Gah! I hope I'm not too late…. I choose to run, because my sword/dagger is already so heavy…I would never get out in time. 

Day 4

—

Eloise dodged the glinting blade of Gecko’s katana, and aimed a kick at her legs. Gecko leapt up smoothly, and landed on both feet, her katana in hand.

Eloise glanced around. She just needed to get Gecko in a red circle … there! There was one, right next to Eloise. With a swift movement, Eloise darted around, running for Gecko’s other side.

Suddenly, a foot drove into her ankle, Eloise lost balance, the world tilted, and the red paint on pavement came rushing up to meet Eloise.

With a zip! and a zap! Eloise vanished.

“GECKO survived the encounter! ELOISE has been ELIMINATED!” R.R.’s voice yelled.

Gecko let out a huge breath. She had survived!

The chaos wasn’t quite over yet. Gecko was reminded of this as a blur of clothing passed her. Rin was dashing for the cornucopia, Lark running toward the heap of junk from the other side as well.

With a quick decision, Gecko turned, and ran through the wide main streets, avoiding the red circles.

Bakerloo and Sammy ran for the border as well.

“Hey, Bakerloo,” Sammy panted, “Sorry ‘bout that earlier.”

Bakerloo grinned. “No harm, no foul. Seeya later!” he said, and sped up, sprinting for the border.

Sam paused for a moment, and then quickly darted down an alleyway. Bakerloo could always hold a grudge.

Nyx and Joan ran down different paths, Nyx disappearing into the maze of alleyways beneath the brightly colored apartment balconies, while Joan’s feet pounded against the cold metal of a fire escape, heading up, up, and up.

Reaching the top of the office building, Joan paused for a moment, and let the cool wind whirl around her. She looked over the landscape. There were four main streets, wide and prominent, that lead directly to the border. The rest was a jumble of buildings and side alleyways, a practical maze. If she was to run through the alleys, there would be less chance of encountering someone, but if she was to run on the main streets, it would be much, much faster.

Joan thought for a moment, and then looked to her left, where the rooftops of the apartment buildings stood. There was always a third option. Joan grinned, priding herself on thinking out of the box, and started leaping across rooftops.

Back at the cornucopia, Lark arrived quickly, way before Rin. She dug through the pile frantically, hoping to find something useful before Rin arrived. Rin was sure to overpower her–Lark only had her useless book. Finding nothing, and seeing Rin come nearer and nearer, Lark grabbed the first thing she touched, and just ran for it, sprinting down a side alleyway.

Rin screeched to a stop at the pile, surveying everything. There was a strange assortment of items there, and Rin didn’t see anything useful. All the weapons seemed to have disappeared deep into the pile. Rin began to sort.

It was soon after, that R.R.’s voice came through the speakers soon. “Awwwwwwww, this is no fun, is it?” she asked.

Rin glanced up from the pile. Joan paused for a rest on the rooftops. Sammy, Lark, and Nyx looked toward the sky from the alleyways. Bakerloo and Gecko scanned the sky from the roads.

“Why don’t I … make this more difficult for you,” R.R. said, her voice gleeful.

A resounding snap echoed through the city. Suddenly, the ground shifted, and once it stopped, there were twice as many red circles, there where they weren’t before.

Deep in the alleys, Nyx came to a stop. With a grinding sound, the stone and masonry around her shifted. The maze of alleyways was different now. Completely disoriented, Nyx turned around and around. The maze continued to shift. The two walls of the alley Nyx was in started closing in on her. Her eyes wide, Nyx turned and ran.

Out in the open, wide streets, littered with red circles and vehicles, Bakerloo heard a faint puffing. All of a sudden, with a creak of machinery and whirr of electricity, cars, motorcycles, and scooters came to life, whizzing past Bakerloo. He turned around, shocked, just in time to see a huge red truck come rumbling toward him. With a final look, Bakerloo tore down the street as fast as he could.

Up on the rooftops, Joan stopped. The buildings were shifting under her feet. The block she was standing on spun around, and Joan leapt for another.

Rin grabbed a mysterious sack, and ran for it, sprinting down the wide lanes just in time to avoid a green van slamming into the pile of stuff and sending it flying over her head.

They all made it.

They all made it to the border. Some, with more difficulty than others. Bakerloo, Rin, and Gecko emerged with a couple of scratches, and pounding heartbeats from avoiding cars. Joan stumbled out the border, dizzy from the spinning and moving buildings. Nyx, Sammy, and Lark came out much later than everyone else, their feet sore from navigating the shifting alleyways.

—

Gecko looked around. They were in the decision dome once again. She had been plopped down on the floor as soon as she exited the border. It was still unmistakable, with the stained glass dome, but the walls had changed. One, large doorway led into what seemed to be pitch darkness. That was all.

Slowly, everyone else filtered into the dome.

Once all seven of them had assembled into the dome, a wood panel shifted, revealing R.R. behind a glass pane. “You all made it! Well except for poor Eloise, but otherwise, you all did GREAT!” R.R. exclaimed.

Joan promptly collapsed onto the floor, her balance failing her. She sat up again, shaking her head.

“Not too great,” Rin mumbled, examining a large bruise on her leg.

R.R. shrugged. “What can I say? It’s meant to be hard! Anyways, let us move on to the next event!”

—

ALL CONTESTANTS: you have a decision to make. Who do you team up with? You may choose ONE other person as your teammate, or opt to stay ALONE. 

If you stay ALONE you will not be sabotaged in the next event. However, you will not be helped either.

If you choose ANOTHER PERSON, depending on if you and them are CURIOUS or CAUTIOUS, COMPASSIONATE or COMPETITIVE, it increases or decreases your chances of being sabotaged or helped.

I WILL NOT tell you what those chances are.

THESE PAIRS DO NOT last for more than one event. They are ONLY for the next event.

Reply by OCTOBER 17th

—

BONUS: if someone can guess my favorite color, I’ll give you a cookie in the tournament.

—

~Rainbow Riot

Day 5 

—

“Joan, partners?” Rin asked, sitting down next to Joan.

“Uh, yea, sure,” Joan mumbled, still dizzy from the hunger games but with less blood.

Sammy and Gecko glanced around suspiciously, and then sat down next to each other. Bakerloo, Nyx, and Lark stayed away, opting to be alone.

“Alright, we’ve got our partners I see!” R.R. exclaimed, “Now, for advantages and disadvantages!”

Bakerloo sighed.

—

The BEST team last time was BAKERLOO, who made it out first.

Bakerloo winced, ready for something to happen. His shoes disappeared.

How unoriginal. This is going to suck for you, BAKERLOO.

The WORST team last time was NYX, who made it out last.

Nyx grinned, and a length of rope dropped into her hands.

Rope is always useful, NYX.

—

“And that’s it for this round’s advantages and disadvantages! Yep! I nerfed the random ones,” R.R. said, shrugging.

Lark frowned. She could’ve used an advantage this round.

“WELL ANYWAY, you wanna know what this round is all about?” R.R. asked dramatically.

With a flick of a lever, the dark doorway flashed with bright light, and faded to reveal … an OBSTACLE COURSE! There were bars, balance beams, a weird pinwheel that looked like the one designed to knock people off from Fall Guys, a bridge of spaced-out lilypads across water, and so much more!

Bakerloo looked down at his feet, shoeless. It would certainly make the course more difficult to do, but it wasn’t that bad honestly.

“Yep, an OBSTACLE COURSE! The last one to make it to that portal at the end LOSES!”

Joan glanced at Rin. She was glad that she had teamed up with Rin now, this obstacle course would be way easier to do with help! Rin grinned at Joan, and lifted up her warped wood staff. They would make it there!

“Hey, we’re going to do this!” Sammy exclaimed.

“Yep!” Gecko said, fist-bumping Sammy.

Lark studied the obstacle course carefully. There seemed to be a couple places where she could shortcut to avoid falling into the water beneath the course. There were ladders going back up to the course from the water, but it would cost her a lot of time.

Nyx looked over at the other people. They all looked ready to run. Then, she looked down at the rope in her hands. Maybe a little bit of sabotage was in order to win this …

“READYSETGO!” R.R. shrieked without warning, and a shrill whistle blasted.

Bakerloo started, and began to run toward the course, heading for the first obstacle, a set of floating lilypads.

Rin leapt ahead easily, Joan keeping pace behind her as they quickly overtook Bakerloo and started hopping across the lilypads. Suddenly, Joan felt a jerk on her back, and she was tugged back by a rope, toppling into the water.

“Seeya!” Nyx said, running for the lilypads.

“Rin!” Joan exclaimed, sticking out her hand for Rin’s.

Rin looked back. If she went ahead, she would make it, but Joan would be swept all the way back to the beginning. With a quick decision, she stuck out her hand, and pulled Joan up, onto a lilypad.

“Thanks,” Joan said, spitting out water, her hair soaked.

Gecko was slightly behind Sammy. It would be so easy to just push Sammy off, and set her back a little …

—

ALL CONTESTANTS: you have a decision to make. Do you try to sabotage someone? Or do you not? Depending on if you are COMPETITIVE or COMPASSIONATE, and if you are CAUTIOUS or CURIOUS, it may go well, or it may not. Or you might be sabotaged yourself.

Reply by OCTOBER 22nd

—

BONUS: none of you guessed my favourite color, it was yellow >:D. Answer this question (if you want): is cereal a soup?

—

~ Rainbow Riot

No sabotage here; this competition is nail-biting enough already (and I don't bite my nails, so you've really got me wound up)

Yay! My dagger returned to its 'normal' sword-like size! XD

Umm… yeah, I'm compassionate, so I'm going to go with NOT sabotaging people… (unless it's Nyx. Then I'm cool with that. Sorry, not sorry Nyx. ;p) 

Oh, and cereal is DEFINITELY NOT a soup…. blegh! *shivers at the comparison of cereal and soup* Soup is just more…. soggier in my opinion.  

It… is so tempting… to sabotage… must… resist… 

Fine, fine. I'll be nice. I guess. Though it goes against my natural instinct. This reminds me a little of the prisoner's dilemma.

Cereal is not a soup because cereal itself does not imply that there is milk. Cereal is just the dry crunchy part, which I don't think anyone would mistake for soup. Even if there were milk in it, it would still not be a soup because the ingredients in soup have to be cooked together, and it is barbaric to think otherwise. Not everything liquid is a soup. Not everything with bread is a sandwich. We exist in a world of technicalities. This is just how it is.

I'm postponing the next chapter of this to the 26th, because I'm just too busy these two days 🙂 stay tuned!

Day 6 

—

“Aw, none of you are fun!” R.R. exclaimed dramatically.

Joan blinked, and looked up. “What?” she said in confusion.

“I mean, seriously, no sabotages?” R.R. said, her voice echoing through the stadium.

“No idea what she’s talking about either …” Gecko said.

“Oops! Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to break the fourth wall! Anyways, looks like we have some clear winners, huh!” R.R. continued.

Nyx easily took first place, swinging in on her rope that disappeared the moment her feet touched the finish line. Bakerloo barely made it, shoeless and slow, but he made it. In sixth. Who got eliminated?

Poor, unfortunate Rin made a couple of wrong decisions on the way. Those itty bitty mistakes added up, and, weighed down with her gnarled staff, Rin fell in last.

“RIN was ELIMINATED!” R.R. yelled.

Rin’s face fell. She sighed. Maybe she would get compensation cookies? With a shrug, Rin let herself be teleported away.

Gecko let out a sigh of relief, and shared a fist bump with Sammy. They were safe! Joan frowned slightly, as Rin, her teammate was gone. Oh well. It wasn’t that bad actually, she had made it this far! But she still felt sort of bad for Rin. Lukewarm was the right word to describe it.

Nyx grinned, and Bakerloo looked down at his shoes, waiting for them to come back. They did, of course. Lark sat down, looking a little faint

“ALRIGHTY CONTESTANTS! No rest for the weary, time for the next challenge!” R.R. announced.

With a resounding snap, their surroundings were replaced with ancient egyptian architecture.

Sammy looked around. The room she was in was a sort of huge atrium, with a towering ceiling painted with blue mosaics. Pillars supported the lower roof around the edges, and ominous hallways led off into darkness. In the center of the room, there was an enormous gold sandglass, full of pink sand at the top. Strangely, none of the sand was trickling down.

Bakerloo looked to his left. Lark was right there, looking around in confusion.

Gecko looked to her right. There was Joan!

Nyx waved hello to Sammy on the other side of her.

“THIS GAME will require a bit of explanation!” R.R. said, “I stole it from a couple of streamers! It’s called … SANDS OF TIME!”

“Explains the hourglass,” Nyx remarked.

“SANDS OF TIME is a treasure hunting and time management game! Your goal is to find as many coins as you can, which are hidden in rooms that those ominously dark hallways lead to. When the time in your hourglass runs out, then you are teleported out of the game, with all of your coins. Apart from looking from treasure, you can also look for sacks of sand, which you can dump into the hourglass to increase the amount of time you have!”

Lark nodded along, already deep in thought, looking for strategies.

“There ARE dangers to exploring though! There are traps, which will teleport you outside, and effectively ELIMINATE you!”

Gecko frowned.

“And, for one team, I have a special … surprise … for you!” R.R. cackled.

Oops. That didn’t sound particularly well boding.

“So now, your time will start! You will have a starting 10 minutes, and each sack of sand adds half a minute to that! Go, go, go, go!”

With a creaking sound, the pink sand in the hourglass started trickling down.

—

Over in one of three arenas, Nyx and Sammy were experiencing something very different. With a clang of metal, heavy cages slammed down around them, and whisked them off to bagel-knows-where.

“It seems the sphinx has taken an interest in you two!” R.R. announced, “Are you up for a prisoner’s dilemma?”

Sammy’s eyes widened. “Uh, no,” she said.

R.R. cackled gleefully, sounding like an evil willy wonka. “Well, ready or not, here it comes!”

—

ALL CONTESTANTS: you have a choice to MAKE. Do you go exploring for coins, or do you stay to guard the time glass and get more time for you and your teammate? There ARE sandbags scattered around the central atrium. CHOOSE WISELY.

SAMMY and NYX: you have been chosen by the SPHINX. You two are trapped in a PRISONER’S DILEMMA. You are each in an empty chamber, with no way of communicating with each other. You have two options. You can either cooperate, or sabotage. If both of you cooperate, you will both get a small amount of coins, and get teleported out. You will have a VERY HIGH chance of both getting eliminated. If one of you cooperates, and the other sabotages, the sabotager will get a very large amount of coins, and the cooperator will lose. If both of you sabotage, you will be teleported out with a small amount of coins, and you both have a VERY HIGH chance of getting eliminated. PLEASE DO NOT COMMUNICATE. @SAMMY, comment on the 2ND page with your choice, or PM me on Nanowrimo. @NYX, comment on the 3RD page with your choice, or PM me on Nanowrimo.

—

Good luck!

—

~Rainbow Riot