Strategy

"So, big bro, where are we going tonight?"

I swear to God that I never took a bigger scare in my life!

My body reacted instinctively, making my legs press the break with all it's might while my hands turned the wheels of the truck making it drift before stopping while blocking both lanes of the road. Maybe my only luck is that there were no opposite cars coming on the other lane or else I had no doubt we would have collided with it.

While I was taking a few seconds to recover myself, the owner of the car behind me stopped by my side and asked if I was okay.

Feeling quite embarrassed, I opened the window and made a thumbs up to him, taking advantage of the truck's height to hide my face, then I turned the wheels again and went back the road as if nothing had happened.

(Damn! What is she doing here!? Did she hear the talk I had with Robert at the park!? Should I take her back? Forget it, I'm almost late and if I go back now it will create even more troubles to me.)

"Hey May, are you okay?"

My turn had thrown May to the opposite door. Luckily we were relatively slow so she should not have hurt herself too much. That's what happened when you ride a car without putting on the seat belt, so she can only blame herself for her current pain.

"My head hurts and I cut my arm..."

"That's your fault for scaring me. Now, let me see."

Turning on the light, I saw a little cut akin to a scratch.

"Oh no! May, I think it will turn into a scar!"

"Eh!? No way!"

"Look! It's bleeding so much! It seems like I will have to take you to the hospital!"

"The hospital!? Is it so bad!?"

"Of course! See?"

I got my cellphone from my pocket and with a single hand put it in the camera's selfy mode giving it to her.

As she looked at her own scared face in the cellphone I spoke in a loud voice "Cheese!!!" making the cellphone take her picture with a blinding flash light.

"Kyaaahh!!!"

The cellphone was in her hand, it was not even protected, if she just took her time to find the right option she could easily delete the photo, but because of she was flustered she ended up locking the cellphone again.

"Big bro, you idiot! Delete it right now!!!"

Using her little hand, she started hitting my shoulder as revenge. Unfortunately for her, her strength was not enough to deal any lasting damage to me, so I regretted nothing at all, even more when considering the scare she just gave me that almost stopped my heart.

As we wasted time in our sibling's interaction, the truck finally arrived at the school surroundings.

"May, stay quiet for a second, we will be arriving soon."

"Hmm..."

The guard that should be guarding the area was nowhere to be seen. I guessed it was Robert's fault, but this made things easier for me.

At this time I started reviewing my plan inside my head.

In simple words my plan was just to let him beat me up while protecting the key parts so that I would have an easier time repairing it in the coming week before the fair, that meant I had to do my best to assure a visual destruction while retaining most of it's functionalities.

What about winning? Impossible. Even if it was possible, I doubt the price I had to pay would be light enough for me to repair in a week, and even if it was, the lash out from Robert would make me regret this later. I don't want to be the next one send to prison on false charges so an easy defeat is be the best result I can aim for.

Of course my plan had many problems, most related to Robert himself.

First of all I didn't know his skill level. Logically speaking he shouldn't be too skilled, after all he spends most of the time playing around and bullying those lower than him instead of trying to improve himself, so no matter how much of a genius he could be, his skills should still be limited. So I could only pray I'm right because I'm also no expert and while I did some training, I have no experience in combat as well.

Second thing, I had to consider was his mood. If his mood was bad, maybe he wouldn't stop destroying my Titan even after winning the match. To avoid such scenario all I could do is put up some fight, enough to make him feel challenged but not enough for him to feel frustrated. Sounds great on paper, but honestly I think it will be a true headache to do it while keeping the damages low.

Third and last thing was his Titan. While I have no idea which model he uses, I am sure a rich guy like him will have nothing but one of latest Titans in the market. This means I will be in complete disadvantage when comparing machines, but I will try to use this to my advantage, exploiting his pride to make him seal some key functionalities with an excuse of making things even.

"Fuck my life, I want a cheat as well!"

"Did you say something Big Bro?"

"No, nothing, not at all..."

Arriving at school, I saw Robert, Theodore and a bunch of girls in front of a high-tech Titan transport truck. His Titan had already been unloaded and was now standing proudly as if looking down on my approaching truck.

(Will I really be able to survive this??)

His Titan was the newest current gen Titan, Black Beetle, armed with twin rifles in both arms, a horn on it's head and thrusters on it's back that allowed it a fast charge forward or long jumps.

Looking at the shinny Titan in front of me I couldn't help but curse my luck again.

(As if dodging one rifle was not hard enough! This fucking bastard is equipped with two of them at the same time!)

"Wow, Big bro! Look! Such a cool Titan!!! It's even cooler than yours!!!"

(Whose side are you on? I want to cry....)

"May, big bro will have a match against that Titan over there. Because it may be dangerous, stay inside the truck as you watch, okay?"

"Eh!?"

"Now promise you will not get out no matter what happen."

"..."

"May?"

"Okay... I promise."

"Good girl!"

After petting her head one last time I got out of the truck and locked the door. It would be useless if she wanted to exit, since she could unlock it from inside, but at least it would prevent any odd person from approaching her without me noticing, because the alarm will trigger the moment the door is opened.

"Hey loser! You are late! Hurry up and get your toy ready!"

I could simply nod to Robert's words and resign myself to my fate, but if I were to do this, my Titan would be trashed and any hopes of participating the fair would be gone, so if I wanted to create a little chance to escape this future, the moment was now.

"Hey Robert. Don't you think this game is too easy? Look at your Titan, a current gen armed with the best the market can offer, while mine is a simple handmade Titan that has a worse performance than even the trashier last gens. This match will end so fast that you'll not even have time to show off your skills."

"Hooo~~ The match didn't even start and you are already crying!? Just tell me what you want."

(Good! His mood is good. Maybe we can do this!)

"Please turn off the auto aiming system of your Titan, leave it with only the manual aim."

"Are you crazy!? Why the hell should I do that!?"

"This way you can show off your marksmanship skills to your girls, and the match should last a bit longer. Or are you going to tell me you can't win against trash like me without your auto aim?"

"Right! Against a trash Titan like you, using auto aiming is really overkill! Since you are begging this much I will let you have a taste of my marksmanship skills. Now stop wasting time and get yourself ready!"

(Perfect! He bit the bait! This should raise my chances if only by a little bit!)

Trying to control the grin on my face I quickly turned around and started to unload my Titan.

Fifteen minutes later, two titans were facing each other in the school's sport field.