AN: Heya, guys! Alpha here. I hope you all enjoyed that last chapter. Kyrus and I were excited to get his name and OC implanted into this series since I started writing it, and I have some fun stuff for him coming up in the future.
As for this chapter...well, it started as a concept based on an actual kitbash I have built, and the love for the Zaku Trio from Team White Wolf from Build Fighters Try. So I decided to modify my kitbash a bit and put it into this as Hathaway's kit! I'm hoping you all get a kick out of it.
The first round done, the crowd sat, chatting amongst themselves about the battle they just witnessed. Kyrus and Io have collected their defeated Gunpla, and a cleaning crew was clearing off any remaining particulates from the battle table.
Ruby sighed in relief as she plopped down on the couch next to Jaune and Pyrrha. Blake and Yang gave her a proud smile as she slumped, the stress finally melting from her body.
"Uuuugh, I've never been so scared in my life!" She admitted loudly, leaning back and looking at the ceiling.
"Gotta day, sis, you sure took a beating out there," Yang commented, "but hey-you just took out a world-class fighter! You should be proud."
"Yeah," Jaune added. "That was an amazing fight. I doubt I could have done that good against someone that powerful."
Weiss looked down at the pieces of Destiny Scythe in Ruby's hand and frowned. "I never expected you to sacrifice yourself like that," she said sadly. "I'm sorry about your Gunpla-"
"No, it's okay!" Ruby looked at Weiss and smiled. "I can rebuild Destiny Scythe, no problem. I'm just glad your Gyan didn't take a bigger beating."
"But-"
"Trust me, by Round Two; I'll have it back in perfect condition." Ruby gave her partner a reassuring nod. Weiss let out a short sigh but eventually nodded with a smile.
"So, who's up next?" Blake asked. "The second match should be decided soon."
They looked at the screen, which hovered over the spinning selection wheels on the television.
"And now, for our second bout's contestants…" Mr. Port's voice resonated with deep excitement through the speakers, exciting the selection process up as the wheels spun down until they stopped and chimed on the names of the next two teams.
Miss Peach's melodic voice read the names off. "Hathaway Novah and Jim Hawkins of Team Kit Badgers, versus Kenshou Matsunaga and Yoshiki Uzuki of Team White Wolf!"
"Well, it looks like it's our time to shine."
A voice from behind the couch Yang and Blake was on caused everyone to turn. Hathaway and Jim stood with two of the girls Ruby had spotted with them earlier. Pyrrha glanced over at the tall blonde woman, their eyes meeting instantly as if each had sought the other out.
Pyrrha greeted her with a smile. "Jack, it's a pleasure to see you again."
"Likewise," Jack replied, returning the smile. "I think the last time we met was when you were traveling around Europe training for your European Championship win."
Pyrrha nodded. "Two years ago. We fought to a stalemate. It was quite an intense battle."
"The only draw I've ever had." She gave her a look of admiration. "I look forward to getting the chance to rectify that."
"Oh, so you two know each other?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha happily snuggled a little closer to him as she nodded.
"Yes. Jack, these are my friends Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, and my boyfriend, Jaune. Everyone, this is Jacqueline Ivory, three-time British National Champion and presently one of the few to hold an undefeated streak in tournament combat."
Ruby perked up a bit, her eyes lighting up in recollection. "You beat some of the most prominent players in the tournament world, often without much trouble." She admired the tall blonde; nearly six foot tall and built like
Yang, with a toned and muscular figure, it was clear her specialty was martial arts.
Ruby remembered Coco said she was a Muay Thai practitioner, and she wore her skill on her sleeve. Everything about her radiated unshakable, humble confidence, someone who didn't brag but at the same time knew how to fight and wasn't afraid to.
"Well met," Jack replied. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you. This here is my partner, Evelyn Damerot." Jack turned to the shorter girl next to her, who had pale pink hair and bunny ears on a headband. A custom made top hat sat on one of the ears, with a hole cut out for the ear to poke through the side. She appeared well dressed, with a fancy charcoal grey pants suit. She was almost too well dressed for the tournament.
"Pleased to meetcha," Evelyn said with an infectious grin. "You must be the kids Penny told me about."
"What's with the ears?" Weiss cocked her head, confused at the odd accessory.
Evelyn giggles. "It's part of my gimmick; I'm supposed to be like the Mad Hatter and the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Originally it was just the Hatter bit, and G-Hopper was the rabbit, but I like the ears."
Blake looked at Jim, her golden eyes studying him. She had a look of confusion on her face as she looked into the dark glasses he wore. "Forgive me for being rude, but...Jim, was it? How do you fight in a Gunpla battle if you're blind?"
A sudden, complicated look flashed a crossed Jim's face for a second, one that said that he had been asked that question many times before, but it was gone in an instant. He looked in Blake's direction, an amused grin creeping in. "Blind? Who's blind? I don't see any blind guys here!"
Yang stifled her first chuckle but failed to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Weiss groaned. "Fantastic."
Hathaway sighed slightly. Jack gave them an apologetic look as Evelyn snickered. "My apologies," Jack said. "Jim is a bit of a smartass."
"Sorry, it's an all too common question," Jim explained. "The accident I suffered in the US Air Force damages my eyes, but I can still see...kinda. I can't judge distance, and things are blurry and blobby. So, I have a little AI thing built into this microcomputer to plug into the special GP Base I have.
"The AI helps tell me approximate meters from a target or terrain and its general direction-just enough info that someone with normal eyesight could make out. And, it is PPSE certified, so it's tournament legal, kind of like a prosthetic. It doesn't give me any advantages cause the AI is tied to my Gunpla's sensors, so if my radar or sonar is disabled, my cameras are offline, or my Gunpla's head is missing, it's useless, just as your eyes would be."
"Still sounds risky if you're a pilot," Weiss commented.
Jim gave her a confident smirk. "What's a little reward without some risk? I can throw down with the best of them. If anything, my eyes just give the other guy a better chance."
"The second battle begins in five minutes," Jack said. "You boys should head out to the arena."
"We'll be rooting for ya!" Evelyn chimed in. Hathaway nodded and helped Jim navigate towards the arena.
"Hath!" Ruby called out. He turned to look at her, and she gave him an excited grin. "Kick their butts!"
He smiled and nodded before continuing. The others looked at her, confused, and shocked at her outburst. She glanced around, suddenly blushing at the unwanted attention. "What?!"
"Where did that come from?" Weiss asked.
Yang gave her sister a knowing grin. "I think Ruby's got a crush…."
"Yang! Shut up!" Ruby shouted, blushing as red as her hoodie.
Evelyn, practically mimicking Yang, leaned in and smirked at the younger girl. "Sounds like you got competition, Jack."
"Shut up, Carrots," Jack replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice, her arms crossed to avoid knocking the hat and ears off her partner's head.
Blake giggled at her friend's embarrassment. "What makes you so excited to watch Hath, Ruby?"
Ruby gave her a puzzled look. "Well, Hath is one of the strongest Gunpla fighters in the US, but his claim to fame is that in every match he fights in, he changes his kit." She thought back to watching a fight last year with him using a kitbash of the Grimoire and Zaku II Kai. "Almost all his kits are simple part swap kitbashes of two or three other kits, making a unique hybrid machine. They are usually unmodified besides mutual connections, so his kits take on a unique feel simply by changing parts of one kit to parts of another-even non-Gundam kits. The only part you can be sure of that is the same regardless of what Gunpla he uses is his custom railgun sword, Black Thorn."
"Normally, that's true," Jack noted, "but this first match will be the exception to that rule."
They turned to her, curious. "How so?" Blake asked.
Evelyn nodded. "Well, Hath spent most of the last two days building a replica of Jim's Gunpla, the Gundam Zetamaster, and repainting it black and purple, and making a special kit for himself that sorta breaks his normal methods."
"In short, he spent a fair part of the day two days ago creating some special parts for a kit he's sure will please the fans," Jack added. "First and foremost, Hath is a showman. Second, after that, he hates being predictable."
They turned as they watched Hathaway and Jim ascend the steps to the platform where the massive Gunpla Battle table sat. Jim lifted his cane as he came to rest in front of the table and pushed on the ball at the end, telescoping it inward so he could put it in his pocket.
He looked over to Hath, who he could tell was standing next to him because of the long, elaborate black and grey trench coat he was so fond of wearing. It made him stick out pretty quickly among crowds. "So, this new Gunpla is identical to my normal Zetamaster, right?"
Hathaway nodded. "Every millimeter is identical, except for the new paint. So if there is a difference, it'll be so minor you won't have any trouble compensating."
Jim reaches for his left pouch, removing the black and purple airplane kit from it and smiling. "Yeah, definitely looking forward to this." He shook his head with a laugh. "But really, all this just for a gimmick?"
Hath glanced over at him, and Jim could hear the laughter in his voice. "Gimmicks are what make the world go round in this kind of fighting scene."
Jim thought for a moment. "I see."
"No, you don't," Hath shot back, which made Jim chuckle.
"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE, STARTUP! MODEL DAMAGE LEVEL SET TO B!"
When prompted, the four contestants set their GP Bases. Jim's had a wire running up to a pair of earbuds in his ears, which attaches to his glasses for comfort. "Know anything about these guys?"
"Kenshou Matsunaga likes using kits with elaborate white and gold motifs designed to mimic a stylized Shin Matsunaga reference," Hath explained. "Hence why his team is called Team White Wolf, off of the White Wolf of Zeon that shares Kenshou's surname.
"His partner, Uzuki, likes mobile weapons. Last year he used a Zaku II High Mobility Type that was modified with parts from the Jagd Doga and Psycommu Zaku for extra speed and mobility while he attacked at range with chaotic beam spams. That, along with a Zaku HMT with a pair of massive spiked shields for melee combat, made for an effective team. It'll be interesting what they do with just the two of them."
Jim pauses. "Hmmm….I'll go high; you go low. If Yoshiki has a long-range kit, I'll deal with him."
"Here's to hoping we get terrain and not space," Hathaway said as he unveiled a belt full of leather pouches, each one containing a Gunpla. He opened the long one near the front and removed an odd shape from it. "Otherwise, that'll be interesting."
"FIELD FIVE-CITY! PLEASE SET YOUR GUNPLA!"
Hathaway set his model down on top of it's GP Base. The group watched on the monitor as the cameras from the table looked up at it. Confusion crossed the faces of everyone except Jack and Evelyn.
Jaune squinted, trying to register what he was seeing. "Is that…"
"A semi-truck?" Yang finished Jaune's sentence.
Ruby stared at the kit. It had a wheel in the front and two on the back. The body of the truck, however, appeared to be a modified Jesta. Same with the legs, though the waist unit looked more like the waist of the Industrial Design RX-78. The arms seemed to be tucked back along the back of the Gunpla, and shoulders were folded down to be as flush as possible with the top of the kit. Oddly, no head could be seen. Sitting on what would be the back of the legs was a massively modified rocket launcher.
"The blue and red color scheme seem familiar." Blake cocked her head to the side.
Jaune pulled out his phone and did a quick search on the internet, a realization striking him. "Hey, the logo on Jim's jet. It's...it's a Decepticon logo!"
Yang shot him a surprised look. "What, from Transformers?"
"Yeah, look!" Jaune held up his phone and showed them. Sure enough, the black, grey, and purple fighter jets were sporting a famous franchise logo.
They turned as the table announced the start of the battle. Jim shot off into the sky, while Hathaway was thrown forward and landed in a park hard on the ground. He immediately took off, turning sharply down a street and heading for the city center.
"Looks like we're in Tokyo," he commented. "This'll be a challenge; I don't know the layout."
"I'd offer to be your eyes in the sky, but, you know," Jim said wryly. "This map probably doesn't favor me much. Even if I had good eyes, maneuverability in the air is nonexistent."
Hathaway nodded. "Gotcha. Don't worry; I'll flush them out. Just keep an eye out for those bits."
The truck came roaring into the center of the city, immediately catching sight of the targets. He could hear their open comms light up as soon as they saw him.
"Is that a semi-truck?" Yoshiki blurted out, surprised. Kenshou turned, his suit's monoeye glaring at Hath's Gunpla.
"Huh…" Hath muttered as he barreled towards them. He noted their designs-Yoshiki was piloting a black, white, and red Gelgoog, and Kenshou has a white Gelgoog with gold trim and some minor light grey accents. As they got closer, he was able to pull more details from them, but not before they both began firing on him.
Most of the beams missed. Those who hit him found an I-field in place, harmlessly deflecting the rays around him as he sped closer. One hundred meters….seventy-five...thirty…
Once he got within twenty meters, Hathaway activated his thrusters and selected the SP slot on his right orb. The semi's front end boosted up, and the back end quickly fell and split open, forming legs. The shoulders folded out to the side and the arms unfurled from behind the back, his right hand holding the rocket launcher. A modified Victory Gundam Hexa head emerged from the hollow chest cavity, and Hathaway pointed his weapon straight down as he boosted over the Gelgoog team.
He opened fire, his weapon launching massive beam shots instead of rockets. The ammo choice took the two by surprise, and as he flipped in the air, they frantically scattered and kept trying to shoot him down. One of Hathaway's shots hit the side of the large shield on Kenshou's Gelgoog, obliterating the top right-hand corner as he rapidly retreated to the side.
Hathaway landed hard and continued firing, three shots at Kenshou to his right, and two more at Yoshiki to his left. They hit the buildings they hid behind hard and left massive holes in them as they tried desperately to regroup.
Jim swooped down and transformed out of fighter mode, landing next to him. He paused, allowing his sensors to process the area around them. "Get a good look at them?"
Hathaway nodded. "Yeah. A Gelgoog Marine Commander type, likely Cima Garahau's custom one, with Zeong arms and shoulders that hold the Jagd Doga shoulder shields and funnels. It was colored like the Zaku Kraken, so it's probably based on that.
"The other is a white Gelgoog Jaeger with modified shoulders to look like a wolf's head and tail, gold and light grey trim. The shoulders probably came from a Dijeh. I'm guessing that's Kenshou's since it's a reference to Shin Matsunaga."
"Well, I'll give them an A for style points," Jim commented, "though they got nothing on us."
The sound coming from the crowd was a mixture of excitement and bafflement. Jaune blinked when he looked at Jim and Hathaway's Gunpla together, shaking his head. "They made Optimus Prime and Skywarp?"
Evelyn chuckled under her breath. "You know, if Hath weren't Jack's boyfriend, I probably wouldn't associate with him. These stunts make me cringe sometimes."
Jack growled. "Dammit, Evelyn, I told you he's not my bloody boyfriend! And for your information, I was the one who suggested the Transformers gimmick."
Evelyn blinked, shocked. "This was your doing? Oh god, you two are made for each other."
"I will smack you." Jack crossed her arms and scowled, making Evelyn chuckle.
Ruby laughed nervously before turning back to the monitor. "I wonder what Team White Wolf is going to do now? They're facing an exceptionally well-built pair of transforming machines which can easily traverse this terrain quickly, though Jim's a little limited on his maneuvering in the city."
She glanced over as the camera shifted to Yoshiki's Gelgoog Kraken, who was slowly trying to link back up with Kenshou without getting spotted.
"Was that Convoy that just assaulted us?" Yoshiki asked his team leader. His monoeye swiveled from side to side as he heard Jim take off again in the distance.
"Stay on your toes," Kenshou replied, "and get off open comms! They can hear you through proximity chat."
Yoshiki switched his comm frequency and hovered across Tokyo's deserted streets towards Kenshou, wary of the airborne threat. He had his hands gripped tightly around his control orbs, ready to deploy his funnels at a moment's notice.
Kenshou raised his beam machine gun and began slowly inching towards Yoshiki. He couldn't hear anything from his position, and he didn't like it. The silence set him on edge.
Hathaway smirked as the two Gelgoogs hid. He looked up at Jim, who had done a flip in the air and was now heading south towards the direction the two had come from originally.
He switched his comms to an open channel and raised his rifle. "You, who asked for this battle, now flee from it? I thought you were made of sterner stuff."
The voice that came from Hathaway's comm channel was distorted and metallic sounding, and in more ways than one familiar to most of the people in the stadium. Jim laughed and shook his head. "You bought the voice modulator?"
Hathaway switched his comms back to closed and grinned. "Hey, if I'm going to look like Optimus Prime, I should sound like him too."
A proximity alert sounded from his right, and he turned just as a flurry of yellow beams shot towards him. Jumping backward, Hathaway opened fire and repelled the incoming Gelgoog before landing and transforming back into truck form to circle the side.
Yoshiki grinned as he launched four of his funnels. "Nice one, Kenshou. I got him!"
The four red remote weapons shot after Hathaway. They zipped around in the air, making erratic movements as they chased him. Yoshiki hovered across the ground along a street adjacent to the one Hathaway was driving on, giving chase.
Hath frowned and made a hard left, transforming and rolling into a kneeling position on a street by a park before opening fire. Three powerful, massive yellow bolts of energy lanced forward and sailed past the incoming funnels, impacting the area that Yoshiki was expected to exit his street. The Gelgoog barely managed to skid to a stop as the second and third beams slammed into the building and ground right next to him, staggering him.
The funnels darted to the side and opened fire, but no sooner had they done so were they shot down by the Zetamaster Skywarp in a strafing run. Jim grinned as his AI located the Gelgoog Kraken, now exposed and in an open area. "Good job getting them into a clearing, Hath," he said. "Now, it's showtime."
Yoshiki's brows furrowed, realizing the ploy Hathaway had implemented too late. He raised both arms and opened fire with all ten beam cannons in his fingers, forcing Jim to dodge and dance in the air. The twin beam rifles he held returned fire, pink beams pushing back against the yellow blaze fired up at him.
"How? What the hell is happening?" Yoshiki shouted as he began to retreat into the cover of the city. "How is he that accurate?!"
He released two more funnels and had them stay low in the buildings' cover as Jim flew by. They shot upwards as he passed overhead and began chasing the fighter jet, firing on him and forcing him to evade defensively.
"Two targets, rear, 34," the AI said in Jim's ear. He transformed mid-flight and spun around rapidly. "Positions 12 down and 17 up. Moving erratically."
Jim watched them intently. The brilliant red colors stood out against the sky, but they were little more than blurry red dots against the blue background. Jim moved around slightly and adjusted his arms accordingly, angling his left arm down and outward and his right arm up slightly. The twin rifles fired and forced the funnels to narrow their movements, closing in on each other. He adjusted and fired again, closing the gap a little more, before changing and firing both guns one last time. One funnel was hit and exploded while the other dodged down back into the city and retreated.
"One outta two ain't bad," he said happily.
"Analysis: that is only fifty percent," the AI responded critically, it's robotic sounding voice buzzing in Jim's ear.
"Hey, Alpha, nobody asked your opinion," Jim shot back, before transforming and resuming his flight.
Hathaway watched as Jim combatted Yoshiki in the air, his hands gripped on his rifle. Never failing to impress, he smiled as Jim danced around the beam shots from the Gelgoog Kraken's fingers, transforming and returning fire while remaining in the air.
His proximity sensor lit up, and a red warning message flashed across his screen. He turned and dodged as a yellow beam saber blade slashed down on his position, narrowly missing his Gunpla. He took a few steps back as Kenshou's Gelgoog Mánagarmr rushed him.
Hathaway took a step backward as Kenshou skidded to a stop and opened fire with his beam machine gun. Hathaway returned fire as he retreated, the massive beam blasts he shot, forcing Kenshou to hover around the corner to avoid taking damage.
"This is going nowhere," Hathaway muttered, turning around and transforming to speed down the stretch and back into the city. He kept his eyes open as he traveled. Kenshou was probably trying to flank him.
He jolted upright as the Gelgoog Mánagrmr shot around the corner and stood in his way, blocking access to the intersection he was hurtling towards. He activated the I-field as a stream of yellow energy hurtled him, with Kenshou attempting to cut him down.
The field effortlessly refracted the beams around Hathaway in all directions, leaving scorch marks all along with the buildings as he drove headlong into the Gelgoog. Hathaway pushes his control orbs forward, accelerating to max speed and bowling through the Gelgoog. Kenshou staggered as Hathaway transformed in front of him and delivered a devastating fist to Kenshou's Gunpla, stunning him and forcing him to back off for a moment.
The Gelgoog drew its beam saber, preparing to fight Hathaway head-on. Hath mounted his cannon to his back and reached to the sides of his kitbash's Jegan shoulders. He grabbed the silver exhaust pipes on each one and pulled them down, igniting a brilliant orange beam axe in each hand as he stared the white and gold Zeon suit down.
Hathaway grinned and activated his voice changer. He had been waiting for this moment the entire match. "One shall stand, one shall fall."
Kenshou shook his head and chuckled. "Somehow, I knew you were going to say that. I applaud your dedication to the role play. But I think we've played around enough."
Jim looked over at Hath and Kenshou as they squared off and laughed. "You nerd," he joked, shaking his head. Even if his eyes didn't work right, he could see enough of Hathaway's movements to tell his partner was having fun.
"Downright rear thirty-two," Alpha quickly rattled off in Jim's ear, forcing him to respond in a barrel roll as five lancing energy shots shot up at him from the street. He quickly rolled his fighter onto its back and transformed, flying backward in mobile suit form as he returned fire. He couldn't see Yoshiki's Gelgoog, but he could see a mostly black mass retreating as Jim's pink bolts rained down on his position.
"Tsk, let my guard down-"
"Left up twelve," Alpha interrupted. He quickly boosted to the right as a smaller beam shot down at him, narrowly missing his wing and slamming into the building behind him. "Down left twenty-two. Up forward eighteen, rear twelve."
Jim immediately transformed again and began a steep climb as multiple beams attempted to net him in an energy web of destruction. He chastised himself for letting Yoshiki get the drop on him and transformed again to return fire, watching as one of the funnels exploded in the distance while the red blurs he saw that aided it shot around a building.
The Zetamaster swung around mid-air and transformed back to fighter mode, climbing up into the sky before banking into a complete turn. Jim squinted, desperately fighting his poor eyesight for any danger Alpha might miss.
And he caught it. He was zipping right at Hathaway.
Hathaway's Optimus Prime kitbash tangled with Kenshou's Gelgoog. The White Wolf Gunpla expertly dodged an overhand swing from his opponent's axe and then backpedaled away from a sideways slash before boosting his thrust. Hathaway twisted to the right and let him hurtle past before raising both axes above his head and slamming them downward.
Kenshou twisted to halt his momentum and caught both blades with his beam saber, the energy of the energy edges crackling ferociously against each other like an angry electrical storm. The Gelgoog, which stood slightly taller and handed larger and more powerful elbow joints, was able to fend off the kitbash and push it away with one arm, forcing Hathaway to land a few meters away, crouched and ready to strike again.
Kenshou glanced behind him and noticed the intersection meters away. The confined city street they were in posed a problem for his agility and bulkier size, limiting his Gelgoog's movements. He began to back up, blade raised, and ready to repel Hathaway again if needed.
Hath gave him a little room, holding off on charging him for a few moments as he backed up. While smaller, the claustrophobic space between buildings did hamper him, as well.
As Kenshou backed up a little bit more, Hathaway bent his knees, preparing to push off in a rush. His eyes locked with the glowing pink sensor of the Gelgoog.
"Hath, duck!"
Jim's voice pierced his concentration, and he immediately did as he was instructed. A yellow beam shot from behind him, missing his Gunpla's head by a matter of inches. The shot was sent straight at Kenshou, who deflected the energy with his beam saber.
Jim dove down and spun rapidly, riddling the entire area with a sea of pink beams. The torrential downpour of destruction destroyed the single funnel behind Hathaway and forced Kenshou to raise his left forearm to defend himself.
He staggered as the beams and a pair of missiles launched from the Zetamaster slammed into the area around him, making him cry out in surprise. He lowered his arm to see Hathaway rush him, and he reared back and made a stab at his body, trying to skewer him.
Hathaway leaned to the left, trying to sidestep the blow, but found himself unable to dodge it entirely. The beam impaled his right side at the abdominal level as he skidded to a stop, critically damaging his Gunpla.
As Hath staggered backward, the crowd and other viewers sat on the edge of their seats. Jack frowned as Ruby gasped, and Pyrrha commented on the intensity of the battle; Hathaway was far from inexperienced, but he wasn't proficient with axes. Had he been using swords, this would be far more one-sided, but his insistence on making his Optimus kitbash as reference heavy as possible caused him to handicap himself.
"Yikes," Yang exclaimed. "That was nasty."
"How will he recover, I wonder," Pyrrha added. Jaune looked nervously as Hathaway steeped himself and planted his foot down, swinging at the charging Gelgoog.
His swing was met with a deflection from Kenshou's beam saber, but he followed through with a swipe that grazed across the chest of the white Gunpla. Kenshou backed up as Hathaway recovered from the deflection before looking up and hovering to the right as Jim made a sweeping pass from above, chased by the Zeong arms from the Gelgoog Kraken.
Hathaway watched Jim circle around, banking hard to the left and sweeping back around. The Zeong arms' wires were visible in the cloudless sky, which meant Yoshiki couldn't take advantage of their black color like he could have if this had been in space.
The Zetamaster Skywarp dove straight down at the Kraken, who opened fire with hip-mounted beam cannons. Jim dodged and avoided incoming fire from all sides, set on launching a suicide dive. As he approached the Gelgoog Kraken, he slowed, transforming mid-air, but stopping halfway through as his arms and legs deployed, but his body remained in jet mode.
Yoshiki cursed as he attempted to move, but Jim has closed the distance quickly and stopped nearly on top of his position. His lowered arms opened fire and blasted the Zeong arms', causing them to lose power and drop from the sky. Disarmed, Yoshiki gasped and began to withdraw, but found himself riddled with pink beams, piercing his Gunpla five times before it exploded.
Jaune blinked as he watched the display. "Jim's Gunpla has a Guardian mode?!"
Weiss turned to him, confused. "What that?"
"In the Macross Saga anime, the transforming robots could do a half transformation just like that called Guardian Mode," Jaune explained. "It gave them some variable options compared to robot or fighter mode, like letting them hover in place and slow rapid descents."
Hathaway grinned as he readied himself, one axe forward in front and another lowered at his side. "Heh, I wasn't sure you were going to use that mode."
"Well, it worked out to be the best option." Jim shrugged and smirked. "I'll leave Kenshou to you."
Hath stared at the white Gelgoog, who was weighing his options. Jim was likely low on fuel but otherwise undamaged. Hath was wounded but far from nonfunctional. Kenshou pursed his lips and readied his beam saber.
The Optimus kitbash charged, swinging his left axe. Kenshou raised his saber in defense but was surprised as Hathaway's wrist twisted, and the blade of his beam axe shifted slightly.
The new angle caused the blade to skim across the beam saber and repel it, forcing the saber down. The right axe cleaved through Kenshou's right elbow, completely amputating the right forearm and its beam saber in one swing.
Kenshou, surprised by the counterattack, stepped backward and tried to retreat, raising his left arm and firing the small beam gun in its forearm. Hathaway dodged to the left as Jim flew down and transformed, kicking the white Gelgoog over. Its wide wolf head shoulder pauldron slammed into the building behind him, causing him to spin and fall sideways into the street.
"Well," Hathaway said, replacing the beam axe onto his shoulder and reaching back to grab his beam cannon, "I think you're right. It's about time we ended this."
He raised his cannon and fired, piercing the Gelgoog in the abdomen and causing it to explode as Jim landed next to him.
"Phew, well, that takes care of that." The blonde nodded as the computer announced the battle's end sounded.
The holographic projection faded, and Jim reached into his pocket and snapped his cane open. He nodded and smiled at his opponents. "Been fun, guys."
Kenshou and Yoshiki looked at the table and their destroyed Gunpla, and each other. Shrugging, Kenshou walked around the table and offered his hand to Hathaway and Jim. "That was a good match. Congratulations on your win."
Hathaway took his hand firmly. "Thanks. I had fun. Good luck with your future endeavors."
"Yeah, that was a trip," Jim added. "Wouldn't mind a rematch someday."
"Heh, I was about to say the same thing." Kenshou looked at Yoshiki as he approached.
The hotheaded young man appeared slightly bitter at his loss and yet impressed at his opponent's skills. "Next time, I'll take you out."
Jim chuckled. "Yeah, looking forward to seeing you try."
The two locked gazes for a moment before Hath and Jim turned and headed back for the hall to the back area. Once there, they spotted the group, lightly chatting with each other as they came down from the excitement of the battle they had just witnessed.
"Stellar performance," Jack said in congratulations. "That was very impressive."
Ruby nodded in agreement. "I'll say! I'll need to pick your brain later about those Gunpla you're using. I was amazed!"
Jim shrugged. "Sure. Fat load of good that'll do you for Hath's though. He doesn't stick with the same kit twice."
"Oh, I know." Ruby grinned in excitement. "But, I want to know how you got those pieces to turn into an actual working semi truck mode!"
"Well, it wasn't easy," Hath admitted, "but it's reactions like that that make an effort worth it." He glanced at the television. "Maybe I'll tell you later. Do we know who's up next?"
"No," Weiss replied. "I think they're taking a ten-minute intermission before they make the announcement, and then it'll be another twenty minutes before the fight. So we have almost a half-hour before the next round."
"I hope they pick us!" Evelyn exclaimed excitedly. "I'm ready to get pummeling!"
Yang turned and looked at the suited girl in bunny ears. "Well, someone's all hopped up."
Weiss, Ruby, Jack, and Jaune audibly groaned. Jim snickered, and Evelyn let out a hard and hearty laugh. Blake merely glared at her girlfriend. "I'm leaving you."
"Heh, no, you can't leave," Yang said as she clung to Blake's arm. "You'd miss me too much."
"Well, whoever is up next, I hope they give it everything they got," Ruby said. "I'm looking forward to the next fight!"
Lady Kawaguchi watched the Meijin as he rewound the fight they had just seen on his television. The press box was quiet despite the bustling people beneath it, which afforded the Meijin a good look at the video uninterrupted or disturbed by outside noises.
"You saw something, didn't you?" she asked her partner. "I can feel your excitement from here."
"Making a fully working Transformer out of non-transforming parts and doing so in a way that makes you feel like you're looking at the inspired robot is…" The Meijin stopped as he paused the video during Hathaway's first transformation. "It's fiendishly clever, and I doubt anyone even noticed this."
He pointed to the hip joints. There, he zoomed in on the image, revealing the point where the Gundam Industrial Version's hips connected with the Jesta's legs. The Lady stood and stared, her eyes locked on the spot.
"That's…"
"That is hydraulic." Probably taken from an IBO kit. But the way he used it to give the transformation a much-needed boost in power to lift it off the ground means he's not just a simple kitbasher. He knows how to manipulate and enhance kits well beyond their limitations."
The Meijin smirked. "I'll need to keep an eye on this one. If he has a Gunpla that's not a kitbash, it could very well be one of the most powerful in the tournaments."
HATHAWAY'S GUNPLA
"Optimus Prime"
Hathaway's skills as a professional kitbash master were put to the test when he decided to make a fully transformable, entirely thematic recreation of the famous Autobot leader from Transformers. The kit is created entirely out of Gunpla parts from the Jesta, RX-78-2 Gundam Industrial Version, and Victory Gundam Hexa, except for its weapons, tires, and the hydraulic pistons commonly found on Iron-Blooded Orphans kits. Additional small details, such as adding a custom truck grill on the abdomen and wheels from a semi-truck kit, were added for extra flair.
Meant to be as faithful a recreation as possible, Hathaway pulled out far more stops in this build than most. Notably, the Gunpla has far more range of motion in its shoulders and can retract its head completely into its body to transform into a semi-truck. Thanks to the Industrial Version Gundam's hips, its Jesta legs can fold backward at a ninety-degree angle, allowing its wheels to hit the ground evenly. The hydraulics added to the internals of the kit act as shock absorbers and strength enhancers.
For weapons, it maintains the Vulcan machine guns in the Hyaku Shiki's head, though Hathaway opts not to use them. It also carries a modified rocket launcher based on a hyper bazooka and Johnny Ridden's Gelgoog's weapon, but it has been edited to fire massive yellow beam shots. Its smokestacks on its shoulders can detach and emit large beam axe blades for melee weapons, though its fists and wrists have been reinforced to deliver powerful punches if needed.
JIM'S GUNPLA
Gundam Zetamaster Skywarp
A kitbash between the Gundam Airmaster and Zeta Plus, Hathaway built a near-identical copy of Jim's normal Zetamaster specifically to team with his Optimus Prime.
Jim's normal Zetamaster is a high speed, high agility demon of the wind. The Skywarp version differs only in two ways-its color, matching the color scheme of the Decepticon Skywarp, and enhanced joints that allow it to transform into a variation of Guardian mode found in the anime Macross Saga, essentially turning into a half fighter jet, half-robot way to add extra versatility. These joint modifications will likely be carried over to the regular Zetamaster for future battles.
For weapons, Jim has access to two Vulcan machine guns, twin-beam rifles, and a pair of beam sabers while in robot mode, and micro missiles and four nose-mounted Vulcans in addition to the rifles in fighter or Guardian mode. While the default Zetamaster fires yellow beams, the Skywarp version fires pink ones. Due to Jim's limited eyesight and the reliance on an AI named Alpha to register distance and incoming threats, he often relies on the twin-beam rifles more than anything. For defense, he has anti-missile flares.
KENSHOU MATSUNAGA'S GUNPLA
Gelgoog Mánagarmr
Named after his older Zaku Mánagarmr he used during the Under 19 Tri Battle Tournament last year, Kenshou and his fellow teammates decided to use various models of Gelgoogs for the Doubles Tournament, with His machine being based on the Gelgoog Jaeger.
This high-performance unit boasts impressive speed and reaction time. Unlike most Gelgoog variants, Kenshou mounted mismatched shoulder pauldrons onto his machine, using the Dijeh as a reference, and customized the smaller one into a wolf's head one with the shield into a wolf's tail-much like his previous machine. Armament wise, it sports two beam sabers, the rapid-fire beam machine gun commonly used by Gelgoog Jaegers, and two beam guns mounted in its wrists.
YOSHIKI UZUKI'S GUNPLA
Gelgoog Kraken
A heavily modified Gelgoog Marine Commander Type, Yoshiki's primary role of Team White Wolf was offensive support and suppression. Like the Zaku Kraken before it, Yoshiki's new Gunpla took design inspiration from several machines-namely, the Zeong, Jagd Doga, and Sazabi.
Its bulky armor belied the agility Cima Garahau's Gelgoog Marine was capable of, and Yoshiki was able to draw out much of its potential in space. His mobility is more limited on land, but the Gelgoog Kraken could still prove to be a potent and elusive foe.
Attacking at the range, Yoshiki used funnels mounted on the shoulder shields taken from the Jagd Doga, Sazabi-style funnel pods on his back that replace the standard fuel pods found on the backpack, and the Zeong's powerful five-barrel detachable beam cannon hands. He also installed twin beam cannons on the body in the hip area for personal defense, similar to the Zeong's, in case his funnels couldn't deter an opponent from getting in close. He has no melee weapons to speak of on his machine, though Zeong's large hands allow the Gelgoog Kraken impressive grappling strength and his ability to launch them at enemies is a boon in close range combat.
