Axl vs. Joshua

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As always, Axl was running a pre-battle systems check on the "Sharp-Shooter". According to his pre-battle report, he was scheduled to go up against a pilot he hadn't heard of before, but the data indicated this "Joshua" person was in possession of an Xamel-type MA unit. How Axl's customized Guncannon would fare against such a powerhouse is anyone's guess. With all systems reading in the green, Axl drew his Lancer in his left hand, Beam Sniper in his right, and entered the arena.

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[dudewheresmygundam]

For his part, Joshua just quietly examined the arena, looking for an excuse to try out some new battlefield tactics. His Xamel, after all, was spiffy and shiny - unblemished. He hated shiny things, and therefore roughing it up in battle a bit wasn't a bad idea. Of course, his enemy was also a long-range combatant which made this battle a unique experience. Until now his opponents were either melee specialists or fellow bit users. But this was an opportunity to fight in his secondary specialty: with cannons.

Soon enough, the green light was given to engage. Rather than starting off slow, Joshua decided to go for the goal. The left-shoulder missile launcher pivoted upwards, before scattering a volley of 8 missiles in a spread pattern around the enemy Suit - leaning more of the missiles to strike towards the Guncannon's left side. This then, would hopefully encourage the enemy pilot to duck right, as the shoulder-mounted 680mm cannon began unfolding under the cover of the dust and debris kicked up by the missile strikes.

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[spiceracksargent01]

Hitting his thrusters full burn, Axl simply used his Shoulder-mounted Gattlings and the Lancer to shoot down some of the missiles, mainly those that would hit within closer proximity to his Guncannon, before engaging his Stealth Unit and Heat Sensors. Bringing his Beam Sniper into position, Axl took aim at the Xamel's waist joint and unloaded a precision-aimed beam shot at the designated area before moving forward a bit and to the left, figuring his opponent wanted him to move a certain way to try and play him into a certain defeat.

[dudewheresmygundam]

Joshua didn't react much to the beam rifle attack - his advanced optics let him see through most stealth that wasn't a full cloak and his heat sink really dampened the odds of him being tracked by thermal sensors. Nonetheless, Axl's shot was pretty spot on, and Joshua had to move one of his guardian shields forward to block it. The shield charred, but held. Almost instantly - the Xamel's optics spat the 680mm's cross-hairs on the Guncannon's torso.

But the move was a feint. Hoping to make his opponent dodge and therefore delay a second attack - Joshua spun up his leg-mounted beam gattlings. Ten rounds arced forth - tearing through the air between Xamel and Guncannon as they were aimed to sweep across his enemy's legs and hamper his maneuverability. That done, Joshua didn't bother wasting any more time, his Xamel already beginning to lift off on its hoverjets as it began to slowly accelerate up to its top speed, heading right at its foe.

[spiceracksargent01]

Noting that his opponent was seemingly unimpeded by his Guncannon's Stealth, and also faster than he was, his opponent's 68cm cannon was aimed right at him soon after his initial attack. That didn't stop him, however, from noticing that weaponry on the Xamel's legs were beginning to heat up. Beam Machine Guns, much like his own unit had, and in the exact same mounting area, too. Ducking down and bringing his left arm forward, Axl engaged his Prototype Beam Shield, deflecting the Beam shots. Noting that the Xamel was closing in, Axl disengaged his Stealth Unit and Heat Sensors, deeming them redundant at this point, and brought his thrusters up to maximum burn for a leap up once the Xamel had closed about 75% the distance between it and his Guncannon.

Working out a mid-jump firing solution, Axl lowered his Shoulder-mounted Double Gattlings as his MS neared the same level as the Xamel's head and opened fire, sending 20 Gattling shells streaking towards the Xamel's face in an attempt to blind its good eye while using the momentum of his leap to hopefully dodge the worst of the Mobile Armor's attempt at a body slam.

[dudewheresmygundam]

Joshua smirked just a little as his opponent blocked his beam shots with a shield of his own... he should've seen that coming. Oh, well. Joshua just sat back and let it happen, not able to prevent it. But then the interesting thing happened - his opponent pre-empted Joshua's strategy and took to the air. Joshua responded quickly, however, his guardian shield once again deflecting the new assault, denting its charred surface as Joshua had to protect his optics.

But as that occurred it had an unexpected benefit: the huge shield camouflaged the launch of Joshua's Mod Edged Bits. Joshua's original strategy had been to take to the air, faking a game of chicken in order to vault over his enemy and use his Bits to launch a surprise air attack before landing, spinning, and polishing off his enemy with a medium-range 680mm shells. But now, a golden opportunity had presented itself. He let the Guncannon fly overhead, but as it passed, blinded to their launch by his shield, his Mod Edge Bits swarmed over the enemy's back.

Joshua was hoping that by abandoning his original plan and switching to focused control of his Bits, he could launch five Bits into his enemy from below before Axl could orient his gattlings to destroy them. The bits were aimed for the Guncannon's backpack thrusters, shoulders, and knees, boosting forward to dig their blades deep into the enemy MS before overloading - and exploding. But whether this plan succeeded or not, the Xamel continued forard as it began as tight a spin as it could manage to turn and face the enemy.

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Axl thought he had dodged successfully when his proimity sensors alerted him to incoming metallic objects behind him, returning his sniper rifle to its docked position, Axl looked back just long enough to identify the objects as edged bits. Swinging around, Axl was just fast enough use his Gattling Shield to shield bash a couple bits that were aiming for his pack and shoulders before aiming for another bit that was going for his knee joint and opening fire on it, though this move effectively left his shield with some large gashes in it and not much durability left. Noting that his opponent was turning around, Axl opened fire on the MA's large cannon with his Lancer, hoping to either force his opponent to return it briefly to docked position or to remove the large weapon from play entirely as 5 explosive MG shells went flying straight at the massive artillery gun.

[dudewheresmygundam]

Joshua was off-put by the failure of his bit assault to cause any appreciable damage. Nonetheless, as the enemy came around so did Joshua's Xamel - the next gattling volley meeting Joshua's fresh Guardian shield. Joshua used his second shield because he needed to clear the way for his reloaded missile launcher as well as protect his main cannon. This time, Joshua actually acquired a target lock on the enemy Guncannon before cutting loose with his missiles in a second full volley.

As the Xamel slid to a stop as it completed its turn, Joshua then dropped his shield a bit to expose the 680mm's barrel. This time, he went right in and let go with a shell from the 680mm, this time aimed to airburst just in front of the enemy's torso. Though the shell wasn't aimed to provide a direct hit - the airburst would create a shrapnel storm his shield couldn't possibly block fully. And the enemy would be distracted by the missiles in the best case scenario and unable to block at all.

Either way, Joshua grimaced as he realized his shields were taking a lot of pounding. He hadn't expected the enemy to have explosive rounds.