A first-hand tour of Battle City's Golden Week

The Nuovo Luna café was rarely so busy in the mornings- on any other week, they’d be lucky to bring in more than three or four customers at a time. Astrid was usually one of them, starting most of her mornings by scrolling through Pitter over a nice, invigorating Warp Drive. Although this wasn’t exactly a routine morning, Astrid treated it like one, taking her usual spot on one of the bar seats. None of the other dozen or so customers had been daring enough to sit at one of the bar stools, leaving them as the only remaining option. If not for the fact that Astrid knew they were doubly-reinforced despite their simple look, she wouldn’t have been brave enough to try them, either.

They’d supported her enormous ass almost daily for the better part of a year now, though, so she was reasonably confident they’d survive. The seat was barely large enough to accommodate an average Inryoan, and Astrid was… not that. She was just a touch too wide-hipped to consider “average”, even before considering that she was punching in a higher weight class. Sure, the vast majority of that weight had accumulated in all the right places, but that meant that most of it wound up in her already immense rear end.

And yet, looking at the other girls in the café, she really wasn’t that far away from average. If you cherry-picked examples just right, you could make a seemingly convincing argument that Astrid was indeed pretty average by Inryoan standards. Hell, compared to the cafe’s operator and bartender, Astrid was downright small- that woman could block a hallway just by standing in it, her hips easily three times the span of her torso. It was that very same bartender who snapped Astrid out of her introspective self-argument, the familiar clink of a full glass against the countertop enough to make her refocus. There was no time for small-talk today, unfortunately- but that was as true for Astrid as it was for the bartender.

Astrid took a sip of her Warp Drive. The dark-purple drink had streaks of three different flavors of syrup, the white, yellow, and clear forming points and swirls all throughout and giving it a real spacey, galaxy-like look, and a much-needed layer of fruity sweetness over the more subdued, sour-ish base. It was a non-alcoholic take on a Hyperspace, a notoriously potent drink that took on a blue shade thanks to the high volume of Karmaline ****-substitute in it. Even without that, the Warp Drive was plenty powerful in its own way- Astrid drinking one every morning was as much a blatant show of confidence as anything. A few other café patrons had ordered similarly daring drinks- though it was unlikely they did so with the same regularity that Astrid did.

It was, after all, a special occasion- the extra freebie included with her drink was just another part of that. It was a small, plastic cube, modeled and painted to look like a metal crate. She retrieved four other similar cubes from her pocket along with her phone, and set about registering for this year’s Golden Week.

Golden Week was exactly what it sounded like- a seven-day celebration in Battle City in the form of a massive, all-encompassing game. To ensure that all players start on relatively equal footing, each started with the exact same digital mech and a selection of random, standard-grade parts. Collecting more parts was a critical part of the game, and while low-grade boxes could be obtained simply by ordering a drink, the rarer stuff took effort to find or fight over. A better mech meant a better chance to win, and collecting as many wins as possible was the point.

Collecting wins wasn’t just for status or a spot on the leaderboard, however.

Having to contend with a full bladder was a simple fact of life on Inryo, and Battle City was no exception. Normally, no matter the street, no matter the time of day, one couldn’t walk a block without running into at least one girl twisting her legs together, swaying and squirming. Of the dozen-and-a-half girls in the Nuovo Luna, at least a third should have been at least mildly squirmy, and no less than one should have been completely frantic for a restroom. Usually, half or more of the girls present would be at some level of noticeable desperation, something that held true for every café and bar across the whole city. And yet, everyone was as calm as could be.

That was due to the City’s other gift- a day of Amnesty for all, the day before Golden Week started. All restrooms open, no need for a Pass at all.

That kind of mercy was the stuff of unrealistic fantasy on Inryo, impossible outside of even the wildest fantasy or fairy tale. If not for Golden Week’s roots in ancient traditions and the nature of what would come next, Amnesty Day would probably have awoken some world-ending evil, angered the Goddess, or crashed the stock market or something. Maybe even all three at once. In the proper context, however, it was a necessary step.

Some of the girls in this very café probably wouldn’t be seeing the inside of a restroom again for the whole week, maybe longer if they didn’t have a Pass saved up.

Those that chose to work for Golden Week would be paid in triplicate for their four days of putting up with the rush, and granted a single Pass that could be used during the week. The vast majority that didn’t had only one option: win.

Win games, or suffer.

Maybe this really was a convoluted way to appease the Goddess after all.

-

Registering for Golden Week was a relatively simple process, done through the same app Astrid used for tournament tracking, signup, and such. As she’d participated in plenty of mid-level tournaments, there was nothing she needed to do to get her account up and running- all she had to do was pick her Assistant and start reading part data. An Assistant was just that- a low-level AI companion that would help their player navigate the city, make decisions about where to go, offer advice, and so on. Each had a different personality and preferences, however, so the choice was a little more than cosmetic. She could always just mute them if they turned out to be annoying… but Astrid always felt mildly bad about the idea.

Of the veritable rainbow of options, most seemed a bit too peppy and energetic, even if they wouldn’t try to tutorialize her based on her tournament data. She recognized most of them from previous years- the fiery, competitive red IGNI, the snarky but sharp-minded yellow CONTRA, even the ever-popular, borderline-fanatical orange DIVINE. Astrid had made the mistake of picking that particular AI a couple of years ago- never again. There were a couple of new options, however.

The silver PALLAS was described as a calm, resolute companion with solid tactical analysis but a low tolerance for risk, while the purple CURSE was depicted as a quiet navigator of sorts, always knowing the fastest path to get somewhere and what would be there on arrival, but having almost no battle data to draw on for advice. After a moment’s contemplation and another few sips of her drink, Astrid tapped on CURSE. As soon as she did, another figure appeared in a new holographic display.

“Uuu… If you’re really sure, then… I guess I can be your guide. Just don’t expect much help in battle, okay? Tap my icon and I can tell you how to get somewhere or what’s going on nearby. Other than that, um… you’re on your own.”

CURSE was, for lack of a better word, excessive. She was probably every bit the bartender’s match in terms of width and more than twice as thick as Astrid herself- and if the ratio of her waist to her hips wasn’t obscene enough, each of her breasts had to have been larger than her own head. It was as if whoever designed her was trying to make her as large as possible without completely disregarding reality. CURSE was, after all, an artificial avatar- she could have been a floating mote of light and it would have made no functional difference.

Still, it wasn’t a bad thing. Astrid certainly preferred the hands-off assistants, and her skillset was a theoretically useful one.

In any case, it was time to pull the metaphorical lever. Astrid placed the largest of her cubes down on top of her phone, the built-in scanner reading data from it. A holographic pop-out display appeared, showing a loading bar for a few seconds before displaying an image of a mech in a hangar. Below that, there was text reading “GLINT Acquired!”

This year’s starter machine was the Glint- a fairly standard bipedal model that straddled the line between light and midweight. It could handle heavier armor and gear and maintain good mobility at a lower top speed, or undercut its weight total and really zip its way across the field. This would naturally make heavyweight mechs less attainable early on, and put pilots used to heavier builds at a disadvantage until they could source enough parts or a new frame. Though Astrid had a wealth of experience across lots of different platforms, she definitely preferred them on the heavier side.

She’d just have to make do for now. It wasn’t like it took that long to build up a supply of parts, anyway.

The next three cubes were all for standard parts, equipment, and weapons- randomly-assigned starting places for a build, assigned from a small pool of options. There were probably only a couple dozen possibilities for each starter cube, just enough to ensure that there weren’t too many mirror matches early on. Astrid burned through them one-by-one, barely even looking past the flashing messages- she mostly knew them by memory, after all.

“IBIS LR Acquired! Amun LG-1 Acquired! Mule 3X Acquired!”

Astrid huffed, taking a long draw from her Warp Drive and letting the fruity, sweet-sour taste sink in. Her pulls weren’t the worst- a heavier rifle type weapon with high range and accuracy for the class, a heavier set of bipedal legs with particularly good armor, and a small, limited-ammo launcher that could do good damage if it hit. It was a lot better than pulling a melee weapon and a long-range gun, that was for sure. She took up the last cube- this one from the café itself. Unlike the last three that were plain white, this one had a military-green color to its panels, and a purple crescent moon emblem on the top. Most cafes and bars had these- common part boxes with a simplified logo on top. The contents weren’t any different than a normal box, but some people kept them as souvenirs.

Astrid probably had a handful of these kicking around her apartment, somewhere. She set it down on her phone like the rest, prompting another holographic display.

“ARX-S Frame Mod: Shock Stabilizers Acquired!”

That more or less settled the matter of her build. Astrid finished off her drink, the last gulp coming across as extra-sweet thanks to the heavier syrup collecting at the bottom of the glass. The frame modification she’d just gotten was one that helped stabilize the arms when firing weapons, with increased effect for two-handed or stationary weapons, at the expense of melee ability. The IBIS was already decently accurate, but the GLINT wasn’t the most stable- the mod would make it much easier to aim and stay on target, especially when paired with the heavier Amun legs. Those legs also afforded her the weight tolerance necessary to mount the Mule launcher, increasing her damage output. While they didn’t track that well, they did certainly hit hard, and missiles were a good way to control enemy movement in a pinch.

It certainly wasn’t the worst starting mech she’d ever had. Once she’d set all the parts on her digital mech, she tapped CURSE’s icon.

“Hey, CURSE. I think I want to try and win some higher-rarity parts before the end of the day. Know any good spots?”

CURSE sighed, barely trying to hide her annoyance at being bothered so early. “Yes, but also no. Right now all I have is very general information, stuff you probably already know. It would take me hours to explain exactly how I work, but the short of it is, I need you to travel around to be able to give you specifics. I can always tell you about stuff in close proximity, but that’s not the only way for me to gather information… and there’s nothing to tell you about in the area. I guess if you’re looking for parts, the closest place to here is Vendor Street. You could also try one of the Battle Subway lines… Oh, but if you want to catch an early tournament in Downtown tonight, I recommend going to Southside Plaza.

Astrid recognized two of those locations. Vendor Street was set up almost like a bazaar, with vending machines, games of chance, cube exchanges, raffles, and mini-arenas set up all along its length, with plenty of local bars getting in on the action. While chaotic, it was the place to get cubes… at least, if you had more luck than skill. Then again, going early wasn’t such a bad idea- even consolation prizes were worthwhile when your parts list was empty.

On the other hand, the Battle Subway was the crown jewel of Golden Week, and it was inevitable that she’d end up riding it at some point. Each different line had a different gimmick, and additional routes had opened up compared to the subway’s usual operation. Each line also had their own special boxes with parts you couldn’t get anywhere else. Under a good ruleset, it was possible to grind out enough wins for a Pass rather quickly- but that took a strong build and a good, thorough plan.

“Southside Plaza?”

“Yes. Think of it like the MEKK Industrial Park, but smaller. During Golden Week, it opens a number of holosseums. They offer a special tour to visitors for a single drink ticket- play once at each holosseum, get one cube of up to uncommon rarity at random, two if you win. Win at least three matches and you even get to spin for an additional two cubes. They only let you do it once, but it’s discounted on the first day of the week. Normally, they charge three tickets up front.”

“Southside isn’t that close. How do you know about that?”

“Enough players know about it for it to be considered general knowledge, I guess. It’s possible that they’ve changed something this year- I wouldn’t know about that, but as far as I can tell it’s been running the same way for six years straight now.”

Astrid supposed that was more than good enough- CURSE was already being plenty helpful, however unwilling and uncertain she seemed to be about it. Southside Plaza would be a great place to get parts and wins at the same time- though, Vendor Street had rarer and more numerous cubes in theory, and the Battle Subway had the potential for exclusive parts. There was also the tournament in Downtown- Astrid had always avoided bigger events in previous years, at least early on… but she usually didn’t start on such strong footing, either.