[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 37: Kirby

Charlotte glowered at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? No! I won't sacrifice my Kirby's long-term health for a short-term boost. Only scum do those kinds of things!"

No matter how many times Ves tried to explain it, the pilot kept sticking to her stance. He understood then that to Charlotte, her Kirby's health was more important than even getting one up over the hated Miranda.

"Maybe we've gone off the wrong foot. Let's try this a different way." Ves said in a conciliatory tone. "Tell me more about your Kirby."

"Why'd you wanna know that?" Charlotte looked at him with suspicion.

"We've got two hours of time left and maybe I can make a few tweaks here and there if you'd let me. The only way I can do that is if I know more about the mech and be able to suggest improvements in line with your thoughts."

Though she showed she still had misgivings about it, when it came to her mech, she felt better if she bragged about the Kirby. "I won the top marksmanship prize in the academy tournament. They loaned me the Kirby as the first place prize. It's the best mech I've ever piloted so far. He's an old training mech, but he's got the best specs among the heavies in terms of firepower."

Charlotte went on and on as she gushed about the mech's substantial firepower. She really obsessed over the ability to turn an enemy mech into Swiss cheese before they even reached her. Ves thought the reason why she personalized the Kirby so much wasn't because she considered the mech a person, but that its weapon loadout featured tons more firepower than all the other piddling mechs she practiced with. In her words, those smaller medium and light mechs were pansies.

"I think I see what you want." Ves nodded his head. "Your training mech is a great fire support mech, but Miranda is going to destroy you with her sword again if you go on stage with the same mech. You have to plug your vulnerability to close ranged mechs if you want to stand a chance of winning the cup."

"I don't want you ruining my Kirby."

"No no, I've got something different in mind. I'd like to install some temporary additions to the Kirby. What do you say about bolting more guns to the Kirby's frame?"

The prospect of even more guns exciting Charlotte a bit, and after Ves detailed his plans based on the Kirby's build and the available parts, she enthusiastically gave her approval.

As a Turbofire model, its design had proven itself over the years as a sturdy and reliable way to deliver heavy firepower. It featured a large, stocky bipedal build, allowing it to hide behind hills or structures and fire its weapons over the top without exposing itself excessively. Its main weapons were its two heavy cannons that took the place of the arms. This left the Turbofire with a well-integrated pair of weapons that could easily be fired around corners and over other obstacles. Naturally, this also prevented the mech from wielding external weapons such as rifles or swords.

Though much of the mech was devoted to supporting the two cannons, the mech also featured twin laser shoulder mounts. Each mount carried three medium-powered lasers and normally fired in rapidfire mode in order to take down missiles and light mechs.

The Turbofire design incorporated extra large and extra sophisticated sensors. Their best feature was their strengthened targeting systems, allowing the laser mounts to fire more accurately at fast-moving targets. Charlotte always relied on the autonomous shoulder mounts to take care of rushing mechs.

Unfortunately for her, Miranda knew about this detail and confronted the Kirby with a knight-type mech. The shield was specifically prepared for this arena duel. Hiding behind the reinforced shield, Miranda was able to dodge the heavy cannon shots and shrug off the laser beams long enough to reach Charlotte's rear. As the Kirby lacked any way to turn her weapons around, Miranda had ample opportunity to do all manner of things to the lumbering heavy mech. Even the shoulder mounts couldn't turn around due to their excessive length with the mech's large head in the way.