Sunday April 30th, 2020

On any regular day at the Iori Shopping Center, the visiting patrons of the lower three floors would never make a casual stop at the 4th floor arcade unless they were planning on it beforehand. However, today is different, because today the Takemori arcade shop is holding a special 4 hour “Beginners Event!” from 10 am to 2 pm. For only 500 yen, anyone, both young and old, can buy these limited gunpla featuring the Universal Century Zaku II model, the After Colony OZ-06MS Leo model, and the Post Disaster Graze model. And to truly help beginners, during the event a small demonstration on building occurs. Posters for the event have been plastered around the center for the past 2 weeks, and have gathered the attention of local young fans hoping to build their first models. This event, partnered with a small locals tournament happening right after the event, is what brings Yukihiro Naoki to Takemori Arcade in order to help out the shop owner, Shinrai Takemori.

In the sitting area of the arcade, tables are placed out in rows with a single table at the front for the instructor, Naoki, to demonstrate to the class how to properly build a gunpla. The class consisted of mostly elementary school students with a couple of parents joined in as well.

Naoki finished attaching the head of a Graze gunpla to the chest before showing the connected parts to the class. “After you’ve combined your separated parts, your gunpla is complete!” He said before combining the arms, then the waist and legs of the Graze.

“If no one has any more questions, I think it's about time for us to wrap up this lesson.” he said as the children began to chatter amongst themselves, showing off to each other their gunpla and some even running to the terminals in the back to try them out.

One of the boys ran up to Naoki, holding up a Zaku II with a smile, “U-um, sensei how does my Zaku look?.”

Naoki instantly recognized the boy as Tomiyoka, a shy boy whose mom worked at one of the stores, and who would also come to watch the battles at the arcade. “It looks great Tomiyoka. I’m surprised with how well you sanded the parts down, not a nub remnant in sight.” The young boy smiled with glee before bowing and running off to his mother who had been waiting in the back.

Naoki smiled with glee before stretching a bit before looking around, seeing faces new and old around the arcade made him happy. He even saw some people with his school uniform but didn’t get a look at their faces at the time. He glanced at the clock on the wall. 1 o'clock. In 15 minutes the final building lesson would begin, and then immediately after that, at 2, the tournament would start up. "I wonder ... will I meet who I've been looking for?" He whispered as he glanced at the crowd.

---

In the back of the arcade stood a group of 5 students wearing white uniforms with the emblem for Zenshin High, in the center of the group stood Seiichi Seo , the leader of the Zenshin Gunpla Club. “I can’t believe we have the luck to run into that Yukihiro bastard.” He said as he watched the boy prepare for his next lesson. “He thinks he can just reject our offer and smile about it! He even had the nerve to insult us while he did it!”.

One of his friends butted in. “Don’t even sweat it Seiichi, I overheard him talking to one of the kids, he’s entering the tournament today. If our info about the tournament is correct we’ll have our chance to crush him there.”

“We’ll break his gunpla to scrap and trash.” Another said with a laugh.

It was a scene from hell. The sky was a crimson red, parts of various Mobile suits were scattered throughout the wasteland floor, and one last lone Gundam was trying to get away from the scene of carnage.

“Damn it... Damn it all... Come on, I’m using a Unicorn, there isn’t a way he should able to beat me.”

The white unit was not in good shape, it had lost both of it’s arms one at the shoulder and one at the elbow, it had various gashes across it’s body, and one of it’s leg was was riddled with bullet holes resembling Swiss cheese.

“Come on... Come on... I can’t let him beat me!”

The once majestic Mobile Suit gave out sparks before it collapsed unable go any further as the pilot bit back a curse, as a vibrations from a heavy footstep rang out as a single red dot illuminated from the darkness.

“AHHHHH!!!”

The Wounded Mobile Suit turned it’s head and fired it’s last weapon, it’s Vulcans, however it was nothing more than panicked firing causing it to only illuminate at threat it was facing... it was a single green Zaku, the only sign that it was connected to the massacre was the splotches of oil which stained dripped down along it’s body.

“GODAMN REAPER!”

CLICK The shout of it’s pilot was silenced by it’s last hope being extinguished as it’s doom drew an axe and slowly walked over to the now helpless unit, it’s pilot only able to whimper as the steps started to ring like the gongs of hell...

The Black Covered unit raised it’s axe, then brought it down.

BATTLE ENDED

“It takes more than just a strong Gunpla to be strong in this game.”

Blue particles dispersed as it revealed two parties divided by a hexagonal table, on one side was a set of three teenagers in various forms of distress and disbelief. The other was a single blonde haired teenager and next to him was a kid looking at the blonde haired teenager in wonder and amazement.

“A strong Gunpla is one thing, but a Gunpla fighter needs to be able to bring out the most from it, ya lot failed to do that, so don’t pick on someone for their Gunpla, ya small fries.” Kai continued his criticism, as he picked up his Gunpla from the table. “Here ya are kid, without a scratch. Run along now.” The child nodded giving his gratitude towards the blonde haired delinquent as he ran back to his parents.

“Well, guess my job is done here.” Kai as took his GP base from the machine and prepared to leave the Gunpla shop they where battling, at one of the defeated teens finally spoke up.

“Oi, stop right there! Bastard!”

Kai didn’t stop and started to walk away.

“I said stop you goddamn cheater!”

That made Kai stop.

“Cheating?” The delinquent echoed.

“Yeah, there no way you could have beaten all three of us! You mush have cheated!” “Yeah!” “That right!”

If the lot already didn’t lose his respect for picking on kids, their attitudes certainly did.

“You lot are pathetic, ya can’t take losing with some dignity, you aren’t even worth my time.” The Gunpla fighter growled with venom and disgust in his voice, as he continued to walk away.

“Didn’t you hear me!” One of the three finally lost his temper as he leaped over table and charged the blonde haired delinquent arm raised in a clear intent to try and attack the Gunpla fighter... only for him to never get the chance, without even looking back the delinquent struck with the back of his hand, a sickening crack ringing out as the teenager was sent flying back with streams of blood running down his now broken nose.

“Good grief.” While the other two was frozen his shock Kai made his exit. “Right, I’ve got about 15 minutes.” Kai looked at his phone, which had a single calendar note. ‘Takemori Arcade, 1:00 & 2:00’

A chance to buy a new model for only 500 yen was simply too good to pass up. That was Riku's mindset when he showed up at the Arcade Shop on Sunday morning. He made sure he was there at 10 on the dot, wanting to avoid finding out that the model he was interested in had already sold out. But thanks to his plan, Riku got exactly the model that had caught his eye, a Leo. Immediately after the purchase was made, the first thing Riku had done was write something on the box using a marker: KRB-8. He'd been wanting an excuse to start up a new line of builds, and this event was as good as it got. Also, this was the first model from After Colony that he would get to work with, so that was also quite an appeal for him.

He sat down at a table, noticing a building lesson was going on a couple tables away. Riku instead chose to ignore that lesson altogether, putting in some earbuds and blasting some music out of them to drown out all the distractions. For the next three hours, he was in the zone. He was focused entirely on the Leo he was putting together, and even though the model was unpainted as of yet, he could already see some potential paint jobs for the Gunpla in his own mind's eye.

Although Riku was indeed a student of Zenshin Private High, he wasn't wearing any kind of uniform. Why would he? It was Sunday, there was no school, and frankly he hated wearing those ugly white blazers. Even on school days, Riku was rebellious enough not to actually wear the blazer, but instead just tie the thing around his waist. Rules said he had to wear it, but they didn't mention anything about how he had to wear it. But for today, he was dressed in a much more preferable wardrobe consisting of a black t-shirt worn under a sleeveless leather cutoff jacket sporting a white boa collar. In addition to that he sported black pants, biker boots and a pair of fingerless leather gloves.

"Hmm... better to leave that part for now until I decide how I wanna upgrade it later..." muttered the builder to himself. From what he knew about this model, Leos were capable of a wide variety of specializations and for the moment Riku hadn't yet decided what to do with his. Such versatility was the thing that drew him to this model, the sheer number of variants he could come up with for it being the main appeal for him concerning the Leo. For now, Riku paused from his building in order to access something on his phone. It was file labeled "Build Catalogue" that he opened up, setting the pone on the table and allowing to project a holographic viewing of the items listed within. He cycled through the Catalogue, looking over his past builds from the very first all the way to most recent. He was looking at what kind of specializations he had already done, so that he could deliberately focus on building a new type of build for the Leo. He noticed a lot melee focused and flying focused builds, but not a lot of builds focused on firepower. He smirked, knowing exactly what he wanted to do with the Leo now.

"Yoshu Arcade, check!"

Jun Takamaki, crossed off the words 'Yoshu Arcade' from his notepad. Above those words, was about half a dozen other names from other arcades already crossed off. Unsatisfied with the amount, Jun dumped the notepad into his pocket and let the door slam on the arcade he was leaving. As the door was closing, what could be seen from where Jun left, was the inside of the arcade. There, several faces of young boys of various ages could be seen with defeated expressions. All of them with their eyes either cast down at their beaten Gunpla or at the back of the one responsible who was leaving out the door, Jun.

"The rumors were right, that Shark kid really did come here to take everyone on after all....He's crazy, how could he have that much stamina after so many consecutive battles?"

"I don't know what was worse, losing to him or having to listen to him brag about us losing to him,"

"No, the worst part was definitely the fact that he told us to make sure no girls were allowed..."

The group of boys talked amongst themselves about the wild blue-haired youth who had competitively ransacked their arcade. That boy, named Jun, was now grinning to himself while looking at the list of defeated arcade centers. As he was walking down the sidewalk, he couldn't help but speak to himself, "Ah ah, come oooon what am I so proud of myself for? This is nothing new, it's only natural that a Once in A Century Genius like me would become this skilled in any endeavor he puts his mind to." he chuckled, reeling in his own satisfaction. The stupid grin on his face grew larger.

"Well, I guess I should give myself a pat on the back every once in a while, right? Hm Hm haha HAHHAHA!!" Eventually he couldn't kkep himself from laughing out loud. The odd scene drew disturbed glances from the people walking by him. Of course that didn't stop him from laughing to himself, but something at the corner of his eye did. It was inside a Gunpla shop and the conclusion of a battle had drew quite the commotion. From what he could gather, the blond-haired guy with the calm demeanor had just laid a thrashing on a trio of enemies, both with the Gunpla and in real life. "Wow, that guy's got some moves for someone who isn't a Genius like me," Jun boasted to himself after watching that boy leave the shop. The stranger had walked past Jun without any recognition of his existence, which Jun found insulting. So he glanced down at the boy's phone and only noticed a calendar with the note;

‘Takemori Arcade, 1:00 & 2:00’.

It was a rude thing to just look at someone else's phone screen but this was Jun, who cared very little about that sort of thing. Having his curiosity piqued, Jun entered the Gunpla shop the stranger had left and went up to the three losers who had been defeated. "Hey, what's the deal with that guy, and what's up at Takamori Arcade?" he bluntly asked the three delinquents as they were recovering. It looked like they wanted to resist answering out of their sense of pride, but of course that had been recently crushed, so one of them gave in and answered,

"That's the Reaper, Kai Asakura, he's a jerk that goes around destroying other's Gunpla with just some jank builds.... As for Takamori Arcade, I think there's a Tournament going on there today."

Jun pondered to himself for a moment at those words, "Kai Asakura,....I've heard that name before, but where...?" After thinking for a moment, Jun shook his head and grinned. "Whatever! What matters is that fate has set up another challenge for the Once In A Century Genius, Jun Takamaki, to overcome! Takamori Arcade! That's my next conquest!"

Naoki sat in his chair waiting, the newly made graze in his hand as he began to use a very thin marker to add detailing to it, as he mindlessly did the work he began to think of the other gunplas he's made today for the demonstrations. His mind began to wander to a battlefield...

The fuzzy silhouette of a graze appears in view, its back turned as it turns to him, its arms and back larger and more robust. The graze unholsters its axe and began winding back, before finally swinging down with tremendous for-

“Hey Nao, how's the crowd treating you?” a deep voice said behind Naoki, jolting him back to reality. He turns around to see an arms crossed man, probably in his late 30s, with short green hair and wearing an apron that says Takemori on it, similar to Naoki’s.

“The kids are doing just fine, I think anyway. They’re all able to keep up with my demo and almost all finish making their models before the lesson ends.“ He says looking over at the other tables where those who hadn’t finished moved their gunpla to finish on their own. “What about you, Shinrai? How’re sales going?”

The now named Takemori Shinrai smirked with a thumbs up. “I can proudly say that almost all of the Zaku II and Leo gunplas are sold out, with only a couple left of each, and we were able to sell two-thirds of our Grazes.” Naoki nodded at this. “By the way, that one guy is here, he came in while you were setting up for presentations. I think he bought a Leo this time.”

Naoki perked up with interest before looking over at the tables and spotting Riku in the back of the room, far away from any of the kids or others in general. Sometime during the last year or so Riku had started to appear at the arcade, and whether it was by fate or by sheer horrible luck, Naoki had never seen Riku actually battle. Once when Naoki had to leave for a family event, Riku appeared at the arcade and headed straight for the battle tables. When Naoki arrived for his afternoon shift, Riku would walk out of the arcade having finished a fight. Naoki had naturally become curious about this tough-looking guy who would only be in the same room when building or buying a gunpla. That, mixed with the random whispers at school that he’d heard of the guy, had made Naoki curious. Was he skilled or an amateur? Was he a close range fighter or long? Did he like After Colony? Or did he just want a cheap build? However the current question on his mind was,

“Do you think he’ll be signing up for the tournament?”

“Hmmm, hard to tell. Only really exchanged a couple of pleasantries. Tell you what, I’ll ask him and let you know after I put up the signup sheet.” Shinrai said holding up the piece of paper, “Which reminds me, did you want to participate?”

Naoki flashed a smile and thumbs up, “Yep,” He said with an emphasis on the p. “I’ll be using the demo models.”

Shinrai raised an eyebrow. “You realize that's going to be an uphill battle right?”

“Neh it’ll be fine, I’m just here for fun after all! Win or lose it’ll be fine.” He replied while waving him off.

Shinrai sighed, “Well, no skin off my back.” He said, writing Naoki's name on the top before heading off to post it at the front counter.

Soon after, the tables in front of him began to fill, with the front rows being filled with young children and their parents while a couple of lone teenagers and even a pair of adults sat in the back. This lesson was much smaller than the previous ones since it was the last of the day.

“Well then!” He said with a clap to get the rooms attention. “Good afternoon everyone! Let us begin the final Beginners Building Event of the day. First things first we need to make sure everyone has what they need, besides the gunplas of course! At each of your stations you should have a pair of cutters along with sandpaper and ”, Naoki began to ramble on, starting the lesson while looking over the crowd.

---

In the back of the arcade, posted up next to the arcades gunpla store on the wall was the signup sheet with 20 slots, with 1 name already written in. At the top of the signup sheet had the following,

Free For All Takemori Locals Tournament

Rules:
- In total, 2 Free for All Elimination Rounds, 1 DeathMatch.
- 1st and 2nd round: 20 person free for all lasting 20 minutes each.
- 3rd round: If 2 or more pilots are still standing, the 2 with the highest kill count will battle 1-on-1.
- Mobile Suits Only.

---

@DoubleAfter posting the sheet to the wall, Shinrai walked up to Rikus' table, trying to appear in his line of sight so as not to spook the young boy. Looking down at the boy's workstation he could see the finishing touches of the Leo the boy was making.

Shinrai cleared his throat trying to get the boys attention, first quietly but then again much louder when he realized the boy had headphones in. Once he got the teens attention he asked, “Hey kid, uh .. Riku was it? Are you interested in signing up for the tournament? It’s usually first come first serve but since you’ve been here all day I thought I’d give you a heads up before the list fills up.” He said before heading back over to the store counter next to the signup sheet, keeping an eye of interest to see if the teen would follow him to join the tournament.

By the time the Owner had spoken to Riku, the build he was working was in its final stages. He settled on focusing this build on firepower, and stealth to a lesser degree. Something that could hide itself in various environments and use its shoulder-mounted beam cannons to unload was essentially artillery fire on enemy forces. He made sure it could at least move reasonably fast, in the event that it needed to stay on the move to avoid detection. But other than that, the name of the game was maximizing its firepower while also trying to keep it's machine parts as quiet as possible. He wasn't sure how well this would work in practice, but he figured the upcoming tournament would make a decent enough place to test it out.

In response to the owner, Riku hadn't said a verbal response. In fact he only offered a brief glance, followed by a quick nod and thumbs up as he went back to painting. The main build was finished, all it was missing now was a paint job. For the time being Riku went with a basic camo look overall, but not without including at least a few personal touches. The shoulder plate that normally depicted a numerical designation instead showed KRB-8A, effectively acting as the signature marking it as his build. Additionally, the shield mounted on the opposite shoulder depicted an emblem of a dark green snake head opening its mouth for a venomous bite. He normally would have added other touches to what would otherwise be a simple paint job, but unfortunately Riku lacked the time to do anything more than the aforementioned number and snake head insignia. He also needed to decide on the payload he would be using for the upcoming tournament as well.

In addition to the shoulder mounted beam cannons, the Leo sported missile pods mounted on each leg capable of firing 3 missiles per shot each. And lastly, the the Dober Gun the gunpla was originally packaged with had been replaced entirely by a different weapon part that Riku had apparently brought with him from home: an HWF GR·MLR79-90mm Long Rifle. Usually used by a GM Sniper II, Riku had decided to use it for this Leo build, allowing it to double as a Sniper in addition to its bombardment capabilities.

Riku leaned back a bit, giving his Leo one final once-over before finally deciding to call it complete. Thanks to the shop's owner, it sounded like Riku still had time to sign up, and so after he cleaned up his workstation he snatched up the Leo and carried it with him over to where the sign-in sheet could be found. If all went well, there'd still be some slots available for the tournament later that day.

As he signed his name, it occurred to Riku that he had yet to actually give his Leo a proper name. For now, it was merely KRB-8A but he was confident that by the end of the day he would have thought of a good name for the build. Perhaps its performance in the upcoming Tournament would inspire some ideas on that front?

With an attitude as if he owned the place, Jun swung open the door to the Arcade shop. A bright grin on his face, he spoke "Takemori Arcade! Get ready, because the The Once in A Century Genius is here!", he spoke those words as if they would draw the attention of the entire room to him like some sort of cowboy entering a salon in an Old Western movie. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as everyone else was too busy taking care of their own business. The boy frowned in annoyance at his lack of recognition and scanned around the room. There was the usual Gunpla stands for customers to buy, along with some tables for people to sit in. At the moment it seemed like someone was doing a showcase for beginners and kids, "Hehe, showing kids the ropes huh? How nice, I gotta make sure to treat my siblings just as kindly too."

Affirming that comment to himself with a smirk, he looked around again for a certain someone. "Looks like that Asakura Kai guy isn't here yet. Hm, well I didn't get first place in the track race for nothing," Jun remarked coolly, thinking back about how once he heard about the tournament, he immediately ran here at full speed. There was something else he had to find though, and there it was at the back of the store, the sign up sheet! Of course, it was made obvious by the small group of people going to sign up for it. Without waiting, he made his way there and called out for them loud enough to hear him "Hey! I'm just going to say this once, if you aren't going to try your best to win then don't even bother joining up! Takamaki, Jun is only interested in the toughest challenge!". A daring grin for all to see.

This certainly drew some irritated gazes his direction, which he was used to.

"Hey, who does this loud mouth brat think he is?" one of them commented in the back.

"Probably just some Chuunibyou geek who watched too much Gundam and thinks he's a NewType or something." another person responded dismissively.

"Wait, hold on, isn't that 'Shark'!?" someone said in shock.

"Shark!? For real!? He's joining too!?" several people whispered amongst themselves in surprise at the young competitor that was making a name for himself around the area.

Normally, this would have gassed up Jun's ego to be recognized, but that wasn't exactly the case. Jun sighed depressingly, "This 'Shark' stuff again? Agh, come on, no it's suppose to be 'The Once in A Century Genius, Takamaki Jun'!" he muttered to himself, as he wrote that exact title onto the sign-up sheet.

Kai made his way through the alley ways, to a delinquent like him he knew these backstreets better than he knew the main streets, jumping his way over a chain link fence and stepped out of the alley way from across the arcade and made his was inside and checked his watch he was about a couple minutes late and he needed to hurry up, Kai made his way into the back of store, completely ignoring the conversations around him, before making his way into the sign up sheets though even he had to raise an eyebrow at someone writing in the “Once in a Century Genius,” into the sheet and somehow making that fit into the box.

“Always with the weirdos, can’t have everyone be normal now can it.” Kai muttered a complaint to himself about the amount amount of “interesting” personalities that Gunpla tended to attract.

After he finished with the sign up he walked over to the special sales Gunplas, due to some misfortune and lack of fore planning the Gunpla fighter couldn’t get a Gunpla for this tournament on time, so like always he had to make do with all he’s got and he had intended to join up with the lesson in the first place so it worked out in his opinion. Kai looked at the depleted pile of Gunpla, he picked up a couple of kits taking a moment to inspect them as he tried to look at his options, while the kit on options wasn’t necessarily the best options to go with, especially since most of the Leo and Zaku variants had almost run out.

“Let’s see... Huh thats?” as Kai took an another kit from the table, something caught his eyes. In the middle of the Graze boxes there was a Zaku II box, but not any just any regular Zaku II box, but not just any regular Zaku II.

“Char’s Zaku, Origin version? Did someone try to stash this?” The Zaku II in theory shouldn’t be any different from any other remaining Zaku, but even someone like him who barely knew anything about Gundam knew who Char was. “Ah, what the heck might as well take it.” Kai shrugged as he bought the kit before he walked to the lesson area ignoring the looks of being the latest there.

“After you’ve combined your separated parts, your gunpla is complete!” He said before combining the arms, then the waist and legs of the Zaku II. “Now then, if no one has any more questions, I think it's about time for us to wrap up this lesson.” He said with a smile as those in the class began to clean up their things or move their unfinished models to the tables.

Naoki stretched as he looked at the clock, 1:45. He had 5 or so minutes before Shinrai would start the explanations. As he continued to stretch, he looked over to the back where he saw a flash of red. "Is that ... Char's Zaku?" He would recognize that gunpla anywhere. It used to be one of his favorites since it was one of the favorites of his idol, Meijin Kawaguchi II, and was used by his favorite character Char Aznable. "To think such a gunpla was hidden among the stock." He said with a smirk as he took a look at the builder. The blonde teen had entered the lesson late and was a distraction for the couple sitting behind him at first, but when the lessons continued he didn't cause any problems so he didn't do anything, and from the look on his face he was earnestly taking the lesson in. "Can't hate a guy for that.", he said with a smirk.

However, just as Naoki approached the boys station, Shinrai's voice called out, alerting them all in the arcade ...

---

Seiichi Seo has always been a leader of those his age. With blonde hair and green eyes, he was born the son of Seiichi Sato, a high-end corporate leader, and Seo had learned early on in his life from his father that when you can control the people around you, you control the power dynamic. Staying in the crowd keeps you safe but you can only really get ahead in life by controlling the crowd, and choosing which direction to go. So when he had won his first gunpla tournament last year he knew he was destined for greatness.

Recruiting his classmates was easy, everyone always flocked to him so he held tryouts by having them all fight each other in a free for all, and those that survived formed his new team. However, during this recruitment, there were 2 people who were missing.

The first was Kusaka Riku, although Seo had seen the boy with a gunpla he had also seen the way he disgraced the Zenshin High uniform and he knew that Riku was a troublemaker. So when Riku hadn’t appeared for tryouts he was fine with it.

The second however was someone who he knew had experience in gunpla tournaments. Someone who he even asked personally to join since he saw a spark of value in him. And what did he get for the kindness he showed to Yukihiro Naoki?

“I’m sorry, I just can’t imagine you winning regionals. And I’m aiming for worlds!” He said with a smile, an apologetic bow before walking away.

THE DAMN NERVE OF THAT IMBECILE!!!! Naoki had insulted his pride and abilities, even going as far as to say that he was world-class compared to himself!!! The memory, even today, made him lose his cool. He needed to calm down, or else it will affect his piloting.

As one of his lackeys left to sign the 5 of them up, Seiichi Seo watched the crowd as people slowly began to sign up. Suddenly, the automatic door at the front opened up as a loud voice yelled through the arcade "Takemori Arcade! Get ready, because The Once in A Century Genius is here!" As Jun walked into the arcade, Seo immediately scoffed as his team joined in.

"Hey, who does this loud mouth brat think he is?" His black-haired teammate with glasses asked.

"Probably just some Chuunibyou geek who watched too much Gundam and thinks he's a NewType or something." His brown-haired short teammate said.

"Wait, hold on, isn't that 'Shark'!?" Said his teammate wearing a baseball cap that had left, now coming back from the signup sheet. This piqued Seo’s interest. If he had remembered the rumors correctly, Shark was a ruthless and aggressive fighter who would chase down whoever he locked his eyes on.

As his teammates were looking between each other worried, Seo cleared his throat to gather attention. "It seems a new challenger approaches. But don't worry, with the five of us we'll be able to handle the Shark, Riku, and that Naoki bastard." He said with a smirk as his last teammate came back.

As he and his team scooted out and did last-second maintenance on their gunpla, the time for the tournament started, with the store's owner raising his voice to get everyone's attention. "May I have all participants attention, The Free For All Takemori Locals Tournament Will be beginning soon!"

As he said that, he motioned towards the hexagons behind him. 2 tables consisting of 10 hexagons each (Rows of 3,4,3). "For the first round, You will be split into 2 groups of 10 and battling separately, then, those who have survived round 1 will fight in the second altogether. Here are the groupings!"

Table A
-Yukihiro Naoki
-Kai Asakura
-Takamaki Jun
-Lackey 1 (I'll make names later)
-Lackey 2 (Glasses)
-Lackey 3 (Shorty)
-Lackey 4 (Cap)
-Hara
-Oshima
-Kudo

Table B
-Kusaka Riku
-Seiichi Seo
-Akihiko
-Mitsuki
-Koga Kyo
-Hanako
-Nishiyama
-Hamada
-Kishimodo
-Amaya (Blade Heero if Blade comes back in time)

Table A turned on, and the holographic terrain of a half coastal and half-ocean battlefield.

Table B did the same, but the holographic terrain turned into a vast desert with scattered plateaus appeared.

"Now then, everyone please finish your last minute adjustments and dock your gunpla within the next 10 minutes or else you will be forfeit." The manager said

Seiichi looked to his group, "Listen up team, since we're in different tables for the first round I'll give you all your orders now. Avoid the shark, ... and sink Yukihiro Naoki. I can deal with the shark next round." He said with a smirk and an affirmative from his team.

The Zenshin High Gunpla Club approached their tables before Sei docked his Gunpla.

"Hmph, This mission will be easy, perhaps I'll use this round to show Riku whos the top dog in Zenshin!" He said as the area around him became dark, Plavsky particles flowing around him. "Royal Alvaaron, Launch!" He said as a dark purple Alvaaron launched into the desert of Table B.

(Don't start actually fighting yet, I just want everyone to get into a position to start the battles and enter their gunpla into their arenas as well as finish anything needed to beforehand.)

It was tough to ignore the "Shark's" entrance. His loud and obnoxious arrogance made it downright impossible to miss it. And yet, all it managed to elicit from Riku was a quick eye roll. In his experience, it was always the smallest dogs who barked the loudest. So for all he cared, that's all this so-called Shark was: a small dog desperately trying to convince the rest of the world that he was bigger than he actually was. A pity they didn't wind up on the same table for round 1, else Riku could have went for an early elimination to put the blowhard in his place.

Nah, instead he wound up on the other table, with Seo of all people. He remembered the counselor suggesting to him that he join the Gunpla Club as a way to learn the ropes, but one look at these assholes was all Riku needed to turn around and walk away without even so much as an attempt to talk to them. Arrogance like the Shark's was one thing, guys like that just wanted to be in the spotlight. But arrogance like Seo's? That was a beast of another color, the kind of superiority complex that made Riku's blood boil just thinking about it. Guys like him and his little club were the kind that were in the most need of a rude awakening. Riku took a glance down at his Leo, briefly considering using the real Gunpla he'd brought along with him to step out onto the table and subject Seo to a much-deserved beatdown. But then, he smiled... another idea formed in his mind. One that would let him test the Leo and - if he played his cards right - knock that Seo bastard off his high horse.

Riku took his place on the table, registered his base and docked the Leo. The Plavsky particles flowed around him as his immediate vicinity darkened, "...Launch!" and with that, his Leo launched and he quickly and quietly positioned himself within what appeared to be the dilapidated ruins of a military base. His Leo's urban camo would serve it well here, and he could power down his energy output and possibly pass himself off as just another part of the ruined base. He ducked his gunpla inside of a nearby Mobile Suit hanger and put it in a kneeling position so that it would appear offline to the untrained eye. All that was left was scan for Seo's signal and - once locked on - he could begin his plan.

Blake walking through the mall reading mentally for the tournament. He heard about it on the fliers around town so he thought he could put to the test his gundam wing zero. He walked into the building looking around once after signing up he was still hyping himself up as he looked at everyone that was there. He thought to himself,’dam lots of people,’

Once the tournament started having everyone seated at Plavsky Particle Tables and such Blake took his seat quickly as he readied himself and put wing on the platform and took his position. He didn’t really talk to anyone else he simply was there to try for the tournament and was ready for it. He looked around as he flew the battle feild looking for his opponent. He was ready for a fight.

Jun had been tinkering with his Captain Miracle on a table. He was currently making sure all of the Gunpla's weapons were in check. In his head he was already visualizing defeating the other competitors and claiming his victory. Ensured of his victory, Jun stood up triumphantly once the announcement of the start of the tournament sounded.

"A Battle Royale, that's just perfect for me! I knew coming here would be the right move!",

Everyone around him was heading to their positions for their respective group battles. Before heading towards his own station, Jun noticed a familiar face. Asakura Kai, who he had indirectly learned of the tournament from, was seated at a table. Wanting to show appreciation in his own special way, he made that his destination. As he approached, he saw there was someone else standing nearby. @Crimson Lion

"You're another challenger? You're a nice guy helping those beginners like that. Here's a word of advice, stay away from this bad boy if you want to last long," Jun held up his 'Captain Miracle' for the stranger to see before turning his attention back at the person he came here for.

@Shiyonichi
"As for you, Asakura Kai, or 'Reaper' or whatever you wanna go by! I can tell you're strong, but that's gonna be put to the test once you fight someone like me, whose super strong! No, ultra strong! No, super mega ultra strong!! So don't go disappointing me. It may not be a perfect nickname, but they're not wrong when they call me 'Shark'!" With a fire in his eyes and a grin to match, Jun made his intentions clear. Having said all he needed and not wanting to waste any further time, the boy made a line straight for his battle station.

Once there, Jun placed his Gunpla onto the table and the Plavsky Particles surrounded him. He was now inside his mobile suit, which was stationed inside a hanger. "Takamaki Jun, Crossbones Gundam: Captain Miracle, launching!" with that, he hurled out of the hangar full speed. The scenery was one half coast and one half ocean. Yet he didn't make his way near the surface, instead he headed up high in the sky for all to notice him. That made him an easy target but that high altitude also allowed him to get a good view of any other competitors down below. "Let the challenge begin!"

Kai wiped the sweet of his bow as he inspected his handy work that he somehow managed finished up within the set amount of time. The Gunpla before him was simply a snap build with nothing original about, but it was better than his other attempt to say the least, mostly in part to Naoki’s lesson, as he was about to stand up he was suddenly shouted at by a random loudmouth kid who was clearly challenging him, to which he had one question before walking off.

“So, who the fuck was that guy?” Kai asked himself he was used getting challenged to fights, he just legitimately didn’t know who this Shark was, he did the equivalent of living under a rock in the Gunpla community. “Well if he’s strong, he’s strong. If he can’t back up his talk he’s just going to get his ass kicked. That’s all there is to it.” The Gunpla fighter shrugged not really caring more than that as he walked over to the tournament floor.

“Coastal terrain, looks like lucks on my side for this one.” Coastal terrain meant that beam weaponry that most suits tended to rely on would be taking a hit. Beam weapons were naturally worse underwater and sand could cause malfunctions in the complicated mechanisms of beam weapons. As his Zaku only used physical weapons including a Bazooka, his weapons wouldn’t be nearly at a disadvantage than other especially since most suits which tended to rely on beam weapon for their ranged options.

Kai set his Gunpla and base. “Kai Asakura, Char’s Zaku Orgin, launching.” The Red Zaku flew out from the hanger, before slowly lowering himself to the sandy surface careful not to kick up a dust cloud which could give away his position. “I should watch the coastline, at this terrain that’s the easiest place to hide and set an ambush.” The Gunpla fighter noted to himself proceeded with fight with great caution.

As Naoki was about to head to the tables himself, a voice stopped him. "You're another challenger?” A voice stopped him, he turned around to see Jun walking up to him, “You're a nice guy helping those beginners like that. Here's a word of advice, stay away from this bad boy if you want to last long," He finished as he held up a Gunpla to him. Looking closely Naoki remarked on the quality of the gunpla and its design. A custom gunpla based off of the Crossbones X3, a ‘bad boy’ indeed.

As Naoki was about to zone out, he was immediately snapped back after what he had heard next. Apparently the boy that had come in late and had bought the Char Zaku was the elusive and feared Reaper!!! The former tournament fighter and talked about in the back of Gunpla arcades and locals that would rip gunpla to shreds with the weakest of gunpla!!

Naoki was stunned that someone so famous was sitting in on his lecture and before he could say anything Jun would continue, “It may not be a perfect nickname, but they're not wrong when they call me 'Shark'!” And at that Naoki was stunned again! The Shark! An up and coming gunpla fighter talked about for challenging popular locals tournaments right out the gate. Named the shark for his aggression, and the fact that he’s often grouped with … them.

The image of forest bordering the ocean, a pink flamingo gracefully lands on a fallen tree, a ferocious shark floats above the water, a swinging monkey flies out of the forest, a sneaking fox lays in the shadows nearby, and a hornet zips past them all.

A group of 5 rookies, all appearing in the last year and all making considerable impacts on the local level, the ‘Dobutsu’. Originally there were only 4 Dobutsu at the beginning of last year, but later a 5th would appear and the newest and most recently talked about one is the Shark in front of him.

Naoki watched as the two famed fighters stood in front of him. The Reaper and The Shark. Was this a meeting of fate? Two powers stood in front of him, arriving in his life around the same time Naoki had decided to search for teammates. He couldn’t let this chance pass him up! But before he could say anything they both left to Table A, Gunplas in hand. “That's right, the tournament.”

Naoki ran after the two to Table A, taking out the new gunpla he had created during the breaks between lessons. “I need to focus for now, I can ask them later.” He said with a smile on his face. “It's time to play!!! Become a reality, Graze Customized!!!”

Launching out of the holographic hangar, a gunpla soared through the sky before lowering its altitude to hover above the water. The gunpla had the head, chest, and legs of a graze but the arms and backpack were taken from the Leo and Zaku models he had made earlier today. The amalgamation had larger, sturdier arms and more thrusting power thanks to the modifications.

---

@Blade17 At Table B, Blade flew his Wing Gundam Zero through the air, a barrage of bullet fire began to fire around him, a group of 2 Purple Astray models flanking him with one to the left and one to the right. Both had rifles in their left hands and beam sabers in their right.

As they close in the one on the left rushes forward, throwing their rifle to their partner before charging full force with their beam saber.

---

Seiichi Sero and his Royal Alvaaron flew above the sky of the desert looking for Riku. As he continued to he picked up the signal of an enemy unit. He made a B line for them, uncaring of who it actually was, points are points after all and if his team succeeded in their plan the finals would need to be him and one of his allies. Approaching the signal, he began to gain visual of a flying GM custom. “Easy pickings!!” He said as he took out his beam rifle, firing at the flying target.

@Double As the Royal Alvaaron began to fire, Rikus Leo began to pick up the signal of 2 units 20km away. Although he didn’t know if the other signal was Seos ally or enemy Riku did know 1 thing, both were approaching his area fast, but showed no sign of heading directly towards him.

---

As Naoki continued to fly at low altitude, he looked up to the sky to see a lone gunpla flying high above everyone else. Zooming in on the target he saw the was the silhouette of the gunpla The Shark had shown him, Captain Miracle. He remembered the warning Jun had given him, but had an urge to still interact with the boy in hopes of recruiting him. But before he could choose between the two he was immediately surprised by a barrage of beam weaponry attacking around him. “What the-?!” Looking on his sensors he saw a group of 4 units behind him. He turned around, but still moved the same direction to face them to gain a visual of 4 GN-X, each a different color of orange, blue, green and red.

“It’s Zenshin High!!” Naoki immediately shot at the ground to create a smoke screen before he turned back around and began to charge towards the shore. “Four vs One? Did me rejecting you guys really hurt that much? Well whatever … still though that's a lot of firepower ... Ah! If I can make it to the ocean I can use the water to hide from the beam weaponry!” With that plan in mind Naoki rushed towards the shore with the 4 GN-X’s right on his tail.

@KenjuGuy @Shiyonichi Jun watches all of this from his high position in the sky, and as they approach the shore Kai also sees the 5 of them from his vantage point.

@Crimson Lion

Two signals, both headed in his general direction. A decent start. Riku leveled the barrel of his 90mm Long Rifle, using its attached scope to enhance the range of his Leo's targeting computer. And with it he gave himself a visual of the direction the two signals were flying in from. They looked like dots at first, but their shapes would gradually become easier to identify as they moved closer. One was a GM customized for flight, but seeming a bit on the amateurish in terms of build quality. A rookie, most likely. The other was... perfect. Riku could spot one of Seo's builds a mile away. Everything from the choice of weapons to the paint job identified the Alvaaron as Seo's.

The Alvaaron was slowly coming up on the GM. Looked like Seo was going for an easy early point. He had to have been burning quite a bit of energy charging at the GM so fast, and that would suit Riku. He kept his Rifle trained in the two's general direction, but held his fire. A good sniper knew to wait for the opportune moment to take their shot, and this definitely wasn't it. Instead Riku would just observe for now, whatever more information he could gleam about the Alvaaron's capabilities would be helpful for an eventual showdown between the two. But Riku was not without a strategy of his own. His plan was simple, and arguably underhanded depending on who you asked. He'd let Seo wear the GM down, and then take his shot before a finishing blow could be delivered. With the right timing, he could swipe a point right from under Seo's nose.

But that alone wouldn't be sufficient. Doing so would certainly draw Seo closer toward him if not give away his position outright. Riku swiveled the cameras of the Leo's head unit to get a quick survey of his surroundings. Just outside the desert area was a canyon of sorts, looking like it had a few good places to duck into for cover. Perfect. If Riku's position was given away after taking his shot, he could make for that canyon and either lose Seo in the narrow paths or limit the Alvaaron's mobility, since flying units tended to be less effective in close quarters.

Riku refocused his attention back on Seo's little bout against the GM. This time, he kept his aim trained on the GM. By now Seo would certainly be wearing them down considerably, and so hopefully all Riku needed to do now was wait for his opportunity. When that opportunity eventually did show itself, Riku smirked to himself and took his shot. He wasn't sure whether the ploy was successful right away, but knew that he would likely have to re-position himself regardless. And so after that fateful shot, Riku fired up his Leo's thrusters and made for the canyon area as he had planned.

"Alright Mr. High-n-Mighty," Riku muttered to himself, now deciding to fire up some music on one his earbud to get him in the zone, "let's dance!"

@Crimson Lion @Shiyonichi

Jun Takamaki, in his Captain Miracle, hovered near the clouds above the battle zone. His idea was to get a sight of any potential challengers. It also gave him the extra benefit(?) of being a target and drawing enemies toward him. However, no one was popping up on his sensor, thus Jun grew disgruntled. "Come on, you guys call yourself men with all this hiding!? This isn't any time to be a coward!"

As soon as he said that, he noticed movement on his monitor. The cause of it was five units, but their movements were strange. The four in the back were grouped together and chasing after a single mobile suit heading for the shore. "These guys, they got some nerve ignoring The Once in A Century Genius!" without waiting any further, his Captain Miracle removed his energy Zamber from it's hilt. Jun activated his thrusters and hurled downwards at a forward angle.

The 4 GN-X's were busy focusing their fire on the Graze ahead of them. That was when Jun announced his entrance, "Hey! You're real opponent is right here!!" Their suits must of took notice of Jun approaching before he even announced it, but it was already too late. Jun's Zamber, an energy saber designed like a pirate's cutlass, rammed straight through the mid section of one of the GN-X’s, just missing the cockpit. Yet, even though he struck his target, Captain Miracle's charge didn't slowdown. His altitude was set low, his Zamber still plunged deep, using the GN-X's body like a break to grind ruthlessly against the rough grounded surface.

Such a maneuver was similar to a predator snatching it's prey and dragging it away. "It's Shark! It's Shark! Help me!!!!" the unfortunate Lackey #3 screamed for his allies assistance. They panicked of course at the sudden appearance of someone who they were supposed to avoid, but it didn't take long for them to start blasting their beam rifle at the Gundam dragging away their comrade. Despite the beams colliding with his back, Captain Miracle didn't take any damage.

That was thanks to the cloak wrapped around the Gunpla, absorbing the blows. So since he couldn't be stopped, Jun continued to drag the Lackey along coast. "You're heading for the sea right!? You gotta be careful of what kind of creatures hang around there!" Once he made it to the edge of the shore, Jun pulled along with his Zamber. His prey still hanging from it's edge, the GN-X was thrown into the ocean.

A loud splash showered Captain Miracle as it turned around. At the same time, the cloak that was blocking the previous beam fire, fell to pieces as it could only sustain so much damage. In front of him were the three other foes still on land, and beginning to surround him. "Perfect, this is just the kind of challenge I need..."

@Crimson Lion Blake moves his gundam away as her turns around connecting his two blasters and made his buster rilfe. He fired it hoping to hit at least one of then. Of course the buster rifle was pretty strong but he’ll handl at least one by combat.

The smoke clears Blake couldn’t see anyone of the two attacking him. He looks around he said,” did i get the one that was coming towards me?” He looked around. Taking his own beam saber out. He flew a bit higher to get the advantage.

Jun wouldn’t be the only person to join in on the battle as a explosion got between the groups knocking up a cloud of sand between the the remaining GN-X and their target and target’s rescuer. In the veil of sand, the reaper made his appearance.

In a move that would have made the Red Comet proud, the famous Zaku suddenly dashed in with speed that seemed nearly impossible for just a straight build before slamming it’s leg into the stomach of one of the GN-X with a thunderous roar in a move taken straight from the anime. This was... The Red Comet’s Zaku Kick!



The Red Gunpla followed through with the kick sending the GN-X flying directly into one of it’s allies turning into a multi ton projectile. Kai aimed the Bazooka before firing at the third GN-X to launch an attack at it and cancel out his remaining momentum. For a moment it would appear that it had now become a 3 on 3 and that the goons were utterly screwed.

“This is a free for all, ya should all follow the spirit of it.” Kai said with disgust at the goons for teaming up on a single player, while pulling out the Zaku Machine gun with the other arm of his Gunpla... Then aimed it at Jun, unleashing a barrage of machine gun fire at the self proclaimed genius, before following it up with another bazooka shot aimed at Naoki. This was a free for all after all, he was going to follow the spirit of it.

@Double

Seo continued his pursuit of the GM, firing blast after blast before looking at his energy reserves, “I still have 50% of my Plavsky Particles left. After I finish this I can hide out somewhere and recharge, hopefully I can find another sucker weakling while I wait!” He said with glee as the GM began to rapidly descend. “Hoping to escape eh? You’ve just made yourself an easier shot!”

Then, right before he pulled the trigger of his rifle, another blast from far off made contact and destroyed his target. “W-what the HELL!!” he yelled as his sensors began to scan for where the blast came from, only to see the briefest glance of a gunpla charging into some canyons far away. “A sniper?! You think you can take my kill and get away with it!! I’ll make sure you take his place amongst my score board!!”

He immediately descended, to save energy, and charged forward towards the entrance to the canyon the enemy entered.

(You’re going to get to the canyon first, and Seo will be entering through the same way you do.)

---

@Blade17

At the other end of the long and winding canyon that bordered the desert, high in the sky, Blade narrowly dodges the beam saber before backing up at the others beam fire. Combining his rifles to form the buster rifle, Blade fires at the 2 astrays and although the saber wielding one dodges, the other is immediately hit in the chest, destroying the Astray.

“BRO!!! Y-You bastard!!” a teenage voice said through the public communications channel, opening up to Blade, “You won’t get away WITH THAT!!!!” The teen said as he charged forward with his beam saber to stab at the angel themed gunpla.

---

@KenjuGuy@Shiyonichi

"You're heading for the sea right!? You gotta be careful of what kind of creatures hang around there!", is heard over the public channel as Jun dragged Komi and their orange GN-X to their watery grave, the lackey fretting with his controls trying to gain control of his sinking gunpla. Before he could send a message to his allies, the holograms around him changed from blue to red and the word TERMINATED appeared to signify his defeat. “GOD … dammit.” The boy sighed as he covered his eyes with his cap. Great, now he was just stuck here to wait the rest of this battle out, unable to communicate through the comms or the people outside. He looked at the broken monitor, his mech falling lower and lower into the abyss.

Above water, his three allies panicked at the new arrival. “God dammit, we caught the attention of the Shark!!!” Said the lackey in the red GN-X, “W-what do we do!!!”

“Calm down!! We just need to surround him and overpower him!!” The one in glasses formulated as he piloted his blue GN-X to flank Juns left, the green GN-X flanking the right. However, before either could gain any solid angle, the blue GN-X was kicked into the green with the arrival of a new enemy.

“Kobayashi!! Tanaka!!” The remaining red GN-X’s pilot yelled as he charged towards the new arrival. However, Kai immediately shot a bazooka forward and he only had a moment to slash it, detonating it right before it made contact but still in immediate proximity. The aftermath was a heavily damaged GN-X, with an almost completely destroyed left side and non functioning arm, laying on the ground.

The teen sat there, looking up and thinking that it was all over and the three of them were going to finish them. But as if luck looked down on him the red Zaku turned around and shot at the Shark, actually creating a gunpla sized barrier between the three GN-X and the Shark.

“Hachiyama!! We need to use this time to escape!!” Kobayashi yelled, piloting the blue GN-X back to its feet, the green not far behind. The two of them grab Hachiyama in the red GN-X and began to drag the back inland.

“Oh no you don’t!!” Naoki yells before firing a barrage at the bazooka missile fired at him, detonating it before impact. “That speed, that gunpla was approaching at 3 times the speed of a regular gunpla!!” He yelled with glee, jokingly referring to the anime. To think such high performance and ferocity could come from these two fighters. An amazingly quick descent and destruction of a GN-X from Jun and his Captain Miracle, and complete subjugation of enemies from Kai using a straight build, definitely two people experienced in battle. Ferocious power and deadly proficiency from Jun and Kai respectively.

Before he could continue his thoughts however he noticed the escaping GN-X’s, two dragging the third by its back inland.“And where do you think you guys are going!!” Naoki said as he tried to disengage in battle with the red Zaku to pursue the multi-colored minions.

Blake turned around and said,” there you are! Get over here.” He then launched the winged gundam forward with his own beam saber he blocked the others beam attack to and looked at the other gunpla. He chuckled a bit as he kicked the other back and he flew back a few feet. He smiled and thought to himself,’ good a battle, alright wing zero let’s do this.’

Blake said,” that was your brother? Interesting didn’t even know what hit him.” He looks at the other gunpla he just floating there, he pointed his beam saber at him and said,” you think your a match for me and wing zero? Come on then!” He then launched forward, pulling out his second beam saber as he got closer to the only astray left on the field.