Moderator and Game Master Tournaments

[DogTrot]

I need staff. You all need staff. I want GOOD staff. Unfortunately, it's still too early to know which members are dedicated, or to have enough GMs with their missions finished in time. So, I'm making a contest!

This contest will be a test of several things: patience, determination, logic, literacy, and skill. While this is a somewhat easy test, that means you have plenty of time to take this seriously and give it honest consideration. You may not edit your post after the deadline, otherwise you will be disqualified. The challenge and rules are as follows:

You are to write a story with your own character as the protagonist, going solo, and completing the mission listed below. The bare minimum length is 15 paragraphs, 5 sentences each. You must complete this by the 24th of June in order to be considered. When finished, post your story in this thread here. Do not post anything else in this thread.

Mission: This is an urgent request from the Backdraft group. As it has been deemed a public interest issue by the ZBC, they have authorized the request for all of their pilots as well. MV2, the recently surfaced terrorist group, has commandeered one of the main Backdraft group buildings. The team was a fast squad of stealth-wielding Atak Cats, and took the guards by surprise when they were at their weakest. In addition, the group has brought in an Energy Liger, probably their captain. Your objective is to prevent them from taking over the authentic Death Stinger hidden inside the building, lest they gain control of it's powerful Charged Particle Beam.

The deadline is June 24th. On that date, I will evaluate the applications and pick the top three. The first prize will earn its writer the rank of Moderator, the following two netting the rank of Game Master.

If I like what I see, I'll open up the contest again. Feel free to re-use your story, but you can edit any way you so like before the next deadline. If you are a Game Master and win the second contest, you will be bumped to moderator, while the 4th place winner will receive your Game Master rank.

[Dr. Gerald Fitzgerald]

9:34 AM, ZST. One day prior:

“Oh, wow. Now this is perfect” Gerald spoke aloud to himself as the open mission request blared out of the ZBC broadcaster in his apartment. “Nothing restores your cred like becoming a hero. It would be stupid NOT to show up and play support for the headliners…”

11:20AM, ZST. One hour prior:

“…. ****.”

Gerald yanked the controls on his Pteras back towards him and it quickly rose back above the clouds. He had planned to be fashionably late to the mission so there would be less chance of damaging his Zoid, but the scene that he arrived to was just astonishing. He had descended from the cloud cover only to find the green Energy Liger roaring triumphantly, standing atop a pile of broken and destroyed zoids. Gerald was sure that there was at least a Berserk Fury in the scrap heap, tossed haphazardly in with the Elephander, a Blade Liger, and strangely enough, a Zabat and a Flyscissors. It didn’t seem like any of the enemy units had noticed him, but it was obvious that the attack had completely and utterly failed. However, aside from that bold Energy Liger, nothing on the ground looked even potentially threatening.

A quick rap at his control panel opened up the com channel to the ZBC mission coordinator. “This is Zoid Registry Number PTX-017-XAM2. What in the hell happened here?”

“Acknowledged, PTX-017-XAM2, this is ZBC Mission Organizer Benkei Kurama. The target Energy Liger neutralized the entire offensive force solo. It must be modified; normally even the specs for an Energy Liger aren’t that high. Has it recognized you yet, PTX-017?”

“Not that I can tell” Gerald replied over the comm. “Whats the status of the mission?”

“Incomplete,” Benkei’s voice responded, “but reinforcements are on the way. They should arrive at 1300 hours, but the Backdraft Group has informed us that it is very possible they could deploy the Death Stinger by then. We are preparing for a major conflict…”
Gerald checked his watch, it was only 1200 hours.

“Send me the data on the Backdraft building. “ Gerald's voice is full of all the faux confidence he could conjur. “I’m going to try and buy you guys a little time”. Dr. Fitzgerald let go of the controls and let autopilot take the wheel for a moment. His eyes closed and his thoughts centered on the situation. He’d have to stay as far away from the Energy Liger as possible; it would surely demolish him in any sort of straight up confrontation. The Attack Kats were still on the ground, and would provide trouble for the opposing force once it arrived. ‘How can I possibly approach this situation?’ Dr. Fitzgerald murmured. ‘Maybe if I--‘

His thought process was cut short by the blaring of warning sirens. The HUD on his Pteras flashed the message: [INCOMING FIRE]

"What in the hell?!” Gerald yelled to himself, sloppily evading the gatling gun and volley of energy rounds fired at him. “They didn’t see me at all, how could they kno--“

He stared dumbfounded at the clouds he was flying above, or as least was flying above, a moment ago. He had forgotten to stay within the edges of the cloud bank and the Energy Liger had managed to draw a bead. It was now coming at him full throttle, roaring in a digital thunder.

He had to let that thought sink in for a moment.

“ENERGY LIGERS CAN FLY?!”

And to the good Doctor's disbelief, there was the Energy Liger, its plasma wings crackling with electric life as it launched itself at him in an attempt to slice the Pteras in half. Gerald slammed the controls and banked to the right hard, then he retracted the wings to begin reducing his altitude. The Energy Liger came inches from taking off one of the machine's legs, and it growled in disappointment. By this point the cockpit had become a cacouphany of explitives.

Dr. Fitzgerald had no time to loose. Struggling to deal with the G-forces wrought by his self induced freefall, he just managed to level out the Pteras a couple hundred feet below his former position. He could tell the Energy Liger was closing in on him from the large amounts of firepower that were clipping the Pteras, but there simply wasn't time to deal with the peppering. He grabbed the throttle and punched it, launching the Pteras forward at its maximum speed.

The jet's flight path swung low until he was only a few hundred feet off the ground before leveling off. The rounds from the Energy Liger were becoming less and less frequent in passing, and Gerald was extremely thankful that it apparently couldn’t keep up with the Pteras.

He set his course toward the building so that he sweep over the group of Attack Kats, who had apparently not noticed the Energy Ligers flying charge moments earlier. Hopefully the sonic boom from his dive would knock some of them over and cause enough damage for a system freeze. Just as the pass began, each Kat abruptly turned towards his position and began to empty their magazines. The Energy Ligers pilot had alerted them of the intruding Pteras.

As he careened through the cloud of incoming fire - taking far more shots on the chin than he'd have liked - he could feel the Pteras’s speed decreasing from the steady lead haze. Regardless, he continued on towards the target as the sonic boom he had conjured washed over the Attack Kats. Three of the small zoids were unable to keep their footing and were flung to the ground from the impact, a system freeze resulting.

Dr. Fitzgerald didn’t have time to savor the victory. The building data had finally arrived and they were immediately pulled up, mind racing for possible assault angles. As the steadily slowing Pteras zoomed past the building, Gerald fired both his missile pods and his modular setup ballistic array at various sections of the building near its foundation. With a smug grin the image of the crumbling Backdraft Building faded from his rear camera, now only a speck on the horizon. With this much collateral damage the terrorist effort to respark the Death Stinger would at the very least be slowed. To boot, he had gotten to demolish a building owned by the Backdraft Group. Two birds, one stone. His now-white knuckles finally let loose their death grib on the reigns, allowing the Pteras’s flight became even more turbulent as it limped away from the fight back towards friendlier skies.

That was until his proximity warning signs started blaring at him once again.

The HUD now indicated that the Energy Liger was on his six, and significantly pissed. It seems that the reduction in speed had allowed it to catch back up to the Doctor's mod Pteras. The Energy Liger had all but forgone the use of its guns, and was now intent at tearing Gerald out of the sky with its (relatively) bare claws.

Even as Gerald tried to maneuver, he could tell that his damaged and malfunctioning Pteras was done for, leaving no opportunities to dodge the Energy Liger's attack. The hammered bird began to descend like a frozen seraph, her controls now cold and unresponsive. The Pteras impacted the ground accompanied by the sickening sounds of twisted metal and broken dreams. Its lights faded and died, leaving Gerald alone and bloodied from the crash landing. The Energy Liger quickly closed the gap with the broken Zoid and maliciously grabbed the Pteras with its powerful jaws. Its violent shaking wracked the totaled machine before tossing it aside, sending it briefly airborne once more before it simply crumpled into a heap on the ground.
Dr Gerald Fitzgerald, bloodied and broken, faded out of consciousness….

[DogTrot]

... Nobody's active. Though the deadline has passed, and the Dr. has proven himself XD

This is locked, and I have a mod.