Jean struggled to acclimate himself to the simulation as his mind reeled from being subjected to virtual reality. He wasn't used to video games in the slightest, and the queasiness he was feeling was significantly impeding his ability to get his bearings. Rather than wait for his mind to get used to moving around however, Jean immediately started using the precious minute of free time to assess what he already knew. First, the average applicant was a good deal younger than he was. They would - on average - have better reaction times, so engaging on open ground would immediately put him at a disadvantage. Second, as far as he had been told, they weren't being scored based on kills. He expected most of his competition to treat this as one of their fancy modern Kills-Deaths-Assists shooters, but in this setting, he had nothing to lose by remaining hidden and letting the others eliminate each other. Third, a quick look at his proxy's limbs revealed that the provided specs were entirely accurate: The joints were extremely flimsy and Jean was surprised that they were even managing to support the robot's weight. It really wouldn't take much to completely disable an opponent's movement options. Finally and perhaps most importantly, Jean's starting position SUCKED. It really did. Everything he had concluded so far pointed towards the forest being the ideal location to wait out the match, but it was a quarter kilometer off. There was no way he'd make it before being shot down.

Caught between a field of rocks and a hard place, the lack of nearby hiding places meant only one thing: Jean would have to make his own. He found the nearest ditch, tossed one of the grenades inside, and ran for cover as best he could manage. It was a stupid plan - in all likelihood the explosion was going to attract his opponents like flies to manure - but stupid was about all he could manage right now: His head ached from motion sickness. After hearing the explosion from his grenade, Jean took a look at his handiwork.

“Whoa…”

“Whoa” was right. It was just about the only term that Gideon could conjure to describe what he was feeling. The experience of controlling another body was totally surreal, and not altogether unpleasant. Certainly, the robot, or “proxy,” as he had been not-too-gently instructed to call it, was unwieldy, and it took him a moment to wrap his head around the particularities of moving about while existing as a different shape. After a few missteps he could walk around confidently, which was certainly an acceptable starting point.

As the fight-commencing buzzer rang, Gideon’s mind turned to strategy. He had not been able to glean much from the little he saw of the first wave fight on the giant monitor before being called inside, and truth be told, being in the heat of things was an altogether different affair. His starting position gave him the unique advantage of being able to choose on which terrain to stake his claim, albeit at the price of crossing the river were he to elect the forest. One thing that he had managed to observe from the video was that hiding in ambush somewhere among the the trees seemed to be a popular strategy. Gideon’s brawling experience lent itself more easily to alleyways and open spaces, and he wasn’t confident that he could handle the stealth required to sneak around the jungle assassinating people. Besides, he was in the mood for a fight. The rocks it was, then.

Gideon knew that there would be another robo-... er, proxy to his left, so he decided to head in that direction, keeping close to the edge of the terrain. He reasoned that if he could rule out the possibility of attack from one side, that minimized his chances of being surprised. His query would likely either be moving away from him, in which case there was little danger, directly towards him, in which case he was prepared to fight, or towards the center of the map. There was also the possibility that they would be circling around, hoping to surprise him from behind. For this reason he glanced periodically over his shoulder, as best as his metallic body could manage.

It dawned on Gideon that his prey might also be hiding amongst the rocky outcroppings, so he slowed his pace somewhat. He had considered testing his weapons out before engaging, but he had done nothing more than pull them out and put them away before beginning his trek. Truth be told, he preferred to fly by the seat of his pants. It was in his nature to improvise.

Instance 1 (Jean, Amber)

When Jean was finished, the cavity in the ground had widened a bit and was now perhaps just large enough to fit a proxy if it were in fetal position. Not seconds later, a chime alerted him to the end of the safe period. The proxies to either side of him had heard the blast and were now closing in, but their approaches were slow and cautious as they moved carefully from cover to cover.

***

Amber had a clear view of the forest floor below her. From this position, it would be easy to take out any unsuspecting combatants that walked by, and unlikely that anyone would spot her. As she waited, the one minute chime eventually sounded. A few seconds later, her proxy was rocked by a loud blast. The tree she had taken refuge in began to topple over, coming to a rest as it fell into another tree and leaned up against it. Without any way to hold on, Amber fell from her perch and sprawled on the ground. An enemy proxy appeared from behind a nearby tree and opened fire with its Longsword. It had seen Amber climbing during the countdown and hidden nearby, then used a grenade to fell her hiding place.

***

Penelope was in a spot of trouble. She had started at the southern end of the map, right next to the river on the forest side. She had considered whether trying to cross it, but had spent too much time thinking about it. Now, the competitor that had started to her left had caught up with her and was trying to dismember her proxy with its arm blade. So far, it had managed to mangle her left elbow joint, and her neck would be next. However, at the last second, a single bullet punctured her attacker’s head module. The proxy slumped to the ground, then faded from existence as a message alerted everyone that the first kill had been made. Penelope looked to the side to see a figure emerging from the river. It now had its gun trained on her.

“W-wait!” She said, swallowing nervously as she opened communications with the newcomer. “We should w-work together! We have a better chance of making it as a team.” Something told the girl that the person piloting this proxy wasn’t terribly concerned about their odds.

The proxy didn’t respond, but instead inspected her wrecked left arm, probably having its doubts about how useful she’d be in a fight. Nevertheless, it lowered its weapon. Penelope breathed a sigh of relief.


46 contestants remain.

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Adrian, Gideon)

“Ah ha! Gotcha!” A voice yelled as a proxy jumped out at Sven and opened fire with its automatic gun. The bullets passed right through his body. “What the hell…?” His attacker wondered as his clip emptied. He would need to reload before firing again. Panicking, the proxy attempted to run away, but it tripped and tumbled over the edge of the island. Everyone got an alert, informing them of the first elimination.

Another proxy approached in the distance from the opposite direction. “Hah, oh man! What an idiot.” It said. A moment later, the one minute chime rang, and the new combatant concealed themselves behind a tree.

***

As soon as Adrian materialized in his new environment, his proxy fell on its rear. He was able to maneuver its upper body but, unsurprisingly, seemed to have no control over its legs. He was trying to utilize cerebral functions he hadn’t used since he was born, after all. Most of the safe period had passed before he even managed to bend one of his legs, much less stand up.

“Hey. Uh, what are you doing?” Adrian’s intense focus was interrupted by a voice. He looked up to see a proxy standing above, its blade trained on his neck.

“Oh.” He returned the communication. “Sorry, I’m not really used to having… legs…”

“Damn it. Of course.” The proxy sheathed its weapon as the minute chime sounded. It grabbed onto Adrian’s with its magnetic grip and dragged him to a small alcove in one of this area’s many rock walls. “Keep working on your legs and shoot anyone that passes by here, alright?”

“Okay. Thanks.” Adrian said as the other proxy moved into a different position. He did as she had instructed, attempting to increase his control over his lower body.

***

As Gideon carefully made his way around the map, he was surprised to find his target running toward him, waving an arm in the air. Before he had a chance to react, a communication line opened.

“H-hey! Let’s team up!” A voice said. It sounded frantic, almost desperate. Before long, it became clear that he was being chased by another proxy. The pursuer stopped and raised its Longsword, firing a short burst. Its prey fell to the ground, one of his leg joints badly damaged. Only now did the new proxy noticed Gideon’s presence, and it quickly took cover behind an outcropping.

The felled proxy returned to its feet and attempted to hop away on one leg.


47 contestants remain.

As the attacker fell off the edge, Sven put the magnet where his hand would go on his head. "Moron." But as the battle began Sven had another thought: Wait a minute. If we can't interact with each other during that minute then how did he see me? And how did he die? I'm starting to not trust this woman. He heard a second voice: "Hah, oh man! What an idiot." Sven looked behind him to see nothing. Despite a rather keen sense of hearing he did not know where the voice came from. As he whipped out the armblade he wondered how many left-handed people had signed up. A third voice interrupted his train of thought: You're a coward. You can't even go after him... CAN YOU?

Sven yelled profusely into the communicator: "Not you again!"

Stupid Stupid Stupid. You always clear the area before enter your perch.
Acting quickly Amber rolled to her left towards the tree line. She rose behind one of the trees and fired her long sword at her attacker, forcing it behind cover as well.
A few seconds passed as neither of them did anything.
"You know," Amber said through her communicator, "we could work together. Ensure we both make it to the final four."

What a pain.

As he should have expected, the hole created by Jean's grenade was tiny; there wasn't any way to fit inside without completely losing the ability to move the proxy's arms, and that meant completely losing the ability to aim. No thanks. Science or not, Jean had just wasted a resource.

The jolt of adrenaline he received from hearing and feeling the explosion was starting to kick in however, and Jean's head cleared as smoke rose from the ditch. His nearby opponents were now darting from cover to cover in what he could only assume was an attempt to close in on the explosion site, though he struggled to find a logical reason for this behavior. Perhaps they assumed he'd blown himself up with the grenade and they were closing in to finish him off? In any case, Jean wasn't wounded, and he wasn't going to wait around until his opponents made sure he was. If he had seen them, they'd likely seen him too, so he had to move quickly. Before he could decide in which direction to run off however, a new plan dawned on him.

Jean cautiously took out his last grenade, careful not touch the pin mechanism. He lowered it into the far side of the ditch, raced to the top of the tallest nearby rock formation he could find, and pulled out the automatic gun. The ditch was well within his sights, and even though he was exposed on all sides to anyone who approached and bothered to look upwards, he figured that the smoke from his first grenade would attract their attention for long enough. If his opponents were coming, he'd let them come. The mechanic would be ready.

Instance 1 (Jean, Amber)

As Jean had anticipated, both proxies continued to close in on the source of the blast. They either hadn’t seen him or were simply too curious to care. Before the two had even entered the grenade’s blast radius, they noticed each other for the first time. They immediately opened fire, peppering each other with rounds from their Longswords. Both took hits, but there was a clear victor as the proxy on the left fell to the ground with both legs and its right arm badly damaged. The one that was still standing aimed to finish it off, but it had expended its clip. Acting quickly, the fallen proxy took aim with its Baselard and placed a series of rounds in its attacker’s face, ultimately destroying the head module. Unable to receive commands from the controller without a head, it vanished. The proxy lying on the ground lowered its arm, spared elimination by virtue of having one functioning limb left.

***

As Amber spoke, the gunfire ceased. For a long moment, there was no response, or sound of any kind from the other proxy.

“It was pretty impressive that you managed to climb that tree.” A voice came over the communicator. “Alright, I’ll play along. Name’s Sebastian.”

Suddenly, the proxy was riddled with a spray of bullets from the flank. It fell to the ground and blinked out of existence, it’s unceremonious elimination denoted with an electronic chirp. Looking to the side, Amber could see that they had been approached by two proxies that seemed to be working together. She managed to glimpse one as it ducked behind a tree, the other diving into some shrubbery.

***

Rather than making an attempt to mobilize, Penelope and her savior had holed up on the corner of the forest. They had already ambushed and eliminated two proxies attempting to cross the river. An effective strategy.

“Thanks for the save, back there.” She said sheepishly. The other proxy had yet to reply to any of her communications, but it nodded an acknowledgement. “I didn’t think I would be able to make it, but… now, I might have a chance.” No response. Penelope looked at the ground, and the pair continued to wait in silence.

During all of this, three other applicants had been disqualified in various other skirmishes across the arena.


39 contestants remain.

Placing her tree between the new arrivals, Amber pulled out a grenade and activated it.
one one thousand
she leaned around the tree and took aim at the shrubs that she could see one of the proxies in.
two one thousand
she threw the grenade.
three one thousand
It was in the air half way to its target.
four one thousand
The grenade landed directly in front of the enemy proxy's head module.
five one thousand
She ducked back behind the tree and waited for the boom

Jean laughed and shook his head as the skirmish unfolded below him. He'd considered the possibility of the enemy proxies eliminating each other, but he never dared hope it would be so easy. It seemed he was finally having a stroke of good luck.

Even so, the remaining proxy wasn't quite fully taken care of yet. Though minor, it still presented a danger, as Jean had seen its pilot's quick thinking and deadly reaction time at work. On the other hand, the fact that it was still barely functional meant that - so long as Jean was careful not to destroy it - its grenades could be scavenged and used as his own. The issue, of course, would be taking them while remaining unharmed. Jean hadn't had much time to practice his aim, so he was unsure whether or not he could disable the opponent's baselard gun without destroying their last functional arm. Sneaking up from behind was also a no-go, as these proxies were much too noisy for any kind of stealth ability. The mechanic sighed as he settled on the only remaining option: he was going to have to talk this one out.

"Oy, nice shot." Jean called, careful to remain out of sight. "I'll be frank. I could shoot you right now, but I need your grenades." he paused, looking around to make sure that the surroundings were clear of other proxies. "Listen, 'cause here's how it's going to go down. I'm going to walk over there, take your gun and your grenades, and drag you with me out of harm's way. You try to shoot me while that's going on? You're a sitting duck for the rest of the match. I shoot you during any of this, I lose your grenades. You got that?" Jean peeked out from behind his rock to wait for a response.

“Ah. Backup vocals.”

At the sight of his original target’s pursuer, Gideon took cover behind a large boulder at the foot of a slope, chiding himself for not having considered the possibility that the opponent two spaces away might have come up with the mirror image of a similar plan. In fact, for all he knew, whoever had started across the river from him was now on the Gideon’s own tail. He would have to act quickly.

The first order of business was to decide what to do about the hopscotching proxy in front of him. Though Gideon did feel some compassion for the hunted man, this battle remained a competition with no lives at stake. Livelihoods, perhaps, but not lives. And if the struggling pilot had been put in such a desperate situation already, he wasn’t likely to be worth much as an ally. There was also the very real possibility that this was a trap. Gideon found it odd that the approaching proxy had been shot in the knee rather than the torso, which was not only a much bigger target, but also more likely to house vital components. It could simply have been a result of the weaponry’s poor accuracy or the third pilot’s bad aim, but there was a more sinister possibility as well. Pursuer and prey could very well already have formed an alliance, and might be conducting an elaborate ruse to lure gullible combatants to their demise. For all Gideon knew, the proxy in front of him hadn’t even been hit, and was simply facking damage. He couldn’t afford to take the risk. Still, his would-be ally probably still had his grenades, and those could come in handy. Espousing some temporary good will, the rocker pulled out his Longsword and lay down some covering fire to aide the one-legged mech along.

“Come on across, I’ll cover you,” Gideon called out on the communications system, all the while preparing himself for the. As soon as the crippled machine had reached him, Gideon thrust his metallic stubs out under its arms, grabbing it by the torso. With as much finesse as he could muster, he leveraged his weight in an attempt to slam the captive machine onto its back.

Instance 1 (Jean, Amber)

“Auuugh.” Jean heard a girl’s voice over the communicator. “Just my luck. Whatever, have the stupid things. Can’t use them with only one arm anyway.” She said, removing the grenades from the proxy’s waist and tossing them in Jean’s general direction. She then used the blade on her remaining arm to drag herself over to Jean’s grenade, lobbing it over to him as well. “So, was this supposed to be a trap? Because shooting a grenade won’t make it explode. Now if it’s all the same, I think I’ll take my chances here. I don’t really want your pity right now.”

***

Boom!
The proxy in the bushes was destroyed immediately as the grenade went off. The shockwave knocked the other proxy to the ground, out of cover. Easy pickings. Amber was able to take him out effortlessly with a short, well-placed burst from her Longsword.


33 contestants remain.

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Gideon, Adrian)

The enemy proxy peeked out from behind its tree cover as Sven yelled into the communicator. “Huh? Uh… hey, are you alright, guy?”

***

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” The wounded proxy gratefully scooted over to Gideon’s position, but was taken by surprise by his sudden judo throw. “Wh- Hey! What’s the big idea?”

Before the young man had time to answer, he heard a faint skittering sound from nearby. A concussion grenade quickly rolled up to the pair. Gideon also heard the telltale clank of proxy footfalls coming toward him from the same direction. A twofold attack?

***

Adrian and his new pal had been having moderate success, with her acting as bait to draw in victims while he ambushed them from his cubby. So far, three of the applicants had fallen for it, but this was a dangerous tactic. The woman’s proxy had already sustained some damage from putting herself in vulnerable positions. The young man decided he needed to pull more weight in this team. He slowly placed his feet underneath him, leaned against the wall for support, and stood. His legs were extremely wobbly, yes, but he stood nonetheless.

“H-hey!” He called out to his partner excitedly. “I’m standing up. I-“ His proxy fell onto its backside.

“That’s nice, dear.” She replied. “Keep working on that.”

“Yeah, okay.”


38 contestants remain.

Quickly exchanging the clip in her gun with a new one, Amber scanned her surroundings for more enemies. she then took off towards the North-West darting from cover to cover. She knew that the grenade going off plus the gun shots would most likely draw in new enemies looking for a damaged proxy. On her own, she knew she had no chance against any real numbers.

She eventually came upon a hill that gave her a decent vantage point over the river.
Perfect. She thought.
checking to make sure she wasn't followed, she buried herself in the foliage at the top of the hill and waited again.

Meh. The opposing pilot's reaction was pretty much what Jean expected - the mechanic wasn't good with words and people didn't really like ultimatums in the first place - but was that numskull really expecting him to just stroll out from cover to pick up the grenades while her baselard was still in action? Really? Fortunately, Ms. "I'll take my chances" had pulled herself over to the ditch to toss him his own grenade, and her left arm was now well within comfortable firing distance. Steadying himself, Jean took his time to aim before lobbing two longsword bullets into his opponent's firearm. He ignored the pilot's sputtering protestations - there wasn't any use talking to her anymore - and couldn't help but start whistling as he... strolled out from cover and picked up the grenades.

With its gun taken care of, Jean needed a good place to hide his opponent's proxy: leaving it out in the open meant dealing with a high chance that his extra grenades would disappear at any moment. A quick bit of mental math revealed that, assuming 47 participants spaced equally around the circumference of the island, eliminating one on both sides left him with 23° of relatively safe territory. 23° at the edge of a half kilometer circle translated into roughly 50 meters of safe space in either direction, which was more than enough to find some nook in which to stow the half-functioning proxy. Jean approached the damaged machine from behind, took care to not let himself get stabbed, and grabbed his opponent from under the shoulders. "Hostage" firmly in his grasp, he began his search, beginning by heading to the right.

There come times in one’s life in which circumstances combine to demand that the human mind pour all of it resources into a series of split-second decisions. Decisions such as which pair of cute girls to throw one’s drumsticks to at the end of a show. Or decisions like what flavour of ice cream to pick when a herd of hungry people waits impatiently in line, each clamouring for the scoopers to pay attention to them. Or even decisions like what to do when a live grenade lands inches away from one’s proxy in a virtual arena of mortal combat. There were those kind of decisions as well. Gideon was facing the latter for the first time.

A simple dichotomy presented itself in the instant the grenade hit the ground. Either both he and the damaged mecha that he had just pinned were going to be eliminated by this untimely missile, or one of them could absorb the brunt of the explosion and possibly allow the other to continue fighting. Gideon knew which one he wanted to be. With a motion more swift than the thought that commanded it, he unsheathed the blade on his left arm and skewered the right shoulder joint of the mecha below him. Without hesitation he cranked the magnetic attraction of his Green Bean’s arm stubs to its maximum and threw the weight of his machine to the right, hoping to roll the other proxy onto its side and place it between himself and the oncoming blast.

"Uh. Me? I'm fine. Did you hear that guy? Y'know, the deep voice?" Sven spoke back at the proxy that at this point was at this point not even ten feet away from him. "Nah. Don't answer. I already know you're going to say 'no, I didn't hear it'. It seems to be a recurring occurrence to me for a very long time that at this point I'm used to it."

"Thanks for asking though. It is much appreciated."