Chapter 4. Behold My Ultimate Move! (1/2)
Engulfed by the satisfaction of a new purchase, Shifter66 hopped into the 2R-E's cockpit. Without even spending time to grow familiar with the modified mech, he entered the arena and initiated a search for an opponent. Shifter66 wanted to dive right into a battle with his new baby.
As a fairly new and unskilled pilot, Shifter66 naturally got matched against a pool of similarly low-skilled players. Iron Spirit featured a sophisticated matchmaking system, and the lowest segment was the Bronze League.
Every potentate who played Iron Spirit started from the Bronze League. Only by winning a sufficient amount of times would one gain the opportunity to promote to the Silver League, which most mech enthusiasts consider it to be the real beginning of the game.
That was because the developers enacted a lot of restrictions to the matches taking place in Bronze. Players could only earn a little amount of gold, though they also had few opportunities to lose it due to simplifying repair costs. Matchmaking in the lowest league also didn't cross star systems, which meant that most low-tier players fought against opponents from the same planet.
Bronze leaguers were also limited from purchasing any mechs rated higher than 1 stars, which really frustrated a lot of kids who wanted to dive right into big and modern mechs.
As for Shifter66, he hadn't been exposed to the world of mechs for long. The mechs he already had access to already occupied his full attention.
His view changed into a preparatory screen. The game found an opponent for him. After confirming his mech, weapon and map preferences, he waited for his opponent to do the same.
After a short wait, the boy's mech landed upon a grassy hill. The first thing he did was to engage his sensors to see if his opponent was in range. One of the few good things about the Fantasia 2R was its fantastic scanning power, courtesy of its hair-like sensor bundle attached to its head.
The mech found an energy signature fairly quickly, which meant his opponent wasn't hiding. The boyeagerly commanded his mech to move forward, only to trip and almost fall backwards his mech's balance fell apart.
”Ah what the?!”
Only until now did it sink in to him that having a gigantic rear wasn't all that good. He wrestled with his neural interface for several minutes, trying to find a running posture that wouldn't tip him backwards. He finally managed to accomplish a crude stance by bending his mech's torso forwards, which had the unintentional effect of making his rear more pronounced.
”Who cares, as long as it works. Let's try the booster.”
Upon activating the Gemini's powerful thrusters, the Fantasia practically rocketed forwards. Only through some haphazard steps did Shifter66 manage to keep his mech on his feet and vaguely control his direction forward.
”WOOHOOO!”
As the boyfurther adapted to the mech's forward momentum, he found himself wild with joy. He could practically feel the wind whipping his mech as he casually broke through his personal speed record.
Unfortunately he neglected one thing. His opponent hadn't been twiddling his thumbs.
”Shifter66 eh, too bad you're piloting a light mech. My Groenig-Halman eat light mechs for breakfast.” The player known as Triceratopssss boasted.
He had the wins to back it up. KRH Heavy Industries' Groenig-Halman models offered a good balance between weight, energy and armor. They generally suffered against heavier mechs, but anything lighter couldn't go through its armor before the G-H pulverized them.
The G-H's design mimicked a gorilla, so it could bend down on all fours and sprint surprisingly fast in a short duration. Triceratopssss had already seen the blazing energy signature approaching him on his scanners, so he readied his posture to dodge and chase after the lighter mech. He already licked his lips as he imagined his G-H's powered arms tearing the soft Fantasia's frame apart.
”Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”
However, the Fantasia 2R-E ran forward so uncontrollably that Shifter66 doubted he could even regain control without crashing into the ground. Only until his forward view revealed his opponent's G-H model did he realize he couldn't do anything but crash head-on. Unable to even fire his mech's pistol with all the jostling, the boy plainly threw it to the side, instead choosing to draw the Fantasia's default sword from the embedded scabbard in the back.
”I don't believe my baby will lose to you!”
The G-H appeared to be frozen in shock, but as the distance dwindled, it regained its composure and crossed its meaty arms forward. The sword glanced off one of the arms, failing to penetrate its thick armor. The forward momentum nonetheless allowed it to travel forwards and pierce the G-H's chest. The armor yielded helplessly, letting the sword cut deep into the mech and slice through important systems and cabling. The G-H lost 35% of its energy and all of its weapons on its left side.
An even larger collision followed. The rest of the Fantasia's frame slammed forward, dealing more damage to the lighter mech than the G-H due to the differences in mass. The Fantasia's upper torso disintegrated from the impact, shards and other debris flying in every direction. Its head crushed into a pancake against the G-H's torso, somehow barreling past the heavier mech's armor and penetrating through the cockpit embedded deep within.
Triceratopssss practically had a fright when his viewscreen burst apart. He hastily commanded his remaining functioning arm to toss the immobilized Fantasia from his partially crippled mech.
”Get off me!”
The feminine mech crashed against the ground face down with its rear pointing upwards.
Triceratopssss had no time to do a detailed damage assessment. Instead he lumbered his mech over to the fallen frame of his opponent's mech and aimed his arm cannon. While the pilot didn't recognize the Gemini module attached to the Fantasia's rear, he nonetheless recognized it was an essential component.
[Unable to fire. Ammunition feed disrupted.]
The G-H's pilot cursed and abandoned his ranged options. He readied his fist for a punch.
Shifter66 frantically tried to command his wrecked mech to move. ”Damnit, why isn't she moving!?”
”This is the end of the road for you, punk!”
Just as the G-H landed the punch, a hatch on the Gemini blew apart. It revealed a hard shelled cockpit, which ejected instantly from the Fantasia with substantial thrust. While it didn't travel with the force of an armor piercing shell, it nevertheless possessed enough force to smash apart the G-H's ramshackle torso armor and pound its pilot into meat sauce.
Exhaust smoke spurted out of the Gemini's gaping cavity. Burn marks littered the immobilized Fantasia and the surrounding foliage as the decapitated Groenig-Halman mech collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.
[Winner: Shifter66.]
”Huh?” The boy groggily wondered as the rewards from the win poured in. ”It worked? I won!”
It had been a complete fluke to eject the redundant extra cockpit. In the final moments, the boy pretty much pressed every neural button he could find, trying to get his mech to do something other than being a sitting duck. Ejecting the cockpit was one of the last options left.
”Hahahaha! I knew my wouldn't disappoint!”
Shifter66 spent a significant fraction of his newly earned gold to instantly repair his mech. More expensive mechs required manual repairs or payment of real credits to get it done instantly. Fortunately, Iron Spirit didn't bother to milk excessive fees from its beginners, so the boy had nothing to worry about. He threw himself back into the arena.
Triceratopssss, who turned out to be a boy just a year older than Shifter66, simply sat stunned in the simulator. He couldn't believe he got done in by an ejected cockpit. He loaded the replay of the last match, fast-forwarding to the final moment before slowing down the playback to leave him with plenty of time to watch.
The same incomprehensible action happened again, just in a different perspective. Triceratopssss chose to watch the event from the side. He could see the immobilized Fantasia billowing out ejection fire and smoke from its battered rear module. Its left hatch blew apart, making room for the abruptly accelerating metal shell that protected the empty cockpit.
Normally, any ejecting cockpit followed an upwards trajectory as soon as it left the chassis of the mech that held it. If Triceratopssss had just been a little more patient, he could have let the cockpit fly harmlessly in sky. Instead he could only watch as his past self moved the G-H into punching range of the Fantasia, thereby exposing its damaged torso to his opponent's crazy strike. He pretty much impaled himself onto the enemy's lance.