Since the last game ended earlier than expected, T
iple Misfi
Team e found themselves with a lot of free time. They decided to spend half an hour or so in the lobby watching the other teams battle. However, they don't do it for fun. They are now in the top 16 of Big City Dave-156 and can no longer compete blindly, knowing nothing about their opponents. The first round against the Galactic Murder Force proved that this ignorance can be a serious handicap.
Of course, this is common sense with any competition, but Maggie, Joe and their friends are all competing for the first time. They have a lot to learn, but that doesn't stop them from giving it their all. If anything, this only motivates a particular member more. That's why they're using their rare breather in almost back-to-back games to study their next potential opponent. It was a diligent and responsible thing to do, although none of them particularly liked what they saw.
T
iple Misfi
e’s next opponent is Qua
tum C
usade
s, and they are the real opponents. They are a promising pro-Wandering team and it showed in their performance. They were organized, efficient, and clearly not members of an amateur league. With their rigorous skills and precise teamwork, they can even eliminate their opponents faster than the "Three Fires" won the previous game. However, the Quantum Crusaders chose a safe and painful method, mercilessly cornering their opponents and grinding them into dust without giving them any chance to reverse the situation. As one would expect from a group of professionals, they never take any chances.
Joe's team was very frustrated at the thought of facing those guys. Quantum Crusaders is so outrageous it's not even funny. If they were both elegant sharpshooters like Maggie, they might have a fair chance, but that's clearly not the case. Their chances of reaching the quarterfinals seemed slim. Even Joe recognizes the obvious desperation of their situation, although he doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it.
"Oh, well, what can you do?" he shrugged. "It's really unlucky to face a guy like that."
"Tell me, man. Pros really should have their own game, you know?" Benny complained.
"That's what they do. It's called Blastopia, and we're in it."
"……Right."
They all knew what they were signing up for, which is why they were targeting the top eight in the first place. In a sense, this upcoming game could be their championship final.
"A
g! Hope you gangsters want to go out and fight!" Cullen reveled in the chaotic pirate persona of his day. "I'm not one for any cowards!"
"Damn it!" Huey nodded vigorously. "The least we can do is beat them to a bloody pulp!"
"What good does it do us to give them an eye organ?"
Maggie's painfully honest and somewhat worrying question immediately breaks the tension.
"In other words, Maggie," Jo interjected as usual. "It means we won't give up without a fight."
"I understand. And I'm looking forward to participating in this fun pastime."
"What's that for fun, Muggs?" Benny asked with a confused giggle.
“The human tendency to persevere in struggle regardless of the futility of one’s actions.”
",oh……"
These words did little to boost the morale of the crew, to say the least.
"She means she's going to give it her all for this game and so should we," Joe tried to redeem himself from the statement. "Don't give up halfway, right, Maggie?"
"Indeed," the girl nodded. "I don't subscribe to the concept of 'half-assing it.' "If something is worth doing, do it with your whole ass. If it's not worth it, don't use your butt. "
"Ha! Look," Karen said with a smile, breaking his character.
Huey just shook his head, "Then... I have no right to say that."
"To be fair, I don't think Muggs ever missed anything." Benny shrugged.
It wasn't what people usually think of as an inspirational speech, but her words certainly had the effect of motivating others. They don't think they're going to suddenly win. All they can do is try their best and leave with dignity. After all, they are ultimately playing a game that has unique characteristics that make even failure enjoyable. In short, the team has quietly shifted their goal from "win the game" to "let's have fun," which is what they were trying to do in the first place.
Therefore, T
iple Misfi
Team E-Team entered their first round match against the Quantum Crusaders, and they couldn't wait to give those pro players a chance. The game's virtual stage is a dense asteroid field filled with randomly drifting mini-mountains. Visibility was poor, space was limited, and heavy metals within the rocks interfered with the ship's instruments. It's an environment that makes it difficult for players to locate opponents and makes ambushes a real threat, although the opposite is also true.
"Okay, ladies! Let's see if we can catch those bastards."
As captain, Huey started calling the shots from the start of the game.
"Benny, try to chart a course to where they're starting. Joe, Karen and I are going to cover him. Mags, we're counting on you to scout ahead and report back as soon as you spot their ship. But that's not too much." Far. Five hundred meters at most."
"Admit it. Begin short-range reconnaissance exercises."
Rovers like Maggie are crucial in this matchup. Typically her job is to harass the enemy's flanks, putting pressure on their support ships while driving off enemy rovers. This is still true to an extent, but her first priority is to determine the enemy's location and guide her allies to a vantage point to engage. Mobility and stealth are more important than firepower, which is why she's not piloting her usual ship.
Arrow Shaped FR-501 "Scalewi
g" has been shelved and replaced by the R4-94 "Bumblebee". The craft has a short, thick and round fuselage, somewhat like its name. A total of 12 small boosters are evenly distributed across the hull , allowing for fast cornering and full range of motion. The disadvantage of this engine setup is that its cruising speed is significantly lower than that of a similar Scalewi
g thing, although that doesn't matter in these tight spaces.
As usual, Maggie chose a boat that best suited the situation. This is no simple task considering the hundreds of options available. The choice is made even more complicated by the fact that each ship can be equipped with dozens of available weapons and modules. For someone who can count atoms, choosing the optimal setup from those seemingly endless possibilities is a trivial matter. Likewise, effectively piloting an omnidirectional aircraft is definitely not a challenge for Maggie, despite widespread belief that it is a difficult skill to master.
In fact, the way her bumblebees move freely and gracefully between large rocks is a sight to behold. That's why the game's broadcast focused on her craft in that moment. These "hide and seek" games sometimes took 10 to 15 minutes before the first shot was fired, so the organizers used her skilled driving skills as supplementary entertainment. They even showed her virtual self in the cockpit, which is a spectacle in itself. She quickly adjusts the joysticks, flicks switches, presses buttons, and makes her ship dance to her tune, which is incredibly satisfying.
Of course, every player on the enemy team also received similar treatment. Quantum Crusaders are hopeful professionals with their own following, so it's only natural that people want to see them. That is, they're a bunch of guys wearing logo flight suits and visors that cover their faces. From a purely visual perspective, the cute girl with the weird eye-adorned hair tentacles is much more interesting and attractive. Therefore, at that point in time, most of the attention of the audience watching the game was focused on Maggie. She seemed to sense this, as she occasionally glanced at the virtual camera on the dashboard.
The game lasted about eight tense minutes, and the girl's attention immediately became as sharp as a razor.
"Report possible engine emissions," she told her allies of her findings.
"Roger that," Huey confirmed. "cold."
Since enemies may be nearby, the entire team reduces engine output to reduce the risk of detection. Except for Maggie, of course. She replaced the ship's force field transmitter with an internal radiator that masked the ship's energy signature even when the ship was operating at full speed. Considering her onboard computer hadn't detected any trace of heat, she assumed the enemy ship was doing something similar. Because metal-rich asteroids disrupted radar systems, it meant she had to rely on visual contact in almost total darkness. Luckily, she's the Observer, so the lack of light affects her vision far more than that. Alternatively, she can use her technical magic to—as Joe calls it—immediately pinpoint the enemy team at the start. However, this blatantly unfair approach is against the rules and, more importantly, ruins her fun.
However, despite Maggie's intention to play as fair as possible, she can't help but react with superhuman speed when her console sounds a warning of an incoming projectile. She coaxed her ship into a sudden ninety-degree turn so that it was facing two incoming missiles head-on. Her forward-mounted high-intensity laser detonated the munition seconds before it exploded, flashing a brilliant red. The explosion itself was silent, but shrapnel ricocheted off her Hornet's unshielded hull, creating a screeching and clanking sound.
"Enemies encountered," she reported calmly. "Two fighter-class rovers are at my location."
"Two?!" Huey shouted involuntarily. "Explosion! They've got us!"
In fact, given the importance of this role, the Quantum Crusaders chose to deploy additional scouts. T
iple Misfi
e considered doing that as well, but frankly their members didn't have the flexibility to reorganize the team quickly like that. Professional players, on the other hand, are clearly trained to be competent at at least every position. As for their goals, their goal is obviously to eliminate the enemy's rover to give themselves an early lead. They even anticipated that their targets would use heat sinks on their shield launchers and equipped their craft accordingly.
"Hang in there, Mags! We're on our way!"
As a result, the Magi was forced to dodge volleys of Vulcan cannon fire that would have penetrated her armored hull. Her hornet suddenly sprayed to the left, avoiding the large-caliber rounds that devoured the boulder next to her. Her opponents immediately gave chase, but their R4-31 Hornet model spacecraft had a conventional engine setup and was unable to keep up with her full range of maneuverability. She was also hard to pin down. The hulking looking thing swung back and forth in their barrage like something out of a ridiculous action movie.
The bumblebee ran towards it, temporarily throwing off its pursuer, but in doing so, it fell right into a trap. The two rovers' rounds spared Maggie's ship a scratch, but simultaneously took her into a rocky corridor generously decorated with automatic turrets. She immediately deduced that they had been placed there by enemy support ships, meaning it was likely sacrificing some other core functionality in favor of deployable weapons. She reported the situation to her teammates, and her ship's laser swept over and destroyed most of the guns before they had a chance to fire. The few remaining Sentinels began firing into her hull, but their relatively small caliber and unguided targets presented no real problem.
"Wait...there!" Huey shouted over the comm. "The enemy can see it! Title five-oh-seve
!All ships-engage! Magus, keep those two busy while we deal with these three!"
"But, well, you could turn them to dust if you could," Joe interjected.
"Yeah, you don't have to wait for our account." Benny did the same.
"Teach them a lesson, Muggs!" Karen cheered.
"Admit it. Search and destroy begins."
The crowd watching the melee was excited as the girl pulled back both flight poles with exaggerated movements. Her spaceship took off with a roar, the light from the engine drawing a perfect semicircle. The spacecraft was positioned and ready to face the two approaching fighter jets. Seconds later, she was dodging enemy Hornet fire and missiles again, but this time the Hornet was faster. Now that stealth was no longer a factor, Maggie turned off the ship's radiators, diverting power to the engines and weapons.
Speaking of which, the girl decided it was time to fight back. Her ship turned around without changing course and fired its twin lasers at the nearest enemy. The energy flow is connected, of course, but is deflected by its force field. The pilot attempted to maneuver out of the way. His agility in navigating tight spaces is top-notch, considering his aircraft isn't suited to that tight environment, but it can't hope to compare to Maggie's. The way her bumblebee moves seems to have absolutely nothing to do with its rotation and flight path. It was surreal, like a turret gliding on invisible rails. This allowed her lasers to continue burning through her target's shields despite his best efforts, while she kept dodging the fire the other was trying to cover.
Thankfully for the Quantum Crusaders, Maggie's "Sting" failed to break through the fighter's shields before her dual lasers shut down to prevent overheating. Thinking this was an opportunity to attack, the nearly roasted fighter turned around and took aim with his forward-mounted Vulcan cannon. Or at least that was his intention, but he temporarily lost track of his purpose. His teammates yelled a warning to him to look down, but it was too late.
The hornet's bulbous back smashed into the hornet's smooth belly. The latter's shields are calibrated to deflect kinetic weapons, not large objects, and therefore cannot prevent collisions between hulls. Maggie started the thrusters at full speed at the point of impact, pushing the two ships apart with explosive force. "Punch after punch" is enough to make Bumblebee lose control. Despite the pilot's best efforts, it hit the side of a nearby asteroid. This caused the spacecraft to suffer heavy damage and was almost unable to function normally. One of its four main engines was completely damaged, severely limiting its speed and maneuverability. Instead of finishing the broken ship, Maggie turned back to engage another ship. Of course, her own ship sustained considerable damage from that impact. Its mobility was negatively affected, but she was able to make up for it with a little extra effort. She kept circling the poor fool for a few seconds until her lasers cooled down, at which point she began to roast him.
Meanwhile, the rest of Maggie's team are engaged in a four-on-three battle with the remaining Quantum Crusaders ships. One has to hand it to the pros, who put up a fierce fight despite being outnumbered. However, their support ship had to abandon its cyber warfare suite in order to bring those deployable Sentinels. This allows Benny's ship to hack into its onboard computer, triggering a power surge that disables its shields and engines for several seconds. T
iple Misfi
e's interceptors, the Joe and Huey, made an aggressive push against the other two enemy ships and shot down easy targets. They targeted and destroyed its cargo bay, destroying its supply reserves, drones and other supplies.
This puts the Quantum Crusaders in a dangerous position. One of their rovers was crippled, the other was hopeless against the Magi, and their support ship had been reduced to a glorified space truck. In this case, in order to save time and energy, they decided to bite the bullet and give up this round. They also need to revise their strategies. In the final game, the players asked their coach to scout the opponent on their behalf, and the coach considered Maggie to be the most troublesome member of Triple Misfire. Therefore, they try to corner her and eliminate her to ensure victory.
Needless to say, this plan backfired dramatically. Maggie hasn't had a chance to show off her incredible piloting skills yet, so the Quantum Crusaders underestimate her. They similarly misjudged the girl's other teammates. Although they look easy to defeat compared to Mags, Joe and his pals are actually quite proficient in U
-Yo-Bee. They're certainly not at the professional level, but they have a solid enough foundation that they won't lose when outnumbered. Their game sense was spot on too, as they were able to spot the main force of the Quantum Crusaders without any help from the Wanderers. Therefore, professionals believe that it is better to focus on them first and deal with the ace pilots last.
However, for better or worse, they'll never get the chance to test this theory.
"Failed?!" Huey screamed at the top of his lungs. "What does it mean to be unqualified?!"
A Blastopia official was seen at T during a break between rounds
iple Misfi
e's assembly area, the news he brought was very depressing.
"That's what it sounds like, Mr. Peterson," the man said firmly.
"What? !"
"Performance-enhancing third-party software and/or virtual pod modifications are suspected to have been used."
The official said nothing more, but the look he gave Maggie made it clear what he meant. She displayed superhuman reflexes and driving abilities, leading Blastopia's organizers to believe that she was artificially improving her skills using the above methods. This is equivalent to doping in virtual reality, which is obviously not allowed in a fiercely competitive environment.
"But that's just speculation, not confirmed!" Huey. "You can't kick us out because of this!"
In fact, the organizers are not 100% sure of their accusations. The various tools and techniques they used to detect cheating turned up nothing concrete about Maggie. This means one of two things - she's really that ridiculous, or she's using some heretofore unknown deception. One is more likely to happen than the other. Not to mention she was logged in as Joe Mulligan's anonymous guest. This wasn't against the rules of the game per se, but it did make her more suspicious.
Therefore, Blastopia officials chose to err on the side of caution and put a stop to whatever was going on, although they had to make sure that doing so did not cause a ruckus.
"Look, Mr. Peterson. We can do it the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. The easiest way is that you voluntarily withdraw from the game and we all keep it a secret. The hard thing is that we suspend the game and let the police investigate you further. The team’s activities, background, and equipment. It’s kind of a hunch, but I have a feeling they’re going to find a way to get one or all of you into trouble.”
Huey glared at the man, and the others looked concerned. Their captain doesn't know that Maggie made a "custom modification" to Joe's cabin, but everyone else does. It was clear to them that the girl hated lying and deception so much that she would never engage in such activities. However, as the official said, the authorities would certainly make a fuss over that pod.
As for Huey, he just glanced at his team's uneasiness and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
"Okay," he conceded. "We're giving up this game."
"Thank you for your cooperation," the official said dryly.
"Can we at least watch the rest of the game?"
"certainly."
"What about next year? Can we compete then?"
The man stopped to think for a moment and sighed before answering.
"Technically yes. Since your disqualification is unofficial, we cannot ban you from future participation. Please note that we will not be so lenient if something like this happens again."
"That's...fair, I guess."
"Now, before I leave, any questions?"
The man looked at the rest of the team and saw the prime suspect's arms raised.
"Yes, miss?"
He thought she wanted to refute the accusation and waste his time, but that was not the case. Maggie couldn't in good conscience do this because she had indeed gone too far in the heat of the moment. The organizers were absolutely right to be worried, she was completely wrong. She wasn't going to admit it publicly either, mainly because she was worried it would cause trouble for Joe. Some would say her silence was a lie of omission, but the stranger gave her a certain "relief" in this regard.
"I want confirmation of the terms of this agreement," she said bluntly. "We will not disclose the reasons for our withdrawal from the competition. In exchange, you will not take any legal action against us."
"Yeah, that's the point."
"That's the end of the deal."
For a very brief moment, her virtual self flashes. The official was a little surprised, but he just assumed it was either her avatar glitching or she was using some kind of cheat. The way she said the agreement was also strange. Regardless, he maintained his professional demeanor and left the digital hangar after confirming there were no further problems.
"What a bastard!" Huey cursed immediately. "I know what the hell is going on!" Because we scolded those so-called pros so badly that they were afraid of losing to a bunch of nobodies like us! So they called their sponsors and asked them to report to the organization The government is putting pressure on us! And here we are, being beaten to death because of the favoritism of big companies!”
He then launched into a lengthy tirade that quickly evolved into a full-blown conspiracy theory. He does this a lot, especially on certain message boards. The rest of the gang are familiar with this side of Huey and know not to take him seriously, but their personal involvement makes it hard to disagree with what he says. It's easier for them to blame some faceless company for their misfortune than to face the uncomfortable reality that Maggs may have been involved in something shady.
The "prime suspect" eventually left the hangar entirely. Huey spewed an endless stream of unfounded accusations, ridiculous assumptions, and logical fallacies, and she was in no mood to deal with them. Maggie was already conflicted about the whole thing. On the one hand, she disqualified her team and ruined their ambitions, even modest ones. On the other hand, even if they are allowed to continue playing, they are unlikely to win best-of-five. Maybe, she mused, that would make things better. Humans, especially Joe, would feel better about their misfortune if they realized that the source of it was beyond their control.
These were the inconsequential thoughts that ran through her vast mind as she entered the tournament hall. Almost immediately she found herself surrounded by spectators congratulating her on her victory and praising her incredible driving skills. She usually didn't care about the opinions of strangers, but it felt good to get a little recognition. Later, word began to circulate that her team was quitting for "private reasons," and onlookers began asking her about it. Maggie was under an obligation to keep the details secret, so she was neither willing nor able to elaborate.
At least the crowd didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards the sudden defeat. There may be some viewers who suspect something shady is going on, just like the organizers. However, if there are such bystanders, they are either not in the hall or keep their opinions to themselves. For the most part, viewers were just disappointed not to see more of Maggie's awesome action, and after saying their piece, they went back to what they were doing. Some even asked for signatures but were immediately denied. In their ignorance, they did not realize the significance of this behavior to the cosmic beings from beyond the veil. But Maggie doesn't mind them taking selfies with her avatar.
When everything started to calm down, the girl's eyes were drawn to the home screen. It was playing highlights of the game so far, and she couldn't help but notice that she was on it. Despite her disqualification, organizers seemed unfazed by highlighting her exploits in promotional materials. In this particular case, they showed a dramatic replay of her hornet flying into an enemy hornet's blind spot before slamming it into a rock wall. As is customary with this type of footage, there's a pilot camera in the corner of the video.
This caught Maggie's attention. What she saw there was strange, bizarre, maybe even surreal. Although her virtual ship was deftly controlled in the video, the expression on her face in the video struck her as very strange. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows hinted at anger, but her mouth was open, fangs exposed, in an almost savage smile. Her voice didn't accompany the images, but she definitely sounded like she was yelling. Even the eyes on her antennae were watching, they seemed to be staring at the same spot as her human companion. If I had to sum up this expression in a few words, it would be "victorious aggression."
Maggie didn't remember making such an expression.
