"Let's go, Bloodmoon, it's time to drop!" Wraith said; "Wanna be the Jumpmaster and lead us to your first victory?".

Her heart fluttered. The lowered podium that she stood on hung above nothing, feets and feets away from the ground. She had only jumped once before and, although exhilarating, it was scary. The wind ruffled her hair so she pulled her helmet on.

"Come on, come on! Time to make a decision here!" Wraith's voice called out impatiently and Bloodmoon quickly glanced at her.

"On my mark!" Bloodmoon yelled out, trying to sound as confident as she could.

After all, all eyes were on her now; it was a new season and she was a new Legend.

The passing of the quick wind almost made her deaf. Luckily, as a team, the duo had the connected earpieces and there was no need for them to yell their lungs out in order to communicate.

She watched Bangalore and Octane jump, Octane yelling out in joy: "Wooo-hooo!"

Bloodmoon decided to wait for another moment before she exclaimed: "Now!" 

Despite the very uncomfortable feeling in her lower abdomen, she jumped head first into what seemed like an abyss, hoping to Gods, if there were any, that she wouldn't make a complete fool out of herself.

Wraith swiftly followed after her: "Where to?" the muffled voice in her earpiece asked.

"Fragment West!" she said purposefully, positioning her body to allow her to arrive at the chosen destination as soon as possible.

"I got your back." Wraith said; "Stay on me.".

Dropping down very quickly, she turned to look behind herself: "Octane and Bangalore to our 6, going straight to the Epicenter.".

"Scratch that! Caustic and Mirage at 3, coming down to our area!" Wraith said urgently.

Bloodmoon's eyes widened and she turned again to take a look. Caustic was the most feared Legend, one that she hoped to avoid at all cost and, although a joker, Mirage had a skillset that was far above her own.

“Fuck!” she exclaimed; “What do we - “.

“With me!” Wraith yelled and turned straight head down, approaching a building fast.

Without hesitation, Bloodmoon allowed Wraith to take over the command and she went after her, only moments later straightening up to allow herself an easier landing.

She landed with a loud thud and pain shot up her spine from her feet due to sudden collision with hard ground. She released a groan and, not wasting a moment to allow her feet to adjust, she made a run for the door.

As soon as she jumped into a building, she slid down toward Wraith who already held two weapons in her hands. Wraith quickly tossed her a Hemlock and Bloodmoon grabbed it from her sliding position, quickly getting on her feet and grabbing a magazine from the floor.

Her heart beat so loudly in her ears that she was unsure if she would even be able to hear enemies approaching, but she had no time to waste. Running at the highest speed that she could, she went up the stairs, quickly holstering the weapon to her back. 

With now free hands, she pulled her thermal goggles onto her eyes, allowing herself to take a quick look through the window while, at the same time, she rushed to pick up a couple of frag grenades that lay down on the floor some feet away from her. 

Then was when she saw it. In the darkened surroundings due to her thermal goggles, she saw a red glow of a figure passing by the window in the building on their left; “Mirage in the left building!”.

“Opening fire!” was the response that she got and one that she didn’t expect to hear so soon.

Only seconds later, she started hearing gunfire down the building and, with already so little time to prepare, now she knew that she couldn’t find more magazines. With one mag in her weapon and one attached to her belt, she picked up both grenades and quickly chucked one through the window where she saw Mirage, yelling: “Grenade out!”.

Then she ran for the balcony door to take a better look at what was going on down below her since the gunshots were coming from that direction. She slowly opened the door, hiding behind it while she pulled out her gun into her hands. Now, aiming down the sight, she did her best to calm her breath. She needed steady hands and one lucky shot to get rid of Caustic.

Then she saw him. A gas trap hissed when Wraith accidentally shot it and a large yellow-glowing Caustic stood in its midst.

Nox gas.

She aimed at the large enemy, holding her breath for a moment to allow her a clear shot, but then something else drew her attention; Mirage ran out in the open and she aimed at him instead, knowing very well that Wraith was already trying to take care of Caustic. Bloodmoon took a shot before she could even think of what she had done. Mirage dispersed into the thin air and she wanted to bite at her tongue for not trusting the thermal sight and, instead, acting on a simple weak human instinct.

If she was to trust her thermal sight, she would have known that that was a decoy, smartly played by Mirage. After all, there was no heat footprint to it.

Someone chuckled behind her and she turned around only to face Mirage. He held an EVA-8 Auto shotgun to her face.

“Like my new suit?” he asked, pointing at it, and she quickly took notice that he now had a black suit with bananas on it instead of his usual yellow one.

“Erm…” she stuttered, being caught off guard by the question; “Yeah?”.

“That doesn’t sound convincing.” he said and pulled the trigger. 

In a single shot, her shield went down. She was just raising her weapon to shoot at him when he pulled his trigger for the second time.

Everything went black.

Bloodmoon gasped and she quickly sat up in pain, her face burning, and she swiftly started to rip off the wires that were connected to her head.

“Hey, hey!” a man in a white lab coat said; “Wraith is still fighting! It’s not over for you yet!”.

Without acknowledging the man, she continued to rip the wires off in a panic. After all, she just got shot in the face.

“Hey!” the man said and quickly approached her, grabbing her hands to try and stop her; “You’ll destroy the equipment which, I have to say, is extremely expensive!”.

She quickly looked up at his brown eyes and his kind, shaved face before she looked around the room. Twenty two pods were laid out one next to another and all Legends lay there with their brains connected to a computer.

“Wraith has your banner.” the man said; “You need to get back in!".

Finally, catching her breath and calming down for a moment when she realised that Mirage didn’t kill her in real life, she once again looked at the man and nodded.

“Good.” he said; “Allow me.”.

She laid back into the very soft material of the pod and allowed the man to connect all the wires to her head again.

“Are…?” she spoke quietly.

“I really shouldn't say, but since it's your first one… Caustic escaped. Mirage is getting third-partied.”.

As soon as the man connected the last wire, he stood back and pushed a button at the side of her pod. With that, everything, once again, went completely black.

She opened her eyes to find herself in the small shuttle.

Wraith's voice called out: “Welcome back.”.

“Thanks.” Bloodmoon managed; “How long have I been…?”.

“Only a few minutes, so get ready. Enemies are coming.”.

She gulped as the door of the shuttle opened. Without hesitation, she jumped and, only seconds after, she was on the top of the building.

“Here!” Wraith said and tossed her an R-99, quickly making her way behind a wall; “They’re aiming at me.”.

Bloodmoon grabbed the gun in the air and ran for cover too. Being on a roof was both good and bad, but most definitely bad when a revive shuttle had just dropped you down.

"All eyes are on us." Wraith said and Bloodmoon knew it was true. 

Everyone had seen the shuttle arriving from miles away.

Without being able to take a moment to compose herself, she saw a familiar glow of orange light going through the wall.

“Bloohound.” Wraith whispered and Bloodmoon nodded.

It was yet another Legend that she truly hoped that she wouldn’t have to face on her first day.

Quick footsteps drew her attention and she quickly turned, staying in the cover, before she aimed at the incoming enemy. 

“Incoming!” Fuse yelled and a thermal grenade went off just behind her, the heat of it making her want to move, but she knew better.

Heat couldn’t kill her. Leaving her cover could.

Without a second thought, she started shooting at Fuse who was running to get to cover. His blue shield cracked and, luckily, she heard a painful grunt from him when she shot him in the shin, leaving behind some blood on the floor.

“Fuse compromised!” she yelled to Wraith who, at that exact time, started shooting at another incoming enemy.

“Gods, give me the sight!” she heard and she turned around to brace herself for it; for Bloodhound’s ultimate ability.

Bloodmoon was on the go; she jumped over the raging fire of the thermal grenade and slid down through the open area to reach Wraith. The two instantly stood back to back, turning around in circles in order to defend each other the best that they could. They didn't know where Bloodhound would come from.

Something in the air drew Bloodmoon’s attention and she looked up only for the fire to rain down on them. She cowered down for a moment before she remembered that the fire would spread out and create a fiery circle around them. That was Fuse's ultimate.

As the fire hit the ground, Bloodmoon found herself riddled with the sensory overload from her thermal goggles. She couldn't see anything other than a blinding yellow colour so she quickly pulled them off and lifted her gun. That was when she saw him; red-eyed Bloodhound was raising his sniper just some feet away from her and, just as he was to pull the trigger, a loud bang echoed down the city. Bloodhound's shield cracked and they looked surprised for a moment. Before they could compose themselves, another bang echoed and their brains splattered all over the wall next to them, their body falling to the ground with a loud thud, a pool of blood springing out from a caved-in helmet.

Knowing that Bloodhound was down, both Wraith and Bloodmoon turned to face Fuse. To their surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. Thinking quickly, Bloodmoon slid across the open space to return to her original cover and pulled out her second grenade. She fling it over her head and onto the place where she saw Fuse fall. 

“Oh, shit.” was all that she heard before the grenade went off, followed by multiple other detonations that almost deafened her completely; no doubt, it was caused by an eruption of the grenades that Fuse carried.

She covered her ears and watched the blood splatter everywhere, some almost evaporating into a mist, closing her eyes when she saw a bloody arm being lifted into the air.

“Let’s go!” she heard from her earpiece and, seconds later, both she and Wraith were jumping off the building, their thrusters turning on to keep them safe from the fall damage. 

“Two more teams remain!” Wraith said, not stopping for a moment as she made her way toward another building.

Bloodmoon followed: “Who?”.

“I don't know.” Wraith said and closed the door behind Bloodmoon, quickly crouching down and moving toward one of the windows; “Someone has a sniper, be careful.”.

Without a word, Bloodmoon made her way, quickly sweeping through the building, trying her hardest to find anything that she could use for the remaining combat. She came across an arc star and another couple of mags for her R-99.

“This will have to do.” she said more to herself than to Wraith.

“Huh?” Wraith asked.

“Got two and a half mags left for my R-99 and one arc star.”.

“I’m not in much of a better position either.” Wraith returned; “We ought to stay hidden for now. The ring is coming in.”.

Being so overwhelmed with battle, Bloodmoon realised that she didn’t check her map once. She lifted her left hand and looked at the brace that had a screen on it; a map, movement of the ring, number of remaining squads and her and Wraith’s position were all displayed on it.

There were two more ring rounds left and, luckily, the storm was closing into where the game for her had started; at Fragment West. 

Crouching down at the opposite side of the building, Bloodmoon pulled back her goggles on and started to inspect all the windows that she could see, keeping her gun at ready. Finally, her eyes were drawn to two glowing figures in the building at the other side of the lava river.

“Got eyes on Lifeline and Horizon.” she informed Wraith.

Then her eyes widened. The windows suddenly filled with gas and raging gunfire started only to finish some moments later.

Bloodmoon looked at her map; only two teams were left.

She quickly made her way toward Wraith, wanting to join the safety of her teammate's closeness.

“Let’s go!” Wraith said and quickly exited the building, leaving behind a closed opening to a portal.

“No, wait!” Bloodmoon exclaimed, making her way back to the window on the other side of the building in order to see better at the area where Caustic's gas just was; “We have no way of knowing who was victorious!”

“Caustic, I feel it in my gut!” Wraith responded; “Move! He’s alone!”.

“Alone and just took out two other legends!” Bloodmoon protested.

The door of the portal opened.

“Just, listen to me!” Wraith yelled and, just as Bloodmoon was about to try and reason with her, she heard a series of rapid gunshots before everything went silent. 

She got frozen in her place due to fear.

"Wraith?" she whispered into her mike but got no response.

Quickly, she checked her map once again and, to her horror, it still said; two teams remain.

Wraith was gone and she was left alone to face Caustic.

“Come out, wherever you are?” a muffled voice suddenly came from her building.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Everything went quiet and she quickly squatted down. She listened in but there was no movement out there, no movement at all. 

All of a sudden, she heard a dark giggle behind her.

She quickly turned and brought her gun up, pulling the trigger.

Caustic's shield glowed red and he just stopped and looked at her, tilting his head curiously. When her mag got empty and his shield still remained up, he punched her in the stomach and she fell to the ground, her shield taking damage. 

It hurt.

Down from the ground, she looked up only for him to kick her in the stomach a few more times, making her blue shield fail. She was on the ground and breathless, her gun out of her reach. She tried to lift herself and used her hands as a support, but she felt weak.

“Only your cowardness brought you this far, little girl.” Caustic spoke and her hands trembled while she tried to keep herself up; “What do I do with you?” he spoke more to himself than to her; “Ah, I know! Look at me.” he demanded and she lifted her gaze, accepting her defeat.

Caustic towered over her, taking off one of the gas cans attached to his shoulder. He brought the gas can lower, just in front of her face, and allowed it to go off, grabbing her by the shoulder with his free hand.

A sudden horrifying lack of oxygen shocked her and she tried to get herself free, holding her breath and kicking around. 

Caustic just pinned her down strongly and slowly said: “Breathe it in.”.

Knowing that she had no other choice, as weak and as trapped as she was, she took a slow and shallow breath in, instantly choking on the gas to the point that her eyes watered and her throat closed, going completely dry. Her eyes widened in pain and terror and she gasped for air, feeling panic rise inside of her.

I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!

With that thought, her body went limp.

She opened her eyes and sat up, covering her chest with her hand and gasping for the air. It all felt way too real.

"It's okay." she heard Wraith's voice; "You did okay.".

After catching her breath, she finally managed: "I did shit!".

She found Wraith's eyes and they just looked at each other, both remaining completely silent. 

The man in the white lab coat drew her attention as he approached her. He started taking off the wires while she turned her eyes to the rest of the Legends.

Other than still connected Caustic, they were all already out of their pods and were chatting away about their experiences in the battle.

Wraith left her side and accompanied the rest of the Legends, all of them slowly making their way out, being lost in their conversations.

Bloodmoon sighed loudly and looked down at her hands that were placed on her knees.

"Wraith is right." the man said.

"Hm?" she asked, being brought out of her thoughts.

"You did okay.".

___oOo___

"There she is!" Mirage exclaimed; "Our newest Legend.".

Slowly walking into the Champion's bar, she raised her gaze, slightly blushing, to meet the eyes of the famous Legends: "Mirage." she said and nodded her head in his direction, trying to sound as nonchalantly as she could; "Pleasure to be here.".

"How did such a young sistah like yourself manage to find herself here?" Gibraltar asked jokingly, almost making her already pink cheeks blush even harder.

Instead, she scoffed and decided to play tough: "The qualifications were a joke. I was far above the capabilities of other contestants. My game was perfect. I - ".

"Love, we get it. You were the best." Loba said in a sweet voice and winked at her; "You've got no one to impress here.".

"I kind of got multiple worlds to impress…" she sighed, getting lost in thought.

Perhaps she bit off more than she could chew.

Caustic spoke up; "Your skillset is still to be…" he made a small pause; "Tested.".

"What's your name, chica?" Octane asked her.

"Oh, I'm Jacqui. You can call me Jack." she said and blushed.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." Horizon said; "You'll have to tell us all about your abilities!".

"Erm…" Jack stuttered, not really wanting to reveal what exactly she can do; "I would prefer to show you on the battlegrounds.".

"You had an opportunity to do it." Wraith said; "Why didn't you?".

Now, Jack blushed hard. She indeed had an opportunity to use her abilities, but she was so caught up in everything that was going on that she hadn't even thought about using them. Instead, she just ended up being one big failure.

"Erm…" she stuttered.

"Leave the poor lass alone." Fuse spoke; "She did well enough for her first battle." he found her eyes and smiled brightly; "Come, little fella. I'll buy you a cold one!".

Feeling relieved that at least one Legend was not being snoopy about her, she walked his way: "Thank you, Fuse.".

"Oh, it's Walter.".

She offered him a shy smile as she came to sit on the bar stool next to him.

"So, which cold one are you drinking?".

She opened her mouth and was just about to speak when Mirage cut in: "Oh! Oh! Let me guess!".

Lifeline rolled her eyes: "He always does this. Can someone tell him it's not impressive?".

"Hmm… She's not for beer…" Mirage made a small pause as he thought: "Double rum and coke!" he exclaimed, completely ignoring Lifeline and the giggles of other Legends.

"You're right!" Jack said; "You're absolutely right! How did you know?".

"Oh, I just know." he said and smiled at her.

"He worked as a bartender for the majority of his life." Lifeline explained; "So, mi guess, he picked up a few tricks.".

"Useless." Bangalore said.

"Hey!" Mirage answered, sounding insulted; "Say that to all the ladies that I charm in the bar!".

"Ugh." Bangalore rolled her eyes.

"Anyway…" Mirage continued; "Don't mind her. She's not easily impressed.".

"I see." Jack curled an eyebrow as her drink was served to her.

"Also, sorry for killing you…".

Jack giggled: "No, you're not. And you shouldn't be. It's a game and there's only one winner.".

"Yeah… Well, despite me downing you, you still ended up in second place.".

"And despite you being gone, you still ended up in first!" she returned.

"First win of the season." Mirage said and his satisfied gaze got lost somewhere to the side; "Eleven points. Beat that!".

"Oh, the season has just started." Wraith said dangerously; "We're only one point behind you.".

Mirage showed her his tongue: "Wanna bet, shadow girl?".

"Oh, you did not just call me that!" Wraith got up on her feet; "I'm betting you 250 coins that I'll have plenty more points than you by the end of the half-season." she waved her fist.

"Game on, shady." Mirage accepted readily with a jokester grimace on his face.

The whole group erupted in conversation, wanting to know what exactly 'plenty more points' had meant and wanting to know if anyone else could bet.

Jack observed them with bewildered eyes when Fuse addressed her: "Don't mind them. Fellas are rowdy." he said and sipped on his drink, his back turned to the rest of the Legends.

Jack decided to join him, turning around to face her drink: "What season is this for you?" she asked although she already knew the answer.

"I know that you know. All the newbies do.".

She hummed and downed her drink.

"Woah, slow down there." Fuse said when he had noticed it; "You don't wanna be hungover for tomorrow's practice.".

"I… I need an outlet." she said sheepishly; "Today was…".

"Today was good, lass." he said and looked at her, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"No. It really wasn't." she sighed, replaying everything inside of her head.

"You did better than me." he said and she raised her eyes to meet his; "You did better than I did on my first day. And you defeated me today. That means something." he offered; "Defeating an old player…" he elaborated.

Jack considered him for a moment: "Thanks." she said sincerely, feeling glad that perhaps, just perhaps she wasn't such a fool after all; "So, practice is tomorrow? What time?".

"6 sharp, lass.".

"That's just great." she said and wrinkled her forehead; "Well, I guess I'll see you all then. Thank you for the drink." she slowly stood up and decided to make her way toward the shared household.

She needed to get all the rest that she could.