A New Challenge by Lady Ryu

Chapter Two

Duo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He pressed the button waiting for an explosion or the alarm, but nothing happened. He pressed it frantically. He opened one eye and looked around.
"Great now you won't even self-detonate. I guess you want us both to live longer and enjoy that cappuccino. Alright Deathscythe, let's rock and roll!"
He stood back up and fired fiercely at the pilot. The pilot was unaware that Duo had gotten back up and was firing at him.
"Oh no!" said the pilot before Duo said, "See you in Hell! And I don't mean the island. Have a nice day!"
The pilot and the mobile suit blew up. Duo wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He took his gundam and went back to its hiding place.

He soon found Trowa and socked him in the jaw. He was talking to Catherine when Duo arrived and after saying,
"Hey Duo what's up?"
He got socked in the jaw. Trowa rubbed his cheek.
"That's what you get for bailing out on me, buddy!"
"Sorry, I figured you had it under control."
"Why I oughta…"
Catherine stood between them.
"Duo stop acting like a brat and sit down." She ordered.
He sat down obediently and pouted. Wufei and Quatre came back and Wufei asked,
"Duo?"
Duo looked up attentively like a little puppy,
"What is it this time?"
"Your braid's coming out."
Duo got up and took off the rubber band and let his long brown hair fall.
"Do you have any idea how long it took me to get my hair done this morning Wufei?"
He shook his head.
"You should grow yours out. I'm tellin' you; it's worth it. Chicks dig the braid."
Wufei shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"And you look like a girl." Trowa said nonchalantly.

"Hey!" Duo replied angrily.

Catherine laughed.

"You do look a little girlish," she said.

Duo ignored them and started brushing it. It was sorta crimpy since it had been that way for a month. Catherine went to get a Band-Aid for him because he had a scratch on his face. He re-braided it and put a new rubber band on the end. Catherine put the Band-Aid on his cheek and smiled.

"You know, you're somethin' else Duo."
"Hey a complement. That's the first one I got all day."
"Oh and Duo?"
"What?"
"Don't you ever hit Trowa again you big jerk!"
"Another complement. Hey I'm starting to get more popular already!"
Trowa spoke up.
"No Catherine, I deserved it. I bailed out on him and I shouldn't have. Sorry Duo."
"Apology accepted."

They decided to go out to the new Italian restaurant on Newbury Street. Duo was inhaling spaghetti.
"Where are you manners?" asked Quatre.
Duo shrugged his shoulders and continued inhaling.
"Well pardon me it's a custom in my country and we are in my country so there!"
He looked up when he saw a waitress giggle at him and he winked at her.
"Hey baby," he mouthed, "What's your name?"
She held out her nametag and motioned for him to come there with her finger.
He excused himself and walked up to her.
"Hey babe, how about I take you on ride in my hot wheels?"
She smiled and said,
"Is that your best pick up line?"
"Could be, cutie. I don't know, maybe we can find out."
She smiled and replied,
"I get off in half an hour. See you then, fly boy!"
He sat back down.
"I saw you talking to that waitress over there." said Quatre.
"Oh, yeah. She wants me."
They sat staring at him seriously with no expression on their faces.
"Man! You guys need to lighten up a bit. I'll see you guys later."
The waitress walked by with the check and walked away. Duo checked out her ass and said,
"I'd love to get my hands on a piece of that!"
Trowa kicked him in the shin from under the table.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You don't say that when a woman is present."
"Sorry," he said rubbing his shin.

They soon left and the waitress met Duo waiting outside for her.
"Hey baby, ready for that ride?"
She smiled and responded,
"Where's your quote "hot wheels" unquote?" she said sarcastically.
"Don't get sarcastic with me babe. Here, I bought these for you," he said handing her a bouquet of roses.
She was taken by surprise.
"Thanks, but I'm allergic," she said sarcastically.
"Well I'm not Superman! Geez! There's a lot things that you don't know about me babe." (pause) "Oh yeah," he said before pulling a little car out of his pocket, "here's my "Hot Wheels™"!"
She laughed before grabbing him.
"Whoa, slow down babe! I make the first moves."
"Duo! Why do you have to act like all the other guys I used to know!" she whined.
"Whoa, how'd you know my name?"
"Gee, I only sit behind you in third period retard!"
"G-Gina?"
"Yup."
He was still in a bit off shock because he really thought that he really had hit it off with a hot babe and soon he shook it off. He took her hand and walked her down the street to his motorcycle. He handed her a helmet and they took off. He took her to the park. They sat down on the grass and looked at the moon.
"Wow it's so beautiful isn't Duo!"
"Yep."
He yawned and fell asleep. She snuggled up beside him and played with his braid hitting him in the face with the end of it and watched him talk about getting it out of his face.

"Trieze, where are you going?" Une asked her husband.
Trieze was putting on his boots and replied,
"To the base, to check out those mobile suits."
"Oh Trieze, don't you want to spend time with your son?"
"I'll spend the weekend with him at Manchester Beach."
He kissed her gently before leaving. She sat back and put her hand on her belly. She had a worried look in her eye.

Gina thought that she saw a shooting star. She shook Duo to get him up. He woke up unaware where he was.
"Duo, Duo! Look, there's a shooting star," she said pointing to it.
It was going towards the base.
"Why that sneaky devil?"
"What?" she asked.
"Uh—You look real pretty tonight. I gotta go babe."
He took her to her apartment.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll explain later."
She looked in his eyes and he looked into hers.
"See you tomorrow, babe."
"Okay, bye." Gina replied and watched the boy run away.
She shook her head in disbelief.

Duo went to the base and met the barrel of Heero's gun face to face.
"Heero, its me Duo."
"Oh, sorry. Oz has taken over 6 space colonies overnight and my gundam needs to be repaired."
"Well I hope you know that I was on a date with a really hot babe."
"And you were asleep the whole time, weren't you?"
"Well—I was resting my eyes."
"Sure you were."
"Hey! How did you know anyway?"
"I'm not blind. There's a thing called a telescope."
"You were spying on me?"
"No, I thought you were an Oz soldier and I came here to kill you, if you were one."
"Oh. Don't kill Gina. Please Heero!"
"I'm not. But how are you going to explain yourself?"
"I got it all planned out buddy. I'm going to tell her that I was picking up my brother at the airport and when she woke me up I just remembered that. You think she'll buy it."
Heero gave a shrug, gave a small grin, and walked away.
"Where's the others?"
"At Trowa's place."
"Where's Relena?"
"I don't keep up with your girlfriend or your life. I got a life of my own here. I think she's at her house. Her birthday's next Thursday."
"Good. I made it back in time. Duo where's your mechanic?"
"Oh Howard, he's working on Deathscythe. He needs to work on the self-destination system and he also put in a cappuccino machine. But I'm sure he could work on yours if you drop it off."
"Thanks."
He said walking off.
"Hey I'm a mechanic too!" Duo said while running after him.
Heero ignored that last part and said,
"Let's go to Trowa's."
They left and met the others at Trowa's.