"Bloomhouse, Cherry, Douglas, you're with me."
Connor was caught by surprise, why was he going?!?.
He wasn't allowed to brood though, the countdown began soon after.
"3...2...1...GO!."
And with that, the round started.
The four of them went into a dead sprint, with Flynn quickly coming out ahead. The other three teams had also charged out. One had brought out a majority of their strength, another only brought out half of theirs, and the last seemed to have had the same idea as team copper, only sending out their fastest to snatch the flag.
While they were running, Connor could feel his non-existent lungs burning up.
Would it be considered a form of phantom pains?.
Who knew.
Definitely not him.
In his previous life, he was unused to intensive physical activity, leading to regret and resolve to do better.
Markus ran beside Connor, while Douglas tailed their team captain, Flynn. Their team was getting closer but so were their opponents.
Gold and Iron were falling behind team copper and silver, both by more than a few steps.
That's when it happened. The two slower teams switched gears and instead of competing with their speed, they both began to move towards the flanks of their opposition. Ready to catch whoever had the flag.
Flynn reacted by speeding up, almost leaving his team members behind. Luckily, they caught up at the last minute.
Currently, silver and copper were around the same distance from the flag, that is, until silvers leading man lunged forward in a moment of desperation, reaching for the flag.
Time slowed as the man shot through the air. His outstretched hands neared the flag, ready to grasp it. They came closer and closer, inching forward.
Just as he was about to claim his prize...
A baton came flying out, nailing him in the face.
The man tumbled and landed awkwardly, holding his nose while in the fetal position.
As for the flag, Flynn took hold of it and sped away towards his base. His teammates raced after him, doing their best to keep up and protect their team leader.
One of them, of course, was missing their baton.
Making their way back, they came across Irons flanking force. There were around fifteen of them waiting for them.
They were the only thing keeping them from their base.
They would have to breakthrough within a reasonable amount or else the rest would catch up and surround them. Even if they didn't outright lose then, the difficulty of winning would rise significantly.
Team copper knew this, and so did everyone else.
At this moment, Flynn's voice could be heard.
"Bloomhouse, Cherry in front, creat an opening, Douglas, behind them, shielding me, Y-shape."
His commands were simple but immediately understood.
"Five seconds."
With the baton grasped within his hand, Connor readied himself for combat, dividing his attention between watching his surroundings, keeping his pace and keeping track of his teammates. He didn't want to slip up.
He looked over to Markus, who nodded his head in confirmation.
Together, they charged forward, ramming into their enemies using their shoulders, toppling those behind them.
With this, their engagement began.
As fast as he could, Connor whacked whoever fell down, managing to take out two before he was forced to continue forward. Cherry managed three, and with the help of Connor, forced open a hole in their formation.
More of the iron arrived, adding to their opponents.
Connor and Cherry did their best to disrupt them before it turned into a brawl.
Connor kicked, shoved, poked and even headbutted. Something within him had turned into a vicious animal, tearing a hole through them.
As he dealt a finishing blow to yet another victim, he turned to look at his partner, only to find him literally being dragged down. The irons had discarded their weapons and held onto him. Just as he was about to go help him, Flynn appeared beside him.
"Don't even think about it! The path is clear, let's go!."
Having said his piece, the team captain sped away, leaving Connor with a complicated expression on his face.
Quickly, he made up his mind, and made his way towards Cherry.
Two attempted to block his path. One on either side of him.
Using his momentum, he twirled, spinning to the right and whacked ones elbow, causing them to jerk in pain. The other quickly reacted by jumping backwards, and with two hands, took a diagonal swing at Connor, aiming for one of his shoulders.
Still in motion, Connor attempted to dodge by shifting his body weight so that he dropped like a brick. By a hairs width, the attack missed. Connor had also stopped his back from touching ground by supporting himself with his left hand. In this new lower position, he kicked his current opponents shin, causing them to stumble and buying himself enough time to get up and get away.
Using his tired legs, he charged once more into the fray, using his elbow as a weapon covering Markus' blind spots. He then forcefully took the man's hand and ran away.
At this point in time, the three other teams were just around the corner.
The duo sprinted with all they had, lifting their tired legs again and again.
It didn't take long for them to arrive in front of team coppers entrance.
Just as they were about to cross the threshold, a baton came flying from the pursuing horde, hitting Connor right in his exposed back. Along the sharp pain, it had also knocked him off his feet, causing him to fall forward and land on his left arm, further injuring him.
Temporarily winded, Connor couldn't find the strength to quickly recover. As he was thinking that this was the end for him, he was dragged forward by Markus, bringing him behind the walls.
"Quickly recover as much as you can, we'll need every last bit of strength to get through this."
Finished speaking, Markus joined the defense of the entrance.
Connor watched helplessly as the brawl became heated. Over a hundred opponents were trying to get inside and steal the flag.
Copper had allocated a majority of it's manpower at the entrance, using only a small amount to safeguard the flag.
Over the course of three minutes, many twists and turns had occurred, beginning with the loss of Hudson.
He had been at the front since the very beginning, leading his squad and holding back a portion of silver's men. He'd been largely successful until two of their officers, Lesminn and Attorin, concentrated their efforts, pinning the man down while their men pounced on the now headless squad. Seeing this, Hudson managed to breakthrough and aid his squad, ensuring that they weren't completely wiped out. Sadly, this is led to him getting ganged up on by seven others, Lesminn and Attorin included. Though he managed to take Attorin and two others with him.
Following this, Hudson's once stable hold crumbled.
Copper had to draw on their flag reserve's and only managed to plug the hole after considerable difficulty and with the aid of Hudson's remnants and Meinas play.
Meina's contribution was another unexpected turn. He had exploited the enemies rushing in, trying to push their advantage. When they tried to push further in, he paid great attention to the coppers response and troop placement, silently coordinating with them and performing a pincer movement. This led to considerable losses to their enemies, tearing a sizeable chunk from their forces. Gold, silver and iron practiced greater caution afterwards, slowing down their advance and dulling some of their strength. This bought time for copper to better organize and position their troops.
For a while, a stalemate where neither side gained nor last ground, occurred. But that all changed when troops started hopping the walls.
At first, no one noticed anything irregular, feeling that the rear was safe for the time being. Fatal complacency.
A few were taken out before copper responded. Even Flynn was caught by surprise. After all, the walls were pretty tall and they were never given rope.
They didn't have time to question this mystery.
They just had to deal with the problems it caused.
Seeing that the flag had become contested, Connor grit his teeth through the pain and picked up his beating stick.
With his tired legs, he brought himself to the flag stand, where captain Flynn and several others were defending.
Connor used his sudden appearance to his advantage and managed to to eliminate a few assailants before his presence was discovered. While it wasn't much, it helped to alleviate much of their current pressure. Moments later, the flag was secure once more.
"We're buckling."
Lt. Flynn pointed towards the entrance where more and more enemies broke through the gaps.
"Seems like the men got a little distracted."
Connor figured that they had seen what was happening in the back and started to panic, leading to openings that were exploited.
Flynn decided the entrance was a lost cause.
"EVERYONE, FALLBACK TO THE STAND!."
Hearing this, the remainder of coppers troops began retreating to the stand.
As Connor watched the remnants approach, he estimated there were around 15 on their way. Markus being one of them.
"How was it?."
A simple question.
"Chaotic at best, suffocating at worst."
Markus had to squeeze each word out while he caught his breath.
"Who's left?."
"Me, Meina, Vale, Hudson was just really unlucky."
"Hits?."
"Two."
"You ready?."
"I'm gonna have to be."
"Good, here they come."
Connor stood by Markus' side, ready to cover his back, Markus did the same.
They were both silent as they watched the incoming horde.
It was slightly intimidating, but they mostly ignored that, and prepared to receive them.
Then with a roar, they engaged the enemy.
"AHHH!."