42 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 5 (1/2)

Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null

Term: 1, Round: 5

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Durand. Squad Twelve, M2. Rank 172.

[[[Commentary]]]

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All those mods on the M3TS1 (M3 Thoth Squad 1 pronounced Metsi by the announcer) look…interesting. It is yet to be seen if they actually do anything useful. As we all know the more adventurous the mod, the more spectacular the results. And not necessarily the results you want.

If all of those laser-guided missiles hit the mark, we will toast Claezio, the evil genius inventor of M3TS1. And Claezio what's with the blue shockwear? What if you get itchy and scratch your arm?

After seeing Barran jnr, the Goddess' little brother in action, Claezio must have decided to pull the shockwear out of his closet of gadgets. I for one would not want to be hit with one of those cestuses…wait….cestii.. I have been informed. Thanks, Zane. Folks. Zane is my AI, and he is great at looking up stuff on the fly.

Oh and that brings me to…me. I am Durand. Selected by the Masters of M1 and M3 to be the official announcer of this battle to the death. Well, the death of someone's reputation at least. As I am in M2, I am unbiased. I hate both squads equally! Just kidding Master Nader. Seriously…I am kidding.

Oh, enough of my rambling the troops are on the move. Everyone countdown with me.

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And there goes the loud beep. How exciting. All this technology and all they can manage is AR numbers and a long beep. Come on FoMA (Fortescue Military Academy) install something with a micron more jazz will you?

M1 cadets I hope you all have your spectator AR activated or this will be a boring battle noobs. Master Nader that was said with love.

There goes Barran and his accomplice in the other heavy…Thanks Zane it is Gaumont the forgettable who we will now refer to as FG (Forgettable Gaumont). And all the little munchkins are not far behind. I am not sure if it's their height or their unusual exos. They look like miniature cyborgs from the Izano Chronicles. I am sure Axelzero and Mace are little over 1500mm, and their intrepid leader genius is definitely under 1500mm.

Oh yes people, if Claezio has met his match today, it is with the little Dynamo Daedo. Not only is he smart but he has never lost a Gauntlet round. Maybe his height gives him an unfair advantage with his tiny hitbox.

I am having trouble following all the blighters. Mace is bobbing through the buildings on the west. Axelzero on the east, and Daedo. where is he? Oh, he is using smoke already. Their snipers are hanging back gaining height in the rocky outcrops.

That brings us to the map. Today we have what seems to be a canyon. Certainly a great use of the Z axis. That's height and depth for all the M1 noobs. Mainly rocks with a few small trees and a lot of bush. Most of the cover will come from the rocky terrain. There is a small river running West to East and at this time we don't know how deep it is.

The map is running North to South in the longest section which is 600m for the noobs. M3TS1 is at the North End and M1TS0 at the South. (M1TS0 M1 Thoth Squad Zero pronounced Mitso)

M3TS1 seem to be nestling in at their end of the map. Waiting for the eagre M1s to come to them. Unlike the less experienced M1s, they are staying close together. They probably want to focus fire on M1TS0 as they come into range. Not sure how this will work when they are down to the snipers.

Oh, that's cute. Barran jnr is waving at FG to hurry up. Come on little FG keep up! I don't know where all the mid-range M1TS0s are. Oh, there's one. They are sure good at sneaking in and out of boulders. They are so small every nook and cranny is cover to them.

Looking at M3TS1 is just boring in comparison. They look like they are the nerds that no one likes at the party. Just standing in the corner with no one to talk to. Move M3TS1. Take these geeks out of the lab and its like they have no idea what to do. If it was an S1 from another House, they would at least be looking for the most favourable terrain that suited their awesome weapons.

Barran jnr and FG are closing. We will soon have some action folks. Keep your eyes peeled for the munchkin brigade hot on their heels.

M3TS1 must see the M1TS0 vanguard. They are charging right at them. Oh yes. Look. They have perfected the girly man run. Zigging and Zagging. I have to hand it to FG, he has carried that shield all the way holding it out front. I know I couldn't do that. It's no surprise with Barran jnr, but FG you go boy.

If anyone doesn't know, Barran Junior's sister, the Goddess, will be joining us for expert post-battle analysis.

Oh, here we go missiles are launching at Junior right now. They are ignoring FG. It's like his superpower. Boom, I can feel the vibrations from my box. This is awesome! The battle kb shows no change. (kb stands for Killboard. A shortcut term describing a dashboard of results which a user can dig deeper to see statistics on nearly every aspect of the match)

There's still a lot of smoke. What's happened to Junior? Woah! His shield is toast, he dropped the remnants. Wow, I can't believe that shield took all those hits. No, wait!. Look at the ground there are so many scorch marks. Most of the missiles missed!?!

FG is a little ahead of Junior now. The little Barran stopped to take some of the hits on his shield and either dodged the others, or the laser-guided system just isn't up to scratch. Back to the drawing board M3TS1.

All eight M3TS1 are lit in blue, they want to shock their opponents if they dare attempt a melee attack or shield charge. Oh, this is going to be good. The power drain from the blue shockwear must be taking everything they have. Otherwise, M3TS1 is doing nothing. Time for some good ol fashion assault rifles M3TS1. No point standing there incapacitated because you are at max demand. Who are the noobs here?

Oh wait, two M3TS1 have lost their blue shockwear and are firing energy rifles. Wow, those rifles have phat blue beams. Nice! Not sure how much damage they do, but they sure look good. FG is covering Junior as they charge down the last twenty metres.

Smoke grenades!

Where did that come from?

Damn. Turn on your TV (thermal vision) peoples, maybe you will be able to see.

Argh, I got nothing. They probably have thermal dampeners on their bodysuits. I can't see sheet.

Where did FG and Junior go? They haven't exited the smokescreen.

Killboard. Mace Grenade Launcher Kills Serenado

Killboard. Daedo Grenade Launcher Kills Claezio

The Killboard also showed damage assist with Mace, Daedo and Axelzero all contributing damage to each kill. They were area attacking around Claezio, so the M3TS1 squad members near him were also taken down.

Holy shit. It's the munchkins. FG and Junior were decoys!!

Killboard. Mace Grenade Launcher kills Marques

Damn, M3TS1 are scattering. But it's quickly becoming a rout.

Killboard. Picard Railgun kills Bisset

Folks. I don't know whats happening it's so quick. M1TS0 are unleashing a torrent of pain onto M3TS1, and they are just dropping like flies without fighting back. M1TS0 took down the leadership first, and the other M3 cadets are now just running around panicking.

Let's have a closer look at the Railgun kill now the delay is nearly over.

The audience could tap into the point of view of a competing cadet, albeit with a time delay.

Picard is moving. Oh wow, she can climb. Those exos are no joke. Look at the grappler folks. She pulls herself up a vertical wall in seconds wasting no jumpjets until the top to land on her feet.

Oh, that's a long range. She hits from here? It's like three hundred metres. Did you hear that? It sounded like an attack command. (A short burst of noise came through the POV feed, but it was distorted to the viewers.)

Bam! She shot directly at Bisset. Let's follow the round. Holy sheet. Headshot from three hundred metres and Bisset was scampering. Ok next. She's aiming for the centre of the body. Who is that? Desmarais? Ok, she gets an assist on that one. She isn't moving from her position. No need. Haha, Dupont thinks he is in cover. She is so high she can shoot the top of his head. Oh…we're on delay. He's already dead!

What? We were watching Picard for a minute and its over. It's all over!

I guess its time to trawl through the POVs and review.

Quick vote. Spam your answer which cadet to watch first.

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Votes from viewers began to stream into Durand.

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Oh, you people have no imagination. Daedo it is. We will do Mace second.

Haha. He isn't even firing much. He is just barking orders. All those chirps are the distorted voice comms. Holy. He is just lobbing in grenades blindly from cover. He must be using vision from another cadet. Well, this is boring. Let's move to Mace.

She's moving fast. She can see nearly all of M3TS1. Look at them. Totally oblivious. What is she doing? Jumpjets or Grapple? Where is she? Scrolling out. Oh, she's on the side of a cliff hanging on with her grappler. Grappler one hand and Launcher in the other. She's like a monkey throwing rocks!

Oh wow. Look she is painting targets for Daedo and the others. Not only did M3TS1 not know how stuffed they were. We didn't either!

For expert analysis, we have a guest speaker. Morganne Barran, the Goddess, last year she was Thoths highest ranking cadet in M3. Coming in at fifth while killing it in Tech, Math, AI and Physics.

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Durand: Barran Senior. Goddess. Thank you for coming.

Morganne Barran: Stop calling me Goddess. And Senior. Barran-M is what we have landed on for occasions such as these, as we are both in zero squads.