By Aiba and Tomita apologize to Lucas, but he thanks them for being his teammates. Wilfrid walks over and says that if the Crossbone Gundam’s particle supply had been enough, he would’ve lost. He states that he’ll never forget this fight and hopes that he and Lucas can play again in the future. Lucas apologizes to Suriga, who starts to blame Aiba and Tomita, but Lucas defends them. Shia thinks they were saved only by the G-Portent’s repair system, and Saga hardly feels like they won. Sekai chases after Lucas, who says he’s sorry they won’t be able to fight now, but they will someday. Sekai doesn’t know where that would be, but the Meijin tells him that Lucas is predicting they’ll meet at the open tournament. Fumina asks Sakai why he’s so hostile toward Yuuma, and Sakai states he hates everything about him. Sakai explains that he first met Yuuma when they were younger and Yuuma was hailed as the second coming of Sei for winning the U-13 tournament, but then he quit battling in middle school to be just a builder. Sakai wanted to have a showdown with his rival at the Meijin Cup, but then Yuuma returned to battling. Sakai thinks that Yuuma takes Gunpla too lightly, so he doesn’t want to lose to someone so wishy-washy. Fumina tries to explain why Yuuma quit battling, but he stops her so that he can bow and apologize for disrespecting Sakai’s love of Gunpla. Yuuma vows not to run away anymore, and Sakai tells him to show it in the fight. Ral briefs the team on the power of the Build Busters, and Fumina says they have to stop Sakai’s machines from combining. The battle begins in a city level, and the Lightning Gundam Fb fires missiles to keep the Sora Tryon, Riku Tryon and Umi Tryon apart. The missiles are blocked, and after momentarily vanishing the three Tryons start combining. The Try Fighters attack during the combination sequence, but the Tryons are protected by a barrier. After forming the Gundam Tryon 3, Sakai accuses them of lacking romance and a sense of aesthetics.
Sakai attacks with an Armed Booster rocket punch, which the Try Burning counters with a Seiken-Zuki punch. The punch holds Sekai back, and when Fumina and Yuuma try to support him, Sakai tosses his V-fin at them like a boomerang. The V-fin comes back and hits the Try Burning in the back, damaging the waist joint. Sakai prepares to fire his high mega cannon, so Fumina transforms the Star Winning to real mode and fires her winning beams in counter, along with Yuuma’s rifles. Sakai matches their power by firing the Liger Glare in the chest, and he manages to overwhelm them. Sekai rushes forward to attack, so Sakai uses the Raptor Breaker foot claws to toss him around. Sakai then attacks and encases Sekai, Fumina and Yuuma in an energy barrier. He pulls out his large sword and uses three slash attacks to set off a massive explosion. After the smoke clears, Sakai is shocked to see that Fumina and Sekai took the brunt of the attack to protect Yuuma. The two Gunpla lose power, leaving it to Yuuma to settle the match. Yuuma uses Fumina’s generators and their remaining energy to open a Plavsky power gate and fire a high burst through it. Sakai uses his sword to block the attack, setting off another large explosion. Having taken damage, the Gundam Tryon 3’s sword breaks. Sakai decides to pull back since they’re almost out of particles and just wait out the time limit to win. Yuuma vows that he won’t run away and will finish the fight. Sakai’s teammates Isaka and Satou convince him he has to fight, along with Kodera on the sidelines. They say they’ve only come this far because of Sakai, and Kodera recalls that the freedom of Gunpla is the inner mystery of the Shingyo school. Sakai agrees with them, so he and Yuuma rush forward to attack each other with their beam weapons. The liger face eats Yuuma’s right arm, so he breaks free and grabs his rifle, which he fires in quick succession to take down the Gundam Tryon 3. Sakai thinks that Yuuma was a fool for quitting battling when he was so strong. After the battle, Sakai apologizes to his teammates, and Yuuma steps in to say that he and Sakai have to face each other in the Meijin Cup. Sakai points out that the cup is in only two weeks, but Yuuma answers that he’s a greedy man and wants to beat Sakai as both a builder and fighter. Sakai accepts the challenge and tells Yuuma to prepare himself.
This episode brings us the final showdown between Yuuma and Sakai, but not before wrapping up some last bits between Lucas and Celestial Sphere. Those first few minutes feel kind of tacked on here and like they should’ve been in the previous episode. We learn the source of Sakai’s beef with Yuuma is his perception that Yuuma isn’t as serious about Gunpla as he is, which is pretty ridiculous. Of course, Sakai is a ridiculous character and has a sense of aesthetic that he wants to perform, whether it’s dramatic wall slams or super robot moves in the Gundam Tryon 3. The suit gets plenty of Obari-type shots in both its transformation sequence and sword pose. While Sakai fought admirably, the Try Fighters performed pretty terribly. Their entire plan seemed to consist of nothing more than “stop Sakai from combining,” and since they failed to do that pretty early on, they had nothing to counter him with. Fumina and Sekai end up sacrificing themselves so that Yuuma can finish the duel, which consists of lots of screaming and dramatic poses. In the end, Yuuma takes the victory by spam blasting with his rifle. I know the Try Fighters were destined to win because they’re the protagonists, but they could’ve put on a better fight than this. Sakai brought his A-game to the battle with no regrets, but the Try Fighters weren’t in top form.
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