Princess Bang-Gwi, Chuhan Jwi, and Marquis Mehhnk reached the mech hangar and saw a group of Hegemony pilots and soldiers standing around looking up into one of the gantries while talking excitedly amongst themselves.
"What are they looking at?" The Princess whispered to the Marquis.
"Your mech… it is a thing of beauty!" the Marquis said with envy.
The Princess got excited from this thinking it had to be amazing if all of the other pilots and soldiers were looking at it so much.
Unfortunately as the mech came in to view both the Princess and Chuhan Jwi gasped and blinked a few times to make sure they were actually seeing what they were seeing.
The mech stood tall and proud amongst other mechs as it was approximately one meter taller than the standard military mech. The armor plating was applied liberally and was given enough details etched out on it to make it look like a suit of armor including a helmet. The shoulders were given armor that was molded to make it look like the head of a phoenix looking to the sides, and the feet were even given boots with golden wing decorations on it. As for weapons, per the Princess's request, all guns were removed, but it was bristling with missile launchers and probably had even more weapon hidden inside of it. The mech was painted white and the armor accents were all given a shiny gold finish making it appear like a shiny golden knight, a truly gaudy look for a mech. To top it all off, the wrists each had a large clear gem of sorts on them and a large gem on the chest.
"Why… why so much gold?" asked the princess, when she noticed the missile launchers she got very angry and added "HEY! I said no weapons!"
"No, you said no guns yesterday, and as you requested this mech does not contain a single gun, but it does contain our latest in anti-mech missile weaponry, anti-laser defenses, reactive armor plating, electric whip, and a prototype high energy nuclear reactor." The Marquis said with envy once again.
"You… son of a…" The Princess stamped her feet in frustration, but realized that she did indeed say 'no guns' when she should've said 'no weapons'. "UHGGGG" the Princess finally vented.
While the Princess was venting, Chuhan Jwi asked the Marquis with concern "Doesn't this mech stand out a little too much, won't she be the target of everything seeing as how this mech stands out so much compared to the others?"
"Oh, you're right, and I tried to talk the Queen out of it. We ended up settling on that we can change the color after the last parade. Unfortunately the gold plating is actually a new type of armor so we can only put a layer of paint on it that can be scratched off like any other paint. The natural color of the white painted parts is the standard dark gray so no worries about paint getting destroyed there."
The Princess finally blurted out "Can we at least not make it as shiny?"
After the crowd dispersed around the Princess's mech, the technicians were able to apply an anti-glare coat to reduce how shiny it was. The Princess was satisfied with this and then said to the Marquis "Ok, what now?"
"Now we teach you to use it and train you like everyone else. Prepare to get dirty as it rained recently so our training field is quite muddy!" The Marquis said with a grin.
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The Princess and Chuhan Jwi followed the Marquis out to the training field, already many other pilots and soldiers were mingling around. As soon as they saw the Marquis they immediately lined up in orderly rows and stood at attention as the Marquis came up in front of them.
"Soldiers! Attention!" the Marquis barked loudly.
A unified reply came from all of the soldiers present at the same time. "Sir! Good morning, sir!"
"At ease! Today we have a late comer, I'm sure all of you know who she is." The Marquis gestured towards the Princess.
The Princess started to say "Hello Ever…"
The Marquis quickly interrupted and yelled "Did I give you permission to speak soldier?" while glaring at the Princess. "You may be above even nobility, but out here everyone is the same under my command, now form rank with everyone else!"
The Princess's face flushed red with embarrassment and she looked around at the neatly arranged rows of everyone else and hurriedly joined in an empty spot at the back.
Chuhan Jwi glared at the Marquis and whispered to him "We will talk about this later." then stood behind the Marquis trying to keep sight of the Princess.
"Everyone partner up and stretch! We start the obstacle course in 30 minutes!" The Marquis said then walked off towards the start of an obstacle course.
As soon as the Marquis left, the soldiers and pilots were quiet momentarily and then flocked around the Princess.
"Princess! Pick me!"
"No! Let me!"
"I give free back rubs!"
"Get away pervert!"
The Princess breathed a sigh of relief and started laughing at the sight of this. She was happy that everyone seemed so normal compared to the rigidity they had shown earlier. The Princess picked a random girl just because she seemed like they were of similar age. The Princess never had any friends close to her age as her mother, the Queen, sheltered her most of her life. If it wasn't for Chuhan Jwi, Princess Bang-gwi might not have ever been able to leave the palace without a guard… that and Jwi's Taekwondo skills could be considered masterful.
"My name is Xiǎng Pigu! Princess Bang-gwi, it is an honor to meet you in person!"
Xiǎng Pigu was of Chinese descent and appeared to be about the same age as Princess Bang-gwi. She kept her black hair short and had a rounded face with dimples whenever she smiled. The Princess thought she was adorable since she was barely 1 and a quarter meters tall and was brimming with positive energy. The black military jumpsuit didn't suit her, but at the same time it added to the adorableness by being something she would probably never wear on her own.
The Princess smiled at her and said "Please, just call me Ban!" (Pronounced Bahn)
"That… that won't do! My Xiǎng family are merely commoners and it would be inappropriate!"
"The Marquis said we're all equals here, so treat me as an equal." The Princess said while smiling.
"Ok Princess… I mean… Ban… Then call me Pi or Pigu, whatever you like! We need to get warmed up, the obstacle course is merely basic training since most of us are fresh recruits."
Everyone spent about 20 minutes helping each other stretch and limber up, Princess Bang-gwi noticed a lot of the male soldiers were still stealing glances at her but it didn't faze her as she was used to it. What did slightly disturb the Princess is the ones that seemed to look at her in disdain.
"Pi… why are some of them looking at me in a bad way?" The Princess asked with concern.
"That's…" Xiǎng Pigu didn't answer any further than that causing the Princess to get even more concerned.
"What is it? Please tell me! I want to get along with everyone!"
"Well, some feel you are here just to play soldier and they consider it an insult to other soldiers." Xiǎng Pigu explained. "But don't worry, most of us, like myself, we were forced to join and consider you to be in the same situation as us."
"What?!? I'm… I'm not playing around!" The Princess said.
A large guy with a crew haircut and arms thicker than the Princess's thighs stomped up to Xiǎng Pigu and the Princess and said angrily "This is all a game to you royals and nobles! We would be better off if you just stayed in your palace!"
"How… DARE YOU!" the Princess, having a short temper like her mother, stood up and glared menacingly at the large man. "I dare you to say that again!"
"You heard me, 'Princess', this is just a game to you and the nobility." The man said while gritting his teeth. "Just go back and put on another concert, your last one had such a great finale!"
The Princess was seething with anger at this point. "You… what is your name?"
"Why? Planning on having my family become commoners? We already are!"
"No, I need to know which family to send condolences too for their loss!" The Princess lunged at the guy and threw an uppercut that caught him in the nose. He appeared unfazed despite the little bit of blood that was trickling down it. After receiving that uppercut, the man grabbed her wrist forcefully.
"Vincent Pierce, engrave it in your mind!" He then picked up the Princess by her wrist and tossed her down on the ground.
From behind him came a woman's voice "Hey, muscle brains!"
The last thing Vincent saw was the bottom of a foot as Chuhan Jwi had already started her Spinning Hook Kick, causing Vincent to get knocked off his feet and crash into the ground while foaming slightly at the mouth. After seeing Vincent was knocked out, Chuhan Jwi went to help the Princess up but she refused to let her and instead stood up on her own.
The Princess dusted off her uniform and said "Thank you, but I've already been coddled too long, I need to grow up and not live in this fantasy anymore…"
Chuhan Jwi watched the Princess walk away from her slowly while Xiǎng Pigu continued to try and cheer up the Princess as they headed to the obstacle course.
Chuhan Jwi thought with a sad expression on her face "I'm happy to see you grow up, but also a little sad, the day you no longer need me is approaching…"