The Rat challenge

The first pair took a firm stance in the middle of the circle, with Savan still carried by Vivar in his left hand. With each passing minute, their constant coughing and mild wheezing got so worse it made everyone believe they would crook on the spot. With that factored in, the robot spoke for both:

- “I am C.T.D number 8, Vivar, equipped with a sharpened titanium shield and an arm-attached railgun, name The Emerald Spear. I use them for offence and defence, and I don’t have a third ability that can be used in conjunction with my partner, installed”.

No one from the public seemed surprised by his last point, besides the participant for the 7th Brand, unaware that C.T.Ds could be used that way as well. His stomping and nervous swearing got him no attention though, as everyone was poised to see what the so-called “everyone passes it” first round was like.

Even with the lack of any facial features, you could tell from the C.T.D yellow eyes he was over-focused on the shadow figure in front of him that even a small hand knocking on his chest shook him awake:

-” Hey, partner, you got this”, Savan said, only thinking to peep him up, not knowing it was exactly what he needed. 

-“Yes, you are correct”, he responded back firmly.

Vivar put Savan behind him, pushed the shield firmly into the ground, and kneeled on his left foot, putting his left side behind the rusty cover. With his "spear" ready in his right arm, he shouted-“Begin!”- as loudly as his speakers allowed him to do. The virtual shadow took notice of that.

One after another, the giant mouse spawned 5 smaller ones and stacked one on top of each other, then pointed towards the mountain of rocks. The bottom grabbed one, which was then lifted from one critter to another until it reached the top. There, the giant one arched half of his body to the left, stretched comically behind, then as if it was a rubber band, let it all loose and slapped the boulder with all its might.

To add pizzaz to the show, the field made it appear as if a meteor came down from the heavens- it had a flaming tail behind it and sounded like a jet breaking, all kinds of barriers. But, in spite of all the attempts to intimidate, Vivar stood unyielding in his place and took the first strike head-on. 

The virtual space made the impact appear catastrophic as if after the impact you would expect to see a giant crater where the duo stood. Instead, there was only an unflinching mechanical statue, with a smoky rock in front of it. Right behind them, while still cringing from pay, a person with a child-like smile and easily impressed dowey-eyes. “ Is this…what it feels like to have a parent?”, they fleetingly thought to themselves.

The outside public was also enthralled by the display of bravery and fortitude and cheered the C.T.D as if he performed a miracle right in front of them. Some knew of the smoke and mirrors effects behind it, but it was still an amusing show and, in unison, demanded the rest to be launched as well.

Since they took the top spot, number 8 only had to deal with 5 of the boulders, which was what Vivar hoped for, which is why he placed his bets on a defensive stance. After the last throw, all the slabs were placed one after another in front of the shield, the C.T.D moved both himself and Savan a few steps backwards and pointed his weapon toward the easily set targets. “If I’m correct, this will bring us more points”, he thought while firing a more powerful beam than the one he shot in the cave. His elbow was violently pushed in the opposite direction but was stopped right before it was ripped off by internal safety measures for such cases.

The fire was silent, but bright and left a trail of scorched earth and damaged visual effects in its path. Even if the targets were not real, the field would register the impact of an attack and present appropriate aftermath for them, which in this case, was complete evaporation.

8500 out of 10000 was the score the two received: 3000 for the order placement, 2000 for using two equipment/ abilities, 1000 for strategy, 2000 for destroying all boulders with one hit, and 500 for showmanship( based on public reaction).

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Next up, Syna and Sovereign took the front stage. Based on how the points were distributed for the previous team, they decided on a simple strategy. Dodge, shoot, and move around, simple as. 

-“ I still don’t believe it is necessary to show everything now”, Syna noticed. She then climbed on top of her C.T.D and yelled out for the round to start.

The major presentation was the same, except for the number of mice. They had six of them sneeringly mocking them, which also meant that 6 rocks were to be hurled at them. But that didn’t prove to be a problem, as Syna connected to her C.T.D, and with the combined efforts of hacking talents and the robot’s advanced scanners, they correctly predicted in which direction the boulders would be launched.

One by one, before they could even pass the first border of the field, the rocks were shot down by a barrage of bullets.

6500 out of 10000- 2000 for order placement, 1000 for ability use, 500 for partner ability use, 1000 for strategy, 1500 for destroying all boulders, and 500 for showmanship.

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They were soon followed by Billy and Serviceman, the team of the number one brand. The C.T.D was the tallest of his present kind, having a height of 3.3 meters, but also the sleekest legs and hands as well. They weren’t slim, with their design being inspired by that of a fighter athlete, with the only out-of-the-ordinary aspect of his being the head. The top of it was all white, similar to a cleaned-out bone, while the lower half had tubes and other metal pipes connected to the neck. While it didn’t have eyes to speak of, two horizontal yellow lines were painted over where eyes would usually be.

His mute companion was sitting on one of his shoulders, with his usual blank face, staring at the mouse. He then raised his hand and asked if all the boulders could be launched at once, which was allowed by the higher-ups. So, like previously, six mice carried six boulders, but this time the higher one had a comical, struggling face as if it had issues keeping the stack above him.

To eliminate all of the projectiles, Serviceman took out a ball from his shoulder and threw it towards the rocks. When it reached right in the middle of the pile, some weird force attracted all the slabs towards it, after which it exploded in a fiery spectacle. Fast and efficient, was the motto the people would use in conjecture with the C.T.D.

Final score- 6500: 2000 placement, 1000 for ability use, 2000 for all in one-hit, 500 for strategy, 1000 for showmanship.

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Marc and Azin gathered 7500 points, firstly for Marc actually destroying a boulder on his own, while his C.T.D finished the rest with her ability to unite her arms to form two new pieces of equipment. One became a drill and the other a grappling hook, with which it pierced and dragged the boulders towards her and destroyed them with the right hand-hand weapon. Their performance garnered them the second highest public points, 2000.

The twins followed soon, with each of them gathering only 4500 points. Neither tried to impress and only used the long range weapons their C.T.Ds had, and everyone could tell that something felt off with their performance.

Angie, on the other hand, was the only competitor that garnered everyone’s attention both the public and the other competitors. In total, her team got 8000 points, 3000 of which were just for showmanship. Unlike the others, who relied on their C.T.Ds to act as the attacking force, it was the other way around for Angie’s team. Her “fake” partner, Ingress, could actually split apart and take different forms, specially made for their user, which in the girl’s case meant an exoskeleton over her body, defensive pieces, and a pick-axe, with chains on the other end. She could jump, run, strike and destroy at her leisure while having the fun of her life, which appeared to be contagious, as her joy spread to a lot of spectators.

The last ones, as if in contempt for everyone else, used a sonic attack directly from Medusa’s head to destroy the 10 projectiles hurled at them. In the end, they got 5500 points, which seemed to please both the rash man and the public.

And, with that, the first round was done, with Vivar and Savan getting a win in the R.O.C.

Each of the patients was invited to re-enter the transportation cubes to be moved to the hidden location of the first cabinet. After being dropped inside a non-transmitted chamber, each was requested to go inside the operation room, with the order based on how many points they got. Savan, while the winner in the title, didn’t look anything like one and was more like a walking corpse that had to be carried on a stretcher, cared for by the medical staff. 

They were surprised and horrified when they saw the condition the clopy came into, but what made them more uneasy was that the clopy exuded so much happiness in spite of the pain. They finally managed to take the first step on their hidden desire, which they felt for years now- “ I did, I’m closing in on escaping humanity’s nest.”