The cylinder city wraps around my entire view as the Tactical Exia peers behind yet another building to find… nothing. Big stages like this Abandoned Colony can definitely be a benefit in certain situations, but I can't help but feel I have the disadvantage here.

I take a deep breath and try to remain calm as I notice the glowing mono-eye on my back sensor—

Nononono.

A spray of bullets come from the handheld machine gun of my opponent— my Exia easily glides out of the trajectory of the shots but I doubt this is the end of the assault.

A Zaku II Kai Type B steps out of the shadow of a building two blocks west of my current location. It's Strauhelm-style helmet and shoulder shield are instantly recognizable, but this is hardly a straight build.

The weathering and light battle damage on this machine definitely makes it look like a veteran. There are small cracks and scratches all over the thing, the most defined being a large crack through the helm. There are worn decals and newer graffiti all over the Zaku, giving it an almost rebellious aura in comparison to other militaristic-style Zakus, like a machine reclaimed by anarchists. The grittiness of this design definitely leaves an immediate impression.

In terms of combative ability, this Zaku II Kai clearly has a specialized kit that doesn't come straight out of the box. The machine gun is similar to the boxy ones traditionally used by this unit, but slightly redesigned in order to be used single-handedly. Whatever purpose it's backpack serves is unclear, but it resembles more of a cloth military rucksack than the traditional jetpacks you see on Mobile Suits. There are combat knives decorating the waist and leg of the Zaku, but the clear focus here is explosives. Missile launchers, grenades and Strum Fausts (essentially, handheld rocket launchers) are all over the body of the enemy gunpla, primed for attack.

Just as I dodge it's shots, a volley of missiles shoot from it's lower left leg toward my Exia. As I move, they move with me, homing into the Exia's heat signal. My GN Sword transforms into it's rifle mode as I move back, shooting each of the missiles in quick succession. Of course, the moment I take a breath, I notice a grenade right at my feet.

Crapcrapcrapcrap-

The grenade explodes, and I just barely get away— there's some minor damage to my lower legs, but nothing too bad. I realize pretty quickly that I'm going to have to be extremely aware of every little movement in this fight.

I need to think on my feet— what's the best way I can switch from defense to offense in this situation? There's a lull in combat as the Zaku stares me down, and the colony around us becomes quiet.

I formulate an idea in the lull just as the opponent Gunpla begins firing off with it's submachine gun again. The Exia sprints toward it's enemy and with the push of a button, the shields at it's back separate from the Shield Booster and rocket toward the Zaku.

The first shield hits with a thud, but with enough force to knock the opponent off balance. The second shield is destroyed by a volley of missile fire just as the Zaku regains it's posture. It's red monoeye searches for a Gundam in its field of vision, but doesn't see one in all of the chaos until it's too late. A strong kick to the enemy Gunpla's back knocks it off balance again, and the Zaku turns toward it's enemy in mid-fall, Heat Hawk in hand. By the time it's ready to slice at my machine, it's too late— my Tactical Exia's GN Sword is through its chest.

I see it's monoeye dim, and in that moment I know I've won.

"VICTORY!"

The referee's voice echoes through the streets of the colony, but before I have a chance to notice it, I notice something on the Tactical Exia's leg— a blob of metallic liquid with some kind of mechanism in it, with a flashing red light glowing through the sludge. It takes me a second, but I quickly realize what it is.

I hear a loud BEEEEEP and the sticky bomb detonates. My Tactical Exia is engulfed in a fiery explosion.

"BATTLE END!"

My actualizer loosens around my neck as I'm brought back from my induced state. The holograms around me dissipate and all I see opposite me now is my opponent.

Marzia strikes herself from the crowd even in a Gunpla cafe full of weirdos and oddballs. If I had to describe her style of dress, it's like a fashion designer's interpretation of closet cosplay— and of course, she's cosplaying Haman Karn.

Her head is covered in a fluffy pinkish-purple wig and adorned on her face are big round mod-style sunglasses. The main piece of clothing she wears is a stylish black dress jacket, very much in line with the Haman cosplay. She dresses in knee-high combat boots which somehow clash with the rest of the outfit in a good way. She rips off her black fingerless gloves as the fight ends in muted frustration.

Maybe it's the resting serious face or maybe it's the fact that Mariza seems to take her outward appearance very seriously, but most other members of the Gunpla cafe are pretty intimidated by her. She started coming into Colony Drop not long after I did and I've only seen her fight once, which is uncommon for someone that seems to come in daily.

I don't really get why people are so intimidated by her, and I needed a match in today, so here we are.

I grab my Exia and GP Base and approach her with a handshake and a slight smile. Her face is still stony and humorless.

"Good game?"

She turns away from me as if not hearing me and gives an unfriendly slap to my hand. She grits her teeth, not letting a word escape her lips as she walks away, turning her back entirely from me in the process.

"Wow, she really doesn't like you, eh?"

I look back to see Kou Araki with a pair of Onigiri designed like Acguys, with brown and black dyed rice and a pickled plum eye.

"Bridge party?"

"Bridge party."

We head toward the exit and up the concrete stairs into the golden light of the day. It's about late afternoon, mid-evening— the sun lowers into the horizon as we walk east, toward our destination.

A stream gurgles beneath us as we approach a drink machine on the edge of the bridge. I search for yen in my pocket but come up empty. Kou must see the look on my face because he does something he pretty much never does.

"I'll pay, it's cool."

I give an exasperated sigh.

"Thank you."

"CC Lemon okay with you?"

"Uh, Pocari Sweat today."

Kou inserts his coins, presses a couple buttons and a pair of drinks drop into the bottom of the machine. We both grab our drinks, and assume our normal positions at the railing facing the sun.

"You get any Ws today?"

Same question, every day.

"2 Ws, one against Mizushima and the other uh- what's Mariza's last name?"

Araki pulls up Colony Drop's Gunpla Fighter registry— right there at 40th is Mariza Russo, with five wins and one loss. As he looks it up, I pull out my Tactical Exia from its case and notice the distinct burn marks and, of course, notice that the left half of my Gundam is melted.

"She does this to my kit and somehow she's the one who gets mad after losing."

"Well, it's lookin' like that was her first loss so makes sense she'd be mad. Dick move, but it makes sense."

I groan, taking a second look at the damage to my Exia.

"I don't know if I can afford all of these Exia repairs— I made a batch purchase of Exia stuff but it looks like I'm on my last kit from that purchase."

"I mean an Exia kit is what? 2000 yen? You'll be fine."

"Nah, I won't. I need a way to get paid, Kou— there are local tourneys with like a pretty decent prize pool, yeah?"

"Yeahhh, but… I can't say you're tourney-ready, Zeph."

I stare daggers at Kou for a moment.

"That's a load of crap. I'm at least as good as you— our matches are 2 - 2 right now."

"Fighting weeklies with me as part of two matches per day is a hell of a lot different than playing six to ten matches in a weekend — you need stamina that you just don't have right now."

I groan, testing my half-melted Exia's joints for a moment before placing it back in my case.

"I need some cash, man. The capsule hotel is bleeding me dry and I'm having a hard time finding a place to rent since I'm so goddamn poor."

I look over to Kou, and I'm suddenly aware of my complete lack of knowledge of his living situation.

"What do you do for money, Kou?"

He chuckles.

"I don't. Sensei covers all of my living expenses, including rent at a nice studio in Ueno. All I have to do is show I'm training and do performance tests from time to time at his dojo."

"The one in Hokkaido?"

"Bingo."

I slyly gaze over to the reflection of the sun in the stream.

"Is your sensei uh— taking any students?"

"Nope."

"Shit."

We both lean a little more on the railing of the bridge as the sun continues to fall into the horizon.

"If you're having money troubles why don't you just get a job?"

"Because that's besides the point," I reply angrily. "If I get a job that gets in the way of matches. If I'm not doing dailies then what the hell's even the point of me being here?"

"Okay, okay, jeez— I might have somethin' for ya, but you're gonna have to be chill about it. It's uh— not exactly legal."

My ears perk up.

"Am I dealing drugs? Am I joining the Yakuza? What is it?"

I see his face crack a bit but he still continues.

"Nah, it's not that kind of illegal. It's in a gray area— not exactly sanctioned by the JGBO."

Oh, wow. If you're not in the know, the JGBO, or Japanese Gunpla Battler's Association, is the main authority behind the Gunpla Battling Official Tournaments, and is often in charge of enforcing the rules and ensuring their product isn't being used for illegal means. If you're found to be breaking the rules outlined in the Terms of Service, you could be reprimanded, punished, or even completely banned from Gunpla Battling.

Yet… I find myself willing to take that bet.

"I'm listening."

"Well, It's kind of a money match, but there's a bit more to it than that..."

Money matches are exactly what it says on the tin. Originally a term within the fighting game community, a money match is a bet between players on who'll win. JGBO definitely has a ban on all unofficial betting when it comes to Gunpla battles… but betting is a looser ban than the others. I know for a fact that plenty of people bet on unofficial matches anyway and get away with it. Thus, money matches tend to be the most common way for Battlers to make a little scratch… but typically, only a little.

I sigh.

"I don't understand how a money match is going to fix my problems. Sixty bucks is not gonna cut it—"

"Shoko Ahn owes me a favor."

"Wait, what?"

Shoko Ahn is probably the most popular Gunpla Battling streamer on Twitch… but that's about all I know about her. I've seen some of her advertisements here and there but not much else, I'm honestly not much of a stream watcher.

"So you can get me a match with her?"

"Something like that. She does this thing on for her highest Patrons, so only about two hundred or so people have access to it and they can kick in more than their pledge if they want. Basically, she puts half of every patron's cash into a pool, adds individual kick-ins, and invites battlers to show their worth to her in a match. She puts on a show for her patrons, and lures in combatants with the hopes of a 's an entry fee— about 100,000 yen, but if you win you'll make more than five times your money. Everything is done and paid from an American bank account, plus you'll get a little publicity."

I pause, processing the information.

"What the hell does she get out of this then?"

"Well, the entry cost and more patrons, for one. But also she keeps the pool at the end of the month if nobody takes it, which makes her happy and makes her fans feel like they've contributed to her victory. I think only three people have won so far and she's been doing it for a year— it's definitely a gray area but nobody at the JGBO or the IGBO have cracked down on it so you're probably safe."

I sigh— this is definitely a good opportunity to make some apartment money, but that entry cost is what's killing me.

As if reading my mind, Kou responds to the worry at hand.

"Wasn't being a Gunpla Battler a do or die thing for you? You came to Japan to become one of the best, so you gotta own it. If it's not worth putting yourself on the line for it, it's not worth it at all."

The sky is darkening as Kou finishes his drink. He tossed his can in the trash at the other end of the bridge and began walking toward the station.

"I'll text you when she responds. You got this man, you're gonna be the fourth."

My eyes wince open as they're hit by the light of my phone— I'm so sick of waking up in this pod. My device vibrates and I see a message from Kou.

TamashiiZer0 (11:44 PM): Tomorrow, 8 AM JST. Send the 100k to this Venmo, enter the main door.

Along with the text is a Google Maps pin for a warehouse near Tokyo Bay, and a link to send the entry fee. I exhale, making up my mind in an instant.

Zero_Chill (11:45 PM): Go big or go home, right?

TamashiiZer0 (11:45 PM): Good luck.

I turn off my phone and stare into the white plastic ceiling. If I lose, I'll have to beg my parents for a ticket home, or work it off— but there's no point of trying to live this life if I can't put anything on the line.

I pull out my Exia and some tools and get to work...

It's early enough to be foggy in the Tokyo Bay area. Not Silent Hill-level foggy but… approaching that, I guess? Just as I exit my cab, the sun's light finally penetrates the clouds and the sky clears up a bit.

The beams of light rest on the shabby metal roof of a seemingly old warehouse, covered in rust. I look at the number and it matches the address Kou gave me, so I approach.

It's only upon moving closer to the door that I notice a pair of cameras attached to the outward facing wall train their lenses on me. The large metal doors with a VRRRRRRRMMM and all that greets me is the very dark interior of the metal building. I take a step inside, and the doors close behind me, enveloping my eyes in darkness.

I take a few hesitant steps forward, and all of a sudden my eyes are burned by blue light. A collection of screens from LCD TVs to tablets to cell phones are attached to the walls of the warehouse. I can make out the basic details of a variety of faces, but a lone figure stands in the center with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.

The lights finally turn on and on the other side of the Gunpla Battle Arena is an adorable woman with orange flowing hair and in an ornate orange and white jacket with all the over the top anime-esque details you'd expect. She has a matching orange skirt, white stockings, and black boots that go just above her ankle. With a glance, you'd view moe in it's most concentrated form… but there was seemingly a little more to her on first look.

I could tell that beneath her polite smile there was cockiness. She looks me up and down as if sizing me up, but still has a bubbly yet polite look on her face.

"All right patrons," she says in an almost sickly sweet tone. "Our opponent is finally, finally here! This is Gunpla Battler Zeph, who pilots the Tactical Exia Advance—"

"Actually—"

"Ah?"

Her eyes light up at my comment, as if being caught off guard.

"This is the Tactical Exia Maxiboost now."

"Oh… how very… niiiceee. Well, you'll be up against ME! The lovely Shoko Ahn!"

Her tone initially is very strange, as if someone's forcing niceties down her throat. She takes a moment to adjust herself, then places her gunpla atop the GP Base on her side.

"My lovely lovely God-Tier patrons, I have a very very nice surprise for you! This is the Gundam Phoenix Twin Souls, my ultra new Gunpla premiering this very evening! While it doesn't look too special, just wait until my other half comes out!"

Shouts of excitement and cheers coalesce around us. I take a good look at the kit— it's color scheme matches it's pilot, as it's largely orange with white elements. Instead of the Phoenix's traditional beam cannons in the front, there are a pair of european-style claymores attached where the cannons would be. There's a cloth cloak wrapped around it's chest, but I can see a few other blades peeking out from under it.

As I place my updated Exia and GP Base onto the Arena, Shoko gives it a bit of a leer.

"Oh, you're close combat-specialized too? Well I'll let you know I've yet to lose against any melee specialist… but honestly, this might be an off day for me. Perhaps you'll be the first?"

I ignore the banter for now, and ready my Actualizer. I glare my opponent up and down and her smirk only grows cockier and cockier as the countdown goes on.

"3… 2… 1… ALL READY? START!"

My body drops into the virtual cockpit, and the intense heat of the sun hits my face. I feel the legs of my Exia sink a little as I look out onto the landscape. All that surrounds me are massive sand dunes as the orange sun falls in the background.

A sword fight in the desert sounds less than appealing— I ready my GN Sword Rifle and regain my footing, only to see a figure appear from the top of the nearest sand dune. It's shrouded in heat as it's golden eyes glower at me. It pulls out a sword from it's cloak and for a moment, the weapon just… floats there before the Phoenix gives it a push with a single hand.

The saber rockets toward my Exia with surprising speed. I shoot the weapon to push it off it's trajectory and it sinks into the sand, but by the time I've stopped the first sword, two other blades are shooting toward me even faster than the previous one.

I switch my GN Blade from rifle to blade mode and draw a beam saber in my left hand. As the blades come toward me, I swipe at them, knocking each into the sand beneath my feet. The Phoenix draws closer, now shooting seven swords toward me in a barrage of weaponry I can barely keep up with.

The Exia meets the challenge, though, swiping away the first few with the Beam saber, shooting the next couple with its beam rifle, and then dodging out of the way of—

SHNKK!

The final blade homes into my heat signature and sinks into my Exia's shoulder, penetrating it's armor. I test my arm for a moment and it seems all right, but this is a frustrating blow. I pull the weapon out of my shoulder and toss it into the sand with irritation.

"Ooh, I gotcha with that one, huh? Looks like you're going to have to git gud if you wanna leave this battle with your Gunpla in a single piece!"

The Pheonix has moved even closer while I was preoccupied, standing only about four hundred meters away from me now. I take the bait, hook line and sinker.

My Exia dashes forward and attempts to execute a sweeping slice against the enemy mobile suit, but the moment I attack it's already too late.

The orange and white colors of the Gunpla shift to black and orange. From this close, I notice that the mouth panel on the Phoenix's head is a little larger than expected, with sharp-looking grooves cut into it. Similarly sharp are the Phoenix's fingers, as they've grown claw-like in the transformation. As the color of the mecha finishes transitioning, the grooves open up to form a beastial mouth on the Phoenix, Evangelion-style.

On the outside of the arena, I see that Shoko is making a change of her own. Her jacket opens up and emits AR spikes on the shoulders, with a ripped T-shirt underneath displaying the design of Japanese metal band, Church of Misery. Her clothes change to the same color scheme as her Gunpla— Black and Orange. Her hair color becomes pure darkness, and somehow evolves to become shorter and wild, like a beast's mane.

In the background, I can hear heavy metal playing, and the audience chants with the chorus.

The Phoenix's newly formed claws grasp the edge of my GN Sword, stopping it with almost no effort. I wipe the sweat off my brow as every part of my brain tells me to run.

"Hello, prey," says Shoko, with a snarly, beastial voice replacing her sacren, squeaky one. "Thank you for being the first victim of the Twin Souls… now die!"

I manage to pull the sword out of her claws just as she begins compressing it in her hands. She draws the Claymore at the Phoenix's shoulder and takes a wild slash at me. She hits with tremendous strength, but thankfully only carves through some of my chest armor. I yet again take evasive action, but she's kinda fast too, enough to keep up with me.

She attacks wildly, and every time I just barely get away. There's not enough time to think let alone deploy the new element of my kit. For a while, I'm just running on instinct… until she throws the Claymore at me.

My Exia is gored right in the chest. I lose some fingers trying to stop it from cutting deeper. Thankfully, I'm still in the game… with one giant wound right in my chest for my opponent to exploit.

With the claymore gone, I very much expect for the Pheonix to draw it's other weapon… but instead it moves it's hand toward the nearest sword cleaved into the sand. The blade is summoned to her, and she continues her assault. I attempt to block her attacks as she summons sword after sword in another barrage. She continues to aim for my chest, but her blades scrape against my Exia's arms. Then, in her last attack, she surprises me by sweeping my leg with her sword, causing my Gunpla to fall in the sand with a THUD.

She points a steel rapier at my head. I can hear Shoko licking her lips from across the room, hungry for her latest kill.

My Exia sits up and she says nothing. I can feel her eyes trained on me, like she's practically torturing me. There's no way I'm getting out of this situation— there goes my hope, my money and my dignity all in one blow. Except...

I have an idea.

"Maxiboost System, on. Speed Armament."

A pair of two small GN Shields at my back separate into dozens of smaller components. Each component forms to create larger components— specifically, a set of omni-directional boosters attached to key points on my Exia's body. My Exia jets from the situation like a missile as I hear monstrous screeches come from my opponent in response.

In the chaos of things, I draw a beam saber and hide it on my waist, next to the Sub-Arm component I got from the Advanced Hazel kit.

The enemy mobile suit screeches in absolute rage as it quickly catches up to me. My Exia stops it's retreat and goes into a stance ready for combat, ready to take on anything.

It's time to go big or go home.

The beastial Gunpla attacks with three fiendish slashes but I manage to parry all but one, which slices into my chest yet again. I can feel the weight of damage on my machine, but it would only need to operate a little longer.

"Defense Armament, Chest."

The components speedily move from forming boosters to forming a plate of armor on my chest. My opponent takes a few attacks toward my chest, which cracks the armor a bit but clearly less than it had expected. Then, finally, it "surprises" me, and cleaves right through my shoulder, separating the Exia's left arm from the rest of the body.

Shoko cackles with glee at her apparent victory… but not enough to notice the beam saber stabbed right through the mobile suit's neck. The Phoenix looks down in surprise to see the saber is attached to the Sub-Arm system at my waist, and just as the information registers I separate the head from the neck in a clean movement.

"VICTORY GOES TO TACTICAL EXIA MAXIBOOST!"

The cockpit fades away as I'm brought back to the warehouse. Each of the screens' light dims until it's completely off as the wilder Shoko stands here, shaking with anger… or is she? The moment the screens darken, her short dark hair transforms again. This time, her hair is long, a little unkempt and a pale brown.

Her eyes have distinct but light grayish marks around them, as if she were lacking sleep. She motions me over to the other side of the Arena and she approaches a duffel bag and throws on an overlong gray sweater.

"Ugh, I fucking hate that outfit," she grumbled, with a much more normal voice. I find myself surprised, even more surprised than with the other personas she masqueraded in.

"Are you like... a third personality?"

She scoffs at me and shoots an annoyed look.

"No, of course not. That shit's a show for my viewers— people like moe stuff and people like edgy stuff so I figured why not combine 'em?"

"I uh… guess that makes sense? You're the successful one, so it must be working out."

Shoko tries to hide her smirk as she sits on her bag and pulls out a carton of cigarettes. She offers me one, which I refuse, and then lights one for herself.

"That was… a decent match. Sorry for getting a little goady— I'm trynna get the Moe Shoko to be more tsundere, but I'm not sure it's working. Anyway, uh, I'll transfer the money, you tell Kou he won the bet."

I raise my eyebrow. What the hell is she talking about?

"Uhh…?"

She groans.

"You know… I'll join his stupid thing. What's it called…. ReVOLT?"

Author's Note

This has been a year and a half in the making, and I'm really sorry for that. I've been working on a lot of personal projects, work, and dealing with the world ending in the interim between Chapter One and Chapter Two. Hoping to put out another update in not so much time— see ya'll in 2022? God I hope not.

This chapter's a little long at over 12 pages, so I hope that makes up for the wait, even a little bit. Next chapter, we take a closer look at the personal lives of our ensemble of characters, and maybe even figure out what this ReVOLT thing is?