Sam Kris Phillip and Edward enjoyed the pizza party immensely until Heather, Sam's mom, reopened the restaurant. The group remained in their booth talking about what they were going to do for the regional tournament. There were several hopeful teams in the southern area of Ontario alone so it was going to be an up hill battle right from the start.
"So," Kris started looking around the booth at her team mates, "What are we going to do about Allen? That Jeremy guy really got to him," she said with a look on her face as she and everyone else stared at Sam.
Sam, already sensing what their looks implied, shuffled his way out of the booth, "Well, I did say I was going to talk to him later," he said before leaving them. "I'll be right back," he called over his shoulder. As he trudged up the stairs, he saw his mom who was heading down.
"Going to see your brother, Samuel?" she asked him as they passed each other.
"Yeah," Sam replied pausing in mid-stride, "The others and I were going to start discussing tactics for the upcoming tournaments," he told her.
Heather had a thoughtful look on her face before speaking, "I think it's best to leave Allen by himself for now. He's working out some of his stress and when he's in this state, it'll be hard to sway him from it," she told him with a hint of sadness in her voice. She stood there a moment looking wistful before heading back down.
Heather's reaction stuck with Sam as he stood on the stairway until after a minute he filed that away to ask about later and continued his climb up the stairs to Allen's room. He knocked on the door before poking his head in, only to see it empty.
"Now, where could he be?" he thought to himself. He then heard a door open down the hall. When he pulled his head out of the room he was in, he only saw what he assumed was Allen's hand pulling back into the room leaving an empty plate and can of pop on the floor in front of the door. Sam cocked an eyebrow before walking over to the door and knocking on it. "Allen, you in there?"
There was a few undefined noises before he replied with a simple "Yes."
"The team and I were going to be discussing tactics for the upcoming tournaments. We thought that we should all get together and talk about what we can do so we don't fall over each other when the time comes so we'll be getting some time at the Gunpla Stadium to practice. Do you wanna come down?" he asked.
"Sorry, but I'm working on a new gunpla," Allen said quick to reply.
"You sure?" Sam pried, "What happens when it's your turn at the tournament. we won't be able to fight properly if you don't know what we can do. That's part of being a team you know."
There was another pause before Allen finally answered, "I'll just be the alternate this time," he said. "The VF-1S Strike I built didn't stand up to the shop tournament so, if I'm going to be able to contribute to the team then I'm going to have to build something much better than what I have before."
"Allen.." Sam started but Allen immediately interrupted.
"I can't let Jeremy win in this!" he shouted, "He is not right about how Gunpla is played and he is not right about how I should fight in this."
Sam was about to say something but decided to leave it be for now. Allen was clearly upset and he wasn't sure what to do about it for now. Before he left he told Allen that he and the team would be downstairs if he decided to come out. Allen only muttered an "OK" before Sam walked back downstairs.
On reaching the bottom of the stairs, his mom had reopened the restaurant, while he made his way back to the booth with the others.
"It didn't go too well did it?" Kris asked as Sam slid into his seat beside Edward.
Sam shrugged, "Nah, he's lock himself into a room and started building a new gunpla. He's so focused on it that he's already volunteered to be the alternate for the team." He looked around the table, "I'll talk to him again later but I think he just needs some space for now."
Edward nodded at that as he took a sip of his pop, "I hope he's ok. I didn't see Jeremy do much to him during the shop tournament, but he did tear his gunpla up pretty savagely."
"Anyways," Kris said trying to change the subject, "I think that the first thing we need to do as a team is determine what our team name should be," she announced deftly.
The other's stared at her for a moment. Phillip was sipping his pop from a straw before putting it down. "Do you have anything in mind?"
Kris had a coy look about her as she smiled, "Mmmmaybe," she lead on.
"Well, spit it out!" Sam told her, starting to get annoyed.
Kris looked around as if she had a secret before leaning in, "How about... the "Fifth Rhythm"?" she stated as she sat back.
The other three looked at each other as they each registered the suggestion.
"The "fifth" part I get," said Edward slowly, "Since there are five people on the team but..."
"What does "rhythm" have to do with anything?" Sam finished, equally confused.
"I think she has dancing on the brain," Phillip teased lightly with a smile, only to receive a playful elbow to the arm for his troubles"
"Shut up you," she told him, obviously not hurt at his teasing as she turned to the others, "I'm not going to lie, I'll be having Phillip play some music. But I can't really fight without some kind of beat playing. Besides, what's wrong with the name?"
"Well, aside from you, we aren't really a music group," Sam said.
"So," Kris argued, "Even though we all have different fighting styles we are still fighting together to the same rhythm," she explained before quickly adding, "Once we practice together of course."
Edward smiled at that, "You can't really argue against that."
Sam looked to Phillip who nodded in agreement. "I'll have to check with Allen, but I guess I'm ok with it."
"Ok then," Kris said as she put her hand in the middle of the table expectantly, "Unless Allen says otherwise, we are now team "Fifth Rhythm""
The others put their hands in with Kris and repeated her call.
"Fifth Rhythm!" They all cheered.
"Oh jeez, that was embarrassing," Sam chuckled to himself.