"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
"Ugh," Kelly Marchand turned off his alarm clock and sat up in bed. He scanned his hotel room, catching sight of his laptop. It was still on from the night before. He stood up and walked over to the table on which the computer sat. "What's this?" Kelly clicked open the message box on his monitor. A message revealed itself:
To all Gundam Fighters:
We, the government of Neo-Italy, hereby waive our fighter's right to forgo challenges during the preliminary battles of this year's Gundam Fight. However, our fighter will still receive an automatic bid to participate in the finals. Be warned. Though destroying our fighter's head will mean that he cannot fight until the finals. Should any challenger lose their head in combat with our fighter they will receive the normal penalty, expulsion from the Gundam Fight.
"No kidding," Marchand let out a wry smirk after reading the message. "Argento's win must have been a big fluke. They really don't trust him." He closed the laptop and began to pack his things. "I'll have to pay him a visit."
A loud knock rang at the door, "Kelly! Kelly let's go!"
"I'm coming! Calm down, Phoebe."
Suddenly, a girl burst into the room. She looks young, about 20 years old. She is average height with long brown hair which is pulled back in a ponytail. She wears a pair of yellow boots with jeans and a purple vest over a long blue shirt. She is attractive, but obviously has not applied any makeup and seems to have gotten little sleep. "Kelly!" She begins to frantically run around hurrying his packing. "We have to go. What have you been doing?"
"Sleeping…like the rest of the world before five o'clock."
"What? I told you yesterday. We're leaving at six sharp for Poland."
"Oh yeah." Kelly had forgotten about his scheduled match with Poland's Kasper Stanislaw. In fact, Phoebe had told him last night to set his alarm for 4:00, but Kelly set it for 5:00 to get the extra sleep. Phoebe was obviously not too happy about it.
"Let's go." Phoebe began to push Kelly, with his packed bags, out the door.
When Latham walked into the living room, he immediately made for the television and turned it on. As he sat down a woman's face flickered onto the screen. "This year, the Gundam Fight should be extra interesting with many proven fighters signed up with many anxious newcomers. We are witnessing one of the deepest pools of talent in many years. One can see that this year will be no ordinary year, as John Salisbury and Stuart Hannah show us this year's GRS pre-fight rankings, John?"
A man appears. "Thank you Sally; let's take a look at the rankings."
A list appears on the screen:
GRS Pre-Fight Gundam Rankings
1. Neo-Japan: Isamu Hotaka- Tokugawa Gundam
2. Neo-China: Kun Wu Xiang- Shanghai Gundam
3. Neo-Norway: Leif Vargus- Berserker Gundam
4. Neo-England: Forest Coriander- Lionheart Gundam
5. Neo-Hong Kong: Tai Wei- Meng-Tzu Gundam
6. Neo-Greece: Georgios Apostolis- Apollo Gundam
7. Neo-France: Frederic de Sand- Napoleon Gundam
8. Neo-Russia: Daniil Osip- Gundam Grozny
9. Neo-Germany: Stefan Stone- Blitzkrieg Gundam
10. Neo-Egypt: Oni Temitope- Phoenix Gundam
The man to his left begins to speak, "This year will be full of action with such a strong top ten. Neo- Japan's Isamu Hotaka is the obvious favorite this year, after his amazing run in the finals, getting second as a rookie last year. The student of the great Domon Kasshu, Isamu has learned well from the King of Hearts."
"That's right Stuart, but he's got a hard road ahead of him, he can't slack off one bit if he wants to be champ."
"Yes this year our top five fighters are all returning from last year's finals, and their hungry for a fight."
"You can't count any of these fighters out, John. I'm especially interested to see what Frederic de Sand will do in his second…"
"Turn that crap off." A woman's voice cut in. Latham turned around to see his trainer and Crew-woman Allenby Beardsley. Allenby fought in two Gundam fights, and won one before retiring twelve years ago. Latham was only five then, but that's when his training started. Allenby had trained him to become a Gundam Fighter just like her. She had forced him to push himself and improve his skills. As long as Latham had known her, Allenby had been a harsh and militant person. The people at the base used to say it was because she lost her first love to another woman, and she used to be a cheerful person. Latham had never seen her in a good mood.
"What? I can't watch the news?"
"You should be preparing for your fight."
"I am."
"By sitting on your butt in front of the TV?"
"I'm checking out the competition."
"Don't be stupid. You can't learn any useful information from a sports show. You have a fight today, get ready."
"Alright," Latham got up and walked out of the room.
As Frederic lay on his bed in the gundam transport, he felt as if the walls were closing in on him. Since George had become royalty, marrying Mary Louise, Frederic had become France's head knight, and gundam pilot. However, as France's representative, he appeared to fall far short of his uncle. Though he piloted the Napoleon Gundam, which was identical to George's Rose save it had been modified to accommodate Frederic as a left handed fighter, he had still missed the finals during the last Gundam Fight. This year would have to be different. This year Frederic was going to prove himself worthy of his position, and equal to his uncle.
"Sir Frederic, we are almost in Sweden." A young boy entered the room, interrupting Frederic's thoughts.
Frederic sat up in bed to speak with his page. "Thank you, Damien. How much time do we have?"
"We are scheduled to touch down in thirty minutes, sir."
"Is Napoleon ready?"
"I just finished the pre-fight check. Do you want to check on him yourself?"
"No…I should get dressed though. Thank you, Damien."
"Yes sir," Damien exited the room, leaving Frederic alone to prepare for his fight against Latham Einar.
"Congratulations, Marchand. You're better than the hack that fought for Neo-Canada last year." Stanislaw and Marchand stood facing each other in their Gundams each obviously tired.
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." Kelly was breathing quite heavily. The fight had already lasted twenty minutes, and neither had been able to land a significant blow.
"Unfortunately, you're still not good enough." Stanislaw then sped forward towards Marchand in his Vertuti Gundam.
Kelly stood prepared to defend himself as the dark grey gundam barreled towards him. He focused on the gundam's black reinforced knuckles. The gundam was very simple and it seemed these were its only weapons. However, they looked like they could do some serious damage if he wasn't careful. Kelly had tried to use his head vulcans to his advantage but Stanislaw had been able to dodge Kelly's artillery fire with ease. That unfortunately left hand to hand combat, which put Kelly on the defensive thus far.
It doesn't seem he's getting that tired Kelly thought. I probably won't be able to wear him down. Time for plan B.
"This is the end!" Kasper yelled as he swung with his right fist. Kelly tried to block and slow the attack with his right hand.
"Buzz-Saw Attack!" Kelly activated the buzz-saw on his left wrist and swiftly cut off Vertuti Gundam's forearm.
"Dammit!" As his gundam's forearm fell to the ground, Kasper dropped to one knee and grabbed his arm. "Well then. I guess you win, Marchand."
As the French transport ship landed in the open field, Latham sprinted out of the base to his gundam.
"Ready?" Allenby was waiting for him at Epsen Gundam's feet.
"As I'll ever be," Latham began to climb up into his gundam. "Wish me luck?"
"Just win."
Latham smiled as he entered the cockpit.
Frederic had just passed through the mobile trace system when Damien's face appeared on a screen in front of him. "The Neo-Sweden pilot is ready and waiting Sir."
"Open the Door." Frederic was anxious to get this fight going. As the mechanical door opened and the exit ramp extended to the ground Frederic stepped out onto the battle field. The mid-day sun gleamed off of the newly fallen snow. He saw the gundam standing across the field. It was white with a yellow torso. Its joints and extra armor were painted blue. "Latham Einar," Frederic called out to his opponent. "I challenge you to an official Gundam Fight match."
"I, of course, accept." Latham took a fighting stance, "Gundam fight all set!"
"Ready!" Frederic retorted.
"Go!" They cried in unison and immediately sped across the field towards each other.
Allenby watched on as Latham activated his energy whip and Frederic drew his sword. She had been surprised to see the French gundam when it had first exited the transport. She had heard I was a modification of George's Gundam Rose, but she was unaware of all the modifications. The gundam had been completely inverted, with the energy sword and arm sash on the right side now. Also, the color scheme had been changed. Frederic had apparently switched the blue and red on his gundam to make it look different than George's. Be careful Latham Allenby thought as the two gundam's continued to clash.
Latham parried Frederic's attack and lashed his whip at him.
"You're quite gifted." Frederic dodged Latham's attack and answered with an upward slash of his sword.
"Gifted enough to talk in the middle of a gundam fight." Latham spun to his right and attacked again with his whip. "I can't say the same for you though." The energy whip twisted around the other gundam's ankle. Latham quickly pulled, tripping Frederic and bringing Napoleon Gundam to the ground. With another tug, Latham dragged the gundam across the ground towards him. He lifted his leg and as the gundam approached thrust it downward towards its head. However, Frederic was able to deflect the blow with his arm and roll back to his feet. Now sword-less, Frederic began firing his head vulcans. Latham turned and began to circle Frederic to dodge the bullets. As he approached Napoleon Gundam's right side Frederic turned quickly to catch Latham with a shot. However, Latham immediately began spinning his whip around creating an energy shield to deflect Frederic's shots.
Finally, he stopped. Frederic had him right where he wanted him. Behind that energy shield he won't be able to see my final attack coming. Frederic raised the sash above his right arm and aimed his launcher at Latham. "Rose B…"
Before Frederic could get off his final attack a beam raveled out of Epsen Gundam's shield and shot directly into his right shoulder, sending a huge jolt of pain to his body, and disabling the rose buds. The beam dissipated and Latham's whip fell to his side. "Looks like your done," Latham referred to Frederic's destroyed arm.
"Yes," Frederic conceded, "Yes it does."