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

[Wedge14]

THIRD GUNDAM FIGHT
ROUND 3, FIGHT 4
NEO JAPAN vs. NEO SPAIN

- Appalachian Mountains, Pennsylvania -


December 11th


Mid afternoon, the sun was shining but it was a cruel joke. It was rather painfully cold today. Sharp winds gusting throughout the area created an eerie whistling noise.

But the whistling fell short. Once again the immediate area was packed with spectators. Hundreds of mini flags where handed out to members of the audience. It wasn't hard to spot fans of Neo Japan or Neo Spain, one would just have to look to see what flag was in the person's hand.

Aboard his official announcing snowmobile wearing his snow suit the announcer put his chattering teeth and his purple lips near his microphone.

"l..ll ll lll ladies and gentle men! b..b b bbb boys and girls! Let's all bundle together for this upcoming match! Here we have Neo Japan's pride and joy Ryusei Urameshi and Gundam Ultima!!!"

There was a loud cry of excitement as the Neo Japanese cheered along with the anime and manga fans who decided that the Neo Japanese entrant was the best because he was 'kawai'.

"And his opponent the Charismatic Neo Spaniard Juan Fernando Alvarez Santiago De Compotella III and his Gundam Don Quixote!"

The cry for the Neo Spaniard and his gundam wasn't augmented like the Neo Japanese combatant's fans, but was just as loud. The crowd was split down the middle with equal amount of fans for both combatants.

[Cardi Doorl]

The Gundam Don Quixote's cape billowed in the winds of the Appalachians as it stepped into the combat area. Juan Fernando Alvarez Santiago de Compostela III gave a courteous wave to the crowds before bowing respectfully to the booth that had been erected in the middle of the Spanish side of the audience. In that booth was none other than Princess Constanza, once again come to view her nation's representative in combat.

"Juan, the Princess is watching your match again," murmured Sancho as the mechanical crew finished preparations, "So don't you dare mess this up like you did back in the Grand Canyon."

"I will not allow myself to lose, dear friend," replied Fernando, fitting himself into the mobile trace suit, "You remember I did slay a dragon, too."

"That heavy fighter from Neo Norway? You barely squeaked out a win, Juan. Had you not use your special mode at just the right moment, he would've taken your head."

"No need to worry, dear Sancho, for the Princess is watching. I cannot lose when I fight for a maiden's honor."

"You realize the Princess is no maiden, yes?" groaned Sancho, "She's been married for twenty years now."

"Oh, but the principle-"

"We're late as it is, Juan. Let's get going.

Juan squared his shoulders. After checking that his shield was affixed to his left forearm, he gripped the hilt of his Tizona and waited in a tall, noble posture.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

(OOC: I'm Kawai?! My image has been destroyed.)

IC: As the Ultima Gundam walked towards the area that it was going to start the fight from Ryusei sees the other Gundam already there, 'A cape? I wonder if it actually does anything or is just there to make the unit look cool or something. I guess I'll find out but it could get in the way of the fight.' He thinks to himself before getting into his fighting stance and looking at the other unit and saying to the referee that he is ready and waits for the fight to start.

[Wingnut]

(OOC: I'm Kawai?! My image has been destroyed.)

(OOC: Welcome to the horrifying world of the crazed fangirl.)

After making one last check on the balancer units to make sure they would keep his unit stable in the mountain slopes, the referee shouted "GUNDAM FIGHT... RRRREADY... GO!"

[Strike Zero]

Despite the fact that the sun had never shone brighter, it was still as cold as it could possibly be. Harsh, icy winds whipped through the Appalachian mountain range, casting snow everywhere in a flurry and generating a intense whistling as they passed across the peaks.

It was enough to mask the low thumping crunching and grinding that resulted of metal feet leaving their impression in the ground and flattening any unfortunate plant growth that happened to be in their path.

The monstrous mobile suit that plodded its way in the direction of the arena seemed to be out of place, darkening the mountain with its appearance. Its form was made even more unusual by the long, tapered cloak flowing about its form. Because of it, the only part of the mobile suit itself that was readily visible was the head, but even that alone was enough to give any onlooker chills. A single, fiery red eye peered out from behind its shaped iron mask. The other eye—if there was even one to be found there—was covered by a visor built in with what appeared to be a large camera lens, and its forehead was decorated with a headpiece that was in the shape of half a "V".

The mobile suit came to an abrupt halt at edge of a ridge. It lowered itself, dropping to one knee with a thud. Then it's cloak flared as the mobile suit pulled two large metal objects from beneath it. With one swift motion, it brought the two objects together and they combined to form a large rifle, complete with scope and forward stabilizing mounts.

The machine then went to work attaching a hose from the compressed-air system mounted on its back to a port on the rifle's firing mechanism. Then it firmly set the rifle on the ground. As it did so, iron steaks built into the mounts fired into the ground, securing the weapon firmly in position.

Its weapon prepared, the mobile suit slid into a prone position and pressed the butt of the rifle into its shoulder. The twin scopes mounted on the rifle and its head worked in unison to provide its pilot with a crystal clear view of whatever target they were set on. The scopes adjusted themselves once… twice… until they had reached their maximum distance of twenty kilometers.

Inside the iron carapace of the Gundam Tirador, Maria smiled as Neo-Japan's Gundam Ultima and Neo-Spain's Gundam Don Quixote appeared in her sights. The two were standing several meters apart from each other, preparing to engage in their third match up.

Unfortunately for them… neither fighter was going to emerge from this battle victorious.

Maria's piercing blue eyes seemed to shine as she trained the rifle's crosshair over the Gundam Ultima's head. "Hello again, Ryusei…" she whispered. "You're looking confident as ever." Though of course it was impossible to determine his expression just by looking at the Gundam's exterior, she could tell from the way he carried himself, staring down his opponent.

Maria remembered Ryusei Urameshi well… and the match they had fought…

The Neo-Mexican brushed a dark lock of hair from her face. Slowly, she moved her sights to the right until her aim was centered on the Gundam Don Quixote. She hadn't forgotten Juan of Neo-Spain either.

Both of these fighters she had fought prior to the finals… and both of them had defeated her.

However… things were going to be a little different this time around.

"Fantasma, activate."

The light inside the cockpit darkened. As the referee gave the signal to begin, the color of the Gundam Tirador's cloak began to change. No… not exactly the color… the cloak was actually beginning to turn invisible, and with it the Gundam Tirador itself. The mobile suit shifted from opaque to transparent, and within a few seconds, the only portion of the mobile suit that was visible was the rifle and the Gundam's strange right eye peering out from behind its absolute cover.

The Fantasma cloak was something the Neo-Mexican R&D division had just completed… and Maria intended to make full use of it. With the power of her Centella rifle, she could kill either of them at any time she wanted… but now wasn't the time. She would let them fight it out for a bit. It was simply a matter of waiting for the right moment...

[Cardi Doorl]

Fernando drew his Tizona in a simple, yet elegant, sweep. The blade heated as he assumed a stance with a two-handed grip on the weapon.

Then, without a word, Fernando proceeded to advance at the Gundam Ultima at a steady run. The Tizona was held low, with the hilt at hip-level.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Once he sees the other unit start to move towards him with it's sword, Ryusei grabs both of the heat knifes and activates them and moves his arms up to around his torso with the right arm above and slightly behind the left with both blades pointed down and then gets ready to move as fast as he can as waits for the other unit to make the first move so that he can try to gauge it's speed.

[Cardi Doorl]

Fernando saw Ryusei prepare himself. It was an impressive stance, actually. This other knight would certainly prove quite a match, if his perfect form was any indication.

They were close now. Fernando lashed out with the Tizona with an upward diagonal stroke.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryusei sees the other Gundam attack him and moves both heat knives to block the sword, although the left heat knife takes some heavy damage from the much larger sword and begins to crack, Ryusei then steps to the side to get away from where the sword was going towards, before kicking at the other unit with the left leg and pulling the heat knives away from the sword to allow better movement.

[Cardi Doorl]

Oh, the Japanese knight was swift, deflecting the Tizona like that. The left-leg kick came an eyeblink later, soundly striking the Gundam Don Quixote's torso. The Spanish Gundam was airborne for a moment as the kick launched it a ways, but Fernando was quick to land in a roll, allowing him to recover quickly.

"The Japanese knight has impressive reflexes," mused Fernando aloud as he got back to his feet. This time, however, he opted to get into a stance with his Tizona held out with one hand while the left hand reached back behind the Gundam's hip.

"I implore you, friend," he called out, "It's your turn now! Try your best!"

[RGM-79G GM Command]

"Heh, alright and that was a nice recovery. As long as this is a close range fight I think it should be a lot of fun. " Ryusei says while grinning and then puts the damaged heat knife away before placing the other one into the left hand and starts running at the other unit as it gets into it's own stance to wait for him to attack, and punches around the unit's left shoulder with the right hand while turning the fron of his torso to face the left to allow his punch to have slightly more range and use the force from that to make it hit a bit harder along with making it easier to block a counter attack from the sword with his remaining heat knife, although leaving him open at other areas.

"I hope we can get this fight to last a while, short fights are not long enough to start to enjoy them." He says to the other Gundam Fighter.

[Cardi Doorl]

As Ryusei's charging forward punch came, Fernando, in one, fluid motion, took a step back, drew his spare beam blade from the rear waist with his left arm, activated said blade, and swung out at the Ultima Gundam's outstretched arm.

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryusei sees the other Gundam avoid his attack while pulling out a new weapon and activating it before swinging it at the Ultima's right arm, Ryusei trys to pull the arm back away from the other unit while activating the thrusters to move away from the other unit, but it is too late and the arm is severed from the forearm down. Ryusei then grabs his right arm while yelling from the pain and the Ultima crashes to the ground since Ryusei lost his focus. "Dammit, I left myself open!" He yells before standing up after the pain subsides and then looks at his unit's right arm before he starts to run towards the other unit again. 'I'll need to be more careful from now on, can't let that happen again.'

[Strike Zero]

"My, my... they're really going at it, aren't they?"

Ryusei was being rather careless today, Maria observed. Not five minutes into the match, and he already lost an arm. Now would be as good a time as any to finish the Neo Japan fighter--distracted by pain and putting all of his remaining focus into the opponent in front of him.

But... where was the fun in that? A little torment would come first.

Maria moved the crosshairs of her scope away from the center of Ryusei's head... and up towards the mountainside above the two Gundam fighters. The mountains up there were notoriously unstable, so much so that rock sides were hardly considered a peculiarity.

Right now, they simply required... a little nudge.

"I certainly hope you boys are awake today." Maria said before taking a quick breath... and firing.

The shot sent a reverberating bang through the Gundam Tirador's frame. But to those watching the match from several kilometers away, the sound would have been indistinguishable from the whipping of wind and snow and the sound of battle generated by the two combating Gundams.

The high powered HEAMS round soared all twenty kilometers towards its intended target, smashing head-long into the mountain high above the arena. There was a small explosion of dirt as the shell buried itself into the rock--something that Maria doubted anyone would notice when there was battle going on right in front of them--followed shortly by half a dozen jagged boulders breaking free from the mountainside and tumbling down its slope, directly towards the two fighters.

The rocks weren't so big that they would destroy a Gundarium-armored machine such as the Ultima or Don Quixote... but as one could imagine, any fool who let plumetting rocks hit their mobile suit would be victim to some serious damage. Maria relished the thought as she watched the boulders plummet down towards their targets...

[Wingnut]

The referee was watching the battle as well he should when an unusual glint shown in one of the side monitors. 'That's odd. Was it the sun? No, that's in a different direction.'
Before he had time to ponder further what the glint could have been alarms started blaring in the cockpit that signaled incoming objects from above and to the rear.
"But the only thing behind me is the mountain. Wait, it can't be!"
But it was. Several large rock fragments were now falling directly towards him and the two Gundam fighters.

Thinking quickly the referee activated both his leg and backpack thrusters to move clear from the falling rock. Knowing that the fighters were still in the line of fire so to speak he opened a com channel to both fighters.

"Attention combatants! This is the referee. There are several large rock fragments are falling down the mountain and are heading your way! Be advised they could do serious damage if you were to be hit by one!"

[RGM-79G GM Command]

Ryusei hears the referee and then turns to look at where he was talking about before activating all the thrusters on the Ultima to boost back and way from the rocks. 'That's odd, we never got near them. Although I guess just about anything could have made them fall like that.' he thinks to himself before he starts firing the vulcan cannons at some of the rocks to destroy them so that even if they don't hit they won't be in the way later.

[Cardi Doorl]

OOC: Aw, it's no fun just evading the danger without incident

IC:
Fernando readied his two blades as the Japanese knight, now missing its right forearm, came back for another attack.

"I have no doubts as to your courage, bold-"

"Attention combatants!" cut in a voice, "This is the referee. There are several large rock fragments are falling down the mountain and are heading your way! Be advised they could do serious damage if you were to be hit by one!" At about the time this announcement was broadcast, the Gundam Ultima jumped away.

"What's thi-?" began Fernando, but, a fraction of a second after Ryusei retreated, a clump of large boulders knocked the Gundam Don Quixote down, sending the Spanish Gundam sprawling with its cape over its head.

"GAH!" howled Fernando as his mobile trace registered the pain. Despite the pain, however, he managed to get up into a kneeling position and face the next large rock that came his way. He brought his shield up, and the boulder plowed into it, shoving Fernando's Gundam to the ground once again.

Aching all over, especially on his ams, Fernando got back onto his feet. Almost as if to assure both his opponent and the crowd - and Princess Constanza - that he was still good to fight, Fernando spun both the Tizona and the beam fencing foil simultaneously as he assumed a two-sword fighting stance and put on his best smile.

[Strike Zero]

The Neo-Mexican allowed herself a low chuckle as the Gundam Don Quixote was knocked head over heels by one boulder. Ryusei, on the other hand, artfully dodged and laid waste to the ones that tumbled in his direction. Not soon after, the Gundam Don Quixote stood once more, his weapons held high.

"Not bad at all..." Maria mused. "Now, what to do next...?"

She eyed the mountainside through her scope once again. Common sense told her that pulling the same attack twice would arouse suspicion with the fighters, and especially the referee... but she couldn't help it. This was just too much fun. Besides, it wasn't like they would be able to stop her, anyway. She took aim this time at another cliff face--the one that the referee had ended up under when he had dodged the first time.

Two more pulls of the trigger, two more massive shells cut through the air towards their target. The shells landed in succession, creating two more bursts of dirt and rock.

Maria watched in rapt fascination as massive cracks began to form this time along the surface of the mountain. Within seconds it crumbled and pieces of rock broke free, more than double the amount of falling objects she had triggered before.

"Dodge that."

[Wingnut]

No sooner had he settled down into a new position and the fighters were ready to continue did two more small flashes appear on the monitor followed by the same alarms as before going off.
"What the hell?"
Again the referee tried to evade the falling rocks. 'This was no accident, someone is deliberately causing this. But who? And to what end?'
Reflecting on when he was studying the various fighters and their techniques in between matches a pattern came to his mind about what some fighters would do. They would lure their opponent by challenging them to a match and then taking them out before they knew what was happening.
'The same thing is happening here. Which means those lights are muzzle flashes from a sniper rifle.'

The referee continued to evade the rocks, but given the volume of falling debris he was not able to dodge them all.
Several pieces caught his left and then his right leg, bringing the Zebra down in a heap and the damage to the legs preventing the unit from standing again and leaving it front down in the Earth with only the head and arms able to move.
'If it is a sniper I'd better stay in the suit and let it take anything he might throw at me.'
((OOC: You are not killing my referee, Strike Zero.))

'I guess this match is a washout.'
The referee activated the support signal as he was in no position to move himself back to the hanger (Note: This does not mean that I am calling the American mobile suits. Ryusei and Fernando will have to get themselves out of this.) and turned on the PA system in his suit.

"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!"

[Cardi Doorl]

Match Result: No Contest