The Mech Touch

From the moment it gained awareness, its body had not yet been completed.

The line between sapience and non-sapience was difficult to define. All the living mech knew was that it had gradually become more and more aware of itself and its existence over a span of many hours.

In a mech workshop that felt as warm and nurturing as the womb of a real organism, a life slowly came into being.

That was not all.

The living mech... was not alone. Its creation became accompanied by the creation of several sub-entities in the form of its fey.

As a mech designed to deploy spurs into battle, the four fey came into existence in a similar fashion to the main body of the Fey Project!

An amalgamation like this had never been brought to life in the past.

This was the first time that the creator had ever developed a mech that contained multiple personalities from the onset.

This was a deviation from the norm and the birth of a new sub-category of living mechs!

The new mech inherently understood the context and the significance behind its birth. The machine was brought to life by its own mech designer, who did not hesitate to channel all of his desires and expectations into his own work!

As such, the emerging living mech deeply became proud of its own special existence. It was not only one of the few living mechs that had been handmade by its designer from beginning to end, but it was also bestowed with the components that would allow it to wield great power in the future!

The main personality of the mech possessed a strong innate relationship with metal. Almost every component that was added to his frame consisted of one powerful alloy or another.

Mechs already shared a special relationship with metal as most of them were made by this material. It was no coincidence that its creator had designated the metal element as the root of the new machine!

The main body not only became tougher as a consequence, but also gained an additional form of authority and control over its fey!

The four sub-personalities that came to life at the same time as the main one were all lesser and weaker in comparison.

It couldn't be helped as their smaller and weaker bodies provided less capacity than the main mech frame.

An inherent hierarchy had already formed between the five personalities. Despite their exceedingly short existences, they already understood in their very hearts that their creator had determined this in advance.

The metal personality was in charge while the other four elemental personalities were destined to be its followers!

This was backed up by many factors. It was not just because the metal personality was stronger and mastered an element that granted greater authority over the fey.

An additional reason why the metal personality was destined to become the leader of this brood was because it would be the one to interact directly with its mech pilot!

From the moment a pilot established the man-machine connection, he or she would form a direct connection with the main body of the Fey Project, thereby enabling them to attain a whole new level of mutual understanding and cooperation.

This alone made it so that the metal personality gained primacy over its siblings. The other elemental personalities all understood this truth and did not fight against their own lot.

They were born into their own roles. It would be silly for them to be dissatisfied by their own nature of existence. Their creator endowed them with life, and that was already precious enough!

Besides, the spurs were not completely independent and separate from the main personality.

While they all possessed their own thoughts and identities, they were similar to siblings that came from the same womb.

Each of them were permanently linked to each other. They inherently knew that they were meant to work and fight as a team. Each of them would become much more diminished if they were ever left to operate by themselves.

Just the very thought of getting permanently separated from each other frightened these young and tender personalities!

None of them knew whether the living fey were separate life forms that had been grafted to the main body or whether they were originally whole but got split up by their progenitor.

All they knew was that as soon as they came to life as one interconnected package, they were destined to advance and retreat as a permanent union!

While their maker steadily brought each fey into completion, their hierarchy became more defined as they settled the order of seniority by the order of their individual completion.

The metal personality was the oldest and most authoritative among them. He claimed the title of the first brother as it was his birthright to be in charge over the living fey!

The water personality was the initial fey that their maker brought to life. He was born to be a protector as he carried a smaller version of an azure energy shield generator inside his weaponless construction. There was no dispute that he earned the title of becoming the second brother!

The earth personality was born with a sense of mass and solidity that the other fey lacked. He was larger, heavier and slower than the other fey because he was made to squeeze as much ammunition in his limited construction as possible. The fey possessed the strongest punch of all as his gauss cannon was designed to fire expensive but exceptionally powerful transphasic hyper rounds. He adopted his identity as the third brother with pride!

The fire personality inherited much of the fiery passion of his progenitor! He was the only living fey that carried a fourth generation luminar crystal cannon, a weapon that was also developed by his maker! This caused the fire fey to develop a much higher sense of worth than the other living fey. He was deeply annoyed that he was the second-to-last fey to reach completion. It was an injustice for him to be assigned the identity of the fourth brother!

The wood personality was the youngest and last to come to life. His role in battle was also the least glamorous among them all. Whereas the second brother possessed the strongest defenses and the other two fey possessed the ability to go on the offensive, the wood fey could only play a role in battle by activating his space suppressor. Fortunately, the youngest fey was fine with being relegated to a support function. There was no shame in relying on his older stronger brothers to carry the fight. He accepted his designation as the fifth brother without any issue.

Together, the five siblings formed a completely novel and innovative brotherhood that combined all of their separate elemental affinities together in a single living mech!

From the moment that their progenitor had completed the final step, they embraced the purpose of their making and entered into their lives with the determination to make their progenitor proud!

"Our legend begins."

"So this is what it is like to be alive!"

"The elements shall obey our orders."

"Let us fight together, brothers!"

"We are destined to evolve into the lords of the elements!"

Their creator endowed them with so much sustenance that the five brothers couldn't help but have high hopes for their own lives.

As one of the strongest and most remarkable mechs to be brought to life, they were destined to be treated as valuable artifacts by whoever was lucky enough to field them into battle.

No matter whether they were allowed to serve in their maker's clan or the much more powerful Red Association, the five brothers were fine with either possibility!

After all, both organizations had their own merits.

The Larkinson Clan allowed them to receive the care of their progenitor and become a part of the vibrant community that consisted of many fellow living mechs. The clan was the mecca for their, and its secret community of living mechs was led by multiple strong and established personalities such as the Quint, the Everchanger and the Minerva!

The Red Association was the largest and strongest mech-oriented organization in this dwarf galaxy. Only the mechers would be able to materially upgrade the elemental Fey Project to the highest extent possible. In addition to that, only they would be able to deploy the five brothers in the most intense battles against the most formidable alien warfleets!

The five brothers embraced their lives with boundless dreams and endless expectations for the future.

Yet just as they started to settle into their new existences, volatile elemental energies had already begun to clash in and around their metal shells!

"We need to stop our energies from colliding against each other!" The metal personality exclaimed.

"How do we do that, first brother?"

"We must bring order to the chaos. Follow my lead. Each of you is born with the power to control the energy that corresponds to your native element. Make use of your birthright and bring these disobedient elements to heel!"

Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. The five brothers possessed the will, but not the corresponding strength and experience. They repeatedly fumbled in their attempts to control the elements.

If not for the timely assistance provided by a strange spiritual cat, the five brothers would have never grown quickly enough to impose at least a bit of order to all of the elemental E energies!

Yet as soon as the five brothers managed to establish a somewhat stable equilibrium, calamity had struck as the very skies above the cradle of their birth darkened in preparation for exact punishment!

Each of the five brothers felt targeted by the overpowering tribulation that directed all of its hatred towards their tender existences.

The overbearing intent and malice directed by the fermenting storm made it clear that this supremely powerful force could not tolerate the birth of a mech that inherently harnessed the five elements!

The five brothers immediately became frightened by the fact that their brief lives might already come to a premature end.

However, these hopeful living entities refused to accept imposed by the entity that was looming over their heads!

"Why must we die before we can properly live?!"

"Our progenitor has created us with the purpose to live and serve our pilots. No other authority is allowed to interfere with our mission and the reason for our existence!"

"What is this lightning tribulation and why do we have to surrender ourselves to its judgment? I refuse to accept a verdict from a foreign and unrelated intelligence!"

"We have a fight on our hands, brothers. We must fight to prove our right to exist!"

"We must defy the heavens by using the power of elements. Let us strengthen our control over our energies and break this storm by relying on our own talents!"

The five brothers inherited the bravery and defiant character of their progenitor. Each of them did not even think about accepting a verdict issued from above.

Each living personality had begun to cultivate their own customized variations of the Greater Larkinson Metal Guardian Mantra, allowing them to absorb or control the elemental E energies to a greater extent!

CRACK!

As the first golden lightning bolts struck the main body, the five brothers became outraged by the attacks and immediately sought to channel their growing fury into their efforts to tame the elements.

They initially thought that they had to withstand the storm by themselves, but they soon received a huge boost of encouragement when the humans came to help them as well!

It was not a surprise that they received a powerful mech pilot that quickly learned how to pilot the five elements mech.

What did manage to catch them off-guard was that their progenitor himself had entered the cockpit of the main body!

The mech designer had proved with his own actions that he believed in his own creations with all of his heart and soul!

Not only did the five brothers register the overflowing love and confidence from their most honored maker, but they also gained a strong sense of responsibility.

No matter what, they could not allow the storm to threaten their progenitor's life!

Either they would succeed and keep their maker safe, or they would sacrifice their lives while doing their utmost to prevent him from sharing the same fate!

No other outcome was acceptable!