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
The Occupied Zone was in the deepest pit of poverty. It was hard to believe that Mori could exist in a place like this, let alone be born into it, but Dazai's intelligence network had never failed him. It made sense, anyway. Any information about Mori's past was a total blank. Chuuya had bumped into plenty of crooks who covered up their identities, but nothing looked as strange as his secret attempts to check Mori's history. It'd make more sense if he never had a birth certificate in the first place.
One question, though: If Mori had come here, to his hometown, then where was he? Answer: Somewhere ostentatious.
That's what he was scouting for. The fanciest-looking place in this scummy cesspool. His eyes weren't much better than average or anything, and the awkward way he was flying over the city wasn't helping, but it wasn't hard to notice one building that stood out from the others. Well, it was just an apartment building like many of the others in the seemingly-abandoned city. But it wasn't partially destroyed, or covered in moss, or on fire. And the lights were on.
Chuuya let go of his gravitational hold on the bird, and his foot peeled away from its belly without it ever caring he was there. He was plummeting now. Angling downwards like a javelin, falling at some strange angle totally at odds with conventional physics. He wasn't going to let anything get between him and his target. Not even God's natural laws.
He crashed straight through the outer wall. It was just another building, just another hallway, like the stupid hallways he'd been fighting through in the office building. The difference was that it looked like someone had made an effort to clean it. Even though the ceilings looked leaky and the floor looked like some serious mold damage had been done long ago, it wasn't dusty, and there were lanterns hung up to keep the place looking cozy despite the lack of conventional electricity.
More than that. He could feel it. Mori was here. Mori, Mori, MORI!!
In his rage, Chuuya might've been able to jump up to the next floor like Saxton, but that wasn't his style. He sprinted, valuing speed over precision, twisting his body so his feet left the floor and he ran straight up the wall. Everything in his vision spiraled out of control once he found the stairs. He never touched a single stairstep. He was throwing himself upwards, using walls and ceilings as footholds, treating any surface like a floor. All he cared about was going up, towards that hateful feeling he'd gotten, this aura of incredible power! Another floor up, and another, twisting through stairwell after stairwell. And once he was there--he knew, he knew. Knew he was there. Knew something was there, anyway.
Yeah. He ended up being surprised.
This was just another level of the apartment building, probably the topmost one before the roof itself. It was a straight and narrow hallway, twice enough room for Chuuya to hold his arms out. Doors lining the sides, apartment numbers. The look and smell of fresh paint in a functional but cozy beige along the walls. At the far end of that hall was a door--Maintenance Office--with a guard out front. Pink hair. Massive, heavy gauntlets. She'd pulled up a folding chair right outside and sat down, one leg lazily tucked over the other. Of course Mori wouldn't make it easy on him, this shit was just like what happened with Karna. The speed bump before the boss fight.
"Y'know," Vi said, "I wasn't trying to trick you. Steeljack was gonna show you guys the way through, into Tokyo. All we wanted you to do was stick with him and not get yourselves in trouble. 'Course, I wasn't naive enough to think you'd do it. That's why we're sitting here shooting the shit right now, right?"
Chuuya growled. "I don't have time for this. The human garbage you're protecting sold out the whole country. Don't get in the way of what I have to do."
"What part of this is so hard to understand? We don't care what's going on out there, that's why we didn't start shooting at you the moment you set foot in the city. Their problems aren't our problems, and your problems aren't our problems. But, I can tell you don't get it, or maybe you do and you don't care, whatever. So let me put it this way. I'm going to sit in this chair here. And if you make me get out of this chair, for any reason, I'm gonna break your face. Don't make me be that person."
He did not have time for this shit. He should just... start up Corruption. Dazai would be there to pull him out if he tried it, anyway. And if he used it, no matter the risks, he could crush her like a grape. He just had to peel off his gloves. And tuck them in his pockets. And he--
Seized suddenly, slumping against the wall, fresh paint smearing over his suit like blood. Red ichor drained from his nose, blood vessels beating in his neck, ba-DUMP, ba-DUMP, ba-DUMP--
There was an indescribable pain in Chuuya's chest, termites chewing at his heart muscle, travelling through the arteries all the way up and down his arms. Breathe in. Breathe out. What the fuck was that?
Unbelievable. Suddenly he'd burned himself out, he couldn't use his strongest attack anymore? He'd wasted it on a midcard fight, with Mori and Yamada and Mishima still squirreled away in complete safety? But what if he--what if he had to...
Something came up the stairs, thundering metal CLUNKs and the sound of labored breath. Behind him. He didn't even have to guess who it was.
"You got here fast," Vi said.
"Had to, borrow a, bicycle." Steeljack huffed and puffed through his words. "Also, might've, broken a, bicycle. Eight, hundred pounds."
"Well, pull yourself together, we're gonna kick this guy's ass in a few seconds. It'll be fun."
God, he had to fight two fucking people like this. And Vi was already getting out of her chair. What did he do? How was he going to play it?
Stop. Focus. Blink.
Vi sprinted for him. Chuuya stepped back, just barely dodging her first swing, swaying out of reach of her follow-up hooks, waiting for the right moment to counter. The right moment didn't come. Cold steel arms wrapped around his torso from behind, kept him from moving, and Vi clapped both her fists down on his cheeks to pop his head like a watermelon.
Chuuya shook the thought out of his mind. That's not gonna work...
Okay, Steeljack's coming in from behind, so he can't get pinned. Chuuya stepped to the side, matador-style, turned so he could keep both of them in his vision at the same time. He clapped with all his strength, sent shockwaves through the air to throw them off-balance. The two of them were heavy enough already, wasn't hard to get them stumbling. Chuuya reached into his pockets, grabbed a handful of bullets, and snapped them off at Vi. Three rounds missed. Two went through her stomach and shoulder. In that half-second he looked away, Steeljack lurched towards him, grabbed Chuuya and folded him in half backwards like a piece of paper.
Shit, that wouldn't work either...
He could see it in her eyes. She was watching, too. Playing out the scenarios in her mind, waiting for him to slip up. Chuuya doubted Steeljack was the kind of guy who could track these thing internally. He'd probably start swinging the moment he caught his breath, or if Chuuya caught up to him. So maybe...
Chuuya feinted a step forward. Vi reacted, but Chuuya didn't move that false step--before his foot landed, he suddenly started to slide backwards, "falling" down the hall in the opposite direction with his gravity control. He just had to do it fast enough to grab onto Steeljack, and from there, 800 pounds of metal meant nothing. He could decrease his weight to that of a plastic party cup.
"Don't move, lady. I'll crush him."
He'd repositioned himself, making Steeljack a shield between him and Vi. Cowardly, sure, but it made her slow to a stop. A full-frontal fight would've been suicidal in his condition, not to mention she had nearly a foot of reach on him. He had to play this like a real crook. Use every advantage he could get.
Vi kept her gauntlets up, shifting her weight, trying to feel out a strategy. Steeljack was bigger than Chuuya, by a lot, but he couldn't fight against him with his gravity so thoroughly reduced. He could barely exert any force on Chuuya. He sure could get in the way, though. Act like a barrier while Chuuya put his arm over Steeljack's shoulder, a couple of bullets clenched between his fingers. He snapped. They fired! It was just like his imagination--she blocked with her gauntleted fists, but one still slipped through to pierce her torso. Unlike in his imagination, that didn't seem to slow her down.
More to the point, she was lunging at him. Did she think she had a way around his shield, or...?
No. Instead, she threw a haymaker squarely into Steeljack's stomach, sending him and Chuuya down the entire length of the hallway and through the back wall. If he wasn't so beaten-down, he wouldn't have made an amateur mistake like that. If he was willing to use a body as a meat shield, why wouldn't these hardened criminals be willing to punch through their allies? In fact, Steeljack might've accepted this as a possibility before it happened. Right now, Chuuya was crumpled over a broken couch, the hole in the wall in front of him. He was in the living area of one of the apartments, a weightless Steeljack was floating on the ceiling, and Vi opened the door like the smashed-open aperture wasn't just a foot away from it.
He tried to get up--