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.
Spy explained to Blitzo, Loona, and the entire Hotel staff what he had been through over the last day. He explained how he risked his life in a daring escape from the confines of the lavish but otherwise makeshift prison he and his team were trapped within, and how he managed to fool her crew by disguising himself as the succubus singer as well as impersonating her voice without fail.
He revealed that for the next several hours after the escape, he spent that time painstakingly trying to pinpoint where he was and how he could get back to the hotel. Just before he gave up and declared himself helplessly lost in the underworld, he then realized that Verosika's disguise could be of use, so he brandished the form once more and asked a passerby for directions, but this only backfired, as the individual in question alerted a large portion of the Pentagram City's population to his position, causing a massive crowd surge of fans and paparazzi alike. He managed to flee from the wild fans, seeking refuge inside a secluded alleyway, before abandoning his disguise to draw attention away from himself and remaining hidden for several hours, when the coast was clear, he left the temporary hideout, believing he was back to where he started once more, but as he started walking helplessly once more, he saw the bright, neon lights that lined the hotel's exterior, before running in that direction.
"…And with that bit of luck gentlemen, I am back to this damn dwelling you call home," he concluded.
"Impressive…" Blitzo "commended" his new acquaintance, "But now that you've made it back here, do you have any idea where this mansion my ex-girlfriend is hiding your blots?"
"Well, I did get a quick glance at the address on the mailbox," Spy answered.
"And what was it?" Blitzo continued.
"6666 Lustful Lane" Spy replied.
"Then that's where we're heading," Blitzo remarked, "Come on Loony, let's get this job done so we can get paid."
"Hold up dad," Loona protested.
"What do you mean?" he asked, clearly annoyed.
"If what the Spy said is true, that place is almost certainly teeming with Verosika's gang, and Hell knows what else," the hellhound explained, "We can't just fucking barge in there without a plan in mind."
"Hmm…" Blitzo frowned, "Well, you do have a point, besides we'll likely be outnumbered. "
"You know, one of those demons mentioned to me while I was disguised as Verosika that three of her crew members are in Louisville right now, likely preparing for that "Demon Duel" they were discussing with that one-eyed hotel manager and the human girl we were with back at the concert."
"Human girl? Do you mean Emeraldblade?" Blitzo asked.
"Of course," Spy answered.
"Wait a minute, if three of Verosika's crew members, plus herself are in Louisville, then that means there are five of them guarding your friends at that mansion…" Loona remembered.
"I'll contact Fizzaroli," Blitzo replied, "We need all the help we can get to free those mercs."
"Count me in too Imp boy," Spy replied.
"Hey, if you need an extra hand, I'll be willing to lend you shits some help," Angel Dust piped up.
"Oh oh oh! Me too!" Nifty called out cheerfully, "It's been awhile since I've participated in a good slaughtering."
Blitzo looked around at his newly formed rescue team, before smirking once more with optimism.
"Ha, NOW we're talking," he remarked, "Alright team, let's go kick some succu-bitch ass!"
Early the next morning, Emeraldblade's team woke up bright and early for one important event that day: the Demon Duel against Verosika.
The female warrior joined her team inside the kitchen within the temporary apartment that Launchpad was living in while practicing for the airshow.
"Okay team," Vaggie lectured, "This afternoon, we are participating in this helicopter race Verosika demanded us to enter as part of the Demon Duel we agreed to."
The angel turned to Launchpad with a cold expression on her face.
"Launchpad, please tell me you do have a helicopter we can use to race Verosika, right?" Vaggie asked.
"Uh-of course," he replied, "I once used it to race a robot that Scrooge's inventor pal Gyro created to replace me."
Emeraldblade raised an eyebrow.
"And how did you win the race?"
Launchpad gave a sheepish grin, "I-uh crashed into a billboard…and then into a barn."
Vaggie facepalmed herself.
"Oh brother…"
"Hey, look on the bright side, it's all repaired now, plus I made a number of modifications since then to insure I don't let that happen again."
Everyone was silent, as they were still skeptical as to whether or not they could trust him, before Emeraldblade spoke up.
"Look I know everyone has their doubts about Launchpad's notoriety as a pilot, but if all of us work together, I'm certain we can win this race," she exclaimed.
"I'll take your word hon," Vaggie replied before turning back to the rest of the team, "Anyways, to make sure Launchpad doesn't fuck up, Emeraldblade and I will be joining him inside the helicopter. Meanwhile the three of you will stay on the ground, keeping track of our progress and insuring Verosika doesn't pulled a nasty trick up her sleeve."
"You said it V," Millie replied.
"I'll keep a lookout for any trouble lass," Sniper added.
"Knowing Verosika, I don't doubt she will do that…" Moxxie replied, somewhat anxious.
"Alright then, lectures over, everyone know their assignments, so now get prepared." Vaggie instructed the team.
Everyone dispersed, gathering any weapons and supplies they needed in case of a turn for the worse.
Several hours later, Emeraldblade joined Vaggie outside the airfield in order to inspect the helicopter Launchpad had mentioned. Vaggie was dressed in a rather unique outfit, which Emeraldblade took note of.
Her outfit consisted of a battle-scarred uniform that had seen its fair share of battles with a matching pair of ballet flats, her long hair was tied back into a high ponytail, while still held together by her trademark bow.
"I've never seen you wear that outfit before Vaggie," Emeraldblade commented to her friend.
"This my old exorcist outfit Emerald…" she replied, "I use to wear this back in my days as an exorcist, I later wore it during the battle to defend the hotel two months ago."
"I see," Emeraldblade replied, "Well, let's get to Launchpad's hanger, he said to meet us there so that we can see the helicopter he mentioned earlier."
Vaggie nodded as he two headed into the airfield.
Upon reaching the hanger in question, Launchpad greeted them and opened up the large door.
"Feast your eyes on this ladies…" he announced.
When the door was fully opened, the two women saw a sleek, lime green chopper.
"Well what you do think?" he asked.
"I don't know what to say, but this thing looks very promising," Emeradblade commented, "What about you Vaggie?"
"Well, appearance-wise I agree, but I just hope you can keep up with Verosika in that thing."
"No worries," he shrugged off her concern, "I'll do my best not to crash this machine…at least until the end of the race that is."
Vaggie leaned into Emeraldblade's ear.
"Let's hope that there's enough parachutes in case we need to bail out when that DOES happen."
Emeraldblade nodded subtly, "I agree…"
Less than an hour later, the time for the race had arrived. Launchpad had taxied the helicopter out to the airfield to prepare for the air performance of his lifetime, whilst Emeraldblade and Vaggie waited anxiously for Verosika and her crew to arrive.
As they were waiting, three figures approached them, one of which began speaking in a high-pitched voice.
"Launchpad McQuack, your eyeballs are MINE – trapped in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? Iono!" the female voice alerted Launchpad, causing him to jump in shock and hide behind his friends.
"W-who are you and w-what do you want from me? M-my eyeballs aren't for sale!" he protested defensively.
"Wha?! I don't really want your eyeballs friendo, it's just a figure of speech," the strange girl replied, before directing her attention to all three of them.
" 'Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour! I'm Iono, I kick it as a gym leader back in my home region of Paldea, I also produce sweet content as an influencer to bring dreams to the masses!" she greeted them, before pointing them to her friends behind her, "And these are my bestest friendos Larry and Tulip."
"Hi…" Larry replied in a deadpan tone.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you all," Tulip greeted them happily.
"I'm Lady Emeraldblade, and this is Vaggie," Emeraldblade returned the greeting, "Say I heard about you, a friend of mine showed me an article mentioning your name the other day," Emeraldblade replied, "I assume you must be a streamer."
"Indeedy-doo new friendo," Iono replied happily, "I'm actually trying to find my next big hit, since my streams have been losing view- I mean causing me to lose my self-esteem since that Mayday singer stole my spotlight." She finished with a frown.
"Mayday?!" Vaggie realized, "Wait, do you mean Verosika Mayday? We've been challenged to race against her."
"Oh snap!" Iono replied in shock, "You mean you have a vendetta with her too?!"
Everyone nodded.
"That's – bzzzt – shocking!" Iono commented, "Perhaps I could be of some assistance!"
Vaggie raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean exactly?"
"Simple, you help me with a collab and in return, I'll help you in any way I can, how's that sound friendos?"
Vaggie turned to Emeraldblade under strong suspicion.
"I don't know about this Emerald; do you think we can trust this weirdo?"
"Yeah, I have suspicions too E." Launchpad seconded.
"I think it's a win-win situation," Emeraldblade replied, "Besides we need as many allies as possible to stop Nightmare, remember?"
Vaggie relented with a sigh, "Yeah, I remember, well go ahead and make your decision, either way I won't stop you."
Launchpad shrugged, "Hey, I won't protest either."
Emeraldblade nodded, before looking back up to Iono, "Alright Iono, we'll help you with your collab, if you help us in return."
Iono gave her new friends her trademark wink, "Not a problem friendos."
"Oh, such a wonderful alliance, but that won't get you far," another female voice interrupted.
Everyone turned their attention towards the direction where the voice was coming from, and sure enough standing nearby them was none other than Verosika Mayday herself alongside Kiki, Vortex, and Apple; an evil smile lined her face.
"Verosika? You were hearing this conversation this whole time?!" Vaggie angrily questioned her former boss.
"Of course you slut," she mocked her, "But it doesn't matter anyway as I'm going to beat you in this race one way or another."
"Hey! I resent that!" Launchpad barged in, "I'll have you know I once raced this machine against a highly intelligent robot!"
"I thought you said you crashed it into a billboard…and a barn." Vaggie reminded him annoyingly.
"Uhh, yeah right." He rubbed his head in embarrassment.
Verosika and her crew burst out laughing, "You got to be fucking kidding me. This is your pilot?! Man you really are desperate aren't you! Man, this is going to be easier than I thought!"
"We'll see about that," Emeraldblade countered.
"Yeah," Launchpad added.
Verosika snapped her fingers, "Kiki, explain the race to our rivals."
Kiki walked forward and cleared her throat.
"The race will start here, you'll travel west towards the Sherman Minton Bridge before making a 180 turn and head towards the direction of the East End Bridge, located east of the city, afterwards you'll travel south towards Churchill Downs and then North towards the tallest skyscraper in the downtown section and loop around the building, before heading east and landing in the waterfront. First team to cross the finish line there wins." Kiki explained.
"Alright, we accept the challenge Mayday," Emeraldblade replied.
"Yeah!" Iono added, "Let's get this show on the road!"
"Yeah, yeah whatever," Verosika brushed off the comments, before leaning into Emeraldblade's face with an unsettling smile, "Game on bitch!"
Both teams entered their respective helicopters, with Launchpad piloting his team's, while Kiki piloted hers. Unexpected to Launchpad's team, Iono tagged along with them on the aircraft.
"Wait, you're coming along too?" Vaggie questioned the strange girl.
Iono giggled, "Of course silly, I want my stream to be the bestest, most impressive project I've ever made!"
Launchpad rolled his eyes, "Fine get in."
Iono entered the aircraft and sat next to Vaggie in the back as Launchpad ignited the engine, causing the rotors on top of the chopper to rotate, as this happened Iono took out her Rotom phone and began recording from it.
"Ladies aaand gentlemens! It's time for the Iono Zone!" she announced aloud, "Your eyeballs are MINE – trapped in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? Iono!
"Sheesh, talk about introductions…" Launchpad bemoaned.
" 'Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour! It's me Iono!" she greeted her fans, "Today we have a special broadcast, I'm here in Louisville, Kentucky where I graciously agreed to enter a race with famed pilot Launchpad McQuack and his friendos Vaggie and Emeraldblade against the nasty villainous Verosika Mayday, it's positively going to be – bzzzt -shocking!"
Suddenly, out of the corner of Emeraldblade's eye, she spotted Apple approach in front of the two helicopters, before positioning herself between them, signaling the two pilots to be on their marks.
"Launchpad, get ready, the race is about to start," she motioned to him.
"Right on it E," he replied.
Launchpad positioned one hand on the collective and another on the cyclic, suddenly, Apple blew a kiss towards the two aircraft; not a moment later, the helicopter that Verosika's team was in lifted off, with Apple sprinting to climb on it for the race.
"That must be the signal," Vaggie said, "What are you waiting for, GET FUCKING GOING!"
Launchpad quickly pulled one of the controls, and the helicopter his team was in lifted off of the ground, he then began flying the helicopter forward in an attempt to catch up to Verosika's.
"And we're off!" Iono commented, "Gimme a race that'll electrify my viewer pals Launchpad!"
During the first part of the race, Emeraldblade's team trailed behind Verosika's helicopter at a consistent pace, passing by the city's waterfront, where amongst a large crowd of spectator's stood Millie, Moxxie, and Sniper, who watched as the two helicopters zipped by above their heads.
"There they go MoxMox," Millie replied.
"Yeah, good luck, they're going to need it," Moxxie added.
"I'll keep my eye out for any trouble in the meantime mates," Sniper said to his imp allies, looking through a pair of binoculars around his surroundings.
As the two teams approached the first landmark in the race, Verosika's helicopter suddenly slowed down in order to "safety" make a U-turn around the bridge.
"What are you doing Kiki?!" Verosika demanded annoyingly, "Speed up this damn machine!"
But it was too late, Launchpad's helicopter suddenly overtook them and made a full 180 around and underneath the bridge before thrusting forward in the opposite direction.
"Yowzers!" Iono commented, "That was quite an electrifying surprise, what more surprises await us in this race?!"
Back in Verosika's helicopter, it was a different story…
Seeing Emeraldblade's team surpass her own helicopter made Verosika furious.
"You fucking imbecile!" Verosika chastised her right-hand, "Why the hell did you let them surpass us?!"
"I-I didn't want to crash into the bridge boss," Kiki replied innocently.
Verosika grunted, "I knew this would happen, so I have a plan B in order to win."
The succubus then pulled out her cellphone and speed-dialed a number on the device, she then proceeded to answer whoever was on the other end.
"Plan's going awry already, you know what to do…" she spoke through the phone line.
"With pleasure…" Striker responded with a chuckle from an unknown rooftop.
He then put away his phone before picking up a Carmine sniper rifle and prepared to aim it when the time came.
Back inside Launchpad's helicopter, Iono was aiming her Rotom phone in the direction of Verosika's chopper as the craft slowly began to fall behind.
"So – bzzzt – shocking!" Iono commented, "We're now in the lead dear fans!"
"Aha, so Little-Miss-Big Mouth and her crew aren't as skilled as they claimed to be." Launchpad remarked, "Let's see how well she handles the ol' Over-and-Under!"
"Wait you don't mean-" Vaggie reacted, before covering her eyes, "OH SHIT!"
Suddenly without notice, Launchpad dove his helicopter underneath a nearby skybridge just outside downtown, passing just feet above traffic on the adjacent interstate. He then flew under another bridge, before passing under an overpass leading to an exit downtown.
As he approached the skyscrapers, Striker took notice of his helicopter and readied his weapon.
"Bon Voyage bastards!" he shouted before firing his weapon.
But just before the bullet hit the helicopter, it pass underneath a cantilever that provided his team fortuitous cover.
"What?! Damn it!" Striker cursed.
The imp-demon rushed over to the other side of the rooftop and took aim once more, firing potshot after potshot at the helicopter. Eventually one shot hit the aircraft, causing it to shake briefly, which was felt by everyone inside.
"Yowzers! Someone's trying to shoot us down!" Iono shouted aloud.
"But could be doing such a thing?" Launchpad wondered in fear.
Emeraldblade looked back at Vaggie, knowing all too well who it could've been.
"Striker!" they said in unison.
"Who?" Iono asked.
"Launchpad, run evasive maneuvers to keep that demon from fucking up this craft!" Vaggie commanded.
"But-"
"JUST DO IT!" she shouted, scaring the duck man.
Launchpad did as Vaggie had told him and tilted the aircraft to the right into the downtown area.
Striker continued to fire at the helicopter, before it suddenly disappeared around the corner.
"You won't get away for long…" he said under his breath.
The relief was short-lived, as almost immediately, Launchpad began narrowly dodging building after building within the tight corridors that was downtown Louisville.
"LAUNCHPAD!" Vaggie shouted angrily.
Just then, as though everything took a turn for the worst, Launchpad exited out of the bustling downtown of the city and flew eastward towards the next waypoint.
Meanwhile, down on the ground, Millie, Moxxie and Sniper watched the whole thing play out, whilst hearing the gunshots ring out.
"What the bloody hell's going on?! Sniper wondered in shock.
"I don't know, but it doesn't look good one bit," Millie replied.
"Sniper, take another look through those binoculars of yours and figure out who's firing at our pals!" Moxxie instructed.
"Right on it mate!" Sniper remarked.
The bush man took another gander in the direction of where the whole incident played out just a moment earlier, eventually he gazed atop a nearby rooftop to a hotel near the riverside and noticed a strange figure scurrying about up there.
"Aye, some blot is tryin' to stop our mates from winning the bloody race!" Sniper shouted to the two imps, pointing to the building in the distance.
"Then let's get over immediately, we need to stop this cheater as soon as possible," Moxxie said, "We can't let Verosika win this race at any cost."
At another part of the city, Tulip and Larry were watching Iono's live stream from their Rotom phones.
"Well my loyal fans, it looks like my friendos and I narrowly dodged a bullet…literally."
"More like several bullets…" Larry commented, "At least she's okay."
Tulip put away her Rotom Phone and turned to the deadpan man she worked with.
"In any case, what's important is that someone's trying to stop Iono and her team from winning the race, no doubt it was that woman they were talking with earlier, or some associate of hers."
Larry sighed, "I assume you want my help in investigating this matter right?"
"You'll do that Larry dear? Thanks, you're such a doll." Tulip smiled, "Come on, let's go help our friends."
Tulip motioned Larry to follow her as the two adults traveled in the direction of downtown.
Back in Launchpad's helicopter, the detour that the team had took to dodge Striker had made them lost track of where they were at. Launchpad used his instincts and continued flying eastward, passing over the busy commercial district they ate at the previous day, as well as a large park. Eventually, Emeraldblade looked over the horizon and saw a familiar-looking structure in the distance, it appeared to be a large bridge.
"There Launchpad," she pointed to the structure, "That must be the bridge Kiki was talking about earlier, fly towards it as fast as possible."
"Whatever you say Lady E," Launchpad saluted her comrade, before speeding towards the structure as fast as he could.
As he was speeding towards the bridge however, the helicopter his team was riding in was suddenly sideswiped by an outside force, but this time it wasn't from a bullet, rather from some powerful turbulence. Causing the aircraft to plummet to the ground.
"Uhh, ladies and…ladies," he announced.
"What now?!" Vaggie questioned.
"We're about to make a Launchpad specialty!" he warned.
"Oh, no!" Emeraldblade shouted in agony.
As Launchpad began to cower in fear, Emeraldblade took a drastic step by grabbing the controls and steered the helicopter away from the Earth below, narrowly escaping certain doom and saving everyone on board.
"Whew," Vaggie sighed in relief, "Thanks hon, that was quick thinking."
"Don't mention it," Emeraldblade replied.
"Uhh friendos, take a look!" Iono called out.
The other three riders glanced to their right side and saw a familiar craft speeding in the direction of the bridge, there they noticed the culprit of the sudden death spiral they were in: Verosika Mayday's helicopter.
"I should've known that femme fatale will do anything just to win this race." Vaggie commented.
"Quick Launchpad, catch up to Verosika as fast as you can," Emeraldblade instructed.
"You got it E!" Launchpad happily replied.
Launchpad regained control of the helicopter and zoomed the craft in the direction of the bridge, looping under and then over it before heading Southwest, all the while following close behind Verosika's chopper.
As this event was playing out, Kiki glanced into her chopper's cargo mirror and saw Launchpad's team catching up to her craft. Seeing this, she nudged her arm against Verosika's.
"Umm, boss you're not going to like this but…take a look out at the mirror," she notified her superior."
Verosika, though annoyed, heeded Kiki's warning and glanced at the mirror on her side, sure enough she noticed what her right-hand was talking about.
"Shit, those bastards are gaining on us!"
"Uhh, what should we do boss?" Vortex asked.
The succubus star glanced at the surroundings outside, and sure enough, she saw some tall trees in a large park in the direction of Churchill Downs. She smirked, as an idea popped up in her mind.
"Kiki?" Verosika asked.
"What is it boss?" the sympathetic succubus asked.
"…Fly around those trees…" she instructed smugly.
Kiki gulped in concern, "But, aren't you afraid we'll-"
"JUST DO IT YOU FUCKHEAD!" she angrily demanded.
Kiki sighed in defeat, before she began flying in the direction of the trees.
Launchpad, seeing this sudden course of action, catching him off-guard.
"So we're flying low now? Well then, guess I got to follow their lead."
Vaggie raised an eyebrow "Launchpad, what are you-" But before she could protest, the pilot dove the helicopter into the park.
Launchpad followed behind Verosika's craft, as the two slalomed between the trees.
"Wow, now we're zzziging and zzzaging though the park, that's – bzzzt! – shocking!" Iono commented.
Eventually the two crafts entered a narrow corridor of road surrounded on each side by forests as they navigated the dangerous path at their own peril, eventually the two aircraft emerged outside the park and lifted off into the air once more, in doing so, Launchpad's craft narrowly grazed a nearby statue at an adjacent roundabout.
"Sheesh, talk about close calls." He remarked.
"Yeah, but that was really…amazing!" Iono shouted excitedly, " I knew working with someone as popular as you was a great idea. We should collab more often like this."
"Now's not the time Iono," Emeraldblade remarked, "The race is more important right now."
"Whatevs," Iono shrugged, "We can do that on a future date."
Launchpad continued to tailgate behind Verosika's chopper from a distance as the two competitors were deadlocked in a close race to the next waypoint. Gradually his helicopter caught up with Verosika's until they were battling for the lead once more.
Soon enough, the third waypoint came to view. Both rival teams zoomed towards the twin spires, where they each made a hairpin turn and proceeded to slalom around the structures, each forming half of a figure 8, before once again throttling towards downtown once more.
Inside Verosika's chopper, the succubus was growing ever more impatient.
"These fuckers are better than I thought," she commented reluctantly, "Perhaps now I need to pull a little shitty stunt to stop those fuckwads for good."
She then turned to Kiki once more with a sinister expression in her eyes, causing the lesser succubus to become uncomfortable.
"Alright Kiki, pull the chopper closer to enemy."
"Wait a minute, what are you-?"
"It's time we deal with them close and personal!"
Kiki shrieked in fear, before proceeding to fly the aircraft towards Launchpad's with great speed.
At the same time, Launchpad noticed the helicopter out of his peripheral vision approaching quickly.
"Uh ladies, we're about to be SMASHED TO SMITHERNS!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention
Soon enough, Verosika's chopper collided with Launchpad's, causing the latter to stagger before regaining its composure in the air. Verosika's craft continued to ram into Launchpad's repeatedly, until suddenly the two were rubbing against each other.
Verosika then turned back to Vortex.
"Alright Tex," she proceeded to instruct him, "Take those fuckwads out of the sky."
Vortex reluctantly nodded, before climbing out of the aircraft, where he proceeded to jump onto Launchpad's, causing the craft to shake violently.
"Oh noes!" Iono shouted in shock, "We've got company!"
"YIP! What do we do? What DO we DO?!" Launchpad panicked, removing his hands from the controls.
Vortex proceeded to punch the side of the windshield, causing it to crack in the process, he continued to do this, until suddenly, the glass shattered wide enough for him to enter.
"Shit, he's entering the cockpit!" Vaggie cursed, "Emeraldblade, we've got to do something."
Emeraldblade nodded, and the two warriors stood up and approached Vortex, where they proceeded to fight the hellhound with their bare hands. Despite having the numerical advantage, Vortex was bigger than the two ladies, as he overcame each of their attacks by either absorbing their blows or blocking them. Eventually, he countered the two of them by grabbing their wrists and throwing them back, causing the helicopter to shake violently again. He then turned his attention to Launchpad, who continued to cower in fear.
"End of the line, Duck Man," he taunted.
As Vortex proceeded to grabbed Launchpad, Iono stood up and took out a strange spherical object from her pocket.
"Hey weirdo, don't you dare hurt my friendo!" she protested.
Vortex chuckled, "Yeah, well what are you going to do about it fleshy?"
"This!" she countered, before pressing a button on the object, causing a bright light to shoot out of the sphere and land next to Vortex, soon afterwards, the ray of light began to morph into a strange blob-like form, until the form suddenly grew dimmer, revealing a medium-size creature with a big smile on its face and a strange fan-shaped marking on its large belly.
Vortex was confused, as was everyone else inside the aircraft.
"What is that?" he asked.
"This… is my Pokémon!" the streamer shouted, "Bellibolt, sucker punch that weirdo!"
The strange creature proceeded to lunge at the hellhound, hitting him smack-dap in the face, blinding Vortex in the process.
"Oww, what the-?!" he groaned.
As the scene was playing out, Emeraldblade was beginning to wonder what was going on.
"Wait, pokémon are…real?!" she realized.
Iono turned her gaze at the warrior and smiled, "Of course they are Lady E-Blade!"
"Now I've seen everything…" Vaggie commented, equally shocked by the sudden revelation, "First humanoid ducks that pilot helicopters, now this."
Iono then turned her attention back to Vortex, as he attempted to attack Bellibolt.
"You'll regret attacking me you…shit, whatever you are," he ranted.
As Vortex prepared to attack Bellibolt, Iono's voice rang out once more.
"Bellibolt, stand your ground and use your belly to absorb the attack!"
Bellibolt proceeded to hold its position, as Vortex proceeded to bash the pokémon with a powerful haymaker, but instead of knocking the pokémon back like Vaggie or Emeraldblade before, it absorbed the full blow of the attack, remaining virtually unharmed in the process.
"What the-?" Vortex's eyes lit up.
"Now Bellibolt, use the power from the wolf man's attack to launch him out of the helicopter with THUNDER!" Iono instructed.
Suddenly, sparks began to materialized around Bellibolt, growing brighter and larger in the process.
"Oh shit…" Vaggie reacted.
Suddenly, Bellibolt released a powerful bolt of electricity at the hellhound's direction as he gulped, realizing what was about to happen. Not a second later, the hellhound was violently electrocuted from the force of the voltage, before suddenly being launched into the opposite direction towards Verosika's helicopter. Upon landing inside the craft, the force of the impact caused him to hit Apple, making the short succubus stagger and then lose her footing, resulting in her falling out of the chopper screaming.
"Apple!" Kiki shouted in shock.
"Forget about her you sissy, just ram the fucking heli into the competition!" Verosika demanded.
"But what about-"
"RAM THE FUCKTARDS!" Verosika interrupted ferociously, causing the lesser succubus to shriek in fear.
Kiki continued to hesitate as the two aircrafts approached the final waypoint, a tall, white skyscraper at the center of the city with a large Romanesque dome on top. Seeing her right-hand struggling to do the task she commanded her to do, Verosika took drastic action.
"Fine! If you won't do it, I will!" she grunted angrily, whilst shoving Kiki aside and grabbing the controls of the craft.
Now at the hands of the controls, Verosika began ramming against Launchpad's craft violently, completely oblivious of the dangers it posed to both aircrafts.
"Gah! This Mayday lady must really want to win this race," Launchpad commented anxiously.
"Hmm, you think?" Vaggie replied sarcastically, whilst still equally worried.
As the helicopters were nearing the final waypoint, Moxxie and his team made their way towards the high-rise they determined that the saboteur was positioned.
"Come on, we need to stop whoever's trying to fuck up the race in Verosika's favor," the male imp told his teammates.
Millie and Sniper nodded and followed Moxxie inside the building.
As they were doing this, Tulip and Larry arrived on the block via an Uber car and witnessed the three members of Emeraldblade's team entering the building.
"Oom? What do we have here?" Tulip pondered.
Larry sighed, "We better follow them, I have a bad feeling about this…"
The two adults cautiously followed Emeraldblade's allies inside the building, trailing not too far behind them.
Meanwhile, back inside Verosika's helicopter, the succubus took out her cellphone and speed-dialed a number.
"What do you want?" Striker's voice asked on the other end, clearly annoyed.
"Don't talk to me that way fuckhead," she angrily replied, "Anyways, we're almost at the final landmark in the race, you better get into position and take out that traitor and her shitty friends while we're circling around the skyscraper's dome."
"…Very well," the imp-demon replied, before putting down his phone and picking up his Carmine rifle once more.
At the same time, the two helicopters approached the tallest skyscraper in the city and began circling the Romanesque dome that lined its rooftop.
As they were doing this, Striker readied his rifle and aimed…
"Sayonara shitheads!" he shouted.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger and snipe Vaggie's brain out, the door leading to the rooftop slammed open.
"Aye, there's the bugger who's tryin' to mess with our mates!" Sniper shouted, causing Striker to turn his rifle in their direction and take a quick potshot, narrowly missing Sniper's face.
"I have had JUST ENOUGH OF YOU IMBECILES INTERFEREING WITH ME!" he shouted angrily, "But no matter, I'll just blow your brains out instead!"
"That's what you think!" Millie countered, before reaching out to grab her battleaxe and rush at the imp assassin.
Striker responded, by firing several more shots at the female imp, but Millie evaded each shot with ease before raising her axe up to strike her organization's long-time adversary. The strike didn't connect with Striker's body, but instead knocked the rifle he was wielding out of his hands, which in turn caused him to stagger.
Millie proceeded to hack and slash at the assassin, but each time he managed to quickly jump out of the way. After several swings, he proceeded to attack her with his tail, but Millie expected this to happen and proceeded to quickly block each piercing strike from her body with her weapon.
The two continued to trade attacks as Sniper strafed around the rooftop with an idea in his mind, meanwhile Moxxie readied a crossbow he was carrying in order to put his nemesis down for good.
He fired a shot while Striker was distracted, but the bolt missed its mark, he then pulled out his revolver and began firing at Striker repeatedly, Striker caught sight of him and proceeded to grab Millie whilst drawing his own revolver and aiming it at her head.
"Go ahead imp boy, try taking a shot at me," he taunted, "But if you do, I'll just use your bitch here as a meat shield."
Moxxie hesitated to fire his revolver, not wanting to harm his lover.
"Moxxie don't!" Millie begged her husband.
"Shut up you," Striker scolded her, before turning back to Moxxie, "Say goodbye to your girlfriend hotshot!"
Millie closed her eyes, ready to accept her demise, but before she heard the sound of the barrel firing, another sound rang out in her vicinity.
"YEAHH!" Sniper's voice cried out.
Suddenly, a powerful force hit Striker to his side, knocking him away from Millie as he let go of the female imp.
Striker got up and gazed at his attacker, seeing it was none other than Sniper.
"Oh no, not you again…" he cursed under his breath.
Sniper smiled smugly, whilst pulling out a jar of his "lemonade".
"Aye wanker, want some more?" he taunted, shaking the jar of its nasty contents.
Striker growled.
"Oh no, I am NOT going to let you drench me in that shit again!"
He then proceeded to lunge at the bush man, but Sniper stepped aside and proceeded to take out his Bushwacka and began hacking at the assassin, eventually one slash managed to graze Strikers cheek, causing yellow blood to trickle from the wound.
"Let's see how much blood's in ya mate," Sniper taunted.
Back inside the helicopter, Verosika was growing impatient.
"That fuckhead's taken long enough to end the competition, it's time for me to end this race once and for all in my favor!"
Suddenly, she drove her helicopter straight into Launchpad's and began rubbing it against the side of the skyscraper's dome.
The sudden move startled Emeraldblade, who gazed out of her window and saw Verosika on the other side staring her down with a sinister look on her face, she gestured at her by using her index finger to make a cutting motion across her neck, indicating the fate she had in store for her and her team.
Back on the rooftop, Sniper and Striker were trading attacks at one another with vigor, that all changed when Striker lunged at Sniper with his tail as he attempted to bludgeon him to death. Eventually, Striker managed to break Sniper's guard and knock his large bowie knife from his hands as he proceeded to impale the bush man through the chest, but before he could do that, a shot rang out once more, followed by a bullet piercing through the sharp tip of his tail, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Gotcha shithead!" Moxxie shouted.
As Striker looked up in his direction, his eyes began to fill with anger, before he proceeded to pounce at the male imp with a dagger he kept on hand with all his force, punching him repeatedly in the head, face and chest whilst slashing the imp at the same time, soon enough blood was oozing from the wounds he received
Striker then proceeded to raise his knife into the air and began to drive the blade into Moxxie's heart in an attempt to end his life. Moxxie reacted by grabbing the knife with his own hands as he tried fighting off Striker's thrust. The blade began to slowly descend onto his chest until it appeared to be less than a millimeter from it. As Moxxie hyperventilated, Striker began to chuckle.
"So long, Imp boy!" he laughed.
As he was about to drive the blade through the imp's chest, a strange projectile flew towards him and struck him dead on into his head, knocking him off Moxxie. Moxxie reacted by narrowly dodging the falling knife blade as it hit the surface of the roof.
"Oh come on, now what?!" Striker questioned angrily.
As he looked up in the direction from where the strange missile materialized from, he saw another three individuals standing in the doorway from which Moxxie and his team arrived from earlier. It was none other than Tulip and Larry, alongside a strange, flower-like humanoid with a slender white upper body, a calm expression on its face, a green flower-like body, and most notable of all a bright red hairdo that resembled a bouquet of flowers.
"Who the hell are you imbeciles?!" he demanded angrily."
"Hmm, I have a feeling you're the one who's trying to take out Iono and her friends in the race…" Tulip countered.
Striker smirked, "Well, "taking out" is just simple way to explain the job Verosika ordered for me to carry out."
"So it is true," Tulip replied, "That bewitching aura of hers is far worse than I thought, and quite frankly, it seems you share it with her too. I can't let you bring harm to Iono, Emeraldblade, and the rest of their friends."
"Enough talk!" Striker countered, "I've been ordered to put down anyone and anything that happens to get in the way of Verosika's plan, and if that's what you're playing that, then prepare to die bitch."
Striker kicked Moxxie aside and grabbed his knife as he proceeded to lunge at Tulip with the remaining adrenaline he had left.
But just then Tulip smiled…
"My beauty methods will cleanse right down to the depths of your pores!"
She turned her attention to the strange creature floating beside her and began to instruct it.
"Alright Florges, it's time to give this assassin a much-needed ESP routine, use Psychic!" she instructed.
Suddenly, a strange, otherworldly energy began to pulsate around Florges' body, before she suddenly exerted out towards Striker, just before he managed to stab Tulip, the force of the energy hit him with a crushing force, before knocking him back.
"How the fuck-? He reacted in confusion.
He then caught a glimpse of his sniper rifle laying nearby and proceeded to grab it as fast as he could, meanwhile Tulip's Florges began hovering towards his direction.
"We can't let him hurt our friends Florges!" Tulip countered, before turning back to Florges, "Use Moonblast, quick!"
Suddenly, Florges proceeded to absorb a strange, magical energy and harnessed it into a ball, before expelling it out in Striker's direction, hitting him dead on in his back, and causing him to drop his rifle, which fell over the side of the roof and plummeted dozens of stories onto the street below, before shattering into hundreds of pieces.
"NO!" he shouted, before snarling with anger as he reached for something hidden in his leg.
Florges hovered just feet from Striker, before suddenly the imp-demon turned a full 180 and drew a hidden Carmine revolver and pointed it at Florges.
"If I can't kill those friends of ours inside the helicopter…I might as well end the life of this…thing that's fighting by your side, one shot from this weapon, and your precious little protecter here will be short one head!"
"Don't you dare pull the trigger you monster!" Tulip warned him.
Larry, who remained uninvolved during the whole predicament that played out before him decided that now was the time to act to save Tulip's pokémon from perishing at the hands of this freak. He quietly released his Starraptor, who proceeded to fly over Striker's head before dive bombing onto the demon.
"GAH! What the FUCK?!" he cursed in shock.
Starraptor began clawing at the demon with his sharp talons, distracting him long enough for Tulip to order her Florges to finish him off.
"Now Florges, let's finish our routine with another Moonblast!" she instructed her.
Florges reacted by once again producing another ball of magical energy, before launching it straight at Striker's face, knocking him head over heel over the side of the building as like his rifle before him, he too plummeted to the streets below, before hitting the surface hard, too incapacitated to fight back any longer.
"People who lack empathy for others will never understand the greatest beauty of all: friendship," Tulip said, before turning her attention at the wounded team that was scattered around the rooftop, "Are all of you alright?!"
"I'm fine love," Sniper answered, "But it looks like that bugger really gave our pal here quite a beating."
Millie quickly ran over to her injured husband.
"Moxxie, please tell me you'll pull through!"
"Ah…shit, Striker really fucked me up," Moxxie responded, "However a quick patch up and a shot of tequila should make me feel better.
Millie smiled in excitement, before hugging her husband "OH Moxxie!"
Tulip also smiled.
"Thank goodness all of you are fine."
"Umm, I hate to break the happy ending, but we still have a problem," Larry told Tulip, pointing in the direction of where the two helicopters were battling.
Tulip gazed in the direction of the helicopters, before covering her mouth in concern.
"Please make it through friends…" she prayed under her breath.
Back in the air, Verosika was still continuing to hammer Launchpad into the side of the skyscraper, causing glass, concrete and metal began flying all over the place.
"Oh noes loyal fans!" Iono said, genuinely worried at this point, "I-is this the end of yours truly?!"
Vaggie gazed at Emeraldblade and called out her name.
"You got to do something quick hon, I don't know how much more damage this flying deathtrap can take!"
Emeraldblade took another look at Verosika's chopper and noticed that its side door was still open from when Vortex jumped on, she then turned back and faced a worried Launchpad.
"Launchpad, line up with that opening on Verosika's helicopter as straight as possible, I'm going to make a jump for it," she instructed.
"Are you crazy?!" Launchpad protested.
"Trust me!" she countered.
Launchpad nodded and began leveling the helicopter until it was lined up with the open door, when the time came, Emeraldblade stood up and walked to the back of the chopper and opened up its side door, before proceeding to jump onto Verosika's aircraft, sure enough, she landed safely, but the force of her landing caused enough turbulence for Verosika and her crew to notice it.
"What the-?" the succubus reacted, before briefly seeing Emeraldblade inside her helicopter, "Stop that slut!"
Vortex got up and proceeded to attack Emeraldblade with a volley of punches, but Emeraldblade reacted by dodging each one. Eventually, she found an opening, and attempted to grab him, but the hellhound countered by getting ahold of her arms, before throwing her back into the front seats of the chopper, to which Kiki reacted by grappling Emeraldblade around her neck. Vortex proceeded to land punch after punch on the warrior as she began grunting in pain.
As this sudden series of unfortunate events started to unfolded, Launchpad began biting his fingers on one hand, wondering what he could do to save his friend.
"Launchpad, you have to save Emeraldblade as soon as possible, or else all of us are going to be mincemeat!" Vaggie shouted.
"But what can I do?!" he rambled.
Suddenly, he noticed a flare gun hanging from the nearby wall and proceeded to grab it.
"Well *gulp* might as well give this do-hickey a try."
He aimed the gun in the direction of the other helicopter and proceeded to fire, launching a bright orange flare straight at Vortex, hitting him at the side of his eye and blinding him in the process. The sudden surprise attack caused the hellhound to cover his eyes as he began staggering around the floor of chopper. Launchpad then fired another flare at hellhound, once again hitting him dead on, this time Vortex lost his footing and fell out of the helicopter, only to grasp onto one of the landing gear for dear life as his weight began dragging the helicopter down.
A third shot from the flare gun hit Kiki in the forehead, causing her to free one arm to clutch her head, seeing this opportunity, Emeraldblade knocked her aside with a backhand, causing the lesser succubus to release her grip and free the warrior. Emeraldblade proceeded to jump out of the helicopter, but was suddenly caught by an unknown force. She turned around and saw what was obstructing her, it was none other than Verosika, grasping onto her skirt.
"Oh no you don't," she told her angrily, "If I'm going to lose this race, I might as well bring you down with me!"
Emeraldblade then reached her arm out and launched a green energy bolt at Verosika, the succubus dodged it, but the bolt instead hit the control panel of the helicopter, causing the systems to malfunction.
"What the-, what have you done?!" she reacted, releasing her grip on her adversary.
Emeraldblade took the opportunity and proceeded to jump back towards her team's helicopter, grabbing onto the landing gear just in time as Verosika's chopper began to rapidly descend to the ground below, before suddenly clipping the roof of a nearby building and then spiraling out of control onto the adjacent street, before exploding into a bright fireball.
Emeraldblade then performed a swinging backflip into the doorway, where she was caught by Iono and Vaggie before she nearly lost her footing and fell back out the opening.
"Positively shocking E-Blade!" Iono reacted in awe, "You really showed her not to mess with us!"
Emeraldblade smiled, "Thanks Iono, but we still have a race to win."
"You said it E," Launchpad replied, before manning the controls once more and proceeding to fly the chopper to the finish line at the waterfront.
Back on the rooftop, everyone had witnessed the events unfold, when they noticed Emeraldblade and her team made it through the whole ordeal, they all breath a sigh of relief.
"Wow, that girl really is quite splendid," Tulip said aloud.
"You said it," Millie chuckled.
As the helicopter began approaching the finish line, a loud buzzer began blaring inside the cockpit.
"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound terrific," Iono gasped.
"That's because the engine's failing!" Launchpad panicked.
"Quick, try to glide the chopper long enough so that we can cross the finish line and beat Verosika at the demon duel." Emeraldblade instructed.
Launchpad took a deep breath, "Alright, let's do it!"
Launchpad carefully lifted the controls and began gliding the helicopter towards the finish line as the craft made a steady descent. Eventually, the helicopter's rotors began to fail and the descent began to rapidly increase. Launchpad decided to tilt the helicopter back on its back as it suddenly collided with the ground, causing the tail to break off of the craft before launching the cockpit forward as it skid across the ground, before managing to cross the finish line on the waterfront, before it began to tilt forward and balance itself stably on the front ends of its landing gear as they dug into the ground.
"Aha! Another successful crash to add to my rap sheet," Launchpad gloated.
Vaggie, who was tired of Launchpad's incompetence from whole event however, finally snapped.
"LAUNCHPAD YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"