"Head to the left. There should be an opening there that will lead you to the chamber on the next floor up." Cedric said through the intercom.
A few loud trudges echoed through the arena. The preliminary rounds were already underway for the tourney. Sparks flew from underneath the feet of a towering black structure in a floating maze-like tower in the dark, open space. Gunshots echoed through the thin, green hallways.

"They call this arena Babel Tower. No wonder nobody ever climbed it, I can't even find the way to the next floor!" North said, angrily.
Static filled the pilot's chamber. A screen to the left of Izzy's face was fixed for team messages, the cold images making the side of his face light up in the dark atmosphere. A slow walk to the next floor ended, a door slowly dragging itself slowly, as if regretful of its duties. The shining chamber glimmered, blinding Izzy for a moment before he took to the air, setting sights on a white AC standing on a protruding metal plate in the wall.

"Reverse joint. Rifle, missiles, and a laser cannon. Looks light." Izzy whispered to himself, a green burst of energy flying from the front of him. It slammed into the left side of the machine, sending a shoulder-mounted pod full of explosives to the ground far below it. A corner of it slammed the ground, sending the rod-like explosives into the air and filling it with blinding white trails. The biped flew out of the mist, a shimmering green light in its arm. Izzy held out his rifle, meeting it with the blade, causing sparks to fly from the two. The time slowed down, neither AC reacting, the blade digging slowly into the barrel of the rifle. More time passed, the white AC struggling to force the blade through quickly.

A green light split in the rifle. A weak burst flew through the end of the barrel, the rest slipping out of the slit cylinder and ramming into the core of the white AC. The light being's blade drifted to nothing, sparks from the core covering it as the mist from the missiles faded, the explosives still bursting in the air around them. The white machine slowly made its way to the ground, cold and lifeless.

"I managed to ruin my rifle, but one's down." Izzy said over the intercom. His voice echoed for a bit.

An announcement rang through the air. "Team 2 has been eliminated. Three remain."

Cedric's voice returned. "That's one down. Team 1 still has two ACs, and team four has all three. Me and North are hanging out two floors above you, waiting for them to kill eachother."

"I'm gonna head there, then. It might take a bit." The air grew silent and cold again.

A silver glint shone in a mirror in Cedric's cockpit. Gunshots erupted behind him, the blue build spinning around to get the full view of a green humanoid AC fighting a silver quad. The quad was sliding against the dark, green roof of the room on its head, firing off a long volley of machinegun bullets from both arms. They hailed into the bulky core of the green AC, whose shield engaged halfway through the hail. An orange blade appeared in its other arm as it dived into the air at the silver mech.The blade makes a shower of orange sparks as it meets the two franticly moved barrels of the quad.

"Damn! I didn't think anyone ever used those parrying blades!"

A missile poured out of the back of the silver AC and rammed into the thick head of the green one, pushing it back a bit. Another hail of bullets from behind the silver AC forced the green build out of balance, tumbling backwards. The two long barrels of the silver machineguns grappled the sides of the green mech like a pair of chopsticks, pulling it into the air to a 180 spin, slamming the head into the metal floor. The tower stood for a moment, then flopping backwards onto the ground with a loud crash.

"Bahah. What a panzy." North said, his machine slowly flipping itself around and landing calmly.

An explosion barreled into the green door, making an indent on the inside of it. A few shelling sounds and metallic echoes later, the annoucement returned. "Team one has been eliminated."

The door openned up, revealing a team of three grey ACs. A blue pile of sparks fell to the ground upon the door opening, the target of the shots. A short silence came as the two teams analyzed eachother. A grenade broke the silence from inside the door, flying past the gear of Cedric's head. A storm of bullets echoed from both sides, three shimmering, scattered beams of shining metal coming from inside the room to pummel the invaders. A blue laser shot out from the corridor, ending one of the streams from the silver mech. Another of the grey mechs moved out of the corridor, lifting a yellow beam while barreling through the air at North.

The stream of bullets from North's right arm ended as he positioned the arm in front of him, moving backwards a bit. The grey mech landed in front of the one-armed quad, still travelling at high speeds. North's AC jumped to the air, ramming the head of the grey AC with the machinegun barrel, forcing the machine flat onto the ground in front of the barrel. A stream of bullets disembodied the grey head, ending the short duel.

In another side of the room, Cedric stood, his shield tangent to an orange beam of his opponent. The grey AC lifted its energy rifle, taking a few shots at the shield.

"He's frying my energy reserves. I can't hold out very long." Cedric says.

The shield slipped away, a hail of bullets replacing it, pushing the grey opponent back a ways. Cedric moved his left arm, using the unoccupied hand to grapple onto the right arm of the grey AC. Another focussed stream of bullets slid the arm off at the elbow, a few mechanized flicks of the wrist bringing it around to fit snugly in the left arm. The grey AC balanced, slowly, and the orange beam returned to its remaining arm. Cedric's shield reactivated, covering the newly obtained gun. The two orange fields of energy met, the blue AC backing its legs a bit before his angle was perfect. The AC bolted forward, ramming its head into the chest of the grey one. A shot rang out from the laser rifle, ripping through the chest of the opponent.

A grenade rang out again, this time accurate enough to cut North's AC in half at the waist. The four legs fell to the ground slowly, each moving at high speed towards the bulky grey AC. The remaining bulk skidded slowly until it was stopped by a dark wall. A third grenade made its way past Cedric, and was returned by a quick bunch of machinegun rounds. The two glided towards eachother, the big mech making slow, heavy heaves with its red blade. Small bursts of machinegun rounds made small indents in the grey armor, the laser rifle doing little more than burning a part of it. A drawn-out battle followed, each heave pushing Cedric back farther in an attempt to dodge. Soon enough, the backing was met by resistance by a wall. Cedric dived to the side to avoid the beam, losing the right arm in the process. The blue metallic object slid to the ground, bouncing a bit before settling in a spot near the opposing corner. A lucky blue shot brang a stream of sparks to the beam's generator, a long grenade barrel then pushing its way into the front of the blue mech. An orange shield perked up, meeting the barrel at the tip. A loud crackle echoed around the room afterwards. The shield of the blue mech quickly bolted away from the barrel when the grenade shot out, as well as the rest of that arm. It came to a stop at another wall.

A soft ding echoed through the arena. Two metals touching, as well as a chiming echo through a cylinder. A green barrel took its place at the back of the grey mech's head. "Checkmate."

The barrel pulled back, a quick glint of green shining through the black machine. The grey machine took a step forward, but it failed. The left leg fell off as it moved, as well as the right arm. The head glided off and bounced along the floor as the rest divided itself on the floor.

"Victory by knockout. Team 3 has won this round of the preliminaries." the annoucement said. The lifeless bulk of five machines showed in a spark-covered floor as the lights engaged.