As soon as the signal blared, Avid Serpent's axeman mech sprinted towards Broken Claw's tiger mech. The sand pit that made up the underground arena's soil provided some challenges to the running motions of both mechs. This slowed down the speed of any mechs that ran across the arena.
Avid Serpent appeared to be caught off-guard of her mech's unstable footing. She was forced to pull back on the throttle, giving her opponent a little more time to respond.
BOOM!
Broken Claw's only intact kinetic weapon mount shot out a solid slug that accurately impacted Avid Serpent's mech! Her axemen mech dodged at the last moment, causing the slug to hit its sides rather than its abdomen. The hard slug managed to dig a shallow groove in the sides of the mech. It went through several layers of armor plating!