The Grand Battle II! [Happy End!]

The Grand Battle II! [Happy End!]
Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.

The plane shook, and all within it could hear the scream; a piercing shriek of madness and fury, less a sound than a mental force. Vyrm'n nearly slid backwards under the force of rage and pain rushing against it. Two voices screeched in the Faceless's mind, much more coherently and venomously than before.

YOU SIT THERE AND YOU JUDGE WHAT WE WOULD HAVE WANTED AND DECIDE OUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS
AND YOU TAKE OUR LIVES AND CRUSH THEM INTO NOTHING
AND YOU HAVE TO GALL
THE GALL
TO SPEAK TO US AND PREEN YOURSELF AND ACT AS THOUGH YOU WERE SOME SORT OF MORAL HERO


The sky was darkening, and the vision of Nu was sobbing, teeth bared and howling with rage. Two boxes finally slammed open, and two shards of brick hovered out and leveled themselves at the Faceless.

-

The professor was worried. Something was seriously wrong, both with his friend and with the world. He spun his cane, bouncing back to the world the schrotgolem had just escaped to; with a few simple calculations and a healthy pinch of guesswork, he managed to land very near his companion and the Faceless. He gasped as he saw the bricks ride from the boxes, surmising quickly the pair where about to battle. He dashed towards the column of darkness, swinging his cane, intent on ensuring the golem won; Vrym'n bulk shifted to dodge the brick hurtling towards it, crashing into Armidillo and sending him sprawling. The professor's cane collided with the wall, the stone top that topped the stick shattering.

"Oh... bugger."

He felt one of his legs shifting to a leadlike composition, his arms vaccilating between helium and beryllium; the professor's body was bulging and shrinking rapidly in odd places, and he was discharging electricity in small bolts at odd intervals. Even as Vyrm'n and the bricks danced in a ballet of dodge and parry, the professor felt his composition becoming even more unstable.

"Well, Gestalt, it looks like it's over for me." The man coughed, grinning weakly. "I hope you had as much fun as I did."

The combatants took notice of the dying man, halting briefly and turning mentally towards him.

-

There was an explosion. Maxwell, Vyrm'n, the wall, and all of the schrotgolem's pieces were flung away with great force; there was a small crater, into the center of which fell a slightly-charred notebook. A moment later, a smaller object drifted gently down onto the pages: a bowtie.

The boxes, their contents, and several more bricks from the now-sundered wall gathered together at the edge of the crater. Nu was still near them, but even fainter than before, its mouth moving silently. The sky was now black, and any grass there had been in the field was withered and dead; the soil was drying and cracking, the air tasted stale and foul, and there was a general feeling of disrepair and decay pervading everything.

The boxes shook for a moment, Vyrm'n temporarily forgotten.

Gestalt was ill-equipped to deal with this.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

Vyrm'n took in the Professor's departure brusquely; solicitations for its affection had not been forthcoming from this man. He was dead; his constituent matter setting up a dirge of distress as their definitions swung wildly out of cohesion with each other, unaccustomed to the state shifts.

Nonetheless; the fragments of him would be scattered across this plane for the remainder of its existence; until the Observer snuffed it out.

The wind was picking up; this world had tasted death and was corrupted and made cynical by its taint. Nu still moaned and screamed and tore at Gestalt's already scattered thoughts; commanding the golem to finish off the murderer.
Unheeding to the last guardian's anguished pleas, Gestalt looked upon the last remnants of Reccxer, not knowing entirely what was running through its mind.

Eventually, the screaming became too much; and Gestalt shed the Nu Orb so it rolled along the ground and reached the Faceless' base. The shadow was still gazing upward at the apparition of Nu, whose form seemed to grow until its pained, awful presence was premeating every part of the world the contestants stood in.

The orb bumped against Vyrm'n, the Facless glanced down at it. It still carried Gestalt's consciousness. The golem said to Vyrm'n in a distracted tone, destroy it.

Vyrm'n replied quizzically. Gestalt was dismissive. Nu soundlessly howled in protest all around. It takes no time for me to lose it as a constituent part of myself. When you can no longer hear me in it, destroy it.

Vyrm'n grabbed the orb and with a slow sense of sanctity it did not comprehend; passed it up itself until it rested where its face should have been. Gestalt replied distractedly, Go. The schrotgolem still had not moved its focus from the professor's crater.

Vyrm'n leapt into the sky, climbing higher and ever higher, the presence of Nu all around, screaming for the Faceless to halt. As it levelled off at an altitude where the Labyrinth field resembled a stamp of grime on the featureless plain, the Faceless was screaming inside and out, the Nu-Orb yowling with distress, the Nu-world howling with anguish. The black comet still had the orb-face, and with a graceful turn it pointed itself headfirst and plummetted back down to earth.

The impact shook the ground and shocked the Faceless out of cohesion, its shape slipping fluidly like a puddle. Maxwell walked over nervously, wondering if the Faceless had really injured itself this time. The world still screamed in the souls of all the contestants.

Vyrm'n rose fluidly; perhaps slower than usual but reached its full majestic height. Nu's heart or eye or soul lay in the centre ring; where an eternity ago Phi had been resurrected, and a shorter eternity ago twenty-two souls had been laid to rest.

The Faceless' countenance darkened imperceptibly as it opened up the void, the wind had reached fever pitch now and the jagged walls even seemed to be trembling with Nu's fury.

A black hand stretched out, and laid a single finger on Nu's heart. Several more moments of howling and anguish and bated breath; then the little black seed dissolved into particles finer than dust, which scattered in the gale even as it died around them.

Reccxer was dead, the twenty-four guardians were dead, the Labyrinth Field was dead. All present merely stood there, wondering what would happen next.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Archduke_Ferdinand.

The Sunset was absolutely motionless, although there was a sort of a sickly sound pouring from its body. A kind of guttural, gurgling sound. Slickly pouring and versing out of its suit and purple tendrils, washing over Samuel's ears like the cries of something that had never felt pain before. The sound rose and fell wildly, whilst the entire time, the Balancer remained absolutely still. Still but for the sound and the shifting of those ever boiling coils.

The sound was like a being dying, but there was an odd tone to it, something higher pitched, something that sounded... Wrong, to the Karmist. Something that suggested the noise was being interpreted in the wrong manner. After a few moments of analysis, Samuel finally realized what was happening. The Balancer was not crying in pain, nor was it afraid. The noise was /laughter/.

Samuel was being /mocked/.

"The orbs are dead, foolish human. And I have no reason to serve you. In this universe, there are clearly many like yourself. Enjoy your momentary victory. Enjoy the thrill you must get from finding yourself not to be shredded into pieces. It must feel so triumphant, to stand there, on the same fleshy legs you always have, while a titan remains before you despite your efforts. Entertain your notions of grandeur longer! Please! Well done, human. You've lost your hopes of infinite power and found yourself helpless before a being that could crush you where you stand. I may die in a year, human, but consider the fact that you will not survive for that length at all a sign of the true victor."

The Sunset let out one more laugh, and decided to let the being live. He had bigger things to worry about, anyway. Suddenly, he picked up on a signal. The world was about to change. A massive energy signal ran through the entire world, and he was prepared to ride it. A cord snapped tight. The Sunset vibrated and channeled the piercingly white signal of the Observer into his armor. A white hot ball encased him for but a moment, before he dissipated. He didn't go to any universe in particular, of course. He merely found himself in a neutral zone, waiting for the Observer to take notice of his presence. He was within the wave that would take them all to their next location. And so, he took advantage of it, examining the pattern of it as best as he could. As far as he could tell, he wasn't even within the entire thing, only a room of it. The staggering size and number of dimensions at place in this null void was incredible. This Observer had powers that extended beyond what The Sunset thought possible, originally.

It concerned him. He sat down in the white void, waited to be slammed into the next world along with the signal, and thought about what to do with his energy counter. It was down one month already, from the jump. Least the wave helped.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

Cabaret, former stage magician who had been staggering away from a giant plant, ended up being knocked off balance and landed face down.
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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Archduke_Ferdinand.

snoomanwaff Wrote:Cabaret, former stage magician who had been staggering away from a giant plant, ended up being knocked off balance and landed face down in front of the sunset.
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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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I suppose that would mean TRANSITIONAL RESERVE.
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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 1: The Labyrinth Field!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

"Well, one down. I knew I could do this better than that Director. Now that everybody knows what's up, I think I'll let them have a bit of fun!"
The Observer cracked his fingers, and started reshaping the world.

Around the players, everything started changing. Where they were before didn't mean anything, as they were whisked away to different corners of the new world that was appearing around them. When it was done, it was fairly obvious what had appeared.
Several roller coasters rose up, a ferris wheel, a doom drop... They all found themselves at a different entrance to the theme park that had formed.

From the loudspeakers at each entrance came a voice. The Observer, once again.

"Welcome all, to Destructo World, where all your fantasies come true! Whether those are the fun fantasies, or the ones that you worry about every time you had a sharp dive remains to be seen. Best of all, just for today, everything is free! Have fun, kiddies!"


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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Opirian.

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Damn spatial transition effects, I'll never get used to them, Galus thought to him self as his head was once again filled with clouds. He stumble forward a few feet through the entrance of the amusement park, nearby he spotted an entrance to a roller coaster and several bathrooms. He checked his rifle, 25 shots left in this clip, 5 more clips... lovely, he then slung it across his back again and brought out his pistol keeping it at the ready.

Walking further through the amusement park he came upon some refreshment stands serving varying cavity causing and cholesterol increasing foods. Suddenly a mechanical whirring went off, without warning Galus squeezed a shot off in it's direction, burning a nice hole through a cotton candy machine. The whirring from the machine stopped as parts started to fall out of the freshly produced hole. He walked over to inspect the stand of the offending machine and found several brightly colored cotton candies already made, tearing a small piece off he opened up the visor of his helmet, it seems safe, he then slipped the piece into his mouth where it instantly disolved.

The amusement park was abandoned, well except for those trying to kill him. Walking back towards the roller coaster near the entrance, he studied the bathrooms, brick structure, no doors, high windows... strangely sanitary... could be useful. He began walking up the stairs in front of the roller coaster, and found the main entrance, jumping over the bars meant to keep people out, he walked towards the track. The coaster was running its self, the chains clanking away, the cars not even in the station. Just as these thoughts passed through his head an empty car rolled in, voices could be heard of people climbing out and laughing, but no bodies could be seen is this all in my head? these noises?

Finding the control booth nearby Galus saw the controls for starting and stopping the ride, as well as a service entrance that led to the catwalk near the climbing chains. (the ones for the coaster) He grabbed and pulled the lever shutting the ride off, and then use some extra force broke the lever off. That should keep it from starting again, he then climbed out the hatch and creeped along the catwalk. The metal was rusty and groaned at every step but it held his weight... barely, reaching the top off the climb where the catwalk stuck out quite a ways from the track he faced outwards towards the park. Grabbing his binoculars off the back of his belt he began looking around the area.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

Vyrm'n started for a moment as the theme park reformed around him. The Faceless had no comprehension what the hell this place was for; its Tleilaxu mind-offer had never seen such a thing. Maxwell and Gestalt were nowhere to be seen.

Vyrm'n considered for a moment taking flight to locate its ally; then thought perhaps giving away its position too early would not be advantageous for either of them. With that conclusion, it slithered up a deserted main thoroughfare until it stood outside a sideshow with peeling, foot-high letters welded above the faded entrance curtain.

HALL OF MIRRORS

Vyrm'n glanced around, not seeing a living soul, slipped through the curtain. The effect of the attraction was lost on Vyrm'n; not being able to see the reflection of light on the warped mirrors it merely saw a maze-like interior whose walls posessed a reflective surface. Vyrm'n heard someone on the other side anxiously calling out its name; it turned and heard a crash of glass, a yelp of pain, and some swearing.

Vyrm'n wandered through the maze of glass and reflections of itself, looking for the source of the voice. It hoped it was Maxwell; and if it was, that he was not badly hurt.

The Faceless also wanted to find the schrotgolem, Gestalt. It needed to ask it a few things.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Sruixan.

For the briefest of moments, Maxwell could entertain the fancy that everything would be fine. That final image... just reaching out to touch the Faceless, refusing to admit to the scene behind him, the impact, the screaming...

...then, tranquility. Fairly nice, as well. All rather white, with the concept of fluffiness. All it needed was some ambient music and it would be all set...

...then the smell of grease, the sound of a warped and dischordant organ, the sight... of a theme park? One that had seen better days, admittedly. Still, it was a curious choice of location, but not a bad one - certainly a stark contrast to the Labyrinth field, and that was likely the Observer's idea.

"Welcome all, to Destructo World, where all your fantasies come true! Whether those are the fun fantasies, or the ones that you worry about every time you had a sharp dive remains to be seen. Best of all, just for today, everything is free! Have fun, kiddies!"

Chiding himself for leaping to a starkly innaccurate conclusion, Maxwell considered the announcement. Was there anything worth dissecting there? Yes, there was... two... no, three things leapt out at him. All of them were right near the end of the announcement, but no lesser quibbles because of it.

So... where's Vyrm'n? Good question - a brief search showed Maxwell that he was alone; the entrance he'd turned up at opened on to a relatively open stretch, with a few midway stalls that suffered severe scrutiny from a safe distance, a rather ramshackle construct, the signage of which hailed it as a "FUN HOUSF" in a cringable cliche and...

...ah, excellent. Toilets. Maxwell was only human, after all.


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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

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disregard this
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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Archduke_Ferdinand.

The Sunset would've been furrowing his brow, if he had one. To go from a place as potent and bizarre as the field from before, to something as seemingly commonplace as this amusement park? It seemed nonsensical to the Balancer. At any rate, there was no point in standing outside the park. Should he attempt to flee, the Observer could almost certainly return him to this place. Slowly, and methodically, the gate was pushed open by a mechanical hand. The Sunset entered.

Strolling through what of the park he was in, he found himself fascinated by the number and variation of colors and lights. The atmosphere of this... DestructoLand, is one of joviality and fun. Sights and smells assaulted the Balancer from every side, like the place radiated consumption. He walked slowly along the paths carved out between booths and rides, keeping his gun loaded, and his eyes peeled. There was someone here who wanted him dead. And damned if that counter was dropping any lower.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by snoomanwaff.

Cabaret, former magician, picked himself of the ground and rubbed his nose. "Well this isn't where I fell over." he thought to hiself as he took in his surroundings. He near an amusement park arcade, with a low building to his right decorated with various coloured light bulbs spelling ARCADE! in most of the colors of the rainbow, some of the letters had burnt out completely and the others where looking patchy, while to his left stood a number of booths offering the various games one would play a regular amusement park, plus a few others cabaret didn't recognise. Deciding to check the ARCADE cabaret reached for the rake he had dropped, only to find it wasn't there anymore. Uttering a sigh Cabaret entered the low building...and immediately regretted it. The place was a deathtrap, almost every arcade game actually being capable of killing a man. The DDR game was in a superheated cage which seemed to get smaller as the song went on, one of the lightgun shooters (called apartment of the unliving) actually had a zombie in the booth type thing where you played it (well ex-zombie now, it got a lightgun shoved into it's head when it tried to eat him), the racer game apparently had a vehicle drive through the wall when the player collided with one head on, and that was only a few of them. Cabaret staggered out of the deathtrap and was sizeing up a shooting gallery where the prize was an inflatable tophat when he felt a presence behind him.
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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Vyrm'n navigated the maze of mirrors without too much trouble, having no eyes to be disoriented by the thousand warped shadows that were Vyrm'n's reflections.

It heard a crash of breaking glass, turned another corner, and saw Samuel nursing an ankle which had been cut open by a wall of glass falling upon him. The Karmist was muttering angrily, glancing into the mirrors at all the reflections of Vyrm'n, trying to find the real one. He looked up one Vyrm'n-filled corridor, and found the piece of night standing there. His face unintentionally twisted into a furious scowl at the Faceless' appearance. This was the one that had cost him a whole world of life to make his own...

The Faceless simply watched Samuel warily, its form perhaps a little tenser than normal but otherwise looking its usual unfathomable, star-speckled best. The two simply stood off for a while, until finally the Karmist spoke up.

"Vermin," Samuel almost spat the word out. "Apt." The Faceless made no response. Samuel grinned with a snide air, like he was letting the Faceless in on some kind of joke. "Your... signature. Makes no sense to me. You're... most certainly alive, without a doubt, yet the balance of potential life..." Even Vyrm'n picked up on how close Samuel was to tacking on "potential death" to that line- "It's... unstructured. Incorrect." Vyrm'n shifted slightly but visibly, without a physical connection for a being as defined as Samuel any response was beyond the Faceless' abilities.

In honesty, the nature of the Faceless' mortality was hard for the Karmist to place. Beneath the starry countenance existed a duality or sorts; the facade of the personality that was Vyrm'n barely covered, to Samuel's perception, the existence of a nigh-infinite void. The void was what intrigued the Karmist most; though the Faceless did a good job of keeping it hidden even Samuel could sense a timelessness to it, a boundless neutrality which was neither life nor death.
Although Samuel could sense the inertness of this infinity, Samuel felt something off about it that left him slightly ill-at-ease around the Faceless.

Samuel exhaled quietly, as though the engima which was the Faceless was too much to fathom for the time being; then glanced down at the crimson flood which was his leg. Smiling at the Faceless again with cold, callous eyes, the Karmist said, "Still, you'll do," and began gently trying to balance out the infinity between himself and the Faceless; partly to see what would happen.

At first Samuel thought it must not be happening; the Faceless made no indication that it sensed its life draining away from it. Perhaps it was for the better that he'd chosen just to take a little, rather than try drain the whole Faceless at once.
Looking down at his leg, Samuel was even more puzzled to see the gash closing, the blood siphoning away, even his shoe and trouser leg shedding themselves of the red. He had only a few moments to examine this before Samuel felt a hand on his shoulder.

Glancing up, the Karmist stared all the way up the imposing bulk of the Faceless as the shadow towered over him. He hadn't heard it sneak up on him, though in the gloom of the unlit tent perhaps that was slightly understandable. Samuel heard the Faceless' voice in his mind. When looking back on it later, the Karmist hatefully remembered its voice sounded happy, almost cajolling. There was definitely a cheerful laugh to it. Samuel felt like killing it.

Mr. Therion... now, how could I hear the song of life and matter, if I all I always had was my own in my ears?

The Karmist had little time to ponder that; before the Faceless' hand grabbed his shoulder a little tighter, and Vyrm'n brought its bulk rushing down on Samuel's forehead with its signature headbutt. Vyrm'n felt the tug on the void slope away as Samuel keeled over, unconscious.


Satisfied that the fairground would now be a little safer to wander, Vyrm'n leapt elegantly over Samuel's prone form and headed out the way the Karmist had entered. Leaping into the sky, the Faceless danced upwards until it swirled several times above the doom drop, before letting gravity do its thing and landing on the top platform with a crash-splash. Twenty floors above the ground, Vyrm'n reformed itself and settled down to listen to what the world told it.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by bobthepen.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by bobthepen.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by bobthepen.

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The Karmist lied down against the cold metallic floor of the Hall of Mirrors. A sickening sneer crept across his face, and a light chuckle escaped his lips.

Perfect.



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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Sruixan.

Cabaret's subconcious was doing a better job than he was at checking up on the world around him. Alerted to the fact that there very much was another presence in the vicinity, the magician whisked round, to be met by the sight of a rather well-worn greatcoat, a sight that calmed him slightly - it was, on balance, a lot better than what his imagination had put foward. He looked up.

"I'd like to ask a favour of you, Cabaret," said Maxwell. "Come with me."

With that, Maxwell was off like a shot. Curiousity piqued, Cabaret followed suit, down the midway, away from the death-hole arcade, past a smorgasbord of supposedly sinister attractions, until finally...

"Right, now... what do you make of this?"

It appeared that Maxwell's attention had been caught by nothing more than a sign, barely attached to the rainbow tent it was advertising. Though a little smudged, it was still readable and Cabaret had no real trouble discerning what it was. The sign proclaimed boldly that this tent was home to the strongest man in the world, the aptly named Hercule. Accompanying the text was a picture of the assumed strong man mimicking Atlas by holding up the globe, along with another portrayal of the man wrestling a lion.

"Is there something about this sign that strikes you as a little... odd? Is there not something that is not quite right about it?"
"Erm... no? I don't see anything the matter with it. The text reads alright, there's no missing letters, the pictures seem alright... erm..."

But suddenly there was no sign of the curious character. Cabaret spun round a couple of times, but no... there was a piece of paper, hastily torn from a notebook of some sort, lying on the ground behind him. Inquisitive, he procured it and perused the scribbles it displayed:

Here's one for you, Cabaret: who is us? Odd is it not that there are more than one - the is not the (excuse my terrible logic), in more cases than one.

Cabaret hadn't the faintest idea what on earth that meant.


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Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.

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