While Ash was getting a crash course in being a mecha pilot, Tala was howling from the sheer delight of being able to let out her inner wolf.
She ripped and tore the small and even medium-sized bots with fangs and claws. But as she got closer to the center, she noticed dozens of destroyed heavy bots in the streets.
She growled at having her prey stolen, only to smell who it was that had flown through the area.
If Ash was like a cool night forest, then her sister, Fiona, was a warm summer field. The scent on the wind was a little angry, but it didn't tell Tala anything other than that.
Suddenly, screams echoed from her left as a gaggle of students swept past her, fleeing from a kaiju-sized bot the size of a five-story building, only to stop and break perpendicular to their paths as something else stomped heavily in from the right.
Another kaiju-sized bot ran her way, even stomping on its smaller brethren as a strange sound emitted from its speakers.
It almost sounded like...
"Ahahaha haaaa~!" Ash's voice cackled as the kaiju-bot bodied the other.
"What the... doesn't she remember she doesn't get any points for those?"
But maybe it wasn't about the points for her...
Turning towards the sounds of crunching metal and a stream of expletives emitted from Ash's mech's speakers, Tala took a massive leap, trusting her body to withstand the landing as she scraped to a stop, digging her claws in as she looked around for a way in and found it.
*
"Take that you rusted-out obsolete gas guzzler! I'm going to take you apart and show those fuckers out there what a real mech looks like! There won't even be enough of you left for me to piss on your tombsto- Oh hey, Tala!" My mind short-circuits as I catch the scent of sweat and oil on her. Also I saw her reflection in the glass of a screen. "Uh... need a ride?" I bite my lower lip.
"Uh, I thought we were teaming up, but I guess you found someone else..."
"Nonsense, we can be a team of three. This is Naomi, she got me in here."
"H-hi," a very seasick-sounding Naomi waved weakly, using one of the copilot controls to stay upright.
After introducing herself, Tala sighs. "What would you even need me for?" a tiny, adorable whine escapes her throat.
"We~ll... I was thinking since I just busted the right arm, I would ram the last kaiju and detonate the micro fusion core inside Bessy here."
"You named the bot Bessy? Why?"
"Because she moves like a cow. Why not?"
Tala shook her head at me, before a lurch made her stick her claws in the ceiling to stay stable.
I continue my explanation, "So, I need someone fast enough to get us out of here before the big bada boom."
"I don't have a speed factor," Tala says.
"Don't worry about it. You've got fantastic strength, right? Just carve us a hole and extract us when I start the countdown."
"How long will we have?" She asks.
"About five seconds."
"Are you insane?!" Naomi shouts.
"I never said I wasn't," I cackle a little. "Don't worry about it. Everyone's running away from us, even with our arms all floppy." I've kept an eye on the screens while talking. "Besides, once this is over, you'll be sure to pass, trust me."
"Do you know something we don't?" Tala asks me with a concerned whine.
"I know a lot of things you two don't," I chuckle. "Now let's go kill some fucking robots!"
Even with both arm controls now auto-locked and two flailing limbs, I practically dance my way through the streets, shattering through formations of machines. With all the students going to the center for the bigger points, I elect to be a weapon of mass destruction, harvesting mine from the more numerous small fries.
The moment there are less than twenty minutes on the clock is the moment I finally encounter the last kaiju-bot. Since Bessy has done her job, I charge in, noticing as we collide with our opponent that while there are no students on the streets, there are certainly students trapped on the roof of what looks like a parking garage.
"Tala, can you tell them to get the fuck away from me if they want to live?"
"Your speakers have been on this entire time. I think everyone heard you."
"Oh, fucking shit! Why didn't you tell me sooner? I sound like goddamn Asshole!" I can feel both her and Naomi quirking their eyebrows at the accidental stating of my very personal in-joke. This whole time I've been swearing like a certain fictional UN Secretary General - from when that defunct body existed. And cackling.
"I thought you knew!" Tala said.
"Hey, the one good thing about this thing is the sound proo-
A loud clang signals that the other kaiju has realized we're a threat. As I stand up Bessy, I unbuckle my seat, having stared into the future and confirmed we were on a wide enough street to avoid catastrophic collateral damage.
"Time to go!" I shoot a grapnel for the door and kick it open, before dangling myself far enough over the edge to hit my mark - having opened the blast doors long ago.
The railgun spike lances through the fusion core's casing. "Five seconds!" I shout, when something unexpected happens. The grapnel arm I used to dangle myself loses its grip too early, and I start to fall.
"No no NO!" I scream before suddenly my leg is grabbed and I'm pulled off the platform and into Tala's arm. Naomi is under her other arm, and without a word Tala dashes not for the hole in the roof, but for the imperviglass window.
"Shit!" I swear, quickly targeting it with my railgun and firing continuously until there are holes enough for Tala to shatter the polymer with a headbutt before leaping off the bot's face and past the clueless attacker.
We land on the ground and I hear a sickening crunch as Tala's legs both break.
"It's fine," Tala says. Just need a minute-"
"We don't have a minute!" I shriek, grabbing her by the arm as a surge of adrenaline helps me pull her into an alleyway and out of a direct blast, which happens just as I start to see the shadows of rubble about to fall on our heads.
Then, the detonation comes.