A Visitor to the Future - 108 - The Two Squires
Our opponents had to be close. With the engagement only a matter of moments away, I was carrying tension in my shoulders - both my Proxy's and my own. I took a second to forcibly relax them. Breathe in, breath out. Better. Tension in my own body had a biological purpose as part of the fight or flight reflex. For a Proxy, it was useless - the mechanical body had no such reflex - there was no benefit to tensing up unless tensing up itself was the objective.
"I was going to say something about that," said Gatecrash, noticing the change in my posture, "Nicely done, you realized it yourself. I will say you should watch your right foot - I've noticed you curling your toes a bit too."
Sure enough, they were right, and I relaxed my Proxy's foot. It was funny how easy it was to carry stress in your body without realizing it. Gatecrash was very perceptive when it came to these things.
"Wait. I hear something," said Gatecrash suddenly, motioning for us to slow down, and then pointing in one direction, "Repetitive, mechanical - machinery, maybe? It's about fifty metres off, we can get closer."
"We should check the corners," I suggested, "It might slow us down, but better to know what we're up against."
We proceeded carefully, Gatecrash peeking around each corner carefully before we went around it. Three turns later, we found what we were looking for. Gatecrash pulled their head back quickly.
"Found them. Have a look, but be fast!" they said.
I squeezed past Gatecrash as we changed places, and quickly glanced around the corner before withdrawing my head. It was a long corridor, wider than we'd seen so far. About halfway along it were two opposing red Proxies, of the same shade as the blur that I'd seen earlier. They both seemed identical - short, nimble humanoid models of almost spindly construction. So much for my single scout idea, I thought.
"What are they doing?" I asked Gatecrash.
"You didn't see?" they replied, "There's some sort of floor trap - a series of platforms above a pit. They're moving in a pattern."
I risked another glance. This time I caught it - the floor was suddenly fell away to nothing, a series of columns rising out of the ground, just wide enough to place a foot on, spiralling and weaving across the space in patterns. The two Proxies seemed to be trying to figure it out. There was no sign that they'd seen us.
"We're not going to have a better chance than this," said Gatecrash, "They might be faster than us, but the lack of reliable ground might even the odds, give them pause for thought. Let's rush them."
"Alright," I responded, "Let's do it."
We took off around the corner with a burst of speed, all pretences of stealth abandoned. I watched as one of the Proxies turned to look at us, followed by the other, and felt like I could actually see the moment of hesitation as they frantically decided what to do between themselves.
Fight or flight.
They picked flight, taking off onto the moving columns and just escaping a clumsy grab from me, Gatecrash not far behind. They hopped from one foot to the next, trying to push off to gain momentum even as the moving columns provided an unstable foundation to stand on.
I wasted no time - a quick scan of the nearest columns, and I leapt forward. Though we weren't as nimble as the opposing Proxies, we did have a much greater stride length. If we could gain ground here, we could catch them. I spared a glance downwards, seeing the deep pit below and the complicated machinery at the bottom which moved the columns into place like a giant piece of clockwork. I was almost distracted by the intricacy of it all, but very quickly focused back on what I was doing when I realized that falling down there would mean getting stuck in the mechanism.
The two Proxies were splitting up, both getting further away from my grasp and forcing me to concentrate one one. I went for the closest one, hoping that meant they were less confident in traversing the pillars, and jumped after it as a pillar fell out from under my foot.
"Keep going!" said Gatecrash from behind me, their bulkier Proxy finding it more difficult to navigate the puzzle, "You've got this!"
I almost didn't. I stumbled and lost my footing - only a fortunately placed pillar beneath my left hand gave me the ability to scramble back upright and begin my pursuit again. My blunder hadn't been unnoticed either - the opposing Proxy that was further away was glancing back at me, it's optics meeting mine as I came back upright. I returned my gaze to my target - I'd lost some ground on them, and leapt forward again to try and make it up.
The pillars were getting wider now in the mid-section, and were far better places for me to get purchase. If only I could-
"Look out, right side!" shouted Gatecrash in warning.
My focus had been so fixed on my target that I'd failed to notice a fundamental shift in the other Proxy's strategy. Perhaps it'd been my stumble, or maybe it had been planning this all along, but instead of fleeing from me, it was now heading in my direction, a movement sped up by the pillars actively carrying it towards me. I raised my forearms to guard my head. I realized a second too late that I'd made the wrong decision.
The aim of a fight in this environment was never to strike your opponent directly. No, my opponent was trying to disrupt my footing, and let the trap do the hard work for them. Now close enough to see the name embossed on my opponent's chest (Squire), its regally-appointed red form struck my right ankle. Even with the reduced size of their Proxy, it was significant enough to cause my foot to slip, and this time, I knew the fall was more significant as I tumbled forward.
Time seemed to slow as I plummeted into the distant machinery below. I had only one chance left. My left foot wasn't too far from the pillar it had just slipped from, and had bent slightly as I had lost my footing. I lashed out with it, kicking myself forwards in the same way a swimmer might kick off the side of a pool, and towards the larger pillar directly in front of me. I grasped at the air until my fingers touched the sides of the pillar, using the inhuman strength and grip of my Proxy to drag myself towards it.
I was still falling, though, at increasing speed. I wrapped my arms fully around it in a bear hug, the friction between my Proxy and the pillar slowing me, and generating heat I could feel as it did so. Still too fast, though - the machinery below was getting ever closer. I pulled my lower body in, and did the same with my Proxy's legs, the motion finally and slowly arresting my momentum with a moment to spare.
Fortunately, this was one of the pillars that spun in circles. If it had been one of those which retracted into the ground, well, that would have been the end of this match for me. I exhaled a breath as the gears gnashed together hungrily just below.
There was a small series of impact sounds from above and small flecks of red debris showered around me. I smiled. It seemed that Gatecrash had managed to take advantage of my fall and catch up with my attacker. I double-checked my grip and began to shimmy up the column, stopping only to give Gatecrash a thumbs-up as they peered down from the kaleidoscope of moving parts above.