VR Hyper Fighters Turbo 03: Perilous Poison

Part 03 - Perilous Poison

>pre-match jitters
mage is way too excited about her first real match
knight flips through the dossier to study up on the opponents
ninja notices that there's no real life data on assassin
who is she?

>match start
arena is a beach at sunset
on the left is the shore
on the right there is a boardwalk and an amusement park
rumbleboys digitize into the arena and see the other team already there
assassin is throwing darts at balloons
channeler is buying funnel cake
nightblade is playing guitar hero
mage runs up and takes a combat stance, but they don't even acknowledge her at first
"hey what gives! are we just hanging out or are we gonna fight!?"
they turn their heads in unison, and look at each other smiling
the speaker system blares "RUMBLEBOYS VS. THAT GIRL IS POISON! READY?! BEGIN!"
without even looking, assassin throws a dart straight at mage
"whoa!"
when she lifts her arms up to dodge it, the other team disappear from sight

>1 on 1 (on 1 on 1...)
knight sees nightblade getting on the rollercoaster and runs after her
"i'm on it."
at the same time, ninja sees channeler running for the ocean and follows
"wow, this'll be easy"
mage is left on her own until she sees assassin heading for the haunted house
"ugh okay, she's mine!"
with the three team members effectively split up, the opposing team radios to each other that step 1 is a success

mage opens the doors to the haunted house and walks inside
it's a musty, cobwebbed place with creaky wooden floors and moth eaten furniture
shivering to herself, mage says "i really hate these things"
she walks into the foyer and tries opening the main door. locked.
the flight of stairs on both sides of the room lead her to the second floor
she checks each locked door along a long hallway, with portraits of the deceased glaring down at her
finally, the last door at the end of the hall
she reaches out a shaky hand and opens it to find a bedroom with a vanity mirror in the corner
a dusty sheet is draped over it
once she reaches over to pull it down, she sees an unfamiliar figure in her reflection
"boo."
"augh!" mage screams before she's knocked out by a paralytic poison

nightblade is standing on top of the first rollercoaster car as it climbs up the big hill
"man, i live for this rush!" she starts air guitaring on her scythe as the coaster approaches the big drop
knight roots himself to the floor of the middle car, with actual roots poking out from the underside
he then readies his hammer and swings forward, extending it toward nightblade
it would've hit her, but the drop forces her downward underneath the path of the mallet head
"unlucky, dude!" she hollers and slices the business end off of his weapon
with a snap of her fingers she disappears and then reappears behind him
"nothing personal, i promise."
she holds the scythe against knight's neck and pushes him into the seat, locking the restraint on him

channeler is standing with her ankles in the water when ninja catches up to her
ninja readies a water kunai and is about to spring an attack, but can't help but brag
"you know, you picked a really bad spot to fight someone with hydrokinesis"
channel giggles "do you know how many skeletons are under your feet right now?"
before he can react, hands shoot up from under the sand and grab onto ninja's legs, pinning him in place
he feels himself being dragged under the water as ghouls and zombies rise from the ground and spring toward
the last thing ninja hears is channel giggling to herself as she plays with reanimated fish in the water
she radios to her teammates that step 2 is complete

>neverending nightmare
when mage wakes up, she's tied up on a stage at the beach
"oof, what happened?" she says, her mind still groggy and her joints aching
"mage, that you? i'm having a hell of a time trying to turn my neck" ninja coughs
a spotlight turns on and points to the other team sitting on the sand eating popcorn
assassin stands up and brushes some sand off of her
"you were all so willing to split up and get yourselves captured, we barely did anything."
channeler cheers and nightblade hoots out in excitement
"but we've had our fun, it's time to finish the match."
nightblade concentrates, and from the rumbleboy's perspective, the sun just got extinguished like a dollar store candle
everything goes black as an orb of darkness surrounds them and slowly contracts, threatening to crush them
skeletons pop up through the boards of the stage and blue flames flicker in their eyes as they chant a deadly poem
assassin jumps onstage and walks into the orb, loading up a virulent poison
"whenever we do this move, we always wonder what destroys the other team first. the inescapable darkness, the curse, or this poison?"
she lightly jabs the three members in the arm and they immediately double over in pain
"if you ever crawl out of the loser's bracket and face us in the championships, we'd love to know."
"you're a...very...unpleasant person," ninja sputters before his body contorts once again from the poison
assassin smiles and jumps out of the orb
mage starts to hyperventilate from the myriad of dangers closing in on her, but also from facing the prospect of losing
"i...it's over? already? i can't go out like this, WE can't go... dang it." she breaks into a mess of incoherent mumbling and tears
knight looks over and sees his team breaking down around him. summoning every bit of fire into one utterance, he exclaims "HEY!"
mage and ninja look up at him
"hey. we haven't lost yet. while she was busy monologuing, i found the on switch for mage's shotgauntlets."
"if i can turn them on, can you burn through this darkness?"
the color floods back into mage's face and she grins maniacally "we better hope so!"

>solar flare
at this point, the skulls forming a ring around the rumbleboys start raising their voices in their cursed tongue
likewise, the darkness has started crushing the wood on the stage.
nightblade has been keeping the orb open, but looks like she could collapse it at any moment
"uh guys, you can't see what i'm seeing, but now would be a great time to spring this plan!" ninja shouts
"hit it!" mage shouts to knight, and he clicks her gauntlets on.
"SOLAR...FLARE!" she yells at the top of her lungs, and a bright orange light fills the orb
from the outside, the darkness slowly gives way to a brighter and brighter red glow
"what's happening?" channeler stops playing with a skeletal seagull long enough to ask
cracks appear on the orb and it expands larger and larger until it ultimately explodes
a huge fireball dissipates in the cool evening sky and the stage is left a smoky crater
mage coughs up smoke and then assumes a combat stance before collapsing onto the ground
"guess it's up to us, tiny" ninja says, patting knight on the back

>overgrowth
"what...who...how did you escape?" assassin asks dumbfounded
knight readies his newly regrown hammer onto his shoulder and ninja climbs onto the head
"face us in the championships and we'll tell you!" ninja yells to the three girls on the beach
knight swings his hammer down and flings ninja in an arc toward the opposing team
one ninja splits himself into two, then two to four, and so on until a mob of clones ready their kunai midair
"this sucks dude," nightblade says as they converge on her team
an uncountable number of knives slash their way through the opposition until the game over buzzer rings in everyone's headsets

>match end (weapon get!)
mage wakes up on a couch back in her team's lobby with a killer headache
"did we win?" she asks feebly, realizing they have a couch now
"you tell me," ninja responds, holding up two power cards
"NO WAY!" she says, instantly revitalized. tackling ninja, she plucks the cards from his hand and examines the spoils of war
one poison, one dark, the two power cards represented a copy of the powers from the losing team
they held special skills that the victors could apply to their own skillset
"who picked them?" mage asks
"ninja" knight answers, watching their new slightly bigger tv
"and who's going to get them?" mage asks, wondering how she could use these to punch better
"ninja" knight answers
mage's heart sinks as ninja takes his newly won cards back and crushes them in his hands, consuming them
"no fair!" mage throws a play fit and hits the cushions with her fists
"hey, no setting fire to the furniture, we just bought it" ninja chides absentmindedly as he admires his new powers
but all the while, his thoughts were on assassin.
who was she?
he should've asked her after the match but they disconnected right after
tournament matches were supposed to be competitive, yes, but she took it to another level
she didn't just want to win, she wanted to wipe her opponents out of existence
ninja tapped a new message icon on his wrist and sent out a message
@assassin "hey, gg :}"