C Block...
He had finished whatever work he had on his laptop just when the matches of C Block were about to start. He whirled his chair towards the hologram screen on the left of his desk and set on the sound, waiting for the matches to begin.
Now he himself was never that much interested in LBXs after all, but his daughters were, so he should too. If their father didn't support them, who else would do so?
Though deep down, he was feeling a crunch at this year's tournament. With all that was happening around the world, it's almost impossible for Artemis to not be a target for whoever is using LBXs this time. To think his daughters are right in the middle of the danger, he couldn't help but wanting to stop it right then right there. But his authority didn't allow him that. They wanted Artemis to be held no matter what.
His hands balled on the arms of his chair as the players made their way to the arena for the first much, he could see Aya and Yosra from there. Unconsciously he looked back at his laptop, recalling for whom he had been working so hard those past few days. It was time he had exposed them, for the sake of his daughters...
Their first opponent were the Alexander Sisters. Both of them had enough confidence that they were going to win the first round, especially after what they saw from Aya and Yosra in the waiting room where they both engaged into a long argument on what weapons they should use.
There is no way we could lose to sisters who can't get along. Was what both Jasmine and Brenda thought.
As soon as the call was made, they all had descended their LBXs. Jasmine and Brenda had Amazoness and Queen respectively. Yosra on the other hand had a purple upgraded version of Konoichi.
Ami: " Konoichi 2!"
Ami's eyes shot at the screen with agog as she saw the unit.
Ban: " you know it, Ami?"
The purple head nodded, still admiring the LBX.
Ami: " it's a remodeled version of Konoichi by Cyber Lance. They had upgraded the armor so it's able to withstand more damage without sacrificing speed and air resistance."
Asuka squinted at the spike-knuckles Konoichi was equiped with.
Asuka: " that girl seems to be focusing more on power."
Evangeline: " indeed, usually Konoichi is best off with surprised attacks, thus kodachi or daggers are more fit. But using knuckles..."
Ban: " seems like this Konoichi is going to show us some extraordinary play."
He said with his usual wide excited smile.
Lilyan: " on the other hand..."
She looked at the last LBX. It was a type that she had never seen, black in color and has two cannons on its back but no weapons in hand. It's armor was clearly thick to fend against damage and one pink eye flicking around to scan the area.
Gendou: " I've never seen this LBX before?"
Mai: " that's because it's a prototype of an LBX that Dream Future is trying to develop."
Everyone looked back at the young girl as if asking for more.
Mai: " actually Aya is testing this LBX for the company. It's a one of a type that father is working on. She considers this LBX a very special one for her and it's even more special because-"
She suddenly stopped mid sentence, her eyes looking around like if searching for something, a drop of sweat ran down her face.
She had spoken too much.
That reaction wasn't missed by the others. Mirai then leaned next to her.
Mirai: " because..."
Now knowing she can't avoid answering, her eyes kept flying around more like if searching for one around the stadium before finally speaking.
Mai: " because... Father had added more features to it that it's very strong!"
She looked at their eyes with wary ones, hopping they had believed her. It didn't seem so by the expressions on their faces, but nevertheless they backed from her, to which she mentally sighed.
Lilyan: " did you believe that?"
She whispered to the blunette next to her who had a frown on the face and her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Mirai: " not one word, she seems to be hiding something."
She whispered back. But their conversation was cut.
" Battle Start!"
The LBXs started moving all along. Yosra dashed forward with no second thoughts.
Aya: " hey, hold on!"
Yosra: " no can do! If you take part now I won't get to have fun at all! So stay back until you're needed and let me wreck some weaklings!"
Aya sighed and held her hand on her head. She could not deal with her sister and she can't afford another argument, at least not on the arena and in front of everyone.
Aya: " ok, but don't call your opponents weaklings. Respect them please."
She said pulling her LBX back.
Yosra: " don't order me!"
Jasmine and Brenda started shooting at Konoichi but much to their surprise, it managed to dodge their bullets and blasts swiftly, heading steadily towards them.
Brenda: " what!"
Before they knew it, Konoichi hopped in front of them, its eyes glimmering in green.
Yosra: " take this!"
Her first victim was Queen. She was hit around the chest hardly she was knocked backwards and her weapon flew of her hand. One hit was all it could take before blasting in the familiar lights of breaking over.
Jasmine: " Brenda !"
The long haired woman stared in disbelief at her defeated LBX.
Brenda: " with a single hit..."
Gouda: " awesome, just how much modification she had done for Konoichi to have that kind of power?!"
Yosra: " now your turn!"
Konoichi twirled around but had to back when Jasmine brought her gantlet very close and started shooting. Konoichi held its arms up in defense but received quite the damage, it was even forced to back more when bullets hit its shoulder and knee.
Aya merely sighed at that.
Aya: " alright, now, could you just stand back."
Yosra didn't seem like she liked the idea, but she bit her lip and withdrew her LBX.
Jasmine: " are you running away!"
She said trying to follow her, to which Yosra smirked widely.
Yosra: " right! I'm running! Because I don't want to get into sister's range of fire!"
Jasmine halted when she realized it, but it was too late. Aya narrowed her eyes when her opponent was in front of her.
Aya: " target locked on!"
From the other end of the diorama, two Lazer beams winded their way up to Amazoness and struck it, knocking it back.
Jasmine: " what!"
In its slow fall towards the ground, Amazoness broke over, giving with that victory to Aya and Yosra.
Aya: " well, we pulled through the first round."
Yosra: " I really wanted to have more fun."
Aya: " you finished off Queen."
Yosra: " I want to finish them all off on my own! It's just... Your Lazer is way too strong we can't have a long battle!"
She complained throwing her hands up in the middle of the air with frustration.
Aya merely face palmed herself at that, wondering when her sister will ever stop nagging at her for having Lazer canons as a weapon.
Ran: " it ended quite fast."
Ran blinked in astonishment.
Hiro: " we have to admit they're strong."
Mirai frowned even more.
Mirai: " indeed..."
Ban looked over at the man next to him, and he saw he was frowning.
Ban: " what's the matter, Jin?"
Jin's eyes darted to Ban and then to the black haired woman who was leaving the arena with her sister.
Jin: " what do you think of her, Ban-kun?"
He whispered, at that Ban narrowed his eyes as he knew where that was taking them.
Ban: " I'm not sure..."
Jin: " she has ties to Dream Future but we never questioned it at first. But thinking back at what she was doing in the parking yesterday, the Infected LBX that kept disappearing all of a sudden, and now after seeing that crazy power, I can't help but wonder..."
Ban: " is she the player send by Leviathan?"...
The matchs continued on, some LBXs stood up triumphantly while others fell to the ground as they were defeated. With each round, the number of players reduced.
" It's almost time."
The snow haired young man stated, his eyes focused on the screen until it went black. It was then when his smile dropped and an air of seriousness took over his face. The L mark showed itself on the dark screen, glowing in red.
Knight: " how can I help you, master?"
Knight knew better than anyone, that since Leviathan decided to show himself now, was because of something very important.
Leviathan : " things doesn't seem to go well for our spy. At this rate, they will end up cornered at the royal battle."
Knight had to agree, the fact that two teams of them had managed to make it to the finals meant their spy will have a hard time fighting them, let alone triumphing and getting them what they needed.
Knight rose up his head. He can't allow another failure, Leviathan must hold his grip around them no matter what.
Knight: " don't you worry, master. I will see to it that we have a good back up plan and secure the driver."
Leviathan : " good, I shall leave it to you then. One other thing that I find it important that you know."
Knight rose his brow, what could it be important other than securing the driver.
Leviathan : " there are two other chosen players out there. I've detected their signal but can't know exactly who they are. Be careful."
Now that was a bit of trouble. There were two unknown players that were most likely to back Minerva's spoiled players up. The fact that they didn't know who they were meant that they can't predict from where they would get attacked if things get more complicated.
" Don't you worry master. We will make sure none of them will pose an obstacle for our plans."
The voice came from Knight's side, where the still covered with shadow white LBX stood. Satisfied, Leviathan ended the call. The screen showed the third round of the C Block that was about to end.
Knight breathed out before he spoke out loudly so the woman standing by the door could hear him.
Knight: " get our LBXs ready, we may need them to move out sooner than predicted."
With a bow, the woman withdrew from the room. Knight's eyes darted back to the winning teams of the third round, those who will be fighting to be the finalists of C Block...
The lines up showed both winning teams who were soon to battle to decided the finalist of this block.
On one side was Aya and Yosra's team, who managed to get through with ease without the need to show their Hissatsu Functions.
The other was Touko and Jessica's team, they as well had met no difficulties reaching this far.
While finishing their tunning for their LBXs, Jessica and Touko exchanged worried looks.
Touko: " they seem to be strong. We should put on a good plan if we ever want to win."
Jessica closed her eyes and placed her hand on her temple, recalling what she had seen of the sisters' battles.
Jessica: " the younger one has a pretty reckless style focusing on brutal force. Konoichi's speed serves to her advantage. On the other hand, Aya's LBX always disappear of sight before launching a surprising attack from a long range."
Touko: " amazing analyses!"
Jessica merely smiled at that before scowling as she looked at the backs of the two sisters. They were yet again arguing about a plan.
Jessica: " they may not seem like it but once in the battlefield, they show a good team work. Yosra dashing forward is usually to cover for her sister's weakness."
Touko blinked at that.
Touko: " what weakness!? You saw how strong she is, she could wipe the ground with her opponent from the other end of the diorama!"
Jessica: " that's it exactly."
She was holding a wide smirk as she spoke. Touko merely rose an eyebrow, still not getting her point.
Jessica: " just listen, I have a good plan..."...
All four of them advanced to their spots, CCMs in hands and LBXs ready to land inside the diorama.
MC: " ready!"
Jessica: " Jeanne D!"
Touko: " Queen!"
Yosra: " Konoichi 2!"
Aya: " Kämpfer!"
All robots took their spots on the green ground of the hills diorama.
" Battle Start!"
As usual, Yosra lunged on first, leaving her sister behind. Aya's only reaction was to give a sigh and back from sight.
Jessica: " they're starting."
Jeanne D shot at the purple robot heading her way, but Yosra didn't seem to have a hard time dodging.
Touko: " Konoichi is very fast."
She said joining Jessica in firing.
Yosra: " there!"
Once she was a good distance, she aimed for a finishing punch as usual, but that was very much to ask for. Quickly Jessica shifted her weapons to two blades similar to Pandora's, blocking Konoichi's attack with that.
Yosra: " ok, that was unexpected. But nevertheless it seems really fun now."
She tried to push her opponent back, it payed off at first, but Jeanne D managed to hold off her ground and direct a slash at Konoichi's abdomen when it swayed its arm for another punch.
Yosra bit her lip as she made her LBX back, trying to gather her thoughts.
Aya: " seems bad, let me step in-"
Touko: " not so easily!"
Aya's eyes widened when Queen's shadow was casted upon her Kämpfer.
Aya: " ambush!"
Yosra: " crap!"
She yelped when noticing that she allowed the other LBX to sneak away.
Kämpfer managed to dodge in the last moment, skidding back on the ground.
Ban and Elie seemed to notice that one movement.
Ban: " Elie... Isn't that..."
Elie nodded her head and her eyes locked with her brother's.
Elie: " the hovering system I used for Beargguy. And the same one within Lilyan-san's Unicorn."
On the Arena, Touko managed a wide smirk at Aya's startled face.
Touko: " you keep backing because you're in disadvantage when it comes to close range battle. Your LBX should be too heavy with its thick armor let alone adding the weight of the two cannons."
Aya bit her lip as Kämpfer took a step back. Queen was equiped with Kodachi, so it was basically a close battle she was asking for.
Mirai: " she focused on the strength of her weapon, which made her sacrifice agility due to that. In order for an LBX to withstand the pressure coming from firing such high level cannon, she had to add weight to the armor. Her sister seemed to always cover for her and prevent others from realizing she had such weakness. But now she can do nothing. Jessica and Touko are going to nail this round."
Elie: " no..."
Mirai snapped when Elie spoke and looked over to her. The woman squinted at the battlefield, not wanting to miss out any detail of it. Ban, Jin and Eva were squinting at the screen with anticipating faces, seemingly they had figured it out as well.
On the same time, Aya's lips pulled into a smile.
Aya: " you've learned that much from just watching us. Very impressive. Yet, you should know from my move just now..."
Mirai: " it's not a weakness!"
The brown eyes were now fixed on the brunette with a stunned look over them.
Elie: " the fact that the hovering system is applied to it, means that she already considered that point. In order to prevent the weight from holding her back, she used it. I doubt she doesn't have a close range weapon hidden somewhere on her LBX. Plus, most likely that those Cannons..."
Touko was able to hear a clink before the cannons on the back of Kämpfer fell down.
Elie: "... Are detachable."
Kämpfer reached to one of two handles that were hanged on both sides of its waist. From it, shot a pink beam blade.
Aya: " I still can put on a fight."
Her smirk spreading even wider on her face.
Evangeline : " she did take consideration of her own weakness and worked around it so she can shift between close rang and long rang."
Touko didn't do anything, glancing over at the blonde next to her. That wasn't what they had anticipated.
Aya: " Yosra, take care of the other one, you have it all for you now so don't complain later that you didn't have fun."
Yosra: " alright!"
With a move from her finger, Konoichi zoomed in again, directing endless punches at Jeanne D. The other robot tried her hardest to avert the attacks away, hardly escaping damage.
Konoichi finally span around, hitting Jeanne D on the neck a drop kick.
Just as she was going down, Jeanne D made sure to stab Konoichi's left knee joint first, making it lose balance.
Yosra made sure to put on a distance before her purple unit knelt down with sparks of yellow electricity flying of the damaged joint.
Yosra: " stubborn."
She said with an excited smirk.
Jessica: " back at you."
The blonde had a wide smirk herself.
On the other end, Touko and Aya were engaged in their own battle as well, with the later managing to brush off most of the former's attacks. And even those which hit Kämpfer hardly had reduced much of its HP for the thickness of its armor.
Touko: " at such rate I won't be able to do anything. Aiming for the weakest spots is my only bet for now, but her defence is pretty tough."
She thought as she carefully moved her LBX, not wanting to make a mistake and get hit for she knew it would cause a huge damage for Queen.
Aya: " not giving up yet!"
She made her unit thrust the beam sword towards Queen but she managed to defend herself by intercepting the attack's path using her crimson Kodachi.
Touko: " alright, now or never!"
Queen threw away one of the Kodachi, reaching with her free hand back to her gun. Aya noticed that move, and she wanted to get away before she could get damaged but it was too late. Soon, the muzzle pointed at Kämpfer's head and rains of blasts fell on it before it managed to scramble its way far from danger.
Touko: " there!"
She used the created to opening to rush towards the larger robot, slashing with the left Kodachi at its side, half paralyzing it as it had to kneel down.
Queen quickly backed as Kämpfer moved the blade to thrust it into her chest, but it merely manged to scathe her.
Back with Yosra and Jessica, the older female made her LBX jump for the abandoned guns, grasping them tightly in her hands. Konoichi managed to pull itself on its legs, holding a fighting position and ready to attack again. Jeanne D started with shooting, Konoichi dodged. But with such damaged it got, there was no way Yosra could avoid the bullets as well as before.
She climbed on the side of the hill next to Jeanne D before launching herself on the robot who was still shooting while trying to get away. Konoichi hit the ground violently till it cracked, there was a small chock that made Jeanne D lose balance for a second.
Yosra: " Now! Hissatsu Function!"
Jessica: " no you won't! Hissatsu Function!"
Jeanne D steadied herself when placing a firm foot on the ground and thrusting her pistols towards Konoichi.
" Attack Function: Houtengeki!"
" Attack Function: Bloody Rain!"
Jeanne D flung her arms wide open as if gathering energy before jumping up high, spinning around while shooting blasts.
Konoichi made its way through the rain of bullets, not bothered the least about the ones that managed to hit their target. Collecting all of its energy on its knuckles till they were wrapped within blue energy balls, the purple unit then hopped off towards Jeanne D.
It hit her hard on the face, forcing her to stop the attack, then once again on the torso, so she would make no more moves and finally on the back, hoisting her higher in the air.
Konoichi landed, gathering even more energy around itself before unleashing them upward in a huge spurt that wrapped off around the opponent.
Jessica: " Jeanne D!"
She shouted out as she saw the HP gage reducing with a high speed, breaking over.
MC: " Jeanne D is out!"
Jessica couldn't believe her eyes.
Yosra let out a breath before her Konoichi leaned again as if catching up breath as well.
The brunette looked back at her sister who hardly managed to pull her LBX together, still exchanging blows with Touko.
Yosra: " how is it with you?"
Aya: " she got my torso, it's hard to control now..."
Yosra: " I'm running out of HP. The more I move the more damage I get."
Aya sucked in a deep breath.
Aya: " very well, stay put for now. It's time I stop playing around here as well."
Yosra: " you better!"
Aya squinted at the CCM's screen.
Aya : " any time now."
Just then, Touko shouted out.
Touko: " Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Grace Missiles!"
Missiles shot from Queen's back, heading towards Kämpfer. As they came to contact with their target, they exploded, covering the area around the other LBX with smoke and dust.
Touko: " direct hit!"
The woman's smirk started to fade as the smoke cleared. Kämpfer stood up, one of the Lazer cannons hoisted over its shoulder.
Aya: " I can fight from a close range, but still, Kämpfer is better off as a long range fighter."
Touko: " impossible! When I attacked, she used the smoke screen to lung for her lost weapon!"
The cannons charged their blue energy before the beam was shot, cutting its way forward, Queen managed to get away.
Touko: " not the end yet! Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Hyper Energy Bomb!"
She charged her attack, ready to discharge it at Kämpfer.
Yosra: " won't allow you! Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Power Knuckle!"
Konoichi's fist was directed to Queen's right arm, which made her miss her target as she shot. Konoichi fell on the ground, breaking over.
Yosra: " go!"
Touko: " that's bad!"
Touko bit her lip, she had to act quickly. Queen held up her gun at Kämpfer but the later quickly threw away its cannon. Using both the hovering system and the boosters on its bottom legs, it skidded with a high speed towards the white and pink unit. With a swift move it brought out the other beam blade, slashing at Queen as it wafted past her.
Soon, Queen dropped to the ground as well and broke over. Only Kämpfer stood there in its final position, holding the beam saber, and its one pink eye glimmering as the MC declared the sisters the finalists of C Block.
Cries of rooting could be heard from even outside the stadium, the crowd seemed to have enjoyed the final battle.
Aya merely sighed as she reached for her LBX.
Aya: " I didn't have to use it."
Yosra: " man, this will be hard to fix later on."
She rubbed the back of her head with an annoyed look while examining Konoichi's state.
Touko: " I'm sorry."
She looked up at Jessica who shook her head with a smile.
Jessica: " don't be. Losing is yet another part of LBX. Most of all, you've enjoyed yourself right."
Touko's eyes darted back to the sisters who, yet again, kicked in another argument for whatever reason.
Touko: " yeah, I had fun, just like when playing soccer."
Jessica: " that's what I want to hear."
The sisters made for them.
Aya: " Jessica, Touko, that was fun. And you both were too strong."
Yosra: " not to mention you've caused quite the damage to our LBXs."
Aya looked back at her younger sister with an annoyed look.
Aya: " you shouldn't say that."
Jessica merely smiled at that.
Jessica: " well, we've received damage on our end as well. You were awesome, and your teamwork is perfect."
Aya: " though I still think it needs some improvement."
She pointed out with a sweat drop and Yosra started complaining, saying that she didn't want to team up with her but had no one who would keep up with her skills.
Jessica and Touko merely exchanged looks and chuckles at the sisters as they all walked back...
