With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Being questioned by a boy was not what Rei was in the mood for. He stared at Toshioni and ignored him.
It seemed to Rei that this was not going to be as simple as asking to leave. The face on the screen was rather disturbing looking and as much as Rei would have liked to cut the monitor in half, but he still needed information. But before he could even question why, the annoying boy started to yell.
It was interesting to see that the man on the screen was known by the annoying boy. He resisted in actually asking anything at the moment, as he was more curious about these doors. He tested the knob, but it was locked. No luck there, Rei moved around the room placing his hand on the wall.
Hatter was exciting that he had a familiar face among his guest and he adjusted the screen to fly right up to the young Quincy's face. "I'm glad you can make it. This time we see what happens when you question my games." But his short attention was soon taken by the pregnant woman who told the boy to be quiet.
He moved the monitor to where she was and examined her. "The best vacation spot is right here. " That was the end of that as the monitor went back to where everyone can see him.
It was interesting to see who was here and all, as they were about to embark on a journey. A journey to which will change their very thought process of who they are and what they stand for. "The point, my most impatient sir, is simple. You have to find the exit and leave. These doors lead to a different path that in turn leads to a series of trials. Your tickets act as keys to the doors and finally your way home. I suggest you consider your options to stay together or go your separate ways." The monitor went dead after that, leaving no one a chance to ask anything on the subject.
Rei reached in his pocket and produced his ticket. The thing was suppose to be the key to the doors, so how do they work? He managed to find himself in the middle of the room, right next to the floor door. He knelt down to examine the door directly and the ticket at the same time. The man on the screen offered no actual hint at how to open the door, but that must be part of the game.
It looked like a regular door, with a knob and lock, and he could figure out how a ticket could possibly be any sort of key. "Hmm..."
"Well, he said it's a game right? So let's have fun with it then, whaddya say everyone?" Mizuki looked around the room after the monitor stopped working.
This moment... it was so tense, so much tension, a knife could cut it. The first guy, who still did not introduce himself, was looking around. Everyone else just kinda stood there. Did they not know what to do or what? Either way, it didn't matter. They had to win the game to get out and Mizuki was going to do just that.
She walked over to the far door, away from everyone else and held her ticket up to it. "Now how is this suppose to work..." The ticket began to glow a bit, along with the door. A locking mechanism sound was heard throughout the room.
Her eyes kinda widened slightly. "I think that did it..." She went to grab the door knob. She slowly turned it and it turned, making the door open slightly.
She looked at everyone else again. "C'mon people! This door is open! Let's go this way!" She was excited to see that what she had tried worked.
Then there was this awkward moment where everyone was quite. It seemed as though everyone wanted to go their own way. Mizuki looked to the young boy.
"Toshioni, will you come with me this way? Maybe we can find that guy from the screen. What about you Sentenza? Why not come with me? Anyone?" Mizuki wanted at least one of them to go with her, it would help to stick together, but who would? She would have to wait and see.
Sentenza decided to ignore Toshioni's outburst as the monitor once again spoke. All this planning for a game? This man has to be insane.[/color] Sentenza thought to himself. Sentenza thought that their host had put quite a bit of planning into this whole thing, which, in spite of Sentenza's annoyance with the ticket he had picked up sweeping him off the ground and to Las Noches, he had some respect for.
Sentenza glanced towards Mizuki. "I will go with you." Sentenza said. He preferred to work alone, but this situation called for strength and numbers. "I propose this, we form to groups. One of two, and one of three. We won't cover as much ground that way, but at least we will have more security." Sentenza didn't know any of these people, but still he hoped none of them got hurt, especially the pregnant Makana. Sentenza approached Mizuki and stood next next to her. The way this whole situation folded out, Sentenza could do little more than voice his opinion and try to get out. He felt like teaming up made the most logical sense.
He looked at Masashi and remembered that pregnant people were prone to irritability. Best to calm down now and try to think logically. He was going to have to find a way out of this, after all. Taking a deep breath, Toshioni mellowed out and gave an apologetic look towards Masashi.
"I'm sorry Makana-sensei."
"I'm glad you can make it. This time we see what happens when you question my games."
"Cubbit-san, you have a lot of free time on your hands."
The young Quincy then watched the angry boy try to figure out how to open a door. He chuckled slightly to himself when Mizuki figured it out. That would probably piss off Mr. Angry Child. However, then Mizuki began to ask him if he wanted to come with her. He really wanted to, but his instincts told him not to. He felt like something else was at work here. Then, he looked up. There was a door on the ceiling. How quaint. Wait, a door on the ceiling? What was that for...unless.
"I propose this, we form to groups. One of two, and one of three. We won't cover as much ground that way, but at least we will have more security."
The young Quincy looked at Sentenza and smiled. It was good that he was thinking about groups and security, but Toshioni felt like he was missing the point.
"Sentenza-san, what is the point of splitting up if we have no way of communicating? Even if one group were to find an exit they would have to come all the way back and then try to find the second group to tell them. Given, I, most likely Mizuki-chan, and possibly Makana-sensei all have phones. However, I doubt we get reception in Las Noches." To emphasize his point, Toshioni pulled his yellow phone from his front pocket. He pressed a button to unlock it, only to see that he had no bars.
"Can we all agree that our best option is to stick together? I've got a buzzing in my head that makes it hard to walk straight, nevermind navigate a maze or solve puzzles. I'm sure this place will eventually wear on us and five is better than two or three." He wanted to sit down, but knew he couldn't. This was not the time for it. He stumbled as he walked forward until he was directly under the door on the ceiling.
"Now, if I was a sadistic Arrancar, and I'm not, where would I put the exit? Maybe this is just paranoia, but I think I would put it in the spot that's hardest to get to." With that notion he pointed his right index finger straight up and cocked his head to the left.
"Kuso," Makana swore when Hatter denied her request to be sent home. Did he not notice that she was pregnant? Very much so? Apparently not.That or he just didn't care. Her expression flattened, and a vein throbbed on her forehead. As the monitor disappeared, Makana tucked her book under her arm.
"Having trouble?" she asked when the quiet one tested a doorknob. It didn't open, and he hummed to himself. She set her book on the ground, held out her arm, and readied her surging bow. "You could always try this--"
Before she could fire an arrow, however, the teenage girl tried holding her ticket up to the door. That seemed to do it. An abashed Makana clenched her fist, causing her bow to dissapate. "Oh. Or that."
The argument was now what way they should go. She was surprised by how quick the children were to take a leadership role, but she preferred to split up. It was better to cover as much ground as possible - and for all they knew, an entire group wouldn't even be able to get through wherever the door lead.
"I'd rather split up," she said firmly. She swung her backpack over her shoulder to put her book away and took out her phone - as well as the watch off of her wrist. "We'd cover more ground if we each go separately, and if we keep track of time, then after, say, an hour if everyone hasn't returned we'll go and look for them."
She was also surprised by the fact that Toshioni quickly came to the conclusion that the least convenient path was the most likely exit. She, however, had no real way of getting up there. She smirked a little wryly. "Can anyone here fly?"
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Sam
Veteran Spirit ... thingy[M:9999999995336822][M:0]
It may have looked like Mizuki solved the door riddle rather easily, but that was far from the truth. While that door opened, the one on the ceiling opened as well. After all was said and done, a chime rang through out the room and a voice came out. "Just to let you all know, just because one door opens does not mean it leads to another room. You must solve the door riddle in order to go to the next level." And the voice left them once again.
Rei knew it was too easy to just place the ticket against the lock. He was kinda happy that Makana didn't try to blast the door either. "I think we should refrain from doing anything rash. Who knows if he has defense mechanism to prevent an easy solution.' Rei said as he looked around the room once more, stopping at the ceiling door.
Rei jumped up high and used shunpo to reach the door. He could make a ladder for others with his shikai, but he would rather not reveal that just yet. The door was ajar and opened out. He opened the door to see Mikzuki and Sentenza standing in front of him. "I wouldn't go through this door if you can help it." Rei said as he walked through it, closing it behind him. Rei was not one to just do things randomly, nor take orders from someone who isn't his superior. Rei was the leader type in a squad like situation and this was just that type of situation.
Rei made his way back to the center, making sure that everyone can see him. "Look, this place is dangerous despite the simple look of the room. The man said that we needed to solve the riddle of the room before we can go on, so let's try to think this through first. If we do end up separating into groups, I can use a kido spell to communicate with the other group, but we need to have a plan first. Just randomly trying doors is a reckless mistake." Rei made sure that he get his point across while he talk. He was sure that Sentenza could use Tenteikūra as well as Rei, if this place would allow them to do it.
Rei went back to the door on the floor, looking at it carefully. He stared at it without trying the trick Mizuki tried, rubbing his hand over it. That's when he spotted something deep in the grain of the door. It was a number or a letter. "This door has a symbol on it. Does anyone recognize it?' It was the roman numeral for five and Rei never encountered such a symbol before. The other doors had one as well, each marked with a number in the numerical order of 1-5.
Rei looked at his ticket now, but no such symbol was on it. Just a number on it. His had a three on the back, odd as it was. "Maybe each ticket is a key for a specific door." As an experiment, Rei activated his ticket to the floor door and watched as it opened. It opened alright, but like Mizuki's it opened to the ceiling door.
"I will go with you." Sentenza said and stepped towards Mizuki. "I propose this, we form to groups. One of two, and one of three. We won't cover as much ground that way, but at least we will have more security." Sentenza mentioned. He had a really good point. Mizuki liked the idea, but then the others came into the conversation, bashing the idea, well, some did.
"Sentenza-san, what is the point of splitting up if we have no way of communicating? Even if one group were to find an exit they would have to come all the way back and then try to find the second group to tell them. Given, I, most likely Mizuki-chan, and possibly Makana-sensei all have phones. However, I doubt we get reception in Las Noches." The first to bash it was the young quincy, who did not seem as fond as the other man who agreed with Mizuki. This wasn't an intentional bashing, but he did knock down the idea. Toshioni then began to look at the ceiling door. He made a good point, but who really knew? There was five of them and six doors... so how would this work?
The next to bash the idea, more fiercely of course, was the prego teacher. "I'd rather split up," she said firmly. She swung her backpack over her shoulder to put her book away and took out her phone - as well as the watch off of her wrist. "We'd cover more ground if we each go separately, and if we keep track of time, then after, say, an hour if everyone hasn't returned we'll go and look for them."
Mizuki rubbed her chin and looked around the room some more. It was some predicament they were in, and she had no idea how to get out of it. Then came the quiet man with his theory.
"I wouldn't go through this door if you can help it." The man said as he walked through Mizuki's door. She hadn't noticed, but she did hear him.
The man then pointed out that there was a symbol on each door, and Mizuki stopped for a second. She looked at her ticket, which had a 2 on the back then at the door she had opened. The door had the roman numeral for one on it.
Mizuki inspected her door. She saw some weird scratch markings. "Uh... I have no idea what this even means." She thought she knew but she obviously slept in history class it being the first class of the day and all...
Sentenza examined the doors and the people six people, five doors. The assumptions were probably correct that there was a door for each person, and one was a trap or a dud. Sentenza wouldn't argue his idea of teaming person distribution, he had said it somewhat hastily without the full information of the situation being revealed, besides now there was new info.
Each door had a marking on it, and each ticket, or at least Sentenza's appeared to have a number. Sentenza looked at the number, four. It would be my luck to have a four on my ticket.[/color]
"Superstition? That's not like you. Kuroki Kemono said to Sentenza.
Sentenza ignored his Zanpakuto and turned to Makana. "You are a school teacher, correct? What do these markings on the door mean? Or do you know?" Sentenza asked.
He heard as the serious, angry boy made a talk about how they actually could communicate. Through some sort of spell called "Kido". That sounded damn useful. Toshioni figured that it must be like Ginto in some sense.
"That Kido stuff sounds damn useful."
With that he heard the boy also say that there was a symbol on the door. Toshioni thought about going over there but the reishi high was getting to him. He could barely walk straight and simply decided to sit down. He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. This really didn't feel good. Or did it? Maybe this was what drugs felt like. He didn't know what the cause even was.
"Does anybody know what's different in Hueco Mundo? Is there a difference in reishi concentration or air density or something? My head. Owww."
He barely heard Mizuki say that she didn't understand what the symbols meant. The high blocked his thought processes and he didn't even consider that Makana would probably be able to discern what it was being a history addict. Normal Toshioni would've connected those dots. High Toshioni, on the other hand, was too concerned with his hangover-esque symptoms. He did pick up on the fact that everyone was checking their number on their ticket.
Groping through his pocket he grabbed his ticket and pulled it out. Barely opening his eyes he saw a one on the back of his ticket. With his left hand he covered his eyes and with his right he shot up his ticket.
"I've got number 1. Anyone needs my ticket they can use it."
"More reishi," Makana noticed, nodding to Toshioni. He looked like the reishi was affecting him too - maybe it was harder for him to deal with because he was young. Was he also a quincy? No one else seemed to have that problem. She noticed it, but maybe her baby was taking it in. She hoped this wouldn't turn the baby into some batshit insane powerful hollow/quincy thingy. "This place is overflowing with it."
She looked at the numbers on the doors, and shook her head. "Shame on you all!"
As if waiting for the cue, she pulled out her pointer and gestured to the door with IV on it. "These are roman numerals! I stands for 1, V stands for five, and X stands for ten. There aren't any tens here, so don't worry about that for now. When a smaller number comes before a bigger number, say, I before V, you subtract the smaller number from the larger number. When a smaller number comes after, you add it to the larger number."
She turned to her makeshift class, and said, "So XV would be? And how about XVII? And this one's a little trickier...XIX?"
She smiled, putting a hand on her stomach. She let her stick touch the ground, and she leaned on it. Obviously the stick was made of something indestructible...Mahogany? Her eyes flitted around the room, and she finally decided to check the back of her ticket. Hers was five, so she just needed to find a V.
"I'm not sure exactly how this helps us open the doors, but whichever door you need will probably have the corresponding roman numeral on it," she said with a smile. Glancing around, she found her door, and approached it, gaily swinging her pointer.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
