More fights, more death, and more plot advancement. Also, included here is Vancewynd's first and last story for us, as he disappeared shortly after this. And before anyone gets angry as to why some favorites disappeared, well that's the way the cookie crumbles. The GameFAQs users voted on it. The writing team just gave the outcomes life. Stay tune for more updates, as we are trying to get them out as soon as we can.

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Round 21 - Serge (S), Greco (K)

Serge woke up with a pounding headache and in an unfamiliar position. His legs were twisted around his sleeping bag, and his hands were gripping clumps of dirt with fists so tight that his knuckles were white. The silent character sighed, as this was becoming the norm as of late. He put his bandanna on and, after washing his face, went over to see what the others were up to.

'It's not so much the headache and constant grogginess that bothers me,' Serge thought to himself. 'The main problem is that I haven't been able to remember the past few nights for well over a week now. I don't know what I have done and that really scares me. Screams always follow me to sleep.' With that Serge visibly shuddered.

He soon walked toward the general group, and overheard Norris and some others planning another SAL game. This one was called "kickball" and involved a rubbery type ball that Norris had made along with Luccia and Miki the other day. Serge really admired the military man's enthusiasm and sense of loyalty. He also had a competitive spirit that Serge could relate to.

Serge followed the others and indicated that he would like to join in the sport. They graciously granted his request and he entered into the game with a wide grin on his face. Games were an escape for Serge, as it let his mind live in the moment and stop worrying about what he could not remember.

The sport went on well past lunch and into dusk. They had played a total of three games and were currently on their fourth. Serge hadn't won one yet, making him a little cranky, as his competitive side got the best of him. His team was down to its final out and had one chance to take this last game from Norris' team. Serge was up to kick, and he booted the ball way into the end of the playing area. Greco was on first and ran as soon as he saw Serge make contact with the ball, but the swifter villager quickly caught up to him. The lumbering wrestler was slowing Serge down, but he had to wait for him to move first as he was the leader. Finally, the race to home plate was almost complete when Greco stumbled and fell. Serge came down on top of him and just sighed to himself when Janice tagged them both out.

The teams went down the line and gave each other a handshake for a good game. Serge had to admit they played well, but he hated losing. For a second he could almost sense mocking in the opposing team's eyes, but he soon realized his head was playing tricks on him. After going down the line, Serge sat down and kept to himself for a little.

"Can I help you, amigo?" Greco asked.

Serge shook his head no, still looking forlorn.

"Maybe a little walk will do your cabeza good. Come on," the wrestler said as he pulled Serge to his feet. It had gotten quite dark and Serge was getting hungry. He resigned himself to the company of the burly man and started the trek back to the camp. A hooded figure observed all this in the distance and trailed the pair, making not a sound.

"Don't worry, ese, we'll get them next time," Greco reassured Serge. "No soy un perdedor. Remember that."

'We would have won if it wasn't for your bumble,' Serge vented in his head. Off in the distance the hooded figure took out its rod and a mysterious shiny item. It brought its rod up to the item and tapped on it a few times.

"He wanted you to lose," the hooded figure whispered to the item.

'Hey, wait a second, maybe that play was on purpose,' Serge reasoned as his eyebrows rose in alarm. 'People are always out to get me. They don't give me the respect I deserve.'

"No one likes you. They all hate you," whispered the figure again.

'Hey, I mean I busted my tail to make this world a better place!' Serge stamped his foot in ire, causing Greco to turn around at the sight. 'They don't appreciate anything! They are all out to get me! Every last one of them!'

"Is something wrong, amigo?" Greco asked, as he got closer.

'I could just kill them all now!' Serge screamed in his head. 'I'll show them! I alone am powerful! I could shake the very foundations of the Earth! I stopped the Time Devourer and I could just as easily stop everyone on this island!'

"This is good," whispered the figure. "The negativity is enough. Now to flip the switch."

The hooded figure then bent over its item and held the rod to it in intense concentration. After a brief moment it whispered a command: "Awake."

At this, Serge began to feel a familiar, yet alien, buzzing in his head. It began to grow more and more in intensity as he clutched his hands to the side of his head. It began to feel like a curtain of red was being draped over his eyes, and nothing looked the same anymore. Everything looked...like an enemy.

"Is there something I can help you with, Serge? Pobrecito! You look terrible," Greco said, concern in his voice. The next thing that happened was so chilling that it froze the blood in the wrestler's heart and sent shivers down his spine.

Serge looked up, his eyes no longer the blue they were a few seconds ago. Now they were blood red. Straining to hold himself back, he took one look at Greco and gathered his last ounce of control to do one thing. He opened his lips and did the unthinkable. "Run," Serge whispered.

Greco stumbled backwards at hearing the mime speak. It took a while for his legs to get moving, but once they did, he ran ahead, letting his adrenaline push him. He did not dare to look back. Behind him Serge let a wide grin play across his face.

'You cannot escape my wrath, big man,' Serge thought. 'I will find you and pay you back for your treachery.' Serge then concentrated and rose into the air.

Greco was soon panting and out of breath. He hadn't heard Serge for a good minute or so.

"Maybe I have lost him," Greco panted to himself. He tried to move forward again, but his legs wouldn't budge. The wrestler was simply drained. Suddenly there was a screech in the woods behind and he jerked around. What he saw next was so unexpected that he couldn't believe his eyes.

There was an outline of a huge demon in the sky. It seemed to be sniffing the air for something. Large, fat, and a sickly yellow, its very presence was daunting, but it did not appear to be solid, as Greco could see right through it. The demon stopped right in front of him and sniffed the air. It then fixed its eyes right on Greco and screeched, pointing with its hands at him. Greco covered his ears at the sound.

Serge then came streaking through the air, actually flying! He was making a dive right for Greco and not slowing down in the least. Greco brought his hands up in a feeble attempt to halt Serge's momentum, but it was like trying to stop a snowstorm with a match. Serge barreled into Greco and, with one swipe of his swallow, separated the wrestler's head from his body. Blood sprayed everywhere as Serge craned his neck back and laughed long and hard into the night.

"Yes, revel in the kill," the hooded figure whispered, watching the scene intently. Suddenly a lithe form materialized out of thin air, startling the hooded figure.

"Zis 'as gone on long enough," Harle warned. "Zis ends now." With that she lunged at the hooded figure and went for his hood. He moved to the side though, and all her hand could grab was a tiny silver mask.

"This ends when I say it does," the hooded figure replied. "And there is still much work to be done." With that, he disappeared. Harle looked over again at the cackling Serge, feeling queasy.

"Non, I 'ave seen enough," she said to herself, before teleporting away into the night.

By: Daredevil3181

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Round 22 - Harle (S), Funguy (K)

Harle was up early this morning. After the past couple nights, she was getting worried about the state of the island. After her encounter with the hooded figure last night, she knew something bad was happening, and she needed to stop it.

She had found a note on the floor of her tent written in barely legible handwriting. It looked like a prescription for a drug...it must have been written by Doc. All she could make out was something about mushrooms...

Harle went to go look for a mushroom. She had thought she had seen one over by Steena's tent. She needed to check on Steena anyway, so she headed that way.

To her surprise Steena was actually outside of her tent. "Mademoiselle Steena, it iz nice to see zat you are well..."

"Oh, I feel so full of energy!" exclaimed Steena.

"Did vous get ze food I sent?" asked Harle.

"I think I did," said Steena. "But I really do not remember very much of the past couple days. I think someone gave me medicine to make me feel better...But I cannot remember who."

"Have vous seen a mushroom around 'ere?" asked Harle.

"Mushroom? Oh, Funguy was chopping wood that way." Steena pointed south. "Would you happen to have any steak?"

"Steak? Why do vous need steak?" asked Harle

"I am hungry," explained Steena. "I want a steak. Rare, of course."

Harle stared at Steena. "I better get going zen...Au revoir, Mademoiselle Steena."

Harle went over to where Funguy was chopping wood. "Good morning, Monsieur Funguy."

"Hello Harle, do you need anything today?"

"Oui, I need a mushroom..."

Funguy looked her in the eye. "So?"

"Vous are the only mushroom I see. I will kill you for Doc's drugs."

"No, don't kill me!" pleaded Funguy.

Even though it was daylight, the moon appeared and eclipsed the sun. Somewhere in the distance, a cry was heard. "I am ze moon. Eclipse before moi!" Harle yelled. Suddenly, cool special effects came out of nowhere and engulfed Funguy, leaving nothing but his spores behind.

Harle collected the spores and delivered them to Doc. It turned out he said that he didn't want Mushrooms, as he was tired of Funguy's spores. Oh well-- in a way, Doc got his wish. There were no longer any mushrooms on the island...

By: Alanna82

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Round 23 - Riddel (S), Marcy (K)

Marcy had been getting worried about the events on the island. Slowly, one by one, everyone was being killed or mysteriously disappearing. She noticed that Serge had been acting strange recently.

"A-ha!" exclaimed Marcy. "Like, that's it! Serge is the one responsible for all of this. I gotta go tell someone!"

Marcy wasn't watching where she was going when she ran into Riddel. "Like, sorry Riddel. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It is alright," said Riddel. "But why are you running so fast?"

"I gotta tell someone! Something weird is going on here, and I finally think I have figured out what it is!"

"You can tell me, Marcy," said Riddel. "I will listen to whatever you have to say."

"Okay, like you know how everyone is disappearing or dying?" Marcy started explaining. "Serge has also been acting...like...weird."

"So what does that have to do with people dying?" asked Riddel.

"I think Serge is the killer!" exclaimed Marcy. "But, I'm not sure on that, so don't tell everyone yet."

"Are you sure it was Serge that killed everyone?" asked Riddel. "I know Norris killed Pierre...."

"Well, I think he killed most of them. But not Glenn, I was the one who killed Glenn."

"You did what?!" yelled Riddel. She started chanting an element.

"Riddel, like, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have said that..." Marcy looked up. Two meteors were heading straight towards her. She started running. "Like, that was a big mistake," said Marcy, as the meteors crashed down.

Marcy managed to avoid the first meteor, but the second one hit her on the head and she fell to the ground.

"Marcy?" Riddel ran up to where Marcy's body was on the ground. "I did not mean to...it was an accident. She is not breathing...Somebody come quick!!!!"

Karsh happened to hear Riddel scream and thought she had been attacked. "Riddel, what is it...what happened to Marcy?"

"I killed her, Karsh..." sobbed Riddel. "She was trying to tell me about the weird stuff happening on the island. She killed Glenn and I overreacted at the news. I really did not mean to kill her--it was just a reflex. Karsh, everyone is gone--Glenn, Daddy, Zoah, Marcy...You are the only one left..."

Karsh put his arm around the sobbing Riddel. "I'll protect you from whatever it is, Riddel. I'll keep you safe..."

By: Alanna82

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Round 24 - Janice (S), Kid (K)

Kid, Miki, and Orlha were seated at a table and were gabbing the afternoon away. Eventually, the topic of the recent deaths was brought up.

"Did you hear? Marcy was killed last night!" Miki said.

"Yeah, that's so sad," Orlha sighed. "She was so young."

"Very unfortunate and tragic," Miki agreed.

"Who do you think will be the next to go?" Orlha pondered.

Kid, who was silent for a while, spoke up, "I think it'll be Janice."

Orlha raised her eyebrows, "Really, why do you say Janice, Kid?"

"Janice just ain't very strong an' I think she'll break down."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the three girls, the demi-human in question was walking down the path on the opposite side of a tent, out of the view of the girls. She stopped in her tracks at the sound of her name. After a few seconds, she swiftly and silently sauntered off.

"...I mean, she's a monster trainer, how strong must she be to be a monster trainer? She lets her monsters fight for her! Plus she's got a carrot for a weapon. A freakin' carrot!" Kid continued.

"Excuse me," someone cleared their throat. "Kid, may I see you for a moment?" Janice appeared and was motioning for Kid to follow her.

"Alright, Janice," Kid replied and followed the usually cheery demi-human. Janice didn't look too cheery now, Kid noticed. She figured that Janice heard her comments and wanted to talk about it.

'She's probably gonna wanna talk and hope that I apologize. Kid doesn't apologize for statin' the truth!' Kid thought to herself.

After they had walked a considerable distance from anyone else, they stopped.

"Kid, I heard what you said about me, and I would like to challenge you to a battle!" Janice confidently proclaimed.

"Wha...A battle?" Kid was baffled.

"Yup! Accept or die!" Janice made her war cry. She briefly closed her eyes and suddenly the ground around Kid violently shook for several seconds.

After it settled, Kid smirked, "That's all ya got! I was right! You are weak!" Kid laughed.

"Really?" Janice contested. "Try hitting me, o strong one!"

"You got it! Huh? I can't move!" Kid tried very hard, but she could not move her legs.

"Ha ha! Exactly!" Janice pounded her carrot and produced a steady beat. A stream of water, like a geyser, rushed up from the ground and sent Kid toward the clouds. Ten seconds later, she landed back on the ground with a loud "Thump!"

"Did you kiss the moons, Kid?" Janice looked down on the spaced-out Kid. "I'll show you my weak carrot. Take this!" Janice jumped up a tree and leaped down with her carrot pointed downward. The carrot crashed upon Kid's skull with such force that her body slumped to the ground, dead.

"Weak carrot, huh? Looks like a weak carrot just killed you."

By: TenkoStar17

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Round 25 - Orlha (S), Karsh (K)

Another day was dragging on, and the remaining people began to stagnate in each other's company. Tension was mounting and many were trying to find suitable ways of letting off steam. Karsh among those people, he took to Orlha's bar for a refresher today. It didn't take long for the drink to loosen up his gruff personality.

"So, Orlha. You must have the men just lining up at your doorstep, being so beautiful." A slight slur was present in Karsh's voice.

Quite used to this situation, it didn't break the pretty barmaid's stride. "I'd only give a chance to a man who could out-drink me," she claimed. "And you, my friend, have had enough."

"What are you saying? I could drink you under the table, right now." No sober man had ever said that to Orlha if they knew anything at all about her. Karsh was pasted.

Now this always irritated her. She made to tell him off, but then stopped for a moment and rethought it. "You know what? I'll take you up on that offer. It's been a bit slack for me lately. I need something to do, and watching you go down sounds just about right."

Two other patrons, Miki and Nikki, had overheard and began to watch with mild interest.

Nikki gave the duo a glance, then looked back to his partner. "What do you say, Miki? The dragonrider has got the spirit, but not the stomach. Willing to bet on him?"

The lovely dancer gave him a shove. "Nikki, you know what can happen to gamblers. Besides, I'm not that dimwitted. We both know Orlha will win."

Karsh was dimly aware of what they said and didn't like it. "Hey, you listen here, you buncha gypsies. I don't care what you say, so why don't you just get out!" Karsh stood up quickly and knocked the barstool over. The two performers gave him a look of disgust, and Orlha was getting ready to jump in before it escalated.

"Go on! Get out of here! We don't want you here anyway." He gave Nikki a violent shove, and the red-haired rocker dominoed into Miki, both falling in a heap.

Orlha leapt over the bar, standing between Karsh and the others. "Karsh, that's enough. It's time for you to leave."

But he wasn't having any of that. The axe-wielder's rage was implacable now, his frustrations venting, all those pent up feelings from the recent days...

He made to punch Orlha but found only air. The swift lady darted behind him and locked her arms under Karsh's shoulders. She lifted him with ease and brought him out of the bar.

Zappa had walked in just in time to see a kicking Karsh being carried out of the bar, and couldn't help but notice Miki and Nikki still disentangling themselves. "Ach! What in the name of Hephaestus was going on here?"

Karsh, meanwhile, was throwing a fit. After they were outside, he kicked Orlha right in the shin. Her grip loosened and Karsh wiggled free, turning about, threatening her with his axe. His rage was sobering him up a bit, but he was still beyond reason.

Orlha didn't care. If this fool wanted a fight, she was ready. She stood at the ready, fists raised, heart pumping.

Karsh didn't dare get close. He spun his axe around, and flung it with all his might, right at his target's head. The drunken fighting master simply cocked her head to the side, and watched smugly as the axe sailed away.

"Seems like game over already. That's a shame." She leapt at Karsh, and landed an incredible hit right in the drunk man's gut. He slumped over, and ate dust.

"Sorry, chum. I haven't got the time to deal with you," she called, walking off. But Karsh rose up again, spluttering dirt and profanities.

Neither had noticed the axe coming back, whirling at top speed like a boomerang. Karsh rammed into Orlha, knocking her out of the way. She fell to the ground, and caught a glimpse of flying steel. The noise that followed was sickening.

She raised her head, and nearly lost it. On the ground lay Karsh, his torso nearly severed, slain by his own axe.

By: Vancewynd