Rebecca pilots the Al-mi’raj out onto the final’s Area. Rebecca was in a good mood just from getting to pilot her mech more. Starting off they walked the boundary, making note of features of the terrain. The western boundary was entirely lake making the walk fast and pleasant. The northern boundary held a canyon in the northwest corner facing into the forest that runs along the entire eastern boundary. This was much more boring for Rebecca, as she would just keep the mech still while Lance noted all the available lines of fire on the given position. This just left the south boundary with two hills. The smaller hill sat in the southwest with a large cliff face abutting the lake. The taller hill sat due south in between the smaller hill and the forest that occupied the southeasternmost corner. The elevation change required some testing to estimate the distance at which missiles would have a high probability of achieving kills. Now as they used up the remainder of their time, Rebecca got to do her favorite part practicing turn radii. This required the mechs to run at each other till they hit the merge and then tried to line up a shot on the opposing mech. Rebecca’s heart raced as she enjoyed the thrill of going fast.

  “This is the closest thing you can do on land to piloting a flying mech! I want to fly a mechabelli someday. They are the ultimate expression of freedom a human can achieve!” Rebecca says wistfully as they exit the final’s area.

  “There is only one way to fly a mechabelli and you don’t seem to be too keen on joining the military with your creed.”

  “But one can dream of a day when flying mechs aren’t needed for war, but can be solely enjoyed in recreation!”

  “It does sound fun getting to pilot a flying mech in a tournament similar to this, but right now having multiple dozens of the newest flying mech puts you in the most powerful air forces in the world. Ylishia Providence doesn’t currently even have flying mechabelli. The few that Ylishia had before our betrayal are all in Merchese. The YML is all that is left of our military in exile.Your best bet at flying a mechabelli outside of war is hoping Polick disarms. They have by far the best and largest air force in the world. Counting their navy they have the second best air force in the world too.”

  “It is not too far-fetched! Who does Polick have to worry about after The Great War? Even their former allies are diminished. They should turn swords to plowshares, and then let us play with swords for their entertainment!”

  “Yeah well how about we focus on the match ahead of us instead of our head being in the clouds.”

  “I don’t want to think anymore about how out matched you are, it’s too much of a buzz kill. Trent is the better pilot and he has a natural advantage given how the mechs pair up. Trent's last two wins were flawless even though it was a photo finish. Meanwhile you struggled against both his practice partners. I don’t see any path to winning that isn’t extralegal. You should ask Trent to give you a handicap if you want any chance at all of winning.”

  “You know what, that is not a bad idea.” Lance says with a smirk.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Fenton asks nervously

  “I just want to buy them both a drink. Just a little camaraderie among competitors.” Lance muses innocently.

  “It’s your life, if you want to fuss about politics then I can’t stop you.” says Fenton in resignation as they walk over to Trent and Monique's table at the bar.

  Trent doesn’t look as Fenton and Lance make their way over, meanwhile Monique hasn’t taken her eyes off Lance since they entered the bar giving him the cold stare. Monique responds to Fenton and Lance approaching their table with a cocked eyebrow and frown on her face.

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  “Given close matches each of us will share I figured I’d take this as the last opportunity to buy you three the first round of drinks” Lance announces before taking a seat. The four of them sit in a circle around the square table.

  “We accept your gracious offering.” Trent replies nonchalantly.

  Monique with the scowl still on her face orders a top shelf vodka martini, Lance a pi?a colada, and both Fenton and Trent a lager.

  “To competition!” Lance lifting his glass and cheering the table.

  “Doesn’t matter that you won against us. Trent is still going to win the whole tournament.” Monique says petulantly.

  “Are you willing to bet on your confidence?” Lance inquires.

  “The difference in prize money between first and second place is already enough without taking more from you when you lose.” Trent brushes off the proposal.

  “So you would be willing to bet if you gave me odds? How about if I win we compete on the same team for the upcoming Quarst Cup?” Lance suggests.

  “Only if you are staking your Mechabelli. I want to show off how I humiliated the great savior of Ylishia ”Trent retorts.

  “I thought you said you were confident, but you’ve given yourself odds given the relative value of what we bet.” Lance needles Trent.

  “What do you want me to fight blind folded? A two minute head start?” Trent counters.

  “A two minute head start. I think that will work just fine” Lance says, trying to conceal his smirk.

  Lance and Ternt finalize the bet. Lance leaves the bar and calls Rebecca to help plan their next match.

  “So at the start of the match you’ll be given two minutes to reposition and there are limits to how close you are allowed to get to the Gorilla, and Trent must stay within a certain distance of his starting zone. No shots can be fired or turbos used in the first two minutes by either side and only normal rules apply after the two minutes are up. Well with this you might just have a chance.” Rebecca restates the terms of the bet.

  “First, we can eliminate starting close to the water where there is no advantage to be found there.”

  “Second, while the forest provides cover it limits your ability to use turbo so while you’ll get first shot advantage unless it knocks out the Gorilla then you will be in a rough spot with incoming missile fire. Unless we take off turbo charges and replace them with missile defeating systems like flares or chaff. So how do you want to spend your turbo charges in the upcoming match?”

  “I’m thinking of one or fewer turbo charges but replacing the space with extra missiles instead. I need to push him if I am going to have the space to line up a shot.”

  “That locks you into trying to win early and letting the Gorilla just try to survive till they can turn the corner. If you go with flares and chaff you can play more to out-tempo Trent in the mid game.”

  “Third, we need to consider the hills. It will be similar to the forest but I’ll have a better opportunity to line up shots. Picking the hills as a starting location locks me into more of an aggro strategy now that you mention it. Whereas if I start in the forest I can try to transition to the hills later.”

  “Ultimately this leaves starting in the chasm. This will bring Trent into much closer range but locks you into a duel to the death from there. You won’t have an edge in melee vs the Gorilla so this seems like a weak strategy and not worth equipping your melee claws.”

  “Okay so let us look at it from Trent's perspective. The Scope Cougar will be better in longer fights, so playing for late game should be a bad adjustment for the Backpack Gorilla. Therefore he will most likely be playing either for early or mid game. An early game build for the Gorilla should be picking a variety of missiles looking to overwhelm my defensives. A mid game build by contrast would look to wear out my defensives while mostly playing defense early transitioning to taking advantage of lack of resources in the mid game. Either way we are looking at three turbos and 18 missiles from the Gorilla. If he goes aggro he should have more laser guided missiles, up to 6 ,and if he is more mid game then he should have less laser guided missiles.”

  “So if Trent goes aggro you want to have three turbos, and if he goes mid game you want more chaff and flares. This makes your choice closer to binary vs the Gorilla that can have more flexibility by just exchanging a single missile. So you get the largest edge by predicting how aggressive Trent will be in the match.”

  “I think Trent is going to be pretty aggressive so I’ll start with three turbos, two missiles, and four flares and chaff each. Okay now it’s time to outfit the Scope Cougar and call it a day.”