r/whowouldwin • u/mrcelophane • Dec 31 '15
Interactive Character Scramble V Round 4: The Verizon Effect
Click here to join the email list.
Phane has done something...odd this round. He has allowed the timelines to diverge...more than usual. You will have to pick which version you wish to go with this round.
After the events in the cloning lab, your team (including the new member) gets a few days to rest while Mewtwo goes through damage control. He explains that somehow half of the teams that had arrived on the island had broke into the lower levels, which housed a joint research project with Phane Enterprises and the Kamino Cloning facility. These teams apparently wreaked havoc on the lab, resulting in several clones escaping. As one might expect, these teams have been forcible evicted from the island and the scramble. And while Mewtwo is suspicious about the fact that every remaining team has a new clone team member, Phane himself has apparently decreed that all escaped clones shall stay where they are.
Finally Mewtwo gathers everyone together and explains that it is time to begin the new round, a round handpicked by Mr. Celo Phane himself! Even he doesn’t know what the round will be. Suddenly a sheet of paper appears in his hand. He reads through the contests before his face seems to scrunch up in frustration.
No, he speaks in your minds, there is no possible way that this is-
Before he can finish, identical sheets of paper suddenly appear in the hands of everyone present, with extras falling to the floor around them. The note reads as follows.
Greeting scramblers. It seems that all of you have picked up new team members. This is just as according to keikaku1.
However I have noticed that the previous rounds have been rather violent. If we are to save the multiverse, I want scramblers that can do more than just fight. So in order to determine which team is the most well rounded in terms of skill, I have devised a special… contest.
Best Wishes,
Phane
1 Translator’s note: Keikaku means planned
Mewtwo almost seems to sigh, before more rings appear in front of everyone. On to the next round, he commands.
After your team members step through the portals they realize that they are in a large concert hall, filled to the brim with excited spectators. Suddenly they are all accosted by strange music.
Suddenly an attendant rushes up to explain the next round to the teams. Each team will compete against another team in what is known as a contest. Each member of the team must compete in one of the five categories; beauty, clever, cute, tough, and cool; against a competitor of the opposing team. The team that wins three of these competitions will move on. The attendant also introduces the judges and announcers of this competition, totally not Team Rocket. Now that things have been explained, there’s only one thing to do.
Take the stage!
Normal Rules
Buy this game or die
Team Preview: Have a short introduction of both teams, basically go over basic powers/strengths/weaknesses/personality, etc...executive summary of what you think the average reader should know.
I’m Unbeatable: This competition is about analysis, not necessarily who would win. If you think your team would lose 9/10, then talk about that in your post and then go through what would need to happen to win the 1/10
It’s Bigger on the Inside!: The location of the round is always big enough to hold all of the characters on your team and your opponents team. No matter how ridiculous that might make things.
Oak’s Words Echoed: Characters are assumed to be at the same power level they started the tournament at at all times. To clarify, this means you would not be able to loot Master Chief of his armor if you beat him in a previous round, or otherwise gain a competitive advantage based on anything that happened in a previous round. This is to aid your opponent in research of your character.
The Rules Are Made Up and the Types Don’t Matter: Every character was assigned types during the scramble. However these types were just to give people teams with more varied power sets and will not actually affect the matchups. This is especially true since /u/mrcelophane changed some of the submitted types in order to make the scrambling work. The one exception is if one of your characters is actually a Pokemon.
Due Date: The Voting topic is SCHEDULED to go up Monday
Voting is Mandatory: Not voting causes me to multiply the number of votes you got by 0 and then subtract 1. And missingno isn't allowed in the tournament. Real talk, if you don't vote when it's time to vote, you will no longer be in the tournament. You will have at least 48 hours to vote after the vote topic goes live.
Round Specific Rules
Red Version: Make sure you state at the beginning of your post that your team is going with the Red Version
Spotlight: As stated previously there are five rounds to this competition: the cleverness round, the cuteness round, the beauty round, the toughness round, and the coolness round. Each of you team members must compete in one of those rounds, and they will be competing against one member of the opposing team each. What the actual competition is for that round is up to you, but it must have something to do with the theme.
Flatter: Totally not Team Rocket are really only judges in name only, as the actual winner of each round of the contest is decided on by a vote from the audience. This means that playing to the audience, or even vote manipulation is not entirely out of the question.
It failed: You must lose at least one of the rounds of this contest.
Fluff Piece
Prepare For Trouble: Throughout this contest, it is quite likely that the judges will try try to steal the monsters of both teams.
Alternatively
After the events in the cloning lab, your team (including the new member) gets a few days to rest while Mewtwo goes through damage control. He explains that somehow half of the teams that had arrived on the island had broke into the lower levels, which housed a joint research project with Phane Enterprises and the Kamino Cloning facility. These teams apparently wreaked havoc on the lab, resulting in several clones escaping. As one might expect, these teams have been forcible evicted from the island and the scramble. And while Mewtwo is suspicious about the fact that every remaining team has a new clone team member, Phane himself has apparently decreed that all escaped clones shall stay where they are.
Finally Mewtwo gathers everyone together and explains that it is time to begin the new round, a round handpicked by Mr. Celo Phane himself! Even he doesn’t know what the round will be. Suddenly a sheet of paper appears in his hand. He reads through the contests before his face seems to scrunch up in frustration.
No, he speaks in your minds, there is no possible way that this is-
Before he can finish, identical sheets of paper suddenly appear in the hands of everyone present, with extras falling to the floor around them. The note reads as follows.
Greeting scramblers. It seems that all of you have picked up new team members. This is just as according to keikaku1.
However I have noticed that the previous rounds have been rather violent. If we are to save the multiverse, I want scramblers that can do more than just fight. So I have devised a round that will test a different skill. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, it should just be a… snap.
Best Wishes,
Phane
1 Translator’s note: Keikaku means planned
Mewtwo almost seems to sigh, before more rings appear in front of everyone. On to the next round, he commands.
After your team members step through the ring, they find themselves on a dock attached to an island simply known as Pokemon Island. It is at that point that you are introduced to the person running the next round, J Jonah Jameson.
He explains that Pokemon Island is home to several monsters from throughout the multiverse. And while he’d prefer you bringing him pictures of Spider-man, he’ll settle for pictures of said monsters. Teams will be sent onto the island two at a time. Your team will take a cart along a track through one area of the island, while the opposing team will take a cart through different area. While you travel through the area you are expected to take pictures of the local monsters, and whichever team takes the best pictures will win. Before you leave Jameson gives you two warnings. Don’t leave the cart, and don’t do anything to arm the monsters on the island. Either one will piss off Phane, and doing that will have… consequences.
However soon after leaving your team members realize two things. The cart moves extremely slowly, and there’s only one camera per team. It is at this point that they come up with an idea. If they can prevent the other team from arriving back at the dock, then they won’t have to worry about the photography contest. Of the other team is also quickly coming to the same conclusion. However giving that neither team knows where the other is, you’re going to have to do some searching beforehand.
Normal Rules
Prepare for trouble, and make it double.
Team Preview: Have a short introduction of both teams, basically go over basic powers/strengths/weaknesses/personality, etc...executive summary of what you think the average reader should know.
I’m Unbeatable: This competition is about analysis, not necessarily who would win. If you think your team would lose 9/10, then talk about that in your post and then go through what would need to happen to win the 1/10
It’s Bigger on the Inside!: The location of the round is always big enough to hold all of the characters on your team and your opponents team. No matter how ridiculous that might make things.
Oak’s Words Echoed: Characters are assumed to be at the same power level they started the tournament at at all times. To clarify, this means you would not be able to loot Master Chief of his armor if you beat him in a previous round, or otherwise gain a competitive advantage based on anything that happened in a previous round. This is to aid your opponent in research of your character.
The Rules Are Made Up and the Types Don’t Matter: Every character was assigned types during the scramble. However these types were just to give people teams with more varied power sets and will not actually affect the matchups. This is especially true since /u/mrcelophane changed some of the submitted types in order to make the scrambling work. The one exception is if one of your characters is actually a Pokemon.
Due Date: The Voting topic is SCHEDULED to go up Monday
Voting is Mandatory: Not voting causes me to multiply the number of votes you got by 0 and then subtract 1. And missingno isn't allowed in the tournament. Real talk, if you don't vote when it's time to vote, you will no longer be in the tournament. You will have at least 48 hours to vote after the vote topic goes live.
Round Specific Rules
Blue Version: Make sure you state at the beginning of your post that your team is going with the Blue Version
1 Player Game: While most of your team members will go to search for the opposing team, you must have at least one person in the cart at all times. Otherwise it will stop moving and you will be immediately disqualified. You are allowed to swap out who is riding in the cart and taking pictures. The cart itself will take four hours to travel through your area, and all of your team members must be back by the end of that time.
Roaming Scrambler: The goal of this round is to get the opposing team disqualified by ensuring none of their team members are left in their cart. However given that you’re not supposed to leave the cart yourself, you need to be a bit discreet about your actions. This just means leaving no visible evidence of your actions for Jameson to find (though he’ll only check the cart and the photos, not the rest of the island). Speaking of the island, while you start in your area you’re allowed to travel to any other part of the island, as long as you make it back in time.
Ah! Friendly Monsters: This island hosts monsters from all across the multiverse (Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-gi-oh, Bakugan, Yo-kai Watch…) and harming them in any way would be a very bad idea. Luckily for your teams all of the creatures happen to be extremely peaceful, so they shouldn’t bother you.
Mega Rayquaza Clause: For anyone that has a character with power copying, or power stealing, or transformation, or anything else similar… yeah that won’t work on any of the monsters on the island. This is to prevent anyone from getting absurdly, hilariously OP.
Fluff Piece
Does Whatever a Spinarak Can: For reasons that not even he fully understands, Spider-man actually is on this island. Getting a picture of him will give you serious bonus points (not that it will matter). And no, he will not help you with any of your fights, and no you can’t copy his abilities either.
1
u/Parysian Jan 04 '16
Part 4: Something's Rotten in Lilycove
Nuhvok-Kal curled into a ball and rolled towards them, not as fast as Takeo could run, but the giant had to slow down for Skitter to keep up. Once he was within range, Nuhvok-Kal unwound himself and reached out his shields, forcing them both to the ground with his gravitational powers.
“Where is Kha’Zix?” Francis shouted, pointing his gun at them. “What did you do to him?”
“Nothing!” Takeo shouted. “Our teammate was taken, and they’re getting away, let us go!”
Baron caught up. “He is telling the truth, but Nuhvok, I would not recommend letting them up.
Takeo got to his feet and took slow steps towards Nuhvok, standing despite the massive effects of gravity on him.
“The people who took Topo probably have Kha’Zix too.” Skitter said. “You let me stand, and I’ll lead you to them.
“Baron?” Francis asked.
“She means what she says, but is considering betraying us if it is profitable and she can get away with it.”
Skitter swore under her breath. Something about another tattletale.
“Nuhvok, let them go.”
The Bohrok-Kal lifted the gravity field.
“I’ve got a bug on whatever machine they’re transporting them in, and it’s not moving too quickly, but it’ll be out of my range soon. This way.”
She pointed roughly eastward and they took off at that pace. Takeo and Nuhvok pushed ahead, hoping to catch up and stop whoever had taken their teammates. Skitter must have had some way of communicating with Takeo, because he took a sharp left through some trees.
“Hello, my name is Effie Trinket, and I am your stand-in host until we find our usual ones.” She giggled uncomfortably. “So as you all know, this is the Cool contest, and one of our more open-ended rounds. Each of you, Spades Slick, and The Grinch, will have an opportunity to show off your coolest talents. Just ask my assistant Chansey for any item you need, and she will acquire it for you. Then, you will each be given an opportunity to showcase your talents for the audience. Is everyone ready?”
> Begin
You think carefully about what you want to do. You could kill that GRINCH with a crowbar- that would be fun, people’d get a kick out of it for sure. Or you could show off your knife throwing skills- ooh, but you don’t have any knives, just your DECK OF CARDS. So that’s no too bad, you can do some card tricks!
> Request a target for card tricks
You walk up to EGGS BENEDICT and request a target
She lays an egg, which cracks open to reveal a wooden target. You try to scrub your mind of that image.
> Spy on the other guy
Hmm, it seems the GRINCH is getting a bunch of cloth and some scissors. You didn’t have him pegged for the arts and crafts type. But you didn’t really have him pegged at all. You’re not the type.
> Set up
You put the target on one of the puzzle boxes somebody forgot to put back. You pull out your DECK OF CARDS and prepare for some card tricks.
> Card Trick
You pull out a card and throw it. In the air, it becomes your BAIT AND SWITCHBLADE and embeds itself in the target. You have their attention now.
Francis hadn’t realized it from inside the building, but they were in a tiny verdant town, with grass and trees interspersed with the houses and buildings. There was a small cobblestone road, but it didn't seem to lead very far, and he could hear the ocean nearby. The audience for the contest must travel from other cities. Hell, there were probably more people in that auditorium than live in this town.
Up ahead, he could faintly see Takeo and Nuhvok stopping. When they caught up, they found themselves looking at an armored van stylized to look vaguely like a beaver Pokemon.
Nuhvok used his power to hold it to the ground, while Takeo ripped off the front door and three figures tumbled out. The hosts? I don’t understand.
“Well, you’ve figured out our ruse, I guess we’ve got no more use for these disguises!” said the red haired woman. They tore off their stuffy outfits to reveal white uniforms with the red letter R emblazoned on the front.
“Prepare for trouble!”
“Make it double!”
“Anyone know who these guys really are?” Francis asked, only getting blank looks in response.
The red haired one stepped forward. “Allow us to introduce ourselves. To protect the world from devastation!”
“To unite all peoples within our nation!” the blue haired man responded.
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jessie!”
“James!”
They finished their ‘performance’ in unison.
“Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now, or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth! That's right!” chimed in the bipedal cat with the coin on its head.
They each grabbed for Pokeballs on their belts, but found themselves unable to pull them out. “What?”
“Sorry,” Skitter said. “I’ve seen too many of those to let you give some ridiculous speech without tying them up.
Francis could now see the gleam of some sort of thickly woven spider silk attaching the Pokeballs to their belts. Takeo hastily ran up and punched them, sending them flying “Looks like Team Rocket’s-“ that was the furthest James got before hitting a tree and slumping down, unconscious. Bugs began crawling over the other two, who started shouting and scratching as red hot bug bites appeared all over their skin.
“Takeo?” Skitter politely gestured towards the back of the Bidoofmobile. He grabbed the handle and ripped the door off, revealing Kha’Zix tangled in a net, Topo, the octopus smooshed into a tiny glass box where he could get no leverage with his arms, and several crates with scared-looking Pokémon inside.
They began freeing their teammates and the Pokemon. “So Skitter, you won even though I solved it first. How’d you pull that one off?”
She shrugged. “Maybe they just liked me better.”
“A deflection is actually easier to read than an outright lie,” Baron said, pulling apart the net that held Kha’Zix. “You know what you are positing is not the reason, meaning you influenced the votes somehow.”
“And you’re trying to cold read me. It’s an old trick.”
“But not an ineffective one. You control bugs. Used them to tamper with the audience’s button presses.”
“You got me,” she said, gently pulling out Topo. “And I’m going to keep doing it, and you know you can’t stop me.”
Francis looked at Baron questioningly. “She’s being honest.”
“So why,” Francis asked “did Nuhvok win the first round?”
She went into the vehicle and began pulling out the crates of captured Pokémon. “Troops weren’t in place yet. Now they are. We’re winning Beauty thanks to Dinah, and we’re winning Cute thanks to this little guy. You lose either way.”
Then it hit Francis. “She’s stalling! We’ve only got Spades back there, we’ll be disqualified if we don’t send someone for the next round. Let’s go.”
He, Baron, and Nuhvok began running back, but Kha’Zix spread his wings and flew off in a different direction, following some chameleon Pokémon that was rapidly shifting color. “Kha’Zix we really don’t have the time!”
“So… hungry… I’ll catch up.” He flew out of their sight.
“Let’s just go. Trust his sense of timing.”
That dastardly GRINCH is bribing the audience! He got his hands on a huge bag of presents and is throwing them into the crowd. You’re so angry you could cut something.
> Cut something
You pull out your DOUBLE EDGED SWORD and cut the target in two, pretending it’s Sn0wman. That’ll teach it.
> Make it personal
You walk behind the GRINCH and cut a huge hole in his bag of gifts, making parcels fly everywhere. He turns around and swings the bag at you
> Dodge
Seeing the huge bag coming a mile away, you drop under it and cut another gash, making it rain presents. The GRINCH throws the bag down and tries to grab you, but you’re a lot faster than him. Instead, you pull out your beloved CAST IRON HORSE HITCER
> Hitch a horse
You could do that. Or…
You smack that GRINCH right in his oversized tummy, and he reels back, with murder in his eyes.
> Say something cool
Oh right, this is a cool-off. Oh geez, you’ve got to make this one work.
Godfuckingdammit.