“Vesna, how serious will you get for this practice match?”

“I’m pumped! I’m gonna show them what an operator like me can do.”

Xiao had forgotten that both she and Vesna lacked academy training. They were outcasts in their respective fields so it was easy for them to be looked down upon. This only made her more ashamed since she was so certain that she would be the first to be defeated.

“What are the rules?”

“Same rules as a normal match but try not to kill your allies, even if you hate them.”

“And we’re using an experimental flamer for this? What if I lose my left torso?”

“Twan got more from the auction. Don’t worry about it!”

“What did we get for our salvage reward last match?”

“Our practice match is starting. I’ll tell you afterwards.”

Xiao returned her attention to the practice field. To her left in the distance was Huxley’s mantis. To her right was what she believed to be a hornet, which Vesna confirmed afterwards. After seeing the mech overview of the hornet, the young woman felt a bit scared facing that thing. In terms of stats and loadout, the hornet was superior to both the ant and mantis.

“Quick update! The rules have changed. Instead of a free for all, it’s you and Huxley facing off against Zander. Zander requested it specifically to, in his words, make it more interesting.”

He’s that confident? That Zander will soon regret his arrogance!

With the changed rules, Xiao and Huxley had an extra five minutes to discuss their strategy through their operators. It wasn’t much time but they decided on Huxley going on full offense at melee range while Xiao looked for an opening. The two of them would have to adapt during combat should anything change.

“I just read through the summary for Zander, Xiao. He’s a problem. They say, in terms of his mech and his skills, he’s one of the best in his age group. Be careful out there!”

As soon as the practice match began, Huxley headed straight for Zander. Xiao did the same but she quickly noticed the difference in their speeds. Zander had originally been running towards her but he changed course a few seconds later to engage Huxley.

“What do you know about Huxley’s loadout, Vesna?”

“The mantis has no ranged weapons. It’s reliant entirely on its engine, engine boost and two saws, one on each hand.”

Speed to get close and saws to cut through foes? Fitting for a mantis.

Due to the distance, Xiao felt like she was initially a spectator to the match between Huxley and Zander. The two mechs got close but Zander stopped enough to stay out of melee range. Zander fired off his light machine guns while Huxley zigzagged with ease.

How is he doing that? Zigzagging should be impossible to do…

Xiao couldn’t process how this was done but it was there before her. She knew someone like Huxley couldn’t be cheating so there must be a trick to it. Eventually, she stopped closing the gap as she realized how big a gap there was between her and the other two pilots. She watched two experts face off in a duel. One of them was skilled at melee while the other was a gunner. Neither managed to get a clean hit in and, despite her plan with Huxley, she couldn’t see how she could get involved.

“Watch out!” shouted Vesna over the headset.

Xiao watched as two missiles nearly hit Huxley’s mech. However, Zander’s intention became clear when he disengaged the mantis and charged straight at Xiao.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I won’t let you get an easy kill! You’ll have to work for it!

Xiao urged her mech forward, much like what Huxley was doing earlier. When her foe was within light machine gun range, she unleashed bursts at her opponent. Her opponent did the same and she could see it with the drop of her armor.

The mantis has jump jets, right? So this is probably what he did.

Moving her hands to her jump jet control, Xiao gently tapped it.

Not quite! It’s something like that.

A few adjustments later, the young woman found she got the feeling. While her attacks were all landing, her zigzagging allowed her ant to avoid some of the enemy fire. Then, she took a chance by closing the distance before unleashing her flamer. Zander tried disengaging but she stuck like glue, knowing that her combination of flamer and standard weapons put her at an advantage. Normally, a hornet could easily outrace an ant. Yet, they were in a situation where she was moving forward and the hornet had to move backward.

Even if I pull out a draw with Zander, we win because Huxley’s mech will still be standing.

With victory within grasp for her side, Xiao pressed the attack. She still did the zigzagging motion which helped neglect the hornet’s armor advantage by distributing the hornet’s attacks more evenly throughout all of her armor. Then, her screen unexpectedly went dark and her mech was no longer responding. Seconds later, she felt her mech fall to the ground.

“Vesna, what happened? Did something go faulty within my mech? I no longer have any control!”

“Zander landed a clean headshot with his SRM2 missiles.”

“Curses!”

Xiao was almost certain that her zigzagging would make a clean headshot impossible. The fact that Zander landed the hit in the heat of the moment just showed how impressive the pilot was. Her opponent didn’t fire aimlessly and hoped for one to hit. He waited patiently until he shot when he was certain he couldn’t miss.

Just shows that I have a lot to learn!

“The practice match is over! Huxley delivered the finishing blow to Zander. Good work!”

“I need a little help! Can’t do much when my mech’s head is blown off.”

For the next hour, Wattan and his crew worked tirelessly until they installed a new head to the ant. With that, Xiao regained control over the mech and could walk it back to the mechbay where she was relieved to finally exit it. When she was locked in it, the interior felt like a prison and Xiao learned why some people were claustrophobic.

“That was impressive, Xiao!” exclaimed Vesna. “I didn’t know you can zigzag like that! Were you practicing that in secret?”

Xiao merely scratched the back of her head, unsure how she could answer the question. In truth, she didn’t know zigzagging was possible until she saw Huxley’s mantis in action. Then, she somehow figured out mid-combat which even she found it too ridiculous to believe. Thus, she said she had been working on it in secret. The others present didn’t question further and informed her that they had a lunch coming up. At the mention of food, her stomach growled to her embarrassment.

“By the way,” said Vesna as they exited the mechbay and walked into the hallways. “I think you got yourself some secret admirers after your performance earlier.”

Secret admirers?

She thought Vesna was simply joking but, while walking down the hallway, she felt some eyes focused on her. The young woman told herself to focus in front of her and not look around. Once they exited the academy, a small bus came to pick them up. As soon as she sat down, she dozed off. When they arrived, Vesna claimed she spent five minutes waking Xiao up because she was sleeping so soundly. After her apology, they entered the restaurant where the others were already waiting. Inside the room, Xiao was looking for her seat when Zander approached her.

“I'll take it back,” he said. “You’re pretty good. Not as good as Huxley but still pretty good.”

Knowing this was the closest she would get as an apology from Zander, Xiao felt warm and fuzzy inside. She just got acknowledged by someone who had a great career ahead of him.

One day, I’ll be better than Huxley.

As soon as Zander walked away, Huxley walked over.

“I’m impressed as well! I didn’t know you have such mastery of zigzagging your mech. None of your previous matches showcased it so you must have mastered it recently.”

Xiao merely nodded to avoid getting asked on the matter further. Then, she joined everyone at the table and wolfed down plenty of food. While she and the other two pilots didn’t talk much, the other members from their mech organizations did. There were a lot of business talks and Xiao overheard the mention of a squad. If someone told her before their practice match that she could form a squad with the others, she would have laughed at the thought believing it was impossible.

Maybe my performance did impress them enough to consider it. It’s not like it’s a given.

“Do you have matches coming up?” asked Huxley “If not, we can definitely fight together in duo matches.”

“Stop right there!” said Vesna. “That’s top secret information! Don’t think you can get it for free!”

With that small outburst, everyone else in the room laughed out loud.