[@Crimson Lion][@Shiyonichi]
[u][b]Riku POV[/b][/u]

Riku couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It worked, all of it. He managed to time the escape and give the Mobile Armor an explosive send off to boot. He really needed to cut back on the risky tactics before one of them got him eliminated.

[i]“Get back on board and use the catapult to launch towards the base..."[/i]

He listened to the entire communication and, despite no one being able to see it, Riku nodded in agreement. "Yeah, makes sense to me. But as long as I'm docking back into the Yamato, give me just a moment to switch Gunplas again. Whatever their last defense is, I get the feeling I'll be more helpful with the Manticore's loadout than with a single katana." The Shin Musha Hyaku Shiki was a powerful build, no doubt. In fact Riku could confidently say it was his strongest Gunpla at present. But as he just alluded to, it was limited to only the Izanagi as its sole weapon. And while that sword was very special, any opponent worth their salt would observe that it was a bit of a one-trick pony and likely prepare to counter it accordingly, "Besides," Riku added, "I think I just figured out a way to make the Manticore usable in the air."

While docked with the Yamato, Riku went to work on his idea. The first thing he did was switch off controls for the Shin Musha Hyaku Shiki and then switched back over to the Manticore. Once that was done, he told Haro to hold off on launching him until he gave the okay. After that, he used the Manticore itself to look around the hanger bay of the Yamato. The Gunplas were all there, including the Gundam Maxter and - more importantly - its rocket-powered Shield/Surfboard. Perfect. Riku used the Manticore to reach over and take the armament from the unmanned Gunpla, "Sorry Maxter, I need to borrow this for a bit..." he whispered as he brought the object over to be mounted onto the catapult. After this, he had the Manticore step up onto the board and its feet became magnetically locked into place.

"Okay, Haro, launch me whenever you're ready." he said, having now noticed Blade launching within a new white Gunpla. Was that perhaps the little project he had been working on? It certainly looked impressive enough, so it was a shame Riku wouldn't get see what it could do for himself.

"The Unyielding Metal Soldier," Riku announced as he watched his catapult hatch open up, "Manticore, move out!" and just like that, he was launched back into the fray. As soon as the gunpla left the catapult he fired up the surfboard rocket and gave his teammates a good look at the plan he had had in mind. Thanks to the Maxter's board, the Manticore could now more or less be maneuvered like a full on flying unit.

"Sorry for the wait Kai," Riku said to Kai over the comms, "but I'm ready to wrap this up if you are." and then took it upon himself to take point in the flight toward the enemy base. He figured with his current setup, he likely had longer range scanners than Kai and could therefore get a head start on scanning for their targets, the Taurus suits.

When they found themselves taking fire from two enemy Gunpla, Riku banked to his right and rolled himself out of the line of fire. As he long he kept his movement and momentum going he could avoid most shots with relative ease. The challenge was going to be putting himself in a position to shoot back. Depending on which weapon he wanted to use, it might require him to fly directly toward an enemy to line up a shot, which would of course put him in danger of taking a shot from them in kind. So for now, Riku simply prepped the tripod missile launchers on the Manticore's legs, as those wouldn't require him to alter his trajectory to fire. In short, he could circle around them and pelt them with volleys of missile fire while remaining relatively safe and out of reach above, "Feel free to charge in, Kai, I'll cover you from here!" he told Kai over the comms while he locked onto both the Full Armor and Zaku Cannon. As soon as he saw Kai make a move, he let loose a volley of his own. Six missiles, three homing in on each gunpla. Now they'd have to choose. Focus on evading the missiles, or defending against Kai's attacks. Either way, they were in for a bad time.

[@Crimson Lion]
[u][b]Chisato and Yuna POV[/b][/u]

Two females hurriedly made their way to the entrance of Kishimoto Arcade. One was a teenager, in the same age range as the Team Imagine Victory members. And the other one was older, in her early 40's. The younger of the two appeared to be in a bigger rush, as she was practically dragging the older woman behind her, "Come on, Chisato-san! Hurry, or we'll miss it!" she said with an excitable tone that elicited an amused chuckle from the older woman.

"Okay, okay, I'm right behind you, Yuna-chan." she said as they walked through the door. It looked like the first round had already started. They were indeed late, but at least they'd get to see the conclusion of the round. They had to look around a moment, but soon spotted the person they were supposed to look for and meet with, "Ah, there he is. Takenori-san!" she called out, while Yuna was waving at him to get his attention. In another minute, the two found themselves watching the Tournament from the same vantage point that he was.

"So... how's he doing?" asked Chisato. She was referring to her son, Riku. She usually tried to go to the build competitions he had signed himself up for, but this was the first official tournament she'd ever watched him battle in, "And the rest of the team, of course." she also said, making sure not to leave out any of Riku's new friends.

"He's probably fine." said Yuna, not looking too worried. She was their neighbor, her and her parents lived in the apartment directly above Chisato and Riku. Both Chisato and her parents often worked late, so during those times she had a habit of taking it upon herself to cook dinner for herself and Riku. The two had become pretty good friends thanks to these interactions. And when he started building Gunpla, she became curious enough to ask him to teach how to build as well. She didn't do battles or anything, that just wasn't her cup of tea. But the designs and colors and flashy moves all looked amazing, so clearly she was at least captivated by the sport even if she lacked the desire to take part herself, "I'm more excited to see that new 'trump card' of his in action. The way he talked it up, it sounded like he had cooked up something amazing."

Takenori would recall that Riku told him the previous day that these two would be coming to watch them that day, and that he told them to look for Takenori and join up with him.