December 2001 - Trading and Strategies

Ruki: Duo, there's no eating in the control room.

Duo: Shez who?

Ruki: I said. You'll damage the equipment.

Duo: Little girl, all we got to deal with are one boy and one girl. Faye Valentine and Tooya.

Hilde: Good thing, because you're getting Faye.

Duo: ... what? I'm already overloaded.

Mariamaia: There have been changes to the plan. Zarbon is going to Rosy, Van Fanel is going to Ivory.

Duo: [swallows] So... what does that give me? 6 Bishoujo and 13 Bishonen?

Ruki: Look, he does math too.

Duo: Listen, brat-

Quatre: Hey guys, calm down. These are relatively minor changes. We've got bigger problems. I'm getting Tooya then...

Duo: Oh, don't tell me. The upload.

Makoto: It's gonna be a big problem. The picture files alone number around 191 because of Li and Touma's doubles and the badges. That's not counting background graphics plus the ten html files.

Mimi: And Shusu-san doesn't even have regular internet service! How awful.

Ruki: Well, if she'd just upload a new FTP program, half her problem would be solved...

San: Let me see. Touya and Yukito go to your gym, Hilde?

Hilde: That’s right. And Yosho and Kagero move to yours. Mako-chan, Hayami's going to yours.

Makoto: And Kamidake goes to Ivory too.

San: So I lose two boys, and gain one girl and three boys. 11 girls and 8 boys.

Achika: That rounds out your gym more.

Makoto: Whew! I have 12 Bishoujo and 10 Bishonen. We squeezed A-ko and B-ko in, I guess.

Hilde: I have 8 girls and 11 boys. Hmm...

Makoto: I don’t think we can trade at this point. Maia's going to need our help if there's another shuffle.

Mariamaia: Yes, I'm holding at 24 members total. Even if I move Jyou down, chances are it will be so Henry can join.

Duo: Hm? Henry's on the wishlist?

Ruki: Apparently so.

Duo: You're not jealous, are you, shortstuff?

Ruki: My picture was not adequate.

Quatre: Ahem. Anyway, it looks like Crimson, Gold, Forest and Jet have been constructed successfully. Some of the text needs editing, but Shusu-san's made a note of it. The existing members have already been moved into the new gyms.

Ruki: I think my gym should be constructed first. I have less than a dozen to be placed. Then I can start ranking them.

Duo: ...

Achika: That's actually not a bad idea, Ruki-chan. San's gym will be hardest to construct and rank. Mine only has three, and the name change, and it's ready.

Mimi: And it shouldn't be too hard to swap bishies with Quatre!

Quatre: I'm not sure if we have to rank them. That will be difficult.

Mimi: Oh yes, that's right. Well, it does say we're overflow gyms, technically.

Shusu: Hi guys! Hard at work, I see. To answer your question, there won't be any ranking at Plum, Sapphire, or Rosy. It's just too much work. This way we can focus on Glacier and Ivory. Hotaru is standing by in case we hit 200 catches. She'll be opening Indigo Gym, and we can start relaxing roster sizes.

Makoto: Didn't we say we'd top out at 100 catches once?

Shusu: That may have been said at one point... but that was before Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, and the rest of Card Captor Sakura. Not to mention Digimon: Tamers, which I’m just dying to catch.

Duo: What's the status on upload?

Shusu: Frankly, pretty bad. It may not be till next year that I can afford to establish pages. I may just see if I can access 50megs again, which would be perfect. Otherwise, I'm terribly happy with placements! The gyms now look more cohesive, more thematic. It's great!

Hilde: How's the wishlist going?

Shusu: Umm... Henry. Tseng, definitely. Yamaki. We're waiting on Pocket Bishonen again.

Duo: Wooo, then maybe the boys'll catch up!

Shusu: And I'll try to submit Yoko Kanno to Pocket Bishoujo as soon as I can. Oh, by the way, have you remaining gyms picked your leads yet? I'm afraid Ruki and San can't do it because they don't have redheads.

Duo: Whoa.

Ruki: How pointless...

Shusu: It's tradition.

Ruki: I'd rather not lead with the Power Card, as it has pink hair. I'll probably do Lady Devimon.

Duo: She has red eyes. That works.

Shusu: Settle down, guys. [smiling] San, what about you?

San: I will start with Kaho Mizuki. Although I was considering Lady Tokimi.

Shusu: Mm, good choice. Quatre, are you sticking with Gene Starwind?

Quatre: Well, now that I have Ryo, I may go with him.

Mimi: Don't worry, Shusu-san! I'll start with Jessica Rabbit. She's so gorgeous.

Shusu: We'll adjourn for now, and have another meeting in a week, okay? Let's get moving!

[There's a great spread of holiday cookies, sparkling grape juice, eggnog, and vegetable dips.]

Hilde: Wow, this looks wonderful!

Shusu: [smiles] Have a seat everyone. What's our status?

Quatre: Three gyms to go. Ivory, Rosy, and Sapphire. It's going to be the biggest job, since we have about 27 new catches to set up.

San: We can do it gradually. The framework has already been set up for it.

Shusu: Great! Okay, we haven't had a chance to really talk about rankings and gym status. Maia, what's yours looking like?

Mariamaia: Overstuffed. But impressive as always. If worse comes to worst, I believe Hexadecimal and Gren can move elsewhere, and there was the switch of Jyou for Henry we talked about. There's just so much talent here, it's hard to choose.

Shusu: Yes, many of the gyms have taken Crimson Gym stragglers since we opened. It's tough at the top. Hilde?

Hilde: Gold Gym is just so much better with the addition of Julia and Yue and Irvine! I feel like we can really start collaborating with Crimson Gym now. And the guys are just so dreamy!

Duo: [snickers]

Hilde: Shush, they are. If we need more room, the androids can be moved around. Looks like I'm getting fallout from the new Card Captors, huh?

Shusu: Sure thing. Mako-chan?

Makoto: It's coming together. It's great to finally put Trowa next to his sister, that's for sure. Washu and Cye are always a little uncertain, of course. I keep wishing Hilde's picture was better, but oh well. We've always been very cohesive, and it's even better now.

Duo: Jet's cleaner too, after distributing all the extras to Ivory and Glacier. I didn't think it was possible, but we're even crazier. Lots of robots. Like Heero.

Shusu: Hah! I know you were overjoyed to get him. Rika?

Ruki: You certainly gave me quite a group to work with. Fortunately none of them are slackers. The cards are very useful, and I think I can work with Eriol and Yugi.

Shusu: Yes, your gym needs a strong hand for a leader. You're packing a lot of magic power, though you're a little lower in the chain of command. Well, San, it's a little early to be asking you, but what do you think of your group?

San: Great care has been taken in their choosing. A very noble group. It will be difficult to rank them.

Shusu: I agree. Take your time, your gym is very special. Quatre, Mimi?

Mimi: I'm just loving my gym members! They are all so cute! Not too many guys though. [sighs]

Quatre: It is rather skewed towards Bishoujo, but there are just too many "cute" catches not to devote a gym to it. As for me, I like how the roster looks. Sapphire doesn't seem like an overflow gym at all.

Shusu: Good, good. I had some thoughts on auxilliary stuff for you guys, since you've all worked so hard. A banner would be nice, hm?

Duo: No kidding! We need to advertise! This is a big big job!

Shusu: Okay, I'll get to work on it. Now... how about a blog?

Mariamaia: Oh my.

Hilde: That would be so cool! No more posting minutes from the meetings!

Shusu: It might be a great New Year's gift. [grins]

Makoto: How exciting!

Duo: Sugoi!

Shusu: We're already automated, so placement and trades will be easier. We could post wishlists, request catches, and list catches in realtime. No more losing the catch sequences. It'll be great. And it's automatically archived.

Achika: We might even request fanfiction, as we were discussing earlier.

Shusu: That's right. That sounds like an affirmative on the blog! But it'll likely be dead last after the upload hurdle. So sit tight on that, hm?

Mimi: Still, it's terribly exciting!

Duo: Oh yeah, this rocks!

Shusu: Well, as I said, you've all worked hard, and endured a rather long hiatus. And 177 catches is nothing to scoff at! So till next time. Have a good holiday season, everyone!