2021 Yeddo Games Arena Summer Tournament

The 2021 Yeddo Games Arena Summer Tournament was a major event held at the Games Arena. The PHIA Phorce entered the tournament to win some money to help pay off debts. During this tournament, they also received the name "PHIA Phorce" for the first time.

Overview

Arena Quadrumvirate Challenge

In order to win, the PHIA Phorce had to defeat the four members of the Arena 5.

• Round 1: Angela Harrison vs Dean Escuro.
• Round 2: Kristoph Langusten vs. Clara Zauberin
• Round 3: Joshua Harrison vs. Vladimir Drachma
• Round 4: Sophia Delphi, Twinkle vs. Megumi Nekomata and her holofauna team
• Round 5: Sophia Delphi, Twinkle, Angela Harrison, Kristoph Langusten and Joshua Harrison vs. T-R3X

Preparing for the Tournament

Sophia, Angela, Kristoph and Joshua had all taken it a little easy after their time spent searching for Seraphina Harrison. Nevertheless, they were still eager to work hard to pay off their debts. Fortunately, they had a chance to relax during the semester break to celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival. They spent time hanging out and enjoying themselves and visiting family. From an ad, they heard about an event being held in the Games Arena where they could have the chance to win a prize for completing some challenges. Mutually agreeing that they had a solid chance at winning, they decided to undergo an intensive training regiment where they would practice their abilities, hit the gym and hone their minds. The students of the group especially made sure to finish their assignments ahead of time.

Part of the training regiment was to practice their abilities together in pairs. That way, different combinations of their team would allow them to excel in different ways. With Twinkle's help, he could create synergetic energy between Sophia with other people to create various combination attacks to which they would come up with unique names. Sophia and Kristoph had already come up with one previously: Shooting Star where Kristoph would use his nanobots to launch Sophia at a high speed as she lit up her palms with plasma. This was a technique they previously used against Damien Alabaster. Between Sophia and Joshua, they came up with "Astral Web" where Joshua could redirect some of Sophia's electricity into a large area of effect. Sophia and Angela together came up with Angel Beam where Sophia would form arcs of electricity to extend Angela's whip, giving her greater range.

Despite the cool names for their combination attacks, they had yet to settle on a team name, something which was required for entry into the tournament. They debated over it until they eventually ran out of time to submit their name. Spontaneously, Sophia came up with "Sophia Force". The clerk misheard her as saying, "So, PHIA Phorce?" Not quite picking up on the pronunciation error, Sophia confirmed it and the name was entered. By then, it was too late to change it, and their name was announced to the Games Arena as PHIA Phorce.

The Tournament

Round 1

The first round was Angela facing off against a young man named Dean Escuro, also known as the Death Hunter. Much like Kristoph, Dean was projecting himself using a vrNet hardlight avatar in the shape of a hooded rogue cloaked in night blue, wielding dual medieval crossbows as weapons. Only this time, he was doing so from the planet Salvaxes. Angela recognized Dean's avatar as being modeled after Dreaming Kingdoms and had a geek out before remembering that he was her opponent in the arena. However, this clue was what she needed in how to approach the fight. Angela had spent a significant amount of time in the Dreaming Kingdoms game and would be able to treat the fight as she would the game.

Angela quickly realized that Dean was able to move much faster than her making it difficult to keep up with him. The Games Arena's safety systems prevented lethal damages, though every time Angela got struck by a crossbow bolt, it stung like a bee. But through pure chance, Angela somehow managed to catch Dean with her whip, likely due to her flailing it around unpredictably. In that moment, Dean got caught off guard by suddenly being ensnared while Angela used the opportunity to decisively finishing him off. At the end of the match, Dean got very flustered, claiming that he had only been going easy on her. Despite Dean being seemingly upset, Angela caught him glancing back and smiling at her as he left to which she started blushing.

Round 2

The next match up would be Kristoph versus Clara. Right off the bat, Clara was very enamored to see Kristoph, a fellow nanomage. Being quite flirtacious with her choice of words, she was very eager to see what Kristoph was capable of. He wasn't quite sure how to process these remarks, but was nevertheless ready to engage in the fight. Whereas Kristoph's attacks were more practically oriented, Clara used her nanobots for stylish displays. Although Kristoph was maintaining the upper edge, Clara instead encouraged him to play to the crowds, and to treat their match up like a dance. The entire situation took Kristoph off guard as this was not what he prepared for, as Kristoph had only been considering the most efficient route to victory.

It had become clear that the audience had, whether correctly or not, began to perceive the two of them as lovebird. Kristoph, in his head, evaluated the situation tactically, translating the trust in his friends to the situation before him. Towards the end of the match, Kristoph took Clara's advice. To counter one of Clara's moves, Kristoph put up a colorful display of his own depicting all manner of abstract, colorful shapes. It wasn't clear whether Clara allowed it to happen or not, but the finishing move was Kristoph using his nanobot hands to sweep up Clara off the ground to carry her. Kristoph was able to approach closely where Clara yielded. The crowd cheered.

Clara complimented Kristoph's graciousness and suggested the two ought to spend more time together. Kristoph was not quite sure how to process the remark. It was likely the first time the rest of the PHIA Phorce had seen Kristoph emotionally flustered.

Round 3

The third round would be Joshua facing off against the renowned swordsman Vladimir Drachma. It would effectively be a fencing match although they had different styles. Joshua preferred to grip his katana with two hands while Vladimir fought using only one hand with the other behind his back. Vladimir had the unique ability to "teleport" - that is, disassemble himself as a cloud of nanobots then reappear a short distance away. Joshua found himself limited in mobility due to how fast he was, so he had to rely mostly on maintaining a 360 degree awareness of where he was.

Unlike the previous matches which were far faster paced, this one had a lot more tension as they waited for the right time to strike. As such, during the downtimes, Joshua and Vladimir had the chance to engage in some friendly, idle banter. Vladimir remarked how well Joshua's daughter Angela did in one of the previous matches and saw the family resemblance. Vladimir also admitted that he once had a family of his own, but he outlived them due to his age being well over 250. He had not remarried since then and encouraged Joshua to treasure the time he had with his own family.

Joshua agreed just as he dealt a finishing strike, going at an angle that Vladimir did not anticipate. Vladimir admitted defeat and commended Joshua for fighting honorably. Just before leaving, Joshua suggested to Vladimir that there was probably an android woman somewhere on Torus that could share in his longevity. Vladimir paused for a moment to consider the advice and thanked him.

Round 4

The fourth round pitted Sophia and Twinkle against Megumi. This match would be different as Megumi herself would not be fighting. Rather, she would use her team of holofauna to fight for her, the sheer number of them would balance against Sophia's natural superpowers. Megumi was excited to be able to challenge the leader of the PHIA Phorce as she had been following their deeds in the Oraulan East Condemned Zone. She was looking forward to a spectacular fight and would be happy no matter what the outcome was.

Megumi's team consisted of Sparkle, Mr. Fluffs, Zapwing, Drake, Sebastian and Calypso. When Megumi revealed the appearance of Sparkle, a subroutine set off in Twinkle. He recognized Sparkle as another lux and became infatuated with her, hoping to get to know her at some point. Megumi was not of a royal bloodline so Sparkle had just been following her as a friend in general. Twinkle had spoken too quickly, suggesting Sparkle join the PHIA Phorce to become an assistant to Sophia to which Sparkle was offended, saying that she would never leave Megumi behind. Twinkle apologized, but nevertheless, Sparkle let loose her temperment. The accompanying holofauna would grow more aggressive. Sophia sighed that Twinkle unintentionally put them in hard mode.

Sparkle's main role in the team, much like how Twinkle was doing to Sophia, was to provide support and boosted abilities for the other holofauna. Sophia told Twinkle that he had to target Sparkle directly. While he hesitated, he went ahead and do it, profusely apologizing to Sparkle every time he landed a hit.

Carefully, one by one, Sophia took down each holofauna. She started with Mr. Fluffs then went over to Drake as they controlled the largest areas - Mr. Fluffs ability to jump great distances and maul opponents and Drake's ability to breathe fire. One of the aspects she took advantage of was Zapwing's lightning which she would be able to redirect towards other targets if she was careful. Sophia had gotten knocked down by Sebstian's horn and fists which had the audience gasp. Sophia was able to get up, however, and defeat him as well.

Meanwhile, Twinkle had held his own against Sparkle. Although Sparkle had trained in the arena, Twinkle was the only one of the two that had actual field combat experience. So he held an advantage, and was very quick to be able to dampen Sparkle's abilities to give Sophia an easier time to dispatch the other holofauna.

Finally came Megumi's trump card: Calypso. Calypso was a former machine god that used to look after an ancient fishing village. Calypso crashed down a massive wave of water to flood the arena, catching Sophia in the water. While it was only holographic water and the safety was one, Sophia felt as if she was drowning, not unlike the time she fell into the swamp back in the Condemned Zone. The audience gasped again. Angela, while watching from the stands, began to worry if she was actually going to make it.

Twinkle, realizing Sophia was in danger, turned his attention back to her away from Sparkle. While Twinkle could have easily defeated Sparkle then and there, he wanted to make sure Sophia was okay. He then diverted his available power to her which put her in a heightened state of mind. She used her technokinesis to shape the holographic water around her to not only dissipate it, but also redirect it back at Calypso for a counterattack. Sophia was able to land a finishing blow on Calypso, causing her to retreat.

With Sophia back in the game, they were able to quickly defeat Sparkle, bringing the match to an end. Megumi was not upset over the loss, but was very impressed to see Sophia's and Twinkle's teamwork. Sparkle was also touched that Twinkle willingly backed away to help Sophia out, demonstrating how much he cared for the rest of his team.

Before leaving the area, Sophia and Megumi shook hands, congratulating one another on the match. Sparkle gave Twinkle an aloof look, but reluctantly acknowledged him as a worthy opponent.

Round 5

Sophia had a chance to rest up before the next match. The final round would be against T-R3X, champion of the Games Arena. Because of how powerful he was, the entire PHIA Phorce was allowed to take him on all at once. T-R3X's entrance into the arena was bombastic and epic. Electric guitar music blasted on the loudspeakers as jets of flames arches around him as he stomped into the arena, striking a pose. T-R3X was an imposing opponent being an Archaetronian, a towering synthetic life form resembling a robotic Tyrannosaurus rex wielding a set of battleaxes. He coud also breathe fire.

T-R3X beckoned them for an honorable, challenging fight and was ready to begin. He twirled his axes and let out a roar. The PHIA Phorce prepared themselves, making sure they kept their distance before they managed to figure out how he moved.

TBA

Aftermath

TBA