When Nayla woke up the next morning, she was already thinking exclusively about her match that day. She would routinely focus all of her attention on mental centering and preparation in the hours before a fight, blocking out all outside distractions until the fight was over. She was awake and in the middle of her intense pre-fight warm-up routine by 0600 hours, despite the fact that her match wasn't scheduled until 1300 hours. In order to improve her flexibility and reflexes in the arena, she had to run five kilometers at a fast pace, meditate deeply for a while, and perform dynamic stretching exercises for over an hour. At last, she painstakingly refined her retractable claws until they were sharp enough to reportedly cut a falling synthetic-silk scarf.
About 90 minutes prior to the start of her match, Nayla finished getting ready physically and then went to BattleWeb to look over her opponent's dossier. She was pitted against Varya, another human female competitor, whom she had previously faced and defeated. In private, Nayla and many others in the circuit thought Varya was a little shallow and conceited, maybe more suited to holozine fashion spreads than the harsh realities of the gladiatorial arena. Varya had decent fighting skills, but she appeared to spend too much of her time off the field primping, buying designer clothing, and promoting herself. In fact, Yan had asked Nayla to "go easy" on Varya during their last meeting, pointing out the opponent's striking good looks. This foolish suggestion had, as expected, only encouraged Nayla to fight even harder and guarantee Varya's quick and crushing defeat. Nayla wasn't sure if Varya's constant failure to update her official loadout on BattleWeb was due to her ineptitude or willful secrecy. In any case, Varya was the quintessential 'ditzy airhead,' in Nayla's opinion, albeit one with surprisingly quick reflexes in battle.
Nayla had just enough time to make her last equipment preparations with an hour before her match. Her first ritual in the relative seclusion of the preparation area locker room was always the same: she sharpened her primary combat dagger and katana with meticulous attention to detail before each battle. And then she put on her special combat bodysuit, the 'chameleon suit,' as Kieran had said. Kieran had reacted with the unmasked curiosity of a child shown an intriguing new puzzle box when he first saw the suit's active camouflage capabilities, wanting to know what the underlying technology was. After some hesitation, Nayla finally consented to let him use the suit for analysis for a day. (The suit worked by using thousands of micro-cameras embedded throughout its surface to record the environment. Then, using flexible optical display fibers woven into the fabric, the suit projected the captured imagery onto the opposite side, making the wearer virtually invisible when they were not moving.) Nayla had prepared for the possibility of having to reassemble parts and recalibrate sensors when Kieran returned the suit, but the situation was completely different.
Kieran had greatly enhanced it by using House Ravy resources. He had applied a proprietary clear polymer topcoat that improved the projected image display's smoothness and, more importantly, could be used on rigid objects like weapons. Furthermore, he had built a selectable low-light/night vision filter and miniature passive infrared sensors right into the visor of her helmet. Previously, hiding her weapons had been one of Nayla's primary tactical challenges; even when her suit was in use, their solid forms were still completely visible, frequently revealing her position unless they were kept physically hidden inside the suit's folds or pouches. This was directly addressed by Kieran's changes. He had applied the same light-bending polymer coating to her pistol and crossbow holsters after carefully mounting the required arrays of micro-cameras. Even her crossbow in its sheath could now be almost inconspicuous against her back. (Of course, the polymer layer would interfere with the cutting edges of her sword and dagger blades, so he hadn't coated them.) Since this would be their first actual combat trial, Nayla was excited to field-test these important upgrades.
Securing the spares in specially treated chameleon-cloth pouches fastened to her utility harness, she loaded her small crossbow bolts into their magazines. She fastened her dagger in its similarly treated thigh sheath and slid her katana into its fully enclosed, polymer-coated scabbard on her back. Her pistols vanished into their hip holsters, which were now camouflaged. Kieran's application of the polymer made the crossbow, slung across her back, almost invisible against the suit. She pulled her sleek, motorcycle-style combat helmet over her head and cat ears, then a thin, black balaclava and sealed it tightly. She awaited the summons, fully armored and armed. Her chameleon suit was first turned off to save energy, but when her call came, she strode confidently into the arena. But as soon as the starting klaxon sounded, she switched on the camouflage system and disappeared.
Under complete stealth protocols, Nayla dashed into the simulated forest: her suit's nitrogen-cooling system effectively concealed her thermal signature from infrared detection, integrated sound dampeners muffled the noise of her footsteps, and micro-jammer arrays confused active sensor sweeps like radar or lidar. She just disappeared from all but the most highly advanced military-grade sensor systems. She slowed her run to a quick, quiet jog once she was well under the forest canopy, but she continued to cover ground quickly. After a few minutes of deliberate movement, she stopped momentarily behind a big tree and used the passive sensor suite on her helmet to look for her opponent. Target was purchased. Varya was now approaching the center of the wooded area, slowly and carefully, and close to the maximum effective range of Nayla's passive sensors. (Varya's well-known dislike of getting her painstakingly kept armor scuffed or dirty frequently resulted in excessively cautious movement, which Nayla was perfectly happy to take advantage of.) Although Varya was an easy target to track, she wouldn't necessarily be simple to defeat due to her respectable fighting abilities.
With predatory efficiency, Nayla closed the gap on her unwary adversary and resumed her silent advance. Varya was within five hundred feet, according to her heat signature, so Nayla changed course and stepped vertically into the thick canopy of the fake trees. Although she usually saved her quick arboreal movements for escape maneuvers because jumping between branches invariably produced noise and visual disturbance that could reveal her position, her improved agility and sharp claws allowed her to move through the upper branches with remarkable ease. Without rustling a single simulated leaf, Nayla climbed the selected tree trunk with silent, flowing grace, her claws gaining traction in the bark before easing herself onto a sturdy lower branch. Varya passed almost directly beneath her perch in a matter of moments, moving with caution and keeping her sword ready. After waiting for Varya to pass her by a few steps, Nayla purposefully turned off her chameleon suit while the other woman's back was still turned.
The ubiquitous camera drones rushed closer the moment she glowed back into view high on the branch. The audience watching the viewscreens gasped in unison at her abrupt and unexpected appearance. Varya was instantly alerted by the reaction of the crowd and began frantically searching the forest floor for her now-exposed opponent. She looked everywhere but up—left, right, and even behind her. Her troubles started when she made that mistake. Nayla gave her tail a small, anticipatory twitch before making a controlled, silent descent from the branch. At the last moment, Varya took an unexpected step forward, but fate intervened. With her intended target—Varya's shoulders—gone, Nayla was forced to change her course in midair and take the blow to the ground. She instantly rolled forward after landing in a deep crouch. She tucked low, causing Varya to crash onto her back after she swept her legs out from under her. Nayla finished her roll with ease, returning to a low crouch a few feet away, poised and prepared to leap. She rose purposefully, drawing her katana with graceful fluidity, and then stood, almost tauntingly, waiting for Varya to stand again. Nayla, feeling confident, chose to give Varya the opportunity to continue because she wanted more of a challenge, even though she could have ended the match right then with a decisive blow to her defeated opponent.
But as she waited for Varya to rush up, Nayla's normally razor-sharp focus mysteriously started to stray. Kieran's father's summons... involvement of the High Council... What might it signify? Will we all be involved if it's a serious government matter? Her brief diversion proved costly, as she managed to return to the present moment in time to try to parry a surprisingly quick slash from Varya's recovered sword. She didn't time it right. Rather than deflecting cleanly, the blade splintered off Nayla's parry and bit through the bodysuit and into muscle, slicing deep into her exposed left hip. Momentarily stunned by the sudden pain, Nayla screamed and fell to one knee in front of her opponent. But as the initial shock wore off, she responded immediately, raising her compact crossbow, which she had drawn during the fall, and pushing off with force with her uninjured right leg. The abrupt reversal and the appearance of the unexpected weapon obviously startled Varya, as he froze in mid-strike. Nayla fired in that moment of hesitation.