TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS A GAME BY VALVE

"SCOUT!"

Clash!

"What was that noise? Scout! What have you done?!"

"It was him, he made me-!"

"Why did you think it was a good idea to play with that damned ball in here? Are you two years old?"

"But-!"

"I want to hear no excuses! Come on! Get out of here!"

Not only did Scout walk out of the practice room, but he also left the base. He put his hood on and wanted to hit every single thing in his way but since there was only a road, electricity towers and arid ground around him, he lay into imaginary enemies.

"Bunch of assholes...They think I'm two, alright...Morons...Bullies...You're not that old and I ain't that young...AM I BOTHERIN' HERE TOO?! Jerks...When I hit a BLU right in the nut and knock him out you don't mind that much about the ball...Pyro can set the couches on fire, Demo can try out his explosives and Medic leaves blood and shit around but me, sure, I can't do that, 'cause I'm the little one...Go fuck yourselves, all of you!"

He walked. He walked. He walked. Even though he didn't have a particular destination in mind he supposed he could go to the town and drink something...But now that he thought about it, he had left his driving license back at the base and no barman would believe he was an adult. Shit. Anyway, he kept walking. If he couldn't drink alcohol, it didn't matter, he would blow up his own stomach with soda. And he would it a great bucket of chicken too. Oh, wait, he hadn't taken any money either. Double shit. His frustration increased. Grumbling all the time, he hit the ball again and again, now that there was no one around who would shout at him for it. He also swang his bat in the air, imagining he broke an enemy as well as an ally's ribcage. And it helped him warm up.

He grabbed the ball and looked at it. He pictured it was Heavy's bald head. Furiously, he hit it and it resulted to be the best hit in his life. So much that he regretted there was no one around to see it. He had to run after the ball. When he saw where it had landed, he gritted his teeth. It had hit a lady who, surrounded by suitcases, was hitchhiking on one side of the road.

"Oh, crap...H-Hey! Are you alright?"

The lady stood up and Scout stopped brusquely. It was no lady, he was just wearing a robe. It was Merasmus. The blow had made that ugly skull hat of his fall to the ground and broke one of its horns.

"Gah!"

"Who dares to...?! You..." roared the wizard, pointing at him with a bony finger.

Scout carried no more weapons than his bat, and that wasn't enough to face Merasmus, having into account how much it took to his partners and him when they worked as a team. So he had no other choice than to flee from that challenge.

But he found that his feet were glued to the ground. He was incapable of moving. Merasmus approached. He almost looked bigger with each step he took.

"One only desires to go on holidays, rest from the torture of having a roomate who is immortal and an idiot and the chase of the Japanese mafia, spend some peaceful time harming nobody...and he gets hit in the head. Did you think that Merasmus' head was a bullseye, mortal?"

"Let me go! It was an accident! Leave me alone!"

"No excuses, you fool! You are going to pay this insolence with blood..."

He was just a few feet away from Scout. What did he intend to do with him? Scout kept shaking, telling him again and again that he didn't want to hit him out of Halloween season, but Merasmus didn't listen. He didn't stop struggling to move, his feet not lifting an inch.

"Run, run, run...It seems that's all that tiny brain of yours thinks about. Else, you would have known it is a mistake to challenge Merasmus.

"Didn't you hear me?! I said I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Just like a hare. A simple, stupid hare."

Scout saw how Merasmus' eyes glowed in a way that he didn't like at all. He would have given anything to be able to move. Although he couldn't feel his legs, he kept trying using all of his strength.

"Yes...Why not matching mind and body? It will be funny, very funny. You have laughed enough at Merasmus; now it will be Merasmus who will laugh at your woe."

"What the hell are you saying, man?" Scout muttered.

Merasmus stopped talking and showed Scout what he meant.

The young mercenary saw how he extended a hand to him as he muttered something in a language he didn't identify. His hand irradiated an intense green light. Scout took a step back. Now he could move, but he didn't run. He couldn't.

He felt heat taking over his body, first his cheeks, then his ears, next, the fingers and finally extended all over his body; weakly at first, seconds later it became suffocating. Instead of running, he used the regained control over his body to obey the impulse he felt of getting rid of his clothes. The sweatshirt, the tank top he wore under it, the pants, the shoes, the two pairs of thick socks, and even the underwear. He didn't even stop to consider that he was dedicating that old crazy wizard a striptease. It was unbearable. Not even naked and with that cold he could get rid of that heat. It was as it was in his bones and was melting them. It was driving him crazy.

The heat didn't stop him from feeling an itch all over his body. When he looked, he let out a horrorized shriek. He had been waiting for years for the hair to come out, but not that much, and not so dense.

Merasmus laughed. Had he known, he would have made popcorn to eat while he saw how that annoying brat writhed, how the ears elongated as his body shortened, how the whiskers appeared, how the spine arched, forcing him on fours and stretched creating a tail.

Scout fell to the ground curled up against himself. Then, that horrible feeling disappeared, leaving him dizzy. When he tried to stand up, he saw he was completely unable to.

Merasmus laughed cruelly.

"Let's see if you want to play with the ball now."

And, spreading his arms, he was surrounded by a green halo and disappeared along with his luggage.

Silence. Scout came out of the bunch of clothes that laid on the ground and looked around anxiously. He found himself completely alone. And with a bit problem.

Engineer was serving the stew when he noticed that there was a plate with no owner.

"Ey, where's Scout?" he asked.

"The kid got angry and left." Spy answered.

"How come?"

"He broke one of the windows of the practice room while playing."

"I swear to God, this boy...Always making a mess."

"Let him come whenever he wants, as long as he doesn't break anything else."

They mentioned Scout no more during the dinner. He would come when he was over it.