Vaudevillain

Chapter 97: Bring the Thunder

Nikola flew forward on his scooter, entering the mud giant's space. He weaved around an attack and appeared near the giant's back. Lightning crackled in the villain's hands as he balanced on the scooter. "The storm comes!" he announced as the electricity flew.

The other players watched as branches of lightning zapped the giant's back. Water evaporated, drying out the mud and turning it into dirt that fell off the giant's back in large flakes. Nodding to himself, Nikola fired another blast.

"We need to keep it from moving!" Rampart yelled.

"I can kill this thing!" Nikola yelled back.

"Merla's already charging a blast. We only need to stop it from getting to the hill!"

The electric villain looked over the battlefield toward the rocky hill where Merla was. Sweet Dream was in her chocolate form, occasionally smacking an overeager saber-toothed squirrel. Merla stood at the hillcrest, arms gesticulating in intricate patterns and forming a ball of light that sat above the heroine.

The giant was only a few steps away from the hill, and it didn't look like Merla was ready to fire just yet.

"Alright, what do you need?" Nikola asked.

"Keep it's feet from reforming. Merla should be ready in a few more seconds!"

Nikola swooped to the ground on his scooter, arriving next to Dr. Zlo and Oro. Once again, the villain's hands charged with electrical energy and shot out, this time at the giant's feet. Concentrated electricity burned away at the mud, and the giant stumbled again.

It's body crawled forward, almost as if it could tell how dangerous Merla's attack would be. Nikola charged another blast, this time aiming at one of the giant's arms. As the mud became dirt, the monster's arm crumbled, unable to support the weight of it's body. The giant crashed to the ground, its other arm still trying to pull it forward.

"Persistent," Nikola said.

"It is quite durable," Dr. Zlo remarked.

"Focus guys," Oro said, eyes peeled for any surprises.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Nikola asked. He fired off another blast of electricity at the giant, hitting a reforming foot.

"How long can you keep that up?" Rampart asked. He and Shizuka had made their way over to the group while Nikola kept firing. "I still need a bit to recharge."

"Pretty long, I spent a while grinding and spent any Phlebotinium I found on enhancing my power. Did you know it caps at five?"

"Since when?" Shizuka asked.

"Last patch, I think. It's hard to read through all the patch notes when there's hundreds of small changes for each power."

"Watch it!" Oro yelled, tackling Nikola to the ground. A clod of dirt sailed overhead and landed on a copse of trees. "I told you to focus."

"Relax, we got this," Shizuka said.

Another ball of dirt flew towards the players. This time Rampart blocked the strike with a barrier, angled to keep the soil from smashing through his defense. Nikola blasted pieces of an arm that tried to reform while Dr. Zlo flew around to distract the giant. Oro stood next to Shizuka, the two next to useless at the moment.

The team kept up the assault for a little longer until Rampart noticed Merla's ball of light change.

"She's ready!" he yelled. "Clear the area!"

Players ran, hopped, and flew away from the giant as Merla unleashed her attack. A blazing line of light lanced from the hill and through the treeline, striking the downed giant. The blast drilled a hole through its muddy body from shoulder to leg and continued straight through the forest. Trees fell under the assault, the magical energy carving a circular swathe through the woods.

"F*ck yeah!" Oro shouted. He turned and high-fived Shizuka, who returned the gesture happily.

Dr. Zlo landed next to the two, "A monster of mud could never stand against us!"

Nikola flew over as well, landing next to Rampart and clapping the monk on the back, "We need to get you some upgrades soon. Can't have your barriers breaking from attacks like that. Let's hope this place has some Phlebotinium."

"Yeah, here's hoping," Rampart answered.

The group started to make their way over to meet up with Merla and wait for Dextra to come down from Skyline. The city hovered over the hill, a grey disk in the sky. Dr. Zlo stepped over broken tree branches and through small bushes, relaxing now that the fight finished.

He barely noticed the shifting mud beneath him before it shot out and socked him in the gut. The villain doubled over from the force of the blow.

"Sh*t!" Oro yelled. Acting on instinct, the hero dove in front of Dr. Zlo. Another attack came from the mud, this time bouncing off Oro's golden frame.

"Get behind me!" Rampart yelled, conjuring a barrier.

Shizuka and Nikola moved behind the barrier, both throwing attacks as they did. Electricity and throwing knives striking the shifting mud.

"How is this still not over?" Oro complained.

Merla's attack had splattered the giant all around the forest, spraying mud everywhere. As each one landed, they started to reform into smaller humanoids. The mud men began to make their way over to the hill, attacking anything in range. Mud fists smacked against Rampart's barriers, eating away at the shield's health.

Dr. Zlo recovered from the strike to his stomach and flew up into the air. Lasers rained down on the mud men from above while Oro laid into them with golden fists. Shizuka attacked with talismans tied to throwing knives, the ninjutsu inside exploding as the knives sunk into the muddy monsters. Nikola laughed at the challenge, unleashing a tide of electricity that arced through mud man after mud man, reducing the aberrations to dried dirt.

Merla and Sweet Dream fought off squirrels and mud men alike on top of the hill, Sweet Dream's chocolate stopping the squirrels while Merla blasted the mud to pieces.

A few minutes later, it was over, and Oro breathed a sigh of relief as the last mud man collapsed. "Are all the wilderness fights like this?" he asked.

____

In another part of the server, Matt-att and Ixzay were facing a gauntlet of mutated monkeys.

"Who in the world thought f*cked up Planet of the Apes was a good idea!" Matt-att yelled.

A spear landed on his shield, the kinetic energy absorbing the blow and giving the streamer some more ammunition. He retaliated against the closest monkey, grabbing its head and activating his power. The mutant dissolved into a pile of dust that flew away in the wind.

"I found their leader," Ixzay said over the communicator. "Throwing a flare."

A red trail of smoke launched into the sky, revealing the leader's location. Destination in front of him, Matt-att rushed forward with his shield up. Spears, arrows, and other simple weapons all halted as his barrier absorbed the kinetic energy. Anything that got too close met the hero's other hand and disintegrated.

In seconds, Matt-att reached his destination, barreling through some bushes to appear in front of two large gorillas. The streamer's chat exploded in excitement. Both gorillas dressed in early bronze era armor and held shields the size of small cars. Ixzay flew above the apes, dodging javelins from a group of monkeys on a makeshift wood tower.

Wasting no time, Matt-att charged forward. One of the gorillas turned to deal with the hero, digging its shield into the ground to meet the attack. The gorilla's spear poked out from behind the shield to skewer the streamer.

"Big mistake," Matt-att said.

The hero brought his hand up, blocking the incoming strike and granting him power. The recent patch had nerfed his ability slightly. Not by much, but it did force him to change his playstyle. Before, Matt could store up an amount of energy and choose how much to release over time. Now, his power unleashed all the stored energy at once.

With his disintegration charged, Matt-att placed a hand onto the gorilla's bronze shield. Energy flowed from him and armor split in two, the bottom half melting away under the streamer's assault. The second gorilla made to move behind Matt-att, but Ixzay blocked it with a quick laser blast.

"Watch yourself!" Matt's friend yelled.

"I see it!" Matt-att said.

The hero whirled around and rolled under the gorilla's feet, popping up on the other side. The gorilla turned to face him, spear swinging around to smash Matt-att's face in. The streamer blocked it with his power and countered with a grab. The spear in Matt's grip crumbled to pieces under his ability of disintegration.

The gorilla roared and beat its chest in anger, attracting the attention of all the apes around.

"Oh, just f*cking great," Matt-att complained.

Javelins and arrows flew at the streamer, and Matt had to raise his shield to wait out the assault.

"I got you!" Ixzay said.

The player flew overhead on his wings and dropped a series of orbs onto the army of monkeys. As they landed, small legs popped out of each sphere, orienting the device to the sky. A small aperture opened from the top, spitting small spikes into the air. Monkey's howled in pain as the small weapons pricked their skin, a few even falling from unlucky strikes to the eye. The howls turned to whimpers as the paralyzing venom in each spike activated. Soon, the army of monkeys was nothing more than a few stragglers lucky enough to have something between them and the orbs.

"You're a f*cking angel, Ixzay!" Matt-att cheered.

No longer burdened by assaulting weapons, Matt could charge forward and attack the gorillas. Both had spent the time replacing their weaponry. The one with the broken shield grabbed a giant bow while the one without a spear had picked up a large sword.

"Alright, time for round two!" Matt-att said, smashing his fists together eagerly.

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