The end of the last battle had left many people in the audience shaken, but excited. Mirai and the announcers in all languages reported both Sekai and Yang were passed out from exhaustion, but would be fine, and as the minutes ticked on, the uncertainty eased away, little by little.

Which was good, because the finale of the day had yet to commence.

Hathaway looked at Ruby, who had an air of dread around her, and it all had to do with her sister. He wanted to win, but he wanted to win when Ruby and Weiss were fighting at their peak. That's what Hath had been waiting for. That's what he had wanted when he saw Ruby fight her sister in the regionals.

Fate had granted him the chance to face the inspired teen. He understood her concern, but he didn't want it overshadowing her abilities.

More than that, however, was that it broke his heart to see her this stressed. The look on her face, the concern, and the devastation were almost tangible. Her mind was surely running in eight directions at once, and she wasn't going anywhere.

He approached her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Ruby," he said gently. "You heard them-Yang will be okay."

"I know," she replied. "I wanted Yang to see this. And this is the second time she's wound up in the infirmary. I'm just worried she is pushing herself too hard."

An understandable concern, he had to admit. "Well…yes I can see why you'd be worried about that." He patted her back. "But I think, if Yang is anything like Jack, she'd prefer to know you have it you're all in this fight, so when she wakes up, she can have something to wake up to. And who knows? Maybe you two can figure out a new way for her to safely fight that won't take a massive toll on her body."

Ruby's silver eyes glistened slightly with tears, but he couldn't tell if they were of sadness or relief. Whatever caused them, it faded quickly, and she took a deep, slow breath. "You're right. That is exactly what Yang would want."

She turned to him and hugged him. "Thanks, Hathaway."

He looked surprised, glancing at Weiss, who simply smiled at him. It seemed she was grateful for pulling Ruby's mind back into reality. He nodded at her, then patted Ruby on the head. "You're welcome. Now, let's go give them a show to remember."

"That last fight be a tough act to follow," Jim remarked, tapping his cane on the ground. "Just based on how the announcers were talking, we've got our work cut out for us."

"You sound a bit discouraged," Hath shot back. "Afraid we won't live up to expectations?"

Jim snorted. "Me? Hardly. But I have money riding in this-if I lose my bet, Mina and Irina are going to clean me out!"

"And that's why I never gamble," Hath replied smugly.

Jim scowled. "You lying sack of you almost broke Jack and me the other day, too."

Hathaway shot him a look he knew Jim couldn't see very well, shrugging slightly. "I'd hardly call it gambling when you know you're going to win."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Jim walked past them, using his cane and Alpha in his ear to guide him toward the stage. "Let's get out there and put on a show, eh?"

Ruby and Weiss giggled to each other as they watched their opponents head toward the stage, and turned to do so as well. Jack stopped them, however. "Hey. Listen-expect the unexpected out there. Those two can be a bit tricky."

Ruby shot her a smile. "Oh, don't worry. I've been studying Hathaway for a long time now. His abilities both as a builder and a pilot are top-notch. And I know his gimmick is to always switch machines. Usually, the only thing that's constant is the weapon he uses. It's Jim's that's the wildcard, I think."

Weiss eyed Jack suspiciously. "Why are you trying to be helpful?"

Jack smirked. "I have money on you two,"

She answered plainly. "You win, and Adeline owes me fifty pounds."

Weiss shook her head and sighed, and Ruby snickered. "Thanks for the warning. Wish us luck!"


The Lady Kawaguchi crossed her arms and watched the Meijin. He had perked up a bit when he watched Ruby enter the arena and approach the table. "You seem unusually interested in this girl," she noticed. "Why?"

The Meijin smirked. He reached behind him, under his jacket, and pulled out a Gunpla-the kit-bashed Zaku he had been given. Ruby's Gunpla. "I see a lot of promise in that girl," he admitted, holding the Zaku in his hand gently. "She reminds me of myself when I was that age."

After a second, he shook his head. "No. That's not quite right. She reminds me of Sei Iori. The passion and optimism in her eyes and in her Gunpla…it's like back then."

The Lady peered over her sunglasses at him but was silent for a moment. The silence spoke volumes, and he turned to face her. "What's on your mind?"

"Yuuki," she said, her voice low, almost like a warning. "We shouldn't get wrapped up in Ozpin's plan. That's his student down an athere-an unknowing soldier in a war she doesn't even know is going on. But as the Meijin, you showing favoritism could-"

"I'm well aware, Catherine," he replied, cutting her off. The two had dropped their titles, which only happened in rare moments when they were alone. "Unless Ozpin's correct, I haven't decided to get involved."

"And if he is?"

He turned fully to her. "Then it would mean the end of civilization as we know it. We have a duty to get involved at that point, not as the Meijin and Lady Kawaguchi, not as the representatives of Gunpla Battle, but as humans living on Earth, who are under threat from a foreign attack."

She looked away, cross at his statement. Part of her knew he was right. But she didn't have to like it.

"Have you told Ozpin about this?" She asked. "That you'd actually side with him if the time came?"

"I was hoping you'd side with me in defending our home if he was right," Yuuki answered hopefully.

Catherine looked at her partner. "If," she said simply.

Yuuki gave her a small smile. "That's all I can ask."

He turned back to the window, where the four teams had started setting up. "Until then, Ruby Rose, rage on, and show your spirit through your Gunpla. Ignite the passion of the world, and be a beacon of hope."

The Lady shook her head and chuckled to herself. His corny lines always had a way of making her feel better.


Weiss and Ruby stood ready, their Gunpla in hand. The two partners had been awaiting their next fight, but now that it was here, they found themselves on edge.

This was, in some ways, even more pressure than fighting Kyrus Alexander. Because if they won here, they'd be in the top four.

And the pressure would only mount from there.

Opposite them, Hathaway and Jim seemed relaxed and ready. The pressure hadn't phased them at all. They were far more experienced at tournament battles and the eyes of the world on them, so this was almost like their home territory.

"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE, START-UP!"

Ruby couldn't help but notice that, while Jim had his Gundam Zetamaster already out and ready, Hath had yet to produce his model. He simply smiled as the holographic walls of the cockpit formed around all four of them.

"So, who you pulling out?" Jim asked once the walls were up. "Eclipse Saviour? Xi Crucible? Montero Gernsback?"

"All good guesses, but no," he replied, finally reaching into the large pack on his hip and pulling out his chosen machine. "I'm doing something a little different today."

Jim perked up. "More different than Optimus? Now you got my attention."

As the field spawned, forming a hilly grassland that stretched for miles, Weiss glanced at Ruby. "Who should fight who?"

"Jim's Gunpla is almost purely aerial," Ruby responded, "so it makes the most sense for me to go after him. But we won't know how to position ourselves until we see Hathaway's machine."

"Then I'll focus on Hathaway unless he's also a flying machine." She tended, the grip on her control orbs tightening. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Let's focus on the fight." Ruby's voice had a determined edge in it. "We can worry about everything else after this."

Weiss nodded. She was right.

As the four fighters took off, Weiss and Ruby immediately flew high into the air. Weiss's Gunpla had limited flight abilities because of its powerful backpack, but she stayed airborne long enough to spot Hathaway below.

She zoomed in on his Gunpla. "Hey…that's…"

"A Geno Breaker?!" Ruby blinked. It was definitely a kitbash, hunched over, looking up at them with the distinct dinosaur-like visage of the Zoid she recognized.

Its mouth opened, revealing a powerful cannon coming from it. It began glowing, charging a beam of potent destruction that was pointed right at them.

"Scatter!" Weiss cried out, and the two split up as the charged particle gun fired. The beam cut through the heavens and forced Weiss to descend, landing a dozen meters away from the Zoid.

Now on the ground, she saw the gimmick, it wasn't a Zoid, or at least not fully.

It shifted and transformed, revealing its actual appearance. A Deep Forbidden, one of the mass-produced Forbidden Gundam variants, but it had been turned into the Zoid they had seen.

Painted mostly red, the Deep Forbidden had the tail of the Geno Breaker mounted to the back end, the lower legs of the Zoid connected to the thighs of the Deep Forbidden at the knees, and its beam cannon mounted directly behind the Gunpla's head had been transformed into a fully mobile Geno Breaker head and neck, which retracted into the backpack when it was in robot mode. Weiss had also noted the double-barrel Geno Saurer turret on its back as well, which was something she would need to watch out for.

Its forearms had razor-sharp Geno Breaker claws that folded backward when in robot mode, freeing up its Gunpla hands to hold weapons. Its elbows had the standard Zoid poly caps on them, so Weiss had to expect that they could extend on cables like the Geno Breaker's arms could.

He reached behind his waist, withdrawing a black sword from a weapon rack. It had a forked blade, with a visible gun barrel in the center of it near the base of the blade. The cross guard was made up of a pair of outstretched black angel wings. The sword was a beautiful work of art, and clearly a dangerous weapon with multiple functions.

"I figured that Ruby would be up there, fighting Jim," Hathaway stated. "Despite the fact I want to duel her personally, it makes the most tactical sense."

He pointed his weapon at her. "So, it sounds like Forbidden Breaker and I are going to have to cut through you first while Jim keeps her preoccupied. Nothing personal."

Weiss growled. He was dismissing her before the fight had even started. She gripped her control orbs tightly. Fine, if he didn't think she was worth fighting, then she'd use that dismissal to try and get the upper hand now.

The Gyan's eye flashed, and she charged her thrusters. She studied his Gunpla; with the massive backpack of the Geno Breaker on its back, which held the tail and turret on it, she imagined his Gunpla was back heavy. He probably loaded the front of his Gunpla with extra weight for counterbalance, but that meant the machine was probably slower. And with the Geno Breaker's feet, it wouldn't be able to run or move as easily.

With her thrusters at maximum, she used the output to hover just above the ground and began to zigzag around the grassy field, kicking up flower petals, blades of grass, and soft earth. She darted to the right, circling him as he opened fire with a yellow beam shot.

Hath whistled in surprise as the Gyan skirted across the ground, closing in on him with alarming speed. He side-stepped her as she charged, lashing out with a sword swipe that cleanly missed its target.

Weiss spun around and raised her left arm, aiming Myrtnaster directly at the backpack of the Gunpla to pierce the Forbidden Breaker through the spine.

As her blade reached the backpack, however, the Gunpla transformed, ducking her thrust and causing her to sail right past him. She cried out in surprise as she went over Hathaway, and was jolted hard as the Geno Breaker's head grabbed her in its mouth and pulled her down to the ground with incredible force.

"Nice try, Miss Schnee," he admitted, "but I already know the disadvantages of this machine. You're going to need to try harder to work out a flaw."

Weiss looked over her damage meter. Aside from a minor puncture wound on her ankle, her Gunpla was overall fine. The attack was a warning shot.

She got up and boosted away, spinning to face Hath as he transformed again. She had tried to end things quickly, while he was testing the abilities of his opponent. She needed to think tactically if she wanted to approach him again.

The sight of Weiss getting taken down by Hathaway had made Ruby nervous initially, but her partner's Gunpla was tougher than that. A little body slam wouldn't do her in yet.

Which was good, because she had to focus. So far, Jim's Zetamaster had yet to appear. He was eluding all of her sensors, which meant that there was a chance he was using either Mirage Colloid or a form of radar-absorbing paint, features he had never actually used before in battle.

She had to keep her wits about her. Jim may be partially blind, but as he showed in the last fight, he was no slouch, and his AI assistant more than made up for his lack of depth perception.

The Destiny Scythe circled the battlefield, scanning everywhere. There was always the chance he landed, which was also out of character for him, but she found no trace of the Zetamaster anywhere.

Preparing to give up and swoop down to help Weiss, Ruby sighed. "I don't like not knowing where he is, but-"

A target lock warning interrupted her thought process, and she immediately twisted into a barrel roll as a pair of missiles whizzed by her. She looked at her radar-in her attempt to see him, she had neglected to watch her sensors. She cursed herself as she went into a steep dive, doing her best to evade Jim.

He watched her move and chuckled. "Sorry, nothing personal," he remarked to himself, opening fire on the Destiny Scythe with his twin-beam rifles.

Ruby transformed and blocked the shots with her beam shield, slowing down in the air and allowing Jim to blast past her, a red and white blur traveling at near-supersonic speeds. She turned and watched, returning fire with her own rifle as the Zetamaster banked up and to the left in a tight turn, easily avoiding her attacks and dipping into the clouds.

She exhaled sharply. "That was close!"

Another target warning and she dodged to the left as the Zetamaster unleashed a torrent of nose-mounted machine gun fire at her, rocketing through the sky and past her once more. She turned as he wound up cutting his engines, transforming into his Macross-style Guardian mode, turned, and transformed back into a jet fighter with such a fluid motion it looked like the Gunpla just naturally was in a state of shape-shifting between its forms.

Ruby groaned as her shots missed their target yet again. "He's so fast and agile." She turned and headed down, trying to put some distance between them to think.

As she headed down, she spotted Weiss and Hathaway below. "Weiss, above you!"

The Gyan and Forbidden Breaker clashed swords, each one testing the other's reaction time and movement. Weiss backed up as Hathaway's right backpack claw folded forward and attempted to grasp Weiss. Her mono eye shifted up as she heard Ruby's cry, and backed up further as the Destiny Scythe shot down at Hathaway.

Hathaway's twin pincers on his backpack folded forward, and a geometric barrier formed to block her attacks. The pink beam shield flashed as the beams slammed into it, never once even beginning to buckle.

Weiss pointed her rapier at Hathaway and unleashed her own series of shots, but they too were stopped dead. "That shield's impressive," she commented, raising her buckler shield up defensively.

Hathaway smiled and transformed back into the Geno Breaker as Ruby shifted her rifle into its massive beam scythe mode, slamming the blade into the shield. She roared as her thrusters strained against it, but the shield held.

The back twin turret on the Forbidden Breaker aimed up and fired at Ruby through the shield, forcing her to withdraw and back away.

With him distracted, Weiss rushed in. Hathaway's barrier faded as he focused on Ruby, but the Geno Breaker's head turned and the turret swiveled around rapidly, opening fire on the Gyan Noblesse Oblige.

Weiss dashed to his side to avoid it, closing the gap between them. Hathaway launched his left forearm at her, the razor-sharp claws opening to grapple her. She batted it away and thrust forward with her sword, but was forced immediately to dodge again to the right as the horn on the Geno Breaker's head folded forward and ignited a beam saber, which would have impaled her.

She tried to get around him again but was slammed by his tail as he spun around faster than she expected him to be able to. The blow sent her reeling, landing on her back meters away. She looked up as he turned to fire on her, only to need to slap Ruby's beam scythe away with his left pincer and open fire on her again as she tried to give Weiss time to recover.

Ruby was shocked at the strength of that barrier. It never once even began to falter, and she had just tuned Crescent Rose to emit a particle transformation blade, which would have cut through all but the highest output beam sabers. To defend against that…

She hovered above him, transforming her weapon back into rifle mode, and took aim again as Weiss pulled his attention with a volley of pin missiles. She pulled the trigger once just as an incoming alert sounded behind her.

She turned to see Jim dive-bombing her, spiraling in a nosedive. His twin-beam rifles began spraying energy rounds towards her and peppering both Weiss and Hathaway below. The Gyan crouched and cowered behind its tiny buckler, while Hath reactivated the dome and weathered the assault with no concerns.

Jim's barrage slammed into Ruby's beam shield hardest, however, forcing her to disengage as the Zetamaster swooped over the battlefield and pulled out of its corkscrew dive.

Weiss looked up as Jim traveled swiftly toward her, skimming across the ground at high speeds. He flew up just slightly and transformed fully into mobile suit mode, flipping forward and landing a flying kick to the Gyan's raised buckler, knocking her off balance yet again. The Gundam Zetamaster spring boarded itself off of the Gyan, transforming without ever touching the ground, before taking off yet again into the clear skies.

"Hey Alpha, where's the Destiny Scythe?" Jim asked as he pushed his Gunpla's jet form into the stratosphere.

"Scanning…" his AI replied. "Confirming position. Down, 34. Moving toward us at 218 meters per second."

Jim clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Pity, and here I was hoping her mech would be fast."

He banked hard to the right and circled around, transforming into Guardian mode in order to turn faster once he got to a certain position. Alpha told him exactly where Ruby was, which allowed him to begin opening fire on her from above. "C'mon, Red, dance!"

Ruby heard the beam shots before she saw the attacks. The alerts allowed her to predict each attack, but every evasion seemed to only cause Jim to get more accurate. She felt like she was fighting against the Zero System, which forced her to try and create unpredictable patterns.

Even with all of her efforts, her beam shields on each arm were taking severe beatings. Her energy output on both emitters dropped with every attack. If they failed, he'd shoot her out of the sky.

Weiss watched as Ruby ascended, but couldn't focus for very long. Hathaway transformed back into mobile suit mode, gripping his sword tightly.

The Gyan raised its right arm, aiming her shield up. "His Gunpla can switch from an all-range attacking dinosaur to a powerful one-on-one dueling machine," she muttered. "My advantage is speed and mobility. I've got to figure out how to use that to my advantage."

The Forbidden Breaker raised its sword at Weiss again, and she prepared to move. Hathaway watched her carefully, studying how her Gunpla tensed, preparing itself for a quick dash to the left or right.

"You're fast," he admitted, "but let's see if you can dodge this."

Electricity began arcing between the two halves of the blades, and Weiss boosted to her right just as a loud, sickeningly metallic clank sounded through the air. The forked sword rocketed backward as a powerful, supersonic projectile fired from between the blades.

The round clipped Weiss's buckler and pierced its outer edge with little effort, continuing unimpeded into a hill behind her. Weiss gasped in shock. "A railgun?!"

Her focus was on the impact site behind her, and she barely heard the sound of hover thrusters roaring to life. She turned in time to sidestep an accelerated thrust from the Forbidden Breaker, who was skirting across the ground like a Dom or some other rapid response mobile suit.

The sudden attack threw Weiss off guard, and she barely had time to launch a few hide mines as Hathaway circled back around. He activated his barrier as he got closer, clearly anticipating Weiss's bombs, before tackling the Gyan Noblesse Oblige at high speed.

Weiss was taken off balance and into the air, but she landed on her feet gracefully and released her rose bits to assault Hathaway.

He switched his barrier to protect his rear as the bits circled around him, buzzing like hornets trying to sting him. Once more, the two Gunpla crossed swords, Weiss's southpaw fencing style and shield combatting a brutal, lumbering, focused hack and slash attack pattern. Hath used his left arm's claws to strike when he could, mostly trying to rip Weiss's shield away from her as they dueled.

Weiss dodged every strike and thrust Hath committed to, sidestepping his attacks gracefully as she lashed out with her own ripostes. Her blade missed the larger Gunpla by a narrow margin each time, but with each missed strike, Weiss was forced to defend herself from a retaliatory attack.

He turned after Weiss chose to retreat for a moment, opening fire on the rose bits with a beam gun mounted to the outside of his sword. The yellow energy bolts soared through the air but failed to land on any of the four mobile attack units. He failed to score any hits on them and soon was forced to focus back on Weiss as she rushed back in.

He slashed at her, trying once more to disarm her of her shield. She circled around him, blocking another beam shot and a sword slash, before returning the favor with a thrust that grazed his Gunpla's cheek and left a long, deep scar just under the visor covering his optics.

She backed off but was met with Hathaway transforming once more and opening fire with his turret. Her bits tried to circle around to his rear or sides. Their attacks were nullified almost instantly; his beam barrier seemed to extend completely around him.

A solid blow from the turret onto the ground she was about to land on sent the Gyan down a small slope, skidding on its back until it came to a stop. When Weiss looked up, Hathaway was there, feet planted and charged particle cannon primed.

She activated her thrusters in a panic, blasting off as the brilliant rainbow beam of devastation glassed her resting place. She shot into the air but was horrified as he tilted upwards, chasing her with the bursting stream of destruction.

She raised her shield to avoid the attack. This was it. She was done.

But as the attack reached her, she was tackled out of the way. Her cockpit shook violently as it shuddered from the blow, and she looked up to see Ruby, dragging her Gyan away from Hathaway's attack.

Weiss looked stunned. "Ruby?! What are you-"

Her question was interrupted by a second round of shaking, as the Destiny Scythe barrel rolled out of the way of a barrage of attacks from Jim behind her.

"Weiss, when I say now, fire back at the Zetamaster," Ruby ordered.

Weiss had never seen such an intense look of determination on her partner's face. She nodded. "Okay. Ready."

They flew on for a few seconds, Ruby watching her rear camera. The Gundam Zetamaster was above her, matching her speed perfectly, its arms lowered and aiming its rifles in their direction.

She timed it, easing off her thrusters a bit, waiting for him to catch up. "Now!"

She spun around, pointing her rifle up with her right hand, and Weiss did the same with her rapier in her left. The pink and blue beams caught Jim off guard, and the Zetamaster began erratically moving and pulling up to avoid the incoming fire.

"Danger-incoming!" Alpha cried out, just as the first shot whizzed by.

"Woah, buddy!" He jerked to the left, banking hard to disengage from Team White Rose, who lobbed off beam shots at him until he had left their effective range.

Once the immediate threat was cleared, Ruby descended and set the Gyan down, landing next to her.

"Are you okay?"

Weiss looked over the damage. She and Hathaway had barely scratched each other overall, aside from the damage, the railgun had done to her shield. "Yeah, I'm fine. Most of the damage I've taken so far has been minimal."

Ruby exhaled sharply, relief washing over her. "Can you keep Hathaway occupied for a little longer? I have an idea."

"Sure, but I can't seem to phase him." She shook her head. "I feel like he's toying with me."

"You need to show him what you're made of," Ruby replied encouragingly. "You and I both know you aren't fighting at your peak right now."

Weiss was about to respond but stopped as she saw the Forbidden Breaker skirting towards them in Zoid mode, with a low-flying Zetamaster cruising next to it.

"You got this," Ruby continued. "Forget what Yang's mom said yesterday, and forget about what Hath said earlier. You can do this."

Weiss stared at her partner for a moment. Despite being the youngest of her group of friends, and potentially one of the most immature and childish, there were moments when Ruby wound up actually sounding like she was the most mature of all of them.

Her confidence, of course, came from her trust in Weiss and her knowledge of the mechanics of the Gunpla Battle. But it was inspiring nonetheless.

At a loss for words, Weiss nodded. She would do this. After a speech like that, she'd feel awful disappointing Ruby.

Hath and Jim continued approaching them at a steady pace, both fully transformed and cruising across the long, grassy field towards them. They opted not to open fire, letting the two have whatever moment they were having.

"You think they're giving each other a pep talk, or talking strategy?" Jim asked.

"I'd think a little of both." Hathaway shrugged. "We need to try and tag team them together. Focus on one but take pot shots at the other when we get a chance."

"Think we've given them enough time to themselves?"

Hathaway activated the charging sequence for his charged particle cannon. "I think so. Go rough them up a little."

Jim grinned and pushed his control orbs forward. The Zetamaster's thrusters began to flare, and he accelerated towards them, rapidly approaching the sound barrier as he did.

The cone of air and water vapor began forming around his nose, but he maintained subsonic speeds until he got close. Ruby and Weiss took note of the fighter jet's approach and were forced to scatter as he reached them, blasting past them with a sonic boom that took the two off their feet and forced them backward.

Hathaway's Geno Breaker mouth opened and the cannon began to gather energy. Ruby, still stunned by the sonic boom, looked up in time to see it. "Weiss, look out!"

The Gyan jumped from its kneeling position to her right just as the cannon fired, but the shot lasted only a second before he adjusted and fired again. Ruby watched in pure shock as the Forbidden Breaker continued moving, firing one-second burst after one-second burst of its most powerful weapon.

"How is it doing this?!" Weiss exclaimed as she was forced to dance around between blasts.

Ruby couldn't comprehend what was happening, and both Jim and Hathaway didn't give her a chance. Jim swooped down in a strafing run at the same time Hathaway unleashed a flurry of shots from his cannon, requiring the Destiny Scythe to back off and away from Weiss.

Then it dawned on her. "Of course! He doesn't need the foot locks!" She replied to Weiss as she boosted away from another attack from the Forbidden Breaker's turret.

"What?!"

"Zoid kits are heavier than Gunpla overall but in-universe, Gundams are larger and heavier than Zoids. A mobile suit with a charged particle gun would not be affected by its recoil as much as a Zoid! It'd have the same recoil as my heavy beam cannon!"

She jumped upward to avoid Hathaway swinging around and firing his charged particle cannon at her and immediately had to defend against Jim launching another overhead attack run. Her left beam shield emitter was getting taxed to its limit; it wouldn't last against the Zetamaster's powerful rifle shots.

Once Jim had flown by, she spun around. Her heavy rifle flipped itself over her shoulder and she flew down towards Hathaway. She pointed her rifle and cannon at him and extended her left hand to expose the Palma Fiocina cannon.

She roared as all three fired, slamming into Hathaway's barrier. Weiss joined in and unloaded several of her own beam attacks and pin missiles from her shield at him.

She tried recalling her rose bits but realized that when Ruby had saved her, she had also dragged her out of range of them. Unless they could get back to where they had been before, those weapons were useless now.

The offensive onslaught pummeled the Forbidden Breaker, and dust and smoke began to rise from his position. Ruby counted-five shots from her large cannon, seven from her rifle, and seven from her palm cannon. Her energy reserves on those weapons were getting low, but between those and Weiss's attacks, they had to have breached the barrier.

The Destiny Scythe came to a stop just before it hit the ground, but was blindsided by a pair of bombs from behind. Their approach hadn't let off any kind of alert, meaning they weren't locked on weapons, but ones Jim must have dropped at some point during her attacks, while she was distracted.

Ruby cried out as her cockpit shook, and then again as the Zetamaster slammed into her with a drop kick, driving her to the ground. She looked up as Jim transformed, retreating instead of finishing her off.

"Wait…why would-" she muttered, getting to her feet. She stopped when a brilliant light shone to her right.

She looked. The Forbidden Breaker. Its shield had held. In fact, the entire Gunpla was completely unscathed from the numerous attacks. And its charged particle gun was almost at maximum output and aimed right at her.

She panicked. In an act of desperation, she gripped her right control orb and cycled to her auxiliary ability, activating her Voiture Lumiere system. Her Gunpla flash stepped to the side as the blast fired, dodging it in time to return fire.

Hathaway powered down his cannon and transformed, aiming his sword at her. The charged particle cannon wasn't fast enough to combat a Gundam with a Voiture Lumiere system, but his railgun could.

Ruby came to a stop just as Hathaway opened fire. The magnetically accelerated round blasted through her beam shield and cut through the top of her shoulder pauldron. The piercing projectile did little damage, but it told Ruby all she needed to know.

She eyed her damage meter. Her shield buckled, but overall she was intact, save for the hole in the empty space of her shoulder armor.

Her eyes went wide in fear. "So….that's Black Thorn…"

She had seen stronger Gunpla battlers than herself felled in a single shot from that weapon. She had watched Hathaway for a long time, and each time he would fire that weapon in previous battles, it almost always led to the outright destruction of at least part of a Gunpla.

The fact Weiss and Ruby had both survived the one-shot he'd fired at each of them came down to either luck or Hathaway toying with them.

Hath smirked. Ruby was stunned. This was his chance.

He rushed forward, sword angled to spear the Destiny Scythe through its chest. Ruby, still in a fearful daze, took a few steps back, but couldn't think of anything except watching Hathaway's Gunpla rush her. The thought of escape barely registered in her mind.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out. She was too far away. She needed to do something. Firing on Hath wouldn't do any good, not with his barrier. She had to stop him herself.

Pushing her thrusters to maximum, she shot forward at breakneck speeds. She noted Jim was circling around but ignored him as he brought down a hellish blitz of energy blasts while hovering in guardian mode above the battlefield.

"Hath, look out!" Jim shouted, just as Weiss thrust her rapier forward.

Myrtnaster caught Black Thorn between its forked blades, the Gyan's sword sliding easily into the open slot of the Forbidden Breaker's weapon all the way to the hilt. The impact of the crossguard of the rapier on the crossguard of the forked sword knocked the weapon wide, and Weiss planted her feet hard into the dirt to put herself between Ruby and Hathaway.

She raised her buckler to chest level, deploying a series of hiding mines in the small distance between the bodies of the two Gunpla. She backhanded the bombs with her shield, detonating them at point-blank range.

The detonations rocked Hathaway and knocked him backward, forcing him to transform just to remain upright. Hathaway groaned as he backed up, looking at his monitor.

"Damn…good thing I reinforced the chest to act as a counterbalance," he muttered. The damage was minimal, but present. Had he not added additional chest armor to counteract the weight of his backpack, those explosions would have ripped through Gunpla's torso. His HUD had shifted to the warning yellow.

Ruby gasped, looking at Weiss, eyes wide as she came back to her senses. "S-sorry! I froze up after that-"

"Forget that," Weiss interrupted. "You need to follow your own advice and focus, now!"

Ruby nodded, looking up to see Jim coming back in for another strafing run. She leaped in front of Weiss and activated her right beam shield, which hadn't taken as much damage, and absorbed the incoming attacks. The powerful beam shots caused the beam shield to flicker intensely, once more taxing it to near maximum, like the burnt-out left shield. "I'm going back up. Can you handle Hathaway?"

Weiss paused, before replying. "I'll do my best."

Confident in her friend's ability, Ruby took off back into the sky. Weiss watched her, before turning her attention back to Hathaway.

She raised her right arm up, buckler facing out, her left arm raised back with her rapier parallel to her face, pointing at the Forbidden Breaker.

Hathaway twirled his blade, watching her. Weiss never took her eyes off of him, entrusting Ruby to keep Jim occupied.

'I have to do this,' she thought. 'Last time, Ruby saved me twice, and it was all I could do to help us win. This time…she's going to be able to rely on me.'

Hath glowered at the Gyan. They were long past pleasantries. If anything, he was annoyed at himself for taking Weiss too lightly. "Alright then."

He shot forward, hovering rapidly over the ground. Weiss met his charge with her own. The two Gunpla clashed as they had before, but this time, there was a fiercer, more lethal drive between them. Each slash, stab, and sword swing had killing intent behind it.

Weiss blazed past Hathaway, missing a strike. She deployed hide mines to cover her recovery, which Hathaway avoided, backing up and unloading a volley of shots from the beam gun on the side of his sword to detonate the mines.

She launched forward in another attack, her speed almost overtaking him. He leaned to the side, and she once again went right by him. Her monoeye circled around to look at him and saw him fire off his left forearm once more, claw extended.

She deflected it with her shield as she spun one hundred eighty degrees to face him, and the arm, attached to its cable, was knocked harmlessly away.

Hathaway snorted. He grabbed his left orb and squeezed, and the arm activated small maneuvering thrusters that caused it to erratically fly up into the air. Weiss watched as it shot upwards, and then came back down behind her.

She moved to cut the cord, but her rapier simply bounced off of it. "What?!"

Hathaway chuckled. "Sorry-that cable is made of rather resilient rubber. Beam sabers are the only thing that'll cut it, not physical swords."

The thumb claw of the Geno Breaker arm pierced her backpack while the two fingers grabbed the armor below her eye track, clamping down like a grappling hook. Weiss's backpack exploded, the damage from the claw exacerbating the fact she had overextended its operational limits by quite a bit.

Hathaway sighed. "That's too bad." He began reeling the Gyan Noblesse Oblige in, and try as she might with her remaining leg thrusters, Weiss could not stop herself as she was dragged toward the Forbidden Breaker.

She fired both her beam attacks and her pin missiles. All of her attacks harmlessly slammed into Hathaway's shield as the Gyan was brought closer.

Hathaway raised his sword up, releasing another railgun shot. The round pierced through the middle of Weiss's shield, and the entire buckler detonated. The round also severed her arm at the elbow.

She cried out as her HUD went red. She was running out of options. Captured and now defenseless, she had to do something drastic. In a last-ditch effort, she blasted herself forward. If she couldn't get away, she'd just have to try and disable his Gunpla.

Her rapier tried to pierce him but found only the dome barrier before it. Hath watched as she struggled for a moment, before releasing the barrier and sidestepping her. Without her backpack, her speed was severely compromised.

His left backpack claw reached over his shoulder and closed around her waist as she went past him one last time, and the pincers crushed down on the Gyan.

Alerts began signaling all over Weiss's HUD, and she looked at each one, as well as her Gunpla's damage meter. There was nothing she could do. The damage to her lower waist had effectively paralyzed the Gyan from the hips down.

Hathaway tossed the Gyan away unceremoniously. Weiss hit the ground, Myrtnaster flying from her hand.

She laid on her back for a moment but then turned over. Her Gunpla was almost fully disabled. But she refused to back down. She couldn't!

She used her remaining arm to drag the Gyan forward. Her sword was near. If she could get it…maybe she could get a lucky shot off. Maybe this could still be saved. Maybe-

The sound of the Forbidden Breaker transforming caught her attention, but she refused to stop. She wouldn't. She couldn't let Ruby down. This was her dream. It wasn't ending here.

Hathaway watched the Gyan. "You put up a fine effort, Weiss Schnee," he said over proximity chat. He released his arm from her back, retracting it to let her try to get to her sword faster.

She grunted as she dragged the Gyan. Its weight was felt in the control orbs. Each effort was excruciating.

Hathaway walked over to her, looking like a prehistoric predator in his Geno Breaker mode as it circled its prey. Each stomp was overly dramatic and his stride was long. He knew it was a bit over the top, but as a showman, he couldn't help but put on a show for the audience.

As he approached her, he watched as she reached her sword. Her hand extended to grab the handle.

And a single shot from his back turret sent the blade flying off even further.

Weiss panted, tired and frustrated. She let out a terrible cry as tears welled up in her eyes. She wasn't able to help Ruby, after all, and the reality of the situation overcame the denial and blind hope.

Hathaway's left foot slammed into the Gyan's back, pinning her down. "Goodnight, Snow White," he said, using the English version of her name as his charged particle cannon started charging.

Ruby heard Weiss's cries but could do nothing for them. She used her Voiture Lumiere system to dodge his attacks. He repeatedly transformed from guardian to fighter to robot and back, shifting between the three modes as the Destiny Scythe got more and more aggressive.

"Hey, Alpha, any advice?" Jim asked, trying to track Ruby. The Voiture Lumiere left an afterimage that was confusing the AI, and there was very little he could do about that.

"Conclusion-negative," Alpha replied as Jim spun around and opened fire at a mobile suit that once again wasn't there.

It was like hunting a ghost. He couldn't pinpoint a solid object at all. "Okay, okay, I take it back-you are fast enough," he admitted.

The Zetamaster boosted forward, trying to put some distance between him and Ruby. Maybe getting her to chase him would give him a straight line to the target.

He did not, however, expect the Destiny Scythe to keep up with him at supersonic speeds. While she couldn't catch him, she was on his tail the entire time, at least partially matching speeds with him.

He transformed and looked upside down at her in robot mode, opening fire with a few rounds.

"Proximity alert!" Alpha screamed.

"Oh, crap!" Jim rapidly transformed back into fighter mode just as the beam blade of the Destiny Scythe skirted under his fuselage. It clipped the tip of the left rifle off, rendering the gun almost useless and forcing him to ditch it as he turned around and headed back for Hathaway.

"Hey, Hath, buddy, I don't know if I'm gonna make it," he admitted. "I think I underestimated this one. Sorry!"

He transformed again as he headed for the ground at an angle. If she fell into a nosedive, maybe crashing into the ground would take her out when she got him.

He watched as the silver wings of the Destiny Scythe flared and she launched herself at him again. He fired his remaining rifle at her, and she absorbed it with her right shield, extending her left palm and returning fire with her Palma Fiocina. The blue beam struck true, hitting Jim's right calf, which immediately exploded and sent him into freefall.

He turned and watched as the ground came up on him rapidly, but his video feed cut after he saw the Destiny Scythe run past him again. Her scythe was open and extended, and he watched as the top half of the Zetamaster tumbled and looked at the bottom half before exploding.

"Heh…wow…" he said in surprise, sunglasses falling slightly. "So she was holding back, too, huh?"

Ruby landed hard in the grassy field, surrounded by spring flowers. Her knees took the brunt of the landing, and her knees took a massive shock, strained nearly to their limits. She panted, her silver eyes wide, adrenaline coursing through her system. She inhaled deeply and looked to her right, where her Identify Friend and Foe tags said Hath and Weiss were.

And she watched as the charged particle gun wound down. Its hellish barrage of energy had completely taken the upper torso and head of the Gyan off, reducing it to mostly destroyed, pooled plastic. Even on Damage Rating B, a weapon that powerful was going to do impossible levels of damage.

The Gyan's remaining left arm was extended outward, reaching desperately for Myrtnaster, which was well beyond its grasp.

The Geno Breaker looked up at Ruby, who was still processing the scene.

Weiss was out of the battle. It was down to her and Hathaway.

She recognized Hath's power now. He had managed to reinvent HER RG System Kai. That much had been clear from the beginning. And that was the only reason both Gunpla was still standing, absorbing the Plavsky Particles around them and converting them into fuel.

She suspected he was using the excess particles to rapidly charge his cannon and to utilize his shield. If she was right, then the fewer particles he had stored, the weaker both systems would be.

Her scythe transformed back into rifle mode and she shot at him three times. Each time, the shield stopped the attack, and she watched.

She could see the flow of the particles. She always could, and it always confused her when others said they couldn't. After a while, she had stopped asking, but she always watched as the particles that formed the battlefield and the attacks swirled and rose.

Both the Destiny Scythe and the Forbidden Breaker were covered in particles. These tiny, imperceptible sparkles around them brought this world to life. Sometimes, if she was really paying attention, she could even see how they would move before the Gunpla did, though she hadn't really practiced with this and nobody else seemed to know how she could take advantage of such an ability. But in truth, she already had.

She had used this ability to develop the RG System Kai, and now, she was going to use that to destroy her own system.

Hathaway studied Ruby, as well. It didn't take long for him to realize she had seen through his Gunpla. That meant things were about to get even more interesting.

He opened fire with his turret. The Destiny Scythe shot to the left and then up, trying to get a better view of the back of the Forbidden Breaker.

Hath transformed, denying Ruby her reconnaissance. His beam gun continued putting pressure on her, and she responded with a series of rifle shots, which he dodged. As he came to a stop, he had no choice but to activate his barrier to ward off another blast from her beam cannon.

The sustained attack rapidly sucked power from the Forbidden Breaker's reserves. There was no doubt now she had figured out that he had reverse-engineered the system Yang used.

When she ceased firing, he immediately dropped his shield to preserve power, unleashing a barrage from his beam gun to force her back. The Destiny Scythe easily dodged these, dancing around them in the air and circling Hath's right side.

He began charging his railgun and watched as she moved. He waited, predicting that she would use her speed to circle his left side.

As if on cue, she did, right as his sword finished charging. He pointed the weapon across his chest and fired, but she twisted to the side, letting the slug sail past her.

She returned fire with her rifle, forcing Hathaway to back away defensively. Once he had moved back slightly, she used the room to dive, transforming Crescent Rose back into its scythe form, and slashed at him.

The Forbidden Breaker scooted back and returned to its Zoid mode, rearing back and hovering to the side to avoid a second slash, before lunging forward with its pincers. Ruby backpedaled to avoid them, giving Hathaway room to launch his left arm at her, which she swatted away and came back around for a rotating overhead swipe.

Hathaway's barrier caused the attack to bounce harmlessly off of him, and as it dropped, he thrusted forward with the spike on the Geno Breaker's head. The beam saber inside the spike erupted, forcing Ruby to lean back to avoid getting impaled, and the Zoid bend down to sweep it across her position to cut her down as his left forearm retracted.

Ruby backed up slightly and opened fire with the scythe's beam rifle, keeping it on melee mode to actively engage in combat. Hath drifted to the side and returned fire, his shots deadly accurate and forcing the Gundam to immediately abandon its position.

"Damn, I need to figure something out," Ruby muttered. There had to be a way to break him.

Every second he didn't use his shield was another second he was recharging it. She knew he wouldn't risk his charged particle cannon on a fast-moving target.

His cannon operated differently than the one on the Death Stinger she and her friends faced months ago. It was more effective, more efficient. She was certain he was waiting for a chance to pin her down, like he did Weiss, to finish her off.

She zipped to his side and fired her rifle, dodging incoming turret fire along the way. His mobility and speed while hovering were staggering, and he was starting to constantly shift between mobile suit and Zoid modes to keep her on her toes.

He spun around and transformed into robot mode, closing in fast enough to slash at her. Ruby took off into the air, avoiding the attack, nearly getting cleaved in half.

Hath lurched forward and his left pincer lashed out, snagging her ankle as she moved up. The incredible power of the weapon crushed her foot and ankle almost instantly, and he flung her to the side.

She tumbled through the sky, managing to catch herself in mid-air after a few seconds. She reoriented herself just as the Forbidden Breaker shoulder tackled her in Zoid mode, knocking her to the ground.

Her cockpit shook violently as she landed. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Forbidden Breaker in the air, coming down from a jump with claws splayed and pincers open.

It landed on top of her, pinning her down. The pincers both were open and dug into the soft earth, each one trapping one of her arms and wings between them.

Hath grinned as he leaned down and snapped at her, grabbing her scythe on the center of the weapon and biting through it. The Zoid's powerful jaws cleanly snapped the scythe, disabling the weapon. He pulled up, wrenching it from her grasp and tossing it away, where it exploded behind them.

"The fight was brief, but I'm happy I finally was able to see your capabilities," he complimented her as he began to charge his main cannon.

Ruby growled defiantly. "This isn't over yet!"

She opened fire with her head-mounted Vulcans, disabling the left eye of the Geno Breaker's head in seconds. Hathaway recoiled from the attack to avoid further damage, leaning back and dislodging his left claw to shield himself.

Ruby used her free right arm to reach up and fire a Palma Fiocina blast under the pincer, further scarring the damaged left side of the Geno Breaker's head and forcing Hath to fully release her.

Once he had released her, she took to the sky immediately and flipped her heavy cannon forward. The powerful shot forced Hath to erect his barrier again, tanking the shot and giving Ruby the opening she needed.

She rushed in with her right arm reared back, flying up and over the Forbidden Breaker before coming straight down on his back, slamming her right hand down onto his shield.

Hathaway blinked, surprised by the move, but was otherwise unconcerned. His shield was charging as quickly as Ruby's Palma fiocina was depleting it.

"This isn't going to work, Ruby," he commented. "Your cannon's more likely to give out than my shield is!"

Ruby roared and pushed her control orbs forward, using the Voiture Lumiere to increase physical pressure on the shield. Her heavy cannon opened fire again, firing three more shots before its barrel exploded from overheating.

The energy blasts depleted the shield's power even further, but the shield held, resilient against the onslaught.

Alarms flashed and warning alerts blared all-around Ruby as her right arm began to buckle. She switched arms, firing her other palm cannon to alleviate stress on her right arm.

"This is a war of attrition, and you can't win!" Hath swiveled his turret around, trying to aim up at her and chase her off. However, she was in the perfect position to be completely unforgettable.

The alarms continued to flash before Ruby, and her HUD changed to a dangerous red as her left arm began to tax itself. With her rifle destroyed and her heavy cannon damaged beyond repair, she was rapidly running out of offensive options. Her power levels remained steady, but that wouldn't matter if her limbs gave out from the stress.

Grunting in frustration, she slammed her right palm down into the shield once more, adding to the constant beam attacks. Both Palma fiocina cannons were pouring their energy out at point blank range, but the shield, while fluctuating, held. "Damn! Break already!"

She began firing her Vulcans again, shelling the barrier with bullets. While weak, each hit just added more strain, and she could see the geometric shield begin to crack.

"You don't have the power to do this!" Hathaway only needed to wait it out, but now, with both cannons hammering him, and her machine guns, the energy output of his shield was beginning to fall. He couldn't intake as much energy as he was expending, but if he could hold out just a little longer…

His words hit Ruby like an uppercut but gave her an idea. She moved her right hand over to her energy meter and began shuffling power around. "C'mon…this would be easier if I had an Operator…"

She saw that the Forbidden Breaker was trying to move, slowly attempting to walk just enough away from her that its turret could pivot up to fire at her. It seemed that Hathaway couldn't move quickly with the shield drawing this much power, which meant that his copycat RG system wasn't entirely a perfect copy after all.

"Hey Hath," she called out, "I gotta admit, you managed to turn my sister's system into a very effective power generator for your weapon."

Her words caught him off guard, and he listened suspiciously as she spoke.

"And, as you might have guessed by now, I added the same system to my Gunpla."

Her bullets ran out as she gripped her control orb once more. "So, if you can do it, so can I!"

His eyes grew wide. Was she really serious?! "You're Gunpla isn't capable of handling that kind of output! You'll wreck yourself trying to reach me!"

"I don't need my Gunpla intact!" She replied ferociously. "I just…need to win!"

She deactivated her Voiture Lumiere system and funneled all of the gathered Plavsky Particles directly into her hand cannons. The barrier began fracturing quickly, the overbearing onslaught of power becoming too much for it to withstand.

Ruby's right arm began sparking, and an explosion at her shoulder nearly took the entire thing off. But she continued. Just a little longer.

"She's really willing to sacrifice her Gunpla for-" Hath muttered, but then remembered the entire reason he wanted to fight her. Her battle with Yang in the Northwest Regionals. Her ditching the Crimson Strike Noir's body and uses the gimmick skygrasper backpack to take down the Burning Gundam Echelon.

Of course, she was willing to sacrifice her Gunpla.

The Destiny Scythe's hands were melting away, and the left arm blew at its elbow joint. But that was all that was needed. The explosion at close proximity shattered the shield, and the remaining Palma fiocina cannon shot straight through the turret and torso of the Forbidden Breaker.

The remains of both of the Gundam Destiny Scythe's arms suffered catastrophic failure a moment later, which knocked the Gunpla backward into the air. The explosions took out parts of its wings, instantly preventing it from flying. Ruby used her remaining thrusters in her side skirts, calves, and her undamaged foot to control herself, and she landed hard in a kneeling pose, skidding to a stop in the flattened grass around her.

The Forbidden Breaker toppled, lifeless. Ruby's shuddered, tired and weary, waiting for something to happen, expecting the worst until the Gunpla detonated a moment later.

"BATTLE OVER!"

The crowd erupted in applause, and as the table and cockpits dropped, all four contestants looked at each other.

Ruby and Hath both wiped sweat away. Jim put his hand on his hip and shook his head in disbelief. Weiss looked down at the Gunpla, her eyes filled with sadness and something that almost amounted to rage and disgust, though it wasn't aimed at any of the other three competitors.

"My, girls, I'm shocked and impressed," Hathaway admitted. "That was an incredible showing!"

"Tsk, well, I guess I owe Irina fifty bucks," Jim added, before grinning. "But hey, you gave me a run for my money, Red. The only other person to make me sweat that bad was Ricardo Fellini last time we raced."

Ruby beamed, accepting the praise graciously. "Thanks! I honestly didn't know if I could do it! You guys are two of the toughest guys around!"

She looked from one of them to the other, and then to Weiss, who was staring down solemnly at their Gunpla. She wore a melancholy expression.

Ruby grew immediately concerned. "Weiss? What's wrong?"

"I couldn't do anything," she admitted. "You practically had to fight this entire battle on your own. I didn't even matter."

She looked at Ruby, tears in her eyes. "I couldn't even properly watch your back. You were alone against both of them, and I-"

"You surprised me," Hath cut in, drawing her attention to him. "You were pushing your Gunpla to its maximum. In fact, you pushed it well beyond its limits."

He walked off of his platform and waved towards the entrance. "Let's talk in the back. I have a question for you."


Ozpin smiled as he watched the four fighters leave the stage. He was proud of both of his students. And relieved that they had advanced.

"It would seem your niece takes after you, Qrow," he commented, turning around. "She showed quite an impressive display of tenacity."

Qrow gave him a sly look and shrugged. "Taught her everything she knows," he replied smugly. "If she wasn't good, I'd be concerned."

"And how is your other niece?"

He looked at Ozpin, the smile falling from his face, before looking down. "She still hasn't regained consciousness," he admitted. "I gotta say, Oz-I'm worried about her."

Ozpin walked over and sat down in the chair next to him. "Even on Arian, the effects of assimilation aren't fully understood. It's a curious phenomenon, which begs to be studied. While I know she will make a full recovery, I do admit I share some trepidation about her succumbing to it continuously."

Qrow just shook his head and sighed. "I dunno, Oz…I don't want to see her beat herself into a pulp every fight. But there's not much that can be done to help her, is there?"

"Not without inhibiting her ability to fight, no." He leaned forward on his cane. "We just have to trust her." He smiled gently at the man. "For now, though, both of your nieces have moved on. I think you should celebrate."

Qrow closed his eyes and nodded. "Heh. Yeah, maybe so. Sitting here won't help. May as well make myself useful."

He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, heading for the door, but paused before he opened it. "Ah, right, before I forget. Blake's mom, Kali, said she had something to talk to ya and Ral about. Didn't say what, though."

"Thank you, Qrow. Glynda and I will pay her a visit in a few hours." Ozpin stood and bowed slightly as Qrow opened the door.

Perhaps Kali could give him a lead he could take back to Arian.


JIM'S GUNPLA

Gundam Zetamaster

The original Gunpla Jim used prior to the first round of the tournament, Gundam Zetamaster is identical in every way to the black and purple Decepticon Skywarp version, aside from being adorned in Gundam Airmaster's red, white, black, and yellow colors.

The guardian mode Hathaway incorporated into the Zetamaster Skywarp, which was the first time Jim had used that mode, was added to his original Zetamaster, allowing him to rapidly change from fighter to guardian to mobile suit in any order. This greatly increases his versatility in combat and gives him a wide range of options.

Armed with unusually powerful twin-beam rifles, two pairs of sidewinder missiles, beam guns in his calves to use while in fighter form, four nose-mounted machine guns, and beam sabers for self-defense, this simple but effective Gunpla has bested some of the greatest battlers in the world in non-tournament battles.


HATHAWAY'S NEW GUNPLA

Forbidden Breaker

An inspired design that Hath developed after watching the Ghirarga EVA used by Tyrian, the Forbidden Breaker was one of the most powerful normal-sized Gunpla to ever step foot in Gunpla Battle. Taking the design philosophy of the Forbidden Gundam's mass-produced variant Deep Forbidden and fusing it with the similar design of the Geno Breaker from Zoids, Hathaway truly created a monster.

The machine had been adapted for space and ground combat over underwater battles, seeing as those were far more likely to appear. As such, the machine was exceptionally heavy and weighty, but featured powerful thrusters on both the bottom of the feet and the calves (which were created using the lower legs of the Geno Breaker, giving it Zoid-like dinosaur feet), with additional, small thrusters on the backpack that activated in Zoid mode to provide a slight amount of lift to make the Gunpla lighter. Due to this, the large machine was deceptively quick and agile, and could transform rapidly to adjust to changes in situations should one mode be better suited over the other.

Hathaway mounted the gargantuan backpack to the Deep Forbidden, which was an easy fit, seeing as the mobile suit used a similar pack. This gave it access to devastatingly powerful pincers mounted to sub arms, as well as a modified Geno Saurer double barrel beam turret. In addition to this, a Geno Breaker head and retractable neck were added to the front of the backpack, in the position of where the sonic-based Phonon Maser Cannon had been, and a tail was added to the back end that folded in half when in mobile suit mode. The head featured a forehead spike that could flip outward and emit a beam saber blade, and the mouth-already dangerous on their own due to the incredibly sharp, Gunpla-wrending teeth and powerful jaws-hid an immensely powerful charged particle cannon, the staple of the Geno Breaker's arsenal in Zoids.

Hathaway also mounted external forearm armor with three grasping, scissor-like claws to it that could launch out and be controlled like wire-guided melee bits to grapple enemy Gunpla and drag them to him. These were attached by thick rubber, elastic cables that could not be cut by anything save for beam sabers, according to Hathaway himself.

The main weapon Hathaway used in mobile suit mode was a weapon he had become known for in almost every kit, a sword he named Black Thorn. The weapon featured a split, forked blade that ran from tip to hilt, and was used to conduct electricity for a game-ending railgun hidden between the blade halves. The weapon itself was incredibly sharp and capable of piercing armor with ease and had a short-range beam gun for additional offensive power.

Easily his best feature of the Forbidden Breaker, however, was a geometric beam shield featured on Zoids, based around the Shield Liger or Berserk Fury. Controlled by the pincers, which acted as their generator, it was capable of being angled in any direction the pincers pointed and was resonating at the same frequency as the beam turret on its back, allowing shots to leave the shield but not enter. This defensive equipment drew immense power and shared a power source with the charged particle cannon. Both of this gathered energy in the same way by utilizing a reverse-engineered version of the RG System Kai Ruby developed for Yang's Gunpla. Because it was a copy, and not an exact one at that, the power needed to hold the shield-which was far greater than the cannon when under sustained bombardment-prevented the Gunpla from moving much, though under normal circumstances this was not a problem.