RuneScape Forum Archive | A Tale of Four Champions

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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"Well," Talmyr said slowly, "My Game IS an agility arena. I suppose I am fairly good about finding my way through a maze."

"Good," Joshua summed up. "Let's get some sleep. Eat your Battas."

Drake grimaced, but the others dug in, so, green-faced, he shoveled a bite of it into his mouth.

The others had to stand at the other side of the cave for hours as he vomited.

-----------------------------------------

"I wonder how they are doing," Jack mused.

"I hope he is okay," Elyssa said worriedly, chewing her fingernails.

"If you chew your nails anymore, you won't have any fingers left to hold Joshua with," Sigea remarked acidly.

Elyssa burst into tears and ran away to one of the many bedrooms of the Palace.

"I have a bad feeling about the way they trusted Xhou," Rah remarked. "Xhou isn't exactly known for his trustworthiness."

"Well, we can only hope that they are okay," Kaiser replied flatly. "All of this worrying will do us no good. Gear up and prepare for their return; that is all we can do."

* * * * *

Joshua, Daren, Drake, and Talmyr were arming themselves in one of the Armories at that exact moment. Each one of them was looking forward to seeing their own separate woman.

Yes, even Drake was, though not to any one in particular.

Anyway, they all chose the same weapons, and for armor, they each took some obsidian arm, leg, and chest guards.

"Good luck," the Tz-har armorer grunted, then showed them to the cave exit.

Outside were two mages, who handed them each a Ring of Life. Then they were teleported away.

At first, there was only white for the Four Champions. They heard a crowd roaring, and they smelled the scent of magma, but they saw nothing.

Gradually, shapes appeared. They were standing in a circular area with a huge crowd high above, watching them. Ahead of them was a long passageway, with two other ones, one to the left and one to the right. Next to them were Xhou and three Tz-hars, yet again.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:10 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:30:55 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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"Ready?" Xhou grunted. It was plain that he wasn't altogether sure of his ability to win.

"More than you would ever know," Joshua winked.

"BEGIN!" the announcer roared, and the eight of them ran down the corridor, slashing at each other whenever they could.

Then, out of small holes in the walls, came the monsters. Slugs, giant spiders, and hulking vampire-like creatures appeared everywhere.

"Oh, goodie," Drake muttered. "More partying."

"This isn't too bad," Daren shrugged. He ran at a giant spider, which immediately picked him up in two of its hairy arms and threw him across the floor.

"Let's go!" Joshua barked, and the four of them ran down the way, jumping over slugs and ducking under swinging spider arms.

Xhou and his team ran too, and it started a feverish race to get to the end of the first hallway. Talmyr threw rings at the Tz-Hars, the Tz-hars threw rings back, and thousands of monsters swiped and clawed at them. It was madness.

Then they reached the end. There was a branch. To the left, there were thirty or so spiders. To the right were almost one hundred gigantic slugs, and some strange, hulking vampire-like creatures.

Joshua chose left, and the others followed. Xhou and his team went right.

Joshua yelled, "Come get me, spiders!" And ran ahead of the others. He swung his sword in a low arc, and when he reached the salivating arachnids, he left four of them with only six arms and legs left.

Then he jumped on the back of another, and stabbed his sword through its bloated gray stomach. Yellowish ooze and slime bubbled out, and the spider under him began to convulse and shudder. Then its legs buckled, and it fell to the ground, never to rise again.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:14 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:31:20 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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Talmyr, Drake, and Daren crashed into the spiders then, sending hairy limbs and yellow ooze flying. Joshua jumped off the spider and landed on the ground, and slashed at an incoming arm. It was severed at the point of Joshua's sword, and he was rewarded by a cleansing shower of blood.

Talmyr jumped into the air and did a front-flip, simultaneously drawing his daggers. He landed on top of a large, black spider with huge yellow eyes and a huge stinger. Its stinger began to raise, but then the strength went out of the beast as Talmyr's knives punctured its nervous system. It crumpled to the ground, twitching and convulsing.

Drake was fighting with that same half-sarcastic attitude. He laughed as he blocked a swinging arm, and stabbed the spider through its fat belly. The soft skin punctured and ripped, sending pulsating, shiny yellowish organs slopping out. He sneered as he kicked out at a spider, and shook his head with mock sadness as he slashed it apart.

Daren, with his hard eyes, was now absolutely invincible. He kicked out at a spider, which rolled backwards and on its back. Its legs flailed as it tried to roll over, but Daren was already there. Before the spider realized it, Daren's sword was plunged into its belly.

"Come on," Joshua finally said. "We won't win by fighting every spider we see." He looked meaningfully over to the other side. Xhou and his team was still busy fighting the vampires. One of his Tz-hars was gone, which probably meant that he was dead.

"Yes, let's," Drake agreed blandly. "These spiders fight like women."

"How would you know how women fight?" Talmyr asked sharply.

Drake shrugged nonchalantly, though his face was noticeably red. "Not important."

Joshua grunted at them, ending the embarrassing moment. He ran down the hall, with the other three not far behind. Then they reached another crossroads.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:18 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:31:41 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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"I'll take Drake, you take Daren," Joshua barked to Talmyr. Before he had time to protest, Joshua and Drake were running down the right side. He sighed, motioned for Daren to follow, and ran down the left.

Joshua and Drake sped through as fast as they could, dodging and jumping around enemies. Their single thought in mind was to get to the center of the Fight Maze, nothing more.

It seemed, however, that there weren't just monsters. They hurtled around a corner, only to find a rickety stone arch spanning over a river of lava.

"I'll go first," Drake said, and ran over it. He managed to get across, though there were noticeable cracks in the stone. Joshua started over it. Then, the crack split the stone in half.

Joshua looked down at the yawning abyss apprehensively. At the bottom was lava. Then the stone cracked more.

"Run, Joshua!" Drake roared. "Get over!"

Joshua looked at his hand. The ring was still on his finger. "I don't have time, Drake," he called out. "I'll be fine. Finish for me."

"NO!" Drake screamed. "Your ring-"

But it was too late. The arch cracked, and Joshua suddenly found himself looking down at a lava river. The next thing he knew, his stomach lurched, and he let out a glass-shattering scream of pure terror as he plummeted down towards the lava.

Down he went, the stones flying by him. He spread-eagled himself in sky-diving formation, still screaming. His hair flowed and swung like water.

Suddenly he smashed into one side of the rock wall. Pain jarred his ribs, and he stopped screaming long enough to gasp. His wind was gone, and it didn't really help that he was hurtling towards a fiery demise.

Then, suddenly, the lava river yawned out in front of him, and the heat seared his flesh. He convulsed in pain and tumbled around in mid-air, doubting suddenly that his ring would sustain. Then he hit the lava, and for an instant his nerves shriveled up and Joshua's entire system screamed in pain.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:22 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:32:04 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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Then he felt a strange feeling of peace, and everything turned white.

He suddenly woke up in a dark cave with two Tz-hars watching guard. In the center of the cave was a single stone pillar. He walked over to it.

"Am I dead?" He asked feebly.

What he got in answer was a sharp punch in his rib. He doubled over, howling in pain.

"Nope," one of the Tz-hars observed clinically, "You look pretty alive to me."

Joshua laughed uproariously and walked over to the orb. Dimly, he could see Drake running through a cavern, dodging spiders.

Then Joshua's throat tightened up as Drake fell under a swarm of spiders. Instants later, he appeared in the room.

"Hey, Drake," Joshua called.

"Hey Joshua," Drake grunted.

"Painful?"

"Yes. You just got to get burned up by lava; I was jabbed with poison darts one hundred times before I died."

"That must have stank."

"Really."

"Poor Drake."

"Are you making fun of me, Joshua?"

"Why would I do that?"

Drake grumbled and shook his head. They sat around.

Soon, Xhou's Tz-hars appeared. They looked very disgruntled and mad when they did.

"Fun?" Drake asked with an evil smile.

"Incredibly," One Tz-har answered truthfully. Drake gaped.

"We don't like Xhou any more than you do," the four-armed cave dweller explained. "He just took hold of us first."

"Wait! Drake!" Joshua cut in, his voice laden with distress. "Daren is outnumbered! He is..."

"Alive," Daren answered. He appeared right next to Joshua. "It's just Talmyr and Xhou now."

"Come on, Talmyr," Joshua said in a hushed voice. "Don't fail on me now."

The three Champions waited around the globe. The tenseness of the situation was clear. The very air seemed to crackle and pop.

Then, to Joshua's dismay, he saw Xhou coming around the last bend. He was in the center! All he had to do was grab the flag in the center, and the Champions' career would be over.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:27 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:32:31 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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But Talmyr was not to be underestimated. He came out of nowhere, throwing knives flying. Xhou stopped in mid-run as three razor-sharp obsidian rings whistled past his ears, clattering on the stone floor.

He smiled at Talmyr, drawing some of his own.

Then, a throwing knife embedded itself in Xhou's head, making blood and brains explode outwards. Then Xhou appeared next to Joshua, grumbling and whimpering.

"Well, it looks like we conquered Tz-har," Joshua observed cheerfully. Then he, Drake, and Daren let out an earth-shaking cheer. It was infectious, and soon the Tz-hars all joined in as well.

"What are you doing?" Xhou demanded of them.

"Celebrating," the Tz-har answered with an absolutely straight face.

Suddenly the seven contesters appeared at the center of the Fight Maze next to Talmyr, who was holding up the red-and-blue flag triumphantly. The hundreds of thousands of spectators watching the Maze threw their vocal chords to the extreme, screaming and roaring themselves hoarse with joy. The Champions had won again!

"Well, all we have to do is defeat Xhou at Frost of the Gods and Pest Control," Joshua said happily to Talmyr. "Good job."

'Good job' barely cut what Talmyr received when the four Champions paraded through the caverns of Tz-har. The Tz-har guards had to all stand next to each other with huge obsidian shields to keep out the thousands of young women who were doing quite a bit to show their appreciation to him. He watched in amusement for a while, but when shirts began to go unbuttoned, he decided to ignore them by thinking furiously of Sigea. It was tough even then; they were QUITE determined.

No, nothing actually happened, but when a guard became distracted, only the quick thinking of Joshua and Drake kept a total disaster from ensuing. The ladies were disappointed afterwards.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:31 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:33:51 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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Sorry for the above, that was probably really gender-ist, but come on! Wouldn't you ladies do that to... uh... some hot guy who just won something you pay lots of attention to?

Anyway.

Later, the Champions gathered at an obsidian table to talk about what was coming. Xhou and two Tz-hars and the Frost of the Gods Champion were there, too.

"This is how it will work," Xhou sneered, his contempt clear. "We will teleport to Frost of the Gods in a day. You will be informed of how it works later. For now, go get some rest, and regret that you ever started your foolish quest."

With that unwholesome note, the Champions were led away to huge state rooms above the surface, while Xhou had to stay underground.

Nothing really happened, except when Joshua woke up late at night, he heard a few voices coming from the large baths.

"I have a wife," came Talmyr's voice. It sounded indignant.

"Give her up for a day," a woman's voice pleaded.

"No."

"Can't you at least kiss me? Just one kiss?"

“I guess I don’t see the harm in that.”

There was a sound of kissing, then some startled exclamations, sound like cloth being torn, a triumphant little laugh, and a moan of absolute delight

Joshua smiled and rolled over.

The next morning, the Four Champions came to a secluded ring in the jungles of Karamja. Standing there waiting were Xhou, the Frost of the Gods Champion who's name was Invfrado, and two Tz-hars who looked distinctly unhappy about being on Xhou's team.

"Take your equipment," Invfrado snarled at the Champions, pointing. Lying on the side were heavy, tight coats, glass helmets with holes for breathing, short spears, and skis.

"Why do we need those heavy coats?" Joshua asked apprehensively. He began to feel distinctly unsettled about just what Frost of the Gods was.

"You'll see." Invfrado smiled an evil smile.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:36 - Last edited on 15-Apr-2008 21:23:23 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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Joshua took a blue coat and snow pants choice, two red spears, and two green skis. The other Champions took the same. Xhou and his teem took red coats and snow pants, blue spears, and yellow skis. Then they each took rings of life, and went to the mages.

"Three... two... one..."

"Good luck," Joshua said to his friends through his helmet before they were teleported to...

"Oh, hell no!"

Joshua suddenly found himself ten feet in the air, above a hugely tall, snow-covered mountain. Way down below was snow, but when he looked again, clouds.

"Frost of the Gods," Invfrado snarled. "Enjoy."

Then gravity took over, and all eight of the contesters screamed until they hit the soft white snow.

The skis were very fast, and Joshua soon found himself flying down the slope, powder flying in Xhou's face. The rocks around him became a blur. He knelt down and pushed off the snow with his spears, thrusting himself forward.

Then, out of nowhere, he saw a huge rock come looming up. He quickly leaned to the right and zoomed past it, but found himself in the air again. Below him was an even steeper slope. Above him was...

"Holy Saradomin!" he screamed as he plummeted down over two hundred feet. When he landed, a jarring impact, he was flying down the slope.

Then Invfrado appeared next to him, spear ready.

Joshua grunted with anger and swung up his own spear to parry Invfrado's thrust. He then swerved toward him, kicking up snow in the Frost of the Gods Champion. He took the initiative to stab downward at his enemy's ski.

Invfrado didn't see what was happening until it was too late, and he suddenly found himself tumbling down the snow at an incredibly fast rate.

Joshua was in the lead again. He was going so fast that his skis seemed to be lifting up off the snow, and his ears were popping at the change of altitude. He gritted his teeth against the pain and drove on down.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:41 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:36:22 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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Unbeknownst to Joshua, Xhou, who was currently in the back, had thrown his spear into a snow drift, which caused an ominous rumbling. The snow began to slide downward.

Joshua was suddenly caught up to by the two other Tz-hars and Drake, Daren, and Talmyr.

"What's wrong?" Joshua shouted as loud as he could over the sudden roar.

Talmyr pointed behind him. Joshua looked, and cold fear stabbed his stomach. A massive avalanche was raging down the mountain, closely tailing a maniacally laughing Xhou.

"Saradomin!" Joshua grunted, and urged more speed. He flew through the clouds, being momentarily blind by the mist.

Then he appeared, and saw just how much he had to stay this rapid course for.

Thousands of feet of mountain dropped down below his feet. And soon, very soon, the tree line was coming.

And it covered the whole slope. No way around it.

Joshua gulped as he sped closer to it. His body was battered by the speed and wind, and that gulp sent all of the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air again, and didn't notice that he was flying toward a huge bank until it was too late.

Then, for the third time in so many minutes, Joshua found himself screaming his head off as he flew downward into the forest.

He landed on a path of sorts, and watched in horror as he gained speed. The trees were coming up.

He swerved around the first tree, gaining more speed. Two more came up. He went in between, almost chopping off his arms in the process. The snow stained the trees as he passed around them.

Around him, the six others swerved and dodged the trees, too. But Joshua could tell that he wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer.

Daren was the first to go. He went wildly out of control when he tried to dodge a tree too sharply, and ended up flipping head over heels into a tree. He disappeared completely.

Two down, six to go.

25-Jul-2007 16:28:45 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:36:51 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

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The next victim was a Tz-har. He didn't see a rock looming up to meet him, and he splattered himself on it.

Joshua almost crashed, himself, had he not quickly turned back around and swerved. But then, to his horror, the snow began to crumble under his feet...

And he landed in a brightly lit tunnel with snow leading down. He flew down it, turning and leaning as the twists and turns of the tunnel became more drastic. He soon found himself going round and round down a spiral, flying faster and faster. Then he would turn and go down another dizzying spiral, and then go flat, make a few sharp turns, and then go down yet another spiral.

Finally, just when he couldn't take any more, he rocketed out of the hillside and landed way ahead of everyone else.

He sped through a few trees, jumped a few snow banks, and then turned a corner through the trees and saw, only a few hundred feet ahead, the finishing line!

He sped down the 87 degree slope, unaware of the flying spear. It caught his ski and pinned him to the near-vertical side of the slope, sending him tumbling down the slope. His helmet was lost, and his face began to freeze up.

At last, sore and frozen beyond belief, he slid to a stop right below the finish line.

He would have stayed there, had it not been for Talmyr, who crashed into him and sent him over the finish line, and to victory.

Suddenly the eight of them re-appeared in Tz-har again, in a throng of cheering fans. They had won the third game, and all they had left was Pest Control.

Joshua was not celebrating, however. He foresaw that Xhou, now desperate to win, would do something to insure his win.

"The last game will happen tomorrow," Joshua surmised at the meeting. "Xhou, do you accept the conditions?"

"I accept," he grated. He was clearly furious that Joshua had beat him at his own games.

100 W00T!!!

25-Jul-2007 16:28:49 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:37:32 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

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A Tale of Four Champions