Judgeman 0042 rocketed down in between Pointy Darkness and Reaper's Bounty's Gustavs, landing and deploying.
"This battle is between Teams Reaper's Bounty," he dropped the red paddle, "and Pointy Darkness," he dropped the green paddle. "All contestants will now enter their data for the record."

"Guys, it's starting!" Jenny called Kyne and Hank over to the television screen. They were still in Kyne's apartment, watching a replay of the battle.
"Excellent." Kyne smiled grimly. "Most excellent."
"Go Pointy Darkness!" Hank cheered.
"Traitor," Kyne muttered under his breath. Hank laughed.

"Liam."

"..."

"Liiiii-aaaaam..."

"..."

"LIAM!"

The solitary figure in the cockpit of the newly upgraded King Baron glanced up from his manual. "Ehhh?"

"Battle," Tamar replied with a growl. "The JudgeMan just landed. Transmit your data, y'know?"

Liam grimaced. "Dammit, I was hoping to have a little more time to read up on what all these guns did..." He flicked some switches to configure his fire groupings almost at random, though he made sure to link one to "alpha-strike." That one would come in handy.

[Liam Alexander, Class D, piloting King Baron with no additional modifications]

---

Tamar closed the comm and shook her head. Sometimes she wondered what exactly she'd been thinking when she had come up to chat with the corporate CEO after the picnic... but oh well, if she hadn't, she wouldn't be here, would she? In the semifinal round of the Royal Cup? She could hardly keep from giggling with excitement.

And in an unmodded Storch of all things, Tamar thought smugly. That'll show those hotshots in their fancy Storm Sworders.

[Tamar Alexander, Class D, piloting Storch with no modifications]

---

Humming a little tune under his breath, Jan casually flipped a few switches to configure his fire groupings. His knees had been giving him a little trouble this morning... but hey, he was happy. Who said Zoid battling was only for the young, for kids who should probably be in college?

[Jan Yaylor, Class D, piloting DiBison with no modifications]

"All right! I get to try out my new splody Zoid."
Silberner grinned from the cockpit of her Zadka Saurer as she transmitted her data.

Silberner Falkestern, Rank D, Zadka Saurer.

Hughes and his Heldigunner shifted uncomfortably besides the much larger Zoid.
"Remember that we're your teamates. We don't like getting shot."
Sil just grinned evilly.
"You all explode the same."

Hughes Rivera, Rank E, Heldigunner with HKT-010.

Siren just rolled her eyes at her sister.
"We do not explode the same. Trust me on that one."

Siren Falkestern, Rank E, Hound Soldier with SS-04.

Ryan just looked at Chris with an alarmed look on his face.
"Are they always like that?"
"Yes, you get used to it."

Jenny giggled at the banter between the PD pilots broadcast globally.

The Judgeman raised his paddles, then dropped them. "The Battlemode is one-one-zero-one slash zero-niner-eight-two. The contestants are five hundred meters apart. The area within three kilometers of this point has been designated off-limits to all personnel not affiliated with the teams. Go back. It's not safe here.
"Begin!"

Tamar didn't need to be told twice, as was usually the case. The Storch blasted forwards, skimming along the ground and accelerating quickly right towards the Zakda Saurer. She'd read the specs on the anti-air missiles published right before the Royal Cup -- the things were nasty, so the best way to counter them was to maintain the profile of a ground target and get in nice and close where their firing arc would work against them.

Aiming to reach the area of the Saurer in three seconds, or as close to it as possible, Tamar slammed on the airbrakes. Not splitting her concentration with fire or missile locks, she devoted all of her attention to latching onto the Zakda Saurer's tail with the Storch's huge talons, much as she had done to Kyne, only this time she was slowing before impact to what would hopefully be a safe-ish speed. The point was not to rip it off -- the point was simply to grab onto it about halfway down, where the gun barrels couldn't hit her and any missiles would perhaps splash the Zakda. Naturally as she did this, she took at least a little care not to overfly the mortars or do anything like that. Once this had been completed, Tamar began playing with magnessor polarization and flight boosters to rock the Zakda all over the place, with luck shooting its aim and making it inadvisable for the Saurer to lock down. There was no effort to actually HURT the thing -- her purpose was simply to be an everliving nuisance.

---

Praying that Tamar would be successful in her task, Liam dropped his crosshairs over the Hound Soldier and braced the King Baron for recoil and general stability, triggering a constant stream of fire from all of his forward-facing automatic weapons towards whatever front leg was a better target. The tail looped over to the side as the tail guns sprayed the area around the Zakda Saurer, hoping that the high-heat laser blasts would be enough to surpress mortar and missile fire, but he wasn't giving much effort over to aiming there. Instead, his attention was focused on the Hound.

Three seconds in, having hopefully gained an idea how the pilot liked to fight, Liam triggered his heavy guns -- the Pulse Balkan Cannons and Flame Beam Cannon for a full two seconds on the latter, aiming for the leg he'd been trashing as the full-auto fire continued. The Pulse Balkan Cannons fired one more time at five seconds in before all fire ceased and the shield came up, Liam urging the King Baron into a run towards the Hound Soldier in hopes of catching it with a shield ram in the damaged location. He knew he was asking a lot of the Baron, but he would never get another chance like this.

---

Jan quickly engaged his radar array, sending data to his teammates and boosting his accuracy as he turned to face the sniping Heldi. The DiBison rocked as half his mortars, all nine tubes of the central array, discharged their payload at once towards the sniperer...er. He knew that the thing couldn't be too swift with that ridiculous cannon on its back, but it could really give them hell later on. He pounded the thing with his remaining eight mortars, chain-fired to two per second, until it was out of action or no longer a viable target before he switched his attentions to the Zakda Saurer. All the while, the DiBison was trotting forward at a nice steady pace in the direction of the Heldigunner, just so that anyone looking to lob mortars or snipe him would have to put a little effort into it and take their attention away from other things. The slight angle would also have the nice side effect of making his mortar array just a wee bit less vulnerable...

((Yes, Hughes is reciting the Litany Against Fear. I know I'm a dork. Shut up.))

Silberner grinned evilly as she targeted one Zoid in particular, the Dibison. She aimed her napalm mortar cannons at the Dibison and fired each cannon once. She then fired eighteen missiles at the Dibison. While Sil was showing her hatred for the Dibison, Hughes went into Longshot Mode, preparing to take down the Storch. While he was aiming, he was reciting something.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. When the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

As soon as he finished reciting, he shot the Storch with his rifle. Siren arced around towards the King Baron as fast as she could without damaging the Hound. She flipped her lances forwards in preparation for some good old stabbity.

As Hughes recited the Litany, the battle swirled around him and right on top of him. The DiBison hammered his zoid with mortars, forcing the little Heldigunner underground to avoid total annihilation. He waited for Jan to give up, waited for the silence that told him the mortars had stopped. Only his repeating the Litany sounded in his cockpit, as even the normal comm chatter was silent.
Sil took grim aim at the busy 'Bison with her mortars and missiles. She fired them all in a quick little volley, then felt the impact of the Storch hit her knee joint. The Storch threw everything off, even the missile locks. Unfortunately, it hit just after launch, so everything sailed right into the DiBison's back.
The DiBison erupted into flame, paint cracking as the internal temperature skyrocketed. It had to dump its ammo, and fast.
So it aimed where the Heldigunner was about to pop up, tracking the little dude with its sensors.
Jan hammered the Heldigunner when it came back up, completely throwing the Heldi's aim off thanks to the explosions erupted all around it. The mortars plowed craters into the ground, sending debris high into the air.
Apparently, Jan figured out how to dump his ammo really fast. The Judgeman registered the kill in Jan's cockpit.
It was at this moment that the battered Hound Soldier plowed into the King Baron's shield. Its front end chewed all to Hell, the brickdog deployed its lances and prepared to hit the Baron.
Siren didn't see the shield until it was too late. Colliding with the shield at high speeds, her lances broke through, twisted metal cinders connected by arcing electricity from the shorting shield. The shield gave way halfway down the lances, and the two zoids collided with each other at half their top speeds. The Hound, the denser of the two, fared much better. After all, it was designed for high-speed impacts. Quickly accelerating, it pushed into the Baron even as Liam fired at point-blank range into the Hound's chest. The Baron found itself motoring backwards, gears stripping as the gunbunny fought locomotive. Locomotive won, forcing the Baron to break off or lose limbs to structural damage.

Rank Adjustment
Jan Yalvor: +1 Win
Hughes Rivera: +1 Loss

Continue.

Liam ground his teeth and shifted the weight of the King Baron even as his thumb flicked a switch to divert extra energy into the blades. His shift and maneuvering was intended to turn the Baron ninety degrees or so, to make the Hound Soldier's trampling push into the Liger from the side, possibly knocking it over but also hopefully impaling it on two eight-meter long plasma blades. The gatling missile pod on that side also locked, and when ready discharged all eight missiles into the abused Hound Soldier. It'd beat up his side some, but he could always expose the other side assuming that they made it that far. Regardless. Liam did his best to impale the Hound Soldier with those amped-up blades, pushing in as far as he could without ripping out the core, before tearing them free and pumping steady machinecannon fire into the hurting Hound Soldier. All the while, the tailgun was also firing its multitude of tiny bolts into the most damaged spot it could find.

---

Liam's sights dropped over the Zakda Saurer next. As it hadn't really gotten a chance to move last turn, its mass would be working against it as he fired a simultaneous shot from all seventeen of his mortar cannons at once. Better to get the things clear of their breaches before the DiBison's internal temperature could cook them off. Following that, the DiBison gallumphed forward at full speed, the wind hopefully helping dump some of the heat. As soon as the impact cannon was in range, it began to discharge at maximum fire rate towards the Zakda Saurer as well, aiming for the most damaged location he could find. He wouldn't reach the thing this turn, but damned if he'd be an easy shot for it.

---

Grinning and happy to have survived the turn and accomplished her task, Tamar launched away and circled tightly in, magnessors holding the Storch at low speed as the AZ wing repeaters worked over the mortars at their highest fire rate. Tamar was hoping that one of her bolts would catch one of those lovely napalm mortars and burst it over the Zakda Saurer -- it'd be fair for it to get a taste of its own medicine. As soon as Tamar heard the warning tone of a missile lock, though, she gunned the flight boosters and swooped low over the plain before cranking up into an Immelman to evade them or spread out the damage. The lock wouldn't be coming until at least three seconds more, though, so she had a nice fun grace period to suppress those mortars.

Siren had a plan. She turned around and ran away. She hoped the Baron would follow her and she prepared her EM Net Gun to fire if it did. Silberner ignored the Storch and turned her Zoid around, planting her anchors into the ground and going into Longshot Mode. She aimed her 160mm Sniper Railcannon at the Dibison's left ankle and fired. Then she fired the 240mm Sniper Railcannon at the Dibison. It was after that when she decided to turn her aim towards the Storch. She aimed and fired the 160mm sniper railcannon at it.

Teehee.

The King Baron chased after the Hound Soldier to give it a good ol' hug with the blades, but the Hound decided it didn't want any part of this. So it booked, letting the Baron chase it.
The Baron caught the EM Net and discovered exactly why an EM Net is bad for it while the energy managmenet system is active. The net flared out and snared the Baron, stalling it momentarily while the Hound made good its getaway.

"Dammit, Siren!" Kyne thundered. "Can't you ever pull a good follow-up?"

Meanwhile, the Zadka Saurer lined up a shot. Ignoring the little Storch harrying its mortars and rendering them nonfunctional, it aimed for the galloping DiBison. No hard task; the DiBison was heading straight for it. The tail drooped, letting the lesser of the sniper cannons aim for a foreleg's ankle. The sniper cannon blasted, slicing the hoof clean off at the joint.
The mortars' return volley was rather impressive, tearing up the ground around the Zadka Saurer. It shook the zoid, slowing the shot by precious seconds. The Shock Cannons opened up, tearing into the Zadka's armored back half.
The wounded leg crumbled on the next stride and the DiBison stumbled and fell, its momentum too great to stop. The second cannon shot came a moment later, hitting it in the burning mortar rack.
The thing went sky-high. Each of the remaining mortars, already overheated, suddenly lit up from the impact of the 240mm shell hitting the mortar array and plowing down deep into the zoid. It blew out the other end, carving a hole two meters across in the beast's belly. The shell missed the core by less than twenty centimeters.

Rank Adjustment
Silberner Falkestern: +1 Win
Jan Yalvor: +1 Loss

Notes: Sil's zoid is screaming damage alerts. She's going down and knows it. Siren and Liam were a few meters away from each other at the start of the round, as the Baron broke off to avoid losing limbs. Tamar is pretty much the only one here not damaged in interesting ways.

Tamar whooped. Still intact, give or take... "All right! Time to do this the hard way!" Somehow, she sounded entirely too cheerful given the text of that sentence...

The Storch rocketed upwards for a bit before she inverted and dove down almost straight at the Zakda Saurer. She took a spare moment to line up her reticule with the already-breached napalm mortar launchers before thumbing the launch of the carrier missile. Unarmed, it would continue to fire its engine without exploding once the computer said it had reached its target -- it would only explode once the warhead had physically compressed and heated enough to set it off on its own. And with any luck, that would be underneath or inside the napalm mortar stockpile... Regardless, as soon as the carrier missile was away Tamar pulled shaply up and roared along the ground in any direction that wouldn't have her run through Liam's fight.

---

Liam slowed as quickly as he could without further damaging his drive system, the machinecannons pounding out their staccatto rhythm of death as soon as the Zoid came back online. As soon as the Hound faced back towards the King Liger, Liam let its ravaged chest have it with every gun in his arsenel, firing as quickly and as consistently as it could without critically overheating, even as the Hound closed to point-blank range. In a fight of high-bore pulse laser cannons against castrated lances, Liam was confident in his Zoid to pull through.

Sil was not happy that birdie was still flying. She aimed her missles at the Storch and fired eighteen of them. She then aimed her smaller sniper railcannon at the Storch's underside and then fired. While that was going on, Siren ran towards the left of her sister with a King Baron following.
"Sil, some help would be nice."
After her assault on the Storch, Silberner turned her larger sniper railcannon towards the King Baron. The Hound Soldier got out of the way of the rifle and Silberner fired at the King Baron's neck.

The Storch arced up and around, letting loose The Big Missile. It rocketed downwards, the Zadka rapidly erupting in a huge gout of fire. It literally blew apart from the inside, showering the area with debris. In an overly-dramatic maneuver, Tamar vanished in the eruption, only to shoot out the side of it, battered but mostly undamaged.
The Zadka never got a shot off.
Tamar let out a victory whoop, buzzing in a circle to come around and harrass the beleaugered Hound Soldier. She heard the buzz of incoming missiles.
Apparently, it did get off a shot.
Tamar pulled hard evasive maneuvers while the King Baron almost comically chased the Hound Soldier around, spraying it with fire, but it wasn't enough. She evaded the first couple of missiles, but she mistook their direction, juked when she should've dove, and received a missile barrage the likes of which her zoid was never designed to take. They hit the Storch in the chest, blasting the zoid to pieces.
Good luck finding all the parts. Again.
Meanwhile, her husband emerged victorious as the crippled Hound Soldier gave up, worn out. The King Baron circled, then dove in for the kill.
The Judgeman dropped its paddle. "Victory for Reaper's Bounty! Congratulations! You have emerged from the quarter-finals into the semi-finals of the Royal Cup! Your next opponent will be Team Deathsta- er . . . Dawnstar!"

Total Rank Adjustment
Team Pointy Darkness: +1 Loss
Silberner Falkestern: +2 Wins, +1 Loss, Overhaul
Hughes Rivera: +1 Loss, Heavy
Siren Falkestern: +1 Loss, Medium
Team Reaper's Bounty:
Liam Alexander: +1 Win, Light (you have to wait until after the RC to do any repairs to people in the Cup)
Tamar Alexander: +1 Loss, Mega-Overhaul (Only the core's really intact . . .)
Jan Yalvor: +1 Win, +1 Loss, Heavy