"Statement: Then we make one," the black suit said decisively as flashes of white light enveloped his hands and back. The light on his hands coalesced into the twin plasma guns and on his back, the wingpack came forth.

"Query: L.L., how large is the explosive yield of your weapon?"

L.L looked at the android and spun the purple-striped charge in his hand. He backed away and once he had enough room, he let the cannon grow and dropped it onto the floor. He once again swapped the ammo and as he slid the buckshot charge back into his leather pouch, his other hand ruffled through his pockets. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and fit one in his mouth. As he lit it, he responded, "Big enough, just tell me where to aim."

The creature saw the small man's object grow in size and was curious to what it was. With Venox still on its shoulder, the 12ft giant swooped down and attempted to lift the cannon. Realising he didn't have the strength to back up the action, he summoned two more arms from his upper body to lift the cannon up, and two more from his waist to grip the ground, keeping him stable as he lift the several-ton cannon up. He started to fondle all over it, wondering what this thing was and how it grew in size like that. As he held it, the cannon's barrel aimed towards the ground.

Venox crawled down the finger-beast's arm, his entire body tense, but it didn't look like the cannon could be triggered manually...yet. He chittered to the creature, releasing his grip on it and flying tight circles around the cannon's muzzle. The hand-being cocked its head at the spy's antics, not knowing how to react.

Venox took a deep breath, and slid into the barrel. L.L. twitched, hoping that whatever "magic" the creature may have, didn't interfere with the firing mechanism somehow. Bl.An.C. stood still, scanning the cannon. It seemed to be alright...for now.

Venox popped his head in and out of the cannon's barrel, chittering to Handyman. The beast seemed delighted with this, and carefully grabbed the cannon's barrel and flicked it up at the sky, peering in at the spy. Venox flew out, grinning, making sure to keep Handy's face turned towards him. Slowly, the finger-beast returned the cannon to the ground, and lumbered off after Venox, like a child chasing a butterfly...very slowly of course.

Venox looked up at the remaining gladiators, and then he nodded to them.

"Prepare to fire!" he called. "Aim for the sky! They could have something over it to keep flying things like me contained! If whatever barrier exists there deflects your explosive..."

Venox twisted in the air, and dark smoke billowed from his back, revealing sharp-beaked, winged serpentine creatures. Each one was as black as night, with red eyes and wing membranes.

"...my kin will see it gets destroyed before it destroys us...if it does..."

"Statement: Venox, can you tell your friend to angle it up slightly higher?" the armored scientist suggested. "Whenever you're ready, L.L."

The android aimed his weapons to the target above them. It wasn't much of a target since it was simply clear sky but the barrier was present. They would do their best to get out of here.

"Seventeen."

The man did not reply, his eyes fixated on the monitors.

"Seventeen."

Still no reply.

"Listen to me you buffoon of a host this is important so stop mulling whether you want brand X shampoo!"

The single outburst was enough to make the other turn sharply back.

"I have no time for your insults toward my hair, Thirteen."

"So your hair matters more than being called a buffoon!" Thirteen rebuffed in disbelief.

"Enough," Seventeen waved dismissively, "state your business."

"One of our beloved guests are attempting suicide."

"What?"

There was no other response, other than his wordless gesturing towards his own monitors. Seventeen shifted his seat for a better view, and it was all he needed to realise the ridiculous situation the gladiators had gotten themselves in. For one, one of them had stuck themselves into what seemed to be a cannon. Probably loaded.

"By the gods Thirteen. You abducted a quartet of idiots."

Thirteen only hung his head low, the first time he had ever expressed regret in the entirety of the tournament.

As the feed went on, the owner of the cannon seemed particularly disgruntled at their weapon being lifted away by the Handyman. L.L. Bust, however, wasn't about to bother attempting civil communication with a monster. A brief bout of shouting ensued, before he wrestled for control of his weapon.

"What are you doing?"

Seventeen did not bother looking up to answer, "linking the feed to the audience."

Almost immediately, L.L. Bust swung a leg at handyman, the impact forcing the monster to buckle just a little. It was all that was needed for a finger to slip, and the cannon ignited a piercing beam of red from its muzzle.

With Venox inside.

"And the crowd goes wild," Seventeen said in a deadpan tone, the muffled screaming overcome by blasts of laughter from the other monitors, "We should have made this a comedy reality show."

He reached for the mic, clearing his throat before he spoke to the contestants proper.

"Please be reminded that suicide by laser or any other means is, as tempting an option, not recommended."

"They are simply bored," Thirteen cocked his head to one side, "let me in. I will-"

"No," Seventeen cut in sharply, "you will stay here."

"Why?" He shot back, miffed at the harsh response, "what else then?"

"Something to keep their attention. A game."

"Bumper carts."

"No."

"Sudoku?"

"Ridiculous."

"Candy C****"

"Mention that name once more and I will have you skinned on a rack."

"Well what is it that you want?" Thirteen demanded.

There was no response, but he could see the slightest furrow of a brow in his companion's expression. His fingers tapped at the keyboard, increasing in speed and force as they crashed against the plastic.

"What is it?" He repeated.

"It's not working."

A long pause.

"What?"

"It is not listening to my commands," Seventeen repeated tersely, "a glitch or so-"

He froze in realisation when his eyes came in contact with the monitor.

"The feed is not responding."

Thirteen blinked. First at Seveteen, and then back at the monitors, still innocuously displaying the tasteful image of fried bat.

"Cut the link. I need this fixed."

Thirteen did so silently, but he could tell in Seventeen's tone that, as monotone as it was, there was the slightest hint of worry. Worry that he had never allowed himself to show at all.

---

[/HR]

"Nothing is true. Everything is immaterial."

A whisper of a young female, echoing in the minds of all. The plains changed. The grass shifted to a deathly brown, rotting into the earth before the eyes of those standing upon it.

"Falsities in impermanence."

Darkness. The sun had set, but there was not the twinkle of moon or stars to bring light.

"Understanding in disorder."

The darkness lifted, replaced by a pale eerie light that seemed to come from nowhere. The four were in a cave, flickering crystals embedded in the rough rock that surrounded them.

"The mind that binds is unneeded."

The rock shifted, and expanded to four thin paths that winded out of view.

The voice changed, now almost snarling.

Suffer.

And finally, in the briefest of moments, the silhouette of a short figure could be seen in the dim light.

The creature checked the barrel of the cannon, trying to see if its friend was still in there. It shoved its arm inside, feeling nothing but warmth and dust.

After fondling around for a few seconds, it realised that the world was closer. It was stuck in a sizable area, jagged and rough. It withdrew its arm, realising its friend had vanished somewhere, and decided to huddle behind the two hunters, depending on them to do something.

"Are you fucking serious!" He yelled, turning on the monster, not caring that it was triple his size. He had shrank the cannon back to its original form and had it resting on his shoulder. "What in the world were you thinking? Oh that's right, you weren't, because you're a fucking monster! You vaporized Venox! Forget what the hell that fool was trying to pull, but what made you take the gun from me? Dammit!" He turned to look around at the cave they were in, tapping his scope to activate night vision. He muttered to himself. "Damn fool states he's 500 years old and suddenly decided to shove himself into a cannon loaded with a laser charge. Did he think he was immortal or something? Can't believe someone 500 years old could be so stupid." He sighed and looked at Bl.An.C. "What do you make of those paths up ahead? Do you think they lead somewhere?"

The nearest shadow shifted before L.L.'s face, and a familiar bat-winged figure became visible. It was clinging to the cave ceiling with its feet, looking down at the other gladiators with a wide grin on its face.

"Of course I'm not stupid." Venox replied, enjoying the shock in the bounty hunter's posture. "That was my shadow. He looks exactly like me, in case you didn't notice."

Without bothering to wait for a response, the spy released the stone and flew down to Handyman, landing on his shoulder. The beast clicked with pleasure, stroking it as if it was trying to make sure its friend was in one piece.

"Are we exploring or what?" Venox asked, looking at the remaining gladiators. "We can't just stay here you know. What if the Host is looking for us? What if this cave wasn't part of its plan?"

L.L. felt tempted to draw his weapon and fire at that stupid bat's leg. That creature made him look like an idiot! But then again, not every person he'd met had the power to use his or her shadow as a decoy like that. As much as he didn't like it, he began to feel a new respect for Venox.

## sorry guys, I guess I got carried away XD
## I'll read L.L. character profile now Aquila...sorry I didn't do it before

OOC: Cassandra I don't know why you didn't read my profile, but L.L's mouth is covered by a red bandana. His whole body is wrapped with bandages and his jaws specifically are wired shut. He can't open and close his mouth even if he wanted to. So I would appreciate it that if you do plan on using my character to progress your own RP post that you get the description of my character correct.

He's able to manipulate his shadow to create a clone of himself. L.L scratched the back of his head, he would've appreciated if the damned humanoid had told him that prior so that he wouldn't have to worry. He sighed, the hiss coming out as static feedback and it bounced around the dark cave's interior. He followed the rest towards the exit of the cave, his cannon on his shoulder, still loaded with his laser charge.

##I will say that everyone should, as far as possible REFRAIN from puppetting others unless sorely necessary or if it is an expected, trivial action. that allows you to continue your post further. Forcing dialogue and actions upon others is highly frowned upon and I will fry anyone seen intentionally doing so again.

Edit: This includes thoughts. I don't want to see a L.L. Bust romance against his own will.

## Hoi, venox. Edit out that handy part pls. Don't dictate my actions, honeybuns. Ain't gonna post again 'till you do~

## Edit: Cheers. Time to make like a pirate who had too much to drink and ARRRRRRRRRR, pee.


Handy approached one of the entryways and started to feel around the otuside of it. Curiously, he jammed his head inside, the sides of his face starting to grind against the walls. Too small for him to enter. After feeling some of the other entryways, he realised that one of them- the second one from the right- was taller and a bit wide than the others. He slid himself in, crouched so that Venox only suffered a small bump of the head against the top of the entryway, and felt around the start of the hallway with several appendages. He let off a few loud clicks, attempting to see down the dark hallways, but they just kept on going.

Venox flattened himself as much as he could against the finger-beast's shoulder. Despite this, the fact that the beast was just big enough for the tunnel left very little space for him to accommodate. Hissing in annoyance, Venox crept down Handyman's side until he was clinging to the beast's ribs again. Although the world ahead was now upside down, it was a lot better than being crushed against rock.

He changed positions beneath the beast, narrowing his eyes at the two remaining gladiators. He ran the mental image of the paths through his head one more time, and made a startling discovery.

"Guys..." he said, his voice dancing across the cavern. "...each of those paths we saw...weren't there four of them? Since there are four of us...doesn't that mean that there is a path for each of us? What if we're making a mistake?"

##In light of new developments, the deadline has been extended to the 11th.