Rewrite: Round 2

“Hello kids! Today we will be learning the difference between hot and cold!”

Before Delta could even figure out where the voice was coming from when he and Zelpha had arrived in the colorful, crude new stage, the speaker found him, grabbing his arm. He only didn't fire because the little creature had been near Zelpha, and by the time he realized it was not her the creature wasn't attacking and he was thinking it may have a clue as to where they were. The creature was humanoid, probably female from the looks of it, and Zelpha thought it was cute though she kept her guard up. The creature smiled and pointed at Delta's arm. “This robot shoots fire! Fire is hot! Can you say hot?”

Delta pulled his arm away, aggravated, keeping it locked on the creature until he and Zelpha were a safe distance away. Of course, it didn't help much, it turned out. The little creatures were everywhere it seemed, singing silly little songs and counting on their fingers.

“Uh,” Zelpha said, able to tell Delta was already getting annoyed with the music, though she secretly thought the tunes were kinda cute too, “at least we're able to talk now?”

“I should have fired as soon as that thing grabbed me,” Delta commented. “It could have been a trap, or even our opponent.”

Zelpha sighed at being ignored. Delta still wanted to go it alone, despite the last round. “There seems to be a lot for opponents, unless the Writer put us in the opponent's world. But then why would it fight us? That doesn't seem to make sense. I bet whoever we're pitted up against will stick out like a sore-”

“And now the ball has vanished from under the cup! Where did it go? Does anybody know?”

There was laughed with the voice. Zelpha turned to it. “...thumb. Like that.” In Zelpha's line of sight was a living skeleton, preforming magic tricks for some of the tiny creatures that inhabited the world. He seemed pretty nice, actually. Another one who didn't want to be in this tournament, though he seemed fine being in this stage. He put a cup back on the table upside down. He pulled it up again and there was a red foam ball.

“There it is, children!” More applause. He was pretty good. He started to work on pulling a rabit out of a top hat next.

Delta immediately aimed his flamethrower where Zelpha was looking, which startled her. Last round, he hadn't wanted to fight anymore than she had. He was getting more aggressive...

Man, contestants who don't wish to battle are so boring. Julian over there can't be made a tad feisty without making the audience upset at the characterization. I think a little tweaking can be gotten away with here with Delta, though.

Zelpha gasped. If Delta had also heard that, it didn't show on her focused expression. “Delta, hold up a-”

Pardon me, Mr. Julien Bones, but I'd like to borrow your magic kit for a moment.

Though Delta still didn't hear it, this time it seemed the Skeleton also heard. Before either could respond though, the large box that was with the magic supplies seemed to gain a life of its own, opening up and poofing to Zelpha, closing her inside before she could get a yelp or Delta could stop it.

“Zelpha!” Delta cried. He bolted over to the box and opened the door.

Nothing.

Of course, a little bit of emotional plot never hurt with a character change either, now did it? Between that and writer meddling, this one's gonna be moved out of the preschool block for sure. Oh dear, all those angry mothers...

Delta was attacking Julien moments later. The Skeleton simply did his best to dodge and try to explain. “Wait! Didn't you hear the voice? I didn't-”

Fire wasn't working even when it hit, but a punch landed at the shoulder, which abruptly came off. Despite being freaked out, the skeleton was fine, not that Delta cared right now. Julien blocked the next punch with his other arm, but found it knocked off by the impact. Soon the skeleton found himself sprawled on the floor in different areas, terrified.

Oh Mr. Bones, that's terrible! But don't worry. Audiences hate it when a character is just kinda left there stuck but not dead. You won't be lying there forever, 'kay? Just wait till the round changes.

Of course, we have a little more to do first.

The next voice could be heard by all.

Attention, all of you! Little cute creatures, you will no longer be teaching ABCs! This program has decided to move up a little with its viewers and start targeting between the ages of four and eight, so it is time for an adventure! This week, a fairy tale! The armored hero must save the princess! A tad cliché? No! This plot is what we call “classic!”

The little creatures cheered. Delta was not so enthused. The scenery started to change, colors becoming a bit more focused and creatures moving into middle age attire. Indeed, this plot was a classic. Despite his rage, Delta was still sharp, and he started looking along the skyline for a castle. He spotted a large pink one and ran in that direction.

The Writer was back to selective communication, Only Delta hearing his communications now.

Delta, you're so quiet! No heroic speech? No angst?

“Shut up.”

My, look who woke up on the wrong side of the charge cord. Oh wait, that's right. Soul powered. You don't sleep either, do you? Oh, this is wonderful! The hero won't even sleep until his friend is safe! Parents love all that “friendship is powerful” junk. It goes over great in Japan, too! I wonder if we could syndicate this.

“Shut up!”

Delta screeched to a stop, opening the hatch in his right arm and shooting fire up into the sky continuously.

You can't break the fourth wall with fire, silly. You'll just waste time and energy. There's only a certain amount of aggression moms will put up with. You have to find the perfect balance to keep them happy and their kids awake.

Delta actually listened to this and quickly desisted, going back to running. Soon enough, he was at the castle. He blasted the doors down with his flamethrower, quickly looking around the base floor. Nothing but spiral stairs upward.

Come now Delta. You were smart enough to look for a castle. Tell me you weren't expecting the princess to be waiting at the bottom.

He shot up the stairs to a giant door at the top, covered in locks. He quickly began punching them out, or melting them, or whatever else worked. The door ended up burning down before all the locks were broken, and as expected Zelpha was on the other side, surrounded by more of the little creatures from earlier.

“Delta!”

Delta was on the creatures in moments, attacking mercilessly.

Zelpha stepped back into the wall. It was worse than before. Far worse.

Well, I guess at this point I've changed the character quite a bit, but hey, characters have gotten derailed multiple times and found new fans! Sometimes people like them more once they're changed! Like... like... who are those two from that show that wear an R on their clothing all the time and have the talking cat thing? Yes, much better now. Likewise, it seems I've improved on Delta here.

Zelpha's eyes widened.”Del...”

She loosened from the wall, and a moment later ran from it.

“Delta!”

She quickly grabbed Delta from behind, holding him close to her and he kept shooting fire at the little creatures in the room. “Delta, knock it off! I'm okay! They're prisoners too! Only mirages of this world The Writer made, mindless but you didn't know! This isn't like you! Delta, can you hear me?!”

She got thrown off. She only grabbed him again. “Delta! Come on! It's me!”

She got thrown again, harder, skidding across the stone floor. When she looked up ready to try again, she was the most scared she'd been in her life.

Delta had turned on her, arm hatch open, pointing the barrel at her.

She tried again anyway.

“Delta!” She had nothing more she could think of to say. She simply kept repeating that and loudly as she could, pain starting to enter her throat. “Delta! Delta! Delta!” She got another idea and practically screamed it.

“Well, if you're gonna act like this, how am I supposed to get home?!”

It finally stopped. Zelpha blinked, backed off slightly but still keeping a hand on his right shoulder. His eyes were a bit dim from exhaustion. “Miss... Miss Zelpha... Are you...”

“I'm okay,” Zelpha replied, a smile quickly overtaking her. “You?”

“I'm sorry...So sorry...”

“It's not your fault. But this does prove my point.”

“...What?”

“We have to work together if we're gonna get out of here and back home.”

Delta didn't reply, but he seemed to be thinking on it. If he was planning to comment, he went into sleep mode before he could. Zelpha caught him and made sure that was all it was before sighing in relief. Afterwards, she glared at the sky.

See? Sacrifice for friendship! And no blood! Mom's are gonna love this!

She simply glared harder, but all she could do was wait for the next stage to begin.