Episode #1: Prelude to the War

[TK, Mike, one of you handle the opening post]

A tall building sat on a lone hill. It was even lonelier inside this facility, save for the scurrying motions of a man dressed in a white overcoat. He veered around a corner, and a door automatically opened for him. He shuffled his way in. Unlike the man himself, the labaratory was a complete mess. Coffee cups were scattered about, datasheets and oil stained the floor.

"Certainly would make a difference if I hired a janitor to clean this place..." the man muttered. He pulled out a chair in front of a screen layout, peering over the images and video presented on the screens. He then took out a video camera and pressed the recording button. "Day Four-Hundred Thirty Seven. 1400 Hours. September 4th, 2012. This is Doctor Salvador. It has been three months since my last observation of the supernatural event, of which I have taken to calling The Zero Event, as it occurred at 12:00 AM, Standard Time; 0000 Hours, Military Time, precisely. Still little to no progress on triangulating the source of the disruption that caused the impact near base. Superiors are considering closing this project due to--"

Salvador was cut off by a vibration, and the screens went bright for a moment, causing Salvador to shied his eyes. "Ungh?!" The light died down after a bit, and Salvador looked at the screen again. His eyes went wide. "I-Incredible...! What...? The fluctuations are off the charts! Must triangulate location..!" Salvador furiously typed to find the subject of interest, and one of his satellites, SatCom Three, caught it in all its glory. A blazing light on Earth, somewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere... Salvador was quiet for a moment, then looked at his camera again. "...It looks like it won't be shut down after all..."

September 5th, 2012, Metro City Westside Apartment Complex
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It was a normal September afternoon, the weather somewhere between cold and mild warmth.

A young man of 19 years of age lay on his couch in a fairly empty apartment. He had a laptop on his coffee table, and plugged into it we're his white headphones that he was currently listening to. He also had a manga in his hand, slowly flipping the pages. On his stomach he had a bag of chips, which he would take one to consume every few seconds.

The boy had fairly long black hair, which almost seemed to be blue. His eyelids lazily partially closed over his black eyes. He wore dark blue jeans and a grey shirt that bore the words "Smartass University". Attached to his pants was a chain wallet, the chain hanging out and the wallet in his pocket.

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Metro City Suburbs
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In his own house, a 19 year old boy was pitting his skills against a sandbag. He sidestepped back and forth as he attacked the bag with a flurry of punches and kicks.

The young mans home was full of various exercise equipment, from weights to destroyed sandbags previously tossed aside.

The young man had short black hair, brown-yellow eyes. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, red wristguards and gray pants. He'd been going at his workout for hours now, and he finished it up with a hard haybale to the right of the sandbag, busting it wide open and dislodging it from where it was hanging. "Phew! I guess that pretty much does it for today's workout...Hm...wonder if Mets wants to hang out today." The young walked out of the room, slinging a dry towel over his shoulders, and picked up his cell phone.

He scrolled through the contacts and clicked on Mets' name.

ZZZT...ZZZT

Mets's phone began to vibrate. It took a moment for Mets to hear it, and he lazily put his manga down and grabbed his phone from the coffee table. He looked at the screen, seeing it was a cal from his best friend Kigo. Met groaned, and than answered. Putting the phone up to his ear, he waited for Kigo to speak instead of saying hello.

"Hey Mets!" came a hearty greeting from Kigo. "What's up?" Mets rolled his eyes and replied, "Nothing much. Just reading some Kuroko no Baske. What's up with you?"

Kigo shrugged and said, "Just got finished with my workout, man. Hey, what do you say we hit the town for a bit?"

Mets put his phone down on his torso as he went to flip the page. He than picked it back up to speak.

"Sounds troublesome. Can't I just lay here and read manga..." Mets replied into the phone.

"Wouldn't it be more fulfilling to get out once in awhile." Kigo said, annoyed slightly. Mets thought for a moment, flipping another page. "I went out last week, its hardly been awhile..." Mets replied.

"Mets..."

"Fine..." the lazy boy gave in, hanging up there and than. He put the phone and manga down, than lay for a minute looking at the ceiling before getting up to leave.

Kigo put his phone down as he heard the click from the other end. He shook his head a bit, disapproving of his best friend's attitude. "Sigh...that Mets REALLY needs to find a girl to help out with that moodiness of his..." Kigo toweled off and cleaned up to go to meet his friend Mets. He texted the meeting point and left his home.

They met at a Cafe.

Kigo waited in there usual cafe spot, he enjoyed a ice coffee while reading a random magazine he saw on the table he was sitting on. The cover page had some kind of sighting on it but his hand was covering any details and he was too occupied with some of the random stuff in it.

"I swear there is nothing people won't do to get their face in a magazine" Kigo said before tossing it aside. At this time there was a jingle that happens every time the door is opened ans Kigo turned to see Mets had finally arrived. Mets had a very under enthusiastic look on his face and he carried a bag of chips on him.

"Excuse me sir, you're not allowed to bring in outside foods" said one of the cashier girls.

"Sue me.." said Mets as he walked over to where Kigo was sitting.

"You're such a happy camper" Kigo said as Mets sat down.

"Yeah yeah...what do you want?" Mets replied.

"Nothing much really, just wanted to hang out a bit, yeah?" Kigo replied. Mets pulled up a chair and slouched in it. He dug into the bag for some chips. Mets plucked a few of them out and chowed them down. "Why couldn't we have just talked over Skype...?" Mets asked. Kigo put on a stern look and told his friend, "Hey, I'm not really a guy who likes to sit in the house all day..." Mets shrugged and ate another chip.

Kigo tried for the good part of twenty minutes to spark a conversation with Mets but he made it clear that he did not want to be in the cafe with his constant sighs and referring to cafes as boring.

"Alright you win" Kigo said as he got up "Lets go to the anime show down the block" Kigo continued which caught Mets attention.

"You serious?" Mets asked to be sure he heard him right.

"Yeah yeah, anythings better than you sulking" Kigo said. Mets looked a lot less bored as he got up and walked out of the cafe with Kigo. The two walked down the sidewalk heading towards the anime shop but now Kigo was the one with a bored look on his face.

"God I wish something exiting could happen" Kigo said as he looked up. At that moment the everything around them began to tremble violently causing a panic all around them. The quake lasted only a couple of seconds before it finally calmed down; the cars in the street had all stopped and most of the people around were on the floor.

"The hell was that?" Kigo asked. at that moment a breaking news feed from TVs inside the electronics store behind him started to broadcast news from an helicopter a couple hundred miles away.

"The earthquake you may have felt was caused by a fissure that opened around this area. if you look here you'll see some kind of golden liquid filling the fissure. " the news lady said and at this point people were crowding around the TVs.

"Look at that" Mets said as he pointed towards the golden liquid. there seemed to be something moving around it that looked rather big but the camera was zoomed too far out for him to get a good look at them.

"Wait what is that!?" said the reporter as the camera zoomed in to what ever was crawling out of the golden liquid. there was a moment of pause but suddenly what looked like a ball of light started heading towards the camera.

"Look out!" yelled the reporter again but soon after the news feed turned to static leaving everyone watching in. Kigo looked over to Mets whos eye was open in surprise from what he had just seen.

"Mets lets go" Said Kigo

"Great...." said Mets with a less then enthusiastic tone in his voice and the two ran off in the direction of that the helicopter was before the news feed went out. They had not idea what it was that was happening or what is was that came out of the gold liquid but Kigo got the excitement he was looking for, and he might soon regret it.

Kigo and Mets ran to the disturbance, saw the debris of the helicopter and nearby building that got hit by the light. Something definitely destroyed this little area, but what…?

Mets looked around, stating, “Man…whatever did this is NOT in a good mood…”

“Indeed.…Strange, it’s only been minutes since we saw that attack on television,… yet I’m not picking up any chi…” Kigo noted to his friend. They turned their attention to the golden liquid that had seeped out of the fissure. Kigo went over to it and dipped his finger in it. “Ugh, man, do you have to finger everything you see?” Mets asked half mockingly. Kigo brushed off the comment and said, “It’s still warm.” Mets snickered a bit.

“Whatever did this can’t be too far from here…Start looking around. You go one way, I’ll-” Kigo suggested, but was cut off by Mets. “Whoa whoa whoa, man. We don’t even know what we’re dealing with here. Splitting up might be…whatever the hell it is…wants.”

Kigo thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I see your point…All right then." They scanned around for any unusual disturbances. They weren’t left looking for too long, however, as an explosion and screams were heard a few miles east of them.

Mets shouted to his friend, “Over there!” The two took off in the direction the noise came from, preparing to face an enemy unknown….

A few miles from the two, a mutated creature of sorts rose its head and roared, spewing saliva into the air. Mets and Kigo were stunned by what they were looking at. It had fur, so it was obviously a woodland creature of sorts, but it looked absolutely ugly for what it was. Previously, it was a squirrel. Now, it was horrifically mutated by whatever it was that was in the liquid.

"What the hell is that?!" Kigo yelled aloud, both excited and frightened by what he was seeing. Mostly the former, though. The Saiyan looked up.

"Squirrel? I have no idea what I'm looking at." Mets lazily responded. Despite the fact he was a member of a fighting race, the Saiyan's blood was not yet ready for battle. "Whatever it is though probably fell into the liquid..."

The reddened eyes of the seven-foot-tall mutant focused on the duo.

"I think it sees us Mets! Look out!!"

OOC: Filler posts while I figure out some weak stats for this thing to have.
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Elsewhere, hundreds of miles away from the upcoming skirmish, a shadowed person, all of his features obscured by a coal black cloak save for his lower face, looked up. A beeping was heard underneath the hood, and he lifted, revealing slightly more of his features.

"Power levels...270 and 300...?" asked the man. "Another level...200, close to them...one of these readings...so...the Element Force has finally revealed itself, has it? Good." A pale hand reached under the cloak as he pressed a button on something over one of his black eyes. What little could be seen of it had bright red glass, with yellow unintelligible markings on it. "Varc, come in. You must have noticed it too, right?"
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"Yes master," said a man on a mountainous range, wearing a similar piece of technology to the unknown man. While he too wore a black cloak, his hood was down, revealing peach-colored skin. "Switching to Combat levels mode...Lowest reading, 670. Higher readings in the low 1,000s."

"It appears that the Element Force of Water has begun to show. You should not be too far from there. I trust you entirely, Varc. Go there, recover some samples...or the whole thing if you can manage it. Kill anything that stands in your way. That includes those three readings."

The man sneered. "Understood, master."
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Initiative
Move Order
Kigo (17) (Actions: 2)
Mets (14) (Actions: 2)
EPM (10) (Actions: 2)

The mutant made a swipe at the two fighters, both dodging with relative ease. Kigo landed and leapt at the monster, aiming a side kick at what seemed to be the monster's abdominal region. The monster dodged with surprising speed. Kigo then leapt up to try and hit with a right uppercut.
It landed, and the monster was sent back a few feet.
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Kigo attacks the EPM, dealing 14 Stun Damage and 3 Hit Damage!

As Kigo landed his uppercut, Mets jumped forward and landed a lazily done punch to the creatures jaw. The squirrel jerked slightly, but quickly composed itself. As he saw this, Mets took a few steps back and prepared a defensive stance.

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Mets attacks the EPM, dealing 1 Stun Damage...

The mutant gave a terrifying roar, a golden aura shrouding its body.

"This thing can manipulate chi?!" yelled Kigo aloud, in utter shock. His shock, however, did not negate the fact that, when the mutated squirrel attacked him, it targeted him first, obviously seeing him as a bigger threat. It swiped claws at Kigo, but the human managed to avoid the attack.
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Round One - Phase Two
Name: Remaining PL / Remaining Stuns / Remaining Hits / Ki for use
Mets: 270 / 70 / 70 / 0
Kigo: 300 / 70 / 70 / 0
EPM: 100 / 35 / 47 / 100
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Move Order
Kigo (17) (Actions: 2)
Mets (14) (Actions: 2)
EPM (10) (Actions: 2)

Kigo landed a safe distance away from the mutant, and decided that if the monster was going to manipulate chi, he might as well do the same.
"Haaaaaaaah!" Blue energy radiated from Kigo, and the wind began breezing away from him. The monster lunged forward, ready to make another swipe. Kigo leapt high enough from the monster's reach, and a small ball of energy formed in his hand. "Hyaah!" Kigo yelled as he threw the ball at the creature. The explosion engulfed the monster's face, and it fell backward, smoke now rising from its head.

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Kigo uses a Ki attack (consuming 45 Ki) on the EPM, dealing 135 Stun Damage!

Mets looked at the dead squirrel thing, and than to Kigo.

"Can we...go now...?" he asked, sighing.

"Of course not!" Kigo replied angrily. Mets frowned, "Didn't think so..."

Before the Saiyan and Human could start bickering over who has the right of way over this incident, Kigo suddenly sensed a spike in Ki nearby. A few moments later, a bright violet energy ball streaked down toward the unconscious, basically dead squirrel, and a few moments later, the poor former woodland creature had been vaporized. Both sets of eyes trailed up, to see a cloaked man with human features...and two very inhuman things on him.

For one thing, he was floating. Less noticable, he had a device on his right eye.

"Hmm...defeating that mutated squirrel did bring your battle levels quite a bit up. No matter to me." he noted, more to himself than anything.

Kigo was the first of the two to call out to this cloaked stranger. "Hey! Are you the one responsible for turning that poor creature into a monster?!" His fist was a bit clenched and his aura was slowly radiating from his body. Mets, on the other hand, was a bit more calm (or rather did not care to assume a battle position) in the face of this potential new foe. "The chi I'm picking up from him is a bit low...but...he vaporized that monster with ease...How strong is he...?" Mets thought to himself.

"I am afraid I am not at liberty to discuss what really mutated that fleabag. You are in the way to my master's will, and as such..." He adopted a fighting pose as he landed on the ground. "You must be eradicated!"
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Initiative
Varc (17) (2 actions)
Kigo (16) (2 actions)
Mets (13) (2 actions)

Round One Phase One
Kigo: 190 / 70 / 70 / 105 Ki to use
Mets: 320 / 70 / 70 / 0 Ki to use
Varc: 230 / 80 / 80 / 120 Ki to use

Note: Varc's turn was used up to kill the squirrel.

Kigo jumped up to meet the enemy. His opponent attempted to make a small sweep at him, but Kigo easily dodged. He proceeded with a few jabs and a heavy hook kick to his opponent's head. Kigo put his hands together and swung his arms down to smash his opponent, but his mark dodged. Apparently the strikes he had taken before barely fazed him.
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Kigo attacks Varc, dealing 5 Stun Damage and 1 HP Damage!