Penelope gazed from the tunnel at the wheeling spotlights and raucous sold-out crowd in StoneSport Stadium. Along with her ninety-nine fellow competitors, she stood naked and shivering in the evening chill. The thumping bass of techno music subsided as a familiar voice came over the speakers throughout the arena.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!” he exclaimed. “I am the ‘Voice of StoneSport,’ Jim Ziegler, and I’m ecstatic to introduce you to our newest competition: VaporMaze!”
Jim paused to allow a spirited cheer from the fans before continuing.
“I’m down here on the field with the man of the hour, Zack ‘The Zap’ Thompson. How are you tonight, Zack?”
“Oh, I’m pumped, Jim! I can’t wait to get in that maze and start vaporizing some smokin’ hot babes!”
“Glad to hear that,” Jim replied, “and we’ll return to the ladies in a moment. First, let’s talk about that gorgeous weapon you’re cradling. For the benefit of those here and the billions watching live worldwide, please give us a quick rundown.”
“Absolutely, Jim! This is a PetraTec TF-7 HazeMaker. It’s a much smaller version of a PetraCannon styled as an assault rifle with removable magazines, each containing twenty-five rounds—laser pulses, to be precise—that disintegrate human targets in seconds on contact.”
“That’s some serious firepower, Zack. You’re decked out in tactical gear with pouches on your belt. What are you carrying this evening?”
Zack patted one of the pouches. “Five spare mags for my HazeMaker. Including the one currently in the rifle, I have 150 rounds to fire in tonight’s competition.”
“And a hundred women you’ll be trying to tag with those laser pulses,” Jim added. “Speaking of which, let’s welcome our fearless females to the field. Ladies, please join us here at the maze entrance.”
Penelope took her cue and led the other nude women out of the tunnel and into the bright lights of the stadium to the screams and cheers of their fans. The ladies all smiled and waved to the crowd as they jogged, bare breasts bouncing in time with their footfalls, before stopping next to Jim and Zack.
“All right, folks,” Jim began, “we’ve heard from the hunter. Now, let’s hear from the prey. I have the ever-lovely Penelope York with me to speak on behalf of the runners. First of all, Penelope, how are you feeling this evening?”
“Fan-freakin-tastic, Jim!” Penelope replied with a grin. “Seriously, though, I think I speak for all of us ladies when I say we’re ready to get out there and show the world our skills.”
“Any concern about getting vaporized?” Jim asked.
“Well, sure, it’s in the back of my mind, but there’s no sense dwelling on it. If Zack here tags me, great. If not, that’s great, too. I’m just here to razzle dazzle, Jim!”
“All right, Penelope,” Jim replied. “On that note, let’s get ready to play, shall we? For any fans unfamiliar with VaporMaze, I’ll give you a summary before we get underway. Our maze is one hundred meters by forty meters with two-meter-wide passages and two-meter-high walls. We have three types of wall panels: metal, glass, and mirrored. Metal panels are opaque and non-reflective. Glass panels are transparent, but the HazeMaker rounds can’t penetrate them. Mirrored panels, on the other hand, reflect pulses while retaining their vaporizing power.
“The panels are each a meter wide, and the maze contains over a thousand of them. The layout of the passageways and the placement of glass and mirrored panels are entirely random and will be different for each round of competition.
“VaporMaze is a timed event. Zack will have fifteen minutes to hunt down as many women as possible. Any runners left when time expires will move on to the next round of the VaporMaze Tournament. And Zack’s position on the hunters’ leaderboard will depend on how many women he disintegrates.
“That pretty much covers it. Without further ado, let’s get our ladies into the maze. They’ll get a thirty-second head start before we send Zack in after them and lock the door. All right, ladies. Go for it!”
Penelope nodded and sprinted through the entrance with her ninety-nine rivals hot on her heels. The women split into smaller groups as maze passages branched to the left and right. Soon, they were distributed evenly throughout the labyrinth. Jim turned to Zack.
“All right, sir. Good hunting. VaporMaze starts now!”
Zack charged through the entrance, which Jim promptly locked behind him. The jumbo screen at one end of the field showed a live feed of the barrel cam on Zack’s HazeMaker as he searched the labyrinth’s passageways, conducting a systematic sweep of the maze.
His approach soon paid off as he found one of the runners. She tried to flee around another corner, but Zack was too quick on the trigger. A bright green pulse from his HazeMaker tagged her in the ass, lighting up her bare skin in a brilliant flash. The carefully calibrated dose of energy immediately went to work, overwhelming the woman’s molecular structure and jump-starting a chain reaction that raced through her flesh, fully disintegrating her nude body. True to its name, the HazeMaker left a ghostly woman-shaped haze behind for a few seconds before it dissipated. The crowd went wild as Jim provided the first update.
“And that is how we play VaporMaze, folks! That was some excellent marksmanship from Zack ‘The Zap’ Thompson with his first point this evening. Something tells me he’s just getting warmed up, and our luscious ladies had better be on their toes.”
Penelope smiled from across the maze. Zack would be a formidable opponent, but her athletic prowess and feminine wiles would see her through to the next round.
Penelope had set up in a position with high visibility and multiple escape routes. She kept her head on a swivel, checking each passageway for movement. Other naked women ran back and forth, seemingly without any semblance of strategy. Penelope rolled her eyes. They’d be easy targets for Zack’s HazeMaker. She, on the other hand, would play hard to get. He’d have to work hard to send her to blissful oblivion.
Meanwhile, Zack vaporized seventeen more women in the next two minutes. Rather than bask in his success, though, he maintained his laser focus and continued his sweep of the maze. Jim provided another update for the fans in the stadium and the billions watching the live broadcast.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Zack is putting on a clinic, showing off his tactical skills and marksmanship. With twelve minutes remaining on the clock, he’s vaporized eighteen women and counting.”
Zack approached an intersection and stole a glance around the corner. No fewer than twenty women stood in a tight grouping, eyes darting in every direction. Before anyone spotted him, Zack pulled his head back. He carefully ejected a partially spent magazine from his HazeMaker and seated a fresh one in its place. He wanted all twenty-five rounds available for what he was about to do.
After calming his nerves, Zack raced around the corner, leveled his HazeMaker at the crowd of women, and held down the trigger to engage the TF-7’s full-auto while sweeping left to right. The first laser pulse connected with its nude target. As the surprised woman began to phase out of existence, the next pulse flew through her disintegrating body and struck another woman in the chest, reducing her to vapor. Confusion reigned throughout the group as naked women were in various stages of dematerializing. Altogether, seventeen rounds found their mark.
The remaining three women began to run away as Zack ejected the empty mag and jammed in a new one. He aimed at one fleeing nude and squeezed off a single pulse, striking her on the ass and disintegrating her shapely form. As the other two ladies turned toward the vanishing vixen, Zack tagged them, too, vaporizing their naked bodies on contact. The crowd went wild as Jim brought everyone up to speed.
“My, oh, my! That was a dazzling display of skill from Zack ‘The Zap’ Thompson, ladies and gentlemen! He disintegrated twenty targets in less than seven seconds! Eleven minutes remain in the contest!”
Penelope observed the sexy spectacle from an adjacent passageway, chuckling as the women were vaporized. Though she would readily admit to a deviant desire to be disintegrated, Penelope’s will to win the VaporMaze Tournament and achieve legendary status in the StoneSport world was even stronger. The reward for victory was also highly desirable.
Penelope was jolted from her daydreaming when Zack bounded around the corner twenty meters ahead and spotted her. Despite being caught flat-footed, Penelope recovered quickly and dove into a side passage as an energy pulse sizzled past her hip. Showing off her agility, Penelope tucked, rolled, popped back up, and sprinted away. Three more pulses chased her around another corner, where she ran headlong into a group of five women.
“Sorry, my bad,” Penelope mumbled, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Oh, shit, is he coming?” one of her competitors asked.
“Nah, you’re good,” Penelope replied as she dashed around another corner.
Moments later, surprised yelps were followed by five shots from a HazeMaker. Penelope chuckled to herself. Despite her rather close call, things were continuing to go her way. With any luck, she’d be the last woman standing.
Zack ran through the ghostly outlines of his five hits, careened around another corner, and reached a crossroads. He spun around, TF-7 at the ready, and peered down each branching passage. There was no sign of Penelope.
“Damn,” Zack muttered.
He wasn’t sure why, but Zack really wanted to tag Penelope. It wasn’t a logical desire since she’d garner him a single point, just like every other naked woman in the maze right now. Maybe he was attracted to her confidence. Perhaps he just wanted to see her smile dematerialize along with the rest of her hot body. Whatever it was, Zack tried to put it out of his mind for now and focus on scoring.
As if on cue, two women appeared at the end of a passage fifteen meters away. Their eyes opened wide as Zack aimed his HazeMaker. The women hadn’t even moved yet when their nude bodies vanished in puffs of vapor. Zack flashed a devilish grin. This was by far the most fun he’d had with his clothes on.
Over the next eight minutes, Zack tagged 37 more naked targets, much to the delight of the delirious fans in the stadium. Jim provided an update.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Zack ‘The Zap’ Thompson now has 82 points. Eighteen women are still in the maze with three minutes left on the clock. How many more will he send into sweet, sweet oblivion?”
Penelope smiled. She was on the verge of punching her ticket to the next round. And that’s when it happened.
Penelope only checked behind her for a split second, but it was enough. When she turned back around, Zack was ten meters away to her left. One shot in front of Penelope stopped her in her tracks. A second one behind her halted her retreat. She wheeled to her left and backed up into a mirror panel. She was trapped. Even worse, the prick was toying with her.
Zack centered his HazeMaker’s sights between Penelope’s bare breasts and grinned. “Good to see you, Penelope. I was hoping we’d meet again.”
Penelope rolled her eyes. “Well, that makes one of us, dude.”
“It’s a privilege, you know?” Zack continued. “Sending such a fine piece of ass back to the cosmos from whence it came. Almost brings a tear to my eye.”
Penelope gritted her teeth. “Just shut the fuck up and do me, asshole.”
Zack winked at her. “With pleasure.”
Penelope understood her desperate gambit was a one-in-a-million chance. She knew with near certainty she’d cease to exist in about three seconds. Even so, it was worth a shot, but she’d have to time it perfectly.
As Zack squeezed the trigger, Penelope dropped to the ground. The energy pulse from the HazeMaker missed her right shoulder by a millimeter and reflected off the mirror panel behind her straight back toward Zack. He barely had time to register his shock before the laser caught him in the forehead and promptly disintegrated his entire body. Zack’s empty clothing hung in the air like a phantom before crumpling into a heap. His HazeMaker clattered to the ground.
Penelope scrambled to her feet, eyes wide and fists pumping in the air as the shocked crowd rose to their feet and cheered. Penelope walked over and kicked Zack’s clothing down the path.
“Fuck, yeah, baby!” she yelled at the limp garments. “How ya like me now, bitch? Yeah, that’s what I thought!”
Meanwhile, Jim was beside himself as his voice came over the speakers.
“Did you see that, ladies and gentlemen? Did you see that?! My, oh, my, what a finish! It’s probably safe to say Zack never saw that coming. Congratulations to Penelope York and the seventeen other athletes moving on to the next round of the VaporMaze Tournament!”
Penelope soon found herself in a flurry of boob-squishing naked bear hugs from her fellow competitors, with plenty of good old-fashioned ass slapping. They were ecstatic to advance in the tournament and thankful for Penelope’s quick thinking and extraordinary luck.
Penelope stood with Jim outside the maze entrance a few minutes later, surrounded by the other women.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jim began, “I’m joined by the Victorious Vixen of VaporMaze, Penelope York. Congratulations, Penelope! Can you take me through that final exchange with Zack?”
“Sure, Jim. I was as good as vapor, so I had nothing to lose. Honestly, I didn’t expect my gambit to work, so it’s a miracle I’m standing here talking to you.”
“Indeed it is,” Jim replied, nodding. “And you had some choice words for our overly confident hunter.”
Penelope laughed. “What can I say? Karma’s a bitch.”
Jim gestured to the naked ladies surrounding them. “Your family and friends are strong supporters of your VaporMaze dream, but I’d say your seventeen remaining opponents are your biggest fans right now.”
Penelope smiled and turned around, showing off her bright red butt cheeks. “Yeah, they may have gotten a little carried away with the ass slapping, but it’s all good. We’ll go back to being rivals tomorrow. For today, we celebrate!”
“And rightly so,” Jim replied, turning toward the camera. “Well, there you have it, folks. This VaporMaze match is in the books, but all eighteen of these lovely ladies will return tomorrow to face the HazeMaker in round two of our tournament. And the disintegrating action won’t stop there as we plan to vaporize another badass batch of skydiving Steam Punks for your enjoyment. On behalf of the entire team at StoneSport, this is Jim Ziegler signing off. Good night, everyone!”
Copyright 2023 Olivia Quinn
Photo by Zach Rowlandson on Unsplash
Story notes
Whew! What a finish for our badass heroine, Penelope! And her story doesn’t end here. She’ll be back for part two as she battles for VaporMaze glory.
Thank you to Lady Penelope York of York Manor for agreeing to be featured in this story!
Article Tags: Competition · Disintegration · Female · Nudity · Sci-Fi · StoneSport · Volunteer
