Grail Knights burn the Inhumans

Conference play begins tonight! The Fuyuki City Grail Knights against the Inhuman Inhumans!

The Master Tactician, Jerico Swain swaggers onto the field alongside Vash the Stampede. Who seems confused as to why he is here again today. The Grail Knights send Lancer, with his magus, Kirei Kotomine to the center of the field for the coin toss. On the Grail Knights sidelines, the Gelatinous Cube begins to lead the team in stretches.

“Well hey there again Mister Lancer. Funny seeing you here. What’s with the stranger helmet you have on?” Vash, friendly as always, starts to chat with the cold embodiment of the Irish mythological hero. Kirei answers for him, “My team has gained permission to replace the standard league helmet with our new custom helmets. Just an aesthetic modification, of course.”

“Well, that’s sure funny. They look a LOT like Mr. Magneto’s helmet! I’m surprised he let you copy them like that. Good luck guys! I hope you play well today!” Vash says, probably not yet figured out this is the opposing team. Lancer & Kirei share a smirk as the coin toss goes up and lands on the turf. The Inhumans will receive!

The Grail Knights take the field for the kick. The Gelatinous Cube sits on the sideline with his Magneto helmet floating in his gelatinous mass. The Invincible (sometimes) Iron Man lines up the kick, and fires a repulsor in his boot.  The ball sails extremely high, Reed takes notes on the sidelines to help Tony made adjustments, and comes down in the hands of Odin, who downs the ball immediately at the Grail Knights 45. “Startin’ wit a short field on thissun. Wizzards against wizzards, mutants against mutants, this gonna git good!” The commentator commentates. Gelatinous Cube saunters onto the field to start the first possession of the game.

Swain nods solemnly to Vash who takes the ball under center and spirals a pass to Thunderbird who dodges the Cube by leaping out of bounds. The Cube returns to the game, having consumed a bench with the missed tackle. It now floats around, digesting. Vash looks cool under pressure, spreads the ball around the Inhumans various offensive weapons. Until he hits Drizzt with a shovel pass, who runs it in for a quick touchdown. Spawn kicks the extra point, and the game is underway 0-7 for the Inhumans. Swains bird gets a treat.

Spawn steps onto the field to kick as the Grail Knights running backs take the back of the field to receive. Kirei doesn’t seem fazed by the offensive efficiency of the Inhumans, he’s shaken his line up a little from last week. Sending Lancer in as a running back alongside Mr. Fantastic. The kick goes high and wide, landing in the arms of Grima Wormtongue who carefully plods up the field before being tackled out of bounds by Starscream. The chancellor isn’t used to such physical contact and rolls into the Inhumans bench. J’onn J’onzz bends over to help the fallen player up. Grima thanks him kindly before returning to his position on the line as tight end. Lancer takes the snap and the Grail Knights are off. Kirei seems pleased.

Lancer does what he does best. As one of the leagues premier quarterbacks, Wolverine and Magneto are all over the passes, even before they’re thrown. When Wolverine takes a pass, he is suddenly boosted several yards by Magneto. Wulfgar, seeing this, is quick to anger and swings his hammer at the mutant mastermind of magnetism. The barbarians corded muscles strain to land the blow as Magneto grins at the barbarian, hammer held in place in the air, and whirls him back several yards. Magneto strides off the field as Wolverine does the “What I do best” touchdown dance. Iron Man goes for a kick, with no boosted boot this time and sends one through the goal posts. Swain and Kirei eye each other from across the field. “They’s either gonna be rivals, or thissus a bromance buddin’!” The commentator needlessly speaks again. Tie game at 7-7.

Iron Man takes his boot back from Reed, who seems to have completed modifications and lines up the next kick to go DEEP into Inhumans territory. The dark elf from house Do’Urden takes the ball up the middle for a solid gain, but is finally knocked down at his own 35 by Wolverine. The ex-teammates eye each other and go back to their respective sides. “Might get a grudge match too! 6 blades better than 2?” The Gelatinous Cube marches back onto the field to try and shutdown the Inhumans this time, or at least delay them.

Vash makes several great plays, threads a pass in to Thunderbird, makes a great run to convert a 3^rd down into a first, Swain is delighted his QB is coming into his own. About the Grail Knights 45 yard line, a shovel pass to Drizzt is thrown, the night elf books around Vash, who suddenly trips him and tackles him to the ground. The Gelatinous Cube takes the chance and consumes Drizzt and his blades. Vash, stands up and suddenly the audience and players see him as he is, the Martian Manhunter?! But how?! “What a twist!” The Cube saunters off the field with the limp Drizzt left on the field. Feeling drained, and swords taken away, they lie the dark elf on the bench as Wulfgar steps in, dead set on paying back the Grail Knights for harming his lifelong friend. Martian Manhunter, somehow shaking the possession he was under, is being chewed out by Swain, when Professor X comes over to assist. Now the two psychics are talking in length as the Grail Knights take the field.

Lancer, now with Icingdeath on his hip, starts the game over again. The Ultimate Warrior coming onto the field as the new tight end. The pass blitz begins, Magneto and Wolverine catches passes one after the other as they near the Inhumans red zone. Wolverine makes a catch that looks good, when Wulfgar lands a blow to the mutants ribcage that could kill any mortal, (or person without adamantium coating on their bones). Wolverine careens out of bounds with the ball and his helped to his bench where his healing factor kicks in. Wolverine waves Ouka away as the Gelatinous Cube zips into the open wide receiver slot. Lancer only needs 2 more plays to find paydirt as the 2^nd quarter begins and Swain begins to pace. Iron Man’s kick is solid, and the Grail Knights go up 14-7 on the Inhumans.

Iron Man kicks again deep into Inhumans territory. Starscream catches the ball and blitzes forward with Thunderbird covering him. The Ultimate Warrior completely avoids Starscream, and drop kicks Thunderbird. Shouting a challenge at him. “Thunderbird! I am the ULTIMATE WARRIOR. Though I am not the chosen one Thunderbird, I have braved the driest deserts, swam the deepest oceans and climbed the highest trees to come here today Thunderbird. I am your next challenge Thunderbird, I have journeyed here from parts unknown! You stand ready with your knives Thunderbird, with your teammates, with the pride of your people. But do you know fear Thunderbird? Do you know self-doubt Thunderbird? Do you know the muffin man Thunderbird!?” 

Thunderbird, not prone to fucking around, immediately locks up with the Ultimate Warrior and the two tousle in a dramatic clash that deserves its own High Fantasy Wrestling write up. However, in the end, Thunderbird stands victorious over his opponent. “Ultimate Warrior from parts unknown, I am an Apache warrior. And I have proven my own strength, and the strength of my people.” Proudstar then drags his wounded foe to the sideline and leaves him there, arms crossed over chest. Until Ouka absorbs his injuries and the Warrior runs forward punching Thunderbird in the back, wrapping his arms around his chest, lifting him high into the air and dropping the Apache onto his outstretched knee. The redneck goes wild “The atomic drop! YYEAAHH!! WARRRRIIORRRR!!!” Thunderbird is removed from the field as both coaches look on, tired of the scene that has unfolded before them. Starscream ran back his kickoff for a touchdown several minutes ago. Spawn makes his extra point kick and boots it back to the Grail Knights. Tie game at 14-14.

The Grail Knights receive the kickoff and don’t fool around, the now speedy Gelatinous Cube evades multiple would be tackles before Starscream shoves the huge cube out of the boundary, and pulls himself from the gelatinous mass, unscathed. Swain’s eyebrow raises at seeing this. Wulfgar steps onto the field again, patting the end of his hammer and glaring at Ultimate Warrior, who is obviously showboating and flexing for the crowd. The ball is hiked, and the pass goes to the Gelatinous Cube, who is enroute to the goal line Wulfgar lines up his shot and slings his mighty hammer, knocking the ball out of the cube as it continues to speed towards the goal line, not noticing. Picking up the fallen ball, and turning with it, Wulfgar is faced with the full might of the Grail Knight offensive. The barbarian unleashes his rage and smashes through their line, only to be drug to the ground by Magneto by his hammer at the 40 yard line. Wulfgar hands to ball off to Vash who tell him “great job!” as the barbarian stomps off the field. The Cube thought he did good, and has no idea what’s going on.

Vash’s offensive takes no time to get revved up. Now against Killer Croc, who is rampaging through their players. As time gets low, Spawn lines up a kick and it goes left. The two teams enter halftime with Drizzt and Thunderbird down for the count, Wolverine on the mend, and Ouka taking a long nap.

Both teams exit the locker rooms looking revved up and ready to go! A cage is seen floating over the arena and a large heavy iron box falls to the Inhuman’s sideline. As the front falls open, Pyro steps out and plods onto the field. The Grail Knights line up to receive the kick, and Pyro gets his torch ready as he runs up to kick the ball. However, in the priming of the flamethrower, he pops the ball as his kick flies a few feet and lands solidly in the hands of Lancer up front. “Aaawww shiiitt, it’s about to go…..” A gout of flame envelopes Lancer as the charred ball falls to the ground. When the maniacal laughter subsides, Lancer is nowhere to be found. Unfazed, Kirei Kotomine nods to Iskandar, who takes the field for the lost Lancer. The refs converse and make their call “Being that there is no body to be found, we cannot prove that Lancer is in fact dead. Therefore, no penalty will be applied to Pyro, the play clock will continue.” 

Halaster steps onto the field to play defense. Iskandar looks left and right, Magneto and the Cube set as receivers, Saber and Mr. Fantastic prepped to run he takes the hike and drops back. He draws his sword, and slices the air behind him “GORDIUS WHEEL! COME FORTH!” he cries, as a lightning engulfed chariot is summoned and Iskandar charges forward to meet Halaster the mage head on. Halaster grins as the chariot charges over him and he melts into snow. Iskandar cheers on the bulls pulling him towards the endzone. Halaster appears near the sideline, and watches as the Rider-class servant of Waver Velvet suddenly tumbles to the ground as his bulls power forward through a section of the audience. Iskandar has never encountered an empowered disintegrate trap before, and he’s quite shocked his old teammate has such ability. Still, enough yardage for a first down, and the Grail Knights are in the red zone. Iskandar takes the next hike and throws a pass to Magneto who floats into the endzone and pulls a large spiked trap out of the ground there. Halaster seems a little off put as Iron Man comes back out to kick. The kick is good, and the Grail Knights take the lead 21-14 in the 2^nd half.

Iron Man sticks around to kick off to the Inhumans, the kick goes left and Banshee picks it up for a short gain before going down around his 45 yard line. Killer Croc clods out for the Grail Knights as Vash gets his offense in line. Martian Manhunter can be seen on the sidelines with Xavier, two of the most powerful telepaths in existence on the same team can’t bode well. Vash gets a few solid plays off picking up slight ground before bringing Professor X in at Tight End. Vash runs a quarterback keeper and dodges around a stunned Killer Croc as most of the Grail Knights flinch from a mental assault from the Martian Manhunter. Nodding to Professor X, the founder of the X-Men reaches out to Killer Croc in his already weakened state and hovers in his chair alongside the beast as they both head back to the Inhumans sideline. Vash walks into the endzone unchallenged and hands the ball politely to the referee. Spawn comes in to kick the extra point, which is good, as Kirei gets very angry at the loss of Killer Croc. Swain nods approvingly to his telepaths.

Pyro lines up a kick to the Grail Knights, the game tied again at 21-21 as the 4^th quarter looms. This time, the ball survives the kickoff and flies high into Lancer’s capable hands. The ball is suddenly invisible as the King of Knights tears her way up the field with the Gelatinous Cube blocking for her. Starscream lodges himself in the cube to cease it’s progress, leaving Lancer on her own. Wulfgar leaps at the ball, or at least where it was, and is sliced open by what must have been an invisible blade. Lancer takes the ball deep into enemy territory before the maniacal Pyro runs her out of bounds.

Kirei, recognizing Iskandar’s chariot is gone, and Lancer is obviously gone, calls Magneto to take control of the offense. Wolverine has finally healed up and takes Magento’s place as wide receiver alongside the Gelatinous Cube, who is glad to see his teammate back. Killer Croc is trotted out to stand against his own teammates, with his fake Magneto helmet discarded and the Grail Knights ploy having been found out. Magneto himself doesn’t seem to care, Wolverine unleashes all kinds of fury against the giant reptile, as Magneto passes to the Cube, or hands off to Mr. Fantastic who is luckily able to dodge the vicious claws of the Killer Croc. Finally, Magneto gets cocky and hits Wolverine for a pass and initiates the magnetic fastball combo, Wolverine slams into Killer Croc with a dull “Thud” and is grappled by the reptile, who then process to run through the Grail Knights line, slamming the mutant, and the ball he holds, into their own endzone for a safety. Kirei is now plotting specific means of punishment for the ex-teammate.

Taking their 2 points, Swain seems quite pleased with his new teammate and his newfound lead of 23-21, as his offense takes to the field again. Iron Man kicks off to the Inhumans, however this time, the boot explodes instead of a simple malfunction, and he’s left on the field with a kick of 3 yards. As Iron Man lays prone on the ground, the crazied Pyro leaps over the ball itself and blasts a gout of flame at the billionare genius playboy. In a moment of complete heroics, the Gelatinous Cube envelopes his fallen comrade, knowing he’s safe inside his suit, as the maniac blasts the cube with a heavy dose of flame. The crowd goes silent as the cube shudders and begins to wilt. Blackbeard sees his opportunity to make his play as instructed, and uses his Yami Yami no Mi on Morpheus, who, in turn, grants Blackbeard a mind control ability, which is used on Pyro before the Cube is annihilated. Pyro, who already thought he was in wonderland, is now in a dream, and he spins dousing the magus, Halaster Blackcloak in a wreath of fire. His cloak, now really black, fans out over the ground as the magus falls to the ground silent. Again, Starscream sits in the endzone, nobody ever seems to pay attention to him. The Inhumans climb to 29-21, yet to kick their extra point.

Both coaches are silent as the mage is removed from the field. Pyro is thrown back into his cage and the door slammed shut. Since he killed a teammate, the referees have banned him from the remainder of his game, and will notify Swain of any further penalties. Spawn comes out to kick the extra point, narrowly sending it through the uprights. Then he kicks off again to the Grail Knights who have used exhausted most of their tricks to get to this point, and know that this drive is the only chance they have left to stay in the game. Now down 30-21 to the Inhumans. The Inhumans trot out Killer Croc again, who seemed to work last time, and his by no means affected by the recent death of their teammate, at the hands of another teammate.

Magneto, as always has a plan in mind. Using Saber to distract Killer Croc, and working the fastball play, the forward thinking, ever physical reptile can’t seems to get it’s claws on the ball, or ball carrier. Finally, Wolverine gets an open look and barrels downfield with Killer Croc hot on his tail. The mutant makes it to the endzone, and turns to tackle the reptile as a brawl begins. Magneto, sensing no good can come of this, pulls Wolverine into the air out of Croc’s reach, while it is summoned by Swain back to the sideline. Recognizing a 2 point conversion wouldn’t be enough to take the lead, they go for the kick and Kirei begins to plot the final possession of the game. Iskandar boots a quick extra point, making the game 30-28. Iron Man, no longer able to kick is replaced by a great grown lion. Young Simba sat quietly and watched the chaos around him, now all grown up, the Lion King takes the field to kick off to the Inhumans. He roars mightily as he attempts an onside kick, and Mr. Fantastic stretches to recover it. Swain curses as the clock is low, and the Magneto led offense steps back onto the field. Swain looks over his defensive options. Wulfgar is still nursing a sword wound from Saber, Killer Croc is too easily subverted, with tactics being such a big part of such a desperation play on the Grail Knights end, and then Halaster is, well, yeah.

Swain looks to the one person he’s been able to count on all game. “I just need them shut down, one time Vash. Can you do it?”

Vash smiles uneasily “Well, it’s a lot of pressure, but I’m sure I’ve got something left in me.” The human typhoon steps out onto the field to stand down against the Grail Knights, one last time. Simba slides into the wide receiver slot where the Cube once slid. He growls low at Vash, an ex-teammate. Magneto takes the hike and hovers up into the air, Vash can’t possibly hit him up there, so he goes out to cover. Seeing Magneto target the fresh lion, Vash moves in to intercept. Simba turns, spins and leaps into the air making the catch and landing face to face with Vash. “Hey now buddy, no need to brash, just your old friend Vash here! My you sure have grown up….” Vash tries to stall as Simba leaps into him as the two collide, the ball is knocked loose, and it tumbles to the ground. Simba bounces off Vash as the buzzer sounds, scoops up the ball, and runs into the endzone. Grail Knights 34-30.