He pulled my stats from a book!
Search Posts
As Ian crumples to the ground, Ishida looks at the magus. He strides into the crowd of refugees once more. "And what price are you willing to pay for my death?"
Ishida continues his assault against Arista.
A refugee strides out of the crowd, up to Arista. With a quick motion, the refugee pulls off a hat revealing him to be Ishida. "Seems like your friends left you alone." He attacks her with his katana. ; ;
"Vencious has had enough time to know how many people you can kill at once," Ishida says, turning to walk, the hostages ahead of him. "We've had enough changes of plans to be careless at this point." Turning back, he looks at Cyna. "You're getting what you want. You're even getting an escort to the tower. What's wrong with that? Besides, if you do manage to kill me, there is always Ian."
"Don't worry, they were always Vencious' agents," Ishida says with a sly smile. "Kill me and they die. Walk back to the camp and they die. Them and that merchant friend of yours who was foolish enough to set off on his own. Head for the tower now and they may live to tell the tale of your sad demise. It's been a while since Vencious had children to experiment on."
"Hostages," Ishida says. He points out into the crowd of refugees. "You'd be surprised what money can buy."
"Vencious knows you're here, you think he was going to let you just do what you pleased? No...it's time for you to head to the tower. All of you."
Ishida narrows his eyes. "You should have listened, Toni."
"Trying to dissuade more reasonable people, apparently."
"I believe your ranger friend is correct and you should leave the bandits for another time," says a man dressed in black clothing, wearing Jinzhi swords at his side. "These people can wait, you have a more important task to accomplish."
"You could say that again. If you need another match today, let me know and I'll send you something," Ishida informs Miyuku.
"As good of a day as it gets when ten of my team get sent home because they were too dumb to listen," Ishida says. "I'll send a few chips over in a while."
"Congrats on your victory," Ishida says as he appears on the tablet. "I hope that wasn't too tough."
"Good morning," Ishida says, stifling a yawn. "Not surprisingly, there are quite a few teams in this tournament. I've scouted several for you. Given your new ranking with Tree, there's a threesome that might offer you a good fight. These guys are themed like a baseball team." Ishida shrugs. "It'll be a good warm up though. I've just sent you their coordinates." Miyuku's comm beeps softly.
"Good night," Ishida says before the tablet blips off.
"We've got a long way to go, so you've got time to figure out the finer points," Ishida answers. "Try to stick to groups of 2 or 3 people as your opponents, it'll make you a little less conspicuous. I'll look over what we have before the team registration closes up and send you a list of viable targets in the morning."
"Dust doesn't want for anything, but there are some things money can't buy," Ishida says. "He'll study you for a while, but he won't make a move until you do."
"Well, that Taro kid ended up getting involved in a match first thing in tomorrow morning, so it's probably good that you stuck with Tree," Ishida says. "So Dust, huh? These last few years haven't been easy on him...especially his loss to El Tigre last tournament." Ishida pauses. "I know you're a Harada prototype...back when Harada meant quality. Either Dust wants to see where SPECTRAL failed him or..."
"Taro Yamamoto and Kehanu Murimatsu?"
"Evening," Ishida says. "What can I do for you, Miyuku?"
"Hello, Miyuku and Yama, I see you got the welcome gift," Ishida's image says. "There's something strange about this year's tournament, so I sent these along in case you ever needed a private line to talk to me. Ah, hang on a second...I see that the strange man, Tree, is staying in the same place as you. I'm advising you to be careful and keep a low profile. Tree is wanted by SPECTRAL, who he used to work for. Apparently, he fled to Hokkaido after some accident mutated him and they want to know what makes him tick. Keep an eye on him for me, if you can. Something about him tells me he's a decent guy and he doesn't need to get caught by those bastards. Oops, got someone else powering on...don't forget to make it to the opening ceremony." The screen blips off.
After everyone finishes eating, Ishida says. "If you've got your hotels picked out, use your 'Personal' function on your comms. Remember that SPECTRAL pays your hotel bills as well, so go nuts. Cabs will be by shortly."
"Maybe...not sure yet," Ishida confesses. "My line-up...it looks like a set-up."
"How can I say no to your food?" Ishida jokes. "Alright, everyone, just take a seat anywhere you want. Hisuke-dono will take your order shortly." Once everyone begins settling themselves, Ishida pulls his brother aside. "One hot tea and your pork ramen, please."
"We're here and I hope you like ramen," Ishida says, opening the doors to the bus. He walks into the restaurant. "Otouto, I've got seventy hungry people."
"Who I kill and when I kill aren't your concern, Jackie 'Sumisu'," Ishida interrupts as he walks away. He makes his way to the bus, hoping everyone got on board. "Alright, who's hungry?" He gives his gathered team a warm smile, the warmest he had given in four years.
"I don't like the idea of you American gai-jin sticking your nose in the tournament," Ishida says with equal coldness. "Wasn't it four years ago that your people were running around and calling it barbaric? Anyway, this isn't a conversation we should be having. I've got people to feed and my honor to preserve."
Ishida scans the invitation, hands Kehanu his comm, explains the functions and elaborates the rules of the tournament. "The bus is outside, Murimatsu-san, and, if you see a little blonde kid picking his nose, let him know too." With a sigh, he locks down the box his bracelets had been in, takes them over to the stern-looking woman you had seen in the display over Yoyogi. "Ah, Sumisu-sempai, I'm done for the day. Here's my spares, my sign in list and I'll wait until the other half of my brain liquefies before I turn that in."
"Oh, that Murimatsu...anyway, let's get down to business. I need your invitation," Ishida says.
"Eh...damn...forgot to tell him about the bus," Ishida mutters. "Hopefully, he pops in one of those discs before my last guy shows up...Murimatsu...where have I heard that name before?"
"Alright, since you don't seem to be a noink, I'll let you have these," Ishida says, handing Taro three discs and a bracelet. "Your drones will give you the rundown of the tournament and you'll learn all the important functions of your comm. Plus you get my handy advice, if you want it, and we're both spared fifteen minutes of me watching you pick your nose."
"I'm Ishida Yamizaki, your handler," Ishida says with a polite bow.
"Do your drones read and write AL7?" Ishida asks, taking the invitation.
"Your invitation," Ishida sighs.
"No, should I?" Ishida asks.
As the Saito girls walk away, Ishida looks around. "Yamamoto-san? Yamamoto Taro?"
"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."
"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.
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.
"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."
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.
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."
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?"
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?" |