Twisted Magic: Black

by Randomizer77

Demons, Pt. 3

Round 5: Prison Passage to Blackfield Asylum
Opponents: 8

Now do you see? It was the demon. He killed those lost souls and tarnished my good name. I hope The Lady will take me back...

Twilight was in a large room inside... she didn’t know what. What she did know, however, was that the ice cream truck was close by once again; albeit in front of her this time, rather than behind her.

Dodging the gunfire the truck sent at her, she raced past, smashed through a metal structure and grabbed the pickup weapon behind it. Hanging a left, she raced around the open room, grabbing the weapons scattered about. Then, she faced the ice cream truck and opened fire with a barrage of bullets and gas cans that sent it up in flames.

Twilight pulled up a reticle and took aim at the remaining opponent: the muted purple hearse. She started to charge the weapon... but her target briefly moved out of the crosshairs, eliminating all chances of her hitting with the weapon’s full force. Undeterred, she still managed to hit with six of the missiles.

A power missile missed, as did a ricochet. The hearse then used a new attack: a purple-and-black shadow-like object that swiftly traveled along the ground and exploded when it was a few feet away from her. Twilight chucked a Suicide Bomber in response, but missed. She attacked with her machine gun and a pair of power missiles, though the latter missed; the hearse shot back with another shadowy explosive.

Twilight assessed her current situation: her car was at slightly less than half health, there was no repair station or pickup in the room, and there was absolutely zero cover. She’d have to take out the hearse quickly. Dashing across the space, putting distance between herself and her opponent, Twilight turned to aim and fire, only to be stopped in her tracks by a freeze missile.

As she frantically cranked her engine to break free, the hearse used the opportunity to attack freely, pushing Brimstone closer to the brink of death. Twilight started to panic. But then, salvation arrived in the form of doors on the sides of the room opening. Not missing a beat, she dashed out through the newly-formed exit, and discovered that the room was... on a ship at sea?! Just when she thought this contest couldn’t get any crazier!

A missile lobbed at her by the junk car knocked Brimstone into the red zone. U-turning after they passed by, Twilight raced up a ramp and grabbed a repair pickup at the top; a quick search of the ship’s upper deck resulted in another one. By now, Brimstone’s turbo was completely empty, but a nearby white orb fixed the problem.

Racing around the ship’s upper deck, Twilight grabbed an MG upgrade. Passing by the hearse, she launched a Suicide Bomber behind her, hearing the familiar cry of “Repent!” when they made contact. Whipping around, she launched a missile at her opponent, only for them to dodge.

At first, Twilight drove around on the upper deck of the ship, anxiously waiting for the repair pickups to respawn. But that plan changed when the ship docked at its destination. Racing off, she briefly debated using the repair station nearby, and decided to save it for when and if things got truly dire for her; after all, she had no idea if this one would cease functioning after one use.

Activating her turbo, grabbing a couple of refill pickups to keep Brimstone’s engine humming, Twilight spotted, off in the distance, the blue glow surrounding the items she needed right now. Driving through them brought her car’s status back into the green and landed the driver-vehicle duo in a muddy ravine.

An opponent came down into the ravine on the far side. Taking careful aim, Twilight launched a zoomy and got all ten missiles to hit their target. Raising a shield, she floored it, opened fire and rammed into her target: the two-wheeled contraption. As it raced away, she exited the ravine and got onto the road at the edge.

Down the road was a raised drawbridge—much bigger than the one on Black Vista Highway—blocked off by “Do Not Enter” barriers. At least, until Twilight destroyed the empty booth that sat at the foot of the bridge. Seconds later, the bridge and the barriers lowered, allowing her to cross. Driving back onto the ship, she crossed paths with the hearse, which was now on its last legs. She finished it off with two homing missiles and a gas can.

Climbing up the side of the ravine, Twilight pulled up a reticle and aimed at a target highlighted in the distance. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Full Charge Up. Fire.

Twilight started to worry that her target may have out-driven her attack, but then “Missile Bonus 10/10” appeared on her radar. Scurrying around the nearby buildings, picking up an MG upgrade along the way, she stopped on a repair station to bring her car back to full fighting condition. Leaping through the air and landing on the side of the ravine, she lined the dump truck up in front of her and launched a Suicide Bomber.

...How did that miss?

No matter. She opened fire with her mega gun and, when that ran out of ammunition, continued the assault with her regular machine gun.

Turning away from the flaming wreckage of the other contestant’s vehicle, she raced back onto the asylum grounds and grabbed an MG upgrade, then leapt through the air, but then went tumbling end-over-end into the ravine. Shaking off her disorientation, she aimed herself at the motorcycle and attacked with a power missile and her mega gun, unflinchingly ramming it when she got close.

Continuing onward, Twilight passed through the room on the ship she started the battle on, grabbing two missiles as she did. Exiting the room took her onto the road that encircled the edge of the battleground, then later, into the vicinity of the two-wheeled contraption. The two moved into a large tunnel that lead into the asylum, whereupon she launched two Suicide Bombers.

Behind the smoldering remains of the contraption, the police SUV took aim at Twilight; she responded with a barrage of fire missiles. Dashing away long enough to grab a repair pick-up, she then re-engaged and took it out with a gas can.

Exiting the asylum, she initially drove onto the road circling the edge of the battleground, then looped back to the roof and finally the interior, where she encountered the junk car. Keeping some distance, she fired a gas can, bullets and a few homing missiles, then exited the building before it could get a good aim at her. Speeding onto the roof, she launched a zoomy at the taxi, then plowed straight into it; this elimination was followed by a second one against the motorcycle.

Jumping to the asylum’s next level down, Twilight used her machine gun to break open some crates and reveal access to a repair pickup behind them. But no sooner had she collected it, that the junk car attacked, pursued her into another room and blindsided her by ramming her when she stopped to grab a turbo refill.

Acting fast, Twilight raced out of the asylum and onto the roof, whereupon she found a repair station. Dashing about, she grabbed two clips of mega gun ammunition, endured the zero-gravity sensation of going airborne, and attacked the junk car with a Suicide Bomber and a homing missile.

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Round 6: Black Rock Ridge
Opponents: 8

This place is as small as the hearts of creatures, and just as dangerous. Mother, why do you afford me no sanctuary?

Snow. Snow all around. It was pretty, almost giving the area a quaint feel. But this weather also made things more dangerous; Twilight had traveled to enough cold regions to know how snow made driving difficult.

At first, she was paralyzed by indecision, not sure whether to go forward or backward. But missiles striking her from behind forced her to make a decision, and she chose backward. Zipping by the dump truck, she whipped around a trio of squat buildings—a gas station, a store and a garage—and headed to some k-rails; behind them, the surface sloped downward, providing some cover.

Turning around and climbing back up the slope, Twilight passed by the contraption and sped down the snow-covered road to find most of the other contestants duking it out together. Deciding that doing something to potentially make all of them gang up on her was a bad idea, she merely passed by and left them to their own devices for the time being. But further down the road in an empty lot, she spotted one that had strayed from the pack, and nailed it with homing missiles.

At the end of the route, Twilight cautiously broke through another concrete k-rail, nabbing a repair pickup from the ground behind and below. Clambering back up onto the lot, she raised a shield and charged at the semi truck; the shield proved to be a smart decision, as someone activated an environmental attack that struck her with a bolt of lightning.

After colliding with the semi truck, Twilight rushed down the road—taking note of a repair station—and threw a Suicide Bomber at the sports car. Reaching the three squat buildings, somebody destroyed the garage, removing half of the cover in the immediate area. Brimstone was pushed up onto two wheels by something hurled by another contestant; regathering herself, Twilight fired several missiles in quick succession at the sports car. Hurrying down the road, she tracked down the junk car and after a skirmish, destroyed it, as well.

Twilight stopped behind a brick building to take stock of her current situation. About forty rounds of mega gun ammo. Little less than half of a full energy supply. Nearly full turbo supply. Health status in the red zone.

...The repair station.

She’d have to be smart about this. So she used a tool she hadn’t used yet: invisibility. Engaging the turbo, she dashed out from her hiding place and across the land, nerves on edge. Soon, the invisibility started to wear off, but when it finally did, she was within spitting distance of the station.

Driving down the road and U-turning at the gas station junction, she took a single potshot at the two-wheeled contraption, then the dump truck, and finally multiple ones at the motorcycle.

One more down.

Reversing as the dump truck opened fire on her, she then shifted back into drive and raced past it, snow flying by her and across Brimstone’s windshield. Ending up in the empty lot, she broke through more k-rails to grab a repair pickup, then U-turned and used a gas can to score a bullseye on and eliminate the police SUV.

Racing to the repair station—unable to not take note of the burning wreckage of a vehicle that, curiously, wasn’t the remains of another contestant—Twilight entered the gas station junction, and realized the three remaining contestants had followed her route.

Perfect.

She first attacked with a satellite, but then followed it with two back-to-back ricochets that took out the dump truck and semi truck. Snagging a repair pickup from a passing helicopter, she pulled up a shield and then struck with a gas can. The contraption unleashed a blue shockwave that knocked her into the air, but had no response when a ricochet was launched in its direction.

Author's Note:

I have (admittedly somewhat fuzzy) memories of what this story was like when it was first written. I can proudly say that I’m much happier with how it is now. XD

It seems like my brain fries every time I push myself to actually write anything. I’m concerned about what this potentially means for my other works, which don’t have the benefit of videos to guide their writing process.

As for why Twilight missed the dump truck? Brimstone’s Special Attack has sketchy coding behind it that makes getting it to connect tricky.

Just one more chapter of Preacher’s story to go.

Trivia: There are two levels that can be chosen for Round 6 of Story Mode: Snowy Roads (used here) and Drive-In Theater. The latter is considered to be one of the game’s hardest levels, if not the hardest; it’s difficult even for expert players!

Comments

[Jest]

Keep it up freindo, this one sure is interesting.