In the beginning, Zanzarino created the Air and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Aether of Zanzarino was hovering over the Water.
And Zanzarino said, "Let there be Light", and there was Light. And Zanzarino saw that it was good.
And Zanzarino said, "Hey, that's a pretty good start. Now let there be Gravity and Entropy and Life and Death and Fire and Time. And what the heck? Throw in some Other, too." And Zanzarino called his creation "Elements".
At first, the Elements coexisted peacefully, but eventually each wanted some of what the others had, because Elements can be greedy like that. So the Elements went to War. And Aether won the War, and saw that it was good.
But the other Elements weren't happy with that result, so they began to Brawl. Only six of the Elements were able to field teams during the Brawl, because the others were tired from War, or just plain lazy. So the rest just sat around cheering for the other teams and eating beef jerky.
The six Elements who Brawled were Darkness, Entropy, Fire, Light, Time, and Water. Each Element had a Boss, and the Bosses fought over who would be on their respective teams. The cunning Darkness Boss assembled her team using very little money, while the Time Boss spent almost his entire fortune to acquire his teammates.
The teams chose names for themselves to intimidate the other teams. Darkness became "AbSTRACT" because no one could tell who they were. Entropy became "Entropony Cowboys" because they all wished they were from a mythical land called Texas. Fire remained "Fire" because they couldn't be bothered to come up with anything else. Light became "The Crusaderps" in reference to their derping Crusaders. Time became "Expensive Clocks" because of how much their Boss spent to hire them. And Water became "Surf Ninjas" because they truly were the coolest of all the teams.
Within each team, each Boss had six minions: an Artist, who would make pretty pictures; a Card Designer, who would create new ways of attacking the other teams; a Deckbuilder, who would assemble the Card Designer's weapons in new ways; a Forum Expert, who was knowledgeable in the ways of communicating with the other Elements; an Off-Topicker, who would talk about anything besides the Elements, and a Writer. No one really knows what the Writer did, but it was obvious to everyone that he was the most awesome member of each team.
Powerful entities looked down from the sky and realized that the Brawlers would need guidance. So they selected a weird Voodoo Doll guy and a human with the wings of a raven. The powerful entities christened these two as “Brawlmasters” and sent them to the Land of Elements. There, the Brawlmasters got to exercise their power trips, and they saw that it was good.
The Brawlmasters decided that the teams should Brawl for six rounds. In each round, each member of each team would perform a certain task, which would be assigned by the Brawlmasters. Then, everyone would vote to decide who performed the tasks best. Most of the Elements voted, but some were still too busy eating beef jerky.
In Round 1, everyone completed their tasks except the Writer from Team The Crusaderps, because he was off derping with a Crusader. When the voting ended, Team Expensive Clocks were in the lead, but just barely, because the Brawlmasters like to know what time it is and gave them extra points. Team The Crusaderps pulled up the rear. Maybe that would teach their Writer to run off in the middle of a Brawl.
Things started to get interesting in Round 2. The Writer for Team The Crusaderps was back, but the Boss and the Deckbuilder took a holiday. No one is sure why, though some believe they were out chasing Photons around the block.
The Brawlmasters threw in a twist by making the Forum Expert and Off-Topicker work together. For this task, Team AbSTRACT decided to be as abstract as possible by submitting something no one could see. Team Fire, on the other hand, wanted to make sure everyone could see what they did, so they worked day and night until they had a submission that went on, and on, and on. And on. Their idea won, and there was much rejoicing. However, their idea was so large that the Brawlmasters made a special rule that no one could do anything that big ever again. And there was much rejoicing.
Also in Round 2, each team performed a bonus task. The Brawlmasters liked Team Entropony Cowboys' bonus best, and declared that the ultimate winners of Brawl would receive a copy of the image Team Entropony Cowboys had created. As in Round 1, Team Expensive Clocks received the majority of the Brawlmasters' praise, because Brawlmasters really like to know what time it is. Because two members took the week off, Team The Crusaderps remained in last place.
When Round 3 arrived, Team The Crusaderps' Boss returned, but gave the week off to the four members of his team. Unfortunately, those four members were the ones the Brawlmasters chose to work together: the Artist, the Card Designer, the Deckbuilder, and the Writer. Team AbSTRACT'sOff-Topicker made another abstractly invisible submission. And the Brawlmasters proved they really, REALLY like to know what time it is when they gave Team Expensive Clocks the most applause yet again. This kept that team in first place, and Team The Crusaderps held their familiar position at the back of the pack.
Then it was time for Round 4. Team The Crusaderps' Artist applied so much Light to his submission that it burned away before anyone could see it. Team AbSTRACT decided this week's abstract idea would be the combination task for the Card Designer, Off-Topicker, and Writer. Team Fire's Forum Expert decided to test the limits the Brawlmasters imposed upon him; he made an extra large submission (again), but at least it fit within the new rule.
When the dust cleared, Team AbSTRACT found themselves behind all the other teams, because abstraction doesn't lend itself well to getting votes. The Brawlmasters again threw most of their praise to Team Expensive Clocks, because they really, REALLY, no, REALLY like to know what time it is. It wasn't enough for the Clocks, though, as Team Fire found themselves in the lead. Controversy arose as to whether Team Fire was more interested in style or content, but the other elements were still too busy eating beef jerky to bother answering why they voted the way they did.
The stakes increased during Round 5. The Off-Topicker for Team Entropony Cowboys submitted a task that no one saw, which seemed to be a random event. The Brawlmasters ordered each Boss, Artist, and Forum Expert to work together. Team The Crusaderps performed the task so brightly that it blinded everyone who saw it. The task for Team Surf Ninjas got washed away. When everyone had cheered for their favourite submissions, Team Fire retained the lead and Team AbSTRACT retained the anti-lead. The Brawlmasters took a long time deciding which tasks they liked best, so their decisions didn't make it into this story. Sue me.
When Round 5 began, a bunch of the teams began throwing challenges and wagers at the others. Just about every team chickened out of at least one challenge or wager, causing their teams to lose points. Pretty much every team was equally chicken, though, so these losses didn't have a real effect on the teams' standings.
In Round 6... well, this story is part of Round 6, so you'll just have to wait and see. So there.