Regardless of the Gunpla battle projector's size, it was one of the largest of the Gunplas Battlefields, and depending on who you asked, it was either one of the best or the worst around. Like real life canyons, they gave a wide open space for battlers to duke it out, without the worry of collateral damage to the simulated environment. At the same time, that might be one of its faults, like a desert it was an open space, and there wasn't much around to hide behind.

Course, if a battler knows how to use their environment properly, that little fact changes a bit.

Shura's Guld Asta hit the ground with a thud staring to the sun-kissed canyon and looked around, trying to catch sight of the Lamia Gundam he'd been pitted against. He had no such luck in that regard. "Alright where are you?" His unit stepped forward walking through the canyon as he started looking at his radar. "There's nowhere for you to hide out here so…" At the edge of his radar came a blip as he smiled. "There you are." He hit his thrusters, speeding off towards the opposing mobile suit as he smiled. "Ok Glud, let's get this started."

Battler's Seats

"She's not moving." Rai muttered as she leaned back in her seat as she looked at the screens hanging overhead that showed various shots of both pilots. "Is she luring him?"

"Question is why?" Taka muttered. "It's an open space, there's nowhere for her to hide unless she hits the gorge. Plus that's probably the best place for her to set up a trap of some sort."

"Yeah." Miko muttered in agreement. "Maybe… maybe she's planning something." The fingers of the Lamia twitched as something echoed through the speakers. "Hm?" The Lamia seemed to come to life, eyes flashing as it began to move sliding over the canyon as it started approaching the other gunpla. "Is she…"

"Yeah." Alex muttered. "She's whistling."

Battlefield

The Glud Astra caught sight of the Lamia, sensor's saying she was locked as it raised one of its arms and started firing beam vulcans. The Lamia Gundam just kept sliding forward, her tail causing her to naturally weave from side to side as she drew closer, dodging the vulcans as they flew past her. The Glud Asta raised its free hand as it started firing with its other hand to fire. They kept missing as both units drew closer until the Lamia suddenly reared back and stood tall.

Then it moved.

No it lunged forward. Practically jumping across what remained of the distance between the two before nearly colliding with the Guld Asta.

"Wow!" The Asta turned to face her, switching one of it's beam vulcans to function as a sword and swung. The lamia retreated, sliding in a half circle to not only dodge the blade but go behind it. The Glud responded by raising its free arm, extending it to fire vulcans as the Lamaia continued to circle around again. The Glud struck, nearly tripping when something slammed into it's back. "What on… he tail?" The Lamia's rose into the air before slamming downward, the

Glud using it's Shiguru claw to deflect it away before trying to skewer it with a beam saber.

Only to be greeted by a pair of arms grabbed onto his Gunpla's own and held it. "Huh?"

The rest of the Lamia moved, wrapping around the unit as it started to hold it in place."

Battler's Seats

"She's…" Miko began. "She's constricting it."

"I'm no expert on snakes, but they do that to kill prey right?" Alex asked. "Apply pressure to break bones and all that before eating their prey whole?"

"Yeah." Taka muttered. "Holds 'em in place and they keep squeezing till the heart gives out or something." He admitted. "Using that on a Gunpla…"

"She's gonna squeeze until the pressure breaks the unit." Rai muttered. "Talk about putting the squeeze on someone." The teen stated as she heard the plastic starting to bend over the speakers. "How's he gonna counter?"

"Can he counter is the question." Miko remarked. "Let's find out."

Battlefield

The Glud continued struggling plastic turning as the unit started looking back. "I'm not done yet." The Gluds pilot activated the Beam Buster on its chest as part of the tail started to heat up. The Lamia let go in an instant, the beam punching through the sky as it backed up for a moment. The Glud just turned, firing it's hand mounted beam vulcans as it tried getting some distance. The Lamia weaved, seeming to jump/slide from one part of the field to the next before bringing an arm back, generating a beam hula-hoop that it threw at its opponent. The Glud Generated a Beam Saper to bat it away as he flew back, to get some distance. The Lamia gave chase, using her thrusters to close the distance as she threw a second hoop.

Batting it away the Glud prepared a second saber and stabbed it forward as the Lamia weaved, circling around to hit it's opponent with a punch, the Glud caught it twisting the hand as well as it could before a volley of vulcans started ramming into it. It slammed its beam saber forward as the lamia "jumped" using both it's thrusters and its tail to elevate itself over the unit before swinging around, using the unit's own arm to spin it around before attacking it with its tail and pushing it back.

"Oh crap!" Shura used his thrusters to steady himself, then immediately used them to take to the air as a beam hoop nearly slammed into him. He fired another volley of Beam vulcans and the lamia followed with her head mounted vulcans as they both backed away from one another.

It became a shootoff, vulcans flying at each unit only to miss. The Glud charged, it's vulcans becoming beam sabers as the Lamia did the same, her beam hoop being generated and held to be used as a melee weapon. Both weapons met nothing but sparks hitting the air before the Lamia grabbed her Beam Hoop with both hands and turned it.

The hoop spun, rotation causing the opposing beam blades to fly elsewhere as the Lamia pulled back. It lunged through its own hoop, tackling the Glud before firing a short volley of vulcans before leaning back, the hoop still spinning around it's form and threw the Glud over its body, to toss it backwards and into the dirt.

"Screw fast, that mobility is insane." Shura muttered before using his Shiguru claw to get back to his feet, and looked at the Lamia watching it sway from side to side as it kept its hoop spinning around its chest. A few more spins and the hoop had made its way from the unit's torso to its arm before throwing it. "This how a real battler moves?" The Glud's pilot hit a few switches, a beam saber slamming against the airborne weapon before batting it away, just in time to see the Lamia closing in on him. He brought his second arm back before the Shiguru claw moved, opening up before enveloping the arm and locking itself into place.

He swung, even though he missed his target he dug a small trench into the ground as he did before switching to his other hand to start firing vulcans. The Lamia went sideways, dodging the volley as it tried circling around. The Glud followed, suddenly stopping its volley as it switched to it's Beam Buster before sweeping it across the area. The Lamia countered with several spinning hoops of different sizes, forming a makeshift shield as it was pushed back.

"Gotcha now." Shura muttered.

The whistling in the background suddenly changed tempo as the Lamia moved going skyward as the beam tore through it's makeshift shield before finally fizzling out. The lamia formed a new hoop before rearing back to throw it. The Glud just turned, taking aim with it's vulcan hand and charged. The hoop was thrown, only to be crushed by the claw, which opened a second time to grab the Lamia and held it by the torso and started to press down as they were both pulled back towards the soil. The Lamia made a beam hoop, slamming it into the Shiguru claw before turning it, forcing it to spin as it cut into the arm and threatened to take it off and break free.

The Beam Buster started charging again, as familiar light coming from the unit's chest as it did so and the Lamia seemed to jerk, its serpent like body being kicked into the air asit wrapped itself around the arm that held onto it and squeezed as fast and as hard as it could as it could. The result broke the arm into three pieces as the Lamia barely dodged the beam buster, part of it heating up and starting to boil before it weaved around, brought it's hand back as it glowed.

"Heat…"

The Hand was thrust at an angle, shoulder to cockpit.

"End!"

The beam buster fizzled out all life leaving the mobile suit as it fell limp, the lamia's hand slowly being pulled from the Glud's frame as the battlefield went silent.

Battle Ended

Winner: Lamia Gundam.

The silence that filled the store was short lived; almost immediately the applause that rang through the building sounded out, everyone showing how much they enjoyed watching the match that took place before them.

"What a spectacular first match everyone! One can only hope that our next couple rounds are just as exciting at this one!"

"Well damn." Miko muttered as she looked to the boys watching them bump fists against one another as they shared a smile. "I guess I owe you lunch."

"You're not the only one." Rai muttered as she glared at the two.

"My stomach thanks you." Alex stated as he crossed his arms and watched the two battlers shake hands.

"That was a pretty good match though." Taka admitted. "Still I was expecting her to use the canyon to her advantage, why didn't she?"

"She didn't need to." Rai stated. "You saw how she fought, she was in control for a good portion of the fight."

"Yeah, she'll be tough to deal with later on." Miko scratched her head. "Still that's what makes this kinda exciting."

Let's give another big hand to our two Battlers Kagurazaka Chihaya and Ramnaru Shura!"

"You got that right." Taka muttered before looking at Kagurazaka-san and watched her head off to do some maintenance on her Gunpla. "Still, wonder why she whistled during the entire fight."

"Well, some people listen to music when they do something like writing or exercise." Alex stated. Helps em get in the right state of mind."

"That's a good point." Miko added. "So whistling probably keeps her in her zone. I wonder how well that works."

"You want to try it?" Rai nudged her friend.

"Maybe some other time." Miko stated as Alex got to his feet and seemed to stretch before wandering off. "Where are you going?"

"We got some time before the next fight, so I'm gonna go wander a bit." Alex stated as he waved with one of his hands. "Be back soon."

Builder's Lounge

Shura sighed as he looked at his Glud, carefully running his fingers over the damaged parts of his unit before smiling lightly. "You did good out there buddy." He told the ruined suit. "Sorry I couldn't lead you to a win though." He muttered as he glanced over to where Kagurazaka was sitting, watching her pull out her personal supplies to fix up her Lamia Gundam. For obvious reasons, Seijun wouldn't be offering to replace parts using their own supplies. Battlers were expected to bring their own for maintenance and repairs.

Regardless.

"I know I should be proud I got to fight at all, that I got to enjoy myself, but…" The teen muttered. "I really wanted to win…" He mused. "Is that so wrong."

"Not really." A teen admitted as he took a seat next to him. "Everyone wants to win, and no one wants to lose." They admitted. "That's how it is for every battler. So don't think that you're alone in that regard."

"Who are you?" Shura asked as the teen looked at him.

"Alex."

"Shura." They both introduced one another. "So it's normal for people to be upset about losing."

"Bout as normal as people yelling at the tv during football season." Alex stated with a humored smile. "Regardless, you did pretty well out there."

"I don't know about that." Shura stated. "Feels like I screwed up out there."

"If you did, than learn from the screw up, get better." The teen stated. "That's how it goes right."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Shura stated with a light smile. "Still I feel like I overreached, and this is what I get for it." The teen stared at his damaged gunpla as Alex glanced at it.

"… you're new to this aren't you?" He asked. "At battling I mean."

"Yeah." Shura muttered. "I mean sort of. I practice a lot but… I've never really been in a fight against anyone except the AI-controlled Hi-Mocks."

"Really." Alex muttered. "If you don't mind me asking, why is that?" Shura stayed silent, only opening his mouth for a moment before closing it and shaking his head. "Hey you don't gotta tell me if you don't want to, I'm just some random guy being nosey as all hell." He admitted as Shura just nodded.

"It's ok… it's just, I wasn't expecting anyone to ask."

"You don't ask, you don't learn anything about people." Alex shrugged. "We're not psychics or Newtypes or whatever. We can't expect to learn about people just by staring at them."

"True that."

"So, if you wanna talk I'm all ears until the next match." Shura just nodded his head and started thinking, seemingly wondering if he should tell his counterpart his reasons or not.

"I don't have anyone to play with that's all." The teen stated after a while. "I… believe it or not I have a GP Projector at home. It's kinda old but it works. Anyway I practice with it at home, but no one uses it with me."

"Your family doesn't do Gunpla?" Shura shakes his head. "Ouch."

"That's not the worst situation I guess. I mean I get it all to myself and I use it any time I want. It's just…" Shura paused.

"Lonely."

"Yeah." Shura nodded his head. "I can spend all day practicing and customizing my Gunpla, but… I don't have anyone to test it against, AI's only go so far you know."

"I hear ya." Alex muttered. "But what about coming here?" Alex asked. "There's plenty of people to meet and battle at places like this."

Shura started to find his thumbs a bit more interesting. "Yeah I guess you're right, it's just…" He paused. "I'm not good in places like this."

"Crowds?" Shura nodded slowly. "Hey we all got our issues and problems." Alex muttered. "Some of us deal with them,some of us don't."

"How do you deal with yours?"

"I don't." Alex admitted without shame. "I have issues that I refuse to deal with and likely others I refuse to acknowledge." Shura just stared as the teen in silence before starting to snicker and slowly began to laugh. Alex joined him not long after.

"How that's… that's…"

"Yeah." Alex stated with a smirk. "But hey that's me. You, you're out here trying to deal with em. So more power to ya."

"Thanks." Shura stated before looking to his Gunpla. "Still, I'm not sure what to do now. My first real battle and I lose."

"Well, let me ask you this." Alex began. "Do you love Gunpla?"

"Of course I do."

"Then recover and get back out there." Alex stated. "Nana korobi, ya oki." Alex looked at the damaged gunpla. "You can come back up from this, and when you do, you'll be stronger than before."

Attention all Battlers. We will be resuming the next round of the tournament in five minutes. Again the tournament will resume in five minutes."

"Well, guess that's my que to head up front." Alex stated as he got to his feet and started heading off. Stopping only when he turned to look at Shura. "You gonna stick around."

"Yeah."

"Great. I'll see you later." Alex stated as he started walking off again. "And remember that old proverb; Nana korobi, ya oki."

Shura smiled as he watched his counterpart disappear.

"Hai." He looked to his damaged unit. "Fall down seven times, stand up eight." The teen muttered. "What do you say we get back up then?"

Hey everyone Zeroraid here, just adding a little note to the end of this chapter.

I went back and did a little bit reediting of this story, it's nothing major that you'd have to go back and read just a fewspelling errors I managed to catch notice of and managed to fix. I don't have an editor or a beta reader or anyone to proof-read stuff like that (Not even sure how that stuff works anyway) so any mistakes I make tends to go unnoticed until I look over it maybe three maybe four times. If anyone notices any mistakes or typos I made and would be willing to bring them up to my attention that would be very much appreciated.

Also, I'm still trying to come up with new Gunpla to introduce into the story even if its just for a one-shot battle or something longterm, and if anyone would be interested in offering a hand I'd appreciate the help. So if you want your own gunpla ideas introduced into the story just message me either publicly or privately and I'll gladly introduce them into the story.

To do that though, again just need a description and armaments to work with, but if you want to go the extra mile and have me insert not just the Gunpla but a builder/pilot into the story just know my door's open.

For now though, this is Zeroraid, signing off.

Catch you later, Meisters.