Total Drama: Dungeon Hunters Chapter 5: Seekers of the Sword, a total drama series fanfic

"Previously on Total Drama: Dungeon Hunters." Chris started off when the camera zoomed in on him. "Our contestants finished their first challenge to determine which team they would belong to without the threat of elimination." The team names, along with the names of each member, were shown on screen. "This time however things won't be as easy for our contestants for the threat of elimination looms around every corner." Chris gave of a sly grin. "Which team will be the first to claim victory? Which team will lose the first member? And will Gelsey finally be able to show off what she can do? Find out now on Total...Drama...Dungeon Hunters!" Chris opened up his arms dramatically.

~(Theme song)~ (Do theme song...)

(Cabin 1: Leonard and Phoebe's)

Inside the rustic cabin was a single bunk bed, an oak wood table with two wooden chairs, and a sink with a mirror on one corner. Laying on the top bunk of the bed was Leonard who seemed to be still fast asleep for some loud snoring could be heard. On the bottom bunk was Phoebe who was already awake and was sitting on the side of her bed.

"*yawn* W-what time is it?" The young doll just rubbed her eyes as she looked at the red wall clock hanging on the wall across from them. Phoebe was shown wearing a light blue buttoned-up shirt with a lacy blue ribbon on her collar. She also wore a light blue pair of pajama pants that reached just above her ankles. "S-seven thirty huh? *yawn*" She got up and stretched her body before walking towards the sink.

"*yawn* What are you up to now, runt?" Leonard groggily rose up from his bed. He removed the sheets covering his legs before jumping dropping down from his bed. Leonard was wearing a plain white shirt paired up with black sweat pants.

"Oh, m-morning Jag. J-just washing is all." Phoebe replied as she finished washing her face. She turned off the tap before walking back to her bed. "Umm e-excuse me." Leonard moved out of the way. Phoebe reached under the bed to grab her bag and reached inside for clothes.

"Hey, you know where the bathroom is?" Leonard asked, his eyes barely opened.

"Umm I'm n-not sure a-about the men's room since the girl's b-bathroom is just behind the c-cabins." Phoebe tried to explain what she could remember.

"Hmm okay *yawn*" Leonard stretched his arms for a bit before walking towards the door. As he opened the door he suddenly had to shield his eyes for the sun's rays were beaming down on him. After a few seconds had passed he slowly went down the steps of their cabin before proceeding to look for the bathroom.

"Oh, morning Leonard." A male voice greeted him. As Leonard adjusted his eyes he soon took notice of Estwynn wearing his normal clothes and looked to be headed towards the challenge building. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Trying to find the bathroom. You know where it is?" Leonard replied, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.

"It's just deep in the woods right behind the cabins. But becareful though, it's a bit tight in their." Estwynn answered. "Anyways got to go. Me and Ginger are going to have a practice match and I don't want to be late. See ya." Estwynn soon ran off towards the building.

"Umm okay..." He trailed of as soon as Estwynn ran passed him. Moving through the cabins he soon saw the women's bathroom Phoebe was talking about. It was a medium sized building with faded pink walls as well as having five rectangular windows lined up in row behind the building with one of them emitting some mist. "How bad can it be." Leonard taught to himself as he walked passed the women's bathroom and headed straight into the woods.

As Leonard was traversing through the thick lining of trees he soon noticed Dylan walking towards him already fully clothed with his hair still wet. As the two approached each other, Dylan soon spoke up first.

"Mornin' if you're looking for the bathroom its just around the corner by those trees." Dylan pointed behind him with his thumb. Dylan's face showing that he wasn't all to amused at what he was pointing at.

"Umm okay, thanks." Leonard soon walked passed him with a somewhat skeptic look. As he walked around where Dylan pointed him to walk towards his jaw just dropped the moment he saw the bathroom. The men's bathroom was just a shady, run-down, wooden shack barely big enough to fit two people without even a single window. The only thing blocking the doorway was an old shower curtain that seemed to have been ripped at the bottom edge. "Oh you got to be fucking kidding me Chris..."

(Cabin 6: Paris and Blake's)

Inside the cabin was Blake sitting on one of the wooden chairs as he was shown tapping away at his phone. He was already wearing his normal clothing and on the table next to him was a plate with a half-eaten sandwich and some fries. As he was busy playing with his phone, the door soon creaked open with someone stepping inside. When Blake turned to see who it was, he suddenly looked away with his face slightly red for the person that stepped in was Paris who was dripping wet with a thick towel wrapped around her body.

"You know their is a thing called knocking? Ever heard of it?" Blake said a bit flustered.

"Why would I knock? This is where I'm also sleeping anyways." Paris walked towards the bunk beds and sat on the bottom bunk. "You wouldn't mind, do you?" Paris crossed her legs as she reached for her bag hanging from the top bunk.

"*Sigh* Just remove the sheets when you're done." Blake walked out of the Cabin with his phone and sandwitch in hand. As he closed the door behind him, he soon started walking towards the oval building. "What's with her deal anyways?" He took a bite out of his sandwich. "Might as well get some target practice in before the next challenge."

As he got inside the building, the room was filled with noise and flashing lights with the large monitor showcasing the practice match between Ginger and Estwynn already taking place. Standing right in-front of him were Lucette and Laren watching the match play out.

"Go Ginger!" Lucette cheered as the screen showed Ginger parrying a spear thrust from Estwynn. The latter's armor now were in the shade of blue with his face mask tinted in a light blue color. His weapon was now an arrow head spear. Estwynn then followed up his thrust with a sideward slash catching Ginger off-guard and knocking her to the side.

"Yeah! Don't give up now Estwynn!" Laren cheered as well. Ginger, regaining her balance, dodged away another spear thrust before countering with low leg sweep knocking Estwynn down. With the former now gaining the upper hand she soon stepped down on Estwynn's chest forcing him down some more before leaning down on her knee and mouthing the words 'GG'

"Woohoo! Go Ginger!" Lucette jumped in joy. Laren however, though disappointed, just turned to face Lucette with small smile. The next scene shown on the monitor was Ginger helping Estwynn up and shaking each others hands.

"Well, you win I guess." Laren said calmly. "I never should've doubted you."

"Hah, told you Ginger was better." Lucette smiled triumphantly.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Blake asked as he approached the two girls.

"Oh, hi Blake. Me and Laren here just had a bet to see which one was the better fighter." Lucette explained.

"What did you bet on?"

"We bet our dessert for tonight." Laren sighed.

"Yeah, more dessert for me!" Lucette exclaimed happily.

"I'll beat you next time." Laren gave off a determined look. The two just exchanged looks before the pods containing Ginger and Estwynn popped open. Both of them came out of the pods next to each other.

"Man, you really had me good." Said Estwynn as he got up from his pod. "Though in hindsight fighting you with a spear was a bad call on my end." He scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, you weren't half-bad yourself. Their were times you had me on the ropes too you know." Ginger grinned slightly. "Anyways, want to head back to the cafeteria? I haven't had breakfast yet to be honest." She giggled lightly.

"Fine. Needed a quick bite anyways after that battle." Estwynn replied with a small smile. As the two started walking towards the exit, they soon took notice of Blake standing right in-front of them.

"Oh, morning Blake." Ginger greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to get in some target practice before the next challenge." Blake answered. "So, was anyone else in their other than you two?"

"Yes actually. We saw Derek already in the virtual world before us." Estwynn pointed towards a pod in the far back of the room. The light on it was glowing red to show that it was being used. "We tried to talk him into joining us but he just walked away on us as if we weren't their." He explained.

"Did you manage to see where he went though?" Blake asked once more

"He entered one of the nine mazes. I think he entered the Dragoon's nest since that was the maze that was opened when we spawned in." Estwynn tired to recall as he looked back to the monitor. The screen only showed a far view of the maze entrance with the inside barely noticeable. "Why do you want to know though? Its not like he'll talk to you or anything.

"Like I said, I needed some target practice" Blake replied with a sly grin as he brushed passed the two. As he stood right in-front of one of the vacant pods, Blake soon looked back to face them. "Wait, how do I activate this though?"

"Oh, Chris said that they were set to automatically activate. You just need to step in." Ginger explained.

"Okay, thanks." Blake soon stepped inside the empty pod causing the glass pane to close in on him. After everything was setted up once more, he soon fell to a deep sleep only to wake up once again back into the virtual world. Checking himself, he soon took notice of the yellow chocobo symbol imprinted on to his left shoulder and the necklace of fire wrapped around his right wrist.

"Now, where is that...oh, their it is." Blake thought to himself as he searched around for the maze. As he approached the maze entrance, he soon felt a hot draft escaping from it the moment he got close. Now by the maze's doorway, he looked inside only to see that the walls were crumble and pouring with lava. "Wait, this isn't the Dragoon's nest." Blake said to himself as he entered the maze. "This is where the Gorgons are. What's he doing in here alone?" A curious thought entered his mind as he searched deeper into the maze.

As Blake walked deeper into the molten maze in search for Derek, thoughts were running through his mind thinking about what would happen to Derek if he didn't find him in time. Walking deeper in taking every possible turn and corner he could find, he suddenly found himself at a dead end.

"Damn." Blake shook his head as he kicked a small rock at the molten wall. As he turned around and was about to leave, a loud hissing noise stopped him in his tracks. Turning back around, he soon saw a large Gorgon towering over him as it slithered down the wall. "Shit! This is definitely not my day." Blake slowly backed up with his short swords crossed backhanded in-front of him.

The large Gorgon slowly slithering towards the lone boy, it let out a loud scream before lunging at him. Blake, readying for the worst, raised both his swords up in attempt to defend himself. As he stood their with his eyes closed preparing himself on what's to come, he soon realized nothing happened to him. Opening his eyes he soon saw Derek standing right in-front of him holding the Gorgon by it's neck.

"D-Derek?" Blake's eyes widened. Derek, ignoring Blake completely, let loose a series of powerful punches at the Gorgon before sending it crashing towards a the molten wall causing it to crumble down and crushing it. "Phew, thank god you're here Derek." Blake let out a breath of relief. Derek just let out a grunt before leaving Blake alone without even saying a word. "H-hey, wait up." He tried to follow Derek but soon stopped when something started glowing right behind him. As Blake looked behind him, the Gorgon's body started glowing before completely disappearing.

Curious, Blake approached the rubble and debris that was left behind only to find a black dagger with a long serrated blade and a dark wooden handle on the ground. As Blake picked up the weapon, an automated Chris voice started playing out.

"Congratulations Blake. You've earned the Obsidian Dirk. This weapon allows you to break any type of armor or shield but will break immediately upon contact with fire or ice." Chris's voice explained before ending.

"This seems useful." Blake inserted the dagger in his belt.

"Ahem, attention everyone." The real Chris's voice echoed out through maze. "Please be by the oval building within the hour. The next challenge is about to begin." He explained. "For those who are inside in virtual reality, take this portal for it would immediately send you back to the real world." A neon portal appeared right in-front of Blake. "That is all." He ended.

"Oh well, time to go." Blake hopped in the portal. The pod holding him in soon popped open with the white mist coming out before Blake stepped out. Inside the room with him was Chris along with Derek, Paris, Dylan, Phoebe, and Clint.

"I see one of my teammates already gaining a useful item for the challenge." Dylan gestured towards what he saw on the monitor. "To bad it has such an abuseable draw back."

"Hey, I just need to avoid anything Ice or Fire is all." Blake smirked.

"Well you better not touch yourself with it, hot shot." Paris laughed slightly. Blake just shook his head and palmed himself in the face. The glass doors soon opened letting in Ginger, Estwynn, and Lucette.

"Sorry if we're late." Estwtnn started as they approached. "Someone here just wouldn't stop eating cake." Estwynn looked towards Lucette with his arms crossed.

"Hey! Why only me? Ginger here was the one who stopped us on our way out to buy a bag marshmallows." Lucette pouted.

"N-no I didn't." Ginger said while chewing something in her mouth. She soon swallowed it afterwards.

"Hey, where's Laren? I thought she was with you guys?" Blake asked with his eye brow raised.

"Oh her? She said she was going to find Alice. She said that Alice was still in the cabins or something." Ginger shrugged. "Oh, speak of the devil." The next to get inside was Alice and Laren. The former however had a scowl on their face while their hair was still dripping wet and along with her clothes.

"Didn't I tell you not to bother me today? And besides, I heard the announcement as well. You didn't have to drag me out of the bathroom." Alice gave Laren a cold stare.

"Oh c'mon where's the fun in being alone? Having others with you is where the fun starts." Laren smiled back at her.

"*sigh* does anyone have a clean towel? Laren dragged me out of our cabin before I could even properly dry myself." Alice asked around. Chris just snapped his fingers for an intern to appear holding a towel and handing it to Alice before running off. "Thanks." She soon started drying off her hair.

The next people who got inside the room with them Tristan, Kazuo, and Nathan. Kazuo however just went inside shirtless and wearing red shorts while the other two were wearing their normal clothing. Kazuo's body was slightly lean with some muscle on him but otherwise he was pretty much average.

"Umm K-Kazuo, w-why are you sh-shirtless?" Phoebe asked as she looked away, her cheeks slightly red.

"Oooh, is the little Phoebe blushing?" Paris teased.

"I don't know. It kinda suits him." Lucette giggled. Ginger lightly smacked her at the back of her head. "Ow..."

"Eh, decided to sleep in is all." Kazuo shrugged. "I mean I could have worn a clean shirt but since we're going to be in virtual reality anyways I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference." He explained. Chris, looking not so amused, snapped his fingers for another intern to appear forcing down a white shirt on Kazuo.

"I'm hosting Total Drama here, not America's next top model." Chris said with his arms crossed.

"Fine. I give up." Kazuo said with grin before properly putting on his shirt. The next ones to enter the room were Janet, Kali, and Gelsey entering at the same time. The three of them appeared to be talking to each other as they got in only to notice almost everyone else was already their.

"Oh, hi everyone!" Gelsey waved and smiled at everyone in the room.

"Are we the last ones to arrive? Since by the looks of things it seems as though we're the last ones to get here." Janet asked as she scans the room.

"Nope. Leonard isn't here yet. Has anyone seen him though?" Chris asked no one in particular.

"Last I heard from him is that he was headed towards the bathroom." Estwynn thought back to their encounter.

"Yeah, I passed by him going towards it as well." Dylan added.

"Must still be taking a shower or something." Tristan shrugged. A few moments later the glass doors soon opened up with Leonard marching in with his arms crossed. Both of Leonards arms and some places of his face looked to have scratch marks all over it. As he approached everyone a horrid scent soon filled the room

"Umm what happened to you Jag?" Ginger asked looking a bit confused. "Ugh, and what's with the horrible smell?" She pinched her nose. Everyone else covered themselves up as well.

"A fricking skunk happened." Leonard said a bit angrily. "I was just taking a bath when this skunk suddenly entered the so called men's bathroom and attacked me." He glared at Chris.

"Aww poor Phoebe." Paris patted Phoebe's head. "It seems she can't spend the night with her boyfriend for now." She teased. Phoebe just fell silent and turned bright red from embarrassment.

"Oh just can it." Leonard said dismissively with his arms crossed.

"Oh my god Leonard. Just enter the pod already." Chris grimaced as he pinched his nose.

"Fine." Leonard went inside the nearest pod next to him. With him now safely inside the glass pane closed him and he soon fell asleep. Moments later the large screen soon came to life showing Leonard on the other side.

"Ugh, I can finally breath." Chris took in a deep breath. "Hey, Leonard. Can you hear me?" He called out.

"Yeah." Leonard's voice was heard through the speakers.

"Good. Now, onto the challenge" Chris turned around to face the other contestants. "Since this is the first team challenge we've decided to make it simple for you guys." He pressed a button on the panel to show a Golden sword with red jewels on the handle on the screen. "This here is Aurum, the Golden edge."

"Umm why are you showing us this?" Dylan asked with a skeptic look.

"Simple. For todays challenge is to simply steal this sword." The host smirked. Everyone's eyes widened with some taken aback on how simple it sounded. "Sounds easy, doesn't it?" He crossed his arms.

"Why do I get this feeling that their is more to this then just to simply steal the sword." Alice questioned.

"Oh that's because their is more to it." Chris grinned as he pressed on another button on the control panel. The image on screen zoomed out to reveal a large throne room shining in gold and silver. Sitting on the throne itself is the wielder of the sword wearing a complete set of shining golden plate armor with violet trimmings and the shoulder pieces spiking out. The helm he wore closely resembles a crown and has no face mask for everyone to see his piercing blue eyes. Surrounding the Knight on the throne were a line of paladins all wearing the same porcelain white plate armor with blue outlining.

"Everyone, this here is Kaiser. The quest's stage boss and wielder of the sword." Chris introduced. "To put things simple. Today's challenge will have you guys breaking through Kaiser's castle and stealing the sword from him." He explained.

"Sounds easy enough. We go in, beat him and his men, and take the sword." Ginger said confidently from the middle of the group.

"Oh just you wait." Chris smirked as he pressed another button. The image on the screen soon changed to an outside view of a large castle surrounded by thick stone walls and multiple tall towers. "This here is the castle you will all be sent to. Each team will have a different starting point." Chris pressed another button showing an over-head view of the castle. "The red dragons will start by the courtyard." The dragon symbol was shown to be placed by the front gate. The open area looked to be surrounded with thick lining of bushes and siege weapons.

"Not many places to hide don't you think?" Alice interjected.

"Don't worry, I can just throw away any guard that comes our way." Janet said confidently. "Oh right, I just remembered something. You haven't told me and Derek yet what our items does. We both got bracelets if I remember correctly" She tried to recall what she got.

"Hmm must have slipped my mind." Chris thought back. "Well in any case, it's called the bracelets of determination. As for the effects I think it had something to do about gaining "second wind" but I forgot majority of the details. You'll just have to find out during the challenge itself."

"Fair enough." Janet replied.

"Okay, back to the topic in hand. The Blue Nagas will start of here at the castle garden." Chris pointed towards the naga symbol. The symbol was placed on a large opened area filled with trees and flower beds and what looks to be a fountain in the middle.

"Its not half-bad actually. It looks quite manageable to say the least." Estwynn pointed out.

"Eh, I can work with it." Nathan shrugged.

"And lastly, the yellow chocobos will start of here at the barracks." Chris pointed towards the chocobo symbol placed behind a small building separate from the main castle settled on the far eastern.

"Wait, why do I feel like their is a joke about these placings somehow." Dylan said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Kali asked. "I don't see anything odd about these places."

"I don't know. I just feel like their was a certain idea behind these placements." Dylan scratched the back of his head in thought. Chris, hearing Dylan, just gave off a silent chuckle.

"Okay, now that you all know what to do. It's time for me to mention about a few mechanics of the challenge" Chris started. "First off, if you die you're out. Once you've 'died' you're automatically kicked out of virtual reality until the challenge ends. Second, if you get captured by any of the castle guards you are also kicked out of virtual reality. Third, they're are treasure chests scattered across castle. If you find them you may keep whatever is inside the chests. And lastly, to make things interesting, the person who manages to grab the sword first get's to keep it as well. That last mechanic isn't just for this challenge, it's for all future challenges to come." The room fell from mindless chatter to serious looks. Chris just gave off a sly grin.

"Clearly a weapon such as that has a drawback. Right?" Estwynn asked.

"Nope." Chris said simply. Whispers and tension started filling the room.

"So not only are we fighting off against the others but even amongst ourselves as well? Curious to see how the butterfly effect would play out." Kazuo gave himself an amused laugh.

"Finding a way to tap in to our greed huh? This season might as well be the most ruthless one yet" Tristan stated calmly. Everyone all looked at each other with mixed expressions on them.

"Now, once all of you are ready please get in the pods so that we may start." Chris sat down on his chair by the panel. Everyone soon after started entering each pod with some getting in the one closest to their teammates. As the last person got into there pod, all of the glass panes started closing in on them to prepare their transport back into the virtual world.

Chris, now alone in the room, turned to face the camera. "Well, their you have it folks. Our contestants are now back once more in the virtual world to take on today's challenge." Chris gave off a small smile. "Let's dive on in to see what they're up to." Chris grinned before pressing a button on the panel. The camera view soon shifted inside the virtual world over looking the large castle. The scene soon shifted once more to show the red dragons standing in the courtyard being surrounded by the castle guards along with arrows and ballistae aimed right at them.

"Drop your weapons and surrender now or be forced to face trial" The captain of the guard demanded from the safety of his men. The guard captain wore a full suit of metal armor with his face mask dropped down. He held in both his hands two silver broad swords glistening in the sun's light. The guards surrounding the red dragons all wore brown cloth armor with metal shoulder plates and gauntlets all wielding pointing spears at them.

"Chris just had to spawn us here." Alice sighed as she readied her bow. Her red gem started to glow

"Hey, were the red dragons. It's time we show to everyone that we are more then just a name." Janet held her spear high with both her hands glowing in dark purple energy. On her right wrist was a blood red bracelet glowing with energy

"Well then, let's see what would happen if I try my best this time around." Kazuo grinned as he drew out his blood sword instead. "But I want to do this with my new sword first." He laughed.

"Enough chitter chatter, let's just get this over with." Tristan said with a determined look as he held on tightly to his pipe wrench. Derek said nothing and just prepared himself in a fighting stance. On his left wrist was a similar bracelet to Janet's and was glowing as well. All six of them stood defiantly as they stare down each soldier.

"Fine, be that way." The guard captain says from under his breath. "Soldiers, take them out!" All the surrounding men charged at them with their spears raised high.

"Heh. Let the fun begin." Janet grinned as her power grew stronger.

The view soon shifted to another portion of the castle. Paris, Ginger, and Phoebe were shown running through the outside corridor of the castle. Chasing them were five fully armored knights with their shields raised high and swords to their sides. Ginger, running from behind the two, was taking shots at the knights following them but only managed to hit their shields before her needing to reload her gun.

"Dammit! I'm out of shots." Ginger cursed as she holstered her empty magigun. "I still think splitting up was a bad idea."She drew out her other gun and started taking shots. One of the shots managed to clip a knight by his left arm but just shrugged it off.

"Quickly, in their!" Paris pointed towards an open door. As Phoebe and Paris managed to run on inside, Ginger stopped for a moment to shoot a couple explosive rounds before quickly entering and slamming the door shut.

On the other side of the door was a large open area with a velvet carpet leading up towards a large set of stone stairs. Each of the walls beside them held two doorways each with different colored doors and hanging with two torches each.

"S-so what n-now?" Phoebe asked looking a bit shaken as she scans the room. As Paris was about to answer, a loud slamming noise came from the door they came from.

"In their!" Paris said silently as she pointed towards an opened brown door nearest to the stairs. The scene soon changed to reveal where the other blue nagas were. Clint, Estwynn, and Nathan were shown running through a narrow hallway inside the castle.

"Are the still chasing us?" Nathan asked for he was running in-between the two. Estwynn looking behind them saw nothing was their. Estwynn's armor this time around had red chest padding and a red cape. Attached to his waist was a sheathed sword with a silver metal handle and hilt.

"No. I think we lost them." Estwynn answered.

"Over here." Clint was shown standing in-front of an opened door gesturing for them to get inside. As the two managed to get in, Clint soon closed the door behind them. On the other side of the door they entered was a small and short pathway with only one door in-front of them. The door was made from both steel and wood but had no handle or knob or anything to grab on to and only had a keyhole.

"What do you think is in the other side?" Nathan asked a bit perplexed. Clint just gave him a shrug and Estwynn didn't have an answer either. Nathan looking quite curious just placed his hand on the door and gave it a slight push. As he pushed it to his surprise it was open. Pushing the door all the way open they were all surprised at the sight they saw on the other side.

"Whoa..." Was all Estwynn could say. Right in-front of them were two large golden chest standing in the midst of a room filled with gold and jewels. "That must be one of the chests Chris was talking about." Estwynn's voice sounded a bit excited.

"Theirs even two of them!" Nathan chimed in. "How lucky can we get?" As both Estwynn and Nathan were about to approach both chests, Clint suddenly pulled both of them back.

"Anything wrong, Clint?" Estwynn asked. Clint, not saying a word, just kept his eyes on the two chest giving them piercing looks. Reaching for an arrow in his quiver, he soon notched it and aimed straight at both of the chests.

"Umm Clint. What are you doing?" Nathan asked looking a bit confused. Not saying anything still, Clint shot his arrow in-between the two chests. With the arrow flying straight towards the chests, it suddenly split itself into five arrows heading towards the chests in a straight volley. As the arrows hit the two chests both of hem came to life with the lids opening showing razor sharp teeth and piercing dark purple eyes inside.

"Mimic trap. How predictable." Clint said calmly as he reached for another arrow. Both chests start hopping towards them with their mouths drooling. Estwynn and Nathan both drew out their weapons.

"Man, and I thought luck was already on our side." Nathan let out a sigh before charging at the two mimics followed by Estwynn.

The scene shifted to different part of the castle where the entire yellow chocobos were. They were all hiding inside an empty horse stable with Leonard standing by an opened window near the entrance keeping watch.

"Hey, are most of the guards gone?" Dylan asked in a hushed tone. Dylan was pacing back and fort in the middle of the stables.

"No. They're still out looking for us." Leonard replied as he spotted two crossbowmen walking passed.

"So tell me, why did you make us run away like that? You know we can handle them all easily." Blake questioned Dylan with a cold stare. Blake was sitting on the gate of an empty stable. Leaning on the wooden fence under him was his bow.

"Like I said, if we want to win this we have to make sure we suffer no loses." Dylan defended himself. "I've perfected a lot of RTS games to know how to play my cards right. No, not just right, perfectly." He glared back.

"News flash genius, we aren't in any video game. This place is just as real as the real world." Blake countered. "So don't think so highly of yourself just because you've completed a couple games." The prankster soon got up.

"Umm Blake, where are you going?" Gelsey asked as she was sitting next to him.

"Where else? I'm going straight into the castle." Blake slung the bow around his chest and back. "If you want to win the waiting game then fine. I'll be off doing the challenge." He soon brushed passed Dylan and headed straight for the gate.

"Fine. Go get yourself killed then." Dylan scoffed. "We'll see how things will play out." He just crossed his arms and glared. Blake, pausing for moment, raised up his hood before opening the gates of the stables slightly and making quick dash out.

"Hey, theirs one! Get him!" A loud voice called out from the outside. Two crossbowmen and one knight soon ran passed the stables and went after Blake.

"Should we go and help him?" Gelsey asked, looking a bit concerned.

"No. We're just wasting our resources if we did." Dylan said dismissively

"What if he gets killed?"

"So what? He chose to run off like. His death is no longer our problem." Dylan glared at the girl. Gelsey just backed off kept quiet.

"Hey, those were the last guards." Leonard called out.

"Are you sure?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, I took a quick look outside and no other guards were around. Even the ones on the walls are gone." Leonard told what he saw.

"Good. The other teams must have drawn them out." Dylan smirked. "C'mon, it's time we give the king a visit."

The scene soon returned to where the red dragons were. The sounds of steel clashing and arrows flying filled the area as their long battle went on. All over where the red dragons stood their ground were piles of broken swords and spears all drenched in blood.

"Fire!" The guard captain commanded. Two ballistae fired their shots at the red dragons. Tristan, standing in the far back, shot multiple cannon shots at the giant arrows protecting them from the attack. Firing arrows next to him was Alice with her bow glowing a feint blue light. Standing right behind her was Laren with her pendent glowing in the same color.

"Nice shot Tristan." Janet praised as she drove her spear into the chest of a knight. She soon pushed the dead body back with her gravity push to send it flying towards a small group of soldiers. Standing right beside her was Kazuo fighting off a couple swordsmen with his sword. Fighting far ahead of them was Derek taking on a group of soldiers on his own, skillfully taking each one out without much problem

"Man, fighting with a sword is hard." Kazuo parried away a slash. He soon countered with a sideward slash only knocking back the soldier. "Not to mention this sword can't even penetrate through thick armor." Kazuo blocked a downward strike.

"What do you mean thick? They're just wearing leather and thin plating." Janet threw her dagger at a charging soldier before kicking him down and driving her spear through his chest. "See." Blood started pooling around the body.

"Heh. Well, Chris mentioned that this sword can't cut through anything other than cloth armor." Kazuo dodged away from a spear thrust before disarming the soldier with a quick swipe to the wrists with his sword.

"Then why take it then?" Janet knocked back a group of soldiers with a geyser of pure cosmic energy.

"Well, that's because this sword can completely drain the opponents energy if it manages to hit someone." Kazuo soon managed to knock the soldier down. "Watch." Kazuo kicked away the soldier's helm and drove his sword onto his neck killing him instantly. "Oh, never mind."

"See, told you I was useful." Laren smiled as she was just standing behind Alice.

"*sigh* Fine. I can give you that." Alice fired an arrow glowing with ice magic. "But why enchant my bow with ice magic though?" She fired another frozen shot. The arrow hitting a charging soldier was soon frozen in ice completely stopping him in place. Alice fired another arrow to shatter the frozen soldier into pieces.

"It's by random chance actually." Laren ducked an oncoming arrow. "To your left. Above the wall." She directed where the arrow came from. Alice pointing her bow towards where Laren pointed towards soon saw the bowman and fired. "Nice shot."

"What do you mean by random chance?" Alice readied a couple arrows. "Can't you control it?" She fired a quick volley of frozen arrows at a group of soldiers.

"Not really. The buff I can give changes every hour or so. It depends on what light my pendent is emitting." Laren explained. "On your right." She pointed.

"I got it." Tristan announced as he threw his pipe wrench like a boomerang knocking out the soldier rushing towards them. The pipe wrench soon bounced back towards Tristan in which he easily caught.

As the fighting ensues with the red dragons fighting off every soldier with ease. The enemies ranks started to slowly deplete with only the guard captain and couple of handful of soldiers were left defending the castle courtyard. As more of what remains of the guard captain's front line drop down dead, worriedness started creeping up on him for this battle is more than lost.

"Sir! We're out of arrows!" One of the soldiers operating the ballistae called out as he approached

"I see." The guard captain said with a depressed look. "Tell what remains of our men to retreat back into the castle." Janet shoved her spear down onto another soldier's chest. "I'll hold them off as long as I can." He held on to both his swords tightly. "That's an order."

The soldier looking a bit hesitant just gave a the guard captain a salute. "Yes sir!" The soldier said before running off. The remaining forces soon withdrew and headed back inside the castle.

With the red dragon's final push, they were all able to kill off the remaining soldiers that were left in the front line. Seeing their retreat, the red dragons all started charging straight towards the castle doors with little to no resistance at all. As they were half way across the courtyard, they soon took notice off the guard captain standing defiantly right in-front of them with one sword placed on his shoulder while the other he held low on one hand.

"This is as far as you'll all go." The guard captain said imposingly as he stared straight at them. All of them stopped in their tracks and raised their up their weaponry except for Alice. Alice, standing behind everyone, managed to slip away from the group and entered in her stealth to get around the captain and move on ahead.

"Umm Alice?" Laren softly as she noticed Alice was gone. Everyone else didn't seem to notice.

"Heh, tired of letting all of your soldiers do all the dirty work for you?" Janet taunted.

"Oh no. Just wanted to send in a welcoming party is all." The guard captain replied. "Since that you're all hear, might as well greet you all personally." He readied both his silver swords. "Now, who wants to start?" He smirked.

The scene returned to where Paris and Phoebe were. They were both shown running down a narrow hallway with doors on one side and windows on the other. Chasing behind them were two of Kaiser's white paladins with their dark blue capes flowing behind them.

"Why did Ginger do that? We could've...dammit!" Paris gritted her teeth she kept her eyes straight ahead of them.

"D-don't worry, Ginger l-looks strong. Sh-she can handle h-herself. R-right?" Phoebe looked to be almost out of breath as she could barely keep up.

"Lets just hope so." Both her and Phoebe turned around the corner at the end of hallway. As they kept on running through the long hallway, it was the end of the line for them for they met up with a dead-end at the end of the hall. "Dammit!" Paris cursed as she tried to run back but was soon stopped when the paladins were already their.

"Um, wh-what now?" Phoebe looked terrified as she raised her staff up to her chest and slowly backed up. Paris, seeing no other options left, drew out her rapier and raised it right in-front of her.

"Stand back Phoebe." Paris blocked off Phoebe with her left arm. "This is going to get messy." She said with a serious tone. Phoebe letting out a nod stood as far back as she could.

As the first paladin charged in with both his sword and shield raised, the paladin soon went in for a sideward slash at Paris. The latter, seeing the attack incoming, decided to block the large sword with her rapier but was quickly overpowered for the force of the attack shoved her aside and sent her slamming hard to the stone wall beside her. The paladin followed up his attack with a strong kick to her stomach using his metal greaves causing Paris to buckle over in pain. Paris coughed out some blood as well some dripping through her mouth before sliding down onto the cold stone floor.

"NO!" Phoebe cried out as she saw her ally get knocked out. The paladin standing over Paris's body raised his sword arm up once more to finish her off. As the paladin was about to finish off Paris, his sword was swing was suddenly stopped by a lance. Protecting Paris from the paladin's attack was the male porcelain doll with his lance blocking the sword. "S-stop it!" Phoebe cried out once more with tears forming in her closed eyes.

The male doll seeing his opening flicked away at the paladin's sword with his lance and went in for a jab to his chest. Raising his shield up, the paladin managed to block the attack for a moment but the attack still went through for it penetrated through the shield and stabbing him in his chest. With the paladin dropping down to his knees, blood dripping from his chest, the doll continued to drive his lance deeper in to the paladin's chest until it was forced to pierce through the paladin's back; blood dripping from the exposed tip.

"Urg...ahh..." The paladin dropped dead on the ground with the lance still deep in his chest and blood pooling all over. Forcefully pulling the spear out of the dead corpse's chest caused blood to splatter everywhere marking the stone walls with a crimson color. With only one paladin left, the doll started charging up his lance causing it to spin like a drill before charging in.

The last paladin taking his stand raised his sword high with his shield to his chest before charging on in towards the doll. With the two meeting each other head on, the doll lunged first with his lance causing it to collide with the paladin's shield and breaking it instantly upon impact. The paladin now exposed, the doll drove his lance straight towards the paladin's abdomen and rammed him hard onto the back wall pinning him their. The lance still drilling into the paladin's stomach piece, blood started flying every where until the paladin finally lay limp on the wall. With the last paladin now dead, the doll pulled out his lance, dropping the paladin onto the ground, before dispersing into fragments of light for the battle is now over.

Phoebe, seeing both assailants dead, wiped away her tears and started rushing towards the downed dancer. With the doll faced girl now beside her companion, she frantically shook her body in attempt to wake her up.

"H-hey, Wake up!" Phoebe said while shaking Paris; her eyes still swelling with tears. After a few moments had passed Paris soon woke up with blood still dripping from her mouth.

"Ugh...Ph-Phoebe?" Paris attempted to get up but still keeled over for the pain in her stomach was to much. Paris soon covered up her mouth as she coughed up more blood with a lot of it dripping through her fingers.

As she scanned around the hall she soon took notice of the two paladins laying dead on the floor with blood coating the walls. "Wh-what happened here?" She said weakly as she tried to get up once more.

Phoebe slung Paris's arm around her neck and shoulders in attempt to provide some support. With the latter now up on her feet, Phoebe soon explained what had happened.

"Y-you got knocked out and the kn-knight was about to finish y-you off." She said sobbing a bit. "I d-din't know w-what to do so I t-tried to stop them." Paris looked around to see once more the massacre that happened.

"It seems you did much more then stop them." She smiled weakly. "Good job." She petted Phoebe's head. "C'mon, lets get out of here. I don't think I have the strength to even heal myself." She chuckled slightly. The two soon proceeded to slowly make their way out of the castle.

The scene soon went back to where Clint, Estwynn, and Nathan were. They were all shown still fighting off against the two mimics they encountered earlier. Estwynn was fighting off one Mimic on his own while the other two were fighting off the other Mimic together.

"Take this!" Estwynn yelled as he chopped down on the Mimic he was fighting with his battle axe. Estwynn was currently transformed into his yellow version.

"Grah!" The Mimic let out a scream as the blade of the axe made a deep break into it's golden 'head'. Estwynn pulling the blade out forcefully, small golden fragments started bursting out through the large crack it made. With the Mimic now dazed, Estwynn soon went in for a powerful side swing sending the Mimic crashing on the stone wall beside them before breaking into two separate pieces.

"Man, that was rough." Estwynn balanced his axe on his right shoulder. "How are you two doing over their?" He looked towards Nathan and Clint. The former was shown blocking off the gaping mouth of the last Mimic with his Katana while the latter was aiming another arrow at it.

"What do you think?" Nathan said a bit harshly as he tried his best to stop the Mimic from biting down on him. With a strong push, he was soon able to push the Mimic back away from him. Taking his opening, Clint fired another straight volley of arrows similar to what he did before. The arrows all hitting, the Mimic let out a pain filled scream before lunging at them with it's mouth wide open.

"Now!" Clint called out as the Mimic got close. With a nod of his head, Nathan charged at the Mimic before swiftly swinging his Katana sideways. As the two beings passed by each other, Nathan sheathed his Katana for some added dramatic effect just before the lid of the Mimic came sliding off and onto the ground.

"Are you seriously going to do that everytime you do a finisher?" Estwynn said jokingly. "You do know it's going to get repetitive after a while. Right?" Estwynn smirked but wasn't obvious.

"Well so does yelling 'Phase shift' every time." Nathan replied with a side grin.

"Hey! It's much more immersive for the viewers that way." Estwynn defended himself. "And besides, it sounds cool hehe." He chuckled slightly.

"Whatever." Nathan laughed in as well. As the two were busy talking to each other, Clint approached one of the broken Mimics and inspected it further. As he got close, the broken pieces soon started glowing brightly as sparkles started flowing away from it.

"Guys." Clint called out in a calm manner. The two hearing his call soon noticed the bright glowing as well.

"Hey, that one too." Estwynn pointed towards the Mimic he smashed. As the two broken Mimics glow brightly, they were both soon enveloped in a piercing light forcing them to shield their eyes. With light getting brighter and brighter the broken pieces soon started molding and shaping themselves. The light now slowly dying down the two pieces finally materialized into two separate weaponry; one being a rapier while the other was cutlass. The rapier had a long slender dark blue blade with a silver colored handle and hilt and was formed from the broken pieces of the Mimic Nathan and Clint defeated. The cutlass's curved blade was colored in a reflective crimson with the handle and hilt being a in light bronze color and was formed from the Mimic that Estwynn smashed.

"Congratulations you three." Chris's voice was suddenly heard inside the room. "The three of you earned these two swords for defeating the two Mimics!" His voice exclaimed. "The rapier you see before you is named Luciel the Cobalt Rapier. The wielder of this sword grants them the ability to parry almost any attack with ease. The other sword is named Angelica the Crimson Cutlass. This saber is laced with deadly poison that will slowly and painfully eat away at anyone's health." Chris ended.

"But theirs three of us and we all helped in killing them off. How does that work?" Estwynn questioned as he looked between the two swords.

"That's for the three of you to decide." Chris laughed maniacally before his voice slowly trailed off. The three left on their own just looked at each other.

"Man, Tristan was right. This season will really test if we value our greed over our allies." Nathan crossed his arms. "So, who's getting what?"

"Well, even though these two weapons are really good, I have no need for them. I basically carry around four different weapons anyways." Estwynn motioned for his axe. "So it's up to you two to decide on who get's what."

"I see." Nathan looked down in thought. "Clint, what do you suggest?" He looked towards Clint. Clint standing in thought with both arms crossed just glanced at the two swords before looking towards Nathan. After a while of thinking, he soon spoke up.

"Nathan. You received the Collar of Pride yesterday. Right?" Clint asked.

"Yeah." Nathan nodded before pulling down on his hood to reveal the collar already on his neck. The blue jewel on it glimmering ever so slightly. "It serves me no purpose to be honest." He let out a sigh.

"I see. You can have the rapier then." Clint walked towards the cutlass. "It will benefit you more then this thing will." He strapped the cutlass on to his belt.

"Wait, how come?" Nathan asked as he picked up the rapier. "Does anyone else have a rapier on them?" He thought back to what the others held.

"Yeah. Paris had a rapier on her. Didn't you notice?" Estwynn answered instead. Nathan just shook his head is response. "Well, now you know. At least you get to use your item now, I still don't get what Chris meant about 'fixing' things."

"I guess you're right." Nathan strapped his rapier on to his belt. "Albeit a bit situational since Paris has to be here. Anyways, lets head on out of here before the others think we died or something." The three soon proceeded to continue on searching for the throne room.

The scene changed once more to a different location of the castle where the yellow chocobos were, except for Blake. They were all seen fighting off against Kaiser's paladins defending the doors to the throne room. High balconies were overlooking their area while rows of tall windows lined the walls on each side of the room. Fighting in the front of the group were Leonard, Kali, and Dylan taking on the brunt of the throne rooms defenses while Gelsey and Lucette were hanging in the back.

"Ahhh!" Kali yelled as she was bashed by one of paladin's shield knocking her down. With the paladin now towering over her, the paladin was about to strike her down when a ball of dark magic suddenly struck the paladin first shrouding him in a dark mist.

"Phew, that was close." Gelsey said as she ran towards Kali. Her wand was pulsing with dark magic as she neared. "You okay?" Gelsey reached out her hand.

"Yeah. Thanks." Kali took Gelsey's hand and got up. As the dark mist clears, the paladin was shown to still be standing their with his shield raised high with only having a couple burn marks on it. "Our job isn't done yet though." Kali swung at the paladin with sword.

Seeing the attack coming, the paladin blocked of Kali's sword swing with his and the two were left in a blade lock. While the two were busy parrying and blocking each others swings as they fight over dominance, Gelsey was busy preparing another spell as her body was pulsing with dark magic. With her preparations complete, Gelsey soon let loose a fury of dark bolts of lighting towards the paladin.

"Kali get out of the way!" Gelsey warned just before she let lose her attack. Hearing her call, Kali was able to jump out of the way from Gelsey's attack in which landed a direct hit on the now exposed paladin. With the paladin being shocked by the constant bolts of lighting, Kali was able to run around behind the paladin with her blade on the ready to lunge at him from behind.

"Hah!" Kali yelled as she drove the tip of her sword onto the lower back of the paladin forcing the blade to pop out from the other end. Letting out a pain filled scream the paladin soon fell down onto his knees before sliding right off of Kali's blade and falling hard onto the ground with blood pooling right under him. "That was a rush hehe." She let out a deep breath.

"Yeah." Gelsey nodded.

Meanwhile, the fight that was taking place the same time as theirs was Leonard taking on a pair of paladins on his own. He held his Naginata up in a guard stance with the blade pointing towards them as one of the paladins approached. Fighting across from him was Dylan who was fighting off against a paladin of his own. He was stuck in a sword lock against the paladin he was against.

"Ha!" Leonard swung his naginata wildly at the paladin. The paladin, raising his shield, managed to endure Leonard's attack. The paladin retaliated back with a quick jab aimed right for his stomach in which managed to pierce through Leonard's armor as well as forcing him to drop his weapon in the process. "Gah! Get off!" He roared in pain as he grabbed on to the blade in attempt to stop the paladin from pushing any further. Leonard was soon forced down on to one knee as the struggle continued.

"Jag!" Lucette yelled as he saw her teammate struggling. Quickly raising up her staff, it soon started glowing in a soothing green light shining throughout the open hall. A second later the light from her staff started pulsating outwards soon enveloping Leonard in the green light. With the light shrouding Leonard, he was slowly able to regain some of his strength back prompting him to get back up.

"Haaaa!" Leonard yelled as he pulled the blade out; some blood traced the stone floor beneath it. With the blade now pulled out from him, Leonard delivered a strong kick to the paladins stomach area causing the paladin to get knocked back. Quickly pulling out one of his knives, he soon leapt towards the downed paladin and drove his knife onto the paladins chest as he landed on him in a crouched position. The paladin just squirmed and struggled for a bit before dying on the spot.

"Jag look out!" Lucette screamed. Looking up now, Leonard was suddenly bashed in the face by the other paladin's shield knocking him to the side. With Leonard now down, the paladin stomped hard on his chest before finishing him off with a quick swing to his neck. Leonard's virtual version soon flickered out of the virtual world leaving only a scattered trail of blood. "AAAAH!" Lucette screamed for help as the paladin came up to her with his sword on the ready.

"Lucette?" Dylan turned his head slightly towards her as he was still locked blades with the paladin. He soon took notice of Lucette being backed up underneath the balcony by a another paladin with Leonard nowhere to be found. With the paladin drawing in closer and closer to Lucette, Dylan soon broke away from his opponent and charged towards the other paladin instead.

"Aaaah!" Lucette cowered in fear as she was backed up against a wall with her staff raised to her chest in attempt to protect herself. With the paladin now towering over her, his shadow casting over her, he raised his sword high to strike her down. As Lucette tightly closed her eyes in anticipation for the worst, she soon heard a clanging sound. Opening her eyes she could Dylan standing right in-front of her with his sword blocking the attack.

"Go!" Dylan commanded as he tried his best to push the paladin back. Lucette a lost for words just nodded and soon ran off away from both of them and into safety. With Lucette now gone from behind him, he soon let lose of his stance and disappeared into the paladin's shadow. Acting a bit startled, the paladin turned around in attempt to find him but was off no use for Dylan was gone. "Looking for something?" Dylan's voice whispered from behind him. Wouldn't even having enough time to react, he was suddenly struck from behind, letting out a short scream, before falling dead on the ground.

Dylan letting out a deep breath drove his sword onto the stone flooring in attempt to balance on it for support. A second later he soon heard another paladin dropping onto the ground with a metallic clang. As he turned he could see that Kali and Gelsey were done with there opponent.

"One more to go." Dylan eyed the last paladin left in the room. Picking up his sword, he soon charged towards the remaining paladin with his sword raised high glowing in dark energy. As he was about to lock blades with the last paladin, Dylan was suddenly stricken by an arrow piercing him the back from out of nowhere. "Ack..." The arrow hitting him caused Dylan to get interrupted from his charge allowing the paladin to swiftly finish him off with a quick slash to the neck. Dylan's body suddenly flickered out the moment the paladin stricken him.

Everyone that remained seeing what happened couldn't help but let out gasps for how shocking the event was. Looking around the place they soon took notice of Alice standing on the railings of the balcony with her bow drawn out.

"Tsk, it seems that I've missed." Alice said calmly. "Missed his head at least." She laughed silently. She notched another arrow. "Well, time to finish him off." She let loose her arrow before entering in her stealth. As the arrow was flying Alice managed to swiftly get around the paladin with her dagger drawn. The paladin blocking the arrow with his shield suddenly felt a sudden pain at the back of his neck before falling down on to the ground with Alice's dagger jabbed at his neck.

"I don't know how you guys are having such a hard time dealing with these idiots." She pulled out her dagger from the paladin's neck. She wiped off the blood dripping from the blade before placing it back in it's sheath. "Oh well, time to finish of this challenge but first..." She jumped into the shadows to enter in her stealth.

As the three remaining girls cautiously looked around the blood stained room, fear and tension creeping up on them as they anticipate for Alice's next move. After a while of fearful waiting Alice soon struck down Lucette with a quick jab to her back before forcefully pulling it out and kicking her down. Lucette's body soon flickered out the moment it hit the floor.

"Now, who's next?" Alice grinned. The two remaining yellow chocobo's just braced themselves on what's to come.

The scene changed to reveal Blake running up a spiral stair case, metallic boots can be heard climbing up from down below. Running up the stairs as fast as he can Blake took quick glimpse down below to see how far ahead he was. Looking down he soon took notice of a crossbowman aiming his crossbow at him.

"Shit." Blake uttered out as he narrowly dodged the crossbow bolt. He continued on running up the spiral stairs. As kept on running he could finally see the end just a above him getting close.

"Over here. Quickly!" A female's voice called out to him as he was a couple of feet away. As Blake finally managed to reach the top of the stair case, he soon ran passed the door being held open by Ginger.

"Thanks." Blake said the moment he passed by. Ginger quickly closed the door behind them. The scene zoomed out a bit to reveal the two of them running across a long narrow bridge connecting two tall towers. "Hurry! We're almost their!" Blake said while he pointed towards the other tower. As the two reached the half-way point of the long bridge, the door on the other side soon busted open revealing a couple knights closing in on them.

"Dammit!" Blake said as he stopped them both. Blake tried to back up and turn but Ginger stopped him.

"Uhh Blake, we have more of a problem here!" Ginger pointed out as the knights and crossbowmen that were chasing them was soon insight on the other side. With nowhere else left to go both of them just stood back-to-back with their weapons drawn as they faced off against both fronts.

"To be honest I never really expected to be in a situation like this early on. Especially with an enemy." Blake grinned as he pulled back the string of his bow. A blazing arrow soon materialized already notched on to his bow.

"Yeah? Me neither." Ginger drew out both her guns. Both her guns merged once again to form into a rifle once more.

"You know, I could've killed you right then and their." Blake said as both sides closed in on them. "Seeing that we're from opposite teams and all."

"Really now." Ginger chuckled lightly. "I doubt it." She grinned. One knight from each side soon broke away from their respective groups and charged at them. "Are you ready or are you chicken?"

"Oh please, sing me a song once we're done here Ariel." Blake grinned as he let lose his arrow. The arrow hitting the shield of the knight soon ignited and coated him in flames quickly spreading throughout his body. The knight soon fell off the bridge in a flaming panic.

Behind him Ginger took careful aim with her rifle on the ready. As the knight charged in close with his shield raised high in-front of him, Ginger pulled on the trigger letting lose a powerful purple energy blast ripping through the knight's shield and hitting the him directly on the chest. After a second had passed the energy blast died down leaving only a clean hole through the knight's shield and chest piece. The knight soon fell off the side of the bridge moments later.

The two knights now gone from where they charged, both fronts started charging in on them with their shields raised high and the sound of metallic boots clanging on stone steps echoed throughout the area.

"Well, here comes the fun part." Blake let lose another arrow only this time it was sparking with electricity. The arrow hitting the knight in-front sent a chain of electricity shocking everyone in the line. He soon followed up the attack with a volley of crystalline arrows but instead of shooting it straight at them he shot it in an arc for it to rain down on them instead. With the chain of electricity ending all the knights simultaneously dropped down dead while others fell of the sides.

"Yeah." Ginger replied as she aimed another shot. She soon pulled back on the trigger and let out another powerful energy blast piercing through the line of knights. As the attack ended with each knight receiving a direct hit they all fell down one by one leaving a bloody mess all over. "What about you boys. Want to come over?" She grinned as she looked towards the two crossbowmen across the other side. Both of them ran back down the stairs. With all the knights dead and no one else around, the bridge fell in silence as the two just stand their.

"So, what now?" Blake asked as slung his bow around his chest and back.

"I don't know. Want to test out that whole theory of yours about killing me?" Ginger said with a small smile. "I mean we do have the perfect battle field." She added. Blake just laughed.

"Maybe some other time." Blake let out a chuckle. "Anyways, where to now? This place could be another portion of the maze to be honest." He smiled. Ginger just laughed slightly.

"Lets start with heading down stairs first." Ginger gave Blake a pat on the shoulder as she walked passed him. Blake soon followed.

The scene zoomed out and panned away from the two before showcasing an aerial view of the courtyard and zooming in close. As the scene got closer it soon showed that only Derek, Kazuo, and Janet were left standing facing off against the guard captain. The captain was shown pulling his silver sword slowly from Tristan's chest with blood dripping the moment it was pulled out. Tristan's body soon flickered out.

"Hahaha...Is that the best all of you got?" The captain said mockingly as he faced the three remaining red dragons. "And to think you wanted to go against Kaiser." He shook his head.

Janet, looking very exhausted and beaten, had one arm wrapped around her stomach and side while the other held on tightly to her spear. She bit the bottom of her lip before speaking up.

"Don't...underestimate us..." She said weakly as she held on to her spear tight. Standing right beside her was Derek who looked equally exhausted as well. He grabbed on tightly to his right arm for it appeared broken and limp for it just swung their with blood trickling down from it. Behind them was Kazuo who looked more badly injured then two for his robes were completely tattered with blood stains all over. He had multiple bruises all over the his body and face along with having a pained expression on but he was oddly smiling.

"Oh please, you lot could barely stand up. Just surrender now and I'll make sure your execution wouldn't be as painful." The captain laughed a bit maniacally. Janet gritting her teeth just charged at him all the while dragging her spear. "Then so be it." The captain lunged at her with his silver sword and completely piercing through her body.

As Janet slowly started to lose consciousness and her body started slowly flickering away her bracelet started to glow brightly keeping her body from fading away for a short while. With her bracelet glowing she gain a sudden surge of energy just enough for her to shove her spear through the captain's stomach area.

"Urg...ugh...how?" He glared at Janet before kicking her away. As her body fell she soon started flickering away once more. The captain soon pulled out the spear from his gut as blood started to gush out. "Damn...you.." He turned his gaze towards the remaining two.

"Interesting, who knew her bracelet can do that?" Kazuo pondered as he still held up his smile. "I wonder if yours can do the same." He looked towards Derek. The later just ignored him as he pulled out his flail from his belt. "Eager to find out huh?" Kazuo looked a bit amused.

"You think something like that is enough to stop me? Well come at me then!" The captain roared as he held out both swords. He soon started charging towards Derek with both swords raised.

As the captain neared, Derek took in a deep breath in order to enter in a state of focus. Keeping himself calmed and focused, his perspective on everything changed for things started to look a lot slower. Reacting fast, Derek was able to land a clean blow to the captain's wounded area before following up his strike with a series of blows to the captain's head and chest. With the final swing of his flail, the captain was soon knocked down with the last blow landing on the back of his head.

"Hmm...ugh..." He let out a final grunt before laying still on the ground unconscious. Derek, picking up on of the swords, was about to finish him off when Kazuo suddenly interrupted him.

"Okay, that's enough. Time to go." Kazuo said cheerily as he wiped away some blood and spit from the bottom of his lip. He soon started walking of casually towards the castle entrance but looked to be limping just slightly. "And besides..." He stopped for a moment. "It's not like he can do anything in that condition." Kazuo started walking off once more.

"Hmph." Derek let out as he dropped the sword from his hand. He soon left the captain alone bleeding away from his open wound. As the pair neared the large doors of the castle, they soon took a pause by the foot of it to take in for the moment on what's going to happen next. Taking in a deep breath Kazuo placed the palm of his hand on the door.

"Well, here we go." Kazuo chuckled slightly as he pushed on the door. To his surprise, it opened without much resistance. "Hmm, I wonder if Alice abandoning us is what caused this." He said as he took a pause from pushing the door completely opened. Continuing to push the door open, Derek was taken a back a bit for what they saw inside except for Kazuo who just brushed it off. "Hmm, it might as well be."

Inside the castle lay a set of curving carpeted stairs leading towards a large set of doors on the second floor. Ahead of them and beneath the stairs are another set of doors only this time they were opened slightly and looked to lead to another room deeper in. Around them were tall pillars holding the second floor above them with each pillar having intricate carvings and torches hanging from each one. In the middle lay a fountain with a knight statue towering over them

The interior may look impressive but what took them by surprise is what lay inside the grand room. Inside lay dead bodies of soldiers with blood and arrows ruining the once grand scene. Everywhere they looked a dead soldier could be seen slumped down on to the ground or lay hanging from a wall or pillar by arrows. The heavy stench of blood riddled the room almost forcing both of them to gag up.

"So, you think Alice did all this?" Said Kazuo as he approached the fountain. As he got close he took a look at what's inside. "Hmm not even a single coin." He shook his head. "Unless you count this helm." He pulled out a silver helmet with the face mask broken out of the water. "Oh well, lets head on forth to meet the king." He dropped the helmet back in creating a small splash of water. Kazuo soon started walking all casually towards the opened set of doors with Derek trailing behind.

With the two getting closer to the opened doors, they could suddenly hear voices from the other side along with steel clashing with one another. The two of them now by the front of the doors suddenly saw a figure move swiftly pass the small opening of the door.

"It seems who ever did this is still inside." Kazuo smiled as he pushed the door open.

Opening the doors both of them could see Kali and Alice standing in the middle of the room with their blades locked against each other. Standing behind Kali was Gelsey who was leaning against the wall with her hand pressed on to her side for blood was noticeably pouring out from it. Both girls failing to notice Derek and Kazuo pulled their blades back before swinging at each other once more.

"Heh, surprise you can still keep up." Alice said as her dagger met with Kali's blade creating a clanging sound. "And I thouht someone like Blake or Dylan might prove a challenge." She grinned

"Well, I guess you thought wrong then." Kali replied as she pushed Alice back. The later was able to hold her ground and force Kali back.

"Lets prove you wrong then." Alice dropped her dagger and quickly catching it with her other hand. She quickly stepped off to the allowing her to dodge Kali's blade as well as force her to move forward due to Kali's momentum. With Alice now off to Kali's side she swept away at Kali's right leg with her dagger causing Kali to drop.

"Aaaaah." Kali dropped on to her knee right with blood pouring through her hips. She gritted her teeth in pain due to the stinging sensation she felt. Alice just tossed and flipped her dagger around all the while laughing silently to herself.

"Well, it looks like you were the one who thought wrong." Alice grinned as she caught her dagger. Flipping her dagger around for it be held backhanded, she pulled arm back and raised her dagger. "Good night." Alice swung her dagger.

"Kali...nooo..." Gelsey called out weakly for she couldn't help but watch.

As Alice was about to finish Kali off, a pillar of flames suddenly engulfed Alice. "Huh, what?" Alice looked around in surprise for an answer but the pillar of flames was blocking her away from everything. With the pillar receding slowly, Alice could now see who casted that spell. "Kazuo? What the fuck do you think you're doing!" She glared at him. Kazuo held in his hands his spell book that was emitting a bright orange light.

"I don't know really. Just wanted to know what would happen if stop you before getting the final blow." Kazuo shrugged.

"We're in the same god damn team for crying out loud!"

"Exactly." Kazuo grinned. "Which makes things a lot more interesting." He laughed.

"Why you." Alice was about to charge at him but the flames started to intensify making her stop. "The moment I get out of here I'm going to-aaah." The flames closed in on her.

"Oh well, got to go. I don't want to be late for my rendezvous with death." Kazuo let out a small grin. He soon walked passed Alice and Kali and was now in-front of the throne room's doors. Taking a pause, he looked back to face Derek who was still standing by the doorway. "Are you going to help me or not?" Derek just gave him a cold stare. "As expected." He chuckled lightly. "See you guys on the other side." He pushed the door open.

As he pushed opened the throne room's doors a bright light escaped from the opening Kazuo made. With the doors fully opened the lights died to reveal a large hall with tall stone pillars providing support from each side. The middle of the room lay a long velvet carpet with diamond shaped patterns leading all the way to the other end of the hall. At the end of hall lay the throne raised up by a couple steps and two large windows beaming in sunlight.

Sitting carelessly and laid back on the throne was Kaiser with one arm under his chin while the other lay on top of his golden sword balancing on it's tip. The sword the knight king held glimmered in the sunlight that beamed down on it radiating with golden light. Seeing Kazuo slowly approaching, Kaiser just stared at him with his piercing blue-eyes as Kazuo slowly approached. Kazuo now about half-way across the hall, Kaiser tapped on the floor with his sword signaling Kazuo to stop.

"You know, this is usually the part where the final cut scene takes place with the final boss monologues but who in this day and age still watches them anyways." Kazuo gave himself an amused chuckle. "Lets just cut to the chase already and get the final boss fight going." Kazuo started flipping the pages of his spell book and soon started emitting a bright array of lights.

Letting out a soft grunt Kaiser stood up from his throne raising his sword and placing it on his shoulder. His golden armor radiating in the suns rays. Walking down the steps his violet cape flowed and swayed gently with each of his steps. Now by the foot of the stairs Kaiser held out his sword tightly with both hands as he stares straight at Kazuo.

"Want me to do the first move huh? Okay." Kazuo grinned. As he flipped through the pages of his book, prismatic needles soon started appearing all around him, all aimed at his opponent. "Lets begin shall we?" He closed his book and soon all the needles started launching towards Kaiser.

Keeping a straight face, Kaiser raised his sword high up to erect a holy barrier all around him. As all the needles hit the barrier they were all absorbed immediately soon after without leaving even single mark. With Kazuo's attack ending, Kaiser slashed down on his barrier, breaking it, and sending prismatic light shards flying towards Kazuo.

Reacting fast, Kazuo was able to create his own barrier only this time it was made out of Ice. With all the shards hitting the ice barrier it soon cracked and shattered under the pressure. With the Ice barrier now down, Kazuo soon saw the knight charging at him with his sword glowing in golden light.

"Heh." Kazuo casted another spell creating spikes of various sizes from the ground made from burning crystals heading towards Kaiser.

Jumping up high, Kaiser scaled the entirety of Kazuo's spell. Arching his body back while in mid air, the golden knight soon slashed down on Kazuo with great force as the blade leave a trail of golden light. Moving out of the way quick, Kazuo was just barely able to avoid being cut down. The sword hitting the ground instead caused it the floor to crack and send small debris flying.

"Hmm, I would surely be dead if that attack hits." Kazuo laughed. Kaiser turned and raised his at Kazuo. "I would love to admire your strength but you fell for such an easy trap." He grinned. Placed right under Kaiser was a ripped piece of paper from his spell book. With a flick of Kazuo's fingers the words on the paper soon started to glow and rows of crystalline spikes erected all around Kaiser, impaling him from the sides and arms, and trapping him their. Kaiser soon dropped his golden sword on the floor clanging out a bit.

"Did not really want to end things anti-climactically but if this challenge is this easy then what are you going to do." Kazuo said as he approached the sword. Kaiser just stood their trapped and struggling. "Don't worry, I'm not here for your throne. I'm just here for the sword." Kazuo picked the sword of the ground.

The moment Kazuo picked up the sword, Kaiser started to glow bright from where he stood completely enshrouding him in light. Looking quite curious, Kazuo stood by and watched. After a few seconds had passed, Kaiser was soon replaced with Chris standing where he was.

"Ow. Dammit, forgot about the spikes." Chris complained as he pulled out his holographic panel. Pressing a button on the panel, the spikes all disappeared without a trace. "Better." Chris grinned as he was able to move around. "Well anyways, congratulations Kazuo! You and you're team have won this weeks challenge!" Chris exclaimed as his voice was heard all around the castle.

"Hmm it seems that we're to late." Estwynn said as he, Nathan, and Clint were shown climbing up a set of stairs.

"*sigh* at least we got weapons out of it." Nathan tried to make the situation feel better.

"Aww I just hope my team doesn't have to face elimination." Said Ginger as she and Blake was shown getting out of a room together.

"Don't worry, theirs always next time." Blake tried to reassure. The scene soon returned back to the throne room.

"Well, I wouldn't say it wasn't a team effort." Kazuo smiled as he looked towards outside where Alice was still glaring at him with her arms crossed. Derek was no longer in the room with the others but instead was sitting on the fountain on the room beyond it.

"Well either way your team wins and that's that." Chris said in reply. "But to think you would betray your team early on is outstanding. What made you think to do that?" Chris asked looking quite curious.

"I just wanted to know what effect it would have on my team really." Kazuo said nonchalantly. "I really have no ulterior motive other than that." He shrugged.

"So you did it just for the sake of doing it?" Chris asked looking very surprised. Kazuo nodded with a smile on his face. "Man, you really are crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up killing someone from your own team.

"Actually." Kazuo started but Chris stopped him by waving him of dismissively.

"I don't need to know. You already proved your point." Chris stated. "Anyways, like stated before, those who are able to grab the sword first gets to keep it as well. Meaning, not only did you win you also gained a new weapon." Chris explained.

"Interesting. But what does this sword do exactly?" Kazuo asked looking quite intrigued with his weapon.

"I'll get to that in a second but first handover your blood sword. I forgot to explain this but you only have one extra weapon meaning that once you gain an new weapon you are forced to give up the previous one you gained." Chris explained. "Now hand it over." Chris laid his hand out.

"Hmm, fair enough." Kazuo retrieved his blood sword and tossed it to Chris rather than handing it over. Chris pressed another button on his panel causing the sword to disappear just before it could hit him.

"Really? If you want to know if you can kill me here I'll just say it now that you can't. Got it?" Chris crossed his arms. Kazuo just gave off a chuckle. "Okay, now on to what your sword can do." Chris clears his throat. "As you already know this sword is named Aurum the Golden edge. What you don't know is that it is imbued with holy magic capable of doing lots of things. What Kaiser did earlier is just a fraction of what it can do." He explained with much enthusiasm. "But the highlight thing about this blade is that if you channel all the magic within this sword you can revive anyone but at the cost of the sword losing all power until the next challenge."

"Hmm the ability to revive anyone huh?" Kazuo repeated to himself. "Can I test this sword out before we leave? I want to know how this thing works." He grinned.

"Knock yourself out. We're done here anyways, not like it would matter at this point." Chris shrugged.

With a wide grin on his face, Kazuo started focusing carefully on his new sword. After a couple seconds of silence has passed the sword started radiating with golden light as magical essences started getting absorbed by the sword. A few moments later the holy magic stored within the sword all came out producing a magical sigil with cross patterns appeared on the ground in front of them glowing in bright golden light with a figure started forming. A couple seconds had passed and soon the figure was fully formed to reveal a muscular figure. With the light dying out the figure was soon revealed to be Leonard standing with both his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"What the actual fuck Kazuo!" Alice yelled from the other room glaring angrily at him. Chris's jaw just dropped the moment he saw who Kazuo revived.

"Out of all the people to bring back why revive someone from the enemy team?" Chris said out of utter shock.

"You did say anybody so I decided to revive someone from the enemy team if it would actually work." Kazuo grinned. "And he was the first person that crossed my mind while thinking about who to revive." He explained. Leonard just shook his head.

"Adding insult to injury." Leonard sighed. "Not only did I get sprayed on by a skunk and die first, I also got revived by the enemy. For an experiment mind you!" He roared. Kazuo just laughed at his reaction. "Lets get out of here, this day is stressing enough as it is."

"Oh right, you still smell like skunk fart back in reality." Chris grimaced. "Here, take this portal. It will send you back into the maze area. You'll stay their until everyone's gone." Chris pressed a button on his panel to make a green portal appear.

"*sigh* Fine." Leonard hopped inside the portal all the grumbling to himself.

"Okay, now that that's done lets all get out of here." Chris pressed on his panel once more and soon all remaining contestants were transported out of virtual reality.

Back outside in the real world, the last few remaining contestants all got out of their pods with everyone waiting for them. As each one got out of their pods, they were all met with different responses and reactions. With all the mindless chatter filling the room, Chris soon called out for everyone's attention.

"Ahem. May I have your attentions please?" He announced for everyone to hear. The monitor soon opened up to reveal Leonard still in the virtual world. "As all of you may know by now Team Red Dragons have won this weeks challenge." Chris started. "Meaning they are safe from tonight's elimination. For second place it was supposed to be the Blue Nagas for losing the least amount of members in comparison to the Yellow Chocobos but since Kazuo here revived Leonard they are now the new second placers" He explained.

"Wait what? Are you serious!" Ginger said in surprise. "How did they become the new second placers if we are all in equal amounts!?"

"Yeah. Its supposed to be a tie at the least." Estwynn added.

"Well here's the thing. The only reason why I chose them to be the new second placers is because on how you lost the two members." Chris looked towards Phoebe and Paris. "It's because these two gave up." The other Blue Naga members looked straight at them. Phoebe hid behind Paris trembling slightly.

"Wait. Let me explain." Paris defended her and Phoebe.

"Save it for later." Chris stopped her. "That is all. I'll be seeing the six of you outside for the elimination ceremony in an hour from now. All the others may watch the ceremony taking place if you so wish." Chris ended. "Wait, make that two hours. I still need to asses Leonard here." Chris gestured towards Leonard on screen. "Now, what are you all waiting for? Get out of here. Unless you want to see a naked Leonard."

"Wait, what?" Leonard's eyes widened. "What do you mean-." He was cut off when Chris pressed a button on his panel muting all volume. Everyone soon started walking out of the building leaving only Chris behind. With everyone now gone, Chris flicked his fingers to call out another intern. "Get Chef and tell him to bring all the tomatoes and tomatoes juice we have in stock."

"Yes sir. Anything else?"

"Yeah, bring a tub in as well. The biggest one we have." Chris answered.

(Chef's food tent. One hour and thirty-five minutes before voting.)

Shown inside sitting on a table by their lonesome was Paris poking away at the food she had on plate. On her plate was a scoop of mashed potatoes with gravy, a couple green beans, and a single burger with a few bites taken from it. She just sat their eating her food silently while having a depressed look on her face. As she was busy eating, Ginger soon entered the tent.

"Hey." Ginger said softly as she approached Paris and sitting down next to her. "So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Listen, theirs a reason why both me and Phoebe gave up." Paris started.

"Okay." Ginger nodded.

"To keep things short, I only suggested it for Phoebe's sake. After we got cornered by the paladins I got severely injured to the point where I couldn't even heal myself." Paris explained.

"Okay but why though? Phoebe can defend herself right?"

"I know she can but up to what extent? The only reason why I know she can do it because she has someone with her. If she were to be alone I don't know what would have happened to her." Paris reasoned out. "I hope you understand."

"*sigh* I do understand you. If I were in your situation I might have done the same thing honestly." Ginger replied.

"Thank you!" Paris smiled.

"Yeah, yeah but how would the votes go? As far as I know the others might either vote for you or Phoebe." Ginger crossed her arms.

"I know." Paris let out a deep breath. "That's also the reason why I need to talk to you. I'm here tell you to not vote out Phoebe. If you want someone to be voted off, vote for me instead." She looked at Ginger with a serious look.

"You really do want to protect Phoebe huh? Fine. I won't vote for Phoebe." Ginger assured. "In one condition though." She looked at Paris with a straight look.

"Okay what is it?

"Tell me who you're voting for." Ginger answered.

"Um, I don't know, Clint maybe? Or maybe Estwynn? I'm not so sure about this." Paris pouted.

"Vote out Estwynn. He's too good to make it pass the first round of eliminations." Ginger stated. "If we don't vote him off now it would be near impossible to vote him off later on as the game continues." She explained.

"Umm okay." Paris replied looking a bit confused.

"Good. Tell Phoebe to vote the same way. So that we could at least hope for a tie." Ginger stood up. "Okay now that's settled, I need to go before Lucette finds my bag of marshmallows." Ginger quickly headed out of the tent leaving Paris alone.

(Cabin 9: Estwynn and Tristan's. Fifty minutes before voting.)

Inside the cabin sitting on the chair next to the table was Estwynn who was busy contemplating on who to vote off. Sitting across from him was Nathan who was also deep in thought on who to vote off as well. As the two sat their thinking, Nathan suddenly slammed his arms on the table letting out a heavy sigh.

"Man, this is so difficult to make. I still don't know if voting for either of them is a good idea." Nathan slid down lower on his chair.

"Well I'm not sure if voting for them is a good idea either. All I know it's the only reasonable one we got." Estwynn stated as he crossed his arms. "Given both of their capabilities during challenges Phoebe looks to be a great asset but I don't think she fully even trust us yet. Especially if we vote off Paris, the only person here in our team she's mostly close to."

"What are you trying to say? Vote for someone else?"

"Well, if it means Phoebe gets to work at her best, then yeah." Estwynn replied. "But the question is who exactly."

"What about Ginger? I mean she looks very formidable ally given her strengths but I just have this shaking feeling that she would be near unstoppable if we allow her to reach merge." Nathan explained. "So cutting her off now might increase our odds of winning."

"But what about actually reaching merge first?" Estwynn pointed out. "I think it would be better to vote her off later really."

"I see." Nathan answered. "What about Clint? Yeah he is good and all but he's also one of the most fearsome contestants here given his knowledge of various gaming elements."

"Yeah but that would give the Yellow team the only one with an edge against everyone because of Dylan." Estwynn reminded. "Ugh, why is this so difficult." He slumped down on to the table.

"Fifteen minutes left until the ceremony starts. Blue Nagas, please all be here now to pass in your votes." Chris's voice echoed out through the P.A. system.

"Fine. Lets vote off Ginger. Clint is a way better investment." Estwynn stood up. "Lets go." The two soon headed out of the cabin and headed towards the campsite.

(Elimination grounds: Blue Nagas)

"Welcome everyone to the first ever elimination ceremony for this season!" Chris exclaimed as he opened up his arms dramatically. Standing beside him was Chef who held a plate of five cookies all in the shape of nagas. Right behind the two is a large fire pit burning brightly with embers flicking out. Sitting on the stumps in-front of them were the Blue Naga members with everyone, except for Leonard, was seated on the remaining stumps.

"How this will work is that I'll be reading the names of those who are safe for tonight and the one who isn't mentioned gets eliminated." Chris explained to them all. "Okay, lets start." Chris grabbed a list of votes from his pockets. "Phoebe." Chris started.

Chef tossed her the cookie but only got hold off half it for it broke off in her hands

"Nathan."

Nathan was able to grab on to his cookie with only crumbs falling off.

"Clint."

Clint didn't even bother to catch his.

"Paris."

Paris's cookie landed easily on her hands but broke into smaller pieces.

"Ginger. Estwynn. You two are on the bottom two but the one who is safe for tonight is..."

"...Ginger. Congratulations."

"Yes!" Ginger jumped in joy and grabbed her cookie instead.

"What!?" Estwynn sat their in utter disbelief.

"I'm sorry Estwynn but your team has decided to vote you off tonight." Chris smirked at him. "But don't worry, you're not leaving just yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain the details later." Chris waved him off. "But for now everyone follow me back into the dome." Chris and Chef soon started walking back towards the challenge building. As they were all by the front doors, Chris stopped everyone. "Everyone, stay out here for the time being except for you Estwynn. I need you to follow me inside."

"Okay." Estwynn replied as he followed Chris in along with Chef. Rumbling was soon heard from the other side.

As everyone stood outside waiting for something to happen, the doors soon opened up with Chris standing on the other side.

"Everyone. Follow me." Chris motioned for them to enter. As each one enter the building one by one they all soon saw what Chris and Chef did.

Placed on the far end of the room, at the end of the row of nine pods to their left, was a red colored pod with it's own individual monitor placed on the front. Laying down inside the pod was Estwynn safely placed inside the pod.

"Umm Chris? Why is he in their?" Ginger asked from the middle of the group.

"Oh thats because once you've been eliminated you still have one more challenge to go through." Chris smirked. "And that challenge is to survive the a horde of on coming enemies none stop until merge hits. This self-challenge determines whether or not you'll be part of the three returnees for merge." Chris explained.

"Well that sounds a bit sadistic isn't it?" Alice pointed out from the back of the group.

"Yeah, also how would you determine who would be part of the merge anyways? Wouldn't that be an advantage for those who get eliminated earlier if you base this all on kills?" Dylan questioned.

"Oh for that, the criteria is simple really." Chris smiled. "To determine who gets to be in merge will be taking in an account more than just kills. Will be accounting for most waves survived, number of deaths, total kills, and average time per wave. This criteria is to ensure even the one eliminated just before the merge has a chance." Chris explained to them.

"What about me and Laren though? We don't weild weapons at all." Lucette pointed out.

"Well, good luck then." Chris laughed sadistically. Lucette took in a big gulp.

"So Estwynn is going to fight none stop right? Wouldn't that be dangerous because of no food and sleep and stuff like that?" Gelsey asked from the front of the group.

"Oh, don't worry about that. He'll be having long rest periods. For three hours at a time if I remember correctly." Chris thought to himself. "As for the whole feeding him and stuff I can't really explain it since its all sciency and stuff that I have little to no attention span for." Chris shrugged. "Anything else?" No one else asked.

"Good. You may now all leave. Have a good night." Chris gave off a smirk. Everyone all soon left Chris alone in the building. With the famous host now all alone, he soon moved into position to stand by his control panel. The camera soon started closing in on him as he gave off his trademark smile.

"Well, their you have it folks. You all just witnessed the first ever elimination ceremony with more to come soon." Chris gave off a sinister looking grin. "As well what our contestants would experience other than a stay at a luxury hotel." Chris looked straight into the camera. "How would each contestant act now that they know what awaits them once they get eliminated? How would the Red Dragons fair knowing they have an unstable ally? Would the Blue Nagas be able to cope knowing that they lost Estwtnn, their most well rounded player? And would Leonard's stinky situation ever be fixed? Find out next time on Total...Drama...Dungeon Hunters!" Chris held both his arms open.

Votes:

Paris: I trust in Ginger in this one so Estwynn.

Phoebe: I'm n-not sure about this b-but Paris told me to vote for Estwynn.

Ginger: Estwynn. He's simply to good to stay.

Estwynn: *sigh* I hope this is the right choice but...Ginger.

Nathan: Ginger...

Clint: Hmph, Paris. She looks to be the weakest of the two.

18th: Estwynn Paratus – The Mech and Hero enthusiast. Role: Fighter

Authors Note: Well, here's another long chapter for you guys to read. I actually had a good time writing this one this time around but choosing who to eliminate was really the hardest thing to do since I really love all these characters that parting ways with them is something I took the longest to think about.

Now, onto the reason as to why I eliminated Estwynn as well as my final thoughts for the guy. I'll be doing this for all eliminations. The main reason as to why I made the hard choice to eliminate him came down to one thing really. Estwynn, in his virtual form, is a jack of all trades basically. He could fulfill any role the team needs and he could still do it effectively. He has little draw backs as well as not many abusable weaknesses. But, in a team full of specialties, being the Swiss army knife of the team is something that could make or break him and his team because of what he turns into dictates how the team would fight.

An example of this is when He, Clint, and Nathan fought off the Mimics. He has two forms that goes into close combat, a form for mid-range fighting, and a form for long range combat. I could think of multiple outcomes how the battle would end given these forms as well as different scenarios of how a death/s might occur if he somehow made a misstep. I actually scrapped a scene where he gets disarmed in his spear form as well as a scene where Nathan takes on a 2v1.

This example also shows my thought process when writing the guy really but I don't think you guys want me to go in-depth in that. Anyways, time for my final thoughts. Overall, this guy is pretty much the most well rounded character here as well having the would be role of the teams mediator and/or tactician given his personality that I try to portray. Sadly, this is where his time in Blue Nagas end but hopefuly not in this competition.

Okay, with that out of the way. Time for the chapter questions...yay. knowing that your OC would not only be competing against others but also amongst their own teammates because of what's on the line for each challenge. Will they act on their own greed or would they still play with their team? As always send in your answers through PM and have a great (insert preferred time here)