High noon, Elemia desert, Europa. ZBC Central is some fifty miles away.
Dawnstar's Gustav pulled up to its position. Each of the pilots occupied their favored seats inside the little transport. The air-conditioning provided background music for Kyne's monologue.
"We are Dawnstar." Kyne turned around to face Jenny, Hank, and Larry. "We're the best of the best. We plowed through every team in the ZBC to make it this far, and now we've got to go through one more battle, one more fight, before we're established as the top dogs of the ZBC for another four years."
"Hail t' the kingsh!" Hank belted out, his cigar puffing smoke like a little train.
"I won't fail you, Kyne." Jenny seemed unusually intense. "Nor Tim. Nor Rick."
"I know." Kyne opened the door. "Now let's go. Let's give them Hell!"

The two Ligers toed the line of their set-up area. Across from them stood a great Saurer-type with black armor and bronze, gold, and red highlights and detailing. Instead of the familiar back-mounted weapons, though, it had a pair of articulated shields. They jerked, deploying massive blades nearly as long as the Ligers.
"Oh. I'd heard he'd evolved his zoid." Kyne rolled his bare hands over the Liger Zero Jaeger's controls. "Thought it went Fury, though."
"Meep." Jenny's face drained of color. "A Geno Breaker?"
"That's right," Wyatt's voice came over crisp and clear through their comm. screens. "I managed to evolve my zoid thanks to the Gamma Unit AIZDAT handed out to me."
"Excellent." Kyne grinned, though the mirth did not reach his eyes. "The Judgeman?"
As if on cue, the Judge capsule rocketed down and crashed into the gravel desert. It deployed Judgeman 0084. "All contestants will please enter their data now."
Hank, back in the Gustav, entered Dawnstar's. Tier C Team. Rick Xaratan, Rank D Pilot, piloting Liger Zero Jaeger. Jenny Xaratan, Rank D Pilot, piloting Shield Liger DCS-J.
The opponent's information flashed across the screen. Tier S Team. Wyatt West, Rank A Pilot, piloting Geno Breaker Jet Type Two.
The Judgeman raised both paddles. "This is the Royal Cup Final Bout. Battlemode one-one-zero-one slash zero-niner-eight-two. Team Dawnstar versus Team Tyrant Saurers. The contestants will observe all Imperial-League Rules.
"Fight!"

"Hit it!" Kyne's rocket booster opened to full. The Jaeger ripped across the field, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. Jenny tailed her captain's zoid, beam cannons deploying down to the sides. She squeezed off a pair of shots before the Breaker reacted.
The shots burned holes in the armor, but did little real damage from the way the Breaker didn't even flinch.
The Breaker's boosters flared. It zipped up and swept the right shield underneath the Jaeger. Kyne narrowly avoided being ripped apart, dodging to the side to avoid damage. He moved with almost superhuman speed, avoiding a claw that moved at a relative velocity of some seven hundred kilometers per hour.
Jenny, however, did not avoid damage. The Breaker slammed down on top of it with the left shield, crushing her zoid as she flailed about. The other X-breaker came down on the Liger's neck, attempting to snip the head off.
Kyne planted his left forepaw and reversed the the right booster, performing a high-speed turnaround that sent systems screaming. "West!"
There was no answer.
Kyne killed the thrust and charged after the Breaker. Wyatt simply slammed the tail into the Jaeger's shoulder, sending it rolling.
"Damnation!" Kyne swore as the Jaeger recovered its balance. The Breaker was all over it like ugly on an ape, ripping and tearing the armor off with the powerful X-breaker claws. Jenny's battered zoid lay forgotten by the wayside.
Kyne activated his boosters, scooting out from underneath the vicious enemy. He scraped the ground with his right forepaw, reversed the left booster and charged back at the enemy.
"Don't you ever learn!?"
"No." Kyne feinted a pounce, just as he had done with Stryker, then leapt to the side and onto the Breaker's articulated shield. He kept his boosters going as the Strike-Laser Claw ripped through the tough shield, scoring a powerful hit. The boosters turned to the left, then to the right as the Breaker drooped, unable to support the Jaeger's great weight with the pylon alone.
Kyne felt a swell of hope in his breast before he realized he was dangling in front of the weapons binder. It fired several shots at point-blank range into his zoid, flaying off the armor on the chest and ruining the shock cannon. Kyne simply climbed higher, resting for a moment atop the Breaker's back.
Groaning under the Jaeger's mass, the Breaker lifted off and dropped the feline unceremoniously on the ground. Kyne sat there, breathing hard, zoid exhausted from the battle.
Wyatt smiled grimly as he activated the Charged Particle Cannon. "Next year, Kyne."
"Damn you," Kyne whispered softly. "Damn you."
"I think not!" Jenny's Shield Liger DCS-J came roaring, still alive and kicking with all the Xaratan spirit. It leapt atop the Breaker's back and ripped out the Charged Particle Converter like a dog digging a hole, then pounced off lickity-split before the Breaker could react.
"She's good."
"She's a Xaratan." Kyne grinned as his Liger sidled backwards, readying for a pounce. He was doing his best to keep West's attention on him and not on Jenny.
It worked. West never saw Jenny's zoid come in from out of nowhere once again, this time shearing off the head with the Leomaster's claws and brute weight. Wyatt snatched her zoid with the X-Breakers.
"Shouldn't have let her go," Wyatt muttered to himself. Kyne's grin slipped as he saw Jenny aim the Heavy Beam Cannons right at the weapon binder. She fired them, detonating their missile ammunition and rocking the Breaker to the side. The Breaker stumbled and fell over, at which point the two Ligers gang-raped it. They clawed it to pieces in savage fury, stopping only when the Judgeman announced them the victors of the Royal Cup.