Code Total Drama
Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama or Code Lyoko.
Chapter 34
"Go man, go!" Geoff encouraged.
"I'm trying!" Cody said.
"He's not going to make it." Noah said dully.
"Don't say that, he'll make it!" Geoff said.
Cody quickly ran for it, dodging anything that would have taken his life. He didn't offer any reply to Geoff's encouragement or Noah's cynicism as he dodged an attack from another enemy. He shot his foe several times before it's health bar hit zero..
"Nice one!" DJ complimented.
Cody quickly ran to the towards his destination only to find a pit between him and where he needed to go. He jumped into the air, confident he was going to win but at the last second an enemy fired at him and it was too late to dodge.
"No!" Cody screamed.
"He's finished!" Geoff shouted in terror.
They watched as he fell into the pit and two words came up.
GAME OVER
Cody put down the controller and sighed.
"So close."
"Told ya, he wouldn't make it."Noah said, still reading his book.
"Aw man, this blows!" Cody said. "What was it called again?" He picked up the game box. "Geriatric Scrolls...why do I hate it even more now?" (The joke is pretty obvious here people)
"Try this one, Evil Samaritan," Noah held up another box.
"Is it any good?"
"It's about turning mean neighbours into zombies and killing them when they try to take over the world."
"...First Person shooter?"
"Third person with awesome chainsaw combat."
"Who made it?"
"Made it myself and sold ten thousand copies in one city." Noah shrugged.
"...you made one of the bloodiest video games ever?" Duncan asked.
"Just need Microsoft to sign the damn IT contracts and I'll let them sell it nationwide for all I care.." Noah frowned. "Damn suits, they think just cuz they have the world's richest nerd they can ask me for my idea, but they didn't know I took and passed seven different law classes." He smirked. "Suck on that big ass corporation."
"Noah...don't take this the wrong way but I sometimes I think you're one mental accident from being a super villain." Gwen said.
"You think I'm nuts? Try talking to my partner, Ethan. With a friend like him, who needs Alejandro, Justin, Duncan, Heather, Courtney or XANA?"
"Oh how bad could one normal guy be?" Geoff asked.
"Uh...he designed Saskatchewan Pitch Fork Massacre, and its sequel, SPFM: Bloody Crops."
"...now I believe him, anybody with graphics that gory has got to be a little nuts, even by my standards." Duncan nodded. "What about...Dead International Space Station?"
"He made it."
"The Very Angry Haunting?"
"He made that. Good game, terrible title, his girl friend helped design the monster girl."
"...she went nude in white make up?...okay that's just too far." Duncan shuddered.
"Yeah..." Noah nodded. "But I now know just how Holly Wood uses all those overly loud screams. You know the monster's screaming? No sound effects, it was all her one hundred percent."
"That nearly made me lose my ears..." Gwen, who had played the game before gulped. "Let me guess, he also made 'Try to Stay Not Dead'?"
"How'd you know?"
"Bad title, good game?"
"Touché."
Most of the Lyoko Warriors were in the recreation room of the studio. It had been a few days since their trip to the mountains and they were mostly enjoying the free time. XANA had been quiet since his attack in the mountains which was nice to everyone who were usually the victims of his attacks.
"This is boring. None of these games compare to the big one." Izzy complained.
Everyone knew she was talking about Lyoko.
"Izzy, we told Aelita that we would go train after she finished school today. Her dad made the lab so technically its hers now and we can't just go playing with the computer." Bridgette said.
"I know but none of these games can compare to Lyoko. It's like the best video game ever!" Izzy pouted as she lied down on the bench.
"Except if you lose you die." Trent pointed out.
"There is that." Izzy admitted.
"Well, XANA has been quiet lately." Cody said.
"We all know that but I'm not complaining. Worrying about being attacked on a daily basis can a bit stressing." Gwen said as she stood up from the chair she was sitting on.
"He's likely plotting another big attack." Bridgette said.
"Or when he saw how badass I was he got scared and ran away." Duncan said smirking, throwing in his two cents.
"Sure, and Justin is going to get a girlfriend." Noah said.
"Hey, it could happen!" Duncan said. "Me and my Berserker kicked all sorts of virtual butt!"
"You all got your butts kicked by his new monsters, I doubt that put fear in him." Gwen crossed her arms and raised one eye brow.
"..." Duncan looked down and mumbled. "Touché."
"Hey get your own line!" Noah whined. "I hear it enough from Carlos and Kurt in their arguments!"
"Hey, whose the guy who keeps Chris off your backs?" Carlos demanded as he passed by the open door. "And who keeps leaving every damn door open around here?"
"...there was a policy to close doors here?"
"...No, don't think so...but still...it's weird...and has anybody had any Klondike bars today?"
"No, why?"
"...Because I can't find any."
"Actually, I think I saw Chris and Roberto loading a box of them into...their..." Gwen gulped as she realized what terror she was about to unleash.
"Wait now," Carlos chuckled a bit, sounding like he was restraining himself. "Now Gwen, no matter what you tell me, I won't get angry...at you."
"...I think they were pulling a prank and they tosses your Klondike bars into the garbage truck."
Carlos let out a huff of air. "...Okay."
"...so wait, you're not gonna get angry?"
"No...I'm fine, and I promised I wouldn't get mad...at you." He sighed. "Excuse me." He turned and left the room.
"...Chris and Roberto are so dead."
"Well, as long as we were in the topic of Lyoko I went to see Aelita and she managed to set up a connection between my laptop and the supercomputer in the factory. So even if Aelita is in class where she can't have her laptop on so she can hear the scan detecting a tower I usually have mine with me." Noah pulled out his laptop. "So we'll know if our virtual psycho decides to attack us."
"Is that all you have that for?" LeShawna asked.
"No. It just so happens that Izzy is actually right that Lyoko is like a big video game if one ignores the possibility of certain death and one could decide to make 'cheat codes' if they know what they are doing." Noah said.
"Your tampering with your character?" Cody asked.
"No. I'm still looking over the data before I try something like that." Noah said. "Despite popular believe I'm smart enough to know not to go ahead and try to make myself in a virtual Superman until I'm sure I've learned everything."
"That'll be something to look forward to." Gwen said.
"How are Heather and Courtney holding up?" DJ asked, sitting on a nearby bench.
"They're holding up fine, but they're still not going to train." Gwen closed her eyes with a frustrated look. "As much as they two have gotten under my skin I'd really wish for them to make up their minds. I never thought I'd be worrying this much about them."
"We've just got to give them a little more time." Cody reassured as he pressed 'START GAME'.
"A little more time is not going to cut it." Gwen opened her eyes. "We've got a whole new bunch of monsters waiting for us and a new general. Forcing them is the last thing I want to do but I figured they would have decided by now."
"But we can handle it for now, right?" Trent asked.
"Assuming none of us are the next ones kicked off." Gwen replied. "Or Aelita finds a way for LeShawna, Cody, DJ, and Geoff to get back into the scanners."
"True that, girl. I'd hate to leave in the middle of the fight." LeShawna said.
"I know." Geoff said.
"I hope we hurry and get this done. We're running out of non-Lyoko warriors to vote off." Bridgette said.
"Aelita's working as best as she can." Cody said.
"Attention all contestants, get your butts to the supercomputer room!"
"Sounds like Chris has got his next challenge ready." Bridgette said, with a resigned look.
Xxx
"Last time on Total Drama Reality, we took a small trip to the mountains were we set up a couple of challenges to show everyone's outdoor skills. The first challenge was to give a team the advantage but ended in a tie. The second challenge was more awesome, involving quick sand, sinking boats, and my own cousin and his carrot top friend ended up taking part and making it look more awesome! In the end, Katie was voted off and to save us a lot of crying Sadie took the Jet of Shame home with her." Chris announced. "Who will be voted off today? Find out today on, TOTAL. DRAMA. REALITY!"
Xxx
Everyone was waiting in the lab, a few were scowling, imagining what challenge Chris had for them this time. That was when Chris walked in with a pleased look.
"Oh crap!" Duncan whispered. "He's happy!"
Everyone noticed how happy Chris looked and knew something was up.
"Hello, contestants!" Chris said. "Who can guess what's going to show today?"
"Is it going to be something stupid?" Gwen asked.
"Warmer!" Kurt and Carlos said.
"No. It's going to be something I think even you would like, Gwen. For this challenge will test your strategic minds and survival skills." Chris said.
"Along with leadership skills?" Courtney asked.
"Eh, why not?" Chris shrugged. "This challenge will taken in the supercomputer room. It shall be an awesome, gut spilling, dramatic, virtual reality battle!"
"Woo-Hoo!" Izzy cheered.
"Great." Noah groaned.
"Yep, and for this I called on the third of my many cousins, Mike!" Chris said. "Legendary game designer."
"The guy who made Clogs of War?" Noah asked.
"Yeah, you know him?"
"No, but he and my friend have something in common: awesome game play with weird or crappy titles."
"I resent that!" A blonde version of Chris walked out of the same door Chris came from.
"Great, one of Chris' cousins looks like a younger Sylvester Stallone, one looks like Red Green's younger clone, and the other looks like a blonde clone." Noah said. "We're doomed."
"Hey, who bought you all those snacks yesterday?" Carlos asked. "I know you liked that Aero Bar Noah."
"...touché." The boy whispered.
"Yeah, way to go Sylvester, you fetched food for the kiddies," Mike yawned.
"...and he sounds more like Noah, damn it the last thing we needed is a smart Chris." Kurt said.
"And now ladies and gentlemen get ready, for who knows how to deal with the following undead!" Chris said.
"The scenario is based off of Devil May Cry and Twilight," Mike said.
"The movie sucked! What kind of vampires sparkle?" Gwen said. "I went for gore and blood and I got some whiny girl clinging to a messy haired old guy and a guy who turns into a runt!"
"Well good news, I made the Slaying Sparklepires game for people who wanted to take their anger and disappointment out on those crappy undead...and just for good effort I also added some from Legacy of Kahn."
"What?"
"...It was some movie made to try and cross Star Trek over with Legacy of Kain...the makers got sued half way to hell but people liked it." Mike explained. "And the vampires, oh you will love them!"
"They don't sparkle, do they?"
"Burst into flames at the mere mention of sun light." Mike replied. "For this first level, it will be a basic death match. There are a few small buildings that might get you a few extra seconds against the undead hordes, but for most of this you'll be on the run."
Chef hooked up a projector, and Mike attached a laptop to it, showing the view of the level, which was half covered by the ruins of a town, and the other half by forests and lakes.
"The role of this game is to slay over one hundred zombies, and then go for...the vampire." Mike said, displaying pictures of zombies and the vampires. "Now, the vampire you want will be hiding from the sun if the day/night time cycle has the in game time set to before seven oh clock. Twenty four hours in there is forty eight minutes out here, so you can adjust your fighting to fit the day. If you locate the vampire, he will have his Sparklepire living shields around him...they each only have one life point so go ahead and have fun with them. Just slay the vampire, and your team wins!"
"Awesome," Cody said.
"Alright, so let's get you all into your pods and get you set up, you're all going Vampire Hunting!" Mike said. "And just to add a little fun to this, before the game starts you all will be able to customize your avatars and their weapons or powers. This can give you an advantage over the vampire in some cases, but there is one thing you must always be weary of: the Archdemons. They will come at midnight every day and go on an in game two hour rampage. They have ten thousand life points and shielding and armour all over. They also have a built in tracking program that lets them pin point any character who moves faster than 2 miles per hour, so that means you have to tip toe if you want to remain undetected. They have one hit kills like I said and they are truly bad ass."
"Wait...that sounds like something from Geriatric Scrolls." Noah said.
"Yep, now get ready for some nightmares kids because I went all out on this." Mike grinned.
Carlos said. "This is why I hate him slightly less than I hate Chris, he's a riot at parties."
Xxx
The competitors climbed into their VR Pods and lied back as the canopies closed over them.
"Alright, let's hope we don't have any accidents," Carlos said. "Initiating VR Simulation."
The competitors were put under.
Xxx
When they awoke ,they stood in an empty room with stone walls and three doors. One had the Team C logo above it, one had the Team A logo above it, and the third had the Team V logo over it.
"Alright kids," Kurt announced. "To open up your Avatar Menu, just hold your right arm up. After that, the mental coordination and control programming will take care of the rest. Just pick what you want."
Duncan and Cody were the first to follow instructions. A pair of bright blue holographic screens appeared in front of them.
They had an image of the two competitors in their normal clothes. There were many various selections to choose from.
Cody began to cycle through different vampire hunter outfits. Gwen looked over them. "Wow, Mike really looked through his Vampire films."
"I do my best," Mike said smugly.
Cody soon settled on a basic dark attire with a trench coat and hat. He began to choose weapons. He grinned as he looked through pistols, rifles, cross bows, and equipment that could be used to easily slay the undead enemies they would face. First he chose a pair of revolvers, and a bandoleer with six stakes. Next, he took a cross bow and a bottle of holy water.
When he was done, the others admired his new appearance.
"Now that looks bad ass." Trent said, opening his own menu.
"So handsome." Sierra said in awe.
"Now you only have limited ammo so there are random ammo drops all over the map. Just open the box labelled ammo and it will refill your ammo stocks." Kurt explained. "There are also other weapons hidden around the field. And Cody, you might want to look through the last selection."
Cody opened a list of what looked like spells.
"You can choose two spells to use during this. You can also pick up scrolls that have other ones, but those only work once before they vanish." Carlos added.
"Solar Flare, Fire Blast, Lightning Bolt, they have the whole set of magic here." Cody said, selecting a spell that improved his accuracy and reaction time and a fire spell.
"Like what you see?" Courtney turned to Duncan, who now wore vampire hunting gear like Cody. He had chosen a pair of black pants, boots, a long sleeved black shirt, and had two bandoleers crossing over his chest. One held knives, the other held what looked like small vials. He also had a sword on his back, matching his style from Lyoko.
"Liquid Garlic," He held one up. "Man if I had this back home the Goths at school would throw a hissy fit."
"Oh ha ha," Courtney cracked a smile and opened her menu.
Gwen was the third to finish her outfit. She had chosen a pair of knee high boots and tights under a dark red tunic that went to her mid thigh. She also had a long black coat that had shoulder pauldrons. She rolled up her sleeves and looked at the arm blades attached to them, and then picked up the extendable scythe she had chosen as her signature weapon. She chose Telekinesis and Fire as her own spells.
Then a second later, Sierra came out...in the exact same outfit, but she had a pink tunic and a witch hat. She even had the same weapons as Gwen!
Xxx
Confessional: Gwen
"Copy cat much?"
Xxx
Confessional: Sierra
"I know I may look like a copy cat but the way I see if I try and mimic some of Gwen's habits and then do even more to make Cody notice me. I chose the same style of clothing Gwen did and even the same weapons and spells. He'll notice me for sure if I do better than Gwen in the match! Mwahahaha!"
End Confessional
Xxx
Trent came out in a pair of charcoal pants, boots, a grey shirt under a black trench coat, and had chosen a large chainsaw as his prime weapon and a large cross bow hang on his back with a quiver of bolts. He had also added a vial of holy water to his belt along with a butcher knife. For his own spells he took a lightning spell and a teleportation spell-he wanted a quick escape since he had some of the worst luck when it came to running around large areas, he usually fell or tripped on something. He was NOT taking a chance this time.
Geoff and Bridgette finished selecting at the same time. Geoff wore basically a black and gray version of his usual outfit with a matching hat and had a large axe on his back and a pair of large knives to go with it.
Bridgette on the other hand had chosen what looked like a full body suit, pitch black and didn't help to make Geoff focus more on the game. She had taken a pair of swords and many small vials of holy water and garlic.
They both chose water based spells.
"Looking good Bridge," Geoff said, tilting his hat to her.
"Don't you DARE start making-" Courtney was too late, and they went at it. "Aw crap."
Xxx
Confessional: LeShawna
"Who didn't that coming?"
End Confessional
Xxx
"Ah relax princess, just choose your outfit and let's get going." Duncan said.
Courtney sighed, opened her menu, and quickly chose. She went with a light attire-so as not to slow her down, she knew she'd be running a lot in this. It consisted of a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt to help her camouflage at night. She then chose a staff not unlike her Lyoko one and after some helpful advice took a few knives and then a machete. Her hair was done in a pony tail and she had a pair of sun glasses to go with it.
"Not bad," Duncan admired how Courtney's uh...figure stood out rather well with the clothes.
In the real world, Carlos and Kurt could already sense the hormones flowing.
Izzy ended up choosing an outfit similar to her robe from Lyoko, except darker and more ragged looking. She also had a set of retractable claws attached to her hands and had chosen a set of spells that allowed her to move and jump further and faster than normal.
Noah chose a pair of dark pants and a button up shirt under a black coat. For his weapons he just took a sword and a 'Book of How to Slay Vampires', it had a few more creative ways for him to deal with the undead leader if he met with it. He wisely chose an invisibility and lightning spell.
Heather chose a full body suit similar to Bridgette's, but she chose nearly twenty shuriken and two Chakram as her weapons. She took a telekinesis spell and a phase walking spell-she expected she'd get cornered eventually so she wanted a way out and what better way than phasing through ha wall like a ghost?
DJ's trench coat looked so big that it had to weigh as much as some of the smaller fighters. He had taken only a lot of holy water vials and a set of spiked gloves. He chose healing and shielding spells. Despite this, he still looked like the jolly giant he always was.
LeShawna went with some more armour over a body suit of her own, and was carrying two hammers, she also had a pair of butcher knives and machetes among her other weapons. She was in all ways a walking arsenal.
Alejandro chose a dark version of his usual attire, but had also added a long black cloak to it. Under it, hid many knives and small weapons and in one hand held a chainsaw like Trent's. Hanging on his back however was...
A flame thrower!
"Good choice," Noah commented.
Moments later Beth and Eva had slightly similar, generic outfits with the trench coats and dark clothing. Eva had spiked gloves like DJ while Beth nervously held a shotgun.
Lindsay had chosen an outfit that was more like a dress that reached her knees and left her arms bare. As she hummed happily, she carried a chain saw in one hand...making many step away from her.
Justin had chosen the flashiest outfit, going for brighter colours and had a shotgun in hand. He looked bored with this new challenge, but odds were he'd wet himself in the actual fight. He had wisely chosen an invisibility spell and just for good measure he had taken a spell that let him see in the dark.
With all of the fighters appropriately armed and stereotypically dressed like Van Helsing-or Van Helsing's sister they went to their own doors.
"Alright ,when you get out there you have a none hundred second count down before anything attacks you." Kurt said.
"You can attack other teams ,but in the long run you'll find it easier to just ignore them and focus on the large army of zombies after you." Mike spoke. "Now, let the games begin!"
Xxx
Team Amazon
"So what do we do?" Beth asked as Team Amazon appeared in a dark, deserted neighbourhood.
"We split up and kill as many as we can come across." Courtney replied, pumping her fist.
"Bad idea." Gwen said. "I guess you haven't watched any zombie or vampire movies."
"But I have leadership skills, I know-"
"Not in a zombie invasion! I've watched all the zombie movies and the vampire movies, even the crappy ones so I know what we're dealing with and what rules are needed to survive it!" Gwen said.
"Rules? They have rules for a movie of rampaging dead guys eating flesh?" Beth asked.
"I've played all the zombie games." Cody said.
"And he scored the highest in all of them!" Sierra said, happy to share more about Cody.
"Whatever, you shoot the zombie in the head and they're dead, right?" Heather asked.
"Right-" Gwen replied.
"Then let's just go find some zombies and kill them! We're falling behind!" Heather started walking down the street.
Gwen sighed. "Never go alone."
She walked after Heather with Cody following her who of course was followed by Sierra. Beth and Eva decided to follow them, leaving Courtney.
"Hey! Where are you going? Didn't hear me when I said I had a plan?" Courtney shouted but they did not listen.
Finally Courtney gave up and just followed them, frustrated.
Xxx
Team C
"Okay." Noah clapped his hands and looked at everyone. "We need to be organized for this challenge. We need to kill one hundred zombies and find the vampire before the others do. So we should split up into groups of two."
"Who made you leader?" Justin asked.
Noah scoffed. "Anyone in this group who knows how to deal with zombies raise your hand."
Duncan and Izzy raised their hands.
"Okay, so between me and anyone else who is not Izzy should know how to deal with this." Noah said.
"Quick question man, there are five of us so how can we split up in groups of two?" Duncan asked.
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"Good question. Someone should go with Justin cause he'll likely freak out when the first zombie comes out."
"Hey!" Justin said, taking offense.
"Who votes to pair Justin and Alejandro?" Noah asked.
"Aye!" Izzy and Duncan said.
"Hey!" Alejandro and Justin said at the same time.
"I agree. Three to two, you two are together." Noah said, smirking a bit.
Xxx
Confessional: Noah
"The way I figure it the faster we get the model and the eel away from us the better."
Xxx
Confessional: Izzy
"Pair one liar with another! Izzy HATES liars!"
End Confessional
Xxx
Team Victory
"Alright baby, bring it ON!" LeShawna roared as she crushed one Zombie's skull under her hammer.
Team Victory had ended up in the forest half of the level. Luckily when the zombie swarm had come they had managed to locate a nearby farm and began to fight the zombies off in the middle of the dead crop fields.
Geoff cleaved one zombie in half, and then brought his right foot up in a side kick that knocked another zombie's head off. Jerking his axe free, he swung it around in an arch and cut another zombie in half.
DJ simply crushed a zombie's skull if it got too close to him. When Trent, who was sawing through three zombies took a bite to the shoulder, DJ rushed over and began to use his healing spell on him. When it was done, a yellow meter marked 'Magic' appeared over DJ and went down from 100 to 90.
"Looks like we only get limited magic uses." Trent said ,revving up his chainsaw again.
"Bridgette! There's a well over there, think you can use it?" Geoff shouted as he tried to fight off a dozen zombies on his own. He backed away, hacking at them.
Bridgette called on her magic, and the Magic Meter over her went down from 100 to 80. Suddenly the well Geoff had pointed out shot out a torrent of water that began to flood the field in the general direction where most of the zombie horde was coming from. Many were washed away.
After it was over, a symbol appeared over Bridgette.
"Zombieocalypse!" A disembodied voice shouted.
"Oh right...there are achievements you can get in this, like on X Box. You just took out fifteen zombies within ten seconds Bridgette." Mike said.
"Awesome!" Bridgette said.
"Looks like your magic meters are down," Kurt said. "If you want to refill them or if DJ can't heal you, you can find Magic Potions. They're dropped in random locations, but there's a limit to them."
"And what's worse the in-game time is at ten oh clock, you have four minutes until you get a visit from the ArchDemons." Carlos said. "That farm looks a little...underprepared for holding off the opposite of an Arch Angel, you should find a better place to hole up in or just keep on the move."
"And word of warning to all teams, these guys will move a lot faster than Zombies or vampires." Mike added. "They will tear up everything around them if they even get the hint that you're there. Now these might be simple AIs but I've programmed an intentional error in them. They can make mistakes, they might assume you're nearby if there's a loud sound like a stone dropping or a splash. When they register it, they'll unleash hell."
"Ain't that comforting?" Geoff hefted his axe.
"Well, who votes we hide in the farm?" Trent asked.
"Me!" Lindsay, who was sitting on a pile of a dozen or so zombies she had slain-by accident apparently said as she looked at her reflection in her chainsaw's flat side.
"Uh...it's settled, we're moving out." Bridgette said when nobody else agreed with Lindsay.
Team Victory jogged out of the field and into the forest.
"One more word of advice," Mike said. "No taking roads outside of town. Trust me."
"What is that supposed to- WHOA!" Trent suddenly fell out of sight.
His team looked back at where he vanished...and saw a hole. They looked down and saw he had braced his hands and feet against the sides of it...mere feet from some spikes aimed up at him.
"Wow...you really do have the worst luck." Kurt chuckled.
"Don't worry, I prepared for this!" Trent shut his eyes ,and his magic meter went down to 75. He vanished in a flash of purple light and reappeared next to his team. "That was awesome."
"Well, that isn't." Bridgette pointed to a timer that appeared in the sky. IT was a clock...which was counting down to midnight!
"Two minutes to Demon time, run!" DJ shouted, and they went at a sprint for safety.
Xxx
Team Chris
Noah retracted his arm blades from the Sparklepire he had found. The creature collapsed ,screeching in a high pitched voice as it melted from the holy water on his blades. "Ok, if this weirdo was here the vampire is around here. Maybe if we stick at a certain distance and keep killing zombies we can hit him like ten seconds after we get a full load."
Duncan jerked his short sword out of another Sparklepire .He had impaled it through the back of its neck and made his sword come out through its mouth. He wiped his sword on a wall next to him and grimaced. "Pretty sure he heard us taking out his boy-toys here and took off."
"Or maybe he's in a coffin," Alejandro offered his input. "Could be hiding underground or..." He locked onto a church. "Ah-bingo!" He pointed at it. "That looks promising."
The doors were locked though, and after some effort the team found they were also reinforced. Noah looked at Alejandro. "Any other bright ideas?"
"I might have just the one." Alejandro said. "What spells do you all have?"
"Pretty sure if we burn it we'd burn the whole damn place and hit everything except the vampire if it went underground." Duncan said.
"Well then it's a good thing I got this." Alejandro called on his magic, and his meter went down to 90. Suddenly he reached for the door...and went through it and inside.
"...oh right ,we never found out what his spells were." Noah said.
As the doors opened Alejandro said. "Phase Walking and Invisibility, why do you ask?" He had his hands on his hips and a smug look as he jerked his head, gesturing for them to get inside.
"Hey good job guys," Carlos said. "That's one of the few secure areas in the game. ArchDemons don't go near it, and zombies are slowed down in it. Only the vampire is immune to it. Well him and his Sparklepires. If he's hiding here ,you just need to kill off a few more zombies."
"How many do we have again?" Noah asked.
A meter marked 'Zombie Kills' appeared overhead and showed 48 out of 100.
"Ok, plan," Noah said. "Two of us guard the inside and make sure the door is ready to open while three of us go outside and kill as many zombies as possible. When we're done, we regroup inside and look for the vampire."
"Sounds good to me." Duncan said. "Oh and dibs."
"DIBS!" Izzy said.
"Dibs." Alejandro said quickly.
Noah shrugged. "Be my guests." He gestured to the door, and the three stepped outside. He and Justin shut the door and locked it.
Justin sighed and lounged in an old chair that had been left lying around. "Now this is better."
"Yeah...stay and guard the door, I'm going to look for our vampire." Noah said.
"What?" Justin hopped to his feet.
"Just to confirm his location. If he's in here I'll let you know." Noah said.
Justin whimpered as Noah walked off into the darkness of the chapel. It was so dark he never saw Noah reach the altar at the end.
Noah looked at it. "I'm guessing this is a fictional religion, right?"
"Yep, gonna be used for my next game," Mike said. "No spoilers but it'll be good."
Noah sighed and moved around the altar...and paused as he heard a 'creek'. He spun, both arm blades extending out. Justin heard the brief sound of the blades singing to life and squeaked. "What's going on?"
Noah looked around. "Nothing...just thought I heard something."
He sheathed his blades and looked down. "And hello there." He had stepped on a trap door! He knelt and opened it. He saw a stair case leading down into shadows.
"You might want a light source for that place Noah," Kurt advised.
"I grabbed this on the way here." Noah held up a lighter and flicked it on. Then he grabbed a candle from the altar and lit it. Holding the candle in one hand, he dropped down onto the landing at the top of the stairs and then reached up and looked in Justin's direction. "Justin! I found a trap door! I'll go look around! If I shout 'Alamo', shut this trap door or get outside and warn the others!"
"Alright man!" Justin replied.
Noah dropped back down and started down into the dungeon under the church. When he reached the bottom he found a scripture carved into the wall on his right just before the wall ended in a corner that lead into an equally dark and generic corridor. He looked at the scripture. Suddenly words in basic text appeared, glowing white as they floated before him.
'If you seek the Beast of Blood, enter the labyrinth of the damned. But should the dead discover you, darken your hopes to escape.'
"Ooh...spooky." Carlos said.
"Wonder what it means." Kurt said out loud.
"It's obvious," Noah said. "Well I'm sure you got the first half. The vampire's most likely here or frequents the labyrinth. The next half means that if I'm discovered I should dim my hopes. When you wander in the darkness with a vampire you usually want a light so you can see, the light is your hope. So if the vampire or a zombie gets the drop on me I should just put my candle out to avoid it."
"Wow...pretty good kid," Carlos said.
"Ok, so one vampire is really down here, the only question is-" Noah paused as a sound filled the silence of the labyrinth. It sounded like some soulless, inhuman wail. More like an animal instead of a man. It made the labyrinth shake. The temperature dropped ,and frost began to form on the walls and floor.
"Uh...there you go dude ,it's down there," Mike said. "My vampire sends out that wail to let you know it's within a hundred meters of you. And when the frost forms, that means its less than fifty meters from you."
"Uh..." Noah swallowed. "Nice?"
"Oh, and if you start to hear really loud ragged breathing-"
A loud rattling breathing filled the darkness, it sounded like some of the boys did when they anticipated dinner.
"And if the frost starts to appear on you-"
He shook some flakes of frost off of his coat.
"And your candle's fire get bigger-"
"Okay I get it!" Noah shouted as his candle's light source grew.
"Uh...I was gonna say don't make a noise or it'll retreat and then close in on you from another direction." Mike said. "...nice knowing you Noah."
"I hate you," Noah said, and then noticed something built into the wall ahead. "Hello..."
He walked closer as the frost faded and silence returned. He was looking at a skeleton that was partially stuck in the maze wall. It looked dissimilar from the other skeletons Mike had added in random areas for effect. They looked cracked and yellow. This was white, smooth, reflecting the light of his candle, and had not a mark on it. It was like somebody had cleaned it recently.
But what drew his attention were the eyes. They glowed bright red and seemed to be staring at him.
"Meep!" Noah squeaked.
"You see him Noah?" Carlos asked.
"Uh I-uh...think so!" Noah rushed down the corridor, extending one arm blade as he went through twists and turns, memorizing each turn he took and modifying them in his memory so they would lead him back through the maze. 'Two lefts, one right, left, right, left, two rights!'
He stopped in a wider area that had a large hole covering the majority of it. Down in the hole was a series of stairs and walking planks. It was like a jungle gym.
Noah looked around, raising his candle as the frost began to form once more. The ragged breathing was so loud it was like it was in his ear now. Noah spun after determining the general direction...and reacted the moment he saw a shuffling of clothing, a figure beginning to form out of the darkness. He put out his candle and held his breath. The ragged breathing was literally right next to him within moments, and the frost was so heavy that it was making him feel numb and his hair feel heavy.
He shook as several footsteps breached the silence. At that moment Noah knew the vampire was within several feet of him. He shut his eyes, and slid the candle into one pocket. He then held both arms up, hands aimed upwards as he opened his eyes. He slowly turned in the direction of the noise.
He aimed one hand, and called on his magic. A stream of lightning shot out of his hands, lighting up the maze! He caught a glimpse of the vampire. It was clad in ragged clothing of what had once been formal attired. It's head was bald and misshapen, it's fingers gnarled and twisted, tipped with claws. It's flesh was falling off with every passing second and seemed to re-grow. It's eyes were pitch black entirely, except for a single red light within them that glared at Noah with such intensity he was glad that his spell hit it in the chest.
It flew back and hit a wall. It shrieked, opening its jaws as the light faded. Noah caught sight of the jaw splitting into several segments and multiple mouth tipped tentacles coming out of its throat.
He chose that moment to flee.
Xxx
Justin jumped when Noah ran out of the trap door.
"What'd you see?"
"There's no doubt about it. The vampire's down there. We've got to find the others." Noah said as he walked towards the front door.
Xxx
Beth cowered behind a car as Eva beat down several zombies with her fists. Heather threw several shuriken straight through the heads of a few zombies that charged at her. Gwen used her scythe to cut off a zombie's head after it tried to sneak up on her. Cody shot several zombies that were a few feet away.
Courtney swung her staff and took out zombie after zombie while Sierra used her scythe to cut down a zombies that even glanced at Cody with malicious intent.
"What's the count?" Heather asked.
Gwen look up and saw the score for Team Amazon.
"We've got seventy out of one hundred. Just thirty more to go."
"Yay! We're almost there!" Sierra cheered.
"But it's getting close to night and we'll be on the run from ArchDemons!" Beth said.
"She's right. We better find some place to hold out till done." Cody said.
"But we're so close to getting one hundred!" Courtney said, killing another zombie.
"Which doesn't help us if we don't know where the vampire is." Gwen said, slicing another zombie in half.
"So where do we go?" Eva asked.
"Who knows? In the meantime, can you shoot now Beth?" Heather asked.
"I'm just not good with guns." Beth said.
"Leave her alone, Heather. We're killing plenty already." Cody said.
He shot another zombie in the head which meant they had another twenty four zombies to kill.
"HI-YA!"
They turned and saw Izzy jump off a lamp post and cut up several zombies before they could react.
"OH YEAH!" Izzy shouted in enthusiasm as she ran at the next group.
"Hey! Those are our zombies!" Heather shouted.
"Don't bother, it's Izzy." Gwen said as she cut up another zombie. "Just hurry and up while there's still some left."
"Got it!" Sierra replied as she ran at a group of zombies with her scythe ready, letting out a battle cry.
"Sierra wait!" Cody shouted.
That was when a figure came out of nowhere and Sierra was sent flying straight into a lamp post. Her life points hit zero and she vanished back into the studio in the real world. Everyone turned to see an ArchDemon looking at them. It fit the rather stereotypical demon, standing at over ten feet in height and covered in scales that were blood red and with claws that looked big and sharp enough to rip an elephant in half. It's head was angular, with a snout like some dog's that had rows of rotting, yellow teeth. A pair of large horns stuck out of the back of the head, nearly as long as some of the contestants were tall. And then it stomped one cloven foot, cracking the ground underneath it.
It reared back its head, and then roared at the group. Everything seemed to slow down at that point, and several fighters nearly lost their balance. When it was over the ArchDemon clapped its hand over its head, and formed a giant, dark bladed sword.
"Oh crap!" Everyone nearly said.
The demon stared down at them with malicious red eyes. It quickly started to tear through the zombies since they were closest to it.
"There's a church nearby that'll keep us safe! RUN!" Duncan shouted.
Everyone took off following Duncan, Izzy, and Alejandro as they ran through the streets back to the church.
"What good will hiding in a church do?" Heather shouted.
"Carlos said ArchDemons don't go near churches and zombies are slowed down!" Alejandro replied.
"No time to talk! Just run!" Duncan shouted.
The Archdemon ran after them but they soon found the church and ran inside. The ArchDemon growled as its prey got away. They closed the doors and everyone sighed in relief.
"That was close." Cody said.
"Guys!" They turned and saw Noah and Justin come towards them.
"I see you brought company back." Noah said.
"Yeah, we ran into an ArchDemon and lost Sierra." Gwen said.
"Yeah and I found the vampire." Noah said.
"Where?" Duncan asked.
"Lurking under a trap door beneath the church." Noah said.
"Of course." Gwen said, deadpanned.
Xxx
Confessional: Gwen
"I should have known they would have the big showdown here."
Xxx
Confessional: Beth
"The only thing that was almost even more scary than this was the time DJ walked in on Heather while she was shaving her legs and her makeup. Heather's no psycho killer but I saw how scary it was on reruns of Season One."
End Confessional
Xxx
"Well, let's go!" Eva said as soon as Noah pointed to the trap door.
She ran towards it, tore it off its hinges and jumped down.
"She's excited." Cody commented.
"She loves kicking butt." Gwen said.
"We better hurry and catch up!" Heather said.
They all ran after Eva and jumped down the trap door. They landed in the tunnel and looked around.
"Nice." Gwen said, admiring Mike's work of the basement.
Beth and Justin trembled in fear from the skeletons on the ground and hanging on the wall.
"So which way was the vampire?" Duncan asked.
"Don't know. We'll know if we hear a soulless, inhuman wail." Noah said.
He pulled out a candle and lit it.
"Don't make a sound. If we do the vampire will retreat and then come at us from another direction." Noah said.
"Uh, we have a problem. There are two different teams here. How can we work together if the one who destroys the vampire wins?" Courtney asked.
Everyone stopped when she said that.
"That's a good point." Noah said.
"Do we fight over it?" Cody asked.
"Bad idea. Fight over who gets to fight the vampire means whoever is left will be easy for the vampire to get rid of." Gwen said. "Here's a better idea, what's your zombie count?"
"Eight three." Duncan said.
"And we're at eighty seven." Heather said smirking.
"It doesn't matter if we kill the vampire now because we'll just have to go back up and kill those zombies." Gwen said. "So each team sends only two down here to take out the vampire."
"Why only two?" Justin asked.
"There's no guarantee that we can take out the vampire so if we leave a few behind to finish the zombies and they come back and take out the vampire than one team will still win." Gwen explained her logic.
"Dibs on the vampire." Alejandro said.
"That things mine." Eva snapped.
"Justin, go with Alejandro," Duncan said.
"Why me?"
"Because I don't like you." Duncan replied tersely. "At least you can do something besides cower from zombies."
"Dude! Did you see how ugly their faces were? And all that rotting teeth!"
"...it's settled, you're being vamp bait so Al can gut it." Duncan said. "Or you can be dangled from the second floor of the church and play bait for the ArchDemon."
"I hate you man." Justin grumbled as Alejandro cracked his knuckles.
"I'll go with Eva," Cody volunteered ,holding up both revolvers.
"Alright, now we gotta handle that ArchDemon or wait it out." Gwen said as the four chosen ones rushed off to find their adversary.
"And give one team a chance to finish off the vampire?" Noah asked.
"Uh...genius, in case you haven't noticed, we can't help the guys who go for the vampire. So it goes either way." Duncan pointed out. "Say we kill more zombies up top, but Al and Justin bite the dust. We won't know until we kill a full hundred zombies. So that's why this is so fun, it's surprising!"
"And I think we can afford to team up on that ArchDemon." Courtney added.
"Beth, do you know how to use that shotgun?" Heather asked.
Beth nodded.
"Okay, I have an idea." Gwen said. "Duncan, Noah, Beth, you three head up to the second floor and get ready for my signal. Heather, Courtney, we'll bust the door down and distract the ArchDemon. We'll hit it with spells or far range weapons, and then...well follow me."
She led them back up into the church. She looked around. "I know it was here somewhere...ah ha!" She picked up a rather large jug of holy water. "This is ten times what we can carry in a flask. So maybe it'll deal some damage to the ArchDemon. You three get to pour it on the ArchDemon."
She handed it to Duncan. "After that, Beth goes to work with her shotgun and Izzy will run out and leap onto the roof of that hotel that was on the other end of the street outside. She'll attract the zombies while we all pile out and finish off the demon, then we all move in and cut the rest of them to pieces. After that, guess we just wait and see if the Vampire's dead or not."
"I like it." Izzy said. "Especially the part where I play bait!"
"I figure you would." Gwen said with a knowing smile. "Get into position."
Xxx
Five minutes later...
Duncan and Noah whistled at the same time.
"Wow..." Noah said. "I think more of them gathered.
"Yeah...hey Beth? You might want more shells." Duncan added as over a thousand zombies pooled in the area while the ArchDemon stood twenty feet away from the doors.
"Meep." Beth squeaked.
"Well, it's almost time," Duncan hefted the jug. "Ready?"
"Ready-" Noah paused as the front doors exploded outwards. Courtney, Heather, and Gwen leaped out, weapons cutting down zombies and magic flaring. The ArchDemon roared and pounded towards them.
"Okay, steady!" Noah advised Duncan. "Wait til I say to drop it!"
"Well you're the smart guy, so I won't whine this time." Duncan replied.
"Wait for it..." Noah said as the zombies began to advanced, many being crushed by the ArchDemon. "Wait for it..."
The ArchDemon formed its large sword again and prepared to cut down the three women.
"NOW!"
Duncan tipped the jug over, and the water poured down onto the demon. It's skin sizzled and boiled as it shrieked in pain, falling to its knees. Its life points began to drop.
"How much will that do?" Courtney asked.
"Well, one regular bottle is supposed to do forty," Gwen said. "So..."
The ArchDemon's life points stopped at 600, but it still lost one life point every few seconds as a side effect damage of being a Malignant Monster being touched by Holy Water. It growled, trying to get up, luckily the holy water also cost it speed and strength. The three women fell upon it, stabbing and slashing. Suddenly Duncan leaped down with a roar and jammed his sword into its back. It shrieked, unable to acknowledge Izzy as she rushed out on all fours, leaped on its head, her claws digging in and costing it another few life points before she leaped off and landed on the roof of her target: a two story hotel. She then howled, waving her arms. "Yoo hoo! Over here!"
Many zombies looked to her. Their programming made them react to the situation by choosing to go after the lone target instead of the four surrounding a powerful ArchDemon. They shuffled towards Izzy, who leaped down and cut two of them to pieces.
"Might want to get them before more show up!" Noah said as he and Beth joined the fight.
Beth's shotgun went off once and blew apart a zombie that had been mere inches from Noah, splattering him with uh...whatever it was made of. He sighed, wiped some of the gore off his face ,and said. "Okay Mike, you win, you're the better horror game designer."
"Hell yeah I am." Mike said smugly.
"I guess somebody in Chris' family had to be good at something besides having a mop for a head and blowing up stuff." Noah sighed.
"Hey, I went to Harvard damn it!" Carlos growled.
"And you were banned after that one incident that burned the principle's eye brows off! We still get some mail from him each month." In the real world Kurt held up an envelope. "Here's the latest." He pulled out a sheet of paper, which had letters cut out of newspapers and magazines to form the sentence 'I'll get you for this.'
"It was after I graduated though," Carlos pointed out.
"I thought you graduated on line!" Kurt said.
"Nope, total diploma and everything!" Carlos replied.
"...I swear the world just stopped and is going backwards now." Kurt shook his head, unable to accept that Carlos had truly gotten out of Harvard with a diploma. "I only hope the janitor got over his other accident."
"DO YOU GUYS MIND SHUTTING UP? WE'RE GETTING CLOBBERED!" Heather shouted as she tried to shove away multiple zombies, some of which bit her and soon had her life points down to 65.
"Sorry." Kurt and Carlos said at the same time.
Gwen swung her scythe and cut the zombies that were attacking Heather. The Zombie kill count for both teams rose up until both passed one hundred.
"Yes! We've done it!" Courtney shouted happily.
The ArchDemon roared as it finally stood up. It swung its claws down at Noah but Izzy jumped and pushed him out of the way. The demon's eyes narrowed as Beth shot at it. Taking the hit it roared in outrage and tried to strike her.
But Gwen used her fire spell that set the demon on fire. Screeching in pain and anger the demon turned its eyes to her. Its life points continued to drop from being attacked all around and the holy water was still weakening it. It attempted to strike her but Duncan stabbed his between its eyes.
The demon screeched and then fell over. Its skin turned to data streams and vanished.
A large sign labelled Bonus appeared over Duncan.
"You just killed an ArchDemon. A thousand point bonus!" Mike said.
"Hey! It was my plan!" Gwen said.
"Sorry, Pasty, but I killed it." Duncan said smirking.
Xxx
While the others were fighting the zombies above Justin was shivering as he, Alejandro, Cody, and Eva walked through the dark tunnel in their search for the vampire.
"So, what's the plan for taking out the vampire?" Eva asked.
"Well, one or two of us distracts it while the other takes out." Cody said.
"So who distracts it?" Justin asked.
Everyone turned and looked at him.
"Me? No way! I'm a model! I'm too handsome to be used as bait!"
One minute later . . .
Justin was hung upside down and gagged. He was thrashing around and his screams were muffled by the gag. It wasn't long before large footsteps were heard. The vampire slowly came out of the shadows and Justin struggled harder and his muffled screams even louder.
The vampire stopped right in front of him and started sniffing. Justin, who only heard its breath in the dark, activated his night vision spell...and fainted from just looking at the vampire's face.
"Peek-a-boo!"
Alejandro dropped the invisibility spell he used to cloak himself and Cody. The vampire screeched in shock as Cody threw his bottle of holy water into the vampire's face. The bottle smashed and holy water burned through the vampire's skin like acid. It screeched, and it's clawed hands seemed to grow, flesh ripping from bone as claws the size of machetes formed.
It howled, frost forming over the area as its power flared. It's lower jaw splintered into pieces ,and many tentacles tipped with hissing snake heads uncoiled and hissed at the fighters from the vampire's throat. It ripped its coat and shirt off, revealing two large bumps forming on its shoulder blades. Its spine began to bend and stick out through the dead flesh, spike cutting their way to the surface as blood flowed out.
And soon, an even scarier vampire stood before them. It's two eyes became eight eyes like a spider, and to end the transformation, a tail shot out of the base of its spine, tipped with spikes and lined with even more. It dropped onto all fours.
Shocked, the two warriors looked at one another.
The words appeared over it in blood red: Vampire King Form.
"Did we have a contingency plan for it becoming a uh...Vampire King?" Cody asked.
"Two." Alejandro held up two fingers as they backed away from the advancing monster.
"What were they?"
"Number one, we count on Eva to save us."
"And the other?"
"Number Two, the most likely one...we run away screaming so loud people will think we're eunuchs." Noah replied tersely.
"I like that one-" The vampire launched itself at them. They raised their weapons in defence ,but it swept them aside with a swing from its tail and made them hit a wall. It leaped onto the ceiling of the corridor and snarled at them. Many snakes shot out of its mouth and began to rain down on them.
Brrrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!
Suddenly Eva came out of the shadows, her chainsaw on fire and cutting through the snakes. She looked up at the vampire. "Come on, bring that pretty little face over here and let's give you a quick shave." He held the chainsaw up. "Let's not make it too difficult."
The vampire lunged at her. She swung, and his chainsaw dug into its shoulder ,but didn't cut its arm off as he planned. It slowly gripped the chainsaw between both hands and forced it back up. Eva blinked as it forced his weapon up and away from itself, leaving nothing between them. She chuckled nervously. "Uh he-he-he-he...bye!" She let go of the chainsaw and rushed back to Alejandro and Cody before it tore the weapon to pieces. "Plan C?"
"What's plan C?" Cody asked.
"You don't know? You're the smart one!" Alejandro said, panicking as the vampire closed in on them.
"Hm..." Cody saw Justin's shotgun hanging from him by a strap. "I got it!"
He rushed by, and dove to the floor as the vampire tried to take his head off. He got up and grabbed the shotgun, tearing it free. He spun and fired ,being launched off his feet by the recoil. The shell tore a hole in the vampire, splattering blood on the floor but not killing it.
It howled, and Cody took this chance. He attacked, jamming a knife into its back and trying to sever its spine. It twisted and knocked him aside with an arm. Alejandro attacked next, slamming it into a wall and then tossing it to the ground. He grabbed a rather large stone ,and all three boys came upon it at once, smashing and stabbing. Its life points went down bit by bit as it futilely struggled against its inevitable fate.
And then, after Cody finished loading the double barrelled shotgun again with some shells he took from Justin's pockets, he rushed up and jammed it into the vampire's open mouth. He fired the first shot, and blew a hole out the back of its neck. It kept twitching, its tail swinging. Its wounds were beginning to slowly sew themselves back together.
"Heart! Go for the heart!" Alejandro shouted as he slammed his rock down on its skull again and again.
Cody obeyed ,jamming the shotgun under its easily visible ribs. He angled it up under them, pressing into saggy, dead skin, and fired. The vampire froze, and then went limp.
Over Cody, the words appeared in gold: Vampire Slayer, Victor!
Cody sighed in relief and tossed the gun away. "I won!"
Xxx
"Well, never saw that coming." Kurt said as he, Carlos and Mike sat with 3-D glasses and popcorn, watching what had been a rather entertaining movie for them.
"Yeah...man, they should use this program to make all the new horror movies from now on," Carlos said. "Van Helsing would have been a hell of a lot better like that."
Everyone woke up back in their pods and sat up.
"We won!" Cody said.
"Yay, Cody!" Sierra ran over and hugged him.
"Congratulations, Team Amazon. Team Victory was stuck in the farm fending off zombies and ArchDemons while Team I Am Soooooo Hot actually killed an ArchDemon but since Team Amazon killed the vampire and over one hundred zombies they are the winners." Chris said.
Team Amazon cheered and they held Cody in the air.
"Team Me was given a bonus for killing the ArchDemon so they come in second place. And Team Victory . . ." Chris looked at them. "See you at the loser ceremony."