Chapter 3

Jack's Gundam was about equal parts red and black and it was bulkier that Yusei's Stardust. It had a great axe across its back and rocket launchers on its shoulders. Like Yusei's Gundam, it had a golden "V" shaped crest on its forehead.

Jack brought the axe into his hands and charged forward. Yusei raised his beam saber to block, but the axe went through and hit his Gundam's chest. Luckily, he was in a side stance to Jack, so it was a glancing blow.

"Yusei, his axe can go through your beam saber" said the computer. "Use the katana on your back."

Yusei separated from Jack, then brought the katana out and got into a back stance with the sword's hilt near his face and the blade parallel to the ground. Jack went into a front stance with both hands on the axe holding it on his right side, perpendicular to the ground. Then, just when he looked like he was going to charge forward again, Jack launched a volley of rockets.

In that instant, took a great leap forward through the air, moving his blade like lightning to strike the rockets out of the air, and made to cut at Jack's unprotected left side. The katana struck its mark, and Jack's Gundam was slowed down, but the sword was stuck in place. As Yusei tried to pull it out, Jack dropped his axe, because Yusei was too close, and grabbed Yusei's Gundam with his hands.

"Now I'll show you why my Gundam's called 'Red Demon'" Jack said as he lifted Yusei's Gundam overhead and flung it away. Yusei hit the ground hard and got up slowly. Jack's Gundam began to walk slowly towards Yusei.

"This is bad, I'm low on power. Huh? What's this!" Yusei saw a glowing red mark appear on his right arm.

"Analyzing… scan complete, signer protocol activating", said the computer. As it said this, the Gundam started glowing red, and its power level was miraculously above normal.

"Alright, time to finish this" said Yusei. His Gundam jumped forward and was almost instantly attacking the Red Demon, delivering a flurry of blows faster than Jack's eyes could follow. Moments, later, Jack's Gundam lay wasted on the ground.

He heard a voice over the radio. "Yusei, this is Thufir Hawat, hailing from the battle carrier Ithica. The enemy's reinforcements are en route, so it's time for us to get out of here. Get you're machine in here and let's go."

"Rodger" replied Yusei.

He boarded the Ithica and it headed off Mars for the asteroid belt.

Jack Atlas was resting in a bed in the Neo Domino City hospital when Bashar Goodwin entered the room. "Now, before you start making excuses and apologies forget it, because I know exactly why you lost that fight."

"Why did I lose?" Jack asked. "I should have been stronger than him, so why was he able to beat me?"

"It's because he was able to unlock the signer protocol and you weren't."

"What's the signer protocol?"

"It's a little feature I had secretly installed in the gundams. It verges on what might be called magic."

"But there's no such thing as magic."

"That's true, but the word magic is often wrongly applied to things people simply don't understand. But I digress. What the signer protocol does is it allows the Gundam to use energy that wasn't previously in the universe. It breaks the law of conservation of energy. Another 'magical' thing about it is that there are only five people in the entire human race who can use it. We'll call them signers. Yusei is one of them, and so are you. He accesses his power with a clear mind, but you have to do the exact opposite"

"You mean get really angry?"

"Yes, and as soon as you've recovered, you will begin your training to do so."