Of all of the Champions, the last one to cross the finish line was also the one who took the longest to recover from their wounds; and perhaps, they had become so used to sleeping and waking for a long day only to sleep again, that this seemed normal. Their chrysalis a single, solitary eye at the entrance to Hydra that stood watch like a sentinel, remained stagnant among the shattered, long hatched Champions.

And it would not be until something came tapping at the surface that the Agate would stir, a restless rumble shivering up the smooth, hard stone. There was a sharp crack as they pecked a hole from their chrysalis, squirming around to try and peer through it with bright golden iris. Their wings felt particularly cramped from inside of the shell, their spine aching like someone had shoved needles all the way up its length.

This wouldn't be the first or the last time that they awoke feeling like they had been experimented on. Still, the noise from something shuffling above them was enough to distract them from trying to determine what had happened to them. In fact, they noticed that this was not the usual ceremony; where was the call to action, the rising of champions for another round of Hydra-based fun? Agate-- no, Gatto-- squinted out at the empty tunnel.

... Had... They been forgotten? "Hey!" They squawked suddenly, "What's going on?" Straining to stretch their wings, they found that their chrysalis was thick this go round, as though they were preparing to be there for another millennia of cycles. That, or maybe they hadn't been done regaining their strength. Either way, they had been awoken well before they were ready to be awoken, by something being particularly rude and using their stone as a perch.

"Get off'a me, squatter!"

@GARNET FIVE-SEVEN-NINE

So, the story.

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine was making its rounds to each of the champions that had run in this past trial - to check up on their status, possibly direct them to the Overseer, and explore the caves with a bit more purpose than aimlessly wandering looking for the icy dragon once again. There would be an overlap in its and Asimona's wanderings, somewhere, but the trick was finding it.

So, it was coming to the closest thing to home, visiting old... acquaintances. Perhaps, now that danger didn't lurk around every corner and it was steadily gaining the confidence needed to survive in this quiet age, it could begin to make friends out of its fellow champions. A number of them resided in their chrysalises, lining the walls en masse; awaiting reawakening for the next Trial. One had laid undisturbed among a mass of broken shards. It was a decently-sized agate, though Garnet could hardly remember which one. Eight-Seven-Two? No, no, that one had perished in the Dead Marsh, hadn't it? The one that had run in the Merchant's Trial was a little earlier in the series of designations.

So, (and this is the last "so") the champion was squatting atop Two-Three-Six's chrysalis, preening and trying to think of which agate lay beneath it.

Then, the chrysalis began to make a whole lot of ruckus, squawking fiercely. Familiarity sparked in Garnet's eyes, even as it puffed up and fled from the top of the eye-like stone. I'd know that grating noise anywhere, it thought as it composed itself to chirp, "Two-Three-Six, is that you?" Last to cross the line and last to awaken. It was a little funny.

Clearing its throat, it called again with another question, "are you in need of any help?"

@Agate Two-Three-Six

Hmmm. They knew that voice. Tiny and squeaky. They could just about remember the tiny speck of red and green in the distance from the last time they had seen Garnet Five-Seven-Nine, miles ahead of them.

The cockatrice was only a little annoyed that their last race had ended up so one sided. Then again, they had determined new priorities... Which involved... The loudmouth couldn't quite remember, still a bit foggy headed from their sound slumber.

Gatto felt like they were trying to talk with rocks in their beak, jammed up against the wall of their chrysalis. "Bah! Help? Why would I need help?" They chirped, trying and failing to ruffle their feathers in the tightly enclosed space. They strained against the stone, and let out a huff, trying to reach their beak about to get it prodded through the hole where they could start chewing their way out, but something was shoved up against their cheek and making it hard to reposition their face.

"I heard something annoying prancing about on top of my head," they squawked, "and I was enjoying that nap, for once! What, is there something going on that I should get out for?" They tried to play it cool, despite the fact their aching, sore muscles clearly hadn't entirely recovered from the last go round. "It had better be something good. You know, I don't waste my time for just anything!" They feigned a yawn, and waited to hear what their fellow champion had to say.

@GARNET FIVE-SEVEN-NINE

Agate Two-Three-Six: as proud and full of themselves as ever. If they weren't presently trapped in an inch of stone, Garnet imagined it'd have to dodge a whip-like tail a thousand times over in one sentence. Thank goodness for their being stuck, hm? There was a shuffling in the chrysalis, and the champion could only barely stifle a rather mean-spirited snicker. "It seems you're having difficulties, Two-Three-Six," it chirped, chancing a quick scoot towards the chrysalis. "Here -" and it pecked at the top of the stone, perhaps chipping at it, perhaps not. Time and luck would tell.

Hard no.

"Nevermind, that -" it performed the run part of its peck-and-run maneuver, settling itself neatly back on a rock.

"That's the thing - there's nothing. Everyone who survived the Merchant's trial has reemerged. It's only been a few cycles and the caves are quiet," Garnet spoke matter-of-factly, flicking its ears and drawing a line across the rock with a claw. And here was the hook this agate was sure to take, if it remembered them well enough, "it seems like the world is ours to explore until the next trial. Overseer Vargas has taken me as his Eye, so I have duties to attend to, but - we're all free to see what lies in the caves. It's quiet."

A pause. "I've been going around, trying to find the others - and the younger ones I woke up with."

@Agate Two-Three-Six

"THE BASTARD TOOK YOUR EYE?!" Agate squawked, aghast at what they thought they were hearing. Was this some game? Were the Masters toying with them, pretending to give them freedom? Cycles-- their fellow Champions had been out for cycles?! It was too much. They had to get out, and make things right. Their companions were counting on them. Mayngo, Asimona, Ru, Opal-- all of them.

With a great groan, and a noisy squawk, the cockatrice strained against their confinements. The eye agate stone cracked, and then split, bursting like a stoney eyesack. Agate's magnificent feathered wings spread with a flutter, dangerous hooks at the end of them, and they stretched their awkward jaw with a cock-a-doodle-doo. "ABOUT damn time! I mean, obviously, I was just waiting for the right time-- couldn't have me bursting out with you sitting on top of my shell, why. You could have gotten hurt, Garnet!" Their croaking felt weird, though, as they flexed their beak. Their whole face felt...strange. Squinting, they lowered their head and raised a spurred foot to scratch at their jaw, only to find they had a new attachment of sorts. "What the-- Garnet? Did they do something to me? No wonder I'm all out of sorts-- cripes, I hate when they mess with everything."

Gatto couldn't see it, but they had brand new sandwyrm mandibles to go with their razor sharp beak. They could feel the feathers (or rather, spines, not that they knew that yet) bristle along their spine, rising up in a flutter. "Do you have a name yet, anyway? And hey-- you have both your eyes, you damn liar."

"No, Agate, he didn't -" the garnet chirped, cutting itself off with a rather loud squeal. It's wings flared out, flapping once in a powerful leap perfectly in time with Agate's trademark noisemaking. The cockatrice stretched their wings out, their jaw, tail lashing. Ruby-red eyes watched the proceedings with a rapt interest, but not at the dramatics and flair.

No, it was trying to figure out what on earth was going on with that beak. Serrated, split jaws like a sand worm's and spines all the way down the back. Whatever it was, it was horrific - and unwieldy seeming. It was a wonder the agate could speak properly at all. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine grimaced, ignoring whatever the chicken had said about its safety atop its stone. It was preoccupied. Of all the mutations - that. "You've a fair few more teeth, Agate," it chirped, eyes squinting, "it must have been the Merchant's magic's effect on you. All of us - save a few - have awakened with mutations."

Ugh, that beak was terrible to look at. It didn't help that they were several feet taller and much more suited to predatory behavior than friendly airs such as these. Averting its gaze, Garnet murmured, "no. I've yet to come up with one. I'm open to suggestions." Then, blinking one eye at a time, "I do. I am the Overseer's scout and spy." It didn't like the spying part quite as much.

@Agate Two-Three-Six

Agate-- no, Gatto's beak clamped shut as they stared at Garnet's explanation. Slowly, they flexed their mandibles, clicking the extra set of jaws against the sides of their regular, perfectly normal beak. Oh, that was... Weird. Freakishly weird. Then again, most of the Champions went through similar things? Even Garnet seemed more sleek now, with less shell and feathers and more streamlined leathery skin.

"As always," Gatto squawked, "so quick to award us with more experiments. You'd think we were pretty rocks the Masters believed they could carve into whatever shape they like!" But they did not want to complain too much, what with how Garnet kept mentioning it was the eye of the Overseer. Eugh. Vargas creeped them out."... Anyway, you have to find a name for yourself! I can't just suggest something." Okay, they absolutely could, but they were getting the feeling that Garnet didn't really vibe with them on the whole independence and freedom train.

The cockatrice tilted their head, and folded their wings neatly as they crouched down on to the ground, settling down so they were more at eye level with their fellow Champion. "... sooo, I was expecting to be thrown into another Trial. It's... Strange. Do you know why they've changed their minds? They're still planning on doing more trials, right? Surely we're not free to go-- they wouldn't let us do whatever without a..." Rebellion. They hesitated from saying the word, but it didn't sound like a great argument had taken place without them. It seemed like they had been released, given a taste of freedom, like for some strange reason the Masters were taking pity on them.

Bah! They didn't want pity or mercy! They wanted to change the game, but how were they supposed to change the game if the game was... post-poned?

@GARNET FIVE-SEVEN-NINE

(wrote an entire post and accidentally closed the tab it was in so shit post inbound)

Garnet did not like that beak, and said as much indirectly, "this was part of the Merchant's rewards for the younger Gembound. It seems you got something sand worm-inspired." What use would it even serve other than looking terrible? Intimidation, maybe. It grimaced, regardless.

"I can't seem to figure out how names are made. They're all -" it chirruped, as if grasping for a word, "so inconsistent. I've heard a number of them that are completely different from one another - Kera, Palefur, Kazgut..." But, that was all there was on the topic. Garnet didn't expect Agate to have any idea of how name-making worked.

"Overseer Vargas, at least, plans to bring back trials - or at least make them common again. A lot has changed since our last proper run," the odd creature flicked its ears back, "as long as we continue to serve, we are allowed to wander as we please. These youngers, though - they don't understand what's to come, now that we are awakened again. The other champions, they are still asleep; yet, they might wake up soon, into what seems like a whole new world. Desert and I are... aiming to check on each of them. Note their status. Perhaps - collect them, so that we may be together against these times."

That was a good enough sales pitch. Just a group of champions and survivors, for when the reckoning came.

@Agate Two-Three-Six

"Don't be silly, Five-Seven-Nine," Gatto crooned, "you're looking for consistency between spire spiders and eyehook vultures! Different creatures will naturally come up with different names. It would be strange if there was consistency between little preys and massive predators, you know." Ah.. Maybe the wording was a bit unfortunate, given how nervous the hare-hybrid seemed to be. It wasn't the Agate's fault they were made of spikes, and talons, and sharp ends all around. The Masters had manipulated them into this form.

... That all said, Gatto felt their feathers fluff up at the information Garnet was giving them. More trials, more death. The way it spoke implied that the last run wasn't a proper run at all, which was insulting given how poorly they had done-- but success was a success, no matter how terrible it looked. The only thing that kept them from saying something they would regret (especially to the face of a spy) was the very last thing Garnet said.

Together against these times.

It was such a small thing. Perhaps Garnet was not as loyal as they pretended to be to Overseer Vargas. "We will need each other," the cockatrice spoke smoothly, reaching down to preen some of their feathers back into place-- with mixed results, their mandibles got in the way of proper sorting of their feathers. "... You've got my interest, Garnet. Now, if I had my way, I'd give our Masters a piece of my mind, but though we may be Champions, they are cheats." They squinted their eyes at their fellow Champion.

"So we must be clever. The Masters believe they make the rules, but you saw, didn't you? When was the last time you remember so few dying in a trial?" They prodded, "together we are stronger. Together... We can make our own rules." They weren't terribly afraid of being found out; after all, Agate would still race and run and play all those dangerous games if forced to, and that was what the Masters wanted. They didn't care if their Champions starved and suffered, only that they fought and put on a good show.

@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine

Oh, now the mother hen was preaching to it. Garnet flicked its ears back, narrowing its eyes. "Designations are a bit more consistent than names, Two-Three-Six," it stated, then dropped the subject. Champions and Overseers weren't very good for workshopping names. Noted.

Here was the kicker; the Garnet had just casually unearthed a heretic without even meaning to. Agate was someone willing to even consider going against the Masters and be so blatant to someone who had just introduced themselves as one of the Overseer's spies. It was a wonder the cockatrice had survived so long in the trials, being so trusting and - prodding annoyingly at the foundations of its own beliefs. This trial hadn't been proper at all, what with the alliances that endured the entire day and a half. Garnet stared for a moment as it thought. The damn creature had emerged last from Hydra, behind that idiotic dragon and the Quartz.

Ugh, the dragon. It made so much more sense now. The diamond had placed false ideas into Agate's mind - and possibly Quartz Two-something's as well.

Overseer Vargas would not be pleased.

"That's not what I meant - but, you are a fool. We cannot go against the Masters. Our best chance for survival is to," it inhaled sharply, "go along with their wishes. Together, as one, we'll outlast these rebellious young. Servitude comes with its benefits, Agate - Overseer Vargas has allowed me a name, to wander around the caves, to avoid future trials, to choose a home. Could you do that, fighting tooth and nail for an impossible cause?"

Ah, that was a little harsh.

@Agate Two-Three-Six