//------------------------------// // Control Points Mode // Story: Twilight's Experiments: The War of Mann Co. // by MIKEANTHONY321 //------------------------------// Battle Arena #2: Badlands (Control Points) By the time both teams got to the Badlands, Red Sniper had explained to Twilight how Control Points work. Five would be set up throughout the map. Two would belong to team BLU, and two would belong to team RED. One would be neutral. The teams’ most important Control Point would be locked until the previous one is captured. If a single team can advance across the map and take all of the Control Points, they win the round. Fortunately, there’s only a fifteen-second interval between respawns. “You got all that, mate?” Red Sniper asked. Twilight nodded. She looked around the resupply locker, and inspected her team. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash and Spike had switched teams with her, so they were still on her team. Applejack was replaced by Big Mac, and by the looks of the gun he was carrying, they’d probably be better off this way. Twilight kept telling herself over and over again to watch her own back during the round. After all, Rarity was still not on her team, and Snipers tended to be the number one target for backstabbing. Whenever she felt the time was right, she’d literally have to throw jars of her own piss at thin air, hoping to reveal a Spy. “This is just going to keep getting worse.” She muttered to herself. …………………………………… Over in team BLU’s resupply, Fluttershy was trying desperately to build her confidence for the Control Points battle. That knife from the previous battle burned like fire in her back, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to endure it again. “No hard feelings about my brutal assault on your back yesterday, right Ms. Fluttershy?” Blue Spy asked her. “Um…it’s fine, I guess.” She replied. She aimed her medi-gun at Blue Spy, and pulled the lever, giving him a quick overheal to start the battle. “I give my thanks, doctor.” Pinkie Pie came running up to Fluttershy, wielding her flamethrower. “Mmph! Mmm mmm MMM!” She yelled. “Oh, Pinkie Pie? I can’t hear you under your optical mask.” Fluttershy mentioned politely. Pinkie Pie lifted the optical mask, and spoke rather clearly in Fluttershy’s face. “Why can’t you overheal ME like that?” “Gosh Pinkie Pie, I didn’t know. You never asked. Besides…I’m kind of afraid of fire.” Fluttershy sheepishly responded. … Without saying a word, Pinkie Pie put her mask back on, and aimed the flamethrower at Fluttershy. She pulled the trigger, and a cloud of flames shot out of the weapon in terrifying amounts. Fluttershy squealed loudly, and covered her face with her medi-gun. However, she realized that the flames weren’t burning her. They collided with her body, but didn’t seem to make an impact. Pinkie stopped the flow of flames, and took her mask back off. “See silly, you can’t kill your own teammates!” She giggled. “Pinkie Pie, if you want to be overhealed so badly, please go ask Blue Medic. I want to overheal Blue Heavy so I can get a lot of points.” Fluttershy pleaded. “Thank you doctor!” Blue Heavy called, hearing their conversation. … Suddenly, the woman on the loudspeaker announced the ten-second warning. Everyone on both teams prepped for battle. Fluttershy ran over behind Blue Heavy, and began to overheal him with The Vaccinator. “5…4…3…2…1…FIGHT!” …………………………………. Playing with Danger …………………………………. Both teams let out battle cries, and marched out in pursuit of the first Control Point. The ones who stayed behind were the Spies and the Snipers. They had more important work to do. … Applejack knew that the first thing that would happen if she tried to get the Control Point was going to be bloody. So instead, she hunted out a spot near the Control Point that was out of the way, and got out her trusty wrench. “Okay y’all, I’m putting a dispenser right here!” She announced. Blue Scout gave her a thumbs-up as he ran by with his baseball bat. Close behind him was Blue Heavy, being healed by Fluttershy. As Applejack worked on the dispenser, Blue Engineer approached her location. “Mind if I take advantage of your dispenser?” He asked. “Be my guest.” Applejack answered. … Blue Engineer got out his wrench, and began to set up a defense mechanism. “Building a sentry!” He announced. Blue Engineer was working on a small, average sentry gun. In order to upgrade it to a rapid-fire, rocket-launching, Heavy-killing defense monstrosity, he would need more metal. That’s where Applejack’s dispenser came in. Not long after completing the dispenser, Applejack began to work on a sentry gun of her own. Both Engineers continued to work on sentry guns, getting more metal from Applejack’s dispenser. Soon, they were both fully upgraded. “Now what?” Applejack asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Now? Now we wait.” Blue Engineer replied with a smirk on his face. … Rainbow Dash and Red Scout ran onto the Control Point, scatterguns ablaze. Surprisingly, they managed to hold off team BLU’s defenses long enough to capture the first Control Point for team RED. They slapped a high-five, and began to run around the corner to the next Control Point. Suddenly, they were pumped so full of bullets and rockets from the Engineers’ sentry guns that they literally blew into pieces. Now it was Blue Engineer’s and Applejack’s turn to slap a high-five. ……………………………………… Spike ran out from team RED’s base toward the location of the newly-captured Control Point. He had to continuously keep pushing his helmet out of his face, because it would constantly droop down into his vision. He turned the corner that was just past the Control Point, and started getting hit with bullets from the two sentry guns. Noticing that he was being fired at, he quickly hid back around the corner. He thought for a second on what to do. Then he remembered what Red Soldier had told him earlier. He crouched, aimed the rocket launcher at his feet, and fired. He took slight damage, but was propelled high into the sky. From up here, he could clearly see the whole map. He quickly looked down to where the two sentry guns and the two Engineers were located, and fired again. It made a solid impact on Blue Engineer’s head, and blew everything up. Blue Engineer, Applejack, the two sentry guns, and the dispenser were destroyed. Spike fell back down to earth, landing firmly on his feet. He quickly reloaded his rocket launcher, and began to advance toward team BLU’s base. “Whoa, that was amazing!” He exclaimed. “Excellent work, soldier! Now our team can advance on team BLU!” Red Soldier added. He must’ve been right around the corner when Spike blew up the sentry guns. Spike smiled, and the two of them ran forward to the next Control Point. As they were running, Spike heard a noise behind him. He turned, and saw Twilight running up behind them. “Twilight, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be sniping?” He asked. “Yeah, but I had to take care of something first.” Twilight responded. She ran around behind Spike, and jammed a knife in his back. Spike gasped. The form of red-wearing Twilight was replaced by blue-wearing Rarity. “Sorry Spikey-Wikey, but I couldn’t let you take the Control Point.” She whispered in his ear. … Not long after Spike fell to the ground, Red Soldier noticed Rarity. “Spy! Attack!” He yelled. He fired a rocket at Rarity, and before she could cloak herself again, she was blown up by the impact. Using the temporary loss of the Spy as an advantage, Red Soldier quickly climbed the spiraled hill that led to team BLU’s first central Control Point. Aiming his rocket launcher, he was prepared to fight off anyone who got in his way. A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash came running around the corner. She began to climb the spiral hill, and joined Red Soldier in capturing the Control Point. Red Soldier shot Rainbow Dash with his rocket launcher. It blew up on contact with Rainbow Dash’s body, but nothing happened. “Hey man, what are you doing?” She asked. “Just checking for Spies.” Red Soldier replied. … As the Control Point began to turn red, the duo heard a clattering noise. Before they could distinguish what it was coming from, they were blown sky-high by the bombs that were strategically placed beneath them. Zecora appeared from a secluded corner, holding her bomb launcher. “If you had checked your feet, you wouldn’t have become dead meat.” She smirked. She launched some sticky bombs up onto the Control Point, and hid back in her corner. ……………………………………… After spending a long time in her camping location, Twilight decided that she would have to move if she was going to get any kills. She had already managed to fill up three jars, and had no one to throw them at. She was also getting strained from sitting in one position for too long. She packed up her three jars and her sniper rifle, and left the battlements that she had been sitting on for the entire battle so far. … Believe it or not, a more cozy second set of battlements was waiting for her right next to the neutral Control Point. Except when she looked at it, it appeared to have been taken over by her team. She set up her rifle in one of the windows, and put her eye up to the scope. When she looked around, she saw Blue Heavy pummeling through her teammates with his minigun’s rapid-fire. “Well we can’t have that, now can we?” She whispered to herself. She took steady aim, getting the crosshair fixed onto Blue Heavy’s head. When she felt that it was in the right position, she pulled the trigger. She saw blood fly out of Blue Heavy’s head, and she heard him cry out a little. She had headshot him. However, he was still alive. “What the…? How is that possible?” She exclaimed. She looked back through the scope. When she took a closer look, as Blue Heavy advanced onto team RED’s Control Point, she saw Fluttershy healing him from close behind. “Oh, Fluttershy. I’m sorry I have to do this.” She aimed the crosshair at Fluttershy’s head. When the lines matched up, Twilight pulled the trigger. However, right when she did so, Fluttershy moved forward a little. … As Fluttershy followed and healed Blue Heavy, she heard something whip by her ear. She smacked her ear, thinking it was a bug. Not long after, she heard another whip. “Um, Heavy? I think I’m being shot at.” Fluttershy mentioned quietly. Her voice sounded as if she was about to throw up. Very panicked, and barely able to stay choked down. “Get behind me, doctor!” Blue Heavy commanded. Fluttershy did as she was told. Right then, her Ubercharge was ready to go. “Charge me!” Blue Heavy exclaimed. Right before Fluttershy pulled the lever on her power pack, a bullet passed through her head, as well as Blue Heavy’s chest. They both yelped loudly, and collapsed to the ground. Blood poured out of their wounds. … Twilight cocked the rifle, put her eye back up to the scope, and smiled. “Two for one.” ……………………………………… Twilight’s brutal double kill allowed team RED enough time to capture team BLU’s first central Control Point. Only a couple fighters died from Zecora’s sticky-bomb defense. Since team RED only had one Control Point to go, they all advanced into team BLU’s base. The neutral Control Point zone was quiet. “Guess I’d better move inwards toward the action.” Twilight said to herself. … She packed up her stuff again, and turned to leave the battlement. However, the second she turned around, she saw Pinkie Pie standing in the doorway with her flamethrower. “Hey Twilight!” She exclaimed. Pinkie let loose on the flames, and after a brutal several seconds of screaming and writhing, Twilight burned alive. …………………………………… Big Mac intruded team BLU’s base, shooting his minigun like a madpony. In this desperate fit of rage, he managed to finish off team BLU’s Sniper, Spy, and Engineer. He even killed off Fluttershy and Rarity. Not long after his main intrusion, Red Medic had followed him in there, and began to overheal him. “Let’s capture zee Control Point and win zee round!” Red Medic exclaimed. He activated an Ubercharge that he had previously saved up, and the two of them became invincible. They walked onto the last Control Point, and it started to turn red. More RED reinforcements began to flood into the BLU base. However, by the time Red Medic’s and Big Mac’s Ubercharge had run out, Blue Medic had built one up. He overhealed Blue Heavy, and activated Ubercharge. Blue Heavy began to pepper team RED with bullets, and managed to kill almost everyone off. Meanwhile, the last Control Point had seconds to go before team RED won the battle. Red Medic hid behind Big Mac while continuing to heal him. Big Mac desperately kept firing his minigun, trying to hold off team BLU. Suddenly, his gun stopped firing. … “What’s wrong?” Red Medic asked. “I think I’m out of ammo!” Big Mac exclaimed in reply. The Blues’ Ubercharge had run out, but Blue Heavy was still firing. Big Mac began to take damage, and Red Medic’s healing would only go so far. Suddenly, a charged bullet passed through Blue Medic’s and Blue Heavy’s head. They collapsed to the ground, and dropped their weapons. Big Mac and Red Medic looked toward the direction of the bullet, and saw Twilight standing in the entrance to team BLU’s base with her rifle held up. She brought it to her mouth, and blew smoke from the nozzle. “Did I miss anything?” She asked. … Right then, the last Control Point was captured for team RED. They had won the battle. “Victory, team RED!” The woman on the loudspeaker announced. Everyone on team RED jumped around and cheered. Victory always felt good. …………………………………… After the battle, both teams lined up near the central Control Point, and began the second recruit exchange. Big Mac and Red Medic got to choose first for team RED, since they captured the last Control Point. The teams are now scrambled as follows. Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy are on team RED. Rainbow Dash, Zecora, Big Mac, and Pinkie Pie are on team BLU. … “And now, just as planned, we meet tomorrow at the Nucleus for a King of the Hill battle!” Red Soldier announced. The teams agreed on the terms, and walked off in separate directions. “King of the Hill! That sounds like fun.” Rainbow Dash thought to herself. To be Continued…