Steel Dragon

Mei Mei adjusted the ribbon on her head and left the shop with a hot head, her grandpa's drone flying right behind, blinking messages that she pretended not to see. The day was muggy, the street was full of people coming and going, and she knew she couldn't waste time. She could still feel the pressure of the tournament announcement pounding inside.

Everyone there seemed more interested in their own problems, but for her it was a matter of survival.

She stopped at a corner, looked at the digital panels on the posts blinking tournament ads. Faces of champions, huge robots, slogans from rich corporations promising prizes. It looked like another universe.

The drone came closer, throwing a hologram of grandpa with a grumpy face. "Are you going to stay there standing like a pole? Let's get to work, girl. If you don't learn the rules of this tournament, you'll get swept away without even knowing how you lost."

She rolled her eyes, ignored the hologram and kept walking down the sidewalk. In every shop, some seller talked about bets, about ranking, about upgrades that only the big teams could get.

Mei Mei leaned against a street diner, grabbed a cheap drink, and kept an eye on a younger crowd, all laughing, showing videos of recent battles on their phones.

She got closer, pretending not to care, but trying to listen to the conversations.

"Dude, did you see this month's ranking? Only S teams at the top! Whoever is at level D can't even buy an upgrade part."

"Of course, the stores block access! You have to win on the track to unlock new stuff."

"Yeah, but only the big ones win. The rest just get beat up and disappear."

Mei Mei felt a weight. She looked at the drone. "See? If you don't win, you disappear. You don't even exist in the system."

Grandpa blinked a message: "Welcome to the real game, kid. Either learn to win, or you'll watch from the bench."

She thanked for the drink, left there, and crossed the neighborhood to the central square, where the Tournament Registration Center was.

A shiny building, full of floating holograms with team names, statistics, videos of old fights. A crowd of young people tried to register, most with a desperate look.

Mei Mei got in line. She felt her heart race. The drone hovered, recording everything, as if it was too important to forget.

At the counter, a clerk with an automatic smile asked:

"Workshop name?"

"Steel Dragon."

The woman typed. The system beeped.

"D level workshop. You can only compete in base brackets, with standard parts and limited upgrade. Next!"

Mei Mei held back the urge to curse. "How do I level up?"

The clerk didn't even look. "You have to win public battles, earn community points and technical approval from the judges. If you lose or give up, you go back to the waiting list. Next!"

She left there irritated, almost bumping into a group of boys who laughed at the old Steel Dragon logo on the registration sheet. She almost argued, but took a deep breath.

Grandpa in the drone sent: "Breathe. Don't waste time with trash. Want respect? Win on the field."

She sat on a bench in the square, drone landed beside. "Grandpa, how does this ranking work? It seems impossible to get out of the bottom."

The hologram explained, showing simple graphics:

"Workshops start at level D. Can only use standard, cheap parts, and can only challenge other D or C teams with an open spot. If you win, you get points. If you lose, back to the line. To get to C, you need to win at least three public battles and not lose any. And you need approval from a tournament inspector."

"In other words, only those who can handle pressure go up."

"Exactly. And when you get to C, better upgrades unlock. Stores release extra modules, weapons, sensors, even support AI. But everything is controlled. If you slip up, you lose access, drop in the ranking, and nobody sells you good parts. Only junk is left."

Mei Mei felt the urgency growing. She looked at the gray sky, thought about the dismantled robot, the lack of money, the name Steel Dragon getting more and more forgotten.

"So that's it. Either I win some battles soon, or I'll just become a statistic."

The drone released a hologram of grandpa shrugging. "Either you make history, or nobody even remembers you tried."

She stayed there for a while, looking at the square, watching other pilots training mecha commands in VR, some showing combos on the screen, others just discussing strategies. Nobody there knew the pain of losing everything, or what it was like to start from zero.

Mei Mei stood up. "I won't disappear, grandpa. Even if I have to fight with junk parts."

The drone blinked, showing a laughing emoji.

"That's the spirit. But to win, you need more than anger. You need strategy, agility, and a little luck. You'll have to face head on the teams that want to crush you. You'll lose some friends, you'll gain rivals. And you'll get beat up more than you imagine."

She huffed, but didn't back down. "I've been hit so much I don't even feel it anymore. Whatever comes, comes."

On the way back to the shop, she kept going over the info in her head. Ranking, points, community respect, judges' inspection. Nothing was easy. Good parts only unlocked when the system trusted you had "merit." Whoever proved nothing, got nothing.

On the way, she passed by a parts store. A vendor looked at her with a mocking face.

"Steel Dragon, right? Sorry, we only take orders from level C workshops up. Come back when you have points."

Mei Mei didn't argue. She just memorized his name, promising that one day she'd make him swallow every word.

The drone kept spinning in the air, showing holographic memes of grandpa mocking the situation.

"Calm down, girl. The system is made to knock down whoever gives up. That's why you'll rise. Because you don't give up. Because you'll want more. And you'll make big mistakes, but you'll be making mistakes trying."

Mei Mei got home with more questions than answers, but with the certainty that there was no running away anymore. It was win or disappear, and she was never one to disappear easily.

By the end of the morning, sitting next to Chun-Li's parts, she opened the notebook, made notes, sketched ideas for future upgrades. Listed upcoming public battles, calculated risks, thought about who she could challenge first. Grandpa kept watch, dropping jokes, but this time seemed proud.

She didn't know how she was going to do it. But she knew that, for Steel Dragon to go up in the ranking, she couldn't mess up anymore. She needed courage, strategy, and a bit of luck. And maybe, just maybe, she was already ready for her first victory.