((We're just posting for any old judge to wander in and find.))

The Dawnstar Gustav puttered to a stop near a Judge Capsule marked 1989. The surrounding area was a simple gravel desert with little gradiation.
"Transmit data, Hank."
"Sure thing, boss-man." Hank wasn't yet in his cockpit. He had to transmit the data.
He typed in the data as they spoke.
Team Dawnstar, Tier C. Pilots: Kyne Xaratan, Rank D, piloting the Liger Zero Jaeger. Craters, Rank D, piloting the Gordos w/ AD-01 Matrix Shield Network and TW-01 Ontos. Larry Witosc, Rank E, piloting the Pteras w/ SS-10 Trapper Gunnery Set and CP-09 Bomber Unit.
"Set up," Kyne said softly. His Jaeger stepped off the magna platform and walked to the designated starting point. The Pteras lifted off, going straight up and hovering at about eighty meters.
Hank stepped out of the Gustav and walked over to the third magna platform, where he clambered up a ladder into his midnight-blue Gordos. The beast came online quickly, stepped off the platform and up to the Jaeger. They made an eclectic team, unlike the usual Dawnstar uniformity.
"So, we sticking with the plan?"
"They're going to be using two Gunnies and a Lightning Saix against us," Kyne replied. "I'll engage the Gunnies. You two keep the Saix occupied until I am done with the real threats."
"Roger that."
"Sure thing, boss-man." Hank leaned back in his chair, fingering the controls for the Ontos and railguns. "Should've brought the Long Tom . . ."
"You only say that 'cause you wanted to yell out 'Say hello to my little friend.'"
" . . . Well, yeah."

EDIT: Removed the stupid comment I had here, due to not reading the Big One thread properly.

A Gustav pulled up, halting a distance from the first Gustav. Sitting in the piloting seat was Matthew Galloway, out for the rest of the RC, due to CSF. Personally, he didn't think their RC tale was going any furthewr than this battle, but he was always pessimistic. He switched to an open team station on the comm unit.

"Hey guys. You all ready?" Matt drawled. He was actually smirking. At least he didn't have to face Kyne and that madman Craters.

"All systems are ready, I'm prepared for battle," replied Blaine calmly. Matthew knew that Blaine would be looking forward tot aking on a team of Dawnstar's caliber and win or lose he'd probably not leave with any regrets. Probably. The lightly armed Sniper jumped off the trailer and onto the ground, a cloud of dust rising up around Blaine.

[Blaine Fraizer, Class D, of Team Vagrant, Tier D, piloting RZ-30 Dragunov the Long Shot, equipping XP-04 Ghost Unit and AD-02 Melanoma Unit]

"Alright! I'm pumped! Overwhelming battles are the most exciting!" commented John as his much hevier Gunsniper dropped with a plonk to the stony ground. It swayed slightly, the two new and absolutely enourmous gatling units on its WWU not helping its balance any.

[John Simmons, Class D, piloting RZ-030+ Feuersturm the Wild Gun, Heavy Armour Gunsniper equipping CP-13 Wild Weasel Unit, VC-02 BGU Adaptor Unit and two CP-03 Beam Gatling Units]

Finally, the Lightning Saix jumped down and skidded, Natalie looking very focused and nervous in her cockpit. She was the weak link in this battle, and she knew it.

[Natalie Fraizer, Class E, piloting EZ-035 Godspeed the Swift, Lightning Saix. Mods being equipped are XP-04 Ghost Unit and ZM-28 Darkreign Unit]

Um, is there any chance I can use the SS-08 Integrated Plasma Device for this battle? If not, it's okay.

Seeing as how I've a SLC, I don't have a problem with it.

((Screw it. I'm judging this thing.))

"Remember. We're doing this thing for Tim." Kyne rolled his hands over the joystick controls as the Judge Capsule hurtled down. It was Judgeman 0042.
The Judgeman emerged from the capsule with little fanfare. It raised a red paddle and announced "Team Vagrant," then raised the green paddle and announced "Team Dawnstar!"

"They're toast." Jenny grinned from her position at the All-Star. The bar-and-grill was empty; she was watching television during her break from the clean-up effort.

"The Battlemode is one-one-oh-one slash zero-niner-eight-two. You know the drill." Both paddles dropped. "Fight!"

((Post when you get here. I'll post as soon as I can.))

Hank guffawed as he brought the Magnetic GPS system online, mapping out the terrain and placing the Gunsnipers and Lightning Saix quite nicely. Not even the Ghost Unit could counter it, unless he missed his guess. Once he had the GPS up he brought the Barricades online to block the WWU's missile launchers, forming the shield barriers halfway through the missile boxes.
"Smooth, Craters!" Kyne's Jaeger took off, picking up speed at a quick rate. He charged up the SLC and aimed for the Gunny. He pounced, zoid snarling, and came down with a picturesque double slash to the Gunsniper's back.
"Larry, go for the Heavy Armor," Craters ordered briskly. "We don't need it shooting you down."
"But the plan?"
"Screw the plan," Hank snorted. "We make lots of plans. We just tell the enemy one thing and do another."
Larry angled his Pteras into a bombing run, alpha-striking the Heavy Armor with everything he had. He fired the Assault Machinegun in short bursts of fire, though he knew it wouldn't do anything until he dove down.
So he dropped to just fifty meters away from the Gunny before firing the net missile.
"Where's the Saix?"
"I'll worry 'bout that Saix," Hank grumbled. Dropping the Barricades so he could shoot properly, Hank aimed the Ontos and Railcannons at the Saix and squeezed the trigger. "Kyne! A little help here!"
"I'm busy!" Kyne finished slashing at the invisible Gunsniper before boosting towards the Saix.

Blaine watched the judge capsule come down, a hell of a lot more nervous than he might have looked. Thinking about the fight against Team Dawnstar and their supposed skill was one thing, but now that he was on the battlefield, his old war senses were screaming at him that these people were too prepared and too calm to be anything but a challenge that would meet Vagrant's every move.

Gritting his teeth, Blaine waited for the get go, spinning and locking down as the various sensors and scopes came online. The Melanoma Unit was already charging and preparing to fire, locating what Blaine hoped was the most damaging single point on the Gordos. Damn beasts and their lack of a single-shot weakness... grunting, he fired his single high-powered beam into the Gordos' left railcannon. He'd shoot the body, but the only valuable area as far as he could see was the back, and the Melanoma Unit was probably strong enough to pierce the Zoid core, something he didn't really want. Not really...

Meanwhile, as the round began, John let out a war whoop, simultanteously locking one of the WWU boxes onto the Liger Zero and the other onto the Pteras, via the handy dandy Rectennae Targeting Array. For shits and giggles he also locked both CP-03 Missile Pods onto the Jaeger as well and when they were locked and the Jaeger was in a spot it was able to be hit by them, he launched the missiles, firing off the other sixteen at the Pteras as well. While he was locking though, John decided to test his new CP-03s, turning them to face the Gordos. He figured that with his auxiliary generators he could probably sustain a half-second Alpha Strike, followed by a second to rest, and so on. So that's what he did, firing both CP-03 Beam Gatling Units, both 180mm Burst Cannons and both 144mm Burst cannons in that time set. He fired at the start, then again at 1.5 seconds, then again at 3 seconds, then once more at 4.5 seconds, to see the round out.

Nat was worried. She'd always felt like a fifth wheel, not overly useful. Well, today she was going to prove different. She didn't bother to switch on the Ghost Unit in order to conserve power, instead overburning her Saix to reach the Gordos quickly. She juked her Saix left and right in a random course, but not one that would waste too much time. Against a veteran like Hank, she didn't know how effective the tactic would be, but it was worth trying. As she got closer, the UV Pulse Laser Rifles and UV Pulse Vulcan Gun opened up on the spines, trying to eliminate as many of them as she could. Once she was within melee distance, she charged the claws with the Integrated Plasma Device and tried to do a little flaming frenzy of a dance on the Gordos' back, attempting to remove as many spines as possible.

Team Vagrant's two ranged zoids opened up with whatever they've got as Dawnstar's Jaeger and Pteras burst off the line. The Pteras was the first to arrive, letting loose a pretty impressive firestorm from its Bomber Unit and Trapper set. I mean, freaking ow. The Gunny received a sizeable blast from all the rockets, AA missiles (drawn to the impressive thermal signature of those big generators), and various other forms of fire. A set of sixteen missiles escaped the blast and raced after Larry, crossing paths with a big net which had just opened.

Craters cursed, forgetting that his barricade shield had a maximum range of four hundred meters. Oh well - there was still the matter of the Saix racing towards him. Natalie caught a glint of light off the Gordos' big guns as the beast turned towards her. She juked left and - BAM! Her Saix shuddered as something crashed into its right shoulder. Still racing along, it stumbled off to the right as a series of explosions blasted a large cloud of dirt into the air off to her left.

Just then, she saw a bizarre purple constellation resonate through the air, arcing to the Gordos. It was almost like a series of static bursts here and there, like a few purple sparklers went off in midair. It was over in a microsecond, accompanied by a popping noise as the ultraviolet laser ionized the air it passed through. One of the larger spines on the Gordos fell limply over, its base a pile of melting slag.

Kyne, racing along into a series of measured blasts from his adversary, saw the Heavy Armor engulfed in a sheet of flame from the Pteras' bombing, throwing off its next salvo of beam gatling fire. He wasn't sure how bad his Jaeger was feeling, but he had heard a few loud pops and sizzles nearby. Real nearby.

Just then, the Pteras itself was engulfed in a cloud of flame - a bunch of the missiles had survived long enough to make it through the machinegun fire and nail Larry's aircraft. As if it was redemption from above, however, a thin-mesh yellow net fell onto the Heavy Armor and the machine staggered, jerking this way and that as its systems were overloaded by the enormous shock.

Perfect.

The Jaeger leapt onto the Heavy Armor and nearly crushed it under its weight - the speed of the machine, combined with the potent Strike Laser Claw, gouged an enormous ravine down the Heavy Armor's back. Kyne saw a small blue flash beneath him - was it a generator?

Never mind - the speed of the pounce forced Kyne to rebound off the back of the downed machine, landing and decelerating behind it, prepping to come around again.

He missed the Saix reaching and pouncing on his teammate, clawing its way up the back of the Gordos with the strike laser claw alight. Craters looked up and saw a giant Saix fanny above his cockpit. He felt a bit of satisfaction when he saw some broken and warped armor on the Saix - his guns had struck true earlier. The status lights flickered as the beast clawed through one spine after another. And what the hell was that bizarre line of purple flashes? Looked like it was coming from nowhere...wait, was that where the other Gun Sniper was? A quick check at the magnetic detector confirmed it.

The Pteras emerged, smoking, from the giant explosion, flying drunkenly along. Like a boxer who just got clobbered, Larry's "hee hee, hit meh again!" face must've been just happy he survived that.

End of the round. Status:

Team Dawnstar
Jaeger - Kyne's feeling pretty good. He's done some reasonable damage, the Pteras didn't get totally fragged, and the Heavy Armor's in a bad way. He's 35 meters behind it, facing away.
Gordos - Craters' cockpit lights are doing the blinking thing. He's got a Saix's butt in his face and a Gun Sniper cracking shots off at him, and the display indicates that there's only nine spines operational.
Pteras - Anyone get the license plate of that truck? The Pteras flies drunkenly on after it got slammed by a pack of missiles. It's a testament to the bomber's durability that it survived, and other than a really powerful knock, the pilot isn't noticing any problems yet. Yet. He's cruising at 100 meters altitude and about 400 km/hr, 100 meters behind the Heavy Armor.

Team Vagrant
Gun Sniper - No damage to his machine. He's noticed that the sheer power of the ultraviolet laser tends to ionize the air it passes through, creating a few energized purple sparks here and there. Still, the powerful weapon's managed to slag a few spines off the Gordos. He's having a bit of trouble aiming around his teammate the Saix, though.
Heavy Armor Gun Sniper - Ow. The pilot's trying to restart his machine after the electrified net stalled it out. He's been through hell this round, with the combined efforts of the Pteras and Jaeger doing a number on him. Cockpit lights are blinking and sputtering; no telling what's working and what isn't.
Lightning Saix - Pilot's noticing a bit of performance lag off the front legs. She's pretty unnerved after her machine received some really nasty knocks from whatever that Gordos must have been firing. She's perched atop the Gordos' frontal quarter, clawing at the spines with her claws alight.

Please continue. If I messed up, please take it up with me in IM.

"Five bucks ses I don' miss at this range." Hank shot the guns off again, spraying her Saix with Ontos and railgun fire as he plowed the Barricade back, scooping the Lightning Saix at near-supersonic speed. "See? Whadya know!"
"Hank, don't taunt the opposition. It's impolite." Kyne wheeled around, bringing his Liger around for a second pass on the Gunny. "Larry? I see a little sillhouettoe on the window."

"Don't do it, Kyne," Jenny warned. "He's already Rank E . . ."

"Gotcha, boss-man." Larry bobbed in place, registering where the invisible Gunny was on the GPS magnetic detector, then dive-bombed it in a kamikaze sort of way. He ejected a split-second before impact, blacking out from the force of the chair rocketing away from the collision. Even if he missed, the concussive force ought to have done something icky to the Gunny.
After Kyne gets done doing something icky to the Gunny Heavy Armor, he continues his charge to ram the Lightning Saix. The Imperial zoid was a softer target; the Liger Zero had structure to die for. He smirked at Hank's beating the feline with the single remaining Barricade. Kyne brought the Jaeger up to maximum speed as best he could.
"Please don't let me go," Kyne sang as the two zoids collided at high speed.
Hank just kinda sat there, wondering whether or not he'd have to finish anybody off.

"Ah! Yes! I'm still in this thing!" cheered Nat as she noticed the Integrated Plasma Device was still okay for a bit. Making a decision, she decided to tackle the spines that had the Railguns and Beam/Laser Cannons attached, tearing and ripping until disabled. After about three seconds, when she judged the Integrated Plasma Device to be overheat, she switched it off and slid off the Gordos to unload her Darkreign unit into the side of the Gordos, aiming to pulverize the unarmoured flank. Since firing directly ahead wasn't really taxing on her reflexes, she made sure to keep the Saix aligned with the gordo's flank as best she could, no matter how it moved. The Pulse Guns were firing once every few seconds, to allow cooling time, and the Vulcan on her head danced a merry tune as it chewed into the structure.

Meanwhile, Blaine took aim and fired another beam right through the remaining operational spines. He tapped his foot impatiently, pretty sure that moving or not he was gonna get Ontos'd, so once the Melanoma Unit was ready again he fired another beam through yet more of the functional spines. He hummed a tuneless song in his head, quite pleased at how Vagrant was holding up.

John groaned and looked over the sparking and smoking controls in his cockpit. He swore and then smirked, hoping the Rectennae was still holding the lock from last time. He fired the sixteen locked at Kyne and then began to relock the next sixteen, against Kyne again. As he did this he fired all sixteen fly by wire rockets. Normally, this would be crazy, but he only had to get them about thirty meters, in what was basically a straight line, and he figured himself doomed anyway. So he tried to get another 16 rocket bombardment in on the Jaegerbeast.

Freaking ow.

Craters grinned like a maniac as he squeezed the triggers to his weaponry. Nat had about enough time for a surprised "...zah?" before -pow!- the railguns and Ontos fired point-blank into her Zoid's belly. Combined with the Matrix Shield unit's disk of force flinging her backwards, she didn't have time to react before she was blown straight off the Gordos. Craters intended to use that barricade shield to carry her right the frell across the battlefield before...

...lights flickered in his cockpit, and the spinal array went dead. The shield of force dissolved and the Saix slid to the ground, unmoving. Connected by a sparse trail of small purple sparks was the invisible Gun Sniper, its pilot having shot through a vital conduit in the Gordos. Craters turned his attention to the raptor, looking up just to see his teammate punch out of the Pteras. Larry, that idiot - the shock of the missile impact must have jarred him into aiming high.

In reality, the Pteras itself realized it was about to crash, hard, and good old animal self-preservation kicked in. Unfortunately, as it did, Physics ran in and beat Animal Instinct into the ground and took its lunch money. The dazed Pteras couldn't pull itself out of the dive in time, and its frantic, grasping talons nailed the back of the Gun Sniper. The velociraptor was yanked right off its feet, and the surprised Pteras slammed right into the ground in an inglorious crash of flying metal, glass and wing struts. The wreck's golden magnessers flickered and died.

As Craters watched this, though, Nat's zoid staggered to its feet with a grim (if drunken) light in its eyes. Craters instinctively slammed the triggers to everything he had, but was sorely disappointed. The Ontos system went "click," and the railguns gave a low "still recharging" tone. The two small-bore energy weapons, though, didn't fail him. Small lines of yellow-orange fire lanced into the frontal armor of the Saix, which he began to get a good look at.

It was a wreck, and by all rights shouldn't be working. A large gaping hole in the right shoulder evidenced a railgun slug, and two enormous vertical grooves through the sides bore witness to the destructive power of the railguns and Ontos system. The only thing that seemed to be holding this Saix together was the spine of the Zoid itself.

Behind her, a huge explosion backlit her Zoid and gave it the impression of a revenging demon. Kyne's Jaeger hand pounced directly on the stricken Heavy Armor, which basically turned itself into an enormous fireball with the remainder of its explosives. Both Zoids disappeared into the fireball.

Craters swore he could feel the vengeful expression on Nat's face. The Darkreign Unit didn't disappoint her, and the air shook with the popping sound of prodigious ultraviolet energy blasting into the spine of the Gordos. The ramped-up Lightning Beam Cannons might as well have been driving a spear of energy directly into Craters' machine, because that's what it felt like. The Gordos was actually pushed backwards a few decimeters by the force of its structure and components exploding forth in a blast of ionized vapor. The Darkreign Unit was powerful enough to drive straight through a massive Strike Laser Claw gash and into the command conduit. Craters' Zoid staggered once, then crashed to the ground.

Nat barely had time to celebrate before her zoid began to stall. In the chaos and confusion, she didn't have time to switch off the Integrated Plasma Torch. Combined with the massive power drain of the Darkreign Unit, her Zoid blacked out and fell to the ground. A blinking light informed her that it's not completely out of the fight, but its energy reserves had been drained completely. And cheetahs aren't exactly known for their stamina - good luck getting it powered back up, Nat, you'll need it.

Kyne staggered out of the fireball. What the hell had happened? He was jumping for the Heavy Armor...and then the world went boom. His Liger's wild core was prepared for a lot, but exploding Gun Snipers are a different thing entirely. Particularly when one set of explosions sets off another, and then the grenades on the CP-03s are breached...

...needless to say, even though his zoid was unconscious, Craters totally got a kick out of the colossal explosion.

End of the round. Status:

Team Dawnstar
Jaeger - Kyne's feeling like Larry was last round. What the hell just hit him? He's staggering drunkenly away, eyes slightly crossed, but his zoid is alive, dammit, and it's most likely more ready to fight than he is.
Gordos - Craters is out of the fight. There's a big hole in the forward spine of his Zoid, the product of all that nasty ultraviolet weaponry and a bunch of Strike Laser clawing as the Saix initially clambered up his zoid. Of course, try telling him that. He's still frothing and pulling triggers like his Zoid was awake.
Pteras - The Pteras is out of the fight. Big time. Larry was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't black out for long. However, he's not too pleased with his Zoid's condition - from the looks of things up here, the Pteras may not have survived that crash. Such is the risk of kamikaze attacks....but he'll have to take a good look at the Zoid after the battle ends.

Team Vagrant
Gun Sniper - The Gunny's in a funky way. On one hand, it's been ripped right off its feet by the crashing, panicked Pteras. On the other, he's still alive, and the Zoid's still working. He can tell that he's on his side amidst the wreckage of the Pteras, though.
Heavy Armor Gun Sniper - Craters would be proud. If he weren't still trying to blow things up, that is. John blew the hell out of himself and took a big chunk out of the Jaeger while he was at it. Needless to say, he's completely out. Someone bring a spatula.
Lightning Saix - Nat's Zoid is in a real bad way. It's been blown to hell and back, and it was only the grace of Eve that the Gordos' weaponry was spaced far enough apart to not completely obliterate her Zoid. On the upside, those vents on her flanks are working a lot better now. On the downside, her flanks are a pair of enormous craters. The Saix is presently stalled, and it'll take a bit of mechanical coaxing to get it working again.

((You rock like a hurricane, Jules!))

"C'mon, Craters . . . " Jenny crossed her fingers, silently praying. It wouldn't be the first time a pilot's come back from the dead. Still, though, she knew it wouldn't happen.
Kyne took a moment to clear his head, assessing the situation with a cold eye. "I know."
He could hear his zoid, feel its heart beating. Perspiration broke out across his forehead and his palms sweated. "I . . . " Kyne felt a surge of energy. His voice deepened to a roar. "I will win!"
The Liger Jaeger roared its challenge as it turned the boosters, heading across the field at cruising speed. He rapidly accelerated to top speed, pushing himself and his zoid to the limits. Everything rested on him, now. Just the way he liked it.
Kyne simply charged over the Gunsniper at 370 kilometers per hour with strike laser claws powered. After passing it he dropped them, turned around, and opened fire with the vulcan pods on the Lightning Saix. He charged towards the zoid, dropping down to 300 kph, and let the Saix make the first move. If need be, he would smash the damn thing in.

Natalie moaned, setting off to work. She diverted all available power to getting the Saix running again, slowly easing back on it and warming the core back up. She spent most of the time preparing her Saix, until it was able to use the Pulse Laser Rifles and Vulcan Gun. This time, she sighted the Jaeger and began to fire. She didn't stop firing until a) Kyne went down or B) her guns melted/Saix stalled.

Blaine's GunS niper creaked as he tried to right himself and checked all the systems. The ankles were badly damaged, but on the bright side there was no recoil for them to compensate against with the Melanoma unit. He began to work his Gunsniper to its feet (assuming they're still attached), and assessed the situation. The Gunny turned to the Jaeger, locking the missiles as it did, and fired them all, at the same time opening up with the 80mm Cannon and 40mm Tri-Gatling Guns. He fired everything he had into the Jager, until, when he estimated the Jaeger was just close enough to react, he spun the Sniper and fired the Melanoma Unit, instantly. No locking down, nothing like that. Just a point blank Melanoma Laser thorugh whichever part of the Jaeger got in the way.

This is the part of the anime where the competitors rise, bruised but not beaten, yell some sort of warcry and then launch themselves into a last-ditch offensive. Insert narrowing of screen and focusing on determined eyes as appropriate.

The Liger Zero turned drunkenly towards the little raptor and, while the Sniper got to its feet, roared an earth-shaking challenge. Its wild core was mad as hell and was out for blood, just like its pilot. The Sniper simply looked back for a split second, then opened up with a brilliant barrage of firepower.

Let's get one thing out of the way - there were maybe fifty meters between these guys, tops. That said, the Gunsniper really didn't have time for a missile lock. What'd he do? The pilot, in a heated, split-second decision, just dumbfired damn near everything he's got at the Liger Zero. Missiles roaring out of the tubes, orange lasers lanced out of the wrists, and the gut-mounted anti-Zoid cannon issued a deep report.

Freeze frame - let's head to the Saix. It wasn't responding. Deep in the bowels of the machine, Nat could hear the auxiliary capacitors weakly charging up for another go, but this wasn't a wolf or something. The Saix was a cheetah, and once it got tired, it required a little while to work up a good head of steam.

The real battle was between the Gun Sniper and the battered Liger Zero Jaeger. The deciding factor, ultimately, proved to be the Sniper's missile pods. Being that they file out slowly, with a fairly shoddy punch, the effect was that of firing M-80s at a charging bouncer. Yeah, it hurts, but it's not going to stop the guy.

The Jaeger barreled forward, an evil glint in its eyes, and basically steamrolled the Gun Sniper. The first bits to plow into the Sniper were the claws, slamming into the upper legs. The Sniper slammed to the ground, the Jaeger plowing it into the dirt with claws alight. The Sniper's pilot didn't really even have time to clear his head from the violent shock before the Sniper's spine stiffened and went limp, the lights blinking out.

Meanwhile, Nat staggered to her feet, turning to face the Jaeger. Her power reserves were enough for one last blast of firepower, before...

...the Jaeger looked in her direction.

A series of bullets passed through a long line of purple sparks.

And the cat fell limply to the ground.

The judge's paddles went back up.

"The battle is over...the battle is over! The winners of this battle, and those advancing to the next round, are the members of - "

...TEAM DAWNSTAR!

Rank adjustments:

Team Dawnstar: +1 Win
Team Vagrant: +1 Loss

Kyne Xaratan: +2 Kills
Craters: +1 CSF
Larry: +1 CSF

Blaine: +1 Kill (as he survived the Pteras kamikaze), +1 CSF
John: +1 CSF (but it was a damned cool one.)
Nat: +1 Kill, +1 CSF

The pilots got a chance to inspect their Zoids post-battle.

Liger Zero Jaeger: It's seen much better days. The mountings holding the armor on have been severely weakened, and said armor is badly scorched and eroded. A series of deep pits and scars bear witness to the Heavy Armor's beam gatlings, and it's missing a chunk of shoulder armor thanks to the power of the Darkreign Unit.

Gordos: It looks like a Molga burrowed into this thing. Right behind the head, there's a very large hole with sputtering, flashing conduits inside. A blue glow indicates that the core was very close to being breached. And don't get me started on the spines. This Zoid will require Heavy repairs to piece it back together.

Pteras: This bird is little more than scrap. She plowed headlong into the ground, ploughing up a huge crater and scattering shards of metal all over the countryside. If it's even possible to save the poor thing, she'll require not only a complete overhaul, but at least two weeks of hangar time to recuperate. And that's if things go favorably; the outlook is bleak for this poor bird.

Gun Sniper: It'll require Heavy repairs. A large series of tracks and enormous, Liger claw-sized gouges perforate the flimsy armor, and the internal structure isn't much better off, with two broken legs and a snapped spine.

Gun Sniper Heavy Armor: It's better off than the Pteras, but that's not saying much. Mercifully, the core survived, and the Gun Sniper was smart enough to eject its pilot moments before the explosion. There's not much left of this thing besides a lump of black slag, glowing faintly, and a Wile E. Coyote esque Gunsniper crater in the ground. Overhaul.

Lightning Saix: It was the Vulcans that done this poor thang in, Shuriff. It's the best off of the three Vagrant zoids, meaning it's the only one recognizeable as a Zoid. A closer inspection reveals its sides completely missing thanks to the railguns and Ontos cannons, and a near-dislocated shoulder - it's a wonder the railgun didn't take it straight off. Still, the head and upper section of the Zoid is largely intact, so this one can scrape by (barely) with Medium repairs.

Excellent fight, folks. I hope to see more like it.