EPISODE.1-C
Wish You Were Here ~Be By My Side~
“We kidnapped Celica?”
In each of their cockpits with the proximity alarms still going off, BALL widened his eyes while GIMM shrugged his shoulders.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding here,” BALL muttered.
Celica quickly retracted her tongue.
But it wasn’t a misunderstanding. While Yoshi was busy being mesmerized by the “thing” in his hangar, she had left him a note on his catering suit locker that said: “We have Celica. Hand your store over if you want her back. ~From the guys who couldn’t pay for their soba noodles~”
“I won’t hand over Miki-Tei…or Celica!”
Yoshi’s booming voice was heard in each of their cockpits. Celica, who was sitting alongside BALL, smiled happily.
It was a simple bet whether Yoshi would come to retrieve her, if he would only look her way.
And he did come.
Celica tried to tell the truth to BALL and GIMM. “I’m sorry. It was all a rouse to find out if his feelings for me were true...”
But it was too late.
“Too bad!”
GIMM had already made up his mind.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding here, but Celica was the one who wanted us to take over that store!”
“She’s in love with us now!” BALL enthusiastically added.
“No one wants you anymore, Yoshi! Isn’t that right, Celica?”
“What? Um, but…”
There was some truth in Celica’s intentions to have GIMM and BALL take over Yoshi’s business. However, it was supposed to be a form of revenge if Yoshi hadn’t come to retrieve her and kept obsessing over “the thing.” She regretted having made her decision without thinking too much about it.
“You’ll be fine! We’ll take over the soba business, demolish the store, and make it into our own happy little party shop!”
She didn’t want any of it. She didn’t even want to know what a ‘party shop’ was.
“What GIMM says! You’ll be all right, Celica!”
It was the first time BALL had called a girl by her name outside of his sisters. His eyes were burning with devotion. Celica had completely lost her chance to back out of her plan.
In that moment, something the size of a grain of rice glimmered, reflecting sunlight.
The GM Turbulence stood beside the Polypod Ball, still pointing its beam rifle at the sky before it took aim and began firing rapidly.
But the glimmering object dodged the beams from the rifle with ease and advanced towards the two Gunplas with immense speed, revealing its identity.
“It’s not the thing that attacked us just now!”
GIMM removed his finger from the trigger for a brief moment and squinted his eyes.
BALL browsed through his air manual collection in his mind and remarked, “It isn’t an atmospheric reentry Waverider. Did it transform into a Wave Shooter to fly under gravity? No, it’s not that, either!”
That Gunpla is…!
Celica unwillingly gasped, “It’s the ‘Wave Diver,’ used only for the most difficult deliveries!”
It was a high output heavy assault mode that combined the Waverider’s flying armor and Wave Shooter’s wing binders.
In its cockpit, Yoshi glared at the Polypod Ball and the GM Turbulence down below, which he had locked his eyes on. However, he was wrestling with a puzzling thought.
“Celica was the one who tempted them? Is that true?”
On the other hand, GIMM and BALL seemed to be at ease, despite being locked on by the Wave Diver heading toward them at a great speed.
“We have Celica!” BALL said with a smirk.
“And you don’t know if she’s on the GM Turbulence or the Polypod Ball!”
GIMM had a wide sinister smile.
“He’ll never be able to land a critical hit!”
The next moment a beam fired from Yoshi’s Wing Diver missed the two Gunplas, but it was about to impale one of the GM Turbulence’s legs. A large portion of the ground next to it was gouged out.
BALL and Celica gasped. GIMM took aim and fired at the back of the Wing Diver, which soared over them and flew away. The Wing Diver evaded the beams at such an extraordinary speed that it seemed to slice through them. It wasn’t even scathed.
Yoshi’s voice came in.
“I can’t make the killing blow, but I can shoot off your legs and make your Gunpla crawl around on the ground to incapacitate you!”
But GIMM scoffed the threat off with a “Huh,” and replied, “Then I’ll incapacitate you first!”
The GM Turbulence quickly changed its position, heading to a space between two buildings. The Polypod Ball followed, vigorously scurrying with its multiple legs.
“I see! We can limit the Wing Diver’s mobility here!”
“You could,” said Yoshi, while flipping his Gunpla over and heading toward the two in a straight line. When GIMM and BALL set aim on him, he continued, “if I was using my Wing Diver!”
The Wing Diver marvelously turned into its Mobile Suit mode, the Zeta Kyanos, in an instant. BALL’s eyes widened.
“Only a Gunpla made with an extremely detailed assembly can pull off a transformation gimmick that smooth!”
The Zeta Kyanos didn’t miss its chance, lunging towards the prone Polypod Ball with its beam saber out.
BALL came back to his senses and quickly swayed his Gunpla backward.
Celica let out a short cry.
“Celica…?!” Yoshi halted his blade when hearing her voice from the radio. The GM Turbulence used the brief moment to blast its backpack thrusters at maximum thrust and perform a mighty jump.
“Now I have the high ground!”
But the Zeta Kyanos also leaped, transformed into the Wing Diver, and attempted to reposition itself by flying away.
Yet the Gunpla sluggishly accelerated. The GM Turbulence’s beam rifle successfully hit its tail stabilizer two to three times, but the Zeta Kyanos managed to fly away and make distance between them.
“That thing sure has a lot of firepower, but maybe it’s really heavy and slow because of all the added stuff!”
The GM Turbulence landed on the ground, rushed out from between the buildings, and took position in the remains of a vacated construction site below an array of skyscrapers. The Polypod Ball followed from behind.
“Its maximum speed is really fast, but it might suck at accelerating and maneuvering!”
“His Gunpla’s over-decorated and his soba noodles are soggy! Seems like your days are over, Yoshi!”
The GM Turbulence readied its beam rifle.
“All you gotta do is hand over Celica and the store to us! Capisce?”
The Polypod Ball aimed its 180mm Cannon, although it was far from being a great anti-aircraft artillery weapon.
Yoshi’s Wave Diver came diving toward the two over their line of fire. In its cockpit, Yoshi put on a sharp expression. “Then I’ll show you all I’ve got!”
The Wave Diver purged its flying armor and shifted into its Wave Shooter mode. The Gunpla instantly became thinner, becoming light enough to slice through the air.
“He threw away his parts?!” GIMM was astonished.
“Really?!” BALL tried to hide, but he didn’t have enough time. He fired his cannon, but Yoshi promptly dodged it and headed his way.
GIMM involuntarily hid the Polypod Ball behind his Gunpla and frantically shot his beam rifle. The Wave Shooter kept flying their way, weaving through the barrage of fire. It was as though Yoshi’s feelings had become the burning propellant for the Gunpla.
“He’s not soggy at all. Is this what he really is!?”
GIMM was overwhelmed by Yoshi’s determination and felt something hot pour into his soul. It was as though he felt Yoshi was directly speaking to him through their fight.
“But…”
Both BALL and GIMM felt a strange feeling. The barrels of the Flying Armor were definitely aimed toward the two. However, they somehow knew that Yoshi wasn’t focusing on them at all.
Celica, who was sitting next to BALL, also felt her wavering feelings. She had to tell GIMM and BALL that she had used them to test Yoshi’s feelings for her, and she had achieved her goal.
Yoshi’s Wave Shooter was already right in front of them. It gripped its beam rifle and aimed toward the Polypod Ball’s legs as though to stop Celica from running away. It was then that the delivery phone in the Wave Shooter’s cockpit rang.
Yoshi involuntarily took the phone.
“This is Miki-Tei Catering, here to connect tastiness and space with a warm heart!”
Yoshi was startled. The order was for an “all topping super-cosmo-size soba.”
It had the biggest number of toppings and amount of noodles on their menu, and took the most time to prepare, staying true to its super-cosmo-size name. It was a meal that could only be completed with the power of Yoshi and Celica’s skills combined.
Yoshi slowly put down the receiver and said, “Celica… I need you.”
His voice was heard in the Polypod Ball’s cockpit.
“I need you. Without you, I won’t be able to take the order for the super-cosmo-size soba.”
There was a brief pause.
Something had snapped inside Celica’s heart.
BALL thought he had heard it.
“Celica…?”
“Oh, so I’m just some convenient woman who helps Yoshi make his soba...” she muttered in a surprisingly deep voice despite her cute appearance.
BALL hesitated.
“I-I don’t think that’s what he meant...”
But Celica was straightforwardly shouting at Yoshi.
“That’s why I told you! I’ve already decided to take over your stupid shop, demolish it, and make it into an insane party shop!”
She yelled, taking the control grips of BALL’s Polypod Ball and spamming the triggers. All of the rounds were rapidly fired, hitting Wave Shooter’s Wing Binders. Yoshi had been caught off guard.
“Whaaaaat!”
Right before the Gunpla lost its lift and thrust and was about to crash, Yoshi transformed the Wave Shooter into the Zeta Kyanos. He used the thrusters on its backpack and braked, managing to land the Gunpla on both feet, and glared at the Polypod Ball. He couldn’t believe what he had heard.
“Then what those two said was true…”
“I’m never going back to you! I don’t even want to see your face!”
“N-no! You know what? I think it’s better for you to go back!” GIMM was unnerved. The situation was getting overly complicated. But more than that…
“Listen, Yoshi, it’s all a misunderstanding. We didn’t know how you felt for Celica, or how she felt about you!”
Yoshi’s determination during the fight was a testament to his strong feelings for Celica, and Celica’s drastic actions were from the same intentions.
That moment, another shadow descended from the sky. It was the Gunpla that fired the first shots at GIMM and BALL at the beginning of their battle.
“The PBWS!”
BALL gulped while yanking Celica’s hands from the triggers to prevent her from pushing them even more.
GIMM was also nervous for what was to come next.
Yoshi made the Zeta Kyanos jump in front of the two and combined with the PBWS in mid-air. The Gunpla had become a spectacle, having long Hyper Mega Launcher barrels on both arms and a Beam Smart Gun with a gallant form.
“This is the final form of the Zeta Kyanos, built to take delivery orders from ships in fleet battles. There have never been any delivery orders like that, but with you two trying to take over my beloved Miki-Tei Catering business, this is the perfect chance for its first battle!”
The Zeta Kyanos landed again, firing both of its cannons at once. There was a blinding flash which barely missed the GM Turbulence and Polypod Ball and it hit one of the skyscrapers behind them.
GIMM and BALL turned their heads to see that the skyscraper had been disintegrated in an instant.
“Wait!” shouted GIMM.
Yoshi replied by aiming and firing his next shot. It also barely missed them. Another skyscraper disappeared.
“We’ve got to stop Yoshi or we’ll be destroyed along with this Dimension!” GIMM frantically said to BALL.
“But how? Yoshi isn’t going to listen to us, and Celica is...”
She was trying to take over the Polypod Ball’s triggers from BALL again like a cat trying to catch its prey. Yoshi and Celica had shut off the voices of their hearts. They refused to face each other.
“Then...!” thought BALL. He had come up with an idea. He closed his Force communication line to keep Yoshi from hearing him and shouted to GIMM.
“I need you to buy me some time! Keep Yoshi occupied for a moment!”
“What are you thinking?”
“Trust me!”
“All right. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I will!” said GIMM. But what now?
Yoshi was in the same situation. He had lost Celica’s trust, and now they were going to take over his shop. Did she really mean that? She had said it herself though.
Then was this the outcome that the “thing” wanted to show him?
After thinking for a moment, GIMM fired the GM Turbulence’s rifle when the Zeta Kyanos had briefly paused. The Gunpla instantly fired its Hyper Mega Launcher and Beam Smart Gun. This time it took off the GM Turbulence’s left arm just by slightly skimming it.
But the GM Turbulence’s beam rifle had also simultaneously punctured the PBWS attached to the Zeta Kyanos and Yoshi purged the unit before it caused secondary explosions in the body of the Mobile Suit.
GIMM fired his beam rifle in succession.
Yoshi found the Flying Armor parts left as they were when he purged them off of his Gunpla a while ago. He dashed towards them on his Zeta Kyanos, threw them into the air, and jumped with his Gunpla. They combined in mid-air. Returning to its Wave Diver form, he saw that the GM Turbulence was about to strike him from a position superior to him in the sky.
But Yoshi hadn’t noticed that the Polypod Ball was even higher up in the sky, specifically on the roof of one of the skyscrapers.
BALL let out a yell in his Polypod Ball while diving towards the Wave Diver and quickly opened the back hatch.
Celica was bewildered.
BALL then pushed her out of his Gunpla and into the sky with all his might.
“What?!”
She didn’t know what had happened.
She noticed that the Wave Diver was there. Its hatch opened up.
By the time Yoshi noticed what had happened, he was already free falling in mid-air.
Celica heard Yoshi call her name over the bellowing sound of the wind and Yoshi also heard Celica call him. The two extended their arms to reach each other and managed to grasp their hands, interlocked their fingers, and then closely embraced. The GM Turbulence jumped and softly caught the two in its hand before returning to the ground.
There were many questions that needed to be answered. However, Yoshi felt Celica’s soft warmth. Yoshi was strong but gentle.
That was all that the couple needed.
＊
GIMM and BALL laughed awkwardly with their backs facing the GM Turbulence, which had lost its left arm during the fight against the Zeta Kyanos, and the Polypod Ball, which was battered due to the fall it suffered.
“No one can run Miki-Tei except for those two.” BALL said, to which GIMM replied, “Well, that was blunt.”
Celica stood before the Zeta Kyanos and cuddled with a grinning Yoshi. She also had a wry smile that made small wrinkles appear by her eyes.
“You two are great guys. You’re both too good to fall for someone like me. I’ll remember to introduce you guys to cute Divers.”
“Really? When? Now?” GIMM and BALL asked at the same time with their eyes shining.
Celica replied, “I said, I’ll remember to.” She winked.
“But I love you, too, Celica!” GIMM tried to hug her with his arms open wide and she stepped back to dodge him. Now Yoshi was standing in front of GIMM. The two looked at each other for a moment and decided on a fist bump instead of a hug. BALL joined in.
Celica watched them endearingly.
“By the way...” BALL tried to ask.
“You want to know what I was obsessed with, right?” Yoshi answered before BALL finished his sentence, and pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened it to reveal “the thing.”
GIMM and BALL leaned over and took a close look at it.
“The Golden Poly-cap!”
“I don’t remember exactly when it was, but it was during one of my soba deliveries…” Yoshi still clearly recalled the mysterious sight he had witnessed.
“I was surrounded by a blinding light. It was so bright, but I somehow couldn’t close my eyes and yet I couldn’t see anything even though they were wide open. That’s when I heard a voice. It told me that the Golden Poly-cap would guide me the right way. I kept waiting for my answers, which made Celica misunderstand me.”
Yoshi turned his head to Celica.
Celica replied with a nod.
“But now I know what truly matters to me. The Golden Poly-cap led me to a rich encounter with you two, and you’ve guided me to my answer. Thank you.”
Yoshi handed the Golden Poly-cap to GIMM and BALL.
“What?” The two looked at Yoshi.
“Now it’s your turn.”
GIMM and BALL looked at each other. BALL nodded and GIMM took the poly-cap.
That moment, a bright light surrounded the two. It didn’t seem to have a noticeable source.
“Are we logging out of GBN?!” BALL noticed what was happening.
“Hold on! No, wait! Hold on! We haven’t been introduced to the cute Divers yet!” GIMM frantically said, and Celica waved her hand good-bye.
BALL had a revelation.
“Then, Yoshi, you were the creator of a Legendary Gunpla?”
“Legendary? Who knows? But the voice in the light did say that there were six more Divers who received the same sort of golden poly-caps in GBN.”
＊
The light had diminished, and by the time they knew it, GIMM and BALL were sitting side-by-side in the GUNDAM BASE’s Login Booths. Taking a moment to return to their senses, the two removed their headgears at the same time. “Oh, that’s right!” GIMM said, opening his palm.
But there was nothing in it.
He looked at his opened palm as though he had awoken from a dream.
BALL, who was sitting next to him, called to him so GIMM turned his head. BALL was looking at something. GIMM followed his gaze and found a Golden Poly-cap placed beside the MG GM Turbulence’s legs on the Diver Gear.
Another silence ensued.
“If it wasn’t for this,” BALL remarked, “we would’ve still be trapped in GBN because of the plans of the ‘underground model mold mafia’.”
“I think so.”
“But how did the Golden Poly-cap let us log out?”
“Don’t ask me.”
“What really is this thing?”
“...”
BALL glanced at GIMM and asked him, “What are you gonna do? We can’t even imagine what sort of weird things will happen to us the next time we login. Are you gonna call it quits for GBN?”
GIMM also faced BALL. “Are you kidding me? Remember what Yoshi said? There are six more Legendary Gunplas. That means…”
GIMM grinned a mischievous smile.
“The party isn’t stopping here!”
“You’re right!” BALL replied, also smiling.
GIMM turned back to the MG GM Turbulence. He thought back on the fight against the Zeta Kyanos.
They managed to return alive this time, but…
“What we need to hype up this party,”GIMM mumbled and BALL turned towards him.
“...is a Gunpla with sick dance moves!” GIMM smiled mischievously.
