The Sun was setting below the horizon. But the battle still reign. Despite several casualties, Gurtle was getting overpowered by oncoming SWC-ers. “C'mon, guys! We just need the final hit to get our beloved turtle back!” Marbles yelled. Every writer charged towards Balrog-Gurtle, hoping to end this once and for all.

However, things couldn't have been that easy, could it?

In a split of a second, Gurtle opened his mouth slowly like a normal turtle, but it spew out fire like a mythical dragon. “Everyone, take cover!” SWC-ers tried to find something to shield themselves from rocks. Those who were unfortunate somehow survived, because the fire was not lethal. In an instant, the whole land became dark, red and molten.
Gurtle had transformed the place into a world of hell.

“What the…”
“This place…”
“He's getting away! We must follow him!”

SWC-ers tried to race after Gurtle, who spread wings and started to fly his way off the battlefield, hoping for recovery. Suddenly, geysers of lava started to gush out from beneath the SWC-er's feet, nearly burning them up in the process. “We need to be careful. Who knows what Gurtle did to change this world.” Marbles said as everyone else agreed. They advanced against Gurtle, however it's hard to keep up with a fast flying dragon-turtle while being mindful of their safety at the same time. “We should use ranged weapons! We need archery!” Someone yelled from behind and everyone proceeded to load their bows with arrows. “If we managed to hit him, we can take him down from here!” Everyone pulled their bowstrings as someone counted,

“3… 2… 1! Fire!”

Arrows fly towards the sky like rain upon Gurtle. His wings were injured, which slowed his flight speed. Everyone cheered, but the fight isn't over yet. Suddenly, Gurtle started to morph. “What now?” Balrog wasn't done with his chaos yet. Gurtle slowly started to lose his shell and limbs, replacing with a snout with eerie red eyes. His limbs were replaced with fangs. “Gurtle… What have you become?” Gurtle had fully fused with Balrog. He is now an actual dragon.

352 words

play sound [coding is life] until done

Smoke wafted through the air and inside lungs as the fire consumed every bit of their dear SWC. The SWCers were silent as their world turned to ashes, incapable of talking or even moving. Things were like that for a long time.
Dear, dear gurtle… what have you become? Lucy thought, slowly recovering her senses. Smoke. People. And a giant turtle-dragon blowing fire that, Lucy was sure, was now deadly.
“We need to make something,” she said almost whispering and with a shaky voice. They needed to think and be strong, like when they were to fight the blank page or when they had no computer and wrote longhand. They could do this.
Well, she wasn't so sure. It wasn’t like a little turtle had turned into a giant, massive dragon before. She breathed in deeply to recover strength, but stopped midway because of the smoke. With a handker-chief she’d gotten from her back pocket, she spoke again.
“SWCers!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, “we’ve got to be strong! This giant turtle isn’t stronger than us! This giant turtle WON’T TAKE US DOWN. We are SWC, and we rule! To the mango power!”
Everyone slowly started moving, grabbing pens and frying pans and mangoes and, from above, the tyrants thought that this really was SWC. Their dear SWC wasn’t turning to ashes. In fact, they were catching fire.
Lucy started running towards the figure in the sky, but her trousers got caught in something and she fell to the hard, cold floor. Covered in dust, she tried to get up, but her knee hurt too much. She needed to be strong. She needed to get up.
Instead, she stamped her head onto some hard thing as the fire started surrounding her. The thing she got her foot in (some weird metal or something of the kind), started nailing into her leg. Her vision turned blurry.
Was this how she was going to end? Covered in ashes because of a broken ankle and a throbbing head? She decided she wouldn’t. Clenching her fists and gritting her fists so she wouldn’t scream, she got the nail from her clothes. Crawling, she started moving backwards.
And then, something hit her back. Trapped under the weight of the thing, she could barely move.
Everythings on fire! someone screamed as the dragon charged again, and she remembered an old lullaby. How did it go?
But she didn’t remember. The thoughts spinned in her head and her vision got blurry as she felt the heat of the fire approaching her. Words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. She felt kinda grateful that her last words would be motivation for her friends, still. Not some cry for help.
She closed her eyes as smoke and heat were everything she could feel.

—

“Open your eyes,” someone demanded, and she awakened to a bandaged foot and fire cut against the black sky.
“Where am I?” Lucy said in a moment of confusion, but then she remembered. The dragon. The fire. How she died. “Is this the… other side?”
The girl laughed nervously, “no, I got you from the fire.”
“What’s your name?” demanded Lucy.

5795/10000 (I think)

wait no no no- 6295/15000

ReadWriteSing wrote:

wait no no no- 6295/15000

Thought it was 6307, without counting Sun's.

“Herm from the Fantasy Cabin,” the girl gave a friendly, rather anxious, smile.
Lucy tried to move, but Herm shook her head, “Don't move. It'll increase the pain in your foot.”
“It already hurts.”
“I know, I know,” Herm said chewing on her lips, “but trust me and stay put. Don't try to run into the fire or do any more work. It's just another risk to your health. I already managed to bandage your foot, and half of our cabin is on duty as healthcare workers right now. We're shuffling positions every couple of hours.”
”Oh, okay, but I’m not feeling, that, hurt, I- I can still fight,” Lucy grunted, trying to get up from a cot Herm, she supposed, had laid her on. Herm sighed, “Please, just stay here, I have to check on something else right now. Balrog-Gurtle is especially dangerous, and we don’t want SWC to be in anymore trouble than it already is.”
Herm sprinted off, leaving Lucy in the care of the other people in the Fantasy Cabin. She had to defend the cabins. She had to defend SWC. She had to stop Balrog-Gurtle from taking charge of one of the most special activities to her and her fellow cabinmates. She had to end this war as much as she could.
Herm dashed through fallen debris, burning cabins, and broken signs and paths and links that once could have led her anywhere she could’ve imagined. Now with the wraith of Balrog-Gurtle looming over their heads, she knew there were few things she could do to stop his terror. Besides, maybe sacrifice a creative link. He seemed to enjoy consuming them, anyway. Maybe that would convince him to stop enough.
She ran faster than she had ever run. She hoped Balrog-Gurtle wouldn’t be able to catch her. If she could make it to the edge of the daily link path and grab it, she could attempt to throw it in Balrog-Gurtle’s mouth and have him swallow it. She just needed to grab it, and quickly. Especially quickly.
Herm made it to the end of the path and she darted into the section where they all were kept, fortunately untouched by Balrog-Gurtle. Herm grabbed a bow and slung it over her shoulders, determined to shoot one of the links into Balrog-Gurtle’s throat. But she’d have to use one. So which one should she choose? Someone from behind her answered her question abruptly, “You should pick the most recent one. It’s the link to the cabin wars, the link that began this all in the first place.”
Herm spun around anxiously, and standing in front of her was Luna from the Script Cabin. That was a rather clever idea, and it might just work.

=457 words written in total! <3 (New Total: 8,092)

BlauHourglass wrote:

ReadWriteSing wrote:

wait no no no- 6295/15000

Thought it was 6307, without counting Sun's.

oh… idk… i'll recount <33

ReadWriteSing wrote:

BlauHourglass wrote:

ReadWriteSing wrote:

wait no no no- 6295/15000

Thought it was 6307, without counting Sun's.

oh… idk… i'll recount <33

7094/15000

“We can try that, but I don’t know if it will work,” Luna said. “And we only have 6 hours left to end this. Actually, I have an idea,” she said.
“Oh-” Herm started, but Luna began sprinting away and leaving her without a hint of her plan.
She had shared the thoughts of feeding Gurtle links to stop terrorizing SWC campers with Herm. Sometimes, people just knew. But this was a little bit different. Gurtle was…stubborn. The turtle wouldn’t give up with just a bribe. But she couldn’t help wonder why he would turn on his camp this way. He was just a little turtle before…
The sky tinted red, a result of the pillows of smoke, ash, and fire created by Gurtle’s will. Luna coughed and shielded her eyes from the stinging of the thick smoke. Today was just supposed to be a friendly competition. She couldn’t believe this was what it had come to. All of the fire made it hard for her to think.
Luna ran towards her cabin, Script, which was half destroyed and on fire. Maybe she could make Balrog-Gurtle fall asleep. She hopped over piles of rubble, and leaned against a tilted pillar that used to decorate the outside of her cabin. She sighed, needing a break, but had to try and end Gurtle’s reign of terror. She walked to the cabin bookshelf, grabbing Treasure Island off the shelf. Gurtle was a pirate now, wasn’t he? Perhaps he would enjoy this story.
Happy with what she had gotten, Luna ran back out into the chaos. She headed back to the daily links, all sitting on a shelf for everyone to use if needed. Herm had already gone, but Luna decided she could do this without help- for now. She grabbed the latest daily. This could work, she told herself.
A deafening roar sounded from behind her. She turned around to face a gurtle-dragon creature thing. He was only paces away from her. All confidence suddenly evaporated, and Luna had to run. She shrieked and ran towards a cabin, any cabin! She ducked under a stone slab that seemed sturdy enough to not collapse on her and covered her head. Dust swept all around her and the heat seemed to suffocate the whole camp, but they were all surviving. She needed to find campers, help, leaders, but it seemed they were all hiding or just out of her view.
She gripped Treasure Island and the daily in her arms, waiting for the perfect time to lay out her plan. It seemed the time had finally come when it happened- silence. Not a word was spoken, not a single roar belted, only the crackle of the fire and the occasional heavy breath of the Balrog-Gurtle. Luna’s heart stopped. She thought Gurtle was preparing a big blow on the camp, but no. She peeked out, spotting him. He seemed…tired. Perfect.
She gathered herself and stepped out of her hiding spot, revealing herself. She snuck up to him but he had already spotted her. He let out a loud roar, but Luna gathered, not as loud as usual. She cleared her throat. “Ehem. Uh- Gurtle?” She squeaked. She was barely a tenth the size of him. He looked down at her, breathing heavily and blowing smoke out of his nose. “You might remember me but I have an important question for you.”
He roared again, shaking the land and causing her to take a step backwards. She laughed nervously. “Would you like a snack? I think you’re a bit tired. I can read you a story…” she smiled at him. He peered down at her. Silence for one second. Two… three… and then Gurtle opened his mouth. And let out a huge, piercing, glass-shattering, roar of fire. The already burnt grass around her caught fire again and Gurtle stomped towards her. She backed away, careful not to run into the flames. “I’m guessing that’s a no.” She fled towards the main cabin, bursting through the doors, panting. A group of campers blinked at her. She laughed weakly. “I tried to read Gurtle a bedtime story. You already know how that went,” she sighed. “Do you guys know how to take him down? Peacefully?”

706 words, Script cabin

claimed!

Hey friendos! There has been a lot of confusion I see, but the total is actually 7635 words. Some people didn't add their word count so please remember to do that, but I totalled all of the words.
ALSO remember that

Your contribution to the story must be between 400-800 words, no more and no less.

and

Post your wordcount and cabin at the end of your contribution, it will be tallied up at the end. Also, please send a link to your post with your word count here ( https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34872236/comments ).

Edit: this is without counting Sun's words

720 words
Violet put down her pencil and yawned. Then she smiled. Their cabin war was complete! She got up tiredly to submit the words. But something was wrong. She smelled smoke.
Of course, she told herself. It's cabin wars. Everyone is setting arson on enemy cabins… The screams grew louder.
They weren't happy screams, playfully yelling at others for their arson crimes. They were real screams.
Something was wrong.
Violet dashed outside to find utter chaos. A huge, black dragon reared, and roared. Sparks sprayed everywhere, and the Dystopian Ruins was set ablaze. People were screaming and running in all directions. Violet turned to see the word war building fall over into the flames. Campers, leaders, and… wait, where were the hosts?
Everyone but them were holding frying pans, shooting bows, dragging or carrying injured friends, or just weeping into the fire. Violet froze as she saw a figure fall.
As she ran toward her friend, she heard the dragon roar again. There was something familiar about that roar… she pictured a sweet, small, squeaking, harmless turtle.
No.
She came to a stop at her friend, fearfully shaking her. “Faith! Do you hear me? Wake up!”
Faith stirred and felt her elbow. Violet wiped off the blood there, not taking her eyes off of Faith or the surrounding battle.
Faith woke. “What-”
“Faith, what's going on?” Violet cut across her.
“It's… him. Gurtle.”
“What?” Violet asked, looking up at the huge black dragon. Just beyond the fierceness, she could barely see a small, cute, but now menacing stare she knew so well. “No… it can't be…”
'But it is.“ Faith said, sitting up and wincing. ”Didn't you see it, Violet? All the links he ate, all the mangoes he stole… we should have seen it coming.“
”We have to stop him.“
”Yes… That's what we're trying to do…"
Violet watched everyone working together to stop the beast. First place, she realized, didn't matter anymore. They needed to work together.
As she and Faith grabbed frying pans and headed toward battle, Violet suddenly felt a stab of pity for Gurtle. She tried to fight it, but something, perhaps her love of strange beasts, and all animals, when you think of it, swallowed her once more…
She helped Faith drag bodies from the fires, clasping hands and finding friends, desperate to know they are safe.
She barely noticed when Aurora, Poppy, Chuey, Silvi, and many others joined them, armed with frying pans and arrows, but little hope.
It was when the Gurtle-monster let out another roar it triggered it. For it sounded, only to Violet, like a little squeak.
As the last shaft of roof of the Main Cabin fell into the flames, it seemed to let out a shriek. A sigh. A bellow. And Violet knew, though she hoped beyond hope she was wrong, that if they continued this, there might be no more SWC next July. And no them either.
“STOP!” Violet bellowed at the top of her lungs. Everyone went deathly silent except the dragon, who roared again and set the Sci-fi Database on fire.
“It's just… he's still in there!” Violet tried to explain. “Instead of k-k-” She could not say the word. “-killing him, w-we can… I dunno, get him back! Whatever this Balrog thing is, he was taken over our mascot- our friend- Gurtle! He's not himself! Gurtle wouldn't do this to us!”
“But maybe he would, Violet.” Chuey said rather harshly. “He's eaten way too many links, and…” Chuey shook her head, but Violet knew that she was held, slightly, onto the possibility Gurtle could come back to them…
“Yes,” Faith said, surprising them all. “I think… I think we can. We… can get G-Gurtle back. We can destroy the Balrog that took him over.” She looked around. “If we work together we can.”
“Yes.” Poppy said. “We can do this!”
“We have mangoes! And frying pans!” Aurora said.
“I think Gurtle likes arson mangoes.” Bookie said.
“Is there something Gurtle doesn't like?” Snowy asked exasperatedly. Chloe nodded in agreement.
“Maybe there is something the Balrog doesn't like.” Nova suggested.
And with that, everyone began to plan.
To bring the hosts back. To bring Gurtle back. To bring SWC back.
Working together, they could do anything.

➳ 720 words
➳ Thriller Cabin
➳ 10101/15000 words

⇾ Battle Story (x2) ⚘

Poppy watches the distress pass through swc-ers like a wave meeting the shoreline.
Poppy thinks back on the love and compassion that the whole camp had given to Gurtle in the early days of the session. Everyone praised his adorable name, his tiny black eyes, his sweet little smile.
It's always the innocents that turn against us.
Poppy grips her frying pan a little harder.
We need Gurtle back.
Our Gurtle.
“I'm going in,” Poppy says.
Before anyone can protest, Poppy slips through the breaks in the crowd, pushing to where Balrog Gurtle was spewing fire throughout the camp. Poppy shields her face with her frying pan as to avoid getting burned.
“Gurtle!” she cries.
The monster turns to her.
Fear runs through her, and she thinks back to the words that had gone through her mind since the beginning of the battles.
Where do the words come from?
Fear.
They always come from the fear.
She'd been thinking that through every battle, with every slash of her sword. Inspiration comes from many places.
And right now, the words are from fear.
They always come from fear.
Breaths are in short supply.
Everything is smoke.
Everything is falling.
The monster looks at her for a moment before turning away, clearly thinking that the writer was a problem to be dealt with later.
Poppy stares blankly at the scaled, angry-red foot of the balrogurtle as he passes by, off on another rampage. The Thriller Insect Academy - Poppy's home - was already nearly destroyed, the camper-insects having fleed to join in the battle.
This is our camp.
The chant had passed around between campers and leader since the start of the battle. They were words of strength and hope, the idea that once something like this becomes this important, it becomes yours.
This is our camp.
Nothing changes that.
Luna and Violet appear beside Poppy, both hefting their frying pans and pens.
“We've got to change him, without hurting him,” Luna says, thinking aloud.
*It's a predicament, though in times like this, words like predicament, struggle, or problem don't do much to define the nature of the situation.
And they certainly don't help with any solutions.
Poppy thought for a minute. Words. They didn't create action.
They inspired it.
You couldn't clear a fire by saying something was your camp, but you could hold onto that reminder as you poured water and stomped out flames. You couldn't use the word problem to sum up pain or fear, but you could make it something more manageable by putting letters to it.
Words have powers.
Poppy thinks over everything that's happened throughout the day.
“We've tried everything,” Poppy says. “We've tried mangoes, cookies, cupcakes, muffins - all the attention a gollum turtle could ever want.”
“There's got to be a way out of this,” Chuey says.
“Let's see…. what can we use to get out of this?” Violet says.
“We need… people. Teamwork, right? That's practically the motto of camp, isn't it? Besides, the whole ”sleep > swc“, I mean. That doesn't count. But… working together, being a team, creating joint chaos… that's what makes this camp what it is. That's what we love about it,” Poppy says.
“You're right,” Aurora says. “We need more people.”
A brush of fire comes overhead, and all of the campers drop to their knees to avoid getting burned. The frills on someone's helmet go up in smoke, and they stomp on it aggressively until the fire is out. The stomping was a little more angry than needed, but that's no problem.
Everyone needed to react in their own way.
They look at the expanse of the camp. A butterfly from thriller was helping a poet up, as the poet offered words of comfort about the burning academy. The two notorious hostile-neutrals helping each other.
Amazing, this camp. It always holds up in some way or another.
Poppy gasps. “I have an idea.”
Someone looks at her skeptically.
Poppy didn't blame them. The last time she had an idea, it resulted in several people almost getting eaten by Balrogurtle.
“We need the most powerful beings in the swc universe, right?” she said.
“The hosties are doing everything they can,” Luna points out.
“They are. But we're looking at one of the worst disasters we've seen in years. We need… the others,” Poppy said.
“The others?” someone said.
Poppy nods. “The others.”
…
In the distance, something has awakened.
Somethings have awakened.
“Can you hear it?” a whisper calls.
The bleating.
The whirring.
The click-clacking.
The shouts.
It is the sound of war.
The sound of strength.
Smarlls.
Saturn Peeles.
Benny.
Jim Flabsdz.

THEY ARE COMING.

⇾ 800 words ⚘
⇾ thriller cabin ⚘
⇾ 10,821/15,000 words ⚘

Skip me! :D
“There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.”
-Bob Ross

Skip me, I can't do it anymore, I gtg
Info about the mascots coming to the rescue (if continuing from Poppy): https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34694852/comments/#comments-253922594

Luna blinked at Poppy. “The others?” She repeated as well. And then she heard it. The sounds of…help, of certainty. Letting everyone know that hope was not lost and Gurtle the Turtle Balrog Dragon creature thing would not destroy everyone.
The others were coming, and he would not be victorious. If Luna was being honest, she had little to no idea of what was going on, but she decided to go with it. She wanted to make sure she was a part of helping everyone and keeping the camp from total chaos, destruction, and fire. Because who knew? If Gurtle completely demolished the scratch writing camp, would he stop? What was his motive? Taking over the world?
Luna ducked under a piece of debris as Gurtle the Turtle Balrog Dragon Creature Thing spit fire everywhere. Luna scrunched up her nose and coughed in the heat and smoke. “We better finish this quickly or he’ll end us all!” She cried.
“We’re trying!” A camper called out.
Someone screamed and Luna winced. They really had to finish this quickly. Who knows how far Gurtle would go to get what he wanted. Or maybe he wanted nothing at all.
“Poppy, who are the others?” She asked. She looked over into the distance.
“Don’t worry Luna…they’re coming.” Poppy replied.
Luna had no choice but to just trust. She took a steadying breath.
“Get to safety!” Someone shouted. Luna peeked out from her shelter and made a run for it. As much as she wanted to help, she needed to get herself together. Maybe figure out what was going on. Because for now, she just needed to keep herself safe.
Only when she turned around to take one last look at the chaos… she saw the others. “They’re coming to help!” She shouted in relief.
Smarls came out of the smoke in the distance.
Saturn Peeles as well.
Benny.
Jim Flabsdz. Her hope soared and she had to remind herself to tread carefully on the grounds as she ran back to help them once again. She couldn’t believe she almost left them there.
“This will be a very tough battle,” a camper said. “But I believe that if we all put our heads together, we can work through this and defeat Gurtle once and for all!”
“Peacefully!” Luna added.
Gurtle roared, gaining the attention of the camp, and their focus for this tough battle.

400 words!

465 words, Thriller cabin
Violet turned just in time to see an ibex bursting through the trees. “Smarlls-?”
Behind Smarlls came a small, cute red crab. He clicked his claws and looked up at the towering Balrog-Gurtle. “Benny-?” People whisper.
Sinking from the sky, a huge, towering purple object with rings- and a smile. “Saturn Peeles?”
Then- a space monster, a dragon just like Gurtle now was- a pirate thudded to the ground. “Jim!”
They had arrived.
SWC had a long line of mascots. And now one had gone haywire… the others would put him right.
Balrog-Gurtle gave a roar and started, not toward, but away from it's fellow mascots. “After him!” Someone yelled, and the chase began.
Many grabbed frying pans, or bows, or whatever else they could find in the rubble.
Violet grabbed a frying and joined Faith, Poppy, and Aurora. “Let's go!”
And they all ran, making to stop the giant creature from destroying what they knew and loved.
Violet watched the giant dragon breathe fire, it's pirate hat wobbling above the din. She watched as he ran, scared of the other mascots.
But Violet noticed something else. Part of the monster, the small, cute, harmless, squeaking, lovable part, seemed to think something else.
Violet watched the monster seeming to be torn between fright and love. Fright took over. The Balrog ran. And Gurtle was forced to run with him. A part of him.
They all ran, but didn't seem to be gaining in any way. More buildings toppled over into flames, and more people fell behind in the fire. They needed a plan.
“Mangoes!” Violet cried suddenly.
“What?” Faith asked. “I thought the Balrog was immune to our mangoes or something.”
“He is, only because Gurtle is with him!” Violet said, excited. “We can use mangoes to get Gurtle out of there! First, we can lure him back-” She grabbed a mango and jumped onto one of the flaming buildings. “HEY! GURTLE!” The monster turned to look every so slightly. “MANGOES!”
There was a roar. The Balrog struggled with himself. He tried to keep going. But Gurtle's love of mangoes was no match for him. He started to gallop, against his will, toward Violet.
“COME ON!” Violet tossed the mango to Faith, and the Balrog changed course. She tossed it to Luna, who tossed it to Poppy who threw it to Aurora who lobbed over to Chuey, and it went on. They led the monster back to camp, and using mangoes, from camper to leader to person to person, they all put it in to work harder, and save their home.
Gurtle was running now, toward the mango, where he (hopefully) would be freed.
They ran by the silent hosts. And everyone knew, that whatever it took, they were going to save SWC.

(Moving to end of chain so everyone can see ig?)

Claimed 3>> -Nom (-1circle-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

erm claimed ig idk