The former champion starred his opponent down, searching for any chinks in their armor or clues about their fighting style. A sink-hole drained the land of the murky water around the hole it hid in, and the pieces of ground were scattered widely around. Billy also saw rocks and bits of a cliff among the debris, cut off shrubs and faint signs of blood. “Digging type, probably tough outer shell and tons of sensors to count on.”

His train of thought was still slowed down by the ‘drink’ he concocted for himself, giving the mole C.T.D. an open door opportunity to fire a preemptive missile, which Billy barely managed to dodge. He quickly returned fire with his assault rifle, successfully hitting the cyborg, only for the bullets to just bounce back in doves.

The enemy hid underground, adding extra armor by the dark, soft underbelly of the ground. Billy, at first, he was on home territory in the Playground, but that thought quickly flew away - he was the away team; everything around here felt like it wrestled against him. The high moisture was interfering with his internal pieces, needing to increase power to his cooling systems; the ground was wet and slippery, and his self-inflicting injury was of no help. Why, oh why, didn’t he ignore the call for reinforcements.

Fabius- “ Because you should get back into action from time to time, champ. Being content doing just one thing would be a delight for anyone…but you aren’t just anyone, are you?” The C.T.D. remembered the words as clearly as the night sky. He disliked the idea of a Zin officer getting into his head, but…what if?

Billy, now mostly just improvising on the spot, ripped branches and leaves from a nearby bush and scattered them all around the puddle he was in. A few minutes later, a tremble cracked the rocks underneath the surface, sending small signals of the enemy’s location. The soldier couldn’t rely on his sensors or sight to catch the ripples in the water, but the sudden movement from the garbage thrown around was more than enough for him to guess where the ambush would come.

The cyborg swiftly swapped the rifle to a shotgun, and pointed toward where the leaves and branches moved and shivered chaotically. “I’ve got this”, thought the former champion- “I’ve lived through the R.O.C., I’ve made it through the hellscape of my former city all by myself, this is noth-” These thoughts, these words, have been playing on repeat in head for a while now, but only now something stuck. “ I’ve survived…one way or another, right?”

Just then, instead of a face or a drill as he expected, a thin, long tail with a sharp stinger burrowed out of the ground, aiming for the soldier’s head. Billy dodged it, and to both of their surprise, he caught the tail with his left arm in a fast swing. Not wasting the opportunity, he dragged on to it with all of his might, plucking out the rest of the body from the underground. The enemy was a creature much lighter than expected.

The orange carapace hid a smaller, brown C.T.D. underneath, and from how it staggered to stay upright, it seemed like new protective improvisations were done in a hurry. An armadillo shell on top of an emaciated mole - that’s how Billy later described the enemy, to everyone’s annoyance for having to search the archives for description of both of those animals.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Another thing stood out about it now, something he left out of the report. Billy, in his foggy memory, recognized the bot underneath it: “ Wait, you’re the C.T.D. of that contestant that died in th-.” He paused, remembering what the number one CEO planned for his robotic body. “Oh, right, everything is reusable to them, isn’t it?”

Billy then pointed his shotgun without a second though and fired on the C.T.D., who pivoted around to hide underneath his carapace. To retaliate, the enemy fired back another round of missiles; it didn’t matter if they hit or not, they were only a distraction to give the mole enough time to retreat underground. Not this time, though, as large and sinking footsteps approached him rapidly and a moment later, the mole found himself tackled on the ground and forcefully turned around.

The former champion stood on top of him, and his missiles dangled in the air, suspended there by a quickly thrown magnetic grenade. The mole thought of using his drills to get the soldier off, but one of Billy’s feet pressed on the right drill, while the remaining foot kept the left one in check. Maybe the tail? Too late, the champion had already shot it off with his shotgun.

Billy- “ Now, what to do with you?”, he puzzled, realizing that he didn’t think of a capture plan till the end. A pair of claps from the forest distracted him for a second, but not enough to take his sight from the mole. Fabius appeared, with a proud but mild clap, to congratulate Billy on his display of might.

Fabius- “ Excellent, boss. Seems like you didn’t need my help after all, just as I expected from the champion. “

Billy- “ Hmm.”, he made a noise as if blowing air out of the nose. “ Your drugs helped out, though. With the headaches. That still doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for walking around without permission.”

Fabius shrugged and extended his cuffed hands to make an ok sign, letting him know that he was ok with any punishment that might his way.

Fabius- “ So, what about this?”, he said, pointing at the mole. “ What do you plan to do with it?”

Billy- “ Capture. Several reasons, interrogation being one of them.” The bald prisoner raised an eyebrow, ready to state the obvious.

Fabius- “ And how are you going to sedate it?”, he asked mildly, while the mole scattered underneath Billy’s hold like a wild animal. Neither had to wait for a reply, though, as all of a sudden the soldier found himself on his back with a giant dent in his frontal armor. A kite like being gunned it towards the mole C.T.D.

Fabius tried to warn him to not let the mole and the strange C.T.D. that just pushed Billy on the ground to connect, but it was too late.

Finer, after he managed to escape his pursuers, returned to plan B. Escape underground with the mole if he was ever discovered. Now that plan B was also a bust, both cyborgs switched to plan C., a last resort of sorts. The orange armor coiled around them, shielding them while the two started a combining process.

The prisoner checked on Billy, helping to get him on his feet. “ I’m sorry to say this, champ, but I think you’ll need my help with one. This was Robert’s and Alvara’s trump card against you in the last R.O.C; I heard rumors of them experimenting with a new C.T.D. ability, but I never thought it would be this chimeric process.”, he added, taking a fighting stance.

Billy- “ I’m still not taking off your shackles, Fabius…but you’re more than welcome to give a hand”, he added, making the officer giggle. “ Besides, when haven’t the CEOs tried to come up with winning formulas against me?”

Fabius- “ Exactly, champion. Simulation limitations don’t hold a candle against the real you, do they?”

The soldier looked at his shotgun and for a second, a moment, four to five faces reflected from its shiny surface. A blonde child, a ragged looking teen, a young man in a uniform, a man with a weary look and, finally, his current face.

Billy- “ I see now.”, he murmured, after which he reloaded his weapon. “I’m ready, officer”, he replied, taking his own fighting stance.