Gundam Build Fighters: Last Time
Chapter 3
Special Someone: G-Arceus
"When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal." - Napoleon Hill. This saying has meaning for Ven because when defeat came for him it took the form of his first gunpla battle, and was inflicted upon him by the fighter Raul Machado... a man with skill that even Alex acknowledged. Still something good came out of it as thanks to Raul as Ven was able to learn about the first step he must take towards his "coveted goal" from him, but for now... as the sun rises in the air over Alex's apartment he has school to deal with first.
"Hmm... ahhhhh! We're going to be late!" Alex said as he starts screaming the moment he's roused into a conscious state.
I assure you the man's not screaming simply for the sake of screaming, but rather for a legitimate reason. The first thing he saw as he laid down across his bed with a disheveled appearance was a clock on a near by nightstand that read 6:45 AM.
"Oh shoot we're both going to be... these aren't my pants." Alex thought as he struggles to get ready in a hurry.
It took Alex no more than a minute or two to a decent enough looking outfit to put on. Once he was fully dressed Alex burst through his bedroom door and ran towards his living room with the intention of waking Ven up so this way one doesn't get fired and the other detention, but what he saw once he arrived was something else entirely.
"Is something a matter uncle?" Ven asks slightly curious as to why his cousin looks like he just ran a marathon.
You see by the time Alex realized what was going on Ven had already put on Clancy Academy's black and gold school uniform, neatly folded his bedding, prepped his backpack, made a simple breakfast, and then washed the dishes he used in the process.
"Oh um... I was going to wake you up about 45 minutes ago, but I ended up sleeping in therefore causing me to be worried about us both being late for our own obligations. Wait... hey you called me uncle again." Alex said in a slightly annoyed tone after going through his somewhat fanciful explanation.
"I see... I didn't mean to offend, but I don't think we should continue with this chain of events. After all being late on my first day of school wouldn't give others a good impression of my character, and I'm sure you don't want to be late to whatever PR event you got roped into." Ven points out as he checks the content of his bag in order to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.
Notebooks check, binders check, pencils sharpened, PE clothes nicely tucked to the side, and a certain gunpla that was recently repainted carefully stored. Everything seems to be in order allowing Alex and Ven to rightly go on their merry way. Thanks to a miracle granted by the gods of gunpla (No Red Lights the entire trip) Alex and Ven had arrived at Clancy Academy student/visitor parking lot with 20 minutes to spare before the final bell.
"Are you sure you don't wish to come with me partway uncle? I thought you intended to give me a tour of the school before you went off to work." Ven asks as Alex seems to be trying to keep a low profile for some reason.
"That was the plan, but I wouldn't be able to do it without taking the risk of being late to work. Besides... even if the overall level of talent at Clancy had gone down... their love of Gunpla is still the same, therefore I risk causing a scene by walking through the front door." Alex explained as he's worried about one of the students off in the distance being able to recognize him.
"You do realize of course that you'll likely be causing one tomorrow regardless when you help me move into the dorms tomorrow." Ven points out in a rather blunt manner.
"I do... however I'd like to only be a part of 2 debacles this week. Anyways I should really get going Ven. If you need any help navigating the school just drop my name to your first period teacher." Alex said in a nice yet hurried tone as he start's his car's engine.
"Good luck with your work today uncle." Ven said as he truly wished his uncle well for the day.
"Stop me uncle!" Alex yelled as his car disappeared over the road's horizon.
"A good thing I already memorized the school's layout." Ven thought as he cracks his knuckles before starting to walk towards one of the larger school buildings.
Although as stated Ven had the layout of the school memorized, he still carefully takes his time walking through the area. It's his first day of school after all... it wouldn't due for him to be lost because what he saw didn't match up with what he knew. This simple act doesn't take as much time as it sounds for he's already inside his first period class with minutes to spare, and as if to fit some cliché Ven also overhears some of his new classmates talking about a new transfer student.
"Hey have you heard... there's going to be a new transfer student from Europe in this class?" one excited student asks another.
"Really where in Europe?" another student curiously asks.
"I don't know. I only overheard the staff while I was walking by the office refer to him or her as European." the student who brought up the issue explained.
"And yet they haven't noticed me... unless of course they're referring to someone else from my rough neck of the woods." Ven thought as he's forced to listen to the conversations going on around him simply by being in a classroom.
But as Ven would soon be lost in his own imagination others in his class would continue to talk about him even if it all wasn't with the same kind of interest.
"A transfer student from the Europe... Just like you, huh, Laura?" a short haired girl said as she spoke to another young lady sitting beside her.
This Laura was a 15 year old sophomore that was about 5'4" tall, with short blonde hair, violet eyes, along with a bust size that forgive my tongue looks to be the size of large oranges or small grape fruit, but all and all save for the fact her hair style is combed straight down the back she bears a striking resemblance to Stella Loussier. She is of course wearing Clancy Academy's school uniform which consists of the same black blazer with gold stripes that Ven is wearing, but instead like the rest of the female student body she had it unbuttoned revealing a formal white shit underneath, and instead of pants she like the rest of the female student body is wearing a skirt an inch or two above knee length.
"Huh... you look dead today. Did something happen?" the same short haired girl asked as it seemed as though Laura was asleep with her head resting on her desk.
"I'm fine... just didn't get much sleep last night." Laura explained as her voice was muffled by the sleeve of her blazer.
"Well... I actually heard something about the transfer student that might interest you Laura." another girl with long black hair revealed.
"It better be good if you're going to continue to bother me." Laura said with a heavy German accent as he raises her head off of her desk and starts to sit upright.
"Well it's just that supposedly this new transfer student got in via a Gunpla related scholarship like you." the long haired girl explained in a somewhat indifferent tone.
"Really? As a builder or as a fighter?" Laura asked with her curiosity being clearly piqued.
"That I don't know... couldn't stay long enough where I was to find out... sorry." the black haired girl reluctantly answers.
"Ahhhhh I can't believe you missed the most important piece of information. Most of the people who got in this school through a building scholarship either don't battle or suck at it if they do. On the other hand if it was a battle scholarship like me it be nice to have someone new to face." Laura moans with annoyance, but not loudly enough to disturb her classmates.
"Well hey if he or she is in this class... maybe they'll do that whole transfer student segment thing you're always talking about in your Japanese cartoons." the short haired girl points out.
"A. It's called anime... not cartoons... calling it by that is an insult to anime fans. B. This is not an anime, so I highly doubt the teacher will do something like at." Laura retorts as if she took the short-haired girl's words as an insult.
As typical with school settings, the bell starts to ring and it interrupts the casual conversations of the other students before any of them could develop any further. In fact the teacher of this class walks in minutes after the other students take their seats. He was dressed simply but respectfully as a teacher should with a shirt and tie.
"Good morning everyone. For those of you here who don't know me my name is Todd Auburn and I'll be your teacher for this second semester accelerated Plastic Model History course. I also happen to be the adviser for the school's plastic model club. This course will teach you the rich history of this particular hobby and not the skills, therefore if you signed up for this class for the latter purpose please see me after school hours are over and I'll see what I can do about getting you transferred to another class." Mr. Auburn announces in a very respectful teacher-like manner.
"Sigh... if only this wasn't a required class for my scholarship." Ven thought as he's almost instantly losing interest in what's going on around him.
"Now before I begin, as you all know given the nature of Clancy Academy news of any students or staff spreads fairly quickly around the campus. In order to prevent anyone from being distracted on their first day let me just say the new student everyone's been talking about is enrolled in this course. If you're here Mr. Transfer Student please stand up and introduce yourself if nothing else but for roll call's sake." Mr. Auburn said as he polite-fully sends a request reverberating through the classroom.
"He's really going to make someone/me do the transfer student routine." Ven and Laura thought as they were both a little caught off guard by the teacher's proclamation.
Soon enough the students within this classroom started scanning the faces of their fellows trying to find the one that didn't belong, but their attention was all drawn to a single point once the sound of a chair being briefly dragged across the hard floor reverberated throughout the room.
"Very well... my name is Ven Saurel, and as I'm sure you can tell from the thickness of my accent I hail from the nation of France and the city of Paris." Ven said with a heavy french accent before sitting down as quickly as he stood up.
"That's it? I mean you're not going to say anything about yourself for example?" Mr. Auburn asks as he was surprised by the bluntness of Ven's personal introduction.
"We are on the school's time Mr. Auburn, therefore it would be rude of me to wast valuable time with a long introduction. If anyone else is still curious the can just ask me whatever they'd like durring lunch or after school." Ven explained in a very pragmatic manner.
"Hmph... typical arrogant Frenchmen... it wouldn't kill you to just say a little bit about yourself to the class." Laura thought as she clearly already had a negative first impression of Ven.
"I see... a bit of a pragmatist in that regards... very well I suppose you are technically right. Now then I'm going to start taking roll according to the roster, of which for some reason isn't in alphabetical order. If you don't hear your name called after I'm finished please let me know." Mr. Auburn informed.
The act of taking attendance only takes Mr. Auburn a few minutes to run through, and there only ends up being on person who didn't hear their name being called but that was because they weren't paying attention. As for the events of the class itself, it was very typical of a first day. Mr. Auburn passed out the class syllabus, explained it in detail, and before the bell rang he answered any questions the students had.
"One moment please Mr. Saurel." Mr. Auburn said as Ven was about to be one of the last people out the door.
"Did I do something wrong sir?" Ven carefully asks as he turns around to face his teacher.
"No you didn't do anything. I just wanted to know if he is enjoying the discounted rent?" Mr. Auburn explained before asking a somewhat confusing question.
"What are you... ohh... you're the friend that owns the apartment building. From what I understand he appreciates the discount, but said he could easily afford it without it." Ven said as at first a sense of confusion and then a sense of realization passed over him.
"Ha ha that's perfectly like him. Now don't let me be the reason you're late to your next class, but as a favor to a friend there will be a surprise at today's model club meeting." Mr. Auburn said before essentially sending Ven on his way.
Ven could have asked what that surprise was going to be, but given the nature of the conversation it's clear that Mr. Aubrn wouldn't have told him anything therefore Ven decides to continue on his way to his next class. That in itself would have been a simple act, however as soon as he stepped out of the classroom he was stopped by Laura for some reason.
"Would it have really killed you to say something more?Then again I suppose it's typical for a Frenchman to think a few sweet words are enough to win over a crowd." Laura points out in a bit of a condescending manner.
"I could have, but I didn't want to. In regards to the concept of turnabout being fair play, let me just say that I suppose it's typical of a German to want everyone to be like everyone else. Last time I checked that didn't work out very well for your people." Ven retorts though whether or not he actually felt offended by Laura's words remains to be seen.
"Why you... no I deserved that one, so I have no right to complain. I just stopped though because there's one thing I wanted to ask you. Still though... you won't make any friends by acting like that." Laura pointed out as she realized that she was in the wrong before she could snap.
"If I make friends than so be it, but that is no where near what my goal will be while I'm attending school here. In regards to your question however... well what is it?" Ven responds rather bluntly.
"Did you get in through a building scholarship or as a fighter scholarship like me? There's no particular reason for me to ask I just curious." Laura asks clearly not intending to let Ven leave until he answers.
"A builder scholarship. If there's nothing else my Führer, I'd like to get to my next class before I'm late." Ven said purposley using that bit of German slang to annoy Laura.
"Very funny, but yes there is one more thing. Exactly what is your goal?" Laura asks out honestly curioisty whilst hiding the irritation caused by Ven's earlier comment.
"For now... I suppose it's to find that 'special someone' of mine." Ven quickly answered before walking away regardless of what Laura would say.
However Laura didn't object to Ven's deparure, and in fact she didn't say anything at all. You see Ven's explanation had the unexpected result of leaving her completely speechless. Perhaps it was due to Ven's choice of words appealing to the more girly side of her that lay underneath, but silent she was none the less.
"He... he's looking for a... a girlfriend." Laura thought as she internally voices the reason for her sudden silence.
In any case once Laura regained her sanity she too realized that she had to hurry to her next class before the bell rang, and once that cless as well as the following four came to an end... she had hurried out of her class towards a particularly important location.
"Yes... I'm the first one here today." Laura says excitedly as she opends the door to the model building club's meeting room.
It wasn't just any random meeting room at Clancy Academy. It was the very same meeting room that two certain people battled where in turn that battle was unexpectedly brought to an end, but for now at least the past is irrelevant.
"Alright it should be another 10 minutes before any of the early birds show up since my class is the closest one to the club building. Still I wonder how far away is that Ven's last class of the day from here?" Laura thought as she took off her blazer to cool off and started chugging a red fruit flavored drink.
Intentionally or no, the simple act of mentioning Ven's name caused Laura's mind to drift back to their encounter earlier in the day. The recollection started of course with Laura getting in Ven's way, the short questionare she had forced upon him, and soon enough his parting words would slip in next.
"Hmm... 'special someone'... huh? Arghhhh why am I even thinking about it... I just met the guy." Laura mumbled as she had inadvertantly tightly squeezed her drink in her fit of agression.
And with that fit of agression the contents of Laura's drink came gushing out of it's bottle like a gyser or someone on a dare to poke a water baloon with a needler. Either way the purity of Laura's formal white undershirt was stained with red.
"Oh damn... good thing I brought a spare shirt with me." Laura said as she starts rummaging through her bag.
A man or a woman who is familliar with anime cliche's can probably already see where this is heading, but although tradition isn't something that I care for... I understand the nessecity of following it at times. Ahem...Ven wishing to leave a good first impression on the members of the Model Building club and by proxy the school funding his scholarship hurries the meeting room as soon as the final bell rings ariving only a few moments after Laura.
"Hmm... strange... I thought there would be more people here after school. Or... could it simply be that I'm one of the first ones here?" Ven thought as he walked down the hallway towards the club's meeting room.
Ven had arrived at his intended destination after no more than a minute or two of walking, however as he reached for the doorknob his hand suddenly stopped as if due to recieving a bad premonition.
"Why do I feel like I'll regret it if I open this door? It's not like I just underwent a newtype flash... probabbly just the stress of a new school getting to me." Ven thought.
Our young hero pushed the door open and he did so with a bit of gusto, but unfornutetly for him what he saw next was something that rectified his uneasy feeling from earlier. For the sake of the minds of younger readers let's just say he saw seafoam green wrapped around 2 respectably sized marshmallows.
"You... you... you..." Laura was saying as she repeated the same word over and over whilst having cheecks flushed with embarassment.
"I'm sorry I didn't realize this was a changing room for girls." Ven said after closing his eyes as soon as he realized what he was looking at.
"You... you... you pervertiert Franzose!" Laura yelled very loudly in her native tounge of German.
"Did you seriously just call me a perverted Fren..." Ven was about to say before being unexpectedly being stopped by something.
That something smacked Ven square in that face, of which in turn was the drink that Laura had inadvertadly spilled as well as it's remaining contents. Thankfully none of its contents in turn spilled on Ven since Laura had put the cap on earlier. In any case when Laura vocalized her intense embarassment, Ven wasn't the only one who heard her yell... the third student to arrive another young man had heard as well.
"Oh for the love of... not again." that paricular young man said before breaking off into a run.
Another person may have written what would have happened to her next, but the hero of the story is Ven none the less... still other supposedly "ordinary" high school students have their own stories to tell. For the next few seconds I shall give them or rather him that chance.
"Anyone home?!... What the... no one's actually here?" said a certain young man as he walked into an empty classroom.
That man if you couldn't already figure it out wasn't Ven, but rather it was none other than Raul Machado the one who had easily defeated Ven. Instead of his Earth Force's pilot jacket he was wearing a bright red sweater with a white formal shirt underneath, a black tie with small red stripes, dark grey to the point of it being mistaken for black leather pants, along with black leather shoes with white upperleft side of the front of the sweater what a shield shaped coat of arms with the letters "GA" written on the upper half and a carefully embroided picture of the head of the RX-78-2 Gundam.
"We're on the battle floor." says another young man.
Raul heard both the voice of this young man as well as the sound of a Gunpla battle already in progress come through the wall on the otherside of this classroom. Instead of taking a different path to the source of these noises, Raul simply walks to the otherside of the room and opens another door revealing a short hallway. Once Raul walks to the end of the hallway, he reveals that it leads to a large open space... a small area if you will with enough seating for the students for 2 schools, and at the center of the arena is a small space littered with a few 8 hexagonal sized battle systems. One of which is in use by two young ladies, and that battle itself is being observed by a man in a suit.
"I thought there would be more people here durring lunch coach." Raul said as he takes a seat near this other young man as he also decides to observe the battle going on before him.
"There were a few others here before you, however the rest are probably recovering from mid-term stress. Tell me Raul, did you do that task that I asked of you?" the coach explains before quickly asking Raul a question of his own.
This man... this coach looked to be no more that 22 or 23 years old with brown eyes, tightly combed back dark brown hair that reaches shoulder length, wearing a black suit with a red formal undershirt, a white tie, in addition to brown leather shoes, and on the upper right side of his suit is the same emblem on Raul's uniform.
"I went to that model shop I haven't been to in a few weeks as you told me to, and I was able to get most of the remaining parts I need to finish reparing my gunpla after our last match coach." Raul answered as he starts rummaging through his backpack for something.
"That's good, but you know what I actually meant." the coach said as he was slightly annoyed with Raul intentionally or not dodging the issue at hand.
"I know coach. I saw the guy you told me about and I got him to have a gunpla battle with me. I won of course, but for his battle he didn't do that bad especially for manuvering around in a world class gunpla... something that should be beyond the ability of most beginners. Speaking of which, it made me want to ask you a few questions." Raul said as he finally got to the issue at hand.
"Go ahead. You know that as lomg as it's within my ability to answer, I'll respond to any question that my trainees have for me." the coach said already having a hunch as to what Raul wanted to ask him.
"Why did you have me assess the guy? And why didn't you tell me the guy has never had a battle before?" Raul asks before finally pulling out a small leather case from his backpack.
"It was a test for you the captain of the battle team. You may not realize the point right now, but when you do it will help you down the road. After all if you can't assess the people you're dealing with, how can you protect and guide the two ladies that are supposed to fight beside you?" the coach retorts.
"I suppose that's true, but I'm at least smart enough to know when you're dodging the issue." Raul points out with a smug expression.
"I wasn't going to dodge the issue. I was simply explaining one issue first. When I heard that he would be going to Clancy Academy I was curious to see whether or not he would be a threat to GA Academy, and our goal of defeating Team Exceed and winning the national tournament in our first year entering." the coach explained.
"As a battler right now he's no threat to us, but still... I would like to fight him again when he gets stronger and masters that gunpla he was given." Raul said as he thought back to his fight to Ven.
"It is as you say... as a battler he'd have to go through some intense training to be even a minor threat to us, but as I'm sure you've noticed he posesses some talent as a builder especially since he won a major French building contest. Nothing as important as the Artistic Gunpla Grand Prix, but none the less if he were to use those skills in even a support capactiy to Clancy's fighters... then they might actually be a threat." the coach explained in short but rather descriptive detail.
"I guess that also makes sense, but don't forget even a Ball can beat the Big Zam." Raul said acknowleging the words of his coach.
"I took the precaution of having you do this because I know how that can be true from experience. Then again it also helps that his cousin told me he was coming, and that my other old friend will be the coach. Still... how about a change of subject for now?" the coach suggests.
"Oh yeah... speaking of which how do you think her training is proceeding coach?" Raul asks deciding to oblige his instructor.
"She'll be ready by the time regionals begin. By having her perfect the basics that'll only make her uniqe talents even stronger." the coach answered.
"I remember how you said and I quote 'She'll be the copycat fighter that puts shame to all other copycat fighters to shame. A talent that will rival Lady Kawaguchi's favorite.'" Raul said in a nostalgic manner.
"But that will only happen if she keeps up with the training regiment I've perscribed for her. If they were to fight right now she wouldn't stand a chance." the coach calmly retorts.
"Even though I have the title of captain, I'm ashamed of the fact that I'm not strong enough to be her training partner." Raul said with somewhat of a sad tone.
"Raul, as I've told you many times before there is no shame in admitting what you lack. If anything doing so is the only way to get stronger. If you don't like the fact that you're the third strongest at GA Academy, then train until you can get rid of that title. For now just leave the duty of being her practice opponent to her sister and I." the coach said as he gave his trainee an honest piece of advice.
"Yes sir. If you'll excuse me I'll take my GM CC for a shakedown run. Oh and when she's done... tell her I'm impressed with her new Gunpla. It's a custom Age-2 Double Bullet right?" Raul said to his coach as he pointed to one of the two girls knee deep into their on batte.
"Raul, have I ever told you why I selected you to be the captain of the GA Academy's battle team even through you're only the third strongest at the school?" the coach asks out of simple curiosity surprsingly enough.
"No sir, you just said that in your eyes I was most fit to lead the team." Raul answers.
"Well it certaintly isn't because you're the strongest fighter, the smartest figher, or even the one with the most cunning. That is to say while these three traits and more are important for a leader to have... what matters above all else is the ability to make a decision and deal with consequences that follow. Even these two despite all of their talents don't embody that trait anywhere near as well as you do." the coach says as he revealed his honest opinion of Raul.
"Thank you sir, if you'll... oh wait I just remembered... while I was on my way one of the school's faculty ask that I deliver a couple of messages to you that were sent through the school by accident." Raul said as he suddenly recalled that particular piece of information.
"Sigh... too scared to deal with me directly then... don't stand there... what were the messages?" the coach asks.
"Yes sir. Your girlfriend said that her law professor tossed in a surprise homework assignment that she has to get done by tonight, so she wants you to call her as soon as possible to reschedule the date you had planned. The second message was from your sister, and she wants to know if you're still free to join her for a late lunch before she goes on set this evening." Raul explained.
"First of allI find it highly unbecoming of a faculty member of GA Academy to force a student to deliever a message when they should do it themselves, but you did nothing wrong Raul so go ahead and start on your shakedown run." the coach orders.
"Thank you sir, and after all you've done for me and the school... delivering a message was the least I could do in return Raul retorts.
"His relationship with these two reminds me of Alex and... haha no time to be thinking about that now. Hmmn I had better tell Brandon that I won't be able to join her for lunch today." the coach thought as he thinks back at least partially to the days of his youth.
An interesting preview of things to come would'nt you say? Now tradition dictates that the end of the chapter would normally follow the revelation of such information, and it's one a writer such as myself still chooses to follow. If there are those among you users who believe things are ending to soon, rest assured you shall have your answers soon enough but for now everthing is...
To Be Continued
Ven: Well then... this certainly wasn't how I expected my first day to start.
Rodolfo: Seriously Laura, how many times have I told you not to do that in the meeting room.
Laura: Not my fault that this pervert just decides to walk in without walking.
Rodolfo: That's what you get for doing that again.
Laura: Yeah well... wait isn't that?
Ven: Next time on Gundam Build Fighters: Last Time "G-Arceus Part 2".
Rodolfo: So you're how the staff intents to restore Clancy Academy's model club back to glory.