by R. H. Tang
Truth be told, Julian would be pretty scared if he ever had a giant Mech. As much as he loved Overdrive, using one in real life was a different story. He'd probably accidentally step on people.
It was only after half an hour that The Mechanical King finally got to the main point.
"And that brings me to my special announcement—after last year's Selection, I've come to realize the importance of evolution."
The Mechanical King's speeches were always all over the place. First, it was doing publicity work for the Overdrive Corporation. Next, it was about networking. Now, he was back on evolution.
"Overdrive is always evolving. We're always adding new weapons to the game. But now, we'll be doing it with a deliberate approach. From here on out, the Overdrive Corporation will emphasize the importance of individual skill. Individual skill is the coolest! It's the best way to add new players to the game! Look at our most popular streamers. Vermillionangel! DISTINCTIONMAN! Myself! All of us are monstrously individually skilled players."
A murmur went through the crowd.
Some were excited.
Others, like Felix, stifled groans.
The Mechanical King had just promised to drive the Overdrive metagame in a very specific direction—one that benefited some players and hurt others. Playstyles had swung in strength through every patch, but the company had never been so explicit about it.
Julian frowned. The factors bounced against the walls of his brain.
He had excellent control skills, but he'd been working on his team play for a while. Had that been a waste?
What exactly did The Mechanical King mean by individual skill? Certain team-oriented actions, like piloting supportive drones, still required a lot of individual skill.
The Mechanical King had specifically highlighted DISTINCTIONMAN, whose gameplay was almost a parody of selfishness. Were Mechs like the Hot Pink Hotness getting significantly buffed with the next round of items?
The Mechanical King gave the crowd no time to regroup.
"And now, the first stage of the challenge begins. Free battle period!"
All four stages lit up and a message displayed above each box.
FREE BATTLE PERIOD
RULES:
1) ONE ON ONE CHALLENGES UNTIL CLOSING TIME
2) WINNER HOLDS COURT.
3) ACES ALLOWED TO ADJUST PARTS
The last rule was particularly intriguing. The change hurt Grunt specialists like Felix or Brandon, but it was in-line with what The Mechanical King said he hoped to accomplish. Most players—sometimes wrongfully—associated Ace play with strong control skills.
"The true battle begins tomorrow. Play amongst yourselves any way you please. Test your limits. Scout your rivals! You can do whatever you want for now!"
Julian hesitated before taking the stairs. The pilots around him shared his trepidation.
Felix turned and whispered the thought that'd immediately crossed Julian's mind.
"It's hard to decide what to do with The Mechanical King watching us."
"Yeah."
The free battle wasn't so "free" at all, not with the Overdrive Corporation CEO monitoring them. How you performed today would affect your position in the Selection.
"Ideally, we'd be in the second half of people to play."
If they played poorly, they might be eliminated from the Selection from the start. But the first players who battled would be left at a severe disadvantage. Everyone had special tricks prepared for the Selection, and everyone wanted to keep them hidden until a vital moment.
It was clear the rest of the crowd felt the same way. Even Lilac and Brandon were hesitant. Only one player immediately charged.
Darren practically shoved people aside as he sprinted down the steps.
"I will show you all the might of the European server!"
8
Darren logged on to the first battle box, then his picture, name, and information loaded above his head.
Julian smiled. The neon blue graphic display was a nice touch. The futuristic design was a perfect fit for the Overdrive Corporation's aesthetic.
Pilot: Darren
Rank: 1 (Special European Representative)
The gaunt pilot grinned, and then tore apart his shirt to reveal the flag of the European Union. Julian stared for a moment. Then he burst into incredulous laughter.
"Dang. That guy is really out there!"
Felix smiled.
"Yeah, he was always a pretty enthusiastic guy. This is different, though. I can't imagine representing a whole server."
Felix started walking down the stairs much faster.
"We can't lose to him."
Julian hastened to follow him. It seemed like Darren's upbeat personality had invigorated most of the crowd. The first player to make it down the steps was a very short girl Julian had never seen before. She was just over five feet tall and moved with a strange and mysterious grace, sliding through the packed crowd without a second glance.
At times, it almost seemed like she could see the seams in the swarm of people before they appeared.
Instead of sitting opposite Darren, she took the empty battle box to his left.
Her screenname loaded.
Pilot: Phillips
Rank: 500
After seeing her score, there was an immediate stampede. A long line of opponents immediately formed outside her box—for every player who wanted to challenge Darren, there were ten who wanted to battle Phillips.
Darren was an unknown. Nobody knew how strong the best European player was, but most players were confident that they could beat the very last Selection qualifier.
Julian wasn't so sure.
Phillips struck him as a grinder. There were plenty of unqualified players at the Selection, but most of them knew they were bad. Phillips had strolled into the box like it was the most natural thing in the world. If she'd spent all her time playing PvE maps, she could easily have control skills and game knowledge far higher than her threadbare ranking would suggest.
Julian moved towards Darren's box instead. All those people in line were idiots. If someone defeated Phillips, they'd take her box for themselves. At best, only one person would get a free win.
Before the first player could enter Phillips's box, Darren stomped over.
"Wait, what? Don't you want to fight? Why did you hold the other box first?"
Phillips frowned.
"No thanks."
"Why not?"
She pointed out to the crowd.
"I can fight these people. And you have a line too!"
Darren scowled.
"It just seems weird. You wanted to battle, but not against me?"
Now that Darren mentioned it, it was a little weird. Almost every pilot was getting into a line instead of taking a box—the last two were still empty. The players in line had a significant advantage. They'd get to watch the players who fought first.
Phillips smiled gently and pointed at Darren's shirt.
"For my first game, I wanted to play an opponent I'm familiar with. I don't want to lose to an unusual European style."
The compliment instantly mollified Darren. He grinned and stomped back to his box.
"Very well. I will wait for those who doubt my skills. We will fight later."
"Sure!"
Julian could only shake his head.
Darren was really over the top! His loyalty to the European server was quickly reaching meme levels. Julian doubted he'd ever feel such devotion to the American server. It was just where he played, after all. He had nothing in common with the average player.
And while most pilots on the American server were cool people, there were a bunch who were pains in the butt too.
He laughed as he imagined smashing his sword into an enemy Mech.
"THAT ONE'S FOR DISTINCTIONMAN!"
"TAKE THIS! I PUT ALL MY LOVE FOR LIEFIELD INTO IT!"
Julian wouldn't even feel comfortable screaming out the names of the players he liked. N
o sooner had the ridiculous thought crossed Julian's mind than Darren put it into action.
The first pilot to challenge Darren was Edgar, the slouching man Julian had met earlier. He was ranked in the top ten on the American server.
Darren laughed excitedly as he locked in his machine.
"This is for all the superstars of the European server who couldn't make it today!"
He started shouting out a long list of names—many of them were in foreign languages like Danish, Italian, or even Russian. Julian remembered there'd been a bit of controversy about whether or not Russia should have been considered part of the European server. There'd been some players hoping to play against Asian opponents for better practice. In other esports with Asian servers, China or Korea were usually regarded as the strongest countries.
Of course, it wasn't like that in Overdrive, at least not yet. The Asian server was still in its infancy. From what Julian could tell, they hadn't received a Selection representative this round.
A heavyset man stepped forward to battle Phillips, a confident smile on his face.
The graphic flickered then displayed his picture, name, and rank.
Name: George123
Rank: 421
Julian hadn't heard of him before. Perhaps he was a grinder too. Julian pulled up the Database and raised an eyebrow.
Dang.
George was pretty good. He'd qualified for the Selection even though he'd only started playing Overdrive for a few months. He was clearly better than his rank indicated.
Eventually, other players got tired of waiting around in line and filled the third and fourth booth. Their impatience—and desire to battle—overwhelmed any strategic sense. After Lilac took the third booth, a long line immediately formed to fight her. Julian rolled his eyes and tried to pretend he was better than that.
Brandon had taken the fourth booth, but nobody had any interest in challenging him. Because of his skill with Grunt units, battling him one-on-one was an absolute nightmare. Grunt parts were hidden until the battle started, and with Brandon's game knowledge, he could comfortably counter any Ace strategy. The Master of Minions had already seen every gimmick on the server.
The textbook solution was to bring your own Grunt, but if you did, you were battling him on his home turf. Brandon knew the precise capabilities of every single Grunt frame—he'd know your Mech better than you did.
Eventually, Brandon left the booth and took a spot behind Darren's line. Skinner and sm0ke quickly filled the empty battle box, promptly launching into a long battle that seemed almost choreographed. Unlike everyone else, they completely skipped the two minute preparation timer.
Julian raised an eyebrow.
That was smart. The two friends could make each other look good in the eyes of The Mechanical King without giving away too much information.
Darren's forceful voice instantly made him the center of attention. He'd somehow produced a Union Jack flag identical to the one on his shirt and was fervently waving it back and forth.
"Take this! My Mech is based on the pride of the United Kingdom—home of the European server! Long live the Queener!"
He raised his hand high above his head and locked in his Mech with a flourish.
The machine was a shining beauty of pearl and diamonds. Darren used a fairly standard frame Paragon Ace frame, but he'd altered it to create the subtle hint of feminine features. The machine was lightly armed with a matching pair of beam rifles at the hips and crossed swords at the back.
Its greatest strength was its mobility. Most Mechs only had thrusters on the backpack unit, but Darren's Queener complimented them with additional rocket engines all over the arms and legs. There was even a miniature mobility pack built into the head.
During the loading screen, the battle box displayed the Mech's statistics for everyone to see. That was an intelligent touch. Julian suspected that most fans who paid to watch competitive Overdrive wanted to know everything about pro players' machines.
- General Data -
Pilot: Darren of the European Server!
Machine: Queener
Class: Paragon
Sub-class: Attacker
Designation: Ace Unit
- Statistics -
Melee: A-tier
Shooting: A-tier
Speed: S-tier
Maneuverability: S-tier
Defense: B-tier
Cohesion: B-tier
- Weapons -
Very Fast Head [x1]
Very Fast Arm [x2]
Very Fast Leg [x2]
Beam Rifle [x2]
Solid Heat Sword [x2]
Obliterator Gauntlet (Full Custom) [x2]
- Abilities -
Liquid State Eternium
Extreme Uppercut
United Knuckle
From the looks of it, the "Very Fast" parts were built into the machine, similar to Brandon's signature Bombardment Arm. It was a way for players to overload the points limit, although it usually came at a stiff cost to various statistics. In Brandon's case, the bulky Bombardment Arm destroyed his Cohesion and ruined his Maneuverability.
Darren's Queener was different. It seemed like the altered parts kept him from equipping as many weapons as he'd like to. The Beam Rifle and Solid Heat Swords would have fit under a Grunt's budget. The Full Custom Obliterator Gauntlets looked a little more complicated, but Julian doubted they would have cost more than 10,000 Credits combined. After spending hours training with Emma in the workshop, Julian had gotten pretty good at eyeballing Credit costs. Darren was only using about 40% of the cap.
However, the strength of Ace units wasn't merely limited to the higher Credit cap. They also had Overdrive boosts and, in the case of Paragons, Finishers. With all his ability bonuses activated, the lightly-armed Queener would reach the absolute limits of speed and maneuverability. The pearly white Mech might be even faster than vermillionangel's legendary World Champion Mech, the Vermillion Draco.
Edgar's machine was incredibly bulky, a stark contrast to the Queener's speed and maneuverability. The heavily armored and well-equipped Hemoborn was reminiscent of Vile's designs—raw strength over everything else.
Edgar laughed excitedly, a huge smile on his face.
"Time to show you the strength of the American server!"
It seemed like the slovenly pilot was getting into the rhythm of this budding rivalry. Similar regional competitiveness existed in other esports games too.
Darren cackled.
"No hits! There will be no hits on my Queener!"
It seemed like he was utterly confident in his piloting skills.
Julian suddenly realized something strange.
"Hey, you know that guy pretty well, right?"
Felix laughed.
"I wouldn't say so. Well enough to know that he's, you know, probably exaggerating a little with this Europe stuff, but not all that well."
"What's up with his designs? He's from Russia, right? Russia's not in the European Union. And they've got nothing to do with the UK either."
"Huh."
Felix let out a startled laugh. He hadn't thought of that strange eccentricity.
"You know what? I do think he mentioned he's from Russia. That's funny that he's doing that...it's probably just because they put the server in London."
Perhaps, like DISTINCTIONMAN, Darren's behavior was just getting into character.
There was a booming explosion, and Julian jerked to the right. Lilac must have beaten the first of her fanboys. It looked like she had plenty of unqualified pilots challenging her. Almost nobody could stand against her machines, which combined blazing speed and incredibly durable armor. Lilac had finished in the quarter-finals of last year's World Championship. She wasn't as skilled as Brandon or vermillionangel, but she was the next best thing.
But that wasn't the case.
Lilac's TOUGH BRINKS TRUCK had only just loaded into the match. She and her opponent were still trying to find each other.
The firs
t player to win their match was Phillips.
Her shellshocked opponent left the box, leaving the man next in line waffling about whether or not to step inside.
Julian frowned.
How had that happened?
The other players were just getting started.
Maybe she'd abused George 123's inexperience. Since he was new to Overdrive, there were probably plenty of game mechanics or map eccentricities he didn't understand. Tyler had strong fundamentals, but he fell for that stuff all the time.
He even could have gotten boosted into the Selection. That would have explained his sudden climb too. Selection boosting—raising someone's rank to the top 500 for them—was a rapidly growing problem. If Julian remembered correctly, about forty players had gotten banned this time around for getting boosted into the Selection.
The actual player who'd boosted them still hadn't been found.
But why would a boosted player so eagerly challenge an opponent?
There were delusional players like Liefield who thought bad teammates were the only reason they weren't in the top 500, but it was unlikely for an all-new player to feel that way.
After waffling on the threshold, the next opponent entered after noticing The Mechanical King eyeing their line. Given Phillips's near-instant defeat of her opponent, the crowd started spreading out again.
More and more players lined up outside Skinner and sm0ke's box. It seemed like their match was going to take a long time.
Edgar and Darren's battle looked like it would take a long time. Both players were incredibly skilled. They hollered energetically as they clashed and clashed. It sounded like the two were becoming fast friends. Felix cheered enthusiastically as he watched them. Standing in Skinner and sm0ke's line was the strategic choice, but Felix loved Overdrive more than anyone Julian knew. If given the opportunity to battle such great players, he couldn't turn it down, even if it meant looking bad.
Lilac's truck was well on its way to overpowering her opponent. The men outside her box shifted back and forth as they weighed the value of meeting the beautiful pilot with the inevitability of a crushing defeat. But Lilac's battle was still ordinary. A match with such a broad skill and customization gap usually ended in minutes, but it wouldn't end in seconds.