Legendary

Chapter Two: Heck It Up, Zero

Since the only remaining match was the final, the pits had cleared out significantly. Teams still hung around, watching the others curiously and chatting while they packed up their things.

     Elaina could feel eyes on her while she stood beside her toolbox, loading up programs and preparing to spot-check DJ's armor. She noticed him taking a few deep breaths like he was psyching himself up, but before she could ask if he was okay he armored up.

     DJ's armor, Zero, seemed completely opposite what she would have expected from him. He was a generally calm, collected, agreeable guy, but his armor was an imposing matte black, with orange-red light shining from the narrow slits where his eyes and the rest of his face would be.

     Once the armor was complete DJ hopped in place a couple of times, then shook out his arms, and turned his head side to side a few times.

     Elaina waited, trying to hide her smile despite the tension tying her belly up into knots. "Ready?"

     Zero straightened up like a soldier, spreading his arms out straight from his shoulders in a 'T' shape. "Ready, spaghetti."

     She rolled her eyes, set a small black device against Zero's head, and slipped on her glasses.

     The augmented reality view immediately set to work displaying a readout of Zero's normal stats in a glowing green box. By reaching out her hands while wearing the gloves synced to her glasses, she began moving information in her view and beginning scans. Her programs, contained on the tiny dongle on Zero's helmet and her 'toolbox' computer, would quickly and efficiently interface with DJ's neural implant and make sure all programs related to his armor projection was in tip-top shape.

     While the scans ran in silence and Elaina tried to focus on her work instead of thinking about what was about to happen, Naomi stepped up onto the single stair allowing access in and out of the rectangular depression in the ground, their pit.

     "Well hello. I'm going to be your pep talker for this trip." She announced.

     "Hi." Zero answered, waving one hand before returning to his T-pose.

     "You, the undefeatable Zero, will be facing off with Prophet."

     Naomi pointed at the viewscreen behind DJ, and he twisted to see it. The screen showed highlights of the other fighter's time in the tournament so far. They weren't large but they seemed to have a never ending supply of weapons attached to their armor. Upgrades, done as an adult and exclusively for fighting.

     "Prophet is a dancer-class suit." She went on.

     "Light and fast." Zero said, voice flat with concentration.

     "Not as fast as you would think." Naomi corrected with a smile. She held up a personal viewscreen and scrolled through some data. "Because of her upgrades she's had added on, she impacted her speed. She's 35% slower than an average dancer suit her size."

     "So she gave up speed for firepower." Zero muttered mostly to himself. "I can use that."

     Naomi nodded. "I was watching her matches and she doesn't mess around. She doesn't show off or get fancy. She goes in and hits hard."

     Elaina double-checked the readouts, confirming they were correct. She was briefly distracted by the viewscreen, and glanced up in time to see Prophet, all shining sand-colored armor, launch what looked like some kind of laser cannon at a previous competitor, hiding the camera's view in flying dirt. She swallowed and looked back at her readouts.

     "You're good to go." She managed through a dry throat, then stood up and plucked the black device off his head.

     Zero lowered his arms with a grateful nod.