Capítulo 72: You Break It You Buy It!
Princess Bang-gwi screamed "Noooo!" just as Chuhan Jwi dumped her into the ice cold bath. When she pulled her head out from under the water she inhaled sharply and glared furiously at Chuhan Jwi.
"I HATE you, warn me next time!" Princess Bang-gwi said with chattering teeth.
Chuhan Jwi smiled at the Princess and said "What fun would that be?"
Shortly after the Princess's door was flung open wide and Xiǎng Pigu came rushing in followed by a few more soldiers. "Princess! Is everything alright!?!"
Xiǎng Pigu and the rest didn't see anyone in her room and heard splashing from the bathroom so they moved to the bathroom to find the Princess in the tub and Chuhan Jwi kneeling next to her.
"Princess!" Xiǎng Pigu exclaimed then her face flushed red as she saw that the Princess was naked and quickly turned away and pushed everyone else out, especially the males that were mixed into the group before they could see her.
"Pi! I'm sorry! Jwi dropped me into the tub without warning and the water was so cold I screamed!" The Princess said apologetically.
Xiǎng Pigu shooed everyone else out and then walked back into the bathroom with the Princess and Chuhan Jwi. "I'm sorry Princess… I mean… Ban. I thought maybe you were in trouble!"
The Princess laughed and said "It's ok, I'm actually glad to see everyone come in so quickly!"
Looking at the icy bath water, Xiǎng Pigu thought of something and asked "Are you sore from yesterday's training and drills?"
"Yes, Jwi is helping relieve the muscle ache…"
"Oh ok! Ban! I'll bring you some breakfast!" Xiǎng Pigu said with enthusiasm.
"Oh, that's fine! Jwi said she will get it, I do have something you can do for me though."
"Of course, what is it?"
The Princess motioned for Xiǎng Pigu to come closer and waited for her to get to the edge of the tub. Then the Princess beckoned her to get lower and then made a gesture like she wanted to whisper something to her. Xiǎng Pigu then bent over the tub and listened really close to the Princess while the Princess leaned to whisper in her ear.
"Join me…" The Princess grabbed Xiǎng Pigu and pulled her into the tub with her as Xiǎng Pigu flailed around splashing the water everywhere getting even Chuhan Jwi wet amid the Princess's joyful laughter.
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The Princess and Xiǎng Pigu eventually got out of the tub and Chuhan Jwi went and got both of them breakfast just in case Xiǎng Pigu hadn't had it yet. Xiǎng Pigu changed into one of the Princess's extra jumpsuits and then they both had breakfast together. Princess Bang-gwi was only 19 where as Xiǎng Pigu was 24, but since Princess Bang-gwi was sheltered most of her life she didn't have anyone to gossip with so finally having someone to gossip with could be considered a dream come true for her.
"So Pi, what do you think of Miss Maven, she's my idol!" Princess Bang-gwi said excitedly.
Xiǎng Pigu thought for a moment "Honestly, I'm more into boy bands and k-pop*! I think she is talented and beautiful, but her music isn't to my liking."
(*k-pop = Korean Pop)
Princess Bang-gwi pouted slightly "We can't be sisters then!" in an exaggerated tone.
Xiǎng Pigu got flustered and said "B-but I'm sure I can grow to like it too!"
The Princess laughed and said "I'm just teasing you, I'm really glad you gave me your honest opinion, the other girls my age were either avoiding me in classes or would suck up to me and would say whatever they think I wanted to hear."
Xiǎng Pigu blushed and said "Well, to be honest, your original song was very touching… Who was that song for or who was it about?"
The Princess smiled wryly and said "It will be for my first heartbreak, so whomever breaks my heart first, he or she will have to think about me and what they did every time they hear that song."
"That's… awful…" Xiǎng Pigu said.
"I know right? So to any potential heart breakers I am already prepared!"
Chuhan Jwi laughed quietly and thought to herself "Princess, you're going to be the heart breaker…"
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After breakfast, the Princess and the same group of soldiers from before met on the training field again and formed neat rows in front of where the Marquis would appear from again to give them their training schedule. The Princess found out that her group was the last batch new of soldiers at this base so she could understand why most of them were very young like her.
"Soldiers! Attention!" the Marquis barked loudly just like the previous day.
"Sir! Good morning, sir!" came the unified reply which even the Princess remembered to do.
"At ease! Today is special! You pilots will be given your first chance to pilot our standard mech, the Knight-class Mk I. While training is important, we need to let you experience what it feels like to actually pilot a mech. First, warm up! Stretch for 20 minutes, then jog in a single group to the northern gate, then west to the mech hangars!"
The Princess was getting excited thinking about piloting a mech, but also worried remembering what hers looked like. Everyone split up in an orderly fashion and stretched together while chatting excitedly too, it seems that they all were getting excited to pilot a mech as well. Even Vincent, the guy that had picked on the Princess yesterday, seemed a little excited. The Princess was also curious how Vincent would even fit in the cockpit as he was not just tall, but very stocky.
While they were jogging, Vincent came up next to the Princess, she merely glared at him but didn't say a word.
"Princess… I want to apologize for yesterday… I let my prejudice get the better of me and never gave you a chance and lumped you in with the other nobility. I will leave you be now." Vincent said politely then started to speed up to pull away from the Princess.
"Wait… I accept your apology… and your prejudice is not entirely wrong. I've been sheltered my whole life but that doesn't mean I've been blind to how the other nobles and even royalty act." The Princess stated, then she said jokingly "I'll kick your butt if you ever lump me in with other nobility like that again." then she playfully punched Vincent in the arm.
"Thank you Princess, I will remember your words."
"Please, call me Ban*!" The Princess said with a bright smile.
(*pronounced like Bahn in case everyone forgets)
Vincent's face became a little redder despite the jogging being light and he said "Princess, you may call me Vincent or Pierce… forgive me but I don't think I can call you Bahn just yet Princess."
The Princess shrugged her shoulders and said "Whatever you say Vinnie!" and smiled and sped up to pull away from him to catch up to Xiǎng Pigu.
When the group of 84 pilots reached the mech hangar, already 20 mechs had been towed out of the bays. The Princess was relieved to see that hers wasn't one of them.
"Soldiers! Divide yourselves up among these 20 mechs, 4 to each mech with one extra group of 4 here next to me while the last mech is towed out!"
The Princess felt her heart-sink when she heard another mech was being towed out because she was sure it was going to be hers. Fortunately her fear was unnecessary and the 21st mech was the same model as the rest. The Princess stood by the 5th mech in the row of mechs and noticed that a lot of the other soldiers tried to flock towards her mech as well, but they had enough common sense to not cause a commotion as they didn't want to upset the Maquis.
The 21st mech was finally brought out and the extra 4 lined up in front of it, then the Marquis yelled "This is our standard Knight-class Mk 1, or more affectionately known as 'The Footman' since it is our most common and numerous mech. Check your messages and you will see I've just sent you all the operations manual for it. Our mechs all have the same control scheme, just different features so learning this one mech will allow you to at least minimally pilot every one of our great Hegemony mechs!"
Everyone quickly opened their messages and looked through the file that was from the Marquis, the light in everyone's eyes started to fade though when they saw the sheer length of the operations manual.
"Don't worry about the length. This manual covers everything from operating the mech, reloading, refueling, maintenance, repairing, and even field repairs. Our mechs are not as advanced as the Alliance, but that is also our advantage."
The Princess scanned through the various sections out of curiosity and the first thing she wanted to read about was the various specifications of the mech. She saw that the mech was basically a giant exoskeleton that was powered by hydraulics and had electric motors that would operate the smaller movements where accuracy was needed over power. As for the control method, she now understood why they were put under such hard physical training as the controls essentially were a set of gauntlets and a helmet in a chair with foot pedals that strapped to your feet.
One of the female pilots that had made it into Princess Bang-gwi's group noticed that the Princess was looking a little intimidated by the controls and said "It's not as hard as it looks, consider the mech an extension of your own body is what my older brother told me."
"Thanks, must be nice to have an older brother that wants to help you like that." The Princess stated with a tinge of sadness.
"Oh, not at all, he just loves the Hegemony and doesn't want me to become a weakness for it, he also said to picture yourself as a giant toddler making deliberate steps when you walk for the first time."
"Alright! We can read the manuals later, we'll let your body try and figure it out first! Everyone take turns 30 minutes per turn, just wander around the training field and if I see any of you trying to fight in them, even a mock fight, I will forcefully eject you from the cockpit!" the Marquis yelled threateningly.
The Princess looked at the 3 other people that were in her group and said "So who goes first?"
As if on cue, everyone pointed at her.
The Princess laughed and said "I don't even know why I asked, time to take this thing out for a test drive!"
The Princess was excited as she ran up to the foot of the ramp that was wheeled out for the pilots to enter the cockpit in the torso of the mech. The Princess saw that Xiǎng Pigu was also getting in to one of the mechs and Xiǎng Pigu noticed her as well.
Xiǎng Pigu waved and said "You break it you buy it!"
"Then I'll make sure to break yours too!" The Princess said with a smile and then climbed into the cockpit.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
LordSputnik
LordSputnik Finally introducing the Hegemony mechs and what makes them different.
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