A fierce ranked battle is currently taking place across the virtual planes of Fork Knife, as the initial landing of avatars ruthlessly mow each other down in an effort to emerge victorious, utilizing the suboptimal loadouts and weapons they happen across due to the inherent RNG of the game’s design. Of particular note for this match, is the avatar of one of the games top ranking players, John Sherwood, A.K.A. GrimXXtato, as they effortlessly maneuvered their character with frame perfect inputs, to skillfully eliminate their equally formidable opponents.
“Hmmm, not the best start, but this’ll work if I can transition to controlling the urban playground for midgame. That should give me decent odds to build a serviceable loadout before I head towards the endgame region.” Narrated the professional gamer to his audience of internet viewers, as chat continued to scroll by at unreadable speeds to the focused human.
The initial landing for GrimXXtato had been what many players in the competitive community would deem an “unlucky start”, with his craft only able to land in one of the vast open grassy planes across the varying, yet consistent battleground regions. The area was notorious for its lack of “good” weapon and item spawns, with large distances between supplies, making building your preferred loadout difficult. This is in addition to the lack of cover offered, leaving many players landing in this area, immediately vulnerable to rifle fire from their competitors. However, years of experience playing Fork Knife at such a high level, has taught John that “luck” is something you can manipulate within reason, as even unfortunate starts can quickly turn into game dominating advantages, so long as you utilized the assortment of resources given to you appropriately.
John’s eyes snapped to the corner of his screen, with his reticule following suit, unleashing an efficient 3-round burst into his opponent’s head that just poked out from behind the nearby hill. Sprinting over, he quickly collected their items, before rapidly spinning to scan for nearby assailants. “Tch. Lame, RNG really hates me this match.” He grumbled after failing to loot any items he was hoping for. “Guess I’ll have to transition to a different build.”
Sprinting across the field, while weaving and erecting sporadic polygonal walls for cover, GrimXXtato advances towards the urban playground, continuing to rack up kills with quick snaps of their mouse and keyboard inputs. Most of the encounters were efficient kills, but a few of them resulted in some intense “box duels”, as coined by the gaming community, due to the sheer ridiculousness and intense standoffs they create.
Unique to Fork Knife, is the ability for players to instantly assemble simple single faced polygonal objects, allowing users to rapidly build ramps and boxes with lighting fast inputs. The technique of rapidly assembling ramps, boxes, and various openings, is one that often separates the professional players, from the veterans, due to the vast advantages this creates during engagements.
Quickly banking around the first corner to the urban zone, John quickly finds themselves in the crosshairs of another professional player, L33TSh00T3R, just narrowly building a wall to intercept the bullet barrage sent his way. After counting the number of shots from their opponent, GrimXXtato deletes their damaged wall and replaces it with another containing an opening window on the right side, which L33TSh00T3R counters with a box of their own. While their opponent is distracted expecting an incoming volley, John quickly leaps into the air, assembling a ramp beneath his character’s feet, near instantly ascending 3 building stories of height, before entering through an open window on his right. He isn’t concerned with eliminating this stronger player at the moment, as his current weapon loadout presently puts him at a severe disadvantage.
Deleting the ramp behind him, while constructing a 3-layer wall in front of the window to barricade it, John scans the room’s contents and identifies a combat upgrade useful to his current situation; a shotgun. Dashing to the corner to claim his new prize, John briefly switches to his melee weapon to teardown the wall in front of him, before leaping out of the building to the generous greeting of bullets whizzing past his character. Taking some light damage from the expected assault, John continues his descent, landing squarely inside a protective box he constructed on the ground. Then, turning to face his opponent, swaps to his shotgun in preparation for ending this complicated box duel against L33TSh00T3R. Utilizing frame perfect inputs, John deletes his own wall, fires a burst from his shotgun, then immediately builds another wall for protection from the incoming counter volley, much to the enjoyment of the internet audience. His stream viewers relentlessly spam chat with an army of walls and shotgun emojis, as John continues slowly advancing towards his now pinned down opponent.
Confident he is now within effective kill range for his weapon, John interrupts L33TSh00T3R’s box wall reconstruction, by quickly replacing the instantly destroyed wall with one of his own. This briefly catches his opponent off guard, as an error message stating “You Can’t Build Here” interrupts their tempo. The brief break of his opponent’s flow is just enough of a thought interruption to provide GrimXXtato the opening they needed. As L33TSh00T3R briefly flinched from their input failing to complete as expected, tripping over their already queued commands, John deletes the wall he had just kindly constructed for his opponent, before delivering a powerful round of buckshot into the professional gamer’s avatar, eliminating them.
A wall of “Rekt” text and tombstone emojis flood chat’s window, as L33TSh00T3R’s avatar explodes into a colourful array of blue and yellow pixels. John smiles to himself at the kaleidoscope of carnage raining across his screen, knowing that he just eliminated one of the tougher opponents in the current battle royal matchup, earning him some breathing room. Then, after quickly looting the dropped supplies, opens his map to estimate where the final battle region is likely to be.
On his HUD, John infers the shrinking regions are indicating the final combat zone will be a lone tower to his west. The current battlefield has also already shrunk considerably, as he notices that there are only 15 contenders remaining in the battle. John shrugs, knowing he has already cleared the top 20 players threshold, meaning his rating will increase regardless, but he still wants to finish in at least the top 5. 1st might be a bit of a long shot due to the poor start, but he’s presently surprised how well he has performed thus far. Closing his map, he continues heading towards the final battle region.
Several more players are eliminated along the way from other contenders, as the remaining 8 are now tightly packed within the ever-shrinking battle zone. Entering the fierce firefight with a dramatic entrance, John lobs a pulse grenade at one of the focused combatants, “luckily” landing it inside their box. The accompanying explosion rings out with a kill notification, as he fires more buckshot into the startled opponent. 5 Opponents remain in his HUD, as a stray bullet from the final tower wounds his avatar.
GrimXXtato quickly reacts, snapping several walls in front of him before crouching to apply healing supplies to their wounded avatar. After their healing animation completes, John deletes his barriers, then begins climbing towards the tower by rapidly building a series of ramps and boxes to deflect the incoming bullet and rocket barrages. Reaching one of the destructible walls, John breeches the building’s exterior with his melee weapon, before pivoting and entering through the window instead. His opponent is caught off guard from anticipating GrimXXtato’s entrance as the wall, resulting in their elimination from some aptly placed pellets.
John glances to the corner of his monitor, noticing he is one of the two remaining contenders for the battle. His heart pounds tightly against in his chest, as adrenalin begins coursing throughout his veins in anticipation for the final duel. Victory is within reach, but it won’t be easy. Then, a small object gracefully flying through the air, entering through the recently breeched wall, brings John’s focus back to the match, as he quickly recognizes it to be a plasma grenade.
A containment box is built around the grenade, before John fires some blind shots out the nearby window towards the ground. His last remaining opponent “boxes up” before rapidly building their own ramping tower towards him in retaliation.
Wanting the final battle to test their mechanical skills, GrimXXtato leaps out the building into their own box tower, as the two contenders continue ascending towards the skybox with ramps and walls blocking each other’s deadly placed shots. The ensuing battle is a blur to the viewers on John’s stream, as him and his opponent, ReKtXD, are absorbed into their own disorienting duel of ascending tower shenanigans. In the span of only a few seconds, GrimXXtato and ReKtXD have already climbed over 12 stories in height, as they continue building and firing shots at one another. The battle region is now limited to the small enclosure around the tower, with the ground disappearing below them in the storm, forcing the combatants higher and higher in this absurd game of survival.
Having reached 30 stories of height, with neither John or his opponent landing any decisive blows, the intense disorienting duel continues to the thousands of viewers spamming chat with wall emojis. Their swift actions cannot be followed by mere human eyes at this point, and is only possible due to both players mastery over their own reflexes and correctly anticipating each other’s moves. On a more specific level, their actions have reached an instinctual response. They cannot afford to think, just do.
More intense volleys take place, with John barely managing to graze ReKtXD through a tight opening. His opponent is wounded, but still has more HP than him, so it’s only one of many tiny blows he will need to win their duel. Sitting up in his chair, utilizing an age-old technique to enhance one’s focus, John shifts himself to sit higher and closer towards his monitor, as his fingers continue to dance across the keyboard. He hasn’t blinked for close to a minute now, and his eyes are already beginning to scream for relief as they fight against the stinging sensation irritating them, when suddenly...
“Shit!”
John’s fingers slip while executing his ramp building climbing volley combo due to perspiration forming along his hands from the intense duel. The misplaced keystrokes cause a brief error message across his screen, forcing John to scramble and correct his inputs.
But he’s not quick enough.
ReKtXD notices the slight mistake from his opponent, taking full advantage of GrimXXtato’s opening, landing a clean headshot on his avatar through the narrow opening of the ascending box tower. Annoyed at his own mistake, John quickly slams the corner of his desk while ripping his headset off in frustration. He had been so close to winning the match, despite the overwhelming odds against him. Then, pushing himself away from his desk, he rolls back in his chair, spinning around several times on the wheels while rubbing his twitching eyes for some relief. His chat window has exploded into walls of “GGs”, “lolz”, and tombstone emojis at his defeat, but he’s not angry, just annoyed at his own personal mistake.
Rolling his chair back towards his computer, John begins mashing his spacebar to skip through the personal “highlights” reel, and quickly slams the esc key to close the skull and crossbones blanketing his screen. He has already been streaming Fork Knife for several hours now, and the numerous high intensity matches have already drained his ability to focus. With his right leg bouncing up and down, and his body gradually calming down from the adrenalin boost moments ago, John happily smacks his hands together after reviewing the match summary screen for the battle royal.
While he didn’t place 1st in the Fork Knife match, he confidently finished in 2nd place, which ended up awarding him just enough rating to officially break into the top 10 players for the North American gaming servers. Pleased at his acceptable performance, John quickly skims through the endless wall of chat’s messages while responding to some viewers. An interesting snippet catches his eye, as chat was briefly discussing how scientists observed thousands of strange meteors falling across the globe last night, with some observers reporting strange sightings of giant robots in their wake. John doesn’t pay too much attention to the tangent, since chat is known to troll more often than not, but still responds to their comments anyways. From his experience, it’s best not to think too deeply about chat and its antics. Chat is chat, and that’s all he needs to know as a somewhat popular streamer for Fork Knife.
Satisfied he has done enough streaming, John stares at his computer’s clock, as it happens to change to 9:00pm, and decides now would be an appropriate time for a break, and subsequent energy boosting reward. Closing his streaming while grabbing his wallet and phone, John briefly admires the displayed army of plushies and action figures along his computer room wall, before bounding from his rolling chair towards the apartment’s door. Then, fumbling with the pair of keys kept on the nearby kitchen counter, John energetically opens the door while scrambling to throw on a sweater they had hastily grabbed to ward off the slight chill from an early fall’s crisp night.
Residing on the 8th floor of the condominium unit, John taps the button on the nearby elevator before pulling out their phone to begin scrolling through the various social media posts that had accumulated throughout the day. They had often wondered if taking the stairs would be faster, but still ended up choosing the elevator for the convenience of more phone time. Eventually, after liking and catching up on some posts, John pops his earbuds in, shuffles their rock mix playlist, then tunes out the world as he rides the elevator to the bottom floor.
Prepared for his break, he happily exits the condominium building, while his mind flashes through the events of the recent Fork Knife battle. The walk is relatively peaceful, as he passes by several people along the way, all absorbed in their own world with their phones. It’s just another plain, ordinary night to the adult as they continue their journey for caffeine. John wonders if he’ll be able to continue his Fork Knife career as a streamer, since he’s technically a “pro” now. He’s happy with the growth of his streaming audience, and is able to afford living on his own at his age through his online revenue. He doesn’t earn millions, but its enough to afford the mortgage and modest living expenses he incurs. It has always been a dream of his to earn a living playing video games, and after many years of practice and perseverance, he finally sees “some” amount of success in his chosen life style. Regardless, John brushes these thoughts aside as he swings open the doors to his favourite coffee shop while getting ready to order.
Briefly scanning the menu as a formality, having already decided on his beverage of choice well before arriving at the Jim Hortons, John opens the app on his phone as he places an order for an iced cappuccino at the nearby counter. Completing the transaction by scanning his phone, he calmly waits to the side as the attendant unenthusiastically begins making his beverage of choice. Then, with the reward received, he happily takes a sip from the crisp and chilled beverage, feeling a surge of enjoyment as the sugar and caffeine molecules jolt his mind with satisfaction.
It doesn’t take long for John to begin heading back towards his condo unit, the night is still young, and he figures he can squeeze several more hours in of streaming once he’s recharged from the newly acquired beverage. However, John’s eyes are suddenly ripped from his phone, as he stumbles upon hearing a loud crash and explosion in the distance.
Having just passed the nearby gas station, John stares towards his residence with eyes bordering on the lines of shock and disbelief, as a giant robot roughly the size of a house, lobs a bus into the building, causing a modest explosion and chunks of concrete to fly onto the street below. The giant chunk of metal, which appears to be shaped like some kind of ape, continues charging down the road, as John notices another large robot they appear to be chasing. Screams from the nearby civilians and subsequent shockwave rattle his ears over the already excessively loud music he’s playing, as he stops to rationalize what is currently happening.
“What in the actual hell...” utters John in complete disbelief at the scene before him. He briefly wonders if this is some kind of weird fever dream he’s currently experiencing, having actually passed out in his apartment back home. There’s is no way giant robots exist, outside the world of science fiction and anime of course, and he definitely hasn’t taken any psychedelics that he’s aware of.
Briefly looking down at his iced cap, John wonders if the attendant slipped something into his drink. Everything seems real, but he’s still can’t believe what’s happening. Cars are rapidly piling up on the street ahead of him, with many bystanders pulling out their phones to record footage of the wreckage happening in real time, while others continue shrieking and fleeing in a panic. His face goes pale, as he makes the executive decision, to head back towards the coffee shop for safety.
Quickly turning and running as fast as they can, John begins their sprint back towards the Jim Hortons, as the sound of sirens become audible over the chorus of screams and carnage. Several people are already outside the building taking photos as John joins them on the sidewalk. Taking out his phone, John snaps a few photos and videos himself, before switching over to his web browser to begin searching for something to explain an apparent giant robot attack in his city.
The internet is flooded with webpages, videos, and blogs discussing the appearance of large robotic creatures that look like animals, battling across the globe. Many news agencies are already reporting thousands of civilian casualties, as amateur footage continues to flood all of his social media feeds. John’s hand is shaking uncontrollably as it struggles to continue holding his phone. The world appears to be going through chaos, with what his mind can only assume, is a robotic alien invasion across the planet. His mind continues racing, with his breathing laboured, as he struggles to accept what is happening before him. This clearly isn’t an elaborate internet hoax, having personally witnessed one of the robots himself, but it still doesn’t feel real.
Violently shocking and bringing John back to reality, is another explosion that feels too close for comfort. Dropping his phone, John looks up to see the gas station he was at moments ago, burst into flames, as a giant ape-like robot leaps from the plume of fire, shielding something in its arms. The being then continues barrelling down the road, ignorantly crushing cars along the way, towards his direction.
Fear takes over John’s body, as his fight or flight response desperately screams at him to run for his life. Anywhere is safer than here, he just needs to leave... Now.
Scrambling to grab his cellular device, John breaks into another sprint, crossing the highway behind the coffee shop, ignoring all of the stopped traffic and bystanders still attempting to captures videos of the strange encounter. Ahead of him, is a forest, one he has often gone to for walks and jogs in his spare time, and his mind currently says is the safest place.
Branches and bushes scrap his face as he continues running with no clear objective in mind, oblivious to the pained cries from his lungs and numbness growing throughout his legs. Adrenalin is fueling his desire for survival, providing a fitting substitute for the coffee he dropped after entering the dark forest’s rough pathway. Finally, after several minutes of running and failing to hear anymore explosions or cries from others, John stops in his tracks, before crouching over to bring some sense of relief to his dying lungs. His legs wobble and collapse onto the earthy ground from the strain, as he continues struggling to catch his breath. “There are actually aliens. Real. Living. Aliens.” The words softly escaping his lips in disbelief. “What the hell do I actually do?!?”.
[Someone, anyone, help me... Please... I don’t... Want... To...]
“Gah!!”
A loud, distorted tone rings throughout John’s earbuds, causing him to clutch his head in pain. He thinks it was something asking for help, but he is so disoriented, he fully collapses onto the forest’s floor, with leaves crunching as they break his fall. The ringing noise continues to crackle and buzz throughout his ears, an inaudible tone rattling his already flustered mind. John violently rips his earbuds out, as the electronics continue to buzz and rattle on the ground, seemingly having a mind of their own.
John continues trying to control their breathing in an effort to calm themselves. The ringing has finally stopped assaulting his eardrums, as rational thoughts once again begin to flood his mind. A bitter wind is blowing all around him, and he has only just now noticed an expansive fog creeping into the forest. He remembers running away from a giant robot, but only now realized that fleeing into a forest at nighttime, probably wasn’t his wisest decision. John quietly apologises to the many protagonists in T.V. shows he has made fun of for making similar irrational decision during emergency situations, as he always believed they were dumb for doing so. Low and behold, he has just done something similarly stupid in a panic, contextualizing his own erratic behaviour.
Looking up, lightly illuminating the foggy horizon, John spots an eerie red light in the distance. It immediately reminds him of something from a lighthouse tower, as it continues rotating around. The light is clearly out of place for a forest such as this, but its only one of many strange events that has happened to him lately this chaotic night. Deciding that he has nothing to lose at this point, John succumbs to his own curiosity, as he slowly begins approaching the alluring light drawing him in.
As he gets closer, recent damage to the forest becomes painfully obvious to the human, as several uprooted and broken trees create an ominous path forward. Then, after climbing over a modest hill, John’s jaw drops open, as he finally sees the source of the red light.
Resting in a newly formed crater, appears to be another large robotic creature. It is smaller than the ape-like one he observed earlier, only being roughly the size of a pickup truck, but still abnormal. Its condition is clearly not pristine, as limbs, wires, and a strange blue glowing liquid surround the pile of metal in an unnatural display. Sparks are gleefully flying out of the unit’s legs, as John recognizes the robot to vaguely resemble some type of canine or wolf-like creature. The body of the being is mostly crushed, with a hind limb completely missing. Oblivious to the curious human, the ominous red light in question calmly continues oscillating above the being’s “head”, in gleeful ignorance to a potential saviour nearby.
John continues examining the robot from a safe distance, well, as safe as he assumes safe would be in such a situation, before noticing another large and strange object crudely embedded in another distant hill. “Is that... A spacecraft?” he gasps in disbelief. It looks roughly like a deep-sea diving vessel to the human, something that you would use to navigate the impossible pressures along the oceans floor, and, looks very out of place in a forest such as this. It’s about the size of a bus, and appears unnaturally “perfect” inside the rough crater. Deciding he has nothing really to lose, and, against his better judgement, John cautiously approaches the wolf-like robot.
Leaves and twigs crunch underneath John’s feet, as the being appears much larger than he expected, now being mere feet away from the lumbering metal monstrosity. Continuing to carefully avoiding the blue goop seeping into the ground, John cautiously approaches the wolf-like robot when suddenly.
“Ouch! What the heck!”
A thin, black cable, launches itself from the robot’s arm, embedding itself into John’s hand. He quickly recoils at the sudden pain, trying to rip the cable from his limb, but he can’t. A loud ringing noise fills his mind again, but he’s unable to make sense of the words. Everything is distorted and the uncomfortable sound of “static” interrupts his thoughts from its disorienting noise, forcing him onto the ground. Then, just as suddenly as the tone appeared, the ringing stops, as John feels his pocket vibrate.
While still struggling to free his hand from the cable, John removes the phone from his pocket, nearly dropping it after reading the text message scrolling across the screen.
[Help me... Please...]
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
John looks up at the robot, then back to his hand with the newly attached cable. The red light that had been continuing to illuminate the crash site, is gradually glowing dimmer, and is slowing in intensity. He has just received a strange text message asking for help, and, based on the recent series of events, is probably related to the cable presently fused with his hand. He is actually able to understand the message, and assumes it is the robot trying to communicate with him. Figuring he has nothing to lose, as he can’t even leave the nearby vicinity due to the restraining cable, John briefly hesitates, before tapping a simple message back to the mysterious sender.
[“How?”]
The message sends without issue, as a pair of ellipsis suddenly appear at the bottom of the phone’s screen, indicating a potential incoming response. John’s eyes continue to widen as he observes the new message filling the chat window with the accompanying vibration.
[Nearby Landing Pod Detected. Estimated High Probability Of Replacement Parts. Energy Levels Critical. Please... Help...]
[“What am I looking for?”]
[Container... Blue Fluid... Energy...]
[“I can’t with this cable attached to me. Let me go.”]
[Promise... Help...? Please... I don’t... Want... To... Die...]
John pauses before drafting his response. He believes he is currently talking with the robot in front of him, and it is asking him for help, although struggling to do so. The robot believes it will die if it doesn’t receive energy soon, which looks painfully obvious to any bystander seeing its condition. However, the thought of a robot being concerned about death is abnormal to John. Robots are machines, and this... Thing... Appears to be a sentient creature of some sort. Alien is the best description he decides, but he always assumed they would be greys or something like that from the countless conspiracy shows he’s jokingly watched on the topic of extraterrestrials. Noticing the light was continuing to dim, John quietly taps his response back to the abnormal creature before him.
[“Yes.”]
After receiving the message, the cable attached to his hand is suddenly released, dropping into a shimmering puddle of the glowing blue goop around the robot. Having finally freed themselves from their captor, John quickly turns around, and begins running away as fast as he can from the robotic captor.
Branches violently scratch his face as he continues running as fast as he can away from the mysterious alien. He had almost died earlier, and immediately regretted his decision to investigate the robot when it embedded the cable in his hand, trapping him. But, as he continued to run, his chest felt a different kind of heavy, prompting him to stop his logical choice to flee.
He had no obligation to save the being, considering it had rudely trapped him with a strange cable, but he still turned to face towards the mangled structure of metal in the distance. He promised to help the machine, and it freed him after receiving his confirmation. An alien, was trusting him to help it, and the first thing he did once he regained his freedom, was run away in fear.
“Damnit all... Am I really doing this?!?” he cursed under his breath, as a crisp fog clung to the air around his words. John hated his conscious for making him doubt his decision to run for his life, but at the same time, couldn’t ignore the guilt tugging at his heart. Annoyingly resolved, John began running back towards the robot, before climbing the nearby hill to investigate the mysterious spacecraft.
The red light had completely faded by this point, with the only visible source of light being the faintly glowing blue fluid growing along the cracked ground. Hastily climbing over several rocks and broken tree trunks, John finally manages to reach the base of the expansive craft. His eyes quickly scan the vicinity for anything resembling a container and fluid. He assumes it will probably be blue, as he mentally connects the liquid to be something similar to blood for humans. It makes the most sense at the time, and is helping keep his eyes focused as he continues to search through the foreign surroundings.
Cables and large chunks of metal are also scattered the landing site, but appear to be in much better condition than the robot he has just conversed with. There are several large puddles of green and blue fluids surround the craft in an ominous glow, which John does his best to carefully avoid. He isn’t sure if the goop is harmful, but doesn’t want to find out either way, as he continues sifting through the area for some type of container. Finally, after several minutes of trying to categorize and sort the alien technology before him, John spots a cracked bottle, roughly the size of a propane tank, containing some of the mysterious blue fluid. It’s roughly a quarter full, with most of the contents having already spilled onto the ground, but its better than nothing. He wonders why the robot couldn’t just absorb the fluid already along the ground, but what does he know about alien technology. After carefully grabbing the container, John begins running back towards the robotic wolf while scanning the horizon.
As he approaches, no noise or cables spontaneously assault him, as the being continues to lie motionless in a puddle of its own conductive fluids. The sparks have mostly stopped crackling, and John wonders for a moment if the creatures has already died due to his hesitation earlier. Shaking his head, John returns to the area where the cable first attached to his hand, then ponders how he should administer the fluid to the robotic alien. Would dumping it over its head work? Is there some kind of fuel intake port? What about the cable from earlier?
Failing to find any kind of obvious repository for the container, John eventually decides to grab the black cable and place it inside the container of mostly pure, sparkling fluid.
There is a brief pause, as nothing appears to happen from his actions. The cable is just calmly floating around in its new bath of sparkling goop, blissfully unaware of any actions it should be taking. John feels some regret over his recent actions towards the being. The alien seemed to have emotions, much like a human. Its words carried an air of despair, and it wanted to avoid dying at all costs. It had trusted him to do the right thing, and he betrayed that trust for his own selfish survival.
...
Was it selfish of him to think about himself? Any reasonable person would have prioritized their own survival given his situation...
Right?
...
John’s gaze drifts towards the ground, as nothing appears to be happening. It appears he wasn’t able to help the alien in time, and it has succumbed to the injuries it received. That is, until a low rumble jolts his attention towards the canister.
His eyes widen, twitching with a sense of relief. The container he had recently placed the cable in, is empty. More hums and rumbles shake the ground around him, as lights, sensors, and cables, all attempt to reorient themselves around the giant robot. Powerful orange lights come to life inside the creature’s head, as the ear-like features begin to twitch and creek with newfound energy. The being then attempts to move, shifting slightly before lightly crashing into the ground again, knocking John onto his rear in surprise. Then, it speaks to him in a distorted tone he can somewhat understand.
“Tha... You... Homo... Sapien... My name is.... F.O.X. and I am an... Advanced intelligence.”
John’s surprised at the creature speaking to him. He can actually understand the words now, and it appears the alien knows how to communicate in English of all things. He didn’t pay much attention to it when he responded through his phone, but somehow, he can understand the strange being before him.
“Hi.” John nervously responds. “My name is John, and I’m a human. What happened to you?” his voice shaking slightly, rationalizing he is currently talking with a giant, unearthly robot.
The alien pauses slightly, as more and more lights spring to life across its body with accompanying hums and chirps. Sparks continue to crackle and snap from the exposed wirings, as it once again attempts to lift itself, fortunately succeeding.
“I was... Attacked... Battle royal... Fighting.” Chirped the machine, as it continued struggling to support its frail frame. “Wa... A battel royal?!?” gasped John, seemingly hearing a word he never would have expected from a robotic alien. “Yes.” Beeped the machine in a low tone. “I am... Fighting for survival. G.O.R... Enemy.”
John brings his hand to rest underneath his chin. G.O.R., Perhaps that is the name for another robotic alien? Could that potentially be the ape-like being he saw earlier?
F.O.X. attempts to move towards the spacecraft, stumbling across the ground, before collapsing again into a nearby pile of fluids. “Hey, take it easy!” yells John as some of the blue goop lands across his sweater. “Let me get whatever it is you need.” The machine glances towards John before letting out a low rumble in response. “Please. Any metal will suffice.”
John quickly climbs the nearby hill again towards the spacecraft. He has seemingly just help revive a giant robot, and has agreed to help it after feeling sorry for the being. He always imagined an encounter with aliens would be different, but for now, he’s willing to do what he can for the mysterious creature.
Searching the wreckage, he finds some large metal beams which are “mostly” unbent and grabs them. He is surprised at how light the material is, since he’s able to effectively carry it without too many issues. After returning to the robot, F.O.X. gestures towards one of its missing limbs, prompting John to place the beam nearby. In response, several black cables and circuits shoot out from the robot’s body, grabbing and welding the metallic beam to its missing appendage. The metal warps and contorts before John’s eyes, magically transforming into a fully functional limb with accompanying paw. John is speechless, as there is no plausible way the small metal beam could have possible grown and created a leg shape with such little material. Rubbing his eyes, while continuing to stare at the robot continuing to repair itself, F.O.X. continues stumbling towards the wreckage site for more supplies.
Curious, John follows the robot closely behind, being careful to avoid becoming a human pancake. The being scans the spacecraft with some sensors while continuing to collect parts and goop floating around the wreckage. “Is... This your ship?” quietly asks John in confusion. “No... Not mine. Another warrior’s.” The robot’s response echoes in a clearer tone to the human, as most of its systems have now reached an appropriate operable level.
The robot continued repairing itself, much to the shocked expressions John was continuing to make at witness such alien technology in action. F.O.X.’s frame had somehow transformed from a riddled and bent structure, into an almost perfectly restored image of a canine. John eventually pieced together that it appeared to be modeled after a fox, once he combined the name, along with the red and orange hues glowing across the now shimmering exterior. Eventually, he finds the courage to ask the robot more about the “battle royal” it had briefly mentioned to him.
In a series of rumbles and chirps, the alien known as F.O.X., explained to John the circumstances surrounding the Xinos battle royal tournament, and how they are currently being hunted by another warrior named G.O.R. Apparently, they are Xinos warrior from the Xyfokit race, which was one of the many species brought under rule of the Xinos empire. Continuing with their explanation, the intelligence briefly delved into their experience thus far on Earth, and once again thanked John for their assistance. It had feared the looming threat of deletion, and its sensors were now overcome with relief, finding themselves in a much better state of repair. John responded with curiosity towards the alien, and is able to follow along relatively well, since the Xinos battle royal seems startling familiar to the game of Fork Knife he is so accustomed to, minus the bonding system functionality.
“And this bond with a human is critical for your survival?” John asks they continue trying to absorb this apparent information dump. “Yes”. Beeped the Xinos. “Our advanced weapon systems are severely limited, and bonding will potentially unlock some of these restrictions.” “Doesn’t that mean I could help?” replied the gamer. “I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty confident in my battle royal skills.”
“Ill-advised.” Retorted the machine to the confident human. “Scans indicate a poor compatibility score with the homo sapien known as “John” with readings of 0.3% estimated on bonding”. John furrowed his brow before responding to the apparently disappoint score he held. “And we’re obviously not playing by golf rules, right?”
“Golf?” whooped the machine in confusion. “Never mind.” Replied John lightly shaking his head at the machine’s response. “Regardless, think you’ll survive against this Gor thing?”.
After processing his question, the robotic fox’s ears folded back, while its tail went lame. For as alien as the creature was, its response was painfully obvious to the gamer that it didn’t feel confident in its survival odds. Then, just as John was about to respond to the depressed begin, he was suddenly knocked to the side from a lash of their cables.
John violently coughed from the sudden assault, as he was thrown onto the ground, crashing into several sharp rocks and branches. He felt dizzy from the impact, and noticed blood across his hand when he wiped his forehead. He thought the machine had just tried to murder him after receiving his aid, but quickly realized the opposite after noticing a large crater where he had just been standing.
Another shot rings out, as John, once again, finds himself violently flung into the air, except this time, on top of the robotic being known as F.O.X. He’s still disoriented, but is slowly piecing together that something had just tried to kill him, and the alien, just saved his life. While still pinned to the robot’s back, the being quickly begins bounding through the forest, as shot after shot continues to sunder the air towards their direction.
Several shots coming uncomfortably close to John’s head as F.O.X. gracefully leaps between the trees and boulders of the forest, sloppily dodging the incoming assault, with no obvious direction in mind. G.O.R. had somehow managed to find them, and for some reason, was intent on eliminating the human next to them. John was innocent during all of this, having not even bonded with the unit, with his only blight being helping the Xyfokit survive a system shutdown by delivering critical fluid supplies just in time. In a sense, the machine felt an obligation to protect the human, as it would currently be dead without their intervention.
“What the hell is going on?!?” screamed John as he was still struggling to recover from the jerky and intense ride through the forest. “It’s G.O.R.” blared the Xinos with a tinge of fear blanketing its tone. “It appears they are trying to eliminate you after helping me.”
“Well, can’t you fire back?!?!” yelled the human in a panic. “You’re a giant robot, surely you can return some kind of projectile!!”. “My... My systems are weak.” Whirled the Xyfokit. “I... Can’t... I Couldn’t.”
*Schwoon!*
“Gah!”
Another bullet dangerously flew by the human, violently shattering the bark on the tree ahead, sending an army of wooden shrapnel towards his direction. F.O.X. banks to the right in response, shielding John from most of the sharp splinters with its body.
“Would bonding help?!?! Wouldn’t that boost your systems?!?” screamed John as some of the shrapnel maims his arm, sending a sharp array of pain coursing throughout his body. “You... Shouldn’t... I’m... I can’t—”
“I don’t care! The way I see it, I’m dead either way, so we might as well try!”
The human’s words startle the panicking Xyfokit. It had already explained to John the dangers of forming a bond, and with their pitiful compatibility score, it was incomprehensible to even consider such a thing. Its best odds for survival, were to clearly find another human with a higher score. But, as illogical as his words seemed to be, F.O.X. wanted to place their trust in the inferior human. They had already managed to save them from certain death, and, with G.O.R. seemingly intent on eliminating them as well, agreed with the reasoning to try anyways. Any boost to performance, no matter how small, was better than zero boost.
Black cables shoot out from behind the robot’s neck, latching onto John’s hand again, as words and sounds enter his confused and startled mind. As startling as the sensation is, he is fortunately able to make sense of them. It’s very familiar to when he was first captured by the machine, except this time, words are clearly floating in front of his eyes, like images from a hyper-realistic augmented reality device, asking him to confirm and form a bond with the unit known as F.O.X. Unsure how to actually accept the agreement, John thinks in his head “Accept”, which seems to do the trick. A slight shock tingles throughout his body, followed by nothing else abnormal.
“See, I told you it wouldn’t mean anything.” Hummed the Xyfokit as it continued to dodge the spherical bullets sent its way. The machine’s analysis, had been brutally accurate. Their combat systems appeared to be receiving a 0.3% boost to mobility and weapons functions, which essentially translated into a... Negligible gain in overall performance. “That’s it?” mumbled John, wondering if there was something he had missed regarding the procedure. “I already said, the bonds been for—”
*Schoon!*
The Xinos flinched, interrupting its response to the recently bonded human, as its leg was unfortunately grazed by one of the fired bullets. No critical injuries were received, but the blow startled the machine, bringing its focus back to dodging and weaving through the rapidly passing trees. Why did it listen to the human?! Now, it was in even greater danger if the human perished while fleeing, guaranteeing their death from the bond breaking penalties.
John’s mind finally begins registering everything that’s happening. It almost feels like they can think a little faster. A part of their conscious seems to be connected with the robot, as emotions of fear begin swelling within him. The synthetic creature is frightened, and the feeling is eerily flowing into him as well. John is by no means calm himself, literally riding atop a giant robot, with bullets the size of trashcans flying by him every couple of seconds, but the sensation is still jarring. While the situation is the classic definition of “feeling hopeless”, a crazy idea suddenly crosses his mind, as he recognizes the end of the forest coming into view.
“Fox, we need to leave the forest!” He screams to the machine attempting to pivot to remain within the covered terrain. “Leave!?!? Straight ahead is only open fields, it’s a literal death sentence if we lose our cover!” The intelligence whirled back. “Do you trust me??! I’ve got an idea that just might work.” Beamed the bonded human.
F.O.X. hesitated at John’s words. They were an incredibly powerful, highly intelligent, and perfect machine within the Xinos empire, with their decision network trained on over 1 quadrillion hours of combat footage. Leaving cover was the worst possible decision they could make according to their data stores, yet their bonded human was insisting they try due to a plan they had. “That’s... It’s not logical!” roared the machine again in frustration. “That’s exactly the point!” exclaimed John as he slammed the metal along the Xinos back. “If you’re anything like our opponent, they would never expect something so illogical!”
The Xyfokit’s eyes widened at the human’s words. Of course! What better way to outsmart your opponent, than to make such a foolish decision, they would immediately question your motives doing something as reckless as this! A small smirk grew across the machines face, as it happily beeped its reply to the human. “Alright John, I’m trusting you!”.
Pivoting hard and to the right, the machine skillfully shifted their entire frame, leaning heavily into the dirt, before kicking up massive mounds of grass and soil to leap out of the trees into the open grassy plane. G.O.R.’s shot had completely missed them from this unexpected action, having already been aimed way off to the left instead, the logical choice. Grunting in frustration, the favoured contender quickly reacts, adjusting to the unexpected change in its prey’s trajectory, swiftly following suit.
Dashing across the planes at incredible speeds, the Xyfokit is starting to have some doubts about the human’s supposed action plan. There is absolutely no cover they can utilizes to dodge incoming projectiles, forcing them to rely purely on their own reaction capabilities. The only noticeable features across the expansive planes, are some large, metal framed structures with numerous wirings traveling above them in an endless maze of order. After a quick analysis from the machine, it appears the structures are utilized by the apex species to transport their primitive form of electricity. “There! Towards the powerlines, quickly!” yelled John as he continues to shift around, struggling to stay oriented along his metal chariot.
“The powerlines?? But, those are carrying high voltage energy. My simulations indicate they are highly dangerous.” Beeped the machine, qualm heavily lingering in their mellow tones. “It’s all part of the plan! We just have to get that giant robot near them!”
John’s voice was filled with a mixture of excitement and confidence, with some of his emotions flowing over into F.O.X. from the overwhelming positive response. Images of countless virtual battles soared through the machine’s visual receptors and sensors, which they identified to be memories from the human they bonded with. Highlights from thousands of battles, each with minor variations and strategies, at every possible starting point across an expansive battleground in a virtual world. Similar metal structures appeared to be present, and actively used as a means of eliminating opponents. The machine’s conscious easily made sense of the data flowing across its processors, as it happily chirped its response back to the human. “Got it! I... I think I understand what you’re aiming for!”
“It’s weird, but I think I’m starting to understand this bonding thing as well.” John said as he happily smacked the side of the advanced robot again. “It’s a long shot, but I think it just might work!”
“Agreed!” hummed the Xyfokit, their thoughts gradually overflowing with confidence. Straight ahead, they had already calculated the battleplan John had envisioned. Now, all they needed, was a little bit of that thing called “luck” to make it happen.
In sync with their human, while continuing to dodge G.O.R.’s bullets with grace, the Xyfokit continued sprinting towards the strange metallic towers, with their adversary close behind. The pair has finally entered the area underneath the sprawling wires, and purposefully slowed down to ensure the robotic ape was in range for their upcoming plan. F.O.X. continues to skillfully weave between the metal structures, causing G.O.R. to lengthen the interval between their shots to ensure higher accuracy. Then, satisfied the hunter had been lured in far enough, the intelligence decided now was the perfect time to implement their spontaneous, illogical plan.
Digging its paws aggressively deep into the ground, snapping some of its suspension cables from the intense strain, F.O.X. pivots hard to the left while chucking John off of its back, sending him flying into the field behind him. G.O.R. notices the Xyfokit’s error, and immediately changes course to eliminate the human their opponent had bonded with, as this action would ensure their victory over the infuriating, agile warrior. However, just as G.O.R. shifts their weight to reposition their firearm, their warning sensors briefly alert them to an incoming threat they are unable to dodge.
Turning to face the opponent they had confidently decided to ignore, G.O.R. notices the Xyfokit’s paw is extended in the air, with some of its basic combat blades missing from the appendage. However, while they were potentially expecting a steel blade to be sent their direction, a thick, black cable, arcing powerful beams of electricity is observed instead. They had assumed their opponent would only utilize the weapon systems they were given, and not the external environment itself. G.O.R.’s heavy and unbalanced frame is unable to move, having already committed to its earlier attack. Their network panics, as it struggles to find any solution to deal with the incoming high voltage wiring.
The wire crashes into the bewildered warrior, as powerful arcs of electricity course throughout its highly conductive body. While the Xinos are primarily powered through an efficient conductive fluid named Xytrolyte, their synthetic bodies are equally capable of transmitting inefficient forms of electricity as well. However, while G.O.R. themselves is highly conductive, the excess voltage ripping throughout their body isn’t their primary concern.
It's their humans.
Highly volatile electricity measuring over 100,000 volts, arcs and flows throughout the unit’s metal frame, as its Xytrolyte fluids struggle to balance the excessive load in time. While the highly advanced unit would normally only be briefly “stunned” from such an encounter, an army of “WARNING” messages suddenly blares across their visual receptors, as numerous systems rapidly begin failing under an excessive barrage of errors and penalties. [BOND BROKEN – ENFORCING PENALTY] floods their monitor, as they are suddenly unable to move their limbs. Checking their connection cable with the bonded human, G.O.R. is horrified to see the apex predator they had confidently bonded with, has exploded into a charred array of blackened, scorched viscera. Their cable is still embedded into the human’s wrist bone, as the hand ominously continues to hold the black tether that had granted both of them an incredible combat advantage just moments ago.
G.O.R. collapses inward on themselves, unable to power their heavy frame, as F.O.X. completes their landing before dashing towards them. The warrior fights against the impossible resistance, breaking and tearing its own limbs in an effort to shield itself from the incoming assault, redirecting any excess power it still controls, to erect a barrier around its central core in desperation. Even in this state, they could still protect themselves from any projectile the tiny Xyfokit could fire towards its direction. A timer indicating 20 seconds remaining on the penalty begins ticking down in the corner of G.O.R.’s vision. The unit smiles, it only needs to survive these meager 20 seconds, before it can turn the tables against what it thought was an inconsequential prey. Nothing the Xyfokit can do, can harm it.
F.O.X. rapidly begins accelerating towards the disabled warrior. A notification has briefly popped up in their peripheral vision indicating they have earned a bonus, as a timer begins counting down, communicating how long the unit ahead of them is disabled for. The Xyfokit has several options they could choose from for ending this battle to the death, as they reload their cannon for the finishing blow. They notice G.O.R. has redirected all of its remaining power into an efficient barrier to protect its central core from cannon fire, but the tiny warrior has already committed its final attack based on the most probable outcome.
Their claws extend from their sheaths, boosting the unit’s traction and acceleration further, 10 seconds remain on the penalty, as energy begins forming inside their cannon. The barrier around G.O.R. grows in intensity in response to the Xyfokit’s actions, as it continues barrelling towards the robotic ape. 5 Seconds remain, as the unit throws every remaining bit of its energy into its powerful hind legs, catapulting its sleek frame forward into the lumbering intelligence.
A smirk grows across G.O.R.’s face, as a light begins to glow around F.O.X.’s cannons. In a moment, they would turn the tables against their prey and finish this frustrating battle against an infuriating and lesser foe.
Or so they thought.
A sharp, bitter pain begins growing throughout the unit’s central core, as its eyes widened in shock from the unexpected agony coursing throughout its circuits. Viscous, blue fluid happily bursts from the unit’s bulky chest, as its visual processors struggled to focus on the Xyfokit below it. Piercing its chest, with its steel blade claws vibrating at a frequency just fast enough to mimic a simple vibroblade, is F.O.X. They had seemingly penetrated their advanced barrier systems using their melee weapons, after tricking the unit into thinking they were firing a round from their advanced cannons instead. Raged roared throughout G.O.R.'s expansive and perfect decision network. How could it have been tricked? Everything about it, was perfect, yet it somehow failed to stop such a simple, yet illogical attack from its prey?!? This was an impossible outcome to the unit, as it felt the Xyfokit continue digging its claws deeper into its chest cavity, rending and tearing its circuits further.
G.O.R. knew their power would fail at any moment now. They wanted to scream, to yell, to violently toss the being away, to assert their dominance over them as the strongest warrior in the Xinos army, but they couldn’t. Words couldn’t leave their auditory processors, and their network failed to respond to their repeated requests to move. All they could do, was stare into the eyes of their prey, as darkness gradually began creeping in along their expansive vision. They weren’t meant to die; it was impossible for them to be deleted. The... The Xinos council had already confirmed them their victory in the tournament.
Their vision waned, their retinas burning into them the final image they managed to process, the figure of a small canine creature, staring into their existence with hollow eyes, and their claws dug deep into their chest. Then, just before the unit lost the last remaining bits of its power, with its vision hovering on the cusp of darkness, their auditory processors heard one, finally comment from their killer, before everything ceased to function.
“Goodbye, G.O.R.”