harinezumikouken

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Gee, you guys are really helpful. I'm so glad you guys have provided such detailed explanations of recent events that allow me to-

I can't keep that up anymore. :P

@Scarifar

Well, we aren't lying. :p

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Kuhaku Shiro - Drury Lanes' Arcade

Shiro stayed his twitch reaction to come straight out of the gates swinging. Giving Robert the first few seconds to quickly get acquainted with the controls of the game. It was only courteous and fair, he wasn't looking to totally massacre him in a fit of spite. However, at the very first indication that Robert was ready to 'play' his character exploded to Robert's side of the screen with a series of rapid dashes. Showing him he was serious and meant business, Shiro rolled right into a vile combo. Starting it with a light jab as a hit-check, he began to chain together a combo that barely left any room for Robert to back off into a guard or break away. Shiro wasn't completely familiar with the game, but to him, all 2D side-scrolling arcade fighters were all the same if not similar. When you've played one fighter, you've practically played them all. This gave him a bit of an advantage as after having warmed up in the game's campaign, he was already familiarizing himself with his character's attacks. Down to the exact moments during her animations where she received invincibility frames and where he could cancel out of attacks to quickly chain into another one. As his avatar mashed away at Robert's avatar's face, Shiro was already starting to feel better. Grinning slowly, a malicious and dark gleam could be seen in his golden eyes.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I haven't posted in here in forever. What happened while I was away?

@Scarifar

Things.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Sorry ladies and gents, was supposed to be off today. That ended up not happening. Expect a post later today.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Kuhaku Shiro - Drury Lanes' Arcade

(Going for the High Score!)

Sparing a glance away from the glowing screen of the arcade machine, Shiro saw Robert get suckered into blowing a good bit of his Lien by the prize-grabber game. Snickering, he shook his head in his moment of distraction. Golden eyes flitting back to his game, he was briefly shocked as his blonde fist-fighter's avatar was punished for his drop in attention. At this point, the difficulty in his virtual opponents was increasing. The stage's antagonist taking a good chunk out of his avatar's 'Aura Meter' with a nasty combo. Furiously tapping away, Shiro barely managed to eek out a clutch victory. "Phew! Nearly lost that round," he thought as he wiped at his forehead before moving into the next match. Mid-match, Robert came up to him after being defeated by 'The Dreaded Claw' asking if he could play with him. Forgetting that there was no 'Pause' button to the game, he turned away from the screen and smiled, "Sure, no problem! But I warn you, I won't take it easy on you even if you're a newblet. I will show no mercy for pros and scrubs alike!" Shiro started to grin, but had to take a moment to digest Robert's awkward moment of weirdness as he mirrored what he thought were legitimate martial arts stances. Even going so far as to 'Kyaa!' and karate-chop at the air in front of him. "Wow. He's stranger than I am," He couldn't help but burst in a fit of hearty laughter.

Bad move.

Just as he proclaimed to show no mercy on any fellow duelist, the game did the same to him in a matter of speaking. A loud announcer's voice declared 'YOU LOSE' and Shiro whirled around in horror with his mouth agape in astonishment to find his blonde pugilist knocked out and on the ground. A 10-second countdown timer ticked down and almost snidely asked him if he wanted to continue. Cobalt came up to them with a stuffed animal toy in hand asking Robert if he wanted it, but Shiro had other plans for Robert. Nearly slamming more tokens into the machine, he elected to continue but then inserted more tokens in Robert's stead. Essentially, he momentarily postponed his progress as the Challenger's selection screen came up. Reaching over, Shiro grabbed a fistful of Robert's shirt and jerked him over to stand next to him. Pointing a bandage-wrapped finger at the screen, Shiro looked at the red-head. "Pick a character now!" he nearly commanded Robert. Sure, his loss was all his own fault. But that wasn't going to stop the faunus-boy from taking it out on his friend, at least in the virtual fighting game. Once he managed to trounce Robert, he would feel better after attaining his vengeance and continue to finish his campaign. Though, the final levels may prove to be difficult. The stinging, almost mocking replay showed his blonde avatar get stun-locked into an impossibly dizzying combo that quickly whittled down his valiant fighter's Aura Meter in mere seconds.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Is three days enough?

<Snipped quote by harinezumikouken>

It's not even an arc. But it's also been almost three weeks. I'll randomly generate the pairings again.

@Lugubrious

Sweet. Can't wait to see who we get.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

What a short lived slice of life arc. How are the pairings for the next combat conference gonna be?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Shiro is open for anyone to challenge him!

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Kuhaku Shiro - Drury Lanes/Gr8 Eats

Disinterested with bowling for the moment, Shiro made his way over to 'Gr8 Eats'. Looking at the neon sign, he smiled and chuckled to himself at the eatery's name. Already knowing what he wanted, he walked up and placed his order. His order a plain burger with a side of fries and a soda. Producing his Lien card to pay for his meal, he tapped it against the register where it automatically took the appropriate funds. "Would you like a receipt, sir?" the male cashier asked. Shiro shook his head. "No, thank you." He then stuffed his card in his pocket as he waited for his order to be completed. Turning around, his ears twitched as he started to take notice of the other patrons of the bowling alley. A colorful group of students seemed to be discussing something, it looked like they were introducing themselves to one another. Curiously, he tilted his head. Had another team of students formed at Beacon? Ears drooping as a brief expression of exasperation washed over him, it really killed him being left out of the loop without his Scroll. He would've been able to easily keep up to date on all news related to Beacon and check his abysmally small student bank account if he still had one. He was still waiting on Gren to get him a replacement, however his partner was going to manage that. As his name was called up for his food, Shiro turned back around and took his platter. Grinning brightly and thanking the cashier.

Quickly picking out his seat at an unoccupied table, he set his tray down and neatly arranged his area before digging in. The cashier even thought to give him a little cup with ketchup in it. "How thoughtful," Shiro mused. After spreading an even and thin layer of mayonnaise on the underside of the top bun of the burger, he dug in. Eating quickly, but not appearing to be gorging himself he took particular care to not make a mess. Not a single crumb left the boundaries of his red plastic tray. He kept his mouth and bandaged hands well-wiped and free of any grease or food particles. Each fry he dipped into the little clear plastic cup of ketchup, alternating between bites of his burger. Delighted at the juiciness of the burger meat, the warm and soft buns, and the crispy fries Shiro seemed content with his meal. Finished within minutes, he washed his meal down with refreshing gulps of his soft drink. Cold, carbonated, and with plenty of ice. Downing his beverage, he swiftly gathered all of his trash and cleared his area before getting up with his tray to toss out the trash. An intrigued Scoot hopped up onto the table and sniffed around for any remains, only to find none. Smirking, Shiro paused to ruffle the ferret's head. "Sorry, buddy. Too little, too late. I would've shared if you were any quicker." The rodent seemed to huff and scampered off.

After disposing of his refuse, a full Shiro wandered over to the arcade to see what games they had to offer. He saw the obligatory racing games, twitch shooters, and button-mashing fighting games. Complementing those were of course the rhythm and dancing games along with a prize-grabber along with various other games that failed to catch his eye or hold his interest. Especially the prize-grabber game. He could never win at those and were convinced they were all rigged to just steal little kids' money. Deciding to see if he still had his old skill, he tried his hand at the arcade fighting game. Selecting a small amount of Lien to convert into tokens, he again tapped his Lien card against the machine responsible for doling out the arcade's particular currency. Grabbing a fistful of tokens, he walked over to the game machine and set his jingling coins on a free space of the console with a cacophonous clinking clatter. Stopping for a moment, he wondered why arcades still used such an archaic way to unlock access to their games. Couldn't he just tap or scan his lien card every so often as with most all other methods of payments for other services? Shrugging, he figured it was a way to maybe limit those from going overboard and emptying children's pocketbooks of their lien allowance. Funny, considering such things like the prize-grabber existed. Shiro swore no one could ever win at those, and refused to believe anyone could ever win at them. Such people existed in dreams and fantasies, he surmised. Sticking his tongue out, he cracked and popped his knuckles and slid in two tokens to start up a game. As the title/splash screen of the fighter game flashed across the screen, he quickly browsed the character roster and made his selection. His short-attention span causing him to ignore the name of the game or the fighter he picked. She was some long-haired blonde fist-fighter. She looked tough and cool, which was all Shiro needed to decide on his pick.

Fingers rapidly tapping away, Shiro began pounding away through the game's 'campaign'. Scoot, forever nosy, climbed up along Shiro's back to perch on his shoulder to see what the tiger faunus was up to. Scoot sniffing at the air, Shiro's focus allowed him to not become distracted by his little friend as his blonde fighter avatar expertly blasted away at the easier difficulty fighters with her awesome shotgun-gauntlets.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Lucius Cypher - The Gods Eater anime is out. Three episodes released so far, were you aware?