☢ Ascension ☢

ASCENSION

!! IMPORTANT !!
Posting Order:
Burning-Fox
Spekkal
Mephiles
Ryder
Deux
Blitz

-----------

Today was the day. The day of the large scale test that would allow one person to prove themselves as one sure hell amazing fighter, capable of standing up to a giant challenge with ease.

It was as simple as turning up. Yet not many dared to do it, as those who set foot into the arena never usually succeeded.

So let's get down to it, shall we...?

The massive arena area. Filled with a rather large crowd, to say the least. Spectators from around the globe that had shown up to watch the event unfold. Many were waging bets on how long it would take for all of the competitors to be taken out. Some were simply waiting, watching.

This event didn't take place often. Making the most of it was... important.

Lights, cameras, all sorts, were set up around the main center arena... it was certainly a sight to say, to say the least! Above the arena, the sky was allowed to shine through... and across the arena, there was a large gateway, which was firmly fixed closed for the moment.

...

Stepping slowly into the arena, completely bewildered by the showcase of lights, was a red fox. Relatively short. And he looked pretty young too. Upon seeing the massive lights and surprisingly large crowd, he could only get a bit nervous. Maaaaaybe this was a bit much. ...Nah.

He didn't have any of his equipment that he'd usually carry. I mean, all a laptop would do is break in this situation. And sodas would just be a burden. Glancing around, the fox tried to see his competition. Or, well, teammates. It was an endurance test, not a tournament afterall. At the very end they'd have to fight, sure... but he'd be able to use stamina against them.

The speakers across the arena suddenly flicked on, lights on them coming on. The crowd quietened down upon the moment a sound of static was heard, as well as a whine from the microphone. ...Before a pretty smooth voice came on."...Is this thing on? Ah, there we go. Helloooooooo and welcome! Welcome! ...To Ascension! The ultimate test of endurance." The voice spoke, a very slick and in general nice voice to listen to. "To those of you seeing for the first time... allow me to explain the rules."

The massive metallic door slowly creaked open. "Upon starting, the participants will move, as a unit, through the door you see before you. It may look like an ordinary door, but it is FAR from it. Oh yes... You see, the resulting contact with the door will transport those taking part to the first set of "areas". Now, what exactly are what we call "areas"? Different areas designed to test and exploit the strengths and weaknesses of every set fighter. Of course, we don't know every last one of them taking part, so it varies!" The announcer stated, "There are 50 rooms. There are 10 areas. Each area has 5 rooms binded to it, each, which must be handled with caution by every fighter taking part! The theme will change as they go across, as will the intensity of the hazards present in the rooms. To pass a room, all of the hazards must be taken care of - at least, the ones which CAN be taken care of! The final room of every area will be lit by a blue torch, and will be the toughest of the set of rooms. Now, that's all that's needed to be known, save for the safety regulations which were briefed to every fighter taking part."

The door was now fully open, a whirpool of colours deep inside, swirling around gracefully. "...Now, who's ready to begin? Who's ready to try to ascend?" The voice questioned.

A large hologram appeared above the arena area the participants were in, on eye level with the crowd. It was a literal projection of them, shown incredibly accurately in realtime. A large screen was seen near the announcer bay, with the names of the participants, as well as their status.

The red fox's name showed up on the monitor first, as he was the first to set foot in there. Cal Oblisk. He glanced over to the monitor, as well as the hologram. In wonder.

It was clear that this was going to be a big event!

---


Status Screen:
Cal Oblisk - Active
Maxie Torone - Active
Alexis Kata - Active
Ryder Callaway - Active
Flare - Active
Blizz Nevensky - Active

And then the light shone on another, and before anything else, there was a; "OHOHOHOHO~!" from the next contestant. Hands on their hips, flat chest out, there was a griffon. Her feathers were white, with the occasional tint of a rosy red, and she was pressed in a deep pink dress and heels. Her hair was red, that reached her spine from the length, with gentle curls at the edges. She was a very... white and pink hybrid, and it would be easy to not take her seriously, especially after that corny laugh, "HELLO babes and darlings!" she laughed, "I hope you're all ready for a BEE-AUTIFUL performance! By yoouurs truly~"

She blew at kiss at the audience, arching her spine to pop her rear out, her gloved finger pressing gently against her chin as she stared at the crowd with an amused expression on her lipstick'd beak, "Kisses! Mwaaaah, mwaaah~! Love you all, daaaarlings!" Maxie clearly seemed like the confident sort. Over-confident, but at least approachable. She also blatantly loved the attention on her, and was certainly doing her best to make herself look physically good. It wasn't that hard, cause admittedly she was kinda cute.

As the light shone on the sky blue fox, her smile could be seen as she waved to the audience. It was clear she was confident as well as concerned for the safety of those around her. Not only that, but she needed to be careful with her every decision that she made. "I promise that I'll perform to the best of my ability," she stated. I also need to be careful, or else I'll end up making reckless decisions... she thought.

The light then flashed to the Crimson Dragon, Flare. On his face he wore an expression of pure excitement as his tail swished back and forth behind him. He flexed his wings outward in an attempt to seem bigger and punched his fists together lightly. As he did this, a small amount of energy flared outward creating a sort of wind. This was likely to display his strength, or the strength he thought he had. Given his state of mind at the moment, this spurt of energy replenished itself soon after as he stepped forward and looked up at the audience above the group. His blood was boiling, the thought of being apart of something as big as this just filled him with an intense energy. 

"Let's get this started!" He exclaimed, walking forward a few steps while cracking his knuckles. Eager to move, he was pretty jumpy as he constantly moved. His arms, legs, he jumped from foot to foot as if he were ready to run at any second.

The flashed on the last particapent, and to say she was a weird-looking one would be an understatement. The blue vixen stared her pitch-black, white-iris eyes at the crowd. "I must say, I was expecting alot more people. Probably ran outta tickets." On the inside, she was so eager to start, she almost decided to swing her special-made Machete around for fun.

Cal gave a small smile to the hedgehog, Ryder, who'd wished everyone luck. That was a nice thing to see! Sportsmanship~ Something that wasn't super common for him to see at least.

He stretched a little bit, before the other competitors caught his eye slightly. He seemed a little bit intimidated by Flare specifically, but that wasn't too much of a big deal... at least he could probably shrug it off. For the most part.

...Right?

"It's time... to start... theeee ASCENSIOOOON!" The announcer shouted, which earned a pretty loud cheer from the audience, before the lights shifted to the door, flames appearing either side. The hologram also became a bit larger, no doubt for the crowd to keep track of them the whole time they did things.

"Whenever you're ready. It's time to begin... Step through the gate, and you will be taken to area 1; Meadow Battlefields! Of course, the other areas won't be spoiled, so don't count on any of that. Good luck to all of the competitors!"

The fox simply took a deep breath, before giving a thumbs up to everyone else. Cute.

He rubbed his hands together, before adjusting his goggles so that they were over his eyes... and he immediately sprinted towards the door, rather than just walk.

Someone was determined to prove themselves!

Immediatley he leapt through the portal, and in a blinding flash, he was shifted!

...

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

...

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 1


The red fox came to a skidding halt upon reaching the room, staggering a little. That was disorienting. Holding his head, he glanced back to the door he just came through, which wasn't coloured the same as the other. One way door, probably. He then took a look towards the obstacles in the room.

Huh.


Standing before the participants, a few mechs of sorts. They looked pretty high tech, but they definitely didn't move like they were new. Relatively sluggish. Their body was coated in blue, a gentle azure colour of sorts.

That was the case for all of them in the room. Five in total.

And in the center, a sole red one, which looked a bit more bulky.

...And before the red fox knew it, suddenly there was a cannon ball heading his way, with quite surprising speed. He immediately gave a gentle shriek of surprise, jumping and kartwheeling to the side, as the blue ones immediately lurched forward to the other participants.

"A very good dodge from Cal Oblisk, but remember, this is only the first room! Things are only going to get harder as they progress. More than 50 times so!" Turns out the announcer's voice came through the whole area. In fact, there was a simulated crowd of sorts surrounding them. It was literally the real deal, just a hologram! Talk about attention to detail.

And of course, at the very end of the room? The next door, leading into the second room! It wasn't open yet, and it seemed the way to open it was to take out the bots.

The moment any of the participants showed their faces, they were greeted quite rudely by a swinging robotic arm of pain.

...At least it was sluggish-ish?

Pass criteria:
Destroy all targets: 6 remaining
(5 blue tier arena drones, 1 red tier arena drone)

---



Status Screen:
Cal Oblisk - Active
Maxie Torone - Active
Alexis Kata - Active
Ryder Callaway - Active
Flare - Active
Blizz Nevensky - Active

"Iiiit's SHOWTIME!"
The griffon stepped forward, their right hand raising and grabbing at their chest, fingers slipping inside the fabric of their clothes. With a smirk, said hand lashed out, and what came with it was a small cylindrical object, no larger than a fist. The movement alone caused their hair to waver with a dramatic flourish. Their thumb pressed against the side.
Click.
At once, two thinner steel cylinders extended from each side with a whoosh, There was a series of clicks and whirrs from the furthest pole, as it flicked outwards with hidden components, forming an axe-like blade. That small thing, in a matter of a few seconds, had transformed into a deadly halberd. Her preferred weapon of choice.

With a simple wiggle of her fingers, the blade spun, tearing chunks out of the ground below. An abrupt stop followed, as the weapon clacked against the ground, and Maxie leaned against it. "See you at the finish line, my darlings! Best of luck to you, and try not to cry toooo hard~! OHOHOHO~!" Her wings raised, and she flapped them a total of one times. That was more than enough to cause her to launch forward with surprising speed, weapon at he ready to swing like a baseball bat.

She entered the portal.
And was immediately greeted by a metal arm.

She countered it with her own weapon with incredible reflexes, a clang! of metal against steel, and sparks flew. A grin spread across her face, as she flicked her head back to reveal her face a bit more. The two seemed to be at a standstill, as neither arm nor halberd budged.
"What a cute little toy~!" she teased with a twirl of her tail feathers, "Mmm, sorry, but I have a spotlight to get to!" And then she ducked. Her weapon still in place to hold the arm, the hybrid bird seemed to... hover, but upon closer inspection, a gust of wind was keeping her afloat. Her rightward leg swept upwards, hooking over the robot's other arm in mimicry of a seductive pose, but it was hardly so considering she used this additional movement to launch herself upwards by pushing down on her leg, going over, and sliding down the back of the mechanical enemy.

Following that, she twirled her long weapon again, and thrust the bladed side of the axe right into its back. It was... scarily impressive, considering that was in the span of a few seconds. But these were the easy enemies, and one would have to wonder how these skills would compare against the harder beings.

I hope I do well... she thought and gave the audience a cheerful smile. As she advanced towards the first portal, the sky blue fox began to think about what her strategy would be. Just act natural, and you'll be fine, she thought, stopping just in front of the portal before taking a deep breath. All right, here we go... she thought and leaped through the portal, only to be immediately greeted by a metal arm.

Her reflexes were quick as she countered it by blocking the attack. She followed up with letting her hand glow an whitish-blue color, allowing a few seconds to pass before deciding to send it flying into one of the other mechanical drones. I thought they said th- Now I get it... You have to fight your way to the big leagues! she thought as she saw another mechanical enemy rush towards her. She waited until it came close to her, then hooked its arm with hers as she sent it crashing towards the ground. This is definitely harder than it looks... the sky blue fox thought as she began to ponder the mechanics of the enemies and her method for them.

Ryder waved  good bye to the audience as he walked through the Portal , But then he was greeted by a metal arm, but  the  sky blue fox  in front of him blocked the attack before he could react.   Then  One of the Blue  drones, came charging towards him, Ryder  smiled  and starting running toward it , The drone throws a punch toward Ryder but Ryder rolls out of the way, The Blue drone turns around towards Ryder , But the drone was forcefully tackled by Ryder. The Blue drone falls  as Ryder continuously punched the Drone in the face. Ryder's body started to heat up intensely, His fur turned from Crimson Red to Midnight black as he  punched the Drone.

Without hesitation, Flare jumped up and seemed to fly at the portal- nearly at top speed if he could have even managed to make it to top speed by the time he got into the portal. He didn't turn back to look at his fellow competitors, he didn't even turn back to look at the audience. He jumped in, fists first, and when he came out the other side two orange and red metal gauntlets covered his fists and part of his arms. He landed, and it didn't take him long to spot the red tier arena drone. He knew what he was going for. 

Bending his knees slightly he sprung up and forward towards the red drone, his energy flaring up and practically radiating around him as he advanced towards the drone. Letting the others take care of the blue drones, he took his last step and thrust a fist forward in a fast and powerful motion towards the metal arm swinging right towards him. It was not only his intention to clash with the enemy, but it was his intention to punch it's arm clean off. With his willpower empowerment, energy burst out of his fist as he brought it forward towards the red drone. 

"Show me what you got!" He exclaimed with a mighty roar as he followed through with his powerful punch.

Blizz simply walked through the portal while using her machete like cain. As she exited the other side and approached a drone, who was actually being cautious, she pointed her Machete at it and said, "Shall we?" Before the drone knew it, Blizz was kneeling and stabing the drone at a 45 degree angle at its power core. "We're done here." She brought her machete down, slicing most of the drone in two, but was held together by its head. Or at least sshe thought so, as her eyes were closed as she used her other senses to attack.

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 1

"What a speeeeeectacular display of aerobatics from miss Torone!" The announcer almost immediately called out, as the griffon flew through the air, not too long before a blade had went straight through the back of the blue drone. With a fizzle and a few sparks, the drone's visor shut down, and it's movements entirely halted, showing that it had, in fact, been disabled, going 'limp' with the blade still inside.

Cal watched in quite a bit of awe at how well that the griffon trashed the bot, staying on his toes and keeping his distance quite... quite a lot actually. Clearly he wasn't ready for the sudden jump in activity that the area went into. But hey, he hardly knew what he was signing up for in the first place.

Two of the mechs were easily discarded simultaneously by the sky blue fox, and as you'd expect, that got a pretty loud cheer, as well as a "Double takedown!" from the announcer, "Very nice work by miss Kata, as well! It seems all of our participants have something to show us all!"

Ryder slipped straight around the back of the sluggish drone, and the poor thing could hardly keep up. It was knocked to the ground, and before much time passed it was getting pummeled into the dust, the metal being broken to pieces.

"It appears that Ryder is-Well, that's ONE way to destroy a drone." The announcer spoke, clearly sweatdropping a little bit in the announcing bay.

The hedgehog went completely overkill in taking out the drone as it stopped working after the third punch, nevermind the whole black fur change and repeated pummeling. Calm down, good sir.

"..." A gulp from Cal, but he quickly focused again, only to see another cannon ball flying his way just before the red drone was being clashed with by the dragon... and it's arm being BLOWN clean off across the room with a satisfying screech of metal.

The red drone got pushed back from the force alone, and Cal immediately took the chance to dash in and deliver a flying kick to the chasis of the bot, sending it even further backwards, before the red fox spread both of his hands and propelled a bunch of fireballs at it. Three exploded on contact, and the red drone deactivated.

"Oooooh, I don't think Flare will appreciate that glory hogging~" The announcer said, very grimly.

"What? Glory hog?" The fox immediately whirled around to face Flare, who he had blatantly stolen the glory from by total mistake. "N-no no I try help!" He attempted to reason with the dragon before he too got his arm blown off.

Meanwhile during the scuffling, the last blue drone was skillfully eliminated by Blizz, the core being directly hit by such an attack causing the drone to literally explode into a good few pieces before the drone could be cut in two.

Pass criteria:
Destroy all targets: 0 remaining
CRITERIA MET

"Aaand that's that for that room! Room one was cleared in a sinch, just like it should. Now it's onto the next. Remember, one down... 49 to go!" The announcer reminded everyone. Oh yeah, things were only going to heat up...

The great door across the room clicked audibly and slowly cranked it's way open, revealing another portal of sorts.

Cal, not very eager to deal with Flare, immediately ran away before the dragon could even say anything in response. Rude, but hey, he was pretty terrified of what would happen to him, and they weren't even in the final rooms!

The red fox immediately ran full speed into the portal like before...

...

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

...

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 2


As expected, the room kept the same theme! A wonderful greenish meadow of sorts, ironically contrasting to the battle thirsty drones that littered the area. Now, a small increase presented itself. Rather than a room with more enemies being the case, there was a large pedstal in the middle of the whole arena.

It was... very high up, and it seemed to be caged by something odd at the very top. Inside, there was a button of sorts. The cage itself was chained to a floating roof of sorts, and it looked pretty heavy all the way from below. The chain itself dangled to about halfway down the pillar.

The room was filled with the same amount of enemies as before, except this time three of them were red.

"Oh, you expected EVERY room to be JUST a search and destroy mission? Afraid not~! To pass THIS room, the button at the very top must be pressed down by one of the participants. There is no way up there but teamwork or extreme skill, which it is, is entirely up to the participants!" The announcer spoke, rather heartily.

Cal glanced up, narrowing his eyes at the cage a little bit.

"And it seems that one of the participants is wondering... 'what do we do about that cage?'. Well... I think you may have to use your noggins for that one."

And with that, Cal saw the red drones in a formation, immediately launching several cannon balls straight across the room, to the portal exit. However rather than deal with cannon balls, Cal immediately set his sight on trying to reach that chain. He ran as fast as he could across the room, leaping over the cannon balls like barrels from... some game, before slipping to the side of one of the red drone's arm swipes. He jumped up, and landed firmly on top of the drone, before pushing himself off with a fiery boost, straight into the air!!

"What an amaaaazing jump!" The announcer cheered, before his voice fell for a moment.

He managed to reach the chain, but awkwardly enough he just - dangled there. A moment passed, and he tugged at the chain. Using as much weight as possible. But it just... wouldn't budge the cage. Not one bit. Clearly the cage WAS linked to that chain somehow, though.

"...Help." He spoke, quite quietly, as he was pretty much stuck up there for the time being.

"...Well, how embarrassing." The announcer spoke, with a bit of a snicker.

Meanwhile down below, the red drones immediately focused on the stronger and faster competitors, Maxie, Flare and Blizz, whereas the blue drones targetted Ryder, Alexis with quick horizontal swipes rather than vertical ones... and well, one tried to target Cal, but he was stuck out of reach.

...Oops.

Pass criteria:
Press the button: See below!
-Reach the top of the pedstal
-Raise the cage
-Press button
Destroy all targets: 6 remaining
(3 blue tier arena drones, 3 red tier arena drones)

---



Status Screen:
Cal Oblisk - Active
Maxie Torone - Active
Alexis Kata - Active
Ryder Callaway - Active
Flare - Active
Blizz Nevensky - Active

"Ooohh, honeys, you're doing great!" the griffon remarked, observing the damage of the destroyed drones with a smirk on her beak. She fluttered her eyelashes, yanking her blade free of the spine of the robot with a slight fizzly crackle. It twirled between her fingers, removing an excess mechanical debris that may have accidentally study to the deadly blade. A finger swiped against the metal, and then placed itself onto her tongue that she stuck out, a cheeky smile plastered on her face, and a wink to the crowd.

She turned, noticing that the doors heaved open, and the portal activated with a wonderful, hypnotic swirl of colours. She fluttered her wings and a light purr left her throat. She stretched. "Let's see what the rest of this little playpen has to offer us, mm? Onwards, my darlings~!" Flap. Flap. FWOOSH! The griffon launched herself forward, her body spinning like a slow drill, her blade at the center and held to her chest.

She entered the next portal.

*

And exploded the other side with the same momentum.

However, upon hearing the announcer, she raised her wings and skidded to a halt in the air. A slight expression of confusion masking her face as she saw the pillar. A button, huh? But she didn't have time to digest that knowledge, as a cannonball came her way. Leaping to the side, she aggressively twirled her long weapon, causing a powerful gust of wind, like a tornado, to explode from it. Striking the cannonballs, this gale caused them to arch to the side and lodge themselves into the wall next to the portal, though it could have potentially struck someone from the sudden diversion of path. Regardless, she huffed with a roll of her eyes. "How rude! An attack upon a lady? Ooh, terribly devious!"

A glance upwards. The fox had already attempted to take the prize here, and take all the fame. That just wouldn't do. Plus, it was mighty dangerous, and the poor boy didn't even have wings to compensate! But...

She eyed up Flare.

He was stronger. He'd be better suited to play hero, right? Plus, from the dilemna earlier, it might make them even. She shrugged. "Yohooo~! Dragon boooy!" she called to the energy dragon with a wave of her hand, "Save the poor lad while I tend to the nasty button, will you?" she brought her hand to her beak and giggled, "I'll need a big, strong dragon to play hero, okaaay?~"

She didn't even wait for an answer from him, or the others, as she launched herself into the air with a graceful twirl, weapon in tow. She narrowly avoided another shot of the cannonballs, that caressed against her tail feathers, as she flew upwards in a straight vertical movement. Maxie clutched her weapon, and a smirk crossed her face. Higher. Higher. Following the path of the huge platform, reaching the pedestal, she came to a halt, and observed the scene.

A cage with a button inside, and chains suspended downwards from it? That was all so bothersome. It was simple enough that this Ascension wanted them to do, and it was an easy puzzle to start off with. But it was the first area, after all, and this was child's play. Her weapon twirled in her hands. She countered another cannonball mid-twirl, which pinged it off into another direction. "Hah~!"

So, calmly, she simply grabbed the close end of the weapon, allowing it to trail through her fingers, until she gripped the top with the blade. She swung it around, pointing the blunt end towards the cage.

Slipping her weapon through the bars, she slammed the blunt end down onto the button itself.

Right, so far, so good...but there's several more rooms to go, the fox thought as she advanced forward to the next portal. Before leaping through it, Alexis sighed and entered the next room. There, she was greeted by another blue drone, who began targeting her with horizontal slashes. As before, her reflexes were quick as she dodged each slash with grace. How merciless... she thought, letting her hand glow a whitish-blue color once more as she attacked the drone which was targeting her.

Her attention was set on the next blue drone, which was originally targeting Cal. She bounded towards it and engaged in combat with it. After exchanging hits for a no longer than a minute, she managed to deliver the final blow, breathing a sigh of relief as she looked around the area for someone else to help.

Somehow, he felt himself a little disappointed at Cal running through the portal without giving him time to answer. A small anger flared up within him, to think he was going to compliment Cal on his awesome work! He stared at the portal ahead of them and bounded through, flying the fastest he could manage in the distance that he jumped from the distance it took to get to the portal.

Bursting through the portal with a sufficient amount of speed, Flare landed with a flip and immediately bounded up to take off into the air again after eyeing the drone that had it's sights on him. just avoiding the cannonball. Just as he was about to raise his fists to do the red drone in, his ears twitched at Maxie calling him. He looked up towards the pillar, the chains and the cage... and Cal. First, a snicker could be heard from him but just barely- then he burst into laughter. 

A fwoosh sound from the cannonball speeding through the air was the only thing to alert Flare that the thing was headed straight towards him. He punched forward as he was laughing, just managing to redirect the metal sphere back towards the ground with enough energy to avoid terrible injury. He shook his arm afterward though, indicating some amount of uncomfortable feeling. After composing himself, he flew up to Cal spinning about so that the cannonballs would not hit him. Then, without saying a word, he grabbed onto Cal's arms and begun to try and pry him off of the chain while maintaining his forward momentum so that they both wouldn't end up being hit.

Blizz watched everyone else work their way through with an elegant posture, again. When she walked through the portal, she was greeted with a cannonball. Talk about a wake-up call. Blizz raised her hand and CAUGHT it with her bare hand and proceeded to 'Return to Sender'. "Cheap shots don't work on me. Scrap metal." Blizz raised her head and saw what everyone else was doing. Unimpressed at the flying bat-shit crazy girl's punctuality, she raised her leg and stomped the ground, creating a rock pillar that she could climb on. Blizz hauled up it very casually, as if what she were doing was below her. Then, a stray cannonball blew the pillar and she was sent toppling. Appearently, 'Return to Sender' doesn't deliver the message.

(I'm going to bring this up now before someone complains. Blizz is a Kinetic Energy Master, it doesn't even work on her. The kinetic energy MUST be from a solid object (Bricks, Bullets, Bats, etc.). Things that don't work on her include, but not limited to, are water, wind, and shockwaves. If you want to know more, PM me. I can't tell you how many people confused it with Godmodding.)

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 2

Well, this was certainly a show to see!

The sheer... should we call it charisma - let's go with that - behind the griffon, was remarkable. The audience seemed to favor it a lot, the confidence was something people loved to see.

"Let's see how long Miss Torone can keep up with her light featheredness. ..." Crickets.

"Ahem..."

And just as she entered the second room, the cannon balls were already spiralling out of control elsewhere.

"Interesting team play from Miss Torone as well! Swirving the cannon balls away from the others. How charming!" The announcer complimented the tactic, even though it wasn't exactly MEANT 100% to make them not hit the others. At least, it didn't seem so.

Meanwhile, the blue drone was trashed by the fox, Alexis! With a loud clunk, it toppled down and fell to pieces, sparking and flashing electricity every so often, the damage sustained being critical. An rather heated display for so early on...

Maybe someone was going to falter already!

"Ooooh! That's got to hurt! ...No? Ryder immediately gets back on his feet! And WHOAH BAJEEZUS that drone is an EX-DRONE ladies and gentlemen!"

And ex-drone it was as it burst into flames and exploded from the sheer energy forced behind the attack. Seems the drones were really low in standards.

Apparently Flare couldn't get enough of the display that Cal was putting on, bursting into full on laughter as the poor thing kept clinging on, avoiding anything he actually could while he was up there, nervously sweating but keeping an iron grip. Heights. Oh god heights.

The cannon ball that the dragon had redirected went scraping across the ground, leaving a small trench where it went. The red drone that had fired it immediately set it's sights on targetting Flare again, at the vulnerable moment.

A clack and a buzz however as Maxie had pressed the button.

Pass criteria:
Press the button: Button pressed!
-Reach the top of the pedstal
-Raise the cage (ignored)
-Press button (cheater >:C)

"..." A silence from the announcer, before, "Well, I mean, I guess that's legal. ...Cheater." He said, "And on that note the button has been pressed! All that remains is to take out the remaining drones..."

Cal felt his arms being grabbed, realized it was the dragon and full on freaked out without a sound, his grip slipping off immediately however. His expression was priceless, to say the least.

"Seems like that may take a little longer tha-Did Blizz just redirect that with her BARE hands?! Talk about seriousness!" And with a comedic sound of bowling pins being knocked over, the red drone fell back with a loud 'CLUNK', the cannon ball pinging off, and the two blue drones getting smashed by consequential rebound.

Well, that was one way to clear a room.

Except there was one left! Hhaaaahahaha! And it had destroyed the pillar that Blizz had just made-"Oh."

Turns out the drone got crushed by the toppling pillar. Welp.

Pass criteria:
Press the button: Button pressed!
Destroy all targets: 0 remaining
CRITERIA MET

"...Well, I guess that's that! Onto the next room!"

And just like that, the door clicked and slowly opened, revealing the next portal for all to see! How dazzling, how amazing. And it was only going to heat up even more from there on out. Two down! 47 to go!

...

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

...

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 3

And so, those eager to continue on immediately were greeted by a room with the same beautiful visuals, and even a waterfall in this one, a nice river of sorts in the center. And the room was full of red drones. 8 in total this time, and they looked slightly more focused than the others.

...If... it were possible for a robot to be focused.

"This room is a simple elimination! Go wild~!"

And just like that, the robots jolted to life and stormed towards the portal in a horde rather than splitting apart, firing cannon balls all the while. The first one to reach the exit of the portal spun around full speed, practically becoming a mace being swung around. The others provided back up.

Clearly the first person to have got through the portal was in for a bad time.

Pass criteria:
Destroy all targets: 8 remaining
(8 red tier arena drones)

---



Status Screen:
Cal Oblisk - Active
Maxie Torone - Active
Alexis Kata - Active
Ryder Callaway - Active
Flare - Active
Blizz Nevensky - Active

With a buzz, and the announcer's words, the griffon let out a loud obnoxious laugh, "HOHOHO~! Come oooon, honey, did you really expect us tto go through with such convoluted methods?" she laughed, holding her hand to her beak to let out a giggle, "Really, the sooner we're done with these adorable rooms, we can set our sights for the STARS!" A flap of her wings, and a twirl of her weapon with a wonderful flourish, and she floated on down to the main arena with a wide grin upwards, "I'm sure my dear audience don't want to waste their time seeing us in these rooms, mmmm?~"

She landed with a gentle tmp, and Maxie quickly came to notice that all was solved - the bots had been destroyed and the gateway was open to the next area. She giggled again, twirling and then pointing her halberd towards the portal; "Aha~! Well done, babes! You're all utterly, amazingly, gorgeously fantastic! And such a taaalented bunch of cuties with little ol' me? Ooohh I'm honoured! I can feel myself blushing! Aaaaah~!" She held her hands against her face and squeaked with joy.

And that abruptly stopped when the griffon launched herself forward again with a huge bout of speed, wind rushing forward to accelerate her further, her dress billowing in the sudden unexpected gust. She was pumped, she was ready, and she was really enjoying herself. Time for the 3rd room!

*

And with that sort of momentum, she launched into the area with her weapon at the ready, clutched at her chest and ready to swing at what approached. The cannonball trick was to be expected - every room so far had involved this sort of thing. So with that in mind, she was prepared. 

Maxie skidded to a halt, just like the second room, but this time, the wind that she brought with her rushed past her like a hurricane. The momentum she carried was powerful, and while she came to an aggressive stop, the gust continued past her. It billowed violently against the onslaught of cannonballs, slowing their decent and speed. The lack of speed and the almost... wall of wind caused them to falter and fall to the floor, rolling forward. One tapped harmlessly against her feet and her weapon. Obviously, there was going to be more, and these robots seemed far more dangerous.

However, she wasn't expecting one of the bots to transform into a buzzsaw of force. "Ggck-!" The wind didn't slow that down, and it rapidly approached her with its limbs ready to cause some serious damage. Wings raised, the white-feathered frilly griffon ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding the onslaught with her body thankfully intact. This was proving to be a challenge already. Hm.

There's several more rooms to go... Alexis thought with a sigh. After a few seconds' hesitation, she headed towards the next portal, which led towards the next room. Before heading towards it, however, she stopped in order to take a breath. She hesitated for a few seconds more before leaping through the portal. There, she was greeted by a red drone, who fired a cannonball her way.

Alexis dodged the cannonball nimbly as she studied each movement that the red drone made. How would she be able to take it down? This is going to be tougher as I continue to advance...if I do continue onward, she thought as she continued to study its mechanics. As she continued to dodge the attacks that the drone happened to possess, she advanced closer towards the machine, suddenly letting her hand glow a blueish-white color as she bounded towards the mechanism and attacked it in the process. Despite the tougher challenges that would soon approach, she would do her best to overcome them.

With no time to waste, Flare flew into the portal that connected to the next room with Cal still in hand. "You ready, man?" Flare asked, flapping a powerful flap upward in an attempt to pull them up and over one of the cannonballs that were being fired at each of them by the Red Drones that had their sights on each of the fighters. "Well, ready or not..." Flare ducked and swerved in an attempt to keep the two of them safe. "Here..." His grip weakened, and he began to release Cal's arms from his grasp. "We..." His hands were nearly completely off of the fox's arms- as if he were giving him some wind up time to prepare to fall on one of the drones below. He dipped a bit lower and set his sights on the closest drone to the two after having flown around a bit. "Go!" He let Cal go, nearly throwing the fox down onto one of the drones before turning his attention to another drone.

*SHiiiiiiing~* A drone, sliced in two, fell to the ground as Blizz regained her posture. "K-I-A, scrap heap! Whoever used CANNONBALLS made you useless." Blizz retorted as she lifted a cannonball, stretched her arm, and threw it at another drone's head. Specifically, the one Flare was going after. "Heads down, eyes open, run like hell!"

Area 1 - Meadow Battlefields - Room 3

And a powerful attack straight to the red drone from Alexis caused it to short out rather... unexpectedly. That was one down, and surprisingly easily!

However, Maxie seemed to be having a little bit of trouble dealing with the spinning maniac drone, which only did a pretty quick u-turn and went immediately back in for the attack. "Ooooooh! Things seem to be getting a little heated for a certain griffon! And so soon? I'm sure she still has PLENTY of fighting spirit, ladies and gentlemen~"

...One headless drone later from Ryder, which shortly after shorted out and became inactive, another was blown apart by a powerful energy beam. And there was a loud uproar from the crowd, who seemed to love the destruction.

"My, oh MY the power behind Ryder's attacks is simply marvelous! Let's hope he can keep it up, and not burn himself out before the second area!" The announcer said, grinning.

Meanwhile Cal clung on for almost dear life. Flying across the air with the massive dragon was proving to be a bit... scary, but wait? He was... on his side? ...Okay, that was cool. That was VERY cool. "...Ready for...?" Trailing off, he narrowed his eyes, focused, upon realizing that he was about to be... thrown. Where? He had no idea. But he was going to go with it.

A drone was sliced brutally in two by Blizz, exploding straight after once again! This one knew how to take them down fast. "Amazing swift destruction from Blizz, oh this one knows how to deal damage in style! Very much like Miss Torone!"

However, suddenly, there was a slight gasp from the audience. And just like that, suddenly there was a LITERAL COMET in the room as Cal was thrown, and he burst into flames and flew straight down towards the drone that was targetting Maxie. He pulled his fist back, and with a yell, he slammed straight down with a fierce punch, blowing the whole thing to pieces, arms flying off from the sheer force.

Smoke flew up, Cal landing pretty hard from that. "...Ow." He grimaced, coughing a bit, staggering. "...I... no do that again." He nervously chuckled, smoke rising off his fur and clothes. At least nothing he was wearing was burned? Seemed to be fire proof.

"Okay?" He was almost asking a question. In fact he was. He was asking if Maxie was okay. Cute. But before she could answer, suddenly he felt a cannon ball smash into him and he got knocked across the ground with a sudden yelp, eyes tightly shut.

"OOOOOHHHH that's GOT to hurt!" The announcer said, a clear cringe behind his voice.

Very soon after, the drone that had launched the cannon ball at Cal got torn to pieces by a cannon ball from Blizz. The remaining three suddenly regrouped, and they all started to spin up much like the one that targetted Maxie before.

The fox sat up, holding his head. "Gghh..." He was... tearing up in the eye a little? Ow, that must've hurt. But he bit his lip, and got back to his feet. He wasn't expecting the cannon ball and it was kind of his own fault for being so careless.

A mistake that surely wouldn't happen again.

And suddenly... all three of the robots suddenly stacked on top of eachother, and became a literal metal tornado.

"Oh, what's this?" The announcer spoke, a tone of amusement behind his voice. "Seems that the 3 remaining drones have a trick up their... sleeves? Yes, go with that. How will the participants deal with this?"

And just like that, cannon balls shot around in three directions at once, one after the other. Okay, this was proving to be quite a spike of difficulty suddenly.


Pass criteria:
Destroy all targets: 3 remaining 1 remaining
(3 red tier arena drones 1 red tier totem drone)

---



Status Screen:
Cal Oblisk - Active
Maxie Torone - Active
Alexis Kata - Active
Ryder Callaway - Active
Flare - Active
Blizz Nevensky - Active