Chapter 3

Lance looked over the Australian landscape with a hidden interest; he had never been outside of American soil, other than a visit to the Neo American colony. His eyes watched everything that passed him by, even though a vast majority of the splendor was lost due to the Gundam Fight.

"Amazing place, isn't it?" Kim asked as she entered the living area of the carrier truck. Lance's eyes darted towards her from his place on one of the small gray bunks that line the passageway between the cab and the Gundam storage area. He hadn't known anyone would be on this truck other than Gregory, who was the driver. He sat up in his bunk, allowing Kim a place to sit down, which she accepted and gazed out the window.

"I've been here once before," she started as they both watched the scenery pass by, "When I was a kid, my father came here on a business trip that I was allowed to come on. I have to admit, the place wasn't in this much disarray back then…." Her eyes softened noticeably, she had always been one who enjoyed beautiful scenery more than anyone else. Lance decided on a topic change, but he could only come up with the topic that surrounded both of them currently.

"So, why did you decide to become part of the Shield Gundam's crew, Kim?" Lance asked, which drew a surprised look from Kim. She hadn't realized she never talked about the Gundam Fight with him before; she looked back out the window, trying to think of her answer. In all honesty, she had never thought of it herself. After the last Gundam Fight, she was a student at a university in Pennsylvania, and one of her teachers was Max Harper. She was majoring in software programming and was one of the few who actually excelled at it, which drew Max's attention. One day, Max just pulled her aside and brought up a secret project that he had been working on for the past year. He had said he needed an expert programmer to help him in completing it within the next three years. She had accepted, since she had been seeking a way to challenge her skills, and that's how she became part of, what was then, a 3-man team. She never really had a reason, had no ideals to fall back on as to why she was here, just the fact that she liked working here. She smiled brightly as she replied, "I like working here."

"That's it?" Lance retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep!" She shot back jokingly. Lance shrugged, deciding not to press the matter further, since he probably wasn't going to get a straight answer anyways.

"So, why did you join, Lance?" Kim shot the question back at him, since they were on the topic. Now it was his turn to think, he never really had a reason in the first place. He liked to watch the Gundam Fights, but never was really interested in it. He had studied martial arts since he was a kid under one of the greatest fighters he knew of. He entered a tournament, which he won, and next thing he knew, Max and Kim were standing near the winner's area with a proposition to be their fighter for the Gundam Fight. He accepted, mostly because he wouldn't turn down a challenge to face some of the world's greatest fighters.

"I…" Lance started to say when the truck came to an abrupt stop, after which Gregory poked his head into the living area and said, "We're here."

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Lance moved the Shield Gundam carefully out of the holding bay, making sure he didn't crush any of the new recruits that had joined. Most of them were mechanics who could work on the Gundam, but some were only there for the sheer joy of being part of a Gundam team. He got the Gundam up to its feet and looked towards the ground.

"So, what are we working on today?" Lance questioned through his comm line.

"We're gonna try to get the special attack up and running, is that okay?" Max replied grumpily on the other end.

"Have you even unlocked it from its black box yet?" Lance shot back, angry that this was the only reason he had to get in the cockpit.

"No, that's why this experiment is so important, so stop complaining and get to work!" Max countered, his anger level slowly rising. Kim could be heard in the background trying to calm him down. If anyone could make someone feel better, it was her. Lance sighed and moved his right hand up near his forehead, trying to focus on the special attack that dwelled within the Gundam. He knew how to visualize it, he had seen the Shining Gundam use it before, he just needed to make it happen. For what seemed like hours, Lance focused his entire being into making the attack work, but to no avail.

"Do I need to use the same saying that Domon used when he activated it. It was 'This hand of mine glows with an awesome power' or something like that…." Lance finally said, breaking the silence that was dominating the area. On the other end, he could hear Max stomping around the command truck, calling Lance useless and various other statements of the same nature.

"Well, I guess that means we're done," Kim finally said over the comm line, "Good work, Lance."

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Lance sighed as he looked up at the Shield Gundam, knowing full well that if he couldn't access the latent abilities of the machine, this team was pretty much doomed before they even got off the ground. Sure, they won a match, but it could have just as easily been a fluke.

"Looks like you've got a lot on your mind," a soft voice coming from behind said, almost causing Lance to jump. He turned to find Kim staring back at him with her empathetic blue eyes.

"I feel like I'm letting the team down, I just can't seem to work this thing on par with the specs…" Lance commented with a sigh. Kim walked up beside him, staring at giant humanoid suit that loomed over them both. She knew what he was thinking, cause for a while, she had been thinking the same thing. She shook her head and looked over at Lance, "We all know you're trying your best, Lance. No one could do this any better that you can. Even Max recognizes it, he just wishes he could see his creation at it's maximum capabilities."

Lance looks over at her, a bit surprised that she was talking this openly about something she hardly ever talked about. Kim returns his glance with a smile and continues, "We're all trying our best to get the Shield Gundam working to it's best, all we can ask of each other is to give it our best. That's really all we can expect of you, to give your best." She giggles a little and walks in front of Lance, smiling brightly, "So how about this, if you never give up, then neither will we, sound good?" Lance smiled back and gave her a nod, signifying that he was willing to go along with the deal. She smiled bigger than before, showing that she was happy with his acceptance. She leaned in closer to Lance, looking him directly in the eye. "You never told me, why did you join the Gundam Fight, Lance?"

"I…." was as far as he got again before the sound of footsteps could be heard behind him. He turned around to a slim looking man with a bush hat and brown hair standing there, looking at them.

"G'day mates, my name's Chandler Wallace, the Gundam Fighter for Neo Australia. I take it you blokes are the Neo Japan team, since that appears to be the Shining Gundam. Say, where's your fighter, I was lookin' for a bit of a scrap with him."

Lance walked forward, "I'm Lance Traydor, and this is the Shield Gundam of the Earth team. If you're looking for a fight, I'd be willing to oblige you."

Chandler looked over Lance carefully, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. "Well, I doubt I'll get much of a brawl from you, but I'll entertain you for a while. Rise Joey Gundam!!!"

With the command spoken, a tan-colored Gundam burst out of its hiding spot under the ground. It had a strange appearance in it's legs, but Lance decided to ignore it and turned to head towards his Gundam but stops short from running into Kim. After the two looked into each other's eyes for a while, Kim gave a smiling nod and dashed for the command truck, allowing Lance to climb up into the cockpit.

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Kim entered the command truck just in time to see everyone scrambling franticly to get to their stations. She hurried to her own seat and slipped on her headset, powering up the monitor at the same time. Gregory was already fast at work on his end, checking the Gundam's weaponry status. Once Kim's monitor was active, she started a run-through of all the systems, which checked out green. Max finally made his appearance in the truck, cursing Lance for starting a match before he was ready.

"Alright, let's make sure this one goes smoother than the last one, alright Lance?" Max commented over his headset to the Shield Gundam

"Roger that," Lance replied, "Greg, those weapons had better be working this time, or I'm coming after you with the Gundam next."

"Don't worry, you're all charged up and ready to go." Gregory replied, beaming an almost visible pride. Lance scoffed at his words and turned his attention to the enemy fighter finally making his Gundam move. Normally if it takes that long to start up the Mobile Trace System, it means the pilot hasn't had much training with it. Lance shook his head and adopted his fighting stance. "You ready to get things started, Aussie?"

"Ready anytime, mate, Gundam Fight ready…."

"GO!!!" The Shield Gundam dashed forward to attack the Joey Gundam, however, the Joey's leg suddenly came up and delivered a lightning-fast kick to the Shield's skull, knocking it backwards and onto the ground.

"The hell?!" Lance exclaimed as he got to his feet, still woozy from the hit he just took. He knew there was something weird about the legs, they're designed almost similar to a kangaroo's, just with a little extra human feature within them. So not only were it's fists dangerous, it's legs were as well. This already wasn't in his favor. Lance shrugged off his doubt and drew his beam saber, charging forward once again. He swung viciously, only to cut dead air as the Joey had already jumped clear due to its fast reflexes. Lance continued on the attack, slashing towards the opponent's neck, only to miss blatantly and receive a boot under the jaw as a reward.

"Damn, this guy's fast…." Lance makes it back to his feet once more, staring down the Joey Gundam.

"What's wrong, mate? Can't keep up?" The Joey taunted, causing Lance to fume more profusely than before. Lance returned the beam saber to it's rack and whipped out the beam pistols. He unloaded a barrage of fire on the Joey, which dodged every blast with near expert precision. Lance growled furiously as he switched the pistols to combo mode and created a beam rifle.

"Lance, be careful, the magazine's energy consumption doubles in that mode, you'll only have a few shots with it." Gregory warned over the speaker.

"I know that!" Lance shot back as he fired a beam of pinkish-purple energy at the Joey, which didn't even graze it. The Joey continued to bound in a circle around the Shield Gundam, almost in a taunting pace, which raised Lance's anger higher.

"Still can't keep up, mate?" Chandler spoke again over the Joey's speaker, "Here, why don't I bring the fight to you." The Joey rushed forward to the surprise of Lance, who had barely enough time to block one of it's lightning-fast punches. He brought up his beam rifle for a close-range attack, but that was swiftly knocked out of his hands as well as a blow to the chest at the same time. The Shield staggered back after taking that much abuse, with the Joey still hopping around with it's fists up in a boxer's stance.

"Damn, I can't keep up with him…" Lance admitted to himself as he held his chest, still aching from the blow he took. The Joey's speed was much higher than the Shield's, as well as it's attack power. He knew it's defense couldn't amount to much, but he couldn't get in close enough for an attack.

"So, giving up? How about I finish you now." The Joey reached back and withdrew two boomerang-like weapons. He launched them forward, and the boomerangs gained a pinkish-color edge which could only mean one thing, beam edges. Lance reacted quickly, bringing up the arms and activating the shields, which blocked the boomerangs and sent them flying off like they were nothing.

"Impressive, I've never seen a defense like that," Chandler commented to the Shield Gundam, "Let's see how much it can take." The Joey flipped gauntlets over it's fists and rushed forward throwing a hard right jab. Lance brought up the left hand shield and blocked it, but the Joey maintained it's pressure on the shield.

"Lance, you can't keep that up!" Max exclaimed over the comm line.

"Why?" Lance asked curiously, but as soon as he asked, his left forearm felt like it was burning. He turned forward and saw the Shield Gundam's armguard billowing out smoke from underneath. The Joey saw this as well and increased the amount of pressure, which shorted out the shield in a few seconds and landed his punch directly into the Shield's hand.

"What happened?!" Lance yelled over the comm line as he tried to disable the Joey's right hand.

"The arm shields can't stand to maintained pressure on the shield. After a while, they'll start to short out." Max explained.

"You could've told me that sooner!" Lance snapped, but his attention was brought off the comm as his chest flared up when the Joey's left caught him there. He released the right, giving the Joey exactly what it wanted.

"Now you'll learn what true power is, mate. Kanga Fist Flurry!" The Joey unleashed a barrage of punches on the Shield Gundam, jarring it and Lance around. The finish came quick as the Joey planted it's right into the Shield Gundam's left shoulder, spinning it around, allowing the Joey to plant both of it's feet into the Shield's back with a dropkick. The Shield Gundam hit the ground hard and face first, causing Lance to fall against the forward portion of the cockpit. The feeling of the punches was still there, not seeming to fade away with time, and Lance's whole body ached because of it. Every time Lance tried to get at least to his knees, the pain brought him back down to the ground.

"I can't do this; it's just too much…." Lance mumbled to himself, slowly giving in to defeat. The comm line flared with voices, telling him to get up, but to Lance, they seemed far away. His consciousness seemed to float over the past year, his time on the West Coast, the tournament he entered, and his entry to the Gundam Fight. Everything was flashing before him as he slowly started to drift off.

"Don't give up!"

The suddenness of the voice brought him back to attention, as he began to remember the promise he made earlier.

"We're all trying our best to get the Shield Gundam working to it's best, all we can ask of each other is to give it our best."

Lance put his hands against the ground as he began to push himself up, feeling new strength flowing within him.

"…if you never give up, then neither will we…"

"Yeah… never give up." Lance commented to himself as he rose off his knees, still swaying slightly from the pain of the last attack. The Joey Gundam stepped back in surprise as the Shield Gundam rose, no one had every gotten up after that attack. It backtracked almost in fear, because suddenly he felt he was facing a demon.

"I… won't lose…." Lance commented over his speaker, breathing heavily. "I can't… lose, not to… you… or anyone else!!!" The Shield Gundam rushed forward, ready to take down the Joey once and for all.

"We'll see about that, mate! Outback Knuckle!" The Joey threw it's left forward, it's gauntlet flaring with beam energy over the top of it. The Shield brought it's right hand forward, which began to have a silver-green glow. At the same time, it's faceplate opened up, activating the Gundam's Battle Mode.

"Look at that, Max, is that…?" Kim said in awe, staring at the Shield Gundam's right hand.

"It is!" Max exclaimed, "I can't believe it, he did it, he activated the…."

"SHINING FINGER!!!" Lance yelled as he thrust his glowing hand forward, connecting on the Joey's Outback Knuckle. At first, the two attacks seemed to have even footing, then the gauntlet on the Joey exploded, followed by it's forearm then it's upper arm as the Shining Finger pushed it's way through until it finally grasped the Joey's head. The attack's momentum was so sudden that it caused the Joey Gundam to collapse backwards, which the Shield Gundam's glowing hand still latched on the it's head.

"This can't be!" Chandler exclaimed as his systems in his cockpit began to short out. "You're supposed to be finished!"

"I told you…" Lance replied slowly, "I'm not gonna lose…. As for you, consider yourself… disqualified!" Lance increased the grip on the Joey's head, which crushed it instantaneously with a following explosion. Once the sound of battle subsided, everyone watched the Shield Gundam in awe as it stood victorious on the battlefield. The Shield Gundam brought up it's hand up into it's eyesight. He got a few seconds of view before the joints extended and released bursts of steam, returning the Gundam's hand to it's regular color. It's faceplate closed soon afterwards, returning the Shield Gundam to it's normal appearance.

"I won… I can't… believe…." Lance was unable to complete his sentence as he fell forward into unconsciousness, though the Gundam only dropped to one knee.

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"That was incredible!" Max exclaimed in the Lance's face, which brought a grimace across his features, since his head was still ringing from the fight.

"Yeah, I know, I never saw that finish coming…" Lance commented quietly. His attention soon turned towards Max. "So, how did you do it? How'd you activate the Shining Finger?"

Max looked perplexed, "We didn't activate it, you did."

"So tell us, man, how'd you do it? How'd you get the Shining Finger to activate?" Gregory asked excitedly.

"No idea…."

Gregory and Max shot a look of confusion at each other, then at Lance. "You don't… know?" Max asked.

"Nope, just know it happened." Lance replied. Max growled at the response, mad that it wasn't the only he was wanting. He stormed off to the storage area to assist with repairs to the Shield Gundam. Gregory followed soon after, disappointed that the mystery wasn't solved after all. Only Kim remained, who continued to look at Lance, only not with confusion.

"I'm glad you won, Lance, it was looking bad out there for a long time…." She said, breaking the brief silence.

"Yeah, but you helped me out." Lance replied, which brought a confused look to Kim's face. Lance chuckled at his face before continuing. "The promise we made, that was what carried me through. Remember?"

Kim's face beamed as she nodded acknowledgment. She moved over to where she was sitting next to Lance and looked him in the eye. "Now you finally have time to answer me, why did you join the Gundam Fight?"

After a bit of thinking, Lance returned her gaze and grinned, "I… like working here."

Kim's face turned to a sarcastic disgust, "That's it?"

"Yep."

Kim stuck her tongue out at Lance and punched him lightly on the shoulder before starting to head into the storage area. She stopped at the door and turned back to Lance.

"I hope you'll tell me the true reason someday…."

"Only if you tell me yours," Lance returned, at which Kim smiled and proceeded through the door.