While Gray was feeling down and wondering if he was even cut out anymore to lead, the GameGo Gamers were very angry seeing Paul protecting Stacia, then both Stacia and Paul eventually getting gunned down in their mechs. Gun down a female on their team?
The 7 males from GameGo Gamers suddenly turned into a bunch of badasses and were thoroughly disassembling the enemies with each shot while shrugging off most shots that were fired back at them. Whether it actually happened or was just caused by the change in attitude, the enemy mechs swore they saw 7 of the 8 GameGo Gamers mech's eyes turn red. This was the power of nerd rage! Now if it translated into actual power or not is yet to be seen, but needless to say the 7 males from GameGo Gamers turned into a bunch of commandos and started chewing into the enemies firing at Gray, Yurika, and Geoff after destroying the 8 enemy mechs in the rear.
The GameGo Gamers ended up performing extremely well, Carly was normally the one doing the most damage at close range due to the Armadillo Mk 01's superb melee attacks, but their side only lost 4 out of 16 mechs when GameGo Gamers normally would have a much higher death rate even when they won due to their reckless tactics.
While the initial setup and execution were attributed to Gray, everyone felt he seemed very off in the later part of the match as he stopped issuing orders. Granted, to some extent orders were no longer necessary, but they probably could've prevented two of those deaths had Gray instructed the damaged ones to fall back and take turns shielding each other or given the snipers specific targets. Either way, everyone on the Steel Wolves felt something was wrong with Gray. The GameGo Gamers were fortunately still impressed with Gray as most leaders in games would just give orders at first then jump into the carnage with the other players as they were there to have fun just like them.
"Good job Gray! Hit us up if you want to team up again! We're at a base somewhere near what was Germany in game, but they haven't let us leave yet in game so I don't know exactly where. I heard Diamond-tiers are an exception though so come see us sometime!" Carly said enthusiastically as she gave Gray's avatar a smack on the back in the postgame lobby.
Gray gave her a weak smile and nodded, both teams exchanged goodbyes, Geoff even managed to add Beth to his friend's list which made the males from GameGo Gamers get protective like a bunch of older brothers protecting their sister.
Gray didn't get a look at Beth in the postgame lobby nor was he really paying attention and just said goodbye to Spoon and then left the lobby with the rest of the Steel Wolves.
Gray asked everyone for a break even though they had only been at it for a little over an hour. Looking at Gray with doubtful eyes, nobody was sure what had happened in Gray's mind.
Stacia opened up and asked Gray "What happened?"
"…" Gray ended up saying nothing, it's not that he was refusing to talk, it was more that he didn't know exactly how to express it.
Feeling the mood, Geoff decided to say in a very energetic tone "Well! I had fun with that last one! Let's take a break and get a snack or something and meet up in a bit!"
Paul and Caleb went off towards the cafeteria, Stacia put a hand on Gray's shoulder and whispered to him "Remember, you're not alone." She then squeezed his shoulder and went off to follow Paul and Caleb with Xyra in tow behind her.
Yurika glared at Geoff who immediately got the hint and also went away with the 4 others, then she glared at Gray, grabbed his arm and said "Come with me!"
Gray wasn't in the mood to argue so he ended up being dragged along with her and she took him to a spot between two buildings out of sight from others and the pushed his back against the wall.
"Are you a man Gray?!?"
"Uhm, yeah, of course I am!"
Yurika kneed him in the family jewels causing Gray to almost fall over and said "I see you still have them, don't you dare sulk like this ever again or I'm going to take them away from you! I like you better when you're confident."
Gray was holding his legs up against himself while squatting on the ground, barely making out what Yurika was saying from the pain coming from his manhood. "@#$% that hurt Yurika! Warn me next time!"
"Why? You didn't seem like you had any so I thought it wouldn't hurt at all."
Gray could only laugh at this point as he thought to himself "If I get this way in a simulation, what will happen in the real thing?"
Yurika said with a gentler tone "Stacia was right, you are not alone, you can rely on us… you can rely on me…"
Gray hugged Yurika unconsciously then quickly released her realizing what he done. Seeing Gray acting shy made Yurika smile so she said teasingly "Come on, now that you understand, let's take care of that pain you have" followed by a wink.
Gray's mind wondered what she meant by that and his mind wandered into a very adult place, strangely enough Yurika took him to the cafeteria with the others, walked to the front counter, spoke to the cook, and came back with a bag of frozen peas which she tossed at Gray.
"Here, use this to cool them off, you might need them later!"
Gray felt his hopes rise only to be crushed by Yurika, again… "This woman is a she devil!" Gray thought to himself. Still, she had a point earlier so Gray felt obligated to address everyone.
"Guys, I'm sorry about earlier. It suddenly hit me that if any one of you dies in a real mission, you won't get to respawn. I honestly got scared thinking about how I could lose any one of you. I'm not saying I can just shrug it off so I hope we can do some capture the flag for now until I wrap my head around this."
Caleb was the first to speak up and said "I'm sure none of us are ready for that sort of thing, but remember, as our commander, we count on your orders."
Geoff spoke next and said "Earlier I know I said I wanted to be the leader, but in matters of life and death I've realized I am not cut out for leading at all. I know it is selfish, but please continue to lead us since I can't handle that sort of responsibility."
"…It's ok to fear death… If you fear failure you will fail…" Xyra said in her usual soft voice that was barely audible.
Gray slumped down on the bench and smacked his forehead a few times against the table causing everyone else to look at him in alarm.
"What the hell are you doing Gray?!" Yurika shouted.
"Stop it you idiot!" Caleb even yelled for once.
Gray thumped his head one more time then sat up and said "I am sorry everyone, I was just trying to knock some sense into myself!"
Everyone looked at Gray curiously and Stacia finally asked "Did it work?"
"Ahhh… nope! I never had any sense to begin with!" Gray said while laughing slightly.
"Yep, that sounds more like you Gray!" Geoff said while nodding his head and everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Screw you guys! Can't I just wallow in misery once in a while?" Gray complained.
"Nope! You can cry yourself to sleep at night all you want, but while you're out with us you better man up!" Yurika declared.
Gray looked at Yurika and said "Fair enough… can I borrow a shoulder to cry on then at night?"
"Of course, anytime you want!" Yurika said happily, then she grabbed Caleb and threw him at Gray and said "We even have a volunteer shoulder!"
Caleb was a bit confused and just said "I don't sleep with other men… I respect you Gray and like you, but that is the extent of it."
Gray wanted to cry right now thinking Caleb, as well as a few people walking by, were misinterpreting Gray's orientation again. Still, Gray was happy that he had good friends that were not so nice as to let him just wallow in self-doubt.
"I have to do more for them, not just give orders, but actually lead them. I wonder who I can talk to about it." Gray thought to himself as he started picturing the same man that introduced them this world. "Yes! I have a feeling Major Valen could point me in the right direction!"
Gray stood up from the table and said "Let's just relax and play some Capture the Flag, then later I need to go find Major Valen."
Everyone else nodded and got up with Gray to head back over to the simulator pods.