A/N: I don't know how to describe the robots that Takeru and Mikoto are going to be fighting against in their matches without going overboard with the descriptions. So, to give you a mental image of how I see them I'll just compare them to the following mechs from the Super Robot Wars franchise. The Elefante is like the Gust Lander but it hovers instead of being grounded, the Frei is like the Bellzeute and the Ravager is like a Huckebein Mk. III.
Chapter 2:
Innocent Fighting
(Showroom - Terminal N° 51)
[Takeru]
Azure skies with pixelated clouds veer in the screen as I do a barrel roll, landing hard onto the rocky soil, making the awful, teeth-screeching sound of a hard landing rise through the speakers, making my brows narrow and wrinkles to appear on my nose. The alarm continues to beep like birds in the morning, the explosions keep silence at bay like cicadas in the summer.
I lick over my lips, taking a second of pause, as I land with one leg and do a sidestep to take cover under the large cliff I was near, its pixelated crunchy-looking surface shielding me from the missiles. Once the dust and stock explosions fade away, I move my Take forward into the narrow, bumpy canyon road in between the towering elevations that obstruct the direct sunlight, carefully watching my steps as I walk the pathway full of jagged rocks and pillars that looks like the last fashion trend among hedgehogs. A second later, the missile alarm begins to ring out again.
"Mikoto, I need back up!"
"I can't! The Elefante is blocking the way, dang it!" He instantly replies, his tone a bit faster than before.
"Tch, they got us good!"
Yanking the controls, my Take bursts into a double jump as more missiles come my way. In this narrow space I can't even try to counterattack, barely able to squeeze myself through the pillars and incoming missiles. Let's go for a triple boost jump then!
But as soon as I do, another wave comes at me. Spinning into a barrel roll, to not crash onto the cliffs or the stone pillars, I'm left with no choice but to go back to my prior position.
"Shit, fuck this shit, man."
These guys are the real deal, pro players. As soon as I went scouting they bombarded us with missiles, and when we got separated the Elefante took its position and started firing at Mikoto, while its partner cornered me with many consecutive long shots to my ankles from behind, forcing me to get even further away from Mikoto.
It doesn't help that we are playing on the Mirraoph Canyon, which has a lot of narrow pathways and tall cliffs. My speed works against me here, I can't boost as much as I'd like since there's the risk of crashing myself. That means game over in this situation. And to make matters worse, this field plays to the strengths of our rivals since they're a pair that focuses on long range attacks.
The Elefante, a dark gray and extra large sized mech, is the slowest in all the game but thanks to its size and defense it's the best tank. It also can equip more weapons than the other mechs and is one of the few that can equip an OTH Railgun and move with it. It looks more like a floating fortress than a humanoid robot, to be honest.
What were the devs thinking when they made it?! This guy should have gotten nerfed to hell a long time ago! Well, at least they removed its Beam Shield. With that it was practically unkillable without another heavy weapon.
Its partner is a Freikugel, a white coated, small frame mech that excels at long-range shooting but its completely average in everything else. Its range and accuracy are to be feared, since it can attack from beyond the radar's area you could get hit without any warning in big maps. Like what's happening to me right now.
Another wave of missiles comes my way, this is stupid. We're not getting anywhere like this, not with the Elefante blocking the way. We gotta do something now.
"Mikoto, how are you holding up?"
"I'm on the run, trying to get past it but it's hard due to the machineguns and the occasional missiles," he groans a bit then he seems to let out a puff of air, with a bit of strength since I could hear it through the mic. He won't hold out alone for much longer. "If it didn't have than OTH, I could try to fight at midrange, but if it charges that thing up I'm dead."
"Yeah, I know, this fucking sucks," I say, rolling my eyes sharing the sigh. The OTH can't hit you if you're up close and personal with the mech using it, since it needs to charge while remaining still, but fighting on CQC against a tank as the Elef is borderline stupid. "Alright, just keep it up for awhile. I'm going there now!"
"Won't you get stuck between their attacks?"
"At this point it's do or die! We're just getting worn down."
My Take draws an arc in the sky, doing a backflip to dodge another missile, getting into position to rush through once it lands. Alright, I've gotten the timing of the barrages more or less figured out. Since the Frei has to stay out of the radar's area it should be relying on its partner to get my position, so it doesn't know exactly where I am. Which means, staying in such a narrow space is doing them a favor.
As soon as the next wave hits, I'm forward dashing the hell out of here! I'll just use the TC to blast away the bigger rocks to make me a path forward. With my instincts as my guide, I'll maneuver through the rest of the canyon. It's better than to leave this go on and on. Now, they should appear in the radar right about…
…now?
What the… Where are they?
Still nothing. A few clouds pass over in the distance, the BGM keeps playing. No alarm is coming up, not even as I take a few careful steps in between the stones. Could it be that it went after Mikoto?!
"Mikoto, the Frei may have gone after you! I'm no longer under attack so I'm rushing there," I say while starting the dash, blasting the bigger rocks with a minimally charged TC beam shot.
"What? I can barely keep up with the Elef, how do you want me to dodge the other's attacks too?!"
"Just hold out for a bit longer! I'm trying to get there!"
Dammit, I'm too far away. I could get there faster if I use all the boosters, but that would use up a lot of fuel and I might crash myself. I have to make some sharp turns, some at a few crossroads in a 90° angle, so it's going to be risky. My swords aren't that good against the Elefante, so if I deplete my fuel by flying high to avoid the rocks, then I won't be able to go for the hit and run approach. Then I'm going to be a sitting duck against the fortress, even with the Thunder Cannon I can't possibly try to fight that monstrosity at long range. A single shot of the OTH and I'm dead. Mikoto is probably rather low on fuel with how much he's been dodging, so I can't leave him alone against two enemies for long.
Use all the boosters and risk losing the grind game or crashing? Keep this speed and risk losing Mikoto? Either way, it looks like we're screwed. If only I could hit them from- Wait a sec.
"Mikoto, retreat to a safer position right now!" I stop my boost, repositioning the Take's feet forward and stopping with a hop against a rock.
"The hell you're talking about! You'll get bombarded if I run!" Can't blame him for snapping like that.
"You can't take attacks from both at the same time, so if you try to retreat they'll surely try to block you. Just buy me ten seconds!"
"Ten seconds? What are- Oh! Got it!"
Heh, smart one. He got it in no time. Looking around, I'm met with the tall cliffs and pillars that litter the innermost side of the canyon. Alright, here should be fine. Gradually slowing down my boost, I take my position under a cliff while getting out the Thunder Cannon. Aiming it towards the exit gains me a small red lock-on circle. The giant ass of the Elefante is right at the end of my range, but I'm under lots of cover so I should be fine, no shot it can detect me from this position. Otherwise, they would have already effed me with the OTH as I was dodging missiles, after all.
Going prone, aiming at its core, I start the charge to full power, small sparks gyrating in my weapon. Thanks to all the missiles they shot at me I'm at 53% shields so this will definitely do a lot of damage. If Mikoto manages to distract them I'll get a clear shot to the core, which will probably put it near red numbers. Thanks to the cliff I'm safe from incoming missiles as well, so the charge won't get interrupted. And since the place is full of jagged rocks and obstacles, the Frei can't come near to snipe me in such little time.
10, 9, 8, 7…
A dot appears on my radar, what's the Freikugel doing there? Right at the edge of the radar, on the top of the canyon.
4, 3, 2…
BAM! CRASH!
An explosion shakes the cliff I'm under. Small at first, then larger by the second, rocks and boulders rain down on my Takemikazuchi, the screen vibrating and spinning as my machine is tumbled to the ground. But I still manage to shoot, after all the cooldown icon is flashing on my screen and I felt the vibration that comes through the controld when you fire a strong weapon, locking your position in.
Once the camera readjusts itself, I see my mech got stuck in between some fallen rocks, suffering 10% damage. Sigh… Thank God the Takemikazuchi is one of the sturdier mechs in the game, the Kaizer might have ended up really messed up after an avalanche like that. To think the Frei would use all of its missiles to destroy the environment… This means its loadout is probably lacking a melee weapon. Full commitment to the playstyle, kudos for that. Still feels cheap as hell.
"Mikoto, the cliff I was near collapsed on me. I'm stuck between some rocks, how did the shot go?" My Take's torso swings back and forth until I get fed up and use a sword to stand up again. On the plus side, the rock slide cleared most of the pillars on the area so now I can boost without worries.
"You got a clean hit on its head! Took 33% of its shields!" He yells, a bit too loud for my ears.
I was aiming for the body but wound up doing a head-shot. Well, at least I hit it.
Wait, if I didn't leave it in low health, that means… Mikoto is not going to be able to finish it off. And that means he's now in the range of both of them. Alone.
As I finish my trail of thought an alarm appears on my screen. Mikoto has 10% shields left.
"Mikoto, get outta there! Let's regroup somewhere else!" I flick my joysticks and pull the right lever hard as I stomp the pedals, entering a sudden full boost towards Mikoto's position, grazing a few pillars as I do.
"I can't escape! They're synchronizing their missiles to block me, and my air thrusters got hit so I can't glide anymore!" He shouts, I can hear the clicking noises of the controllers as he yanks them around.
Shit, they outsmarted us again. That's why the Frei didn't come after me immediately with missiles and instead tried to bury me under the cliff. He wasn't really trying to stop me from shooting at the Elef, he wanted to off Mikoto to later projectile spam me to death.
"Takeru, I'm sorry. I couldn't get past this thing and didn't do much damage to it."
"Hey, don't give up! We still haven't-"
"It was fun, you know! Playing together again. We should do this more often. Now let's go for that ice cream!"
Mikoto's dot stops moving in the radar, the missiles approaching its position. A loud explosion echoes in the distance as a message appears on my screen.
[PLAYER 1 KILLED]
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! They read us like an open book! If I had dashed out of there faster this wouldn't have happened. Because of me, Mikoto is…
My eyes are glued to the crimson word flashing in the screen. I ease up on the boost, bringing my Takemikazuchi to a stop in between some rocks as the red fills my view.
Killed.
Mikoto got killed. He's… dead?
I know Mikoto isn't dead, this is just a game after all.
But as the crimson word flashes, as I'm showered in the red light, as I speak the words inside, a faint pain raises up on the back of my head, like a bunch of needles poking my scalp. A shiver, a shock runs through my arms, making me claw at the controls. Echoing closer and closer, distant yet constant, sounds I've heard before start coming back.
The sounds of a ruined world, of the eternal wasteland I see in my dreams. Fire spreads through my eyes, explosions blast away everywhere, dark smoke covers it all as if it were foggy. My breaths freezes in my throat as I once more hear the blossoming screams begging for help, disgusting munching sounds as well. Death, death as far as one could see. There is no sun, no light within this place. I see no hope, no salvation here.
The image of Mikoto being blown into a thousand bits fills my view, then it's Tama, then Class Rep, then Ayamine, then Meiya. Sumika appears in that bed, the white haired girl looks at me.
"Sumika-san is dead."
My throat wrings itself shut tight at the sight and sounds of this nightmare, hiccups in my chest as if I were trying not to puke for some reason. And yet, the taste, the acid taste of bile burns my tongue as some sort of melting echoes reach my ears, too. But in the middle of all the chaos, of all the smoke, something red is advancing towards me. Then slowly, so slowly, a black fire engulfs the battlefield, leaving nothing behind. The sky parts away, completely clear, the searing hold of the fighting was all burnt away from it. The screams stop, the red things are all gone, the fire also simply retracts and disappears. There's nothing left behind.
It's cold.
It feels so, so cold.
Complete, utter silence.
No screams, no begs for help, not a single voice. No one else alive is near…
No one…
…Alone.
"-like hell this'll be the end…"
Huh?
"If it comes down to it…" A voice, hoarse and low, creeps from behind me.
And looking back, a small dart encrusted itself onto my heart, making me choke on empty air. Yet, what I now see… is different than the rest of the nightmares. Rushing through the wasteland like a thunderbolt, a metallic human-like thing struggles against the red sea, making tidal waves of gore rise high beyond the cliffs. With the fire of war as its cloak, the machine keeps on braving the storm of the unending waves of monsters of this eternal wasteland.
Even in the middle of all this madness, someone is still pressing on? Why?
A tall, very tall shadow falls upon me. Looking up at it, some… odd monster tilted its head at me, shrouded in fog and shadows. Or… well, not at me exactly, but in my general direction. What the fuck is this thing?
And yet, that metallic mech-like thing blasts away towards the shadows, slicing its underside.
"Give me my world back!" Shredding its lungs out as it did to the flesh of the monster, the voice shock me into dizziness, pain all over my body, fingerscurling in as if hit by a hammer, nails crushed in half.
Is that… me? A voice like mine roars from within the steel giant as it rushes through the wasteland slashing at some kind of monsters with swords in each hand, enduring alone the onslaught. There is no road to follow, no clear hope of victory, and yet the force of his struggling does not yield to the monsters.
The screams, the voice, even some of the movements and backflips the mech does… That has to be me.
Who else could someone who speaks like me be? No one, except myself. But… why is his voice, or rather mine, so crushed? Screaming non-stop, cursing everything in sight, repeating that over and over. 'Give me back my world'.
Slowly, the haze of the smoke grows dimmer and dimmer, distant and distant. Everything sinks beyond the horizon, or maybe the tidal waves grow larger than the horizon itself. Feels as if I were floating on water but while standing up.
A small warm feeling lingers on the back of my head, like small raindrops gently falling on me. Covered by that faint lukewarmness, a deep breath fills me whole with fresh air. The tension evaporates, the pressure releases my chest. My unfocused vision clears up, my throat eases up as I yawn and scream at the same time. Blinking a few times, I'm back in the arcade cockpit, game still in session, cold sweat on my face and back, my heartbeats clanging against my chest as I gasp for dear air.
…What was that? I've never had such a vivid daydream in my entire life. Was I having a panic attack? Over a game?
Yes, I screwed up. But I was never that good on Valgern-On, truth be told. Then, why am I gritting my teeth? Why are my fists clawing at the joysticks? Why can't I wipe the frown from my face? Why… am I so pissed off? What's this cold feeling all over my back, this hole in my stomach?
"Am I gonna have a break down? Just for this shit?!"
Having to move slower than usual? Fighting two on one? Being low on fuel? I feel like I've been through worse things in my life. Or was it in my dreams? Am I dreaming about a ruined world to pump myself up? Or am I dreaming about this peaceful world to rest from all that carnage?
A flicker on my screens snaps me back to reality. Two waves of missiles incoming. I grip the joysticks tightly, to calm my shaky hands. No way in hell I'm losing like this. If I'm gonna lose it all then I'll struggle to the very end. I'll despair after I'm dead!
"Full accel on all boosters! I'm outta here, forward dash!" Stomping the pedals, the rocket boosters flare up and roar alive before sending the Take blasting away.
Grazing a few large stone pillars as I boost dash non-stop, the beeping alarm warns the closeness of the missiles. Heartbeats calm down, stop crashing against my chest even when the beeps intensify. Rebounding off the cliffs as I jump, the stock explosions fail to reach me. Sighing the pressure away as I lick over my lips, boosting so fast that the screen became as blurry as if this were a racing game and I was going at over 300 km/h, the cold feeling on my back finally disappears.
"Some simple dodging like this… won't hold me back!"
Getting the TC back online, focusing again onto the pixelated and blurry map ahead, I move my boosters so they're fully backwards and fly just a bit over the ground as red thunders roar within my cannon, the alarm of more missiles coming resonating yet again on my ears. Inhaling slowly through my nose, easing up the grasp on my joysticks, blinking fast, I let out a groan as the beam of red lightning blasts away a few pillars and rock formations on the cliff, creating a small escape route for me. Doing a power slide and squeezing the Take under the artificial tunnel my beam built for me, no damage I receive from the downpour of missiles. Exiting the tunnel, a vast expansion greets me, the cliffs parting wide and revealing a small desert in between them as the explosions roar behind me. Sand rises to the sky as the missiles miss their mark, yet for some reason, the sound of the explosions feels so… fake.
Why was I so nervous about these missiles? It's not like I'll… die or anything. Peeking at my health bars, the light yellow color tells that I barely took damage in my escape.
"Huh, check that out. Well, compared to that nightmare, dodge-tanking a few missiles seems like easy work." Finally resting my full weight back onto the seat, easing my pressure on the pedals, my purple mirage exits the cramped inner side of the canyon.
I should go for the Frei first, since the Elefante can't move much. Fighting at the top of the canyon should also give me some cover from the OTH, since it needs to have a clear line of sight to lock onto me. Even if it has a ridiculous long range, it can't break through a mountain like beam weaponry does. Thank God there's no beam cannon in the game.
Judging from where the missiles came from, the Frei should be somewhere around northeast of my current location, above the cliffs. Heels press onto the pedals, sending my Take into a double boost jump. Landing on a large pillar, jumping off it towards the cliff, and then jumping again off the rock walls to not lose momentum, veering the orientation of the boosters to draw an arc in the sky with a sharp yank of the controls and a sharper breath in. The Takemikazuchi safely reaches the top of the canyon before we lost more altitude or fuel, or missiles came in pouring.
I take a small breath, smaller steps into the terrain. The large view of the barren wasteland with all signs of life shining for their absence sends a shock through my back, another dart into my heart as those tall shadows crept into my vision for a sec. Gulping hard and exhaling strongly from my nose, my lips regress into my mouth, the cold feeling swallowed back down while I start to dash through the sinkholes and cracks in the map. I can still feel the sweat rolling down my face, though.
"Don't have time… to waste on hallucinations. Let's get moving, the Frei's bound to appear on the radar sooner or later." And not a second after, a dot bleeps to life in the corner of my radar. A few meters away, right in the middle of the area full of sinkholes. "Alright, position locked! Don't think your missiles will keep me back!" And neither will this bumpy terrain, it's nothing I haven't done before!
The boosters flare to life again, the Take shoots out like an arrow towards our target. Noticing my approach, the dot starts to escape before its white shape enters my vision. And yet again, the alarm beeps alive on my ears. As the missile clouds get closer, my hands choke the joysticks while I carefully give the terrain a good look, at the cracked floor and pitfalls in particular.
"Alright. Can't take damage and can't lose tempo. Piercing forward is the only choice left!"
Sidestep, half a tilt, dash, boost jump, tech, crouch, cancel, forward dash!
Sand explodes, the screen shakes, my controllers cry and click. But my health bar remains unchanging, and my lane of choice remains undisturbed. Missiles avoided, no speed lost, and no damage taken in the dodging either besides a small twinge in my wrists. Heh, and the Frei is almost in range.
"Time to rumble, spammer!"
The Frei might be one of the best snipers but on the open terrain at the top of the canyon it should be no match for the Takemikazuchi, so long as I don't fall in one of the sinkholes. And, if it gets too far away, my TC's charge should be a few frames faster than its weapon shift back to missiles. No need to rush, I'm the one hunting here. So I circle around it waiting for an opening, stalking its shadow, dodging missiles and occasional volley, opting to run on the ground to not waste fuel. And for a few seconds, it keeps trying to get me off as we play chase, hide and seek in between the creaks and crevices of this wasteland. But since it's trying to get me to the area full of sinkholes, the Frei also has to take care to not fall into them. And once it loses some speed-
I go into a full boost for a second, my unwary rival stalling a reaction as the purple beetle pierces through the twisting clouds of dust and approaching fast, enough to let me see the lock-on circle. Letting its shoulder pads cascade onto its back, the Frei cancels the missiles and switches to the machineguns, beginning to backboost as it sprays and prays. A quick press of the buttons sends me up into a jump, yet I pull the lever and immediately cancel it. The short hop turns into a tech, returning me to the ground in just a few frames as the missiles caresses the horn of my beetle. Heh, I got you to aim upwards!
"How do you like my machineguns?!" I shout as I push the triggers.
My bullets making their way to the Frei's platinum and slim body like moths to a fire. It couldn't dodge all the shots at this range, and now that you're stunned I'm gonna do you in! Falling towards it in a spinning dash, both shortswords lunge for its core and get a direct hit, sparks flying off alongside the screeching of twisted metal.
…Wait, why is he still moving? He's not down yet?!
The Frei punches me and tries to boost jump away as my Take stumbles back, but I finish it with the machineguns before it gets away, after button mashing like mad to regain my footing. The pincushion that it was made explodes away, its dot vanishes from the radar. I'm left in silence in the wasteland, wiping my forehead.
"Sigh… Damn, that was dangerous." If it was any other mech that little percentage it had left could have costed me the game, thank God the guy didn't have a melee weapon.
Now, let's see how I'm holding. Shield at 31%, fuel at 24%. Since I barely used my swords they're at full durability, but even then I can't go for the hit and run. I probably can do only one full boost if I'm careful. If we're talking about range there's no way I could fire the TC, even if I somehow dodge a shot from the railgun the Elef probably has either a rifle or long range missiles to disrupt my charge. And my speed does lower a bit while charging the TC, so dodging and charging at the same time is out of the question against an Elef that has an OTH. So, what do I do? Where's the safest place to attack such a giant enemy with my available weaponry?
I have an idea, but it's completely stupid. It's better than letting the timer run out on me, though. C'mon, Takemikazuchi! Let's show 'em how good we are together!
After running to almost the edge of the canyon, I start boost jumping towards the Elefante's signal in zigzags. I'll assume it has the OTH charged already and is waiting for me to appear in the radar. No sooner do I start descending that the danger alarm bursts to life, a twinkle in the distance that in seconds grows larger by the second.
Gulping emptiness, heels on the pedals I send myself into a barrel roll while descending at near top speed. Right besides me, the flow of bullets passes through. Almost looking like beam, the stream of charged ammo that explodes about, piercing across the wasteland… Ugh, why?
Shit, my head hurts again. What the fuck is wrong with me? Again, my vision twists a bit, my eyes hurt as if something were pressing them into my skull, and a ringing echo zooms into my ears.
A blasting beam of light… piercing a wasteland… while I fight and do some tight dodging… Did I have a match like this before? Huh… Feels like, for some reason. But why does this hurt so much, fuck.
No, no time to space out! Coughing, blinking fast to get back in the game, my Take is still safe. Sigh… To think I'd manage to dodge an OTH. I got lucky this time, so let's get close before OTH gets reloaded.
"Now's my chance, full boost ahead!"
Again, the background grows blurry as the Take exerts itself to full speed, as the engage alarm appears once more. Dodging some shots from the Elef's rifle and some missiles using the cliffs and rocks as cover while again grazing some as I moved, I'm safely approaching the towering fortress that now appears in my sight. Hovering in the middle of the cliffs, blocking the main crossroad of the map, the massive metallic gray hunk of metal shines amidst the heatwaves of the Mirraoph Canyon, its high-res model contrasting with the lesser details of the environment.
Mikoto was right, this one relies more on its guns than on the missiles, though. Carefully reading its shooting timings, I manage to get near the open area where it is, using stone pillars as cover. A second of peace later, it switches to using a heavy machinegun on each arm and I'm forced to sidestep to get out of harm's way, hiding behind the rock formations of the pathways. Luckily, these cliffs can't be destroyed so easily… but if it starts charging the OTH again while I'm still not close enough I'm as good as dead. Well, not actually dead, but… eh, whatever.
Peeking my head from behind the rocks, my Take's horn receives a hit. 2% damage, but the horn got destroyed. Two Heavy machineguns, long range rifles and missiles, a fucking OTH railgun, seems to be its loadout.
"How did this OP mech not get nerfed yet?! Seriously devs, what the hell?! How the fuck is anyone supposed to have a chance against this damn monster?"
Moving to another pillar in a sudden boost dash, the Take circles around the giant fortress, running through the dust and pixelated large rocks in the area that is being showered by incoming sunlight from the clear sky and searing smoke from the volleys of my adversary.
I just gotta dodge for a little while more, the heavy machineguns gotta cool down after a while. Dammit, my shields are at 21%. Am I gonna make it?! There's not enough places to take cover in if I wanna get closer. The recharge window should be coming up in-
The shooting stops, the player takes a little too long to switch its weapons, so in a sudden burst my Take approaches the floating fortress from behind. Just a bit more, if I land a hit with my machineguns it's as good as dead. It starts to spam the missiles again, but it's no problem! Forward dash, sidestep, boost jump to the left, cancel, boost jump to the right!
TC out and bolting, aiming it upwards as I rush on, all incoming missiles fall to the red lightning. Sand and smoke rising everywhere in my view, the red bolts shielded me well, explosions surrounding my unit, that inches closer and closer to red numbers, oil and bloody murder oozing from its visor.
Right behind that cloak of violence that surrounds me lays a towering shadow, the gray fortress filling my view as I look up. But now, unlike before as I circled around it, a small red circle appears in my view. The Lock-On is active, which means-
"Hehehe… You're in my range! Having such a big ass must suck right now!"
Diving like a meteor were my fingers onto the controllers, flicking the trigger with all my might. The machineguns hit its lower body while I dodge the fire from the turrets it has equipped on its sides.
"Hahahaha! 0% damage! This is hilarious!"
I can't help but laugh at this. Who on Earth designed this monster?! And you're telling me it had a Beam Shield when it was introduced? Seriously, what were they smoking? I want some of that shit.
The Elef spasms as little jolts cover its body, the stun now in effect. So, landing hard onto the sand, I rush forward towards it. Finally, I'm in position to execute my plan. Let's see if my gamble was worth it!
Back in my college class there's this guy called Onimura. He's also a gamer so we hit it off immediately. He plays this game where he's just a medieval guy hunting monsters with a giant horn that plays music or something. The thing is, one day I asked him how did he even approach one of those giant dragons he fights, to which he answered: "The safest place to fight a giant dragon is below him, ironically! Since most of its attacks can't hurt me if I'm there, and I can just keep beating it up no problem!"
Basically, what that weird shadowy me was doing in my daydream in that odd robot to whatever that tall monster was. Onimura, if this plan works I'm buying you lunch for a week, I swear.
The stun wears off as I take out a longsword and start slashing at the Elefante from below while shooting the TC without even charging it.
Slash, 2% damage. Slash, 2% damage. Laser Beam, 9% damage. Little by little I lower its shield, little by little its modular plating gives away like the skin of boiled chicken.
The Elefante tries to move, but since the Takemikazuchi's speed is better even on foot I can remain below him. He can't attack me with its turrets or any other weapon while I'm here, and the Elefante cannot jump since it's always hovering. So my Take keeps slashing and slicing, blasting it away with the TC. Repeating the rhythm time and again, yanking the controls and stepping on the pedals as if in a daze, in a dance. Metal starts to burn, yielding to the hammer. sparks and screeches jumping as if you poured water onto a frying pan with warm oil in it.
"You son of a bitch! You okay winning like a scrub?!" I hear the venomous yell over the headphones, and a small yanking noise of controls. Heh… the Elef's pilot, I see.
"You two tried to win this by spamming projectiles, so I'm sure you won't complain about me taking the easy way out!" I retort in my old cocky tone, chuckling at their groans, speeding up my combo, tearing the Elef apart.
"You've no skill, noob! Sucker! Cheater!" The other guy of that team keeps calling me names, his voice heating up more with each insult as I cackle back.
The Elefante's shields are in red, let's finish this!
"Hey you two, GG. And by that I mean Git Gud!" I say, holding a chuckle.
Rising my blade above my shoulder, lowering my stance, I push the controls forward. The dash allows the Take to rise from the ground for a moment, releasing a vicious slash towards the damaged machine. And with eyes blazing, the Takemikazuchi slices its longsword into the Elefante, piercing it like a cannon ball would do to defenseless sheep.
Smoke rises up, sparks give way to a fire cloak that envelopes the entirety of the metallic titan, a loud explosions soon follows. Once the screen stops shaking, I see my Take taking on its victory pose.
[MATCH OVER - TEAM N° 51 WINS]
"WOOHOHOO!" We made it into the top 12 of our zone! "We won! Check that out! Wryyyy!"
Gasping, panting, I take off my phones and run a hand over my head. The back of it is still beating, and I can't stop feeling my heartbeats in full force near my neck. Leaning onto the seat, simply looking at the message with a goofy smile, I keep taking breaths with my mouth open, feeling a shiver on my sides. Sighing hard, I pull the seat back swiftly.
"Hey, Mikoto! Say something! What do you think about that?!" I must sound like a kid, but I can't hide my excitement right now. All that anxiety completely gone from me, I cannot help but smile like an idiot.
There's no answer. I get out of my seat and look around but I don't see him anywhere. Where could he… Don't tell me that he went away! He's not in his seat, not outside the terminal. And I can't see him near the rest area, either. It's odd he didn't chime in during the fight, now that I think about it.
How long has it been since he got shot down? Don't tell me you immediately got up and left… Mikoto, if you left and we get disqualified you'll never hear the end of it!
"COME BACK HERE, MIKOTOOOOOOO!"
5 Minutes later.
(Showroom. Rest Area.)
"I can't believe you! You have no faith in me!"
"What were you expecting?! One of them was unscathed and the other was a friggin' floating fortress with an OTH Railgun! You had less than half of your shields and fuel! I really thought it was the end of it!" Mikoto says, returning the blazing gaze. I mean, I guess anyone would think it'd be impossible to turn the tables on a situation like that.
"Whatever, let's go for a drink or something. Just lemme tell you that you missed one of the best matches in the tournament!" I shrug, walking towards the rest area in the showroom with my cheeks a bit puffed.
He sighs, scratching his head with an eye closed. "I'll just watch the replay later. But that was enough, you know? I mean, I was really happy that we made it to the Top 24 of our zone. I can't believe we're in the best 36 teams of the whole tournament!" He says as the glee returns to his face.
"Yeah, but from now on we stick together and watch each other's back. The next fight is gonna be brutal, too."
"Wait, you wanna win it?!" Mikoto looks at me with a surprised face, resembling an electric rat, little jolts on his cheeks and all.
"You don't?"
"Eh? Ah, no. I mean, yes, I wanna win but, you know, you kinda carried us here. Not just the last fight, I've not been much help in this," he lets out a sigh as his entire body hunches over like a little flower under the rain.
"Dude, this isn't like you at all. And last fight was all on me for not acting faster. You kept the Elefante at bay for, what? Two full minutes? That's awesome, you know?"
"Yeah, but I got taken down in the end. And it was your idea that took down the Elef, and you dealt with the Frei all by yourself too," he looks away, his pace slows down.
"That was more thanks to the Takemikazuchi's exceptional speed, if you had tried to get below that thing I'm sure you could have done it."
"You think?" Barely whispering the retort, his eyes remain glued to the floor.
He looks super down, dammit. How can I cheer him up? I'm not good at giving speeches, I always end up preaching when I do. Hmm…
"…What? Is this how you wanna go, with me showing you up? What's next? You're gonna start calling me Takeru-sama?" I say, smirking as I shrug, raising a single brow. Let's just do what I usually do, no point in overthinking this.
"Wha… I-Idiot! You're such a stupid idiot, Takeru!" Flaring back up, he lightly slaps my arm. "That's it, next fight is my turn to shine!" Yes! There's the competitive Mikoto I know!
"That's more like it! Now let's get some juice or something."
"…Hey Takeru, you alright?" He stops in his tracks, locking his gaze on me.
"Hmm? Yeah, why?"
"You look kinda… different. No, you look like you usually do."
"Huh? Then why did you ask me if I'm alright?"
"Because you've been weird for awhile. You didn't smile, rarely joined in the jokes, didn't react when you got teased. Even the tone of your voice sounded down."
"Well, what can I say? Beating someone up sure is nice. Especially with a sword!"
"Hahaha, see? That's our usual Takeru!"
"Ha, well, is it what it is. Let's relax for a bit and keep doing our best. Then we're hitting that ice cream harder than a triple boost jump landing!"
"Yeah!"
40 minutes later.
(Showroom. Rest Area.)
"AAAAHHH TAKERU!"
"Stop screaming. And stop running. Sit down already," I do sit down, finally biting into the sandwich I ordered.
"B-B-B-But we made it to the FINAL! How do you want me to calm down?!" He starts running in circles again as he shuffles between all his character sprites at the speed of sound.
"Mikoto, you must chill! We just won a super close game, too. We're already here, so no matter the result we went way beyond our limits. Let's fight with no regrets!"
"Ah, what are we gonna do?!"
This is pointless. Ayamine I wish you were here to help me calm him down. And by that I mean suffocate him until he calms down.
"If you didn't want to be in the final then, why did you land all those cannon shots?" You really creamed the opposite team real bad last match while they ganged up on me. Still can't believe you got the two kills, to be honest.
"I was just having fun! And you were trying so hard to corner them, so when I saw my chance I just took the shot, I wasn't even aiming at the core. This is the first time I do more than 40% with a single attack!" He crashes into the seat in front of mine, sparks flying out of the thunderstorm of amazement that laid in his eyes.
He got not one, but two fully charged cannon shots to the core of the first enemy, taking 45% off its shields with each hit. Imagine my surprise, I'm having trouble at CQC while tightly dodging some mid-range fire, when suddenly one mech explodes outta nowhere. And then as I stunned the other, it exploded too in a flash after Mikoto got yet another cannon shot at its core, shaving its remaining life away.
A match that was at a standstill for two minutes ended in less than half of one, thanks to Mikoto's exalted mode activating or something.
"Well then, let's just keep having fun! This time it's really hard to think we could win it. So, let's go out with a blast!"
"Uh, but everyone is gonna be watching. And the final is going to be uploaded to the official website! What if we screw up and it ends up there forever?!" He keeps shaking, forehead full of sweat beads as he takes the first bite of his food.
"All the more reason to calm down, so that we don't make any stupid mistakes."
"Uuuh…" He seems to have calmed down a bit. But it's not like I don't understand him.
The last two matches were very hard, even when Mikoto upped his game. We went against pros and managed to somehow get out victorious. Honestly, if it weren't for the Takemikazuchi's speed and Mikoto's deadly cannon shots we wouldn't be here. So much for weapon balance! So many things are broken in this game! Though, I suppose that for my rivals my speed is broken too.
There's also this seething motivation I've been feeling since that match with the Elef and the Frei. Like, I don't even wanna lose this. Yet, this seems kinda… pointless? I mean, we're losing the final no matter what we do, we're nowhere near the level needed to actually win. But, I dunno, it's like something's missing here.
At least this is the end of the tournament. I'm really glad I got to be here, even if after this it's another half a year until everyone can get together again. After this we get some more time to hang out. I really shouldn't let my nightmares bring me down so much. I really rather be hanging out with the gang right now. I wanna spend some more time with them.
As I lay back onto my seat, I notice Mikoto playing with his keys. His gaze is clouded as he eats a sandwich, it's also rare for him to be so quiet.
"Alright Mikoto, let's make a bet!" It may be a stupid idea, but I want him to at least have fun in our last match.
"Huh? About what?"
"The first to go down has to give the other half its ice cream!" I say with a huge smile.
"What? No, you're just gonna rush away and leave me to die!"
"Of course not! We're both rushing in at the same time, since I don't think we stand a chance either way. Might as well go for the surprise attack."
"Huh? But…" He doesn't look convinced. Let's give him one last push.
"Wow, someone is not confident. Highschool Mikoto would laugh at you right now!" I see his face tighten, changing from doubt to anger in a second. Baiting: Successful!
"What?! Don't be a jerk, Takeru! I just… I'm really nervous, you know? Like this is the kind of thing I was always dreaming about when we were back in school!" He says as his face lights up, smiling again as he looks up to nowhere. "I was always getting dragged to the sea or the jungle, so when I got back home playing games was one of the things I looked forward to the most. But I could never go to any events… and now not only I'm in one but, I'm in the final match of the event! Do you get it Takeru?! We are on the final of an official Valgern-On tournameeeent!" And then his eyes start rotating in a counter clockwise way as he grabs his head, shaking a bit. Seriously dude, you must chill.
"Then all the more reason to go and give your best, right?"
"Huh?"
"With college and work in the future we probably won't be able to come to another event like this. This may be the last time for a long while that we can just have fun without worrying about what hour it is or if there's any studies to catch up to. So you must chill, dude. We came here, we played, we took down some pro players, and we got to the final. What else could a fan ask for?!"
"Yeah… I mean, today was great! I guess there's nothing else a fan could ask, aside from winning the thing. Thanks Takeru, you've matured a lot, you know?" He gives me his usual smile. I'm really envious of how easily you can change your mood.
"That's hardly a good thing, considering how much of a brat I was before. If I didn't grew up a bit I'd be in deep shit now that I'm in college."
"Hahaha, don't be silly!"
"To all finalists, please go to your terminal. The final match shall begin in five minutes. I repeat-" The voice echoes through the showroom.
All the players that lost have gone to the hall, I think, so the showroom feels empty right now. We were on the rest area but the other players didn't come at all. Who knows what kind of people we're against now?
"Let's go, Takeru! It's showtime!"
"Yeah, let's!" Let's do our worst and go down without regrets!
Heh, who would have said it? A videogame is what got me out of my cloud of negativity of these last months. Though, I do wonder what the hell is up with these nightmares. I hope I don't start having lucid daydreams while in college.
After getting ready and sitting back in our terminal, we heard the announcer on our headphones introduce all the teams before the match started. Can't believe they used our full names, I better not make a fool out of myself here or my college life might become hell. Please guys in my class, don't watch this!
Then, as we accept the connection for the match, we got to the field select screen and the battlefield is-
Heh, of course it would be this. Yguloch Fortress, the narrow circle of hell as they call it. Well, at least we won't have to worry about Rigulla's damage hazards. A small mercy, I guess.
And then, with a loud cheer of the announcer, the three-headed dragon match begins, the loading screen giving way to the map.
The Technopolis comes into view, imposing as always. Curved structures, shining silverish metal, oval shapes and lines of energy beams holding the city together. I'll never get tired of praising some of the maps. The backgrounds, BGMs and style they have is top notch. Yguloch really is very similar to the cities of Galaxy Wars, though. Still, if they wanted to make a reference to that, why do we not have any lasersabres? Imagine how cool that would be, dual wielding crimson lasersabres as you rush through the enemies while screaming 'Unlimited Poweeeeeer!'.
"Takeru, can you see any enemies?" Mikoto asks, again yanking me off dreamland.
"…Nope, nothing nearby or in the radar. Stay close, I'll go over that tower."
Walking on the platinum white streets, between the perfect cubes of the structures, I hop on top of some smaller buildings to get to the tower in question, that looks like an anchor in reverse pointing to the sky. I wait a few seconds but I can't see anything on the screen or in my radar, not even as I look about the place.
Yguloch has an open exterior filled with all kind of sci-fi, futuristic looking buildings and in the center of the map there's the fortress, that is a clear homage to the Doom Moon. But still, there's nothing in sight.
"See anything?" He asks.
"Not yet, no. Anyways, better make haste and get closer to the fortress."
"Huh? Why? Shouldn't we stay under cover to catch the enemies by surprise?"
"Have you ever played this map, Mikoto?" I ask as my Take hops back to the ground, landing besides the Xao-Myun.
"No, not really. I haven't got the time to try all the new maps from the last updates."
"Well, you see, Yguloch's interior is very narrow, kind of like an actual building. It's perfect for hit and run tactics, or just to hold the fort. There's very few mechs that have the speed or defense to traverse one of the hallways while under constant fire. But there's one special thing about this map," I stop, on purpose to make the silence all the more grand, licking my lips and inhaling sharply, to speak from my stomach. "In the dead center of the fortress there's a room with a control panel, and if you interact with it you'll make nukes rain down on the outside. It basically destroys all the outside map, forcing players to fight within the fortress." But the nukes are programmed to drop automatically after three minutes anyways. So waiting is kind of pointless.
"So you want to win by using those nukes? This… feels really cheap, you know," He sighs as we start walking, the Xao-Myun lagging behind my Take.
"The inside of the fortress is like a labyrinth, so it's not like we have a clear road towards the panel. And we can get sniped on the outer sections of the building. But as soon as any team shoots for the fortress, there's gonna be little we can do besides rushing to it. So we have no time to waste, we gotta try to get close to the entrance in case anyone pushes the red button," I say with a nod, Mikoto groans a bit but still agrees.
Even if fighting breaks out outside Yguloch, getting closer is for the better. And if the match drags on, the nukes are gonna come down raining anyways. So, chances are, someone is gonna chase that control panel. Or we could just rush and do that ourselves? Nah, no way in hell that's gonna work, we'll be exposing ourselves unnecessarily.
"Takeru! Enemy to your left!" He warns and we both stop walking, crouching behind a spinning anchor-tower.
I check my radar, there's two signals near and getting closer. Wait, I got another reading to my right. Two more coming from over there. Are they… rushing into the fortress? Looks like, at the speed the dots are moving. So much for being cautious.
"Can you see anything, Mikoto?"
"Not yet, I still can't- wait, is that… an Elefante?!"
"Times two actually, there's another to the right," I say as another Elef becomes visible to my right as it flies above the buildings in the distance.
"Eh?! For real?!" That match against the gray Elef must have left quite the impact on him.
So much for a balanced and diverse meta. Let's see what are the others piloting.
"Mikoto, stay on the ground. Let's lay low for awhile."
"Huh? What about rushing in case the nukes come down?"
"Just let me see what are the others piloting." Just a little more and they'll get in the radar's area.
And there we go! Let's check what are they… Slim build, spiky head, long backthrusters. Huh, well shit. This is gonna suck.
"Takeru, can you see them?"
"Yep, both of them are using a Ravager," I say as I start advancing again, Mikoto following me.
"Both? So the other teams are identical?" He asks, a bit puzzled.
"Yeah, balance and diversity be damned. I can see what they were going for, but this is just ridiculous. Both teams are rushing to the entrance, and if I were a betting man I'd say they're trying to block it with the Elefante while the Ravager gets to the control panel to wipe all other players with the nukes."
"Huh? And you think that'll work?"
"Honestly, yeah. The Ravager is the fastest mech in the game, and while most of its weapons are light and don't do much damage, its signature weapon, the Homing Missile, is really good. It dodges covers and obstacles and can stun just like my machineguns. With those it can keep any pursuers at bay or hop in for the kill if it needs to."
"So what do we do?" He sounds worried. Can't blame him.
"What we were going to do anyways. Rush 'em!"
"R-Really?" I can feel his incredulous look through his voice.
"Yeah, the Elefantes are going to knock each other trying to seize the gate, while the Ravagers will infiltrate the fortress. That way if we get past the giants we can kill off each Ravager individually. Since the hallways are so narrow the Elefantes can't get inside the fortress, so once the nukes get sent they're as good as dead."
"Sigh… I really don't like where this is going," He complains, sounding sour.
"Not like we have a choice, do we? The second Yguloch was chosen, this became a possible outcome. No point in complaining, right? Let's go have some fun!"
"Okay, right behind you!" Again sounding cheery, he replies as we both start boost dashing through the streets.
As we get close to the entrance, crouching and hiding behind a building, we see that the fight has already started. Explosions littering the sky, a few buildings blasted away, debris filling the streets. The once pure white of the Technopolis, ravished in an instant by all the missile spam. A green Elef has taken the gate while the other team tries to get past it. This one is firing missiles everywhere, not letting them get close. Another spammer, huh? The green one seems to have equipped missiles for all ranges and is holding a single machinegun.
The other team has an orange Elef repelling some missiles with its own, trying to cover a blue Ravager. Sadly, the crossfire of missiles leveled the entire area near the entrance to the fortress, the buildings reduced to ashes and small mounds of burnt metal.
All right, they seem to be so focused on the gate that they haven't noticed us getting closer, or they just don't give a damn. Whatever, I think that one full boost dash followed by a triple boost jump should get us close enough to just dash under the green one, then we can slide under it and enter the fortress. There should be one Ravager inside the fortress already so we should hurry.
"Mikoto, on my mark we go for a full boost dash followed by a triple boost jump, that should get us close enough to get past the green one. You ready?"
"Wait, don't you see that mark on the radar? Just above the gate?" Mikoto says with a shade of doubt.
"Huh? I just see one dot, what are you- It moved! There's two dots!" They're overlapping their signals? Is that even possible? I'm sure this is as legal as a loli.
"What do you think they're doing?" He seems surprised this kind of thing is even possible, watching as the explosions keep on screeching, yet the dot above the gate remains still.
"If they didn't get into the fortress, then I have no idea. There's no advantage to fight on top of the gate, since launching homings from inside would be safer now that all the cover got blasted away to hell."
"What if they were waiting to catch them by surprise? Takeru, you said that the Elefante can't get inside, right? So, if they kill the Ravager of the other team…"
"They have the match in their pocket! You're totally right!" Mikoto, you're a genius.
Of course anyone would assume that rushing to the panel is the safer strategy. But when they saw that the other team also had an Elefante, they decided to seize the chance to kill its partner, to have no one to compete for the panel later, since it seems they don't care about us or think the Elef is enough to either deal with us or keep us away from the fortress until the nukes come down.
Still… Look at all those explosions. It's literally a field of fire and smoke. Can we really make it safely inside the gate? If they have a Ravager ready to stun us with the homings, we're gonna be target practice for the Elef.
"What do you think we should do, Mikoto?"
"Um, the Homing doesn't do much damage, right? The Ravager on the gate must be waiting until they get low on shields, to use the surprise factor to its fullest and get rid of the other Ravager. So, I think that after the other team realizes that they're hiding on top of the gate, they'll try to kill it. And that's when we should rush into the fortress, while they fight between each other."
"Why don't we reveal the Ravager to them, then?" Light bulb moment right now, I have an idea we can exploit.
"Reveal it? Charging in into those two Elef's range? No, thanks!" He really is scared of them, after all.
"I was thinking of sniping it, we're in range I think. They haven't focused on us because we are not a threat to them, or they don't care, but when they look at where we shoot, even if we miss…"
"They'll see the other Ravager! Nice thinking, Takeru!"
"Nah, this is all you noticing the second dot."
We slowly approach a building, but we gain no attention so we take our position. Mikoto readies his cannons, I prep up the TC. Looking with the scope, it's obvious there's a mech above the gate, but if you don't look closely you can totally miss it. Looking at it from the front must be almost impossible, since it's hiding behind those light poles and the Elef's missiles deserve more attention.
Alright, let's get this baby charged up. Let's aim at the light poles!
"I'll use my TC to blow up the lights and most of the cover, you target the Ravager."
"What do we do after we shoot?"
"Wait and see, depending how things turn out we either take advantage of the chaos or wait until they stop bombarding each other with missiles. No point in rushing if we can't get to the gate in one piece."
"Okay, got it."
3, 2, 1… GO!
Both of our mechs shoot in unison towards the gate, our volleys parting the pixelated smoke. Burgundy streaks of lightning course through the air, melting what little protection is above the gate, everything blown up to smithereens. The ensuing smoke does not get a chance to settle down and rest as Mikoto's shot pierces through and further cracks the entrance. Yet, a small frame sways away from within the mushroom of dust and fire caused by our shots, the red Ravager that was forced to jump to dodge Mikoto's shot. The other team stops moving, taken aback by our attack to the gate, but as they see the other Ravager the missile spam immediately follows suit. The green Elef now has to cover its partner, and more explosions cover the sky in its entirety. Happy New Year, I guess?
"Looks like that went well. What now, Takeru?"
"They're nuking each other, we should- Mikoto, to your left!"
A homing missile heads towards Mikoto, luckily he reacts in time and shoots it down.
A screech comes through the speakers, followed by a livid voice. "You damn casuals! Go back to the Dreamcost with your low tier shit!" I think this is the guy in the red Ravager.
"What does he mean by low tier shit?!" He better not be insinuating what I think he is.
"You don't check the tier list, Takeru?"
"No, I just read the summaries on the forums and saw some replays of each mech." I thought the Take looked sick as fuck, so I gave it a spin one day. Been maining it ever since, and my Win-rate skyrocketed since then.
"Really? No wonder you of all people picked up the Takemikazuchi, then." What's up with that sarcastic tone?
"Which tier are our mechs in?"
"Mine is Mid tier. Yours is in Bottom tier."
"What?! This baby is at the bottom?! I call bullshit!"
"You're the only one I've seen to be able to use that mech without crashing and exploding at some point."
Our chat is interrupted by more missiles coming our way. Seems like camping is no longer an option for us, now that we got ourselves noticed.
"Mikoto, let's go! No point in staying here taking the missiles!"
"All right, right behind you!"
We dash towards the gate dodging and taking cover to avoid taking damage. This doesn't look like a battle that just started. Both Elefs are already at less than half shields and the blue Ravager is around 60%. I think this is going to turn into a slaughter, control panel be damned.
The red Ravager turns around when it notices us, shooting a homing along two grenades. Dammit, he's trying to split us up!
"Mikoto, to the left!" We take down the homing and get out of the grenades' damage area.
"Aren't you good for being a casual? At least you'll put up a fight!" The red's pilot screams at us.
"Masa, stop screwing around and leave the weaklings to me!" A women's voice rang on the headphones. So she's the green Elef's pilot. Weaklings, you said? Heh, we'll show you!
"Takeru to your left!" Just as Mikoto warns me, a grenade was about to explode. I quickly boost backflip out of danger, luckily sustaining no damage. That was too close.
"Thanks dude!"
"Stay focused, who should we target?"
"Let's go for green and red! The other two have taken more damage than them and will keep getting damaged in the crossfire. Don't let your guard down though, they'll surely try to hit us when they get a chance. I'll try to get under green to get red's attention, then we can pincer him. After that we can deal with the blue one as we retreat into the fortress. Give me some cover!"
Stomping the pedals, bringing the boosters back to life, I dash towards the green Elef at top speed. Now that I know how much damage it takes from below I know I can lower its shield enough for it to get killed by the other Elef.
The red Ravager tries to go after me but it's stopped by the blue one, then Mikoto joins the fray and sprays his deadly cannon shots about. Both Ravagers run away, but the red one ain't leaving me out of its sight.
Alright, let's do a full boost and do this quickly! Once we bait the red one, we can retreat into the fortress.
The warning chime beeps, a grenade is already falling my way along a homing right behind. A few buildings turn dark, covered in smoke, as the Elef's shots miss me by a hair.
"Heh, now we're talking. Come on, let's play ball!"