2024-06-05: Low-Division Lotus And Crossbow
- Cast: Sousuke Sagara, Kallen Kozuki
- Where: Huffman Island Freedom City Arena
- Date: U.C. 0099 06 05
- Summary: Some rising stars in the Huffman Arena circuit clash, and in so doing, find missing pieces.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
A new face has been causing chaos in the rookie division at the wanzer arena on the OCU side of the border. New aces forged by the recent wars find themselves down enough on their luck to hit the arenas all the time, clattering their way up the lower divisions before eventually hitting the clog of people in a similar predicament and getting lost in the rankings.
Not this time. The team operating Crossbow, fielding an operator under callsign SEAGULL, has been rising in the rankings and is making full speed for the upper divisions.
All of which has been capably relayed by the day's spokesman, who proceeds to bellow, "So I KNOW you're all here to watch him tonight! Here he comes! Up next in the melee weapons contest, it's the rising star shooting down the competition! It's CCCCRROOOOOOOOOSSBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!"
Crossbow stepped heavily out of the back, armed only with a heavy sledgehammer. It's an old machine, an Rk-91, which meant even its successor machine the RK-92 hadn't been considered current for decades. But it had been performing remarkably for that age, and it's not like anyone in this division was fielding anything state of the art to begin with. The other thing notable...other than flashy colors and devilish spikes, Crossbow was painted a clean white, with a navy trim. A simple, almost professional look.
And one that looked exactly like the coloration of the Arbalest.
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
New arrivals are as common around here as scrap metal after a battle. Really, Crossbow seems to face some new figure practically every day or so. Some wild card somebody thinks might be able to take him down and slow the team's rise to the big leagues. Wanzers, Arm Slaves, Knightmare Frames, people have thrown in just about everything, really. So the next announcement comes as no surprise. "His next opponent is a figure of whom little is known, but makes a big splash all the same! Will this be the one to end Crossbow's reign, or will Crossbow strip the mask from... BLOOM!"
The crowd can't seem to decide to cheer or boo the new arrival as they launch over the stands to land squarely in the arena on four limbs, before promptly posing in a victorious yet meditative stance! The enemy in front of Crossbow this time is a KMF. Clearly a Glasgow by any metric. It doesn't seem terribly customized from the outside, aside from a mismatched arm that came off a machine of far different design philosophy. Still, any pilot worth their name can tell the movements aren't standard. The changes are all in places people can't see, but are always valuable. The whole machine seems to have been repainted to match that weird arm in particular, in a deep red with accents of silver spread across various sections. It was quite well done, but it's somewhat obvious that this was a solo job. The pilot doesn't have a TEAM backing them, whoever it is.
Crossbow's pilot may also recognize it as looking an awful lot like a certain woman's piloting suit, if he thinks too deeply about it.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
The RK-91's cabin is quiet. He's been so used to the incessant chatter that the RK-91's resolute lack of an AI leaves him uncomfortable, now. Only the quiet beeping of the cockpit, the soft light of the screens. They'd upgraded those, at least. "Knightmare Frame," 'Seagull' says to himself in the dark.
<Don't get cocky, Sousuke,> Nami says to him over the comms. <You let that thing get itself going, it'll run circles around you!>
The paint reminds him of someone he hasn't seen in months, and he nervously runs his finger along the master sleeve's control rod. "Not a problem," he replies. No...he'd never make the mistake of underestimating a knightmare frame.
The raid siren of a round buzzer blares, and Crossbow races off the mark. Crossbow's matches have historically been quick. He's not one for showmanship.
He swings fast and aims to sweep that sledgehammer of his right into center mass; a blow that'd send any knightmare flying!
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
It's true that any Knightmare would vanish into the clouds if struck by his weapon. So surely he already expects that the pilot will make use of their agility and try to avoid it. Likely only to come up short, due to both Crossbow being flatly better than they imagine, and the terrain not giving them proper Landspinner mobility. That's pretty typical as match results go with him being serious.
The match is not in fact, over that fast. Despite this 'Bloom' clearly being into showboating, they're quick to maneuver the Glasgow, dropping it back to a low, all-fours position so the hammer sails over the machine. Followed up by spinning up into a tackle at a range that's too close for most to evade. Definitely not a move even a lot of seasoned Knightmare pilots would use, due to how fragile a Glasgow's armor really is. Only the exceptionally reckless or those with the skill to back it up would take that risk. Really, it's part of why Knightmares are some of the least-used in this circuit to start with. Still, this too feels familiar.
Sousuke has a hunch about the pilot's next move. Feels like that mismatched arm might be used to strike him now that they're in grappling range. An attempt to make him drop the hammer. But it also feels like they ought to have a knife. Which clearly they don't?
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
He knows better than to expect someone who could meet him here to be an easy mark. It's the only thing that saves him when Bloom moves that Glasgow DOWN instead of back or to the sides.
Back in the observation room, his team, are no longer able to communicate with him, but still, one could almost see Nami's shock from the field. "No ordinary move," Sousuke grunts to himself. You have to know your machine's abilities as well as your own to know it could do that. A pro. A real pro.
He's able to process all that before the tackle comes in, grappling hard. The RK-91's diesel engine puffs and grunts - the RK-92's proper gas-turbine would've roared like a demon, but the RK-91 is a quieter machine. Still, a cloud of thick smog bursts out of the vents in the back as the Crossbow struggles to resist getting fully knocked prone by the blow.
That stability lets Sousuke fight back. The mismatched arm is coming - he doesn't fight with the hammerhead this time, jabbing the butt of the long sledgehammer shaft into the joint of the shoulder, hoping to knock that arm awry. It'll be overtuned somehow, he expects; perhaps a concealed weapon. A knife, his instincts tell him to inspect, there's going to be a knife.
Why is he so sure...
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
His instincts are right. A panel in the arm raises up, and where on a similar arm one would find a small cannon, or a grenade launcher, instead this Glasgow has been outfitted with an extending blade. Knocking it away both reveals the weapon and gives him an opening to strike while it's off-balance. But can he? Doesn't it all feel a little too similar?
Just a little like that one night at the warehouse district. The first time he saw that red machine. The moves he's seen from it over the years since then. They aren't exact, but he can pinpoint the ways you might get to this style, if you're adjusting for a Knightmare with significantly worse performance and a different balance. A Knightmare lacking that hellish claw.
Of course... if it is the same, what does he do? Can he even make contact without tipping off the guys running the matches? If he could talk to her, and it was her, fighting wouldn't be an issue. He knows they could put on a satisfying show for the crowd. But there's always that doubt, isn't there?
Especially knowing where he last saw her.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
It does feel familiar. There's the knife. Like he's had this fight before. ...like he's lost this fight before.
...he can't surrender. Nami, Ashe, the rest of the team, they'd have his head. How does he play this...
He's moving in a blink. By any modern standards you'd be mad to call the RK-91 a strong machine, but it has some advantages over a machine as firmly specced into agility as a Glasgow. So while one hand wards off that blade, the other lunges down and positions a grip on the overclocked arm. The following move is quick and effective - and somewhat expected by the audience, at this point, maybe--
But if you knwo what you're doing, judo works in an AS as well as a human body. He's able to send the overextended KMF flipping on its back behind him. He drops down into a pinning position, but not a very secure one. He's not really trying to force a pin with this.
Just look like he is, while he calibrates the touch-talk connection that will carry sound through the contact points of their machines. The channel opens.
"Kouzuki," Sousuke Sagara says.
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
The Glasgow nearly gets away, actually. And yet, imperceptibly to the audience, but not to the Crossbow's pilot, the Knightmare's slight movements that he could see coming, that might have gotten it out of the pin... just stop. It gets flipped and held down. And the audience boos the both of them. They're not important though.
When Sousuke hails the pilot with short-range, person-to-person, he gets a response. The voice is a little different. A little more ragged and pained. But it's definitely the right person. "Sagara... Glad you're alive." In that moment, it all makes sense for both of them. Of course the fight is playing out the way it had. Though Kallen remembers their encounter differently. She'd call it a draw, as both of them were pretty critically injured and had to run.
"We can talk later... for now, give me your best." That might sound like she's still planning to beat him. But it couldn't be further from the truth. Her plan? She wants to make this look good for Sousuke. Like a real challenge. That gets both of them over well, but keeps his streak intact. He's got more to lose right now, after all. Besides, this makes it so nobody winds up suspicious of them.
And so, in that spirit she takes her shot at busting free of the pin. It's not properly held, so she's got just enough leverage to hit Crossbow with, of all things, a headbutt from the Glasgow. With one more message as it connects. "We both made it out. I promise." No doubt he'd been worried about that with more than just her after all.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
In the distance, the announcer starts calling a countdown. But, indeed; it's not important.
A moment's pause at the instruction. "Affirmative. Not a problem," he says, cool under pressure as ever. He's still like that, it seems. Perhaps it's a good thing that all this couldn't force it out of him.
The headbutt gets him square. The Crossbow flops backward a little more dramatically than he usually does. Perhaps the match fixers and bookies are wondering what's gotten into Seagull, but the crowd eats it up. Sousuke doesn't usually give them a really juicy match. He's still on the ground when Kallen's second notice comes in. He'd almost let himself forget, but...in the end...
"...roger," he says to an empty line, and squares up for round two.
Later. They can talk more later. For now...they have a fight to finish.