Xiao was finishing up with her preparations before she headed to the mechbay. Her four versus four match was about to begin and so was her debut in the hornet mech. For an outcast, the idea of piloting a hornet seemed like a dream. Without sponsorship, most outcasts only had a chance to pilot flea mechs, ant mechs or any of the cheaper mechs with no brand equipment. A hornet was so out of reach due to the expensive repairs and maintenance. Xiao checked with Wattan who told her to not worry about the costs. The head mechanic had told her to focus on her match with the goal of doing her best in winning.
I cannot believe that this is my sixth match. I know Vesna was joking about getting me into tournaments within a few months but she is really trying to get my matches scheduled that help me grow as a pilot. My relegation match may happen sooner than expected if this keeps up.
The young woman was walking down the hallway when she heard some commotion nearby. Given that she still had plenty of time, curiosity got the better of her. Xiao made a turn and soon found herself staring into a room full of reporters. To showcase the spider and cicada to the public, the respective manufacturing companies of the mechs organized a press conference. Xiao stayed for a couple of minutes before she left, bored with what was presented. She knew that there were those in the industry that might be intrigued by the contents of the meeting but she had no such interests. She had a match to fight and, afterwards, she still had to grind until she made the top one hundred students of the academy.
“How was the press conference?”
Xiao turned to see Puhi in her pilot suit, ready for combat.
“It’s rather boring. I’d rather be preparing for my match knowing victory isn’t guaranteed.”
“I don’t disagree but a good PR campaign can be critical at times. I’ve spoken to Vesna and she has a good head on her shoulders. I’m certain, when the time comes, she’ll make your name known across the mech competition world.”
Xiao didn’t have time to blush at the thought because Puhi was already walking down the hallway. She caught up but she didn’t say anything as the diplomatic scene played out in her mind between Puhi and the cicadas pilots. Her squadmate explained the situation and convinced the cicada pilots to go with their plan. Those pilots weren’t fussy with what they did as long as they could make their mechs stand out as indicated in their contracts. Since Puhi’s suggestion was flashier, it made sense they would go that route. With their allied squad on board, she and Puhi then had to study the spider mech combat footage to figure out ways to counterattack. They agreed that the spider mechs were pretty good but the pilots inside were average.
“Is there a chance they trained since their last match?” asked Xiao.
“As long as they are undefeated, they have no reason to train harder than usual. Last I checked, their backers are still happy with their performances.”
The two of them eventually parted as they went to their respective mechbays. As soon as Xiao entered hers, Vesna came and pulled her towards the hornet mech. No matter how often she looked at it, the young woman found herself still in awe while staring at the mech. It was in an entirely different class from the ant mech and she was about to pilot it into battle.
“All the tuning is done,” said Wattan as he walked over. “Do your final finetuning and we should be good for combat.”
Xiao thanked the head mechanic and did her few minor adjustments. As the door closed, Wattan told her to do her best and not worry about the repairs. Sitting inside the hornet, she could almost swear that it was more spacious than the ant. As soon as she decided on using a hornet, the young woman trained tirelessly on the MTS to get as adjusted as possible. Her biggest worry was the jump jet since, with them doubled, she had to be even more careful when performing small maneuvers. As an added precaution, she messaged Huxley for some pointers and the young man gladly offered. She then promised to call him to catch up following her match.
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“Are we starting on time?” asked Xiao.
“The press conference isn’t done yet,” replied Vesna with a hint of annoyance. “Since it’s two pilots from both teams, neither side can be disqualified either.”
Hating her bad luck in this matter, Xiao turned her attention to her hornet mech, checking all the controls again. As soon as that was done, she accessed her tablet to look up on a few things. Lately, she had been regularly watching a content creator’s content due to how informative it was. This was the same content creator who laid out the points on what she needed to do to become the best outcast pilot. Through this individual’s videos, she not only got to catch up on some of the big tournament matches but she also had a chance to see the highlight reel moments during those matches.
There are definitely a number of things I’d like to try. They will surely help me reach a higher level.
Xiao spent the next hour devouring videos until Vesna informed her that the match had finally begun. Following a quick stretch to loosen all of her joints, she navigated her mech onto the arena where she was fighting in front of ten thousand audiences for the first time. The young woman was certain there were even more watching the stream, especially with the media attention the match was getting.
If I don’t want Vesna to overwork herself in making my name heard throughout the galaxy, then I better use this chance to make a big splash.
Once the match began, Xiao and Puhi went to their respective flanks to be matched up with one of the spider mechs. The bomber mechs were in the center while the cicadas charged directly at them. To be on the safe side, Xiao purposely kept to the outside as much as possible. If the bombers wanted to hit her hornet, then their blanket fire wouldn’t be as effective. The young woman watched as her opponent charged straight at her. Judging by the speed of her opponent, she believed there was a good chance both mechs had improved engine core, making it so neither had a speed advantage over the other.
Here it comes! Better not make myself too easy of a target.
Xiao’s hornet began zigzagging and, seconds before the two mechs were in range to fire their weapons, it moved laterally. The spider pilot misread the situation and dashed right past the hornet. Xiao immediately pounced on the mistake by getting behind the spider while unleashing her weapons including her SRMs. The young woman had a taste of the SRMs from the front and it wasn’t pleasant. She could only imagine how her opponent felt about SRMs landing on the rear armor. After a bit of zigzagging, the spider managed to create some gap with the hornet and the two mechs faced one another.
If I can get behind that mech again, then it will be over. I think my opponent knows it too.
Despite wanting to keep the momentum up, Xiao chose to not engage while her opponent was probably shaken up. After using all of her weapons, the hornet’s heat levels were already past its halfway mark. The standoff only benefited her as it gave her hornet time to cool down in the meantime. Twenty or so seconds passed before the spider made its move. Seeing the opposing mech closing the distance, Xiao urged her mech forward at max speed. She watched as the spider tried to stop but the two mechs collided. At point blank range, she fired off two more SRMs, narrowly hitting the spider mech’s head. Following two more clean hits from the SRMs, the spider backed away a lot.
“The bombers are both out of commission,” reported Vesna. “Puhi is having some problems due to her opponent packing some flamers for this battle.”
Does my opponent have flamers too? I have yet to see any attacks so I cannot be sure. I need to monitor my heat carefully to avoid any problems.
This time, the hornet took the initiative as it charged forward. Once she deemed the range was close enough, Xiao fired two more SRMs at the spider’s right legs. The spider, as expected, maneuvered to its left to avoid the missiles. This was the opening Xiao wanted as she now had the side of the spider. After unleashing her weapons to the side of the spider, the opposing mech had lost its right torso and arm.
Time to finish this!