Saviour VS Arios
Disclaimer: I don't GBF or OCs used, it belongs to Sunrise and they belong to their owners.
Jeez, a few weeks into the season of fall and already my life has been messed with and flushed down the toilet. Lyle doesn't seem to mind though because he has a "better teacher" to help him in regards to building Gunpla… WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING!? I'm the best teacher that he could have… but then again, a graduate from the prestigious Gunpla Academy would be the best teacher anyone could find. Ah, damn it all, two people from a certain Gunpla team will be coming in for an exhibition match and teach fans and "admirers" what to expect from national teams at this year's GBWC Mk II. Looks like it'll be a debacle when the day ends.
"Hey Lyle, I'm leaving so be good while I'm gone!" He said nothing because he was, and I assumed he was, watching "season 2" of 機動戦士ガンダム00 or Kidou Senshi Gandamu 00 or even Mobile Suit Gundam 00 because, and I'm just guessing, he wants to be a bit more like the character he was named after and thus, get the ladies… I swear the things he does. After I got out the door, I found Monica sitting on the steps… why was she waiting for me when she could've gotten to school way before me? "What're you doing?"
"Waiting…"
"Okay, waiting for what?"
A group of three couldn't have arrived at a better time to rescue me from this awkward silence. "Yo Kale!" Thank you so much you guys. "You wanna get some practice before the guest fighters get here?" Typical Darren idea.
"That's playing hooky Darren! Do it if you want to, but I'm off to the school!" I walked down the steps and took the lead of our group of four. As we were about to turn left, I looked back and Monica was still sitting on the front steps.
"KALE! Hurry up or we'll be late!" Damn it Kaila, don't just yell in my ear like that.
"Alright, let's go to the school then." As crazy as I might've been at that moment, I kept looking back and arguing in my head to invite Monica along or not… I mean she'll get to school before the late bell, right? I dismissed all thoughts about that area of my life and moved on to a huge part: Gunpla… especially since today guest fighters are coming… we don't even know who they are… this is annoying. Well I guess it adds suspense like in anime… I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about so I think I'll just shut up for a little while. I just realized something, we've been using Trans-Am too much recently and it's like we just use it with no restraint… we've got to do something about that.
Darren called out. "Kale… Kale… Earth to Kale. Anyone in there?"
"Hm?"
Kaila filled in. "You were out of it again."
"Damn it… I've been doing that recently, but it was about our frequent Trans-Am usage."
Raymond seemed to agree with me because he said what I was about to say. "We need to cut down on our usage. If we keep spamming Trans-Am, then other fighters will think we're not a threat even without Trans-Am."
"Exactly my point."
Kaila, ever the rude one, replied with "And your point being?"
Another voice popped in. "Using Trans-Am too much will make you dependent on it and thus, like a drug, you can't fight battles without it."
This voice didn't belong to anyone I knew personally, so, and this was true for all five of us because Monica just joined us out of nowhere and the voice didn't belong to her, we turned around and saw a figure that we never imagined to meet in person much less actually get to even see him in the flesh and not on TV. And like the idiot Darren is… I mean, I even thought the same thing… he blatantly said "Athrun Zala!"
"No, I'm not Athrun Zala."
Kaila joined in. "But what you just said contradicts the fact that you look like Athrun Zala."
I had to interrupt. "Don't judge a book by its cover."
Athrun "Zala" also commented on this. "Quite so… and it's because of this book's cover that it's being judged like this."
"Athrun… we're an hour behind the arranged timeline."
Another voice that the five of us didn't recognize immediately popped in, but I was sure that wherever Athrun "Zala" went, she would follow. To confirm my suspicions, I turned to the source and saw Alice Guide. Darren, being the idiot he is, blatantly and without concern, asked "Who the hell are you?"
I had to apologize. "I'm sorry for my friend's extremely rude behavior Mr. Castleton."
"Please, Athrun will do."
"Okay then, Athrun, my name is Kale Cassel and I am the president of the Centurial High School's anime/Gunpla club. These three people behind me are my associates and the co-vice presidents of the aforementioned club: the one that's not in a school uniform is Raymond Kens, the girl who's in the male uniform is Kaila Killian, and the rude one, who kept saying you were Athrun Zala, in orange is Darren Blake." The three just did a quiet welcome as I introduced them.
Alice Guide, who was all business, thought we were digressing from the original point of their visit and went straight to the point. "Your entry in this year's GBWC Mk II is interesting: you're using 00 Gunpla and a CBS-742 Ptolemaios 2 Kai, yet you have no one at the helm."
Athrun pretty much scolded her for that. "Alice, we're guests so we have no right to question their plans."
I had to apologize, for the second time in about five minutes to the man. "No it's alright." I turned to Alice Guide. "You're right, we don't have anyone at the helm, but I'm sure someone will turn up."
She took a suspicious look at me, (like what did I say?), and then took a look at Monica. "What about her?"
I was very frank… no, I was… I didn't know what I was being at the moment, but I said "Well, she just transferred a few weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to personally assess her battle abilities."
Darren, the idiot he was, spoke up. "Uh Kale, didn't you see how she handled the Operation Meteor Gundams? She kept them busy by using the DRAGOONS and then it gave Kaila an opening!"
I kicked his shin and in a hushed voice, "Shut up!" He gave me a pissed look.
Alice Guide on the other hand, concocted an idea. "When we get to the high school in question, I shall test her abilities myself; based on my assessment, you will accept her or not." God damn it… The whole world is taking a dump on me.
Darren, who again went Hallelujah-crazy, dashed towards the school. "Come on, let's hurry up!"
Athrun, confused as I was, asked me "What was that?"
I was obliged to answer. "He almost suffers from a split-personality disorder. I say almost because as far as I can tell, there were no traumatizing events in his childhood that would cause his personality to split." The walk was quiet and awkward because of the crazy factor called Darren… that and there was nothing to talk about when we're around, basically, celebrities.
By the time we arrived at the front entrance of the school, a somewhat, what-do-you-call-it, fanfare line, I guess, had assembled by the entrance and I suppose they were waiting for Athrun and Alice… I swear even the non-Gunpla fans lined up to meet these two. Athrun spoke up, trying to break the silence. "This is a motley crowd." That broke the silence, and started the crazy struggle to get inside: fan girls and fan boys tried to have a word with the two and pushed one another and even pulled other's hair. Kaila, Raymond, Monica and I had to make a circle around the two and we slowly pushed our way through the whole student body into the school.
Once we were inside, the principal was standing there. "Good morning Mr. Cassel."
I sheepishly said "Good morning Mr. Donovan."
"I assume these are our guests, correct?"
"Yes sir. Mr. Donovan, Athrun Castleton and Alice Guide."
Athrun went out of his way to greet the principle. "I'm pleased to be here."
"It's a pleasure to have you and Ms. Guide here at our little school. Mr. Cassel, seeing as they are your guests," you can't be serious Mr. Donovan, "you may be excused from your classes and keep them out of the other students' hands until it is time." No offense Mr. Donovan, but I would rather let Darren take care of these two and that's saying a lot. "Are we clear?"
I grimaced and agreed. "Crystal clear sir."
"Good. Have a nice day Mr. Cassel, Mr. Castleton and Ms. Guide." He stared at the roof for a pregnant second. "I think I'll let the students in now, so hurry up Mr. Cassel."
"Good idea Mr. Donovan." I turned to my guests for the day and said. "You might wanna follow me if you want to avoid that mass of students you just passed through." They turned around and we could hear the body of students outside scream again. "On the double." We proceeded to the roof because almost no one goes there at all and the only people who do are the ones who play hooky, people who do some individual reflection (I am one of those people and I'm not afraid to own up to that fact), and the emotionless people (and there are only two people who can live up to that; not much is known about the two except one is an absolute truant and the other is at school like once a year and still gets passing grades). As we made our way up, I kept checking my watch for the time because in about one minute the morning bell will ring and then the whole student body will pour in one after the other, especially to meet the celebrities. When we made it to the roof, something was obviously off: first, my stuff was moved from its original position; second, there were two people here and I seemed to have thought about the two emotionless people which was impossible and yet, after looking around, I found them here, at school, on the roof.
Athrun and Alice addressed the elephant in the room, even if I wished they hadn't. "You said no one would be up here."
I turned around and gave them "I never said anything like that… when have I said anything like that at all?"
Alice had to give a rejoinder "But you implied that no one would be on the roof."
"It's your fault for thinking that!"
Jack, the truant, who wore nothing but Goth crap and was a blond, said "If you want us to stay quiet about this, consider it done. You agree with me, right Nate?"
Nate, who Jack was talking to, was the one who doesn't come to school the whole year and gets passing grades, looked like one of those people who don't wear any scary clothes, but one look at his eyes will get you to shut up. "Sure."
I turned around from my esteemed guests and stared at the two "students". I asked them "Why are you guys here? You're almost never at school except for…"
Jack, who was ever so chipper, filled in my answer to my question. "We came to see the transfer student, right Nate?" Nate only grunted. Nate is one of those quiet types: no one could ever a single word out of him. I also heard rumors that Nate and Jack were at the Gunpla Academy for three or four years. All those rumors ended the same: Nate and Jack were kicked out. "Just do us a favor and give us front-row seats."
I hated it whenever Jack would ask me for a favor, but it's better than Nate asking me for a favor, so I said "Sure. Stop by the auditorium at 3."
"Consider it done. Let's go Nate." Nate, who again gave a solitary grunt, followed Jack out the door.
"Wait a minute… why didn't you just see the transfer student when she came in!?" I have a feeling that this is going to bite me in the ass later. I turned around to my VIPs and told them "So, if there's anything you want to ask me, ask away because we have a lot of time on our hands."
Alice had no hesitation in asking questions, in fact, she spat them out, one after another as soon as I answered the previous question. A few of those questions were along the lines of "If you make it into the finals, what Gunpla would you use, assuming that you would use a stronger Gunpla", "Strategies you've used in the past", "Any Gunpla designs that is meant for facing funnels" and she was about to ask me her, like, 2000th question when Athrun put one on me. "Why did you publish your Plavsky particle manipulation notes?"
I have to say that really put me on edge. "Why ask that?"
"Answer my question first."
I really didn't want to drag that story out, but it seems I have no choice. "I always remember dreaming about being in the 00 universe, about piloting Exia, Cherudim, Zabanya and using Trans-Am and so when I had access to the necessary tools, I went to work. I kept going over and revising the current version of Trans-Am in vain… actually, not in vain but I'll never say to what extent… and I couldn't conquer getting past one minute. I had almost given up when I saw F91 Imagine and Amazing Exia fight: Metal Peel Off Effect (M.E.P.E.) vs Trans-Am. I know it may be absolutely ridiculous to say that watching that fight reignited the flame within me, but it did."
Athrun seemed to ponder about this, but Alice interjected. "That still doesn't answer his question: why did you publish your Plavsky particle manipulation notes?"
"Alice, we are his guests, if he was going to get to that, then we should wait."
I took no notes about their conversation thereafter, but I told the end. "When I got the finished product, I didn't want anybody to suffer through all that trouble like I did. So I took the majority of the notes, not the ones about Trans-Am of course, that would give anyone a head start and I went around posting the notes on a few forums here and there and would you look at it, my notes are being used as intended."
Athrun gave me a sour look at the last part. "What do you mean, 'as intended'?" I said nothing on the matter, seeing as it would only bring up more pain from the past. "Okay, well as Alice said, you can't be using the same Gunpla from the preliminaries should you get into the finals. What do you have planned?"
"I'm glad you asked, but that will have to wait until the tournament. I will, however, show you a work in progress." I took the aforementioned Gunpla out of the case on my belt, and put it on the table that Nate and Jack were sitting at. "I present to you the GN-010/SA Gundam Zabanya SAGA." True to its designation, it was the Gundam Zabanya with parts from the Cherudim Gundam SAGA. "This will be the Gunpla that I'll use for Maryland nationals and then the preliminaries of the tournament. With GN Submachine Guns, attached to the back via adapter parts, GN Assault Carbine as the main armament for launching and mid-to-long range sniper jobs, two GN Holster Bits on the hips for the two GN Rifle Bit II's in rifle form, 14 GN Holster Bits with 14 GN Rifle Bit II's canonically arranged. To top it all off, an automatic Bit Control System, which requires a little input from the user the first time as it takes the fighter's style into account while controlling the bits – and after the first use, it automatically takes control, hence the automatic, of the bits or funnels and it'll never require separate controls - and it still takes commands from the fighter for uses such as formation firing, withdrawal, or other uses. Of course, I can't forget the infamous Trans-Am that made the Gundams from 機動戦士ガンダム00 a fearful force."
Athrun pondered on my description of the Zabanya SAGA. He took a while and when Alice wanted to break the silence, Athrun would give her quiet signal. "Well, it seems impressive, but can it live up to its expectations as you've so aptly, but implicitly, put?"
"Why yes, because there's a secret to this Gunpla's Trans-Am, so don't count me out." Before he asked what that secret was, I gave him a palm. "If you two aren't busy, then I suggest that you work on your presentation while I sleep." Truth be told, I don't get enough sleep nowadays. I walked, more like dragged my feet, toward a garden chair and plopped down on the mattress that was on the chair and nodded off. When I came to, I noticed I was under a shadow, so I looked up and then I saw Alice looking down at me. "What?"
"Weak."
I actually felt my eyelids twitch in annoyance at her comment. "What do you mean 'weak'?"
"You created an automatic Bit control system. Your actual bit control skills will worsen and at that point, it'll be similar to a non-Newtype reacting to the NT-D program."
I got up and turned around. "If you think that'll happen, why don't you test it out for me?"
"I'm simply explaining that the easy way out isn't the best solution and that there will be massive repercussions."
I started to reply when Athrun spoke calmly. "Stop it. Kale is trying to make fighting a battle more efficient. There are people who want to use their favorite mobile suits that make use of remote weapons, but they can't due to fighting from x plus 1 amount of places where x equals the amount of remote weapons and the 1 equals the mobile suit itself. What Kale is trying to do is both noble and efficient."
"But that still doesn't hide the fact that the more he uses it, the more his bit control skills degrade."
"That's true, but it all comes down to a fighter's style."
While they continued their argument, like a married couple I might add, I continued to think about additions to Z-SAGA (shorter version of my Gunpla's name when I don't want to pronounce the full thing). I could've thought some more when the lunch bell rang… sometimes I hate that bell. Anyways, I considered using weaponry from AGE… it wasn't a bad idea but then I thought about how to convert the power source from a cartridge of ammo to GN Particles. I figured, let it be like the Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor. Moving on… Athrun and Alice were still working on their presentation… how long does it take to organize one presentation that should last only about an hour or so? Maybe they have more than an hour's worth of information or crap… I don't want to deal with this right now… and it's going to be a long day, just waiting. While I waited for the time to pass, I took out some kits – and I don't even know why I keep some out here – and took some of the already assembled weapons, set them on the table, took out another kit for weapon containers and did just a quick build; then I took some parts from other kits to attach the containers onto the shoulders like rocket launchers and took the Britannias rifle from the AGE-3 Laguna kit and put it on Z-SAGA's left hand. I was finally done with this thing, but that only took about 10 minutes… GOD DAMN IT WHY IS TODAY SO SLOW!? Anyways, the last few hours of the school day passed by – finally – and as the three of us made our way down to the auditorium, we encountered another bloc (A/N's: the group, and it is spelled that way, not whatever one may think) of fans and we ran like hell to another part of the school that not a lot of students would normally go to. We also found Jack and Nate… "What're you guys doing here?"
Jack, because he's more sociable, answered. "We were just hanging here."
"Well, do you guys mind accompanying us? We're on our way to the auditorium for the presentation that I promised to save seats for you guys."
"What do you say Nate?" Nate, who was ever so quiet, grunted. "We'll go with you guys." I swear Nate needed to talk more. Anyways, we waited until the coast was clear to advance towards the auditorium. We went for the back door because that was where everyone, who had an event or something to host, went through the back door and met up with Darren, Raymond, Kaila and Monica. What happened next surprised all nine of us. "Monica?"
Monica was shocked, as the rest of us were, and looked at Jack and Nate in absolute confusion. "Jack? Nate?"
What surprised me even more was Nate. "Why are you here Monica?"
"Because I just transferred here." There was an awkward pause. "I'm also supposed to Kale's 'soul mate' or something like." No… don't tell them that!
The next thing I knew was Jack and Nate giving me these angry faces and they cornered me. Nate spoke more now than he has ever done in the time I've known him. "Do you think you can get away with this you little fuck? Do you think that we'll just let that happen? I bet you must've been so happy to find out that you won't be single anymore."
"Hold on you guys. I was literally the first one to object to this. Raymond knows how I feel about this topic."
Jack turned to Raymond and asked "How did he feel about this?"
"Kale said that he's coveting his being single." Jack seemed to be okay with this because everyone knows that Raymond rarely lies and when he does, it becomes obvious.
Nate however, continued. "Well, you won't get away with this. I challenge you to a Gunpla battle for Monica's hand!" Everyone paled at this. No one has to be that stupid enough to declare a challenge for someone's hand. "Don't even think about declining, because I will fucking torture you until I am satisfied." Eep.
I grimaced. "Fine, I accept your challenge, but only because I don't wanna get tortured to death."
"We fight after this presentation is over, and in front of all the attendees." I never wanted think about this, but fucking hell.
I turned around and said "Okay, let our viewers in!" While Darren and Kaila did so, I grabbed Monica and asked only one question that was in my head because only one thing concerned me. "What can you tell me about Nate's ability?"
"His ability is just as good as the best 16 fighters in the World Championship."
"FUCK I'M SCREWED!"
"Don't worry. He never reveals more than one percent of his true ability so you should be fine."
"I hope you're right." Because I feel that I've just angered the Hulk and he's going to go all out on me. I blanked out for the first half of the presentation because I was going over possible strategies and when I finally came to, I noticed that Alice was about to start her examination of Monica's abilities.
"Seeing as I feel a high-speed match is appropriate, Athrun, can you hand me a Saviour and an Arios?" After Athrun did so, Alice turned to Monica and asked her "HGCE or HG00?"
"HG00. I'm more comfortable with Anno Domini mobile suits."
"So be it." Alice handed Monica the HG00 1/144 Scale GN-007 Arios Gundam. Of course, the models were already built so as to save time. So they took the Gunpla out of the boxes and proceeded to the battle system.
"Please set your GP Base. Beginning Plavsky particle dispersal." How will Alice fight? How will Monica? We'll find out in this battle. "Field 5, City. Please set your Gunpla." One thing is for sure, after this presentation, I'll have to fight Nate. "Battle start."
Athrun took one to tell me "You want to know what's ironic? The last time I saw a Saviour and Arios fight was when I was piloting a Saviour and the first person to truly recognize who I really was years back in an Arios."
"Saviour, deru!"
"Arios, kainyuu koudou hairu."
The two came out to a couple of high-rise buildings on opposite ends of the map. Both took the initiative and transform the Gunpla into MA mode. They both rose above the buildings and started firing at each other and I saw they were going to play chicken - thank the movie Pearl Harbor for that – and they kept firing until they turned away from each other in the nick of time. As they landed, they reverted back to MS mode and stood facing each other. It was half a minute when Monica started firing the wrist-mounted GN Submachine guns and wielded a beam saber while charging the Saviour. The Saviour backed up and had both beam sabers out, trying to look for a gap in Arios' fire. As Monica went for the kill, Alice ascended into the air to fire the Amfortas cannons. Monica had to pull off tight maneuvers to pull out of kill zone and ascended in the air to where Alice was; as both girls locked beam sabers, Alice tried to swing down with the other beam saber but Monica held the opposing arm and kicked the Saviour's shield away.
Darren, who usually has no sense of tactics, blatantly said "That's great! Now all she has to do is land a hit and it's over!" Not really; if I'm following Monica's train of thought correctly, she'll either want to drain the Saviour's battery to make its VPS turn off (I of course did the programming myself) or pull off a Kira Yamato and destroy all of Saviour's armaments.
"Trans-Am!" Arios glowed red and zipped around the Saviour; the Saviour stood still and lashed out only when the Arios got close enough. Monica ended it by drawing out both beam sabers and went over the Saviour and lacerated the arms and wings. Arios came to a full stop behind the Saviour and held a beam saber at the head. "I win Ms. Guide."
Alice seemed to laugh. "So you have. Congratulations, you've passed my test."
"Battle ended." The particles receded and the two shook hands.
"Mr. Kale. Having concluded that Ms. Crain has passed my test, you will accept her on your team." God damn it I forgot about this deal. Already I could feel an angry look concentrated on me.
I got up and said in an awkward tone "Well people, we have one more thing scheduled, but it wasn't scheduled until the last minute. Anyways, you'll see me duel our school's one and only Nathaniel Tate." I swear we're going to be seeing so many videos of today on YouTube.
Kale: Remind me why this was a bad idea.
Monica: Because I just had to mentioned the locker myth.
Athrun: And now we'll see who gets Monica's hand.
Alice: Next time, "Love Rivalry Part 1".
Jack & Raymond: This is the worst way to express love.
A/N's: Sorry, this chapter was just sitting on my flash drive for a long time. I was busy with other things like Gundam Unicorn, SDGO, Attack on Titan Tribute Game and other things. Oh yeah, first few F-bombs... YAY!
