Round 3: Capture the Flag
Doctor Whooves: The City of Toys
Chapter 4:
Round 3: Capture the Flag
Max Kodan
“Toymaker?” The Doctor called out to the room. Silence and a few odd looks were the only responses he received. “Toymaker!!” He repeated, agitation creeping into his voice this time.”We won a round, right? Come on, then! Regale us with some of your story!” He yelled at the air around him, eyes flicking to every corner. A light, hissing, static sound caused him to turn around and meet the host of the games eye to holographic eye.
“I suppose I shall.” The Toymaker grinned, showing every one of his teeth for a moment. “You know,” he began, pacing back and forth, “When I arrived here, the city was quite alive and vibrant, but not nearly enough for me. It was just so....monotonous. Everyone was a pony. I decided I’d spice things up a little. But you know me, Doctor. I’m far from unfair. Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t just change everyone. Excuse me,” He paused and bowed to Star and Dash. “Every ‘pony’. I’m still getting used to the lingo.”
He cleared his throat and continued. “No, no, I didn’t simply change the city into the form you see now. See, I wanted to make sure that I built my city fairly. Unlike SOME people, er, ponies, I don’t ch-cheat.” He seemed to twitch gently as he said his trigger word. “You see, I challenged every pony in the city to a game. Every single one. One at a time. And let me tell you, Doctor.” He stopped pacing, turning his full attention back to his nemesis. “I won every single game.” With that, the hologram became unstable and vanished.
Dash walked up next to the Doctor, her eyes watching him warily for a reaction. She raised a hoof and gently touched his shoulder. “Doctor?”
“He skipped a bit,” The Doctor replied. He brought his own hoof up to his chin and looked down. “I guess he never said he’d tell us the story in the right order.” He sighed and shook his head, then turned to his companion. “So, he said Capture the Flag, right?”
North Star eyed the Doctor up and down. “What aren’t you telling us?” She asked slowly, her eyes narrowing.
The Doctor paused, almost as if taken aback. “Wh-what? He’s a being from a universe that follows a different set of laws of physics, and he’s so sadistic that they threw him out. I’ve done battle with him in the past. What more do you need to know?” He sighed.
“You’re missing part of the middle of your story, too, Doctor.” She replied, staring him down evenly.
“Look, none of this important right now.” He looked off to the side, gritting his teeth a bit. “We need to focus on winning this game. We’ll be at a disadvantage as far as numbers go, so we need to focus. Everyone! Gather round!” He called out to the other ponies in the room.
As the red team reluctantly headed towards the chestnut pony, Star continued pressing. “He made a point of mentioning the word ‘body’ to you before. What did he mean?”
“Not now.” The Doctor growled. The last of the ponies were trickling in. “...Later. I promise.” He looked at her, narrowing his eyes into her glare. “I PROMISE.”
That seemed to sate her for the moment, as she sat down and straightened her back out to listen along with the rest of the group. He heaved a heavy sigh and stretched his neck, preparing his speech in his head. “Alright,” he began.
“A-HEM!” He was interrupted by a rather loud, stallion voice from next to him. All 15 or so heads turned towards the new speaker. “Lemme guess, you think you’re going to be the leader? Don’t make me laugh.”
The Doctor groaned. “We don’t have time for this, Juvex.” He turned to the aggressor, who stood boldly and held his head high. “The only way we’re going to get out of this is if we work together. If you can all just follow my orders to the letter, we can-”
“Oh, follow YOUR orders.” Juvex didn’t seem to like letting the Doctor finish sentences. “And just why should we follow you? You’re not even from this planet.” He sneered. “So give me one reason, just one good reason why I should do a single thing you say.”
The Doctor narrowed his eyes and stood up tall, stepping forward and meeting Juvex’s stare with his own. “One reason?” He asked, moving a little closer. “Alright, everypony here who’s played a game against Nollar, raise your hoof.” He did so, and everypony else save for Rainbow Dash and North Star did the same. “Now, next question. Everypony who’s won, keep your hoof up.”
Slowly, one by one, almost ashamedly, every hoof lowered to the floor. The last one down was Juvex, whose eyes were looking less aggressive and more angry. Finally, only the Doctor’s hoof remained in the air.
“Now.” He said sharply. “If there are no more objections.”
There were none.
“The next game is Capture the Flag.” The Doctor tore his gaze away from Juvex, who sulked angrily, still glaring at the Time Lord. “Of course it won’t be so simple, there will be something else, some catch that he hasn’t told us about. Our first order of business when we start the game is going to be figuring out the catch. The sooner we discover the trick, the sooner we can get the upper hand.”
The group nodded. “Hey.” It was Rainbow Dash. “Why don’t I fly ahead and find the other base? I’m the fastest pony on two wings, I could get the flag and get back before they knew what hit them.” She posed proudly. A few of their teammates shrugged and nodded.
“But like last time, we don’t know what’s out there. It may not be as simple as grabbing the flag.” The Doctor shook his head.
“You know...” Star was gazing up at the ceiling in thought. “Rainbow Dash here might not have the worst idea.” She held up a hoof. “Hear me out. Last time there were only three of us, but now there are quite a few. If there ARE no tricks, then maybe Dash is right and we could end this quickly. But if he has set something up, she could come back and inform us.”
“Yeah!” The speedster exclaimed. “I’d be like...a scout or whatever.”
“No. No, no, no.” The Doctor shook his head vigorously.
“Why not?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Rainbow Dash, you are NOT going out there by yourself!” He exclaimed.
There was silence for a few moments, Dash quirking an eyebrow in annoyance and looking the Doctor up and down.
“I’m overriding you on this one, Doctor.” Star scolded. “We need to win this, don’t we?”
The Doctor looked around. All eyes were on him again, but specifically Dash’s and Star’s. “I...” He began to protest, but only sighed. “Fine. But be more careful than you have ever been in your life, understand?”
Dash gave a reluctant nod just as the ceiling crackled to life again.
“Well, fillies and gentlecolts! Round three is about to begin! Are we ready to capture some flags? I hope so! Just to make sure we don’t go on for too long, I’m going to make the opposing team’s flag visible to all of youuuuuuuuu, now!” Indeed, as if a lightbulb clicked on, a small blue waypoint appeared to each of them, apparently against the wall, but actually signifying the position of the opposing team’s flag. “I’ll also show you where your own base is! Just incase you forget.” Another waypoint appeared, this time red, larger, and hovering above the center of the room they were currently in. “Very good! Aaaaaand....Go!” The screen vanished, and Rainbow Dash immediately leapt into the air, racing for the door.
As the Doctor watched her go, his eyes fell on the blue waypoint. After adjusting to the odd, floating arrow, he realized it was moving. “That’s odd...” He turned around, looking at their base. It was still, but... “Rainbow Dash, wait!”
His call came too late. She had already left the room. She turned her head quizzically. “What?” As if on cue, her wings buckled and she yelped. She found herself struggling, and finally crashing to the ground, pushing herself up with shaky legs. “Wh-what the?” She looked around. Her head moved slowly and hung low. “Doctor, what’s going on? I feel really, really heavy.”
Most of the crowd seemed too nervous to move. The Doctor sat back and sighed. “I figured out the trick to this game.” He leaned his head back and looked up to the ceiling. Indeed, the Toymaker appeared and cleared his throat.
“Ah, one more thing I may have forgotten to mention. The flag, upon leaving its base, will quickly become heavier and heavier the further away it travels. Have fun!” He disappeared again, and suddenly it dawned on the room.
The Doctor voiced it first. “Rainbow Dash. You’re our ‘flag.’”
With some considerable effort, the pegasus dragged herself back into the room. Upon passing through the threshold, she gasped and flopped over onto her back, breathing heavily. “Tha....tha....that guy...” She heaved.
“I know, I know.” The Doctor sighed. To North Star, he looked just a little too happy about this new development, but she didn’t say anything. She glanced sideways at the wall. The marker for the opposing team’s flag had gone back to its original position. It seemed as though the other team had figured out the rules as well.
“Alright then.” Someone in the small crowd called. “So, what, we have to get their flag before they get ours? Does that means we can just make a line and not let any of them through?”
“No, no, it won’t be that simple...” The Doctor put a hoof to his chin. “Rainbow Dash, let’s head back out. Perhaps on hoof this time.” She glared up at him, and he looked about nervously. “I just want to see how heavy you get.” She glared harder. “Wh-wha...N-no! What I mean is-!”
She stood up and punched him in the arm. Folding her wings against her back, the speedster walked out the door and braced herself against her newly added weight. The Doctor followed, tentatively putting a hoof outside the base before walking out in full, just to be sure. “Alright, now I’m going to try and push you down the hallway. I want you to resist, but don’t fight back, so NO punching!” He reached up to rub his arm.
“Fine, fine...Ugh, this is so lame...”
The Doctor paced around his comrade for a moment, sizing up the situation. She shifted uncomfortably. Finally, he walked up to her and tried to gently push her back towards the base. She instinctively leaned against his hooves, pushing the other way. She didn’t budge. He started putting a bit more effort into it. She still didn’t move at all. He quickly started throwing quite a bit of horsepower into it, pushing against her shoulder with his. She dug her hooves into the ground as much as she could. For all of the Doctor’s efforts, Rainbow Dash slid only very slowly back towards their awaiting teammates. As they got closer and closer, it became easier and easier to push her, and finally they both toppled past the line and into the room.
The Doctor brushed himself off, standing up and ignoring the embarrassed Rainbow Dash behind him. “Alright,” he said, clearing his throat and trying to hide his hastened breath. “There’s quite a bit of added weight…” Dash shot him another glare, but he ignored her. He was busy counting the ponies in the room and doing a bit of mental math. “I’d guess…” He hesitated, double checking himself just to be sure. “I’d guess that in order for us to clear the last hallway, given about how far away the other ‘flag’ is, it would need...all of us. We might be able to spare…three ponies, tops, to other jobs.” He sat, glowering at the floor. There was a bit of a murmur throughout the room.
“So, then, let’s go do it.” Juvex was jogging in place. “We’ll just go there and carry their ‘flag’ back here. Full force, right?”
“No,” The Doctor said, rubbing his eyes wearily with a hoof. “No, that won’t work.” He held his hoof up before the protests began. “Remember the rules. The losing team gets a larger number of players between rounds than the winning team. That means, if you’ll excuse the phrase, they have more horsepower than we do. The Toymaker…” He looked around and received a few looks of confusion. “Mayor Nolar. This was his plan. This game is going to be weighted against us every step of the way, even if it’s ‘fair’.” He glanced in the direction that the blue flag had been in. He saw that they had moved against the red matting. They had taken the flag out into the maze. “If we’re going to win this game, we need to play smart. We’re going to have to…”
His ears flicked as he stared at the blue waypoint. “...have to…” He straightened his back and took a deep breath in. Suddenly, a huge grin crossed his face. “I have a plan.”
------
“Are you sure about this, Doctor?” Rainbow Dash had been given a lot of reasons to trust the Doctor since she started travelling with him, but this plan was straining her faith in him to it’s limit. North Star was sitting next to her, and the entire rest of the group stood by the exit to their home base, dividing into teams and preparing to head out. “I mean, do I really just have to sit around? I’m sure I could do at least something.” Restlessness was in her nature. She was positive that this Toymaker guy had made her the flag knowing that.
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I know this is going to be rough on you, but you’ve got the most important part to play. You can do it just fine. Besides, I’m leaving Star with you.” He motioned to the unicorn. “So you’ll have some company for a while.”
The unicorn threw an arm around Rainbow Dash’s shoulders and grinned. “We’ll have a great time! We can do our hooves and talk about boys and eat popcorn and prank call the Toymaker and-”
Dash’s ears flattened against her head and she pushed her companion a hoof’s length away as she laughed. “Great, thanks. Remind me to get you something for Hearthswarming. Like a live bee’s nest.”
Star rolled onto her back in her fit of laughter, holding her stomach. “W-well, If you’d prefer, I’m sure Juvex would-”
“No.” Dash huffed, crossing her hooves and eliciting another fit of giggles from her new guardian.
“Very well, then.” The Doctor sighed and smiled. “The rest of you know what to do. We can do this, alright?” With a collective, somewhat halfhearted response from the rest, he glanced around once more. “...Well, good enough, anyway.“
-----
She had made it to a short, gray, dead-end hallway. It had been rough getting there, with all the extra weight, but she’d managed. This was the plan, anyway. They had the advantage in numbers, so the only guard they would need would be the extra distance. She kind of wished that she could be out there in the thick of things, but a peaceful, quiet wait for the round to end in their inevitable victory. That was the plan.
The milling conversation and mild static inside the blue team’s base seemed so far away now, she thought as she wedged herself into a corner, both for support and so that it would be that much harder for them to start moving her when they came. This hallway was so silent that her pulse was beating in her ears, just to assure her that she hadn’t gone deaf. She hadn’t brought any of her teammates with her, it would have only slowed them down in getting the flag.
Her mind was racing, remembering. Perhaps she should have brought just one pony. Just to talk. Just to drown out the accursed silence. The thought came to mind to just start singing loudly, so that maybe she could accept her echo as a conversation partner. She didn’t want to think, or remember. Perhaps that was the best part about being a toy. Sometimes, it was hard to remember the past, what it had been like before, what she had lost. She didn’t have to think. Not in the city. Not even at night, as she was lulled to a dreamless sleep by the sounds of a bustling night life outside. Yes, she told herself, remember home. Remember your bed. Remember the fabric that used to make up your legs. That ridiculous wig, the silly hat, the puffy dress that would be uncomfortable if you weren’t filled with fluff and down…
“You’re on the winning team, this time.” She told herself aloud. “You’re on the side that He wants to win. You’re on His team, this time.”
“None of us are on the Toymaker’s team,” A voice said as a figure emerged around the corner. It was him. The other him. The new him. The one who said he could win this whole thing, really beat Nolar. The Doctor.
The Fool.
She smiled. The Doctor was alone. “I suppose,” she said, “You’ll want me to come with you?”
“I just want to talk.” He said.
“Talk, hm? Well...I’m listenin’, Doctor.” Kalee smiled serenely, wedging herself deeper into the corner. “So talk.”
-----
Dash paced back and forth behind North Star, who gritted her teeth and held fast as her barrier was assaulted by the group of ponies on the other side of it. They’d been found quickly. She sort of wished that Dash were a unicorn. They could hold out for a lot longer if they were able to take turns. With a concentrated push, the entire blue team managed to shove the barrier backwards. Star moved along with it. With a final shove, the barrier broke and Star fell backwards, wincing and rubbing her head.
“S-sorry, Dash,” She stammered, biting her lip. “I’m done, I think…”
“That’s alright.” Dash grinned. This was what she’d been waiting for. She leapt into the air and hung there. This was where her own particular skills started coming into play. When she was determined not to be caught, even Twilight’s magic couldn’t catch up to her. She started her circuit of the ceiling. A couple of pegasi followed after her, but she danced around them like they were floating down a lazy river. Star sat back and watched the show, laughing and clapping as they attempted to catch the flying blue blur. Perhaps they’d be alright after all.
----
“Come on, Kalee! We need to work together on this.” The Doctor pleaded. He had stood talking to the mare for quite some time. “Please, if you help me, I can stop him, I promise you. I can fix it, fix the city, fix everything!”
“Fix th’ city?” Kalee said quietly, wedged just as firmly into her corner as she had been when he had first arrived. “Y’all wanna ‘fix’ th’ city? Ah don’ think y’understand, Doctor. We been this way for a while now. Ever’thing’s mixed ‘round now. Ponies ain’t where they used’ta be. Book keepin’ just don’ happen.” She shook her head vigorously. “Mosta us don’ even remember bein’ ponies. There’s no fixin’ this city, Doctor. Thing’ve adjusted. You change t’all back now, you’re doomin’ us all ta’ chaos.”
The Doctor stood, a bit taken aback. “Are you saying...that you don’t want things to change? That you’re giving up and accepting the way things are?”
“That is precisely what Ah’m sayin’, Doctor.”
The Doctor didn’t respond immediately. He narrowed his eyes, staring firmly at her. She shifted where she lay, uncomfortable both with the physical weight that she wasn’t used to, and the weight of the eyes that bored into her. “B-besides,” she said, a slight stutter breaking her cool demeanor. “Y’all can’ beat ‘im. He CAN’ be beaten, an’ yer a fool fer thinkin’ ya can.” She set her jaw and glared at him. “Bes’ jus’ ta accept yer own fate an’ join us here.”
“Fine, then, if I don’t win then this world stays just as it is. But...isn’t it worth a try?” The Doctor stood taller and stepped towards her. “Please, Kalee. Let me try. Trust me.”
She was instantly on her feet, her eyes boring into the Doctor’s with a fiery intensity that rivaled his own. “Don’ you DARE say tha’ to me!” She hollered, despite her legs shaking from the added gravity and the sudden action.
The Doctor didn’t flinch. He watched her quietly. Though she tried to hold her stare, her eyes softened, a hint of surprise flashing over them, before she looked away and moved back to her corner.
“Who was it?” He asked her.
“I’m done talkin’ to you, Doctor.”
“I can wait, I have time.”
She clearly didn’t want to talk, but the Doctor sat by so patiently and so persistently that she felt like she had no choice. “Mah...mah brother was the firs’ one ta challenge ‘im twice.” She croaked, her voice having lost nearly all of its confidence. “The firs’ one ta lose twice.”
“What happened to him?” The Doctor spoke as calmly as he could, as soothing as his old voice could get.
“Ah don’ know. An’ Ah ain’t gonna find out.” She turned to look at him. “Doctor, Ah’m gonna say it again. Ah have no intention of losin’ ta y’all.”
The Doctor moved over against the wall and turned, sitting down. “I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to change your mind, Kalee.” She gave him a quizzical glare, but he simply stared out at the opposite wall. “As long as it takes.”
Kalee shook her head and turned away, her eyes trailing something along the wall. She smiled lightly. “You’ll be waitin’ a long time, Doctor,” She said with a new hint of brevity in her voice. He glanced down at her, frowning as she continued. “Looks like mah team’s about ta’ claim a win.”
-----
Rainbow Dash lay flat against the ground. Almost literally. She was giving them as little surface to push along as she possibly could. Even though they’d managed to get her out of the room, she was set and determined to make this as difficult and obnoxious a task as she possibly could. And, all things considered, she was doing a remarkably good job with it. The ponies who tried to move here had to bend and stoop to get any sort of leverage, and they were beyond the point that the few unicorns on the team could manage to do little more than expend every bit of magical energy they had just to make the job only a little easier.
“Should be about time…” She said.
“Time for...ugh...what?” One of the pegasi who was attempting to roll her over responded, barely paying attention.
He was answered by the sudden cry of about 7 ponies from the red team, who all flung themselves into the group and caused a ridiculous amount of chaos, shattering any rhythm the blue team had had going. Dash laughed, barely able to move anything but her eyes and mouth, now. This had been happening regularly, every few minutes or so, and it gave Dash time to readjust and make things even harder for her would-be kidnappers.
Still, she was getting awfully close to the end of the line. She looked around and spotted the marker that indicated where the blue flag was, staring intently in that direction. She knew the Doctor was over there. “I really hope you’re right about this, Doctor…” She muttered. Her team had fled, and again hooves began to push and pull at her artificially heavy body, attempting once more to drag her to the red team’s defeat.
-----
“It’s jus’ about over, Doctor.” Kalee smiled to herself and breathed a sigh of relief. She struggled to stand up and turned her charming smile back to the Doctor. His quiet, passive torture session was over, now. “Les’ go give ‘em a welcome, shall we?” She stumped her legs forward, a bit slower and less graceful than she might have liked.
“This is your last chance, Kalee.” The Doctor’s voice behind her was still soft. Full of what she could only identify as faked concern. She kept her face turned away from him, in case it betrayed the momentary burst of rage that flared in her stomach.
“An’ pray tell, mah last chance for what, Doctor?” She asked in as light and fluttery a tone as she could muster.
The Doctor stood, as stately and proudly as he had been all this time, and walked alongside her, offering his shoulder for support. Trying to butter her up. “You can either help me, side with me, work with me, or I can win by force.”
His bluff was so bold, so forward, and so calm that for just a moment Kalee almost believed him. Instead of betraying that fact, however, she merely laughed and declined his offer of aid. It wasn’t that much further, and she could see the waypoints belonging to the red team’s flag and the blue team’s base growing closer together. Inch by inch, her team was winning.
As the pair rounded the corner, her resolve hardened and her victory was reassured. There were only a few inches left between Rainbow Dash and the entrance to their base. Though the mare must have been astronomically heavy by this point, headway was being made. It was, at least, until an uproarious cry echoed through the hallway and the red team crashed over the struggling formation like a wave. The ranks broke, and there was a bit of wrestling among the teams as the reds prised the blues off of their teammate. The scuffling lasted a little less than a minute when, just as suddenly as they’d appeared, the apparently desperate red team scattered back off into the maze.
“Y'all are quite committed to buyin’ time, Doctor.” Kalee smiled serenely. Her mind was set. “But ah ain’t comin’ with ya.” The Doctor still simply sat in a stony silence as the blue team worked their way back around Rainbow Dash, who had taken the opportunity to flatten herself even more against the ground. The look in her eyes told Kalee that she would likely be complaining, if her jaw didn’t weigh a couple of hundred pounds.
It was almost agonizing. An inch at a time, or less. Grunts and shouts of frustration and effort emitted from the blue team with each thrust of effort. Half of them pushed, the others pulled. The tip of Rainbow Dash’s wing lurched towards the line, closer, closer...the distance was almost imperceptible now. Kalee, turned towards the Doctor, whose expression had not changed, and levelled a serious look at him. “Doctor, Ah said it before, an’ Ah’ll say it again. Ah won’ lose. Ah won’ ever lose again.”
-----
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, as if trying to will herself to not move anymore. It almost hurt, all that weight, but still, the entire force of the blue team was nothing to be sniffed at. It had been a long battle, even longer give how often the blues had been interrupted in the process. But it was so close to being over...just one...more...push...and…
The very end of the furthest extended feather of Rainbow Dash’s wing fell into the tiny crack in the padded floor that separated the blue base from the maze proper. A loud buzzer sounded, and the blues and the temporary red flag all tumbled in a pile through the doorway as the weight suddenly lifted. Dash fought herself out of the tangle of ponies, giving a less than kind and probably less than necessary kick to a particular stallion she felt had been a bit too grabby. With a grumble, she brushed herself off and walked towards the Doctor, stretching out her stiff wings and legs, and neck as she went. He was sitting next to that mare, that Kalee, from the other team, and they appeared to be having some kind of standoff. Rather, Kalee seemed to be staring him down, and the Doctor just sat there, with his eyes closed.
She approached him, a bit of a frown on her face. “Sorry, Doctor…” She rubbed her foreleg. “I tried to hold out longer, but…”
“Don’t worry about it, Dash.” The Doctor replied, a bit of melancholy hinted at in his voice. “You did spectacularly.”
-----
Kalee’s smile widened as the pegasus who had so recently been a flag for the red team apologized. She had won, just like she’d said she would. And she would keep winning. As they sat there, the maze disappeared around them, and again the world was black. The red team seemed just a little scattered, but as the walls dropped they all converged a short distance away. That other unicorn that had been with the pair before her trotted up as well. The team gathered and stared past her, to where the blue team sat. She shook her head. She felt bad, a little bit, dealing such a defeat to them, but it was necessary. It was absolutely necessary.
“Miss Kalee…” This voice...it was the Doctor. He sounded serious. She chuckled to herself and met his gaze, waiting silently for him to continue. She knew what was coming. He would start pleading with her, trying one last time to convince her that his way was right. He’d try to convey to her how serious the situation was. “You said you won’t lose. That you’ll never lose again…” And here it came...she nodded to him in response. “...Neither will I.”
Kalee was taken aback. She didn’t get the chance to respond before The Doctor stood and walked away, accompanied by his two companions. She was dumbfounded, but that confusion was replaced quickly by anger. “What do y’all mean!? Ya DID lose! Ya’ll will KEEP losing! One more victory, Doctor! That’s all I need!” She was shouting. Something about his manner was making her lose her cool. For a moment, her eye caught something. Past the Doctor, was the red team, some of them still looking beyond her. But others...others were not. They seemed to be...celebrating? Some pointed and laughed, some whooped and cheered, some were even dancing around. “What!?” She called. “Y’all LOST! Don’ you get it!? Y’ALL LOST!”
Raibow Dash, the pegasus that her team had struggled to push so far, turned her head with a grin, then pulled her eye down and stuck out her tongue. She was MOCKING her! What were they thinking? What was so funny!? Had they all gone mad? She tore her gaze away from them in frustration, turning around and marching back towards her own team. She only made it a few steps before she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened, her ears drooped. Her jaw fell open, just a little bit, in sudden realization. In front of her now was her own team...battered, worn, tired. They slumped against each other, groaned, rubbed sore joints. They panted and heaved. Not a single one of them was on their feet. Kalee whipped around, staring back towards the Doctor. He was looking back, his eyes dead-set and grave.
“You said you won’t lose. Neither will I.”
His voice echoed through her consciousness. His words stabbed and stung. She felt something strange settle into her mind. Something like fear. Fear that would soon turn to panic. Behind the red team, an image flickered to life. A yellow stallion appeared. Their ‘host’. His voice boomed through the abyss in which they seemed to stand.
“A marvelous victory for the blue team!! The red team is just one loss away from a total defeat! Will they be able to come back? Or will this spell the end for the strangers to our planet!? We’ll find out in just a moment, during ROUND FOUR!” With his final exclamation, he vanished from sight.
The Doctor had planned it. All of it. At the very least, it had been a contingency. He had lost on purpose...just as she had before. Except now, he had done something she hadn’t managed. He had decimated her team. She could feel them, the heavy breathing, the occasional cough, the worn groans, the creaks of the overworked joints. Every moment it stung even more. Despite her victory, and no matter what the numbers said, as the joyous red team faded before her and she appeared back in their blue-hued waiting room, she knew...she had lost.
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Clever, clever Doctor
Very neat trick.
This reminded me of Fat Princess.
It's a PSP game that's super similar to Capture the Flag. (with a few RTS elements.)
Except instead of flags, you have princesses.
And you feed them cake so they're heavier and more difficult to carry.
5027537 Actually...I had not thought about that when I was writing the chapter, and I'd PLAYED Fat Princess before. Honestly, I had come up with the idea of having a Capture the Flag round long before I'd figured out how to tweak it to be a little...different. And then it was even longer before I figured out how The Doctor et al would face the challenge. I wracked my brain for a long time trying to figure out just how they could assure themselves a win, and I just couldn't do it...so here was the next best thing~.
How's life? Has your muse been around lately?
I totally get your reasons for putting this story on Hiatus, but I just wanted to let you know that this series made my day and I'd love to keep reading.
7578291 Thanks for checking up on me! My muse has been scattered to the four winds, but I catch scraps now and then. Lately I've been funneling them into two projects: The first is a novel that I'm working on. Like, a novel I would like to publish. The second is a Phoenix Wright style crossover fanfic with a cast of (mostly) original characters starring Alexandrite, a crystal pony. Mystery is one of those things I've always kind of wanted to write, so this lets me pull double duty of writing a mystery and working more with my own characters. If you like my writing style, you should check out the two stories I've posted about her! Neither of them are mysteries, but they'll introduce you to some of my characters, and the main fic I'm working on is massive, and it will be finished before I post any of it.
4 no make that 5 years , you plan on finishing this?