New York City, March 3, 2025, 11:57 PM
The usually populated and bustling city of New York was now seemingly empty and devoid of life. The night bars, the restaurants, and even the clubs were now closed, an impossibly rare sight to see at this time of night.
Every corner, alley, street, building, house, and every crevice; empty, lifeless, stale. All except one.
Amongst the buildings and skyscrapers within New York, a single one stood taller than them all. A stadium, one bigger than any sport would need. Towering over every other building in the city, it was almost as wide as it was tall.
Raaaah!
Woooo!
Aaaaah!
Sages! Go! Sages! Go!
Yeahhh!!
The city was many things, quiet, however, was not one of them.
From the stadium, cheers could be heard, conveying a variety different emotions. Excitement, anxiousness, hope, and..... Fear
Inside, a stage was set right in the middle of the stadium, surrounded by the crowd, which contained the entirety of New York City.
On the stage, stood a man, a microphone im his hand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! We are reaching the final minutes of our wait! Are all of you ready!?" The man exclaimed enthusiastically as he faced the crowd.
YEAHHHHH!!!!!!
"Then hold on to your seats, cuz it's about to get..."
WILD!!
"That's the spirit! Now! All eyes on the GigaTron, our players are already in position and are ready to begin!"
~•~
Meanwhile, beside the stadium, there stood..
A giant pyramid.
Only a little bit smaller than the stadium, so out of place it almost looked like it was fake.
The area around the pyramid seemed not much different than the rest of the city; empty and lifeless, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
•~•
Above the pyramid, hidden in the clouds and unrevealed by the moonlight, was jet. It flew quietly without making as much as a single noise.
Inside the jet, a masked figure stood in front of the hangar, wearing a suit that looked like it was made to allow flexible and agile movements while providing protection, and behind them stood more figures wearing similar suits, ignoring the slightly different designs and features.
tick!
tick!
Ding!
The figure looked at the clock and pressed a button by the hangar.
"It's starting..."
The hangar slowly started to open, and with it the figures started to run.
As the hangar fully opened, without any hesitation, the leading figure jumped, and so did the others.
One by one, the figures fell through the veil clouds one by one, leaving a trail of smoke in their path.
As they descended ever so closer to the pyramid, the sound of cheers only grew louder and louder.
YEAH!!!!
WOOOH!!!
"THE FINAL MINUTE IS ABOUT TO PASS FOLKS! LET'S START THE COUNTDOWN!!" The host said, excitedly jumping up and down the stage.
RAAAAAH!!!
YEAH!!!!!
"EVERYONE COUNT WITH ME!!"
10!!!
9!!!
Feeling the wind hitting their face, hearing the crowd, the leading figure took the mask off revealing a pair of striking violet eyes.
8!!!
7!!!
The violet-eyed figure looked towards the pyramid, seemingly surveying the area around it, while showing no signs of their descent slowing down.
6!!!
5!!!
4!!!
Looking at the area around the pyramid, a regular person would say it was unpopulated, but the figure knew better.
As if noticing something, the figure hid their hand behind their back and made hand signs towards the other suited figures following them.
Seeing the hand signals, one of the figures that were closer to the leading figure nodded in response before closing their eyes.
3!!!
2!!!
1!!!
0!!!
"LET THE ROA: PYRAMID OF SCHEMES BEGIN!!!"
Ding!
As the clock hit midnight, explosions erupted around the pyramid.
Boom!
Boom!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
When the smoke cleared, giant rays of light could be seen shooting out from the spots that exploded, making a circular parameter of beacons around the pyramid.
Along with the explosions the falling figures started falling even faster towards the now illuminated pyramid.
The leading figure quickly surveyed the lit up surroundings of the pyramid again, only to see the then unpopulated area teeming with people running towards the pyramid, conflicts happening all throughout.
However they all had one goal in common...
Make it to the pyramid first.
'Fucking ants..' the violet eyed figure thought to themself.
"NOW!!" The figure shouted out, a slightly feminine voice resounding throughout the air.
With the violet eyed woman's (?) command, the figure that had their eyes closed reopened them, revealing a pair of glowing yellow eyes.
"Boomburst!!" The yellow-eyed figure yelled out, the glow in their eyes getting brighter.
Slowly but surely, the trail of smoke the falling figures left started to turn yellow, more noticably the speed at which they all fell increased by a wide margin.
"Haah!" The yellow-eyed eyed figure exclaimed as they clenched their fist together.
As if following their lead, the now completely yellow trail of smoke the figures left started moving and condensing into a ball on their backs.
"Release!" The yellow-eyed figure shouted out as they opened their clenched fists and the glow in their eyes shined.
Following their command, the concentrated ball of yellow smoke released the energy and propelled them even faster towards the pyramid.
"Good!" The leading violet-eyed woman commended.
'Now...'. The pair of violet eyes started glowing intensely.
As they plummeted towards the pyramid at a deadly speed, the leading figure spread their arms out wide, letting out a shadow-like purple smoke that slowly started to cover the rest of the figures, like a beast devouring smaller prey.
Now only a few meters above the pyramid, the purple shadow having already fully 'devoured' the rest of the figures.
The violet-eyed woman did nothing but look at the pyramid and... "Blink."
The shadow then 'devoured' her too, and they disappeared.
WOAAHHH!!!
YEAHHH!!!
AWESOME!!!
Then the crowd cheered.
Opening her eyes, she saw the floor of the top of the pyramid, and she pushed herself off the ground on her feet.
Looking around, the rest of the figures emerged from the purple shadow as it slowly receded. The violet-eyed woman inhaled deeply causing the shadow to recede even faster into her.
"Everyone knows what to do. Stay alert." The violet-eyed woman said.
Nodding to her words, the others got to work immediately.
"WHAT AN AMAZING ENTRANCE!! NOW THAT THEY ARE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE PYRAMID, THEY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET A BUFF!!" The host's voice sounded out in the stadium.
"REMEMBER! THE FIRST TEAM TO ENTER THE PYRAMID WILL GET A BUFF TO THEIR ATTRIBUTES!"
"WILL THIS TEAM GET THE BUFF OR WILL ANOTHER TEAM TRY TO INTERCEPT THEM! I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT!"
"Vyra." The yellow-eyed figure called out.
"Yes, Elle?" The violet-eyed woman, now revealed to be named Vyra responded.
"There is no entrance." The yellow-eyed Elle said with a nervous smile.
"I see, so it's Variation–12 this time.." Vyra said with a pondering expression on her face.
"Tell Vark to break through the floor." Vyra said after a few seconds of contemplating.
"Okay!" Elle said enthusiastically with a smile on her face, the anxiousness from Elle's face disappearing as quickly as it came.
A few seconds later a man with orange hair, leapt up in the air with his fist cocked back as red energy surrounded it.
"Enhanced smash!" He called out before he descended back to the ground and punched it.
Crack!
Crack!
Cracks started forming on the floor, concentrating into the spot that Vark punched.
Vark jumped back to Elle's side, watching the cracks form until finally..
Break!
The floor collapsed, and a gigantic hole was now present.
"OOOH! IT SEEMS LIKE THEY HAVE MADE THEMSELVES AN ENTRANCE! I DON'T THINK ANYONE IS TAKING THIS BUFF FROM THEM ANYTIME SOON!"
"I still think that's a dumb name for a move." Elle scoffed.
"Oh yeah? Like boomburst is any better!" Vark quipped back.
"It is better Vark, and it's not even close." Elle deadpanned.
"Alright stop it you two, we need to enter the pyramid immedi– SHIT!"
Woosh!
Suddenly, two swirling balls of black and green smoke fell from the sky in front of them, the force of the crash knocking them back.
"WHAT'S THIS?! SOMETHING HAS JUST CRASHED INTO THE PYRAMID!!"
"Everyone! Stay alert!" Vyra yelled out, her violet eyes glowing amidst the cloud of dust.
Eventually the dust cloud cleared, revealing a blonde haired man with green eyes, wearing a 3-piece suit that would constrict your movements.
"Well hello there, it's a beautiful night isn't it?" The man spoke with a smirk on his face.
"Elle try to attack him from a distance! Don't let him get close! Vark you go up front! Make sure he doesn't reach Elle! Everyone else surround him and look for openings!" Vyra with a quick mind came up with a plan.
"Don't let him enter the pyramid!"
"Well isn't that just rude." The man said as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Rah! " One of the figures that surrounded the man tried to benefit on the man's arrogance, and slashed forward with his sword coated with red energy.
To the oblivious eyes, confidence and arrogance are no different.
"Wait! Don't–" Vyra tried to warn.
Not paying attention to the slashing figure, the man looked straight at Vyra and with a green flicker, they could see the man's green eyes turn into slits for a split second.
The slashing figure stopped right in their tracks, while the man slowly walked over to Vyra.
'Fuck fuck fuck, I can't move!' Vyra tried as hard as she could to move, but it was useless.
"WOAH IT SEEMS LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN HIT WITH SOME SORT OF PARALYSIS ABILITY! HOW WILL THEY BE ABLE TO COME OUT OF THIS!?" The host exclaimed.
"Well well well, what do we have here.." The man said getting closer to Vyra.
"And I thought the night was beautiful, that was my bad, I just didn't see you at first." The man chuckled.
"May I ask for your name? It'd be a shame not to know the name of such a beautiful woman." He inquired with a bow.
"..."
"..."
A few seconds of silence passed until the man realized. "Ah! Right! You're paralyzed, So sorry! I forgot." The man laughed with a sheepish smile.
'He's an idiot..' Vyra deadpanned internally.
'He might actually be a bigger idiot than Vark.. Nah nevermind, that's too much of a stretch.' Elle snickered
'Someone's making fun of me..' Vark thought to himself.
The man peeked behind Vyra, looking at the steps of the pyramid, to see a large amount of people steadily making their way to them.
"It's a real shame though, I really would've liked to know your name, but it seems like time is running out." The man sighed.
"I really hope we meet again in there, or out there, anywhere really. Don't worry, I won't forget to ask your name before I paralyze you again." The man said walking towards the hole.
Turning to Vyra, the swirling black and green balls of smoke started to form once again behind him.
"Also, thanks for the buff!" The man smirked before he disappeared into the swirling balls of black and green smoke.
The swirling smoke then flew into the hole, leaving a paralyzed team to fend for themselves.