Bite
Iron Grip
Spider Climb
Naughty Children
Ice Needle
Camouflage
Inventory
Hammer
Grenade Ammo - Smoke
Grenade Ammo - Fire
Grenade Ammo - Ice
Grenade Ammo - Electric
Trap - Electric
Trap - Rope
Health and mana wise I’m doing well. I only took a few hits during the last couple of fights. My TP is looking sad though. I used up most of it when I activated Camouflage and planted those explosives. Speaking of explosives, I’m out. I used up both my explosive grenades and my proximity mines to take out that magical shield in that first fight today. Still, I have more options.
I close my inventory space as a large screen appears in the middle of the room and the announcer’s starts to speak. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the final, deciding fight in the System Games!”
A spotlight highlights our corner of the room and I see my team on the screen. The announcer continues, “In this corner we have the underdogs. The newly minted company that’s exceeded all expectations by making it to the final round. The team with the most teens, Monster Squashers Inc!” Shots of the cheering crowds are played over the screen and there are several people that wear t-shirts proclaiming, ‘Team Monster Squashers.’
The spotlight disappears from us and reappears on the other team. When the opposing team appears on the screen in the middle of the room, my heart begins to race. The announcer calls out, “And in this corner, we have the troublesome trio, the team with the most accusations of cheating this tournament, representatives of one of the most powerful corporations, The Arschloch Corporation!” The screen again shifts to the audience for their reaction. While there are still many people that cheer, there are also a lot of people that boo with enthusiasm. However, all those reactions only register in my periphery.
My mind instead focuses one of the revealed opponents. Auden Arschloch III, that rich, blond, smug bastard that beat me up during the Halloween party. That same jerk that stole my ability Hammer Time. Auden’s ability to steal any power used against him is going to be a pain in the ass during the fight. Thankfully it has a seven-day cool down period between uses or it would be super over-powered.
Now that teams have been announced the force field around us have become clear and I use Inspect to check out the Arschloch team.
Auden Arschloch III
Level 15
Jeremy Dolton
Level 14
Cortney Wakesfield
Level 13
I recognize Jeremy as the brown haired guy who’s always following Auden around. I think he’s a professional lackey or something. The brunette girl, I vaguely remember being at the convenience store with Auden once. I’m not sure if she’s the one that vomited all over the floor though. Still, the two aren’t here for moral support. They must be decent Users to have made it this far.
My time inspecting the other team ends when the announcers voice breaks through my contemplation, “Let’s get ready to rumble! The match will begin in 5...4...3...2...1...Go!”
The forcefield around our team disappears and we run across the room towards our opponents. However, the other team stays where they are. Courtney, dressed in a white, cloth robe, embroidered with holy symbols, begins to glow as she chants, then Auden and Jeremy start to glow red. I realize she must be giving them some kind of buff that makes them stronger.
As soon as Auden gets the buff, he taps the air in front of him and he’s suddenly dressed in a set of golden power armor. The technologically powered armor encases him in a suit of armor that enhances his strength and protects him from damage. It also makes the guy look like a giant since it adds four feet to his height and doubles his mass. If the gold color didn’t make him look so douchey, he’d actually look impressive.
Lillian, already wearing her own mechanized battle suit, rushes Auden, determined to go toe to toe with him. Auden gladly accepts the challenge and it’s two-handed hammer versus two-handed sword. Jeremy dashes to his left and aims his strange looking gun at me. There’s the sound of compressed air, and an object comes streaking out towards me. I instinctively use Roll, and the ability tosses me to the left. When I’m back on my feet, I see that there’s a tranquilizer dart sticking out of the floor where I was just standing. The dart triggers a memory of being tied down and drugged. I’m frozen momentarily by the traumatic thought. A gunshot from my right brings me back to the present, and I turn to see John shooting his handgun while running and as Jeremy fires more tranquilizer darts. John hits Jeremy center mass once, causing a red 15 to float away from the man. However, in that same moment, a single dart hits John in his thigh. John stumbles immediately and falls to his knees. He shakes his head, but I can tell that the drugs in the tranquilizer are already taking effect as he wobbles. Jeremy giggles and the sound tickles something in my mind.
Still, I can’t let the man take advantage of John’s vulnerability. I raise my grenade launcher and fire off my load. Jeremy must have heard the sound of my weapons because his gaze snaps to me, and for a moment his face is filled with hate. The next instant, he’s running away from me as fast as he can. My grenade lands and explodes, causing a ring of fire. Unfortunately, Jeremy is already out of the damage radius of the grenade. He turns as soon as the grenade goes off and aims his strange weapon with the green vials hanging off it at me. Now it’s my turn to move. I use Roll again, and body speeds forward. I feel the tranquilizer pass by, and as I come to my feet, I fire off another grenade. Jeremy again runs just out of range, and I find myself in a game of cat and mouse. The two of us seem not to be able to make any progress towards harming each other.
A glance to my left reveals Lillian in the same situation. She and Auden’s fighting styles are too similar. Each is armored too well. Their health bars have barely moved as they exchange blows.
The glance away from my opponent almost costs me my consciousness as a dart hits the ground an inch from my right foot. I can see the only reason he missed was that he was shooting from the other side of a pool of fire and heat likely blocked his vision partially. I have to run while trying to reload my grenade launcher, and I’m only able to drop two grenades before I have to Roll again to avoid another tranquilizer. I shoot off my next grenade, and again Jeremy runs just outside its range. But that’s ok this time. As the grenade explodes, it spews a thick dark cloud of smoke. Jeremy, on the other side of the smoke grenade, is now completely obscured, which means he can’t see me either.
I use the visual distraction to call out to my blonde teammate. “Lillian, let’s switch dance partners.”
It only takes a moment for her to recognize what I’m saying, and with a frustrated growl she disengages from Auden and uses her suits boost ability to speed towards Jeremy, leaving me to face Auden. He’s stunned that Lillian left the fight, but as he realizes that he’s supposed to fight me now, he laughs and points at me. “Am I supposed to fight you now? I’ve already kicked your ass once with my bare hands. Now I’m all decked out in my best armor and weapon. You don’t stand a chance. Why don’t you just surrender now and I’ll make your death only slightly painful?”
The mocking tone of his laugh grates on my nerves, but instead of answering I fire another grenade at him. He’s such a big target it’s almost impossible to miss. The rich idiot looks down at the object that pings off his metal armor. His eyes widen as the grenade explodes and unleashes a blast of electricity. As the electric energy travels through Auden’s metal armor, his muscles involuntarily contract and expand. His facial muscles twitch and spasm, forcing his face to take on a strange assortment of expressions.