Lance, after a light jog and stretching, leans back into the cold metal of the neural link. Once again in control of the Scope Cougar, Lance warms his new limbs. The joystick and throttle are still necessary to ease the mental load of controlling the mech. The neural link gives fine control of the Scope Cougar translating the manual inputs into fluid motion. The 4m tall mech moves to the checkpoint where drones take stock of the loadout and make sure everything is up to code for the match. Lance does short sprints as he approaches the starting line for the match. Across the field stood the 6.5m tall ape mech. Lance checks over his expendables are properly mapped into the controls, and a final current check of his conductive ceramic plates.

  “So Trent went with the most aggressive load out of six laser guided, six heat seeking, and six radar guided missiles. You made the right call on the Scope Cougar’s loadout. Good luck.” Rebecca says her last minute well wishes before communication was cut off.

  The drone swarm takes its place across the area before counting down the match. 3…2…1… horns blare. Lance makes a straight line for the forest while a timer counts down from two minutes. The Cougar’s sensors show the Gorilla remaining on the startline, when the Cougar must slow down to jog into the treeline. Once Lance was sure he was in deep enough that he could no longer be tracked. He cuts north till with time running out Lance runs back toward the edge of the treeline. Lance turns the Scope Cougar facing backward such that the mech’s tail straightens to a barrel. At just after two minutes pass Lance takes a shot on the Backpack Gorilla. The Gorilla tried to turbo out of the way but Lance led his shot properly taking out the right front arm of the Gorilla. Lance couldn’t hope for a better start. Trent traced the shot back to the Cougar and fired off a diverse missile trio. Lance reacts by exiting the treeline to get full speed out of his turbo. The physical pressure builds as Lance is pushed up to the Mech’s top speed. Lance focuses on his breathing to remain sharp while experiencing so many G forces. Trent, remaining cool under pressure, uses his turbo to try to close the distance. The Gorilla sprints on its hind two legs, sheltering its broken arm. Trent, looking to push the Cougar, fires off another trio of missiles from the missile container on the back of the Gorilla. Lance, dealing with the incoming trio of missiles, estimates that he does not need additional counter measures. Correct in his estimate, the Scope Cougar agility is enough to dodge the first round of incoming fire, but the Gorilla has managed to reduce the distance between them. Noticing that the Scope Cougar was losing tempo, Lance uses flares to distract one of the missiles using speed to dodge the other two. Trent transitions from first to second turbo, and grimaces from the strain of running on the Gorilla’s hind legs for so long. Lance, clueless to Trent's struggle, sees the Gorilla continuing to close the distance, and transition directly to his second turbo. Lance's heart beats quicken and his extremities begin to sweat. Trent decides to play for tempo rather than value, despite Lance expanding his second turbo without being prompted to via missiles, and fires his third trio of missiles. Lance, expecting to take defensive actions, fires off a missile towards the Gorilla in desperation to regain tempo in the match. Trent smirks as he tracks the incoming missile. Lance in desperation expends another flare and his first chaff. Lance uses this expending of resources to try to build distance by turn rate fight. With quiet confidence, Trent deftly avoids the incoming missile and keeps on the attack. Lance’s second turbo runs out, and maneuvers the Scope Cougar back to the woods. Trent turbo runs out as well and his mech has taken severe internal damage from the stress of running on hide legs for two continuous turbos. With three limbs injured, Trent fires off the remainder of his munitions in a play of desperation. Lance spots this wave of incoming fire and goes for his final turbo turning back to the open field. Expending all of his flares and chaff Lance goes for broke. The field sounded like gods cooking popcorn as the missiles rained down on the Scope Cougar. Smoke and dust blocks the view of the battlefield, but out of the cloud emerges the Scope Cougar. Lance fires off his ultimate missile and then turns so that the Cougar can enter sniper mode. The tail straightens to form the barrel. Trent clicks his tongue and tries to avoid the incoming missile only to hear a clunk of conductive ceramic breaking on the front of his mech.

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  “With that shot Lance has won the Rymentall Grand Prix!”

  “Congratulations on the win! What did you think about that match?”

  “Well Feabin, I started in a massive lead when I landed that first shot. It put Trent on the clock to get something done. While at times Trent was pushing me and leading in tempo, I was able to ride out his aggression, and score the final blow.”

  “You are here today sponsored by a place, instead of a company, anything you want to say to those who supported you here.”

  “Ylishia can do anything if we put our minds to it. Today is our victory. This wouldn’t be possible without the solidarity of my people. For Ylishia!”

  “Lance, you have conducted yourself on par with what is expected of a splintered.”

  “Thank you, Elder.”

  “Use this victory to forge ties. We need allies. We need those who won’t ally to be afraid of us, and those who won’t be afraid to be apathetic to whether Ylishia is independent. It will be up to you to make connections at the ball held in your honor.”

  “Yes, Elder.”

  “Reputation is everything. This win cements your first steps in becoming a hero for Ylishia. You must not falter, show weakness, or leave doubt that you will always be a winner.”

  “I will, Elder”

  Lance returns to the garage after his call with the Elder, and sees Rebecca, hair tied up matted with sweat, making the scar above her right eye stand out. She is working on removing the tournament plating from the mech. Lance crosses the large space so he doesn’t have to shout.

  “Rebecca would you be willing to accompany me to tomorrow’s ball” Lance springs the question.

  “Why I thought you might never ask.” says Rebecca with a smile on her face.