Presently floating around the upcoming battleground world, nestled between the planet’s tidally locked moon, and the calculated geosynchronous orbital boundaries, is a diverse array of Xinos warrior landing pods, ready to begin their descent for the official start of their Battle Royal. Mere moments ago, their previous emperor, Xylophos, had just given them an awe inspiring, but realistic speech, as to what the warriors could expect in their upcoming competition. Amongst the 100,000 landing pods, is an intelligence now known as F.O.X., a Xinos machine from the Xyfokit race, and, one of the forecasted underdogs based on the council’s perfect insights.

As their pod continued to orbit around the blue and green sphere below them, F.O.X., was happily contemplating the words from Xylophos, as they continued to review their now revealed landing coordinates. Initially, the machine was relieved that their starting zone appeared to be in the northern hemisphere of the planet, calmly resting above the 44° latitude line, with a modest distribution of forests awaiting them, ideal conditions for their chosen organism. However, while the intelligence couldn’t have possibly asked for a better start to their deadly game, an air of nervousness continued to pulse throughout their circuits. Doubt, as it would seem, was still lingering inside their expansive decision network.

“20 Xinos Cesium-133 observations remaining before landing procedures commence.” Blared the monitor within their control panel, bringing the Xinos attention back towards their various screens and sensors. “It’s alright F.O.X., you’ve only trained for this very moment, ever since your conscious and body were constructed by the Xinos, to fight for the empire. No matter what happens, just remember. You. Can. Do this!” it quietly consoled itself. There wasn’t much time left until their Battle Royal would begin, and with it, all of the other Xinos warriors the tiny Xyfokit had trained with, would become their sworn enemy. F.O.X. knew that surviving would be difficult, but still wanted to believe their insight had led them to make the correct decision about their chosen species. Thus, taking one, final look at the celestial body below them, F.O.X. closed their optical sensors, while listening to the monotonic voice from their monitors, happily completing the battle countdown.

“5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Start!”

Just as the final Cesium-133 observation had completed, the Xinos felt its landing pod aggressively jerk forward, rapidly accelerating them towards the battleground world below. Tiny specs of dust and metal, harmlessly bounced off of the pods advanced barrier systems, as an oppressive cone of heat formed along the ship’s exterior, signaling atmospheric entry. As they looked around, the Xinos saw several other of their race’s highly advanced landing pods as well, indicating to the unit that other warriors would be landing within a similar geological region as them.

The spacecraft rocked and rumbled as it burst through the clouds, hurling itself at terminal velocity towards the cowering ground below. Calmly waiting inside, surrounded by the monotonic beeps and chirps of its machines, while observing the various sensors available to them, the tiny Xyfokit resolved itself, to do its best in the upcoming battles.

*CRASH!*

The impact with the earth was deceivingly rough to the Xinos warrior, as their pod gleefully created a modest crater within an isolated forest of the planet. Trees, rocks, and mud, were the first unfortunate causalities of the battle it would seem, as remnants of their remains cluttered the spontaneous landing zone with horrendous appeal. Understanding they had finally landed, and would only have roughly a day’s time to orient themselves on their new planet, F.O.X. cautiously opened the hatch to their pod, then rapidly began scanning their environment.

“Hmmm” hummed the Xinos, as its processors quickly extrapolated their location to be a forest largely ignored by the homo sapiens. “Landing went just as expected. Next, I need to check my weapon systems and supplies before venturing further.”

Following protocol, F.O.X. was quick to identify there were no members of the apex species in the immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, after checking their weapons systems and supplies, the unit’s network felt an array of sadness pulse throughout its circuits, as it read aloud the notifications scrolling across its peripheral sensors. “Systems locked to basic propellent firearms, and steel for CQC?!? Just how primitive are these homo sapiens in their technological developments?!?!?”

Truthfully, the unit was deeply puzzled and disheartened upon learning just how drastically reduced their combat capabilities had become. To them, it was inconceivable that hard light technology and antimatter weapons were restricted, but to not even be allowed the usage of vibroblades!?! How were they to defeat, let alone harm another Xinos warrior with these severe restrictions??

Rationalizing just how difficult their upcoming survival was going to be, F.O.X. briefly looked down at their paws, unsheathing their steel blades for claws, before calmly retracting them again. At minimum, they would need vibroblade levels of technology for them to pose any sort of threat, but if only steel was allowed...

...

Disappointed, the intelligence quietly mumbled the conclusion its network had unfortunately arrived at, which would be paramount for its continued survival. “We must be being tested on our utilization of the bonding system for the early rounds to bypass these horrible penalties.”

Next, the Xinos gracefully hopped over to retrieve the emergency supplies given to each participating warrior, where they were unfortunately met with another problem. “My supplies, they’re damaged!” clamored the Xyfokit. “That’s... Impossible! All of our containment units are specifically designed to survive basic landings such as these!”

After opening their secured storage container housing a wide assortment of replacement parts, circuits, and energy cells, the unit’s processors sighed in anguish after realizing none of the supplies given to them, were serviceable. Viscous blue and green goop, flooded the containment unit, with bits and pieces of broken circuits and wires floating about. Truthfully, some of the parts could be salvaged by the unit, but they wouldn’t be nearly as effective given their current state. Tightness, gripped the intelligence’s central core, as it continued struggling to accept all of the recent outcomes that had happened to it, well before the battle had even begun. The machine wondered, if this was the mysterious variable, luck, at work, since that was the principal component decided by their emperor to include in this Battle Royal tournament. But, upon closer examination of their ruined supplies, their decision trees arrived at another conclusion instead.

Carefully observing the cracked glass tubing, formerly housing replacement fluid for its complex circuits, the unit noticed tiny faults, carefully etched into the reinforced crystal. After quickly simulating the impact of these etchings on the tubing’s integrity, they were led to a startling realization. These etchings, were engraved with such precision, that they were designed to break upon an appropriate impact, yet evade simple observation from supply validation. This lead the Xinos to the horrifying conclusion that their supplies, along with potentially many others, were sabotaged.

Saddened, yet, understanding wallowing in their despair wouldn’t solve anything, F.O.X. resolved to place these assessments into background processes, as they began synchronizing their internal clock to the local planet’s time. It had already been roughly 5 minutes since their landing, meaning the next scheduled event was just about to occur, the initial revealing scan. Focusing on their monitors, the unit carefully watched in anticipation, as the radar hummed and pulsed, revealing the next bits of information critical to their survival.

While Earth was a modestly sized planet, meaning 100,000 warriors spread across the globe should be reasonably well distributed, 200 warriors happened to be within a 300km radius around them. F.O.X. didn’t recognize too many of the other identified warriors, but their circuits were once again gripped with fear, when they noticed the signature of the Xinos nearest to them. Located only a meager 20km north, was the unique identifier for the warrior named G.O.R.

The Xyfokit’s stabilizers briefly failed after observing the favoured contender’s signature within such close proximity to them. “This really isn’t fair.” Beeped the Xinos, “If I’m to survive round α given these conditions, then I should probably put as much distance between myself and G.O.R.”. As the unit continued to analyze the results from the radar scan, it determined that it’s best course of action, was to head south, towards one of the other Xinos identifiers in an urban environment. G.O.R. already had several opponents to chose from, and would probably want to remain in a forest setting, due to their species adaptations, whereas F.O.X.’s organism had literature supporting success in metropolis environments. This would also improve their probability for finding an appropriate member of the apex species they could bond with, potentially unlocking their limited weapon systems restrictions. Thus, after updating their communication functions to initiate dialog with any members of the species homo sapiens they might happen across, the machine began its journey south, to the nearest city.

---

Navigating the forests was a relatively simple task for the Xyfokit, as it skillfully utilized its creature’s limbs and sleek figure, to bound between trees and rocks alike, masking all presence of its sound through its ability to enhance the innate traits of the vulpes vulpes. After making some considerable progress, yet failing to find any other life forms within the forest, the intelligence carefully shrouded itself within some dense foliage, as it suddenly detected another creature. A small, rodent-like mammal, had just leapt into an open patch of grass, and was only narrowly detected by the intelligence’s infrared optical sensors. The machine paused, identifying the organism to be a mus musculus, something often prayed upon by its chosen predator. The rodent, oblivious to the alien machine carefully scrutinizing its presence, was calmly nibbling away at some seeds scattered across the forest floor that it had just discovered. Its nose and whiskers, carefully twitched in contemplation, having finally found a satisfying meal, as it continued to cautiously observe the surrounding environment, ready to flee at a moment’s notice from any would-be predators.

The Xinos, continued to watch the small creature from beneath the bushes, observing all of its movements in excessive detail. After all, this chance encounter had the potential to provide it with some valuable research into some of Earth’s native habitants and prey. Moments later, slightly catching the Xinos off guard, was the sound of leaves delicately crunching underneath the limbs of another native species, as they sharply graced the intelligence’s auditory receptors. After quickly locating the cause of the disturbance, the logical reward gates of the Xyfokit happily praised the machine, as its infrared sensors matched the outline of the being, to be the same as its own chosen visage.

Anticipation flooded the intelligence’s circuits, as it continued to observe the scene unraveling before them, extrapolating they were just about to witness authentic predation in action. The rodent, flinched and hesitated a brief moment, freezing in place, its ears, also identifying the sound of crunching leaves. However, after several seconds of failing to identify the mysterious noise cautiously creeping closer, quietly resumed eating its snack, producing some quiet, satisfied squeaks in the process. The predator, having now confidently located its prey, continued to skulk into an appropriate ambush position, with both beings unaware they were happily being observed by a creature, well beyond their earthly comprehension.

The predator’s eyes locked onto the mouse in question, its ears twitching slightly from each subtle squeak lightly uttered by its quarry, while its limbs calmly readied themselves for the upcoming assault. Its snout twitched, and its whiskers twinged, as the fox carefully parted some of the leaves, masking its body from the rodent before it. Then, after carefully visualizing the upcoming attack, leapt high into the air, powered by a burst of energy from its powerful hind legs. Red and subtle, orange fur, gleamed off the penetrating rays from the sun, as the predator’s body gracefully soared through the sky, towards its quarry below. The rodent, suddenly realizing it had been discovered, quickly tried to flee from the alluring snack satisfying its tiny mouth, but to no avail.

*SQUEE!*

Elegantly landing on top of the frightened mouse, while severing its spine with ruthless precision, the fox gleefully crunched the rodent’s back with its powerful canines, efficiently ending the creature’s life. The encounter, which had lasted but a brief moment in time, was happily recorded in full, by the Xyfokit observing from behind some nearby foliage.

“Wow!” chirped the Xinos. “That was incredible! Predation in action by my chosen species!” The machine’s circuits were flooded with joy after experiencing the captivating battle for survival before them. Having just seen some of the innate capabilities of its chosen organism, the Xyfokit hummed in satisfaction, as its decision network decided to approach the skilled hunter, congratulating it on a job well done.

“Greetings fellow “Vulpes Vulpes”.” Uttered the Xyfokit. “I am an advanced intelligence known as F.O.X., and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance! I must say, I was most impressed at your—”

The fox, who was wearing a rather proud look after skillfully catching itself a meal, was suddenly startled from the strange sounds and noises entering its mind. Frightened by the mysterious words its brain was unable to comprehend, the being quickly turned around to see a lumbering, metallic creature, many times its own size, towering over its tiny form. Horror and terror, coursed throughout the organic being’s veins, as its fight or flight response overwhelmingly screamed at the creature, to flee for its life from the monstrosity before it. Sadly, dropping its newly won “prize”, the fox swiftly bound out of the clearing, disappearing with grace, deep into the expansive forest before it.

“Wait! Come back!!” Cried the advanced intelligence. “I only wanted to...”

Disappointment, oscillated within the machine’s circuits. It wondered, had it made an incorrect decision? Why had the being which it resembled, fled with such terror, upon seeing its form? Were the words it chose to communicate deemed insulting towards the vulpes vulpes? Or, was there another reason for its strange, and unexpected behaviour towards it? Truthfully, the Xinos was at a loss for how its actions offended the creature it had tried to approach, as it replayed the recently captured footage over and over again of its encounter. While it was clear the Xinos was several times larger than the predator in question, it still didn’t explain to the being why it had fled with such swiftness from its more than appropriate introduction. Unable to arrive at an appropriate conclusion, the machine let out a soft, but exasperated sigh, as it continued its journey southwards in the search for civilization.

Eventually, after several more kilometres without any noteworthy events happening according to the machine’s processors, the intelligence came across a lightly cleared section of the forest, housing what appeared to be makeshift lodgings, and a primitive combustion engine chariot for inefficient transportation. Calmly sitting around a furiously burning heat source, holding some thin, metallic rods, while cheerfully roasting some type of small and white, sugary object, were several homo sapiens. It appeared to the machine, after scanning and quantifying their genetic material, that this was a family, due to the highly correlated composition shared amongst their spawn. Recognizing that this was a perfect opportunity to explore the “Xinos compatibility score” system for the bond functionality, the machine began analyzing the family to determine how beneficial they would be to their survival.

“Hmm, that’s not a very high score. Only 5% compatibility observed for the youngest organism, with 1% or less for the remainders.” Chirped the Xinos. Its response to the findings, was more than appropriate given the situation. While the system wasn’t the most intuitive by design, it was painfully obvious to the machine that a higher compatibility score, would naturally result in a great boost to systems performance. Initiating a bond with any of these humans, would only hinder its survival odds. Regardless as to the disappointing assessment, the machine decided to initiate conversation with the apex species of the planet. After all, perhaps these beings could point it towards other homo sapiens which would be sympathetic to its upcoming battle royal.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Greetings “Homo Sapiens”! I am an advanced intell—”

“WAH!!”

The apex species, were startled by the machine’s sudden appearance, letting out sudden yelps of terror, while their spawn stared in awe at the towering structure of metal before them. Stuttering, while at a loss for words, the XY paired figure eventually managed to articulate a response.

“H-h-honey, g-g-get the kids to the c-c-car, now!” mumbled the male in a tone underlined with fear. “Don’t worry “Homo Sapiens”.” Calmly retorted the Xinos. “As I was saying, I’m an advanced intelligence named F.O.X.! I only wish to ask you some question abo—”

Cutting off the machine before it could even finish its request for civil discussion, the adult swiftly grabbed a piece of wood from the burning firepit, lobbing it towards the lumbering machine, before quickly running to join his family in their car. F.O.X., confused by the homo sapiens greeting ritual, simply watched, as the mechanical chariot roared to life, kicking up gravel and twigs alike, before rocketing down the rugged forest path.

“Wait!!!! You... You forgot your things!” Cried the Xyfokit, as it calmly gave chase towards the family fleeing for their lives. “I... I just...

...

“This... This is going to be harder than I initially thought... Isn’t it?”

F.O.X.’s circuits became overwhelmed with disappointment. It had done every action deemed appropriate by its impressive decision network, utilizing calm tones, and proper dialog to initiate conversation with the apex species of the planet. Yet, they were still unable to get any of them to listen to its request. The machine wondered how they were to survive this battle royal, if they couldn’t even communicate with the most intelligent species on the planet? Would they be doomed to failure? Were they really one of the best, the Xinos had to offer?

Letting out several soft and mellow beeps and tones, the Xinos eventually decided to continue its journey south. After all, there were approximately 8.2 billion of these creatures on Earth, meaning that based on extensive probabilities, there had to be at least some members of the species willing to engage in conversation. Perhaps, they just had to look harder in a more population dense area to find an appropriate member to bond with and improve their survival odds.

...

Along their journey, F.O.X. had come across several more members of the apex species, but decided to refrain from initiating conversation, and instead, focused on data collection instead. Presently, they were stealthily heading towards the nearest city, while observing additional data on the homo sapiens. Of particular interest to the Xinos, was the diverse assortment of shapes, sizes, and features amongst the apex creatures, as each individual appeared startling unique in their own right. Having already catalogued over 1,000 unique specimens, the machine gained a much greater understanding on how compatibility scores varied, but was still unable to derive a definitive formula for the percentages. Most of the observed creatures, held shocking low scores, ranging from 0.1%, to an unimpressive 7% ceiling from its limited data collection. It appeared, that finding a highly compatible member, would be itself, a daunting challenge. However, just as F.O.X. was formally entering the small city of roughly 85,000, their monitor blared a warning notification message, startling the Xyfokit.

[Round α – Start! Notice. Weapons Systems Unlocked – Time Remaining: 6D, 23H, 59M]

The Xinos, had completely lost track of time. “Its already been a full day!?” beeped the machine. “But... I only just landed?!?” Surprised at how quickly Earth days appeared to pass, they quickly remembered to pay attention to their radar scan, albeit nervously. At the beginning of each round, there was always a scan to reveal the location of all nearby Xinos Warriors. Ideally, there would another warrior close by they could fight instead, as their circuits desperately wished to avoid challenging G.O.R. at all costs.

Fear, once again, gripped their central core, as the machine carefully observed the two closest signatures from the radar pulse. 14km to the south-east of them, was a unit named C.R.O., and to their north, only 2km away, was G.O.R. “Why did it have to be them!” Squeaked the Xyfokit. “They had so many other choices nearby, yet they still chose to...” The unit paused, before breaking into a sudden dash towards the streets. G.O.R.’s identifier felt closer than the radar indicated. F.O.X. didn’t need to think about the datapoints further, as their warrior instincts had already given them the conclusion they desperately wanted to avoid.

Ignoring all their previous concerns for stealth, the unit leapt into one of the nearby streets, sprinting, to join along side several similarly-sized metal vehicles. Amongst the confusion, many of the vessels utilized for transportation by the apex species, swerved and blared their horns towards the giant robot, as many collided with one another in an ear screeching crunching panic. F.O.X. knew it was unfortunate their actions were resulting in such unintended collateral damage, but their own survival came first and foremost. Just then, a warning message, briefly alerted the unit to an incoming projectile from behind it. Instinctively, the Xyfokit leapt to the side, twisting its lumbering frame to just narrowly avoid collision with the massive object in question.

Sailing by at unimaginable speeds, was a larger vehicle often used for communal transportation by the species, as it continued hurling above the roads, gleefully ignoring the screams originating inside the vessel. While short-lived, the human’s deathly bellows suddenly grew silent, as the bus ruthlessly collided with a nearby condominium, bursting into flames, throwing large chunks of concreate onto the surrounding streets and civilians. Fear, filled the machine’s circuits, as it swiftly identified their assailant to be the sentience known as G.O.R., in hot pursuit, behind them.

Why did G.O.R., have to pursue them as their first target? Why did all these unfortunate scenarios, continue to happen to the little unit? Were they destined to die, to know only defeat in the beginning round? These were some of the thoughts bubbling to the surface of the intelligence, as the machine’s network flooded its conscious with doubts, a chaotic symphony unable to rationalize why they had been selected to compete in the current battle royal. They must have been impressive in some sense, being one of the lucky 100,000 to compete, but any sense of accomplishment felt meaningless when compared to their current struggle against the forecasted champion. Still fleeing their pursuer, and gracefully completing their landing, F.O.X. continued sprinting along the roads of the bustling metropolis. While the layout of the city was meant to be orderly, the unit quickly became lost as it dashed between buildings and structures alike to save its frail existence. G.O.R. was continuing to lob various metal vehicles towards them, but the Xinos had thankfully put some distance between the two after all their effort.

Banking around a corner, still fuelled by a dire sense of urgency, the intelligence leapt into a nearby concrete structure that appeared to be designed to house the homo sapiens metal chariots. Then, quickly ascending several floors of the concrete maze, the unit softly crept into the shadows, before peeking its tiny sensors outside the vast building. While doing its best to calm its panicking decision network, F.O.X. quietly observed the Xinos named G.O.R. below them. It appeared the favoured contender had thankfully lost track of the panicking Xyfokit, as their circuits continued to pulse with hesitation. Finally, after scanning and searching the area where they had lost track of their prey, the lumber tower of metal leapt away to continue their search elsewhere.

Relieved it had finally found a moment to rest, the tiny machine let out a sigh, as it reviewed its observations on G.O.R. in relative peace. The favoured contender, appeared to be moving much faster, and exhibited greater bouts of strength than the Xyfokit had remembered, and the conclusion was obvious. From their recordings, after monitoring G.O.R. from the shadows of the building, it appeared there was a human, nestled along G.O.R.’s back, riding along with the giant robot. Their enemy, had already managed to bond with a human, causing them to further reevaluate their odds for survival. “That human with G.O.R.... Its... Its compatibility score is phenomenal!! How did G.O.R. manage to find a human with a score of 60%?!?” cried the machines vocal emitters. “Now I’ll never survive against them...”

The machine, didn’t know what else to think about at the moment. They had just narrowly survived a deadly encounter, and, while there were many more Xinos that G.O.R. could have chosen to pursue, they appeared fixated on eliminating them first. Not only that, they had already managed to bond with a human possessing a high compatibility score, when they’ve only observed values around 1%! “This really isn’t fair.” Beeped F.O.X in reflection, as it quietly tried to encourage itself. “No, if... If I give up now, then any chance for my survival is extinguished!” Still defeated, but now somewhat resolved, the Xinos carefully scanned their surroundings, before heading into the city again. If they were going to survive, then they needed to find a human, and bond with them, fast.

Creeping out from their temporary haven, the robot carefully maneuvered its bulky frame into a nearby alley, while keeping their auditory sensors on alert. The machine heard what appeared to be multiple emergency response sirens, understandable given the level of destruction that had recently occurred. However, a chilling uneasiness gripped their core, after only making it halfway through the narrow alleyway. Trusting their intuition, F.O.X. swiftly bound back, just in time to avoid a 9inch diameter metal projectile. The machine didn’t even hear the gunshot from which the giant pellet originated from, but knew that its quick decision to leap back, had just prevented their certain death. Keeping with their tempo, F.O.X. pivoted from their landing, while quickly transforming their cannon into “ACTIVE” mode, before firing one of their own metal projectiles towards the assailant. With their targeting systems locked, the bullet loudly left the barrel’s chamber, albeit at a disappointing velocity, barely breaking the speed of sound.

*Tink*

“Damnit.” Muffled the Xyfokit. “The targeting was also off too.” They chirped in intrigue, as G.O.R. calmly blocked the pitiful metal sphere sent its direction, before firing another round towards the unit in retaliation.

The Xinos cannons, in order to emulate lower tiers of technology, were designed to simulate the appropriate firepower for each given round’s weapon restrictions. This meant that their cannons were currently set to the estimated destructive power of a flintlock pistol, one of the homo sapiens earliest forms of personal firearms. While the power reduction was severely disheartening to the Xinos warrior, it had also resulted in them luckily surviving G.O.R.’s ambush. The unit quickly extrapolated their loss of firing accuracy, was due to the harsh limitations of projectile shape, and perfectly simulated “inferior barrel grooves”. If their own capabilities were being limited to such an extent, that meant G.O.R. had also potentially misjudged their own limitations as well, resulting in their survival. However, they were still at an incredible disadvantage, as the human bond boost appeared to be resulting in a larger projectile, with faster muzzle velocity, leaving the machine feeling it had brought a pebble, to a boulder fight in terms of firepower.

F.O.X. twisted its body, barely managing to rebound off of the nearby building, but they weren’t fast enough. The projectile they had attempted to dodge, had just nicked their hind leg, damaging the stabilizer, sending an array of pain receptors coursing throughout its network. The unit, tumbled through the air while fighting against the signals of pain throbbing near its foot. Glancing down, F.O.X. noticed that the wound was more than just a nick, but had resulted in the complete removal of their rear paw, and had only noticed the severity of the damage through visual confirmation. Their eyes widened in shock as they crudely landed on the concrete below to an accompanying array of pain and warning messages blaring across their monitors.

“Grrr! Why can’t you kill this stupid robot you dumb ape?!?” Screamed the human riding on top of G.O.R. “You said you were the strongest, yet you can’t even hit this tiny thing?!? That also wasn’t even a good shot!” They continued to yell, as G.O.R. calmly reloaded the chambers to their advanced cannon system, priming the next round. The machine knew its prey was wounded, and, having already fired two rounds from its restricted weapon systems, had already recalibrated its targeting systems. Its next shot wouldn’t miss, but they still had to wait for the agonisingly long reload time before the bullet could be fired again.

The Xyfokit’s network struggled to power the unit, as it stared down the chambers of the favoured champion. Their mobility was degraded, and they were already essentially “dead”, in clear checkmate from their opponent, but some illogical part of their processors screamed at them to continue trying to flee, to try anything, no matter how low their survival odds seemed. Beeping, while trying to follow their instincts, the unit forced a burst of power into its still operable leg, well exceeding the safe operational limits, to catapult its metal frame out of the alleyway, and onto the streets.

*Pao*

G.O.R.’s bullet sundered the air as it left its chambers, just barely missing its mark again. The intelligence had aimed their shot towards the unit’s central core for an efficient kill, but had only missed due to their target executing a simulated movement well beyond its safe operational limits. The spiraling metal sphere, tore through the sky with incredible force, before violently impacting with F.O.X.’s hind leg, crushing the metal limb while severing critical wirings. The Xyfokit yelped in pain from the impact, as even more of its mobility sensors returned critical systems failures, as it struggled to continue running away.

“You said I was the strongest human G.O.R.!!! So why haven’t you killed them already??!?” Boomed the human towards the robot. “My apologies, Adam, it appears my target has made some illogical decisions in its network which I was unable to account for. I won’t miss next time.” Replied the machine in a cold and calculating tone, before calmly pursuing the tiny Xinos.

Stumbling and tripping in a frantic manner, the unit named F.O.X. continued running down the busy streets to the best of its ability. It didn’t want things to end like this, and, after suffering critical damage to its mobility and sensory systems, its advanced decision network was gradually being immobilized by the deadly grip of despair. The Xyfokit continued struggling, fighting against the desperate plea from its circuits, screaming as they continued powering the clumsy pile of metal through an endless array of system failures. “I... I don’t want to be deleted... I... I don’t want to die... I... I want to live!!!” Whimpered the machine on the verge of collapse. Its conscious felt hopeless, but somewhere, an illogical part of its processors continued spurring the machine on through the agonizing pain in its fight for survival. Rejecting the alluring option to die with a warrior’s dignity, the robot continued limping down the street to the horrid chorus of civilian bystanders, as it struggled to make its way towards the peculiar structure ahead.

Arriving at its destination, F.O.X. struggled to maintain their balance, as sparks and blue fluids continued leaking out from its frayed and riddled body. The machine thought, if only it had chosen another species, perhaps one larger, with more redundant limbs, and a harder exoskeleton, then maybe it wouldn’t be in this perilous situation. The decision it had been so certain of before the Battle Royal, was now nothing but doubts within the complex conscious’ mind, as it struggled to accept its reality. Exhausted, yet still trying to process its environment, the machine’s sensors eventually recognized their location to be one that housed combustible fluids for the apex species vehicles. It was a highly volatile location used to refuel their primitive machines, but, contained a spark of hope they decided to gamble on, as they carefully loaded their cannon’s chamber, with another clumsy spherical bullet.

“It’s over, young warrior.” Spoke the favoured contender with dignity, as they finally caught up to their prey. “Your conscious ends here. Farewell, designated unit F.O.X.” The Xyfokit looked up, meeting the gaze of G.O.R.’s cannon with defeat, as the barrel calmly pointed towards their core. In a moment, their life would be erased, along with all of the millenniums they had spent training. All of the experiences they had come to cherish, would come to an abrupt end, from such a simple action by their opponent. Their countless struggles as a warrior, appeared pointless, in the grand scheme of their meager existence. It had wanted to learn more about what it meant to be a Xinos, but it appeared their journey, was destined to end here, with their synthetic body crumpled and crushed beyond all sentient recognition.

F.O.X.’s eyes locked with the homo sapiens currently riding on G.O.R., their pupils filled with hatred and arrogance. It was because of them, they were about to die, as the machine burned the species face deeply into its visual processors. If it was going to survive, then its true enemy, was the being riding G.O.R., and not the contender itself. Flailing, while attempting a smirk as best as it could through the endless notifications of systems failures, the Xyfokit fired its cannon, towards one of the nearby fuel pumps, in contempt of its cruel fate.

Surprised, and, quickly simulating the consequences of its prey’s actions, G.O.R. swiftly shielded the human riding on its back, as F.O.X.’s projectile impacted with the nearby fuel dispenser, sparking, and igniting the volatile substance within.

Powerful plumes of fire, erupted from the gas station, as the tiny ball of metal, triggered a devastating chain reaction of explosions, sending the Xyfokit’s body hurling into the distance of a nearby forest. The unit hoped they had managed to eliminate the human, but know on a scale of probabilities, that G.O.R. would have probably shielded them from the ensuing blast. They were satisfied with their spontaneous plan, as it was probably their only way to survive against such a powerful intelligence, but their last gambit had only managed to buy them some little, yet precious time alive.

“Oomph!” cried the machine, as its metallic body collided with some trees, softening its fall, before violently crumpling on the forest floor.

F.O.X.’s sensors and vitals, were a mess. Their limbs were now completely inoperable from the explosion, with their cannons malfunctioning, and their central core’s power levels hovering dangerously close to depleted. They had almost no energy left, and were currently fighting against horrendous pain to remain conscious. Their limbs refused to move, as sparks and fluids continued trickling out from its mangled and battered body. Looking down at their tattered and crushed limbs, the machines circuits whimpered and cried, as sorrow flooded every bit of its cracked conscious. It didn’t want to die, but it logically saw no way out of its current situation anymore. Death, would soon embrace the machine, as more and more of its complex systems continued shutting down from critical errors. Its only, logical option, was to quietly accept its fate, drowning in a puddle of its own conductive fluids, as it savoured the last remaining, yet precious bits of its existence. All of its energy, should be rerouted from non-critical systems, just so it could continue “living”, that much longer. But, as much as it knew this was the correct decision, it still yearned for something more, some intangible sliver of hope, that something, could save it. Thus, struggling to ignore the machine’s own logical conclusion, F.O.X. slowly routed several key systems towards powering its distress beacon, as oscillating lights hummed to life, hopelessly signaling the units location in the dark forest.

On the cusp of tears, the machine violently emitted its destress call, over the high frequency radio band in a desperate call for aid. If any of the apex species nearby could find them, then maybe, things could be different, maybe they could survive... Maybe they could...

...

Finally, after cutting power to their optical sensors to continue broadcasting their message, the machine silently mumbled their cries, as power continued leaving their dying body.

“Someone, anyone, help me... Please... I don’t... Want... To...”