r/whowouldwin • u/OddDirective • Nov 05 '22
Event Scramble 16 Round 3: Twister
EDIT: Round 3 has concluded! While there are no competitive rounds (and thus, no strict need for a voting form), we have put together a form to vote on your favorite round/who you think will win. Please check it out HERE!
Round 3: Twister
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DAY 5
The mission for today seems oddly easy for your Players. “Enter Tower Records. You have 8 hours. Fail, and face erasure.” They don’t wake up too far from the entrance, and the time limit is very generous. But hey, they’ve been fighting for their lives for a fair bit, so they’re glad to have something of a cakewalk to get to the next day.
That’s not what this is.
The Game Master has decided that the gloves are coming off now. They’ve set a simple task to their Reapers; eliminate every Player you can get your hands on. Not only that, but they’ve set up an ambush right in front of the one way to get to Tower Records, featuring some hand-picked assassins- the enemy team. For whatever reason, your Reaper can’t or doesn’t let your Players know- if they’re the Game Master (or even if not), they might have decided that your team has reached the end of their usefulness, or they could be trying to dodge the Game Master’s suspicion to avoid erasure themselves.
Whatever the case, as your team walks into the trap, they come across a lone Player, one who’s lost the rest of their team. Whether it’s because they’re still fighting, or because Players without a team can’t have gotten this far, your Players are tipped off- just in time for the enemy team to come in. To save their life, your Players form a pact with the solo Player, and prepare to face off in a battle for everyone’s second chance…
Scramble Rules
Let ‘Em Know Who You Are: Every participant this season received four characters on their team, but many of them might not be a household name. To aid with readability, please give a brief introduction and summary of your characters, with enough information so the average reader can get excited for your team before starting. That includes your adopted character this time, too!
This World Ends With You: Your writeup will depict a scenario where your team succeeds. 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!
Everybody Has Their Own World: 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
Setting: This round’s original setting is Tower Records, an iconic music store that outlived its American main branch, located in the heart of Shibuya with shelves stocked with all the latest music, in CD or vinyl. The important parts of wherever the location is is that it’s recognizable by the members of the team, and it can be set up for an ambush. There’s also more than enough time for your team to mess around and do whatever their heart desires before going into the ambush, so you can include other locations as well.
Key Points: The main idea of the round is the following. The Game Master wants to eliminate a whole load of Players, and so sets up a seemingly-easy mission to keep the Players off guard. This gives your Players time to do things other than the mission, but when they do pursue the mission, they meet a lone Player, with whom they extend their pact to stay as a team. During this, they are ambushed, and have to fight against the enemy team for their lives.
Union X: Adoptions! That’s right, it’s the adoption round. We’ve decided to be pretty open about this; there are two possibilities for who you can adopt. The first is that any Player on a team that has already been eliminated is available to adopt. We have also curated a list of unpicked backups that you can choose from. All available adoptions are HERE, and be sure to look through to find someone you’ll enjoy writing.
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.
Due Date: Writeups will be due at 11:59 PM CST on EDIT: Sunday, November 27th. That’s about two and a half weeks. At that point, the thread will be locked, and voting will go up for a few days afterwards.
Flavor Suggestions
Incongruous: Your team members might be suspicious of such an easy mission. After all, the people in charge of this don’t really want you to win, do they? Would they see this as a chance to take a break, and do things casually? Alternatively, would they rush headlong into the ambush the Game Master set up?
Dancer In The Street: Whoever you’re adopting, your team is going to be meeting them in a difficult situation, either in combat or just having come from it. But you can’t just sideline them, you’ve gotta make sure they shine! What do they bring to the table in terms of synergies? How do they fight when they’re backed into a corner? And importantly, how would your team react to finding someone on their own?
2
u/7thSonOfSons Nov 25 '22
Spear could not see the smoke. He could not hear Moustache. He’d slumped off of Fang’s back, and now lay in the dirt. He stared up at the sky. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the others. Fang had set Girl beside him before checking on Blue. Blue coughing up blood and water. The Giant fetching his axe.
He could feel the warmth in his fingertips. Sensation was coming back to his body. Slowly. He could not search yet. He shut his eyes and huffed out a breath. He opened his eyes. The sky was still as muted red as when they’d saved Girl. Time had no meaning here. A quiet comfort. No moon, no sun, no stars. Just a sea of red.
And a speck of green.
Wait.
Spear squinted and strained to lift his head even a little.
The speck of green was growing. Green, but it wasn’t Green.
“Ooh! Agh ooah ah!” He wheezed.
An emerald tear.
KEEEEEEEEERCHOW
The Bird!
The Bird hit the Earth. A hurricane of wind and blood washed over the clearing. Layers of dirt and grass were sent flying. Trees bent away from its strength. Spear’s body, still weak, barely moving, rolled across the ground with Girl right behind.
They had forgotten the first rule of the hunt. Nothing ends until the other is dead. Either hunter or prey.
Blue was blown away entirely by The Bird’s arrival. He tumbled end over end, back towards where they’d arrived. His head bounced off a rock. His back cracked against a tree. Spear could only hope he survived.
The Giant did not succumb. His knees bent. He raised his arms to the wind. His boots dragged deep trenches into the ground. But he still stood. Fang as well hung on by digging in her claws. As the wind died out, The Bird turned its gaze on them, tilting its head one way and the other.
There’s was an unspoken partnership. The Giant and Fang each sprinted across the clearing towards The Bird. His great strides were enough to match her ferocious pace. The Bird turned its beak on The Giant, and fired. It pierced the air, but it would not pierce The Giant. He swung up his axe from below, splitting the earth in its arc, and clashed with The Giant.
CLANG
The beak shot up instead to the sky. The force carried The Bird’s head up with it. Fang roared in victory as she continued her stride. There was no defending against her. Not when The Bird could not even see her. She leaped forward, and gnashed her jaws around The Bird’s skull.
Khkhkhlick
Her fangs did not meet. They barely pierced The Birds armour. Its beak whirred loudly as it shot back into place. The Bird twisted and shook its head. The horrid sound of grinding teeth on metal echoed around the forest.
The Giant ran forward. He came in low, sweeping his axe down for The Bird’s thin legs. But it too could not pierce. The blade only nicked The Bird, its legs too protected by its armour.
The Giant was breathing heavily. He was still bleeding all across his body. The fight with The Monkey had not been an easy one. His shoulders sagged. The Bird’s attention turned from Fang gnawing its skull to The Giant. Its leg whirred back, then blasted forward. A wicked roaring kick that blasted at The Giant’s chest.
He braced his arms against the blow, but it did not save him. His skeleton groaned under the impact. He held firm for only a moment before he was knocked back, crashing through two trees before landing in a heap. He groaned out in pain, trying to pick himself up and failing.
Spear couldn’t sit by and watch this go on. His heart beat loud and heavy. His muscles burned as he forced his hand to form a fist around his Spear. The haft pressed into the dirt, steadying him as he stood. His legs could barely move, but they could move enough.
Fang saw him out of the edge of her eye. She released her bite on The Bird. She bared her teeth and growled. The Bird examined her. Its eyes lit up. Its back opened up and launched a net over her mouth. It tangled behind her head, even as she tried to open her jaw and tear through the ropes.
But Fang did not need her jaws to fight. She hadn’t given up freeing her fangs when she attacked. Her body whipped around and her tail crashed into The Bird’s face. Its body shivered and shuttered, but it remained standing. Its legs lit alight and it rammed her side at impossible speeds. She slid across the ground and stopped after crashing into a tree, dazed but still standing.
Her eyes narrowed. The Bird was still focused on Fang. It charged her again. Fang charged back. She lowered her head and rammed skull first into The Bird. They locked eyes. It was the perfect chance for Spear to strike.
His body swayed and stumbled, but he let his Spear fly like a comet. The Bird, locking heads with Fang, didn’t see it coming. The stone tip pierced The Bird’s eye, and shattered it across the ground. The Bird stepped away. Fang stepped in. She dragged her face down The Bird’s beak. The sharp tip sliced through the net around her face.
“SKRAAAAAAAAAHK!!!” She roared triumphantly. He gripped his rib, still too weary to join her. He watched Fang ram her skull into The Bird’s side. But a sound pulled his attention away.
“Haaaa…” A quiet displeased grumble. He looked behind him. Girl rubbed her eyes, still laying in the dirt. Her fingers ghosted over the gash in her temple. She brought them down to her nose and sniffed. “... ehhh…”. She opened her eyes.
“Oooh, ah, ah.” He moved to her side. He offered her his hand.
She slapped it away and hissed. She bared her sharp teeth and pushed herself up to sit. “Nnnnngh…” she gripped the side of her head. It must still hurt. He understood. He kneeled down in front of her. His whole body hurt.
KERCHUNK
“CRAAAAAAW!”
Fang screeched. He didn’t know why. Not until it hit him. And it hit him hard. Something hit the dirt behind him. A rush of heat and flame and pressure surrounded him. He howled in agony. He fell forward, on his hands and knees. The numbness in his body was in that moment a blessing. If he felt the attack in full, he would be sleeping just like his pack.
He heaved and sweat, staring down at the ground. His vision was shaky. He saw Girl’s feet as she stood up. He felt her step between his shoulders and walk over him. “Heh heh heh~.”
He wanted to stop her. Wanted to protect her. Wanted to save her. Stop her. Protect her. Stop her. Stop her. He tightened his fists, and willed himself to stand. “OAAAA!”
Girl looked back at him. “... Eh.” She stuck out her tongue. Behind her, Fang and The Bird continued their fight. Fang was relentless. The Bird was unbreakable. Beyond a single missing eye, it carried only scratches to its armour.
But then its attention fell on Girl. Its eyes glowed brighter. And it fired its beak.
He held out his hand. To warn her. To stop the hit? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what he was doing. What he could do. With his body still so weak, he couldn’t save Girl. He failed again.
But She didn’t.
Girl turned around just in time to witness. To see the bolt of metal screaming after her. To see a wall of scales and muscle and rage run across the field to her side. To see her lower her head and push Girl out of the way of the strike. To be saved.
Fang shrieked as The Bird’s beak burrowed into her side. It wasn’t that deep, or that dangerous, but her eyes had never been wider. She was in pain. She was hurt. His eyes widened as well. He wanted to move to her side. He fell after only the first step. The Bird yanked its beak back onto its face, and Fang fell beside him.
Girl looked down at both of them. No. At Fang. Her eyes flickered over and over between the hole in her side and her face, and finally, to The Bird.
“Hrrrrrrrr… HRRRRRRRR!!!”