CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIX

Stephanie and Jason walked over to the central tournament area. Jason glanced over, and saw that Stephanie's face was pulled tight in a wide smile. She smirked out of the corner of her mouth, and her fist was clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

She was normally already pretty excited, but the prospect of battling with her new Mech had her even more pumped than normal.

Jason just hoped that he wouldn't dim her passion for playing too much...

While he rested Stephanie as a player, they were definitely on a different level. Maybe he could just take it easy on her or use it as a training match. Earlier, he'd realized that he could get a challenge against weaker players by using restrictions, like only fighting with certain items. Maybe he could focus on biological attacks or something...

"Don't help me on this one, alright? And definitely don't take it easy. I want to go all-out and face you."

Jason nodded.

"Alright then."

He immediately pushed all thoughts of taking it easy out of his mind. Taking it easy would hurt her pride as a pilot. She'd seen him battle enough times to know what was his best, and she deserved to see it.

On top of that...

He'd probably underestimated her. He might not have battled Stephanie head-on before, but he'd fought by her side many times. Even though there was a large skill gap between them, Jason knew that Stephanie wasn't the sort of person who would give up just because she'd faced a stronger opponent. She would do everything she could to get better.

Before they got into their seats, Stephanie suddenly started and doubled back to the counter. She waved down Jacob and asked if he could sell her a few extra items.

"Hey Jacob, I just thought of something. Would I be able to buy a few more items?"

The heavyset man grinned excitedly.

"Yeah!"

Then he caught himself.

"Wait...I actually think that's against our store policy. We actually don't let people buy parts once the tournament starts--they need to wait for it to end. The reason why is because we don't want people buying parts specifically to counter their opponents."

Jacob smirked.

"I'm guessing that you wanted to pick something up for your match against Jason?"

Stephanie laughed abashedly, and groaned as she turned around and swung her fist in frustration.

"Yeah...just thought of something. Crap! I wish I thought of this a bit earlier, I didn't get the inspiration until we were about to line up."

She started walking back to the tournament area, but now Jason was curious. Stephanie had seemed very confident while running back to Jacob's counter. On top of that, he knew that Stephanie didn't say nonsensical things or take things lightly.

She knew the skill gap between them, so what kind of item could possibly close the distance?

He cleared his throat.

"Jacob...do you mind letting Stephanie pick up the items? Just against me, as a one time thing. I think I could use the practice for the tournament, and it seems like she's found a pretty good idea."

Jacob thought for a moment, then shrugged and grinned.

"Yeah, that's fine, so long as your okay with it. Besides, I hate to give up a sale."

Jason wasn't surprised to see that Stephanie was a little hesitant too. Although she was excited to pick up the items and try her new strategy, she'd wanted to take on Jason in a head-on battle. Bending the rules, even by a small amount, offended her honorable combat sense.

Eventually, Jason was able to convince her by explaining that he wanted to battle her at her strongest--even if Stephanie didn't use the new items at the tournament, he would want to fight her again afterwards, so it just made more sense for her to do it now.

At the end, Stephanie took another ten minutes picking parts and adding them to her inventory. Jason thought that he might have to help her put the pieces together, but she waved him off.

"Don't worry, I can do it by myself."

That just made Jason even more curious. Not only did Stephanie have a counter, it was also something that was simple and easy to use. Right now, Stephanie's Mech was still a relatively crude model. Even an intermediate crafter like Jason wouldn't be able to make a dramatic change without professional help. The other parts of the beach ball-like machine, like the sensors on the tendrils or the Charge-Up Cannon, were proprietary parts that were unique to Stephanie's machine. Although they weren't as powerful, the heavily customized parts were like the Blazing Avarice or the Biological Mana Gatherer Spikes--they couldn't be adjusted on the fly.

Stephanie's only universal parts were the missile launchers...

What had she picked?

The two friends stepped onto the center stage, and a few of Jason's friends started jeering. From the sounds of it, Vinny and the others were also pretty interested in seeing Stephanie's secret counter. Although they were making fun of him, Jason smiled. In a way, it was an honor to have everyone chering against him. He was well-known as a strong player, so everyone cheering for the underdog was mostly fun good-natured banter.

Both players picked their Mechs without much hesitation. Jason was still focused on the Red Minerva for the tournament finals and Stephanie was incredibly excited to use her new machine. Since both players had locked in their Mechs immediately, the Overdrive game system promptly loaded the appropriate stage.

STAGE SELECTED: VOID

The stage was nothing more than almost entirely empty space with only a few dim lights from stars. There was no gravity, and the field was meant to simulate battling in the middle of nowhere. Save for the unrealistic addition of sound, fighting in the Void would have felt like being in a sensory deprivation tank.

There was only barely enough light on Void for the two players to see each other. The enormous beach ball steadily crept forward, and a large shadow loomed over the Red Minerva. The spherical device was about fifty percent as tall as the Red Minerva, and it was equally as wide as it was tall.

The twisted tendrils flickered back and forth, leaving bright trails of light behind them. In the darkness of the Void, the sensors glowed like bonfires. The charge-packs on the sphere were equally bright, making the enemy Mech look almost speckled.

As far as Jason could tell, there were no obvious changes. The central cannon battery--a pair of high-powered projectile launchers combined with the Charge-Up Cannon swerved and began firing. The two rockets lanced out at him, but Jason was already familiar with the weapons workings. He deftly twisted the triggers of his control board, swerving far to the side so that he wound up on the far left side of Stephanie's spherical Mech. The rockets were powerful weapons in and of themselves, but Jason also had to avoid getting pinned down.

An echoing creak sounded, and the built-in missile launcher panels opened. Jason braced himself for another attack, but Stephanie revealead her first major adjustment.

Instead of missiles, the launchers fired thick clouds of pitch-black smoke. The odious substance quickly dwarfed the battlefield, completely blocking out Jason's line of view. Before long, the Red Minerva was completely enveloped. The smoke was so thick that it even blocked off the blue sensor packs, leaving Jason without a single reference point.

On the other hand, the beach ball Mech had no problem shooting at Jason. The bizarre alien Mech did not use its eye cameras. It scanned its opponents using their energy signatures, meaning that the smoke had no effect on it.

As a result, the Charge-Up Cannon seared through the smoke. Jason dodged the unexpected attack in time, but the arrangement of the gun battery meant that he flew directly into the path of the bazooka. The shot blasted Jason's left arm to pieces, sending the goop hurling through the air. Jason's fingers danced across his controls, forcing the ooze back together and re-assembling his machine. His Mech had taken damage, but the splitting nature of the ooze had allowed him to mitigate some of the damage--when he couldn't avoid any attack, Jason could at least hope that they hit his least vulnerable parts.

Considering the thickness of the smoke, Jason's eye cameras would probably be useless for the rest of the battle. The obscuring smoke had also restricted his biological beasts--there was no way he could control the minions across long distances without seeing.

However, Jason could still detect his opponents. He shut off his machine's eye cameras, and the Red Minerva closed its eyes. Instead, he could focus entirely on smell and hearing.

The Red Minerva's central analysis system shifted, turning into a grainy mix of colors and shapes. Jason had shifted to scent and smell before, but he'd never relied entirely on those senses while eschewing sight completely.

Stephanie fired two more times, but Jason had no problem swerving away. Just like during his match against Phil, he saw the attacks coming from a mile away. As Stephanie considered her dogged attacks, Jason slowly slid closer and closer. He darted forward in an aggressive slant. Under normal circumstances, he'd try dodging through the smoke, but there was no point being subtle. In fact, he actively wanted to clear the smoke with aggressive movements--it helped Stephanie a lot more than him.

Before long, he was right in front of the beach ball Mech. Jason launched two attacks at once--the first was a direct attack with his Hawk. Instead of a complex flight path, he pre-programmed the biological drone so it'd attack like a straight forward missile.

Next, he clasped his hands together to summon the Titan's Macuahuitl. The giant blade was the perfect counter to a big opponent like Stephanie's beach ball. He could pop the whole thing like a balloon from this range.

The Blazing Avarice system triggered once he clapped his hands together, but before Jason could select an option, his machine went haywire.

Bright red lights started flashing across his Mech, and the Red Minerva's hands split apart as it started writhing in pain.

"What the hell?"

Jason pulled up the system and saw that he was taking severe damage to his ears. He took another look at the beach ball, then winced.

Stephanie's counter wasn't only limited to the smoke--she'd also accounted for the Red Minerva's watchdog senses. The hypersensitive senses were also a vector she could attack. Stephanie's second new weapon wasn't anything special--it was basically just a boombox she'd turned on at point blank range. Although it seemed like the items weren't available, a foul scent at close range would have a similar effect of temporarily incapacitating Jason's Mech.

Stephanie blasted Jason again with her energy cannons. In response, Jason activated his Mana Gatherer Spikes, firing out a wave of biological slop that ate up the attack for him. The biological material could still be used despite his main Mech's injuries, and it gave him a way to attack and defend even with the main body incapacitated.

However, that wouldn't last forever. His health was still dropping as the loud noise pierced through his ears and directly attacked his Mech's brain. At this point, Jason was facing two serious threats. He might bleed out, or the cockpit might completely run out of strength and cease functioning, which would lock out all commands, including those sent to the Mana Gatherer Spikes.

As he wheeled around, Jason realized what he had to do.

He engaged his Mana Gatherer Spikes, seizing control of the biological slop and the blood flowing from his ears. He deftly controlled the substance, creating something much simpler than a Biological Beast--he simply compacted everything until it formed a pair of earplugs. After forcing it into the Red Minerva's ears, he finally had control of his Mech again.

Moments later, he'd sawed Stephanie's beach ball in half with his Titan's Macuahuitl.

As the Overdrive system faded away, Jason shook his head and let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew!"

He'd never seen that kind of attack coming...

Stephanie shook her head and cursed as she left the booth.

"Man. I thought you almost had me on that one!"

Jason laughed.

"I thought you did too...that was pretty crazy!"

The sensory overload was similar to Lynn's finisher, only Stephanie had accomplished it using basic items. She'd really won his respect as a crafter and pilot, and practice was the perfect time for her to show him such an unusual ability. If he hadn't worked so hard on his on-the-fly adjustments, he wouldn't have come up with the earplugs method either...

As they went off to watch the remaining first round matches, Jason and Stephanie agreed to keep practicing up until his final at the Tournament of Assassins. Not only that, they also decided to watch matches together to prepare counterstrategies ahead of time. Her out-of-the-box thinking gave her insight that consistent Overdrive players like Jason or Danny lacked. Maybe she could even think of a unique counter to Castor's machine...

With her help, Jason could continue growing as a player and put himself in position to win the tournament.