The last day of the conference was the mock battle, and I could just tell that Max, Major and I would in our element; two beings who had been trained in the art of gorilla warfare.
"So, I know this will make you feel like an ass but I need you on my team." I told Max after we got a map for the location. The teams had up to five members, which already put us at a disadvantage. And Major was even worse off because he was still representing the UNSC, the traitorous coward!
A mock-up of the Everfree Forest. I briefly wondered if zombies were in the thing, but shrugged it off.
"Not a prob, though it feels like I'm betraying Tia..." He muttered as I passed him his weapon; an M1 Garand with enchanted bullets and magical silencer. Upon impact, the bullets would numb a body part, or just 'kill' the victim, depending on where it hit. I was using an MP-40 and my M1911, along with my energy gauntlet. All of the grenades had been enchanted by Sunbutt herself, since nobody else knew what the fuck they were.
"Good; it means that you're loyal to her." I said with a click on the trigger, signifying a dry fire. "Just don't worry about taking out the ponies; I'll do that myself. Just keep a watch for the other races and we'll get out alive."
"You have MP-5's, AR-15's, and several Thompson's in your arsenal at the base, and you hand me this…" he questioned while checking his weapon. "Hell, why can't I just use my carbine?"
"Celestia made your carbine out of magic," I told him while thumping a magazine home into my MP-40. "While representing the humans in this game, we will use human weapons."
"Still doesn't explain why I'm using a gun older then I am," Max sighed as he pulled his hood up over his head. I gave him a grin as I pulled my hood up as well. "So, you have a plan?"
"An assassin always has a plan." I answered. "And since you could very well be a changeling in disguise, I won't fucking tell you what it is." I could see him roll his eyes at that.
We spawned in a small clearing, somewhat close to each other. Max spawned on the ground while I ended up in a tree, crouching low and staying concealed.
"T-Rex." I said just loud enough to where he could hear it.
"Bubba's Fish Market." He answered back, causing me to let out a silent chuckle. We did our best to blend into the forest, just waiting for our first prey of the game to venture into our sights. It came sooner than I thought; a lone griffin held a sword as she glanced around for a ground pounder (someone without wings), not once bothering to look up.
Too easy. I frowned, not taking the bait. I was smart; a changeling pounced her instead and got an arrow to the side, sending him back to the palace. Another griffin stepped out while reloading the crossbow in his claws, and I did a few quick hand signals to Max. He nodded as I silently stood up and backed up a few steps.
I took a running leap, silently descending towards one while I knew Max was training the iron sights on the other. As soon as I struck home with my gauntlet, a muffled shot rang out and the other griffin was suddenly breathing through a new hole in his neck. That didn't kill him, but a blade of plasma to the eye certainly did.
"Whelp, we already killed two of the combatants." I said after a moment. "Let's get moving, shall we?"
"You get the high ground?" Max asked, glancing at the trees. I nodded and promptly climbed my ass up the nearest tree, waiting for him to get a move on as I pulled out my pistol. A knife to the spine did wonders, but the reliable .45 ACP never let me down before in battle.
I hopped from branch to branch for a while, keeping an eye out for targets in the air/trees, and took out Spitfire in the process. Have to hand it to her; it took two bullets to take her down.
I didn't even know what the fuck happened. One second I was watching Max and the next it looked like the ground fucking ate him. Either this place was designed to be exactly like the real thing, or...
I fucking forgot camel spiders could dig somewhat. So could the Diamond Dogs. That meant that I was staying right the fuck up here the entire time. I didn't spot his Garand, which meant it despawned alongside him to prevent others from using the weapon.
"It's just one human now..." I muttered, jumping to another branch and settling down. About fifty yards ahead I spotted a red Naga and a tarantula duking it out, and somehow the spider was winning. Then the both of them disappeared into the ground, a tan leg showing that the camel spiders got to them.
Yep, definitely staying the fuck up here. I thought, shifting my grip on the pistol. I heard a twig snap and felt a presence.
"Mark." Chrysalis whispered from next to me.
"I can tell that you're reluctant to off me, even though you had an excellent opportunity to do so." I muttered without looking at my friend.
"It would not be fair to do such a thing to a family member." She answered. I let out a chuckle.
"I take it you've learned to stay off of the ground?" I asked, adjusting my cape again. She nodded once.
"Blasted Durmars took out my team before we knew what happened." She said, causing me to think for a second.
Since he came in with me... I grinned and reached into my slipspace pocket, pulling Mugs out. Chrysalis recoiled a little bit, more from shock than anything.
"Go find the others and do your thing." I whispered. "Since this place suffers the laws of puns and shit, when you get squished or something you'll appear next to Max. Be gentle with him." And with that I flung him downwards, Mugs landing gracefully into a bush. It took a moment for him to exit, but he scurried off to places unknown.
"What was that?" Chrysalis asked in confusion.
"My pet." I sat back against the trunk. "We're gonna be here for a while, unless you want to go hunting some more."
"And risk getting eliminated by the Durmars? No thanks; I'm content being right here with you." She scoffed.
"When it's just you and I left, we're gonna have to fight this out, you know." I softly said, rubbing her head. "To make it easy for the both of us; no magic and no bullets."
"Acceptable." Chrysalis nodded. "We'll fight on the ground?"
"It's a small pain to keep my arse up in this tree on the balls of my feet, Chrissie." I rolled my eyes and cracked my neck.
"What the fuck just hap-" A pony from somewhere screeched before getting out of the match, causing me to chuckle.
"Good job, buddy." I muttered, checking the magazine for my MP-40. After doing so, I sat back and pretty much relaxed. Chrissie draped herself across my lap, staring up at me with the changeling equivalent of bedroom eyes. I chuckled before giving her a earnest belly rub, causing her to sigh on content.
[later]
"Three teams left; Humans, UNSC, and Changelings!" An announcer not unlike the one in Halo called out.
"Well, I guess this is it." I slipped from the tree and nimbly landed on my feet, waiting on Chrissie to join me.
"Shall we dance?" Chrysalis grinned and turned into me. I chuckled and put away my weapons, before raising my fists.
"Let's do this the good ol' Marine way." I said, before swinging at her (for the sake of non-confusion, I'll say 'her' for Chrissie). She ducked out of the way and went to punch my liver, but I was already twirling out of the way and aiming for a low sweep. She jumped over my leg and kicked at my face, while I grabbed her leg and twisted. She kicked me in the face with her other foot, sending me to the ground hard. I spat out some blood and got to my feet, cracking my neck.
"You're doing quite well, for a biped." Chrysalis said with a grin.
"I'm no mere biped, I'm a Marine." I growled before crouching down. She mimicked me and we circled each other, before I did something she probably didn't expect. "Pocket sand!" I yelled as I threw dirt in her face. She hissed and backed up, wiping at her eyes. What she didn't expect was me to continue playing dirty, and I soon had her on the ground with my knees on her arms, while I was choking her.
"What -gasp- happened to fair?!" She choked out, trying her best to remove my hands from her windpipe. And kick me off of her, but I ignored the flailing legs behind me.
"What part of being a Marine didn't you understand?" I asked as she started turning blue. "We don't fight fair. We win." As she lost consciousness, she let out a strained chuckle and disappeared.
And like that, I was back in the lobby with a glowing chest.
"That was dirty, Mark." Celestia said as I cracked my knuckles, grunting at the pain I suddenly felt.
"And?" I rose an eyebrow. "Sunbutt, when have I ever played fair?"
"Well, color me surprised." Celestia mused as she looked up at the scoreboard. I turned and looked as well, noticing immediately. "It looks like the Minotaurs were finally usurped from their position. Congratulations Major, not only for being the only survivor, but for having the most kills for a single combatant." The man in question materialized out of nowhere, nodding in agreement while cradling his SRS. "Meanwhile you and Max only achieved nine kills together. He took down four of my ponies in about five seconds." I waved her off at the quip.
"That was tactically done to making the enemy think we were soft." I said. "In all honesty, we could've won the game easily with all the spells Dawn pumped into our equipment." Glancing over at Major, I frowned a little. "If somebody had joined us." He just shrugged and didn't say anything.
"There you are," spinning about I found Max storming up to me, he looked pissed.
"Something wrong Master Sergeant," I calmly asked.
"You could say that," he snarled as he pulled his hood back and showed Mug's clinging tightly to the back of his head, trilling happily. "There I was in an underground tunnel, holding my own, when this PET of yours jumped me, doing the Face Hugger routine from Aliens and took me out."
I suddenly couldn't stand I was laughing so hard, the image in my mind was fucking hilarious.
"How many did you take out before it started humping your face," Celestia asked as she used her magic to pry off Mugs and float him over to me.
"Two of the spiders and most of the Diamond Dogs… before it was game over." Max grunted.
"Game over man, game over!" I retorted a one liner from the movie with a chuckle. Major and Celestia hit me.
[Major's POV]
As the battle started, I was teleported into the underbrush of the forest it was taking place in. Wasting no time at all, I scanned the area and activated my suit's AC, disappearing from view.
All alone, just like old times. I thought to myself as I started moving forward, keeping my attention on my surroundings. My first victim would be the minotaur who was alone, sporting a nasty looking, massive warhammer that rivaled the size of a gravity hammer. While a single shot from my SRS would take him out, I had only brought the one magazine and I didn't want to waste any ammo, so I instead drew my knife and crept up behind him. From my intel, this was one of Stormhorn's best soldiers, but God if he didn't pay attention.
I suppose I can't fault them, I thought as I slammed my knife into the back of his head, sending him back to the palace, they don't usually fight opponents with active camouflage. Sliding my knife back into its sheath, I continued hunting for prey.
Two Tibaxians were next, one with my kukri to the chest while I sent a short burst of caseless ammunition from my SMG into the other, causing the both of them to vanish. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a suppressed SMG like I would've normally used, so I quickly vanished into the bushes before anyone could investigate the report of my gun. I might actually have fun. I mused as I went.
[Later]
"Report," High Chieftain Bron Stormhorn demanded, he had sent two of his best trackers into "The Game" to keep an eye on the three humans, and he wanted answers NOW. The first to step forward was the elder brother, Jebbek of the Bloodhoof clan.
"After their initial entrance into The Games, and losing his teammate to the spider trap, the one known as Mark kept mostly to the trees and did little if anything to help the other human or engage in any of the fighting. I was never able to find the one known as Major, but I suspect he was the one to remove me."
"Even though he is a leader and supposedly a great warrior, he showed reluctance in actual fighting," Stormhorn grumbled, not liking the fact that Mark could be a coward…
"My Chief, If I could speak freely," Jebbek asked.
"Granted, High Scout."
"I can see the disappointment for this human in your eyes," he interjected. "But I can tell you this, that human's actions spoke of a different objective then to win a war game."
"Enlighten me."
"I am the best Scout in all the clans and I can tell when someone is gathering information through subterfuge," he said, causing his chieftain to sit up and take note. "The one known as Mark spent the whole game observing each of the participating races' battle techniques. It is my belief that he sacrificed his teammate and threw the game in order to gain much needed knowledge on the other races."
"I see, than he is truly a great warrior and I am honored he is our ancestor." High Chieftain Stormhorn beamed with pride, happy that his belief in Mark's abilities were justified. Leaning back into his seat, he looked too Jebbek's younger brother, Turok. "And what of the Sun-Princess' little breeder?"
"The little human she calls Max," Turok said as he stepped up, referring not to Max's height but his lack of body mass… as in muscles. "It took me some time to find a way into the tunnels, but once inside I observed the breeder take out one of the giant spiders before being jumped by the Diamond Dog team. After discarding his fire lance, he used a dagger from his boot to hunt down and vanquish four of the mongrels, before something came out of nowhere and he vanished."
"The little breeder killed 5 foes before going down?" Stormhorn blinked in dismay, almost not believing that the stick of a human could achieve such a feet, let alone do it with a hand knife. "If the breeder could take down five enemies by his lonesome, just imagine what honored ancestor Mark could have done… what a full team of five human's could have done."
"That is not all, High Chief," Turok cut into his leader's reverie. Slowly he pulled something wrapped in a wool blanket and placed it upon Stormhorn's desk.
"What is this," the chief asked as his scout gently unwrapped the object.
"It is the breeder's fire lance," Turok said as he held out Max's M1 Garand. "I retrieved it before his was taken from the game."
"By the Thunder Bluffs," the chief gasped, his hands trembling as he reached out and took the weapon. "With something like this…" he paused in this train of thought, a smile coming to his lips. "Call in every master weaponsmith we have!"
None of them noticed the shadows in the corner shift a little.