NyNES: Might of the Pen

Is that a Tick-Tock for Tok-Tok? I really want to see his story.

For everyone. I am working on it and will get it up tonight Nylan unless I literally collapse from exhaustion before I finish it.

Alright, guys. I've heard lots of promises, but little in the way of results. 3/8 is not a respectable ratio, and the hour is late. I want them before 8:00 PM EST tomorrow - hard deadline. These should have been in half a week ago.

My apologies, but there's no way I'm going to be able to write a decent story by tonight, so I guess I'm done. Which makes me a little sad, as I was looking forward to some additional character development...

xcl xcl xcl

Indeed

Now the clock only ticks for our judges, two of which are taking their sweet time.

Nylan said:

Indeed

Now the clock only ticks for our judges, two of which are taking their sweet time.

Click to expand...

These things take time! It got a bit harder to judge this round.

Edit: I want to make sure my submission is proofread and stuff to avoid what happened last time, so it's going to be delayed by one more day. I'm going golfing with my father tomorrow morning so I'll fix it up in the afternoon and send it on its merry way. I'm too tired for editing stuff tonight.

Edit2: I want one more day. I deserve this because I shot my first ever par today on the golf course.

Acting as devil's advocate here, what's up with this NES? Dead? Hiatus? Temporary delay?

Yeah, ehm, crap. My own update first. Sorry.

orangelex44 said:

Acting as devil's advocate here, what's up with this NES? Dead? Hiatus? Temporary delay?

Click to expand...

The update is in the pipes, but was delayed by my wait for Kraznaya. I am writing it now, and it should be up before the weekend is over. I will do my best to make it worth the wait.

Round Two Results: Twist The Nail​

What is death? Is it the end of the book of life? Just the end of a chapter? Is it an interlude, or a coda? What happens to us after all is said and done? Why is it that we ask these sorts of questions? They are irrefutable proof that no matter what bizarre, magical, or supernatural creatures exist out there, none are as strange as humans. They pry and they search as if they know there is a missing link somewhere, floating just beyond their grasp. That hunger…gives them power.​

The sun burned.

James slowly opened his blurry eyes and was met with a burst of particularly bright sunlight. He moved as if to reach up and shield his face from the light, but his arm wouldn’t follow. He struggled a little bit, but to no avail. That’s when he looked down. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t looked down.

James was tied to the top of the observation tower.

He tried to remember the events of the past night, but that train of thought found it difficult to compete with his vertigo and throbbing head. Admittedly, that answered a few questions in and of itself. “Man, I knew I shouldn’t have gotten drunk.” His memories were too fuzzy to be of much use, but at this point he didn’t really care anymore. The fact of the matter was he was hanging hundreds of feet off the ground in a park in the middle of nowhere, with no one to call to for help and surrounded by a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs. The day was starting out just great. That said, James tried to concentrate on slowing his breathing and calming himself down...panicking wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

After he had gathered his senses, he thought he should try looking around. He had been tied with some sort of strong cable and was hanging from the tower’s edge, free to dangle in the wind. His current vantage point offered him a view of the Ferris Wheel, but he supposed if he flailed enough he could probably spin around and catch a decent 135 degrees of viewable park. Indeed, when he looked out he thought he saw Kyle jumping down from the roof of a building, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Well”, he told himself with a deep breath, “at least now I’ll get a decent view of the competition”.

“…and they’ll get a pretty good view of you as well, no?”

James’ heart, which had just finished easing back into its proper place in his chest, immediately shot back up into his throat. That voice gave him the willies…it was the voice from the intercom. He strained his neck in an attempt to have a look at whoever it was that was speaking to him, but only managed to blind himself with the sun again.

“What do you want?”

The voice chuckled. “Oh, not much. I just want what everyone wants. The real question is…what do they want? I still don’t really know. Sure, some of them have been sent here and others are here by happenstance, but that doesn’t really answer the question, now does it? I intend to find out. And so, you are the bait on my line, for I have fish to catch.”

James let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh great, just great…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I know, and that’s precisely why you are still alive…for now. It’s up to the contestants to decide for how much longer that is the case.” The man paused. “You do remember who won the last round, don’t you?”

James laughed a bitter laugh. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck, so no, it feels like that happened weeks ago. I haven't the slightest clue.” There was a long silence. After a few seconds, he realized that he would be unable to scratch his nose for a while. This was a problem. It perhaps was not the most important of things for him to be worrying about at the time, but at least it took his mind off the possibility of plummeting to his death, an absolutely invaluable quality.

After a time, the strange man spoke again. “Well then, since it seems we’re going to be waiting up here a while, perhaps I should explain to you what you missed…”




The second time Sybrus carried a body to the observation tower, he had help. The two fell silent as they entered the tower's shadow. Even their steps seemed to soften.

The door creaked open, not really out of any theatrical purpose but just because it was kind of old and nobody had bothered to oil the hinges. The girl gave a smile at the two, probably the first time a combatant had ever witnessed a significant display of emotion from her. Sybrus however was understandably preoccupied with other matters such as Tok-Tok's safety and didn't fully appreciate the significance of the event.

"Hello, miss," said Hickles, as if it was completely ordinary to find a young girl out here on a deserted island in who-knew-what-time-or-location. What great manners though. Nobody else had even bothered to recognize her.

"Hi," she said, soft spoken in the way that NASCAR fans aren't. First words in public too. Sybrus should have fainted with shock but he took it all amazingly in stride. He sort of jerked his head towards the body. She nodded and took it from the two men.

She turned around and started to close the door with her foot, but then stopped and turned around.

"Thanks," she said, and the door closed.

{Tok-Tok vs. Sybrus results in a Sybrus victory.}

Sybrus turned around to find himself in the presence of yet another competitor. A blubbering, armored Jiefin was slowly making his way up the road behind him, presumably heading towards the tower. He didn’t look hurt, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong, but yet he wailed and wailed like a professional Tongan mourner. Sybrus couldn’t make out much of what he was saying, but thought he caught something about ‘disgrace’ and ‘family’. The cyborg was unsure what to make of this, but decided that it was probably best that he remain unseen, particularly after having a good look at that armor. He looked around quickly for somewhere to hide.

Across the way there was a small sunglass kiosk. There didn’t seem to be much space inside, but he reasoned that it would suffice for the time being.

{Kyle vs Jiefin results in a Kyle victory.}





A frozen smile stared up at the sky. The body that it belonged to was at the epicenter of some sort of debilitating rampage. The girl stood right at the edge with a curious look. There was a neat demarcation between the dead and the alive. She gingerly stepped across the line, tsked lightly when she saw the woman, and picked her up. That second chance clearly hadn't done her any good.

{Icekommander vs. Anesthesia results in an Icekommander victory.}




Elsewhere, some distance away, the Splotch came to after a few minutes of being knocked out by Cabera's great overwhelming mental assault earlier.

He reformed himself to a standing position, and looked around. He saw that Cabera's last body was lying down unconscious, while he was relatively unharmed, save for a major headache and vague memories of thinking a lot.

"Well, that's that then!" he said happily, raising his chest then smacking it with a fist. "I guess I win, whatever happened!"

"You barely did anything," replied Al. "However, you will be happy to know that beep Cabera will no longer be a problem, for I have dealt with him."

"Blah blah blah," said Harry, cocking his head left and right as he did. "If I fall unconscious in the middle of a fight and still end up winning, then that's not my problem, now is it?"

"Please note, Mister Smith, that it was through my –"

"Shut up, Al," interrupted the Splotch. "I'm gloating here. Let me gloat, will ya? And check up on where I'm supposed to be headed to claim the fruits of victory while you're at it."

“I would, Mr. Smith, but I’m afraid there is a problem. I just received an email from an untraceable proxy informing me that there is a young boy being held hostage on the top of the observation tower. His captor intends to drop him to his death if you and the competitor named “Kyle” are not there at 1900 hours.”

“Erm…I’m not a friggin’ private.”

“7:00 PM. Five minutes from now.”

The Splotch let out a sigh. “This day just keeps getting better and better, huh?”

{The Splotch vs Cabera results in a Splotch victory.}




Cybrus’ awakening marked the second time that day someone had come to, only to find themselves unable to remember how they got where they were and with a throbbing headache. He remembered nothing of how had arrived at his current location, only an unidentified scent, which he presumed was some sort of sedative.

He turned his heavy head to see where he was, and found that he was sitting next to Jiefin, who seemed to be slowly coming to as well. Sybrus looked around, but couldn’t tell where he was, as the pounding in his head made it impossible to concentrate. All he knew was that it was dark. He staggered to his feet, something that would have been entirely impossible had he been fully human. Realizing this, he stuck his human arm out in search of something to prop himself up against, and found something very, very cold. It moved away from him.

“Where is this place, and how did I come to be here?

Oh God.












*Parts of this update have been taken from contestant entries or contributed by LightFang

OOC:

Thank you once again to everyone who wrote in, as this is turning out to be a very interesting story. All of this round's entries were very good I apologize for giving an estimated update day that I couldn't live up to. Such behavior is inexcuseable on my part.

On a different tangent, am I supposed to know who "James" is?


EDIT: Oh, and good luck to the Splotch. Love your writing, just wish you would have submitted something in round one so there'd be more of it... also, I can't find part two of your origin story, the link goes to the wrong post and I'm too lazy to really check for it.

orangelex44 said:

Spoiler :

He lit another cigarette. Damn, but he hurt. Luckily enough, the rib he'd swore was broken had turned out to be a mere bruise - although, as he thought more about it, he'd felt the crack... he stopped thinking about it. Science - hell, logic - had no real meaning here, and if that meant that his big ouchies were now small ones, he could deal with that. The burns were fading a bit, too.

Kyle no longer really knew if he should stop thinking, or start, now that his new buddy had wandered off and his various wounds magicked themselves to - smaller, non-crippling versions of themselves.

"Take a walk. That's the best way to clear your mind."

Odd, how at times like this you forget all the schooling and logic in favor of quotes from your parents. Good old Dad; Kyle swore once again to thank him for teaching the finer points of shooting.



Two minutes later, he found the note.

Come to the wheel by 7:00 PM, or the boy dies.

It was neatly placed in the middle of the street, underneath a brick Kyle rather suspected had once been part of the building he'd dynomited. That alone made him pretty certain that it was meant for him, but being a curious sort (he regretted, again and again) he went and picked it up anyway.

The back side:

Kyle, this note is for you.

Sigh. On an impulse, he turned the note back over...

You opponent is the Splotch.

Neat trick, that. Turning it over once more rendered both sides blank, not that he'd expected anything else.

He crumpled the note, tossed it into the nearest trash recipticle - although, at this point, a bit of litter could probably be considered as sprucing up the place. He checked his watch; five minutes to the hour. Crap.

He was running before the note hit the bottom of the can.

On a different tangent, am I supposed to know who "James" is?


EDIT: Oh, and good luck to the Splotch. Love your writing, just wish you would have submitted something in round one so there'd be more of it... also, I can't find part two of your origin story, the link goes to the wrong post and I'm too lazy to really check for it.

Click to expand...

Maybe you do, maybe you don't. That's entirely your call. The only information about him I have divulged is in these two updates.

EDIT: Link fixed.

He staggered feet, something that would have been entirely impossible had he been fully human.

Click to expand...

What does this sentence mean? And nice update!

Lord_Iggy said:

What does this sentence mean? And nice update!

Click to expand...

Ehh, I suppose I phrased it badly, but the only reason he was able to stand up at all was thanks to his cybernetic parts. He wouldn't have even been able to get to his knees otherwise. And thank you

You meant to say "He staggered to his feet, something..."?

orangelex44 said:

You meant to say "He staggered to his feet, something..."?

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. I'm afraid I finished very late at night and didn't proofread very well. It has been fixed.

Nylan, I'm confused about how to write my story. The way I understand it, James was hung up to attract rescuers, and then the rescuers were then incapacitated and placed in a dark room- along with (seeing as Jiefin is there) the surviving defeated?