Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Build Fighters, I make no money off this fanfic and I do this only for fun
Build Fighters: Advent
Chapter 1: Defender Rising.
With high expectations, modelers and robot enthusiasts' step out of the confines of their hobby and into the realms of the Gunpla battle, however the Gunpla battle official tournaments are a realm of chaos in the ever changing competitions. The year is 2024, the Plavsky Particle battle tables are being sold everywhere, and the Gunpla battle tournaments are rapidly becoming an international sport and the second international tournament is approaching, our story today chronicles the first of the many competitors.
May 19th, 2024, Dallas, TX, 8:15 AM, University Grounds.
Sliding into his chair, 23 year old Calvin Ringo was quick to get clocked in, he counted himself lucky as today was the last day of his data entry internship in the Universities IT department and in a few months he'd be starting his job at a local Law Firm's IT department as a technician, in the meantime he'd have a nice vacation and a window to work on his hobby.
After he'd clocked in Calvin set to his work and throughout the day pausing to check the status of his incoming shipment. 'The Amazon drone should arrive around the time I get home, perfect.' He thought with a content smile.
2:30 PM, Calvin's home.
While most college students stuck to the Dorms or rented out an Apartment, Calvin had been left a beautiful house and a moderate inheritance by his late grandparents, his Grandfather was a master craftsman and had taken a shoddy 1,500 SQ FT wooden shack and turned into a 3,500 SQ FT brick home with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with wood cabinets, a tile floor, and in the backyard of the house was a Garage with a Shop filled with the various carpenter, and model building tools his Grandfather had acquired over the years.
When Calvin arrived back at the house and checked to see if the Drone carrying his package had arrived, surprisingly it hadn't. 'Eh, no matter. I can get all my materials ready in the shop.' Heading into the shop, Calvin was quick to grab his modeler tools, a pair of cutters specialized for Gunpla, an Xacto knife, some 900 grit sand paper, a bottle of plastic weld, two cans of Tamiya Black Spray paint, and- 'Wait, where's the orange… Aw crap.' Pulling out the can of Orange Spray paint and feeling the weight of it Calvin realized he'd burnt the last of the paint on his last Gunpla project. 'Ah well, I can get some at the hobby shop to kill time while I wait for that Drone, maybe even run an AI match with the Defender.' Heading back into the house and down to the bedroom he'd converted into his Gunpla room, Calvin took a moment to admire his collection.
If there was one thing he took pride in, it was his Gunpla. Displayed in order of acquisition he'd built up a collection of over 70 different kits over the course of three years. Starting with a No Grade (NG) 1/100 Cherudim, and ending with his first custom Gunpla, the High Grade Builder Custom Gelgoog Defender. The suit bore the basic look of the Gelgoog Jager, but with some key differences. First off, instead of the bulky shoulders the Jager was known for, the Defender had instead been outfitted with smaller shoulders from the Hyaku Shiki, and had the stubby arms of the Jager replaced with the longer and somewhat bulkier arms of the Delta Plus. For weaponry, the Defender had been equipped with the traditional Beam Machinegun that the Jager was known for, a beam axe taken from the Sinanju mounted on the skirt armor, and a small boxer shield taken from a Gelgoog Marine. Finally there was the custom paint job, a simple two tone Black and Orange scheme, with the forearms, the skirt armor, the top half of the feet and the legs past the knee being orange, the arms past the elbow, the shoulders, the chest, the head, and the bottom half of the feet painted black. While the Defender wasn't some insane gun platform, or a later era suit, it made up for that with its speed and with its overall performance.
Calvin shook his head, 'So many people think that using some high end suit will guarantee them victory, but it's more about the quality of the build than what suit you're using.' Grabbing the Defender and putting it into a small case Calvin headed out.
3:12PM Smith Hobby Shop.
The Smith Hobby shop was one of the hundreds of Hobby shops that had arisen in the wake of the Plavsky particle/Gunpla boom; unlike many of the stores that had advertised that they had a huge Plavsky Particle systems that could hold up to twenty competitors and only carried whatever model kits were popular at the time, The Smith Hobby shop had instead only bought a small Plavsky Particle system meant for at maximum four people, and carried a massive stock of Gunpla, and modeler supplies, this kept them afloat in terms of business but little else.
As Calvin stepped into the shop he was greeted with a cacophony of angry hoots and war cries. 'Someone's having fun.' Calvin thought to himself letting a small grin crease his face, he always liked the Smith Hobby shop.
The store wasn't physically huge but its aisles were stuffed full of kits, each with a section devoted to Real Grades, Master Grades, High Grades, and a small section devoted to the No Grade and First Grade kits, along the wall were several racks of various paints and tools and at the back of the store was a small case with a padlock on it, storing the Perfect Grade kits. 'Smith keeps acting like someone's ever going to actually go after those kits, he doesn't realize that any potential thief is more likely to go afte-' Calvin's thoughts were interrupted by a very loud and deep voice calling out to him, "Ringo! Nice to see you again, I was wondering if you'd forgotten about me and my store or if you'd gone traitor and bought online!"
Calvin turned around and was greeted with the rather intimidating sight of ,Roger Smith, built like a human tank with an imposing 6'3 height, gelled black hair, he carried muscle like a bear carried fur, and was dressed in a simple black suit.
Calvin regarded with a raised eyebrow then gave a melodramatic pose of shock, "Go online? Mr. Smith you wound me! Why go online, have to fight the post office, have to make sure that what was sent to me is right, and in good condition, when I could simply take a 30 minute drive and get what I wanted from a respectable businessman."
let out a small laugh, "Such a detailed denial to such a simple question, one would wonder if you're trying to hide something under all that flattery too."
Whatever response Calvin had prepared for that was quickly cut short with the loud accented voice of the Plavsky battle system. "BATTLE ENDED.", followed by the sobs of one person and the whoops of another. "Dumbass! Next time try using something beyond the basic kit and maybe you won't suck so hard!" The jeer came from a teenage girl with raven black hair with red tips, dressed in a set of punk rockers clothes with open knuckled gloves. In her hands was a Black and Red custom Deathscythe Gundam. On the opposite end of the system was a young boy who couldn't have been older than ten, on his knees, and cradling the remains of a Sandrock EW, which looked like it had been beaten with a hammer.
Barely able to hold back his tears the boy was stuttering out "Bu- But you said, you said you wouldn't-" The girl started laughing like a maniac looking down on the kid, "PLEASE! Idiots who take everything at face value deserve to have everything smashed away!"
Mr. Smith let out a growl and walked over towards the two "Skeerdsly! One of the rules in this store is that you never destroy another person's Gunpla in a battle, since you did you're going to pay for a new kit and then apologize!"
The girl whipped around to face Mr. Smith and laughed right in his face, "Pay for this brat to have another kit? I'd sooner give up my Titus DeathDealer!"
Mr. Smith narrowed his eyes looking ready to throw her out of the store, when Calvin decided to step in. "Then why not make a bet, Ms. Skeerdsly was it? A one on one challenge, my Defender versus your Titus, I win, you pay for that kids new Gunpla."
Skeerdsly gave Calvin a shark like grin, "Oh you are so on, but when I kick your ass you're going to pay for that kid AND pay for me to get a new kit as well." Calvin nodded it was a risk he could take.
They both got in position over the Plavsky Battle system. "PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE!" The system boomed out, they both did, "BEGINNING PLAVSKY PARTICLE DISPERSAL" A cloud of blue and white particles flew out of the system, creating a heads up display, a pair of small orbs to serve as controls, several monitors to act as cameras to see the surroundings, and finally the particles hovered over the field setting up the arena. "FIELD ONE; DESERT." "PLEASE, SET YOUR GUNPLA!" Calvin set his Defender, after a few seconds the Gunpla lifted its head, the acid green mono eye flashing to life and setting its feet on the catapult. "Calvin Ringo, Gelgoog Defender, let's go!" The Gelgoog rocketed forward flying off the catapult into the air, landing near a ruined building.
Across the table Skeerdsly set her Titus DeathDealer, the Black and Red Gundams bright purple eyes shone to life, "Trisha Skeerdsly, Titus DeathDealer, LET'S ROCK!" The DeathDealer rocketed forth and Calvin was finally able to get a good look at the suit.
The DeathDealer certainly bore an intimidating look, with the cloaked head and skeletal torso of the Gundam Deathscythe, the huge bright red arms and legs of the Gundam AGE-1 Titus, wearing a pair of boxing gloves, and on the back was a GN-Tau drive slowly emitting red particles. 'A Gundam made for someone who destroys other people's hard work, how sickening.' Calvin thought.
The DeathDealer was the first to move, charging forward with one arm arched back "I'll see your monument to Zeon broken!" Skeerdsly roared." Calvin grimaced, hitting the Defenders thrusters and, climbing into the air while he brought the Beam Machinegun to bear, but couldn't find anything.
A warning tone made him swing the Defender to the right; the DeathDealer had already followed him up, another punch coming his way. 'How in the hell is it so fast?!' Calvin thought, barely having time to react. The Gelgoog's mooneye flashed, bringing its Boxer shield forward to meet the punch. The two suits met the blows directly, the impact went up both arms, and after a second the Gelgoog's Boxer shield shattered, and both suits flew backwards, then dropped toward the desert below.
The Titus landed first, slamming head first into the city ruins that dotted the field. It took a good fifteen seconds before Skeerdsly could stand the suit back up.
The Gelgoog Defender had better luck though, landing in a sand dune and it only took Calvin no more than a couple of seconds to right the Defender and have it boost back up into the air. As Calvin scanned the surrounding area, he noticed that the Ruins Skeerdsly had crashed into didn't give him a clean line of sight, meaning if he went into the ruins to hunt for the Titus, he'd be in Skeerdsly's domain, an urban slaughterhouse of close quarters combat and plenty of ambush spots. 'Bad ideas all around there, but if I just sit and wait it just gives her a chance to pop out and charge me again. No, I have to be the one who attacks.'
The Gelgoog Defender flew to the northern outskirts of the city limits. Calvin set the Defender's Beam Smartgun to Sniper mode, giving him a much more powerful shot, but a severely reduced rate of fire. Calvin set his sights on the end of a very long row of buildings nearest the dust cloud that was still visible from the impact.
Skeerdsly had been busy; she'd stuck to the cover of the city, more specifically she stuck to the cover of the buildings that were closest to her impact zone. Once she could get out of the city and onto the open ground, she'd go Trans-Am and close the gap faster than Calvin could react.
Or at least that's what she would've done had it not been for the massive pile of rubble that landed right in front of her Gundam. Her eyes went wide, "What the-?!" More rubble began falling and bright bursts of yellow beam fire lanced through more buildings, taking out the supports and forcing Skeerdsly to move as fast as she could get her Gundam to move, dodging both city remains and beam shots.
Calvin continued to lay down shot after shot, once he saw Skeerdsly's trail of Red GN Particles he began leading his shots so that he'd trigger a domino effect of falling buildings and rubble. A small grin graced Calvin's lips, 'Typical, her suit's practically a mirror, all brawn and no sense of strategy. I've got this.'
As the buildings and rubble continued to pile on, Skeerdsly was close to being buried, the building chunks were becoming harder to dodge. Finally she gritted her teeth and activated her Trans-Am. "I won't go down! Not to some punk who's not even using a Gundam!"
The Last of the buildings fell, Calvin felt quite confident that he was going to win this. 'Justice shall be served today, bullies like her need to have a lesson in humility.' The Defender moved in, ready to find whatever was left of its opponent.
Just as the Defender was reaching the edge of the new ruins it had created, a bright crimson ball burst out of the debris, it was the DeathDealer, gaining a mass of altitude, going higher than the Defender, to the point that it overshadowed the suit.
Calvin was shocked; he'd never anticipated Skeerdsly to use her Trans-Am to ambush him, much less for her to use it to survive the debris cloud. The Defender brought its rifle into a two handed grip, moving to shield itself with the rifle from whatever oncoming attack the Titus was about to unleash.
Skeerdsly let out a whoop, and the Titus DeathDealer stuck out its left leg going for a hard kick. The kick connected, breaking the Defenders rifle in half and shredding a good part of the front Skirt armor.
Calvin didn't have time to count his good luck, the Titus was still right in his face, and his only chance to win at this point was to gut the suit before it could line up another attack.
The Defender reached out to the Beam Axe on its right side skirt. The axe burst to its full length and width. "The day is mine!" Calvin hollered, and the Defender brought its axe down, cleaving the Titus DeathDealer in two at the waist.
The DeathDealers eyes flickered once and faded, the red hue that adorned the suit vanished, and the suit fell to the ground.
The voice of the Plavsky Battle system boomed out again, "BATTLE ENDED." The particles faded away and the Gunpla had returned to their default state, minus the damage inflicted. Calvin let out a relived sigh 'That could have been much worse,' Calvin thought, reaching across the table and gathering up the Defender and putting it back into his carrying case.
Mr. Smith had already approached Skeerdsly, she stared down Mr. Smith and they locked gazes. After a tense moment, Skeerdsly eventually reached into her pockets and handed over a crisp twenty dollar bill, nodded and handed the twenty to the kid, "Head over to the high grade section and grab whatever kit you want," the kid nodded and ran down the aisle. Calvin smiled as he saw the kid carefully looking the section over, 'I'm glad I was able to do a little bit of justice here.'
Looking over by the front door to the shop Calvin saw Skeerdsly sitting on a bench gazing sadly at the broken form of her Gunpla, he walked over towards her, " , I'm sorry I destroyed your Gunpla. I know it's pretty terrible having something you obviously sunk a lot of time and money into damaged, but it wasn't right to just trash that kids Gunpla and lie to his face." She lowered her head, and then raised a finger, telling him to come closer. Calvin shrugged and got down to her level.
SMACK! Calvin was sent right to the floor, a bruise already forming on his cheek. Calvin felt the area and gave her a shocked look. "What did I-" he then felt a booted foot pushing down on his chest.
Skeerdsly looked down at Calvin her eyes narrowed and he could see the fury she was very poorly containing, "Bastard!" She stepped off applying more pressure to his chest as she did before storming out of the store.
Calvin was still trying to figure out just what the hell happened when he heard laughing from , "Ringo, you know that was stupid right?"
Calvin looked at him, "Uhh, not really, all I did was apologize and explain my actions."
shook his head, "The first part was a good idea, the second half… not so much, no matter your reasoning, she still didn't get her way and you damaged something she built."
Calvin raised an eyebrow, "Yeah but my Defender took some damage too and I didn't lose my temper like that."
nodded, "True, but she's got a talent for model building and Gunpla battle, losing… isn't exactly normal for her."
This really got Calvin's attention, "What do you mean?" he asked, rising up from the floor.
pointed to a small frame on his wall, on it was the results of the last in shop tournament; Skeerdsly had come in second place. "She's been competing in the tournaments for the last few weeks; she's good but always lost to our reigning champ."
Calvin nodded as he looked at the tournament results, his curiosity piqued, he turned to Mr. Smith and asked him "Is your tournament sanctioned by PPSE?"
Mr. Smith nodded and replied "I only got the sanction a two days ago, My shops tournament is considered a district qualifier, everyone's welcome to enter as long as they abide by tournament rules and my own personal rule about not destroying anyone's Gunpla."
Calvin smiled, he'd been hoping for that answer, "When's the next tournament?"
handed him a single sheet of paper. "Fill this out and bring it to me on Saturday, You get two Gunpla, a main and a backup, this week we'll be running a randomized two on two team battle, first place team heads on to the regional tournament." Calvin took the form, bought the can of orange spray paint he'd come for originally, and headed out.
4:52 PM Calvin's Home.
After he'd returned home, Calvin checked the front door, sure enough there was a box waiting for him, 'Not bad, it only took the thing about two days to get here, glad someone was selling this kit too.' Opening up the box he was greeted with his newest project. Two boxes containing an HGUC 2.0 Blue Destiny Unit Two, and an HGUC ReZEL. 'This is exactly what I've been waiting for, a chance to rise put my skills building and fighting to use. I know I can at least make it to Regionals. The Defender, and my soon to be built ReZel EX, I'm going as far as I can. I want it all, the fame, the fortune, and if I can make it to even the world tournament…' Calvin paused, the very idea of making it to the world tournament was make him shake with excitement. 'I can make my passion my livelihood.'