Kitchen (Jean)
-Jean is fiddling around on her phone as she walks into the kitchen.-
"Come on, Ichiro... You can beat him...!"
-...Seems she's playing another game with that 'Ichiro' guy.-
-Annnnnnd!-
"Of course..."
-...Sounds like she lost.-
-She finally looks up from her phone and sees Xenos.-
"O-Oh, hey, Xenos..."
-Just try to act like you weren't playing a game... Pretend nothing ever happened...-
-...-
-...Wait, he knows you play games. Why are you trying to hide it?-
-...She doesn't know, but she's still trying to act like nothing happened anyway.-
—
Main Room (Survivor Aichi)
-Survivor Aichi is just sitting on the couch. He's a bit tired today...-
-...?-
-He... feels like he's being watched...-
-He looks around in every which direction, trying to figure out if someone's watching him.-
-...-
-...-
-...There's nothing...-
-Survivor Aichi's on edge now...-
-He can't really relax (...Not that he ever relaxes, but still) while he's got this serious feeling he's being watched.-
Kitchen (Jean)
-Huh? Xenos has been wanting to see her then?-
"R-Really?"
-As for training...-
"...I've been training a bit, but I'm not sure if I'm improving..."
-She feels stagnant, like she's not able to improve. Each session feels almost exactly the same as the previous one.-
-...Or at least it does to her.-
Hm. Well, I wanted to see you yesterday to give you forewarning about something.
Starting today... the Mimic-Bot is capable of ambushing you. He could even ambush and attack you during this conversation.
Which is kind of why I wanted to tell you yesterday, since that was the last day of the clemency I gave to you for no ambush sessions.
Wish I could delay it some more, but y'know- I set that command on a timer.
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postMain Room (Survivor Aichi)
-Faster than the owner of the hand could ever imagine, Aichi jolts off of the couch and whips around holding his crowbar in a battle-ready position.-
-In fact... It seems like he's actually getting ready to swing it!-
-Guy's worked up and nerves are hitting him before he can stop and think about it.-
—
Kitchen (Jean)
-Oh. Oh dear.-
-Jean's looking rather nervous now...-
"O-Oh... G-Got it."
-OK, so you might get ambushed now. Goody.-
-You know this would happen. You can handle this. It's fine. It'll be just like the other training sessions. Nothing's going to go wrong. Everything will be perfectly OK. It's not like you haven't been training and it's not like you're completely unprepared.-
-E-Everything will be perfectly peachy!-
"T-Thanks for the warning."
-It's probably easy to tell by looking at her that her mind's going on and on in an attempt to keep herself calm.-
However, you should be happy to know that it's staying on the generic setting for a while yet, since I still need to work out the kinks in the personality I wanted you to train against.
Kind of hard given I only fought him once, but hey. I'm digging through those memories as hard as I can.
Still, generic setting's chance of ambush is only about... 12% chance of an ambush each day?
If I gave you something like a ninja for a personality, that'd maybe go up to above 50% because y'know. They love to ambush opponents on almost every fight.
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postKitchen (Jean)
-12%... That's not too bad...-
-...-
-...With her luck it'd feel more like 80%...-
"Y-Yeah..."
-Still, for now...-
"S-So... I've got a little bit of breathing room for now..."
-...-
-...Why does she suddenly have a feeling that she should never de-transform ever...?-
—
Main Room (Survivor Aichi)
-First he registers her as headless, which shocks him enough to make him stagger back instead of actually swinging.-
''"Y-You're..."
-...OK, OK, calm down... It's not a zombie...-
-He... doesn't think?-
-He has no idea, at all.-
-He's still holding the crowbar, ready to strike, but right now he's just looking over the headless body intensely.-
-Might want to be careful with him... Especially when he's worked up.-
Yep. Still, I should let you know that the Mimic-Bots are designed so that you can train your reaction to an ambush. All I need to do is change one setting, and the 'first attack will always miss' setting can be turned off when you're ready.
But for now, I think you're very nervous about this. So it's on. You will have time to transform.
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postKitchen (Jean)
-Yeah... Once she's ready.-
-She exhales, trying to calm down a bit.-
"Thanks, Xenos... That helps a lot."
-She is really nervous. She's not used to fighting or anything, and even while training she just sort of... can't seem to get used to it.-
—
Main Room (Survivor Aichi)
-Aichi watches Sis perplexed. What does that mean...?-
"..."
-...He slowly turns to face the window. He's extremely wary right now, pretty much overtaken by a paranoid haze.-
-If Sis does anything, Aichi might end up whipping back around.-
-For now, he's trying to take the time to see what could be going on with the window.-
No problem.
I'm surprised though, you don't seem used to fighting yet. Almost like you don't have something to truly fight... no enemy, just a sparring partner.
And it's not like you took martial art classes for fun either... -he thinks for a moment- I get the feeling you need more motivation to get stronger, other than just bettering yourself.
You might need to be better than something else...
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postMain Room -> Outside (Survivor Aichi)
-Aichi whips his head in the direction he sees Sis moving, and stares for several seconds.-
-Sis wants him to follow her...-
-O-OK, calm down... Zombies wouldn't do something like this. Try to snap out of it, Aichi... Try to snap out of it...-
-Aichi slowly follows after her, still wary.-
"...W-Where are you leading me...?"
-Well, he finally managed to say something.-
—
Kitchen (Jean)
-'Better than something else'...?-
-...Huh. Jean hadn't thought about it. Isn't that what a bunch of characters in anime have going for them? Trying to get better than someone else?-
-All of those shounen-style rivalries...-
"You mean like a rival?"
Yeah! Like a rival.
Or some big menace that is threatening your world.
Or general livelihood.
Something to achieve, something to win...
I didn't think about that of course, since you're the prototype for a tournament I'm running... but you don't really have anything to gain by moving forward. You're already at a position that you find incredible.
So that just makes me curious... do you feel like you've stagnated with training?
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this post(Sis, lacking ears, doesn't hear Survivor Aichi)
(she simply walks along the path she memorized)
(this many steps forward... then this many steps to the right... so on and so forth)
(eventually, Sis feels forward and finds a tree, indicating that she's where she wanted to lead her charge to)
(the forest)
(she leans back on the tree, practically hugging it like a wall)
"Shake the dust." - Anis MojganiIt's probably time I upped the bot's difficulty level a little, while I'm waiting for a more unique personality to give it. It'll change appearance when that happens, too.
Still... you need something to save, or something to achieve.
I could try to manufacture something, but it might not work if I try to force this artificially... -he leans back, crossing one leg over the other in thought-
Again, making myself an opponent is pointless, because I'm too far out of your league. Approaching my level would require the mantle of heroes for that belt.
Hmmm... -he slowly begins to smile for unknown reasons-
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postForest (Survivor Aichi)
-Aichi's watching Sis in confusion.-
-It hasn't really dawned on him that she can't hear him (He's too stressed out, and not to mention that for all he knows Sis might be a being that can hear without ears...).-
"I-I don't understand..."
-He's stressed out and sheepish now.-
-...-
-...There is a very bad case of miscommunication here.-
—
Kitchen (Jean)
-...Oh no. Xenos is smiling. Jean's not sure she likes that smile.-
"I'm... guessing you're thinking up an idea then...?"
-She's a bit worried for what he might have in store...-
Well there's three options...
Listen, I've got a bit of an unintentional personality cult from that whole empire I had way back when.
I wonder what they'd think if I let loose a little clue that you had a piece of technology made by the very being they idolise?
They'd probably come here to try and take it. This idea would be more a fight of survival, if you don't give up the belt anyway.
The other option's that I open up a small rift to this awful parallel earth full of monsters, and maybe once a week one might walk through and cause some problems: then you have to deal with that problem.
And that's my mission for you.
The third option's that I make another driver like yours, and say... try to find a bully or awful person. Give it to them. And they become your rival.
1.5 imperial gallons of tea were consumed during the writing of this postKitchen (Jean)
-The cult one... Cults can get very... overzealous, can't they? If she says 'no' then who knows what lengths they'd go to?!-
-OK, not particularly fond of the monster one either. There's no guarantee that they'd only attack her. They could easily go and attack other people.-
-The bully one... That'd probably spur her into action, but at the same time that would be giving a jerk power. There's no way that they wouldn't try to abuse that power...-
"...Which of these has the least potential casualties?"
-She doesn't want people getting hurt when they shouldn't be.-

I have had thoughts that have gone on longer than you have been alive. I have sang in a chorus so loud it could shatter your bones. Here I am. Strewn on a foreign floor in a foreign body. I am cold. I am in pain. I feel the agonies of your miserable little existence and I feel a keen understanding. Your kith and ken do not exist for long because it is so difficult to be like this.
-Sits up-
Fine. I shall render you this service. Perhaps it will ease my mind when one of the Greater Moons come to judge us for our sins. Perhaps this small task will make me feel like less of a failure. I doubt it. We will see, however.
-Begins cleaning, quietly-