The Mech Touch

mentum-based mech.
It derived its superiority from its high powered engine and power reactor, allowing it to move faster and strike harder despite being clad in thick layers of armor.

Compared to the Blackbeak, the Havalax possessed a higher top speed, but this came at the expense of flexibility.
Even a mech pilot as amazing as Captain Vicar struggled to make an elephant dance.

The majority of the crowd cheered for the more charismatic Vicar.
Even the announcers sounded like they rooted for the Mech Corps Captain.

”Look at the Havalax navigate around those boulders! Even with these hindrances, it ’s hardly losing a sweat! It ’s a testament of his skill that he hasn ’t widened Miss Larkinson ’s lead! He ’s even closing in! ”

They soon reached the end of the rock field, and Melinda desperately tried to reach the narrow miniature canyons up ahead.
However, her mech first needed to cross a small stretch of open ground, and that was when the Havalax began to make its move.

A handful of boosters embedded into the back of the Havalax started to burn.
Though they chugged a lot of the white mech ’s limited fuel, the extra thrust gave the mech a powerful hop that allowed it to close the distance within seconds.
It raised its axe again, prompting Melinda to turn around her mech and raise its shield.

CRACK!

Captain Vicar put the Havalax ’s considerable forward momentum into the heavy blow.
The axe managed to cut through the damaged upper portion of the moon shield and split that portion apart.

Melinda hastily ducked her mech to dodge the remaining swing of the axe.
She tried to drag the Blackbeak away from the deadly axe, but Captain Vicar would have none of that.

His relentless aggression matched the Havalax ’s own as they collaborated to deliver his promise to dismantle the Blackbeak.
The powerful knight stuck to Melinda ’s mech and began to rain down a hail of blows.

”Lay off a girl, will you! ”

”Man or woman, it ’s all the same to me! ” Vicar yelled over the channel.
”The moment you enter a mech, you ’ve turned into my prey! ”

The Havalax had completely taken over the initiative in the fight.
Vicar left no opening for Melinda to attack.
His oppressive offensive started to achieve solid results when his axe began to bypass the Blackbeak ’s shortened shield and dig into its armor.

The audience showed little sympathy for Melinda.
Instead, they egged Captain Vicar on.
The man seemed to feed off the attention and upped the tempo of his offensive.

Even as the Blackbeak ’s armor started to suffer rents and tears, Melinda tried to keep her cool.
She knew that the Havalax ’s hyperactive performance came at a cost.
It wouldn ’t be able to sustain such a level of performance for more than fifteen minutes at most.

The only problem was that her mech wouldn ’t last more than five minutes at this rate.
For all of its prowess as a knight, the Blackbeak hadn ’t been designed to duel against an elite knight like the Havalax.

The main problem was the compromises Ves had made in consideration with its armor coverage.
Its Veltrex armor system could absorb a lot of punishment, but Ves hadn ’t been generous enough to apply very thick layer.

This was supposed to provide the Blackbeak with additional mobility, and against most other mechs it might be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
This time though, the Havalax possessed enough superiority in this front to neutralize Melinda ’s options.

Melinda knew she had to flip the table somehow.
One of the principles behind the Blackbeak was it shouldn ’t be playing fair.
So she frantically tried to figure out a way to break the current entanglement.

Her eyes darted back and forth before focusing straight ahead.
”It ’s a long-shot, but I ’ve got nothing else! ”

She made her decision.
The Blackbeak currently suffered from quite a number of armor breaches.
Internal damage had been kept at a minimum so far due to deft piloting, but a few minutes more might exacerbate the situation.
Melinda made her move before her mech reached that point.

The Havalax struck down with yet another chop while holding its shield close to fend off the Blackbeak ’s sword.
It expected its prey to backpedal in order to minimize the damage.
It became surprised when the Blackbeak headed straight into the blow.

An awful tearing sound echoed into the arena as the axe bit through the shoulder pauldron.
Melinda ignored the damage reports and urged her mech to continue forward.

Captain Vicar instinctively pushed out with the Havalax ’s shield.
It impacted the Blackbeak ’s phoenix shield and successfully negated the black mech ’s momentum, but not before its head darted forward like a woodpecker about to drill into a tree.

An awful crunching sound emerged from the Havalax as its frontal head component caved in from Melinda ’s pointy strike.

Ves had added in the beak to the head of his design as an afterthought.
Despite the lack of attention put into the beak, it was sharp and heavy enough to crunch any opposing mech ’s head.

The attack didn ’t really cripple the Havalax, but it gave Melinda enough of an opening to disengage.
Her Blackbeak suffered moderate damage to one of its shoulders, but it had been worth it as she bought enough time to slip into the nearby canyons.

The entire crowd didn ’t know what to think of Captain Vicar ’s mishap.
After a few seconds of silence, they all erupted into laughter.

”Captain Vicar ’s mech got face-checked! Look at the Havalax now! Who would ever want to kiss this poor mech with such an ugly face? ”

Most mechs relied on their heads to provide a human-like perspective to their pilots.
The sudden loss of those sensors disoriented Captain Vicar, who despite his plentiful battle experience still had to get used to the changed perspective.

He silently cursed to himself for letting the Blackbeak get away.
His Havalax could still navigate through complex terrain, but it was doubtful if it could ever catch up again.
As he gloweringly guided his mech into the narrow cliffs and valleys, the duel transitioned into another phase.

”This is more like it! ” Melinda grinned as her mech slipped into the gaps.
The time had come to turn this match around.
”I ’m done being your punching bag. ”