"It's time for the chapter you've all been waiting for... the first PvP battle! Or in this case, DvD... Diver vs Diver... not the old disc format before blu-rays..."
"Anyways, this chapter is going to be our first real heated combat section of the story. That's part of what makes Gundam so enticing after all. The interactions and clashes between human beings, their convictions, their emotions, the raw feelings you can only get from a battlefield! And with Kylar and his old crew, you can bet that the tension is gonna be so thick you could cut it with a beam saber!"
"Without further delay, here are the disclaimers! I do not own Gundam or any of its affiliated contents, those are owned by Sunrise and Bandai. I only own any characters, locations, and Gunpla that are made by me. The character of Kylar Welsh/KX-78 and the Gundam Astaroth Fortezza, as well as the new Divers for this chapter, are owned by Chaos-Guard. So... Are you ready?"
"DIVE START"
"talking"
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GBN VOICE
There was fury in KX's eyes. Something that Sora hadn't been used to seeing before. And for Marcie, it's a complete 180 from how he'd been acting since they met earlier. But the blonde's gaze wasn't focused on the two of them, it was focused squarely on the three Gundams in front of them, the Heavy Gundam especially.
"Yo, Divider!" A voice from the hotrod style Turn A sounded, impatiently. "What are we waiting for? Can't we just waste'em and be done with it?" The Gunpla's head turned towards the Heavy Gundam when the Diver piloting it spoke.
"Patience, F-1." Another voice sounded from the Duel Gundam, this one more calm and collected sounding. "Stick with the plan and you'll get what you want."
"Shut up, Binary!"
"Enough!" The Heavy Gundam's Diver shouted, and the Turn A was brought back to attention, taking a step back and crushing even more flowers underfoot. "I'm sure you realize that there wouldn't be any fun just blasting or stepping on them out of their Gunpla, right? Let's see if they accept our challenge first."
"A... c-c-challenge?" Marcie asked, almost inaudible, but the Heavy Gundam's Diver seemed to pick up on it.
"That's right. We came for a... let's call it a 'fair fight.' Three on three, us against the lot of you."
"And why the hell would we do that?!" KX yelled back, scaring Marcie somewhat with his tone. "You guys leave me to fend for myself in a glitched mission, kick me out of the Force, and now you follow me and my friends saying you wanna fight?!" He clenched his fists and grit his teeth out of pure anger, if he were in his real body right now he would probably cause his hands to bleed from how his fingernails were digging into his palms. "Just what are you trying to prove?!"
There was a moment of silence, and then appearing in a stream of data on each of the machine's shoulders were their respective Divers. They were all teenage boys roughly around the age of Sora and KX, but there was something that Sora and Marcie couldn't help but notice about their attire. Aside from the shirts they wore, all three of them had the same jumpsuit and boots that KX wore, even in the same style tied around their waists.
The Turn A's pilot, F-1, had his black hair buzzed into a mohawk and wore a red t-shirt with flames around the cuffs of the sleeves that fit pretty loose on his skinny frame. He had a wild toothy grin plastered on his face and narrow red eyes, with pale white skin.
The Duel's pilot, Binary, had dark tan skin and wore his white hair in a medium-length ponytail with blue rectangular glasses framed around his black eyes, wearing an equally blue long-sleeved skintight shirt that showed surprisingly more muscle than one would expect, but not bulging. It was more of a lean swimmer's build.
Lastly, the Heavy Gundam's pilot, Divider, looked very ordinary compared to the other two. Pale freckled skin, wearing a simple white t-shirt and had auburn hair that paired well with his dull green eyes. To Sora, he kind of looked like an Irish young Amuro Ray.
"What we're 'trying to prove' is that you were holding us back." Divider stated, looking down on his former teammate. His tone wasn't cocky, it was... demeaning. Superior. And KX took note of that making his teeth clench even tighter than they already were. If they were his real body teeth, they would likely crack under the pressure at this point. "The way you wanted to tackle GBN was getting tired, Kylar. Just goofing around, doing whatever missions caught your fancy, playing for fun more often than not... we were sick of it. We wanted more."
"We've already climbed up in the Force Rankings since we kicked you to the curb!" F-1 yelled, making KX's eyes dart to him next.
"Is THAT what this is about?! YOU JUST WANTED TO CLIMB THE FREAKING RANKINGS?!" He yelled back with more gusto and fury, but the three of them didn't even so much as flinch. "I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH YOUR BULL! WHEN YOU KICKED ME OUT YOU CUT OUR TIES!" He then brought up his menu in his blind fury and tried canceling the mission to send them back to the central hub, considering they were a party. If he left then his friends would too by association.
He pushed the mission abort button... and nothing happened. Then he tried it again. And again. And again.
And AGAIN.
But an error message kept popping up every time.
"WHY WON'T THIS STUPID THING WORK?!" KX kept pushing the button repeatedly to no avail. Sora and Marcie had no words, what could they say to him? They had never seen him so worked up before, so angry. "WHAT DID YOU DO?! JP! DILLON! DANIEL!"
"Hey hey, he finally said our names." F-1/JP mocked.
"I think our new leader should be the one to address the situation." Binary/Dillon said, adjusting his glasses.
"This is our new power." Divider/Daniel stated, smirking at KX as if he were just a child throwing a temper tantrum. "The edge we'd been missing while you were calling the shots. The power of the Break Decal."
"Break Decal?" Sora muttered to himself. He had never heard the term before, but it didn't sound too pleasant by the name alone.
"Not only does it boost our Gunpla's performance, but by utilizing it at the same time between all three of us, we noticed that we could generate some... unique results. Like, say, causing a mission to glitch out." KX and Sora's eyes both widened when he said this. That meant that on the day they met, that buggy mission...
"You... you did that?" KX hung his head. "You glitched that mission and ditched me on purpose?" His anger seemed to have turned into depression.
"Kix..." Marcie looked at him sadly now instead of in shock and fear at his reaction.
"We didn't think someone else would show up after we left, we just thought you'd get overwhelmed and come back to the Force Nest looking to complain. But..." Binary's gaze turned to Sora and Marcie. Namely Sora. "Guess we miscalculated a bit."
"But regardless, it worked out for us." Divider continued. "And now we have the perfect opportunity to show that we're better off now. A Force Battle. We overheard you talking about making a new Force, Kylar. So it only seems fair. Come back here tomorrow, same time, same mission. Then we'll settle things truly."
With that said, the three of them disappeared in data streams along with their Gunpla. And after they left, the error screen on KX's display disappeared as well, asking if he would like to abort the mission. All three of them stood there in silence, the wind blowing and the rustling of the grass and flower petals was the only thing that could be heard for a brief moment. But then, chuckling could be heard. It was coming from KX, and it unnerved Sora and Marcie slightly.
"I'm such a dumbass." The blonde said. "To think... I used to call those guys my friends." He chuckled more, but it didn't seem like his heart was in it. It sounded hollow.
"Kix... you okay?" Sora asked him.
"I will be..." He said. Then he lifted his head and turned to them. His expression was not at all what they were expecting. It wasn't angry, and it wasn't pained or sad... it was... joy? Eagerness? It was hard to tell exactly what it was, but it wasn't negative at least. "Oh, I'll be okay... once we kick their asses to kingdom come! They think they can win just because they kicked me out and won some points? HA! They've got another thing coming!"
Sora and Marcie were dumbstruck. Marcie more than Sora, considering he'd seen how he could switch moods at the drop of a hat when his sister was around. But he still wasn't sure what to make of this.
"If a fight is what they want, then it's a fight they'll get. Just because they found a way to break the rules doesn't mean they're gonna win. They talk about fair and square but they're cheating as if it's something to be proud of! It's not even gonna be a proper Force Battle!"
"Not proper?" Marcie asked, to which KX nodded his head.
"Yeah, Force Battles have their own set of rules and maps. The fact that they asked us to come back here means they plan on doing this off the books just to show us how 'strong' they are. If I know those guys like I think I still do, they're not gonna do any prep work. They're just gonna rely on their illegal stat boosts and hope to overpower us. But they forget who they're dealing with." KX crossed his arms smugly and looked to Sora. "You and I got this. We'll go over the details tonight and make some needed adjustments to your Gunpla. Gonna be an all-nighter."
"What about me?" Marcie asked again. KX looked at her with a sad smile and shook his head.
"You got dragged into this even though we only just met today. You shouldn't have to get involved in this, especially since you're scared of fighting. I doubt they'd care about it being an even three on three fight anyway."
"But... but I'm a part of Neo-Tekkadan too!" she yelled at him, catching him off guard. Yet again, Sora was dumbstruck. First Kix's dramatic mood swings and now Marcie yelled?! "If you guys are gonna fight... then I want to as well! I can't forgive them for treating their friend like this!"
"Marcie..." KX was left speechless this time. And then he was met with a hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Sora.
"She's got a point, Kix." The blonde Diver sighed in defeat and nodded to her.
"Okay fine, but you let Sora and I handle the bulk of the combat unless absolutely necessary. They won't play fair but I want you to follow my instructions to the letter, got it?"
And so the three of them continued with their mission to completion, each gathering a bleeding heart for a total of three. While it would have been a fun-filled moment in its entirety, it was overshadowed by the realization that their fun and games mission turned into a challenge. Even after clearing and returning to the central hub to create their own Force, registering it under the name of Neo Tekkadan with Sora as their leader as they intended, the boys were quite surprised to see that Marcie had a C ranking just like they did. Though it was understandable considering how many gathering missions she seemed to go on by herself, it just brought about the realization of HOW MANY she did before they met her. With or without the words of KX's old teammates, the three of them were intending on making this Force today.
After a few minutes of going over the plan, Marcie logged out ahead of them first. But Sora and KX followed shortly after, returning to their real-world identities of Sean and Kylar at Donnelly's Hobbies. Gathering their Gunpla and their Diver Gears, the two teens looked at each other and gave a simultaneous silent nod before heading to the workshop area until the allotted deadline that Leslie gave them that evening and heading home. Needless to say, none of the newly formed Force members got a decent night's sleep, though for different reasons to each of them.
The next day was Sunday. Though Sora logged into GBN from home, he still managed to be the last one to arrive, much to his surprise. He wasn't sure whether Marcie logged in from a home unit or a public terminal like most players, but he knew KX had to be at Mr. Donnelly's shop to log in.
"Kix... did you show up at opening time today?" Sora asked the blonde Diver, who had his arms crossed with a semi-serious look on his face.
"Got there half an hour early, had to promise my sister that I'd double down on chores for a week to make it happen." KX gave his friend a look that showed how he was handling this and how important it was. "Didn't think I'd beat you here though, fearless leader."
"If you can joke then I know you can go into this fight level-headed." Sora sighed and put a hand on his waist. Then he turned his gaze to Marcie to see how she was holding up, which seemed to be well all things considered. Her expression and body language were still timid but she wasn't trembling so that was a good sign. "Everyone remembers the plan right?"
Nodding their heads in unison, all three Divers of Neo Tekkadan put their hands in the middle in the order of Sora, Marcie, and KX from bottom to top. Then, Sora selected the gathering mission they did yesterday and they all vanished, reappearing at the hangar once more and launching in the same order; Izanagi, Astaroth Fortezza, Sisquiede Masquerade.
Each Gunpla launched one after the other and flew through the gate. Not long after, they were met with the familiar view of the flower field from above. Only this time there was one glaring difference... KX's ex-Force was already waiting for them. Standing in the middle of the flower field without so much as a second thought, virtual or not it made Marcie sad to see them crushed under heavy heels like they were. And just as they did before, Neo Tekkadan guided their machines down onto the grass instead of onto any of the blooms.
This didn't go unnoticed by the opposing Divers and it even got a snort out of F1 from his Turn A custom.
"Heh, look at these pansies! They don't wanna hurt the itty bitty fwowers... it's a freaking hunk of data! Get over it!" He yelled, swiveling the foot of his Gunpla and grinding the plants into the ground for emphasis. Marcie winced from her cockpit, even more, turning her gaze away from the display. KX glared at him and was about to take a step forward, but Divider moved the hand of his Heavy Gundam in front of F1's machine as a signal to stop. "Feh, whatever."
"Ignoring F1 for a moment, I'm surprised you showed up. All three of you." Divider said. "I would have sworn that Kylar would have told you two to butt out of it and try and take us all on by himself."
"I'm just full of surprises." KX retorted. "Figured you would have all showed up even if I did come alone."
"Well, we just thought you'd want to keep this in Extreme Soul." Binary chimed in, adjusting his glasses even if no one could see it. "But if you want to drag them into our business who are we to judge?"
"Drag them into this? Why I oughta... it was you guys who-" KX started but caught himself and bit his tongue. Metaphorically. He took a deep breath and collected himself instead of lashing out on a tangent, and this didn't go unnoticed by his old friends either. They all seemed surprised but didn't vocalize it. "Let's just get this underway, yeah? You wanted a 'fair fight' didn't you? Well, here we all are. Neo Tekkadan vs Extreme Soul!"
"Neo Tekkadan, eh? Did you name it yourself without their input?" Divider pulled up a list of Forces just to humor himself, but he was further surprised yet again when he saw who was registered as the leader. Sora. Not KX, but Sora.
"No, our leader did. But it was so good that I just let him roll with it." KX replied, placing one of the Astaroth's hands on the shoulder of Izanagi. F1 and Divider were equally surprised that the guy who appointed himself the leader of their Force once is now willingly playing second fiddle. Just how much had he changed in these past couple of weeks? "So... we doing this or what?"
"Fine with us." Closing the menu, the Amuro Ray lookalike grabbed his controls.
"Divider, Heavy Gundam Close Combat Custom!"
"Binary, Duel Snipe Gundam!"
"F1, Turn Octane Gundam!"
"Force: Extreme Soul!"
"Sora, Gundam Izanagi!"
"KX-78, Gundam Astaroth Fortezza!"
"Marciel... Sisquiede Masquerade!"
"Force: Neo Tekkadan!"
"Battle Start!" Sora and Divider yelled in unison. But upon the start of their fight, the Extreme Soul Gunplas all started to glow purple, likely the effect of that Break Decal they were boasting about. Just to confirm this, KX tried to exit the mission and it came up with the same error result screen as before. He didn't plan on quitting out once it began anyway, but now he knew this was legit. Or rather... illegitimate. It was essentially a hack.
Without even communicating verbally through their own personal screens or through the speakers, all three glowing Gunpla split up and went after separate targets. Binary went after Sora, while F1 went after Marciel, leaving Divider and KX alone. As much as he hated leaving her alone with a bully like that, it was exactly what he expected them to do... and it was all according to plan. Facing down the Heavy Gundam CCC, KX drew the Fortezza's Heat Sword and got into a one-handed combat stance. Divider responded in kind, not grabbing the beam saber on his backpack, but the shoulder armor purged off and was grabbed by each hand. Somewhat like the Gundam Maxter, giving it armored gloves/gauntlets in a sense.
"What, got nothing to say? Not worried about your new pals?"
"Just shut up and fight."
And just like that, the two units charged at each other.
Meanwhile, the Izanagi and the Duel Sniper were speeding across the field. Binary had the scope down over one of the 'eyes' of his machine and had his rifle aimed at the back of Sora's Gunpla. With the pull of a trigger, a green beam blast was fired at his backpack. Sora turned around and took notice of this and was able to adjust his angle just enough that it hit the Izanagi's arm instead. Granted it didn't really do anything because of the anti-beam properties of his cloak. This made Binary frown and hold his rifle in one hand no longer aimed.
"I figured that was the case. You really set yourself up to be a beam tank huh?" He then typed away at a panel and smirked, the glow of the screen tinting his glasses. "But you can't really do much to me either except for with those pistols of yours right? Phase Shift Armor against Nanolaminate with an ABC Cloak... it's a shame that we're such a poor match for each other normally. Otherwise, I wouldn't break these out so soon."
He hit another button and the modules on his shoulders and legs opened up. Sora didn't stop moving but he did turn around again long enough to notice that they looked like...
"Missile pods?!" The panic in his voice was understandable, as three missiles fired from each module for a grand total of twelve. Racing toward him, the explosives gained faster and faster. Sora tried to trick the missiles and jump off of the ground, keeping his thrusters going just a bit more for some extra lift before cutting them as to not overtax the engines. He turned around and drew his beam pistols hoping he wouldn't need them, but his suspicions were confirmed as the missiles adjusted their trajectory and followed his ascent. Not a moment later, the Izanagi started firing away with both weapons. A similar green beam to the Duel's flew through the air and hit three of the missiles and causing them to explode. Aiming a bit more carefully, Sora shot again at two more and they... missed. But not because he didn't aim properly. It was because they suddenly changed course! His eyes widened as the two missiles jutted in different directions, as did the other seven.
"They aren't homing or heat seekers, they're-"
"DRAGOON Missiles." Binary chuckled. "If the Xi Gundam and Penelope can utilize the funnel system onto explosives then why can't I do the same here?"
"Son of a!" Sora cried out and shot more, trying to snag at least one or two more of the DRAGOONs. One explosion sounded, then another, and another. Six down. But only half of them were taken out. The other six stopped whizzing around him and slammed into his back and torso, damaging his Gunpla by no small amount before crashing into the ground with a loud CRASH. Dirt, smoke, and dust filled the air. The ABC Coat was tattered and burnt in a number of places, much to the brunette's dismay.
Flying through the sky, Marcie seemed to be doing better than Sora was at the moment... if only for two reasons. She was used to fleeing from danger, first and foremost. But the other reason was...
"WHY. CAN'T. I. HIT. YOU?!" F1 was going ballistic, firing beams from his car door-shaped rifle at Marcie's Sisquiede Masquerade. But they kept bouncing off of her. Or to be precise, they kept bouncing off of the I-field that she had around her at all times due to her weapon of choice. The I-field Launcher. "YOU'RE JUST A PUNY SD MODEL! I SHOULD BE ABLE TO PIERCE THROUGH ANY DEFENSE YOU HAVE! THE BREAK DECAL SHOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO BUST THROUGH AN I-FIELD!"
"Just leave me alone!" Marcie cried back, turning around and flailing her weapon around firing a mega particle beam that F1 was able to avoid with relative ease. She was flying low while F1 was flying above her so that she wouldn't damage the area if she did fight back. "Why are you doing this?! Isn't Kix your friend?!"
"SHUT UP!" F1 yelled at her and aimed a kick at the diminutive chibi-style Gunpla. It just barely grazed one of her Wing Funnels after she turned around to avoid it. "IF YOU WON'T GO DOWN WITH A REGULAR BEAM THEN I'LL JUST DO THIS!" Clearly agitated, he slammed a panel on his controls. A prompt appeared on his screen shortly after reading:
NITROUS BUTTERFLY
The exhaust pipes on the back of the hotrod-painted Turn unit roared to life and what looked like glittering flames burst out of them. The flames flared and extended, shifting and contorting their shape. They changed into a pair of firey butterfly wings that sprouted from the Gunpla itself.
Divider, KX, Binary, and Sean all took note of this as it was pretty hard to miss giant butterfly wings in the sky. Both Extreme Soul members sighed while Sora and KX looked on in horror.
"I didn't think he'd go and use it so soon." Divider muttered even though he was in the middle of a clash with KX and his Fortezza, blocking his sword with one of his armored forearms. Binary appeared on a screen next to him with a similar expression.
"Well, he is a hothead after all. Not like this is exactly out of character for him."
"Unfortunately. But hey, one down and two to go."
"Marcie!" Her teammates called out to her. But their distraction gave them a disadvantage in the form of openings that their opponents graciously exploited, damaging them both in the form of pummeling for KX and more explosions for Sora.
Marcie felt overwhelmed, the pressure from the butterfly wings matched the violent look they gave off and started bypassing her I-field slowly dealing damage to her Gunpla. Out of desperation, she closed her eyes and pressed a panel on her own console. A prompt appeared on her screen that read:
MOONBEAM METAMORPHOSIS
With a glow of the monoeye, the Wing Funnels burst off of Marcie's machine, and out of the back spread her own glittering butterfly wings. These ones were a gentle iridescent rainbow color as opposed to the burning flame style of F1's. And to the surprise of everyone, she was holding her own beat for beat with Turn Octane. She wasn't pushing back or being pushed, they were just... equal.
Although F1 continuously grits his teeth in anger, Marcie held onto her controls for dear life. She was doing everything in her power to avoid getting hurt. Even with the butterfly wings spread out behind her, it felt like she was still trapped in a cocoon of her own. A cocoon of fear, of cowardice, of sadness... of loneliness. This fight didn't make sense to her.
She didn't want to open her eyes. Or maybe she couldn't bring herself to open them. She just wanted it all to end. But she could still hear the sounds of the fighting. Her new friends screaming and yelling. Steel clashing with steel. Explosions. It all shook her to her core.
"Why...?" She muttered to herself.
"Why don't you just give up?" The voice of Binary came from one of her screens. Even though she didn't look at it, she knew what was happening. The Duel Snipe was lording over the Izanagi as it was beaten and battered, having lost one of its beam pistols in an explosion from a DRAGOON Missile.
"You think this is enough to make me give up?" Sora asked. One of the sleeves was now entirely missing from the Izanagi's coat, the right sleeve to be specific. "You really think you've won, don't you?"
"But of course. Even if F1 is in a stalemate it's only a matter of time before you lose. Then Kylar, then your little mascot. You're already down to one weapon that can damage me and you're on your last leg. Just save yourself the trouble and the embarrassment."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you seem to have miscalculated again." Izanagi pointed its remaining pistol straight at the Cosmic Era style Gunpla. "I don't back down just because the odds seem bad. And neither does Kix. We adapt."
"That's right, dammit!" KX shouted from his own cockpit. Astaroth Fortezza lost its Heat Sword, which was now replaced by the Bastard Chopper in one hand, and the Demolition Knife in the other. "You guys think you've got us on the ropes, but you forget that I know everything about your Gunpla! Even if you did hack their specs, they're still the same ones you've used all this time. And I know your fighting styles too!"
"And look at where it got you." Divider commented. His Heavy Gundam had a large gash in one of its fortified arms that looked slightly melted. "On the back foot."
"Back foot? If you guys weren't cheating then we would have kicked your asses by now and you know it!" KX shot back. "We're gonna win this thing, just you watch! Because we're Neo Tekkadan! The new iron flower that never wilts even when faced with a hurricane!"
It was as if their words were like a key that unlocked her eyes. Marcie snapped her head back up looking at the displays of her friend's fights. She couldn't help herself from tears building up and streaming down her face. But they weren't sad tears. They were happy ones. They were tears of admiration for their strength and determination.
"Kix... Sora..." Her tears fell down from her chin and dripped onto her console. As soon as they hit the panel of the Moonbeam Metamorphosis system, the panel glowed brighter in a radiant light that illuminated all around Marcie. It was warm and encouraging. "Sisquiede. You want to fight...? Is that what you're saying?" Even though no voice could be heard, the young girl nodded her head like she was responding to one. "I'm scared... but I want to change too. So let's change together, Sisquiede. This is our new home, this flower, these people... will be..." Her hands tightened again and the panel changed once more. "OUR..."
The panel now read:
MOONBEAM METAMORPHOSIS - MODE II
DRAGONTAIL
"OUR METAMORPHOSIS!"
Sisquiede Masquerade's monoeye glowed once more, confusing F1 in his fury. A moment later the glow faded and the entire monoeye went black. But then something he didn't expect happened. The monoeye slid up into the V-fin, and then more glittering particles burst out from under the fin to extend them in a similar yellow color. A new set of eyes opened where the monoeye used to be, revealing chibi pink eyes with yellow sclera. But the most notable feature change was that the Moonbeam wings expanded in size threefold, and there was even a wavy shimmering trail being left behind it! Not only the size of the wings increased, but the power behind them did and the Sisquiede was now pushing back against the Turn Octane higher into the air!
"WHAT?!" F1 yelled in shock. He wasn't the only one either, the tables have been turned and now it was Divider and Binary that were looking on in shock while KX and Sora were smirking.
"That's my cue!" Sora yelled and charged at Binary. The white-haired Diver panicked and fired more DRAGOON Missiles... but nothing happened. He checked the ammo count in the pod units on all four limbs only to find out they had run empty. "Guess you lost count of how many you launched! Another miscalculation brainiac!"
"Shut up!" Binary shot with his sniper rifle again to no avail. Between what remained of the cloak and the nanolaminate armor underneath it they were just bouncing off of the Izanagi harmlessly. "Stay back! Even if you get in close how much damage do you think you can do with one beam pistol?!"
Sora said nothing and simply reached behind his back under the coattails of the Izanagi and grabbed his folding sword, leaving it in its unhinged position almost like a bladed knuckle duster. Izanagi jumped into the air and came down upon the Duel Snipe. Binary was expecting for the blade to clash with his Phase Shift Armor and bounce off like his beams were with the Gundam Frame.
And then the sound of swinging rang through the air, followed by slashing and sparking electricity. Not the sound he was expecting at all. Suddenly the damage alarm blared and it showed extensive damage to the left arm. Thinking it must be some kind of mistake, he moved the head of his Gunpla to look that the arm was cut off at the shoulder... and that it had melted! Binary's vision moved beyond the missing appendage and towards the Izanagi's sword hand only to find a glowing straight yellow blade coming out of the handle.
"No way... a... a beam saber?!"
Sora deactivated the beam and swung the physical blade into place before spinning it and stabbing it into the exposed workings since there was no more Phase Shift Armor to get in his way for that area.
*flashback*
Sean and Kylar were sitting in Donnelly's workshop going over the details of their opponents and how they fight, showing a video on Kylar's Diver Gear that he had recorded from their fights when he was on the Force.
"If I know these guys like I think I do, then they're gonna try and divide and conquer." Kylar sighed into his hand. "Daniel will wanna take me on by himself since he revolves around melee combat like I do, try to wear me down until the other two show up to gang up on me. On that note, Dillon is likely gonna go after you. Since he has Seed series unit and you have an IBO one, you're basically polar opposites. He's got three different beam rifles like you saw, which are effectively worthless for dealing with a Gundam Frame but those modules on the arms and legs are missiles. Six shots each, three in the front and three in the back for a total of twenty-four. Once he runs out he'll be helpless against you."
"Okay, but Phase Shift Armor can handle atmospheric re-entry, can't it? My sword and my naginata aren't gonna do jack to that thing unless I aim for the joints or the gaps in the armor. I don't think he'll let me do that, or that my pistols will do enough on their own." Sean deadpanned, to which Kylar grinned evilly.
"That's where my genius plan comes in. We modify your sword. Been wanting to bring this up anyway in case of a situation like this, so what better time?"
*flashback end*
Izanagi pointed its beam pistol point-blank into the back of the Duel Snipe's torso and wordlessly pulled the trigger multiple times. The shots pierced through to the other side and within moments, it exploded.
"Well Kix... somehow, it worked." Sora sighed.
Back in the aerial push of butterflies, F1 was trying and failing to resist Marcie's press to the point where they were now in the upper atmosphere of the area. Even with its short legs due to its SD scale, the Masquerade kicked off of the Turn Octane and aimed its I-field Launcher at it while it flew even further up against its will. Trailing behind Marcie were the detached Wing Funnels, which then flew in front of her and started circling her weapon charging their own beams.
"I DON'T GET IT! HOW COULD A SCARED LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU BEAT SOMEONE LIKE ME?! I'M INVINCIBLE WITH THIS BREAK DECAL!" F1 continued to roar, stopping his backward flight into orbit. The Turn Octane's eyes glowed red and he lunged forward with arms reared back ready to pounce.
"Because... there's no love in your Gunpla... or in how you treat others! Y-you're a bully who doesn't treat anything with care or respect, not even your friends!"
"DON'T YOU TALK DOWN TO ME!"
"It's because of that... that I won't run away anymore! I won't let you hurt my new friends!" Marcie yelled back, tears still in her eyes but her expression was stern and determined. She yelled at the top of her lungs and pulled the trigger, the mega launcher beam and those of the Wing Funnels fired simultaneously. The beams spun into a shimmering rainbow drill that engulfed the Turn Octane and its Nitrous Butterfly wings entirely. F1's screams of rage and resistance faded into the stars along with the beam.
Down on the ground, Divider lost contact with both of his teammates, slamming his fist into the console and glaring daggers through his monitor at KX's Gunpla. In a roar of fury that, while it may not have overshadowed F1's, it was still extremely hateful, he threw a right straight at the Fortezza. It didn't get a chance to connect though. The Demolition Knife cleaved through the appendage at the shoulder due to his sloppy movements and KX being able to read him like a book. That didn't stop him from trying again with the left, only to be met with the same fate via the Bastard Chopper. Both arms in pieces on the ground, he tried resorting to the head-mounted vulcans but KX held up one of his Sub-Knuckle shields in response and kicked him down on his back.
Armless and helpless, all he could do was look up at the looming figure of the Astaroth Fortezza as it locked the Bastard Chopper into place on the Demolition Knife and bring it down into the Mobile Suit's stomach. The projectile loaded in the spine of the sword was aimed at the chest, at the cockpit. Divider punched his console again and KX opened up a direct communication window.
"Dan... it's over." KX said with no joy or smugness in his voice. It was somber.
"I don't get it... how could we lose? We have the Break Decals, we were beating other Forces! We were gonna take on Avalon! So how... how did we lose to a newly made ragtag Force who hasn't even been together two days?!"
"You lost sight of what made GBN so great in the first place." Divider looked at him with wide eyes. "Think about it, when we were playing Gunpla Battle before this, we tried our best to BE the best. To perfect our Gunpla no matter how many times we lost and they broke, even when a loss sucked we never let it keep us down. We wanted to win, sure... but we wanted to have fun too. As friends."
"Ky..." Divider muttered... "I'm... I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too." KX replied. And then the Deinsleif from his sword shot into the Heavy Gundam's torso causing it to explode.
*The Next Day*
It was lunchtime at school. Sean found Kylar up on the roof again. He had a tray of food next to him but he wasn't even looking at it, let alone eating it. He had his Diver Gear in one hand with a display window with a message in it, and there was a box in his other hand.
"Hey." Sean said, walking over to his friend.
"Hey." Kylar responded back.
Neither of them really knew what to say after that. Sean just next to the fan unit Kylar was using as a chair and leaned against it. The silence would have been deafening if the sound of the fans wasn't keeping itself constant.
"About the other day..." Sean started, but Kylar cut him off by handing him both of the objects in his hands. "What's this?"
"An apology."
On the Diver Gear there was a message from Divider/Daniel, and the box had its flaps folded over to keep it closed, showing it had been opened already.
'Kylar,
We're sorry for everything we did. You were right, we lost sight of what Gunpla meant to us... to the point of only focusing on winning. Even if it meant applying some illegal enhancement. We don't deserve to call ourselves builders if we can't even fight with our own strength. As of now, the Force is officially disbanded. For the time being, anyway. We're gonna go back to basics. Rediscover Gunpla all over again. And we hope that one day you and your new Force will battle with us again. Fair and square... for real.
And this time, you won't be able to tell them all our secrets, jerk. Take these to commemorate your first victory as Neo Tekkadan.
From, your old friends, Extreme Force'
After reading the message, Sean opened the box up and was surprised to find the contents inside. They were the Gunpla that they battled against, all three of them. Heavy Gundam Close Combat Custom, Duel Snipe Gundam, and Turn Octane Gundam.
"They drove over in the middle of the night to drop that off after they sent the message. I didn't see either of them until this morning when they were long gone." The Welsh boy reached down to his tray and took a tater tot off of it and popped it into his mouth.
"Guess this is their way of making amends." Sean smiled a bit at the box and the message before handing them back to his friend. "What are you gonna do with them?"
"What else? Display them. Maybe at Mister Donnely's place, he's always looking for new diorama ideas when he swaps out the old ones."
They both laughed a bit and continued to chat until the lunch break was over and the bell rang.
Halfway back to class though, it just donned on the both of them.
Something they completely forgot about until just now.
"HOLY HELL, MARCIE! WHAT?!" Kylar screamed, his own echo carrying up and down the entire staircase. "HOW WAS SHE HIDING THAT KIND OF FIREPOWER?!"
"And that's a wrap on chapter 4! Phew, man this one was a real doozy to write."
"I'm not even joking, I wanted to get this chapter as battle-focused as I could without stretching out too long. But playing it out in my head like a Build Divers anime episode I think it sufficed for that particular need."
"And I told you that Marciel had some tricks up her sleeve, didn't I? She did say she had a love for arts and crafts, and in the Build series you know that translates to being a good Gunpla builder! Did I blow your minds? Did SHE blow your minds? I certainly hope so!"
"The last chapter was done at the end of Re:Rise... Jesus H Christmas that feels like forever ago now. I REALLY wanted to try and get this done by the end of April but... stuff happened. Namely, me recovering from twelve straight days of work over the course of four days and I barely got anything I wanted to do done. So... yeah. Sorry about that."
"Hopefully I can get the next chapter out before the summer starts, wouldn't that be nice? But we'll see where that road takes us! Until next time, ja ne!"