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 light suddenly subsided as strange, twisted carnival music began to play. Upon regaining her vision, Lady Emeraldblade noticed that she was seated inside a bumper car. She looked around and noticed that the eight mercenaries were also at the steering wheel of similar looking bumper cars. As she and the mercs were trying to figure out what was going on. Merasmus' disembodied voice began to speak.
"Now my old adversaries, let's see how well you fair at a game of Bumper Car Soccer" he laughed.
"A game of soccer? Sounds simple enough." Scout replied.
"Oh, but looks can be deceiving…" Merasmus remarked, "For you see, you will be facing my Malfested army in this game!"
Suddenly, a group of Malfested appeared in similar looking bumper cars that matched those the mercs were using, only they were a different color.
"First team to score 3 goals wins! Let the game…BEGIN!" Merasmus ordered, causing a colossal soccer ball to fall from the air above.
The mercs, as well as the Malfested pressed the gas pedals on their bumper cars, causing them to push forward.
The game started out mostly uneventful, with neither team taking an advantage. That all changed when two Malfested decided to tag-team on the Scout, who was kicking the ball with his bumper car. One distracted him to try to steal the ball from his grasp, but Scout managed to evade them each time they attempted to take the ball from him. However the Scout was too distracted to notice the second Malfested individual was in front of him. The Malfested charged head-on in his direction, activating a boxing glove rocket spell that knocked the ball out of the Scout's grasp, as well as sent him flying outside the boundaries of the field.
"Scout NOOO!" Heavy screamed.
But it was too late, the Scout had fallen into the abyss below, where his fate remained in limbo. To make matters worse, the Malfested who had launched Scout out of the stadium had gotten their hands on the soccer ball, and managed to kick it into the mercs' goal, scoring a point in the process.
"GOAL!" Merasmus' voiced cheered.
"Ah, piss." Sniper cursed under his breath.
"What's wrong? Short one player?" Merasmus' voice mocked innocently, "Well here's the interesting thing about this game of mine: I RIGGED it in my favor, HA HA HA! For each time one of you is eliminated, you will be unable to participate in the rest of the game!"
Lady Emeraldblade gulped, not wanting to risk losing too many players to the point that they couldn't win Merasmus' twisted game.
"Boys, we need to win this game no matter what!" Soldier demanded, "I will not tolerate failure on this team!"
The game continued further, eventually the team managed to retrieve the ball once more, this time at the hands of the Spy. Several Malfested began to pursue him, just like Scout earlier, however, having learned from his mistake, Spy whistled to get his team's attention.
"I could use some help here amigos!" Spy called out.
Heavy and Demoman boosted forward, managing to knock two of the Malfested aside with two Boxing Rocket spells, causing them to be launched like a pinball against several bumpers. But a third one, managed to dodge their counterattack and charged at Spy, launching him and the ball further than the mercenary had anticipated to be. Fortunately, the Spy managed to regain control of his bumper car, and managed to kick it to the side.
Another Malfested attempted to capture the ball, but Lady Emeraldblade hit them while they were distracted, she then took control of it once it landed in her vicinity, and proceeded to launch it at the opponent's goal, causing her to score a point for her team.
"Ugh, point for Soldier's team." Merasmus' voice groaned in disappointment.
"Well done hippie!" Soldier congratulated his female comrade.
Once more, another ball materialized at the center of the field, this time a Malfested managed to obtain it and began pushing it in the direction of the mercenaries' goal. Engineer attempted to kick the ball out of their grasp and began speeding in their direction.
"I'm going to chuck that ball right out of your cold, dead hands mister." He taunted them.
However just as he figured he had a clear path to obtain the ball, another Malfested suddenly appeared and blocked his path, causing the Texan to slam on his brakes, just as suddenly, a third Malfested violently T-boned the Engineer with a Boxing Rocket, launching him a great distance. He tried to regain his steering, but when he noticed that the Malfested had overshot him beyond the boundaries of the arena, his hopes immediately became dashed.
"Damn dag-nabbit, daggit naggit," he ranted, knowing what fate awaited him now.
And just as he finished ranting, he began falling into the abyss below, his screams reverberating in the atmosphere as he fell.
At the same time, the Malfested that was handling the ball managed to kick it with a powerful boost from their bumper car, bypassing the mercs that attempted to stopped them from scoring, but it was no use.
"Score! That's two points for Team Merasmus!" the evil wizard chuckled.
"Ah this is bad!" Heavy groaned, knowing that if the enemy team scored another point, they would lose to Merasmus, and God knows what he would do to them afterwards.
"Don't give up guys," Lady Emeraldblade motivated her team, "We're still in this. If we can manage to score another two points, then we win this game."
The other mercenaries nodded, and prepared to grab the next ball that appeared, sure enough, the Demoman managed to get his car to kick the ball in the opposing goal's direction. Once more, several Malfested tried to stop him by blocking his path to prevent him from scoring, but Lady Emeraldblade, who was acting as his wing man, decided to push them out of the way, clearing her friends' path in the process. The Demoman then hit the boost on his bumper car, shooting ball at an incredible speed. A Malfested noticed this and quickly tried to take up the role as a goalie and attempted to block the ball from landing inside the net. They managed to hit the ball so that it changed direction and hit the post that marked the boundary of the goal, causing the ball to ricochet back and forth between both posts, finally, when the ball stopped, it landed on the ground and rolled inside the net.
"GAAUGH! Not another point for Soldier's team!" Merasmus cried out angrily.
"Take that sneaky wizard!" Heavy laughed.
"It now appears we have entered sudden death! First team to score the next point wins the game!" Merasmus cried out.
The final ball materialized once more, but this time not at the center of the field, rather just several feet in front of the mercenaries' goal.
"What the? Merasmus you cheat!" Soldier angrily told off his ex-roommate.
"Oh, are you mad Soldier?" Merasmus mocked him, "Well I was honest when I said I rigged the game in MY favor didn't I? You might was well give up now while you still have a chance!"
But Soldier was determined to win the game, he gathered his team together as they all headed to the ball.
"Men, we need to defend our goal at all costs," he rallied them together, "Heavy, since you are the largest, you will be act as the full-time goalie. Medic, you, Spy, and Demoman act on the defensive and guard the field around the goal to prevent any Malfested from scoring. As for you Emeraldblade, you, Sniper and I will be on the offensive, and try to psych the enemy team out whilst attempting to score that decisive goal."
Everyone nodded and headed to their positions, narrowly outpacing the Malfested that were gradually approaching the ball, Heavy managed to reach it first, and kicked it in the direction of the Sniper, who began pushing it further in the direction of the opponents' goal. He managed to kick the ball quite a ways, but suddenly a Malfested appeared abruptly to block his path. His face turned from one of concern to one of determination and decided to pass the ball to the Soldier, narrowly escaping a potential crash.
Soldier was now in possession of the ball, he too began to push the ball in the direction of the goal he was just yards away from scoring when suddenly a powerful force slammed against the ball, launching it to the left of the Soldier.
"AH, NO!" Soldier screamed out.
A Malfested managed to get their hands on the ball, and began kicking it the opposite direction. Medic, Demoman, and Spy tried to approach them as a means to knock the ball out of their hands, but the Malfested was cleverer than it looked, and managed to evade each one as they approached. It then kicked the ball using the bumper car they were using, it appeared that they were about to score the final point.
"OHH NOOO!" Heavy cried out in shock.
"OHH YESS!" Merasmus also cried out, but rather in excitement.
However, just as all hope seemed lost, Heavy managed to counter the ball's advancement by counter-boosting just as it was about to hit him. The force of the counter was just strong enough to shoot the ball in the opposite direction, before landing in front of Lady Emeraldblade.
"You got this girl!" Soldier cheered her on.
Emeraldblade nodded, and proceeded to shoot the ball using the boost of her bumper car, the Malfested's attempted to block it from landing in the net's boundary, but it proved fruitless, the ball narrowly dodged their counters, and landed inside the goal. The mercenaries had won the game.
"Gaugh! Merasmus cried out angrily, before regaining his composure, "Okay, so you won a game of soccer, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Let's see how well you deal with a game of Falling Platforms!"
Suddenly, another bright flash consumed the entire arena for a brief moment, when it subsided, Lady Emeraldblade and the remaining mercenaries found themselves in a different looking arena, this time consisting of nine color-coded platforms.
Suddenly just as with the first game, a group of Malfested spawned on the opposite side of the arena and began charging at Emeraldblade's team.
"Don't let them knock you off the field!" Spy alerted his team.
The team began counter-charging their opponents, whilst also staying alert of their surroundings. They managed to hold off the Malfested for a while before Merasmus' voice began to speak.
"Over there, get to the platform now!" Merasmus commanded both teams.
Both the mercenaries and the Malfested charged in the direction of the flashing platform, and not a moment too soon, as the other eight platforms suddenly fell into the abyss below. The mercenaries took advantage by attempting to knock several of the Malfested off the platform, and to their surprise, they managed to kick half of the Malfested off the arena.
"Good job mates" Sniper commended his team, "If we can managed to eliminate the Malfested before they eliminate us, then maybe we'll-"
However just before he could finish his explanation, a Malfested managed to knock the Sniper out with such a great force that it launched him off the arena, causing him to fall into the abyss below.
"Sniper!" Medic cried out.
But as the doctor was distracted, another Malfested took advantage of the opportunity and knocked the Medic off the platform, causing him to follow Sniper's fate as well.
"Medic and Sniper are out!" Heavy shouted.
"This is a disaster." Spy bemoaned.
"When I'm through with you Merasmus, you'll be wishing you never crossed my team." Soldier threatened the sorcerer.
"We'll see about that Soldier!" Merasmus laughed.
Suddenly, the platforms resurfaced from the abyss, however this time there were only five of them, instead of nine like before. The mercenaries continued to fight against the Malfested team, all the while being cautious about the smaller area. After what felt like a minute of survival, Merasmus alerted everyone once more.
"That one, get the platform immediately!" the sorcerer called out.
The mercenaries and the Malfested rushed towards the flashing platform, but in roughly half the time, the other four platforms fell into the abyss.
Lady Emeraldblade, alongside Soldier, Demoman, and Spy managed to make it to the platform in time, but the Heavy was so caught up in eliminating three members of the enemy team that he was not paying attention when the platform his bumper car was on suddenly fell into the abyss, taking him alongside the three Malfested he was fighting, his screams echoing in the environment as he fell.
"The fat man has fallen!" Spy reacted in shock, only for one of the remaining Malfested to charge at him. Spy noticed this and managed to swerve to the side, causing the would-be attacker to fall into the abyss below.
"Aw cripe!" Demoman reacted, "There's only four of us left."
"Come on, the game's not over yet," Lady Emeraldblade talked to her team "There's only two Malfested left on the enemy team, if we can eliminate them before they beat us, I'm certain we'll win this game."
"The girl's right lads," Demoman replied, before suddenly becoming emboldened with determination, "Let's do it."
Once more the platforms began to rise again, however this time there was even less than before with only three remaining. The remaining mercenaries fought off the remaining two Malfested before managing to knock one of them off the edge. Now realizing that it was outnumbered, the remaining Malfested turned defensive and began trying to evade the mercenaries in the hopes of scraping an unlikely victory, it seemed to pay off long enough before an all too familiar voice spoke up.
"Run you fools, the final platform awaits!" Merasmus instructed everyone.
The mercenaries and Lady Emeraldblade saw the platform and raced to it quickly, and not a moment too soon; the two other platforms fell almost immediately after all of them reached the safe platform. The Malfested have just narrowly managed to grasp onto the edge of the one remaining platform, but in doing so, was now clinging for its life to avoid falling. Soldier, sieging the moment, decided to finish off the vulnerable enemy and charged his bumper car with great speed, hitting them so hard that it caused them to lose their grasp and fall into the abyss below.
"And that is how we do it men." Soldier said to his team.
"AUGH! You fools won again…I'm starting to have second thoughts about this game of mine," Merasmus ranted.
"Give up Merasmus! We won your two stupid games!" Soldier remarked.
"On the contrary, I still have one more game in mind…" Merasmus remarked smugly.
Suddenly yet another bright flash engulfed the arena, when it dissipated a moment later, Lady Emeraldblade, alongside her three remaining colleagues found themselves in a third arena, one that resembled some sort of racetrack.
"Beyond, the final game: Duck Collectors!" Merasmus remarked excitedly, "The first team to collect all 200 of their color-coded ducks wins the game…hehehe!"
Suddenly, a team of four Malfested materialized beside the mercenaries, followed by numerous red and blue rubber ducks across the entire racetrack.
"On your marks…get set…GO!" Merasmus instructed.
Both teams then zoomed forward to collect their respective ducks: red for the mercenaries and blue for the Malfested. For a while, the race was uneventful, with the mercenaries gaining an early lead over their opponents, they used spells to keep the enemy team from taking a large portion of ducks in one go. By the time they had completed one lap around the track, they had collected roughly half their respective ducks.
"So far so good guys," Lady Emeraldblade commented, "Just don't let your guard down for a moment."
"Not worries my female friend," Spy replied, "I guarantee that won't happen this time."
But as fate would have it, several of the Malfested approached the Spy from behind and launched a Boxing Rocket at him, sending him flying forward until he was ejected from the boundaries of the track.
"Oh no…" he remarked fearfully, "AAAAHHHH!"
"Spy's done," Soldier said, "Hell men."
"We need to concentrate guys," Lady Emeraldblade replied, "Hopefully if we win Merasmus' game, the others will be freed from the abyss."
"I sure hope so," Soldier answered.
The three remaining teammates continued around the track, collecting as many of the ducks they could find. By the time they had completed three laps, they had 199 of them in their grasp.
"There's still one more out there." Soldier told his team, "But where the hell is it?"
"I did what I could," Demoman bemoaned, "But we're still short one bloody duck!"
"Aww, too bad Demoman, it looks like you'll never find that final duck." Merasmus mocked his Scottish adversary, "Why don't you save the trouble and just surrender while you're at it."
Lady Emeraldblade began searching around the track before noticing a red object floating idly several feet above it, upon closer inspection, she realized it was the missing duck.
"There, above the track, that's the final duck!" she pointed.
"Merasmus, you rotten cheater!" Soldier scolded the evil wizard.
"Come on mates," Demoman remarked, "Maybe we can get a powerup and launch ourselves up to grab that duck."
The others nodded, and quickly zoomed along the track, cycling through powerups in order to find one that could help them reach the duck.
Eventually, Soldier managed to obtain a B.A.S.E Jumper spell, and raced towards the location of the duck. When he was a few yards away, he activated the spell.
"Amplus tripudio!" he recanted.
Suddenly, he was launched into the air, when he was in grabbing distancing of the duck, he extended his arm out to obtain it, but fell short by several feet and descended to the track below in a parachute.
"Gah, no!" Soldier remarked disappointment.
A moment later, Demoman obtained the same spell, and casted it when he was around the same distance away as Soldier was before him.
Amplus tripudio!" he recanted.
This time unlike his friend, he stood up in his bumper car and reached out to grab the duck, his fingers managed to graze the bottom of the duck, but fell short of grabbing it, and he too plummeted to the track below, losing his footing and landing face first inside the cart.
"Ah, me mother of tilly!" he moaned.
"Having trouble? Well too bad!" Merasmus laughed, "I made sure the final duck as just about impossible for you mercenaries to grab."
Realizing that they needed to act fast before the enemy team won, Lady Emeraldblade rushed around the track with the Soldier in order to obtain another B.A.S.E Jumper spell. It took numerous attempts with finding it, but eventually, Emeraldblade managed to get her hands on one just as the enemy team had nabbed their second-to-last duck.
"Hurry Emeraldblade!" Soldier cried out, "It's now or never!"
Emeraldblade rushed to the location of where the duck was, and activated the spell.
Amplus tripudio!" she recanted.
As she was launched into the air, Emeraldblade waited until the height of the jump, before suddenly ejecting herself out of the bumper car she was in. She reached out and attempted to grab the duck like her colleagues. To her surprise, her hands managed to successfully grasped it before suddenly falling to the ground. Fortunately, by sheer luck, she managed to land safely into the seat of her bumper car.
"Well, did you get it?" Soldier asked.
Lady Emeraldblade smiled, before holding out the remaining duck, their team had beaten Merasmus at his own game.
"YEAH! We won!" Soldier cheered, "Take that Merasmus!"
"NO! How could I lose?" Merasmus questioned himself, "I made sure you weren't supposed to win!"
Suddenly a bright flash engulfed the track the team was on, catching Lady Emeraldblade, Soldier, and Demoman off guard…