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eternity:midnight

Midnight

As Double Team Champions, Team Legit in some ways exemplified the spirit of Season XXXVI: a heady blend of high-stakes personal drama, glorious Fan-pandering and uninhibited commercialism - all of which they participated in, to great aplomb. From the start of the Season, Team Legit marked themselves out as unique when the first thing they did with their carefully cultivated 'sore loser' reputation was to try their best to lose it. Midnight's interview with Khaos went quite a way towards manicuring their image into something more workable. Indeed, Midnight was nothing if not image-conscious; a large part of her success as the first Swimsuit Champion was down to her meticulous eye for detail, and commitment to aesthetics. Never subtle in her approach, she managed to weaponise Shrapnel's natural cuteness and aim it directly at the Fans. If she could bottle and sell it, she would have done. As is, she manipulated public opinion with such poise that all other competition seemed pointless.

Although Midnight came across as plucky and carefree to the public eye, later analysis of Team Legit's performance proves that she was often the practical member of the partnership, devising complex battle strategies and working towards maintaining their meticulously crafted reputation. Fans hardly knew what to make of the two: they lost almost as frequently as they won, implementing clever tactics only to be cut down - then, to rise again, in a series of improbable victories. Part of the appeal was the volatility: one never knew whether they would succeed with graceful ease, or fall victims to their own cleverness. Either way, their fights were some of the most well-attended of the entire Season.

The match against Heavy Metal - the original Longbow's last stand - was a phenomenal tour-de-force. With Fans hailing it as 'the real Final', it provided punch upon punch of heartstopping action, stretching both teams to the absolute limit. Team Legit's win was well-deserved, to say nothing of spectacular.

— from The Idols of Season XXXVI, by Flashbulb

Competing throughout Season XXXVI – although they unfortunately became laughing stocks by the end of that season – Team Legit had a solid grounding for entering the Doubles (and briefly the Heavyweight) Leagues in Season XXXVI. A key to losing their haters and to gaining success was the early and simple strategy of placing an adorable Monster Bow above the heart-melting eyes of Midnight's little robot, Shrapnel.

[…]

Midnight was highly regarded for her Monster taming skills, with Monsterwhisperer-like abilities, and the good haul of many successful trips can be partly attributed to her. High Noon's public skills with Archaeotechnology were rivalled, if not exceeded, by Midnight's skills with Monsters.

[…]

Both Shrapnel and the second Longbow made it to the Ultimate Championship, a generation-inspiring battle. Their strategy favoured the victory of Dark Steel, especially their part in the legendary Darkness Falls: Requiem Of Annihilation ensemble and High Noon's nods in support of Dark Steel at the conclusion. This is further detailed in Chapter 3.

It surprised many that instead of continuing to compete in whatever manifestation of Ultimate Monster Battle Arena followed Season XXXVI, Team Legit instead chose to prospectively relocate to the Wastelands. Perhaps this is because their childhood home was little known before the construction of Oasis and the subsequent marriage of High Noon and Chief Weaver.

excerpt from Fight Ring to Phenomenon: A Cultural History of the Arena, by Coral

“And this one is… Napalm. And this one can be Cartridge. I think I'll name this one - Fuse? What do you reckon, High Noon?”

“Midnight, you done gone naming round about twenty of the critters. I think that one you might've named twice.”

“What? Hah - no. You're getting it confused with that one, with the scratch on the side of its nose.”

“Ah, yes. Real stupid of me. Which one?”

“The one crawling up your trouser leg! Argh, this is so great.”

“I'm happy yer happy.”

“I am really, really happy.”

Team Legit were gearing up for a quiet retirement, but that didn't mean they weren't looking to live in style. Upon negotiating with Pluck, Midnight was able to claim one of the buildings within the Midseason Mansion block as part of her prize, in addition to enough Archeotech to either sell or make life convenient out in the Wastes. Team Legit left the city burdened by a wealth of assets: Oasis creaked under the weight as it made its way out of the gates.

It was, however, what lay out West that interested Midnight the most. Here was the home of the creatures from the Metrovore Laboratory - creatures almost identical to her own Monster, Shrapnel. Several months later, visitors to Oasis were amazed to find hundreds of the Monsters flocking the area: not only had Midnight managed to catch all those remaining; Team Legit had managed to build a factory in order to reproduce them. 'It was chaos,' reported one. 'Pure chaos. Dozens of the things, just scurrying around the place, staring up at you with their huge, admittedly adorable eyes. You couldn't walk for fear of setting your foot down on one of those Shrapnel thing - and believe me, you'd know. They were so angry! Like, weirdly angry for something so small'.

A few months down the line, and things were much more ordered. In an astounding feat of Monster training, Midnight had managed to convert her flock of Monsters into a working security unit for Oasis.

'You were less likely to tread on them,' noted the same visitor, 'but they were still super cute. Ten out of ten; would trade again.'

— From Midnight: The Wasteland Wonder, by Peppermint
eternity/midnight.txt · Last modified: 2019/03/05 06:03 by gm_amy