[b]Mirror[/b] There’s something special about being back in the cockpit of the Nine-Tails after your adventure. It’s fresh in a way that it hasn’t been in a long time. Like easing back into an old chair that’s fitted to you. It feels calming to be there, you could imagine the ground bursting around you, lasers and earth and rolling ground splitting apart in chaos and still this would be relaxing. That sort of feeling. Matty and Slate are apparently forming quite the dynamic duo, and everything is working at optimal power. The crew hasn’t seen hide nor hair of the cheating since Solarel’s tricks, and they’ve been on high alert. Matty was even brave enough to boop you back when you set her down before boarding! You’re launching into the planes from below. There are waves of golden grasses and a handful of loose trees shorter than the mechas. This section of the arena is kissed with sunshine and there’s a light wind that’s blowing, causing the grasses to sway to and fro. It could be hypnotic in the right moment, and one would be forgiven that a place this beautiful is wasted on a combat between two mechas. Across from you and not too far away, the Ginger Tiger comes into view. It’s painted in stripes, tan with a hint of red crossed with black. Shorter than the Gods-Smiting Whip, and a little lean for a tigress’ mecha. Kiriala is wielding a spear in one hand, a net in the other. She’s got a few lasers too, nothing special. A standard huntress model. Top of the line, but nevertheless standard. The first thing you hear over the comms is the sound of sipping. “...Had to finish my ginger tea. Never good to start a job without it.” Her grin is wide enough that you can hear it in her voice. “We’re both in it for Mother Hybrasil, right? And as I hear it, we’re both advancing. I kinda like it that way. Takes all the tension out of things. Like when you’ve got the smugglers you’re looking for already holed up somewhere and you just have to go and get them. The hardest part’s always the setup. Half my job, you know. I get everything ready for someone else to come in and finish off the case with me. It’s tiring.” She doesn’t sound tired though. She sounds like she’s stretching in her cockpit. Oh and she’s started shooting at you already, but you can tell it’s more like waving hello, she just wants to see which way you’re going to move, if any way. *** [b]Solarel[/b] Your lance arrived without any delay. It came with a note: “Don’t break it, this is a precision weapon, you can’t just slam it into me sideways until I keel over~” You deploy on opposite ends of the space platform. The Terenians would call this Final Destination no items for some reason. You’re on the far side of the planet from the sun at the moment, but both habitable planets of the Akar system are visible, the light of the star reflecting off them in patterns of blue and brown dotted with specs of light where the port cities are located. They’re small planets, almost fragile from here. The surface of Akar Prime is pitted where mining occurred, which makes it look almost like some kind of gigantic seed fruit. Ghosts dance at the edges of your vision where the planets are, the signal of all their electronics. They dance beneath your feet as well, the space platform was assembled by nanobots and remains full of active energy. Across from you stands the Makhaira. It’s tall, nearly twice the size of the nymphish Kathresis. She has it painted up all in bright purple above a black trim, one of the colors of the new empress and a popular Zaldarian one anyway. Akaithon has her massive sword held in one hand and rested over her shoulder, its tip several meters above her mecha’s head. A deceptive pose. Relaxing, but if she sprinted forwards, that shoulder would provide a perfect lever for the weapon’s momentum. She comes on the comms. She has music playing, the sound of an electric guitar riffing up and down a scale comes on over the speakers and there’s a faint drumbeat in the background. She speaks above it, her voice that same city-bound melodic style you remember, along with the slight twinkle to it that you remember as well. “You battery-bound, rusted out thug! Hell of a trick you played, taking your banishment while leaving the greatest god we’ve ever seen utterly useless. Entangled with you! Not a single spirit can manage to pry it away. So they sent me to do it! Empress Naelkai II insisted in fact. I think she has a soft spot for you, personally, but you’d need to grovel to make her show it, she’s really very touchy about the respect due her imperial authority. I’d conjecture that it indicates a tenuous grasp on power, but hopefully she’s busy in transit and isn’t watching me speculate.” She’s making small talk, but there’s a murderous tinge to her voice and you can feel the fight coming. She has no plans to hold back against you, no matter the measure of your mecha. If you want her to really focus on the bigger things, you’re going to need to make this fun for her. It might also help if you have something really thoughtful to offer on the workings of the Aeteline. Akaithon is a bookish city nerd at heart and if you give her a technical problem to chew on, she’ll happily do it mid-fight. *** [b]Dolly and Jade[/b] You deploy outside of the factory on one of the cliff sides. It’s nice. You might not call it uplifting, but the factory lights are really pretty and you’ve got this overlook where you can see the multi-colored lights reflecting upwards and diffusing into the clouds. It looks sort of like muted rainbow candy, like a child might get at a fair or a religious festival. Ada Smith has deployed in the factory. You can see where she’s coming in, there are holes in the roof. She’s got plenty of cover if you just open up and start shooting, but it does give the two of you an opportunity to just meet each other’s eyes, you up on the cliff, she below. If you watched her fight with Isabelle, you’ll know this isn’t the same mecha as her previous one. It likely couldn’t be salvaged after she overloaded the core. Overloading a crystal fire core does strange things to electrical systems. It does seem like they took some of the scrap from her previous mecha though, especially the hand weapons. Seems like it’s your destiny to get opponents who want to get a firm grip on you~ “You’re the ones with the religious cult, right?” Ada comes over the comms no-nonsense. “I watched a couple of your matches. You’re good pilots, but you keep winning by playing your opponents. Can you do that against me when I don’t even follow your religion? I’m not stupid enough to tell you to prove you can’t, so bring what you’ve got. I’ve got a tournament to win.” This is going to be a tough one. She’s no Angela to be tricked into an over-aggressive charge and she doesn’t have an obvious trigger to fluster. You’re going to need to at least get a real upper hand to press her. *** [b]Isabelle[/b] “You have to break her concentration.” Your mother had a long, physical pointer for use in lectures and she used it to whap at a projector screen with a loud thunder to keep your attention. Each time she did it, her scarf, a sparkling heather blue today, tossed itself slightly into the air and then gently settled back to her shoulders. She was not well-pleased with your efforts. Not entirely displeased either, mind you, but you had neglected some of your training, had obviously skipped on sleep for personal time, and despite your promises, it was becoming clear that maintaining things with Quar required a level of personal attention that you just couldn’t get away from. Quar was your captive, and as she was teaching you more signs, she made it very clear that meant you had to deal with her or she would understand it as a request that she get on with escaping already. That meant at least one extended session with her daily ignoring whatever else you had to do, match days exempted. But back to the lecture you definitely weren’t distracted from! “Thusly. She lost her previous matches due to becoming overwhelmed with things. She is learning from this, but it is only two matches. Open quietly, let her think she’s gaining the upper hand and reserve your true strength. When she is happy, think glee Isabelle, glee, then you reverse things on her. Even if she could still win, if you tumble her emotions like that, she won’t think to win, she’ll fall back into her hold mindset and think only to run and hide. Wait, surprise, and then press your advantage and don’t give her time to recover. Whatever you do, don’t offer her your full measure right at the start. Oh, dio, she’ll read you like a book if you do that and she’s faster than you even at the best I’ve ever seen you, so she’ll run rings around you. You have to lure her in close.” She whaps the pointer against the canvas again, another thunder. “You got it, daughter?!” *** The clouds make your arena feel dreamlike. It’s not truly foggy, but they cast everything in a white light, diffused from a distant sun so that the jungle and the water don’t have their full vibrance. This is a stalking style of arena. Movement will give you away, but you can’t really fight in the thickets of trees. It’s about gaining surprise. If you follow your mother’s advice, that probably means you should be the one moving, taking an open position and just accept that Ksharta will get to pounce you to open the fight. She’s not giving away her position at all yet, a properly trained huntress focused on her task.