Let the Game Begin!
"You finally made it then, did you?" said the old man in the hooded cloak. "I was beginning to worry no-one else was coming…
The heavy footfall of the black-armoured, crowned warrior was all but unheard amidst the lightning that struck around the mountain. He reached for a heavy spiked mace at his belt, but the old man raised a hand, an unearthly red glow emanating from his outstretched fingers. "You needn't resort to violence so soon, Conqueror", he said. "Too many of our meetings of late have ended in bloodshed…"
"Spare me the transparent farce of negotiation, Conjuror", said the Conqueror, his hand on the mace but not yet drawing it. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't simply crush you".
"Very well", said the Conjuror. "The reason you should not "simply crush me", as you say, is because we both know how things will end if you do".
The Conqueror paused. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was true. No matter how this played out, if he made the first move…
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a battle cry from behind him. The Conqueror sighed, drawing the mace and turning in time to block a sword strike from a young man in a white tunic with a single iron pauldron protecting his shoulder.
"Give it up, boy!" snarled the Conqueror.
"Never!" shouted the young swordsman. "I will not rest until…"
He was interrupted as two circles of light appeared on the ground beneath him and the Conqueror, rooting their feet to the ground.
"Stay out of this", growled the Conqueror. "This boy and his irritating feud with me are none of your concern!"
"If only that were the case", said the Conjuror. "Look closely at his sword and tell me if it looks familiar…"
The Conqueror looked at the sword and saw a marking on the hilt. "Warrior", he said angrily. "I should have known".
"Quite", said a voice. Out from behind one of the many pillars surrounding the area stepped a man dressed in a colourful ensemble that looked like that of a jester or harlequin. "This boy is actually the latest incarnation of our dear old friend the Warrior – not that he remembers his past lives yet. It looks like the gang's all here".
"Trickster", said the Conqueror. "You planned all this didn't you…"
"Not all of it", said the Trickster with a smirk. "I only helped things along…"
"What are you talking about?" demanded the boy, swiping uselessly with his sword. On the fifth swing, the blade glowed blue, slicing through an invisible barrier and freeing him from the Conjuror's spell.
"So, it's starting to come back to you, is it?" said the Trickster. "You remembered the powers of your sword, for one thing".
New memories rushed to the surface of the Warrior's mind. Countless lifetimes, and in every one, he had the same sword, the same shield, and the same three beings in thousands of forms, sometimes enemies, sometimes allies. In some, he remembered all his past lives before the rest. In some, he never remembered them at all.
"I remember… other lives…" began the Warrior. "But even so…"
From nowhere, the Trickster pulled a large red kiteshield with an emblem resembling a golden dragon and threw it to the no-realised Warrior.
"You had his shield and you simply gave it back to him?" said the Conqueror, shocked.
"We've done this so many times", said the Trickster. "So many, in fact, that none of us can make the first move. As Conjuror already so eloquently said, we know what will happen, simply because it has already happened so many times before".
He drew a shining silver pistol and pointed it at the Conqueror. "For example, if I were to shoot the Conqueror right here and now, it would leave cracks in his armour that would kill him on a second shot, a fact I would never get to enjoy because he could have my head off before I could fire a second shot. Later on, one of the others would take advantage of this weakness and finish him off, only to leave the conclusion to Warrior versus Conjuror, but it serves me no advantage because I'm already dead by this stage. I could shoot the Warrior or Conjuror instead, or wait for a more opportune moment, but any plan I try will have at least one of you able to counter it. And given you've seen it all before any opportunity to thwart my plans will be taken as soon as it's available. Before we all have our memories back, this game is perfectly winnable. But after we're all here, all knowing our place in this eternal feud…"
"That is the way of things", said the Conjuror. "But it seems it cannot be helped. As in every life before, we all have our personal grudges to settle in this life. And how else can we settle them?"
"I propose we do things a little differently this time", said the Trickster. "Play a different game that we don't all know the outcome of…"
"What kind of "game"?" asked the Conqueror.
"Simply put, we each select sixteen beings remembered from our countless previous incarnations, and have them compete in a grand tournament", said the Trickster. "The winner will be granted one wish, while whichever one of us summoned them can do what he wishes with the souls of the other three. Cast them into the void to be born again, destroy them, consume them… whatever you wish…"
"It cannot be as simple as that", said the Conjuror. "Under those conditions, the Warrior is at a distinct disadvantage, as his skills cannot be put to use in such a tournament".
"Quite right", said the Trickster, throwing each of them a small bundle of cards. "Each of these cards grants their user an opportunity to interact with this tournament once. Two of them correspond to each of our two recurring items; Warrior's Sword and Shield, Conqueror's crown and armour, Conjuror's staff and cauldron and my own pistol and deck of cards – or at least, the one card I have left after giving you the rest. Using these cards will allow you to lend one of your tools to one of your combatants. The third card of each set allows you to pry one combatant from an adversary – from that point on, that combatant shall be treated as yours, and victory will go to you if they win the tournament. Fourth is a card that allows you to take direct control of one of these combatants, possessing them. Regardless of this card's use, winning the tournament in the body of another still grants victory to the one who summoned them, so it is perhaps best used on your own choices. And finally, the fifth card grants its user the opportunity to rearrange the tournament battles, swapping two sets of opponents".
"I'll accept those terms", said the Conqueror. He had some good ideas who to summon already.
"I shall also accept", said the Conjuror. "At least your potential trickery is on the table where I can see it this time.
"Fine by me", said the Warrior.
Trickster smirked. "If that's the case, let the game begin!"
And that's the premise in a nutshell.
This story will feature many characters from various series. However, like in another story of mine, the combatants were chosen by the readers.
Apologies if you wanted to submit anyone, but the roster is now full. I did however receive a submission from one person who clearly didn't read the "four characters only rule", so I will allow anyone who still wants some input to choose from amongst their character choices. The options are Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach), Monkey D Luffy (One Piece), Tony Tony Chopper (One Piece), Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail), Orochimaru (Naruto), Batman (DC comics) and Delsin Rowe (inFamous: Second Son)
I'd also like to apologise in advance to the people who chose literally half the characters. SOMEONE'S got to go out in the first round...