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"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.

Ambitious Conspirators
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 four 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 that, my dear Kalinka!"

In all this, the only one not 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.

The Knight and the Ronin
"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.

Riku POV

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
@Crimson Lion And on similar note, Yuna probably drops by occasionally but isn't there nearly as much Riku is.
@Crimson Lion Riku's probably there fairly frequently. He's gotta get parts for all his bazillion builds from somewhere, right?
@Stuzzie@Balthazar007@FalloutJack

Meanwhile, we're getting shot at by turrets while waiting for my response and I'm not actually sure what we can do about this.

Also, just for clarification. Niko and I are still like 2 weeks ahead in terms of timeline, right?
@Balthazar007 Sure, I'm still on board.
For the first time I'm struggling to think of a good post. Tournament's done and there's naught to do but wait for Char-chan and the Old Man to inevitably accept the invite.
Whelp, almost 5 chapters into Breaker 3, and I can safely say there's way too much Universal Century and not nearly enough of everything else.

I mean, I *want* to build a Grimgerde but nooooo, Namco was like, "Nah, Barbatos is all you get, but here, have a hundred more UC Gunplas to go with the other 300!"
@Dezuel@Renny
D'oh! I forgot to tag you two in my IC post. Sorry about that, my bad.
Riku POV
@Crimson Lion@KenjuGuy@Shiyonichi@Blade17 - The Shot That Pierces the Stars

His plan succeeded. Kobayashi's shield remained up for as long as it could, but the Izanagi devoured it in the end. And afterword, there was nothing left that could stop him. With a fully charged blade, Riku cut down the two GN-X's with ease. As he did so, he noticed the bright red glow of the Yamato. The charge had begun. Having faith that Blade could handle himself, Riku positioned himself on the Yamato's broadside, safely outside outside its line of fire. After that, he simply held his position and waited.

This was would be the Wave Motion Cannon's first actual use. For that, Riku was certain he wanted to have a good hard look at the weapon in action. It was his creation after, his great project. This would also be his only real means of properly gauging the Cannon's power and capabilities. Data that would surely be helpful when refinements would eventually be made. Riku counted down the seconds in his head. When the countdown was about to reach zero, he raised his finger and pointed it at his cockpit view as if aiming an invisible gun, before seemingly pulling an imaginary trigger.

"Bang."

And the shot fired. The massive beam of energy lanced its way clear across the battlefield. It easily punched through the colony and broke it clean in half. Whatever was caught in its line of fire, was no doubt doomed to be destroyed. No amount of armor or energy shields would stop it, just as Riku designed. The sight of the energy, and the sheer pressure of witnessing such raw power firsthand was enough to send a chill down Riku's spine. And yet, chilling as this weapon's power was... he could tell that it paled in comparison to the weapon that inspired it. The Cannon from Space Battleship Yamato was powerful enough to vaporize an entire island the size of Australia. Riku's version of the weapon didn't come close. And yet, he couldn't help but curl his slips into a small smile. The potential was there, he could sense it. And he believed it was only a matter of time before he could devise a way to match that power... or even surpass it.

“MATCH OVER, WINNERS … TEAM IMAGINE VICTORY!!!!!”

His cockpit hologram deactivated, and now Riku found himself looking around at a stunned and cheering crowd. The Wave Motion Cannon was sure to raise some eyebrows among them, but most would surely just be hyped beyond belief. He reached out and picked up his golden Gunpla, as well as the Yamato. Then, he looked around at each of his teammates and said, "I was right after all, our Cannon paled in comparison to the original. But it got the job done, and I intend to make sure it's perfected by the time we need to use it again."

This probably was also enough of a hint to the losing team that he was the one responsible for building the superweapon.

Yuna POV

"WOW! That. Was. AMAZING!" Yuna was yelling at the top of her lungs over the cheers, "That cannon was so awesome!" She could also see the expression on Riku's face from where they watched. He was happy, happier than he'd been in a long time. She could tell. And she was sure that his mom could tell, too.

??? POV
Stranger in the Crowd

Unbeknownst to anyone from Team Imagine or their affiliates, there was someone else in the audience that day. A man in a coat and dark sunglasses, who watched the Tournament with great interest while also retaining a strict poker face throughout. His attention shifted between battlers, but seemingly remained fixated on the Golden Samurai Gunpla more than any other. Or more specifically, on the young man piloting it. Seeing him use the blade to slice a Mobile Armor clean in half during round 1 aroused an amused eyebrow raise from the man. And the similar stunt pulled in the finals against two opponents simultaneously elicited a very slight nod, almost like one of approval.

But it was that finale that really caught his attention. The powerful Superweapon that not only cleaved a colony clean in half but also ended the entire round in a single shot. When the holograms faded, and he saw the pilot of the Golden Gunpla retrieve the ship from the ship, that was all the confirmation needed. So it was his creation after all. And while the previous things that caught his attention had elicited small responses at best, now he allowed himself an actual smile. He slowly, offering applause as the crowds cheered around him. And then, without a word... he was gone. He'd left his spot in the stands and slipped out of the arcade in silence.

"Finally over, is it?" asked a man sitting in the driver's seat of a car as the man from the audience opened the door and sat down in the backseat, "From the look on your face, I assume he did well."

"No," said the mystery man, "He did splendidly."

"Exceeded your expectations, then? You'd best watch yourself then, he may well come after you eventually. Sounds like he's going to be quite good."

The man in the backseat offered a knowing smile, "No, he's going to be the best." he said, correcting his associate driving the car, "If the darker side of the World of Gunpla doesn't destroy him, that is. That ship is going to be a game-changer. It may well end up painting a target on that team's back. You know as well as I do how ruthless and cutthroat some people in this industry are."

"Hm, well enough of that for now. You've your own battle to get to, you know. You're already about to be late as it is thanks to this little detour you made."

"I'm aware," said the man in the backseat, his gaze slightly shifting to a Silver-Armored Gunpla sitting safely on its display stand nearby. "but it was his first real tournament. There was no way I was going to let myself miss that."
@Blade17@Renny You could still use the WMG. Blade could, with good timing, trick the Baelstrom into its blast zone when it fires. Though to be fair, that may also sound more like something Riku or Naoki would do do... *shrug*
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