Instance 1 (Amber, Jean)

"Negative." Jack said. "Neither of you will be able to get down from there safely, and neither myself or Tiana will be able to do anything from this position. The two of us will go while you and Penelope hold down the fort here." Without waiting for a response, the man turned his proxy around and headed toward the remaining competitors. Tiana followed enthusiastically, no signs of hesitation.

***

"Yeesh, sounds like you're a sight more battered than I thought you were if you can't even move by yourself. Maybe I went and made a mistake after all. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20." The man spoke, moving to collect Jean's grenades. "Fancy setup you've got here. How long'd it take ye to figure this out, er... Oh, my apologies, I completely forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Phil." The proxy paused and stood upright, silent for a moment.

"Looks like we've got company." Were Jean to check his map, he'd notice that, sure enough, two of the group that had split up were now approaching their position. "Hmm, this could actually play out in our favor. I'm gonna borrow these makeshift mines you set up. I've got a plan, but I'll have to leave ye where you are for the time bein'."

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Gideon, Adrian)

"Heh... I'm in bad shape, pal." Cecil said, but slowly returned to his feet. "I need you to follow my lead, okay?"

Without explaining what he meant, and without warning, Cecil's began charging headlong toward the source of the bullets, blocking its head module with its arms.

***

"Ah, right." Adrian said, seeming unperturbed by the turn of events. After a brief pause to rectify Gideon's arm situation, the two headed back to where Adrian's partner was positioned. Adrian briefed Gideon on the way.

To Adrian's surprise, there were two proxies present when they arrived, both standing. They appeared to be discussing something, and one of them was toting several dismantled proxy limbs. Remembering that he had blocked communications from his ally, the boy quickly reopened the channel.

"Hey, where are you? What happened?"

Gideon was both thankful to and impressed by his young friend. Adrian held himself with the composure of a seasoned tactician, or so it seemed to Gideon. There was definitely something about the kid that had changed since their encounter in the parking lot, but the drummer had yet to put his finger on it. For the moment, he was content not having to be wary of every other player on the board for once.

As the pair walked the short distance back to Adrian’s ally, Gideon prayed silently that whoever coffee kid had decided to team up with wasn’t the same guy that Gideon had encountered before. Now that would be awkward.

To Gideon’s surprise, there was not one, but two proxies waiting for them. There didn’t appear to be any conflict going on, but Gideon was weary nonetheless. He sent a private comm to Adrian, just to make sure things were on the up and up. “Hey, you said there was only one other guy, right? These two cool?”

Jean was about to caution "Phil" against picking up the modified grenades so casually, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. Anyone dumb enough to handle them carelessly wasn't smart enough to be a worthwhile team mate. Natural selection would do its thing.

Whatever plan the man had thought up apparently didn't involve him, so the mechanic saw no reason to contribute to its conceptualization. He contented himself with a quick "Phil, eh? Name's Jean." before propping himself up and looking around. There still weren't any really suitable sniping spots within crawling distance, so he would have have to settle for what little elevation the surrounding terrain offered. While his new ally went off to do who knows what, Jean hoisted himself to the top of the knoll he had leaped from moments earlier. At the very least, it would offer a better vantage point than the ground.

You're in bad shape, but you're controlling a robot. You just need to overcome the concept of being in a different body.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." Sven put the grenade away and whipped out the armblade he's grown accustomed to, and followed Cecil into the smoke and dust.

Instance 1 (Jean, Amber)

"Tread carefully. Anybody who's left will know where we are at all times, so it won't do to blindly walk into open areas with long sightlines." Jack mused as he and his new sidekick pressed further into rocky territory.

"Yeah, that Penelope chick is definitely into you." Tiana replied.

"Whoever's over here is probably waiting for us. They'll probably have a trap or an ambush set up."

"Probably, but I'd rather talk about the other thing."

Jack looked at Tiana with an invisible expression of irritation.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd pay attenti-"

"Hold up." Tiana's proxy threw its arm out, stopping her partner before the two walked out from behind a large boulder. One of the competitors marked on the map was directly in front of them. On top of a big rock, out in the open. Clever.

"Yeesh. How'd they manage to get up there all mangled like that?" Jack asked, crossing his proxy arms.

"Doesn't look terribly happy to see us. We'll have to ask him later, after we win." Tiana responded, raising her longsword. However, before either she or her target could get a shot off, a third party opened fire. The young woman immediately recoiled and took cover behind the boulder. Jack followed suit.

"Okay, how do we approach this?" Tiana asked, making sure her gun was topped off.

"Hmm. The safest course of action would be to find an alterna-" Jack looked around as he was cut off by a loud bang. Neither he nor his ally had heard anyone throw a grenade, and neither of the proxies they'd found were close enough to lob one anyway. Their confusion didn't last long, however, as the rock they were using for cover split into pieces and collapsed on top of them. Fortunately, the weight wasn't enough to crush their limbs, and given a few moments they'd be able to dig themselves out.

"Howdy."

***

Phil looked down at the proxies he'd manage to trap. They wriggled frantically, attempting to free themselves, and that was a no-no.

"Ah, ah, ah. None of that." He said, bending down and prodding one of them with the end of his rifle. The proxies ceased struggling. "I suggest we all remain calm and avoid doing anything... regrettable. See, you've caught me an' my pal at a good time. Since four of us will be walking away from this as winners, neither of you have to be eliminated. Unfortunately, my buddy Jean's proxy is a bit beat up, so if you two could spare any parts, we'd really appreciate it."

"Hey, f*** you, pal. We aren't giving you sh-"

"What do you need?" One of the pair interrupted the other.

"Well, that's mighty kind of you to ask. Er..." Phil pressed one of his arm stubs to his chin, pausing to think for a minute. "Hey, Jean! Drag your sorry carcas over here. What parts do you need replacements for?"

***

"What a shame." The words came from across the river, with a voice that was somewhat familiar to Amber. "Looks like your teammates have gone and abandoned you."

"Yeah, right." Penelope responded, peering out into the forest. "You heard them. They're going to clear out the area behind us so we don't get ambushed."

"Sure, that's what they said, but do the math. There are two of them and two people waiting to the east. That makes four. Theyre probably going to team up, all the while waiting for us to kill each other."

"N-no way. I'm not listening to this!" The girl placed her arm stubs on the sides of her head module, as if pretending to cover her ears. "Nope."

"Look, it's simple." The voice continued. "You already shot one of my teammates in the leg. He's practically useless now. We'll kick him to the curb if you two join up with us."

"Dude!" Another voice whined from behind the treeline.

"Yes, that seems like a fair trade." A third voice, feminine and cruel-sounding.

"Duuuuude!"

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Gideon, Adrian)

A hail of bullets slammed into Cecil as he charged toward the treeline. He made it a little over half way before his proxy's legs gave out from the damage. He wasn't finished though; As his proxy began to topple over, he quickly reached for his last grenade and chucked it in the general direcion of the attacker, then collapsed on the ground in a heap. As the grenade flew through the air, the gunfire stopped momentarily.

"Go! Get to the woods before he repositions!" Cecil yelled into the communicator.

***

As Adrian and Gideon watched, one of the proxies turned to them and waved.

"Oh, alright. Go ahead and open up communication channels with this guy." Adrian said, gesturing to his new ally.

"If you block my communications again, I'll eliminate you myself, kiddo." Gideon could hear a woman's voice through his speakers now. "Who's your friend there?"

"Oh, this is Gideon. I talked to him out in the parking lot. He's a cool dude. Now what about that guy?" Adrian replied, pointing to indicate the proxy carrying all the limbs.

"Oh. Calls himself Cleric. He gave me these new kicks." She stuck one foot out for emphasis.

"Hello." A soft voice spoke as the beladen proxy nodded its head.

“Pleased to meetcha, dudes,” Gideon addressed the pair. The sight of “Cleric” and the promise of replacement parts excited him, but still, caution was in order. Though the diminutive voice of the pilot didn’t exactly conjure images of a savage warrior capable of ripping his adversaries limb from limb, his collection of appendages had to have come from somewhere. The first proxy that Gideon had encountered had disappeared completely when it had been destroyed, so unless those rules applied only to those parts connected to the head module at the time of destruction, then the original owners of the parts featured in Cleric’s collection were still kicking around somewhere - or not, seeing as they were legless.

The surest way to solve a mystery was through direct questioning, Gideon though, so he posed the question straight up.

“That’s quite a collection you got there, cleric man,” spoke the drummer, making every attempt to disguise the suspicion in his voice with amicable joviality. After all, there was no reason to antagonize the people that would more than likely end up being his only friends. He was curious, was all. “Where’d all those parts come from?

Amber scanned the far bank of the river looking for a reflection, movement, irregular colors, anything to give her a sign as to where her opponents were. Her minimap showed her the rough position of her enemies but she needed more. Then she saw it, one of the bushes moved slightly and she saw the barrel of a rifle right where the dot was on the map.
"Alright Penelope." Amber whispered, "Im going to stir the pot. Watch for any movement."
Amber aimed a couple feet behind the barrel to where the body should be. she pulled the trigger and fired 3 shots in sucession at her target.

Finger on his Longsword's trigger, Jean steadied his aim as he prepared for the two approaching proxies to come into range. The trigger was never pulled, however: Phil was apparently a good deal closer and, via spray of bullets, was able to force the new arrivals into taking cover behind a nearby boulder. The mechanic began to crawl towards the rock should his opponents come out of their hiding place, but stopped as an explosion tore it apart. As stone crumbled over metal and trapped the opposing proxies, Jean couldn't help but be perplexed. Not that his device had worked, of course; that much was a given. Rather, he was perplexed by how much more effective his modified grenades were in Phil's hands. The two men had seemingly employed the exact same strategy, but the mechanic's partner had achieved dramatically better results. Something was up.

In any case, Jean’s partner had begun querying the now-disabled enemy proxies. A pointless endeavor, really; as the mechanic saw it, there was hardly any worth in keeping the two around, much less engaging them in conversation. After all, if the pair was quickly disposed of, the group of four up North would have little choice but to turn on itself.

“I say we off ‘em now and wait for the group upstairs to backstab themselves.” Jean said gruffly, clawing his way towards the fallen boulder.

“And I’ll take a left arm and two legs.”

"Real men don't leave their squad."

Sven ran back among the smoke to Cecil's crippled proxy. He quickly examined the damage and swung Cecil over his shoulder, then ran back into the wood.

"You can still shoot, right? It's a poorly-coded sim, you probably still can. I can't carry and shoot so it's on you."

Back into the smoke he went; armblade ready on one arm, his partner slung over his other.

"I still have not satisfied my toast craving yet."

Instance 1 (Amber, Jean)

As Amber fired, her first shot went wide, though her second found purchase. She didn't have time to evaluate the damage, however, as the proxy quickly ducked behind a tree before the third shot. This opened the floodgates, as one of the enemy proxies peeked out of cover and fired on Amber. A bullet or two grazed her proxy, but nothing serious. In response, Penelope took some potshots at the enemy proxy. They ended up exchanging a few ultimately inconsequential hits.

"I'll take that as a no." Spoke the leader of the enemy group. Shortly after, the sound of a second and third Longsword rang out from across the river, the source unknown. They didn't seem to be aimed at Amber or Penelope, so these shots served no clear purpose.

***

"Coming right up!" Phil shouted. "Well, you heard the man. Uh, he didn't mean all that about offing you, by the way. As long as you comply, I'm sure eliminating you won't be necessary. Name's Phil, by the way. This is my associate, Jean." He gestured to the barely mobile proxy of his ally."

"Jack. Pleasure to meet you."

"And my name's go die in a hole, please. It's Greek."

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine." Phil responded, sizing up his catches. "Well, Jack, I'm going to have to ask for your left arm, since Godai's appears to be rather nonexistent right now. I'll take the legs from either one of you, don't particularly care which. You can each give me one if you want, just decide amongst yourselves."

"Hey, only my friends can call me Godai." Said the sassy one.

"Aw. And here I thought we'd formed quite a rapport. Welp, c'est la vie, as my friend here would probably say." Phil pointed his barrel at Jack's head.

"Wait, wait." Tiana spoke up. "I'll give up my legs." Jack opened his mouth to protest, but it was too late. There was a pneumatic hiss as the legs of her proxy disengaged.

"Good girl. Now slowly, reach down and hand them over one at a time." Phil said, keeping his Longsword trained on her head the entire time. She did as he said, fishing beneath the rocks until she managed to grab onto her right leg, then slowly handing it over. At the man's bidding, she then reached for the other one. After a few seconds her arm came up again, this time with a grenade.

"Oops." She said, nonchalantly flinging it at her captor.

"s***!" Jack and Phil yelled simultaneously. The latter fired a single shot, cleanly piercing Tiana's head module, before his proxy was ripped apart by an explosion. Two elimination notices sounded, and their dots faded from the map.

"Damn it." Jack breathed, taking this opportunity to free his barrel and point it at Jean's crippled proxy. He was ready to fire if it made any sudden movements.


8 contestants remain.

__________
Instance 2 (Sven, Gideon, Adrian)

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so." Cecil answered Sven as his proxy was carried back to the forest edge. Sven had barely made it to the treeline when gunshots rang out from nearby again. However, they didn't seem to be directed at the pair. It was as if their attacker was no longer paying attention to them. Very odd indeed.

***

"Oh, my apologies." Cleric spoke, slightly bowing his head and placing an arm stub on his chest. "It is only natural that you would be suspicious."

"He was actually in the middle of explaining himself when you two arrived." The older woman said. "There's no need to-"

"It's no trouble. I can start again." The young man said, to which she crossed her arms.

"Nice, story time." Adrian cheered, carefully sitting his proxy down and crossing its legs as much as possible (not very).

"When the game first started, I teamed up with the first three other proxies I ran into. We decided to take some cues from the participants in the first round and customize our loadouts a bit. All four of our Longswords went to one person, one on the top and underside of each arm. The recoil from all of them firing at once was almost enough to topple her proxy; We called her Warrior. Then there was Rogue, who we gave two Baselards and two combat knives. His job was flanking and close quarters combat. Mage was probably the most interesting. She discovered that we could detach the magnets from our waists and place them on different parts of our body and still have them work. She ended up replacing all of her weapons with magnets and carried the grenades. All of the grenades. She started with eight, but last I saw, she had about fifteen. Then there was me. I carried the parts nobody wanted, but when we finally started getting into fights, we were able to subdue our opponents with overwhelming force, then forcibly detach their parts. I started collecting them, making replacements when necessary, and that's when they started calling me Cleric."

"So what you're telling us is that you were all huge nerds." Adrian interjected insightfully.

"Pretty much. We did quite well for a while, but there were... disagreements. While we were patrolling the arena, I stumbled upon an injured proxy. Without telling the others, I gave him some of my parts and let him go. When the others found out, they weren't terribly pleased. In fact, they were terribly displeased, enough so to decide that my softness was more trouble than it was worth and that they should eliminate me. Rogue didn't quite agree with that plan, so he covered for me long enough that I could safely escape. I didn't hear any elimination notices after that, though, so they're all probably still in the game. But yeah, that's how I ended up with all these parts."

Well. It turned out Phil was an idiot after all. Surprise surprise, talking to the captive proxies had not only been a colossal waste of time, but it also completely turned the advantage over to the other side. It really would have been better to get rid of the new arrivals as soon as possible, but thanks to Mr. Bonehead and his boneheaded banter, Jean was now the one in a tight spot. His proxy was in shambles, his partner had gotten himself eliminated in the most humiliating fashion possible, and if his eyes weren't playing tricks, then "Jack" had his gun pointed at the mechanic's head module. In other words, he had a grand total of nothing going for him.

Quickly realizing that his opponent had zero reasons not to shoot him at that instant, Jean concluded that the only way out - if it could even be considered a way at all - was, once again, to talk. Brilliant. With no time to think and less time to think things through, the mechanic prepared to give a speech that would change the course of the simulation.

"Put down the gun."

Instance 2 (Jean)

"Um... no."

"What are you going to do, shoot me?"

Sven notices the lack of gunfire towards the crew, but doesn't stop moving.

"Even if we're not being attacked, we have to keep moving. We'll be sitting ducks if we don't."

Gideon was sympathetic to the young Cleric’s plight. While he tended to agree with the boy’s former allies on the question of whether aiding one’s opponents was good strategy, the drummer knew what it was like to lose friends. Not fun.

“Sorry about your friends, man,” he started in response to Cleric’s retelling. “That’s harsh.”

After a brief pause, Gideon had a suggestion to make. It was possible that the other three pilots already had this in mind, but he thought it worthwhile to spell it out. “So, a beat in 4/4 is a solid foundation, you know?”, he said. Unsure whether his audience would pick up what he was putting down, he rushed to explain himself. He stretched his right nub out, indicating the proxies surrounding him. “Four of us, and four qualifying spots, right? All I’m saying is, this could work out.”

Gideon turned to address Cleric specifically, humbling himself with a slight bow and an arm behind his head. Of course, the arm, newly magnetized and no more wieldy than it had been previously, slammed into his proxy’s head module, accentuating the drummer’s request with a loud bang.

“And,uh, Doc,” he said sheepishly. “If you have the parts to spare, I wouldn’t mind a new set of arms. Mine are kinda busted.”