Planet Hotline

An instant explosion engulfed the arena. Bits of data scattered around before whirling together to create a storm amidst the vast dark space. And as the wind settled, emerged out to the field was the same brunette warrior, accompanied by cracking laughter akin to thunderstrike:

“We have arrived!”

“There he is, folks!” AIDE practically burst into hype as it witnessed the events that had transpired. “The challengers’ ultimate trump card! The self-proclaimed King of the digital world! The one and only, Bitleo!”

“Fool!” Answering the flashy entrance was the triumphant voice of the wardens, as Jack was the first to signal the sniper troops to advance. “Did you think we weren’t prepared for this? This scenario is exactly what we’ve been waiting for!”

Every single precision-type model locked their rifles onto their target, but at a blistering speed that was leagues quicker than when they were shooting Rex or Zain. It was a function specifically designed to track and capture Bitleo, the fused individual with much more enhanced specs than his components could pull.

At the same time, a small asteroid floated by. It was a small one, only about the size of a foot or two. When faced with this much firepower, not even a giant one the size of Bitleo himself would be enough, let alone something like what was currently in front of him.

And yet, that rock was the perfect size for the digital warrior to follow with his plan.

“Soccer Style: Perfect Control.”

Flicking up the asteroid with his instep, Bitleo started a sequence of events that would make anyone present doubt their eyes: the first, and weirdest, game of keepie-uppie ever in space started before the electric gun barrels of an execution site.

As if playing with a regular soccer ball on solid ground, Bitleo skillfully kicked around the piece of asteroid, displaying magnificent footwork and body control akin to a dance performance. But the most surprising thing was that his artful ball maneuver had helped the warrior evade every single shot of the high-precision mechanical snipers, making a joke out of the entire system in play.

“C-Can you believe what’s happening before our eyes?” AIDE went ballistic before the play. “Challenger Bitleo has escaped the clutches of the deathly electric rays! What skill! What grace! The attack blew up on the wardens’ faces!”

The butt of the joke, meanwhile, was fuming, contrary to his regular calm demeanor.

“Impossible!” Jack furiously shouted. “How can you dodge every single one? We’ve even matched the bots with your specs!”

“Tch, tch, tch,” temporarily holding the asteroid in his right hand, Bitleo waved his left finger at his opposition. “We never said that move would increase our physical abilities. Playing soccer just helps us clear our mind, and focus it on the task currently at hand.”

“For example…” With a big grin on his face, the digital warrior dropped the asteroid, causing it to float in mid-air for a brief moment, before taking it for a spin once more. “Soccer Style: Zero G!”

As the words left his mouth, the fused young man twisted his entire upper half like a human tornado, and, utilizing the torque in his body, made a roundhouse kick while keeping the rock firmly on his feet. The acrobatic movement caused him to fly without restraint, going over the wardens’ heads to the shock of everyone in play.

Before they could make of what happened, Bitleo had already landed behind them and repeated the movement several times over, passing through the swarm of bots like walking past an empty street.

“What in the…”

“After him!” Not allowing Jack to finish his exclamation, Love angrily gestured towards the escaping inmate, knives in her hand ready for murder.

The fused form continued on his path with his pursuers hot on his tail. Soon enough, an apparent weakness could be observed with his approach – fancy as those acrobatic moves might be, they were too long-winded, taking him a considerable time to pass through each of the bots. Meanwhile, his opponents were all equipped with specialized gears made for space maneuverability, so it’s only natural for their distance to close little by little.

The problem for the wardens, however, remained the same: they were all melee fighters trying to chase a far-away opposition. Without their final member, actually fighting Bitleo would still be a ways away. But to their fortune, help arrived just in time.

A cracking sound echoed, and the sight of a familiar whip showed up on Bitleo’s side. The warrior, with his heightened thinking and reflexes, was able to avoid the attack, but it wasn’t meant for him in the first place.

The asteroid crumbled to dust before the whip’s force. And from afar, Rose shouted the order to her remaining teammates:

“Guys, aim at the asteroids! He’s stronger when he has a ball!”

“Roger!” Love and Jack shouted in return before switching their targets to the asteroids flying about. Slashes of the knives and powerful punches soon turned everything around to mere rubble, while the minion bots around started their programmed operation.

Surrounded by snipers once more, Bitleo was soon backed to a corner. But the warrior, even in the direst of situation, still formed a confident grin on his face, for he knew his next target of attack.

Without the temporary ball to guide him, the snipers’ shots managed to find their target, once again lighting up the area like a Christmas tree. However, even after taking the brunt of the hit, Bitleo was still perfectly fine – not unhurt, but certainly not incapacitated.

“You thought that you were the only ones to prepare for this situation, wardens?” Repeating Jack’s taunting words towards the opposition, Bitleo let out a hearty laugh. “We’ve also anticipated, and prepared exactly for moments like this! Insulated suits…”

The warrior didn’t get a chance to finish his gloating, as once again he was constrained by a group of power-modes locking his limbs in place, while the snipers were now assisted by the speedsters to make their arms indistinguishable by the naked eye.

However, even this was all part of Bitleo’s calculation.

If Zain by himself was already enough to crack open this kind of restraint, then there should be no reason for his fusion to do the same thing. Breaking out of the bots and ripping off their heads and limbs in a heartbeat, Bitleo continued to smirk as the second round of electric shots was fired:

“… works wonder, don’t you think?”

It was a brief moment, but it was that single instance that the wardens knew they’d messed up. By using a robot army to be the obstacle, they’d unwillingly provided the challengers with all the scraps they needed to make a ball out of essentially anything. And this was the example – now with a severed robot head on his feet, Bitleo was back in full force.

“Soccer Style: Planet Hotline.”

It was as if the weight of the universe was condensed into one man. Faster than anything could perceive, Bitleo zipped through the bots in a zigzag pattern like a manmade comet flying through the galaxies. The weight from his path collapsed the robot army together, turning every single one of them into scraps before the wardens could even notice. Meanwhile, the digital warrior continued his blazing trail, making lightspeed one-two passes to himself that could only be noticed by the commentating AI losing its marbles:

“Unbelievable! I’m working my specs so hard they’re practically on fire right now, but I’m still only barely able to track our challenger! I don’t even know how he’s able to do all of this with barely any gear, but at this point who cares anymore! Even the laws of physics bow to this man! The one and only true king of the digital plane, Bitleo!”

When even the army of automated soldiers fell in one easy swoop, there was no chance for the wardens anymore. The three remaining could only watch in hopelessness as Bitleo blasted through the finish line in a record time, lighting up the last area in a triumphant victory blue.

“Game, set, and match! The third event is over, and once again the challengers have won!” AIDE declared in utter joy. “Only one game left, and they’ll make history! Let’s give them a round of applause!”

In the thundering cheer of the crowd, Bitleo pumped his fist up the sky and let out a confident smile before dissipating into data once more, logging out of the virtual world.

As Rex and Zain took off their helmets, a surprise visit from the four wardens caught them off-guard. While Bruce and Love obviously showed bitterness on their faces like how it’s supposed to be, Jack and Rose were strangely friendly, as the two offered a handshake to their respective opponents:

“Good game, you two,” Rose was the first to speak to Rex.

“Uh… thanks,” the boy, still wary of their opponents’ action, accepted the offer nonetheless. Zain, meanwhile, was more skeptical. Squinting his eyes in doubt, the young man scoffed at the warden in front of him:

“What are you planning?”

“Nothing, really,” answered Jack. “Can’t we show a good sport once in a while?”

“Considering the things you bastards have done, no.”

“No worries, we meant no harm,” Rose interrupted. “And it’s the last game we’ll be playing against you guys, so it’s at least proper etiquette to congratulate you.”

“Your last game against us? Then who’s our opponent for the final game?” Rex, surprised by the news, asked. “You are a Superintendent already, so is it time for the Commander himself?”

“Of course not,” Rose shook her head in response. “The Commander is far too busy to partake in this activity.”

“Then who are we playing?”

“No one in our forces,” answered Jack. “And the last game this time doesn’t have a death penalty, nor it is particularly injury-prone, either. Enjoy to your hearts’ content.”

Even though the warden spoke a lot, there were only two words that truly mattered to the boys.

“No one?” Both Rex and Zain sounded, and in a split second, their eyes locked to each other.

If it’s ‘no one’, then…