Learning The Ropes: Unintentionally (Max)

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] sounded Max within the cockpit of his Houndsoldier, hearing the onslaught of words from his opponent. Considering his current situation, he would have to sit tight and await his opponents maneuver. Could that Rev Raptor even stand up? Max almost chuckled though, for his opponent actually revealed the status of his Zoid, a standing that made Max confident he could still pull off a win. He could see the boosters activated, pondering how fast his opponent expected to go with damaged legs.

He then pondered another thing, maybe his opponent found hope of a better outcome by winging it with one last rush. As his missiles barreled towards their target, Max would watch carefully while wondering how the rookie intended on parrying the incoming threat. He watched as the guy charged at the missiles head first, and the only thought that came to mind was whether or not this kid was sane. The boy would hit the missiles dead-on with plasma blasts.

"Nyeh!?" questioned Max, not believing what he saw. How could someone so innexperienced in combat pull off such a clean shot? The odds weren't likely, especially in such an intense situation. Then again, it wasn't impossible. Max himself had experienced those situations where miracles were made in a tight spot and pulled him through a situation some might have seen as impossible.

But alas, he couldn't worry about that. Now he had to deal with the situation at hand, for the boy's maneuver not only saved him from the missiles, but effectively blinded Max with a screen of smoke. Max, however, still had his Zoid locked onto the Rev Raptor's position for he was aiming at it during its mad charge. He would use the Houndsoldier's radar system to locate his opponent's position, wondering if he changed position from the charge.

The houndsoldier's paws would move, shifting the zoid sideways in a circle until it aligned with the positioning of the Rev Raptor in accordance to the radar reading. Now all Max had to worry about was height, which wasn't really a problem considering the impacts from missiles could do a decent deal of damage even without a dead on hit. Turquoise irises gleamed as they focused sharply in the direction of their target.

Max had adjusted the Houndsoldier's systems, having both the triple barreled cannon and the missile system ready to unload on the fallen Rev Raptor. Well, Max assumed it had fallen. With its legs only at seventeen percent, he was sure they wouldn't survive the Zoid's highspeed run. None-the-less Max knew he would have to be prepared for any occurance, eyes slanting into a serious expression.

"Bang." Max locked into the Houndsoldier's attacks, firing off a round of missiles before letting loose three blasts from its chest mounted cannon. He would continue the barrage in the same way he found his opponent attack. The difference was that the youth was aiming in spots that would cause the battle system to freeze, as opposed to making the Zoid blow up. Max couldn't help but sigh.

Some shots from the Rev Raptor would collide with the shots fired from the triple barreled cannon, some would even hit a missile, but Max wouldn't let up on the barrage even as the field was littered with smoke. He knew his opponent wouldn't either. The match would end with a system freeze or blown up Zoid, and Max was hoping to avoid the latter. He knew one thing, his Houndsoldier couldn't take many more of the laser blasts impacting its already damaged state.
[/ul][/ul][/sup]

[Marcus Takumi]

As valiant as Marcus had fought, his efforts were in dire vain. As accurate as his slapdash shots were, he wasn't experienced enough to hit vital spots on the Houndsoldier, and wasn't expecting a full-blown counterattack by the opposing Zoid. Missiles, as well as a tri-barreled energy beam, composed of highly charged particles, were sent hurtling towards Marcus' rather weak, red energy bolts from his Plasma Pistols.

It was over in an instant. Vee had been barraged with all incoming missiles, in random spots of both arms, legs, and torso, and the following particle beam had literally torn a gaping hole inside of the Rev Raptor's torso. It made no creaking groans of pain, as it was now, officially, "dead". Marcus shook violently as the cockpit blared warning sirens all over the place, signalling that all systems were failing and that there was nothing more he could do. Knowing he fought his best, though, was more than enough to give him a satisfied thought. At least we kicked some form of ass today, Vee... he thought, bowing his head in stoic misery.

Hearing another siren, he glanced up, and gasped in pure horror. The Energy Core -- the core that kept Vee very much alive and running, had been completely decimated by the particle beam -- and that the Rev Raptor was literally on the path to self-destruct! Frantically freeing his broken wrist from the left thruster and letting it hang limp, he pressed the Eject button located underneath the dashboard.

Nothing.

Pressing it twice, then four times, then finally jamming his thumb against it as many times as he could do it, he was horrified to learn that the button wouldn't eject him! Dammit, old man! Thanks for fixing the eject button! he cursed his master back in Romeo City sarcastically before finally looking up at the fritzing screen, staring at the equally injured Houndsoldier before his visuals went totally blank. Sighing in defeat, he had good reason to. He was about to be blown sky-high with Vee. But then again, like most ship captains, they would die with their beloved liner.

Grinning as if he had pulled the win off, he knew that something positive would come out of this -- he was just too damned stubborn to die a pessimist. Licking his lips before leaning back against the seat, his Rev Raptor now spazzing and twitching erratically; signalling towards the other his imminent doom. Nice knowing you, Vee. You really pulled through for me... he thought, before he had slowly reached for the still-functioning commlink, switching it on one final time before he got blasted away.

<Nice knowing ya, dude-->

BOOM! In a flash, Vee had literally exploded in a blaze of metallic and red plasma sparks. Dust and sand flew everywhere as the blaze of fire and metal burned the ground below, black smoke billowed upward to practically assure the other had indeed won the fight. Fragments and chunks of the former Rev Raptor being sent sky-high as the commlink fritzed away on the other line, signalling that Marcus's life had, unfortunately, come to an end.

Or had it?

A small wisp of smoke shot outward at a low angle as the Rev Raptor's dilapidating head fell downward after shooting upward, the blue-tinted cockpit door flying open as Marcus Takumi himself, still strapped to the seat, shot outward down towards the sand, being flung from his leather protective seat due to the belts having a majority of their being melted off, rolling around in the hot granules below, unconsicous. His body badly burned, though fortunately they were only first-degree, by the prior explosion, he now teetered on the verge of life and death.

The eject function was rather poorly installed as one could easily come to that conclusion; and one could easily assume that the person who built the junker Zoid either didn't care to fix the problem, or the Zoid was too old for the button to work anyway. Either way, the limp and seemingly lifeless body of Marcus now lay in the desert, exposed to the sun's harmful rays and laying meters away from his destroyed partner, the late Vee.

For now -- it was Game Over.

<unconscious/exit>

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] Max muttered lowly to himself, clearly in a tone of dismal. His eyes lowered as he glanced at the lifeless remains of the Rev Raptor, which probably contained the lifeless remains of his opponent. His eyes would soon widen, however, for another explosion was heard. This time it was from his Houndsoldier, Max turning around quickly to glance at what had happened.

While some might have seen it as strange, Max could tell what had happened based on the location of the flames from the resulting explosion. One of the beams from the Rev Raptor must have strayed off an struck the Houndsoldier's special Power Connector Port. Max sighed, assuming he deserved to have his own Zoid destroyed. He also figured he deserved to be in it when it exploded.

"Nyeh!?" muttered Max to himself, staring as a second explosion occurred, this one from the core of his Houndsoldier. Max sighed, for he could tell it was because the Power Connector Port was wired to the Zoid's core. He would close his eyes, having a moment of silence for his fallen Houndsoldier. This silence would be interupted by his landing in the sand, the boy standing and treading off.

As he went in the direction of the nearest city, which lead him to pass the fallen Rev Raptor, he would take notice to a figure in the sand. His eyes widened with joy, seeing that the pilot of the Rev Raptor survived the explosion. Max would run over to the guy, checking his pulse and breathing. A sigh of relief would escape him, glad to see that the pilot was just unconscious, rather than what he had thought.

With a quick lift, Max would heave the slightly older male onto his back. Since he wrecked the guy's Zoid and nearly killed him, he sure as hell wasn't prepared to let the guy die in the desert alone. He would begin to treck in the direction of the nearest town once again, hoping he could make it without dehydrating. If only his Houndsoldier hadn't been destroyed, he could've requested transportation from his team. Remembering the Houndsoldier, he would pause and turn around for a moment.

"We had a long run, man. Rest in peace." spoke the youth before saluting his fallen Zoid and turning back around. He sighed, for he had been with that Hounsoldier for years. But he knew he couldn't moap over the loss of his comrade. He just had to be happy that he was able to put it to good use and give it such a fruitful existence. With nothing left to be said, he would walk off into the distance, carrying the stranger somewhere safe where they both could rest.

[exit][/ul][/ul][/sup]