Tale Thirteen: Ensign Arthur Raynor - MRC-F20 SUMO – Final Battle Against Gym Ghingnham Forces
Ensign Arthur Raynor swore loudly as a beam smashed into his SUMO's I-field barrier. The Mahiroos of Gym Ghingnham's forces were hammering the Diana Counter battle line. The pathetic Earth Militia were more of a hindrance than a boon thanks to their antiquated mobile suits but Arthur did have to admit they were tenacious. Off to the right one of the rather comical Borjarnon mobile suits had its head and right arm sliced off of a Mahiroo. Arthur cursed and let rip with his beam gun. The Mahiroo succeeded in avoiding the killing blow but still had its left leg severed at the knee. He throttled his SUMO to full power and shoulder barged the damaged Mahiroo to the ground. In a swift motion his SUMO grabbed its heat fan from its storage rack and activated the blade. Arthur plunged the heat fan into the Mahiroo's cockpit, killing the pilot instantly, and with a rough jerking action slashed up through the silver mobile suit's torso.
"You dogs are going to have to try a lot harder than this if you want to beat Diana Counter!" he yelled at the top of his voice. This battle was invigorating him far more than any other had. There was something oddly satisfying about fighting Gym Ghingnham's forces. Perhaps it was because they were traitors or perhaps simply because his fighting spirit was being awoken fully. Arthur was revelling in the experience.
More beams bounced off the SUMO's I-field barrier and Arthur turned to see more Mahiroos approaching. He couldn't help but think that they were ugly machines. The orange, dome-like, head was off putting not to mention the large oval shield made it look imbalanced. "You think I'm going to allow some traitor like you threaten Queen Diana?"
Petty Officer Laran's WaDom, supporting the forward units, fired its powerful beam cannon. The beam tore through the atmosphere vaporising one of the oncoming Mahiroos. The remaining Mahiroos regrouped and returned fire. Instinctively Arthur activated the IF generator mounted on the SUMO's left arm. The shimmering rainbow coloured field intercepted the incoming beams however the resulting explosion was still strong enough to knock over a nearby Borjarnon. Arthur snapped off two shots with his beam gun but the Mahiroos avoided them. He attempted to give chase but the Mahiroos were still more manoeuvrable than the SUMO despite them suffering from problems with the air pressure. The Mahiroos flew close to the ground to avoid Arthur's counterattacks; so low that they were caught off guard when a pair of Borjarnons emerged from behind a hillock. The lead Mahiroo reacted quickly and adroitly pulled off a summersault kick that smashed the Borjarnon's mono-eyed head to pieces. Smoke billowed from the green mobile suit as it slowly fell backwards. The second Borjarnon was dispatched when a Mahiroo rammed its oval shaped shield through the torso.
The time it took for the Borjarnons to be destroyed allowed Arthur to catch up with the Mahiroos. Taking advantage of the Ghingnham mobile suits having their backs turned Arthur used his heat fan to slash a fatal wound upon one of them. The remaining Mahiroo, the martially inclined one, displayed impressive thruster control in bringing up its left leg up in a roundhouse kick. Arthur attempted to block the attack but was only partly successful and the attempt cost Arthur his IF generator. The force of the kick was still powerful enough to knock the silver and red SUMO to the ground. Arthur fully expected the Mahiroo to finish him off but it was driven away by Laran's WaDom firing off a barrage of missiles. While Arthur busied himself with getting vertical again the Mahiroo took an interest in Laran's WaDom. The massive forty meter tall mobile suits was at a distinct disadvantage when it came to close combat. The Mahiroo kept close to the ground to keep out of the WaDom's beam cannon's firing arc. The silver mobile suits fired its beam gun at point blank range at the WaDom. The yellow beam easily sliced through the WaDom's armour plating and blowing off one of its arms along with damaging the hip joints.
Bellowing a roar of pure rage Arthur charged down the Mahiroo with his heat fan activated. In a swift slashing motion Arthur hacked off the Mahiroos arm that mounted the beam gun and then proceeded to cut the Ghingnham mobile suit in half along its waist. A moment of peace fell upon the battlefield as the Mahiroo collapsed to the ground and began burning. Unfortunately the respite did not last long as an iAspite/i class cruiser came into view. The circular green warships fired its two beam cannons at the Diana Counter forces. The powerful beams fell short of their targets but the resulting explosion was enough to shake the Diana Counter mobile suits and uproot some of the surrounding trees.
"Laran withdraw!" barked Arthur, "You are too badly damaged. In the name of Queen Diana I will vanquish fiend!"
With that he kicked the SUMO's thrusters to full power and zoomed off towards the iAspite/i. The green warship was already vomiting Mahiroos onto the battlefield but Arthur did not care. As he closed with the warship he took careful aim and fired his beam gun several times. The first shot struck the bow windows just below the main launch catapult causing the whole section to blow out. The remaining shots hit the armoured ring that gave the iAspite/i it's distinctive shape. He was forced to change his attack angle as the newly launched Mahiroos came screaming towards him; firing a fearsome barrage from their beam guns. Arthur ducked under the barrage and swept around underneath the iAspite/i. Once in position he let rip with the SUMOs beam gun. Several shots went straight through the warships armour and into the internal mobile suit hanger. Then he directed his attention to the iAspite's/i engines. He kept firing and firing to the point where he thought the very barrel of the beam gun would melt. However he was successful. With its engines crippled the iAspite/i began to drift towards the ground with explosions and fires ripping through its body.
So wrapped up in his victory Arthur did not see the Mahiroo that sliced the hand that carried his beam gun right off the SUMO's arm. Arthur cursed and tried to bring his heat fan into play but another Mahiroo used its arm blade to hack off the arm carrying it. He could see that he was surrounded by at least four of the silver mobile suits. Never the less he smiled anyway as one of the Mahiroos rammed its arm blade into the SUMO's torso, leaving a large gash in the armour plating. The Mahiroos were too busy getting their pound of flesh from the Diana Counter mobile suit to notice that the iAspite/i was falling directly above them. Then, as one last explosion ripped through the green warship, it fell and, for Arthur Raynor, the world went black.
End of the Tale