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 next morning, Emeraldblade's team woke up bright and early to begin the next phase of their mission: find a pilot who would be willing to help them win the helicopter race.

Upon reaching the airport within the city, Emeraldblade and her team proceeded inside the main terminal. She then told the team to wait back while she walked up to one of the desk recipients. She spent a decent amount of time talking to the woman at the desk, before returning to her team.

"Well I have some good news and bad news," she explained, "The bad news is that we can't get access to the airfield here as we don't have clearance."

"Damn…" Millie cursed under her breath.

"However, the good news is that there is a smaller airport in another part of the city that has less restrictions on airfield access."

"Really?" Sniper said intrigued.

Emeraldblade nodded.

"Let's get there ASAP," Moxxie replied.

The team returned to the camper van and began driving into the direction Emeraldblade instructed based on the recipient's directions. About fifteen minutes later, they found the small airport that they were looking for.

"Here it is mates," Sniper remarked.

Upon parking and exiting the van, the team headed into the small terminal, where once again Emeraldblade walked up to the information desk. Sure enough, she came back with small lanyards the contained airfield passes.

"Guess what? We've been granted permission to enter the field." Emeraldblade told her team, "Although we aren't allowed to touch nor tamper with any of the airplanes or equipment while we are there."

The team looked at each other for a moment before nodding.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Vaggie replied, "Let's go find us a fucking pilot."

The team spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon searching the airfield and hangers for a potential pilot. Each member of the team scoped out each promising candidate, asking them how skilled they were flying a helicopter as well as watching them demonstrate their aerobatic skills during practice flights.

As the sun was beginning to set, the team regrouped back at the central terminal, but it became clear that the task was not going as planned.

"Any luck?" Emeraldblade asked her team.

"No shit," Millie replied, "Moxxie and I found no one who could fly a helicopter."

"Aye, me too unfortunately," Sniper added, "The blots I yapped with didn't even bother to help with our predicament."

Emeraldblade turned to Vaggie, hoping she came up lucky in the search.

"What about you Vaggie?" she asked.

"Sorry hon," Vaggie replied, "Everyone I spoke to were so preoccupied with the airshow tomorrow that they were too busy to lend us a hand."

Emeraldblade sighed, "Great, I didn't find anyone either. It's getting late, and we still haven't found someone who could lend us a hand."

"Lend you a hand you say?" a mysterious male voice asked, overhearing the team's pilot predicament. "Well look no further cause I'm your guy."

Emeraldblade and her team turned their attention to whom answered their prayers as their jaws dropped, there standing near them was a strange-looking individual.

The man in question had a tall, muscular physique with thick arms and a narrow waist that made him rival the height of Emeraldblade and her friends. He appeared to be wearing a brown, old-fashioned pilot's outfit from the first half of the previous century, complete with a leather jacket, a set of goggles attached to a matching helmet, a white scarf, and a pair of boots shaped-like webbed feet.

But it wasn't the man's height, muscles or choice of clothing that made him unusual, it was the fact the individual before him wasn't a human at all, rather an anthropomorphic duck with a large bill that resembled a thick chin that could easily mistake him for a pelican. Despite having webbed feet, his hands however were still human-like.

"Say, why are you all looking at me like that?" the duck-man asked, noticing their expressions.

Emeraldblade came out of the trance she was in, and proceeded to talk to the strange man.

"Are you a pilot? Who exactly are you?" Emeraldblade asked.

"Heh, catching on pretty quickly, Launchpad McQuack's the name, flying's my game," he answered.

Millie's eyes lit up, "Wait a sec…Launchpad McQuack?! Where have I heard that name before?"

"In the article you were reading on your phone last night remember?" Vaggie answered, "He's that celebrity pilot that's going to perform at the show tomorrow."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I am well known around the nation by now, given I use to be the pilot for the richest duck in the world back in the day," Launchpad replied, "But enough of me, how's about we talk about that situation you were mentioning over the course of dinner on me."

The team looked at each other, smiled and turned back to face Launchpad.

"Sure," Emeraldblade said.

Launchpad led Emeraldblade and her friends to a busy street lined with various one-of-a-kind restaurants in an area that seemed to be popular with the local residents of the city. Eventually, they stopped in front of a restaurant that appeared to specialized in all-American cuisine.

After taking a seat and ordering various meals that suited everyone, Emeraldblade filled Launchpad in with everything that had happened within the last several days.

"So Lady E if you don't mind calling you that, what you're saying is that this Mayday lady challenged you to some sorta helicopter race during the airshow tomorrow huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, she kidnapped several of my friends and we need to free them," Emeraldblade answered.

"Yikes, well is there any other way to get them out."

"Afraid not," Vaggie replied, "That bitch challenged us to a demon duel, so we have to uphold the rules; if we lose, Emeraldblade and I become her sex slaves for life."

"Yeesh language," Launchpad commented, rather annoyed by the ex-exorcist's choice of words, "Sounds like you have some sorta vendetta against her, trust me Mr. McD use to have a business rivalry with another duck back in the day named Flintheart Glomgold, the two made bets with each other over money a lot, which McD always won."

"Mr. McD?" Moxxie asked out of confusion.

"Why, the one and only Scrooge McDuck of course!" Launchpad answered joyfully.

"Oh I heard of him," Emeraldblade remembered.

"Yeah, the man had a short temper, but deep down he was a good, charitable guy in the end," Launchpad reminisced.

"Well enough of the nostalgia, let's discuss this race," Emeradblade spoke up, "Launchpad, do you know how to fly a helicopter?"

Launchpad nodded in approval.

"If it has wings I can crash it," He happily remarked.

Vaggie, who was taking a drink from the soda she ordered, open her eyes, before spitting out the beverage from her mouth in shock.

"Crash?! What the HELL do you mean?!" she questioned angrily.

"Hey, I'm notorious for my habit of crashing just about anything that can fly." Launchpad shrugged.

"Ah piss," Sniper cursed to himself, realizing that their solution turned out to be a liability.

"And how many crashes have you been involved in?" she demanded to know, growing impatient.

"Now that you mentioned it, I'm not exactly sure," he answered, "I stopped keeping track of them after one thousand."

Vaggie's "X" started to glow a hot pink as her blood in turn began to boil, this reaction caught the attention of her team, who began to grow concerned.

"Uh-oh, this looks bad Mox Mox," Millie said to her husband.

"A-agreed," Moxxie replied, growing anxious as to what was about to happen.

Suddenly, just before Vaggie's cork popped, Emeraldblade held her hand out to restrain her friend, before nodding to her to stop.

"Vaggie no," Emeraldblade told her friend sternly, "Don't cause a scene inside a crowded restaurant."

"Are you kidding me? This guy's a fucking liability, if he's our pilot, we're sure to lose the race." Vaggie protested.

"But we have no other choice," Emeraldblade countered, "We searched the airport high and low for a pilot with no success, so Launchpad's our only hope to winning this race. Besides, you never know, he might come in handy with the bigger problem at hand."

Vaggie, though still reluctant took a deep breath before letting out a sigh, "Fine, let him be our pilot in the race."

"Yeah, I second that mate," Sniper agreed.

"Me three E," Millie agreed.

Moxxie sighed, "I might as well throw in my two cents…"

Emeraldblade turned back to the pilot in question a second time.

"So, does this mean I'm hired for your job?" he asked, eager to know if they were willing to let him assist in the demon duel.

The female warrior smiled, "Welcome aboard Launchpad."

The two shook hands, knowing that this agreement was the start of a new alliance to defeat Verosika and stop Nightmare.

"Ooh boy," Millie, "I need to take a photo of this and post it online!"

Meanwhile, not too far from where Emeraldblade and her team were enjoying dinner, another predicament was playing out inside a different eatery.

"Gwah…" a female voice groaned in disappointment, "Ever since that weirdo Verosika Mayday became the center of attention on social media, I've lost nearly half of my subscriber base, it's so - bzzzt - shocking and - bzzzt - frustrating at the same time.

The young woman in question appeared to be in her late teens with a small stature that made here taller than Moxxie or Millie, but shorter than Emeraldblade or Vaggie. She had very long, two-toned hair with pink on one side, and light blue on the other side that were tied into two thick twin tails that in turn were tied into bulb-like knots and the ends, with the top of her hair cut short similar to a bob, a styled section of hair near her forehead resembled a bow. She had multicolored eyes and most prominent of all, sharp teeth. On her head were two hairclips that matched the color of her hair that resembled large eyeballs with magnet-like prongs sticking out on both sides. Her outfit in question was also unusual, she wore a yellow, oversized coat with sleeves that were so long, that her arms were hidden inside of them, underneath the coat, she wore a silver, sparkling dress with a pair of matching heeled boots with yellow screws for footwear. In addition, she wore a single thigh-high sock on her right leg, while her left leg featured a black strap wrapped around it.

The strange girl continued to groan in agony.

"If I don't make a phenomenal stream soon, I'll be toast," she moaned.

"Welcome to my world…" a man replied next to her without expressing equal depression.

The man appeared to be middle-aged with pale skin, short black hair with various grey quiffs, grey eyes, and a signature frown on his face. He wore a black suit, a grey shirt, a light blue tie, and matching dress pants and shoes, to his side sat a black briefcase.

"Might as well eat your sorrows away, it's the one thing that keeps me satisfied."

"Look Nono," another female voice told the young girl, "I know this rival internet personality has been stealing your own inner beauty, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel."

The woman was notably older than the other lady in the room, roughly the same age as Emeraldblade. She was fairly tall with tanned skin, hazel eyes, and long purple hair that was styled in a side bun with a single strand hanging down from the right side of her face. She wore prominent makeup, consisting of pink mascara with purple, manicured eyelashes, purple lipstick, and lavender nail polish. Her outfit consisted of a pair of lavender earrings on her ears, a short, lavender and light brown dress with two sets of butterfly wings on each side of her left shoulder, one lavender and one mint green, and a pair of light brown, open-toed high heels with ankle bands that featured a pair of pink butterfly wings attached to the bands.

The older woman looked at the girl, trying to comfort her friend as much as possible.

"Perhaps an Emotional Spectrum Test could help boost your self-esteem Iono sweetie."

"Thanks but no thanks friendo," Iono replied, "I doubt one of your exercises will help me one bit Tulip."

"How's about a bite of my meal…" the man sitting next to Iono suggested, "Food lets me know not everything in this world is dull and gloomy."

Iono looked at her male friend.

"Thanks Larry, but I think I'll pass on your offer too."

"Each has their own ways…" Larry sighed.

Iono rested her head on her arms, "What am I going to do friendos? I don't want to fade into obscurity all because of THAT nemesis of mine."

"Don't worry Iono, I'll find some way to save your reputation," Tulip assured her friend.

"Really?" she smiled shyly.

Tulip gave the struggling streamer an endearing smile, "Of course darling, what are friends for?"

Tulip took out her Rotom phone and began searching for potential leads to held Iono recover her reputation with the streaming world. After a few minutes of searching, she found an interesting story on her social media app.

"Oh look Nono," Tulip said with endearment, "It appears there's another celebrity in this city we're in."

Iono gasped dramatically, "Oh boyz! Who? You gotta – bzzzt – tell me A-S-A-P!"

"Now now, hold your horses my young friend," Tulip calmed her down, "It says here that a pilot by the name of Launchpad McQuack is going to be participating in a big race tomorrow against…Oh!"

"Wowza! Who?"

"Well you won't believe it Nono, but none other than Verosika Mayday."

"WHA-?!" Iono reacted in shock, "My worst enemy on the internet is competing against some guy I don't know about?!"

Tulip smiled, "Well, perhaps this is your big break dear."

Iono pondered at the thought, realizing this could be her chance to regain her lost fanbase whilst also tarnishing her rival's at the same time.

"Alrighty then, I'll take the offer!" she shouted with excitement, "Iono of the Ionozone is back in business!"

Tulip smiled once more, "That's what I wanted to hear."

Larry meanwhile sighed, "I guess this means we're going to meet this guy huh?"

"Of course we are Larry, com'on, we have a collab to plan!"

Iono grabbed Larry by the arm and began dragging him out of the restaurant like there was no tomorrow, Larry reacted by quickly picking up his briefcase just in time.

Meanwhile Tulip, who began following behind them continued to look at the post, and saw several images of Launchpad McQuack with an individual she did not recognize, Lady Emeraldblade.

"Hmm…" she pondered, "She's actually quite attractive…"

In yet another part of Louisville, Verosika Mayday was on a phone call with a colleague of hers back in Hell. The singer was in her human disguise.

"What do you mean one of those imbeciles tried to escape?!" the succubus demanded to know.

"Well you see, the four of them were causing some damn commotion back at your mansion," the succubus at the other end explained, "I took care of the problem, one throw to the wall and the guy was out cold…permanently."

Verosika smirked, "Well, I wonder how that traitor and her bitch will react when they learn on of their friends is now dead."

"Yeah, I know," the succubus at the other end replied, "By the way, you stopped by to pick up something last night, but we found none of your belongings missing."

Verosika raised an eyebrow, "What the hell are you talking about? I've been in this shitty city for the past several days preparing for this race whilst the hitman I sent would deal with my competition."

"But Josh and I saw you clear as day emerge from the master bathroom, you threatened to gut us like Cornish game hens if we kept bothering you."

Verosika was getting annoyed.

"Listen here you slut, I was NOT in the mansion last night, period. Now stop making up stories or else I will make you a slave just like the traitorous bitch I'm trying to beat."

"Uhh…right, sorry for the accusations."

"Whatever, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Verosika finished, before disconnecting the call.

Verosika turned to a shorter succubus with a short, blonde ponytail, a pair of overalls, and high-heeled sandals, the most notable feature was her unsettling smile, which was reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern.

"Coco thinks I stopped by the mansion yesterday, she and the others must've been drinking yesterday…shitheads," she cursed, "Anyways, Striker hasn't had much luck either, according to him, those goons who work for my bitchass ex-boyfriend are apparently helping Vaggie and that bitch get here just in time for the race. It looks like victory isn't certain now, we need to stop them from winning the race at all costs…even if it means cheating to win it."

Verosika turned around and smiled rather smugly

"It's time to game on bitch."

Outside of the penthouse, on a balcony overlooking the vast surroundings of the metropolitan area, a third succubus who was also in her human form was watching over the sunset as it was beginning to disappear over the western horizon. It was none other than Kiki, Verosika's right-hand. Her long black hair (which was brown in her human disguise) was flowing against the wind. She appeared to be worried.

"Hey, uh Kiki is it? Well I've noticed you've been hanging out here for quite some time," Vortex, Verosika's personal bodyguard said, stepping out to join her.

"Yeah I-I know," Kiki replied, "I've just been thinking about the events that unfolded at the concert last week with Vaggie and those friends of hers appearing all of a sudden."

"Okay…" Vortex said, wondering what she was thinking about.

"Verosika always said to me that Vaggie betrayed the gang because she refused to have sex with a group of men, but according to her, she was forced to rape them under Verosika's demands," Kiki vented, "I-I don't know who to believe, I've always been loyal to Verosika, but Vaggie was always my best friend back when she was still part of the crew, I-I'm at an impasse."

"It's cool, I get it," Vortex comforted her, "When I first met Verosika's ex-boyfriend, I thought he was nothing more than trash, but after I hung out with him and his hellhound daughter, I realized he isn't that bad…for a demon that is."

Kiki sighed.

"I just wish I knew which one of them was telling the truth…"

"Yeah…I wish so too." Vortex agreed, "Anyways, we better get ready, Verosika says that the race is tomorrow."

Kiki huffed, "Fine, let her know I'm ready…"

Vortex walked back inside as Kiki continued to face the sunset.

Not long after the sun set for the night, another issue was unfolding, but it wasn't in Louisville, rather in Hell, more specifically, the Hazbin Hotel.

Blitzo, alongside his daughter Loona were sitting at a bar counter with Husk, Angel Dust, and Lucifer nearby.

"Damn it," the imp cursed to himself, "We've been searching for nearly a week for those goddamn mercs, but everywhere we go we run into dead ends."

He grunted aloud in frustration before conceding.

"Serves me right for trusting a fleshy."

"I hate to admit it, but for once I agree with you 100% dad," Loona added.

"If only we had some sort of miracle," Blitzo huffed, "But it's not like our prayers are going to come waltzing straight through the front door."

Just then, not a moment after Blitzo finished talking, the front doors of the hotel swung open violently. Then sudden event caught everyone off-guard , even throwing Blitzo off of his stool.

"What the hell?!" the imp reacted.

The three of them took a look in the direction of the front door, there standing in the doorway stood someone Blitzo and Loona weren't familiar with, but everyone else instantly recognized.

"SPY!" the hotel staff responded.

"In the flesh," Spy replied, "You will not believe what I've been through for the past 24 hours."

Blitzo was confused, but hearing what everyone cried out, he quickly drew his revolver and aimed it at the mysterious man, think that he was a spy working for Verosika.

"Alright shit face," the imp demanded, "Tell me where Verosika hid the mercenaries, and I promise I will end your sorry ass quickly."

"Hold it pardner," Spy appeased the imp, "I actually AM one of those mercenaries."

Blitzo lowered his gun, before turning to Lucifer for clarification.

"He's telling the truth," Lucifer seconded the Spy.

Blitzo faced Spy once more.

"Hmm…well then, if you really are one of the mercenaries, then tell me where the fuck the rest of them are being held captive." he demanded to know.

Spy smirked, "With pleasure…"