All characters and content of this work belongs to their respective owners, I own nothing other than my Original Character and the plot of this story.
The race was over, and Emeraldblade's team had won, even though they ended up crashing the helicopter as Launchpad had predicted.
Vaggie was the first to escape from the mangled remains of the aircraft, followed by Emeraldblade herself.
"That sure was a shit show back there," Vaggie commented, "You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine," Emeraldblade replied.
Launchpad was next in exiting from the remains, he happened to be focused on a spreadsheet he was holding in his hand.
"Launchpad, what are you doing?" Vaggie asked, still annoyed from his crash landing.
"Oh, this? I'm filling out my sweepstakes pamphlet that my insurance company gave me," he answered somewhat jokingly, "If I crash a vehicle in each of the 50 states, I win a refrigerator."
Vaggie and Emeraldblade rolled their eyes, before suddenly realizing that something wasn't right.
"Hey, where's Iono?" Emeraldblade asked.
Suddenly, the trio heard groaning from inside the downed aircraft, they looked up and saw Iono holding her forehead, clearly dazed from the sudden series of events that unfolded.
"Wow- that finish was more jolting than being zapped by a 10-million-volt thunderbolt," she lamented.
"Iono, are you alright?" Emeraldblade called out.
Iono's eyes lit up, "Oh, hey friendos, that crash landing knocked me out for a moment, but yeah I'm alright."
Iono then unfastened her seatbelt and leapt from the helicopter into Emeraldblade's arms.
"That race was phenomenal!" she shouted excited, "My viewer numbers were through the roof on that stream I made, it's already beating my old record!"
"Well, at least two people are happy…" Vaggie said, directing her attention to Emeraldblade.
Suddenly, the team heard a familiar voice call out from the distance
"There you four are," Tulip's voice called out, running towards Emeraldblade and her team with Sniper, the imps, and Larry not far behind, "We saw the whole thing from one of the rooftops, I feared the worse."
"Hey, any crash you escape from alive is a good crash in my book," Launchpad replied confidently, much to Vaggie's annoyance.
"Why were you on the rooftops?" Vaggie asked.
"That bugger that's been chasing us across half the country was trying to shoot ya mates down," Sniper answered.
"Striker," Emeraldblade added, "I had a feeling he was involved in this somehow."
"Where is he now?" Vaggie asked.
"That fucker's out cold, he fell from the rooftop after he tussled with us," Millie replied.
"What about that mean woman back at the airport?" Larry asked nonchalantly.
"Ehh, last I saw, her helicopter fell out of the sky, taking her and her crew with it," Launchpad explained, "Whatever the case, the Demon Duel's over, so it's safe to say we no longer have to deal with her anymore."
"Well think again fuckwad!" a familiar voice berated the warrior.
The team turned their attention towards the voice, and sure enough it was none other than Verosika, completely covered in smudge marks and soot, her clothing was tattered from the impact of the crash. Kiki, Vortex, and Apple following behind her.
"You shitheads weren't supposed to win the race," she berated them angrily.
"Give it up Verosika," Emeraldblade countered, "We won the race in the end, now tell us where our friends are, like you agreed to back at the concert"
Verosika leaned in to Emeraldblade's face, anger singed into her eyes.
"Do you think I will be defeated that easily? Well then I'll teach you not to mess with a powerful succubus such as myself!"
She then proceeded to pull out something from her pocket, causing everyone but her crew to raise an eyebrow out of confusion.
"A rose? Seriously?" Launchpad replied.
Verosika turned her attention to the duck man, before suddenly thrusting the "flower" in his direction, suddenly the body of the rose began to transform, as a large whip complete with thorn-like barbs manifested from it. The barbed whip shot out towards Launchpad, nearly striking him in the process.
"YIKE!" he shouted.
"What the hell?" Vaggie wondered out of shock.
"I figured you'd me more of a challenge than I initially thought, so I had this rose sword constructed personally to deal with fucks like you."
"What do you want now Verosika?" Emeraldblade demanded.
"Simple, I challenge you to a battle," the succubus replied, "If you lose…you die, are you up to it bitch?"
Emeraldblade grabbed her sword from her back and readied her stance for battle.
"I guess I have no choice…" she replied.
Verosika chuckled, "I guess you aren't a shitty little chicken after all."
She then turned to her crew and began instructing them.
"Deal with those imbeciles quicky, the warrior girl's mine!"
Her posse nodded and then charged at Emeraldblade's team without further instruction, pulling out various weapons in the process. It was now an all-out battle.
Apple turned her focus on Millie and Moxxie. The lesser succubus pulled out a sword and began battling the female imp, who brandished her axe as a counter. Although Millie's height made her have an easier time evading the demoness's attacks, Apple proved to be a faster opponent than she had anticipated.
"Hold still so I can pulverize you bitch!" Millie shouted angrily.
The two clashed blades several times, soon enough, the imp made a slip-up that left her vulnerable, which Apple responded with a swift kick to her back. She then turned her attention to Moxxie and charged at him. The male imp readied his revolver and fired at the demoness repeatedly, eventually one shot hit its mark, causing Apple to lose her footing and slide just inches in front of him.
Moxxie approached her in an attempt to finish her off, but Apple surprised him by quickly regaining her footing and performing a low sweep in an attempt to make him lose his footing too. Fortunately for Moxxie, he managed to jump in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding the attack. He then grabbed Apple by her small ponytail and began punching her in the face, before delivering a kick to her gut that launched her away.
Millie regained her footing and pounced at the lesser succubus, grabbing onto her back and clawing at her body, this went on for several seconds until Apple grabbed her and tossed her at Moxxie, knocking them both down.
As Apple prepared to finish them off, a gunshot went off nearby, followed by a bullet flying right in front of her face.
"Aye wanker, I'm gonna plant one right between your eyes," Sniper's voice yelled out.
Apple switched her attention to the bush man and charged at him with full force. Sniper meanwhile readied his sniper rifle and took aim. He fired one shot at her chest, causing her grunt loudly before sliding quite a distance. She then regained her footing again and tried slashing him with her sword, which Sniper jumped back from before drawing his trusty Bushwacka. The two began clashing their blades numerous times, before Apple tricked Sniper and drop kicked him dead on in his chest, launching him several yards back.
Sniper got up, pondering what his next move would be, then it hit him…his secret weapon.
Sniper pulled a jar full of his "lemonade" as Apple readied to charge at him with full force, he concentrated his aim at the demoness before…
"Heads up!" he shouted, tossing the jar of its nasty contents simultaneously.
The jar flew quite a distance before shattering just in front of Apple, causing the yellow liquid inside of it to splash all over the lesser succubus, blinding her in the process.
Apple attempted to counter by charging at him, until a foul smell stopped her in her tracks. She opened her eyes and looked over her body, seeing it soaked in the substance in question, it only took a moment for her to realize what exactly it was, before she suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream of terror.
"Ew, Ew, Ew! Get it off me! Get it off me!" she panicked, all the while running around hysterically.
Eventually, she collided head on with a nearby tree, the force of which knocked her unconscious.
"That was too easy." Sniper smirked.
Meanwhile, Vortex decided to target Iono, who readied herself by pulling out a poke ball and summoned a strange, blue and black lion-like creature.
"Alright Luxray, it's time to put on a serious face, use wild charge!" she commanded.
Luxray responded by charging at Vortex with electrifying strength, Vortex anticipated this and held his arms out to catch the electric pokémon. Sparks shot out in all directions once Luxray collided with the hellhound, but Vortex was seemingly unphased.
"Oh noes! This isn't good!" Iono shouted.
"Damn straight girlfriend," Vortex smirked.
Tulip and Larry turned to each other, nodded.
"Time to get to work." Larry told her.
Each of them took out a poke ball, Larry summoned a pokémon resembling a giant land snake with fangs and small wings, whilst Tulip took out an ostrich-like pokémon with a Cleopatra-like hairdo.
"Espathra, cleanse this brute's pores with a Dazzling Gleam!"
Espathra responded by producing a bright, shiny flash that caught the hellhound off-guard, blinding his vision.
"Alright Larry, it's your turn," Tulip told the male gym leader with an endearing smile.
Larry sighed, "Dudunsparce finish him off with a Hyper Drill!"
Dudunsparce began spinning rapidly until its body formed into a drill, it then launched itself at Vortex, sending him flying.
"Well, that completes one task," Larry replied.
As Tulip, Larry, and Iono were dealing with Vortex, Vaggie was struggling to get the upper hand on her former friend Kiki. The lesser succubus was battling the harpoon-wielding angel with a pair of hellish-looking ninjato swords.
"Kiki, I don't want to fight you," Vaggie tried to reason with her former friend turned foe, lunging the blade of her weapon multiple times at her.
"Then why did you betray Verosika?" Kiki responded, slashing at Vaggie several times with her swords.
"She forced me to rape several men out of my own will," Vaggie answered back, kicking Kiki back several yards, before rushing at her, "Please, you've got to believe me, not that slut you call your boss. She USED me!"
But Kiki didn't buy Vaggie's pleas, and instead rush at her with a counterattack by slashing at her chest several times, causing her to grunt and shriek painfully, before falling to the ground. The lesser succubus attempted to drive one of her blades straight into her ex-friend's heart, but Vaggie reacted by grabbing her hand and began trying to push the sword away from her chest. As the blade drew closer, Vaggie responded by kneeing Kiki in the gut, pushing her aside and slowing her to regain her footing.
The two then began clashing their weapons multiple times, slowly approaching the Ohio River in the process. Eventually, Kiki cornered Vaggie at the edge of the waterfront, before attempting to push her into the water. Vaggie spent the next tedious moments trying to avoid plunging into the water below, before thrusting the pommel of her harpoon into Kiki's chest and then pushing her back aways.
She then took advantage of her staggering by striking one of the ninjato hard enough to knock it out of Kiki's hands, sending the sword flying.
Kiki regained her composure and then attempted to regain her advantage by flying over Vaggie and attempting to strike her former friend with a sneak attack from behind, however, Vaggie anticipated this and instead countered by thrusting herself into the air with her wings, catching Kiki off-guard once more before using her harpoon as a lever to strike Kiki behind her back before tossing her over her body and onto the ground below. She then responded by dive bombing her, delivering a punishing blow to her body that knocked her out.
Following her friend's defeat, Vaggie stood up and flipped her hair.
"I'm sorry Kiki, but you left me with no choice," she said apologetically.
She then looked back at where the rest of her team was battling and noticed that Emeraldblade was struggling to fight off Verosika.
Despite her crew's apparent defeats, the succubus was gaining the upper hand against the person whom was giving her so much trouble as of late. She kept striking at Emeraldblade by launching several circular whip lashes at the warrior, all the while digging the end of her weapon into the ground, before thrusting the barbed blade up from the ground in an attempt to sneak attack Emeraldblade several times, forcing her to go on defense.
"What's the matter? Getting tired?" she mocked her.
"Not even close," Emeraldblade countered.
Verosika then responded by spinning around in a vortex before launching her whip out towards Emeraldblade, who dodged with a well-timed backflip, she then countered by launching several energy bolts at Verosika, but the succubus blocked each shot with her snake sword.
"Is that all you got you-"
But before she could finish, Emeraldblade rushed at her and struck her while she was attempting to taunt her.
The strike caused Verosika to wrench in pain as she covered her face from the surprise attack, when she opened her eyes, she glared angrily at her rival.
"Gah! Lucky shot," she berated Emeraldblade, "But two can play at this game."
She then reached out her hand and grabbed Emeraldblade by her upper arm, before violently jerking her towards her body. Verosika then restrained Emeraldblade's arms and held her against her chest, before launching her sword out in all directions. Suddenly, Emeraldblade felt numerous piercing strikes against her body as the barbs of Verosika's sword struck her countless times. Afterwards, Verosika threw Emeraldblade forward, causing her to land back first several feet away.
Verosika walked up to her fallen foe and launched her snake sword at Emeraldblade, causing her to narrowly dodge the whip-like blade several times, suddenly without notice, Verosika slammed the stiletto of her high heel against Emeraldblade's neck, driving the heel deep into her flesh and she laughed evilly.
"Now you'll know your place bitch," she chuckled.
As Emeraldblade began losing consciousness, she used her remaining strength to grab Verosika's ankle and throw her foot aside, she then regain her composure and jumped back to her feet and began swinging her sword at Verosika.
Launchpad bit his nails nervously as he witnessed the two belligerents traded strikes, clashes, and blows before suddenly Verosika played a dirty trick by tripping Emeraldblade with a low sweep of her snake sword. She then grabbed Emeraldblade by the neck and threw her away, before launching her sword around her neck in an attempt to strangle her to death, all the while laughing at her misery.
Not wanting his friend to die, Launchpad took a deep breath and approached the succubus, hiding his fear of her at the same time.
"Hey you…uh…lady, drop my friend this instant, or else!" Launchpad sternly demanded.
Verosika just chuckled, "Yeah, and what are you going to do about it Duck Man?"
"This!"
Launchpad pointed his index and middle fingers out and poked Verosika directly in the eyes.
"AAH! You little-!" Verosika grunted, dropping her sword and covering her eyes in the process.
As she began staggering around, Emeraldblade took advantage of the opportunity and rushed at the succubus, delivering a powerful drop kick, knocking her back quite a distance. When Verosika recovered, she then launched a barrage of energy bolts at her. Once again, Verosika responded by blocking the shots with her sword, albeit more hastily than before. Soon enough however, she made the mistake of leaving herself open, and sure enough one of Emeraldblade's bolts hit her dead on in the face, knocking her down.
Verosika tried to recover once again, but Emeraldblade quickly reacted and rushed at her, delivering a final blow by launching the succubus with a powerful swing of her greatsword, sending her flying as a result as she screamed in horror. Soon enough, she crashed into the ground hard, incapacitated and unable to continue the fight. She had been defeated.
At the same the battle was beginning to unfold on the waterfront, a different battle was beginning to brew down in Hell…
Using Spy's information, Blitzo's team tracked down the location Verosika was using as a hideaway to hold the remaining mercenaries hostage.
"So this is the location, correct?" Blitzo asked the Spy.
"Indeed my amigo." Spy answered.
"But how are we going to get in there? That place is teaming with Verosika's posse and fuck knows what else…" Loona complained.
"The wolf girl's right," Fizzaroli seconded, "As much I love to fuck some shitheads up, the last thing I want is to be turned to mincemeat."
"That's where this comes into play…" Spy replied, pulling out a device that raised everyone's eyebrows.
"A cigarette carton? Are you serious?" Blitzo questioned.
"What are you going to smoke on them to death?" Angel Dust chuckled amusingly.
"No…" Spy replied with a cold expression on his face, "I'm going to trick them…"
Suddenly he pressed a hidden button on the inside of the device, causing a thick cloud to cover his entire body, when it lifted, Spy was nowhere to be seen, instead an entity that Blitzo was all too familiar with was standing in his place.
"…as yours truly," Spy finished, imitating Verosika's voice perfectly.
"What the-?" Blitzo replied, clearly startled by his ex-girlfriend's sudden appearance, "Where have you taken Spy?"
"Relax you imbecile," Spy replied in his normal voice, "It's me."
"Spy?! Hehe, this is brilliant!" Blitzo smiled.
"Precisely," Spy replied, "Now that the matter has passed let's get down to business. I will go in there disguise as Verosika and distract those goons that work for her, meanwhile Nifty here will stealthfully sneak around the enemy and free the mercs trapped inside.
"Got it," Nifty answered with a giggle.
"As for the rest of you, you'll cover me from a distance in case something goes wrong," Spy finished.
"This has got to be the most ridiculous infiltration I have ever done in my lifetime…" Blitzo seemingly complained, before suddenly smirking, "…but it just might work."
"Good, now let's settle this like gentlemen!" Spy commanded.
Spy charged towards the mansion, with everyone following close behind. He approached the front door and rang on the door bell. A moment later, someone came to the door, it was none other than Josh, the male incubus that had chased Spy when he made the brazen escape the previous day.
"Verosika!" the incubus called out, "Well, I-I didn't expect you'd be back so soon from the race."
"What, were you expecting the pizza delivery man or something?" Spy question in Verosika's voice.
"No, no, no it's just that…ah fuck never mind," the incubus cursed to himself, "Just come right in."
The incubus ushered Spy into the mansion, as the door began to shut behind them, Spy kicked his foot back to allow Nifty to quickly zip inside, and hold the door open, allowing the rest of the team to sneak inside the hideout.
"Showtime," Blitzo commented quietly.
The incubus led Spy into a large living room that Spy quickly recognized from his escape just days earlier, a large TV was on, tuned into 666 News. Blitzo and the rest of his team meanwhile ducked behind a nearby countertop at the bordering kitchen and carefully watched what was about to happen.
As this was unfolding, Spy and Josh were joined by four other members of Verosika's crew in the room: Coco, the female succubus with the afro that Spy recognized from the escape, a tale, incubus with punk-like clothing and piercings, a short fat succubus with an unpleased look on her face, and a thin demon with a spikey hairdo.
"Yo, V, glad to see you arrived back early," the tall incubus commented.
"Umm, yeah," Spy replied, disguising his voice once more to resemble Verosika's.
The fat succubus raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious of Spy, "So, how did the race go boss?"
"I kicked the opponent's asses!" Spy replied confidently, "That Vagina and Emerald-Bitch didn't stand a chance!"
"Ha! That's what I like to hear!" Josh replied.
"Hang on, something's not right," Coco replied.
Suddenly, the rest of the crew realized this revelation, and quickly grew suspicious.
"Spy raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"Well for starters, where the hell's Vortex…and Apple…and Kiki?" Josh asked, "I thought they were with you."
"Yeah…" the fat succubus replied, growing even more suspicious, "And what about those girls you promised you would make our sex slaves?"
Spy began to sweat anxiously.
"Well uh, that's a good question, you see…"
But before Spy could come up with a legitimate cover story, a news segment suddenly flashed on the TV.
"This just in, famed succubus singer Verosika Mayday has recently lost a race against some woman that works for Princess Charlotte Morningstar, alongside some…wait, are those…humans?" a male commentator's voice said.
The screen then displayed a live camera feed of the waterfront of Louisville, where the camera panned to focus on Lady Emeraldblade coming face to face with Verosika, which upon seeing this, caused all of the crew member's eyes to light up.
"Wait a minute," The thin demon said, "If the boss is still in Louisville right now…then who's-"
As they turned back to face "Verosika", the demon suddenly caught sight of the barrel of a revolver.
"Surprise!" Spy said in his normal voice, before pulling the trigger and firing the gun at him point-blank, killing the demon instantly with a shot to the head.
The sudden turn of events shocked the rest of Verosika's crew.
"What the hell?! This Verosika's an imposter!" Josh shouted.
"Get her, whoever she is!" Coco demanded.
Spy removed his disguise, blinding the crew with the cloud of smoke, once it cleared, Spy in his true form.
"It's YOU!" Coco shouted.
"Now my amigos!" Spy called out.
Suddenly, Blitzo and the rest of his team popped up from the island and began to attack Verosika's team with an array of weapons as Verosika's crew did the same.
Spy confronted Coco; the same person who had "killed" him.
"How the hell did you escape?!" Coco demanded, "I thought I killed you the other day."
"Simple, I faked my death you subnormal halfwit," Spy smugly replied, holding and waving his pocket watch to mock her, before slashing his butterfly knife at the succubus.
Coco narrowly dodged the blade, before delivering a roundhouse kick to Spy's gut, sending him flying into the nearby sectional.
At the same time, Blitzo was fighting off Josh in a hand-to-hand battle, despite his shorter stature, he managed to keep Josh at bay by using his tail as a makeshift weapon.
"I should've known you'd be involved somehow."
"Save the shit," Blitzo countered, "I'm getting paid to rescue these fleshies my clients hired to me to accomplish, and if I have to spill some blood, so be it."
He then slashed his tail, grazing Josh's chest, causing a large tear to rip across his shirt.
"That was a brand-new shirt!" he shouted, clearly infuriated, "Now you're really going to pay you little shit."
Josh then lunged at the I.M.P commander, tackling him to the ground. Blitzo responded by kicking him off his body, before lunging back at him.
As Angel Dust, Loona, and Fizzaroli were busy dealing with the remaining crew members, Nifty snuck around the combat zone swiftly without getting caught, and made her way to a nearby hallway, there she found herself face-to-face with rows of doors. Not wasting anytime, she zipped to each one, knocking loudly whilst calling out each of mercs' names.
Eventually, she came across one door at the corner of the hallway and proceeded to knock as usual.
"Scout, are you there?!" she called out.
Scout, who was at the other side of the door, recognized the voice as that of Nifty, he then nudged Medic and Demoman and the three of them leaned against the door.
"Nifty, ya found us!" Scout replied, clearly elated, "Quick, you gotta get us outta here paley."
"You got it!" she replied happily.
Seeing that the door lacked a locking mechanism on her side, she then reached her hand into a pocket in her apron, before suddenly pulling out a makeshift lockpick, she then took a bobby pin from her hair and began using the tools to pick the keyhole of the door. After nearly a minute, she finally unlocked it and turned the doorknob.
Scout, Medic, and Demoman suddenly emerged from the makeshift prison.
"Aye thanks mate," Demoman commended Nifty.
"Danka comrade," Medic also praised the maid.
"Yeah, thanks a lot paley, I owe ya one," Scout added.
Nifty blushed from the flattery, before suddenly zipping away and then returning back not a second later with what appeared to be the merc's weapons.
"Spy told me to bring these along," she winked, "Now come on, we need to help the others defeat those baddies in the other room; I'm begging for a taste of the action!"
The mercs nodded and together, the four of them rushed into the living room to confront Verosika's crew.
As Milky was gaining the upper hand against Loona, Scout decided to come to her rescue and flank the succubus with an unexpected bat bash.
"UGH! The hell?" she reacted.
"Hey knucklehead you and your paleys ain't gonna win," Scout boasted.
Milky attempted to attack the Scout, but he swiftly evaded her advances.
"Hold still fleshy!" she shouted.
Scout continued dodging her advances until suddenly he countered one attempt and pushed her away with a powerful swing from his bat. The force sent her flying into Loona, who caught her in the nick of time.
"Yo wolf girl, batter up!" he winked.
Loona smirked before "pitching" Milky with a throw, launching her in the opposite direction. Scout reacted by swinging his bat again, this time connecting with an even more powerful swing, which launched the succubus across the house.
"Home freakin' run!" Scout shouted.
Milky screamed hysterically as her body flew through the room before clashing straight through the wall and then into another room, where her body clashed into a luxurious sports car that was parked inside what appeared to be the garage, she then slammed straight through the windshield, shattering the glass, knocking her out.
Scout then rushed up to her while she was unconscious.
"You're like a car crash in slow motion…" he "critiqued", "…it's like I'm watching you fly through a windshield…oh wait you did!"
Meanwhile, Blitzo continued to overcome Josh's attacks. The incubus had grown more reckless after the imp tore his shirt.
"Why won't you stay FUCKING still?!" he demanded.
"I don't know," Blitzo responded, "I guess you're just one helluva bad shot!"
This sardonic comment infuriated the incubus, causing him to lunge at the imp once again, this time pinning him to the ground.
"That will be the last joke you ever crack!" he scolded him.
Blitzo quickly drew a pistol from his pocket and fired it at Josh's shoulder, causing him to flinch from the injury. He then, kicked him in the groin, before standing back up.
"Why you little-"
But before he could have time to react, Demoman charged in and pinned him against a nearby hall.
"What?! How did you escape?!" Josh replied, clearly shocked.
"Oh, I'm gonna beat you so hard, you'll have a twitch!" Demoman replied.
Josh pushed Demoman back, but the Scotsman responded by swinging his sword multiple times in an attempt to slice him up. He managed to get Josh to turn in a circle, before winking towards Blitzo, who proceeded to cleverly trip the incubus. When Josh got up, he was then hit by Demoman's shield, which knocked him out cold and over the sectional.
At another corner, Angel Dust was fighting off Ace in a struggle. The two were locked in a grip trying to force the other one over. Angel clearly had the advantage, given he had four arms versus Ace's two, but nonetheless his opponent managed to hold his own against him. That all changed when something unexpected happened.
"Hello frauleins!" Medic popped in.
The greeting caused Ace to turn his gaze towards him.
"What the fuck-"
Suddenly, Angel Dust released his grip on one of his arms, before punching him directly in the face towards a nearby wall. Medic then drew his medigun and begun firing a steam of syringes at the incubus. At first, the shots narrowly missed him, but then one stray shot managed to hit its mark, straight into the upper arm.
"AAUGH!" the demon yelped, "What's in this stuff?!"
Medic snickered, "Well, one thing's for certain, it's not medicine!"
Suddenly, as the incubus tried to counterattack the "doctor", his vision began to blur, before he suddenly collapsed to the floor and blacked out.
Angel Dust, who watched the whole ordeal in shock turned to Medic.
"Remind me not to fuck with you in the future."
With three of Verosika's crew out for the count, all that was left was Coco, who was managing to hold her ground against the Spy.
"Ugh!" Coco cringed, "For a fleshy, you sure are persistent."
"I know," Spy replied smugly, "That's why I'm a professional at my job."
Coco attempted to attack Spy while he was gloating with a barrage of punches and kicks, but Spy continued to evade her would-be blows. Spy then countered by delivering a haymaker into her abdomen, sending her staggering a few yards. Fizzaroli then approached from behind and then shoved her back to the Spy's location, before he grabbed her by the shoulders. He then kicked her in the shin causing her to kneel to the ground in pain before Spy voluntarily turned her around. He then took out his butterfly knife and jabbed the switchblade into her shoulder-blade, backstabbing her in the process and paralyzing her in pain.
"You disgust me, girlfriend," Spy remarked.
Spy turned back to his team.
"Now's our chance, let's get the hell out of here." he instructed.
Blitzo nodded and began directing everyone out of the mansion.
One by one, Spy and his team flooded out of the house, and fled the scene while Verosika's crew was out cold.
Back on Earth, Emeraldblade and Vaggie confronted a downed Verosika. Vaggie violently grabbed her by the collar and lifted her to her feet.
"Alright shitface," she interrogated aggressively, "It's all over, now tell us where the hell's Charlie?!"
"Yeah," Sniper piped, "And what about the other mercenaries?"
Verosika groaned, "I should've known you'd defeat me soon enough…"
Verosika then began chuckling evilly.
"What are you doing?" Vaggie questioned her former boss.
"Let's just say I have one more trick up my sleeve…"
Suddenly, the succubus shoved Vaggie away, before taking out a strange flask from her pocket. She then tossed the mysterious vial into the air, before hip-checking it into the nearby river.
Upon coming into contact with the water, the area began to bubble violently.
Emeraldblade's team watched in fear as the reaction began to grow bigger by the second, before a strange roaring noise began to echo around the area.
"What the bloody hell was that?!" Sniper questioned nervously, making double takes.
Vaggie looked back sternly at her former boss, who responded with a smirk of her own.
"Have fun dealing with my pet," she taunted her, before turning back to her recovering crew, "Come on shits, let's beat it before with have to suck some pig dicks like last time."
Apple, Vortex, and Kiki heard their boss's orders and began retreating from the vicinity.
As they were fleeing the scene, Vaggie rushed towards Kiki and grabbed her by the wrist in an attempt to stop her.
"Kiki please hear me out, you can't keep listening to that bitch."
"Let go of me!" she yelled, pulling her arm out of Vaggie's grasp.
"Could you at least tell me where Charlie's being held?" she questioned her old friend desperately.
Kiki, struggled to answer, before sighing, "Look, I can't remember the name of the place off the tip of my tongue, but what I do know is that Charlie's being held in some castle in Europe, t-that's all I know."
The two looked at each other silently.
"You sure?" Vaggie asked for confirmation.
Kiki nodded with smile.
"Kiki you shit, stop blabbering with that fucker and get the hell over here this instant!" Verosika's voice screamed out from the distance.
"I-I got to go…" Kiki sighed.
"Thanks…hon." Vaggie smiled, "But please, just take my advice and reconsider your loyalty to Verosika."
Kiki nodded, before parting ways with her old friend.
Another powerful roar suddenly rang out from the river, before suddenly the area where the bubbles were accumulating began to ripple.
"What's going on?" Iono shook nervously.
"I-I don't know," Tulip replied, "But whatever it is, it's about to appear. Brace yourselves!"
Suddenly, a form began to breach from the surface of the water, before letting out yet another roar.
The strange sea monster appeared to be some sort of giant blue and white sea dragon, with a glaring expression on its face with a pair of blue whiskers like a catfish. Its eyes were sunken with glowing red pupils and black sclera. Strange, glowing red veins ran down its body, pulsating with a sinister energy.
Tulip recognized the creature right away, it was a Gyarados, but something wasn't right about it…
She turned towards Iono and Larry, before the three of them returned the pokémon they had out and sent out there Florges, Staraptor, and Mismagius. Tulip then turned her attention to Emeraldblade, and threw her a poke ball.
"Point it at the Gyarados and toss it."
Emeraldblade nodded and threw the poke ball, soon enough, the device sent out a pokémon Emeraldblade didn't recognize, it was a tall, humanoid creature that had a feminine appearance, with shoulder-length green hair, red eyes, a red spike protruding from its chest, green arms, and a long white body that resembled a flowing dress with white stick-like legs.
Emeraldblade was surprised by the pokémon's natural beauty.
"Is this…a Gardevoir?!" she asked Tulip.
Tulip nodded with a smile, "Use her well."
Emeraldblade turned back towards the possessed Gyarados and stood her ground.
"Alright team, let's stop this monster before it harms anyone."
Suddenly, Iono, Larry, and Tulip instructed their pokémon to attack the Gyarados, doing minimal damage to the monster. The Gyarados responded by unleashing a powerful cannon of highly pressurized water at the four pokémon, damaging them.
Emeraldblade struggled to figure out what to do. So she turned to Tulip for advice.
"Tell Gardevoir to use Energy Ball!" she advised.
"Got it" Emeraldblade replied, before turning back towards the pokémon Tulip had loaned her, "Gardevoir, take Tulip's advice and use Energy Ball!"
Gardevoir nodded and generated a ball of green energy similar to the bolts Emeraldblade could conjure. She then released it towards the Gyarados, dealing a more potent hit than the other pokémon did just a moment ago, afterwards, the other three pokémon responded by attacking the Gyarados again, causing the monster to stagger.
But the Gyarados refused to yield. It suddenly directed its attention towards Florges, and rushed at the pokémon with a powerful wave of water similar to a waterfall, colliding with the flower pokémon hard. Florges was badly wounded as a result.
"Florges! Don't give up!" Tulip motivated her ace pokémon, "You're still in this!"
Not wanting Florges to get knocked out, Emeraldblade instructed Tulip's Gardevoir to generate another energy ball and direct it towards the Gyarados. Tulip responded by ordering her Florges to unleash a similar ball of energy, but this one was a Moonblast. The two balls of energy collided with the Gyarados, causing the possessed creature to roar in pain, the two attacks managed to deal more damage than usual.
"The Gyarados seems to be getting weaker," Tulip noted aloud.
"Quick, now's our chance, lets unleash another round of attacks once more, hopefully one more strike should defeat it," Emeraldblade added.
Emeraldblade and her friends responded by instructing their pokémon to attack the Gyarados once more with one final round of powerful attacks just as the possessed pokémon was about to counter them with another powerful hydro pump. Their attacks successfully connected just in time, causing the Gyarados to roar in pain one final time, before swinging its body violently back and forth.
"That things going to fall!" Vaggie warned, "Everyone get the fuck out of there!"
Emeraldblade, Tulip, Iono, Larry, and their pokémon quickly retreated away from the vicinity just in time, before the giant beast suddenly collapsed violently onto the grass, too wounded to continue the fight.
A moment passed, before Emeraldblade took up the courage to approach the fallen foe. She noticed that it was still breathing.
"The Gyarados is still alive," Emeraldblade told everyone.
Moxxie walked up next to the warrior and pointed his revolver at the pokémon.
"Time to put an end to this monster," he commented, aiming his gun at the Gyarados.
Emeraldblade's eyes lit up.
"WAIT! Don't shoot!" she protested.
"Are you crazy? That thing tried to kill us!" Moxxie countered.
"But it wasn't its fault!" Emeraldblade continued.
"Emeraldblade's right," Tulip seconded, "That thing looks possessed. Something sinister seems to be resonating from its body."
Vaggie raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean hon?"
"This poor pokémon must be an unfortunate victim possessed by Soul Edge's influence," Emeraldblade explained, "Its eyes and those glowing veins are attributed to the cursed sword."
"Wait a minute, I remember seeing similar traits when we fought those strange individuals back during our battle against Merasmus. The lass has a point mates."
"We have to do something to free it from Soul Edge's control…but how?" Tulip wondered.
Emeraldblade turned back to the wounded pokémon.
"I wish I knew…"
She placed her hand on the Gyarados's forehead, suddenly a green glow began to resonate from her sword, followed by a strange green energy being released from her hand. Without warning, a bright green flash blinded everyone in the vicinity. Once the flash dissipated, Emeraldblade looked down at the Gyarados, and noticed it beginning to stand back up.
But what was most shocking of all was that the pokémon was not only fully healed, but was no longer possessing any visual signs of malfestation from Soul Edge's control, it had broken free from the evil sword's will.
"Holy shit!" Millie said in awe.
"Emeraldblade, the Gyarados, you healed it…" Tulip commented, clearly surprised by the events that had just unfolded, "But…how?"
"I-I don't know," Emeraldblade answered, "I guess it must be a new power I obtained from my sword."
"Your sword…is that how you were able to fire those strange bolts from your hands?" Tulip asked.
Emeraldblade nodded.
"WOW! Talked about totally shocking!" Iono added, "My new friendo's got cool superpowers!"
"Thanks Iono," Emeraldblade smiled, "In fact thanks to all of you for helping out with our predicament."
Tulip blushed, "My you're one for flattery."
Suddenly, a cell phone began ringing, Millie instantly recognized it as her own and answered the call.
"Wassup?" she asked.
"Millie is that you?" Blitzo's voiced asked at the other end of the line, "Loony and I managed to free those mercenaries our clients hired us to rescue, and boy were they a real help."
"Really?! Well I got some good news too, those clients of ours really kicked your ex-girlfriend's ass here in Derby City."
"She did?! HAHA! Score two for me…oh uh and good for her. So now I guess we're getting paid right?"
"Not so fast," Vaggie said, overhearing the conversation, "You only completed half the task, you still need to help us find Princess Charlie, remember?"
There was a groan at the other end of the line.
"Oh that's right, shit!" Blitzo's voice cursed, "Well I guess you guys need to return back to the hotel, am I right?"
"That's right boss," Millie replied, "Bring us back ASAP."
"Very well, see you shits soon."
Millie disconnected the line and put away her phone. Tulip and Launchpad meanwhile walked up to Emeraldblade.
"So uh I guess this means you and your friends are leavin' correct?" Launchpad asked.
"You did splendidly today dear," Tulip complimented the warrior, "It was nice meeting you and your friends."
Emeraldblade sighed, "Look, I appreciate the help you four did for us today, but I think I have a better idea than parting ways."
"Oh, what else do you have in mind Emerald?" Tulip asked.
"Verosika is working for someone more powerful, a demon by the name of Nightmare," Emeraldblade explained, "He plans on destroying all life in the Universe with the power of Soul Edge, and it's up to me to gather as many friends as possible to stop him."
Emeraldblade held out her arm towards Tulip.
"I lost my parents to Nightmare, I don't want him to murder anymore innocents, will you help me stop him?"
Tulip was shocked upon hearing the tragedy Emeraldblade had lived through, but nonetheless she understood her pain, she smiled and shook the warrior's hand.
"You're a splendid woman, of course I'll join you dear."
"Haha, count me in too," Launchpad chuckled, patting Emeraldblade on the back.
"Me three friendo!" Iono piped up.
Larry sighed, "I might as well help too, I could use a much-needed vacation from my job after all."
A portal suddenly emerged out of nowhere.
"There's our ride," Moxxie said, "Let's get back to the hotel,"
"You said it Mox," Millie seconded, "Come on everyone, let's go home."
The two imps entered through the portal, with everyone else following behind one by one until all that was left was Tulip and Emeraldblade, just before the two of them proceeded through, they were stopped when the Gyarados roared to get their attention.
"What? Why is that Gyarados doing?" Emeraldblade asked.
Tulip glanced back at the giant pokémon, and noticed its eager expression on his face, she then giggled with delight.
"Tee hee, I think that Gyarados wants to join you on your adventure dear," she replied somewhat jokingly.
"Join me? But I don't own any poke balls like you," Emeraldblade commented.
Tulip then took out an empty poke ball and handed it to Emeraldblade.
"Take this one sweetie, all you have to do is throw it straight at the Gyarados's head. Then it will do the rest of the work for you.
Emeraldblade nodded, "Well, here it goes."
Emeraldblade proceeded to throw the poke ball straight at Gyarados, hitting it straight on, the device then opened up and proceeded to suck the Pokémon inside of it, before dropping to the ground. The poke ball then proceeded to wiggle back and forth for several seconds before suddenly stopping with a ping.
Emeraldblade then walked up to the ball and picked it up.
"Did I catch it?" she asked.
Tulip nodded with a smile, "Congratulations, you caught your very first pokémon."
Emeraldblade smiled, "Come one, let's return to the hotel."
Not a moment later, the two ladies emerged from the other side of the portal inside the lobby of the Hazbin Hotel where they were joined by the rest of the team.
"Quite an unusual place," Tulip commented, "Although the reddish décor isn't really my style, I prefer pink."
"Welcome back Emerald dear," Lucifer greeted the warrior, "I see you brought some friends along on your return trip. Tell me did you happen to find my daughter?"
Emeraldblade frowned, "Unfortunately no Mr. Morningstar."
"Shit…" Lucifer cursed under his breath, "Well I don't blame you dear, I had a feeling this would've happened. At least Blitzo over there had a bit more luck though, he rescued your friends."
Emeraldblade turned her gaze and saw Blitzo with a smirk on his face, alongside the mercenaries standing nearby, waving at her.
"Millie told me about how you beat my ex-girlfriend, perhaps I underestimated you, good work." Blitzo replied.
Emeraldblade smiled, "It was nothing really."
"Well, now that most of our problems are over, at least now we have nothing else to worry about for the time being," Medic said confidently.
But just then, that all changed, the television suddenly cut to a breaking news bulletin on Wave 666.
"This just in…oh my fucking god not one of these again."
Everyone heard Katie Killjoy's voice sounding concern.
"What's going on?" Emeraldblade wondered.
"It appears…Heaven has declared another Extermination on Hell, two weeks from today. This time bigger than before as a means of retribution for the previous one two months earlier."
Emeraldblade grew worried, but it was Vaggie who was much more nervous. The ex-exorcist gulped from hearing the dire news.
"Oh no, here we go again…"
I am terribly sorry for the lateness of this chapter, the previous chapter had left me drained, resulting in me coming down with Writer's Block for the past month and a half. Still, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter; stay tuned because this story still has a ways to go.