Chrome Butterfly Chapter Four

Mechalopolis University had more than a few challenges and disputes to resolve every single day, from resolving the situation when someone spilled coffee on another person's jacket to when a dispute over attendance needed to be settled. If you wanted an extra day to get homework turned in? If you felt like you had been graded unfairly and wanted to argue for a few more points? If you needed to change the date of a presentation? It all boiled down to 'fighting' for it.

... Though there were a limit to how many curriculum points could be earned with challenges and Alex had heard through gossip and casual conversation that no few number of instructors just shrugged and made the maximum number of points achievable with regular classwork lower than the total that students were scored on in response, making a perfect result impossible without challenging for extra points.

In any case, as befit an 'E-Sports Academy', there were plenty of specialized rooms set up to play out challenges in.

A wide and empty single room, with wireless holo-projectors in the walls and ceiling controlled by an independent processor with simulated responses. No independent thought or ability to act, like an Aide, it was simply a voice recognizing program that procedurally generated an environment that was more or less fair for all parties involved unless a handicap was stipulated. It additionally independently recorded matches and served as verification to ensure that everyone involved was who they claimed to be, that they could follow through with wagers, and, perhaps more importantly, that they would. To either side were rows of seats similar to bleachers, but with resilient foam padding that fought back against pressure and weight.

In a room like this, designed much like an indoor basketball court, all kinds of environments could be simulated for the purpose of games, and with comfortable seats an audience could observe all of the action directly.

... Not that Alex would be drawing a crowd of people that wanted to watch him play, of course, and it seemed as though miss Ebony Avon also did not have many established fans... or, alternatively, she was simply making a point of keeping this matter very quiet and had made sure to move as secretly as possible, so as to not draw attention.

Well, it didn't matter, really.

"Standby." the independent processor spoke as they presented ID cards and verified biometrics, in a synthesized voice that didn't attempt to be either clearly male or female. "Analyzing... confirmed. Generating landscape. Input game mode and setting details?"

"Love-Z Player Versus Player Match. Standard model, no handicaps. Randomize battle settings." Ebony huffed, arms crossed. "Not going to let anyone say that I just picked some gimmick mode that only I practice, here!"

"If you say so." Alex sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Confirmed. Battle selection: Deck Draw Summons. Two card single draw and reshuffle. Three card pocket." the processor declared.

Ah... that one.

There were some benefits to it. The fundamental rules of a DDS match were that rather than having to manage resources to pay for the hiring and upkeep of units, they would be represented by cards shuffled into a virtual deck, which would be drawn from every time a certain amount of time had passed to represent a round.

The rest of it were more specific details of the match rules.

Two card single draw meant that every time cards were drawn, two would be shown. The player could select one of the cards to play, and the other would be returned to the virtual deck, which would, in this case, then be shuffled. They could also choose to play neither, if the situation merited it, or if there was an effect that didn't allow it, depending on the game mode. If it was instead 'no reshuffle' then the card would instead be placed into discards and there would be no shuffling until the deck was empty. 'Set Zero Shuffle' meant that there would be no shuffling at all: the cards would be drawn and potentially played in the order that they were either removed from active play or discarded, with no random factor.

That last was almost considered a bit of a cheat option, since given that the player knew the number of cards in their deck, and they knew what had been moved to discards, and when, they could essentially count their own cards and know in advance what they were going to draw, and when, as well as have some idea of what the opponent would be drawing depending on what they knew of cards that had been taken off the field. There would still be some unknowns, but... Aides tended to be very good at calculating that kind of thing.

There was an argument to be made that, particularly when playing against another person, this just made it more dependent on the skill of individual players rather than the luck of drawing the right thing at the right time, and that higher processing power in an Aide meant an advantage in any mode of play to begin with... but generally, it was agreed that it was poor sportsmanship to choose that game mode specifically, since it could be taken as bullying if you did have an aide with higher computational abilities than your opponent.

Gut instinct played its own role in things, of course. Reading the other player, rather than counting their cards, and gauging whether they were confident, worried, or playing up an act of either as a bluff. It was seldom certain exactly what an opponent had for every last card in their deck before the match had ended. While it was helpful to know everything an opponent could do, after all... the purpose of a match wasn't to scout out everything in one of an opponent's decks. It was to win the match.

The last setting was 'Three Card Pocket'. In a lot of card games, the drawn cards would go to a player's hand, where they would then decide what to do with it. In this setting, however, that wasn't quite how it worked.

The pocket was admittedly similar to a hand, but not all cards would or should end up there. It was an alternative to playing a card immediately, yes, but it had its quirks. Fundamentally, when a pocket was a part of the match settings, it meant that there was an option when neither of the cards drawn were good for the current situation, and it allowed you to decide that you wanted to play one of them, but later.

This allowed a number of tactics to be employed around the pocket.

If you were doing well, or at least holding the line, then you didn't nee to play a newly drawn unit immediately. You could instead hold it in your pocket, and then later cause problems for your opponent by summoning multiple times at once, starting a sudden offensive that they might not be prepared for.

More simply, if a draw happened to result in two equipment cards, or support skills, or anything that was contingent on having a unit ready for action that wasn't currently in play then you could also store one of those in your pocket, and then when you happened to draw them it would be an option to deploy that unit with the benefits of the cards waiting in your pocket.

The drawback was that placing a card in your pocket was a commitment to play it later. You could not discard from your pocket. Once a card was in there, the only way to get it out was to play it... which wasn't usually a problem, but in some situations could make things very complicated. After all, a three-card pocket meant that once you had put three cards into it your pocket was full. Meaning that sometimes it was better to just refuse to play anything, to preserve limited pocket space for more important cards that could be used in a strategy that would claim victory.

Overall, though, it was a combination of settings that encouraged fast-paced play with a smaller but more predictable deck, and card combinations that would work in multiple ways. Depending on the preference in playstyle, different parts of the settings would be leaned on... after all, for all that a smaller deck was more predictable, the reshuffling introduced a random factor that meant there was still no guarantee that a specific card would be drawn at all. There was a small but real chance that no matter what, the critical part of a strategy would just be... shuffled away every time, and never seen.

Meaning that it also demanded the player know when to drop a strategy that wasn't working to switch something else, and to know another strategy to switch to that could make use of the cards in their deck.

... Not that that would be complicated, given what he had available.

"Please specify player presence level for simulation." the room's processor requested.

"Tangible presence." Genesis stipulated, requesting a simulation mode where the players could be interacted with, attacked, and generally treated as being a physical part of the simulation rather than having things pass through them like ghosts or fail to register their presence at all.

"Whaat's that, hubcap?" Ebony cut in. "You'd better not be aiming to have this lunkhead try to get in the way of attacks. That's just going to be humiliating for you."

"Set zone of mobility: Extremely Limited." Genesis followed up, paying Ebony's jeering no mind.

With brief acknowledgement of the restriction a white line formed a circle around both players, marking an area about as wide as their outstretched arms for them to stand in.

"Adjusting game format. Grand Tactical. Point capture." the processor declared, shading the interior of the circles into red, for Ebony, and Blue for Alex.

Then multiple more white circles appeared on the area, at which point the holo-projectors started working in overtime to create a lightly forested and hilly landscape, with a few small and ruined fortifications here and there. ... So, the players themselves were made the home base and the final point to attack and be taken over by the enemy team, huh?

"Confirming private communications channel." Genesis said, PI-doll silent as her voice came through the micro-speaker set in his earring.

... Which was all well and good, but that only provided a way for her to secretly speak to him. Alex didn't have a way to silently speak back in turn. He could try talking softly, but it wasn't in doubt that an Aide could likely read and interpret lip movements, or pick up what he was saying on a targeted microphone. Well... he'd have to hope that wasn't going to be a problem.

Next came deck selection. Ebony spun through a few options before grasping a holo-deck with the image of a long-eared sorceress in a black and feathery robe with antlers sprouting out of her head on the display indicator.

Wicked Fairy type.

In a game mode like this, there wasn't really much mix and matching of 'cards' allowed. The decks available had to be thematic in some way, with card groupings that made general sense. You couldn't, for example, run a deck that was mostly made up of orcs on horseback with bows and spears, and then throw in an alien drone for giggles like it was possible to do in other game settings or Versus-Computer one-off or scenario matches.

But... Alex's luck on drops wasn't great, and he hadn't put much money into trying to buy rare characters from the cash shop. The result was random, after all, and he didn't have a ton of disposable income to work with.

So while he had a few rare characters and drops... it wasn't enough to build a deck with or around.

Which left him with two options. Both fundamentally basic. Adventurer Party or Lost Military. His eyes tracked between the two, represented by a holographic swordswoman in bikini plate for the one, and a woman in an outfit that was obviously supposed to be a military uniform but which corresponded to no actual country in the world for the other. When his eyes focused on the swordswoman she raised her blade with a 'Beep' representing a cheer. Similarly, when he focused on the soldier she would cock her service rifle and set it on her shoulder cockily before making a similar 'Beep' with a salute.

"Basic? Oh, this is just sad. It'll be over before you know it." Ebony said, laughing behind her hand. "System, confirm stakes. Wagering entry rights to an upcoming tournament when I win... Hey! Not that you have a chance, but what do you want if I lose?"

"This woman has nothing I want." Genesis replied before Alex could ask.

"Hey are you trying to pick a second fight before the fight has even started, Hubcap!?" Ebony snapped. "Are you trying to make a fool out of me? How lame. Whatever, if that's the case then I'll put up a random forfeit of a rare or higher character. Dream of inflating your sad roster... we've got to at least pretend you have a chance of winning, right?"

Alex's earring buzzed lightly.

"Situational analysis of simulated geography complete. I advise selecting the Lost Military deck." Genesis 'whispered' in his ear. "The current conditions offer an advantage that can be utilized."

... Did they? The Lot Military deck included a lot of infantry type units, with comparatively fewer medics and a couple snipers, with support equipment and machinery that fit the theme of a displaced military group or band of mercenaries.

There was naturally high firepower but... defenses against magic-type attacks and techniques were naturally very low. More importantly, the sections of forested scenery represented a screen that would obstruct both gunfire and mobility... even if he drew a military truck, for example, there wasn't really much use it could be put to without taking large detours... And piling infantry into the back would make them a more tightly clustered target for magic attacks. That was an almost automatic discard, or something to put in the pocket just so it couldn't be drawn again.

Was there a strong advantage here? Alex didn't really see it if there was. It seemed to make more sense to go with the Adventurers, playing into the narrative opposition roles and leaning on a naturally higher defense against magic even before the options of playing mystic defenses came up. Was it just that Fairy types generally had low physical status and defenses, making this an offense against offense match to see who could damage the other team faster in a DPS race? Magic techniques often had splash damage, though, and if nothing else the screen of cover would serve them well. If anything, he could only see this being a mismatch in favor of Ebony's fairy deck. He would have to play defensively, as big sections of the map were simply places that his units could go if they wanted to die.

But... just because he didn't see the advantage didn't mean it wasn't there. Alex made his decision, selecting the Lost Military deck.

"Haaah? You throwing?" Ebony laughed. "You're throwing! Yeesh, how lame. At least try to struggle a little before the end. If you can't do that much, then you don't belong here at all, you know?"

"We'll see about that." Alex replied, making a smile that he hoped expressed confidence that he didn't really feel.