Lance, having finished registering for the Grand Prix, sits down at Rebecca’s table at the local bar. Lance sends a copy of the tournament bracket via PDA to Rebecca.

  “So, in the first round, we’re against Schilling’s Fenton in the Turbo Tortoise,” says Lance as he signals for a waiter.

  “On the bright side, the Tortoise tends to be heavy on protection and overall tanky, which has no use in the non-lethal scoring of knockouts. Even if they are willing to remove some of the countermeasures, to maintain structural integrity, the Tortoise will still be heavy. This gives us greater flexibility while staying under the weight limit,” Rebecca pontificates over her porter beer.

  “We have to apply the conductive ceramic panels before we know how much weight we’ll have to work with. I think we have more surface area than the Tortoise, so the overall weight edge might wash out,” said Lance between ordering a soft pretzel and cheese, with a margarita.

  Walking over with a light lager in hand is a two-meter-tall wall of a man, helmet hair, with olive skin, and still wearing his pilot suit unzipped from neck to waist, tied around his midsection, revealing a white undershirt.

  “You must be Lance. The name’s Fenton. Just wanted to introduce myself before the match tomorrow,” drawled Fenton, in an accent native to rural Falcon Rest, while extending his hand.

  Taking Fenton’s hand to shake, Lance replies, “We just got here today. How long have you been here?”

  Fenton, taking the empty seat at the table, explained that Team Schilling got here a week ago so they could use the full allotted time to scout both Area 1 and Area 2.

  “Excuse me for being rude, the name’s Fenton,” he said, reaching his hand out to Rebecca.

  “Rebecca, Lance’s mechanic for this tournament,” said Rebecca while shaking his hand.

  “So, you’ll be free if I win our match tomorrow. How does working as my personal mechanic if I win tomorrow sound to you?”

  “I am being paid based on winnings. Are you willing to match 10%?”

  “10% is kinda steep. Are you willing to throw in a date to sweeten the deal?” Fenton replies with a wink.

  “10% and the date is contingent on my decision, not some deal.”

  “You got it! I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Fenton says, getting up from the table and returning to a guy and gal across the bar.

  “So, Fenton is your type?” Lance says with a playful smirk.

  “Actually, you’re more my type, but there is no harm in playing the field,” Rebecca states with a tension in her face as she tries to hold back laughter.

  “I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you if it means you won’t sabotage my mech before the match.”

  “WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE RYMENTALL GRAND PRIX! For the first match of the day, we have Fenton of Schilling piloting a Turbo Tortoise versus Lance of Ylishia piloting a Scope Cougar. Feabin, what more can you tell us about this first match?”

  “Well, Tresha, the Turbo Tortoise gets its name from the unique use of turbo thrust. When the Tortoise uses a charge of turbo, it becomes like an air hockey puck. This allows each of the four legs to act like springs, facilitating rapid directional change. This unique form of motion means that the Tortoise specializes in last-second dodging from incoming missiles rather than the relatively more gradual bleeding of energy from missiles fired at mechs with normal turbos. It’s said by veterans of the War of Liberation that, with a good pilot, Turbo Tortoises are unhittable with missiles during their turbo; however, without turbo, they are an easy target. What the Tortoise lacks in conventional mobility it makes up for with the pressure it constantly puts out from missiles. The Tortoise’s above-average magazine depth keeps consistent pressure until the opposing mech just can’t avoid the next missile. The Scope Cougar looks to make space until the enemy no longer knows where the mech is, allowing for sniper pressure to take over the match.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “What do you mean by sniper pressure?”

  “The Cougar needs time and space to line up a shot, but once that happens the opposing mech has to play around getting sniped. This limits the Scope Cougar’s prey’s movement, giving the hunter a compounding advantage until the Scope Cougar takes its shot. Should the Cougar miss, however, not only has the Cougar given away its position, but it takes time to reload a new round. This can result in very cerebral play where it is just as much about what the pilots don’t do.”

  “Thanks, Feabin. How about we go over their custom loadouts for this match?”

  “First, we have the missiles. The Turbo Tortoise is coming in with 24 missiles: 7 heat-seeking, 7 radar-seeking, and 10 loitering laser-guided. The key takeaway is the 10 loitering laser-guided missiles that can hang out over sections of the battlefield only to dive bomb when a target is highlighted. This gives the Tortoise reprisal options should it become a long-range shootout. The Cougar has 6 missiles, all heat-seeking, meaning the Tortoise starts with four times more missiles. The Tortoise, being less mobile, is made up for here with 5 turbos. While that might make the Tortoise a sitting duck without them, you need to push the Tortoise to expend charges. The Cougar has 2 turbos, so has to rely on its natural mobility to avoid the missiles. The Scope Cougar has a head-mounted small fire and a tail rifle, while the Tortoise has no guns.”

  “The match is about to start”

  The two mechs square off three hundred meters apart across a grassy field. One hundred meters behind the Scope Cougar is a treeline making its way up the face of a mountain. Two hundred meters behind the Turbo Tortoise is a canyon that runs orthogonal to the mountain’s face. A fleet of drones monitors the whole combat area, acting as live camera feeds and the referee. A specialty drone counts down 3…2…1…horns blare to start the match.

  The Scope Cougar immediately ignites its first turbo and runs directly towards the Turbo Tortoise. The Tortoise responds by firing off a heat-seeking missile, followed by a radar-seeking missile. The Scope Cougar, one hundred meters closer to the Tortoise than the start, fires off one of its heat-seeking missiles. The Tortoise activates its turbo, kicking off its front leg to move directly away from the Cougar. The Tortoise floats and wobbles like a UFO floating a meter off the ground, gliding over the grassy, uneven surface. The Scope Cougar, still sprinting toward the Tortoise, turns perpendicular at the last moment and activates flares followed by chaff, just dodging the incoming missiles. The Scope Cougar once again charges the Turbo Tortoise, activating their second and final turbo while firing off their second missile. The Tortoise dodges the incoming missile by springing off its leg, moving now parallel away from the Cougar, trying to maintain as much space as possible. Fenton, realizing that he needs to make space, fires off two heat-seeking and two radar-seeking missiles directly at Lance while shooting two loitering missiles directly overhead. Lance’s pants inflate to push blood from his legs back to the rest of his body to fight the overwhelming G-force. Lance, now one hundred meters from Fenton, fires off two precisely timed missiles. Lance uses the last of his turbo, chaff, and flares to dodge the four missiles. Lance then fires off his last two missiles, leaving the Scope Cougar totally empty on expendables. Fenton, seeing he has won the match if he can just dodge this incoming volley of missiles, dodges the first, second, and third missile with ease.

  “Fu—”

  “AND THERE WE HAVE IT, LANCE TAKES THE FIRST ROUND! WHAT WAS THAT! IT’S LIKE FENTON CHOKED DODGING THE FINAL MISSILE! Lance, full of surprises, didn’t take the expected line of creating space, instead opting for relentlessly pushing the Tortoise. Let us get an interview to see exactly what Lance was thinking.”

  “Once we realized that making space just wasn’t an option against the Tortoise, we looked for a way to leverage tempo. Each of the Tortoise legs work like springs, meaning that if we set them off fast enough, the spring won’t have time to reset. We were able to take advantage, with careful positioning, that the Tortoise would be unable to dodge. We had no wiggle room, so it was a close match, but ultimately we pulled it out in the end.”