Raiyuu

[font=Trebuchet MS]I did have a sneaky feeling I might pop up in this somewhere ... and I am a [i]nasty [/i]piece of work, I am. All of the story so far has a really nice flow to it, and you've created the Firespark universe quite skilfully. The one thing I will say is that the whole Grandice sequence seemed a little too [i]easy. [/i]Surely that far in the future, no guard would fall for the "Guard! He's choking!" *Smack* routine, let alone four or five guards in a row? Where was this endless supply of idiot guards coming from, why didn't the later ones get wised up when their buddies kept going in and not coming out, and doesn't the Grandice, the biggest ship in the fleet, have security cameras in the brig? (See, this is the [i]real [/i]reason he hates me) There be nowt wrong with your style - it's funny and exciting, which is what it needs to be - but there are plot points that could do with being worked through better. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='AzureWolf][/font][color=teal]This phenomenon is called penis envy. I don't remember how it is resolved, but I think (THINK) it is solved in a similar fashion as the Oedipus complex.[/color'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] As far as I remember, Freud didn't explicitly talk about the female version of the Oedipus complex, but other psychoanalysts have extrapolated from his theories and come up with the "Electra complex". Electra hero-worshipped her father to the extent that when her mother murdered him, she got her brother Orestes to murder her mother in revenge. It's not quite as extreme as Oedipus marrying his mother, but she certainly had a lot of love for her old dad. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Um ... can you clarify exactly what you want this thread to discuss? Are you after discussion of Mohammad's life/virtue, do you want people to post more quotations about him, or just responses to these quotes? This isn't me with my Moderator hat on here, I'm not pouncing on this thread for lack of clarity or anything ... but you've just posted a list of quotations about Mohammad and I'm at a loss as to how I should respond. This is a discussion forum, after all - what do you want us to discuss? [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Okay, the exchanging of excessive strings of smileys was quite funny, but let's not kill the joke with overuse. Really, Sayuri-sama, there's no need to use the same smiley multiple times in a row, that's just silly. Being British I am obliged to prefer Rugby to American Football. This is because Rugby is a real sport. The players don't feel the need to wear sixteen tons of armour in order to play, for a start. And I find American Football unnecessarily stop-starty. In Rugby, if the player with the ball goes to ground, someone else on the team picks it up and keeps going, whereas (if I understand it right) in American Football, if the ball-carrier's [b]knees [/b]touch the ground, play stops! In Rugby, the majority of play-time is spent - well, playing. Instead of stopping, huddling to discuss tactics, starting again, pushing back two feet and stopping. It's just boring, to be honest. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS] [/font] [center][font=Trebuchet MS]^^ A moment of silence ^^[/font] [/center] [font=Trebuchet MS] [quote name='Dagger][/font] And if the blue star really is [color=#000000][spoiler]the Earth, could the mystic red star in My-HiME be Arika's planet?[/spoiler][/color'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] That's unlikely, isn't it? The HiME star [spoiler]actually descends to Earth at the end of HiME, and it doesn't look like a planet - more like a malevolent ball of red with weird bony support structures around it[/spoiler]. On a related note, Galderobe's [spoiler]Robe Controller - the one fried by Schwarz - is the same shape as the HiME star, which probably isn't significant, but was fun to notice[/spoiler]. This really was the best episode yet. I'd been dreading the revelations that [spoiler]Sergei was sponsoring Arika, knowing how Nina would react, and that Arika was the real princess, knowing how Mashiro would react[/spoiler]. And they managed to have everything revealed in the same sequence! I'm expecting major emotional ructions next episode, provided [spoiler]anyone actually survived Nina and Arika's scrap[/spoiler]... I think we had a bit more exposition on the way Robes function, as well. [spoiler]Arika's Blue Sky Sapphire and Nagi's Black Diamond were unaffected by Schwarz's attack on Galderobe, which presumably means Meister Gems - excluding those worn by the Pillars - are independent of the control system there. That could explain how Arika managed to partially Materialise in episode one; I'm not a fan of the 'perfect Otome' theory, it doesn't seem the type of series to have engineered beings in. So other Meisters - Haruka and Mai, for example - are presumably still fully functional, despite the Pillars and Galderobe students being rendered Robe-less. Maybe some of them will come to the rescue?[/spoiler] The little blonde girl? She's on the OP sequence, huddled with Mashiro in front of Rad and the other Asward cyborgs, so I assume she's significant somehow. We can only keep guessing until Sunrise reveal that one, I think. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Hehehe ... fear my almighty Mod Fan. I also had a little chuckle at the idea Drix would take orders from me - but I suppose I have emergency martial law powers or something :animeshy: I have to admit that I thought this was a little derivative when I started reading, but I'm enjoying it now, and no, not just because I appeared in it. As the story's progressed, you seem to have grown more confident of your own style, which is good. And you've been taking cliffhanger lessons from Athena, haven't you? Grr ... hooking me in like a prize trout ... So ... was it Sandy that shotgunned the n00b right at the very beginning? Or do more than one of these cultists have sparkly silver shotguns? [/font]

[color=Red][font=Trebuchet MS]I'd like to remind Your Mother that excessive swearing is considered spam. Take a deep breath and express your opinions in a civil manner, please. [color=Black][quote name='Chabichou][/color][/font][/color][color=#004a6f]Do you honestly think that free speech means people can spread lies?[/color][color=Red][font=Trebuchet MS'][color=Black][/quote] Yes. Free speech means exactly that - freedom to say what you like. I'm not saying lies are a good thing, especially when used to harm the image of a social grouping, but the fact is you're being reactionary. You condemn the burning down of Danish embassies in reaction to this cartoon; arson, because of a cartoon? Ludicrous! But what you're proposing is almost worse - taking away one of the basic Human Rights, because of a cartoon? That's ludicrous too. [quote name='Chabichou][/color][/font][/color][color=#004a6f] The holocaust started out with racist cartoons published in newspapers like these. They spread lies, and caused people to hate Jews, and many people in germany had no problem with jes being exterminated, simply because they believed the lies they were told.[/color][color=Red][font=Trebuchet MS'][color=Black][/quote] I'd like to refer you once again to [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law"][b][u]Godwin's Law[/u][/b][/url]. I'm not sure whether this was in Denmark, the US or Britain, but apparently there have been marches by Muslims in reaction to these cartoons, which the police are having to investigate through CCTV footage. Why? Because there were people holding placards calling for those who oppose Islam to be killed. [b]Killed. [/b]Ithink we have on our hands another classic case of a few fruitloops spoiling it for the majority. [/color][/font][/color]

[font=Trebuchet MS]I actually quite like this chapter, despite what some people have said. I think there's enough character development in there. It's no good having a purely "character development[/font][font=Trebuchet MS] chapter"[/font][font=Trebuchet MS], heh. You have to have your characters [b]doing [/b]something, and reveal their character through reactions to situations. For instance, here we have more of Seraphim's dry humour (although, admittedly, we know of this from previous chapters, it would be out of character for him [b]not [/b]to comment the way he does); and we get a nice bit of development on Athena now she's recovered from the initial shock. She obviously has a taste for the morbid... So while, in terms of plot action, not a lot happened in this one (we had the revelation that the latest victim is a newbie, but we all saw that coming, I think?) there's still enough to keep us interested. I think there was actually more character development than gory autopsy stuff in this one, all told. [quote name='Ezekiel][/font][size=1] Huge thanks to JJ and Raiyuu for nominating this for the Nifty Fifty, by the way. It means a helluva lot to me.[/size'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] You're just lucky (or shrewd?) that you restarted it when you did, because I think the Fifty had just closed when I started reading the original. I remember thinking "must remember this for next year's" and I never would have if you hadn't revitalised it. [/font]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Upon being warped to the Battle Dome, Xiaoyu was hit by a wave of nostalgia for the King of Iron Fist tournament. She'd competed every year she'd been old enough; she knew every arena, every regular contestant. This place was familiar in both of those senses. As she wound (pink) protective wrappings around her fists, she giggled at the smell of old wood that filled the Mishima family dojo, bounced happily on the smooth boards under her bare feet, fondly remembered slamming Heihachi through the fragile paper-and-balsawood walls. Finally, she grinned widely at her lifelong pet, friend and pupil. [b]"Heya, Panda!" [/b]she cried, waving excitedly. [b]"You better've been training while I've been away, or this'll be too easy! Don't feel bad when I win, 'kay?" [/b]Panda grunted in acknowledgement and crouched over into a ready stance. Xiaoyu somersaulted into her starting position, just to make sure she was ready and limber, and that the floorboards still had as much spring as she remembered. After all, this wasn't the real Mishima dojo, just a construct of it, made by Mog and branched off from the CPU, just like the Lotus Garden had been. The moogle himself fluttered down from the ceiling to hover between the two contenders, calling out, [b]"Ready, kupo?" [/b]Xiaoyu steeled herself. She had an idea what Panda would do first. [b]"FIGHT!" [/b]Mog dispersed into pixels, disappearing to start another match, and barrelling through the cloud of white and purple particles came Panda, charging forward with her front paws clenched together over her head. Xiaoyu was coiled and ready, and sprang off to her right, curling up and rolling over her shoulder to land on her feet behind Panda. Throwing her weight forward, she lashed out backwards with her foot, flicking Panda up into the air with a well-practised rear kick. [b]"Too slow, Panda!" [/b]she taunted, twirling to face her friend as she picked herself up off the floor. Xiaoyu was well aware how strong Panda was, and that her own main advantage in this fight was speed. She'd have to pour most of her energy into avoiding those massive paws, and attack little and often, exploiting openings. As Panda charged again, Xiaoyu watched closely for the swipe, jumping from the springy floorboards to kick lightly off the incoming paw and launch herself onto Panda's head, where she delivered a swift kick before leaping once more to land neatly in a crouch, ready to attack again - - or at least, that was the plan, but Panda had spun around with more speed than Xiaoyu remembered her being capable of, sweeping her paw around with both muscle power and rotational force, catching the girl unprepared, mid-landing. She only just managed a feeble block before being lifted off her feet and hurled through the air. [b]"Waa~aah!" [/b]she wailed as she smashed clean through the wall [/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]and out onto the cloistered colonnade running around the outside[/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS] of the building. There was blood in her mouth, Panda's claws had ripped through her pink silk dress and left red runnels across her stomach, and her back was full of splinters. She wiped a hand across her mouth, backing off into the flagstoned courtyard and mentally taking stock. She knew Panda's moves, but she'd underestimated Panda's knowledge of hers. And if that made the fight even, she knew she'd lose, because she could take far fewer blows from Panda than Panda could withstand from her. There was a huffing and a scratching from inside the dojo. Panda was pawing the ground. Probably preparing to charge for a tackle. A grin spread over Xiaoyu's bloodied features as it came to her. [/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The key to winning any fight was the element of surprise. [/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]She'd taught Panda, and so in theory Panda knew how she'd react in any given situation. But Panda's predictions would be based on Xiaoyu's teaching, so to win she had to do something that went against her own lessons, right? Panda exploded out of the floating sawdust that had once been a wall, charging straight for her teacher. Xiaoyu's grin just got wider. The rush of a really good spar was something she'd been missing for weeks, months, all the while she'd been competing in Survivor. She was back in her element, doing the one thing she really loved. It often unnerved her opponents in the Tournament when she showed such obvious joy in a bout; there was something about fighting against a smiley happy schoolgirl that made them hesitate, and that had won her more than a few rounds. How had there ever been any doubt about this challenge? She'd been placed in her natural environment, against an opponent she knew better than any other. She'd win [b]Battle Royale [/b]for sure! Panda's charge seemed to grind through the air in slow motion. Xiaoyu raised a hand in front of her face, palm towards Panda, and lowered her centre of gravity into the Hypnotist stance, lazily circling her hands around one another. [font=Tahoma][i]~~~[b]"Don't use Power Moves except when the other guy's on the ground, 'kay?" [/b]she'd told Panda time and time again. [/i][/font][b][font=Tahoma][i]"Use 'em any other time, they can just punch you while you're charging up! That'd be really dumb!"[/i][/font][/b][font=Tahoma][i]~~~[/i][/font] The surprise was evident on Panda's face as bright yellow sparks began to form and play around Xiaoyu's hands. The animal's momentum was so great that she couldn't stop her headlong charge. A sparkling miasma of gold surrounded Xiaoyu's entire upper body, reflecting and growing larger in Panda's black eyes. Both Xiaoyu's arms swung in a windmill arc, leaving a shimmering golden trail in the air, as she brought her palms down flat on the back of Panda's neck, abruptly ending her tackle rush as her face and chest were slammed into the flagstones. Sparks and shards of Xiaoyu's energy exploded outwards from the points of impact, bathing Panda in a warm yellow glow as she began to dissolve into a cloud of black-and-white pixels. [b]"Kay - Oh, kupo!" [/b]boomed Mog's amplified voice. [b]"Yaaay!" [/b]called Xiaoyu, jumping for joy. [b]"Nice to see ya again, Panda, but I said I'd win, didn't I?" [/b]she told the cloud as it drifted away. [/font][/color]

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='Wikipedia.org][/font']It is considered poor form to arbitrarily raise such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such deliberate invocation of Godwin's Law will be unsuccessful.[font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] Bad form, Drix. Bad form. Tsk. Meanwhile, in the land of on-topic... [quote name='Lancius83][/font']I personally think that the first amendment does not allow you to deface the american flag.[font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] As far as I've gathered from the rest of the thread (and I'm no expert on the American Constitution, being English and all) the First Amendment [b]does [/b]allow you to burn flags, and isn't really up for interpretation in that way. You can disagree with flag-burning, but it remains a Constitutional right, I think. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='MistressRoxie][/font][color=black]Because, of course he was elected based on his anti-Muslim sentiments[/color][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] [quote=JJ][/font'] Not to get off topic, but can you prove this statement?[font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] Check back on Roxie's original formatting. It goes like this: [quote][/font][color=#9933ff]Because, [i]of course[/i] he was elected based on his anti-Muslim sentiments. -___-;[/color][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] Add the italics and smiley back in, and it's fairly obvious she's being sarcastic! ^_^;; I'm with Ruckus on this one, really. It's the newspaper's, and ultimately the individual cartoonist's, fault. The Danish government shouldn't need to apologise, Middle Eastern countries shouldn't boycott them, etc. etc. All this has been said, but I will just respond to this: [quote name='Chabichou][/font][color=#004a6f]The government should condemn the cartoons, and although they shouldn't punish the newspaper (because they didn't break the law), they shouldn't allow them to do this again, or to keep printing these current cartoons, and they should tell the cartoonists to apologize for abusing their freedoms.[/color'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] The government has already condemned the cartoons, I think ... and yes, the newspaper and cartoonist should apologise. I don't know what they were smoking when they decided generalising Muslims as terrorists, and depicting their prophet as one, was a good plan. But the idea that their freedom should be curtailed really grates with me. I suppose we remove people's freedoms and rights when they commit crimes like theft or murder - by locking them up - but these people haven't actually broken a law. I'm in no way saying what they did was right - it was damn stupid, as I've already said - but they did have the right to do it under freedom of the press. Removing that freedom from people that use it in the "wrong" way is a slippery slope - who decides what is the right and wrong way to exercise freedom of speech? Perhaps cartoons pointing out flaws in the current government leader's policies are overexerting freedom of the press. Start curtailing freedom of speech for that sort of thing, and not only will every political satirist be out of a job, the situation will edge uncomfortably close to fascism, where no one has any right to say anything the governing party disagrees with. So obviously, the paper should have it outlined to them in no uncertain terms why printing this cartoon was not in anyone's best interests. But their freedom should be left intact. If they do it again, no one looks stupid but them. [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Apologies to Stuart if I'm treading on his toes, but I'm going to move this thread to the [b]Anime Lounge, [/b]seeing as it's a discussion about an [b]anime voice actor. [/b]I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a Vic Mignogna thread in the Anime Lounge already, come to think of it. So - open message to everyone with Mod-power in the Anime Lounge - maybe a thread merge is in order? I quite liked Vic as the voice of Kurz Weber in [i]Full Metal Panic! - [/i]the sort of surf-dude voice fitted him pretty well. But I don't like him as Edward Elric. Probably because I saw [i]Fullmetal Alchemist [/i]in Japanese first, and practically every voice in that show is perfect. Good as Vic may be, I don't think he could follow Romi Paku. [/font]

[b][font=Trebuchet MS]ChibiGoddess, as it currently stands your post is spam. Please try and put more thought and explanation into your posts - see the Rules and FAQ (located on the left sidebar) for more information on OB's post quality policy, or PM a Moderator if you have questions. [/font][/b][font=Trebuchet MS]It hasn't rained around me for quite a while now, but instead it's been bitterly cold. I look out of the window in the morning, see the clear blue sky and blazing sunshine and assume I can get away without a coat. No dice! Only when it's been cloudy overnight is it above freezing in the morning. Yay England. But heck, I'd rather live here where it's temperate than somewhere where it's either hot or freezing [i]all the time.[/i] [/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Don't forget the very last image of the new OP, with [spoiler]Arika and Nina fighting. They've been heading towards that for most of the series, but with Arika becoming Mashiro's Otome, Nina becoming Nagi's, and Artai going to war with Windbloom, it's becoming more and more inevitable[/spoiler]. Once more taking evidence from the OP, it looks like [spoiler]Tomoe probably is beyond redemption, at least in the sense that someone's going to have to physically defeat her rather than talking her out of whatever crazy crusade she's on. She's shown (in a Meister Robe?) standing with a line of what could be cyborgs, in which case she could be in with Midori's group, or more likely the new, more Child-like Slaves[/spoiler]. Last OP sequence point: [spoiler]Sergei is juxtaposed with Rena's dead body. We know he knew her when she was alive, but is that shot showing his regret at letting her die, or hinting that he was involved[/spoiler]? The little extra bit of Nina flashback we got later in the episode was interesting, too, [spoiler]with her pointing a gun at bloodied Sergei[/spoiler]. I'm anticipating a Nina-Sergei-(Rena?) history episode later on, maybe [spoiler]when Arika fights Nina, or when it comes out that Sergei's been sponsoring Arika[/spoiler]. (I did entertain the notion that [spoiler]Miyu][/spoiler] might be one of the Pillars, but neither of the unknowns look like her, and Shizuru didn't recognise her when they met last episode.) [/font]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Black]Having watched episode 65, it's good to see the writers acknowledged the similarity between the doors and [spoiler]the gates of Hell[/spoiler]. So now we have a little more info on these three new baddies. [spoiler]Lirin's a little girl who likes to play phone-tag. Claude has weird hair and can shapeshift. Nova ... doesn't like to show his face, and appears out of whirlwinds. And they're all fast enough to evade Renji and Ichigo with ease.[/spoiler] So what exactly [i]are [/i]these guys? I'm currently clueless. I haven't seen enough of their abilities to pass judgement. But I'm going to say they [i]aren't [/i]Shinigami or any form of Hollow we've so far come across. They don't have holes or masks, so not Hollows ([spoiler]although, as has been mentioned, it's possible they're Visored[/spoiler]). And [spoiler]when they dodged Renji and Ichigo at the end of the episode, that wasn't Shyunpo/Flash Step, because both Shinigami are proficient enough to counter that. So it was some unknown technique, more akin to true teleportation than the Shinigami 'fast stepping'[/spoiler]. Overall I'm not especially impressed with the filler so far - it shows that Kubo Taito didn't write it. But I have enough free time that I won't begrudge 25 minutes a week to watch it. [/color][/font][/color]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='Ezekiel][/font][/color][size=1][color=DarkSlateGray][size=1]...the sickly sound of crunching bone echoing in the deathly silent room.[/size][/color][/size][color=DarkGreen'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] It's worrying how good you are at the really grim stuff. As a small criticism; I had to read the opening couple of paragraphs twice to work out exactly who was where. Mainly because it says Zeke and Seraphim go to the autopsy while DDG and Raiyuu stay at the crime scene, but then you throw this into your description of Gavin: [quote name='Ezekiel][/font][/color][size=1][color=DarkSlateGray][size=1]He always smiled as if he had infinite knowledge, which made [b]Seraphim[/b] feel a little edgy in his company.[/size][/color][/size][color=DarkGreen'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] I realise the story is narrated from Zeke and Seraphim's point of view and therefore it's their perspective we get of new characters; but giving Seraphim's view on Gavin when he isn't present at the scene confuses the issue a little, made me think Seraphim was at the crime scene too. It's a niggly point, really, but it irritated me that that was in there, marring what is otherwise a very accomplished piece of writing. Nice to see the new material living up to the old ^_^ [/font][/color]

[b][color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]"I wasn't expecting to have to do this much work, kupo," [/font][/color][/b][color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]grumbled Mog as he hooked his fishing line under the Bloom Coach's bumper yet again, setting them back on the rainbow within sight of Team Kickarse before swooping down to rescue Lara and Mario. Xiaoyu stomped on the gas and revved the kart back up to full speed. One advantage of the light frame was that it only took a couple of seconds to reach maximum speed from a standstill, so they could recover quickly from any attacks, though they still couldn't quite match the Parade Kart or DK Jumbo in terms of top speed. Yuna tossed a banana skin behind them on the off-chance that Plumber and Plunder might hit it, and Xiaoyu did her best to hold the kart on the shortest racing line in a effort to catch up to the nippier Kickarse kart. Shadow and Ada seemed to be having trouble with shells hurled backwards by Furry Flurry, and by the time Xiaoyu smashed through the next item box, the yellow kart was within attacking distance. [b]"We're coming up to the jump!" [/b]called Yuna over the buzz of the engine, squeezing another banana out of its skin. [b]"Hold us steady and follow Shadow's course!" [/b]Xiaoyu did, trying to match the Parade Kart jink for jink and swerve for swerve to give Yuna a better chance at aiming. Just as the jump loomed and both teams pumped every last drop of horsepower from their karts in an effort to make the leap, Yuna hurled the slippery banana skin forwards. It landed almost perfectly under Team Kickarse's left-front tyre, sending them spinning crazily, plummeting backwards off the jump with no hope of making the far side. As the Bloom Coach soared through the black oblivion, Xiaoyu risked a glance back and saw Mog vindictively setting them back exactly at the point they'd fallen, giving them no chance of making enough speed for the jump. The Parade Kart reversed painfully slowly back along the track to try and gain enough of a run-up, the Red Fire breezing cheekily past and bombarding them with shells just to add insult to injury. [b]"Right!" [/b]yelled Xiaoyu, planting her foot firmly on the gas. Crash and Krystal were in sight, but they couldn't match the Jumbo for speed. She prayed for a useful item as she shattered another item box. [/font][/color] [center][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Orange]1. [b]Team Furry Flurry[/b][/color] [color=Magenta]2. [b]Team Oriental Beauty[/b][/color] [color=SeaGreen]3. [b]Team Plumber & Plunder[/b][/color] [color=Indigo]4. [b]Team Kickarse[/b][/color][/font] [/center]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]Worry not. I think you've caught up to me in posts now anyway. The official DoubleDash Flash site kept failing to load, so I found another site with details of karts and weapons, etc, just in case anybody still needs one. [u][url="http://www.detstar.com/files/features/mariokartdoubledash/items/"]Clicky.[/url][/u] [/font][/color]

[b][color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]"Right, we're ahead again!" [/font][/color][/b][color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]rejoiced Yuna, keeping her eyes on the hypnotic rainbow of the track. [b]"Let's stay here a bit longer this time!" [/b]Xiaoyu was having immense fun in the back seat, throwing shells and banana peels backwards at their pursuers and dancing with glee whenever a team spun out of control or fell off the track. She'd been struck with terror the first time she saw Ada's Parade Kart career off into the black abyss, but now she knew Mog was waiting to swoop down on his cloud and rescue falling teams, she attacked her former teammates with wanton abandon. Currently she was juggling three green shells, struggling to keep them balanced on top of one another as Yuna threw the fragile Bloom Coach crazily into bend after hairpin bend. The sphere hunter was getting more confident with the controls with every metre of the course, and Xiaoyu's aim was improving too. As her tower of shells threatened to topple again, she thought she made out Ada shouting something from the back seat of the Parade Kart; next she knew, three red shells were roaring up the rainbow towards her. [b]"Aa~aah!" [/b]she yelped, losing all composure and dropping her items on the track behind. To her amazement, two of the incoming red homers were neatly intercepted by her own green shells, slamming into each other with a [i]clonk [/i]and bouncing off the edge of the track. The third green shell continued merrily along the track, causing Shadow to swerve violently, just avoiding it and sending it spinning into Mario's Red Fire. The third red shell [i]smacked [/i]into the Bloom Coach, sending it into an uncontrollable whirl as Shadow piloted the Parade Kart straight past, still injecting his own speed into it. Yuna wrestled with the steering wheel, pulling the Coach back under control just as Mario and Lara caught up. The two karts sped along the straight wheel-to-wheel, sparks grinding off the bodywork. Boxes loomed, and a second later Xiaoyu found herself holding a translucent pink heart. It split into three identical items, which began to gently orbit the Bloom Coach. [b]"What do [i]they [/i]do?" [/b]wondered Xiaoyu, noting the worried look on Mario's face. [/font][/color] [center][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Indigo]1. [b]Team Kickarse[/b][/color] [color=SeaGreen]= 2. [b]Team Plumber & Plunder[/b][/color] [color=Magenta]= 2. [b]Team Oriental Beauty[/b][/color] [color=Orange]4. [b]Team Furry Flurry[/b][/color] [/font][/center]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]I switched the map to [b]satellite [/b]and zoomed right in, and to my delight I discovered that the main building of my uni is fairly clearly visible, so I plonked my marker right on top of it. Despite my never having lectures in that particular building. I get lost in there, all the signs [b]say [/b]"Health Centre" or "Accomodation Office" but [b]lead [/b]to the boiler room instead.[/font][/color]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS][quote name='Morpheus][/font][/color]Should I make it so that the map loads up in world mode instead of US?[color=DarkGreen'][font=Trebuchet MS][/quote] That would be just dandy. I zoomed it out into world mode and it's actually quite interesting to see the spread of members ... and, of course, if it loads in US mode forever more, who's ever going to find Baron, Shinje and Hevn? Hey, Blayze. My marker covers yours up. Now no one will ever be able to click and see your emo picture. I expect thanks a-plenty. [/font][/color]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]Just watched episode 15. Well played to Sergei for [spoiler]not kissing Arika[/spoiler]. But now I'm all intrigued about what Nagi has up his sleeve, and where Sergei's loyalties are ultimately going to lie. He's fast becoming one of the most interesting characters in the series. I kind of see what you mean about [spoiler]Tomoe - I am intrigued by her motivations, in the hope that they aren't going to go purely with "she's in love with Shizuru and therefore jealous". I'd hope it runs deeper than just that. Having said all that, I don't think I'm going to stop hating her just yet ;). As for Arika and Mashiro, I think it's been revealed that Arika is the queen's daughter and Mashiro is Rena's, unless I've misunderstood. They have actually given Mashiro and Rena a slight family resemblance, I think, although I could be looking for one.[/spoiler] It'll be interesting to see how much detail we're given of the [spoiler]battle exam[/spoiler] next episode - whether we get any depth, or just a montage. [/font][/color]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]Yeah, baby, I'm sharp as a razor even when I just got pulled out of bed to look at mutilation in the freezing snow. Criticism? I got nothing I haven't said already in this thread or the previous one. Bring on the new material, I'm on tenterhooks! [/font][/color]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]Yup, I thought you were going to start the race, as well. But no harm done, for I have started it myself. The Race is very much On. Does Double Dash still have the little guy on the cloud who picks up fallen karts with a fishing rod, like the original MarioKart? Because I took the liberty of giving Mog his role, so if you fall off the track, the little fuzzball can salvage you (probably with a sarcastic comment or two!) [/font][/color]

[color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]As the four teams glowered at each other on the starting line, something white and fluffy swooped in from the direction of the garage, hovering lazily in the air above them. It was Mog, sitting on a little cloud, and, for some reason, he was holding a fishing rod. [b]"On the green light, it's [i]Race ON, [/i]Survivors!" [/b]he squeaked, as a traffic light slid out of the bottom of the cloud. Yuna gunned the Coach's engine as the lights cycled through red, then amber, then ... There was a roar and a squeal as the four karts took off from the start line. Mog's cloud rocketed directly up into the air to avoid the onrushing traffic. As expected, the Bloom Coach's acceleration gave Oriental Beauty an early lead, leaving the heavier karts behind as Yuna quickly revved up to maximum speed. Facing backwards in the passenger seat, Xiaoyu could see the DK Jumbo sitting on the line in a cloud of smoke, as Crash's overenthusiastic accelerator foot combined with the vehicle's immense weight caused a screeching moment of wheelspin. [b]"Whoo, we're winning!" [/b]cried Xiaoyu, bouncing in her seat and punching the air. [b]"Yikes!" [/b]yelped Yuna, wrenching the wheel around and sending the Bloom Coach skidding almost sideways. Trying to maintain her grip on the car, Xiaoyu twisted round to see what the problem was - Yuna had swerved to avoid a giant coloured block sitting right in the middle of the road. [b]"Waaa~aaaah!" [/b]Xiaoyu yelled, seeing immediately that they were going to hit the block anyway. Would they crash, and lose the challenge so early? As the Coach slammed into the block, it shattered into brightly-coloured fragments, which scattered and spun in the air, coalescing to form a red turtle-shell, which dropped neatly into Xiaoyu hands. She looked at it blankly for a second. [b]"Oooh, I SEE!" [/b]she cried triumphantly, and hurled the shell with as much accuracy as she could towards the Parade Kart, which was burning up the track, eating up Oriental Beauty's lead. The shell was off-target, but curved around, kicking up rainbow dust from the track, and slammed into the side of Shadow and Ada's kart, knocking it spinning. The Red Fire kart took advantage and overtook the Kickarse team. [b]"Sorry, Adaa~a!" [/b]Xiaoyu yelled after them, turning to Yuna and suggesting, [b]"let's crash into more of those things!" [/b][/font][/color] [center][color=Magenta][font=Trebuchet MS]1. Team [b]Oriental Beauty[/b][/font][/color] [color=SeaGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]2. Team [b]Plumber & Plunder[/b][/font][/color] [color=Indigo][font=Trebuchet MS]3. Team [b]Kickarse[/b][/font][/color] [color=Orange][font=Trebuchet MS]4. Team [b]Furry Flurry[/b][/font][/color] [/center]