Intense Struggle! (Round 7 - The Database)

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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The mist was not particularly dense where B ran, but it stretched on. He could just make out objects in the distance through the obscured vision it provided. Thankfully, he wasn't relying on his sight for the moment. He was feeling a little anxious, for reasons he could not discern. Soon enough, however, he spotted two of his competitors. D'Neya and Larus.

Inexplicably, he felt a very slight anger at them. This time, B was sure of the source of the strange feelings. His beastial instincts. It didn't worry him too much, he was rather good at keeping them to an acceptable level most of the time. Maybe he would take his normal form, just in case. He probably wouldn't be too good at communicating with the two as a wolf, anyway.

The process that had occured just a few minutes ago, happened once again, but in reverse. He walked out of the mist as he changed back into a human, silently wishing that he had special shoes and socks to go with the rest of his clothes. Much to his satisfaction, the animosity he felt to the others went away. The now barefoot child attempted to greet the two.
"Um... hi. I'm, uh, B. Wh-what happened to the last place?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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"Definitely weak..." D'Neya whispered under her breath, before eagerly jumping up and down with an adorable "Ooh! Ooh! I know!"
After waiting a moment to be sure the other two were looking, she continued. "The bad man at the beginning said that when one of us died, he'd move us to the next round. 'Move,' as in he'd take us somewhere! So someone probably died!"
She said the last words with a giggle, completely oblivious to the darkness of the statement.

B slowly took a couple steps back, but D'Neya quickly skipped up to him, staring him straight in the face.
"Hey! You wanna be friends? C'mon! We'll live alot longer if we stick together! You don't wanna die do ya?!"

Finally Larus yanked D'Neya back by her collar, and with a disgruntled "Uu-uu," she settled down.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerI just realized that we don't have any obvious villains in this round. In fact, almost everyone is a 'vaguely neutral' kind of person.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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After a minute or two of calculation and muttering, Clara came up with a spell that she thought would probably protect her and Aph from whatever noxious fumes that murky bog might hold. A few quick gestures and nonsense syllables, and the nymph's and the nun's heads were surrounded by large, faintly-golden bubbles. They slightly distorted vision and tinted everything yellow, but not so much that it was a problem; it was worth it to have a constant supply of air that didn't smell like a combination of corpse and rafflesia.

"There we go, dear. I guess we can go into that muck now, if we want. To listen to that man talk, we'll have to eventually." The sister's voice echoed slightly as she talked, and she grinned at her own distorted words.

Aph looked noncommittal and said nothing, preferring instead to poke the bubble around her head. It rippled and wobbled, and sparkled slightly where her finger touched it; she grinned and poked it again, watching the magic undulate. Clara pulled a face.

"You should probably keep that to a minimum. The spell can be broken physically, so it's probably best not to push it, alright?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aegis looked around frantically. Only one minute ago Trickster and he were preparing to raid a mess hall. The next, Aegis was standing on a muddy ledge overlooking a misty swamp. It took Aegis a minute to figure out that Trickster was stabbed by Larus and they moved on to the next round, and now he was trying to figure out where Larus went.

Aegis found a rock and sat down, thinking about what had happened. However, all he managed to do was think of all the possibilities he could make Larus pay. Finding this useless, he stood up and began walking along the edge of the ledge.

All around him, Aegis could see almost nothing. The mist, though Aegis was not directly in it, was back. Damn you, Larus, you made that waste of alcohol even more of a waste. The ledge itself was slightly more dry than the swamp, and old, decayed grass covered it completely, only to starve in the dead mud. As Aegis walked, his feet sunk rather deep into the mud, and each step was accompanied with a sickening squelch. The corpses were gone, but somehow the feeling of death all around Aegis never diminished.

Aegis stopped. Here, the ledge gave way to an impressive drop that led into a stinking swamp. From the distance Aegis could faintly hear the sounds of people sloshing around in the thick waters, and Aegis could only assume they were fellow contestants.

The giant metal band around Aegis' fists began to change form. Aegis placed his wrists together, and the mass fused. Within a fraction of a second, a giant warhammer appeared in Aegis' hands, and he placed it on the ground. He paused for a moment to rebalance his gauntlets, and slung the warhammer over his shoulder. The bands on his gauntlets were reduced to half their size.

Aegis walked back a few steps. It was difficult to get a running start with all this mud, but he made do with what he had. Swinging the warhammer for extra momentum, Aegis leapt from the ledge into the opaque mist, not caring at all of his destination.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Aph was worried. She might have been a bit slow to grasp what was going on, but she was aware that the fact that they were somewhere new indicated that someone had died. She had been silent for a little while now, floating after Sister Clara as she trudged through the dark waters of the swamp. She hated the idea that something could happen to one of them at any time. That even at the end of this, even if they were the last two standing they were unlikely to be allowed to leave together and have a nice happy life. It made her want to find The Monitor and tear him limb from limb, and maybe she would. Maybe they could have the happy life she wanted, but for now…
“Sister Clara?” Aph asked.

“Yes dear?” Sister Clara asked, turning around to find Aph, knelt down in mid air, just above the swamp.

“I love you.” Aph said. “And I will fight for us as long as I still have breath in my body. But I cannot stand the idea that should something happen to one of us and we had not made full use of the brief time we had together." She paused. "Clara, will you marry me?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerGod-dammit, Ixcalibur!

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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Figuring it's flare ruse had failed Bae picked it's way across the swamp, managing to reach the area where the Clara-lady and Aph were in time to bear silent witness to the nymph's proposal.
Who was fool enough to intrude on this...sensitive moment, it theorised, would have to face the brunt of the nymph's fury and that sword, thus it would do it's job some good if one of the over contestants just 'happened' to come across these two and oh say decide to take the Clara-lady into the mist. But who would be best, the larus-person would be putting all it's eggs in one metaphorical basket since if the others decided to present a unified front against him they may decide to try and escape which would be counter-productive for it. The B-child and the D'neya-girl didn't exactley have the arms to effectively carry the Clara-lady off so that left the Aegis-man.
It moved around to a better position to come from as it shifted form to the lunkhead and when it decided it was indistinguishable from the real thing it charged towards the pair and caught the Clara-lady around the waist, ruining the moment. As 'Aegis's' arms encircled the nun it felt an electric sensation badly singe it's organs and dimly heard a screech of rage and felt the nymph's sword slide into It's thigh, It blocked these sensations and the pain from it's damaged organs out as best it could and focused on half dragging, half carrying the Clara-lady deeper into the mist. It would have to find somewhere to hide and rest after ditching It's load.

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SpoilerI'm not going to be available for anything from saturday evening to tuesday due to a school trip. So do with Bae what you will from then...and I will try to get back to this more.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Aph screamed and her body exploded with furious electricity, jolts of which were angrily discharging into the murky water. She tore through the mists after Aegis, hacking at the pitch white that obscured her vision. How dare he do this to Clara! How dare he do this to us! At our most perfect moment! She wailed wordlessly at the world around her, thrashing at the mist uselessly. She kept this up for a minute or two before her muscles started to ache and her energy ebbed away. She collapsed into the murky water onto her knees as the electricity faded away. She wept bitterly, feeling weak and useless, and above all a failure.

Then it faded away and she just sat there silent, still and blank. She was there for a couple of minutes before she felt like she had the energy to do anything. She idly wondered why she had just been so worked up. The whole thing with Sister Clara seemed so overblown now. Sure she was okay, but Aph couldn't imagine being in love with her. Aph couldn't imagine being in love at all. What a silly concept it seemed. She climbed up and tried to look around. The haze of the mists still surrounded her, obscuring her vision. And she noted that that bubble that Sister Clara had cast was still in place, making things look odd and distorted. She poked idly at it, watching as it rippled and then burst. She shrugged it off and decided to go find somewhere more interesting than here, picking a direction at random and then heading that way.

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SpoilerJust in case anyone's forgotten how Aph works; she's blank again. The next person she sees she will fall in love with.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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The moment crystallized around Clara; microseconds stretched ahead like days, her mind working furiously. Responses and the responses to those swirled through her deception-challenged mind. Religious doctrines boomed their rules through her head, while insidious survival instincts wheedled in a piercing undertone. The nun's lips parted slightly.

Immediately thereafter, they were thrown wide open as strong arms clamped around her, forcing the air out and causing her to choke on her words. She was sharply yanked backwards into the mists, quickly losing sight of Aph and any landmarks she might have recognized. At one point, "Aegis" turned sharply, causing Clara's head to slam back into his chest and her bubble to pop. She hadn't been making much of an attempt to escape until now, reasoning that if he wanted to kill her he'd have done so by now, so he'd have to put her down eventually: the stoic nun had planned merely to bide her time and find out what he wanted. However, the moment her bubble had popped, the mists had started taking effect, their insidious magic working its way in though her mouth and nose and eyes. She and her captor were in one of the deepest, thickest fog banks in the swamp, and as such the mild and friendly woman was a bastion of fury and violence in mere moments.

She shrieked, an otherworldly ululation tempered with magic. Bae felt itself staggering, its grip loosening; the zombified woman flung her arms wide, surprising strength breaking his grip on her. Clara spun and delivered a hook to faux-Aegis's jaw, snarling.

"So that's how you think this is gonna go, huh?" She drew her sword stick, swiping wildly at her attacker, face a rictus of fury. "Think you can just steal old women? Think you can just break poor girls' hearts?" Another swing, combined with a kick; Bae managed to dodge both, but in stepping back tangled his foot in an underwater root. He pinwheeled his unfamiliar arms, toppling over backwards. Half-submerged and sinking in silt, he scrambled backwards. The nun's sword was glowing now; he had no idea what that meant, but it was a worrisome development. The blade was hurtling towards his face; he couldn't move back fast enough to avoid it, he was too tangled to roll to the side, and he had no intention of being cut in half while solid, so he did the only sensible thing: Sister Clara saw Aegis turn blue, then liquefy, then blend with the water around her feet. Her swing splashed harmlessly into the mire, serving only to enrage her further. She saw movement to her left, flowing water among the stillness: Aegis or whatever that was was fleeing.

She screamed again. "You can't hide from divination, coward!" Her left hand turned silvery, then took on the sheen of stainless steel; she drove it deep into the trunk of a nearby tree, shouting with rage. "I'll kill you and bring you back just to kill you again!" With a backhand motion, the nun splintered the trees trunk, steel hand growing spikes and eyes glowing red as she shot her consciousness off to rove the murk for her attacker.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aegis trudged through the swamp aimlessly. As he walked, the mist became thicker and thicker, and soon he could only see a few feet in front of him. Throughout this, Aegis felt a peculiar sense of annoyance, as he thought of what has occurred during these last few hours. He thought about the sheer nerve of the Monitor. After all, who had the right to just pluck him from his home and send him into a gladiator-type battle? Sure, he probably would have joined anyway if given the choice, but at least show some respect to the contestants. He thought about Larus, and the sheer lack of dignity he displayed when he stabbed Trickster out of nowhere. Aegis decided that it was up to him to give Larus a piece of his mind. He thought about this goddamn swamp, and if the Monitor had to choose an arena, at least make it not so… soaking wet. Heck, make it a place at least moderately interesting. If he were to host a battle like this, he'd give every contestant rocket launchers or something, just to make things a bit more interesting. All this… it was enough to make a person go absolutely mad.

Aegis stopped. His eyes fell on a fallen log, half-submerged and blocking his path. This was enough to pop a vessel in his mind, now succumbed to the mist's effect. Dammit, I already have enough problems without a goddamn log blocking my way! Aegis took his hammer, swung it over his head, and brought it down on the log with a mad scream. The resulting splash drenched him in putrid water and sent seven-foot-high waves in all directions. Aegis spat out the bitter swamp water and wiped his face.

“WHO ELSE WANTS A PIECE OF ME?!” he yelled at the empty mist, ignoring the fact that he was raging at a decaying log, now pulverized and indistinguishable. Aegis walked a few steps forward, saw a dead tree, and smashed it into a thousand splinters with his hammer. He walked on, now bearing a face of unbridled fury.

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SpoilerAm I having too much fun with this? [img]images/smilies/apple.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Mist and trees and snakes and muck streamed past Clara's disembodied eyes, tinted slightly red; her divination spell wasn't quite sure what it was looking for, but it had found something that seemed to fit the parameters. There was a bulky man crushing a tree with a tremendous hammer; the magic keyed in on him, translucent red bolt streaking towards his back.

Aegic raised his hammer again, intent on smashing another tree that had had the audacity to be between him and his lack of a destination; as it reached the apex of his swing, something collided with him, slamming between his shoulderblades. Between the force of the impact and the weight of the hammer, the erstwhile policeman found himself sprawled in the filthy mire. He pushed himself up on his elbows, spluttering and furious, then turned over to see the solidifying form of that old woman standing over him, one arm encased in some sort of spiked gauntlet and the other brandishing a glowing sword.

"Now you'll get what you deserve, coward!"

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerWe really need updates from people other than me, SO, and Ixcalibur...

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerIn particular, Larus has two people with him, and Telamon has yet to write anything this round. Hint, hint.

Originally posted on MSPA by Telamon.

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reserved

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerOh trust me, I'd be filling this page with goodies if I weren't dead. It's only just after my untimely demise that I really realized my potential as a writer, and I'm repeatedly smacking myself for that.

With a dead fish.

Kinda stinks.

Originally posted on MSPA by Telamon.

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Alright, this was getting ridiculous. Larus was grateful to have survived the first round in tact, and with a chance to catch his breath, and he supposed he didn't really mind watching D'Neya, just to stay cool with Sister Clara, but now the creature "B" had shown up as well. What was he, a kindergarten teacher? The last kid he'd had to deal with had turned into a human fireball and almost cooked him. He cast his mind back to the introduction. The irritating organizer guy had said something about turning into animals. Problematic.

"Behave yourself, little girl," he said sharply to the Twilight Sprite, before turning to B. "Look, I don't know who died last round, but I was nowhere near when it happened, and that suited me just fine. So how about we just lay low and hope someone else will do the dirty work for us, okay?"

"Sure, I guess..." answered B, eying the gray man warily.

As the mists thickened around them, Larus couldn't think of anything but how irritating the kid's voice was. Kids, good god. At this point he really just wanted someone ordinary and boring to beat the crap out of. As B watched him, he couldn't help but notice a glint in the boy's eyes. It seemed the annoyance was mutual.

Out of the corner of his eye, Larus suddenly caught a flash of color through the trees. "Oh god, it's that pink thing again. Let's get out of here before she tries to hug or stab us again."

"Yay, it's Aph!" cried D'Neya joyfully.

Before he knew what had happened, she slipped out of his grasp and strolled in the direction of the nymph. Larus swore under his breath, debating whether to follow or just seek safety elsewhere, when suddenly a thick bank of fog swept over him, obscuring his vision entirely.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Clara's rage-fueled swing scythed through the air, enchanted blade humming as it headed inexorably for Aegis's torso. She'd have had him in two if he hadn't returned his hammer to gauntlet form and rolled out of the way. The slime and water of the swamp filled his ears and hair, infuriating him further and making it difficult to rise. After several false starts and a few near misses with the nun's blade, he was once again upright, gauntlets shifting to a broadsword.

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Spoilerhey guys?

Originally posted on MSPA by eberron.

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SpoilerBump

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerI've been meaning to post this for a while. Now seems as good a time as any.



The Monitor at work. Thanks to Schazer for the image.

Now, how about some more story posts, people?

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerThis weekend, probably.

Meanwhile, care to show a few detailed shots of the character stats the Monitor has conveniently hologram'd? [img]images/smilies/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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SpoilerThat information is above your clearance level, competitor!

Anyway, that illustration's out of date

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerSo, hey. I have this idea for the next round, and I've even written a brief intro for it.

And I notice that this round is moving very, very slowly.

It might be a good idea to get some posts going, before I decide I'm more interested in posting this intro I've got written up than seeing what you guys will eventually do with berserk-inducing mist. Hint hint.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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B was bewildered by the sudden fog washing over him and his two competitors. "Where did you go?" He was going to call their names, but he couldn't remember them, and simply threw out a couple of guesses, "Denise? Larry? I-I swear! If you don't find me, I'll... I'll..."
Thoughts of violence clouded B's mind. The last time he felt so angry was when his brother started attacking all the bad scientists back home. It was getting harder to think, and he was having trouble keeping his anger under control.
The main thought that he could come up with was the dark corner of the lab. A place he could run away to whenever his instincts were getting the better of him. Going by that, he did what he could to make sure he wouldn't hurt anybody, and simply ran.

Unfortunately, this plan didn't go so well. Inside the fog, he rather quickly ran into a battling Clara. Quite literally, at that. Aegis approached the two, wielding what was now a broadsword, ready to strike his downed opponent.

B, of course, had reached his limit. His muscles bulged, his weapon became claws, and he grew greatly in size, and in body hair, becoming covered in a thick brown fur. Where just a moment ago there was a young boy on the ground, there was now a metal clawed grizzly bear taking a swipe at the gauntlet wearing man.

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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SpoilerYou guys are mean. [img]images/smilies/icon_sad.gif[/img] I might have some time tomorrow, but today I've got a big project I need to finish.