A Mirage In The Wasteland (FULL - CLOSED)

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Dust and dirt kicked up in a circular cloud around Saizomaru as he leapt off of his front foot, jumping from one rock-capped spire to the next. It had been too long since he had done any training—training that would be considered intense or even impossible by your average human standards—especially now that he was now within an artificial body. He had been assured that this body was of the highest quality, the best that the world had to offer, classified technology available only to the world’s military research and development division. He wanted to push this new body to its limits.

When he was a human, making canyon-sized leaps would have required a great deal of effort. Now, he wasn’t even trying. Research and development budget had been well spent and he was not disappointed.

It had been many years since the android had visited the wastelands to train but he remembered well enough that what he saw below him had not been here before. A tall structure sat right in the middle of an open clearing, its height a little more than half the size of the rocky spires around it. He could see from his position that it was hollow yet filled with walls in haphazardly-placed locations and directions. It almost looked like a maze.

Curious, Saizomaru leapt down from the spire, the near-one-hundred-foot drop nothing to him as his feet touched down on the ground. Casually he walked to one of the walls, an opening in the center of it. He tucked his hands in his pockets and leaned forward slightly to read the words by the side of the entrance.

”Huh. Some sorta game or something.” He paused for a moment as his head reclined back. He gazed upwards, seeing exactly how tall the sides of this structure were from ground level. It was overkill for any normal human being; fifteen-foot-high walls would have been more than enough. Whoever set this up was testing more than just your average person. ”A’ight. I’ll play along.”

Saizomaru hummed as he leaned up against the side of the maze, arms folded across his chest. He hadn’t seen anyone else around, so he resigned himself to waiting for someone to show up, particularly whoever put this structure here. He was still a soldier at heart—he needed the go-ahead to proceed before making his move.

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Saizomaru gave a smirk. ”I think I’d rather take a rich person. At least money can’t protect them.”

The android watched his supposed partner in the challenge as they made their way over to the entrance, they too grasping the hand of their dismembered, magical counterpart. Without a moment’s notice, the two were pulled in, guiding them in as they were allowed to take their own time, their own steps.

As the android stepped in, he was greeted with two paths. His eyes shifted from one to the other. Their features were different, particularly the shadows cast. It made him think back to that old Tremor game, where each difficulty had its own path that looked distinctively more challenging as the difficulties increase. In his mind, the left path was the ‘easy’ mode, while the right path was ‘hard’.

The option had been suggested by the voice of the challenge’s creator—and announcer by the looks of things. Saizomaru was one for working as a team; he had done so for so long that it was a natural thing for him. He pondered for a moment, then turned to the pointy-eared man beside him. ”Well, that’s up to you. You want this to be a challenge? Or a contest?”

Then, without warning, the left corridor began to light up. The right path, however, did no such thing. Instead, a figure approached them. For a moment, it sent a chill through his synthetic skin as it shifted to his appearance. He wasn’t used to seeing someone or something else look like him. It went against everything that his family stood for. It worried Saizomaru that it could use Mushou-Ryuu, his family’s secret martial arts.

Regardless, he stepped towards the right path. He was a pro gamer. Easy path was for noobs.

”Feel free to tag along if you wanna do this together.”

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The android gave a light hum. ”Gotta believe, huh? Very PaRappa The Rapper.”

The only thing that Saizomaru could believe in, right now, was that this doppelganger in a trucker outfit was giving him a run for his money. The two were locked to a standstill, a stalemate of real strength versus that of a simulation. Their arms jittered and shook ever so slightly from side to side but not a single one of them were showing signs of falter. Hands clenched tighter to the point of their knuckles turning a pale white—paler than what was normal for the android, in any case.

”To think… that a cheap imitation could be my equal,” grunted Saizomaru through gritted teeth, his face tense through pushing against his own strength along with the rest of his body. ”But it’s too early in the game to use my full power. Gotta save cooldowns for the big boss, after all…”

There were points when Saizomaru thought he was getting the upper hand, able to push the arm of his counterpart further and further towards the pad, but then his opponent would just right themselves back up again, returning to their neutral position. The same process would happen over and over but every time they would return to being equal regardless of the strength that the android mustered.

Then, it had sparked realization in Saizomaru’s head. Every time his doppelganger looked away was when they began to lose the fight. It was only after they had returned their attention to him that it regained momentum. He had come to two conclusions: the first was that the double requires eye contact; the second was that it lost power when it lost concentration.

”Oh… I get it now…”

He would try both tactics. At first, he would close his eyes as though in meditation—the loss of his sight would heighten his other senses and allow him to focus on concentrating his ki into his arm. Next, with the hand on the grip beside him, he would use his finger to tap a rhythm, a rhythm from an old videogame that was an old favourite of his. He bet that the rhythm would prove to be a distraction long enough for him to pick up the win.

If the double was distracted, the android would pour his strength into one, final, quick slam into the pad to pick up the victory.