SOLARIS CITY, SOLARIS VII – Welcome back, fight fans, to INN’s Season Recap of the 3132 Solaris VII Grand Championship. Day Five began with only six MechWarriors left of the 128 who began this journey. Now only three remain. Today’s Recap brought to you by Cy’s ’Mech City in the International Zone; “Cy’s ’Mech City: quality pre-owned ’Mechs and parts at a reasonable price for today’s warrior.”

Starting out in the Jungle Arena, it was Blackstar Stables’ Shayne “Shockwave” Kirkpatrick in a modified Phoenix Hawk (and fresh from a grudge-match victory over Raul Kalso) against Cenotaph’s Danai Centrella-Liao and her trademark Centurion. With the thick growth of the Jungle minimizing her range advantage, the Blackstar champion was forced into contact range with her royal opponent several times, close enough even for a few good swipes from the Centurion’s hatchet. But maneuverability soon saved the day as Kirkpatrick’s gift for jumping fire ate away the Centurion’s shield and tore away its right leg. Disabled, Centrella-Liao lit off her surrender flare, ending the match. Kirkpatrick will now pass automatically to the final Round on a bye, thanks to last night’s Strauss-Tyler disqualification.

Meanwhile, the Factory Arena was the scene for an equally fierce duel between Wraith Stable’s Ian “Boltster” Smythe and Galahad’s Omar “Demolition” Durand. Durand, in his element among the twisted and cluttered confines of the Factory, matched his Marauder shot for shot against Smythe’s Thunderbolt in what can only be described as a brutal slugfest—often at point-blank range. Showing his characteristic sense of chivalry, Durand often hesitated when Smythe’s machine stumbled over wreckage on the arena floor, giving his opponent time to recover and defend himself, though it ultimately only prolonged the inevitable. In a spectacular final volley, the Galahad MechWarrior felled Smythe with a critical engine hit that sent the lighter machine into an instant shutdown.

Compared to these dramatic victories, Zellbrigen’s “Roaring” Ronald Ghost Bear’s savage victory against challenger “Magnificent” Mario LeMar seemed almost anticlimactic. The Clan warrior, this time piloting a Thor, tore through LeMar’s Warhammer IIC after only forty-six seconds in the Boreal Reach Arena, proving that even a heavier, more sophisticated opponent, could not match the ferocity of his all-or-nothing style of combat.

And so, fight fans, just two round remain of the 3132 Grand Tournament! Two days left to place your bets and see who comes out on top, and who will have to wait another year for their shot at glory and fame. Check out the box scores for tonight’s matches and tomorrow’s schedules at the SBC link-site. In the meantime, I’m Dennis Stanzio for Solaris Broadcasting Center, an affiliate of INN, with your Championship Recap, and I am outta here!

+See the vids on that one? I mean, sheesh! How could anyone stop a guy like Ghost Bear?
:-RepMan

+The one I couldn’t get over was Shockwave and Danai! I mean, without her jump jets, Kirkpatrick really didn’t have much of a chance against her, especially in the Jungle! I guess Danai just got cocky, eh?
:-BNCFanatic

+Well, she is the Chancellor’s sister, after all. Hehehe.
:-LevEOsa

+Oh, muzzle it, Lev! Shockwave just got lucky, is all. I heard Danai left Solaris, like, the day after she got beaten there, bound for the CapCon again. My wager is that something called her home, so she just threw the fight as a way of getting an honorable “out”.
:-XSOkay

+Sure XSO. You keep telling yourself that…
:-LevEOsa