High Frequency Stuff; This Game
Peater has been quite considerate in showing me around the city like the locations of stores and companies. For the record, the tallest building with the word 'HOPE' at the top feels kind of ominous with its position, but I digress. The other buildings in a circle formation...or a hexagon really, seem to function as five fat floors for malls; each one having such a variety of stores and a centerpiece to every single one, (more on those later) however the ceter of all these buildings is a stadium that seems to be quite popular for some of these people.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say, the people here are actually pretty considerate despite my introverted self saying things like 'yeah' and 'thanks' as they get actual answers on a rare occasion; if it wasn't for writing for you guys, nobody would get to know me all that naturally. The people around me have a lot of colors from dark to light with their own ways to stand out! Some seem to be from the past, others seem to be from the far future, and then there's this one guy with his girlfriend that are straight up cartoon characters.
Peater makes sure to greet the people we pass by as apparently he is well known around here. Eventually, we make it to the stadium that seems to be no bigger than a baseball field without the outfield and that gets closed in with more seating to surround this dome I guess to protect the audience.
"Is that dome necessary for a sport?" I question out of concern.
"Well, YEAH because they have to stay safe from the competitors as they fight to the DEATH," He turns and stares at me with such a serious look on his face like that dome would keep us from getting any 'red water' on us...aaand then smiles in a snicker from my blank expression "I'm just kidding; the virtual effects done in the dome are super realistic to the point people complained about the mess it made...thuuus the dome was put into effect"
I manage to process his sense of humor in a nervous smile and respond "Oh, well I guess that would do it, but is that because the ball is like a mud-ball?"
Once again he looks at me strangely "a...ball? -OH this isn't any sort of ball game between teams, it's actually more of a gladiatorial battle without the last one ALIVE part"
Now he confused ME with that correction "What kind of game does a kid friendly gladiatorial battle!?"
"Wanna find out; they have a game ready to go pretty soon!" His excitement seems to show he's a big fan of it.
"Sure I suppoOOSE" Suddenly we're at the ticket booth to grab one so seats can be properly counted and it doesn't overflow.
The stage in the center was pretty big from where I was; one big square with the corners taken away in favor of entrances/exits for what I assume would be the players. The ground is panels that are definitely thick enough to take serious damage and shines as well as the dome to give off a futuristic design, after alll, chrome equals the future. There is also a few big TV screens that allow you to look up at the action closely with the score shown at the top of each one only to surround it with speakers for the announcer.
Peater notices my awe of this stadium and how cool it looks "Looks amazing, doesn't it?"
I could only nod about it as the audience seems pumped up for this match.
A droning voice comes on to quiet everyone down "I ASSUME WE HAVE MUCH EXCITEMENT TO BE HAD IN THIS GAME OF RAZOR-WAVE"
The audience can only cheer happily, knowing now it's about to start!
"VERY GOOD, NOW KEEP IT DOWN BEFORE I USE THIS DOME AS A MAGNIFYING GLASS AND CALL YOU ANTS"
The audience have a little chuckle before obeying.
"THIS SHALL BE A 1 ON 1 MATCH UNDER LEGAL RULES...SO YOU VETERANS ARE WELCOME TO DISTRACT YOURSELF WHILE I READ OUT HOW AN OFFICIAL GAME IS PLAYED"
A large chunk of the audience silently do just that while I give it a shot in figuring out how this is played.
...okay I think I get it now. So you begin with you wrist watch thing which is like a shorter-in-height-and-length brick. You place them inside a console, with the sound-chip of choice inside, and that tells the stadium and audience your experience, your chip, and the overall HP you hold. The battle is like a territory game mixed with fighting via these weapons; you can create reserves for your ability on the ground to keep it as a fair fight between 2 or more players. The battle simply ends when a player reaches 0 HP due to damage taken. Usually the 'wrist codec' is what is used in more street battles, but professional arenas like this are an exception to that norm.
"ALRIGHT, NOW THAT THAT IS SETTLED, TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE CONTESTANTS; COMING FROM HER VILLAGE THAT WOULD ALWAYS GO WITH THE FLOW WE HAVE THE SINISTER LADY FROM HER OWN LAKE, LYRA"
Out comes a girl wearing a blue full body swimsuit that covers all, but her head, hands, and feet. Her expression seems so kind, but her eyes seem to have been hardened with ambition and a no nonsense attitude! Simply put, a truly kind heart that will smash you down if you aren't careful sounds super cool!
"AND HERE IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE A HOTHEAD FROM A CITY THAT, ACCORDING TO HIS APPLICATION, CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS A HORRIBLE PLACE FOR A HORRIBLE PERSON..."
Someone in that corner took offense to that one
"...HIS FAULTS ARE NOT WITHOUT MERITS OF MANY WINS HOWEVER SO PLEASE WELCOME THE INAPPROPRIATELY NAMED SCORCHER HIMSELF, PRINCE"
Something was telling me this guy that wore a white tee-shirt, blue jeans, and crazy orange hair wasn't all that much cool aside from looks. I still can't fault the guy seeming real confident in winning...a more naive smile if anything.
"CONTENDERS, PLACE YOUR CODECS HERE" a compartment opens up with a slot requiring the wrist codec things as the two players do so while the guy seems to be doing some banter before the match...I think I know who I'm rooting for.
"GO GET 'EM GOOD, LYRA!" I shout out, know the crowd drowns it out and even then the dome doesn't help much either...I think she actually heard me though because she flinched at the beginning and end of my statement to which she just nods, still looking at the guy; whoops.
"CONTENDERS, TO YOUR CORNERS" the robotic voice mentions as the console closes to lock it in place for the battle. The said contenders do just that with Lyra doing so politely while Prince does what I can only describe as a street walk while having a boombox on your shoulder...it was kinda funny to look at.
The lights then focus on the stage and the battle is about to begin
"POSITION YOURSELVES...AND...BEGIN"
Right away, Lyra makes reserves like a big moat for herself while Prince laughs it off and shoots charged fireballs her way for early damage...the fireballs unfortunately had to get past her tower of water that was too strong for the flames and couldn't break through, then, through her rythm of the literal water tower, shoots her own so quickly that the guy barely had time to react to the first 6 shots before he finally got to dodge them the best can. This causes the water archer to move out and create a patch of water territory quickly to be the size of a deep puddle on Prince's side so she can fight him with her reserves up close. She makes bigger ones while Prince tries hitting her with a pressurized punch that could hit really hard with enough buildup and it really does when she tries to tank 3 solid hits by him due to his distracting false hits! Prince eventually understands what she's doing to his field and uses a heat wave to drive her away from the area only to be hit a good 4 times by the extra reserves before she leaves, ready to finish him off at last! Lyra uses the moat and redirects it straight into Prince at one last mice to make this an early knockout
...but suddenly through the vapor that developed, it had shown that he was prepared with a fire wall that actually evaporated the water before it could hit him; he's definitely tougher than we give him credit for. He thus counters her beam with a slap to the ground that shows a sneaky orange and yellow light creeping towards Lyra that takes her by surprise as it hits her from being behind the moat almost directly which brings her in the red to our surprise. Now no matter what strike she makes he blocks it with the fire wall, even the shots that are nowhere near him he blocks like he's trying to catch them; his solid defense might give him the win which I now conclude he is simply passionate with his ability! All seems to be lost until Lyra seems to lure him into a trap, the fire wall only covers so much, so she charges her hand up ready to strike until he's right in the middle of it; the first puddle made on his side! She slams her hand down as hard as she can directed toward the potential GEYSER much to Prince's sudden realization as he redirects his shield to the bottom so he can take a few minor hits from the side. She knew he would do that hence why she kept the energy going for a while and slammed down at full power which was too much for the fire wall to handle, causing it to break through and smash the last of the guy's HP.
"PRINCE HAS REACHED AN HP OF ZERO, THEREFORE LYRA WINS"
The crowd agrees with the win with much enthusiasm, me included.
The sly look on her face when she faces him, helping him up, only sealed this poetic work karma!
"Man that was so amazing and intense between both sides!" Incredibly invested me says to Peater clearly feeling great to be saying 'I told you so' right now.
"I know right, I fell in love with it so quickly myself"
My excitement was so great I didn't think I can feel that invested-
"LYRA WINS ROUND ONE, BUT THAT WON'T MATTER IF PRINCE WINS TWO..."
Peater sits closer "pipe down now, it's time to see the next round"
"RESETTING THE STADIUM AND COMMENCING THE SECOND ROUND"
My voice caught the crowd in my realization I was now going to DIE here "THERE'S MOOOOOOORE?!?"
I figured this one could play out like a mini-episode or pilot with the expressions I gave this one. Though, just to clarify, even if this is storytelling, I act natural and how I would react to things; it's still ME, but still a story to tell. Lastly, to anyone who is curious about the game...more on that for the next week! Bye guuuys, till we meet again!
