The Mech Touch

Two of the most prominent Larkinsons in the clan enjoyed a rare moment together. Though they weren't able to spend as much time with each other lately, they still remained committed to their relationship.

Venerable Joshua could hardly believe that his second relationship hadn't decayed into a rotten mess like his last one. Ketis may have changed a lot since her return from the Heavensword Association, but she was still the same girl that initially approached him and forced him to polish his swordsmanship.

These days, Ketis spent most of her day at the design lab in order to do as much as possible to turn the Decapitator Project into a great expert mech. She frequently visited the Swordmaidens and the Heavensworders to stay in touch with the thriving swordsman community of the Larkinson Clan.

For his part, Venerable Joshua was doing his best to contribute to the clan in order to earn more Larkinson merits and continue to serve as a model Larkinson. He also had to spend enough time on keeping his skills in shape to make himself as ready as possible to assume control of his upcoming expert mech.

Surprisingly, Ketis came up to him one day and requested that they go on a date the next time the fleet transitioned out of FTL travel.

"You don't want to go out in Dorum?" He asked.

"Nah. It's too close and familiar for my liking. I want to explore the new cities in the fleet. Many people are already raving about how great it is to finally have a party boat!"

The so-called party boat turned out to be the Vivacious Wal, the two-sided capital ship that offered a form of entertainment to almost any person.

As a pair of important and extraordinary clansmen, they attracted attention wherever they went. Their force of wills alone meant that no one was able to ignore their presence as they entered the hangar bay of the Vivacious Wal and headed deeper into the vessel.

At a certain junction, they were able to choose which of the two cities they wanted to visit. Joshua automatically turned to the entrance that led towards Dawn City, but Ketis took firm hold of his arm and dragged her over to the other entrance!

"Ketis! Why would you want to go to Twilight City?"

"Oh, come on, Joshua. Dawn City is a bore. It's too clean and bright over there. It'll be just like visiting a better and more upscale version of Dorum. Twilight City is a lot different from any other place in our fleet!"

Joshua did not expect to enjoy their date in this infamous place. His girlfriend was right in one thing. Twilight City was truly a place apart.

The overwhelming majority of ships in the Larkinson fleet consisted of relatively clean, modern and well-maintained vessels. Even the production halls of the Spirit of Bentheim were kept as clear and free of rubbish as possible in order to avoid a spec of dirt from ruining the fabrication of a critical component.

Upon entering the large and expansive cavern that encompassed Twilight City, Joshua first looked up at the ceiling and became immersed in the cloudy sky that made it seem as if they had landed on a real planet.

The illusion wasn't foolproof, though. No matter what his eyes told him, his intuition and other senses could still detect the presence of a solid layer of hull structure that was capable of withstanding a lot of attacks.

He then lowered his eyes to the skyline in the distance and became dazzled by the sense of excitement that coursed in the distance. Though the couple had not yet entered Twilight City proper, he already felt as if he entered into an alternate universe.

"Come on! We're almost there!" Ketis grinned as strode forward at a brisk pace while draggin him along.

When the couple reached the streets of Twilight City, they both became immersed in the facade of a once-prosperous city that had fallen into a strange decline.

A faulty, rust-laden cleaning bot bumped into Joshua's leg, causing the expert pilot to be thrown out of his odd fascination for the brittle walls that looked as if they were marked by decades of neglect.

Joshua gently pushed the bot aside with his leg, only for the stupid machine to press onto him again like a clingy dog.

"Annoying machine. Do your job or something! There's an oil spill right on the other side of the avenue!"

Joshua pressed the bot away only for it to return. When he failed to rid himself of this annoyance for the fifth time, Ketis finally rolled her eyes and strode forward to unleash a powerful kick that caused the bot to soar at least a hundred meters away!

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"I did nothing except for doing what was supposed to be done." Ketis replied as she resumed going forward. "Didn't I tell you about my trip to Mancroft Independent Harbor? I think someone with a wicked sense of humor deliberately prepared these faulty bots as a homage to what we experienced during that trip. Whenever you encounter a bot that is trying to clean your leg, just kick it. The further you can launch it, the better."

"That's vandalism!"

"Oh, Joshua. It's okay. This is Twilight City. No one cares about these cleaning bots."

"What if the kicked bots land on someone else?"

"I'm sure the people who are running this place have already thought about that." She said without much concern.

She proceeded to drag Joshua to various venues that had already gained fame throughout the Larkinson Clan.

They entered a small dingy arena where Larkinsons fought each other with their bare hands and fists. The sheer brutality of it was galling, but with modern healing technology, nearly every injury could be healed.

Of course, there were sufficient safety precautions in place to prevent brain injuries and other tricky afflictions.

After this little warm up, they visited a bar that was frequented and operated by Swordmaidens. Off-duty members of the mech legion as well as Heavensworders liked to frequent this bar whenever possible. Joshua was impressed with all of the swords hanging from the ceiling with their tips pointed downwards. The display was such a huge safety hazard that only the most courageous clansmen dared to visit this place!

Several hours later, the pair moved out of Twilight City and headed over to a different section of the Vivacious Wal. There, they changed into basic combat suits before heading deep into a jungle biome.

The moisture and sweat was making Joshua feel uncomfortable. His combat suit was nothing more than a padded garment that offered none of the climate control functions of smart clothing.

He looked down at the sword he held in his hands. It was a simple arming sword that Ketis had specially picked out for him. It was a scaled down version of the one-handed sword that his girlfriend had already designed for the Chimera Project.

"Ketis, I—"

"Shh!" She furiously raised her palm at him while steadily lowering her stance. "Our prey is close. The exobeast is just up ahead. Let's get closer but watch your footing."

They slowly waded closer, taking care not to step on any branches or disturb any of the dense foliage. However, before they reached a clearing, a large, plated exobeast the size of a cow charged straight in their direction!

"Dodge!"

Ketis reacted speedily enough and easily moved her body away. Joshua started off slower but his combat abilities were not for show. Though he rolled aside in a disgraceful manner, he quickly picked himself up only to see the large grey beast swerve around and charge towards his girlfriend!

"UUHHEEEEEEEE!"

"Hah!"

Ketis easily sidestepped while whacking the side of the tough beast's reptilian head with the flat of her blade. When the beast attempted to chomp her another time, she smacked the creature's head as if it was a naughty dog.

"Stop attacking me! I'm not your food! Attack him instead. Doesn't his flesh look juicy?"

Whether her persuasion worked or not, eventually the exobeast got frustrated at his continual failure to attack the human woman. The feral creature slowly turned towards Joshua and noted his smaller sword and his weaker aura.

Though the exobeast felt the human man might not be his enemy, his instincts and his hunger won out. The beast let out another alien cry before charging straight at the hapless-looking Joshua!

"UHHHHAAAAAAA!"

"Joshua! Stop standing like an idiot and defend yourself!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" He yelled as he tried to stay on his feet and avoid getting chomped or stampeded upon. "Aren't you going to help me out, here? My sword can't even get through this exobeast's armor!"

"That would defeat the point." Ketis smirked as she casually leaned her body against a tree. "You've been doing well in your swordsmanship training, though I wouldn't call you a swordsman per se. One of the areas that you need to work upon is your killing sense. All of the practice sessions that you've received merely allowed you to refine your techniques. You haven't actually applied them in a real fight, and that is what I want to remedy today. So have fun and remember my lessons!"

Joshua had an awful time trying to fend off this large and heavy creature. While he was an expert pilot who possessed superior fighting skills and instincts, the exobeast he was fighting possessed a much greater advantage in physical strength and endurance.

If the expert pilot was able to pilot a mech, then he could have relied on his machine's physical prowess to fight against opponents that were a hundred times stronger than this feral predator.

Unfortunately, his girlfriend threw him in a situation where he had no choice but to rely on his body to stay on top of this fight!

In the first few minutes, Joshua was losing a lot of energy as he spent most of his attention on evading the deadly creature's attacks. He occasionally managed to stab his sword at his adversary, but the organic plating that covered the reptilian beast always caused the blade to bounce away.

"I can't go on like this!"

His sword wasn't as sharp and strong as Bloodsinger. The only way for him to beat this creature was to target his vulnerabilities.

He did not think he would be able to attack the creature's eyes or open maw without getting injured in return, so he came up with a quick plan.

"Come her, you dumb beast!"

"UHHHAAAAAA!"

The seemingly inexhaustible beast charged straight towards Joshua and widened his teeth-filled maw to catch the annoying human only for his juicy target to move to the side.

Crack!

The exobeast collided straight against the trunk of a mid-sized tropical tree!

The force of the impact was so strong that the trunk had cracked. While the exobeast was trying to gather its wits, Joshua had darted to the creature's side and stabbed his blade through the thinner and almost unprotected hide at the underside.

Green blood poured through the wound as the exobeast thrashed! Joshua was able to pull back his weapon and raise it into a block just before a meaty paw smacked into it, causing the expert pilot to get flung at least ten steps back!

"That hurt."

"This is no time to relax, Joshua. Did you really think that little pinprick did anything? Look at your prey."

Before their eyes, the exobeast let out a soft cry before the flow of blood stopped. The alien creature had healed the cut and looked twice as angry as before.

"KETIS!"

"The fight's not over yet, Joshua! Keep those legs moving! Outmaneuvering this beast is key to defeating it. Just stab it in its unprotected areas enough times and it will eventually fall."

"My legs will fall apart before that happens! I never fought a scrap like this without my mech!"

"There's always first time!"