..well crap. I had the notion that the due date was on the 5th, no idea where I pulled that number from. Just as well I decided to check into here. Expect it in your Inbox tomorrow, because this thing is far from being proofread tonight.
Edit: Aha. R2 starts on the 5th, that kinda explains the mixup. Sorry to everyone else (Boomerang especially) for the wait!

Edit 2: And complete. Apparently late by an hour, but life happens.

It apparently wasn't completely clear that there was a word cap on these stories. There was, and it was 4000 words unless otherwise stated in a more specific prompt. It's listed along with the round prompt, which I assumed people would read because that's what tells you what you're supposed to write this round.

Future rounds will probably be 4000 word limits (again, unless otherwise stated by a Deal, individual prompt, or narrative challenge), but be aware that there is a word limit and it will be found with the round prompt.

Lol I read that rule near the end of my writing, i had to hack off like 500 words, but Waffles had to hack off more lol, makes me feel like I need more work.

All right, as you guys probably have realized by now, the judging phase is underway. I'd like to take a moment to ask all of you participants (and anyone else who happens to be reading this) to please read and vote on your fellow competitors' stories. Every pair will get at least eight votes if you do so, which is a good number to work with. Remember that you may not vote on your own match.

Please give feedback on other people's stories. A lot of work has gone into writing these stories and it helps the writers immensely to figure out what did and didn't work. You can get up to three extra points for each story you review (up to a total of ten points, or two votes), and you will get full credit for your feedback as long as you say what you thought, why, and present some evidence that shows that you actually read the story. It doesn't have to be critical--if something stood out to you like a certain scene or character, then go ahead and mention that and why you think that is. You do not have to give a solution or an alternative to a problem if you don't know one, but you do have to explain why you think it's a problem, or it's pretty much useless information. Feedback points will be counted at the end of the judging phase, whenever that comes around.

If everything goes smoothly, the judging phase will be over on Thursday. However, I don't know how long it will take to score and give feedback on all of the stories. Due to end of summer/beginning of school year stuff that is coming up for me very soon as well as other personal obligations, I suspect that this round's judging phase will last a few days longer than a week.

Again, here are the match links:
Kyra vs Aquila
Nikx232 vs WafflesMgee
The Strongest vs ErrorBlender
Xate vs Tremorfist
BoomerangReturns vs Tantalum

Tell your friends to check out your stories, too. You put work into this, so you may as well spread it around.

I'm operating on somewhere between two and zero hours of sleep right now, so bear with me. After working through feedback for a couple of days, it's become abundantly clear that it's physically impossible for me to finish giving full feedback and notes on all nine stories by the end of Thursday; it would not be an exaggeration to say that there just isn't enough time for me to work on more than one story a day. However, the judges and I will probably be able to finish the scoring by the end of Thursday, so the question for you guys is this:

Do you want to wait until I've finished the complete feedback and notes on every story before starting R2, or do you want to just go once the scores are ready and then receive the full notes and feedback at some point in the middle of the round whenever I've finished them? In the latter option, you will receive your subscores and the explanations for why you got each of those subscores, so it's not like you'd be going into the next round with absolutely no feedback from the judges.

I'm fine with the idea if you hold back the feedback and give score first, though it is the important bit we can wait for it. 'Sides, the feedback will still arrive anyway, so nothing wrong with it. :D

Eh, I can wait until feedback's done. This is my first attempt at a full-length story and without any sort of feedback I don't know if I write well or like a monkey at a typewriter. I don't want to end up writing two stories badly before someone tells me.

I'd like somebody to CnC Tantalum and I's bout as well, even though I already won cuz forfeit. I still wanna know what I can do better for the second round.