[b]Mirror and Dolly[/b]

It’s a simple enough matter to leave mines in an ally, though they’re on the heavier end of ordinance and the idol can only fit so many. Not enough for every back alley and city street, not even with the extra weight that jackals can bring. You’ll have to pick carefully and make some predictions about how Mirror might move.

On the other side, the presence of the jackals does create its own pattern. Spread out jackals can be slowly detected as one gets near them, and a picture of where multiple jackals are starts to paint a picture of where Jade has passed. If she doesn’t spring her trap quickly enough, Mirror may find herself the predator. 

***

[b]Solarel[/b]

“Goddess” she crackles over the comms, an intake of breath, a moment when the scale of what she’s facing has struck her and her voice has reacted ahead of her mind or her reactions. 

The spear glances, deflected by your loose blade and her own reaction to the intense heat. Few indeed are the pilots that could see an inferno bloom below them and press into it with no hesitation. Even among the Zaldarians, most would find it too daunting to plow in headfirst that way, regardless of whether they could use the heat. 

There’s a three move exchange. Stab, step, thrust to see if she can push through your diffuse sword. But the heat is intense and you can hear Maelia panting on the other end of the line. She’s kept the line open even though she knows you won’t speak directly, knows that she might be giving you an advantage. 

When she can’t land something decisive, she fires a spread burst from her shoulder as cover and takes off, trying to rise above the flames and give herself some space to reconsider her attack. She has laser weaponry for short to medium range, and is prepared to continue firing if you immediately follow.

“Damn. Damn, you’ve barely been in the arena a moment. You must have had this plan ready immediately, before even knowing where I’d be? I guess you really have fought a lot of us. But damn, the scale of it. Solarel the destroyer. You’ve put a whole forest alight just for the opening move. I didn’t think big enough, didn’t think I could be immediately enveloped like that. Only one direction left, and I bet that’s your plan too. Well, let’s see if you’ve got the ability to execute on it!”

Do you press despite the risk of her advanced weaponry, or do you have another tactic in mind?

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

“I haven’t, but I plan to!” Marna laughs. “Heim would have you believe that the frontiers and the capital of Zaldaria are like different worlds, but they’re more like neighbors. We have our own holds, and as such our own rules, each of us the head of the family and thus the decider as to what that family is, what it covers. But we still follow the same rules, fight for the glory of the empress, follow the teachings of Zaldar. Most anyway. You Terenians never bother to pay attention until you’re hip deep in it. Zaldarian infighting isn’t the same as yours. We raid each other for sport and pleasure and it’s a privilege to be part of it: captor or prisoner. It took us a while to realize when we met you and the cats that it wasn’t that way for you too!”

“Quit stalling though. Here, let me make it easier for you. Or harder maybe. You’re going to earn this win if you get it at all. Anybody that touches the Aeteline has to prove they’ll do a better job against it than I would and you’re the first!”

She lights up suddenly. Obvious on even the simplest scanner, no need for nanobots. Maximum thrusters all power to them, and she sprints off with a blue flame trailing behind her. Not at you, no, she has no clue where you are. But she’s painted a target on herself, only she’s made it a moving target, one that’s hard to hit ducking and weaving and smashing through the debris with spikes and fists leading the way. It’s an interesting tactic. It’s not like her drive will fail and she’s got a fair shot of bumping close enough to you to find you if you just hide somewhere for too long without attacking. But that’s not what she’s expecting. She’s practically inviting you to start the fight with a red carpet here.

***

[b]Angela[/b]

You underestimated her. You were already estimating that she’d crush you, but you still somehow underestimated her. The control that she’s displaying with a mech that size is ungodly. She leaps the crater, using the missile guidance that had brought them over her to send them back into the crater rim, and then she charges you. You fire your autocannons, but she effortlessly shifts energy into the shields for the volley and then back to thrusters as though she’s reading you like a book. With that level of control, she can make it go far faster than it should while defending, and as your second round of missiles signals that it’s finished reloading, she’s transitioning into a sweeping strike of her sword to force you back and throw you off balance. You have to nearly fall backwards to avoid the match ending in one hit, and she’s still advancing.