I awoke that morning, exited for the day about to begin. Just then I heard a noise that scared me shit-less. A low pitch growl. I then realized it was my stomach. I had not eaten the whole time I was on Mars. I got on Mars and was doing a mission, then went straight to bed. After that I had woken up in the Infirmary and rushed to an arena battle, which resulted in again in me in the infirmary. The arena owner had an urgent mission so I accepted it. I was now soo hungry I could start to chew on my AC.
I took one of the long hallways which led to the food court. There I saw a bunch of Ravens. It was clear that they were going to be fighting in the arena. 8 of them. I decided to grab some bacon and eggs, and then sat down with them.
"So you guys are fighting in the arena today. That's gonna be cool." One of them answered me. "Yeah. Well we can't talk to you. I saw your match the other day, good job. Maybe someday you'll fight me. C'mon guys lets leave." "That guy seems good. The other guys follow him around like they are his cronies or something. I can't wait for these fights to begin." After Breakfast I decided to go and check out the Infirmary to see how Irish Wizard was doing.
He was sitting in a chair beside his hospital bed. I decided to invite him to the arena. "Hey buddy. Thanks for the help back there. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the arena with me. Since you did help to save my life. I would of been destroyed by Shun back there. What do ya say? You coming or not?" He just looked up at me and then started to speak, "You would've saved me too. I'll go to the arena." Just then there was an announcement, the fight would be starting shortly. Since we were currently staying in the space-dome corridors, arena battles were a free privilege. We hurried to go get a good seat.
The first fight was about to begin. It was an all-out bladder battle. The first AC was a quad, with a light core and dual MOONLIGHT blade arms. They were some of the coolest weapon arms I've ever seen. His name was Moonlight. Not very original, but it seemed to fit him. His opponent was named Mars. Again not very original, but it suited him. His AC was a middle weight humanoid. He had a MOONLIGHT blade in his left hand. And a MARS blade in his right. Unlike most bladders he choose back weapons. They were a rare double back weapon, 50% ammo increaser. It was probably put on for the lack of ammo that the MARS has. Then the match started.
Both ACs started off by boosting at straight for each other. When Mars was halfway to his opponent he pulled back his Mars blade. I remembered that R-Arm blades of a lag and you must hold them back before they are released. Then they reached each other, Moonlight did a cross-slash and Mars used his moonlight to parry the slash and struck Moonlight in the core with the Mars. A huge crack formed on the core of Moonlight and he started to spark and over heat. He then went berserk, slashing with his dual MOONLIGHT arms everywhere. He first hit Mars in the Core, then he dodged a MOONLIGHT slash from Mars and sliced of his 50% ammo increaser. Mars was now low on ammo and he couldn't hit Moonlight with his MARS blade. Moonlight then used both arms and swiped to the right, cutting off Mars' legs at the knees. He pulled back his arms for a slash to the core, to kill the pilot, but then, out of nowhere the MARS blade was released into the Core of Moonlight. The AC shut down due to lack of AP and core damage. The fight was over, Mars was the winner.
The next fight was a Sniper fight. Both light-weight designs. Sharp-Shooter, the only female Raven, had chosen the SRF-60, a SOL wave blade, a 20% ammo increaser, and a multi-missile launcher. She had CROW extentions. The next AC, Pot-Shot, had an old rare Sniper rifle, the NIGHT. He also had a CROW, but no back-weapons. I guess they both depended on their great accuracy for AC battles. The battle started off.
Both ACs turned on their CROW extentions. Pot-Shot was taking shots, all of them just barely missing Sharp-Shooter. He kept shooting, connecting some shots. "Why wasn't Sharp-Shooter shooting." More shots were hitting Sharp-Shooter, she was over-heating. She couldn't survive much longer, Her AC was taking to much of a punishment. Just then a shot rang out, smoke coming out of the barrel of the SRF-60, Sharp-Shooters arm pointing straight forward. Both ACs Just stood there. And then the announcement:"Sharp-Shooter is the winner. It turns out that the one shot fired, was such a good shot that it went through the core, through the pilot of Pot-Shot's arm, and through the generator of the AC. It was the most amazing display of accuracy I have ever seen.
The next match was an all out hover assault. The first AC, Speed Demon, had the PETAL legs, MG-1000, and HECTO rockets. All on an EO light-weight core. The next AC, Lazy-Boy, had new hover legs I have never seen before. The stats were better than the PETAL. But the Max weight was lower. All it had was dual missile arms, the lightest EO core, and dual orbit cannons on his back. They were off.
Lazy-Boy dropped a pair of dual orbits and turned on his EO. His name fit, he didn't do anything buy himself, he just let his weapons fight for him while he got out of the way. Speed Demon was dodging EO machine gun shots, but was taking some damage from the orbits. He got a lock-on and started to spray his MG-1000 all over the place, some hitting, but most missing. He turned on his EO which was also a machine gun. By now there were about three pairs of orbits in the air and Lazy-Boy's EO was out of ammo, just then he fired two missiles at Speed Demon. Speed Demon could not dodge all of these shots. He was hit and stunned by missiles, and then demolished by EOs and orbits. The winner was Lazy-Boy.
Irish Wizard had to leave. He was heading to his colony on Mars. I wished my new friend good luck. Maybe we could work together on a dual mission some day. Bye now I was eagerly awaiting the next battle. After that there would be two elimination matches between the four winners, and then the final fight. Since the whole tourney took place in one day, there were many mechanics. Every AC part had a mechanic for it. Repairs had to be done very quick and as effective as possible.
The next fight was about to take place, one Raven was the guy I met earlier. His AC was called 8ball. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of 9ball, or he just thought he was ultimate. Whatever it was he looked nothing like 9ball. He had a large 30 shot bazooka, a MOONLIGHT blade, and dual back missiles. His opponent was HellFire. He was the brother of Heat Seeker, the AC I killed on that mission in the jungle. His AC was exactly like his brother's except he did not carry a handgun, he had R-arm rockets, and a lighter red paint job. I just hope he didn't see me in the crowd.
The fight started out with the two ACs trading rocket and bazooka fire. 8ball was dodging every shot that came near him. HellFire had boosted close to 8ball and was using his flamethrower. 8ball backed off so that he didn't overheat, and again started to fire his bazooka, one round hitting Hell Fire in the legs. 8ball must of somehow disabled HellFire's floating mechanism in his legs. HellFire boosted back against the dome and tried to get a shot with his HECTOs. 8ball Over Boosted in and stabbed HellFire in his waist, pinning him against an arena door. "Why aren't they calling the fight; is HellFire still alive." A large rocket shot forward taking off the head of 8ball, leaving him blind. 8ball just stood there. He could be finished. But then 8ball boosted backwards and let off a shot of his dual back missiles, he was locking on the whole time. The swarm of missiles hit there target with ease, making 8ball, the winner.
This left four ACs in the tourney. Mars, Sharp-Shooter, Lazy-Boy, and 8ball. The matches would be as follows: Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy, and Mars vs. 8ball. Then those two winners would progress and fight. The first match was Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy. The crowd seemed to have mixed feeling, cheering for both ACs equally. I didn't think Lazy-Boy had enough skill, he relied only on his weapons for winning the fight. My money was on Sharp-Shooter.
The fight began. Sharp-Shooter aiming for the vital parts of Lazy-Boy. The first shot hit Lazy-Boy in the arm, disabling it and also causing the other arm to malfunction. Lazy-Boy activated his EO . Sharp-Shooter dodged some of the quick fire, but shot the EO dead on. It stopped shooting. Lazy-Boy tried to bring it back, but it wouldn't return. Sharp-Shooter took another shot and destroyed the EO. Lazy-Boy had to resort to using only orbits. Sharp-Shooter turned on her CROW and the orbits could not hit her. She started throwing wave blades in every direction. Lazy-Boy could not escape his fate, he would lose the fight and that was that. Lazy-Boy was sliced clear in half by a group of three wave blades coming straight for him. His legs blew up and he was on fire. A group of arena workers had to run in and hose him down.
The next fight would be between Mars and 8ball. They had both demonstrated allot of skill. This would be a great fight. Of course with only close-range weapons, Mars may have a problem getting a shot in. The winner of this fight would go on to face Sharp-Shooter in the championship match. If Mars wins this match, he probably couldn't stand a chance against a sniper AC. The tension was rising, who would go the the final match?
8ball and Mars did something that the crowd would of never imagined. They jetisoned all of there weapons but the MOONLIGHT. There ACs where very similar, but 8ball was bigger. That meant a slower swing for more power. They Over Boosted at each other. There blades connected. The boosted back a bit, and swung again, each AC hitting the other's blade. This went on for at least a minute. 8ball Over Boosted from close range, he was stabbed in the arm by Mars' blade. 8ball followed up with a slash, cutting off the blade arm of Mars. Mars Over Boosted away from 8ball and picked up his MARS Blade once again. Mars pulled back his blade, waiting for the piston to go off. 8ball was hit in the arm by the MARS blade. It was stuck. "Let me help you with that." said 8ball in a menacing tone. He sliced off Mars' Right arm. Mars was now left with no arms or weapons. Since he could not drop his 50% ammo increaser, he had no choice but to quit. He didn't want to end the match like that, instead he knelt down and waited to be finished. 8ball made a stab to Mars' generator, and twisted it, shutting the AC down. 8ball had won the fight. He would go on to fight in the Finals.
"Everybody it's the moment you've been waiting for! The final match. The great 8ball." The crowd let out a cheer. "Or...the deadly sniper AC, Sharp-Shooter!" The crowd let out another cheer of excitement. Then the countdown for the final match had begun...5...4...3...2...1...Go! No sooner had the fight started then it was over. Sharp-Shooter was on the ground, sparking. What could have happened. The pilot stepped out of the AC, she was hurt, bleeding perfusively. She had no idea how he had been defeated. The AC had no malfunctions. It had suffered no external or internal damage. The crowd was fixed with awe at the site. 8ball was no where to be seen. What could've happened.
That night I looked over the tapes of the arena matches. I couldn't figure it out. I watched it in every camera view. I still couldn't figure it out. "What the hell is going on here!?"...
I took one of the long hallways which led to the food court. There I saw a bunch of Ravens. It was clear that they were going to be fighting in the arena. 8 of them. I decided to grab some bacon and eggs, and then sat down with them.
"So you guys are fighting in the arena today. That's gonna be cool." One of them answered me. "Yeah. Well we can't talk to you. I saw your match the other day, good job. Maybe someday you'll fight me. C'mon guys lets leave." "That guy seems good. The other guys follow him around like they are his cronies or something. I can't wait for these fights to begin." After Breakfast I decided to go and check out the Infirmary to see how Irish Wizard was doing.
He was sitting in a chair beside his hospital bed. I decided to invite him to the arena. "Hey buddy. Thanks for the help back there. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the arena with me. Since you did help to save my life. I would of been destroyed by Shun back there. What do ya say? You coming or not?" He just looked up at me and then started to speak, "You would've saved me too. I'll go to the arena." Just then there was an announcement, the fight would be starting shortly. Since we were currently staying in the space-dome corridors, arena battles were a free privilege. We hurried to go get a good seat.
The first fight was about to begin. It was an all-out bladder battle. The first AC was a quad, with a light core and dual MOONLIGHT blade arms. They were some of the coolest weapon arms I've ever seen. His name was Moonlight. Not very original, but it seemed to fit him. His opponent was named Mars. Again not very original, but it suited him. His AC was a middle weight humanoid. He had a MOONLIGHT blade in his left hand. And a MARS blade in his right. Unlike most bladders he choose back weapons. They were a rare double back weapon, 50% ammo increaser. It was probably put on for the lack of ammo that the MARS has. Then the match started.
Both ACs started off by boosting at straight for each other. When Mars was halfway to his opponent he pulled back his Mars blade. I remembered that R-Arm blades of a lag and you must hold them back before they are released. Then they reached each other, Moonlight did a cross-slash and Mars used his moonlight to parry the slash and struck Moonlight in the core with the Mars. A huge crack formed on the core of Moonlight and he started to spark and over heat. He then went berserk, slashing with his dual MOONLIGHT arms everywhere. He first hit Mars in the Core, then he dodged a MOONLIGHT slash from Mars and sliced of his 50% ammo increaser. Mars was now low on ammo and he couldn't hit Moonlight with his MARS blade. Moonlight then used both arms and swiped to the right, cutting off Mars' legs at the knees. He pulled back his arms for a slash to the core, to kill the pilot, but then, out of nowhere the MARS blade was released into the Core of Moonlight. The AC shut down due to lack of AP and core damage. The fight was over, Mars was the winner.
The next fight was a Sniper fight. Both light-weight designs. Sharp-Shooter, the only female Raven, had chosen the SRF-60, a SOL wave blade, a 20% ammo increaser, and a multi-missile launcher. She had CROW extentions. The next AC, Pot-Shot, had an old rare Sniper rifle, the NIGHT. He also had a CROW, but no back-weapons. I guess they both depended on their great accuracy for AC battles. The battle started off.
Both ACs turned on their CROW extentions. Pot-Shot was taking shots, all of them just barely missing Sharp-Shooter. He kept shooting, connecting some shots. "Why wasn't Sharp-Shooter shooting." More shots were hitting Sharp-Shooter, she was over-heating. She couldn't survive much longer, Her AC was taking to much of a punishment. Just then a shot rang out, smoke coming out of the barrel of the SRF-60, Sharp-Shooters arm pointing straight forward. Both ACs Just stood there. And then the announcement:"Sharp-Shooter is the winner. It turns out that the one shot fired, was such a good shot that it went through the core, through the pilot of Pot-Shot's arm, and through the generator of the AC. It was the most amazing display of accuracy I have ever seen.
The next match was an all out hover assault. The first AC, Speed Demon, had the PETAL legs, MG-1000, and HECTO rockets. All on an EO light-weight core. The next AC, Lazy-Boy, had new hover legs I have never seen before. The stats were better than the PETAL. But the Max weight was lower. All it had was dual missile arms, the lightest EO core, and dual orbit cannons on his back. They were off.
Lazy-Boy dropped a pair of dual orbits and turned on his EO. His name fit, he didn't do anything buy himself, he just let his weapons fight for him while he got out of the way. Speed Demon was dodging EO machine gun shots, but was taking some damage from the orbits. He got a lock-on and started to spray his MG-1000 all over the place, some hitting, but most missing. He turned on his EO which was also a machine gun. By now there were about three pairs of orbits in the air and Lazy-Boy's EO was out of ammo, just then he fired two missiles at Speed Demon. Speed Demon could not dodge all of these shots. He was hit and stunned by missiles, and then demolished by EOs and orbits. The winner was Lazy-Boy.
Irish Wizard had to leave. He was heading to his colony on Mars. I wished my new friend good luck. Maybe we could work together on a dual mission some day. Bye now I was eagerly awaiting the next battle. After that there would be two elimination matches between the four winners, and then the final fight. Since the whole tourney took place in one day, there were many mechanics. Every AC part had a mechanic for it. Repairs had to be done very quick and as effective as possible.
The next fight was about to take place, one Raven was the guy I met earlier. His AC was called 8ball. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of 9ball, or he just thought he was ultimate. Whatever it was he looked nothing like 9ball. He had a large 30 shot bazooka, a MOONLIGHT blade, and dual back missiles. His opponent was HellFire. He was the brother of Heat Seeker, the AC I killed on that mission in the jungle. His AC was exactly like his brother's except he did not carry a handgun, he had R-arm rockets, and a lighter red paint job. I just hope he didn't see me in the crowd.
The fight started out with the two ACs trading rocket and bazooka fire. 8ball was dodging every shot that came near him. HellFire had boosted close to 8ball and was using his flamethrower. 8ball backed off so that he didn't overheat, and again started to fire his bazooka, one round hitting Hell Fire in the legs. 8ball must of somehow disabled HellFire's floating mechanism in his legs. HellFire boosted back against the dome and tried to get a shot with his HECTOs. 8ball Over Boosted in and stabbed HellFire in his waist, pinning him against an arena door. "Why aren't they calling the fight; is HellFire still alive." A large rocket shot forward taking off the head of 8ball, leaving him blind. 8ball just stood there. He could be finished. But then 8ball boosted backwards and let off a shot of his dual back missiles, he was locking on the whole time. The swarm of missiles hit there target with ease, making 8ball, the winner.
This left four ACs in the tourney. Mars, Sharp-Shooter, Lazy-Boy, and 8ball. The matches would be as follows: Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy, and Mars vs. 8ball. Then those two winners would progress and fight. The first match was Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy. The crowd seemed to have mixed feeling, cheering for both ACs equally. I didn't think Lazy-Boy had enough skill, he relied only on his weapons for winning the fight. My money was on Sharp-Shooter.
The fight began. Sharp-Shooter aiming for the vital parts of Lazy-Boy. The first shot hit Lazy-Boy in the arm, disabling it and also causing the other arm to malfunction. Lazy-Boy activated his EO . Sharp-Shooter dodged some of the quick fire, but shot the EO dead on. It stopped shooting. Lazy-Boy tried to bring it back, but it wouldn't return. Sharp-Shooter took another shot and destroyed the EO. Lazy-Boy had to resort to using only orbits. Sharp-Shooter turned on her CROW and the orbits could not hit her. She started throwing wave blades in every direction. Lazy-Boy could not escape his fate, he would lose the fight and that was that. Lazy-Boy was sliced clear in half by a group of three wave blades coming straight for him. His legs blew up and he was on fire. A group of arena workers had to run in and hose him down.
The next fight would be between Mars and 8ball. They had both demonstrated allot of skill. This would be a great fight. Of course with only close-range weapons, Mars may have a problem getting a shot in. The winner of this fight would go on to face Sharp-Shooter in the championship match. If Mars wins this match, he probably couldn't stand a chance against a sniper AC. The tension was rising, who would go the the final match?
8ball and Mars did something that the crowd would of never imagined. They jetisoned all of there weapons but the MOONLIGHT. There ACs where very similar, but 8ball was bigger. That meant a slower swing for more power. They Over Boosted at each other. There blades connected. The boosted back a bit, and swung again, each AC hitting the other's blade. This went on for at least a minute. 8ball Over Boosted from close range, he was stabbed in the arm by Mars' blade. 8ball followed up with a slash, cutting off the blade arm of Mars. Mars Over Boosted away from 8ball and picked up his MARS Blade once again. Mars pulled back his blade, waiting for the piston to go off. 8ball was hit in the arm by the MARS blade. It was stuck. "Let me help you with that." said 8ball in a menacing tone. He sliced off Mars' Right arm. Mars was now left with no arms or weapons. Since he could not drop his 50% ammo increaser, he had no choice but to quit. He didn't want to end the match like that, instead he knelt down and waited to be finished. 8ball made a stab to Mars' generator, and twisted it, shutting the AC down. 8ball had won the fight. He would go on to fight in the Finals.
"Everybody it's the moment you've been waiting for! The final match. The great 8ball." The crowd let out a cheer. "Or...the deadly sniper AC, Sharp-Shooter!" The crowd let out another cheer of excitement. Then the countdown for the final match had begun...5...4...3...2...1...Go! No sooner had the fight started then it was over. Sharp-Shooter was on the ground, sparking. What could have happened. The pilot stepped out of the AC, she was hurt, bleeding perfusively. She had no idea how he had been defeated. The AC had no malfunctions. It had suffered no external or internal damage. The crowd was fixed with awe at the site. 8ball was no where to be seen. What could've happened.
That night I looked over the tapes of the arena matches. I couldn't figure it out. I watched it in every camera view. I still couldn't figure it out. "What the hell is going on here!?"...