[b]Isabelle[/b] You arrive back, riding second in Tad’s ship, to the sight of your mother, Almira Castra Lozano, standing in the hangar of Akar Prime with a small gray datapad in one hand. Somehow, despite the gritty browns and grays of the setting, she is wearing a purple dress that goes down to her ankles, her only accommodations to the space being that she’s wearing black flats instead of heels and she’s got a darker shawl wrapped above her back and shoulders to keep off the dust. Somehow, this does nothing to hide her perfectly shaped neckline and the gleaming amethyst necklace she’s wearing. Tad gives your hand a squeeze of reassurance as you get off the small shuttle’s boarding ramp, the two mecha behind it piloted by two of the corporate staff for escort duty setting down at a respectful distance out of earshot. It’s been a long four days since you were left alone in that lab on Roius and probably nothing now would be better than a meal and a long bath. But that isn’t to be. “Isabelle Maria Lozano de la Estrella” she says, in perfect cadence as you step out. “You have worried us all to death!” She hugs you, firmly and quickly, then holds you with both hands on her shoulders. Her platinum wedding band glints in the hangar light. “I came as soon as I heard the news of your last match. The Emberlight in shambles, oh my daughter, and then we receive your distress call that you’ve been kidnapped by pirates! What a life you’ve been living, hm. Going out without a party, a staff, or anyone to accompany you? To think when I learned that my precious daughter was such a fool, your poor mother’s heart cannot take it.” Her hands are firm and pressing. “The hopes of this whole house are riding on you, my child. This simply won’t do at all. Your next match…” she holds up the datapad, which was actually addressed to you but she seems not to have had any concern taking deliveries on your behalf in your absence, “...will be against one of the representatives of the Zaldarian empire, some minor pilot named Quar Dilara, who I’d normally expect you to defeat easily. As it is, we’re going to have to have you piloting one of the extra mechas we’ve brought in while yours is undergoing repairs, and I’ve freed up your calendar of any standing appointments for the next several days so that you can train in triple shifts to get used to it. You’ve already missed over half your training time for the match, so you’ll need to put in the extra work now.” She finally takes her hands off your shoulders, stepping back to look you over. “Luckily, it seems you weren’t seriously injured in your ill-fated escapade, and there wasn’t a trace of any pirates when we arrived, so you’ve at least saved the family a ransom payment just to be on time for the next match. Now come, daughter, we’re already late.” She beckons and all the attendant staff fall into step. You don’t have much choice either if you don’t want to get pushed to keep up by deeply apologetic but unrelenting house admin staff. When you get a free moment and eventually see the datapad, you’ll have this information Opponent: Quar Dilara Mecha: Lightning Chaser Known statistics: Power: *** Speed: ***** Defense: * Pilot profile: Quar Dilara is one of the more junior Zaldarian knights competing in the tournament. Relatively little is known of her technique. Early matches involved mostly the use of high speed and high-firepower long-range laser weaponry, proving evasive for her opponents. Further defensive measures have not been identified. Her mecha is relatively small for Zaldarian standards and likely has lighter defensive shielding given the amount of power dedicated to engines and active offensive weaponry. Terrain information: Your battlefield will be fought below an orbital platform in zero G. The platform itself will have several shafts and ravines, offering high risk cover Drones will be on-hand to arrest the descent of any mecha that enters freefall. If this intervention is necessary, it will be counted as a loss. *** [b]Solarel[/b] The flight back was quick, it barely felt like an hour to you, and to the rest of the system of Akar it was not even two full days for the return trip. The Kathresis offers nearly unparalleled rong-range speed in addition to its immediate space. It was barely enough time to even process everything, barely enough time to grow comfortable in your new skin. The rush was there. Isabelle could be something. If there’s anything to remember from this fight, it was how she came in at first. The way she controlled the nanobots outside the mecha, how for a brief moment it felt like you would have to fight the arena and the mecha together. The seed of potential could grow from that, even though she was too inexperienced today to keep your blades from closing upon her chest and your hand from her throat. When you get back, there will be many things due to you. You owe a debt to the Boatmen of Styx, you’ve attracted the interest of the Ebon Claw, and of course there is Mirror, surely already busy at work preparing for her next match, never standing still. You can, perhaps, take pleasure that now that you have a new god to inhabit, the fights will come furiously. You’ll be against a Terenian, Angela Victoria Miera Antonius. She previously fought and lost to a newly debuted Hybrasilian whose mecha claims godhood in a manner distinct from the Zaldarian gods. But she has since upgraded her Terenian gen 2 mecha with some new tricks and will be a fierce opponent, just as you surely will be despite your prior loss in the rankings. You receive the following: Opponent: Angela Victoria Miera Antonius Mecha: Barn Owl (modified) Known statistics: Power: ** Speed: *** Defense: **** Pilot profile: Angela learned on an older mecha and has kept to the model, upgrading the internals several times while maintaining the same chassis. Her previous loadout involved the use of multiple autocannons and a paired set of wrist blades. This proved unequal to the task of defeating a strong melee Hybrasilian mecha wielding an ionic spear. She has recently made several repairs to her mecha, which likely include weapon upgrades some of which may not be immediately apparent. Terrain information: Your battlefield will be fought in a mountainous bowl region. The interior is fairly flat and will provide an arena with few impediments for a direct fight. The borders stretch high and will present obstacles including potential low visibility weather to any mecha that attempts a mid-combat flight through them. *** [b]Dolly (and Jade)[/b] You get to see the sunrise on Akar Prime. It’s beautiful, sitting on the balcony of one of the tall buildings. You may spend a lot of time in the Hangar with Jade, but one of the perks of being a competition pilot for both of you is the option for nice short-term rooms. Atop a tall tower, with a balcony, even various stimulant drinks in the room for you (the staff have learned enough not to poison a Hybrasilian with the standard Terenian fare, even if they’re still a little mystified). So you get to wake up to the sunrise, the slight reddish light of Akar’s sun cresting over the stark brown cliffs that form the horizon. Though the city extends for miles and miles, it doesn’t reach the skyline, so you get to see the rich rock that brought anyone to settle here in the first place as the reddish light creeps along it, slowly painting over the swirling purples of night. It’s a time to catch your breath and to plan. Or perhaps to thrill in secret with nobody to watch you. The Red Banders weren’t lying after all. You’re up against Erys Bander in the next match. From all appearances, she’s a brute and a bully who loves throwing her bulk around against her opponents. But you can read her profile for yourself. Of course, nothing in the profile is going to have anything in it about what the Banders might do to ward themselves against Jade’s curses. You’ll have to puzzle that one out yourself. Opponent: Erys Bander Mecha: Hybrasilian script: [The unrelenting grip of the stone goddess Dishai], shorthanded to Crushing Grasp. Known statistics: Power: ***** Speed: ** Defense: *** Pilot profile: Erys is currently undefeated in matches. Her combat style is close range although her mecha is not particularly fast. In her matches to date, she has used a combination of cloaking and terrain advantages to maneuver to short range with her opponents, then deploying extensive capture nets, a powered ionic fist, and a heavy Falchion for her combat. She has thus far eschewed long-ranged weaponry in favor of heavier defensive armor and shields, making her nearly unstoppable if trapped up close. Terrain information: Overgrown Cityscape. Buildings have been constructed to be covered with heavy vines and roots. The largest structure will be a multi-level garage with interior space adequate to house most mecha. Open but grassy avenues will be available between buildings, or a pilot can choose to fly above the terrain for better visibility in exchange for exposing themselves from below. *** [b]Mirror[/b] For a moment, Matty doesn’t get it. She sits, being polite as she’s fed, reveling in the experience. Then it hits her and there’s a muffled gasp that she quickly snaps short. Her blush, if anything, grows even stronger in your arms. She’s still being fed and she tries to focus on that, but she’s progressively more squirmy in your lap. Slate has to give her a little tap on the head to get her to focus on finishing her food, before going back to your conversation like she’s the most expert parent in the world. She can feel Matty fidgeting in your lap. First it’s slow, slight adjustments on your leg, trying to balance while she’s being fed but not sticking to any one position. These are the sort of little bits of pressure that you can address with a slight shift of your arm or your leg to keep her balanced without breaking any of the conversation. As Slate finishes feeding her, she bites her lip, then has to unbite it as Slate continues to clean her off without stopping in stride, using a gentle nudge to get her to reveal the parts of her mouth she’s hiding for cleaning. She can feel her legs wiggle underneath you as it happens Mirror, but she’s a good girl who’s too little to say anything and lets herself just be handled by Slate as you talk over her. When you get to the talk about having to replace parts on the tail because of its burnout, she lowers her head and leans forward, trying not to say anything, trying not to break the spell. But she’s so wiggly Mirror! She’s leaning forward and back, she’s rocking, she’s squirming, she’s kicking her legs, and there’s a slow whine building inside her! Then, only then when she’s can’t hold it in anymore does it burst out of her. “Aaaaah, we can fix it!” Then she looks up guiltily and runs the hand that isn’t being held down by your armor through her hair. “Um…I…” she wiggles her legs, hesitates, decides she just has to go for it, even sitting in your lap. You might imagine that she had something like a presentation planned, maybe some notecards in her bag somewhere, a question and answer period. Instead she’s just been fed dumplings and she starts going while looking back and forth between Slate and craning her neck up to look at you, Mirror. “Um, the proposal that Trosta and I came up with is to install new power regulators on all the tails. They would be…um…tied to a central control unit that’s linked to your control station, but that you wouldn’t be able to directly manipulate. I mean, um, of course you could have the engineering team pull it open and change it, but this was your request for um…for limitations so so Trosta said you wouldn’t. And um…right so the way it has a simple AI that measures your actions and looks for variety. And it won’t activate all the tails at once, it will randomize three that you get at the start and the rest won’t get any power. And then as you do different um…moves it will let you know when a new tail is ready to be activated, and then you’ll need to use that to activate more. So um…s-so over a fight you’ll start with very few options and it might be really hard against a tough opponent, but Trosta thought you wouldn’t mind that, and then as you do stuff you’ll get stronger and stronger until you can do a whole big finishing move and um…aaaaaah!” She gestures as she starts getting into it, ending with a wild lift of her arms that almost unbalances her, causing her to tilt over and suddenly grab onto Mirror tightly with a two handed bear hug around the chest so she doesn’t fall over. She blushes, but also grins from getting through it all, big and wide and happy at her cool reveal! *** Much later, when you’ve saved the extra dumplings, washed the dishes, and Matty has drifted off to sleep, you’ll get your match details. Opponent: Heim Stockar Mecha: Blast Wall Known statistics: Power: **** Speed: * Defense: ***** Pilot profile: Heim Stockar was previously a feared Zaldarian raider before the building of the Arena. He has somewhat avoided arena combat to date, sending various younger lieutenants from his hold to compete, but has personally entered this year’s tournament. Thus far, his matches have involved defensively enduring his opponent’s onslaught with a combination of armor, force fields, and a shield. He then either retaliates with missiles when they leave themselves open at a distance, or with his spear if they attempt to close and fight up close. Terrain information: Colosseum. Your match will take place in a constructed and enclosed arena space built above the forest. It will form a large multi-story dome allowing for flight but limiting overall maneuvering space The sides will have uneven stands, while the center is flat, encouraging direct combat.