[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 38: Tough

What happened if a launcher spat out its entire complement of rockets at once? Something really fantastic and terrible, depending on who you asked. Miranda immediately became aware of the crisis and proved her chops as a young elite by throwing her sword forward while huddling behind her shield with both of her mech's hands, making sure to crouch to present as small of a profile as possible.

The sword knocked a couple of rockets aside. Due to the safeties built into the warheads, they failed to detonate early due to their close proximity to the launcher. Instead, they flew or fell to the floor largely inert. As for the other rockets, the upper portion harmlessly flew past the crouching mech while the lower portion exploded harshly against the shield. Due to the decrease in lethality among all projectiles, the rockets failed to penetrate the shield, though they did cause quite a few layers to peel off. The force of the explosions also rocked Miranda's mech backwards.

"Hah, I've got more where that came from!" Charlotte taunted as her heavy mech turned another 45 degrees so that her Kirby's back faced her opponent at a straight angle.

"Shi-" Miranda got cut off as another volley of missiles came in her direction.

She tried to do a roll while keeping her shield forward. This successfully let her avoid most of the rocket barrage, though the lower corner of her shield finally fell apart from the few projectiles that managed to hit it with sufficient force.

Before Miranda could celebrate her survival, Charlotte's final launcher disgorged its payload.

"You moth-"

The feminine mech finally escaped the last wave with the skin of its teeth. The few rockets that detonated against its armor managed to crater a portion of the chest.

"It's checkmate for you." Charlotte gloatingly said as she kept turning slowly, allowing her to present her outstretched cannon and laser mount. The weapons at that side spat out a furious salvo that further damaged the bedraggled Miranda and her mech.

"Damnit, if it wasn't for those stupid rockets, I'd have peeled your limbs off by now!"

Ever since Miranda dodged further away in order to escape the rockets, she lost the initiative. Her mech needed time to build up speed, and before she built up her momentum, Charlotte got a prime opportunity to sneak in a lot of damage.

The Kirby sinisterly aimed at the legs, hoping to impair Miranda's mobility. A lucky high explosive cannon shell managed to detonate close to the legs, which stripped off the rest of the armor of the female mech's feet. The force of the small explosion also unbalanced Miranda's gait, causing her to lose crucial speed.

"Alright, I wanted to save this for the finals, but you leave me no choice now! Let me show you what Patricia gifted my mech!"

Uh oh. Ves bit his lip as Miranda finally took the match seriously. He knew that Miranda always kept something in reserve, as a mech designer as renowned as Patricia wouldn't just let her partner go out in a boring stock mech.

The female mech's back armor opened up to reveal a stubby flight system. Ves almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"That fucking Patricia stole my design!"

Patricia not only stole his idea, she improved upon it. She expanded and sloped the back armor in a way that freed up space while not making it obvious a miniature flight system was attached in that location. The amount of engineering it took to create such a hidden surprise boggled Ves' mind. He had to admit that Patricia possessed terrifying competence.

Miranda's mech ceased to care for its damaged legs as the compact flight system allowed it to travel above the floor with sufficient speed. The light mech's ability to dodge improved substantially. After building up sufficient speed, it flew towards the Kirby for a second showdown.