Chapter 1
Explosions rang out across the battlefield. They were shortly followed by a flurry of pink beams that soared through the air towards their intended target: A stock Serpent. It glided along the ground, evading beam after beam. It hefted its gatling gun and fired in the direction of its opponent: A stock Gun-EZ. The Gun-EZ activated its' Beam Shield and deflected countless bullets. The two mobile suits returned fire on one another. Missiles detonated on impact with the ground, beams sizzled as the target narrowly evaded, a single scar left on its armor from a beam that got lucky. The Gun-EZ was hit with multiple rounds from the Taurus' gatling gun, but managed to stand upright and continue to fight. It tossed its beam rifle to the ground, unsheathed its beam saber, and charged at the Taurus, its boosters flaring to life, sending it speeding towards its adversary. The Taurus, having run out of ammunition of all sorts, and lacking a melee weapon of any kind, tossed down its gatling gun and crossed its arms in front of it, hoping the thick armor plating would be enough to hold back the beam sword. The sword smashed into the arms at an angle, cutting clean through them and the Taurus chest. The Gun-EZ jumped back, the Taurus exploding a moment later. The flash from the explosion reflected off of the lime green armor of the Gun-EZ.
Thunderous cheers and applause rang out from behind a glass window. The second Gunpla Battle of the night had come to an end with a decisive victory. The Plavsky Particles generated by the Gunpla Battle Arena dissipated, replacing the rocky landscape with the flat blue hexagonal panels of the machine. The lights came back on in the enclosed room and the battlers stepped out, arms around each other with smiles on their faces.
"You've gotten a lot better since time Yori!"
"So have you. If you hadn't been practicing this entire week, I might have won for once."
The two of them laughed together and took their places behind the glass window, waiting to see who was fighting next. Unsurprisingly, the Hitachi twins opted to go next. Despite being brothers, they were also fierce rivals.
"Go Gundam Exia!" They both roared simultaneously.
The twins had a very bad habit of constructing the exact same stock Gunpla, in this case Gundam Exia from the first season of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. However, no one really minded, as the twins were fierce fighters, and their mirror battles were always entertaining to watch.
The Exia's flew out of their starting gates and clashed in the center of the battlefield: The Antarctic Tundra. To tell the two apart, they each had a unique color scheme. Hikaru's Exia was the standard blue, while Kaoru's Exia was red. The GN Blades of the Exia's clash again and again. The sound of false metal rang out time and time again. Sparks flew as the blades collided. The Blue Exia spun in place, swinging its blade horizontally to try and shear the Red Exia in half. The Red Exia ducked down and spin kicked the Blue Exia. The Blue Exia was sent reeling backwards, and taking the opportunity, Red Exia lunged forward. Blue Exia managed to get its blade up in time and parried the opponents GN Blade. Without a moments hesitation, both Exia's spun in opposite directions and the blades clashed again. This time however, the Red Exia used the force of the clash to propel itself around Blue Exia. Its blade folded back, exposing the barrel of beam gun. It fired a round which tore through Blue Exia's right cheek armor, leaving a gash in its face plating. The Blue Exia reeled backwards once more, but as it did, it pulled the same move and fired a round at Red Exia. The beam tore through Red Exia's right arm, tearing it clear off just above the elbow joint.
"Grr. Bastard!"
Red Exia used its remaining arm to grab a beam saber that was holstered on its waist. The blade ignited in its grip as it lunged towards its foe.
"You'll pay for that!"
"Like hell I will!"
The twins soared towards one another, hoping to end the battle with one last blow. Blue Exia's GN Blade collided with Red Exia's beam sword. Despite the GN Blade resisting the beam sword, the beam sword ultimately won out and cut clean through the GN Blade, much to Kaoru's dismay. Luckily, the blade only managed to carve a shallow gash in Blue Exia's chest plating.
"Lucky hit."
Blue Exia unholstered its own beam sword and swung at its opponent. The beam swords clashed.
"Heh."
Thinking he had the upper hand, Kaoru unholstered his second beam sword using Blue Exia's free hand and swung it at Red Exia.
"I knew you'd try that, brother."
Red Exia adjusted its stance slightly, but enough to allow its right foot to shoot up and kick the second beam sword out of Blue Exia's hand. Then, through sheer force, forced Blue Exia's other beam sword to the ground and slashed again. Biting his lip, Kaoru decided to use his last resort.
"Trans-Am!"
Blue Exia glew a bright red and darted away.
"So that's how you want to play, huh? Fine then. Trams-Am!"
Red Exia followed suit, glowing a bright red as well and flying after Blue Exia. Onlookers gazed at the bright red streaks that zigzagged across the battlefield. Blow after blow after blow was struck. Red Exia's left leg was sheared clean off, followed by Blue Exia's left arm, Red Exia lost its left shoulder pauldron, taking Blue Exia's left shoulder pauldron with it. Blue Exia then lost its right arm. A beam tore through Blue Exia's right optic, leaving it half blind.
"Enough! It's time we settled this!"
"Agreed!"
The Exia's raised their beam swords and charged one another. The brothers roared as loud as their voices would allow. Then, the room fell silent as the Exia's collided. Their blades penetrating one anothers chest armor. They fell to the tundra below.
"Battle ended. Draw."
"Aw! Come on!"
"Another draw?!"
The two sulking brothers left the room as their friends clapped and cheered.
"Another spectacular battle guys. Keep it up."
The twins shot the boy a glance before taking their spots in the crowd once again. The High School students stood in a circle.
"Alright, so who's next?"
The door of the hobby shop opened, the bell attached to it ringing. A newcomer stepped inside. The students began to whisper to each other.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know. Never seen him before."
"I think he's that transfer student I heard about."
The boy had black hair and yellow eyes. He was wearing a school uniform, likely from his previous school since it didn't belong to theirs. He was easily close to 5 feet 10 inches tall. The leader of the group of students stepped forward. She sensed a challenge from the newcomer who had a smirk on his face.
"Are you here to battle?"
"Am I welcome to join all of you?"
"Of course. We get tired of fighting the same people every night. So a fresh challenger is always welcome. And I'll be your first opponent."
"Sounds fine to me."
The two of them stepped into the room.
"Set you GP Base."
They set their GP Bases, lighting them up and activating the Battle Arenas systems. The students looked at the name on the newcomers GP Base: Akira Endo. His name was listed as both the builder and the fighter, however, his Gunpla's name was oddly not shown.
"Please set your Gunpla."
The club leader, Saki Konazawa, set her Gunpla first. It was a repainted GAT-SO2R N Dagger N which was a mobile suit variation from Gundam SEED Destiny. Its original color was a forest green, however Saki had repainted it black. It was a mobile suit constructed for stealth and close-range combat by the Earth Alliance. As it touched the Battle Arena, the Plavsky Particles generated by the machine visibly coated the outside of the Gunpla, bringing it to life.
"Well, I havn't got all day. Place your Gunpla."
Akira smiled. A hand reached for a case strapped to his belt. He flipped it open and pulled out his Gunpla, placing it on the Battle Arena. It too was enveloped by the Plavsky Particles, roaring to life, its blue optics flashing as if activated. The students, who did not recognize the mobile suit noticed that its name had now been displayed on Akira's GP Base.
"Cherudim... SAGA... LR..."
Even with the name, the students were still confused as to what exactly it was. While the name gave it away as a variation of the Cherudim Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, they lacked knowledge of the expanded media of Gundam 00 to recognize where it came from, as well as the alterations that had been made to it.
The hexagonal tiles in the center of arena flared to life and dispersed Plavsky upwards.
"Field: Space."
The machine generated a recreation of outer space, complete with debris and asteroids.
"Battle Start."
The Gunpla were launched into the virtual battlefield. The battle had begun.
Saki's Dagger N flew to a nearby asteroid right out of the gate. The Cherudim Gundam is a long-range mobile suit, but the SAGA is a close-range spec-ops variation. My Dagger is also a close-range suit, but it has one thing the SAGA does not. The Daggers feet began to slowly disappear as its Mirage Colloid Stealth System engage. Within seconds, the mobile suit had completely vanished, blending in with the darkness of space. The Dagger drifted through space silently. Its optics scanned every direction, searching for any trace of the SAGA.
An alarm suddenly went off and indicated that something was behind her. Ah ha! I've got you now! She turned only to see a pink beam come soaring towards her. The Dagger narrowly evaded the shot, the beam sizzling as it flew past.
"What?! How can he see me? My stealth system is enga-"
Saki was cut off as the alarm sounded once more. A beam streaked down from above her. She evaded that one too.
"Isn't the SAGA supposed to be close-range only? Unless..."
It suddenly dawned on her that the appearance of the Gunpla he had put down was not an exact match to the one depicted in the spinoff media. It seemed more bulky, larger. She wondered if he had added new weapons to it. But even if he had, that still didn't explain how he could see her even though she was using her stealth system.
"How are you able to see through my stealth system?!"
"Wouldn't you like to know."
Her alarm rang again, this time 3 beams came streaking towards her from multiple directions. She evaded the first one, but the other two struck home. One beam sheared off the right leg of the Dagger while the other pierced straight through the upper left chest. She zoomed in on the source of one of the beams: A black Rifle Bit. I knew it. He refitted the SAGA with the original Cherudims' long-range weaponry. Her only chance now was to locate the SAGA and destroy it. However, the SAGA itself was nowhere to be seen. Only the few Rifle Bits that were out in the open were visible. Her alarm sounded, more Rifle Bits had appeared.
Akira stood at the controls. This was his first battle using the SAGA LR that he had customized based on the base design of the stock Cherudim SAGA. The difference being that the SAGA LR was equipped with long-range weaponry, namely its Beam Sniper and Rifle Bits. It was also equipped with Shield Bits that were custom designed to look nearly identical to the SAGA's mini GN Shield, except larger. It was also equipped with two submachine guns mounted on the knee plates, two beam pistols with GN Blades, as well as Missiles. It was the perfect all-purpose mobile suit. However, he had a preference for long-range, hence the LR in the name. It had taken him about a week to collect the parts and manufacture the custom parts.
The Saga kneeled on top of an asteroid. A protruding rock provided perfect cover for the SAGA, while still allowing him to peer over and rest his Beam Sniper on it. He had been watching the Dagger the entire time, tracking it, observing its every move. When it was dead center, he split off his Rifle Bits and positioned them at a few different angles so as to confuse his opponent. He had timed his shots just right, achieving the desired effect. The Dagger had nowhere to run and it was already crippled. He could finish it off at any time. Akira took this battle very seriously. He was having fun while also testing out the capabilities of his new Gunpla.
"Well, I guess I should end this battle now. It would be pointless to continue prolonging it."
He looked over at Saki.
"Hey! You wanna surrender?!"
"Like hell I will! I'm just getting warmed up!"
"Suit yourself then."
The blue sensor atop the SAGA's head slammed down in front of its optics and generated a holographic targeting reticule. He sighted the rifle and aimed straight down at the Dagger. A single shot would tear through the Dagger from head to toe in a flash. However, he knew she would run if he only did that. He sighted her up with the Rifle Bits as well. The Bits zipped around and began firing beam after beam. The Dagger deactivated its stealth system and began to evade the beams as best It could. One beam struck the right shoulder pauldron of the Dagger, damaging the arm.
"Dammit."
Akira observed the scene below, waiting for the opportune moment to fire the finishing blow. Beams impacted on asteroids and debris, leaving scorch marks, holes, and blowing chunks off. A beam impacted on the Daggers back, damaging its thrusters. With limited mobility, another beam slammed into its weaponry, causing it to explode, then a bean slammed into its remaining leg destroying it. The Rifle Bits ceased firing. They encircled the Dagger, cutting off almost all escape routes. The Dagger twisted and turned in the black void of space, searching for an opening. One Rifle Bit sat directly below her, two were sitting on what could be called her left and right, and four more were sitting diagonally in relation to the Dagger. If the Dagger even so much as tried to get past them it would be destroyed. Then she noticed that there were no bits directly above her. The remaining thrusters of the Dagger ignited, pushing the suit upwards. However, it all ended before the Dagger could escape the bits.
"Check-"
The alarm of the Dagger sounded one last time as it detected a heat signature directly upwards. There was a flash, and pink streak flew down through space towards the Dagger. The beam impacted directly on the Daggers head and tore straight through it.
"-mate."
"Battle Ended."
The Plavsky Particles dispersed, the generated field dissipated, and the Gunpla fell lifelessly to the ground. The Dagger N was in pieces while the SAGA LR was completely intact without so much as a scratch.
"No way... Konazawa was beaten..." Said one of the club members who had been spectating.
Saki looked at the remains of her Gunpla before looking up at Akira. She stepped around the machine over to him.
"No one has ever beaten me that badly before. I didn't even get a shot off."
She extended her arm for a handshake. Akira did the same and they shook hands.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work. This was my first time building a custom Gunpla. I just put my faith in my Gunpla and hoped it would all work out. Never expected to come out of it without a scratch though."
"Then it worked better than you had expected. You're the new transfer student, arn't you?"
"That would be me. Akira Endo. A pleasure to meet you."
"Saki Konazawa, leader of the schools Gunpla Club. We could really use someone with skills like yours."
"Barely in town a day and I've already been asked to join a club, this day couldn't get any better. I accept your offer, Miss Konazawa."
They both smiled. For the rest of the night the club members discussed the days matches and exchanged tips on how to better build Gunpla. As Akira walked home, he looked at his Gunpla. All that hard work paid off, didn't it? I built this Gunpla with my own hands and put my faith into it, and it didn't let me down. Maybe... He stopped at the edge of the town park. His gaze turned towards the sky and stared at the bright moon.
Miles away in the city of Nakahara, a Gunpla Tournament was being held by a local club. Participants could be of any age and any skill level. The winner would be immediately entered into the Gunpla Regional Championships. Gunpla Battlers of all ages and varying skill levels registered to participate in the night long tournament. Walk-ins were also allowed. As the tournament went on, new participants continued to show up and register. Then the final match of the first bracket came to a close. As they were about to proceed to the next round, a boy walked in. He couldn't have been any older than 17. He had black hair and blue eyes and stood relatively tall at a height of 5 feet 11 inches. He registered at the last second and stepped into the back room where the Gunpla Arena's were kept. His opponent was waiting at one of the arena's.
"A last minute entrant huh? It'll be a shame to send you packing right after registering." His opponent smiled, but the boys face remained expressionless. His eyes seemed to be staring off into some distant world.
"Please set your GP Base."
The two men set their Gunpla Bases which hummed to life. The boys name as shown on his GP Base was Shinji Amanai.
"Please set your Gunpla."
Shinji reached into a satchel clipped to his belt and removed his Gunpla, placing it on the pad at the end of the Gunpla Arena. It was the Gundam Exia from Mobile Suit Gundam 00. However, it appeared to be based on one its varitations, the Exia Repair III albeit with some apparent modifications.
"Beginning Plavsky Particle Dispersal"
Plavsky Particles flowed from the machine and enveloped the Gunpla. The Exia's green optics flashed to life.