Total Drama: Dungeon Hunters

by Icathius Nytfall

Chris calls for 18 new individuals to compete for a grand prize of 1 million dollars. Contestants will be competing in virtual reality filled with deadly creatures while overcoming hard challenges. SYOC app is closed. 10/18 contestants remain.

4. MoF 2: Dragons, Nagas,and Chocobos

"Previously on Total Drama: Dungeon Hunters." Chris started with huge grin as the camera focuses on him. "We finally got to meet our contestants that would be participating for this season." An aerial scene was shown with the contestants gathering around the front gate. "Last time when we left off, our eighteen contestants all got in these individual pods to finally step in virtual reality for the first time to begin their first challenge that would determine their teams. But, before that can happen our contestants must first traverse through a thick forest undenounced to them is filled with deadly creatures to reach a place called 'The Maze of Fortune'." He chuckled slightly. "Who would make it out of the forest first? What teams would each contestant be placed in? And would Blake finally be able to pull of one of his pranks? Find out now on...Total...Drama...Dungeon Hunters!" Chris opened up his arms in a dramatic fashion.

~(Theme Song)~ (quick A/N: still working on it...)

The scene showed to where Kali, Dylan, and Kazuo were. Kali was wearing a dark red tunic, red fingerless gloves, black shorts, a black hooded coat, and knee high boots. As for armour she wore a simple leather breast plate, pauldrons, and one silver metal bracer on her left arm and silver gauntlet with intricate flower carvings on her right arm with a long silver blade in place on where her fingers should be. Strapped on her belt was a large sheathed knife curving inwards.

"So...where do you think the maze is?" Kali asked to no one in particular. Standing beside Kali was Kazuo who was busy reading a purple coloured book with magic seals imprinted on the cover. He wore a long green-and-blue coloured rob with golden sandals. Strapped onto his back was a golden sceptre with prismatic jewel on the top.

"I don't know but what intrigued me the most is on how I could understand what's written on this book." Kazuo said while keeping his eyes on his book.

"Really? Let me take a look." Dylan asked from behind the two. Dylan wore a dark-blue bat winged helm with the face mask opened, thick plated chest piece and shoulder guards, metal leggings and grieves with spikes protruding from his knee caps. On both of his arms were metallic gauntlets that reached up to his elbows that looked to be made out of charred steel. Sheathed on his back was steel long sword with detailed carvings on the hilt.

As Kazuo gave Dylan his book, the later just gave him a confused look on how Kazuo was able to read such writings. "Dude...how on earth are you able to read this chicken scratch?" Dylan asked as he tried to make sense from what he was reading.

"From what I could tell, It looked to be runic text. I don't know when or how I learned it though." Kazuo pouted.

"Well-" Dylan was soon cut off when they all heard loud rustling coming from the thick bushes across from them. "Well whatever it is...I hope you know how to use that thing as well." Dylan soon unsheathed his sword and assumed a battle stance. Kali soon followed as she raised her arm-blade up.

On the other side of the forest was Phoebe, Ginger, and Leonard. Ginger was shown to be triumphantly marching through the dense forest with Phoebe beside her as Leonard was trailing behind with a scowl on his face.

Ginger wore a black-and-red coloured suit with metallic shoulder plating and various buckles on her arms and forearms. She also wore an opened black vest, black fingerless gloves, black pants with the right leg having three buckles and the left having the words 'future' printed in golden kanji running down her leg, and red leather shoes with metallic tips. Strapped to both her hips were two high calibre white pistols all having energy blades at the bottom of each barrel.

"Ugh, I really can't believe I lost to you." Said Leonard with his arms crossed. Leonard wore a complete set of black leather armour with golden swirls all over. On top of his head was a leather helm with golden horns and two diagonal slits. Strapped to his back is a double tipped naginata with the pole coloured in deep red and blades a bright silver. Strapped onto both his sides were dual axe knives with razor sharp edges.

"Not my fault my combos are far superior to your brutal assaults." Ginger gave Leonard a side grin. "So much for being the 'beefy' tank of the group." She snickered. Leonard just gave her glare in which scared Phoebe rather than Ginger.

"P-please stop f-fighting, w-we need to work t-together if we want to make it out of here s-safely." Phoebe said with her voice trembling. She wore a light yellow lacy dress with brown high boots. Around her neck was a platinum necklace with a sapphire crystal. The weapon she was having a hard time carrying is a platinum sceptre ending with spear point while bearing a red ruby jewel.

"And why did I get to be paired up with a complete cry baby to begin with? Not to mention you're also my roommate." Leonard said while glaring at Phoebe causing her to stick closer to Ginger even more.

"Hey! Stop threatening Phoebe or otherwise you'll get another taste of my MagiGuns." Ginger threatened. Leonard wasn't phased at all.

The scene soon shifted to a different part of the forest where Blake and Paris where. The two were just silently walking together with Blake leading the way. Blake was wearing a dark green rangers hood with a face mask, light padded armour and leather leggings, along with metal boots. Slung around his back was a wooden bow that seemed to pulsate in a feint light and two short swords strapped to each thigh.

Paris on the other hand wore a much more...lucrative outfit. She only wore a bright red satin bra and a long white lacy skirt with sequencing that gleamed every step she took. Strapped to her right hip was a silver rapier in a well detailed sheath. As the two walked in one direction for a while, Blake suddenly spoke up to break the silence.

"So umm what's with the revealing get up?" Blake asked without even bothering to look back. His face was in a slight shade of red.

"I'm a dancer, I need to be as light as possible." She shrugged. "And besides, all you guys are ogling at me anyways, might as well use it to my advantage." She gave off a sly grin.

"Yeah but-, hey! That's not true." Blake said a bit flustered. Paris just laughed at the prankster's reaction. "We'll see if you'll still be laughing once I'm done with you." He mumbled to himself from under his breath.

"What was that?" Paris asked as she still has a grin on her face.

"Nothing." Blake just smirked.

The scene shifted for the last time to different portion of the forest where Lucette, Estwynn, and Clint was. They were all shown to be running away from something with horrid looks on some of their faces. Clint, who was behind the group, suddenly turned around to fire an arrow before resuming his escape.

"Stay back!" Clint yelled as he let loose an arrow. Clint wore a complete set of dark brown leather armour coupled with leather boots, a brown belt and fingerless gloves. He also wore an opened dark green robe with the hood up and quiver full of arrows strapped under it. His bow was made from dark oak wood and strapped sideways on his lower back was a long dagger in a leather sheath.

The thing Clint shot at was a lion looking creature with razor sharp fangs, huge bat-like wings and a long scorpion tail. Clint landed a direct hit on the beast's chest which was of no use and only made the beast angrier. The beast let loose a mighty roar before leaping up onto the air and taking flight.

"AAAAAH! That thing is gaining on us!" Lucette yelled as she looked back towards the creature. Lucette's new outfit was an off-shoulder dress with a green silk belt who's skirt reached just above her knees, a pair of white bow shoes, and her hair raised into a high bun. The weapons she has were a silver bow strapped across her back and she carried along with her a white staff with a circular frame on the top which held an emerald green jewel.

"Clint! Shoot it down or something!" Estwynn yelled as he was far in-front of the them. Estwynn wore a black body suit with a green colored padded chest piece and cuffs. On top of his head is a silver helm with a tinted green face mask with silver lining to mark out where his eyes were. On his back was an emerald green cape which flowed in the wind as he ran. In his hands he held a single bowgun which he tried desperately to reload.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Clint readied another arrow and fired, only this time the shot missed it's mark. He made a 'tsk' sound before reaching for another arrow. "Why don't you two do something?" He yelled in a much angrier tone.

"I'm trying!" Estwynn yelled back as he finally reloaded his bowgun. "Finally!" He yelled before letting lose a volley of silver bolts at the beast. Each bolt flew passed the creature with one managing to tear through a small portion of the beast's right wing. The beast however, wasn't affected at all by the attack and ended up diving towards them with it's fangs and razor sharp claws on the ready.

"That's it! Phase shift!" Estwynn yelled from the top of his lungs. His suit and armor soon underwent into a series of transformations. The green parts of his armor turned a bright yellow with the shoulder pieces now in the shape of rectangles. His weapon transformed into a dual sided battle axe. "Take this!" He swung his weapon at the beast as it nears.

With a loud roar, the beast was soon sent flying towards the trees as Estwynn's attack was strong enough to actually shove it aside. His axe was covered with the blood of the beast with a small puddle of it was forming onto the ground. Panting heavily, Estwynn soon let loose on the tight grip on his axe before relaxing himself.

"Whew...that was close." Estwynn let out a deep breath. "Man, so this is what it feels like to be a Kamen Rider!" His voice sounded a bit more excited though no one could his face due to his mask.

"Kamen what?" Lucette asked with a confused look.

"You know, Kamen riders. It was a show aired a long time ago that that involved people wearing various suits of armor and weapons in order to stop an impending evil." Estwynn tried to explain. Lucette however still didn't understand what it was.

"Just think Power rangers but not as popular." Clint stated bluntly.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, being a power ranger sure is exciting." She now said smiling. Estwynn, though not obvious due to his mask, was furrowing his brow due to the connection Clint made.

"Hey! Kamen rider is far from-." Estwynn was soon cut off when a bright flash of light suddenly appeared from where the creature landed. "What was that?" Estwynn said with a not so obvious worried look.

"I don't know, but whatever it is I don't think we should get close to it." Lucette replied as she backed of with a worried look.

"What if it was treasure? I mean we are in an RPG basically." Estwynn reasoned. "What about you Clint? Got any ideas?" Clint, with an intrigued look on his face, had an idea for held his hand out with his palm faced up.

Focusing carefully, Clint let out deep breath as particles of energy gathered in the center of the palm of his hand forming a small spherical shape. As the sphere grew bigger in Clint's hand he soon closed it letting loose the power he had gathered to form a magic sigil on the ground in-front of him. After a few seconds of silence the sigil soon started glowing in a bright green light as figure was started materialize rom the sigil. After a few seconds had passed the figure soon formed itself into a silver wolf as the bright light died down.

"Interesting." Clint said with a small grin.

"Cooool." Lucette said completely amazed from what she had wittnessed.

"Wait, you mean to tell me you had the ability to summon a wolf all this time? Why didn't you use it earlier!" Estwynn's voice was much higher denoting that he was a bit pissed at Clint. Clint however just gave the boy a sharp stare before looking back towards the wolf.

"Hmm should I or should I not give you a name?" Clint pondered as he tapped his chin.

"What about silver? I mean he does have bright silver fur." Lucette tried to pet the wolf but pre-emptively pulled back when the wolf turned to look at her with it's bright yellow eyes.

"Hmm, Silver, go fetch whatever the beast left behind." Clint commanded while pointing towards the bushes. Without any hesitations, the wolf now named Silver dove into the thick brush while making rustling sounds as it searched. After a few seconds had passed the wolf came out of the bushes carrying a small dagger in it's mouth with a thick white blade and a lion's head on the bottom end of the handle. "Interesting." Clint said as he grabbed the dagger from Silver's mouth.

"Congratulations Clint!" Chris's voice was suddenly heard from out of nowhere. "You have obtained the Fang of the Manticore! This weapon can pierce through any light to medium armor with ease but has little to no durability so use it wisely." He was last heard laughing sadistically.

"Wow, good job Clint!" Lucette exclaimed with both her arms raised. Estwynn though wasn't as amused as she was.

"Interesting, this might prove useful later on." Clint soon strapped it onto his belt.

"Ugh, let's go already. I don't want to be here any longer." Estwynn crossed his arms as he walked deeper into the forest. Clint and Lucette all soon followed afterwards.

Back to a different portion of the forest, the scene switched back to where Kali, Dylan, and Kazuo where, only this time they were fighting off against an army of goblin looking creatures. The three of them all stood in a circle in order to cover each others backs.

"Take this!" Dylan yelled as he mowed down three goblins in one swing. Their blood scattering all over the grass as their bodies fell with a thump before disappearing. "Man, out of all the places we could have spawned in it just had to be next to a goblin encampment." He cut down another pair of goblins. Dylan's long sword was heavily coated in blood.

"Hah!" Kali jabbed two goblins at the same time, skewering them both. "I don't know about you but..." She trailed off as she sliced down another. "But this is the most fun I had in a long time." A goblin suddenly pounced on her but was suddenly blasted away by a pillar of water. "Nice save." She said grinning towards Kazuo.

"Heh, no problem." He replied. "Hmm I wonder what would've happened if I allowed it to get a bit closer." Kazuo thought to himself. Three goblins, all carrying poorly made spears this time, were soon charging towards Kazuo. "Hmm what odd weapons." He said before casting another spell from his book. As Kazuo closed the book, it soon started glowing white light causing crystalline spikes to erupt from the ground impaling each goblin.

After a few minutes of them continuously slaughtering the goblin army, the last one was finally struck down and no other goblin came out of the trees or bushes. Dylan, completely exhausted, drove the tip of his sword on the ground before leaning on it. Kali and Kazuo on the other hand weren't exhausted at all from the whole ordeal.

"Man *pant* that was *pant* rough." Dylan said in-between breaths. "How come you two aren't winded?" Dylan soon fixed himself

"I normally chop down on thick pieces of wood with an old axe back home so cutting down these goblins weren't much of a problem for me" Kali explained.

"I just held back to be honest." Kazuo shrugged. Both Kali and Dylan gave Kazuo widened eyed looks. "What? I just wanted to know what would be the outcome of the butterfly effect." He stated almost nonchalantly.

"I hope this is the last time I'll be on a team with you." Dylan picked up his sword. "Come on." Dylan lead the way with Kali following. Kazuo, the last one to leave, soon noticed a bright glow from where they all stood. As he turned, he saw in-front of him was a blood red sword with a black handle and hilt laying on a pool of blood

"Congratulations Kazuo!" Chris's voice was heard only by him. "You've earned the Blood sword! This weapon will drain the energy of anything it pierces through as long as you remain connected, however, the blade can't penetrate through any armor besides cloth or thick hides." Chris ended.

"Hmm interesting." Kazuo picked up the sword. Hiding the sword in his robe, he soon ran off towards where Dylan and Kali went.

The scene soon shifted back to where Blake and Paris were. The two were shown walking along the riverside not bothering to talk to each other when a loud rustling came from the bushes beside them.

"Who goes their!" Blake yelled as he readied both of his short swords. Paris just reached for her silver rapier not yet pulling it out. As the rustling got louder and louder, Nathan soon popped up from the bushes on his own.

"Oh, hi." Nathan waved at the two. Nathan wore a long black robe with red outlines and dark red star on his back. Underneath the long robe were his dark blue jeans and red hiking boots. He wore on his hands dark brown gloves with brass knuckles. Strapped to his shoulder and across his chest and back was a leather sheath with a katana inside while he carried dual chain sickles both having metallic silver blades.

"Oh, it's just you Nathan." Blake returned his short swords and Paris dropped her guard stance. "So, are you the only one here or are you with someone else?"

"Well I was with Derek but he suddenly left me on my own." Nathan replied.

"Did you catch what direction he went off to though?" Paris was the one asking this time around.

"Nope." Nathan shook his head. "I just went into a direction where I thought he might have went."

"Want to come along with us?" Blake offered. "We won't mind. And besides, it beats roaming around this huge forest alone."

"Yeah, for once he's right. Who knows what creatures might be lurking around." Paris added. Nathan thinking about for while soon just nodded his head.

"Okay." He replied. "Oh, and I found this after defeating a huge snake thing." Nathan pulled out a golden ring from one his various pockets. The ring had a snakes head on it with red ruby's for eyes "I heard Chris's voice and told me that it was called the viper's ring or something. It has an effect where the wearers movements become near silent but with the draw back being my first attack on a target would be non-lethal." He explained. "You two can have it, I'm an Assassin so having this would just be a waste on me."

"I'll have it." Paris quickly snatched the ring from Nathan's hand. Blake just gave Paris a skeptical look. "What? My job would be healing you guys up anyways." Paris put on the ring. "Let's see if it works." As Paris took her step, no sound was heard when she stepped on to the patch of grass. Feeling quite excited, Paris started doing a couple of ballet moves to test it out even more and as expected each of her steps were barely audible.

"Huh, it does work. Great." Blake rolled his eyes and looked away for a bit. "Let's go already, for all we know we might be the last ones their." He failed to notice that the other two had already left. "Oh c'mon!" He yelled before running along the river. His voice echoed throughout the forest.

"W-what was th-that?" Phoebe faintly heard from their side of the forest. She looked around as if desperate to find the answer.

"Probably just the wind, Phoebe." Ginger replied in a soft voice trying to reassure her.

"O-okay, I guess..." Phoebe was still feeling a bit tensed. Leonard, still behind the two, was minding his own when he suddenly saw something from the corner of his eye.

"Guys hold up, I think I saw something." Leonard paused as he raised up his Naginata. The two girls hearing him stopped in their tracks and turned to look towards him.

"If you're trying to scare Phoebe, I suggest you cut it out." Ginger crossed her arms. Phoebe just stood behind her.

"No, I'm being serious. Look!" Leonard had a serious look on his face as he pointed towards the trees with his Naginata. Ginger, trusting Leonard for now, decided to look towards where Leonard was pointing at. After a few seconds of waiting nothing popped up. Ginger, now fed up with Leonard, just let out a sigh before turning.

"And I thought Phoebe was the paranoid one." Ginger's back now facing Leonard. "C'mon, let's hurry up before he completely loses it." She soon lead Phoebe with her.

"I swear, I definitely saw something." Leonard withdrew his Naginata. As the trio left a shadowy figure soon stepped out from behind a tree focusing intently on Leonard with it's light blue eyes. When they were now out of sight the figure soon vanished.

As they continue on with their walk out of the forest, a large grey stone wall was now in sight of them. Feeling a bit excited, Ginger hastened her pace all the while dragging Phoebe along with her and Leonard trying to catch up. When they finally made it through they were now in a large open area with the maze right in front of them. Looking around, they saw Tristan, Derek, and Chris were right their.

Derek wore a white gi reaching half way down his thighs, white colored pants, Steel gauntlets on both arms, and was bare foot. Strapped around his waist was a black colored belt and hanging from it was a wooden flail. Tristan though had a much more major change. Tristan now wore a mechanized body armor for the upper half of his body while his lower half was still his normal overalls. The upper back portion of Tristan's armor was slightly raised up while having two closed panels where the shoulder blades were. He also gained a fully mechanized right arm and his black eye patch gained a gear pattern colored in silver. He carried with him a pipe wrench and silver machete strapped to his waist.

"Glad the three of you had made it." Chris smiled as he saw the trio approached. Chris still wore his regular outfit.

"Is anyone else here yet?" Ginger asked.

"Yeah, both Alice and Laren are here as well. They just started their challenge not to long ago for they were the first pair to get here." Tristan explained to them.

"So that means me and Phoebe are next in line huh." Leonard stared at Phoebe. Phoebe just took in a big gulp.

"That's right." Chris nodded. "Once the two find their gems the two of you will go in next." He explained. "Also theirs a confessional outhouse right behind the trees over their if you want to use it or something." Chris pointed towards its direction.

"Good to know." Ginger replied.

(Confessional)

Alice (before entering the maze): Ugh, why did it have to be Laren of all people? I would have gladly chosen that paranoid girl over her! At least she would be quiet *sighs* the only good thing about this is that she's obviously a support based on her get up. I just hope we don't end up on the same team.

Tristan: The only issue I see right now is that they might vote me out first, I mean have you seen their reaction when I got of the bus? I can't blame them but I just have to win in order to get that prize money.

Ginger: I seriously don't like that Leonard guy. His cocky attitude reminds me of a certain someone that I'm not going to name *grits teeth*.

Leonard: Man, like what I said before, why do I get to babysit that cry baby anyways? I swear she's going to be the first one that's going to be voted off.

(End Confessionals)

Deep inside the large maze was Alice and Laren as they try to navigate their way through. The walls of the maze were so high up that the interior is near pitch black in most parts even though the maze had no roof. Alice, leading the way, just kept to the right side of the maze in order to navigate them through. She was near invisible while in the maze due to her get up but Laren was still able to track her perfectly.

Alice wore skin tight black leather armor with white trimmings scattered across her body, Steel-toed boots, and gloves. She had on her head a black hood and cowl draping over her forehead and the bottom portion of her face leaving only her eyes visible. Wrapped around her neck was a long grey scarf and on her back was a quiver full of arrows all having black feathers. She carried with her a large bow colored deep black with the bow-string a reflective silver with an arrow already notched. Her secondary weapon was a large dragon-claw dagger strapped to her right shoulder.

Laren, trailing from behind, wore a blue-and-white long dress with a cape made out of glowing white and gold fire that didn't seem to burn her whatsoever or leave any smoke trails behind. Strapped around her neck is a golden laced amulet with a prismatic jewel that seemed to faintly glow in red a red light. As they were about to round another corner, Alice soon made a sudden stop and signaled for Laren to crouch down.

"What is it?" Laren said telepathically to Alice as she tried to peek over her shoulder.

"I think I found our gems." Alice whispered back.

"Really? Where?" Laren's telepathic voice suddenly got louder

"Ouch, tone it down will you! I'm still not yet used to this whole telepathy thing you have going for you." Alice scolded in a hushed tone.

"I'm sorry." Laren's telepathic voice toned down a bit. "Anyways, where are they? Can't see anything."

"Over their, in the far back." Alice pointed towards a pedestal with the top half covered in the shadows. Laren was about to turn the corner when Alice pulled her back. "Don't! Look." Alice pointed towards the shadows. Looking careful now, Laren was soon able to make out a faint silhouette of a creature staying by the shadows and looked to be laying down low.

"Are you sure does are it though? It could be one of Chris's many traps." Laren speculated.

"It could be but I'm not so sure. We might as well check to make sure." Alice soon stood up. "Stay here, I'll go see for myself." Laren nodded. Alice, taking in a deep breath, focused on herself carefully before entering in a mode of stealth masking her from the creature. As she sprinted as fast and as silent as she could, she soon reached the pedestal without disturbing the creature. Quickly feeling around the top of the pedestal she soon felt two cold circular stones and quickly snatched them both.

"You got it! Now hurry on back." Laren gestured for her to comeback. Pocketing both items, Alice now stealthfuly tried to make her way back to Laren. Meanwhile, outside the maze, Chris and the others were watching them from a holographic screen just above the main entrance. Everyone was watching carefully, including now Paris, Blake, and Nathan, except for Chris who had a bored expression on.

"This is so boring to watch." Chris yawned. "Let's spice things up." Chris pulled out a holographic panel from out of nowhere and pressed a button on it which caused the whole maze to start shaking. Due to the sudden shaking, the creature on scene soon took notice of Alice who was disrupted out of her stealth. "Perfect."

"Shit!" Alice yelled as she ran fast away from the creature. The creature letting out a loud roar soon gave chase to Alice and was gaining on her quick. The thing that was giving chase to Alice was a large muscular bull-like creature with large horns. Each of the creatures strides sounded like cracking thunder for how powerful and loud it sounded. As Alice ran as fast as she could, she could already feel the bulls hot breath for it was already on her tail. Laren, reaching forward, soon was able to grab hold of Alice and pull her back around the corner and into safety but they both tumbled down in the process. The bull failing to notice charged head first into a the wall opposite from where they stood causing it to crumble down and crush the beast.

"Are you hurt anywhere or anything." Laren had a worried look on her as she inspected her friend for any injury

"Nah, I'm fine...just a bit winded is all." Alice replied as she dusted herself off. "Somethings off though, I'm not sure but I feel like it was controlled or something." Laren just tilted her head. "What I mean is, if it really was a trap then wouldn't it have been triggered the moment I grabbed the gems."

"I don't know, must've been a delayed trigger or something?" Laren thought, unknown to them that Chris manually set it off. "Anyways, did you see what colors they were?"

"No, not yet. It was to dark for me to see properly. I immediately stashed it in my pockets." Alice soon brought out the two orbs from her pocket. She soon walked towards where sunlight was seeping in through only to reveal both gems were red.

"Yay! Were still teammates!" Laren jumped in joy as she saw the color of the gems. Alice just let out a deep sigh and shook her head before giving the gem to Laren.

"Fuck this day..." Alice mumbled to herself. "C'mon, let's head on back." Alice and Laren soon went back to maze entrance through the same path they took.

"Congratulations Alice and Laren!" Chris greeted both of them as they got out. "The two of you are now the first official members of the Red Dragons!" He said with a grin.

"Well, It's our turn now." Leonard got up from a sitting position. Phoebe just stumbled a bit before getting up as well. The two of them were about to enter the maze when Chris suddenly stopped them.

"The two of you are not going to enter through here." Chris stopped the two. "Their are nine different entrances through this maze with unique interiors all having different guardians. The two of you will enter through this one." Chris pressed another button on the holographic panel. As he pressed it, the ground started shaking and the maze started to spin around. After a few seconds the maze stopped turning to reveal another entrance. "The two of you will be entering the Maiden's Den." Chris grinned. Inside the maze were a couple lit torches leading deeper inside.

The doll faced girl just trembled in fear for how ominous the inside looked. Leonard, staring down at her, just placed a hand on her shoulder before entering in first.

"J-Jag, w-wait up!" Phoebe walked in after him. The two of them were now out of sight of everyone else.

(Confessionals)

Phoebe: I-I hope I can make it th-through this first challenge. And h-hope that Jag isn't as s-scary as he makes himself out to be *gulps*

Alice: Hmm after seeing Chris was able to do that to the maze I just have this feeling that he setted up the entire thing to happen. I'll just keep it for myself until I could make certain of it.

Laren: Whoopee! Not only is Alice my roommate but she's also my teammate! I just hope that Phoebe person would be on my team as well because she looks so cute and adorable.

(End Confessional)

"Paris. Blake. The two of you are next once they're done. Got it?" Chris said to the both of them. The duo just nodded. After Leonard and Phoebe got inside, Kazuo, Kali, and Dylan came out from around the corner of the maze.

"Greetings everyone." Kazuo greeted as he saw everybody else.

"Their you guys are! We were curious as to why no one was hear yet." Dylan said with a grin. "When we saw the maze move we immediately went towards the opposite direction of the spin."

"Well it's a good thing the three of you are now here. Since after Blake and Paris finish their challenge both Kazuo and Nathan will go in next." Chris explained to them.

"So, has anyone gotten their teams yet?" Kali asked. Chris just nodded and pointed towards Alice and Laren. The later looking to be excited while the former didn't look amused at all.

"Judging by their looks, it seems the two of them are on the same team." Kazuo speculated.

"Yup, you sure are." Chris confirmed.

Deep inside now the poorly lit maze, Leonard and Phoebe were slowly making their way through with the former leading them. The two of them just walked in a straight path and peaking through every pathway for anything suspicious. As they were passing by each potential pathway, they soon happened upon a pathway without a single torch at all. Leonard, with suspicion in his eyes, decided to pick up one of the nearby torches and entered the pathway.

"Umm, J-Jag...a-are you s-sure this is the right way to g-go?" Phoebe's voice trembled as she stuck close to Leonard. Leonard just gave Phoebe a once-over before speaking up.

"You have any other ideas?" Leonard raised a brow at her. Phoebe just fearfully shook her head. "Good. I suggest you to listen to me on this one."

As the duo continued on with their search, turning through corners here and their, they soon came to a stop when they noticed a red velvet door just beyond one of the pathways. When Leonard tried to approach, a sense of uneasiness started to wrack him as a cold feeling blew through his body. As he fell over on to his knees with his left hand on the wall next to him, a melodious call soon echoed through the pathway.

"J-Jag!" Phoebe crouched down next to him with a worried look on her face.

"Oh Leonard~." A feminine voice called out to him. Leonard, hearing the voice, raised his head up to face the door as the voice sounded all to familiar to him. "Why don't you come and play with me for a bit~." The voice giggled.

"Wh-who's their?" Phoebe looked all around her.

"Jamina..." Leonard uttered silently to himself. Leonard soon got on his feet and walked slowly towards the door as if he was under a spell. Phoebe, both confused and terrified, called out to him.

"L-Leonard! Snap out of it!" Phoebe cried out. Leonard however was to entranced to care or notice. As the voice called for Leonard to get closer, it soon started to sound more and more distorted with each of Leonard's step.

"Yes my dear Leonard, come closer and join me in my room." The voice sounding more ominous now. When Leonard was already by the front of the door, the door suddenly opened in-wards and quickly pulled him, making him drop his torch, before closing shut.

"Leonard! Leonard!" Phoebe started pounding on the door to which no respond came.

Inside the room Leonard was in was faintly lit by a few velvet candles scattered around the place. Their was nothing inside of the room other than a simple queen sized bed that was oddly well kept and tidy. Barely visible on top of the bed was a female figure with pale skin wearing the most sultriest outfit barely covering up her parts. The figure had straight blood red hair, deep blue eyes, and protruding fangs.

"Yes Leonard, come and play with me." The figure laughed sadistically as Leonard approached. Leonard just kept mouthing the name 'Jamina' over and over again as he approached. When Leonard was now by the foot of the bed, the figure soon sat up to reveal large bat-wings on her back. On both her wrists were two bracers having one colored gem each; one blue and one yellow. Leonard now by the woman's side, she soon stood up and wrapped her slender arms around him. "Succumb to your demise hehehe." She whispered as she lowered her lips on to the boy's neck.

As the vampire was about to sink her fangs deep into Leonard's neck, the door locking them in soon got busted down and in came a human sized porcelain figurine holding a large Platinum lance. Came in next was another porcelain figurine only this time it was more feminine in figure and held a golden violin in it's hand. Once the other figurine was in, it soon started playing it's instrument sending in electric pulses towards the vampire, shocking her and making her lose her grip on Leonard.

"Wh-what?" Leonard said, feeling a bit disoriented. As Leonard came to his senses he soon realized he was inside the dark room with the vampire right in front of him. "Who are you and what did you do to me!" He yelled assertively as he drew out his Naginata. The vampire suddenly disappeared.

"L-Leonard! Are y-you okay?" Phoebe came rushing in through the broken doorway.

"Yeah, what happened though?" Leonard asked as he scanned around the dim room.

"Y-you suddenly j-just started walking t-towards the door and got s-sucked in." Phoebe explained as best as she could. "Y-you suddenly said the name 'Jamina' a-as well when I g-got next to you."

"Wait, that? I-" Leonard was suddenly cut off a when a cold breeze soon started filling the air.

"Tsk, if only you hadn't disrupted me this would have been over quickly." The same voice echoed in the room. As the two looked around in confusion, the vampire suddenly appeared once more, this time behind Phoebe. "Got you, you little runt." She suddenly wrapped her left arm and wings around Phoebe.

"Sav-*mumble*." Phoebe was cut off when the vampire covered her mouth with her free hand.

"That's enough of you." The vampire said manically. "Let's finish you off first."

"Hey! Let go of her!" Leonard charged but was suddenly pushed back and pinned against the wall. "Grr I'll kill you!" He roared as he tried to move.

"Say good night little girl." The vampire soon lowered her fangs to Phoebe's neck. As she was about to bite into the girl's neck, the vampire suddenly stopped when she felt a sharp pain on her side. As she looked to her side she could now see the male doll was right beside her, driving his lance through her wing and side. "H-how..." She said weakly as she dropped Phoebe and Leonard.

"*cough* N-now Leonard!" Phoebe said weekly from the ground. Leonard, taking his chance, started to charge up all the strength he could muster and in almost a blink of an eye he dashed across the room and drove his Naginata through her chest and out came the blade through her back.

The vampire, dropping to her knees, slid out of Leonard's blade and fell to the ground causing a pool of blood to form around her. After a few seconds had passed her body suddenly disappeared only leaving behind the two bracers.

"I-is it o-over?" Phoebe said weakly as she got up. Leonard, helping her get up, wrapped his muscular arm around Phoebe's waist to provide support.

"Yeah, it's over." Replied Leonard as he helped Phoebe get up. "And uhh thanks for saving me *clears throat*. You did well kid." Phoebe just gave Leonard a weak smile.

"Hey, that d-demon dropped s-something." Phoebe pointed towards the two bracers. Leonard picking both up inspected the two items.

"Hmm these must be our gems." Leonard gave Phoebe the blue bracer. "You can have that one, it matches your necklace anyway. Now let's get out of here before more of her comes along." The two soon started heading back to the entrance. After a while of slow walking they both managed to make it out safely. Also now outside the maze was Janet as well who was just sitting on top of a large rock.

Janet wore a black chest piece with a long armored skirt, her arms, legs, and torso were all covered with purple leather armor. She had on black colored greaves and black metal gauntlets. Leaning next to her is a long spear and strapped to her waist were two daggers.

"Congratulations Leonard and Phoebe!" Chris smiled at them both. "Phoebe, your are the first member of the Blue Nagas." He looked towards Leonard. "And you Leonard, you are the first official member of the Yellow Chocobos." He smirked. Leonard just gave Chris a long look.

"You know, if it wasn't for the whole ordeal a while ago I would have been pissed but I'm to withdrawn to care right now." Leonard just brushed passed Chris with Phoebe following.

"Okay..." Chris just eyed the two. "Time for the next pair. Paris and Blake, you two are next." The aforementioned got up from where they were seated and stood right in front of the entrance. "For your challenge it would be..." Chris trailed off as he pressed on the panel once more. "The Dragoon's nest." The maze soon stopped it's spin. The inside looked to be a dense forest like setting with mossy walls and grassy pathways.

"Great. Another forest." Blake said with a tired tone. "Oh well, let's go." The two went inside their maze.

"Oh right, forgot to mention something." Chris stated once the two were out of view. "I forgot that each gem is also an item that gives it's holder a small boost." Chris looked towards Alice and Laren. "The two of you hold the gem of courage. As long as you have it the two of you will gain a small strength boost." The two nodded. "And you two." Chris faced Phoebe and Leonard who were sitting under a tree with Ginger. "The two of you hold the bracers of serenity and might. The blue one, serenity, revitalizes the holder's energy much more quickly while the yellow one, might, gives it's holder's an endurance boost." They nodded as well.

(Confessionals)

Leonard: Well that's a downer *sighs* I got saved by that little girl and I was supposed to be the one carrying this. Don't you all worry, I'll make sure that it won't happen again

(End of Confessionals)

Inside the foresty maze Blake and Paris were blindly walking through each path taking random turns and corners trying their best to avoid all the low hanging vines and protruding roots. While the two were busy walking around blindly, Paris decided to start up a conversation to pass the time.

"So Blake...what team do you think you'll be part in?" Paris asked to break the silence.

"As long as it's not with you I don't care if I get placed in the yellow chocobos." Blake stated plainly.

"Chocobos? What are those anyways? Some sort of chocolate brand or something?" Paris tapped her chin. Blake just shook his head and let out a sigh.

"No, a chocobo is a derpy looking ostrich thing. It serves no purpose other than providing transport." Blake explained to Paris while keeping his eyes straight on the path. Blake easily avoided a low hanging vine right in front of him. "Watch out." He held the vine for Paris.

"Thanks." Paris said as she passed through. "Anyways, if that's the case then yellow chocobos is perfect for Leonard."

"How come?"

"He did say he say he was going to carry his team." Paris let out a small grin. Blake just chuckled slightly

"And theirs the punch line." Blake side while grinning. "Well let's hope we don't get into too much trouble. Dragoons are basically velociraptors except they breath fire."

"Yikes." Paris replied. As they continue on with their search, taking more twists and turns, they soon found themselves in a huge open clearing with a gigantic tree in the middle. When they scanned the area they soon were able to spot something glimmering from a high hanging branch. "Is that it?" Paris asked as she looked up towards it.

"Maybe." Blake replied.

"How are we going to get it though?"

"I got it." Blake unwrapped his bow from his back and pulled back the string.

"Umm you have no arrows?" Paris asked looking a bit confused. Blake, letting out a smirk, materialized an arrow that appeared to be already notched on to the bow. "I see, so that's your skill huh."

"Just you wait." Blake soon fired his arrow. As the arrow was flying it soon ignited itself in flames just before hitting the tree branch and burning it. After a couple seconds the branch started to drop down from it's height and landing with a loud thud a couple of feet away from them. When the branch landed two necklaces were on the ground next to it each having one gem each; one yellow and the other blue

"This is easier then I thought." He said with a grin as he approached the two necklaces. As he neared the necklaces, a high pitched squawk stopped him in his tracks. When Blake looked forward, he could see three large raptor-like creatures with razor sharp claws slowly closing in on him. "Uh oh, this is not good." He backed off slowly.

"Umm we have more of a problem here!" Paris called out to Blake. As he looked back he could notice two more dragoons. "What are we going to do now?" Paris brought out her rapier while backing up.

"We have no other choice but to fight our way through." Blake replied as he readied another shot. The two of them were now back-to-back. "I hope you know how to fight with that."

"Oh please, I also took up fencing during my free-time back at home." Paris smirked. "I should be the one asking you that."

"Heh we'll see." Blake let loose an arrow sparking with electricity. As the arrow hit the dragoon in the center, the arrow started sparking wildly causing a chain of electricity to hit all three of them. Letting out loud roars, the other two dragoons broke away from the one in the middle and started charging towards them followed by the two right in front of Paris. As all four dragoons got close, they all jumped at them

"Move it!" Blake yelled. The two of them jumped in opposite directions to dodge the attacks. The four dragoons all crashed into each other. "Now!" He yelled once more while the dragoons were disoriented. Blake readied three arrows in his bow all energized with different elements; one fire, one ice, and one electric. Blake let loose his three shots all hitting them simultaneously causing a flurry of effects to take in.

"Time to finish you all off." Paris's body was soon surrounded in a light blue aura, increasing her movements as she sliced at each one with her rapier. After her onslaught has ended all four dragoons all fell to the ground before disappearing all at once.

"Phew, we did it." Blake wiped away some sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah, glad that's-" Paris was caught off when a fire ball suddenly hit her, knocking her down. Blake, his eyes widened, look to see where the shot came from only to see the last remaining dragoon standing, shocks still pulsating from its body. Letting out a loud roar, the dragoon started charging towards him with it's claws on the ready

"Dammit." Blake yelled as he stopped the dragoons claws with his bow. "Grrr." Blake gritted his teeth as the dragoon forced him to buckle down to one knee. "Can't...hold on...for much longer..." He said through his gritted teeth as he desperately tried to push back. As he waited for his imminent defeat, Blake suddenly felt the force lightened and felt some warm blood dripping on him. As he looked towards what happened, to his surprise Paris was up standing with her eyes glowing in a bright orange light and her rapier jabbed deep in to the dragoons neck.

When Blake pushed the dragoon back and jumped out of the way, Paris pulled out her blade and started to jab and slash at the dragoon in combination with her dance steps. As blood started to fly around and scatter, the dragoons body instantly disappear without it even bothering to drop down. As Paris's attack ended, she soon dropped down to her knees and balanced herself on her rapier.

"*gasp* Man...that was a rush hehe..." Paris said weakly as she tried to catch her breath.

"What happened to you though? You were down in flames just a moment ago and now you were fighting as if you were possessed." Blake tried to make sense of what just happened.

"I don't know really." Paris shook her head. "The moment I got hit I just...lost it. It's like something deep down inside of me got unleashed." Her voice trembled slightly. She soon got up with the aid of her sword to raise her up

"Well then, I guess I know who to avoid now." Blake picked up the two necklaces. "Here, you can have this one." Blake tossed her the blue necklace in which she caught easily.

"You really want to be part of the chocobos huh." Paris raised an eye brow at him as she wore the necklace

"Nah, being a Naga just doesn't suit me." Blake grinned as he pocketed his. "Well then, let's get out of here. The smell of dragoon blood is nauseating already." Paris just chuckled in response. The two soon started to head on back towards the entrance and eventually making it out.

"Took you two long enough." Chris said with his arms crossed. "I swear, you two had no clear plan on how to navigate the maze." Chris shook his head. "Well anyways, Paris, you are now part of the Blue Nagas. And you Blake, you are now part of the Yellow Chocobos. Congratulations."

"Thanks for stating the obvious Chris." Blake said sarcastically. Paris just giggled slightly.

"Well why don't I say something not so obvious now." Chris smirked. "Those two necklaces are actually useable items as well." Blake and Paris soon got interested. "Blake. You hold the Necklace of Fire. As long as you have it all of your fire elemental attacks will leave a lingering burn effect."

"Seems redundant but okay." Blake nodded.

"And you Paris, you hold the Necklace of Ice. As long as you have it all of your status abilities gives you or someone else temporary Ice immunity." Chris explained.

"Cool." Paris smiled. Blake just shook his head at her joke.

"Now that you two are done. Kazuo and Nathan, you two are next." Chris motioned for the two to get up. The two mentioned both got up and stood next to Chris. Paris and Blake just sat down next to their respective teammates. "You two will be entering the...Gorgon's lair." He said as the maze stopped to reveal a brightly lit maze with the walls cracked and looked to be seeping with lava. A hot mist soon escaped from the inside of the maze.

"Gorgon? What's that?" Kali asked no one in particular.

"Just imagine Medusa but uglier and has a snake's lower half and doesn't need to look at you to turn you to stone." Dylan replied matter-of-factly.

"I see." Kali nodded.

"Great..." Nathan trailed off as he stared inside the maze.

"How...stunning I should say. Hehehe." No one else laughed at Kazuo's joke. "Well, time to get gorgoing in before the others start stoning me to death. Hahaha." Kazuo entered the maze laughing. Nathan just shook his head before following in.

(Confessionals)

Kazuo: It's time for the moment of truth. Do I or do I not be antagonistic if the two of us end up being on different teams. Lets see how far the butterfly effect can take me.

(End Confessional)

Inside now the molten maze Nathan and Kazuo were being careful with each of their steps for the floor and walls around them could crumble at any moment. Kazuo, who was ahead of the two, was deep in thought as he looked all around him analyzing each dent and crack in the wall. Nathan on the other hand was busy trying to avoid all the lava seeping out through the walls and small puffs of fire that pop out from the ground.

"How are you so calm about this? This place could literally blow up on us." Nathan jumped over a small lava pit. "And you know Chris could possibly do it at any time. Right?" Kazuo just ignored Nathan and took a random turn without even saying anything. "H-hey, wait up." He followed suit.

As Nathan turned the corner to follow Kazuo, he was soon shocked to see what was ahead of him. Sitting right in front of him were the remains off giant eggs surrounded by a pile of dead scaly skins. Near the sight was Kazuo who was inspecting one of the broken shell pieces.

"Hmm you think whatever came out of this is still around?" Kazuo asked without even bothering to look at Nathan. Nathan, terrified at the thought of it still being near by, drew out his Katana and held it up in a defensive stance as he cautiously approached Kazuo.

"If so then we shouldn't be messing around with this stuff." Nathan now was next to Kazuo. "Who knows what-. What was that?" He turned as he heard something crumbling next to them. As Nathan looked around with his sword on the ready, he soon heard a faint hissing sound coupled with some rattling right above them. When he turned he immediately took a step back for on top of the wall was a large humanoid snake-like creature with long slender arms ending with snake heads. The creature wore a leather belt around it's waist with a red jewel for a buckle and a leather collar with a blue jewel on it's neck. Letting out a loud scream, the gorgon pounced on Nathan in which he skillfully dodged out of the way.

"How intriguing, so that's a Gorgon." Kazuo thought aloud. He soon noticed the jewels on the Gorgon. "And those seem to be our gems." He pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Nathan asked while still keeping his eyes on the creature. The gorgon tried to lash at them with it's long tail but was blocked by an ice barrier put up by Kazuo, the barrier shattering in the process.

"Well let's kill this thing to prove my point." Kazuo casted another spell from his book, this time calling out flaming needles to strike the target. As each needle hit, the attack proved to be worthless for it didn't even scratch the gorgon at all.

"What was that? That did absolutely nothing!" Said Nathan with his eye brows crossed. The Gorgon tried to strike at them with it's snake head arms but each strike was successfully parried by Nathan.

"I don't know, I said in my app that all my abilities will have random elements that I have no control over." Kazuo shrugged.

"Why did you do that for?" Nathan parried another strike and lashed back with his sword.

"Eh, thought it would be boring if I have full control over everything." Kazuo casted the same spell only this time it was made of rock and actually did damage for the attack pierced through the gorgons skin. Letting out another scream, the gorgon started channeling a dark ball of energy in it's snake hands.

"Uh oh, this isn't good." Nathan raised his sword to an over-head stance. As the gorgon fired it's attack, Kazuo was able to raise another barrier to protect them only this time it was made of holy light. The attack hitting the barrier let out a small explosion covering the place in smoke and making the surrounding walls crumble down. As the smoke clears, both Nathan and Kazuo were unphased with the barrier still holding.

"Okay, time to end this." Kazuo forcefully slammed his book closed. As the book closed it started glowing in a dark brown aura causing the ground to erupt with spikes right under the gorgon impaling it from multiple sides. "Now finish it." Kazuo stated nonchalantly.

Nathan readying his blade he charged forward with his Katana raised up high flowing heavily in dark energy. Nathan rushing passed the gorgon, he struck it down with a powerful swing before coming to a stop and sheathing his blade for dramatic effect. After a few seconds had passed the gorgon's body disappeared only leaving behind the two accessories dropping into a pool of blood.

"Like I said, these are our gems." Kazuo picked up the bloody belt with the red jewel. "You can have the other one." Kazuo left the scene without Nathan.

"Thanks..." Nathan picked up the collar and headed back as well. As the two finally came out everyone, except Gelsey, was already their waiting outside.

"Congratulations Kazuo and Nathan." Chris smiled at them.

"Yes, yes, we already know what team we are, no need to explain it further. Just tell us what our items do." Kazuo just held out his belt.

"When did you suddenly get boring?" Chris scoffed. "Whatever. Kazuo, you hold the belt of envy. As long as you have it all of your elemental skills will deal a significant amount of damage if someone else used the same previous element as you on the same target."

"How come he get's such a broken item?" Dylan raised a brow at Chris with his arms crossed.

"Don't worry to much about it. It's not like he can use it effectively." Chris replied with a grin.

"Yeah, he's right. All my skills are set to be random." Kazuo laughed a bit. Dylan just shook his head

"Okay, back to where I was at." Chris faced towards Nathan. "Nathan, you hold the collar of Pride. As long as you have it your weapons will be empowered if someone else has the same weapon as you."

"Well isn't that useless. Since no one else here has a Katana." Nathan pointed out.

"Not my fault." Chris laughed sadistically. "Anyways, Dylan and Clint, you two are next." The two mentioned soon stood next to Chris and the last pair stood by their new teammates. "You two will enter the...Hall of mirrors. Hmm did not expect this so soon." The inside of the maze revealed to be very reflective for the walls, floor, and ceiling were made from mirrors.

"Why's that?" Dylan asked looking a bit curious. Chris just waved his hand dismissively

"I'll explain the details once the challenge is over. For now, just worry about what lies inside." Chris just gave Dylan a pat on the shoulder. "Well, good luck. You two are going to need it." He laughed silently. The two, giving Chris looks, just went inside their maze.

"So...what are they going to face off against anyways?" Lucette asked looking a bit curious herself.

"Who knows but whatever it is I'm sure Clint can handle it. Right?" Estwynn replied, his voice sounding that he's unsure with himself.

Inside the maze now, Dylan and Clint were feeling their way through the maze for the reflective interior was making it impossible to tell which path is real. As the two take on turns whenever they popped up to be real, Dylan decided to strike up a conversation to pass the time.

"So, any games you like?" Dylan asked to break the silence between them. Clint just ignored him as he kept feeling his side of the wall looking intently at his own reflection. "Hey, I'm talking to you hear!" Dylan narrowly fell over as his hand slid through an actual path. "Found one." Dylan composed himself. Both him and Clint soon went through the path he found.

As the two continue on with their search, using the same tactic, they soon found themselves at a dead end for they could see their reflection just ahead of them as they neared.

"Dammit. Time to do some back tracking I guess..." Dylan was about to turn around when Clint suddenly stopped him. "Huh? What is it?"

"Somethings off." Clint finally spoke as he approached his reflection. As Clint was now right in-front of his reflection, he soon placed his right hand on the wall and inspected his reflection carefully.

"Umm what are you doing?" Dylan asked looking a bit confused. Dylan was slowly walking towards Clint but he suddenly stopped when Clint signaled him to. Staring intently at Dylan's reflection, Clint signaled for Dylan to back up without even looking back.

"Hey, try backing up a bit." Clint commanded as he stared at Dylan's reflection. Dylan looking very skeptical now just took a few steps back before Clint stopped him. Staring much more intently at the reflections, he placed his other hand on the wall. As he carefully analyzed each detail about his reflection, he soon noticed his left hand wasn't perfectly aligned with his reflection. His eyes widening, Clint's reflection soon gave of a wide grin making Clint jump back. Clint un-slung his bow from his back and readied an arrow for shot.

"What the? What's going on here." Dylan drew out his sword.

"Heh. Took you long enough." Clint's reflection said back to him using Clint's own voice. His reflection soon stepped out of the wall and slowly approached the two. "You know, I wasn't really sure if I should posses his reflection or yours but seeing that intent look on your face I just couldn't help but take yours instead." He laughed a bit maniacally. "Now, time to see what you're made off." The reflection soon drew out his dagger and charged at Clint.

Clint, letting his arrow lose, shot at his reflection causing it to shatter into multiple glass pieces. "You think that's enough?" His own voice echoed throughout the maze. A moment later the reflection once again reappeared on the wall beside him to give him a slash but Dylan managed to parry the blow.

"Take this!" Dylan yelled as he punched the reflection with the gauntlet on his left hand glowing with dark energy. The reflection once more shattered into small glass pieces.

"Hahaha. Try as much as you like. Both of you are never going to win." Two more of Clint's reflection appeared; one behind and the other in front of them. Both of the copies soon lunged towards them with their daggers. Clint parried the attack with his bow before shattering his opponent with quick swipe with it as well and Dylan managed to beat his with a powerful downward slash. A maniacal laugh soon echoed throughout the maze once more before two more copies appeared.

"Dammit! Their has got to be away to end this." Dylan delivered a strong kickback before slamming down with his sword. Clint shot another arrow to shatter his opponent. Two more copies of Clint appeared once again. "Ugh, we'll never get out of here at this rate." He jabbed his sword forward.

Meanwhile outside the maze, everyone was watching the battle play out on the large holographic screen right above the entrance. As the non-stop onslaught continues, Estwynn soon approached Chris who was busy watching with a grin on his face.

"Hey Chris." Estwynn called out him with a serious look. "Isn't this enough already? They've been at it for nearly half an hour now." The screen was shown with Dylan catching his breath with him trying to balance on his sword. Clint was leaning on the wall to his right holding out his dagger in a back-hand position. "You've had your fun, now let them go."

Chris chuckled slightly. "Fine, this wasn't meant to be their actual challenge anyways." Chris pulled out his panel once more.

Back inside the maze Dylan and Clint were trying their hardest to fight off their enemies. The Clint no longer having arrows in his quiver while Dylan was on one knee trying to catch his breath. All around them were shattered glass pieces with walls all shattered. More of Clint's copies appeared one more in-front of them.

"Hahahaha. Struggle all you want, theirs no way of getting out of this." Said both of the Clint copies with smirks on their faces before lunging at them. As both Clint and Dylan prepared themselves for another attack, both of the copies suddenly shattered on their own with an agonizing scream filling the maze.

"What the..." Dylan trailed off as he turned to look at Clint. Clint just shrugged for he didn't know what happened as well.

"Ahem. May I have your attentions please?" Chris's voice echoed throughout the maze. "I would like to inform the two of you that your challenge is over but don't worry, you'll still get your items." Two chests appeared right in-front of them; one silver and the other gold. "Take this portal as well once you got your items." A grey portal appeared behind the chests. "That is all." He ended.

"Okay..." Dylan trailed off completely baffled. Dylan opened the silver chest and pulled out it's contents. Inside the silver chest was a silver crest encrusted with a yellow jewel in the shape of a lion's head and a silver key. "Oh well, it seems I'm a chocobo now hehe but I wonder what's with this key for?" He held out the key.

Clint opening the gold chest pulled out a gold hair pin with a blue jewel in the shape of a feather and golden key. Dylan, seeing Clint's items, couldn't help but stop his laughter. Letting out a sigh, the later just pocketed both his items.

"Good thing I didn't chose the gold chest huh?" Dylan laughed silently. Clint just gave him a piercing stare before entering the portal. "Oh c'mon, I was just kidding." He soon followed after. As they both entered the portal they were soon brought back outside the maze with everyone out their to greet them.

"You liked your challenge?" Chris said with a smug look and his arms crossed. "To be honest with you two that wasn't supposed to be a challenge until everyone has their teams." Chris chuckled slightly. "But since the two of you are such dedicated gamers I decided to let you go through with it even though their wasn't any chance of winning."

"Wait, so your telling us that we would have been stuck in their fighting until we dropped?" Dylan's voice raised up a bit with his eye brows crossed. "Are you insane? We could've died in their!"

"Hah! Death." Chris laughed. "Don't worry about that, you'll respawn every time you 'die', all though, their would be consequences. Anyways, onto your items."

"Wait, wait, what consequences?" Leonard asked from behind them.

"Oh I don't know, depends on the challenge really. For this one, if you die in the forest you'll get set back farther away from the maze but if you died during the maze challenge you'll be forced to do it again this time without a partner." Chris explained to them. Leonard's eyes widened when he thought about redoing the maze alone.

"I see, so death makes things harder for us huh?" Ginger pondered a bit. "Well then, I'll make sure to not let anything get close to us Lucette." Ginger said confidently. Lucette just gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay, now back to the items." Chris soon faced Dylan. "Dylan, you hold the Lion's crest. As long as you have it, you'll continuosly ramp up in strength while still in combat only resetting once the fight is over but you will lose energy much quicker."

"Well then, It seems I'm a litteral glass cannon now." Dylan grinned as he put on the crest on his right shoulder. "But what about these keys though?" Dylan brought out his silver key

"I'll explain once everyone has their teams." Chris waved him off. "Anyways, you Clint." Chris looked towards Clint. "You have the Eagle's hair pin. As long as you have it all of your ranged attacks will pierce through any armor but your melee will be significantly weaker."

"I can live with it." Clint attached his pin to his belt. Clint just eyed Dylan before standing next to the other Blue Nagas. Dylan, letting out a small smile, stood next to the other yellow chocobos.

"Okay, up next we'll have..." Chris scanned the crowd. "Estwynn and Tristan." The two mentioned soon stepped forward. "You two will be entering the...Mech Lab." The maze soon stopped with the interior looking to be made of steel with pipes running through the floor and ceiling.

"Interesting." Tristan grinned as he peaked inside.

"I hope this is an actual challenge this time." Estwynn crossed his arms at Chris.

"Don't worry, it is an actual challenge this time around. Now get going, we don't have all day to this challenge." Chris flicked his fingers to reveal a holographic timer right above the maze with the time reading '16:30'. "The developers said we only have until nine tonight to finish this before auto-assigning happens."

"Wait, what time did we get here anyways?" Blake asked no one in particular.

"Last I checked it was around eleven or something." Janet answered.

"We only have roughly more than four hours huh? And seeing were the sixth pair to go in we only have an hour or so to finish this. Seems doable enough." Tristan stated as he entered the maze first. Estwynn came in soon after.

"So, who want's to go next once they're done?" Chris asked the remaining pairs.

"I'll go last. My partner isn't here yet anyways." Kali raised her hand.

"We'll be second to the last. I still need to discuss a few more things with Derek over here." Janet pointed towards Derek who's just sitting on his own.

"Okay, then that means me and Lucette are up next then." Ginger said from where she was sitting.

Deep inside the mechanized maze, Tristan and Estwynn were just following a thick lining of pipes to see if it would lead to anything good. The former though looking much at home for he couldn't help but wonder what could be running the place

"You sure do like what you are seeing huh?" Estwynn asked with his voice sounding curious.

"You bet I do!" Tristan said happily. "I grew up fascinated about all these mechanical stuff that I couldn't help but feel very much excited the moment I stepped inside that building in the real world."

"Really now? I grew up loving these Japanese tokusatsu heroes, they all look so cool and amazing that I couldn't help but make my character here be like one of them." Estwynn explained his story. "To be honest though, I completely based myself around Kamen rider wizard hehe." His voice sounding a bit embarrassed.

"Kamen rider? Is that a new power ranger or something?" Tristan tapped his chin in thought. Estwynn, though not obvious, jaw just dropped due to someone else making that connection.

"No. Let me explain, you see..." Estwynn went on to explain everything about Kamen rider. As they continued on with their search, as well as with Estwynn's explanation, they soon managed to follow the long string of pipes back to what seems to be storage area of some sort. Far into the back wall where all the pipes started converging appears to be a core glowing with energy that appears to be powering something right below it. Right under core was a giant mech robot armed with an assortment of guns and cannons with both its arms being giant Gatling guns and appeared to be moving on tank treads.

"Wow." The two said in unison for they marveled at the site. As they both went inside the storage facility, the room started flashing in red with a loud siren going off. 'Warning. Warning. Intruders.' A mechanized voice echoed throughout the room. 'Activating emergency protocols.' The voice said once more and in an instant the mech soon came to life with it's guns armed and aimed at the two. The door behind the two closed shut

"Uh oh, this is not good." Estwynn's voice changed to that of a serious one. He drew out his battle axe and held it out in a defensive stance. Tristan did the same and drew out his Pipe wrench.

"So umm what now?" Tristan asked while keeping his eyes locked onto the mech. The mech's gatling arms soon started revolving as well as two large shoulder canons got raised up and started collecting energy. As the mech finished charging up it's attack, it soon started firing a fury of bullets as well as a stream of powerful energy blasts at them. Both of them managing to jump out of the way were both sent crashing down for the explosion that took place was strong enough to knock them farther away.

"Ugh, can we even beat this thing?" Tristan quickly got up from his side of the room. He called out two large canons from his back. "Take this!" He fired multiple shots at the left shoulder of the mech causing small explosions but dealt almost no damage at all to it's armor. The mech taking noticed aimed one of the laser cannons attached to it's sides and started firing. "Dammit." Tristan rolled away From the attack.

"Try this then. Spell Medal!" A golden coin appeared onto Estwynn's hand in which he inserted into a slot on the axe head. Both the blades on the axe started glowing with energy. "Now. Take this!" Estwynn slashed his axe in an arc right in front of him sending a sonic wave towards the mech. The attack hitting managed to blow of some small pieces of armor on the mech's right shoulder causing sparks to fly.

"Yes!" Estwynn cheered at the result. "Now, Phase shift!" He transformed back into his yellow suit with his bow gun. Inserting another coin on a slot by the trigger on his bow gun, the nozzle on weapon started glowing a bright red. As he fired, multiple flaming bolts started shooting out of his weapon all hitting the exposed portion of the mech's armor. The shoulder blew up once more with smoke starting to come out. The mech turning it's entire upper half aimed all of it's guns at Estwynn. "Shit." He jumped away the moment it fired.

"It's my turn now." Tristan aimed his cannons at the broken shoulder. Firing an array of shots once more, they all hit the damaged shoulder piece causing one last explosion before the entire arm fell of with a loud crash. The now exposed arm socket started sparking wildly before another explosion occurred. The mech going wild now started charging towards Estwynn while firing laser shots at everywhere.

"Oh god." Estwynn managed to roll away to safety once more. The mech crashed into the wall before more explosions happened from the damaged area. Estwynn and Tristan now able to see from behind the mech noticed a couple valves connecting the backside of it's hull to a large exposed core on it's back in between the large canons.

"Umm is that?" Tristan pointed towards it. Estwynn just nodded, his face though not visible was clearly disappointed. The former letting out a sigh just shot at the exposed core causing another large explosion to occur causing the mech to die down soon after.

"*sigh* that mech had potential as well." Estwynn shook his head in disappointment.

"Agreed." Tristan nodded. "Well, time to find our gems I guess. Given that this was our fight then it's bound to be around here somewhere." The two searched the area for their gems after a disappointing revelation. After a while of searching, the two only managed to find two USB sticks inside a closed room in the storage hanger.

"Is this it?" Estwynn held up the blue USB stick.

"It could be. I mean everyone else came back with items so this might as well be it." Tristan held in his hand the red counterpart. "Well, let's head on back. I need a long break after this whole disappointment."

"Yeah, me too." Estwynn agreed. The two of them followed the pipes back towards the entrance. Outside the maze, Chris was their to greet them.

"Did you guys enjoy your maze?" Chris smirked.

"It was fun at first, got scared a bit when we got attacked but it all ended with disappointment." Estwynn frowned, though not visible. "I mean, who puts the energy core exposed like that?"

"Well, I don't care about your enjoyment." Chris said plainly. "Now, onto the items since by now you already know your teams."

"Wait, so these USBs are our items?" Tristan asked. "How are we going to use them though? We don't come with USB ports."

"We'll fix that later." Chris waved him off. "Anyways, the items." Chris faced Tristan. "Tristan. You hold the Power Data. As long as you have it all of your charge up attacks will deal more damage."

"Wow. I can barely make use of this." Tristan just pocketed his USB

Chris faced Estwynn. "And you Estwynn. You hold the Energy Data. As long as you have it all of your skills won't drain to much energy."

"Good, switching forms and using medals placed such a heavy load on me." Estwynn replied. The duo leaving Chris headed towards their new teammates.

"Finally. It's our turn." Ginger stood up and stretched her arms. "C'mon Lucette, lets get this over with." The pair went up to stand next to Chris.

"Excited huh? Lets see if you'll still feel the same after this challenge." Chris pressed on the panel once more. "You two will enter the...Bandit camp. Well isn't that boring." Chris rolled his eyes. The inner wall of the maze looked to be made out of wood with a couple banners and skulls hanging from pikes inside.

"Hah! This is easier then I thought." Ginger went on inside with Lucette trailing behind.

(Confessionals)

Ginger: Now it's time to prove my worth to my future teammates. This is also my chance to show that swine that I'm better than him hehehe.

Lucette: Bandits? I hope Ginger can fight them of easily. I'll just do my best to heal her up as much I can.

Kali: I wonder what's taking Gelsey so long to get here? I hope nothing bad happened to her.

(End Confessional)

Meanwhile somewhere deep in the forest, Gelsey was shown walking aimlessly around the place trying to find the maze. As she was walking around she failed to notice a snare trap setted up in front of her snagging her by the right leg and causing her to hung upside down on a tall tree.

"Good job Gelsey, that's like the seventh trap already." She sighed.

Back inside the maze, Ginger was shown walking confidently around the maze while Lucette looked a bit more worried for she held out her staff to her chest.

"How can you be so calm about this place? Their could be bandits lurking around you know." Lucette was franticly looking around every turn and corner they passed by as well as looking behind them from time to time.

"Oh please, what can some silly bandits do to us?" Ginger grinned. "As long as I have these babies theirs nothing to worry about." She twirled both her guns before returning them both to their holsters. As the two turned a corner they could suddenly hear light footsteps ahead of them. "Move back!" Ginger whispered for Lucette to hide behind the wall they came from.

With the footsteps getting closer and closer, Ginger motioned for them to move deeper back in to where the shadows were. As the footsteps got close now, two figures walked passed their pathway and went straight on ahead to a different path. Ginger quickly making her way to the edge of the walls she soon peaked at the two as they walked farther away.

"Who were they?" Lucette asked in a hushed toned.

"Looks like the bandits this place is infested with." Ginger replied.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Lets follow them. They might lead us to somewhere." Ginger suggested before silently taking the same path as the two bandits. Lucette, seeing that she has no choice in the matter, just followed her with her plan.

As the two follow the bandits around the lengthy maze, they soon came to a stop when the bandits theu were following turned a corner. Ginger poking her head slightly out, they soon saw the two they were following talking to another pair just ahead of them. All of the bandits ahead of them all wore similar cloth tunics and pants as well as having red bandanas tied around their necks. Each of the bandits held on to them different types of weapons.

"What are they talking about?" Lucette asked silently.

"I don't know, can't hear them well from here."

"How many are they?" Lucette asked once more.

"Their's four of them now." Ginger replied. As they continue on to watch what was happening, they failed to notice another bandit was walking up from behind them. The bandit seeing the two girls decided to yell out to them.

"Hey! You two!" The bandit from behind them yelled out. The other bandits hearing his call all turned to face Ginger who they immidiately spotted. All four of them looking at each other nodded before rushing towards Ginger's position with one guy running of towards the opposite direction.

"Dammit! Run!" Ginger took Lucette by her hand and started running down a different path.

"Whoa!" Lucette tried to keep up Ginger's fast paced running as she was being dragged around. Looking back, she could see the bandits were closing in on their tails. "I thought you can handle this?" She said while running.

"Never mind that! For now just run!" Ginger drew out one of her guns. "Take this!" She fired a barrage of magical bullets at the bandits all of which exploding upon contact. Most of the shots missed except for one that managed to hit the shoulder of one of the bandits. The bandit that got hit let out a pained filled scream before stoping with giving chase. As Ginger fired more shots a sudden clicking sound was heard. "Dammit." She yelled before withdrawing her gun and bringing out the other.

"Their's a door up ahead!" Lucette pointed out. Ginger looking in front of her soon saw the wooden double doors Lucette was pointing at. Taking a couple more shots at the remaining bandits, Ginger and Lucette busted the door open before slamming it shut. With the door closed the bandits started bashing and pushing the door back in attempt to force it open.

"Quickly! Find something to lock the door!" Ginger said while trying her best to keep the door closed. As she tried to push back, an axe blade suddenly broke through the door. "Hurry!" Lucette franticly looking around soon gave Ginger a steel long sword. Ginger grabbing hold of the sword quickly shoved it in-between the doors handles before jumping away from the door. As they slowly backed away from the doors, both of them with their weapons in hand, the constant slamming soon stopped with some foot steps moving away from the door. Both letting out heavy sighs they soon dropped onto the floor both panting heavily.

"Man *gasp* that was *gasp* close." Lucette says in-between breaths.

"Yeah, were did you get that sword though?" Ginger asked looking a bit winded. Lucette just pointed to the right side of the room. Looking towards where Lucette was pointing at, Ginger soon took notice of the array of weaponry that was stacked right beside them.

"We must be in their armory or something since their is more over here as well." Lucette said as she got up and went towards another rack of weapons right behind them.

"Huh, who knew bandits hold this many types of weapons." Ginger said as she inspected one of the sword cabinets before looking somewhere else. "Hmm this looks useful." Ginger held in her hand a round silver shield with straps on the inner side. Equipping the shield to her right arm she felt that the weight was just right for her. "Lucky that we found this place huh?" Ginger asked as she scavenged around some more.

"Hey Ginger, I think I found something." Lucette called out to her partner. Ginger placing down one of the daggers went up next to where Lucette was.

"What is it?" Ginger asked as she peered over Lucette's shoulder.

"I think I found our gems." Lucette held in her hand two silver rings both encrusted with a jewel each; one yellow and the other blue.

"Nice eye their Lucette." Ginger said with a smile. "You can go ahead and pick first. You're the one who found them." She insisted. As Lucette was busy thinking about which one she should get, a loud thumping noise was heard from right outside.

"Umm what was that?" Lucette asked as she looked towards the doors. Another loud thump was soon heard, only this time it sounded a lot closer. As the two looked towards the wooden doors, the doors suddenly busted open with the doors shattering. Outside the doorway stood a large stone golem with a couple bandits standing right behind it.

"Since when did bandits have golems on them?" Ginger looked surprise as she brought out her gun. The bandits soon came rushing in with the golem on stand by. "Stand back Lucette, this might get messy." Ginger held up her shield and readied her gun. Gingers body suddenly started glowing a bright blue before fading. Looking a bit startled, Ginger looked back towards Lucette who appeared to be finished in casting a spell.

"Their, that might help." Lucette said with a smile. "I buffed up your speed in order for you to attack and move faster. Now go get them." Lucette gestured towards the bandits with a confident look. Ginger grinning at her partner looked back to face her foes and charged at them with her sheild raised high.

As the bandits started charging her with their swords raised, Ginger managed to block off one of the attacker's sword before pushing him back and jabbing her blade on his chest. She quickly pulled her gun out his chest and did a spin to do an over head slash at a different bandit. Ginger suddenly followed up her attack with a shoulder bash to the bandit she just struck down before shooting at the last bandit behind him. Each time Ginger landed a hit, her gun was getting empowered along with the energy blade glowing brighter. With the empowered bullet hitting the last bandit, all of their bodies dropped down dead on the ground before disappearing and leaving only a pool of blood where each body fell.

"Damn, what an adrenaline rush!" Ginger laughed as Lucette's buff timed out on her. The stone golem came stomping in next.

"Umm Ginger, we still have one more customer." Lucette took a step back as she eyed the golem.

"Hmph, this will be over quick." Ginger gave a confident grin. "Hmm I wonder if this would work." She pulled out both her guns and crossed them. "Freikugel!" Both of her guns suddenly started emanating in blinding light. As the light grew brighter her guns started merging with each other forming into the shape of a sniper rifle. With light dying down her new gun was completely formed while still maintaining its pure white color. At the end of the long barrel of the rifle was a long energy blade pulsating with energy. "Oh heck yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!"

"That's cool and all but hurry up and shoot it!" Lucette exclaimed as the golem was charging at them. Ginger taking aim at the giant golem soon pulled the trigger sending a powerful energy blast blasting through the golem's stone chest. As the attack hit, the golem got knocked back before falling down with loud crash.

"*whistles* This thing packs a punch." Ginger smiled as she twirled her rifle but ended up dropping it causing it to spilt back into it's original form. "Oops hehe." She picked back up her two guns placed them back into their holsters.

"That was impressive though." Lucette smiled at Ginger. "I just wish we were in the same team." She pouted as she held out the two rings.

"It's okay, I'll just make sure not to hurt you to badly." Ginger laughed quietly as she picked up the blue ring. "Nah just kidding." She patted Lucette's shoulder. "Lets get out of here." Ginger soon lead the way back to entrance with Lucette following. As the two finally made it back out, Chris was already their standing right in front to greet them.

"You two sure did take your sweet time." Chris started. "The two of you by far took the longest inside. The two of you took so long in fact that I already made Janet and Derek went in and they got out first." Chris showed the replay of their challenge showcasing Janet knocking away hordes of demon-like creatures with her gravity powers and Derek fighting of waves of them alone with a fury of punches and kicks. "Heck, they were even the fastest pair only clocking in at forty-five minutes." Chris pointed towards Janet and Derek standing by their teams. Both of which stood next to the other Red Dragons. "Watching you two following around bandits doesn't really make for quality tv to be honest."

"Wait what? How long did it take us to finish the challenge." Ginger asked with a surprised look. Chris pointed towards the holographic timer right above them with the time '19:50' written on it.

"You two entered the maze around six." Chris thought back.

"But it's still broad daylight out here." Ginger pointed out.

"Time may pass but their isn't any day cycles here. You all could be in here for weeks and you still wouldn't notice it." Chris explained. "Anyways, onto your items." Chris faced Ginger first. "Also I would have to confiscate that shield of yours. Any item that wasn't dropped by a monster isn't counted." Chris pressed a button on his panel causing the shield to disappear. "Okay, back to what I was saying. *clears throat* Ginger, you hold the Ring of Vigor. As long as you have it you are immune to sleep effects."

"And what about me Chris?" Lucette asked.

"I was getting to that." Chris faced Lucette. "You hold the Ring of Tenacity. As long as you have it the effects of all forms of crowd control will be greatly reduced on you."

"Crowd control? What's that?" Lucette asked a bit confused.

"*sigh* Dylan, would you mind?" Chris faced Dylan in which he didn't hesitate to explain.

"Crowd control effects are basically stuff like stuns, snares, taunts, etc. They're typically AOE abilities that are fairly easy to dodge but their are some that are single target that is harder to dodge in most cases." Dylan explained all in one breath. "Good enough for you Chris?"

"Yeah, whatever." Chris replied. "Now go stand by your teams so that we could finaly wrap this up.

"Wait, what about me? Gelsey isn't here yet!" Kali raised her hand.

"Oh right, where is she anyways?" Blake pondered as she looked around.

"Probably lost or trapped somewhere." Kazuo replied. "Hmm I wonder..."

"M-maybe something b-bad had happened to h-her?" Phoebe said meekly. "M-maybe the m-monsters got her." She trembled at the thought.

"*sigh* It seems I'll just have to look for her." Chris pressed a button on the panel causing him to disappear. Chris reappeared moments later in-front of a large pit hole. As Chris looked down inside no one was down their.

"Umm Chris, up here." Gelsey's voice called out to him. As Chris looked up he could see Gelsey trapped inside a net hanging from a tree branch.

"Have you been up their this whole time?" Chris asked looking a bit surprised.

"Not really. This is like the tenth or so trap I got caught in. I lost count to be honest." Gelsey shrugged. Chris shaking his head pulled out his holographic panel once more and pressed a few buttons on it causing the pit to disappear as well as freeing Gelsey. "Ouch..." She said as she fell hard on the ground.

Gelsey was shown wearing an outfit is composed of an off-the-shoulders garment that extends to her mid-thighs and ends up as a skirt. It is blue with pink trimmings and a few touches of yellow. Her hat is blue, along with pink rings and a pink spiral on one side. She wears boots reaching halfway up her thighs, and her wand, which is blue, has a spiral which is similar to the one on her hat, except that it is yellow. She wears pink and blue gauntlets on both her arms.

"Where are we anyways?" Chris pressed another button in his to pull out a holographic map. Their location was shown to be in the far west away from the maze. "Umm Gelsey, unless you didn't know, the maze is back that way." Chris pointed towards the direction behind her.

"Oh that makes sense. I've been roaming around here for who knows how long not finding anything other than traps" Gelsey explained. Chris just gave himself a face palm.

"*sigh* To save us both the time and effort take this portal it will send you to where the maze is." Chris pressed on his panel and a red portal appeared. "Now hurry up, we're running out of time." Chris disappeared once more. As Chris reappeared, Gelsey was already their joining the cast.

"Good thing you're finally here." Kali approached Gelsey. "We could finally get on with the challenge." Kali dragged Gelsey with her to the front of the maze.

"Hold it." Chris stopped them both. "Since we barely have an hour left, you two are automatically assigned to the yellow chocobos. Besides, they're only team left with openings left anyways." Chris explained to both of them. "Here, just have the items prepared for both of you." Chris pressed on his panel and two silver talismans with yellow jewels appeared right in front of them. "These are the Talismans of Alacrity. As long you two have them you two are resistant to slowing effects.

"Oh, cool. Less hard work for me then." Gelsey grabbed her Talisman. Kali just pouted as she grabbed hers and went on to stand next to the other Yellow chocobos.

"Now that the teams are filled it's time for the final roll call." Chris started. "In team Red Dragons we have Kazuo, Janet, Derek, Alice, Laren, and Tristan." The six mentioned gained red dragon symbols on their outfits. "For the Blue Nagas we have Paris, Ginger, Nathan, Phoebe, Clint, and Estwynn." The next six all gained Blue Naga symbols on their outfits. "And lastly, in the Yellow Chocobos we have Leonard, Lucette, Dylan, Blake, Kali, and Gelsey." The last that were mentioned gained Yellow Chocobo symbols on their outfits.

"Good thing this is now over. After this whole ordeal, I'm going to take a long nights rest in my cabin." Leonard got up and stretched his arms.

"Agreed." Gelsey nodded.

"You didn't even get to do anything." Dylan raised a brow at her.

"Oh you don't know how much of a rough day it was for me." Gelsey replied.

"So, what are you going to do once we get back into the real world?" Laren grinned while asking Alice.

"Probably staying as far away from you." Alice glared.

"It seems as though you're sleeping with Leonard tonight." Paris winked at Phoebe. The latter just turned bright red as she caught on to what Paris meant.

"P-Paris! Th-that's not s-something you sh-should think about!" Phoebe's voice pitched up a bit. Paris just chuckled silently as she patted Phoebe's head.

"Hold it everyone!" Chris announced. "Their is still one more thing I have to announce." Everyone all looked to face Chris. "As all of you know, it is near tradition for immunity statues to be available to be found in every season. Right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, were not having any of that this time around." Some of the contestants eyes widened.

"What do you mean no more immunity statues?" Ginger started as she was completely surprised.

"Yeah, without it wouldn't this season feel a bit bland since no one will have a trump card?" Blake added.

"Oh don't worry, their is still a form of immunity. The producers just decided to one-up it this season." Chris grinned. "For this season not only will you have immunity but as well as an instant pass for merge!" Chris raised his hands dramatically.

"An instant merge pass? That sounds a bit insane don't you think?" Alice questioned at the idea.

"Oh don't worry, their is a catch to this." Chris held up his grin. "Let me explain first." Chris waved them off. "You see, the way you gain this...buff so to say is by completing one of either two challenges." Chris motioned for Dylan and Clint to come over. "The first challenge is well the Hall of Mirrors." Chris pressed the button on his panel to turn the maze back to where Clint and Dylan entered. "Your goal here is to reach the end of maze to take the Mirror Knight challenge but like you saw before you are forced to first go through the Mirror Demon." Chris showed a still image of Clint and Dylan's battle. "For the next challenge." Chris pressed on his panel to bring down a silver door closing of the maze. "Can you kindly lock the door Dylan."

"Umm okay..." Dylan approached the door with his silver key and turned the lock. The door suddenly turned a bronze color.

"Now Clint, please unlock the door." Chris motioned for Clint next. As Clint approached the door and turned his key, the door turned a bright gold before opening. Inside the maze held an almost heavenly feel for the interior emanated with bright prismatic light and cloud like walls surround the place.

"Whoa..." Laren was awestruck at the site.

"Eh, to bright for my taste." Alice commented.

"Same." Dylan nodded.

"This here is Heaven's Gate. Same goal as before but you'll be taking on the Rainbow Magi challenge but would have to get through the Archangels first." Chris explained to them all. "Too bad nobody had the chance to take on this challenge otherwise I would have shown a picture of the Archangels." Chris frowned slightly.

"Why do I feel like their is a certain drawback to these challenges." Alice said looking quite skeptical.

"Yes, that is correct. The drawback to taking on these challenges is that once you've died at any point you are automatically eliminated without a chance in coming back as a returnee for merge." Chris gave of a malicious grin. Almost everyone felt differently about the challenges. Some looked confident, others looked skeptical, and some looked quite nervous about it.

"Um C-Chris, a-are we all forced t-to take on th-these challenges?" Phoebe asked nervously from her team.

"Not at all. These challenges are all optional." Chris answered. "You may take either challenge any point during the season before merge hits. Since their is two challenges only two contestants can gain these buffs. You may bring a partner with you but only one person gets the chance as well as only one will be eliminated if you both get defeated." Chris explained to them all. "Any more questions?" No one else spoke up. "Good. Also one last thing. You may return to this maze as often as you may like before every challenge to do whatever you wish. Just approach me if you want to take on the challenges. With that said, you may all head back to the cabins now." Chris pressed a button on his panel causing everyone, including himself, to disappear.

After a few seconds had passed, the pods in the real world opened up letting a white mist escape from each one. As everyone groggily got up from each of their pods, Chris was already their standing in the middle of the room to greet them.

"So, how was virtual reality treating you guys?" Chris smiled at them with his arms crossed.

"Ugh, everything felt so real." Paris inspected herself. "I could still feel the burns on me."

"I can agree to that. My body is still aching from that battle." Dylan stretched his back from the pod across from Paris.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm heading back in first thing in morning." Ginger said from her pod.

"Yeah, me too. Want to have a little practice match?" Estwynn asked with a smile on his face.

"Hah! You're on." Ginger faced him with confident look.

"I j-just hope that I-I can prove to b-be useful for my t-team during the ch-challenges." Phoebe said sheepishly as she got up from her pod.

"Don't you worry Phoebe. After that performance I doubt they would see you any less useful." Kazuo said reassuringly after he got up from the pod next to her. Everyone else didn't bother to say anything else and all got out of building one at a time leaving only the host alone.

"Well, their you have it dear viewers." Chris gave of his trademark smile as the camera zooms in on him. "With everyone finally getting a taste of what it feels like to be in virtual reality along with finally getting their teams. Who knows how things will end up." Chris motioned for the large monitor above him showcasing each team with pictures of each member. "Will Leonard ever warm-up to Phoebe? What skills does the late Gelsey posses? What will happen to Lucette and Ginger's friendship now that they're on opposite teams? And most importantly, who will be the first victim of elimination? Find out next time on Total...Drama...Dungeon Hunters!"

---

Author's note: Dear god this took me forever to write. Who knew writing a TD story would be this difficult. Anyways, I hope all of you are happy with the portrayals of your OC's virtual versions, you guys don't know how difficult it was planning out this specific challenge. Hopefully the next challenge I have in store won't be as hard. Also apologies for Kali's, Janet's, and Derek's creators for not having them get showcased much.

Okay, onto the main topic. Like what Chris said, along with my question previously, your OC can take on any of these two challenges. How this will work is that any of you can PM if you want your OC to take on any of the two challenges at any point during the story and I'll write a special chapter/episode just for them. You can make them bring anyone along with them but I'm not sure if the owner of the OC would actually agree to that. Anyways, so that you guys won't be left in the dark about the "bosses" of each challenge, I'll be posting about them in my profile so that you can go back to them if any of you feel like challenging them.

Now, onto the chapter question. Now that each of them have their respective teams along with a vague idea on who they are up against. Who do you think would your OC watch out for from each team, including their own, as well as who would they be willing to vote out when elimination eventually comes. Like last time, send your answers through PM. That is all, until next time!