Mei Mei stood still in the middle of the confusion, feeling the VR helmet pressing her head. The blue panel in front of her was shining, mixing information, lights, status data. The whole arena seemed to pulse with the sound from the loudspeakers, every background song went up and down, cutting the air together with lively voices. The audience made noise, shouted, took pictures, cheered for anything, except for her team.
The light from the big screen illuminated Mei Mei's face. She saw everything from inside the VR, the virtual cockpit seemed too real. Her fingers trembled, but she forced a smile, trying to look ready. The heart beat fast, almost jumping through her neck.
The announcer called in English and Mandarin, thick voice, full of energy. "Steel Dragon, position one!"
Mei Mei took a deep breath, adjusted the VR glove and moved the command forward. Chun-Li's arm shook before obeying. The robot left the place, but was already trembling. Mei Mei looked at the other pilots. One of them, with a red and gold uniform, gave a mocking smile. A blonde girl with neon makeup pointed, whispering to her friend.
A judge appeared on the virtual display, speaking directly: "Pilot Steel Dragon, prepare the system. Ten seconds left."
Mei Mei swallowed dry. She answered, without hesitation: "Ready."
Chun-Li's panel blinked an orange alert. Small failure on the left leg. She ignored it. The audience looked with a mocking face, some filming everything. That feeling of shame was starting to grow inside her, but she pretended not to care.
The arena floor changed color. Blue and green lights, lasers spinning on the ceiling. Kids shouting "Steel Dragon!", just to mock, and adults eating popcorn as if it was a circus. Mei Mei pressed the control, trying to ignore.
The announcer announced the start: "Let's go! Test round, Steel Dragon!"
Mei Mei pushed the command forward. Chun-Li took two steps, then one more, but the engine sound seemed bad. The left arm moved slower, almost getting stuck. She spoke softly, just to herself: "Don't let me down now, buddy..."
The crowd started to laugh. Some were recording on their phones, others took selfies making faces, with Chun-Li in the background.
The judge spoke dryly, almost annoyed: "Steel Dragon, continue!"
Mei Mei tried to speed up. The robot dragged itself, every movement seemed an effort. The foot got stuck, cracked loud, like a can being crushed.
On the display, the alert turned red.[Status – Chun-LiEnergy: 71%Strength: 44%Stability: 29%VR System: 82%Sync: 61%]
Mei Mei felt her hand tremble, but squeezed the control harder. The mecha made a strange noise, like piece scraping. A piece of the leg fell, hitting the track, making the sound of something broken. The audience did "oooh" in chorus, laughing.
A boy pointed, laughing out loud: "Look there dad! The robot is falling apart!"
She pretended not to hear. The judge wrote something down, frowning. The event cameras filmed everything.
One of the rivals got closer to the box, laughing. "Hey, Steel Girl, your robot doesn't last even five minutes. Are you paying to be embarrassed?"
Mei Mei looked straight, pretended it wasn't with her, but felt like screaming. The system called spin test. She turned the command, Chun-Li spun, but lost balance, fell to the side. One arm stayed up, the other stuck to the floor. The panel beeped loud. The audience exploded in laughter.
Mei Mei heard shouts: "Film it! This will blow up on the net!"
The judge spoke, kind of tired: "Steel Dragon, test finished."
Mei Mei stood still, looking at the robot. Chun-Li got up slowly, limping, with stiff movements. She adjusted the control, fighting not to let her face turn red. But inside, she just wanted to disappear.
In the audience, a former client of Steel Dragon raised a sign written: "Recycled trash." The people around laughed loud. Mei Mei felt like throwing everything up.
The radio crackled, grandpa's voice, hoarse: "Hold on, Mei Mei. The important thing is to finish. Don't care about the rest."
She answered low: "Okay, grandpa. I just need to get out of here without exploding."
The system warned that the skills test was going to start. Mei Mei wiped the sweat from her face, took a deep breath and looked again at the panel. Another alert appeared.[Status – Chun-LiEnergy: 68%Strength: 37%Stability: 16%VR System: 81%Sync: 56%]
She advanced to the obstacle course. The test was simple, just had to pass under some bars, spin and pick up an object on the floor. Mei Mei did everything slowly, dying of fear the robot would fall apart in the middle. Chun-Li walked crooked, almost tripping, but kept going.
In the middle of the course, the robot's foot slipped. The audience made more noise. One of the judges wrote quickly, almost without looking.
Kazuo, the rival, appeared at the edge of the track, laughing loud: "Nice show, Steel Dragon! If you want, I'll lend you a wrench. Or a real mechanic!"
She pretended to be fine, but felt her face heat up. The panel beeped again, strength dropping. Chun-Li got to the end of the course, picked up the object, but the arm locked halfway.
The announcer spoke without excitement: "Test completed, Steel Dragon."
The judges barely looked at her. One just wrote anything and turned his back.
Mei Mei took off the helmet slowly, the sweat running down her face. She saw people laughing, taking her photo. A girl recorded video on her phone, speaking loud: "Look here, people! Secondhand embarrassment, Steel Dragon edition!"
Mei Mei felt her eyes burning. Held back the cry, pressed the helmet against her chest.
Kazuo passed by her, with a winner's smile. "Relax, Mei Mei. One day you'll get it right, right?"
She stayed quiet, pretending not to care. But she just wanted to disappear.
The final status appeared on the display:[Status – Chun-LiEnergy: 62%Strength: 29%Stability: 9%VR System: 77%Sync: 51%]
The announcer didn't even say the score. Just called the next team. The audience was already watching the next robot, forgetting her. A guy still shouted from the other side: "Call the garbage truck for Steel Dragon!"
Mei Mei walked fast, holding the helmet tight, not looking at anyone. Just thought about disappearing from there. The sound of the laughter stayed in her head, like it was a bad song.
She got close to the pickup. Stood still, looking at the sky. There was no cloud, just smoke and neon. She took a deep breath, tied her hair again, looked up, thinking: "One day, I'm going to shut everyone up."
The radio beeped, grandpa's voice once again, low: "Proud of you, Mei Mei. Just being there is already victory. Continue. For me."
Mei Mei didn't answer. Put the helmet in her backpack, adjusted the backpack on her shoulder and kept looking at the stadium disappearing behind the giant screens.
She walked slowly to the pickup, sat in the driver's seat and stayed in silence, listening only to the sound of her own breath and the distant noise of the tournament. She wanted to cry, but didn't. Just stayed there, alone, squeezing the steering wheel, feeling every second of the shame and promising herself, again: "I won't give up. Never."[Status – Chun-LiEnergy: 58%Strength: 21%Stability: 0%VR System: 71%Sync: 48%]
On the other side of the street, you could see the tournament lights, people celebrating, everyone laughing. But Mei Mei closed her eyes, took a deep breath once more and let out a small smile. Just a stubborn smile, almost invisible. It's not over yet.