[u][b]No POV[/b][/u]

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls!" the announcer said with an exciting flare, "It's the event you've all been waiting for! Gathered here tonight are six of the top duelists in our beloved League!" he made a gesture and some spotlights suddenly flared to life. Six of them, each on one of the six rather eccentric characters gathered there. Pretty much every one of them were dressed up in some form of cosplay, befitting of the "character"' they each played in these battles. "You've watched them fight in fierce duels, you may have even watched them battle it out in ferocious tag teams... but tonight! Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, these Duelists will set aside their heated rivalries, and fight a decisive 3 vs 3 battle in this special event!'

This was the GDL, or Gunpla Dueling League. It originally began a few years ago as a format dedicated to the 1v1 battles that Gunpla fighting originated as. Over the years, though, it had expanded to include occasional 2v2 tag team matches in addition to its standard 1v1 format. Tonight, however, was a special event designed to premiere the GDL's first foray into 3v3 battles. The GDL had become a worldwide format, featuring competitors from around the globe. As such, the Duelists of GDL were all considered the best of the best of their regions or countries of origin. It was very much a World Level format. But the GDL had gained another rather unique trait. What began as mere battles between competitors, had since evolved into fierce rivalries that now often had actual narratives and storylines attached to them for extra flavor. Duelists had essentially become like characters in a story, written and forged through the heat of battle and competition with another. This of course sparked online fanclubs and fansites devoted to various Duelists, often dedicated to heated debates on who the actual strongest Duelist was or who had the better-built Gunpla.

"On Team A, we have Prince Erek von Schroeder in his Gundam RX-Black! Joining him are Garret Earp - descendant of the legendary lawman himself - in his Gunslinger Gundam; and Kalinka Nikolaev in her Valkyrie Angel!" after this he gestured to the 3 on the opposite side, "And fighting for Team B, we have Tobias Wallace in his Gundam Victoria and joining him is Kyosuke Arata in his Gelgoog Scout Type. And last, but certainly not least. Leading them will be the unknown, the mysterious, your hero and mine... Silver Ronin in his Crusader Grimgerde!"

These were all among the best battlers of their respective nations: America, England, Russia, Japan, et cetera. But two among them were a bit more unique than that. One was obvious, the mysterious and masked Silver Ronin. He wore a grey pilot's uniform in addition to a silvery replica of the mask of Zechs Merquise, and even wore a Japanese sword at his hip. He was the only Duelist in GDL whose true identity remained a mystery. He first appeared some time ago, and began what was currently still an unbeatable win streak. He'd gained many fierce rivals, including those present. More often than not, they would swear to defeat him if only to forcibly unmask him, but so far none had succeeded.

The other unique Duelist was Prince Von Schroeder. He wasn't just a Prince in character, but he was also a Prince in real life as well. He hailed from the Kingdom of Rosanctea, an Eastern European micronation. While he was not in line for the throne, Von Schroeder was instead in line to take command of the Rosanctean Military and Security force. He entered Gunpla as a means of training and honing his skills and tactical acumen. He had also become the Silver Ronin's most well-known Rival. Both were virtually undefeated on their own, but when pit against each other, their battles never seemed to end with any conclusive victor, often resulting in a draw. How appropriate that they were each named as leaders of Team A and Team B respectively.

The battle began shortly after introductions. Each Duelist launched into the battlefield with victory in mind. The battle was fierce and evenly matched in the beginning. As expected, the competitors followed the trend of pairing off into 3 simultaneous Duels. Such a battle format was just what they were used to. And of course, Silver Ronin and Von Schroeder went up against each other. Their attacks were even, neither able to gain any ground. If this kept up, it would turn into a drawn out affair. But then something else happened.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyksB_bjBzs]Ambitious Conspirators[/url]
At some point mid-battle, Arata maneuvered himself into hiding. After this, he used his sniper rifle and took aim... at Silver Ronin! Thankfully the masked pilot seemed to sense this coming and was able to avoid a deadly head shot. But as if on cue, he suddenly found himself staring down [i]four[/i] opponents. It seemed his own teammates had conspired to aid the other team in defeating Silver Ronin. A trap, as it were. They went for the attack. Despite being gravely outnumbered, Silver Ronin was able to hold his ground rather impressively even for someone at this level, "Taking the opportunity to try and overwhelm me, are you?" the masked man taunted over public comms. Despite the situation he found himself in, he was surprisingly calm. In fact, it almost seemed like he anticipated this.

After using his ABC mantle to deflect another shot from Arata's Gelgoog, Silver Ronin drew his Magnum Defender from its holster and fired back at his traitorous teammate. The shot actually managed to hit the rifle and render it unusable. An impressive shot at distance with a mere pistol weapon. At that moment, while he no longer had his Shot-Lancer drawn, he saw the Valkyrie Angel charge in for a melee attack trying to force him into melee with a ranged weapon. But in the blink of an eye, the Magnum Defender straightened itself into a beam saber hilt, the blade igniting in time to deflect the incoming blow, "You'll have to try harder than [i]that[/i], my dear Kalinka!"

In all this, the only one [i]not[/i] participating in the ambush was Von Schroeder. He stood and watched for a bit, actually having been unaware of this little conspiracy by his fellow duelists. Perhaps they had simply assumed he would join them out of sheer desire to defeat the Ronin. But instead his Gundam RX-Black just stood there. Eventually he saw an attack coming for Ronin that looked impossible avoid. Would this finally be his defeat? The attacker's Gunpla was stopped short by a beam rifle shot, one that didn't come from the Crusader Grimgerde. Instead it came from Von Schroeder, who finally joined the fray only to take the Ronin's side.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d7_AXOTVaA]The Knight and the Ronin[/url]
"Don't get the wrong idea, Silver Ronin." he said to his rival over the public channels, "I simply won't allow anyone to unmask you except for myself!" truth be told, this was also a matter of honor. To take advantage of a 3v3 to gang up on someone in such a manner. To him it reeked of cowardice and dishonor. He would not allow the sacred honor of GDL to be sullied by such a cowardly ambush.

"Heh. Fair enough, Your Highness."

With these two now effectively becoming an impromptu team, they were able to take on their enemies with surprising efficiency. Despite being heated rivals, the two fought together incredibly well compared to the other duelists. And it was thanks to this the battle reached its finale. Silver Ronin and Von Schroeder had handily defeated the other 4 duelists. But since they entered this battle on separate teams, the fight itself wasn't ended yet.

"So just us, then?" asked the Silver Ronin as he watched his temporary ally turn his weapons on him, "I guess you really did want to save me for yourself. Well what are you waiting for, Your Highness? This duel isn't going to finish itself!" and then the two Gunpla clashed with each other. As with most of their duels, this one too ended in what could only be described as an inconclusive draw. It seemed audiences would have to wait a while longer before a clear victor could be decided between them. The battle itself was filmed and streamed live over the net to fans all over the world. And this particular event took place late Sunday evening, mere hours after the Kishimoto Locals tournament had ended.

[u][b]Riku POV[/b][/u]

2 days after the Tournament, Riku found himself - as usual - spending his free time at Takemori Arcade. At first he intended to spend some time making adjustments to the Yamato and finally putting it through its testing phase. The data from the Kishimoto Arcade outing was invaluable for this task. But Riku also occasionally found himself working on the Shin Musha Hyaku Shiki. He had thought for sure that he couldn't find any more ways to improve it, but the Tournament the other day had proved him wrong. Now he was working on what would be the next version of the build. Overall it still looked mostly the same, however the shoulder plates had been mounted with GN Blades that could be removed and wielded by hand or fired as a harpoon shot. And while the Tactical Arms was a useful addition, that part ultimately belonged to Naoki and so Riku had returned it to him. The golden gunpla still had the pair of beam sabers, only now Riku had modified them to be capable of connecting at the hilts. This meant they could be dual wielded as two sabers or wielded together as a double-bladed beam naginata. The Gunpla's backpack part now sported a GN Drive unit. This meant the gunpla could now use the Trans-Am system to triple its speed and energy output. That same system could also theoretically apply to the Izanagi as well, allowing for an even stronger Shining Flash that Yuna had affectionately called the "Crimson Flash" after the crimson red glow of an active Trans-Am system.

"Come on, Ri-kun, you promised you'd help me, remember?" Yuna was with him today. She'd been bugging him to help her build a Gunpla of her own, and he did at one point promise to do so. She was even making her pouting face, complete with puffed out cheeks.

"Okay, okay." Riku relented, finally taking his attention off the Yamato and Shin Musha, "Show me what you've got so far." he watched as she happily showed him the kit she had chosen. A Nobel Gundam. It's unique body type allowed it to move in ways other models couldn't, and with greater agility to boot. Yuna opened the box and showed that she had the head and torso assembled, but was still working on the arms and legs.

"You'll help me customize it, right?" she asked, "You're better at that sort of thing than I am."

"Sure, but..." he said, thinking about something, "...you'll have a harder time learning if I do everything for you." he had picked up the leg parts and then noticed something about them. They featured raised heels on the feet, due to the feminine nature of the model. But those heels did give him an idea, "Tell you what. Keep working on the arms for now. I'll see if I can do something special with these leg parts, okay?"

"Okay, sure." she said, but Riku had already gotten up before she could ask any other questions.

"Hey, Takemori-san?" Riku asked at the counter, "I need to use the 3D printer. I know it's supposed to be for the team only, but... can I use it to help Yuna with her Gunpla?"

[@Crimson Lion]