Nearer to the scene, the flashes of light turned out to be blasts from the Geminass 02's accelerate rifle. The dark blue suit blended in perfectly with the nighttime hills, wreaking havoc on the pilot of the Wing Gundam's visual sensors. In fact, he had missed the intial buster rifle shot by mere inches, attempting to take out the 02's head.

"Damn you!" Gaspar Vega growled, wasting on his second shot, the beam dissappearing directly over the glowing lights of Rome itself. Gaspar's inexperience with his suit also hampered his targeting, and Norman Kirby - while not an expert himself - had at least mastered dodging enough to avoid the powerful shots. His suit skipped lightly over a hill, before boosting forward and attempting to corner the Wing. To his surprise, Gaspar yelled in frustration and jetted forward, his verniers screaming white fire. The Wing rammed full-on into the 02, slamming it into the side of one of the hills and scortching the verdant green grass. Both pilots struggled with their controls futilely.

Kirby was the first to break the deadlock, his 02 rolling out from under the Wing. However, Gaspar used Kirby's push to manouver back to standing, and he chuckled grimly as he trained his buster rifle on the dark blue mobile suit for his final shot.

Suddenly, the alarms in the Wing Gundam blazed into screaming red existance as dozens upon dozens of missiles impacted into the Gundanium armor. Gaspar yelled helplessly as the salvo decimated his powerful suit, ripping off plating and badly damaging his thrusters. In an instictive action he threw the controls downward, leaping off the hill and into a massive beam that tore through his torso and rendered the Wing inoperative. It slammed into the ground, useless now.

"So...I see I have competition." Dmitri Astroph of the Heavyarms muttered into the comm as the Geminass 01 crested the hill. "Must we fight to assert dominance?"

"Oooh yeah." Devon of the 01 said in the deepest voice he could muster. "I'm gonna have to take you down, fool."

"Oh crap," one random Roman shepard said to another in Italian. "Ciò è Devon, è una madre cattivar-"

"Guardare la sua bocca!" The other said sharply.

"Ma ero giusto parlando di Devon!" The first whined.

"Ain't no pansy poor boy gonna mess with ME!" Devon declared, striking a pose and stroking his chin. In response, the Heavyarms raised its gatling.

"Aw HELL no!" Devon yelled as the Heavyarms started shelling out beam blasts. "You just pissed me off, bro!" The 01 dove to the side and fired the still-raised accelerate rifle at his immobile opponent. The Heavyarms took the hastily aimed blast to the shoulder missile pod, the ammo exploding and thowing off his aim.

"Shit..." Dmitri muttered as he boosted back behind a hill. "He's good." While Astroph wrestled with the unfamiliar controls of his suit, the 01 came barreling over the hill and took another potshot at the retreating Heavyarms, scoring a powerful hit to the leg. Though not disabled, the suit lost most of its mobility.

"Alright mofo, it's time for a faceoff!" Devon yelled, still using his deep voice. "Bring it!" As he spoke these words, however, a blast identical to the beams emitted from the 01's rifle tore the arm off of Devon's suit.

"Heeere's JOHNNY!" Norman Kirby smirked, firing off another two blasts that were dodged by Devon. The blue Geminass seemed to have the upper hand against the unprepared 01 until a screaming Dmitri slammed his combat knife into the 02's back. The verniers exploded violently, throwing the Heavyarms against a nearby hill and knocking Dmitri unconsious.

"Huh...guess I won." An exhaused Devon muttered.

"Ciò non era molto cattivo come." The second Roman shepard grumbled.

"Shut up." The first replied.

“Are you ready, Calla?” Dire asked, smirking in his cockpit. His sister responded a moment later.

“Yeah, yeah… Just try not to loose too badly.” With that, the Mercurius’ planet defensors deployed, forming a protective shield in front of the suit. With the barrier in place, the red suit shot forward, crash shield out.

The Vayeate was ready, however. Leaping up into the air, Dire fired a shot, angling it so that it would go over the barrier. Seeing this just in time, Calla swerved to the right and returned fire. Dire dodged and, in turn, shot back. This time, however, the blast hit squarely in the sand, sending up a cloud that temporarily blinded his sister.

“Gah! Damn!” she yelled, trying desperately to see.

“Ha! Gotcha’ now!” Dire shouted triumphantly. The Vayeate sped around to the side, getting behind the barrier. As he fired, however, the Mercurius boosted up into the air, above the sand cloud and out of the path of the shot.

“Damn!” growled Dire as he watched the Mercurius come down in front of him. Temporarily forgetting about her planet defensors, Calla slashed forward, slicing off the tip of the Vayeate’s beam cannon. Panicking, Dire smashed the stump into the opposing suit, knocking it back. Using it like a club, he brought it down on top of the red suit’s shoulder.

“Here goes nothing…” murmurs Dire. Pulling the trigger, the gun exploded, blasting away the Mercurius’ arm.

“Ha!” yelled Dire. His celebration was cut short, however, when the Mercurius pointed its beam gun at the Vayeate. It fired at point blank range, crushing the blue suit’s sensors.

“So…” Calla said slowly as the battle settled down. “Call it a draw?”

“Yeeeeeeeee-haaaaw!” he yelled, ripping through a cloud.

Suddenly, the Taurus shuddered and spun out of control. It fell towards the Earth and Eto frantically tried to regain control. Finally, he forced it to transform into the mobile suit mode. It smashed into the ground shakily, only barely regaining its balance.

“What the hell?!” he yelled, looking around in confusion. He spied a lone mobile suit advancing, firing shot after shot from its beam cannon.

The Taurus leapt into the air again, drawing its beam rifle and returning fire.

The other mobile suit, a Leo-N, took cover behind a small hill and kept up its barrage of shots.

“Civilians shouldn’t posses mobile suits!” Damion Carnage yelled. “If you surrender now, you won’t be hurt!”

Eto ignored the OZ soldier and kept on fighting, spraying the general area with beam fire. The Leo finally strafed out from behind the hill, blasting the Taurus. One good shot sent it spiraling to the ground.

“Stay away!” yelled Eto. Even though the Taurus was down, he kept firing, managing to knock a home in the Leo’s armor.

“Damn…” muttered Damion. He shot once more, blasting off some of the shoulder armor before retreating. "You got off lucky this time!” he yelled.

"So I suppose this is it then. As the sun rises and the day begins anew, so does my quest for total paradise. The pilot of that satanic abomination known as Gundam Epyon should be arriving at any moment Lord. If ever where there a mechanical personifcation of hell itself, leave it to Oz to be its creator." The sound of verniers off in the distance cut Andre's prayers short. Anxious to begin his cleansing of the world, Wing Zero's pilot quickly clammered into its cockpit and began the start up sequence.

The image of Gundam Epyon was almost surreal and Alessandra Favian knew it. Given the mentality of her opponent, the calculating Oz pilot figured approaching the dueling site in the path of the sun, during its morning rise would give her suit a fiery, hellish apperance and rile up her opponent. Given the way her opponent quickly fired up the Wing Zero, she had figured correct. Transforming her suit out of flight mode, Alessandra touches the ground a safe distance from her opponent and opens a frequency to the Wing Zero.

"Ready to get your life overwith?"

"Quiet! I wont be scared off by idle threats from Oz's lapdog! For paradise!" Wasting not another moment, the Wing Zero draws its beam saber and charges forward. The Epyon system whispering in Alessandra's ear was the only warning given of her opponents attack, prompting her to sidestep out of the way. The Oz pilot was a fraction to slow however, as the her opponets beam saber slices a car-sized chunk of the Epyon's left wing off.

Continuing to take the Epyon systems advice, Allesandra extends her head rods, wrapping them around her opponents left leg hoping to trip up the Wing Zero as it flies past. Andre's own battle system warns him of the maneuver, causing him to dump more power into his suits verniers. The tug-of-war match between the two mobile suits seems to go nowhere for a few moments, however the Wing Zero's powerful verniers begin to win out and Epyon slowly gets dragged along the landscape.

"You cant keep that power output up much longer. Estimated seventeen seconds before generator overload." The Oz pilot's voice radiated calm, with an emotionless undertone. The Epyon System was taking control and Allesandra couldn't fight it off. She was now the Epyon's slave. The Epyon held on for all its worth, its gears whining under the immense strain of the Wing Zero. Unexpectedly, Andre pushed his generators limits even further but the Epyon wouldn't have it. Sweat poured off of Alessandra's face as she struggled to hold on until the Wing Zero burned itself out, she managed to cease the slow ride the Wing had started to take her on, both suits again at a standstill.

Andre's warning lights screamed on all at once as his reactor began to go critical. the pilot didn't notice so much as a flicker. The Zero system had his full attention now, as it instructed him to push his generators harder, the unknowing slave did its suits bidding and a second later, it paid off. The strain on the heat rods proved to much as they severed in half, sending the Epyon flipping backwards. A quick vernier adjustment uprighted the suit, then Alessandra slammed on her thrusters and ignited her only reamaing weapon, the Epyons Beam sword and charged towards the recovering Wing Zero.

After breaking the Eypons hold around its leg the Wing Zero flew at top speed towards a nearby canyon wall, with reflexes that only the Zero system could give to an inexperienced pilot, Andre manged to twist around and slow his momentum in the fraction of a second he had before slamming hard into the unforgiving rock. The impact nearly knocked Andre unconcious and probably would have, save that the Zero system was still active. His verniers all but destroyed after slamming his back against the wall, theres nothing Andre can do as gravity takes its course. The Wing Zero slides down the rock wall and hits the ground directly into the Epyons charging path. "Enemies of Gods wish for paradise are my enemy." The calm voice lacked any emotion, as Andre drew his twin buster rifle and fired at the charging Epyon. Alessandra's own system warned her pilot of her impending doom and the Epyons pilot sent her suit skyward, the blast narrowly missing her. "You are an enemy of God." Andre readjusted his aim and fired again as warning lights from his already overused generatior lit up once more. The Epyon spun to the right in mid air, the blast heating the air in the space it had just been. The scorched Epyon rolled and dived down its beam sword aimed directly at the Wing Zero's cockpit.

"YOU ARE MY ENEMY!" Andre scremed and depressed the trigger again. A final shot rang out then the Wing Zero went limp, the Zero system allowing the emergency shut down sequence to commence. The shot found most of its mark, incenerating Epyon's legs from the knees down, but that didnt stop its charge. The outstretched beam sword severed Wing Zero's head from its neck. Luckly for Andre who had passed out, his final shot had knocked the Epyon off course enough to miss the cockpit.

"What....?" A breif fleeting stir of conciousness in the back of Alessandra's head is enough for her to power down the Epyon before it could issue her any more commands. After a few moments the Oz pilot realized what had happened and frowned.

"I need more training."

Outcome: Epyon wins, Wing Zero loses
Epyon - 2 days damage
Wing Zero - 2 Days Damage

Unknown to Shu, the Tallgeese II rocketed high above in the sky. It's pilot, William Klein, a soldier loyal to the Earth Alliance, stared stoically at the screen and the OZ controlled Gundam. The massive vernier rockets on the mobile suits back cut out and it plummeted toward the ground. Raising the dobergun attached to it's right arm, he casually aimed, waiting for the crosshairs to turn red. He then fired.

The Deathscythe's sensors flashed seconds before the weapon impacted. Kiezan was thrown foward in his cockpit ans the scythe-wielding Gundam stumbled foward. The blue and white streak of the Tallgeese II flashed over head, before the thrusters kicked on and the mobile suit landed opposite the Deathscythe.

"Death to all traitors!!" Klein shouted, pulling out his beam saber and rushing the Deathscythe. Still off-balance, Shu barely managed to dodge the first strike while activating his beam scythe, and jammers. The monitors in the Tallgeese II fuzzed as William lunged foward with his second strike. Dropping back into a defensive stance, Klein attempted to find his target through the static. The radar pinged to his MS' right and he turned just in time for the shield-bearing arm to be completely severed by a strike from the stealthy Gundam. Realizing his oppurtunity for victory is already lost, Klein throws his thrusters to full and takes into the air, leaving the Deathscythe to resume it's patrol.

“Are you ready?” Devon Reigns asks his opponent, safely in the seat of the Geminass 01.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” responds Norman Kirby, in the Geminass 02, almost exactly the same as the other suit, with the exception of the paint job. “Then here I come!” Devon yells, going on the offensive. Swooping forward, he fires a few beam shots which the other Geminass deflects using its shield. Norman returns fire and Devon, in turn, blocks them.

This continues for almost a minute: The two mobile suits, dancing about each other, firing and blocking. The battle seems almost choreographed as the two pilots, both novices, are careful not to take too big a risk.

Devon, the more aggressive of the two, gets frustrated with this.

“C’mon!” he growled, aiming for the Geminass 02. “Go down!” Finally, when he couldn’t take it, he dashed forward, firing several quick shots in succession.

Norman yells out in surprise and can’t get out of the way in time. The two mobile suits collide with a heavy metal clang. As the two gundams stagger away from each other, Devon rights himself just enough to spray a flurry of fire straight at the other Geminass.

“Ugh… dizzy…” Norman mutters as the Geminass 02 stumbles from the sudden hits.

“Had enough?”

“Yeah… for now…”

Today was the day the man thought to himself. For seven years now the Florence resident had worked at the Chapel. Refurbishing and maintaining the ancient landmark known as the Florence Chapel, birthplace of the pioneer of inventers Leonardo DaVinci, had been the mans pleasure ever since he had moved there and today he would finally finish his task. He leaned in slowly and kissed his wife as she slept. He hardly slept the night before, happy that all his hard work was about to pay off. It hadnt been about the money either. Seven years ago the man had been nothing but a peniless drunk, living on the streets, uncaring for the world around him. All that was in the past however, he rarely even looked back on it anymore. Now he was married, about to have his first child and for once, finish something he had started. Quietly the man stepped out of his house, glancing at the nearly finished nursery as he stepped out the door. Stepping outside, the man could have almost sworn he had heard his wife stir as he closed the door. Locking the door as silently as he could the man turned and started walking the short distance to the chapel when his heart went cold. Something was wrong.. Suddenly a large shadow loomed overhead. The man looked up just in time to see Gundam Deathscythe fly past and uncontrollably crash directly into his beloved chapel. An instant later its remains began to catch fire, the man no longer cared however. If his heart was broken he couldnt tell beacuse he only felt numb. Sowly, the man turned and without so much as glancing at his wife who had stepped outside to see the commotion, made his way to the bar.

Just outside of Florence. Three minutes earlier.

"Now your sure this system of yours is safe Alessandra? I've heard rumors otherwise..."

The pilot of Gundam Deathscythe, Shu Kiezen had a fair amount of worry in his voice when he asked the question and with good reason. The scuttlebut around Oz was that the Gundam Epyon was possessed. Normally that would just come off as some sort of sick joke, but this time there was no humor in it.

"Quit your whining or go home to mommy. This is just a training excersise. I wont even need to use the Epyon system. Hurry up and finish your checklist." Inside the Epyon Alessandra Favian sighed. Her fellow Oz affiliate, Shu Kiezen was a well known and respected pilot among Oz's ranks but why in the hell did he have to act so damned green? Her annoyance was quickly replaced with focus as a double-click over her comm unit signifed Shu was ready and the duel was underway.

"Dodge this!" With speed gifted to only the elite of Oz pilots, Shu aimed and fired his buster shield at his opponent, almost instantly after sending the signal to start the duel. Alessandra's reflexes proved to be that much the better though, with a quick flip of the Epyon's heatrod the more experienced Oz pilot batted away the sheild. Before the Baronet could even think about gloating however, the Deathscythe ignited its beam scythe and charged taking the fight to its opponent. Alessandra barely got her suit out of the way as the beam scythe sliced at the air where the Epyons chest had just been a moment ago. Alessandra ignited the Epyon's beam sword but before she could make use of it her opponent attacked again, this shot aimed at decapitating the Epyon. At the last instant, Alessandra brought up her beam sword to block. Shu followed up the attack with several more, each just slightly closer to hitting its mark than the last as the two suits danced around each other.

"Thats it...just a little more...there!" The opening Alessandra was waiting for presented itself as her opponent overstepped on one of his attacks. The Epyons heat rods stretched out, sweeping the legs out from out under her opponent, while simultaneously sidestepping the clumsy attack. Alessandra prepared to finish the flawless maneuver by taking the head of her opponent mere moments after hitting the ground, but Shu's panicked voiced halted her just short of it.

"Baronet, we've got an incoming and its speed is incredible. I'm also getting unbelieveable power readings as-"

"MOVE YOU IDIOT!" Instantly recognizing the off-the-charts power signature, Alessandra tightened her heat rods grip on the Deathscythe's leg and flung it far out of the direction of the incoming blast. A moment later, brilliant green energy slammed into the earth in the space the Deathscythe had only just occupied, leaving a hole in the ground with seemingly no bottom.

"Oz Demon! I'll send you back to hell!" Andre Wojczky was only upest for a mere moment at missing his intended target, the Deathscythe. The sight of his hated enemy changed his mood from upset to enraged.

"Oh your just begging for death." Wasting no time, Alessandra doned her suits controlling helmet and charged for the Wing Zero. Andre was ready, this time, outstretching his sheild and charging, slamming into the Epyons midsection. The suit hit the ground hard but stayed on its feet as it slid across the earth, nearly falling into the recently made crater. The force of the hit disorented Alessandra long enough for Andre to draw his beam saber. The still dazed Baronet realized this fact a little to late, dodging only part of the attack, as the Wing Zero's beam sabre pierced through the Epyons left hip. The Epyon took a wild swing with its beam sword, but with his shield already at the ready, Andre was quick to block the attack.

"Persistent arent we? This time I'll finish you!" Before the Epyon could launch an offensive Andre moved in close, the Wing Zero arms outstretching and grabbing the Epyons shoulders. With the Zero system whispering instructions in his ear, Andre skillfully rolled back with his opponent kicking her into the air and drawing the Twin Buster Rifle. It was charging before he even had his opponent sighted. The moment the shot was charged, Andre fired. With skill only the Epyon system could provide, Alessandra had the Epyon transforming into flight mode the moment she was kicked into the air. Sweat poured from her face as the seemingly to slow transformation process ensued. Not a second after it had completed, Alessandra slammed on her verniers full blast. The shot rang out in nearly the same instant. The maneuver had worked, mostly. A chime sounded signifying her heat rod "tail" had been vaporized. "Get back here!" Andre, determined to finish the fight sped off in the direction of the city after the escaping Epyon.

"Uhhh.....what the hell." Shu was sure one of his ribs was broke. Other than that he had seemed to be okay. The same went for the Deathscythe. Aside from cosmetic damages it was okay. He'd have to go back for his buster shield though. A roar overhead promted the downed pilot to re-activate his cameras. The Deathscythe's cockpit quickly filled with the morning Florence sky as the Epyon blazed across the scene with a white suit close behind. Shu watched with awe as her fellow Oz pilot twisted, flipped and transformed her suit in mid air, placing her directly behind her pursuing opponent. The Epyon's beam sword blazed to twice its length as it charged her opponent who also showed absolutely unphathomable skill in catching on to Alessandra's brilliant move and spinning just in time to see the Epyon hack its sheild arm off. A blaze of machinecannon fire from the Wing Zero's torso was the only thing that saved it from a follow-up attack. "I've got to help her." Shu quickly re-powered his suit and sped towards the ongoing battle. He arrived just as the Wing Zero was knocked to the ground and into a nearby park. As the suit began to get back to its feet, Shu ignited his beam scythe and charged, slamming himself shoulder first into the Wing Zero knocking it back to the ground. Shu raised his weapon for a final blow aimed at the cockpit.

"This will teach you to mess around in Oz affairs." But the attack that followed was not his own. Shu shook violently inside his cockpit as warning lights screamed to life. A flickering image of the Epyons beam sword through the Deathscythes's lower-torso placed a look of horror on Shu's face.

"That....system..."

"You are my enemy" Alessandra's cold, emotionless voice chimed over Shu's intercom. Her words were like daggers of ice piercing his soul. He had been betrayed by a machine.

"Both of you.....my enemies.....DIE!" Andre screamed and took aim with his Twin Buster Rifle. Conciousness grabbed at the back of Alessandra's mind and she quickly grabbed the Deathscythe and slammed her verniers on full throttle, both suits narrowly escaping the Wing Zero's final shot. When the dust finally settled, Andre tore his helmet off at the realization of what had happened. He had just vaporized the beautiful city of Florence.

"God...what have I done?" Andre transformed into neo-bird mode and fled, not caring if his enemy was still around.

"I see you brought a friend..." the entrepreneur stated flately.

"Yeah... I plan to win this fight!" Dimitri Astoph responds, raising his gatling arm at the opposite Gundam. The Geminass makes no move, inside the cockpit, Devon simply smiles.

"So do I."

As if on cue, the Serpent mobile suit he had broght with him bursts from the foliage surrounding the clearing they stand in. The double gatling opens fire on the Heavyarms and Maguanac, both suits immediately moving to evade. The Geminass pulls out a beam sword and rockets toward the Heavyarms as the Serpent gives chase to the Maguanac.

Twisting with a grace that would not be expected with it's size, the Heavyarms twists in midair and unloads it's missiles in a giant volley at the chasing Gundam. Landing on a single foot, then setting the other down, Dimitri grins as he watches the destruction to come. The white vapor trails converge on the blue and white Gundam, and the area erupts into fiery red. Even the Serpent and Maguanac pilots stop their fight to observe the destruction the Heavyarms dealt out.

"If you planned to win, why didn't you bring more guns?" Astoph asks mockingly. The fireball surges toward him shortly after, a look of shock washing over his face. The Geminass 01, scorched and burned, erupts toward the Heavyarms looking like a demon bursting from Hell.

"Because I won't need them!!!" Devon Reign shouts, the Geminass slams it's beam sword into the Heavyarms, the force of the collision sending the heavily armed Gundam screaming backwards. Touching ground 100 meters beyond the point of impact, the Heavyarms grinds to a halt 50 meters beyond, leaving a giant rut in it's wake. Satisfied that his interrupted duel has been properly addressed, Reign deactivates his beam saber and takes off, the Serpent following shortly after.

"God damn it, where the hell is she? She can't expect to challenge me to a duel and then get away with trying a one shot kill like that!"

A brief flash from below gives Calla only a second's warning before another huge beam of energy slices through the air towards her. The Mercurius dives to avoid the blast, and Calla spots the Vayate standing by an oil derrick, gun extended and generator already starting to spin up for another shot. Calla deploys the blade from her crash shield and dives at the Vayate, screaming a war cry as the Mercurius plunges towards it's foe.

Dire curses at the unexpected aggression of the Mercurius, realizing that she won't have enough time to hit the speeding mobile suit before it's upon her. Thinking quickly, she fires her beam cannon directly into the oil derrick next to her while activating her thrusters. Both the Mercurius and the Vayate are hidden by a massive ball of flame, and Calla's crash shield catches nothing but sand. As the explosion slowly settles, she looks around in confusion.

"Where the hell did it go...?"

High above, Dire smiles as the beeping of her targeting sensor finally changes to a steady tone. Below, in the Mercurius's cockpit, the lock-on warning sounds...

"SH-"

"Gotcha."

One last gigantic beam rips downwards, directly towards the Mercurius. At the same time, a flurry of beam gun shots flies upwards. The beam gun shots score a lucky hit on the Vayate's left leg thruster, causing an explosion that makes the still-firing beam only pass across the Mercurius briefly. But even this contact is enough to melt off the Mercurius's right arm and leg, along with the beam gun.

No words are exchanged, but within the Epyon’s cockpit, Alessandra’s nerves are on end. She does all she can to hold back, to wait for the okay.

The opposing side, a Leo variant, comes forward. Bristling with golden trim, the suit takes several steps, its beam sword already afire. As such is seen with the Epyon, its sword much more apparent within its shadowy mask. It’s a duel, an honorably task set upon each participant’s mantle; a trophy, ready for its victor’s grasp; ready to be held before an audience, with cameras flashing all around.

Alessandra cannot wait one moment more. The Epyon's beam sword, coming forward, is set in an upward position. Damion, alarmed at this feat, does the same, only with less professionalism. He clumsily props the beam sword above the Leo's head, angling sideways.

What’s this? Damion's hand releases from the thruster mid-flight, the show ceases. Another suit, bright white in color, jets from out of the bushes, beam cannon in hand.

"What the f---" Eto's surprise is short lived. He empties several rounds at the Epyon, hardly doing damage. Somewhat angered, the red and charcoal Gundam, without pause, targets the Taurus. Recovering from his muscalculation, Eto begins to flee, but it's a moment too late. The Epyon slashes at the newly acquired target, removing its leg. Gaining some leverage with a mere boost, Eto pushes off the ground with his remaining leg.

While this progresses, Damion attempts to exploit the situation by coming from behing Alessandra while she's occupied. This proves fatal as the Epyon's shielded arm is brought up in an arc, slashing the Leo's chest with a wave of heat. With the help from gravity, the rod coils around the OZ variant's neck, breaking it loose from the rest of its body.

"...this wasn't a good idea." Witnessing the carnage from above, Eto escapes.

The Epyon watches as the Taurus flees into the distance, disappearing into the clouds. Alongside, the Leo sparks, nearly lifeless on the ground.

"Stop humming, dammit."

"I can't help it. These training exercises are boring. "

"Well then, turn off your comm if you're going to hum."

"Fine."

The rythmic mechanical clanking was starting to affect the pilots of the two Leos. In his Tallgeese, Richard Blake sighed. He'd take the open sky with the screaming rush of his verniers over this groundpounding anyday. Too bad the mass produced suits couldn't fly. The long empty beach stretched on ahead, breakers relentlessly pounding on the powdery sand. The training ambush command had send them on was taking far too long.

If we don't find Klein within thirty minutes, I'm leaving. Richard decided. The voice of one of his pilots broke into his monologue.

"Sir, I'm picking up incoming. Four mobile suits, coming in very fast...must be Aires or Taurus, sir, nothing else could move that quickly." Klein shook himself out of his daydreaming and glanced at the radar.

"I see 'em. Heading straight for us...can't be Klein and his men. Spread out. I'll distract them, you fire from cover." The two Leos dashed for some nearby cliffs as Richard flipped a switch in his cockpit and felt the verniers whine into life, shaking his suit like a monstrous dog shaking a chew toy.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." he mumbled.

Inside the darkened cockpit of the Wing Zero sat the sinister figure of Andre Wojczky, shrouded by the wires of the ZERO system. Snaking from his head to the surrounding receptors, the wires gave the man the appearance of being at the middle of a entangled web...a metaphor that was not far from the truth. For the ZERO system was in Andre's brain now - the wires were simply there to monitor his brainwaves. As the Wing Zero's engines roared, his mind took in the data from the suit's sensors and transformed it into usable combat planning.

"Fan out." His emotionless voice chilled the blood of the civilian pilots following him in their fighter-mode Tauruses. "When you reach the beach, transform into combat mode. I will take the leader...you follow his subordinates. Attack." At their clipped responses, Andre let himself stop fighting the seductive embrace of the ZERO system and fell deep into its machinations. He barely saw the fighter forms of the Tauruses blaze past. When the gleaming white Tallgeese rose on a column of fire to meet him, he saw only death.

"You are my enemy." Wojczky intoned, the Wing Zero going from Neo Bird mode into its suit form. The right hand of the suit rose and a bright blade of flame shot from one end. The Wing Zero held its position in the dark night sky, shield and sword at the ready.

"We'll see about that." Confident in his high-performance mobile suit, Richard Blake also prepped his weapon for close-combat. Two beam sabers ignited in incandescent fury, and the verniers of the Tallgeese roared as the white suit leapt forward.

"Bring it!" Richard screamed, feeling the rage of combat take him over. Andre reacted emotionlessly, easily blocking the first thrust with his own saber and dodging the second as the Tallgeese flew by. ZERO sent him more and more data as his enemy's options grew. His mind was able to handle it all, but in doing so he lost all sense of self.

"My enemies must not live." He intoned in the same dead voice. The Tallgeese turned in a wide arc and came in again for another high-speed pass, its two beam sabers burning in the night sky.

The titans met in a booming clash. Amazingly, the Wing Zero managed to manuver its single beam saber between the incoming Tallgeese's and locked them together. His beam sabers crossed against Wojczky's, Blake struggled wordlessly to overcome his implacable opponent.

How can he be so fast? He asked himself silently, dreading the answer. The minister's inhuman speed was impossible to match as the Wing Zero flung the Tallgeese down toward the dark, roiling sea.

Nearer to the beach, the Tauruses were having trouble landing. Blake's Leos had holed up in some caves, and were taking potshots at the fighter-mode suits zooming around outside.

"Msgnr Wojczky is going to be finished with that other fool soon. We've got to destroy these two before he comes back." The other two Taurus pilots voiced their assent and zoomed off in opposite directions, going for a flanking attack. The first Taurus dove and soared meters over the dark breakers. As beam blasts began to issue from the caves toward the flanking suits, the third rushed directly up to the beach and transformed quickly, loosing his beam rifle. The pilot took aim and chuckled.

"YEEHAA!" yelled William Klein as the Tallgeese II roared over the cliff edge, knocking the two flanking suits back with his wake and blasting off the head of the third with his powerful dobergun. His trailing Leos moved to aid their trapped comrades, firing randomly at the nimble Tauruses. With his pilots engaged, Klein took off into the dark sea.

Once they spotted the other Leos, Blake's warriors emerged from their hiding places and loosed a volley of shots toward the desperately manuvering Tauruses. Luckly, the advanced mobile suits' atmostpheric agility allowed them to both dodge most of the shots and land on the beach several hundred yards north of where the four Leos were now clustered.

Deprived of their cave cover, the Leos rushed the newer Tauruses en masse, hoping to overwhelm them with sheer firepower. One was cut down in the initial round of firing, but three managed to get through and engage the Tauruses in close combat. Before long, both were smoking on the white sand of the beach...but the victory came with cost. Only one of Klein's suits had managed to survive.

Over the roiling sea, the Tallgeese II and I clashed again with the impossible speed of the Wing Zero. Blake's Tallgeese was smoking from several points in its armor and was missing an arm. The pilot himself was also exhausted. Klein was fresh, but still hopelessly outmatched by the Wing Zero.

Andre was so deep in the system that he had no inkling of who he was. His movements were as mechanical as the suit's as he drew out his second beam saber and dropped the shield. As the Tallgeese II slashed downward with both sabers, the Zero caught them on a single saber and then thrust the second deep into the torso of the other suit. Klein screamed as his cockpit sparked around him, and explosions rocked his suit. Removing his beam saber from the Tallgeese II and letting it drop, Andre turned to the Tallgeese wordlessly.

"This is useless," Blake yelled in abject fear. "He's invincible!" Deciding to cut his losses, Richard ducked beneath another slash and barely avoided losing his entire leg to the following strike, which severed it at the knee. He turned the Tallgeese around and ignited the massive verniers, shaking the Wing Zero around in its powerful wake as the white suit flew off at incredible speed. Blake himself nearly blacked out as he left his fearsome opponent behind.

Inside the Wing Zero, Wojczky struggled to hold onto consciousness as his exhausted mind recovered from the affects of the ZERO system. Now that no targets presented themselves, ZERO allowed him to regain control of his suit and he took off into the dark night.

Thrashed about by massive waves, the disabled Tallgeese II slowly sunk into the depths. Water was getting into his cockpit, but somehow William Klein couldn't get himself to care.

"Is this what I have fallen to?" He mumbled incoherently. "Dying alone beneath the sea?"

Like a dark leviathan, something massive rose out of the mirky depths caught the Tallgeese II in its arms before turning and heading back to shore.

"Don't worry, sir, I've got you." His pilot, in the last surviving Leo, said soothingly.

The Geminass 02 charged in with a Serpent close behind it. “ What the hell is that,” Dimitri screamed.

“ I not sure sir. But the suit is not registered with OZ or the Earth Sphere.”

“ So he is a Civilian?”

“ It seems so.”

“ How does a civilian get a advanced suit like that,” Dimitri asked as he fired a salvo of missiles at the two enemy suits. Both the Geminass and the Serpent moved out of the way, leaving the missiles to make a crater in the ground. The Heavyarms then opened fire with his Gatlin-gun. Norman brought the Geminass’ shield up before major damage could be caused. Seeing his boss in trouble the pilot of the Serpent opened fire on the Heavyarms, forcing it to back off. The Maganac charged the Serpent to get the pressure off his own boss. The Serpent boosted back while firing to avoid getting shot. As the Maganac kept charging forward a lucky bullet struck its generator. A huge explosion followed as the suit blew up.

“I’ll get you for that!” Dimitri tried to fire his gun but it was out of ammo. With his rage getting the better of him, he ejected the Gatlin-gun and flipped his army blade up. Letting out a large yell Dimitri charged the Geminass and the Serpent. Both suits opened fire on the Heavyarms. The armor was battered but it did not break until Norman got a lucky shot on the knee. The Heavyarms fell forward, its Army blade slicing the left arm of the Geminass off.

“ Should we finish him,” The Serpent’s pilot asked.

“ No we’ll leave him to lick his wounds,” Norman responded.

“Frankly, I didn’t expect you to…” mutters Eto Jones. Although his Taurus was several outmatched by the other officer's new gundam, he had some ideas up his sleeve. Namely…

“HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!”

Caught off guard by the incredible randomness of the statement, Abrim, against his training and better judgment, glances over to the side for the briefest second. In that second, the Taurus leaps into the air and transformed, taking off.

Abrim groans and immediately fires off his missiles. One streaks off into the sky but the other smashes into the side of the Taurus, knocking it to the side and making it roll.

“Gah… Damn…” curses Eto. He pulls up and opens up on the Sandrock, spraying the gundam with beam fire. The shots do little damage to the heavy gundanium armor.

“This stuff really is resilient,” say Abrim with a smile, as he stands still, curious to see how much his suit can take. A moment later, however, he sighs. “Time to get down to business.”

“Damn it! Why won’t he go down?!” yells Eto in frustration as the Sandrock simply takes shot after shot. Finally, he spies the gundam drawing two blades. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” he wonders.

The Sandrock hurls one shotel at the Taurus. It spins out of control, flying off into the distance, presumably never to be seen again. The second one, however, slices into the Taurus, cutting into the mobile suit and sending it spiraling to the ground. It shuddered for a second before shutting down.

“Damn…” sighs Eto.

Damion wakes slowly, strechting as his eyes focus. Wiping the sleepies from his eyes, he shivers. "Feels like fall already..." The darkness within the cabin leaves his console outlined in shadow, only years of experience would allow his hands to find the correct set of keys.

Beeeeeepls...

The screen before him sets a soft tone, halfway illuminating Damion's surroundings. Squinting, he sees only white. Whisps of smoke, slowly rising from the ground. The mist disperses, taking shape to a solid object. The only distinguishing feature is the varing pieces of blue and it's plume, like the sky on a sunny day.

"Jesu..." The bewildered Damion murmers, still groggy.

"Found yah," a voice proclaims, followed by a loud shudder. The Leo's arm hangs limp, shadered by an unsuspecting slash.

Frazzled, Damion checks the mobile suit's identity one more time. "The Tall..."

The young man's cut off, but by a large explosion to the right of him. Looking sideways, Damion sees the Tallgeese II take a step back, seemingly hurt. Its mid-region's smoking, at the base of the torso a small, melted hole appears to have missed any vital components. Damion quickly searches for the source, this time spotting a Gundam. As he inspects the new target, his transmitter rings...

"This is Klein, please respond."

"Yes... why did you attack me?!" Damion demanded, his eyes still trained on the unmoving Gundam.

"We can't discuss this now, we have more important things to attend to..." He pauses, "that, for example."

The Gundam flinched, reaching for a beam sword.

"Hurry! Help me take care of this, we can't beat him alone!"

"How can I..." The Gundam lunges forward, making up Damion's mind. He goes for the large beam cannon, training it on the Geminass as it makes it's assault on Klein. Barely able to dodge the incoming slashes and thrusts, the Tallgeese pilot reaches for his own beam saber, igniting it.

"Fire!" Klein cries, deflecting a thrust with his shield.

Aiming steadily, he fires. The beam makes a hole in the mist, striking the 01 in the upper back, it disables an arm joint. Astonished, Damion doesn't realize the Luther come up from behind. The mass-produced Serpent unloads a few rounds into the Leo variant's back, sending it forward into a rock.

"...good work, Luther. He managed to hit me..." Frozen by shame, Devon naglects to see the Tallgeese II fire its dobergun mid-range. The round penetrates the Gundam's lower leg ligaments, sending the Gundam to its knees. With that, the Tallgeese II takes flight. Leaving the fight behind.

I'm being careless... Devon thought, regaining some posture. "Let's go," he motioned to Damion, "this one's down for the count." The Geminass and Serpent begin to walk away.

"I'm... not finished..." Damion coughs, inhaling smoke. The Leo-N's machinecannons open up on Devon's counterpart. Though not much damage received, the duo is stunned.

The Leo continues to fire at the Geminass, disappearing into the fog. He scores two hits as he vanishes forever.

"Okay you guys, we need to train so this dosent happens to other cities." Richard Blake motions the Tallgeese's arm to the still somewhat smoldering remains of the city. His dueling partners for the afternoon, Abrim al Jahara and Caden Peirce barely seemed to register his presence.

"Caden, you paying attention?"

"Fsck off! I hate my life......er sorry. W’ere still friends right Richard?"

"Whatever" Richard sighed and opened a private channel with Abrim.

"Hey Abrim, you alive over there? Lets double team Abrim before he has a chance to unleash that beast on it, then you and I can go at it." On the other channel Caden continued to ramble

".........was thinking if maybe I asked Linda..." "Abrim?"

"........I just wish for once I could find a girl......"

"ABRIM?" After the third try a red-faced Abrim al Jahara answered the call.

"Sorry Dick, I'm kinda busy over here. I can call you Dick right? Oh....Rei..." Richard strained and could have sworn he heard catchy Japanese music over Abrim's heavy panting.

"....considering we are friends I figured I'd ask......

"NO, you cant call me Dick. Did you even hear what I just said?" Once again, Richard recieved no reply.

"ARGH! Why is it everytime with you!?!?" Richard yanked at his hair, something Abrim seemed to cause him to do alot. Sick of the aggravation, Richard ignited his beam saber and charged the Sandrock which made no move to react to the attack. Stopping just short of slicing his head off, Richard deactivated and replaced his beam saber.

".....so thats why I've been bitchy lately....

"Your gonna participate in this duel if I have to MAKE you!" The Tallgeese's right arm drew back and let loose, connecting solidly on the Sandrock's jaw knocking it across a few destroyed city blocks.

"Hey! Whats the big idea!?!?" Abrim finally pulled away from whatever it was he was doing in that cockpit, stood the Sandrock back on its feet.

"You! Duel! Now!" The Tallgeese charged again, its verniers blazing bright indicating the massive suits brillant speed. Before the Sandrock could react the Tallgeese impacted shoulder first, once again knocking the suit across the ground.

"How dare you interupt my alone time with Rei!" Abrim righted his suit again, this time drawing his heat shotels.

"Thats more like it! No we can get this duel started...." Before he could finish his sentence Caden cut in over the comm.

"STOP IGNORING ME!" Both suits realized far to late that Caden had charged into the fray, when he realized nobody was paying attention to him. Fire poured from the Hydra's buster gun scoring several direct hits and crippling both suits before either could react. Ending the duel pretty much as soon as it started.

"I hate my life." Caden sighed and headed back towards the nearest Earth Sphere base. Ignoring the strange and catchy Japanese music that began playing over the intercom.

Outcome: Hyrda wins, Tallgeese and Sandrock lose. (Write profiles, guys!)
Hydra - No damage
Tallgeese - 2 days damage
Sandrock - 2 days damage

“I’m telling you,” says the Wing Gundam’s pilot, Gaspar Vega. “I’m just a humble eco-terrorist!”

“I don’t care about your political views. I just want to know about that mobile suit…” the rich man continues coolly, quickly switching over to his personal bodyguard.

“Luther,” he whispers quickly. “Cover me. I’m going in.”

“Roger that, boss.” The Serpent, roughly three hundred yards away and out of Gaspar’s line of sight, armed its bazooka and took aim, getting ready for the battle ahead.

“Shit!” yells Gaspar as the Geminass suddenly comes roaring towards him. It’s all the inexperienced pilot can do to draw his beam saber and parry the incoming swipe. Blasting away with his vulcans, he growls in frustration as the other suit dances away and draws its beam rifle.

“Strange… He should be better than this,” Devon mutters. “Luther, open up on him. Maybe that’ll get that system to work.”

Within moments, a rocket shell soars towards the Wing, smashing into the side, almost knocking it over. It is followed up by two beam shots, one small and concentrated, the other wide and punishing, streaking towards the gundam, knocking into it.

“Huh? What the…” Devon looks around, seeing two more mobile suits coming towards them. “It looks like our little party has been interrupted. Luther, hold back. If this is our boy, he’ll tear these guys apart.”

“Shit!” repeats Gaspar as he’s suddenly assaulted from two sides. The Taurus to his left and the Geminass 01 to his right both opened up, pummeling his gundam with the crossfire.

“Strange…” mutters Devon as he watches the severely lopsided battle. The Wing is deteriorating quickly, with the tough Gundanium armor taking a severe beating. “Did I make a mistake? There’s no way this could be the same suit I saw…”

Shrugging, he quickly opens up a radio channel to Gaspar.

“Sorry about all that. I thought you were someone else. No hard feelings, ‘kay? I’ll send you some GunCorps coupons or something.”

“Dude, help me the fsck out! Kill these guys or something!”

“Nah, I’ve got work to do. I’m a busy man. C’mon, Luther.” With that, the two suits blasted off.

“God. Damn. It,” yells Gaspar, finally drawing his buster rifle. In frustration, he aims at point blank range, directly at the Taurus and fires. The blast engulfs the suit and, as it dissipates, leaves it looking like a burned out husk.

“Ha. Well, that’s not too bad-“ the terrorist mutters. A second later, the Geminass 02 came up behind him and decapitated the Wing.

“Spoke too soon…”

"This is odd indeed..." was pretty much the only thing he spat out just before a serpent egnited its thrusters and blasted out of a group of trees and began firing his gattling gun into the heavyarms back armor. Hundreds of bullets impacted with the heavyarms melting away his armor.

Dimitri had to think fast or he would be royaly screwed so he ingnited his jetpack and shot into the air while spinning around and firing a barrage of missles at the serpent. However, the serpent was still firing and the missle exploded sending dimitri flying backwards, not dealing sagnificant damage, the heavyarms clambers to its feet only find that the serpent had dissapeared. Quickly scanning the area, it seems that the serpent had only intended to cause some damage and run.

To Dimitri's dismay, a Leo N Type burst through the trees to his left, dober gun in hand already firing. Explosions rocked his left shoulder as he flew to the right and crashed in a heap, smoke billowing from his suit. A channel opens up over his comm and the pilot of the leo ,as he walks away through the woods says simply.

"Fate, it would seem, has left you this day"

“Ha! You and what army?!” demanded Richard Blake, the Tallgeese’s pilot . “My defense record is better!”

“You guys suck! I actually had a profile… public… profile…” stuttered William Klein, pilot of the Tallgeese II.

“I think this calls for…” began Caden.

“…a song!” finished Richard!

All of a sudden, the Tallgeese II delivered two quick shots to both mobile suits, catching them off guard.

“You twit!”

“Eat shit!”

“That’s how we talk in Turkey!” sang William.

Recovering quickly, the Hydra opened fire, knocking holes in the Tallgeese II. The suit stumbled back and, as the green suit closed in, the Tallgeese took its opportunity and opened fire on both, sending out high explosive shells.

“Take note!” sang Caden.

“Go vote!” continued Richard.

“Or we’ll choose who goes to Turkey!” sang several ESA officials sitting off in the base.

“I wish my winnin’ was a bit more certain!” crooned Richard as the other two suits opened fire on him. He shot backwards, trying desperately to avoid the blasts.

“Better call your friends at Haliburton!” cried Caden, laying down a heavy fire.

“They’ll pay so you’ll stay… rule the day… Turkey Land!” William sang as he saturated the entire area with fire, blasting both the Tallgeese and Hydra to hell.

“So take note…” all three sang at once as they raced towards each other, firing rapidly and swinging beam sabers, ready for one last hurrah. “And go vote…”

They smashed together, combining in a giant explosion of beams and shells. Limbs flailed everywhere as the ground was scorched by the violent blast.

“THAT YOU WANT ME IN TURKEY!”

With that, each suit fell to the ground, battered beyond belief.

Come Election Day, Go Vote!

Several football fields away, the Antontia twins are almost finished with there pre-combat preparations.

"Come on calla and hurry up otherwise he might get pissed and just kill us before the duel even starts..."

After 20 or so more minutes, the 3 suits all stood in there respected areas, ready to fight.

"Ok ladies, I’m ready when you are. After all, it’s been ordained for me to win", mused Andre.

For several seconds, the world seemed to stand still for the 3 fighters, then almost instantly as if a nuke exploded the wing blast backwards and fires of a shot with his buster rifle aimed for the Vayeate but Calla burst sideways, deploying her shield and sending the beam astray and destroying a group of trees in the distance.

"Whoa, thanks Calla that was way to close"

Calla, who was engaged in melee battle with the Wing Zero, shot backwards and fired off a few shots with her beam gun, which Andre dodged, but forced him to thrust backwards away from her.

"Save the gratitude, charge your damn gun..."

Anything else she was going to say was cut off as she blocked a slice from Andre’s beam saber with her shield, responding to his attack with a strike from her beam sword. With her other hand she quickly shot of a blast from her beam gun. Andre, unable to dodge was hit in the arm, damaging his left shoulder unit.

The Vayeate, standing in the back charging his beam cannon was finally finished and ready to fire.

"Calla get out of the way, I’m going to fire!"

As the unknowing Andre continued to fight calla, dire took careful aim, preparing to fire as soon as calla got out of the way, just as they had planned it.

Sweat brimmed of the top of Dire’s forehead as he took and prepared to fire. "Come on calla, move your ass damnit"

Before anyone was the wiser, a beam came out of no where, blowing of the Vayeate’s legs. The explosion jarred Dire and he fired the powerful beam straight at the two dueling mobile suits. The blast slams into the ground next to the two suits, throwing them both sideways.

"HAHA! I WIN!” out of a large mass of trees, the Geminass strolls out surveying his victory.

Devon, turning to look at the legless Vayeate, talks openly to all three pilots, "Well, I can’t take all the credit; the Mercurius did most of the work for me."

Just then the Mercurius thrusts from her spot where she had landed and rams the Geminass, knocking Devon to the ground, she jams her beam sword into his torso, cutting power to his legs. All four suits lay motionless on the ground, and the Mercurius and Geminass lay in a heap each unable to move.

"You take no credit, how bout that jackass."

"Why's it got to be so hot out here..." he complained to nobody in particular.

Before he could find an answer, a geyser of sand erupted beside him. Bringing the Scorpio up to full combat power, the red mobile suit leapt from its position and changed to its mobile suit form.

"Desert scorpions do not lie in the noon sun..." Malik Ghalib stated poetically. The two Maganacs beside him fired at the Scorpio with their beam rifles as their leader charged and readied a second shot with his bazooka. Though outnumbered, Dakota charged the Maganac with the large arm, firing off micro-missiles to drive his comrades back. The Maganac Auda Custom fired a bazooka shell into the heavy armor of the Scorpio. It left little more than a dent and a charred spot on the gleaming red armor. Discarding the practically useless weapon, the oversized arm of the Maganac stabbed toward the Scorpio's cockpit.

"Funny..." Dakota smirked in his cockpit. Activating a beam bayonet, he easily 'disarmed' his opponent, taking the custom arm from Malik. He moved in to finish his opponent when the two accompanying Maganacs made their re-entrance into the battlefield known as two beams converged in front of the Scorpio, driving it back long enough for Ghalib to escape.

“Shit!” curses Gaspar, totally caught off guard by the assault. Drawing his buster rifle, he spins around, searching desperately for his attacker.

“Who was that?!” he yells into the darkness. No response.

“Damn, what-“ Gaspar was cut off suddenly by a quick movement and a brilliant light. The Deathscythe appears in front of him and leaps into the air, igniting its beam scythe and bringing it down on the gundam.

At the last moment, however, Gaspar leapt to the other side, avoiding the attack just barely. Bringing his buster rifle to bear, he fires, letting loose a giant shot the blasts the other gundam back.

“Did I get him?” he asks in amazement.

“Not quite!” replies Shu. The Deathscythe, broken but not out, comes streaking forward, beam scythe raised. The Wing begins to fire but the black gundam slashed the rifle in half at the last moment, sending out a great explosion that threw both suits backwards.

A few moments, the Deathscythe rose and fled into the night.