8 Red Vs. Blue
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"Hey there kid! The name's Dylan!"
Inside a bright and neat locker room in the basement floor of Orthos Gym, the bulky middle-aged trainer stretched his hand out to greet Irvine with a warm welcome.
"Nice to meet you sir." Irvine returned the handshake with a friendly attitude.
Presently, the players on the field that he'd seen from above had all huddled back together in the same changing room to greet him, the 14th player for their morning game.
Most of the players there, which were either trainers or internal members of the gym, greeted him with a smile. Including the young Medea Dormer who had given him a simple polite nod as a greeting.
"So here's the thing, you'll be playing for Red against me and the rest of the Blue team here." Dylan pointed out the players with differently coloured exosuits around them.
Even though all of them were wearing the same tight-fitting suit of armours, they were split into different colours and stripes, with Medea and 5 others wearing the black with red stripes, and the rest including Dylan wearing white with blues.
All of them had the same hexagonal logo of Orthos Gym above their front and back numbers that went from 1 to 7.
"That's your Red number 7 exosuit over there, go and suit up quickly alright?" Dylan pointed at one side of the room where three sets of different size black and red exosuit armours were hanging on a rack.
'Ooh!' Irvine looked on with glee at the high quality professional standard exosuit.
Even counting the time he'd spent in the future, it had been quite a long time since he'd last worn them on his body.
After a simple round of introductions, Dylan and his Blue team who didn't have a change in number or formation left earlier to prepare on the field.
They would be setting up their towers while the Red team rework their formations and brief their new volunteer player.
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On the large walkway that led to the field, one of the players of Blue team asked Dylan curiously,
"Hey, have you confirmed if that guy ever played before?"
"...Why would he volunteer if he haven't played before?" Dylan turned to the player with a speechless and dumbfounded look on his face.
"In a real match I mean! With real exosuits and landscapes and stuff!" The player explained,
"I mean, he looks a little young, and high school Battle Arena doesn't use landscapes or standard exosuits right??"
"Hmm, he could be a college student right?" Dylan asked half-heartedly.
"That's why I'm asking... If he's not, he might not even know how to put on an exosuit, will he be alright?"
"Meh, those guys will teach him. Anyhow, Miss Dormer doesn't seem to have these problems even though she's also in high school." He shrugged without much concern.
"How can you even compare the two..." It's the teammate's turn to feel speechless. Dylan was comparing Irvine to a prodigy who's about to get her license and Gene Modification.
"Like I said, even if that's the case, those guys will help him--"
"Oh, or better yet, maybe the kid will help us win against them in 7v7! Haha!" Dylan commented half-jokingly.
"This guy, how shameless..."
As Dylan said, Battle Arena was a team sport. It's not a rare case for 1 bad player to jeopardize a team's synergy.
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Back at the locker room.
Some of the players from the Red team had also thought the same thing about Irvine as one of them kindly asked him a question,
"It's Lang right? What position do you usually play Lang?"
"Oh, what's the team's current composition?" Irvine replied with a question of his own.
"1 Ranger, 1 Fielder and 1 Solver. And 3 Guards obviously. Don't worry about it though, we can switch it up if you have a position in mind already."
As this was a casual friendly match, none of them would mind switching positions to accomodate the guy who'd be a new member of their gym. Even the Ranger Medea nodded quietly from the corner with a permissive attitude.
"It works out well actually. I'm currently alternating between Fielder and Solver."
"Really? That's unusual. So you're gonna play our Fielder?" the kind player asked to confirm.
In Battle Arena, the most commonly seen composition had always been the 1 Ranger 2 Fielders and 1 Solver formation.
It had the most versatile playstyle where the Second Fielder could help widen the Solver's zone, pull the Solver away during dangerous situations, or directly move away from the Main Fielder and Solver combo to help in other areas.
But Irvine was thinking something different.
"Hmm, is it okay if I play a Solver? Ah, only if it's no trouble." He asked.
The Solver is the point-scorer of the team, so it was a more specialized position than Guards or Fielders. Everyone thought that Irvine was afraid that he'd be a burden to the team so that's why he had asked politely.
"No trouble no trouble! I'll just play the other Fielder for this match then." The player replied with a smile.
As it turns out, the kind player who'd been talking to him was the Solver for the team, so he simply answered without turning to the other teammates.
However, Irvine quickly corrected him,
"Ah no, I mean can I play as a Second Solver?"
"Hm?"
At this question, not only the player, but even Medea who had been calmly waiting at the corner turned her head in Irvine's direction.
It was an unusual choice for sure.
Two Solvers would put a heavier burden towards the sole Fielder on the field.
The Fielder would have another person to follow while the enemy's Guards also had a new body to target. The formation itself was risky and had very few benefits.
Of course, this formation was not exactly unheard of either. There were recorded cases of teams using a Second Solver as a bait to lure the Guards, or cases where the team had an Ace Fielder capable of holding off multiple enemies away from the two Solvers.
But in both cases, the benefits were only apparent because the teams' strategies were specifically tailored towards either their enemy or their key player.
Irvine had been trying hard to construct a playstyle that could best utilize the weapons he had ever since he'd arrived back in the past, but it was not yet completed.
He was hoping that by playing many full-matches like this, it would get him closer to his answer.
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"..."
"Haha! That's interesting right? Why not try it first?" The Red team's Fielder, who had also heard Irvine's request didn't think much of it and readily agreed.
"Is it okay with you too Miss Dormer?" Irvine turned to the future Ace Ranger and asked carefully.
Him becoming a Second Solver did not only increase the responsibility of the Fielder but also the team's Ranger whose task was always to intercept and disrupt different battle situations from a distance.
*nod*
Without saying anything, Medea simply nodded her head at his request.
It didn't really matter to her either way. In fact, Medea thought that this unusual formation could even help her get better accustomed to different match scenarios that'd be useful for her future development.
'...So her Ice Queen personality goes way before her pro days huh.' Irvine was reminded of her future temperament that he'd seen on several interviews.
*CLAP*
"Alright, with that settled let's move on to the next thing--" The kind-looking Red team's Solver who had first spoken to Irvine smoothly brought the topic back on track after affirming his position,
"So Lang, have you ever played in a standard full match before? You know, with weapons and all that."
"I have, don't worry about it." Irvine nodded in return,
Technically, his current self had never experienced a standard level match before. But Irvine didn't want to waste time with explanations he'd already known.
Battle Arena allowed the use of a fixed variety of melee weapons for its players (except Rangers who's also allowed to use ranged weapons).
High school level Arena made their weapons with the same composite hard rubber materials similar to the armour that he had used during the single tower match in school yesterday, but college and pro matches would use actual metal weapons to go with the exosuit armours' defenses.
The melee weapons ranged from a simple military knife, all the way to swords, maces, and quarterstaffs, while the long range weapons used by Rangers were more limited in variety.
They could choose between bow and arrows, multiple hand crossbows, or a light/heavy crossbow.
Medea, for example, was a Ranger known for her timing and control with the bow.
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*CLINK*
Irvine equipped a futuristic looking dagger on the back of his hip right after he had swiftly and proficiently put on his black and red number 7 exosuit.
He was now fully clad in the tight-fitting armour uniform of Battle Arena.
'Haa... Now this is the right feeling.' Irvine examined his exosuit carefully with a sense of nostalgia written on his face.
During his suit up process, the rest of the Red team's players including Medea were more than a little surprised at his accuracy and speed in wearing his exosuit.
They had been prepared to help and assist him in putting on the armours should he needed it. however, before they could even offer their help, Irvine had shown them a proficiency beyond their expectations.
From tying up the harness and skeletal frame, to locking down the outer plates and guards to the harness.
Irvine's routine suit up process had looked far smoother than even Medea's at a glance. It hadn't even taken a him a full minute to finish putting on the entire suit of armour.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you've played before..." The Red team's Fielder complimented from the side.
"..." Unlike before, the current Medea was also looking at Irvine with hints of curosity and astonishment in her eyes.
To her, Irvine looked too young to be someone who's experienced in standard matches. One must keep in mind that normal people rarely had access to standard match's equipment before college.
For example, her own situation was also a fortunate anomaly that allowed her to get in contact with the sport from an earlier age.
"Haha, thanks. It's been a while." The man in question however, simply brushed the comment off with a laugh,
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"I'm pretty much done here. So, shall we?" Irvine asked the rest of his teammates.
"...Let's go!" Medea's eyes shined at the prompting question as she led the rest of the Red team out the locker room.
Although she seemed cold and calculative, Medea was actually a very competitive person.
She too hadn't been satisfied with the tied win-lose count during her matches at Orthos Gym, even if she'd been handicapped with 1 less member everytime.
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On the expansive forest environment built on top of the Arena field.
Dylan and the Blue team saw the complete seven members of the Red team coming out of the walkway not long after they'd settled in their positions.
The Red team's talks and preparations with Irvine had only lasted a couple minutes after they'd made their exit previously.
"Yo, looking good kid!" Dylan shouted at him with his hand cupping the front of his mouth, imitating a megaphone.
"Good luck!" Back on the first floor, Scott the receptionist was leisurely leaning and supporting his body on the railing. He seemed to be waiting for the game with interest.
The customer he's responsible for was already guaranteed to sign a membership and was now playing with the rest of the members. Scott considered this as his break time and was planning on watching the match casually.
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"Have we finished placing the towers?" Medea sternly asked the 3 Red team's Guards, she was currently acting as the interim captain of the Red team.
"Yep, no problem." One of the Guards replied confidently.
Placement of towers were usually the most important part of strategy in official matches. Alas, this was not such a serious occasion. nobody minded as long as they knew where the towers were.
"Okay, put your helmet on and set up the zone tracking sensors properly." Medea reminded everyone.
The technology of a professional standard exosuit was miles away from the hard rubber armour from Irvine's high school. With this one, setting up your HP and zone trackings could all be done wirelessly through the helmet's interface.
Irvine stood to the side and back of the Red team's Fielder. He put on his helmet and pressed a certain button that automatically triggered the front mask to close up from its periphery.
As it closed, the camera on the helmet's eyes shined dimly, activating the sights and UI interface within the helmet for him to see.
*BEEP*
[
HP: 100%
Zone Target(s): Fielder-01
Zone Distance(s): 5.23 m
Damage Distribution: -
]
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*BEEP* *BEEP*
For a while, a series of beeping sounds resounded from both sides of the field as the players set up and tested their zone restrictions properly.
Finally, the time arrived for the last step of pre-match preparations. The tower scrambles.
"READY?" Dylan shouted from the other end of the field.
The 6 Guards from both sides stood beside their respective towers, preparing to push the button on top of each tower together to scramble the puzzles and officially start the match.
"READY!" Responding to the shout, the front most Guard of the Red team answered with the same level of intensity.
"START!!"
**BEEP**
*WHIRL*
At the same time as the buttons of the towers were pressed, every section of each tower on the field scrambled its puzzles and rotated at high intensity for a while before eventually stopping in place.
*CLICK*
[MATCH START]
