A dark compartment lit by nothing but glowing devices and displays. Within, a single figure, a young man, was speaking to himself as he read the values of various instruments out loud.
"Energy generation from cores 1 to 4 is stable; The balancer script is working perfectly." His cold but calming voice echoed in the cramped space he was in. "Starting the first test: mobility."
*WHIRRR!* *BAM!*
Sounds of motors roared as the entire compartment shook.
A short thud echoed loudly, followed by another one, and another, repeating in a stable pattern. "The Doppel's error readings are all within acceptable levels. Initiating Stage Two Test: High Load Movements."
His fingers flew across the control panel, pressing several buttons before returning to grip the handles on either side in front of him. As he moved his hands, his legs also started pressing and releasing several pedals underneath the messy dashboard.
*WHAM!* *BAM!* *WHIIIIIIRRRRKKKK!*
However, as soon as the movements became intense, worrying sounds started coming out of the joints of the machine, specifically the knees and elbows. The young man didn't miss this, of course, and quickly pressed the big red emergency stop button in the middle of the panel. The four cores disconnected from the machine immediately, effectively turning it off.
"Damn it!" He cursed, slamming his balled fist against the innocent control panel. "Haaaa... It looks like I'll need to revise the joints once more."
The man stood up, pushing the roof of the cramped compartment and swinging it open.
Bright light filtered through the messy wires, revealing his short black hair sticking against his forehead, wet with sweat. Feeling irritated by the hair sticking to his face, he pushed them backward in a bundle before putting on a pair of black headphones to hold them down.
"Well, at least the emergency shutoff is working fine. That's better than last time, I guess."
He muttered to himself while jumping down from the cramped space, the cockpit, which was on top of the head of a giant humanoid robot.
Turning around, the young man examined the entire frame of his machine, the giant robot, more commonly known as Doppel. His machine was plain, with no color other than the default silvery finish of the metallic parts. It was still in the testing stage, after all, so painting such a huge frame of over fifteen meters wouldn't only waste his budget but would even eat up a lot of his time.
The machine before him was not only his future partner but also his ticket to graduation after all. Rather than wasting time and money on its appearance, he'd rather spend it all on increasing its performance.
"But from the results, I guess doubling the output of the cylinders for movement made it easier for the joints to fail," he muttered in retrospect as he stared at the red-hot elbow and knee, even the wrist and ankle, of the giant Doppel.
He had been working on this machine for half a year already, but it seemed like with every adjustment he made, more problems cropped up. "With my current progress, I'll be late by a full month for the presentation. I wonder when will I be able to install a proper cockpit…?"
The young man scratched his head, looking up at the wide stadium's overhead display and checking the time. On the large display in the middle, the time was shown as 11:55, which was already high noon. He decided to postpone the modifications and have his lunch for now.
The man flicked his wrist, pressing a button on his wristwatch-like implement. As soon as he did, the giant Doppel stood up and started walking by itself toward the hangar bay at the other end of the stadium.
After seeing it walk halfway through, the man turned around and headed for the exit of the stadium, planning to go straight to the cafeteria.
As he walked down the busy pathways, the other students he came across stared at him with judging eyes. Some were even pointing fingers at him while giggling and whispering something to their peers. He was used to it already, so such matters were nothing to him anymore.
"Hey, Quinlan! Still working on that garbage robot of yours?"
Just as he was about to leave the pathway, entering the open field separating the stadium and cafeteria, an irritating voice, as if making fun of him, reached his ears.
"I told you, with how little your budget is, you can't do anything worthwhile!" The man scoffed, almost laughing.
The young man, Quinlan, simply glanced at the other man, a boy with short blonde hair and a confident, cheeky smile. Seeing the familiar face, which he honestly didn't want to see, Quinlan sighed... and walked straight to the cafeteria.
"Hey, you weed! How dare you ignore me?!" The blonde guy shouted, gesturing to his "friends" to block Quinlan's path.
Seeing that he could neither proceed onward nor take a step back, Quinlan turned to face the blonde and frowned, exasperated. "What else do you want, Benno? I already accepted your challenge, limiting my budget to a mere 1 million G even though I'm allowed to use up to 50 million. I'm even working alone. Don't tell me you're still afraid of losing to me with such an advantage?"
"You...!"
The blonde man, Benno, flared up in anger, sending a hook to Quinlan's cheek. Quinlan didn't dodge, because if he did, then more of his time would be wasted.
His head flicked to the side as the taste of iron filled his mouth. His poor headphones flew to God knows where clanking as they landed on the paved ground. Benno didn't stop with that and even sent a kick to his stomach, pushing Quinlan a few steps back.
Quinlan's face was indifferent as he stood straight up, not even considering fighting back against what Benno did, merely saying, "*Spit* Are you done? Can I leave now?"
His words, however, added even more fuel to the blonde man's burning rage.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Benno roared, pulling the training pistol from its holster and aiming it at Quinlan's forehead.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, an angry voice echoed from behind their group.
"Benno! What are you doing?!"
An ephemeral green-eyed beauty appeared, sporting her brown hair tied in a ponytail. Her body, covered in a tight purple suit of the same design as the gray one that Quinlan was wearing, was a sight that would make any sane man drool.
Benno, noticing the girl, clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. "You're lucky your owner came. Next time won't be the same."
Quinlan pushed the gun away from his forehead, sighing deeply. "I've heard that countless times already, and I'm still standing now, aren't I?"
"...!"
The urge to punch him once more lingered inside Benno's mind, but thinking of the consequences of doing it before the beauty who was approaching them, he decided to simply grit his teeth and walk away. Quinlan sighed again, muttering to himself.
"Today's really been an unlucky one for me..."