r/whowouldwin • u/LetterSequence • Jan 15 '22
Event Character Scramble 15 Round 2: Remember Me
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This round is for matches 25 to 32 on the bracket. Make sure to double check to see if you’re in this one!
After escaping some crazy dangerous circumstances, you can truly begin your quest unimpeded by ill fate. It's time to take this quest seriously. In fact, you've even gotten a hot tip from someone as you explore the various worlds.
Legends speak of an individual who, using incredible strength, will, and ideals, managed to summon Kingdom Hearts, and with its blessings, they were given the power to make all of their desires come true.
This person has been dead for a few decades now.
Your lead, immediately snatched away. But what if it wasn't? What if there was a way to speak to this figure, and gain their knowledge? There is. You only need to visit...
Tierre de la Muerte
The Land of the Dead. The resting place of all spirits, for people to remember until they can't any longer. The living aren't supposed to be here, and yet you venture onwards anyway. Your goal is simple. Find this legend, learn anything you can about Kingdom Hearts, and leave well rewarded.
Unfortunately, things aren't that simple. For this land holds a special rule. All those who remain in this land when the sun rises become permanent residents. What does this mean for your team? Instant death.
It may be midnight now, but with no clue where to start looking, another team lurking somewhere else in this world (potentially looking to get that same information before you, potentially looking to entrap you in this world), and the dead around you quite uneased by your presence, you fear the dawn will arrive faster than you anticipate. Better get a move on!
Scramble Rules
That’s Sora, Donald, and Goofy Too!: Every participant this season received three characters on their team, but many of them might not be a household name. To aid with readability, please give a brief summary of your characters, with enough information so the average reader can get excited for your team before starting.
Let Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key: Your write up will depict a scenario where your team is the victor. Even if your team has a one in a million chance of overcoming the odds, show what they’d need to do to come out on top against the challenge in front of them!
Unlocking Limit Form: Writers are allowed to make changes to their characters in their narrative to fit their story, such as allowing power stealers to gain more powers, teaching martial artists new techniques, or having characters gradually grow in strength between rounds. However, you are not beholden to following what your opponent is doing. When facing another team, you are only required to write their characters as they were submitted. This is to help with ease of research, and make things more fun for both sides.
Round Rules
Guest Starring: The Living Dead! The guest is a denizen of this underworld, which means they've been dead for a while now. How does that look? Are they a vengeful spirit destined to keep you here past sunrise for intruding on their world? A spirit animal that helps guide you where you need to go? In fact, is the legend, the person you're looking for, the guest themselves? There's a decent variety of options here, so go with what fits your run best!
Setting: Preparing for the Day of the Dead, this world is a sight to behold. Skeletons walk around as people would on cobblestone roads, the houses begin decrepit, but as you venture deeper, grow more rich, more ordained, into grand mansions for the famous, the elite, the remembered. The colors of the various plazas, vibrant neon greens and pinks. Stands placed on every corner to sell some trinket or another. Music blares as you walk, festive Spanish songs played by the residents that celebrate life, and of course, death. In a land this big, it'll be like finding a needle in a haystack. May as well enjoy the sights while you're looking around.
Key Points: The key points of the round are the following. Your team is looking for a "dead" person to gain information from them on how to attain their overall goal, while the other team is trying to stop you, or gain that information before you. This quest for information has a time limit. The guest must figure into this in some way.
Post Limit: For this round, writers will be limited to 8 posts, or 80k characters. While it is fine to go a little bit over, anything that far surpasses this limit will be automatically disqualified. This limit does not include intro posts, or analysis of the matchup. Use your best judgement, if you think your story is too long for the round, it probably is.
Due Date: Write ups will be due at 10PM EST on January 30th. That’s slightly over two weeks, so manage your time well!
Flavor Suggestions
People Die When They Are Killed: Perhaps your story isn't fantastical in nature, and speaking to a long dead person is out of the cards. As some suggested alternatives, the death could be metaphorical. Perhaps the person you're looking for is only presumed dead and changed their identity, or they're a hero who has long since retired, their other identity being "dead" in a sense. There’s plenty of ways to weave the theme of death into the story without getting literal, so get creative!
Chain of Memories: In the actual film, "Coco," the spirits exist in this world as long as someone remembers them. Is there anyone your team members lost in their past that they cared for? How would they react to the possibility of seeing them again? Would they even want to see them again?
3
u/7thSonOfSons Jan 30 '22
Time stood still. Four sets of eyes all stared holes into Decade. As he stepped forward, the temple's atmosphere shifted entirely. Rage and fury were overtaken by an overwhelming dread.
“I’ve felt this before,” Xena said as she turned towards the intruder. “Like staring down a demon god...”
She tightened her grip on her sword, but she was not the first to act. Bradley was on him before he could take another step. Without the hesitancy he’d shown in their fight, Bradley finally had an outlet for his rage.
Decade caught his blade midswing. “Another one. You certainly like putting your friends in danger, don’t you, Franky? Such cowardice is unfitting of a Kamen Rider,” he said as Bradley struggled to make any headway against his strength. “One more reason this world cannot deserve to stand.”
“Our world will not be destroyed,” said Karna as he hauled himself and Franky to their feet. “As sure as the sunrise, it is you who will fall on this day, Destroyer.”
“Yeah, and I’m not a Kamen Rider,” called out Franky.
“It doesn’t matter what this world calls you. Golden General, Battle Franky, Warrior Princess, Fuhrer King, whichever it is, show me your worth!”
Decade twisted his wrist and snapped Bradley’s sword. Bradley lost his footing and caught a boot to the chest as his reward. Decade stepped forward ready to smash his fist into Bradley’s throat. But then it was Karna who leapt into the fray. He swept his spear out so quickly the air itself ignited, and Decade was forced to relent, if only for a moment.
Franky caught Bradley and kept him on his feet. “Whoa now, careful boss. I’m your bodyguard, remember? Don’t get the wrong idea, I could go for a tune up right now, but you look like you’ve been through the ringer too.”
“I’ve already cut off the head of one snake,” Bradley replied. His eye never strayed from Decade, even as he and Karna exchanged blows. Karna gripped his weapon closer to the blade. A spear was more than its point, sweeps made from such a stance could shatter bones. Or at least ward off an agile opponent in tight corridors.
Bradley looked at Franky. “Just see to it that the princess doesn’t stab us in the back.”
“Xena!” Franky said. “Weren’t you the one who talked about us not fighting in here? And you go and try to slice up my boss while I was… doing other things?”
Xena had been flickering her vision between Bradley, Decade, and Izaya, but Franky’s words jolted her out of it. “Look, I’m pretty sure Izaya wasn’t totally full of it. I’m having a hard time not going after your boss right now to be honest.”
Franky pointed at the man in Magenta currently making a fool out of Xing’s greatest soldier. “You see that guy? Well, he’s calling himself The Destroyer, and he’s gonna kill all of us to blow up the whole world, I think. So can you two please squash this beef and help us live?”
“Xena,” Bradley said. “There are things in this world that I cannot lose. Beyond anything Izaya may have said about where I come from, I am a man. I have a son. I have a wife. I will not fight you. If this ‘Destroyer’ intends to threaten them, he is my one and only concern.”
Xena looked down at her sword. She flipped it in her hand and extended the hilt to Bradley. “Go on, take it. You’ll get more use out of it than I will.”
Bradley took up the sword with a gracious nod. It was broader than his own, heavier as well, but even so it felt right in his hand. “You are a gracious noble. Now let us put an end to this Destroyer.”
The three of them took off to join the fray as Karna was launched through the temple's doors into the street. Bradley had watched him intently. The Destroyer was truly monstrous. His speed was only rivaled by Karna’s, and his strength seemed to dwarf every one of them. His armour was nearly pristine even this long into his fight. He was utterly without weakness. He was the strongest.
But the strongest stood alone. When he dropped his blade down upon Karna, it was Franky’s hand that diverted his slash. And when he retaliated against Franky, it was Karna’s armour that absorbed his strike in turn.
Xena, without her sword, managed to prove herself an even more capable warrior with her chakrams. They glinted across the battlefield, ricocheting off stone and marble, off Karna’s armour, bouncing in impossible ways to strike the Destroyer precisely as they were needed. A kick that would have punctured Franky’s chest was swatted aside from seemingly nowhere, and let Franky mash his fist into the Destroyers mask.
And it was with a heart full of burning hatred, a desire to destroy the one who would threaten his home and family, that Bradley proved his mettle. He was everywhere, a dervish of death and steel. Ducking and weaving alongside Karna to create a wall of strikes no one man could answer.
When Bradley was threatened by explosives, they were caught between Franky’s fingers. When Xena became the target of Decade’s blaster, his wrist was smashed by Karna’s spear. When he blocked Xena’s chakram, Bradley attacked from his blindspot. And when Karna swept at Decade’s legs, Franky lunged forward with a viscous overhand punch.
It was not unlike a pack of wolves hunting a tiger. There was no relent to the attacks. Again and again, The Destroyer adapted, but so too did his opposition. As though each move were practiced a hundred times over a thousand years, so pure was their teamwork.
Franky finally met The Destroyer head-on. He threw earth-shaking punch after earth-shaking punch, slow enough to be blocked but strong enough for it not to matter. As he walked down Decade, Xena ran forward, up his back, and took to the air. She shouted a great and terrible war cry before throwing both chakrams downward, bouncing from the ground directly into Decade’s chin, launching him skyward just in time to catch the last piece of Franky Boxing’s Bulldozer Combination.
An explosion of sparks sent Decade scrambling to find his footing. “How… How are you doing this? Fake Rider’s from a fake world, weaklings playing at being heroes! You haven’t even transformed yet.”
Franky grinned and shook his finger at Decade. “We don’t need to transform to crush you, pal. A real hero doesn’t fight alone. He has friends! If you can’t even remember friendship after all this, you’ve got no shot against us, Uahaha~!”
“Friendship!? Friendship…” Decade stood up straight, his chest still sparking. “That’s the thing, isn’t it. I remember now. My old friends…”
He drew a card out of the air. One depicting a bound and shackled prisoner. “Die under the strength of friendship!” He swiped the card through his belt.
ATTACK RIDE: GRUDGE
No weapon formed, no illusion followed. Instead Decade’s body became consumed in blue and black fire. “Kuhahahaha! Be consumed by darkness with your world!”
He concentrated and condensed the flames to a single point between his hands. And with one thrust of the palm, unleashed cataclysm. A spray of hateful, all consuming fire that poured out and filled the street.
“KAVANA KUNDALA!”
Bradley and Xena were scooped up in Franky’s arms, as Karna stood between them and the fire. His armour glowed white hot, brighter than the dawn, but it was a temporary solution as the intensity of Decade’s rage grew. He would have to fall, here and now. Karna was ready to leap into the fire if it meant ending the nightmare. But he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
“Control yourself, General,” said Bradley. “You’re much too young to die here. If one of us is going to fall here, let it be me.” He looked over his shoulder at Xena. “While I had no hand in what will come of this land, I am sorry that you lost those dear to you. I can think of no worse fate for a warrior.”
Xena’s face scrunched as she stared at Bradley. Then she palm to her forehead and jumped out of Bradley’s arms. “You know… I might just be the stupidest warrior here.”
She grabbed Bradley by the back of his coat and dragged him back to Franky. “Hold onto this one tight, Franky the Mighty. Don’t let anything happen to him out there. He’s got a lot of atoning to do. For both of us.”
Franky nodded and wrapped his arms around Bradley. He fought against Franky’s grip, trying to lash out even as Xena spoke softly to Karna. “What is the meaning of this! Insubordination! Foolishness!”
Xena turned around and shook her head. “Listen up, old man. I don’t belong here. You don’t belong here. But after everything I’ve seen today, I shouldn’t even be alive.” She pressed her finger to Bradley’s chest. “You, though, you’ve got something special in here. The sad, sweet, sexy soul of a warrior princess, and a hell of a job to do when you get out of here. So let me atone for my world, and you go atone for yours.”
Bradley’s eyes widened. “You cannot be serious.”
Xena gave him a quick wink before turning towards the fire. “When you see your wife again, tell her I said hey.”
Xena sprinted past Karna. Her warrior's cry echoed across the city as she cut a path through the darkness. Until, only a few meters beyond, her body vanished in the flames.
It was an agonizing few seconds. One where nothing could be heard but the roaring of fire and the strained grunting of Karna taking them on himself. Until... it was gone.
The fire vanished. Looking out into the street, Decade had fallen. Two golden rings punctured his chest. He lie motionless on the ground. And Xena… she was gone. No remains, no princess, nothing to remember her by, save the sword in Bradley’s hand. It was over. The storm had passed.
Franky finally released his hold on Bradley. "Stupid, stupid girl," Bradley spat. "Pretentious deistic nonsense. If she stood in front of me now, why I would have her he-"
Bradley froze on the spot. Suddenly he was very aware of his heartbeat. Of where he stood. Of who he was. He reached for his chest, feeling a burning sensation greater than even Decade's spiteful pyre.
And in that instant, his world became darkness. And he collapsed in the dirt.