Kei

[color=darkblue]Well, first of all, you have to have an image to act as the anchor for the button. Once you have an image, use this code to place it on your page (taking out the spaces except for the one between "img" and "src"): After that, place the code for the link around the image tag, which is this (taking out the spaces except for the one between "a" and "href" in the first tag) : < a href =put url here> put link text/image here < /a> When you're done, it should look something like this: < a href= url>< img src=" url here"> It should work. I had buttons set up like that on my site for quite some time, but I recently got rid of them. If you have any more trouble, just PM me and I'll write the code for you so you can just paste it into your Introduction or wherever.[/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Shadow managed to catch himself before he hit the desk, eyeing Sonic with a sideways glance before righting himself properly and rubbing his cheek slightly. "A warm greeting as always I see, baby brother." "Shut the hell up! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Sighing and leaning against the edge on the desk, Shadow gave him a totally innocent smile and shrugged. "It may surprise you to find out that I haven't developed telekinesis since we saw each other last, Sonic. What are you talking about?" "You know damn well what I'm talking about! This!" Sonic reached into his pocket and threw the crumpled paper down to Shadow's feet as hard as he could. Shadow, still not having any sort of visible reaction to his brother's outburst, merely reached down and picked it up, straightening it out to read that it was the notification letter he'd had Lien-Da send out not too long ago. "Oh. This." "Yeah. That." The scowl had never once left Sonic's face and now he stood looking every bit ready to strangle his older brother on a whim. Shadow smiled once more and set the wrinkled paper on his desk. "I merely gave you and Mom a place to live. What's wrong with that?" "What's wrong with it is is that I don't need any damn charity. Especially from you." Moving around and sitting down behind his desk, Shadow sighed and folded his hands. "I beg to differ, little brother. You've lost your job, been evicted from already substandard accommodations from condemnation, and you're seriously injured. And Mom can't work because she's still too weak, though she did look a lot better when I saw her." "That because I got her the help she needed. And that was from my other job." "Yes, the job that got you those broken ribs. Let's not forget about that. The one that's going to worry Mom into an early grave." Sonic winced slightly at his brother's point, but said nothing. "Listen, Sonic. All I'm trying to do is give Mom a better chance than what she's had, as of late. You, too. You've both had it really rough, and you don't deserve it. All I'm trying to do is help out a little, that's all. Is it so wrong that I want to help my mother and little brother?" "It wouldn't be if this weren't the first time you ever did it in your life." Shadow finally let his annoyed mood show in the form of a slight wince. Quickly recovering and sighing briefly, the black hedgehog shrugged. "Look. You're old enough to make your own decisions. We both know that. You can take my offer or leave it. I only ask one thing." "Oh, and what would that be?" Sonic replied with the most sarcasm he could muster. "Think about Mom." Sonic stood shocked for a moment, simply staring into his brother's nonexpressive eyes. In a way, he knew Shadow was right; taking what he had offered would be the best for Bernadette. But this was Shadow he was talking about. Ever since the divorce, Shadow had changed. He seemed to become more cold and calculating the more time he spent alone with thier father, and by the time they had seen each other five years after the split, he was a completely different person. A person that Sonic knew he couldn't trust. But now, he was in a vulnerable situation. Sure, he could stay with Amy for a while until they got back on their feet, since she didn't mind, but it just didn't feel right. Maybe this was for the best after all... "It's all up to you, Sonic," Shadow said, breaking the tense silence. "You can move in whenever you want, if you choose to. Just send a shout if you do." At that, Sonic closed his eyes and turned to go, remaining silent and seemingly in deep thought. "Sonic." He stopped. "Just think about Mom." Sonic continued on out the door, letting it close quietly behind him. "I am," he muttered when he was out of earshot. As Shadow watched Sonic leave through the door, he couldn't help but get a feeling that Sonic may be onto him. Looking down intently at his hands, he scowled at his own paranoia. "I'm being foolish. There's no way he could know... Hm. Yeah, I'm sure of it... But that reminds me. I have research to do."[/size][/color]

[color=darkblue]Rurouni Kenshin was featured in SJ, then went to graphic novel format. Volumes 1-7 (they are presently at the beginning of the Legend of Kyoto saga) are currently available from Viz. As Shonen Jump itself is owned by Viz, all the manga featured and shown in series in SJ are licensed to Viz. Only the anime rights to such are what get thrown elsewhere (i.e. Rurouni Kenshin is Media Blasters and Shaman King, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! are 4Kids/FUNimation). Everyone else is waiting to see where Naruto goes (God, I wish it were ADV for some reason...), but more than likely it'll go to 4Kids/FUNi. Viz doesn't publish FMA, but after searching for a good 15 minutes, I still couldn't find out who does. Oo; I know I've seen it in Books and Company, though. >.>; As for manga I'd like to see... After Dagger mentioned it, Death Note seems like a manga that I might enjoy. They could also stick Rockman.EXE (or Megaman: NT Warrior) in, too. :p[/color]

[color=darkblue]Superior Defender Gundam is a parody. It's meant to make light of the legacy as a whole, so of course it's not going to have all the elements that a Gundam series has. Plus, as it's already been said, it was directed towards a younger audience, so yeah, older Gundam fans may not like it. I personally do, but eh. Anyhow, I find that I liked Mobile Suit Gundam Wing to by my favorite out of the lot (which will probably be the case among several members here). Although it is true (to some extent) that the Gundams were given the Almighty air (except in Endless Waltz when all of them, especially Wing Zero, were shown to be be exactly what they are, machines that can be destroyed), but it was still a good series considering the characters. I mean, you wouldn't expect[/color] [spoiler]sweet, little Quatre to go on a warpath[/spoiler] [color=darkblue]now, would you? Sure, why that happened is surely reason enough, but you wouldn't expect it from him, given his nature. One of the better plot twists, in my opinion. Although it doesn't get hardly any of the praise the other series do, Mobile Fighter G Gundam was rather enjoyable to me. The charater development was awesome, and though it didn't follow the main Gundam story ([/color][spoiler]G Gundam mainly being a love story, and all[/spoiler][color=darkblue]), it was a great Gundam series in my opinion and one that should be looked at in a better light. Though this may sound odd, my least favorite Gundam series is the one that started it all, Mobile Suit Gundam. For some reason, every time I see it, it just grates on me. I just can't mesh with the characters and the overall story is just.....eh. I'm quite sure someone is going to come along and bash me into the ground with reasons as to why it's so great, but I just don't see it. That's my take, anyhow.[/color]

[color=darkblue]Well, it's not necessarily true that good artists just break into the manga/comic scene. Often times in Japan, manga artists get their start acting as assistants to other artists. That comes in quite handy, as they can get their art reveiwed constantly and end up getting some quality stuff. As far as the whole knowing Japanese thing goes, yeah, that might help if you actually want to get a job in Japan. A lot.

[color=darkblue]1) You are only allowed to have one image in your signature. Please choose one and stick with it. Thank you. ^^ 2) You may be excited about your new scanner, but in the future, please resize your images prior to uploading them on your Ripway account and posting them. I took the liberty of resizing it and am hosting the current picture on my own account, but please keep this in mind as time goes on. 3) Your artwork shows promise. It appears as if you did all the work completely by hand, which is a sign of devotion, heh. However, you may want to consider using a graphics program (like Paint, even) to do speed and attention lines in the future. They tend to make artwork look better. Overall, quite the interesting little piece.[/color]

[color=darkblue]I agree with Godelsensei by saying Read or Die was one of the most fluidly animated series I have ever seen (the OVA, not the R.O.D. the TV). Every time I see it, I'm always amazed by the overall smoothness of the special effects and other things looked. They did an extrordinary job on it, in my opinion. I also agree the 08th MS Team also had good animation. It was refreshing to see Gundams and characters drawn in such a way after having seen them all in older forms of animation (though GW was pretty good, it was still released in '94, so it does leave modern animation fans with somewhat of a desire). The Candidate for Goddess/Pilot Candidate animation was also very good, in terms of the character design. The Goddess CG work didn't seem to mesh well with me, but the parts involving the human characters were very well put together. That's my two cents, anyway.[/color]

[color=darkblue]Kat sat in the cafeteria, none too pleased that people had started filing n by the droves to start stuffing their faces. The only solace she had was seeing the rather large form of Sabre, who was looking about as evil as she felt at the moment. She remembered him from the few classes they had had together the previous year, and their very first meeting, in which she had tried to maim him for appearingly trying to hurt a student, but was actually asking for directions to one class or another. She was preparing to go over and say hi when she saw a hyperactive girl yell "PUPPY!" in his ear and thought the better of it when he turned to start letting her have it. "Sad wolf. Always have things rough," she muttered as she went and dropped off her empty ramen bowl onto the conveyor belt for washing. As she exited, she looked to the clock and saw that it was [b]2:25pm[/b], time for her Transformation class. "I remember I read that we start to learn lizard changing first this year..." Kat said to no one in particular. She then shuddered and let the foreboding look she had on her face return, stalking off for the classroom. "Kat hate lizards..."[/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Keita was starting to get annoyed. Just how long would Schaefer take? She knew he usually worked the people he questioned over more than a few times, but still... Finally, she heard a buzz at the front desk and the officer coughed to get her attention. "The Sarge is done with him. He's standing over there if you still want to talk to him," she said pointing. Keita turned to see, not her brother Lothar, but another echidna, a red one, staring coldly at her as if she were nothing but a piece of trash in the street. [i]"What the..."[/i] Keita thought as she got up. [i]"That's not Lothar... Probably one of Schaefer's losers he picked up off the street to do his dirty work for him. You'd think that idiot would get a clue. We have spies everywhere. It was only a matter of time before we found out what he was doing. Still, this is a good opprotunity to learn the finer points of his little 'operation,' so when we finally do string his ass up, along with all our little 'converts', we'll have a nice, solid case backing us up..."[/i] Keita walked over to the disgruntled echidna, who only acknowledged her with a blink and barely that. "I suppose you would be pissed off, Schafer beating the shit out of you and all." The echidna's scowl deepened as he bawled his hands into fists, gritting his teeth. "Well, seeing as how I was handcuffed to a fucking chair, I didn't really have a choice but to sit and take it, did I?" he growled. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. The name's Keita, by the way." "I don't care what your name is. What the hell do you want with me?" "Well, Mister...hm...I didn't catch your name." "Didn't give it. Now, get to the point or I'm leaving." Keita smiled at his impatience, knowing it'd be a challenge to manipulate him into telling her what she wanted. "Okay. But we can't really discuss it here. Let's go someplace with a little less..." Keita trailed off as she glanced about, "authority around." He scoffed as he pushed by her, making his way toward the exit. "I've got better things to do." "I'll make it worth your while." He stopped, turning to look over his shoulder slightly. Keita was writing something down quickly and finished, tearing it from the pad and holding it up. It was a check. The echidna walked over and snatched it from her grasp, glancing at the figure she'd written. "Ten thousand now, and another ten after you've heard me out. Regardless whether you help me or not. All I need to know is whose name to put on the little line at the top." He sat and comptemplated this for a moment and handed the check back to her, pointing to the line. "'Cash' for now. I'll think about giving you my name after I've heard what it is you've got to say." Keita smiled. [i]"So he's not as dumb as he looks. This should be interesting..."[/i] "All right," she said, doing as she was asked and and handing the check back to him, "so now for our little chatting place. Since I'm buying your time, you pick." "My place." "Fine. I take it you don't have a way of getting there, though." The red echidna narrowed his eyes at her, causing Keita to put up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, dumb question. We'll take my bike, then. Just give me directions on the way."[/color][/size]

[color=darkblue]It's a very cool overall design. I'm sure if you redid it on regular white paper and a bit bigger, it'd blow some people away. I do have question, though. What are those weapons near his/her arms? Electro-tonfas or something? Not to say they aren't cool, but I'm curious...[/color]

[color=darkblue]I remember when I was younger, I used to have a brown, orange and black afghan that my grandmother had knitted for me when I was a baby. I used to adore it, even though it usually did nothing against central air going full blast in the summer at my dad's.

[color=darkblue]Welcome to OtakuBoards, Hiei23. The reason that this thread will be closed (and that your previous one was deleted) is because these type of threads usually do not provide any sort of glance-worthy content. In other words, they're spam magnets. With this sort of thing, someone would say "I like so and so! Their eyes are so cute!" and someone else would say "Yeah, and blahblah is so hot! I love her hair!" so on and so forth, eventually not leading up to anything but a waste of space and bandwidth. Also, a single sentence is not a way to go about starting a thread to begin with. Actually creating a reasonable topic, backing it up with well-written reasoning, and perhaps a question, is how we do things around here. Please try to remember that in the future. Thanks, -Lady Katana[/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Keita pulled into the parking lot of the Station Square Police Department. her bike smoothly running over the cracks in the old asphalt, zigzagging through the faded lines painted on them and finally cutting the engine in a spot she deemed was safe enough to where it wouldn't be dinged by anyone. Getting off and taking off her helmet in one fluid motion, she strode tp the front door with a slight scowl on her face. Coming here was not one of her favorite pastimes. Too many bad memories as a kid. As she opened the door, she looked around to find the place relatively busy, officers at their desks taking calls about harrassment and other petty things. In other words, stuff no one really gave a shit about except the people it was happening to. She walked over to the front desk and stopped in front of a throughly bored looking female dalmation officer, who was idly flipping through the pages of a catalog. Keita rapped her knuckles sharply on the desk to get her attention, earning a glance upwards as her only acknowledgement. "Welcome to the Station Square PD. What seems to be the problem?" she droned on in a voice to match her look of boredom. Keita scowled slightly at the woman, but said nothing, clearing her throat. "My name's Keita Echidna. I'm here to see someone you all recently put into custody. Another echidna." The woman sighed and looked straight at Keita, her eyes half-lidden, as if she were going to fall aslep any moment. "The only echidna we've brought in here recently was the one that's being questioned in regards to the murder of the HedgeTech scientist." "I know that. That's the one I want to see." "You can't. He's being interrogated right now." "I don't care. I'm with HedgeTech and I'm under orders to speak with him as soon as possible." The dalmation sighed again, resting her head on her hands, continuing to look Keita in the eyes. "You'll have to wait until the sergeant is done with him." "Fine. Just call him and tell him that Mr. Hedgehog's personal assistant is waiting to see this prisoner." The dalmation's ears pricked up slightly upon hearing this, breaking her out of her sleep-laden trance. Keita knew that HedgeTech provided the police department with a hefty amount of weapons and funding as part of the city's contract with them, and she smiled slightly as she knew that playing the assistant card would get her where she wanted faster than normal. "Thanks," she said turning toward the rows of old, beat-up waiting chairs and having a seat. [i]"Let's just hope that idiot doesn't say anything he shouldn't,"[/i] she thought.[/size][/color]

[color=darkblue]It's not always true that when Moderators post a new RPG, people flock to it, either. As James said, there were a few of his that didn't fly (OB Kart never even made it out of Recruitment) and as for myself, I had to wait a good month before my latest RPG got the interest it did. As for the playing favorites bit, it goes back to what James said about it coming down to the creator. Sure, sometimes other Moderators and some of the people I talk to regularly may get into my RPGS, but that's because their sign-ups are very well-written and I personally feel that they'll move the plot along in the proper direction and at a reasonable pace. With the RPG I mentioned before, I accepted people whose work I've never seen before and at least one new member, so it's definately not just an older member deal. So, what I suppose I'm basically trying to get at here is that it's certainly not some sort of conspiracy against the newer members. It's just a matter of who can do what and how well, in my opinion. [/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Shadow made his way down the sterile halls with a grim expression on his face. The glances he got from the nurses and doctors as the local celebrity passed by didn't seem to phase him as he continued on to his younger brother's room. He was too focused on his thoughts. "This is sooner than I would have liked for us to meet after all these years, but I assume it can't be helped..." After Keita had called him and told him of her intial failure, Shadow took it upon himself to take care of it, as sulking about his office had gotten rather boring and he didn't have any scheduled meetings that day, which was quite a rare occurence. As he turned down the hallway to Sonic's room, he saw his mother sitting outside, looking rather haphazard and shaking slightly, still crying from the earlier events. Although it was his own choice to go with his father after the divorce and it had been some years since he'd seen her, he still held a slgiht bit of sentiment in his heart for her. As he came closer, Bernadette looked up and gasped, throughly surprised to see her elder son standing before her. "Thamien..." she breathed. Shadow winced slightly at the sound of his middle name, but said nothing. He knew that she always prefered his middle name over his first and there was no way to get around it. "It's been a while." "Yes, it has. How have you been, Thamien?" "Well off. My company is doing well." "Don't I know. I see you on the news almost every other day. You turned into such a good man, even after going with your father..." Shadow closed his eyes and scoffed. If she only knew... "I suppose. But it sounds like my baby brother has gotten into quite the little mess." The slight look of happiness Bernadette had on her face slowly vanished as she thought of the attempt on her son's life that happened not to hours before. "I don't know what Sonic's been getting himself into besides those fights," Bernadette began, "but I can't believe it would be something so serious that someone would want to kill him for it..." "So, my little brother's a street fighter now, huh? Interesting." "It's not interesting! It's dangerous! It almost got him killed! If that would have happened, I don't know... I don't know what I'd..." Bernadette broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably. Shadow glanced down at his mother sitting there before him crying her eyes out, and couldn't help but feel sorry for her, despite all the years he spent trying to quell such emotions from ever showing up again. Hesitantly, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Mom. He's not dead. He was always a fighter, so don't worry about him." Bernadette's sobs died down slightly, but she still held her head in her hands. "I'm going in to see him. There's some...things we should catch up on while we have the chance..." With that, Shadow left his mother's side and entered the room. Sonic lie on the hospital bed sleeping soundly, fresh bandages covering the bullet wound on his shoulder. He looked like a complete wreck, and probably felt like it, too. Shadow slipped beside him with barely a sound and stood over him. He smiled slightly. "It has been a long time, little brother. Look at you now, getting yourself into fights and almost getting killed. You've always been like this, even when you were little. You could never sit still and were always mouthing off. You could never shut up. And here you are, 15 years later and you haven't changed. Why am I not surprised." Sonic stirred slightly, but didn't awaken. Shadow scoffed slightly and reached into his pocket. "Yeah, you always could sleep through anything..." He pulled out a small syringe and uncapped it, pushing the air out of it. "Let's hope this time isn't any different." Shadow stuck the needle in Sonic's arm, causing Sonic to wince slightly, and yet still not awaken. Drawing a small amount of blood, Shadow took the needle out, recapped, and replaced it back in his pocket. "Well, I should be running now, baby bro. I do have a company to run. But we'll see each other again real soon. Promise." Shadow strolled out of the room as stoically as he went in, passing his mother on the way out. He bid he goodbye with a curt nod and proceeded on his way back to his office, quite pleased he had what he needed...[/color][/size]

[color=darkblue]As I told you before, I think that this is a wonderful piece. The setting is one that seems very natural (but that's a bit biased coming from a college student) and the dialouge is free flowing. It sounds like it could be a transcript, to be truthfully honest. I do find it interesting that you took chose to use 2nd person POV, as is well known that most literature of any sort takes either 1st or 3rd. I also find it interesting that you made the "you" charater female, but that's just a personal opinion. The setup and the overall feel is very nice and it blends quite well. The only qualm I have is that the ending seems a bit forced. There are certainly a number of paths you could have gone down in this term, but it puts me off a bit that you chose that one. Regardless, it would be easy to write a continuation of this story, and I'm quite hoping that you do. Nice work, Alex. ^^[/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Keita glanced at Sonic for a only a moment before turning her attention back on the orange fox that lay knocked out on the floor. After a wary nudge of the foot from her, she retrained her gun on him and backed away, getting closer to Sonic. As he began to try and shift to get away from her, she began talking in a voice low enough for him to hear, but none of the orderlies or nurses that had begun coming near the room at the sound of the gunshot could. "Listen, hedgehog. It's been a pain in the ass to find you, so I suggest you keep your mouth shut until all this has calmed down, or I won't hesitate to kill anyone who comes in here, including your mother and your friends." Sonic scowled slightly and did as he was told, lying down again, trying hard not to say anything or do anything that might set the trigger happy echidna off. "What happened here?! And why do you have a gun in a [i]hospital[/i]?!" one of the doctors asked before bending to check on the fox that lay crumpled on the floor. Keita, being the ever resourceful one she was, came up with a believeable response easily. "My name is Keita Echidna. I work for HedgeTech. I was sent her by this patient's brother to check on him after my employer had heard that he'd been seriously injured. When I arrived, I found that man trying to shoot him, so I drew my own gun, as I have with me for the bodyguard part of my job. A scuffle ensued and I was forced to knock him out. Seems like a rather dangerous sort, really." The doctor looked Keita hard in the face before turning back to the unconscious fox. "Hm... From what I see here, your story sounds plausible, but I'm calling the police anyway." As he got up to leave, Keita seethed slightly, not wanting to have to deal with cops at the moment. Several other people she didn't want to have to deal with also came into the room, being Amy, Tails and Bernadette. "Oh my God! What happened?!" Amy screamed as she saw the man on the floor. "Someone came in and tried to kill him." Keita replied flatly. "I stopped him." "What?! Sonic, are you okay?" Amy said pushing past Keita and running to his bedside. Keita's face darkened as she made her way closer to the door. [i]"Shit!"[/i] she thought. [i]"That moron fucked everything up! What the hell am I going to do now..."[/i] Almost as a response, Keita looked up to find the noon news on television. The top headline was currently being talked about. [i]Early this morning, the body of a 48-year-old mae hedgehog, later identified as Jules Hedgehog of Station Square, was found dead at Station Square Wharf. Drowning was at first thought to have been the cause of death, but new evidence is now pointing towards foul play. Police have one suspect, an echidna who's name is not being released, in custody.[/i] Keita's eyes narrowed at the broadcast, and she silently cursed at Espio for being careless. She then thought about what the reporter had said and made a quick conclusion. "The cops had been looking for that idiot brother of mine for a while now. It's probably him they nabbed. Better go get him out before he starts blabbing things he shouldn't. I honestly don't want to have to kill him like I did Julie-Su..." She slipped out of the room and through the halls of the hospital, making sure to keep a low key in front of the cops that had made their way in. She did manage to get a suspicious glance from a silver Arctic fox as she passed by, but she thought nothing of it. She peeled out of the hospital parking lot and glanced behind her as she began making her way to the police station. "You got a reprieve, Sonic. You won't be so lucky next time..."[/size][/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]It was around ten the next morning that Keita set off on her mission to find Sonic. She rode down the streets on her sleek custom Kawasaki racer, heading towards the last place Sonic was said to live. Upon arriving at the run down shamble, she scoffed behind her helmet. "A pit. Why am I not surprised." She cut the engine and took off her helmet, shaking out her hair slightly and hanging it on one of her handlebars. She got off and walked over to the front door of the main office, finding a pink slip on the door. "This building has been condemned by the Health and Safety Commission of Station Square..." Keita read as she ripped the paper from the door. She just as quickly crumpled the paper in an angry fist and tossed it off to the side, growling audibly. "[i]SHIT!![/i] Things just can't fucking seem to go right lately!" She went on in a slight tantrum for a minute before halfway managing to calm down and think a bit. "Well, if he's not here, then I'll just go to his job. Shouldn't pose any problems." Pulling a slip of paper from the back pocket of her tight jeans, she scanned over the address and replaced it. "Hm... 'Pizza Palace'. Sounds like some cheesy kids center. With my luck, that'll be exactly what it is. But the bright side is that my little detour is on the way there..." Hopping back on her bike and putting of her helmet, she revved out of the parking lot and down the street, heading to her next little pit stop... [center]***[/center] Shadow was in his late father's lab, scanning over the files that he'd left stored in his database. He'd been up ever since Keita has left looking over them and had still not found what he wanted. "Maybe she was right when she said I should have kept him around a bit longer..." Typing at a considerable pace, Shadow ran search after search trying to find the crucial files he needed right now, only to turn up nothing time and again. "Dammit, Dad. You're a pain in the ass even after you're dead..." After going for another half hour looking through the files, he gave up in frustration, storming from the room looking like Hell's posterboy. His foul mood rose with every step he took from the lab, murderous thoughts crossing his mind. "Keita had better get what I want today, otherwise that's her ass." Shadow slowed his pace and thought about what he'd said for a minute. "But I am talking about Keita, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about." [center]***[/center] Keita pulled into an oil-stained driveway in the slums of Station Square, cutting the engine. After getting off her bike, she walked up and knocked none too gently on the front door of the run down house. After waiting a minute with no answer, she pounded again even louder. "Dammit, I know you're there. Open this damn door!" At this, shuffling and things falling over could be heard from inside. After hearing a few locks click, the door opened slightly, an eye peering cautiously out. "...W-Who...is it?" the owner of the eye asked, obviously groggy from just having gotten up. Keita could detect the hint of alcohol in the air and knew that he must have been drinking. "Ryoushi, it's me. Open the door." "...Who's 'me'?" "Keita, you idiot! Open the fucking door!" Drawing back at the sound of the angry echidna's voice, Ryoushi did as he was bidden, letting Keita into the house. Closing it behind him, the orange feline scratched his head slowly and yawned. "What time is it...?" he asked as he made his way past the annoyed woman toward the couch. "It's 10:42, by my watch. Where is he?" "Where's who?" "My brother, dammit! Where's Lothar?" "Hex...? Ah...He never came home last night. Went to some joint with some bat chick...didn't get her name...Had a nice rack, though." Keita seethed audibly and did her best to maintain her composure. "Then where's Virus?" "Upstairs still asleep..." With those words, Keita rolled her eyes and picked her way over the mounds of empty beer cans and porn tapes strewn about the living room and made her way to the stairwell. Dodging bits of dirty laundry and even more beer cans, she made her way up to the second floor and down the narrow hall to what could only be assumed was Virus' room. Opening the door without knocking, Keita casually walked in to find Virus indeed asleep. Nudging him roughly, she managed to get his eyes open before she alked over to the window. "Wha....?" was all he was able to get out before Keita opened the flaps and let the sunilght filter directly into his eyes. This, as you can imagine was quite painful for someone who was still quite drunk and quite drowsy, as was proven by his high pitched scream. "God dammit! Close that fucking blind!" "Shut the hell up! You better tell me everything I want to know, or being blind is going to be the least of your problems." "What the hell are you talking about, you crazy bitch?!" the brown rat replied squinting through his hand so he could barely see. "I want to know if you've been doing one of your little 'jobs' on HedgeTech's database." "What? I haven't had a job like that in months, plus HedgeTech's base is too damn hard to crack..." Keita scowled and walked over to Virus, pushing him down on the bed and holding him in place with her knee. She reached to the waist of her jeans and pulled out the small automatic she had there, cocking it and aiming it right between his eyes. "This little baby has someone else's name written on it, but if you're fucking with me, I'll be glad to change it." "I'm being serious! I haven't had a hacking job in months! Plus, I could barely get past the first firewall on HedgeTech's files if I had a week! I didn't do anything!" Her scowl deepening, Keita uncocked the gun and put it away again, letting Virus up. As she turned to go, she looked over her shoulder at him with a glance that could freeze Hell. "If I find out that you lied to me, I will blow your fuckin' brains out so fast, it'll make your head spin. Remember that." Storming out of the house past a still-groggy Ryoushi, Keita made her way back out to her bike and revved off even more livid than she wa when she had arrived. "Oh, yeah. I'm in the perfect mood to do some 'convincing'..." she said as she rode off to Pizza Palace.[/size][/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]Keita lay with her head on top of Shadow's steadily breathing chest. Taking note of the pattern, she made absolutely sure he was fully asleep before lifting herself off him and getting out of bed. She stutter-stepped slightly as she made her way to get a robe to cover her naked form. As she put on the silver garment, she smiled slightly. Shadow may seem calm and collected when he was in the office, but get him in a bed and he was biggest sex fiend for miles. Not that Keita was complaining. It was damn lucky that she'd found someone that could keep up with her. At least that was one of the better things that came out of the relationship. Keita slipped silently from the fairly lavish room and made her way to the study down the hall, again going about it fairly silently. She smiled again as she shut the door behind her. "I guess it's true when they say old habits die hard." Making her way over to the computer at the far end of the room, Keita quickly logged onto the HedgeTech database. She'd been doing this ever since Shadow had first been getting rather irritated around his father's presence, and when Shadow got irritated, that often times meant that that person wouldn't be around for much longer. She'd been hacking her way into the project files to learn more about what was actually going to happen in the long run, as Shadow had never really gone into great detail about what was going to happen once the project was launched. You could say she was given the CliffNotes version. However, one thing that made things difficult was that Jules' files were highly classifed and Keita couldn't access them normally, hence where the hacking came into play. But HedgeTech's security system made it that hackers were easily detected and taken care of swiftly, so she didn't have the largest time frame to work with. Luckily, from her past as a theif, she had more than enough practice to get some things right. She'd only read a few of the files and what she read she had already gathered from the info Shadow had given her. She was hoping to come across something more interesting tonight. It turns out she did, but not in the way she was hoping. Looking at the last access dates of the files, Keita saw that they had been accessed earlier that day from an unknown IP address outside the company. Immediately, she delved into the properties to discover exactly what she didn't want to. The files had been downloaded. Only one thing came to Keita's mind at that moment. "Fuck." She sighed heavily, knowing that this is the worst possible thing that could happen right now. Somebody out there had copies of the project plans, and she had no idea who the hell it could be or how they could have gotten through security from [i]outside[/i] the company. She moaned audibly and leaned back in her chair, trying to calm herself. "Shit, if Shadow finds out about this...God, I don't even want to think about that. Who in hell could have possibly..." A single thought came to her mind as she began to seriously think about things. Returning the chair to its proper position, she scowled down at her own hands as she thought. "It couldn't be..." Keita grunted in frustration and turned off the computer, stalking off back towards the bedroom. "I'll have to find out tomorrow, before my little visit to Sonic." she whispered as she neared the door again. She slipped back into the room as silently as she'd left and after closing the door, she turned to find the bed empty. Glancing around, she was taken by surprise as Shadow's arms wrapped around her from behind in a tight lock. "Where were you? I was...worried about you." The tone is Shadow's voice meant one thing. By "worried" he meant "suspicious about what the hell you were doing." "I had to get something to drink. Is that a crime?" "Hn." Shadow released his grip, allowing Keita to take a proper breath before turning to scowl at him slightly. "Was that really necessary?" she asked as she made her way back towards the bed. "Just asking the question would have sufficed." "But I get to have a little fun that way." he responded, coming up behind her and trailing his hand up and down the arm she'd just taken out of the robe. "Odd, I wouldn't describe it the same way." Keita said in a flat and clearly sarcastic tone. As a response, Shadow spun her around and pushed her down onto the bed, pressing heavily on her arms to prevent her from fighting back. "Let's not forget who's in charge here. For your own health." Keita scowled at him and scoffed, turning her head to the side. Shadow's face broke into a grin as he softly kissed her on the cheek. "Now don't be like that. I was only joking..." "Joking. Right." Keita responded, giving him a sideways glance. "And get off me, you're heavy." "I want to have a bit more fun tonight," he said beginning to move lower with his kisses. As he did, Keita could feel her anger quickly being replaced with lust, despite her every attempt for it not to happen. [i]"Dammit, he always does this,"[/i] she thought. [i]"And I always fall for it... Yeah, old habits definately die hard..."[/i][/size][/color]

[color=darkblue]Rule #1: Don't ask. Now that that little long running bit is out of the way... In my eyes, in order to become a Moderator, one must know the rules and follow them, have good posting quality, be able to keep their wits (and tempers) about them, and have some sort of leadership potential. Not as if I know about this in depth, but Jeh keeps his eye out for this sort of thing and has grown quite a keen sense for it. Being a stand-up member and all those other such things is what it's mainly about, but in the long run, it's all up to Jeh. Now, keep in mind that this is my take on it and some may not exactly fit with Jeh's ideas, but as I said, that's just my take.[/color]

[color=darkblue][size=1]The hour was late and most of Station Square?s more honest citizens had gone home for the night, leaving the night life to have free reign over the city. There was one, however, that remained in his office past hours. Shadow sat in his luxurious office, staring hard at his father, the chief scientist on his latest project. The look in his eyes was one of impatience as the old man continued to go on explaining the consequences if it were allowed to continue. ?The possibilities of what can happen are cataclysmic! The entire world as we know it would be completely and utterly destroyed! There is no way that you can do this, son!? Shadow?s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his chair. ?I know exactly what can happen. That?s what I want to happen.? ?...But why? Why would you want Mobius destroyed? What purpose would it serve?? ?My purpose.? Jules could only look in shock as realization dawned on him of what his son wanted to accomplish. Taking a firm stance, he walked over to the desk and slammed the research he?d brought with him on the table. ?I will not let you do this!? ?You say that as if you?ll be around to stop me.? Jules only had an instant to allow a puzzled look come across his face before he felt a sharp pain in his back. Phasing back into visible form, Espio stood behind the good doctor, still holding the dagger he?d just used to kill him. ?Get rid of him.? Espio nodded quickly and disappeared once more with Jules? corpse in tow. Keita, who?d remained quiet during the entire interaction walked over to the desk and leaned slightly on the edge facing Shadow. ?He might have been useful in the end,? she said, leaning towards him. ?There?s still a lot you don?t know about how to actually do it.? ?I know enough. And I have access to all the files he has stored on my mainframes. And beside that, he would have only gotten in the way in the end. I have no time nor patience for meddlers.? ?Hm. Well, at least we agree on that point. So what now?? ?Now...We go home for the evening. But tomorrow, you?ll be paying my dear little brother a visit.? ?So soon? But I thought you wer?? ?Not for that. Just to see ?how he?s doing.?? Keita narrowed her eyes slightly as she caught on to Shadow?s implication. She chuckled slightly and pushed off the desk, walking toward the door. ?You can be a heartless bastard sometimes, you know that? I?ll go get the car pulled around.? As she closed the door behind her, Shadow turned around to face his fantastic view of the Station Square skyline. As he looked on at the bright lights and faint stars, he could only say one thing. ?Oh, my dear Keita. You have no idea...?[/size][/color]

[color=darkblue]That was truly touching. It made me start crying about half way through, heh. The way you present it the child's eyes seems so real. I'm more than certain that there is a little boy or girl somewhere who went through something like this. Everything about it pretty much has "Innocence" and the naivety of a young child written all over it. A very wonderful work and tribute. ^^[/color]

[color=darkblue]Everyone that has been accepted to the RPG (except those who I spoke to about it on AIM) have had conformation PMs sent to them. However, if anyone is still interested in playing any of the parts that have not been filled, please PM me. Players, please keep your eyes open for the thread in the coming days. Thanks. ^^[/color]

[b]Sept. 7, 9:00AM[/b] [color=darkblue]After having dashed to school in twenty minutes only to find that she needn't have been there for at least another five hours or so, it was no surprise that Kat was in high bad temper. And when Kat was in a bad mood, that spelled trouble. Her usual docile and ditzy nature went flying out the window to reveal one of the most destruction-hungry individuals you could ever meet, which Principal Okari seemed to prefer much more for some particular reason. As she stalked around campus with a look that could freeze a highly active volcano, she was only even more infuriated that there didn't seem to be anyone around that she could take her anger out on. So, she did what any other non-logical samurai would do in this situation. She went to go get some ramen at the cafeteria.[/color]

[color=darkblue]Gatomon quickly made her way up to where she was standing before the small rock slide, still seething slightly form Fladramon's well-meaning mistake. This was why she didn't work with others and did things on her own. Though she didn't look it, she was wise in many subjects that others were not and her methods were best in most situations. Teaming up with other Digimon usually only caused her headaches and more often than not some brutal correction. Gatomon glanced sideways at Fladramon as he finally managed to climb up beside her and looked through the newly made entrance. Scowling slightly, she muttered something under her breath that he couldn't quite catch as she began carefully scanning the cavern. Masses of fallen rock were strewn about, creating underground hills that looked treacherous to try and scramble up. As GAtomon looked on, she saw a slowly creeping mass that had to be the source of the yelling she'd heard. Peering even harder, she recognized the shape as Deci. "It looks like our friend is down there. He's some kind of hurt, too." "Who do you....?" Fladramon responded, following Gatomon's gaze. Upon realizing it was Deci, he began to shout out for him, but Gatomon promptly gave him a good scratch across the muzzle, causing him to seeth loudly. "Don't scream in here! Most parts of this place are probably still volatile. The last thing we need is for another chained rock slide to happen." Fladramon growled audibly, turning slowly to look at Gatomon with eyes blazing. "If you have something to tell me, just say it, because if you ever do something like that again, you'll regret it." Though Gatomon would never admit it, the look in his eyes had shaken her to her core, and she believed that every word he spoke was the truth. However, to Fladramon's eyes, she merely cast a submissive look in his direction and began her decent to the cavern floor. Fladramon quickly followed after and both of them reached the bottom in good time. "I think it'd be in our best interest to hurry. Like I said, some of these tunnels are probably still unstable, so we need to get out of here as soon as possible." Gatomon said as she began walking in Deci's direction. "You'll have to carry him." Fladramon growled what seemed like an affermative response as he tenderly touched his new claw mark. "This is going to leave a scar, you know." "Well, if we survive, at least you'll have a tale to tell about how you got it." Gatomon replied shrugging.[/color]