I'm Basil Exposition, from DoD Intelligence! (Prologue >_

[Bean Bandit]

Bean eyed Kwok, then began to snicker, nodding to Ryder. "Hai, hai...You're right..." he murmured, turning to their nominal 'host'.

[Kwokinator]

"Why're you yellin' at me?" Kwok shrugged helplessly. "I was all ready to listen already, I didn't go around starting things up."

[Shukuen]

"...would you all just quit trying to squeeze in the last word and just listen for once?" Shukuen muttered in mild annoyance, still waiting for the woman to begin.

[Bean Bandit]

Remy had finally had enough. He leveled a finger at Kwok, stepping forward.

"You. Be silent." He snapped. Then turning to the rest, he leveled a flat glare over the room. "The rest of you, ignore him for now. She will address you."

[Bean Bandit]

The woman smiled wryly at her attendant, but made no move to chatise him. Once she saw she had everyone's attention, softly, in a voice easily heard, she began to speak.

"Our kind have waged battles for the multiverses in our posesstion since...well before my time." she smiled wryly. "In fact, long enough ago that no human word really can describe the length of time. We're much like humans, really. We have our peaceful periods, and our periods of war."

"What I'm asking you to get involved in...Well, it's like a duel. It lacks the scope of our most horrifying wars, yet I was foolish enough to put up the multiverse in my personal care up as the stakes. The rules are fairly simple. My team of champions and his team of champions must test each other. It can be combat...a race...a sport, or anything of that nature. One team must best the other in a contest."

"Unfortunately, since my brother made the challenge, he sets the terms. There are two things for him to decide. One is the nature of the conflict, and the objectives, and the other is the size of the team. One can be flexible within limits, but the other is set in stone for the duration of the contest.

"In this case, the permanent objective has been chosen as the unchangable one. In another bit of poor fortune, he isn't required to divulge this information until just before the contest begins. As for the other, the size of the teams, that's been deemed flexible, but he's chosen to begin with between five to ten members." She paused, looking around at the group. "That's a basic outline of the situation." she finished softly.

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder nodded as the woman finished, and said, "OK, that makes some sense... we're your champions in this competition."

However, he then opened his eyes and said, "We can't compete like this though... What aren't you telling us?"

[Bean Bandit]

"We've aranged for you to displace some...more durable people who live in my domain." The woman smiled faintly. "You may find you aquire some helpful skills, too..."

[Shukuen]

"So, you're saying we're going to displace these people that you chosen?" Shukuen asked, slightly unclear on the concept. "How exactly would that help us?"

[RyderHakubi]

"I think I know," Ryder began as the idea became clear to him.

"Basically, we're going to be using bodies from some powerful people, and we'll inherit thier skills.  Am I correct?"

[Carthrat]

"Lady, you SO go upsold," says Carthrat, shaking his head. "What was his stake on this, again?"

[Kwokinator]

Kwok made no reply to Remy's command, although he did remain silent.

That is, until Ryder reached the conclusion that they were the woman's champion.

~/ We are the champions, my friends!/~ he sang in an obnoxious voice.

~/ And we'll keep on fighting, till the end!  We are the champions, we are the champions!  No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions, of the world! /~

[Bean Bandit]

Bean sighed and turned to May, almost conversationally. "Someone should put that cat out of it's misery...the poor thing sounds like it's dying..."

[Carthrat]

"..and anyway," continues Carthrat, "How long do we have before things start happening?"

[Bean Bandit]

Remy stepped forward to answer Carthrat. "It will be within days, in your terms." he told the boy seriously. "We do have some time to prepare, but not a great deal...and much of it will involve travel, I imagine."

[Carthrat]

"Heh. And seeing that we don't really know what we're going to do makes it difficult to prepare for it.." chuckles Carthrat, resigned. "Well.. I'm all outta questions. Nothing left to do but wait.."