Touchdown

I stepped into the ring and remembered that Rei had been in my pocket, listening the whole time. So I whispered to him, “Lose.”

I figured that if either of the judges overheard that single word, they could interpret it in different ways. But what I truly meant was that I wanted to lose.

Then Telo gave me a brief introduction to the simulator.

“Inertia, I believe this is your first time in a simulation center like this, so I need to warn you about a few things to keep the fight fair. You can interact with everything that appears around us. Everything that happens here causes real damage, so be careful.”

I nodded in thanks.

The chosen scenario was a desert. There was nothing to interact with, and visibility beyond the ring was poor, though verbal communication with those outside was still possible.

“Luna, what about my outfit?” I asked, taking the chance since the clothing was expensive and well-made, and I’d have to tear it apart if I didn’t remove it.

“It’s fine, you can discard it,” she called back from the stands.

Alright. I was terrified, so I took a deep breath. What if the transformation failed this time?

Telo closed his helmet and activated his armor.

I slipped my hand into my outer pocket, where Rei was, pulled out the phone, and tucked it into my sleeve so the judges wouldn’t see it. From there, I pressed it to the back of my neck. To my surprise, it snapped into place as if drawn by a magnet.

I clenched both fists, shut my eyes, and shouted, “Initiate!”

…

I stood frozen, bracing for the worst, but Rei didn’t appear. Was he asleep? Or had something gone wrong?

I opened my eyes and glanced up at the stands, shaking my head in denial. The transformation had failed.

Telo, apparently unaware of how my transformation worked, charged at me without hesitation.

He sprinted forward, vaulted two meters into the air, clasped both hands together, and came down in a single crushing strike.

He was massive and heavy. This time, it worked to my advantage.

I rolled to the side just in time. His strike hit the spot where I had been, barely thirty centimeters away. That would have killed me.

“Wait, Telo, it didn’t work! You’re going to kill me!” I screamed.

He turned his head to glance at me while still crouched, then straightened up.
Still on the ground, I looked toward the stands and heard Dom arguing with Chefe.

What do I do?

When I turned back, Telo’s armor cracked open slightly, releasing a cloud of yellow smoke.

I got to my feet, but I couldn’t see anything around me.

“Rei, please!” I shouted desperately.

I turned my head, sensing Telo circling me.

Suddenly, a sharp jolt struck the back of my neck, as if someone had slapped me there. My heart pounded faster and faster, and I collapsed to my knees, hands pressed against the ground.

I pressed my right hand against my chest as I gasped for air, and in the next moment, I was paralyzed, trapped inside myself again.

“I’m here,” I said — but as we know, it was Rei.

***

I stood and looked at my hands, trying to see what I had to fight with. Apparently, I had no weapons. My body was completely metallic red, and I was much taller than usual.

The smoke around me went still, which meant an attack was coming. I instinctively pushed back, and that single move was enough to dodge Telo’s strike from the side.

When I pressed the button to initiate the fight earlier, I’d been given the choice of starting with mimicry or using the skin from the last battle. But because the transformation with Andrea had failed, the system hadn’t stored any items from that fight.

So with a new skin, I had to quickly figure out its combat mechanics.

From the commands, it seemed my special ultimate ability was something called “Touchdown.” I had no idea what that meant. All I knew was that this fight would be close-quarters from now on.

I sprinted out of the smoke, blind to everything happening around me.

Once I broke free, I could see the crowd in the stands watching. From certain angles, I could even glimpse the outside. The wolf was the first to rise, clearly impressed by what she saw.

Telo soon caught up, bursting out of the smoke, and the hand-to-hand fight began.

One thing was clear: I had no idea what his combat style was. But I did know the basics of close-quarters fighting from years of gaming. That was enough to block most of his strikes and even land a few of my own. Because of that, he changed tactics.

His new target was my legs — especially behind the knees. He wanted to take me down.

I only realized it after he kicked my left leg. A single strike was enough to send me crashing backward to the ground.

Telo quickly climbed on top of me, pinning my torso with his legs, and unleashed a flurry of punches to my face. My legs were still free, so I thought of using them to break out.

Wait. Didn’t Inertia tell me to lose? I had completely forgotten.

So I dropped my legs and stayed still.

He kept hammering my face until the helmet cracked open. When he saw my face —well, Inertia’s face— he stopped and pulled back into a defensive stance.

I got back up, my face exposed, and mirrored his stance, but he didn’t move forward. My body’s vitality was down to 45%, while his was still at 80%.

What should I do? I had to at least make it look like I was resisting.

So I rushed at him, circling and throwing sloppy punches across his body. He blocked most of them, though I managed to slip through a few openings.

At last, the ultimate ability button finished charging, ready for me to use.

That’s when Telo struck. His metallic hand darkened, different from the rest of his body.

He unleashed a professional boxer’s combo, and of course I failed to block any of it. But since my ability was ready, I decided to use it.

Was there any reason to? Not really. I don’t even know why I made that choice.

I tapped the central ability icon, and my body automatically launched into the air. Midair, my hands clasped together like a hammer, and I came crashing down.

I missed him, but slamming into the ground nearby drained 20% of his vitality. Touchdown was an attack that dealt damage when striking a metallic opponent, or even just the ground around them. But its main purpose was immobilization.

He froze in place. A ten-second timer appeared on my screen. I figured that was the duration of his paralysis, so I started hitting him to test it. It worked.

Each strike drained 5% of his vitality. I landed eight blows, though my movements were painfully slow. By the time I stopped, his vitality had dropped to 20%. Damn, I hadn’t meant to push it that far.

As soon as my assault ended, red smoke began seeping from my body. To my surprise, I could see Telo’s white silhouette even through the haze. That meant I could track him.

I saw him brace defensively, but I didn’t attack. I stayed still until the smoke cleared.

Since it was first-person view, my hands covered most of the screen, and I noticed they now matched Telo’s, with a different material on the palms. What was that?

Neither of us moved. Because of that, an alert triggered with a five-second countdown.

Then Telo attacked, throwing weak punches that bounced off my defense until he ran out of energy.

To keep up the act, I tried doing the same, but Telo didn’t raise his guard as I expected. Because of that, two of my punches landed cleanly, knocking him out.

What?!

I couldn’t believe it — I’d won. What were the odds of that?

End of Report 28