"Thank you for your insights, Dulaebella," Honcho said before turning to face the cameras before him and saying, "Well, viewers, the charity match is about to begin, so our camera feed is going to switch to the location where the match will take place.
According to the information that the UMB Cup committee has just provided us, the location of the match is at the edge of an asteroid field not far from Felinia Seven. They also tell us that they will provide us with more information as the match progresses."
The camera switched to show the viewers a region of space that was devoid of anything except for a few ships that floated motionless in space and the asteroid field that could be seen not far in the distance.
"As you can see, there are several Catonian Space Force or CSF ships waiting at the match location to make sure no pirates or other nefarious individuals try to interfere with the charity match, and I believe that's our first contender approaching," Honcho said as the camera turned to show an approaching mech.
The mech was black in colour with grey highlights. It was far bigger and bulkier than Spector Unit Six was, but it also didn't appear to carry any weapons. Probably its most distinguishable feature was its head section, which appeared to have a part where plasma flickered inside of it.
"And it appears our first arrival is the representative of the UMB Cup Director, Brarseth Opalbeard," Dulaebella said before adding, "Don't be confused as to why you can't see any weapons on this mech or, in fact, many of the others. They all have weapons stored away in hidden compartments. However, the special thing about this mech is its gauntlets, as you can all see, they are much squarer than you would normally find. That's because the gauntlet on each is in fact a plasma cannon."
"I was just wondering that, actually. Thank you for clearing that up for us, Dulaebella," Honcho said.
[Animefangirl (Earth): That is so ANIME!]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): So the Dwarfinian director needs a big mech to make up for his small stature. Kek.]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): I really am considering killing this fucking bastard.]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Look, it seems another mech is approaching. Wait, why does it appear to have thrusters?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Why wouldn't it?]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): I just figured that it would have an anti-gravity drive.]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Why? Because all the streamers' tech seems to have them?]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Well, yeah.]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Don't consider the streamers tech as ordinary, we have said before how advanced it seems. Anti-gravity drives are expensive, and the smaller they are, the more expensive they become since those capable of fitting in mechs have only been around few hundred years.]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): Wait, didn't you just tell us that the Black Knight from two thousand years ago had an anti-gravity drive? Also, what about the streamers hoverbike?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): His hoverbike uses a hover drive, not an anti-gravity drive; otherwise, it could fly. As for the Black Knight having an anti-gravity drive, well, perhaps Phoenixempress can explain it better.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): I can try, I actually only saw the Black Knight up close twice back during the Siege of Fenix Nest; however, it did indeed have an anti-gravity drive, which shocked me at the time.
The fact that it had something that's taken the rest of the universe over a thousand years to develop just shows how advanced it was back then.]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): So what you're saying is that most of the mechs we will see will be using thrusters instead of anti-gravity drives?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): That's correct, though there will be exceptions like the first mech that belongs to Director Brarseth Opalbeard. As the UMB Cup director, I'm sure he has access to mech tech that isn't on the regular market yet.]
"It appears our second arrival belongs to the Matriarch Maiya," Dulaebella said as a black and white mech with green highlights and what appeared to be a large green sword, on the black, flew towards the meeting point while leaving a green trail behind it from its thrusters.
"As you can no doubt guess by the sword on its back, the mech sponsored by Matriarch Maiya appears to be a more melee-focused one, though I don't doubt it has some ranged weapons hidden away."
"Our next arrival appears to be from…"
💫💫💫
"Looks like they're gathering," Adam said as he watched the UMB Cup feed from Spector Unit Six's cockpit before adding, "Commence launch."
"Affirmative, transferring Spector Unit Six to launch tube," Spector replied before the section of the floor that Spector Unit Six was standing on started to lower like an elevator.
It continued to lower for a few seconds until it came to a stop in a black tunnel that suddenly lit up as lights came on in the walls, while along the edges of the floor, two rows of lights could be seen moving into the distance.
"Spector Unit Six decent complete"
"Engaging Magnetic Launcher."
"Stand by for launch in five seconds."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Spector Unit Six, Launching," Adam said as he remembered them always saying something similar in a famous mech anime.
"Launch," Spector said just before Spector Unit Six shot down the launch tube at an ever-increasing rate.
A group of spaceport workers just happened to be transporting some goods past docking bay Gamma Seven Nine when they noticed something shooting out of the docking bay's hatch.
As they looked even closer, they saw the small object shoot off up into space at a speed that made it impossible for them to distinguish what it was.
"What was that? You don't think it was a missile launch or something, do you?" One of the spaceport workers asked in alarm.
"Better inform the boss immediately," Another replied as he quickly accessed his uniband.
💫💫💫
"Number Four, something just exited from the target at a high rate of speed." Number Thirteen suddenly said as he watched a holographic screen that was showing Spector.
"Can you determine what it was?" Number Four asked as he stood up and moved towards Number Thirteen.
"Standby," Number Thirteen replied before he started fiddling with a holographic controller that appeared above his uniband and made the display on the holographic screen rewind until just before the object appeared, after which he had the holographic screen resume play but in slow motion until he paused it.
He controlled the holographic screen again to zoom in on the object that had left before enhancing it to show Spector Unit Six.
"Heh, so he's another fan of the famous Black Knight?" Number Eleven remarked as she looked at the holographic screen from where she sat.
"Do we move?" Number Thirteen asked.
"Prepare for departure, we will move as soon as he appears on the Sportscast feed." Number Four replied before the three started getting ready.
💫💫💫
"Our next competitor is, oh my," Dulaebella said with interest as a black and grey mech with orange highlights approached the meeting area.
"Is that a replica of the famous Black Knight?" Raella asked with interest.
"That does appear to be the case, you get one or two every time the UMB Cup is held, though I must admit that it's very well done. Normally, the creators save credits by installing thrusters that they hide as much as possible. This time, however, it appears to actually be using an anti-gravity engine." Dulaebella explained.
"Well, according to the info that the UMB Cup committee is feeding us, this replica of the Black Knight belongs to the famous Catonian streamer Prime," Honcho informed them.
💫💫💫
"Wow, you really did a good job on that replica Mika," Tephe said as she inspected the replica on the holographic screen before her.
The massive stadium featured many holographic screens floating around it for the audience to watch the charity match. However, the guests in the VIP box all had their own holographic screens they could watch it on, as well as several large ones that hovered in front of the VIP box.
"Thanks, it took a lot of time and effort to get right," Mika replied with a proud smile.
"I'm surprised you managed to get an anti-gravity drive," Rowena remarked as she inspected the replica.
"It cost a fortune and apparently that idiot's aunt had to call in some favours to get it," Mika explained.
"Does it have the same equipment as the original Black Knight?" Tessa asked with curiosity.
"Not quite," Mika replied as she began to proudly explain. "The shoulder cannons and wrist-mounted cannons work; however, I could only get six drones to work."
"Six!" Rowena said in surprise before adding in an impressed tone, "That's very impressive. As far as I'm aware, my Brood engineers could only get four to work."
"Yeah, four seems to be the standard most replicas can manage. It took a lot of trial and error on the programming front, but I eventually got it to function with six." Mika said proudly as she puffed out her rather flat chest.