Hunter’s Gunpla Collection
(Special thanks for Frosty for his invaluable help with this unit!)
Name of the unit: Ardent Exia Base original design: Gundam Exia Name of the operator: Gabriel Winter aka Hunter Defensive systems: E-Carbon – offers balanced protection but never excelling in any one category.
Shields are equipped with anti beam coating. Weapon system:
Trans-Am - offers exceptional mobility at the cost of high power consumption. Melee weapons:
GN Sword x1
Beam boomerangs (Destiny)x2 – stored on shoulders
Beam foot sabers (Aegis) x 2 – placed on edge of toes
Hand beam cannons (Destiny) x2
Beam sabers x 2 – stored on GN Amplifier flight pack Projectile weapons:
GN Pistol – folding into GN sword when not in use.
GN Vulcan gun x2 – mounted in head Shield:
Modified Exia Shield Power system:
Modified solar reactor – particle colors vary as buildup increases ranging from typical greenish gold to pure red, most often it’s seen to be glowing an orange. Any other special abilities/features:
GN Amplifier – the flight pack used on its’ back and the thruster skirts on it’s sides are used to amplify and direct the dispersal of GN particles. This greatly increases the efficiency of the GN drive while conserving particles for use with Ardent’s weapons and abilities. Additionally it provides incredible speed and maneuverability. If need be the system could be ejected to reduce weight if damaged.
As Gabriel materialized he reflexively brought his hands up to study his virtual self. His hands had black fingerless gloves on and he look at his palms and wrists respectively before looking up at the lobby around him. It didn’t particularly look much different from the normal GBN but there was a lack of people around which was somewhat startling. The few people walking around did garner attention as he traded glances with several other divers before slowly walking along the lobby. A trio of Zeon looking soldiers walked by, one noticeable with a snake head, they all chatted away about their last mission and their teamwork. The boy grimaced at their camaraderie, if he was being honest with himself he would admit that he was jealous of their friendship. Ever since Meer left him, he just couldn’t find it in himself to socialize with other people. Friendship on GBN reminded him of Meer and all he wanted to do was get away from her shadow; then again, maybe this beta would have enough people who didn’t know about her?
He tried to shake his worries out of his head as he brought up a menu. He did after all, have a very important thing to try out. He browsed the missions available, one in particular caught his attention, it was apparently a battle already in progress between two factions. Oddly enough it was giving him the option to join mid battle and he pressed the button to load up the additional options. Even more quizzically it didn’t ask him to join a particular side. “What is this game getting at?” He mused to himself as he hesitated. It was listed as being extremely difficult and it wouldn’t list an author behind the mission. The old him wouldn’t have look at such missions, he didn’t enjoy the risks. “Not anymore…” he echoed to himself as he clicked the button to join.
His cockpit materialized around him as his machine prepped itself to launch. His objective popped up in his screen, its’ simplicity made him smile for the first time in weeks.
STOP THE BATTLE AT ALL COSTS
DISABLE OR DESTROY ALL COMBATANTS
COMMENCE ARMED INTERVENTION?
Y/N
For the first time in a long while, excitement coursed through his body as he grasped the controls and hit the affirmative on his options. “This is Hunter! Ardent Exia! Commencing Armed Intervention.”
His Custom Exia launched out from it’s digital catapult and flew into the busy battlefield between Zeon and Federation forces. It was a jungle city, and from what Hunter could tell it was actually the last battle from the 8th MS team series! Exia dropped down from a high altitude as the city became bigger and bigger. He could see lines of bullets and lasers being traded between – what ? Not just NPD’s Hunter realized, but actual players. “Is this supposed to be some sort of suicide mission?” he gasped aloud as his altitude continued to decrease. He was just one player, and he was supposed to attack everyone? Zeek and Feddie alike? He hardly had time to contemplate the full implications as a pink bolt shot up at him forcing him to flare his GN drive thrusters to dodge the shot. Despite the implications a bitter smile grew on his lips, maybe there was no better way to test the Ardent than to bring to its absolute limit?
Instead of using his thrusters to slow his descent he did the opposite, pushing his controls to will his machine to top speed. He decided right there and then to focus on the players and then worry about the NPDs if necessary. Two teams of three riddled the battlefield, one side (the Zeon side) appeared to be Gundam Wing flavored while their Federation opponents were a hodgepodge of units. Heavy Arms was apparently engaging in a shootout with a Blast Impulse Gundam, while Deathscythe was having a brawling match with a GN-X through the streets. Of the six only two moved dynamically, proving very quickly to be flying units of some sort. His emotions rolled between anxiety of failure to bloodthirsty vengeance. He knew he didn’t have time to consider the options as the city began to fill his entire display. The old him gripped the controls in fear while Hunter tightened his grasp for better control. How was he going to act? What was he doing making a fool of himself like this on a battlefield not even his own?
Everything evaporated, all his fears, all his anxiety, all his memories. And just like that, he shed his past, with the flare of a GN drive he no longer was Gabriel the meek, now he was Hunter the Gundam Miester. In a heartbeat he let himself go and Hunter took full control of the Ardent Exia at that critical moment. Exia leveled his GN pistol and shot down at the Heavy Arms, catching the diver off guard and making one of their Gatling guns explode and eject off its’ frame. Hunter didn’t skip a beat and fired a shot at the Deathscythe as it weaved through the streets with its’ opponent. Hunter’s shot scored a critical hit, making Deatyscythe’s arm fly off along with its’ signature weapon. By that point the Ardent Exia was low enough that Hunter leveled off his descent to weave between the few tall buildings in the city. He knew that surprise, shock, and confusion would be his only allies so he had to move quickly to capitalize on gains.
The building in front of him suddenly exploded as Wing Gundam fell backwards through the rubble, its’ beam saber in hand, warding off an attack from the Destiny Gundam and its’ beam sword. “This is my intervention!” Hunter growled as he quickly came up on the side of Wing Gundam. He snapped his GN blade out in front of him and whipped it out to the side just as it’s sharp edge sliced through the unsuspecting Wing Gundam. As he zipped past Wing and Destiny, the latter erupted into flames, Hunter’s first player kill in his new machine. The radio was abuzz with confusion from both sides, the din making Hunter slowly grin in satisfaction.
Keeping up his pace he flared his engines to halt his mad speed and threw his legs out to press into the side of a building and jump backwards to reverse his direction. He came back hard towards the startled Destiny and swiped again with his GN Sword, his blade hitting Destiny’s Sword hard. The diver of the Destiny didn’t quite know how to react from the violent change in the battle, one moment they were battling the Wing Gundam and the next an unknown Exia model, which was helping their side just a moment ago.
A shaky male voice hailed Hunter over the comm, “hey dude! Aren’t you on our side?!” Hunter responded with a growl and another swipe from his GN blade. His attack knocked Destiny’s sword out wide, leaving hunter’s opponent seemingly open. Destiny responded by letting go of the sword with its right hand and reaching out with a glowing palm. Just as the destiny was about to grab Exia’s chest Hunter responded quickly, by kicking up hard with the tip of his right foot. For a moment it seemed as if the Destiny Gundam had put an end to the intruder, but the power faded from its eyes and its sword deactivated. Ardent’s foot had a beam blade which was protruding from the kick Hunter placed on the cockpit. His attack was well placed but his victory was short lived as everyone began to wisen up to his antics.
“Shinn!” A woman’s voice screamed over the comm in disbelief. Hunter kicked away from the Destiny, the enemy suit simply falling out of the sky. He turned off the foot blade and charged back towards the Heavy Arms which aimed its good twin guns his way and began firing a volley after him. A few bullets plinked into his armor forcing him to weave back between buildings for cover. A flicker of green caught his attention as the Deathscythe charged at him, one handed with its’ weapon. Before the Deathscythe could close the distance of the building its’ charge was halted by the GN-X shoving its’ crimson beam sword into the gut of the Deathscythe. Hunter didn’t relent his assault as he whipped the sword away to pull his pistol out and shoot at the GN-X.
“No you don’t!” Screamed the woman from before, as she suddenly appeared on Hunter’s left. The Blast Impulse burst from the cover of a building, leveling its beam cannons towards him. She would have had him had she not jumped in so close, she was only about a hundred yards away. “Not today…” Hunter easily retorted as he swung his arm and the sword back out. His lunge accompanied by his sword closed the distance in a heartbeat, the Impulse fizzling and exploding as he took yet another opponent out of the fight. “Two left…” he muttered stoically under his breath as he flew away from the renewed assault from Heavy Arms. The old suit didn’t give him much respite as it fired a volley of missiles his direction.
Hunter flew backwards and up while pulling out his pistol once more, taking shots at the oncoming harm. Explosions led a trail closing in on his suit as he slowly got one after another of the incoming projectiles. There were too many however, and soon one after another connected with his suit forming a black cloud of debris where he was. The smoke hung in the air like a storm cloud but was suddenly sliced apart as a beam boomerang flew down hard towards HeavyArms. Surprised, but with distance to spare, the Wing era suit opened up a volley at the projectile easily shooting it down. That was all the victory Heavy Arms would taste however. Exia flew in hard from their right. A trembling voice yelled out, “how!?!” As Hunter sliced down with a beam saber in his left hand. “Trans-am…” Hunter chastised was he ended the second to last enemy. The explosion from the missiles had destroyed his shield and subsequently destroyed one of his beam boomerangs but the Ardent Exia was still very well armed, if not banged up a bit.
His reverie was short lived as a crimson shot flew just past his head. The enemy GN-X was still up and willing to fight it seemed and Hunter was more than happy to oblige. Ardent Exia burst into motion its’ own speed startling Hunter ever so slightly, as if he couldn’t contain the machine. He closed the distance to the lone enemy and wiped his GN sword in front of him to dive into the enemy cockpit when at the last moment he batted hard to the side severing the GN-X’s weapon hand instead. “You!” He hissed out loud, more so to himself than his opponent. His voice was frantic, cracking even as he yelled out the single word. He was breathing hard as his mobile suit remained frozen in front of the suddenly familiar suit. The design on the GN-X’s left shoulder told Gabriel the story all too well. The nose art was of one Lacus Clyne done in a pin up sort of fashion. His opponent was in a mobile suit he himself had crafted, it was his ex girlfriend.
She wasn’t showing any sign of acknowledgment as she reached for her beamsaber with her good hand. The crimson blade making Hunter yell out in complete rage. He was beyond any sensible words as the only thing he could yell out again was “you!!” He blocked the attack with the beam saber if his left hand, it was an awkward angle but effective for the way she was trying to slice him. He flared his thrusters to slam her unit against a building, the action forcing her to loose her grip on the weapon. Tears welled in his eyes as his saber slipped down across her torso.
He was besides himself as the screen simply blacked out and slipped him away from her. The words of victory sprawled across the screen did little to comfort him at that moment as he lifted his hands to look at what he had just done. He wanted to see her again so badly, to show her how far he had come already. He got his wish it seemed, just not the way he would have liked.
He should have recognized the voices, the reference to Shinn and Stella their mutual friends, heck even their combination of machines. What was it that came over him? It was at that moment he finally realized he had taken down five enemy players single handedly. “Five?” He repeated to himself in awe. He never would have been able to do that before. Was it him? Or was it the Gunpla? After a moment of contemplation he finally decided that it had to be him, not without due merit to a Ardent Exia of course, but it was definitely him. There was a calmness, a focus, he had never experienced before while piloting in GBN. He let out a deep breath as he looked at his menu to save the video from the encounter. He was still a jumble of conflicting emotions at that moment but he decided quickly that he wanted to find another battle. He wanted to be Hunter again…
—-
Stella let out an audible sigh of frustration as she saw her friend Meer get cut down by the Jerk with the Exia variant. “Dang it!” She scoffed out loud as Shinn came up beside her to watch the monitor from their force nest. “Damn just who is that guy?” He mused outloud as he stood next to his girlfriend. A moment later and Meer materialized in the nest with her two friends a look of frustration crossed over her face. “Damnit!” She groaned as she hugged herself in disbelief.
“Hey it’s ok Meer!” Stella chirped at her as she went to hug her friend. Stella and Shinn predictably looked like their Seed counterparts but hardly acted like their characters. Their Force was one dedicated to cosplay both in and outside of GBN. As the two girls hugged, Shinn scratched his head as he looked at the highlights from the mission. If anything the entire ordeal taught him not to let his guard down, a lesson he had to appreciate. Still the question nagged at him, “just who was that guy?”
“He was a Jerk!” Stella shot back, startling Shinn who didn’t realize he asked the same question again out loud.
“There was something familiar about him…”
Mused Meer who seemed in a thoughtful trance, Stella still wrapped around her body in a hug. “What do you mean?” The blonde asked innocently.
Meer gazed at the video replay and shook her head more in disbelief, “It’s going to sound ridiculous…” she started, “but I… I just feel like that was Gabe…” both Stella and Shinn snapped their heads at their friend in disbelief. Stella chuckled, “no way! I don’t see that at all, he could never pilot like that before…”
Shinn shook his head the entire time, “yeah sorry, I don’t buy that either…” Their disagreements did little to sway Meer’s impression as Shinn added, “what I do know for sure is when that jerk shows up again.” He cast Stella a wicked look, “he won’t know what hit him. I don’t care what the situation is I’m gonna get revenge on that punk.” Stella nodded her head in agreement and Meer snapped out of her revere to smile back and nod, “I can agree with you there!” She added cheerily.
“I’m breaking up with you.”
Gabe caught his breath at that sentence and did pause to turn and look at Meer. “Wha- what do you mean babe?” Even as he spoke the words he felt their strength waver at the truth that was beginning to form in front of him. She was cute, maybe too cute for the likes of him. She always took the effort to do her makeup and look phenomenal as soon as she stepped out the door. To top it off she looked like a casual version of her name sake with pink hair and gold hair pin. Was she out of his league? He never considered it before but as her statement hung in the air suddenly all the unsung insecurities began to crop up.
She rocked her hips, her left hand resting easily on her body as she looked up at the sky. Her blue eyes seemingly searching for an answer to his confusion. “Listen Gabe… I’ve been going out to parties the last few weeks without you…”
“So you’ve been cheating on me?” Gabe hacked the words out in disbelief. The girl grimaced and bit her lip while slowly shaking her head. “Gabe no… I just… I’ve been just going out without you… nothing more…” the tone she had did little to comfort Gabe and he wrinkled his face in growing anger. “So that’s it you just want to ditch me?” He shook with contained rage but still looked around helplessly as the beautiful girl gave him a sad look, “look I didn’t come to this decision easily… I just need to be able do chase my dreams Gabe and I can’t do that with you…” he voice faded away as Gabriel Winter spun on his heel to storm away.
———
A few days later
Gabe remained hunched over his desk in his dimly lit room. An orange hue attempted to breach his room from his window shades but was drowned out by the fluorescent light above his work station. He hadn’t left his room besides going to work since his break up with Meer. For the last few days he ran through all the scenarios in his head as to why she’d want to leave him. They had been together for over a year and not until recently did he feel any animosity from her. His mind wandered to them first logging into GBN and it dawned on him that maybe that was the beginning of it all.
Meer was a cosplayer and a good one at that, but she was fiercely self conscious and had a hard time making friends because of it. Meer wasn’t even her real name but the alias she chose to be called by to associate herself more with her hobby. Gabe was always the one pushing her to reach out of her comfort zone, to meet new people. GBN was the happy medium for them both; he could build Gunpla for them, while she could try different costumes and plan out outfits for the real world while actually making friends. It felt good at first, a win win situation.
As Gabriel mulled over his thoughts he trimmed and filed the gauntlet for his latest Gunpla. The blue plastic was becoming discolored from his attention but it would hardly matter once he painted the whole kit. In a fit of rage he took apart all the Gunpla on his shelves when he got home that night they broke up. He was ashamed that he actually broke a lot of the kits when he flung them off the shelf. At the moment he wasn’t sure that he wanted anything to do with GBN, all he did know was building something aloud him to not be so angry, it let him direct his focus from his sorrows. It was as if he took all the anger he had at the world and was condensing it into the single kit in front of him.
He was a mediocre builder at best. He never won any awards before and was always afraid to make the extra commitment of scribing, paint and panel lining; the sort of thing she would add to the kits he gave her after he built them. This time was different, he was possessed to make the best kit he possibly could. Even if she never saw it, he would have the satisfaction of having something so pristine that she would not.
When they dated he was always afraid to take risks, whether it was in building his Gunpla, or not doing particular missions. “No more…” he muttered to himself as Ash Liked Snow played in the background, “no, more hesitation… I have to reform myself… my Gundam…”
—-
A few days later
The indicator for his email inbox showed the vast number of missed messages, something he had neglected to pay attention to the last couple of weeks, he simply wasn’t in the mood. Now he decided was the best time to finally drudge through the messages, most of it being spam. A few notes did catch his eye and give him pause. The first was from a mutual friend him and Meer had on GBN, a woman by the pseudo name Stella. She had apparently asked him to join a Force in the game. His initial reaction was one of hope, maybe Meer was trying to get him back in her life? To rekindle their relationship? But his face immediately soured the next message down where Stella retracted the earlier offer, saying that she didn’t want things to get awkward with Stella already on the team.
He sighed, but that eventually turned into a sob at his own predicament. He wasn’t just loosing her but all his friends it would seem. Through tear filled eyes he read through the next few GBN messages, all varying between apologies and other sad things he didn’t want to bother with. He was about to close his messages when a notice from GBN itself popped up just then. Curiosity caused him to open it immediately, he was surprised to see it was an invitation for a private beta of the new version of GBN. Apparently he was chosen by lottery to test in and partake in the new version. It offered exclusive rewards, but more importantly to Gabriel, it offered a blank slate, a fresh start. One of the features the invitation offered was the chance to replace you’re user tag and avatar for free. With tears still slipping down his face he responded that he would be taking the opportunity. As the message went into the digital nether he gazed around his room to the Gunpla standing defiantly in the middle of his desk, maybe 80% complete, ready for final details and paint. Wiping away the tears he stood up to resume his work.
—-
A week later
PLEASE ENTER USERNAME:
Gabriel gawked at the display and the flicker of where his new title would show up. His fingers remained frozen over the keyboard as he swam through his thoughts. With a fresh start there would be virgin usernames out there with little chance of redundancy, but still it begged the question of what he should call himself. He wasn’t in a social mood still, and he wasn’t even sure what he was really doing on GBN all alone. Scratching the stubble on his chin he kept staring at the otherwise boring screen. “I suppose I’m looking for something…” he finally said out loud, his own voice startling him. Slowly his fingers chipped away a new identity. Next a wardrobe menu popped up and he scrolled through the options to pick out something to hide behind. He was never audacious enough to pick an avatar too unlike himself and he hated when Meer would as him to be a character to match hers. He stayed away from the generic Chars of the options and instead chose a black cloak like pancho and a matching mask. He did change his hair color from his typical black to brown and cleaned his face to be clean shaven. Finally he loaded up the new information and was satisfied to see it accepted. All that remained was...
“Please scan your Gunpla.”
He reached out hesitantly and grabbed the white and red mobile suit he had so diligently been working on over the last month or so. He traced the features with his fingers and was suddenly apprehensive about using the model. Once he placed it down it would become alive. Part of him would grow to be beyond just a hunk of plastic, and his declaration towards his ex would be made reality.
“Please scan your Gunpla.” The mechanical voice repeated. Gripping the Gunpla a little harder he grimaced and placed the model in the scanner. With a scowl watch on his face he logged into GBN, to hunt for something he didn’t quite understand just yet.
((Big shout out to Frosty for starting the side story trend, not to mention for his help with the yet to be revealed Gunpla! I thought it would be fun to do a new (if not slightly used) character. I’ll be adding more soon!))
Ensign Winter sat hunched on the railing outside of his Quel. Quietly he tapped away at a bulky laptop which was wired up to his mobile suit. He sifted through the lines of numbers and data, a resigned sigh escaping his lips. He had gotten scrutinized over his choice of mobile suit. Lately everyone else had been transitioning to the Hizak, a mobile suit which reminded Gabriel too much of a Zeek unit. Ensign Winter on the other hand opted to maintain his use of the Quel. His decision proved to be both a burden and a blessing; a burden because of his peers criticizing him, and a blessing because the influx of spare parts for his unit from the other Quels. Despite his abundant source of supplies he was faced with having to maintain his unit increasingly on his own. A small price to pay in his mind, he enjoyed solitude. While the world seemed to move on its own, Gabriel remained glued on the past, his mind flowing back to his home, and worse to that damn Zeek who humiliated him in this very unit. He didn’t care that his peers got new units and fancy promotions, he didn’t care that he was merely tolerated; he just wanted to fight, to get revenge.
Sighing once more from the headache the screen was giving him he finally shut the laptop down, satisfied with his work. He tucked the chords away and cleaned up his station before floating along down the catwalk.
His eyes wandered from suit to suit and before long he spotted the only other elephant in the room, the GM sniper tucked on the other end of the hangar. His eyes glider along the paneling of the older suit and his attention was stolen when he heard his name, “Gabe!”
The Titan turned around to regard his colleague Ryder. Gabriel snapped into a salute before responding, “yessir?” Ryder was one of the blokes who received a promotion, for what Gabriel couldn’t quite wrap his head around but he wasn’t one for military politics. “You’re still not taking a Hizak Lieutenant?” Gabriel asked quizzically as he floated towards his comrade. “We’re going to make quite the odd couple out there mate…” Gabriel murmured half heartedly.
As his beam missed Hunter hissed in frustration, “think you’re special ey?”
The Gelgoog dodged away and turned to face him it pulled out its beam chain gun and sputtered a volley at him. At their current distance the exchange of fire was little more than friendly banter going back and forth. Hunter flared his legs to thrust his Quel out of danger. He curled his mobile suit into an arching charge now, evading the trail of chasing laser bullets.
The Quel shuttered violently from the thrusters delivering him to striking distance. The Gelgoog flared its melee weapons to life in its hands.
“Oy that’s the ticket!” Hunter growled as he shifted his Quel to grasp the beam saber with its free right hand. He pulled the shield and rifle in close to his cockpit. As the distance closed quickly he swung down hard with the beam saber, the fuchsia blade came down with ferocity. Hunter grinned with a violent glee and a wishful hatred that only his weapons could satisfy.
”why fight?” He quizzed over the radio. “Why protect yer mates?”
“Damn it! Damn it Damn it!” Gabriel screamed, his voice hoarse from emotions. He futility clicked the trigger on the Vulcan controls trying to shoot the cursed woman down. He had long run out of bullets, he couldn’t even see the enemy anymore but still he clicked the trigger.
***
People were mad at him, that was to be expected. The glares Dustin gave him hardly seemed worth the effort to return however as Gabriel blankly left the medical bay and headed back to the hangars. He leaned against the railing staring glumly at his wrecked Quel. There in the near darkness of the hangar his thoughts tortured him, why couldn’t he shoot down that cursed GOUF? His eyes repeatedly traced the edges of the damage, replaying all of the events. It wasn’t the Quel that failed him, it was himself. So engrossed in his thoughts he didn’t hear Albert approach or call out to him. It wasn’t until the man roughly grabbed his tunic to make him face each other did Gabriel snap out of his trance.
“I want you to explain yourself.” Albert hissed angrily at the Ensign. There was the unmistakable glimmer in the officer’s eye, the intent to kill. Gabriel instantly knew that his leader was in a sour mood.
“Do ye even care…” Gabriel’s Aussie twang trailed off, and as the man crinkled his nose. Gabriel quickly added, “Do ye even care that we lost to those bloody basterds? Or do you care about all the evil they’ve done to this world?”
Albert was taken back by the philosophical question before grinding his teeth, “what I care about …. ensign… is you destroying not one but two Quels!”
“And how many zeeks did you kill today sir? On the battlefield and not tied to a chair?” Again his twang trailed in the air and his eyes seemed glazed over. Albert was about to say something when Gabriel cut him off. “Do what you’re gunna do... as far as I’m concerned I was denying the enemy sensitive technology they were intending to steal. You saw them carrying Dustin’s unit, he should have been more dedicated and self destructed... But let me make this clear sir….” his gaze finally focused on Albert whose face was red with rage. “I don’t care what happens to me, so long as I get to kill more zeeks.” And the glare Gabriel returned to his commander was enough to give even the enraged Albert pause. The look on the ensign’s face was one of sheer hatred and intent, it spoke volumes about Gabriel’s will.
Albert's fist flew into Gabriel’s face, reacting, more than anything else. The commander looked at the fallen ensign and spat out in a fit, “damn insubordinate little…” He muttered as he marched away clearly disgusted, if not a little on edge from the chat with Gabriel.
The ensign brought himself back to his feet only to resume his vigil over his fallen suit. He spat out a mouthful of blood and cleared his throat, “we’ll get ‘er…” he promised his broken machine.
“At long last… ‘ave I finally found you?” Hunter stared at the screen of his Quel hardly believing the shape before him. As if frozen in time the giant zeon ship loomed before him with the tiny specs of mobile suits swirling around it. He had been waiting in this spot for hours.
Patience was a trait one of his mentors had taught him and sometimes the prey would wonder before you if you just waited. With minimal systems activated and a black tarp wrapped around his mobile suit he doubted any of the zeeks spotted him. The silence was almost maddening, the only thing reminding him of his existence was his own rhythmic breathing. His original intention was to observe and to see how much of his enemy he could learn. But when the skirmish the Zeeks had been doing turned more serious his attention grew considerably.
The fools actually damaged themselves, mobile suits drifted in disrepair, pilots helpless. One of the Gazas managed to dock back with the ship and Hunter knew his chance for blood would be slipping past albeit it a brief opening. The Dra-c and the Gelgoog were painting a decent target, one he might be able to ambush quickly before moving on to the floating black Zaku.
“But is she ‘ere?” Hunter hissed in frustration. Even as he voiced his concern, his fingers danced over the controls booting up the mobile suit. As the visor of the Quel flared awake in anger Hunter called out once more, “are you ‘ere Erin? Will I finally get my revenge?” It seemed a moot point to ask when so many zeon units were begging for his merciful justice. He fired his thrusters, aiming his Quel towards the foolish zeon units. He brought his beam rifle up and began to slowly target the two suits huddled together.
(OOC: I’ll practice restraint, but I wanna stir the pot on the zeon side of things maybe a little excitement will wake you all up? I’ll change anything if I need to!)
Gabriel’s breathing picked up as he focused on the locked blades in front of him. Reality seemed to cast a shade over him as his arms shook in rage. Then she spoke, the damn space monster had a voice.
“You must think you're an oh-so-righteous knight, right? Come from the heavens to rain down his wrath upon evil... Pathetic… you're but a mere toy soldier!”
Something about her tone, her voice; no, monsters deserved to have a voice. The damn zeeks spoke the only words he’d listen to when they dropped the colony on his home. “Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!” He practically screamed. The Quel dropped the dead shield handle and he held the beam saber with both hands, managing to push the Gouf away with the focused strength. “You know nothing!” His voice was shrill.
The break caused his blade to swing out wide to his left and he flared his thrusters to dive at the reeling Gouf. With the saber in both hands he flew forward, ready to swipe back again towards his right. Just as he cocked the blade back he jerked his controls to suddenly jab his foot in the ground and push his Quel at a slightly off angle towards his right so he wouldn’t head straight into the enemy. His arms swung the saber after his movements, slashing horizontally. He was hoping to avoid the Gouf’s defense all together and get a slash against the cockpit ending the fight quickly.
A wicked grin formed on Gabriel’s face as his rounds hit poor Dustin’s suit. “Damn fool!” He howled. As the suit began to catch fire and emit smoke he strode forward confidently. He honestly didn’t care for Dustin and a growing part of him hoped the loud mouth was dead. He tossed his rifle on the ground and pulled out his beam saber as he slowed his approach, shield leading into the smog. In the back of his mind he kept thinking of all the after action reports he read about the Goufs, every one of them warned him about the heatrod.
He switched on his PA, “Oi! Cheap tricks and cowardice won’t save yer skin!” His eyes darted before him trying to make out shapes from trees and smoke. Finally one particularly swirling moving cloud of smoke caught his eye and he rushed forward to ignite and stab with his pink blade. His movements were precise, his Quel shuffling with caution. As his blade pierced through the cockpit of Dustin’s Quel. He kept moving and jerked the blade sideways outwards to his right, twisting the torso of his Quel and pushing his shield into the dummy Quel, practically shattering it. He didn’t know if the Gouf was still hiding behind the Quel or not but his blade would have gone through for some damage most likely if it was still there. He wanted Dustin’s Quel out of this fight either way, even if it killed that arrogant bastard in the process. What mattered more was this chance to take out a probable Zeon commander, another space monster. “Is that the best you can do?” He taunted.
Albert was beside Gabriel taking on one of the Zakus by the ridge. The enemies didn’t seem like pushovers as the two entwined in a deadly exchange. Gabriel was in a similar position aiming at a zaku who was doing the same. The zaku raised its rifle up and rounds slammed into Gabriel’s shield. They were almost too close to each other to shoot effectively. Gabriel fired his thrusters to bash into the Zaku, suddenly stunning the enemy mobile suit. As it fought to bring its gun back around Gabriel didn’t hesitant and brought his rifle to aim at the feet of the zaku. At point blank the bullets easily tore into the metal as the recoil drew a line up along the body of the machine. Flames bled out of the holes as the Zeek fell over and Gabriel knew that one was out of the fight.
He looked around wildly to see what other units were doing. Perhaps it was the uniqueness of it, but his attention was drawn to the Gouf leading away. “Oh no you don’t!” Gabriel popped a magazine out of the rifle as he brought his Quel around to aim at the Gouf. He charged as he slapped in the new magazine. He barely noticed the two Tropens rushing away to Ryder’s location but his focused was fixed on the Gouf now. Something about how it moved told Gabriel that this had to be the commander.
He got within weapons range and brought his rifle up shooting a brief blast 90mm in front of the cockpit. Gabriel was never much of a marksman and made the shot to bring the attention to himself. “That’s right big green! You’re fights with me mate!” He muttered more to himself than anyone else. As he spoke he leveled the rifle to aim more precisely. He moved forward to close more distance cautiously, he had heard many stories about the heat rod on the Gouf. Even as he advanced he brought the shield up to try and prepare himself for the retaliation. His shield was battered from his previous exchange and he wasn’t sure how much more abuse it could take.
