Jozo, now the last elder standing, spat, "You think I can't take you all on? I still have the harmonious elents!"
The elder pointed upward to the golden ball of light, just in ti to see Riptide surf a wave of conjured lava. The molten earth crashed down over the orb, evaporating the clouds of water spitting electricity. It continued to travel, burning through the trees and lting the tal reinforcents until it reached the earthen core. In a flash of light, the harmonious elents broke into a rainbow of light, leaving Jozo speechless.
"You were saying?" Dr. Zlo taunted, leaning on his cane.
Jozo turned, panic all across his face, "Look. I'm sure we can be civilized about this. What say we sweep all of this under the rug?"
"Oh please," Sweet Dream snorted. "You would kill us in a heartbeat if you had the chance."
"Dudes! Did you see that!" Riptide yelled as he surfed up to his friends. "I just surfed lava onto a mini earth! Raddest thing I've done today."
"One second, Rip," Sweet Dream said. "We're interrogating this guy."
The surfer flew over to Jozo, getting a good look at the Young Dragon of the HI clan, "Dude, this guy looks like a pushover."
"That's because he is," Dr. Zlo answered. "A villain who can't do anything on his own, and needs the help of others to succeed. Yet, he still thinks he's better than others around him. Curious."
It reminded Dylan of Quartet.
"Hey, co on, guys. We can be civil about this, right?" Jozo pleaded. "I'm sorry about trying to get the elders to kill you. I'll call off my wanted order and pull out of the fight completely. That won't be a problem, will it?"
Dr. Zlo opened his mouth to reply, then winced as a boom echoed across the factory and sothing pierced his chest. Dylan's eyes bulged, he'd just lost ninety percent of his health! Reacting, Dr. Zlo activated his rocket boots and launched into the sky, zooming for a piece of cover.
"Sniper!" Sweet Dream yelled, transforming back into her chocolate form.
Riptide hopped on his board, creating a wave to mask his and Sweet Dream's position. It didn't do any good. Bullets pierced through the tide of water, striking both Riptide and Sweet Dream despite their attempts to hide. They went down in two shots, bodies vanishing. But it gave Dr. Zlo a chance to see the bullet's trajectory.
The villain whirled, looking up to the sky to see a woman hovering in the air, an impractically large gun sitting next to her. Arcane symbols spun around the weapon, rging into the barrel as ti passed. With a start, Dr. Zlo realized the enemy was charging up for another attack.
Knowing cover didn't work, Dr. Zlo decided to try a desperate charge. If he avoided the first attack, there was a chance he made it into range before the woman could shoot again. Rocketing upward, Dylan steeled himself to dodge once the cannon fired. It was unfortunate Dr. Zlo only had ten percent of his health left.
Seeing Dr. Zlo's reckless charge, the enemy turned their gun toward Dr. Zlo as if to invite the challenge. The villain kept his eyes peeled, and when the last of the arcane symbols entered the barrel, Dr. Zlo readied himself. The barrel darkened, and Dr. Zlo instantly rolled out of the way.
But whoever his enemy knew Dr. Zlo's plan. What fired from the oversized gun wasn't a sniper's bullet, not even close. Dr. Zlo's eyes widened as a net of lasers erupted from the barrel, covering the villain's escape path.
"Got you!" Dr. Zlo heard the woman cheer.
"Don't think this is the end!" Dr. Zlo roared, Dylan doing his best to keep up the villain roleplay as the net covered him.
The lasers lashed Dr. Zlo, taking out the rest of his health. Dylan sighed as the "you're dead" ssage appeared, respawning him sowhere inside Toedo. The notification for his loss appeared a mont later.
You have been defeated by Magical Girl Firearm. For losing the fight, you have been docked reputation. Your current rank is now A. You will reach S rank after 75 more escapade(s)!
For completing your cri, you have gained reputation! Your current reputation rank is A, you will reach S rank after 72 more escapade(s)!
"Taken out by a magical girl of all things," Dylan sighed. "You know, this interference is getting out of hand. Am I going to have to plan for this every ti I go out?"
"Look on the bright side," Sweet Dream said, appearing with Riptide a second later. Vert at least had the common sense to respawn party mbers in the sa area. "We got what we needed and can leave."
"That was an aweso fight, though!" Riptide said. "Too bad I didn't see who got ."
"It was so magical girl," Dylan answered. He opened his notifications to double-check, "Yep. Magical Girl Firearm."
"Dude!" Riptide exclaid. "That's aweso! I hope we see her again."
"I don't," Sweet Dream grumbled. "Attacking out of the blue like that is cheating."
"All's fair in love and war," Dylan quipped. "But I agree that it's tiring. That's twice now people interrupted during cris."
"That's what we get for fa," Sweet Dream answered.
"And an increased player base," Riptide added. "It could be because we have more people, dudes."
Sweet Dream frowned. "Don't bring your logic into this," she complained playfully. "We're trying to sulk."
"Well, then," Riptide said. "Let's go have so fun and cheer you up!"
The surfer turned to Dylan, "You want to co? We're going to check out all the crazy landmarks Vert made on the continent."
Dylan shook his head, "Later. I've got everything I need now to make the Zlomobile. I think it's ti to plan out my next big thing."
"Oh, right," Sweet Dream said. She opened her inventory and took out the materials she grabbed, handing them over to Dylan. Riptide did the sa a mont later.
"Let us know what it's going to be, dude!" Riptide said. "I can't wait!"
"I'll let you know now," Dylan said. "Do you rember that old cartoon Zany Races?"
"You an the one from those throwback cartoon streams?" Sweet Dream asked. "I think I rember sothing like that."
"Dude!" Riptide said. "Are we going to have a race?" Riptide was practically in Dylan's face.
"That we are!" Dylan said. "And I plan to have the Zlomobile enter and sohow lose thanks to Dr. Zlo's overcomplicated plan."
"That's aweso!" Riptide cheered. "I'm so in! I'm going to make a surfboard car and everything!"
"Alright, Rip," Sweet Dream said, laying a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Give the man so space."
"Oh, my bad, dude," Riptide answered. He backed away from Dylan, a sheepish grin on his face. "Got too excited."
"I understand completely," Dylan answered. "Zany Races was one of my favorite old cartoons. It's up there with Dooby Scoo."
"Did you only watch old cartoons or sothing?" Sweet Dream comnted.
"Only the good ones," Dylan answered. "Anyway, I'm going to get going. You two have fun."
"Totally!" Riptide answered.
Dylan arrived back at his hideout to see a small crowd around the area. It seed more players had learned of Dr. Zlo's "hideout" and were coming to get a look at the design. So were even recording for a stream from the sound of it, showing everyone where Dr. Zlo lived. Dylan made a face. He didn't want everyone to know where Dr. Zlo lived. That kind of defeated the point of having a secret base. At least it was located in Skyline, so only those inside the city could ever find it.
Dylan decided to ignore the crowd and fly into his base so that he could avoid questions. The player landed on the front door, turning to bow to the others standing around before walking inside. A few people tried to step up to the door, but Dylan had already made plans for invaders. A few Jacques appeared, dressed as groundskeepers and holding giant leaf blowers. They activated their machines, drowning out the crowd with their sound. Sprinklers activated a mont later, dousing the players who stepped on Dr. Zlo's lawn.
The defenses weren't anything but nuisances; Dylan knew that. But that was only if you counted the first few feet. The idea was to annoy people off his lawn first. Using Deadly force ca later.
Various liquids resided inside the sprinklers below, all courtesy of Jack and her designing prowess. Dylan hadn't the ti to craft everything, and Jack was more than eager to help create so wacky substances. He liked how Jack was always excited to try sothing new and test the waters. It was sothing Dylan also enjoyed, but Jack took it to an entirely different level.
The first few feet of the lawn in front of the base held sprinklers with a mild growth formula to speed up the grass and trap anyone intruding. It was slow enough that people could escape without trouble, but the formula got stronger the further you went. After the first few feet ca the acids, substances designed to lt the equipnt on players. Finally, the sprinklers would spray a poison that sapped a player's strength. It was strong enough that most supers would fall to Jacques if they tried to fight.
And Dylan had made sure the mansion had more defenses for those who wanted to infiltrate by air. He'd repurposed a few hatbots using the drones he'd helped design. The underground was the only thing he didn't cover, but that was mainly because anyone trying to dig tunnels through Skyline would have to deal with more than Dr. Zlo.
"How'd it go, boss?" Cass asked as Dr. Zlo walked into the mansion. "Did you get what you needed?"
"Of course, Cass," Dr. Zlo answered. "How were things here."
"You gotta help , boss," Cass said. "Brunhilda keeps trying to muscle in on my duties, and Quartet keeps trying to kill !"
"Is he now."
"And that's not all," Cass continued. "Mabel's not even trying to help. Sothing about letting love bloom or sothing! As if I'd fall for that pinstriped candy cane! He has no sense of decorum."
Dr. Zlo chuckled, "I think she's talking about Brunhilde, Cass."
Cass shook his head, "No way. I've seen the way she looks at , boss. Like she wants to hunt down for dinner. I say no thanks!"
Dylan caught Brunhilde in the corner, slumping a bit at Cass's words. The player marveled at how sophisticated the NPCs acted, even going as far as to program in emotions. Honestly, it left a weird feeling in Dylan's gut.
"I would say consult with Mabel about it," Dylan answered, resuming his persona, "but I doubt the love-obsessed woman would give you sound advice. She might say to jump bones or sothing."
"And we don't have a graveyard," Cass replied.
Dr. Zlo smiled, "Never change, Cass."
"I don't plan to," the butler replied.
"If you need , I'll be in the garage," Dr. Zlo said. "I've got a car to build."
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