Now it was time. Codi stood at the front of the queue, the first fighter who would take to the stage in Mayhem Six, and she drummed her fingers against the armoured thigh plates of her exoskeleton. She could hear the dull roar of the crowd beyond the doors and the huge red counter above the entrance boomed down. Sixty seconds until her Gauntlet journey began in earnest.

She looked back. The boy directly behind her wore an exoskeleton of deep regal purple, trimmed with gold vambraces and shoulder guards; the livery of the Holdfast Gauntlet Academy. Further down the tunnel she saw Wren Cutler, the rookie leader from Mantis. She had a shock of red hair, shaven on the right side of her head while the left hung long, like a curtain of fire. Her armour gleamed, emerald green with two symmetrical slashes of jet black running down either side of the torso.

And right at the back stood Leela in the blue and cyan, eyes downcast, taking deep breaths as she waited for the call. She caught the other girl's eye and gave her a small nod of encouragement. Her friend managed to force a smile.

There was nothing else she could do to help now. Owing to the random nature of the Mayhem arena constructs they couldn't formulate any kind of definitive plan. It would be a case of dealing with what was in front of them. That suited Codi just fine, but she suspected Leela would have more trouble adapting in the combat environment. The one thing that held the younger fighter in good stead was her speed and agility. Depending on what lay beyond those doors, those skills might be enough to see her through.

"Alright," the attendant declared, stepping back from the two slabs of metal that formed the doorway into the main arena. "Looks like they're ready for you. Good luck everyone!"

A rumble of approval passed through the assembled fighters. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet in preparation. Time to show the galaxy the new and improved Codi. With a hiss of mechanisms the two thick plates of metal retracted and a blazing glare burst through the aperture. The noise from the crowds followed it through and she drank it in like nectar. A few seconds later the booming voice of the Gauntlet announcer made everything a reality.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to introduce your fighters in Mayhem 6. First, from your very own Battlecast Academy, please welcome ... Codi James!"

She stepped out into the light.

The noise was deafening, but Codi had grown used to the thundering spectators over the months of preparation. She raised one clenched fist towards the sky, smiling as she caught sight of the cameras swooping past her. A kaleidoscope of faces cheered down from all angles; from all corners of inhabited space. Bulbous pods jutted out in the upper reaches: VIP spectator nodes. Several of them probably contained other Battlecast academy members, those who hadn't made the team but still wanted a front seat at the Gauntlet. Fans roared their support as she let her gaze wander around the hundreds of levels of seating that formed a gigantic bowl.

At the base of that bowl lay the construct that she would be fighting through in a matter of minutes. It resembled some kind of mad scientist's industrial toy set. Shaped like a cube, the thing was made up of dozens of levels and every piece of it moved and changed.

Whole staircases swung and rotated, locking against metal platforms before swinging away with their new attachments. Thick dark plates moved up and down like automated elevators around the edges, and scattered throughout the vertical labyrinth she could see opening and closing pits, flipping floor sections, ramps, rotating platforms and even conveyer belts. Right at the bottom she saw the familiar blue crackle of gravitic netting, ready to catch any fighters who were unlucky enough to be booted off the construct completely.

All in all it made for a pretty interesting start to her second competition year. Codi loped around the rim of the arena, making her way to her allotted starting point. As the first entrant, her spot was on the opposite end of the bowl – everyone else would fill in behind her. She planted her feet within the red square situated beneath a massive, holographic number one.

The roaring subsided for a moment before the announcer called out the next name: "From the Holdfast Gauntlet Academy, Roland Crenshaw!" Another explosion of cheering followed, but Codi smiled thinly. Her reception had been much louder.

Names rolled on and the fighters alternated sides – the odd numbers filled in to her left and the even numbers to her right. She watched every single person as they entered, her trained eyes now hunting for any sign of nervousness. One by one she made mental notes on which of her competition here looked dangerous.

The reactions of the crowd went in peaks and troughs depending on which colonial institute served up a competitor. The distant lesser-known academies still received a respectable roll of thunder upon entry, but the largest outpourings of emotion were reserved for the big hitters. Big academies brought big groups of supporters and it showed.

So when Leela stepped into her first competitive Gauntlet match Codi was gratified that the Battlecast faithful still had plenty left in their lungs for the rookie fighter. She could almost feel the walls shake as they made their presence known. With the arena construct between them she couldn't actually see her friend, but she hoped the energy of the crowd would give a much needed boost.

With all the fighters accounted for, the announcer made one final call to the spectators to show their appreciation. Then a counter began booming down from ten. One minute until the pandemonium commenced. Codi took in a slow, steadying breath and gently lowered herself into position, ready to spring from her starting into the thick of Gauntlet combat.

The count reached zero; the klaxon screeched.

Codi was off her line in an instant, the servos of the exoskeleton firing her into motion like a bullet from a gun. Out of the corners of her eyes she could just make out the two fighters on either side of her tearing along their respective gangways. Once everyone arrived at the arena construct all bets would be off.

She hurtled through a narrow aperture in the wall that faced her and immediately twisted to the right. A pit opened out in her path, but she cleared it in a single powerful bound and latched onto one of the dozens of lifts that slid up and down between levels. Stepping off two levels higher, she caught a glimpse of an orange exoskeleton vanishing around the nearest corner.

Codi set off in pursuit. She could hear the thumps, cries and crashes of combat from every direction, mingling with undulating swells of noise from the spectators. In flashes between the skeletal metal structures of the construct she spotted blurs of movement as other competitors went at it in other sections. Tiny camera drones darted through the melee, displaying their images onto enormous screens both in the Gauntlet Arena and across the galaxy.

She caught up to the orange-clad fighter at the base of a fat conveyer belt that ran up the edge of the outer walls. To her right a sheer drop into the gravity netting awaited. Codi leapt onto the conveyer and looked up to see her quarry staring down at her with something she hadn't expected.

He was afraid.

It never occurred to her that other people would be scared of her, but now that she was seeing it, it made sense. She was the second ranked fighter in the whole competition. This kid had every right to be worried.

Codi saw no reason to disabuse that notion, so she rocketed up the toothed conveyer to attack.

The boy in orange dropped low into his stance to try and keep his balance, simultaneously throwing out a snaking jab with his left hand. She swayed around it, coming dangerously close to the edge, and then swung back in, using her full body-weight to hammer a clenched fist into his jaw so hard that she actually knocked him back into the wall. As his exoskeleton banged against the plates of the construct the Battlecast supporters erupted into feral cheering as their new title contender started to deliver.

He managed to block her follow-up left hook, but Codi was already moving three steps ahead. Even as her fist clattered harmlessly off his block her right leg was already swinging up to smash into his gut. The impact lifted him from his feet and he crashed down on all fours against the still-moving conveyer.

The boy started scrambling backwards away from her, kicking out wildly with his legs, and Codi knew she had him beaten. He'd abandoned technique, resorting to desperation. Waiting for the right moment, she stepped in and clamped both hands down to catch his outstretched foot. A look of panic flashed over her opponent's face.

Then Codi dialled up the weight in the exoskeleton gravity fields, curled down into a crouch, and heaved. With a snarl of exertion she lifted the unfortunate fighter bodily and then swung, unfolding her legs in a single smooth motion. She timed her release to perfection and the boy went hurtling off into empty space with a cry of dismay.

She didn't even bother watching him fall, feeling adrenaline pounding in her veins as the Battlecast supporters screamed encouragement. The Arena klaxon blared to signal the first elimination of the Mayhem. This time it had been her dishing out the punishment. Codi straightened up as the conveyer carried her higher. A camera drone swept past and she looked into the lens, smiling viciously. This year it was time for the others to do the running away.

She dismounted the top of the conveyer and looked for her next target. Elated though she was after her quick dismissal of the first challenger, there were still eighteen other people to deal with before she passed this hurdle. Two more klaxons sounded from somewhere in the pandemonium and she could only pray that Leela hadn't been one of them, taking solace in the fact that there hadn't been a despairing wail from her supporters.

Then she found another fighter – Wren Cutler, the Mantis Academy protégé.

The flame-haired girl hesitated and glanced left and right, as though searching for an escape route. For a moment Codi thought she was going to run away, but then Wren's expression hardened and she rocked back into a fighting stance, one hand outstretched and the other tucked behind her back. An approving roar from the crowds showed that they appreciated a bit of courage.

Codi appreciated it too. She launched herself forward and seconds later they started exchanging blows. Using her own sheer ferocity, Codi rode the worst of the retaliatory strikes, moving her clenched fists in vicious, tight arcs. One blow to the torso and a glancing strike to the cheekbone drove Wren backwards, and Codi powered on, bunching her legs and firing herself forward, spear-tackling her opponent. She heard the oxygen exit Wren's body in a gasp of surprise.

Driving the other girl hard into the metal of the construct, Codi pushed off with both hands, the force flinging her upright again. Then she kicked Wren in the side and her opponent went skidding across the floor before vanishing into one of the opening and closing sections of floor with a panicked cry. A dull thud signalled her landing on the floor below.

Codi was about to go down after her when her ears picked out the crescendo of thumping feet rapidly approaching from behind. With an instant to react, she dropped into a low stance, curling her body up into a small target and rotating. She jammed both her arms together to absorb the worst of a thunderous kick from another fighter who'd tried to get the drop on her.

The massive force bowled her head-over-heels backwards but she rolled with it, springing to her feet and winding up a clenched fist to swing at the attacker. She realised, with a pang of hesitation, that it was a boy wearing the colours of Zulu Forge. He paused for a heartbeat, a flash of indecision crossing his face. Clearly he hadn't expected her to recover so quickly.

Zulu Forge or not, he'd started this, so Codi was going to finish it. Making a mental note to apologise to Kye later, she took a long step forward and made a scything swing at his head. He ducked only to catch an uppercut from her other hand solidly in the nose. The tungsten lattice of the exoskeleton headwear would protect him from the worst of the blow, but it still sent him staggering backwards.

He regained his footing in time to weather a storm of blows before she dropped down and spun out a kick that swept his legs from under him. He smashed to the ground and she carried her spinning momentum around in a full circle, delivering a follow up strike that flung the boy across the arena until he thudded into one of the jutting skeletal supports.

Codi stood up and would have finished the job had the whole section of flooring beneath her not suddenly detached and swung away. Her eyes widened and she reflexively spread her legs further apart to hold her balance against the surge of movement. Reorienting herself, she tried to figure out where the swinging section would land.

When she saw her trajectory she pushed the Zulu Forge fighter out of her mind. It looked like whoever was controlling the contraption was about to hurl her headlong into a melee. On a fast approaching platform no less than five participants were fully engaged, belabouring each up and down it. The floor level seemed to change at random, dropping and flipping sections without warning. Amongst it all, however, she spotted a slender form clad in blue and cyan.

Leela was still in the fight. For how long was still to be determined. A whip-like fighter from Atlantic was bearing down on her with murderous intent.

Codi gritted her teeth, willing her platform to move faster. She lightened the gravity load of the exoskeleton, preparing to get off this ride at the earliest opportunity. Swallowing a deep breath she took a run at the far edge of the platform, and the noise of the crowd swelled into a screaming crescendo as she jumped.

Her heart slammed into her throat as she soared out over empty space, flying in a long arc towards the melee below. Waiting until the last possible moment, she dialled up the gravity fields in the exoskeleton and her descent steepened sharply. She locked onto her target and tipped her body backwards, steeling herself for the inevitable impact. This was going to hurt.

Only one of the fighters on the platform saw her coming and he wisely hurled himself clear of her landing zone. The others were not so lucky. A girl wearing the stark white of the Nebula Academy took the full force of both Codi's feet landing squarely between her shoulder blades. The massive impact fired the unlucky fighter forward like a rocket and she flew straight into the boy she'd been facing. The sheer force of her body ploughing into him carried him with her. Together they went spinning off into empty space and the klaxon blared again.

Codi crashed to the ground and rolled several times before coming to a halt. Scrambling upright she looked frantically around for her friend. Locked in her own battle, Leela hadn't noticed her, defending desperately as the Atlantic fighter advanced. One blow landed; another and another. The young fighter ducked, spun and rolled away from the edge she'd been driven toward.

After a quick glance to make sure the other fighter was still flat on his back, Codi bolted across the platform and arrived just as the Atlantic contender knocked Leela to the ground. He reared back for a murderous final swing, but as his arm plummeted forward to finish Leela off, Codi stepped straight into his path, bringing her left arm up against his, elbow to elbow.

The shock of their arms slamming together sent reverberations through Codi's whole body, but she gritted her teeth and stood her ground. The boy's face twisted up with anger and he wrenched himself free. She ducked his swing and kicked him in the stomach, driving him back a pace. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Leela scrabbling backwards. The Battlecast supporters were going berserk now and their animal roars filled her with renewed vigour.

She traded a brief flurry of blocks and strikes with the Atlantic fighter before sliding back from him and slowing the pace of the exchange. While she only vaguely recognised this individual, he was clearly experienced and it would take more than one wild assault to get the better of him.

"CODI!"

The panicked yelp from her team mate came just in time. She half turned and threw her arms up to protect her head, just as one of the other fighters cannoned into her. Clearly this individual didn't appreciate the Battlecast competitors teaming up in a Mayhem and had decided to even the odds.

She hit the ground with a gasp of surprise and, before she could react, the boy was on top of her, right fist clocked back to strike. All she could do was keep her arms up and shield her face as she tried to squirm free. One blow hammered into her guard, then another. The third pulled her arms aside, leaving her helpless.

Before the fourth punishing blow could land a lightning bolt of blue and cyan stuck the boy. Leela hit him at full tilt and literally carried him several paces before they both crashed to the ground in a jumble of flailing limbs. Codi flipped over onto her front and pushed herself upright again, just in time to square off against the fighter from Atlantic again. The fighting restarted in earnest, her and Leela taking on an alliance forged in the heat of the Gauntlet.

Even as they fought the platform started to move again. Codi didn't know how many klaxons she'd heard, but the numbers must have been starting to dwindle now. She herself had accounted for three, and it would have been more if the operators hadn't slung her into this mess.

Keeping the gravity fields in her legs high, she simply tried to hold her footing as the swinging section of the arena gathered speed. Chancing a quick look over one shoulder, she saw they were rapidly swooping back towards the main body of the construct again. On the top floor she could see flashes of colour as the other group of remaining fighters battled it out. The arena operators were bringing all of them back together for the final showdown.

As all four of them made the same realisation there was a brief lull in the fighting, just before their section slammed back together with the main structure.

Codi threw herself into the thick of it without a thought. The aim now was to get rid of as many of her competitors as quickly as possible. She caught sight of the searing green of Mantis Academy, indicating that Wren Cutler was still going. There was no sign of the fighter from Zulu Forge.

She violently interrupted an ongoing brawl with a spinning kick to one girl's head that sent her flying. The boy she'd been fighting stood stunned for an instant before Codi's fist clouted him across the cheek. He stumbled backward and before he could regain his footing she stepped in close, jumping high and jamming her legs out like two pistons. The soles of both feet cracked off his chest plate and an instant later he was soaring away into elimination. Codi slammed to the ground as the klaxon screamed.

Scrambling to her feet, she hurtled back into the melee where Leela and the five other fighters left in the Mayhem battled it out.

A girl barred her way. Codi ducked, surged forward and sank a fist hard into her gut. As her opponent doubled over she laid a thunderous clubbing strike down between her shoulder blades, knocking her to the ground.

Leaping past the prone fighter, she got hold of the boy from Atlantic by the scruff of his exoskeleton – hauling him out of the pile-up with a single savage yank. He flew backwards but rolled with the landing, coming smoothly to his feet with his hands raised for combat. Another klaxon rang and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Wren Cutler had dispatched a fighter wearing the ice blue of Cobalt Storm, standing over the boy, still ready to unleash more punishment.

Then she was in the middle of it again, bobbing, weaving and stepping, lashing out vicious blows when the windows were open. She landed several solid hits but the kid from Atlantic stubbornly held his ground, trying to stay in contention. With a sudden, long shuffle forward Codi snapped out one arm like a striking snake, hooking her fingers around the back of his neck and hauling him forward to meet her up-rushing knee.

She heard the breath leave his lungs as the strike connected with full force, but even in that moment the other fighter managed to keep enough composure to wrap his arms around her thigh so she couldn't pull away. Winded as he was, however, his retaliatory shove lacked any real power and Codi adjusted, catching him in a full headlock and tipping backwards. They both hit the ground – she landed on her back while he took the force on the top of his skull.

Rolling clear of the resulting mess of limbs, Codi leapt up again and found herself looking up at Leela standing several meters away. Now her friend had been roped into fighting Wren Cutler, and it was becoming quickly apparent that the hype surrounding this rookie was warranted. She slid and stepped with a fluid consistency that left Leela reeling. Before Codi could move to help a booming uppercut knocked her team-mate flat.

She cast a furtive glance over her shoulder. The boy she'd been duelling was picking himself up.

When she looked back again her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Leela sprinting straight at her, leaving a slightly perplexed Wren Cutler in her wake. Uncertainly, she pivoted back into a fighting stance. What the hell is she doing? Then her team-mate pointed at something behind her and mouthed two words:

'Swing. Me.'

It took her a moment to realise just what Leela meant, but then the dots joined in her mind. Admiration and apprehension rushed through her at the prospect. They hadn't really trained in any sort of paired fight – this could go wildly wrong if they didn't execute the move properly. But it was too late to bail on it now. Sucking in a deep breath, Codi braced herself for what was to come and extended her right arm.

An instant later their outstretched arms clamped together – hand to hand; wrist to wrist – and then she leaned back hard, dialling the weight levels of her exoskeleton to the maximum. In the same motion she twisted her body, slinging her slight companion around in an arc. Leela launched herself into the air and her whole body swung out like a cracking whip. As she reached the furthest point of the swing she kicked out hard. One foot smashed into the unsuspecting Atlantic fighter's jaw with sickening force and a concerted intake of breath rushed up through the spectators.

With a growl of effort Codi clung on, swinging her team mate down as smoothly as she could. Leela hit the ground feet first and she skidded to a halt, looking back over her shoulder to see the damage she'd done. Codi looked too.

The boy from Atlantic was lying prone, clutching his neck and groaning in pain. He didn't get up. The two Battlecast fighters exchanged a hopeful glance.

Then the klaxon rang for the final time.

Codi turned her eyes skyward, exhaling a long sigh of relief. Then she felt Leela's arms wrap around her waist and lift her as the cheering for the survivors erupted. Laughing, she squirmed free, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders and looking over those who would be joining them in the next stages.

Wren Cutler stood opposite a boy from Olympus Mons who just seconds earlier she'd been trading punches with. A few feet from them another boy stood, his exoskeleton coloured with the bronze and red of Ursa Major. And that was it – five of twenty.

The announcer boomed out the winners of Mayhem Six. Codi felt her heart swell with pride when Battlecast answered her name with a roll of thunder that shook the stadium.