Round 2: Giovanni's Wild Ride
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Tier 3
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"Oh come on come on come on!"
Jimmy skidded through the fairground gates, raw panic and the frantic palpitations of his heart drowning out everything but the need to get away from the shotgun-wielding maniac chasing him. Jamming the locking bar through the rusted metal gates, the boy turned, collapsing onto his hands and knees.
And then froze.
The scene before him was something out of a nightmare. He was in a… fairground of some sort, or at least the remains of one.
Dilapidated rides, rotting attractions and half-destroyed shooting galleries stretched out around him, everything on the point of collapse.
Dark figures ran through the avenues, shouting and screaming.
And winding through it all, like some demented slinky, was a roller coaster from hell.
It curved in and out and up and down, twisting in on itself in ways that shouldn't have been possible. And on the cars, the rickety, terrifying cars, people were fighting each other.
By the far side, Ghetsis and Whitney stood upon the seats, mace cracking against staff as they fought desperately for survival. A little closer, Dawn was clambering over the car couplings, knife in mouth, as Pearl desperately tried to fend her off with a spear. Sabrina and Elesa duelled to the west, bright flashes of electricity dispelling the darkness. A laughing woman in a lab coat sprung like a dancer from car to car, raven hair streaming behind her.
To his left, a black van bulldozed its way through a sideshow, the bright muzzle flashes of gunfire coming from the cabin. To the right, a great plume of fire lit up the skies.
A bullet slammed into a wooden post next to Jimmy, showering him in splinters. The boy lurched back in fright, then took off in a run down one of the alleys.
"Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Jimmy turned. And then he realised that he wasn't next to the shooting range anymore. He was next to Giovanni's Wild Ride.
There was a car hurtling towards him. And leaning out of the side of that car, two wiry arms clutching the legs of a bloodstained table at Jimmy's head height, was Burglar Arnie.
"Haaaaveyooouuseeeenmyyyypaaaartneeeeer!?" Arnie roared.
Jimmy opened his mouth.
The table struck.
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Tiers 3 & 4
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The van roared through the gate, crashing through turnstiles and plastic clowns. Brendan held onto the dashboard for dear life.
"Why the fuck are we in a fairground!?" roared Camilla A. Slash.
Brendan was about to yell something back when the glass of his window shattered. Something bloody and spherical hurtled through the empty space, landing in his lap.
"What the…"
It was a… head. Oh god, it was a freaking head!
Brendan lurched back in horror, flinging the thing outside. A's head shot around. "What…"
Something heavy landed on the roof.
Brendan's head shot up. Right above him, embedded in the metal, was a bladed hook.
His eyes widened even further. "A, there's someone on the…"
A sword punched straight through the roof, the blade centimetres from his face. Brendan reeled back. "The roof!"
"Hold on!" A yelled back.
She pumped the gas, spinning the wheel. The van skidded to the side, slamming into a row of sideshow exhibits.
The sword was ripped back out. Brendan yanked off his seatbelt, lurching to the side. The sword came down again, slicing through the air where his head had been.
"M4! Use M4!" A roared, driving the van headfirst through a shooting gallery.
The M4! Where the hell was the M4? Brendan's eyes flicked frantically around the cabin.
There! Under the seat!
He grabbed the weapon, raising the muzzle to the roof, and opened fire. The weapon jolted in his hands, the noise deafening.
The figure on the roof scrabbled backwards, and Brendan caught the flash of a red cloak flapping across his window. Koga.
The M4 went dry.
A muscled arm reached through his window, hand locking around Brendan's throat in an iron grip. Koga's face appeared in the gap, blood streaming down a wound on his head.
"Brendan!"
A let go of the wheel. The girl pushed over him, and… clipped in his seatbelt?
"Hold…"
The van hit a coaster pylon.
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Tiers 1, 2 & 4
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"Raaargh!"
Ghetsis jabbed forward, trying to impale Whitney through the stomach. The gym leader dodged the strike, then tried to brain Ghetsis with her mace. Plasma's leader ducked, and the swing went wide.
The roller coaster car they were fighting on hit a loop. Both combatants dropped, grabbing onto the handles and holding on for dear life.
They were midway through the loop when Whitney let out a scream of pain. The woman almost released her grip on the car, one hand flying up to clutch the back of her neck.
Ghetsis' eyes widened. Hanging by one arm from the section behind Whitney, a bloody bladed knuckleduster drawn back to strike, was a grinning Youngster Joey.
The kid had been under the seat the whole time!?
The boy stabbed Whitney again. She screamed, and released her grip, disappearing into the darkness below.
The car righted itself. Joey waved his bloody weapon at Ghetsis. "Yo! My hiding skills are…"
A van hit the coaster pylon.
The coaster track in front snapped in two. Their section collapsed beneath them, ramping down to connect to the ground. Their car lurched violently, miraculously not immediately killing them both. The metal truck span off the rails, slamming into a rotten wooden building with bone-crushing force.
Everything went dark for Ghetsis.
When he came to, what felt like seconds later, it was to find himself covered in blood. Youngster Joey was gone. And, outside the hole the car had made, was that N? He was running somewhere.
Something wet dribbled down onto his head.
Ghetsis turned. Standing over him, like some god of old, was a huge, furry beast. The thing's nostrils were flaring, red eyes fixed on Ghetsis' face.
The werewolf licked its huge, slavering lips.
"Aooooooooooo!"
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Tiers 2 & 4
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"AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"
The scream came from the other side of the park. Lt. Surge payed it no mind. He had an IT technician to hunt.
He strode around the side of a wall, shotgun cocked and ready in his hands. The scrawny man had come this way, he was sure of it. He…
Speak of the devil.
Crouching in the middle of a clearing, seemly oblivious to his surroundings, was Bill. His eyes were closed, and he had his arms crossed in front of his face, fingers curving around to almost touch his ears. He looked as if he was doing some new-age yoga crap or something.
Huh. Let's see how clever he'd be without a head.
Surge levelled the shotgun, and fired.
And the bullet… bounced off.
Bill opened his eyes. He smiled at Surge through the slightly-scratched pane of bulletproof Lexan glass. And it was only then that the Gym leader realised that, attached to each of Bill's fingers, was a line of fishing wire.
Bill flicked back his right pinky.
And the ground under Surge's feet exploded.
Tier 1
Elesa ran backwards, firing off blasts of electricity from her electrified gauntlets. Sabrina followed her, ducking behind dilapidated buildings to avoid being struck.
"Hah!" the Nimbasa gym leader yelled. "Limited range! I knew it!"
Elesa leapt up onto an empty section of Giovanni's Wild Ride, taking off up the incline. "Can't get me up here, huh?"
Sabrina stopped at the base. She turned, levelling fingers at the buildings behind her. A pillar of rubble, dirt and rotting wood flew out of each, forming into two glowing purple shields in front of her. The psychic rotated around, then set off after Elesa.
Elesa narrowed her eyes, then fired off a blast, making sure to keep her distance. The electricity slammed into the shields, taking off a little at the edges, but otherwise doing very little.
Sabrina started moving faster. Elesa started moving faster too, gritting her teeth. Quickly, the gym leader adjusted the levers on her gauntlets. One went dark, while the other became considerably brighter.
A car appeared behind Sabrina, hurtling towards her at breathtaking pace. The psychic span, waving a hand at it. The car leapt off the rails, hovering in the air. Sabrina turned back, and flung it at Elesa.
Elesa levelled her adjusted glove at it, and fired. There was a bright flash of light, and the car disintegrated in mid-air.
Sabrina stretched out a hand towards the track beneath them. Elesa was faster. Levelling her glove at Sabrina, she fired.
The shields jerked up. But this time, it wasn't quite enough. A huge chunk of the first shield exploded into smoke and dust.
Elesa grinned, and extended out her hand. A stream of crackling yellow energy curved across the distance, slamming into the barrier. It held for a second, then burst.
The electricity grew brighter. The second shield came up, then burst into a million fragments.
Elesa roared in triumph.
And then froze.
Sabrina was still there. And she was holding the electricity.
Elesa turned to run. But Sabrina was quicker. The supports under the track snapped, collapsing the intervening section and sending Elesa hurtling forward.
Sabrina caught her in mid-air. Snakes of electricity wrapped around Elesa, almost touching skin.
"You… why…"
Sabrina said nothing. She just smiled. And against her will, Elesa found herself raising her own gauntlets to her head.
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Tiers 1, 2 & 4
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"I'd leave. Really, I'd leave."
Steven shattered the mirror with the handle of his spear. Bill's reflection shattered into a million tiny shards, each one just as mocking as the original.
"This is not going to go well for you."
Cynthia smashed another Bill. Another mirror.
Because of course, where else would Bill set himself up but a hall of mirrors?
"One of these isn't a mirror." said hundreds of Bills. "He probably has a chainsaw or something. Whatever it is, I'd imagine it's probably very nasty."
Steven smashed another four mirrors. Still nothing.
"I don't…"
Something big and heavy crashed through the ceiling. Cynthia and Steven dived for cover, sharp mirror fragments peppering their backs and arms.
The maelstrom ended. Cautiously, they rose to their feet.
It was a section of track. A section of track, followed by a blacked body.
And it had cleared a path right to the control room.
There was a figure, seated on a chair, surrounded by broken monitors. A figure with green hair.
He wasn't moving.
Steven charged through the rubble, followed by Cynthia. Leaping through the hole that the destruction had caused, Steven drove his spear forward.
And it connected. Unfortunately, not with flesh.
Steven spun the chair around. There was a dummy sitting there, a spear sticking out of its head. A smiling dummy.
The dummy was filled with explosives.
"Yep." the dummy said. "Very nasty."
As was the room.
Steven stepped back.
As was the entire house of mirrors.
Cynthia ran.
Tier 5
From inside his secure control box, Giovanni flicked a lever, sending another cart hurtling along the track.
Easy. He was beginning to understand why Bill acted the way that he did. Sitting back and watching other people fight was much more pleasant than...
A twinge of pain from his hand took him out of his thoughts. Giovanni grimaced. Catching that sword... had been a mistake.
He looked out the window again. The girl he'd helped... Hilda, was dueling against a girl with a scythe. He wondered if she'd live. Probably not.
A scratching noise from behind drew his attention. Giovanni turned.
There was a nozzle poking through the wall.
"Hey Giovanni, that the control room?" Misty yelled. "I think it needs more FIRE!"
The flamethrower activated.
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Tiers 5 & 6
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AJ lashed out with the truncheon. Colress ducked behind the plastic clown, and the weapon hit that instead, sending painful tremors up the boy's arm.
Alice came in at Colress from behind, a knife in hand. The man span around, delivering a stinging backslap. As she fell backwards, Colress yanked the weapon out of her hand. She landed in the rack of shooting range items, equipment tumbling down around her.
AJ swung again. This time, Colress absorbed the blow, the truncheon slamming into his right shoulder. With a grunt of pain, the man lashed out with a kick to AJ's ribs. AJ fell backwards, gasping for air.
Colress came in fast, blade going for AJ's neck. The boy's eyes widened, and he grabbed the nearest thing to hand, raising it in front of his face. The knife sank into the rotten teddy bear, the point just piercing the opposite side.
Colress made a sound of annoyance, and yanked the knife out, ripping the toy out of AJ's grasp. He drew back to strike again.
And then Alice raised the shooting range rifle to Colress' head, and pulled the trigger.
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Tiers 6 & 7
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Precariously perched on the back of a moving rollercar, Four swung her scythe in a wide arc. Hilda ducked under the swing, cursing the short range of her trench knives.
Suddenly, there was a noise behind her. Hilda turned to see *Fennel perched on the seat behind her, face set in a happy grin.
"Hello!"
Shaking off the surprise, Hilda stabbed a bladed fist towards her leg. Fennel leapt into the air, landing on her arm. "Heeeeeey. No."
Four leaned over the seat, swinging at Fennel. The doctor leaned backwards at an impossibly painful angle, then snapped back up, smile never leaving her face.
Hilda tried to shake her off. Fennel jumped off her arm, bouncing off Four's shoulders, and came to land on the very edge of the track.
The doctor tapped something on her wrist. "Entralink!"
Everything went white. And when the world returned, their car wasn't on the track anymore. It was hurtling vertically downwards through the air, straight towards the ground. More precisely, straight towards Bebe.
Bebe looked up. Hilda and Four looked down.
There wasn't even time to cry out.
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Tier 7
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"Hah!"
Pearl shoved the spear forward.
Dawn edged to the side, letting the point fly past. Then, the girl reached out, and ripped it out of Pearl's hands.
Calmly, the girl raised the spear, then brought the handle down on her knee, snapping it like a twig.
Pearl let out a whine of fear.
Napoleon rose up from behind Pearl, leveling an archaic flintlock at Dawn. Just as he fired, the car hit a curve, swinging to the right. The shot went wide, flying off into the night.
Pearl leapt over into Napoleon's car, grabbing him by the coat. "Leo! I want to get off Mr Giovanni's Wild Ride!"
Napoleon shoved him off, frantically searching that could be used to fend off Dawn. Ahead of them, the girl was slowly climbing over the intervening cars, predatory gaze fixed on Pearl.
A spark of light caught Napoleon's attention. He looked up.
The control tower was on fire. And the fire was spreading.
Pearl gasped. "Leo! The... missing!"
Napoleon followed his gaze. Ahead of them, just past the stopping station, a perfectly circular section of track and support beam was missing. It was like someone had surgically removed it.
The stopping station. That was their only hope.
But they were going so fast!
...
No choice.
"Hold on."
Napoleon wrapped a hand around Pearl's collar, eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching stop. With his other, he reached out... and coat-hangered a pole.
The impact nearly split him in two. Pain spiked up his arm, and he felt his bones almost wrench out of their sockets.
But it worked. He and Pearl were flung bodily onto the platform, slamming into the metal wall.
And the last thing Napoleon saw before blacking out was Dawn's shocked face, vanishing into the gloom.
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Tier 8
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Giovanni's Wild Ride was on the point of collapse. Huge sections of it were on fire. A van had hit one of the main support pylons. Fennel's teleportation spree had yanked several parts of it out of existence. And the control center had burned to the ground.
Above them, a cart flew off the rails, smacking into a support section.
Red rolled to the side, just clearing the wreckage. Green, focused as he was on trying to stab Red, wasn't so lucky. A huge piece of metal speared him through the back, sticking him to the ground like a fly.
Red started to get to his feet, then scrabbled backwards as Primo's foot almost took off his head.
The man grinned at him. "All right! Time for Lesson..."
BZZZZT
There was a bright flash of light, and Primo crumpled to the ground, body still twitching. Wattson grinned down at him.
"Reality shows aren't really my thing! Why don't you try some comedy? Wahahahahah!"
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Tiers 1 & 4
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Cynthia ran for the exit, leaping over the shattered mirrors. Steven followed, leaping over the piles of rubble.
"Good god!" he yelled. "How much explosive is..."
His words were cut off, as a huge piece of rollercoaster track slammed into him from behind.
Steven fell to the ground, legs snapping like twigs. "Aaargh!"
A whooshing sound from above caught Cynthia's attention. She looked up.
Sabrina was floating above the wrecked house of mirrors, arms encircled with purple energy. A dozen coaster tracks hung suspended around her, poised to fly.
"Cynthia... ngh, get out!" Steven fumbled at his belt, the pain making his movements jerky and erratic. "It's too late for me! Get out!"
Cynthia looked up at Sabrina, then once more at Steven. She nodded her thanks, then took off in the other direction.
Sabrina raised her hand to throw, only to be forced to dodge to the side as a bullet flew by her.
Steven raised his pistol above him. "Oh no you don't! Run!"
He emptied the clip. This time, Sabrina caught the bullets, a look of mild irritation on her formerly blank face.
She glared down at Steven, raising both hands.
And then the house exploded.
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Tiers 3 & 4
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Brendan and A raced out of the ruined fairground. At the other exits, other figures were doing the same, fleeing out into the darkness.
"Do you... think he's... dead?" A puffed.
There was a flash of light behind them. Brendan and A turned, just in time to see the entire Wild Ride explode in an enormous orange fireball, taking the entire carnival with it.
"Yeah, pro..."
Brendan stopped. Because the explosion had illuminated something. Up the path that lay ahead, partially hidden under a camouflage sheet, was a large, metal shape. Brendan could just make out two words, painted in blue letters on the side.
'M4 Sherman.'