TRIGGER WARNING: Death of Fantasy Creatures; Fantasy Violence
Chris walked towards the regular submarine that he took the contestants out into the ocean with, Chef and Bonnie trailing close behind him. "Look, all I'm saying is that if Poseidon and Amphitrite wanted us to wait for them to come back before doing the next challenge, they should've told us beforehand!"
"They did tell us before, you just weren't listening, man." Chef rolled his eyes at Chris, only for the host to snap around and shush him by holding a finger to his lips. This got an intense glare back from the co-host when Chris finally pulled back from him.
"Yeah, whatever! I'm getting too bored just sitting around and waiting for them everyday when we could be getting into the action! Besides, they didn't even tell us about what was going on…for all we know, they're probably just out having a date or something." Chris shook his head as he went on to open the stairs to the submarine.
"Heh…yeah, they're having a date of some kind I bet," Bonnie licked her lips while an intense blush sprawled across her pasty face. "What kinda things do you think they've gotten up to on that date? I'm almost willing to bet that someone's face is buried in pillows right now…and knowing the two of them, it's definitely not Amphitrite."
"Bonnie, must you be gross every five seconds?" Bonnie lightly shrugged with a grin on her face at Chris's disgust. He turned around to face the two, holding one arm behind his back while pointing up with a finger on his other hand. "The point is that they aren't here and we assuredly are, so we'll be moving on with the rest of the competition, whether they want us to or not!" The host stomped his foot down to assert his point, only for a heavy set of metal stairs to drop down on the submarine behind him, crushing it entirely. He squealed like a frightened little kid, leaping up into the air and straight into Chef's arms, something that was quite a common occurrence at this point.
"I apologize, we took a bit longer than expected…" Poseidon's voice called down from the top of the steps, revealing that he was standing there, along with Amphitrite, who was clinging onto his arm while blushing intensely. Bonnie saw the sight and grinned even wider than before. "We're here now…so I suppose we should gather up the contestants and get this started? Ah, but first! Last time on Total Drama: Lost City, eight contestants were left, and each of them were taken to a massive coral maze with one goal in mind: get to the end of the maze before the rest of the contestants do! Jianne and Dusty took an early lead of the group, but this ended up knocking them back to last place when they weren't paying attention to where they were going and they slammed right into a wall! Zachary got stuck with Luna, and made sure to show her just how much faster he could clear the maze than her. Natt and Vicente had some quality time together bonding before Vicente went and won the challenge first. Amelia was stuck with Nicolás, and she didn't let anyone hear the end of it! In the end, Dusty accidentally made Jianne see the competition as more dire than it actually was, and she was simply outclassed by her! The cowgirl was sent home, leaving us with only seven contestants! We're about to embark on a journey away from Atlantis to a whole new venue, what will happen to our contestants when we get there? Find out, right now, on Total Drama: Lost City!"
The camera hovered over an ocean, quickly descending beneath the water and happening upon Atlantis, zooming in on the wreck of the Chris space station, where the host himself was on his knees, sad that there was an asteroid in his face, while Poseidon patted him on the shoulder and Amphitrite sighed in annoyance.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the camera quickly shifted over to the carnival zone in Atlantis, showing Natt and Anne on a large Ferris wheel, enjoying their time together until it suddenly fell out of place and rolled away.
"You guys are on my mind," down at the controls, Zachary and Amelia were revealed to be messing with them, laughing maniacally until Vicente came over and bonked both of them on the head with plastic baseball bats.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," in one of the carnival tents, March and Luna watched Benjamin in awe as he rode a unicycle while bouncing on a trampoline, juggling bowling pins, and holding a torch with his teeth.
"I wanna be famous!" Tony tossed a frisbee at the wheel, causing Benjamin to fall on top of an unsuspecting Bonnie, and the torch to set his shirt on fire before the bowling pins landed on his head, which caused Liz to give him a thumbs up with an evil grin on her face.
"I wanna live close to the sun," out in the ocean, Alex was in his diving suit, trying to catch a sea monkey, but failing utterly, just like he had when it was a space monkey, while Dusty shook her head in disappointment, lassoing the creature back to them, but catching Jett instead.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," on the seafloor, Archie studied a squid closely until it shot ink all over his helmet's glass shield, which made Jianne giggle a little bit before wiping it off.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," not too far from where the two were, Damien and Gretchen ran away from a massive shark, which knocked them off to the side, showing that it was swimming away from Flint, who was throwing rocks at it while Alexis chased after him.
"I wanna be famous!" the camera switched gears to show a submarine, with arcade-esque machines in it that Taylor and Crustacean were fighting over.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," zooming into a "pod" of sorts near the arcade games, a virtual world that was full of immaculate fantasy aspects and monsters was shown.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" Nicolás, dressed as a knight, was running in fear as blasts of dark energy were tossed at the ground behind him, each blast destroying part of the ground.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" the camera revealed Thomas, in dark mage garb, as the source of the blasts, floating in the sky and laughing maniacally until Maggie, dressed as a witch, flew over to him on her broom and tackled him to the ground, making out with him before he blasted the camera with one of the energy balls.
Afterwards, the whole group was seen on a nautically themed aftermath stage, which Sebastian and Haley were at the center of, glaring at each other while all of the contestants, accompanied by Maggie, who was hugging Thomas tightly, whistled.
The contestants were hardly given any time to fiddle around after they woke up, as the speakers around Atlantis suddenly turned on with a loud feedback noise preceding the announcements. "Attention, divers!" This time around, it was Poseidon rather than Chris, a voice that seemed to soothe some of the tension that the regular host's voice would carry along with it. "I know, we took quite a bit of time to get back, but we're finally here so we can get on with our journey! Some of you may have seen the note that we left on the door to the office, but in case you didn't, know that we are all going to be leaving Atlantis, post-haste! Gather up all your things and get ready to come meet us where you would normally meet for the ocean challenges…you'll see a brand new submarine there, kinda hard to miss it. We'll see you all shortly to further discuss what'll be happening next."
Confessional
"Finally…he's back so I can get my answers about Father Time. There's no more running away from my questions…especially not if we'll be on a submarine together this whole time." Natt stared dead into the camera, his eyes showing just how much he wanted to solve this puzzle that seemed to have no answer.
"I had honestly forgotten that Poseidon existed…I've been too busy focusing on being better at this game than everyone else." Zach flashed a peace sign to the camera while sticking his tongue out slightly. "I may seem like an ass, but you all know I'm an icon, don't go and lie to yourselves."
Confessional End
The final seven made their way to the new submarine, each of them shocked by just how massive it was. Vicente whistled at the sight of the vehicle, "Aye, I've never seen one this big before." The reality TV veteran suddenly heard some stifled chuckling behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Bonnie covering her mouth with her hands while she was holding back her laughter. He rolled his eyes at her, "Of course, you would find humor in that."
"Hey, not my fault you're saying the exact same things that your mother said last night." Bonnie snickered before walking ahead of the group, standing at the base of the stairs and turning to face all of them. "Already, hunks and babes! Poseidon is waiting inside for you with some special guests or something like that. Just head right up the stairs and make your way to the main chamber…it's a straight shot down the main hall, so the only way any of you are missing it is if you're blind."
Nicolás sheepishly raised his hand, "Well, if I don't have my glasses on I could be considered legally blind…" Bonnie sighed at the pathetic boy, who pulled his hand back down and started shuffling up the stairs to get on the submarine. Jianne ran right past him, making it all the way to the entrance before anyone else even came close.
"Haha! Looks like I won another race! You really gotta be working on your speed if you wanna hold a lead like that, Nick!" Nicolás slightly smiled as he rushed up the stairs to meet back with the girl, who grabbed him by the head and gave him a noogie while they started walking inside to the main hallway.
"Ugh, get a room, you two!" Luna crossed her arms as she was the next contestant to make it inside, with Amelia following close behind her.
"Will we be getting our own rooms in here? I don't think I can handle staying in the same room as that competition-driven maniac any longer…" Amelia groaned to herself, with Zachary being right behind her and basically shoving right past her. "Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry, Amelia! Better actors have to go inside first, it's just the rules." The actor turned back to face the actress with a cheesy grin before his head smacked against the roof of the doorway, since he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.
"Would it kill you to show some class for five minutes?" Vicente shook his head at Zachary, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him along into the submarine, leaving Natt as the tail of the group.
"Gotta get my answer…and he's in there somewhere. No more running away, Poseidon." Natt focused ahead as he walked into the submarine. This left Bonnie at the bottom of the steps, and she groaned as she realized she was stuck with everyone's luggage. She grabbed all the bags in her arms and started climbing up the stairs…very slowly.
Meanwhile, inside the submarine, the contestants were now walking down the main hall…which was quite dark. The only light came from the occasional red wax candle that was set up on the walls, but outside of that, it was just as dark as could be. Once they finally made it to the end of the hall, they were introduced to the massive main chamber, where Poseidon, Amphitrite, Chris, and Chef were all standing, along with two shadowy figures in the background of the room. Poseidon took a step towards the contestants, his hands clasped together while a friendly smile made its home on his face. "So glad to see all of you again! I know, I apologize for our sudden departure before, but we had to get on with working some sort of a deal out. I do believe you have met my associate before?"
Poseidon gestured to the shadowy figure in the throne behind him. There was red wax melting onto the ground and the throne itself from the candles that were burning, but it was a bit too difficult to make out a face or anything until she stood up…though she looked drastically different from the last time they had seen her. For starters, she was a lot taller…and her skin, which was already quite pale to begin with, seemed as if it had gotten even paler than before. Her hair was different too…it was definitely messier than before, and it was cut short to be a sort of punk style. For the most part, the hair was black in color, give for the bloody, red highlights. Her eyes even had red contacts in so they appeared red…and with the glasses that she was wearing, which had red lenses, it was a lot of red to take in. Then, there was her outfit. It seemed like black and red were the only two colors that she knew at this point. She had a black undershirt on, the sleeves of which went all the way down to her wrists, and a black tee shirt with a few red bands on it. Curiously, the left arm had no sleeve from the tee, but the right did. She had a short, red pencil skirt, which only just barely made it down to her knees, though she was wearing red thigh high socks that covered up the rest of her pale skin. To top it off, she had her black combat boots…she was "oh-so scary."
"Yeah, whatever, I guess I may have met some of them a while back." The girl's voice finally put the whole thing together for the contestants…this was Dana Starshine in a brand new phase. She looked over to Natt, gazing him up and down. "Black on black on black…you got pretty good style."
"Ah…thank you?" Natt rubbed the back of his neck while Dana rolled her eyes back at him, not much caring for his response. "W-was I supposed to say something else?"
"No, it's whatever, just forget about it, who cares?" The prodigy plopped herself back in the throne, though the other shadowy figure quickly pinched her by the ear and tugged her back up. "Ow, ow, ow! What do you think you're doing, lady!?"
"It's rude to keep saying 'whatever' and 'who cares' to our guests. I'm not going to forgive you so easily if you mess up our first impression." Dana finally managed to slap the other figure's hand away from her ear, rubbing it soon after while rolling her eyes. "Don't you go rolling your eyes at me. You know how much I despise that sort of behavior."
"You're not my mom…" Dana kept on groaning to herself while the other figure let herself be seen by everyone by walking into the candlelight. It was odd seeing a woman of her age, presumably early twenties, only being a few inches taller than Dana, who must've been fifteen at this point. She was a bit thin, but she still had somewhat of an hourglass figure, but the look on her face made it quite clear that she wasn't one to tolerate any perverts ogling her. Her skin was cream-toned, fairly light, but with still a bit of color to her. Her hazel eyes stared at each of the contestants one by one, her gaze feeling something similar to a gun being aimed at them. Her hair was a gorgeous auburn tone, it dropped down to her shoulders and had a bit of frizziness to it. She wasn't wearing any extravagant makeup or anything, but she did have her eyes lit up with some skin-toned eyeshadow and her cheeks nicely complimented by some blush. Her attire is exactly what one would expect someone with her attitude to wear…being a white blouse with the sleeves folded up to the elbows and neatly buttoned to keep them in place, a black, mini pencil skirt, the opposite of Dana's red one, and white calf-length socks being just visible past her black mary janes.
"I may as well act like your mother if you want to keep behaving this way…you're not being a phenomenally welcoming host." Dana didn't seem to care for the woman's comments, as she went back to sulking in her throne. A vein became visible in the woman's forehead, as she had definitely grown tired of the prodigy's attitude at this point. "Now, you listen here, young lady! I will not-"
"Ahem…Charlize, I do realize that you have your standards for how you and Dana should act around people, but as we're about to take off, we figured it would probably be to everyone's benefit if you would start introducing the challenge to the kids?" Poseidon got Charlize's attention with his statement, and she finally cut some slack for Dana as she moved over to the contestants. Poseidon and the other hosts shuffled out of the room as Charlize stood between the contestants and them, causing Natt some internal strife.
"Right…they did say they wanted me to be the one leading this challenge, didn't they? Very well, I'll fill you all in on what's going to happen." Charlize gestured to the far wall of the room, revealing the lot of "pods" that were lining said wall. "You may have missed these on your way in, but if you don't know what they are…they're virtual reality pods. The gist is that you seat yourselves inside of them and you are essentially transported into another world. Of course, with the advanced technology from Starshine Industries, we were able to make it so that it seems more real than any other VR that may exist out there."
"Virtual reality? I was always told not to mess around with that stuff, what with my eyes being as pathetic as they are." Nicolás shriveled up a good bit, but a hearty pat on the back from Jianne got him standing up tall again.
"Don't worry about that…this VR works a bit differently than the sort you would wear as a headset. Imagine it as…well…a lucid dream. You will be taken to this world through your mind, not your eyes. Yes, I know…It's quite impressive." Charlize seemed to smirk ever so slightly, much different than the typical stern gaze that she gave everyone. "Now, we only have one game available on these systems, that being a vast role-playing game, but that's alright. Your challenge is going to be one quite simple…you will each have to reach level ten in the fantasy world we've got laid out for you. The first to make it to level ten will be able to keep their virtual reality pod…while the last will be eliminated from the game. Conveniently enough, the system will recognize your failure, and this pod will also function as an escape pod and take you to the aftermath set before you have any time to moan and groan!"
"That really does seem pretty advanced…I can't imagine even having close to the amount of money it would take to fund something like this." Vicente moseyed over to one of the pods, rubbing the sleek exterior with one of his hands. "It feels so…advanced."
"That's because it is quite advanced…well, go along, contestants. Each of you can get into one of the pods, and you'll be taken straight to the VR world. I will be meeting you there to further discuss the challenge at hand." Charlize walked to the other side of the room, where there was a more elegant looking pod. As she started getting into that one, the contestants looked between each other, eventually shrugging before they started towards the rest of the pods.
Confessional
"Of course we would be forced into a challenge the very second we got on this submarine…I should've figured that Poseidon wouldn't be letting me get to him that easily. Oh well…I can just ask him what's going on after the challenge is over and done with." Natt sighed and leaned back against the wall, "He's one slippery old geezer, I'll give him that."
"One of these would probably make for something really neat to go and show Dusty later on…I mean, she probably wouldn't be too into the VR or anything, but maybe they'll make a farm game or something." Vicente shrugged his shoulders as he thought about what a game like that would be like. "Eh…I don't really think a farm simulator would be very fun."
"This is actually…well…probably the coolest thing I'll be able to experience. I've kinda been locked out of all things VR, considering the state of my eyes and vision, but this is a thing that'll let me play VR anyways. If only I could win this challenge…it'd be nice to keep the thing." Nicolás smiled slightly while he rubbed his arm and looked off to the side.
Confessional End
The view cut from the dimly lit room to show a stockroom full of weapons and armor with some crates and barrels tossed around from side to side. In the very center of the room, there stood Charlize, who looked a bit different than she had before. Now, her outfit was changed to make her look…well, a little witchy. She had the black witch's hat, and the robe with the droopy sleeves and all. It was like someone was pranking her by saying she would be a witch in something like this, but the serious expression on her face revealed that that wasn't the case. "It's taking them so long just to pick their class…they can't seriously be getting picky with this stuff, can they?"
As if her prayers had been answered, the first of the seven contestants spawned into the game, that being Luna. The model was wearing the most elegant fairy princess gown that one could imagine, with the skirt poofing out a bit where it ended, at the knees, and the pink blouse being dotted with diamonds all over. From her back, there sprouted a full pair of butterfly wings that fluttered gracefully behind her. In one hand, she held a small wand with a star at the end of it. Curiously, her eyes seemed to be a bit more sparkly than they typically were. She looked down at her feet, smiling as she saw that she was wearing pure diamond slippers on them. "Well, well! Miss Charlize, we do get to keep these fancy outfits, yes?"
"The outfit you're wearing isn't real, Luna…you're simply imagining it. I did tell you beforehand that the VR world is quite realistic. Now, you see what I mean." Charlize smirked again, quite confident with how the world had turned out. It was then that the next contestant spawned in, Vicente this time around. The boy was wearing the most curious set of armor…it was a deep blue color, and the only thing that was missing from the suit was the helmet, leaving his blonde hair exposed. The armor itself looked as if it was made up of reptilian scales, and the claw-like protrusions on the pauldrons only furthered this theory. He clutched a rather large spear in his hands while he glanced around the room.
"Aye, you were serious when you said it was like a lucid dream, señorita. Never did I ever imagine I'd be seeing something as immaculate as this." Vicente whistled when he looked up at the ceiling, seeing that every single wood grain in the room was textured perfectly. "I can't even begin to imagine how much money was spent on making this possible."
Before Charlize had the time or opportunity to answer that, another contestant warped in. It was Natt, and compared to the rest that had arrived thus far, he seemed…well, naked. He was entirely shirtless, but he was definitely a lot more muscular than everyone remembered him to be. His nethers were covered by a bear skin skirt that he wore proudly, while he had bear paw boots keeping his tootsies warm. In his right hand, he held a greatax by its wooden handle, effortlessly slinging it over his shoulder. "Dang…it's a lot cooler here than I thought it would be."
"But not as cool as me!" The contestants and Charlize glanced towards where the new voice came from, seeing that it belonged to Jianne, who had just spawned in. Her ears were incredibly pointy, almost being knifelike in nature. She wore a forest green cloak with the hood kept down over her leather cuirass, which had been tightened over a white blouse. Her pants were dark brown in color, and there were some scattered leather straps around her thighs and calves as improvised armor. Her boots were entirely leather, as well. Sure, she didn't appear the most defensive by any means, but she definitely seemed like the type that would be able to sneak around with ease. She held a bow up in her hands, grinning proudly at it. "Lookee what I got here! It's only the best weapon of all time!"
"How can you even say that when these puppies exist?" Zachary spawned in right in front of the girl, aiming two guns right at her face. They were revolvers, but they seemed a bit more complex than your standard revolver would be. He looked…well, like a cowboy. He had the brown cowboy hat on, a brown vest over a white shirt with a red scarf covering his neck and the lower half of his face, brown slacks, and black boots that had spurs and everything. "It's a pretty good day to die…so, are you feeling lucky, punk?"
"You would make a cheesy movie reference at this moment, wouldn't you?" Jianne used her bow to move the guns out of her face before stomping down hard on Zachary's toe, causing him to yelp in pain. This, of course, made her smile rather giddily. "That's what you get for pointing those things in my face. They're quite dangerous, you know?"
"Why, you-" The actor attempted to fight back, but he was immediately cut off by someone spawning in between the two, this person being Nicolás. The nerdy boy glanced around the room, a look of pure awe forming on his face. He reached up to where his eyes were, feeling around with his hands and realizing that his glasses weren't there…he just didn't need them. He let out a very slight chuckle, followed by a smile growing across his face. He, like Vicente, was wearing armor, but his was a bit different. For the most part, it seemed to be made of a silvery-metal with some gold accents on it. He also had a cape hanging on his back from his shoulders, the cape being red with a golden crest on it. "Great, the nerd is here."
"This is…so cool! I've only been able to dream about being in VR before, but I never would have imagined it to be this amazing!" Seeing how happy Nicolás was made Jianne happy as well, and she snickered while patting him on the back again. "I've been missing out on so much this whole time…"
While the nerdy boy enjoyed the environment he had spawned into, Amelia finally entered the VR world. She looked…well…a lot more edgy than everyone remembered her to be. She wore a deep red, leather jacket which seemed to drop down past her waist and all the way to her knees. The jacket's sleeves cut off at her elbows, and she had black, fingerless gloves on her hands. Under the jacket, which wasn't zipped up, she wore a black crop top. Her pants were black, as well, and the cutoff for them was in the middle of her calves. She wore a pair of red, leather boots that matched the jacket perfectly. Her eyes were glowing an eerie red glow, and the very same glow seemed to be pulsing from her hands. Everyone had to stop and stare at her when she arrived, each of them a bit confused by her wardrobe choices. "Why are you all looking at me like that? I'm a sorceress, I have to look the part, don't I?"
"You kinda just look like your outfit took inspiration from Dana's, what with all the black and red." Vicente chuckled to himself, only for Amelia to throw a dagger at him, which just barely grazed past his neck before lodging into the wall. "Relax! It was just a joke, no need to get so worked up."
"Now, now, don't you all go fighting…the challenge hasn't even really started yet." Charlize did a funky movement with one of her hands, lifting each of the contestants up off of the floor with her mind while a green glow pulsed around them. "You all start at level one…as you know, you have to be level ten to make it out of the challenge. You'll notice a staircase at the far end of this room…that staircase leads to the outside, which is a battlefield with an abundance of goblin warriors on it. The goblin tribes apparently had some disagreement, and that has brought them to war. I really don't care which goblins you target, but you need to take down enough of them to actually hit level ten. Do you all think you can do that?"
The contestants nodded back at the question, and Charlize set them all down with another hand motion. "Wonderful…now, go out there and start slaying some goblins. Oh! I almost neglected to mention…with each level up, you will gain new abilities. Make sure you're putting these to good use. And, if you manage to die…you'll respawn in this room. Dying will knock your exp down a little bit, so just…try not to die."
Confessional
"Slaying goblins sounds super messy…if any goblin blood gets on my gorgeous princess dress, I'm gonna throw a fit so incredible that Charlize won't be able to forget about it!" Luna waved her wand at the camera threateningly, her eyes sparkling with a hateful aura to them.
"I've always wanted to crush the Hollywood goblins with my mind powers…I'm so glad that fantasy is actually coming to be. I can only imagine how fantastic my powers will turn out to be when I start leveling up a fair bit!" Amelia stood proudly, soon levitating with a red glow around her. "Heheh…that's new!"
Confessional End
The battlefield was definitely grand, as Charlize had mentioned to the adventurers before they departed from that little armory they were in. It was defiled with lost weapons, deceased goblin warriors, and of course, pools of goblin blood from the carnage. A look at either side of the war revealed that the goblins were each fighting with a lot of different technology on their sides. One side had attained some form of tanks which were being pulled by massive dire wolves, the other side facing this with warriors that were riding atop of scaled elephants that they managed to tame. It was a bloody battle indeed.
One of the goblins from the elephant tribe rushed into the field, holding his sword while letting out a massive battlecry. Across from him, one of the dire wolf tribe's warriors was charging at him with a spear in hand. The two kept coming closer and closer to actually reaching each other, but before either of them was able to strike at the other, they both found themselves being held in place by some odd, red energy. The two struggled to break free, but were clearly unable to do so as Amelia started to walk towards them while letting out a devious chuckle.
"My first ability is just a little lockdown spell, but it's still nice to see people stuck in place. I guess I really am just that powerful, huh?" The actress continued to chuckle as she reached for two daggers from her sides, slinging them at the goblins and effectively lodging said daggers in their heads. Of course, the attack pretty much killed the goblins instantaneously, and blue aura flew from their bodies right to Amelia's. She was a bit startled at first, and this caused her to dispel the ability she was using, the two goblin bodies dropping down as consequences. Two words displayed over her head soon after, those words being a simple, "LEVEL UP!"
"Ahh…the blue stuff must be the experience. Makes sense to me. What new ability have I gotten from this…'Forced Levitation?' Hoho! Sounds exciting!" Amelia clapped her hands together before looking at the daggers, which were still lodged in the goblins' heads. She smirked and aimed one of her hands at the general area, causing some red energy to pulse around the daggers before lifting them each high into the sky. "How brutal!" As the actress messed around with her newly learned spell, a few more goblin warriors surrounded her, each wanting to avenge their fallen comrades. She took a good look at each of them, grinning from ear to ear. "You all want a piece of me? So be it!"
Amelia charged in to fight the oncoming threats, using her floating daggers in a tornado motion to chop them to bits. Not far from her, one of the elephants had suddenly made a stop in the middle of its path, seemingly staring up at the sky in wonder. The goblin warrior that was riding atop the elephant smacked at its head in question, trying to see why exactly it made this stop. It too took a look to the sky, its eyes going wide with fear as it saw what was coming towards it. A small, winged dragon, with none other than Vicente riding on it, flew straight at the elephant, and Vicente thrust his spear straight through the mighty beast, felling it in one blow.
"Morir en paz!" The dragon touched down to the ground, and its rider hopped off its back, swinging his spear around while walking towards the goblin warrior that had fallen from the elephant. Blue aura flew towards the menacing boy, leveling him up, just as Amelia had before. The goblin stood up, being a lot bigger than many of the others that were on the field. It held a massive hammer in its hands, and it shouted some foul goblin curses at the boy. "I'll try to make this quick for you with my new ability."
Vicente started spinning his spear in a circular motion, picking up more and more speed with each cycle the weapon did and gaining some sort of energy around it. Eventually, he broke from the swinging motion, revealing that the spear blade was now coated in a fine lining of electricity. It glowed a bright yellow color, but the goblin warrior didn't back down from its position. Rather, it began to charge at Vicente. "So, you're not gonna back down? That's pretty honorable…but I'm still going to win!"
The goblin swung its hammer down upon Vicente, but he quickly rolled out of the way, slicing the warrior's ankle with the electrified spear. The shock was enough to stagger the creature, but it didn't fall quite yet, as it spun as quickly as it could to slam the hammer down again. The injury it had sustained definitely did a number on its speed, and it missed the boy greatly as he dodged straight past it and lunged the spear through its chest. The goblin slouched forward, resting its head upon Vicente's shoulder before more experience points went to the boy. "An honorable opponent indeed. But who's next?"
Confessional
"Never did I think that role-playing would be this…enthralling, I suppose is a good word for it. I'm actually feeling real emotions in this battle. I face an honorable opponent and I feel the need to remember him through the battle. He was only fighting for what he believed in…that's more honor than some of the other contestants have." Vicente paused for a moment before shaking his head and laughing slightly. "It's just a game, what am I going on about?"
Confessional End
Charlize sat down in the armory, lounging against the back wall while resting her stave in her lap. In front of her, there was a faintly green bubble that displayed a scene of combat on the field outside. "They seem like they're having fun…and each of them is sticking to the task at hand. And here I was, worried that I might have to give someone a stern talking to about following rules." The witch laughed loudly before suddenly stopping when she heard something topple over in the room. She dispelled the green bubble and looked ahead to see Zachary standing right across from her. "What are you doing down here? The challenge has already started…you're missing out on a lot of experience you could be getting."
"I thought about going up there and facing those goblins or whatever it is…but I had an epiphany before I did! You can see the levels above every creature's head…I figure a creature at level fifty would definitely rocket me right to level ten if I beat it." Zachary gestured to the area above Charlize's head with one of his revolvers, causing her to glance up and see that he was talking about her. "I'll take an easy win any day of the week."
"...I really think you should just make your way up to where the rest of the contestants are. You won't have any luck down here, I can assure you of that much." Charlize stood from her seat, grabbing her stave in her right arm and causing the green gem at the end of it to glow brightly. "Go along now…if you stay down here much longer, I'll just toss you up there myself."
"Ha! And how are you going to do that?" Zachary aimed both of his revolvers at the woman, grinning like a maniac while she sighed. "Sighing already? You can't be bored when I haven't even shown you what I can do!" With those words, the actor kicked up a wall of sand, obscuring Charlize's vision of him. He fired off many shots from his revolvers through the sand, but when they got close to her, they just stopped out of nowhere.
"Re-cast." Charlize uttered that one word, and the bullets suddenly flew back in the direction that they initially came from, piercing right back through the sand wall and knocking it down, only to show that Zachary wasn't behind it anymore. She looked around the room to see where he was hiding. "I'm a bit impressed that you managed to scurry away that quickly when you're only a level one."
"I may be a level one, but I'm a level one that you won't be able to beat, no matter what type of magic you try to use on me!" Zachary stood up from behind a box, still aiming his guns at the girl. He dropped his aim ever so slightly, still sporting that cocky grin. "Go ahead, use your strongest spell on me. I bet you I won't even feel it because I'm just that good!"
"My strongest spell? Alright…if you insist. Ahem…Flay." The gem on the stave suddenly emanated a dark purple glow, and Zachary immediately fell to the ground. In about two seconds, he respawned in the center of the room, confused as to what happened. "Satisfied?"
"What was that!? I didn't even feel anything, I just up and died!" Zachary looked around, but his previous body was gone completely. It disappeared when he had respawned. He glared back at Charlize, aiming his revolvers at her again. "Answer me, you crazy witch!"
"You told me to use my strongest spell against you, that's what I did. And there was a brief second before you died…but you wouldn't have been able to feel anything. Flay tears the skin and the nerves straight off of your body…you couldn't feel a thing." Charlize shrugged, still not impressed with the boy. "Now will you go out and fight goblins with the rest of the contestants?"
"As if! I'm gonna beat you and win this challenge, no casting me aside!" Zachary started unloading all the bullets at Charlize, but her magical barrier stopped them from striking her in mid-air. This time, she re-cast them at the door to the outside, destroying it entirely.
"The door is wide open, just go out there already. You do realize you're going to lose if you keep trying to fight me, right?" Charlize narrowed her gaze at the actor, but he was unphased, as he just started reloading his guns. "Aye…this is going to be really annoying. Very well." The witch waved her stave around a bit, a turquoise glow coming from it this time. This caused a bubble of water to form around him, trapping him entirely and leaving him with no air. "Just nod so I know you'll-" Before she could finish her sentence, a bullet burst the bubble, flying past her and grazing her cheek just a bit. She seemed to become even more annoyed by this. "That's how persistent you're going to be? Fine by me…"
Charlize started to spin her stave in a unique motion, draining all the color from the room and seemingly causing time to freeze for everything except for her. She walked towards Zachary, a fiery glow in her eyes. Meanwhile, back out on the field, one of the tanks was being pulled towards Nicolás by the wolves that led it. The nerdy boy was strangely calm in this scenario, as he knelt down to the ground and dug the tip of his straight sword into the dirt in front of him. "Blessing be granted, I beg of thee…quake!"
This brief request of the boy was answered by some otherworldly power, and the ground around him started to glow with a holy light. It shook the ground up, making it uneven and causing the dire wolves to lose their footing. Nicolás had already reached level five, and was currently in the lead of the contestants from his prior skill with the role-playing aesthetic. He stood from the ground, grabbing his sword and running his free hand along the blade, causing it to glow with that same holy light. "Foul creatures, taste my smite!" He went to swing the blade at the wolves, but they were suddenly struck by a swarm of oncoming arrows. The arrows didn't quite seem to finish the job at first, but after a brief moment, they exploded in a fiery blaze, causing the blue experience to soar off into the distance.
"Man, you really are a nerd for this DnD type stuff, aren't you? 'I beg of thee,' 'taste my smite,' you sound so goofy!" Jianne let out a boisterous laugh as she leveled up to the same level as the boy that she had just stolen that experience from. "I figured it would be interesting if I meddled with your plans to win this challenge."
"It's so like you to do that, but I've got bad news for you. This…is my element! There's no way you'll be able to beat me in something like this!" Nicolás smiled proudly as he slung his sword over his shoulder, and Jianne walked over to stand across from him with a smile of even greater proportions on her face.
"You really are confident today…it's a nice color on you. But I'm still going to beat you, don't you worry!" The two stared at each other and smiled in silence before reaching forth and shaking each other's hands. They turned to see an oncoming swarm of enemies unlike what anyone was faced up against to this point, each still smiling. "Well, well! These enemies are so scared of us that the whole army is trying to knock us down!"
"It's a shame for them that that just won't happen!" Nicolás' blade was still glowing from before, and he started running towards the army while Jianne provided cover fire at some of its units with her arrows. Some arrows were just regular, but with one of the larger enemies in the distance, she used an arrow that wrapped it up in chains and caused it to fall to the ground. Nicolás ran towards that enemy, smiting it with his holy blade. "And that makes up for that exp you stole from me!" He grinned back at his overly competitive friend, who had her game face on now.
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"Huh, never thought I would be so excited to see that nerd actually do better than me in something…guess me and him really are the best of friends. I actually want him to succeed and to beat me! Maybe I'm insane…but I'm still gonna do my best to make sure he loses!" Jianne stuck her tongue out at the camera.
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In the far reaches of the battlefield, there was a dogpile of goblins laying atop something that couldn't be seen at all. As more and more goblins piled on, a faint red light could be seen within the mass of creatures. The light got brighter and brighter, and it was eventually followed by a terrifying shout. "GET OFF!" The goblins started flying back, as if pushed by some phenomenal amount of force. This revealed Natt as the base of the dogpile; he was breathing heavily and his eyes were red with barbaric rage. He picked his ax up from the ground with one hand, soon throwing it at one of the goblins and cleaving its head clean off.
"Who's next!?" It was unusual to see Natt in such a rage, and he pounded his fists against his chest to assert his dominance over the pitiful beasts. He saw one larger one in the distance that didn't feel afraid and wasn't backing away, and he charged straight at it with murderous intent. Once he reached the goblin, he grabbed it by its pointed ears and struck it with a powerful headbutt, breaking its nose with ease. He then shoved the thing to the ground and got down on top of it, sending his fists flying into its face, each punch hitting harder than the last. It got to the point that Natt was punching so fast that his hands were lighting aflame.
After a good deal of punching, the goblin's face couldn't be recognized, and blue experience flowed straight to Natt, which he inhaled like a sweet fume. He got up from the ground, looking at all of the startled goblins that were now trying to make a run for it, but he wasn't having it. "Come back and fight!" The boy grabbed the club-like weapon that his former foe had used, and he charged after the fleeing goblins. As he ran past each of them, he would club them upside the head, felling each with a single blow. Some time passed, and he was suddenly struck by a rather large rock flying at him, which knocked him off to the side.
"Nrgh!" Natt struggled to get back up to his feet, and he saw that one of the tanks in the distance was aiming at him, that being the source of the rock that just hit him. He spit blood to the ground, and his skin started to light up with red tattoos in the shapes of bulls and horns. "You're next, pal!" The barbarian seemed to be invigorated with a newfound strength unlike any other, and he grabbed his ax from the ground and charged at the tank with pure fury.
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"So…I may have lost a bit of control…but it's good to let out all of this aggression every once in a while. I prefer not to flip out on people, so a scenario like this is perfect enough for me." Barbarian Natt looked down at his bloody knuckles with a dull look on his face. "Yeah…maybe I went a little overkill there."
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While many of the contestants were focused on battling the goblins, Luna was doing something a little bit unorthodox, all things considered. She was seated in a crystal throne…which sat atop a fluffy cloud. Of course, in one hand, she held a cup of tea, which she sipped from with a cutesy little smile on her fairy face. She looked down beneath her to see that there was a group of goblin archers trying to take aim at her. "Oh no…that won't do at all. I should teach you nasty goblins not to meddle with me while I'm enjoying my tea time."
Luna stood from her throne and set her tea cup on the arm of it while reaching for her fairy wand. She did a little wiggle with it, causing some sparkles to fall from the end of it. These sparkles descended all the way from the cloud down to the battlefield, dripping slowly on their way. The goblins were distracted by the sparkles since they were so shimmery. Eventually, the sparkles stopped right in front of each of the goblins' faces. They observed the sparkles closely…and then, they suddenly flashed brightly, blinding each and everyone of them.
Luna giggled to herself as she watched the goblins run around, flailing their arms as they were horrified from the lack of sight. "Now, now, no need to run and scream about it. Here, you want me to make it better for you?" The model shook her head and waved her wand again, causing the sky to open up, revealing a smiling star floating in the open gap. This star spat out chunks of stardust from its mouth, which flew at high velocity and, when the dust touched the blinded goblins, they each turned into dust themselves. "No more blindness…it's much better, isn't it?"
Luna continued to giggle as a mass amount of experience skyrocketed her level all the way to nine, so close to the mark that she needed to meet to win the challenge. "Looks like I'm almost there! My, oh my! I wonder which one of these goblins I should use to win this challenge? How about…that one!" She pointed her wand at a larger goblin off in the distance, causing her cloud to start zipping through sky towards the beast.
Meanwhile, back in the armory, Zachary had just respawned for the tenth time. At this point, the room was coated entirely in red from his previous deaths, but he sure was determined to beat Charlize no matter how many lives it took. "You do realize that most of the other contestants have reached level nine, correct? You're still sitting here at level one while everyone else is about to win the challenge." The witch cast a barrier spell to block the oncoming swarm of bullets that Zachary fired at her, her eyebrow twitching after because she was just so aggravated at this point.
"So? That won't matter when I kill you in the next ten seconds and still manage to clutch the win!" Zachary reloaded his revolvers, but when he lifted them to aim back at her again, something odd happened. Another contestant spawned in…right in front of where he was aiming. "Eh!? Natt, get out of my way! I'm trying to kill this witchy lady so I can beat you guys!"
"Hm…I didn't expect Natt to be knocked out before any of the others up there. Well, what got you? Trampled by an elephant? Eaten by a dire wolf?" Charlize lowered her guard as she leaned forth to hear Natt's story.
"Well…I was running towards a tank so I could destroy it for shooting a big rock at me, and that's when it hit me." Zachary and Charlize waited for Natt to continue, but he looked at them with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Uh…no, like, literally hit me. With another big rock. It smashed me against a tree so I ended up back here. Oh well, I'll just go back out there and keep fighting. No harm done by one death."
"Precisely…no harm done at all. If only Zachary would learn his lesson and just get out there already. You're level eight, Natt, which is one level behind the others…while Zachary is still sitting down here at level one." Charlize gestured to Zachary's level and health bar with her stave, causing the actor to blush bright red out of embarrassment.
"Hey, would ya not point at me like that!? He doesn't need to know about my level! Natt, just go back out there so I can get back to my business down here!" Zachary shoved Natt aside, causing the berserker's eyes to start glowing with that rage again. The gunslinger gulped nervously as he noticed the glow, and he backed away a few steps. "H-hey man, no need to get so intense, it was just a little shove."
"Can't control…the barbaric need to…RAGE!" Natt let out a warcry and threw his ax to the ground, with his skin lighting up with those tattoos like before. He exhaled pure steam from his nostrils before charging Zach with his fists ready to pummel him, but he suddenly slammed into a green barrier that materialized out of nowhere. "Urk…"
"You two need to focus on actually going up there and not fighting each other or me so you don't lose this challenge. You do realize that the others could be seconds away from winning and you're down her dawdling?" Charlize shook her head at the two boys, who looked between each other before looking back at her. "I know, you're both realizing how pitiful you're acting. If you just go and get out there now, there will still be time for you to…maybe not lose."
"She's right…we really should just got back out there." Natt got up from the ground and his tattoos faded again. He reached for his ax, but as he grabbed it, a bullet fired through his hand. "Ack!" He clutched his hand in pain, looking over to see that Zachary was staring down at him menacingly. "Zach, what are you doing!?"
"If I can't kill her, I sure as hell can kill you enough times to get that exp. And it'll only get easier with each kill." Zachary had both of his revolvers aimed at Natt as he started walking closer to him, with Charlize sighing at the back of the room. "I'm not settling for something as goofy as a goblin, no way! An icon like me needs to take out a real threat! Those goblins don't deserve these bullets!"
"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Natt groaned as he grabbed his ax, soon swinging it at Zachary incredibly fast. The gunslinger was a few paces back from the barbarian, so the swing missed, and he tossed sand in his eyes immediately after. Natt rubbed his eyes to try and get the sand out, but it didn't matter, as Zachary soon fired off the rest of the chambered bullets, causing Natt to respawn in the center of the room…and a good amount of blue experience to skyrocket Zach's level from one to six. "I can't believe you just did that!"
"You don't need to believe it-" Zachary started spinning the revolvers in his hands incredibly fast. When he stopped spinning them, he revealed that they had each transformed…one into a sniper rifle, and one into a shotgun. "-For it to be true. Now, punk, get on your knees and beg for mercy!"
"As if I'm going to do that!" Natt let out another furious warcry, a shockwave pulsing from him and knocking Zachary back a good deal. The gunslinger slammed against one of the walls, groaning as he pulled himself up and tossed a bunch of caltrops at the floor, creating a deadly floor to be walking on. Natt glared at the spike balls, but ran through them and ignored the pain as he charged his opponent down. It was then that the two were each contained in a green bubble of energy, keeping them from moving while Charlize shook her head at them.
"You guys are pathetic…you couldn't just listen to me before, and now, you're each stuck inside a bubble. I bet you both feel pretty stupid right now, right? No way for you to move or get out…and don't worry, Zachary. This bubble isn't like the other one. If you fire a bullet at it, it'll only bounce around inside the bubble until it hits you." Charlize shook her head at the two of them as she started walking closer. She leered at Zachary, "Truly, this is primarily your fault, Natt just ended up getting wrapped up in it. You should be-"
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The game pods each opened up, the seven contestants, along with Charlize, being freed from them. The guest host got up from her pod, looking around with a confused look on her face. "What on Earth…? Why did the game just stop? We weren't done or anything like that." She looked back at the pods, scratching her chin in thought before noticing that the power cords had been cut on every single one of them. "What the…"
"Come on, I was just about to win!" Luna crossed her arms and began to pout when she walked up to Charlize. "You've gotta put us back in there so I can win the prize! I'd love nothing more than to get one of these…so I can sell it and use the money to buy something I can actually use!"
"I really thought I was going to win that one…why did they stop working?" Nicolás walked up to Charlize next, with many of the other contestants joining behind him. Each looked a bit confused as to what was going on, and Charlize found herself a bit overwhelmed.
"Someone meddled with the systems and cut the power cords…I apologize, but until this is fixed, we won't be able to continue on with the challenge." The contestants groaned, none of them liking to hear that the challenge was postponed. "Luckily, when we do get things fixed up, you'll all remain at the levels you were prior to the game crashing. It'll just be a few days before it's up and running again. Apologies."
Again, the contestants groaned, and they each started walking to one of the hallways that Bonnie was standing in. Apparently, she had just managed to get everyone's luggage put away, and she was there to take each of them to their rooms. Natt and Zachary glared between each other for a brief moment, and then Zachary shifted his glare to Vicente. The boy had made a lot of enemies on his journey…
Author's Notes:
*A non-elimination!? What the heck!? Yup, this challenge ended up being a non-elimination…but the challenge isn't quite over yet! It will come back to be finished later on. As Charlize mentioned, it may take a while, but they will definitely get right back to it. As far as who cut the power to the pods…i suppose we will just have to keep our eyes peeled so we can find out!
*Huge thanks to Runa for letting me use Charlize in this season, as she's definitely a queen character that I adore. This episode, along with the continuation episode with the rest of the challenge, are part of a crossover between this season and her Infinite Zero, which is just amazing. Definitely check it out when you can because it's great!
*Placements: No Placement - Sebastian, Haley, Jett; 22nd - Crustacean; 21st - Thomas; 20th - Archie; 19th - Anne; 18th - Alex; 17th - Taylor; 16th/15th - Liz/Tony; 14th - Flint; 13th - Gretchen; 12th - March; 11th - Damien; 10th - Alexis; 9th - Benjamin; 8th - Dusty