It's Only a Matter of Time

In the training tower, Alonso began to work with his new golem arm. Working on a bag that was around 4 tonnes, he rattled it with serious force using the power of his mecha arm. It's explosive speed and strength was too much for a mere 4 ton bag to stop, and he felt thrilled as he continued to smash it apart.

Since nearly all of the force was hailing from his mech and not himself, his stamina wasn't being drained quickly.

"Where did you get the money for a mech like that?" Luciano asked, with slight envy.

"It's a family gift. They want to give me more stuff to help me since I haven't had a mech that long." Alexander elaborated, with a shameless face.

"That's fair enough. Also, people keep lying and saying that you beat up Max and nearly killed him. What's all that about?" Michael asked, from a punching bag adjacent to him.

'Nearly killed him? He's gone around saying that I nearly killed him?' Alonso wondered, with a slight twitch to his left eye.

"Yeah, I don't know why they'd say that. Max hits like a truck, why would that ever happen?" Luciano asked.

Alonso just gave off a light smile.

'If he hits like a truck, I hit like a train!' Alonso thought.

"I don't know. It might just be someone trying to ruin his image for some reason." Alonso said, just tapping at his punching bag as he talked.

"Yeah, that's weird. Why would someone try to boost up your image like that, though?" Luciano wondered, going through the motions of his combinations.

'Why do you care so much?' Alonso thought in reaction.

'What am I saying, it is weird from their perspective.' Alonso then thought, shaking his head.

"You wouldn't just beat the hell out of Max if you could, though, right?" Luciano asked.

Alonso's head jerked back slightly as he heard this but he remained silent for a second or two.

"Why, would you not?" Alonso asked.

Luciano just looked at his bag for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know. It feels a little off to do that, doesn't it? I mean, that's just me I don't know. What am I saying I probably would." Luciano said with a chuckle.

They continued on their usual training session, and some of their year were rounded up once again for one of their routine lectures. They filled a somewhat large lecture hall and Mr Piedrabuena stood ahead of them.

"Students. You will be going on practical missions in due time and in preparation, we will be taking you through numerous times. Some of you are already 17 and in less than a year, will be adults. By that time, we will not be here to console you and you will move onto direct mech combat training as cadets."

"The first special event will be an event between the 4 largest mech combatant academies in Sago City. Us, the Aegis Mech Academy, the Eureka Creek Academy, the Rio Dorado Mech Academy and finally, the Red Scorpion Academy.

The students immediately began to talk amongst themselves as he revealed those names. Alonso was fond of those schools and they were all aware of each other. What they knew about those schools were the big names. Their biggest stars.

There was the star student from Red Scorpion, called Wolf Vargas. Many didn't even know what he looked like, but knew his name very well – as did Alonso. He was classed as even stronger than Kai and Bernando, but those two weren't humble enough to accept that.

This event was likely going to prove who was the strongest out of these academies.

To see who the strongest student in Sago City really was. The students couldn't wait to see what the outcome was going to be

Their teacher then silenced them to continue on his announcement.

"You will all be fighting in the IceFergo Training Warehouse. It is nearly a kilometre wide and long, as well as 250 metres tall. It's an indoor forest and you will all play a survival-based game."

"Each player will start off with 5 points and it will be totally individual. Whether you choose to team up in this event is up to the students."

"The special thing about this event is that students can transfer points to other students. There will be absolutely no killing but if a student knocks out another student, the knocked out student's points will transfer over to the student that knocked them out."

'What a twist!' Alonso thought with a smile, listening on.

This would bring a whole different aspect to the training session. He wondered if there would be much reason to team up with students. The only reason this option was viable was due to the fact that you'd have to knock someone out to take their points or coerce them.

"This will be happening in one month. Each student is given only one module to use on the day and this will be checked so don't think you're getting through having more than one." He stated.

He then continued with his lecture but Alonso was deep in his thoughts. Now that his mech had learned from his energy shield module, he had no need for it.

Selling his energy module, he managed to sell the item for about 800 credits. The price of a module would decrease over time, due to the mech lifespan. As modules fused with more and more different mechs over time, it would be harder for new mechs to learn to copy its abilities.

This happened quite quickly for modules, and many of the healing modules that the military would use were practically impossible to adapt from.

So, he wasn't able to make back the money that he had spent right away but made back a good portion. With 800 extra credits, along with the funds still present in his account, he had a nice starting place for looking for a module.

His mech was taking longer than usual to adapt to his servo and booster modules but that was a given. They were more expensive, more complex modules. It wasn't going to just take a few quick weeks for him to totally copy them.

However, he theorised that he would be ready by the time of the exam. Therefore, he had to spend time thinking of the next module for him to use. For now, he wasn't sure enough to make a choice, but he skimmed the MechMod market to get a few ideas.

There were special plasma blades that would form concentrated blades of plasma along metal. The extreme heat along with the molecular level sharpness would mean that it could slice through even mechs with enough force.

Another type of weapon that intrigued him were colloquially referred to as 'vibro-gauntlets'. Used a lot by mech combatants that specialised in close-quarters combat, these gauntlets would manipulate air surrounding the fist to allow strikes to cause more damage.

Just like the plasma blades, these two modules were usually quite expensive and were incredibly difficult for mechs to copy. Also, when copied, the capacity of a mech to adapt to different modules dropped quite significantly.

 The trio continued their strenuous training, and Alonso continued with unwavering discipline. He continued going to Rex's boxing gym -the gym that he went to before he gained his mech- and continued advancing his martial arts ability.

The mech combatant academy taught their students various fighting styles and even their origins, but Alonso felt more equipped to learn from his coach since he was practically his first teacher.

"You're advancing quickly. How long have you had your mech for?" Rex wondered, watching Alonso on a punching bag.

This time, he wasn't on a small 80 pound bag but was instead on a 3 tonne bag, using his mech to power his strikes.

"A few months now. It's Level 2 at the moment." Alonso replied.

"Level 2 in a few months?! Wow, you're progressing fast. I admire your work ethic, it's clearly paying off." He replied, with a warm smile.

Alonso couldn't help but smile back, and he bowed in reaction.

"Thanks a lot." Alonso replied politely.

"It'll only be a matter of time before you're a mech combatant like me!" He said with praise.

"I hope so." Alonso said back, tapping the punching bag ahead of him.

'It's only a matter of time.' He thought to himself, looking to the black bag ahead of him with a keen smile.

To get the money for a module, he would have to enter yet another pocket realm. Alonso wasn't scared but was instead anticipating the new challenge.

Voom!

There was slight vibration as his mech grew over his skin as if it was a liquid. It climbed over his skin without form or shape, eventually solidifying into a tough layer of metal covering him.

Using the helmet of his mech, he was able to see holograms displaying internet webpages. Mechs seamlessly connected to the internet and the speed of connection made it convenient to access the web from almost anywhere.

Finding another PRA, the Aether PRA, he decided to head to one of their buildings that was located in the northwest of the city. Even though Sago City was merely a city, its size and autonomy made it almost feel like a country.

Citizens of Sago City identified not with the city as a whole but with one of the countless neighbourhoods within, having rivalry with adjacent and other neighbourhoods within the city.