[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 17: Capture the Flag

Joshua drained the energy drink down his throat and tossed the can to the ground. A cleaning bot appeared out of nowhere to take the garbage away.

"Mom! I'm home!"

An elegant woman entered the foyer whilst carrying a babbling toddler. She approached the teenager and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Joshie baby! How was school."

"I'm not a kid anymore, mom!" Joshua whined as he avoided his mother's embrace. He ran up the stairs to his room. "And I did fine in school. My mech trainer complimented me again today."

"That's good news. The higher your performance, the higher your rank when you become a reservist. Just don't join the Mech Corps."

"I'm not going to mom." Joshua said as he threw his bag on his bed. "I'm going to play with the simulator again, okay?"

"Don't forget about dinner again."

"Yes mom!"

After fending off his nagging mother, Joshua left his room and went downstairs. He took two flights down and entered the basement. Situated in a cooled and isolated room was his personal mech simulator pod for Iron Spirit. An expensive piece of machinery, it outperformed the rental pods at the game center. His parents even forked out the money to dig a secure set of cables to the nearest galactic net node in order to ensure his bandwidth never conked out. All of this turned Joshua's pod into the best performing unit on Cloudy Curtain.

As Joshua entered the pod and let it close around him, he leaned his head back into the headrest that served as the neural interface. It hummed as it came to life, connecting Joshua's brain signals to the programs executed by the pod.

The world changed. The cool steel walls of the simulator pod made way for a vibrant world. Many young men and women around his age walked through the digital streets of the starting area. Some sat next to fountains, watching the live streams of popular players that chose to broadcast in public. Others entered one of the many stores in order to shop for a new outfit.

As for Joshua, he pulled up his friends list and tapped at one of the names to begin a dialogue.

"Yo Tops."

"Heya Snake." Triceratopssss greeted as his face appeared at the corner of Joshua's view. "Up for another bout of Arena?"

Joshua shook his head. "Hmmm I don't feel like it. The 1v1s and 2v2s have been getting kind of stale for me lately. I'm ready for something different."

"Oh." Triceratopssss mulled as he switched to matchmaking. "You wanna play Capture the Flag or Base Conquest?"

"Let's do Capture the Flag. It's 5v5 so I feel my skill still matters in that game mode."

The two paired up and entered matchmaking for Capture the Flag as a duo. They first received three random players to fill up their 5-man team.

"Hey fellas." Triceratopssss greeted his new teammates. "Me and Snake here are pairing up as light mechs."

"Medium missile platform." The third player spoke, his tone conveying his distaste in further interaction.

"O-kay. What about the rest?"

"Heavy Knight. Just plant me next to our flag and I'll make sure anyone who takes it will be dead." The fourth player boasted. Defending the flag was the most traditional role in Capture the Flag and perfect for a heavy mech.

"Got any guns on your knight?"

"Nope. But I'm faster than other knights."

"Great." Triceratopssss sighed. "At least you can chase the enemy if someone manages to steal the flag from underneath us. So what about the last guy?"