Do you blame her? Internet is a necessity in this day and age. :)
Roxas would be cool for a little while, but after playing through the game as him, you'd probably want to switch back to Sora for numerous reasons. DW Roxas is basically just Sora's Valor Form. And regular Roxas is pretty limited. His attacks are slower than Sora, he can't Drive without the use of a cheat device, Growth abilities are limited to Aerial Dodge and Glide. So I'd say it'd only be cool to play as Roxas if you're going against other Organization members. Others would just freeze up the game. :huh:
Well, if you ever need someone to reinforce, redesign or rebuild the new castle, just call me! ...It'll cost you hours, though. :sly:
But isn't JoLea staying there as well? :blink:
Zack shrugged. "I don't think the Defense really had anything else to Cross-Examine anyway. Your testimony seems pretty straight-forward." Dismissing Repliku, Zack glanced out to the lawyers. "Alright, who's next?" OOC: Is the ball still in the Prosecution's court or are we supposed to alternate between sides? Especially since we've got more than one witness...
What else could go wrong? He was half-asleep and delirious. Could happen to any guy that changed into a girl. :p He saw it. Go back a couple of chapters to the night before the pageant... (Note from author: Yes! It's finally here! The next chapter of Switched! Granted, it's not exactly as long as I was expecting, but after all of the constant prodding and poking, I figured a quick fix is what you guys need. More speculation will occur. And Kayleah, thanks for tidying up in here. :glomp: ) The teenager called Michael lay on the ground unmoving. After all, he had just been knocked clear across the room by his fiery-tempered girlfriend. A few onlookers watched with concern at his motionless body. "You think he's okay? That was one wicked punch!" "He's still breathing, so he can't be dead." "Eww, what's that smell?" After a few awkward moments, in one swift motion, Michael's body suddenly bounded up to a standing position, forcing bystanders to jump back in shock. "Urg..." He spat out the taste of plaster and paint residue from his mouth. "Never gonna get used to that." Cricking his neck a couple of times and brushing himself off, he walked calmly toward the auditorium's doors and down the long aisle to the judge's seats that were set right in front of the stage. The auditorium itself looked like a typical opera theater. There were three levels of seats and skyboxes were scattered among the walls. The maximum occupancy was in the 1500 range and yet the seats were surprisingly jam-packed with people. Cameramen were stationed at strategic points throughout the area. If one were to come in with no idea of the occasion, they would probably assume it was an award show for movie stars or musicians. A young-looking brunette with librarian-style glasses stared at Michael as he came striding up, landing squarely in an empty chair with his name on it. The carefree boy leaned back in his seat and gave the girl an innocent grin, resulting in her shaking her head. "Why do you always manage to tick Rachel off?" Rebecca asked. "Is it like a hobby of yours?" Michael only shrugged. "You know perfectly well that wasn't my fault." On the other side of Rebecca sat a clean-cut, muscle-bound teenager with a cowboy hat and mirrored shades who was leaning back lazily in his seat, his leather boots propped up on the table. He flashed a teasing smirk at Michael. "Setting yourself up for situations like that..." He tipped his hat forward in a mock salute. "Haven't you learned by now that no matter how smart you are, you'll always be naive when it comes to girls?" Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Look who's talking, Mr. "Lust 'em then Leave 'em!" When's the last time you contacted your girlfriend?" "I'll get around to it!" Duke retorted. Then with an afterthought, he added, "Eventually." Glancing up at the closed red velvet curtains draped across the stage, Duke frowned slightly. "When is this pageant supposed to start anyway? The whole reason I came along was to see what Destiny Islands has to offer and so far I haven't seen a shadow of a bikini yet..." Before he continued to rant, a soft, but firm hand gripped his shoulder. "Down, boy." Rachel had quietly appeared without anyone noticing, proceeding to sit on the other side of Duke. "You can play out those little perverted fantasies later. Right now we've got bigger things to worry about." She gave Michael a look that said 'Glad to see you're okay.' Michael grinned slightly but quickly became serious. "If Beca's data's correct, that is." Rebecca nodded. "I still can't believe a threat like this would appear all the way on this side of the universe, but we can't take any chances." Before she could say any more, one of the stage hands ran up to the foursome and warned them that the pageant was about to begin. As soon as he left, Rebecca finished the conversation with, "Just keep your eyes peeled." Seconds later, the pageant announcer bounded up to the stage with mike in hand, the spotlight following her every movement. "Welcome to this year's annual Miss Teen Destiny Pageant!" her voice boomed out. Expectedly, the audience roared with excitement. * * * A few rows away from the judge's bench, the Destiny and Twilight kids were busy in their own argument. "How can you guys not see the beauty of Struggle battles?" Hayner groaned. "One on one with nothing but a sword in your hand? The squared circle of jousting? The feeling you get when you know that only one of you will leave the arena alive?" Tidus let out a short laugh. "A sword? You mean that plastic stick covered in foam? Get real! Blitzball has all the action! The injury rate is one of the highest in all of the sports world! Pulled muscles, blows to the head, kicks to the back..." His eyes were practically shining. "The list is practically endless!" Hayner only grunted in response before whirling around and tapping Pence on the arm with his fist. "Come on, back me up!" Pence gave him a wry smile. "Well, injuries can happen in Struggle battles too. Teeth get knocked out..." He started counting on his fingers. "...concussions happen often, and don't get me started about the illegal crowbars and cement bats..." Olette rolled her eyes and gave Kairi a pleading look. "You see what I have to deal with? Hanging around with these boys can give a girl a headache." She began massaging her temples. "Honestly, it's hard finding someone who I can actually relate to." Kairi patted her on the lap with an understanding gleam in her eye. "Well, after all this is over, how about you, me and Selphie go out shopping? Just us girls?" Olette giggled. "Deal. But only after you switch back. It's pretty awkward to have a guy watching you undress, even if you're a girl in a guy's body." "You guys!" The others stopped talking as Wakka shushed them. "It's starting!" The teenagers sat back into their seats as the velvet red curtains opened, revealing a gaggle of teenage girls, casually dressed, but radiating with cuteness. It didn't come to any surprise that the boys' jaws dropped (Tidus and Hayner were practically drooling), resulting in a huge collective sigh from all the teenage female audience members. As the girls on stage began prancing around to the obligatory cheesy intro music, Kairi's eyes narrowed as she scanned the crowd for Sora. "Come on, where is he?" she whispered. After a few seconds, she felt Olette nudge her in the ribs. Following the brunette's gaze, Kairi was finally able to lock onto her own body. As the ensemble that Sora wore etched itself into her mind, the Princess of Heart was utterly speechless. "Wow. You look absolutely stunning up there, Kairi," Wakka said in awe. Kairi couldn't help blushing. "I've gotta admit, Sora did pretty well in choosing the outfits." That's when she became aware of Roxas' unusual silence. "Um...Roxas? You've been pretty quiet for awhile. What's up?" "Seeing Naminé wearing that outfit..." His voice was cracking again. "If she looks good in that, when the swimsuit portion comes up..." "Stop. Don't even finish that thought, Roxas." Kairi pursed her lips in disapproval. "You guys are all alike, you know that? All a girl has to do is flash some cleavage and you'll drool over them like some mindless sex object." "And guys wonder why we rule the world," Olette chuckled. After the dancing was over, the announcer slid up smoothly to the front of the stage and shouted, "And now for our judges!" The audience's attention immediately swerved in the direction of the cameras and spotlights as the judge's panel was lit up. Up first was an innocent-looking teenage boy with jet-black hair and a metallic-blue bomber jacket. "Residing from Ultima City, is their city's champion warrior, the "Blue Blazer" of Ultima: Michael!" Michael stood up from his seat, gave a "one fingered Leon-style" salute and then immediately sat back down. "Is that guy immortal or something?" Hayner wondered. "I mean, he WAS blasted across the room earlier, right?" "No kidding," Tidus said as he let out a slow whistle. "I don't think even Sora could've withstood that." Next, the spotlight shifted over to the intelligent-looking brunette with glasses. "Sitting right next to him is his sister, biotechnorganic prodigy and magister magi, Rebecca!" As the girl stood up and waved shyly, Wakka, Tidus and Hayner leaned forward in their seats. "Hey!" Wakka gasped. "It's that librarian chick that gave us the flash card yesterday!" "Are you serious?" Olette stared at him in shock. "Rebecca was the one who gave you the flash card?" "But that means she knows who Natalia is!" Kairi realized. "And if she knows Natalia..." Tidus stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. "Um...what DOES that mean exactly?" Kairi shook her head. "To be honest, it might mean that the judges are biased." The others began to look worried except Olette who asked, "In whose favor, though?" "Then residing from Electro City, we have the Vice President of Masters Inc., Duke!" Pence glanced over at Kairi. "Huh. It's that weird guy from the café." Kairi didn't say anything as she attempted to make the connections. "And finally we have reigning warrior princess of Eden's Kingdom, Rachel!" "Eden's Kingdom?" Pence repeated. "Where've I heard that before?" Kairi ruffled her bushy hair. "That's the place where Natalia was from, wasn't it?" That's when everything clicked into place. "I get it now!" The others looked at her curiously. "You get what exactly?" Tidus asked. "How they're all related!" Kairi exclaimed. "Michael and Rebecca are siblings; Duke's a friend of Michael; who is dating Rachel; who happens to be related to Natalia; which is the relative that Duke was referencing! It all makes sense!" "Hold up." Hayner furrowed an eyebrow. "Are you saying that all four of them not only know each other, but they all know Natalia as well?" "It could just be a coincidence," Tidus guessed, but Kairi shook her head. "Coincidence, my shapely butt! If it were only one or two connections, I'd agree with you. But too many coincidences means there's a pattern!" "You don't think Natalia's dating Duke, do you?" Olette asked her. The Princess only shrugged. "At this point in the game, I don't think it really makes a difference." The spotlight and cameras zeroed back in on the announcer. "And now let's introduce these wonderful girls, shall we? Contestant number 1!" As the girls began coming up to the front of the stage to introduce themselves, Kairi was lost in thought. "So all four of them know each other and Natalia..." Kairi's eyes narrowed. "I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing." "I can tell you one thing," Roxas said in a grim tone. "Things are about to get a bit more interesting..." * * * Meanwhile, as the contestants began introducing themselves one by one, Sora stood there on the spot, smiling shyly with uncertainty. "Will you relax, Sora?" Naminé sighed. "You don't want to disappoint Kairi, do you?" "I can't help it!" Sora cried. "This just feels so...unnatural! I'm a guy in a girl's body standing in skimpy clothes on stage in front of a live audience with all these lights shining on me! How am I supposed to feel?" "Well, get over your stage fright and suck it up already," Naminé snapped. "I thought you guys were supposed to be able to put up brave fronts in front of girls." Sora rolled his eyes. "That's just as stereotypical as saying that all girls want to do is gossip, shop and put on makeup all day." "Just smile, alright? You're making Kairi look vulnerable in front of Natalia." Sora glanced over at Natalia and saw that she was indeed watching him out of the corner of her eye. He felt the smile begin to waver off his face. "I don't know if I can do this..." Sora moaned. "It's too late to back out now!" Naminé felt Sora's self-doubt begin to worm its way into her mind, but she shook it off. "Don't make me 'Mind Tickle' you!" Sora couldn't help but smirk at her empty threat. "Give me a break, Naminé. You and Kairi are WAY more ticklish than me and Roxas combined." Naminé felt like retorting, but his words rang true to the heart. She decided to change tactics. "How about smile as if..." Naminé had to choose her words carefully. She feared anything overly complicated would just confuse Sora even more. "Smile as if Kairi just kissed you," she suggested. Sora's face glowed slightly as he ran the scene through his mind. However, Kairi's smile began to waver off his face. Naminé sighed. "Okay, bad motivation. How about..." She frantically searched her memories and Sora's for a better image. Finally, she said, "Smile as if Kairi just bought you a Sea-Salt triple chocolate sundae." Naminé could feel Sora's mouth salivating as he licked Kairi's lips and grinned from ear to ear. "That's more like it!" "Contestant number 13!" "Okay, that's us," Naminé said. "Now just like we were briefed. Swagger up to the front of the stage, keeping that smile wide. Just look out toward the crowd. Remember the way a girl walks. Strut up there calm and confident..." Thanks to Naminé's coaching, Sora was able to walk up to the front of the stage without any external trouble. As he stopped in front of the judge's view, Sora did a little twirl, stuck his hip out and placed his hand on his waist. Then with a cute and seductive air in Kairi's voice, Sora said, "Hello! My name is Kairi from Destiny Islands..." * * * Kairi sat in her seat completely dumbstruck. "What's up with that goofy grin?" "What are you talking about, Kairi?" Olette asked. "Sora's standing up there smiling like I'm some cheap bimbo." Tidus snorted at the comment. "Uh, if Sora were a cheap bimbo, he'd have dressed a lot more skimpier than that," Tidus said. The girls glared at him. The boy flinched and quickly said, "Shutting up now." Kairi shared a smirk with Olette, but suddenly became aware of... She glanced around and asked, "Has anyone seen Riku?" * * * Riku peeked around the corner of a building he was sneaking behind and groaned. The two security guards were still watching the entrance. He clenched his fist in frustration. The Dawn Wielder knew quite well that he could've taken out these guys with no problem. But these weren't creatures that he could just take down without consequence. These were normal, everyday people that were only doing their job. Being ruthless was one thing. Going overkill was another. Unlike Sora and Kairi, he didn't have a second mind to bounce ideas off of. But he was Riku...he didn't need a second mind to come up with a good plan. In fact, the idea came to him almost instantly as he unconsciously flipped some of his hair out of his eyes. Unfortunately, this would mean that he'd have to sacrifice something more valuable than his heart. He's have to sacrifice... ...his dignity. * * * "I'm telling you Sega's getting desperate! I mean, they're giving that hedgehog a big freakin' sword! They're ripping off Nintendo's ideas yet again!" "Whatever, dude! The Dreamcast would've dominated the market if they hadn't made the mistake of-" "Excuse me?" a shrill voice murmured timidly. The security guards glanced up from their conversation to see a tall, silver ponytailed girl running up to them. She was wearing a long, flowing purple dress and most of her bangs overshadowed her eyes. "Is this where the Miss Teen Destiny Pageant is taking place?" The guards glanced at each other before one of them said, "Uh...yeah, but the contest should be starting any moment now." The girl let out a small shriek of shock. "It's already started?! B-but I'm one of the contestants!" She began to sob slightly. "This was going to be my very first pageant and everything!" The guards looked at her with pitying looks in their faces. "Now, now. Don't cry!" the second guard assured her. "Tell you what, I'll personally see to it that you get to the stage on time. However, we'll just need to see some identification." The girl was startled at the request, but she quickly recovered. "B-but, I left my purse and stuff with my friends!" The guards were starting to fidget a bit. It was clear they hadn't encountered this type of situation before. Finally, the second guard said, "Don't worry little missy. We'll let you through. But you better make sure you show up on time next time." He glanced over to his partner. "You've got things taken care of, right?" "Yeah," the first guard replied with a shrug, "other than that punk kid with the sword earlier, there hasn't been any other trouble. If I need anything I'll call you." "Understood." The girl reddened as her escort hooked his arm around hers. "Shall we?" The girl gave him a small nod. "T-thank you," she stuttered meekly. As the security guard began leading the "girl" towards the back, Riku only had one running thought in his mind: "First toilet duty and now dressing up like a girl. I swear, this is a new low, even for me..."
You'd probably be perfect for the numerous demons throughout the last few episodes of the series. :p
I've always wanted to know... ...can you do no-handed pushups with those things? Or does it depend on how big they are?
Zack struggled not to roll his eyes. The speakers were still tuned to psychic chatter, so the question didn't go unnoticed to the courtroom. The judge countered the question with, "I don't remember Axel ever getting any orders from Xemnas during the Castle Oblivion incidents, do you?"
OOC: You'd THINK this was a paradox, but you're forgetting one thing...:sly: BIC: Zack smirked at Xelax. "Nice try, but there's one thing you've forgotten." He tapped a few keys on the holographic display and brought up the Court Record. Scrolling through all the evidence, he selected a familiar looking piece of paper. "Know what this is? You should, considering you're the one who presented it in the first place. It's the notary that Xemnas had signed himself dropping the charges against Marluxia and Larxene. And since charging Marluxia of being a traitor could be considered double jeopardy, that means that Axel was merely following orders from the "Lord" of Castle Oblivion." Zack minimized the Court Record. "Now that that's taken care of, are you going to do your Cross-Examination or not?"
Yeah, well no worries about that. The main focus is trying to get the trailer out first. But the plan is to try to get as much of the series done before school starts again. Maybe I should just send you the script and hope for the best...:blink: All you'd have to worry about is Ayaka anyway. :)
You deleted and reposted? :p BTW, I may have mentioned this before, but the script for the first two episodes are done. However, I don't know whether to wait until I actually have the rest of the mock video clips done first before sending the script or just to give the script already and hope that I can synch up the voices later...:huh:
Come on! You know you wanna laugh! :sly: Enough dude. You can't keep tickle torturing every girl you see. But she's the one who brought it up! True... ...but I wanna hear her response. :sigh: Fine. *lets go* You're lucky I didn't go for your feet first... *looks at Bareri-San* And you're just lucky for now. *merges back with DF* Now where were we?
*starts playing ANF's ribcage like a keyboard* BTW, you never gave me a straight answer. Were you still in? :huh:
*tackles ANF, locking her arms above her head* *proceeds to tickle underarms*
I'M BACK, BABY! AND SO AM I!
And Evil DF already used his "Spirit Bomb-sized" Tickle Bomb which exploded a couple of weeks ago and promptly phased himself out. :p *Uses Matrix Flight*
Zack shrugs and then turns to Denise. "You know technically you could order him to actually LOVE serving you. It's not like he'll remember anything afterwards anyway." He smirked again. "Yes, it's THAT powerful."
Writer's Critique... Hmm...I'd have to say it's not a bad start. You might want to work on your punctuation a bit, though. There are a few places where you use quotation marks where there really doesn't need to be. It should be something like: Also, you don't really need multiple exclamation points. One is good enough. There needs to be a bit of work on spacing. Some of the sentences look squished together and it makes it unattractive to the reader's eyes. Other than that, I didn't really see anything major. You just need to polish it up a bit and you'll be all set. :)
That'd really help, thanks! Um...as for the battle soundtracks, if I'm totaling this correctly, there's about eight fight scenes throughout the entire series...
