Note: For those who have already read this story, I made a blunder. After looking back through the G Gundam series, I stumbled on the fact that I accidentally named my Neo Mexico fighter exactly the same as the Neo Mexico fighter in G Gundam… oops. Anyways, I fixed the name issue and are proceeding smoothly with the rest of the story.
Chapter 1
Lance Traydor sits quietly in a bar on the outskirts of, what was once, New York City. Over the past years, each and every Gundam Fight had taken more of a toll on the Earth's remaining populace. No lives were lost, but many buildings that housed the remnants of Earth's population have been destroyed and re-destroyed. As he nurses his next round of whiskey, he thinks of this year's Fight and how he was going to be the one fighting for Earth's freedom. Many thoughts crossed his mind, most prevailing was could he actually do this? The roar of jet engines outside drew his attention off of his drink and towards the outside. He knew those engines…. Just then, a man with auburn hair and a greasy jumpsuit stepped into the bar.
"Yo, Lance, I knew I'd find you here!" He shouted towards the blonde-haired man at the bar, who returned his greet with a hand wave, inviting him over. The man accepted and made his way to the bar, ordering a scotch on the rocks. After receiving his drink, he occupied a bar stool next to Lance.
"Didn't expect you to come out this far, Gregory, much less in the Core Lander." Lance commented as he nodded towards the outside.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't bring the truck for two reasons: one, it would have been a longer trip with it to go overland; and two, Doc Harper wouldn't have been very happy if I started moving the truck while he was fondling over his precious Gundam." Gregory Maxwell shot back with a grin, which earned a slight grin and a scoff from Lance.
"The Gundam… you know we're not gonna win very many people over with that thing…." Lance murmured out loud, gazing aimlessly at his drink.
"What are you talking about?" Gregory retorted, "With the Shield Gundam, we'll enter in this forsaken fight and win the title. With that, we might just be able to stop those wackos in space from destroying our planet!"
"I know our ideals, but…" Lance sighed as he looked into his drink some more, "It's the Gundam itself, the people will think the only reason we ever win is because it's the Shining Gundam, not because of our skills."
"No way, the Shield Gundam is totally different from that relic, we'll earn our respect and the colonies will have to notice us!"
Lance scoffed again and swigged his drink down, "All we did in the way of 'improvements' is swap out a couple of basic armor pieces, add some new weaponry, and completely overhaul the chest section, cockpit, and Core Lander. It may be different, but underneath, it's still the Shining Gundam."
Gregory shook his head at Lance's comment. Lance had always looked at the downside of things once he got drinking, though his words have seemed even more down the closer the Gundam Fight drew. Gregory, however, was more of an optimist than Lance, though only about their chances at winning, not at the thought of the fight itself. He had once been a fan of the Gundam Fight, mostly for the action that was portrayed between the combatants. He only realized the true horror of the battles when one took place in his own hometown. When all was said and done, his hometown was nothing but a shadow of what it once was. Ever since, he's only looked upon the fight as a barbaric way to determine someone else who could lord over everyone.
Gregory's thought process was cut short as his phone on his belt began to ring. "Hello? Uh-huh… yeah, he's right here. Uh-huh…. Okay, we'll get there as soon as we can." Gregory hung up and looked toward Lance. "Looks like the Doc wants to run a few tests, so we've got to get over there ASAP."
Lance nodded and headed out the door, followed by Gregory as soon as he topped off his freshly ordered drink. Once they both were in, Lance brought the Core Lander to life and sped off towards the Nevada Desert, where the tests were going to be done.
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"Okay, Lance, try a roundhouse." Max said into his headset.
"10-4," Lance replied from inside the Gundam's cockpit. The cockpit was spherical in design, leaving plenty of room for the pilot to move but there were no handheld controls. Instead, the pilots wore a skintight, nanotechnology-based suit known as the Mobile Trace System. With the suit, the body's movements were converted into commands for the Gundam, which led to the Gundam performing the exact same movement. The Gundam preformed a roundhouse kick intended to go over a rocky precipice it was aiming for, but instead the kick went through it. The Mobile Trace System had a drawback, as anything that connects with the Gundam was felt by the pilot. The Gundam knelt down and started rubbing his ankle, in response to the same movement preformed by Lance.
"Lance, are you okay?" Kim's voice said over the radio.
"Yeah," Lance replied as he stood up, "Looks like the Trace System is still a little off, we'll need some more adjustments to it." An audible growl was heard over the radio and Lance knew that his words had struck a nerve with Max, as he had spent the whole previous night working with the Mobile Trace System. Lance shrugged it off and started throwing punches to test the reaction time between his and the Gundam's movements. To his surprise, the movements were almost in sync, as the Gundam punched a split-second after he threw his punch. He went for a high kick and the Gundam followed suit, though its leg didn't reach near the height his kick did.
"Looks like the height ratio on the lower section is off a bit," Max commented through his headset, "Hold on, I'll try and get it up." Max's fingers flew across his keyboard as he worked on the algorithm for the Trace System. Once he completed his work, he asked Lance for another high kick, which to his delight, the Gundam reached the same height as Lance's kick.
"Alright," Lance commented through his comm line. "Looks like most of the systems are working properly. I'd say that the test was a success."
"Looks that way…. Alright, Lance, pack it up and we'll call it a day for now." Max replied through his headset, which got a nod from the Gundam and started its approach towards the base camp.
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"We've still got to work out most of the black box components, but the Shield Gundam should be ready for competition." Max commented as he sipped on his coffee. The rest of the crew either nodded attentively, as Gregory and Kim did, or shrugged, as Lance did.
"I still don't see how we're gonna win if the finisher is still locked up…." Lance threw back at Max, still eyeing the Shield Gundam with uncertainty. Max let one of his audible growls as a response, attempted to let Lance know that he was messing with his baby, and no one messes with Max's baby. Lance shrugged slightly, but soon withdrew his attention as headlights began to approach their location. The rest of the crew soon followed suit as the gray colored, Hummer-like vehicle slowed to a stop near them and a tall, tan-skinned man got out from the driver's side. He approached the wary watchers with a grin and hands held out to the side as a peace gesture.
"That's a nice lookin' Gundam you've got there." He nodded towards the towering blue-on-white robot. Lance narrowed his eyes at the stranger, which was returned with a chuckle. "I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Clodoveo Vazqeuz, Gundam Fighter of Neo Mexico. I noticed your camp set up over here and decided to pay my respects to you and your team."
He broke off conversation before anyone could reply and started investigating the Gundam, looking it over from top to bottom. Once he was satisfied, he returned back to the watching crew, "Might be changed a little, but this is definitely the Shining Gundam used in the last Gundam Fight by Neo Japan." He turned to look over the crowd he was talking to and raised an eyebrow, "Funny, you guys don't look Japanese…."
Lance scoffed slightly and shot a look towards Gregory, who looked away knowing that he had just been proven wrong. After putting Gregory in his place, Lance got up from his seat and approached the Mexican fighter, "Sorry, you never gave us the chance to introduce ourselves, my name is Lance Traydor and this is my crew: Gregory Maxwell, Kimberly Chidori, and Max Harper. The reason we don't look Japanese is because we're not, save for Kim, but she is only of Japanese descent."
Clodoveo eyed the blonde-haired man warily before he replied, "Well, if you're not of Neo Japan, then why do you have the Shining Gundam?"
"I was getting to that; we are using the Shining Gundam as a base for our Gundam, the Shield Gundam. You see, we're the Earth team that will be taking place in…."
Lance cut himself off as he watched the Mexican double over with laughter, "Earth Team?! That's a good one; no one on Earth knows how to even build a Gundam, much less pilot one. What makes you think you guys even have a place here?"
Lance adopted his cocky pose and pointed to Clodoveo, "Why don't we have a Gundam Fight, and you'll see what we're made of!"
"Sounds good to me, come on out, Hombre Gundam!!"
Clodoveo turns his back to the crew and watches as his Gundam bursts out of a mountain and stands ominously over the landscape. As his Core Lander comes to pick Clodoveo up, Lance turns and dashes towards the cockpit of the Shield Gundam, bypassing the rest of his crew, who had looks of excitement on their faces except for one.
"Um, I don't think having a fight now is a good idea, Lance…" Gregory blurted out as Lance passed him by.
"What are you talking about, Greg?" Max exclaimed in anticipation, "This is the perfect time for a fight! Come on, let's get to the command truck!" The crew entered the truck sitting nearby and started driving away as the cockpit of the Shield Gundam closed. Inside, Lance activated the Mobile Trace System, which brought down a machine which covered him with the Trace suit. Once ready, he moved the Shield Gundam up to its feet and got into his fight stance at the same time his opponent did.
"Hope you're ready for this, boy. I'm going to show you how true Gundam Fighters battle," came the voice of Clodoveo from the external speaker in the Hombre Gundam. Lance merely shrugged at the words, causing his Gundam to do the same thing. He positioned himself further into his fighting stance, "Here we go, Gundam Fight, ready…"
"GO!!!"
