Runch narrowed his eyes at the sight of Joanne’s pulverized form, barely conscious. The honey badger had captured and nearly defeated the entire rest of the crew single-handedly, so to fall in such a competition, and one that was designed to not create injuries as well… There was no doubt about it, had she been able to use her specialized ammunition, such as her bouncing bullets, then the buccaneer wouldn’t have been able to net this win. It burned in the cereal man’s soul, and he was not alone. Hachirou likewise trembled in anger.
That’s when the fellow captain stepped up to the challenge. Runch turned to look at Boone.
”Don’t just win. Destroy them.”Chaka paid no attention to the pirate captain. For all anyone could tell, the sniper failed to even recognize Runch’s existence.
”I accept your challenge, Captain Boone. I took notice of your blunderbuss and am prepared to offer compatible paint pellets. Otherwise, you’ll be able to share from one of my weapons.””I will take my own weapon for this bout,” Boone replied, extending his hand to whoever would give him his paint pellets. He had seen the previous fight and was dissecting it in his mind to come up with a strategy for victory. This character was could at tracking enemies. Cedric planned to keep him in his direct line of sight as long as he could..
”Since your blunderbuss is a scattershot weapon, you get five shells.” Chaka commented as one of the refs provided Boone with that exact number of shells.
”But every pellet which strikes me counts as one.”The sniper held up their arms as the other pirates hosed off their helmet and overcoat, the paint washing away into a tie-dye swirl on the ground.
”Prepared, captain?” they asked, taking up their spot at one of the entrances.
Cedric grinned,
”Aye!” He replied. When the referees commenced the match he would take off into his entrance. He would choose a more direct route toward the direction of Chaka in order to close the distance between the two. His weapon contained just the type of ammunition that could potentially take his opponent out in one or two well-placed shots. Provided he got within close enough range of course.
“Ready? BEGIN!”
The resounding echo of a whistle signaled the start of the challenge, and Chaka swept away into the maze leaving behind nothing but a few drops of water. At this point Boone would have no way of knowing which way his opponent went, since they started out separated. Thankfully he was able to get a good look at the maze from above during the last match, though. The only problem being would he remember the layout? It was a truly large maze, after all. Then came the challenge of finding Chaka before they found him. Perhaps his opponent would take the same route as they did against Joanne? Perhaps not.
Cedric crossed off the route that Chaka used previously. Thinking that he was too intelligent to use the same route twice. He went another way for a few minutes at a jogging pace to save his energy and to limit the sound of his footsteps. He kept his ears open for any noises. Boone surmised that sound would be more useful in this competition than sight. At least at first. The maze walls would prevent them from seeing one another until they were right on top of each other.
Focusing on sound was a smart tactic to work off of, as Boone was almost immediately rewarded. He heard a rustling just on the other side of the hedge wall on his left side. If memory served from watching the top of the maze, there would be a left turn up ahead that immediately rounded into the path he was hearing.
Boone slowed his pace to a fast walk. He turned left and raised his blunderbuss up as he rounded into the path he heard the noises from. He would fire at anything that caught his eye if it was within a medium to close range distance. Otherwise he would attempt to close the distance with his opponent. If it was his opponent..
Lo and behold, about forty feet from Boone’s position was Chaka. Well, their backside, at any rate. The enemy marksman did not give any indication they had noticed Boone’s presence, and were actively moving. In less than a second they had rounded another corner, disappearing from sight.
Boone quickened his pace, but tried to silence his footsteps as best as he could. He wasn't the most dexterous of individuals and would find it hard to maintain his speed while remaining silent. As he approached the corner he slowed down and pressed himself against the wall. He breathed quietly and after a 3 count he quickly rounded the corner blunderbuss raised.
The last thing that Boone saw as he rounded the corner, blunderbuss up high, was Chaka standing in perfect position, rifle pointed directly at the captain’s chest. A single paint round shot out from the barrel, splattering square against Boone’s left breast, where his heart would be. They were ready for him. Then Chaka suddenly grew taller and taller and taller, as a rock wall rose up! Wait, no, that wasn’t right at all. It was a trap! Boone, in his haste to chase down his opponent, had run right into a pitfall covered by a thin layer of turf! He couldn’t see how far down the hole went, or even what was at the bottom thanks to the turf that fell below his feet. It could be dangerous to just fall, but did he have any other choice?
Boone yelled out as his feet slipped through the air. The shot surprised him more then the trap. In a desperate shot he fired reflexively as he fell down below. It was hard to tell if his shots would connect. Though, the distance between them would aid Boone’s pellets in hitting their target. As he fired, Cedric jammed the butt end of his blunderbuss into the dirt in order to prevent a full fall. If successful he would attempt to use it as leverage in order to reach the ground above.
Unable to tell how effective his shot was, Boone reacted quickly to the sudden drop. The butt of his gun jammed into the soft earth deeply, sinking into the semi-moist dirt. Thanks to catching onto a hard rock, he was able to effectively stop his descent altogether. A quick glance told him how lucky he was, and how painful hitting the ground would have been, as the bottom of the pit had been lined with nearly two dozen sharpened bamboo chutes as spears. Chaka wasn’t just playing with paint…
The danger wasn’t over yet, however. A single grenade fell into the pit, right by Boone, which quickly exploded to release a thick cloud of purple toxic fumes. The same fumes that had blinded and overwhelmed Trickshot Jo not too long ago. With a mighty heave, partly thanks to his great stamina and partly thanks to the leverage provided by his gun acting as a lever, Boone was able to throw himself up out of the pit before too much of the smoke had affected him. The fumes still burned his nose and eyes, but they only watered rather than debilitated him. Unfortunately Chaka was nowhere in sight, having taken the opportunity to depart somewhere deeper into the maze…
Cedric coughed for a few seconds while he reached below for his weapon stuck in the wall. As he pulled it out he wiped his eyes. Then he made his way around the trap in the direction he thought Chaka went. He covered his mouth with his shirt and made his way around. He looked for any footprints in the earth to determine the direction he went.
Chaka was nothing to be underestimated. An excellent trapper and marksman indeed..To think he would use such underhanded tactics by setting the maze in his favor. It angered Cedric. Now he knew what to look for. Cedric scanned the areas ahead and around him for any discrepancies which would indicate something was tampered with. That way he could find the traps before they found him. He also loaded a single round of trap shot in his weapon. There was no rule against traps, so Cedric planned on trapping his opponent with his own.
Tracking Chaka turned out to not be so difficult at all. They left noticeable footprints in the grass. No doubt holding so many weapons in a heavy trench coat made being a lightfoot borderline impossible, but who was Boone to complain about such good fortune? He tailed the trail through several turns, down multiple pathways, thankfully not running into anymore traps, until… The trail simply ended. No more footprints to be followed. How could this be? Boone was left halfway down a path, enclosed by a hedge on either side, with nothing but a small gathering of bush leaves to show for his tracking.
It appeared as if he’d hit a dead end. Boone thought for a moment.
”If I continue pursuing him I will put myself in even more peril. It would be best for me to go another route entirely and make him follow me.” Then Cedric turned back.
No sooner than he turned round, did the Red Rum captain feel a sudden sharp impact on the back of his head, from an upward angle.
”Bullseye.” Boone grunted at the impact of Chaka's shot. His hat slumped off his head. Then he instinctively looked up to see Chaka coming toward him, rifle in hand. Boone raised his weapon to fire at his center mass and attempted to roll out of his way.
The net from Boone’s trap shot spiralled out from the barrel, twisting and expanding outward to ensnare the ambushing attacker. Chaka was clearly thrown off by the sudden tactic. They came across as a much better planner than improviser, if this were any strong indication. The net wrapped around their body, restricting their movements so they collided into the ground with force, completely lacking any grace.
”Unacceptable,” they muttered, producing a knife from their sleeve. In a quick flash, the net was sliced open and Chaka was back on foot.
Boone fired off scattershot at the man as he cut the net open. A big blast of paint pellets directly at him. At
close range. Even if Chaka hit Boone a few times previously, it would only take Cedric 1 or two well-placed shots to end the contest.
Unexpectedly quick, Chaka had dodged the majority of the pellets by leaping directly into the hedge bush as they escaped the net. Boone could see some color on his opponent’s leg, but only a few hits. With such a low-point value target, would it have made a significant difference in the match? Maybe, maybe not, but he wasn’t out of the woods (bushes?) yet. Chaka left a nice big hole to follow through, or of course Boone could try to navigate the maze proper, but they had since moved to an area he couldn’t memorize from his brief above view.
Boone decided to take another route. Following Chaka seemed suicidal at this point. Being an expert trapper and all. He would have to catch him away from his traps. Possibly lead him into Cedric's line of fire.
Cedric began to jog another way and made a few turns down another path. Then he went to one side of the hedge and rustled the leaves around to make it look like he went through them. He went to the opposite side of the path and hid within it. If and when Chaka came by, Boone would have a clear line of fire on him. Until then he waited..
Seconds passed by, becoming moments, and minutes. Either Chaka simply hadn’t been nearby to hear the rustling, or had seen through the ruse. It seemed as though Boone were waiting for nothing, only depleting the timer on the clock. But would that be enough? He hadn’t seen how many of his shots landed, would he be the winner if he simply hid for the rest of the time? Suddenly, a rustling behind him caught his attention. He suddenly noticed a red glow emanating from behind.
”Don’t think you can hide from me.” Splat! Another paintball hit him in the back of the head!
Enraged, Cedric spun around and charged at a slight angle from Chaka but in his general direction. If he was shot a few more times that was no matter...as long as he got a full spread on the man's torso. Cedric yelled out and brought the barrel a few feet away from the hunter and pulled the trigger.
In his haste and rage, Boone hadn’t fully assessed the situation, and let loose his shot with abandon upon his opponent… Or, as it turned out, what looked like his opponent. The full spread of paint balls saturated the torso of a scarecrow made up to look like Chaka’s armor. The same scarecrow the hunter had used in the previous match against Joanne. Luckily, he could see Chaka’s real legs positioned behind the scarecrow, and at least two of the splatter had struck the real target.
Splat! Splat! Two more shots were fired from Chaka’s rifle, piercing through the thin mock-coat of the scarecrow and hitting Boone in the chest.
”AGH!” Cedric stumbled forward at the scarecrow and the man behind it. He had to keep him close to maximize his shots. The further away they were the less of a chance he had to win. Once he regained his balance, Cedric slashed at the scarecrow with his bayonet. When it was clear he would blast the hunter at point blank range.
”Always prepared.” Chaka’s form jerked back violently, midsection first, as though punched by some invisible force with tremendous strength to send them flying. It took a second to recognize what was actually occurring: Chaka was being pulled back by a cord! Probably on some manner of winch, but a cord nonetheless was attached to Chaka’s waist and was yanking them back through the hedges! Boone wouldn’t get the blessing of a point blank shot, but his blunderbuss fired all the same at this opportunity. The last the Red Rum captain saw was a somewhat painted Chaka flying through several bushes, until they were no longer in sight.
He had the terrain advantage and the trap one too. Boone would have to improvise better than him if he would be able to take him down. Then an idea came to him. Cedric took the slashed scarecrow and headed back toward the first pit trap. Spikes and all. It took a few minutes to remember and navigate the way. But Boone's footprints were fairly easy to spot.
Then Cedric took his hat, colored coat, shoes, pants and placed them on the scarecrow. Cedric coated himself in the wettest ground he could find. From head to toe. Even the outside of his rifle. He was going for camouflage. Maybe the hunter would consider Cedric dumb enough to fall in the same trap that he would let his guard down. That's when Cedric would strike.
Then he pushed the scarecrow over into the deep pit. When it was impaled by the stakes He yelled out as loudly as he could,
”AGHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP! HELP ME!” He quickly dug himself in nearby the pit to the side. Only the tip of his blunderbuss pointed out, covered by some leaves. Lets see if the hunter could figure this one out in time..
Crying out for help certainly did the trick, as Chaka appeared quick as the wind. However, they did not behave entirely as Boone had predicted. Passing by, they offered only a quick glance into the pit before moving on, out of Boone’s sight.
”If you think I will be fooled by such a pedestrian ruse, you are mistaken. Even if you had died just now, your corpse would still be warm… And yet I do not sense your heat, but you must be nearby. The hunter becomes the hunted, is that your game?”Realizing he was up against someone who was not just well trained, but
well equipped. It was time to take some desperate measures...Cedric slowly reached for his flame shot rounds attached to his weapon. As long as he didn't use it directly against his opponent he believed he would be in the clear. Once they were loaded he fired them off into the hedge Chaka turned from and the opposite side of it as well. Once the green was caught ablaze it would mess with his heat sensing abilities. Then he loaded another paint round.
”What?!” Chaka twisted around, viewing the sudden flaming wall and immediately diverting their gaze only to be met by another wall of flame.
”Gah!” Seemingly disoriented, Chaka covered their face with one arm, still holding their rifle in the other. The sniper took off running down the pathway, fleeing the flames.
Cedric heard the man's displeasure. Surely it was affecting his vision! In a flash, Boone burst from the ground and ran in the direction he heard Chaka go, past the flaming walls. While running he loaded his explosive shot into his weapon. If a little flame messed with Chaka's vision then an explosion would be even more effective. Cedric fired it into the sky in the direction he thought Chaka was. The explosion would likely deafen and blind him for a short period. Enough time for Cedric to move in and finish him.
Boom! Boone’s explosive shot resonated across the maze, followed almost imperceptibly close by a cry of pain, filtered through a voicebox. The captain’s suspicions were confirmed a moment later when he came across Chaka lying on the ground, rifle some feet away… Right next to the sniper’s mask, cracked and broken. Chaka trembled on the ground, gripping their face in both hands. How badly were they hurt?
”You… Monster! What kind of sick bastard are you?!” Despite the tone, Chaka’s voice, Chaka’s real voice, was quite soft. Quite smooth, quite, dare I say, sexy.
”You knew my weakness! That says enough about you, but what speaks volumes is your willingness to CAPITALIZE ON IT!”The downed gunner turned toward Boone, allowing him to see
their face for the first time, and what a face it was! A perfect visage of beauty! Gorgeous green eyes, flawless caramel skin, perfectly sculpted lips! She wasn’t just a woman, she was a
woman! ”You’ve exposed me to the world! To my comrades! To your friends, my enemies! Shown them my horrible, putrid face! How dare you?!”Boone’s jaw dropped in wonder upon seeing beauty
itself. In contrast, he stood there, half naked, covered in mud, balding head and beer gut. Boone couldn't help, but wonder what she was complaining about! He could not bring himself to fire upon the woman. Her self esteem was so bad, she even believed she was so ugly that she needed a mask to hide her own face! Cedric replied exasperated,
”WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU'RE GORGEOUS!” Her beauty drew him toward her at a running pace. When he got close enough he put her in a bear hug and squeezed tight. His mud would cover her insecurities and he made sure to muddy her face up good too. There was something otherworldly about her beauty..
”No! Stay back! Don’t look at meeeeee!” The closer Boone got, the more and more wild she thrashed, all the while trying to hide her face from view. Up above in the stands the Buccaneer Pirates were absolutely swooning.
“I’ve never seen her before!”
“I never knew she was a
her before!”
“I have seen the face of Heaven!”
“She’s even hotter than Launcher! WAAAAAAAAAAH!”
As a man was sent rocketing over the horizon by a certain offended redhead, half the audience suffered spontaneous nose bleeds, while the other half collapsed from weak knees. Chaka noticed the attention, but it did nothing to improve her attitude. If anything, it only made things a teeny weeny itsy bitsy bit tremendously worse.
”NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” As Boone grabbed her to cover her insecurities with mud, the close proximity to a man with her bare face was too much to bear. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she foamed at the mouth. Chaka had completely lost consciousness.
Cedric saw her foam at the mouth and realized she was out for the count. With no one left to fight, Boone took her in his arms like a bride and made his way toward the entrance of the maze. The fires had been put out and the referees awaited their arrival to tally up their scores. On the way, Cedric pondered how someone so beautiful couldn’t even realize it. He was reminded of his late wife, Amber. Ah! How he wished he could hold her in his arms again, just like this!
The two referees had to pick their jaws up from off the floor. Each one had tissue paper stuffed up their nostrils to stymy the high pressure nose bleeding.
“Uh… Hm. Uh…”
“Wow. So, uh, yowza.”
Simultaneously they shook their heads back into the task at hand. “You tally the splatters on this guy, and I’ll count the ones on Chaka Ram.”
“Uh huh,” the second ref nodded absently. “Wait, what? No way! I want to count her splatters!”
“And let a pervert like you ogle her? No way!”
“Pervert?! Look who’s talking!”
Just as the two were ready to trade blows, Mag Launcher descended from the stands and stood between the two. Her eyes were
literally burning with flaming anger.
”I will count both. Problem?”Both men gulped nervously, shaking their heads. She pushed them aside, and went to counting. After a few moments, the dodgeball queen was ready to announce to all the results.
”The winner, by a narrow 7 points, is the captain of the Red Rums!”Boone leapt in the air and shouted aloud,
”YAHOO! When he realized he had jostled Chaka he looked apologetic as he whispered,
”Sorry..” He set her down carefully and went back to the pit in order to reclaim his clothing. He would have to figure something out on how to retrieve them...Perhaps Lilly's grappling gun?
