Jonathan grit his teeth and stood, holding his ground as the grit pattered off of his mech’s armor and obscured his vision. He held his blade out in front of him in a guard position, ready to intercept any attack coming out of the cloud of dust in front of him.

When the dust cleared he found himself facing off against Chad’s mech, now standing upright and with his own beam saber held in textbook form. Jonathan could see the rents he had put in the armor, the areas where Chad’s shield was weak, but for all of that he still looked game to go another round.

Jonathan held back a sigh. He’d had a quick and relatively easy victory in his grasp. A single moment of hesitation had let it slip away.

From what he’d seen so far he had the upper hand in the fight against Chad, but he still had to take the fight seriously. The two of them were both military cadets. They’d volunteered to go through the painful training required to stand on the front line and defend the Orion Star Kingdom. There was no reason to feel bad just because he happened to be the one inflicting the pain.

Jonathan’s grip on his beam saber firmed up. He couldn't afford to let any more chances slip away.

He'd already lost his opportunity to roll forward and simply flatten his opponent. His efforts to knock Chad off balance, to end the fight before it truly began, those were all in the past. If he was going to win, now, he was just going to have to be the better fighter.

He began with a quick, testing series of jabs. Chad reacted much as the computer controlled mechs had, deflecting the strikes according to what must be some kind of standardized form. Jonathan had never had formal training with the blade. His own style tended to be more wild and improvisational. No doubt it had its flaws, but it also seemed to throw people off balance.

While Chad was able to ward off Jonathan’s attack, his movements were sluggish and hesitant compared to what the computer controlled mechs could do. He must have still been shaken up by his near brush with disaster. He focused almost exclusively on defense, making no attempt to counterattack.

Jonathan was left with a problem. While he kept the pressure up, there was no sign that Chad was about to make any sort of disastrous mistake. He couldn’t win with defense alone, but he could survive. And the longer the fight went on, the more chances he would have to get lucky.

Jonathan pressed the attack, but Chad was able to ward off his redoubled flurry of blows. If he wanted to break through, he was going to have to take a risk. Or try something tricky.

His last strike rebounded off of Chad’s block. He took a step back and used the moment of breathing room to toggle through his mech’s interface and activate his missile launcher.

Ordinary missiles could barely scratch the paint on an active mech. The missiles carried a fixed payload and didn’t benefit from the mech’s spiritual energy. That wasn’t to say that they were useless. For one thing, mechs weren’t always fighting other mechs. For another, missiles had utility that went beyond raw destructive power.

Jonathan launched a decoy missile. Ordinarily it would gain some distance from him before detonating, briefly imitating the sensor profile of a mech in motion. From point blank range it exploded almost immediately, releasing a dazzling array of flashing drones. Close up, they didn’t resemble a mech at all. They did, however, make for a wonderful distraction.

Chad brought his arms up, instinctively slashing at the bright lights assailing his position. Jonathan darted forward. When Chad’s strike hit nothing but air, it left his mech wide open. This time, Jonathan didn’t hesitate. He shoved the plasma blade straight forward, plunging through the shield with hardly any resistance and skewering Chad’s pilot cockpit.

The simulation around him froze and faded away. A system message notified Jonathan that he was the winner of the duel, and half a million merit points would be credited to his account. He dismissed it as the blank surroundings were gradually replaced by a small amphitheater.

Jonathan found himself standing on a stage. A buzz of conversation gradually became audible as the room faded into view. Instructor Brindley was standing next to him, while Chad was on the far side of the teacher. The seats in front of him were filled with his fellow students. Jonathan was still taking stock of his surroundings when he was caught off guard with a wave of applause from the crowd.

“Very good, a very good showing for our first duel,” Instructor Brindley said. “I expect great things from the both of you.”

Jonathan looked at him blankly, still a little off balance from being yanked out of his mech so suddenly. At some point during the fight he’d forgotten that he was performing for the benefit of the audience. It seemed he'd impressed the crowd, at least.

"Your homework for tomorrow will be to analyze the fight," Instructor Brindley continued, raising his voice to address the class. He then made a show of checking the time displayed at the back of the virtual room. "I suppose there's no harm ending class early. You all have ten minutes before this area will shut down."

With that, he vanished from the virtual world in a shimmer. Jonathan made his way to the edge of the stage. He wanted to hear from Philip just how everything had appeared from a third person perspective. Later, he'd have to review the recordings with Instructor Brindley's commentary.

Chad caught up with him before he reached the edge of the stage, stopping his progress with a hand on his shoulder. Jonathan turned, ready for anything, and was surprised to be confronted with an outstretched hand. He reached out and gave Chad a quick handshake.

“Good fight,” Chad said.

Jonathan nodded. “Good fight.”

Chad had been nothing but an ass, but there was no reason to turn a schoolyard rivalry into an eternal grudge. Jonathan could be magnanimous in victory.

“I’ll get you next time,” Chad said.

“You’ll try,” Jonathan replied. He could only be so magnanimous.

There would be a next time. He had no doubt of that. The giant pile of merit points that he'd earned had secured his position on top of the class for the foreseeable, but Jonathan would still have to accept official challenges. Chad might not be able to threaten his ranking, but he'd still want to fight again for bragging rights, if nothing else.

It would have been too easy for Jonathan’s problems to all be resolved in a single battle. The Royal Academy was a competitive place. Even the students who had seen him win just now might want to try their luck, or might have thought they’d spotted some weakness or other.

Still, he’d started out on the right foot. At the very least, nobody would be looking at him as an easy source of merit points. Of course, that meant that the people who would be challenging him would be the strongest fighters in his year, but that was the occupational hazard of holding down the top spot. If Jonathan could keep his winning streak going, the challenges would die down after a while.

After all, nobody made it to the top by giving away points in unwinnable battles.

Jonathan shook his head and turned back to the edge of the stage. He didn't have to worry about Chad for now. He needed to focus on taking care of his own business, first in staying on top of his homework and second in getting off on the right foot in the virtual world.

He walked down the steps into the auditorium, heading towards where he remembered seeing his roommate earlier. As soon as he was off the stage, though, he found himself besieged by curious classmates. Jonathan was forced to stop by the crowd of people in front of him.

"How'd you move so fast?"

One of his classmates had taken his pause as an invitation to conversation. Jonathan gave him an irritated look. He remembered seeing this guy hanging around the edges of Chad's group. He didn't have any silver on his uniform to testify to his own skills. If he had a talent, it was that he was brazen in currying favor with those above him in the social hierarchy.

Jonathan shrugged. "Practice, I guess."

He didn't intend to hold grudges over petty issues, but he also wasn't particularly interested in making friends with someone who only started getting close to him once it looked like he was useful.

Jonathan was going to push through, but the ring of students around him was packed in tightly enough that he'd have to resort to real violence in order to clear a path. He thought about logging off, but that felt a little too much like running away. He could put up with enthusiastic admirers for a few more minutes.

"Have you thought about who's going to be on your battle team?" that same student asked, completely declining to read the mood.

Jonathan gave him a tight smile. "I'm partnering up with my roommate. Later on, I don't know."

Philip had been supportive of him even as the rumor mill had turned against him. He was also competent enough as a mech pilot. Jonathan didn't have any reason to partner up with anybody else for two man quests.

That said, there was no need to burn all of his bridges. He'd eventually need to form a six person team, after all. Most of the high ranking first year pilots were gathered in their class. If they decided to spend the next couple months competing for a spot on Jonathan's team, that was all to the good as far as he was concerned.

The knot of people around him loosened up once it became clear that Jonathan wasn't looking to add anybody to his team right away. They stepped aside as Jonathan made his way forward. It was nice, though he could still feel the admiring looks on his back as he walked away. Fortunately, he'd gotten plenty of practice ignoring his classmates' subtle disdain. It shouldn't take too long to adjust to ignoring their approval.

Philip, at least, was acting like he'd expected the result. He was waiting patiently in his seat, only greeting Jonathan with a nod as he approached.

"Nice work," he said.

"Thanks," Jonathan replied. "You ready to team up tomorrow?"

He wouldn't have seen the tension drain out of Philip's shoulders if he hadn't been watching him carefully. The broad grin on his face, though, was impossible to miss.

"Sounds like a plan."