r/whowouldwin • u/LetterSequence • Mar 04 '22
Event Character Scramble 15 Semifinals: I'm Still Here
This round is now closed for voting! Please vote for the write ups in the form linked here. Voting will close at 10PM on April 12th.
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This round is for matches 37 and 38 on the bracket. Make sure to double check to see if you’re in this one!
Your journey is reaching its end. The location of Kingdom Hearts may be nearly impossible to reach on foot, by land, or by sky. Except there is one way to get there. After all this time traveling, all the information you’ve acquired, all the things you’ve seen, you know the secret. It all involves a door.
“When the door is open, so too will Kingdom Hearts open.”
There’s one door that is spoken of. A door used by a dreaded space captain. This captain stole treasures from all across the universe, and kept them to himself, never to be seen again. This door is a portal that opens to his treasure, and it can also open up to anywhere in the entire universe. It can open the way to Kingdom Hearts.
And that door is located on…
Treasure Planet
So you know where to go. But how do you exactly open this door?
Luckily for you, one brave adventurer holds a map, a spaceship, and the key to this door, and is looking for a crew to help escort them across the cosmos to reach the planet unharmed. That’s when the ideas start to formulate.
Escort or Heist?
Will your team present themselves to this adventurer and offer them aid? In exchange for directions, a split prize, and a companion, this would involve ensuring their safety, providing passage across all of Treasure Planet, fighting off any who would stand in your path, putting your life in harm's way all the while.
Or… will your team simply wait for someone else to take up the offer? If they follow this path, they can stalk the team who joins them instead. By prowling in wait, they can ambush the other team at the vital moment they reach the treasure, and take it all for themselves. However, you’d need to obtain your own means of travel, as losing sight of them means losing the treasure in its entirety.
Space, Land, or Underground?
Traversing an entire planet aimlessly is a good way to get yourselves killed. You’ll need to pick a route that’s safest to get there with the least danger possible.
Do you approach from outer space? Going from above may seem like the route with the least danger, but it comes with plenty of downsides. One wrong move, a stray asteroid, an attack that leaves you stranded from the ship, can leave you floating in the deep reaches of space until you finally perish.
Do you approach from land? It’s the most straightforward and easiest to circumnavigate, but this planet is covered in deep jungles and vegetation, with very little wildlife. Resources may be difficult to manage, the path would be the longest, and an ambush is almost all but guaranteed.
Do you approach from the underground? Beneath the surface is an entire system of passageways, tunnels, and heavy machinery, as if the planet was built by some insane person. It’d get you to the door the fastest if you know where you’re going, but if you don’t… you may be lost under here forever.
The Door
At the pivotal moment when the door is open, what will your team do? It can offer them guidance, lead them anywhere in the universe, and lead them exactly to Kingdom Hearts. But the promise of unlimited riches stands in front of them as well. It is here that what is most important to them will be tested.
All of this being said… this is the final leg of your quest before finally obtaining all you desire. So… what will you do?
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…: Space Adventurers! The guest in this round is someone who has a vested interest in Treasure Planet. Are they the person who holds the key, who needs to be escorted to the door? Are they the leader of the band of misfits who intend on stealing your treasure for themselves, or the group that escorts the client to the door? Are they a lone wanderer, stuck on this planet, who once resided on the crew of the captain who stole all the treasure? However they show up is up to you!
Setting: Treasure Planet, a mysterious and deadly planet said to hold all the treasures in the world at its core. The solar system surrounding it, deep in the cosmos, bathes this world in purple hues, the lights from hundreds of millions of stars. The planet itself is teeming with vegetation. Thick jungles, moss, mildew, and yet curiously, no life at all. Only the remnants of an adventure long since finished. Underneath the surface, this planet functions as a machine. Deep tunnels that lead to secret passageways, lights that illuminate this world, and cogs turning for some reason or another. There are plenty of paths that all lead to the same place. The door that leads to everywhere, and most importantly, to your goal.
Key Points: The key points of this round are as follows. You must obtain the key to open the door that leads into your ultimate goal (Kingdom Hearts). How you obtain this key, reach the door, and what roles the enemy team and guest fill are up to you.
Post Limit: For this round, writers will be limited to 10 posts, or 100k 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 judgment, 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 April 8th. That’s a full month, so you should have plenty of time!
Flavor Suggestions
The Door is Open: Your team is heading for the door that resides somewhere on this planet. This door is essentially a portal that can lead to anywhere in the entire universe. While you ultimately have a destination in mind, does such a prospect tempt anyone on your team? How would they react to such an easy method of transportation? Would they try to keep it for themselves? Visit any places before settling on Kingdom Hearts?
Fool’s Gold: The core of Treasure Planet is roughly one hundred million billion metric tons of gold, jewelry, and riches stolen from various cultures and civilizations. Maybe your team is only in it for the money. So, is there something that’d tempt them even more than this? Some kind of goal that’d make them seek out Kingdom Hearts instead of ending their journey here and just nabbing as much gold as they can get their hands on? Or maybe, they’ll get greedy, and try to do both? Remember, it all depends on what your team would do!
3
u/Cleverly_Clearly Apr 07 '22
"I'd bet we don't need to talk," Hale said. "Unless you're looking for a scrap. Or some kinda major arms deal. Then you can jaw away."
"No, Hale. This isn't about that. This is about you, personally. Once I heard you'd gotten stuck outside of Australia, I knew I had to see you. I called in favors. Went under the Justice League's nose. Got through JSDF-patrolled closed-off airspace. All so I could finally meet the famous Mr. Hale."
Hale struck a circus strongman pose. A singular ripple seemed to ebb out from the entirety of his muscles, like a rock dropped into a pond, flowing from one side of his taut skin to the other.
"Well, you got a meeting with the genuine article. What do you want, an autograph?"
"It's not just what I want. I'm acting on behalf of the Australian government today. They want you to stand trial in their territory, not Japan's. And I want you to turn yourself in quietly."
Oh. Oh. He got it now. "The government is after me, too? Can't anyone just give me a bloody break?! So what, I punched a couple cops! That's like a national pastime down under!"
"I really don't care what they want. I just needed their cooperation so I could talk to you. Back there, you were protected, you had your cronies, the laws were stacked up like a fortress around you. It's not like that here. I want you to tell me something, honestly, face to face. No red tape, no lies."
He circled around Hale's shoulder. Animal Man was radiating--something, a dark aura that made Hale hesitate to step in for the first punch. It didn't seem like he wanted to fight, and yet he seemed so angry...
"Do you know that you hunted at least eight different species to extinction?"
Hale smirked. "At least."
"Not for its body," he continued, "Not even for profit. Do you realize how--insane--it sounds, that you fought and killed so many things that were alive, and felt pain like you and me, and did it in the most inhumane and grotesque way I could imagine, because you wanted to fistfight them? I've wanted to ask you, ever since I learned what you'd done. Do you feel any shame at all?"
Huh.
This topic. He remembered this. This was something that got Hale negative attention before. Most human opponents posed no challenge to Hale, so he took his fights to the animal kingdom, battling the rarest and most exotic creatures and wrestling them with his bare hands. Those fights were usually to the death. Sometimes the animal was the last of its kind. There were these talks, and arguments, and protests, and lots of people shouting at him. They dared to talk that way to Saxton Hale! Nobody tough at all, a bunch of flowy-haired hippies telling him how to live his life, saying he couldn't do this and that!
That was just what the bastards back at Mann Co had done! Just what Mishima and those government stuffed shirts had done! They were always prodding and poking him, criticizing them, trying to fit him into one of their boxes, trying to make him what they wanted him to be! It was like people didn't even want him to exist anymore! All these people that didn't understand him, could never understand him! Because Saxton Hale was an individual, God broke the mold on him, never to be used again, born the strongest, elevated above everyone else, looking for a true equal!
They didn't know what it was like to be alone.
"I make it a policy not to regret anything," Hale said, at last. "I'm a killer. I'm a ruthless, gun-dealing son of a bitch, and I don't shed any tears. It thrills me, even. Knowing that I snap my fingers, and a million weapons ship out and change the world. It's even better when you're right in the thick of the action yourself. Breaking an elephant's neck over my knee as I twist its body into an impossible grapple. Tearing an arm off an endangered gorilla on the highest Himalayan peak. I admit it, I did it all, I killed so many of those critters it'd make your head spin right off your block. And I didn't do it for sport, or for pride. I did it because I am Saxton Hale. I am not nice, I am not easy, and I am absolutely not weak. If I didn't prove it every day, I wouldn't exist anymore. So let me ask you a question, you self-righteous thrift store superhero wanker. Do you have a problem with the way I live? If you do... you'd better be ready to settle it with your fists."
Hale put his dukes up. Two guns more powerful than anything he'd ever sold, already twinkling with sweat and stained in blood. Animal Man gave it a quick glance, then back up to meet Hale's eyes.
"It sounds to me," Animal Man said, "Like it'd be safer for everyone if you were locked up for good."
"They don't make chains strong enough for me."
The two of them stepped forward at the same time, and vanished. And then, with a crack of thunder, they collided.