Map: Monte Carlo Turret/Hull Combo: Shaft/Viking Location: Protecting team flag/Sniping poor fools who dared spawn on the other side of the map I leaned over my keyboard, twisting my turret a fraction of an inch to the right and eradicating yet another tank from the map. A small sense of satisfaction rising, I retreated to reload, checking the rankings. First place by a hundred, I thought contentedly. This game is in the - GOLD BOX WILL DROP SOON! Though the audio was muted, there was no mistaking the words that cheerily popped up on the top of my screen as if unaware of the absolute chaos they would cause. For a moment, I completely forgot how to play Tanki, struggling to deal with the fact that I had a chance to get an extra thousand crystals. I shrugged off my inertia, quickly pounded the four key with a fury that would have scared a slightly psychotic silverback gorilla and abandoned the team flag. As I approached the middle of the map, I cycled through different camera angles for a chance to glimpse that sweet sight: the drop zone. Firing off potshots at other tankers who dared think for a moment that they had any right at all to MY gold box, I put on double armor and finally made it to middle ground. I became more and more frantic as I turned around and around and couldn’t find the drop zone. With a growing sense of despair, I was certain that the it was on the enemy’s side of the map. Being a heavier hull, I would never get there in time. As tears slid down my cheeks, I happened to glance to my left. Floating gently down from the heavens to the top of one of those confounded columns rising up from the bottom of the map were all of my hopes and dreams contained in one small, virtual box. Gripping the keyboard with renewed strength, I turned and made my slow way to the edge of the map. Of course, I wasn’t the only one. An enemy Hornet/Isida combo was on my left and we both turned to look at the falling gold box. He was faster than I was, so I had to improvise. He went over the edge first, angled slightly toward the right and the gold box. I had a different target entirely. Aiming my treads at him, I managed to knock him out of the way. The shock sent me directly into the path of the still-falling gold box. I waited with bated breath, time slowing down to an eternity every second. Then, those magical words appeared on the screen: ‘Stephun has taken the gold box’. Handel’s Messiah started playing somewhere. I threw myself back in my chair, gave a mighty fist pull and yelled an inarticulate sound of pure joy. I allowed myself the ten seconds it took for my tank to self-destruct for celebration. But then, I re-spawned and saw that my place in first was being encroached upon. Cracking my knuckles, I got back to my keyboard. Even after all the excitement of catching the gold box, there was still work to be done. Tanki to be played.

(Player One) Stephun (Player Two) Nate031 A sociologist sets up an experiment in which he places a plate of chocolate cake on a table on the far end of the room. He then places a chair on the other end and sits a mathematician down. "Now, sir," he says. "You may move over to the other end of the room and eat that piece of chocolate cake. But there's a catch. You may only roll your chair in increments of a half-distance." "What!" cries the mathematician. "Don't you know that you'll never get to the other end of the room if you only move by halves? It's impossible!" So saying, the mathematician throws up his hands and stalks out of the room in disgust. The sociologist brings in his next subject, a biologist, and outlines the same terms. "Sir," he says. "You may eat that cake, but you can only move your chair in increments of a half-distance." The biologist eagerly sits himself down and begins wheeling himself toward the cake. The sociologist was stunned. "Sir!" he says. "Don't you know that you'll never make it to the other end of the room if you only move by halves?" "Of course," replies the biologist. "But I'll get close enough for all intents and purposes."

Okay, here's my submission. I wrote it as a flashback scene, a sort of origin story. Technically, it takes place during a scene from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty but it really focuses on Maleficent's memory. It tells the story of... well, you'd better just read it. If it doesn't qualify, I'd be happy to redo it. WARNING: This story does contain violence. While it is not bloody or gory, discretion is advised as some of it may be unsuitable for younger viewers aged 12 and under. The title of the original story is Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, told from the perspective of Maleficent. The word count is 750 exactly, including the title. Enjoy!