Zone E -- Highlands

[Larfleeze]

An honorable duel? Fine then. If that was how she wanted to play it, he wouldn’t complain, he laughed, and her entire face scrunched up in disgust that he would still be making light of her, “I accept your duel.”

“Accept or not, I’ll rip you apart!” she threw her fist forward, forcing him to duck, and as her other arm came swinging, knife brandished, she caught him in the side, goopy gold blood began to flow down her knife.

“So that’s how it feels to get stabbed.” He muttered, grabbing onto her shoulder, before throwing himself up into the air and twisting behind her. She kicked out behind her, trying to catch him as he came down, but he managed to push himself out of the way. His arm shot down to one of his swords, and a second hand began to form from his wrist, fingers already reaching for his blade. 

Erika whipped around, glaring eyes laser-focused. She rushed forward, staying on his left side to take as much advantage of his half-blindness as possible. He managed to outpace her for the first few strikes, his acrobatics and his edge in speed letting him stay out of the way.  “I thought you said you would fight me!” she accused.  

“Fine, fine. How about this?” he had kept from getting hit for just long enough to fully bloom a Palace Hand. It gripped the sword, and began to spin around him.

Erika remembered being able to simply ignore the spinning blade in the Colosseum, but she didn’t feel like it would be that easy this time. Forced to keep a few meters away by the Spinning Death Palace Hand, Chakravartin bought his first few seconds of rest since the fight began. Two more golden hands began to rise from his flesh, as he stared her down, “You know, I never learned your name.” he said loudly, to be heard over the whooshing of his spinning sword. She began to circle around him, and he matched her, taking slow steps in the opposite direction, keeping the two-yard wide buzzsaw between them.

“That’s fair, because I don’t care about yours.” She said, putting her knife away, and reaching for her shotgun.

Narrowing his eye, he moved the direction of his turning blade just as she finished loading her weapon, the buzz saw was floating at 90 degrees to the ground, rather than parallel now, acting as an impromptu shield.

As she fired, however, it became clear that the shield wasn’t as effective as he assumed it would be. Some of the blast was met by the sword, and by the Palace Hand holding it, but a good two-thirds of the spray met their target.

He staggered backwards, hissing in pain, as the Palace Hand holding the blade lost cohesion, the sword falling to the warm stone floor.
Capitalizing on her new opening, Erika darted forwards, only stopping for a few seconds to fiercely kick his sword into the pit.
Chakravartin kicked off the ground, the two Palace Hands he had made in the meantime shooting towards her and grabbing onto the girl by both shoulders. She was lifted into the air, her eyes widening as Chakravartin skidded to a halt behind her.

“Damn it!” she turned Veru on him, pumping the weapon then firing, but the Palace Hands shifted in location, lifting her further up into the air and making the shot only land a glancing blow. Reaching upwards, she clawed at the sludgy gold hand on her shoulder, crushing it with her gauntlets and leaving all her weight in the other Palace Hand. The remaining Hand struggled to keep her off the ground, but a swift whack with the butt of her gun freed her from its grasp. She shot it, for good measure, sending golden goblets splattering across the wall.

“Taihou!” Chakravartin cried, forming another glowing orb, but Erika simply darted back and fired again, causing it to detonate early. Chakravartin was knocked backwards, snarling as the kinetic burst aggravated his wounds. The cave shook once more, rocks falling from the ceiling and landing all around them. Erika ducked out of the way of a larger stalactite, before turning back towards her unarmed target.  

She almost smiled, but as she saw Chakravartin’s face, she became slightly confused. The god was staring at the ceiling, at the cracks where stalactites had already fallen. His face was full of manic glee. A glowing gold and silver orb began to form, and Erika refused to let him charge it. She fired the fifth spray, detonating the Chi burst and sending more waves through the cave.

“He’s going to bring down the place!” Dust warned.

Chakravartin began to melt, laughing all the while, one hand remaining solid, and charging another Taihou.

798 words according to MS Word.

Summary:
Kong gets stabbed in the gut, and uses his superior speed and Master Acrobatics to get out of CQC.
Kong summons the first Palace Hand, and uses Spinning Death Palace Hand. 
Erika uses Vera to disarm Spinning Death Palace Hand, and get a partial blow on Kong. Kong summons two more Palace Hands and uses them to keep Erika from landing a clear hit. 
Erika destroys both new Palace Hands, one with her Gauntlet, one with Vera. 
Kong uses Palace Taihou, but only charges Variation One: Initial Burst before Erika causes it to go off early, damaging Kong and the cave. Kong charges a second Palace Taihou Variation One, and Erika once again destroys it early, damaging Kong and the cave. 
Erika has fired Vera five times. 
Kong disassembles, and begins to charge his third Palace Taihou, with the intent on causing a cave-in.

[Dust]

It was still by far the fastest way to drop a man and the kick between the legs made him take a knee. Both actually. He grabbed his own crotch in a lame attempt to sooth his pain while his strong jaw hit the warm rock. He watched with both sore 'pride' and sour face as Abyss left him for the other fight. Her kick between the legs only confirmed why he needed to retrain anyone in the first place. Helpless, he watched Abyss use her speedy kicks on Yuki's speedy punches, only noting the other player's charged-up move quick enough to lift himself with his core muscles to try to warn Erika, only for the orb to go off and send the girl flying while shaking the world around them.

His nose and eyes caught wind of trouble as he slowly got back to his feet. Lava still bubbling beside them, rocks crashing down from the ceiling, the dust scattering in the air and making it harder to see at times as well as breath. His instincts screamed at him to get out, that calculator ever present in his mind DEMANDED he leave or risk a cave-in. But his heart told him he couldn't leave Yuki.

He reformed the claws, spending his last payment on the longest lasting ability and prepared to fight the squid once more. Only for her to hit a rock that wasn't there before, and fall into the lava pool beside them. He heard her mutter something before she took the punishment like a Boss. He held no remorse about not reaching his hand out to save her, and no pain about her death as she turned into a puddle more or less; not at all unlike her friend in his death. With freedom from his combatant, he moved up to help his companion. Only to be hit with some basic demands.

'NO! SIT, STAY!!' They weren't her exact words, but he heard them like that just the same. He watched as the woman who was so consumed by rage challenged the child-like god to a one on one, and dare him to jump in.

Alas.. He knew better. Like Takezo and his thrill of the hunt and blood lust; Yuki had her own desires and motivators. Apparently, that was money, but he could relate to her just the same. He watched her rage consume her like a fire, and like fire forge her like a sword. He's seen this happen many times, revenge was a hell of a thing. He had always had very little experience with pride, even before he 'evolved', but he's fought those who burned with frustration; and desperation.  He lowered his hands and let his shoulders fall while his claws melted back into his fingers. This was indeed her fight.

This 'Bushy-Brows' kid, whoever he was, was not as helpless or incompetent as his buddies. There was a reason why Dust warned the group he was that he'd be the one to watch out for. Soon enough this became apparent to the ever vigilant contractor as he watched the cavern they chased their prey into start to crumble and split apart. The kid was tearing this place apart on purpose, and towards the end, he was doing it so blatantly. Dust took a step towards them before her commands locked him back in place. He could only offer advice and support at this point, and only in environment control. His deeper voice didn't echo through the caves as clearly as their's but he let out a warning to Yuki just before more rock shifted and crashed down. His image was gone for a moment, but he poked out from the man size boulder unharmed. Thankfully he was built for surprises.

He could feel his presence still here taunted faith and that if he didn't get out he'd pay for it with a kiss of death. Despite the new information he had from his screaming companion, he didn't want to die. "Kick his ass and let's go!!" He screamed over the chaos and then began to book it out of the cavern. He darted miraculously fast, ignoring the painful rocks that stabbed into his softened feet's soles for every step he took the less tense his body was and the more likely he was going to survive whatever those two were about to rain down on him. He didn't like running from her, but her commanding anger had also tickled his instincts and warned him not to butt into her affairs. He was fine with that.

He kept running and weaving through the cavern landscape until he found safety.

800/800 according to the site's counter. (I don't know how I keep getting exact numbers..)
Dust does as he's told and stays the hell out of this. After assessing the situation, he warns Erika to get out now and then escapes. Going for Safe House E

[Dawnika Snow]

"Tch." The blonde sneered hatefully but with a sardonic grin. She watched the rocks falling around her; the cave was still stable, but one more good explosion and rocks would bury the competitors. Erika had better plans than dying in a cave on some random ass island. She exploded into laughter and looked up to watch the god's golden ball consume power from thin air.

"You!" Erika laughed so hard could hardly speak. "You think I'm scared?! You think this frightens me?! I've fought demons! I've conquered arachnid gods, fought on par with dragons and survived fire more times than I can count on every index on my entire body!" Her voice boomed so loudly Dust could hear it as he ran through the halls of the cave in his escape. "And you think a golden ball and a falling ceiling scares me?! Listen and remember my name, you who claims to be a god. I am Erika Lye, Assassin Prime, Dealer of Death and Master in the Art of Killing! Shake in fear every time you hear my name called and tremble as I approach. When we meet again, you had best entertain me better than your pitiful display on this island."

She had taken her time speaking, letting the Saru charge his attack as he intended. The golwing orb of power had charged almost twenty seconds. The assassin reached down to her belt, hidden by the cloak she wore around her shoulders, revealing the concealed grenades. She pulled two off the belt and bit the pins free with her teeth spitting them free.

CLICK...

"Now you die!" She said putting both of her fragmentations in one hand, chucking the pair of explosives at the god who was about to let off his own. As soon as the explosives let her hand, she bolted for the exit where she had entered before, bursting forward as much as possible. Her hard foot falls were the only sound in the cave, for about three seconds.

BOOM!!!

The combination of explosions blasted behind her, blowing her body forward and hitting the hard rock floor. No time to rest though; she quickly got to her feet again as the rocks began to collapse around her. Dejavu.

"Agh! Goddammit why can't my wings work?! I'm so much faster in mid air! Fuck fuckfuckfuck-" She chanted bursting down the corridor of rock as quickly as possible. She was becoming so tired she was getting sick, but her adrenaline was pumping so hard, she didn't even notice. A bright light appeared showing the exit, and Dust, who was waiting for her.

"Hurry!" He called out, "You can make it!"

"Argh! I'm trying to focus here!" She screamed back weaving through falling rocks, which was getting worse. A large group of rocks piled down between her and the exit: Fuck no. As she approached, she rose her fist one last time. "Stone breaks to my will. GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

With one last burst, her fist collided with the rocks. Dust had just time to side step the explosion of granite that could have taken his head off. The assassin came flying through the rubbled skidding across the ground. When she finally stopped, she tried to stand and ended up puking instead. She crawled a few feet before passing out in the dirt next to her own vomit. It was likely she wouldn't be throwing another punch until she slept for some time.

603/800 Words
I assume that is the death of Chakravartin.
Erika has passed out completely, she is also going to be sore for some time after smasshing through the rubble fist first and using too many burst movements.
Dust made it out safely.

[Karl Jak]

Hey.  All four of you.

Stop not communicating f**king anything with me and deciding fights for yourselves.

It's super frustrating.

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face

Golden Alliance (Abyss & Wu Kong) vs Full Assault (Dawn & Dust)

[spoiler]
#02 Wu Kong DEAD

Dust and Dawn both take 2 points of Accumulated Damage

Dust and Dawn do not receive a cooldown, since their opponents decided to kill themselves for no reason.
[/spoiler]

[Malon]

"Where are we going anyway?" Malon asked after a while of silence. Not that she felt anywhere near "finished" with the information that Tearen had shared with her, but she wanted to get her mind off of things for a minute. She was feeling a building headache from trying to wrap her mind around all these concepts. She needed not fear death, but at the same time she was immortal as long as a white eye-less grinning deity found her interesting. She needed to fear a fate worse than death if someone chose to use a specific item on her. She could mold the world around herself, creating and destroying just about anything given enough time.

"We have the whole day to move about, so long as we return to a safehouse before nightfall we'll be fine. Although..." He checked the tablet. "We should move southwards, another drop is scheduled to take place in the D zone. Probably going to be another one to contest, but if we can move in fast enough we may be able to snag it."

"What about the thing that we got?"

"I doubt that it's a joke item. Karl Jak is an eccentric man, but he rarely does complete nonsense. The item may reveal its purpose if we put it in context. In other words we need to keep looking, and we'll make some sense of it eventually."

"Does that tablet say who's where?"

"No, but it does communicate the eliminations. So at least we know who we will not have to worry about."

"Gildarts, Illidan, Reynold and that white-masked bug are still in the running though, aren't they?"

"Yes, they weren't eliminated. And we may very well encounter them a second time."

"I was able to copy their tricks and weapons during the fight... but now I find myself unable to. Even though I remember how they worked, or what they looked like."

"I believe that what you used is known as Mimic. It's a relatively rare power among Primes, but very useful." Tearen peeked at the tablet. "We still have a ways to go, I'll explain it on the way there."

Continuation from here: http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?...#pid105622

Tearen and Malon are moving from E3 to E5.

[Malon]

„Ah, this is not good... we have a ways to go to make it to the closest drop-zone“, Tearen said. How he was able to read the map while they were advancing was beyond her.

„Do you think that we’ll be beaten to it by someone else?“

„Likely. But just like others can hunt us for our item, we can hunt them for theirs. If someone else picks up the item before we get there they’ll likely make a break for it, towards the safehouse. If we can catch them before they reach it we can force them to turn the item in. While avoiding bloodshed if possible“, he added when he noticed Malon’s face. „I’m not here to kill everyone, you know that.“

„Yes, I do. And neither am I. Of course I’ll help you to the bitter end, and maybe even after that too.“

„After that? What do you mean?“ Tearen asked curiously, and... was that a hint of worry in his voice?

„I spent nearly seven years in a place I called Hell. If even half of what you told us about the Underverse is true, then what I went through is not remotely as bad as the Underverse, and as what the Omniverse could become if Diablo came out and took it over.“

„If Diablo escapes the Underverse the entire world is in danger of becoming as bad as the Underverse, yes... what are you going at?“

„That people must be warned. I... I’m nowhere near as grand or powerful as you, but after I heard your story I knew that I wanted to help. If I can so much as contribute slightly, by warning one or two people that your message didn’t reach, then-“

„ Then you’ll paint a target on your back that’s even bigger than what you have already got. Diablo’s agents are already roaming the Omniverse, and they may be looking to silence my voice. If you help me out you’re going to draw their attention as well.“

„Do you propose that I hide then?“

„No, but don’t play it as high-profile as I do. I was in the Underverse already, they know to look for me no matter what. You are yet unknown to Diablo’s forces. You can spread the news quietly. You can inform other Primes rather than spreading it to the masses.“

„What sort of Primes?“

„That, Malon, you’ll have to find out yourself.“

Tearen and Malon are moving from E5 to E8.

[Karl Jak]

End Day 3 - Early Morning

Being Day 3 - Morning (6 am to noon)

[Gildarts]

BUT WHERE WERE THE DEAD BODIES? COME ON MAN!
 
“If there were dead bodies at least we could assume their deaths were natural, food poisoning, natural gas, tornado, something…” he mused out loud.
 
A tornado, really Gildarts? I don’t see any wreckage that would imply-
 
“Oh hush you, of course I’d notice the wreckage too. Though, since Illidan is outside, you could offer your assistance, Siren,” Gildarts permitted.
 
Ha, finally I’ve won you over! Well, head upstairs old man and we will see if there’s anything missing from the shelves. There might still be looters around, stray survivors looking for food or wealth. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have ditched this place though, and gone to a more secure location on the far side of the island. Right? She was always so impertinent, the formless voice in his head.
 
Gildarts felt his joints grind together as he slowly ascended the stairs. At the top, there were three bedrooms. One for the son, one for the daughter, and a shared room for the parents. Start there first, Prime, she spat, God, this place needs a maid, why don’t we call in your little maid friend, hm? She could tidy this place up in no time at all, wouldn’t you say?
 
“I’d say you never stop nagging and complaining, serpent,” Gildarts growled, “Stay on task.”
 
Fine, but I only have your eyes to look through, after all I am just a figment of your imagination anyway.
 
“Pfft, what if I’m the figment of your imagination, hm? Ever thought of that? You’re trapped in a cage so your mind wanders to create a place where you can still dwell in my mind without actually being here. Sounds pretty illogical to me,” Gildarts persuaded as his eyes swept the room.
 
Humph, when did you grow a brain? she retorted to the oaf.
 
Pale teal curtains, matching sheets, posh fluffy pillows, it was all so ordinary. A smashed picture frame was the only thing out of place, it lay on the ground with bits of glass around it, looking up through the cracks was the family that once lived her. A blonde teenage boy, a much younger sister, and two parents. All of the glowed with the fake smile that people put on before the flash. It was bittersweet and sickening.
 
“What do you make of this?” he asked the voice inside his head.
 
What, so you’re still consulting me? she said with an even-toned smartness about her intangible lips.
 
“If you’re still here, yeah.” Gildarts said, his voice tired.
 
I can never leave… she said wistfully.
 
“You offered to restore my arm and leg, was that a bluff or did you mean it?” Gildarts asked.
 
OH LOOK! Another clue! she yelped to distract him.
 
Their eyes together fell on the bottle of pills in the master bath, a few of them had scattered along the sink’s marble counter, however the bottle itself was empty. “Suicide?” Gildarts frowned. This was getting dark, suspenseful, and real.
 
I doubt they had enough pills for the whole family, Gil. she said with a tone almost akin to sympathy.
 
“So, the lumberjacks evacuated mid-meal. The parents tried to kill themselves with pills but were unsuccessful, the picture is smashed likely because of that. What’s it all mean?” Gildarts surmised. One might realize that he is Doctor Watson, and the Malefactor was the true Holmes in this scenario. You could almost smell the tobacco from her pipe...
 
Whatever was coming they couldn’t stop. Not even their own deaths were fast enough. The woman of the house… The mother, if that is what you wish to call her, wanted to take one last look at her kids before succumbing to whatever tragedy it was that took the couple. If I had to guess, she’d divorced her ex husband and remarried this one, taking the kids with her.
 
“How do you know that?” Gildarts asked, maybe the Siren had some use yet.
 
Gildarts, sweetie, her new husband is black and the kids were both naturally bleach blonde.
 
There was a pregnant pause.
 
“So?”
 
Ugh! You’re as mindless as ever. Let’s go to the kids rooms and then we’ll check the shoe rack for missing pairs. Then we’ll get out of here.
 
A curt nod delivered him to the kids’ room. The tween had posters of his favorite rock bands, one named after a very ugly “Maiden” and well, some hidden dirty magazines classically underneath the boy’s bed. Yes, Gildarts stashed a few of those in his baggy pockets, opting for those with the title “Jiggle Magazine” and “Playboy.”
 
Tch, really? the specter shamed him.
 
Next, he was heading down the stairs. Other than his new stash, things were completely ordinary. Little clues had been found, and it wasn’t like the crash mage could talk to ghosts, the dead, or see in the past or future. Yup, he was still stumped. He knew nothing other than that the lady of the house was divorced and remarried. Had this been a waste of time?
 
Shoes, Gildarts. she reminded the oblivious mage.
 
“Oh, uh, I’m already wearing… Oh. Looks like there’s a few sets missing from the top shelf,” Gildarts offered.
 
Ugh, so they left the house. Maybe they were hypnotized or controlled by something? I think there’s a lot you’re not seeing. Now, while I can’t control your body, I can cause you pain if you don’t cooperate. See, I’m invested now.
 
Gildarts took a step over the front door which was still face-down against the ground and reunited with the demon hunter.
 
“Find anything?” Illidan said out of pure courtesy. He hadn’t even lifted and turned his head in Gil’s direction.
 
“Welllllll…….”
 

Gillidan moves C4 to E3

[Illidan Stormrage]

Illidan's muscles coiled like springs, tense and ready to fire. "I've had enough down time in this camp. Let's get moving."
 
Gildarts went to open his mouth, but the night elf interjected. "You haven't found anything here yet, have you? No point sticking around to solve a mystery with no evidence. If we travel on from here, you might find a new lead." Illidan didn't care about this enigma that the mage was trying to unravel. He had no idea how the Omniverse worked, and he had no idea how this island did either. It could've spawned from the mind of anyone, already tailored to look abandoned, when no one had ever lived there in the first place.
 
"Yeah, I guess so."
 
"Let's move out, then."
 
The two unlikely allies left the lumberjack camp behind them. Nealapph and his woman had left already, and the night elf hadn't passed this plan onto Gildarts, but he secretly hoped he could track them. Whatever the green eyed creature was, it certainly didn't mesh with his appearance. A mist of magic hugged Nealapph, so Illidan knew some form of sorcerous camouflage was being utilised to hide his true identity. Since the night elf's magical sight could literally see the remnants and trails of the arcane, he hoped that the residue left by Nealapph's passing would still be thick enough for him to follow.
 
Illidan eyed Gildarts as they pressed through the brush surrounding the safe house. The red haired human carried the chainsaw he picked up earlier, acting as if it were something of importance. The steel fangs that lined the long shaft looked terribly deadly, though they weren't overly sharp. It was far too unwieldy to use as a sword, so what was the object's purpose? He hoped Gildarts knew, because Illidan sure didn't.
 
"Pick up the pace," Illidan groaned. "If you can't move fast enough, drop that stupid toy and be done with it."
 

Gildarts and Illidan moving E3 -> E1

[Tearen Wover]

Tearen was frustrated.

Their desired item in Zone D had been snatched up not only before they could get there, but by an impressive team of Primes. It would simply be bad tactics to try and take it from them at this point, especially since there was no guarantee that it would be worth the effort and blood. The Shadow glanced over at Malon. The girl seemed to be weathering her wounds well, but her skin had taken on a definite palor.

"Malon, wait a moment." he asked, holding a hand out. She obliged, and only blinked slightly when he placed a hand on her forehead.

"I don't...think I have a fever." she said flatly. Tearen shushed her and closed his eyes, allowing the extrasensory perceptions of his healing hands to trace a portrait of her body's signals. No, no fever currently. But soon, if action was not taken. This complicated things. The ex-enigma looked at the mountain that loomed above them, whose high-fog billowed and swelled in a cotton melange with the grey rainclouds. Though his telekinesis provided a simple way to keep the rain off of them, it was still a bad idea for Malon to be traveling in her current condition. He sighed; it was time for some big plays.

"Sit down, we need to figure out what we're doing." he murmured. She nodded, and the two found a relatively dry spot under a stand of conifers. The ex-enigma produced the healing light from his hands again and began to press it into the Hylian's body. It was relaxing for the both of them, and Tearen had to suppress a yawn...though perhaps that was also a symptom of their increasing altitude.

"Hokay. So. We didn't get the item in D. I guess that depends on what you want to do in the rest of this competition. Now that you know you're immortal and all. Feeling bold?" Tearen said, spiriting the disease from her blood. Her normal hearty complexion was already starting to return. Tearen willed his tablet around for her to view, and showed her the profile of the Prime known as Dust.

"This guy has been forcing kisses on almost everyone he's killed or come into contact with. I don't like him." Tearen said, playing the footage of his brutal murder of Abyss. Malon shuddered as she watched his claws run across the squid woman's skin.

"Well if we find him, I have no problem putting him in his place." she said with a huff.

"Good. I'll certainly be happier with his corpse-"

"Tearen!" Malon snapped, whirling around. The Shadow was honestly caught off guard, and stepped away from the farm girl like a naughty child.

"You said no killing! It's awful. So much of this is awful, but we chose to be better. Let me believe in you." Malon said, her blue eyes suddenly taking on a cold cast. Tearen's mouth twisted into a fomentation of retort, but he sighed instead. She was right. They were not here to be vigilantes.

"Right, so..." the eldritch human said, beckoning her back to their therapy session. The cool blue light resumed. "...what about here?" he said, briefly pointing to a subzone on the other side of the mountain.

"I think that's within our reach. Feel like a hike?" Tearen said in a chipper tone. Malon smiled and nodded; the mountains and their countryside reminded her very much of home. The Hylian girl then pulled their only prize so far out of her knapsack.

"What about this thing? Don't we get points for finding other...pieces of it?" she asked, turning the object over in her hands. Tearen nodded.

"Yeah. There's no guarantee that we'll find someone else with the other part, but I have some ideas. But first, let's get that new trinket." Tearen said, sealing away his therapeutic energies. Malon stood back up, feeling a hundred times better than before, but at the same time, guilty.

"...you don't have to waste your resources on me, Tearen. I could be a liability." she said softly. Tearen placed a firm hand on her shoulder, and banished her concerns with a smile.

"Young woman, you are my redemption. I will not let go of you so easily. Now then, let's see if we can find a pass..." Tearen said, picking up his scattered belongings and heading up the wooded trail. Malon was stunned into catatonia for a brief moment, but followed suit soon thereafter. She had never felt so utterly cared for in her entire life.

Tearen and Malon move to E9
Tearen uses x4 MediGels on Malon.

[Dust]

Dust slammed his back into the rock of the land, breathing hard as he panted his lungs back to their normal size. The rain was already beginning to pour down over him. He could hear thunder, or was it the two inside fighting for their lives? He found himself feeling hopeful for her, and smiling at the idea of her failing. She didn't come off as the type of person to take losing well. He decided to take a chance and look down, seeing her coming through the shadows with piles of rock on her tail. He was shocked but waved her forward with his hand.  Encouraging her out of the Cave. She wasn't having any of that in the least, and Dust felt his hair shift from on top of his head to the sides as if it were mimicking his wolvern ears. It just made the whole situation a little sadder.

The rocks began to collapse, and he shifted backward to take in the bigger picture, looking down just in time to avoid the hot-headed blonde girl from breaking past the rubble and face-planting in the hard earth. He winced in her benefit and then watched as she shakily got up, only to throw up the fish they'd had this morning.  With the cave filed with the mountainous rock and no movement following his companion, he could safely assume they won. He fell back on his tail and sighed heavily in relief, letting the rain wash over him and her. He glanced back at Yuki who was already passed out, and then up at the sky. His eyes were the same color as the sky at that moment, and he just wanted to watch it for a while. "Well, that wasn't the story I thought I'd be telling Takezo." He said to himself as water smacked against his sculpted abs.

Eventually, he brushed the waves of dark maroon hair back, opened his mouth for a while to get a fresh drink before finally rolling over and getting to his feet. With another heavy sigh, he picked Yuki up. Not that she was heavy, but the burden of being a nice guy was. He lifted her up by her torso and hooked her knees with his other arm, then prayed to Omni - and a little to Karl - that she wouldn't wake up while he carried her in such a feminine way. He considered removing her gauntlets as well but decided they were already going to be completely soaked as it was.

---

Sometime later, Dust approached a mass of tents that were barely worth calling safe. He fell against the rock's surface again and just stared at it. Carrying someone in his arms like this wasn't something new to him, nor was coming back to a base full of tents as tired as he felt at that moment. He could see the shadows of his past walking around, from tent to tent, searching for answers to questions he never knew. "SW-808 has returned!!" The guards would call, and he could see visions of people crowding around him once more while they inspected the girl in his arm. Whoever he brought back has always been highly important to them. He never understood why.

He was a good boy non-the-less.

Dust pushed off with his shoulder and carried her towards the center, pushing past the flap of a tent and setting her down gently in a bedroll. He stripped her of her hoodie, her hat, and her shoes, then tossed a blanket over her in hopes to keep her from catching a cold. Then he wondered if they were even capable of doing such silly things now. He watched her sleep for a moment, before crawling back out of the tent and closing it behind him.

Wolf made his way to the fire pit in the center, but doubt he could make any use of it. He instead sat there in the rain and watched the ash turn into the mud while he chewed over his options. After some time had passed, he wasn't sure how long because he didn't check the clock, his bag began to off. Surprised, he scrambled to open the main pocket and find what it was that was making the noise. Yanking out the tablet from before, he pushed his dripping hair out of his face and read the message. A drop was happening. One not very far at all from where he was as well. But when he remembered Dawn, he bit his bottom lip and glanced back. Should he wake her? Leave her? She was in no condition to move mountains..

What's he going to do...?

Dust carries an Unconscious Erika to safehouse E

[The Humble Sage]

The droplets sprayed down on him from the uncaring sky. The Sage wondered idly whether Karl Jak had the ability to decide the weather that would grace his event. Would the mad man with a personal universe prefer to drench his combatants while they scrambled about the island, thus adding to the sense of desperation? Or had he simply been forced to deal with the weather that Omni had decided would blow through Karl’s pocket universe this particular weekend. In truth, either option seemed possible.

The Sage’s questioning was brought to a halt as he spotted two familiar figures stalking through the rain from a far distance. Immediately, the Sage dropped to the ground, mud squishing slightly as he began to crawl towards some kind of cover. He had no intent to tangle with that particular pair of primes again if he could help it, though both of them deserved whatever end befell them in this blood game. He watched the two primes marching through the rain soaked fields, The Crash mage seemed to be carrying some sort of strange blade, though its hilt was the most unwieldy design the Sage had yet seen on an implement designed for cutting. How could one even get momentum behind a swing like that?

The Sage waited in the mud and the weeds until he felt confident that the two warrior mages had not seen him he began to crawl towards a patch of underbrush. Reaching the cover, he paused for a moment, scanning the area. There was no sign of them, though the Sage was not convinced that meant they were gone. He couldn’t afford to spend the entire day hiding in the bushes however, and after waiting what probably amounted to another ten minutes, he set off again. He wove between the smoothly shorn trunks, head swiveling to watch for approaching enemies, posture low in an attempt at a subtle gait. He made his way out of the wooden graveyard, and towards the foothills at the base of the island’s mountains.

EEP! GILIDAN ALERT! Sage Scurries from B12 to E1. No challenges made.

[Sterling Archer]

“Wuzzah...wha’s goin’ on?” I felt my body floating roughly through the air supported by something hard and unsteady across my ribcage. I blinked hard against the water dribbling past my eyes and down the tip of my nose. “What happin’?”

“Oh good, you’re awake,” a raspy voice muttered before I met the ground with a heavy thud. “We’re going for another item.”

I got to my feet uneasily, grabbing at the insectoid leg by my side and using the divots between the scales as fingerholds.

“Ugh, don’t do that. It feelss weird,” Cell muttered, grabbing me by the armpits and hoisting me the rest of the way. “C’mon, no time to wasste, Captain Morgan.”

“That’sh Captain Archer Morgan,” I slurred, ignoring how nonsensical the sentence was. “Just call me Cap’n.” I smiled, imagining myself wearing a large brimmed captain’s hat, knee bent over a large barrel of rum. Delicious rum.

“For f-UUUUCK sake,” the bug replied, forcing me into a slow walk. “I’ll call you Ssuper Ultra Mega General Archer if it keepss you moving. SUMGA.” He paused. “I can’t think of a word that beginss with Y, but trusst me, I tried.”

“Oh shut up,” I said, rubbing my bleary eyes. “God, and here I thought I would blunt my headache a little. Apparently this is not the hair of the particular dog who bit me.” I reached into my cargo pocket and pulled out a couple of miniature bottles of gin. “Maybe these will work…”

“Uh-uh,” Cell snapped, tugging the bottles from my hand and stuffing them into his khakis. “You can have it when we get there.”

“But moooooom!” I whined, pouting as I walked.

“But nothing,” the roach asserted. “Now let’s go before some sshmuck gets there firsst.”

“Fine,” I muttered. “But you’re lucky I’m already drunk otherwise you’d be in BIG trouble.”

“I’m ssure.”

Team Perfect Agents is moving from D2 -> E11

[Dust]

Dust remained passive to his surroundings as he stared at the tablet now, instead of the pit in front of him. He eyed the one in the zone nearest to him, but his gut was telling him that was a bad idea. He wanted to go in just to see what it was that twisted him in knots like this. But the one in the A-zone sounded tempting. He counted the spaces between him and it and wondered if he could make it in time. If he left now he could, he was sure of it.

Yet, something else was holding him back. His eyes came back over his shoulder as the sun caressed the edges it could. He saw the tent his companion was in, his partner. The same woman who threatened to skin him alive if he got in her way. He did not blame her, he couldn't. A job was a job, and that was evident in the shadow figures that still haunt his memories. He knew that more than anything. But he was starting to see patterns here.. The longer Takezo, Dawn, and he stayed together, the riskier it was. Twice they've met up with each other, and twice one of them has been taken from the group leaving them in teams of twos. He's been lucky, it would seem.

Splitting up however brought several different emotions through him. He feared for her safety despite knowing they would have to fight each other one of these days. He worried she'd see him as abandoning her, or else she might not care. He wondered now if they were friends, or if this was just a mutual kind of relationship. The kind where he gets something out of it and she gets something out of it, but it wasn't companionship. She has been very silent since the kiss. Maybe he'd been right to assume it ruined the bond the team had had. He didn't like the idea of walking away from an unconscious woman either, but the rules stated she'd be safe here.

When he thought of it as a step towards or away from survival, there was also a mixed answer there too. It was pleasant to have a girl around for his own means, not to mention someone of interest he could talk to and about with her. But if it painted a target on the two of them this was no good either. Even if going alone was just as risky, he could move faster by himself.

But there was no true way to know what the right answer was...

Dust pushed the damp tablet into the bag and hoisted it back on his shoulder. It felt heavier than normal but nothing he can't handle. He stopped at the tent he left Dawn in and wished he had a marker of some sort to leave her a message before he turned his back to it and headed northwest.

Dust moves, alone, from Safehouse E to E6

[Sterling Archer]

“So you said there were two items to choose from?”

“I did ssay that, yess.”

“And you chose the one that was up a goddamn mountain why, exactly?”

“What can I ssay? I like a challenge.”

“Yeah, well you know what I like more than a challenge?” I asked, tripping over the rocky path and landing on my hands and knees. “NOT CLIMBING A FUCKING MOUNTAIN IN A RAINSTORM.”

The bio-android rolled his eye, the stuffed animal crammed in his vacant socket twitching in a way that made my stomach lurch. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he had discarded those awesome shades. Though with the deluge trying its best to completely drown us there wasn’t exactly a lot of sun from which to shade. Still though, who wants to fight a 7-foot roach in shades? It’s like Corey Hart always said, you don’t switch the blade on the guy in shades, oh no.

“Seriously though, the other one was just south,” I said, looking at the map on my tablet. “And I don’t think anyone else was even anywhere down there.”

“Yeah well, we’re going thiss way. Sso deal with it.” Cell held up a middle finger, grimacing as a the usual zap hit him. I was beginning to think he wasn’t even trying to avoid the shocks anymore.

“Whatever,” I said, resigning myself to playing snake on my tablet as we trekked. Of course the pathetic thing didn’t even have solitaire. And every computer comes with solitaire. This was some serious bullshit.

Though rain clouds darkened the sky, the morning was beginning to lighten slightly. It was no longer necessary to walk by the light of my tablet, which thankfully had remained powered despite days of being off the charger. So they could afford to send us off with magical never-dead tablets but no decent food? It figured. I unwrapped another disgusting energy bar and crammed the whole thing into my mouth before my body had a chance to protest. Desperate times, desperate measures.

“Wait, where’s the blue thing?”

Team Perfect Agents moving from E11 -> E10 and awaiting the drop.

[Tearen Wover]

"So, Tearen, how did you end up getting banished anyway?"

Uy. Tearen wiped a sheet of rain away from his face. They were solidly inside the clouds now, and the air had become thin. In their dash to try and make it to E10 by the time of the drop, the pair of Primes had opted to take the quickest, yet most grueling, way over the mountain. Straight up and over was an undertaking that would have taken any normal mountain climber several months to plan and execute, but for two hale and experienced demigods of the Omniverse, it was nothing more than a slightly more strenuous hike.

In fact, the Shadow had indeed noticed how Malon had been becoming steadily more and more confident in their travels since they had discussed her status as a Prime and what that meant for her. Of course, it also inspired new questions in Malon's mind, chiefly: If the Underverse is for terrible people, why had Tearen been sent there?

It wasn't as if Tearen was ashamed of his decision to kill the Arch Dragon on an objective level, but he did wonder if he had done more harm than good to the Ashen Steppes. Everything in that verse existed in such a raw, tentative state, it was hard to tell if a given action would have lasting damage. Time would have to be the ultimate judge.

Of course, as the ex-enigma explained his quest to slay Volvagia Malon's stared at Tearen as if she had just stepped on a gold nugget wrapped in a dog turd.

"You..." she said in a small voice, "...KILLED....Volvagia." she said, gesturing towards the elder Prime with trembling hands.

"...yes?" he ventured, unsure of what ties Malon was about to reveal to him. Hopefully nothing offensive.

"...Volvagia was from my world. Hyrule. The Gorons too, I met a few before the world...fell." she said softly, resuming her steady pace past patches of snow and crackling scree.

"Everyone always said Volvagia was too strong...a goddess in and of herself, that our fabled hero would be the only person ever to slay her. Never happened. Not at home at least..." she pondered, casting another look back at the eldritch human. He was no boy in a green tunic, but having known Tearen for these past few days, she had no doubt he was capable of what he had said. It still didn't answer her question though.

"So the banishment...who...?"

"Me. I did it. I banished myself. It was a panic situation. My humanity was returning and I didn't know how to cope." Tearen grumbled. He still was somewhat embarrassed about that whole ordeal. Malon simply nodded and shrugged her backpack off as they stopped to have lunch. This guy really was something else...

Tearen and Malon moved from E9 to E7

[Tearen Wover]

"Hm. This may not be as easy as I had been hoping." Tearen muttered, perched on a cliff that overlooked the boundary of the zone known as E10. As usual, his tablet hung in the air next to him, toggled to the map screen with contestant markers blinking all over it. Cell and Sterling Archer had elected to come to this subzone instead of the drop that was considerably closer to them. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, the only justification that Tearen had for such behavior is that the two enemy Primes were here to see Malon and him specifically.

"I'm beginning to accept that nothing on this island ever is." Malon griped from her perch a few feet away. She looked like a natural, sitting on the rain-slicked outcropping, tending to her weaponry. The ex-enigma idly wondered which one of her illusory counterparts was whispering to her at the moment. Unlike Gildarts' malefactor, Tearen could not actually hear the disssociative thoughts that Hylian girl had mentioned. She was also watching the footage of the fight between Archer, Cell and Graowr; her level of savviness and ability to adapt never ceased to impress him. Malon caught Tearen staring and he went back to peering down at the drop zone.

"Why did you mention our little party favor on that twitty thing anyway? Seems a little risky." Malon said, hopping off of her boulder and moving next to Tearen. He nodded, with an unhappy smile plastered on his face.

"Absolutely. But Karl Jak thrives on drama, and if we're going to be serious contenders, we need to be willing to make some big plays." Tearen said as he clutched his chin with one hand. It was nigh impossible to see anything in detail down in the scalloped ridges below, but the map indicated that the bug and his human friend were already skulking around. Malon's surface thoughts revealed that she wasn't entirely convinced with the elder Prime's reasoning, but she wasn't about to start calling the shots. He'd gotten them this far; she could afford a little trust in the face of immortality.

"You sure you're up for this?" Tearen asked her, glancing askance at her determined face. She nodded slowly. He could hear her survival instinct screaming at her to run. Hide. Stay out of sight. The newly burgeoning Prime inside of her, however, overpowered such knee-jerking with a steady mantra of 'I have power.' Good. Tearen would do his best to cultivate this kindling ambition.

"Alright. Well. No sense in dawdling." he said flatly, and jumped off the ledge, landing a few dozen feet below and beginning to slide down the slope on a heavy slurry of pebbles and rain. Malon joined him a moment later; sneak attacks be damned. If Cell and Archer didn't want to meet them in the open, they would just have to hunt the bastards down.

...and not KILL them or anything. But they would probably need to be heavily discouraged from snagging this goody.

Tearen and Malon moved from E7 to E10
Waiting for Item Drop

[Dust]

For a guy who survived several natural disasters - which was partly because of his abilities to transform into a wolfman - Dust wasn't actually the type of guy that could navigate perfectly. Among the fissures and the mountains, the half naked man was being pelted by rain as he tried to tell one large rock mass from another. He pulled out the tablet several times to get back on course, but even that couldn't help the man. He found himself passing a tree that he was sure he's passed like six times now. Eventually, he gave up and looked for somewhere to rest without being rained on. Even if it was his favorite kind of weather. He found a cave that looked like it was split by a god's weapon and squeezed through.

Inside it was dry except for a small stream that flowed down the hill towards some undiscovered well of water wealth. He pressed himself in the teeth of the cave and settled in for a nap. How long could he possibly sleep?

He reached up to rub the back of his neck, finding the collar that was latched around his neck but not surprised by it in the least. He's worn a collar for a good decade or so, this was nothing new to him. He wondered if anyone was disturbed by the device. People unlike him who have either had so much freedom and will power that the very idea of being constricted was blasphemy or people who had so much more power than him that the very idea of being controlled was laughed at! His fingers turn it around his neck, gently so not to alert anything inside it that he was trying to take it off. After all, that was so alien to him.

He finally released it and only wished he could move it from his neck to his wrist instead, had he had time to think it over he would have requested as much. Dust twisted back to get comfortable and watched the water stream down the hill with light flickering across its ripples. Listening to the rain soothed him, for what little that was worth. His mind still not sure what to do..

Dust from E6 to E5.

[Dawnika Snow]

Several hours went by and the assassin laid in her bed inside the small tent. Her hair slowly return to its normal colour as she awoke, her blue eyes piercing through the dark curtain that hid her face. She graoned and pressed her hand to her face as she drug herself to her feet, still feeling the pain of her last fight.

"Oh, shit. That fucking hurt." She grumbled looking around at her gear that laid at the side of the tent. Dust must have carried her to the safe house and out of the rain - how valiant. She would have done the same for him in that situation, but she wasn't accustomed to someone even giving a shit about her wellbeing. She gathered her gear again, placing the gauntlets of steel in the pack that laid on the ground and walked out of the tent. Dust was no where in sight. She didn't think he would leave without great purpose, he probably was seeking the drop that was nearby. She could join him, but if he wanted her to come along, he would have awaken her from her unconcious state beforehand.

Seeing this as a 'goodbye for now' situation, she looked down at the tablet in her hand again, where the item drops were labeled on her map. There were quite a few this time around, and if she was lucky, she could probably nab one before someone else came and snagged it. In the southern part of the island, there was one of the drops. She had yet to even explore Zone D yet and didn't see a reason not to. Even if she missed the drop, knowing the terrain of the island would be advantagious when she wanted to hurry along the next time around. She began to head south, and hopped that drop was too out of the way for any other competitors to bother with it.

Safe house E to E7. Dawn is now a solo party.