The announcer made her announcement and informed the audience of the next match that was going to take place. “Richard Michaels High, team Friday the 13th versus Miles Massey High, team Silver Vanguard.” After the announcement was made, Anna, Vincent, and Justin went to their cockpit pods. In the audience, people were cheering for the next battle, but some participants were eager to see the abilities of the current Silver Vanguard.
A trio from another team chatted among themselves, “So, that’s the team that beat JoJo. They don’t look like much.” In the bleachers, JoJo excitedly cheered for Vincent, “Wooo! Go Vincent. You’ve got this in the bag. Win this one. We’re cheering for you.” One of the participating teams looked to the arena, “Vincent, who the heck is that? As far as I know, JoJo doesn’t cheer for anyone. Did she get a boyfriend from another team?”
Before entering their respective cockpits, Anna called for Vincent and Justin for a group huddle. The three of them stood in a circle and placed their hands on each other’s shoulders. Anna, as the acting team captain wanted to rouse morale. “The WARFRAME Battle Championships. Vincent, Justin, I really can’t thank you guys enough for helping me in this endeavor. It’s thanks to you two that I can stand here today. That we can stand here today. However, this level isn’t our goal. No, our goal is still far away. But this is the first step we are taking to reach that goal. We are going to aim higher and go much further than this. Hopefully, with enough faith, trust, practice, and teamwork, we’ll get to where we’re going. We’re Silver Vanguard. We’re going to break through adversity and win. We’ll take everything they throw at us and still come out on top.” Vincent was pumped, “Oh yeah, we’re totally going to win this!” Justin was also excited for the coming battle, “Mission accepted, captain!” Anna then placed her hand in the center of the circle “All in”, and Justin and Vincent did the same, Anna continues, “Silver Vanguard, March into battle!”
Inside the cockpits, Anna, Vincent, and Justin heard the mechanical voice, “WARFRAME Battle, combat mode, startup. Please set your base reader.” All six pilots placed their respective base readers on the control panel. The base reader lit up and the pilot’s information and Warframe information was displayed. Initiating display. Field selected. Space.” When the battlefield was announced, Vincent could see the vastness of space as the stars in the background twinkled. The debris of destroyed objects could be seen floating all around the battlefield.
The 3-D image of each pilot's frame appeared above the panel. The holographic display turned and faced the main screen with its knees bent and buckled as the eyes glowed. A catapult platform appeared beneath its feet. A notification appeared on the main screen ‘WARFRAME Battle, Launch’ as the mechanical voice spoke, “Initiate Battle”. The frames were each now in a single path room and the red lights that lit the floor and ceiling turned from red to blue. Anna spoke as she launched her frame from the base reader. “Anna Fisher, Rosenkavalier Photonenblume. Launch!” Then Justin spoke in a similar fashion as he launched his frame from the base reader, “Justin Walker, Mantaraia Vortex. Take off!” Then Vincent spoke similarly as he launched his frame from the base reader, “Vincent Porter, Jakqoo V. Launch!”
The other teams watched the screen as Silver Vanguard entered the battlefield, “So those are the frames that defeated JoJo. Let’s see what you can do” JoJo watched the three Silver Vanguard frames enter the battlefield and commented, “Their frames, those aren’t the ones we faced before. It looks like they’ve made an upgrade girls. We can’t fall behind. We have to bring our A-game when we face them later.”
Mister Myer’s lips stretched from ear to ear, “So, the two of you have also made some upgrades. And Anna, that is what you came up with, color me impressed. So, what kind of battle will show everyone here today?” In his hospital room, Frank was watching the live feed of the tournament through his tablet. “You’ve made some upgrades Anna. Not bad. And these must be our new recruits. Hopefully, they have what it takes to carry us all the way to Nationals.”
The three units of Silver Vanguard flew across the battlefield until their radars picked up their targets. They zoomed in and saw the three units that they were up against. The opposing team have two Warrior-type frames painted red and blue respectively while the third was a Savage-type with cat-like features painted completely black with a tinge of gold. Looking at the targets, Anna gave Vincent and Justin some general information about their opponents, “Two Jinxes and a Black Felis Catus. Be careful not to get any bad luck from these guys.” Vincent asks, “What’s a Felis Catus?” Justin clarifies for Vincent, “A black cat. They have a black cat Savage-type. And based on the team name, you can guess what Anna means.” Looking back at the team name, Vincent finally understood Anna’s joke. "Ohh, I get it."
Team Friday the 13th began firing on Silver Vanguard. Witnessing the attack, Anna gave her orders, “Break formation.” All three units spread out and went in different directions to escape the attack. Anna then wanted to give another order, “We’re going to counterattack. Justin, swing around and provide cover fire.” However, Justin had other plans, “I’m sorry but I have to refuse that order. I’m going ahead and taking these guys out.” Anna was surprised by his declaration, “What do you mean?” Justin answered her, “This is a space battlefield. Unless Vincent can maneuver around, he’s practically dead weight. So I have to help carry the weight of the team.”
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Vincent heard the conversation between Anna and Justin and his nose flared, “Who are you calling dead weight? I’m just as good as you are.” Justin snorted, “Yeah right. How about I show you how a real pilot fights in space.” The oversized manta ray detached itself from Mantaraia’s back and Justin rode it. He flew on its back and fired the torpedoes at one of the Jinxes. The three units from Friday the 13th had break formation. The torpedoes chased after their target, the blue Jinx.
The blue Jinx flew deeper into the debris belt and fired its beam rifle. He managed to destroy the torpedoes before Justin appeared and fired beams from his own rifle. The Jinx lost an arm before he noticed that the manta ray was no longer beneath the Mantaraia’s feet. Just as he was searching for it, his camera suddenly tilted upwards, before the frame exploded in a ball of flame. The audience saw that while the Jinx was defending against Justin’s attacks the manta ray had swooped in and split the blue Jinx in half through the mid-section with one of its beam fin blades.
The members from one of the teams commented, “That guy’s frame has great performance.” While the captain of another team said, “Just having a single good machine isn’t enough. This is a team battle. It can’t win battles on its own.” Anna flew through the debris field and the red Jinx chased after her. It fired its beam machinegun when it had set its sights on her. Anna sneered. “I’m not going down so easily.” Anna positioned herself so that her right shoulder would be the target of the attack. When the attack connected, instead of being hit, the beams disappeared. The red Jinx was stupefied by the sudden turn of events and stopped firing. When the firing stopped, Anna revealed her new sword. She pressed down on the sword handle and it shifted to a 45° angle. The tip of the sword opened up, revealing the mouth of a rifle. Anna pulled the trigger and beams were fired from her blade rifle. After receiving several hits, the red Jinx exploded.
All that was left was the Black Cat and Vincent was currently facing it in battle. The Black Cat flew across the battlefield and Vincent chased after it. Justin had locked on to his next target but Vincent was in his way, “Out of the way Vincent. I can shoot this guy down.” Vincent replied, his voice was full of conviction and resolve, “No way, I’m not budging. I’m going to show you the results of my training.” Justin was stupefied, “What do you mean?” Vincent clarified, “Why don’t you just sit back and watch.” Vincent flew at full thrust while dodging incoming attacks. Vincent raised his bazooka and fired.
The Black Cat shot down all of the rockets that flew towards it before a beam shot hit its shoulder, and leg and grazed the body. Vincent flew through the smoke and quickly arrived in front of the damaged black Cat. Vincent had stored away his bazooka and took out two beam hawk axes and slashed the black Cat across the chest before stabbing its chest in an upward direction with the other ax. Vincent pulled out the ax and kicked his opponent away. The black cat drifted away before exploding.
After the third unit exploded Silver Vanguard received a notification ‘Battle Over’, and the main screens that were displayed to the audience turned black before changing to the brackets. The bracket for team Friday the 13th turned dark, signifying that they had lost. The announcer made the announcement, “Winner, team Silver Vanguard” Seeing this, the audience cheered. JoJo was ecstatic, “They did it. He did it. Vincent did it.” Her teammates cheered alongside her.
Mister Myers nodded and smiled, “You guys didn’t disappoint. Looks like I have something to look forward to in this tournament.” The trio exited their pods, and Justin commented on Vincent’s performance, “So, you were able to overcome your obvious weakness. I have to commend you, Vincent. You’re not the idiot I thought you were.” Vincent’s nose flared, “Who are you calling an idiot, fish face. Just admit it. I did a good job.” Justin snorted, “Shut it, amateur.” Vincent bashed his head against Justin, “Excuse me?” Justin rubbed his head before retaliating and head-butting Vincent. The two pressed their foreheads against each other and gnashed their teeth.
Seeing this scene, Anna hugged the two as a tear fell down her cheek, “Thanks, you two. I never could have made it here without you. This is the first time we’ve made it past the first round in the last two years.” Vincent smiled, “We’re going to keep winning, Anna.” Justin sighed, “Yeah, it’s a promise.” Anna was teary-eyed, “Thank you.” Mister Myers just smiled upon seeing such a touching scene of camaraderie. JoJo was gnashing her teeth after seeing Anna hugging Vincent. “How dare she hug him?”
One of Silver Vanguard’s opponents was leaving after the match ended, “So, that’s the team that defeated JoJo.” Another member said, “Their team is one we have to watch out for.” The captain then said, “Even so, this tournament is ours.” The trio then turned around and left. Behind the bleachers, at the top, two people watched the outcome of the battle, both of them wore dark sunglasses. One was male with curly brown hair, while the other was female with long blonde hair. “So they’re the new Silver Vanguard, huh? I only came here because I heard one of the Horseman became their coach. They are quite the intriguing team, don’t you think so, Alex?” The male faced his companion. Alex took off her sunglasses, “You better make it to nationals, Justin.”