Tourney Spectator Lounge

"Hello Sabrina." Rose said as the first girl walked into the room. "The battles are starting to get interesting. Noone else has won just yet, though." She said, standing up.

"And hello Polonius." She said as the other man ran into the room, apparently out of breath. "It's no proble, really. I was just watching some of the matches."

SummonerMan looked up the Needler1 chip. "It looks like a decent object chip." he commented somewhat aloud, as he continued watching. Rose heard him, though. "Oh really?" She asked, as she looked it up. "It does look good. It would fit nicely in our object folder."

"What'd you get, Sabrina? Anythnig good?" She asked, turing to the girl.

...What'd she get? She really, REALLY didn't want to say it, but...

"...Vulcan1. I guess I used up all my luck the last time I used it, and got a NumberBall1..." And that was all Sabrina had to say about that.

"Yeah, it's too bad, but that's what happens. Sometimes you'll get something awesome, sometimes...not so much..." SplashLady's hologram reformed on her operator's shoulder. "I kinda wish it'd cough up an Aqua chip for us one of these days...for some reason we have a knack for getting Elec chips from it..." She looked over at DNR, who she imagined would prefer that kind of luck, for a moment. "But yeah, we don't really have the greatest luck with it...but it's okay! It's still fun just seeing what we get! And as long as you don't put any really good chips in it, you don't lose too much doing it, either! You should try it sometime, Rose!"

"I see, it's like gambling." She said, listening to Sabrina tell her story. "Sorry you had bad luck this time."

She thought briefly. "Yeah, it does sound like fun. I'll hvae to try it some time, when I have some extra chips."

"It's the one outside Soryu's shop, right?" She asked.

SummonerMan had quickly looked up NumberBall's effect, which made it look interesting enough. With the right strategy, of course.

"Hohooo... your interested in the Needler chip huh?" DNR said with a smirk towards Summonerman. "So you got Elec chips from it? Your quite fortunate miss..." he said then looking towards Splashlady, giggling a bit. "You can always buy ColdPunch, very powerful, I've tried said chip myself."

"Eh, don't worry about it. If you always got something good...well, it'd be more useful, but it also wouldn't be as fun!" ...Maybe that wasn't all she had to say about that. Sabrina was always pretty good at bouncing back after something bad. "Yeah, the one in ACDC Town. It's the blue machine thing in there. Like I said, try it sometime!"

"ColdPunch?" SplashLady was a tad surprised that a Navi like DNR had used ColdPunch. "Heh, I've already got one! It's pretty good, but overall I think I prefer AquaSword! Too bad for me the Aqua-based folder doesn't have AquaSword, huh?"

"It has an Aquaknife, though." Rose said. "They all have their elemental knife. It's practically the sword, just does a little less damage and last longer." She commented.

"Also, I'd totally be interested in the Needler chip." Rose continued. "If I had any money. Or something to trade for it. I'm building an object folder for Summ."

"So, DNR, what folder did you pick for the tournament?" She asked.

"We didn't chose..." Polonius said in response. "We told them to decide for us... and out folder's Aqua..."

"because honestly, choosing what we'd use would just be too boring... I like excitement and fun in battling, not just trying to win everything we come across... of course, winning would be nice too." DNR said with a shrug of his holo-shoulders. "I bet people here went with the elements they were most comfortable with huh?"

"Actually, you're not totally right, Rose. The Aqua folder has ColdPunch instead of the elemental knife. I remember looking at the folder choices and thinking that was kinda weird..." Sabrina pulled out the folder she'd obtained for the tournament, in all of its watery and icy goodness, and presented it to the electrical Navi's hologram. "Hey, I take minor offense to that, you know! I took the Aqua folder, since SplashLady and I specialize in fighting with water!"

"Yep! I know what you mean when you say choosing your folder is boring...but I'm an Aqua Navi that's just more comfortable with Aqua attacks. Anything else just isn't completely right to me!"

It was at this point that the aquatic operator suddenly thought of something. "Hey, didn't someone ask what the prizes would be before that weird guy joined in? I never got to throw in my two zenny about that...and honestly, I don't have a clue. As long as it's good, I won't complain!"

"Oh, you're right. I remember seeing that now. I supposeI must have totally forgotten." Rose said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, I suppose gambling with your folder could be fun as well." Rose said, in response to DNR. "But we picked Fire for tat very reason; it just looked like it would be fun to use. Technically we don't have a best element. Best type would be objects, though."

SummonerMan smiled when his question was answered. "Finally. he thought. However, as he was still in his PeT, which was still on the chair, this shouldn't be apparent to anyone but himself.

"I agree." Rose said. "Pretty much anything would be good for me."

"How about you?" She asked as she turned to the all male group in the room.

"Ah yes... that person was me." Polonius said with a bit of a giggle. "The rewards are a secret... they did promise that it be worth the fighting however..."

"Well yeah Splashlady..." DNR said with a hum "But seriously, spontaneity is a fun element in battles. It's the spark that brings life into it! Like neurotransmitters that allow cognitive thinking... or salivary glands into digestion!"

Rose decided to keep to herself that she found some of the fun in battles to come from the pre-planned strategizing, the carefully laid out plans, and knowing your own abilities. She was willing to agree that much of the fun came from the risk and element of the unknown, so she simply nodded as DNR explained his case.

"Hey," SummonerMan called out, appearing in holo-form once more. He gestured to the screen which housed the battle between Miyu and Enigma. "Check it out, quick."

Rose her Navi watched the screen as the battle sped up and headed towards it's end. With the announcing of the victor, Rose mentioned the win. "Well, it looks like we have our first real winner. That was pretty interesting."

SummonerMan had a different observation to make. "And we found out our first round consolation prize; 1000 zenny or a Recov30. That's pretty nice."

"Looks like the first round is really getting under way." Rose added, as she scanned over the screens.

Ceres, having decided to skip out on checking in at the lobby for the spectator lounge, opened the door and peered in curiously. Noticing a good amount of people in there, he decided it wouldn't be too awkward if he just walked in--so he did just that. Closing the door behind him, Ceres smiled nervously and started, Hey all! I'm Cer-- before hearing someone mention his match. Turning slightly red, he added, Well, I guess you already know me.

What was that about people skills earlier? snorted Enigma.

Not now, Ceres replied through clenched teeth. Is anything else interesting happening? he asked, addressing the group as a whole before plopping himself down into a nearby chair.

"...Huh?" Saliva? Neurosomethings? Needless to say, the body human was NOT SplashLady's area of expertise. "What are you-"

"Hey, check it out, quick."

Both operator and Navi turned, and checked out the end of the first true match. Unlike SummonerMan, however, Sabrina was less enthused about the consolation prize. "1000z or a Recover30? Now I can't lose...I'm gonna need a better prize than that!"

"Yeah...the Recover30 would be nice if we didn't have a recovery chip, but considering we've got one that's way better..." The Navi shook her head, deciding not to continue down that avenue of thought. "At this rate, we might be battling before long. Now I'm starting to get sorta nervous..."

And this was when the tournament's latest victim showed up. Needless to say, he looked sorta down...maybe a nice, friendly greeting would cheer him up a little. "Hi! Sorry about your match...but it happens. Don't let it get you down!"

"Hey there Ceres, Congratulations." Rose said, as the young man walked in and almost introduced himself. She walked over and held out her hand for a handshake.

She gave Sabrina a headlong glance as she apologized to Ceres and told him not to feel bad...after he had won. She figured that Ceres could sort that one out, though.

"Well, anyway, the consolation prize is at least decent." Rose added, looking at everyone. "You'll be getting something better, though." She said to the first round winner.

SummonerMan looked over at the first round fighter, too. He didn't have much to say though. "He didn't use much of the field. he didn't use too much of his folder, either. Oh well, might as well get some info." he figured. "Any tips for us second bracket competitors, Mr.Succesful?" SummonerMan asked, addressing the winning pair.

Ceres, utterly baffled, gave Sabrina a quizzical look before he realized what had happened. Oh, no, I'm Ceres, not Leon; I won, he laughed, smiling hesitantly. Before he could even take a breath, however, Rose was already introducing herself, and so Ceres kept his smile and shook her hand compliantly. Hey, Rose, nice to meet'cha.

It's good to know that people here are paying attention, said Enigma, rolling his eyes. I'm Enigma. Hello Rose, hello mysterious navi, he said with a sparkling eye, addressing SummonerMan's impoliteness ruthlessly. Tips? What for?

Uh... well, if we had any strategy at all, it was to keep the battle nice and short. There was too much terrain in that arena, and none of it looked like fun to get hit with, Ceres professed. We got lucky with the elemental bonus, and Enigma's attacks were made in a way so that Miyu wouldn't be able to hide behind the walls very much.

It definitely helped I wasn't as arrogant as she was coming into it, Enigma added. Overconfidence will get you nowhere. At the last statement, Ceres' blush increased even further; between the sudden attention paid to him and attention paid to his actions during the battle, he wasn't exactly sure what to say. So, he let Enigma carry the show. Also, do some research on your opponent. The strategy I used isn't applicable to most of your battles, I don't think...

"Baaahhh... keeping it short will just leave the fans wanting more... you gotta keep it exciting! Awesome!" DNR said with a fist above his head.

"Right..." Polonius said as he shrugged off DNR's comment. "Anyways Miss Ceres, Miss Enigma? I'm Polonius Carbonium and this is DNR... It is an honor to met you both..."

"So if we lose to Djinni we either get 1K or a Recov chip? Feh... We better beat her up good then..." DNR said to himself as he looked at Enigma, then Summonerman and then of course Splashlady.

There are a lot of really confused people here, laughed Ceres. Nice to meet you, Polonius.

Hey, DNR. I'm Enigma, replied Enigma absentmindedly, not even noticing Polonius' misjudgement of his gender. He instead deigned to watch the match between Capuchin and Knight, the next opponents for him in the brackets. I wonder who will win...? he muttered to himself, not getting any response from Ceres, who was occupied with being social.

So, who are you guys up against?

"...Wait, what?" Sabrina looked at the TV again...then Ceres. Then the TV. Then Ceres. Then the TV yet again...well, it was official. She just made herself look like an idiot. "Uh...wow. Just...wow. I'm really, really, REALLY sorry about that! I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as I thought, huh...?"

After a brief headshake at her operator for that huge screw-up, SplashLady warped over from her shoulder to next to DNR, and started to whisper to him. "Psst, DNR! That's a Mister, not a Miss!" There was an immense irony in that statement, but it was lost to everyone, including the one that made it, who quickly warped back. "Keep it short, huh? Considering my opponent sounds like he's really fast, I'm not sure that's such a great idea for me...at least I'd think a Navi called MachMan would be pretty quick..."

"Oh, right, I never introduced us!" Perfect, a convenient thing to make her look less like a total moron! "My name's Sabrina Jetto. And the Navi on my shoulder is SplashLady!"

"I'm just hoping for a fun fight, It doesn't really matter how long it is." She said.

"As long as we win, of course." SummonerMan added.

"Oh yeah, that "mystery Navi" is SummonerMan. He's my Navi, and happens to be a Summoning Type Navi, of course, and a jerk."

SummonerMan rolled his eyes and chose not to respond.

"Tips would be for giving us the advantage in the fight." SummonerMan managed to reply to Engima. "After all, over confidence gets you no where. I'll want every advantage I can get."

"And I know a decent amount about my opponent." he added.

"Yeah, Rose continued. We're up against Marius and Voulge. They were here earlier, so we had a chance to meet them before the fight." Rose threw in, in response to Ceres' question.

"Voulge is a Fire and Sword type Navi. he weilds a fiery transforming lance, apparently." SummonerMan said. "I figure that my Fire folder won't help much as far as the advantage goes, so I won't have that going for me." He looked at Enigma, quickly. "So ours will be more of an even fight."

He returned to watching the screen and remembered the other thing Ceres had noted. "Also, the terrain doesn't look too bad. I specialize in obstacles like Walls and Columns and Holes."

SummonerMan wasn't sure what to make of the two new people who had arrived, but he found them less sketchy than Burt, so it was at least a minor improvement. He had important match watching and folder strategy observing to do anyway.

Rose looked reassuringly at Sabrina when she chastised herself for her mistake. "Don't worry, everyone makes mistakes. I made one a little bit ago with the folder contents, at least." She said with a smile.

SummonerMan unfortunately missed the ironic whisperings of Splash"lady". Unfortunately for him, at least. The "female" navi may have found it more fortunate.

"I'd think that keeping the match short might still be a good idea for you." Rose added, thinking. "I mean, the longer it is, the more his superior speed would be out there, and the farther ahead of you he could get. If you can end it really fast, the speed wouldn't matter."

It's fine, Ceres laughed, making a casual hand gesture to assure Sabrina. I can see why you'd get... er... distracted in here.

SummonerMan, eh? Well, I've never heard much about Voulge, so I don't really think I can help you much there. However, I'd suggest just going for the kill; maybe, with your terrain specialty, you can drop him down below and use the blocks? Enigma suggested before nodding to Sabrina's navi. Hey, I'm Enigma, he offered before turning back to SummonerMan. Well, we lucked out on the folder choice, but Fire was our second-best option. Use that Whiteweb the best you can, he added.

Machman? Never heard of him either, said Ceres quietly. Use his speed against him; just tank it out, let him run as many circles around you as he wants, he suggested, leaning even further back into his chair.