Intense Struggle! (Round 7 - The Database)

Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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As D'Neya skipped towards Aph, a strange feeling began to wash over her. Whispers...

The mist slowly but surely began to fill the area.

Voices, nagging voices. Saying countless things...

A small black book, covered in what was best described as Bunny stickers, fell from D'Neya's pocket.

Saying everything at once... Countless possible things they could be saying, in that sense they were saying nothing... because they were saying everything...

As Aph looked at the little girl skipping towards her, she began to feel something strange... This little girl, defenselessly caught in this battle... she had to protect her!

The voices said everything they could have said including everything that directly contradicts everything. So in essence they were saying...

That was it! This helpless little girl, she wasn't going to let anyone hurt her! Nothing would get past Aph-


The Monitor couldn't help but relish this opportunity. A hypothesis had been formed, the probability of its success reasoned to be high, and then action was taken based on that hypothesis. If his hypothesis had been true, then with the death of the one behind 'Mr. Book,' the one who'd been cheating, the contents of the book should be...

A light wind blew through the swamp, and opened up the book to a previously-unread page. On that page, was...

Nothing.


"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

A single black tentacle launched from D'Neya's arm, and formed into a massive black hand. The hand lashed out at the nearest thing she could see- Aph.

"What's the point?! Why would you say everything if all you wanted to say was 'Nothing?!' You could've just said 'nothing' and I would've understood! Not that there's anything to understand! It's nothing!"


That was right- no it was wrong! Not the word "nothing!" The book was supposed to be blank! This wasn't just him being wrong... somehow... the book was taunting him!

Aph was dreadfully confused. Somehow this sweet, innocent little-
Obnoxious little- nonono! Aph was filled with two feelings at once, her inner programming led to her to see D'Neya as a if she were her own child, but the mist caused her to look on her with contempt. Love... hate...

D'Neya's black arm held Aph pinned to a tree, but she wasn't really concerned with her.

Pink girl, weak, ally. That was easy. But there were six others! They were moving around so much, she couldn't even stop to judge them! "WHY CAN'T YOU IDIOTS JUST ALL STAY IN ONE PLACE?!"

All at once, countless tentacles lashed out from D'Neya's back. They stretched, and spread out. Countless eyes appeared all over the tentacles, and soon it was as though some kind of otherworldly abomination was beginning to fill the swamp.

She would find all of them.

Another breeze blew by, and the page in Mr. Book turned. This time it was covered in scribbles- some kind of red ink. The page was also peculiar, it looked as though someone had covered it in black charcoal.


whats the matter monitor confused???? you should be because the thing that you thought you knew you actually did know but then you were wrong about how knowing it would change it and so now im still here but im not really here because here is nowhere except its not really nowhere but its not anywhere or everywhere either its null is what it is

if your confused you really should be why dont you come down here and see why dont you come down here and breath your own mist and see what happens i think it would be hilarious if you decided to come down here and then the mist made you want to kill the other grandmasters i think we should see come on come down here its for science you like science dont you????

come on monitor i want to see what happens to i want to see you kill everyone i want to see that chaos as you bring death screw life and order screw balance lets you and me turn the whole natural order upside down come on do it monitor you know you want to see what happens

do itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo itdo it

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aegis charged forward, blinded by swamp water and careless of his direction. He expected to soon feel the sound of blade on flesh—the mere thought of it gave him some sort of unnatural satisfaction, and it seemed to close he was practically believing his own imagination. He certainly did not expect his face to ram into a strong wall of muscle and fur, much less receive a blow that knocked him several feet back and flung his broadsword out of his hands. After several seconds of thrashing, Aegis managed to stand up, only to meet the charge of a rushing bear. Luckily for him, it was slowed by the thick swamp, but the force of impact was large enough to knock him back down. Dazed, Aegis stood up once more and wiped off his face, his vision eventually adjusting. He saw the bear, which was now beginning to encircle him, and began to morph his gauntlets once more, before realizing that too much mass was lost in the broadsword.

By this point, Aegis' mind was saturated by the mist, and he lacked the reasonability to even make a witty remark. Instead, he let out a scream, and charged at the bear wielding only his bare gauntlets. The two muscle-bound giants met and began wrestling with each other, both fueled by mist and neither missing an opportunity to strike a blow to the other. With every metal claw came a metal fist, and vice versa. Only a well-aimed blow to the head from a spiked gauntlet shifted the fight to a side. Despite having helped him in attacking Aegis, B swatted Clara away as soon as she got in range. He then proceeded to pick up Aegis' barely-conscious body and threw him as far as he could, landing him deeper into the swamp with a splash.

By sheer stroke of luck, Aegis landed directly beside his broadsword. As soon as he realized this, he sprung up, wielding it again with a rejuvenated grin. The impact had seemed to knock a nearly-negligible amount of sense into him, and he reabsorbed his broadsword into his gauntlets, combined their masses, and began to form something more complex. An amorphous bulb appeared at his left hand, and an oblong machine began to take form. A metal sling appeared, wrapping around his shoulder and allowing him to aim with one hand. Aegis grabbed the nearest solid object—a decaying log that was practically mush—and fed it into a hole filled with blades in the back of his weapon. With a few seconds of warm-up, Aegis began firing a storm of splinters towards the general direction of B.

Despite using one of his most complex and force-intensive weapons, Aegis hardly harmed B at all. Most of the shots missed, and the ones that hit ricocheted off of B's thick fur—they were softened and decayed wood splinters, after all. Upon realizing this, Aegis' grin disappeared and, determined to not let his wooden ammunition go to waste, began to turn around, looking for a different target. He found one: a particularly thick squall of mist was headed towards him, and he immediately mistook it for Larus. He emptied an entire log's worth of splinters, and began wildly swinging his makeshift minigun towards his nonexistent enemy, now again within the mist's full effect. Soon, he lacked enough rationality to receive a metal gauntlet to his own face, knocking himself unconscious and into the swamp.

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SpoilerI am definitely having too much fun with this.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerAll right. I am now officially soliciting opinions on who to eliminate this round. The next round will begin soon, though I don't think I'm ready to give "soon" a definitive meaning.

I'm just going to note that I didn't get many opinions last time around, and would like to see more this time. I will also be contacting certain players who have been even more inactive than other players to remind them that this exists.

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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"What did I do to deserve this?" Bae thought to itself, It had been trying to rest and recuperate up against a log and the next thing it knew the log had been picked up by the Aegis man and fed into somesort of machine. It had then tried to get away in It's Cabaret disguise in an attempt to avoid being recognised and had gotten a face full of woodchips for It's trouble when It had gotten disorientated and ended up running towards the person it was trying to get away from.
Now It was in it's normal shape and sluggishly propelling itself along the top of the swamp, It needed to find somewhere that was relatively safe, somewhere where It could plan It's next move, it also needed sleep and figured that was a bad thing even considering that It's organs would eventually heal the damage done to them.
A few minutes later It had shifted back to it's Cabaret disguise and had just started to pick the bits of dead wood out of it's mass, so it's organs could heal, when a black tentacle slammed down behind it and caused it to jump in shock and fall into the fetid water again. It had turned around and was about to react to the situation when the surface of the tentacle erupted with countless eyes.
D'neya made a psychotic grin when the tentacle caught sight of "Cabaret". "I FOUND YOU!"
"Cabaret" made a noise akin to a mixture of a punctured tyre, a slightly squashed mouse and creaking door hinge when the tentacle started to move towards it. This was defineately a bad sign.

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SpoilerFINALLY I found enough creative spark to write this. Hopefully it wont take so long for me to do another one next time.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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Treeserved.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerI feel I've received enough opinions to make my decision, and so I have sent the death notice.

Note that it may be some time before the actual end of the round, as I have nefarious plans for this particular death, and I intend to see them carried out.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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B's thoughts were no longer merely clouded. By now it was like a thick veil, entirely obscuring any notion of rational thinking whatsoever. One would certainly find it hard to believe that this hulking angry creature was actually a small shy boy. He approached Aegis's unconscious body, ready to finish him off, raising a powerful claw, but that's about when it hit him.
A sword, that is. Clara had gotten up and was just as angry as before. B roared in pain, as Clara continued wildly attacking. Eventually, B managed to get a swipe in, knocking the woman back into a tree.
B had never been in quite a rage like this before in his life. If he could form coherent thoughts at the time, likely he would have realized that the mist was indeed the culprit behind the anger in the area, as beastial instincts only do so much. Luckily for him, a slight moment of clarity did come to him, as he started to approach his downed opponent. The mist lightened slightly in the area, and he could tell that it wouldn't end well if he stayed in the area.
The lighter mist did not last, however, and it quickly became thick once more, just as Sister Clara started getting up for more. The idea of getting out still stuck in his mind, however, and he ran on all fours, pursued by the woman.

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SpoilerDistractions = 10 hours for a less than stellar post.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerOh man, shit's gettin' real. To be honest I'm not entirely sure who's done for as of yet, but I have a few ideas.

It'll be nice not being the only one dead. [img]images/smilies/pc_chummy.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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'Cabaret' swiftly changed to his watery form and dodged the tentacle, but was suddenly surprised as a nearby patch of mist turned into Larus, who grabbed him.

"Interesting trick you pulled there," he said. "The shadowy guy never mentioned you could do that."

'Cabaret' shifted his face into a twisted grin. "Then I'd better take care of you before you can tell anyone else. The nymph and the girl over there aren't the brightest of enemies, and the other three are busy with each other." He shifted his body again, enveloping Larus in an attempt to drag him down into the muck, but Larus turned to mist again and drifted away, towards the melee between B, Clara, and Aegis.

Bae swam through the muck in pursuit. As he did, the Monitor's voice spoke in Bae's mind once again.

Even if he is caught up in the battle, if he survives he will inform the others of your abilities. Your mission will fail. But there is a way to salvage this situation. Listen carefully, and do as I say.

Larus reverted just outside the range of the swamp's mist - he had felt something strange about it ever since he first shifted, and was wary about going near outside of mist form. He saw a bear running towards him, followed by Clara, with Aegis not far behind.

"Well, looks like I don't need to get their attention..." he muttered, and turned to flee the other way, but Bae emerged from the swamp muck and suddenly struck him in the head. He fell unconscious, having no idea he was only spared by the Monitor's specific instructions.

As it happened, it was right as the other three left the mist. Their minds began to clear, as they saw Bae then take the form of Trickster.

"Well, I suppose there's no point in hiding it any more, is there?" 'Trickster' laughed. "The Monitor hired me to ensure the battle proceeded smoothly. I can take on any form..." - to emphasize the point, he changed back to his guise as 'Cabaret' - "...and so, I was to sow discord among you." He then changed his form to that of Larus. "But this fool found me out, and was clever enough to guide you towards me. So I suppose I'll be on my own from here on... unless, that is, the Monitor has another agent. I really couldn't say for sure."

Aegis took a step forward. "Then - did you kill Trickster? Or was it the real Larus?"

"The real one. Of course, that could be a lie. I just told you, my job is to sow discord." He laughed. "I'll see you next round, though you might not see me until it's too late." He vanished into the swamp.

Clara ran to Larus, and pulled his head out of the swamp muck. "He's unconscious," she yelled back, "but I believe he'll be fine."

Aegis paid her little attention. "We need to find that spy and stop him now." He turned to face B, but found the bear gone.

"Wonderful. Where could he have gone?"

A beaver's head suddenly popped out of the swamp ahead of him, smiling.

"What? Are you going to follow him?" Aegis asked, surprised. The beaver dove below, continuing to swim.

"Wait!" Aegis shouted. "Don't take him on alone!" He ran, but soon found his way into a patch of mist.

"Stupid kid!" he shouted. "Even if you kill him, how will we know if you do it alone?" He took his increasing frustrations out on a nearby tree.

***

Bae emerged in a small pond surrounded by trees, almost impossible to reach from the surface. The mist was especially thick here. He took Cabaret's shape once again.

"Now what?" he grumbled. "This plan of yours seems pretty risky to me."

That is why it was so important that you were not discovered, the Monitor's voice replied. This is what is necessary to salvage the situation.

"I don't quite see what you're thinking. I could have killed Larus right then and there."

He is still implicated in Trickster's death. They may be skeptical, of course, but they cannot be certain. It is best to maximize their uncertainty. That is why the next step is to isolate one opponent, and fight them alone. Destroy them, and take their place. And even if you fail me, if there is only one witness...

"What? That's your plan? You're leaving me to die?"

Whether you succeed or not is up to your own skills. I am merely ensuring the most benefit should you fail.

Bae's mask took the form of a scowl.

"I should never have taken this job."

Before he could finish, a crocodile burst out of the water at his feet. The mist affected it quickly, and a vicious grin crossed its face.

"It's that kid! I should have finished you when I had the chance!" Bae's arms shifted, surrounding the beast's throat, but it thrashed wildly in its rage, simply knocking the arms away.

Desperate, Bae reached for his knife, but before he knew it, the crocodile was upon him. It pounced and smashed him against a tree with immense force.

The crocodile clawed and bit at Bae's body. Damage was mostly superficial, but there was a greater concern - the beast was putting heavy pressure on the armored vest Bae wore to protect his vital organs. He didn't expect the vest to break, but it could be flattened, crushing his organs in the process. But if he removed it, he would have no protection at all against the vicious creature...

He gambled, and slipped out of his vest.

It was a poor gamble. The crocodile turned to the exposed shapeshifter, and swiftly devoured his heart. The water composing his body fell apart, melting into the swamp.

The crocodile changed back into B. Even under the effects of the mist, he retained enough awareness to be horrified at what he had just done...

Moments later, the world around the combatants disappeared.

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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The contestants found themselves disoriented once more, as the swamp around them vanished in an instant, and was replaced with a sprawling desert.

The landscape was largely featureless, with little to obscure the contestants' view into the distance. But, in every direction, at the edge of the horizon, there were signs of water. Was this desert on an island, or was the water a mere mirage?

What few features there were appeared to be ruined buildings, as though a civilization had once stood on this spot, only to fall victim to erosion and decay.

As the combatants took in their surroundings, the Monitor spoke.

"This is a world known as the Wasteland. There was a civilization here once, but like many 'civilized' people, they sought increasingly powerful weapons in order to destroy one another. What you see before you is the result of the endless escalation. This island is the only remaining landmass of any significant size, and it is nothing but a barren desert."

The Monitor's words were suddenly interrupted by a loud rumbling in the distance.

"Ah, and it is also home to a rather unpleasant creature, which lives below the sands. You may want to avoid it - or perhaps feed one of your opponents to it in order to end the round and ensure your own safety. Oh, and incidentally - those weapons I mentioned, which created this wasteland? A few of them are, miraculously, still intact. Perhaps you can use this fact to your advantage."

The Monitor's voice faded, and the contestants were once more left to fend for themselves.

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SpoilerWelcome to the Wasteland! This arena is actually based off of one of the sections of Grand Battle 1's Pop-Up Land. Since it didn't see much action there, I thought I'd bring it back for this - the original suggestion was mine anyhow.

Basically, you're in a large desert, with water surrounding it. There are ruined facilities containing who-knows-what... and there is also a monster under the sands. The nature of the monster is up to you guys. There may be monsters in the water if you go that far, too.

Oh, and a summary of the death post for anyone too lazy to read it all, since there are details that will likely affect character interactions:

-Everyone except D'Neya and Aph was present for Bae's confession. (Well, Larus was unconscious, so he'll have to be filled in, but he did see Bae shift. D'Neya and Aph have seen him shift as well.) They know the Monitor had an agent among them, and may be wondering if he has others.
-Nobody saw B kill Bae. Therefore, the rest of you will probably be looking on him with suspicion, having no way of knowing which of them actually survived.
-B is feeling pretty messed-up about killing someone. It's up to cyber to elaborate on that, but if anyone else interacts with him first, know that he's not going to be happy.
-The Monitor is a bastard. But you knew that already.

Have fun, guys!

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerWelcome to the club of dead people.

's what you get for impersonating me kinda sorta. D:<

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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SpoilerWelcome to the club of dead people.

's what you get for impersonating me kinda sorta. [img]images/smilies/aghast.gif[/img]<

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SpoilerCome off it dood. It's what Bae did...possibly does, I may salvage the blob and use it again another time. I needs to make better use of abilitys to sow confusion and suspicion...maybe I should start playing IRC paranoia again.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerIt was a joke, lol.

Welcome to the dead people club, though.

We have tea on Tuesdays.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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As the misty swamp faded and was replaced with a desolate wasteland Aph collapsed back, no longer pinned against a tree. As she hit the ground her head was spinning; the magical effects of the mist coupled with her recent imprinting upon D'Neya was affecting her curiously. She couldn't focus, her head covered in sweat and her body weak and lifeless. Her vision blurred, and she struggled to keep her eyes open, somehow feeling that if she couldn't she would never open them again.
“D'Neya, my dear.” She choked out. But D'Neya didn't respond. She was either distracted or just plain uninterested.
Slowly her eyes closed and she passed into unconsciousness.

And in a way she was right.

Aph as she was now would never open those eyes again.

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SpoilerSo I eventually came to realise that Aph is a pain to write. Not so much each individual bit, those are pretty easy to write. The pain to write thing is when she re-imprints on someone new and so we go through all that again and again. I clearly did not think her through. This is why I have been so inactive. This is the first part of a process to make her easier to write and hopefully more fun to read.

Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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SpoilerIt was a joke, lol.

Welcome to the dead people club, though.

We have tea on Tuesdays.

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Spoilerooh tea.

Originally posted on MSPA by The Dr..

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SpoilerYeah, but some asshole usually ends up spiking it with vodka.

(It's me. Don't tell anyone.)

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerOkay, dead guys, can you cut the chatter for a bit? You might fool people into thinking this is actually an active topic!

Also, the Monitor might get mad and arrange for you to be moved to a worse afterlife. With bears.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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I have certain... reservations about this.

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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B was crying. He knew what he had done, and he felt worse than he had ever felt before. Nauseated, even. He looked at his weapon. It was covered in blood, still fresh. Plucked from his home, thrown into some deathmatch, made to kill.
He once came close to killing before, when his brother C had done so en masse to all the scientists that created him, he nearly joined in. This, however, was unnatural. He had no reason to want to kill Bae, even if he was a spy or something, and that anger was not simply instincitve. It was the swamp, somehow. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't his fault. The fog made him crazy. Yeah, that was it. He couldn't take any responsibility due to that.
It wasn't that simple, of course, but B hoped he could distract himself for at least a little while by figuring out his new surroundings. A large desert area. A verifiable wasteland, as it's name implies. In the distance, a laboratory building was visible, very worn down, and it reminded B of his home. He knew it wasn't, but it felt comforting to see it anyways, and he headed for it.

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SpoilerStage one: Denial.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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Reservededed

Ugh unreserved sorry I will post later or in the morning

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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SpoilerMan I wish this battle wasn't quite so dead. [img]images/smilies/pc_bemused.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerMan I wish this battle wasn't quite so dead. [img]images/smilies/pc_bemused.gif[/img]

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SpoilerOne thing you could do to help with that is follow up on your last post. The other players can't interact with Aph much until you explain what you're doing.

If you're waiting for something to happen first, PM somebody and ask them to set up whatever it is.

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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SpoilerI was just planning on having her be unconscious a little while, to give her a realistic amount of time to change, but nevermind.

Aph awoke with a start. She felt different, less lonely, more confident... and also irritable. She glanced around at those around her, first spotting Sister Clara, but noting that Larus, D'Neya and Aegis were all nearby. Great, she thought, I'll just lie down in the desert and die and nobody will bother to come and help me. From most of them she might have expected it, but from Sister Clara who was supposed to be a nun... Aph rolled her eyes and climbed up.
"Oh don't worry guys." she said sarcastically. "I'm fine. Nothing wrong with me. Just decided to take a little nap in the middle of the desert."

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SpoilerExplanation: Nymphs are man-made beings, crafted from magic. Designed so that the first person they see provokes a steadily increasing emotional response, until they disengage with that person. They are not designed for battle and placing Aph in battle has resulted in unexpected developments. The magic of the mist in the previous round, combined with recently imprinting on D'Neya has caused her to absorb some of the magic contained within the mist. She still works approximately the same before but instead of a steadily increasing emotional response of love and need, she has a steadily increasing emotional response of hatred and rage.

To begin with: MILD IRRITABILITY! [img]images/smilies/mspa_face.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

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Sand... everywhere sand.

D'Neya's tentacles retracted, and she collapsed to the ground. To suddenly be teleported out of the mist like that, it was quite a blow to her mind. Not only that, but this HEAT!

Someone had died, and she didn't know who. The obviously-weak-pink-girl was still around, and she could see the old lady a short distance away. The probably-strong-muscular-man was also nearby- she would have to try and kill him once she sorted everything out.

Let's see, 8 contestants originally, two new arenas means two dead. That left six. Pink lady and old lady were supposed to be allies, and buff man an enemy. Obviously D'Neya herself was a contestant, which left two unknowns. Had the little boy lived? If so he was another ally, which would have left the old gray man from before- also an ally.

If it was just the people she remembered who were still alive then, things sorted themselves out! She giggled to herself, and, completely forgetting the heat, skipped right up to Aegis.

"Excuse me Mr. Muscular Man. Mr. Book said I'm supposed to kill you, have you done everything you want to do with your life?"

She said with a charming smile.

Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

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I will have a post up this afternoon/evening. This is not a reserve, just an attempt to guilt myself into working.