"Now, I challenge you, Tom, to a Meta Brawl!" Jet pointed at Tom, making a gun shape with his hand.
"Never thought I'd hear that. I accept, and I invite Dean and Dennis to participate!" Tom responded.
"I accept, bud'." Dean grinned.
"I refuse, and offer my place instead to Ruby!" Dennis responded, and turned to Ruby. "What'll it be?" Ruby felt uneasy, and even more so when Jet immediately said, telepathically, 'Say "I reject", quickly!'
Now Ruby was torn. How would it be if she entered this contest against Jet's wishes? There again, she had no idea about what this contest would be. But, it was time to play with Jet. What was the worst that could happen?
"I accept." Ruby said, and turned to Jet, who'd surprisingly smiled a little.
"You don't know what you're in for." Jet reprimanded. "Dennis, can you please explain the rules to Ruby while the three of us suit up?"
"Sure thing." Dennis agreed as he sat opposite Ruby. The three friends walked away from the table to a set of stairs that previously hadn't been seen by Ruby, and descended into the dark room beyond. Dennis snatched a tissue from a holder on the table and pulled a pen from within his jeans before drawing a square box, a ring in the center with the word 'goal' in it, with four rings in-between the ring and the outside of the box, one of which was further away from the goal than the others.
"Goal is simple." Dennis explained. "Get as many points as you can. To do that, ya need to know some things. In each round, one player is the attacker. That player is the last player that scored, or the challenger at the start of the game, which in this case is Jet."
Okay. Not too complex.
"He starts here." Dennis continued, pointing at the circle further from the center than the others. "He'll run towards the goal with a ball in his hand. All you need to do is steal it from him and get into the goal with it. But here is where it gets interesting. All players are in mechanized suits, which are both strong and able to fire energy blasts.
"Wait, what?" Ruby blurted out, surprised. They were wearing armour for this?
"Surprises everyone. Anyway, that's all you need to know. Just remember that you're playing for yourself, even if it looks like you're fighting a three on one. Good luck, and do Jet proud!"
With that, Dennis gestured to the stairs that Jet and the others had walked down. Ruby took one last look at him, before she walked down the surprisingly steep stairs into the depths.
Ruby heard a grinding noise above her as she walked into what looked like a changing room that wouldn't look out of place in a school gymnasium. The difference was, the lockers were much larger than expected, the roof stretched to about three times the normal height, and as she took a few steps forward, a great, machine suit jumped out from a corner and caused her to shriek in surprise!
She heard a great guffaw from the suits loudspeaker, revealing the person inside the suit to be Dean.
"Hah hahah! Whaddya think, huh?" he boasted. The suit itself didn't look out of place from a sci-fi game, with chrome armour plates and glowing blue neon lights. The great chest plate bore the name 'Blue Brawler', and the helmet had a wide dark blue visor. The thing stood at twice Ruby's height, and crouched to speak to her.
"Weak." came a mechanical growl behind Dean, and Tom emerged, his own boasting a yellow, dirty design with camo-painted plating and a hard-edged look to it. His own mech was named 'Swooping Hawk'. "My custom mech can beat you every time."
"Says you." Jet said as he walked from behind the two armour suits, but he lacked his own. He took Ruby's hand and lead her to a red suit that didn't move. "This one is yours."
The suit was a smaller, red version of Dean's suit, with the name 'Red Rum' on the front, knelt on a single knee. Jet took Ruby behind the suit for her to see three small steps into the suit, which was completely open on the back, almost as if it was designed to be walked into. At Jet's nod, she climbed the steps and knelt into the suit, which closed around her. The visor was clear from the inside, allowing Ruby to see.
She tried to stand, but the suit didn't move. "Initializing" was shown on the left side of her view, before the word "Complete" replaced it. She tried again to stand, and succeeded, feeling the suit's impressive power as she stood up. Now Jet's head came up to her chest, and she stretched her arm out in front of her experimentally. The suit responded to her every movement, and didn't seem to restrict her in any way.
"Remember this." Jet said, tapping her upper chest to get her attention. "Your suit is Red Rum, Class E. You have your shooting ability as standard."
"Red Rum, Class E, got it." Ruby repeated, and he smiled as Dean lumbered over to her and Jet.
"Where's your suit, Jet?" he asked, slamming his chest with his fist.
"It's coming. You'll see. Now, let's get ready." Jet replied, gesturing to his left, where four circles glowing a deep red were. Dean, Tom and Jet walked over to them, and each stood within one each. Glass tubes descended on each, before they vanished in a flash of white light.
Ruby, taken aback, walked over to the last red circle, and watched as the glass tube descended on her, before a bright light overwhelmed her vision.