RPG OtakuBoards Survivor: Game On! <PG>

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]The giant face of Andross scanned the corridor dilligently for signs of movement. Something had registered on its sensors a few minutes ago; a few quick bursts of his blade cannon had sliced it into satisfactorily small pieces. The square blades stuck in the ground like slanted metal tombstones, dust still slowly settling around their bases.

Against his low-resolution vision, he failed to notice an anomalous square of marvle that was slowly creeping towards him.

Krystal has breathing heavily; not only was the slab extraordinarily heavy, but she was also scared to death. She was creeping forwards in a crouching position, facing the floor. All she had to go by were the reflections on the marble in front of her, and those were vague at best thanks to the dust disturbances caused by Andross' ballistics. Her heart stopped every time she thought back to a few minutes ago...

[i]"INTRUDER ALERT!"

Krystal had stepped too far out of the shadows; Andross had spotted her and the machine's eyes glowed a firece red. Huge square sheets of metal sliced the air as they shrieked from its mouth and thundered into the floor. She could feel them getting closer as she sprinted to the safety of the hole.

Crack! The last one shattered the slab underneath her feet and she toppled forwards, arms outstretched and desperately reaching for the hole in front of her. She grabbed it with her fingertips and pulled herself in, just in time for a blade to whizz overhead...[/i]

It'd taken about five minutes for her to convince herself to come out of the hole. So much for stealth, she thought.

She was almost directly underneath the polygonal visage now; her whole body was quaking under the combined strain of the slab and her fear of being spotted.

At least the floor was becoming clearer now. She could easily see where she was meant to be going, as well as the steely gaze of Andross. Although undoubtedly she'd be more visible by now, too. She slowed her movements to a slow, continuous shuffle as Andross' head disappeared from her line of sight. Her heart was pounding in her eras; she just wanted to get to the other room as soon as-

[i]Bump.[/i]

She looked ahead. The marble slab had hit the archway she'd been working her way towards and she was now behind and underneath that hideous piece of glorified CCTV equipment. Letting the slab drop to the ground, she let out a quiet yelp of panic and hurried into the hall.

If the hall before was huge, words had not yet been invented to describe the size of this one. Its ceiling looked to be higher than most mountain peaks; its walls were lavishly decorated with pink marble and mouldings of various different corresponding colours and its floor was a sprawling, picturesque mosaique of a scene of Moogle life. At the dome's apex, a flash of blue caught her eye- was that the treasue Mog was after? She squinted up to try and see what it was; it looked like a statue of some sort- a long-haired man holding a huge katana. If Krystal knew her gem colours, it looked to be made of Benitoite, one of the rarest gems in existence.

"How the hell do I get that?" she sighed, folding her arms. She looked around the room for a possible clue.

A control panel on the wall made itself obvious. Krystal wandered over to it and looked at it carefully. On it were three number keys and a 'Go' button. Curious, she pressed the 'Go' button.

The walls around her rumbled in reply; the decorative tiles slid away, revealing an intricate network of metal cage tunnels that labyrinthed their way up to the centre point where the glass chamber housing the statue lay. Three entrances flapped open on the ground level, inviting her to crawl into them.

Tapping her foot in thought, she jabbed the key labelled '1'.

The lower third of the room rotated round, moving the cage tunnels and the entrances to a different configuration above. Unfortunately, from down here she couldn't work out where they led, although she could tell there were some dead ends.

This would take work.[/COLOR]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]As Yuna travelled down the pipe she realised that the journey of this tunnel was longer than the other two she had already been through, it swerved sharply, sending her rocking around the walls crazily. She was finally ejected at the other end and she fell on her rear painfully. Yuna got up and rubbed the sore spot tenderly as she looked at her new surroundings, it was the largest room she'd come across, and she was surprised to see that it looked like an Olympic arena with green walls.

Along the left wall there was a long running track, completely straight, along the right wall was an identical running track, except that there were hurdles positioned every few metres. There was a pole vault section in the middle. There were two doors on each end of the room as well; on the left wall one was labeled "Weight Lifting" and the other "Discus", along the right wall was "Javelin" and "Long Jump".

Yuna looked startled when she saw a large, ogre of a man. He was larger than her, looked rough, and definitely heavier and stronger than her. He looked like a gorilla, with his back hunched, his hands flopped down with his knuckles brushing the ground, and a dumbstruck expression on his face. She walked over with a smile on her face, extending her hand.

[B]"Hi there, I'm Yuna."[/B] she introduced politely.

[B]"Me, Ricky."[/B] he said, showing his IQ level in that one sentence. He picked up his right hand from the ground and shook Yuna's hand.

A man in a black and white striped shirt ran up to them, blowing sharply on his metal whistle. Yuna looked at him as he put his hands on his hips.

[B]"Yuna vs. Ricky the Barbarian! First event, 100 metre sprint! Competitors please take your positions!"[/B] he yelled at them, blowing on his whistle again.

Ricky groaned and walked over to the track on the left. Yuna followed him and watched as he stood in the outer lane, crouching down with his hands just behind the thick white line. Yuna copied him and set up her feet correctly, ready to launch herself off at the sound of the pistol.

The referee checked that they were behind the line and stood to the side of the racetrack, he looked at the pocket watch hanging from a chain around his neck and held the starter pistol above his head.

[B]"Ready? Set!"[/B] he pulled the trigger and pushed the button on the watch simultaeneously.

Yuna and Ricky pushed off their feet, getting into a straight position. The two of them sprinted down the track, Ricky could surprisingly keep up as he swung his trunk like arms for momentum and his large legs making big strides. Yuna pressed forward, leaning forward and swinging her arms quickly, her breath coming out in even puffs. The finish line was a few metres away and Yuna crossed first, closely followed by Ricky. They heard another whistle as the referee hurried over, looking at his pocket watch.

[B]"The first event goes to Yuna! With a time of 10.03 seconds! 5 points for Yuna!"[/B] he bellowed with another sharp call.

[B]"Second event, 100 metre hurdles! Competitors, take your positions!"[/B]

Yuna swiped her arm across her forehead, wiping away beads of sweat that had formed. She walked over to the right side where the second track was and positioned herself in the same way as she had during the sprint.

The starter pistol went off and Yuna ran straight toward the first hurdle, Ricky was slightly behind her in the parallel lane. She prepared herself and pushed off, stretching out one leg and bending the other to her side. Yuna cleared it, but heard a thump a second later. She turned around and saw that Ricky hadn't made it over, instead he fell over it and was getting up, continuing the run. Yuna continued, making every hurdle perfectly except for one where she jumped too early and her leg collided with the barrier. But despite that she still made it to the finish line before her opponent. She realised that it was because he was too heavy that he couldn't throw his weight over the hurdles and instead just had to fall over them.

[B]"Second event goes to Yuna with a time of 15.06 seconds! 5 more points for Yuna! Please head over to the pole vault!"[/B]

Yuna grimaced and rubbed her ears, the yelling and whistling of the referee was hurting her ears. Soon the two competitors were standing in front of a line, each held a long pole higher than they were. Ricky went first and roared as he launched himself into the air and over the bar, flopping onto his back on the mat. He had a chance to take the next level for more points but he couldn't make it. When it was Yuna's turn, she easily made it over the first bar, and progressed until she was at the highest level which was 4.2 metres high. She took a deep breath and ran forward, pole stretched out horizontally. Yuna shoved the pole into the wedge shaped hole and pushed off as hard as she could, launching her body up completely vertically and over, lifting her legs so they didn't knock the bar. She fell the long distance until she felt the comforting surface of the landing mat.

[B]"Third event, Yuna at a height of 4.2 metres! 20 points! Ricky gains 2 points for clearing the lowest bar!"[/B] the referee announced before leading them over to the room with the sign, "Discus".

Ricky again went first, and Yuna looked at him strangely as he raised the metal disc to face level. He sniffed it and took a bite out of it, before spitting it out furiously, angry that it wasn't a cookie. Yuna gaped as she watched the disc with a chunk missing from it sailed through the air, before landing. The referee ran up and checked the distance, writing it down on his clipboard. Yuna stepped up and picked up the heavy disc. She stood in the centre and spun around twice, with her right arm outstretched, holding the discus. She released it with a yell and watched it fly, hoping it would beat Ricky's. She was disheartened when it fell 10 metres short of Ricky's.

[B]"The fourth event goes to Ricky with a distance of 46.35 metres! 20 points! Yuna gets 10 points for getting over 10 metres!"[/B]

They exited the room and entered the one next to it which was the "Weight Lifting" room. Ricky was grinning and chuckling as they entered, Yuna watched him strangely and wondered why. She soon knew as he breezed through each of the weight levels, finally lifting the heaviest weight proudly above his head. When it was Yuna's shot, she started at the smallest, lifting it quite easily, but after 3 more, she was getting tired and it was taking a lot of energy. She looked down at the heaviest weight and gulped, she knelt and heaved at it, grunting, she lifted it past her knees and tried to change her grip on it so she could lift it higher, but her arms gave out and she was forced to drop it. The referee signalled the end of the event with another blow of his whistle.

[B]"The fifth event goes to Ricky, lifting the heaviest weight of 230 kilos! 20 points! Yuna gets 15 points for lifting all but the final weight!"[/B]

The trio wandered over to the other side of the arena, entering the "Javelin" room. Against one wall were spear looking things, with a sand pit stretched across most of the room and a bit of track with a thick black line. Yuna watched Ricky as she ran across the track and hurled his javelin at the black line. It soared before crashing into the sand, making an indent with the point. The referee measured the distance and noted it, calling Yuna up for her shot. Yuna copied Ricky and threw the javelin as hard as she could, watching it crunch around the same area that Ricky did. She held her breath, wondering which of them would win.

[B]"The sixth event is a tie! Each competitor gains 5 points!"[/B]

Yuna gaped, they had gotten exactly even, that was an incredibly rare thing to happen in a sporting event. But she was glad that she got some points anyway. They were lead into the final room which was similar to the javelin room without the spears. Yuna went first and raced down the track as fast as she could, launching herself at the mat and swinging her body forward, making sure to fall forwards as she lost her balance. Ricky went next and tripped over the fat, face planting right next to the line.

[B]"The seventh event goes to Yuna with 2.65 metres! Yuna gets 10 points!"[/B]

Yuna was panting from the exhaustion of the sports, it had been a long time since she'd had so much exercise at once. The referee tallied up the scores and looked at them both.

[B]"The winner of today's Track Meet is.........Yuna, with 70 points! Ricky the Barbarian comes in second with a score of 47 points! Congratulations!"[/B]

The referee reached into his pocket and extracted a green sphere. Yuna knew what would happen as soon as she played the sphere, so she shook hands with Ricky and the referee before watching it.

[B]"Wrong again, but don't give up!"[/B] Yuna sighed and looked at the two men as she was teleported away.

Yuna wasn't surprised to find herself back in the tunnel room, placing the green sphere on the new pillar. There was only one tunnel left, and she hoped that the treasure she was looking for was in that one. She grabbed the fateful bar, and swung herself down into the final, yellow tunnel.[/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The staircase was crawling with marionettes.

From her hiding place under the stairs, Xiaoyu watched them bumble about, aimlessly swinging their blade-tipped arms, and thanked her lucky stars she'd decided to wear a dress the same colour as the castle. The staircase was translucent like the rest of the [/font][/color][font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]Château, but even if the marionettes were intelligent enough to look through the floor (and she doubted that, considering they weren't even smart enough to move on their own) she'd be camouflaged.

It was possible there wasn't even a treasure in this tower. She could leave, avoid the cleaver-swinging puppets and find an easier route. But there was no guarantee an easier route existed, and it had taken quite long enough, wandering through the labyrinth of rosy crystal, to find this tower. And if it turned out there was a treasure here, she'd kick herself at the end of the challenge.

Mog had said to use stealth and wits, not head-on fighting. [i][b]So there must be a way to get up the stairs without having to fight them ... but there's so many, they're blocking the way! I can't avoid them!

[/b][/i]Xiaoyu thought back to her fight with Panda. She knew the weakness of her opponent and used it to her advantage. The loss of her strength, agility and power-up moves didn't stop her from noticing the obvious weakness of the marionettes. It didn't take long to work out how that could be turned to her advantage.

She emerged from under the stairs, grabbing the edge of the spiral staircase and hauling herself up, right in front of a marionette. Its arms were tipped with razor-sharp scythe blades, but the gangly, awkward limbs couldn't reach a target right in front of its body. As it began flailing, before too many others could notice her, Xiaoyu grabbed the puppet's shoulders and pulled herself up, feet scrabbling at its chest for purchase. She started panicking; others were starting to notice her, and they were in a better position to slice at her than the one she was currently clambering up. Planting her feet firmly on its chest, she heaved herself up, letting go of its shoulders and swaying momentarily off-balance before grabbing madly at the strings that connected its limbs to the ceiling of the tower. They were thinner than she'd been expecting, and sliced at her palms as she lifted her entire body weight, heaving her feet up onto the marionette's shoulders.

Suddenly alone in a forest of black strings, she wasted no time in tearing a couple of strips off the hem of her dress with which to bind up her bleeding palms. The marionette on which she balanced had been quickly surrounded by others, and they were raising their arms, skinny, too-many-jointed limbs allowing the bladed ends to extend right up to Xiaoyu's head height. Swallowing panic, she grabbed once more at the strings attached to her steed's arms, wrenching both around to her right. The puppet's scythed limbs obediently whistled across in front of it, slicing off the raised arms of her attackers with a splintering [i]crunch.

[/i]Three demonic marionettes slumped in the hammock of their strings, now bereft of controlling influence.

Carefully working out which strings were attached to 'her' puppet's feet, Xiaoyu started the long march up the staircase, towards her treasure.
[/color][/font]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]The clattering of the cage floor echoed through the giant domed hall, giving the air of there being six Krystals crawling around in the tunnels.

She had only reached the top of the first level so far; each time she moved the massive section of wall she was greeted with a fresh piece of dead-end to bump into, and she was getting frustrated. It was bearable the first three times; by the sixth she was beginning to become rather fraught.

She slid down the last few feet of the tunnel to re-emerge at the entrance nearest the control panel. She suddenly remembered that there were yet two more entrances for her to try, and it took all her effort not to tear her tail off in frustration that she may already have missed the one that took her right to the top. But there'd have to be more than one way up, wouldn't there?

She sighed, and considered a different strategy. She lay in the centre of the room, directly underneath the prized statue, and followed the path of the cages with her finger, outlining where she had been already and trying to ascertain where the dead ends were.

The sections of cage which link up will have to go right to the edge of the rotating bits; she knew that much. What added an extra degree of difficulty was that whenever she rotated the lowest circle, bits of stone pillar would jut into the initial laddered tunnels leading up the walls. She'd have to move them round one at a time and plan her route that way.

Hauling herself up, she moved over to the control panel and jabbed the '1' button, then pressed 'Go' repeatedly. The lower circle rotated continuously, and she could see at which points the cage tunnels linked together. She fixed her gaze on one point that she knew was accessible from the entrance opposite her, and followed it all the way round the circle until it locked into place again.

Taking a few long seconds to memorise the shape of the cage path above her, she ran towards the tunnel and crawled inside, grabbing the rungs of the ladder and climbing up as quickly as she could.

To her delight it progressed into the second circle. She turned two corners and hit another dead-end. Happy that this combination of first and second sections seemed to work, she climbed all the way down to the control panel, pressed '1' and '2', and then punched 'Go'. Both the first and second sections rumbled round. As she watched, she could see that the tunnels were already built into the wall- the only thing that moved were the metal dead-ends and pathways set by the cages. The rotation of each section moved the access through the stone pathways to the top. If you removed the metal cages, there'd be at least eight ways of reaching the goal.

That wasn't an option, though. If she had a big enough screwdriver and several years, it would. For now, she'd have to carefully watch the cages and hope that the huge mechanism wouldn't break down half-way through.[/COLOR]

[Ellerby]

[color=#333333]Mario ran as fast he could from the upcoming Pacman. It was slowly gaining on him and soon found himself lost. On top of that, the repetitive blue wallpaper and black ceiling was getting on his nerves.

[i]Surely, he'll tire out soon.[/i] Mario commented to himself. But of course, the yellow ball kept on trekking and eventually found itself within 5 feet of Mario. It was just before the final chomp that would bring Mario to his death that it happened. The Pacman disintegrated instantly and what Mario saw when he looked back shocked him.

Standing there with glazed black pupils, staring at Mario, was a giant blue blanket with eyes that he recognized as a ghost. The ghost glared at him and inched forward. Mario inched backward. The ghost took another large step forward while Mario followed with a few steps back. He turned to run.

Taking all the lefts he could, Mario intended to find the way out of the maze as fast as possible, considering the large ghost would probably eat him if he didn't. He just hoped that was the only ghost around. Since he was running in the same wallpaper for so long, it didn't take long for him to notice the large red cherry in the distance.

Being careful about his stepping, Mario just barely made it to the cherry in time to get away from the blue ghost. As soon as his finger made contact with the red, it disappeared in a flash and before he knew it, the ghost that had been chasing him -and was now about as big as his head- was running away.

It didn't take long for him to catch it as he was so much bigger and faster than it to begin with. As predicted, when Mario dived at it and clasped his fist around it's head, the ghost split into millions of tiny pixels and flew away. A large tremble and rumble followed that, and before Mario realized it, the walls had all crumbled and he could see the way he had come as the only light in the room.[/color]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]Yuna was prepared for anything for this last tunnel, she'd had the strangest experiences, but her jaw dropped as she shot out the other end.

She looked at her environment and the first thought that came to her mind was, [B]"You've gotta be kidding me..."[/B]

Right in the centre of the humongous bright yellow room was a familiar looking orb filled with water that was being held in by an invisible force, it was hung over a large pit as usual, with her standing on the middle level of the giant sphere. It looked like the challenge required a bit of Blitzball. Yuna's face immediately lit up when she saw the faces of her teammates.

[B]"Rikku, Paine!"[/B] she yelled, running over, embracing her fellow Gullwings.

[B]"Yunie! We're here to help! And we brought someone else along too."[/B] Rikku grinned.

[B]"We can win this, Yuna."[/B]

[B]"Tidus! This is great! We need to get this done fast though, I have to beat the other contestants."[/B]

Yuna looked over at her opponents and frowned, out of all people, she didn't want to verse them. Keepa, Datto, and Botta, with Wakka standing in front of them. The Besaid Aurochs didn't look too happy about what they had to do either, but she knew they'd do their best to beat her out of pride and duty.

Yuna turned to her team, and nodded, they all ran to the edge and jumped, slipping through the barrier and landing in water, expelling water from their lungs with ease. They watched as the Aurochs did the same. Yuna and Wakka swum to the centre where the ball would be released, they both wore grim expressions as they shook hands.

[B]"I hope ya know that I won't go easy on ya, Yuna."[/B] Wakka explained.

[B]"Of course, I'd be insulted if you didn't give your best."[/B]

They released and Yuna crouched into position opposite Wakka, the horn sounded and the hatch sprung open, shooting the bumpy ball into the sphere. Yuna pushed off the ground as hard as she could, racing Wakka to get the first possession of the ball. She snatched it and started to swim toward the other end of the field, her grip on the bumps firm. Yuna turned her head and saw Tidus swimming along the other side, keeping an eye on her in case she needed help.

Suddenly Wakka came up in front of her, stopping her path. Yuna narrowed her eyes and threw her weight forward, left leg outstretched. Her foot came in contact with Wakka's abdomen as she broke past him, continuing her swim. It took an amount of energy from her, and if someone stronger got in her way, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to break through.

As soon as she finished that thought, Datto swam up quickly, and she could see Botta a short distance behind ready to her on if she broke past Datto. She hesitated and her eyes picked up on the movement of Datto shifting as he prepared to tackle her. Yuna saw Tidus was open and he nodded discretely. Yuna hurled the ball across the sphere pool as hard as she could to Tidus who grabbed it and swam to the goals where Keepa waited. Yuna braced herself and grunted as Datto came in contact with her body, since he'd already been moving when she passed the ball. Botta swam after Tidus as soon as he noticed the other man had gotten possession. Datto apologised quickly to Yuna before swimming off to chase Tidus as well.

Yuna watched as Tidus grinned. He was in front of the goals, Datto, Botta and Keepa were all ready to defend against him, it was the perfect scenario for the Jecht Shot. She watched with a smile as Tidus kicked the ball, bouncing it off the three Aurochs before slamming it into the goal. The horn blared and the scoreboard above the sphere changed to show 1 to 0.

The game was to go until one team got 5 points, and the Gullwings played frantically, Paine tried to protect Rikku as much as possible but the ball got past her and through Rikku. Finally, both teams were on 4, and they were all exhausted and there was 5 minutes left. Tidus used his energy to steal the ball off Wakka and made his way toward the goals again, Yuna was using long strokes to cover the same distance with less energy.

Tidus passed the ball to Yuna who carried it the rest of the length. She used the rest of her magic to cast a Venom Shot on the ball, it glowed an evil green as she drop kicked it. Keepa stretched out his hands and his fingertips grazed the ball, poisoning him immediately, allowing the ball to sail through.

The Gullwings cheered happily, they'd won at last. Both teams exited the sphere pool and flopped besides Yuna who took the bright yellow chest from Wakka who held it out to her with a large smile.

[B]"Congrats, Yuna. You guys deserved it, ya?"[/B]

[B]"Thanks, Wakka. Good to see the Auroch's still have it."[/B] she smirked, popping the lid, she prayed that this was the sphere she needed.

Yuna hugged everyone and said goodbye because she knew the routine. Then with her fingers crossed she played the sphere.

[B]"Sorry Yuna, not this one, but just wait until you get back to the tunnels."[/B] the perky voice chimed.

[B]"Go get 'em, ya?"
"Go Yuna!"
"You can do it!"[/B]

Yuna waved to them as she disappeared, she waited for the final pillar to rise and dropped the yellow sphere into the groove. Finally, what she'd been waiting for, a mystical pillar rose from the centre of the room, and sitting on it was a clear sphere which reflected many colours in the light.

She played this fateful sphere, [B]"Congratulations, this is the treasure you've been looking for, time to go!"[/B]

Yuna held it preciously in her palms and ran out of the dreadful tunnel room, back down the long hall with her arms outstretched just in case the invisible walls had returned. She reached the outside at last and she ran around the perimeter of the building until she saw Mog hovering in the air to aid the contestants in finding him. She sprinted towards him, hoping that she was first.[/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86][i]Krrr-wooooosssh-BOOM.[/i]

Krystal peered up at the third circle. It had only occurred to her a few seconds ago that it would be easier to move three than the first two; now her methodical trial-and-error system had been messed up. Once she'd reached what she assumed was her original starting point, she climbed up her entrance ladder and cautiously rounded the corners which had been previously blocked.

"Yes!" she squealed, seeing that her pathway was free. She clambered ahead, and...

...smacked into another dead-end.

Grumbling obsceneties, she slid her way down to the ground and jabbed the '3' button a few more times until a pathway slotted into place that avoided the block of masonry.

"I wonder if Mog does this to all his houseguests," she muttered, her body starting to ache with fatigue. "Imagine what would happen after an evening lunch- 'Right now, everyone muct find their own way to their rooms. You have six minutes to clear seventeen dungeons. Go, kupo!"

The metal lattices of the cages were beginning to dig into her knees now. She almost wished she'd folowed Fox's advice and worn the kneepads and full-length trousers now.

She barely noticed that she'd reached the centre. In front of her was a metal hatch with the number '2' emblazoned onto it. She titled her head quizically, then noticed a small level to her right. Two other cages, with two other levers, joined onto this one, both of which had to be accessed from separate entrances. She looked all the way down at the other hatches and laughed cynically.

"Well, at least this combination works."

* * *

Some minutes later, Krystal had reached the final lever, with a big number '3' sitting on the wall next to it.

"Don't gloat at me," she growled. "I'd like to see you try and do this, stupid number 3..."

She let out a deep sigh as she pulled down hard on the lever. "I'm going insane..."

Inside the glass cage that was housing the crystal ornament, the third sheet of glass slid out from underneath it and dropped out. Krystal took hold of it and sat back against the wal to examine it. The long-haired man wore a sinister grin on his face, and on the base read the inscription 'Sephiroth ~For The Reunion~'

She shrugged, and noticed that underneath her, a small door had opened up on the other side of the room. She clambered down, clutching the statue, and made her way through.

She was greeted by [font=Verdana][size=2]a set of spiral stairs- this time going down rather than up. Although this was much easier to cope with than another ascension, she had to be mindful of her legs' desire to give way and send her crashing all the way to the bottom. All things considered, it seemed pretty tempting at the moment...[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]Once she reached the bottom, she pushed open the door to find herself standing on the strange squishy pink mud again. To her left she heard the quiet echoes of footsteps and wingbeats; she moved further out and looked round to see Mog and Yuna approaching each other. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=2]"I didn't think I'd be first, somehow," she sighed happily, keeping a tight hold of her (well, Mog's) statue as she walked over to their meeting point.[/COLOR][/size][/font]

[Raiyuu]

[center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]Something made of light approached the bottom of the staircase, just as a bizarre piggyback of demonic creature and petite Asian girl disappeared into the ceiling. It knew nothing except to approach the girl, and unleash its true form...

~~~~~~~~~~~~
[/i][/font][/color][/center]
[b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]
"Bwahahahahahahaaaaah!"

[/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The laughter had a wobbly quality to it, like it was coming from a big pile of jelly. Apprehensively Xiaoyu clambered down her puppet; as she'd reached the tower landing, all the marionettes had gone limp, dangling eerily at the end of their strings. It looked like the possessed puppets had outlived their usefulness. They couldn't reach her on the landing, so they'd been deactivated, or exorcised, or something.

She looked around, unable to tell from where in the echoey space the gelatinous laughter was coming. The staircase ended in the centre of a large, circular room, presumably the turret's highest chamber. The pastel-pink glass was gone, replaced by sheets of polished steel; rivets winked in rows and columns, dividing the walls and floor into neat rectangles. Two banks of controls bleeped and whistled opposite each other against the walls.

[b]"Bwahahaaaah! Still can't see me, girly?"

"Where are you?" [/b]Xiaoyu demanded petulantly, stamping her foot. [b]"I [i]hate [/i]hide-and-seek."

[/b]There was a [b]clunk
[/b]Followed by the beginning of a metallic [b]whirr
[/b]And Xiaoyu suddenly realised there was something [i]above [/i]her...

Hung from the ceiling on fine steel cables was a bulbous, silvered pod, in which sat the source of the jelly-laugh: a rotund man in a red lab coat and black welding-goggles, sporting a manic grin underneath a huge orange moustache. Spidery silver limbs radiated out from the pod; Xiaoyu suddenly realised that at certain points around the edge of the room, bunches of puppet-strings disappeared through holes in the floor, their upper ends grasped by robotic manipulators. As she watched, miniature circular saws unfolded from the ends of the limbs and severed the strings; the clattering of marionettes dropping to the ground echoed up from the staircase.

[b]"You'll make a fine footsoldier!" [/b]roared the fat scientist, pushing wildly at levers and buttons in his cockpit. [b]"I'll encase you in armour, give you a brain-chip, and you can loyally serve the army of your Lord Robotnik!"[/b] He threw three levers forward at once.

Xiaoyu only just avoided the pincer arms that threatened to impale her where she stood. As she tripped and skidded across the smooth steel floor, a door irised shut over the entrance to the staircase, sealing her in with the crazy Doctor Robotnik.

[b]"Attack Pattern Alpha!" [/b]he warbled, smacking at buttons with abandon. His cockpit swivelled, and the mechanical arms began to pound at Xiaoyu in earnest. As she narrowly dodged each one, she was trying desperately to anticipate their movements; "Attack Pattern" presumably meant there was a set sequence...

Operating almost entirely on instinct, she stepped smartly to her left, expecting the cold stab of metal through her body at any second. Instead, a circular saw passed either side of her, close enough for their whining sound to set her teeth on edge. She ducked and two more saws whistled over her head; jumped, and two more scythed past under her feet.

Robotnik seemed to be enjoying himself far too much to notice she'd figured out his attack pattern, so she started incorporating a slow backwards shuffle into her sidestep-duck-jump pattern, heading achingly slowly towards one of the control panels against the wall, all the while aware that a single wrong move could mean a rip in her dress, or a lost limb.

There was only one button on the control panel that concerned Xiaoyu. It was big and red and said [b]DEACTIVATE [/b]on it. As she jumped to avoid the saws' low swing, she brought both hands down hard on the button.

[b]"Hey!" [/b]cried Robotnik angrily, as his machine clunked, whistled and stopped moving. He jabbed and slapped at random controls as Xiaoyu scurried across the room to the other control panel. The biggest button on this one said [b]DETACH. [/b]When she pushed it, a pair of spider-legs popped off the cockpit with a hiss of compressed gas. The disadvantage was, this button seemed to start up the machine again.

[b]"Attack Pattern Beta!" [/b]roared Robotnik. Xiaoyu rolled her eyes, before fixing them on the whirling arms as they approached across the floor ...

[/font][/color] [center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had reached the top of the staircase, but there was a barrier to its progress. It hovered, uncertain, and waited for a solution to present itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

[/i][/font][/color] [left][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Dodging Attack Pattern Delta involved ducking and sidestepping to avoid a U-shaped down-across-and-upward swipe, follwed by a complicated little two-step, hopping backwards onto one foot and immediately sideways onto the other, avoiding vicious jabs of the saw. There was a deep cut on Xiaoyu's arm where she'd been caught unawares by the speed and ferocity of Attack Pattern Gamma, and another across her back where she'd gotten complacent about her proximity to the control panel and tried, unsuccessfully, to make a break for it.

Both injuries were making it hard to concentrate on the awkward dance she had to perform across the rivet-studded floor, but eventually she found herself in a position to throw herself on the [b]DEACTIVATE [/b]button, halting the tiny saws centimetres from her hamstrings. Hopping carefully over them, and taking a moment to cheekily stick out her tongue at the fuming mad scientist, she whacked the [b]DETACH [/b]button for the final time, and the last two arms joined their six companions on the floor.

[b]"You haven't heard the last of this, hedgehog!" [/b]raged Robotnik (Xiaoyu guessed his fury had driven him a bit madder, because she hadn't looked like a hedgehog last time she looked) and threw every lever in his bubble forward, pulling it up through a hole in the ceiling. A door irised shut over the hole, simultaneously opening the one in the floor.

[/font][/color] [center][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS][i]~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was its chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

[/i][/font][/color] [left][b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]"Hee~eeeey! Where's - my - treasure?" [/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Xiaoyu yelled at the solid steel ceiling. [b]"That was [i]hard! [/i]I deserve a - whaaa~aaah?!"

[/b]The room was filled with blinding light.
[/font][/color][/left]
[/center]
[/left]
[/center]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Lara searched frantically for anything that that would light her way in the suffocating darkness. The slow, grating sounds of her pursuer grew progressively closer and Lara could practically feel the vibrations of its footsteps.

Mentally cursing her bad luck Lara stumbled backwards, sliding against the slick walls in frantic desperation. It was just typical for the Tomb Raider to find herself stuck in such dark and threatening situations. Blind to her surroundings she had to rely on her remaining four senses and the picture they painted for Lara's stricken mind was gruesome indeed. Stumbling upon debris that littered the passage- way Lara searched blindly for anything that might illuminate her situation.

Just had to find the secret passageway didn?t you Lara. Damned fool!

Tripping backwards over a small boulder Lara suddenly found herself sprawled against the back wall of the passage. With the threat growing ever-closer Lara scrabbled against the slick glass, trying to find some purchase. Grasping at whatever she could find she unexpectedly found her fingers brushing against a square protrusion attached to the wall. Suddenly the entire passage was illuminated in a dazzling light and Lara shut her eyes tightly against it. The terrible grating noise, however, did not stop, unperturbed by the light.

Blinking sporadically Lara clumsily rose to her feet and attempted to focus upon the newfound scene before her. It was worse than she had imagined.

Blood was liberally spread across walls, pooling in thick puddles upon the floor. A trail of skittish footprints marked her route while smeared handprints patterned the walls. Mutilated corpses hung from the ceiling like ornaments, skewered on hooks or swinging by chains. Bones littered the narrow passageway, and Lara swallowed as she realised that, rather than tripping over a boulder as she had previously thought, a rust coloured human skull had caused her fall. Lara?s blood ran icy cold, however, as she stared at the source of the ominous noises. A giant figure loomed up before her, seemingly humanoid in appearance and covered in blood. Garbed in a sullied butchers apron the more freakish sight was the large pyramid type construction where the figure?s head would have been. Making no vocal noises the figure edged forward, the grating noise caused by a giant knife that he dragged behind him. Imposing, silent and distinctly inhuman it became immediately apparent that this being was the cause of the carnage that Lara was now a witness to.[/SIZE]

[Raiyuu]

[center][i][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]The closer you step to the light
The darker your shadow becomes.
The hardest challenges
Occur right before your goal.

[/font][/color][/i] [left][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Xiaoyu couldn't tell who was speaking, or whether anyone was - the words seemed piped right into her head. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut, her arms thrown up to cover her face, and still there was pure white light seeping in between her eyelids.

She twisted away from the blinding thing in the centre of the room, risking a peep between her forearms. The intensity of the light seemed to have tarnished the walls, turning them a matte grey instead of the mirrored silver surface they had been.

[b]"What's the point of all this?" [/b]she wailed. [b]"I just wanna get my treasure and go..."

[/b]Abruptly, the light focused itself into a tight beam. No longer pulsing outward, filling the room, a single searchlight shone right at Xiaoyu, casting a white circle on the wall, [/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]cut with her silhouette[/font][/color][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS].

Her shadow [i]looked [/i]at her.

Xiaoyu gasped and took an involuntary step back. The black cut-out Xiaoyu on the wall had glowing yellow eyes, and seemed able to move independently of her, and as she edged backwards, closer to the ball of light, it grew until it had to hunch under the ceiling.

[b]"This isn't fun!" [/b]quavered Xiaoyu warningly at the giant shadow, just as it pulled itself out of the wall. There was an unsettling heart-shaped hole right through the centre of its chest, and its head seemed made of tentacles, a twisted mockery of her hair with two sickly yellow lamps glowing from within. Ponderously, it raised a distorted black arm, bringing it crashing down on the floor where she stood.

Xiaoyu dived clumsily to one side, but somehow the shadow-fist still managed to strike her. It passed through her into the floor, so huge it completely enveloped her torso, bringing with it a sharp, deathly cold feeling, like being immersed in an ice floe.

As it raised its fist for another blow, she scrambled to her feet, shivering and sweating. She ran around the light source to the other side of the room, but the searchlight followed her, projecting the monstrous shadow-Xiaoyu onto the wall in front of her wherever she ran. She tried hurdling the ball of light - it didn't feel hot at all - but the shadow was projected onto the ceiling above her, swinging across and down the opposite wall to appear in front of her once again. She tripped on one of Robotnik's severed mechanical limbs, curling into the foetal position to receive the next unavoidable blow and feeling another layer of her life-force being shaved off.

[i]Whirr

[/i]As the fist lifted off her once again, she opened her eyes, gasping for breath, and saw that she'd fallen on a control switch on the pointed metal limb. The circular saw at the end folded away, replaced with an electric sander that buzzed into life, juddering uselessly at the end of the discarded arm.

But Xiaoyu saw an opportunity, pulling herself to her feet and heaving the heavy arm up with her. Throwing what little weight she had forward, she rammed the sander right through the hole where the monster's heart should have been.

A beam of pure white light stabbed through the Heartless creature's breast, leaving it howling in pain. The sander had ground off an area of tarnished steel in the wall behind it, revealing the mirrored surface beneath, and the very light that cast the shadow-creature had reflected from it, piercing the thing.

[b]"No shadows in a room full of mirrors!" [/b]chirped Xiaoyu, shoving the sander through her shadow once again. More bright pinpoints began to impale the monstrous Xiaoyu, and soon she managed to join them up, until one massive shaft of light had near-obliterated its torso. The yellow lamps of its eyes began to gutter as she threw herself forward, angling the robot arm upwards to drive a shining rod right through its forehead.

There was a shriek that seemed to echo through the very core of Xiaoyu's being, and the tarnish cracked off the rest of the walls, bathing the shadow-creature in the pure white light of the orb.
Its entire body was eroded, collapsing in on itself until only a drop of black slime was left. It dripped to the floor, dead.

Xiaoyu dropped the arm with a clatter and collapsed to her knees, exhausted in body and mind. [b]"So ..." [/b]she gasped, [b]"I don't suppose ... I get my treasure ... now...?"

[/b]The drop of black slime was moving. It slithered across the shining silver floor towards the still-shining white orb that hovered over the staircase. Xiaoyu didn't have the energy to stop it, watching with utter resignation. [i][b]They'll combine ... next stage of the boss ... I won't survive. Oh well, deletion here I come...

[/b][/i]The droplet of black hopped up into the white orb, which immediately turned black and liquid-like, whirling and stretching, distorting like the clay on a potter's wheel until...

A magnificent black key, the length of Xiaoyu's arm, hovered gracefully above the stairwell. Where a key's teeth would normally be was a blade, like this key was meant to be used as a sword.

Taking hold of the Keyblade filled Xiaoyu with renewed vigour. With a grin and a nod to the room, she set off skipping, down the stairs to meet Mog with her treasure.
[/font][/color][/left]
[/center]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1][I]Prehaps this is what passes for a minotaur these days[/I] Lara thought as she backed up the hallway, away from the metal headed monster. The pyramid wearing creature didn't even bother to speed up as it approached her, keeping the same daunting pace, relentless and perpetual. The blood stains marring the things attire seemed almost black in the dim light, they were old and they were many. Lara was almost relieved that she could not see her enemy's face, fearing what further horrors might be revealed. Never had she wished for her guns more than at this very moment.

Lara dared not to run, in fact she steadfastly refused. Having come this far in the challenge she would be damned if a dirty beast with an overgrown steak knife would prevent her from completing this challenge. For certain, she had faced dinosaurs, tigers, beings from myth and worse. Only now to be cowed by this sickening thing. Somewhere close by faint static could be heard but Lara ignored it, focusing only on the one obstacle barring her path. Looking up Lara analysed her surroundings. The roof of the passageway wasn't particularly low, on the contrary it seemed quite high, high enough for what she intended. The restriced width of the passage would be more of an advantage than a hinderance if she pulled it off.

Setting her gaze Lara calmed her breathing, ignoring the nausea building up in her gut. Suddenly she surged forward, sprinting straight towards the creature and his wicked blade. Planting her feet firmly, Lara sprung up over the creature's head, using the metal pyramid for leverage. Narrowling missing the swinging blade, Lara landed in a crouch behind her adversary. She lashed out with a back kick to the creatures spine sending it stumbling forward. Due to the narrow space of the passageway the beast was having difficult manouvering itself around to once more pursue Lara. Yet still it made no noise. Taking full advantage of its momentary weakness Lara dashed down the hall, towards that which the creature was guarding.

The blood was getting thicker the closer Lara got to the end, clinging to her boots like slime. The grinding noise had started up again and Lara shivered, feeling sick to her stomach. Lara skidded to halt at the end of the passage, almost losing her balance as the slick red substance shifted under her feet. The sound of static was more promenant here causing the tomb raider to wince as it pierced her hearing. Swallowing her disgust she planted her hand against the stained wall to steady herself and gazed upon the supposed treasure. There, lying upon a rotting old bookcase was a stained and bloody notebook. It was the only visible item that was not made of human remains. Reaching forward Lara grasped the item gingerly, fearing for its fragile state. Despite the humidity of its surroundings the pages were dry and crisp, though worn and stained with blood and other unmentionables. As she raised it from the shelf Lara caught a glimpse of something underneith it, orange and rectangular in size. The static sounds grew louder as she grasped it. Frowning Lara turning it over in her hands, it appeared to be a radio.

Suddenly lara caught something move out of the corner of her eye and darted to the left, pushing herself up against the wall. The creature's blade came whistling by, crashing into the mouldy bookcase in a shower of splinters and dust. Lara briefly cursed herself for her lapse in concentration before ducking under the figure's weapon as he swung it for her head. Rolling across the floor Lara grasped for anything that could be considered a weapon. Moving blindly her fingers clasped around a sharp piece of the shattered bookcase and lunged forward in a desperate move. Not giving the creature another chance to bring his blade around Lara surged upwards, driving the wooden splinter under the metal encasing its head in the flesh of what she assumed was its neck. The sound of soft flesh splitting and Lara's panting breath echoed in the confines of the passage. Blood ran red from the beast's neck, casscading in a river down its already blood-stained front. The blade clattered to the floor, useless, closely followed by its owner, the rusted metal of its helmet cracking against the glass floor with a dull thud.

Clutching the notebook tightly to her Lara spat upon the prone form maliciously.

"Bastard."

Static sputtering once again brought her attention to the discarded radio and Lara crouched to retrieve it from the puddle it had landed in.

"Congratulations!" A tiny voice sounded from the small speaker and before Lara could reply a bright blue light engulfed her and she promptly vanished.[/SIZE]

[Sandy]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Lara Croft materialized to the emerald green field outside Château du Mog, where the proprietor was already waiting along with Yuna, Ling Xiaoyu and Krystal. Mario was apparently still inside.

"It's good to see I'm not last", Lara said, handing the radio over to Mog. He placed it next to a black weapon resembling both a key and a sword, a statue of a sinister looking warrior carrying a huge katana, and a clear crystal sphere.

"Hmm, it's taking too long, kupo. I better go check..." The tiny moogle fluttered to the glass-wall castle.

After a while he teleported back with a trembling Mario.

"I-a... I-a got lost-ah... I'm-a sorry, so so sorry..." the plumber muttered with his teeth clacking.

"It's alright, kupo. Although you are now automatically discarded."

Mog turned to face the four females.

"Apparently the women are on a winning strike despite the merger. We'll return to the CPU and see which of you four wins the immunity this time, kupo."

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After the horrors of the weird castle, the contestants welcomed the familiar blueness of the CPU. They sat on the comfortable hovering pillows, with the four objects found from the Château in front of them.

"Yes, kupo, yes... It's looking good, kupo, the right object is in here. We won't go into details about what each of you had to encounter at the castle - we can do that at the Mog House - so let's just cut the chase."

"The correct treasure out of these four - Statue of Sephirot, Clear Sphere, Keyblade Oblivion and Discarded Radio - is..."

"[B]Oblivion Keyblade[/B], so the winner is [COLOR=Purple][SIZE=3][B]Ling Xiaoyu[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR]!"

The Japanese girl jumped up from her seat.

"Go me!!" she cheered.

"Kupo, you are now safe from being deleted, Xiaoyu, but the rest of you are still under that threat. It's time for your second Team Council as individual players. So let's vote already, kupo!"

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Once the votes were cast, Mog went to count them, and then brought the result to the contestants.

"Three people were voted tonight, kupo."

The five contestants looked at each other. Xiaoyu took Krystal's paw into her hand.

"[B]Yuna[/B], with one vote."

The High Summoner sighed with relief.

"[B]Krystal[/B], with two votes."

The blue fox nodded, guessing that this would be another tie-breaker situation - only this time it wasn't up to her to decide.

"And [B]Mario[/B], with two votes as well, kupo. This means that you, Ling Xiaoyu must decide which of these two contestants get's deleted: [B]Mario[/B] or [B]Krystal[/B]."

Xiaoyu let go of Krystal's paw and buried her face into her hands. Krystal hugged her and whispered that it was alright.

"I'd prefer sooner than later, kupo..." Mog exclaimed, frustrated.
[/FONT]

[Raiyuu]

[b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]"I don't wanna choose!" [/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]wailed Xiaoyu, earning herself a stern look from Mog.

[b]"Look," [/b]he squeaked, [b]"you've got to pick someone or we can't move the [i]Game On, [/i]kupo!"

"Fine," [/b]she conceded sulkily. She slouched out of her seat and walked over to face her four friends, hovering uncertainly on their pillows.

She stretched out a finger to point at Krystal. The fox's eyes widened.

[b]"Eeny," [/b]began Xiaoyu.

[b]"Kupo, you're not -"

"Meeny, miney ..." [/b]her swinging finger came to rest. [b]"Mario!"[/b]
[/font][/color]

[Sandy]

[FONT=Century Gothic]"So be it, kupo", Mog said with a nod after Xiaoyu had made her decision.

The red-clad plumber - the only remaining male contestant in the game - sighed and waved his hands up in the air, like surrendering.

"Ai ai, mamma mia! It seems-a like this is the end-a of me, Mario!"

With those words, he began to evaporate into tiny particles.
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/SamSandy/OB%20Survivor/delete-Mario.jpg[/IMG]

After he was gone, Mog turned to the four remaining contestants - Yuna, Krystal, Lara Croft and Ling Xiaoyu.

"It looks like the former team of Heroines is still strong, with all the remaining survivors being female, kupo. You all have really earned your place in the final four, kupo, but the game gets tougher with each passing challenge and Team Council, and soon there will only be one, ultimate winner left. Waiting for that - and the two remaining challenges before that - it's [I]Game On[/I], folks!"
[/FONT]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Now it was Ling's turn to be comforted by the remaining contestants as she sat, slumped on one of the floating chairs, head in her hands. Lara nodded towards Krystal and Yuna and the three of them stealthily made their way towards the moping individual.

On a silent command the three swooped down upon Ling in a massive tri-hug. A small yelp was all that Ling was able to muster before she was smothered in the reassuring embraces of her former team-mates. Lara rubbed her knuckles across the girl's head in an affectionate gesture, grinning as she squirmed.

[B]"Mmmph! Air! Please, air!"[/B]

The three attackers disentangled themselves from Ling, who now sat disheveled and gasping. She glared at the now grinning culprits, her mussed hair hanging around her face, giving her a psuedo meanace. Lara winked at her as she leant upon Krystal's shoulder in a casual stance.

[B]"Cheer up chick! That plumber's probably munching on mushrooms as we speak."[/B]

Ling tried a half-hearted smile as she attempted to see the bright side of her predicament.

[B]"Anyway, that's not important,"[/b] Lara continued [b]"what [i]is[/i] important is why everyone here got a decent treasure in the last challenge and all I got was a rubbish radio!"[/B][/SIZE]

[Sandy]

[FONT=Century Gothic]In a darkened room somewhere at the CPU, Mog the Moogle was sitting in a huge armchair (which in reality was only huge in comparison to the tiny creature), watching the faces of the four remaining Survivors from a screen.

He took the time to look back on each of their performances in the past.

[I]"[B]Lara Croft[/B], the Tomb Raider... Kupo, she's been equally strong in almost everything, a balanced package I must say. When she was in a team she lost only twice, but in the individual phase she hasn't shined very brightly..."

"Then [B]Yuna[/B], the famed Highsummoner/Sphere Hunter/Popstar. She's surely has gotten to places, and in this competition she's practically bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm - often losing concentration at the same. She has many talents, but being a jack of all trades and master of none isn't always the best strategy..."

"What about [B]Krystal[/B], the Shaman Fox, then? Her performance has been top-notch in almost every challenge, but I have a feeling she has a problematic habit to focus on minor details instead of seeing the "big picture", kupo... But strong, definately, so strong!"

"Finally, [B]Ling Xiaoyu[/B], who I've nicknamed "the Pink Fist". She's a cutie, almost as adorable as me, and has thus flown under the radar for most of the competition. She surprised everybody in the last challenge, however - even me, kupo! Hidden power, the most potential kind..."

"Four female Survivors, each with their own pros and cons... Only one can win, though, so a few more tests are necessary to tell that one apart from the others. This game is nearing it's end... kupo."[/I]

With a little sigh, Mog switched off the computer screen and left the room to talk to the four contestants that were already waiting in the main hall.

"Xiaoyu... Krystal... Lara... Yuna... Only you four remain to participate in the fourth challenge, that will take you to the roots of videogaming, kupo. The name of the game is...
[CENTER][IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/SamSandy/OB%20Survivor/arcade.gif[/IMG][/CENTER]

And here are the rules for this round:
[INDENT]1. Upon entering the Retro Arcade, you will find four portals, each taking you into a different "old school game": [B]Donkey Kong[/B], [B]Tetris[/B], [B]PacMan[/B] and [B]Space Invaders[/B]
2. You will have to play [B]three[/B] of the four game by yourself, [B]individually[/B], kupo.
3. You may find out that this is much more easily said than done, as you will go [B]into[/B] the game to play, meaning that you are in the center of events - defending against aliens, rescuing the girl from the gorilla, running away from ghosts while eating pills, and trying to avoid being crushed by falling blocks.
4. After you've played one game, you must [B]wait[/B] for me to give you [B]points[/B] from your performance through a PM, [B]before you can proceed[/B] to the next one.
5. Points are awarded according your overall [B]playstyle[/B], special [B]strategies[/B] you've applied in the game, and of course the [B]fun-factor[/B] as well, kupo. Maximum amount of points from each game is 100, making the total 300 max.
6. The contenstant with [B]most points[/B] after everybody have played through three games, will be announced as the winner, and will be automatically in the top three.[/INDENT]

"Are the rules understood, kupopo? Then... Survivors ready, cause it's [I]Game On - Old School Style![/I]"[/FONT]

[Raiyuu]

[font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]The Retro Arcade was ? well, retro. Heavily pixellated and decorated in garish 8-bit colour, the square room contained four blocky armchairs in which the contestants could wait to enter their portal of choice. Four blue portals swirled on the far wall, spiralling in jerky fits and starts as the primitive version of the CPU tried in vain to keep up with Mog?s programming. On one wall was a door, leading to the private room in which Mog would reveal their scores for each game.

[b]?I call Tetris!?[/b] sang out Xiaoyu, still buoyed up by her victory in Mog?s castle.

[b]?Second from left, kupo,?[/b] the winged furball replied, pointing.

[b]?See you guys!?[/b] she called over her shoulder as she stepped into the angular blue vortex?

?only to narrowly avoid being crushed by a square block taller than she was.

[b]?Yipes!?[/b] she yelped, drawing back. The block looked to be formed of four smaller blocks, arranged in a two-by-two square, each smaller block being about a metre square.

[b]?Don?t do stuff like that straight away!?[/b] she fumed at the absent Moogle, shaking her fists at the sky. She was at the bottom of an outrageously deep, sheer-sided grey shaft, with only a tiny scrap of blue visible at the top. There was no question of scaling the walls ? they were as smooth as only 2-D graphics can be. Springing up, she caught the top of the big block and hauled herself up on top, looking upwards again. The shaft didn?t look any less deep from this vantage point, but the patch of sky had disappeared. Xiaoyu frowned and pouted, confused and doubting her decision to choose this game first. It had looked the simplest of the four, but ?

The reason for the sky being obscured quickly made itself apparent, as a tall stack of four blocks came whistling down the shaft straight at her. She somersaulted backwards on instinct, glad that Mog had returned her skills for this challenge, landing heavily after the two-metre drop, just as the stack thudded down on top of the square.

[b]?Stupid thing!?[/b] she yelled, pulling herself back up onto the box and delivering a hefty kick to the tower. To her surprise, it gave way, sliding smoothly across the surface of the square to drop down and land on the floor next to it. Xiaoyu nearly lost her balance ? she hadn?t expected the thing to move ? but pulled herself upright, sidling over to the block and giving it another push. No good, it felt cemented to the spot.

[/color][/font] [center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/SheriffMatt/tetfirst.jpg[/img]
[/center]
[font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]
This gave her another level to climb up to, so she jumped up and pulled herself onto the metre-square platform afforded by the tower. The sound of rushing air caught her attention and she looked up to see another four-block tower hurtling down the shaft, about to squash her flat where she stood. But knowing now that the blocks weren?t so heavy as to be immobile, she took a breath, crouched and sprang forward, towards the shaft wall. Twisting in mid-air, she met the wall with her feet, bending her knees to spring off the vertical surface into a flying kick that smacked right into the top block of the falling tower.

The force of the kick shunted the tower across the shaft, but also, unexpectedly, set it spinning on its axis like the blade of an electric fan. As the bottom end swung upwards it caught Xiaoyu a heavy blow right across her back, sending her flying across the shaft to bounce off the opposite wall and plummet solidly to the floor.

[b]?Phew!?[/b] she exclaimed, pulling herself to her feet and catching her breath. [b]?Good thing they hadn?t invented hit points when they made this??[/b]

On the other side of her platform, the spinning tower hit the ground, slotting neatly into place on its side, spanning the gap between platform and wall. As Xiaoyu pulled herself back onto her square block, an L-shaped one thunked down on the ground right where she?d been.

[/color][/font] [center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/SheriffMatt/tetsecond.jpg[/img]
[/center]
[font=Trebuchet MS][color=Purple]
[i][b]Bloop[/b][/i]

[b]?Uwaaah!?[/b] Xiaoyu squealed as the floor dropped out from under her. She dropped with it a moment later, landing in a crouch to retain her balance. [b]?What?s going on??[/b]

The tower she?d rotated had disappeared, along with the bottom two blocks of her square and the L that she?d just avoided. In short, an entire layer of blocks.

[b]?Umm, right ? I think I get it now??[/b]
[/color][/font]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1][B]"Alright then,"[/B] Lara nodded, eager to redeem her last poor performance in a new challenge. [B]"I'll start with Pac-Man."[/B]

Mog fluttered up from his seat and gave a little spin.

[B]"Ok, kupo! Its Game On!"[/B] With those words Lara was once again engulfed in a familiar flash of light as she disappeared from the CPU.

Immediately Lara found herself materialized inside a tight square maze. All around her was solid black, apart from a vast amount of blue capsules and dark blue ceiling and floor. The maze was set up horizontally with no walls to speak of, apart from the black backdrop. Used to 2D atmospheres from previous challenges Lara was prepared for the odd perception that accompanied her situation. Without actually being able to see the rest of the maze she instinctively knew where each path was, and where they linked up; another trick of the 2D surroundings. The blue capsules were hanging, suspended in mid air by no force that Lara could immediately see. Walking carefully forward, unsure of how sturdy the floor of the maze was Lara reached out to pluck one of the pellets from the air. It came away with no resistance and as Lara held it between her fingers she felt a strange and overwhelming urge pass over her. Raising the capsule to her lips Lara popped it into her mouth and swallowed instantly. The feeling that accompanied the action was almost immediately euphoric. Lara gasped as a light shiver ran the length of her spine and a light, warming sensation tinged her skin.

[b]?Oh that was nice.?[/b] Lara smiled appreciatively, already reaching forward for the next pill. Suddenly a flash of pink darted towards her from the left. Lara dropped to the floor, instantly flattening herself out against its surface. The thing flew overhead and past, turning another corner of the maze to the left. Lara knew that she should be worried about the attempted assailant but as soon as the figure had disappeared she felt her attention once again being drawn to the blue pills, still and inviting before her. Blind in her sudden obsession Lara rushed forward and grasped at the capsules, stuffing one after another in her mouth and swallowing. The effect was energizing and Lara built up speed as she followed the trail.

Leaping one of the gaps of the horizontal maze, landing with a soft grunt Lara grinned in a way that could only be described as drunken. Her vision before her was tunnelled and all that she was focused on was the next dark blue treat. Intent upon her prize Lara was taken aback when the pellet morphed unexpectedly into a large orange mass; a mass with white beady eyes. Lara stumbled backwards in irrational fear brought on by the beings presence. Sweat beaded upon her forehead and her blood ran cold as the blob approached. Quickly regaining her footing Lara darted in the opposite direction from her pursuer, a small amount of clarity dawning upon her previously fuzzed mind. The orange ?ghost? was quickly joined by her pink friend from before and both made haste in following Lara as she wound through the square maze.

Despite running for what she assumed to be her life Lara still managed to grab the blue pills the trailed before her and consumed them with hysteric fervour. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder Lara saw the ghosts where hot on her heels. Up ahead her path split into opposite directions, she could run forward no longer, she had to make a decision. Sensing the presence of a path directly above her position Lara bounded towards the end of her current road. Grasping the ledge of the ceiling above her she used the momentum from her sprint to swing herself forward and up. Completing a half circle Lara landed in a crouch on the path above and immediately took off running. The ghosts in their frenzied pursuit had apparently misjudged Lara?s direction and had headed off down the path in the opposite direction to Lara?s own. [/SIZE]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]Yuna watched as the two other human women walked through to the games that they'd chosen. She looked from the one remaining arch, to the other, wondering which one she should choose. Yuna's gaze turned to the blue fox who also seemed to be deciding. Yuna stepped forward finally and looked to the Moogle host.

[B]"I'll take [I]Space Invaders[/I]."[/B]

Mog nodded with a small smile, pointing a finger at the door on the far right. Yuna walked to it, turning her upper body to wave at Krystal cheerfully before she walked into the doorway.

Yuna emerged in a black area, the only things she could see were strange arch like structures that were lined in front of her, about 2 storeys high, and a large cannon that was almost as big as she was. She wondered what the game incorporated, but soon found out as in front of the buildings, rows of strange looking aliens began to descend from above at a slow rate. The slowly started to shoot small beams at the structures, each shot that hit left a crevice in the building.

Yuna's eyes widened, she couldn't let them destroy the archs or else she knew she'd fail the game. She grabbed hold of the cannon and tilted it, firing off some of her own beams, eliminating an alien with each shot, glad that Mog had given her aim back after the last challenge.

She grunted as she pushed against the cannon, sliding it along and firing off shots. Her aim went off and the shot went wide, Yuna was distressed but watched as it intercepted a beam from an alien, there was a small explosion in the sky as both blasts were neutralised.

Yuna ran, shoving the cannon to move it over, by the time she reached the other side, more than half of a building had been obliterated. Yuna was quickly getting annoyed at the heavy cannon that she had to wheel around, at that thought she moved in time to avoid a bad shot which was headed straight for her.

An idea sparked in Yuna's mind and she blasted the line that was closest before reaching into her pouch and pulling out her spheregrids. She shuffled through them hastily, looking up constantly to make sure they weren't right up close. Yuna paused in her search to counter 3 shots from different aliens and destroying them. Finally she found the right sphere and traced a line to it.

The endless black void was suddenly lit by a bright flash as Yuna made a swift transformation, emerging in her [URL=http://membres.lycos.fr/daganas3/daganas2/image ffX-2/Yuna_Alchemist.jpg]Alchemist[/URL] dress sphere. She hefted her gun and pulled the goggles over her eyes, spraying the field wildly, aiming at the creatures from above.

They still managed to destroy two buildings by the time she'd finished all the rows off and she was upset. She pushed the goggles onto her hair again and frowned at the missing building, and the many dents the others had in them, she didn't think she was going to get a good score for this game...Hefting the weapon over her shoulder she waited to see what would happen next.[/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]Krystal had been staring absent-mindedly at the four blue portals and clunky, basic chairs in the tiny room. So vacant was her mind that she didn't even notice everyone else nabbing the games of their choice; it was only when Mog poked her tentatively on the shoulder that she snapped back to reality.

"Oh, damn!" she yelped in surprise, watching the others enter their games.

"You alright to continue, kupo? You look a little stressed?"

Krystal smiled. "No, I'm okay. I was just... thinking."

Mog tutted quietly, a wry half-smile on his face. "You'd better keep your game up, kupo. This challenge won't be as forgiving as others."

A confident nod from Krystal signalled her entry into the final portal. She stepped through the misty blueness and found herself at the bottom of what looked like the floating skeletal remains of a red-girdered skyscraper. Everything else was complete blackness from the ground to the sky, save for a few yellow ladders climbing from floor to floor. Next to her was a pixellated blob of pink which formed itself into the shape of a woman with blond hair. Krystal couldn't tell if her golden blocks of hair were meant to be swaying or if there was just something wrong with her eyes.

"Hi, I'm Pauline," the woman chirrupped.

Krystal held her hand out for Pauline to shake it. "Hi, I'm-"

Suddenly, a gigantic gorrilla thundered into view, waving its arms and roaring aggressively. Eight huge blocks of white teeth shone from its gnashing mouth; in seconds the mass of brown fur had wrapped its arms around Pauline and climbed up a ladder to the floors above. Krystal stood dumbfounded as the monstrous monkey leapt up and down on the girder he'd climbed to and dislodged the girders below him into a series of ramps. The ladders that rose between them remained undistorted, though, much to Krystal's relief. Her staff's flight ability wouldn't be much use here, seeing as the girders were directly on top of one another.

A slew of letters rose from the darkness in front of her. "After mistreating your pet ape, Donkey Kong, he has escaped from his cage and captured your girlfriend Pauline. It's up to you to save her and put that ape back in his place!"

Ignoring the insinuation from the computer that she was a lesbian, Krystal cracked her knuckles and climbed the ladder.

Within seconds she'd reached the first girder. Pointing her staff out first, she carefully rose from the hole and stood on the metal surface. She was incredibly worried about how this was all defying gravity, seeing as the only thing supporting any of the hefty structure was more of itself.

Behind her she noticed a large barrel with OIL painted on it in bright cyan lettering. Small flames rippled across its surface, dancing contentedly among-

[i]"CRASH!"[/i]

Krystal jumped as a wooden barrel exploded on the metal next to her. She looked up the ramp ahead; another was rolling straight towards her. Brandishing her Staff, she let rip a Fire Blast. The barrel burst into pixellated splinters and disappeared. Satisfied, she ran ahead and climbed up the tiny ladder at the end.

Another barrel careened towards her as she emerged; she fired at it again, creating another precisely-formatted explosion. She passed another ladder and ran to the end again. Suddenly, a blue barrel spun out of the hole above her. Quick as a flash, she loosed a volley of fire blasts and the third barrel exploded. She turned to the ladder, and-

-'blip'.

She looked over her shoulder to be greeted by a small fireball with eyes.

It blinked.

She blinked back.

It leapt for her face.

She leapt from the ladder and swung at it with her Staff; the shaft passed right through and the flame ball bounced merrily round to face her again. She scrabbled up the ladder and broke into a run. Above her, she could hear the monkey laughing in simian tones. Pauline let out a distraught cry of 'HEEELP!', crying square tears of worry.

Krystal leapt a wooden barrel, narrowly avoiding smacking her head on the girder above. Skidding round, she saw the fireball still bouncing towards her. She clambered up another ladder, growling at the thought that this entire section of the challenge was going to be inanely repetative.

The next girder section was exactly the same as the last, only higher from the 'ground' several storeys below. More barrels rolled down at regular intervals; she jumped one and froze another with her Ice Blast, all the while the fireball behind her was gaining pace, leaping effortlessly up the girder.

Suspended in the air above the next level was a large black hammer, an ominous red sheen gleaming across its surface. Hoping it would provide useful against the Fireball, she clipped her Staff to her backpack and grabbed the mallet in both hands.

The next few seconds were a blurred memory. She was overcome by wild, involuntary movements, the weight of the hammer throwing itself in all directions around her body. It rose violently into the air and viciously pounded the ground in front of her. She couldn't jump and could barely walk under the wild swings and incredible weight of the posessed weapon. She was vageuly aware of smashing a barrel and bouncing another into the inky void beyond, but her mind completely lost focus otherwise.

The hammer disappeared from her grasp on the seventh swing in a puff of pixels; she stumbled backwards and fell into another barrel, which broke against the Staff on her back.

"What... happened?" she gasped, hauling herself to her feet.

In front of her, the fireball blinked again.

"Ah, bollocks."

They both jumped at once- the fireball aiming for her chest and Krystal for the hole above her. She landed on the top level, just as a barrel whizzed past her left ear. Donkey Kong gave an apish giggle as she approached.

"Right, you abusive monkey!" Krystal yelled. "Give her back!"

Donkey Kong shook his head threateningly, indicating an infinite stockpile of barrels behind him. Inbetween cries of help, a pink heart floated from Pauline's general direction. Krystal winced.

The ape grabbed another barrel (a blue oil-filled one) and hurled it at Krystal. She dove underneath it and rolled onto her feet, hearing it explode behind her. She saw Pauline's eyes dilate in horror, and turned to see what had happened.

Two fireballs blinked at her. The first had collided with the barrel and exploded it, creating two of the little perishers.

Both burst forwards- at the same time, Donkey Kong threw another barrel. Krystal turned her backs on the fireballs and froze the barrel, then dropped to the floor. The fireballs blinked in confusion as they hit the ice barrel and vaporised it, canceling themselves out in the shower of water that it turned into.

Donkey Kong roared, staring through the cloud of steam to catch a glimpse of Krystal. As it cleared, he saw a shape standing below him. He was about to raise another oil barrel to lob, when he noticed that what he was staring at was not Krystal. It was a rather diminuative-looking dinosaur with a grin on its face. Where had she gone? He quickly looked to Pauline, who was still trapped and sobbing.

The dinosaur stood, and grinned.

Donkey Kong looked behind him at the barrels, just in case she'd slipped through. Behind him, he heard a faint 'whooshing' noise and what sounded like a projectile being fired. A burst of heat enveloped his right arm as the barrel exploded in his grasp. Flames ripped across his fur; he shook his arm violently to try and put them out, letting out monstrous roars of agony. He didn't notice Krystal (now out of her Sharpclaw Disguise) jumping onto the top platform and taking Pauline onto her back to make an escape to the gorund floor.

When they reached the bottom of the final ladder, Pauline gazed lovingly at Krystal,the screams of Donkey kong still echoing high above them.

"Er, right..." Krystal grimaced. "I have to go."

Before Pauline could react, the blue fox ran through the portal and back to the CPU.[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]A couple of high platforms had stacked up while Xiaoyu struggled to figure out the game, or while she picked herself up off the floor after failed leaps of glory. Taking a running jump from the top of one, she kicked off the wall, soaring towards a falling square block. Landing neatly atop it, she took a split-second to look up and align herself before stepping deftly back onto the edge, coiling like a spring and launching herself diagonally upwards. The force of the leap shunted the block sideways in mid-air and it slotted with a [i]thunk [/i]into a square gap in the angular terrain.

[i]Bloopbloop

[/i]As the square block filled its hole, two layers vanished, the hanging remainder dropping into the sudden vacuum.

Xiaoyu had realised that this game was like chess. You had to think seven moves ahead, or something - that was what Lei had said when trying to teach her the game. You had to try and imagine what the terrain would look like after the layers had disappeared, and plan ahead to fill the newly-shaped gaps that would appear.

She'd never been great at chess. She didn't have the attention span. Lei'd had to handcuff her to the chair to teach her.

Her daring leap from the falling square had propelled her high enough to reach a flat-top of four blocks lined up on a horizontal. It was headed right for one of the towers, and even without thinking much ahead she could see that if it landed there it would form a roof, preventing other blocks from falling and causing no end of bother.

Her fingers caught the edge of the horizontal bar, but her weight wasn't enough to flip it around. She needed it vertical, and then she needed it shunted to the left - she could look down and see the perfect hole for it to slot into, but she'd been expecting it to swivel as soon as she caught hold, and that wasn't happening.

[b]"Stupid thing!" [/b]she cursed, hauling herself up to stand on the rapidly descending platform. The slipstream tugged at her, whistling through her pigtails and making them stand up vertically from her head, making her eyes water as the ground rushed up to meet her.

[b]"Spin round!" [/b]she yelled in frustration, jumping up and down on the end of the block in an effort to bring her tiny weight to bear.

Abruptly, as if a catch had been released, the bar spun on its axis, twisting to vertical and tipping a surprised Xiaoyu right off.

[b]"Uwaa~aah - [i]oof[/i]!" [/b]she wailed as she fell and smacked into the pastel-coloured floor. Lying there, winded, she could see the tower that had thrown her off land with a [i]clack [/i]on top of one of the already-established skyscrapers of blocks. She'd rotated it okay, but having been tipped off, she hadn't managed to shunt it across to land in the hole.

[i]Clackclackclackclack

[/i]The rain of different-shaped blocks started piling up on top of the now-much-taller tower at an alarming rate. Before Xiaoyu could get her breath back and pull herself out of the hole she'd landed in, the 'scraper had reached the scrap of sky at the top of the shaft.

[b]"Bing-bong! Game Over, kupo!"

[/b]Mog's voice was accompanied by a twisting, whirling sensation and Xiaoyu found herself being spat back out of the Tetris portal into the gaudy Retro Arcade.
[/font][/color]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Lara grasped at the suspended blue pills frantically as she wove through the maze. I was becoming increasingly difficult to find said pills to collect however, crossing the same paths many times in the hunt for the most precious treasure Lara could remember seeking. She had become distinctly single minded in her obsession now, and had narrowly avoided being caught by the 'ghosts', as she had dubbed them, on several occasions. It was true that during her time spent as a tomb raider Lara had been known to become stubbornly obsessive once she was on the trail of a treasure but this was purely ridiculous.

Swirls of colour and haze flitted around her vision. Lara was having great difficulty concentrating, stumbling forward unable to pause even for a moment. The pills were getting scarcer by the moment and the passing ghosts grew ever closer. If she were able to think a single straight thought Lara might have devised an effective search pattern, covering every aspect of the maze. As if was she stumbled blindly onward. Turning a corner Lara pressed her hand firmly against the wall to her left in an attempt to steady her shaking limbs. Raising her tired head her blurred vision instantly focused on the lone capsule held invitingly not a few feet away. It looked slightly larger than the pills the woman had previously savoured, but such details were lost upon her as she lurched forwards.

Lara, however, came to a sudden, grinding halt as a garish blue image appeared from the opening behind the pill. Rolling its beady eyes it advanced in a fluid motion. Lara stepped backwards warily but was again stopped as, from the corner of her clouded vision an unmissable yellow ghost appeared, blocking her escape.

Time seemed to slow as Lara, caught between her two enemies pressed herself against the wall, her breath coming in harsh and panicked gasps. Pressing her shaking arms against the side of the maze lara pushed herself up into a standing position. Turning to face the blue apparition she swallowed thickly and stared into its mass, determined to face it head on. She could barely stand, the need for the pills and the sudden fear overwhelmed her. Lara was certain that here was where she was going to make her last stand and, unable to complete the challenge she would finally end her run on Game On. With this sullen acceptance, however, came a new voice, new and yet somehow familiar.

[I][B]"Use the pill Lara..."[/B] [/I] The voice echoed in her mind and a blurred yellow image began to take form before her. The image was spherical in shape, with a large slice seemingly cut from it. Lara gasped as she recognised her former Blue Feather team mate. Pac-Man. Surrounded by a blueish glow, the yellow ball hovered in front of Lara, staring her down.

[I][B]"Use the pill."[/B][/I] Pac-Man spoke again. the lingering tones of his spectral voice brought fresh energy to Lara's drained body. Bracing herself against the wall she lunged forward. Inches from the fatal embrace of the blue ghost Lara clasped her fingers around the large pill, bringing it immediatley to her mouth and swallowing. The result was equal parts instantaneous and unexpected.

The advancing ghosts suddenly flashed a garish blue colour, reverting from meanacing spirits to cowardly phantoms in seconds. Now she was the hunter and from her they ran. Powered by the energy from the pill Lara surged forward, ripping through the ghost before her, reducing it to a set of eyes, which rolled precariously around the maze. Shooting down the winding paths Lara was able to grab the remaining pills all the while decimating any ghost that happened to cross her path.

With the ingestion of the last pill the entire maze froze and a large [B]'Level Completed' [/B] appeared above her. Lara was automatically teleported back to the CPU, a drunken grin plastered on her face.[/SIZE]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]After the game was completed, Yuna was warped back to the CPU along with the other contestants. They were all ready to move on with their next games and Mog wasn't saying anything that would stop them. Yuna knew what she wanted and rushed forward to the door, saying a cheerful farewell to the other three women as she walked into the arch she knew led to the game [B]Tetris[/B].

She emerged and saw large white pixelated letters hovering in the air, reading [B]"Level Two"[/B]. There was a tall frame in front of her which looked like a large, empty, rectangle on its end, and she noticed a hatch above her. She wondered what this game entailed and started to wait, though the wait wasn't long as the words disappeared, the hatch sprung open and a large 'L' shaped block fell into her arms, she wondered what she was supposed to do with it and shoved it into the bottom left corner of the frame hurriedly as the hatch started to open again. The next block was an upside down 'T' made of four blocks, she thought about it before placing it beside the base of the 'L', looking upward.

On cue the plates slid a part and it was just a long bar made of four blocks. She was starting to get the hang of it and turned it so it was horizontal, fitting it into the rest of the gap that remained across the bottom. [B]"Bloop~!"[/B] Suddenly the bottom row had vanished, shifting the blocks above, down onto the bottom of the frame.

Yuna raised an eyebrow and forgot about the blocks, having the next one hit her in the head. She caught it as it bounced off, looking at the 2 by 2 cube in her hand. She shrugged and fit it in between the two remaining verticle blocks left from the 'L' and the single block from the inverted 'T'. A shape that looked like a 'S' was the next to emerge, she turned it so it stood upright and pressed it up against the single block that still stood. The bottom row disappeared once again, shifting everything downward.

Yuna continued to place the blocks into the right places, actually having fun with the puzzle, slotting them in smoothly now, she was thinking several moves ahead for what she wanted to accomplish. Every now and then some more words appeared over the top indicating a level change, making the blocks drop faster, but Yuna's co-ordination was getting much better at the same time.

Suddenly the blocks were dropping at a constant rate; one after the other. She was juggling the blocks, trying to fit them into spaces in the frame without dropping the rest she had cradled in her arms. Suddenly two toppled off the pile and hit the ground, she watched as they disappeared and immediately reappeared messily in the frame, the blocks she'd dropped had been a vertical bar and an upright backwards 'L', the 'L' was atop the bar and they took up quite a lot of space in the frame, the top was only a few more blocks higher up, and she started to wonder what happened if she touched the top.

Yuna snapped out of her daze and shoved the blocks into any available spaces she could find as they fell like rain. Yuna panicked and sunk to the floor as her tower toppled, falling to the floor and hitting the top in the frame and the large bold words read [B]"GAME OVER"[/B]. She sighed heavily and got up, walking through the portal that appeared to warp her back to the CPU.[/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

[color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]Xiaoyu vaguely remembered that [b]Pac-Man [/b]had been a contestant earlier in the game, and the [i]wakka-wakka-wakka [/i]sound that greeted her passage through the portal jogged her memory further - he'd been that beach ball with the pizza-slice mouth, who liked to pop pills!

She found herself standing atop a high wall, looking down into a deep, dark trench with blue spheres the size of her head hovering, weightless, at regular intervals. Peering out from side to side she could see that the walls cornered here and there, forming a giant maze. Taking a few tentative steps, she teetered along the top of the narrow wall, looking for a way down that wouldn't involve testing this game for falling damage.

Such a way presented itself unexpectedly.

[b]"Wha...?" [/b]Xiaoyu said, as the wall under her feet began to shake. A rumbling sound was growing in time with the tremors, and she was finding it hard to keep her balance.

Crouching to keep her centre of gravity low, Xiaoyu scanned the trench for the source of the earthquake. As the juddering wall threatened to throw her off, something [b]huge [/b]rounded the corner behind her.

[i]WAKKA-WAKKA-WAKKA!

[/i]Xiaoyu's arms windmilled as the giant yellow ball rolled past right underneath her, its immense weight shaking the entire surrounding area of maze. [i]If I can just stay upright until it passes by, I should manage not to fall off...

[/i]Xiaoyu would later swear she heard fluttering wings behind her, felt two tiny paws plant themselves in the small of her back, and heard a grunt of effort that sounded suspiciously like [size=1]"kupo!"

[size=2]Whatever the cause, she found herself stumbling off the top of the wall and plummeting through the air ... instinct took over and she hit the ground running, except she didn't hit the ground, she hit the colossal Pac.

[b]"Hee~eelp!" [/b]she squeaked, running frantically backwards to avoid being swept forward and squished by the rolling monstrosity. [b]"Slow ... [i]down!"

[/i][/b]Unable to keep up the pace anymore, she slowed down her steps, resigned to an icky end underneath the ball, but to her surprise it slowed down accordingly, allowing her to proceed at a comfy walking pace.

[b]"Oooooooh ... so I'm in control now?" [/b]the tiny girl grinned gleefully. [b]"Okay, let's go ... left!"

[/b]As a gap opened up in the wall to her left, she turned to face that way and started the weird backwards run required to propel Pac in that direction. With a little resistance from his forward momentum, the ponderous pinball started rolling left, towards an as-yet-unplumbed mine of blue pills.

Xiaoyu and her unwieldy steed approached the first of the impossibly floating spheres, and just as she was wondering too late how she was supposed to grab it, the pizza-slice mouth she'd remembered opened up and gobbled it.

[b]"How does your mouth stay on the front even when you're rolling...?" [/b]she worried out loud, but it seemed that Retro Arcade Pac was less conversationally inclined than the gobby player that had played Survivor.

[i]The hairs on the back of Xiaoyu's neck stood up in a sudden chill breeze...

[/i]Craning her head around, she was confronted with a pair of giant glassy eyes in a fluffy pink dome. The 'ghost' didn't look especially threatening apart from its huge size, but those eyes were dead, reminding Xiaoyu of the eyes of dead fish in theme-park sushi bars.

Yelping, she indulged her first instinct - to back away. Of course, on the spherical head of Pac-Man this was a bad idea, and the ball started to slow.

[b]"No no no, faster, faster!" [/b]she panicked, overriding her flight reflex and running [i]towards [/i]the scary vision, causing Pac to roll forwards. Silently, fish-eyes flicking from side to side, the ghost swept after them.

Pac's mouth split open and ingested another pill with a [i]gulp.

[/i]Adrenaline flowing through her veins, Xiaoyu quickened pace to roll her transport faster and faster away from her adversary. It seemed to only move at a fixed speed - if she could just outpace it for a while she could build up some leeway -

[i]Gulp

[b]Two more! [/b][/i]Xiaoyu knew there were two pills left in this corridor before a T-junction, and then she'd have to pull a super-quick direction change to try and throw off the sinister pink pursuer -

[i]Gulp

[b]Just one left! [/b][/i]Which way to go? Left or right? Had it even been a T-junction, or just a blind corner? Xiaoyu couldn't remember, she didn't trust herself to run backwards quickly enough to outrun the ghost and besides, she wanted to be able to see how far away it was -

[i]Gulp

[b]Make a decision! Okay ... um ... left!

[/b][/i]But it was too late: Pac smacked at full speed into the wall, throwing Xiaoyu off and leaving them both stationary and at the mercy of the pink ghost...

...which seemingly decided, on a whim, to abandon its helpless prey and scoot off down a random side corridor.

[b]"What the...?" [/b]gasped Xiaoyu, winded on the maze floor. [b]"Stupid Retro A.I.!" [/b]She scrambled to her feet and stuck her tongue out in the direction of the ghost. [b]"Haa - haah! You're too dumb to catch me!"

[/b]A blue ghost glided quietly from the left fork of the T-junction, straight into the motionless form of Pac-Man, who had little yellow birdies [i]cheep[/i]ing around him from the impact with the wall. Pac's mouth opened ... and opened ... and opened some more, in a three-hundred-and-sixty degree arc, until he'd disappeared completely.

The filmy fish-eyes turned to Xiaoyu.

[b]"Get me out get me out get me out!"[/b]
[/size][/size][/font][/color]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Lara stepped up to the portal that would lead her to her new destination and a new game. Reaching the edge she hesitated, lifting her hand and running her fingers across the crackling blue surface.

[B]"Once more into the breach..." [/B] Lara's voice was resolute, barely a whisper as she stepped forward and disappeared.

Gasping as she exited the other side Lara shook her head to rid the dizzy feeling that permiated her brain. She rested a hand upon her head and grimaced. [B]"I'll never get used to that."[/B] The hazy effect lasted only a few seconds and soon Lara was able to clearly take stock of her surroundings.

It appeared that the game she had chosen took place on a construction site. Girders hung, suspended in the air while several ladders were strung precariously between them. Lara's gaze travelled upwards across the girders, held slightly slanted horizontally, until her eyes settled upon a figure, perched high above her, a surprisingly bulky and hairy figure, but a figure nonetheless. Lara gasped as she realised what she was watching was in fact a giant gorilla, angry and mean. Beating its chest and stomping up and down, the beasts animal growls were drowned out only by the terrified screaming of a young woman.

[b]?Help me! He?s gone wild, oh please someone help me!?[/b] As if to confirm the statement the gorilla gave a deafening roar and the girders beneath shook under the strain of his enormous weight.

Lara checked for her weapons, relieved to find that they remained on her person through transit. The tomb raider grimaced as another ear piercing scream tore through the air, glaring up at the woman who was now weeping hysterically beside the gorilla.

[b]?Bloody damsels in distress, can?t they do anything useful.?[/b]

The steel ladder shook slightly as Lara grasped at the steps, ascending to the first platform. All she had to do was rescue the girl, it seemed rather straightforward, get to the top and shoot the gorilla? piece of cake. Musing on the best ways to incapacitate a raging ape Lara barely noticed the large barrel that suddenly came hurtling towards her across one of the girders. Alerted by its thunderous rolling Lara executed a sudden dive over the top of it as it shot past. Rolling to her feet Lara spun to watch it rumble to the edge of the metal walkway and then launch from the end, spiralling to the floor below with a mighty crash. Turning Lara just managed to avoid being struck by another cask by grasping a ladder overhead and swinging herself up and out of harms way.

The great gorilla roared his displeasure at Lara?s efforts, battering his chest and flinging yet more barrels from his perch. The woman, for all her weeping, did nothing to even remotely attempt escape. Hunched next to the massive ape she simply sat, wailing and looking imploringly down at the tomb raider as she ducked and dodged the many barrels hurled her way.

[I]As always, if you want something done?[/I] Lara left the old adage hanging, firing several shots at the next oncoming barrel, shattering it into splinters. The gunfire startled the ape, who momentarily ceased his assault to frown down at the puny woman with the loud weapons. Lara took immediate advantage of the gorilla?s confusion and quickly scaled several of the girders in her bid for the top. Grunting softly as she clambered up the ladders Lara glanced up at her destination, now only a single level away.

[B]?What I wouldn?t give for a couple of biplanes.?[/B] Lara muttered, breathlessly. Reaching the top she whipped her pistols round and trained them on the hairy bulk before her. The gorilla merely roared and hefted another barrel above his head, fully intending to crack Lara?s skull open with it. Never hesitating Lara fired, a grim expression on her features. The gunshot illuminated the apes pained expression as it screamed and clutched at its now bloody shoulder. It dropped the barrel, which Lara nimbly avoided, and slumped to the ground, moaning pitifully as it pawed at the wound. Nodding in satisfaction Lara holstered her weapons and approached the girl, who by now had stopped crying and was staring at the ape with wide eyes.

Lara held out her hand to the girl.

[B]?Don?t worry, you?re safe now-?[/B] Lara was cut short as the younger girl suddenly stood, glaring fiercely in Lara?s direction.

[B]?What have you done??[/B] Lara stopped, frowning at the unexpected question. The girl ran towards the gorilla, clutching his arm and dabbing at his shoulder with the hem of her dress. The ape, for his part, whimpered pitifully, putting on his best injured expression, clearly loving the attention. The girl turned to shoot another angry look at the bemused Lara. [B]?What did you think you were doing? Coming in here, pistols blazing! This isn?t one of those nasty, violent shoot ?em ups you know!? [/B] Lara opened her mouth to respond but closed it quickly when the girl beat her to it. [B]?Don?t say anything, you?ve done quite enough. I think you should just go before you hurt anyone else.? [/B]

Lara frowned and scratched her head as the girl turned back to coo over the injured beast. Shrugging Lara headed towards the end of the platform and indicated to Mog that she was ready to leave.

[B]?Some people??[/B][/SIZE]