Cat and Mau5

Gerard’s comm device buzzed in his pocket. It was Mikey.

You go live in 3 minutes. M

Gerard nodded to himself, rolling his shoulders and stretching out his neck. He switched the device to transmission, tapping Mikey’s code before tucking it back in his pocket and inserting his ear piece.
“You there?” he tested.
“Loud and clear” came his brother’s voice.
“You fix the tweaky knee joint?”
“Back to normal. You’ve got this.”

Gerard nodded again and regarded the media tech that came toward him, gesturing for him to take his place. He was entering from the right hand side today. He could feel the crowd more than hear them. Their voices had melded together into a pulsing boom that vibrated in his chest. He closed his eyes as a beautician came toward him with a brush and let her dust over his face ready for camera.

He looked her over when she started fussing with his shirt – a particularly pointless exercise – and pegged her for a droid. It was the unwavering smile that did it. She looked like a relatively new model. The eyebrows were realistically threaded through her skin canvas and her movements were fluid. Gerard supposed that the television station was wealthy enough to afford the best quality tech, and it showed.

“Broadcast has just begun. If you could enter the arena on my mark, Mr. Way” she said smoothly, voice not betraying a hint of her robotic nature. Her arm was held outright in front of Gerard’s chest to stop him from entering screen too early.

Gerard could hear the ringmaster announcing the arrival of his opponent. He was fighting Tash – known as T45H in the fighting circuit. She was a pretty decent player. They’d trained together a little bit back in the day. But Gerard knew he had the crowd behind him.

Ever since he’d won the Interstellar Championships 18 months ago up on Jupiter he’d been catapulted into the public eye and had unwittingly become one of the most popular fighters both on and off planet. In the darkness of the current recession UFC was a beam of light, providing an escape, a passionate outlet for the fans, of which there were many. Gerard was proud to be able to give that element of hope, and was more grateful for the public’s support than they would ever know. He gave it his all every time he stepped out from behind the curtain, whether it was just a friendly heat or a televised championship bout.

The customary nerves settled delicately in the pit of his stomach. However confident he may feel about the upcoming match – Tash was sweet but absolutely no match for him – he’d never stop worrying about those first seconds that he stepped out of the curtain. The crowd could boo or they could cheer him; as long as he kept getting some kind of reaction everything was okay.

The crowd sounded kind, giving Tash more of a welcome than he’d expected. Then again, televised events were always rowdier for being the most coveted. Tickets could be resold for three times the price easily; a good deal more for championships and finals. In the current economic climate being a ticket tout was one of the most solid ‘career’ options. However broke people were they’d sell their very souls for UFC tickets; that’s just how popular the sport had become.

“Are you ready, sir?” the droid cooed, smile still rigid.
Gerard flipped down his sunglasses from where they rested on top of his head. He nodded.

He could hear the beginnings of his announcement.

And her opponent ~

“You’re on in 3- 2- 1. Good luck, sir.”

~ Youngest Interstellar Champion of aaaalllll time~

The droid lowered her arm and Gerard marched through the short corridor, emerging from the curtain just as the announcer finished calling his name. The audience went up in roars. He was bracketed on either side by two security droids as he made his way down to the box. This wasn’t a particularly flashy venue; their equipment was set up inside a simplistic Perspex box. He let the noise of the crowd tamper down the fluttering in his stomach, and by the time he reached his set-up he was perfectly calm.

As he span and waved to the crowd – inciting another influx of noise – he couldn’t quite tamper down his smile as he spotted Tash looking up at him with a smirk. In ordinary circumstances he’d have leant down and kissed her cheek, asked her how she’d been. But he needed to play his part for now. There was all the time in the world for pleasantries afterward.

He settled down in the chair, reaching for his controller and briefly checking all of the wires.
“They’re feelin’ your vibe.”
Gerard looked over and grinned. Tash was sitting cross-legged in her own seat, dressed head to toe in a blue rubber suit, hair scraped back off her head into a tight ponytail. Even through the shade of his glasses he could see that she wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Just the way he liked it. It didn’t hurt to make her quake in her stiletto boots, though.
“Of course they are. Haven’t lost in 17 fights.”

She tucked her tongue in her cheek and turned back to her equipment, making him chuckle. He stood, listening to Mikey chatter away about her stats in his left ear, and went through the familiar motions of setting up his bot.

Several feet in front of their Perspex shelter stood his 35 foot Mau5bot, an eerily psychotic-looking metal construction with mouse ears. He toggled through the settings, booting it up without really paying attention to what he was doing. It was simply second nature now. The second his Mau5 was at full power it turned its head and looked down at Gerard with its permanently fixed grin, teeth stained with fake blood that Gerard had painted on himself.

“You okay up there, El?” Gerard murmured absent-mindedly.
His giant blue bot nodded heavily before turning its head back to face its pink adversary. The Mau5bots were almost completely dependent on their users. They were fitted with the lowest amount of AI necessary to ensure the correct execution of counter attacks and balance awareness, but they relied on their user for 99% of their movement. Each Mau5 was rigorously checked over by scrutineers before each match, just in case some smart alec had attempted to surreptitiously fit their machine with the lightning-quick reflexes of a regular droid.

Mau5bots within the same division were all the same in terms of their physical properties, such as height, weight and material. However they were customisable in terms of their appearance, as long as each bot was adorned with digits that corresponded to that of their player; G3RARD’S “3” opposing T45H’s “45”.

Gerard tested out each limb quickly before settling back in his seat and flicking through his summary holograms, noting that the left arm wasn’t quite back to full capacity following his last fight. He judged that it wouldn’t matter overly much, but he mentioned it to Mikey, who made notes back in their team room.

The ringmaster checked briefly with each of them that they were ready to proceed. Fitting the controller into the familiar groove of his hands Gerard manipulated the analogue sticks and moved his bot forward to meet the other, where they touched paws as a throwback to the physical sports of old.

UFC as it was in 2038 was drastically different to how it had started out. Rigorously trained muscular fighters beating each other with their fists were long redundant. Nowadays the fighting was left to droids and the skill was in the game. However, as the scantily clad ring girl walked between them, holding a “Round 1” placard high above her head, Gerard was reminded that some things never change.

They began.

The noise of the crowd increased tenfold immediately, as Gerard scooted to the edge of his seat to allow quick execution of his first move, slapping a button on his control desk to initiate a right-pawed middle blow. His heart hammered with the usual adrenaline but his hands were steady.

Mikey called encouragingly in Gerard’s ear as he slipped into an easy shin-kick and left-pawed head shot to follow. The pink bot stumbled back, Tash fumbling with her controller to keep it on its feet, and Gerard shifted his into a quick dash to put more power behind the shoulder block he executed, holding in a button on the right hand side of his station. The crowd cheered every time he hit a move, but Tash didn’t let it rattle her, reaching onto her own panel and moving 45 into a slight crouch, bashing 3 on the underside of its chin as it rose up again.

In response, Gerard moved the left leg backwards to steady his bot, and then hit a selection of buttons quickly to execute a duck and right-pawed uppercut that unbalanced their opponent and sent it crashing to the ground, the sound of metal clashing waging war with the screams of the audience.

Watching avidly, Gerard spoke aloud along with the three count and raised an arm in victory when the first round was declared his. The crowd cheered ecstatically, happy that their hero was on top thus far. Gerard couldn’t resist shooting a sneaky grin at Tash. Thankfully she just laughed and shook her head, keying in the options to pick 45 up off its feet.

“That shoulder block was nice, bro” Mikey commented appreciatively in his ear. “Now shut this shit down, I’ve gotta make a move.”
Gerard snorted. Mikey got the shitty end of the gig sometimes. Gerard was playing a championship heat in the morning so Mikey had to ensure all of their stuff was in the next venue ASAP to allow for scrutineering and promptly completed admin.

“Come on” Gerard murmured aloud to his mau5. “Need to get this done in one piece, okay?”

A second ring girl with a cropped shirt barely covering her breasts walked into the box with the placard for Round 2 amidst whooping and cat calls from the crowd. The announcer called it and Gerard slammed his controller immediately, yanking 3 away from the attempted grapple that he’d anticipated. In response he mashed counterattack and watched his mau5bot attempt an elbow to 45’s head. The distance was off slightly and Gerard let out a surprised laugh as the botched impact dislocated the hinges of their opponent’s ear, sending it skidding across the floor with a horrid screech.

“Fuck!” cried Tash, who was too shocked to block the second elbow to the back of the head.

This time they hit dead on, and 45’s knees buckled, sending it crashing down into a heap on top of 3’s feet. Gerard slung one arm over the back of his chair and nudged his analogue stick with one hand to order his mau5 to step back, allowing Tash’s droid to faceplant properly as the ringmaster began the three count.

He pushed his sunglasses up off his head briefly to wink at Tash, unable to tamper down his grin, and watched her roll her eyes, shaking her head as G3RARD was named the winner. Gerard raised his controller as the crowd went wild, manipulating the analogues to raise the arms of his mau5 in victory.

No matter how many times he stood victorious like this, it would never be enough, and he treasured every second, grinning unabashedly out at the crowd who screamed his name in response.