The bullet from his sniper rifle caught the other player in the head. "Killing Spree!" called the voice of the announcer. The other players on the stage groaned and sighed as they watched the carnage he was unleashing through the scope of his rifle. No one could touch him when he got his weapon.

But then, his screen shook, and displayed his dead body sprawled out atop the balcony he was perched on. KILLED BY: TakeSama the screen read to him. He stared at it in shock. How could anyone sneak up on him? He saw everything. The thin asian player a few seats down smiled and waved. The crowd that had come to watch the Halo Tournament gasped as they saw TakeSama's score rise, while his sunk.

Slowly, the other players were eliminated until it was between Sama and him. It was a sniper duel. The crowd oohed and aahed as the shots rung out, trying to lure the opponent out of their hiding spot. He glanced over at Sama, he was stone-faced, giving no indication as to whether he knew where he was hiding or not.

A small divider seperated each players screen, so he couldn't see anything that Sama did. His hands began to sweat. No one lasted this long in a match with him before. Another shot was fired by Sama. He tried to follow the trail of the bullet, but by the time he had found it, Sama had already moved. He grunted. He knew this map like the back of his hand, how could Sama still be hiding? He gave up, and ran through the map with his assault rifle aimed at every nook and cranny.

One shot rung out, and it was over. He was again faced with the image of his dead body laying on the ground. He looked over to Sama again. He was still stoic. He was a true sniper. The human announcer waited until the PostGame Carnage Report was displayed before calling the winner.
"Takeshi Sama wins by 1 point! Is this the end of Mantis?"

No.

He'd never give up. He was patient, and had ultimate faith in his abilities, garnering him the moniker of Mantis, and he wasn't about to waste it. Takeshi was going to lose in the next tournament, and Mantis was going to make sure of that.

He played for hours on end, only stopping when absolutely necesarry to. He unlearned, learned, and relearned every sniper skill he had. He knew that the next match was going to come down to a sniper duel again, and he was going to be prepared. He used the sniper rifle in the Solo Mode every chance he got, but even on Legendary, the AI wasn't nearly good enough. He had friends over, and beat them as well. He needed a challenge, but there was none, except for Takeshi. That's when he had an idea. A brilliant, wonderful idea.

He flipped through the phone book, and found the right name. He dialed it and waited as the phone rung.

"Hello?"
"Is this Takeshi Sama?"
"Yes, may I ask who's calling?"

"This is Mantis, you beat me in the last Tourney"
"Oh yeah! That was a great match! What do you need?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime, maybe play Halo or something..."

"Hey, that sounds cool, how about tomorrow?"

"Awesome, I'll see you at your house!"
"Kay, bye!"
"Bye."

He hung up the phone, and a rare grin cracked his usually serious appearance. He had a plan, and he had a way to execute it. Now, all he had to do was wait...

They both sat and stared at the TV. Mantis was watching every twitch Take made. He tried to keep his face as cold as Take, but he couldn't do it. He'd have to work on that. He noticed that Take started to lose his aim when under a lot of fire. Perhaps blindly firing at his position with an MA5B would work. He tried it. Take slipped and gave Mantis enough time to switch, zoom in, and score a clean headshot. He saw a small bead of sweat work its way down Take's face. That was it. Take got nervous when he was losing. He was only a sniper. If Mantis could sneak to his position, he could take him out with a pistol, or even easier, a grenade. Mantis slowly crawled through the map, searching for Takes' hiding spot. A shot came from a cliff. There. He ran to the edge of the cliff and scooted along the edge until he came to a small indent. He crawled up a ladder inside and arrived behind Take. He pulled out his MA5B and splattered Take with it. His shields were down, but he wasn't done yet. He rushed up and melee'd him once. Take fell. Mantis shot a look over at his face. It was of pure shock. They continued to play. Mantis kept on killing him. Mantis smirked with satisfaction as Takes usual stoic appearance cracked under the constant pressure. His hands sweat and his face was moist with perspiration. The PostGame Carnage Report appeared after a while. Mantis had won by a margin of 7. Take put his controller down. Mantis watched, laughing inside with maniacal glee. This was it, all that was left was the final tourney, the one that would determine the best Halo Sniper in the country. All that was between Mantis and the title was Take, and Mantis was prepared to brush him aside like another nub. Mantis set his controller down and got up. He thanked Take for letting him over and playing Halo with him. He got ready, and left, skipping and hopping home.

This was it. He was here. He had travelled across the country to get here. E3. The final grounds for the National Halo Sniper Matches. For him, a small-city boy, E3 was huge. He wandered around the convention hall, taking it all in in awe. His pass was checked and rechecked by various security. He made his way to the center of the hall. There was an elevated stage about a foot off the ground. There were chairs attached to the stage. They were made of a plush material, soft, but firm. Shaped like eggs, they were clearly designed for prolonged seating. They were gaming chairs. Specially made for this. Each chair had a controller in a special slot on the side, with each controller connected to it's own XBox. Mantis whistled in disbelief. Whoever was doing this had really pulled out all the stops. People were already seated in the chairs, practicing and honing skills. Mantis looked over their screens, seeing nothing but old tactics and dirty tricks. He knew how to counter them all. He sat down in a chair, not bothering to pick up a controller. He just wanted to sit and think over his new tactics. He had been going over them for the last 3 months, trying them out on friends and the like. He had even programmed a bot on his PC Version to act the same way. He had practiced and honed, and practiced and honed, and practiced and honed. He was ready now. It came down to this match. A hundred thousand dollar prize, and the title of Greatest Halo Gamer Ever.

"Will all the participants for the Halo Sniper Matches please find a seat and prepare!!!...."