From the far reaches of space, a building sized half-spherical vessel races towards the universal core at several hundred times the speed of light.  Even at that speed the vessel has spent 5 years enroute.  Near it's destination the vessel comes to a halt, and begins to wake it's pilot.

J'Renn stands in front of her class, nude to the world presenting her report to a classroom full of people in hysterics.  Undaunted she continues her presentation in all seriousness when the voice of Pel'Rae overpowers the laughter of the class, (Destination reached.  Please awaken and begin the initial survey.) Torn away from her dream J'Renn takes the positive pressure mask off of her face, and rubs her eyes.  Sleepily she thinks at the tree that operates the vessel in tandem with her, (Is it time for another maintanance check?).  J'Renn slowly rolls out of her bed, her first thought is of a strong cup of tea, which materializes at replicator built into the meal table.  Picking it up as she heads by she takes a long sniff and a sip.  With the caffine in her system Pel'Rae knows she is finally ready for rational thought. (We have reached our destination.  What are we going to do now?) Pel inquires.  J'Renn sips her tea, (Mmm, scan for Hur'Q energy signitures.  I want to know if they managed to get here before us.).  A short hesitation, then Pel'Rae responds, (No Hur'Q energy signatures detected. At thier last known position and speed their most likely ETA to this position is 18 months.)

J'Renn nods, (In that case, lets find out who the locals are.  Monitor all communiques, and scan for border markers, ships, and frequently used space lanes.  Let's find out if anyone lives here.)

In a ship the size of Pel'Rae keeping it's presence secret will be impossible.  Hopefully she dosen't attract the wrong kind of attention...

  It was dark.  The only illumination being the soft glow of Kasketon eyes and glowing portions of equipment.  But then, why install lighting when you had no need of it?

  "So, I'm used to the light load out and all.  But remind me again why I'm not getting at least a Blazer Rifle or something?"  This said as they finished checking the parts of their 'First Gun'.  When new technology fails, older technology had a wonderful habit of working.

  "Because something that shoots a stream of rift imported Sun could be seen as overly aggressive, or something."  The Rift technician shrugged.  "You Scouts never seem to mind the lack of comparative hardware normally."  This said as they rechecked some figures.

  "Normally we also have those with the bigger guns and sudden cases of Mortality handy on call.  How was the progress on personal versions of that going again?"  All the advancements in Kasketon science handy, and it was his knife the Scout double checked was in place.  A habit still left as the term 'I remember it like it was yesterday' could be used literally regarding when he picked up the knack for 'Reaching'.

  "Not good enough for you to get one.  And besides, most of us can't cave in a Golems skull unassisted.  Now get you and your ride to the exit point already.  This Dimension is a mashup type, so you both probably won't need an imager and even if you had one, odds are good someone would see through it easy enough anyways."

  "I'll have you know that really stings to do without gloves on.  And that last one was hollow anyways."  He said as he got on his trusty and more likely to survive than him ride.  And then as far as the universe was concerned, he ceased to exist.

---

  The universe may or may not have a sense of humor.  Those who pick landing spots meanwhile, were quite likely to because as far as the universe was concerned now, that parking space had been occupied the whole time.  Rifts were all well and good, but there were conveniences to skipping straight from point A to point A with a lack of special effects.

  The prospect of the first accomplishment in a new world being receiving a parking ticket was avoided as Darkthorne got off his Scout Cycle, and walked over to a sidewalk with his hands in jumpsuit pockets as mentioned ride was shifted out of local existence.

  He walked silently past other pedestrians for a while, rounding a corner and considering the eye-catching signs and other such examples of advertising and bits of passing conversation regarding... Whatever.  It wasn't until the most recent sign he stopped to take a look at and the tail end of a passing complaint over snack stand prices that the whole 'talking and reading' thing made a bit more sense.

  "...That is incredibly vague.  Is the point to challenge your opponent to something nearly suicidal before they can do it to you?"  You talk to yourself.  Who listens?  Stupid question, as unless they are deaf the short fox (or was he tall?) and the other passerby's would be the ones listening.  Whether anybody would bother to respond to a mostly rhetorical question is the more helpful question.

OOC Style:  Hello IC world.  Unarmedish, sunglasses, and jumpsuit look being the current Kasketon fashion statement.

Fire City was one of the few places that could be actually widely interesting on a regular basis. The only thing about the city that was consistently upsetting was that everything in it wasn't constantly ON fire. It would undoubtedly make for quite an interesting spectacle to see everyone running around with hair aflame as soon as they entered.

Still, things like this 'Arena' were exactly why Cham liked peeking his head around this place from time to time. He hadn't really paid attention to how long it had taken to actually get built, but, now that it was opening, it had his attention in full. The creatures standing around and gawking at the rules also caught his attention, simply out of sheer difference.

As Darkthorne made his comment, Cham couldn't help making himself apparent behind the Kasketon's shoulders. "Hehe, it's not one bit suicidal! Someone ELSE is going to beat your brains in. That's totally encouraging homicide. 'Sides, watching someone beat himself up would be sooo boring..." In a flash, he swoops around in front of the several who were looking at the rules, leaning back on nothing as he hovers in midair with his tail danging below, "So! You all are entering, right? Represent your race! Work out some aggression! Get your spectacular near-death caught all on tape! It's gonna be a blast... or a slice... or whatever weapons folks are gonna use."

Emerald looks over at the Kasketon and then to the toony raccoon and decides that since Darkthorne's question was kind of answered, she may as well answer Cham. "But that would involve injury. Actually, I plan to just be a spectator first to see if I have a chance. I'm underwhelming to say the least, so for me to battle would be silly..."

Alexis wiggles her toes some as she's reminded just how HOT the ground in this city can be on bare feet sometimes. Alexis usually tries to keep her distance from this city for obvious reasons, but she heard about the Arena and wanted to make sure it fit her idea of fair. Miffed, she frowns and is about to do something about her hotfoot problem when she spots a flying object up above. Coincidentally, the local authorities are trying to establish contact with Pel'Rae:

"This is the Fire City police. We are here to escort you to the nearest ship docking area. Please identify yourself."

Alexis ponders the idea of escorting the newbie personally and flies up towards the craft. The police can do their job, but once the alien is parked, Alexis plans to be a guide. After all... she has a hunch this is a race she hasn't met yet.

J'Renn monitors the various signals Pel'Rae sends to her, most of which seem to be audio/video signals, the rest text, and encoded transmissions.  She finishes her tea, and sets the empty cup down and it fades away in a swirl of particles. (Save a sample of these transmissions for the audiolinguists back home.  It seems that most people here communicate audibly.).

(Incoming audio/video transmission.  Unable to translate.  Transmission origin are the armed vessels on an intercept course.)
Pel'Rae adjusts it's pitch to face the escort ships head on.

J'Renn sighs (Respond with the telepathic enhancer, video and text.  Give them my text message in all available languages.  Keep the video above my shoulders, I'm still in my undergarment.) she orders going over her first contact training.

With Pel'Rae ready J'Renn stands tall, trying to look diplomatic, transmitting (I am J'Renn of Garendi, pilot of the tree vessel Pel'Rae.  I have come on a peaceful mission.  Currently I do not have the ability to understand your message.  If you can understand, please respond in kind.  If you cannot...)  She looks a little lost at this point because if they can't understand they won't know what to do... (...I will keep trying.).

J'Renn ends her transmission, and sighs, (Watch those vessels, if you detect weapons charging raise shields, and prepare to get us out of here.  I don't want my first attempt at contact to end up in an armed exchange.).  J'renn walks over to her bed taking out a fresh uniform, she gets dressed since she may have to meet a new species, she dosen't want to put forward the wrong message.

Her telepathic message along with the video and text message can be intercepted by anyone with the technology or telepathic sensitvity enough to recieve it.  It's not likely anyone on the surface would be able to recieve the telepathic message.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:54, Fri 27 Mar 2009.

  "Seeing people punch themselves in the face until they can't anymore is a common enough occurrence that it's boring?  I must be missing something."

  Darkthorne looked from one fuzzy short person to the other.  "I don't know, I think I was supposed to avoid senseless carnage.  I'll probably watch too, and see if it would give reasonable practice with that whole 'not killing' thing without my unfortunate evisceration involved."

  He'd head for the entrance in a bit if nothing else of note came up.

A nearby denizen of fire city points up.

"Look!" she says, "Up in the sky!  A sphere ship!  No... TWO sphere ships!  Whee!"

The first sphere ship of course would be Pel'Rae.  The second is Prism in first contact travel form.  Prism halts it's approach when the local police transmit a halt order.

"Greetings," Prism replies to the Fire cops on the same channel, "We are a science delegation from the Light system. We are known as 'Prism.' We heard there's a new arena here and we would like to attend the opening festivities. Would you be so kind as to direct us to the entrance?"

Several months of studying the transmissions of this star system have payed off.  It helps to know the language and culture ahead of time when making first contact, and by now, that's standard procedure for Prism.

(( OOC: If anyone dislikes the rainbow text, just lemme know and I'll change over to making each word a different color instead of each letter. ))
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Sat 28 Mar 2009.

(OOC: The rainbow text looks awesome. No complaint here.)

The Fire police do not respond to Pel'Rae at first. To the appearance of Prism, the police say, "Greetings, Prism. Follow us please." They notice Alexis there and say, "Greetings, Queen Alexis. The Fire police department requests your aid in the assistance of the round ship. It is not contacting us on any of our channels."

Alexis skews her face slightly and then flies closer. She hears the repeated message now that she is in a closer range and hovers in front of Pel'Rae. Alexis points at her head with both her hands and closes her eyes. She continues to think over and over the thought, ((I am Alexis. The Fire police are automated and thus, do not understand you. Please follow me and I will show you a place to land.)) She's no telepath, but she knows the ship in front of her is since she "heard" the message Pel'Rae sent. Alexis hopes the ship is capable of receiving non-telepathic thoughts.

(OOC: The rainbow effect is cool.  So long as you don't mind the effort. n.n;)

J'Renn sets her message on auto-repeat, hoping that there is a linguist available somewhere to respond.  (There are two life forms approaching... Correction, there are 10*4.56^8 life forms approaching. One approaching our fore, the rest aft.) Pel'rae announces.  In a bit of a panic J'Renn turns her attention to innumerable amount of life forms, which on first glance looks much less threatening than its numbers.  (It's a compound life form...) she thinks in awe.  (Get an active scan as long as it's in range, and stream the data back home.  The exobiology department are going to prolapse thier colective cloaca over this.)

As soon as she watches the data come in she's immediately lost.  She's no scientist.  Her mind wanders back to the more pressing concern with communication.  It's when she turns her attention back does she senses something relevant, Alexis' thoughts.  She can hear her like someone speaking in the distance.  As J'Renn concentrates on the voice, she can hear her clearly.

(Alexis!  This is Pilot J'Renn of the tree ship Pel'Rae!  I accept your invitation to land!)  J'Renn is a little loud as she tries to make sure her message gets through.  After all some species are a little dense, telepathically.

The blue raccoon smirks at Emerald's comment, looking her up and down, "Underwhelming... or underdog? Or fox, if you wanna be specific." He flips on a red visor from out of nowhere and floats over to her, nudging her with a wink, "See, while YOU see a little fox girl that may get horribly maimed while in the arena, I see one heck of a bet! Yessir! Besides..." He looks to Darkthorne, "There ARE rules. I think that puts it at least two steps above senseless, don't you? Though maybe only a step above gratuitous and right alongside sideshow material, but that's part of the excitement! It's part of the attraction!"

Making the visor disappear, he floats a little behind Darkthorne as he makes to leave, sighing "Of course, it's not like there's anything wrong with being a little squeamish. Sometimes it's easier to just be a blind little darling and run along behind."

Soon, the Fire police have helped Prism find a place to "land" in the nearby space craft docking center. Alexis helps J'Renn find the same area and then lands on her own two feet, ready and waiting for the ship's pilot to exit.

Alexis isn't sure she should be helping anyone to be landing here necessarily, but figures it best to put a good face on her own domain while she's on foreign soil. If you can call this somewhat overheated concrete "soil".

Emerald thinks about it and decides it best to get beaten on purpose at such a public viewing. Unless, of course, she finds herself up against someone who wants her dead. At which point, she'd be forced to reveal her aces. She shakes her head.

"Sorry. I'm just not interested. For a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I don't usually like to fight unless I have to." Key word: usually.

Raichel arrives at the arena and says, "I'll take on anyone who is willing." as she looks to the small crowd gathered at the entrance. She stands with an air of confidence and looks ready for a fight. Raichel had come here hoping to gain a little recognition and possibly rally a few followers from the Fire City.

  "I think that disinclination to maim or get maimed by most here is causing a problem there.  But, we've got a crowd that's paid for blood... Wait, its free."

  There was probably a time where a tall muscular guy was of note.  But compared to even just those talking recently, it likely wasn't much.  The literal bony knuckles might though.  "Though even if it's free, it would be disappointing if you beat anyone too quickly.  I don't know my odds for beating you in there, but I'm optimistic about how long I'll last."

  If Osseousal was paying any attention, their thoughts might be along the lines of 'OH MY ME, HE'S GOING TO BE MAIMED... MORE EMBARRASSINGLY THAN USUAL.'

  OOC Style: Needed to practice having two alts exist in the same area sometime (One of the main reasons I haven't gone for many like, ever).  Hopefully the universe doesn't explode, or I don’t suffer 'wait, Alt A already did what alt B was gonna do' too often.  Also, let me know if any details still need workin out/fixing on Blake fearless leader.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:22, Sun 05 Apr 2009.

  "It's less the squeamishness, and more my uncertainty how to shoot or stab someone gently.  Though you do have a point about it not being senseless.  Organized Arena complete with spectator stands and all."

  Arrivals of those wanting a challenge, accompanied by 'Here comes a new challenger' result counted as of note, so he hasn't quite headed off yet.  Although, what were the practical differences between 'Go get seating now' and 'Probably still gonna go get seating' again?

J'Renn lowers her vessel onto the tarmac, taking up as many parking spots as any 5 personal vessels.  She heads down to the lower decks of her vessel while she gets the local weather report from Pel'Rae (The temperature outside is 85 degrees with 5% relative humidity, atmosphere is well within tolerable limits, gravity is approximately 1.05g.  Background radiation is within safety limits.)

J'Renn opens the cargo bay doors, the only entrance or exit other than the transporter or escape ship.  With the doors open she steps out to have a look around, and to find the one who led her here.  She transmitsher thoughts to anyone within shouting distance.  (Is there an Alexis here?  I have parked my ship per your guidance.)

Prism gently lands at the location indicated.  Compared to their homeworld, this place is rather chilly, but 85 beats the hell out of the deep freeze of space travel.  With practiced efficiency, they rearrange themselves into the humanoid shape they've become accustomed to.

"Thank you," Prism says to the police, "You are a credit to your people. Now if we may, we shall be joining the spectators."

They make their way to the arena at a measured pace, gathering data about their new surroundings and debating about their next course of action.  Most are very curious about J'Renn and her booming telepathic voice, but after much deliberation the majority of the ruling council vote that "...whereas the alien does not match the common appearance of natives to the planet... and whereas such an action could be interpreted as nosey, rude, etc... be it resolved that Prism shall delay approaching her until more is known about the unidentified alien popularly known as 'Sky Mind.'"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:51, Mon 06 Apr 2009.

The rhythmic sound of marching soldiers can be heard approaching.  An impressive military escort slowly comes into view and makes it's way toward the entrance.  In the center of the procession is a parade float wreathed in flame.  On the float is an ornate silver throne, and seated on the throne is the new Queen of the Fire Kingdom.  News crews crowd around the surrounding soldiers as closely as they safely can and report the event to their cameramen.

"As you can see from her big smile," one reporter says, "Her majesty is very eager to witness the opening of the new arena!  So end the rumors that she would not be attending today.  Our sources say that she was advised to avoid this event because of the high security risk.  The arena's spokesman assured us that...  LOOK!  Her majesty is standing up!  She's signaled for the escort to halt!  It looks like she's going to make an announcement!"

Mittens gestures her hand and the fires around her shrink to mere flames.  She clears her throat and the booming sound of it echos off the surrounding buildings, followed by the tell-tale squeal of speaker feedback.  The volume is promptly adjusted to the correct level, but the royal sound technician is likely to get fired for that mistake alone.

"What a beautiful day!" Mittens chimes cheerfully, "A great day for a good fight!"

She pounds her fist into her hand with a impish grin, and onlookers cheer!

"I can't WAIT to participate!"

Louder cheers ensue!

"I'm going to challenge the last fighter standing!"

More cheers!

"Tradition says if that fighter beats me one-on-one, they take the throne.  Tradition also says that if they lose they get executed for treason...  Not today!  Today, if they give me a good fight, I'll grant them a royal favor!"

The crowd goes wild!  Hundreds of people flock to participate.  Mittens gestures at the flames and they burst back to life.  She sits back down and signals for the escort to resume it's course.  Reporters excitedly relay new royal approval ratings and poll the crowd for their reactions.

"Are you going to participate?"  "How long do you think you'll last?"  "If you got a shot at the Queen, how long would you last against her?"  "What favor would you ask?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:35, Mon 06 Apr 2009.

Cham waves his hand dismissively at Emerald and Darkthorne, "Ah, you guys aren't gonna be any fun if you're too scared to fight."

He floats over to the two new arrivals to their little crowd, propping himself up on his tail as he scratches his muzzle and looks them over. "Heheh... well, you two don't seem to be all that scared of the maiming process. In fact, watching the two of you go at it would be a symphony of scintillating scrapping. Wouldn't know who to bet on though... The mouse-slash-woman with war-paint and lightning on her tail or the..." He takes a moment to look down at Blake's hands, "Partially-skeletal cloaked man? Hehe, I love it when the freaks come out!"

At the loud announcing of the Queen, Cham's focus shifts and he zips over to watch the commotion surrounding her. At the reporter's questions, he swiftly answers "Are you? Five minutes past sundown! I'd last 'til the last drop! I'd ask her to write a lyrical ballad about me!"

Alexis moves over to be in view of J'Renn. "I am Alexis." she says on a strong, loud tone (though not yelling). She stands, despite the temperature of the concrete beneath her feet, not wanting to appear unable to handle the heat.

The police say, "Thank you for your cooperation. Please enjoy your stay."

Alexis turns her head to see Prism and says, "The Fire police are automated. You'll find compliments and insults alike will have no effect on them."

Raichel acknowledges Blake and says, "Optimism is good. Though don't take this the wrong way, I hope none of my opponents last long. I want to be able to fight the Fire Queen and either win or impress her enough for that favor."

She's dead serious. A favor from the Fire Queen could be all the edge she needs to take the throne away from the current Thunder King.

Emerald makes it a point to disappear into the crowd, not wanting to either draw attention or get challenged. She hates having to turn people down too much. (I may bring Emmy back in as a spectator when the fights begin in pure DBZ fashion. :p )

Timothius shows up and starts walking towards Mittens, fearless of her guard. "Mittens!" he says in a clear and loud tone while waving. "The Ruler of Life greets you!" He still feels calling himself ruler of life is egotistical, but such is the way of things and he has to identify himself. He brought his armor as is usual for when he leaves his throne room. But he does not intend to battle at all. "May I sit with you while I watch?"

J'Renn focuses in on Alexis as she's the first one to make noise.  Recognising her mental presence as her landing guide she walks over to her, and bows her head respectfully, (I am Pilot J'Renn.  Thank you for guiding me to an appropriate parking area.) she transmits to Alexis.  She cannot help but to glance at Prism as it reforms itself.  (Ahh, drone vessels.  They must not have been equipped to recieve telepathicly encoded signals.).  She watches Alexis curiously. Picking up on Alexis' discomfort, she looks down at her feet, (Should we go somewhere more comfortable for you?) she asks.

J'Renn looks over at Prism as Aiexis makes more sounds at it, wondering to herself if Pel'Rae is still running scans while the compound lifeform is still in range.