M028
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Dai had taken it upon himself to inform them about the contest's last part. The young man had a lot to say. None of it good.
"You'd think that being low stakes would mean that it'd be free of politics, but no. It's actually worse." The man told Bolt and Lilly as they watched the mechs position themselves on screen. "Our current golden boy is from a very prominent family. High class, rich, and influential. He's..."
"Smart." Wu finished when it became obvious Dai couldn't finish the sentence.
"Allegedly. I'm pretty sure he got enhanced somehow. He's as creative as a brick." Dai shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "Not that the local designs are that creative anyway."
"Staff users are very prominent, and there is a lot of innovation in that area." Ando commented but inclined his head towards Dai. "But I'd agree with the budding weapon specialist about his area of study."
The young designer flushed a bit and scratched at his cheek. "Yeah, moving on. This entire contest is a bit of a travesty. Points and a flat arena let them game the system without actually cheating. What's worse is that people typically eat it up." He gestured to the screen.
On screen two of mechs not of his design fought. They were staffmen, so that meant that they were trading blows with staves. It probably was interesting to people very used to the weapons.
"Hmm. The one on the left is hesitating too much and the one on the right isn't working with the hitch on the leg." Lilly muttered.
"Looks like a faulty knee?" Ando asked the group.
Bolt frowned. "Could be that or a muscle tie. It's too inconsistent to be sure."
"I'd say no one could be that stupid, but if you weren't extremely good at building we might have had to cut corners like that ourselves." Dai gave his own opinion.
"Who will win?" Wu asked Lilly directly.
The young woman's eyes scanned the mechs. "Righty will if he decides to get more aggressive. Lefty's caution will have him retreat and cede enough that the mech's quirks will provide enough openings."
"That takes a bit of fun out of watching." Dai complained good naturedly before chuckling and facing the large man. "Though, I suppose we should address something. You do know how absurdly talented you are right Bolt?"
"Hmm?" Bolt looked away from the screen in a bit of confusion.
He knew he was smart, but he'd always assumed his education was crippling enough that this didn't matter. Dai seemed serious, and so did the others. Lilly seemed both amused and proud and snuggled into his side as she waited for explanations.
"Your face makes me want to punch you and I know it's not your fault." Dai groaned loudly. "Why am I the one that has to bring this up!?" Wu patted him on the shoulder and then gave him a push. "Fine fine."
The young designer got to his feet and stepped in front of the screen. He did some pacing as he visibly tried to think before throwing up his hands. Only then did he begin.
"All right. You're new to designing in a team. You probably haven't had any peers then. I'll go down the list. Your grasp of the fundamentals is beyond all of us. Only specialists touch the computer system. I've never seen some of the tricks you used for the wiring and damage control. The armor was absolutely insane." Dai paused and gestured at Ando.
The black haired designer nodded. "I refined it, but yes, you anticipated most of my tricks."
"Your booster work was passible." Wu chimed in.
"Yeah, passible to someone trying to specialize in it." Dai waved his arms wildly. "You're matching graduates who are trying to specialize, and I get the impression we haven't even seen your specialization yet! To top it all off, your manufacturing and repair skills are frankly beyond us. What I'm saying is, you're just as absurd as your fiancé, and she completely broke the evaluation they were using for this contest! Plus you're younger than us!!!" Panting the young man staggered over to his chair and flopped into it. His face was a picture perfect expression of frustration.
"I-" Bolt was stopped from saying anything as Lilly reached up and grabbed his chin.
"No, no. No modesty. We're a pair hon." The girl moved his chin. "Say thank you."
Smiling a bit at the absurdity Bolt repeated. "Thank you."
"Adorable." Wu cooed out and Bolt flushed.
"Hahaha. I talk dirty to him every day and only that gets an actual reaction!" Lilly giggled at his reaction.
"It is adorable. Oh, our match is up now!" Ando said as he returned his attention to the screen.
"Yeah." Dai flopped further down his seat.
It started off relatively simple. The two combatants faced one another across the arena. As the mech holding the shotgun raised it, Lilly immediately began to groan and hold her face in her hands. The designers stared at her, and then at the match with a sinking feeling. Then start began and the staffman charged. The shotgun went off and completely, utterly missed.
"What is his malfunction?!" Dai exploded.
What followed next was a bit of a travesty really. Bolt winced as their mech took more than a few blows before the staff mech overextended and the shotgun got dead center. The explosive shot took out a significant part of the upper chassis, and the match was immediately called due to pilot safety. Bolt winced at the score.
"I don't like that." He muttered.
"Unless he plays perfect on the next match, we've lost." Ando said with a heavy sigh. "Did we get a poor pilot?"
"More a moron that can't aim a shotgun with aim assist at charging range." Lilly said, still covering her face. "They chose the mechs right?"
"They did, and no they wouldn't throw a match by accident. Sometimes you just get a bad pilot." Dai muttered.
Some part of him wondered if he should do something. The rest of him looked at how pointless this was and decided that it wasn't worth the effort. Lilly seemed angrier than he was at the moment.
"Assuming we lose then. Does that hurt you?" Bolt asked his companions.
They shifted uneasily and exchanged glances. Ando eventually spoke for them. "Some. We're graduating from college shortly. Having a poor showing here makes things harder."
"Not impossible." Dai was quick to clarify as turned his attention to the next match between two of their competators. "We have other opportunities, but doing well here is the difference between an apartment in a good part of town and the slums for me."
Bolt nodded slowly. The match after his looked like a slog. He could see how it would be more interesting than what his design had done to the audience at least. He paused a moment and looked down at Lilly, who was vibrating with emotion at the moment, with one hand slowly inching towards a nearby wrench. Very carefully he reached out and pushed it away.
The young woman noticed a few moments later after her hand finally reached for it. "Hey, I need that!" She turned towards her fiancé with a wounded expression as she noticed what he had done.
"No, you're not attacking anyone today. It isn't that big a deal." Bolt firmly stated as he picked up the wrench and held it away from the lunging girl.
Lilly growled and climbed him in response. Behind him the other designers looked torn between amused and alarmed. Bolt himself was pretty sure she wouldn't actually hurt the pilot, but he figured it'd be best to keep that from even being implied. Her waving the wrench around threatening would be a bit of a problem.
A few seconds of comedy later the girl had instead claimed a seat on his lap and was giving him a massive pout. Bolt considered that a win so he turned back to his companions, who looked bemused. He wondered how it looked to them before he mentally shrugged. Then something occurred to him. He could make things better for his fellows at least.
"In about four months and change there's another contest. It likely has less stacking, and involves Lilly as our pilot. You up for it?" He asked.
Dai stared at him. "You mean the Expert's Cup don't you? That's the only one in that time. The one that involves getting a personal duel with Venerable Goku and a crapton of money as a reward?"
"That does sound about right?" Bolt pulled out his comm to look at it. "Yeah, expert's cup. Seems fun and would have been just a date with Lilly, but I don't think she'll mind."
"I like watching you design, but I like winning more." Lilly commented from the side. "Plus ya'll aren't bad people, so if it'll help then do it."
"We'll take the offer." Dai answered before the others did, looking both eager and grateful. "I guarantee you won't be disappointed!"
Bolt felt quite pleased with this. Not only did it help someone, it got him more experience with working with others! It also helped them too, which was nice.
After that, the next match was far less painful. Admittedly the pilot did do better that time. Bolt and the others had tweaked the aiming a bit after repairs, which seemed to help. They managed to get a solid second, which wasn't the best showing in the world, but was also not considered a failure. It was an accomplishment that his teammates could point to for credit in the near future.
"You'd think that being low stakes would mean that it'd be free of politics, but no. It's actually worse." The man told Bolt and Lilly as they watched the mechs position themselves on screen. "Our current golden boy is from a very prominent family. High class, rich, and influential. He's..."
"Smart." Wu finished when it became obvious Dai couldn't finish the sentence.
"Allegedly. I'm pretty sure he got enhanced somehow. He's as creative as a brick." Dai shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "Not that the local designs are that creative anyway."
"Staff users are very prominent, and there is a lot of innovation in that area." Ando commented but inclined his head towards Dai. "But I'd agree with the budding weapon specialist about his area of study."
The young designer flushed a bit and scratched at his cheek. "Yeah, moving on. This entire contest is a bit of a travesty. Points and a flat arena let them game the system without actually cheating. What's worse is that people typically eat it up." He gestured to the screen.
On screen two of mechs not of his design fought. They were staffmen, so that meant that they were trading blows with staves. It probably was interesting to people very used to the weapons.
"Hmm. The one on the left is hesitating too much and the one on the right isn't working with the hitch on the leg." Lilly muttered.
"Looks like a faulty knee?" Ando asked the group.
Bolt frowned. "Could be that or a muscle tie. It's too inconsistent to be sure."
"I'd say no one could be that stupid, but if you weren't extremely good at building we might have had to cut corners like that ourselves." Dai gave his own opinion.
"Who will win?" Wu asked Lilly directly.
The young woman's eyes scanned the mechs. "Righty will if he decides to get more aggressive. Lefty's caution will have him retreat and cede enough that the mech's quirks will provide enough openings."
"That takes a bit of fun out of watching." Dai complained good naturedly before chuckling and facing the large man. "Though, I suppose we should address something. You do know how absurdly talented you are right Bolt?"
"Hmm?" Bolt looked away from the screen in a bit of confusion.
He knew he was smart, but he'd always assumed his education was crippling enough that this didn't matter. Dai seemed serious, and so did the others. Lilly seemed both amused and proud and snuggled into his side as she waited for explanations.
"Your face makes me want to punch you and I know it's not your fault." Dai groaned loudly. "Why am I the one that has to bring this up!?" Wu patted him on the shoulder and then gave him a push. "Fine fine."
The young designer got to his feet and stepped in front of the screen. He did some pacing as he visibly tried to think before throwing up his hands. Only then did he begin.
"All right. You're new to designing in a team. You probably haven't had any peers then. I'll go down the list. Your grasp of the fundamentals is beyond all of us. Only specialists touch the computer system. I've never seen some of the tricks you used for the wiring and damage control. The armor was absolutely insane." Dai paused and gestured at Ando.
The black haired designer nodded. "I refined it, but yes, you anticipated most of my tricks."
"Your booster work was passible." Wu chimed in.
"Yeah, passible to someone trying to specialize in it." Dai waved his arms wildly. "You're matching graduates who are trying to specialize, and I get the impression we haven't even seen your specialization yet! To top it all off, your manufacturing and repair skills are frankly beyond us. What I'm saying is, you're just as absurd as your fiancé, and she completely broke the evaluation they were using for this contest! Plus you're younger than us!!!" Panting the young man staggered over to his chair and flopped into it. His face was a picture perfect expression of frustration.
"I-" Bolt was stopped from saying anything as Lilly reached up and grabbed his chin.
"No, no. No modesty. We're a pair hon." The girl moved his chin. "Say thank you."
Smiling a bit at the absurdity Bolt repeated. "Thank you."
"Adorable." Wu cooed out and Bolt flushed.
"Hahaha. I talk dirty to him every day and only that gets an actual reaction!" Lilly giggled at his reaction.
"It is adorable. Oh, our match is up now!" Ando said as he returned his attention to the screen.
"Yeah." Dai flopped further down his seat.
It started off relatively simple. The two combatants faced one another across the arena. As the mech holding the shotgun raised it, Lilly immediately began to groan and hold her face in her hands. The designers stared at her, and then at the match with a sinking feeling. Then start began and the staffman charged. The shotgun went off and completely, utterly missed.
"What is his malfunction?!" Dai exploded.
What followed next was a bit of a travesty really. Bolt winced as their mech took more than a few blows before the staff mech overextended and the shotgun got dead center. The explosive shot took out a significant part of the upper chassis, and the match was immediately called due to pilot safety. Bolt winced at the score.
"I don't like that." He muttered.
"Unless he plays perfect on the next match, we've lost." Ando said with a heavy sigh. "Did we get a poor pilot?"
"More a moron that can't aim a shotgun with aim assist at charging range." Lilly said, still covering her face. "They chose the mechs right?"
"They did, and no they wouldn't throw a match by accident. Sometimes you just get a bad pilot." Dai muttered.
Some part of him wondered if he should do something. The rest of him looked at how pointless this was and decided that it wasn't worth the effort. Lilly seemed angrier than he was at the moment.
"Assuming we lose then. Does that hurt you?" Bolt asked his companions.
They shifted uneasily and exchanged glances. Ando eventually spoke for them. "Some. We're graduating from college shortly. Having a poor showing here makes things harder."
"Not impossible." Dai was quick to clarify as turned his attention to the next match between two of their competators. "We have other opportunities, but doing well here is the difference between an apartment in a good part of town and the slums for me."
Bolt nodded slowly. The match after his looked like a slog. He could see how it would be more interesting than what his design had done to the audience at least. He paused a moment and looked down at Lilly, who was vibrating with emotion at the moment, with one hand slowly inching towards a nearby wrench. Very carefully he reached out and pushed it away.
The young woman noticed a few moments later after her hand finally reached for it. "Hey, I need that!" She turned towards her fiancé with a wounded expression as she noticed what he had done.
"No, you're not attacking anyone today. It isn't that big a deal." Bolt firmly stated as he picked up the wrench and held it away from the lunging girl.
Lilly growled and climbed him in response. Behind him the other designers looked torn between amused and alarmed. Bolt himself was pretty sure she wouldn't actually hurt the pilot, but he figured it'd be best to keep that from even being implied. Her waving the wrench around threatening would be a bit of a problem.
A few seconds of comedy later the girl had instead claimed a seat on his lap and was giving him a massive pout. Bolt considered that a win so he turned back to his companions, who looked bemused. He wondered how it looked to them before he mentally shrugged. Then something occurred to him. He could make things better for his fellows at least.
"In about four months and change there's another contest. It likely has less stacking, and involves Lilly as our pilot. You up for it?" He asked.
Dai stared at him. "You mean the Expert's Cup don't you? That's the only one in that time. The one that involves getting a personal duel with Venerable Goku and a crapton of money as a reward?"
"That does sound about right?" Bolt pulled out his comm to look at it. "Yeah, expert's cup. Seems fun and would have been just a date with Lilly, but I don't think she'll mind."
"I like watching you design, but I like winning more." Lilly commented from the side. "Plus ya'll aren't bad people, so if it'll help then do it."
"We'll take the offer." Dai answered before the others did, looking both eager and grateful. "I guarantee you won't be disappointed!"
Bolt felt quite pleased with this. Not only did it help someone, it got him more experience with working with others! It also helped them too, which was nice.
After that, the next match was far less painful. Admittedly the pilot did do better that time. Bolt and the others had tweaked the aiming a bit after repairs, which seemed to help. They managed to get a solid second, which wasn't the best showing in the world, but was also not considered a failure. It was an accomplishment that his teammates could point to for credit in the near future.