Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Total Drama characters that I choose to torture—I mean put in the story! They are merely here for mine, and your amusement. No profit is being made off of this (No one would would stoop as low as to pay me for this anyway) I give all credit to the creators of Total Drama, as well as Johnny Depp, because...well, he's Johnny Depp!

Notes From The Depths of Vampirism- Oh WHY oh WHY does something always go wrong when I promise to get a new chapter out soon! Of course, as I was writing this chapter, my keyboard decided to commit suicide and prevented me from using the "a" and "s" keys which if you didn't know, are two VERY IMPORTANT letters in the English language! So of course I wasn't able to write until I got a new keyboard. I also fell into several creative slumps along the way, but you should really be thanking the wonderful "Creaturemaster" for helping me write several incredible battle sequences in this chapter as well as the previous one! Being a League of Legends player, he was able to help me out tremendously and his writing is probably twenty times better than mine (as you'll see)! Go and give him a look! He has some Total Drama content as well as an incredibly popular Ben 10/Monster High crossover with an Ever After High sequel! Seriously, if you're into any of that, go check it out!

I seriously apologize for the late chapter, guys. Unfortunately, I'm going to be subject to getting a job very soon which will limit the time I have to work on this story, but I refuse to quit! We're gonna keep this show rolling, even if it takes FOREVER! (Insert spongebob reference here)

FireFlamerx9z: Indeed it would, it's just one of many references I didn't feel like naming. Good catch! Also, the TV Tropes page has been made for a while but I was actually surprised to see more work done on it!

TheBlueAzuru: Wow, I don't think I'll ever get to the point where there's years between chapters! I know I'm bad at updating but I'm sure not that bad XD I'm glad you liked the writing, you should definitely thank Creaturemaster for some of that! He did an amazing job! Also, about Total Drama Daycare, obviously I'd love a new season of TD or TDRR more, but this looks like it could end up being pretty entertaining. I don't know, I guess we'll have to see what Fresh has concocted for us!

Mpatton17: Oops I didn't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

CMR Rosa: I agree with you on Duncan. I don't hate him but I sure do like to see him get comeuppance!

FOWLKON: Ahhh! Sorry for not updating! Hope you were satisfied with the conclusion of this incredibly long set of chapters though! I'm glad you liked the character designs, I think they definitely suited them quite nicely. I also agree that Total Drama Daycare has potential and I hope it's good, but I do think most people won't bother to watch it. I definitely would have preferred a new season but hopefully this still ends up being good!

Joel Connell: My memory is a little fuzzy but I think I might have added that part on TV Tropes since there wasn't much there so I decided to add to it. I guess I must've accidentally been early XD

Codammy Forever: Thanks! Although Samey isn't gone from the game for good like some of the other Virtual Reality games. In this one the characters can respawn when they die as you'll see down below.

Great Idea Alert: Once again you do not disappoint with the great ideas! While Zeke probably won't be hunting down Rodney with a lamppost, there's definitely gonna be some friction between the two! I also like your idea with Gwen, Heather, and Sierra's inputs on Cody and Samey's relationship and trust me, I've got plans to flesh out all the characters, including Staci.

Kixen: I'm glad you like the story! Yeah with how long I've been writing it I tend to forget some things and make some error but I'm happy you still enjoy it! I got rid of the voting booth thing because for a lot of the votes most of the confessionals weren't that interesting, although I'll be doing them for shocking votes and things like that when the confessionals have more to them.

CodyandSammyRule: Yeah, I sure hope Total Drama Daycare ends up being good because it seems Fresh lost about half the fan base when they announced it. Maybe if it's good we could get a new season of Total Drama! Although that might be wishful thinking at this point. As for your Christmas Special idea, it might be interesting and I'll definitely consider it, but for now I'm gonna focus on this story since, as you can see, I'm having enough trouble with this one as it is! XD

Lone Wolf: I actually really like this idea! I might just use it!

TheSaneSierra: You're definitely like Sierra! XD I'm glad you love the story and good luck in writing your own FanFiction! Some tips I have would probably be to listen to your readers but don't forget that you're the one writing it so don't be afraid to say no. I'm sure you've already done this, but also re-watch seasons of Total Drama to get a feel for the characters if you're doing a returnee season. And lastly, have fun!

RickSanchez: OH /censored/ IT'S RIIIIIIICK! I heard about the Szechuan Sauce and all I can do is laugh! Rick and Morty became such a pop culture icon that McDonalds actually brought back that sauce. Unbelievable! Also, don't worry, you're definitely not the only one who came here for Cody and Samey.

POFTUS Garrison: I'm glad you like Cody and Samey's relationship and sorry to keep you waiting on the updates! I'd like to think locking people together to sort out their issues would work in real life, but I feel like it could end badly in several situations. Good thing this is a cartoon!

Concerned Fan: Indeed a concerned fan you are. Don't worry I'm not dead! Just some technical difficulties! Glad you like the story and sorry for killing you with the suspense!

Triggered Fan: Are you by any chance related to Concerned Fan? Sorry for busting your balls with the suspense but I'm here at last! Also don't get too triggered, you might pop something important!

Jonesing Fan: Are you by any chance related to Concerned Fan or Triggered Fan? Also, it's been a while since I've watched We Bare Bears but it's definitely a great show! Maybe if I can get back to it I'll add a reference or two in. Or three or four or five.

SpaceFire: Well that's three of them! Nice job, glad to see someone who plays Overwatch here XD also: BOOOOOSTTIIOOOOOOOOO!

Charlie Brown: I'M SORRY DON'T HURT ME! Also, you'll be happy to know that the next Cruise of Lose will actually follow this episode! I decided to make it one episode earlier mostly because they're easier to write and also because so many people have been itching to read it!

And with that, let's get back to the show!

Episode 22, Part 2 – Dunces and Dragons

Courtney was never one for video games, it just wasn't in her nature.

Had her parents – particularly her mother – not been so domineering and forceful in pushing her to succeed, she might have developed an appreciation for them, but now she simply couldn't understand why people were so interested in them. Sure the graphics could be impressive, the story lines potentially engaging, and the characters conceivably interesting, but beyond that she couldn't understand why some individuals had dedicated their entire lives to a world of pixels and digital coding.

Then again, if video games were anything like this, she could begin to understand what all the fuss was about.

Sweat poured from her brow as she dashed through the jungle's undergrowth, ducking and dodging over and under the gigantic ferns that dwarfed her and the branches that lunged for her from out of nowhere, barely missing her. The dappled light from above the forest's canopy illuminated her path, a well worn trail between the enormous mushrooms and ancient ruins that time had long since forgotten. Without missing a beat she front-flipped down an incline, landed on a lichen-covered boulder, leaped over to the face of a tree, and launched herself through the air, tucking herself into a ball to cushion her landing before she popped up and continued running.

She had never felt more alive! It felt like she was supercharged, like she had been struck by lightning. Her feet barely kissed the ground as she moved with such grace and speed, whipping along the forest floor like a rocket and just barely avoiding collisions with the trees and rocks that stood in her way. While she was considerably athletic, she moved with such skill and precision, it was like she had been training every hour of every day of her life for years on end.

The last time she felt like this, she had raided Chef's fridge back on the island and run off into the woods with her ill-gotten booty like the hounds of hell were after her.

The Type A frowned as she rounded a corner and swiftly skidded to a stop, kicking up a soft cloud pine needles and dried sap as she did so. She pushed the memory away, lest she even get remotely sentimental about her ex partner-in-crime.

She instead focused on her current location and accessed the small mini-map that hovered just out of the corner of her eye. According to it, she was in the northern quadrant of the jungle in front of one of the many neutral monster camps that littered the area; if the map was any indication, it was the biggest in the vicinity and thus would be the toughest to take down, not that she had much doubt in her abilities.

Courtney allowed herself a smile when she glanced at the glowing, blue ring that surrounded her in a tight ring, signifying that she had killed the blue buff – a large, roughly golem-like creature whose body had been composed out of what looked like the ancient, moss-covered ruins of a temple of sorts with a single azure eye and crushing, ethereal blue claws that it had viciously attempted to defend itself with.

Not that it had stood much of a chance against her questionably-stained daggers.

"Alright, tough guy, where are you?" she murmured to herself, putting the map away for the time being.

She quickly caught sight of a large, out of place bramble bush that quietly sat in the shelter of a large alcove – or perhaps even a nest of sorts – surrounded by haphazardly piled rocks and logs that had been tied together beneath the roots of a gigantic tree that was probably hundreds of years old given its size; what particularly caught Courtney's interest was how the ground was covered in a thick layer of ashes, as if it had been subjected to constant fires.

The ground beneath her feet suddenly trembled and she watched as the bramble bush began to rock from side to side, as if it were trying to loosen itself from the soil's tight grip. A large root that vaguely resembled a foot tipped with sharp, wooden claws abruptly burst out of the earth, followed shortly by another. The two limbs strained as they hauled a large mass caked in layers of dirt and charred pine needles out of the ground, followed by a second pair of short, stumpy legs. A loud cracking noise filled the air as a jagged maw and a pair of crimson eyes split open across the front of a large slab of bark between the two legs, about where a face might have been. The strange looking beast bellowed as it shook itself to appear more intimidating, sending dirt flying everywhere to reveal a nest of creepers and thorns and vines heaped around and over a populous stump that cover the creature's back; sheltered in a shallow hollow in the stump was a swirling mass of pulsating, red energy.

"A brambleback?" Courtney raised an eyebrow as she briefly read the creature's stats and pulled out a pair of her largest and sharpest daggers. "More like whittling wood, if you ask me."

The enormous plant creature bellowed at the insult and raised up one of its feet in an attempt to squish her like a bug. The assassin almost laughed as she effortlessly back-flipped out of the way and planted her feet on a well-placed rock, using it as a springboard to launch herself at the brambleback and take it by surprise. Mere seconds before she would have driven knife into its face, she hurled one of her daggers over the beast's back and disappeared in a white flash of arcane energy, only to appear directly behind it.

Before the monster could attempt to turn around, the Type A retrieved the stiletto and slashed at its back legs, cutting through one of them and dropping the beast down at an awkward angle when it bellowed in pain. It lashed out at her with startling speed and slammed one of its forelegs into her, batting her aside as easily as a cat would play with a ball of yarn. Courtney went flying and landed against the back of the plant creature's lair with a sharp thud! as her body lay like a rag-doll over the boulders and roots.

Surprisingly, she felt no pain, even though the blow should have most likely killed her. She took a glance at the vibrant green health bar that hovered above her head and instinctively hissed with pain when she saw that about a quarter of her health had been cut down from the one attack alone.

"Alright, no more fooling around," she mumbled to herself. "Time to get serious."

The brambleback roared in agreement and lunged at her with savage ferocity, clamping its petrified jaws on the spot where her legs had been mere seconds before she rolled out of the way. With a grunt and her daggers still in hand, she expertly rolled over on her back, grabbed hold of a tree root, and hauled herself up in order to gain a height advantage.

Courtney expertly front-flipped over the plant creature as it lunged at her again and landed three throwing knives in the beast's back with the satisfying sound of splitting wood, expertly landing on her feet behind it and drawing out another pair of blades; a strand of her cardinal hair over her face and she blew it out of the way between her ragged breathing.

The beast bellowed angrily as it shuffled around to face her, glowering at her with its hot, red gaze. A low growl emanated from its core while it shivered its jaws with a unsettling clacking noise, like that of wood being carelessly piled on top of one another, and stomped its feet in an intimidating gesture. The crimson orb of energy that it protected flared in response to the creature's temperament, bathing the small clearing in a kaleidoscope of deep maroons and bright cardinals.

"YAAAAAAAHHH!" the mercenary screamed at the top of her lungs as she charged at the monster with reckless abandon.

Despite the loss of one of its legs, the plant creature moved far faster than it should have and took a swipe at her, missing her by mere inches. The loss caught it greatly as it earned a dagger to the foot as a response and suffered a deep along the length of its forelimb when Courtney dropped to the ground and expertly slid beneath its belly to reappear behind it once more. She didn't wait for it to try and turn around and chucked one of her daggers over its back, vanishing in a white flash of light as she went to retrieve it.

This time however, the brambleback was ready and brought it heavy foot down the moment she reappeared, forcing her to take drastic action and tumble out of the way at the last second before she could successfully recover her stiletto. Pulling out another knife, she threw it at the creature's face with incredible precision and landed a direct hit to its left eye, leaving it half-blind as it bellowed in pain; the wound oozed a hot, amber sap. With her confidence now coming back to her, she drew another blade and hurled straight into the treetops, waiting patiently and inwardly counting down the seconds it would take for the bayonet to drop back down to the ground; the monster – though dazed – was nevertheless determined to seek vengeance and came charging at her like a bull, hoping to crush her under its tremendous weight.

At the last second however, Courtney evaporated in another gleam of white magic and reappeared several feet in the air directly above the plant creature's head with daggers drawn and a victorious smirk upon her lips.

The redhead gave a battle cry as she fell and landed on the beast's back, driving her blades into the petrified wood with as much force as possible. "EEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The plant creature responded immediately and wildly began trying to dislodge her from its back by jumping around like a bucking bronco, squealing and bellowing all the while. And like a champion rodeo rider, Courtney held on to the handles of her daggers – which were embedded in the beast's body deep enough to offer a significant foothold – with all her might. The beast roared as it blindly charged at one of the walls of its lair and smashed its shoulder into the rocks and roots before whirling around and ramming headfirst into the opposite side with all its might. And still she refused to let go, holding on with all her might while the monster wore itself out.

Eventually however, the brambleback gave a final, wild charge and with the last of its strength, finally managed to send her flying. The assassin smirked as she effortlessly disappeared in a burst of white light before she would have been shattered against the enormous trunk of a tree and reappeared directly in front of the plant creature with a smug grin on her face; she leaned against one of the large boulders that lined the nest.

The monster was momentarily confused and snarled, glaring at her with its one good eye.

Courtney nonchalantly pointed a finger towards the creature's back, specifically the spot directly behind the head where she had been hanging for dear life mere moments ago. There, tightly clamped to the petrified wood, was a small vial of sorts with bronze caps and eight metallic legs drilled deep into the bark; a small, yellow light on the "head" was blinking slowly.

The brambleback turned its gaze back to her and growled lowly, as if to say "I hate you".

Courtney just gave a smug look before she activated her Poison Trap ability and watched with satisfaction as the vial exploded and enveloped the beast in a cloud of deadly chemicals and toxins. It wailed and bellowed as the cocktail of poisonous substances viciously raced through the creature's vital systems and brought it to its knees with a low tremor; glancing up at the health bar, she nodded with satisfaction.

Five health points. A single stroke was all it would take to secure the red buff.

Sauntering over to the dying creature, the Type A planted a foot on its forelimb with a smug smirk on her lips, earning a curl of the beast's timbered lip and a glare with a hatred as potent as the poison coursing through its veins. "Nothing personal. I just hate to lose." she said as she drew another questionably-stained dagger from her jacket.

"INCOMING, PANSY!"

The sound of approaching doom came in the form of a pair of gigantic, metal gauntlets big enough and powerful to crush her skull like an egg. Courtney barely had enough to tumble out of the way before Eva, in all of her brash and abrasive glory, smashed through the side of the brambleback's lair like it was tissue paper and hammered right into the withering monster's underbelly. It popped like a balloon on contact, exploding in a cloud of smoldering leaves and burnt woodchips that fluttered to the ground like confetti.

Courtney coughed and growled as she propped herself up and hauled herself to her feet, glaring angrily at the Female Bully while she casually dusted herself off – or more specifically, at the glowing red ring that now surrounded her.

"Hey! That was mine!" she shouted angrily.

The look that Eva gave her as she ominously socked the fist of her gauntlet into her other hand made her immediately regret that decision. "Yeah? Well it's mine now!" She grinned at the assassin.

Courtney yelped and back-flipped out of the way as small rockets installed in the back of the knuckles of Eva's gauntlets suddenly fired off and sent her barrel right at her with one mighty fist drawn back and ready to introduce itself and every last one of its fingers to her face. She could have sworn she felt the wind breath against her neck when the brawler just barely missed her by half an inch and still caused her to stumble like she had just been hit with a car.

The bruiser gnashed her teeth and struck again, this time landing a successful blow to Courtney's back that sent her rolling end over end until she landed upside down against the tremendous trunk of an ancient pine with a loud thump! Despite the spinning sensation in her head, she was well aware of her surroundings and was more than aware that Eva was coming at her again with her gauntlets readying and waiting to pound her into a bloody pulp.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – Face meet fist. Fist meet face. Feel free to get acquainted with one another)

Courtney - "Okay, Eva was scary in real life but this is a whole new level of scary!" She exclaimed. "Did you see the size of those gauntlets? She could crush someone with a pat on the back!"

Eva- "I've been doing my best to keep my cool and not go ballistic on people like I used to, and I think I'm doing a pretty good job," She admitted, "But sometimes you just wanna let it all loose and luckily, I've got the VR for that." She grinned.

Despite her less than desirable position on the ground, the assassin removed one of the many knives from the leather straps around her legs and hurled it as high into the air above her as possible, watching with nervous eyes as it disappeared from view in a cloud of leaves. The sound of approaching death was imminent and the ground had in fact began to tremble as Eva drew closer . . . and closer . . . and closer . . . she could almost feel the scorching heat from the rockets by now and briefly wondered how the enforcer dealt with noxious smoke constantly being blown in her face when-

There!

A mental pull of sorts that signified that the blade had landed – thankfully nowhere near her face or other vital body parts – and she instinctively reached for it, enveloping herself in a blast of white light and vanishing into thin air just as the Female Bully plowed straight into the trunk of the tree with the loud crunch! and scream of twisted metal.

Woodchips and sawdust flew everywhere, stinging Eva's eyes and making her violently cough as she tried to recover. Blinking through the slowly dissipating haze, she wildly looked around for her target and profoundly cursed when she found the surrounding forest devoid of any red-haired, questionably-stained knife-wielding redheads with a death wish.

"Try again, slowpoke!"

Eva growled at the mocking tone and followed the sound of Courtney's voice, glowering up at her when she found her crouching on a thick tree branch several stories above her with a smug smile on her face. It was then that she also noticed that the enormous, redwood-sized tree that she had crashed into was now sporting a rather large crater in its trunk and looked like it was going to fall over at the slightest breeze; an idea struck her.

"Get back here!" Eva hollered as she charged at the tree that Courtney was currently taking shelter in and rammed her gauntlets into the thick trunk, letting her knuckles take the brunt of the blow. The tree shuddered as half its trunk gave away and groaned with protest as it started to sway from side to side, unable to keep its balance much longer.

With a flash of fear across her face, Courtney realized just what the brawler was up to and quickly hurled herself through the air just as she punched through the second half of the tree's trunk, bringing it down with the sound of crackling and moaning wood. A tremendous crash! rang throughout the jungle as the tree fell to the ground and landed with a cacophony of broken branches and scattered leaves, leaving a rather impressive hole in the canopy in its wake.

The Type A swallowed anxiously as she clung to the branch of another nearby tree with a single hand and grunted as she slowly hauled herself up, gripping the branch tightly as if it were a lifeline. Knowing that she was going to immediately regret the decision, she spared a glance downward and – as predicted – immediately wished she hadn't when she saw Eva charging at the trunk of the tree she was currently hunkering down in.

"Superhuman agility, don't fail me now!" she yelped as she hurriedly scrambled to her feet and threw herself off the branch, mere seconds before the tree succumbed to Eva's blows and fell to the ground with a mighty crash! Courtney didn't dare look behind her as she reached out with a hand and grabbed hold of a branch in front of her, using her momentum to swing her entire body up and throw herself through the air once more. Her feet made contact with the trunk of another tree and she instinctively pushed off, sending her flying through the air without missing a beat.

Eva snorted like a bull, clenching her fists. "Oh, no you don't! You aren't getting away that easily!"

With her heart in her throat, the assassin didn't dare look back as she practically flew through the trees, swinging and leaping from branch to branch like monkey. Her fingers grappled to find any precipice for her to latch onto with white knuckles, any foothold that her feet could briefly occupy before she was forced to flee once more. The sound of splintering timber and the felling of the forest followed in her wake as the Female Bully blasted through trees as if they were toothpicks, leaving a trail of devastation wherever she went.

"You can't run forever, you parasite!" she shouted as she plowed through another tree like it was made of tissue paper.

As much as she hated to admit it, the bruiser had a point. Even if she could theoretically never run out of energy while in this world of pixels and programming, she wouldn't be contributing to her team whatsoever. And in the event that they lost . . .

She wasn't willing to take that chance. With great reluctance, she hurriedly began to press the button hovering just out of her line of sight as Harold had briefly instructed her. A pair of frantic, high-pitched pings and blue flags that signified her request for assistance rang through the air; now all she could do was wait and hope that someone – anyone – would respond and come to help her.

CRASH! BOOM!

For the time being however, she had to survive long enough for aid to come to her. The redhead quickly leaped to the safety of another tree as her perch was quickly obliterated by the enforcer that prowled below like a hungry lioness, waiting impatiently for the time when she would slip up and she could seize her chance.

"Alright. No more running." Courtney muttered to herself under her breath. Part of her was utterly terrified – after all, Eva was scary enough outside of the game's fantastical world – but another part of her refused to accept that and demanded that she fight back for the sake of her dignity. The last thing she wanted was for people – namely two teammates who were completely infatuated with her – to think that she was completely helpless.

The assassin drew out a pair of bayonets from her ostensibly infinite supply and chucked one of them as hard as she could at a tree trunk some distance away before she threw herself into the air. With a low groan, the enormous elm she had been roosting in gave in to the brawler's destructive blows and collapsed beneath her as she disappeared in a burst of white light, only to reappear at the spot where she had thrown the knife. In a flash, she had pulled out the blade and pushed off the tree trunk with her feet, sending her flying right at her opponent.

A sudden gust of wind blew past her and Eva fell to one knee before she even knew what was happening, crying out with a mixture of rage and pain as she used one of her titanic gauntlets to support herself. With surprising tenderness, she tentatively touched the spot where she had been certain she had been slashed and instinctively hissed when she felt the deep cut across her cheek and drew her hand back to see it stained a deep crimson; the game naturally numbed the pain she should've felt, but she couldn't help still feel like it did.

"What? Can't take a hit?" Courtney taunted.

At the sound of the mocking tone, the bruiser's nostrils flared and her head shot up at the sight of Courtney standing a short distance away, carelessly twirling one of her daggers while she leaned against the trunk of a tree with a small smile on her lips.

"Oh I sure can, but the question is: can you?!" she roared. The rockets embedded in the back of the gauntlet's knuckles burst into flame in response to her rage and she came charging at the Type A with reckless abandon and blind fury. At the last second however, she jumped straight up into the air and grabbed onto an overhead branch, pulling herself up as Eva plowed straight into the tree as expected.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!"

The Female Bully snarled as she brushed herself off, slightly dazed but nonetheless furious. "Watch me!" she spat. With a thunderous boom! that rattled the entire tree to its core, the enforcer planted one of her tremendous gauntlets into the bark and hauled herself up with a single thrust, clamping her other hand around the branch that Courtney was sitting on, threatening to snap it in half.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – It's going down, I'm yelling timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)

Courtney - "I admire Eva's determination . . . it kind of reminds me of myself, actually . . . I'd actually be kind of proud of her if I wasn't so terrified of getting beaten into a bloody pulp when this whole thing is over! Note to self: file for restraining order on Eva for personal safety reasons."

Eva - "She went too far, I tell ya, too far! Nobody talks to me like that and gets away with it without getting their teeth kicked!"

Brambleback - *draws a crude pair of horns, beard and mustache, monocle, arrow through the head, and crosses out the eyes on a picture of Courtney while nursing multiple bruises and wounds to its pride*

A flash of fear crossed the redhead's face and she hurriedly leaped to the safety of another, more sturdy branch when the hand of a giant, metal gauntlet came shooting straight at her, just barely missing her. Eva ground her teeth as she pulled herself up onto the tree branch – ignoring how it groaned ominously beneath her tremendous weight – and lunged for her opponent a second time just as the bough gave way beneath her feet and plummeted to the forest floor below.

With her blood pounding in her ears, the mercenary jumped above and landed on the bruiser's shoulders with the intent of driving one of her daggers through her skull with a quick, downward thrust and as much force as possible. At the last second however, the Female Bully caught her by the wrist and tore her from her back with a single movement of her arm, throwing her down on the branch with a sickening thwack! that would have bruised the spine of most people. Courtney didn't waste a second and scrambled to her feet to jump out of the way of a wild haymaker that severed the edge of the branch they were fighting on, landing on the bough above her adversary.

With a single punch, Eva snapped the assassin's branch in two and dug the metal fingers of her other gauntlet into the tree trunk to slow her fall onto another branch below. Courtney landed with a small thump! a few seconds later and ducked beneath a blow aimed at her face; the tree shuddered under the impact, shaking leaves from the canopy. The enforcer growled and swung again, missing as her opponent ducked a second time and pressed herself with her back against the trunk of the tree, essentially cornering herself.

"Now I have you!" she spat as she attempted to crush her with a haymaker.

At the last second, Courtney quickly spread her legs – kicking Eva in the jaw in the process – just as the gauntlets came crashing down, jolting the branch they were perched upon and just barely missing her by less than half an inch. A sheepish smile crossed her lips when she looked up at the less than thrilled enforcer. "Close one, huh?"

The Female Bully barely had any time to react before she was kicked in the jaw again and the Type A scrambled to her feet in a flurry of lightning fast jabs and leather boots, dancing back as the brawler swiped at her once, twice, and then attempted to punch her head clean off. Her incredible acrobatics saved her and she quickly back-flipped out of the way just as the gauntlet smashed into the face of the tree again, grabbing onto a smaller branch just behind her and using her momentum to kick Eva in the jaw a third time. The assassin land behind her with stilettos at the ready, panting heavily.

Where the hell is that backup? she wondered, fearing she was running out of options.

"Again with the kicking . . ." Eva grumbled as she wiped her bleeding lip with the back of her hand. "When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna-

A sharp whistle broke her concentration and her head instinctively whipped towards the source of the sound, crying out with fever and furor as something fast and sharp embedded itself deep into her left shoulder; a trickle of blood trickled from the wound as the bruiser pulled the object out and examined it with confusion and disdain.

A golden feather as thin and sharp as a knife.

"Looking for someone?"

The brawler perked up at the sound of the voice, completely ignoring Courtney as she whirled about in bewilderment. "Where are you? Show yourself!"

The only answer she got was a pair of razor-edged feathers that embedded themselves into her back, causing her to stumble while she continued to look around for her assailant.

"Over here, dude!"

Eva spun around and immediately received a facefull of porcupine-like quills that embedded themselves deep into her cheeks and forehead; a quick motion of her hand snapped them off like twigs, leaving a few stumps still deep-seated in her features.

"Ow, that had to hurt." The voice winced.

"Knock it off!" the bully bellowed at the top of her lungs. "Come out here and fight like a man!"

"If you say so!"

The bruiser's head suddenly snapped to the side with a loud crack! as if she had been decked across the face and the branch they were both standing on wobbled, like someone had landed between them; disoriented though she was, even she could see the figure materializing out of thin air before her very eyes. A pair of hands quickly followed by a pair of masculine arms appeared in frothing bubble of pigments and colors that cascaded across a pair of brightly feathered shoulders and down a robust, bare chest. A pair of baggy, green pants held up by a thick belt was followed by a pair of furry, lion-like legs and a cape of fluorescent feathers painted every color of the rainbow imaginable. A gleaming, cocky smile emerged from where the head might have been, followed shortly by a head of black and white-striped quills and a pair of furry, pointed ears.

"So sick, am I right?" Geoff beamed.

"I'm already sick. Sick of your crap!" the Female Bully fulminated as she took a swipe at the chimera.

With an ever present smile on his lips, the party animal gave a sudden leap and landed on top of her gauntlet with an eerie grace as he tapped his chin in thought. "Y'know, you should really relax more."

"Make me!"

The grom didn't waste a second and promptly back-flipped out of the way of another attempted strike, landing a kick to Eva's chin that snapped her head back as he landed back on the branch. Without pause, he raised his hands up and bowed as if he were before an audience, completely baffling his teammate.

"What're you doing?" she asked, slightly irritated.

Geoff grinned. "Givin' the peeps what they want!" he replied. "That, and making Eva angrier!"

"How exactly does that help us!?"

"Wait and see, brah," he smiled. "Just watch me work my magic!"

Before Courtney could even attempt to argue, her ally activated his Grand Entrance ability and enveloped himself in a flashy, golden light that corkscrewed and danced around him like the tail of a comet as he suddenly dashed right at Eva. Just before he would have crashed into her, he expertly front-flipped over and soared through the air, grabbing hold of the tip of branch high overhead and swinging himself up with ease. His strangely opposable feet effortlessly gripped the bark and his tail wrapped out the thicker part of the limb for extra support as he whistled for Courtney to do something while he momentarily had the bruiser's attention – he wasn't asking for much, just something worth the price of admission.

The assassin eventually took the hint and happily obliged him as she sent three daggers flying into Eva's back. The brawler instinctively bellowed with pain and whirled around to confront her, only to earn the bottom of a leather boot to the face as her opponent used her a springboard and sent herself flying through the air. The mercenary skillfully corkscrewed her body and sent a flurry of knives flying back at Eva in her wake – most of them missed, but several hit their mark and brilliantly sank themselves into her arms, legs, and chest like the fangs of a hungry beast.

"Nice shot, dude!" Geoff complimented her as she landed on the branch of a nearby tree.

"Thanks, I suppose." the Type A mumbled awkwardly. Glancing at the green health bar that hovered nearly invisible above her adversary's head, she couldn't help but inwardly curse at how resilient she was; even after all of the wounds she had sustained, she was only cut down to at least half her health. "She's tankier than I expected."

"All good, brah. Just leave it to me." the chimera grinned as he cracked his fingers like one might do when limbering up for a brief exercise.

Before the mercenary could question his less than stellar planning skills, he proudly hurled himself off the branch he had been roosting on with a low crow and delivered a swift kick to Eva's face, causing her to stumble back and very nearly fall off the branch. The party animal heavily landed just out of reach on her back and yanked on her ponytail as hard as possible, pulling her head back. Courtney only had the opportunity to throw a pair of razor-sharp daggers into the enforcer's side before the two of them went plummeting over the side and down towards the forest floor; the redhead didn't hesitate and followed after them, leaping from branch to branch like a frog.

"So, was this part of your plan?" Eva viciously spat as she punched Geoff in the face, rewarding herself with the satisfying sound of his jaw most likely being broken.

"Who needs a plan? I go on instinct and good vibes, brah!"

Apparently his jaw wasn't as broken as she had hoped. Before she could attempt to rectify that small problem, she was abruptly slapped across the face and swiftly kicked in the gut, breaking the two of them apart as they continued to free fall. Furious – even more than usual, as the party animal's constantly positive attitude had a way of grinding her nerves – she clawed her way through the air in an attempt to grab him and either punch him in the face until he stopped breathing or crush him until he stopped breathing – so long as the end result was that he wasn't breathing anymore, either option was good for her.

Unfortunately, the chimera had other ideas and swept out his cape in a sudden, dazzling display of colors, sending a wave of golden, razor-edged feathers and sharp, black and white quills flying at her. Usually, they would have been mere pinpricks of annoyance to someone as durable and strong as her, but the vast majority of them had painfully lodged themselves in her face and neck, demanding her attention.

Attention which would have been put to better use on landing properly. Before she could attempt to slow her descent or cushion her fall, the Female Bully crashed into the ground like a meteorite in a cloud of dust, debris, and pine needles. Geoff was more fortunate and quickly latched onto the trunk of tree, sliding down several feet before he managed to slow his fall and crawl out onto a branch that overlooked the clearing Eva had fallen; a few seconds later, Courtney landed on the branch beside him, peering curiously over the side.

"You think that did it?" he asked.

A low groan that quickly turned into a savage roar came from the forest floor and the brawler crawled to her feet, seething with rage. Her eyes were bloodshot with hatred and the wounds she had suffered from multiple daggers, quills, and razor-sharp feathers openly bled without restraint while she struggled to keep herself steady. Her gauntlets were heavily dented and battered, one of the lens of her goggles was cracked, and her right arm hung nearly limp at her side as she fought to keep herself standing on her uneven feet.

And yet despite all of that, she had only dropped an eighth of her previous health.

"Clearly not," Courtney muttered sourly. "We're running out of options here."

Geoff hummed in thought – a rare occurrence – before he spoke again. "Alright, I've got one last trick up my sleeve, but it's gonna need a little more . . . finesse."

"Do you even know what that means?" Courtney raised an eyebrow dubiously.

"Just keep her distracted long enough for me to do my thing. When this whole thing's over, I guarantee you'll have a kill ready and waiting just for you." he decided to ignore the question.

Deciding that she wasn't going to argue with her partner – after all, he hadn't done anything that put her virtual life in jeopardy yet – Courtney did as she was told and front-flipped off the branch they were precariously perched upon and plummeted down through the air. Before her adversary could even react, she landed a kick to the sternum and another that snapped her head back as she back-flipped and alighted down on the forest floor, daggers at the ready.

"What is with you two and constantly kicking me in the face!? Do I look like a football to you!?" Eva snarled. She didn't wait for the redhead to answer and promptly brought her fist down on the spot where she had been mere seconds before she had thrown a dagger behind her and disappeared in a flash of brilliant light, reappearing at the exact spot where she had thrown the knife.

Without missing a beat, the Type A slashed the back of Eva's leg, causing her to fall to one knee as she whirled around and clumsily tried to land a punch; the assassin merely ducked under the blow and danced out of the way, warily circling her opponent. She could just as easily go in for the killing blow and get it all over with, but Courtney knew from experience that looks could be deceiving and that animals usually fought their hardest when they were backed into a corner with no other option. While not necessarily an animal – unless one counted how savage she got when someone came between her and her music – the enforcer was nonetheless still dangerous, especially now that she was wounded and would most likely keep fighting until her last breath.

That's when the redhead got an idea. Her grip on her daggers tightened as she suddenly dashed forward and hurriedly front-flipped over the bruiser at the last second, narrowly dodging a ponderous attempt to grab her by the wrist or perhaps her blood red locks and pull her to the ground. She instead briefly landed on Eva's shoulders and locked her legs tightly around her neck, holding the edge of her blade to the brawler's throat. As expected, she tilted her head back and stumbled about on her awkward, ungainly legs while feebly swat at her and keep her balance all the while. Eventually however, the Female Bully managed to grab Courtney by the wrist and pulled her off of her – nicking her chin with the edge of the blade as she did so – and throw her at the trunk of a tree.

Much to her frustration, the assassin righted her body so that her feet planted against the bark and pushed off, sending her flying through the air where she just barely managed to grab the tip of a branch and haul herself up, taking a crouched position as she looked down with a smug grin on her lips.

"S-so . . . so that's it, huh?" Eva snarled like an angry wolverine. "You're just gonna cower up there now, aren't ya!?"

"Not exactly." Courtney smirked, directing a finger at the bruiser. Or more specifically, something on her head.

The enforcer rolled her eyes up and cursed when she noticed that something was fixed to her forehead. And while she couldn't see it, save for what looked like the tips of a pair of bronze legs, she could certainly feel it pressed against her skull and hear what sounded like a slight beeping noise.

Her jaw clenched as she returned her gaze to the Type A and clinched her fists tight enough to prematurely activate the rockets embedded in the back of her knuckles, surrounding her in a wreath of smoke and flames. "I hate you." she spat.

Courtney activated her Poison Trap ability and watched with relief as the vial exploded and swallowed her opponent in the familiar cloud of toxic contagions and chemicals. She wasn't entirely sure what exactly was in the stuff, but given how quickly it had taken out the brambleback and how it was currently reducing Eva to a coughing fit and muscle spasms, it wasn't something she wanted to be on the receiving end.

And still the Female Bully refused to fall. Her health bar had been passively climbing throughout the duration of the fight, but the redhead had expected her to give out a long time ago, and yet she still refused to die. The green bar that hovered above her head stubbornly clung onto about a quarter of her health, even with the poison working it way through her system.

"YAAAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOO!"

Courtney watched in shock as Geoff crowed at the top of his lungs and arrogantly threw himself from his perch and into the air, flaring out his cloak of deadly quills and brightly colored plumage so they glimmered and shined like gold in the sun. She watched with amazement as he activated his Feather-storm ultimate and fired off a cataract of barbed quills and salient feathers with a sweep of his cape, sending them flying in a wide, half-circle before him. With a loud peppering noise, they sunk themselves into the bark of trees, embedded themselves into the leaf litter below, and even fixed themselves into a few of sparse rocks that littered the area.

What was most satisfying about the assault however, was how quickly brutally the feathers and quills had torn through Eva, shredding her health bar in half as she cried out and stumbled back. Her gauntlets fell to the ground with a tremendous thump! that seemed to rattle the entire forest, and still she refused to give in. Even with her breathing reduced to forced gasps, her vision blurry, and blood poring from every conceivable orifice and wound she clung to life with a white knuckle grip.

Geoff however, wasn't done. With a single clench of his fist, the feathers and quills that he had sent scattering to the four winds glowed with a warm, golden light and quivered in their sockets and hiding places, as if responding to a deep, inner calling. And then suddenly, like a school of swift swimming fish, they came flooding back to him in a brutal, bloody cloud of serrated edges that sliced and diced and shredded what was left of the bruiser to practically nothing while they returned to the safety of the chimera's feathered cloak.

One point of health remained, a mere fraction of the enforcer's once incredible durability.

Without hesitation, Courtney pulled a knife from her hip and hurled it with astounding aim into Eva's heart with the sickening sound of wet flesh and the splatter of blood. A bright, blue light enveloped the Female Bully's fresh corpse and soared straight up into the air before fleeing in the direction of her base, taking her soul with her; the cadaver left behind lifelessly slumped to the ground without a sound.

"Woo! I feel good!" Geoff cheered as he finally landed, puffing his chest out with pride. "I mean, besides the whole killing thing. Other than that, that was totally awesome!"

"Um ... right." the Type A responded awkwardly.

The chimera gave his trademark grin. "That's what I'm talking about! Up top, brah!" he eagerly held up his hand, waiting for a high-five. With slight reluctance, she patted his waiting palm.

"Speaking of top, we should head there right now. Like, right now."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Totally!" the party animal agreed without hesitation as he slicked his head-full of quills back. "Man, I look good! I should be a furry more often!"

"Geoff, listen, I know you're excited and all-"

"I know, right? I'm so stoked!"

"That's nice and all, but we're in the middle of a game," she reminded him. "I need you to focus and keep your eyes on the prize, alright?"

"No problem-o! Let's do this!" he crowed, his tail cracking back and forth with anticipation; before she could stop him, he lowered himself to the ground on all fours and activated his Stealth Stalker ability. His brightly colored plumage began to dull and fade before effectively blending in to the natural, dappled colors of the forest undergrowth, essentially disappearing altogether. While she could no longer seem him, even as his ally, she could see where he had been and watched as a trail of prints sprinted off in the direction of top lane, leaving her in the dust.

Courtney allowed herself a few seconds to ponder what she had done to deserve such teammates before she broke into a run and chased after him.

Jasmine and Samey re-spawned back at Team Sisikwew's red-colored base. "Well that was a wallop." Jasmine remarked, clearly caught off guard.

"Note to self, steer clear of Leonard's lightning blast." Samey gulped with wide eyes.

"Good thing I got out of there before they could trap me." Cody said with relief as he blinked into the conversation.

"Good idea with grouping up, mate." Jasmine acknowledged with a playful punch to Cody's shoulder, which in turn toppled him over. "Oops..."

"I figured hanging around and delaying you guys wasn't a good idea." Cody nodded as he got back up and brushed off his pristine, futuristic attire. "If this is anything like the game that I play then the re-spawns will get longer and longer as the game progresses."

"Oh yeah, quick note! Your re-spawn time will become longer and longer as the game progresses!" Chris announced not a second later.

"Well there you go." Cody rolled his eyes.

"So if the goal is to take down the enemy's turrets as you go along, then I bet they're already taking down ours." Jasmine said. "Which means we'd better get going."

"Oh, don't forget to stop at the shop!" Cody reminded her.

"What?"

"The shop. You earn gold throughout the game and you get more when you get kills." He explained. "You can use it to buy items to help you like healing potions or boots of speed."

"Boots of speed would help us get there faster." Samey noted.

"Then let's buy some boots." Jasmine said, turning around to the shop.

"Um, that'll be like, 300 gold." The hot elf informed them.

"I only have 230." Samey frowned

"Don't worry, you've got that flying ability. You can just fly to me every few seconds." Jasmine reminded her.

Jasmine bought a pair of the boots while Cody took some damage resistance. Seeing as he had only a small amount of health, he figured it'd help him take a few more hits.

The items were equipped and the trio ran back down the lane to where Bridgette and Leonard were attacking their turret with about six or seven minions.

"Stay back, mermaid maiden," Leonard instructed to Bridgette, "We are without the aid of the beastman and therefore at a disadvantage!"

Cody and Samey proceeded to clean up the diminutive minions by hacking and slashing at them with their respective weapons.

"I'll ping for help!" Bridgette said, a blue flag appearing above her head accompanied by the bright ding she had already become familiar with.

Jasmine began the fight again by throwing her spear. This time it hit Leonard in the leg before clattering to the ground.

To Jasmine's surprise, a new spear suddenly appeared in her hand out of thin air. "What? Why didn't it do that last time?" She wondered before chucking it again only to find a new spear in her hand not a second later.

"Must've been a glitch or something." Cody shrugged as he clobbered a minion over the head with his double-headed scythe. "This is a pretty low budget show so I wouldn't expect the tech to be 100%."

"Hey!" Came Chris's offended voice.

Jasmine was taking a bit of damage from Bridgette's water orbs so Samey decided to heal her as Cody finished off the last minion.

"Some healing would be appreciated!" Leonard requested.

"Sorry!" Bridgette yelped, suddenly remembering her role. She flowed some healing water to Leonard to repair his wounds.

Cody then darted in and began attacking Bridgette. Seeing that he was trying to target the healer first, Jasmine aided him by chucking another spear. Bridgette was struck and with another whack from Cody's scythe, she fell.

Leonard now had about half of his health and three brawlers coming right at him. In a desperate attempt to save himself, Leonard summoned his ultimate ability.

"Behold . . . THE WIZARD!" He boomed, energy crackling from his hands. The purple and yellow light swirled from his fingertips and meshed together to form a powerful beam that shot out from his palms.

The entirety of Leonard's energy was forced out at Jasmine, Samey, and Cody, draining their health as Leonard moved the beam onto them.

The wizard focused on Samey since she was healing up Jasmine, nullifying most of the damage being put out at her.

Cody tried to distract the wizard by darting behind him and slicing at his leg. The time manipulator's scythe connected and gashed Leonard deeply. Blood seeped from the wound, but Leonard did not feel it.

The power he was wielding at that moment was so strong that his health bar was instantly filled whenever damage came upon him.

Leonard's eyes glowed a blueish white as he finished off Samey with his beam. The angel let out a cry before her body fell to the ground, her wings laying limply like a dead bird.

Jasmine grit her teeth. She was annoyed that Samey was always the first one to be targeted and the first one to die.

The last bit of Leonard's ultimate penetrated Jasmine's armor and began eating away at her health bar. The amazon warrior chucked a spear at the puny wizard but he quickly activated his fade ability and with a cloud of smoke he vanished, only to appear a few meters away with another burst of smog.

The spear landed where Leonard had previously been and now he retaliated with shots of magic. He missed a few of the shots but ended up nailing Jasmine in the head a couple of times, taking her health down some more.

Cody attempted to get closer and whittle him down some, but Leonard continued to fend him off by lobbing more blasts of magic at him. Cody dodged them effortlessly and tried to trick the wizard by suddenly blinking to his other side.

However, Leonard was ready for this and charged up his shot as Cody dashed around him. When the tech geek tried to come at him, Leonard whipped around and struck him in the head, killing him instantly.

With the pesky nuisance out the way, Leonard focused on Jasmine who charged at him with her spear, ready to swing. This had gone on long enough! He should be dead by now!

The amazon warrior swung at the wizard and took him down to just a sliver of health left. Not wanting to die, Leonard retreated with fade once more and backed up. Now it was a long ranged fight again which Jasmine didn't particularly like since it was more difficult to aim her spears when they had such a long travel time. Swing at people almost guaranteed a hit.

With all of her titanic strength, the Outback Survivalist hurled her spear at the helpless wizard, aiming directly for his chest – last time she checked, that usually killed most people in one shot. Mere seconds before the she would have scored herself another kill, a blur of gleaming, golden feathers and crimson fur burst out of the jungle and leaped in front of Leonard at the last second. A ball of shimmering, aurelian light encircled the both of them just as the spear crashed into them and exploded into a shower of metal shards and wooden splinters.

"Man, talk about a close one, bro." Geoff sighed with relief as he dropped his Battle Dance shield ability, resting his hands on his knees.

Leonard agree wholeheartedly. "Indeed. Your timing was most impeccable, man of beasts."

"Oh come on!" Jasmine gritted her teeth with frustration. "I almost had him!"

By now, Courtney came rushing out of the jungle to the aid of her teammates. The CIT wasted no time and chucked her knife at the tree behind Jasmine. It embedded itself in the wood and with a flash of white light, she teleported to it.

Courtney drew her two long swords and slashed at the back of Jasmine's neck before she even knew what hit her.

Jasmine cried out in pain as the two blades cut across her skin, drawing blood.

Now the tank's health had gotten too low. She looked down and out of the corner of her eye she could see that her ultimate had reached 100%. She didn't have to think twice.

The very heavens themselves seemed to shake as Jasmine activated her Ascension ultimate, raising her spear high above her head before she brought it down with tremendous force. The very ground began to rumble and quake violently in response when a circle of violet hellfire surrounded the amazon, bathing her in its scorching flames and searing heat as her body began to change. Her deep chocolate skin shifted tone and lightened to that of an ashen indigo while the skin of her knuckles and forearms hardened like concrete into layers of armored plates not unlike that of an armadillo. Black claws tore through Jasmine's fingernails, her lips and hair faded to a deep, poisonous purple and her eyes shown a startling, divine white in color, as if a goddess had been awakened from their slumber. The disturbing sound of tearing flesh filled the air as a second set of powerful, robust arms suddenly protruded from the Outback Survivalist's shoulders, tightly clenching into black-clawed fists powerful enough to grind the biggest of boulders into the finest of sands. Her skeleton crunched and groaned in protest as she shot up an extra five feet, virtually towering everyone around her and nearly dwarfing the turret itself; she was but a few feet shorter than its highest point. A dark, smoldering fog surrounded her when she let out a thunderous cry that threatened to tear down the sky itself, announcing her presence to all unfortunate enough to be in her path.

"I! BRING! DEATH!" her voice was deafening and ethereal like that of a furious god, echoing for what seemed eons. A single step made the very earth cry out in protest, trembling and quaking as she brought her spear down like an ax and threatened to split the ground in two.

"Oh /censored/." Was all Courtney had time to say before Jasmine grabbed her from the back of her neck with one hand and chucked her down the lane.

Courtney's limp body slammed into a tree and fell with a thud. Her health bar dwindled to almost nothing, but she wasn't gone yet. Despite still being alive, she was almost certainly knocked out. Jasmine decided she didn't have to worry about her at the moment.

Now, Geoff and Leonard were her focus. The massive amazon warrior lurched forward, shaking the ground with each step and sending cracks in the earth in all directions.

"Whoa dude, that's so sick!" Geoff exclaimed before he remembered that he was definitely going to die if he didn't move.

He dashed out of the way just in time as Jasmine brought down her spear. Leonard on the other hand was not so lucky. Despite being saved earlier by Geoff's force field, he still had little to no health left and Jasmine easily crushed him with her spear.

Now it was up to Geoff as Courtney was still out cold. Luckily for the chimera, a new wave of minions had arrived and aided him. Although they didn't do a whole lot of damage against the hulking tank that was Jasmine, it certainly wasn't unwelcome.

Jasmine's minions also arrived but instead of being useful, they just ran right into a large rock together in a cluster. They didn't seem to understand that they could go around. Something was clearly wrong with the programming.

Jasmine, Geoff and his minions all paused for a second and stared blankly at the other minions making fools of themselves. "You've gotta be kidding me." Jasmine deadpanned, still sounding like a raging goddess.

Nevertheless, she and Geoff got back to their battle. Geoff dodged in and out to avoid Jasmine's swings and punches, all while throwing his quills at her in a fan. The pointy projectiles may have been small but they still packed a punch.

Jasmine winced as the quills pierced her face, rooting themselves just below her eyes.

Now the amazon was getting frustrated. Just when she had killed Leonard, she had another nuisance to worry about. They just wouldn't die! Jasmine brought down her spear again, a ring appearing around her and Geoff .

It glowed purple as ancient Aztec fire erupted around the circle. Smoke seeped through cracks in the earth, poisoning Geoff who was now trapped.

As Jasmine threw down her spear multiple times, trying to hit the quick and agile chimera, she began to shrink slightly. Her ultimate started to wear off and she was now descending.

Just as she came back to her normal form, Courtney came flying in and kicked her in the cheek, bringing her to the ground.

"But you were out cold!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"Yeah? I woke up." Courtney answered before slashing at her face. "I also found this neat thing called a healing fruit, you should try it some time."

With one more gash to the throat, Jasmine had been slain. "Thanks dude," Geoff said between coughs, "You're a lifesaver. Literally!"

"Just...returning the favor." Courtney shrugged awkwardly. "Now let's see if we can't finish off this turret before they come back."

"Stop right there!" Harold declared, casting a finger at Noah, Izzy, and Owen. The trio stopped attacking the turret and glanced down the lane to see that Harold, Duncan and Scott had returned.

"That's what you think! I cast my special Uno reverse card!" Izzy laughed, throwing out a portal beneath Harold's feet. As with all laws of cartoon physics, the nerd only fell through after looking down at his grim circumstances.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Harold cried as he dropped down from a second portal that appeared out of thin air about ten feet off the ground. The geek landed with a thud. "Gosh! How childish!"

"Time to teach these dweebs a lesson!" Duncan grinned, preparing to attack,

"Don't charge in alone!" Harold begged, but of course it was too late. Duncan activated his charge ability and rushed in.

"Why does no one ever listen to me?!" Harold sighed, getting up from the ground.

"Quick Noah, now it's your turn to activate the Uno Reverse card!" Izzy turned to her partner.

Without second thought, Noah cast one hand forward and sucked a glistening purple energy from Duncan as he came flying towards them. "Silence!" He bellowed. When he was done he clenched his fist and the energy seemed to course through him, his eyes glowing white and his tattoos lighting up.

Suddenly, Duncan was stopped mid charge and flew out of control, sailing over the trio before landing with a clang of his armor. "What the?!" He exclaimed, the glistening purple aura that Noah had stolen from him was now swirling around his body. "I can't use any of my abilities!"

"That'd be how it works." Noah nodded.

Duncan glared at him and whipped around to beat him with his mace. Noah yelped as the mace came at him, but luckily, his big buddy was looking out for him. Owen wrapped his tongue around Duncan and pulled him away just before the mace collided with the cynic. His jaw practically unhinged as he swallowed the heavily armored crusader and swished him around in his cavity like mouthwash before spitting him back out onto the dirt.

"Agh! Sick!" Duncan recoiled, trying to shake some of the drool from his armor.

The tank's heath bar had dropped to about half, and since he was still silenced and could not use any abilities, Noah and Izzy went in to finish him off.

Izzy threw an orb of destruction onto Duncan and then began hurling her orbs of magic at him.

Duncan desperately swung his mace, attempting to disrupt their advances, but to no avail since they were both distanced attackers. One last orb to the head and Duncan was downed.

"Now it's time to clean up the the rest of them!" Izzy grinned. "EAT THIS!" She shouted before summoning her orbs into her hands and compressing them together until they shook with energy and glowed a dangerous pink.

Just before it went off, Izzy launched the ultimate forward and it landed right in front of Harold and Scott.

"Run for it!" Harold cried, ducking behind a rock.

Scott on the other hand was not as lucky and found himself out in the open with nowhere to run. "Mommy..." He whimpered before the nuke exploded with a loud boom, killing him instantly as a pink shock-wave spread across the lane in all directions.

Harold poked his head back out from behind the rock and gulped. He had his ultimate up and ready, but was now the time to use it?

Surely I could wipe them out and begin taking the turret if used it now, or I could wait for those two idiots to get back so we could group up... the dork thought to himself. Yeah never-mind I'm gonna use it, he decided after remembering that getting Duncan to group up was a near-impossible task.

Without a second thought, the nerd-turned-battleaxe-wielding-warrior activated his Grisly Guillotine ultimate and leaped high into the air with his massive battle ax raised over his head. Time seemed to stand still as Harold hovered there, the sunlight gleaming off his blood-stained armor and his immense weapon of destruction before it abruptly sped up again and sent him crashing back down to the ground. Izzy could do nothing but stand there in horror as the tremendous ax swiftly cleaved her in two in a shower of blood and gore.

Just like that, she was dead. However, the muscular warrior was not finished. He then proceeded to jump into the air for a second time and came down on Noah who was not expecting this at all. Just like Izzy, the cynic fell with what clean cut. As if this wasn't enough, Harold jumped up a third time and decimated Owen with a final swing of his axe.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGH!"

The result was three bloodied corpses and a turret now being taken.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – Vive la guillotine!)

Noah- "How is he able to do that?!" He exclaimed in utter confusion. "That's the most BS ability I've ever seen! Sure he could maybe instakill one target but he just keeps going!" [1]

Harold- "Even though Duncan and Scott are completely incompetent noobs, this was all so worth it to be able to do that!" He grinned. "Who needs a million dollars with an experience like that!"

"A Sisikwew turret has been destroyed!" Chris came over the loudspeaker. "Actually make that two!" He said as Harold presumably finished off the one in midlane.

With a flash of bright white light, Amy re-spawned at Team Sisikwew's base. Her nostrils flared as smoke billowed out of them.

"I'm relieved to see that you're alive as well." Dawn welcomed her.

With a smoldering sneer on her lips, the half-dragon shot daggers at Dawn's kind smile, smoke pouring from her upturned nose. "No thanks to you."

The forest elf bowed regretfully. "My apologies. I wish I could have done more to prevent our untimely demise."

"As much as I hate to admit it, it's not entirely your fault," the Evil Twin snorted with annoyance. "That stupid snake ditched us!"

As if on cue, a burst of azure arcane energy exploded between the two teammates and quick died down to reveal Scarlett, looking none too pleased and a little worse for wear if one was being honest. Even if she had stayed the farthest back in the battle, she hadn't escaped unscathed either and had taken a few arrows to the shoulder and side, not to mention suffering several bruises and cuts where she had been forced to rapidly dodge without time to think about how to properly position herself. The wounds soon closed themselves up and the arrows ejected themselves from the her body while the base worked its magic and restored their health.

Amy snarled. "Nice job ditching us back there!"

The naga ignored her and instead slithered off towards the enormous beast of burden that had plonked itself down on the side of their base for a nap and began to pursue the vast collection of magical artifacts, treasures, and weapons at her disposal. If she remembered correctly, their not so gracious host had mentioned the ability to buy items that would help boost their abilities and stats as the game went on. Noah had given them all a basic rundown of what kind of items to buy, specifically that everyone had to have a pair of boots in their inventory; as for what kind – as there seemed to be at least a dozen different options – was entirely up to their discretion.

To be honest, she didn't really care which ones she got and settled for a pair of knee-high leather boots that glowed a mysterious blue. "I'll take those." she told the hot elf that ran the shop.

"Um, how about no?" the elfin tossed his head, making his flowing, blonde locks roll and wave.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes. "Let me make myself clear: I. Want. Those Boots." she hissed, her forked tongue flickering with annoyance.

"I'm sure you do, but, like, you can't have them."

The half-serpent let out a venomous hiss and reared up on the anterior of her body, towering over the handsome elf. "Shut up and take my currency!" she viciously spat, bearing her brazen claws. [2]

"Like, what is your problem? I can't give you the boots, gurl!"

"AND WHY NOT?!"

"Um, like, because you don't have any feet..." the elfin reminded her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Scarlett took a look down at where her legs would have been, only to find the rest of her long winding snake body. "It would appear you are correct..." She narrowed her eyes. "Just give me that." She said, pointing to a purple potion.

"Pay up, gurl." The elf motioned for her to hand over some coins.

Scarlett angrily tossed a small sack of coins at the elf which missed, and hit several viles and potions. They fell to the ground and shattered, spilling their contents all over the ground. "Ugh, now look what you've done." The elfin griped. "Just take your stupid damage increasing potion."

Scarlett gladly took the item and applied it while the elf got to work cleaning up her mess.

"We gonna go or what?" Amy asked. "I bet they're already taking down our turret!" While she had no respect for this game of nerds, she knew if they lost it could likely mean her demise.

"No they're not. Leshawna was the sole remaining member of their team and she too fled back to base like I did." Scarlett told her. "If we hurry, we should be able to make it there first."

Dawn breathed a sigh of relief as her teammates finally left the base and made their way down the lane, shooting mistrustful glares at one another every few seconds. Personally, she did her best to try and ignore them and focus on the task at hand, namely of attacking and dismembering her opponents; the thought itself didn't sit well with her. As a child of nature, she abhorred any violence that wasn't of the natural order and often herself greatly concerned for the whole of mankind almost everywhere she looked.

The Moonchild inhaled a deep breath and felt herself relax a few degrees. Even if the world around her was just a series of pixels and programming, she appreciated the natural atmosphere – whenever she found herself in distress, Mother Nature was always there to offer her guidance and peace of mind. The carpet of lush, green grass dotted by small pebbles was soft and inviting under her bare feet and the expanse of the endless, blue sky opened above her. A soft breeze gently swept its way across the map, rustling the giant ferns that beckoned to her from beneath their enormous guardians; trees as tall as redwoods that had to have been hundreds of years old towered over her like a collection of sentinels. Squirrels and other critters darted and flitted through the branches while large, multi-legged serpents slithered through the undergrowth, hungrily searching for prey.

By the time they reached the looming shadow of their half-health tower, Dawn felt much better and ready to take the challenge head on.

With a calming breath,the forest elf reached between her cleavage and pulled out a handful of seeds about as big as a kiwi fruit before she took a pitcher's stance and hurled them one by one toward the ground until she had covered a significant area of the lane and conjoining river bank. A few seconds passed before nearly a dozen or so large, fluorescent pink bulbs the size and shape of footballs surrounded by a small ring of leaves emerged from the ground. The roots pulsed and squelched softly, eager to spring forth and attack anyone that wandered too close.

She took a moment to admire her handiwork, watching as the giant seeds – her children, in a sense – waited patiently for their time to shine.

The moment didn't last long, however.

One second she had been standing amongst her plants, enjoying the feeling of the suns warm rays on her ivory skin, and then the next she felt something wet and slimy and incredibly strong wrap itself around her frail body. She could feel dozens of what felt like small suckers latch onto her bodies and arms and powerful muscles that seized and contracted before her world became a whirl of green and brown as she was suddenly pulled forward.

The next thing she knew, she was standing in front of and being dwarfed by Leshawna's powerful frame. She only had mere seconds to react, but in those few seconds, the Moonchild noticed many interesting and admittedly terrifying details. For starters, her opponent was carrying the immense weight of a two ton, roughly eldritch face-like idol around like it was a handbag. Second, from the open maw of said idol emerged a nest of ethereal, glimmering, turquoise tentacles that squirmed and writhed in response to her presence; from the very center of the pile was a particularly long tentacle, specifically the one that had coiled itself like a boa constrictor around her petite figure.

And finally was the smug smile that the Sister with 'Tude wore with a somewhat condescending look. That, and the way the tribal, tentacle tattoos that stretched across her cheeks and faced glowed a bright, aqua blue – just like the tentacles that she so effortlessly commanded.

Oh, and the huge fist that she had cocked and aimed at Dawn's face. That was pretty noticeable.

"Sorry 'bout this, gurl. This gonna hurt me a lot more than it's gonna hurt you . . . maybe . . ." Leshawna apologized with a small afterthought.

Before the elfin could assure her opponent that there were no hard feelings, the wind was abruptly knocked out of her as she was sent flying back. The blow was powerful enough to punch clean through concrete – it should have ruptured her internal organs at the very least and outright killed her at the very most – but the most Dawn felt was slightly uncomfortable, numb sensation in her gut while she rolled and sprawled limply across the ground.

At the same time however, she felt like the empyrean tentacle had done more than just send her on a wild ride. Sparring a glance up at the green bar that hovered abstrusely over her head, she noticed that about a quarter of her health had been taken away. A quick glimpse back at Leshawna confirmed her suspicions when she saw a small, bright orb of pale, green energy get pulled into the gaping maw of the idol by the tentacle.

Ptwang! Ptwang! Ptwang!

Dawn didn't have much time to wonder what had just happened before three razor-tipped arrows came gracefully sailing through the air, plummeting towards her like a tirade of falcons ready to strike. With an incredible reaction time that she never could have pulled off, even with her questionable abilities, she expertly rolled out of the way and back on her feet.

The elfin marveled at her newfound skill. Had this all taken place back within the confines of reality, there would have been no way she would have survived that. The arrows stood clustered around the very spot where her head had been a mere second go, so expertly shot off that they were almost on top of one another.

Her teammates were quick to react.

Amy screamed at the top of her lungs as she charged and allowed her rage to take over her. The flame that had been passively burning away in her chest exploded into a raging inferno, consuming her entire form as she took a flying leap and began to change in mid air. Her skeleton cracked and groaned in agony as her entire morphology was rearranged, tissue and muscle knitting and weaving themselves beneath her iron-sided hind. The Evil Twin's wings fluidly moved up her spine like they were on liquid metal and fused with her arms with a series of disturbing crunches and snaps, as if there was no possibility that they could fit together and were instead being forced. The armored tail that grew from the back of her scalp was slurped back into her skull like a piece of spaghetti, only to be forced back out at nearly three times its original length at the base of her sine, cracking back and forth with blood-lust. Amy's face protruded forward into the powerful muzzle of a mighty dragon, her feeble teeth giving way to the searing hot fangs that ripped and tore through her gums without mercy. Two pairs of horns – one located at the joint of her jaw, the other protruding and curving back from either side of her head – jutted out from her skull one after the other; the Evil Twin roared in pain, releasing a primal declaration of war. Her crimson armor fused with her heavily plated skin as her toes fused and exploded into three, crushing digits tipped with claws powerful enough to lift even the mightiest of warriors into the air and send them plummeting to their doom. Scorching hot flames leaped and danced across her skin as the dragoness unleashed a powerful bellow to announce her presence.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWRRR!" Amy let out a ferocious roar that shook the very ground as she launched herself forward in a flurry of fire and rage.

The half-dragon effortlessly broke through the front line in a ball of fire, ramming her enormous skull into Leshawna's gut and knocking her aside with an facile twist of her neck.

Trent's eyes widened as the massive tarragon came hurtling toward him. Thinking quickly however, he rolled out of the way, only his cape getting torn by the furious dragon's claws.

Unfortunately for Trent, he couldn't run much further before Amy came at him again, clawing and tearing at his tiny body.

"Get off'a him!" Leshawna hollered, throwing out one of her tentacles like a rope. It wrapped around Amy's scaly leg and with a surprising amount of strength, Leshawna managed to pull the dragoness off of the marksman.

However, now the dragon was her problem. "Lindsay go heal Trent while I take care of this oversized iguana!" Leshawna instructed as she faced off against the hideous beast with a grin.

Lindsay quickly rushed over to Trent and began sending an aura of healing energy to him from the lantern attached to her scepter. "Thanks.." Trent smiled weakly as deep bloody gashes repaired themselves.

Despite her dislike towards her ally, Scarlett knew she couldn't stand by idly and wait for Amy to fall. She slithered over to Leshawna and constricted her, wrapping her long body around the muscular goddess and squeezing tightly.

Leshawna let out a wheeze as the air was quite literally pushed out of her lungs. Her health bar dropped slightly but her tankiness saved her from being seriously harmed.

"A little help!" Leshawna cried as Dawn now joined the fight by whipping her with vines that coiled around her wrists and sprouted from her veins.

Lindsay turned to see her partner in distress and acted quickly, activating her Star Strike ability; the light within her lantern glowed brighter than ever before as she reached her arms toward the heavens. A loud rumbling filled the air as the clouds parted overhead and the very atmosphere itself was blown away, exposing the empty, black expanse of the cosmos in all its glory. A loud whining filled the air as a faint light off in the inky void grew brighter and brighter, closer and closer, until it was a comet screaming through the air.

Dawn yelped and dove for cover as the falling star came crashing down in a fiery explosion of solar light and arcane energy.

"Yay! I picked the right one!" Lindsay happily clutched her staff.

A small explosion occurred as the fiery debris from the star's remains sizzled on Amy's scaly skin. The tarragon cried out with a ferocious roar and whipped around to face her attacker, liquid flame dripping from her deadly jaws.

Lindsay's cheers were halted when Amy came barreling at her, however, the dragon was also stopped in her tracks when she began shrinking back down into her half-dragon-half-human form. "Oh come on!" She pouted.

Trent wasted no time. Now that he had been mostly healed, he stood up and began firing a torrent of arrows at the dragon, many of which found their marks. "Ah! Ow! Hey! Stop it!" She cried as she tried to shield herself with her wings.

"Take this my friend!" Dawn acted fast and cast her Tender Twigs ability. A soft, yellow magic pooled between her palms before she lobbed it at the lumbering leviathan as hard as she could. Instantaneously, she was surrounded by a warm, pulsating light as brambles burst forth from the earth to erect a protective shield around, glowing a vibrant gold when the construct had reached completion.

Trent's arrows harmlessly bounced off the shield, doing no damage whatsoever to Amy while quickly crawled to the safety of the back-line for cover.

However, Trent wasn't letting her off that easy. Soon enough the twig barrier unraveled and faded away, leaving Amy exposed once again. The marksman took aim and fired his Scatter Arrow ability at her feet. The single arrow hit the ground and quickly exploded into half a dozen more that ricocheted and bounced off the dirt and up into Amy's back.

The dragoness cried out in a as she fell, her health bar dwindling to almost nothing.

"Whoa, that did more damage than I thought it would!" Trent exclaimed, dropping his bow for a minute in sheer awe.

"Stay behind me!" Dawn instructed. "I'll ping for assistance!"

The all-too-familiar ding sounded as the plant elf called for help all while fending off Leshawna and her tentacles.

Scarlett bared her fangs with a venomous hiss and activated her Miasma ability. Immediately, twin jets of noxious, purple poison leaped forth from her fangs, pooling on the ground before her in a witch's brew of bubbling, smoldering toxins. "Back off!" she spat, venom dripping her lips.

Trent continued to volley arrows at them but didn't end up hitting much from a distance.

Suddenly, Eva came crashing through the forest and on to the battlefield. "Eva? How did you get here so fast?" Dawn wondered.

"Oh, I just re-spawned and I was in the neighborhood so I decided to check out what all the-"

"JUST HELP US!" Amy roared, cowering behind Dawn's small frame, yelping and jumping back each time one of Trent's arrows came close.

"Don't tell me what to do!" the Female Bully snapped, already charging into the fight.

With an uppercut she jumped into the air and selected Trent as her unfortunate target so the volley of arrows would cease. "Why is it always me!?" He complained as the brawler hurled her body towards him and slammed the ground in front of him, sending the marksman flying towards her from the shock-wave.

To complete the combo, Eva charged up one of her gauntlets and proceeded to punch the living daylights out of the musician. The impact sent him flying into a tree, doing extra damage which was just enough to finish him off.

Satisfied, Eva left his limp body to go help take down Leshawna who was currently fending off Scarlett and Dawn.

Lindsay tried to help as best she could by supplying a steady stream of healing to the tentacle goddess as she fought. Eva saw this as an easy target. With no healer, Leshawna would be done for in no time.

The weight-lifter charged up her fist again and interrupted Lindsay by punching her out of orbit. The blonde shrieked as she was sent hurtling to the side, although she was lucky enough to avoid hitting any solid objects.

Eva was determined to finish her off and leaped forward with her seismic slam. Lindsay screamed again and ran away to the safety of Leshawna.

Seeing the danger Eva posed, Leshawna whipped around and grabbed the bully by the waist with one of her tentacles. She effortlessly slammed her into the ground in front of Scarlett, Dawn and Amy.

Now they were all grouped up. Leshawna had had her Release the Kraken ultimate ready for a short while now but was waiting for the perfect time to use it. Now was that time.

"I le lalolagi faatasi ma oe!" the priestess bellowed as she leaped high into the air with the ridiculous heavy idol hauled over her head. The jump itself set her rocketing straight into the clouds, a feat that should have been possible within the restraints of reality. Not two seconds later, Leshawna came crashing back down, slamming back down into the ground like a meteor in a ground-shatter cataclysm. [3]

"Get out of the way!" Scarlett cried as a red circle of ancient runes suddenly flared across the ground beneath them, marking the danger zone. The markings rapidly pulsed a vibrant, warning red, signaling the ever approaching doom.

Everyone was almost out in time when Lindsay suddenly cast her Gravitational Pull ability and summoned forth a swirling, pulsating mass of celestial magic from the depths of the lantern delicately hanging from the tip of her staff. The orb landed on the ground with a soft woosh! like that of the wind in one's ear and bounced once like a ball before it flattened itself against the ground. A split second later, the circle exploded into a bright, swirling singularity that yanked everyone towards its center, crushing them all together.

"Not so fast!" Lindsay giggled.

And then Leshawna's ultimate hit.

The ground cracked like an egg before her feet, exploding outward in a blast of earth and debris . Dozens upon dozens of tentacles of varying sizes burst forth from the gapping wound in the earth; some as big as a man, some that had to have been a hundred times larger sprang from the cataclysm.

The tentacles cracked and whipped themselves into a frenzy, glowing an otherworldly green as they lashed out at anything that was within range, crushing it beneath their powerful coils before seizing them in their grasp. Dawn was the first to be taken, molded into the smothering hold of hundreds upon hundreds of ethereal suction cups; her cries of surprise and terror were drowned by the deafening roar of an Elder God's wrath.

Amy bellowed in kind, challenging the great deity that threatened her. With fiery fury, she fought charged into the fray with reckless abandon, ignoring the muscular tentacles that immediately latched onto her and coiled around her limbs, pulling her to the ground. A roar erupted from her throat as she raised her head and unleashed a torrent of flame, only to have a tentacle wrap itself around her jaws and clamp them firmly shut. At least a dozen other tentacles rushed to the aid of its brother and tortiled around her body, firmly restraining her.

"I thought this show was supposed to be rated-MMMPH!" Eva yelled with rage before a tentacle wrapped itself around her mouth, silencing her. The enforcer struggled with all her might, sweat trickling down her brow as she pushed her gauntlets into overdrive. Even if her body was numb to the feeling of pain, she could feel the scorching heat that the rockets embedded into the back of her knuckles belched out in a desperate attempt to break free. But for every tentacle whose grip she wrestled herself free of, three more arose to take its place until she too was dragged down into the briny depths.

Scarlett viciously hissed, swiping at a tentacle that came shooting for her face with her brazen claws. Her serpentine body allowed to effortlessly evade the tendrils as they came for her, crashing into the ground with such force that the Brainiac briefly wondered if they were capable of tearing the map itself apart – a spare thought that cost her her life. An enormous tentacle that had to have been as tall as a skyscraper came crashing down on her in a slow, lethargic, rolling motion, pressing her flat against the ground like a pancake until she was sure her rib cage was going to break.

Seemingly pleased with its offering, the tentacles reared back up with their prizes, tightening their hold to prevent any last ditch effort to escape and in a single, fluid motion, dragged their prisoners down to the dark, saline depths of the underworld in a wet sea spray; the last thing any of the Sisikwew saw was the proud and incredibly pleased smile on Leshawna's face.

"QUADRA KILL!"

"And that's how you get it done!" Leshawna smirked at her success, pridefully hauling the idol onto her shoulder; was it just her imagination or did glow just a bit brighter? "Ooh, you got banged up pretty bad, you better go an' grab one'a them healing fruits, sugar." she smiled warmly to Lindsay.

"Wow, you're so smart!" the celestial nodded in agreement before galloping off into the forest.

"An Ally has been slain!"

"What?!" Leshawna exclaimed whipping around to see Lindsay's dead body sitting at the very edge of the river, the waves calmly lapping at her corpse. "How the..."

When Leshawna got closer she saw why. Dawn had booby trapped river bank with six of her Venus fly trap turrets. The ravenous plants had been fighting over Lindsay's corpse. It was only when Leshawna came near that they shrunk back down into harmless looking flowers and blended with the rest of the foliage.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – At least it wasn't at the hands of the microwave of death)

Lindsay- "I'm sooo confused..." She furrowed her brow.

In contrast to the fast-paced style of the battlefield, Sky and Dave were finally talking things out.

"Dave I just wanted to focus on the game." Sky admitted. "Winning was really important to me and yes, I did like you and I didn't want my feelings to get in the way of my game." She sighed.

"Oh, well sorry for distracting you." Dave pouted.

"It's not your fault!" Sky quickly shut down his accusations. "It shouldn't have been your fault for just being there. I should have been able to tell you how I felt and moved on in the game like that. Instead I blew it up to be something way bigger than it needed to be." She hung her head.

"Well then would you kindly explain your audition tape?" Dave narrowed his eyes at the gymnast.

"He was standing right there when I made the audition, I had to say it!" She explained. "We broke up shortly before the season started so yeah...that's also kind of why I didn't want to be with you. I was sort of fresh off of a break-up."

"Oh..." Now Dave was actually feeling some remorse. It had been so long since he felt this. "I'm sorry about that...I guess I just made things worse didn't I?"

"No no, you couldn't have known." Sky assured him. "It's my fault, I didn't tell you and that just kind of messed everything up."

"Well it's not entirely your fault..." Dave admitted, "I might have gone a bit overboard in my advances. In hindsight bragging about my victory might not have been the sexiest thing to do..."

"Yeah..." Sky frowned, remembering the thought. "I can't stand people who brag and gloat."

Dave smiled sheepishly. "Yeah sorry about that...I got a little caught up in the moment. I really just wanted to impress you..."

"So it was all just a big misunderstanding then?" Sky raised an eyebrow. "Wow, I kind of feel bad for bringing everyone else into this..."

"Now I see why Jasmine, Courtney and Trent locked us in here." Dave nodded. "So uh... do you hate me?" Dave asked, bracing for some harsh words.

Sky sighed. "Right now, I don't really know what I feel, Dave." She looked at him. "After everything that happened...I don't think I'm ready to just jump into a relationship with you."

"Oh yeah, no, I totally understand." Dave nodded. "But...friends?" He asked, holding out his hands.

Sky stared at the Germophobe's hand. "Friends." She decided, shaking his hand.

"You know what, I feel so much better." Dave sighed with relief. "Like a weight was lifted off my chest."

"I'm glad we were finally able to work things out." Sky smiled. She considered giving him a kiss on the cheek but decided against it given past events.

"How long have we been in here anyway?" Dave wondered, attempting to open the door but failing of course.

"Well we kind of sat in silence for a while. I don't know maybe an hour?" Sky guessed. "I wonder when the challenge will be over."

"Oh crap!" Dave exclaimed. "The challenge! What if we get eliminated for not participating?"

"Well, if we do I'll still be able to rest easy knowing we're friends again." Sky told him, giving him a warm smile.

"But what if the challenge is actually over and they forget about us? What if days have been passing all this time! What if we're trapped in here FOREVER?!" Dave cried, starting to hyperventilate.

Sky sighed. "Please let the challenge end soon." She begged.

"Oh, sure, Graves can't have a cigar, but Harold can one-shot us with an ultimate that doesn't miss and can be cast repeatedly! Why is that allowed!?" Noah cried out as he and his two teammates respawned after a time. [4]

Owen playfully slugged him in the shoulder. "Don't worry little buddy, we'll get him next time!"

Noah rubbed the spot where Owen had hit him; his friend still didn't know his own strength. "There's one problem with that," he grumbled sourly. "Now that they've killed us and taken our turret, they've probably leveled up. That means they'll be stronger next time we face them."

"So what do we do now?"

Noah sighed and rubbed his chin in thought. "Well . . . in addition to the neutral monster camps, the jungle also has two boss monsters: the dragon and Sirot'alaec the Devourer of Worlds. The latter's too risky to try and contest . . . at least, for now . . . but the dragon should be easier to take." he mused.

"So where's the pit?" Owen asked

"It's RIGHT HERE!" Izzy cackled, pulling down her sleeve and forcing her armpit into Owen's face.

The catfish man yelped and stumbled back.

"Well this map is pretty big so I'm not 100% sure where it is, but if this is anything like the game—which it has been so far—then the dragon pit should be somewhere along the river." Noah said, slipping out of the base to the left side of the expansive jungle with Izzy and Owen in tow.

Samey swallowed nervously as she sized up her opponents. Things had taken a turn for the worse by the time she and the rest of her teammates had respawned – every last one of their lane towers had been taken and their opponents were absolutely stacked with items and kills, putting them far and away above them in terms of sheer power.

And now they all gathered in the mid lane in an attempt to break into their base and end the game. Her team had given up on trying to protect their other lanes – much less even push them – and had attempted to mount a defense.

It wasn't the prospect of possibly losing and letting down her teammates that frightened Samey, however. Neither side was stupid – collectively, at least – and the enemy team stood just outside the blast radius of the tower her team cowered beneath. One false step from either side could decide how the tide of the battle turned, a thought that put her increasingly on edge.

"Come on out and fight like a man!" Duncan demanded, his voice echoing within the depths of his helm. "I ain't got all day to bash your brains in!"

"At least he's being honest." Eva muttered sourly. Oh, how she wanted to blindly charge in and crush anyone that got in her way beneath two tons of scorching, hot metal, but she was no fool. On the off chance that her act of aggression led to a victory, than she would be declared a hero. On the other hand, her attempt to recklessly charge in would most likely lead to her team's defeat and her elimination.

"What're we gonna do? We can't keep this up forever," Jasmine eyed their opponents with a steely gaze. "Eventually they're gonna get bored an' try and pincer us."

"And if we do that, we won't be able to fend them off." Samey concluded, greatly saddened.

While she hated losing as much as the next person, she really wanted to win – and not just for the sake of avoiding another elimination ceremony. Never before in her entire life had she felt so powerful, so useful, so . . . un-Samey-like. It filled her with a kind of hope that she hadn't felt in nearly fifteen years, not after suffering under her sinister sister's rule for so long. It made her feel like she could do anything, like she could accomplish anything, like nothing could stop her if she tried her hardest and pushed herself to her limit.

But most of all . . . she wanted to impress Cody. She had seen how excited he had gotten upon first entering the game and the joy that he felt while they battled alongside one another – it was hard to miss, really. It was incredibly cute to see him so in his element where he might have otherwise been considered deadweight by her teammates.

If video games meant so much to him, then they were important to her as well.

"Then perhaps we should forfeit?" Scarlett's greatly perturbed voice broke the Good Twin from her thoughts. "By my calculations, the chances of us winning are less than that of getting struck by lightning."

"How much is that?" Jasmine inquired.

"Roughly 1 in 700,000. If you want to know the odds of getting struck by lightning seven times, our chances of winning are even lower than that."

"Bloody chunder."

Dawn coughed slightly. "We haven't exactly lost yet. They say an animal will fight its hardest when it is backed into a corner." she reminded them. "At the very least we could attempt to go out in a blaze of glory."

"I thought you were a pacifist or some bullcrap?" Eva cocked an eyebrow.

"This challenge simply does not offer me an opportunity to take a more peaceful approach."

"In that case," Cody spoke up, feeling slightly awkward. "I . . . might have an idea . . . it's risky, but-"

"Then do it, mate! It's not like any of us have one!" Jasmine encouraged him.

The time traveler nodded and swallowed nervously as he took a single step forward. The response was straightaway and both sides immediately drew their weapons or took battle stances, ready to leap into action at a moments notice. The air was tense as the Geek stood there, briefly contemplating his life decisions as he faced what was undoubtedly a wall of death and despair.

He had faced Leonard, Geoff, and Bridgette in lane; he knew what kind power they brought to the table through sheer experience alone. Leshawna could easily crush him under the immense idol that wielded or the army of ethereal tentacles that she commanded. Harold could effortlessly cleave him in two with the mighty ax he held tightly in his grip. Scott could blow him to bloody chunks before he would even be able to pray for mercy. Courtney could skewer him alive in at least a hundred different places before he would even be able to blink. Even Lindsay looked like she would be able to give him a good bop on the head with her staff, and that wasn't taking into consideration the strange magic that she wielded.

But it was Duncan that made him quake in his boots. He was by and large the biggest member of his team, easily towering over the likes of Leshawna and Harold's in-game avatars by at least three feet. The horns of his metal helm flickered with ghostly, blue flames and his hands – each big and strong enough to crush his puny skull like an egg – restlessly gripped and ungripped the handle of his morning star. The light shined off his armor in a glaring gleam that threatened to blind him and he couldn't help but feel as if the violent specter was starring into his very soul with those flaming, emerald orbs of hatred that resided within the blackened depths of his shako.

He looked like he wanted to murder someone very badly.

Something that, if all worked as according to plan, would work in his favor.

With a calming breath, Cody spared a short glance over his shoulder and felt himself relax a few degrees when Samey gave him a shaky thumbs-up; he had her confidence and Jasmine's faith. That was all he could ask for.

"Hey, Duncan! Nice outfit! I didn't know tin cans were in season!" he suddenly shouted.

To say the revenant was taken aback would have been an understatement. The twin orbs of green fire pinched and glowered viciously at him as he pushed his way to the front of his team despite their protests. "What did you say?"

"You heard me!" Cody barked, feeling a bit more confident in himself. "It must be getting hot in there. You want me to go get a can opener before you reach your expiration date?"

A low growl emanated from the depths of the possessed armor like that of an angry dog. "Come and say that to my face again. I dare you." came the threat.

"Duncan . . ." Courtney hissed anxiously. "Don't let him bait you!"

The Punk guffawed, a deafening roar that sounded like it came from the depths of the underworld. "Bait me? What's he going to do, try and cut me with that stupid twig of his? He can't beat me and he knows it. He's trying to act all brave and tough and manly for his girl! Pfft! As if!"

"Then why don't you fight me? Unless . . . you're scared?"

A deathly silence fell over the battlefield as both sides tried to comprehend what had just happened: a lanky and otherwise physically underdeveloped nerd had the audacity to call out a bully that could break him in two like a twig.

It might as well have been a death sentence.

Duncan simply shrugged and casually raised his mace over his head with a low, groan from his armor. "Have it your way-"

That was as far as he got before Cody suddenly activated his Blink ability and appeared behind him in a spark of azure and slashed at the back of his knees with his scythe, sliding the pulsating, blue blade through the thin chinks in the armor. The metal titan instinctively cried out as he stumbled back and fell to one knee, using his morning star as a support.

"Aw, already down for the count? I was just starting to have fun!" the Geek taunted him when he reappeared before him upon casting his Blink ability a second time with a smug smirk on his face.

The armored wraith growled, viciously seething as he hurriedly clambered to his feet. "Get ready to die, nerd."

"Duncan . . ." Courtney warned him. Something was definitely wrong – after all, no-one as physically pathetic as Cody would dare to try and take on her ex-boyfriend if they knew what was good for them – but she couldn't figure out what.

"You know what? I don't think you're so tough," the time traveler suddenly declared. "I think you act all savage and mean because you want people to like you. You want them to respect you, but you know they never will. Because deep down, beneath all those skulls and piercings and spikes and bad hair gel . . . you're just a sad-"

A growl of irritation from the armor.

"Pathetic-"

A low rumble like that of an active volcano.

"Whiny-"

A dull roar like that of a bomb that had been detonated on the horizon whose blast radius was fast approaching.

"Little-"

"Duncan . . ." Courtney took a few steps back. By now the towering suit of armor that was her teammate was literally vibrating with barely contained fury, like a shaken soda can that was nearly at its breaking point.

"Oh, man, he's gonna blow!" the quills on Geoff's head tensed up.

"Run for it!" Lindsay instinctively cowered behind Harold.

"Revenant, I beseech thee! Cease this madness!" Leonard ordered.

"What do we do?" Bridgette fearfully wondered.

"Take cover!" Leshawna yelled as she retreated to what she deemed to be a safe distance.

"Baby."

It was like standing next to a thunderflash. One moment the sky was perfect clear and then the next, everything turned a hot white and blocked everything out with a deafening ringing when Duncan exploded in a column of scorching, green flames and the wailing souls of the damned with the very heavens shaking from the sound of his voice.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH!I'm gonna use your spines as backscratchers! I will turn your lungs into mittens! I'll knit your intestines into a sweater and make you wear it! I will make you suffer for a thousand years, after which I will set you on fire for three thousand years! And when you /censored/ beg for mercy, I will laugh in your face as I tear out your soul and make you kill every one you ever cared about! I am the Lord of Death! I am the Master of Darkness! I am the Iron Revenant! I! AM! DUNCAN THE DESTROYER!"

(Chris-Terra Confessional – His power is over 9,000!)

Lindsay - "Okay, like, I know this is a game and everything . . . but Duncan is so scary! I'm going to have nightmares for weeks! And he's on my team!"

Eva - "And people say I have a temper."

Noah- "Okay I'm pretty sure half the people on this show are mentally unstable and the other half are pushing the envelope, but this is getting out of hand; it's like this stupid game is starting to affect their minds. Did Chris even test the VR machine before- wait a minute . . . I withdraw the question." he sighed as he remembered just what kind of show he was on.

Cody- "There's no way I'd ever do that in real life for, you know, obvious reasons." He chuckled nervously. "I hope Duncan doesn't take it too personal after the challenge is over..."

Duncan- "I'm gonna crush that tiny little-" He growled angrily before being cut off by static.

Despite all of this, Cody was completely unphased. "Ooh, so edgy! The edgiest of the edge-lords!"

"ALRIGHT, THAT DOES IT! You're gonna get what's comin' to you, you little scuzball!"

Completely disregarding the protests of his team, Duncan activated his Cataclysm Charge ability, further engulfing himself in the searing hot green flames that consumed his body as he charged forward, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

A brief flash of fear overcame Cody and he yelped as he activated his Rewind ability. The canister strapped hummed and glowed a brilliant blue as the hourglass-shaped device inside whined and gave off a loud roar. A wave of azure energy enveloped him and pulling all his afterimages together when he reappeared under the safety of his base with a loud bang!

That didn't stop Duncan from smashing into all of them like a runaway locomotive. "I KILL YOU!" he shouted with derangement.

"Well, don't jus' stand there, y'all! After him! It's now or never!" Leshawna yelled at her teammates, surging in right after the demented, undead colossus.

"Duncan, you idiot!" Courtney yelled over the roar of battle. The mercenary expertly ducked under the wide arc of Cody's scythe and hurled one of numerous daggers into the fray, vanishing in a white flash of magic. "I swear, when this is all over, I'm gonna-

"I AM DEATH INCARNATE!"

"Great. He's finally lost his mind." she growled sourly as she reappeared behind Dawn and was immediately attacked by a small garden of voracious plants. Lashers and brambles tipped with razor-sharp spikes and flowers with jaw-like bulbs lashed out at her, whittling away at her health and viciously defending their mistress until the assassin begrudgingly backed off.

Scott, meanwhile, was having the time of his life and was cackling like a hyena at the top of his lungs while he hurled bombs and grenades in every direction hitting who knows what. "Everything's coming up explodey! Ahahahahaha!" He laughed.

The sky rained with red and gunpowder as he activated his Concussion Mine ability and hurled a small, condensed pack of explosives at an unsuspecting Samey. Mere moments before the celestial guardian would have been reduced to a pile of bloody chunks and gunpowder, Jasmine swooped in and sent the volatile package flying back at him with a well-timed strike of her spear, a look of hardened determination on her face.

The crazed pyrotechnic only laughed like a lunatic when the resulting explosion sent him soaring high into the air where he proceeded to throw even more explosives from above. While the resulting clouds of smoke and destruction prevented him from getting a clear view of the battlefield, he was absolutely certain he was ruining someone's day; his reticle was having an absolute seizure, but he paid it no mind. Places to go, people to blow up, after all.

On the opposite end of Scott's rein of terror, Samey was practically having a full on panic attack. Even with Jasmine acting more or less as her personal bodyguard and Dawn throwing her a Tender Twigs shield every now and again, she was barely surviving the relentless onslaught of blades and magic with a mere fraction of her health. Everywhere she looked, all she saw was death and destruction as the two teams clashed with one another. For every wound that she closed or health bar she topped off, three more would come to replace it.

With trembling hands, she cast her Divine Blessing ability and barely pointed her sword at Scarlett just before the sinister serpent would fallen to another of Geoff's razor-edged feathers in her belly. An empyral magic traveled from her hands and down the length of her blade before leaping in a beautiful arc of glittering, golden light and encircling her teammate in its warmth; the naga's health was increased significantly and she earnestly slithered out of the way of a barrage of pointed quills.

"I . . .I can't k-keep this up!" she panted as she fell to one knee, gripping her sword with white knuckles; her wings limply folded against her back like a pair of wet blankets. Her energy was all but drained and it was only through Jasmine's determined attempts to protect her that she still clung to life. "Oh, why . . . why d-don't we have an-n-nother healer?"

"I feel ya, mate," the Outback Survivalist grunted as she deflected one of Leshawna's attempts to cave her skull in with the immense idol she wielded with the staff of her spear. Jasmine angrily stabbed her in the gut and struck her in the jaw with the other end of her spear; while the wound bled profoundly, it wouldn't be enough to kill the chocolate priestess, it would only keep her at bay for a little while. "Alright! Listen up! If anyone of you has a shield put it on Samey! It's time to protect the prime minister!" she barked.

"It's suppose to be protect the president . . ." Samey pointed out weakly.

"We don't have a president, we have you."

Almost immediately, she felt the familiar, comforting embrace of Dawn's Tender Twigs ability and she hurriedly flapped her wings to get off the ground and rush to Eva's aid. The enforcer was just barely blocking an assault of arrows from Trent and readily welcomed the seraph's assistance.

"Pocket me!" she roared as the rockets embedded into the back of her gauntlet's knuckles belched out black smoke and hot fire.

"Oh . . . um . . . o-okay!" Samey gulped as her teammate suddenly surged forward like a runaway train, leaving twin trails of noxious smog in her away.

For the like of her, the angel couldn't understand what the brawler was even attempting to aim at when she barreled into and past Trent, simply knocking him to the ground while she powered on. It didn't occur to her until the Female Bully had plowed straight into Lindsay and sent her flying into a well-placed boulder, putting her out of the fight for the moment.

Eva didn't waste a second and threw herself right back into the fray, ramming her head into Leonard before he could get off his Lightning Strike ability, leaving Samey behind.

The angel swallowed anxiously and tried to steal her nerves as she more or less followed her teammate into the fight, swooping for near-death saves and heals that mostly only earned her a grunt of thanks from her allies. She supposed it wasn't entirely their fault – they were directly in the middle of combat and being a Support was practically a thankless job – and she should have been glad that they acknowledged her in the first place . . . but would it hurt if they tried to protect her a little more?

Even with Jasmine bellowing orders to keep her safe, she was still just barely hanging in there. One good hit, even with her health passively regenerating at a snail's pace, and she was done for!

The ground suddenly trembled ominously beneath her – a strange sensation, given how she usually kept to hovering aloft a good foot or so – and she paled considerably when she saw what was coming for her.

With a cheeky, somewhat apologetic grin, Bridgette had activated and sent her Tidal Wave ultimate rushing toward her, a solid wall of water whose frothing white caps had morphed into the likeness of a breaching whale that had been swept up by the current. The angel didn't even have time to react when the entire swell barreled into her like a truck, knocking her flat on her back, washing over her, and soaking her to the bone.

"Now, Geoff!"

Samey groaned as she sat up. Despite the game reducing any crippling pain to a numbing sensation, everything still felt like it should hurt. Thus, she barely had any time to react when Geoff's Stealth Stalker ability ended and he suddenly appeared before her with that ever cocky smirk on his face and a golden gleam in his feathers. Flawlessly, he bounded high into the air so that the sun shone off his glamorous cloak of feathers so brightly it nearly threatened to blind her.

"Sorry, brah! But you gotta go down! YAAAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOO!" he proudly crowed as he readied his Feather-storm ultimate.

"Not on my watch!"

Samey watched with awe and amazement as Cody suddenly appeared behind the party animal in a violent blue burst of temporal energy and severed him from the sky with a single, glorious stroke of his double-headed scythe, screaming a battle cry at the top of his lungs.

Geoff fell in a heap on the ground with a loud oof! from his lungs, blood splattering his once beautiful cape of feathers. With a groan, he propped himself on his hands and knees, clutching his stomach where he was certain that he was bleeding; the wound was definitely deep, but he didn't feel a thing. That wasn't to say he hadn't taken a heavy hit though – his health had dropped by at least a third.

Cody haughtily landed on his feet with a low thump! and all but arrogantly slung the pulsating, blue blades of his weapon over his shoulder. The nerd bent down and offered a hand towards Samey. "Need a hand?" he grinned.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – Hah! Fool! This isn't even my final form!)

Samey - "Oh, he's good." she sighed lovingly.

Cody - "Normally I'm not one to gloat . . . but did you see that!? WHOO!"

With a fierce, crimson blush to her face, Samey took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. Even when her in-game avatar towered over him considerably, she had never felt so safe than when she looked into those soft, baby blue eyes of his. She resisted the urge to giggle when the time traveler reached for her cheek and tenderly brushed away the dirt from her face, a warm smile on lips; her snowy white wings gently curled around him, pulling him in closer.

"Thank you." she whispered.

"Any time." Cody chuckled.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

The romantic moment was quickly ruined when Duncan came charging at the two of them, snorting and seething like a raging bull. With his morning star at the ready, the ruthless revenant brought his weapon down on the spot where they had been mere seconds before Samey had instinctively grabbed Cody in her arms and gave a mighty flap of her wings, propelling them high into the air.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU /censored/!" the Punk angrily waved his weapon of destruction.

The angel nervously watched the furious wraith stomp around below them, disregarding virtually everything and everyone else around him. They couldn't stay up there forever. Their team need help!

"I'm going to drop you," she calmly whispered in Cody's ear, her grip around him tightening. "I just . . . you know . . . I-"

"I know." Cody gave her a small smile and a thumbs up.

Samey felt her heart flutter and her face flush a deep red as she reluctantly released her hold on her boyfriend and watched him plummet into the proverbial pits of hell where the Devil himself waited, mace in hand. With a loud thwack! Cody nailed Duncan in the jaw and arched his body, twisting like a corkscrew through the air before he activated his Blink ability and disappeared in a flash of temporal, blue energy.

Mere seconds later, he reappeared in the air directly above Harold and brought his scythe down like a hammer on his head with a loud crack! The mighty warrior – who had been ruthlessly cleaving through the opposition like a nerd finally being able to fulfill his fantasies could – comically crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Ooh, that had to hurt!" Cody grinned before he darted off.

Samey meanwhile, was doing everything in her power to keep Duncan distracted. With great reluctance – as she was utterly terrified and exhilarated at the same time, if that was even possible – she activated her Valkyrie ability.

Her snowy white wings responded instantly, gleaming like a thousand sharpened blades while she soared up as high into the air as she was allowed to. With the mighty call of a warrior on her lips, she dropped like a missile through the air and swung out her sword at the last second, striking Duncan once, twice, three times in quick succession before swooping back up into the sky.

The demonic suit of armor growled angrily as he clutched his side, reluctantly grimacing at the grievous wounds he had suffered. As much as he hated to admit it, it was an impressively damaging move for a Support – which only served to make him even angrier.

Now he had two targets on his hit list.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU OVERGROWN CHICKEN!" he bellowed with rage as he charged after the angel.

Concurrently, Team Kihew's minions were steadily whittling away at the enemy turret with their pathetically laughable wooden swords and wands. Brainless though they were, Trent was more than happy to assist them from a safe distance and fired off arrow after arrow at the tremendous stone sentinel; it felt like he was chipping away at a boulder with a pocket knife. Regardless, the turret was bound to drop any moment now and then his team would be able to move in, destroy the Nexus, and finally end the game.

The archer however, had not taken five things into account. All five of these things smashed into him like a truck in the form of Eva's fist and sent him flying several yards back and into the trunk of a tree with a single blow.

Trent could barely bring himself to open his eyes as he slumped to the ground and groaned, his entire body consumed by the overwhelmingly numb feeling. He couldn't even react when Eva initiated her Uppercut ability and knocked him high into the air. The brawler followed with a tremendous leap of her own and savagely began to pummel his broken body without remorse; one final slug to the nose sent his bloody and bruised corpse flying off into the depths of the jungle.

With a loud wham! she landed back on the ground and charged back into the fight. She couldn't lose now!

The brute surged past Amy as she whipped her leathery wings in front of her to block the assault of magical bolts Leonard sent her way. With a low hiss and sparks dripping from her lips, she activated her Dragon's Wrath ultimate and let the flire consume her. The flame that had been passively burning away in her chest exploded into a raging inferno, consuming her entire form as she took a flying leap and began to change in mid air. Her skeleton cracked and groaned in agony as her entire morphology was rearranged, tissue and muscle knitting and weaving themselves beneath her iron-sided hind. The Evil Twin's wings fluidly moved up her spine like they were on liquid metal and fused with her arms with a series of disturbing crunches and snaps, as if there was no possibility that they could fit together and were instead being forced. The armored tail that grew from the back of her scalp was slurped back into her skull like a piece of spaghetti, only to be forced back out at nearly three times its original length at the base of her sine, cracking back and forth with blood-lust. Amy's face protruded forward into the powerful muzzle of a mighty dragon, her feeble teeth giving way to the searing hot fangs that ripped and tore through her gums without mercy. Two pairs of horns – one located at the joint of her jaw, the other protruding and curving back from either side of her head – jutted out from her skull one after the other; the Evil Twin roared in pain, releasing a primal declaration of war. Her crimson armor fused with her heavily plated skin as her toes fused and exploded into three, crushing digits tipped with claws powerful enough to lift even the mightiest of warriors into the air and send them plummeting to their doom. Scorching hot flames leaped and danced across her skin as the dragon unleashed a powerful bellow to announce her presence.

Leonard watched in horror, mouth agape as the tarragon loomed over him, liquid fire dripping from her jaws as she bellowed angrily at him. "RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWR!"

The wizard did the only logical thing and ran as fast as he could with the maddened behemoth slithering after him. The ground trembled beneath her feet while she snapped her jaws, determined to mince him into meat if it was the last thing she did.

"Bombs away!"

Amy snarled and shook her head as a handful of grenades exploded in her face, blinding her and allowing Leonard to slip away from her. With a low growl, she whirled around and lashed out with her mighty tail, nailing Scott in the gut and knocking him aside like a ragdoll.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRAAAAAGGHH!" she bellowed once she caught sight of Leonard once more. The dragoness moved like a tank through the fray, shaking off explosions and magic, tooth and blade as if it were nothing while she relentlessly pursued her prey. With a deafening roar, she lunged forward, jaws and flame at the ready – only to slam face-first into a perfectly timed golden shield from Geoff.

The Evil Twin growled and attempted to attack the barrier again, only for her ultimate to run down and instantaneously transform her back into her original form in a flash of searing hot smoke.

"Ugh, I am never going to get use to that." she grumbled sourly, only to receive a faceful of razor-edged feathers and pointed quills. Even with her armored skin, it was more than enough to absolutely decimate her health bar and send her lifeless body crumbling to the ground.

"Your timing is truly remarkable, man of beasts," Leonard complimented the party animal. "I must have you accompany my party on one of our quests some time. It will truly be tale worthy of legend."

"No probs, bro! Now let's get back in there!" Geoff strutted.

By now, Harold had recovered from Cody's assault and was currently facing down Scarlett across the battlefield. The naga hissed angrily as she sized up her foe, noting his weak points and his strengths while taking her own into account; she couldn't afford to give in now.

With a battle cry, the warrior activated his Apprehend ability and thrust his ax forward, hooking the curved blade around her serpentine figure and pulling her toward him. The Brainiac snarled and effortlessly slithered out of his grasp, initiating with her own Constriction ability and coiling around his body.

Harold cried out in pain as the powerful muscles in her body crushed his suit to his muscled figure. It was like being in a compactor that just wouldn't give in until his organs had burst and his bones had been ground into dust. Desperate, he jabbed his head forward and rammed Scarlett in the face, breaking her concentration long enough for him to break free of her coercive coils.

Not wasting a second, he hurriedly brought his ax down on Scarlett's tail, slicing it clean off. Now it was Scarlett's turn to scream in horror as she stared at her severed tail that was still twitching in the grass and mud.

With an unearthly scream, she activated her Twin Fang ability and spat duo jets of noxious venom in Harold's eyes, blinding him.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGH! It burns!" he wailed.

Scarlett felt not but burning hatred in her heart as she whipped out what was left of her tail and struck him with all her strength in his stomach, knocking him flat on his back.

The warrior raised his armored arm just in time to block another stinging strike from the naga while he climbed to his feet. He was on the backfoot now and with no other way to protect himself, he began to deflect her increasingly aggressive attacks with the flat of his mighty ax while she steadily pushed him back into what she perceived to be a corner, a small grove of trees that prevented any easy escape.

It was the perfect positioning.

To the Brainiac's surprise, Harold suddenly dashed forward, bashing her with brunt of his arm. "Ha! You fool!" he snidely laughed. "Though physically we are close together, mentally we are light-years apart! You cannot hurt me, even at this distance! Due to my amazing skills of deflection! Before you were born I was already formulating this plan-"

The monologue was abruptly cut short when Scarlett whipped out the remains of her tail and nailed him right in the crotch. [5]

"AWWWWW!" Harold whimpered as he fell to his knees and left himself open to another strike to the side; by now his health was dangerously low.

"As cliché as this may sound . . . prepare to die!" the naga hissed as she bared her brazen claws and reared up on the anterior of her serpentine body, easily towering over the fallen warrior.

"Nooo! I'll save you!" Lindsay cried out when she desperately cast her Salvation ultimate. The once soft, golden magic emanating from the lantern hanging from her staff suddenly turned a vibrant and tranquil green so blindingly bright that it almost hurt to look at it. The heavens above parted into the empty expanse of space to reveal thousands upon millions of shining stars in all of their wondrous glory. With a deafening roar, beams of celestial light rained down from nirvana in a spectacular kaleidoscope of luminosity and color and struck every member of Team Kihew in unison.

Immediately, the struggling health bars were pushed back to their limit with a mighty cadence and those that had been forced to cower for fear of meeting an untimely end suddenly surged with strength and power like they had never felt before.

Now it was once again Scarlett's turn to tremble with fear as Harold hauled himself to his feet, a crimson fire in his eye while he drew himself up to his full height. The serpent instinctively shrank back against his intimidating figure and, contrary to her otherwise arrogant attitude, was fearful for once in her entire life.

She was trapped within the confines of a video game. A realm that a man like Harold had spent at least half his life traversing from console to console, platform to platform, game to game. She was completely out of her element and he was entirely within his.

"/censored/." Was all she had to say before the Dweeb activated his Grisly Guillotine ultimate and soared high into the air with a single, tremendous leap. The sun shone off the blade of his mighty battle ax as he raised it over his head and brought it down on the unfortunate snake woman, slicing her down the length of her entire body in one, swift motion and a spray of blood.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Harold felt like he was on an adrenaline rush as he raced along, effortlessly carrying the immense ax he wielded with a single hand. With another powerful bound, he saluted the sun and slammed his ax down on an unwitting Eva, felling the mighty brawler with one cleave of his blood-stained weapon.

And still he hungered for more.

Again and again he jumped as high as his in-game avatar's Olympian thighs would carry him, praising the sky in all its glory as he brought his monumental blade down on all that had the inopportune luck of being in his way. Dawn died with a pitiful whimper as the plants she had cultivated with tender love and care encircled her in their comforting embrace and pulled her into the depths of the earth. Amy was slain with a thunderous roar and a fountain of scorching hot blood and gore that sizzled and hissed like a nest of vipers against the grass. Even the invulnerable Jasmine was no match for his raw strength and power and fell like a once mighty oak.

"PENTAKILL!"

(Chris-Terra Confessional – That's right, ladies. He's available and ripe for the picking!)

Duncan - "Never thought I'd be sayin' this . . . but I suddenly have a whole new respect for the nerd. Remind me to never go up against him in a video game."

Dawn - "I sense much pent-up rage and aggression inside of Harold due to being subjected to constant bullying and criticism throughout his life. While I normally don't condone such violence, this seems to be the best way for him to release all of that anger in a healthy manner." she hummed in thought, tapping her chin. "Although I'm having a hard time explaining all of teabagging he does after he brutally murders someone . . ."

Geoff - "Right on, man! Just let it all out and go with the flow, bro!"

Leshawna - "Jus' how is it possible that he is so gosh darn handsome in this game? Can pixels seriously make a man that attractive!?"

Samey yelped as she just barely dodged a frag grenade and a handful of throwing knives all aimed directly at her head. Things had gone from bad to worse and even beyond that, if that was even possible. Practically her entire team – sans her and Cody – had been ruthlessly slaughtered in a matter of seconds by what had to be most impressive and terrifying gaming skills she had ever witnessed. Granted, she had seen very few examples of such prowess, but she decided right then and there that it didn't matter.

What did matter was that she and her boyfriend were the only thing standing between Team Kihew and victory. An absolutely horrifying thought, if she was being honest.

"Isn't there something we can do!?" she swallowed nervously as she and Cody hovered just out of reach of the enemy team's weapons. Most of their focus was on hammering away at the turret, the more burly members tanking the defensive shots sent their way when their minions had all been spent or had inexplicably blundered into a rock again. "Some kind of . . . I dunno, epic comeback kind of deal!?"

The time traveler grimaced. "I've come back from worse . . . much worse, actually . . . but the odds of us surviving, much less winning, are slim to none."

"So this means . . ?"

"Yep. We lost big time."

The angel felt her wings droop at the prospect of losing the challenge. The thought of facing another elimination ceremony was terrifying in itself, but she seriously felt like she had let down her boyfriend. Here he was having the time of his life, and she had ruined it, or at the very least had a hand in ruining it.

"So . . . what now?" she wondered.

By now the turret had nearly collapsed and a few of the more venturous members of the enemy team had managed to slip past the turret's failing defenses and were taking potshots at them, getting closer and braver by the second. Any second now, the tower would collapse and they would be all over them like wolves on a fresh kill.

"I dunno about you, but I kinda want to go out in a blaze of glory," Cody shrugged, carelessly shouldering his double-headed scythe. The turret was near to collapsing now and he most certainly did not like the look in Duncan's eye. "That is, if you're up for it?"

Samey couldn't help but smile shyly; it was only so rarely that she given a choice. Most of the time she had been forced to do whatever her demon of a sister told her to do, regardless of how humiliating, demeaning, or dangerous it was.

With a slight tinge of red to her face, she took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Ready when you are."

With one last swing of his mighty morning star, Duncan felled the enormous turret in an explosion of crimson shards and vermilion magic, reducing the once imposing sentinel to a pile of rubble. The enemy team wasted no time in congratulating themselves and surged forward with weapons drawn, a blood-lust in their eye, and their fearless (albeit slightly demented) leader leading the charge.

The Geek gave a cocky smirk as he briefly analyzed the fast approaching enemy team, noting how they were oh, so favorably clustered together in a raging mass of arms and legs and weapons – perfect. If he timed things just right, they might be able to hold them off long enough for his teammates to respawn.

He had always wanted to use his ultimate, but there had never been an opportune moment for him to fire it off, at least not until now. With a loud howl, he activated his Chronobreak ultimate and he expertly leaped as high into the air as he could, rolling and somersaulting over himself he reached the peak of his descent and the humming, pulsating blue blade of his double-headed scythe out.

"Time ain't on your- oh, no!" Cody quipped mere moments before Leshawna cast her Test of Spirit ability and lashed out with a tenuous tentacle that coiled itself around his waist. With a sharp yank of her idol, she simultaneously canceled his ultimate and brought him crashing back down to the ground right in the middle of her team.

With a groan, he attempted to reach for his scythe, only to have a peg leg stomp down on the throbbing, azure blade. Looking up, he met Scott's soot-covered face and his smug, slightly deranged grin. "Sucks to be you, now doesn't it?"

Cody cursed himself for being so careless and hurriedly rolled out of the way of a downward thrust from Courtney's knives. There was no way he was going to get out this one alive, not even if Samey risked her own life to try and rescue him; that didn't mean he couldn't still try to stall for time.

Desperately, he scanned over his abilities while he dodged kicks aimed at his stomach and crushing stomps aimed at his back, worming his way through the tangle of bodies while they fought amongst themselves to try and get to him. None of his abilities were going to give a chance to break free without being roped back in again, his weapon was lost somewhere in the forest of legs and feet, and his teammates wouldn't be respawning for at least another thirty seconds – far too long.

It was then that he noticed one very crucial detail. How he and practically everyone else had missed it, he had no idea, but maybe . . . just maybe . . .

"Samey!" he called.

"Cody! Don't worry, I'm coming to rescue you!" she shouted from out of his line of sight.

"No, don't!"

"What!?"

The time traveler yelped as a handful of pellet grenades exploded like a nest of fireworks in front of him, blinding him and rendering his ears useless. He could feel the numbing sensation of a curved blade dig its way into his calf and rip all the way down his leg. A bolt of violent, violet lightning struck him from above and he resisted the urge to scream with agony – it didn't hurt, mind you, but it still felt like it should.

"Listen to me!" he yelled as he scooted away from the head of Harold's enormous ax. "Noah, Owen, and Izzy are still alive! I need you to call for them! They're our only chance of holding out until the rest of our team-"

That was as far as he got before Duncan gave an enraged bellow and brought his mace down on Cody's skull. His head popped like a balloon full of paint, his blood and brains spilling out over the worn cobblestone while his lifeless body limply slumped to the ground, his fingers just barely twitching.

Samey couldn't help but scream at the gruesome sight, immediately regretting her decision when the entire enemy team turned to face her.

"You're next!" Duncan growled, patting his hefty weapon in his palm.

The angel could only scream as she turned tail and flew away as fast as her wings would carry her with the entirety of Team Kihew hot on her heels. Frantically, she began pinging for help, summoning a shower of obnoxious, high-pitched pings and blue flags.

Scott was cackling like a maniac as he grabbed the comically oversized bomb – with a crudely drawn smiley face wearing an eye patch and blowing a raspberry on it - and activated his Mega Inferno Bomb, chucking the highly volatile explosive as far as it would go. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he shrieked loudly.

Samey didn't even stand a chance. Before she could even get to the safety of her team's fountain and the incredibly powerful, magical laser that prevented any opposition from breaching its borders, her world was destroyed and swallowed up in a mushroom cloud that felt like it should have obliterated the entire map in one go.

The last thing that she heard was the deranged laughter of a psychotic pyrotechnic in her ears.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Oh . . . are we there now?"

"No."

" . . . what about now?"

"Izzy, for the ninety-ninth time, we aren't there yet! You've been asking that stupid question ever since we left spawn! Let it go!" Noah had finally reached his limit.

"Let it go, let it go! Can't hold it back-"

"Izzy, I beg of you, stop singing that song!" the cynic tiredly sighed. "And Owen, put that Gromp down! That's not for eating!"

"Aww . . ." the humanoid catfish pouted as he reluctantly spat out a large amphibian the size of a microwave with walrus-like tusks and a cluster of mushrooms growing out its back. The creature gave him an incredibly perturbed look before it (somehow) flipped him the bird and hopped away.

"Come on, Noah, you only have your childhood once!" Izzy flashed him a Cheshire smile while she absentmindedly juggled her orbs and simultaneously hung upside down from a tree branch. "Do you wanna build a-"

"I swear, you two are like children sometimes," the runic mage groaned as he came to a stop on the map's river bank. "And as for your . . . many . . . many . . . many questions, Izzy . . . we're finally here."

Before them was what had to have once been a mighty temple with enormous pillars to support its weight, intricately carved sculptures of deities and warriors from an age long forgotten, and a grand set of steps carved into a small cliff overlooking the river. Now, it had fallen into ruin and disrepair after eons of ignorance, reduced to a grand pile of rubble that was slowly being reclaimed by the jungle's forces. The stone stairs had crumbled away, letting the river pour in over the temple's floor. Giant tree roots had burst forth from its once pristine walls, draining the life from its runic carvings. The roof had long since collapsed into a mess of giant stones and slabs that vines and algae choked under their grip.

What was most notable however, was the number of bodies and skeletons that had been piled up all over the place. Swords and spears that had given into rust lay decrepit in the river's murky depths and whole suits of blackened armor with their warriors remains still inside were scattered about by a careless hand. Carcasses of once proud stag and gigantic two-headed birds as big as a small cabin were thrown over tree roots like trophies.

"Shhhhhhh," Noah put a finger to his lips as he carefully climbed down the bank and slipped into the river; the water reached up to his calves and rose to his knees in certain spots.

Izzy ignored his warning and proudly jumped off the bank, expertly performing a flip before she landed on her feet with a splash! "Ooh, are we hunting wabbits?"

With a tremendous plop! that soaked Noah to the bone, Owen landed beside his teammates and hungrily rubbed his belly while licking his lips with his ridiculously long tongue at the thought of food. "Mmmmm, wabbits . . ."

"Will you two be quiet!?" the cynic rasped. "We're not hunting 'wabbits', we're hunting a dragon! The last thing we want is for it to be hunting us, so unless you want to end up roasting like chestnuts on an open fire, keep it down!"

"Mmmmm, chestnuts . . ."

Deciding that his teammates were both a lost cause and that he was wasting his time trying to even reason with them, Noah pushed on ahead and slogged through the river, trying to ignore the feeling of mud somehow getting between his toes despite him wearing boots.

As the three of them slowly entered the dragon's lair, he couldn't help but feel a slight dread come over him. Years of gaming experience told him that taking such an important objective was risky – if he wasn't prepared, he could die in a number of ways, whether it be at the hands of the beast he was trying to slay or that of the enemy team that was trying to thwart him at every turn. Even if he manage to stand a chance against the monstrous behemoth, there was always the possibility that the opposing team was waiting somewhere just out of sight, waiting for the chance to blindly run in and steal the objective after all the hard work he had put in.

What also had him unnerved was the fact that they hadn't seen the dragon yet. For a creature that should have been as big as a house, it should have been easy to spot and yet they still hadn't managed to find it yet despite practically standing in the very center of its lair.

Could it see them?

We're they walking into a trap?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Noah was pretty sure he had jumped clear out of his skin when Izzy suddenly screamed like a banshee. With his heart racing, he looked around wildly for any sign of the enemy team or of the dragon whose lair they were currently intruding upon; after a few harrowing moments, he realized that everything was eerily quiet.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the runic mage was quick to turn on the Psycho-hose Beast. "Geez, what was that for!? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"But look at this awesome hat I found!" Izzy grinned like a complete idiot as she squarely placed a small, green pith helmet with red goggles secured around the brim and a tuft of blue feathers or fur protruding from the top. "Sayonara, Wizard Hat!"

At the mere sight of the hat, the cynic paled several shades. "Oh, no . . ."

As if on cue, a thunderous roar from overhead caught their attention and they are hurriedly scrambled out of the way as a colossal, pitch black shape dove towards them and landed with a tremendous splash!

Noah coughed and spat out a mouthful of water, swallowing nervously as the tarragon of the pit loomed over him in all of its terrifying glory. It was absolutely enormous, easily bigger than one of the cabins, maybe even both of the cabins put together; he could have been standing right next to the beast and only reached its knee. The dragon was covered in thick, obsidian scales that were like thousands of iron plates layered over one another, creating an impenetrable set of living armor. Wicked, black claws tipped every toe and unlike Amy's transformation, it walked on all fours with its wings folded against its back. The wings themselves were of a ridiculous size and had to span a hundred feet at least when spread out to their fullest, maybe even more and were tipped with glowing, blue claws at every joint and end. The dragons' head was a terrifying sight with a set of powerful, lethal jaws, a pair of horns that jutted forward like a pair of insect mandibles, and a pair of white, woolly feathers akin to that of a lion's. It was the those cold, glowing blue eyes that sent a chill of Noah's spine the most however, a perfect mixture of raw, bestial power and unmatched sagacity.

"I hate that blow dart-wielding rat. Even when he isn't here, he still manages to screw me over!" he cursed his breath. [5]

"RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWAAAGH!" the dragon drowned out his pitiful whimpers for mercy.

Immediately the beast lunged forward and attempted to devour Noah in one bite, cocking its head sideways to get the best angle of attack.

With agility that he never knew he had, Noah narrowly avoided the dragon's maw by diving out of the way just in time. He had been so close he could smell the dragon's fiery breath. It smelled something along the lines of a charred roadkill barbecue. The cynic almost threw up at the noxious smell but it seemed there were certain limitations to the virtual reality experience.

Realizing it had failed to secure the kill, the dragon turned back to Noah and swiped at him with its long, jaded claws. Noah jumped into the air and landed on the dragon's front foot, making his way up the leg at a rapid pace. If he got up to its back there would be no way for it to reach him.

However, the dragon had other plans, plans that involved a three course meal and the demise of Noah, Izzy, and Owen. Without warning, the tarragon's rough scales suddenly burst into flames, enveloping the dragon in a scorching fireball that didn't seem to bother it.

Noah howled in agony and immediately jumped off the drake's back, landing on the floor of the flooded temple with a loud splash! and cloud of steam as he desperately rolled around to put out the flames.

"He can light himself on fire?!" Izzy exclaimed, dumbfounded. "That is so COOL! Why can't I do that! Life is a cruel mistress!" She cursed.

Nevertheless, Owen and Izzy began their attack, attempting to draw the dragon's attention away from Noah, who's health had dropped a couple of points.

Since it was all he could do, Owen threw out his long winding tongue and slapped the dragon's flaming hide a couple of times before he realized that he was effectively roasting his tongue. "Ow! That thmarths!" He exclaimed with his tongue still out.

"OVER HERE, YA REJECT SMAUG!" Izzy hollered. That certainly grabbed its attention.

The dragon whipped around angrily and let out a roar in Izzy's face. She recoiled as the force of the bellow blew her hair back and forced the smell of charred roadkill into her nostrils.

"Yeesh! You could use a breath mint." She remarked.

None too happy with this comment, the tarragon retaliated by swinging its tail at her. It came so quick that the agile wizard didn't even have time to react. With a loud THWACK! Izzy was sent flying across the pit and into the stone wall, slumping down to the ground with a soft splash.

"Ouch!" Owen winced.

Izzy was now left with a large, dark red bruise on her cheek and a significant drop in HP.

Now that she was down, she was an easy pick off. The dragon loomed over here, licking its lips before opening wide.

Owen watched as fire boiled at the back of the dragon's throat, occasionally spilling out onto its tongue as it charged up a shot.

"NOO!" He cried. Thinking quickly, the humanoid catfish ran forward and activated his Slimy Save ultimate, and yes, it was as gross as it sounded.

"I'll save you Izzy!" He declared, launching his long, slippery tongue from his cavernous jaws and coiled around Izzy's weak body. Just in the nick of time, he pulled her in and swallowed her whole, his cheeks bulging.

The dragon spewed a wave of fire where Izzy had just been, and seeing that she was no longer there, it turned its head to Owen and directed the flames at him.

Owen closed his eyes and tried to shield himself from the intense heat, holding his scaly arms up to block some of it. Luckily for the tank, his thick, water-tight skin and was doing quite well against the scorching flames.

When the fire storm was done, Owen had only lost about a quarter of his health compared to Izzy who would have surely been dead if not for Owen's quick thinking.

Speaking of which, Owen quickly spat out Izzy, who was now conscious and covered in stomach acid and saliva.

She flicked a wad of it off of her arms, unsure of how to feel about that. She looked up at Owen. "You, me, later." she grinned seductively.

Owen's eyes widened in realization but it would have to wait because now the tarragon was angry.

This had gone on long enough! It was time to kill them once and for all.

With another loud roar the dragon came forward, toothy mouth agape. Izzy and Owen quickly scampered out of the way and got to work.

"Hop into my mouth again! I'll launch you!" Owen instructed her.

While ordinarily Izzy would have turned that sentence sexual, now was not the time and she knew it. She followed his orders and hopped back into his wide open mouth. Like a cannon, Owen launched her high into the sky using his spring-like tongue.

"WOOO-HOOO!" She whooped, chucking her orbs at the dragon as she came back down to earth. Each time one collided with the dragon's face and exploded into a small cloud of pink and blue magic, a new one would appear in her arsenal around her neck.

The dragon grimaced as it was nailed in the face. Izzy was about to land when the dragon quickly snatched her up in its mouth clamping down hard. However, Izzy wasn't going down without a fight. She used her in-game strength to force open the beast's mouth, but was met with a direct hit from a fireball that sent her flying back into a tree root.

That blow sent her health crashing down to quite low. Luckily for her, Noah was able to make his way behind the monstrous behemoth to aid her by transferring some of his own health to her. It would regenerate for him in a matter of time, he just had to avoid getting hit for that to happen.

Just like that, Izzy was back into the fight with only about three fourths of her health. The redhead summoned a light blue portal beneath her and soon came hurdling out of a red one, striking a kicking pose that struck the dragon in the head. It let out a wail and swatted Izzy out of the sky as it stood up on its back legs.

Izzy hit the ground hard but it didn't take away too much of her health.

As Noah stayed back and threw his magic orbs at the monstrosity, he couldn't help but notice the incredibly active kill feed in the upper right of his vision. Upon further inspection, he realized there was far more blue than red. "Whoa, our team is getting creamed!" He exclaimed. "And it's all by one person..." Just as he realized this, a loud pinging sound came from their base. "Crap! They're swarming the base and our whole team is dead!" He cried.

"What are we supposed to do?" Izzy wondered, throwing a set of orbs at the tarragon's head before rolling out of the way of a swipe from its claws.

"We have to get back there and stall it out so our team can respond! That's the only way we'll have a chance to save this! They're probably already destroying our Nexus now!" He worried. How did he not realize all of their turrets had been taken? They were just at the base! They barely avoided the confrontation and they had no clue about it!

Noah's thoughts were interrupted when Owen asked a very pertinent question, "So, how are we gonna get back there in time?"

If there was ever a time for Noah to use his ultimate, now was the opportunity. "My ultimate can teleport us there, now group up or you'll be left with Senor Snarly." Noah told them.

Once Izzy and Owen were close enough, Noah activated his teleport ultimate. He pulled the scroll from his back and slammed it onto the ground with one hand.

Immediately, a large, blue and purple aura of magic and energy swirled around them like a whirlpool in a stunning show of magnificent light. As the energy surged around them in a bubble formation, a bright blue beacon shot into the sky as far as the eye could see. With a loud CRACK! A purple shock-wave of light ran along the surface of the land for miles and in an instant, they were gone.

xxx

"Now all that's left to attack is the nexus!" Harold explained to his team. "If we all attack it together we should be able to destroy it before they respawn!"

"This big stone thing?" Leshawna wondered, whacking it with her idol, earning a loud hollow clang.

"Yes m'lady." Harold nodded, bring his ax down on the large red crystal. Several small chunks of gemstone and rock flew back.

Then, without warning, a huge blue and purple explosion erupted a few yards away at the edge of the base, near mid-lane. The explosion kicked up heaps of dust that when it cleared, revealed the large swirling bubble of blue energy surrounded by mist. As the light show died down, Noah, Izzy, and Owen were revealed.

"Stop right there!" Izzy hollered at them. "No one attacks my big shiny rock and gets away with it!"

The redhead was swiftly interrupted by the ear-splitting roar of the dragon, who decided to tag along with them via Noah's ultimate.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWAAAGH!" It bellowed, wasting no time as it summoned fire in its gullet and shot a fireball at Team Sisikwew who were all conveniently grouped up.

Seeing impending doom, they all scattered as the dragon began its rampage.

"Okay, I did not mean to bring him along!" Noah made clear as everyone ran around screaming behind him.

"Get out of here you stupid lizard!" Scott hollered. He'd swatted plenty of lizards in his day. Mostly rats, but some lizards too. Just about any critter that found it's way into his house was met with a crushing blow from his trusty bat. Of course the dragon was much bigger than any lizard he'd ever squashed, but that didn't stop the hairy pyromaniac from lobbing several rounds of bombs at the beast.

The tarragon'slet out a pained roar as Scott's bombs exploded in its face, taking out a decent amount of health. However, it wasn't enough to put it in dangeror deter it from retaliating.

Scott threw a mine onto the ground and attempted to use it to boost himself into the air, however, the dragon ruined his plan by breathing another fireball down at him, destroying his mine in a fiery clatter of wires just as he jumped and detonated it, ultimately launching him nowhere.

Before he could comprehend what just happened, the dragon lunged forward and snatched him up in his jaws, killing the dirt farmer instantly. Several bombs dropped from his vest as the dragon clamped down, exploding over a few of Team Sisikwew's minions.

While Team Kihew attempted to take down the dragon so they could commence with their attack on the nexus, Noah, Izzy and Owen were taking potshots at them and trying to avoid sight of the dragon who almost certainly had a grudge against them.

Izzy threw an orb of destruction onto Geoff and dived behind a bush before peeking out a few times to chuck orbs at him. She managed to nail the chimera in the head, docking him about half of his health.

Geoff whirled around to try and find the source of his damage but only saw his teammates firing at the tarragon. Since they seemed to have it handled, Geoff cloaked himself in camouflage and decided to investigate.

He used his increased speed to his advantage by weaving in and around obstacles and people, being careful not to get hit by anything or his invisibility would deactivate.

Unfortunately for Geoff, he didn't realize Izzy still had her orb of destruction on him, allowing her to see his location even when he was camouflaged. As the surfer came near, Izzy readied a charge of orbs. As soon as he came around a large rock, she released, sending a volley of orbs aimed right at Geoff's head. With a series of sharp dink!s Geoff was dead on the ground, not knowing what hit him.

Bridgette turned and saw Geoff's body but was unaware of the humanoid catfish coming right for her. Only when his long winding tongue wrapped around her did she realize she had been tricked. Owen pulled the mermaid into his mouth and swished her around like mouthwash.

After a few moments he let out a belch and Bridgette was dumped out of his mouth, covered in stomach juices and all sorts of unpleasant things.

In an attempt to save herself, Bridgette threw out an aqua prison and managed to snare Owen with it, trapping him in a bubble-like cage.

Leshawna noticed what was happening and came over, jumping into the air with her idol at the ready. She came down on Owen and swung her heavy bronze weapon into his skull taking out a portion of his health.

Izzy peaked out of her bush again and quickly launched another volley of orbs at Bridgette. She hit her in the stomach but since she was low health, it was enough to take her out.

Things were quickly turning south for Team Kihew as the dragon continued to rampage, taking out Lindsay with a spray of flames and sending Harold running for safety behind a rock.

Courtney and Duncan however, were not about to let this victory slip from their fingers. Courtney threw a dagger at a nearby tree and teleported to it in a cloud of white smoke. She reappeared at the dagger and used her two main knives to climb higher by embedding them in the bark and pulling herself up with them.

When she was high enough, she swung off of one and leaped through the air. The assassin landed on the back of the dragon's head and quickly got to work slicing and dicing. The tarragon let out another pained roar and tried to shake her off but to no avail.

Courtney wouldn't remain on the dragon for long however. As it had done before, the beast allowed its skin to erupt into hot blue flames.

Courtney screamed as her entire body went numb, the flames engulfing her clothing. The CIT tried to get off the dragon's fiery neck as fast as possible but it wouldn't save her. As she fell, her health bar receded, ending in her lifeless corpse dropping to the dirty with a dusty thud.

"No one lights my girlfriend on fire but me!" Duncan snapped, much to his remaining teammate's confusion and/or concern. Had Courtney still been alive she almost certainly would have protested Duncan calling her his girlfriend.

Nevertheless, the murder king activated his soul swirl ability, pulling out a fiery green cluster of magic that he tossed into the air and swatted like a baseball with his mace. The orb of energy landed at the dragon's feet and burst on impact.

Immediately, hundreds of pale green and dark gray souls of the damned erupted out of the orb in a cacophony of wails and shrieks. The monstrous behemoth angrily tried to swat them away as they cried out for salvation. The collection of screeching and howling took another portion of the dragon's health, bringing the beast's health down to just under half.

As the wispy souls began to fade away, their shrieks dying down, Leonard prepared to follow up on the dragon.

"Prepare to meet your end, foul beast!" He declared, raising his staff into the air. The clouds overhead swirled angrily, turning a dark gray and black color as lightning exploded from them in a dazzling light show. Like a lightning rod, Leonard's staff soaked up the bolt of energy and allowed it to travel through his veins and out the tips of his fingers aimed at the dragon.

The lightning struck the dragon and electrocuted it in a seizure-inducing, radiant display that looked quite painful for the monster.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWAAAGH!" It cried out as its muscles tightened up from the electric shock. When the energy had finished coursing through the beast's body, it took a moment to regain its composure before striking back at the wizard.

However, Leonard was not about to go down without a fight. He was living his dream, after all, and he wanted to do everything. The LARPer summoned forth the energy of a thousand suns as he activated his ultimate.

He thrust his hands forward, a large flashing beam of swirling purple and yellow energy shot forth at the dragon, colliding with its face. The creature recoiled from the force of the magic beam before returning with a spray of fire to combat the wizard.

Leonard could feel the intense heat of the dragon's fiery breath as the flames threatened to push back his beam. Slowly but surely, the dragon's blue fire took over and despite Leonard's efforts, his beam was reduced to nothing but his hands. With nothing else left, the dragon's blazing breath engulfed the role-player, killing him within a couple seconds.

His efforts did not go without reward, however, as the dragon's health was now sitting just above a fourth left. Of course this was still a ludicrous bulk of health but it was progress nonetheless.

Now it was just Harold, Duncan, and Leshawna vs Izzy, Owen, Noah, and the dragon.

Leshawna currently had Owen in a headlock and was beating him senseless with her idol. "Why . . . won't . . . you . . . die . . . you . . .oversized . . . fishstick!" she snarled with each swing of the massive, bronze effigy.

"Ow! Oof! Agh! Owch!" Owen winced as she continued to beat him senseless. Thanks to his tanky build, Leshawna's heavy damage was only tickling him!

Noah was smart enough to know that getting near the Leshawna was a death sentence for him since he was quite squishy in comparison to Owen, however, he was still able to break up the fight from a distance with his Silence ability.

"Silence!" he shouted, casting his hand forward. A tendril of violent, kinetic energy leaped forth from his palms and nailed Leshawna in the back, siphoning off her energy and rendering her incapable of casting any of her abilities for a short time.

If the tentacle goddess noticed, she didn't care and attempted to crush Owen's skull under her idol. The humanoid catfish did the only thing he could and lashed out with his tongue, forcefully licking her across the face before punching her in her armored abs with his slimy palate, knocking her off of him.

By then, Noah's silence had ended and she climbed to her feet, desperate to survive the battle. She could hear the dragon rampaging around in the background – it was impossible not to – and briefly contemplated on whether or not she could use its fiery temper to her advantage before she thought better of it; the game may have been affecting everyone's mind, but there was no way in Chris-Terra that she wanted to end up fried calamari if she could help it.

"Hyah!" Leshawna cried as she whipped her idol out and cast her Soul Thief ability. An enormous, ethereal tentacle the color of the sea sprang forth from the gaping maw of the idol and swiftly coiled itself around Noah, yanking him towards her.

That was when she felt an all too familiar, slimy sensation around her ankle. Sparring a glance down, she caught sight of Owen's ridiculously long tongue wrapped around her leg and a ravenous smile on his oversized lips. Before she could clock Noah upside the head with a killing blow from her idol, she was swiftly pulled to the ground.

"OH, HELL NO!" She cried out in defiance before Owen yanked her high into the air and down his cavernous gullet, swallowing her idol and all with a snap of his jaws.

"Hmmm, calamari . . ." he hungrily licked his chops while patting his gelatinous belly.

A few moments later and the tentacle goddess was hacked up by the humanoid catfish, much to her displeasure. "You nasty!" she screamed with disgust.

Just like that, she was back on her feet. Owen had stolen a good portion of her health, but thankfully, her tankiness spared her. With a tentacle in each hand, Leshawna came at Owen and Izzy, swinging wildly and whipping them with all her might.

As if things couldn't get any worse, the dragon had finally spotted Izzy, as she was now out of her hiding spot and in the open.

The dragon narrowed its eyes and stormed over, determined to kill the little red-headed pest if it was the last thing it did. It let out another deafening roar before launching a searing fireball in Izzy's direction. To save herself, the bubbly wizard threw up a portal in front of that soaked up the ball of flame.

Leshawna took into account the incoming beast as well as Noah, Izzy, and Owen's grouped up placement and decided now was a perfect time to kill two birds with one stone by casting her devastating ultimate.

"I le la-" Before she could get her ultimate off, she was quickly interrupted by a ball of fire shooting from a well-placed portal behind her.

The projectile collided with the priestess, diminishing what little health she had left and lighting her corpse ablaze.

Izzy marveled at her accomplishment. "You mean that actually got her?!" She exclaimed. "Man I'm good! I didn't think that was gonna work!" She laughed.

However, her cheering was quickly halted by the angry tarragon that loomed over her.

"Geez, how long are the respawn timers going!" Noah remarked.

As Noah, Izzy and Owen danced around the dragon, Harold continued to cower behind one of the many large rocks that littered the base.

"Come on Harold, you've gotta get in the game!" He said to himself. "This is a once in a life-time opportunity! Quit being a coward!"

"YO DORRIS, GET YOUR /censored/ TOGETHER AND COME HELP ME SLAY THIS THING!" Duncan hollered, interrupting Harold's reflection of himself.

It was now or never.

Harold let out a war cry as he leaped up from his hiding spot and charged toward the dragon. "I shall avenge you Leshawna!" He declared, raising his humongous ax above his head.

One slice to the dragon's tail immediately drew the beast's attention. It whipped around and glared at Harold, blowing a puff of hot smoke from its nostrils into the nerd's face.

Without a second thought, the dragon immediately nabbed the knight in its large sharp teeth that were strong enough to easily snap through any metal, and so they did. Harold was devoured in seconds, putting a screeching halt on his plans to take down the beast.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Duncan hollered. "For once, I actually needed that dweeb!"

The warrior ran forward and began angrily whacking the dragon's shin with his morning star. While it still hurt, it was mostly just a pesky nuisance to the dragon who just looked down at Duncan with a deadpan stare.

The dragon lifted one leg and swiftly stomped right on top of the punk. To the dragon, it felt like stepping on a measly tack. To Duncan, it was a world of hurt. Now he had an idea of what he was putting Harold through!

When the dragon moved its foot off of him he could feel his health draining. In order to quicken things up, Izzy threw an orb of destruction onto Duncan and allowed the dragon to clean up.

One last hefty breath of fire did trick and sent Duncan right into a respawn timer.

"Wow. That actually went way better than it probably should have." Noah said, pleasantly surprised. He was then once again reminded of the dragon following another loud, angry roar from the beast.

"Hmm, it appears our abilities are on cool-down." Izzy observed, able to see the stats of her teammates as well above their heads.

"RUN FOR IT!" Noah cried, quickly high-tailing it down mid-lane with Izzy and Owen in tow.

Owen panted heavily as he ran with Izzy on his shoulders. The redhead was attempting to hurl some more of her orbs back at the dragon but it was difficult to hit a good head shot on a moving target while she was also moving.

"Why does he hate us so much!" Owen wailed.

"I don't know, maybe because we broke into his house and tried to kill him?" Noah returned with heavy sarcasm.

"Well that doesn't sound very nice..."

"THIS GAME IS ABOUT KILLING THINGS, OWEN!"

"Your mother was a salamander!"

"IZZY! THAT'S NOT HELPING!"

If it was even possible, the dragon seemed even angrier than ever before and unleashed a deafening bellow that threatened to tear down the sky itself and a scorching jet of flame from its gaping maw. The flaming missile exploded mere inches, singing his tail.

"AHHH! We're all gonna die!" he wailed.

"Oh, no, we aint! Step on it, Big-O!" Izzy shouted as she grabbed his whiskers like a pair of reins and sharply tugged on them. The humanoid catfish, bizarrely as it sounded, reared and neighed like a mighty stallion before taking off at as brisk of a trot as his stubby legs could muster.

Sweat poured from his brow like gelatinous belly jiggled and wiggled like a bowl full of jelly, his feathery gills flapping in the wind. While he couldn't see the dragon coming from behind him, he could certainly feel it. Every one of its tremendous steps shook the ground and the very air boiled and bubbled with an excruciating amount of heat, as if they were all inside of a giant microwave. At one point, he swore he felt the dragon's teeth very nearly clamp on his tail before he sped out of the way.

"Come on, Noah! Get up here!" Izzy grinned wildly when she leaned over and grabbed the cynic by his belt, effortlessly throwing him over her shoulder with a sharp yank. "Hang on! Things are gonna get dicey!"

Seeing as how he was the only one of them that actually facing the dragon, Noah wasn't entirely sure he knew or if he wanted to know what "dicey" meant. Deciding that whatever the crazy mage had planned was probably better than starring down the gullet of a fire-breathing behemoth, he spared a over his (and consequently Izzy's) shoulder and felt himself immediately pale several shades.

They were running towards the enemy towers. The very same towers that they had failed to take down and the very same towers that would obliterate them if they got too close.

"Izzy! This is crazy!" he screamed in her ear.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" she shouted back just as loud. "HI-HO, SILVER! AWAY!"

Despite the very loud and very girlish protests of her teammate, the Psycho-hose Beast pressed their paunchy, piscine pony on and recklessly rode into the danger zone with the dragon right behind them. The tower flared up with a loud chime and a bolt of azure, arcane energy came screaming at them, slamming into Owen's side with a thunderous explosion.

"AHH! AHH! AHH!" he wailed as he continued to run. While he was incredibly tanky, that didn't mean the turret shots weren't terrifying.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWRRR!"

"Um, Izzy, I think I might have found a flaw in your plan!" Noah gulped nervously.

"Whaddya mean?" she cocked an eyebrow.

The cynic didn't say anything and merely gestured behind him, drawing her attention to where her finger was pointing. Not only was the dragon quickly gaining on them, but virtually any of the turret shots it took were shrugged off as if it being pelted with ping-pong balls. As if that wasn't bad enough, a single, fiery blast from the dragon's jaws and a quick headbutt from its tremendous skull was enough to reduce it to rubble, something they hadn't even come close to accomplishing the entire game.

If Izzy was scared however, she didn't show it. "Huh. Would you look at that."

Noah could do nothing else but hang on for dear life as they continued to run, the dragon hot on their heels. Time and time again, the beast would lung forward and snap its fearsome jaws mere inches from his face, always just out of reach; the cynic wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.

He decided it was a bad thing when the smoke began to viciously pour from the dragon's nostrils, a clear indicator that it was going to try and roast them soon.

Heedless of the impending danger, Izzy rode on with the wind in her face and Noah carelessly thrown over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Uh, Izzy?" he swallowed nervously as the dragon opened its jaws, exposing its manysaliva-encrusted fangs.

"Not now, Noah!"

A warm, hot glow began to build up at the back of the dragon's throat, growing bigger and brighter until it felt like he was starring right at the sun. "Izzy!"

"Hang on! We're almost there!"

The heat was almost excruciating at this point. Sweating was dripping his brow and the warmth on his face was building up to uncomfortable levels; he was pretty sure a few of his goatee hairs were beginning to smoke. "IZZY!"

"WHAT!?"

"Duck!" Noah cried as he instinctively covered his head, praying to whatever deity might listen to him that he wouldn't be roasted like a marshmallow.

"A duck? Where?"

"Mmmmm, duck . . ." Owen salivated hungrily.

"It's not that kind of duck, you morons! Now get down before we're all flambeed!" the cynic screamed at the top of his lungs just as the dragon fired off another, scorching blast of flame.

"Oh, well why did you say so? Down we go!" Izzy grinned cheekily as she pressed herself flat against Owen's head and shoulders as much as possible.

The searing hot jet of flame shot low over her head, missing by mere inches and igniting several strands of her kaleidoscope locks. The psycho-hose beast just cackled like a maniac at the blistering heat against her face.

"Ooh, lookie over there!" she pointed out in front of them, specifically where the fire was going. While the dragon had just barely missed its initially target, it had succeeded in hitting the enemy's base turret just as they were coming up on their garrison.

"Oh, not again!" Owen gulped nervously.

Oblivious of her steed's concerns, Izzy urged him on with a snap of his whiskers. "Oh, yes again! Come on, Big-O! Pick up the pace and don't stop for nothin'! YEE-HAW!"

With death incarnate hot on their heels, they recklessly charged right into the tower's firing range, thoughtless of the magical blasts that the turret relentlessly fired at Owen's backside without concern for his screams of terror. The dragon, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered in the slightest and shrugged the tower shots off as easily as one might ignore a mosquito bite; with a quick snap it's tail, the turret crumbled and fell with a low rumble.

"Ha-ha! Just as planned!" Izzy grinned as she sharply pulled back on the reins that were Owen's whiskers, bringing him to an abrupt stop.

To say Noah was both furious and absolutely terrified would have been an understatement. "This was your plan!?" he yelped as she hopped off their teammate's back and none too gently dropped him to the ground.

"It's a good plan!"

"We're about to get roasted alive in enemy territory!" he shouted. "How is this a good plan!?"

"Because by clearing a path, taking out all opposition, and sacrificing ourselves in the process while the enemy team is still down, we're allowing our team get their bearings and mount a full frontal assault on their base while the enemy is helpless to do nothing! Duh!"

For once since the competition began, Noah was at a loss for words. "That . . . surprisingly makes sense."

"See! I told you you could trust me!" Izzy beamed.

"Wait, you didn't you say something about sacrificing ourselves in the process . . ?" Noah realized with a sense of dread.

As if precisely on cue, the dragon came barreling into the base like a runaway train, its searing hot claws raking the cobblestone like molten knives as it flared its wings and unleashed a mighty bellow.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – Dragon can two-shot towers? Better nerf Irelia)

Owen - "I really, really, really like Izzy and all, but sometimes I wonder if she isn't out to kill me. I mean, I know it was all in a video game and everything and that kinda makes it okay, but she still scares me . . . sometimes, I mean. I still really like her!"

Noah *sighs and rubs his brow* Why and how do I always get into these situations? I have a policy of never listening to Izzy's ideas if it involves either explosives, immense collateral damage, and the potential for physical harm to my person, and yet she somehow broke all three of those conditions and still managed to drag me into one of her convoluted schemes!"

"Do something!" Noah shrieked.

It was then that Trent respawned in his team's base and was immediately met with a missed shot from the dragon hurdling right towards him. The marksman yelped and dived out of the way as the fireball crashed into the spawning point behind him with a loud, thunderous bang! and reduced a statue to rubble.

Fire flickered and leaped from the cracked stone for a while before it eventually ran out of fuel and died down. Trent looked up to see Izzy, Owen, and Noah trying to fight off the dragon and an idea came to mind. They were all grouped up and he had his ultimate . . .

"Hey, wait a minute!" Izzy suddenly cried. "Who's that guy?"

"Izzy, that's Trent, remember? He's been with us since season 1! Why he's still managed to stick around this long I will never know . . ." Noah reminded her.

Trent frowned and activated his Spirit Stampede ultimate, drawing back the string of his bow while he notched an arrow. With eyesight as sharp as a hawk's, he took steady and careful aim until he had lined up his shot; a quick release of the string sent the arrow flying straight and true.

Right over Izzy's head.

"Hah! You missed!" Owen laughed, his belly jiggling.

A smirk crossed the archer's face. "No I didn't."

"What do you mean you-" the humanoid catfish wondered before he was cut off by a low, ominous rumbling that shook the ground like an earthquake. Before they knew what was happening, a herd of empyrean stag and woodland wildlife in a cloud of eidolic leaves came recklessly rushing at them and plowed into them in a tidal wave of spiritual light. The three teens were engulfed by the herd and their health rapidly dwindled until all three were dead.

The dragon spread its wings and gave a single flap that produced a hurricane-worthy gust of wind, expertly dodging the majority of the stampede

Now Trent had to get the dragon out of his base and he and his team could regroup and finish what they started. The marksman pulled back on his bow and fired another quiver of arrows at the dragon. The first few missed before he managed to get into the swing of things.

Several arrows pierced the dragon's neck, earning angry cries of pain as the dragon lurched forward.

Trent felt like he was doing nothing, though, as the dragon seemed to soak up any damage that was thrown at it. As the beast came closer, Trent found nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Once again, he was doomed.

He had already used his ultimate so that was out of the question. All he had left was his Scatter Arrow ability. The huntsman observed the dragon's low health and wondered if a perfectly aimed shot would befell the great beast. He had to take a chance because now the dragon was right in front of him, preparing a fireball with his name on it.

Trent activated the ability and aimed at the ground just in front of the dragon so that the arrows would bounce off and shoot up into its belly. He pulled back on his bow and fired, sending a single arrow into the ground.

As soon as it collided, five more arrows split off of it and, instead of going up like Trent had hoped, all five of the arrows careened to the side, bouncing off a rock and ricocheting off into who-knows-where, completely missing his target

"Seriously?!" Trent threw up his hands in frustration. "Simple geometry my-" the marksman was cut off when the dragon launched a fiery nuke at him, igniting his frail body as if it were made of issue paper. With a high-pitched and definitely not feminine scream, he wildly ran about with his arms flailing in the air before he finally succumbed to the flames and died mere feet from the safety of his spawn.

Now the dragon was greatly perplexed. It had killed the tiny, near-forgotten man with the bow and the walking fish, blue man, and crazy lady had perished before it had even gotten a chance. Now there was no more prey to chase and burn and eat!

"Hey, Ugly!"

The dragon whirled around and was met with a brutal uppercut to the jaw from Eva that knocked a few fangs out. Greatly disoriented and spitting mad, the beast wildly unleashed a searing hot jet of flame in the hopes of incinerating the would-be attacker.

Dawn squeaked and threw herself to the ground as the conflagration raged over her head, decimating her pitifully small health pool with but a mere graze; had she not moved in time, she would have most certainly perished.

Without hesitation, Samey swooped over to her and alighted on the ground, pointing her sword at the elfin while she activated her Divine Blessing ability. An empyral magic traveled from her hands and down the length of her blade before leaping in a beautiful arc of glittering, golden light and encircling her teammate in its warmth.

"Thank you, friend," the Moonchild breathed a sigh of relief as she respectfully bowed. "I owe you a debt of gratitude.

Samey blushed with embarrassment. "Oh, no problem. Just doing my job!"

"Indeed." Dawn nodded. "However, I believe there are other teammates who required your services."

"Like who?"

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWR!"

"Come on, you dumb lizard! Die already!" Eva bellowed as she viciously pounded the dragon's armored skull with little effect.

Meanwhile, down below, Jasmine was repeatedly whacking one of the dragon's trunk-like legs with her spear, driving all of her power into her mighty swings. No matter what she did however, she didn't seem to be doing anything useful, at least not as much as she would have liked; she was just barely dancing and dodging the beast's movements while her teammates kept it otherwise occupied.

Clearly, neither of them were aware that the dragon could set itself on fire.

"AAAGH!" Eva cried as she was swallowed in flames and threw herself off the back of the dragon. The moment she hit the ground, she began to roll around in a desperate attempt to put out the fire.

"Hang on!" Samey shouted as she flew over, mentally cursing herself; somehow she couldn't help but feel she had tempted fate. The heat radiating from both the brawler and dragon's body was absolutely intense, as if she was standing next to an active lava flow.

Like a demon straight out of Hell, the flaming tarragon came charging at Jasmine and snapped its jaws forward, clamping them tightly around her spear. Despite her incredible Amazonian strength, even she was unable to prevent the weapon from being wretched from her grasp and thrown a considerable distance away.

Jasmine glared up at the beast. She had had just about enough of this dragon, and not just because it was eyeing her like a T-bone steak. If this kept up any longer, the enemy team would respawn and it would be back to the same old song and dance. A frown crossed her lips as she reached out expectantly towards her spear, narrowing her eyes with concentration as the weapon quivered and trembled on the ground for a few seconds before it flew to her hand.

The very heavens themselves seemed to shake as Jasmine activated her Ascension ultimate, raising her spear high above her head before she brought it down with tremendous force. The very ground began to rumble and quake violently in response when a circle of violet hellfire surrounded the amazon, bathing her in its scorching flames and searing heat as her body began to change. Her deep chocolate skin shifted tone and lightened to that of an ashen indigo while the skin of her knuckles and forearms hardened like concrete into layers of armored plates not unlike that of an armadillo. Black claws tore through Jasmine's fingernails, her lips and hair faded to a deep, poisonous purple and her eyes shown a startling, divine white in color, as if a goddess had been awakened from their slumber. The disturbing sound of tearing flesh filled the air as a second set of powerful, robust arms suddenly protruded from the Outback Survivalist's shoulders, tightly clenching into black-clawed fists powerful enough to grind the biggest of boulders into the finest of sands. Her skeleton crunched and groaned in protest as she shot up an extra five feet, virtually towering everyone around her and nearly dwarfing the dragon itself; she was but a half dozen feet shorter than its highest point. A dark, smoldering fog surrounded her when she let out a thunderous cry that threatened to tear down the sky itself, announcing her presence to all unfortunate enough to be in her path.

Almost immediately, the dragon was upon her, slamming into her and pinning her to the ground, its jaws clamped over the spear. Jasmine growled as she fought with all her strength, pushing back against the beast as hard as she could. With a grunt, she shifted her lower set of arms and began to pummel it in the throat in the hopes that it would let go, to little avail.

The dragon seemed to smirk at this and its grin only got bigger when it unexpectedly opened its maw and fired off a fireball at her point blank, snapping the spear in half and nailing her in the face. The Outback Survivalist went rolling and tumbling back several yards, quaking the ground with her enormous frame until she eventually came to a stop; a trail of rubble and destruction was left in her wake.

Jasmine groaned as she sat up, rubbing what she assumed to be her aching skull when from out of the haze came the dragon's tail, nailing her right in her gut and knocking the wind out of her. She instinctively doubled over and glared up at the dragon as it came lumbering out of the smoke and ash, ready to finish her off.

Not if she could help it.

It should have been impossible for anything that big to move that fast and yet, that was what Jasmine did when she tackled the dragon head on and grabbed it by the horns with her upper set of arms and clamped its jaws shut with her lower pair. With what strength she had left, she wrestled it to the ground and put it in a choke hold, restraining against the beast's attempts to shake itself free or knock her around with its tremendous wings.

"Oh, no, you don't, you nasty bugger," she growled when the dragon suddenly rammed its head into her side, knocking her to the ground; her iron grip never faltered. Taking a chance, she freed one of her upper arms and patted around something she could use as a weapon, preferably something sharp and deadly; her hand closed around the severed tip of her spear.

"RAAAAAAAGHH!" Jasmine roared at the top of her lungs as she broke free and plunged the spearhead like a knife into the dragon's chest, hopefully where its vital organs would have been if it wasn't just a series of pixels and programming.

With a spray of oily, crimson blood and a dying roar, the dragon's health bar finally reached zero and it lifelessly slumped to the ground with a low tremor, feebly kicking its legs until it finally gave in to Death's cold hand.

"Finally!" Eva grumbled as she picked herself up, delicately dusting the ash and soot from herself with her massive, metal mitts. "I thought that thing would never die!"

"Hurry! We've still got a chance to win this!" Cody shouted at his teammates, directing their attention towards the enemy Nexus; the enormous, enchanted, red diamond shard seemed to glare at them, as if daring them to approach.

As a collective horde, Team Sisikwew rushed the enemy base with a thunderous battle cry, slamming into the crystal core like a tidal wave. With desperation they battered and batted the magical construct, putting everything they had into ending the game.

"Come on! We're . . . almost . . . there!" Jasmine panted as she punded away at the Nexus with all four of her fists. It was only when she cupped all four of her hands into a double haymaker and brought them down on the massive crystal did her ultimate wear off and return her to her original form.

No sooner did she say that than was her tremendous frame sent flying when Duncan came barreling out of the base with his Cataclysm Charge ability, engulfing himself in a ball of rage and fire. The wraith bellowed as he raised his mace over his head and brought it down on the Amazon's stomach, simultaneously knocking the wind out of her and driving her into the ground.

"That's right, /censored/! It's time for round two!" the punk roared as he raised his weapon over his head, daring anyone to challenge him. When no-one did, he let out a battle cry and came barreling straight at the rest of the Team Sisikwew members that were still standing, murder in his eyes.

"Duncan! Wait for the rest of us!" Courtney shouted indignantly from their base as she and the rest of their team came charging out of spawn.

"Screw that! It's pay back time!"

The assassin let out a frustrated sigh as she expertly threw one of her knives into the fray. With a cloud of white smoke, she reappeared at the center of the battle. Blasts of magic whizzed past her head, causing her to duck instinctively.

The tables suddenly turned when Courtney realized that she had her ultimate, "Knyfoon" (whoever came up with that terrible pun was definitely going to get fired). Without hesitation, she activated the ability and her body began to autonomously spin like a top until she was nothing more than a whirlwind of black leather and razor-sharp blades. Knives and daggers went flying in all directions, filling the air with serrated needles of death and gore.

"Knives, knives, knives!" she cackled at the top of her lungs, immediately regretting the decision. In all honesty, she had no idea where that came from; it was almost like she was forced to say it.

The sudden eruption of metal death caught Sisikwew completely off guard. Eva cried in agony as a barrage of daggers raced up her spine and she dropped lifeless to the ground, an ever growing pool of red beneath her.

Dawn didn't even have time to react before a stray knife sliced straight through her chest and out of her back; her exanimate corpse slumped to the ground with a low thump! Next to Amy as the half-dragon shielded herself from the brunt of the the damage.

In an attempt to end the onslaught of daggers and machetes, Scarlett bared her fangs with a venomous hiss and activated her Miasma ability. Immediately, twin jets of noxious, purple poison leaped forth from her fangs, pooling on the ground at Courtney's in a witch's brew of bubbling, smoldering toxins.

"Wait! Why can't I move!?" the mercenary panicked as her ultimate wore off and she found herself struggling to move any faster than a snail's pace. Her panic quickly turned to fear when she suddenly smelled the awful odor of burning leather and flesh as the noxious chemicals ate away at her skin like acid. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Hmmmm . . . interesting . . ." Scarlett smirked as she circled her helpless prey, savoring the moment. As initially annoyed her form as she was, it had begun to grow on her; she certainly didn't mind its potential to kill. Before Courtney could even react, the Brainiac had lunged forward with her serpentine body and activated her Constriction ability, wrapping her powerful coils around Courtney's frail body. The assassin could only cry out as the powerful muscles in the naga's body broke her skeleton and ruptured her muscles, steadily cutting down her dwindling health until there was no more. With a quick twist, Scarlett let the lifeless body fall into the pool, a smile of satisfaction on her lips.

By now, she had her ultimate ability and, much to her delight, the enemy team was rather grouped up in a desperate attempt to fight her and her allies off.

Perfect.

With dripping, yellow fangs, Scarlett activated her Medusa Gaze ultimate and unleashed a bloodcurdling scream. Birds miles away in the jungle suddenly gave flight and all eyes turned their attention to her as she wailed, pouring all of her pent up rage and fury into that one cry. A searing, emerald light blazed from her eyes and a chorus of other screams and wails joined her as those unfortunate enough to meet her gaze attempted to turn tail and run.

"Crap!" Harold cried as his legs slowly refused to work until they stopped working altogether, freezing him in place. Rock and gravel traveled up his thighs, consuming his chest like a virus and seeping into his arms and up his neck. His health was abruptly cut in half as he was petrified from the inside out, his face twisted into a final cry of terror and agony.

The same fate was met by Leshawna, Bridgette, and Geoff, all of whom were contorted into misshapen, stone statues of their former selves, their health bars just barely hanging on.

By the time her ultimate was finished, Scarlett was out of breath – she didn't care though. She reveled in the power she now possessed and couldn't help but admire her handiwork like an artist that praised their masterpiece.

"Not bad . . ." she mused as she slithered up to Geoff's petrified form and traced one of her brazen claws up his arm; what had once been skin and fur and feathers had been fractured into a grisly pattern resembling a dried riverbed. "But I think I can do better."

She suddenly whipped her tail across his frozen legs, smashing them into gravel. The rest of the statue crumbled to the ground, her eyes glinting with predatory malice as Geoff was shattered into a thousand pieces of rubble and dust, killing him.

Her moment of triumph was quickly broken by when Cody suddenly came screaming in and attacked Harold's mineralized form, smashing his scythe into the statue and reducing him to gravel and detritus.

"By the way, nice job!" he called out as he turned on Leshawna and quickly cut her down to size in a shower of stone chips and carange just as the petrification effect was wearing off.

"Your gratitude is noted," Scarlett remarked dryly. "Not overly appreciated, but noted."

"Whatever. Hey, where'd Bridgette go!?"

By now, Duncan had grown of being actively avoided and had returned whittling away at Jasmine's immense health pool, every one of his tremendous blows pounding her deeper and deeper into the ground.

"Don't worry, Jasmine! I'm coming!" Samey cried as she strained to flap her wings harder, desperate to save her best friend.

The undead wraith snarled as he looked up and swatted her away with a single swing of his mace, knocking her to the ground; her sword skidded out of reach and her wings flopped uselessly over her form in an unconscious attempt to protect her.

"I was gonna save this for later," he growled as he lumbered over to her, morning star raised over his head. "But since you're so insistent and everything- GAH!"

The iron revenant was abruptly cut off when Cody suddenly appeared behind him with his Blink ability and slashed at the back of his calf, causing him to stumble and drop down to one knee.

"Cavalry's here!" the Geek smirked as he gave his girlfriend a two-fingered salute and swiftly dashed back into the fray.

Samey didn't waste any time and quickly scrambled for her sword while Duncan used his enormous mace to climb to his feet, slowly lumbering after the faltering angel. His health pool was large enough that he could tank a few more hits from should he need to and all it would take was a single, brutal swing of his weapon to end her.

"Oh, no, ya don't!"

The Punk whirled around and was immediately beaten over the head by a spear as Jasmine struggled to stay on her feet; sweat laden her powerful figure and her jaw was clenched so tight that it looked like she was going to break her own teeth. Before he could even attempt to defend himself, much less attack her, the Amazon struck him square in the jaw with a swift uppercut. "Yer gonna pay for that, ya wanker!"

Samey meanwhile struggled to get to her knees, panic overwhelming over her like a tidal wave of fear and terror. She had to get her sword and get to her feet, there was no way Jasmine would be able to survive long without her help.

For the moment, Duncan completely ignored her and activated his Soul Swirl ability. Like predators drawn to the scent of blood, a score of spirits of the damned and doomed descended upon their master, surrounding him in a whirlwind of screaming souls that rapidly chipped away at the Aussie's health whenever she attempted to strike him.

The revenant only laughed a deep, booming bellow as her health bar dropped to almost nothing, leaving her breathless and almost incapable of standing on her own two feet. With a loud cackling, he activated his Ground Pound ability and smashed his morning star into the cobblestone, forcing her to drop to one knee and use her spear to support herself; she panted heavily as she glared at him with loathing.

"About time," he grumbled to himself, almost casually glancing at his nails (if he had any). With the smug expression that only a Lord of the Dead would know, he activated his ultimate ability, Children of the Grave.

Duncan reached out an iron-gloved hand, reaching towards the downed Amazon and clenching his fingers tightly, as if he were grabbing hold of something. The Outback Survivalist choked and was lifted slightly into the air as slowly, painfully her soul was torn free from her body, creating a perfect, ethereal copy of herself while her corpse slumped lifelessly to the ground.

"Alright, this is really cool," he grinned. "Now listen up, you work for me now, got it?

The Amazon's ghost gave a wordless bow and immediately spun around to throw herself into the battle at her master's command, attacking Scarlett as she did so.

"The hell?!" The brainiac exclaimed in shock. She certainly didn't see this coming.

The evil spirit remained oblivious to her surprise and attempt to stab her again, missing as the serpent slithered out of the way. With a loud hiss, she activated her Constriction ability and coiled herself around the phantom's body, giving a single, tremendous squeeze of her powerful body. The spirit didn't even react and passively allowed itself to be dissipated in a whirl of ether.

When she was done, Scarlett quickly slithered away and drew a fighting stance, ready for a retaliation.

Meanwhile, Cody was busy teaming up with Amy to fight off Bridgette, which was more difficult than they had anticipated, much to their frustration. Despite being an aquatic creature, the mermaid swiftly twisted and moved on a curtain of water, effortlessly dodging all swipes and strikes aimed at her.

"Hold still, you over-sized seafood platter!" Amy spat, fire dripping her lips.

Bridgette responded by activating her Aqua Prison ability and summoned forth a large bubble with a circular motion of her staff. She then cast it forward and expertly caught the two of them, trapping them within a aqueous dungeon.

"Hey, let us out!" the dragon shouted angrily.

"And why would she do that?" Cody gave her a deadpanned expression of exasperation.

"Because I said so, that's why!"

"Enough of yer yamerin' already! It's time to blow something up!" Scott cackled as he suddenly vaulted over Bridgette – nearly knocking her to the ground – and chucked a handful of grenades at the pair, engulfing them in a series of fiery explosions.

"Yer welcome!" he grinned proudly as the mermaid propped herself up with her staff.

"Was that really necessary?" she glared at him.

"Probably not. Hahahaha- INCOMING!"

The Surfer Girl looked around wildly for the source of the danger as Scott threw himself to the ground with his hands clapped over his head, as if preparing himself for an airstrike. The mermaid only just barely looked up in time to deflect a swing of Samey's divine sword with her staff while the angel pumped her wings and took off into the air again, preparing for another strike.

"Come on! Get your head out of the sand!" Brigette yelled at her teammate, smacking him in the backside with her tail.

The dirt farmer did as he was told and hurriedly scrambled to his feet, reaching for the cluster of bombs that decorated his chest. The Good Twin was coming back around now and had activated her Judicator ability, igniting her sword with a flash of holy flames and fire.

"Wait for it . . . wait for it . . .wait for it . . ."

"I can only wait so long, woman! Places to go, things ta blow up, an' all that."

"Now!" Bridgette shouted as she pointed her staff at the ground and quickly traced it in a rapid, circular motion. A tendril of water was pulled up through the cracks in the cobblestone and condensed together in a large ball that hovered in the air before her. With a swing of her staff, she sent the orb of water flying like a baseball and successfully struck Samey in the face with a tremendous splash!

"AHHH! I can't see!" she cried as she fumbled in the air and nearly lost her grip on her sword.

"Like shootin' clay pigeons with me pappy." Scott grinned cruelly as he chucked a bomb right at her face, catching her square in the gut. Seconds later, the bomb exploded and sent her screaming out of the sky like a shooting star, smashing into the ground with such force that she sent rubble and debris flying in all directions.

"Ow . . ." she moaned; it was times like this that she was thankful for the numbing effects of the game. Despite her embarrassment, there was one positive boon: her ultimate.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally had her ultimate. With a low groan and point towards the ground, she used her sword to prop herself up and struggled to stand on her own two feet. Her breath was tight in her lungs and her arms burned like they were fire. Blood pounded in her ear and dust and ash stung her eyes as she fought to stay stable.

"Any last words, Chicken Wings?" Scott grinned cruelly.

For what might have been the first time in her life, Samey smiled triumphantly. "Just three," she raised her sword to the sky with a shaky arm and cast her Resurrection ultimate "Heroes never die!"

A blinding, golden glow radiated forth from the blade and a column of divine, holy light shot straight up into the sky with a loud roar. The very atmosphere seemed to split apart as the cosmos themselves bowed before her very whim and the earth beneath her cried out in remorse.

Scott and Bridgette could only watch in awe and horror as the souls of those that had fallen – Noah, Izzy, Dawn, Eva, Jasmine, and Owen – rose from their fallen bodies and took the form of golden orbs of pure energy and light.

Their bodies began to take shape and a few moments later, all six of them were back and better than ever.

"Whoa! Cool! You're like a necromancer!" Izzy grinned. "That's hot!"

"Uh...I have a boyfriend." Samey told her.

"Oh I know." Izzy nodded with a grin.

Feeling very uncomfortable, Samey flew over to Jasmine. "Good on ya, mate!" Jasmine grinned. "What a performance! Now let's prove that you just saved the game!"

"Thank you my friend, this will not go unrewarded." Dawn bowed in thanks.

"Mmph, thanks. I guess." Eva rolled her eyes, trying to play it off.

(Chris-Terra Confessional – Long time no see!)

Eva- "I don't very good social skills, okay?" She eyed the camera. "Saying thanks is hard, especially when you're not usually grateful for anything..."

"/censored/!" Duncan cursed as he watched the six souls reform into his fallen enemies. Now they were at a serious numbers disadvantage. However, despite Jasmine's resurrection, her clone still remained and was currently winning the fight against Scarlett.

"Hey!" Jasmine exclaimed upon seeing her evil doppelganger. She had no idea how this occurred but she didn't care much to find out. All that mattered was killing herself. Well, her clone that is.

The Aussie stormed over and plunged a spear straight into the soul's back before it could stab Scarlett who had been reduced to very low health.

The clone turned around, staring at Jasmine with its lifeless, glowing green eyes. Jasmine flinched slightly at the unsettling image.

While Jasmine fought herself, Samey was able to swoop in and feed Scarlett the healing that she desperately needed.

"Eva, I noticed that you have your ultimate ability ready." Dawn noted. "Would you like to work together to achieve the greatest outcome?"

"Uh, if you mean combo to kill all of these losers, then sure." Eva nodded.

"Well, I suppose but, in a friendlier way."

"Whatever." Eva rolled her eyes. "You first."

Dawn stood back and watched the fighting unfold. She was waiting for people to cluster together so she could use her Rolling Roots ultimate.

Leonard was currently summoning lightning and had his fingers aimed at Owen who was probably the easiest target of them all.

Noah and Izzy meanwhile were attempting to keep him back by chucking their orbs at him. Luckily for the wizard, he had Lindsay by his side to heal him when he needed it.

Dawn decided now was the time to strike.

The plant elf's eyes glowed a bright white and her platinum blond hair became to drift above her head as if she was being possessed.

With her two vine whips coiled around her wrists, she slammed them against the earth, creating cracks in the ground.

Moments later, five large, thorny tree roots erupted from the cracks, sending chunks of dirt and rock flying in all directions. They began to slowly move across the battlefield, stopping for nothing in their path.

Leonard saw the roots headed toward him and quickly faded away in a cloud of black smoke, reappearing to safety a few feet back. "Quickly fair maiden, or you will be trapped by the thorny brambles over yonder!" Leonard warned Lindsay.

"Huh?" The dumb blond questioned before turning around to see Dawn's massive roots headed right for her. With a scream she was snagged in the thorns and rooted in place.

However, they didn't stop there. The other four rolling creepers continued on until they snared someone. Leonard's eyes widened at the realization that he had nowhere to go. The massive brier patch practically spanned the entire battlefield.

In a few seconds the wizard joined Lindsay and was unable to break free.

Eva knew now was the time to strike. Without hesitation, she activated her Meteor Strike ultimate and leaped so far into the sky she was out of sight.

A large blue circle indicated the area of effect. She placed it right over Lindsay and Leonard, and swiftly came shooting back down to the ground.

With all the force of a meteor crashing down to earth, Eva rocketed down with her fists extended, ready to crush the living snot out of the unfortunate souls below.

Leonard and Lindsay tried to break free of the thistle but they were determined in holding tight until the effect wore off soon.

"RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWGGHHH!" Eva let out her wildest battle-cry as she entered the atmosphere.

KABOOM!

The force of Eva's punch sent huge chunks of earth and bramble flying into the air. Once the dust settled, the flattened corpses of Lindsay and Leonard were revealed.

"Sorry!" Dawn apologized to the dead bodies before heading back into the fight against the remaining three members of Team Kihew.

Now it was up to Scott, Bridgette and Duncan to save the game. Jasmine's evil clone was still present and was not winning the fight against the real Jasmine. Although, it wasn't losing either.

"I can't beat it!" Jasmine exclaimed. "We know the other's every move!"

"Well that's likely due to the fact that you're fighting yourself." Scarlett remarked. "You're evenly matched."

"So help me and make unevenly matched!" Jasmine barked as she pressed her spear against her clone's, both trying to shove the other one back.

Scarlett didn't need to intervene though, Eva already had it covered. The brute charged up her fist and like a jet came plowing across the field and right into the evil clone's side, sending it fly into a tree.

Izzy tossed an orb of destruction over the clone and with a few head-shots was able to kill it off. "Thanks, I thought that thing'd never die!" Jasmine exclaimed as the soul evaporated into green dust.

"Get ready for a world of hurt." Izzy grinned mischievously, cracking her knuckles as she turned to Duncan, Scott and Bridgette.

"Keep me alive!" Scott told his Bridgette as he detonated a mine behind him, sending him flying into the air where he rained explosives down on Izzy and Jasmine.

"Let's slow things down!" Cody quipped as he activated his Chronobreak ultimate, this time actually managing to get it off. The geek leaped into the air and slammed the ground with his scythe.

Immediately, a large dome of light formed around the battlefield, causing everything to come to a screeching halt. Cody looked around. "This is so cool!" He exclaimed as he watched everything around him continue in slow motion.

Scott was still in the air, falling back to the ground a centimeter per second. His bombs were still traveling to their destination but it would be a while before they went off. Time within the bubble had slowed dramatically.

Even Cody's team adhered to its effects. Jasmine had her spear at the ready and if Cody looked close enough, he could see her preparing to throw it. Across from her, Duncan had his mace over his head, ready to bring it down on Jasmine, but he never would.

Bridgette was bending water in her hand, but it wouldn't make it to Scott. Not wasting anymore time, Cody got to work. Since he was the only one not affected by the breaking of time, he was able to jump and zip around as he pleased.

With style, he went up to Bridgette and chopped at her with his scythe, gruesomely cutting off her mermaid tail. Cody felt bad but reminded himself it was a game. He wasn't really hurting Bridgette anyway.

As the surfer girl's dead body slowly began to collapse, Cody blinked over to Duncan and used him as spring-board to get up to Scott who was still in the sky. Cody managed to grab on to the pyrotechnic's arm which was frozen in time and allowed him to swing on it.

In a matter of seconds, the dirt farmer was easily picked off and his dead body continued its decent.

Finally, Cody found himself at Duncan. Hopefully his ultimate would last long enough for him to eat away at the tank's health, but he wasn't so sure. The geek began swinging away at the punk's leg where he had already attacked him earlier.

Unfortunately for Cody, as expected, his ultimate suddenly wore off. Bridgette and Scott's dead bodies hit the ground one after the other with Scott's bombs raining down on Jasmine and Izzy.

The later was able to hop into a portal and get the heck out of there while Jasmine was saved by a quick-thinking Dawn who summoned a twig barrier around the warrior. Scott's bombs exploded in a fiery display before going out.

Meanwhile, Cody instinctively rewinded away from Duncan for fear of getting clobbered in the head with his massive morning star.

With a loud crack, Cody was back by Bridgette's corpse. "I'm gonna squish you like a bug!" Duncan roared angrily running over to the punk, but he was quickly stopped by his leg, which had gone completely numb.

The murder king fell with a clatter from his armor and looked up to see Cody right behind him. "See you later, dude!" He gave a toothy grin before plunging his scythe into Duncan's face.

With a grotesque spray of blood, the punk was dead.

"I think that's all of them?" Jasmine wondered, looking around to make sure they didn't miss anyone.

"Well let's hurry up and win this thing before they respawn again!" Noah shouted.

Everyone rushed over to the large glowing crystal at the center of Team Kihew's base and once again began going at it. They watched as the health bar of the shiny stone dropped and with one last shank from Jasmine's spear, the crystal exploded into a million pieces.

"VICTORY!" Came Chris's voice over the loudspeaker. "Team Sisikwew takes the win out of nowhere!" Chris laughed.

xxx

"Well Team Sisikwew, I must say I'm very impressed." Chris told them as everyone was released from the Virtual Reality machine. "What a turnaround!"

"Thank you." Noah bowed. He wasn't usually one to be egotistical but there was no way in hell he was gonna deny saving the game.

"Team Kihew, I'll be seeing you at the bonfire ceremony tonight, again."

"Dammit!" Duncan cursed, kicking a rock.

"I think you need to take a walk." Courtney told him. "You got way too into that game."

Duncan huffed in annoyance.

Cody gave a nervous chuckle and decided hiding behind Jasmine was a good idea.

"Oh, before you go!" Chris stopped them. "Let's find out who got Play of the Game!"

"What?"

"You know, Play of the Game. Something someone did that really stood out." Chris explained.

"I wonder who it'll be! Samey's resurrection? Noah's teleport? Scarlett turning people to stone?" Cody theorized.

"Play of the Game!" Came an automated voice as one of the TV screens on the machine lit up.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Noah threw up his hands in disbelief.

On the screen, the dragon was shown tearing everyone to pieces and crushing a turret with one swing from its tail.

"Seriously?! The dragon got play of the game?!" Courtney raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I don't care but come on! Even I know that's not right!" [6]

None of the complaints from the contestants could stop Chris from laughing hysterically. "Oh you just can't right this stuff!" He cackled, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Stupid broken piece of junk!" Noah grumbled, kicking the machine, only to regret it right after. The cynic hopped up and down, holding his foot in pain.

"Well, it's time to say goodbye." Chris to Leonard, Harold and Lindsay.

"Can I just say that even though we lost, that was still the greatest experience of my life!" Harold declared.

"As was it mine." Leonard bowed. "May the goddess of karma bring you all prosperity!"

"Byyyee!" Lindsay waved as the three were carted off on the Boat of Losers by Chef.

Geoff, Duncan, Trent and Scott all stood outside the Communal Washrooms. "Yo, where's Dave?" Geoff wondered, looking around for the Germophobe.

"Probably still in the outhouse." Duncan said, gesturing back to the confessional a distance away. "We can get to him later, what's important right now is we discuss who we're voting off."

"Wasn't it gonna be Sky?" Geoff wondered. "That's what the little bro wanted."

"The problem is, we need Sky for challenges." Duncan told him. "If we keep losing it's gonna come down to us and our girls and we don't want that."

"So who do we vote for then?" Trent raised an eyebrow.

"I say we vote Leshawna." Duncan decided, earning a look of surprise from Geoff and Trent. "Let's face it, she's not the greatest at challenges. Not to mention, she doesn't have ties to any of us. Now that Harold's gone, we can just vote her off."

"I don't know, that sounds kind of mean..." Geoff pondered.

"It's a mean game, dude." Duncan shrugged. "Besides, it means she can be with the dweeb. It all works out!"

"Eh, I guess you're right." Geoff nodded.

"Then it's settled, we're voting Leshawna. Trent, would you go free Dave and tell him the plan."

"Can I do it later? I want to relish in the silence just a little bit longer." The tired musician requested.

"Yeah sure, whatever." Duncan rolled his eyes.

Leshawna sighed as she sat on her bed. Bridgette was on the bunk above polishing her surf board because she had nothing else to do.

"What's wrong?" Bridgette asked. "Aside from losing."

Leshawna frowned. "That's just it. We lost and I'm scared."

"You think we're gonna vote you out?" Bridgette wondered.

"No, but I'm sure the guys are planning it. Think about it, they all got ties to you and Courtney. That means its gonna be either me or Sky tonight and I got a bad feelin' its gonna be me." Leshawna confessed.

"Hmm..." Bridgette hummed, thinking of a solution.

It was then that Courtney walked in. "So girls, who are we voting for?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"Does it matter?" Leshawna questioned.

"She feels like it's gonna be her tonight." Bridgette explained.

(Outhouse Confessional – Finally being used for something other arguing)

Courtney- "So there's five guys and four girls." She said, holding up her fingers. "If we want the votes to swing our way, we're gonna have to pull in one of the guys to make things happen."

"Maybe we could convince Trent?" Bridgette suggested. "I don't know, we're all friends with Gwen, maybe he'd feel guilty and help us out."

"I don't know, it could work." Courtney tapped her chin in thought. "Or what if we convinced Dave?"

"That scrawny dude that's always pissed off at Sky?" Leshawna looked at the CIT like she was crazy. "You think he's gonna help us?"

"Well, Trent, Jasmine and I locked him and Sky in the outhouse all day to try and get them to make up." Courtney told them. "Maybe it worked."

"So you're saying if they've made up, Sky could convince Dave to vote with us tonight?" Bridgette clarified.

Courtney nodded.

"Well then we better get to it or my sorry behind is going home tonight!" Leshawna exclaimed.

"THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN!" Dave wailed.

"Dave! For the last time, the walls aren't moving." Sky face-palmed. "Although it is getting a little hot in here." She said, tugging at the collar of her shirt. "Ugh, where are they."

"I'm telling you they forgot about us!" Dave cried. "We're gonna be in here forever!"

"There's always the toilet." Sky reminded him again. "It'd be gross but we've done it before."

"I'd rather starve to death than go down there again!" Dave shouted. "And besides, who knows where we'd end up!"

"I guess you're right." Sky nodded.

"Quick Sky, kiss me!" Dave exclaimed. "I'm not about to die without getting romantic one last time!"

Sky recoiled. "Dave, we just made up. I'm not ready. And for the last time, we're not going to die! The challenge is probably wrapping up right now. Dave! Put your shirt back on!" Sky snapped.

"We're gonna enjoy our last moments weather you like it or not!" Dave glared at the nonbeliever.

Just as he began to unzip his pants, the door to the outhouse swung open, shining light onto the two teens.

"Gah! My eyes!" Dave cried, covering his eyes from the bright light that he hadn't seen for so long.

"What on earth is going on in here?!" Jasmine exclaimed. "I come to get you two and one of you's huddled in the corner and the other is unzipping his pants!"

"Uh...it's not what it looks like!" Dave exclaimed, quickly zipping his pants back up.

Jasmine narrowed her eyes at the Germophobe. When he tried to exit the outhouse, Jasmine stopped him. "Hold on there. I wanna know if you two have actually made up." She eyed them.

"We did, actually." Sky spoke up. "We had a very heartfelt conversation. Now could you please let us out so I can know what fresh air smells like again?"

"Hmm...Alright. But if I hear a word of complaining from either of you, you're both going back in there!" Jasmine warned them.

"Got it!" Dave nodded. With that, he bolted out of the confessional straight to the washrooms.

"So what was-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sky shook her head, stopping the Aussie mid-sentence.

"OUT OF THE WAY! EMERGENCY!" Owen cried, suddenly running in with a newspaper in hand. He accidentally knocked Sky out of his way to the john and slammed the door shut. "Long video games really make me gotta pee!" He exclaimed.

Jasmine and Sky recoiled in disgust and quickly vacated the area.

"Sky!" Courtney called out as the gymnast made her way back to the cabin. "How did things go with Dave?"

Sky sighed. She really didn't want to talk about it right now; a lot of things were going through her head. "Oh it went fine. We made up, surprisingly."

Courtney's face lit up. "That's great! We have to get Dave on our side for the vote tonight or it's gonna be you or Leshawna going home."

"What?!" Sky exclaimed, suddenly in full panic mode again.

"All we need is for you to tell Dave who to vote for and make sure he's with us." Courtney instructed her.

"Uh, I can try." Sky said. She didn't really feel like talking to Dave again for a little while but now that her name was on the chopping block, she had to.

Courtney whispered into Sky's ear and she nodded.

"Oh, Jasmine must have let you out." Trent said when he spotted Dave running to the washrooms.

"We're voting for Leshawna tonight, got it?" Duncan raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, sure! Gotta pee!" The Germophobe cried, busting into the bathroom.

"I think he's good." Geoff chuckled.

xxx

Night had fallen and the bonfire illuminated the campers as they sat on the stumps at the elimination ceremony.

"You all know the drill, you've been here several times before." Chris chuckled at their misfortune. "On this plate I have eight bits of sweet safety. If you do not receive a marshmallow you must immediately head to the Dock of Shame and get your sorry butt kicked out of here!"

"The first marshmallow goes to...Bridgette."

The surfer girl gladly received her marshmallow and ate it happily.

"Scott, Geoff, Courtney." All three were given their symbols of safety.

"Trent and Dave." The two caught their marshmallows and ate them, and for once, Dave was actually happy to get his.

"Duncan, Leshawna, one of you is going home tonight." Chris told them, holding up the final marshmallow.

Duncan eyed Leshawna who had been his adversary several times in the past. Tonight was no different.

"And the final marshmallow goes to..."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

"Leshawna."

The sister with 'tude looked surprised but delighted and caught her marshmallow.

Geoff, Trent and Scott were all stunned.

"Are you serious?!" Duncan exclaimed. "How did this happen?"

Dave gulped nervously and tried not make eye contact.

"I'm gonna kill you!" The punk threatened, swinging at Dave.

Luckily for the wimp, Chef was there to grab Duncan and haul him down to the Boot of Shame.

"Dude..." Geoff gaped in utter shock.

Courtney beamed and high-fived Leshawna before turning to Sky and Bridgette and doing the same.

Despite being on Duncan's side, Scott was still quite pleased with the outcome. "That'll learn ya." He grinned.

xxx

"Put me down!" Duncan demanded, struggling to break free from Chef's clutches.

Without a word, the cook threw Duncan down on the big red X.

"I can't believe this!" Duncan grumbled as he stood up and brushed himself off.

Chris pressed the big red button on his remote control and sent the punk flying into the stratosphere with a cry of terror.

"If that wasn't the most shocking voting ceremony ever then I don't know what is!" Chris exclaimed. "Tune in next time to see how Sowahkeyiw Kihew fares without their leader! On Total . . . Drama . . . Unfinished Business!"

(Voting Confessionals)

Leshawna- "I really hope this works because it's either you or me." She said, writing Duncan's name down on a piece of paper.

Bridgette- "I guess we're voting Duncan. I have no problem with it, he's been a bully to everyone this entire time. I just wish Geoff wasn't with them." She sighed.

Geoff- "Sorry 'Shawnee, guess it's you going home tonight." He said, holding up a piece of parchment with Leshawna's name on it. "Hope you and Harold have fun together."

Duncan- "Sorry Leshawna but you've gotta go. It's all part of my path to victory." He shrugged.

Dave- "Duncan said we were voting for Leshawna, but then Sky told me we were voting for Duncan. I only really joined the alliance because I wanted Sky out but now that we've made up, I guess I don't need the alliance." He said, holding up a piece of paper with Duncan's name on it.

Trent- "Sorry Leshawna, tell Gwen I'm sorry too. I just wanna stay in the game." He shrugged.

Sky- "Hopefully it's you tonight and not me." She said, holding up Duncan's name.

Courtney- "I was thinking for a while but I finally decided that I don't need your vote, Duncan. As long as I continue to be friendly toward Leshawna and Bridgette, I can get them to vote with me and Sky. Plus, I still have Scott under my belt. Sorry, but it's all part of my path to victory." She shrugged. "Maybe we can go out to a nice restaurant after this is all over. You know, if I feel like it." She winked.

Scott- "I don't really care about most of these people. I really wanted to vote Duncan but I'd like a million bucks more, so I'll put up with him a little while longer." He said, holding up Leshawna's name.

Votes:

Leshawna- Duncan

Bridgette- Duncan

Geoff- Leshawna

Duncan- Leshawna

Dave- Duncan

Trent- Leshawna

Sky- Duncan

Courtney- Duncan

Scott- Leshawna

– –

Duncan- 5

Leshawna- 4

– –

Voted Off: Topher, DJ, Ella, Alejandro, Anne Maria, Ezekiel, Dakota (RETURNED), Jo, Sadie, Heather, Tyler, Brick, Rodney, B, Katie, Max, Dakota, Gwen, Harold, Duncan

Reason: I don't know if I successfully blew your minds but if I did, what did you think? I didn't want Duncan to go to the merge like he does in every season because to be quite honest, he's a screen hog. He's really fun to write and I love him as a character but I think there's been enough of him and I want to develop some of the other characters more.

…

[1]- I don't actually play a whole lot of League of Legends, but I'm told Darius's Noxian Guillotine ability is total BS.

[2]- When this scene came to mind, I couldn't help but include a classic Futurama "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" gag.

[3]- To be quite honest I completely forgot what this translates too it's been so long since I wrote it. You can look it up on google translate from Samoan but I don't think what it gives you is the direct translation from what I wanted so... interpret it how you will?

[4]- I don't know much about this one but Creaturemaster insisted I keep it in. Something about a extreme violence drug use or whatever, yet Graves still can't have a cigar

[5]- A reference to the most annoying thing to ever walk the planet: Teemo from League of Legends. Well...with some of the recent additions to Overwatch that title might just go to someone else...

[6]- A classic joke in Overwatch is that play of the game never goes to who deserves it. Instead of the Reaper who kills the entire team with his death blossom comboed with Zarya's graviton surge, it goes to the Junkrat who killed two people with his tire.

…

Before we go, here's a list of all the references made in the hero designs and abilities. There were about a billion other references made in this set of chapters so have fun finding those too!

Leshawna- Illaoi (LOL), Roadhog (OW)

Bridgette- Nami (LOL)

Geoff- Rakan (LOL), Sombra (OW), Genji (OW)

Duncan- Mordekaiser (LOL), Reinhardt (OW)

Trent- Hanzo (OW), Ashe (LOL)

Courtney- Katarina (LOL), Reaper (OW)

Scott- Junkrat (OW), Kled (LOL)

Leonard- Azula (Avatar The Last Airbender), Himself

Lindsay- Soraka (LOL), Orisa (OW)

Harold- Darius (LOL)

Izzy- Zoe (LOL), (OW), Zenyatta (OW)

Owen- Tahm Kench (LOL)

Noah- Ryze (LOL), Sombra (OW)

Eva- Doomfist (OW), Vi (LOL)

Jasmine- Nassus (LOL)

Samey- Mercy (OW), Kale (LOL)

Cody- Tracer (OW), Ekko (LOL)

Dawn- Zyra (LOL), Maokai (LOL), Zarya (OW)

Amy- Shyvana (LOL)

Scarlett- Cassiopeia (LOL)

…

Next: Cruise of Lose 2 (Sooner than expected!)