As soon as the first go was smelt, the mages created their mist. The other team started to race towards us, though two ants split off from the group to come at us from the left flank, scouts I think. Still, we waited until we were covered in the rather hot mist, more like steam, produced by the mages. I grab the rock from the General and take my place underneath the large soldier.
"CHARGE!" The battle cry came from the general, leading to our team rushing forward. I had to bring my antenna up so they didn't get squished as we ran, and I could almost feel the ground scrap against my beautiful Carapace. But that mattered not.
I could smell different pheromones, obviously trying to smell like our General to confuse the orders, though some of them were jumbled. This was definitely a tricky team we were dealing with, being comprised of 6 Scouts, 6 Soldiers, 1 Mage, 1 Carver, and 1 General. You would think that having only one mage was detrimental to the team, but they seemed to be handling it pretty well.
Fire came streaming out to try and speed up the process of clearing the stream. The earth itself was starting to shake, small foot holds were trying to take hold of the Soldiers to trip them up… Oh, right! I'm supposed to be using my own Earth Magic. I quickly started shaping the Earth Mana construct before I made a trench to the left to cut off the flanking scouts. I then build a wall in front of us to block off the stream of fire coming our way.
"Wall in front, 2 meters male sure to climb it. Also, beware of tripping hazards. It looks like the enemy is trying to take us down one by one." I called out, though I'm not sure if it could be smelt with all the pheromones in the air.
Suddenly, the soldier I'm on lurches, starting to fall. Quickly, I climbed on top of her and slightly tilted myself to see what was happening, and it was not good. Our steam cover was starting to fade off, and it looked like two soldiers had tunneled underneath and reached our mage line. The general was currently dodging an acid barrage from enemy scouts while our scouts countered with their own. The soldiers on either side of me made contact with enemy soldiers and were fighting to the best of their ability in the limited space we suddenly found ourselves in. The Carver must have added two walls to my own. I launched a quick two acid shots to the opposing soldiers' faces and then launched myself off of my fallen sister
She seemed extremely alarmed when she felt me leave, but I saw no other choice. The plan had fallen apart upon first contact, so the rest was in my manables. I scrabbled over the walls with the speed of Vibrant and saw the 4 scouts, mage, carver working their acid and magic, respectively. Without waiting, I flung myself forward and landed right in front of them before I activated my dash. I flew past them and saw the goal in front of me, almost tasting the victory.
Just when I was a mere 2 meters away from the goal, I was slammed from the right side by the general. I forgot she was here. I panicked a bit and reset my footing as best as I could, trying to keep the ball away from her while she snapped her manables near mine. I could see what was happening behind me in my position, and my heart dropped for a second. The rest of my team was still behind the walls, and the 4 scouts started to race towards me at full speed. The carver and mage were still providing the soldiers and other two scouts carver, though.
With so little time, I thought of the only thing I could. I threw the rock at the General's head. Okay, listen. I never said I was the best under pressure. I mean, I have a pretty low Cunning for an ant. Not as low as some of the soldiers, but it isn't that high.
Though somehow, everything worked out just fine. The rock hit the General's Carapace and bounced off, just barely making it to the wall goal.
"STOP, POINT SCORED FOR GREEN HEALER. BALL GOES TO PURPLE SCOUT."
The pheromones were loud but not as loud as my teams' cheers. I happily clacked my manables as I ran over to the planning section, completely satisfied in my score. Once I arrived, I got slapped on the back by the soldiers' and scouts' antenna. The mages happily snapped their manables in my direction before the General signaled us to quiet down.
"Alright, I want to say good play, but that was horrible. Mages, the steam was too hot, and I know you can make it slightly cooler. Also, once we get under fire, I want you to stop next time. Scouts, the way you handled the acid barrage was bad. I understand countering, but one of you faced the wrong way and hit our ally mages. That is inefficient and can not stand. Soldiers, I want you to run evasive runs next time and not just run over the hole in the ground. And definitely not into them next time. Healer, good work on scoring. However, I want you to focus on Earth Magic right away next time, not slacking off. And you had the right idea with the wall, but make it slanted next time so the enemy can't box us in. Also, try not to throw the rock if you can help it next time. That was a risky play."
It took us all a second to soak in the massive amount of pheromones the General let our, and by the time we did, not a single pair of antenna wasn't dropping slightly, including my own. I could have probably handled that better.
"OK, onto defense. Mages, I want you to focus on ripping apart their spells and shooting counter spells when able. If you have any ice magic, throw that at their feet and make it as slippery as possible."
The mages wobbled their antenna in Acknowledgment, and one of them replied, "I have unlocked Ice magic, so I'll freeze over any water on the ground."
The General was satisfied with that before she turned to the rest of us. "Okay, Soldiers, I want you to stand back by the wall to prevent any goals from happening. I want half the scouts charging to steal the rock and the other half, launching acid to slow down the opponents. Healer, you're with me. I want you to make us a small room underground 7 meters from the wall. We'll strike them from behind if necessary. Besides that, I want you to focus on anti tunneling maneuvers or, at the very least, detecting them. Alright, team, ready?" She put one of her antenna straight put, and the rest of us each put one antenna on top before we launched upwards. "Let's do this!"
It seemed weird doing the antenna thing… But it felt nice and it seemed right. The refresh told us to get into place, so we got into our formation, staring down the Purple Scout. We got ready on the newly flattened Arena, tensing our muscles until we heard the GoGoGo from the referee. I turned around and dashed until I was roughly 7 meters from the wall and dug into the ground. I used my Earth Magic to assist me as much as possible while the general got her manables dirty right next to me. When we finished, I used my magic to cover us up and make some speed traps along the now closed ceiling. I didn't detect any movement underground and tensed up.
I'll have to admit, it's nerve-racking, not seeing what was happening on top of us. We just felt the vibrations around us and waited. For just a quick second, I felt someone run atop us. The general and I quickly freed ourselves and ran towards the wall. Thankfully, the Scout with the rock had been intercepted by one of the soldiers. I took the chance to make the earth encase one of her legs.
The Soldier and Scout fought for several several seconds, and right when the General was about to steal the rock from the Scout, the Scout threw it to one of her teammates nearby. It was one of the smallest Scouts I've seen at tier 3. I rushed to try and catch the rock before her, but I was too late. The second the rock was between her manables, she dashed and slammed right into the wall.
"ROUND OVER! ONE POINT FOR PURPLE SCOUT. THE ROCK IS NOW GREEN HEALER'S!"
We went back to the planning area and listened to the General as she pointed out what we could work on. Though, for the most part, we did well. A lot better than our last offense any way…