(A/N: Well, this took much longer than I expected but it certainly was worth the wait. I took the time to flesh this chapter out more and focus on fight scenes; hopefully this will be a better read than the last chapter. Big thanks to hawkeyeriku, who's been invaluable in helping me with my writing and with this story.)
Build Fighters: Advent, Chapter 2.
The Nobleman, Hawk Magnus.
Spanish National Gunpla battle tournament finals, City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain. 6:30pm.
The City of Arts and Sciences was certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing places one could hold a Gunpla battle, with the architectures unique style and the pools of water surrounding it. Some had concerns of where the battle could be held since the current Exhibits took up almost all of the available space, to keep the Exhibits preserved from rabid fans and to address these concerns a float had been set up in the pools surrounding the city, with a giant Plavsky Particle unit resting on top, allowing sixteen competitors to use the unit at a time.
The Nationals had been going on for the better part of a week now, unlike most other Tournaments, the Spanish tournament hadn't been solely dedicated to single elimination matches, the Tournament's theme had been a selection of the mode by the audience for each battle. This resulted in a multitude of events, such as a free for all to kick off the tournament, a 4v4 capture the flag game, and most astounding of all, Gunpla Soccer with an RB-79 as the ball.
Tonight marked the final match of the nationals, with only two combatants remaining. On the right was the defending champion Francisco Serrano, a man with olive skin, bright blonde hair and a fair amount of muscle. His Gunpla was the very same that had taken him to the World Tournament finals, the Calatrava Gundam. Using the GN-0001.5 Gundam as a base and replacing the wing binders with a weapon rack containing a custom made buster rifle in the left rack, and a handmade metal tipped Rapier on the right, as well as keeping the 1.5's basic Beam Rifle and Beam Saber. For a paint job the only major change had been that wherever there was blue on the 1.5 now there was a bright shade of teal.
To the left was the challenger Hawk Magnus, a young man no older than twenty, with a light tan to his skin, chocolate brown hair and hazel colored eyes wearing a leather flight jacket bearing his own personal emblem, a white Hawk hovering over three flames, two were a dark indigo shade and the last was obsidian black, Hawk had been one of the most unlikely competitors to make it to the final round due to the fact that his Gunpla, the Strike E Artillery, was a combination of the Strike E, a Ginn and the Buster Gundam, with no custom parts, only a simple two tone black and white paint job. Using the Strike E's main body and legs, keeping the Ginn's 76mm heavy machinegun, and swapping out the arms and shoulders for the Busters along with the Anti-Armor Shotgun and the 350mm gun launcher that were mounted onto the back normally where the striker packs would fit. In short, the suit was made for firepower.
Both competitors were making final preparations, little tune ups and cosmetic touch ups. By 6:40 the loudspeaker came to life with an announcement. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the finals for this year's National Gunpla Tournament, before we begin we have a surprise in store for our competitors! Keeping with our theme for this tournament, the organizers set up a booth in the last couple of hours, allowing all members of the audience to vote on not just the gametype, but the field that this would take place on. Even with such short notice we received over 5,000 votes, and we were able to determine a winner! Our gametype shall be a survival mode! Both players shall be granted half of the field and fifteen minutes, during that time the field shall be flooded with AI controlled units, whoever is capable of destroying the most units before time runs out, or the other competitor is overwhelmed and destroyed, is our victor! For our field the audience has selected field 28, Lantau Island!"
Hawk and Serrano were shocked to say the least, this was an unprecedented choice, the victor of a tournament hadn't been decided by AI destruction before and whoever won had a good chance of being looked down on by the rest of the world tournament because they hadn't proven their skill in a single elimination match.
There wasn't time to voice a complaint as the automated voice of the plavsky battle system chimed in. "PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE." Both combatants did, "PLEASE SET YOU GUNPLA." Serrano set his Calatrava Gundam, the bright green eyes coming to life with a bright flash. Hawk did the same, setting his Strike E Artillery, the suits Orange eyes fading in. Once again the automated voice chimed in. "BEGINNING PLAVSKY PARTICLE DISPERSAL." the blue and white particles flowing out and creating the ring around them. "FIELD 28, ISLAND."
True to the description it was a perfect representation of Lantau Island right down to the hilled terrain and the energy barriers along the perimeter and straight down the middle of the island, preventing Serrano and Hawk from interfering with the others match. In the center of the island was an enormous mountain, at the top the burnt husks of the four heavenly kings and the Devil Gundam could be seen.
Hawk grasped the controls, "Hawk Magnus, Strike E Artillery, LAUNCHING!" The Black and White Strike rocketed out of its hangar, Taking a position at the top of a hill and combining the Shotgun and the 350mm into the Hyper Impulse Sniper. Hawk grinned. "I've got this."
Serrano had taken to his side of the field, keeping to the air and scanning the ground. "Shouldn't be too hard, I'll stay afloat and gun them down from here. "
After a thirty second preparation period an alarm sounded. The first wave had arrived. From beneath the ground several dozen Zakus, Leos and Tierens burst out across the field, splitting up into four man squads and then engaging in a search pattern.
Hawk still waited atop his hill, deciding on the first target he'd go for. After fifteen seconds he saw a Leo spilt off from his squad. His chance had come; taking aim with the Hyper Impulse Hawk plugged the Leo right through the Chest. The Leo went up in flames and left a small crater behind it. The two Zakus and the remaining Tieren were quick to figure out Hawks position and promptly began shelling Hawk's hill. Disassembling the Hyper Impulse and storing the 350mm Cannon, Hawk kept the Shotgun and grabbed the Ginn Machinegun off of its holster. Dropping down the Hill and hitting the Verniers hawk began weaving through the squad emptying his assault rifle into the Tieren and sending a shell from the shotgun into the first Zaku, then delivering a spinning kick to the second Zakus head. The impact was strong enough to knock the suit into the ground; Hawk raised his shotgun and finished the Zaku with a shotgun blast to the chest. The Strike's eyes flashed and Hawk moved on, this time aiming for a larger group of Tierens.
Meanwhile, Serrano was still hovering above the field sniping whatever targets got in his way, he'd taken the lead and had yet to run into anything serious. 'This can't be all; they'd have to be crazy to throw such simple units at us.' Serrano thought. It didn't take long before Serrano's suspicions were confirmed when a huge beam blast came for him, it was a G-bit firing its satellite cannon. Serrano boosted as hard as he could to the left, barely dodging the blast. The Calatravas sensors then flashed a warning sign to the left, right and directly behind Serrano, there were now four G-Bits surrounding him each had their Satellite cannons out and charging. Serrano smirked, "This is more like it." The Calatrava took out its custom made Buster rifle, holding it two handed, the rifle began to glow bright blue with a charge. "You four have pretty big guns, but mine…" The Buster Rifle fired, a brilliant blue burst of lightning roaring into the first G-Bit, obliterating the suit. The Calatrava began turning left, the Buster Rifle still firing, burning the second G-Bit, finally, the Buster Rifle ran out of energy as the Gundam came to a stop in front of the third G-Bit. The rifle had depleted its energy just before reaching the suit. Throwing the Rifle away and drawing its custom made Rapier the Calatrava rushed forward, impaling the Bit in the chest. "Mine's bigger." The G-Bit fell out of the sky, exploding before it hit the ground. The Fourth G-Bit was still lining up its shot when the Calatrava drew its regular GN Beam Rifle and shot it through the chest. The G-Bit exploded leaving nothing more than a small pile of plastic. "As they say, four is death." Serrano quipped, letting the Calatrava slowly descend to the ground, ready to hunt for more ground units.
Back with Hawk, the Strike E Artillery had been very busy, the suit had been keeping to a serpentine pattern of movement, catching squad after squad of ground combat mobile suits in the flank before they could react; Hawks kill count was on the rise and was beginning to edge out Serrano's. 'I can do better, Serrano's good but I have the edge in firepower.' Hawk thought as another Tieren went up in flames. Hawk hit the boosters on the Strike and took to the top of another nearby hill, combining the Shotgun and the 350mm again to form the Hyper Impulse Cannon, Hawk began scanning for targets. 'Nothing new yet, odd that they aren't sending more aft-'Hawks thoughts were interrupted by a shell going off right in front of him. "What the-" More shells came flying in all landing either near the Strike E, one shell managed to get a hit in, blowing off the right shoulder pad of the Strike. Hawk threw the Strike up into the air, it was then that the Strikes sensors caught up and zoomed in on four Xamel artillery tank mobile suits each had been dropped at the four corners of the field and had set up for long range cannon fire, each one was in the process of trying to get another lock on Hawk. 'Damnit, the Strike's so heavy it can't stay in the air like this for long. I'll have to move quickly.' Hawk hit the boosters, rocketing towards the northwest corner of the field and the nearest Xamel, the weight of the Strike was already beginning to drag the Gunpla to the ground until the suit was just barely over the ground. As he arrived at the Xamels position Hawk began taking heavy machinegun fire and had to duck behind a rock formation to keep his Gunpla from taking any further damage. The Strikes head poked up from its cover and found the source of the fire, two squads of Leos and Zakus had taken up a defensive perimeter around the Xamel. 'You've gotta be kidding me, I didn't think the AI was this smart!' More artillery fire began falling around the Strike E, it wasn't anywhere near the rock formation yet but it wouldn't be long before they zeroed in on his position. The Strike rolled out of its cover, firing the Hyper Impulse and wiping out two of the Leos and one Zaku, the Strike then split the Impulse cannon back into two weapons and released a barrage of fire, taking out two more Zakus. The Artillery Fire was getting close, and Hawk was running out of space. Ignoring the remaining guard suits, Hawk took aim at the Xamel with the 350mm rifle, firing three shots into the artillery suits chest area, the Xamel's monoeye winked out of existence, silencing the suit. "YES!" Hawk cheered, "One down, got three more to-"more shells detonated around the Strike, and one was dead on target, taking half of the Strikes head and the entire V-Fin clean off. The Strike E artillery fell face first to the ground, and Hawk let out a frustrated hiss, the remaining Xamels had him locked, there might not be any getting out of this…
Meanwhile Serrano wasn't much better off, with the loss of the G-Bits the remaining ground suits had begun to form up into large concentrations of sixteen or more suits, and with the lack of a buster rifle to clear the field, he'd been forced to resort to hit and run attacks against the masses of suits. And his kill count had stagnated because of it… then came the Virgo Mobile Dolls. The Virgos had been hell on wheels for Serrano, his reliance on Beam Weaponry had left him with his rapier and beam saber as his only viable option to breach their Planet Defensor shields. Even Serrano's Aerial Sniping wasn't doing much to even the odds. The Calatrava was hovering a few feet in the air at the southern boundary of the island trying to find a small suit squad or even a lone Virgo. Sadly there wasn't anything on his sensor board, "I've got to keep moving. Anything is better than just standing here." The Calatrava started to climb, but was cut off when a beam cannon blast struck the suits backpack, destroying the left weapon rack and sending the Calatrava crashing to the ground. As the Calatrava struggled to regain its balance Serrano saw the source of the shot, six Virgo mobile dolls, all of them were advancing on him and his downed suit. 'I've reached my limit…' Serrano reluctantly admitted to himself. The Virgo dolls stopped a few feet away from the Calatrava looking the same as a firing squad, each one charging their Beam Cannons, the Calatrava was still trying to get up when a loud low toned note played. The automated announcer came over with a message. "Discontinued."
Across the field all A.I. Controlled suits came to a stop and the controller section of the holographic interface turned yellow. The sportscaster began speaking to begin an explanation. "Right folks we've run out of time and both of our competitors are even in terms of destroyed A.I. suits, rather than throw a second wave at them we've decided on a different kind of tie breaker."
The center of the Island started to change, the husks of the four heavenly kings were dragged underground, and the lifeless husk of the Devil Gundam began to regenerate, its eyes glowing bright red. The sportscaster came back over the air, "For our tie breaker both of our competitors are being given a single target. The Devil Gundam, the match will end when a decisive blow is dealt to the head of the Devil Gundam, or a competitors Gunpla is destroyed." Storm clouds began to form over the arena and heavy rain began falling around the island. The barriers separating the middle of the field deactivated, and the Devil Gundam continued to regenerate itself and dig into the ground, an array of Beam Cannons forming around it.
Hawk had been able to get the strike back up, he'd lost most of his sensors with the V-Fin, but his optics were still functioning and that was all he needed to see the target. It would be a contest of both speed and firepower. Hawk only had one of those, but he had enough firepower to negate his lack of speed. The Strike could still form the Hyper Impulse cannon, and there was a trench that he could use to get himself close to the Devil Gundam. Enough to take one shot with the Hyper Impulse Cannon and take its head clean off. 'I can do this.' The Strike combined its weapons, 'I didn't come this far to lose to some giant abomination of Gundam design.' The Strike E Artillery charged its thrusters and raced down the Trench, its goal clear as could be. 'I'll win this match; I'll prove that you don't need fancy custom parts to be a great fighter in Gunpla Battle.'
Serrano had righted the Calatrava and was racing through the Air as fast as the Gunpla allowed, a crazed look in his eye 'No. No I won't lose! I have to get back to the world tournament! On my honor as the Knight of Spain I won't fail!' The Calatrava had reached the crater the Devil Gundam was holding in, beam cannon fire leapt up to meet him and Serrano had to keep his suit from being shot out of the sky. The Calatrava had grabbed its GN Beam Rifle and had been busy trying to get shots off at the Devil Gundams head, but with all the maneuvering it was doing, there wasn't time to get a solid lock. Serrano growled and charged his Gunpla forward, drawing both the GN Beam saber, and his custom Rapier, taking beam cannon fire and losing the arm holding the Saber, "I don't care what happens to this Gunpla, I need to win!" The Calatrava was feet away from the Devil Gundams head, Rapier pulled back to deliver a stab to the head, when an enormous red blue burst of energy seared through the Devil Gundams head, searing through and taking the Calatrvas remaining arm. Hawk had made it to his sniping position.
The automated announcer chimed in. "Battle Ended." The crowd went wild, cheers could be heard throughout the entire museum at the results, the underdog had come through. The sportscaster came back on. "And the winner by a shocking last second shot, HAWK MAGNUS!" The crowd cheered again, louder this time. Both competitors were stunned. Hawk even did a double take. "I… I won?"
Serrano stood there, shocked at his loss. There was nothing to do, he couldn't challenge Hawk to a fight, he'd won fair, and he hadn't cheated. Serrano let out a sigh and walked over to Hawk, holding out his hand, "You've done well, hope you realize that you're representing our entire country in a pretty big event."
Hawk stood there for a moment, he nodded, and shook Serrano's hand. "I'm well aware, but I won't fail and I won't come back empty handed." Both Hawk and Serrano held up their fists in the air. "A Victoria en la arena internacional!" The Crowd cheered again, the loudest they'd ever been.
Valencia, Spain, unnamed restaurant, 8:45PM.
After wading through the sea of sports reporters, fans and Gunpla enthusiasts, Hawk did his best to quietly leave the event. It didn't go nearly as smoothly as he'd hoped. With his face broadcasted on National TV he'd been stopped by so many people in the streets, many were congratulating him, others were just asking for Autographs and pictures, and a few others asked if he could give them tips on Gunpla. All of it Hawk had been told to expect should he win, but it was still a bit of a system shock. Eventually Hawk found his way to small café that was unaware of his identity, and he'd placed an order of Jamón ibérico de bellota, the food was good and the restaurant was so sparsely populated which gave Hawk a moment of peace and privacy. A small smile crossed Hawks face, inside he was excited. 'The World Tournament, if Serrano was one of the Finalists in it, I know I can win this.' He pulled the damaged form of his Strike E Artillery out, looking at the remaining half of the face, "I know that you and I can make it there, partner." Half an hour later, Hawk had paid for his meal, and was on his way back to the Hotel he'd been sponsored by, confident in his chances and eager to get to the world tournament.