After some pondering I found out I was on a prison planet called Clorania. It was also the one closest to Val Zarin and it was vacated and only the contestants were currently situated here. I was one of the lucky ones who came early and had the chance to stay in the jailors’ room instead of cells. After sleeping on a hard metal in the shape of a bed, it was a nice change to sleep on mattress, though it wouldn’t last long, maybe half a month or so.

The tournament started in a month and I needed to be in pristine shape. Standing up, I walked up to a pull-up bar and started exercising. It did wonders to upper body and back muscles. It was an action I was all too familiar with. Parkour needed some muscles and this was my exercise of choice, after all. Finally doing something other than a push-ups, sit-ups or squats was refreshing. Made me feel a little stronger.

The image of my P.E teacher flashed in my mind as I remembered when I was a bullied kid. The unpleasant memory was quickly shrugged away and I smiled. If I just win this… then I can live a carefree life on a tropical island.

With a smile I walked towards the armory to get my powersuit. They handed it over to the players to let them become familiar with it. Bastion users would undertake pilot training as well, though I doubt there are any.

The makeshift armory building was the one right next to the jailors’ complex, which formerly functioned as a warehouse of sorts. The prison was some sort of walled city where prisoners did physical labor. So far for my prisoners can’t train psychology. My only advantage over them was ripped away from me and I was left as a mere unusually tricky guy. That alone wasn’t so bad too.

The building’s door was open and I saw several dangerous looking guys walking in before me. One was a man fully covered in strange tattoos and there was a woman wearing extremely revealing clothes, an eerie grin on her face. I had to admit, she was attractive.

Until she turned to look at me. Her smile was one that I always hoped I wouldn’t be on the receiving end of. The kind of smile that predators have while looking at their prey.

She steadily approached me and only stopped before our foreheads met. I was paralyzed with fear, much like a prey before a predator.

“Hello there.” Her wicked grin turned into a sincere smile. “What’s your name?”

“Umm… Hawk.” I answer. This wasn’t false, but not true either.

“Well then, Hawk. Would you mind teaming up with me?” She asked while revealing her thighs by flipping up her skirt. “We can do lots of stuff together.”

“I’m more of a lone wolf.” I said and turned away. That woman gave me the creeps and I’d appreciate if I never crossed paths with her ever again.

I heard a loud snort behind me and upon looking up saw that she stormed away, likely in a fit of rage. Finally growing up in a house full of women helped me, for this once.

‘Thank you, my older sisters.’ I think to myself and continue toward a worker. It was a large man who wore grey work clothes and a cap with the insignia of a shield on it.

“Mister, where can I get my powersuit?” I ask the man as he lazily turns to me, holding a large crate. He had a large scar on his right eye and he seemed to be blind there.

“That way, see those giant crates? They’re the Bastions, the others are behind them.” He pointed at several large crates.

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‘There are idiots who chose them? What in the world?’

The walk was shorter than expected. Seems like I overestimated them. The height was only 10 or so meters, unlike the towering giants I imagined. But it sacrificed a lot of its mobility, and was simply illogical to use.

Mine was in the row third from my end, but the length was simply terrifying. It took up the entire almost city size warehouse. There was a woman with business clothes, holding a scribbling board who directed the workers. My first thought was to go and ask her, and so I did.

She stood on an elevated platform and was constantly instructing the workers by mumbling into some kind of microphone, which I assumed sent the commands directly to their earphones.

“Miss, how do I get my suit?” I shouted up at her, and she scanned the area with her eyes and finally found me. She quickly descended the stairs and walked up to me.

“Your number?” She asked as she put the scribbling board into her pouch and produced a tablet from it. It was definitely space folding, as there was no way it could fit these two giant devices.

After a moment of thought, I realized what she meant. No prisoner’s number was the same, in the entire known galaxy.“G-550” I answered. It was hard to forget, after all, wearing it for maybe a month and a half. Though it faded into the background behind all the conversations we had and the card games.

“Yours should be on the second line, with the number as a label. Everything is assembled in alphabetical and numerical order so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.” She explained and quickly ascended the staircase to take her rightful place as some sort of manager.

The woman most likely ticked a box saying I came or the like, as she had quickly put it away after a few seconds. The second row was one as long as the other but it took me no more than thirty seconds to read the small red label on a box saying R-130. I skimmed through them until I found the G compartment. The road was a tad bit longer than I suspected, but it was the place. I pressed on some sort of black spot and a laser scanned my face before opening. This way no one else would be able to steal it, not that anyone needed it.

It was just as expected, a suit slightly larger than me, made of a shiny silver alloy. It was currently open, to let the wearer in, obstructing me from seeing it in its full majesty. As I walked into the suit, it closed up and tightened around me. It kept its wearer in optimal temperature by using heating and filling up the inside with a liquid similar to mercury, the poison-less type.

The helmet was made of a clear silk-like material that could filter poisonous air, and was as hard as reinforced glass. That meant I could take a shot to the head and still keep walking. It made me wonder how we were going to kill each other with these things, but thinking about Titan cannons made me shiver. They could easily evaporate me if I was hit with it.

After adjusting to the movement, I saw that the powersuit was lit up with a pale blue glow, pulsing from time to time, giving it a living organism-like feel.

There Machine gun lied on my back, in a holster. It was a big thing, heavy even. Not a challenge with the assistance of the suit.

For Shockwave, there were three round devices with a ‘EP’ logo on it. I instantly recognized it as Edgar Pacification Corp, one of the leading companies in cybernetics and combat equipment. Two on each of my palms and one of my chest.

As I touched my suit, electricity crackled and a repulsion force was created. It was kind of like forcing two plus sides of a magnet, never connecting.

The propulsion engines were as I suspected, two plasma gun-like objects connected with my ankles. The grappling hook was in the form of two hook jutting out of my waist that could be shot by… I didn’t know.

“How do I even shoot this?” I asked no one in particular.

“Please specify.” An electric voice was heard, it felt like it was sent straight into my head. I concluded it was Zero, the A.I that I purchased, which could also play any and every music in the human music library.

“How do I shoot the Grappling hook?”

“Everything included in the suit can be accessed with mind or voice commands.” The A.I give a brief explanation. I turned around to face the back of the box and commanded the armor.

‘Grapple’

Not betraying my expectations, both shot from my waist and imbedded themselves into the back of the crate.

‘Retract.’

As I gave my second command, the hooks started rotating similar to drills and broke free from their restraint to come back to their rightful place.

‘Blades’

As I thought of it, two blades the size of daggers jutted out from my wrists, following my fists. They didn’t have a reach, but the dangerous glint did more to prove its sharpness than not.

‘Disarm’

It retracted back and all was as before. This was interesting. Half a month to explore and train before going to hell. Not a bad deadline.