Atlantis

[Apollymi]

Would she dare? The answer was an emphatic, yes. Miki or rather Kimiko was exactly the sort of person who would under any circumstance choose the best opportunity. That being said, she also wasn't going to be bullied into anything and would indeed choose a different company to side with to spite Kaiba for his arrogance and insolence, and topple him because it would be best for business. Whether she possessed those traits herself, or not. The narrowing of his eyes let her know all she needed to about his mental process in the moment, he knew what she was. "Spite? I don't think I know the meaning of it... I am something else entirely Kaiba and the best op-por...." there was a pause from Miki. As the bleeping of Hiromi's machine came into her ears. A swirling of water like rushing tides filled her head and numbed her body down to an almost tempered nature. Her head tilted towards the object and its holder.

Kou's words about the Tinkerer of the Big Three made her chuckle. "Hai, it would. But there are scarier things out there, than my tinkering self..." she mentioned as she took a long drag from her cigarette. All necessary attention was on her soon after, as the effect of her machine in the moment seemed to cause a break in both of the people who maintained Dragonoid Avatars attention. "Sou ka... it effects you both directly. I did use the resonance of a Wish Gem to make it. I've also been modifying it to try and exclude you two since I arrived. It didn't work though, so I amp'ed up the resonance instead. You're too advanced for it to ignore you, so I made it acknowledge you more..." she mentioned casually. "Kaiba, Ashikaga..." she said calling to both of the ones in the way she often referenced them. "I made a Dragon Radar. It acknowledges Ashikaga and Kou..." she flicked her eyes over the lad's information to get the name of his avatar. "As Dragons... Emperor Class Dragons," she said, among the changes she'd made, was a bit of extra scaling to show the difference in Dragons by color on screen. "That means its time for a normal chat, yeah?" she said exhaling the final hit of her cigarette before putting it out underneath her booted foot. At the end, she flicked the sound off her device, she didn't want to incidentally raise true Dragons just by resonating them with her Wish Ball. She'd just done the equivalent of throwing a bucket of ice water on two kids in a fist fight.

[Bloodedge]

Kaiba would have scoffed. He would have grimaced. He would have carried on about opportunism. He actively did none of these things, mostly due to the fact that Miki left her clause unfinished. His attention was also brought to the Dragon Radar, and by association, its holder. That's when the scoff and grimace came into play. Who did this woman think she was? Whatever. She'd managed to rip the topic away from business, to Dragons and their connections, and Kaiba was frankly fine with either. "Emperor-Class Dragons don't even exist in the game's files as anything but a name," he said plainly, skipping on the useless dribble about her little radar creation.

Kou, on the other hand, took great interest in the radar. Not only had this woman managed to create a device to find things that weren't meant to just be discovered, but she'd tweaked it to be more specific in classification. More importantly though, the claim of Emperor applied to a Dragonoid was... unheard of. "Emperors? That's not normal. Emperors should be exclusive to proper Dragons, not some hybrid. Even without game files as references, that doesn't seem like it should be possible..."

[Apollymi]

There was no response given to Miki, and instead it was directed at the Avatar of Hisakawa Hiromi, which she hadn't told anyone what her name was here. It seemed Kaiba took issue with the fact that she claimed the pair to be Emperor Class Dragons as such things only existed in name within the games files. "Uh-huh, well this isn't a game, this is a growing and expansive world. I wouldn't exaggerate such a thing and you know it..." she said frowning deeply. This lad was always argumentative about things, but she wouldn't be having it in this lifetime. She knew her creations better than anyone else and she knew she wasn't wrong. Kou seemed to take a bit more interest in the whole of the creation, but his claim was one which also showed openness to the idea. "Except for the fact that this world is constantly evolving to accommodate those within it. For all we know, those Dragonoids because of their existence have the ability to become True Dragons..." she said with a gentle shrug. "At the very least, they probably contain Wish Gems, which is what the Radar is meant to track. And I doubt the pair of you is walking around with them in your inventory currently," she said staring at both of them.

Miki had been quiet for a few moments while Hiromi spoke. She knew that Kaiba would be a bit skeptical, Kou's statements made her think back to her own interactions with the Dragonoid Akashi. "Iie, I don't have that in my inventory, a few other things of interest one of which is Dragon related but not a Wish Gem. But... Akashi mentioned something he called the Power of Influence, explaining to me that Dragons were walking artifacts capable of bringing calamity at any point they wished, to extremes. He referred to me as a Dragon, even while I wasn't in the form of my Dragonoid Avatar... does this Wish Gem have that sort of power?" she asked of Hiromi. The blue haired lass looked up and grinned. "When they are all together they can rewrite everything, according to the legend. It's why I am looking for them. Individually they are said to have different powers and abilities depending on the type of Dragon they are attached to..." she explained, changing the whole of the world, or finding the ultimate power source in this world for her inventions was her ultimate goal. She'd be able to tinker eternally with such a thing, not that it was totally necessary for anyone to know that. This was a lot of information but it didn't really connect to anything. Seriri stood off to the side, as the only person who'd experienced both of the Dragonoids directly aside from Karna she had a pretty decent amount of experience.

[Bloodedge]

"You don't have to be exaggerating. You should still bring more evidence to the table before you make such a ridiculous claim of Emperor Dragonoids." In no way had Kaiba been arguing against the idea of the two Dragonoids belonging to the Emperor Class. In fact, the very prospect of it was something exciting; he could use that experience. Without proper reason to believe, though, he would remain skeptical to no ends. Kou could see this beyond the hard exterior of the older male, but had nothing to say of it.

Between Kou and Miki, there were two Artifacts related to Dragons and their powers, but neither had these 'Wish Gems' the woman - originally named Hiromi - spoke of. What they did have, though, was the influence of their Dragonoid selves, even while being other Avatars. Could that have been it? Perhaps. More to the point, Kou knew of these 'Wish Gems' that were so recently mentioned, and equated them to something he'd seen in Age of Eternity's lore. "Dracolite. Something found inside the bodies of True Dragons, equivalent to a heart or soul. Emperor Dragons have a special version of these, though there are only meant to be seven Emperors at once, all intended to be released as Max Raids in the game. Those seven are supposed to have capabilities far beyond any of the other crystals. Are those the Wish Gems you're talking about?"

[Apollymi]

A sigh left Hiromi as she began fiddling with the Dragon Radar she'd created. She began pressing buttons in random sequence but it wasn't random at all. She was unlocking the casing to reveal that which was inside. "Of course I have evidence... I just needed to know potential outcomes before revealing it..." she said to Kaiba directly. She kept pressing buttons while listening to what Kou had to say. Miki was silent in the moment but she too recognized Kaiba's softer notions. Though she had a great deal of fun poking at the lad due to her own personality quirks, she respected Kaiba Seto and knew him to be a better person than most, even if she thought the amount of arrogance he possessed was outlandishly in contrast to that. "Hai, those are the exact Wish Gems I speak of," she said calmly. "And I know you possess them and I know they actually exist because... I have this one..." she said as the back of her Dragon Radar opened and revealed from within a red glowing crystal like gem full of power which had been hidden within the shell of her device and quieted by the mechanisms she'd created around them. Here and now it would give off a pulse of energy which returned the rushing sound of water to Miki's ears and made her clutch her chest. "Ugh, that definitely feels like something found in a Dragon. It definitely calls to her... " she said knowing this sensation from when she'd fought it off before, when Akashi had called to Tatsuki within her person. She looked to Kou for confirmation of him feeling the same thing, and secretly hoped the other lass would close the object up again, lest she be forced to take her Dragon's form again so soon after finally breaking free of it.

[Bloodedge]

Lo, this woman happened to be in possession of a gem, and it happened to be one of the seven she spoke of. How interesting it was that she actually intended to gather all seven of those things. Kaiba had nothing but another scoff to offer, whereas Kou had something entirely different. The white-haired male clenched his chest just as Miki did. He'd been feeling the call of Akashi since the initial blip of the radar, but now was something entirely different. This time felt... almost as if Akashi could erupt from his being, becoming an entity of his own at any given moment. "Ergh... put... that back," he said through gritted teeth. It took a great deal of effort to suppress the Dragonoid, more than even the time he spent next to the other Dragonoid, Tatsuki. What was it about experiencing the unfiltered gem right in front of him? "Seriously... gonna need you to not just have that out."

Little did he know, there was another one being activated in the distance at this very moment...

[Apollymi]

The feeling in Miki's chest didn't stop, her whole body felt like it could be broken apart by the pulse of water being created within her being. Kou voiced his concerns and needs in a manner which let her know he was experiencing a similar situation. Hiromi watched both of their reactions to such a thing for approximately five seconds extra after Kou spoke and then, she closed up the back of her Dragon Radar and the energy signature just disappeared. A sigh escaped Miki as the rushing water sound within her mind subsided and she held the side of her own face as if she'd been afraid of what she was going to find there. "Sou ka, the energy itself disturbs you, but you aren't even Dragons right now. That's a strange reaction from both of you, you must be exceedingly strong willed. I figured it was possible to end up with both Dragons here in the moment I opened it..." she said with less than enthusiastic eyes. Strangely it would be Seriri who spoke up in the moment with a bit of insight. "Uh, as a person who has dealt with both of those Dragons in individual terms... you don't want to deal with both of those two at once... I wouldn't force it," she said calmly. True enough both Tatsuki and Akashi had been fine in their own spaces, she imagined their personalities if both of them were out at once would be overwhelming. Beyond that she didn't want her Kingdom to disappear because of the instincts of a pair of Dragons who obviously just wanted to mate. "Yare yare, you make it sound like I should be apologizing..." said Miki not knowing exactly why this girl said such a thing about her other Avatar. "Iie, you were just more Kimi than normal, but you weren't a bother or anything," mentioned Seriri who knew her friend a bit better than most and was thus not as afraid of her antics in her Dragon form. A smirk came to Miki's face as she realized now why Seriri had been referring to her as Kimi-lite, she supposed this Avatar was the least obtuse version of her to exist, beyond that the shortcomings of their resident creator were also obvious as it was clear she'd shown that gem knowing a potential negative could come from them. 'Scientists lack a moral compass... this is why she stays in her labs,' she thought though she didn't have anything to say aloud.

[Bloodedge]

"I wouldn't call it a disturbance..." Kou said, struggling to even formulate the words beyond the raging flame in his torso. Everything vanished within a matter of moments of the gem's sealing, though. He was able to breathe clearly, and no longer had the distraction of that intense pressure and heat bothering him. "I don't intend to become Akashi unless it's absolutely necessary. It's happened twice now, and I have no memory at all of the second time. I'm afraid I'll lose myself entirely, if it keeps happening."

A brief exchange occurred to describe the difference between Miki, or even Kimi, and Tatsuki. Kou couldn't imagine what his other self got up to, but he didn't imagine it was anything he'd consider very rational. "So, you're trying to collect these items, and we have two of them. What's your plan, then?" he asked of the blue-haired woman, wondering if he'd have to defend himself at some point in the near, or distant, future.

[Apollymi]

Kou's reactions and Miki's silence were enough extra information for the blue haired lass to work with. It seemed that he didn't intend to become his other Avatar under the pretense of it being something out of his control. This fed into the idea that he was indeed a rather willful individual, though he admitted to having no memory of his former time as his Dragonoid Avatar. "Sou ka, that is new information..." said the woman her eyes were still mostly blank, as if she was considering several things all at once and none of them were particularly pleasant. "I don't remember being Tatsuki either. And to be honest, I'd rather be this version of myself than one I can't control..." Miki mentioned, even if Seriri claimed she hadn't been that bad, Miki didn't truly have faith that she hadn't been a total pain to deal with, particularly to her partner as she remembered rather easily dealing with Akashi.

Moving along it would be the next question aimed at the blue haired lass to make her stare at the lad once more. He claimed to want to know her intentions, and seemed to be fairly defensive about it, her head turned to the side as she considered why he might have been that way and she realized that it was likely that if she wished to collect all the wish gems she'd need to remove two of them from these two people which didn't seem to be an easy task. "Trying to remove them from you as you are now would be problematic. I also won't pretend to have enough power to take them from your Dragon forms even if I could make them rise. Though I could try to, it doesn't seem like an efficient use of time. I could be making things instead," she said her reasoning wasn't morally sound but at least it didn't seem like she would attack this pair of individuals out of nowhere. "I considered that my dream might not be possible directly, so I would skip to the second phase to see what the Gem holders make of this world instead. You two have been making waves for quite some time... I suppose I'll keep tabs on you to see what else you do," she mentioned. "I hate boardrooms though so forgive me if I don't directly involve myself until the rest have gathered..." Hiromi's words were a little creepy but this was about what Miki expected of this lass. A frown came to the blonde's face as she looked at the older young woman, "You know you basically just said you plan on spying on us, and that you've been spying on us... you realize that is creepy right?" she asked of the woman who simply shrugged. "Honest gamers are hard to come by. I would have been stalking you more directly, if you'd been using the right username..." she mentioned which made Miki shrug. "Using Kaiba's upgrade meant I had to sign in on my approved accounts. I couldn't use my other one... sorry to keep you waiting."

[Bloodedge]

It seemed there would be no real issues to speak of with the one called Hiromi, who Kou finally decided to view the 'character sheet' of. Bulma, he saw. He'd still be wary, if only just a bit, but the ashen-haired lad would relax for the moment. "Well, its good not having to be immediately concerned about what you'll try doing. Good to meet you, then... Bulma," he said, taking the following moments to view the motorcycle she rode in upon, having it in him to wonder what it would take to acquire one himself. "I get the feeling you didn't come here just for the Dracolite. You... weren't planning on making another bike, were you?"

All the while, a fourth fragment of Dracolite awoke. It was distant, and weaker than the other three sources due to being only a shard of the original piece, but it was certainly something that existed in some regard. In fact, it would be found near the location the Adventurers previously hatched their Filolial egg.

[Apollymi]

"It is fine... actually the name you chose for this character is pretty obvious... Miki," mentioned the blue haired lass, which caused the blonde to simply shrug as if she didn't care. It seemed that all was well between this group now, and Kou even managed to relax quite a bit knowing that Bulma as she had called her character had no intention of immediately trying anything negative against the pair of them. "Yoroshiku," she replied in response to the greeting she also nodded to Miki. The next question posed by Kou was one which made her brow raise, she hadn't mentioned her plans for a bike, yet he seemed to understand her motives just a bit, his ability to read into things was pretty good. "Huh? Well, I was planning to upgrade my bike. This is the first one I built here... so I am attached to it. I also make and sell prototypes to fund my research," she said with no extra thought put into it. "Oi oi, you went into business without me? I'm hurt..." said Miki who managed to pout like a dejected child. "Like I said, I didn't know you were here... if you'd like to handle that for me... I'd agree, it would free me up to make without the annoyance. Does your usual going rate apply here as well?" she asked of the lass which made her smile and nod her head. "Hai hai, I'll take a five percent cut for access to a prototype or two, sound fair? I can also procure some things for you..." mentioned Miki, this was a much easier transaction to make happen in the moment than it would be for one such as Kaiba. A five percent discount in Miki's rate in exchange for prototype bikes, the girl had no interest in bikes, and Bulma knew it. But this lad had just asked her about them. That was a strange showing, one that made a light of recognition come into Bulma's eyes. Hikari noticed this and looked to Seriri who also smiled deviously a new partner appeared on the scene.

Miki knew of Kou's desire to possess bikes plural. She remembered from their earlier conversation and would see to it that he had them. A nod came from Bulma as she walked over to Miki and extended her hand to the held out Plate that marked the girl as the owner of a business. A simple imprint of her finger would make their deal happen immediately. She then looked at the connection between them and chuckled, the name of this business was very classically Kimiko, "You have a problem," mentioned the lass, finding the use of the name the Bad Fox Fair Trade Commission, to be a bit on the nose for the type of business the lass was known to do. "Tsu-chan, she wants access to the Library," said Miki with a knowing smile, after all, given the sort of things that the girl normally came up with, access to a library as old in the game as Atlantis' was probably her real reason for coming here. Seriri looked at Miki and nodded. "Hai hai. Kimi in exchange will you..." she looked to the lass, not wanting to say aloud what she wanted. "Yeah yeah, I figured you'd want something like that... I'll take care of it and have it sent up. Don't worry." she said calmly knowing exactly the sort of thing the girl would want after finding her brother again. "And you Kaiba... is there something you need out of a deal with me?" she asked of the suspiciously quiet brown haired lad, as a sign of good faith. All the while the awakening of the weak fragment didn't even hit the girl's radar. She was busy being a procurer and business worker for her associates.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed, for a moment, that Kou had a very real chance of acquiring his bike from this woman. The exact nature of the event would change rather quickly though, as Bulma and Miki held an entire exchange regarding the nature of trade surrounding the former's creations. Kou stood aside, scratching the side of his head as he let the discussion take place, though his wavering attention opened his senses to... something strange.

While Kou continued to scratch his head in wonder of what he felt somewhere deep within, Kaiba crossed his arms and looked down his nose at the blonde girl. She had such audacity to ask him if there was something he needed of a deal with her, after the discussion they had so recently had. She even had the nerve to make a business transaction with a rival company, right in front of his face. In light of this, all he managed to do was spit on the ground, and walk away - deeper into the city.

[Apollymi]

Miki finished what she needed of her business, she now had a very specific set of things to get done. Bulma was now free to work on her bikes the way she wished without having to do any business of her own, and knew the reasoning behind Miki's rather sudden offer. With this in mind she looked to the lad who'd asked her about the bikes originally as he seemed a bit spaced out. "Ano... I'm working on a new engine type for this world, if you can wait for me to finish my research here, I'll be able to make you a newer custom bike," she said to the lad most directly skipping over anything Miki would have said. All that was left for the blonde lass now was to retrieve the specialty food items that she knew Seriri wanted for Kaiba. 'That's nothing but a quick trip to market...' she thought to herself. Still Kaiba had given a less than favorable reaction to her antics, she wondered if he felt slighted by what she'd done. It wasn't done for that reason obviously, she'd simply secured a necessary resource for all people present, him included though his reaction didn't seem to line up with him understanding that information. Maybe he'd understand a bit later, or maybe he wouldn't and they'd have another intense meeting. It didn't really matter as her stance of neutrality would continue to apply regardless. Bulma wanted to make without consequences, aligning herself with Miki made it so that she could potentially trouble even Kaiba without having to worry about a competition for supplies or materials. Due to shared interests it wold be possible for Kaiba to abuse Bulma's maker capabilities to help with his own creations and research, she could make even more effective his ideas and bring them to life from a more technical aspect. This was potentially a winning situation from all fronts and would make possible with ease Kaiba's overall goal of overtaking Industrial Illusions. Thinking this many steps ahead gave Miki a strange amount of clarity in her senses and then she too felt something strange that she couldn't quite identify.

[Bloodedge]

Kou's attention was abruptly torn from that strange sensation, all by the statement of Bulma. He looked to her briefly, acknowledging that he would be getting a bike of some sort out of this exchange. He would have been quite excited about the prospect; he should have been. Alas, he couldn't stop wondering what that thing he felt was. "Sou ka. Arigatou," was all he said to the blue-haired woman before his attention left her again. He stared out into the distance for several moments longer, until... it vanished. What was it? Perhaps he'd never find out, but he couldn't exactly equate it to the Dracolite produced by Bulma. If he focused hard enough, he could feel Akashi stirring within himself... though it was more like the Dragonoid was mocking something, rather than rising to greet it. Whatever the case, it was gone now, along with whatever caused it. "Ano..."

[Apollymi]

Bulma now armed with thanks and permission to raid the Library of Atlantis left the group atop her motorcycle without much more than a wave. She'd be gone for quite some time looking for information to improve her creations. Hikari edged over to Seriri content to stay in the Queen's presence as they discussed details for trying to hook up the pair of Adventurers. In the meantime both of them seemed a bit spaced out, Miki for her part in this, had the feeling of a water drip like a ripple across a lake. It was almost a teasing sensation from the Dragon of Torrents that dwell within her soul. She couldn't really explain the feeling but it seemed Kou had experienced something similar with his spaced out expression. "That was weird... I'll be back a bit later," she mentioned hopping off her pillow as she aimed to visit the markets and procure for Seriri the things she knew the other lass wanted as well as meet up with her protege and see what kind of market understanding the young shark was gaining.

All in all this day would continue right up until the later part of the day when a certain set of announcements would be made. A set of celebrations would be taking place throughout the Kingdom for the next week and Seriri needed to make sure the people of Atlantis knew what was going on. Members of her Parliament had written up flyers and had their assistants hanging and passing them out. They described a Celebration of Camaraderie, a week long festival which involved several different days outlining different kinds of friendships and relationships. There was a Siblings Day, for presents and activities between sibling sets. A Parent/Child Day full of festive activities for parents and children to participate in together, including eating contests, races and the like. There was a lantern lighting ceremony to celebrate friendships lost and rekindled. But the highlight of this Festive Week were two particular days, Valentine's Day, to start the week off with a chocolate exchange from girls to other people. Romantically inclined as a declaration day for love from girls to boys. And White Day at the end of the week, time enough for a young male to decide to accept and reciprocate the feelings they'd been shown already. Both of these had their own customs attached and were explained throughout the Kingdom, all that needed to happen now was the announcement, which Seriri would make from the top of the steps at the palace. This is where she'd be found, beaming with a combination of meddlesome and friendly energy. She'd framed her entire speech to make the starting and ending days the last things she'd mention and make it seem like the festival itself just needed big start and end day antics. She'd even managed to convince several eateries to give chocolate making classes for free this year so lots of girls could gather up and learn to make them. And had gotten the craftsmen on board with to help create good gifts for any White Day exchanges, such was easy for the Queen with a government on her side.