//------------------------------// // Build 06 // Story: Gundam Build Fighters: EGs // by PoisonClaw //------------------------------// Unicorn Nova, Soar! Fluttershy absentmindedly poked at her mashed potatoes, drowning out the sounds of the cafeteria around her as she looked around the table at most of her friends. “Anyone heard from Twilight and Sunset lately?” “Nope,” Applejack replied, bracing her elbow against the table as she held up her head to keep from nodding off, noticeable bags under her eyes. The rest of the table had equally tired looks on their faces, though Rarity had done a magnificent job of masking hers using makeup. “Haven’t heard a thing from those two ever since we done got back from the trainin’ camp. If’n I didn’t share a class with ‘em, I doubt I would have seen either of them at all this week.” Sighing, she pushed her tray away as she leaned back in her chair. “Course, I can’t really blame them none, given that our battle with Crystal Prep is tomorrow.” “Indeed,” Rarity spoke up, fighting back a yawn. “Granted, this may not be the first all-nighter I’ve ever pulled, but getting my Gunpla ready for the competition wore me out more than I anticipated. I know Vice-Principal Luna said that the most important thing is for us to have fun, but we still have the pride of the GB Club on the line.” Pinkie Pie mumbled in agreement, her face firmly planted against the table. “We’re really coming down to the wire here,” Rainbow added. “Sunset has to finish her Gunpla today to be registered into the roster, and the last thing any of us want is to be is falling over ourselves trying to stay awake during the tournament itself.” “I wouldn’t worry too much, Rainbow.” Rarity said, this time unable to stop herself as she loudly yawned. “Sunset will come through, she always does. Besides, she’s got Twilight helping her, and I don’t doubt she could build a Gunpla in her sleep. They’ll be fine.” “Still would be nice if they answered their phone every once in a while…” Rainbow mumbled. As if on cue from on up high, all five of their cellphones went off in perfect unison, a cacophony of ringtones filling the air as the group all grappled for their phones to check their messages. “It’s from Sunset!” Fluttershy announced, having gotten to her phone first. As the others checked their own phones, they quickly discovered that they had all received the exact same text, which was only two lines long and read, It’s finally done. Come to the club room after the final bell. *** At the same time, Luna was working on paperwork in her office, sighing from boredom. As much as she knew how important these were to ensure the school continued to function day to day, some days she wished she could just throw them aside and do something fun instead, like continue working on the Gunpla stashed in the bottom drawer of her desk, the one that Celestia didn’t know about. “Well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her…” Light knocking against the door to her office harpooned those plans as Luna quickly snapped to attention, focusing again on her paperwork as she yelled, “Come in!” Her stern expression gave way to delight as Sunset Shimmer stepped into her office. “Ah, Sunset! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? It wouldn’t happen to be club related, would it?” Luna asked, hopefully. “As a matter of fact, it does. I take it you’ve already noticed how me and Twilight haven’t been to club lately?” “That I have,” Luna replied, folding her hands on her desk. “Your absence is especially strange given that tomorrow is our battle against Crystal Prep, so I was starting to worry you might have quit the club altogether. You’re… you’re not quitting, are you?” Sunset chuckled, assailing Luna’s fears. “Don’t worry, we're’ not going anywhere anytime soon. We’ve just been a little busy working on our Gunpla for the tournament. Speaking of which… it’s finally done. My own take on the Unicorn Gundam is complete, and not a moment too soon.” “Wonderful! I’m certainly looking forward to getting to see what you’ve envisioned in action firsthand.” “You may get your chance sooner than you think…” Sunset remarked cryptically. “See, the reason I’m here wasn’t just to tell you the good news, but to make good on our promise.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “And what promise would that be?” “When we battled on the day of the club opening, I said I’d like a rematch someday, and what better way to test out my new Gunpla and show how much I’ve grown as both a Gunpla builder and fighter than by facing off against your Deathscythe Nightmare again? What do you say?” Luna was quiet for several seconds as she considered Sunset’s offer. “Let me make sure of something first. You said you just finished your Gunpla, so am I to understand that you’ve yet to test it out and that I’ll be the first person to face off against it?” “Yep.” With a grin, Luna met Sunset’s eyes. “Then, as a Gunpla fighter, I am honored to accept your challenge.” “I figured you would,” Sunset remarked with a cheeky grin of her own. “How does the club room after school sound? You won’t be too busy, will you?” Glancing down briefly at the stacks of paperwork across her desk, Luna replied, “I’ll be there no matter what, that you can count on.” “I’ll hold you to it. See you then!” With that, Sunset turned and exited Luna’s office. As soon as the door shut behind her, Luna dove into the paperwork with renewed determination, hellbent on getting it done before the final bell now that she had the promise of a Gunpla Battle waiting for her at the end of it all. *** Finishing the last form with a minute to spare, Luna quickly tidied up her desk before grabbing her bag and stepping out into the hall just as the final bell rang, a rush of students stampeding out of the rooms and filling the halls as they all rushed to get home. Slipping past the crowds of teenagers with practiced ease, it wasn’t long before Luna arrived at the Gunpla Battle Club, opening the door to find Sunset and her friends already waiting for her. “Hello, everyone. I do hope I’m not late?” “Vice-Principal Luna?” Rainbow asked, looking to Sunset. “Did you invite her too?” “I was getting to that, Rainbow,” Sunset quickly said, carrying a case in her hand as she walked over to the GB Projector. “I figured Luna would be the best person to show how I’ve improved my Gunpla, with Twilight’s help, of course.” “Oh, I just helped recommend the right kits to borrow parts from, you did most of the work, Sunset,” Twilight said. “You should be proud of how far you’ve come since you first built the Unicorn Gundam.” “I shall be the judge of that,” Luna said as she stepped up to the projector. [Gunpla Battle, Combat Mode, Startup. Model Damage Level, Set To C. Please Set Your GP Base.] Docking their respective bases, the Plavsky Particles dispersed and formed into a space stage, a large asteroid occupied by a colony taking up a sizable portion of the arena. [Field 01, Space. Please Set Your Gunpla.] Taking out her Deathscythe Nightmare and placing it on the base, Luna looked across the projector at Sunset. “Moment of truth, Sunset. If you wish to fight me, then you won’t be able to keep your Gunpla a secret anymore.” “I’m with Luna,” Applejack remarked from the sidelines. “Enough with the suspense! Y’all called us here to show us your new Gunpla, so show us already!” “Alright, since you’ve all been so patient so far…” Bringing up the case and setting it on a nearby table, Sunset opened up the lid and pulled out her new Gunpla, the one she had spent the last week pouring her heart and soul into. “Time for your debut, Unicorn Nova Gundam.” Luna’s eyes widened, her normally calm demeanor shattered as she got her first glimpse of the new Unicorn Gundam. “My word… “ was all she could think to say in response to what lay before her. The Gunpla still used the Unicorn Gundam’s basic design but had been greatly modified since. Rounded bracers had been seamlessly attached to the side of both forearms, while the Gunpla held a modified beam rifle in its right hand, likely one that had been adjusted to amount for any recoil. Grenade racks holding three grenades each had been attached to the machine, two on the sides of each leg and one on each shoulder, for a total of eighteen, while Luna could just make out a pair of shields attached to the back like a backpack. Finally, the entire thing had been painted a brilliant shade of amber, the insignia of a two-toned red and yellow sun design emblazoned across the chest. Luna was rendered speechless for a brief moment before she collected herself. “I will say now that your skills as a builder certainly have improved considerably. However, I’m assuming you didn’t build it simply to be displayed on a shelf, so the real test will come from how it fares in this battle. Prepare yourself, Sunset, because I have no intention of holding back simply because this will be your new Gunpla’s first fight.” Sunset smirked. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Placing the Unicorn Nova onto the base, the Gunpla was quickly scanned before coming to life, standing tall as it readied itself for its debut. [Battle Start!] “Luna, Deathscythe Nightmare! Time to hunt!” “Sunset Shimmer, Unicorn Nova! Let’s fly!” Like two comets streaking through the sky, the two Gunpla were launched into the battlefield at blinding speeds, glowing trails left in their wake as they blitzed towards each other on a direct collision course, neither one moving an inch in this game of chicken. Then, in a blink, both Gunpla literally collided, their foreheads smashing together with a metallic clang as they were both knocked back from the force of the impact. “Ooh!” Applejack winced at the impact. “That looked like it hurt somethin’ mighty fierce.” As both fighters regained their bearings, Sunset quickly fired a shot from her beam rifle at the Deathscythe Nightmare, who raised its shield just as quickly to block the attack, the beam slamming harmlessly against it. Not missing a beat, Luna readied her scythe as she charged Sunset, swinging her scythe with deadly intent. Firing up her thrusters, Sunset flew upward just in time to dodge Luna’s scythe before launching a volley of RPGs from the racks on her legs and shoulders, the rain of grenades homing in on the Deathscythe from all sides. Unafraid, Luna one handed her scythe as a beam saber extended from the end of her shield, using her leg thrusters to send her spinning around in a cyclone of death as she sliced through the grenades the moment they came within range, exploding harmlessly into clouds of purple smoke. “It’ll take more than a few grenades to stop me!” Reorienting her thrusters, the Deathscythe Nightmare once more descended upon the Unicorn Nova, the horned Gunpla firing another shot at the advancing machine. Instead of blocking or dodging this time, however, Luna instead swung her scythe and bisected the beam straight down the middle, sending the two halves shooting around her as she swung her scythe again at the Unicorn Nova. With a quick flick of her wrist, Sunset commanded the left shield on the Unicorn Nova’s back to detach and then reattach to the left forearm, raising her new shield to block the beam scythe. Shoving the scythe aside, Sunset raised her beam rifle once more and fired close range, the Deathscythe barely managing to shroud itself in its wings as the beam slammed into its chest, the force of the blast pushing it back a considerable distance. Before Luna could recover fully, Sunset fired off the rest of her grenades, the projectiles once more homing in on Luna’s position as she readied her weapon to repel them a second time. Suddenly, the grenades all exploded before they could reach her, casting a veil of purple smoke around her and the Deathscythe Nightmare. “A smokescreen!” Cursing under her breath, Luna jerked her controls as she hastily gunned her thrusters to try and escape the smoke cloud. Before she could though, a beam of plasma pierced through the cloud, Luna’s instincts the only thing saving her from taking a direct shot as she dodged, the beam striking the Deathscythe in its left leg and causing the limb to explode. As Luna managed to flee the smoke cloud, she glanced down at the missing limb of her Gunpla, still smoking from the blast. “You may have drawn first blood, but do not think for a moment you have won this battle yet!” The Deathscythe eyes flashed briefly as the entire Gunpla seemed to shimmer like a mirage, before vanishing from sight. Twilight gasped. “Mirage coating?!” Grunting, Sunset glanced wildly as her displays, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the Deathscythe. “Where did she g—” A blaring warning on her right was Sunset’s only cue as something slammed into the right side of her Gunpla, catching the smallest flash of green out of the corner of her eye before it vanished again. In the span of a breath, something struck the Unicorn Nova across the back, sending it reeling for a moment before spinning around and raising her rifle to fire, only to find nothing behind her. “So, she wants to play hide and go seek, huh?” Sunset said with a chuckle. “Sorry to disappoint you, Luna, but I never used to play fair during playground games.” Activating her other shield, it attached itself to her other arm as a pair of barrels flipped out from the sides of both shields, primed and ready to fire. Raising the Unicorn Nova’s arms, Sunset copied Luna’s tactic from before and spun the Unicorn Nova around like a top, launching a spread of gunfire in every direction. Amidst the hail of beam fire, one of them stuck open space, creating a visible flash of light as it impacted against it. “There you are!” Gunning her engines, Sunset rammed into Luna before she could flee, her cloaking coming undone as the Unicorn held the Deathscythe in the bearhug, the opposing Gunpla struggling valiantly to free itself. It wasn’t long before the two machines slammed into the colony, breaking through the walls and into the structure itself, the tear beginning to suck stray objects out into the void. [Object Crash, State Change.] Emergency bulkheads lining the colony walls quickly went to work sealing the tear before it could cause irreparable damage to the colony. A shockwave rocked the colony as the two Gunpla slammed into the city, plowing through a skyscraper as they came skidding to a stop on the streets. Having been knocked free of the Unicorn Gundam’s grip by the crash, the Deathscythe struggled to pick itself up, its destroyed left leg hampering it greatly in an environment with earth like gravity as sparks arced across its damaged body Left leg is gone, Mirage System is offline, Gunpla operating at fifty-seven percent efficiency, particle speed is still normal… Despite the blaring alerts going off in her cockpit, Luna was still grinning excitedly. Extending the Deathscythe’s wings, Luna took to the air, hovering for a moment like a predator preparing to pounce before dive bombing the Unicorn Gundam as it reached its feet, slamming into it and tossing it to another office building, knocking out the lower levels and sending the structure crashing to the streets. Sunset followed the Deathscythe as it came in for another swipe, swiftly leaping out of the way. Time to finish this, Luna! In a flash of light, Sunset activated the Unicorn’s Destroy Mode, a pulse of energy coursing through the machine as its armor rose up to reveal the burning psycho-frame underneath. This time, however, a stream of particles swirled behind the Unicorn to form a vertical ring of orange light, a pair of wings formed from the same particles extending from the sides of the ring. As Luna came in for another strike, Sunset leapt over her, her new wings granting her the ability of flight as she spun around and pointed her rifle at the Deathscythe’s back. With but a thought, all three shields separated from the Unicorn Gundam and flew through the air around the rifle as the first folded into an adapter and docked onto the top of the rifle, the other two shields docking on either side as a focusing array formed over the barrel. Crosshairs flitted across Sunset’s display as she took aim at the Deathscythe, locking on seconds later. “Fire!” Pulling the trigger, a massive cascade of plasma barreled forward from the augmented weapon, giving the Deathscythe barely enough time to turn around before it was swallowed up by the hyper particle beam, the beam piercing through the colony wall with little resistance as it shot through the void of space for hundreds of miles before finally fading. [Battle Ended! Winner, Unicorn Nova!] As her cockpit vanished, Sunset was nearly knocked over as Twilight ran over and hugged her. “Whoa!” “You won!” Twilight cheered, soon joined by the others as they all rushed over to congratulate Sunset. “Congratulations, Sunset.” “A marvelous victory, darling.” “That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both said in unison. “With that kinda firepower, I reckon them Crystal Prep students don’t stand a salt lick of a chance.” “Thanks, girls.” Sunset smiled, though it slipped from her face when she noticed a slight hiccuping sound from the other side of the room. Looking over a Luna, she winced when she saw Luna had her head lowered, her shoulders trembling as she clenched her fists tightly. “Uh… Luna? Are you alri—” Throwing her head back, a hearty laugh filled the room as Luna trembled with unrestrained laughter, having to brace herself against the projector to keep herself from falling over. After nearly a full minute of boisterous laughter, Luna managed to finally collect herself, wiping a stray tear from her eye as she looked at the seven girls, all staring wide-eyed at her. “I do apologize for that, but it has been far too long since I’ve been able to have this much fun during a battle. I thank you, Sunset, for allowing me to experience this joy once more.” “Er… no problem?” Sunset replied, still a little taken aback at seeing the usually stern Vice-Principal openly enjoying herself like this. Still smirking, Luna turned her attention towards Sunset’s Gunpla. “I must say, this new Gunpla is a marvelous creation, and I was definitely surprised at the amount of detail and forethought you put into the Unicorn Gundam’s redesign. Tell me, how ever did you come up with it?” Sunset chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. “Oh, you could say it just came to me in a dream…” *** Across the city, at the illustrious private school known as Crystal Prep, the school’s Gunpla and Model Club were making their own final preparations for their tournament with Canterlot High’s Gunpla Battle Club, fully intent on sweeping the tournament. As they made final tune-ups to their Gunpla, however, they were rudely interrupted by two figures barging into the club room and challenging them to a Gunpla Battle out of the blue. Always itching for a challenge, the typically laid-back Lemon Zest stepped up to teach these pair of interlopers a lesson. It was all over before anyone could even process what had happened. [Battle Ended!] A shocked squeak escaped Lemon Zest’s throat as she stared wide-eyed at her Gunpla. Or rather what little remained of it, as the Gunpla had been thoroughly torn to pieces as if mauled by a savage beast. Around her were her fellow Shadowbolts, who all stood in equal states of shock at the sheer level of brutality with which Lemon Zest’s Gunpla had been ripped to shreds. Dropping to her knees, Lemon Zest trembled as she scooped up the pieces of her treasured Gunpla. “My… my Susanowo… “Pathetic.” With tears in her eyes, Lemon Zest glared up at her opponent. “W-what?” she choked out. “I said you’re pathetic,” she repeated, a condescending smirk on her lips. “Getting so emotional over a little game.” Scoffing, the figure turned to take in the rest of the room, her piercing eyes freezing the students to their core. “If this is the level of fighters I can expect from this so-called ‘Gunpla club”, then it’s no wonder your principal called the two of us in to ‘assist’. Isn’t that right?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder at her compatriot, who just snorted in response. “Now…” Her already chilling eyes took on a more sinister gleam as she glanced from one student to another. “Who’s next?” Next Time: Canterlot High Vs. Crystal Prep, Begins! Fight 1, Rainbow Dash Vs. Indigo Zap!