MUSIC FOR AMBIANCE
https://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw?t=10s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSzetilPFmk
https://youtu.be/UM5JrxIHoDo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWhmmgZA96w
Chapter Ten: Clash of the Titans
Both Ratchet and Frank could feel their loads get heavier, as all of their weapons were restocked with ammo, Frank regained his shotgun, and both gained new weapons of all sorts. They took a moment to check their inventory, make sure they knew where everything was. Ratchet defalted to his Omniwrench, Frank to his shotgun. They both looked at each other, some ten meters apart, waiting. Ratchet nodded. This signified the start of the final fight, with Frank promptly unloading several shotgun blasts at the Lombax. Ratchet leaped to the side, pulling out his shock blaster and firing several Matrix/Max Payne style shots. One clipped his leg, providing just enough of a shock to cause him to involuntarily twinge and drop the shotgun. Frank dived behind the remaining Wrestlemania stage for cover, avoiding the further shock blaster shots. Ratchet stood still, blaster trained on the area where he had just been. A loud ‘BANG’ rang out, and a bullet singed off some of Ratchet’s fur. Frank was on the other end of the destroyed arena, with the Broken Butterfly magnum trained on him. Ratchet fled towards the nearest exit, with several more shots being fired but none hitting their mark. Ratchet had left the arena when the revolver started clicking, prompting Frank to throw it aside, pick up his shotgun again and rush after Ratchet.
It wasn’t the Annihilation Nation arena as the door gave way to previously, instead the exit had given way to Crime Alley, with a bright white wall on either side, ensuring that nobody knows what the next arena will be. Not that Frank had time to appreciate this, as he had to throw himself down, just falling under the plasma whip aimed at him. West returned his shotgun to wherever he keeps his weapons, and pulled out a laser sword, He was no trained swordsman, but the length of the plasma whip provided just enough warning for him to barely defend himself each time. However, one lucky shot managed to wrap the whip around the sword, leading to Ratchet yanking it out of the reporter’s hand, bashing it against the close walls and shorting it out. Ratchet returned his whip to his inventory, and looked up to see Frank running towards him, brandishing a katana. Ratchet brought out his Omniwrench again and the two melee weapons collided, with Ratchet being forced back and through the doorway behind him due to Frank’s momentum.
They both appeared through the left hand door on the Super Smash Brothers Battlefield, the only arena to have a different appearance since the announcement of the randomized rooms (the centre door had disappeared, leaving only the ones on the sides). They struck their weapons together again, causing the top half of the katana’s blade to break off. Frank threw the remainder of the sword at Ratchet (it bounced off his Omniwrench) and pulled out the first thing he grabbed again. Ratchet jumped up, and Clank activated his propellers to boost them onto the top suspended platform, just clearing it as several nails dug themselves into it. Ratchet took out another gun, and fired it onto one of the lower platforms. This brought Frank’s attention, and bought him valuable seconds to react as the mini turret set itself up, and started to fire. The nail gun didn’t do anything much, running out of ammo before he could destroy the turret, so pulled out the familiar blue arm cannon out again. However, it was not the true mega buster, and instead only fired baseballs at the turret. This, while disappointing, proved to be enough, knocking over the turret as a second one set itself up behind him. He turned around, knocking that one over, as Ratchet jumped down, Omniwrench in front of him, aimed at Frank. He slightly undershot, but strongly hit the toy mega buster, busting it beyond use. Frank was then hit with the flat side of the wrench, knocking the already destabilized reporter onto the floor. He tried to strike down, but the busted mega buster got in the way, leading the two to a battle of strength, each one trying to out push the other. Ratchet was rapidly winning, but Frank reached back for his ace in the hole: His trusty camera. He brought it up and took a photo, the flash activating straight in Ratchet’s eye, stunning and temporarily blinding him. As the Lombax was left reeling, West raised his leg and kicked him off, throwing the toy mega buster at him for good measure. It bounced off his head, falling off the stage. Ratchet stood up, rubbing his head, and staggered towards the other exit.
While it did buy Ratchet several seconds to regain focus, the move to the warehouse, in the long run, put the odds against Ratchet. Frank stormed in wielding a chainsaw as Ratchet sucked up five small items into his suck cannon. The Lombax fired, hitting Frank in the chest and sending him into one of the many piles of interdimensional junk that lined the single pathway. Ratchet tried to reload, but ended up being distracted as a wrench, two torches, a bag of die, a computer monitor, and countless other pieces of rubbish got hurtled at him from Frank’s direction, forcing him to dodge all projectiles after the suck cannon’s magazine had been filled. He ran back, turning a corner just as a Net Ball went sailing past his ear. He stopped, taking several deep breaths, when he heard everything seemingly stop. Hesitantly, he turned the corner, and saw Frank, right there, chainsaw at the ready. Now, while Ratchet is usually rather fearless, having a chainsaw turned on right in front of your face is going to strike fear into the heart of almost everyone, Ratchet included. Adrenaline flooded his bloodstream as he turned and fled, only just avoiding getting a haircut from the chainsaw. Frank kept chasing Ratchet, looking like what Leatherface would’ve looked like if he took up reporting, until the Lombax managed to outstrip him by a distance. But by then, Ratchet was too worried to stop running, until reaching the light at the end of the warehouse.
The castle outside Hershel’s Farm was still there, with only the entrance being filled in with the white glow. It was also apparent to everyone watching that this was likely to be the ending point: Unless they were going to backtrack through the previous arenas. Ratchet stopped in the middle of the field, still a distance away from the house or the barn, and turned around as Frank walked in, wielding the chainsaw which was humming menacingly. Ratchet quickly drew his Shock Blaster and fired, striking the chainsaw, causing it to short circuit. As the mechanical drone halted, Frank (again) tossed it to the side to bring out his next weapon: The real mega buster. He fired off three shots, which Ratchet sidestepped while putting a glove on his hand. Frank fired thrice again, but Ratchet was prepared: The holo shield glove sent all three shots back to sender, straight down the barrel of the mega buster. Whether this broke or not is up for debate, as Frank discarded it anyway due to it being obvious that it wouldn’t work as a method of attack again. He ran forward, pulling out a silver and green object. He activated it, and Frank as we all know him promptly disappeared, leaving something else in his place.
“Might I suggest something?” Clank’s calm tone vastly contradicted the feeling of the battle. Many thought that what was said was lost thanks to Ratchet tackling Frank to the ground in an attempt to retrieve his Omniwrench, but in fact Clank just changed to a pitch too high for Frank’s ears, but was able to be picked up by Ratchet easily. “From my observations, this opponent seems to be a scavanger in terms of his weaponry, picking anything he finds up and making a use for it. Might I suggest placing the Tyhrraguise on him, as given his actions he is likely to activate it as soon as he realises he has it, and therefore buying us the few seconds we need to finish him.”
“Looks like you were right, Clank.” Ratchet said back in the present, as Frank stopped in his tracks, realising what he looked like and that he couldn’t access any of his weapons. “Now let’s do this!” Frank was pounding at the device, trying to get himself to turn back, and looked up just in time to see Ratchet’s Omniwrench spinning towards his face. It collided heavily, knocking Frank over and almost out, as it returned to Ratchet’s hands. He used Clank’s heli pack to jump over to Frank, once again to jump above Frank, and then retracted the propellors to allow him to fall full force to the ground, Omniwrench perfectly above Frank’s head, as the Tyhrraguise gave out, revealing a reporter near unconsciousness.
Fifteenth Death: Frank West
“He actually wrote his own obituary. Here, let me read you it...on second thoughts, you already know what it says. Five words. But who cares? Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner!”
Ratchet grinned, as Hershel’s Farm seemed to melt away, leaving a black and green nexus around him. This gave way to an open stage, this time with all the cameras visible, and the cheers of all of the watchers across the multiverse audible. He waved to one of the cameras as the announcer, voice booming more than ever, spoke again. “And, to give the reward, the survivors of the last Video Game Battle Royale (and the only ones we could find), Professor Hershel Layton and Meta Dion!” The din grew even louder as those who were still bitter over Frank’s defeat started cheering alongside the rest as Layton and Dion, the much loved Team Friendship, walked on stage, Layton holding a large trophy and Dion carrying a large box, wrapped up like a present. “Let’s hear it again for Ratchet, the new true winner of VGBR!” They reached the victor simultaneously, dropping their loads to shake his hand. There was no noise as the three shots were fired, and no sound at all when they hit their targets, with the exceptions of the thumps as the corpses of Layton, Dion, and Ratchet fell to the floor.
Half a mile away, three figures lay behind three long range sniper rifles, each of them one bullet away from a full magazine. The one on the right took his eye away from the scope, and sat up in the Škoda he arrived in. Having forgot his stand, he had opted instead to wind down the passenger window and use that to balance his gun. “Are you finally ready to rest now?” He asked the central one. He spoke with a Polish accent.
“I told them this was how it had to be. But did they listen? No…” The middle shooter, a Romanian, complained. “But you can’t fight fate. I think we just proved that.” The one on the left was still looking through his scope, at the swarm of security flooding the stage far too late, looking for a sign of the assassins.
“So...the true winner of VGBR, huh?”
“Yeah.” The central shooter picked up his weapon, slung it across his back, and started to walk away from his cohorts. “We’ll see about that.”
VIDEO GAME BATTLE ROYALE: ALL STARS
COMING SOON
Originally Posted by Dion
Tao of Blue
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