Garret Taylor looked out of his apartment window at the truly massive city bellow. Valhalla they called it, a five hundred square mile disk floating in the sky with the help of three large anti-gravity generators. It was truly a marvel of modern technology commissioned a year ago to be built just for the third Grand Utopia Tournament, named in honor of the first Floating city. The tower he looked out of was the largest and to be used by Monthas Corporation during their stay at Valhalla for their business and the housing of all of their personnel. Several other towers were arrayed around the outer ring of Valhalla for other large or up and coming corporations like Krupp and Nexus Corp and they served the same purpose.

In the center of Valhalla was sixteen mile by sixteen mile square stadium within which were walls and floors that sank rose and shifted in order to created a variety of smaller stadiums to hold individual fights. Many smaller ones were set up for the first group of fights in the one vs. one rounds. The mechanical frames and the audiences for these fights were probably being transported by truck and by bus right now. That is where Garret would be spending much of his time over the next few days proving himself and Veerol's machine in combat against all comers. When he wasn't just trying to get a better look at his competition. Every fight was going to be recorded and televised to the world, but Sometimes you just have to be close to the action to get a real idea of what other machines can do.

Garret threw a thin, red and black, polyester jacket over his shoulder. Its pockets were already filled with everything he was likely to need for the day and several things that he knew in all reality he wouldn't. Crossing his large, but sparse room to leave he pressed a button on the wall and the grey, metal door slid open to reveal a brightly lit and carpeted hallway. From there he took an elevator down fifty floors to the ground level. The whole first floor was abuzz with people rushing about and making last minute arrangements.

Slipping past the Monthas corporate slaves Garret made it through a set of sliding doors to the fair grounds. Most of the corporate exhibits were putting on the finishing touches for when the fair opened later in the day after the first matches, but he passed by plenty of vendors, food stands and rides along his way most waiting eagerly to open or gluing their eyes to a nearby television for the first matches.

There was just one stop to make on his way before taking a bus out to the arenas. "Hey!" he called leaning into a large garage style door into a workshop where the dull yellow Tempest was being worked on. Every entered mech was housed in a workshop like this around the center of the arenas even those belonging to large corps like Monthas. Most of the crew were new faces except for Veerol and some of the scientists and engineers from the doctor's team. "Someone tell Veerol that I'll be watching a match and not to worry about where I've run off to." With that he skipped over to a nearby bus stop while sliding his jacket on for now, the contents banging against each other as he did so.

A while later the teen got off and rushed past the security gate with his contestant badge that could basically get him inside anywhere on the whole city for free barring corporate headquarters, the workshops of other contestants and the inner workings of Valhalla. From there it was just a few flights of stairs up to the top of the stadium and the first match of the tournament.

"This is going to be the first match of the day and the first match of the third Utopian Tournament!" Shouted an announcer for all to hear. "Two mechanical frames shall enter, but only one will get to move onto the next round!" The arena itself consisted of four eight story towers separated by a cross of wide streets. The two mechs that were to fight would start against opposite walls a good 200 feet away from the towers in line of sight of the other. "Our first contestant, representing Walsh Technical Corporation is Harper Wilinsky!" A portion of the wall dropped down to reveal a spider-like mechanical frame with eight legs and no visible weapons. The spider mech was low to the ground at about four to five meters high, but it was also about as long as most mechs are tall. "And his opponent-" Another portion of wall on the other side of the arena began to sink into the ground.

Clarence Belle

This was it.

This was the moment she had trained for. Everything she had endured, everything she had learned and everything she had worked for was about to be tested in this battle. They had said it was alright to lose in the first round, if she at least gave a good show before going down. It was a competition after all, and there was the possibility she could be paired up with a stronger and more experienced opponent.

"This is going to be the first match of the day and the first match of the third Utopian Tournament!"

She could hear the announcer, sounding overexcited as always. Clarence raised her hand to her visor, adjusting it until she could see properly.

"And his opponent Clarence Belle from Nexus Corp!"

The Luna Fighter stepped into the light, waving at the audience as it did so. The bright primary colors it was painted in stood out in stark contrast to the environment it was in. Her voice blared over the loud speakers, sounding confident and bold. "Hello everyone, welcome to my first victory~ Please watch carefully over me alright?"

There it was, a confident bold declaration certain to pull everyone's attention towards her. A cocky arrogant boast that most couldn't hold up. Certainly a huge embarrassment if she was to lose right after that boast.

"I'll just make certain that I'll win then." Clarence declared to no one.

Her opponent seemed to be one of the trusty spider base, with good stability and power, able to get through low openings easily. She was taught however, the elongated shape did not do well in tight corridors, and had trouble with attacking things above it. If it could move the head easily to the top, then the joint there becomes extremely vulnerable. Weapons were mostly focused on part of the mech for maximum effect, usually the front. Spider based mechs tend to have a good amount of firepower too. She'd be taken out quickly if she took to even slightly underestimating what it could do.

"Hello everyone, welcome to my first victory~ Please watch carefully over me alright?" boasted the second pilot as the walls of the arena closed up behind the mechanical frames. Garret couldn't help, but think how unusual both the competitors mechs were. Sure this event was as much about marketing for the big corps as anything, but that didn't change the fact that spider designs were uncommon. Surely not unheard of, but still uncommon and that said nothing of the tall feminine mech that was squared off against it with a design evoking more of a school or magical girl than that of a battle hardened combatant.

Clarence was her name? She didn't sound much older than garret, but she had such confidence in her abilities and that of her seemingly almost unarmed mechanical frame. It was something for Garret to be envious of. Surely though she had some sort of trick up her sleeve or else she wouldn't be so bold? Instantly Garret was reminded of something an old friend once parroted to him, 'there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots'. The idea being that you would either die or become more cautious with time. He wondered how much and in what way the saying would apply to her later in life and if her opponent had acted similarly in his youth. Ponderings that Garret may very well forget in the heat any number of moments throughout the day.

"With both contestants ready!" the announcer started "Let's begin the countdown!" Presumably he hit a switch saying that as between the arena and the audience a wave of light traveled from the ground to a point far above the arena creating a domed energy barrier to protect the audience from the combat they had payed to see. "Three. Two. One. Fight!"

With that the spider mech began to scuttle towards the the tower on its left, quickly closing most of the two hundred foot distance before leaping at the tower and latching onto it at about its sixth floor. A portion of its abdomen on its right side elevated from the body of the mechanical frame to reveal a bank of seven warheads of which a single missile launched away from its brethren, the Luna Fighter as its target.

Brian thought of landing a finishing blow on the last Judgement standing in the city with the small sword on the left hand and his mechanical frame acts just like his body, taking the poor mech's left arm off, causing the mech to explode into a large flame ball, which happens to not affect Brian's advanced mech. After making sure there are no enemy mechs remaining in the area, the pilot thought of pressing a big green button placed in front of him, which did not exist anywhere in his sight - not in the cockpit full of monitors, or the scenery from the monitors.

Suddenly, the monitors went black and the device attached to Brian's head came off, with a door opening as well. Brian stepped out from the cockpit which was attached to some machinery, but not a mechanical frame. The man proceeded to look at a mildly smiling person that is looking at a computer, with a mild frown on his face, "Hey, why is the simulator set to the lowest settings? Just about all the Judgements were literally running around the city and holding it's guns, not bothering me until it's too late! And seriously, why are they exploding? That wasn't a game or something!"

The computer man gave the pilot response without signs of kindness, "Well, I thought you wouldn't be able to defeat all the mechs unless they are basically walking targets. Don't blame me for this, blame yourself instead."

The pilot knew he was getting frustrated, so he took a deep breath and made up a smile, walking up to the computer man to give him a brief reply, "Well, looks like you were trying to let me win. However, if anything, I wanted to lose to an ace pilot rather than winning against walking targets. Could you mind that the next time?" The pilot proceeded to walk away from the computer guy, ending the conversation that might have went nowhere if continued.

"Why did the project manager assign someone with a grudge against me, as a person to overlook my training? That wasn't a good idea!" Brian said to himself as he walked down a corridor, trying to vent some steam where no one is looking at him, as to maintain his "nice person" image which he wanted to have. After some venting, the man proceeded to get into an elevator, going all the way into the ground floor, taking a glance at the arena turning into a domed one from a non-domed one, by using the still new non-physical shielding technology.

Clarence Belle

Almost as soon as the shield dome was on full power, her opponent took off like lightning, giving no reaction to whether they heard her boasting or not.

It was faster than she would expect a spider mech to actually be, for it had some rather impressive speed and maneuverability. From its movements, and the very first action it took however, the pilot had clearly thought she would not have time to react to the single missile it launched as soon as it jumped on the tower. Perhaps on any other mech with the standard cockpit configuration it would have worked, for the pilot would have to move the view via controls that took precious seconds off his reaction time.

With a spin that was almost a pirouette, she dodged to the side, utilizing her mech's long legs to her advantage. Almost as if by magic(actually a simple sleight of hand during the spin), a pistol appeared in the mech's hand during the dodge, and in one fluid motion, she squeezed off several shots towards the spider mech on the side of the building.

"How rude. Isn't it supposed to be ladies first?"

@Urbanliner

The elevator doors opened to reveal, a good twenty feet away, a tall, fit man in a white suit and casually holding up a white fox mask to his face with his left hand. Upon seeing Brian in the elevator a solitary chuckle could be heard from him. "You are just one of the people I was looking for" he began, dropping his left arm to the side and revealing his thin pointed face and blonde hair. Before Brian stood Carth Monthas, third son of the single most powerful man in the world, Gregory Monthas. He was far from heir to the business empire as only the third son, but whenever he appeared on video he was always the most easy going of his family. As such he's become a sort of public face for the company. "If you don't mind" he said walking towards Brian. "There is someplace I would like to show you and something we simply must discuss. You have a while yet before your first match yes? No matter either way" Carth laughed pulling a small circular device from his pocket. "I can have it postponed if need be."

@GreenGoat

The rocket rushed through the spot where the Luna fighter had been mere moments ago sending up dirt in all directions that quickly fell back to the ground and shrapnel from its casing which collided with either the energy barrier, to be stopped instantly or with the Luna fighter who's armor effortlessly deflected the small bits of metal. Scaled down to human proportions a man would of had a hard time surviving such a blast due to the pressure and being perforated with shrapnel, but even the lightest armor of a mechanical frame proved to be great protection.

The Luna fighter's return fire was quick enough to catch the spider mech off guard as bullets collided with its face denting the armor. In response the mechanical frame pushed off of its tower with great force from its left legs and catching itself on the tower to its right, clawed feet clamping into the building to keep it there. this time the Spider shot a volley of three missiles in a triangle pattern at the school girl mechanical frame hoping to catch it even if it barely dodged again. Not wanting to repeat the last exchange though after firing this volley the spider mech climbed up the side of the tower before disappearing on its roof.

Nicolai sat within the cockpit of the Atlas Mech, with a trail of smoke coiling from the cigar in his mouth while writing frantically on a notpad. going over his (fourth now) final check over his equipment. Every system and square inch of the mech seemed to be in working order, but he still obsessively checked the mech getting annoyed that he wasnt in the arena yet. Nicolai was itching for a fight if nothing else to for the excitement, the bone shaking rumble of auto-cannons scything down an opponent is better than any drug.

He climbed out of the Atlas after shutting it down figuring that he should do something else while he waited for the bout. he sighed and glanced at the clock, still had a little while before his match, at least as long for this current match to be over. He watched a TV in the mech bay while the announcers where commenting on the two mechs about to be in the arena. some kind of spider bot and... a school girl? he scoffed at them, garbage he decided and walked out of the garage to find something to do. he wandered around for a few minutes glancing around at the other mech bays. Watching them go over their checks and last minute adjustments, very few of the mechs caught his interest other than a couple of the experimentals. He was bored before long, the loud speakers announced that the first match of the day was starting, so he climbed into the stadium proper and found a good vantage point. Someone else was standing there as well @Cultural Titan, Nicolai leaned towards him "Hundred credits on the spider, you game?"

Clarence Belle

"Naive!"

With a flourish, Clarence scrunched up her eyebrows in her tank, licking her lips as she started to really get into her character. In response, the Luna Fighter did the same flourish, before twin machineguns mounted in the head opened fire on the missiles, exploding them midflight.

"I'm not done yet!"

With a powerful leap, she jumped on a building, then using its wall as a springboard to jump again, all verniers at full thrust. She did not reach the top however, she overshot it by several meters, putting her squarely above the spider. Reacting quickly, she emptied her clip onto the spider mech.

@Greengoat@Sophrus

"You're in luck, I don't have any money" Garret said not looking back as the three rockets exploded in a glorious fireball before could hit their target. "Because" he added turning around now "That m-." He stopped for a moment. Something about this man sent a shock right to Garret's core, unassuming as he may otherwise have been. The teen put the thought away for now with a visible shake of his head. "That frame" he continued pointing at the Luna fighter as it leaped above its target "Is the future. Look at how it moves. All the grace and finesse of a human being trained to perfection and you still think that spider has a chance?"

Evidently the pilot of the spider, thought so speaking for the first time. "I've got a lot more riding on this than you kid!" Bullets connected all along his mechs back, but the armor withstood the unfocused attack well enough. His opponent still in the air some small plates on the mechanical frame's back slid away to reveal a pair of guns that lit fired a hail of bullets towards the Luna Fighter as the spider peddled back to hang off the side of its tower enemy always in sight. "Just lay down and die!"

Nicoli laughed heartily watching the admittedly impressive display from the school girl mech, maybe he had underestimated her. he didn't even notice Garret's unease around him, or didnt care if he had. "That frame" he continued pointing at the Luna fighter as it leaped above its target "Is the future. Look at how it moves. All the grace and finesse of a human being trained to perfection and you still think that spider has a chance?"

Nicolai laughed again, "that grace wont mean much against a heavy, kid. That spider might not with, but she wouldn't even hurt something heavy like an Atlas that little bot would get shredded just like the junker mechs" Nicolai said, reffering in a specifically Hell Hound way to rebellion mechs as Junkers. "Heavies are the future, bigger, meaner. just think, a 250 ton siege engine against a little twig like that. who is your money on then?" he chuckles and nudges the kid with his fist.

As the doors of the elevator opened, a man wearing a white shirt and covering his face with a white fox mask appeared in Brian's sight, which seemed familiar to him, with the only thing confusing him being the mask. As the dark blonde haired man walked off the elevator, the other man took his mask off, to reveal a very familiar person - the Carth Monthas, the public face of the Monthas company and a son of Gregory Monthas, the CEO of the said company.

Brian stood a bit away from the elevator, enough to let other people go in and out of the lift, but also keeping Carth in his sight. Just after he finished adjusting his position, the other man walked towards the dark blonde haired man, talking that there is something to show and something to discuss, while effectively forcing the dark blonde haired man to join Carth as the said person claimed he can postpone a match, probably with the circular device he pulled out, "Alright. I am pleased to be able to talk with you." The dark blonde haired man smiled to Carth, trying to show his kindness.
@Cultural Titan

Clarence Belle

"Thats too bad!"

She locked her left arm in front of her torso, protecting the vital parts of the robot. It was a reaction that took quite a bit for her to be able to do quickly, considering the first action most people would do if projectiles was coming their way was to protect their head. The Luna Fighter's head mostly contain its signal booster/receiver, the primary cameras and the twin machineguns, but the torso contains the cockpit and most of the mechanical things that keeps the mech moving.

Bullets hammered the Luna fighter, though the brunt of it hit its left arm instead of its torso. Her cockpit was beeping loudly, muffled slightly due to the liquid she was immersed in.

She slammed onto the top of the building, throwing up dust and debris everywhere. In one swift move, she tossed away the pistol and drew the short sword. Using the left arm as a shield again, she burst through the cloud of dust thrusting the sword into the spider mech, hoping she doesn't accidentally hit the cockpit.

"This is the end for you!"

@GreenGoat@Sophrus

The tower shook and sent up smoke upon the landing of the agile Luna fighter much to the detriment of the spider who began to shoot wildly into the obscured area with machine gun fire. The pilots's eyes quickly darted this way and that across its mass trying to guess where his opponent would emerge from, overlooking the simple option of straight through the center where the now sword wielding mech charged forth stabbing with great force into the spider's front end. The blade made contact with already weakened armor from ealier pistol fire and punctured all the way to the hilt.

The blade had barely missed Harper inside the cockpit who after throwing his upper body to the other side desperately mashed on the controls to work. It was of no use however as the whirring of his machine slowed down and stopped, only now noticeable in its absence. "What a match!" the announcer called out to the crowd before declaring "Clarence Belle is the winner and is one step towards moving on to the next part of the tournament."

Garret smirked. "I don't think it much matters anymore who I thought was going to win now that its ended ore I could even say". the teen shrugged and started to walk past Nicolai. "Though if you meant between size and speed I think that their armaments can be a great equalizer." He said this thinking of the Fulmine cannon and its great destructive power. Armed with such a deadly weapon it would be nothing for such an agile mech like the Luna fighter to defeat even the most heavily armored mechanical frames of the current age. Though perhaps by the time that day came defense technology would catch up. "Remember" Garret continued. "A single plane can defeat an entire army if only equipped with a big enough bomb." God it sounded like Garret actually prefered small mechanical frames now when in fact he'd been piloting mostly middle of the road frames since he was ten.

@Urbanliner

Whilst fiddling with his device to schedule Brian later in the day Carth returned the formality. "It is nice to speak with you as well." With a wave of his hand the billionaire beckoned Brian. "Follow me." My car is parked out front. With that Carth reapplied his mask and lead the test pilot through the through throngs of people to the doors and an awaiting white Limo. A man in a black suite held the door open for both of them stoically and closed it after they were safely inside. Sitting down on one of the benches Carth dug through a compartment filled with ice and bottles for a particular drink. While he was still looking he glanced up to Brian "You are quite welcome to have a drink if you have anything in mind." The vehicle began to move just as Carth found a peculiar orange bottle among the and opened with a satisfied smirk behind his mask. "Anyway... Its going to be a while yet before we get where we're going so I'd like to ask you about yourself."

Clarence Belle

"What a match!" the announcer called out to the crowd before declaring "Clarence Belle is the winner and is one step towards moving on to the next part of the tournament."

She pumped one hand up, pointing towards the heavens. "Thank you all for witnessing my first victory, and my first step towards winning this tournament!"



Clarence pulled the mask off as the liquid levels in the cockpit lowered. She collapsed on the floor as the adrenaline rushing through her veins finally started wearing off. That was much more intense than she could have ever imagined. No amount of training and mock fighting could have ever prepared her for that feeling she got during an actual battle. All in all, it was a pretty good first battle, with her being able to show off the mech's capabilities, AND winning the round to boot. Just winning alone was enough to garner some attention to them.

"Clarence, are you ready to exit?"

"Ah, yes. Sorry, everything just kinda caught up to me." With a click, the cockpit doors opened, with a cable with a loop on the end extending from the top. Hooking her leg into the loop, the cable extended downwards, descending slowly with her on it. By now almost all traces of the liquid had already evaporated from her person, leaving only a few damp spots on her suit. Almost immediately, the bespectacled woman clad in a white overcoat grabbed the ribbon she wore, pulling out a small chip before throwing it to her assistant.

"Scan and analyse that data." The woman started, barking orders at the maintenance crew around them. "Run diagnosis on system, yes, we need that arm in working order. The gun? Get the revolver type."

It was as if Clarence didn't actually exist. Not that the woman was actually trying to ignore her or anything, its was just that Sigfrid gets very focused when it came to machines, especially when her creations were damaged. While reserved, that woman can be amiable when socializing. Scratching her head before giving a shrug, she headed for one of the rest areas. Clarence didn't bother and could not be bothered to change from her pilot suit to something more normal; right now, all she wanted was a cold drink and a comfy seat.