Eden Comics #1 Part One :: The Tournament [Transcript]

The Curator

Eric followed the group, listening to the tour guide as they walked around, trying very hard to stifle his yawns. When the giant underwater monster was mentioned though, he could be seen grinning, the thought of the thing alone momentarily crushing his need to sleep.

Once they were left alone, the young man shook the extended hand, a sly grin on his face. ''Call me Ricky.'' He said, before moving ahead of the group toward the rooms assigned to the men, waving to everyone else over his shoulder.

''Dibs on the first room.'' He then added, pushing past door number one, then crashing on the bed with barely a glance given to the rest of the area. A genuine sigh of relief could be heard coming from the room, a bed was the most wonderful place in the world at this very moment. Although falling asleep right now, as tempting as it might be, was not a possibility.

Kaleidoscope

After being promptly introduced to the "higher ups" as well as being informed of a loose sea creature (at which she shivered), the African-american girl followed the group to the rooms. The man named Robert left, leaving the recruits alone. When the black teen spoke up and suggested the swapping of identities, the girl smiled.

"My name is Penni. It's nice to meet you all."

After the rest of the unlikely cast were done, Penni walked to her designated area of residency. Being second to the other woman, who had picked Room 10, Penni opened room 9 and gazed around.

Penni was greeted with a simple and plain room. As the institution must get recruits quite often, and the room numbers were very low (even starting at 1), Penni assumed this was a temporary holding area. The complete lack of other trainees in the comfort zone supported this assumption.

Penni noted the desk and chair, both simple yet pristine.A single lamp sat patiently on the desk, almost warning Penni that some sort of paperwork was requested of her. More paperwork was the last the she wanted to read through. Seating herself on her bed, Penni unzipped her backpack and pulled out a small mirror. After setting it on the desk, she returned to her backpack and pulled out a book. Truth and Lies the book read, by Poet Ultima. It had several sticknotes bookmarking important sections. She also pulled out a simple notebook and a pen, and set them on the desk as well. Putting her backpack into the closet, she closed it and laid down, waiting for something, anything, to happen.

Avatar

"A pleasure to meet the rest of you" Spoke the robotic figure in a phased, filtered voice, "My name is Albus. I look forward to seeing what you are all capable of."

Once all the pleasantries ended, he walked up to one of the rooms and opened the door. The room was very plain and humble. However, it reminded him about the small modifications he required in his room if he was to settle here for a prolonged period. He made a mental note to ask about when his "extra luggage" would arrive. It wasn't needed for the moment, however.

Albus walked over to his desk to see if anything was on it.

GM
8:52:12 AM
Monday, July 6th, 2303
New Eden

The group proceeded to conclude their introductions, as previously stated, the african american boy introduced himself as Sawyer Jerome. the pale young man who has, to this point, been silent, introduced himself as Lenny Sims. The golden skinned girl introduces herself as Konani Walters. The slick-haired latino boy introduces himself as Frederico Guadarrama. And finally the blonde boy had been reading a comic during the bus ride introduces himself as Bryant Williams.

Sawyer seemed saddened he wasn't fast enough to call Room number 01 so he rushes towards Room 02, the three others casually head into the remaining rooms. Lenny 04, Fred 05 and Bryant 06, Konani settles into room 10.

The rooms are simple, a single bed, desk, chair, lamp and closet. Each bedroom also has its own adjoined bathroom, which includes all the necessities, toilet, sink, shower.

A few minutes after folks settle in Sawyer steps out and starts walking around, any who follow him find a nearby living room around the corner, with two sofas, a few vending machines, a few tables and a television. Nothing as large as the common room downstairs but cozy nonetheless. Down that hall you see doors to other rooms and on the wall nearby your quarters you see a large 13 painted on the wall. Lenny speaks up as Sawyer begins to make his way down the hall towards the other doors, "Robert asked us to stay at our rooms, we shouldn't go wandering around." Sawyer turns back, smiling, "C'mon Len, I wanna see what other folk this place has got hidden away, maybe we'll see something stranger than the big robot dude!"

Fred speaks up, "I'm up for it," before following him away, Lenny sticks near his rooms door, Konani heads into the living room takes a seat and powers on the tv, and Bryant seems to have not left his room.

Kaleidoscope

Penni had hardly waited more than a minute before she heard the others condensing in the hallway and talking. Silently thanking the gods for the distraction, she leaped up and walked to the group. She noticed that Only a handful of the original cast of recruits was leaving their rooms: about half. Ricky had not left his room, nor did Bryant. Penni joined the duo (Frederico and Sawyer).

"C'mon Len, I wanna see what other folk this place has got hidden away, maybe we'll see something stranger than the big robot dude!"

"I don't think this deserted place will offer anything more interesting than that robotic creation." Penni chipped in, "But I guess it would be fun to explore."

Greyhound

Sawyer turns when he hears Penni speak up, before jogging away, "See Len, she knows what's up." before laughing and running off.

The Curator

A minute after the other group left the area, Eric walked out of his room, satisfied with the bed's quality. He looked around for a bit, quickly stumbling across the living room.

''Oh neat, vending machine.'' He then exclaimed to no one in particular, before digging in his pocket for change. After buying his generic energy drink, and not getting his all his change back, the young man sat down rather violently on the empty sofa.

''So, how d'you like the place so far?'' He asked the girl as he placed his feet on a nearby coffee table.

Avatar

Albus slowly walked out into the living room after the small group went out to explore, surveying the area. He took a corner and stood silent, waiting.

Ultima

The girl who had presented herself as Konani turns towards Eric, she had been watching what appeared to be a rugby game, leaned back into the sofa with her feet on the coffee table.
"Not bad, better than my old apartment." she munches on a handful of chips she had picked up from a vending machine, "A bit too clinical, lots of white, very shiny." She looks at Eric, "You look rough, long night?" Then she turns to the robotic figure who had made its way into the corner of the room, sorta creeped out before turning back to Eric.

GM
8:55:21 AM
Monday, July 6th, 2303
New Eden

Sawyer, Fred and Penni make their way down the hall to what seems too be area 12 (as identified by the large 12 painted on the wall near the doors. Sawyer makes his way to one of the doors and starts knocking, waiting for no answer and moving on to other doors, Fred leans on one of the door frames and turns to Penni, "You don't think you're a little young to start superheroing? Well, you and that Lenny kid... where you from?"

Sawyer continues knocking around with no success, "I don't think there's anyone here." Which is emphasised by the eerie silence (with the exception of the low mumble of the television of the common room at the end of the hall), Sawyer opens one of the doors and finds it empty.

The Curator

Eric chuckled before answering on a not so serious tone. ''I was out doin' my vigilante thing, standing on rooftops, beating muggers, y'know how it is.''

He then took a long sip of his drink before adding. ''12 hour shift scanning groceries and the like. Kept pestering my boss for more hours, decided to drop 'em on me at the worse possible time.'' The complaint was followed by a long yawn and a satisfying stretch.

Ultima

Konani lets out a chuckle, "You gonna keep working at a grocery store now that you got this sweet job?" she eats another chip, "I certainly wouldn't."

At that moment, Lenny walks into the common room.

Arcana

Lenny enters the room uneasily, glancing at the Robotic figure in the corner of the room, it was a rather frightening creature, but then again, Lenny had dealt with strange creatures before. He made his way to the sofas where Eric and Konani were talking, brushing his mop of hair out of his eyes and absently fidgeting with a deck of playing cards in his other hand, cutting it and shuffling it with ease as he took his seat. He didn't particularly care for their conversation, but he didn't feel like standing outside the door to his room all alone.

Avatar

Albus called back to mere moments ago, about the beast that had supposedly escaped the atlantean prisons. It seemed strange to him that he was not aware of Atlantis before today, as he had seen anomalies just as weird and exotic in his time. Although, on the other hand, he supposed it made sense; he had never really paid much attention to the oceans.

He checked the time, remaining silent and nearly motionless.

Kaleidoscope

As the three walked down Area 12, Fred turned to Penni and said, "You don't think you're a little young to start superheroing? Well, you and that Lenny kid... where you from?"

Penni pondered for a split second on how to answer it, then returned, "I'm not a little young, all of you are just a little old." She smiled charmingly before continuing, "I've been a little here and a little there. Never really had a home to go back to."

After Sawyer confirmed Penni's suspicions about the vacancy of the place, she walked away from the other two and returned to the common room. She joined the forming company on the couches, nearest to the robotic creation, and watched the tv passively.

GM
9:08:44 AM
Monday, July 6th, 2303
New Eden

All those in the common room hear the arrival of Zack. She steps into the room looks around and smiles, “I’m happy you all decided to get comfortable.” She steps into the room with a bag in one hand, “These are your ID Badges,” she pulls out a small white card, “On one side you have your identification and ID code, it’s not necessary to memorize the code but it can help if you ever lose it.” You can see the ID has the name AVATAR and, beneath it in a smaller font, Albus Mckellen on it, followed by a 9 digit numeral, “The other side has a prototype nano-plastic, it functions as an extremely light and thin touch screen. On it you will be able to receive calls and information securely. You will be able to access the Leagues information database, contact each other as well as other members of the League, as well as enable a distress signal if you are ever in trouble.” She looks at the card and then tosses it to the robot, “It has the power of a supercomputer in as small a format as we can put it for it to remain functional, 50x more powerful and fast then the best phones on the market.” She pulls out another, looks at it, tosses it to Penni, “Try not to lose them, they’re rather expensive.” She continues handing them out, as she does so Fred and Sawyer enter the room. Zack tosses them their cards and Sawyer speaks up, “Are there any other folk here? We looked around and everything is empty.”

Zack sighs as she passes out the last card to Lenny, “Yeah, about that, the League has a serious lack of members especially at the moment. Neo-Humans either stay in hiding or are snatched up by criminal organizations. We only total twenty-eight including you guys and one that twenty is off in somewhere at the ends of the universe or something.” She looks a little dejected at that, “Which is why we need whoever is willing to help.”

“Anyways, we have stuff planned for you all after lunch, so hang around here or the downstairs common room, you can use your cards to get access to the elevators. You’ll all receive a message on your comms when everything is ready.” She steps out of the room all the while saying, “Enjoy.”

GM
1:45:00 PM
Monday, July 6th, 2303
New Eden

The day went by, most of you relaxed in or around your quarters or in the main common area. Besides Robert, and occasionally Don or Zack, you saw no other people throughout your time waiting. When noon came along you found all the necessities and more in the kitchen, Konani cooked up a very delicious platter of club sandwiches, some greasy Hawaiian Loco Moco and some fries for everyone. Robert was pleasantly surprised and made mention that, "The only good cook we've got has been away for the past few weeks."

The next hour passes uneventfully and it isn't until exactly 1:45 that you all receive a ding on your comms, followed by a deep, authoritative voice that you hadn't encountered yet.

"Greetings new recruits. This is Zenith. You are all to report to the Training facility by two pm. You will find the facility on the 178th floor. We have training gear prepared to your specifications in the locker rooms. Once you are changed proceed through the doors at the back of the locker rooms and into the gymnasium. I will not accept tardiness. Zenith out."

Those who find their way into the locker rooms find lockers with titled with their Hero Name, in each locker is a dark blue and black, lightly padded, one piece training uniform specifically made to the wearers size and powers. Those who equip them find them extremely comfortable and easy to move in. The padding covers elbows, knees, the gloves have knuckle padding and the light, malleable boots are comfortable and fitting. The suits also have a slot for your ID cards on the inside of the suit connected to a soft, tactile, comm bad on your forearms.

The Curator

A minute or so after the announcement, Eric lazily got off the couch and slowly made his way toward the elevators. He wasn't planning on getting there first, but he made sure to arrive on time.

Once inside the man locker room, the young man tried to find an empty locker to stuff his bag. He only managed to find a locker filled with training attire, which he promptly ignored. He did not really need any equipment they could provide him, although a pair of running shoes would probably be better than his steel-toed boots for the inside of the gymnasium. After wasting a bit of time to make sure not to arrive more than a minute or two before the required time, he made his way past the door at the back of the room and into the gymnasium proper.

Avatar

It had been a very peaceful four hours for Albus. He had spent most of that time sleeping in his recharge station, one of the many bits of special luggage that had arrived shortly after receiving his card.

Upon hearing the comm, Albus unplugged himself and brought up an image of the Locker room in his inner computer. He had inserted his ID card into a slot in his arm upon receiving it, granting him access to most of its features; The most important of which, at the moment, was the built-in map. Upon looking at the image and concentrating for about ten seconds, Albus Teleported, causing him to arrive a bit earlier than everyone else.

Albus opened his locker and found it filled with a cloak in the standard uniform colors, as well as ten vials filled with the strange purple substance.

Perfect! Very considerate of them, Albus thought as he removed his green cloak and put on the blue one, Let's get this show on the road!


He replaced the ten vials currently on him with the ones in the locker before bringing up the map again and teleporting to the training facility

Kaleidoscope

Penni begrudgingly closed her book upon hearing the announcement, stowing it once again on the desk. Penni sat up, checked her gear, and traveled to the gym. She shuffled through the lockers until she finally walked to her locker. She opened the locker and pulled out her equipment. The padding was comfortable and flexible. She was also delighted to find a headset in her locker, which she quickly attached on her head. She also quickly inserted the ID in its respective slot. After she was done and alone, she made a slight action with her hand and then set off for the training room.

GM
2:00:00 PM
Monday, July 6th, 2303
New Eden

All the new members began travelling towards the locker rooms. Sawyer, of course, was excited to see what was about to happen, he had a lithe, athletic build, something you might see on a runner and holstered two nightsticks on his back before he left the room. Lenny seemed worried; he had a rather average body, not very athletic but relatively healthy, and seemed to have no additional attachments to his outfit. Fred was combing his hair with a smile with a body similar to Sawyers, with no additional features to his equipment, except his sunglasses that you had yet seen him take off. And Bryant remained silent as he suited up; he was built very large and strong, maybe from martial arts or weights without any additional elements to his suit.

Konani in the female locker room with Penni seemed relatively confident, her suit was basic with no additional features, but she was very athletically built.

The inside of the training facility was large, the size of two basketball courts and very high, with a standard hardwood floor. Above the doors that you are entering from is a giant screen, currently blank but turned on. On the opposing end of the gym raised up on the second floor was a large plastiglass booth where you could distinguish some people moving around and sitting.

The gym itself was completely vacant except for standing at the very center waiting for everyone were three individuals.
Two of them you had seen earlier, Zenith stood his arms crossed in front of his chest observing you all as you entered. Sorceress stood at his side, her empty white eyes look you all over. And finally, a third person who none of you had seen today but all knew, Rush, the Leagues token speedster stood leaning on a leg with a broad smile, nodding to you all as you entered.
Zenith motioned you all to a point in front of him, “Line up.” As you did he looked you all up and down, his stare stopping momentarily on Eric as he was the only one not in uniform, before continuing. “I would like to personally welcome you all to the League. We expect great things from you.” He pauses for a second, “Good luck.” He finishes before turning and heading towards a door beneath the balcony with Sorceress.
Rush steps into his place, “Alright, well, now that Captain Smiles is done let’s get started!" he hops a bit, rubbing his hands together, “You might not know, but you are all members of the Ninth Wave of the League of Heroes. Excluding the First Wave, which were the founding members, there were seven waves before you, most of them are still with us, some have left, some have passed away.” He stops solemnly before continuing, “But! You all, the Ninth Wave, are the largest we’ve had so far, and so, thought to try something different.” He points up at the balcony, “Most of our members are here to watch our rookies, with the exception of Chill, Ronin and Zombie, and so let’s give them a good show.”

Rush claps, the lights dim slightly, a spotlight illuminating him. He turns towards the balcony his hands outstretched dramatically, “I would like to welcome you all to what will hopefully become tradition, our first, Annual, Newcomers Combat Assessment Tourney!”

Lenny looks around at those to his left and right worriedly, before Rush turns back to you all. He motions towards the giant screen behind you, on it you see a tournament bracket, “First off we have,” You see on the screen two names pop up and shrink to fit the bracket, “Avatar! Aaaaand, Flare!”

You see Fred slick his hand through his hair, “Alright.” He says with a smile.
Rush turns to both Albus and Fred, “I’ll have to ask you to take your places at opposing ends of the gym, the rest of you, proceed through the door at the back were Zee and Sorceress went, it will lead to the balcony where you can all watch.”
He then sees the worried look on Lenny’s face, and then his face lights up with an idea, he turns to speak to the entire room again, “The rules are very simple, the first to be knocked out, be deemed unable to continue by one of our senior staff, or admit defeat, loses! And don’t worry about injury, we have our awesome Painkiller on the scene to make sure everyone is fine.” He points to the door beneath the balcony where a very large, 7 foot, African American man covered in scars walks out and takes his place along the side of the gym.

“Let’s all enjoy ourselves,” Rush continues, “And show us what you all can do!”

The Fight will not be Transcribed, the tournament was as follows

Avatar v Flare :: Flare

The Curator v Powerboy :: Powerboy

Kaleidoscope v Greyhound :: Kaleidoscope

Ultima v Arcana :: Arcana


Kaleidoscope v Flare ::

Arcana v Powerboy ::