The Mech Touch novel Chapter 17

Joshua drained the energy drink down his throat and tossed the can to the ground. A cleaning bot appeared out of nowhere to take the garbage away.

"Mom! I’m home!"

An elegant woman entered the foyer whilst carrying a babbling toddler. She approached the teenager and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Joshie baby! How was school."

"I’m not a kid anymore, mom!" Joshua whined as he avoided his mother’s embrace. He ran up the stairs to his room. "And I did fine in school. My mech trainer complimented me again today."

"That’s good news. The higher your performance, the higher your rank when you become a reservist. Just don’t join the Mech Corps."

"I’m not going to mom." Joshua said as he threw his bag on his bed. "I’m going to play with the simulator again, okay?"

"Don’t forget about dinner again."

"Yes mom!"

After fending off his nagging mother, Joshua left his room and went downstairs. He took two flights down and entered the basement. Situated in a cooled and isolated room was his personal mech simulator pod for Iron Spirit. An expensive piece of machinery, it outperformed the rental pods at the game center. His parents even forked out the money to dig a secure set of cables to the nearest galactic net node in order to ensure his bandwidth never conked out. All of this turned Joshua’s pod into the best performing unit on Cloudy Curtain.

As Joshua entered the pod and let it close around him, he leaned his head back into the headrest that served as the neural interface. It hummed as it came to life, connecting Joshua’s brain signals to the programs executed by the pod.

The world changed. The cool steel walls of the simulator pod made way for a vibrant world. Many young men and women around his age walked through the digital streets of the starting area. Some sat next to fountains, watching the live streams of popular players that chose to broadcast in public. Others entered one of the many stores in order to shop for a new outfit.

As for Joshua, he pulled up his friends list and tapped at one of the names to begin a dialogue.

"Yo Tops."

"Heya Snake." Triceratopssss greeted as his face appeared at the corner of Joshua’s view. "Up for another bout of Arena?"

Joshua shook his head. "Hmmm I don’t feel like it. The 1v1s and 2v2s have been getting kind of stale for me lately. I’m ready for something different."

"Oh." Triceratopssss mulled as he switched to matchmaking. "You wanna play Capture the Flag or Base Conquest?"

"Let’s do Capture the Flag. It’s 5v5 so I feel my skill still matters in that game mode."

The two paired up and entered matchmaking for Capture the Flag as a duo. They first received three random players to fill up their 5-man team.

"Hey fellas." Triceratopssss greeted his new teammates. "Me and Snake here are pairing up as light mechs."

"Medium missile platform." The third player spoke, his tone conveying his distaste in further interaction.

"O-kay. What about the rest?"

"Heavy Knight. Just plant me next to our flag and I’ll make sure anyone who takes it will be dead." The fourth player boasted. Defending the flag was the most traditional role in Capture the Flag and perfect for a heavy mech.

"Got any guns on your knight?"

"Nope. But I’m faster than other knights."

"Great." Triceratopssss sighed. "At least you can chase the enemy if someone manages to steal the flag from underneath us. So what about the last guy?"

"I’m a girl thank you." The young woman emphasized with a sneer. "You just get out of my way. If you must know, I’m piloting a Genesis-18."

"The medium spider mech?"

"So you do have more than three brain cells! Congratulations doofus."

"Haha." Triceratopssss deadpanned. "Well, our team’s a little light on weight, but we’re very mobile. Let’s do a 4-1."

"3-2." The missileer interjected. "My mech’s a glass cannon. I’m best at supporting the heavy knight and providing long-range missile support."

"I’m attacking from the rear." The spider girl said. "I work best if I can sneak up to them alone, so don’t you dare follow me."

Triceratopssss sighed again. Joshua, or TheSeventhSnake consoled him in a private chat. "Don’t bother too much. Getting your teammates work together like we learned at school doesn’t always work. A lot of players just want to blow off steam."

"God, I hope they make an effort then. My win rate for Capture the Flag is already in the dump due to getting teamed up with egoistic morons."

The matchmaking system released a bell, signifying a successful search of an opposing team. The screen changed into a small lobby where their team could inspect the enemy’s loadout while the random battlefield loaded in the background.

TheSeventhSnake analyzed the enemy’s team composition and felt a headache forming. "The enemy team has a three-person premade. They’re all kitted with the same heavy mechs."

He didn’t recognize the variants, but they looked a lot like the strikers he fought the other day. _{freēwēbηovel.c૦m}

"One of them carries a bunch of close-ranged heat projectors. The other transformed his arms into medium-ranged ballistic cannons. The last guy appears to be their long-ranged marksman with his jumbo-sized laser rifle."

It was a composition that lacked mobility but possessed power in spades. Relying on their tough armor and plentiful energy reserves, they could bulldoze anything in their way.

"The two randoms pulled in their team adjusted to the trio and came with their light mechs." Triceratopssss noted. "One aerial scout and one saboteur. That’s plenty of mobility for them to plug their gaps."

TheSeventhSnake shook his head. "Not really. You can be sure the three meatheads will stick together. We’re either going to face a heavy push or a full-on defense."

"If they keep turtle up in their base, I can bombard them with impunity behind a hill." The missileer said curtly.

"And if their team attacks, their flag will only be defended by two lights."

The map finished loading, causing everyone to appear in a small open fort. A lengthy flagpole stuck out from the middle of the parade ground.

"Alright, let’s move."

The spider mech girl crawled over the walls with her eight limbs and disappeared from their view. The missileer took off in the other direction while the heavy knight planted its feet right next to the flag.

Triceratopssss followed TheSeventhSnake on the ground as he flew up in the air.

"The first thing we need to do is find the three heavies and figure out what they’re up to." TheSeventhSnake spoke to his fellow teammates. "Me and Tops will scout the enemy first."

As a flyer, Snake’s Seraphim traversed the forest prairie environment with effortless grace. Tops’ Phantasm could only slink through the trees as third as fast. However, the ground mech was able to minimize its emissions to stay hidden while the flier radiated heat and also color as its iconic cloud generator spewed clouds of vapor.

TheSeventhSnake didn’t care if he got spotted by the enemy first. Even as his Seraphim extended its sensor hair in the flowing wind, he was pretty much waiting to get shot at. After piloting the Seraphim for many hours, he grew confident in his ability to dodge.

"Hm?" TheSeventhSnake got distracted as a strange notification popped up. "Someone is spectating me? That’s strange. Oh well, as long as he isn’t feeding information to my opponents, I don’t care."

A barrage of laser fire shot from a cloud. Some of the beams scorched TheSeventhSnake’s armor, thankfully not damaging anything essential.

"I’m under fire by their air scout! Engaging! Tops, keep searching for their heavies, don’t let this distraction fool you!"