Double

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

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.

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

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!"

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

@Dezuel@Renny
D'oh! I forgot to tag you two in my IC post. Sorry about that, my bad.

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

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."

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

@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*

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

@Renny I agree. He'd probably win. And then immediately get vaporized right after by the Wave Motion Gun. Lol

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

Riku POV
@Crimson Lion@Blade17@Renny - Fly

That curtain won't stop me! Riku didn't slow his speed down in the slightest. It was almost as if he intended to crash right into the GN Curtain. Because that was exactly what he intended. He knew Izanagi could slice through it easily. And if that Curtain was being directly powered by both of Kobayashi's GN Drives, then the weapon's handgaurd could also use the close contact to drain particle energy from both machines to quickly power up for a Shining Flash follow up. Kobayashi could either save his energy and deactivate the curtain (allowing Riku to get within reach to slice him and his teammate into scrap metal), or he could leave it up and let all of his particles be drained into the sword. Riku would win the clash either way.

"This is a Top Priority order to all in Zone C, and absolutely must be followed. Lock the Wave Motion Cannon onto my broadcasted position, and in 180 seconds from now, fire." Naokis voice said over the comms.

This gave Riku a brief pause. Was he serious? They were going to use it? He couldn't say he was disappointed by this. Truth be told, the longer this Tournament went on, the more Riku felt an insatiable itch to unleash the power of their trump card weapon. But wait, that trajectory... it would shoot right through one of the sections of the Colony! Perhaps Naoki wasn't aware that Tomi was still in there? Or maybe he was counting on the weapon not doing enough damage to the colony to endanger Tomi? Regardless... Riku unfortunately knew better than that. Even if the cannon didn't destroy the colony on its own, there was still a strong possibly of Tomi getting caught by debris or the blast causing some kind of chain reaction.

For the briefest of moments, Riku closed his eyes for a moment of thought.

Chisato POV

"Ah, I see. Thank you, Takemori-san." Chisato responded politely. Some of it still went over her head, but it sounded like Riku was doing quite well so that was enough to satisfy her. Right around now, she saw Riku's golden Gunpla appear to stab its sword right through the energy shield his opponent had put, "Oh, so it can cut shields as well? That really is a special sword, isn't it?"

"Oh, look Miss Chisato!" said Yuna, pointing at the battle, "See how that energy looks like it's being drawn into the handguard? That's the other special ability of the sword. Riku told me once that the hilt and handguard are laced with a different coating, separate from the blade. He called it Absorption Coating, I think. Apparently it can draw in particles from enemy beam attacks and shields to further empower the blade. If it absorbs enough, Riku can unleash his ultimate attack: The Shining Flash. That must be what he's planning down there. He's gonna use the Izanagi to drain energy from that person's shield to empower himself for a counterattack."

If he was listening in on this, then Takemori would likely take note of the weapon being laced with two separate coatings. He would also realize that he'd never seen Riku in possession of either of the coating sprays in question. That would lead him to only one conclusion: Riku didn't actually make that sword himself. Someone else must have.

Riku POV

Riku's eyes shot open again after his split moment of thought. First things first, "Tomi!" he said into the team comms, "In three minutes we're going to fire the trump card at Naoki's coordinates. The shot's trajectory goes through the Colony. It won't hit you directly, but it could cause a chain reaction of explosions or you might get caught by debris! Forget the Zone for now, get out of that colony!"

With that covered, he moved on to the second step, "Haro, establish a screen-share with me!" he said, this time broadcasting to both Haro and Blade, since he needed Blade to hear this as well. "I need to be able to see what you see so I can walk you through the steps. Naoki wants us to fire the cannon in approximately 3 minutes, but the cannon will take you approximately 1 minute to actually charge. When 2 minutes pass, divert all power to the cannon and activate the Trans-Am System. From there it will take 60 seconds for the weapon to be ready to fire. Your other weapon systems will only slow down the charging speed if you use them, so let me worry about defending the ship during that time. Got it?" at this point, he now had a small screen pop up in the corner showing Haro's cockpit view. Haro would also receive a similar screen showing him Riku's cockpit view as well.

"Blade, there's a chance that Merc might catch on to what we're doing once he sees the Yamato start glowing red. He may try to disengage you and make a break for the ship to stop it. Don't let him. Keep him engaged with you no matter what. When you see the Yamato start glowing, that's your signal that you have 60 seconds remaining before the cannon fires. Make absolutely sure you are outside the Yamato's line of sight by then or you will be vaporized. Now let's put an end to these chumps once and for all!"

Whatever Kobayashi had decided to do about his curtain wouldn't change Riku's plan of attack that much. If he left it up, Riku would just hold his ground let the Izanagi drain him dry, after which he would go for a powerful Shining Flash in the hopes of taking both opponents out in one stroke. If Kobayashi deactivated the shield early, Riku would still go in for close combat. Only instead of using the Shining Flash, he would instead be dual wielding weapons, the Izanagi in the Gunpla's right hand and one of the yellow beam sabers in its offhand.

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

Riku POV
@Crimson Lion - The Fated Sword

The glancing shot was one Riku could shrug off easily enough. Between the Izanagi and the Anti-Beam Coated armor, the Shin Musha Hyaku Shiki was nothing if not incredibly resistant to almost all forms of beam weaponry. Particle beams from a GN Rifle was no exception to this. And so even though the shoulder of the gunpla was grazed, the shot left looking virtually undamaged thanks to the Anti-Beam Coating.

"That might have been a decent shot if not for the Shin Musha's armor. Nice try." Riku said to no one in particular. Immediately after firing his shot he let go of the Tactical Arms and let it return to it's previous Flight Form in the time it took for Kobayashi's shot to glance off his shoulder, "You'd better have brought more than just beam weaponry!" he said aloud, once again to no one in particular. He had also spotted the distant figure of one of the Gunpla's retreating into what looked like Zone B. Unfortunately, that route would take him close enough for Riku to get a decent look at the Gunpla in question.

"Heads up, Tomi!" Riku said over comms as his Gunpla shot forward toward the rider of the GN Arms with Izanagi drawn, "You've got one coming your way. He looks like he's pretty light on ranged weaponry. Use the waverider mode to keep your distance and you should be able to edge him out!" naturally, his opponent had been taking additional shots with their rifle in addition to the cannons of their GN-Arms. The cannons weren't intended for long range and so avoid those shots was a simple enough affair thanks to the extra mobility courtesy of the Flight Unit wings. As for the beam shots, well... he'd drawn Izanagi for a reason. Rather than actively waste particle energy by dodging those, he instead used the Izanagi to deflect the beam shots as they came at him. And with each one he deflected, that meant a small amount of particles absorbed by Izanagi's pommel.

Riku was able to close the distance rather easily thanks to the superior speed of Flight Unit provided by the Tactical Arms. In fact he'd actually pushed to full throttle as if preparing a rather high octane lunging slash at the Gunpla. Against an non-moving target he probably could have sliced clean through at that velocity. But the GN-Arms was presumably moving to try and match his velocity, though Riku suspected he would edge him out in terms of pure speed. But the real purpose for all this was a bit different.

Initially he'd given them all the impression that he was a sniper. So hopefully, his sudden switch to shooting straight into melee combat would hopefully catch them off guard. Riku had to presume this opponent was their resident ranged attacker, and so the natural assumption was that they were weaker in close range. Outside of the Tactical Arms' Arrow Form and Gatling Form, the Shin Musha on the other hand was almost entirely spec'd for close range combat.

Yuna POV

"Yeah, go Ri-kun, go!" cheered the girl when she saw Riku's golden gunpla race into a charge attack. But another voice brought her back down to reality. It was Ri-kun's mom.

"Those are supposed to be energy shots, right?" she asked with a look of confusion, "How could a metal katana deflect them like that?" while she didn't understand all the rules, she could at least tell that a metal blade shouldn't normally be capable of deflecting a burning hot energy beam.

"It's Izanagi." said Yuna with a grin, "Ri-kun made it special, you know? Particle... Alteration... something-or-other." she remembered having watched Riku build the Gunpla some time ago, but a lot of the specifics had been beyond her understanding. She liked the Gunplas and how they could look and move, but she was no where near as good a builder as Riku was, "Anyway, it's what lets the Izanagi deflect beams like that. I think Ri-kun also told me something about absorption too, but it kinda flew over my head. Gunplas are a blast to pilot, but I don't know the mechanical parts like he does."

This prompted Chisato to glance over at Takemori-san, as if hoping he could it explain it in greater detail.

Gundam Build Fighters Imagine! [6/7]

@Crimson Lion Just for clarification, did Kobayashi fire a beam or a bullet?

Power Rangers/Masked Rider/VR Troopers Crossover Extravaganza

@Omega Man

Speaking of The Grid, do Riders tap into it as well? I've blocked Saban's Masked Rider from memory so I don't recall if anything of the sort was explained there.