OOC: As no-one knows what's inside (not even the judges sometimes), it would be weird to say what happens inside... so instead....

***

Vilepaw waited for at least an hour on the opposite side of the Flames-Box, biting his lip. The only sounds he had heard so far were howls, hisses, and thumps. Not good. Time was running out for poor Claw-Crab...

Thrask glanced back at the judge. In half an hour the judge would declare Claw-Crab dead, and the next contestant would enter. Vilepaw sighed. Maybe he should have stuck with Squilid after all... Claw-Crab, his latest creation, had been a new switch to this tournament. Maybe it had been a waste of time...

Vilepaw shook his head as another thump, louder this time, came out from the box. Vilepaw stood. Was Claw-Crab still alive in there?

Ten minutes later, Vilepaw was slumped in his chair again. A false alarm.

***

Two minutes left, and still no Claw-Crab. This did not bode well...

Suddenly, the door crashed outwards, and a severely burned Clawcrab emerged. A pool of blood was forming up around him, and several of his lims appeared broken. Vilepaw allowed himself a weak smile. Don't do that to me, dammit. His beast at least had come out alive... He hurried to collect his beast and his winnings.




***

Ratticq's beast had a slightly different story. The first part was filled with the sound of thumps, cracks, and squishes. Then the sound abruptly stopped as, Ratticq hoped, Bat-Rat took flight. A clank every once in while was heard as, more likely than not, Bat-Rat crashed into something.

At an hour and ten minutes, the door finally was shoved open and Bat-Rat eerged, then collapsed in a heap. The burns weren't too bad... but the cuts were vicious, and it appeared that his head had acquired several new bumps....

OOC: Both of you are going to need Skalm... Claw-Cran might need more than that, but you shall find out... :ph43r:

Pillz

Scrokk didn't have to wait nearly as long. Five minutes after the start the door started to move out, but it didn't advance very far. The judge chucked. Makari wasn't strong enough.... but my, had he been as fast as hell...

Ten minutes later, Makari finally slipped throgh the crack. A record time....

OOC: The little guy just flew threw everythng.... he was so tiny and flyable that it was easy for him... :P

Pillz

Drachau had a long wait as well. The elf was collected the entire time, but a slight panic flashed in his eyes every few minutes. The silence that came from the Flamebox was highly disturbing. The hoour and fifteen minute deadline passed, with nothing coming from inside.

Fifteen minutes later, there was still nothing. The judge sighed. "Time up-up, Drachau." He flicked a switch and the box opened up. Drachau blinked and his eyes filled with anger as he saw Uri sleeping at the start of the maze. The judge chuckled. 'Not a good time to take a nap-nap...." Drachau's eyes burned as he dragged Uri away. Damn rat Ogres....

OOC: The "unruly" Uri didn't want to obey his master.... then he got tired. I joke not.

The Creature performed similarly. The hour and a half time went by, and the judge opened the box. The creature was there, at the start, twitching madly and convulsing. Woombenstein sighed. A metal spear had gone right through the beast's chest. The Creature was out of the running...

OOC: That was a quick end for both of youse.... :blink:

Pillz

The letter was sent out to those who had passed te first trial:

Please report to the Flames box on Wednesday. The next round will involve combat between creatures inside the box. If you wish to enter a new creature, you are welcome to.

The first match began... a Master Moulder by the name of Gargrakal fought Ratticq of Clan Gnawkin. Freddy (ever so infamous Freddy) entered on one side, and Gargrakal's beast Farteemufynz entered the other side.

Farteemuffynz was a Rat Ogre based beast; if one looked, they could see the warpstone running through his veins. Besides that, this beast didn't look extraordinary...

Half an hour later, Freddy walked out the others side, swallowing the remains of his meal.

OOC: That was amazingly fast. Freddy ignored all the obstacles, and shredded Farteemufynz up into pieces... :blink:

Pillz

Makari's match was almost as quick. The judgerats only laugehd when they saw the little rat enter the arena. his opponent was a big, heavily muscled Rat Ogre with three arms.

The Rat Ogre didn't come out again.

Makari flew out the other door; the judges got a glimpse of a Rat Ogre sinking in a boiling pool of Warpstone before the doors shut.

OOC: Random's got he right idea here... :P Another quicky.

Pillz

Vilepaw and his beast Clawcrab had another fast match. As Vilepaw watched the side of the box, dents appeared in the metal. Undoubtedly the beast climbing around on the walls...

The howls coming from the box were deafening until they were suddenly cut short, and a sizzling sound was heard. Clawcrab emerged a minute later, unscathed.

OOC: You lucky ducky... well, Clawcrab is a mean killer... not to good with obstacles though...

The LAST round of Flames of Revenge will be a five-way battle.... and this time, the box WILL BE OPEN at the top.

The final five are....:

Ratticq
Vilepaw
RandommaN (Scrokk)
Jakyt
Vin-Tip

The match began.

The box was fairly large, with the audience situated above it. Walkways snaked between walls of spikes, vats of lava, and boiling warpstone. Huge flailing balls blocked some areas, and retracting blades made other areas hard to get to.

Almost immediately, Scrokk's beast Makari took to the air, and Vilepaw's Clawcrab disappeared into the shadows of the walls. Makari flew in circles above the box. Freddy hissed and tried to jump up to bite the rat, but he was far out of range.

Scrokk smiled. Makari was going to do well. His training would hopefully pay off here.. makari dove into the box at Freddy. The Giant Rat snapped at the rat, but failed to hit it.

Freddy slowly turned, and Scrokk was satisfied by Ratticq's sudden hiss. Freddy hadn't fallen over yet.... maybe it was time for that to change...

Ratticq's knuckles were white as a gripped the arms of his seat. he knew what was coming... Makari flew around in circles around Freddy's head, and the Giant Rat tried to turn with it, trying to snap out the vicious rat. Scrokk's smile grew larger the more the legs twisted. the next thing he saw...

Jakyth''s beast Paylak bowled into the Giant Rat, who was about to fall over into a pool of lava. Ratticq relaxed slightly as Paylak's weight only moved Freddy onto the walkway. it seemed as if a surprise attack had saved the beast's life...

Scrokk cursed, and Ratticq turned and gave Scrokk a cold smile. This was not good...

Paylak was a wolf-like beast, very swift, with spikes down his back and tusks. A boar-wolf. Freddy tried to stand, but Paylak gored the Furball in the ribs. An unearthly howl rent the air as blood poured from Freddy's wound.

Makari was flying around agitatedly, his target lost. Not looking at where he was going, the flying rat smashed into the side of a pot of boiling warpstone. Scrokk barely restrained a howl of dismay as the bowl toppled one way, then the other, then began to fall towards the stunned Makari...

The bronze bowl crucshed Makari, and the sickening crunch of bones was heard even over the hissing of flames. The liquid poured out...

Into a channel that wound around the pillar the bowl had been on. The liquid began pouring out onto the two beasts fighting below Makari. Ratticq's knuckles went white again, as did Jakyth's. The Warpstone poured over them, and soon two howls were heard above the din. The liquid washed the two beasts into a vat of boiling lava, and they vanished under the surface. Jakyth pounded his head against the railing, and Ratticq just turned completely red.

Vin-Tips's Beast Durgh hadn't done anything yet, merely prowling the walkways, looking for something to kill. He hadn't found anything yet... and he hadn't seen the shadow move along the wall.

Suddenly, Clawcrab appeared behind the beast and landed on the Ogre Bull. Durgh howled is dismay and tried to shake of the beast on his back, but to no avail. Clawcrab hung on fast, and his Warpclaws and Squig maws had soon ripped up Durgh pretty badly. The Bull collapsed, motionless. Clawcrab vanished into the shadows again...

Vilepaw smiled. It seemed as if the day was his... The judgerat stood to announce something...

Then the bronze bowl moved, and Makari slithered out. Vilepaw cursed. Well, one more left...

It seemed as if all of Makari's limbs had been broken, but the rat somehow managed to get into the air. His eyes were glazed as if in severe pain. Vilepaw scanned the arena for Clawcrab. Nothing.

Suddenly, Vilepaw's beast leapt up from the walls and tried to snatch Makari out of the air. The beasts' claw closed around the poor rat, and they began to fall again. Makari flapped his wings violently, not altering Clawcrab's course drastically. Thrask allowed himself a smile. the game was his.

Vilepaw's smile turned around five seconds later, as he saw their trajectory. It seemed as if the slight shift had done something. Clawcrab was too obssessed with his next meal to notice the pit of lava beneath them. Vilepaw glanced over at Scrokk... the Moulder looked as scared as he was.

Clawcrab hit the lava with a surprised yowl. He let go of Makari and flailed around wildly. A glob of lava slammed into Makari, and the Rat spiraled downwards. Clawcrab had sunk beneath the molten material fast enough. Scrokk couldn't breathe. almost...

makari gave one last feeble flap of his wings and landed in a heap on a walkway. A stunned silence came from the audince, then a loud cheer from someone who had bet on the little rat.

Makari looked up, and the judgerat pronounced the winner. Scrokk gulped. he had made some new enemies...

OOC: And it was brains and luck over brawn! It seems as if Random's bad luck finally gave up, and good luck caught up! Congratulations... it was a very close match there...

RandommaN has won his first tournament.... and he isn't even here... :P

Pillz