ya shouldn't be so quick on this! I mean what're the details? Is it a solo or party thing? Are there rewards for early access? Do they have Artifacts there? OH!" she says as she hops up and down lightly, still holding her wrist. "What if they're gonna reward people with a cloaking thingy?! How awesome would that be?!"

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Damagi's finger was only a hair away from pressing Decline on the invite when Iria grabs hold of her by the wrists. Which was quite a surprise for her. Normally Damagi was the one who did all the excited grabbing and jabbering. She looks at Iria with her right brow raised quizzically.

"Alriiight..hold on." Damagi tells her and makes the invite message visible to Iria before flipping it around so she can read it.

Hello Damagi!

We want to invite you, and up to six other party members, to be in the first wave of players to challenge our newest planet, Yautja Prime!

In the past The OASIS has spawned many formidable opponents for its players, and offered associated skins and weapons for sale. The Yautja have been markedly absent since its inception however, until now! And you have been chosen to test yourself against one of our most robust NPC AI yet.

A few words of warning: A Yautja is never to be taken lightly no matter your level. To challenge even one without proper perspective or equipment, is to court your avatar's death and forfeiture of all your possessions.

In keeping with the source material, Yautja Prime does not allow magic, ki, or chakra use.

And also be aware, that once you touch down on Yautja Prime, there will be no escape. Only death or surrender.

Should you be skilled and fortunate enough to be victorious, the trophy room of the Yautja will be unveiled for you to claim your prize from the spoils of those less fortunate.

If you accept our invitation, you will be given five Party Invites that will allow all holders onto Yautja Prime before the official launch.

Happy hunting!


Yautja Prime Development Team

Damagi minimizes the invite "That didn't answer many of your questions like, directly, buuut maybe there's an artifact or two in this trophy room mentioned? Specially if this invite's gone out to high-level players who bite the dust." Damagi shrugs "I ain't too keen on going alone for this kinda thing, since the Gunter incident, but if you really wanna and we find others who do...I'm down."

 

[Camleen]

Although it's totally unnecessary, Iria squints as Damagi allows her to see the message. In her real life she has to wear glasses, and sometimes it's hard to not squint when reading. Even when you can see perfectly fine.

"wonder if I'll ever get to the point where people're inviting me to things." She mutters to herself as she reads the message. If one were to compare Damagi and Iria to some kind of pop culture reference… Iria is definately the Robin to Damagi's Batman. She's the more popular one, the one that people address when they are out together. Be it in social situations or some kind of team scenario. And for the most part, Iria doesn't mind that.

After all, if people don't really see you, they can't hurt you.

Her mind is already putting together a plan for Yautja Prime… she is already coming up with a team structure in her head. A 6 person team (Damagi and 5 others) can be pretty robust… if they find the right people. She makes a soft clicking sound with her tongue… and a screenshot of the message is saved. She nods a little and takes a step back from Damagi, her arms crossed over her midsection lightly. The slowly spinning Air Spirit accompanying her traces her footsteps, staying protectively close. Iria is in full on plotting mode now… she looks like she is angry, that is what you could see in her features. But really… for some reason… her focus/thinking face is the same as her angry face. "So…" She starts in a soft tone as she takes a few steps away from Damagi, her long dark colored robes swaying with those steps. "These kinds of invites go out in waves. So lessee…" she steps up next to Damagi, her hands falling to her sides. She now gets a sort of blank look, almost as if she were suddenly mesmerized. But this is her expression when she is looking something up on the local net. "There's rumblin of a few others that already got the invite. And then got frelled on Yautja Prime. Some of the message boards are making fun of them. Looks like… a group of around level 20's went, but only 3 of them. Apparently they thought they were hot sh-- stuff. But they got themselves all killified like…" she blinks her big blue eyes then, and she looks towards Damagi. "that's just the first thing I found. Pretty sure if'n I kept lookin I'd find more.." Now her tone is getting a little more excited. "But we're waaaaaay better, we think things through! Those guys… I'd be willin to bet all my action figures that they just jumped in wanting to be the first to win. Soooo no prep or anything. Just" now she walks around in a circle, flexing her arms "gruuuuuuh we're so big'n bad'n we're gonna beat this new zone an-- now we're dead." She nods again, and then gasps, holding her hands up. "Wait wait… not betting all my action figures. Not betting Boba Fett. Neeeeever bet with him." She says as if Damagi would have taken her seriously.

"We just need a good team… and no this won't be the Gunter thing again, D. I promise. I mean it's us! We've never lost when we put our minds together!" She rolls her eyes and makes a 'slow down' motion with her hands "Okay there was that one time when I set off all of those traps in that one dungeon. But in my defense those jewels were soooo pretty…." she sighs as she remembers the pretties… but then shakes her head to get back on track. "Sooooo 6? You… you would be DPS, of course. Cause you're you. I'd be… I mean if you want me to come along… a front line healer. OH I can show you my pretty new armor too! Since I ain't gonna use any of my magics." Which, she knows, makes her more of a liability. Which is why she put the part about her not coming along, to give Damagi an easy out without making it uncomfortable. "Front line healing means I would help with damage, but mostly do healing. Artemis.. who you'll meet too… will help with buffs and light healing. So we'd still need a tank… MAYbe another healer or someone for buffs… let's see that's" she counts on her fingers "that's 4… we could get another tank, like an 'offtank'… and another DPS. Or 2 more DPS. I mean we're fighting Predators… Ahnold barely beat one, and he beats everything!"

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Damagi frowns, just a little, when Iria wonders aloud if she would ever start to get invites like Damagi often did, but it's unseen as Iria is focused on the prospects presented by the Yautja Prime and disappears shortly. Iria was something of a 'project' for Damagi. Nothing nefarious, she just had a goal to make the girl more confident from pretty much their first meeting.

And maybe, just maybe, this could be a big leap for her. Damagi has misgivings about throwing together a team so quickly and prematurely to take on a relatively unknown challenge. She's thinking about how it could go wrong at the same time Iria is figuring out the team. But then Iria looks at her again, and bets her beloved action figures.

So she was very serious about this. And she sounds more confident than ever before.

How could she say no?

"Darn." Damagi snaps her fingers, an action that she also uses to tap 'Accept' on the invite. Five Party Invite Tickets appear in her right hand with which she fans herself while talking "Here I was hoping I had a chance to get your Boba Fett." Damagi smiles at Iria, holds out one glimmering blue Party Invite to her. The others go into her inventory "But you really sold it to me Iria. Let's do this thing, you, me, and four other badasses who are gonna people how to catch a Predator. Ya know, without a fake boy and a plate of cookies." She laughs at her own joke.

 

[Camleen]

Iria quickly shakes her head as she watches Damagi accept the invite. "Neeeeever bet the Fett, no matter how sure I am." she nods then in agreement with herself. She doesn't have a big nerd collection (as she would call it), but one of the main centerpieces is the original Boba Fett action figure, from 1979. It's practically an antique! And of course sealed in an air tight display box. No she's not a huge fan of Boba Fett, but she recognizes how important he is. And she had a chance to get the figure, which is kind of rare. And she knows Damagi likes Boba Fett.. so that purchase had alterior motives…

With a wide smile upon dark lips she takes the Party Invite, excitement in her eyes. She turns it over a few times in her hand as she grins, and she then brings up her inventory screen. She holds it to one of the empty spaces, and it is suddenly held in that square.

Her fingers dance along the interactive interface, bringing up the section of her inventory for skins and mods. She swipes horizontally, going through them. She stops suddenly and eyes Damagi, then turns around and continues to scroll. "Don't want ya to see it yet. I gots me a good gear set to use, though. I'm not totally happy with the coloring yet… but by the time we head out should be good.." she says with a shrug.

She closes the screen and turns once more, her hands glowing suddenly. She draws them apart as she looks to the Air Spirit… and it dissipates into a small funnel of air. Her blue eyes then move to Damagi as she nods. "Jim Hanson, those 'to catch a predator' thingies." she doesn't have the first name right, but she just wants to show Damagi she gets the reference, an amused grin upon her lips.

"Soooooo now the question is… um… hm…" she starts to tap her chin, glancing around them "Mebbe we get our gear and stoof together… then try LFP?" The 'Looking For Party' flagging system. A search where you post your need for party members, with criteria and mission statement and all. "If we get some good gear together first, show we mean business, might make it easier to get members." Clearly this isn't her first time putting together such a party. "You'll have to do the write up thingy for it… but I can help ya with it." she blinks and makes a 'whoah' motion "I mean I'm not making you do it.. but since you're the party leader cause of the Invites, you have to make it and all.."

 

[Ms.Ezra]

"Chris Hanson, but close enough." Damagi politely corrects Iria and then giggles as she watches her turn around to needlessly prevent her inventory from being seen. Iria had a tendency to forget that unless you wanted it so, other players could not see your inventory. It was cute, really. Damagi nods through the breakdown of what needs to be done to get their team together. Luckily the day was barely half over, so plenty of time to get in with the first wave before any of the good stuff was taken.

"Well then Iria, let's gear up!" Damagi claps, opens her UI, and in a flash changes out of her martial arts Gi into her green and yellow battle armor, and green sedge hat. She then takes from her inventory what looks like the Four Star Dragonball. When she taps one of the stars however it is revealed to be a camera orb that hovers at her head height. Damagi looks into the camera and crosses her arms over chest.

"Hello fellow OASIS players! You may know me, Damagi, from the match at the Tezuka Invitational I just wrapped up. If you don't, well shame on you." She sticks her tongue out and laughs "Anyway. I just got invited to be in the early wave for Yautja Prime, and they gave me five Party Invites to bring a team along. I already gave one to a good friend of mine, and I'm looking for four more to join us. So, if you're between the levels of ten and twenty-five, and think you got what it takes to join me, send me a video reply with a little info about yourself. Oh, Gunters need not apply. Nothing personal. If you don't get a reply before the place opens to the public, you were too late or too laaaame!" She gives the camera a thumbs-up and it stops recording.

"What do you think? Did I come on too strong? I tend to do that." She asks Iria, looking for feedback before finalizing the video portion of their advertisement.

 

[Camleen]

When Damagi says they should gear up, Iria nods promptly and starts moving things around in her inventory. She likes to consider herself a planner, like she tries to have things ready for whatever might come next. Which might explain why her inventory is always so full. She carries things they might need someday.

Now her own armor forms on her, her 'no magic' gear. It looks like Stormtrooper armor from Star Wars, but the color scheme is definitely unique. Her UI closes and she flexes her gloved hands as she grins under her helmet. She then reaches up and pulls her helmet off, and she sets it on the ground at her feet. And as Damagi prepares her recording device, Iria looks over her shoulder and speaks in a soft tone. "Ready Art?" A disc shaped object affixed to her back turns a little and lets out a soft rhythmic series of beeps. Iria grins a little more and nods, and then looks towards the camera orb as Damagi starts to speak.

She folds her hands behind her head as she stands relaxed, a grin still upon her dark lips. When the 'good friend' part comes, she immediately leans closer to Damagi and waves with both hands enthusiastically. Iria steps back then, letting Damagi go through some of the details of what they're looking for. She vaguely remembers the Predator movies, of course she had heard about the event and about the new area opening of Yautja Prime… she can't imagine it would be anything terribly difficult for a good group to handle. If they find a good group. While she loves Damagi… the gal can be… abrasive… in the eyes of some people.

And when Damagi addresses her, she blinks her blue eyes and looks towards her, clearly having been day dreaming a little there. "No, no I think it's good. Reeeeeeeeally I think it's good that ya seemed to come off strong. So people know you're not just some lamer, ya mean what ya say. And that we're totally serious about this."

 

[Ms.Ezra]

"You really think it helps? Good. Can't waste time doing multiple takes." Damagi finalizes the video and posts it to the Looking For Party system. "And done." Damagi announces closing her UI, and quickly cocks her head in the direction of the exit they had been headed for. "Here I was thinking we'd go putz around like Tomb World, or check out what's happening on Neonoir." Damagi looks aside at Iria smiling "But this? Much better than anything else planned or unplanned that was gonna happen today." She says sweetly. The pair walk out of the arena complex and walk towards the hangar where Damagi had parked her ship, The Kickin' Wing.

"Oh hey, let's stock up on some stuff before we head out." Damagi motions at a market plaza they had passed by earlier and walks over. The NPC vendors sell just about everything one could want from an anime series, except for Artifacts of course. Damagi stands in the center looking around, running her fingers along the brim of her sedge hat in contemplation. "Hmmm I want any group of mine to make a nice entrance. We could drop down in The Kickin' Wing and play some AC/DC real loud, but I dunno....doesn't feel right." Her eyes fall on the vehicle vendor, and she trots over.

"Hello! How can I help you?" The NPC Vendor asks upon Damagi getting to its stand. There are glass cases, filled with nothing but static keys and vehicle miniatures.

"I'm interested in some Saiyan Pods, at least six." Damagi replies and the Vendor extends his hand. A miniature Saiyan Pod appears in his palm, the price of one thousand credits appearing over it.

"This is our basic Saiyan Pod. Carries one individual and has the options of either a soft landing or hard landing depending on user preferences." The Vendor states and follows up with "Would you like to purchase?"

Damagi does not hesitate. She hold out her left hand palm-up and with the right snaps her fingers six times. Six of the mini Saiyan Pods appear in her left palm and are promptly placed in her inventory. Damagi turns around to Iria and says very proudly. "Go big or go home, I always say." She gestures out at the rest of the market as she asks Iria "Think of anything else we might need, partner?"

 

[Camleen]

With a wide smile Iria now follows Damagi, kind of skipping as she does. Her footfalls now make soft clicking sounds against the ground, as opposed to her usually very quiet steps. Since she's more known to wear robes and all. "I feel like this is gonna be much much fun. I can't wait to see how many people respond!" She already has it in her head that Damagi is going to be flooded by responses and by people wanting in. Starting…. now!

Nothing?

…. Staaaaaarting now!

No?

Now!

….. okay maybe it does need time to get the message out.

Damagi motions to the market plaza, and Iria gasps in excitement. "Yyyyyyay!" She exclaims as she jogs passed Damagi, her arms held out straight as she veers side to side. She immediately heads to a stand that is serving various kinds of treats found in anime. Iria immediately takes 3 bags of konpeito candy, hugging them close to her chest lovingly. First task complete, she runs back to where Damagi is standing in the middle of all of it, listening to her logic about entrances. "Oh we need an entrance theme. Like Honoo no Soldier!" She says with a nod.

Iria trails behind Damagi, still holding her bags of candy. Damagi did say they needed supplies.. to Iria that's candy! She kind of peeks around Damagi as she looks at the Saiyan Pods, but she also looks at the other vehicles offered. Huh.. she hasn't seen some of these before. She does recognize the car from Redline, and she points to it "Hey that's that show ya made me watch!" She makes it sound like she had to be threatened into watching the anime Redline. But her and Damagi have a little thing going. They each take turns exposing the other to shows or movies that normally that person wouldn't watch. Iria's watched a lot of good shows thanks to this. She sees the Battleship Yamato… she nibbles on her lower lip as she stares at it. It's crazy super expensive.. but that would be an amazing ship to have. She sees more she recognizes.. the Capsule Corporation Spaceship, the Bebop (in addition to the Red Tail (a personal fave), the Swordfish and Hammerhead), KIKI'S BROOM!, Nausicaa's glider… the Phoenix from Gatchaman! She practically swoons at that one…

Damagi turns to Iria now, and she smiles to the Saiyan. "Saiyan Pods are cool… I need to paint the one though. OH we should paint them all different colors! Like a raaaainbow comin down on ya!" she now lifts her hands and then draws them down, her fingers wiggling "Comin dooooown on ya! With pretty colors!" With a grin she looks back towards Damagi, and takes a deep breath before she speaks, still holding her bags of beloved candy. "aaaaactually… I been thinkin… I remember the Predator guys… if they get their butt kicked, they do this kamikaze self explodey thingy. Apparently it's like sposed ta be super strong. So.. I mean… I think the odds are good we're gonna get hit with that sooner or later. With how many losers are gonna get blown up, we might be in close proximity when it happens and not even know it!" She looks around, and then shrugs as she looks back to Damagi. "I don't remember anything in like.. science fiction stuffs that could absorb that damage. If I could use my spells, it'd be an easy fix. Stoneskin ef-te-dubba-ya. I imagine anything that could help us survive that damage would be like.. super expensive or super inefficient ta carry. Aaaaaaaand we may wanna think about like… cloaky thingies for ourselves. Somethin ta hide our heat signatures? At least a little? Should I buy a Sailor Moon weapon? I feel like I should buy a Sailor Moon weapon. I wish I had something like Erza, where my like armor and weapons could always be somethin different. I'd like maaaaaaaaake some really flashy Senshi-ish thingies. Oh is that the Aloha Oe?!" She walks off suddenly, heading towards another vendor, looking into his case at more miniture ships with a wide smile.

She was on track pretty good there for a while… buuuuuut her mind will get sidetracked sometimes pretty easily.

 

[Amber Franklin]

The Tezuka Invitational was being streamed on Twitch, so it could be watched from almost anywhere even when you're not logged onto the OASIS. That wasn't Wendy's style. Not at all. The player behind Wendy_Wrekker prefers immersion when possible, and it just did not feel right to sit at home watching two fighters slug it out.

Nope. Wendy had paid for tickets to sit in the stands and watch it. Not the best seats because Wendy wasn't loaded enough to sit at the front rows. Or the middle rows. Nope Wendy_Wrekker sat in the very back and top seats. Wendy didn't like to think of this as a disadvantage; from up here the whole fight could be seen without having to whip your eyes and head around as much. It also helped to be in the very back because it meant Wendy can wear her hat without being worried it was getting in someone's way.

Martials arts, at least the strictly hand-to-hand variety were not Wendy's thing. She prefers swords, and the monsters she can summon from her Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck. That doesn't mean she doesn't fully appreciate players like those in this tournament. Really she wishes she had the aptitude for it. It would be useful to be able to still deal a good amount of damage when stripped of your weapons.

This being the first of her three days off, Wendy was taking the day to watch as many matches as she could. She had already watched two other riveting matches before she watched Damagi and Captain L3O take the ring. Wendy was quite surprised to see the level difference, thinking to herself how this was going to be a one-sided bout. Stood to reason for her that the gap was just too much. You did have to admire Damagi's great confidence though. That announcer wasn't wrong, this chick was really into her Saiyan character.

"She's a total Vegeta." Wendy says to herself the moment before the match officialy starts. She follows it up with a dismissive "Welp, like Vegeta, pride goeth before the fall."

Yet the match was surprisingly even! The crowd, Wendy among them, sat on the edge of their seats as the small Saiyan whittled down the pirate's HP just as well as hers was. At one point, Wendy thought maybe, juuust maybe, this Damagi was going to jump the gap and come out on top. It kinda gave Wendy....hope. She always stuck to her level brackets for quests and matches, getting a trickle of experience points from the bouts she was able to win.

Just as soon as Wendy feels this welling of hope, she watches Damagi be spiked out of the ring. Which makes her utter an audible groan of disappoinment. To her surprise though, Damagi accepts the defeat with Goku-like cheer. Seeing this makes her take off the hat and wave it ecstatically as she joins in the crowd cheering her out of the arena. Right away Wendy opens her UI, searches for Damagi, and hits Follow on her OASIS profile. She thinks maybe she'll take some time out of her day to watch any videos Damagi has posted around, maybe get some pointers.

This being the last match of the day, Wendy leaves the arena soon after with the rest. She stands just outside the public entrance and to the side, looking at her UI. Her credits were sitting at 150 after she purchased her tournament ticket and getting here. It was just enough to get to one adjacent planet by teleporter, but not enough to do anything else until she could get quest loot. The next adjacent planet was the Magic The Gathering one though.

"Hmm. Tezuka should have some simple fetch quests, or something else easy." Wendy talks aloud to herself as she considers her options. She takes a couple steps forward intent on heading out into the wilderness in search of...something to do to mine credits and experience..when a notification pops up in her UI right in front of her face. It was from Damagi. She had just posted to the LFP system. "Fresh off a match and ready to get to questing? I'm liking her more by the minute." Wendy giggles and clicks the video.

"Yup...a lot of Vegeta in this one. With some Black Star thrown in." Wendy muses as she watches the video and even sticks her tongue out back at the recording. "Huh, so she gets invited to this tournament, and now invited to early access for a planet." Wendy says with a slight frown. Not jealous in the least. Not at all...

When the video ends, Wendy closes it and resumes walking, this time aimlessly as she mulls the video over. She was in the right level range. She was ready to quest. By those criteria she was just as eligible as anyone. And yet she doesn't feel eligible. Wendy_Wrekker was...nobody really. What would be the use of sending something back?

As Wendy gets lost in her own self-pitying thoughts she thinks are her being realistic, she's been auto-walking in one direction. That direction takes her into the path of a couple people who walk around her, paying her little more mind. Until this path brings her into a nearby market, right into the hip of an equally distracted Iria at a vendor's stand.

The two collide, lightly, and this jars Wendy from her thoughts. She bounces off, and her face goes red as she waves her arms and apologizes profusely. "Oh I am so sorry! I was looking at something IRL and set myself to auto-walk!" She stops waving her arms and does the typical nervous scratching of the back of her head thing seen in anime complete with a matching nervous smile.

 

[Camleen]

Iria stares down into the display case, falling in love with some of the ships there. Technically… she could buy one. Or a few. There's a secret she keeps to herself, one that not even Damagi knows. She's often tempted to buy things she shouldn't, she shouldn't flaunt how many funds she has (or doesn't have). And when she's in a place like this, that's especially hard. And it gets more difficult when she asks Damagi for advice, and Damagi enables her just to be nice. Damagi has seen Iria splurge foolishly on more than one occasion. But Iria likes to shop.. she loves buying things, even if she almost always regrets it later.

Iria opens her inventory suddenly and places 2 of her bags of candy in it. She has to rearrange a few things first (things need to be in proper order!), and she then opens the bag of candy she still has and plucks a piece out. "Spaaaace Dandy! He's a dandy guy… in space." She says in a playful tone, still staring at the Oloha Oe. I love me's Kickin Wing, but mebbe we should buy a space station. We could afford a space station if we saved our fun-" She cuts herself off as a soft beeping/clicking noise originates from the circular metal plate affixed to the back of her stormtrooper-ish armor. A moment later, she grunts softly as she stumbles slightly, having been run into by Wendy. She turns towards her, eyes wide. She still chews on her candy though.

Iria's dark lips form into a smile, her crystal blue eyes watching Wendy curiously. "S'kay. I do it all the time. Or I put D on follow so I can do research. I mean I always follow her around anyways, but sometimes I set things so I just follow her automatically. Like when I need to get a sammich or go potty. I zone out sometimes too when I do the auto-walkin thingy. I was walking" she makes a straight motion with her arm ahead of her "into this boulder for like 15 minutes before I noticed. And she just watched me the whole time giggling." She motions to Damagi then, and she continues to ramble mindlessly. "I like these spaceships. We have a big one… well she has a big one, I have a littler ship… which I need to name still. I'm bad at naming things. Usually I just have someone else name it for me, that makes me happy. Hey that's a neat hat." She pauses and thrusts the open bag of candy forward, stopping like 3 inches from Wendy's nose. "Want some candy? They ain't poison. At least I hope not. I haven't died yet, so I assume they ain't poison."

 

[Amber Franklin]

In that moment the grey woman looks at Wendy with wide eyes, she was ready for a fight to right this minor slight against the stranger. The hand that had been scratching the back of her head went for the sword on her back, and legs readied to spring in whatever direction would have afforded her the best course to dodge and disarm. That moments passes and instead Wendy regards Iria with relief, but also amusement and embarassment. She laughs with her hand over her mouth as if to stifle it when Iria shares the anecdote about this 'D' letting her walk into a boulder for fifteen minutes. She doesn't have time to even wonder who this 'D' is before Iria points her out.

"Oh...oh wow." Wendy says with an air of wonder as she sees Damagi in the oufit she'd just seen in the video only a minute or so before. Wendy stops paying attention to Iria as she thinks how this seems like such a huge coincidence. How her auto-walking would bring her right to Damagi and her partner...which makes her feel bad to think she didn't recognize Iria right away. The Saiyan had dominated the video after all. Could this mean something? Should she at least try out, being here anyway?

Wendy is snapped out of her thoughts by the bag of candy being shoved in her face, startled really. "Um thanks." Wendy takes a piece and pops it in her mouth while looking between Iria and Damagi. "So that was a...pretty nice match." She says to her with a shrug and casual nod, downplaying how impressed she really was with how it had gone. Her strategy was to play it cool for now, maybe get to being aloof. "So what's next with you two?" She asks both, looking around at the shop they had met near. "I was going to pick up another ship myself. Ya know while my main ride is in the shop, can't keep shelling out the credits to teleport." She lies to sound wayyy more wealthy than she is as she turns around to browse the selection of ships. In none of her previous runs had she gotten enough credits to afford more than a teleport or cheap ride between planets.

 

[Ms.Ezra]

"Geez, you make it sound like I twisted your arm." Damagi teases in response to Iria mentioning how Damagi had convinced her to watch the old anime movie Redline. She also nods in agreement when Iria says they should paint the pods. Not too sold on the rainbow idea at first, but the way Iria pitches it and expresses her excitement it just feels good to say "Yes!" and then just stand back watching Iria look at the other merchandise with bag of candy in hand. The player behind Damagi takes this time to have a bite to eat herself, opening a bag of apple chips to munch on while she watches Iria and also thinks about the coming quest.

"Let's see...in the movies Predators have been taken down by one very skilled and determined opponent, but not head-on. Had to be worn down by traps and stuff first. So we need someone really good at traps to get them up fast as possible." She mumbles aloud to herself. She then witnesses Iria be stumbled into by someone she's never met(probably) but recognizes the avatar appearance. Damagi listens to the newcomer apologize profusely, and Iria be herself and not make it a big thing at all. Even uses it as an opportunity to tell a story that Damagi remembers well and laughs about as she approaches the pair, holding her head high when the girl seems to not just recognize her, but is starstruck. Which Damagi loves of course.

And yet the other player right away tries to play this off as not a big deal either, diverting her attention to the merchandise and making a light brag about her ship 'being in the shop' which is a line Damagi has heard all too often to believe of anyone.

"Really? What kind of ship you got?" Damagi comes up to stand beside Wendy at the stand, having to look up to her and adjusting her hat. She's calling her bluff, just for the fun of it.

 

[Camleen]

Iria keeps a smile on her lips as Wendy suddenly notices Damagi. And it's as if she has seen this before… because she has. Iria keeps her eyes on Wendy as the woman starts to speak to Damagi, the one in her voice obviously one of admiration. Usually when Iria and Damagi are travelling anywhere, it's Damagi that gets noticed. Iria has, for a long time, considered herself more a sidekick than anything else. So she's become rather accustomed to this kind of thing. So as they converse Iria just takes a little step back, munching on more of her candy.

And as she does, her mind drifts a little to what Damagi said. About traps. She doesn't have anything non-magic that could serve the purpose of making traps. Especially on the spot. Maybe some gunnery turrets? But those are expensive, and a pain to carry around usually. At least from what she remembers of them. Her mind drifts to the cloaking thing… and she suddenly realizes that they could have an advantage against the Predator cloaking system.

Iria is about to say something… but she gets kind of a blank look on her face for a moment. She half turns and opens her personal messenger, reading something she just received. She starts to frown discretely to herself and responds, typing out a response to the sender. A worried look draws across her dark features, and she seems to be in a silent debate or argument. But finally she closes her eyes a moment to try and calm herself, and she types a final response before closing the window.

"So" She now turns to face Damagi and Wendy, putting a smile back on her lips. "I'm gonna head to Neonoir to do a little shopping. Get somethin we might be able to use in our lil trip, Damagi." She starts to turn, the bag of candy she was holding now put into her inventory. "It was nice meeting you, miss! You kids behave!" She says in a faux cheerful tone as she heads off with a wave, not allowing the chance for protest from either of them. Once she is a little bit away from them, she goes into a light jog, her boots clacking lightly on the ground. She looks down as she runs, hating how she just bailed on the two of them. While she really was intending to go to Neonoir, the added pressure of that message weighs heavily on her.

She slows to a walk as she nears the perimeter of the arena area, of the market place. Opening her inventory, she scrolls to where she has her vehicles stored. Well… her vehicle. She plucks the toy representation from her inventory and tosses it away from her, and it draws out to its full size. It's a very unique ship… all red in color. And if you look at it from overhead… it looks like a heart. The sort you would find on a Hallmark Card or something. Because… well Iria. Needs a heart shaped ship. While she loves the ship, she hasn't named it. She feels like she should have another, something closer to the Kickin Wing. A thought she only started to have recently. The ship's engines start to power up as she approaches, and the cockpit slides open. Carefully she climbs in (she tried to get fancy and jump in from outside once and ended up hurting herself), and the cockpit slides closed. The ship lifts up, and it zooms away along the ground. A trail of red glitter follows in its wake. Because… well Iria.

Gradually it ascends, and Iria exits the atmosphere, heading away from Toriyama.

As the ship traverses the spaceways, she sends a message to Damagi.

'I'll contact you in a lil bit. I need to buy something for Artemis. Well look for something for Artemis. I'm not logging though, so I'll talk to you soon.'

It's odd how she just took off, without giving Damagi a chance to join her or asking either her or Wendy to come with her. She does this sort of thing sometimes… but she never seems happy about it.