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/OddDirective Apr 09 '22
“Got any fives?”
Hale scratched his head underneath his hat, staring at the cards in his hand. Finally, after thinking long and hard, he replied “Go fish.”
“Seriously?!” shouted Chuuya indignantly. “How can you not have anything I’ve asked for?! It’s not that hard, either! Haven’t you ever played cards before?!”
“Well, I’ve not played this game!” shouted Hale back.
“Oi, Chuuya. Calm down,” Gentaro called over his shoulder. “It’s just a game.”
The three of them, with nothing better to do but wait, had set up a makeshift table and chairs, and were now passing the time via a deck of cards Chuuya found in his pocket. That being said, it was grinding Chuuya's nerves to dust.
"Yeah, yeah, but games are supposed to be- gghk!" Chuuya said, drawing and interrupting himself once he saw the face of the card.
"You okay, mate?" his opponent asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Chuuya growled, setting the pair of fives in front of him to join the two other pairs he'd made. It still left him with eight cards in his hands.
Hale smiled. "It's good you're getting on the board! Though, it's still my go, yeah?"
Hale had six different pairs in front of him, and as he began the laborious process of figuring out which of the four cards he had in hand he'd ask for, Chuuya scowled. What the hell did they teach in Australia?
"How about fours?" Hale asked. Chuuya threw the card across the table, and Hale set down his seventh. Then, mercifully, he called to Gentaro "Say, these pictures are confusing me. Can you take a look?"
Gentaro came around the table, and a strange expression crossed his face. "W-Well, those two are both the same, so you should have put them down already…"
"Really? But he hasn’t got a beard! A proper match should have them both have beards, or at least a mustache. Has there been some alliance I haven’t heard of?"
"They're both Kings, can't you see?"
Chuuya could almost feel the veins popping out of his forehead. Hale laid down his pair of kings, and looked at the final card in his hand. Surely, surely this couldn't take long to end.
"Alright, have you got any fives?"
Chuuya flipped the table onto Hale.
“Ahhhh, I’m sick of this!” Chuuya said, marching away from the others. “How long has that asshole been gone? We’re in a vault the size of a city and we can’t do anything but sit here and never learn how to play cards!”
“Hey, that was uncalled for!” Gentaro said, sticking up for a Hale who largely didn’t seem bothered by what Chuuya did. “Apologize!”
“I’m sorry,” sighed Chuuya. “It’s just all this damn waiting. It’s been hours since that Stitcher guy disappeared, we haven’t seen anything alive that isn’t each other, and even if there is someone to look out for, they could be miles away! If something doesn’t happen in the next five minutes, I’m gonna lose my freaking mind!”
It was at that moment that the ceiling broke open.
Off in the distance, not too far out, but still a fair bit away, a blue and orange blob, no, a man, swooped around in lazy circles near the hole that had just been made in the ceiling. Chuuya strained to look, and it seemed like the flying one was checking for something. And in the hole, there were more than just the one flying around.
A thunderous clap on the back nearly knocked Chuuya over. “Well, that looks like your wish come true, doesn’t it? Let’s see what they’re up to.” Hale said, before squaring up, and leaping thirty feet towards the new arrival.
Chuuya fixed his hat back onto his head. “Well, time to do what we’ve been brought here to do. Kisaragi. Who do you think these guys are?”
“Who knows?” he replied. “Hopefully, these guys can be reasonable, and nothing big happens.”
And that’s when the tremor hit.