Chapter 16 - First Match (1/2)

Gray and the others were not necessarily new to team fighting, but they were new to using mechs in the game. They kept a tight formation as they trodded their mechs towards the center of the map.

Matchmaking will pick a map randomly based upon the type of game selected. For this match, they were in a hilly and lightly forested arena. Overall, the map was shaped similar to a diamond so that if players tried to huddle at the spawn point they would have a very small area they could fight in whereas if you moved to the middle you would have much more space to fight. The generated arena was still about 10 kilometers wide at the middle and only half a kilometer towards the spawn point. This would be considered a small arena, perfect for a small team fight.

As they were proceeding quietly as possible, given that they were in multi-ton mechs, Stacia suddenly stopped her mech. "Everyone, I see them on my sensors!"

"It is indeed an advantage to have a scout specialist mech." remarked Caleb.

"The 5 of them are two kilometers in front of us and hiding behind the large hill towards our right side."

"While I do not like making assumptions, it is probable that the enemy team doesn't have a scout mech so they are only waiting for us to get in range by taking advantage of the higher ground" said Caleb calmly after considering this is probably the other teams first match too. "Also, since they are all together, they probably all chose the laser rifle."

"Well, do you know how to snipe with that gun Caleb?" asked Gray.

"Of course, I read up on it in the manual. I am loath to admit that I have never actually tried it though."

"First time for everything." said Gray. "Ok, we'll use a standard draw and lead them in to a single envelopment on their left flank."

Gray received no response at all until Geoff finally spoke up "What's that in English?"

"Sorry, in simple terms, Caleb, get in position a bit outside of their expected maximum range for sniping, Yurika and Stacia, take cover in the trees near the base of the hill but stay just outside of their sensor range. Geoff and I will swing wide and take cover near their left side. When I give the signal, I want Yurika and Stacia to creep in to their sensor range and proceed slowly until they move to attack. Draw them out and fall back once they open fire. When they start coming down the hill, Caleb can have free shots on them while Geoff and I will run in and open fire from their flank and hopefully cause them to panic."

A collective "Ooohhhh" could be heard from everyone through the communicators.

"Shut up! Everyone should try to learn at least simple military formations so as not to get caught off guard!" admonished Gray. "Let's move out!"

"Who made a noob like you the leader?" said Geoff listlessly "I guess I'll give you a chance though."

Yurika shrugged, Caleb and Stacia said they didn't care who the leader was as long as it wasn't themselves. It seemed only Geoff and Gray wanted to lead, but they could figure it out on the battlefield who would be better.

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On the other side of the arena, the "Avenging Aardvarks" were awaiting just behind the top of the hill, in position to be able to rush over and rain fire down upon anyone that came up the hill.

"We're against 'Enter team name here'? Must be a bunch of idiots that hit register before changing it" said one of the enemy pilots.

"We're all new to this game so I'm not surprised, still, everyone keep alert. We need to wait for them to reach this hill and then rain death on them once they start to climb up it." said another enemy pilot that seemed to be the leader.

"Uh, what makes you think they will come to us? If I were them I'd be doing the exact same thing as us."

"Normally yes, but it seems at least one of their mechs is faster than ours so according to the game rules they have to take the initiative to attack otherwise they will lose." said the enemy leader pilot.

"Makes sense then for us to fight defensively, still, what kinda idiot bought a new mech already with so little merit points?"

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Stacia suddenly sneezed. "Someone must be talking about me somewhere"