Day 2

---

After a little bit of debate, the Chatterboxers entered their respective doors. Nyx entered the door of driftwood. Rin entered the flowered door. Joan chose the door composed of vines. Gecko chose the stone door engraved with hieroglyphics. Eloise chose the black gilded door. Bakerloo chose the green glass door, being followed by Sammy after a moment’s hesitation. Aqua and Magnus were the last to enter any doors, getting both pushed into the fifth door.

All doors slammed shut as soon as the Chatterboxers entered them. R.R. smirked, and clicked a button.

The cameras broadcasting the CB Tournament to the rest of the viewers fizzled for a moment, and the scenery switched. Instead of the decision dome, the camera panned over a wide view of open blue sky, stretching out as far as the eye could see. In the center of the camera shot were three rings of ten islands, each below another.

Rin arrived first, falling out of nowhere onto an island full of giant flowers and plants. Joan came in next, landing roughly on an island so overgrown with trees and vines that she was only visible for a second. Gecko dropped lightly onto the top of a stone step pyramid with four doors around it, landing on her feet. Eloise fell down onto rough black terrain, full of unwelcoming sharp stones and small burning fires. Bakerloo and Sammy were plunged into a green glass tank, full of water that spilled out the sides in an endless waterfall. Aqua and Magnus found themselves sitting on an island similar to a large goblet, full of golden trinkets.

“CONTESTANTS!” R.R.’s voice announced, “Welcome to the very first minigame! The goal of this game is to get to a portal before the decay gets to you! If you look below, there are NINE portals, one for each of you! The last to enter will be barred from passing through a portal! If you look above, you will see what is the DECAY! If you are caught by it, you will automatically be OUT of the tournament!”

With that, her mic clicked off, and the contestants were left in silence.

“Aight, we just have to make it to a portal? Easy peasy my dude,” Bakerloo said, floating on the surface of the water easily, holding his tiny dagger.

Sammy looked up. The decay was what seemed to be a large fog, creeping down second by second. They were all on the top ring of islands, so unless they didn’t get down, they would be automatically disqualified.

A sudden thought occurred to Sammy. 

“Hey, Bakerloo,” Sammy said.

“Yea, what?” Bakerloo asked, looking over at Sammy slightly.

“Only nine people can get through,” Sammy said climbing up onto the rim of the green glass tank, “But if we disqualify someone by trapping them on an island for the decay, that guarantees safe passage.”

“Hmm, yea! That’s smart Sammy, but who?” Bakerloo asked, turning around to climb up onto the edge too.

He stopped, looking up at Sammy. Her eyes were staring straight at Bakerloo.

Realization hit Bakerloo.

“So that’s how it is,” Bakerloo muttered, treading water quickly back, and raising up his tiny knife. Sammy did the same with her foam diamond sword.

The two stared at each other, before engaging in battle.

While Bakerloo and Sammy were fighting, over on another island, Rin had swung down to the lowest ring of islands already, taking some flowers with her and using her oddly shaped staff as a grappling hook. She now looked down at the ring of nine portals, considering which one to go to.

Joan swung down next to her. Rin whirled around quickly, but Joan raised her hands. “Easy, I just want to talk,” Joan said.

Rin immediately relaxed.

Meanwhile, Aqua and Magnus quickly realized who they were sitting next to. Aqua scrambled back across the golden trinkets, and Magnus dropped into a fighting stance.

They had both realized quite quickly what eliminating the other one would mean. Certain safety. But they would have to be quick about it. The fog was creeping closer, with every second.

---

ALL CONTESTANTS: you have a decision to make. Which portal do you go into? The portals are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, and white. 

BAKERLOO, SAMMY, AQUA, and MAGNUS: you are in an ENCOUNTER! The first encounter pair is AQUA and MAGNUS. The second encounter pair is BAKERLOO and SAMMY. That means you will have another choice, in addition to choosing what portal you go through! You will need to choose FIGHT or FLIGHT! If you BOTH choose FIGHT, there will be a coin flip to decide who wins. If you BOTH choose FLIGHT, there will be a dice roll to decide if one of you makes it through a portal, or if both of you get disqualified by the decay. If one of you chooses FIGHT, and the other chooses FLIGHT, the one who chose FLIGHT will be disqualified, and the one who chose FIGHT will make it through a portal. Choose wisely, and no coordination!

Reply by OCTOBER 9th.

---

BONUS: If you tried to go through the green glass door, and your name didn’t have two repeating letters, like Bakerloo or Sammy, you would’ve been forced to choose another door.

---

~Rainbow Riot

Aaarrrrghhh it's so intense already! Great work again RR - I'm legitimately anxious to see what happens next. All I can do is choose FLIGHT and hope for the best...

Hmm.... I choose yellow portal or pink. No one has gone through pink, and two people have already gone through yellow... so choose whatever is more interesting for you to write about R.R. :)

I don't really prefer getting disqualified though.

Day 3 

---

Lark dived into the red portal, just as Rin swung into the yellow one. Both portals closed with a spark of electricity. Nyx jumped toward the yellow portal a second too late, just as the yellow swirling substance disappeared from the portal frame.

She teetered precariously on the edge of the portal frame, and started tipping backwards when a hand caught her. Nyx looked up to see Joan, her large dagger embedded into the edge of an island and grasping her hand. With a deft flick of the large dagger, Joan catapulted herself and Nyx up onto the island.

“Thanks,” Nyx panted.

A drop of water landed on her head, and Nyx looked up. Sammy and Bakerloo were dueling on the edge of an island spilling water, and as she watched, Bakerloo attempted to dive off of the island.

Sammy tossed Bakerloo back into the green glass tank with a visible effort, and cracked her foam sword across his head. Bakerloo went limp, and Sammy leapt off of the island, heading straight for them.

“Let’s go,” Nyx said quickly, diving into the nearest portal, which just so happened to be the green portal.

Joan sailed smoothly into the pink portal, and both fizzled out of existence just as Sammy landed on the island. Sammy promptly leapt into the white portal, which fizzled out as well.

There were only four portals left. The black portal, the blue portal, the purple portal, and the orange portal. Make that only two, as Gecko entered the purple portal quickly, and Eloise entered the purple one.

Two portals left.

High above, a few drops of water dripped down from the green glass tank. Bakerloo opened his eyes, and then closed them again. Everything was fuzzy, out of focus.

Things sharpened when Bakerloo opened his eyes again, to see Aqua and Magnus dueling across the void. Magnus seemed to be winning. Bakerloo looked up. The fog was slowly creeping downwards toward them, but Magnus and Aqua seemed not to notice.

Maybe-just maybe, Bakerloo could survive this.

The fog crept even closer.

That was it.

Bakerloo jumped off of the green glass tank, the wind whistling in his ears as he aimed for the black portal, passing straight through it, just as the fog engulfed Aqua and Magnus.

---

“AQUA and MAGNUS have been ELIMINATED!” R.R.’s voice announced through the speakers.

Bakerloo looked around, disoriented. He was standing on a black pedestal, in a ring together with all the other contestants–except for Aqua and Magnus.

In the center of the ring was what seemed to be a huge pile of junk: car parts, ice cream cone holders, broken lamps. But Bakerloo caught sight of some … useful things in there: a flashlight, a bow (without arrows), and more weapons.

He turned around, surveying the landscape before them. It was a city, with colorful skyscrapers, lush greenery, and cheerful shops and cars, but entirely empty. They were at a crossroads, right in the center of the city. And there were weird red circles painted everywhere.

“This is HUNGER GAMES but with less blood!” R.R. announced.

Rin blinked. Did R.R. just say what she thought she said?

“That’s right, HUNGER GAMES!” R.R. continued, “The way this works is that if someone steps into a red circle, they get eliminated! And you don’t even have to fight, you just have to make it to the border, and you’ll be set free!”

A distant, holographic border sprang up, rather far away.

“But even though the choice may seem clear, wait! There’s more! At the center of the city, right now, there is a cornucopia, which you can all see clearly! You have the chance to try and get some items to help you later on in the game!” R.R. exclaimed.

Oh, cool.

“Now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way, let’s get you guys your advantages and disadvantages!” R.R. announced.

Oh, Rin had totally forgotten about that.

---

The best team last time was LARK, the first one to get through the portal.

Lark stared up to see where the voice had come from. Maybe the fourth wall? But just then, her shoes disappeared.

Good luck running without shoes, LARK.

The worst team last time was BAKERLOO, the last one to get through the portal.

Bakerloo grinned, he would get an advantage! He looked down, to see his dagger grow slightly bigger. He shrugged.

At least it’s not a needle now, BAKERLOO.

The random team chosen by a DICE ROLL for a DISADVANTAGE is JOAN.

Joan sighed, ready for her shoes to disappear or whatever. Instead, her dagger that was already hard to carry grew EVEN bigger.

That must suck, JOAN.

The random team chosen by a DICE ROLL for an ADVANTAGE is GECKO.

Gecko grinned, and prepared herself for an advantage and a savagely sarcastic comment. Her katana grew slightly bigger, still not the size of a regular one but larger.

Yay, GECKO.

---

“NOW THAT you have your advantages and disadvantages, let the games begin!” R.R. exclaimed.

Gecko jumped down from the pedestal, and looked to her right. Eloise was there. Shoot.

---

ALL CONTESTANTS: you have a decision to make. Do you HEAD FOR THE CORNUCOPIA to get an item or RUN? 

GECKO and KITTEN: you are in an ENCOUNTER! IN ADDITION to choosing the cornucopia or running, CHOOSE a number between 1 and 10–I won’t tell you what it does!

Reply by OCTOBER 13th.

---

BONUS: the CIA once used cats as spies

---

~Rainbow Riot