Jess shrugged and leaned back in her seat. "Ask Mira."<br/><br/>---<br/><br/><em>Montresor didn't even let the announcer finish saying "go" before he was on the move, speeding toward the opponent team against Morgen's swear-laden protests. The other team's Protector, piloting a heavyweight Mobile Weapon with a chain gun, opened fire instantly on the approaching black mech, but amazingly couldn't seem to get a lock on Montresor as the masked man circled the duo. After one last curse from its pilot, the Ballista 10 boosted into the fray as well, following the opposing Carrier as she sped away into the forest.</em><br/><br/>True to its name, the Ballista 10 was raining countless ballistics toward Montresor as he left the beach and sped into the dunes, though his constant ducking out of the way and disappearing behind mountains of sand, combined with his lock-resistant armor coating, kept Morgen from getting a clear lock on him. Still, the other mech's missiles seemed to reload over and over again without end, and it wasn't a very good show for the younger pilot to just run away until it was out of ammo. Bravely (or stupidly), he circled around the next sand dune he passed and came at the Ballista from the side, extending the Terror Grand's right claw and coating it with plasma as he thrust it toward the mech's left two heavy rockets.<br/><br/><em>The claw collided with the larger mech nicely, driving straight through the chain gun's shoulder-mounted power source and disabling the weapon. The enemy Protector spun and tried to decapitate Montresor's machine with an arm-mounted energy blade, but the larger mech didn't stand a chance against a faster close-combat mech at such close range. The TG went under the incoming blade and drove both claws into the thinner armor underneath each of the opponent's shoulders. The pilot inside could hear with his own ears the machinery just outside of his cockpit being torn apart by titanium claws, disabling both of his arms and leaving him defenseless. With one final duck and a stab to both knee joints, the heavy MW crashed to the ground and Montresor was instantly off, following the sounds of missiles exploding elsewhere in the jungle.</em><br/><br/>The sounds of the missiles grew closer after the failed attack just gave Morgen an easier target, the closeness of the explosions making Montresor's ears ring. Out of options in the desert, he ran the Terror Grand back to the beach and went straight into the ocean, diving deep under the water and hoping Tanner's rockets wouldn't be quite so devastating with the density of the water to cushion the blow. Unfortunately, the current down at the bottom would pose a problem for the lightweight mech, even if he was faster...<br/><br/><em>Being so much faster than the Ballista 10, the TG caught the greenhorn female Carrier first by cutting her off in the dense forest, though he decided to have a little fun with is asshole teammate rather than immediately putting her out of commission. Instead of attacking, he snatched the carbon sphere out of her hands before she knew what to do and tossed it toward the oncoming Ballista. Tanner, completely caught off-guard by Montresor's actions, caught the opponent's sphere, only to lose visuals moment's later as the Terror Grand's plasma-coated claw cut through both the sphere and the Ballista's visor.<br/><br/>"WHAT THE FUCK'RE YOU DOING?!"<br/><br/>"Making your ass a joke!" the masked pilot replied before driving both plasma-coated claws into the heavy rockets on both of the Ballista's shoulders, detonating the mech's entire armament causing an unpleasantly loud explosion that launched the TG back through a few trees and left the Ballista as nothing but a lower body and a cockpit in a pile of scrap.</em><br/><br/>Though the landing was cushioned due to being underwater, the explosion from the heavy rocket had torn a big hole in the light armor on the Terror Grand's right side, leaving Montresor with nearly 25% damage and more promised by the other two rockets that were already on their way.<br/><br/><em>Though she and her partner had already lost, the female pilot wanted to run, but even her lightweight Mobile Weapon couldn't outrun Montresor's speedy, ghoulish vehicle. Within seconds after the explosion, both of the Terror's claws were in her and coursing electricity throughout her systems, making her yelp through the NETCOM as even the controls inside the cockpit gave her a shock. Soon, the young newcomer pulled back and allowed her mech to fall to the ground, utterly disabled.</em><br/><br/>Recklessly, Montresor boosted toward the Ballista 10 for the second time in three years, ducking under the two oncoming rockets and slashing them out of the air. The resulting explosion launched him forward fairly fast considering their environment. Even an experienced pilot like Tanner Morgen couldn't react fast enough as the two claws plunged into his shoulders and pumped every volt the TG could produce into his machine. Since they were underwater, Montresor took even more damage now from his own attack, but the Ballista took most of the pain and soon found its own missiles and rockets bursting under the powerful current of electricity.<br/><br/>Montresor crawled back onto the beach with half of his machine still intact. Tanner's cockpit and the slag he once called his Mobile Weapon would have to be retrieved by several recovery crews after the fight.<br/><br/><em>It was immediately after he won his first preliminary that Monstresor got into his first fistfight with another pilot. Tanner had demanded that the MBF disqualify him from entering the ranks due to his betrayal during the fight, but such a controversial pilot was just what they needed during a period where the lingering memory of Mattias Malrain gave people high standards for their entertainment. Morgen found the masked newbie two days later and put both of them in the hospital for what he had done.<br/><br/>Unfortunately for the veteran pilot, Monty had escaped with but a few minor dings, while he had fractured most of the bones in his hand and torn some ligament. He was only supposed to be unable to fight for the next six months, but no one heard from the man for the entirety of the next three seasons. Montresor used that time to become a celebrity.</em><br/><br/>Monty expected Tanner to repeat the events of three years ago, after he had beaten the first time (even though he was on the same team), but the man never showed up. He instead heard that both of them had performed impressively and passionately and that, barring any massive changes in quality of performance, both were considered as good as in. Forgetting about the surprise reunion for the time being, the masked pilot went outside the offices and met up with his violet-haired friend, walking off with her again.