//------------------------------// // First Team // Story: Heroes for Friendship // by King-Mac-13 //------------------------------// Fifteen minutes came and went, but the groups remained separated as they had been. No division into the teams, save for Twilight, Timber and Lyra. As the tension built again, Grimoire walked back toward the middle area. He waved his hand to reactivate the screens and cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s get started. The first team to enter the field will be Team 3: Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Sonata, and Big Mac.” A section of the wall opened up and showed a high-ceiling platform to the side of the room. “Load onto the pedestal one at a time, please, as your hero kits are distributed. Each of your kits have three special abilities with can be activated by your thought and acted on as thought you possessed the corresponding muscle memory.” “Awesome!” Rainbow jumped up and moved toward the platform. “I’ll go first!” She stepped up onto the platform, where the symbol from before appeared over her head. After a second it started to cycle through other symbols, landing on a solid red hourglass. “What happens now?” Her question was answered as her attire started to glow and replace itself with the hero kit. She now stood in a purple, skin-tight jumpsuit with armor covering her lower legs. On her head, her rainbow hair was tied back into a ponytail and wore a strange apparatus on her head. She was granted the use of a multi-fire sniper rifle and an odd gauntlet on her arm. “Crazy…” “Your selected hero… if you can call her that… is the Widowmaker…” “That sounds awesome!” “…a cold-blooded assassin and member of the Talon terrorist organization.” “Less awesome.” “Your kit has equipped you with a sniper rifle with fires as a fully automatic rifle when not directly aimed. Using this kit, you will be the eyes for your team and keeping the enemies at bay at long range. Your automatic mode on your gun is inefficient and unreliable when compared to the sniper rifle. Keep this in mind. Next up…” “I’ll go~!” Sonata ran up to the pedestal and bounced around in excitement. The Symbol started to cycle over her head landing on a V with a small rhombus above letter. “Ooh~ Who’s that one?” Her attire began to change in a similar fashion to Dash. Her style changed to a sort of corporate style with wedge heels and a strange visor over her eyes. In her hand was a strange device with three ‘hooks’. “What’s this?” “You have been given the kit of Symmetra. Specifically, the Viskar variant, lucky you. You are an architect of hard light. You specialize in controlling the battlefield through your creations. Your weapon locks onto your opponents and builds damage output over time. You are not a frontline soldier, keep this in mind.” “This should be fun!” “Next!” “I guess I’ll go…” Apple Jack walked up to the pedestal and stood next to Rainbow Dash, but away from Sonata. Her symbol stopped on a skull with a plus in place of one of the eyes. Her attire changed to look like it came out of a futuristic western (don’t question it). Her Stetson remained on her head (something she was grateful for), she now wore a style of poncho, a pair of chaps, and spurred boots. Another item of note was her belt buckle which read BAMF. “The heck is BAMF?” “Something I’m not allowed to explain at this time. You have been granted the kit of the vigilante from Santa Fe, Jessie McCree. Former outlaw turned hero, he returned to his home as a hired gun with principles. Very much the stereotypical cowboy, you wield the peacekeeper revolver, which you can fire single shot or become a fan of the hammer and fire all remaining shots in quick succession. Your damage decreases over distance, so keep this in mind. Alright, one more. Big Mac?” He silently made his way to the pedestal and stood, watching the symbol. It landed on a picture of a snowflake. He raised an eyebrow and waited for his kit to granted. His attire became something akin to red and orange arctic gear. He had a large canister on his back and a connected gun in his hand. The top of the canister popped off and revealed itself to be a hovering robot. “You have been given the kit of Mei-Ling Zhou, renowned climatologist. Your specialty is controlling the movement of your opponents, using your endothermic blaster.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Your gun shoots ice.” “Ah…” “Now, with everyone set, it’s time for your mission. Good luck!” The wall closed off, leaving the four in the small room. After a moment, the door opened again and the four stepped out onto the ground before them. Stretching out before them was a futuristic city with a holographic clock. A speaker from the room informed them saying, “Welcome to King’s Row”. Rainbow smiled and held her gun up a bit to be ready, “Alright! Let’s do this!” “Rainbow,” Apple Jack tried to reign her friend’s enthusiasm back a bit, “Do you even know where you’re going?” “Duh~!” Sonata walked passed AJ and next to Rainbow, “It’s basically a hoard mode. We go where ever we want and the robots will try to beat us with numbers. We just fight them off until it’s decided we win.” “You play stuff like this often?” “Nope, but Aria’s a fan of games with modes like this, so I hear about it pretty often.” “Alright. So, where should we start?” She got her answer when a bullet hole appeared in the wall next to her. She ducked to the side and grabbed her revolver. “Guess we’re starting here.” Rainbow Dash brought her gun to aim and the mode changed to a sniper rifle. She watched as the charge grew and took aim toward the offending gunshot. Only to have to lower her gun to dodge incoming fire. She needed to move to cover quickly. Her arm raised and a grappling hook shot out, grabbed a nearby wall, and pulled her off to safety. When she landed, she looked down to the apparatus that spirited her to her destination in shock, “How did I do that?!” Sonata had jumped into a house close by. When the bullets started to fly toward her, she made a motion with her hand and created a barrier that moved forward to protect herself. “Oh wow!” Rainbow tried to make sense of the situation, “We need to hold them back and get to a better position!” Big Mac looked to his gun and smiled. The bottom section of the gun opened and he aimed the gun toward the enemies. With a rising motion of his hand, he created a wall of ice between the group and the robots. Rainbow stood in surprise for a moment, “That’ll work. Alright, let’s move!” The group ran away from the area to find a better locale. \/ Deep into wave 2, the group had become accustomed to their basic abilities and how to use them. Granted, the muscle memory effect helped that process develop quickly. Rainbow was kneeling on a tall balcony overlooking the courtyard. After a moment, she spoke, “No sign of any robots.” During their adventure, they accidently learned that they had a line of communication at all times. “Sonata, are we still clear in the lobby?” Sonata’s voice seemed to come from nowhere, “All clear so far. All of my turrets are still operational. Though, no one’s been through here, so that’s not surprising…” “You’re welcome.” Apple Jack joined the chat with a slightly annoyed tone. While they were technically working together, she was still if-y about the situation that is Sonata. AJ looked out from her cover and spotted a set of robots approaching. “We’ve got robots coming in from the west side.” Rainbow adjusted her position, “How many?” After a moment, AJ responded, “Six. “Those must be the last bots in the wave.” “Let’s hope so…” *beep beep beep* The small robot on Big Mac’s back flew upward with [100%] on its screen. “What’s the 100 for, Big Mac?” “It’s saying I can use something called ‘the Blizzard.’ Says it can freeze multiple enemies at once.” “That sounds helpful.” The six robots started to walk down the streets toward the hotel. Dash tried to snipe them, but that proved… difficult. She wasn’t exactly a marksman and had difficulty getting anything more than a body shot. Unfortunately, the robot health pools practically demanded headshots be necessary to be helpful. Every shot just made her angry as her shots would either barely hit the body or fly so close to the head only to miss. Big Mac looked to his robot and shrugged. “Alright…” The robot moved toward Big Mac’s hand and he tossed the bot among the robots, “Freeze! Don’t move!” The bot created a blizzard that started to slow the robots’ movements. After a moment, they were frozen solid. “They’ll be stuck for a couple seconds. Best hit ‘em now.” Apple Jack wanted to hit them all as quickly as possible. She knew she couldn’t destroy more than one, possibly two, of the bots in the time she had. But how could she do this? Something in the back of her mind told her she could destroy all of them. She might as while try, right? Suddenly her vision became a sepia tone and a bright glow appeared behind her. A tumble weed bounced across her vision, her revolver was placed in her holster, and she couldn’t help but say, “Step right up…” After a moment, she saw the symbol from before appeared on the heads of each of the frozen bots and she drew her pistol. “Draw!” Six shots fired, six bot kills. Round 2: complete! “Alright!” Rainbow cheered. “That was awesome!” Apple Jack gave in impressed whistle. “How did I do that?” Round 3: Commencing… Heavy steps told them they had incoming enemies and they prepared for a fight. What they saw was a large war robot, a Bastian unit. It moved into position and transformed into its turret form. “The heck?” The Bastian unit unloaded toward AJ and Big Mac, eating away a lot of their health before Bic Mac could put up an ice wall. A section fell away and the bullets continued to fly. “What the hell is that thing?!” “Doesn’t matter! Move!” The two made a b-line for the hotel as the bullets flew passed. As they approached, a projected shield from Sonata gave them a respite from the bullets and gave them the chance to duck inside. AJ grabbed the health pack in the back of the room and Big Mac ducked inside his ice barrier to heal up. Once AJ was healed up, she turned to Sonata, “Where’s Rainbow?” “Still on the balcony.” Rainbow answered her while still firing. “Get in here! That thing’ll kill you!” “It’s not firing at me. I might be out of its range. That said… it’s healing all the damage I deal.” Rainbow fired another shot and gave an exasperated sigh as the enemy health refilled again. When it’s health was full again, it repositioned and looked upward toward Rainbow. “What the…?” It then opened fire, most of its shots missing due to the distance. Rainbow ducked behind the low wall surrounding the balcony. “Guys! I think that thing can’t heal and fire at the same time!” “So? If its healing, we aren’t really hurting it too much.” “True, but we can use that to our advantage! If I lower its health enough, it’ll heal, leaving it open for you guys to get close enough to deal with it.” Apple Jack thought for a moment, “Oh! Big Mac can freeze him and I have a stun grenade!” “Right! And Sonata’s weapon builds damage over time. If you three get close enough, it won’t be able to move long enough for us to take that thing down!” Sonata smiled and added, “And if it aims at one of us on the way, I can use the barrier to protect us!” “Okay! Are we all clear on the plan?” “Let’s go!” After a moment of silence over the streets, Rainbow started to unload her sniper rifle into the Bastian unit. Bic Mac, AJ, and Sonata burst out from the hotel and started to charge forward as the unit tried to heal its damage. As they approached, the unit stopped healing and pointed toward the group. Sonata projected her barrier, stopping the bullets long enough for them to reach the Bastian. Big Mac ran to its left and started to freeze the unit’s movements as AJ and Sonata dealt damage. When it broke free, AJ used her stun grenade to halt it again, allowing Big Mac and Sonata to strike. Sonata had never let go of her trigger and her damage output had reached its maximum. Working together, the group destroyed the Bastian unit in no time. As the unit collapsed into junk, the group celebrated their victory over the tough opponent. Rainbow looked to her gauntlet as it started flashing with [100% Visor Ready]. She pressed a button on her visor system, “You can’t hide anymore.” What she saw nearly gave her a heart attack. “Guys! We have more of those things incoming from the north!” “Then we’ll just do this again.” AJ reloaded her gun and looked northward. When she saw the red outlines from Rainbow’s ability, she became less sure. Two Bastian units were approaching just behind the wall. When they rounded the corner, the group tried to reinitiate the strategy, but two units proved a different beast altogether. Rainbow used her rifle to keep one of the units pinned and healing while the other was dealt with. When the first unit was down, they heard the ‘charge’ tune come from the other. They turned to see the surviving unit drop into a lower position and transform into something resembling a small tank. It aimed upward toward Rainbow and fired a shell clean to the balcony, devastating Rainbow’s health pool. Friendly operative down! Revive needed! Sonata used a barrier before turning to the Apple siblings, “Can you two deal with this thing?! I’m going to get Rainbow!” Big Mac nodded, but AJ wasn’t as sure. The two of them could handle the Bastian, that wasn’t an issue. But she still didn’t really trust the former siren. After a moment, she relented. It was the better option since she and Big Mac could hold the robot at bay better than if Sonata were in either of their places. “Fine. We can handle this! Get moving!” Sonata nodded and turned, running toward the hotel. She practically flew up the stairway to her friend, who was lying on the ground as a timer ticked downward. “Rainbow! I’m here, I can…” Unfortunately, the distance was too great between the group and Rainbow. The timer ticked to zero. Ally down. Mission failed. Prepare for medical evac! \/ The team were greeted with the inside of the command tent again, their kits removed and attire returned to normal. Everyone was looking toward them; but one, in particular, drew their attention. Grimoire stood in front of them, hands behind his back and a blank, unreadable look on his face. “Can any of you tell me where you went wrong?” AJ’s gaze moved toward the ground. “I didn’t trust everyone on my team.” After a pause, she continued. “When Rainbow was hit and Sonata offered to get her, I hesitated because I didn’t trust her. In a way, I still don’t.” Sonata shrunk away a bit from AJ. “That said… She and Rainbow seem to be friends. If Rainbow can trust her… I guess I can at least give her a chance.” Sonata started smiling from ear to ear and moved closer to hug AJ. Until she was cut off by an accusing finger from said farmgirl, “But if I find out this is all some elaborate trick to turn our friend against us I will snap you in half like a toothpick. Understand?” Sonata froze before taking a step away from AJ. “Yeah. Got it…” Grimoire looked down toward his projected clipboard. “That is true, but there was something else.” “There was?” “You left Rainbow alone, far away from the group. When she was picked off, you were too far away to effectively reach her. A crucial part of teamwork is staying together. Since you four went first and didn’t have the lesson everyone else just learned, I’m giving you another shot once the other teams have gone. Speaking of which,” he turned toward the larger group, “Next team.”