Vale Arena - The first soloer. [Closed]

Character participating in this solo event, consisting of three legs of mental struggle and combat readiness:

Emerald

Emerald finally spots the so called Vale Arena after a relatively short trip, though "Arena" was a bit of a misnomer, based on the appearance of the place. It was a massive oval-shaped building, to be sure, but it was empty on the inside. At a glance, or even finer inspection, you would be rather unsure how you would be challenged here at all. After staring for a few seconds, a voice comes over the intercom of the ship. "Attention passengers. We will be arriving at the landing platform momentarily. When you step off the airship, please wait a few moments for the Arena representative to greet you and direct you to the starting point. Be careful, and please enjoy your stay here at the Vale Arena."  

True to the word of the voice on the intercom, you touchdown on the platform only seconds after the message had ended.

Emerald stands up once the ship lands. He walks out of it thinking, Too bad my team couldn't join. Serves them right, they've barely talked since the day we met them. Doesn't mean we can't still be a team with them. Yeah, that won't happen. They're a mismatched crew, including us. Changing the subject! We need to be ready for whatever comes our way. Right. Gotcha. Whatever!
Emerald steps onto the landing platform and looks around for the representative that was supposed to be there.

As advertised, only mere moments after Emerald left the airship, a very energetic, young looking woman comes sprinting towards him, bouncing slightly in place even as she stops in front of him. Running her eyes over the boy's body, she's slightly disappointed that it's just the one person... but keeps up appearances just fine. "Hihi! So just you this time? Bummer! These events are always more fun the more of you there are! Unless of course you're hiding something from us, but that would be no fun would it! Anyway, if you'd follow me... I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about the event coming up, at least as long as they aren't about the challenges themselves!" With that, she begins trotting towards the door she came from, not bothering to turn her head to see if the boy was following.

Emerald smiled when the woman ran up to him. His smile faltered when her words suggested that she was upset with him coming to the Arena alone. More of us, boy is she going to be surprised. She's a bit hyper don't you think? Why do you say that? Because she's almost already out of earshot! Get moving! Shit! Emerald runs to catch up to the woman. What questions would I want answered that can't be about the challenges. I'm sure you'll think up something.

After a moment or two, Emerald found his question and asked the woman, "Would it be a problem if I was hiding something from you?" Hope not, or else you'll have to tell her about us. That'll be an awkward conversation. Indeed.

Shrugging slightly as she walks, she turns around, still jogging, and stares at the boy for a moment. "Not really, since I already decided the challenges for this attempt! I mean, I could change them... but I don't like last minute changes! Maybe if you come back, you should let me know ahead of time, so I can make the challenges more suited for you! Any other questions? We're coming up on the lounge, where you'll have about 30 minutes to yourself before everything is ready to go!"

She continues jogging backwards, seemingly unaware or uncaring of a risk to the activity, waiting for his answers.

"You must really know the layout of this place if you don't care about anything that you might run into," Emerald commented about her jogging backwards as he walked in strides to keep up. His only question being, "One more, what is your name?" Do you really need to know that? No he doesn't, but it's polite. Also keeps them from walking in silence. What they said.

"Of course I do! I designed and paid for the place myself... if I didn't know the layout, that would be pretty dumb, right?" Is her quick response, though she twitches her ears slightly as his mention of names. "Oh right! Where are my manners? My name is Kaylee, and I'll be the announcer for this event... and all the others, but anyway. I coordinate and announce the events, and pay other people to make them! And what is your name?"

Shouldn't she already know your name since she coordinated this. Doubt it matters, it could be rude if you say that. Just answer her question. You guys are impatience.

Emerald answered with, "Emerald Ubiquitous, it's nice to meet you Kaylee." Why do I feel like you'll change your mind when this thing starts? Because you have a bad feeling about everything. I'm caution. What do you expect? Nothing else, I guess.

Shrugging at his politeness, Kaylee turns around as they reach a doorway and deftly opens the door, holding open for Emerald. "Right, so here's the lounge, feel free to eat or drink anything provided, and there's a call button on the wall if you need something immediately! I do have one more question, though! Would you prefer a puzzle or a combat challenge first?"

Which should we do guys? Puzzle. Combat. FOOD! Obviously distracted by the available food that he was allowed to eat, Lapis ignored Emeralds question. You're no help, directs to Lapis. Emerald debates some more and finally says, "Puzzle would do."

Bouncing in place as she smiles at his answer, Kaylee lets him in the room. "Right! Well, enjoy yourself... either myself or one of my staff will be by to take you to the Arena when everything is ready for you."

Emerald replies to Kaylee with, "Alright, thank you." Food! Yeah, I'll eat the food, but not too much, I don't want a stomach ache while doing these challenges. Food! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Emerald walks in to the room and starts eating some of the food. He had only a small breakfast that morning and it felt like hours ago. I still think you should've chosen combat.

((Time skip))

Emerald had stopped eating after a small amount of time. Now he was double checking and triple checking his amount of shurikens in Răbdare. "They should be here soon," he muttered to himself. I'm getting bored! Quit whining, it isn't that bad. Ahhh, that was good food. See, he's content. Can you all be quiet? Finally the voices stopped for now.

A solid forty minutes after leaving the room, Kaylee is on her way back, a bounce in her step as usual. She had finally finished setting everything up for this challenge, and she really hoped it all went well. Knocking on the door to alert him to her arrival, she lets herself in. "Right! So the first challenge is ready for you, not quite a puzzle like you asked but it is a mental challenge all the same! So if you'd please follow me, I'll take you to the area now!"

Without checking to see if he's following, she starts heading down a nearby hallway.

Emerald replaces the shurikens into Răbdare and shuts the opening. He gets up and quickly catches up to her, following her down the hall. I wonder what she means by mental challenge. I guess we'll find out. I don't want to wait, it'd be nicer to know what we are getting ourselves into. I'm still upset you didn't choose combat. We'll get to it. Be patient.

Slowing her movement as she reaches the goal door, Kaylee yet again begins bouncing in place. "Right. So behind this door is a room. Solid white, really boring stuff. Once I close the door behind you, you will have no visible way out. Before or after you enter, you'll be allowed to ask me three questions. They can not be anything similar to 'how do I get out of the room?' kind of questions. Good luck!"

Emerald nods and tries to think of any questions he could ask before he enters, You guys got anything? Not really. Can you have more food? Can you just do the combat part? You two are useless. It'd be useless to ask if I could bust my way out of the room, that wouldn't be a mental challenge. Emerald shrugs his shoulders and says, "I have no questions just yet, go ahead and open the door, please."

Grinning as the boy decides to go in without knowing anything, Kaylee opens the door and pushes him inside. Before shutting the door, she pulls a headset out from a pocket on her coat, fitting it over her head. "Remember, three questions! There's a microphone and speaker setup inside that feeds directly to my headset, so I'll be able to respond right away! I'm not very strict on the question thing, so if I hear you mumbling questions to yourself I'll probably let you off easy! Now, good luck!"

With her piece said, she pushes the door shut, locking it on her side.

True to Kaylee's word, the room inside is extremely bare. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all white, and there are no noticeable blemishes along the walls, even where the door should be. He was quite literally stuck, unless he found the way out.

"Oh! One more thing I may have already mentioned! Failure here means you go back home, no rewards or anything... so be careful! And remember my restriction on the questions!"

Emerald looks around the bland room. This is a bit interesting. Trapped in a room! Why couldn't we be trapped in a room with Grimm to kill! Please be quiet we're trying to think. Emerald walks around the room making sure that there was no trick of the eye when stepping in.

((OOC: Kind of a bad post. I could of wrote something longer, but I feel like if I put too many observations or actions in one post it could have the correct way to do the puzzle at the beginning and I would have wrote a lot more than I should have. Should this just be a check of each way I observe the room each post, or should I just compile everything into one post?))

((OOC: The solutions will always be through direct dialogue to Kaylee, so it doesn't matter all that much. If you had solved it in your post it would have been fine, but largely doesn't matter))

Grinning as she heads away from the room, Kaylee jogs to her command center and turns on the monitor feed for the room Emerald is in. Flipping on the mic, she tests the connection by singing a reminder over to Emerald. "Rememberrrrrrr only threeeee questions, and they can't be anything similar to 'how do I get out of the room'."

Emerald, now having made sure there was no places that are triggered when stepped on, starts moving his hands along the walls searching for a switch or a button. He even checks the creases at the bottom of the wall making sure there aren't any openings. She did say that it wasn't much like a puzzle. Which might mean there aren't any switches or buttons to be pressed. Do you guys have any better solutions? How about you ask to be let out? Almandine says sarcastically, still upset over not getting the combat challenge. That sounds like it would waste one of my three questions, I'd rather ask if there were any switches in here. Actually, even though he was being sarcastic, she did only say you couldn't ask how to get out of the room. Nothing about asking to be let out of the room. Wait, are you saying I was right? Sweet! Fine, I'll ask, but it'll be your fault Almandine if she says no.

Emerald walks over to the speaker and asks Kaylee, "Will you let me out of this room?"

A crackle comes over the intercom before Kaylee's cheerful voice filters through. "Well, shoot. I wasn't expecting anyone to get it on the first question... but at least you picked up on it!" A moment after she finished, the door opened, and Kaylee was waiting in the hall. "Well done, I suppose, though now I am convinced you're hiding something... you figured that out way too quick. But that's okay! It shouldn't matter much for the next challenge! Which, is combat by the way. A fair bit of it."

Emerald stepped out of the room. Although he should look delighted that his first question got him through the first part of the Arena, his eyebrows were knit together, his head was down, and his mouth was scrunched up. The only way to understand this mood was if someone could hear inside his head.

Inside his head this was going on, I called it! I called it! I'm smarter than you! Shut up! You said it as a joke! But I still got it! He has a point, without him, we would have been stuck there looking for switches for hours. As much as I hate to agree with Almandine, we should thank him. Only a thanks! Give me something I can use! Thank you for your help Almandine. That is all you'll get. Damnit! NO! Emerald's grimace turns to a smile at the end of those thoughts.

He looks back up to Kaylee and asks, "So, combat challenge next? Sounds like fun."

Bouncing in place as usual, Kaylee grins. "Yeah! Combat! With a twist! So uhm... follow me again, and I'll take you to the next area, and you can find out what the dealio is!" With that, Kaylee starts bouncing down the hall, knowing Emerald would follow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later, they come across a circular room, with five additional doors spread out evenly along the walls. Each door is numbered, with the number one door being closest on the left, and number five being closest on the right. Kaylee stops, bouncing in place as usual, and turns to speak to Emerald. "Right! So as you see, five doors. So uhm... you just pick a door, open it, and on the other side will be the list of enemies you fight in the arena above... I can't spoil what the potential options are, though. So uhh... any questions?"

Emerald thinks for a moment and then asks, "Can you tell me which door you would like me to choose?"

Kaylee can't help but giggle at Emerald's question, pulling out one of the blades of Serenity as she does. Twirling the blade in her hand, she points it at each of the doors in turn, before sheathing it and turning back to Emerald. "The door I want you to pick is the one that pits you against me. But I can't tell you which number that is... so good luck."