It had been two months since you received your invitations to the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya. The day had finally arrived and you found yourselves standing outside the massive structure that had been built over 200 years ago for the Summer Olympics. You can barely see ahead of you with the massive crowd of people milling about. A few people trade friendly banter while some groups openly taunt and tease each other. This is a big day.
Registration Day for the Neon Dance Hall Tournament wasn't a small affair. Given the turnout this year, you hope that you'll make it in before tomorrow morning. The rules were quite specific: today was for registration, tomorrow the fighting would begin at 8 am, sharp. There was a bit of a stir four years ago at the last tournament with people taking cheap shots at the unaware and you hope the NDHC (Neon Dance Hall Committee) finally fixed that snag.
You hear a roar from the front of the crowd as the doors to Yoyogi finally open. The line moves quite slowly, the mass of people condensing slowly but surely into an orderly line. About two hours later, you are in the middle of the pack, latecomers grumbling about how the NDHC should open a second registration center. Yet, the tradition has continued for over 50 years, something utterly Japanese in the ritual.
Taking a look around, you see people with colorful costumes and outrageous hair. It almost feels like a festival here in Shibuya. There are a few dressed in suits with dark sunglasses, taking themselves way too seriously. Of course, you note an abundance of briefcases. An anti-grav platform with huge speakers pulls up to the side of the line. You catch a glimpse of an androgynous looking person with elf ears and an elaborate LED mask hop off, microphone in hand. You instantly recognize the person as MC R.E.Z., the world-famous DJ of Radio Zero and host of the Neon Dance Hall Tournament.
"Are the cameras on? I swore we should have done this last week. I hate SPECTRAL's junky garbage..." the DJ mutters, not knowing the microphone is on.
One of his/her attendants, a catgirl with neon purple hair points to the mic. MC R.E.Z. just shakes his/her head. "Welcome, welcome all to Registration Day! To the fans watching at home and the people eagerly awaiting their approval, this year's tournament has a record turnout: 25,000 contestants vying for the ultimate prize! Let's meet some of our hopefuls."
He/she walks up to where Yamaneko and Miyuku are standing. "Hello, hello. So...would you mind telling me your names and how you're feeling right now?"
MC R.E.Z. leans the mic forward in front of the duo.
Yamaneko looks up at her...Miyuku and smiles while hopping up and down in her black leather outfit.
"Oh hey! I'm Yamaneko Saito and this is my big sister Miyuku and we feel totally pumped. This is gonna be AWESOME!!! Aren't you excited?" Her tail swishes back and forth as her ears twitch.
Turning to Miyuku she takes her hand and tugs on her arm enthusiastically.
"We're gonna blow the competition away, right Miyuku?" She smiles brightly at Miyuku, the excitement all over her face, her eyes bright with anticipation.
Miyuku breaks into a slow smile, unable to resist Yamaneko's limitless enthusiasm. "We look forward to the competition." she says into the microphone, peering over her sunglasses.
Unable to contain herself, Yamaneko breaks out into a horrible fit of giggles.
"Excellent! I hope you have a great time!" MC R.E.Z. exclaims before moving on.
The graceful and mysterious DJ makes his/her way through the crowds. A short while later as you're moving closer to the front, a large holographic display appears above Yoyogi. A stern-looking woman with glasses appears and straightens her tie. Her voice blares over the loudspeakers.
"May I remind everyone that the Neon Dance Hall Tournament is by invitation only. Failure to produce an invitation will result in your immediate arrest. Civilians are reminded that Shibuya is a designated combat zone and to vacate the premises by 0800 tomorrow. Thank you."
She shakes her head and makes a disproving sound, "Sheesh, she seems like a real stick in the mud. I just wanna have some fun. I really like that we're here together. I'm sure we'll make quite the deadly duo."
"Of course we will, I wouldn't have it any other way," Miyuku says with a smile, mussing her daughter's hair.
Though the two played the part of sisters in public, the better to cover up the fact that Miyuku didn't age, she would never think of her little wildcat as anything else.
She makes a slight purring sound before regaining control of herself and smoothing her hair back down. "Hey....not the hair kay? It takes too long to straighten it back down. I wonder how long this line is gonna take. I get so bored standing around."
"As long as it takes for all the invited partied to enter I suppose, it would definitely be faster with a second center but the designers hold tradition very important." Miyuku scans the area. "Just look around and take it all in Yama, this isn't something you see every day."
She smiles as she shuffles her feet, her tail twitching back and forth with her impatience. "Yeah, I know....it really is amazing isn't it?"
Around noon, you finally reach the front doors of Yoyogi. It seems like the event coordinators are having a tough time getting everyone signed in and oriented.
"Kuso!" a young man utters. "SPECTRAL is a bunch of idiots for inviting so many people this year..."
He turns and looks at Miyuku. "Sorry...didn't mean to cuss. What's your name and are you on your own?"
Yamaneko looks around at the young man from behind Miyuku, before her mother has a chance to respond she speaks up. "Her name is Miyuku Saito and she's not alone. I am Yamaneko, her younger sister and I'm here with her. We're competing together."
The man's cybereyes light up as he scans his list. "Saito...Saito...Saito. Ah, here we go! Great, awesome, wonderful...you're on my squad!"
His eyes turn off and he looks at both of you with a wan smile. "Alright, let's get started. I'm Ishida Yamizaki and I'm your handler, though coach might be a better term. Can I get your invitations please?"
"Yes exactly." Miyuky says trying not to laugh. "Here are the invitations." she says reaching into the pouch on her belt.
Yamaneko smiles and dances in place almost unable to contain her excitement. "ALRIGHT!! The deadly duo of Saito sisters is here, and we're gonna win for sure!"
Ishida runs his thumb over the lettering, his cyberware more than apparent. "Good, all legal."
"I'm still waiting on two more folks, so I'll give you both the rundown," the young man says, fishing out what appear to be two bracelets from a secured metal box. "First and foremost, these are your most important possession during this tournament. These communicators allow you to communicate with me and perform all important tourney functions. You lose this or it gets stolen, you've got twenty-four hours to find it or else you're out. Understand?"
"Hai." Miyuku says with a nod, putting on her bracelet and watching to make sure Yama put hers on.
Yama's smile widens as she puts on her braclet. She looks at Ishida, "I understand."
Ishida takes out another bracelet. "First, you gotta turn it on."
He presses a button on the side and a holographic display pops up. "Then you gotta key it to you. Press your thumb on the communicator for five seconds and you're good. Sorry to say, we don't have the good ones like the Chinese with their DNA analysis and stuff."
He swipes at the display with a finger and a menu appears. "Though you already know about team-play, I'll go over this part too since you're newbs to the tourney. Team-play is a new addition to this year's games. You have to go to 'Teams' at the bottom of the main menu, select it, make sure your prospective partner is on the same screen, then hit 'SYNC'. It'll register you both as a team with NDHC, so wins, kills and losses will count for you both. The team function shuts off at midnight, so go ahead and do that now. If you run into anyone you want on your team, you can add two more people to your team."
She sticks out her tongue and bites down on it a little as she tries to concentrate on Ishida's instructions. Following along, she does as he says and gets her braclet sync'ed up with Miyuku's. "Is that right? I sometimes get lost with instructions if they're too lengthy." She smiles apologetically at him.
Ishida checks another screen. "You're good."
"Okay, second, let's go over what I do. Like I said, my name's Ishida Yamazaki. You can call me Ishida or Yamizaki-taicho, just don't call me Ishi, alright? So if you need it, you call me. I'm at your disposal 24/7, even if it's a hot fudge sundae at 3 am. That's my job.
"However...there are things that I can't do for you, mostly because my cred is shot this year. If you need military hardware, you're S.O.L. Since the NDHC blew up registration this year, I've got seventy people on my squad and I had to spend what was left of my money on this trashy Harada cyberware so I can run all day and all night.
"I've said this to all the people I've registered so far, but I always mean it: If you do well, I do well. If you can get into the top 100, that means I don't sleep in a Kyoto dumpster for the next four years. I am here to make sure you succeed. I've got extensive files on most of the competition, just not the top ten because that info's always classified. So, if you run across someone giving you trouble, call me. Got it?"
Litening carefully, Miyuku follows Ishida's instructions, registering herself and Yamaneko as a team.
She smirks, "If we run into something the two of us can't handle....we don't deserve to be here. Don't worry, we'll be fine. Right Miyuku?"
"That's right. When things get hectic it's when we're at our best." Miyuku says checking her gear, a serious expression on her face.
"Pfft," Ishida smirks. "Four years ago, I had the four people in my squad say the exact same thing. Two hours after the tournament started I was out of a job. Trust me, and I really mean no offense, don't ever think that it's going to be a piece of cake."
Her expression grows a little dark, "Look, we appreciate the position that you're in, and if it were as easy as all that, the tourney wouldn't have interested us in the first place. So, thanks for the heads up. We'll keep an eye out for each other. Anything else?"
Ishida shrugs. "Moving on. Back to the main menu, you have 'Tournament Functions', 'Leaderboards' and 'Personal'. You'll be using the tournament functions a lot. On the first menu, you declare fights. SPECTRAL fixed it so both parties need to agree on a fight and those new communicators require your thumbprint to approve it. But! And this is a biggie...your communicators aren't hack-proof. If someone hacks your comm, you report it immediately. That's what the button on the other side of the power button is for. It's a direct line to the NDHC and you get stuff sorted out.
"After declaring a fight, you've got a menu that hangs around until you win, lose, draw, kill or get killed. On that menu, you report the result of the fight, if you can. Kills are worth 30 points, wins 20 and draws 10. Losses take 10 points away, but it's better than being cleaned up. Once you report the outcome, it'll confirm with your opponent and that's that. Again, keep your eye out for hacks.
"Check the leaderboards everyday. It'll give you your team ranking and show you opponents that are above you. Don't gun for anyone below you because they aren't worth squat and most people consider it dishonorable. I'll let you check your rank now."
"If you have to confirm the result with your opponents, I'm assuming that the coms also monitor vitals in order to confirm a kill?"Miyuku says calmly
She nods, "Okay."
"20468, not bad...that gives you a leg up," Ishida says after checking an electronic tablet. "Right, your comms monitor vitals and that's under 'Personal'. In case you run up against someone that use EMPs, I have a hard record at all times. You can also link your guns and have your 'Personal' tab tell you if you're running low on ammo. Just ask and I'll give you chips.
"Your 'Personal' tab also gives you a direct line to me, if you need me. You also get...fan mail. SPECTRAL decided some extras for the viewers wouldn't hurt and so you have...that. I think it's useless, enjoy it if you want. Also, you can call for medical attention, in case you need it. SPECTRAL foots the bill.
"On to the big stuff: the tournament is three months long with one month overtime. The opening ceremony is at 6 pm tonight, be there because you'll learn a lot. Fights open at 8 am every day and run until midnight. After that, vendors come out and any fighting is strictly prohibited. Points are tallied up each week, rankings change on Sunday night and we get paid. There are bonuses for every thousand ranks you go up and you get a big one when you're ranked 100 or better. Weekends are for special events, you'll see them on your personal tab. Weekends are also for dealing with hackers.
"Whatever you do, don't challenge anyone in the top ten until you have a rank of 20 or better. The top ten auto-accept and you're guaranteed to lose. Save up your money, buy better gear and make sure you get top of the line comms when you can. Yeah, it's a b$@+$, but SPECTRAL isn't gonna lose money needlessly."
She looks from her mother back to Ishida, "That's a lot of information to process all at once. So, beat up or kill the competition, don't get killed, report hackers right away, go up in rankings until we reach the top. Okay, I think I got it."
"I'll fill you in on anything you missed." Miyuku says with a smile, before giving Ishida a serious nod.
"That's about it. Oh, and stay away from historical sites. Though they are protected, things happen and you don't wanna be responsible for paying that bill," Ishida warns. "Alright, so head on outside and go to the bus that says 'Yamizaki'. You'll see some of the others and, once my other two show up, we'll head on out and get some lunch. On the backs of the seats are some travel stuff if you want to do some sightseeing during the tourney and also to get your sleeping arrangements set up. While it may seem scuzzy, some of the hole-in-the-wall hotels do give you privacy and less..."
He looks up at a crowd of raucous teenagers, hooting and hollering. "Of that..."
He bows courteously. "Thanks for listening...most people just walk off thinking they know everything."
She nods, "Sure, no problem. We've been in line a long time, I'm hungry." As if on cue, her stomach lets out a loud rumbling sound.
As the Saito girls walk away, Ishida looks around. "Yamamoto-san? Yamamoto Taro?"
A rather young looking man scoffs as he finally gets through the registration line. "I can't believe they made me of all people wait in line!"
<Yes sir. Quite rude of them no doubt.> One of the drones orbiting him yawns.
"What's the matter don't you recognize me?" the inventor finally replies.
"No, should I?" Ishida asks.
Taro grumbles to himself absentmindedly digging into his nose. "Never mind, what do you want from me now? I've been in that damn line for hours."