Gray didn't know what mechs Kelly's team would pick, but he had to assume they would be superior to his team's mechs.
"So what's the plan?" Geoff asked.
"Well, Kelly knows I like to be defensive when I'm at a disadvantage, so let's do just that." Gray replied
"Huh?" was the reply heard from everyone on Gray's team.
"I'm banking on that she'll think I'll try to surprise her by doing the opposite of what I would do in this situation."
"So do you know her weakness then?" Caleb asked.
"She's impatient, but I'm guessing the military worked most of that out of her. Stacia, how much is the weather affecting your sensors?"
"Um... my normal sensor range isn't affected, but I can only provide targeting data at roughly half the normal distance."
"That's fine, none of us brought any weapons that need it. Glad to see Xyra and Caleb thinking ahead and going with a light battle rifle instead of a sniper rifle." Gray said to Xyra and Caleb.
"Have a little more faith in us than that Gray..." Caleb said jokingly.
"I do, that's why I let everyone pick for themselves, I am merely commending everyone on their choices, except maybe Paul. I think this is the part where I'm supposed to say 'Have fun', but winning is more fun than losing!" Gray proudly stated.
"What's wrong with my choice?" Paul asked.
"That shield slows you down, it's going to get in the way when walking through the jungle."
Paul lifts the shield up and slams the bottom of it into the soft ground, leaving it sitting up like a wall, "Problem solved."
"Weapon?"
Paul's mech reached on its back and produced a large 12-round grenade launcher instead of his spear. "Check!"
"Very good! The spear and that almost worthless grenade launcher accessory are worthless without the shield."
"Somebody stop him, he's trying to sound like a leader again..." Yurika teased.
"...it's hot..." Xyra whispered.
"He's my wife! Stay back!" Yurika said teasingly at Xyra.
"I know... just stating what I think..." Xyra spoke softly.
"You've been quite talkative today Xyra, everything Ok?" Yurika asked Xyra.
"...Sorry..." Xyra mumbled.
"Ahem, getting back on track... we're going to be playing defensively, but use guerrilla warfare. With this weather, our two Whispers should be even harder to detect." Gray declared.
"Yeah, but just two of them won't do much damage, might be able to take out one but at that point they will already have located them." Caleb countered.
"Agreed, so Caleb, think we can find some quicksand?"
"The quicksand condition is the flotation of particles of cohesion-less soil, like fine gravel and sand, due to vertical upward seepage flow. It is not some sand that sucks people in it as depicted in many movies. Most likely a standing pool of water will be nearby or a Artesian spring would indicate the presence of an Artesian aquifer which create ideal conditions for quicksand."
"Caleb... in English please?" Gray said plainly.
"Ahem, if we want to find it, we should look for low places where the ground appears to be almost boiling or water looks like it is coming up from the ground."
"Much better, ok, teams of 2, usual pairings, mark potential sites of quicksand as you spot them, I want to spot them first before they spot us so we can lead them towards any quicksand. Based on Kelly's personality, she most likely will keep everyone together or have 2 teams of 4."
"Won't they see us leading them towards it?" Stacia asked.
"Yes, so we'll have to see how they react to baiting them, Paul, switch with Yurika, her Ranger is faster and won't slow down Stacia as much."
"But–" Paul started to say
Gray interrupted Paul "I get it, you like her, but if you put her ahead of the whole team we're in trouble. Jono, what's wrong, you've been quiet."
"...huh? Me? Nothing, just got a lot on my mind..."
"That's fine, if you have something you want to talk about, come find me or anyone else on the team after this match, we're a team remember!"
"Right, a team..." Jono muttered to himself
"What was that?"
"Nothing, I'll talk to you after the match."
Gray thought to himself, "Weird, Jono sounds serious for a change."
"So... split up, look for quicksand, what else?" Geoff asked.
"Oh, sorry, Caleb and Xyra, try to get a feel for how well they see you, you two can engage as you see fit, but don't force anything, you guys are more of a harassment force. Paul and Jono, you guys along with Geoff and myself will be the ones guiding the enemy towards the quicksand. Stacia, you will be the beacon that should hopefully draw them towards you and give us sight on them. Yurika, be her guard dog and engage at will if within sight!"
"Woof!" Yurika barked.
Gray and Geoff headed in to the jungle on the west side, Xyra and Caleb headed up the east side, Paul and Jono took mid-west and Stacia and Yurika took the mid-east. All of their mechs sloshing through the mud as the rain continued to pour relentlessly.
Stacia's mech activated her sensors and her Cherub's little wings fanned out, the blue accent lighting made it cute as always which brought joy to Stacia, and probably any other female pilot.
"Sensors clear!" Stacia shouted.
"Advance slowly! Mark quicksand, and I am going to assume everyone knows to not step in it!"
"Roger!" Came from everyone leaving Gray satisfied.
30 seconds later, Paul and Jono reported they had found quicksand.
"Mark it on the map guys, bright yellow!" Gray ordered.
Paul and Jono both drew where they thought it looked like the quicksand was.
"Jono, I don't think that's quicksand up that far." Paul said
"I think you're drawing it too close!" Jono countered.
"Stop it guys! You both are correct as far as I'm concerned so we'll just combine what you both found!" Gray didn't want them arguing and was a little concerned as Jono seemed on edge.
In the end, a kidney bean shape was drawn on the map directly in the center inside a land depression where no trees had taken root. The entire map itself was somewhat bowl shaped, but not the difference between the highest and lowest point was maybe 20 meters at most. Gray was extra relieved that Xyra and Caleb didn't bring sniper rifles since the lack of elevated ground in a dense jungle made it nigh impossible to snipe accurately.
"Paul, Jono, go around the quicksand slowly, Stacia and Yurika, stop once Stacia spots an enemy." Gray ordered.
"I disagree Gray, we should move quickly so we don't get ourselves stuck with the quicksand between us and our teammates." Jono countered.
"Ok, go for it, Geoff we're going to speed up too then, need to match them to keep ourselves from falling behind." Gray decided to let Jono have some free reign as Gray knew he wasn't always correct in his judgment.
"Target pinging!" Stacia suddenly yelled, a single bright red dot appeared on the map.
"Just one?" Gray asked.
As Gray asked this, the single red dot split apart and made two, then 6 more dots appeared behind the first two, making two neat columns of 4.
"They're approaching very slow..." Gray muttered to himself.
"...probing the enemy..." Xyra whispered.
Xyra's and Caleb's mechs were the closest to the enemy group. Because of their sensor jammers they had even worse sensor range than any other regular mech, but that didn't matter as they could share data from anyone else on the team.
"Range, 110m... closing... 100m... wait, they stopped." Xyra said softly, the formation that was 2 columns of red dots turned into a double flying-V, this left 5 mechs on the enemy side able to fire effectively at Caleb and Xyra.
"We're spotted, but not accurately, they are most likely waiting for us to open fire first." Caleb analyzed their movement.
"Remember, guerrilla tactics, in and out, let's make them frustrated!" Gray said
"Affirmative." Caleb said plainly as his mech finally moved close enough to see the enemy mechs.
"Targets sighted, all 8 are the same mechs, 3 of them are carrying a different rifle than what I've ever seen that has a blue glow on the barrel." Caleb said.
"Any idea what it is?" Gray asked.
"If it's what I think it is, this will be bad."
Caleb's mech took another step forward and watched two of the mechs kneel down in front of 2 of the mechs carrying the new rifles. He was never one for caution, but almost getting killed in the virtual world made him a little more cautious thankfully. He held out his mechs arm to the side and fired 3 shots from his rifle without being concerned where they went.
The 2 new rifles placed on the shoulders of the 2 kneeling mechs with a bracket that looked like it was designed just for this, the blue glow became brighter and after half a second, two loud "BRRAAANGGG" noises rang out.
All Caleb saw next was the trees near where his gun was pointing being bored through instantly in front and behind where they were aimed at.
"Caleb what was that noise! It sounded like a bullet hitting a bell almost!"
"Railguns Gray... they brought f*****g railguns..."