Looking good agents!

Looking good agents!

Originally shared by Edwin Anuruddha Chow

Date: 9th August 2014
Time: 1830hrs
Location: Entrance of Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

“Results are in! Kuala Lumpur Resistance: 127, Enlightened: 160. Total for Helios 3, Resistance: 930.35, Enlightened: 1108.964. WE WON!”
Cheers erupted, hi-fives and hugs were exchanged. After 9 hours, the long and hard fought war was over. I looked around and saw agents from around the world standing together as one faction, as one united team, as The Enlightened. Indeed this is the epitome of what Ingress is all about.

I focused on a group of 33 agents; the group of 33 that made the journey up from Singapore to participate and all I see were recognition of our efforts and our time as other agents finally took noticed of this team from Singapore. We are no longer tadpoles but capable of standing on our own in battle, with allies by our side.

Team Singapore was divided into various teams, with 1 Volatile team consisting of entirely Singaporean players led by a KL agent. Each team gave their all, be it in preparation or in battle, making us worthy allies, and formidable foes in the battlefield.

It all started on the first week of July when KL was announced as a Satellite site for the Helios Anomaly Series. This is the closest we got to a full out battle with the Resistance and for the first time, a series would be determined by Asia with Taiwan (Primary) and Hong Kong (Satellite) being named as the other regions. Initially, the momentum was slow and there were doubts if we could muster a significant number of agents to form a team up to KL but as word started spreading and with the support of the Region Mods, it slowly but surely gained speed and by the end of the 3rd week of July, our team was formed and ready. Besides planning for the logistics, transportation and accommodation for the team, each member took the additional effort of farming for items based on the recommendation by the Mission Director and at the same time balancing with their regular Ingress activities. And soon it was time to make the long journey up to KL for the battle.

Time: 1100hrs – I Feel Blue….
Location: Pacific Express Hotel 
Arriving in KL at 6am, every member had only about 1.5 hours of proper rest after the long bus ride to freshen up before meeting for the brief.  After a quick breakfast (and a long time settling the Data connection), we were whisked off to the start point in preparation for the upcoming battle.

As we were waiting at the lobby of the hotel, shouts of “Blanket! Blanket!” can be heard as the Resistance did a huge field covering KL. However the Operations team were simply calm to the news, telling us “Don’t worry, we got it covered.” Little did we know that they had a different meaning of the word “covered”.


Time: 1330hrs – Operation Matahari
Location: Lake Park, Kuala Lumpur
After we arrived at the gathering point at the first cluster and a quick group photo, teams were dispersed to meet up with their respective team leaders and discussion of strategies, tactics and “what-ifs”. Small pockets of Resistance players started walking around and we started identifying some Singapore Resistance players trying to ascertain who had also made the trip up to KL. Trip wires that were set up the night before started going off as portals started changing colours within seconds. Suddenly, shouts of “Blanket! Blanket!” could be heard and everyone started to look into his or her scanner to see it al covered in Green. Operation Matahari has commenced.

With the aim of covering the whole of South East Asia, Operation Matahari involved agents from India, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia and many more which created an enormous field that brought in around 670million mind units. Encouraged by this turn of events, the Enlightened players battled on with renowned vigor and determination in order not to let down the agents that planned and executed the operation. 

Time: 1411hrs – TIME!
After a good 15 minutes of massive spamming and cries of “Cube!”, “Grey!”, “Reso/Mod Down!”, everyone was delighted when it was over for measurement 1. Deep inside, we sort of knew we won, but yet until the official announcement, no one dares to confirm. But that didn’t stop us from congratulating everyone on a job well done. With that it was a long trek to the second cluster and after a short break, it all started again. Cluster 2 was denser and war cries can be heard throughout the grounds. Agents were seen in groups tapping on their phones and trying to defend the portals. In a blink of an eye, it was all over and time for measurement 3.

Time: 1611hrs – The Resistance Fights Back
Measurement 3 was the toughest as the Resistance fought back strongly and for the first time, the Enlightened tasted defeat for a measurement. Everyone started to get worried if the gap from the previous 2 measurements was enough to cover for this defeat. As I sat on the steps near the Railway Station, I saw agents around looking through their scanners and exchanging inventory to sustain for the final measurement as well as leaders rallying their members for the final showdown. Agents were getting tired and the KL heat didn’t help at all. However the rallying cries helped and soon, we were determined to take the final measurement and the ultimate victory for The Enlightened.

A fierce war broke out at the Railway Station, the volatile portal of my cluster, with The Enlightened pulling all the stops and controlled the portals. When it was all over, cheers erupted as we knew we did it, that we won. Hi-fives, cheers and handshakes were exchanged. Personally I extended my thanks to Ody and FluffyJing for a great game and a good fight as they were leading the Resistance at the same portal. After a quick cross faction photo shoot, we made our way to the final gathering point, redeeming our badges and waiting for the results.

It was a scene of jubilation at the Post Event Party where celebratory dunks into the pool were given to key members of the team. Agents from around the world mingled, joked and shared their experiences throughout the day. It was a lively atmosphere despite everyone being tired and drained from the day’s activities.

As we gathered for breakfast the next morning, news filtered in that The Enlightened also won Helios 4 in Chicago, leading it to a clean sweep which had been unseen since the Cassandra anomaly days. Smiles and jokes were all around, as we busked in the glory of a victorious day for The Enlightened.

As I sat on the bus on the way back, I could hear cries of “Portal on the Left!” “Why you so fast cap my unique?!” brought a smile to my face. This wouldn't have been possible without the great planning, co-ordination, tactics and teamwork by every Enlightened agent on the ground.

Be assured that we will always be ready for the next and many more anomalies to come.

Brandon Badger Matilde Tusberti Ingress  #wewon   #proudtobeenlightened