The audience was in a buzz as the teams of Godslayer and Jackrabbit took their positions. Evelyn was practically bouncing with excitement, but she noticed Jack had tensed up.
Jack was normally ready for a fight, but she seemed somewhat apprehensive right at this moment. Her eyes were flashing between Watts and Hazel. The intensity of her stare told stories that could only be guessed, but the thoughts written across Jack's face were all rooted in judgment.
"Yo, you okay?" She asked.
"Hmph." Jack locked eyes with Hazel, who clearly had noticed her not-so-subtle glare. "Something is weird. I'm not sure why, but this feels off."
"You know, you've been kinda weird since the other day." Evelyn turned to face Jack a bit. "What's going on?"
Jack's eyes flicked to her partner. "I can't say. Not now."
"Jack…."
"I'll explain later. But for now…" she looked back to Godslayer, aiming her glare on Watts. "Focus on taking them out. By any means necessary."
Evelyn had never heard Jack so forward. She sounded less like the Gunpla fighter who got easily excited for a challenge and more like a warrior who was ready to throw their life away to keep the enemy from winning.
She sounded more like an actual Gundam pilot.
Watts smiled subtly. "Now. Let us begin," he muttered.
"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE, START UP! MODEL DAMAGE LEVEL SET TO A!"
Evelyn blinked in surprise. "Damage level A? I knew that they would up the damage in the semi finals of the main tournament, but I thought that was only for the finals of this one?!"
Jack growled slightly. "Clearly, things had changed." The battle damage change only confirmed what she had suspected, ever since talking with Ozpin and Reiji.
Something far more important was happening that Ozpin had been hiding from her. This wasn't just a battle-this was going to be a war.
The two young women set their Gunpla down on the table, and watched as the holographic cockpits formed around them. Watts did the same, but his eyes were on Hazel.
He didn't trust the man to do what Salem wished. Nor did he trust him to actually have his back in this fight.
Watts had specifically chosen the Thunderbolt Sector as the battleground for him to take advantage of his Gunpla's sniper rifle.
Evelyn groaned. "Damn, I hate fighting in the Shoal Zone."
Jack scoffed. "Ever get the feeling odds are getting stacked against you?" She muttered, before taking a deep breath and crouching to prepare for take off.
The four Gunpla rocketed into space, and Jack and Evelyn immediately were forced to dodge the broken wing of the destroyed colony. They split up, ducking and weaving between the scattered pieces in order to avoid detection.
Hazel didn't bother dodging. He hammered a large chunk of the colony away with the Bolt Gundam Titanus's fists, before pushing ahead. Watts stayed back, near the starting gate, taking his time to observe the battlefield.
Random electrical discharges fired between the debris. He watched them carefully. They were meant to be unpredictable, but Watts had adjusted them slightly to be a bit more even in their timing.
The John Bull Gundam Custom gently touched down inside a crevice of a piece of the colony's outer wall. He raised his left arm up, and a small hatch opened on his forearm, which deployed several dummy balloons and remote cameras out towards the more open area near the bottom of the shoal zone.
He then pushed away from his hiding spot, using maneuvering thrusters to slowly drift around and deploy motion sensors from a hatch on his right arm. "Brute strength isn't going to be the winner here," he murmured to himself. "Cunning and intellect are sharper than any sword."
A glint of blue afterburners caught his eye, and he ducked around a piece of solar paneling just as the G-Hopper came dashing forward. It stopped, scanning the area.
Evelyn grunted. "I thought I saw some movement over here," she said quietly, before taking off again after a moment.
Watts watched her on his remote cameras, and once she was out of sight, he breathed a little easier. The Canadian Champion was not to be trifled with unprepared. Her unique detection system in her robotic rabbit ears had an unknown number of sensors and possibly cameras. He wouldn't strike until he was certain he could hit her.
He pushed off the debris and continued on, staying in the shadow of the broken colony.
Evelyn's eyes scanned everything. She spotted the dummies, but didn't get baited. They could be rigged to explode, and if she destroyed them, chances are Watts would know where she was. "Hey Jackie, any luck on your end?"
Jack turned, about to answer her, when part of the colony erupted in a fountain of ash and concrete. Hazel came barreling out, the Bolt Titanus rocketing straight at Jack. "Found Hazel!" she yelled, before putting her forearms up to block his incoming fist. The blow was so forceful it knocked the Nu Preliator backwards into the hull of a Zanzibar-class cruiser.
Jack gritted her teeth as her Gundam slammed into the derelict ship. She looked up to see Hazel rushing her, left fist pulled back. She opened fire with her head Vulcans, watching as the bullets pinged off of the armor. She barely had time to register the lack of damage before she had to push off and downward, ducking under the Bolt Titanus's giant fist as it impacted where she had been.
She watched as the force of the punch blew a hole clean through the wreck. "Holy-you're not playing around today, are you Rainart?" She asked, mostly to herself, before raising her right arm and opening fire with her 90mm Gatling gun.
Like before, the bullets began pinging off of the armor of the Bolt Titanus as Hazel turned. "Bloody hell, that armor's thick." Jack rotated the Gatling gun around and opened fire with the beam gun, but once again the shots did nothing as Hazel resumed his attack.
Jack cursed under her breath. "Nanolaminate paint?" She asked herself, dodging Hazel's devastating punch and spinning into a heel kick that caught the back of his head. "Alright. Doesn't matter. We do this the old fashioned way."
Hazel caught himself with his thrusters and turned, immediately rushing Jack once more with a flying clothesline. The forearm beam emitters activated, creating a beam ring that nearly cut Jack in two as she twisted above him.
She rotated mid spin, hanging upside down, and slammed her covered fist into her opponent's cheek, sending him flying downward. Hazel activated his boosters and landed on a chunk of debris, pushing off and rushing her again. Jack ducked the next attack and slammed her left fist deep into Hazel's midsection, using his own speed and momentum against him.
He backed up slightly, checking his damage monitor. The impact had dented his waist armor, but the Gunpla was otherwise unphased. He snorted and turned to face Jack again, only to get slammed with another hard right hook, then a left, across the bridge of his nose.
His cockpit shook violently from the force of the blows, but the Gunpla remained mostly undamaged, minus some chipping. He grunted and grabbed Jack's next punch, his giant hands covering her own fist and knuckler entirely.
Jack sneered, and lashed out with a front kick, catching his chest with the toe of the Nu Preliator's foot and knocking him away once again. "Damn, how hard is his armor?!"
She ducked under his next haymaker and boosted upwards with a knee strike to the chin, stunning him long enough for her to missile drop kick the smaller machine backwards. He landed hard against a massive piece of concrete, creating an impact crater in it as his back smashed into it.
Snarling in frustration, Hazel looked up just as the Nu Preliator drove both kneecaps into his Gunpla's clavicles. The force of the impact shattered the debris he was imbedded in and shot him backwards once more at high speed. He course corrected himself in time to dodge the next strike, catching Jack in the face with an elbow that knocked her senseless for a moment, giving him a few seconds of time to back up and regroup.
Evelyn listened to Jack talk to herself while exchanging blows with Hazel as she searched for Watts. Every muscle in her body wanted to go support her, but she knew that as long as Watts was unaccounted for, he was a major threat. She had seen his Gunpla, and if she was right, he would be trying to snipe from a distance.
Watts watched as the G-Hopper zipped about. He couldn't tell if Evelyn was purposely baiting him or absent mindedly flying with visible trails, but it didn't matter. He wasn't taking a shot at this time.
Instead, he planted a few mines near an exposed power conduit, and as he pushed off the colony, the John Bull Gundam dropped small rods behind it, leading away from the conduit. "Hazel! Lure the Nu Preliator towards my current position. I'm going to try and lure out the G-Hopper by putting Jack in a precarious position."
Hazel grunted, but nodded. "Fine." He turned to face Jack, just as she hammered him with a brutal diving kick. His right forearm blocked the blow. He slammed his left fist into her ankle armor and knocked the foot away, before boosting upwards and uppercutted Jack backwards.
The Nu Preliator tumbled, and Jack waited a few moments before correcting her trajectory. She righted herself, looking at the Bolt Titanus upside down as Hazel tightened his fists.
The German Champion huffed, glaring at his worthy foe with intense focus. This was not the fight he wanted, and they both could see that. But this was the fight that was necessary.
"What is your problem?!" Jack called out. "I don't understand why you're fighting like this! This isn't like you!"
"You're right," he responded bluntly. "You don't understand!"
He ejected his right shoulder pauldron, and reached to his waist to grab a beam saber hilt. From the handle sprang a chain of pure energy, which grabbed the rounded shoulder pauldron and tethered it to the hilt, like a ball and chain.
"Oh, bollocks!" Jack cried out as the ball rotated rapidly, and beam dagger blades sprang from it.
Hazel swung the Graviton Hammer at Jack, who boosted upwards to dodge the incredible speed of the weapon. The hammer dug through the Salamis-class wreck that sat behind Jack, carving through the ship and detonating its reactor, which knocked Jack backwards violently.
The explosion caught Evelyn's attention. She spun around to call out, the G-Hopper momentarily taking its attention off the search for the John Bull Gundam.
Leaving this unknown player alone seemed like a risk too big to take, but Evelyn wasn't sure if she could tackle both Hazel and his partner at the same time, should Jack fall.
"Great. Freaking great." She grimaced, before boosting towards Jack. Even if she could just distract Hazel, that would be enough to give Jack some breathing room.
Watts planted a remote mine in the tunnel he was in, and turned to leave, before stopping to see what his mobile cameras picked up. "Dammit." Evelyn had given up, apparently. "Hazel, the G-Hopper is headed your way. I'm moving to try and intercept, but watch yourself!"
Hazel swung his hammer again, narrowly missing the Nu Preliator as beam shots rained down on him from behind him. He turned and looked up, watching as the G-Hopper erratically darted from side to side, trying to pierce his armor.
"Evelyn, his armor's too thick and coated with nanolam-" Jack started to say, before getting tackled by the Bolt Titanus. Her cockpit floor shook with great force and she almost lost her balance. She planted her left foot backwards and nailed him several jabs to the face, with little effect.
After a short burst from his thrusters, Hazel backhanded the Nu Preliator, before swinging his Gravity Hammer at her again. Jack raised her forearms up and rotated her guards outward to absorb the impact, sustaining damage from the beam blades skirting across them as she was sent back once more from the force of the blow.
Retracting the chain to the point where the beam spiked ball connected with the saber hilt he held, Hazel fired his Vulcans at Evelyn, trying to distract her enough to halt her advance. He minded his rear camera and watched Jack recover and launch herself towards him, waiting until the last moment to wheel around with his weapon to backhand her away.
Jack ducked and caught his arm mid swing, driving a Gatling Punch directly into the core of his Gunpla. The impact rocked Hazel enough for Jack to push her fist deeper into his gut and then lift him over her head, boosting forward and slamming him into the wreck of another chunk of the colony.
The impact cracked the debris, and Hazel grunted, looking over the damage. To Watts's credit, his armor held up. He registered minimal damage.
He watched as Jack drifted away, firing grenades from her forearm gun at him. The explosions didn't even scratch the Bolt Titanus as he pushed off the concrete structure, unphased.
Watts watched the confrontation with a smirk. He calculated the trajectory Jack had gone, and she was for the most part right where he needed her.
He twisted his wrist on the left orb and clicked on the mine he placed down. It detonated, cracking the containment pod for the massive energy tank from the colony, which lashed out with a build up of power.
Evelyn's ears stood straight up as the particle emissions around the field changed. Her readings detected the energy build up, and she saw the metal lightning rods heading in a rough direction towards Jack. "Yo, look out! Plasma discharge incoming!"
Jack turned towards the direction of the explosion and saw the arcing plasma, and the subsequent flash of electricity tearing through the shoal zone. Her eyes went wide with terror as she realized she had no time to avoid it.
She focused her Plavsky Particle emissions into her right hand and, as the bolt reached her, she boosted above it and slapped it with a backhanded chop. The move instantly redirected the lighting bolt, which was shot straight at Hazel, who took the full force of the blast.
The G-Hopper came up beside the Nu Preliator and hung in space, watching as Hazel's machine slowly recovered. Evelyn snorted in disbelief. "When he chose the Bolt Gundam to use as inspiration for his AGE-1 Titus, I don't think tanking a literal lightning bolt to the face was what he had in mind. I can't believe he's still moving."
"I can," Jack responded. "But look-that shock took out much of the nanolaminate paint on his armor. He should be less beam resistant now."
The G-Hopper's ears twitched, and Evelyn twisted as a beam shot forth from behind the two. She corkscrewed through space, somersaulting to turn around and face the direction the blast came from.
Watts watched through the John Bull Custom's right eye, which had extended a scouter over it to enhance his accuracy and prediction algorithms. He grunted in disgust. "At least Rainart acted as a somewhat reasonable distraction," he commented to himself. "I underestimated Ivory's control over Plavsky Particles. I knew she could deflect beam shots, but not a full electrical discharge."
He pushed off the metal structure he was perched behind and dropped another decoy as Evelyn rocketed forward. "Now, to eliminate the annoying one."
Evelyn blasted the decoy, grunting in disgust as she realized she'd been fooled. She spun around just as another beam lanced out, narrowly missing her as she twisted above it to avoid getting hit.
The shot came from another direction. Watts was being exceptionally slippery.
She shot up in hopes of getting a better view. The John Bull Gundam was not a particularly nimble machine, from what she remembered. Watts could have modified it, but it still shouldn't be able to move around quickly without extensive refits.
But there was nothing, except the twinkle of stars.
However, one star in particular caught her eye. It's position was off, inside a particular part of the debris field.
"Wait. That's not a star-that's a scope glint!" She realized, just as another shot rang out.
Watts had retreated back to the very first hunk of rubble he had set up traps in. He anticipated his shot to miss, but it did its job in attracting the G-Hopper, who came rushing in at high speed. He smirked and backed off, letting the decoys he set earlier act as a distraction.
Evelyn dashed to the mouth of the tunnel-like concrete cylinder, noticed the decoys, and stopped. It was obviously a trap. But it felt a little too obvious.
Watts drew his pistol and pointed both weapons at her, hiding above her among the destroyed solar panel of the colony. His pistol fired, hitting the decoy on the other side of the tunnel. The mobile suit shaped balloon popped, exploding with a massive release of glittering particles which bathed the area around the G-Hopper.
Evelyn's scanners went haywire. "Crap! He hid Plavsky Particles inside that dummy!" She panicked, realizing that Watts had figured out how her ear sensors worked, reading the Plavsky Particle density around the map to react to incoming threats.
With the area coated in particles, she was now effectively blinded.
The John Bull Custom then angled its two weapons and fired again, this time purposefully missing Evelyn's suit, forcing her to back up. The G-Hopper did so, and was rocked by multiple explosions from hide mines placed behind her, which knocked her to the side.
She corrected herself just in time to realize she had traveled into the tunnel, a second before the hidden bombs Watts had placed inside detonated.
The explosions were visible from a good distance away. Jack glanced over at the area just as Hazel's left fist connected with her cheek, knocking her backwards. She corrected her orientation and opened fire with her beam gun, hoping the electrical shock had damaged Hazel's paint enough for the beam to stop refracting. Hazel predicted this and moved down to avoid the beam, extending his Graviton Hammer again and swinging it rapidly.
Jack leaned to the left, turning sideways to let the beam-spiked orb fly by, igniting her thrusters and shooting towards Hazel. The Nu Preliator delivered a devastating elbow to the bridge of the Bolt Titanus's nose, cracking the lens of Hazel's right main camera.
She took the pause in his aggression and spun around him, slamming the shin of her Gunpla right into the back of the Bolt's head, knocking it into a spiral, tumbling head over heels. Hazel managed to stop himself and then boost backwards, his own elbow being driven right into the gut of the approaching Nu Gundam.
He turned rapidly and leveled Jack in the face with his fist, breaking the right side of her Gundam's V-fin on impact. She reeled back a bit, before catching another punch and headbutting her foe. She followed it up with a knee to the chin, and then flipped behind Hazel and grabbed his Gundam's head, locking him in a choke hold and wrenching upwards in an attempt to pull the Bolt Titanus' head off of its body completely.
Hazel watched as warning signs flashed, and he roared and boosted backwards. Jack tried to counter his thrust with her own, using her more powerful and numerous thrusters to stop him. She managed to slow the movement, but the act of doing so loosened her leverage on Hazel enough that a second elbow to the gut knocked the Nu Gundam away.
Jack backed off and aimed her beam gun at him again, but Hazel ducked and his massive hand wrapped around the top of her forearm, ripping the weapon off. He uppercutted her, knocking her backwards, before grabbing her ankle and spinning around.
The Nu Preliator slammed hard into a chunk of the colony, and Jack watched as a giant metal rod drove itself straight through the left side of the Gundam. Hazel landed a powerful missile dropkick right to Jack's chest, crushing the colony piece under the immense force and knocking Jack through the concrete bit and into open space.
She gripped the bar and bent it, breaking it off, and used it to slam Hazel in the face, before kicking his right hand so hard he lost his grip on his hammer.
"I've had just about enough of this!" She roared. Launching herself once more at Hazel, she swung her fist at the Bolt Gundam again. Hazel blocked the blow, taking the impact with his forearms and backing away while he regrouped.
Jack raised her other arm and fired multiple grenades, which soared through space towards her target. Hazel remained unphased, his armor holding up under the barrage of attacks. He snorted defiantly and rushed forward, through the explosions, but rather than finding Jack in front of him, he saw nothing.
His alert sounded above him just as Jack's Gundam landed a crippling axe kick to the top of the Bolt Gundam, crushing the top camera in its head and once again sending Hazel into a downward spiral.
Watts watched all of this from a distance, aiming at Jack the entire time but never once firing a shot. The fight played out before him as his Gundam eyed the two through his rifle scope. "Hmmm. Even with the increased armor, Jacqueline still holds the size, strength, and speed advantage," he noted. "Hazel's wrestling career and fighting faster foes has kept him alive for this long, but I wonder…."
Deciding not to leave things up to chance, he pushed off his current position and silently glided closer to the battle. He wanted to ensure that, should Hazel lose, the match itself was not a total wash.
He opened the channel to his partner. "Hazel! Stop playing around with her and end this!"
Hazel grunted as he blocked a knee attack, grabbing Jack's leg and throwing her away. He wanted to grapple her, but in a zero G environment and with her being more than twice his size, doing so was almost impossible.
Jack spun in space, landing on a nearby chunk of concrete and pushing off of it to launch herself back at him. She watched as he turned and rushed her in kind, activating his left forearm beam ring in an attempt to cleave her in half with a clothesline.
She ducked under the blow and twisted as he went past her, trying to deliver a kick to the back of his head. He turned in time to catch the blow with the ring, carving her left foot up as she impacted it.
The thruster nozzles on the bottom of her foot exploded, severely damaging the lower left leg of the Nu Preliator, but not destroying it so badly that the calf thrusters were destroyed with the foot. She backed away, cursing at her stupid timing.
Hazel panted slightly. Sweat dripped from his brow. Jack was just as powerful as before. Moreso, actually, with this larger and sturdier machine. In fact, he knew for certain that if Watts hadn't modified his Gunpla, she would have destroyed him already. The lack of speed was more than made up for with the reinforced armor. Without it, she would have totaled his Gunpla by now.
"This isn't anything like the exhibition matches last year," he muttered. Frustration built up in his gut, and his stomach twisted in fear. If she beat him here, his sister….
He clenched his jaw tightly, rage replacing apprehension and fear. No. That wasn't going to happen.
"Enough," he called out. "Enough!"
His Gundam began glowing a dazzling gold, and Jack stopped mid charge. She watched as Hazel activated Hyper Mode, concern beginning to cross her mind as she backed away slowly.
"Evelyn, are you still alive?" She called out. If Hazel and Watts ganged up on her, it was over. She needed backup.
"Yes, but I'm stuck!" Evelyn responded, moving her control orbs back and forth constantly in an effort to dislodge the rubble around her. Watts' charges had entombed her in the tunnel, but they had only moderately damaged the G-Hopper. If she could just get free…
Jack looked back at Hazel. This might not be a bad situation, after all. "Sit tight. I'll come help free you."
"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere." Evelyn's voice was filled with annoyance and strain as she continued to struggle. "Just don't take too long, or else we're both gonna be out of gas."
The Nu Preliator began to circle around Hazel, moving to the right just as a beam attack shot past her left shoulder, coming from above and behind her. Startled, Jack turned and looked up, but could see nothing beyond debris and the black void of space.
"Damn," she muttered, realizing Watts had his sights on her.
She moved to the side again, evading another shot, just in time to catch Hazel's knee with her hands. The small beam dagger blades in his kneecap were ignited, and nearly carved her torso up as she struggled to keep the leg away from her.
He raised both fists above his head and brought them down onto her back and shoulders, brutalizing the Nu Preliator and knocking her spiraling downward. She caught herself as another beam grazed her right shoulder.
These two were more coordinated, now. This was going south, and fast.
She spun around and launched a trio of grenades at a colony fragment, which detonated and sent a plume of smoke and debris flying up to act as cover as she darted to the left, away from Watts and Hazel.
Hazel gave chase, pushing his Gunpla's thrusters into the red to catch the much faster Nu Gundam. He slammed his fists together as he flew, generating an electrical charge in his knuckles, using the excess energy from the plasma discharge he took to arm himself.
Watts pushed off his perch and watched as the two flew exactly where he didn't want her to go-towards Evelyn's position.
Raising his sniper rifle, the Grand Bull Gundam repeatedly fired high density beam rounds at Jack. The increased firepower bore through various obstacles in an attempt to cut Jack off, but the Nu Preliator dodged each one, at the expense of speed, which Hazel used to close the distance.
Jack turned after slowing to avoid a particularly close shot from Watts, raising her left arm up and putting her right hand around it right as Hazel slammed into her. The electrified fist tazed Jack, locking her Gundam up as the impact sent her careening off. Her Gunpla remained stunned for several seconds as it's systems seized up and slowly unlocked, rebooting automatically after the debilitating blow.
Her cockpit was dosed in a crimson glow. Damage to her machine was substantial, and she couldn't take much more of this.
She looked behind her, spotting the rubble Evelyn was trapped in. "How the devil did he trap you in that?"
"Gravity mines," Evelyn replied, still struggling to free herself. "He's got me pinned inside a tunnel with mines, and collapsed it around me. I can't move."
Jack looked up as an alert sounded. She was backing up, and had almost reached Evelyn. "Hang on-things are about to get a little rocky."
Evelyn grunted. "I genuinely don't know how it could get any rockier than it already is!" She retorted.
The Nu Preliator sat, goading the Bolt Titanus in. She waited until Hazel started swinging, then dodged out of the way, grabbing his massive right arm and throwing him forward. His punch landed on the debris Evelyn was trapped in, shattering it instantly and dislodging the G-Hopper from its tomb.
Evelyn cried out as her entire platform shook, and she held onto her control orbs for dear life, struggling to reorient herself in space.
The Grand Bull Gundam came to a stop and Watts retrieved his pistol, opening fire with both the rifle and pistol on Evelyn's position. "Damn it all, Hazel!" He cursed loudly, launching a flurry of shots down range.
Evelyn began expertly dodging each round, but her timing was off, which Watts noted likely was because the top halves of her rabbit ears had broken off in the initial cave that trapped her. She wasn't getting the same sensory data she was before.
"Not this time!" Evelyn shot up around two incoming beams and boosted for Watts, but was cut off by Hazel, who intercepted her from the side and grabbed her leg. The massive hands of the Bolt Titanus wrapped around her ankle, crushing the foot on her right leg and dragging her down to slam her into a large chunk of the debris she had just gotten free from.
The impact severely damaged her back back, bending the left thruster nozzle in a way that prevented movement. Her monitor changed to red as she watched Jack dive kick Hazel off of her.
"Heh….well, this isn't going great." Evelyn looked over her situation. Her machine was partially crippled now.
She pushed off the debris and headed for Watts, who was now firing at Jack to get her off of Hazel. The Nu Preliator blocked the incoming beams with its remaining forearm covering on its left arm, avoiding Hazel as he rushed her and roundhouse kicking him in the face. The impact crushed the right eye camera of the Bolt Titanus, and he reeled, giving Evelyn enough time to close in on Watts.
Watts got the alert from his left side and glanced away from Jack for a moment. "Hmph." As he turned back, he noticed Jack was also coming towards him, abandoning the partially blinded Bolt Gundam.
He landed on a piece of the satellite's solar panels and fired at Jack. He pretended the G-Hopper wasn't there, ignoring Evelyn entirely, but watching with the external remote cameras to keep her in view.
Jack opened fire with her remaining forearm Gatling, peppering Watt's location with 90 millimeter bullets. He used his suit's thrusters to rotate the solar panel between him and the Nu Preliator, using it like a shield. A camera floated around the debris and kept the Nu Preliator in sight, giving him an angle so he could charge his rifle.
Evelyn's eyes went wide as she pushed forward on her controls, increasing speed. "Jackie! He's got a heavy attack incoming!" She tried to stop him with her ranged weapons, but she found that she had depleted their energy trying to escape the tunnel.
The beam superheated the solar panel, tearing through it with powerful destructive energy. Jack dodged to the right, but Watts followed her, the beam carving through multiple structures as it chased her. She growled and ducked low, under it, diving at first and then sweeping up to try and come at Watts from below.
The attack dissipated as he let go of the trigger. His beam depleted the reserves in his rifle, and he replaced the energy cartridge with another, reloading the weapon. "Impressive, but not unexpected," he acknowledged.
Jack came up screaming, her right fist charged in a Gatling Uppercut to put an end to Watts. As her fist went to connect, however, he simply side stepped, twisting away from her. She tried to lash out with a spinning wheel kick, using her momentum for leverage, but she missed this as well as his spin ducked low and he wound up crouching under her foot.
Evelyn was about to reach him, and she activated the beam blades on her tonfas.
As she threw out the first swing, a sudden realization happened. She noticed the glimmer of one of the cameras, just above Watts' shoulder, facing her. She also noticed the charging barrel of his pistol, held in his left hand and tucked under his right armpit, aimed right at her.
And the pink beam that lashed out was unavoidable, piercing the G-Hopper's chest in the clavicle area. It's momentum caused the beam to cut through most of Evelyn's GunplaMs torso, dealing a killing blow to the machine.
Watts also fired his sniper, which was crossed over in front of him and propped up on his knee as he knelt down. The rifle slammed a shot into Jack's lower left leg, detonating it and taking most of her thruster control on that side with it.
She proceeded to spin wildly, correcting herself just as Hazel reached her. His hand wrapped around her Gundam's head, and he proceeded to drag the Nu Preliator to a large piece of the colony's super structure. He ground the face of the Nu Gundam across the concrete slab, tearing much of the head up as he did so and crushing it in his grip.
Jack was too stunned to even cry out, watching helplessly as Hazel released her. She watched as his gigantic left fist, still charged with electricity, hit her gut and shocked the machine, paralyzing it and slamming it back into the superstructure.
Watts took aim once Hazel was clear. "A valiant effort. But this was always predestined."
A shot from both the rifle and pistol ended the match, piercing the Nu Gundam Preliator. The battle ended with stunning applause as Watts confidently shouldered his rifle.
Evelyn and Jack looked at each other, still in shock for a moment, before both smiled at the other and shrugged. "Well, it was a good run," Jack admitted, to with Evelyn agreed, nodding just enough that her wig and ears were slightly askew.
Jack looked at Hazel and Watts to congratulate them, but stopped just as she noticed the look on Hazel's face. The man looked like he was struggling to hold back tears of anguish, which puzzled her a bit. Why would Hazel feel that bad if they had just won?
This only reinforced her belief from before-he didn't want to be here. This wasn't how he wanted things to go.
This wasn't his choice.
She pushed that aside for a moment to put on a fake smile to hide the concern she held for the man. "Congratulations, you two. That was a bloody brilliant fight."
"Yes," Hazel replied simply. He couldn't even look her in the eye.
"I must admit, both of you were an incredible challenge," Watts added. "It would be my pleasure to face off with either of you again, should the opportunity arise."
"Right back at ya," Evelyn said, smiling. The two of them collected the remains of their Gunpla and left the stage. Both exchanged knowing glances once their backs were turned.
They entered the back area, turning down a side hallway away from prying eyes, and faced each other. Evelyn stripped off the wig, letting her natural hair air out. "Now. Spill. What do you know?"
"Team Godslayer is up to something," she replied. "You saw the look Hazel had both before and after the fight. The fact that he fought so desperately means they have something on him."
"They do." Adeline nodded and took out her phone. "His sister, Gretchen, is sick and in the hospital in Germany. Apparently, Godslayer's owner, Salem Autry, is bankrolling the treatment in exchange for Hazel's cooperation. Found it online last night."
Jack gave Adeline a questioning look, raising her eyebrow. Adeline rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Just because we all agreed to drop the issue doesn't mean either of us were listening. I'm sure you've been up to something, too. I know you."
"Perhaps," Jack said, before looking around. Nobody was in the halls, but she didn't want to take the chance. "But I'll tell you about it back in our hotel room. The walls may have ears, and the fewer people who know, the better."
—
Cinder played with her necklace gently as Watts returned to the sky box. She and Salem both had pleased looks on their faces. "Congratulations are in order, Arthur," Salem said welcomingly, though she noted the lack of his partner. "Where's Hazel?"
"He claimed he had to go get some air and left," Watts responded. "I was under no obligation to stop him, so I didn't."
"Hmmm." Cinder pondered the situation. "I suppose we probably shouldn't rely on him too much for the final round. Push him too hard and we may lose all hope of his cooperation."
"You think he'd throw the fight?" Salem asked. "Even with his sister under our care?"
"I wouldn't put it past him after this." She crossed her arms. "His fighting today was reckless and dispassionate. I don't think his heart was in it."
Salem thought for a moment. You're probably right." She turned to Watts. "Would you be willing to go out in the final round with Tyrion?"
Watts grunted slightly. "I'd prefer not to, but if needed, I shall. Tyrion is more than a little unsettling."
Cinder grew a wicked grin. "What about Adam? His speed will come in handy if we fight White Rose, and I'm certain psychological warfare would be an expert weapon to wield against Bumblebee."
Watts smiled faintly and nodded. "That is an excellent suggestion."
Salem paused, mulling the idea over for a moment, before nodding in agreement. "Very well. Cinder, could you go and deliver the good news to Roman? I would prefer to get Adam ready for tomorrow as soon as possible."
Cinder sighed. "If I must. I'm certain Roman will be more than happy to see me," she said, her voice tinted in disgust. "I'll head out after this next match, if you don't mind. I'd like to tell them who to expect to fight."
"Very well." Salem wore a smug, satisfied look on her face as she turned back to the window, looking down at the stage. She knew the next fight was going to be painful for Ozpin to watch.
"Check, Ozpin. Your move."