As she piloted her mech into the arena, Xiao found it odd that she didn’t feel nervous one bit. She no longer had to calm herself or take deep breaths. Because she practiced so much on the MTS, everything from starting a mech up and entering the arena felt second nature. Once her mech stopped and awaited for the match to start, she calmly turned her head to see the allied ant mech.
“Vesna, did our ally pilot change his weapons or is he still sticking with the experimental flamers?”
“I just got confirmation that he’s still using flamers. I was also told his mech now has an engine booster.”
“An engine booster?”
Xiao wasn’t expecting such equipment to get used by her ally. An engine booster could temporarily boost the output of the engine, giving a light mech a massive boost of speed for a short period. This might make sense for a fly mech that boasted more speed than an ant mech. Flea mechs were different in that they were more reliant on their jump jets. They were far more unpredictable so extra speed might not be as helpful.
“I was told their pilot wanted to try something. It’s their mech so it’s none of our business. I suggest you focus on a flea mech while your ally deals with the other one.”
“Affirmative!”
The young woman had no issues with a chance to put what she trained into practice. As soon as the match started, her mech charged towards the closest flea mech.
“They aren’t joining together! Focus on your own opponent!”
The ant mech closed in on the flea mech but, before Xiao could aim her weapons, the other mech leaped easily over the ant. Instead of turning immediately, she made sure there was a safe gap between the two mechs before she started turning. The whole time, Vesna kept her updated of the rough proximity of the flea, making it easy for her to reposition at a safe distance. Since the weapons were similar between the two mechs, her opponent had yet to land a single hit. However, the flea pilot was quite reliant on the jump jets so Xiao suspected that the flea must be close to overheating. A standard flea mech had four jump jets and, given how high the mech was jumping, it was likely her opponent was using all four.
Now’s my chance to counterattack!
After the flea jumped a second time, Xiao did a sharp turn to face the flea face to face. While the flea did unleash two small lasers at her mech, she returned with all three light machine guns in burst mode. As the flea’s left torso blew clean off, its right arm hardly did any better. The flea mech tried to flee but, a few seconds later, it stopped abruptly. Xiao used the opportunity to catch up and aimed at the legs.
“How’s my ally doing?” asked Xiao as she watched her opposing mech collapse onto the ground.
“Not good! He’s about to be defeated!”
What?
Xiao turned her mech in time to see the allied mech collapse onto the ground like her opponent. She couldn’t believe her eyes as a flea mech couldn’t possibly have the firepower to take down another mech. It needed a lot of time with its pitiful number of weapons before it could even get through the ant mech’s armor, including the rear ones.
“What’s different about this one?” she asked her operator.
“The other flea mech has no jump jets at all. Our ally pilot suspects that it has four light machine guns and an engine boost. It's an unconventional mech.”
“That’s one way to catch your opponent off guard.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Xiao let out the breath she was holding in as she charged the remaining flea mech. Her opponent was thinking the same thing so the two mechs ran towards each other. She kept her light machine guns in burst mode so, as soon as the two were almost in melee range, she let loose. The two mechs exchanged light machine gun fire while standing still but Xiao couldn’t tell who was winning. She watched nervously as her eyes switched between her target and her mech’s armor value decreased on her screen. Then, some explosions made her jump as he thought it was her mech.
“Good work, Xiao! Finish that flea mech!”
A few more bursts later, her light machine guns went silent. As the last mech standing in the arena, Xiao felt the pride that came with another victory. Now that she had a chance to think, she realized that, in such a fight, she had the advantage. It was true her opponent had more light machine guns. However, the flea mech also had less armor to protect against her weapons. She could get through the armor faster, allowing possible critical hits.
And if my opponent needed enough ammo for all of those weapons, then critical hits will easily seal its fate by causing more internal explosions from detonating the ammo.
It wasn’t until her mech was safe in the arena mechbay did she realize that she was still sweating heavily from the actual combat. The start of the match was easy enough to rehearse. The actual combat changed too much and had too many variables.
If I faced the other flea mech first, would its element of surprise change the outcome of this entire match?
The young woman couldn't deny the thought that her mech didn't lose any components as neither of the fleas got through her armor. As she exited the mech, Xiao took in a deep breath to clear her head. The others were excited to see her and complimented her on the two match win streak.
“I’ll do better next time!” she announced in front of the others.
The young woman meant it too. She recognized that she still lacked experience and she had been fortunate with the opponents she faced. As her record improved, the matches only got harder. While the match summary showed important information, there was still a lot of information that wasn't shown and still had importance. Among those was the pilot records requirement. There were upper and lower limits of what records pilots have to participate in a match. With her consecutive win, Xiao was certain that one more win might put her in a different bracket altogether. Then, she would face not only better pilots but also better mechs.
“Are you okay?” asked Vesna.
“I’m fine! Just thinking about future matches that aren’t getting any easier!”
“You should welcome the challenge! You won’t make the tournaments if you only fight the nobodies!”
“You’re right! Thanks!”
“That’s what I’m here for!”
This time, everyone celebrated the occasion by eating at a local restaurant. The atmosphere was amazing and Xiao realized how much she missed the old crew at Cythetics. It felt like she grew up with them which made their parting that much harder.
Luckily, I have a new family now! As the pilot, I cannot let them down!
Urged on by the others, Xiao drank lots during the party. The next thing she knew, she was in her room with a terrible migraine. She couldn’t believe she drank so much that she couldn’t recall what happened the night before. The young woman then unsteadily made her way to the first aid room to get some pain relievers. Once the pain subsided, she washed up and returned to her room. As she was about to leave her room, her phone vibrated.
A message from dad?
<
Hey princess,
We have seen each other for a while. I heard about what happened to Cythetics. Do you have time to talk to your old man?
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Regards,
Dad
>
It’ll be nice to see him again! There’s so much we can talk about!
With her mind made up, she first searched for Vesna who was in the mess hall. She asked if she could take a day off to see her father. The girl said that they were flexible with what she did as long as she prepared for matches and showed up on time.
“With your 2-0-0 record, no one here can really prevent you from seeing your father.”
Xiao thanked the girl and messaged her father for a good time to meet. The two of them agreed to meet two hours later at a small cafe near her old residence. The young woman proceeded to wolf down coffee and breakfast before she prepared for her day off. As she picked out her clothes, she realized how little she did outside of her job. Since she joined, she was either working on her pilot skills or studying up on mechs and its components. There was little time for other things.
Despite not having free time, I cannot say I hate this. I will make it to the tournaments. Then, I’ll rise to the top and make a name for myself.