Welcome to the Firestorm Manga official home page. The outlines may or may not be better than the full text versions ... when writing from an outline, I have a nasty habit of writing like it's an outline in paragraph form. Sorry. I suck at this whole english thing. I'll eventually learn to add details and how to write interesting action sequences ... hopefully ... maybe ... probably not, but I'm sure somebody out there is holding out hope ... or at least, I hope there is.

Happy reading. Come back often.

Holy crap, I wrote Volume VI's outline and planned out the rest of the Manga ... all the way to Volume XXVI. I'm not really sure what to do with myself. I should throw a party or something.

Wow, it's only been 10 months since my last update. I wonder if this means something. Probably not, but I'm making this post in the hopes that it does. I've done some light editing on all of the outlines, and full texts (man do I suck at verb tenses), updated the characters page, and added an overview page. I figure, the concept of writting without any forethought as to direction had run its course, so I'm going to see if planning out a basic story arc for the remaining volumes gets me anywhere. I really hope it does, because every time I read through this, I remember how awesome this story is/would be if I ever got around to finishing it. Maybe I'll stop trying to come up with the next great story line and just write a straight forward story that's fun to read ... that being the original goal of this project anyways.

And yes, I'm still looking for an artist and a swordsman, emphasis more on the former than the latter.

It's been a long while since I posted any progress on this site (ignore the fact that that's because it's been a long while since I touched it). I just wanted to let my dedicated readers (ignore the sarcasm in that) know that I did some editing on the Volume I Full Text. It reads a little smoother now (or at least I think it does). I wouldn't hold my breath for progress on the Volume VI Outline or the Volume II Full Text, but you never know. Free time is a precious commodity, but I would like to get back into this project. So, like I said: breath holding won't get you very far, but I just might just get some new writing done.

The color scheme has served for the past 2 and a half years of me ignoring this site, so it can stand as is for the next 2 and a half years of neglect. After that, I may consider a redesign.

In the spirit of futility, I'm still looking for an artist who is interested in working with me on turning this into a proper manga and a swordsman who knows a little something about both eastern and western fighting styles to help me with the fight sequences.

The tech dev is "complete," though it still needs to be tested on various platforms and different screen rezes. So, if you find a bug, tell me about it. WARNING: If your bug report contains the name, or acronym of the name of a browser created by devils from redmond, you will be ridiculed beyond belief. Believe me - it'll hurt.

The graphic design is all but complete as well. Not so sure I like the color scheme of the menu, but it'll serve for now 'til I can figure something out that's better.

I'm still looking for an artist and a swordsman.

This site is currently under heavy technical developement, so expect shit to go wrong all over the place.

If you know anything about color theory and would like to make a sugestion as to the color sceme of this web site, please tell me about it. If you don't know jack about colors but think the site should be ______, go ahead and tell me about it anyways. If ______ is a combination of colors that clearly do not go together, then I will probably ridicule you, but don't worry too much about that. You won't be the first. I do it often.

More importantly - as the title implies, this is going to be turned into a graphic novel. Unfortunately, i was not blessed with the artistics skills required to make such a thing happen on my own, so i am in desperate need of an artist that is interested in the project to do the drawing for me. If you yourself, or someone you know might be interested, please contact me.

Also, If you know anything about sword play, your input would be greatly appreciated.

This is the story of Katsu Takahari, a cowboy coder who runs into more than he expected while playing the competition's equivalent of the game he's developing for his company.

Written   |   Writing   |   To Be Written

1. Volume I: Outside
   1. introduce our quirky main character through his his imaginitive walk home
   2. introduce the game, Lady Firestorm
   3. introduce the clan and Richard, the leader
   4. setup main problem: the Yakuza are taking over
   5. Katsu's Plan - he chooses Hikari
2. Volume II: Sniper's Paradise
   1. conversation with Hikari about Katsu's choice
   2. in game combat
      • demonstartion of Katsu's superior fighting abilities
      • chat with Richard about Hikari
      • introduce <the sniper>
3. Volume III: The Woods
   1. continued in game combat
      • another demonstration of Katsu's ability
      • first mention of the Yaks controlling 12 of the 13 districts
   2. introduce Molly in private duel
      • mupo that shows up on IR
   3. a little personal time with Katsu after loging out of the game to show more of his character
4. Volume IV: Work?
   1. see Katsu get up for work
   2. Katsu and Richard interact at work
   3. Katsu meets with a manager - a DX32 license is coming!
   4. Katsu and Richard leave work early to play Firstorm
5. Volume V: Down a Dark Alley
   1. Meet Jane
      • some new silicon for Katsu (PDS & MIVOC)
   2. conversation between Katsu, Richard, the sniper, and goth girl
      • the rules for joining the clan
   3. Derek finds Katsu in game
      • Katsu sends him to play through single player mode
      • Katsu finds out <him1>, <him2>, and Shaun play Firestorm as well
      • <him 4> is considering buying a console
   4. conversation with <him2> and Shaun
      • they agree to play a round together
6. Volume VI: A Master Swordsman Indeed
   1. quick show of a capture the flag game with <him2> and Shaun
      • combat is done in flashes for brevity
   2. introduce <old guy>
      • private duel on raised platform
      • <old guy>, "Sloppy"
   3. introduce <school girl>
      • found by Molly
      • super sexy private duel between Molly and <school girl> in a caged ring
7. Volume VII: The Force Is Complete
   1. introduce the ninja twins
      • they hand Katsu a scroll
      • he can't say no
   2. first group training session
      • 4x4 survival
      • ninjas, <olg guy>, & <school girl> vs. Hikari, Katsu, Molly, & <sniper>
   3. setup the battle for the 4th control point
      • Richard invites them to fight for the clan before they run off to do their strike force thing
8. Volume VIII: Not The Best Start
   • lose the 4th control point to the Yakuza (Bombing Run)
9. Volume IX: Who Goes To Work?
   • ...
10. Volume X: Strike Back
    • strike force registers in District Eight
    • take a control point
11. Volume XI: Bad Day Part I
    • lose the 5th and 6th control points (Domination & Assault)
12. Volume XII: Bad Day Part II
    • fail to take a control point
13. Volume XIII: Bad Day Part III
    • lose the 7th control point (Capture the Flag)
14. Volume XIV: We Can Do This
    • take 2nd control point
15. Volume XV: Really, Work?
    • ...
16. Volume XVI: The End Is Nigh
    • lose the 8th control point (Escort)
    • the big tournament for control of District 3 is announced
      • one on one matches until the best fighter is determined
17. Volume XVII: Success?
    • take 3rd control point
    • strike force is canceled by Ricahrd to fight in the tournament
      • turns out all that "strike forcing" has made most of them better than anyone else in the clan
18. Volume XVIII: The Tournament Begins
    • meet the opposition
      • number's 1, 2, and 3 from the permanent list
    • find out Katsu is ranked 4th after all his work with the strike force
    • Hikari bows out, meet her replacement
    • the sniper will not fight in the tournament, meet his replacement
    • the first 2 matches of the tournament
      • Molly wins easily
      • sniper's replacement fights valiently, but goes down hard
19. Volume XIX:
    • Old Guy wins
    • <school girl> wins
    • Hikari's replacement loses
20. Volume XX: Not more work
    • ...
21. Volume XXI:
    • <ninja 1> loses
    • <ninja 2> loses
    • Katsu wins
22. Volume XXII:
    • <school girl> loses
    • old guy loses
23. Volume XXIII:
    • Molly wins
    • Katsu wins
24. Volume XXIV:
    • Molly loses
25. Volume XXV:
    • first half of Katsu's fight
    • it doesn't look good
26. Volume XXVI:
    • Katsu wins
    • the tournament is over!

• the following scene begins in a heavily populated city like new york or tokyo
• all described weapons are energy weapons, i.e. the come into existence on command and disappear just as quickly
  • the blades of swords shimmer in varying colors (think light saber style)
  • guns themselves look normal, their ammunition has a similar look as blades

1. a regular looking business man in his early twenties is sitting in his office, shutting down his computer
   • the song Annihilation by A Perfect Circle begins to play in the background
2. Katsu Takahari picks his darker than navy blue and lightly pin stripped suit jacket up off the back of the chair and tosses it over his right fore arm and walks out
3. as Katsu leaves his office, his secretary reminds him of his meeting at nine o'clock tomorrow and tells him to have a good night
4. while passing her, he thanks her and tells her to have a good night too over his shoulder
5. he catches the elevator with his arm just before the door closes
6. while in the elevator, his friend calls on the cell phone
   • only Katsu's side of the conversation is heard
   1. Katsu turns the music down a little and answers the phone
   2. "Hey man, how's it going?", two seconds of response
   3. "Not too long; I'm just leaving the office now. be home in a few minutes", four seconds of response
   4. "Definitely - I'll call you when I get home.", one second of response
   5. "Later."
   6. Katsu hangs up the phone and turns the music back up
7. Katsu is seen coming out of his office building
   • the line of high rise buildings fills the left fifth of the screen, sidewalk running up the middle and the two way, four lane busy road on the left with the far side of the street visible off in the distance
   • the camera is pointing down at about a forty degree angle above the horizontal with the revolving doors of the of the building that Katsu comes out of in the bottom left corner, visibly protruding from the line of high rises
   • Katsu exits straight out of the building at the bottom of the frame and quickly turns away from the camera and walks up the sidewalk; initial view puts the bottom of the frame at Katsu's waist
8. he throws his jacket over his right shoulder when his feet are one fourth of the way up the screen
9. the camera then cuts to a closer up view (over the shoulder-ish) and follows him down the street
10. he is suddenly attacked from behind by a ninja-esque character
11. Katsu throws his jacket under his left arm and the two combatants fight down the sidewalk at the same pace Katsu was originally walking
    • pedestrians move out of the way only just enough to allow the two combatants to pass
    • the ninja is dual wielding a 20" straight blade in the right hand and a 6" knife in the left; both are held fore-hand
    • Katsu is sporting a small left forearm energy shield and a 30" katana is his right hand, also using a fore-hand style
12. the fight lasts for just over seven seconds until Katsu backs into a fat man coming out of a comic book store
13. Katsu turns and apologizes to the fat man
14. when Katsu turns back, the ninja is gone
15. Katsu returns his jacket to his right shoulder and continues walking down the sidewalk
16. as Katsu approaches a two lane, two way cross street, he sees the ninja's reflection in the windows across the cross street as the ninja stealthily sneaks to the corner of the brick italian restaurant Katsu is currently in front of
17. Katsu adjusts his course ever so slightly to get closer to the building, tosses his jacket over the top of a seat in front of the restaurant, pulls out his katana and assumes a two handed fore-hand grip, left hand on top, blade facing to the right, allowing his arms to hang at their full length down in front of him
18. one step before the corner where the ninja is waiting for him, Katsu swings the sword out to the right and just as he steps to the corner, slams the tip through the ninja's chest, to the hilt
    • again, the other pedestrians are only just barely getting out of the way
19. the ninja's weapons disappear as his hands go limp
20. Katsu's sword disappears and the ninja falls backward towards the ground
21. just before the ninja hits the ground, Katsu is run into by a loud woman with long wavy blonde hair, wearing a short skirt and a shirt that is visibly several sizes too small, on her cell phone that had just crossed the cross street
22. Katsu is heavily jostled by the impact and spins to follow her, as she didn't even recognize his existence, decides not to follow her and flicks her off in an exaggerated manner
23. when Katsu turns back to the look at the dead ninja's body, it is gone
24. Katsu casually walks back to the chair, picks up his jacket and continues down the sidewalk
25. the sidewalk next to his right foot begins to smoke from blaster fire that only barely missed him
26. he looks up and sees two - think bounty hunter from star wars - type characters coming down with jet packs
27. Katsu tosses his jacket over the top of a near by bench
28. both begin firing rapidly
29. Katsu engages a full body sized shield and crouches to endure the assault
30. the two land on either side of him, put away their blasters, and draw 36" katanas, held in their right hand, back-hand
31. Katsu turns the shield off, stands up, draws two 30" katanas and assumes back-hand holds to match
32. Katsu feints with his left hand, lunges at the foe in front of him, and before his enemy can block drives his right sword through his enemy's head
33. the sword in Katsu's right hand disappears as the first enemy falls to the ground
34. Katsu turns to face the second enemy, spins the sword into a fore-hand hold, tosses the sword from his left hand into his right, spins it into a back-hand hold, and extends the blade to 36"
35. the second enemy charges
36. Katsu goes on the defensive as he backs down the sidewalk in the direction from which he came, fifteen seconds
37. Katsu trips over a pipe laying across the sidewalk and falls into the side of a hot dog stand
38. the camera jumps up to show the disturbed fat hot dog stand attendant who looks over the side to see the disoriented man sitting there
    • the star wars like character is gone
39. the hot dog stand operator offers Katsu a hot dog
40. Katsu refuses kindly, gets up, dusts himself off, and continues back down the sidewalk
41. just before Katsu can pick up his jacket off the bench, the metal next to his jacket melts from blaster fire
42. Katsu brings up a half shield and pulls out a blaster of his own
43. a shooting match ensues that lasts for nine seconds
44. the shooting match ends when Katsu scores a hit that causes the jet pack to violently explode
45. Katsu powers down the shield and puts away the blaster
46. Katsu walks back over to the bench, picks up his jacket and continues down the sidewalk
47. half a block later, Katsu sees four cloaked creatures crawling down the building faces in front of him F.E.A.R. style, their one and a half times as long as they have to be cloaks are flowing behind them, defying gravity, and begins to run
48. the four creatures that simply seem to glide over the ground chase him for four city block and finally into his condo building
    • Katsu is having a tough time navigating the dense sidewalk
    • the creatures move effortlessly around people that don't seem to notice them
49. Katsu secures the front door to the lobby with an umbrella through the handles, runs into the open, empty elevator directly across the lobby, and punches the button for the fourth floor
50. just as the doors begin to close, the cloaked creatures are seen passing through the doors as if they were open
51. Katsu presses his back against the back of the large elevator, visibly anxious
52. three seconds later, one of the creatures floats down from the ceiling of the elevator, exposing a 45" demon blade
53. Katsu brings to bear a two handed 40" kriss blade
54. the two fight medieval style for fifteen seconds
55. the elevator stops before his floor
56. just as the doors are opening, Katsu swings for an over head strike, which the cloaked creature blocks with a high block - the two are in a power struggle
57. the camera jumps to angle pointing straight out the elevator door, bringing the overly attractive 21 year old female into full view
    • Katsu is seen in the stance he was previously, with his death glare at where the cloaked creature's head was
    • he is not wielding a weapon, and nor is there a cloaked creature in the elevator
58. Katsu turns his head to look at the woman who has quickly grown a look of questioning amusement
59. He sheepishly puts his arms down and backs into the left wall of the elevator
60. the woman enters the elevator, faces the right front wall, and selects a floor higher than Katsu's
61. the rest of the ride is made in agonizing silence, ten seconds
62. when the elevator arrives at Katsu's floor, he quickly exits without looking at the woman again and speed walks the length of the corridor to his door, room 404
63. he palms the lock and rushes into his condo, sits down and jacks into the game
64. the world shrinks to a pinhole, then disappears entirely
65. Lady Firestorm greets him
    1. "Welcome back. Going into another fire storm?"
    2. "Always. Tak - District Three."
    3. "Just a moment."
66. A few moments later, Katsu is standing on a loading platform
67. He walks to the clan meeting hall; the others would probably be surprised to see him this early, but that just means they could get down to business faster
68. Katsu enters the officers room and is greeted by Richard Weston, the leader of the clan, and a few of the other officers
69. He nods to them all and takes his seat in the back
70. Richard gives a sort of state of the union address
    1. "As you all already know, the Yakuza clan took the third control point last weekend." a considerable amount of grumbling about cheating and hacking is heard
    2. "Yes, yes, I know a good portion of you think they were hacking or using outlawed mods. That's why I've sent Clark over to register with them. He's going to get in good with the upper ranks of those bastards and see what he can find out. Officially I kicked him out of the clan three days ago. Unofficially, we communicate through shell accounts we've set up in other, lesser clans. He's pretending to be bitter after getting kicked out over what he feels is petty bullshit and looking to retaliate by joining forces with our largest rival."
    3. "What some of you may not have heard is that districts two and five also lost their fights against the Yakuza this past weekend."
    4. <some officer>, "But that means we're the last free district." generic cursing and grumbling echoes throughout the room
    5. "That's right <some officer>. We are the only district the Yakuza have not been able to just roll into and take over." HOYEAH and various other similar approving sounds are heard
    6. "However, we are still losing." the room quiets back down
    7. "With three control points down, they still have to take five more before they can challenge us for control. Right now their strategy is simply relying on the law of large numbers - if they fight us enough times, eventually, we'll have a bad day and lose. They know we're better than they are, and yet we've still lost three control points. They've stepped up their recruiting efforts in the hopes of attracting more proficient players. We also need to step up our recruiting efforts, but i don't want the quality of our members to go down. I say we lower the financial restrictions, but keep the same battle stats requirements." half general agreement with some dissension is heard
    8. "I know that lowering the initial cost of entry and the tithe (<- need to replace) percentages is going to hurt us when we go to prepare for a battle, but right now it's a numbers game. The Yakuza can throw more bodies at us than we can handle, and though it's slow, their strategy is working. We have to be able to counter them."
    9. Katsu, "Then strike back." generic confusion fills the room
    10. Richard, "Your plan is a bit vague. Care to elaborate for the rest of us?"
    11. "All we're doing is sitting around here, watching as they slowly wipe us off the map. Did you ever consider registering in other districts and challenging those pricks for what they hold? I'm tired of waiting to become part of history." aggressive agreement surrounds the new idea
    12. "OK, so you want us to spread our already small numbers around to other districts so that we lose all chance of maintaining our control here?"
    13. "Absolutely not. Take some of those new recruits you were talking so much about and stir up trouble. That's all."
    14. <another officer>, "Yeah, show 'em we're not down and out. Show 'em that if they keep messin' with us, they gonna lose somethin' close to them."
    15. Katsu, "Something like that, yes."
    16. Richard, "All right, I'll leave it up to the consensus of the group." general agreement along with some more excited aggreement is heard
    17. "Then it is decided. Tak, I will allow you to name which of us is to lead the strike force."
    18. "Hikari Likikia"
    19. She stands and turns to face Katsu
    20. Bowing, "Thank you Tak. I graciously accept this appointment and promise not to fail! I hope you'll be coming along to enjoy the fun."
    21. nodding, "Naturally."

1. As everyone gets up to leave, Hikari catches Katsu at the door and pulls him aside
   1. "Hey, can I talk to you?"
   2. "Sure."
   3. after a short awkward silence, "Why did you pick me?"
   4. "Not here."
2. Katsu guides her by the arm out the door
3. they leave the clan hall in silence
   • it has begun raining outside
4. they walk to Katsu's regular hang out (a bar on the death match arm of the city)
5. the bar tender greets Katsu, "The regular?"
6. motioning to Hikari, "Two."
7. the bar tender nods and hits a couple buttons behind the bar
8. Katsu and Hikari sit down in a round booth in the back as drinks appear in front of them on the telepad (the teleportation device that made physical waitresses obsolete)
9. Katsu grabs his drink, leans back, and takes a long drink
10. Hikari picks up her's, takes a quick sip, then leans forward on the table, holding the drink in both hands, and asks her question again
11. "So, why did you pick me? You know there are better people. Aki--", Katsu cuts her off
12. "I know the rankings."
13. "Then why me? Do you wish for your own plan to fail?"
14. "Absolutely not."
15. "Then why me?"
16. "Simple. I like your style."
17. "What? What do you mean, my style?"
18. "I've seen the way you command - the way you hold yourself - your tactics. Though your personal stats aren't that great, you never lose. Too many guys aren't willing to take a step back and actually lead. They're to damn worried about their own kill ratio."
19. "What are you talking about? I lose all the time."
20. "In this account, yes. But not your other one." Hikari grows a look of controlled fear and nervously spins her drink in her hands. "Don't worry. Many of us have unregistered secondary accounts. Hell, you probably know my other handle. It's the only unregistered name you'll find in the top 25. Richard is the only person, other than you now, that knows about it."
21. "You mean ... you're 'theMayanAssassin'?"
22. "Yes."
23. with growing astonishment, "But ... but ... you're on the permanent list in the Great Hall. You have a triple digit kill ratio!"
24. "Shhh, keep it down. Yes, it's currently sitting at 379:1."
25. her astonishment is at it's climax, "I have trouble keeping mine above 15 - why don't you lead the strike force?"
26. with a hint of intentional annoyance, "Haven't you been listening?"
27. interrupting his rhetorical question, "Of course I have."
28. "I told you already." the annoyance gone, "You know how to lead."
29. a questioning look appears on Hikari's face, she clearly didn't get it
30. Katsu thinks to himself, Maybe I made a mistake picking you. Oh well, we'll see how it plays out. I can always take it if I need to.
31. Katsu finishes what's left of his drink and sets the empty glass down
32. leaning forward, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to meet someone."
33. Katsu gets up to leave and puts his jacket on
34. Hikari looks up at him to find him looking down at her. she quickly looks back down at her drink. Eh, you'll figure it out.
35. On his way out, the bartender says, "See you later Tak." Katsu nods to him
36. Hikari is left there to think about what just happened
37. Katsu signs out and is back in the loading room
    1. Lady Firestorm, "Leaving so soon?"
    2. "Not quite yet. Mayan - District Seven."
    3. "Just a moment."
38. Standing on the loading pad, Katsu looks up
    • it's not raining in this district
39. Two steps off the platform, Katsu sees who he was supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago
40. Corvean, one of Richard's many shell accounts, greets him, "What the hell took you so long? You're normally the first one out the door."
41. "Hikari wanted to talk."
42. "That's nice. Could have told me."
43. Katsu rolls his eyes, "You ready?"
44. "Yeah, got a group waiting - fifty man survival, twenty minute rounds."
45. Katsu smiles, "Let's go."
46. Katsu accepts the group invitation that has appeared on his HUD
47. Katsu and Richard warp to the gathering room where the other 48 players were waiting
48. Katsu, "Whoever's hosting this shit had better be able to handle the load, or I'm killing you first, every round."
49. <the host>, "Don't worry about it. I'm sitting on a pair of spliced OC12s. I think I can handle it."
50. players quickly begin vanishing from the room (according to their ping times)
51. Katsu warps just before Richard
52. Katsu looks around at the familiar map and thinks to himself, Dominis Barrens - sniper's paradise - sweeping up will take the longest
53. Katsu opens a private chat line to Richard
    1. Katsu, "You in yet?"
    2. Richard, "Yeah, I'm over by the cliffs."
    3. "I'm in the northern temple."
    4. "Why did you pick Hikari?"
    5. "Can't I get a few kills before we get into that? I've got three punks in here thinking they're slick with their partial cloaks."
    6. "All right, take care of them and I'll talk to you in a second."
54. Katsu turns his back on the three attackers and selects his 36" katana, all the while watching them on his radar
55. "Please don't tell me you think i can't see you."
56. <middle attacker>, "You are the Mayan Assassin of District Three. You are not welcome in this district."
57. "Ahh, you're just mad because I won't join your little clan."
58. "The Yakuza will take District Three and you will be banned from all official servers."
59. "Good thing then that you'll never take District Three. Thugs like you couldn't muster a winning strategy if it bit you in the ass."
60. "Leave our District at once."
61. "Gotta kill me first."
62. four men step out from behind each of the three men that Katsu could originally see
63. Shit! Fifteen?! - I need to upgrade my radar.
64. Katsu deftly handles them
65. back in the private chat with Richard
    1. "Sorry, there were fifteen, not three."
    2. "It's OK. I took out four before getting hit by a sniper, so I've just been floating."
    3. "You're dead already?! How the hell did you get to be a clan leader?"
    4. "I have friends who do the fighting for me. But that's not important - why did you pick Hikari?"
    5. "Because I like her."
    6. "What?! You picked her to lead the strike force because you want to get in her pants?"
    7. "What, no. I like her style. She's willing to sacrifice her kill ratio for the good of the team."
    8. "And how exactly does dying help the team?"
    9. "She's willing to step back from the action and actually use strategy and lead people instead of just throwing enough bodies at a wall to see how many it takes to break through. Hold on, there are four people left and I'm only showing three on my radar."
    10. "How the hell did you get to the top of the rankings without better gear?"
    11. "My skill is in my hands, not my implants. Now shut up; I've got some hunting to do."
66. That little prick of a sniper seems to have cleaned up. The other three idiots are just running around looking for each other ... make that two ... no, one ... I know where you're hiding.
67. Katsu heads for the back entrance of the southern temple
68. Not many people can get to the top spire. You may be worth recruiting.
69. reaching the top floor of the temple, Katsu leans out a window and pulls out a grappling hook
70. Katsu tosses the hook up and catches it around the top spire
71. he climbs up the side of the spire to the top perch
72. the sniper is there waiting for him with his gun pointed straight at Katsu's line
73. as soon as Katsu appears above the floor line, the sniper fires
74. Katsu hangs there with a stupefied look on his face
75. the sniper, "What?! Why aren't you falling?"
76. Katsu, "I'm sorry, but you missed."
77. the sniper takes a step back, a look of terror has appeared on his face
78. the hologram flickers out as Katsu launches himself up over the ledge
79. flying over the sniper, Katsu thrusts his sword down
80. the sniper screams, "NO!", as he drops the rifle and draws two long knives, blocking Katsu's attack
81. his attack blocked, Katsu continues to fly over the sniper and lands on the other side of the perch
82. Katsu smiles and back flips off the ledge, throwing three knives at the sniper at the peak of his flip
83. the sniper deflects the knives and yells, "Get back here!"
84. the sniper runs to the ledge and jumps after Katsu
85. Katsu hits the ground, a cloud of dust crops up, he takes off running
86. when the sniper lands, an equal sized cloud of dust appears, Katsu stops running and turns to face him
87. the sniper, "Assassin, you have lost. The element of surprise is gone. You are no match for me."
88. Katsu, "This from a sniper? I'm within 100 meters - what do you plan to do now?"
89. the sniper, "Kill you!"
90. Katsu, rolling his eyes, "Creative."
91. the sniper extends his long knives to 30 inches
92. Katsu reaches his left hand over to the hilt of his katana and makes it look like he pulls the sword apart into two by loading one into his left hand
93. the following conversation occurs during the fight
    1. Katsu, "I noticed you weren't registered."
    2. the sniper, "What of it?"
    3. "Why not? Someone of your caliber should have been recruited a long time ago."
    4. "Is that a compliment from the great assassin? You're not afraid of loosing to me, are you?"
    5. "Certainly not."
    6. "Whatever ... the fuckin' Yaks don't need my help."
    7. "Is that a hint of bitterness I detect?"
    8. the sniper grunts in response
    9. "You should register with <the clan> in District Three. Then you could kill all the Yaks you want."
    10. "I fight for no one but myself."
    11. "Yeah, I know the feeling."
    12. "Why the fuck are you trying to sell me on them anyways? You're not registered with them either."
    13. "Just because I'm not registered with them, doesn't mean I'm not friends with them."
    14. "What the fuck does that mean?"
    15. "Means I hate the Yakuza just as much as you do."
94. Katsu wins the fight shortly after the last comment
95. as the sniper is falling Katsu says, "Go to District Three and talk to Richard Weston. Tell him I sent you."
96. the sniper says, "Fuck you." as he hits the ground and dies
97. He'll be useful.
98. back in the gathering room, everyone is talking the usual shit
99. <the host>, "Hey, shit heads, listen up. A few guys just bounced. Vote: open the room to the public queue or keep playing."
100. Katsu looks around and sees that the sniper was one the players that left the game. Hmm, guess he didn't like me.
101. <the host>, "7 votes open, 4 votes keep playing, 33 don't cares. Great, I'm opening the room, so give it a couple seconds and I'll load up the next map."
102. a few seconds later six new people have warped into the room
103. immediately after the sixth new player arrives, people start vanishing into the new map
104. again, Katsu leaves before Richard
105. looking around, Dominis Prime - somebody likes the new map pack
106. Katsu opens another private chat with Richard
     1. Katsu, "Hey, you may be hearing from the sniper from the last round."
     2. Richard, "Oh?"
     3. "Yeah. Convince him to register and assign him to the strike force."
     4. "OK."
     5. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the same group of idiots from the last round seem to have found me again."
     6. "Have fun."
     7. "Yeah. Try not do die so fast this time."
     8. "Shut up."
107. Katsu pulls out his sword and rushes the oncoming group

1. Katsu jumps at the one in the center of the inverted semi circle of men
2. Katsu decapitates him and flips over the falling corpse
3. now in the center of the semi circle, Katsu lands in a crouching position, his sword hand on the ground supporting him, with his back to the men who are frantically turning around
4. smirking Katsu says, "Idiots" and cuts them to ribbons
5. Katsu opens another private chat line with Richard
   1. Katsu, "These Yak boys aren't worth the air they breath."
   2. Richard, "An yet we're loosing our district to them."
   3. "How can they suck so bad in open play, yet rule in clan combat?"
   4. "You don't play pool, do you?"
   5. "What?"
   6. "Simple game. Bet money on each game, double or nothing every time. Loose a few times, build up the pot, them show them how the game's played."
   7. "What's the point?"
   8. "Trick your opponent into overconfidence, then own them."
   9. "No, come on, I got that. What's the point of the Yakuza doing it. Everybody knows they own 12 districts."
   10. "Don't know. Maybe it's part of some broader strategy we can't see."
   11. "You give them too much credit."
   12. "Am I? They do control 12 of the 13 districts ... Fuck, I died."
   13. "Loser."
   14. "Oh well. Only seven left. Happy hunting."
6. Katsu easily tracks down and kills the remainder of the players
7. back in the gathering room
   1. Katsu, "That meeting tomorrow at nine is bull shit."
   2. Richard, "Now why'd you go and bring work into this?"
   3. "Gotta bitch about something."
   4. "You'd better be there. On time this time."
   5. "Yeah, yeah."
   6. "No 'yeah, yeah'. They're getting pissed."
   7. "About what?"
   8. "About you skipping shit all the time."
   9. "With what I do for them, they should-"
   10. "Not the point. It's their company. Their time."
   11. "What ever man. I'll see you tomorrow."
   12. "You better be there."
   13. "Yeah, yeah."
8. Katsu logs out
9. back in the loading room, Lady Firestorm has changed into an evening gown
   1. "Had enough for one day?"
   2. "Nah, just waiting for a few people to log off so I can go romp and stomp without worrying about clan bull shit."
   3. "Would you like to change to one of your private handles?"
   4. "No, thank you. Just tell me when the players on this list have all logged off."
   5. Katsu hands her a list
   6. "Two are already off, one I am saying good night to right now. The last is in game in District Seven."
   7. "OK then, send me to District One."
   8. "Just a moment."
10. Katsu is standing on the loading platform and is met by a girl that appears to be in her mid teens
11. Molly, "Welcome to District One. We've been waiting for you."
12. Katsu, "We?"
13. "Yes. Please accept this invitation to a private duel."
14. Katsu accepts and finds himself standing in a clearing in Lodoki Forest, Molly is standing on the far side of the clearing near the edge of the woods
15. Molly, "He he. Please, follow me. We want to show you something."
16. Katsu thinks, What's with the "we"?
17. Molly takes off half running, half skipping through the woods, her long black hair swishing behind her
18. Katsu runs after her, catching up easily and runs along her left side
19. Katsu, "Where are we going?"
20. Molly says, "You'll see." and doubles her speed
21. Katsu matches speed and says, "These woods don't end. They're dynamically generated as you go deeper into them. Where are we going?"
22. Molly says with a girlish laugh, "Be patient. We're almost there." and breaks into a full on sprint, her long black hair flying out straight behind her
23. Katsu picks up the pace, struggling to match, Damn this girl is fast.
24. Katsu loses sight of her, Fuck, where'd she go? but keeps running
25. the woods end abruptly in a ragged line, giving way to a quarter mile of desert, ending in a rock cliff face so high it ends in the clouds
26. she is waiting for him about half way between the edge of the woods and the cliff
27. Molly, "So glad you could make it."
28. Katsu angrily, "What is it you wanted to show me?"
29. "Oh nothing."
30. Molly smiles as thousands of copies of her blink into existence, filling the gap between her and the cliff, extending from horizon to horizon
31. Katsu, "Cute, a mupo. I have one." and two copies of Katsu step out from behind him, forming a triangle, then disappear
32. all of the Molly's laugh and draw a sword, "Mine isn't just any multi-holo projector."
33. Katsu says, "OK", drawing his own sword
34. he flips his vision to infared, "Shit! Why the fuck do the holos show up on infared?" and switches back to normal vision
35. one of the Mollys, "You're not worried about a bunch of little girls, are you?" as she skips up to Katsu, laughs and playfully stabs at him
36. Katsu swings through her head, hitting nothing but air before her sword gets to him
37. Molly's sword plunges into Katsu
38. He looks down at the sword sticking through his chest, side steps to get the holo out of him and says, "It's just a holo. What's the point?"
39. Molly, "Just a bit of fun."
40. all of the holos of Molly blink out of existence
41. Katsu, "That's nice, I'm out of here."
42. "Don't go yet. We were just beginning to have fun."
43. "What?"
44. "This is a duel isn't it?" and rushes Katsu
45. a wicked awesome fight scene ensues
    • throughout the fight, holos of Molly keep popping up, laughing and stabbing at Katsu
    • Katsu isn't distracted by the holos
    1. Molly, "The great Mayan Assassin doesn't seem to mind us."
    2. Katsu, "Skill is in one's hands, not one's implants."
    3. "Hehe, how romantic."
    4. conversation pauses for a few moves
    5. Katsu, "You are skilled with a blade, but it is time for me to end this. I'm going to stop holding back now."
    6. Molly, "Hehe, I've been holding back too."
    7. Katsu's eyes get big, Shit! I wasn't holding back at all. How much more does this girl have?
    8. the speed of the girl's attacks doubles
    9. Katsu summons a knife into his freehand to keep up with the attacks he can't catch with his sword
    10. Molly, "My great Assassin isn't having trouble against a little girl, is he?"
    11. Katsu, "Quiet. You are no little girl."
    12. "But I'm only 14."
    13. "Your age in this place means nothing."
    14. "Aw, don't ruin my fun." and pulls a blade into her free hand
    15. Katsu is incapable of keeping up with her and begins getting cuts up and down his arms, You may be faster, but you will NOT defeat me.
    16. Katsu throws his upper body backwards as though begining a back hand spring, catching his fall with his hands. he leaves his left foot on the ground and kicks with the right
    17. Molly stops the foot with her left elbow and cuts it off with her the blade in her right hand
    18. Katsu screams in pain
    19. Molly, "Oh."
    20. Katsu launches himself off his hands, throwing the stump of his right leg behind him and buries his right blade deep into Molly's chest
    21. Molly grows a look of terrified shock as her arms drop and her hands go limp
    22. Katsu, "For a master of distraction, you are not very perceptive.", Even still, you may be worth recruiting.
    23. Katsu pulls his blade from her chest, allowing her to fall to the ground
    24. Molly's body hits the ground, creating a small cloud of dust as the last bit of life leaves her
    25. Katsu puts his swords away
46. a moment later, both Katsu and Molly are back in the clearing in the forest
47. Katsu, "Had enough fun?"
48. Molly, "You had to get your foot cut off to win."
49. "So? I won."
50. "What if there were others you had to fight after me?"
51. "Then I would have killed you another way."
52. childishly, "I don't like you arrogance." and pulls a sword
53. "You wish a streak?" and pulls his own sword
54. Molly flies as Katsu
55. Katsu goes prone as Molly flies over
56. he rolls over, blocks her attack with a knife in his left and and thrusts upward with his sword
57. his sword finds it's mark and borrows deep into her abdomen
58. her body smacks limply into a tree and crumples to the ground
59. Katsu gets up and stows his blades
60. Molly's body vanishes and reappears on the far side of the clearing
61. Katsu, "I like you."
62. Molly, "Hehe, thank you."
63. "You are registered with a clan?"
64. "I am not so attached."
65. "Go to District Three and talk to Richard Weston. Tell him I sent you."
66. "What is my Assassin offering?"
67. "A chance to clash blades with the Yakuza."
68. "A place at your side?"
69. "I'm not registered."
70. "Why invite me to somebody else's clan?"
71. I have got to stop recruiting from this account., "My friends need the help."
72. "So."
73. "The Yakuza are trying to run the entire game. District Three is the last free district. My friends run the ruling clan that are fighting them."
74. "So."
75. "We're fighting to keep our district."
76. "We?"
77. realizing the slip and sighing, "Yes."
78. "Hehe, sounds fun."
79. with that, the forest disappears and Katsu is left standing on the loading platform in District One
80. Katsu shakes his head and mutters, "Wow."
81. he logs out and is again greeted by Lady Firestorm
    1. "Done for the night?"
    2. "Yeah, gotta get up early tomorrow."
    3. "Too bad. Have a good night Mr. Takahari."
    4. Katsu nods to her
82. Katsu jacks out
83. opening his eyes, he discovers that night has fallen and he forgot to turn a light on before jacking in
84. Fucking idiot. Good thing these monitors put off the light of god.
85. he stands up to stretch, gets the sensation that he stood up too fast and sits back down
86. getting up more slowly this time, he scratches his still hunched back and mutters something nearly incoherent about food
87. he stumbles into what serves as a kitchen and throws a bowl of Ramen into the microwave
88. he falls into a recliner with a side table and clicks on the TV
89. the microwave dings
90. he thinks, Shit. as he looks over at the distant (across the room) microwave
91. he walks over to the microwave, grabs the Ramen, shuts the door as he turns back around, and slumps back into the recliner
92. exasperatedly says, "Damn it." while glaring back into the kitchen area
93. he pushes himself out of the chair while thinking Fucking chop sticks.
94. he trudges back into the kitchen, grabbing a pair of chop sticks out of a decorative jar and collapses back into the recliner
95. after finishing the Ramen, he clicks the TV off, and trudges over to the futon and falls flat, face down
96. he grumblingly looks up and sets the alarm
97. burying his face in the pillow, he passes out

1. the alarm sounds at 0800, Fuck you., Katsu slams the sleep button
2. the alarm sounds again a 0810, Fuck you., Katsu again slams the sleep button
3. the alarm sounds again a 0820, Fuck you., Katsu again slams the sleep button
4. the alarm sounds again a 0830, Fine., Katsu rolls out of bed and stands up to stretch
5. after stretching, he falls back into a sitting position on the futon, Shit.
6. he shakes his head, puts his hands on his knees, and pushes himself up
7. he then strips down to his boxers and stumbles into the shower
8. he is seen standing in the shower, looking depressed, letting the water run down over his shoulders
9. he gets out of the shower, shakes himself dry, gets dressed, grabs something like a poptart and heads for the door
10. walks down the hallway, and hits the down button on the elevator
11. when the elevator doors open, the girl from yesterday is there, she smiles
12. Katsu sarcastically says, "Hi." she just smiles
13. the remainder of the ride is made in silence
14. he quickly exits the elevator before the girl, who is only barely succeeding in holding back laughter
15. he crosses the lobby and glances in disgust at the can he took the umbrella from yesterday
16. he jumps on the high speed moving sidewalk
17. he avoids looking at the bench that was half melted from blaster fire, but glares at the hot dog stand attendant
18. in the lobby of his office building, the man from the elevator sees him and quickly heads in another direction
19. while waiting for the elevator, Richard comes up behind him
    1. Richard, "You made it."
    2. Katsu, "Yeah, I'm here."
    3. "Lets see if you can avoid getting called into one of the manager's office this time."
    4. "What's this meeting for again?"
    5. "You don't read your e-mail, do you?"
    6. "What do you think?"
    7. Richard shakes his head as the elevator door opens and people start piling in
    8. the doors close and people start calling out floor numbers
    9. Richard, "42"
    10. Katsu, "Yes, but what's the question?"
    11. "Huh?"
    12. "You know the answer, but what is the question?"
    13. "What?"
    14. "Hitchhikers's Guide man, come on."
    15. "Oh yeah, the meaning of life, right?"
    16. "Yeah, so what's question?"
    17. "It was ... what is 8 by ... no 9 by-"
    18. "No. It's, 'Why the hell do we have to go this bloody meeting?'"
    19. "Alright, come on. It's not going to be that bad."
    20. "That's bullshit and you know it. <manager a> is going to start babbling about how great the project is and what it's going to do for the company. <manager b> is going to smile and nod through the whole thing, then repeat it verbatim. Twenty minutes later, minimum, we might start talking about something useful, maybe."
    21. "Yeah, I know, but we gotta go anyways."
    22. "Why? Why god, why?!"
    23. "Because they like to hear themselves talk."
    24. "Why don't they just send this crap out in e-mail?"
    25. "Because certain members of this corporation don't check their e-mail."
    26. "I'd get it eventually."
    27. "When's that? A week from now? Two?"
    28. "Maybe sooner."
    29. "Sure."
    30. the door opens to the 42nd floor, Katsu, Richard, and a few unimportant people get out
    31. Richard, "See you in there."
    32. Katsu, "Yeah."
20. Katsu walks into his office to drop his jacket over the back of his seat
    1. on the way in, Janie greets him, "Good morning Sir."
    2. Katsu, "We'll see Janie."
    3. "You have a meeting in four minutes about the new project."
    4. "Thanks Janie."
    5. "Might want to bring a pillow."
    6. "What?"
    7. "I saw the slides for the presentation <manager a> is giving."
    8. "Oh god. How bad is it?"
    9. "Bad. 73 in all."
    10. "73?! What the bloody hell takes 73 slides to say?"
    11. "The usual. You know, how great the project'll be and how bright the future of the company is."
    12. "Great. Red one or blue one?"
    13. "Excuse me?"
    14. holding up a red and blue binder, "Which pillow should I bring? Red one or blue one?"
    15. "The red one matches your shirt better."
    16. "Thanks."
21. Katsu puts the blue binder back and heads for the meeting room
22. he takes his normal seat
23. <manager b> dims the light as <manager a> begins his presentation
24. <manager a>, "As you all know, this new project is ..."
25. Katsu drifts off to sleep
    1. <manager b>, "Mr. Takahari, what do you think?"
    2. Katsu bolts up, smiles, but looks to Richard before answering
    3. Richard's eyes get big while he quickly, yet subtly shakes his head
    4. Katsu rolls his eyes and addresses <manager b>, "The possibility of delay and probability of an inferior product being developed grow exponentially if we continue to out source so much of the core development."
    5. <manager b>, "Yes, you have expressed this opinion many times before; however, we still must disagree that it is finically intelligent not to do so. Your division is simply not equipped to handle the level of DX32 coding that these projects require."
    6. "Then equip it."
    7. "Why should we when the Footakima Corporation is already equipped to do it."
    8. "So that we don't have to rely on half baked programers from across the fucking ocean to do our job for us."
    9. "Mr. Takahari, that is enough. I assume that you will have no problems meeting the deadline in preparing the specs for Footikima."
    10. defeated, "No."
    11. "Well then. Mr. Weston will your division be up to the new challenge?"
    12. Richard, "As always, sir. We are ready to handle anything you require."
    13. "Excellent. Everyone, you are dismissed. A detailed e-mail will be coming out later today with the fine details of each of your respective department's responsibilities. Mr. Takahari, come to my office when you are done here."
    14. Katsu, "Sure boss."
26. Richard pulls Katsu aside before he can leave
    1. Richard, "What are you doing man? I told you not to pull that shit."
    2. Katsu, "Sorry, had to. He asked me for my opinion and I gave it to him."
    3. "Haven't you learned yet that what they want when they ask that is simply an affirmation that your piece of the project will done on time?"
    4. "Yep, don't care. They hired me. They get to deal with me."
    5. "And they can fire you too."
    6. "They won't do that. I'm the only one on this side of the country that can write the code to hold that bull shit Footakima spews out together. If it weren't for me, they'd still be debugging the shit from three versions ago and they know it."
    7. "That may be true, but if you keep throwing your attitude around like that, they just might see if some of those claims of yours aren't quite accurate."
    8. "No way. I know my shit and they're too lazy to investigate anything anyways."
    9. "OK man. Whatever you say."
    10. "Off to see the big bad boss man."
    11. "Ha ha, don't enjoy yourself too much."
    12. "Don't worry, I won't." as he walks out the door
27. Katsu casually struts down to <manager b>'s office
28. <manager b>'s secretary, "He will see you now."
29. Katsu, "Thanks babe." as he winks at her
    1. Katsu doesn't bother to knock as he bursts through the doors, walks straight up to the front of <manager b>'s desk, pops to attention (Nazi German style), "Team Leader Takahari reporting as ordered, sir."
    2. <manager b>, "Mr. Takahari, cut the crap."
    3. "Aye, aye missure (<- french word for mister) cap-e-tan." and slouches into the chair, "What's up?"
    4. "If you would stop being such a jack ass, I just might bother to tell you."
    5. "Aw, does the big nasty boss man not like the", twitching, "personality", twitching again ,"quirks of the slightly insane Mr. Katsu Takahari?"
    6. "No! And if you'd shut up, I have something to tell you that you'll enjoy hearing."
    7. Katsu sits up, crosses his fingers and sets his hands on his knees, "Please proceed."
    8. "Thank you. Now, as much as I may disagree with your style, your complaints have been heard. The board is considering purchasing a volume license for DX32."
    9. Katsu jumps up, throwing his fists into the air, "Woo hoo!", looks back at <manager b>, "Oh, sorry." and sits back down
    10. "Now, we won't have it for this project, but if the deal goes through on time, we'll have it well in time for the next one."
    11. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You always were my favorite manager."
    12. "Now go and get your team ready for this new project."
    13. "Aye, aye cap'n."
    14. Katsu gets up to leave, walks to the door, turns, pulls out his pen and preforms a fencer's salute
    15. "Get out of here Mr. Takahari."
30. Katsu spins and kicks through the doors
31. he half runs to the area of the building known as "the egg" (due to it's shape and color) where his team works
    1. "Gather 'round boys. I got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?"
    2. a resounding bad is heard
    3. "Alright - management has seen it fit to assign us yet another glue code project written by the boys across the pond."
    4. disgruntled cries of bull shit are heard
    5. "On the plus side, the board'll be purchasing a volume license for DX32 before the next project rolls down the pipeline, so after this we'll never have to out source another line of code."
    6. aggressive agreement resounds
    7. "Lets hack this one last piece of shit together, then never speak of the atrocities we were forced to suffer through again!"
32. the team breaks and Katsu goes back to his office
33. Janie, "Congratulations."
34. Katsu, "Thanks Janie. It was a long time coming, but the idiots up stars finally grew a brain."
35. Katsu goes into his office and sits in his chair
36. he turns the monitor on, sees the e-mail the manager's promised there, notes its gratuitous size and says, "Screw this work shit."
37. he picks up the phone and dials Richard's number
    1. "You wanna bail and go do more research on the enemy?"
    2. "Shit yeah. I was beginning to wonder if you were still alive. The boss wasn't too harsh, was he?"
    3. "No. Actually, the board's getting us a license for DX32 so we can finally do the job they hired us to do."
    4. "Awesome, you want a ride?"
    5. "No. I like remembering that my feet work."
    6. "Alright man, see you when you get in."
    7. "Later."
38. Katsu grabs his jacket off the back of his chair, puts it on and leaves his office
39. on his way out, "Janie, if anyone asks, I'm doing off site research and won't be back to the office until tomorrow."
40. "More?"
41. "One of the perks of the job."
42. "OK, see you tomorrow."
43. Katsu heads down the hallway, gets in the elevator and punches the button for the ground floor
44. this time Katsu has the elevator to himself the whole way down
45. he heads straight out the front door, jumps on the high speed moving sidewalk and spaces out for the entire trip home
46. he crosses the lobby to his condo building, but has to wait for the elevator
47. when the door opens, the girl from yesterday is there waiting to get off
48. Katsu again says, "Hi."
49. she smiles and stifles a laugh as she passes
50. Katsu gets in the elevator and hits the door close button before anyone else can get on
51. he punches the button for the fourth floor and leans against the back wall
52. at his floor, he walks the length of the hallway to his door, palms the lock, tosses his jacket up on the hook, crosses to his console and jacks in
53. Lady Firestorm greets him in the loading room
    1. "Welcome back. Going into another fire storm?"
    2. "Always. Tak - District Three
    3. "Just a moment."
54. Katsu is standing on the loading platform and opens a private chat line to Richard
    1. Katsu, "Where are you?"
    2. Richard, "In your favorite bar down Deathmatch Way
    3. "K, be there in a second. I gotta hit up the chop shop first though."
    4. "Mister 'My skill is in my hands, not my implants.' needs some new silicon?"
    5. "Yeah, saw something yesterday that bothered me."
    6. "You must be talking about little miss goth chick. Her and your sniper friend are here with me, so don't take too long."
    7. "Great."
55. Katsu heads off towards the nameless chop shop most players will never learn about

1. Katsu heads down a back alley off Escort Lane
2. he enters through a service door
3. a few paces down the hallway, he opens an unmarked door on the right and goes down a flight of stairs
4. the stairs end abruptly on a 4'x4' platform with no obvious way to proceed
5. Katsu strikes the left wall with some force
6. a terminal opens in the right wall
7. Katsu palms the sense pad
8. the front wall shimers out of existence
9. Katsu is greeted by the top half of a beautiful, naked woman with soft green eyes whose bottom half has been replaced by a mass of cables, boxes, and various other forms of computer hardware
   1. Jane, "Katsu, my dear, how are you?"
   2. Katsu, "Still breathing."
   3. "That's good. What can I implant in you today?"
   4. "Saw a nifty little trick I need to be able to counter."
   5. the opening Katsu walked through returns to being a wall
   6. "And what was this little trick you couldn't handle?"
   7. "Girl threw up a shit ton of holo copies of herself."
   8. "So, what's new? The mupo you have is capable of that."
   9. "Difference was, her's showed up on IR too."
   10. "Must be a custom job. Nothing stock is capable of fooling the IR scanners."
   11. "That's nice. How do I get around it?"
   12. "You don't want to be able to do it yourself?"
   13. "I don't use the one I have. Just tell me how to beat it."
   14. "Did you try a PDS?"
   15. "First, what the hell is that? Second, do I have one of those?"
   16. "Particle Density Scanner and for a mere 20,000, you can. You may also be interested in a MIVOC."
   17. "OK, what's a mivoc?"
   18. "Multi-Input Visual Overlay Controller. Basically, it allows you to blend various inputs, say IR and PDS each at 25% opacity on top of what you normally see."
   19. "Sounds fun, how much for both?"
   20. "For you Katsu, only 250,000."
   21. "A quarter of a mil for something that's probably stolen in the first place! Who the fuck do you think you're dealing with? I'm not some hot shit new bitch. Who are you fencing this shit for?"
   22. "Sorry, the author also pays to keep his identity unknown. As for the asking price, if it weren't you, I'd be demanding 2,000,000, so consider yourself loved."
   23. "This is bull shit and you know it."
   24. "You don't want the new silicon then?"
   25. "Did I say no?"
   26. Jane presents Katsu a sense pad, "Palm here."
   27. Katsu palms the sense pad and watches as it confirms the money transfer
   28. She gestures to the operating table
   29. Katsu lays prone
   30. giant arms come down from the ceiling, inject him with an anesthetic in the neck, and begin cutting into his upper back
   31. during the operation Jane says, "Katsu, you seem to be running out of space here. I'm going to take a few of these archaic chips out and replace them with a smaller one just because I love you so much. I'll even throw in a scalable 4x speed booster for a little extra kick. You be careful with it though. If you jump straight up to 4x you'll experience what's been described to me as 'mental whiplash'. Very unpleasant from what I've heard, but don't take my word on it, go find out for yourself. And you're wrong. The MIVOC wasn't stollen, though it is still being tested. You're going to have to come back once a week so I can download any new updates until it's finalized. Don't worry, they're free. Right now misalignment and frame delays are the biggest problem. The alignment issues aren't that bad, but the ghosting created by the delays can be interesting to watch. Unfortunately, they may greatly hinder one's ability to react in a timely manner in close quarters combat, so I wouldn't suggest using it for prolonged periods of time. Other than that, enjoy the new silicon."
   32. the arms sprout thousands of little fingers that hold Katsu's skin in place while a laser rejoins the flesh without leaving a scar
   33. Katsu rolls over, swings his legs off the table and sits up
   34. he jumps to the ground and sways while attempting to stand
   35. Jane, "Don't worry, the anesthetic will have worn off by the time this sentence has reached it's conclusion."
   36. Katsu sarcastically, "Thank you."
   37. "You should come down more often. I like playing with your spine."
   38. "There may be a reason you don't get many customers."
   39. "Don't be mean like that."
   40. "See you next week Jane."
   41. the area Katsu walked through to enter the room returns to being an opening
   42. "I'll be counting the nanoseconds my dear."
   43. "You do that."
   44. the opening returns to being a wall, the sense pad is no longer visible
10. Katsu leaves the building and heads for his favorite bar on Deathmatch Way
11. the bar tender greets Katsu, "Same back table as last time, the regular?"
12. Katsu, "Yeah."
13. the bar tender nods and punches a couple buttons behind the counter
14. Katsu walks up to the bar, "Anything new."
15. bar tender, "Nope. Bunch of Yak chatter about how they're about to win."
16. "Figures."
17. the bar tender hands him his drink
18. Katsu says, "Thanks." and heads for the back table
19. just as he gets to the table Richard says, "Took you long enough."
20. Katsu glares at him and slides in on Richard's side
21. <the sniper>, "So you're dumb enough to go fight those fucking Yaks on their own turf and you want us to join your clan so we can die with you?"
22. Katsu, "Basically."
23. <the sniper>, "Awesome! I'm in."
24. Molly, "I can't wait to fight by your side Katsu."
25. Katsu raises and eyebrow
26. Richard, "Great. You're going to be training for about a week in open combat before we decide which District to register in and you can start raising hell. As I already told you, it is one of the clan's rules that you register with your real name. Normally, we would prefer that you discontinue the use of your other handles, but given what we've seen over the past couple of months, we are considering removing that requirement, so you'll be allowed to keep the accounts your are currently logged into. Only restriction is that you must have all handles and access names and codes registered with us. Don't worry about other people jacking your stuff. Only I can grant permission to access the list and I haven't done so for as long as we've maintained it. I am the only one that has ever read from it and only for the good of the clan. Our members seem adept at procuring the oddest little things, like your mupo that shows up on IR. I have no idea where you picked that up, but if we needed a bunch of them, I'd look up your sources and requisition them."
27. <the sniper>, "I don't think I like the idea of givin' you all my sources and access codes. I don't care what you'd use 'em for. It took me a long time build up the connections I have."
28. Richard, "And those connections will not be abused or advertised. A resource of a member is resource of the clan."
29. Molly, "What if somebody hacked it?"
30. Richard, "The list?! Not possible. It's protected by the construct of the clan. No one has ever cracked a clan construct. People have tried, but they didn't make it very far before getting caught and getting permanently banned. In the early days that just meant using a different credit card to register and they were back on. Today, with the ID sync checks <the company> uses, no one can register if they've been blacklisted."
31. <the sniper>, "Alright, I'll agree to it, but I still don't like it."
32. Richard, "Good. I'll take you two over to get registered and if Hikari is on, I'll introduce you to her."
33. Richard, <the sniper>, and Molly get up to leave
34. Richard, "Catch you later Tak."
35. Katsu nods to him and reclines back, propping his elbows up on the seat back, holding his drink in his right hand
36. someone opens a private chat line with Katsu
    1. Derek, "Is this Katsu Takahari?"
    2. Katsu, "Who wants to know?"
    3. "It's me, Derek Hansfall. I didn't know you played Firestorm."
    4. "Yeah."
    5. "I just signed up yesterday and was looking at the rankings and saw your screen name, 'theMayanAssassin'. I thought somebody must have ripped it off, but then I ran a search for your name and it came up."
    6. "Congratulations."
    7. "Is this what you do when you leave early do to 'off site research'?"
    8. "One of the perks of the job."
    9. "Yeah, I figured that since we're trying so hard to make one of these ourselves, I should check out the competition."
    10. "Only I get paid to do it."
    11. "Is this really sanctioned?"
    12. Little shit., "Yes."
    13. "What if I asked you to prove it?"
    14. "I don't have to prove anything to you. You work for me, remember?"
    15. "Of course, I apologize."
    16. "When we get the DX32 license, I'll publish all of my notes."
    17. "OK, I believe you. Alright, well this is awesome. Can you help me get started?"
    18. "Go talk to the low level trainers. They'll head you in the right direction."
    19. "Where are they?"
    20. "Didn't you play through the single player part?"
    21. "No."
    22. "Idiot. There's a reason everyone around you is fully customized and you wearing recruit armor."
    23. "Ah ha. I was kind of wondering about that."
    24. "Go do that. The story's actually not that bad. Then come out here."
    25. "How long does it take to finish?"
    26. "It can be done in one solid day, but most people take two or three."
    27. "Cool."
    28. "Pay close attention to the relative skill of the AI. It's scaled training, so it works you at your own pace. Most people can't beat the final few stages, but if you can beat the game, you'll be competitive with more than half the losers out here."
    29. "Alright, thanks."
    30. "Hey, do any of the other team members play?"
    31. "<him1>, <him2>, and Shaun do. <him4> was waiting to see what I thought of it before buying a rig."
    32. "<him4> doesn't have a console?!"
    33. "He said he'd get one if we ever got the DX32 license to test drive his own stuff and now that we're about to get it, he'll probably be getting one in the next couple of days."
    34. "Wow."
    35. "Yeah ... well, I'm off to go kick some artificially intelligent ass."
    36. "Later."
37. Katsu rests his head back and sighs
38. he brings his head forward and finishes his drink
39. he places the empty glass on the telepad and it disappears
40. Katsu accesses his friend list and adds <him1>, <him2>, and Shaun's handles
41. <him2> and Shaun are online
42. Katsu opens a private chat line to <him2> and Shaun
    1. Katsu, "Mr. <him2> and Mr. Krakowiak."
    2. <him2>, "Katsu?"
    3. Katsu, "Who the fuck else?"
    4. Shaun, "Since when did you play Firestorm?"
    5. Katsu, "You know all that 'off site research' I do?"
    6. Shaun, "You bastard."
    7. Katsu, "Atleast I know that most of my team skips work just as much as I do."
    8. Shaun, "Yeah, but you probably still get paid when you do. 'Off site research' my ass."
    9. Katsu, "One of the perks of the job."
    10. <him2>, "Sir, as awkward as this is-"
    11. Katsu, "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't call me sir!"
    12. <him2>, "As always, at least once more sir."
    13. Katsu, "You're hopeless."
    14. <him2>, "Probably, but would you like to play a round?"
    15. Katsu, "What game type?"
    16. <him2>, "We're sitting in the public queue for capture the flag, but we could jump to anything."
    17. Katsu, "I'm up for that."
    18. <him2>, "Sending the invite now."
    19. Katsu accepts and warps to the public queue with <him2> and Shaun
    20. Shaun, "Nothing like some good quality time with the boss."
    21. <him2> bowing, "We'll just count this as team morale enhancement time."
    22. Katsu shakes his head, "Dork."

1. Katsu, <him2>, and Shaun are still in the public queue
   1. Katsu, "Alright, where are we in the queue?"
   2. <him2>, "Next to next, Sir."
   3. Katsu, "Damn it man, stop calling me Sir. We're in a video game!"
   4. <him2>, "Yes Sir, of course Sir."
   5. Katsu, "Do you do this just to piss me off?"
   6. <him2>, "Not at all Sir. It is nothing but pure respect, I assure you."
   7. Katsu, "If you were anyone else, I would have punched you several times, rather hard, by now."
   8. <him2>, "I am most greatful that you have choosen restraint Sir."
   9. Katsu, "But you're getting damn close."
   10. <him2>, "Yes sir."
   11. Katsu punches Shaun, "Gaahhh!"
   12. Shaun, "Ah! What was that for?"
   13. Katsu, "I can't very well hit him and you're the only one else around that I know."
   14. Shaun, "Sounds like shody logic to me."
   15. Katsu, "And that's why you'll never be half the programmer I am."
2. Katsu, <him2>, and Shaun warp into the waiting room of a capture the flag game
   1. Katsu, "So, how long have you guys been playing?"
   2. Shaun, "Only a few months now. Me and Mr. Respect over here got the game at the same time, but he hasn't been as adept at picking it up as I have. Something about playing video games non-stop as kid vs. sitting in a corner and reading tech manuals and calling it a childhood."
   3. Katsu, "There's probably a reason he gets paid more that you too."
   4. Shaun, "Meh, I get all the virtual babes. He get's a slightly higher pay check. It's a toss up."
   5. Katsu, "Only to you my friend. Only to you."
3. the players start blinking out according to ping times
4. flash of Katsu taking out a few guys
5. flash of Katsu rushing for the flag
6. flash of Katsu grabbing the flag while taking out a guy at the same time
7. flash of Katsu rushing back to his base, flag out straight like a lance
8. flash of celebration as Katsu scores
9. flash as Katsu scores again (different poses)
10. flash as Katsu scores a third time, winning the game (more extravagent poses)
11. Katsu, <him2>, and Shaun are back out on the street, near the clan statue
    1. Shaun, "Wow. I think you're the best player I've ever seen."
    2. <him2>, "Easily the best Sir."
    3. Katsu, "That's why I'm the boss."
    4. Shaun, "Well, we won't take any more of your valuable research time."
    5. Katsu laughs punches Shaun again
    6. Shaun, "Thanks boss, catch you later."
    7. <him2>, "Yes, thank you Sir. It was most enjoyable."
    8. Katsu, "Yeah, see you at work tomorrow."
12. <him2> and Shaun walk off back towards the capture the flag arm
13. Katsu turns around to find a sword point inches from his throat
14. Katsu, "No thanks."
15. Katsu logs out
16. Lady Firestorm greets him
    1. "Jumping out so soon?"
    2. "Nope, just changing handles. Mayan - District Two."
    3. "Just a moment."
17. moments later, Katsu is standing in the middle of a loading platform in District Two with a sword point inches from his throat
    1. Katsu, "Now that's impressive for an old man."
    2. <old guy>, "He he, I caught the great Mayan by surprise."
    3. Katsu, "What do you want?"
    4. <old guy>, "The winds tell me, you are recruiting."
    5. Katsu, "Where do you people keep coming from?"
    6. <old guy>, "The winds also tell me there are many unfilled slots."
    7. Katsu, "Been reading the public bullitens, have you? I didn't think anyone actually read those."
    8. <old guy>, "The winds tell you to accept my invite to a private duel."
    9. Katsu, "I can't very well say no to a duel from a crazy old guy."
18. Katsu and <old guy> warp to the center of a raised platform in an old looking Chinesse town
19. Katsu and <old guy> begin to circle eachother
20. Katsu draws his katana into his right hand
21. <old guy> matches with his own katana
22. <old guy>, "Your movements are sloppy."
23. Katsu, "Sloppy? All we're doing is walking in a circle."
24. Katsu lunges at <old guy>, sword arm fully extended
25. <old guy> side steps and hits Katsu on the back of his head with the butt of his sword
26. Katsu, "Ahh! What the?"
27. <old guy>, "He he, sloppy."
28. Katsu swings for <old guy>'s head
29. <old guy> leans back just barely out of the way and hits Katsu in the stomach with the butt his sword
30. <old guy>, "Sloppy"
31. Katsu's eyes blaze as he swings wildly, <old guy> deftly dogding each blow and hitting Katsu with the butt of his sword and saying, "Sloppy" for each of Katsu's misses
32. Katsu collapses in the middle of the platform, exagerated bumps and bruises all over
    1. <old guy>, "Sloppy!"
    2. Katsu, "I'll collapse sloppily if I damn well feel like it, thank you."
    3. <old guy>, "The winds tell me you just got your ass kicked, he he."
    4. Katsu, "As soon as I can stand again, I'm going to kick your ass."
    5. <old guy>, "Sloppy!"
    6. Katsu, "Ok, you've made your point."
    7. <old guy>, "The winds agree."
    8. Katsu, "I have to tell you something though. There's no wind here."
    9. <old guy>, "Wind you don't feel doesn't mean no wind."
    10. <old guy> truns around and farts on Katsu, "He he, see? Wind!"
    11. Katsu crab walks away to a few feet from the edge of the ring as fast as he can, coughing
    12. <old guy> is standing behind Katsu and hits him on the top of his head, "Sloppy!"
33. Katsu and <old guy> warp back to the District streets
    1. Katsu, "Ok old man, you're in."
    2. <old guy>, "The winds tell me to go to District Three and seek Hikari."
    3. Katsu, "No! No more wind."
    4. <old guy>, "Do not worry. The winds are strong in District Three."
    5. Katsu, "Why is that not comforting?"
34. <old guy> warps to District Three
35. Katsu turns around to find Molly standing right in front of him
    1. Molly, "We found our Mayan."
    2. Katsu, "I'm not sure I'm fully comfortable with your use of the word, "our"."
    3. Molly, "Who was that? Another friend of my great Mayan?"
    4. Katsu, "Again with the possesive phrasing."
    5. Molly, "He looked old."
    6. Katsu, "And you look young."
    7. Molly, "I could look older."
    8. Katsu, "Yeah? I could be a millionaire."
    9. Molly, "We found someone."
    10. Katsu, "I'm real happy for you."
    11. Molly, "She wants you to watch us."
    12. Katsu, "Ok, you've got my attention. Where to?"
36. Molly hands Katsu the invite
37. Molly warps away
38. Katsu looks down at the invite and warps himself
39. Katsu finds himself in the empty front how of stadium seating surrounding a raised, darkened, caged ring with Molly and <school girl> in opposing corners under spot lights
40. all of the empty seats are suddenly filled with holos of Molly
41. the Molly sitting closest to Katsu leans in, "We think you'll like her. We found her for you."
42. Katsu, "I like the setup."
43. fire erupts on the four corners of the ring
44. a boxing style bell is rung and the ring floods with light
45. the two combatants rush at eachother
46. Richard pops up in a private chat
    1. Ricahrd, "Where are you?"
    2. Molly attacks, <school girl> blocks
    3. Katsu, "Not now."
    4. <school girl> attacks, Molly blocks
    5. Ricahrd, "In a match?"
    6. <school girl> strikes from the other side, Molly narrowly blocks
    7. Katsu, "Not exactly."
    8. Molly attacks, <school girl> blocks
    9. Ricahrd, "Well, what are you doing?"
    10. <school girl> attacks, Molly's shirt rips
    11. Katsu, "Nothing! Go away."
    12. Molly screams and strikes, <school girl>'s shirt rips
    13. Richard, "Clearly your busy."
    14. Molly strikes again, <school girl>'s skirt rips
    15. Katsu, "Thank you for noticing. Now piss off."
    16. <school girl> screams and puches Molly in the face
    17. Richard disconnects from the chat
47. Molly spins around from the puch
48. <school girl> slashes twice, removing the back of Molly's shirt
49. Molly spins, retracts her sword and lunges, legs first at <school girl>
50. Molly pins <school girl> to the floor and begins pnching her in the face
51. <school girl> thrusts her hips up and forwards, launching Molly from her
52. Molly slams into the cage wall upside down
53. <school girl> jumps up and assumes a defensive stance
54. Molly flips off the wall and lands gracefully, sword drawn
55. Molly jumps at <school girl>
56. <school girl> kicks, catching Molly mid jump
57. Molly flies into the side wall of the cage
58. Molly lands on both knees and one hand, her sword hand up, looking at the floor
59. Molly looks over at <school girl> and smiles
60. Molly jumps at <school girl> again
61. <school girl> kicks again
62. Molly rotates and blocks the kick with a tucked leg
63. still in the air, Molly rotates off the blocked kick and punches <school girl> in the face
64. <school girl> spins with the punch and catches Molly with an upper cut as she lands
65. <school girl> punches down onto the top of Molly's head, sending her speeding to the floor
66. Molly bounces off her face, just high enough for <school girl> to drive another punch straight into her face
67. Molly flies back into cage wall, landing in crouching position on the wall
68. Molly flies back at <school girl> and drives a punch of her own into her face
69. <school girl> flies back into the opposing cage wall
70. <school girl> lands on the wall the same way Molly did
71. <school girl> flies at Molly, leading with a punch
72. Molly drops into a deep front stance and blocks with a heavy X block
73. the two return to a standing position, smile at eachother, and draw their swords
74. they spin opposite eachother
75. they both swing at cut straight through eachother's neck
76. the two bodies drop and the heads roll away from eachother
77. Katsu, "Well then."

1. flash of the two decapitated bodies lying in the middle of the ring
2. the two bodies flash away
3. Molly and <school girl> are standing in front of Katsu
4. the holo sitting next to Katsu leans in, haning on Katsu's arm, "Oh please, please let her join us."
5. Katsu playfully, "I don't know ... I may have to talk to Hikari about it."
6. Mollys's holo, "Oh, but Mayan, I found her for you."
7. the holo on Katsu's other side leans in, haning on his other arm, "I got her to leave her clan just for you."
8. two new holos of Molly appear on their knees in front of Katsu, begging, "You just have to let her join us."
9. Katsu, "You leave me no choice."
10. the four holos pleading (super sad puppy face), "Mayan"
11. Katsu jumping up and thrusting one fist in the air, passing through the clinging holos, "She's on the team!"
12. the crowd of Molly holos goes wild
13. Molly and <school girl> embrace and dance in a circle
14. Katsu, Seriously, where do these people keep coming from?
15. Molly runs the two steps to Katsu and picks him up in a bear hug, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you."
16. still holding Katsu in the air, she turns to <school girl>, "I told you my Mayan would let you play with us."
17. <school girl> dances in a little circle by herself, "yay"
18. Molly puts Katsu back down and joins <school girl> to dance some more
19. Molly and <school girl> warp away, all of Molly's holos vanish
20. Katsu is left shaking his head
21. Katsu warps back to the district streets and walks down to the platform in front of Jane's room
22. without looking, he hits the wall on the left
23. he turns to face the opening console on the right wall
24. he palms the sense pad and passes through the shimmering wall
25. Jane turns to greet him
    1. Jane, "Katsu, you return to me so soon."
    2. Katsu, "I just couldn't stand the thought of another moment without you."
    3. the entrance returns to being a wall
    4. "Oh my darling, what can I implant in you now?"
    5. "I just had a very uncharacteristic moment."
    6. "Did you use the speed multiplier I gave you?"
    7. "You know I don't like to use that in private duels unless my opponent uses one first."
    8. "How honorable my darling."
    9. "Yeah yeah, how did he beat me so easily?"
    10. "He was using his speed mulitplier."
    11. "Son of a bitch! Why didn't it register?"
    12. "You don't have to register them in private duels if you set the up the duel that way. You know that my darling."
    13. "Son of a bitch. I am so kicking his ass!"
    14. "Does this mean I don't get to play with your spine?"
    15. "Don't be sad Jane. I'll be back. You know I will."
    16. "I'll miss you every moment you're gone."
    17. "I know you will."
    18. "Fight well my darling."
    19. the entrance shimmers open
    20. "Of course."
    21. Katsu passes through it
26. Katsu heads up the stairs, Damn it! He had better be half as good as I thought he was.
27. he reaches the top of the stairs and squints a little as he shades his eyes to look up towards the sun
28. while staring off into the sky, Katsu pulls up a private chat with Richard
    1. Katsu, "Hey."
    2. Ricahrd, "Thanks for ignoring me."
    3. "Yeah, no problem."
    4. "I hate you some times. You know that, right?"
    5. "Yeah yeah."
    6. Katsu looks down to discover a pair of ninjas down on one knee in front of him, holding a scroll up to him
       • inside knee up, outside knee is the one they're on
       • outside hand by their sides, inside hand hold up either end of the scroll
    7. Katsu, "Hey, uh ... I'm going to have to get back to you."
    8. Richard, "What, more nothing."
    9. "Yeah, something like that."
    10. "Ok, whatever man."
    11. "Later."
    12. Katsu disconnects the chat
29. Katsu, "What? ... Yeah, just what?"
30. the ninjas don't move
31. Katsu, "Ok, I'm guessing I should take the scroll."
32. the ninjas don't move
33. Katsu picks up the scroll, "Right."
34. the ninjas rise to bow as Katsu reads:
    • "We have been sent by our master from <some other clan> to aid in your fight against the Yakuza. We share your pain of loss and wish nothing more than swift vengance upon them. It would be a great honor if you would permit us to fight along side you."
35. Katsu looks up at them, "You lost your fight with them. Why would I want your help?"
36. the ninjas don't move from their bow
37. Katsu, "Has anyone ever told you, you guys are hard to say no to?"
38. Katsu hands the scroll back to them
39. they accept the scroll, bow deeper, and warp away
40. Katsu opens a private chat with Ricahrd
    1. Katsu, "You know, I really expected recruiting to be more difficult, but I've got people throwing themselves at me."
    2. Ricahrd, "There's not a whole lot of love out there for the Yaks."
    3. Katsu, "Well that's certainly true."
    4. Richard, "I have this sneaking suspicition as to why you let <school girl> join your little team."
    5. Katsu, "She does have some outstanding ... attributes."
    6. Richard, "And here I almost thought you'd take this whole losing our district thing seriously."
    7. Katsu, "Really, you expected me to take something serious?"
    8. Richard, "No, I guess not, but I had hope none the less. But hey, I've got the rest of your strike force here with me, just lounging around the clan hall. Hikari's thinking of sticking to an eight man team since the Yaks seem to be better at the 50 man runs, so why don't you come and join us, maybe go do some run throughs to get better aquanted with your new team."
    9. Katsu, "That almost sounds like an order."
    10. Richard, "I am the clan leader."
    11. Katsu, "Sure boss, I'll get right on that."
    12. Richard, "Why does it sound like you're giving me the finger every time you say something like that?"
    13. Katsu, "Because I am."
41. Katsu logs off and is greated once again by Lady Firestorm
    1. "Had enough for one day?"
    2. Sighing, "No, apparently I'm needed. Tak - District Three."
    3. "Just a moment."
42. moments later, Katsu is standing on the loading farthest from the clan hall, I think she knew where I was going and put me as far away as possible. shaking his head, Thanks darling.
43. Katsu jogs over to the clan hall
44. Rihard greats him, "Thank you so much for gracing us with your presence."
45. Katsu mock bows, "You're very welcome."
46. Richard, "Hikari, the floor is yours."
47. Hikari, "Thank you Richard. Alright everyone, we all know why we're here, so lets get straight to it. I've set up a four on four survival map for us. The invite should be on your HUD."
48. the members of the strike force begin to warp away
49. ...

• the future of MMORPGs
• user interaction similar to The Matrix
• cyberpunk style main city that acts as the social center of the game
• there are 13 total districts
  • districts are bassically different servers and effectively psuedo-parallel universes
  • each district is controlled by a ruling clan
• the main city's layout is like an eight pointed star ... think snow flake, but less gay
• at the end of each point is a monument to the eight different game types
  • the eight points are the control points for the ruling clan, i.e. the ruling clan can not be overthrown until the challenging clan has taken all eight points, then they can fight for dominance
  • as previously stated, each control point is a different game type, thus a clan must be proficient (or lucky) at all eight game types to control a district
  • the game types:
    • deathmatch (team)
    • capture the flag
    • bombing run (unreal rules)
    • assault (think storming ministerith)
    • escort (geting an unarmed VIP from point A to point B)
    • domination (BF2 rules)
    • survival (who will be the last one standing?) (team)
    • <another one>
• in the center of the city is a monument to the ruling clan
• neon lights around the city show the colors of the ruling clan
• the world and all of it's contents are allowed to evolve
  • most of the burden of content creation is relieved of the developers
  • allows the game to go in new ways the developers never could have foreseen
  • new non-frivolous items must be inspected by the developers to maintain partial control and prevent an unwanted direction or unfair imbalancing

1. Katsu Takahari
   • Japanese
   • the main character
   • prefers blades to blasters
   • "Skill is in one's hands, not one's Implants."
   • a member of the <good clan>
   • works with Richard Weston
   • Costume:
     • ...

   ---

2. Richard Weston
   • British
   • leader of the <good clan>
   • works with Katsu
   • Costume:
     • ...

   ---

3. Hikari Likikia
   • Japanese
   • appointed leader of the <good clan>'s strike force
   • not skilled with either blades or blasters, but knows how to lead
   • Costume:
     • ...

   ---

4. Molly Bondar
   • Ukrainian
   • creepy little goth girl
   • convinces Katsu to recruit her for the strike force
   • makes good use of the multiholo projector
   • Costume:
     • big black goth boots, big laces, buckles going up the sides
     • fish nets
     • black skirt with criss-cross straps in the front and back, red patterned stripe up the side with black lace accent up the side of the pattern
     • shirt of some variety
     • black leather bracers with silver accented pattern
     • black leather studded choaker collar
     • long straight black hair

   ---

5. <the sniper>
   • big, burly American
   • quick, rash, and stupid
   • an amazing sniper, but doesn't know what to do with a sword
   • Costume:
     • dark brown coyboy boots
     • medium tone brown pants
     • light brown cowboy shirt with the sleeves rolled up
     • short cropped blonde hair
     • oversized coyboy hat

   ---

6. <old guy>
   • Chinesse
   • dresses like a samurai
   • dirty old man
   • funny as hell
   • Costume:
     • old school ninja sandles
     • worn blue shorts with ties at the knees
     • canvas vest
     • ninja hat
     • bald
     • medium chinesse mustache

   ---

7. <school girl>
   • Japanesse
   • typical hot anime style character
   • Costume:
     • fitted black slippers with straps that criss-cross up to her knees
     • black pleated skirt
     • white short sleeve shirt with sleeves that roll up and have the strap that buttons up to hold them in place
     • oversized bralets on each wrist
     • loose black neck tie
     • light brown hair
     • two oversized pony tails
     • long bangs

   ---

8. <ninja 1>
   • Japanesse
   • indistinguisable from ninja 2
   • Costume:
     • anime skinny
     • tightly wrapped black cloth ninja
     • face covered, only a thin slit for the eyes

   ---

9. <ninja 2>
   • Japanesse
   • indistinguisable from ninja 1
   • Costume:
     • anime skinny
     • tightly wrapped black cloth ninja
     • face covered, only a thin slit for the eyes

   ---

10. Clark
    • the member of <good clan> sent to spy on the Yakuza

    ---

1. ...

1. Lady Firestorm
   • a sentient being of Firestorm
   • the greeter as people log in and out of the game
   • her outfit changes with the time of day

   ---

2. Jane
   • a sentient being of Firestorm
   • the biomechnical top half of a female body that operates a black medicine implant shop
   • mostly talks like a doc, but has a special way of saying things, especially while attempting to flirt
   • if you look deep into her soft green eyes, you can see the code of Firestorm

   ---

1. <manager a>
   • oversees the entire software developement department

   ---

2. <manager b>
   • oversees the game development division
   • directly in charge of Katsu

   ---

3. Derek Hansfall
   • American
   • works for Katsu

   ---

4. <him 1>
   • <country of origin>
   • works for Katsu

   ---

5. <him 2>
   • <country of origin>
   • works for Katsu

   ---

6. Shaun Krakowiak
   • Polish
   • works for Katsu

   ---

7. <him 4>
   • <country of origin>
   • works for Katsu

   ---

1. MIVOC
   • Multi-Input Visual Overlay Controller
   • allows the output from different visual devices to be overlayed into a single combined image, allowing the player to look at more than one spectrum of analysis at once

   ---

2. MuPo
   • Multi-Hologram Projector
   • projects copies of the player either copying their current actions, acting out scripted movements, or if the player is skilled, they can actively control what the projected hologram(s) are doing while acting on their own

   ---

3. PDS
   • Particle Density Scanner
   • displays the a colored projection of the relative densities of objects in a player's view

   ---

We are the tireless members of Celtrenic Designs - dedicated to brining you the highest quality design productions of all the mediums we use. This is our latest endeavor, an episodic manga style graphic novel based on a game design we are also considering producing.

1. Author:
   

   Rick Battle - creative genius ... idiot

2. Editors:
   

   Stephen Fahey - useful

   Daniel Pursel - likes it

   Emily McGady - hopefully

   Leo Singer - had long hair

   Chris Thorn - good with the english

   Brett Workman - tentative (hasn't actually read it yet)

   Erica Kellar - beautiful seductress