[ ToT ] Trial by Fire with Nox and Hex! -REOPENED!

[Blade Kuroda]

Stage One: Fail

Jericho didn't get too far today. The hurtles struck again.  

[Nio Love]

((IGNORE))  

[Nio Love]

Stage One: EPIC FAIL

Riley didn't even make it over a hurtle, when she returned to the obstacle course.

She fell in a HOLE IN THE GROUND AND DIED.

THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE FOREVER.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Stage one EVEN MORE EPIC FAIL

"Alright, we got this today. Right Riley? ... Riley?"

Jericho looked around as he approached the course. Did she already go--

He fell into the hole right after Riley.. before reaching the hurtles.  

[Pepzilla]

STAGE ONE

He learned to swim.. and he recovered all the mental damage from his final exam. Bul was ready to earn his balls back. No wings, no special abilities, just raw swag.

Hurdles on fire? No problem. That's what the great pumpkin deities gave him those sweet legs for.

Of course those same legs DID trip him up on his final, get tangled in seaweed nearly drowning him, and grew weak on the island..

But Bul made it with his skin intact. Looking back at what he'd cleared then again to the next challenge, he took a deep breath. This next obstacle would be tricky.  

[Pepzilla]

STAGE TWO

The flaming hoops erect before Bul were intimidating for sure. While the half beast could take the heat, literally catching fire was a very probable thing.

"Here goes.." Bul bounded forwards to leap through the hoops...

There went those balls. Bul was roasted into a crisp of FEAR ashes and reappeared at the beginning of the field. That was exhilarating! Perhaps he'd try again when he wasn't SHAKING IN TERROR.  

[Eight]

STAGE ONE

Everyone else had been trying it, so Junko thought she would give it a go as well. She even wore her fitness club clothes for this!

Unfortunately she only made it over a single hurdle, and even then she didn't really make it over the whole thing. The ghoul jumped, hit it full on and went toppling over...flaming hurdle and all.  

[Toshihiko Two]

STAGE ONE: PASS!

Lately, Barth had been sleeping more deeply. He prided himself on his ability to sleep through nearly anything, of course, but there was a difference between being able to sleep through an engine backfiring and wanting to sleep through someone trying to murder you. Formerly he was able to distinguish between the first one and the last one. Lately...

Not only had he been sleeping deeper, but he had been falling asleep in the middle of tasks, and waking up to find them sorted. In this case, he had been in the middle of going from his dorm to one of his classes, when he had nodded off...and...? He stared blurrily at the Trick or Treater in front of him, Sleepwalking put to an immediate halt with the sticker placed firmly on his jacket.

It wanted him to...to what?

He looked at the flaming hurdles with a great deal of apprehension.
Then he registered the sudden explosion of dirt to his right was from a bullet.
He didn't leap so much as crawl, but he did go slow enough to notice and avoid the ditch.  

[Toshihiko Two]

STAGE TWO: PASS!

Oh good, more Fire. Barth was getting unpleasant Cornfield Flashbacks. Those had only been hallucinations, he reminded himself, but these seemed...like probably not a dream. He could hear the gnomes werecatcalling in the background.

He proceeded slowly and with caution, all the way around each individual hoop.  

[Toshihiko Two]

STAGE THREE: PASS!

Hoops, Hurdles, and...Minipets? He wasn't sure if these ones were in the mood for doing anything but running amuck. And he wasn't capable of any fast-paced dodging between fireballs. But he had a sort of plan. Maybe. He cleared his throat, and initiated it.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?
Firey Bombs, huh?
Ooo~oh, I'm really scared.
So you're the ones everyone's talking about, ha ha."

Intimidation. Project intimidation. His father's sinister tone, he found, always helped in these situations. And he'd sung these lines before.

"You're joking.
You're joking.
I can't believe my eyes.
You're joking me, you've got to be.
These can't be the right bombs."

In any case, they seemed to be....listening. He eased his way through the tethers, careful not to step on anything, just a little further-

"You'd better pay attention
because I'm the Boogie Man."

He was nearly asleep himself, but there was something about the sticker. And certain death, of course.

"-and if you aren't shaking~
there's something very wrong.
This might be the last time
you hear the Boogie Song."

The end of the tethers were just a few steps away. He took them with the same ease (Etiquette, remember poise, although he hadn't had to do that for any of the Boogie auditions but here the slinking carried as much weight as the songs).

"It's hopeless, you're finished
You haven't got a prayer
'Cause I'm Mr. Bartholomew Mudd
And you ain't going nowhere."

There. He'd done it. Songs finished, tethers at their end. ...And, he hoped, the last patch of fire left to go.
 

[Toshihiko Two]

STAGE FOUR: FAILED

Barth could see the Finish, and feel the heat from the lake. He set one boot down on the first stone. He didn't have to worry about them melting, at least. They were friendly towards...hellish conditions.

Oh, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It was sort of...nice looking, all considering. Warm, cozy. Fish leaping in the background. If he had a lava boat and a Father that wasn't as busy as he was completely terrifying, they might have gone fishing here. He edged onto the next step. There was a lot of walking. The fish were also leaping a bit nearer, now that he looked at them.

A lot nearer.

Later, in the infirmary, now stickerless and drifting back to sleep, he wondered distantly if he should have sung for them too.
 

[Nio Love]

Stage One:

These were Riley's hurtles. Riley's hurtles were amazing.

Give them a lick, they- no, wait, don't lick the hurtles. They're on fire. Jump over them instead.

So she did.  

[Nio Love]

Stage Two:

Have a stroke of these loops, they turn into big shoops.
Then they burn you to death, and you're in the infirmary.

Again.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Stage1 FAIL

Jericho had been keeping score.
Hurtles: 9
Jericho: 1

This was not looking good for him at all.  

[Pepzilla]

Stage One

Bul would not leave the field without assuring himself he had the balls to do this. Maybe that first round was a fluke? Not even his natural form could take this on even if it were allowed- it was just too big and cumbersome. He needed to be "more aerodynamic".

RIPPING OFF HIS CLOTHES Bul took off down the field in just his boxers.

....There are no words to describe the scene that ensued next.