SOLARIS CITY, SOLARIS VII – Welcome back, fight fans, to INN’s Season Recap of the 3132 Solaris VII Grand Championship. Seven days, one-hundred twenty-eight MechWarriors. Only one will be champion when it’s over, and already, half the starting line-up is outta here! Today’s Recap brought to you by Avanti Automotive, makers of the ’32 Windcoaster A7; “Avanti: No smoother glide, on heaven or earth!”

And then there were sixty-four. Second night of the annual Grand Tournament and the fighting has been close! With thirty-two matches compared to twice as many last night, traffic may have been lighter in the city, but the action in the stadiums was no less frantic.

With so many matches, it’s impossible to do them justice in a quick blurb, but tonight’s lineup has seen some of the hottest fighting yet. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Battling it out in the Liao Stadium, appropriately enough, Cenotaph Stable’s seventh-ranked champion, Danai Centrella-Liao stormed through the woods in her modified Centurion, savaged Centrella-Liao’s opponent, “Kaiser” Yulenka Kaiser of the Blue Fists stable, in a brutal series of point-blank range attacks. Kaiser’s Hatchetman, unable to get past the Capellan scion’s heavy shield, never even landed a solid blow on the Cenotaph favorite, who will continue on to tomorrow’s round against second-ranked Reshad “Razor” Michaud of Bromley Stables in the Boreal Reaches arena.

In the Steiner Coliseum, Olivia “Queen Liv” Tyler of the pro-Capellan Zelazni Stables, hammered DiNapoli Stable’s Kamilla “Kamikaze” Killen, using her modified Ghost’s deadly chainsaw to devastating effect against the legs of the lighter Targe. Fight judges, however, served Tyler up a fair warning for poor sportsmanship, when she threatened to use the saw again on the cockpit of Killen’s disabled ’Mech. An explosion of violence in the post-fight review broke out as well between Tyler and another pro-Republic champion from DiNapoli Stables, “Daring” Davis Strauss. The two warriors, who are set to face each other in the fifth round, exchanged bitter insults and nearly came to blows before security from both stables managed to separate them.

And of course, for the reigning champion, “Roaring” Ronald Ghost Bear of Zelbrigen Stables, he and his Kodiak swiftly dispatched another hopeful in a devastating match against thirtieth-ranked Patrick “Wonderboy” Wahlberg beneath Iron Mountain. Though this time, the match lasted more than a minute, the moment the Clan-bred champion and his ride for this match, a modified Shadow Cat II, attained line of sight to the Toranaga MechWarrior’s Thunderbolt, the fight was over in less than that, with Ghost Bear’s trademark disregard for heat levels and alpha-strike approach easily tearing Wahlberg apart. Wahlberg himself was injured as his machine collapsed on itself in the fierce fusillade, but is expected to make a full recovery.

As always, box scores for tonight’s match and schedules for tomorrow night’s line-up can be found on the SBC link-site, including the latest odds, for all you folks with a gambling problem. I’m Dennis Stanzio for Solaris Broadcasting Center, an affiliate of INN, with your Championship Recap, and I am out of here!

+Hooo-wee! Did you see the attached vids on that that one? Man, Ghost Bear’s a menace no matter what machine they put him in! I don’t see how anyone’s managed to knock that guy out of the running, let alone Durand!
:-GropoM

+Say, on the box scores, it says that Shockwave’s still in the fight, too! Go Blackstar!
:-BNCFanatic

+Knock it off, already, BNCF! We already know Kirkpatrick won the bloody Tournament! You don’t have to go reading the box scores over and over again.
:-TVBluFist

+Yeah, BNC, especially considering that you didn’t have the cajones to bet on Shockwave, what are you so gloaty about?
:-LevEOsa

+Hey, a little consideration here, guys? Some of us missed the Games first time around! Could you please not spoil the surprise?
:-GreasL

+*gasp!* Someone who actually missed the Games? What are you, GreasL? A Luddite?
:-Synnik