Tsubori vs. Quill [Challenge Match]

((Because of the unique nature of the combatants, one of the things I will be focusing on expressly in the determination of the victory is how well each individual stayed in character. That said, all other rules apply too. Good luck!))

A Skull Kid, seemingly floating in darkness, propped up his legs on an invisible object as hey lay flat on his stomach. To his left, a colorful pile of crayons seemed suspended in the air, and in front of him was a larger than average piece of parchment, now covered in the waxy substance of the crayons. Humming to himself and sticking his tongue out in concentrated effort, the odd creature used a variety of colors to create the masterpiece in front of him. Childish, sloppy, and, above all, colorful, as he withdrew from his creation, one might be able to see it as a very crude map. The Skull Kid seemed delighted with his work.

A majority of the parchment was covered in brown and beige colors, making what seemed to be a large, dying field that once held grass or wheat or something else. Scattered throughout it, several large gray shapes seemed to resemble rocks, and this field covered up all four edges of the map. In the middle of the field, though, something was different. Outlined in black, what appeared to be a large carnival dominated the center of the map. Dozens of little blocks and shapes made up tents, pavilions, and stalls all throughout the thing, and here and there across the entire map was a sea of little red 'X'es. Finally, a large purple river of uncongealed jell-O ran from top to bottom on the map, winding around the western edge of the carnival.

Of course, it didn't really matter how good his drawing was, the creation process would work out the odds and ends. After adding a few little things here and there, the Skull Kid retracted from his work, screaming to the blackness, "It's PERFECT!" Spinning in the air, a bright light erupted all around him, consuming everything.

Suspended in the air, the Skull Kid looked out over his creation. The dying fields surrounded most of the territory, hilly and riddled with rocks, but the carnival dominated the most attention in the center. Filled with countless little structures, the Skull Kid frowned at it for a moment. It seemed like it was missing something... why was it so dead? A thought struck him a moment following.

People!

Snapping his fingers, the place was instantly filled with life. Every people and every race filled the streets, and all of a sudden the games and shops were manned. A mixture of baking and animal spells filled the air shortly thereafter, and the Skull Kid cracked his smile that seemed to saw his face in half. "Let's see them try and find and kill each other in that," the childlike creature cackled under his breath. He frowned a moment later, though, "Them? Who was it again...?" He reached into his pocket and withdrew two cards, each with a separate face on them. Oh, he remembered now. Hurling the cards in opposite directions, the Skull Kid vanished with a crack in the air, turning invisible.

And so it began.

Loft was falling, falling through a blackness that never seemed to end, a dark abyss that yielded no sounds, no sensations, not even the feeling of cold. There was simply nothing here, and in truth, Loft wasn't even sure if he was falling. He had fallen before, lots of times, but this was different. His hair wasn't flapping like an insane bird's behind him, nor was his face rippling like a pond that was just visited by a bomb. Was he floating? Loft puzzled over these things for what felt like quite awhile, although since there was no sun, he didn't know how long it had been, when suddenly, without warning or any sort of trumpeted fanfare, the world came into being.

He was standing on a hill as the sun shone bright and clear above him. The hill's slope was covered in depressed grass, all sad and lonely and brown and dead. Loft knelt down and ran his hand through the dying plants. "Were you floating too?" He asked them. He had to stay quiet, though- you never knew when it was a super secret secret he had to keep. The grass waved slightly in the breeze, and Loft clapped his hands delightedly. "I knew it!" He sang, standing up and spinning around.

Halfway through his spin, though, he spotted something. Something that set his soul and fire and his brain buzzing to try and understand. His world was up and his world was down, but whatever the direction, Loft didn't care. He scrambled down the slope, only dimly aware of a coated fuzzy creature burned into his mind, his gaze never breaking from the one thing he desired above all else.

A river of pure glory, of divinity made reality, of shining jell-O gloriously winding through the otherwise barren land, seized his gaze and refused to relinquish its supercool hold over it. Music sang all around him, delighting in the wonder and majesty of the river. Loft jumped up and down, laughing and cartwheeling through the dead grass as he approached. He finally skipped onto the banks and, without breaking stride, dove into the most divine of the Goddesses' gifts to the world.

Kiki found herself drifting awake in a strange place. All around her, dead grass, beaten under the footsteps of many. The mogma sat up, shaking her head from side to side and peeking out from her mask at the place around her. As she turned, only seeing the same corpse plains, she eventuall stopped, her oversized sleeves falling to her side. A carnival! Lights flickered and bounced to her eyes, so much shine and glimmer coming from the spectacle.

In no time, Kikimi had run to the carnival, seeing games to play, food to eat, and shinies to collect! She found one of the ball throw games, and thinking she had a good shot at it, she picked the ball up. Nobody could see it, but as she closed one eye and focussed on the bottles lined up behind the counter, she stuck her tongue out to one side.

Throwing the rubber ball with downright flaming passion, time appeared to travel in slow motion. People inched forward by the minute. Flies ceased to be uncatchably fast. A rupee slowly hit the ground in a clang. “Wha?” Kiki said, turning her head towards the noise and trying to locate it. When she inevitably failed, she turned back to the game and saw that all the bottles had been knocked down. “Yeaah! Woohoo! Gimme the big prize! Biggest one you’ve got!” She said, bouncing up and down.

The attendant sighed. “Miss, I said it to you several times, but you ignored me. You need a ticket to get a prize.” he seemed so matter of fact and snobby, as if his whole creation had been based around depriving people of big stuffed prizes.

Kiki, however, was in sorrowful anguish. “Aawwwwwww.... That’s so mean. Meany beany weenie-pants.” She then looked around for something else to do. “Err... Mah... Gerdesses.” She said as she saw a large, dark tent. A fortune teller. She bolted in, bowling aside the next person in line, leading to much protest. Unfortunately, Kiki was already sitting at the table by the time he managed to react. “Miss! Miss! What’s my fortune?! Will I be rich and have all the shinies? As many shinies as my daddy?”

The fortune teller remained stonefaced with a small smile. She was a more heavyset Hylian, face covered in jewellery and makeup. When she saw the young Mogma, her smile went a bit wider. “Ahhh... Possibly these things, yes... Possible... But... I must give you news of your future closer to... Now. You aren’t safe here... There’s a danger here, greater than you think. All I may show you is... This.” She waved her hand over the crystal ball before her, bring an image to Kiki’s eyes. It was a boy, Hylian and blond. His pale skin and blue eyes gave Kiki strange tingles, but she was more confused than anything.

“So... This boy is...?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I can talk no more. Go, Miss Mikika.” The tent then seemed to expel air, pushing kiki outward gently. Upon seeing all the people again, the bouncy little critter ran off again, hopefully to find out what this “Ticket” nonsense was.

((Sorry for the wait, there was some confusion over who would be posting next. I think that from here on, whoever's next in the cycle should wait for a PM from the Arena Lord before posting. The AL could either say "go ahead and post" or "wait for me please." That way, the AL won't miss an opportunity and there won't be any more confusion.))

Urrrrrrg. The ground was soft under his head, but his head hurt and his stomach ached all over, so he didn't care much about the niceness of the ground or the sweetness of the sky. His hand rested on his distended stomach, and he wondered idly: if he was what he ate, did that mean he would turn into a-

BRAWWWWWP! Loft's head thunked back into the ground, and he groaned. "I shouldn't have eaten so much," he mourned. He thought of getting up, but his stomach bubbled and his head split and he immediately thought of singing lollipops. That always made him feel better. "I swear," he said, "I'll never drink a river of liquid jell-O again!"

The image returned to him then, lying on the banks of the cruelest of divine pranks. A furry creature draped in a coat, surrounded by an aura of menacing glee. He knew instinctively that this was his opponent in this most horrible of Arenas. And, if his previous experience had taught him anything, it was that he couldn't just lie down like a heartbroken bunny and wait for something to happen. No, he had to live up to his name! Loft Kiratel, born of the Seventh House of Starshine and trained in the secret arts of the ninja under the moon's sheltering light! Ninjas didn't wait, ninjas sought out their prey!

Inspired, he sat up, ready to go forth and explore the rest of the land. He promptly threw up into the river and collapsed back against the ground as the partially-digested jell-O floated down the river of un-digested jell-O. "I'll get up," he promised himself, "just five more minutes!" His tummy full, the sun beating down on his face, he closed his eyes and snoozed of gingerbread men with broken legs.

Kiki jogged into the main square, her arms full of tickets. Not that she’d actually paid for them, the sneaky little mogma had just seen them and, not knowing they needed to be paid for, snagged a whole bunch. She bounced up and down, smiling around at all the stalls and tents. Now that she had their currency, she could partake in the fun! “Now I can enjoy myself!” She said, running over to a food stand and getting some meat, putting it under the mask and devouring it in seconds.

She then sprinted back over to the ball game from before, holding her tickets smugly. “This has GOT to be enough tickets, right?”

He looked at her, remembering who she was and sighing. “Yeah, that’s enough. You only need three tickets.”

Kiki looked down at her bundle, blinking a bit. “But... I have two hundred and sixty four... What a dilemma. A dill-pickle-emma.” She reached forward with a claw, cutting off four of the tickets and handing them to him.

“....This is four.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Call it a tip. For good service?” She reached for the ball playfully.

“...Alrighty then. Here.” He handed her the ball, which she promptly reared back with.

“I got it once, I’ll get it again!” She threw the ball, but it went wide, making her groan. She cut off three more tickets, knowing she’d get it this time. 81 tickets later, she finally knocked down all the bottles, jumping up and raising her arms in joy. “Yes! I TOLD you I’d get it! What do I win?”

He handed her a plushy Link, which she looked at as if it had all the world’s knowledge. “Oh my gosh... This is the best thing ever. I will treasure it forever.”She started tearing up, walking away and leaving a very perplexed Hylian. When she reached the other end of the carnival, she looked outside the boundaries, seeing a guy sleeping against a tree. Something seemed... So familiar about him... Wait... Wasn’t h- “Oh! Cotton candy! How many tickets!?”

The Skull Kid walked loosely through his own carnival he had created. It was perfect, it really was. Of course, the nasty people had come anyway and would be fuddling with his creation, they would be. Already the Fool had tipped his tummy one too many time-times, but the furball... she was breaking the rules. He had heard about her. Ohhh he had heard about her. Mindless destruction, savage carnage. If you were going to play, you played by the rules! Theft was absolutely unacceptable.

He could see her from where he was, he could, loping around with all those tickets she had stolen from his precious carnival. She wanted to win prizes, did she? Oh, she would give her a prize for that. Snagging a large bruiser by the elbow, the Skull Kid easily pulled the large man close to him, whispering into his ear. "See her? The furball, yes. She's been cheating, she has. Robbed old man kooker of his whole ticket booth! Teach her a lesson, would you? Oh and, bring some of your friends too."

The bruiser nodded earnestly, and the Skull Kid smiled broadly once more, dancing away from the large man as he gathered up his fellows to hunt the Mogma. The twisted creature couldn't help but cackle under his breath. The price for thievery always had been a hand-hatchet and a fur-cloak, after all.

Loft continued to snooze in the sun, his left hand on his distended belly and his right tucked underneath his head.

Tsubori has forfeited the match. Victory goes to Loft.