I do not remember much about the trip back to the Red Dragon base. Apart from being beaten up early on, it took everything I had to stop myself from grinning widely like an idiot.

I was cuffed, gagged, blindfolded and dumped unceremoniously into a vehicle of somesort. I could smell other people near me and the distinct acrid smell of the tobacco that I had smelled earlier on the gang members who had handled me so roughly.

I sat up and bowed my head, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Apparently I failed miserably.

“Stinkin’ b*****d.” Snarled a gang member as he landed a kick on my stomach.

“Ooof!” I grunted in shock. I did not see that coming.

Literally.

And figuratively.

“You ruined my day off! A*****e!” He landed another vicious kick on my body.

“Enough.” A soft voice commanded.

The fact that I was left alone for the rest of the trip bore testimony to the clout that the owner of the voice wielded in this particular squad. I took a note of that voice and bookmarked it somewhere in my brain.

Thereafter, I spent a relatively peaceful few minutes in the vehicle.

Peaceful, and incredibly exciting.

The resonance I felt with the helicopter wreckage was back, and it was back at full force. I could sense with extreme clarity the number of vehicles in the convoy as well as other sophisticated machines within them.

Three Armored Transport Vehicles including the one I am in. And a high-grade transforming automobile that could turn into a mecha!

I also knew for certain that if I but willed it, these four vehicles would immediately turn into particles and be absorbed completely by me. I could easily turn into the mecha and make good my escape.

But I didn’t, because well, I was a smart boy.

Okay fine, a greedy boy.

I knew there would be more machinery and mechas in the Red Dragon base, and I certainly was not going to miss the chance to enter the base and get close to all those delicious ‘food’.

Sorry Amelia. If you’re reading this, that was me. The first of many, if I might add.

But I’m not THAT sorry because you deserved it. You’re not a very nice lady at your tender age of fifty now, and you certainly were not any better when you were thirty five.

Although, I have to add that out of the people I’ve stolen multiple times from, you certainly were the most generous. And this first incident was a fine example of your generosity.

It truly set the path for my rise to glory.

I immediately knew the second we entered the Red Dragon base because I could feel a powerful surge of resonance that was unlike anything I’ve felt before. It was so strong and it drew my interest and desire so much that it felt like hunger pangs.

It was the presence of a powerful mecha somewhere beneath me. I shivered slightly as I ‘beheld’ it in my mind.

At a hundred meters tall, it would dwarf everything in the vicinity if it ever left its storage area. But its size was not the reason for sparking the strong desire within me. The main reason was its mecha core.

Oh yes, that mecha core.

It was a beautiful white mecha core. So rare and so valuable. Amelia must have either robbed a Universe grade trader to get the money to buy one from the blackmarket, or robbed a dying white mecha pilot that crash landed nearby.

The other alternative was to rob a military convoy, and as impressive as it was, the Red Dragon gang was merely that, a junkyard gang. There was no way it could go against a military convoy with a white mecha in it. It would be like an ant trying to rob a labrador.

No bloody way.

Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible to see a white mecha on this side of the world.

But there it was. And it was incredible.

It’s really difficult to explain just how incredible a white mecha is. I guess I have to start at the beginning.

You see, after USAA weaponized the technology that revolutionized everything, the age of mechas dawned upon humanity. Human controlled mechas quickly dominated the battles that took place.

Nothing could beat the firepower and flexibility that human beings could produce with coordinated attacks made by squads, platoons, companies or even battalions of mechas.

It was the perfect weapons platform.

Where previously, hundreds of men were needed to maintain and operate a weapons platform capable of levelling a small town such as a battlecruiser, now just a single pilot in a mecha could do it.

A pair of mechas could lay waste to an entire tank company. If manned by capable pilots, flight capable ones could even go head to head with a squadron of the air force’s best fighters.

Imagine a thousand such mechas marching towards you. You may be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of other men with sophisticated technology such as tanks, artillery and even the airforce.

Trust me, you’d still be shaking in your boots.

And because of that, within a century, the armies of the world were almost exclusively mecha.

At first, the trend was to build human-sized mechas that packed a tremendous punch. They were extremely flexible and agile, and the militaries of the world loved them.

However, these human-sized mechas were quickly overpowered by larger ones who were able to install stronger weapons systems and deliver more ‘punch’. Soon, the trend went back to creating large, oversized mechas to complement the shortcomings of the smaller mechas.

These large oversized mechas were installed with ridiculous amounts of firepower. They became so powerful that they were classified as ‘Nuclear Grade’ and were subject to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT).

Only the biggest powers could own them.

And so, what began as a ballroom dance of mecha innovation devolved into a couple dance between the USAA and The European Empire.

They banned the development, production and deployment of mechas above a certain grade which was determined by the core of the mecha.

Only the two superpowers were allowed to develop, produce and deploy gold mechas.

The rest of the world would only be allowed to build the blue mechas. For a select few allies of the two superpowers, they were allowed to build the higher-grade white mechas, and only in very limited amounts.

These white mechas were a symbol of penultimate power.

And not only were they powerful symbols, they also had something that made them extremely powerful and special, unique powers that were not found in the blue mechas.

White mechas are able to trigger their cores and release a minor nuclear explosion, one that would be strong enough to obliterate everything in a square kilometer. Excluding themselves, of course. They were built to resist that minor explosion.

Now you understand why I was so ecstatic in finding a white mecha in Amelia’s base. Upon consuming it, I would gain the power equal to any nation in the world not called USAA and The European Empire.

I studied the white mecha with my senses for a few seconds more and somehow I knew that I wouldn’t be able to ‘eat’ it in one go. It was way too big and way too powerful.

“Interesting” I thought to myself.

I still had no idea how my ‘devouring’ ability worked, and I was very eager to find out. But I guess that white mecha could wait.

Because, to my great delight, I could sense a few blue mechas in the vicinity too.

Ten, to be exact.

I’ll start with you guys! I thought happily to myself.