A Night at the Mausoleum, Redux
A rowdy scene presents itself in the startup area, as over forty different pilots and their support crews mingle with friends, relatives, teammates and strangers. The general atmosphere is one of a festive good time, though there is the occasional glare and standoffishness between pilots from The Guild or Vanguard Horizon.
Lachesis perches atop the Masurao, nursing an evil mood, clutching a half empty bottle of Jim Beam in her arms. Below, several unconscious pilots and spilled cans of paint testify to her vigilance, and a number of broken bottles near the bodies testify to her aim.
Nearby, Giacomo and Cielo are sitting at the bar together, toasting glasses of red wine to each other as a news reporter takes pictures. They are both smiling forced smiles at each other, with beads of sweat on their foreheads. Giacomo fingers the trigger of large automatic pistol stuck into the back of his pants, while Cielo fiddles with a large knife held behind her back. Both manage to give out the appearance of good cheer and friendship, at least from the waist up, though each one stares at the other, afraid to blink lest they recieve a knife or a bullet in the back… or in the front.
—
“Dammit… I knew bringing this in here was a bad idea.” Joseph struggles at the end of the line dangling from the cockpit of the Red Frame, his foot entangled in the cable and keeping him hanging head down. Normally this would be a problem, but Jospeh has brought the Red Frame’s power loader in as well, and as a result, the cable is nowhere near long enough to reach the floor.
“Hey, a little help here, please? Come on, stop playing around!”
Unfortunately, the only reply he recieves is a giggle and another stinging pain in his buttocks as Kenji squeezes off another shot with his airsoft gun from a catwalk nearby.
“I really, really hate you…!”
—
“Ha!” Yuri smirks as he looks at the bay next to his, and notes the much smaller Regnant in MS mode. “Tiny mobile armor won’t be much of a threat to YURI!”
“Ha, yourself. Speaking of tiny…” A sarcastic voice insinuates itself into Yuri’s eardrums, and he turns to glare at the bay next to his, holding the much, much taller Neue Ziel II.
“What’s that you said? Oh right, something about how a tiny mobile armor won’t be much threat to Elric~” Elric is sitting on one of the Neue Ziel II’s claw arms, safely out of reach… or so he hopes, at least. The sheer height of the Neue Ziel has thus far saved him from any pranks, but he’s having some of the same problems as Joseph: unable to get down to join the fun. However, as he notices a dinosaur with a large bazooka sticking out of it’s head lunge through the floorboards and swallow Sizwe with a single gulp, he thinks that perhaps staying put may not be so bad after all.
A second ratken T-Rex erupts through the floor in front of Yuri, but before it can do more than begin to open it’s mouth, he smashes it right between the eyes with a massive fist, and begins to drag it to a nearby barbecue pit.
—
“…and here’s another one of my vacation slides.” Arkady turns the crank on his projector, popping up a picture taken from the front seat of a car. Chris is obviously the driver (and the one taking the picture), and he’s giving a big thumbs up, which is strange, since the bottom of the Grand Canyon can be seen, reflected in his sunglasses. Berrik, Andrew and Marcus are frantically trying to undo their seatbelts in the background with a look of sheer terror on their faces, for some reason or another. Odd
Beowulf, Elron, and Nobu all nod almost overly enthusiastically, with wide smiles on their faces… and looks of desperation in their eyes, for Arkady is tossing the remote for the Claymores strapped to their chairs up and down in the hand he’s not using to turn the crank.
—
“PILOTS, TO YOUR SUITS. REPEAT, PILOTS TO YOUR SUITS.” A loud clangor echoes throughout the area as flashing red strobe lights deploy from armored boxes on the cieling. One explodes in a shower of plexiglass as Lachesis flings a bottle through it in a perfect spiral, but there are more than enough to alert everyone in the area that combat will commence shortly. With many a grumble (and secret relief in a few cases), the various pilots all head back to their suits, hastily donning helmets, rebuttoning jackets, and entering their cockpits. No sooner do they do this then the walls blow out all around them, the air pressure scattering screaming pit crews into the void of space, the air pressure serving to separate the various mobile suits over a fairly large area as they spread apart.
A voice comes over the radio, then. “Right… well, enough playing around. You’re here to battle it out for supreme rulership of the uni- gahgghgk!” The sound of punches comes over the radio, and a female voice replaces it, sounding brisk, businesslike, and sporting a faint New York accent. “Right, then… combat will begin in ten seconds. Mark!”
Lights begin to flash about the area, and every pilot clutches the controls of their mobile suits, biting their lips as they survey the competition. Guns large and small drift to bear on likely targets, tension seeming to fill the void of space like a knife.
Then, a trio of green flares blasts outwards from a launcher and expands, forming a glowing sphere.
Beam fire immediately fills the area, massive blasts erupting from almost ten different mobile suits, crisscrossing the area in a massive wave of death and destruction. However, unlike what might be expected, the majority of the combatants are watching out for this, and only the Blue Destiny Unit 2, Heavyarms, Stiletto N, and Xeku Drei are caught off guard, twisting and turning within the beam fire as their forms erode away. Elric smirks within his barrier, safe from the massive barrages sailing across the battlefield, as do Cielo and Maximillian. The surprise from the initial opening passes, and suddenly, every remaining mobile weapon springs into motion, seeking out a target.
38 Remaining
“Guild, to me!” Cielo waves one of the Seravee’s bazookas above her mobile suit as Guild pilots begin to fall into formation. Nearby, Giacomo is busy doing the same, gestulating wildly with his beam rifles, the better trained Vanguard Horizon pilots falling in much quicker.
“Alright then… Vanguard Horizon, let’s do it!”
The two teams rush towards one another, meeting with a massive explosion as missiles and beam fire meet at point blank range. The various mobile suits quickly fly away from the engagement, settling off into a series of smaller brawls and duels, though the initial clash isn’t without casualties– the Kartikay, Shogun, Akatsuki, and Gold Frame all drift through space, bearing multiple scars and burns from missile, beam, saber, and simple blunt impact. The Sinanju is caught in the middle as well, a (mostly) innocent bystander, and it’s reactor detonates shortly afterwards, the blast consuming the five mobile suits in a small conflagration that reflects the larger battle raging around them.
Sizwe smirks as he sets up on a nearby asteroid, about a kilometer from the battle, and begins putting his atomic bazooka together. A missing leg and several dents and scrapes testify to the difficulty he had escaping the immediate battle area. With this, he’ll be able to eliminate virtually all of the competition in a single massive blow, and victory will be his once and for all.
Unfortunately, his ambitions are not quite realized without interruption, as the Zeta II and Gerbera Tetra both manage to break away from the battle in his direction, and notice him setting up. The two in turn are pounced upon by Alessio and Kain, and as he spots the Tallgeese III’s mega cannon beginning to aim in his direction, Sizwe panics and fires the bazooka at a nearby asteroid instead of the battle. The resulting explosion incinerates all five mobile suits, as well as the unfortunate Blue Frame, which had been hiding behind the asteroid.
27 Remaining
In another part of the battlefield, the Throne Drei, Throne Eins, and Throne Varanus are all hard pressed by the Super Strike E, which lays down an amazing barrage of fire from it’s cannons as beams and bullets large and small hail forth, slamming into the asteroid behind the three mobile suits like rain, sending a wave of dust and rocks into the air. As they reach the edge of the rock, the three mobile suits split apart, Angela headed one way, Stella and Dusan the other.
Turning her mobile suit suddenly, Angela shifts her angle, headed right back towards the Super Strike E, guns blazing. Jack frowns as a number of beams slam into his mobile suit, bringing it up short, and quickly slams on reverse thrusters, suddenly detatching both of his large beam cannons into Angela’s path. Angela can’t stop her mobile suit colliding with the cannons, but they do little damage against the GN Particle enhanced armor of the Throne Varanus… which is why a second later, he fires his beam rifles into the cannons, causing a massive explosion which sends the Varanus flying.
A giant red beam launches out of the cloud, and Jack curses as he frantically yanks the controls, losing the Super Strike E’s left arm and part of the backpack as he hastily evades. The beam follows his mobile suit, however, and as he clears the cloud from the explosion of his cannons, he can see the source of the blast: the Throne Ein’s mega launcher, with the Throne Drei connected to it by a cable.
“Tch… persistent!” Jack yanks one of his Laevateinn blades from it’s recharge rack and flings it like a giant boomerang, the beam edge slashing into the mega launcher and disabling the beam, just as it lops off one of his mobile suit’s legs. “Now then, how about thi-!”
A red shaft of light emerges from the Super Strike E’s chest, as the badly damaged Throne Varanus impales it. A second later, the two mobile suits are consumed in a mutual conflagration, a flash of propellant mingling with the more exotic mist of red GN Particles from the Varanus’s breached drive.
Stella and Dusan don’t even recieve a moment’s rest, however, as the Arche Gundam pounces, sending all of it’s GN Fangs zipping through the air and enmeshing the two mobile suits in a lethal web of light, that, all too soon, causes a second cloud of red particles to join the first one, the Eins exploding while the Drei is knocked away with heavy damage, drifting deeper into the battlefield as Stella curses and starts yanking out and resetting circuit boards inside her darkened cockpit.
“Heh… all too easy.”
Darius smirks as he surveys the wreckage of the mobile suits in front of him, but something tells him to move, and fast… and that’s all that saves his life as the Master Gundam’s cloth sails through the space where the Arche was.
“No…! Not you, not now!” Spinning the Arche to face his opponent, Frenzy frantically draws his sword, recalling his Fangs as the Master Gundam lunges towards him, unleashing a ferocious beating upon his mobile suit. Though the punches don’t do much more than dent his enhanced armor, Darius is bounced around in his cockpit like a ping-pong ball, though he eventually manages to shake the Master Gundam off, sending it flying back a few meters, where it floats in front of him, making a come-hither gesture.
“Why, you lousy…!” The Arche’s sword licks out like lightning, with deadly aim… and stops dead, as Goki catches it between two of the Master’s fingers.
“Now, now, now… that’s no way to act. Show some respect for your elders, you piece of Guild trash! I’ve been waiting for this!”
Darius yanks back on the sword, but to his surprise, it’s stuck– he can’t get it away from Goki’s iron grip.
“Well, if you really want it that badly, then here’s the bill.” A slot in the sword opens and Darius fires the beam gun hidden within, damaging one of the Master’s wings and causing Goki to release the sword. Before Darius can withdraw it entirely, however, Goki quickly wraps his cloth about the sword and tugs, and it simply flies apart.
Darius draws back as fast as he can, sweating as he barely dodges a fist that detatches from the Master’s left hand on a glowing wire, which retracts and locks into place.
“Alright, fine, then. Catch THIS! Go, fangs!”
The Master’s wings flare with light as Goki takes off, the Master almost seeming to blur as the Fangs pursue it, firing and slicing at Darius’s command. The weapons are fast, fast indeed… but Goki is faster, the Master’s arm defining a circle, a glowing purple series of glyphs appearing. A number of tiny Master Gundams suddenly erupt from seemingly nowhere, rush out, and smash every single one of the Fangs to pieces.
“No… no way, that’s impossible! How could he destroy every one of my Fangs instantaneously!”
Darius stares as the Master Gundam in disbelief. This disbelief doesn’t last long, as Goki rushes right at his mobile suit without a further word, the right hand of the Master glowing purple. As his Darkness Finger slams into the cockpit of the Arche, however, a premonition of danger comes over him, just in time to leap backwards as a brilliant shaft of energy envelopes the red mobile suit, leaving not a trace behind. Looking upwards, his eyes narrow as they focus on the Black Wing, a few particles of energy still leaking from the muzzle of it’s beam rifle.
Inside the cockpit, Dmitri barely has an expression on his face at all, concentrating on the data pouring through his mind from the Zero System.
“Target confirmed: Master Gundam. Affiliation: Vanguard Horizon. Commence destruction.”
Thrusters flare as the Black Wing hurls itself forward, a scrolling patina of data reflected in Dmitri’s pupils as his twin buster rifle flares with light once again. Goki is quick to react, dodging to the side, and then thrusting down and away as the beam trasverses to follow him, a wall of deadly light eating away at rocks behind him. As the beam slows and stops, he lunges towards his opponent, who discards his cannon and draws a beam saber, seeming to invite attack.
“Hah,there’s no way you can beat me in close combat!”
The Black Wing nods, imitating Goki’s reaction.
“Your analysis is correct. The Black Wing cannot defeat the Master Gundam in single combat.”
“Then why are you–”
White hot bands of metal suddenly thrust through the rock behind Goki and whip around the Master Gundam, as Epyon Diablos reveals itself, The cables contract, and blisters begin to raise on Goki’s skin as the heat rods increase their temperature.
“You think that will do it…!?” A golden glow spreads across the Master’s body and it flexes it’s arms, exploding the heat rods away from it just as the drilled tips probe towards the cockpit hatch, and Dmitri’s murderous beam saber strike slashes away one of the Master’s arms even as Goki pulls away. Dmitri’s other beam saber swings with the speed of a striking snake, but Goki is just as fast, and he catches the beam saber in the Master’s other hand, even as the nerves of his right arm scream in pain, and the Black Wing is knocked away by a blizzard of kicks, slamming into it one after another as fast as a gatling gun. Not wasting even a moment, Goki spins and slams his glowing hand forward as the Epyon’s beam sword grazes the Master’s face, Alex reacting almost at the same time. Goki is just a little faster, even against the combined might of the Zero and Epyon systems, and his glowing fist sends purple energy slamming through Epyon’s chest. Turning with frantic speed, he tries to withdraw his hand– but the Epyon’s grabbed it! Even as Alex died, the link between Epyon and Zero operated, and he can’t escape before the Black Wing’s saber slams into his back,
Dmitri pulls back hastily as the Master and Epyon explode, and takes a breather as his eyes scan the battlefield, looking for his next target.
22 Remaining
Elsewhere, Seravee, the Regnant, Dynames, and Astraea all furiously exchange shots, beam fire flying out in every direction. The three mobile suits are concentrating their fire on Cielo, and only his GN Field has protected him thus far.
“Tch… no good, I’ve been separated from the others!”
The Seravee pulses it’s GN Field in time with it’s shots, bobbing up to evade some of the Regnant’s fangs, and sending blast after blast downrange at Cielo’s adversaries, pink energy splashing off of Maximillian’s GN Field.
“This isn’t as hard as I thought… I guess taking on a purely ranged mobile suit with the Regnant is an easy fight.”
The Regnant rushes forward once more, guns blazing, and Cielo returns fire, retreating, but then finds herself stopped– the Mercurius Shuivan’s managed to sneak up on her and deploy it’s defensor net. Unfortunately, before the red mobile suit’s pilot can take advantage of his position, he’s jumped by the Deathscythe and the F-91 Overdrive, and he hastily recalls his defensors to protect himself, the group of three moving away.
This small interruption, however, has let Maximillan get just a little too close to Cielo, and the Regnant’s tasers whip out and deploy, electricity coursing through the Seravee’s body as he reels his prey in.
“Hah, I’ve got you now… alright, it’s agreed. You two finish him off, and then we’re done for now.”
Maximillan clutches the Seravee almost gently between the Regnant’s claws,as he transforms to mobile suit mode, continuing to electrocute Cielo. However, it seems Cielo isn’t out just yet, as the Seravee jettisons it’s bazookas and reaches out to grab the Regnant’s arms, it’s leg-mounted subarms extending next to grab the body.
“What…?”
Even as electricity courses through her body, Cielo manages a grin as she taps several keys inside her cockpit.
“Just what I was waiting for… Trans-Am! SERAPHIM!”
A brilliant red glow covers the Seravee’s body as the heavy weapons parts detatch, and Maximillan curses as he notices the two cannons on top of Seravee’s body suddenly moving… and pulling back?
The face on the back of Seravee’s body detatches, the arms and legs of the Seraphim rotating out and locking into place. Cielo’s eyes glow yellow-orange as he finishes transforming, and the Dynames and Astraea rush towards him with murderous intent, hoping to finish him off while he remains occupied.
This, unfortunately, is not to be.
“Trial System!”
A red X flashes from the Seraphim, followed by a rippling, almost invisible field that lashes outwards. Maximillian curses as his screen goes dark, and the Seraphim rises upwards as the Dynames and Astraea, now nothing more than dead weight with their systems shut down, smash into the Regnant.
“You underestimated me. Time for you to pay the price.”
Cielo pronounces this almost calmly, pointing both of the Seraphim’s hands at the Regnant as they transform back into beam cannons. Maximillian curses and pounds the GN Field control key, but his mobile armor remains nonresponsive, and several large blasts of pink light smash through the Dynames, Astraea, and Regnant seconds later, tearing all three mobile suits apart as their GN Drives burst. The Seravee launches backwards as the beams strike, but before Cielo can redock, a massive fusilade of beams smashes into it, the Psyco Mk II exploding out of the wreckage of a destroyed Magellan and slamming it’s fist into the Seraphim, sending it flying.
“YURI WILL CRUSH YOU!”
Quickly shaking off the impact, Cielo dances his fingers across the controls and sends the Seraphim into a wild array of evasive maneuvers, Yuri’s laughing a constant irritation over the radio.
As Trans-Am dissipates, things begin to look grim, but then beam fire smashes into the Psyco Mk II from behind, obliterating one arm.
“Cielo! I’ll cover you!” Nero’s Gaia Gear Beta, damaged, but still operational, rushes towards the fight in mobile armor mode, unleashing a hail of needle missiles into the Psyco Mk II’s back. Yuri’s response is a series of roared unprintabilities as he spins to face his new opponent, guns blazing. Nero’s barrier system soaks up the punishment with no trouble at all, and he quickly transforms to mobile suit mode, rushing closer to form up with Cielo.
“He’s a big one, alright… you seem to finally have found a fatter mobile suit than the Seravee.”
“Oh, shut up. Let’s do this already– it’ll take a few minutes for my particles to recharge.”
The two mobile suits rush forwards, beam sabers at the ready, and Yuri eagerly obliges them, sending out wave after wave of beam fire that smashes into Nero’s barrier, the rocks around them, and even the wreckage of the Regnant. None of them manages to cause any significant harm, but they do restrict Nero and Cielo’s movements– which is just what Yuri wanted. Two giant purple fists detatch from the Psyco Mk II’s arms and rocket away, beam sabers extending. With a curse, Nero pulls away as they both chase him, and Cielo takes the opportunity to rush towards the Mk II and up it’s body, transforming the Seraphim’s hands into beam cannons again as she reaches the head.
“Take THIS!”
“Cielo, no, wait, it has a beam cannon in–”
Beam fire spews forth from the Psyco’s head and smashes into the Seravee, knocking it backwards as Cielo’s own blasts go wide. A second later, the chest mounted scattering beam cannons fire, slamming into the Seravee over and over and perforating multiple times. The Seravee swells from within as it’s GN Drive goes critical, and detonates, the explosion washing over the Psyco Mk II, but doing no real harm.
“…it’s head…”
Nero grimaces as he pulls back, slashing one of the wired fists closing in on him with a beam saber, and barely evading the other one. As the cloud clears, it’s obvious the Psyco’s taken some damage, but nothing too significant– the chest beam cannons are charred and cracked, and there’s some armor damage, but the giant purple behemoth is obviously still kicking.
Or, at least it is until it’s chest bulges out and a massive beam emerges, the Black Wing flying out of the explosion at high speed. Unnoticed by Nero, the head detatches from the mobile armor and flies away, quickly concealing itself in nearby debris. Before he can really hide that well, however, Yuri manages to bump right into the Griepe, which had been concealing itself in that same debris, and before he can do more than spin the Mk’s head around, a beam lance buries itself in the head, another explosion lighting up that corner of the battlefield.
“Crap, crap, crap…!” Hibiki scrambles to get away from his former hiding spot before he draws too much attention, but a pair of red beams smash into his mobile suit’s backpack, penetrating to the reactor and setting off another explosion. A twin buster rifle blast tears through the debris next, but the hidden attacker has already moved on, transforming to MA mode and speeding away.
Nero decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and launches a parting shot at the Black Wing, transforming to mobile armor mode and heading away to seek easier prey.
16 Remaining
Nearby, Beowulf grins as his tentacles finish picking apart the last of the strugging Deathscythe, carefully transferring the head to an empty spike welded onto his mobile suit. The head of the Mercurius Shuivan is present as well, but unfortunately, instead of the F-91 Overdrive’s head, there’s a gaping hole– the Deathscythe, in it’s struggles, managed to fire it’s buster shield into the Rafflessia, and while Beowulf managed to tear his foe apart in revenge, the hit did it’s damage, and his barrier system is offline.
A short distance away, Elric dodges another swing from the massive sword wielded by the Red Frame, frowing in concentration.
“Sheesh… he sure handles that thing well for it’s size.” Getting tired of the game, he waits for a thrust, then parries with a giant beam saber, rushing the Neue Ziel along the blade in a trail of sparks, before slamming a claw arm into the Red Frame and activating the beam saber, spitting the unfortunate pilot like a bug, then pulling back and flinging the Red Frame away before it explodes.
Another explosion surprises Elric, however, as the Gaia Gear Beta, with the Black Wing in hot pursuit, takes a shot at the Rafflessia, hoping to mix himself up in the battle and get away. The blast sears through two of Beowulf’s petal binders and, worse, the heads he’s collected, something that doesn’t help Beowulf’s mood any. Dozens of tentacles lash outwards and snag the Gaia Gear Beta, wrapping it up like a Christmas present as it’s reeled slowly towards some of the Rafflessia’s still operational weapons.
An orange ball of energy smashes into and through the red hull of the Rafflessia Mira, the reactors detonating and immolating Beowulf and Nero before either has time to react, and the Masurao Susanowo erupts through the explosion and slams into the Black Wing, a brilliant red glow covering Lachesis’s mobile suit as she tears into her opponent. Even with the Zero System, Dmitri is surprised by this sudden turn of events, and the Black Wing’s twin buster rifle goes flying, along with an arm and a wing, as he frantically attempts to defend himself. But it proves no use– cumulative battle damage, fatigue, and the Masurao’s lightning speed prove too much to handle, and Lachesis smashes the Black Wing in half with a single massive blow, speeding away to seek new opponents before her Trans-Am runs out.
The Neue Ziel turns to regard a nearby chunk of rock as the Hi-Nu steps into view above it, shield and bazooka in hand.
No words are exchanged between the two newtypes before they throw themselves at each other, and perhaps none are needed. At that time, that place, their actions seem perfectly natural, the continuation of a dance from long ago.
Bazooka fire slams accurately into the Neue Ziel II’s shoulders, disabling it’s I-fields, even as a beam smashes the Hi-Nu’s left leg. The two mobile weapons pass each other half a dozen times, before the Hi-Nu’s fin funnels spring from their recharge racks, sending volleys of beam fire stippling across the Neue Ziel’s armor, a few small explosions in their wake.
Elric’s funnels spring from their racks in turn as he dives towards his opponent again. This time, a bazooka shot slams into one of his claw arms, smashing it into uselessness.
“Not bad!”
The Neue Ziel II’s funnels rush forwards, even as the Hi-Nu’s fin funnels do, and each one smashes into it’s counterpart, eradicating it’s counterpart.
“However…!”
The Hi-Nu somersaults over the top of the Neue Ziel, pelting it with bazooka fire, and Elric discharges his missiles as the Hi-Nu flies behind him, blowing away Arkady’s shield and bazooka. Spinning around, a beam saber ignites just in time to catch the Hi-Nu’s, vulcan fire smashing outwards to crater Arkady’s main cameras.
“Even so!” Elric clubs the Hi-Nu with the damaged claw arm, again and again, smashing armor and breaking limbs, but he doesn’t get more than a few hits in before it’s sliced into several pieces by Arkady’s beam saber, even as his own removes the Hi-Nu’s heavily damaged left arm.
The two Newtypes lunge at each other again at almost exactly the same instance, beam sabers penetrating armor and cockpits, and a gigantic explosion obscures both as they simultaneously strike home.
The last pilots meet near the center of the Mausoleum, each bearing some signs of the battle. The Masurao’s Trans-Am has run out, while Strike Freedom is missing a beam rifle and one of it’s legs. Saviour and 00 are in surpisingly good shape– only a few dents, while the Throne Drei, concealed in some debris nearby, is a floating wreck, barely operational. The Reborn is badly damaged too, it’s head and one hand missing.
Lachesis lunges towards the Reborn, as does Giacomo, and Kenji smirks, saying only two words: “Trans-Am!” The Reborn lunges forward with lightning speed, but somehow, Lachesis manages to parry the beam saber blow, though the Masurao is knocked away. Kenji releases every single remaining Fang, and they home in on the Strike Freedom, which goes into an amazing display of Voiture Lumiere-fueled maneuvers, beam rifle, railguns, and chest cannon blazing as each one is taken out. Even so, two strikes home, removing part of his backpack and badly damaging most of his remaining weapons.
Kenji smirks as he takes aim, but before he can fire, beam blasts slam into the back of the Reborn from the 00 and the Saviour, and he spins around to deal with them, firing a blast from his mega launcher that strips away one of the Saviour’s wings and sends Elron into hasty evasive maneuvers. In return, however, Elron flings one of his GN Swords into one of Kenji’s GN Drives as Lachesis slams her sword into the other, and Kenji can do nothing but curse as his suddenly unbalanced Twin Drive System shuts down, a second blast from the Saviour slamming into him and finishing him off.
Lachesis rushes onwards, alarms on her console sounding as a digital counter counts down the seconds before complete particle depletion, and slams her GN Sword into the Saviour, severing the cockpit block, the Masurao shutting down moments later, the screens inside going black.
Seeing her chance, Stellar rushes out from her hiding spot, the badly damaged Throne Drei firing a barrage of beams from it’s arm mounted beam gun, which ravage the defenseless Masurao, sending it drifting away as shot after shot slams into it, until finally it explodes, releasing a tiny mist of particles. Her victory is short lived, however, as a beam rifle blast from Giacomo smashes into the Throne Drei, tipping it’s badly damaged systems over the edge and causing a much larger explosion of particles.
“Guess it’s just you and me now.”
Giacomo brings his beam rifle to bear on the 00 as it rushes towards him, remaining GN Sword at the ready, and pulls the trigger, sending half a dozen shots at the speeding mobile suit, each aimed at a vital point. However, the 00’s GN Drives rotate forwards and emit a wash of particles in front of the mobile suit, and the beams deflect away, dealing no damage.
“Oh…? Nice trick. Well, guess we’re finishing this the old fashioned way, then!” A seed appears within Giacomo’s mind and bursts, and the Strike Freedom lunges forward with a beam saber, Elron barely dodging in time. Giacomo flies away in a wide arc, even as Elron pulls away in turn, aiming the 00 at the Strike Freedom like a bullet.
“Well, it’s now or never… TRANS-AM!”
The 00 leaps forward, warning messages beginning to pop up on the screens already, and Giacomo lunges forward in turn, the belly cannon of Strike Freedom blazing forth. Elron doesn’t even try to dodge, the blast spilling aside from his GN Sword, eroding it even as he flies up the beam, and Giacomo’s sword lashes out to sever a GN Drive. With the last few seconds of operational time remaining to him, Elron slams his GN Sword directly through the cannon and into Strike Freedom’s reactor, both mobile suits shutting down as energy crackles over their service.
“Good job, kid… I think you’ll go f–”
A last explosion lights up the eternal night of the Mausoleum, before all is silent once more.
Outcome
1. 00 Gundam
2. Strike Freedom
3. Throne Drei
4. Masurao Susanowo
5. Saviour Gundam