[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 5 Tora[/b] - (8/50) EXP and [b]Level 4 Poppi[/b] - (7/40) EXP 
[b]Location:[/b] Forest Ravine, the Land of Adventure
[b]Word Count:[/b] 734[/center]

Powered by Poppi's energy, Tora's drill tore through the earth and stone, ripping heaps of it from the ravine walls. After trying with astonishingly little success to excavate without her Blade energy, and realizing the incredible tedium that would be, Tora was having fun now. A bit too much fun, in fact; Poppi watched with an annoyed expression as the bit veered through some exposed iron ore, cutting a groove into it. “Masterpon, please stop playing and focus on not damaging ore.”

“Tora know, meh.” Sighing, the Nopon reigned himself in and focused his energy on extracting the iron from the cave wall. With the current dig site only a dozen feet below the ravine's top, the plentiful sunlight -even through the trees of the forest that surrounded the ravine- made it pretty easy to see what he was doing when he wasn't in his own shadow. After a few moments, the energized bit lopped off a load-bearing prong of rock to send the ore chunk tumbling to the ground. Poppi lurched to get it, expecting Tora to fall off the nearby edge in his attempt to save the material from falling to the canyon bottom, but he scooped it right up in his wing. “Nice! Meh meh, three down. Still, even with Poppi power, job is tedious, meh.” He offered it to Poppi, who held open her burlap sack for her partner to dump it inside.

Tora turned around to find a pillar-shaped green [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/minecraft/images/4/48/150px-Creeper.png/revision/latest?cb=20140101094930]creature[/url] staring him in the face, dead silent. “Muh!?” It didn't move, its empty black features fixated on the Nopon before it. Composing himself, Tora gave a weak wave with his free wing. “Uh, hello...?”

In reply, the creature began to hiss, swelling up. Tora held up his shield, drill extended, just in time before the creature exploded. The force sent him flying out over the edge, eliciting a cry from Poppi as she dropped her sack. “Masterpon!” She snatched at his wing, but her metal fingers closed just short, and Tora sailed -screaming- into the void. A second later he smacked against the ravine's opposite wall, sticking there for a moment before he started to slide down. Poppi grit her teeth, mind racing, and grabbed a rock. Energy flooded her systems, charging it with the power of earth, and with explosive power she hurled the stone at the wall below her master. The impact blew apart the rock, creating a crater, and as he fell past it Tora reached out with his wing to latch on. When the dust cleared, Poppi spotted him hanging there, breathing heavily.

After a moment, he grunted from the exertion, then called out, “Am okay! But grip not going to last, meh.” Nodding, Poppi launched from the canyon wall she stood atop, carefully maneuvering in the cramped space to get close without a collision. Once near enough, she simply grabbed Tora and carried him back. After setting down his drill on the solid ground, Tora wiped at his brow and gave Poppi a solid pat on the back. “Whew! Great thinking, Poppi. Not know what would do without.”

Poppi smiled, closing her eyes. “Poppi not know what Tora would do without, either.”

Ignoring the snark, her companion pointed at the wall. “Look! Boomy thing destroy rock like was paper.” He stepped forward and peered at the remains. Instead of normal debris and dust, the blast left behind perfect cubes of stone, and a few of ore. “Ooh. Boomypon blast excavate ore very easily!” Excited, he scooped up the ores and turned to Poppi. “Tora know exactly what should do!”

Brows furrowed in disbelief, Poppi ventured a guess. “...Masterpon want to get blown up more to make digging easier?”

Tora flapped his wings in anticipation. “Meh meh meh! Poppi right on money. Find enough boomies and we get back in time for lunch with motherlode of metal!” The shake of Poppi's head prompted him to wave a stubby hand dismissively. “Meh! Poppi know we can take it, no problem. Is great idea!”

Discreetly, Poppi peered over the edge of the ravine cliff. At the very bottom, red-hot lava churned and sputtered. She then glanced back at Tora, her dubiousness more than apparent. The Nopon had, however, resumed his descent, the promise of untold riches obliterating what little common sense he possessed. With a breathless, theatrical sigh, Poppi transformed into QT mode and followed him.

[center][h3]Forest Temple[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] the Land of Adventure
[@Dawnrider][/center]

“Thank youuuuuuuu!” Sang the orange spirits as Hat Kid flung the troll painting into their flames, shortly before combusting themselves. The demise of the orange fire marked Hat Kid's trial one-fourth complete, and with all haste the left the central chamber and its frolicking fire foxes behind in favor of the one indicated by the blue brazier. At the end of the hallway, empty except moss, mushrooms, and the odd crab, she found a dark curtain she could push through in order to entire. Inside, an incredible sight filled her eyes.

On the chamber's domed walls and ceiling lay the image of the cosmos. Planets, meteors, and countless stars dotted its curved surface, glimmering in the dark. From the central point shone a single, larger light, meant to emulate the sun. It was a far cry from the dingy cavern of the first puzzle. The child knew space well, of course, so what lay beneath held more intrigue. The entire floor appeared to be a perfectly flat plane of glass, and beneath it lay a world in miniature. Rolling waves, islands, active volcanoes, and more formed an area that would have stretched miles were it real size. In the very center of the room a mountain rose from the see above the glass floor, and on it rested a tablet.

[i]The villagers await you: the Breath. Answer their summons by placing your hand over their [url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j6_CGjoWvsY/maxresdefault.jpg]ritual[/url], and bring their god to life. You must guide them to the [url=https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/mig/8/5/2/7/2108527-gsm_169_from_dust_video_review_x360_072511_1_320.jpg]passageway[/url], but it is a long way away, and will open only once the totems have been reclaimed and the earth blanketed with green. Shape the land, give commands, and beware the coming disasters.[/i]

At the foot of the mountain, on a large bank of vegetated sand, lay a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fromdust/images/5/51/FROM-DUST_S_007_Village.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110827114159]village[/url], its people not an inch high. Nearby, a group of them surrounded a floating black orb with lanterns and horns, inundating it with prayer and song. Not far off, the sea turned restlessly, trapping the people on their island home. To the south, across the shallows, a desert island lay with a pool of water at its center, a long white totem within. In the map's northwestern corner, on the other side of a volcano island, stood the vital passageway on a tall, lonely isle.

[hr]

The green brazier lit the passageway into a third chamber, small and square in layout with a grassy floor and walls of impenetrable hedge. The ceiling extended upward so high that it might as well have contained the sky, but other than that the room sported just one anomaly: the five black monoliths arranged in a semicircle near the room's middle. On the ground in the semicircle's center was a giant, five-petaled blue flower, upon the center of which words were scrawled in chalk that moved ever so slightly in an impossible jitter.

[i]Puzzle is five. Five is win is you is winner.”[/i]

A few seconds after arrival, drawings began to appear on the first monolith, in the same living chalk. First, there appeared a flower, which broke apart to reveal the word 'BABA' in red. Immediately after, a  white [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/984560770301288451/zQVDzlEt.jpg]rabbity thing[/url] appeared on the monolith. Next, the word 'WALL' with an accompanying stone wall drawing extending in horizontally both above and below BABA. 'ROCK' appeared from another flower, and three rocks materialized in a vertical row to block BABA's path. 'FLAG' heralded the arrival of a glittering gold flag on the opposite side of the rocks from BABA. More words came after all together, creating 'WALL IS STOP', 'ROCK IS PUSH', and 'FLAG IS WIN'. Lastly, a big red flower appeared near BABA, and when it came apart the words 'IS YOU' were left behind. After that was nothing, leaving the visitors to make the first move.

[center][h3]Ryu[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Lumbridge, the Land of Adventure
[@Stekkmen][/center]

While his potential challenger's look didn't bother Ryu, the subject of a fight to the death constituted a cause for great concern. The fighter crossed his arms and, with a worried look, explained, “I do not know where you hail from, stranger, where that would even be a question, but this is not a fight to the death.” Raising a fist, he clenched it. “There is nothing like a fair fight. It improves both competitors.” After moving down the hill to the flat ground, Ryu held his fist out for Agoston to bump. “Let's begin.”

When the Centurion accepted, Ryu stepped back into a ready stance, his well-trained muscles filling with power. Immediately he jumped, vaulting over Agoston's head and twisting about midair to fall with an extended kick on his opposite side. After landing, Ryu transitioned near-instantly into a one-two punch. For a moment it looked as though an opening had appeared, but with incalculable expertise the wandering warrior rerouted all of his momentum into an uppercut, rising from a crouch. “Shoryuken!” His fist blazed with flame as he launched upward, impervious to attack but vulnerable after as he came back down to earth.