Description: Jinchuu is over. And with the end of the tournament, the Suiryuu has slipped beneath the waves. Join us, now, as we bid a final farewell to the People's Ship...and maybe answer some questions along the way.
Exterior
The Suiryuu is truly a strange ship. Though it is officially billed as an 'arena yacht' in promotional and official materials, this would actually be something of a misnomer in reality. The Suiryuu is nothing short of a floating testament to the arcane and illusionary.
From prow to stern, the ship is easily eighty meters in length, a massive thing that towers over a man standing on the ground. However, its hull has been highly engineered. Gone are the simplistic smooth hulls associated with most ships. Bolts and rivets greatly varying in size abound across the boat's lower hull and securing many makeshift sets of armor plate across the ship. This emphasizes a disturbing lack of right angles all over the ship, and a peculiar rilled architecture.
Much like bracket fungi, platforms of varying size have been engineered from recesses on the side of the ship, supported by chains from holes in those recesses, and these platforms extend all the way down to the waterline of the ship itself. This is also supported by multiple handholds in the side of the ship itself, and numerous anchor points and /anchors/ themselves: The Suiryuu is easily equipped with over 20 different anchors at varying points at either side of the ship's hull. Some of these anchors are mounted horizontally--in such a fashion that it seems that they are designed to be launched, rather than lowered.
Most cryptic of all to the ship's operation is the sealing patterns on the hull. Passing over the entirety of the hull of the great sailing ship are lines, scorched into the thick lead paints. These lines are spectrareactive, flashing with light whenever chi flashes near their vicinity and may cause feedback effects. It all traces out a circuit leading to the fore of the ship, on its starboard side, circling a massive insignia. Three leaves swirling around a vortex. The Ryouhara clan sigil, identifying the ship and its owner.
[Exits : <N> towards Ship, and <S> South to Harbor ]
RIKO: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Goodbye Tour of Jinchuu! Today, we'll be going through a lovingly created reconstruction of the famous tournament ship, as it was before it...er...had a truck through the side...umn...got attacked, er...blown up...um...blown up some more...er...well, okay, actually like it was pretty much before the entire tournament started actually, but that's not the point! It's time for FAREWELL, PEOPLE'S SHIP SUIRYUU - THE TOUR!
HI..er, SEISHIROU: (I wonder what happened to that truck..) Mm. Though not many will understand, we chose to hold our event aboard a ship for tactical reasons. Isolating our agents was necessary. We had to do quite a bit of work to retrofit the existing design.. a lesser ship wouldn't have lasted a week. The ninkou no the hull was of a channelling type. Though it was hardly in pristine condition for long, we were surprised at the significance the design of the sealwork held for many people.... Heh. Some of you even tried to make copies ...
RIKO: Which isn't as good an idea as it seems! It's one thing to replicate the physical structure of a seal - any idiot can draw little loopy bits, even the fiddly widdle ones. But the chi construct is /quite/ a different matter. If we could copy seals like that, our job would be a lot easier! As it is, we had to like spend absolutely ages drawing on the Suiryuu's hull...good thing that paid off, huh?
SEISHIROU: We were able to use some fire inscriptions on sections of the hull.. Still. Maintaining the construct in the seals were quite draining. It's a little known fact that energy imbuements at that level could barely last a few hours without being reinforced. Luckily, the strength of the agents was sufficient to complete and, ultimately, acheive the objective. .. hmph.
RIKO: Aw, you don't have to sulk like that, Seishirou-sama! It all went well, didn't it? Uhhh...okay, aside from the invasion by "R" and the fact we had to blow the ship up and...umn...hm. Er. But it was cool! And besides, everyone enjoyed having a tournament on a cool ship like the Suiryuu, didn'tcha? All the seal stuff on the outside gave it character!
SEISHIROU: _Hmph._ We've had some comments about that. More armor plate than we already installed would have been meaningless, and that contributed to the somewhat intimidating atmosphere for the weaklings on the boat, especially at night. A lot of it was necessary--the primary pipework, was meant to channel steam for the Suiryuu's cloud cover function. The Blacknoah wouldn't have been able to find us if we were able to move. The platforms on the hull were part stage, but they were able to fold up to decrease the ship's radar profile in that kind of a situation. ... And you, above anyone else, should know.. the Suiryuu was designed as an egg. It didn't blow up. It just hatched.
RIKO: Sssshh! C'mon, Seishirou-sama, what happened to maintaining an aura of mystery, hmm? Well, okay, I guess, y'know, it might mess with people's minds a LITTLE bit more, tellin' 'em the Suiryuu's evolved like a Pokemon or something. But still. I guess, though. As you can see, folks, the ship's structure -was- carefully engineered. It's not just stealth plating and funky steam tubes on the outside. The interior was also compartmentalized, so we could seal off sections in the event of flooding - which, obviously, we needed to do! And speaking of the inside...
Main Deck
Going up the boarding ramp onto the ship is something of a fascinating process--to do so means to invite one's spirit to immediately take in the feeling of /liveliness/ aboard the ship. It is not a pleasant sensation.
This, the main deck is open and inviting, though in some views it can be considered industrialized. Machinery and crates dot the main deck. Though they are sparse, they are bulky where they appear--some of the matchinery breaks over the edge of the ship and has visibly exposed gearwork. The crates are similar--brightly colored freight. Some are unidentifiable, others are marked with clear stencilling--POLEARMS, or RECORDING EQ. More disconcerting are the cannons. Artillery pieces of various salvage and era are securied to the deck near hooded crenellations in the sidewall of the ship. Broadsides-style, they are clear defense, though what they fire is a topic of some discussion. One of the cannons doesn't even have a noticeable opening in its barrel of any kind, only a mystic seal where one would be.
While the deck to the fore is fairly open, with space enough to set up any number of furnishings or perhaps get a glimpse of the open sea over the railing, the aftmost portion of the deck is more recreational in scope; swimming pool, deck chairs, and jacuzzi. Though there is a small shop booth set up here for specialty concerns (mostly reading material, snacks, extracurricular toiletries, weapons, poisons, the antidotes to those poisons, and what the shopowner will swear is a book of hints for the tournament--three hundred dollars per page) all areas are swathed in mechanics. The tables are bolted down, the umbrellas are made of reinforced steel, and that jacuzzi bears faint resemblance to some great pneumatic dragon's mouth. One can only surmise what the water jets have been modified to do. Leading up from the port and starboard sides of the ship is the promenade, a small construct at the center of the vessel, offering inside dining and .. other amenities. Further down, belowdecks, are the cabins.
But the liveliness of the ship is not a feeling of companionship, though there are many people here. Not a feeling of festivity, though on occaision recreation is an acceptable goal. No, this is not a positive feeling. The skin crawls with something quickly forgotten, but never quite absent.
[Exits : <UP> to Promenade Deck, <DOWN> to Hold, <CAB> Cabins, and <OUT> Outside Ship ]
[Things : Alan-shaped Dent ]
SEISHIROU: ...A little further aboard, the main deck. Or, as we like to call it, Ground Zero. Initially, the blast that threw Rugal off the ship was meant to go straight through the middle and crack the ship in half. I had to reconstruct some of the seals to compensate for a different target. It wasn't easy. The first casualty of any military endeavor is the plan... Ultimately, it's a minor point, though.
RIKO: Aw, there you go giving away secrets again. But it's true. We really didn't count on things turning out the way they did. Mister Rugal really messed us up! But, y'know, we improvised and stuff. We're good at that. 'cides, we did expect -some- problems. Check out the deck! We had all sorts of nifty cool cannons and stuff. Totally for self-defense, of course. It's not like we planned to invade a small developing nation or anything...
SEISHIROU: No one cares about minor details anymore. Except when they make an earthshattering kaboom. Anyway. The Suiryuu was outfitted with three different types of completely benevolent cannons, beyond the standard: a flooding type, a long range type, and a hailing type. There was an additional type that allowed the Suiryuu to wrap things in anchors, but this type wasn't in great use during the Suiryuu's tour of duty. Only authorized and trained personnel could use many of the special cannons, though.
RIKO: Thankfully, we had a professional and highly competent crew! They were definitely essential to making sure the tournament ran smoothly and everything. Special thanks to Miz Bonne Jenet and Mister Rolento Schugerg, and their nice staff! You just can't find good help like that anymore.
SEISHIROU: Now who's giving away secrets? It was a plan of ours to hold a match at the end at the fore of the ship, on the deck in the last arena. Unfortunately, with that arena in about 25 pieces at the bottom of the ocean, that was a moot point. Mostly, the deck served as a social center for the ship, with many of fighting's finest taking advantage of the pool, in particular. I'm surprised no one paid for the shopowner's hint guide. I think there were a few attempts at theft.. but he has a pretty mean lightning bolt jutsu.
RIKO: I dunno, Seishirou-sama. It's a question of utility, demand, supply...basic economics, really. The price really -was- very high. And heck, even -I- don't know what was supposed to be in that hint book. Didn't Naerose try to steal it, though? Doesn't matter, I guess. Nobody really bought stuff from the souvenir stand, which is kinda a shame. I got all those t-shirts printed up and everything! Well, there's always eBay, I guess. The rest of the shop did pretty good business, though, 'specially toiletries and essentials and stuff. 'specially after everyone came on board that first night, after Round One of the tournament.
SEISHIROU: If you'd paid the price you could have seen what was in it. And simple math dictates the better informed you are, the better you have a shot at the grand prize. Is that worth $300? Luckily, I salvaged it before we got off the boat, along with a few other items.. The stand didn't move product so well. But I suppose it was an interesting social experiment. Was it a trust issue?
RIKO: Hey, you could consider this entire tournament a social experiment, ne? All part of our scientific method! Especially how we made everyone bunk together. That was fun...
Cabins
The most simplistic part of the ship, the cabins form part of the lower deck underneath the main deck. A plushly furnished long running corridor, rendered in a somewhat dichtomous blend of steel and mahogany runs most of the length of the ship, with doors on either side of the corridor. They offer no real protection against being broken into via any number of skilled or brute methods, but as a courtesy they do still lock from the inside. Laundry has even been seen to--at the fore of the ship, a small room houses a washer and a dryer for clothing.
Most of the cabins are arranged in order of opulence. The crew tends to sleep communally not in cabins, but in bays near the aft part of the ship, while fighters sleep amidships. While most of the spectators of Jinchuu only have daytime tickets, a few rooms /have/ been appointed for premium tickets at the fore of the ship. Warning stickers are placed on each door there, warning of the danger of potential fights happening in the corridors and in the cabins.
[Exits : <OUT> to Main Deck, <1> to Cabin (Bow), <2> to Cabin (Midship), and <3> to Cabin (Aft) ]
Cabin 2 (Midship)
Despite cabin assortment and arrangements, all cabins on the Suiryuu are pretty much identical, regardless of station. Well lit. A small, but well organized room, with a guarded window offering a view of the open sea. A bathroom with (more or less) standard plumbing. A set of drawers and a closet, a chest for dstoring things and usually a small TV.
The beds are of more interest. Because of the obvious space concerns aboard a vessel this size, all cabins are built in size to be comfortable with two, with bunk beds set slightly into the outside curvature of the hull, on a peculiar system of suspension which allows them to sway with the motion of the ship and not dump their occupant on the floor.
Sadly, unlike the hammocks of the crew's bays, this is not an entirely foolproof system.
[Exits : <OUT> to Cabins ]
SEISHIROU: The arrangements and resultant activity were interesting.. We tested every aspect of our agent's mettle, but we didn't go so far so as to deprive them of sleep. That would have thrown off our figures. Every cabin was made with the most exquisite comfort in mind, with the most advanced beds, entertainment systems and surveillance equipment we could manage.
RIKO: Pity about the /decor/, but Seishirou-sama has this fetish for spartan industrial modernity or something. All boring straight edges and a whole lotta metal. Still, the cabins were comfortable enough! Of course, they're all two-bunk rooms, which meant our passengers had to share...
SEISHIROU: -- Let's move on, before our hand is revealed.
RIKO: Wait, what, we're not gonna talk about the cameras we had hidden in the bedrooms and bathrooms and all the absolutely /hot/ footage we got i---OW! Seishirou-sama, you didn't have to do that!
Promenade Deck
It's somewhat cozier inside than out on the promenade deck. Set in a large cabin above the main deck, the promenade houses a fully functional set of luxuries. Beyond the open and richly carpeted floors, there is a wetbar on the starboard side of the ship, and across the ways, a set-in dining salon, with several tables and a door leading into the small kitchen. in the back. Bay windows lining the walls offer an almost breathtaking view of the sea, though the effect is marred for the obvious anti-ballistics wire mesh and protective fencing guarding them. The captain's bridge is also here, though set down a stairwell and into a smaller room at the fore below the promenade deck itself.
Further back towards the stern of the ship, a baby grand piano has been set up on a small stage, perhaps for a talented musician to perform in some manner as a form of dinner entertainment. For alternative pursuits, a set of fencing rapiers have been set aside very recently in a rack just to the side of the piano.
Behind some small bay door, a secluded section of the parlor illustrates the Suiryuu's private spaces. An armory locker, for one and at another, a map room and the Suiryuu's on board library. Though it is of a broad range of authoring, most of the collection is said to come from the Ryouhara clan's own master library itself. As a result, most of the books are on tactical affairs--mortal, aerial, maritime and large scale all--in addition to extended treatises on various martial arts. It is worth noting that some of these volumes are very old and have been hand-written..
[Exits : <UP> to Superstructure, and <DOWN> to Main Deck ]
SEISHIROU: With that settled. I'd hoped the Promenade would be the social center of the ship. Unfortunately, as expected, I was disappointed to find that it was mostly just ransacked by a sexy thief.
RIKO: He-hey, you're not allowed to compliment other women like that! Well. Except maybe Sakura-senpai. I know you've got a crush on her and every----okay, okay, I'll stop. Don't hit! Jeez. Hmph. Well, yeah. The Promenade never really caught on as a hangout spot. And after all the trouble we went through to set it up nicely, too! I mean, we got a piano in here and everything, and the bar was really well stocked and nice...
SEISHIROU: I suspected you'd see things my way. Anyway. At least we got a few people inebriated before the ship went down. Most of our library went down with it, too. That was unfortunate, but unavoidable. You can only carry so many books. Of course, there was the additional purpose. There was..the dojo.
..did that shelf just move?
Hidden Dojo
A dojo on a yacht?!
A hidden dojo, no less. Dropped here by pulling the 'War Economics' keybook from the shelf, this is an oddly traditional dojo aboard the Suiryuu, for conducting training and battle.
It is constructed in segments, with a front room marked with the sign of the Jinchuu tournament on the main tatami mat on the main floor. In the back, sliding rice paper doors lead to additional training areas, mush smaller, but rife with false walls and slanted floors. Eventually, it reaches to extra sleeping quarters. And a fully stocked armory, even larger than the locker placed in the promenade.
The dojo itself is a testament to martial weaponry. Every conceivable implement of melee destruction can be found on the walls of this dojo, from sabers and katanas to guisarmes, sheng bao (meteor hammers) and bagh nakh (tiger claw). Unlike most of Suiryuu, the dojo is constructed with thick timbers instead of machinery and steel and is isolated from the main ship structure. It is a place of technique and skill over brute force.
[Exits : <OUT> to Promenade Deck ]
RIKO: Ah, yes. The hidden dojo! It's traditional, you know. Can't argue with tradition. Gotta have a hidden room for ninja fighting and stuff. And we put it behind a bookcase, too, with the trapdoor triggered by pulling the right book. Classical forms, y'know?
SEISHIROU: Sometimes classics die hard. While being a secondary location of interest aboard Suiryuu and a planned arena, the Dojo was actually established as the primary weapons store of the ship. Most of the weapons scattered around the Suiryuu were stocked from this location. Obviously, the bazookas were .. a little different. Even if most of them were stolen and pitched overboard by some rabbits. Pity, they would have come in handy when "R" decided to drop a net over our ship..
RIKO: I'm sure Arika, Eva, and Himeko were kicking themselves over that. Or maybe not. You never know. Human behavior is so very hard to predict. So many variables! Arika says she thought the bazookas were dangerous and everything and needed to be disposed of. Dunno where she got that idea. I mean, we got a big room of all sorts of weapons here, and it's not like a few widdle ol' explosive weapons are the most dangerous thing on board!
SEISHIROU: It's more ironic in hindsight. Fighters are worse than bazookas anyway. .. A fighter with a bazooka though... hm.
RIKO: Oooh, I know that look! You're getting /ideas/ again! Yay! It's such a pity though...not many fighters appreciate the art of weapons. This room didn't get as much attention as we'd hoped. But then again, it was, y'know, a /hidden/ dojo, so maybe too much attention would have been bad?
SEISHIROU: (absent)
RIKO: W...wait, Seishirou-sama, wait for me!
Superstructure
Though the Suiryuu is in fact a motor yacht, for some arcane reason the ship does have a full rigging setup located atop the promenade deck. Though its sails are very rarely drawn, and the structure is comparitively low slung for a sailing vessel, it does seem to have the usual variety of sloping lines and draws secured to various parts of the ship. Mostly triangular sails form a dual mast fore and aft rig, resulting in a veritable spider's web of sloping and swung cordage. There's even a crow's nest atop the very thing, though it is in fact little more than a platform mounted on the side of the mounted and boxed satellite transmissions hardware.
The masts of the ship are hardly the wood timbers one would have ordinarily expected. Like the rest of the ship, they are industrial things, armor plated and tilted at strange angles, with slanted protrusions along their shafts. In some cases, they are merely housings for other communications and sensor equipment. In other cases.. well.
Every critical rigging line is steel cable. A long crate clearly labelled 'BAZOOKA' has been secured to one protrusion with thick plastic bands. At the tip of every spar is a sheathed cutlass.
... In those other cases, they are platforms. A battleground, like any other.
[Exits : <DOWN> to Promenade Deck ]
SEISHIROU: ... The superstructure. Though the ship did have a screw, it also had sails. At once a contingency measure, and also a cover to conceal the broadband ECM array. The odd detailing was to lower radar profile. The Suiryuu had a large cross section on radar, but this was mostly subterfuge ...
RIKO: (breathing heavily) ...and you could have waited for me! Hmph. Yeah, yeah, we spent a lot of time actually making -sure- we had stealth capabilities. Not just crazy ninja stuff too, but up-to-date electronic countermeasures, angled hull plates, even interior baffles... and the masts, of course. Like Seishirou-sama said, both for sails and hidden antennaes. Also a great match venue! Can't beat the high wire!
SEISHIROU: We were done there anyway. I think you overdid it a little bit on the electronic security, but I suppose it did decently enough. Only two of the ravenous hordes looking for treasure actually found the boat. Still, you can't have a ship without a crow's nest to feather. That alone justified the time we spent in the rigging.
RIKO: Ahhh, Seishirou-sama, ever the aesthetic scholar. If we left it up to you, the Suiryuu would have paddle wheels!
SEISHIROU: They would have detached and sawn the Blacknoah in half.
RIKO: ...so -that's- what the scale model was for. But I didn't give you permission to dismantle my blender like that! How am I supposed to make you fruit juice in the morning?
SEISHIROU: Kiwis shouldn't be fruits...
RIKO: They taste good in a smoothie! Honestly, Seishirou-sama, you eat way too much junk food.
SEISHIROU: (absent again)
RIKO: Seishirou-sama!!!!
Hold
Situated well below the waterline of the ship, the Suiryuu's hold is a place of contrast, lit by low caged floruescent lighting, casting harsh shadows on everything else. It is in fact privy to some of the more open areas on the ship, as most of the hold is meant to carry literal truckloads of crates and freight, as a kind of extended cargo capacity has been added to the ship, the bolt and weldwork seeming newer in areas. It is as if the ship has been elongated from its original specifications, a testament to the extent of custom modification that the ship has undergone.
The hold is obviously compartmentalized, to prevent the ship from sinking in the event of flooding. A few of these are sealed already, owing to the security of the ship's passenger freight, likely. Another has been converted into a massive trash compactor. The others are open, allowing easy transition among the bays. The walls here are curved inward on port and starboard sides--large ballast tanks located to either side of the ship. Massive, truly, larger than any recreational ship should have a right to have. They are eerily similar to the kinds carried on some military landing vessels..
[Exits : <UP> to Main Deck, and <DOWN> to Lower Hull ]
SEISHIROU: (without missing a beat) The hold is one of the best applications of ninkougakujutsu. We fit over twenty different staged watertight bays in here. Good for random cargo. And of course, specialized arenas for battle. Of course, due to the abstract layout of the compartments, the compactor did kind of jam there for .. well, quite some time.
RIKO: (grrrr, stop doing that!) ...Because you went and dumped people into it. That specifically voids the manufacturer's warranty, you know. Something about a Star Wars clause.
SEISHIROU: I think it's also a Class A Safety Violation. Safety and Star Wars are both overrated.
RIKO: 'course, it's not like some of the scenarios down here didn't borrow from famous fiction. Standard memes, you know, themes and such. Trapped in the dark, the ever-rising water, survival of the fittest!
SEISHIROU: They were completely original concepts.
RIKO: Suuuuure, you just keep -telling- yourself that. I've seen your 'research material'!
SEISHIROU: Completely. Original.
RIKO: Yeah, yeah, and you couldn't come up with anything better than fight after fight after fight in CARGO HOLDS?
Lower Hull
The thrumming pulse of engines can be felt more than heard here in the lowest bowels of the Suiryuu. Oh, it's quite loud--the engines, everpresent, churn the water beneath your feet, and the feeling is enough to cause the sound to fade into the background. This area is the most industrial of all the ship, and is large enough to house a small catwalk above it. Beyond this, for all of the piping, steel floors and dingy white lighting, it is a cramped space.
Besides being the subject of a masterwork maze of crawlspaces, steering machinery and mouse-holes, down here the ship is almost alive. So close to the engines, the walls are scrawled with the same arcane text that marks the ship's outside hull, an ancient form of martial circuitry. Its purpose is heretoforth unknown, but it is extremely spectrasensitive, lighting up the entire area when even so much as a chi fireball is thrown. The walls seem to crawl with the ambient forces at work here. The entire area is usually considered off limits to casual personnel, though nothing truly stops one from coming down here except sheer common sense: It is not entirely unlikely a lightning bolt would jump from the walls themselves here and catch a fighter unawares.
It enervates the senses.
At the end of it all, one seam is etched into a single wall amidships, sealing off the front of the vessel. A thick steel door without a knob, the focal point of a number of those ancient circuits. There is nothing to pick, nothing to pry. No way inside. But it is a door nonetheless.
[Exits : <UP> to Hold, and <???> to Inner Chamber ]
[Vehicles: Bilge Compartment (Vehicle) ]
RIKO: Ahhh, first into a room for once! The lower engineering spaces of the Suiryuu were -mostly- off-limits. At least initially. But trying to keep fighters out of places is like...herding cats or something. Rabid cats. On acid. With solid fuel boosters strapped to their tails. The engines are down here, of course, but also other things, ne?
SEISHIROU: Hmph. By far, the popular and most asked-about feature this deep down were the automatons. Most people can't fathom the inner workings and machinations of the ship. But it's not that hard to understand Momo.
RIKO: Oh, not that hard at all. That's why we modeled the new Ban-kun series after her. We gathered data on all the fighters on board, of course. But our lovely tennis princess was just perfectly suited for our purposes!
SEISHIROU: Her attributes were perfectly suited for the design, of course. I pity the "R" soldiers that tried to lace the area with explosives. ... Though I believe one was responsible for an earthshattering explosion that tore through an entire floor. Or was that Momo? It was dark in that hall. I was hoping to keep that bay, but.. The only place that remained relatively unmolested for the duration of the tournament was the Inner Chamber.
RIKO: Well, that's because you went and built it without a door.
Inner Chamber
It is an empty room, but every square inch has been scrawled with the ancient text of the Ryouhara clan, jutsu both old and new fire-etched into the grounds and making all conventional fighting techniques seem simple by comparison. This, the 'heart' of what could be considered Suiryuu and by extension, Jinchuu itself, all draws to a single focal point. Every line of text on the ship, every odd scrawling on the shinobi yacht, whether it be up on the main deck, up in the masts, across the sails, in the holds, in the lower hull, on the lower hull.. every line of text leads here.
They all merge and encircle one point. A Ryouhara clan sigil set into the grounds here.
It is the center of everything.
The destiny of the people.
The Judgment of the Clan.
[Exits : <UP> to Lower Hull ]
SEISHIROU: Sometimes, the only way to keep people out... Actually, the automatons were attracted to chi. Most of the chi left over after the event was here. So they gathered here. Plain and simple. Actually, this was closer to the control room of the Suiryuu than even the bridge. We spent quite a bit of time here managing and reinforcing the seal constructs keeping the wide range of energy over the ship packed up nice and neat. If we hadn't...
RIKO: /Boom/. Of course, things went boom anyway, but they went boom at the proper time and place. It would have been...inconvenient if we'd experienced a premature detonation.
SEISHIROU: As you kept trying to tell people.
RIKO: Hey, hey, is it -my- fault they don't listen? I swear, nobody trusts the little ninja girl. It's just not /fair/...
SEISHIROU: It is. But that's beside the point. As mentioned before.. this was supposed to be the focal point of the explosion. It would have been somewhat stronger if it had. Nikolai was our target here and I didn't want to risk him surviving to spite me. Unfortunately, that didn't pan. ... hmph.
RIKO: The best laid plans of mice and men. Didn't you say no plan survives contact with the enemy, Seishirou-/sama/? But, hey, at least our dear Mister Nikolai is currently in prison, courtesy of our friends in Interpol, hm?
SEISHIROU: (frowning) There were more enemies than expected.. Interpol was among them, for a time. Either way, after the battle, the chamber proved to be useful as one of the few pieces of flat ground available for the final match. Arika and Tiffany outdid themselves..
RIKO: Oh, yeah, definitely. Harsh match conditions. The whole ship was tilting by that time. Lower hull flooding and everything! Then all the M0M0 robots were filling the place, attracted by all the chi. But they did great! It was one heck of a dramatic battle. Have you seen the TV ratings from the live broadcast?
SEISHIROU: They fought a match worthy of the Suiryuu's last breath, a sweet farewell to the ship as it realized its first goal.
RIKO: Aw, Seishirou-sama, you have the soul of a poet...probably sealed up in an ofuda somewhere. I think everything turned out okay, ne? And it was such a dramatic ending, too, all of us fleeing a sinking ship, the wreckage crackling with chi, as it slipped beneath the waves...
SEISHIROU: Hmph. In my closet. The explosion only consumed a portion of the Suiryuu's chi, so there were still reactions as the ship went under. It was partially our jutsu and our chi, so there was still significant charge left over. A moot point now... but the story isn't over. Wave goodbye to the People's Ship. We're leaving.
RIKO: Hai, hai. Farewell, People's Ship Suiryuu!
Log created on 01:22:29 11/15/2007 by Riko, and last modified on 01:35:51 11/15/2007.