That girl is poison...

Never trust a big butt and smile,

That girl is poison…

- Bell Biv DeVoe “Poison”

ANNA AND THE PLAGUE

Taaoon specialized in diseases, pestilence and poisons. Unlike the other four-horseman he understood the need for finesse and patience. Furthermore he didn’t toy with his victims, like Zum-Zum (Death) and Mr. Bun-Bun (Famine), or try to one shot them like Sparkle (War).

His approach was to hit his opponent with one clean shot and let his mutated bacteria and viruses do their work. Meanwhile, he remained safe behind a cloud of pestilence flies and fleas. His battle avatar was a large dog with patches of fur and constantly foamed at the mouth.

Taaoon wore a brown leather trench coat that he buttoned all the way to the top of the collar, with heavy blacksmithing apron. Both his coat and apron had stains and burns from his chemical and biological experiments. His chestnut-brown hair and goatee matched the color of his coat. His eyes were always covered with mirror shades. Before each battle he would pray for a successful hunt and quick (not clean) kill.

The challenger arrived at the Judges Hall with a few of his guildsmen, including the additional four-horsemen. They acted as his cheering squad. Anna Lee was there; she already checked in her gear and battle avatar with the Judges and was playing with a yellow balloon filled with silver glitter.

The balloon, suspended from a single string, had big smiley face drawn on it. She was skipping and singing the nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie”. Taaoon snickered to himself as he reflected on the true meaning of the song.

“Think she knows what the nursery rhyme is about?” he asked quietly.

Whippoorwill walked up to him and whispered to him “Does it matter? Don’t you dare underestimate this one.”

“Have I ever?”

“This one is different, she is cold and calculating. I only give you a 78.9% probability of success. You have to follow my plan to the letter.”

“I will, and don’t fret; I won't toy with this one like the others would,” he said comforting Whippoorwill.

He walked over to her Anna Lee and kneed down closer to her. She held her balloon firmly in her hand while her other hand held on to the seam of her while lace dress tightly. She was fidgeting back and forth nervously.

“Take care kid; I may have use for you in the future, but tonight I’m going to beat your ass like I was your daddy,” he said grinning at her.

She gave the biggest and widest smile and quietly said to him, “After what I’m going to do to you, I’ll be locked up for murder.”

Her soft blue eyes told him, she would not be easily swayed by words.

His eyes narrowed, he wasn’t used to anyone talking to him like that, even on the earth realm.

His presence always commanded respect and authority. He stood up and popped her balloon with one hand. It exploded sending glitter everywhere. Annoyed, he brushed it off his jacket and checked in with the Judges.

The old male Judge raised his key into the air and activated the portal that would transport the two combatants to the battle arena.

***

The Fates choose a Junk Yard as the battlefield, fought during the noontime hours of the day. There were no clouds in the sky, as the sun destroyed the few shadows. The only patches of darkness were in and around the skeletons of the broken cars and trucks.

A heavy lifting crane in the center of the junk yard hoisted a junked out van that slowly spun around. Spray pained along side was Anna Lee’s symbol that read 777HP and Taaoon’s symbol (a stylized biohazard symbol) with 777HP on it.

The battle for the Junk Yard had begun.

Taaoon found himself standing near a large building that held cars that were on jacks. Further inside the shelter was a door that led to the interior of the building. Whippoorwill’s research said she would strike from the distance and would take refuge inside a building or shelter.

Taaoon reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a small tapered green colored candle and lit it. As he lit the candle he chanted a prayer. The nauseous-looking green glow lit the area near the door as flies and gnats began to be attracted to the candle’s radiance.

He moved to the windows and doors of the junk yard’s main office building and repeated the ritual. If she approached the area, she would be hit with a wave of nausea and begin to vomit and convulse violently.

Step one was completed.

Next, he made his way to the base of the crane which held the van which had the combatant’s HP. He summoned a swarm of flies and gnats to act as a shield, to protect him in three dimensions.

Step two completed.

He pulled out a palm sized gold bell and handed it over to three flies that buzzed near his hand. The flies picked up the bell and carried it off to the top of the crane. When they arrived they attached it to one of the tires to the hanging van. It expanded to the size of a bell that typically chimed in European Cathedrals.

He ran Whippoorwill’s plan through his head. After 13 rings of the bell, Anna would receive a vision of their death in the arena, and grip that person in a state of fear. If somehow she managed to break free of the spell it would have damaging psychological effects on them for the remainder of the battle.

Step 3 of Whippoorwill’s plan was completed. The bell began to chime.

“You are not going to last more than 8 minutes,” her voice said behind him.

His turned on his right foot and crouched down low, avoiding a possibility swing. His hand instantly held firmly to his Book of Pestilence. His mind wondered how she could have snuck up on him without his battle senses, rabid battle avatar or his gnat/fly defensive field didn’t pick up on her presence.

No one was behind him. He gave a mental check and his layered defense was all still in place and 100% operational. There were no signs of her wind-up mice or anything else for that matter.

“Does she have telepathy and somehow got into my head?”

The second chime of the bell went off. He bit his lower lip drawing blood, 1HP was deducted him his total. Pain would prevent any further tampering on his mental facilities.

He checked his surroundings. The Junk Yard was a new arena and which he had little experience with. He ordered his dog to start sniffing out possible hiding spots as he knelt down to light candles.

The third chime echoed across the battlefield.

Ten more chimes he said to himself and she will be crying out for mercy. His dog picked up on a faint scent. He cautiously moved towards it.

The bell rang for the fourth time.

His ears and dog both perked up when they both heard a little girl giggling from behind a Chevy Suburban hulk. He pulled his book out and flipped to a section that was titled “Black Plague”.

Using he recited the spell in the book and summoned a rat swarm (they arrived after the 6th bell chime). He ordered his plague rats to flank to the other side of the junk heap, and he could catch her in a pincer movement. Just in case she her windup mice nearby, the fleas and plague rats would set off the traps.

The bell chimed a seventh time.

The rats moved into position. Mini-explosions went off, just as Whippoorwill predicted. Then he and his dog moved to the other side. He saw the top of her head poking out from inside of the suburban. Her image was blurred and difficult to see.

He would have to hit her with an area of effect style attack. Knowing timing was critical, he faced his palms together about six inches apart. A green gelatin-like sphere began to form. As a translucent silver membrane formed around the green glob he fired it from his hands.

It shot towards her direction and exploded upon contact with the interior of the vehicle Anna was using as a shelter. The green material inside vomited forth spraying in every direction. It was a mixture of VX nerve gas and his personal favorite, the common cold (for its fast acting properties).

Anna ran out of the vehicle coughing. The remaining few plague rats close at nipped at her heels trying to hinder her movement.

She agilely ran up and over the broken vehicles, coughing up bile.

Taaoon smiled, “Got’cha!”

He looked up at the junk heap, which she was headed for; her HP slowly counted down, 2HP at a time. It should have been more, but he remembered that Whippoorwill said she could guarantee that Anna would be using damage reduction spells or power gems in her next battle.

He ordered his battle avatar to keep an eye on her, just in case she was leading him into a trap, a 90% probability. He looked up at the junk heap in the sky, and her HP was decreasing by 4’s now. He got the little girl good, it was taking effect.

An explosion occurred and the remaining plague rats were destroyed in a trap. His dog reported that they triggered the trap and she was now casting some sort of crude circle. He slowly crept towards his battle avatar’s vantage point on top of a pile of vehicles. She was bent over coughing up bile as dark blood oozed out of her nose, mouth and ears as she completed drawing a circle.

The circle glowed white as she wiped the tears from her eyes. The readout from the HP counter showed the slow beading had stopped.

“Circle of cleansing, not bad,” he said as he adjusted his mirror shades. “But your efforts are in vain.”

Taaoon needed something stronger. He flipped open his book, and found his signature attack. The dog sent his fleas and gnats into her direction, carefully keeping out of the protective circle. Anna’s eyes darted from direction to direction as alarm was soon expressed on her face. She was trapped.

The bell hit its eleventh chime.

Taaoon fired off his slow moving globule, carried by a fist sized black plague fly, towards Anna’s position. No matter how strong her circle of protection was this measured attack was designed to penetrate all defenses. Speed was scarified for penetration and power.

Taaoon looked up at the bell as it rang off the twelfth chime, and it no longer mattered if the bell hit thirteen. The battle was over

An explosion ripped through the air as the bell came crashing down. Taaoon ducked down instantly while Anna assumed the fetal position. His bell crashed on top of her with a loud clang.

The plague fly crashed into the bell, now acting as a protective shield for Anna. The plague sphere exploded spewing its contents in a 15-foot area. Her hit point counter remained untouched by the biological weapon assault. Taaoon spat in protest, his prey somehow managing to get an explosive windup mouse to the bell, HIS bell protected her from HIS attack.

“It might be a trap,” his dog mentally told him.

He nodded in agreement. He clasped his hands together as he concentrated his energy. The flies, gnats and fleas combined and formed a perfect copy of him and his plague dog.

Then he poured some of his HP into making the twin-clone appear more like himself, and his aura pale in comparison. He repeated the same spell and created a second dog avatar.

His HP dropped down to 657. The twins both conjured up his slow moving, high penetration plague sphere.

The Taaoon and his clone inched towards the Anna and the bell. Just in case of it being a trap he ordered the clone to kick over the bell and they would simultaneously toss the plague sphere under killing her once and for all.

The cloned battle avatar went in first, deliberately testing for traps. Nothing happened as it reached the edge of the circle. Then the clone went in and with all its strength, it kicked over the bell. It crashed on the ground with a loud clang, again.

Anna was not hiding under the bell, but 70 mice were, along with her coo-coo clock, slowly creating windup mice. They rushed past the cloned dog, cloned Taaoon, his battled avatar and every one of them attached themselves to him. His adrenal glands kicked as time slowed down for him, but it wouldn’t be enough for him to walk out of this untouched.

“How could they tell the clone from me?” he thought to himself.

Then his mind flashed back to when he popped Anna’s balloon filled with glitter. Through his mirrored shades he saw the windup mice nibbling at the glitter what was still on his body. He caught sight of Anna, 20 meters away, standing on top of a pile of cars looking down on him.

In her right arm she held a piece of sharpened steel. Her other arm was exposed. She had dried blood where she scratched and stabbed herself, causing self inflicted wounds.

“Clever little girl, I never even touched her,” He said as all the mice exploded at once.

The detonation of the mice caused him to crash into the pile of cars behind him. Somehow he was still alive with 102HP left. Pain wracked his whole body as blood seeped from his wounds. If he could just get an attack off, he still might be able to finish her off.

He looked up at her, to get a target and distance. He started to throw the plague sphere, but instead dropped it, as 1 remaining unexploded was still attached to his hand. As he reached back, the mouse detonated causing him to drop the sphere on his head.

Before it finally took him out Taaoon hear her whisper in his ear, though she was still a good distance away, “Never make an attack strong that would penetrate your own defenses, dipshit!”

The plague weapon exploded, sending the vile goo in all directions. It tore into his remaining hit points as he saw his HP go to zero. The pain was worse than the mice bombs, but it didn’t last for very long as he ended up back in the Judges Hall. Taaoon’s perfect record was now a distant memory.

The guild members, who were watching the fight in the Judge’s Hall, were standing there by mouth-breathing. Baba Yaga hit fell to her knees, the careful research and planning was now a failure. This newbie was unstoppable.

She was now ready to use any means necessary to humble Little Anna Lee, who ever she really was.