Aesop once wrote of an Eagle, soaring high above a Shepherd's Field, that swooped down on powerful Wings to seize a grazing Lamb and carry it off to her Nest.
Flying close by, a Jackdaw saw the Deed, and it filled his Head with the Idea that he too was just as strong and capable.
So with a great flapping and rusting of Feathers, the Jackdaw came down swiftly and clutched at the Coat of a large Ram.
But when he tried to fly away, he found he could not lift the Animal, for his Size and Strength were not up to the Task. And even as the Jackdaw struggled, the Ram hardly noticed he was there.
Nearby, just across the Field, the Shepherd saw the fluttering Bird and was quite amused. Running up, he captured the Jackdaw and clipped its Wings.
That Evening he gave the Jackdaw to his Children as a Gift. "What and odd little Bird this is, Father!" they laughed and shouted. "What do you call him?"
"This is a Jackdaw." the Father said. "But if you should ask him, he would claim to be an Eagle."
Chairmen Mashita smiled, ecstatic by his guest. "There are two boys currently in my tournament who I'd very much like see eliminated."
The Chairmen's guest: A silver-haired man dressed in very casual cloths blinked a few times. He looked a little disappointed at the job the Chairmen presented him. "So you want me to kill them?"
Mashita let out a nervous laugh. "While I DO want these two out of the picture, killing them would cause too big of a scene." He shifted a little on his luxurious couch. "No, I want you to eliminate them through more...pleasant means."
The silver-haired man smiled. "Oh good, and here you led me to believe this would be boring." He leaned back in his chair. "So I have your permission to act as I see fit?"
Chairmen Mashita nodded carelessly. "As long as you get the job done I don't care how you go about it."
The man gave a grin that would terrify most men. "I'll be sure to hold you to those words Chairmen."
He sat up and placed his hand in his pockets. "If that's all, I'll take my leave."
He turned towards the door, but he was cut off by the secretary Miss Baker. "Excuse me, but do you mind sharing what exactly you have planned?"
The man shot Baker a look that made her flinch. "I have several ideas..." He turned back to the Chairmen. "I'll be back later for the info on the targets, but for now I have some business to take care of."
Chairmen Mashita smiled. "Of course, and might I ask what business do you have in my city?"
The man let out a short laugh, he found the Chairman's claim that this was his city a ridiculous one. He turned back towards the door and closed his eyes. "The other members of my group have already arrived here in Shizuoka City and are currently amongst the populous. I need to inform them of our job."
The silver-haired man opened his eyes, he stared at Miss Baker who still stood in his way. "Now if you excuse me, I need to address my followers."
Miss Backer locked eyes with the man, the latter's gaze was full of fire and something...dark. She couldn't quite explain it, but it terrified her. Quickly, she moved aside, allowing the man to continue towards the door.
As he opened the door and stepped through it halfway, Chairmen Mashita called to him. "Wait." He requested. "You didn't tell me your name."
The man looked back at the childish Chairman. "Of course, how could I have forgotten?"
He turned to Mashita, placed his right arm over his chest and rested it on his left breast. He moved his left arm across the lower part of his back and bowed slightly.
"My name is Sen, the one who rivals the gods." He smiled smugly. "It shall be a pleasure working with you."
With that, Sen spun around, and closed the door behind him. Miss Backer could hear his footsteps as he walked down the hall. She looked to her boss, the latter was humming joyfully to himself.
"Chairmen, why did you grant him the freedom to do as he wants?"
The careless Mashita waved his hand at his secretary. "Don't worry Baker! I know what I'm doing, and I did say I wanted Reiji eliminated out of my tournament no matter what."
Miss Baker frowned, Mashita clearly didn't know how these underground fighters operated. She sighed. 'I'll just have to see to it that this doesn't get too out of hand.'
Meanwhile, at a nearby Gunpla Battle Outlet...
"These guys are amazing!" One kid from a group of onlookers said. He and the group of people behind him where watching a Gunpla Battle between two players they had never seen before.
One was a man dressed up like a cowboy from America, he had short black hair complemented with side burns as well as the same colored eyes.
The other was a black-skinned man whose eyes were brown, his short black hair was laced up along his head, with the exception of a few locks tucked behind both his ears. He wore a gray shirt, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers.
The Cowboy controlled a custom redesign of the Gundam Dynames from the series Gundam 00. This model didn't have the additional armor plating Dynames usually had, instead it wore a worn out cloth, twin holsters placed on its sides and cowboy hat. Its usual sniper rifle was replaced by two custom made heavy pistols, each featured a small scope.
His opponent's Gunpla was a black customized ReGelgu from the series Gundam ZZ: It had two larger than average propellant tubes attached to its back and an emblem of a panther outlined in red on its left shoulder.
Its two beam sabers usually stored in its backpack were replaced by a single twin beam sword used by the original Gelgoog. The normal beam rifle was replaced with a longer one befitting mid to long range combat. Most impressive of all these upgrades was the beam gatling gun integrated in the left arm that replaced the built-in grenade launcher.
The two battlers fought in the city field, engaged in an intense shootout. Each moved from building to building, firing at one another as they went.
"Not bad Johnny!" The darker man said as his ReGelgu reloaded its beam rifle. "You've come far in 6 months, but you're still no match for me."
The cowboy laughed in response. "We'll see about that Panther. I re'con that this here'll be the day I finally defeat you."
"Is that so you hillbilly hick?"
"Just watch!"
Johnny's Gunpla rounded around the building Panther's ReGelgu was using as cover. It fired a series of shots with its twin heavy pistols. Panther's Gunpla quickly dodged by thrusting straight up, it aimed its beam rifle at the custom Dynames and fired a single shot.
The latter rolled around the corner, dust and debris kicked up where the round made impact. Disappointed that his sneak attack failed, Johnny decided to do something a little more daring. His cowboy Dynames rolled out on the street, took a stable stance and fired at the airborne ReGelgu.
The ReGelgu dodged each round with ease, flying higher and higher as it did.
"You always were one for the old western approach." Panther said with a smirk. Now out of his opponent's range, Panther's ReGelgu dropped its altitude by half and maneuvered to attack from behind.
After checking that he wasn't spotted, Panther began to rush Johnny's Gunpla as quickly but quietly as he could. The latter was moving, scanning around for his opponent. He held his pistols above his head, ready to fire at which ever direction and attack comes from.
Johnny's Dynames moved its head from left to right, looking for even a hint of the enemy ReGelgu. Panther was a few building behind him now, his ReGelgu silently hovered above the ground as it speed towards his prey.
As he neared to strike, the ReGelgu holstered its beam rifle and pulled out its twin beam saber but he waited till he was mere inches away before activating it. Suddenly hearing the saber, Johnny's Dynames whirled around and aimed his pistol but it was too late: Panther had his ReGelgu poised to cut off his head.
Realizing he had lost, Johnny dropped his pistols. "Yea got me Panther." He said, admitting defeat.
Panther smiled ."While you're 'Quickdraw' Dynames has some skill with those pistols, my ReGelgu Custom has the advantage in stealth and maneuverability."
Soon after he finished speaking, the Battle Table system declared his win and started to recall the Plavsky Particles. "Don't feel too bad, you lasted a whole two minutes longer than last time." Johnny rolled his eyes.
The kid who was in amazement since the beginning of the match ran up to the two Gunpla fighters. "That was amazing!" He yelled, his arms almost flailed around in excitement. "You two are the best I've ever seen!"
Panther smiled, he knelt down and placed his hand on the kid's shoulder. "Thanks kid, but compared to all the other matches I've been in that was just a warm up."
"Ouch." Johnny said as he walked over to the two. "Nothing but a warm up? Well I can't quite argue with that, after all I had seen you fight seriously." Panther chuckled. "Thanks, but I know you weren't fighting at your best either."
The cowboy smiled, then turned his gaze to the kid. "If you think that was amaz'en kid. You should have seen the fight I was in 6 months ago."
The kid turned to Johnny, greatly interested in this tale. "It t'was a 10 vs 100 Gunpla match! It was intense, hard fought battle. I honestly didn't think I would have made it, until he showed up that is."
The kid tilted his head to the right. "He?" The kid asked innocently. Johnny grinned his teeth, he pushed his cowboy hat up with his index finger. "Our fearless leader, that's who."
6 months ago, in the illegal battleground known as the Underground Circuit...
A lone man no older than 22 leaned on a wall that was part of a corridor the lead to a sort of Colosseum. The man stood at about 6 feet, had short brown messy hair, blue eyes, a gray shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. He was looking straight ahead at a battle that was about to begin.
"Hey, you made it!" A voice shouted from behind. The man turned around, he smiled as he recognized the one who called to him. Approaching him was a younger male with mid-long dirty blond hair and gray eyes. He wore an unzipped blue jacket, a white shirt, blue pants and black sneakers.
"Anthony Robin, I should be saying the same to you." The two interlocked their hands and upper arms in a fusion of a handshake and an arm bump.
"So how are you doing Rick?" Anthony asked as he rapped his free arm around his friend's shoulder.
"Not too bad, sis is still a bitch though."
"Hahaha, well I doubt that'll change. So when's that 'entry exam' to our lovely society?"
"It already started. One or two of them show some promise, but other than that it looks like another massacre."
Anthony withdrew his hand. "Oh yeah? I feel bad for them." Rick crossed his arms and smirked at his friend. "It wasn't too long ago when you took the exam, and remind me again who was it that saved your ass at least a dozen times during it?"
Anthony laughed. "Will you come off it? That's ancient history now."
"Ladies and gentlemen!" The voice of the MC for the match well underway echoed throughout the hallway Anthony and Rick stood in. "As you all know, this year's contestants must survive until at least 50 enemy Gunpla are destroyed before they earn a spot in the Underground Circuit. So far, the newcomers have defeated 7 out of 100 with no casualties!"
"Not a bad start." Anthony said as he placed his right hand on his chin. Rick smirked. "You say that now, but there's one who hasn't even touched the controls. I think he's having second thoughts."
Anthony chuckled. "He won't be the first." He moved over to the end of the hallway overlooking the arena where the battle was taking place. The Underground Circuit's battle system even put the famed PPSE's massive system to shame as this one was twice the size of it.
The field loaded up was a massive city map with several different districts. The battle was currently focused around two damaged buildings, the newcomers were inside using them as cover as their opponents surrounded them and opened fire on all sides.
Johnny's Quickdraw Dynames hugged a wall nearby a blown open hole in the building he was hiding in, his twin heavy pistols drawn. The cowboy looking Gunpla waited for an opportunity to fire on one of the 3 snipers currently pinning him there.
The building shook, most likely from an explosion on the lower floor. Johnny's Gunpla glanced at his comrades in the room with him: a silver-blue Clanche and a standard colored Leo. Each where at a side of the broken wall still holding up that level.
The man controlling the Clanche was an old acquaintance of Johnny. His Gunpla looked back at the Quickdraw. "That damn sniper got us pinned good. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea holding up in this building."
"And face them out in the open? Not with these odds." Johnny replied. "If you want to go out in a blaze of glory I won't stop you."
"I thought going out all guns a'blazing was your usual style?"
"That's why I said I won't stop you."
The man controlling the Clache laughed. "I see, well then what do you think we should do?"
Before Johnny could tell his friend his plan, the player controlling the Leo lost it. He screamed a panicked battle cry as he moved his Leo to the nearest gap in the wall and began to fire his machine gun randomly.
"That idiot!" Johnny's Dynames ran towards the Leo, he tackled it aside just in time to save it from a sniper round. Johnny quickly fired two rounds in the direction of the shot before thrusting backwards into cover.
A few seconds pasted before any of the three spoke. "What were you thinking?" Snapped the Clache's controller. "If it wasn't for Johnny here, you'd be eliminated!" The one controlling the Leo remain quiet, the intensity of this match had really got under his skin.
'I have to think of something fast before anyone else tries a stupid stunt like that again.' Johnny though as his inched to the edge of a gap in the broken wall. He peeked outside, looking for any of the snipers pinning he and his comrades here.
As he searched, something caught his attention: It was a golden Master Gundam casually walking towards the battlefield. "What in Christ's name is he thinking?!" Johnny yelled, catching the attention of several players around him.
The gold Gunpla continued along its path, a trio of enemy Gunpla; a Dorado, a Rick Dias and a Nemo III noticed it approaching and moved to intercept. The Nemo III fired its shoulder mounted beam cannon at it, the latter raised its left arm as the round drew close and seemingly canceled it out.
The next attack came form the Rick Dias, who glided towards the Master Gundam, repetitively firing its twin beam pistols at the Gunpla. Once again, the Master Gundam raised its arms and canceled out each shot that came its way.
The third attack would came from the Dorado, it flared the beam saber impeded in its hand as it charged full thruster at the Master Gundam. The Dorado raised its arm above its head, preparing to swing the beam saber down on this foolish, but tricky fighter.
As the Dorado's hand came down, the Master Gundam took three fast steps towards the Gunpla and tore through its chest with his left hand. As the Dorado exploded behind him, the Master Gundam rushed at the Rick Dias and the Nemo III, delivering upon them a similar fate as the 1st one to fall by his hands.
Johnny blinked a few times, this player who he though was a fool had taken out 3 enemy Gunpla in a matter of seconds! He opened up a comm channel to the man operating the Master Gundam.
"That was impressive!" Johnny said as he looked over the man, the latter looked no older than twenty, he had had messy, but not too messy silver hair that stretched down passed his neck and black eyes. He also wore a white t-shirt but that was all Johnny could tell due to the limited view on the channel screen.
"You just may be the guy who can get us out of this mess."
The man smiled in response. "I can assure you that I will do more than just that." As he spoke, the Master Gundam jumped up and passed the surrounding buildings. Its head turned to the right, directly at a Zaku I, one of the enemy snipers keeping Johnny and company pinned.
The gold Gunpla raised its left hand and fired a beam blast at the Zaku, the latter didn't see it coming until it was far too late. The Master Gundam then turned to the remaining two snipers; a GM Sniper currently moving to a different location and a customized Hizack aiming towards him.
The Hizack fired, but even its highly concentrated beam was canceled out by this golden Gunpla.
Despite the attack, the man decided to focus on the mobile GM first. His Master Gundam fired a quick barrage on the unsuspecting GM Sniper ripping the Gunpla apart.
"You bastard!" The player controlling the Hizack yelled as he aimed his sniper at the gold Gunpla. Before he could fire, his Hizack was shot by two beam rounds and exploded.
Johnny smiled. "I've finally got that varmint." His Quickdraw Dynames signaled his two comrades to follow him before he took a step out and slid down the ruined building.
The golden Master Gundam landed in front of Johnny's Dynames, its arms were crossed as if it were bored.
"Nice job partner!" Johnny said. "Name's Johnny, and what should I call you?"
A few moments of silence passed before the man answered. "I suppose you may call me Sen."
"Sen...That's a peculiar name. You from Japan or something?"
"Something."
Johnny chuckled. "Well I'll be, mister big shot has a sense of humor!" Before Johnny could add on to his joke, the 4 of them heard something approaching, something massive.
A giant hand wrapped around the corner of a nearby building, a head popped out soon after: It was a Psycho Gundam Mk II.
"Well this'll take some work." Johnny said.
"I'll handle it." Sen said before his Gunpla rushed towards the new enemy. It flew past it, drawing its attention from the other 3 Gunpla, and continued onward.
The Psycho Gundam followed the Master Gundam, occasionally firing its beam guns mounted as its fingers. The latter simply dodged them as he continued to fly. After a few minutes, the Master Gundam turned a full 180 and charged at the Psycho Gundam.
The massive Gundam fired everything it had in response, whether it was a reflex or on propose was anyone's guess. Sen's Master Gundam extended its left hand out and canceled out the multiple beam attacks.
Then, it extended its right hand, its joint popped out revealing a purple light. Energy began to collect in the palm of the metallic hand.
"Die." Sen said just before he released the charged up energy. It exploded outward in the form of a beam wave that consumed the Psycho Gundam Mk II as well as several city blocks.
Johnny's jab dropped, he never seen a Gunpla this powerful. "Sweet Jesus. I'm glad this bloke's on our side."
Sen's Gunpla landed in front of the 3 once more. "Gather the other survives and move along the flank, I'll go down the middle. Alone." He turned his back to them and started off towards the center of the city.
Johnny and the other two stood there for a few moments. The Quickdraw looked back at the Leo and Clache "Well you heard 'im! Get the others and let's go!"
A few minutes passed before Sen ran into resistance. This was a surprise, but not unexpected especially if these underground types saw his display of power from before.
The enemies that currently stood in his way were several various GM series mobile suits and a ZZ Gundam. The GM's positioned themselves to the left and right of the ZZ Gundam.
"Taste this! High Mega Cannon!" The ZZ fired the powerful beam attack at the golden Master Gundam.
"Pathetic." Sen's Gunpla raised its left arm and, like all the other beam attacks before it, seemingly canceled it out. The ZZ Gundam took a step back. "Can nothing hit this guy?"
The Master Gundam placed both its hands in front of its chest. "Stop me if you heard this one before." Sen pulled his Gunpla's arms back a bit. "Sekiha Tenkyoken!" He through its arms forward, releasing the powerful attack signature attack from the school of Master Asia, as seen in G Gundam.
The large energy blast consumed all but two of the enemy Gunpla. The two looked at each other before they turned tail and ran at full speed.
Sen's Gunpla crossed its arms. "I expected more from the famed warriors of the Underground Circuit. What a disappointment."
The Master Gundam continued on its casual pace in the same direction as the two that fled. Eventually, he walked into a massive park with a rather large fountain in the center.
Sen's Gunpla strolled to the fountain. He stopped a few feet from it, watching the water swearing around. Suddenly, a Z'gok violently emerged from the fountain. It aimed one of its claw arms at the golden Master Gundam.
"Now!" Shouted the controller of the Z'gok before he fired. Sen's Gunpla dodged the nearly point blank shot, took a step forward and with one motion tore the Z'gok in half.
However, that enemy was just a decoy from the real attack as Sen suddenly found himself surrounded by a large force enemy Gunpla positioned in or around the park. He counted about 40, but there where probably more.
"Focus all firepower on the Gold one! We take him out and the rest will fall!"
"Let's do this!"
All of the enemies fired as one, covering the field with beam rounds, rockets, or machine gun bullets.
Despite the impressive and deadly barrage, Sen didn't move to dodge. Instead, his Master Gundam held out its arms at each side once again seemingly canceling out all the beam attacks that raced towards him.
The rockets and bullets were unmolested and made impact on the Master Gundam causing dust and dirt to spray into the air. When the debris settled however, the golden Gunpla didn't receive so much as a scratch.
"Our attacks had no effect on this guy!"
"Just keep firing! He has to have a weakness somewhere!"
And so they kept up the assault, firing every ranged weapon they had at Sen's Master Gundam. This went on until their weapons ran out of ammo or power, when the dust and smoke settled the golden Master Gundam remained unscathed.
"You got to be kidding...After all that he doesn't even have so much as a scratch?!"
Sen began to laugh. "I'll give you credit for trying! Now do you fools begin to realize what you're up against?" Several of the enemy Gunpla began to fall back, others brought out their beam sabers or some other melee weapon and charged Sen's Gunpla, the rest stood there pertrified.
Sen's Master Gundam raised its left arm out and up to its face, his hand was opened. The left arm popped up, purple light flowed out of the revealed joint.
Sen smiled. "Allow me to give you all a further demonstration of the power that can rival even the gods!"
Suddenly, a massive purple-colored wave of energy consumed everything around the Golden Gunpla. The wave expanded outward and engulfed most of the city as well as several other Gunpla not fighting in the failed park ambush in its purple light, everything inside suddenly felt a sort of pressure that weight them down.
As the enemy Gunpla struggled to move, Sen's Gunpla closed its fist, a second later the purple light grew brighter and brighter as if a small sun emerged in the field. Then, a massive explosion engulfed everything inside the light.
When the dust cleared, all that remained was the Master Gundam standing at the center of a massive crater.
Quickdraw Dynames looked over the newly formed crater, its right foot sat upon a recently defeated enemy: a Djieh. Behind him, a Knight Gundam and a Geara Doga armed with a double bladed heat axe were clashing as his ally operating the Leo pinned down 3 Zaku II's with its machine gun as a transformed Clache fired at them from above.
"Well knock me down and call me Jack." Johnny said in amazement. "That's why he wanted us along the side, so we wouldn' be hit by that blast. This guy just keeps amazin me more and more."
Everyone who witnessed the incredible feat grew silent. Rick and Anthony gasped, they watched the screen above the Battle System keeping track of the number of Gunpla still in the game rapidly decrease. The numbers settled at 8 to 9.
"That's impossible...H-he just took out over 70 Gunpla in one move..." Anthony looked to his friend. "This guy is in a whole different liege!"
Rick nodded. "He's just as powerful as the veterans here, hell even more powerful!"
In an adjacent corridor, two other members of the Underground Circuit watched the ongoing battle with great interest. One was a man of Spanish decent and looked to be in his early thirties: He had slicked black hair and a pony tail, black eyes, a short lengthen beard and goatee and wore a black vest over a red stripped shirt with black dress pants, black leather gloves and black dress shoes.
The other beside him was a much younger looking man: He had short black hair with two thin hair braids attached to the back of his head that rested over his right shoulder, black eyes, a gray shirt underneath a dark colored sleeveless sports jacket, black pants and shoes.
The younger one had a smirk on his face. "Look at that Antonio. That one has some skills."
Antonio laughed. "Skills? He just destroyed over 70 Gunpla in one blast. That's not skill, that's a threat. Even you have to admit that Reaper."
The man called Reaper chuckled. "Perhaps, but I'm not worrying about it right now. After all, we are witnessing a killer show. Though it does falls short of my performance."
Antonio shrugged. "Whatever you say chico blanco."
The golden Master Gundam crossed its arms as it remained in the crater it created moments ago. "Is this the best the Underground Circuit can do? This is a joke!" Sen said aloud, though this fight was entertaining it was far from satisfying.
"Apologies for the lack of a challenge. Perhaps I can suffice?" A voice befitting a noble answered back.
Sen's Gunpla turned to the source: Approaching him was a unique Gundam that he hadn't quite seen before, one that looked like a paladin. Behind that Gunpla where three white DOM Troopers. The group reached the Master Gundam a few moments after.
The four hovered a few feet in front of Sen's golden Gunpla, giving the latter a chance to fully inspect the new Gundam. It was white, as was customary with most Gundams, with a black and red cape(red on the inside, black on the outside).
It's body seemed to be designed like a suit of armor, like Knight Gundam but vastly different. One major difference was the helmet, which looked to be based off of a Roman Legionnaire Officer minus the furry part. Another was the reinforced armor on the its arms, each had what looked like a diamond imbedded in them. A third was its legs, they had a hover unit or thrusters in them that enabled the Gunpla to glide through the battlefield like a Dom or any similar Mobile Suit.
It wielded a lance that seemed to have beam guns integrated into it like those the GN-X's use. It also had a shield of the same shape as the Turn A Gundam's. Sen glanced at the 3 DOM Troopers, besides them being white there was nothing out of the ordinary with their design or weapons.
"Brave one." Sen said. "And who might you 4 be?"
The white Gundam placed its lance firmly in the ground. "My name is Arthur and this is my Paladin Gundam. A unique design I crafted myself. Due to this Gunpla as well as my fighting style and knight like attitude I have earned the nickname 'The White Paladin'."
The Paladin Gundam turned its head and gestured at its comrades. "These are my loyal White Tri-Stars; Jack, Dawne and Sean. I can assure you they will not interrupt out duel."
Sen gave a half smirk. "Our duel?" He laughed. "My, someone's confident."
The Paladin Gundam let go of its lance, though it remained in place. With his free hand, the Gundam moved towards its shield. "Indeed, for I am far above the raffle you defeated just prior to my arrive."
As its hand neared, a single 'pole' popped out of the front side of the shield. The Paladin grabbed it and pulled, revealing a short, European style sword. A second later, the sword increased its length to the size of a longsword. The latter threw the sword at the base of the Master Gundam's feet.
"Pick it up." Author demanded as his Gunpla drew another sword out of the lower portion of its shield.
Sen's Gunpla looked at the sword at his feet. He began to chuckle after a few silent moments. "This is a new one, in Gunpla battles anyway." Sen muttered to himself. His Gunpla return its gaze to the Paladin Gundam.
Sen smiled. "Author the White Paladin, forgive that outburst of mine. I was reminded of a more...pleasant time." His Gunpla picked up the sword and held it in front of its face single handed.
"I gladly except your challenge." Sen's Master Gundam pulled its sword arm to his side and pointed it to the ground, with its free hand he held it out to his opponent. "Due make this entertaining for me, I don't want any more disappointments."
Author's Gundam nodded, its head turned to the three DOM Troopers behind him. "Insure that no one interrupts us, be it friend or foe."
"Yes my lord!" The trio shouted in union. A moment later, the three rushed off to set up a perimeter so no one would interfere with their lord's duel.
The Paladin Gundam held its shield outward, its sword firmly held by its right hand as it settled into an attacking stance.
The Master Gundam pulled his sword up to head level, assuming a stance to jab at his opponent. His free hand extended outward by his chest, ready to deflect the opening attack.
A number of silent moments passed as both Gunpla stood each other down, as if waiting for the opening bell to start their duel.
A simulated gust of wind blew dust between the two, it spun round and round in a mini-hurricane before dissipating into the air.
Suddenly, both Gunpla rushed at each other. Their swords clashed, sparks flew out as the blades scraped and the two passed by the other. Paladin Gundam quickly flipped its sword and attempted to back stab his opponent.
Sen commanded his Gunpla to jump up, completely dodging Author's sneak attack. His Master Gundam hovered in the air for a few moments before safely landing a few feet from the Paladin Gundam.
"Excellent." Sen praised his opponent. "I haven't had a challenge of this magnitude in quite some time."
"I thank you for your praise." Author responded as his Paladin Gundam dashed towards his opponent. "However! You will soon witness what happens when I get serious!"
The Paladin Gundam brought its sword down, hard. Sen's Gunpla managed to catch the blow with his sword, but it struggled to push back. In a few moments, Sen was forced to use his free hand and grabbed the sword but this only seemed to make the blow heavier as the golden Master Gundam was forced down on one knee.
'I'm actually being overpowered?!' Sen shouted internally. His Master Gundam struggled to stay up as the power behind the Paladin's strike seemed to intensify more and more. If he were to falter now, the sword would cut him in two.
Author sighed. "It seems the rumors about you were greatly exaggerated."
Sen smirked, he was being underestimated. "That's because I'm fighting fairly."
Though it was true this Gunpla was stronger than his in terms of brute strength, Sen still had a few tricks left to play.
"Perhaps, or it may be that you have little other choice but to 'fight fairly'. I noticed that you can seemingly cancel out beam type weaponry, and your Gunpla can showcase incredible power like that explosion from before. However, if you could do that from the start, why did you wait to use it at that very time?"
Sen remained silent.
"The way I look at it, there are 3 possibilities." Author continued. " purposely waited either for your comrades to make it out of the blast radius or wished to instal fear into you opponents before wiping them out."
"2. You have a charge up time or some certain circumstance that needed to be met before you could use that attack till that very moment. 3. And this is related to the last possibility: Your technique to cancel out beams is in fact an absorption method. This would explain why you didn't attack and stood still taking in everything you assailants could throw at you. You absorbed their beam attacks and converted it into energy for you to use."
"Given all this, the 3rd possibility would most likely be true. Our current duel only proves this further as you haven't even tried to attack me in any similar fashion like that explosion wave."
Sen remained quiet for a few moments, then he started to chuckle, gradually that chuckle grew louder as it turned into a laugh. Sen laughed louder and louder, continuing at the expense of all.
"I'm impressed! You managed to figure out quite a bit about my Gunpla from one observation."
As Sen said this, his golden Gunpla began to glow. Its light blinding many who were watching the fight.
"But there is still much you don't know about this Master Gundam ST!" A second after he said this, Sen's Master Gundam released a sort of shockwave at Author, pushing his Paladin Gundam back.
Before he could recover, Sen assaulted the Gunpla in a furry of blinding sword strikes. Author's Paladin Gundam struggled to block the incoming attacks as he was being pushed back.
'Where did this new found strength come from?' Author was on the defensive, not only did his opponent's strength and speed increase but this blinding light that emanated from its body prevented him from spotting any openings that he could exploit.
Tried as he might, Author couldn't find a way to regain the advantage. With a powerful two hand strike, Sen's Master Gundam ST knocked Author's sword out of his Gunpla's hand.
Sen lowered his Gunpla's sword wielding hand to the Paladin's neck. The shinning Master Gundam ST stared at Paladin, waiting for its controller's response.
"I yield." Author said with great humility. He's Gunpla dropped its shield as a sigh that he truly surrendered. Sen smiled, his Gunpla lowered its sword as the light emanating from its body faded.
"Wise choice." Sen said, his Master Gundam ST gently tossed its borrowed sword back to its owner.
The latter caught it. He looked at his opponent, seeking his permission: Sen's Gunpla nodded.
Quickly, but careful enough not to arise suspicion, the Paladin Gundam scooped up its fallen weaponry, putting his swords back into place and grabbing its lance that was up till that point still firmly rooted in the ground.
When he was finished, Author's Gunpla glided towards Sen's. "I want to thank you for the duel. It was quite the experience."
Sen let out a single laugh. "I can say the same, you're the 1st to make me use that system."
"May I be so bold to ask what that system is?"
Sen's Gunpla nodded. "You can think of it as an improved Hyper Mode. I haven't had a chance to come up with a name for it yet."
"I am impressed that your Gunpla has such a diversity of abilities."
"And yours is very strong, and has great mobility thanks to those hover legs. If you used your beam lance while taking full advantage of your mobility instead of fighting me sword to sword that match could have gone quite differently."
"Perhaps, but that would go against my code of honor."
Sen laughed. "Would it now?..."
"LADIES AND GENTALMEN!" The announcer giving commentary yelled, his voice was amplified by various microphones. His loud voice especially annoying to the fighters in the middle of the areana.
"YOU HAVE ALL WITNESSED AN INCREADABLE FEAT TODAY! NEWCOMER SEN HAS SHOWN US THAT HIS GUNPLA CAN TRULY SURVIVE IN THE UNDERGROUND CIRCUIT AS HE DEFEATED ONE OF THE BEST FIGHTER OUR BATTLEGROUND HAS TO OFFER!"
"AND NOW, ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF OUR RECRUITMENT BATTLE TEST, IF A CHALLENGER MANAGES TO DEFEAT THE PRO FIGHTER THROWN IN WITH THE ONE HUNDRED DEFENDING FIGHTERS, THE MATCH ENDS AND EVERY SURVIVING CHALLENGER IS EXCEPTED INTO THE UNDERGROUND CIRCUIT REGARDLESS OF WHEITHER THEY DEFEATED 50 GUNPLA OR NOT!"
Sen chuckled. "That's quite the loophole."
"It's a common thing here in the underground." Author responded. "Rules within rules. Hidden meanings and surprises. This battle was but a taste of the true battles that are to come."
Sen smiled. "I couldn't ask for anything more."
Within a few months, Sen would rise to the top of the Underground Circuit. Easily surpassing anything that was thrown at him, he decided to make a group later named Jackdaw within the illegal society made up of various fighters that Sen admired in a way or saw potential in, among these fighters where Johnny, Author and his White Tri-stars, Black Panther and so on.
This was perfectly fine as the Underground had plenty of teams before hand. After a time, Sen decided to offer he and his team's services to others who wished their problems solved through Gunpla or more...unpleasant means.
They quickly distinguish themselves as the best at what they do as they never failed in a job. However, the only catch was that they did whatever they were hired to do in the way they seemed fit. Even if it was at the expense of the client.
Back in present...
"That's amazing!" The kid before Panther and Johnny yelled, his eyes were ecstatic. "This Sen most be invincible!"
Johnny laughed. "He might as well, the things I've seen him do can only be described as breath taking."
Panther looked at a nearby clock. It was nearly 8 o'clock. "Hey, Johnny." He looked back at his fellow battler. "We gotta go."
Johnny looked up at the clock. "That time already eh?" He looked at the kid. "See yea later kid."
With that, the two headed out to meet with the rest of Jackdaw and finally find out why they where here.
A few minutes later...
In an undisclosed location within Shizuoka City the members of Jackdaw gathered. Among them were the famous White Paladin Author and his White Tri-Stars, the fearsome Reaper, the former Mafia member Antonio, the Assault Sniper Rick Platna and his gorgeous but deadly sister Juile, the Archer Anthony Robin, the mysterious N, the Black Panther, "Quickdraw" Johnny and several other notable underground fighters.
They were gathered in a large conference room with several chairs and a large oval table with their leader Sen at the head. Some sat in the chairs within the room, others choose to stand or lean on the table or wall.
"I would like to thank you all for coming." Sen said. "I know the flight here was more bothersome to certain members among us, I wouldn't say any names since I'm sure most of you know who they are."
A few let out short laughs in response.
Sen smiled, he half turned to the large board behind him. "As some of you may know, our services have been requested by none other that Chairmen Mashita, head of the PPSE. He has called upon us to eliminate two targets from his tournament."
Sen picked up a remote from the table. "The data on these two recently arrived, so I haven't had a chance to do much besides skim over most of it." He pointed the remote at a projection device hanging above the table, he pressed one button and the device hummed to life.
A second later, an image appeared on the board behind Sen. Sen turned and looked at the image, it was a picture of a blue hair boy who looked no older than 12, below the picture was his combat and control skills as well as various other data involving him and Gunpla.
A top was the boy's name: SEI IORI.
Memories flooded Sen's mind as he read the name, memories of a battle that took place 6 months ago. 'Sei Iori...Could he be?...'
Snapping himself back to reality, Sen addressed his followers. "This is one of our targets, Sei Iori. His control skills leave much to be desired but his builder skills are quite impressive, or so the data says."
Sen pressed another button, revealing a new image: A Gunpla that looked like it was based on the F91 Gundam. Along the bottom of the screen portrayed the model's name. STAR BUILD STRIKE.
"This is the targets Gunpla, Star Build Strike." Sen turned his head towards his members with a sly smile on his face. "Looks like he put a lot of thought into that name eh?" Sen turned back to the screen as several of the others chuckled.
Sen pressed the remote's button a few more times, revealing the related data to the plastic model. "It seems to be a well rounded model, and it has a few interesting features."
Sen stopped for a moment, double checking the data before him. "Interesting..." He mumbled before continuing his presentation. "The Strike's shield can absorb beam weaponry, transforms that into particles that can be used for one of three systems."
"1st one," Sen pressed another button on the remote, bringing up one of the images. It showed the Strike's shoulders wrapped in a sort of particle light similar to the V2's Wings of Light.
"A sort of particle light that wraps around the Strike's shoulders. This dramatically increases the model's speed and everything that touches the particles are destroyed. Since its similar to the V2's Wings of Light and the Turn A's Moonlight Butterfly, we'll refer to this system as 'Wings of the Butterfly'."
Sen brought up another image with the remote. It showed the Strike shooting into a yellow square, causing red particle rounds to be shoot out the other end.
"The 2nd one requires the rifle to function as it transforms for this system. Basically it fires the beam rifle into this yellow square and somehow converts that single shot into a volley of red particle rounds. This system will be from now on referred to as 'Hell Volley'."
"The 3rd system," Sen said as he brought up the related image: The Strike glowing in a sort of blue aura. "Converts the absorbed particles into an aura and spreads it all over its body, drastically increasing the performance of the model. Is basically like the Hyper Mode seen in G Gundam. This will be known as 'Strike Mode'."
A hand went up in the air, Sen looked over. The hand belonged to a rather handsome man with bushy long blond hair, and brown eyes. He wore a dark green dress jacket, gray dress pants with a black belt, black leather gloves and black boots like the ones worn when someone would go out horseback riding. The noble looking man also had a jewel incrusted sword attached to his belt.
Sen nodded at him. "Speak Author." The latter straightened his back. "Sir, are our targets children?"
Sen sighed. 'Here comes that "Knight" attitude I've come to dread.' "Yes Author, our targets are two boys."
"Why does the Chairmen of PPSE loath these two boys so much?"
Sen smirked. "Your guess is as good as mine, all I know is that he wishes them out of his tournament and for us to use nonlethal means to do so. Does that satisfy you?"
Author nodded. "For now, my lord."
Sen smiled, he did enjoy Author calling him lord. It reminded him of his past, of a life Sen knew would never come back. "Good." Sen turned back to the screen. "Now the next target is the fighter for the Strike."
Sen pressed a button on the remote, bringing up a page much like the 1st one. This time it had data on a red haired boy older than the 1st. He had a visor hanging onto his hair and strange cloths that looked Indian in origin.
Sen dropped the remote, it hit and bounced once before settling on the floor.
The members of Jackdaw looked at their leader, some rather confused and concerned by the action.
Reaper, known to be a 'jackass' in these type of situations, opened his mouth. "Caught you eye Sen? I didn't know you swag that way."
Author shot Reaper a look of disgust. "Stay your tongue snake or shall I cut it off so you may never spit such lousy venom again?" The White Paladin placed on hand on the sword hanging from his belt. Reaper smiled. "Bring it Brit-boy!"
Before the latter could do anything he would regret, Antonio placed his hand in front of the impulsive man. "Why don't you chill out, chico. No need to cause a commotion yet."
Reaper shrugged. "You have a point, besides no one here would appreciate my art anyway."
Soon after the latter finished speaking, Sen busted out in laughter.
"This must be fate." Sen smirked, he looked at the picture. "So we meet again. You sure have grown, Reiji."
He turned back to his followers. "This job has just turned into a special case!" He looked at Author. "Send the media a tip that there's gonna be a special event for the finalists tomorrow."
Author nodded without hesitation, he moved out of the room.
Sen reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. He quickly keyed in the number to his current employer.
"Chairmen Mashita?"
"Yes, is there a problem with the data I sent you?"
"No, in fact I'm rather please with it. The reason I'm calling you is that I need a favor."
Sen waited a few moments for the Chairman to respond before continuing.
"I want you to announce an exhibition match between the finalists and our group Jackdaw that will take place tomorrow afternoon. Say 3PM or later, I'll leave the small details to you."
"May I ask why you'd request such a thing?"
"Consider this a demonstration of my power and the capabilities of Jackdaw against those of your so called 'best Gunpla warriors of the world'. Specifically against our target."
"...I'll consider it."
Sen frowned. "Well then you can consider someone else to carry out this job. And I can assure you that no one other than us will be able to do that."
A few seconds passed before Mashita replied.
"Alright, I understand. I'll make the necessary arrangements, you have my word."
"Thank you Chairman." And with that, Sen hung up the phone and placed it back in his pocket.
He than placed his hand on the table before him. "Alright, so for our 'introduction' tomorrow we'll be looking at a 16 vs 16 exhibition match. I will be among the contenders of course. Black Panther, sorry but you and your squad will have to sit this one out, you too Johnny."
Black Panther nodded, Johnny had a playful disappointed look on his face. "Aw, and I was looking forward to the 1st rodeo."
"You'll get your chance." Sen continued. "Besides myself I want Anthony, Rick, Juile, Author, Jack, Dawne and Sean, Antonio, Reaper, Tailor, and N."
"That leaves us at 12." Tailor said, he had messy purple hair and a spiky ponytail, brown eyes,, a yellow bandana with red strips across his forehead, he had a yellow shirt on, a light brown vest, blue jeans and worn out gray sneakers. "Who's gonna fill the other 4 spots?"
Sen looked to Juile, she had orange-red hair, and crimson eyes. She wore a rose collar, black leg and arm stockings, short black skirt, a dark red corset, and dark red high heels. "I'll leave the remaining choices to you, I'm sure you'll pick members suiting for this task."
Juile smiled. "Your trust in me is well placed. I shall make sure that the choices don't disappoint."
Sen smiled, he pushed himself off the table and headed for the door. "Now if you excuse me there's someone I have to meet."
"Off to see that Reiji?" Rick asked.
Sen looked at him. "How perceptive of you. And before you ask, yes I know him." Sen looked back at the door as he continued on his way. "That's all you need to know right now."
One hour later...
Reiji walked the streets of Shizuoka City off on one of his late night snack trips. This time however he had more of a reason to go than usual, thanks to his partner Sei and Fellini staying up fixing their Gunpla together. Honestly Reiji couldn't figure out why building Gunpla was so fun to them.
The Arian Prince held up his first price of the night: Meat buns. He was starting to have an obsession with these delicacies. He pulled one of the meat buns out of the plastic bag and took a bite. His face portrayed his satisfaction with the meaty delight.
"Oh Prince of Arian~" A voice strangely familiar to the odd prince sang out. "This is a voice from your past~"
Reiji slowly turned around, his mind flashed old memories of his early days as a prince of Arian. He started to remember who that voice belonged to, a voice belonging to a person he would rather not remember.
Behind him stood a man with silver hair that stretched down past his neck and had black eyes. He wore a white t-shirt, blue jeans along with a black belt, gray sneakers and a black wristwatch.
This man, Reiji knew this man. This despicable man! Why was he here?!
The man had a smile upon his face. "Do you remember me, Reiji?"
Reiji dropped the plastic bag containing his meat buns. "YOU." He shouted in anger. The man chuckled, his smile turned into a smirk.
"It's been a long time, Prince." Sen said.
"Bastard!" Reiji charged at Sen, he threw a fist aimed at his face. At a remarkable speed, Sen moved out of the path of Reiji's fist, grabbed him by his face and slammed him to the ground. With his left leg, Sen knelt on Reiji's right hand pinning it on the ground. The latter wrapped his free hand around Sen's that was keeping his face on the ground, trying to pull the hand off of him.
"Did you forget who taught you how to fight?" Sen said as the latter struggled on the ground. "You still have a lot to learn, my dear Reiji."
"Get off of me!"
"Not before you calm down."
"YOU BASTARD!" Reiji began to claw at Sen's hand, his leg flailed about in a fit of rage. "I'LL KILL YOU! YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE SHOWN UP IN FRONT OF ME AGAIN! I HATE YOU!"
Sen closed his eyes and gave Reiji a sad smile. "So you still blame me for what happened all those years ago."
"Of course!" Reiji replied in a calmer, angry tone. "If it wasn't for you Maiya would be-"
"-You dwell on the past too much." Sen sat up, freeing Reiji from his hold. Sen turned and took a few steps away from the Arian Prince. "You need to look towards the future. Stop holding on the past and move on. It's what she would have wanted."
"You bastard." Reiji picked himself up, he began to charge at Sen. "How the hell could you know what she wanted?!"
Once again, Sen sidestepped the rage blinded Reiji, only sticking out his foot so the latter could trip over it. "Please Reiji, show some restraint." Sen said as Reiji slammed face first on the floor. The latter began to pick himself up when he turned to look at Sen.
"If you're here for forgiveness, you're 5 years too late."
Sen closed his eyes again and smiled. "That's too bad, and here I though we could be friends again like in the good old days."
Reiji grinned his teeth. "How dare you even joke about that. I'll never forgive you for what you did to Maiya."
Sen opened his eyes and frowned. "Yes, you made that quite clear." He said as he walked pasted Reiji, the latter got up moments after Sen passed him. Sen look back at Reiji, his smile reformed on his face.
"We'll see each other again soon, O'Crowned Prince to the throne of Arian."
Sen continued to walk back to where he and his fellow Jackdaw member were using as a base, he half expected Reiji to try and attack him again. He was both disappointed and relieved when the latter didn't do so.
What the two didn't realize was that someone was watching them from afar. A top one of the mainly tall building stood a kid about 8 years old.
He was clocked in a hooded dark blue jacket and a mask similar to Mr. Bushido's from Gundam OO. He also wore dark green pants and gray shoes. He had dark blue eyes and out from underneath the hood covering him one could see pieces of blackish-blue hair.
This kid was the youngest member of Jackdaw and of the Underground Circuit, known only by the atlas N. A child wrapped in mystery, no one knows his past nor why he choose to be a part of the underground.
N's eyes followed Sen till he could no longer see him. Then he shifted his eyes to Reiji, the latter stayed still for a few moments before picking up a plastic bag on the floor and heading off in the opposite direction.
N followed him till he too was out of sight. Suddenly, N sprang off to the right of the building he was on. N looked down at the alleyway between the building he was on and the one next door.
He jumped off, bouncing down from wall to wall with grace and skill one wouldn't expect from an 8 year old. He landed on the ground level, looked around once to see if anyone had taken notice of him, that walked off into the darkness.
