*~ THE RP TOURNAMENT ~* (It Begins!)

[SmearGal]

Meep, same with me. x.x';; Plus the fact that I put off writing my post 'till the last few days... *sweatdrop*

I've been stuck with relatives since Monday, so my RPT post is like...no good at all. Plus, I'm at a slight delay with the batlte. *pokes EngiMatikul* Ehm, would you mind giving me some Chinese translations if you know them? I'll send you a PM later.

Anyway... hopefully I should be done by tomorrow night/Monday ... *twitches* Pleeeeeeeeease don't set the deadline before then, Bulba, pweeeeze... X.X'

~Smear

[EngiMatikul]

No Problem, PM away, and I'll see what I can answer for you. Look forward to see how you viewed our battle. ^-^

EDIT: Me and EVme should seriously get extra points for not procrastinating. Hmph. *ends little rant*

[legendary fisherman1]

I'm not finished yet, due to fistiveness as well X.X I'll post by tomorow night at latest(hopefully).

[Prof. Jb Wolf]

*Bows and grovels before wherever Bulbasaur4 is.* Though I have some sort of post being done, my parents have sprung a surprise trip to Vegas for the New Years so I shall be unable to post for the rest of the week...If I could kindly get the week to post my Post....

BTW - Happy Holidays to everyone, good fight Kage-san, and a Happy New YEar!

[Bulbasaur4]

Bah, don't worry... I'm giving more time because of the holidays. I just got back today anyway. ^^;

OMG! I SAW ROTK ABOUT A WEEK AGO AND omgitwassogoodijustloveditandthepartwithLEGOLASwas justAWESOMEandijustlovedhowheeffortlesslytookcareo fbuisnesssoHAHAHAyoumrGIMLIhahahahaa.itwasjustawes ome... ^^;;;
Sorry... had too much Vanilla Diet Coke and Candy Fishy things... ermm... yeah. Hope everyone had an AWWWESOME Holiday and even better New Years Eve! ^^^^^^^ Gosh I'm soooo hyper...
*squeals*

[Asilynne]

*scans the competitors box from the crowd of watching RPers*
....
*pulls out a bullhorn*
WHITEANGEL!!!! DONT YOU DARE BEAT ME AND THEN GET DISQUALIFIED IN THE SECOND ROUND! GET YOUR @$$ IN THAT RING AND WIN OR YOULL MAKE ME LOOK BA----
"Uh...Brandy....Yellings not going to help anything ^-^()"
*looks beside her at Rudy* Oh...sorry ^-^() lol

But seriously, dont you get disqualified after beating me you hear??

[Fai D. Flowright]

Oh, I don't plan on it! I just haven't been able to work on this one as much as my other one with final coming up at our school and the holidays screwing with all of my plans! Don't be discouraged though! I'm working on it as much as I can so that I can post it, AND WIN!!! Thanks for the support though, if that's what you would call it... ^_^;

[EngiMatikul]

Aye Aye Whiteangel don't get overconfident yet, I wouldn't call PJBW a pushover.

Though, The REAL question is.... "Who will post first, and who will be considered the TRUE Procrastinator???"

...

Though "When the heck is the deadline?" Should also be contemplated upon.

[Fai D. Flowright]

Oh, trust me. I know he won't be a pushover! I just plan on trying to overcome as many obstacles in this cometition as I can!

And yeah. B4, when is the new deadline for entries to be in by???

[Thargor]

I'm also curious about the deadline for this... Not to pry or anything, but you did announce you were extending the deadline, and that was on the 29th.

Though I do hope Razor Leaf posts so I don't end up winning by forfeit... I want a fight on my hands! =P

[RaZoR LeAf]

Gah, forgot all about this! Will try and get something done this weekend. Too busy playing Star Fox Adventures and Luigi's Mansion.

[Bulbasaur4]

razor... you could have thought of a better excuse than that. ;p ANywho... yeah... I've been busy and I've been waiting for people to get their posts in, and I've been really really lenient because of the Holidays. But now the deadline is

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14 2004

^^ Get'em in or else!

[RaZoR LeAf]

*is late*
*makes it just in time*

--

The Glove rose menacingly above the woman a fork held between two fingers, stabbing it at her menacingly, while she tried to grab the donut from behind him.
"C'mon Glove, we have another battle to take care of." I said, encouraging him to follow.

--

Stepping up to the podium again my two fighters took their own places in the field below, where across from me, my opponent Thargor stood impatiently.
"You're cutting it pretty fine, you've have been disqualified if you left it any longer." he mused. His own team were looking bored and annoyed too. I shrugged.
"It's a bad habit of mine. You should see me working on essays. Anyway, i'm here now, we should begin."
"Fine."
Jurga reached into his deep pocket and pulled out the kobbly ended chef's mallet that his father once used to tenderise meat. From the sidelines, his partner in crime Gnome, the jolly faced elemental watched with glee, only there to perform magic tricks when Jurga commanded it. The Glove, having lost his defence of the donut, moped around apparently uncaring about the battle. It started, leaving Jurga to fight alone.

"You know with four hands, you must be a wizz in the kitchen." Jurga said, circling around his opponent Tirank who held four broadswords in each fist. With only a single wooden hammer, it looked like Jurga had picked the wrong foe to fight. As the equestrian fighter brought two swords down in a diagonal cross chop, Jurga rolled to the side to dodge, narrowly missing the blades, as they cut through the cotten of his coat.
"Gnome, I can't beat this guy like this, he's too fast!" JUrga yelled out to his co-op team mate. The sprite sighed, and focused his hands into a orb of brown energy. The orb glowed with a sparkling yellow light for a moment, then disappeared, only to reappear surrounding Jurga. The flashing lights didn't seem to do much, but I could tell staright away what had happened. As more sword swipes followed through the previous cross chop, Jurga deftly dodged between each blow, with more ease than a beefy rabbit would normally be able to, swiftly evading each strike without breaking a sweat.
"Why wont you stay still!?" Tirank growled trying furiously to slash Jurga.

Across field, Glove was finally getting into the fighting sense by pestering Brother Fernando, climbing up his back and flicking his ears and messing up his hair.
"You infernal demon, I will come down upon you with all the power of the Lord, you spawn of Satan." He shouted, as Glove easily scuttled away and dodged another swipe of the holy cross he carried in his hands.
"Ner-na ner-na ner-ner!" Glove spited, running himself into a corner of all things.
"Now I have you.." the brother said, closing in. I stood up in my seat, anticipating what would happen next, fearing from both Glove and the Brother's wellbeing. A small hole apeared on the wall and Glove reached into it, pulling out canister of silly string.
"You expect to bother me with that?" the priest looked down with the sort of self rightous grin than showed he was convinced he was going to win. He'd had the same look on his face since the beginning of the match. As he lifted his cross above his head to slam into the Glove, the radioactive animated hand began to spray silly string all over his attacker's face. Fernando dropped his cross behind him and began tofrantically scrape the goo off his face, out of his eyes and out of his hair.
"Tubby, time to swap!" Glove shouted, running across the Jurga. I turned back to see that Jurga had began to slow back to his original speed, obviously Gnome's speeding up powers hadn't lasted as long as originally planned.
"You think you can handle this guy Glove? He's got four hands."
"Of course I can you over grown lucky foot! I am The Glove."
Jurga frowned, but passed around to the back of the Brother, kicking his cross away, as the Lord's servent turned, having cleared much of the string from his face.
"Look at me, I look terrible, you'll pay for that!"
"Gnome!" Jurga shouted, a plan forming in his head a smile creeping onto his lips. I had a funny feeling what he was thinking "A little Mud Bath for the Brother here?"
"You got it my Lucky Foot friend." said his companion, and a slight shaking filled the arena, Fedrnando looked up, only to find a huge ball of mud falling towards him. He tried to move but it was too late, the ball hit him sqaure in the face, knocking him to the floor, unconcious.
"Good shot." Jurga said back to Gnome, who simply waved him off. The both turned to face Glove who was finishing off Tirank.

Glove ran between each swipe easily, pulling Tirank closer and closer to his low level. Finally two of the blades hit the dirt at the same time, digging into the soft soil and becoming stuck fast. As Tirnak tried to pull out of the dirt, dropping his free swords and using his extra hands to help pull , Glove ran up the fighters back and down onto his face, slapping him about a bit, and flicking his nose. Tirank roared with rage, but Glove continued to annoy him, finally running back down and spraying silly strong all over Tirank. Finally pulling his swords loose, he turned to face Glove, and stepped forward. Unfortunatly, most of the silly string had landed on the floor, and the slipperyness caused Tirank to slip backwards, falling to the floor with a thump and knocking himself out. With both battlers declared unconcious the ref held up a flag signalling that I had won.
"Great work guys, and you even managed to work together this time." I said, congratulating the two.
"I only worked with this lug, so we could get back to the canteen. I have donuts I want to eat." Glove snarled, jumping off the podium and running off in the direction of the canteen, with Gnome and Jurga in hot pursuit.
Thargor came up beside me as I watched them escape.
"That was a good match, I enjoyed watching it." He said. We shook hands and I left him to deal with his fallen team mates as I headed for the canteen myself.

[VirtualPlay]

Again, same color rules as before:
Me
Carbon Copy
Maichi

"Well, at least we know where the arena is this time," Carbon said, he and Maichi walking behind me as we made our way to the huge building that had an impossible-to-miss sign saying 'Round 2 RP Tournament Arena.'

"I dunno," I said, "I kinda liked how they did it for us last round. I like surprises." I gripped my Flapdoozy (of which the handle was more broken than the last round) as a strong gust of wind blew.

"Well, at least I don't have to battle an old friend this time..." Maichi said softly, her blond hair flying around in the gust of wind as she clutched her swallow close. I could tell she was still upset about last round's battle.

We walked in silence the rest of the way through the gates with signs labeling it as the way that led to my viewing booth. "Well, good luck," I said, as Maichi and CC split off and headed into the main arena. They nodded, but said nothing. Personally, I didn't blame them. I could tell we were all nervous just getting to Round 2.

"And here come Maichi Konnetsu and Carbon Copy, brought here by RPer VirtualPlay!" Maichi and I were standing somewhere close to the middle of the arena, facing our two new opponents.

I shook my head. "Last round was a challenge, we actually had to battle two well-trained fighters. These two look like the local geeks that couldn't kill a fly."

"They must have something hidden, Carbon," Maichi said. "Looks aren't everything; take me for example." I looked at her and realized what she meant. For a girl in her early 20s, she looked relatively weak, but her special powers enabled her to call ki (energy) forward.

"Point taken," I said. "I guess we'll just have to —" a loud bell interrupted my thoughts. "Well, here goes nothing," I muttered, watching them for their first move.

"Woah, what happened?" I cried as the guy Ani changed to a darker appearance.

"Haha, you like this?" He said in a dark voice...an evil voice. "I am Yami Ani, don't you forget it."

Slash! "AIIEEE!" Yami Ani screamed and fell as the small, but hyper-fast Ninjask that was my partner sped by and slashed Ani's back. A long, thin line of blood seeped out through the rip in his shirt.

<!TROUBLE!>

Without thinking I brought my swallow above my head to block the samurai sword that was within inches of my head. "Not fast enough," I said, smirking.

"No," the guy named Jacob said with two voices, smirking as well, "But you weren't fast enough either." With that he sped off away from me, and I almost followed. But he seemed to want me to follow him. But what if...

A roaring sound distracted me from my thoughts. I turned and nearly dropped my swallow at what I saw: a huge, moving mass of rock with two giant swords of stone. "Like my Giant Soldier of Stone, Maichi?" I heard Yami Ani call from behind the monster. He was on one knee, still hurting from when Carbon slashed him, but he was smiling evilly all the same.

"Carbon, get something big that can shoot a LOT of water!" I called out to the speeding bug.

Big, lots of water. I knew of one Pokémon like that. The trouble is, could I morph a Lugia? I'd never morphed a Legendary before...what if I can't do it?

"Hurry, Car-AHH!" Maichi screamed, for now there was another creature attacking her, some strange knight with a bird-shamed helmet was jabbing at her with a katana-like sword. Maichi was struggling just to block each blow.

"Like my Hayabusa Knight?" I heard the Jacob guy say, his voices different. I noticed his sword was gone, too, and he had a shiny gold ring on that was very intricate in design, although I couldn't see the details from where I was.

I growled. Well, as much as a Ninjask can growl. Focusing hard, I felt legs grow out again, felt a huge tail sprout. My wings and arms melded to become giant white arm-wings, and my neck elongated. Without realizing it, I had easily transformed into a Lugia.

'Woah, now that's cool,' I thought to myself. <Now it's time to get powerful,> I psychically said, mentally grinning. Summoning all my strength, I started launching gush after gush of Hydro Pumps. Even as I got worn out, I felt the satisfaction that the huge monster was being whittled away into little chunks of rocks, not even boulders.

I finished with a huge blast of water that made whatever was left crumble. I could hear Ani trembling, stuttering, "My...my Giant Soldier of S-stone!" With what was left of my energy, I launched an Aeroblast at the tiny figure of Ani, the blast pieces knocking him out and sending him flying into the wall of the arena.

<I beat him...> I weakly said, before falling to the ground, my mind blanking before I hit.

I dodged and blocked and blocked and dodged. Nothing seemed to get this stupid knight to let up. A small rock explosion behind me, however, caused the knight to not only get distracted, but to stop moving completely as he watched the destruction of the stone giant.

I knew my chance had come. Charging up my swallow with energy, I rushed straight at the knight, slicing an X through his body. It disappeared with a small explosion and I was left facing some weird combo of Jacob and his two spirits.

He charged, and I steadily powered up my swallow, waiting. He sliced, I counter-sliced, and the end of his blade fell to the ground with a clang. Fuming, he reached into a pocket, saying, "Well I still have these ca—" but I never let him finish. I quickly charged a large ball of energy and pushed it at him, sending him flying into the wall of the arena, where he promptly collapsed.

THUD! Something very large landed behind me. I looked to see the huge white bird-like Pokémon that CC had become transform back into the green ditto that was his natural form. I ran over and went to pick him up, but before I could he transformed back into human, still unconscious.

"Hey, wake up," I said, slapping his face gently. I had no idea why it worked that way, but it's how I'd always seen it done. Sure enough, CC came to, looking exhausted, but fine beyond that. "We won again," I said, holding out a hand to help him up.

"VirtualPlay and his characters Carbon Copy and Maichi Konnetsu have won Round 2 as well! Congratulations!"

"YAAAAAHHHHHH!" I screamed excitedly, all the way out onto the arena. They had done it again! I ran across the field, dodging random rocks that had been left there by the stone giant thingy. Maichi and CC were walking over, CC resting on Maichi's shoulder, looking exhausted, but both of them happy.

"You guys did it again, and this was a harder battle," I said, unable to contain my excitement. "Only a couple more of these and we could be the big winners! I'm so happy I feel like going up to Canada and buying a beer to celebrate!"

They looked at me for a few seconds as if I had grown another head. "What? I'm kidding, y'know...hey! Let go of me, I can walk!" I shouted, trying to wrestle out of the grips of Maichi and Carbon as they dragged me out of the arena.
~~~~~~~~
Note: I really -don't- feel like buying a beer, and I most likely -won't- ever want a beer...this was for amusement purposes only, poking fun at myself since I'm now 18 (and legally allowed to buy alcohol in Canada).

[SmearGal]

HA! Two hours earlier than the disqualification...... time....... thingy....

Anyway, I have to admit, my post is still not completed. Though it's partially not my fault... Engi's sent me most of the translations I needed, though I still kinda need 'change/revert'.... x.x'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A few days passed away, and Catherine, though not allowing herself to suspect her friend, could not help watching her closely. The result of her observations was not agreeable. Isabella seemed an altered creature. When she saw her, indeed, surrounded only by their immediate friends in Edgar's Buildings or Pulteney Street, her change of manners was so trifling that, had it gone no farther, it might have passed unnoticed. A something of languid indifference, or of that boasted absence of mind which Catherine--"
"WILL YOU STOP READING THAT INFERNAL BOOK?!" Kurayami screeched, pausing from eating her bowl of soup to glare in my direction.
I grinned and shook my head, waving the book near her face. "Nope. We have to read it before the 20th for some school assignment. Besides, don't you want to hear what happens between Isabella and General Tilney?"
Kurayami threw me a look of such hatred that I sighed and closed the book. "If I fail Literature this semester," I grumbled. "It's all your fault."
Sora stared blankly at Kurayami. "Hey...I wanted to know what happened. Why'd you ruin it for all of us, fussy-pants?!"
Kurayami yelled something obscene in reply, and I sighed, leaning back in my chair. Ever since the battle, Kurayami was getting really snippy towards anyone that talked to her. I guess it was because they had nearly lost, but I suppose I'd never know. I glanced at a clock sitting on the wall, blinking at the upside-down numbers as I thought of what time it really was. "Wait...a minute....is.... THAT THE TIME?!" I screamed. I snapped upright, "Sora! Kurayami! Get in the stupid arena, you're LATE!"
Sora 'meeped' and ran from the room while Kurayami stormed after her, grumbling about not eating a decent meal for a couple of days. I hurriedly tried to stuff my homework into my backpack, and was juuuust about to leave when, "Hey Kat!" met my ears.
I turned, staring blankly at the RPer who had stopped me (Mew_Master) and groaned without meaning to. "Not NOW, Den you TWIT! My characters are about to fight and we’re already an hour LATE!"
Den stared at me with a look of exasperation, huffed and turned to leave, calling a "That's the 127th time, Kat!" behind his shoulder as he stormed out the door.
--------------------
Sora Hibari
--------------------
Kurayami and I had somehow managed to find our way to the stadium. Don't ask me how; Miss I-Need-A-Chill-Pill was screaming at the moderator's assistants for directions. We burst through the archway and onto the dirt stadium to a silent and sleepy audience. Our opponents (weren't they Thomas and Guai...?) were sitting on their end of the arena, Guai asleep and Thomas messing with something on his watch.
"Oh, there they are!" Rudy's voice echoed throughout the quiet stadium. "Well folks, I guess we won’t have to name Thomas and Guai the winners! Their opponents, SmearGal's characters, have finally arrived!"
A slow but steady cheer began, and soon the audience was buzzing with its usual life.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for Match number four? It's EngiMatikul versus SmearGal!"
The crowd erupted. "I know I'm ready," Rudy continued. "Our contestants are, as you know, Thomas Reusbucks and Guai He Zi versus Kurayami Mizuchi and Sora Hibari!"
"Ehh...are these our opponents?" Guai asked in a sleepy tone. We reluctantly shook hands, then backed away from each other. Kurayami automatically moved in front of Guai, so I sighed and looked to Thomas as my opponent for now.
"Fighters, are you ready?" Rudy shouted. "Aaand...BEGIN!"
I, unlike Kurayami, surveyed our opponents first. Guai was obviously a magic-user, but since he had already begun his onslaught on Kura, it was pointless for me to point this out to her. But Thomas I was really curious about. How he could think of fighting when he wasn’t armed (or at least, wasn’t armed in a way I could see)? As we sort of stared at each other, I drew my Kama to the side, preparing to send some form of Air attack. Thomas stared quizzically at my scythe, and then said, "I am prepared to deploy defensive tactics. There is no need to wait on me."
I shrugged and then quickly slashed a horizontal line, calling "Aero Saucer!" A large gust of wind quickly blew out of the tip, creating a V-like current that could be seen slightly against the gray of the stadium. It quickly zoomed at Thomas who had, as he had said, done a very fancy evasive maneuver to dodge the oncoming attack. Both hands holding my Kama now, I turned the blade and the gust of air turned quickly back and attempted to hit him again. Thomas again somehow managed to dodge that blast as well. A few more sweeps, and nothing hit him. Annoyed, I tried one last time before I was going to set it loose, and as it went past him, I heard him mutter, "Magic is such an illogical practice..."
I then got a sudden idea.
--------------------
Kurayami Mizuchi
--------------------
Before I could move, Guai was on me, zooming forward with amazing speed. He wasn't asleep anymore. I jumped back and drew my sword from its scabbard, debating on the best way to attack. I lifted my hand tentatively as he drew out a piece of paper from his vest.
"Pressure Bubbles!" I yelled, the silvery bubbles lazily floating from my palm.
Guai stopped his charge and moved around the bubbles, staring at them in some mild curiosity. The paper he had pulled out was immediately scrawled upon, and the Chinese kanji bearing 'YiaLi' (Force) was chucked at a bubble and caused it to disappear without any explosion whatsoever. This person apparently knew their magic.
I backed up slightly and made the bubbles spread out in a sort of oblong-ish circle around him. He stared at them apprehensively, and then (realizing my plan), stuck a paper reading 'Fei' (Fly) onto his chest. Guai then jumped lightly over the bubbles (which were beginning to fade anyway), floating sort of lazily in the air above me as he pulled out two chopsticks.
"You're really starting to annoy me," I growled.
"Good," He replied, smiling. Throwing the two chopsticks at me, they flashed slightly, changing from their dull tan to a shining silver. I quickly turned my sword to deflect the first one, but cried out in pain as the second slashed me across the arm. The same arm that idiot Zith had slit open. I glared angrily up at Guai, and then began to viciously swipe at the chopsticks, who continued poking and prodding at my arms if I missed them.
I was about to yell some extremely loud profanity when I felt a sharp gust of wind go swiftly past me and hit Guai, who in turn crumpled over in midair and hit the ground with a sickening THUD! Staring in shock, I quickly looked over at Sora, a smug expression plastered on her face. She gave me a thumbs up and waved. A small hissing noise issued, and the gust had that nearly hit me as well disappeared in a small twirl of dust.
Guai, who was down but not out, groaned slightly and sat up, a deep cut upon his brow. He winced slightly. "That kinda hurt." He stood up slowly, then pulled out another piece of paper. We were about to have another round of magical charades, when a bright explosion caught my attention. Sora had apparently been hit with some object that exploded. I growled as I saw her unconscious on the ground, a dazed expression on her face.
"Ugh, not good!" I grumbled, sheathing my sword. "Itirnaonesufnoirem!"
I grinned at Guai's shocked expression as scales began to ripple down from my face. Horns spiraled their way from the back of my head, my face elongated into a snout, wings sprouted from my back, and fins began appearing on my newly formed tail. I slowly completed my transformation into Water Dragon form, and I was loving every second of it.
Flaring my wings slightly, I sneered down at Guai. "About ready to give up yet?"
Stepping backwards slowly, Guai merely gaped up at me. He slowly reached into his vest and pulled out a slip of paper, but before either of us could do anything, we were stunned to see Thomas suddenly fly out of nowhere and skid to a halt near his partner. Amazed, I turned to see what had happened, when I saw Sora calmly walking towards us, her eyes and the pendant around her neck were glowing with an eerie blue light that gave the sense of something not human.
Guai was in shock. "What on EARTH, Thomas?! I thought that fancy watch of yours could dodge anything!"
Thomas, who was massaging his arm, merely grunted in reply. "I can decide an evasive maneuver for any physical or even 'magical' attacks, but there wasn’t anything being picked up from her movements! It's like she's still out cold, which is completely impossi--"
"YOU IDIOT, IT'S MAGIC!" Guai yelled, regaining his senses and throwing a kanji-covered paper towards my head. ('KongZi' (Restrain)). My eyes suddenly became heavy, and I had an unexplainable urge to lie down. Out of the corner of my eye, Sora had now appeared next to me. Grinning in a way that was unlike her normal self, she raised her Kama and traced a circle in the air with its tip. Then, right as she cried out "Esniupniirit Aero Blaster!" she hit the invisible center. The air seemed to stand still as Guai and Thomas were instantly slammed into the ground with tremendous force. Sora, her attack completed, turned to face me. Her eyes fading back to their normal color, she hissed silently, "Naolol ayruires.....Kura....." then fell over unconscious.
--------------------
I had somehow managed to find my way to the top box, and the arena was a pretty grim scene. The only two fighters left were Kurayami and Guai; Sora had fainted under Hekikuu’s control (for that's what it was), and Thomas had evidently whacked his head on the ground hard enough to knock him out.
Kurayami gently moved Sora out of the way, and looked now at Guai, her tail flitting menacingly across the dirt arena.
Guai, however, was not going to go down so easily. Dazed and slightly wobbly, he grabbed a new sheet of paper from his vest, quickly scribbled on it and threw it at Kurayami. I think I read the word '@$#%@$%' (Change) before it stuck onto her cheek. Kurayami roared angrily and was immediately transformed back into human form, whereupon she quickly grabbed the piece of paper from her cheek and ripped it in half.
She then put her hand up and sent out a wave of Pressure Bubbles that slowly worked their way towards Guai to finish him off. Guai, learning something from Sora’s example, threw a new piece of paper ('Fong' (Gust)) that blew most of them away, but was soon surrounded by another sweep. Refusing to give up, he tried a couple of 'Pressure' papers that nullified the silver bubbles. Using his speed (which he was slowly recovering), he hurried through a small gap in the circle, and hurled a small paper bearing the word 'Ting' (Stop).
Kurayami literally froze where she stood, unable to move. "There’s still a chance for you to give up," Guai said, grinning slightly as he held another piece of paper.
I stared in disbelief. 'No way...' I thought. 'We can't lose now!"
"SNAP OUT OF IT, KURAYAMI!" I yelled, jumping out of my seat and causing the character next to me (whom I had just realized was there) to flinch and stare at me in mild concern.
Kurayami hadn't taken my hint, though, and as Guai tauntingly was about to throw the paper at her, a figure appeared behind him and THWUNK: he was hit with the staff of Sora's Kama. Guai stayed down. I stared in shock. Sora grinned, rubbing her head slightly. Kurayami blinked. Had...we .... won?!
"AND SORA AND KURAYAMI ARE VICTORIOUS!" Rudy cheered, and the crowd erupted in hoots and hollers. "AMAZING display of magic, wasn't there folks? Simply----Hey, GIMME BACK THE MICROPHONE!"
Sounds of struggle could be heard in the announcer's box, but I didn't care. I ran out of the top box, down the stairs and through the archway to the stadium, where Sora and Kurayami were slowly making their progress towards the exit.
Grabbing Kurayami in the biggest hug she'd probably ever had in her life, I started screaming that we had won. "WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE--"
"Oh my GOSH, Kat, we GET THE POINT!" Kurayami growled, removing herself from my grasp. "Just keep away from me, I need to get to the infirmary." She motioned to her arm and continued walking.
I grinned as we began to walk off. "Well, think of it this way: Now you’ll know what happens in Northanger Abbey! Aren't you excited to find out with happens with Isabella?! I’m sure James finds out about her cheating on him; I mean, it has to happen, right?"
Kurayami only groaned very loudly and walked ahead of us.
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Oi...uhm...Length is a problem. *de-double spaces it* :3 There, that helped slightly.

~Smear
Edit: Chinese Words. *nods*

[legendary fisherman1]

Round 2: Survival of the Fittest

“So what I’m saying is you need more deck types to have a more surprising deck-types.” I finished telling them. Then I looked at them.

Ani was sleeping, and Jacob had drowsy eyes with his hand holding his face up. ‘Oh come oooonnnn...’

So I took a deep breath... “HEY WAKE UP!!!” I shouted at them waking them up.

"HOLY FACE!" Ani shouted as he patted his chest on his heart. Jacob fell down from the couch he was resting on.

“Could you not shout at us while were sleeping!” they pouted/shouted at me. ‘How can they act like this?!’ I thought furiously. They were going to be in the ring in 3 hours, and this was not how I wanted them to act.

“Listen Legendary, you might want to calm down. Battles are usually won by being calm, not rash.” Ani told me.

I could think at that “Of course, but you know that if we don’t show up, we will be disqualified. I don’t want to lose my first RPG tournament.” I told them with my head down.

Jacob put this hand on my shoulder “Don’t worry about it Legendary, we know you just want the best, but we will handle this our own way. You understand right? Even Yami Bakura thought it would be best if we do what were used to do so we aren’t going to be in any kind of uncomfortable situation.” Jacob told me.

‘I know that Jacob isn’t that deep...’ I thought in my mind. Then I looked up at ‘Jacob’ and smiled “Thanks Kenshin." I emphasized the ‘Kenshin’ in. Kenshin Jacob fell down and said “Oro? How did you know it was me?” Kenshin Jacob asked me.

I made an anime smirk “Jacob isn’t now, before or ever will be that deep.” I told him. Kenshin Jacob sweatdropped and said “I think I’ll listen to your advise now.” He told me with his hand on the back of his neck.

“Good. Now do you see this card?" I asked them. Then they looked at eachother.

"Willpower of Normalicy." Ani said. "Do you have a plan?" he asked me.

"Oh yeah..." I said with a smirk on my face. 'Little do they know, I watch TV!' I thought with glee.


3 hours later


"So now match two of round two will be fought here. Are you ready?" the refaree asked.

I looked at my partners. Yes. We were all ready. "Yes" I said plainly. Then I looked at my opponent. "I am ready." he told the refaree in a low tone. 'Oooh, an interesting opponent.' I thought with a smug.

The refaree put his hand in the air "Begin!"

First the woman dashed toward Jacob as he got his ring out and trasformed. "Take this!" she shouted as she uppercutted him into the air. 'I guess she doesnt know that he can still duel in the air' I thought remembering battle city.

But then I saw...a Bedrill! 'I bet it was from the other guy' I thought as it flew toward Jacob.

"Activate Scapegoat!" Ani shouted and four gaots appeared to block bedrills attack. "No!" Maichi cursed as Bedrill destroyed two of the gaots.

"Must have bee a Twin-Needle. Thank you Yami Ani." Yami Bakura Jacob thanked as the shadows appeared. "But now it is my turn. I summon
Saphire Dragon in attack mode!" Yami Bakura Jacob shouted.

'No that isn't how your strategy works!' I think furiously. 'If only Kenshin could use a duel disk. I should teach him later.' "Saphire Dragon Attack the Bedrill!" Yami Bakura Jacob shouted loudly as the dragon shot a blast from its mouth to the Bedrill.

"No you dont!" Maichi yelled as she seeming ly tried to jump kick the blast. But it was to no avail. "You fool! You cant brek an attack like that, with a simple kick!" Yami Bakura Jacob taunted as the blast broke through the kick.

"Ahh, how did it break through?!" she quickly wondered, but the blast hit Bedrill. "No Carbon Copy!" she shouted in vain. Her friend seemed to be down.

"You will pay for that!" she shouted as she dashed toward Yami Ani. But she forgot.

"Scapegaot defend!" Yami Bakura Jacob countered. A gaot flew in front of Yami Ani. "No not again!" she groaned as destroyed the third of four scapegaots.

"You fool, it will take more than power to beat our teamwork!" Yami Bakura Jacob shouted. Maichi growled. "So how about I show you how ou-" Yami Ani was cut off as he fell down in pain. "Ahhhuuughuh, what happened? Who's there?!" he shouted in pain as he tuned around.

It was a Kadabra. "What? You were knocked out!" Yami Bakura Jacob argued. Maichi just smirked at what she might have mistaken for stupidity in Yami Bakura Jacob "You think your the only one with teamwork! Think again! she shouted as she flew up and threw an energy blast at Yami Bakura Jacob.

"Go Final scapegaot!" Yami Ani shouted as the gaot started to flaot to Yami Bakura Jacob, but it was destroyed somehow. "What?! How was the Sca-" Yami Bakura Jacob started to gasp, but was knocked out by the enery blast.

"No! What was that!?" Yami Ani shouted aghast. Then he saw what hit the scapegaot. It was a Sceptile. "No!" Yami Ani cursed under his breath.

"Its time to finish this battle! Carbon Copy you know what to do!" Maichi shouted in glee as carbon copy turned into a wierd type of double sword. "Say goodbye!" she shouted as she flew down toward Yami Ani. "No!" was all he had time to say before the sword hiy him knocking him out.

"Sealing Swords of Light!" yelled a voice like it was the last thing it would say. "No! I was too late." said...Yami Bakura Jacob! He was conscience again! And swords of light were shot at Maichi who was now not moving.

"I can only have 3 'turns' of card playing untill the light wears off and they will move again. I have to make this play of cards count." He mused.

"I summon Spirit Dragon! Now I activate Willpower of Normalicy!" Yami Bakura Jacob yelled as a dragon appeared. "I end my 'turn'." he said. Some of the swords started to dissapear.

"I draw." he said and drew a card. "Yes! I drew Curse of Dragon, as being a normal monster I draw a card due to Willpower of Normalicy." he said darkly as he drew a card. "Ha! A Saphire Dragon! I draw another card!" he said. This continued until he got a magic card.

"Oh well. I will activate it! Limmetless Hand!" he shouted. 'It seems as though he took my advice after all.' I though smiling on the inside.

This time most of the swords were gone leaving three. "Okay then." Yami Bakura Jacob drew a card. "Excelent! One-Eyed Shield Dragon!" he smirked as he drew a card. This continued until he had 12 normal dragon cards in his hand.

"You know its too bad the swords prevent you from moving. My final attack will anihilate you! Spirit Dragon attack!" he shouted in finale. "Spirit dragons attack increces by 1000 for every dragon I discard. Now his attack will increace to 13,000!" Yami Bakura Jacob smirked evily.

The dragon looked like it was powering up and attacked with an enormous blast. The battle was over. No one could have survived that. Yami Bakura Jacob turned off his duel disk and

"Hyaa!" shouted a female voice-Maichi! "I will defeat you if its the last thing I dooo!" she yelled and went into position of a jump kick.

"Ryu-Sho-Sen!" shouted Jacob in a different voice. He unsheathed his sword and uppercutted her jaw into the air. "You know you should have studied Jacob more. He had more then one spirit you know" Jacob said in a calm intimidating voice. He was now Kenshin Jacob.

"Huh, uh" she grunted then fainted.

"The winner is Legendary Fisherman1" The Refaree said with his hand in the air. "So it seem that teamwork works again." Kenshin Jacob Said as he fainted aswell.

[Bulbasaur4]

[color=skyblue
*cries, dragging her body inside* Seriously, my friend visited me yesturday and said my Calc teacher said I should be put into a bubble. I'm not that gimped! Seriously! I'm... I'm usually perfectly healthy!

Well, I'm pushing the date that you can post by to Sunday, the day I THINK I'll be able to stare at a computer screen for more than 20 minutes. You see, I had a biopsy done on my stomach adn small intestine on Friday for some long-long-story pains I've had for about 2 years. I've been in an out of hospitals, and finally they think they know that it is but ANYWAY, Monday my left eye was bothering me and it looked like I had pink eye. (for those of you keeping record, I had pink eye about 3 weeks ago.) Well, then I went into the ER that night because it hurt SO BAD, and it appeared I had a 'scratch' on my eye, but it wasn't a scratch- it was 4 dots on my cornea like acid or some thing. (Do'nt ask me how it go there.) So I went to the Eye specialist, and now I'm on four different drops and I have to stay home and basically do nothing. I've been a vegetable all week, and not feeling to keen since the first thing I've ate was a granola bar for the time being.
I can't watch tv and I can't be on the computer for long... it hurts too bad so this is the first time I've even tried.

So, bare with me. >.<; I'm trying... so if any of you haven't posted yet (I haven' tchecked) you have 'till Sunday. '
*goes to treat her eye again*

[/color]

[EngiMatikul]

Hey Smeargal I sent you the inscriptions. I like your post quite a bit! It quite fits my characters. However, I was hoping that you'd find interest in working with Thomas's Cube of Logic, since both of your characters were mainly magic reliant... but whatever. Its a good post nonetheless! I'm glad you liked Guai's Chinese inscription spells. >.> I am soooo bad at complimenting...

[Royal_Goddess_Tina]

Due to some strange computer troubles, Whiteangel won't have his entry up until Tuesday... He wishes all other entrants good luck with their stories...

He appologizes for any inconvience this may have caused...

~Whiteangel's little messenger, Tina Ek Shahi Devi Hai

[EngiMatikul]

TheMysteriousBox: hello pro. cras. tin. a. tor.
ProfJbWolf: I've had connection problems!
ProfJbWolf signed off at 7:39:46 PM.

Eer Yea. Because apparently Whiteangel has problems, I would like to request an extension for PJBW as well, due to his own problems. At least until Whiteangel posts, maybe a day or so after he posts. Please? ^-^

Both Procrastinators... both computer problems... both really good RPG writers... coincidence?

[Fai D. Flowright]

I apologize for such a great inconvenience to everyone here, but I won't be able to post at the moment...

With all the computer problems I've had, plus new classes at school, including English, Algebra, and Physics, causing a massive cut-back on my internet and free time, I have had/probably won't have time to create my entry...

I have tried countless times to plan out my time between homework and leisure, but all the homework from the classes is overpowering everything that I have...

I do get some time to get on and reply, so, to those of you I'm in RPG's with, I can still post. They just won't be quite as extravagant or long as they usually are.

If I do get my storyline done before B4 puts up the results though, I will try and get something up, but If not, I will have to withdraw from the tournament...

Sorry about wasting the other competitors time because of my difficulties...

Hope to see you all around again some time, and I wish the rest of the contestants good luck...

[EVme15]

Um... *nervous cough* hello?

*echo* Hello...? hello...? ... hello...

It's way past Sunday... it's been almost a week since the last post, for that matter... um... anyone out there?

If it's still your eyes, you could print out all the posts... if it's not, then *shrugs* print it out anyway and read it during the next long car ride you get into

[Prof. Jb Wolf]

Argh...it seems I can't get past my writer's block on this damn post, that and my internet troubles, schoolwork, projects, band...*Sigh*

So, I must respectfully and regretfully bow out of the tournament. I'm deeply sorry that I did not post sooner, but I was delayed and plagued by a false hope that I would be able to post somehow.

*Bows* Once again - Gomen nasai Bulba4-sama, minna-san, Boxo.

[Bulbasaur4]

*breathes*
HERE! *dies*
HERE IS THE SECRET PATH TO YOUR NEXT MISSION!!!

^^;; Don't kill me. *runz*

[RaZoR LeAf]

Ah mucho congratso Thargor. I had a feeling you'd win, my post just wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, my imagination had left me and I was trying my hardest. Good luck in the next round, to everyone.

[Ice Maiden]

Congrats EVme! I'm not surprised that you won...I've been on a total brain-fart for the past month or so! ^^;
Again, congratulations...

[EVme15]

*hands cookie* It's ok... Thanks. I mean, I kinda read yours over and figured I'd win, but nothing was guarenteed. At least ya tried. *shakes hand* Oh, yeah, did I mention? Dark is sooooooo cool! *gives another cookie*

I'm up against VP?! Oh, nos... ^^; *gets up forms* *begins brainstorming*

*thunder is heard outside* --;

[SmearGal]

^__^';; Oi, congrats Engi. You're post was far better than mine... wish I'd've had more time to work on it, though.... Ah well, again, congrats.

:3 Truthfully, I thought you were a wonderful opponent, especially since we got the exact same scores in the first round. ^_____^'

*gives everyone a big chocolate-chunk cookie and sneaks away*

~Smear

[Thargor]

Yay! Semi-finals! It was a good fight there Razor Leaf, with the only person who Fernando could actually peform an excosism with ^_^;;

Hmm... I suppose some study on Engi's fights are needed... Before I use the terrifying Plan B during this round! *laughs maniacally before dropping down to the ground coughing*

[EngiMatikul]

Hmmm... Just to comment, SmearGal, I thought your characters were really cool. I hope we can RP sometime, your characters seem fun. ^-^
Second, this post is REALLY long... 2500 words... um... but hey its semi-finals, so that means slightly longer posts! Right? Right?
Third, and very important: This post is not meant to be religiously discriminatory. Though not a Christian myself, I have Christian friends and the post that I posted here do not necessarily reflect my own opinions of Christianity. I do not mean to, but when you put an Atheist and a Pagan against a Christian priest, what do you expect? In any case, if you are deeply offended by attacks against religion, then maybe you shouldn't read my RP battle.
(Of course, if that's B4 that means I'm screwed for the next round...)
-----
-----
"I told you I was sorry!"
"I go out to give you some aid, and you break down all the Adenosine Triphosphate molecules down to a critical level with some of your tricks, practically killing me and hindering my recovery time. You think a little apology would solve everything?!?"
"Ok ok! I got an idea," Guai said as he walked towards Thomas at the desk, still rubbing his head from waking up out of a concussion. Guai took out a few of his papers and began putting them into one of the pockets in Thomas's lab coat. "In case you're in a bit of a jam, here are some things that can help you out. All you have to do is call out the names in English and the spell will activate. For example, if you call out--"
"Will you stop it already!!" An irritated Thomas said as he took out the papers and threw it back to Guai. Strangely enough, one of the inscriptions was "Ting", or stop, and it just happened to land on Guai's head while Thomas yelled out stop. Guai did not even have time to recoil before he was amazingly stuck in motion, while Thomas, unaware of what has happened to his partner, continued on his relentless work with his watch.
Engi then entered the room. "Well, it looks like we're up again. Hurry up and get ready for the next performance," Engi told the two in the room, then left. Neither of the two characters responded, and for a while the room was quiet as Thomas continued to work on his watch and Guai continued to be frozen in his posture, unable to break free of his own spell. Engi then came in again. "Oh for harmony's sake, will you two stop dawdling and get down there already??? Thomas, stop playing around with your watch and Guai, you too with your papers!"
=====
"A wizard and an artificer faring against a priest and a paladin. This should prove to be an interesting match," Tirank (enough with the name guessing, they all suddenly know each other's names ) said as all four contestants walked out onto the field.
"You're quite observant. Let's see to it that we have a good battle yes?" Guai winked as he leaned over and waved to his contestants.
"I'm not an artificer," Thomas mumbled quietly while continuing to work on his watch like an artificer.
Tirank bowed down to his opponents in respect to their introduction. Fernando just smirked.
"An Atheist scoundrel and Pagan scum. The lord certainly shall be in our side to banish these servants of the devil."
"I do not think we should underestimate the pair so easily... they did after all make it to the semifinal round."
"I have heard of their tricks." Fernando smiled. "You take the Dam*ed atheist, I will deal with robed savage."
"Wow what egocentricity... this guy looks like a real PMA doesn't he?" Guai made one last remark as the ref cued the beginning of the round. In coordinance with the opponent's plans, Guai made a trip behind the priest while Tirank went after Thomas.
After a short while, Guai stopped in the middle of his tracks and turned around to see the ever obnoxious smile of the haughty priest.
"What, not attacking?" Guai asked.
"I do not need to. Your tricks will never work against me," Fernando chuckled.
This guy makes me irritated, Guai thought as he threw his chopsticks against him for combat. "Let's see how you fare against these!"
But Fernando merely put his cross in front of him. The first chopstick suddenly froze in position and struggled for a while, then fell to the ground and turned to dust. The other chopstick, as if knowing the danger, suddenly moved backwards and whimpered away from the priest.
"Thou second spirit shall not escape for lo-- hmm?" While the priest was concentrating on the chopsticks, Guai surprised the priest with a quick strike in the back, then disappearing again to prepare for another strike. Unfortunately for Guai, an aura materialized around the priest and deflected Guai's attack, sending him back for a while.
"I know your tricks well, demon, and I am prepared for them. For example..." The priest took out a cup of water and splashed it at Guai. Upon immediate reaction, Guai lifted up a paper to deflect the attack, but instead the water merely splashed upon the paper and washed off the words that were inscripted on it, then splashing some on Guai's arm, severely burning through the clothing and into his arm as if it were acid.
When Guai looked up again, Fernando was already chanting one of his hymns. Upon his outburst, Guai was suddenly struck by an extremely bright light, recoiled a bit, then fell to the ground.
"I am blinded! O! O! I have been blinded!" Guai said in a rather overdramatic tone, which still seemed convincing enough to the priest.
"You have seen the light of the Lord, and you shall see no more," Fernando smirked as he began to finish off his opponent with a final spell.

Thomas himself wasn't doing so well with his opponent. "I know of your defensive tactics, and I believe it is not right to provoke others into attacking if they do not wish to be attacked. But I must in order to aid my friends." And with that, Tirank began relentlessly attacking Thomas with his four arms towards the opposite direction of Guai and Fernando, Thomas just barely evading and parrying off attacks with his unfamiliarity to the creature type in his computer database and his fatigue still not fully recovered from the last battle. According to the statistics given, Thomas calculated, If I continue dodging his attacks, I will fall down in exhaustion before he does... In a risky decision, Thomas suddenly turned around and began making swift calculated attacks at the weakest spots (which isn't saying much) on the Jang. After a few seconds, Thomas stepped back to take a breath from his tiring assault.
"You are not a bad warrior, my friend," Tirank complimented as he began a healing spell which recovered a good deal amount of injury that Thomas dealt with his limited energy reserves.
Thomas did not even have a second to wonder how Tirank recovered so quickly before he was grabbed by the Paladin with one of its four arms and held tightly. Thomas tried escaping, but with each laser attack on the arm, another one came and grabbed hold of him.
Alright, calm the adrenaline... what else can I do... wait!! Senses of this species are extremely sensative..."Arg!" Thomas let out in pain. "If only I can switch--"

*POOF!*

"Prepare to say your last prayers, inferior... wait," Fernando smiled. "You don't have any--" *CLUNK!* Unexpectedly, the chopstick that had flown away boomeranged and struck the priest in the head, before calmly landing in the blind mage's hands.
"I am blinded, but I still have ears, a nose, a mouth, my nerves... and a chopstick," Guai cheerfully stated.
"You will have nothing soon enough," as he sprinkled holy water all around himself and began chanting another prayer... the water spread and grabbed ahold of Guai...

*POOF!*

In a second of confusion, both opponents did not know what happened as their opponents disappeared. Tirank recoiled for a second, and Fernando spun around, trying to find the opponent he had almost defeated. When each turned around to the original spot, they found their opponents... only now Thomas was facing Fernando, and Guai... well actually he really couldn't see Tirank, but he was close to him.
"???" Thomas wondered. He reached into his pocked and pulled out a burning inscription of "Diao", or switch, that apparently swapped the positions between him and his partner. It also seemed to have very bad delay time, and this is probably due to Thomas's ineptness in magic as well as his already existing fatigue, but this is beside the point.
The first thing Thomas noticed was a very confused Guai on the other side of the field just about to be pounced upon by the paladin. Thomas immediately fired a weak laser that was enough to provoke a grunt out of the Tirank.
Guai obviously was not very used to the sudden change in environment, but he figured that from the sound of the grunt that it probably was not Thomas that was sneaking up behind him. In a rather panicky state, he began throwing random papers at his opponent (he can't read his own inscriptions, poor him ) which materialized into ice ("Bing"), fire ("huo"), Lightening ("Dian"), Water ("Shui"), Tree ("Shu"), Book ("Shu", a different Shu), and Duck ("Ya"). Some other slips that were effector spells did not activate. Tirank, with some effort, deflected the projectile attacks, chopped down the tree, and (more on accident than on purpose) stepped on the duck and killed it.
"YOU KILLED THE DUCK!!! I SAW YOU DO IT!!! Well, actually, I didn't really see you but I heard a loud 'QUUUUUUAAAAAAAACCCKK' and then..."
"I am sorry, I did not mean to, but I must..." As Tirank apologized, he charged at Guai. Guai, hearing the change in volume in Tirank's voice, attempted to evade the attack. However, Tirank was a skillful knight, and in Guai's attempt Tirank slashed open his arm with one of his swords and tossed him to the side like a fly. Guai struggled to get up, not showing his face. Tirank walked over to deliver the final assault to finish off his opponent.
"HWA!" In a seemingly final desperate attempt, Guai lunged at Tirank, attempting to deliver a blow with his chopstick. Instead, it hit a piece of armor.
"Can't see where you're aiming very well, can you?" Tirank smiled a little.
"Look again." As Tirank looked down at his armor, he saw the inscription "RuoXiao", weakness, written in blood. "See? Always keep an empty stack of papers with you in case of emergency." As Guai was talking, a spiral of energy originating from Tirank drained into the leaflet pinned onto the armor by the chopstick. Tirank attempted to take off the leaflet, but slowly felt his strength diminishing as he, in a futile attempt, tried to grab the chopstick that kept on slipping out of his hands for some reason.

Thomas did not have time to watch the spectacle go on. He immediately found himself lifted up forcefully and strapped onto a large radiant cross, hands tied onto each side as if he were being crucified. O wait. He is.
"You do not struggle against your fate, heratic," Fernando grinned. "I shall make sure that your execution will be quick, so I can deal with that pesky ally of yours. MAY THE HOLY FLAMES BE UPON YOU!!" An immense holocaust of white fire began burning at the root of the cross, slowly working its way upwards towards Thomas until...
All in a shimmer, the large cross and the fire was gone. A cube and the smaller cross that Fernando had enchanted fell at Thomas's feet, as Thomas gently brushed away some dust that had strayed onto his coat. The sound of computing numbers surrounded the astonished priest and the calm scientist.
"H-How did you resist the wrath of God? How can you, a person with no faith and no morals, be able to pick up my cross without becoming burned or blinded?!?" Fernando asked, bewildered.
"How did you create a cross and fire out of nowhere? How does Guai create so many different...illusions with his paperwork? Why did my dimensional transporter suddenly break down?" Thomas continued Fernando's chain of questions while handing back Fernando's cross to him. "If there was one thing I've learned in the strange lifetime I've been through, its that some questions won't become answered, no matter how much you try and search for 'the truth'. Sometimes its just better to focus on the smaller things." With that Thomas began to walk away.
"You do not attack. Dost thou mock me?"
Thomas turned around. "I should not harm an organism if I do not need to. Those are my morals."
Fernando's face turned red with anger. "So, calling me weak, do you? GRRAGH!!" Fernando splashed Thomas with his holy water and charged at Thomas with his cross facing up. Thomas stepped aside and emitted his laser blade. Fernando stopped just inches before the blade reached his neck.
"I really think you should help out your friend," Thomas said nonchalantly, pointing in Guai and Tirank's direction.
"TIRANK!!!" Fernando cried. Tirank looked up. Guai turned around towards the source of Fernando's voice and waved. Tirank, seeing his friend in a state of danger, immediately threw one of his swords out.
"It is the cube, remember!" Tirank yelled to Fernando. The sword (with amazing accuracy) struck the minirature cube and the curtain of 1s and 0s around Thomas and Fernando disappeared. "Do not concern over me... I will last..." Plunk! Guai slapped the giant Paladin's back and the creature fell down, lifeless.
"I shall avange thee, great warrior," Fernando said in a deep voice. He lifted out his hands and pushed Thomas back with some great, powerful, invisible force. Just as Thomas got up again, he was lifted upwards by the neck and dragged towards Fernando, into the face.
"To Hell you go, apathetic demon..." Fernando lifted his cross (which for some reason became amazingly sharp) and... PLUNK! (You have to love sound effects!)
"You are blinded by your rage." Fernando turned around to face Guai, retrieving his chopstick. "You know, you guys also talk too much. Perhaps if you two were to be a little more quiet..."
"Oh SILENCE THEE!!" Fernando shined his cross at Guai and threw him back with some force. A second later, a blade of plasma energy hit Fernando's hand and released the cross from his grasp. Thomas then shot a laser at the cross, pushing it out of Fernando's way and clinked onto the ground just in front of Guai.
"Guai! In front of you!" Thomas shouted, and with that Guai took out a blank slip and placed it onto the cross. The cross spinned around, trying to avoid Guai's capture, but then fell to the ground as the word Shen ("God") appeared on the paper. Fernando bent down to his knees and covered his face.
"You know," Thomas told the priest. "If God exists, I would think he wouldn't be over there," Thomas pointed to the cross, "but in here." Thomas redirected his finger towards Fernando's heart.
=====
"Checkmate."
As the crowd cheered, Both Thargor and Engi stood up from their chess game and commented on a good game.
"That bishop of yours... quite a tricky piece to deal with. Didn't know what you could do with it... really almost screwed me up. Your knight is very impressive as well. It was nice playing with you, 'God'." Engi bowed in respect of his opponent.
=====
"That priest guy was annoyingly arrogant, but good. It was quite amazing how you actually beat him. Too bad he got all fed up when I put a 'sleep' spell on that 4 armed knight person," Guai said, talking to a wall.
"Well first off, I'm over here, let me take a look at your eyes. You might be needing glasses... Second, faith is the hardest magic to dispell, but can make or break a man... and third, I could not have done so without your tricks, illogical as it may seem."

[EVme15]

*pokes post above hers*

Yeah. Long story as short as I'm making it: I've been running around like a lunatic the past two days, trying to keep up with my RPGs, TPM in general, do my homework, and get working on my History presentation (which I have done absolutely nothing of). In other words: I'm not done yet.

I will not be done by ten EST. Why ten? Because that's when my internet cuts off. It is currently 9:32, I am hardly halfway through my post, my homework isn't done, and I need a shower. I didn't get to work on my post almost all of this week because, as most of you know, I was on a cruise. I could not save my progress, and any progress I would have made would be lost the second I stepped off that boat.

So I need an extension. One, two days at the max (unless homework wants to pull be down into the seventeenth-and-a-half layer of hell again). That's all I'm asking. Ja ne.

[Thargor]

Change of plans for me... I'll have my post up by tomorrow. Apparently leaving the computer means it's alright for somebody to close a document without saving =P

Re-writing will take awhile... *bows down* Please don't kill me for the delay ^_^;;

[VirtualPlay]

-Me- -Carbon Copy- -Maichi (Konnetsu)- -3rd person-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Semi-finals, huh?" I said cheerfully as we made our way towards the arena. Honestly, I was acting far happier than I felt. Sure, we had actually made it this far, but that meant so had the opponent, and who knows how well they actually would do against us.

"Who are we up against anyway?" Carbon asked, off-handedly.

"Hold on," I said, reaching into my bag and pulling out the notebook that I had written it down in. Our previous opponents were crossed out, and I looked at the third name on the list. I froze.

"Well, who is it?" Maichi said, curious. She looked over my shoulder. "EVme15, with Kayla and Lyaka? Well okay, sounds interesting."

"'Interesting' alright..." I said. "'cause I'm pretty sure I'll have an 'interesting' time talking with her boyfriend should we win against her."

"Well, d'you think it's wor-" Carbon started, but an airhorn from the arena told us to hurry. Throwing aside all idle thoughts, I ran ahead to the arena, Maichi and Carbon following me up to the arena gates. We split again, and I silently hoped for the best.

"And here come the other Semi-finalist contenders, Maichi and Carbon Copy, brought by RP-er VirtualPlay!!"

Hoo boy, Semi-finals...how the heck did we get this far? I thought about the battles we had been through as I walked towards the middle of the arena with Maichi.

Our opponents were coming up. Both girls, both a little younger than me. One (Kayla, I think) had a red shirt and black jeans (and yellow sneakers? odd). The other looked more from a fantasy, wearing different shades of blue in her shirt, skirt, and pants (what's the point of wearing a skirt and pants?) with tall brown boots, well, to boot.

"Ready?" I said to Maichi as we got close enough.

"As ready as I can be," she replied.

"Then let's see what they're made of, huh?"

DING! Almost immediately I found myself dodging one of Lyaka's arrows. I looked at her to see another arrow already strung. So, you're a fast one, huh? Before she could launch her second arrow, I was already Transforming. My arms grew much larger and sprouted feathers, my body grew considerably, my feet and nose hardened as feathers burst out everywhere on my body.

Not much is faster than a Pidgeot, as Lyaka was about to find out. Her second arrow had missed me in my Transformation, and when the third arrow was less than a foot away, I was no longer grounded. I sent off a Whirlwind in her direction, hoping to catch her off-guard, but she was fast enough to dodge it. Unfortunately for her, none of her arrows were going to hit me at my current altitude.

'Time to get serious now,' I thought to myself. I flapped a little harder to gain height, then tucked my wings back and dove straight at Lyaka. She dodged, but I felt my left wing clip something soft. I took to the air, but something wasn't right...I could feel it, something wasn't ri-

"Mind if I hitch a ride?" Maichi said from on top of me. I nearly dropped out of the sky in shock. "I'll take that as a yes," she added, smiling.

Kayla had been a tough opponent. She had not only matched my lightning speed, she had also burned holes in my clothes, confused me psychichly, pushed me around with water, and blackened my vision. I managed to block any real harm to my body by energizing my skin, but it didn't stop the mental torture and physical draining.

'I need a diversion...some kind of distraction.' I thought to myself, as I blocked her rapid knife thrusts. I saw an opening and took it, kicking Kayla in the stomach. I was finally able to see more than a couple feet away, and just in time. Carbon had taken the form of a Pidgeot and was hurtling at Lyaka. She moved, but I saw his wing clip her side, making a small wave of blood flow down her red shirt and black pants.

With a shock I realized he was coming close by me. Jumping carefully, I landed on his back as he took off towards the sky again. "Mind if I hitch a ride?" I said, making him flap to stay in the air. I smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."

Suddenly he started shrinking a bit, his feathers melding to form a slimy yet scaly skin. His tail stretched, his nose softened, and his wings shrank considerably. Arms and legs grew, and soon I was sitting on a Dragonite. He had only done this once before in training, and I guessed it was a good thing he had.

<Shall we finish this up?> He asked in my head.

"Definitely," I replied. "Beam attacks, then?"
<You got it,> he confirmed. <I call Lyaka.>
"Fine, Kayla's not that hard to find."
<T-minus 10 seconds until beam fire.>

I laughed as I charged. This would be the largest I had ever done, yet I knew it would work. Something told me it would, I didn't doubt it at all.

<T-minus 5...4...3...2...1...>

<FIRE!>
"FIRE!"

We both yelled at the same time, each of us launching our bright white beams of pure energy. In a split second, they traveled from us to the ground, causing two massive explosions. I saw the bodies fly off from the blasts. Carbon and I looked at each other.

<Uh-oh.>
"Uh-oh."

Without thinking, the two of us were flying towards the body we had hit. I caught Kayla about five hundred feet out of the arena bounds. I slowed down, then started pushing myself towards the arena again.

I zoomed after Lyaka, her body moving at speeds almost faster than I could reach. I managed to catch her a couple thousand feet away from the arena, and less than a hundred feet from the ground. Sighing with relief, I flew back, carrying the unconscious Lyaka on my back.

~-~-~-~

"The winners! Maichi and Carbon Copy! Congratulations!" the girl on the loudspeaker yelled. Our opponents lay on the ground a few feet away, where we had put them. I heard a thump and looked to see Maichi in a crumpled heap. I found this quite amusing, considering I had fainted at the end of every match before. Carefully I lifted Maichi up on my shoulders and walked out towards the exit.

"Jeez, hurry up guys, I don't wanna stick around!" I ran over and helped Carbon with Maichi. If we could just get out before...

"Hey VP!" I heard a familiar yell behind me. "Ah dangit, Zak's right behind us! TAXI!" I yelled, not expecting an answer.

To my surprise, a yellow cab drove up from nowhere. "Need a lift?" the smiling face of James (Bear) said through the open window.

"What about your car?" I said as Carbon helped me get Maichi in.

"Didn't feel like risking getting it totaled again." The doors slammed and he drove the cab off.

Zak stood, watching the cab peel off. He was confused as to why VP was running off so fast. "I just wanted to congratulate him," he said to nobody. "Ah well, I guess he had somewhere important to be."

[Thargor]

“… and may his soul rest with God and his glory for all eternity… Amen.” Fernando ended softly. Those gathered when the small box was lowered down into the earth were few, numbering in only a handful of people, a somber looking Jang with his head held low, and a large white rabbit with a gnome perched on his head. When the final “Amen” was muttered, the gnome took off its emerald green hat slowly, revealing a balding head with tufts of white hair. The surrounding air itself seemed to take pause at the moment as a cloud passed over the new memorial. Beside the mighty bulk that was the coliseum for the fights, the plaque that read at the head “The Glove” seemed insignificant… But it was infinitely more emotional to those who saw it.

I saw Tirank and Fernando walk slowly towards me, the priest unconsciously patting the shoulder of the rabbit and Razor Leaf as they left the burial site. He had worked for hours after the fight purifying the glove for the service after many hours of prayer in an attempt to retrieve the soul that once resided within its inanimate depths. I didn’t think Fernando had the capability for that sort of compassion towards something… well, something that went against his grain. Perhaps Tirank was a good influence on him after all…

“Nice service there Fernando…” I said quietly as the two fighters caught up to my side. Within moments we were walking back to the entrance of the coliseum. As Fernando mumbled something unintelligible in response, Tirank peered down at us with a glint of curiosity in his red eyes.

“The next assignments have been announced,” I
continued on, “And we have EngiMatikul and his fighters Guai He Zi and Thomas Reusbucks going up against us… Guai He Zi is a sort of Chinese mage with paper magic, and Reusbucks is some sort of high technology user.”

“I’ve encountered China men using paper inscriptions before,” Fernando said, his old mood coming back in the wake of the funeral. “Several in fact before I managed to reach the Japans. Self-righteous heathens that hock their inscriptions as ‘magic’ to unenlightened villagers who haven’t heard the word of God… They mostly feel the worse for wear after buying such buffoonery.”

I laughed a bit. “Trust me, I’ve seen the tapes of their last two fights, this one isn’t using fake magic.”

“I never said all I saw was fake either…” Fernando muttered under his breath.

“This Thomas, what sort of weaponry does this high technology refer to?” Tirank asked, deflecting any possible chance for me to needle Fernando further. A good development for teamwork…

“Well, he mostly uses cubes that help negate ‘magical’ forces though allow technology or ‘scientific forces” to work. He also has a watch that has a handy energy blade and force-shield, along with his glasses which are supposed to do something as well…” I paused for a moment thinking on what I had read of the character before the fight. “… Something to do with computing or whatnot.”

“Sounds like a priority target for early elimination in any strategy that we choose to employ,” Tirank scratched his chin thoughtfully, a human motion picked up after several hundred years of living with the species. “Fernando already has knowledge of these Chinese men, so he should probably go after this Guai He Zi. Even if my paladin abilities are stripped from me, I still have my knowledge and experience with swordsmanship and my natural abilities. What do you think friend Fernando?”

A frown crossed Fernando’s face and if my eyes were not deceiving me it was a worried one. “Perhaps that would be the right decision… Though I do not believe he could discount the power of the Lord.” The concept of something that could nullify his own Shikon jewel enhanced holy power obviously was not a happy one for the middle-aged Jesuit.

“Why not? Thargor has told us of its ability to nullify forces that science can’t explain,” Tirank said back to him. The grand archway of the coliseum came before us, plunging us in darkness for a moment before drenching us with fluorescent lighting.

“God’s power cannot be measured by science that is true…” Fernando gave Tirank a very small smile. “But it is measured in the faith one has in its power. It hasn’t steered me wrong yet, and I’m not about to lose faith in my abilities”

Tirank simply smiled at Fernando, something that didn’t look exactly right on the Jang face to me… But it did seem to calm down the priest a bit. His walk became a bit quicker, and his back a bit more straight as if he thought God was judging him right at this moment.

Sure a god is… Me… I held in a chuckle at the thought. Now was not the time to piss off the priest.

“Either way, we’re using one of our special strategies for this fight, as it is the Semi-Finals,” I said as we passed the main registration desk. While the lady behind the counter was dealing with a couple of people I hadn’t seen before, I snatched a few papers from the cluttered surface. I brought a pencil out of my pocket and motioned to the two to keep on following me to the stadium floor, I wrote furiously as we walked.

“What is this special strategy?” Tirank asked cautiously.

“Nothing heathen-like about it I hope,” added Fernando.

I paused for a moment at Fernando’s comment, bringing the pencil’s eraser to my lips. “God isn’t against people getting closer together, is he?”

“Well, I suppose not-” Fernando began.

“Then this is probably a God-friendly plan,” I interrupted. “I just have one more question before I reveal it to you two…”

“What?” Fernando asked in rapidly growing irritation.

“Do you two know how to dance?”

“What?!” both of my fighters said in surprise.

A wide grin grew across my face as I showed them the dance steps I had jotted down on paper…
-----------------------------------------------------------

“Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, those of you with no defining sex able to be translated into the English language! Welcome to the Semi-Finals of the RP Tournament!”

The crowd cheered as excitement, the wave of fans up in the levels reaching a fever pitch at the urging of the announcer. The seating was packed, much more than they had in the previous rounds. Vendors paused in the isles as both EngiMatikul and myself emerged from the trainer’s hallways, which lead directly to the boxes overlooking the arena itself. The clear plastic boxes were kept immaculate, the chairs looking comfier than ever… Getting to this round had certain perks.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good match here,” EngiMatikul said to me, putting out his hand. I shook it firmly, and nodded at the arena floor below. Unlike the former dirt ground it was composed of before, stone squares now covered the battlefield. Shadows from either side of the arena emerged into the light.

“Don’t worry, it’s guaranteed,” I said, as I rested back onto my seat.

As I watched the fighters get into position on their respective sides and trade some remarks I couldn’t hear, a hand tapped me on the shoulder lightly.

“Mr. Thargor, your water and pie is here,” an assistant wearing the staff’s clothing was holding a tray on which the precious cargo was balanced. She carefully put it on the arm of my chair, and bowed briefly before leaving. I took the fork provided, and scooped a piece of the pumpkin pie into my mouth as EngiMatikul looked at me in surprise.

“How’d you get pie?”

I shrugged, “I don’t care as long as it’s here…”

Another bit exploded with taste in my mouth as the announcer’s voice piped up…
-----------------------------------------------------------

“Are you ready my friend?” Tirank whispered as he came to a stop at Fernando’s side. His armor was gleaming in the light, its nearly seamless surface looking like liquid metal apart from the insignia of the Emperor on its chest plate and arm plates. Fernando’s robes swayed as he gave an irritated sigh. He moved the hood from his head, letting his black hair falling down to his shoulders. The hair was matted with sweat.

“It seems we have no chose in this matter… The Lord shall guide my hands…” Fernando said, then adding, “And in this case my feet…”

Tirank said nothing, as he stretched his two long legs, more muscular than any human appendage in nature. With ease he came into a loose fighting position, one hand on a sword hilt, the others ready for anything. The gray spikes from his gauntlets made him seem all the more intimidating from afar added to his already bizarre appearance to the average human.

The other two fighters, both human in this case, were also ready. The Chinese man, Guai He Zi with an unusually colored purple ponytail was eying Fernando with a smirk on his face, a small wad of papers clutched in one hand. The bamboo inscriptions on his robe seemed out of place for a warrior going into a battle… But not much could be said when the other team had a Jesuit priest going into a fight.

Thomas Reusbucks, however, was dressed as if ready for a new day in the lab, his green hair one of his only hints of youth. He seemingly adjusted his glasses every few seconds, a puzzled expression crossing his face as he peered at Tirank stretching… Like a boy examining a new bug he had discovered.

“Time for the last fight of the Semi-Finals to commence! Tirank Coorio the Third and Fernando Cortes versus Guai He Zi and Thomas Reusbucks! Who shall win? The powers based on holy power, or those of the more modern age and time? We’ll see if pen is mightier than the sword in this fight!” The cheers almost became deafening at the announcer’s voice.

“Let the Semi-Finals commence! Fighters, begin!”

Moving as one, both Fernando and Tirank ran toward
their opponents; Fernando towards Guai, Tirank towards Thomas. The slower priest brought his golden cross out from beneath his robes, the Shikon jewel shard glowing with a violet hue. Tirank was at Thomas much faster, one leap forward all that was required to propel himself at a surprising rate.

Thomas barely had time to bring up his arm to block Tirank’s initial attack, the two blades in his upper arms smoothly flowing from sliding out of their scabbards to slicing across the man’s body. With a sharp shriek of static, an almost invisible shield erupted out of the watch, deflecting the first two strong blows, pushing the man several feet back. Tirank’s feet touched the ground a split second later, as he twisted around, his swords striking the force field again. As he came around, one leg swept at Thomas’ feet while slashing yet again with his swords. With a grunt, Thomas slammed down onto his back.

Meanwhile Fernando swore loudly as fire danced around him. Paper flew into the air then exploded into fiery balls that threatened to engulf the priest. More than once Fernando felt his hair curl from the heat of the blasts, and his robes grow warm. Guai seemed to be having a much more fun time, as he gleefully shouted at the priest to “keep on dancing” as he quickly wrote more inscriptions on his papers.

“Enough you foul heathen! I shall strike you down in the name of the Lord!” Fernando bellowed.

“Why are you talking about a robe? I thought I was just fighting a middle-aged man in a bathrobe!” Guai needled back, his smirk growing steadily at Fernando’s slow progress towards him.

Reciting litany beneath his breath, Fernando stopped dodging the fireballs thrown towards him and brought his cross up to bear. The entire cross pulsed once, and all of the fireballs abruptly stopped in mid-air. Commanded by Fernando, the fireballs slammed into each other, forming the shape of a massive cross into the air. With a gesture, the entire formation hurtled back towards the Chinese mage.

However, Guai’s smirk just grew larger, as he withdrew another piece of paper from his robes. Throwing it into the path of the fiery cross he shouted one word.

“Stop!”

The fire followed the order, and came to another halt mid-air. Guai and Fernando locked eyes from either side of the inferno. The strain of holding the kinetic energy in mid-air was evident in both men’s stances, veins prominent on either forehead.

“Seems we’ve come to a stalemate old man,” Guai shouted at Fernando. His smirk was still there, held on by stubbornness.

“We are, but I have an ally that you don’t,” Fernando said. “I’ll show you.”

The Jesuit moved one hand into his robes, in which time the fiery cross was pushed back a few feet towards him. It halted however, as Fernando drew his hand back along with his concentration. Palming a flask in one hand, he brought his thumb to the cork.

“May the Lord forgive your sins and ignorance!” With the shout Fernando popped open the cork. A sound similar to that of a waterfall came to the ear’s of Guai as water erupted from the suspiciously deep depths of the flask. Within moments the stream of water flew into the air and extinguished the cross. The Chinese man brought up his arms to block the water that was rushing towards him, but was soaked anyway. He looked up curiously at Fernando… The holy water hadn’t burnt him.

“What was that supposed to do? I guess I’ll have to finish you off!” He said, his grin plastered on his face despite his soaking wet clothes and hair. He reached into his robes… To withdraw a soaking pile of mushy wood pulp. His eyes widened, as he looked up to Fernando who had gotten much closer. The priest raised up his cross and nodded.

“Hard to do your barbarian paper magic without dry paper, eh?” The Shikon jewel flashed, as a wall of light erupted from the cross. Without a sound, Guai crumpled down to the stone floor, water flowing down from his body.

The fight on the other side of the battlefield continued, Tirank and Thomas in a whirlwind of close-range combat. The flames of the plasma blade met with Tirank’s diamond edged one more than once, rendering one useless already. But as Thomas seemed to be getting tired, Tirank plodded on with the easy pace of a veteran campaigner. His blades were like a whirlwind, more like a force of nature than anything else. The intensity of the duel was more than anything he had displayed in the previous rounds, and the crowd above them ate it all up. Their cheers, whistles, and claps surrounded the two fighters, a distraction for a normal person… But for a Jang, all the noise did was created a clearer picture of the room around them, a surprising advantage Tirank hadn’t considered before.

Then it all changed as Thomas’s glasses lit up. A laser erupted from the spectacles, pushing back Tirank as Thomas himself backed up. Moving the watch with the precision of a surgeon, he pointed it towards Tirank. Fernando in the meantime saw his friend pushed back, and ran towards him.

“Time for the home-team advantage,” Thomas said, his voice haggard from the action moments before. “Cube of Logic.”

A clear cube quickly grew from his watch, enveloping the man in a square of wavy air. The square expanded to about 12 feet from his position, and 12 feet all around, making it a decent area. Tirank’s feet were just outside of its field as Fernando huffed and puffed to his side.

“Let’s see how well your holy powers will do against the laws of science,” Thomas said, pushing up his glasses up his nose.

Tirank looked at Fernando. “Time for the special strategy?”

The priest nodded reluctantly. He motioned for Tirank to step to where Guai’s lay unconscious. The Jang’s horsy face nodded, and moved a few feet away from his friend.

“Ready?”

“Let’s get this over with…” Fernando mumbled. He brought out his cross, and quickly removed the Shikon jewel shard. He grasped it in one hand, and nodded towards his partner.

Both fighters bent their legs, and brought their arms parallel to the ground. Together, they began to chant.

“Fuu-” they both scuttled towards each other, looking like a pair of clowns. Thomas looked on in interest.

“-sion…” They halted for a moment, reaching each other. Swiveling their hips, they brought their hands above their heads.

“Haaa!” They shouted. Pressing their hands against each other, the Shikon jewel shard plunged into their hands, unnoticed by the crowd and Thomas. A wave of light engulfed the two fighters, making most of the crowd shout in surprise, and making Thomas’ glasses turn almost opaque to protect his eyes. When the light disappeared, a very different opponent remained.

“What did you do?” Thomas shouted over to the new figure. His adjustments on the watch stopped during his moment of wonder.

“We did what any good team does,” the voices of Tirank and Fernando spoke simultaneously from the figure. “We came together to work as one… So to speak. You can call me Tirando.”

As the crowd went into a frenzy at this new development, Thomas narrowed his eyes at the new fighter before him. The height and average size of Tirank, this fighter also had armor, but also a helmet. The helmet itself was a deep blue color, and its shape was that of a Jang’s horse-like head. The chest plate mostly remained the same, but with the symbol of the cross intertwined with the symbol of the Emperor. Below the pectoral armor plate, the metal abruptly ended, the armor melding into heavy cloth and bunched at the fighter’s feet. It hid whatever extra armor could be attached to the legs, and gave him a sense of mystery. Only two arms were visible both grasping swords, however, and as Tirando removed his helmet, he was clearly human… Mostly.

His red eyes reflecting confidently off the lights as he threw his blue hair backwards. “Are you ready for my attack?”

“Interesting technique to be sure, worthy of study, but it is of no use against me. It is still magic, and as you should know this cube negates such flighty powers,” Thomas said, a small smile coming over him. “I’m sorry but your efforts have been a waste of time.”

Tirando matched the human’s smile with one of his own as he stepped away from the bone dry Guai still unconscious on the floor. He moved right to the edge of the field and put his helmet back on.

“We shall see how useless this was, now shall we?” Tirando said, calm and confidence oozing out of his words. Bracing his legs beneath the partial robe, he leapt into the box. Thomas braced himself, only to shout in surprise as Tirando’s form exploded into water, which drenched the ground before him.

“What the-” He began to say, as a second form emerged into the field behind him as a second Tirando leapt into the field from the ceiling he had leapt to. Tirando quickly split into both Fernando and Tirank respectively. Before Thomas could respond, Fernando’s arms were around him, pinning his arms to his sides. With a quick jab, Tirank’s gauntlet spikes plunged into Thomas’ neck.

“How did you…” Thomas began to say as his body turned rigid. Fernando let him go, but the man stayed exactly in the same position.

“We used the water that remained on your partner to create a distraction for you so we could get you by surprise. It worked, as did the venom on my spikes,” Tirank said, gesturing to them. “You should be back to normal in a few hours.”

Tirank tapped Thomas, and the man fell helplessly to the ground. The square disappeared around them, as the announcer vainly tried to get over the roar of the crowd.

“We have a winner! Thargor has won the round! Give Fernando and Tirank your applause people! What a great fight!”

Quietly Fernando put the jewel shard back onto his cross. Tirank headed out before the priest, missing seeing his friend give out a quick prayer… But I noticed it. I nodded to EngiMatikul to my right.

“That was a good fight… Guess sometimes you can teach an old priest new tricks, huh?” I said, putting my clean plate on my seat. Moving quickly back to the corridor, I moved to meet my fighters…

[EVme15]

*sigh* OK, Round 3, a.k.a. the Semifinals. I’m glad I made it this far, this has been tough. Not to mention (as everyone who was on ummmm at the time will be able to tell you), this was really, really hard to write! If I make the finals, I'll probably end up killing myself or something. Not really...

Ready? Here we go again...!
~|~|~|~|~
“Rise and shine! You two well rested?”

Lyaka and Kayla smiled to me, as dawn broke upon another exciting day of the RPG Tournament. Both of my characters were morning people, so I really didn’t have that much to worry about. We walked over to the food court, already crowding with activity, and grabbed some breakfast. There was a considerable increase in the size of the crowd today, I noticed; but shrugged it off and chatted with other RPGers. The cheerful tone was turned down quickly as a voice came over the announcement system. “ATTENTION RPGers AND SPECTATORS! THE PAIRINGS FOR ROUND THREE, THE SEMIFINALS, ARE NOW BEING DISPLAYED IN THE MAIN LOBBY! PLEASE CHECK OUT THE MATCHES!”

Lyaka’s brow lowered in concentration, and Kayla slowed down her chewing. We all remembered what this meant: Round Three, semifinals, four competitors left, and the competition would reach at a new difficulty. I sighed, and set my partially-eaten hash brown on the table. “Well, let’s find out who we’re up against.”

The main lobby was almost as crowded as the food court, smaller, and louder. I clasped my hands over my ears as we entered; the idle chat of a few people having escalated to a few hundred, and then everyone had to shout over one another to be heard, and with all the echoing of a confined space... you get the point.

Lyaka instantly spotted me on the match listings; when there’s only four it narrows down quite a bit. “EVme15-san, you’re up against... VirtualPlay...?” She cast a sideway glance at me, not familiar with our competitor. “I kinda know him. We chat occasionally, and are in a few RPGs together. He’s good, and he’s gotta be to have made it this far.” Chuckling. “I haven’t met with him in the locker rooms, though.” I turned to my two fighters, whom were listening eagerly. “Ready for a good match?”

“YEAH!”

I’m glad I don’t have to run into him before the fight. I’d probably do something I’d really regret. Damn nerves...

~|~|~

“Alright! It’s time for the second match of the Semi-Finals! EVme15 vs. VirtualPlay! Is everyone ready?”

The four fighters stood ready on the arena. A brown-haired boy and a blonde haired girl waited on one side; on the other were two girls who, coincidently, seemed to have roughly the same hair colors. Introductions had been made twice before; the competitors had already exchanged pleasantries. By now everyone was on even grounds, we had all seen the others fight. The time for talk was over.

“Ready... GO!”

“We’ll use the same one-on-one we’ve been using, they seem to favor that style also” Lyaka whispered to Kayla, and her partner nodded in agreement. It seemed like Maichi and CC had already decided on that as well, and were slowly moving away from each other. Lyaka watched them intently, trying to figure out if there was any trick they’d saved for the final rounds.

“Hey, Lyaka, you take Maichi.”

“What?”

Kayla indicated over to Maichi, who had positioned herself in front of the brown-haired student. “I think the fighting compatibility would be more in our favor if I took CC and you took Maichi. CC can probably use a variety of long-ranged attacks, so your best bet would be fighting Mai-”

She was cut off as Lyaka was slammed backwards full-force by a Pidgeot. Lyaka went flying backwards a good few feet, hitting the ground hard. CC resumed his flight path at her, easily dodging an arrow she shot. Without a moment’s hesitation, Kayla sent a thunderbolt hurling straight at CC. It hit dead on, and the falling Pidgeot was quickly replaced by a Graveler which was unfazed by the hard crash-landing onto the field.

Kayla yelped in pain as a sharp object bit into her shoulder. She quickly recovered, and telepathically blew Maichi away from her. Her hand flew to her shoulder, and a damp feeling told Kayla she was bleeding. Glancing up, she noticed her opponent was no longer looking at her, but a bit behind her and to the right. Kayla jerked around and froze as an arrow feather grazed her ear. Maichi cried out, but Kayla didn’t bother to see where her partner had hit. The two were already switching opponents, as the opportunity presented itself to them.

The pairing was now in their favor, although they had both taken more damage. The effects of the lightning had worn right off when CC transformed into a Graveler. Lyaka hadn’t been on her mark exactly, and Maichi’s neck was slowly turning crimson. The blonde-haired female grinned slightly and loaded another arrow, ignoring the throbbing in her rib cage.

Kayla and CC were having more of a showing off contest than a battle, each one trying to get the upper hand elemental-wise. No sooner had Kayla readied a Water Gun than CC became a Magneton. Before he could blink any of his three eyes, his opponent was gathering a ball of flames. Realizing that this was only an advantage over his Steel-type, CC quickly returned the favor of Kayla’s earlier Thunderbolt. Kayla cried out in pain, loosing her concentration as the fireball exploded in her face and a shock raced through her body.

Maichi ducked her head, then jumped to the side, winced at an impact and dodged so more, desperately trying to avoid the arrows that were slowly nipping away at her. Lyaka smirked; sooner or later she’d land a direct hit. Another arrow went flying, and Lyaka quickly checked her supplies. She had plenty of ammo; that was good. A flash caught her eye, and the archer concentrated on her opponent again. Maichi had gathered a ball of energy in her hand. Before it could register with Lyaka, the ki was exploding into her ribcage.

Kayla suddenly became aware of a cold sensation on her back. Sliding her eyes open, she realized that it was the ground she was lying on. Something wasn’t registering, and she couldn’t figure out what it was... she was supposed to be doing something right now... In two seconds she remembered and was on her feet: face to face with a Magneton. Kayla yelped and instinctively hurled a fireball in the general direction of her opponent. In a lucky break, it collided with the transformed being, causing him to fly backwards and loose his form. For a few moments he lay there, not moving at all. Kayla stumbled over to the wall, gasping for breath. Her body had been forced through more of a strain than it had been before, and if CC was still in the match her only hope would be using her psychic powers.

A scream pierced the air as Lyaka’s blood formed a graceful arc from her wound, splattering to the ground almost a second after her body had hit. She shuddered, coughed, and spit up some of the crimson liquid. A dull throbbing invaded all Lyaka’s senses, but she shook them off as best she could. Slowly, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her knees; a trail of red following her. Another fit of coughing hit her, and when she recovered a cold metal object was just barely touching the back of her neck, a strange feeling radiating from it. Lyaka gulped as a voice spoke from behind her. “You can’t beat me when you’re hurt that bad. Give up and I won’t pain you further.”

Kayla’s heart froze in her chest as CC shakily climbed to his feet. It wasn’t that her opponent was getting up; no, it was something else. Something had happened to him. “Why... WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO ME?!?!”
Kayla stepped back a foot as CC appeared to snap. He had transformed into an Arcanine, but it was somehow different. It was like he had gone insane... or something. She quickly got into his mind, but nothing made sense. There were only flashes of things, Kayla couldn’t read anything solid. She came back to reality without a moment to spare. If she had waited a split second longer she’d have been slammed into the arena wall and burning to a crisp instead of holding off a Flamethrower with a Barrier that was failing fast. Getting desperate, Kayla turned to her only option: Please, let me be able to knock out his mind...

Lyaka’s mind wasn’t working fast enough. The way she saw it, she was trapped. Maichi had won. The only thing left to do was surrender and hope Kayla could finish the match. She cast a sideways glance to her partner, whom was desperately holding a Barrier in what seemed like a last-ditch attempt. Well, If she’s not giving up, then neither am I! In one fluid, practiced motion, inhibited only by the gash in her side, Lyaka grabbed an arrow, turned around and loaded it, pulled back, and shot. Every nerve in her body screamed. The pain reached an unbearable high, and unable to cope, she sunk backwards into peaceful darkness. “Kayla... did I hit her...?”

Her partner, on the other hand, was a little bit busy with her own fight. Holding a Barrier and trying to knock out someone at the same time was taking its toll. Kayla felt herself swaying, loosing balance, and all that other good stuff. Her eyes were open only to a slight crack. In front of her, the Arcanine was loosing shape, dissolving into a bright green-colored blob. CC slumped over, and all that Kayla could detect of his mind was a dream that he was now having... something to do with a Parasect...

Something told Kayla to look up. She did so. Across the field stood Maichi, panting, an arrow lodged into the side of her abdomen, and gathering a ball of energy. At her feet was Lyaka, passed out and bleeding. Kayla blinked and slumped against the wall, hanging on to consciousness by a thread. It clicked in her mind that Maichi had enough energy for one final attack. Kayla didn’t. That was the simple difference that would throw them out when they got so far. They’d lost. She’d lost. She’d let Lyaka down, she’d let EVme down.

Pain seared through her body, reawakening all the numbed senses. Kayla was only partially aware that the crowd had gone silent. For a few moments, all she could do was stand, frozen to the spot. She had barely the strength to breathe. A hollow thudding noise came to her ears. It must have had something to do with her legs, because at that exact moment they collapsed. She slipped into darkness, the roaring crowd in her ears moving farther and farther away...

~|~|~|

Kayla stirred a little, and I gave her a soft nudge. “Hey, Kayla, you up? You ok?”

She dully nodded, blinking a few times and getting her bearings. Slowly she sat up, and Lyaka walked over from next to me and gave her a hug. “I’m... sorry I let you down,” Kayla whispered in her friend’s ear. Lyaka looked at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding? We won!”

“We... won?!” Kayla stared at Lyaka for a moment, then at me. I nodded. “It’s true. Remember that last attack Maichi used on you?” she nodded. “Well, I’m betting she put too much into it. She ended up collapsing a second before you did... Meaning that we were the winners! You did it!”

Kayla stared. And stared some more. And some more. And started scaring me. Just when I thought she was going to stare me into the next room over, she fell back on the hospital bed and laughed. “So I didn’t loose after all... damn, I gotta get over this exhaustion quick. We have the finals to prepare for...”

She fell back asleep, completely exhausted. Lyaka turned to me and gave a small giggle. “I see why you chose her. And me. In case I don’t get to say this at the end of the next round, for one reason or another, thanks for leading us. I mean it.”

[Kiori Hayabusa]

Wow, this round has some truly excellent writing. Err... Is it going to be judged in the near future?

[Thargor]

Heya... I agree that the posts for this round were really good ^_^ (hopefully mine as well...) I was just wondering when we should expect the start of the next round since all of this round's posts have been up for over a month... Not to push or anything ^_^;;

[EVme15]

Yeah... I was kinda wondering because it has been a while... even the Anime Boston AMV results came before it! lol (inside joke)

But seriously... anytime soon? Please? *holds out cookie*

[Thargor]

Hey Bulba... Just posting to attract your attention to this thread ^_^;;

I'll happily delete this once you post, just a little reminder.

[Roy Karrde]

Allright I'm sure the moderators have been extremely busy with the move to the new format and everything. Yet this thing is still stickied and many people have put some long hours into trying to win this tournament. So I was just asking will this thing end yet? Or will it be a four way tie?