A Visitor to the Future - 113 - Team Moss vs Team Catalyst
We moved as a trio to the left hand side of the arena, lacking any specific strategy beyond sticking together and staying vigilant. With the loss of Gatecrash's enhanced hearing, and with the arena not particularly obstructing visibility, we agreed that getting the drop on our opponents was unlikely.
"I could climb up on top of these rocks... or asteroids, if that's what they're supposed to be," said Tungsten, "But I think I'd just be making myself a target. I'd stick out like a sore thumb. Any ideas, both?"
"We should keep an eye on the floor," said Gatecrash, "The announcer said that any Proxies that fall into the water are to be eliminated. Trapdoors, pitfalls - that sort of thing."
It was a good call, though the dark floor seemed stable enough, and didn't seem to give at all under my Proxy's feet. I looked at the rocks and dust scattered across the floor for any sort of pattern - maybe the area in which a trapdoor was would be clear of any debris? But despite staring at the ground for a few seconds, nothing obvious presented itself.
Gatecrash picked up a pair of palm-sized smaller rocks, and tucked a rounded one into their left armpit. The remaining rock was almost disk-shaped, and was quickly wound back in the right hand - then, in a sudden motion, they brought their arm forward, completing a launching motion. The rock flew forwards, spinning, as it skipped once and then slid across the ground, travelling into the centre of the arena quite a ways before it's momentum ran out and it slowed. Finally it impacted another smaller rock and with a thunk, bounced and stopped.
"Whatever the deal is with this arena, it isn't motion activated," concluded Gatecrash, pointing to their retained rock, "There are quite a lot of these scattered across the ground. May as well make use of them!"
The head of Tungsten's Proxy tilted left and right as he spoke, inspecting where the thrown rock had landed, "The arena designers have been very good about giving both teams a fair chance at dealing with the arena's quirks during the tournament. Think about it - the flooded area was a gradual change, and the maze provided ample warning of dangers, provided that one uses all their senses. No getting taken out by something that you can't see or hear coming, if you catch my meaning! I'm not entirely sure that hidden pitfalls would fit with that style. "
"I'm not sure if we can count on that," I said, "I thought I was getting a good idea of the general arena conditions until the last round. They really ramped things up there."
"Hey," said Gatecrash, tapping my shoulder, "I think the time for experimentation might be over." They pointed down the rows of asteroids, and I followed the gesture.
From below one of the crooked edges of an asteroid, a tracer-like red light was visible, peeking under the edge. I was briefly reminded of the way that cat's eyes tended to light up as they hid under cars, but the moment of comparison was fleeting. The light rose up and rounded the corner swiftly, it's four-legged owner right behind it.
This was no shy, elusive creature - no creature of the night with sleek curves to slink easily into the darkness. It was a predator - a wolf. It's head was a bronze-hued metal which formed a crater-like opening around a single black-lensed optic, the red light shining from it's centre, almost as if the single eye was set into a mouth or jaw. The neck featured tough plating, angular and without crevices, designed to resist attempts to grab at it. The body was styled in much the same way, giving an almost fractal impression. The limbs defied that convention, rippling with grey, synthetic muscle fibre. It was smaller than our own Proxies, but something told me that wouldn't make too much difference, if it could close the distance on you.
And the feet - they weren't actually feet - but rather hands with a full eight digits, gripping the ground like an intelligent set of roots, anchoring it firmly.
Despite the sheer power it projected, you could still see signs of damage. Like us, they hadn't gotten through the tournament's rounds so far without a few scrapes. The bronze colouring of the plating was completely absent in places, presumably where they'd been replaced. One of the back 'paws' had digits missing. There was a curious dent in the plating of one of the limbs. Despite how strangely intimidating it looked, it could quite clearly be damaged.
It was staring at us, simply staring, the red light flickering between us, before settling on Gatecrash.
And from behind it came it's teammates. A second, almost identical creature stalked around from behind it, taking it's place on the right of it's teammate, blue-highlighted head and matching optical light cocked almost quizzically. I could see this one had a multi-segmented tail, with another grasping hand affixed to the end.
The most imposing of them, however, was the centaur. It took the design principles of the two wolves to an extreme, blocky armour overlapping every joint for protection. It's head - with two yellow lights shining from it's optics - recessed into the torso, giving the impression that it was almost hunch-backed. It's arms were overly long and wide, supported by the multi-limbed design. They fell just short of the floor itself ending in traditional five-fingered digits, which were clenched into fists.
There was no standoff. No tense moment, waiting for either team to act. They immediately broke into a sprint towards us, the centaur flanked by it's two companions. There was to be no subtlety here - Team Catalyst wanted to fight us directly, and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Gatecrash spurred us into action, "Defensive posture! Remember the throws we practiced! Use their own momentum against them!"
Right. I shifted my stance, stepping to the left, Gatecrash to the right, and Tungsten took the centre front. Our targets were bearing down on us quickly - the distant features of the opposing team no longer so distant, frantic footfalls raising grey dust in our wake. They would close in on us in seconds, the centaur shortly after the two, faster wolves. I looked forward at the approaching blue optic of my approaching target - one Proxy for each of us to deal with. I mentally rehearsed my throwing technique - grab, swing, release - was that how it went? It'd have to do.
Gatecrash threw the rock they had picked up earlier in the direction of the centaur, it's overlarge arm reaching out to deflect the projectile in mid-air.
Thirty metres away. Twenty-five. Twenty. Time slowed to a crawl.
Something about Gatecrash's throw had drawn my eye, the way the rock had sailed out of their grip and launched forward. I returned my gaze to my target, only to notice what may have been a crucial tactical advantage, had I only noticed it seconds before.
The attention of the blue wolf's light had shifted. There were now two laser-pointer dots on Gatecrash's chest - one red, and one blue. It had been a feint! Both wolves were going for Gatecrash!
With no time to get off a verbal warning, I tried to lean to the right, push myself off the ground and put myself into the path of the incoming blue wolf. But our opponents had already built up too much speed, my reaction too late. My target leapt off the ground towards Gatecrash, and sailed past my open fingers as I tried to reach out and grab it.
To their credit, Gatecrash had managed to grab the red wolf as it had leapt at them - and was preparing to toss it into the rock behind them. But the second wolf was unexpected, and hit them in the back as they were defenceless. Gatecrash was knocked over, losing their grip on the red wolf, and was slammed forward by the blue one into a nearby asteroid.
My attempted manoeuvre had rolled me around, now facing behind to where Gatecrash was pinned to one of the asteroids. I saw Tungsten, still standing there in a defensive posture. For a moment I wondered why he had not tried to help Gatecrash, being closer then I was. It was then that I realized my mistake - that Tungsten was right, Gatecrash was on their own.
My manoeuvre had not helped Gatecrash, but had put me directly into the path of the approaching centaur. With a fierce strike, it's forearm clotheslined the back of my neck into a nearby asteroid, and I heard a sickening crack as one of my armour plates broke.