DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GUNDAM
CHAPTER FOUR
"PREPARATIONS"
It has been about two days since Okina last declared Yuki a member of this hastily put together team of hers. I was lounging around the living room waiting for the moment that she bursts through the door and forces us to go with her on some grand plan to get strong fast for the upcoming Spring Qualifier. Me and Yuki finished our gunpla just this morning after two days of pulling all nighters. So being dead tired is an understatement. Yuki was knocked out on the couch with his gunpla on the table. I decided to take a look at it because I haven't actually gotten a chance to look at the completed product yet. The once F91 Gundam colored Victory Gundam that was a detail build was now turned into a customized build. He chose to retain the F91's color scheme. The original Victory's backpack was replaced with back mounted variable speed beam rifles or VSBRS for short. Other than that it retains the weapons of the original Victory Gundam. It had a red letter F on the left shoulder and a red letter V on the right shoulder. If I recalled correctly Yuki mentioned that he made modifications to the mouth so that it can open and up and act as a vent. He also mentioned adding numerous cooling ducts and heat sinks to the shoulders. I think that he described them as heat radiation fins which he installed three in each shoulder. Lastly if I recall he told me his gunpla is capable of shedding its outer layer of armor to dissipate excess heat. He told me that the process would allow his gunpla to process creates afterimages of the gunpla made up of plasky particles, which can deceive not only the eyes of enemy pilots, but also radar and other sensors. This phenomenon came to be known as the Plasky Peel-off Effect, or PEPE for short. It is hard to believe he only began building and battling three days ago, but he can already do quite an impressive custom build.
I on the other hand finally finished my first customized build after a month of planning. My Crossbone X-1 Kai Kai ''Skull Heart'' colored Gundam Age 3 retained the skull and crossbones on its head and chest. The skull and crossbones on the chest replaced the Age System symbol. I added an armored version of the Anti Beam Coating (ABC for short) cloak and a pair of skull-shaped I-Field generators mounted on the shoulders, which double as "boxing gloves" when mounted on the gunpla's manipulators. I retained the arm shields of the Age 3 to store its beam sabers. I made its beam shield optional equipment, a unit that mounts on the mobile suit's arm and draws power directly from the fusion reactor. The beam shield generators of the gunpla can further take advantage of beam energy malleability, forming four short beam blades at the corners of the beam shield generator that meet at the center known as the brand marker, which has as a pyramidal shape. The brand marker slides over the fist of the mobile suit and is used as a punching weapon. When used, the brand marker leaves an X-shaped hole, if the target area isn't completely destroyed. I retain the SigMaxiss Rifle as its primary hand-held ranged weapon. I modified the feet so that it can store heat daggers which are an alternative close combat weapon, the heat dagger is unlike most heat weapons as its blade is heated using leftover heat from the leg's thrusters. The heated blade can melt the enemies armor on contact, which when combined with the force applied to the attack, can inflict significant damage. The heat daggers are stored in the legs, one in each calf. Normally, it is hand-held when in use, but it can also slide out of the sole as a surprise attack. I also added the Muramasa Blaster as the primary hand-held close range weapon. Its form resembles that of a straight rapier with a gun handle in the guard and with a skull and crossbones painted on the sides. The Muramasa Blaster mounts a total of 15 beam emitters, one beam cannon on the end (or tip of the sword) and 14 large beam saber emitters that line the sides, making it a weapon that can be used for both long range and short range combat. Lastly I modified the front hip skirt so that it can store scissor anchors, these anchors is attached to the gunpla by long chains and uses a scissor claw to grip objects. While this is not an offensive weapon per-say, it provides several uses in combat. It can be used to grip the limb and an enemy machine to ensnare it or to reel it in closer to the gunpla where it is within melee combat range. It can also be used to turn ensnared mobile suits into bludgeoning weapons by pulling on the chain. The scissor anchors can also be used to stabilize the gunpla footing in case of emergencies.
After I drifted off to sleep in the armchair for what felt like three hours I heard a few sharp knocks at the door which awoke me from my short slumber. I looked over to the couch which Yuki was still knocked out on. I got up from my armchair to go answer the door. When I opened the door before I had the chance to see who it was, the person stormed inside the house. I turned to see it was Okina who promptly plumped down on the armchair I was previously sleeping on. I waited a few seconds waiting for her to speak but she remained quiet. I looked at her she seem to be waiting for me to ask why is she here before she would actually speak. So I reluctantly decided to humor her and asked why she was here. She let out an annoyed sigh which kind of ticked me off.
"If you must know I am here to tell you and Yuki something important." She said.
"Well what is it? As you can see Yuki is still knocked out on the couch over there."
"No matter I will just hang here until he gets up so I will only have to say it once."
We waited for two hours until Yuki finally woke up we gave him an extra hour and a half to get himself sorted which I took that time to get myself sorted as well. When the hour and half is up we all took a seat on the couch waiting for Okina to speak.
"Ahem ahem. As you both are members of my team Xross Builders you both should be well aware that I have intention of bringing this team to the Xmas League. But to do that of course we have to get through the seasonal qualifiers with the first one being in a little bit more than a week from today. So to make sure the three of us will be ready for them of course we have to do some intense training considering the fact Yuki just started three days ago and we never battled as a team before." She said.
"I am only participating being that I lost to you and I am a man of my word but don't think for one second that I have any intentions of getting chummy with other players or getting ecstatic about team activities." Yuki said.
"Anyways..you mentioned intense training Okina do you already have something in mind?" I said.
"If you must know Kaito of course I do. In about thirty minutes our team's coach will be knocking on the front door and will tell us what our training regimen will be."
We waited for thirty minutes and we heard no knocking at the door. We waited an extra three minutes it was after that I was about to open my mouth to speak, when I hear a knock at the door. The three of us looked at each other trying to see who will get up to get the door, none of seem to have any intent to get up and open it. I finally decided to be the mature one and go answer the door. When I opened it to my surprised it was a young woman who looked oddly familiar. It took me a quick second to realize that it was the shop owner from Plamo Crafts.
She was a brunette with shoulder-length hair and olive-colored eyes. Her side bangs had white clips on the ends and a matching ring that sits above each clip. She also wore half rimmed black glasses. Finally she wore a white shirt with navy blue jeans under it with a beige apron on which meant she must have recently left the shop. I let her take the spot on the coach I was previously sitting on while I sat on the empty armchair. For some reason I had a hard time looking at her directly, I kept getting embarrassed for some reason anytime I did try to look at her for in a few moments. So I decided to just focus my attention to Yuki who seemed to get more and more irritated the longer I kept my focus on him. We performed a quick introductions of ourselves before formally announced ourselves as Team Xross Builders. Afterwords we gave her a minute to gather herself before she begun to speak.
"I am so glad to formally meet you Kaito and Yuki. If I recall correctly I saw the two you about three days ago at my shop. Anyways Okina here filled me in on most of the important details. You must be wondering how a hobby shop owner can help coach a gunpla battling team for the Xmas League. It is an understandable concern but I can assure you I used to be quite the builder in my youth. I also participated in a few high end tournaments as well in the past so I know what a couple of inspiring battlers like you would need to do well." She said.
"Well Okina put her faith in you for this team so I might as well do the same. I look forward to these training regimens you must have set up for us." I said.
Yuki just sighed in agreement, he not much of a talker is what I have observed in the three days I been with him. She quickly went over the training regimen she had set up for us for the next week so we would be prepared for the Spring Qualifier. Apparently Yuki would have to spend his time training with a plamo club at a college that she attends. While Okina has to attend a builders' tournament that is taking place the whole next week. Finally, for myself the whole next week I will be sharing one one one time with the coach herself. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but it kind of gave me the impression that I was the weak link of the team. But the thought of sharing private time with the coach made me oddly blush for some reason. Considering it was Saturday, it would mean our training will begin Monday so I used my weekend to get some my other business done so I won't have anything getting in the way of my training. Okina spent the weekend at my house just lazing around the house playing video games. Yuk spent his weekend studying, the subjects were quite advance and I didn't even understand it.
Finally it was Monday, I woke up early around seven and got myself sorted out. I noticed that Yuki and Okina have already left so I took a quick moment to ponder what time did they get up at. At about eight thirty I finally left the house and took out the paper from my pocket that was given to me on Saturday. It read directions to Alice Nagisa's house. I wondered why she wrote her full name on the paper but I didn't give it that much thought. I found myself smiling when I finally made it to her front door but I wasn't sure why I felt such happiness. I knocked on the door and waited for it to open.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
As always feel free to review and give me any advice or suggestions you may have. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any combinations you would like to appear in the story. If you might have notice I have recently updated the first three chapters. I did so because I constantly reread my chapters to make sure the grammar makes sense and that everything is clear for my readers. Feel free to message if you noticed any grammatical errors I have made in any of my chapters.