The Grand Battle 2: Round 3

[Heartless]

"Whatever happened to the warriors of old? The ones who would stand their ground in front of even the toughest adversary. The ones who would fight to the bitter end. The ones who would grasp victory from the clutches of the strongest evils. How long has it been since a worthy hero stood within these halls?"

The deep voice boomed from the shadows covering the throne room. The room was indeed nearly empty. The surrounding darkness contrasted with the pure white walls of the room. Two rows of four pillars surrounded a red carpet leading straight to the throne. A mysterious figure was sitting there, hidden by the darkness. At his side was a blonde middle-aged man wearing a dark gray cloak. He had a faint smile on his face, one that you would see on the face of a schemer whose plan was moving accordingly. Of, course it was easy to imagine that it was exactly the case.

“Radim! I am getting bored of this! Is this not a world where warriors should strive? Is this not a world where the strongest is quickly surpassed by the weak if he is not careful? Is this not a heaven for the bloodthirsty? How far will this land fall before it is no more?”

The mysterious figure clenched its fist. Anger resonated within his words.

“Hmmhmmhmm, my lord, I see you are feeling particularly poetic today. Your words have definitely grown in length ever since the days where you were but a feral creature striving for power.”
“I have had nothing else other than words for the last few centuries.”
“Do not worry, my lord. I happen to have made a device that will allow me to look for and summon fierce fighters for your entertainment.”
“Oh? Interesting. How goes your search?”
“Sadly, strong warriors are very rare in this day and age. However, I have found seeds of what may be the opponents your heart desires.”
“It seems you have a plan, as usual. Tell me more...”

[Heartless]

The six warriors wake up from a dreamless slumber. The first thing they notice is that they were not lying down, but instead sitting in gold-plated, cushioned chairs. The quickly take note of their surroundings. They appear to be in a dining room. In front of them is a wooden table that could only be the work of excellent craftsmanship. On the side of the table top they notice the shapes of men in various poses, slaying mythical beasts amongst other strange and amazing creatures. The level of detail indicates that the artist must have worked months on each and every one of them. On top of the table lays a feast that could feed a hundred men. Varied meat, exotics fruits and delicious appetizers are scattered, within arms reach.

The wall are red, with gold patterns inscribed in it. On the walls are four paintings of battles from ancient past. On the first they see a tall man with short black hair wielding a broadsword fighting a shorter man with silver hair using two daggers. On the second they see a strange humanoid in a red cloak, facing a moderately tall creature with long, spindly wings. On the third they see a steampunk robot with a soldier standing on top of it, chasing down a wounded, two-legged creature. On the last they see two tall men standing, staring straight at each other, which is honestly kind of boring compared to the other action packed paintings.

At the end of the table stands a young man, wearing a classic military outfit. He has short brown hair and blue eyes and seems perfectly normal. The amount of medals dangling on his chest seems to contradict his apparent youth.

“Warriors, he speaks, I am Sir James Jeremy MacGilmour and I have summoned you here because the universe is in great danger. According to our spy, the evil overlord Donovan seeks to destroy the core of our world, the Great Crystal. He has amassed the strongest of troops in order to pull off his evil plot. In fact most of our own soldiers were tempted by his dark force. I need your assistance, for I will not be able to take him down alone despite my power.”

His expression quickly changed to one of surprise.

“Ah! Yes, I apologize, this must be a lot to swallow for all of you. In fact you most likely have not recovered all your basic functions such as moving and talking yet, although I suppose you have already realized that.”

Indeed, any attempt at movement from the warriors was fruitless.

“I will let you recover from the effects of the summoning. Feel free to eat and ask questions once you are ready. Do make it quick, though, we do not have much time.”

The warriors are seated in two rows of three, one on each side of the table. The order of the seating, clockwise starting from the left of MacGilmour, is Raden, Karen, Xavier, Ana, Grode and Soren.

The prelude begins...

[DuelStriker]

Raden looked around a bit, though his vision had been greatly affected by whatever strange method had been used to bring him here. His vision was blurred and was slow to recover. He could make out a few things, one of the closest and most notable was the luxurious food display on the table in front of him. Then he noticed the man to his side, who introduced himself as Sir James Jeremy MacGilmour. Raden still wasn't fully coherent when this MacGilmour character suddenly said something about danger and evil plots of some sort.

The hell is this guy going on about... and... just where am I? he thought. He realized he felt a bit of a fatigue as well, probably another side effect of whatever had happened. He didn't really look around the room or really take notice of any of the others in the room (other than MacGilmour of course).

"I will let you recover from the effects of the summoning," MacGilmour said.

...Summoning?

Raden sat there for what seemed like hours, but was really only about 20 minutes. Slowly, the blurriness in his vision decreased. He found it easier to move his body now. He wasn't sure whether or not he should trust this food on the table and thought over it for a few minutes, thinking about whether or not it would be a good idea to eat some of it. He decided it wouldn't hurt anything and reached out and grabbed some sort of fruit. To Earth-humans, it would have looked exactly like an apple, only it was blue instead of red. He also grabbed a small loaf of bread and bit into it, it was possibly the freshest bread he had ever eaten. He looked to the right and saw the pictures on the wall. He saw the picture of the man with the broadsword fighting the kid with daggers. My... that's certainly an impressive sword... I wonder who these beings might be? Certainly they must be legendary if they are depicted as such here...

Then, realizing he was greatly distracted by these surroundings, his thoughts turned to matters at hand. How did he get here? He had been in the middle of...

He was about to ask a question, but MacGilmour looked like he was about to announce something else. He figured he'd wait and see what MacGilmour would say now that it was easier to listen and pay attention to him.

[airob]

"Just...where the hell am i?" Was the first thought that came to Soren´s mind as fast as he realized he had been tricked by some mischevous force.

Dizzy and unable to move or talk, he wondered why his regenerative powers weren´t working, as they were supposed to cure him from any anomalities in his body. He realized he was not alone, he could feel various other presences in the room, and not a single one of them was a common being. "I´m not alone, some of them...are humans...or so i would classify them, they are obviously not common humans if so, at least, not from the mind, they emanate a strange aura...their soul is different, some are corrupted, some posses unnatural powers, like me. If only i could see what im surrounded by..." As he started regaining his body functions again, he heard a man mumbling things about world destruction and summoning, he could grasp at least a name...a name that bumped in his head like an echo " James Jeremy MacGilmour".
As fast as he was able to see, he observed his surroundings, without taking particular interest in any of the other people as he had clearly got most information he wanted by just their presence, he noticed various pantings on the wall, and had particular interest in a specific painting depicting two men staring at each other. "If the beings on that painting really existed...i wouldnt want to come across them" he thought.

He then quickly turned his attention to the food feast he had in front of him, and without a second thought, started chewing at everything his clumsy body could grab: "Who cares who these are...and where i am, priorities first, im hungry...besides, i dont think any of these people will move from here anytime soon."

[zaaps1]

You know that sudden wave of relaxation you feel when you enter a cool, air-conditioned room from a scorching summer day? One minute, Xavier, in a magma-based body, was planning his escape from his desecrated planet of Agni, as he had been the past few years. The next, he was in a stunned state in some foreign chamber as his normal self. "Well that's one way to escape, I suppose. Sure saves me a hell of a lot of effort," he thought to himself. "But where exactly am I?" His mobility was greatly restricted by whatever arcane devices his captors put him through, but his skin still was able to commune with the world around him. He concentrated on his body, and although much harder than normal, was able to identify traces of gold leaf in the chair he was in. "Well whoever took me sure knows how to treat his captives! How posh. I wonder if they'll have a feast ready for me and some pretty ladies to dance with..." He opened his eyes and looked around. "Well, it's like they can read my mind!" Being in his human form, Xavier immediately felt the years of painful hunger that he was able to avoid in his magma-based body. But now, subject to normal human weaknesses, he could not help but to gorge himself on the meal in front of him.

He looked around and saw 5 other humans also slowly regaining consciousness from their stunned states and beginning to eat. As he ate, Xavier began to examine the food. Typically, an elemental analysis of the components in the food allowed him to identify the food's origins and give him more information to deduce the circumstances of his captivity. However, he was unable to identify any trace elements he was familiar with. "I am nowhere in Acheron, that's for sure, but just because I don't know where this is from, doesn't make it taste any worse!"

Some large figure standing before the 6 humans was talking. But Xavier lent him only half his attention and barely caught meaning of the words. As far as Xavier was concerned, food was the first priority here. Anything this guy had to say wasn't important unless he had the audacity to take away his food first.

"But seriously, you've got a problem here," he thought to himself, "you have no idea where you are. Although it's unlikely Acheron has you captive, much may have changed in the Empire in the last 200 years. Ah, whatever. Who cares? I'm off Agni, aren't I? That was the whole plan, get out of Agni. The plan never was, 'don't get caught while getting out of Agni'. This gives me room for some creative liberties! How exciting, I wonder how all of this will play out."

[Cereal Killer]

When Karen woke up she was sitting up in a comfortable chair in a regal looking dining hall. She could only see; any effort to move or speak was futile.

“Someone must have drugged me in my sleep and brought me here,” Karen thought. “Question is, what the hell do they want with me this time?”

Karen proceeded to look around the room till she gained the ability to move her arms again. Her sight was a bit blurry, but she could make out that she was in a really tacky place, or so she thought. She could make out six other figures at a dining table with her, but could not yet see them in detail. Then the figure at the head of the table started talking.

“Warriors, he speaks, I am Sir James Jeremy MacGilmour and I have summoned you here because the universe is in great danger. According to our spy, the evil overlord Donovan seeks to destroy the core of our world, the Great Crystal. He has amassed the strongest of troops in order to pull off his evil plot. In fact most of our own soldiers were tempted by his dark force. I need your assistance, for I will not be able to take him down alone despite my power.”

She decided at this point he could be ignored, when finally her arms became numb as she could move again. She reached in her pouch on her right thigh and pulled out a filled syringe. She immediately injected her left forearm with the mix and then her inner thighs and other forearm. She figured if she could think properly, see properly, and hear this dumbass and his unmistakable babbling then her head was fine. Within seconds Karen was fully alert from all the adrenaline pumping through her system, she took the opportunity to start paying attention to all the other people as the man at the front told them to eat.

She looked to her right and saw a man delirious as hell; he couldn’t have been older than twenty in her eyes. Then she looked to her left and saw another man about the same age who seemed to be adapting to the chemicals more easily. Then looking across the table she finally saw a change of pace. The man looked to be even older than her. And to his right was even a female with gold eyes, a rare genetic anomaly especially among the mode of this data set of figures. And to the right was the talker and some other uninteresting guy in his twenties. Overall the group was incredibly boring, except for Karen of course, because she was awesome. Slowly all the men to her right started to eat.

“Well thanks for testing the food dumbasses,” Karen thought. This group was getting even more boring as Karen started to indulge in the free food, careful not to try anything new. It wasn’t worth the risk or the material trying to dissect it and figure out if it was really edible.

She looked at the four paintings on the wall and analyzed each one. What Karen analyzed from the first painting was that broadswords were incredibly boring weapons and had no amount of creativity. Looking at the silver haired kid she couldn’t also help but note how annoying emo kids could be, it was hardly a spectacular fight. In the second painting was some random blue alien and what was probably some weird ass alien creature he was battling, at least the sci-fi changed things up. In the next she saw a poorly created robot, something she could have made in elementary school, it lacked any ingenuity in her mind, and she found the alien it was chasing just as tasteless. On top of the robot she spotted a man she couldn’t help but smirk at, a generic looking redneck American soldier, she was surprised to find a disgusting package of really shitty cola in the painting rather than Bud Light. In the last photo she saw two men staring at each other. She couldn’t help but think this was the worst of them all, absolutely nothing was happening and she was sure it was a painting analyzed in language classes worldwide warranting bullshit pieces of writing containing absolutely no substance, just like the two warriors in the painting.

Karen had no idea who would drug her in her sleep to enlist her in some army, but she figured they must not know her very well. “And an army, really?” she thought. “How in the hell do they expect this group of kids who are probably more concerned with procreating, an older man, and some redheaded step child to work with me to defeat some giant evil force. I’d better talk to this weirdo.”

Feeling the adrenaline pumping Karen looked up with a new spark. She was ready to destroy something, so she figured she’d ask her questions first and when she undoubtedly got some vague answer she wasn’t looking for, leave the stupid place for good after gutting these kidnappers.
So Karen got up and kicked over her chair and garnered looks around her.

“I didn’t enlist in some army Prince Jimmy Mcfaggington,” she said in an elevated tone, speaking to the blabbermouth at the head of the table. “You couldn’t have really expected me to work with a group of kids, some old man, and this girl I’ve never met before as an army of goodness or whatever. It’s obvious you don’t know me; I don’t work for world peace or any of this garbage. So where in the hell is the exit to this place?”

[Autumn Storm]

It was the noise of the female human that finally woke her from the drug induced slumber. She didn't quite understand what the human was saying in her state, but it certainly sounded human enough for the message to get across... that is to say full of arrogance and self-importance. She opened her eyes as she slowly sat up in the ornate chair. It didn't take long to find the woman responsible, nor did it take long for her opinion of the woman to drop like a stone into frigid water.

The rest of those occupying the room seemed more or less indifferent to the abduction, sitting almost without a peep. Following the eyes of a couple of them, she spotted the painting on the wall for the first time. As her eyes scanned the length of the visual she realized with a start that she did not recognize any of the races depicted that didn't appear human. Finally her eyes rested on one figure, a girl with wings that seemed to be more for fighting than flying, and felt a sense of familiarity steal over her. This sense was quickly ended by the sound of a chair crashing to the floor at the feet of, you guessed it, the human woman. Ana sighed deeply and spoke up.

"T'was many, many years ago we left ye, human. It saddens mine heart to think that thee may reflect the 'progress' of thy race" her voice seemed to be heard on more than one level of one's consciousness, as though she were speaking to your spirit in addition to your ears. Her voice, however, was also heavily accented and somewhat hard to understand.

[Mr--Clean]

"FOOD!" Grode yelled the second he gained conscience, or at least he would have if he retained his ability speech. His attempts to dig in were also as fruitless considering he was under the same influence of the same drugs everybody else was. Before he could even attempt to force his body towards the sweet delights in front of him, a man with the aura of death and power came before him. At first the man simply reminded Grode of his jailer guards who wore similar uniform and even smelled just as bad, but he soon realized the man was far,far,more. This man spoke of holy war and evil kings, which were things his past guards could not even spell, much less discus. While the man did look honest enough and his words did seam to ring true, Grode could not shake the feeling there was far more the man was not telling him, after all feasts are not prepared for men drafted into a war against their will and surely this war, or any war for that matter could not be won by six people no matter how many of them had 3 foot long chain saw.... things. It was around this time Grode did actually gain his abilities to move slightly and he took the chance to sum up the other people at the table, or at least he did when he wasnt stuffing his face with the nearest edible object. Nearest to him is what appears to be a surprisingly young midget who was just dropped out of hair stylers school and what appeared to be his brother, this one was taller of the two but with equally funky hair. Next was a sight more common to grode and almost as beefy as the burrito that laid in front of him. Next to be noticed was a young slender girl who Grode would have not even noticed if it wasnt for her long hood draped over her head that was obviously there to hide something. Lastly and what got Grodes attention most was a three foot long chainsaw knife thing that was wielded by some hot and somewhat nerdy looking girl. At this point in his life Grode has seen weapons far more larger and menacing but what struck him was it being held by something so small and whatever the opposite of menacing is. Grode was not a man who enjoyed mysteries and quickly sprang into action. He quickly dropped his fork under the table and while crouching down to pick it up gave a subtle look upwards. Disappointment quickly colored his features. "Damn shes wearing pants" He whispered to himself, "and here I was hoping to get to know her better by what kind of panties she wears" Grodes sour mood was not aided by banging his head under the table on his way back up.

[Heartless]

MacGilmour quickly intervenes before Karen can respond.

“My, my, you people have recovered your energy rather quickly. That's good, very good. Now then, miss... Karen, was it?”

MacGilmour pauses to raise his hand in the direction of the chair that was kicked down. In a single smooth movement, the chair straightens up and floats over to where it was, as if it had gone undisturbed. He continues.

“I understand that this might not be the most pleasing situation for someone of your... personality. However...”

He then clenches his fist. Karen is suddenly pushed into the chair and forced to sit down. Any attempt at movement is now impossible. MacGilmour smirks.

“This is not a case of want or not want. A warrior faces unexpected challenges in many displeasing situations, you are not exempt from this rule. You see, in this world where power is king, every villain must have his hero, for he cannot be evil if good does not oppose him. I am the hero of a story past, and now one of you must succeed me in order to defeat Donovan.”

He lowers his arm. He closes his eyes, and his face shows hints of nostalgia.

“The six of you will be participating in a Grand Battle. You will be sent into distant worlds in order to battle each other at full strength. As you grow stronger, the weaker ones amongst you will be eliminated until one remains. The winner will be forever recorded in the annals of history. The losers are to be forgotten.”

MacGilmour opens his eyes. His look is very serious.

“This will be a journey of growth and discovery for all of you. There is no greater privilege than to stand on the stage of history, and I expect you all to take full advantage of it. I wish all of you good luck and pray that you will overcome your flaws in order to become worthy heroes.”

The warriors feel themselves slowly vanish. The room surrounding them becomes blurry and eventually, they cannot distinguish any shape and black out.

[Heartless]

A voice awakens the warriors.

“Salutations. You do not need to know my name, but what interests you is that I will act as the announcer for this tournament. Your first stage will be the ruins of the ancient civilization of Heiv Eeian, a race of bird people that mysteriously vanished a thousand year ago. These ruins are located on top of the Great Pillar of Bhoul Dhur on the planet Kor. Make sure you don't fall off, I guarantee that the results of the fall are not pretty. Do not worry, this is but a replica, so the atmosphere has been adjusted to your preferred settings.

The Heiv Eeians were rather well known for making labyrinths out of their cities, and this one is perhaps the greatest example. Its twisted streets and dead-ends have confused many raiders hoping to find treasure. The most notable landmark would be the pile of stones that once was the imperial palace. It was not built to last however and the ravages of time has made it so that what should have been a testament to the ingenuity of this civilization is now an open field covered in rocks. How sad, really hmmhmmhmm.

Now then, feel free to go all out in your battles. I happen to have made a device that will allow me to recover you when it detects you've taken what should be lethal damage. You are now free to go on without feeling the pressure of dieing, although do remember that once you reach the battle with Donovan, I will not be able to provide such measures. In fact, in the ancient Grand Battles, such a rule would have been considered shameful, since it was believed at the time that death was much more graceful than living in shame. Such a waste, though... Let the games... begin!”

The six warriors are now stranded in the city. The buildings are all an aged yellows. They cannot detect anyone in their immediate surroundings. They now have full control over themselves.

[Mr--Clean]

Grode slowly picks himself up while chuckling to himself. He knew that there wasnt the slightest chance that things were going to be as the soldier man said and his doubts were proved correct even quicker than he imagined. Luckily being the man of action Grode was he had already planned for such an event while at the table. Reaching into one of his many inner coat pockets he pulls out an oversized turkey leg and begins to pick up where he left off.

Not being his first fight to the death tournament, it only takes him a few bites to decide on a plan of action. Grode knew that in any kind of death match without his opponent clearly in front of him was more a game of hunting and being hunted, and in this game he who hears and sees most wins. Grode was not a fan of others hearing or seeing his techniques before he was dam well ready for them too. Obviously there was only way to stop that from happening. The announcer had to die. After all who else hears all, sees all, and could announce whatever he wants on a loud speaker?

Grode tucks away his snack as he begins to put his plan into action.

[DuelStriker]

Raden suddenly saw everything around him go black as he continued sitting in the dining room in... whatever building that had been. After blacking out again, he awoke only to find himself in yet another incredibly odd place. He looked around to see rows and rows of ancient, crumbling walls and buildings and found that these structures even formed a sort of maze. Then his thoughts quickly turned to what had happened before he arrived here, and he thought about what MacGilmour had said before he had blacked out again.

MacGilmour hadn't answered everything in his second speech as Raden had hoped he would. This guy apparently thinks he can do whatever he wants... Does he not understand how much I am needed back on Sorvenjia? I hope the others won't.... he stopped mid-thought. He didn't want to continue that thought, for it would have been too painful.

He sighed. "So it's a fight to the death then?" he said to himself. "He clearly doesn't know how many times I've been on the verge of death..." he continued. He looked down at his side, making sure his sword wasn't missing. He gazed up at the sky. It was a bleak shade of gray, with no sun in sight. Just like home... he thought as he stared at the sky. This world was a truly dreadful place. The buildings almost looked sad from being left to ruin and decay. Moss could be seen at some points along the walls, as well as large tangles of vines. Some walls looked as if they would turn to dust just from the slightest touch.

Raden was hesitant about doing this. But he knew one thing. Going along with this would most likely way he would ever return home. Even though he didn't want to fight... he would not let anyone get in his way. He started walking at a fast pace and headed into the maze. A look to his left showed a large hole in one of the walls. Through the hole, he could see the void that the announcer had referred to. He realized he was really close to the edge of the city. He proceeded onward passing under a crumbling archway into the maze.

[airob]

Soren, sitting on the ground with his back against a really rusty and damaged wall with traces denoting that age and possibly warfare had took care of bringing it down, listened carefully to everything the announcer said, he then clutched his hand with a handful of some weird grass that seemed like it was struggling to sprout from between a group of rocks, which had a pale yellow coloration, only to realize those rocks were in fact pieces of the wall itself that had been torn apart. He then reached on to his pocket to take out some device and put part of the grass he grabbed in a small hole in the back of the device, proceeded by some beeping and text appearing on the device:

-"These are some weird herbs, not present in any of my biology logs... interesting, just where am i? i mean... i heard that voice calling in some planet and long-ago extinct bird race, but where exactly is this planet? or where was it? assuming this is but just a replica, and that the real planet may already be lost, happens often... "

Soren walked along the big crumbled wall, taking a quick look at any holes in the wall he noticed trying to have a better understanding of the area, as the wall was very long and blocked all visibility, he felt forced to continue parallel to it; At the other side a vast plain with many crumbled rocks and walls weren´t of any interest to him for the time being, this big wall had caught his attention.

-"I could just jump this big thing, it´s no hard task for me, i could even fly and reach the other contestants right now... "

He thought, and as he was about to spring in to the air he stopped sharply

-" on a second thought, that would make of myself an easy target, besides i´m not all that interested in fighting these other people, im a neutral being, not one to join evil or good... why did i get involved in all this? i´ve fought many evil beings in the past, but i had my reasons..."

A concerned look in his face quickly gave way to a sarcastic grin. After a while of walking he noticed a big destroyed section in the wall big enough for him to pass through and poking his head slightly while looking around he then proceeded to pass through. Many aged and torn structures adorned the landscape, along with little vegetation and paths covered in small and big rocks. All these features arranged in such a way it formed an impressive labyrinth, with the exception that it was possible to see through any damaged structure, making it easier for him to figure out his way. As he navigated through the maze, he thought he had seen something at about fifty meters in front of him, something vaguely resembling a human, in a very long and straight corridor, he quickly sprinted and went after his sighting, turned left in a corner and suddenly stopped with all his strenght, as it turned out was at a dead end, and just in front of him: Nothing, no soil to stand on or a thing to see at the horizon, just a massive cliff , clouds and mist below blocked any view of a possible bottom;

Looking below and firmly holding from the corner of the wall he said:

"That... that must be what the announcer was talking about... falling from here is not advisable, anyway, it just took me for surprise, i dont even have to fear falling down, i can just fly back up... but as i said, i dont want to be seen yet, so i had best avoid making something as stupid as i just did again...

He was in fact, at one of the corners of the city.

[zaaps1]

"GODDAMNIT I WAS ENJOYING MY FOOD YOU ASSHOLE!" Xavier curses to himself. Give a man a feast after centuries without eating, and then just take it away after a few minutes? Absolutely unheard of. Torturous. Unfathomable. "Whatever, I guess if I can keep myself alive in this city-arena-whatever I'll get another shot at that food later. Ok, good plan. Stay alive. That shouldn't be too hard at all. None of those other humans back at the feast looked Agnian or from any other planet in Acheron. But who knows, they might have some special tricks...how exciting!

Xavier looked around. All he could see where ruins of an ancient city. "Reminds me of home..." Xavier took a deep breath. He didn't know when his first encounter would be, so he figured it would be a good idea to be ready at all times, and began to look for a suitable substance to trace. Unfortunately, it seemed that the ancients who built the city were quite adept at stone architecture, and precious little else. Xavier had learned from years of trail and combat that regular stone was typically not a good element to bring into battle. All the same, he walked up to a half-destroyed pillar and touched it. He closed his eyes and felt a communion with the stone. From a quick analysis of its constitution, Xavier confirmed that they were nowhere in Acheron, and that the pillar, and likely all other buildings around him, had no material battle-hardy enough for him to trace.

"Ok, let's analyze the situation. The announcer said that the inhabitants were bird-people, so ideally the ability to fly would be advantageous here. Also I could probably count out using that treasure to trace as it's unlikely I'll be any more lucky that those raiders before me. The atmosphere here....it's a little too thin for fire. I doubt fire would easily exist in this damp air, and would not be worth tracing...hmm....but I wonder...

He reached into his jacket for his lighter, ignited it, and touched the flame. In a matter of seconds, Xavier had transformed into a fire-based body, and was now a walking, humanoid inferno.

"Ahh...it's been years since I felt this familiar warmth and crackle of a fire..."

But his analysis was correct, the damp air prevented the stronger uses of his pyrokinetic abilities and he had some trouble generating fire. "So I know not to fight here in this form, but I guess I could do a little looking around while I'm so mobile..." With that he slowly began to levitate and flew off forwards as a bolt of fire.

He searched for a while, but not did he not find any trace of the other competitors, not only did he not find any hints of more productive materials to trace, he also realized the enormity of the labyrinth. From a skyward view, it had not an end in sight. He sighed and began to thin out his body. This was a useful trick he learned in his fire-form, he could thin about his flames that constitute his body so that he was invisible to the human eye. Although in this form he was far too weak to attack, it did give him an element of stealth. In this case, it allowed him to pick his landing spot without fear that another competitor would know his location. He picked what seemed to be a ruined bathhouse.

Back in his human form, he sat down inside. Contemplating what to do next. "I know I have my powers back, but what use are they if I can't use them? Fire is too weak here, Iron is not fit for situations like this, and diamond...I'd rather not waste so readily..." He got up and took a look around. "I know this city likely doesn't have anything on the surface that could be remotely useful..." then he looked at one of the drained baths, "but what about...under it?" He walked up to the meteal grating that he figured lead to the city's sewer system. "Now I'm onto something! This is going to be fun!"

[Cereal Killer]

Karen looked at the saffron walls with disgust. They were boring, and she imagined that some ancient civilization of birdmen wasn’t going to satiate her curiosity whatsoever. So she decided to start walking through the maze of a city towards any living creature she could get her hands on.

“f*** this place,” she said to herself, and followed it up with a “and f*** you too,” into the sky.

She didn’t mind being watched, far from it in fact, Karen loved putting on a good show. But telling Karen what to do? Well needless to say, that was a huge no in her book.

“Ugh, I need to get my hands on something for the time being,” Karen thought to herself. “All this boredom is killing me, I need a test subject, something to play with. The men look totally uninteresting, but that girl looks nice, I’d play with her any day of the week.”

So Karen continued walking down the winding and crazy streets of a town she knew nothing of. She spotted some moss over some buildings, and a bit of wreckage, but it was pretty obvious to her no one had been here in at least the century the announcer gave. And besides if they were really avian people any human could tell you that there would be bird crap everywhere. She paused for a moment, the thought interested Karen.

“I wonder what their waste product looks like even, is it just a humongous white splatter?” Karen took a brief moment to think about how a bird man would theoretically look and their physiological structure. “Wait, am I really thinking about the functioning and fecal matter of some dead bird species? I want to…”

Then a genius idea popped into Karen’s head.

“These sad fucks aren’t really worth killing it seems. Playing with them would be boring I imagine. But what if I can do some real research?”

“Ok, General, I’ll make you a deal,” she said shouting into the air. “Give me an incentive to win this fight and I’ll participate in your piece of s*** game; I’ll also defeat the evil spaghetti overlord granting you galactic peace and crap. All I want is a research lab filled with all the best subjects from around the galaxy, and I want full license to play with them however I wish.”