(Untitled)

[getter_vision]

Who: Hayato, Katina, any spectators.
Where: Training Room, battle sims.
What: The culmination of an argument.
Warnings: PG? Swearing will happen.

Comments

[grandtheftmecha]

"Just about..." Katina flicked a few switches, and pecked at a fold-out keyboard, fiddling with the settings on the shotgun and slash rippers. Even with the same starting specs, she'd altered settings mid-battle before, and this was no different.

"Alright. Ready to go!"

[getter_vision]

Their starting positions were an acceptable ways apart, and by his estimation, there was a decent chance he'd be able to welcome Katina with a hail of gunfire right out of the gate. He did, at least, check-- it was the M95, good enough.

Worth wasting some ammunition to get a feel for the way the Gespenst moved, Hayato laughed to himself as the system counted down to the battle's start, not entirely for the sake of acting recklessly again. He tried to open fire at her immediately, but getting ahead of himself, fell at least half a second short on top of his non-interest towards actual aim.

[grandtheftmecha]

As the count-down started, Katina pressured the stabilizers and control points in the Gespenst, while lightly fingering the weapons controls. She focused momentarily, then throttled her Gespenst the moment the count finished; her mechs thrusters and legs paused for less than a second, then threw it strafing to the right.

As she strafed, she released a single slash ripper curving around at the same angle to her left, and drew her shotgun without firing. She winced but said nothing as the reckless spray hit the Gespenst's shoulder and clipped its left leg.

He isn't taking me seriously, is he?

[getter_vision]

"Come on! I wasn't even trying!" Hayato taunted, as he debated on how to dodge the ripper in his relatively sluggish machine. For the moment, he was watching Katina in the interest of some later inspiration.

The decision was made obvious when he accelerated from a standstill into the disk's path and had the Gespenst's left arm intercept it. Intercept, being a sly way to describe the weapon neutralized, but now lodged in its forearm section. Hayato mocked the disk's arc as he advanced on the Lieutenant in a similar way, firing his machine gun almost as liberally and wide as last time.

Conventional tactics be damned, it wasn't a conventional fight.

[grandtheftmecha]

Taking a hit to keep his offense going... he already knows the punishment Gespenst can take? Katina considered how he reacted. "That much was obvious!" Katina responded confidently.

Taking a hit and firing his machine gun recklessly... he was either an idiot, or had something up his sleeve, even if he was toying around. She smirked, moving straight through the hail of gunfire; the M95 was only a threat in concentrated bursts, and the bullets that connected still dealt only minimal damage. She turned as she reached a more dangerous range, still outside of melee, and aimed a narrow spread 6 gauge blast from her shotgun at Hayato's weapon.

[getter_vision]

Hayato had failed to close the distance before she pulled that one off, no real surprises there, but it was irritating all the same. Moreso when it turned out she'd anticipated him correctly-- he practically wound up driving himself into the shot.

"Dammit...!"

The sudden influx of alarms on the HUD acknowledged that now the right was the most notably damaged section, and the M95 was a total loss. He didn't care much over that, but the blast also rocked the Gespenst ever-so-slightly off-balance, off-target. Hayato spent the next few precious seconds off the thrusters completely, losing patience trying to make the small adjustment back to normal. More than any other aspect of the fight, even Katina herself, he was starting to consider the vast change in mass and stability the biggest threat to victory.

[grandtheftmecha]

"I told you to pilot whatever you like you cocky bastard!" she yelled, as Hayato made his lack of knowledge with the machine apparent.

Katina cut her thrust for a moment, pausing briefly in place, and fired another blast from her shotgun, this time centered on Hayato's Gespenst (whatever angle it's facing her at). She then threw the Gespenst's legs and thrusters into a forward charge, drawing a plasma cutter in her left hand as she went, pulling it back while holding the shotgun out forward.

Good thing I don't have to worry about wear and tear in the sim she thought idly; a lot of these sudden accelerations simply wouldn't be doable after a few sorties.

[getter_vision]

"All that'd prove is that I know enough to step on your goddamned Gespenst!" Hayato snarled. He had control again, but only really in the sense of being able to move his mech. What he mustered was only a shadow of the evasive maneuvers he'd failed at using against the same kind of fire, but luckily to some success.

"This isn't over!"

An inversion of the way the battle opened, he was veering left and closer, what he suspected was a far more awkward angle for her to make another shot. Hayato was losing exponentially as the gunfight went on, but despite damage to both arms, he was confident he could still make a decisive blow. The right's grip was weak on its own Plasma Cutter, but it was going to have to be ready to parry. The left, fist drawn back.

"This isn't over yet!"

One strike. One punch.

[grandtheftmecha]

Katina's Gespenst twisted, now leading with its left... as it sent its own plasma cutter spinning through the air towards the right shoulder of Hayato's mech, and she discarded the shotgun in her right hand. Then, she twisted the Gespenst back around, launching a slash ripper following the same path as the cutter, aiming to cut the right arm off with one of the two weapons; she boosted towards Hayato, her right hand aiming right at his Gespent's left. She drew the left hand back, and it began to glow.

"Like hell it isn't!"

Plasma stakes... set!

[getter_vision]

Her blade would have caused worse damage than just the loss of the right arm as it dug into the torso, but both impacted in quick succession. Removed so surgically, Hayato shrugged the loss of the limb off. Because lighter now, and a little wiser, he was able to maintain the Gespenst's collision course.

He wasn't planning on using it, anyway, when the left's job was to pierce the cockpit. The coincidence dawned on him at that point, and Hayato laughed (though her name was more like a swear), "Katina! I'll finish you with the same arm I've used all this time!"

And impact was inevitable.

He failed to see anything from the main camera beyond red devil's horns; Katina's aim was perfect, and unlike her, there was no way for him to defend the Gespenst's midsection. She was set up for the final blow, and at best, Hayato had only connected-- maybe hit the target-- with a normal punch. But he felt lucky and was still faster on the draw.

"Stake, set--"

[getter_vision]

His breath was quiet. The Plasma Stakes did not deploy.

[grandtheftmecha]

Katina grinned a little as she reached to take hold of Hayato's remaining arm, now also rendered ineffective. "Pay attention next time!"

The left hand clenched into a fist with the stakes set...

"Jet..."

She fired up the Gespenst's thrusters, seemingly trying to push through Hayato's own.

"Magnum!"

The fist came crashing in, aimed square at her opponent's cockpit; the stakes pouring all of the collected energy into the impact, as Katina forced her Gespenst to continue boosting through and past the mech. A clean hit would annihilate the entire center of the Gespenst's torso.

[getter_vision]

"Fuck...!"

He tried not to pay attention to the final seconds of the match, because it was already over. The damage he was accruing said as much, and there was the grand, fake sound of metal annihilating metal. Funny that the wound her fist left behind was something he'd probably appreciate, if he were anywhere but on its receiving-end. Time went out of order as the other Gespenst blew past, out of his field of vision, just before most of the vital systems died.

His machine fell back like an empty husk. Now, and only now, did the computer declare the fight's end. Letting go of the controls and removing himself from the terminal abruptly, he shot a lethal glance at Ryouma. Bastard, betting against me.

Hayato, with some vestige of pride left and an infinitely bitter expression, stayed waiting for the Lieutenant's response.

[grandtheftmecha]

Katina waited for the sim to shut down, and sat for a moment, remembering the movements of the battle. He's quick... but that's about all he's got going for him.

She rose from the simulator quietly, glancing over at the two observers - that Asuka girl she'd met on the runway, the other seemed to be another Getter pilot - before resting a glare on Hayato. "Pilot a Getter, and have to sit around bored, relying on someone like you to keep me alive for part of the battle? As if," she said scornfully. She began to walk away, and looked over her shoulder. "Next time, use your Getter."

[getter_vision]

"No, sorry for wasting your time," Hayato managed to choke out before she left, sounding as insincere as ever. But he meant it, the weak way the battle went, and not being able to live up to a single damn thing he'd said.

Without the peanut gallery in the wings, he'd have been more willing to emasculate himself-- no, that was wrong-- the Lieutenant deserved respect, beat him soundly, earned at least that much out of him. "If you think I can make it up to you, I will."

[grandtheftmecha]

Katina paused, considering what Hayato had said. He didn't sound too serious, but it was probably hard enough for him to say it at all without it being dripping with sarcasm, so he at least deserved credit for that. "I'll try out that Getter 3. But only call me out on an actual assignment if you really, specifically need that one for the mission," she instructed. "Though I suppose that means I can't get away with painting it red."

She turned back the way she was going and left.