Highs Like K2, Lows Like the East Sea
Highs as lofty as the world’s second-tallest peak, K2. Lows as deep as the modest ocean called the East Sea. “We’ve got five robots sitting at three wins and one loss… so one of them has to drop.”
V-Killer, Changgong X, TJ9X, Peblas, and Scary. Four robots have finished with a 3-1 record, creating a five-way tie.
One of these five will not advance to the tournament.
Therefore, tiebreaker metrics will be compared and one robot will be eliminated.
First, the highest-priority metric: head-to-head records.
Checking head-to-head records. None of the five robots have faced each other.
No head-to-head data. Next, active wins—KO victories plus ring-outs.
Checking active wins. V-Killer has three. The other four each have two.
V-Killer advances to the quarterfinals first.
(Oh yeah!!! I’m in!)
A peak as high as K2. The tiebreaker had worked overwhelmingly in its favor. With V-Killer through, the next metric was KO wins.
Checking KO wins. All five robots are tied at two each.
Now checking average match duration.
Scary: 1 minute 22 seconds. Changgong X: 1 minute 34 seconds. Peblas: 1 minute 42 seconds. They advance to the quarterfinals.
TJ9X: 2 minutes 11 seconds. Eliminated.
“First tournament appearance in the 110 kg class and I’m already in the bracket—kyaaaaah!!”
(There goes the pterodactyl scream again…)
Moon Naru cheered, letting out another pterodactyl shriek in her excitement.
The quarterfinal bracket draw will now begin.
Starting with the 1-seeds: Hapagonis, Fake Poison, Taipanteon, Grimadae!
Now the 2-seeds: V-Killer, Changgong X, Scary, Peblas!
(Hapagonis…? That’s an extremely bad matchup… what do I do…?)
Bracket placement: 3, 4, 1, 2!
(Looking at it like this… maybe it’s not so bad after all…?)
The quarterfinal bracket was set:
Match 1 – Taipanteon vs Scary
Match 2 – Grimadae vs Peblas
Match 3 – Hapagonis vs V-Killer
Match 4 – Fake Poison vs Changgong X
All four quarterfinal matches would be held on August 16th.
“Time to head home… agh, the vaccine…”
Even a weakened flu vaccine still contained actual pathogens.
“I need to shower today. Wait a second… kyaaaaah!”
From the bathroom came another embarrassed pterodactyl scream.
“Don’t think weird thoughts… this is my body!!!”
A sight Moon Naru had never once needed to look at in her entire life. Now, because it was her own body, she was forced to confront it.
“Ugh… it’s my body, it’s my body…”
Face burning crimson, she finished washing and stepped out.
“Showering is so embarrassing now…”
She flopped straight onto her bed.
(Hapagonis, New Zealand’s second pride… how am I supposed to beat that?)
The next day, Moon Naru went to school as usual. Even in the boys’ uniform, her appearance drew stares.
“Was there a girl that pretty at our school?”
“Hey, you’re Moon Naru, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You… ever thought about becoming an idol?”
“What?”
“Even in a boys’ uniform you look better than most idols.”
After enduring the boys’ overwhelming attention all seven periods, she headed home.
“Whew, that sucked the life out of me… time to go fight in the quarterfinals.”
She packed V-Killer, half-disassembled, into a box and left for the arena.
(Hapagonis… the matchup is really bad. What do I do?)
Hapagonis, New Zealand’s second pride, was a robot drawing serious attention. Its basic shape was common enough: a sloped front with a spinning weapon mounted on top. Short, thick vertical spinner blades—commonly called a “wedge vertical spinner.” On top of that, it used four-wheel drive. Robots of this type were called “4WD verticals.” They were extremely strong against horizontal spinners like V-Killer.
Quarterfinal Match 3. Hapagonis vs V-Killer. The match began.
(Can’t go head-on… side or rear only!)
Hapagonis could swap the wedge on its front.
1. Fork wedge for getting under opponents: its usual choice.
2. Large-area sloped armor: anti-horizontal-spinner configuration.
└ It had come out with the latter today.
Head-on collisions with that armor sent opponents flying 99 times out of 100, like taking an uppercut.
(It’s accelerated—now!)
V-Killer slammed into Hapagonis’s rear like a home-run swing. At the same time, the upright mechanism was ripped out along with its drive motor.
It had been installed as a self-righting tool. Like a shallow-rooted, tall tree, it couldn’t withstand a truly powerful blow.
(It’s a horizontal spinner, so I can’t finish it by flipping it over.)
(Still, every hit counts toward the judges’ score!)
KOing it would be difficult, but the damage would help on points.
Yet Hapagonis fought back, wedging under V-Killer and prying at it like scraping gum off the floor. V-Killer’s higher ground clearance made it easy to get underneath. However…
(This one doesn’t have the sloped armor!)
A devastating counterattack reminiscent of a game skill that reflected double damage. V-Killer tore off Hapagonis’s blade support and ripped the blade itself free in one go.
(Now how are you going to win?)
The most critical component had to be built tough. Even so, V-Killer’s blade had been far too strong.
(Now for the KO count!)
With Hapagonis completely immobilized, the ten-count began.
“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Hapagonis KO! V-Killer wins!”
A dominant KO victory in just 0:37. Against a 4WD vertical—the worst possible matchup.
“Ah, that felt great~! Quarterfinal opponent is… Changgong X? Nothing I can’t handle!”
Changgong X was the same wedge-vertical-spinner type as Hapagonis.
“Let’s take a victory photo and head home!”
Back home, Moon Naru inspected V-Killer. The victory had been so overwhelming that only minor damage remained.
“Time to sleep… Changgong X? I can definitely beat that.”
After a quick maintenance session, she went to bed.
The next day, the victory photo she posted on SNS exploded with comments. Most were about how pretty she was; some even suggested she audition as an idol trainee.
“So this is how Cheong-bi felt…?”
“School today… it’s the anniversary, so we’re off?”
Conveniently, it was the school’s founding anniversary. Last night’s maintenance had been enough. Before heading to the arena, Moon Naru replied to comments on SNS. Becoming a beautiful girl had dramatically increased the attention she received—she could feel it in every inch of her body.
“Time to head out for the semifinals!”
Thanks to yesterday’s clean win, fatigue had barely accumulated. Two hours of maintenance before bed had taken care of everything.
(The matchup is bad, but I don’t think I’ll lose, right?)
Having cleanly defeated Hapagonis had made her confident. She had crushed a 4WD vertical? Even with an overwhelmingly unfavorable matchup? Changgong X was the same type. So she believed she had a real chance.
Semifinal Match 2. Changgong X vs V-Killer.
(Uh-oh…?)
The moment the match started, Changgong X demonstrated the power of its vertical spinner. It launched V-Killer like a rock from a catapult.
(That wasn’t supposed to happen…?)
V-Killer tumbled through the air and landed in front of the arena fence. Fortunately, it landed right-side up. Even if it had flipped, it could have driven into the wall to right itself.
(Aim for the axle again— no!!!)
V-Killer tried to target Changgong X’s blade axle, but took a perfect uppercut instead. It flew a short distance, like a water rocket, and landed squarely in the out-of-bounds zone. The ten-count for ring-out began.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
V-Killer ring-out loss. Changgong X wins.
Match time: 0:35. Even against a strong counter-matchup, the result had been completely one-sided. A peak as high as K2, a low as deep as the East Sea. In the space of a single day, V-Killer showed both faces and was eliminated in the semifinals.
“I should post a photo on SNS…”
Moon Naru had barely touched social media in her life. Now that she was a beautiful girl, she was using it actively.
“There’s no third-place match here, so I can rest for a bit.”
The top four from the regional tournament advanced to nationals. First and second place received seeding advantages. Third and fourth did not, so they were simply ranked by final placement.
“My ranking… I’m third, Scary’s fourth.”
V-Killer was a style with large swings in performance. Highs like K2, lows like the East Sea. Its victory metrics had been strong enough to secure third place.
“Cheong-bi’s Scary is more stable than mine.”
Lee Cheong-bi’s Scary, by contrast, was the type that produced highs like Mount Fuji, lows like the South Sea. Far steadier than V-Killer. Not that it had no variance, but its peaks weren’t explosively high either.
“If you’re stable, your victory metrics can end up lower.”
That was why its metrics had been slightly lower, landing it in fourth. In long matches the two wouldn’t differ much. Which one performed better in short matches was something they would have to judge for themselves.
“Cheong-bi, you got knocked out too, right?”
“We both made nationals with the same seed anyway! Let’s rest up until then!”
Back home, Moon Naru didn’t feel like showering and having to confront “that sight” again.
(I don’t want to shower again… guess I’ll design a new weapon.)
There were two ways to improve something:
1. Strengthen its strengths.
2. Compensate for its weaknesses.
Research had proven that option one was more effective. Of course, if the weakness was fatal, option two had to be pursued as well. Moon Naru decided to build weapons for both approaches.