[The Official RPN Character Challenge 2015]The Preliminary Round!

[SkyGinge]

Spoiler

@TesslaCoil @The Servant @Dark Severus

@QuirkyAngel @FewUtherClockKlik @Kiyoko Tomoe @Jarkov Malachai

The Time has Finally Come!

It's starting.


You were torn from your comfy world into a dream-like void. When there was nothing left but nothingness itself, you heard that ominous greeting, coming from a voice that came from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously (which is some mighty-talented multitasking, lemme tell-ya): 'You have been chosen by the Gods to participate in an almighty set of trials. Win, and you will earn the ultimate glory. Lose, and you will disappoint us. Good luck, challenger!' Baffled, overwhelmed, you found yourself in the lobby of a peculiar apartment block, adrift amid an endless void. Were you dreaming? Were you not? It is still impossible to tell.


And so you wandered around aimlessly, questioning your life (or lack thereof). What was the meaning of those words? Where were you, and why? What did it all mean? If only your creators could break the fourth wall and tell you. (please don't actually do that). Nevertheless, when the announcement came, you were ready for it.


"Chosen Ones," that voice again, the one that rung from every angle like the cloister bells in the cathedral of Hell, imbued with some strange, invisible precision behind its ambiguity, "The time has come for you to make your way to the Arena, where you shall meet your destiny. And also Aldur, but he's less important. Good luck; we trust you will not disappoint."


Then, as if by magic, a path of glittering light appeared in front of you, leading you to a tunnel at the side of Staff-Chan Enterprises, where you would find your way to...


The Arena!

You step out of the darkness of the tunnel, surrounded by your fellow competitors, men and women and creatures of all shapes and sizes, and find yourself in an enormous arena. In the middle is a raised stage, to the side of which there is a rack with a number of different weapons. At a complete contrast to the historical decor, on the other side of this stage is a large computer monitor, complete with a set of very obvious and simple-to-use buttons of various sizes. The stands are empty, except for some weird orc guy, who is conducting some kind of weird orc percussion group (you could say that it's an orc-hestra, badum-tiss! (hey, look, don't judge, I'm an omniscient voice, it's not like I get out much)). He looks a bit scary, so it's probably best to ignore him and focus on the task at hand, whatever that may be.


The path leads you into the stands, when suddenly, the booming voice returns: "Challengers. This is the Preliminary Round. The goal is simple: impress us. Think of this as a sort of celestial 'RPN's got Talent', where we, the Gods, are the judges. You are to come up to the stage, one at a time, and show off something. What you show is up to you: your fighting skills, perhaps; your powers, maybe; or even a more mundane skill, like singing or, I dunno... juggling. We have provided various materials for you to use at your behest. Thus, the stage is set: show us what you've got, and do not disappoint!"


"Now, you may rise to the stage, one by one. There is no specific order, but please don't push in front of each-other. You are the Chosen Ones, for crying out loud, not a bunch of kids rushing for the Ice-Cream Truck."

The Orcs begin to play, and the Round Begins!





​

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The Task!The Gods have asked your character to show off on the stage. It is up to you to be creative and make your character do something to impress them. You can show off your combat skills - there is a weapons rack beside the stage as mentioned, and the 'computer screen' with all its buttons allows your player to summon in 'dummies' to fight against. The dummies are human-sized straw figures, who have enough sentience to stand up if knocked down, and have the same resistance to attacks as human flesh, but don;t move other than to correct themselves (that is, of course, unless you mess around with some of the settings on the computer screen - be creative!) If you are a non-combat character, you may use the computer to summon in an item/materials that pertain to your character's skillset. Similarly, you could attempt something more mundane or comical - remember that we are judging by

these criteria, not necessarily on how good your character is at reking face.

Preliminary Round Rules! As mentioned, this round will work differently than every other round. In all later rounds, the focus will be on interaction between players. But for this round, you only have one post in which to perform for the Gods. If you make a second post, it will be immediately deleted. Therefore you will not be interacting with other players as part of the judging of this round - instead, you will be posting individually. However, if you do want to react to other people's 'performances' and chat with others amongst the stands, you can do so in this out-of-combat thread, which will not be judged. So make sure you put as much effort into your post as possible! Remember these rules at all times. The Round will run from the opening on this thread (Monday 29th June) until Midnight GMT on Friday 3rd July (7:00PM EST). Any posts made after this period will be immediately deleted. The point of this round was to cut the group down to the nice number of 64. Seeing as we actually have just under that amount of submissions, nobody will be being eliminated this round. You will, however, still be being judged on your performance here - the Judges will simply factor it in to their judging of Round One. Regardless, you must post; if you fail to post this round, you will be immediately eliminated. All posts should be replies to this thread; post down below! If you have any questions about this round specifically, ask them in this linked thread! Similarly, if you want to banter about in OOC about this round, there is a specialised thread!

 

[Nenma Takashi]

Haru smiled did some warm-ups and stepped onto the stage he quickly wondered what he should do. He snapped his fingers as an idea popped in. "Got it!" He ran over to the computer pressing some buttons. He had it create a line of dummies behind he. He spun on his heel and faced the dummies taking a deep breath he mumbled. "One no two three tops." He rubbed his chin then nodded. "Definitely three I can handle that." The row of dummies went all the way from in front of Haru who was on the edge of the stage to the other end of the stage. He got in a runners starting position. Blades burst from his elbows and he smiled. "SORU!" He dashed forward at a speed of 56 mph slicing at blinding speeds he suddenly stops after cutting one third of the dummies. "SORU!" He moved again slicing another third of the dummies. "One last time SORU!" He dashed again finishing the dummies he exhaled. Then turned to the dummies they all seemed unfazed until he tapped one which caused a domino affect. The dummies fell apart but they all were cut to be little figures of Haru doing different poses. Retracting his blades he held out his hands to the figures doing jazz hands. "Ta daaa!" He proclaimed with a smile. "Pretty neat huh." He chuckled this was fun it'd been a while since he showed someone this trick. Last person to see this was his sister.

 

[Firelava]

Riding up to the stage on top of Freki, the larger of his Hellhounds, Dues Irea leaned over to the computer. Spending nearly a minute at the thing a group of 50 dummies appeared, and the moved into a square. All at once their forearms distended, the left arm turning into a square, like a tower shield. Their right arms morphed until they all held short sword shaped objects. As one they moved together and went into the shape of a Reluxean Phalanx formation, all shields and the tips of swords, ready to stab.


Moving back to stand across from the group Dues barked commands to his pair of Hounds, directing the way they stood until Geri faced the group. Foot long fangs showed as his lips peeled back and the infernal dog seemed to breathe in, before unleashing a inferno of flames the color of fresh blood stolen from an Angels heart. The front line of soldiers seemed to melt in the flames, and faces could be seen screaming in the fire itself as it destroyed. Calling Geri back he began the real attack. The second line of dummies had closed in on themselves, reforming the shape of the phalanx. Growling another command in the Infernal language Freki charged straight for the center, Geri right behind him. The dogs ran an easy 40 miles an hour, and Dues Irea leaned forward on Freki, drawing his blade from his back. Letting go with the Talon of the Inferno he rolled his shoulder, causing the blades of its claw to extend. Right before impact Freki jumped, clearing the first 2 rows of dummies. Geri plowed straight into them, his immense size smashing the things from his path, his touch causing them to ignite. Freki crashed down hard, turning to his left and moving in. The dummies reacted, programed as if they where the real Angelic soldiers they imitated. Blades swung, and shields where raised. Nothing seemed to connect. The Hounds seemed to have a peter-natural speed, dodging in the tight confines. Dues intercepted over a dozen attacks; his blade parrying, his Talon grasping, and weapons clanging harmlessly off of his Infernal armor. Freki and Geri tore dummies to pieces, their fanges tearing through the things with terrifying ease. The few times Dues swung he severed heads, or impaled the poor targets without pause. His eye gems refracted into a deep Onyx color, glittering with malevolence. Within 30 seconds all that stood where the three Infernal creatures. Flaming hay and mangled bodies surrounded them like a crater of death. Dues Irea bowed to the raised platform, ever a trained Gladiatorial Beastmaster, and called out his first words in English. " A tribute to the Dark Gods! ". He then growled commands and rode off of the stage.

 

[JadeWuvsCookies]

Star looked to the computer and whimpered softly to herself as she slowly approached it. Examining the buttons she ran her fingers across them gently while whispering to herself "Do I have to do this? I can't hurt these dummies.. their people! Well.. no.. their just straw figures! I can do this. I think.." Pushing a few buttons she asked for three dummies and that's what appeared. Cocking her head as she examines the dummies for a moment she shook her head.


Shifting to her werewolf form she makes an attempt to push her sweet side away as she lunged forward and began to tear the dummies heads and limbs off of their straw bodies. She began growling loudly as if they were her absolute enemy or someone she couldn't stand what so ever.


As Star finished she slowly shifted back to her human form and looked around, there was nothing but small bunches of hay on the stage. She bowed and looked up, a bit confused as to where to look to speak but spoke anyway "Thank you for the chance to be chosen and allowing me to have this moment." With that she smiled and walked off the stage, a huge wave of relief washed over her though she knew this was just the beginning.

 

[Deadkool]

Silph stepped on stage in his lavender dapper suit, a wide grin on his face. These previous brutes would likely think he was about to preform magic. No, just very very complicated science. Silph was wearing a backpack covered in illuminated blue lines that extended over his shoulders and around his waist. Silph made his way to the center and then fiddled with the console. This machine would be more than able of evading some dummies. Silph set the computer for dozens of hostile dummies. The Infiltrator would hopefully be able to easily keep Silph out of their view. He pushed a button on the backpack as a shimmering emanated from both the pack and himself before Silph's entire body was invisible. Silph then produced two vials from his pack, not that you could see that, and set them up in the center of the arena. After a few moments, a spectacular


Boom!


Erupted and a purple fireball appeared on the stage. The dummies disappeared, back into the machine, and in the fireball's wake, Silph was standing in the arena's center, the backpack just behind him.


Silph took the backpack and walked out, impressed by himself.

 

[Lioness075]

Sighing, and finding it rather stupid to have to fight a bunch of hay dummies in front of spectators, especially after seeing everyone before her, Luness calmly walked up to the computer.


Raising an eyebrow at the contraption, which she'd never seen or heard of before, Luness tentatively pressed a few buttons while narrowing her eyes at what each button ended up doing.


While Luness had no idea what she was actually doing with the computer, she somehow did manage to manipulate the appearance of the hay dummies into werewolves.


Surprised by this, Luness didn't move for a moment, one of her claws hovering over another button, which she had just been about to press at random. Yet, seeing the werewolf dummies, Luness grinned, her feline fangs shining in the lighting. These dummies would be perfect.


Sauntering onto the platform with the five dummies, Luness waited until the platform rose completely and then she let out a low growl with her claws extended on either of her sides. In a blink, her eyes had shifted from their usual green and golden colors into a dark, crimson color, glowing as well.


While it was very boring that the dummies wouldn't fight back to give something more for Luness to react to, she simply closed her eyes and then when she opened them, she saw her father in place of each of the dummies.


Anger overwhelmed Luness and she wasted no time in leaping at the first dummy and biting deeply where its jugular would have been if it were alive.


Tackling the next dummy to the ground, Luness raked her claws across its chest repeatedly before she rolled to the side, as if dodging an enemy's attack, and then slashed at the next dummy's knees.


The dummy consequently tumbled over while some hay puffed out of its body and causally floated to the floor of the platform.


Luness quickly slashed at the downed dummy's face, carving deep claw marks into it and throwing hay about from the attack.


Leaving the downed dummy behind, Luness then dropped her head and rushed the fourth dummy, headbutting it right off of the platform, which resulted in it crashing to the ground below and exploding with hay all around it.


Turning to face the final dummy, Luness paced back and forth in front of it for a moment before she rushed forward, feinting to the left, and then tackling the dummy to the ground from the right. She swiftly clawed at its chest and then bit into its neck before jerking from side to side and consequently tearing its very head off.


Dropping the head full of hay to the ground of the platform, Luness slowly stood back up before spitting a mixture of saliva and hay to the side. Quickly swiping off the remaining hay from her head, body, and leather armor, Luness then looked out at the crowd, her eyes having returned to their normal colors, as she was no longer in her Alpha state.


With nothing to say to the annoying gods, who had taken Luness out of her own realm and forced her to be here, Luness waited for the platform to lower while all of the dummies returned to the odd machine.


Once the platform had lowered, Luness calmly walked back to the stands and then sat back down with a huff.


Luness was not enjoying being some form of amusement for gods she'd never heard of before.

 

[simj26]

-Rebecca Rauchester-


"Hhhhahahahahahahaaaaaaaa."


The sinister whispers of a laugh could barely be heard over the commotion of those in the stands. What was more obvious to the onlookers, however, was the black smog that seeped into the arena, spilling onto the sandy earth of the arena, crawling across the ground, the tendrils of what seemed to be smoke snaking out towards the center of the now-empty killing grounds, vacated by the previous entree. The cloud of grey rolled and swirled upon the centrestage, slowly forming the recognisable figure of a person. A pair of trousers and a dirty sweater rolled into position, twisting with the mini tornado of smoke, until they seemingly snapped into position and a body filled the vacuum within them. Gloves slithered out of the tattered sleeves, one of them clasping a featureless pearl white mask. The smoke-like figure raised the mask slowly to where a head should be, where a roiling ball of smoke was present. The ‘face’ accepted the mask, holding it in position, and a long, flaring ponytail sprang into creation. She swept her hand across, crossed one foot across the other, and bowed low towards the audience, and to whatever omniscient gods that presided over the judging.


Rebecca Rauchester straightened up, and created a mock microphone made of smoke within her hand, and directed a finger towards the audience, as if she were a performer on stage, which she was. “HHhhhhaaaahahahaha, thank yooou, thank...you, for inviting mmmme today, to hhhhave a chance at im….pressssssing the Gods of…” she paused, apparently struggling to pronounce the abbreviation that was the appellation of this apparent universe. “Arrrrr peeeuhnnnn,” she finally exhaled out, after some effort. She banished the mock microphone with a wave, and thumbed her nose, or where her nose should have been. “Nnnnow, allow me to graccccce your presenccccee with my jokessssss.” She paused again, letting what she had just said to sink in slowly, then unleashed another torrent of hoarse laughter, each progressive exhalation sounding like more and more like a death rattle. “Thought I wasss goinnnnggg to do fffffighting, too, huh? Truth issss, I’ve alwayssssss wanted to be a com…edian.”


She cleared her throat, creating the sound of a broken down fan. “During my fifteenth….birthday, we invited a Mexxxxican magiccccian. He performed a number of amazing tricks, from pulling colourful handkerchiefs out of his mouth, pulling a rabbit out of his hat, and picking out a card that I had chosen. Fffffor hhhhhisssss penultimate trick, hhhhe declared “I will disssssappear at the count of th….ree!” and he began to count.


““Uno, dossss…”, and, poof! Hhhe vanissshhhhed...without a tressssss.”


Rebecca waited for a response, and when all she received was a stunned silence, she gave another uproarious laugh, another laugh filled with the last moments of a man’s life. Then she exploded. She exploded into a cloud of smoke, which spiralled into the air, up and above, towards the infinite sky, then arced towards the audience stands, and then, onto the audience, causing some commotion. The smoke remained for a moment, then it found what it was looking for: an empty seat. The clothes, the mask, the gloves, and the body of smoke reformed in the empty space, with Rebecca crossing one leg over the other and relaxedly reclining on the seat’s back, the last of her laugh dying at her non-existent lips softly.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Fel didn't know if they were stupid or just doing as they were told because as they demonstrated, they reviled their fighting style to those they would face in combat. Watching intently, she focused upon remembering every shift of their feet, and twitch of the hand. Slightly disappointed when some didn't fight, but Fel just silently congratulated them on not giving their foes an easy victory.


Then, before she realized it, she was up next. Blinking in surprise, Fel slowly padded up to the giant...thing with miniture round circular atop it. She pressed one like she saw the others do, the material cool to the touch. Nothing happened. Frowning she pressed something else with the same result. Finally getting annoyed with this heap of metal, Fel pressed multiple at random. Oops. Something exploded. Looking around, nothing seemed damaged. Embarrassment rising in her chest, Fel flattened her ears to her skull and walked upon the platform.


As it moved, Fel had to wag her tail in low sweeps to keep her balance. And once it locked in place with the stage, she was nearly throw off. Stumbling, she made her way to the center. Fel regreted this, yet she didn't want to give them an easy win. Gritting her teeth, she lay down her bow, Sang and Oz. Standing, Fel closed her eyes and cleared her mind, blocking out those watching her. As soon as she was sure she had complete focus, Fel started to cast the spell. The reason she kept her cloak on was because this part wasn't that plesant to witness. Though it lasted mere moments, she didn't want strangers seeing things that she remain unseen. All the audience could see was a shrinking form under her cloak.


Once it was finished, she opened her eyes and heaved the cloth off of her. Now in her place was golden eagle. The only resemblance it had to her was the eyes. Unlike the common brown or yellow, they still remained a pale blue. Ruffling her feathers, Fel took off and started to circle the room. Adding some rolls and dives I between, though she would be sore later.


When she circled for a final time, Fel directed herself to the stage. Landing, she wiggled her way under her cloak. Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind and casted the spell once more.


Huddled under her cloak, she fastened in around her neck and made sure it was closed. Slowly standing, she grabbed her weapons and clothing that had fallen off during the first transformation. Giving an over exaggerated bow, she walked off stage, quite pleased with herself.

 

[Servant]

Ah, it would seem it was Rose’s turn to amuse the gods. Without even a moment of hesitation the seemingly young girl made her way to the stage, leaving behind her bodyguards (The armors) and not paying much attention to the rest of the participants. With her left hand Rose held onto a brown leather suitcase and, as soon as she stood on the middle of the stage Rose sat on the ground and opened up said suitcase. Inside it was a set of different knitting material, some of which were normal (Cloth of different colors, sewing needles, buttons, etc) and others were more…unconventional (Human hair, animal-like teeth and even bodily tissues). Rose grabbed the various materials and immediately began knitting a doll from scratch. Her fingers moved swiftly and were even hard to keep track of, but even so Rose’s expression remained as calm and collected as always. She even seemed to be mumbling a song to herself. In what seemed like only a few minutes Rose had finished a fully fledged doll and now held it in her hands before placing it close to her own lips and whispering something to it in what seemed to be some sort of incomprehensible gibberish before placing it on the ground.

“Gods.” Rose greeted with a bow and a calm smile “I do hope you I am of your amusement…” She finished before heading straight for the computer. After some seconds of typing and pressing buttons only two dummies appeared, the two of which stood to the left and right side of the doll. The dummies’ appearance was Rose’s cue to leave the stage and return to her Armors.

A silence took over the stage as the ragdoll seemed to remain unmoving and lifeless, or at least this was the case until Rose snapped her fingers. After the sound echoed through the arena the doll’s red eyes slowly began to blink, her limbs began to move and her mouth began to slowly open. After the doll had fully stood up it began to curiously look at its surroundings, starting with the dummies and ending with its master: Rose. The blonde girl gave her doll a warm smile and nodded at it, to which this doll responded simply by facing back the dummies. Its hands slowly began to move towards its back, as if it were trying to reach for something, a weapon perhaps?...Not quite. The doll showed her hands to reveal a tiny black top hat and a cane. After putting on the tiny hat the doll cleared its throat, took a deep breath and began….singing.

“Hello, my baby! Hello, my honey! Hello, my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire; baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me,honey you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone, oh baby, telephone and tell me I’m your own!” The doll sang with a surprisingly deep-pitched voice in what seemed like an endless loop, all the while dancing by kicking its tiny legs into the air and tacking off the hat and quickly putting it back on. If this wasn’t entertaining enough the fact that the two dummies danced with the doll in perfect sync thanks to the programming Rose set with the computer made it so. The singing went on for a good three minutes before the doll finished my sliding through the stage with its knees and extending out both the hat and the cane with its hands when the sliding came to a complete stop. The stage was submerged in silence once again as the doll began to incorporate itself. A distant clap could be heard coming from behind the doll. It was Rose, who had now joined her doll on the middle of the stage. After shpatte ed its head as a sign of a good job both the doll and Rose bowed gracefully.

“I hope this small demonstration of my powers was good enough for you, Gods” Rose said with fake modesty “I assure you there’s more to come soon enough, but sadly you’ll have to wait for that” She finished before picking up her singing doll and leaving the stage. After she set a foot outside the set her bodyguard Armours surrounded her and acting as a shield. Even though Rose knew that the chances of her being attacked were low she couldn’t be too careful around people she didn’t know.​

 

[amybri18]

Seeing someone walk of the stage, Phoebe got up and walked into the arena. She had to please the Gods, even though she had never heard of them before. In fact, she didn't even know there were Gods. Just Legendary Pokemon, which to her were the Gods. Still, Gods or now Gods, the better she did here the better she would do later.


As she stepped into the arena, she looked at the 63 other people around the stadium. Was this what a Pokemon Battle Arena was like? Being fairly new to Pokemon, Phoebe didn't know, but now was not the time to find out. Blub slowly walked up besides her, smiling that smile. "Umm... hello," Phoebe said nervously. "I guess I'll show my 'talents' as a Pokemon Trainer." As she said talents, she made air quotations with her hand. Whether the others understood this or not, she didn't know, but that didn't matter. Now was her time to shine.


The Pokemon Trainer walked up to the computer and searched for 'Pokemon'. The best thing to fight in a Pokemon Battle is, of course, Pokemon. The only problem was: She had never done a Pokemon Battle before. She knew what to do, because she had watched many, but how to do it? Maybe wingin' it was the best thing to do. And so, she spawned in a Charmander, because it was a fire type. As all you Pokemon Masters out there know, fire Pokemon were weak against water, which is what her Squirtle was. Maybe the Gods saw this as cheating, but how was she to know?


Phoebe took out a Pokeball and summoned Blub back. "Sorry Blub, but we have to do this properly," she whispered. She could sense that Blub wasn't extremely happy about this, as she didn't like to be in small spaces (I believe that's called claustrophobic). Phoebe turned to face her opponent, and held out the Pokeball her Squirtle was in. "Blub, I choose you!" she exclaimed, knowing that that was how you start a Pokemon Battle.


The Charmander (I think I'll call you Charry, Phoebe said in her head) attempted to burn Blub, but it didn't work. "Blub, use Bubble!" she ordered, and the Squirtle obayed. Bubbles came out of the Pokemon towards Charry, causing it to fall down. Fall, but not faint. "Good job!" Phoebe said, thinking that she had won. Of course she hadn't! This was only the beginning...





Luckily, the battle didn't last much longer. Just a quick Water Gun and a few more Bubbles and the enemy was defeated. She retrieved Blub and bowed to the audience, before skipping off the stage.

 

[BDark]

Goridoc Brandybuck, though old but talented, steps forward. Worried, he closes his eyes and thinks for a moment. What will he do ? The orcs... He didn't like orcs; servants of Sauron were they. Should he kill them ? Or maybe he couldn't, maybe these orcs weren't of Sauron. Should he sing ? Ride ? Should he summon Tom Bombadil to save him from this mess ? He had no idea. He waited for a moment.


Not after long, he, ignoring everyone else pulled out his pipe from his pocket. He smoked some Southfarthing leaf grey, rings of smoke rising into the sky and slowly disappearing. Goridoc waited for an idea to appear in his head. He was a very good singer, indeed. But what could he sing ? A short and simple song ? Another ring rose into the air. This place wasn't home, but it was...decent. He knew he wouldn't stay there for the rest of his life. And, luckily enough, he wasn't hungry nor thirsty, even though he had two water skins in his belt, considering that he was out of Tookland before he arrived here, in this mysterious land.


Goridoc looked at the computer screen as rings of smoke flew out of the pipe. He never saw that before. He knew not what it was, nor how to use it, nor what it was for. But Goridoc didn't care. He was in worse situations before; he stood before trolls and Olog-hai, before Uruks and Mumakil, he doubted that he would 'let the gods down' that easily. What was he doing, though ? Wasting time while smoking a pipe ?? Why wasn't he singing, or even cooking ? He was a great cook. But he was also a very good singer. What could he do, though, remained unknown to him. Goridoc could ride away but he didn't want to put Wind in risk. He thought for a moment about summoning Bombadil... But the though was dismissed from his mind. He swallowed a mouthful of water, a little chunk of bread, and stepped forward, his pipe in one hand. After blowing a few more rings of smoke he went ahead, and the orc-hestra changed the music without him noticing so it went on with the song.


The leaves were long, the grass was green,


The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,


And in the glade a light was seen


Of stars in shadow shimmering.


Tinúviel was dancing there


To music of a pipe unseen,


And light of stars was in her hair,


And in her raiment glimmering.


There Beren came from mountains cold,


And lost he wandered under leaves,


And where the Elven-river rolled


He walked alone and sorrowing.


He peered between the hemlock-leaves


And saw in wonder flowers of gold


Upon her mantle and her sleeves,


And her hair like shadow following.


Enchantment healed his weary feet


That over hills were doomed to roam;


And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,


And grasped at moonbeams glistening.


Through woven woods in Elvenhome


She lightly fled on dancing feet,


And left him lonely still to roam


In the silent forest listening.


He heard there oft the flying sound


Of feet as light as linden-leaves,


Or music welling underground,


In hidden hollows quavering.


Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,


And one by one with sighing sound


Whispering fell the beechen leaves


In the wintry woodland wavering.


He sought her ever, wandering far


Where leaves of years were thickly strewn,


By light of moon and ray of star


In frosty heavens shivering.


Her mantle glinted in the moon,


As on a hilltop high and far


She danced, and at her feet was strewn


A mist of silver quivering.


When winter passed, she came again,


And her song released the sudden spring,


Like rising lark, and falling rain,


And melting water bubbling.


He saw the elven-flowers spring


About her feet, and healed again


He longed by her to dance and sing


Upon the grass untroubling.


Again she fled, but swift he came.


Tinúviel! Tinúviel!


He called her by her elvish name,


And there she halted listening.


One moment stood she, and a spell


His voice laid on her: Beren came,


And doom fell on Tinúviel


That in his arms lay glistening.


As Beren looked into her eyes


Within the shadows of her hair,


The trembling starlight of the skies


He saw there mirrored shimmering.


Tinúviel the elven-fair,


Immortal maiden elven-wise,


About him cast her shadowy hair


And arms like silver glimmering.


Long was the way that fate them bore,


O'er stony mountains cold and grey,


Through halls of iron and darkling door,


And woods of nightshade morrowless.


The Sundering Seas between them lay,


And yet at last they met once more,


And long ago they passed away


In the forest singing sorrowless.


The Arena had become silent as he started to sing the song of Beren and Luthien, his voice filled the place, beautiful but the tone was sad and somewhat painful. He then walked back to the halls and sat against one wall and returned to his pipe. Closing his eyes, Goridoc was worried, but he hoped for the best, even though he expected it not. More rings of smoke rose into the sky.

Spoiler

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMmn5v3spXY[/media]

 

[Afrobrony]

Just before Bruce entered the ring he pulled out his iPhone 6 and took a selfie of himself with a very confident look on his face. He posted this on his Twitter with the hashtag #LOLAbouttoImpressSomeGods. With that all settled he went out into the arena, first looking at his surroundings and checking out the computer, accidentally spawning a dummy right next to him. This obviously startled him as he delivered a right hook to the dummy that made it spin and fall to the ground. When the dummy got up Bruce simply ignored it saying "I'm not going to show my fighting skill on this kind of a dummy." With that he looked through more of the settings on the computer, eventually finding a way that he could make the dummy learn from Bruce and even become stronger, which he did.


Bruce looked over the new dummy "well, it seems that me and you don't have much time, my straw friend. But, I'm determined to make you the strongest straw dummy the world has ever seen. To do that... we're going to need... a montage. Cue the music."


[media]



[/media]
As the music started, Bruce spawned in different training equipment and protein shakes and the pair looked at all this dramatically. Throughout the whole time Bruce would be lip syncing with the song. It seemed him and the dummy would move from lifting weights, to punching a punching bag, to drinking the protein shakes within an instant, only staying around for a few seconds before coming back, the dummy slowly getting better at all the activities. Within a couple of minutes the dummy hadn't changed in appearance but it just produce this energy around it, not visibly, that gave the feeling that it was multiple steps above any other dummies.


As a final test of his creation, Bruce spawned in a boxing ring along with the strongest dummy that he could find on the computer and a coach for the new dummy. Each sat on a stool on different corners of the ring, Bruce massaging the shoulders of and talk to the dummy. "Now, all you've got to do is remember the training I've given you and believe in yourself. Because when it comes down to it, you can only really rely on yourself in a fight. Now, make me proud. You've got the eye of the tiger." The two dummies walked up to each other and touched fists as this song started.


[media]



[/media]
When the bell dinged, the two dummies immediately went at each other, fists flying in jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. At first, the two had seemed to be even, matching each other blow for blow, however as the fight went on the challenger dummy began to get the upper hand. It had Bruce's dummy on the ropes, Bruce yelling at his dummy to get out of there, when the bell dinged, the first round over.


The dummy stumbled over to Bruce, who splashed him with water to wake up. "Come on now! You can't be beaten by this guy because he's a straw man. But you, you're now an iron man." The two dummies went back into the ring with each other, a different song coming on for all to hear.


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy2indWyr74[/media]


Bruce's dummy was returning all the damage the other had done to him last round along with interest. "Yeah! That's right! Keep pummeling him and don't let up!" The dummy listened to Bruce's commands, not letting up until the other dummy was completely destroyed. With that, Bruce made his way up into the ring, hugging the dummy and holding up his hand to show that he was the victor. He grabbed a microphone and spoke these word into it "and that ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, those without genders, those that are both, and those that are genders that I don't know about, is my strength simply passed down to a dummy. Not even most of my martial arts. I could beat this student in a second. Now for some shameless advertisement, if you want to learn more about the Bruce West style of fighting then come on over to the Dragon's Roar guild and ask for, guess who, Bruce West. The first fee will $100 and some other payments along the way." Bruce took a bow and exited the arena with the dummy, fully confident that he'd supplied the gods with a good performance and display of his strength.

 

[Kiyoko Tomoe]

It was rather sudden... The words that came, they held no real warning beforehand to them, though they held quite meaning behind them. Were they inside her head, or were they from around her? Regardless, she could feel something growing inside her. Maybe it was excitement, though she seemed pretty lacking of it. Maybe it was fear, but she didn't seem scared. Himiko was clueless as to what it was that she felt inside of herself, but she did quite like the feeling. She didn't pay it much thought though, as it was her turn next. She stepped out into the arena, a smirk on her face like she'd never before had.


Himiko Tenkuu, sixteen years old and with long red hair. A demon, though currently in human state given the set rules of the place she'd come from. It was funny to her, how the gods could give her a temporary purpose, yet she couldn't find one herself that would last even a second. She stood there, eyes closed as she seemed deep in thought. "To please the gods, one must first understand the gods... To understand them, one must harness the powers of a god... At least, that's how it seems it'll be... Funny, I'd never find purpose in such things back in my world," Himiko was found mumbling to herself for nobody else to really hear.


"Well gods, I'm afraid to say I don't have much in the way of 'talent' for you, but I suppose I could give a tiny display." Himiko snapped her fingers of the right hand, a small flame appearing upon the tip of her index finger. The small flame almost danced on her finger for a moment before floating upwards and above Himiko. It drew in the flames of which lit the arena, causing there to be streams of fire in such a pattern that one could only appreciate from below the center, or somewhere high above. It would most-likely not be of much beauty, though it was at least a start.


Once the flames finished trailing from their sources and built up at the flame above Himiko, she split the flame into seven smaller flames. Himiko had six of those flames float at individual points around herself, while the seventh kept splitting apart until in the form of thousands of tiny flames that glittered like stars. The tiny flames spread across the arena, with the larger six seemed to flip entirely upside-down to where the tips of the waving flames were pointed toward the ground. The six flames shot up, spiraling around together in a large clump once above Himiko.


Upon reaching the sky, the six flames spread out once more, exploding into millions of sparkling little flames that would slowly rain down from the sky. Meanwhile, Himiko had the many flames around her constantly flashing like sparklers that never went out. Himiko made use of these bright lights, slowly spinning around and changing from a sixteen year old girl, to a little kid that was somewhere around the age of eight. She seemed rather enjoying of herself, a bright smile upon that childish face of hers. She was quite happy with her little display of fireworks, though it would definitely leave her tired for a little once she were to finish up.


The flames slowly came to an end on their sparkler-like effect, Himiko now making the flames slowly float around in a spiral motion in which she played the center. She begun playing with a few of the closer flames, bouncing them around on her fingers and cupping some in her hands. With one last smile that was clearly directed at any who may be watching her, she let the little flames all start rotating faster and faster, until they created a full spiral of flames which would slowly pull in and completely envelop her a second. Swinging her right arm out, the spiraling flames rapidly dispersed and left her standing there, her having now taken on an appearance of which resided somewhere around twenty-two years old.


"I suppose that wouldn't be very impressive of a thing, though I did somehow enjoy myself the first time in a while. Maybe this is the world in which I truly belong...?" Himiko was deep in thought regarding this as she left the arena, fairly uncertain regarding which world she truly belonged in now that she'd been presented with such enjoyment in her heart. While walking away, she simply snapped the fingers of her right hand once more, setting fire once more to the locations of which she'd taken flames from. She knew she'd have to keep things rather interesting from here on out, given that she's been tasked with pleasing the gods; she did wish to stay here as long as possible after all, and who knows where she'd end up if she failed to keep them entertained.

 

[spectro]

[Alexander]


Alexander was now shaking so much it was almost worrying for his health. It was like he was going to shiver himself to death; as if all of his skin would just shed because of the sheer amount of movement he was making. It got worse now, though, as he took his turn on stage. His teeth were chattering as he walked into the figurative spotlight. He stepped out into the middle, where the ground beneath him was grimy with rust. He shivered even more just looking at it. He could feel no air around him. There was no breeze (which would have definitely made his shivering worse) yet it was not warm. Around him was just space that seemed unmoving. As Alec spun awkwardly, not knowing which part of the 'audience' to face, he felt his mind spinning along with his body. He didn't have any particularly extravagant talents; just his invention skills, which were hardly impressive on stage.


Alec finally stop turning around and around like an idiot and took his place, facing the big, rectangular screen that flashed brightly. As he had seen previously, things seemed to appear out of thin air when they were requested from this screen of splendour. Alec stepped towards it, his hands held close to his chest; protecting himself. There was a big, green, circular button on the screen that said 'create', and a board of letters like a typewriter. Alec stood, racking his brains for an idea. What could he do? His thoughts weren't entirely bright.


Bright-that's it! Bright. A light bulb. Alec had been working on Edison's design for a long time now. He was finding different ways to power it. He'd cracked it!


Alec put his hands by his sides now and squeezed his fists together. You can do this old boy! He heard his own voice in his head, cheering himself on. He stuck out his hand and pointed a finger at the letter B. It appeared on the screen and his word was beginning. He typed the rest of the letters in, getting more confident as he went along, typing in the letters faster each time. By the time he had reached the end of his word, he was confident that he could write a whole article on the device! Cracking his neck, Alec pushed his sweaty palm over the giant green button, and he heard a small bang behind him. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder. There it was; a bicycle. It was a little different to the one he had at home. His was rusting a little and was a simple black colour, but this one was a radical red, with lime green stripes along the front. He let out a small puff of air and turned back to the screen. All he needed now, was a few wires, a generator, bricks to steady the bicycle, and, of course, a trusty light bulb.


Once he had all of his 'ingredients', he proceeded to finish this recipe for disaster. The light bulb, which had fell from the heavens surprisingly unbroken, was now attached to the generator with a handful of wires which Alec had 'ordered'. He couldn't even imagine how bored the crowd was by now. He reckoned that there was sighs and tapping feet and eye rolling, but he didn't dare to look up. Staring at his feet, he moved to the side of the bicycle and tucked his leg over; feeling rather uncomfortable on the thing. Either way, he didn't want to be smited by the Gods, so a sore behind it was.


Finally, he was on his valiant steed. He took hold of the handle bars and put his feet on the peddles. He knew he had to go fast for it to work. He started slow, working his way up to a fast and maintained speed. He was tired already, as he wasn't the fittest of men. Ah! Alec's eyes shot open. He saw a flash. His determination grew now. "Come on!" He muttered, under his breath. Almost a minute he had been peddling now. He was nearly exhausted, but determination outweighed his weakness. He felt a bead of sweat drip down his nose and as he blinked away tears of stress, the bulb began to flash vigorously before it lit completely. Keep going! He told himself. Just let it shine a few seconds longer! It was brighter than he had ever done it before. He was going so fast, that the energy was extraordinary! With one last huff, he stopped peddling and let himself rest over the handlebars. After he had wiped the sweat from his brow, he stepped off the bike, took a small, awkward bow and walked off the stage.
​

 

[Sunbather]

Catherine decided that she had seen enough people perform. Most of them bored her, some impressed her deeply. She never believed in the supernatural. Hell, she was about as atheist as one could possibly be. If she wasn't such an apathic person, this would probably had given her a heart-attack. In the end, it was all irrelevant. She was here now, she had to come to terms with how wrong she was and, what was even harder to admit, that she had to perform for the amusement of others. Catherine's eyelids twitched at the thought, rage filled her up. How dare them... How dare them utilize her for their enjoyment. All her life, it had been the other way around. But... let's just look at this on a bigger scale. The gods knew what she was supposed to accomplish here, but she hadn't filtered out a purpose of her own, regarding the whole situation. What if she could pretend her way all to the top, making the gods appreciate her for things she didn't even believe in? Could she fool a god? Or several even? This was the ultimate task. She had dabbled with manipulating people of extreme diversity all her life, but never a god before... A slight smirk graced her face, slowly pulling up the corners of her mouth. The sheer thought was thrilling. Feeling motivated, she stepped forward onto the elevated center.


"Gods, I am certain and hopeful at the same time, that your benevolence will not go unjustified. I shall pour out my heart in front of your mighty eyes to bring you joy, as nothing else could provide the same sense of purpose and satisfaction to my own, simple mind." Not bad... Wonder how much ass-kissing the gods have endured so far... She shrugged almost unnoticably before closing in on the machine, observing the buttons. Playing around with them, she soon made two dummies appear. She eyed the soulless mannequins, sensing an idea. Trying to find the source of the grim beat that filled the air, she finally caught a glimps of the orc. "Oh Gods, even though I am so much less than every single one of you, I dare to imagine I can comprehend a fraction of your nature. I, too, enjoy seeing others react, adapt, break. The mind, self-preservation and rage... Just a few of the emotions that make living beings so interesting. So I would like to conduct a little experiment..."


She kept playing around, slowly closing in on what she had in mind. As the dummies changed their shapes and colors over and over, the primal drum kept pounding in Catherine's head, her heartbeat seemingly synching with it. Eventually, she had done it. She didn't know if she had actually mastered the machine, got lucky or if her willpower somehow influenced the outcome. It didn't matter. Two exact copies of tbe drumming orc now stood in the middle next to her. "I am sure your servant up there would never defy your orders, but one would wonder what it thinks of all the combat, all the performances, no? Why don't we find out?" She clapped her hands, drawing the attention of the copy closest to her. Slowly and seductively walking up the dummy, she put her hands on its chest, staring it right in the eye. "Defend yourself, will you?" She grinned as she made her way to next one. "Destroy it!" Her voice was more intense, shaky, as if she was deeply excited about creating beings, just to let them destroy each other.


Immediately, the second orc rushed onto the first one, who reacted by evading the mauling attempt, now jumping the attacker itself. Catherine provocatively clapped and looked up to the real orc. "Maybe this is how your parents died, if you have any!" Her heart-beat raced. She didn't know if the orc felt provoked, angry, if it would try to attack her, but she knew that, as of now, she was untouchable as she was a toy that hadn't yet served its purpose. The seemingly subservient position allowed her to exploit her current state of literal invincibility and she loved it. As she turned back from her attempt to make out the drumming creature's reaction, she witnessed the defending orc rip out an arm of the attacking one.


"STOP!" The orcs stopped. "Give that to me." she demanded, approaching the wild beasts. As it handed of the severed arm to the girl, she took it, struggling a little with the weight of the huge limb. She went over to the weapon stand with it, grabbing a dagger, as she started to carve something into the skin. "You can continue." she calmly ordered, as the orcs rekindled their fight to the death. Seemingly unphased, she walked by the brawl, holding up the torn arm that now had carried bloody letters. It read 'Servant's lifes for master's amusement.' "Has a nice touch, doesn't it?" she asked, looking up, as if to speak directly to the omnious voice. Just as she layed down the limb, the handicapped orc had to endure another mutilation, being strapped of its remaining arm as well. Bleeding out, it fell back, swirling up a little bit of dust next to the bloody pond that formed underneath the heavy body.


Catherine grinned devilishly as she closed in on the victorious orc, motioning for it to hand over the second arm as well. She eyed the arm, then the orc for a minute, before she slapped it with the severed arm. "This is power. And I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to excersice it. Trust me, gods, I will not disappoint you. I will break every creature, regardless of race, gender, size or ability in its core. For your enjoyment, for your curiousity." She quickly pulled out the dagger that she had used to engrave the first arm with, and, within the fraction of a second, cut the standing orcs throat - clean - forcing it to fall off, even before the body fell into the dust. Her slender frame being hugged by the giant corpses, she giggled as she recklessly threw the arm of the long-dead orc behind her. She looked up once more, performing a little curtsy before walking off. As she got closer to leaving the stage, she once more waved to the orc that kept filling the arena with the ancient rythm. Her face almost distorted with perverse excitement, she allowed herself to notice some unpleasantry in its bodylanguage.

 

[SilverBlack]

Leo Cainez


The roar of energy from the arena, the different talented skills from all kinds of people--it's a sight Leo has never seen before, and it's making him anxious.


There's still much confusion he has to deal with in his mind, first is the randomness of suddenly being thrown into this world without a legit explanation except he's been chosen to join a competition, second is how all these people possibly exist in the world, with all these different looks and weird skills...Is this even real? Who are these gods telling the people that they shouldn't disappoint them anyway? At the same time, however, Leo knew that this is not the time to think about all that. Perhaps, the easiest way to return to his original world is to ace in this competition too, to participate in it until the gods find it enough.


Everything sounds fairly exciting anyway--he might as well have fun in this strange place. Despite his blank expression he has enjoyed every "performance" on the stage that he nearly forgot that he himself is to perform something on it too. Watching as people fight the dummies in a way he has never seen before, listening to some sing a fairly different song compared to that he's heard in his world--Leo was amazed, and at the same time his anxiousness grew. How could he possibly impress the gods when everyone else has much more talented skills? He studied the dummies as Eldo's fur rubbed against his neck. As someone who has simply grown up as a hunter inside the forest, he didn't have much of any other outstanding skills. Although he obtained the magic of electricity, he has not trained it to the level that he can completely control it comfortably. He's afraid that using his electricity magic might mess him up if he ever used it on the stage.


But then, he blinked. Should he really not use his electricity skills just because he's afraid he'll make a great embarrassment out of himself? Life's filled with challenges too anyway, he might as well give it a try.


Watching as the last performer slowly stepped off the stage, Leo found himself inching closer to it himself. In his mind, he set a simple goal--he'll have a dummy, then electrify it until it's fried. He didn't want to do something too complicated with his magic to avoid really messing it up. Nodding to himself, he walked onto the stage, ready to call off a dummy, before he realized that Eldo had just jumped off his shoulder in fierce excitement. Its eyes had caught something that sparked his interest--the computer monitoring buttons that controlled the dummies.


"Eldo don't play with i--" Immediately knowing what kind of huge trouble his little fox might cause, Leo reached out a hand in an effort to stop Eldo but it's too late. It has just landed its full tiny body on the monitor, its four paws randomly pressing on buttons. and before the lad could get ready, several dummies had rose onto stage and lunged itself at him. Their moves almost as that of a group of angry bears as Eldo innocently, not knowing what's going on, continued to control the dummies.


Leo realized then, that his goal is not exactly to defeat all the dummies, but to get Eldo to freaking step off the buttons. However, through all the dodging moves he had previously used, he is now a good distance away from the fox. In another words, in order to reach it, he has to fight the dummies off. His eyebrows twitched in slight annoyance, then finally gave in.


The 12 dummies had lined themselves up in two rows, and Leo engaged into the fight with the first row with his skillful use of his daggers. In his eyes, he chose not to see them as dummies, but as angry bears he had fought before in the forest back in his world. He dashed forward then, and with his short blades, one in each hand he cut through the dummies' necks only to find them still be able to move. Frowning, he swung his daggers in a circular motion, slashing at any dummies who dared to lunge at him through Eldo's unintentional control. The second row of dummies have now also aimed toward Leo, and the lad, in a mini panic, started using his full body to fight these fierce dummies. With two, he landed on his palms and kicked them away. They're not dying, the lad realized. Not when Eldo can revive them--not when he can make as many dummies appear as he wants. It seemed like there's no other solutions but to release his electrical magic now, to make them all vanish at once.


With that in mind, he suddenly halted from his physical, body attacks, making sure he's at least one meter away from all the dummies, before he stretched out his arms then shut his eyes tight. Concentrate, he thought to himself, and for a moment, he kept still, as if the air has froze with him. Finally, blue sparks began to form at his fingertips, and he felt the strong burst of energy within him as the sparks grew stronger into electricity.


He opened his eyes, and let the electric currents spread throughout his body and onto the ground as he emit a faint blue glow. The dummies once again lunged itself at him, but with a wave of his arm they all froze, the blue sparks immediately found its way to envelop their bodies. Like electricity discharge the flow of energy connected to Leo dispersed to all the dummies in the form of lightening bolts, and a few seconds paused before a strong blinding light exploded onto the stage, Eldo jumped up in surprise, and a loud, ear-wrecking noise echoed through the arena. In almost flashes of second, the dummies were fried into nothing but ashes, Leo himself shocked by his own electricity magic as signs of burns appeared onto his skin.


He breathed in and out, exhaling a great sigh, glad that this is over, before throwing a glare at his tiny fox, which he usually wouldn't do. Smoke surrounded the stage, and he looked at his audience, a faint red of embarrassment flushed up onto his cheek as he gave a little nod of gratitude for having the patience to watch him trying to save himself from the dummies on stage. Eldo, as if realizing what exactly he had done, had his tail and ears casted downward as he slowly walked toward Leo, who scowled at it and picked it up regardless, letting it crawl its way back around his neck as he finally stepped off the stage.


"Thank you for watching my terrible performance," he said in the end.

 

[Kian Romanov]

He watched in disgust as everyone followed the orders without even a gesture of disapproval- some even adding little remarks to impress the unknown figures of authority. Displays of magic and combat were most definitely impressive but the words that tended to come before and after the performance are what made him sick to his stomach. He didn't like feeling like a puppet, yet here he was participating in an unknown game, no better than the rest of them.


The assassin watched the performances with crossed arms and a clenched jaw, trying to figure out how to make a lasting impression. When he was up up next, his hands idly glided over the computer's keyboard as he tried to figure out what he was trying to do. The first thing that came to mind was how unusual it was that a classic (yet very big) desktop computer he was familiar with existed within this alternate world, he quickly snapped out of it as he coded his way into making the dummy have more human features and form.


"Pressure points are sensitive or vulnerable areas in the human body." He said out loud as he eyed the rifles before picking a R8 rifle and checking to see if it's loaded. "You can exploit a pressure point for many uses, both defensive and offensive attacks apply." he continued, eyeing the human looking dummy that had just emerged from under the ground. He took a position where he was notably far away from the dummy, "It's not very easy spotting them with your hands, so imagine the difficulty of shooting them with a mediocre gun." He took the safety off. "The first is the Hichu. The human Trachea is exactly under this point, so applying pressure on it will not only cause discomfort, but also suffocation." he pulled the trigger casually, the bullet landing right below the Adam's apple of the human-like dummy.


"Next is the Kote. Applying pressure on this point on an elbow does not cause lasting damage, however it does inflict excruciating temporary pain." He went around the dummy so he was far away and that the dummy's back was to him. He took the shot without any additional aiming or planning, the bullet landing right into the bent elbow. "And lastly, the Dokko. It's where the jaw and skull meet. Temporarily painful when pressure is applied but deadly when extensive force is exerted." He took the shot and smirked at its perfect landing.


He made the impression he was aiming for: he knew how to inflict pain in many creative ways.

 

[SilverFlight]

Kallin stepped into the ring, sauntering lazily to the platform where he had been mentally instructed to go. His staff was held confidently in one hand, swinging to and fro with each step.


"Impress you huh?...I'm supposed to entertain like a circus poodle?..Not bloody likely." He huffed, still very much put-out by the fact that he had been brought here against his will.


Suddenly he caught sight of the computer a little ways away. This intrigued him. He made his way to it, stopping at a good distance and from there proceeding with a more cautious step.


The machine sat unmoving, innocently displaying a wide range of buttons. Kallin gave it a sideways glance. This didn't look like the magic-less light-thing he had found in the lobby, but it did have the same sleek, alien aura.


Curiosity finally won him over and he reached out his hand. His glove touched the the nearest button and it gave way under his finger. Instantly dummies sprouted up behind him, which made him leap into the air with an unbecoming howl. He whirled round, swinging his staff in a wild arc and blasting the straw assailant with ice even as his staff knocked it flying.


It sailed skywards and then came down and shattered a few feet away, ice and wet straw sprawling across the arena floor.


Kallin relaxed. Even the silence that ensued seemed embarrassed for him.


Deciding not to dwell on it he turned his attention back to the buttons. A second one yielded straw dummies shaped like artichokes, and a third made them out of toothpicks...were the other contestants having the same luck?


After a long length of buttons and uninteresting (but strangely odd) selections including straw sheep, straw hats and a very small straw kitten he gave up. Thinking of something that truly seemed formidable he stepped forward and leaned on the panel, pressing all of the buttons at once.


For a moment nothing happened. Then a low rumble began to shake the arena. Kallin clung to his staff defensively, looking around with a mildly worried expression and wondering if he had pushed his little experiment too far.


Just then something appeared...the mother of all straw dummies, four stories high and shaped...like the Jabberwocky. A moment of terror struck Kallin as he recalled his battle with the real beast. Dark fire, teeth like swords and claws like a reaver's sickle. He fell back as the figure loomed above him, savage jaws gaping madly...but it did not move.


He got up and dusted himself off, narrowing his glowing eyes at the beast, a gesture which served as a smile on his featureless, dark mist face.


He turned and started toward the exit, having had enough of straw for one day.


A soft hissing noise however, made him turn around. Was that giant mouth of straw teeth getting closer?


Then he realized. The construct was too big to support its own weight!


Kallin had never moved as fast in his life. He raced away from the shadow as it chased him down the arena, its twenty-ton owner close behind it.


Straw and dust began to erupt in a cloud where the creature's legs hit the earth, then its waist and torso. It gained on Kallin with a hopeless speed.


Even as he ran his hardest he could feel the wind from the impact of it behind him. The door! He wasn't going to make it!


Without time to reconsider Kallin dove, sliding in the dirt and pivoting at the last minute to cast a searing fire spell directly above him. He closed his eyes and waited for the blow.


One heartbeat...two...three..it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Eventually he gained the courage to open his eyes. He was sitting in a charred hole in the creature's head. Straw crackling blissfully about him in the flames and spewing thick acrid smoke into his face.


Coughing lightly he created a bridge of ice over the flames and stepped from the ruins of the Jabberwocky, the tip of his hat glowing like a lit cigar. The door to leave seemed like the gateway to paradise now and as he reached it he turned, offering whoever watched an exaggerated bow before quietly vanishing through it.

 

[Queen Rai]

"Chosen Ones,"


Louise ear twitched, her head tilting up slightly as a familiar voice filled the air.


"The time has come for you to make your way to the Arena, where you shall meet your destiny. And also Aldur, but he's less important. Good luck; we trust you will not disappoint."


By this point, Louise was already half-expecting something incredibly out of the ordinary to happen, so the sudden trail of strange, glittering sparkle-dust didn't exactly surprise her. The woman hesitated for a moment, the corners of her mouth pulling down into a slight grimace as the examined the trail of sparkles. The captain slowly reached out a hand, flicking one of the sparkling particles with a single, gloved finger. It drifted aimlessly for a moment, almost as if it was lost, but quickly found its way back to the other sparkles. Louise was almost amused by this, and was about to flick another particle, but she was interrupted by an almost irritated sounding, chiming voice. Louise raised her eyebrows, dropping her hand as she gave a silent apology to the glitter. After a few more seconds of hesitation, Louise let out a very small groan, her shoulders drooping in defeat as she shuffled forward, following the glittery path to wherever it was leading her.


Louise walked alongside the trail of glitter for only a few minutes before reaching the entrance of a tunnel, which was far too dark for Louise's liking, but she didn't really feel like upsetting an all powerful being at that moment in time, so she just followed the crowd of what she assumed were other "competitors". The tunnel was practically pitch black, and the captain was forced to raise her arms in front of her to avoid head on collision with either a wall or another person. After only a few seconds, she and the other competitors emerged on the other side of the tunnel. After the captain's eyes adjusted to the light, she was able to get her first look at the arena. Rustic, a little creepy...super unsettling. And it didn't help that a few traces of blood were visible on some of the columns surrounding what looked like some sort of stage.


"Challengers. This is the Preliminary Round. The goal is simple: impress us. Think of this as a sort of celestial 'RPN's got Talent', where we, the Gods, are the judges. You are to come up to the stage, one at a time, and show off something. What you show is up to you: your fighting skills, perhaps; your powers, maybe; or even a more mundane skill, like singing or, I dunno... juggling. We have provided various materials for you to use at your behest. Thus, the stage is set: show us what you've got, and do not disappoint!"


Louise blinked for a moment, muttering, "RPN's...got...talent...?"


"Now, you may rise to the stage, one by one. There is no specific order, but please don't push in front of each-other. You are the Chosen Ones, for crying out loud, not a bunch of kids rushing for the Ice-Cream Truck."


"Ice...cream...truck...?" she said, more confused than she had ever been in her entire life. She had no clue what the heck this person...err...thing...was talking about. What was an RPN? What was an ice cream truck? What was a truck?


Louise silently meandered over the the stands, which (much to her liking) were mostly empty. A few competitors had had the same idea as she to sit down, but Louise was easily able to find a vacant bench to rest on. The woman folded her hands in her lap, attempting to take everything in. She looked silently as the first few competitors went up on the stage, but she wasn't really watching. What the hell was she supposed to do? She had her sword, but that was about it. Compared to everyone else, a few fancy tricks with a silver rapier was going to look absolutely pathetic. But still, what else could she do? After about fifteen minutes of watching, the stage went empty. This was her chance. The captain sprung up from her seat and quickly made her way over to the stage, climbing onto it before anyone else could. She stood there stupidly for a moment, pondering what she was actually going to do. She swallowed hard, her attention eventually turning to the monitor before her. She'd never seen anything quite like it, and was (to be quite honest) pretty scared to approach it. The captain cleared her throat, shuffling toward the monitor as bravely as she could. She examined the buttons closely, like a child trying to figure out a puzzle, before eventually slamming her fist down on a button that said in big, bold letters: "TRAINING DUMMY".


At that very moment, a non-human dummy fell out of the sky and right onto the stage, practically giving Louise a heart attack. The woman flared her nostrils, her eyes watering as she held in a loud shriek. She took a few more seconds to recompose herself, and then stepped away from the monitor. She bit down on his lip, staring at the odd, faceless dummy before her. Louise slowly curled her fingers around the hilt of her rapier, pulling it from its sheath before assuming her usual fighting stance.


"En garde..." she said in a barely audible whisper as she pointed her sword toward the dummy. With her free hand, she lifted her hat up off of her head and tossed it aside. She exhaled a few times through her mouth, and the narrowed her eyebrows. They wanted to be impressed? Fine. She'd impress them. She'd impress the pants off the them.


"...allez." Louise practically yelled as she lunged for the dummy, her rapier easily sliding through its stomach. Louise paused, blinking slowly as she pulled her rapier free. How could she show anyone what she was capable of when her opponent didn't even fight back? Louise gave a nervous giggle, and then shuffled back to the monitor. She quickly looked over the buttons again, eventually finding one that said, "INTELLIGENT TRAINING DUMMY". Louise quickly pressed down on the button, and a small message popped up on the monitor. The message read, "SET DIFFICULTY (1-10)". Without hesitation, Louise pressed down on the button that said "10", and then quickly scampered back into her fighting stance. A new dummy fell from the sky, knocking the old one out of the way. This dummy had armor, along with a rapier of its own. This one quickly assumed the same fighting stance as Louise, and the captain took another deep breath. She eyed the dummy's armor, trying to spot any weak points before shouting for the second time, "Allez!"


This time, the dummy lunged right for Louise. The captain easily evaded the lunge, quickly taking note of the unarmed areas of the dummy's elbows before ducking to the ground and swinging her foot at the dummy's legs. The dummy expertly jumped over Louise's leg, not hesitating to strike at her again. The captain quickly lunged forward, flipping up onto a single hand before landing back on her feet. She immediately lunged at the dummy's back, her rapier clashing the armor. Louise quickly backed off, taking the split second she had to spot the weak points on it's back. The shoulderblades. The dummy lunged again, but Louise was already back on the ground. As the dummy's sword swished just over her head, Louise leaped back up, jamming her sword into her opponent's elbow. The dummy's sword clanked to the ground, but she hadn't won yet. Louise felt the dummy grab a fistful of her hair, but she had already ripped her rapier from his elbow and jammed it into the other one. The dummy quickly let go, stumbling for a moment as an actually person would. Louise smirked slightly, muttering, "Too easy..." before planting a single, solid kick in the dummy's chest, knocking him right off the stage.


A bead of sweat dripped down the captain's forehead as she sheathed her rapier. She bent down and picked up her hat, holding it to her chest as she gave a very deep bow. The woman snickered, placing the hat back on her head before hopping off the stage and landing her feet right on the dummy.

 

[lafeae]

It seemed like time wasn't precisely a concept in this otherworldly place that Li had been brought to. It seemed all of a sudden, too, because the last thing he'd known was that he was getting up and getting ready for work, barely conscious, barely dressed. In fact, he was in the middle of buttoning his shirt whenever the summon had occurred. Right then and there he considered that he'd gone crazy. Or that maybe this was just some very lucid fever-dream and he hadn't actually gotten up then. If that was the case, it felt like it was dragging on for days. Maybe it was days, maybe it was hours, or maybe it was just seconds. Li couldn't tell, because as he tried to check for the date or time on his phone, it was frozen. Not even seconds ticked by.


Beating the side of his phone against the palm off his hand, Li tried to get it to start ticking again. It wasn't just the time. He couldn't make calls either, except to his wife, but that was because she was in the arena as well.


Li chuckled to himself. That was his focus? Not the fact that they were all to be paraded in front of some 'Gods' that he didn't know and certainly didn't believe in. He didn't even believe in the Gods of his world, or the Gods his parents so often wanted him to respect. Why should he care or respect these?


Not knowing the answers to these things shook him deep inside. Even as he muscled up the courage to stand up and go down into the arena like the rest of the folks, but he didn't know what he was going to do. Cut open the straw dummies? That would be a good way to bore them to death, just like all of the lectures he ever had in college.


"I guess hello," Li said, and his eyes flicked up to the Orc and stared at him until Li finally approached the computer. "Well, let's see now..." He mused aloud. It wasn't a generic computer; it was a lot more advanced than most computers, though it vaguely reminded him of an MRI scanner. With a few button presses, he was able to summon the dummies. Many more than he wanted, and as he tried to back out, they seemed to compile. "Crap, crap...crap. Go away...."he muttered. Though as he continued pressing buttons, he found that they were moving like they were about to attack.


"This is not a part of the demo!" He yelled, both nervous in his hands, and angry in his voice.


Giving up on the dummies, he instead had the item creation make him a simple scalpel. Taking it and eyeing each of the dummies, at least twenty five, we're drifting towards him. "All these fancy 'kills' are so useless. You can kill someone or something with one hit to a vital spot. Killing is not an art. It's a science."


As they came at him, Li used the scalpel against each of them, calling out each area of the kill that disabled the dummies. "Jugular, coratid, aorta." And with a few move movements, pushing back the dummies and stabbing into the temple, another down in the kidney, along the liver, through the lung. Severe the spine. "The lesser known femoral artery," he said as he sliced into the upper leg. He was still boring, but within a matter of minutes he'd disabled all of the dummies, leaving them hanging until they returned to their upright positions. At least he'd turned a bad situation into a learning lesson.


Setting the scalpel back down on the computer panel, Li bowed, almost mockingly. "And while you wake up from your boredom, I'll take my leave until the next emergency." And wig that, the doctor walked out of the arena to allow for the next contender.

 

[Dawnsx]

With curious eyes, Euli watched intently as each challenger walked onto the stage to "perform" and impress the Gods. Just like that mysterious abstract voice had mentioned, this reminded him of one of those funky talent shows that he would see on television in Castille, albeit much more violent and diverse. Most of the challengers' abilities, such as magic and fighting, weren't something that he hasn't seen before, but they didn't fail to put him in awe. It made him ponder what acts his new friends will put on. At the same time, it put an unsettling feeling in his gut. All of these people were able to wow him just like that, but what if he goes up there and makes a fool of himself? Euli quickly shook that thought off and puffed up his chest. If he's going to do this, then he'll do it with pizzazz.


When the challenger stepped off the stage, Euli scurried up to the computer. He could fight, yes, but he didn't have much confidence in his skills. After a couple of years of living in leisure, he knew his senses were dulling. That didn't bother him all that much though, since he wasn't much of a fighter in the first place. There was, however, something else Euli knew he could do. Excitement bubbled up inside of him as he fumbled around with the buttons on the machine. Thankfully he has used computers before, or else he would be utterly clueless on how to operate this contraption. It wasn't long before a lone dummy appeared on the stage. Just a little unlike the dummies from before, this one had a stringy hair growing from the top of its head and tied into a ponytail. The Werecat fooled around with the buttons some more, and eventually a rack of clothing appeared on the stage right next to the dummy. With a small squeal of delight, he bounced to the rack and shuffled through them.


"Just how did the Gods manage to get that computer? These clothes are absolutely adorable!" Euli pulled out several pieces of clothing and started to dress the dummy up. It was a shame that he couldn't have a better model for these clothes, but either way, finally being able to dress someone up filled him up with elation. After he added up the finishing touches, Euli turned to the audience and presented his creation. The once bare and naked dummy now wore skinny jeans with sparkles splattered on it (because a little sparkle never hurt, right?), black ankle boots on its feet, as well as a plain black shirt and a white blazer. "I wish I could have added more colors, but pretty hard to do that for someone that doesn't have a face."


He turned to the dummy again to inspect his work. Indeed, he would have liked some more vibrant colors, but this should be enough for now. Before stepping off the stage, Euli wrapped his arms around the dummy and squeezed it. "Oh, you're so pretty that I wish I could bring you home, but I guess I can't... You've been a good model, despite your terrible straw skin."


With a sniffle, Euli pushed the dummy off the stage and walked back to the stands.

 

[The Wizard]

Fredrick stood cold as the returning voice bellowed across the voided white world around him. Its source was unknown and before one could muster a question they where found within the grand arena. The stands though bare left him feeling being watched. The group gathered towards the center stage with little qualm as if it was natural to follow this looming charade. Still without hesitation Fredrick watched each participant climb to the platform and perform for its amusement. Fredrick was surprised to see the differences of each and every skill presented.


The varying bloodshed of the straw dummies and the unique artistic flows should have conflicted yet here they mixed with ease. What exactly did the gods of this realm want from such a diverse group? With each passing moment more and more pressed on the stage leaving Fredrick nervous as his feet seemed sunk to the ground. Pressure built up in his chest as he felt the tension of this contest weigh heavy upon him. Was then a small pinch broke him from his anxiety, looking upon his finger the strings of his violin had caught between em leaving a small cut. The pain was sharp yet faded quickly and from it Fredrick smiled realizing that he was not without something nor beyond giving up before it started. Clearing the sweat from his brow and adjusting his cloak the young man walked calmly towards the stage.


The sound of each step echoed as he came towards the device the gods had provided. He noted the straw dummies that where first present in the selection but was curious if this was all. Fiddling a moment attempting not to take too much time he stumbled on something unique. The device seemed to call forth almost any assortment of items or material at will. For a moment Fredrick was enthralled thinking how amazing such a thing would be in his world, however lost in his day dreaming he accidentally conjured grass to spread across the stage. Quickly blushing from his mistake he looked to the crowd bowing his head in apology.


Though this gave an idea for Fredrick as his face illuminated from the thought. Quickly he selected several options and before he knew it the stage was overflowing with water. Almost never ending he feared it would get the others wet but no sooner did the water flow to the edge did it fade back to nonexistence. Assured now of the safety in placed a small pedestal rose from the center of the small pond. With preparations completed Fredrick walked to the stone slab attempting to keep as much of himself dry as possible. The cold crisp slap of the water left a chill that quickly climbed up his leg and back. When he reached the pedestal Fredrick looked to the crowd and the void-less white sky above. Taking a deep breath he removed his cloak and began to play.

Spoiler

[media]

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First came the resounding drums of the man from the stands amplified by the water as Fredrick's strings fell fast upon the torment of his bow. Figures of soldiers formed from the waves their shields reflected from the light of the sky. Fredrick's voice echoed into the soldiers as their spears clashed into the heavens above their trails quickly turning into birds that flew and encircled the young man who began to spin.


The soldiers faded into the pond as the world of the stage changed quickly at each tug of his will. A large ship rose from behind as the birds dove into the pond returning back up in various forms of air ships each unique to themselves. The ship's mast and sails fell like hard rain as it dove towards the crowd before fading into vapor. Fredrick's heart raced with each scream of the strings his emotions pouring into the small wooden violin like a raging storm.

Soon the tempo changed and the waters around Fredrick began to jump and twist revealing all manners of creatures of the sea from serpent to fish each diving and flowing to his rhythm. As the schools of creatures returned to the turbulent waters figures of people rose up arm in arm dancing till they exploded forming vast armies and clashing fire of cannons. Each explosion brought with it a tidal wave towards the edge of the stage quickly turning to vapor. The continued repetition left a small amount of fog as the song built up each figure before rising from the deep ocean of his memory reached higher and higher attempting to touch the sky as if trying to escape.


Than when Fredrick could feel the strain of his body and magic reaching its limit he rose his bow towards the heavens the sudden waters falling around him quickly burst into drops, diamonds suspended in time they faded away leaving only the young man upon a now dry stage. With deep breaths taken Fredrick felt his whole body was heavy; still with the performance over he looked up and smiled with all his might "A taste of my world for you gods..." his words soft yet forced the violin and Fredrick walked off the stage exhausted.

 

[Raydog90]

Leina walked on the stage very quietly. As she stood on the stage she could see everyone around her just staring. Leina walked up to the computer and summoned five dummies very drasticly, she was pretty embarrassed at how drastic she summoned it. As the dummies spawned Leina grabbed a sword and slashed at each on make holes and wounds on each one. She than grabbed her staff and started to heal one of them, use a fire ball on the other and levitated an object which she threw to dummy. The dummy landed with a thud Leina than used the healing spell on the dummy on the floor and stood it back up, all of them were now in the shape it first was. Leina walked up to the computer used a fireball thrower which throws fireball out on to the stage, as the fire ball was flying Leina was running. One of leina's strength is running so she could run fast. Leina stood on the stage and waved, but she forgot to turn of the fireball thrown which than hit her. Leina flew across the stage with a boom, lucky Leina was a healer she healed some minor burns but most of them were not healed, she then walked up to the computer and turned it off and limped off the stage.

 

[noname]

Ryou Hayashi

​

The fox spirit stared at the arena with a distressed expression. He had followed the sparkly new path and gone through the tunnel in hopes that it would lead him out of the strange environment only to see that it had lead him to some sort of intimidating place where he saw other beings scattered around.


This was certainly, definitely NOT Castille nor the Mora Forest. Not even his dear underground home.


With a disgruntled groan, Ryou plopped his face into open palms, rubbing his face with his hands in frustration. How could he be so stupid? He had thought the word 'arena' meant some kind of exit and a being with the name of 'Aldur' would be his guide home! His ears twitched as the same voice from before boomed loud and clear, making him lift up his face as they were finished.





What the fuck is an ice cream truck?





Ryou blinked and shook his head, his hands still cupped around his face. He was sure that wasn't the point right now. The music played by some sort of frightening creatures were being pounded into his head making his heart beat faster by the second as he stared at no where particular. He needed to get out of this strange place as soon as possible, no matter what it took. He straightened his posture and crossed his arms as thoughts of his next actions swirled around his mind. He couldn't go back through the tunnel that would only lead him back to the lobby, which was basically floating in a blank void, meaning no exit. But if...





Ryou focused his vision, staring at where the beings- he recalled that the voice called them...what was it..oh-challengers each stepped onto a circular platform in the center of the arena. He raised an eyebrow as he witnessed them showcase...amusing and impressive tactics. His ears twitched as an abrupt thought landed in his mind. He needed to follow them. He wasn't sure of the outcome but he couldn't let any chances of him being able to leave this place pass by. With a nod he started to step forward when another thought appeared, making him lose his footing and balance all together.





Just what was he going to do on that platform?!


That aside, Ryou yelped as he tripped on his own foot and landed face first on the ground. All of his six tails flopped over his fallen body, covering him as a whole. With a grunt and faintly pink tinted cheeks, Ryou pushed himself off of the ground and stood up, shaking off his tails from his head. "Nobody saw that." He muttered to himself as he dusted off his kimono. "Not a single soul." Trying to stay composed, he stood in his place. His mind was busy with question marks of what kind of act he would..perform. He glanced up at the platform once more as another challenger had finished their 'performance' and left the space, leaving it bare.


With uneasy steps he got onto the platform. Immediately he was self conscious. He felt the eyes of beings he didn't know bore into his soul, almost as if they were questioning his very existence. Ryou furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. Just what kind of power did this platform have that it made him feel this way? His blinked. That's it. Power. He needed to showcase power. Any kind of power! Well, anything that he was capable of anyway. He bit his lip as the cogs turned in his mind. His ears twitched as they recalled hearing a faint jingle when he dusted off his kimono minutes ago.


His mind fogged out the other suggestions in his head as he finally decided what to do. With that, Ryou slipped his hand into his kimono sash and pulled out his bell collar. He clenched the precious object in his hand and closed his eyes. On cue, flames of fire rose closely around him in a circular pattern. They kept rising as they circled around and melted into every part of his body. The moment he felt his body shrink, Ryou threw his arm into the air, letting the collar fly out of his hand, praying it would go high enough. He felt his kimono go away, his arms and legs turn into furry ones with dark paws, whiskers growing next to his nose, the subtle weight on his behind vanish into one tail. Just then he heard a clatter nearby making him open his amber eyes.


..What--?!





He felt the flames slowly die away as their purpose was served while he stared at the ground, catching sight of the golden watch he had tucked away in the lobby before. Oh.. Remembering the bell collar, Ryou widened his eyes as he snapped out of it. He looked up towards the sky..or ceiling- whatever. His eyes darted around, with his ears trying to focus on the bell's chime. There! Everything looked much bigger, meaning he had successfully changed into his fox form. His dark paws bolted towards the direction of the sound of the bell. Shit shit shit. His auburn fur flattened as he dashed and made a jump, barely catching the falling bell collar with his jaw and landed back on the ground. His tail swished as he stood on all four paws, his blank mind recovering from the sudden daze of confusion.





In time, he concluded his so called performance with a mere bow of his head and let the flames consume him once more, changing him back to his spirit form. A thought clicked in his mind as he spat the bell collar out of his mouth and picked up the golden watch from the floor.


Shit. I messed up. I was supposed to slip on the collar in midair. FUCK.





Ryou let out an annoyed sigh as he slipped the bell collar back into his kimono sash and left the platform, making his way into the row of seats. He sat down and leaned back as he glowered at the watch he held in his hand. In a huff, he clasped it onto his wrist. He clenched his fist as a crackling flame that matched his aggravated feeling with himself engulfed the watch.





Fireproof or not, I'll fucking burn this watch until it doesn't leave a trace if it's the reason why I'm going to end up stuck here.

 

[Dark Child]

Surrounded by many challengers was something Skye was accustom to. She competed with others before during her teens, but to please the gods by performing on a platform was something that she had never done. Skye growled low as she wasn't one to follows orders directly without a meaningful cause. She narrowed her dark red eyes at her fellow competitors, noting the eagerness some held within their features.


'So this is also a part of the trial...?' Thinking briefly to herself, she made her way towards the platform, placing a hand inside a pocket, while the other had an apple in her hand, tossing it upwards carelessly as she caught it with the hand repeatedly. Her features became neutral, as she observed her surroundings more, noting the size of the arena as well as the platform.


To the far corner of the platform stood the giant electronic device which she had observed some of the challengers had used to show off their various talents. It had intrigued her to an extent, but, she wanted to see something grand. Something that would make it worthwhile in competing. She then took a bite of the apple, as the juices slid down her warm throat.


'Such levels of progressiveness...who knew such a device existed?' She thought to herself once more as she eyes the device one last time, deciding against it. Her natural talent was all that mattered to her. If displaying a small portion of her power was enough to please the gods then so be it. She was curious as to the extent and how severe the trials would be.


The platform rose slowly with Skye standing on its center, as she finished the last of her apple. Fearless and partly eager, she placed both hands in her pocket, as her dark colored eyes slowly dissolved to light red, allowing her flames to slowly diffuse from within her, her entire body aflame.


'Now would be a good time to use a this..hm.' The flames which surrounded her, now encircled the the entire platform, as it rapidly expand, shooting its way midway in the air, as she was now hardly visible through the thick dark red flames. The mass of flames swirled more rapidly, as it was slowly creating a replica of something....


The flames around her began to dissipate as the mass of red rapidly began creating something which was becoming more visible, as it descended from midair, landing at ease on the platform. Skye quirked a small smirk on her lips as the figure was now fully evolved; the flaming replica of herself. It stood proud and in as much the same fashion as Skye. Some key difference was that it had no eyes, nose or mouth. Just a large mass of flame which replicated the shape of Skye. It was capable of feeling since it was also partly bonded with the flesh of Skye.


Skye reached for a sword behind her, as the flaming being did the same. The only difference was that it's sword was a shroud of flames, but held the exact shape and size as of Skye's. With Skye's eyes now flaming red, she pointed her sword towards the replica.


"We meet again. I am quite sure you are well aware of the situation here." She glared at the replica, as it stood still with the flaming sword pointing towards her. It was almost as if it was following her movements, which wasn't exactly the case. It had a slight mind of its own, as it was partly the aura of the demon within her.


Within a sudden instant, swords clashed against each other, as its sounds echoed throughout the arena. Skye held a determined expression, both the replica and herself held their stance perfectly. The flaming replica pressed its sword harder, trying to gain as much upper hand as possible. Skye quickly pulled another of her sword, which she quickly slashed against the flames which growled at her. With quick senses, she back flipped a few distances away from the replica, which then suddenly charged its way towards Skye. She used both swords to repel the sudden attack, as she swiftly trapped the flaming swords between hers skillfully with a single hand, retracting another from its sheath behind her. She aligned its tip at the chest of the replica, slicing skillfully against the flaming mass. It shrieked in pain, as it backed away at a distance.


"Hmm..." With demonic instincts, she backflipped once more in the air, dodging several small balls of fire which shot its way towards her. The replica growled low, as it realised it had failed to strike. Though the balls of flame would have no effect on her, showing a few skills should be able to please the gods.


"Not bad..." Skye's flame began to diffuse once more from her body, manipulating her flame at will. Her flame began to change into deeper shade of red, shooting its way high above her, rapidly changing in shape of a thousand swords in the sky. They all charged at the replica, which swiftly and skillfully clashed its sword against them, but was struck with a single sword. The replica shrieked once more, as it too, reigned dozens of flaming swords towards Skye, which she easily dodged, quickly unsheathing her final yet unique sword, which she infused a little of her flames. She aimed straight for the replica's head, slashing its way through its neck, the dark flames burning its way through.


The replica growled low in submission to Skye as if acknowleging her strength which it knew was indeed great, yet, was not at its fullest. It knew it was only a small percentage of what Skye could actually do. The replica then growled low as its form slowly changes shape, the flames travelling back towards Skye which slowly returned within her.


Skye sheathed all her swords in their respective positions, as the platform slowly made its way down. Her eyes dissolved into dark red, taking another of her apple from her bag. She slowly strolled away from the platform, the swords rattling gently behind her back. She had no intention of bowing to the gods, neither any intention of saying anything. She stood to the side, as she observed the next challenger's talent.....