Intense Struggle! (Round 7 - The Database)

Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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D'neya stared dumbly for some time, before having what looked like an epiphany, and saying, "Oh! Are you stuck down there? Here, lemme help you!"
She undid the back of her dress slightly, and a huge black tentacle emerged. It slithered down the pit, wrapped around 'Carabet' and pulled him back up.

"So AS I WAS SAYING, do you know where I can find a tea set? Oh and some biscuits would be lovely!"
She smiled a huge grin, as the tentacle retracted into her back.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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I have a definate hand in this, I would love to participate in another one of these. I already entered Chaos in The ULTIMATE Competition, but I do have a set of people related to this guy I could toss out, including a girlfriend and a shapeshifting dog. I spend way too much time on this shit.

Trickster feared when this would happen. He stared at Aph, and the sword she still held firm, blankly. He dreaded when this would come, but he did not expect it to happen so soon. He had no idea as to what to say back. The feeling wasn't necessarily mutual, but Trickster knew he couldn't say something like that. He didn't know how the nymph would react to her heart being broken, and the fact that she was holding a sword like that just pushed his fear that much farther down his throat.

He tried as best he could to muster a blush, a shy-ish voice, a faint smile. He might as well give a few hints that might mean something if taken correctly, even though the feelings behind them were not all too real.
"Uh... hey, Aph. Nice to meet you... I'm not quite sure how to reply to that, but it's nice to know that." He held his head low.

It's not lying if it's not blatant, he thought.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Aph's eyes narrowed. Her hand gripped hard against the cold sword. Her heart stopped and she stood still. Silent. Not even breathing. Then she relaxed and breathed out. A grimace of pain crossed her face. Who could blame him for feeling the way he did? What had she done for him. Nothing. She'd tried to protect him from a man who wasn't attacking him. Aph hated herself. She was so stupid. She'd show him, show him that she wasn't some kind of hapless liability. She'd prove she wasn't a burden. That she could be useful, that she could be someone you'd want to have around. Then he'd love her. He'd love her just as much as she loved him. 'So... first things first' she thought. 'Establish what's happening and what it is that he might want.' She was suddenly aware of the man stood behind her and turned slightly so that she faced them both, though carefully making sure she faced her love more than this other guy.
"So, erm... what exactly is going on around here?" Aph asks. "I get the impression that The Monitor told us, but I... got distracted."

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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Trickster was afraid that he had hurt her, and that he was about to lose an ally. "Hey, hey, it's just, it's a little bit to take in at once."

It definately wasn't a perfect response, but it was good enough. The act was slipping, though slowly. Trickster had a bad feeling that he was going to need those gloves of his soon.

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Edit: Fixed a little typo. His gloves don't have gloves, don't worry. That would be awesome, though.

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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'Cabaret' thought it was a bad idea for it's stealth to start moving in plain sight after falling into that booby trap so it stayed unresponsive and floppy in the D'neya girl's grasp and ignored her questions. Eventually she became bored at asking it where a tea set was and, ignoring the B child, wandered back to where she had set the tea party up. Propping 'Cabaret' on the side of the table she went off again to search for a teaset, prompting 'Cabaret' to look around discreetly.

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Let me know if this is out of character.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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"Yeah... okay." Aph murmured softly. She carefully disregarded his response. It didn't matter what he thought of her at the moment. Not until she'd demonstrated just how much she loved him. Then he would love her. Then she could hold him tightly in her arms and never let him go. She glanced around hoping to try to figure out what she should be doing to win the Trickster's love. "Where are we?" she shivered. "Why did the Monitor bring us here? What does he want?"

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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I've either worked myself into either a really good situation, or a really shitty one, haven't I?

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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More or less. However since the Trickster knows a bit about nymphs he is also probably aware that typical nymphs tend to fall out of love if away from the person they love for long enough. Just a heads up in case you want to drop someone else in it.

Originally posted on MSPA by starburst98.

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probably gonna be like "i killed him for you, see how much i love you? don't you love me back? you do, right? you love me, don't you? love me. love me! LOVE ME!!"

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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"Okay, I guess that means we're finally getting somewhere." Aegis looked around, found a chair a few feet away, and was sitting down on it approximately two seconds later.

"I heard the Monitor say that you had a friend who was also taken into one of these. Care to explain?" Trickster said.

"Well some time ago he simply vanished into thin air. We made a search party and everything, and the mages concluded that he got teleported somewhere. I got sent here as soon as preparations were being made to send someone to look for him. They'll probably do the same for me."

"Alright. What can you tell us about him?"

"I don't really see how that's relevant, heh, but ok. I've known him for years, and he's really pretty much a wimp. The only reason he probably got through his rounds is that he can think. He has a weapon kinda similar to mine, only... uh... well it takes a while to explain these things, heh. I taught him everything he knows." Aegis said the last statement with a smirk.

"Eh, that information doesn't really help that much. As far as I know, the Monitor simply wants us to fight and kill each other, and whenever someone dies we move on to the next round. Pretty morbid, but we don't seem to have much choice, unless we find a way out."

Aegis looked over his companions. A frail little magician and an obviously lunatic nymph. Although he knew little of their abilities, they seemed less dangerous than his other possible opponents. He remembered what he learned about strategy, and considered his options.

"Well then, I guess that's that. How about you say the three of us team up, in order to get through this more easily?"

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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"Sounds like a plan to me, then, but what about you Aph?" Trickster placed his hand on her shoulder, gently.

Maybe this wouldn't be too hard after all.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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"Yes." Aph said shooting a resentful glance towards Aegis. She hated him already. He was an intruder, interfering in her relationship with her love, poking his nose where it did not belong. She let the rage wash over her, Trickster wanted some kind of alliance with this man and so she put it aside, for now.

Aph glanced around the room again, her eyes resting on an elderly woman in a nun's habit. She had raised one of the dead bodies and it was lurching around the courtyard gathering up it's fallen colleagues. It was time to prove herself in the eyes of her love. She tightened her grip on her blade and, letting in all the rage she felt for her new 'colleague', she dashed towards the old woman preparing to slice her in two, her mind blank but for wailing, gnashing hatred.

Originally posted on MSPA by Telamon.

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Larus, never having witnessed necromancy beyond the crude biomechanical attempts of the Parathanatos Corporation on his home world, watched the sister's more...mystical efforts with interest. The resulting servant seemed able and obedient, and while not likely any kind of match for the contestants here, clearly a tool with a variety of uses, especially en masse. Larus was about to inquire further into Sister Clara's methods, when he caught sight of a pink blur making a beeline towards his tentative ally.

Instinctively, he stretched out his left arm to intercept the silver arc of the nymph's sword descending towards the sister's headdress. The sword struck his forearm, which, hardened to a steel-like consistency, deflected the blow. The Aph's momentum carried both combatants backwards, and Larus thrusted his right arm forward towards her midsection, fingers first. The nymph dodged backwards out of the range of the strike and hovered eerily, contemplating her next move. Larus eyed her unusual means of locomotion warily, unsure of the best technique for sparring against a foe with no footwork to watch. "See, this is exactly why I normally fight normals..." he thought to himself.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Aph paused and looked inquisitively at the man who had stepped into her way, to protect the old necromancer. He was pretty unremarkable, but his skin had been as hard as steel as her sword had clanged against it. She shrugged. Trickster hadn't made an alliance with this one. He was fair game. She floated still waiting for him to make the first move, after a couple of seconds she noticed he was hesitant. He was uncertain. A smile almost came to her lips. She could just picture her love finally realising how much he truly loves her. It was just one good swing away. She carefully feinted to the left and then brought her sword around in an arc.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Larus started hardening his skin again, not sure he could change the consistency enough in time, when Aph's fingers released the blade, and her arms sprang to her sides. Clara grinned, and the handful of glowing symbols that had formed in midair started to fade.

"Such a lot of nastiness already. Now tell me, young lady, is this any way to treat your elders?" The nun bent to pick up Aph's erstwhile weapon and looked briefly at it before returning her gaze to Aph. "You'll get this back when I think you can play nice."

Aph wobbled back and forth above the ground, still hovering, but unable to direct herself or move her limbs. She could feel the invisible bindings gradually releasing, or at least loosening, but who knew how long it would be before they were all the way off? Every second away from her beloved Trickster was... was... There aren't even words.

Originally posted on MSPA by starburst98.

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oh god, something tells me aph is going to turn into the hulk and get madder and stronger.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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oh god, something tells me aph is going to turn into the hulk and get madder and stronger.

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As long as she's still on my side, I'm happy with that.

"Finally, some action around here." Trickster grinned maniacally, as he twitched his hands in his gloves. "I do think the battle could use a little heat, though," He murmured as he slowly strolled toward Larus.

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And suddenly, RANDOM BATTLE!
But I wanted to fight Larus-
Shut it!

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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Let's provoke them into trying to kill each other. :3

'Cabaret', seeing that the D'neya girl was taking longer than expected, quietly slid the table over to the door she left out of and shifted back to it's true form and slithered other to a console on the far wall. The disguise was all well and good. It thought But I didn't think I could stand having legs for much longer. and pushed the notepad it found on the dead scientist into it's hand and flipped to the relevant note, which appeared to be a code of somesort. Tapping it into the console and found it's self being greeted by the console as a 'Doctor Wallace' and given a list of things it could do. Selecting security it flipped through several camera feeds, stopping on the one which showed the contestants it hadn't found yet. It tapped more commands into the console and found a crosshair appear on the screen. It moved the feed to a camera on the wall behind the Trickster man and focused the crosshair to the head of the one called larus. Let's stir things up a bit. It thought as it pushed a button to fire.

Originally posted on MSPA by Telamon.

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Impressed by Sister Clara's abilities, Larus took a step back and watched the helpless form of the nymph, wondering what his new ally's next move would be. Glancing over in the direction the nymph had come from, he spotted another one of the competitors headed his way. His eyes narrowed. Oh yes, the pyro boy. "Probably don't want to engage this one up close," he thought to himself, and reached down to grab a discarded assault rifle. He was about to check the clip, when suddenly a mechanical whirring distracted him. He looked up to see a defensive turret, which he'd assumed was defunct, rattling around to point in his direction.

Larus dissolved into mist, the rifle clattering to the floor out of his vanished hand. The shell from the cannon, passing through the space where his face had been a moment before, detonated against the opposite wall, the blast upsetting the carefully arranged rows of corpses Sister Clara's servant had been laying out. Reforming, Larus dove for the cover of the nearest side passage as the cannon ejected its spent shell casing and prepared to fire again.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aegis sat in his stiff chair and watched the battle unfold intently--he did not really expect one to spark so soon. He knew that the battle was good in that it allowed him to see his opponents' abilities, but more importantly, it provided for fairly adequate entertainment, in contrast with the lull he had been experiencing earlier today. He especially enjoyed the battle between Laurus and Trickster, the ones whose abilities sparked at least a bit of interest. The old lady was just plain creepy, and the nymph, although she gave Aegis a few laughs with her little tangent with Trickster, did not seem to display any sort of impressive ability in combat.

Soon, however, Aegis blinked a few times and thought for a moment. What the hell am I doing? At this thought he jumped from his seat, cursed himself for not thinking of this before, and broke into a run directly into the fray. More specifically, he ran right into--and right through--Laurus. Noticing this, Aegis waved his hands around, attempting to scatter his opponent's body. Laurus simply floated back a few feet. Idiot! I had him! Trickster thought as the wisp of fire he had been summoning disappeared uselessly.

Before Aegis could think of some way to make an effective attack, he heard a click. He reacted quickly and spun around, backhanding a shell with perfect timing. The projectile was deflected, spinning rapidly, passing through Laurus--who did not even bother to solidify--and exploding some distance away, much to Aegis' dismay. Trickster simply uttered a sigh of frustration and began to create fireballs in his hands, thinking ahead.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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And the drums of War start beating.

Trickster let out a sigh. Although he, himself, were joining a battle and not starting one, he was dismayed to see that everyone else had jumped in so quickly. He expected to have a bit more time with the Larus character that had seperated just before him, a one on one match. Oh well, he thought, as he messed with his fingers.

He suddenly leapt up into the air, raising a fireball in his hand high above his head before sending it thrashing to the ground where he was just standing. Despite having no fuel to start off with, the concrete below him suddenly lit up into an orange ring of fire as he dropped into it. The flames seeped up his pants-legs, but yet they did not catch like the ground had moments before. He pushed the fire slowly away from him, creating an even 3-foot ring of fire that covered the ground upon which he stood.

Trickster smirked wildly as he stared menacingly and the mist before him.

"Bring it on, bitch."

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Strange. I don't think any other GB went into all-out combat so quickly.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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Strange. I don't think any other GB went into all-out combat so quickly.

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Hell, half the people in GBI were attempting to beat the shit out of each other by page 3. Mainly because a certain character was insane, creepy, and had spiders made out of bones, but that's not the point.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Chaos erupted around the small courtyard. People exploded into mist and turrets started firing. Even if Aph could properly survey the situation she doubted she'd be able to spot her beloved Trickster. She began to panic. Thinking of him potentially caught in the gunfire or his head caught between the crushing hands of their so called ally. A tear rolled down her cheek as she struggled to get free from this old witch's bindings. She thrashed hopelessly and then stopped.

She glanced around and saw the elderly nun standing in front of her with a quizzical expression on her face. Something was different however. Where before she had seen a useless old woman here she saw a powerful lady; someone who was full of knowledge and world experience. Behind those black eyes Aph could just tell there was a kind soul; someone generous and caring. She knew at once that this was it. This time it was really real. This woman was the love of her life.

"Hi." she said shyly, momentarily perplexed as to why she couldn't move her arms. "My name is Aph."

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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