Round 3, Fight 4: Neo Japan vs. Neo Spain

[Strike Zero]

((OOC: You are not killing my referee, Strike Zero.))

(OOC: I never expected to, Wingnut.)

"Attention all personnel! This fight is canceled due to outside interference! Attention Ultima and Don Quixote, there is a sniper in hidden somewhere in the mountains. It is likely to go after you next. Be on your guard!"

Maria cursed. Apparently, her attempt to eliminate the referee and make it look like an accident had failed. Now Ryuusei and the Neo Spaniard would were sure to be fully aware of her presence.

The Zebra was now out of her sight, but there was no point in continuing to attack it anyway. She instead turned her attention to Gundam Ultima and Gundam Don Quixote...

Only to realize that they were no longer visible. The second rockslide had kicked up a lot of dirt and dust, forming a cloud and obscuring the two fighters from her view.

Maria took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to calm her impatience. There was no need to get excited. She simply had to wait for them to make a move... then their lives would be hers.

[Cardi Doorl]

"Outside interference? The match is canceled?"

Fernando was flabbergasted by the turn of events. But, more importantly...

"Outside interference means somebody else caused these rockslides, then? Princess Constanza is in danger! My duty is to protect her at all cost!"

Fernando turned to Ryusei, who was still a short distance away, and contacted him.

"Good Japanese knight!" Fernando called out, "If somebody has interfered with this honorable duel, then certainly we must join forces to find him!"

[RGM-79G GM Command]

"Yeah, they need to learn to stay out of other people's fights. I think my Ultima is faster than your unit so I'll be the decoy and when you figure out where they are let me know and we'll hit them as hard as we can." Ryusei says to Fernando before grabbing the machine gun in the left hand and running away from where he had been and running in a zig-zag pattern to try and get the person who had interfered with their fight to reveal where they are through an attack while staying mobile to avoid the attack.

[Strike Zero]

The seconds ticked by, and still no sign of the Gundam Fighters. Were they planning on just waiting it out? Finally, the cloud of dust swirled as the Gundam Ultima darted out and began to sprint across the snow-laden ground, haphazardly changing direction as he went.

As if Ryusei believed he could dodge Maria's bullet.

A grin appeared once again over Maria's lips as her scope smoothly followed the Gundam Ultima and the zig-zag pattern it made across the battlefield.

Left... right... left... right... Maria got into the flow of Ryuusei's movements. Then, the instant before Ryusei planted his foot to turn left again, Maria shifted her aim--aiming for the point where Ryusei would be in the second it would take for the shell to traverse the full twenty kilometers-and fired.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryusei had not noticed the sniper rifle get fired at all and had no way of knowing that it was coming or avoiding it, although because he had been moving at full speed the round impacts on the right shoulder and damages most of the upper right torso along with destroying what was left of the right arm.

The Ultima falls while running because of the pain that Ryusei had felt from the shot hitting and damaging the Ultima, and as soon as he can he grabs the shield and puts it in front of him after putting the machine gun down.

'Damn I shouldn't have done that, it was so stupid.' He thinks to himself while heading towards some nearby rocks for some cover as quickly as he can and keeping the shield faceing where the shot had come from.

(OOC: I don't know if there would be rocks like that or not as I was never there in real life, but I would assume there would be some around.)

EDIT: Also, if there is a problem with my post let me know.

[Strike Zero]

Maria laughed audibly and her eyes widened with excitement as her shot landed, dismembering the Gundam Ultima of its right arm. When you thought about it, it wasn't much of an accomplishment, since most of the Ultima's right arm had been missing already to begin with, but Maria didn't seem to care in the least. It was just so satisfying to see Ryusei go tumbling to the ground like that.

She continued to laugh as she wrenched the magazine out of the Centella--now empty after the expendature of her fourth shot--and slammed a new one into its place. Her sight returned to the scope just in time to see Ryusei disappear behind a large collection of rocks.

Not taking her eyes off the fighter's position, reaching wth her left hand, she began to fiddle with the controls for her radio until she had tapped into the frequency used by both Ryusei and Fernando. Then she spoke:

"How was that Ryusei? Your arm must hurt so badly right now... how does it feel?"

[Cardi Doorl]

Fernando burst out from the dust, the Gundam Don Quixote in Gran Valor mode. The Japanese knight had fallen, but Fernando is quick to act.

But where is the interloper?

Fernando had not had a clear view of what had hit Ryusei, much less where from. Nevertheless, he bounded forward, his speed greatly increased by the boosted thruster power of his Gran Valor mode, as he held his shield over his midsection.

[Strike Zero]

Maria spotted the swirl of dust out of the corner of her vision, and shifted her rifle to see the Gundam Don Quixote, it's Gran Valor mode fully activated, leap forward out of the cloud this time with its shield held high.

Maria keyed the radio again: "Do you remember me, brave knight Fernando? It's been a long time since we last met... but I haven't forgotten. I haven't stopped thinking of you... of any of you..."

Her left hand moved away from the radio and up, stopping just above her head. Then, with a flick of her wrist, Maria snapped her fingers; the activation signal for her Execution mode.

The effects were immidiate: her body felt heavier--the Gundams ability to move being hampered upon the activation of the Execution mode. But this was irrelevant. At the moment, all she could feel was the seansation of her senses becoming sharper, her ability to aim becoming perfect; that wonderful, intense feeling that could only be felt here, in cockpit of her Gundam while staring down a person throught he scope of her rifle.

She shifted her aim once more, aimed below the Don Quixote's shield at the ground beneath Fernando's feet, and pulled the trigger for a fifth time.

[Cardi Doorl]

There!

The sniper's next shot was timed perfectly; the Gundam Don Quixote's foot hit the ground at the just the moment for the rifle round to tear through the shin.

Fernando yelped, feeling a mixture of surprise and pain (though moreso the latter), as he lost his footing. Considering the immense speed at which he'd been traveling, he skidded along the ground for close to a kilometer before he slowed down by any significant degree.

Before firing, though, the sniper had communicated with him directly. It was a woman! That and she knew Fernando's name, and apparently had met him sometime before. Lying there with a wounded leg, Fernando racked his memory, trying to recall where he'd heard this lovely voice (for surely such a voice could belong only to a beautiful maiden), but he could not remember Maria.

But there was something more important do deal with! That last shot, the one that had immobilized him; Fernando had seen where the shot had come from this time. If only... if only he could get up to fight this interloper.

He tried. He struggled to stagger to his feet, but not only was it painful, but with much of the Gundam's lower leg ruined, it was nearly impossible even if pain could be ignored.

So, he tried the next best thing. He opened communications with both Ryusei and the match's referee. "Listen, friends! I found the interloper! I will send you the location, for I am too damaged to fight her myself!"

Maybe it was better this way? After all, Fernando wasn't exactly fond of fighting ladies.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryusei sees the Don Quixote get shot in the foot and fall before hearing Fernando say that he was sending the location of the unit that had attacked them and activates the Flaming Anger mode once he gets the location before looking at Fernando's Gundam, "Sorry I was not able to help you, I will do my best to make up for it now." Ryusei says before looking towards where the unit was and then making sure he is ready to go before running out from his cover and starts to run in a fairly random pattern so that what happened last time didn't happen so soon again, while firing the vulcan cannons in bursts at the ground in front of him to try and hide the feet of the Ultima and holding the shield out in front of the unit at an angle and the maximun distance the arm would allow so that it would allow him to fire the vulcans without hitting the shield.

"Who are you and why would you mess with our fight? Even if you are a woman, cowards need to be taught a lesson in how to fight properly." Ryusei says to the pilot of the attacking unit.

(OOC: Sorry, couldn't think of anything else to do.)

[Wingnut]

Being in no shape to move the referee noticed both the Ultima and Don Quixote go down from the shots made by the sniper. It seemed this person would get away with what they were doing when a com channel opened and a message came over the speaker.
"Listen, friends! I found the interloper! I will send you the location, for I am too damaged to fight her myself!"
This instantly caught the attention of the ref who noted the coordinates coming in over the channel.
With a smirk he activated the signal for the Minutemen troops and sent the location data on to them as well.
'At the very least we should find out who is doing the shooting here.'

[Cardi Doorl]

The place wasn't the same as it was back when it was built during the height of the pre-FC wars. It had once been a highly active and alert station, launching countless sorties throughout the various chaotic conflicts.

Since the start of the Gundam Fights, however, the place had fallen much into neglect, even though it was technically still in full operation. The base was scheduled for decomissioning within the next few years.

It came as a surprise, then, when the command tower received an urgent message. It was an alert code from a Gundam Fight official. Nobody had ever thought such a signal would ever be needed, but there it was, plain as day.

The base commander was quick to marshal what few forces he had: three Minutemen mobile suits, a transport plane, and an assortment of combat planes from the old war days. The base was near enough to the location of the fight that these zippy aircraft could be there within moments.

"Listen, everyone! Whoever's interfering with this Gundam Fight match appears to have some unidentified kind of high-powered, long-range weapon. We've confirmed the assailant's location. Aside from that, we have no further information. We're just gonna bomb the hell out of the coordinates we received, and then the suits can move in and clean up what's left."

With a thirst for some action, the men of the old military base took to the skies. It wasn't long before the location they'd been given was below them.

"Are these coordinates wrong or something? Looks like we're bombing dirt!"

"Who cares? Our job's to bomb those coordinates, so let's get the job done."

"Roger, Purple Leader."

And then came a great unloading of bombs and missiles. It wasn't exactly the kind of onslaught one would've seen during the disastrous pre-FC wars, but it was impressive nonetheless.

As the combat planes unloaded, so, too, did the transport plane. The Minutemen mobile suits, guns at the ready, descended from the sky, ready to sweep through and make sure there were no survivors.

[Strike Zero]

The roar of the fighter jets engines was deafining... but Maria didn't hear them until it was almost too late. When she did, she whirled around and turned her gaze to the skies.

"What?"

She had looked just in time to see a wing of fighter planes release a firespray of missles and bombs towards her position. Cursing audibly, she quickly disengaged her execution mode. There was barely enough time to wrench her weapon from the ground and rocket away from her position before the bombs hit.

The Fantasma swirled around Maria as she jumped, making use of the Gundam Tirador's speed. She hadn't been fast enough to avoid being singed by the heat blast--a burning sensation bit along the length of her back--but the Tirador was unharmed otherwise. She didn't stop even once the bombs had stopped falling--she had to get into position to make a counterattack.

Even as she ran across the ridgeline, she cursed herself. It was unbelievable that she would make such a mistake--letting herself be caught off-gaurd like that.

Maria was about a kilometer away from her previous position when she finally looked back. The planes were nowhere to be seen, though undoubtely still in the area. What she could see was that three mobile suits had dropped out of a transport plan that was now fleeing as fast as it could.

The Neo Spanish fighter felt a flicker of annoyance and anger. She made sure that she was fully hidden by the Fantasma cloak, then raised the Centella. Instead of the mobile suits, Maria took aim at the fleeing transport plane, and fired a single shot into the center of the metal hulk.

"That'll teach them," she whispered.

Her rifle then turned on the three approaching Minuteman units. There was no time to play around with her targets. Not when they were so close. She centered her scope on the lead mobile suit's torso and fired, directly at the Minuteman's cockpit.

[Wingnut]

The HEAMS round from the Tirador's weapon hit the long beam rifle that fortunately for the pilot inside was in front of the cockpit at that moment of impact, knocking the lead unit on it's back.
The other two despite seeing their leader fall, knew they didn't have long before their opponent could fire again. They both quickly took aim with their own long beam rifles and fired simultaneously at the enemy Gundam. One shooting at the head, and the other at the torso area where the "Centella" was being held.

[Strike Zero]

(OOC: I'm assuming we're just going to ignore the plane, then?)

As their leader fell--damaged, but not defeated--the other Minutemen stepped forward with their long beam rifles raised. Both got into position and fired at the Gundam Tirador.

"Useless!" Maria shouted. "ABSOLUCIÓN BRILLANTE!"

Not even making a move to dodge, Maria sat still and proceded to take aim at her opponents once again.

In the meantime, the Fantasma abruptly became visible again--inconsequential, since it seemed to have lost its usefulness anyway--and began to glow a brilliant white light. The strange energy emited by the cloak seemed to distort the air surrounding the Gundam, creating mirror-like waves that shimmered all around it.

The two beam bolts soared straight and true for half a second... only to abruptly changed direction and--unbelievably--curve away from the Tirador once they neared their target. One beam was driven downwards, kicking up dirt and rock as it burned a line into the ground. The other was sent straight up into the air. It continued along its new given path until it lost power and faded into non-existance.

"So long," Maria said with a laugh as she fired her third round at the cockpit of one Minuteman... then her last at the the other's.

Her clip emptied, Maria activated her cloak once again, spun on her heels and made a bee-line for the edge of the combat area. With her position compromised, it would be most unwise to continue fighting. These American footsoldiers were no problem, but once Ryuusei and Fernando caught up to her...

No, it was wiser to retreat to fight another day. Though it irritated her to no end that she hadn't been able to kill either of her old rivals.

If anything, this encounter had made her painfully aware that she would need to alter her combat strategy for future operations...

[Wingnut]

(OOC: The pilots would be focused on the attacking the Gundam rather than watching their own transport plane so I didn't bring it up when I was in control of them.)

The two Minutemen that were still standing were shocked to see their beams curve away harmlessly, however they didn't have time to focus again on the battle before the rounds fired by the Tirador's weapon plunged into both cockpits, killing the pilots and causing their mobile suits to collapse in a heap.

The squad leader however was regaining consciousness and opened his eyes just in time to see his comrades fall and the attacking Gundam retreat from the battle zone.

"Smith! Barnes! Come in! Respond damn it!" However the only thing that came over the radio was static.
"Sh!t. That bastard will pay for this." Checking his systems the leader found his suit to be still functional and managed to get it to stand up.

He also found something that could allow him to take revenge for his fallen wingmen, as well as those on the transport that went down: A reasonably clear image of the Gundam that attacked him taken by the combat camera system used to verify enemy kills on the battlefield.

'Yes! If I send this image to the top brass, and maybe even the press, that pilot will have nowhere to hide.'


(OOC: And with that, I guess we can close this thread now.)