"Stick with me. It won't take long." I told Tes and sprinted the final few meters towards the two large boys.

Even though they were ten year olds, any kindness and mellowness during a fight had been trained out of their system completely. They acted in unison with the clear purpose of quickly knocking me out!

Too bad for them, I grew up around junkyards and was surrounded by gangs and other desperate scrappers which had no qualms sticking a knife on your back just to check what you have in your pocket.

I not only had my kindness beaten out of me, I also had a streak of cold-bloodedness hammered into my soul.

The two of them unleashed vicious hooks at me which I didn't even bother to dodge. I ate their attacks and quickly unleashed two jabs of my own.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The two boys crumpled on the ground and remained there motionless.

They were still alive, of course, but the other six members of their group didn't know that. They looked at the two huge still bodies in front of me in absolute horror.

I made use of the moment when they were stunned silly to leap to my left and close the distance with the left group.

BAM!

I quickly knocked out one of them with a cuff to his neck which caused the other two to begin screaming in fear!

BAM! BAM!

Their screams were cut short. Tes had burst into action and had very efficiently knocked the wind out of them by unleashing two powerful uppercuts into their stomachs.

"Good!" I praised her and turned around to face the remaining three boys.

Unfortunately for me, they were already running away at full speed, weaving in and out of the forest of mechas, and splitting into three directions.

"Damn it." I cursed lightly and began to sprint after them.

"Tes, get the one on the right! I'll handle the other two!" I shouted.

"Leave it to me!" Tes yelled in reply.

It was a bother, but we managed to catch up with them and relieved them of their tokens.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

And with that, the first phase was officially over for us.

The tally?

Sixty five tokens crushed. Forty eight by me, and a respectable seventeen by Tes.

We had taken out 6.5% of the kids in our group.

"We have ten more minutes. Let's pick our mechas." Tes said as she looked around for a suitable mecha for us. "What sort of mecha do you want? A light mecha with a flight system, a medium mecha with a ranged weapon or a heavy mecha with a heavy melee weapon?"

"Hmmmm. I don't really know what's the best combination. Maybe.. A medium mecha with a flight system? What do you think?" I asked Tes.historical

"A medium mecha is heavy, and if you use a medium mecha with a flight system, then you'll probably be really slow in the air, and that would make you an easy target for all the mechas with ranged weapons." Tes explained.

"The mechas used for the Grand Melee are all practice mechas, so you won't find a case where a unique combination such a heavy mecha with flight system can work due to an overpowered flight system. If there's a heavy mecha with a flight system here in this event, then it would be a heavy mecha with a standard flight system which will make it almost useless."

"The best combinations are the ones I just mentioned. Light mechas with flight system so you can fly high and fast, keeping you safe from the mechas on the ground, or a medium mecha with a ranged weapon so you can keep your distance and fire at your enemies, or a heavy mecha with a melee weapon so you can quickly destroy your enemies. A heavy with a ranged weapon is a pretty solid choice as well."

I had never heard Tes speak so many words in one go before, and I really appreciated the fact that she did so to explain to me so many critical things that I needed to know.

"Well, I don't really have a lot of close combat skills, so I think I need a lot of armor around me to keep me safe. My only option is a heavy mecha. And at this point, I doubt we'll be able to find a heavy mecha.. They should have all been taken." I said with a frown.

"So what if they're taken?" Tes asked me with a rare smile. "It doesn't make a difference for you."

I blinked once and instantly understood her unspoken words.

My mouth slowly curled into a smile as well.

"Well, well. Tes, you're much more aggressive than I thought." I said with a laugh. "Alright, in that case, let's get you a mecha first. Which one do you want?"

"That heavy mecha with the red rifle please." She said sweetly at me.

"Heavy mecha with the red rifle, coming right up!" I proclaimed gallantly and strode towards it.

The cockpit lift was no longer hanging by the mecha's leg, signifying that it was already occupied.

I calmly grabbed hold of the mecha's leg, and slowly climbed up. Within a few quick seconds, I had reached the cockpit.

Knock! Knock!

I rapped on the cockpit.

"Bugger off! This mecha is taken!" A little boy's muffled voice could be heard through the cockpit door.

"Open up right now, and I won't crush your token. You'll be able to go find a different mecha. If I have to force this door open, I'll crush your token before throwing you out of this mecha." I threatened him.

"Ha! You think I'm a fool? There's no way you can force open the cockpit door! Even if it's unlocked because the power is off, it's still WAY too heavy for-"

Creak.

I opened the cockpit door casually. I reached in, grabbed hold of his token, and immediately crushed it.

"WHAT?! NOOOO!!!!" The little boy wailed in horror.

"Tes! Catch!" I called out as I grabbed him and dropped him from the cockpit.

"Ooof." Tes caught the wailing boy and promptly dropped him on the ground.

She quickly clambered up the mecha and made herself comfortable in the cockpit.

"I'll find you once the event begins." I told her. "Stay alive till then."

She rolled her eyes at me and made a shooing motion with her hand.

I leapt off her mecha and quickly went off in search of another heavy mecha.

"A lance." I finally decided. "I want a heavy mecha with a lance!"