| In spite of a civil war raging nearby in Kummen, the port city of Tabbing is a lively, boisterous place where merciless gladiator fights between ATs is a popular form of entertainment. Carradyne has come to the city after hearing rumors that Galvin Fox, one of the conspirators in the Planpandoll scandal, has been seen there. He suspects Mellowlink will be in the city as well, and he is correct. Mellowlink gets dragged into a brawl by Bolf, a shady recruiter of AT pilots for the matches. At first Mellowlink isn't interested in competing, but Bolf won't give up. In a bar Mellowlink runs into the mysterious girl from Dogman's base, and recognizes the man on a poster showing the current AT fighting champion, "Silver Fox". He does an about-face, and agrees to be Bolf's fighter if he can arrange a match between him and Silver Fox. Furthermore, Mellowlink refuses to fight in an AT; he will face Fox on foot, with his own carefully chosen array of weapons... |
| Pretty damn good! I can't explain exactly what was done right, but this story had a certain pizazz to it--little, if any, time was wasted telling this more-or-less believable tale. Perhaps best of all, the trick Mellowlink used in the match actually could have worked! I still haven't caught that girl's name, but it looks like she'll be a recurring character. Mellowlink's full name seems to be "Mellowlink Arity". As a side note, "Kummen" was the scene of one of the four plot arcs of Armored Trooper Votoms, of which this series is a spinoff. |
