Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Seed Shadow ❯ Episode 6 ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Hcps 
Anime/Manga: Gundam SEED Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 12.30.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 137 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam SEED Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 12.30.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 137 | Status: Work In Progress
Episode 6
The episode starts with a repeat of Tim's countdown.
Tim: Ready….. Set….. GO!
Shadow charges straight at Drake, he goes to make a downward strike with his sword but Drake moves to the side and kicks him square in the chest before he can even finish the swing knocking the breath out of him.
Nick at the moment of go moves to the left and pulls out his gun and starts firing at Drake the moment Shadow staggers and falls out of the way, Drake faces Nick and walks straight towards him, he effortlessly dodges the bullets
Nick (Am I missing, no he's…he's dodging the bullets!)
His face is full of shock as Drake comes straight up to him still looking bored, he kicks him straight in the chest knocking him clean off his feet, this all happens in minutes. The camera turns to Cagalli whose frozen by Drake’s overwhelming display of power, Drake looks at her
Drake: You do know what happens to deer that stand still in headlights?
Drake is on her in less than a minute, he unleashes a flurry of punches most of which land on her face or chest, Cagalli’s taking steps back and is trying to block but Drake is easily getting around her defenses
Drake: They get run over!
He hits her square in the face which combined with the rest of his attacks causes her to collapse to the ground from pain; suddenly Shadow comes from behind and starts a downward swing of his sword but Drake without turning around kicks him in the chest and sends him flying before he complete the swing.
Then still on one foot Drake jumps up as a bullet hits the ground where his foot was, the camera turns to Nick who's still lying on the ground from Drake’s pervious attack, Nick growls in frustration of the miss. Drake rushes towards the marksmen and kicks him square in the chest causing next to go into a barrel roll.
The camera turns to Kenny, and Tim. Kenny has a look of shock and horror on his face
Kenny: Holy crap!
Tim looks at Kenny with pity
Tim (You have no idea, this is Drake using kitty gloves, if Drake only had to beat them he would have already knocked them all unconscious already.)
The camera turns to Drake who's looking at Cagalli, who's still on her hands and knees coughing and spitting in pain from his last attack
Drake: You said you wanted to be a Gundam Fighter, so what are you doing on the ground!
He yells the last part as he kicks her hard in the chest while she's still on the ground, the force of the kick sends her rolling, after rolling 7 feet Shadow moves behind her and stops her rolling with his knee
Shadow: What are you doing lying down in the middle of a fight princess?
He says this in his playful voice with a smile but his eyes are focus on Drake who is starring at them still with the bored expression. Cagalli coughs and groans still in pain but she understands Shadow and says while getting up
Cagalli: Don’t call me a princess!
She's on her knee's now and looking at Drake, suddenly Nick on his feet again starts shooting at Drake, Drake turns to Nick and begins dodging the bullets, the camera stays on Shadow and Cagalli
Shadow: Okay I have to say that it wasn't a bad idea to have more people help me with this fight. Come on lets double team him or are you going to sit there all day and take that kind of beating?
Cagalli glares at him and tightens her grip on her weapon
Cagalli: Day time is over you idiot, and let's do this!
They both charge Drake as he grabs Nick and throws him carefully so that Drake doesn’t break any of Nick’s bones, they come up behind and jump intending on doing a jump attack. Without turning around Drake jumps on his hands and kicks both Shadow and Cagalli while their still in midair sending them both flying again. The camera once again turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim flinches seeing how badly Drake is kicking their ass.
Tim: I knew I should have told them they need at least five people to have a 1% chance of beating Drake, but that Shadow guy was so enthusiastic that I folded at 3.
Tim shakes his head
Tim: They don't have a prayer of a chance of landing a hit on Drake.
Kenny looks at Tim angry
Kenny: You're wrong!
The is moving back and forth between Kenny and the fight with Drake, Drake is easily kicking the crap out of Shadow, Nick, and Cagalli. Tim looks at Kenny with surprise
Tim: Are you blind, it's pretty clear that Drake is going to kick the crap out of them.
Kenny: You're right and I’d be worried if Shadow had to win the fight but you said it yourself he only has to land a hit on him and if there's one thing Shadow's good at it's taking a beating.
Tim: If you think Shadow can outlast Drake in stamina, you're out of your mind. Drake can fight for hours on end without a break.
Kenny sits down
Kenny: Then you better sit down because this fight is going to be awhile.
Tim just stares at him and then sits down to, and that's how that scene ends. The next scene begins with the camera looking at the moon, judging from its position we can say that some time has pass, we can hear the sounds of Shadow and co. fighting Drake, but by the time the camera looks down we only see Shadow get thrown to the ground.
We look around to see Cagalli and Nick are also on the ground lying on their back. We can see that all three of them are exhausted, there is sweat pouring down their faces, and their breathing extremely heavily. The camera turns to Drake who looks the same as when he started the fight, and he still looks bored. The camera turns to Kenny and Tim who is sitting down, Tim looks at his watch
Tim: It's been a little over an hour now since the fight began, and they haven't quit. I've got to say that's impressive. However they've reach their limit, there's no way they can continue fighting, they're just too tired.
Kenny doesn't say anything but just looks at the fight, we turn to Drake
Drake (Well they can take a beating if nothing us but it's time to end this. Tim’s stupid restrictions are forcing me to pull all my punches and kicks so I can only do baby hits, hmmm let’s try some mind games.)
Drake begins talking out loud
Drake: Why don't you just quit it's obvious that you can't beat me, so why don't you just save yourself the time and pain.
The camera looks at Nick and Cagalli to see they're waning
Drake: I'll tell you what, how about I buy you guy's a nice 5 star hotel room for a week and I'll even throw in all the food you can eat. I'll even allow you to put your application file back in, once a manager see's that you spared with me for a little over a hour before quitting, I'm sure that they will sign your
Shadow: Shut up!
Shadow still on the ground had cut Drake off, surprising everyone, Shadow rolls over and gets on his knees, he takes his sword and stabs it into the ground and uses it like a walking stick to help him get up. He's obviously in pain and struggling but he grits his teeth as he says
Shadow: First off if we agree to that then we'd have to wait for someone to approve our application and I hate waiting.
This statement causes Cagalli and Nick to smile
Shadow: Second now that I've seen your skills I know for a fact that you're the only manager that I'll accept and last is my pride won't let me leave this fight until I've at least landed one hit on you!
Cagalli and Nick smiles widen, they start to get to their feet the camera turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim is impressed
Tim: Not only did he not get sway by Drake's mind games he inspired his teammates to get back up.
Kenny also smiling replies proudly
Kenny: That's Shadow for you, he could always inspire stupidly in everyone around him.
The camera cuts to Drake, who is frowning
Drake (Great, plan B didn't work so back to plan A, continue to beat the crap out of them until they surrender.)
Drake does a mental sigh as he goes into autopilot, no need for real intelligence against opponents of this level, Cagalli and Nick are on their feet holding their weapons, all three of them are glaring at Drake with a grim determination
Shadow: Let's do this!
Shadow screams out, he and Cagalli charge Drake. Shadow gets their first; he begins to swing his sword in a downward slash
Drake (Another downward slash, this guy doesn't learn.)
Drake moves to the side and begins to do a roundhouse kick on Shadow while he's still in mid swing, it should be noted that this is in slow motion, suddenly Cagalli's Dao spear head appears over Shadow's shoulder, Drake is taken by surprise
Drake (What a second attack!)
Drake stops his attack, the camera turns to his foot on the ground, we see it starts to change positions so that he can move back instead of forward, we look up to hear a gun shoot Drake looks over Shadow’s other shoulder to see (still in slow motion) that Nick has shoot at Drake we can see the bullet traveling through the air and can roughly judge that it we pass over Shadow's other shoulder and hit Drake, Drake is stun now
Drake (A third attack, three synchronized attacks!)
Time goes back at regular pace, Drake moves back as Shadow completes his swing, the bullet lands to the side of Drake's foot. Shadow bends down when he completes his swing allowing Cagalli to turn her weapon and do a side slash, three more bullet land around Drake's feet but it looks like Nick’s missing on purpose.
Drake’s face is full of frustration as he is force to step back again as Cagalli completes the swing but before he can counter attack Shadow is charging him and doing an upward slash as Cagalli moves behind him, bullets keep getting shoot around Drake's feet limiting his movement, Drake moves back again avoiding the hit but the moment he does Shadow steps back as Cagalli steps forward and slashes in a left downward strike.
Bullets are still keeping Drake from moving to the side as he moves back to avoid the hit, Cagalli steps back before he can counter attack as Shadow does a right downward slash, the camera turns to Tim and Kenny. Kenny is excited and Tim is shocked
Tim: That's the three fold tactic.
Kenny turns to Tim confused
Kenny: The what?
Now Tim looks and Kenny even more shocked
Tim: Three fold tactic, wait are you telling me that this is the first time they're doing this?
Kenny: This is the first time I'm hearing of it.
Tim begins talking more to himself
Tim: Amazing, to think they’re doing this just by instinct.
Kenny annoyed now
Kenny: That's nice mind telling me what it is?
Tim regains himself
Tim: The three fold tactic is a battle strategy design for battling a much stronger opponent. It requires three people, two close combat fighters and one long distance fighter.
While they're talking the camera is moving back and forth between them and the fight with Drake, we’re seeing the same basic thing as above, we also hear Drake saying Damn it in his head because of the frustration of not being able to counter attack
Tim: It works by having the two close combat fighting engage the enemy, they fight in an entwining manner, one person attacks, the enemy blocks, the moment the enemy blocks the attack the first attacker takes a step back at the same time the second attacker takes a step forward and begins his attack, they then continue to repeat the process. This process makes a counter attack impossible.
Kenny thinking
Kenny: But couldn't the enemy just side step around the attackers?
Tim: Which is why a long distance attacker is needed, he shoots to the sides of the enemy, and the attack will only hit the enemy if he moves to the side. Which means the only place he can move to is behind meaning he can't break the entwining attack.
Kenny thinks about this
Kenny: It makes sense, hahaha, good thing Shadow figured something like that out, and after this fight is over I can't wait to tell him that he wasn't the first one to think of this.
Kenny goes back to watching the fight but Tim is still thinking
Tim (No you're wrong, this tactic requires perfect timing and coordination, it's one thing for someone to think of it, but to use it in battle for the first time with no practice. Regardless of what you think Drake these kids defiantly have some kind of talent)
The camera turns back to the fight, Drake’s face looks even more frustrated as Cagalli attacks then steps back as Shadow attacks then he steps back as Cagalli attacks, and to his sides bullets keep landing.
Drake (Damn it, how could they know such an advance skill!)
Drake can feel his battle instincts struggle to kick in, to do or die, attack with all you’ve got but Drake resists those impulses and instead curses in his mind
Drake (Damn it if I was in better shape I could easily get out of this without doing anything drastic like using weapons or breaking bones. I can still get out of this but I’d definitely take a hit, only a scratch but since I didn’t define what a hit was it still counts arrrg. How could I have been so stupid to let my guard down and get caught in this trap?)
Cagalli's attack comes very, very close to hitting him
Drake (Damn it!)
The camera turns to his feet when he goes to make another step back, on Cagalli's attack his foot lands in a ditch causing him to lose balance for 1/10 of a second, time slows down
Drake (Crap!)
Shadow sees the opening, he smiles as he charges forward and does a jump attack
Drake (I can't dodge!)
Drake breaks and completely falls back on his instincts which aren’t very training friendly, time goes back to normal as we here a cling, metal hitting metal sound. We see that Drake has drawn some kind of knife from his sleeve to block Shadow's sword; Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick are stun.
The next second Drake is behind Shadow and Cagalli, Shadow and Cagalli are in the air blood is coming out of several slash wounds made by Drake but was too fast for us to see, Nick is even more shock now
Nick (What!)
Drake looks at Nick, suddenly three of his knives appear in Nick's right arm, Nick howls in pain and takes a knee as he drops his gun and grabs his wounded arm, the camera turns to Kenny who just comprehended what happen, his face is horrified
Kenny: Shadow!
He screams as he jumps down from Nightwing's hand, now that the danger has passed Drake comes to his senses and realizes he just went all out on basically a bunch of kids, like a racecar driver hitting the gas pedal while racing a bicycle
Drake: Crap.
The way he says it is like the way one would say crap if they forgot to throw out the trash just as their mother is coming to check on them, which in Drake's case is Tim who also jumps down from Nightwing's hand
Tim: Drake you asshole, I told you not to use your weapons or seriously hurt them! Since we’re reviewing their application they’re under our care, which means WE’RE LIABLE!
Tim is more mad than anything, Kenny rushes to Shadow who's lying on the ground unconscious, his face is full of worry as he checks Shadow's wounds, Tim has walk straight up to Drake mad as hell
Drake: Relaxed I didn't kill them…I don’t think I kill them anyway they've only passed out because of the sudden shock of losing a lot of blood. I also didn't hit any vitals, and that includes that cowboy over there.
Drake nods his head over at Nick, who's walking over to the group, Nick has pulled out the knives from his arm, he looks at Kenny who confirms with what Drake said, Kenny gets up and goes over to check on Cagalli, Tim is still mad
Tim: What are we going to do with them now?
He gestures at Shadow and Cagalli
Drake: You can drive them back to the clinic at the office; they can sleep there for the tonight.
Drake begins to walk over to Kenny, ending his conversation with Tim, Kenny looks at Drake a little nervous but not backing away from his injure comrades, Drake's expression is hard to read
Drake: When he wakes up tell him to come to my office in the morning.
Drake begins to walk away leaving the shock Kenny to collect his thoughts
Kenny: W-wait does that mean you've decided to accept our Gundam application?
Drake doesn't turn around; he looks up at the sky as he says
Drake: I'm sure going to miss being called The Rejecter.
Kenny's shock turns to joy, Nick is also very happy, Tim is stun, we end the scene with Kenny jumping in the air and cheering. The next scene opens up with flashbacks of Mr. 4 killing the party people, when Mr. 4 charges at the camera we cut to Cagalli suddenly bolting right up, she's sweating heavily, we can see that she's once again in a hospital room, she looks wildly to the sides of her as she collects her thoughts
Shadow: Bad dream?
She turns to the bed next her, Shadow is lying down with his legs cross and his hands behind his back, and he's smiling. Cagalli gets defensive
Cagalli: None of your business.
Shadow sits up and turns to face her, he's still smiling
Shadow: Ok, Ok, whatever, but you sure took your sweet time sleeping princess.
He says this in a playful way, Cagalli calms down and remembers last night
Cagalli: Oh yea….we got beat bad by Drake.
Shadow smile widens as he's about to say something, Kenny and Nick walk in, Nick's arm is all better. They seem to be carrying something
Nick: Sorry we took so long mates, good morning Cagalli.
He tips his hat at Cagalli; Kenny pulls from the bag two burgers which he throws at Shadow and Cagalli.
Kenny: We got you both cheeseburgers, Nick and I already ate.
Shadow already unwrapping his burger
Shadow: Thanks.
Cagalli is also unwrapping her burger but not as fast as Shadow
Cagalli: Cheeseburgers for breakfast?
Kenny says angry
Kenny: Well if you don't like it don't eat it.
Cagalli's stomach growls in response, Cagalli blushes and shuts up and eats her burger. They all laugh
Nick: Well I guess that answers that mate.
Nick turns to Shadow and pulls out a beer bottle
Nick: And I got the beer you asked for mate.
He tosses the bottle to Shadow who's already done with his burger, he opens it as Kenny says excitedly
Kenny: Alright let's get this celebration started.
Cagalli is confused
Cagalli: Celebration?
Kenny surprise turns to Shadow as Shadow starts drinking his beer
Kenny: You didn't tell her?
Shadow: I was going too.
Cagalli not liking being out of the loop turns to the smiling Shadow, Nick has passed a beer bottle to Kenny as they watch the interaction between Shadow and Cagalli
Cagalli: Tell me what?
Shadow's smile widens
Shadow: Well, Drake, The Rejecter, has accepted are application and agree to become our Gundam Manager.
He says this excitedly, Cagalli is stun then a smile starts to spread across her face then they all burst out laughing and cheering. Shadow, Nick, and Kenny start drinking their beer, Nick goes to hand one to Cagalli, Cagalli politely declines
Cagalli: That's okay I don't drink, I'm underage.
Shadow just stares at her then burst out laughing again
Shadow: Cagalli, you defiantly got to loosen up some more.
Cagalli is slightly offended
Cagalli: And what is that supposed to mean!
Nurse: Well I for one think not drinking after being serious wounded in combat is a fine principle.
They all laugh at this until they realize who said it; they all shut up and slowly face the Nurse who had walk in unnoticed by them, the Nurse looks mad
Nurse: Gentlemen what part of "No drinking" do you not understand?
Kenny and Nick wisely decide to just look down; Shadow was never one to be wise
Shadow: Oh come on I'm all healed.
He gets up and flexes to show the nurse, but the Nurse uses this moment to take all of the beers
Shadow: Hey
Nurse: Just because you're healed doesn't mean you can drink, you need to wait at least a day before you consume alcohol. I will throw these out.
Shadow does the whole dramatic actor thing
Shadow: No, not the beer, anything but the beer, you can take Kenny instead.
Kenny: Hey!
Cagalli and Nick burst out laughing even harder when Shadow says this, the Nurse walks away, Kenny looks at his watch
Kenny: Come on, our manager is waiting to talk to us.
The camera zooms out so that we can see the whole building, then zooms in on a different part of the building, we can see the gang walking through the office, the office workers are going around doing work but every time they think the gang isn't looking they stare at them, they are very curious about the team that got Drake to pass them, Cagalli is unsettle by the starring
Cagalli: They keep starring at us.
Shadow smiles and says in his joking way
Shadow: They’ve probably never seen such a perfect team before.
Cagalli rolls her eyes and says sarcastically
Cagalli: Yea that's it Shadow.
They walk into a meeting room, the only one there is Drake, and he's doing some paper work. Shadow smiles and says
Shadow: Hello MANAGER.
Drake glares at him as he takes a seat and puts his feet on the table; Cagalli, Kenny and Nick also sit down.
Drake: Not a day into it and I already regret passing you.
Kenny shrugs his shoulder
Kenny: You'll get used to it.
Shadow cuts in excited
Shadow: Alright so when's our first Gundam Fight?
Drake stares at Shadow, then burst out laughing
Drake: ahahhahaah, you think you're ready to Gundam Fight, hahahahaha.
Shadow not liking being laugh at
Shadow: What’s so freaking funny!
Drake calms himself down
Drake: You don't have the requirements to be a Gundam team.
Cagalli confused
Cagalli: Wait I thought you said
Drake cut's her off, she frowns not liking it
Drake: A Gundam team is require to have, 5 Gundam pilots, 5 Gundams, a computer programmer, a head mechanic, and an official GFC manager. You have a programmer, 3 Gundam pilots, 1 Gundam and me.
Nick in an objective tone says
Nick: So we need 2 more Gundam pilots, 4 more Gundams, and a mechanic.
Cagalli: Can't we share the Gundam?
Shadow answers before Drake does, he says this in a sober tone
Shadow: No, a Gundam is a reflection of the Pilot; it shouldn't be share like some common toy.
Cagalli, Nick and Kenny looks at him like he's nuts, but Drake looks at him nodding his head in respect
Drake: Well said, anyway the first thing you need is a heaf mechanic luckily I known a place where you can find one.
Shadow still a little tick about being laugh at
Shadow: Where?
Drake's smile widens
Drake: Junk City.
Cagalli looks at Drake like he's nuts
Cagalli: You're kidding right?
Drake gets serious
Drake: I assure you Junk City is a real city in Myrtus, if you leave right now it should take you, oh about 3 days by car to get there, oh and while you're there you can start looking for a ship.
Shadow: Ship, why do we need a ship?
Drake glares at Shadow
Drake: You don't right now, but later on, when you start having battles and missions outside the city you'll need transportation, so start price checking for ships.
Shadow grumbles but doesn’t say anything hearable
Drake: Oh one more thing.
He goes over to the cabinet and opens it revealing Shadow's katana, Cagalli's guan dao and the type of ammo Nick uses. There's a look of surprise on everyone's face
Drake: The world is a dangerous place and it's only going to get worse if you continue walking down the path of a Gundam Fighter, so take these weapons and try not to die.
Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick grab their weapons
Cagalli: Wouldn't guns be better.
Shadow answers
Shadow: It's not just the weapon that determines the outcome of a fight it's also the weapon holder.
Cagalli just rolls her eyes, Shadow hooks the sword to his belt, Cagalli puts her weapon over her back and Nick puts the ammo in a pack on his belt; Drake checks his watch and starts to head to the door
Drake: Well what are you standing around for get going!
He begins pushing them out of door, when they're all outside he slams the door shut as he says
Drake: And don't come back until you have everything!
Shadow starts banging on the door
Shadow: You jackass, don't just slam the door in someone's face!
Nick’s already focus on the next goal
Nick: So how are we going to get to Junk City without a car?
Kenny: Well if we walk it would only take about two weeks.
Cagalli looks at Kenny like he's nuts and says flatly but firmly
Cagalli: No.
Shadow over Drake slamming the door on his face turns to Cagalli
Shadow: Don't worry princess we'll come up with something.
The scene cuts back inside the meeting room, Drake goes to sit down
Drake: Alright you can come down now.
Three of Drake's knives appear in the ceiling in a triangle pattern, that title breaks and Tim falls down
Tim: Owww
Drake: That's what you get for being so nosy.
Tim gets up still rubbing his behind
Tim: Sorry but I was just curious to see what you would do, NEW MANAGER.
Drake glares at Tim, Tim gets serious
Tim: But sending them to Junk City, don't you think that's risky. Junk City is a dangerous place for new comers, not to mention the raiders, and the constant fights, plus you know that they don't have a car. The woods between here and Junk City are full of dangerous wild animals. You should have at least gone with them.
Drake is quiet as he takes all this in then he answers
Drake: Tim, you were right when you say that nobody is born great, and it's our job to mold and sharpen them until they become great, so that's what I’m doing now.
Tim is still worry
Tim: But
Drake cuts him off
Drake: Don't worry I checked the area, right now there are no Gundam Fighters with a rank higher than E in Junk City. This time of season they don't get much action so as long as they're back within a month they'll be fine.
Tim is still uncertain
Tim: But what about the woods?
Drake sighs
Drake: They're not idiots, I'm sure they've already figured a way to get to Junk City.
The scene cuts to the back of a hay pickup truck, Shadow and Nick are on one side across from them are Cagalli and Kenny. Kenny is watching the scenery, Nick is lying down with his hat over his eyes taking a nap, Shadow is also lying down but he's playing with his sword still in its sheath, Cagalli looks ticked off. They are all cover in hay and every time they hit a bump they get thrown up in the air. Cagalli is not happy.
Cagalli: This is your great idea!
Shadow doesn't like being yelled at
Shadow: Well I'm sorry princess if this isn't to your normal comfort level.
Cagalli doesn't like his attitude
Cagalli: What are you trying to say!
She gets up and gets in Shadow's face Shadow doesn't back down
Shadow: It means that you're spoiled!
Cagalli: Oh yea!
They're both sending daggers at each other with their eyes, suddenly the truck jumps up again causing them to headbutt each other. They both say at the same time
Shadow: Owwww
Cagalli: Owwww
Kenny laughs at them while they're rubbing their heads
Kenny: hahahaa, serves you idiots right, hahahaha.
Cagalli and Shadow say once again at the same time
Cagalli: Can it!
Shadow: Shut up!
Kenny still smiling
Kenny: Well you better cool it because we got another seven hours to go before we get off.
Cagalli looks at him
Cagalli: I though Drake said that it would take 3 days by car to get to Junk City.
Kenny nods his head
Kenny: It would, but this guy isn't going to Junk City. If we get out and cut across the woods at just the right time we can save a day on our travels.
Cagalli looks at Kenny impressed
Cagalli: How do you know that?
Kenny: Internet.
Cagalli is not sure how to react to that, Shadow however does
Shadow: So what are we going to do for seven hours?
Kenny yawns and lays down
Kenny: How about a nap?
Shadow: We already slept.
Kenny a little annoyed
Kenny: No you and Cagalli slept, me and Nick were busy filling out the paper work for the Gundam application, that and we had to watch the doctors treating you. So I'm taking a nap, you two can keep each other company and try not to kill one another.
An awkward silence follows this then Shadow speaks
Shadow: So what do you want to talk about?
Cagalli says the first thing that comes to mind
Cagalli: How about your real name?
Shadow just shrugs his shoulders
Shadow: It's Shadow Zoomarey.
Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: I find it very hard to believe that any parent would name their kid Shadow.
Shadow is offend
Shadow: Oh, and what about your name, why did they name you Cagalli?
Cagalli answers without thinking, angry at Shadow again
Cagalli: My father Uzumi
She stops in mid-sentence, Shadow senses her discomfort
Shadow: What is it?
Cagalli laughs a self-pity laugh of sadness
Cagalli: It's just I realizes, that I don't know why I was name Cagalli.
Shadow looks at her curious
Shadow: Didn't you ask your father, um, Uzumi?
Cagalli: He was my adoptive father; I don't even know the name of my birth father. I only have a picture of my birth mother.
Shadow: Oh
There is a sad pause
Shadow: Why don't you ask your adoptive father about it?
Cagalli answers in a matter of fact voice
Cagalli: Can't he's dead.
Shadow: Oh
Another awkward pause, Cagalli is watching the scenery pass by, her face is blank
Shadow: So, how good looking was your birth mother on a scale of 1 through 10.
Cagalli is shocked at Shadow, then angry
Cagalli: What the hell kind of question is that!
She starts moving to attack Shadow who starts to back up into a pile of hay; the truck hits a bump causing the pile of hay to land on Cagalli and Shadow. They get up to show they're both covered in hay, they look at each other then burst out laughing
Cagalli: hahahahah, you should see yourself in a mirror, hahhahhah.
Shadow: hahhahahah, looks who's talking, hahhahaha.
They both fall down from laugher, the scene cuts to the truck driving off leaving Shadow, Nick, Kenny, and Cagalli on the edge of the woods, they're waving at him
Shadow: Thanks for the ride.
Nick: Be safe mate.
Kenny: Have a nice trip.
Cagalli: Thanks for the lift.
The truck disappears from sight, they stop waving, and Nick turns to Kenny
Nick: So which way mate?
Kenny looks around then points in a direction
Kenny: That way.
Shadow: Well let's get started.
Shadow starts moving, Cagalli sighs then follows, we cut to scenes showing them walking in the woods, jumping over fallen trees, Shadow pulling a branch back and whacking Cagalli in the face with it, Cagalli chasing him, the scene goes back to normal as they approach a rope bridge. The rope bridge looks old and ready to fall any second, and it looks to be about a 7 story drop to the bottom of a river, Cagalli takes one look at the bridge and shakes her head
Cagalli: There is no way I’m going across that.
Nick nods his head
Nick: I'll agree with the miss on this one, that thing looks like it's going down with one strong wind.
Kenny is also reluctant to cross the bridge
Kenny: I guess we could find another way across.
Shadow was never one for caution
Shadow: Oh come on, quit acting like such scary cats.
Shadow begins to walk across the bridge
Shadow: See, This Bridge is perfectly fineaaaaaaaaaaaa
The bridge managed to last 10 seconds before it breaks, Shadow grabs on to one of the ropes and swings across, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny rush forward
Cagalli: Shadow!
Kenny: Shadow!
Nick: Mate!
Shadow is holding on with one hand, he grabs the rope with the other hand
Shadow: I'm okay sort of.
They sigh with relief, and then Cagalli calls out
Cagalli: Still think the bridge is safe?
Shadow: SO, not the time for that.
Kenny: Start climbing to the top.
Shadow starts climbing the rope ladder, he gets to the top and climbs over the ledge.
Shadow: So what now?
Kenny thinks for a moment, then comes up with an idea
Kenny: You see that mountain over their?
He points at (not really a mountain more like a very large hill) in the distance, Shadow uses his hands to shad his eyes so that he can see the hill better against the setting sun
Shadow: Yea
Kenny: Good, we'll meet under it by midnight.
Shadow nods his head
Shadow: Alright, see you in a couple of hours; oh by the way don't get eaten by the wildlife.
He says the last part with his joking smile then disappears into the trees, Cagalli a little nervous turns to Kenny
Cagalli: He was joking about the watch out for wildlife right?
Kenny hums
Kenny: hmmmm, well actually he's probably right about it, hahaha, I had completely forgotten that a lot of wild animals inhabit this area.
Cagalli is shocked
Cagalli: What!
Kenny rolls his eyes
Kenny: Oh would you relax; most of the dangerous ones are on the other side of that river.
He points in the direction Shadow headed
Nick: So you mean the dangerous animals are all over on that side with Shadow?
Kenny nods his head
Kenny: Yup, good thing he broke that bridge or else we might be in trouble.
Cagalli not believing her ears
Cagalli: What, how can you say that isn't Shadow your friend!
Kenny: Don't worry Shadow can take care of himself.
Nick starts walking towards the hill
Nick: I agree mates, but just to be on the safe side lets head to that hill and meet up with him as soon as possible.
Kenny nods his head and follows, Cagalli takes one last look over her shoulder towards the direction Shadow went then heads after them. We cut to Shadow he's walking by himself in the woods heading towards the hill.
The sun has passed the tree line making the forest dark, we start hearing animal noises, and every time a noise is made we see Shadow's eyes turn in that direction, after the fifth time there's a noise right behind him in the bushes, Shadow jumps around drawing his sword and pointing it at the bushes. He shouts out
Shadow: Alright who's there! Come out now!
A small fury animal jump out of the blushes and runs up a tree, Shadow relaxes a little
Shadow (It's nothing, stop jumping so easily!)
He thinks to himself as he hits his head with his fist
Shadow (There's nothing to be afraid of, if there was I'm sure Kenny would have said something.)
Satisfied with this he turns around just as a cheetah looking animal jumps at him. The episode ends with a freeze frame of the cheetah in midair about to land on a very surprise Shadow.
The episode starts with a repeat of Tim's countdown.
Tim: Ready….. Set….. GO!
Shadow charges straight at Drake, he goes to make a downward strike with his sword but Drake moves to the side and kicks him square in the chest before he can even finish the swing knocking the breath out of him.
Nick at the moment of go moves to the left and pulls out his gun and starts firing at Drake the moment Shadow staggers and falls out of the way, Drake faces Nick and walks straight towards him, he effortlessly dodges the bullets
Nick (Am I missing, no he's…he's dodging the bullets!)
His face is full of shock as Drake comes straight up to him still looking bored, he kicks him straight in the chest knocking him clean off his feet, this all happens in minutes. The camera turns to Cagalli whose frozen by Drake’s overwhelming display of power, Drake looks at her
Drake: You do know what happens to deer that stand still in headlights?
Drake is on her in less than a minute, he unleashes a flurry of punches most of which land on her face or chest, Cagalli’s taking steps back and is trying to block but Drake is easily getting around her defenses
Drake: They get run over!
He hits her square in the face which combined with the rest of his attacks causes her to collapse to the ground from pain; suddenly Shadow comes from behind and starts a downward swing of his sword but Drake without turning around kicks him in the chest and sends him flying before he complete the swing.
Then still on one foot Drake jumps up as a bullet hits the ground where his foot was, the camera turns to Nick who's still lying on the ground from Drake’s pervious attack, Nick growls in frustration of the miss. Drake rushes towards the marksmen and kicks him square in the chest causing next to go into a barrel roll.
The camera turns to Kenny, and Tim. Kenny has a look of shock and horror on his face
Kenny: Holy crap!
Tim looks at Kenny with pity
Tim (You have no idea, this is Drake using kitty gloves, if Drake only had to beat them he would have already knocked them all unconscious already.)
The camera turns to Drake who's looking at Cagalli, who's still on her hands and knees coughing and spitting in pain from his last attack
Drake: You said you wanted to be a Gundam Fighter, so what are you doing on the ground!
He yells the last part as he kicks her hard in the chest while she's still on the ground, the force of the kick sends her rolling, after rolling 7 feet Shadow moves behind her and stops her rolling with his knee
Shadow: What are you doing lying down in the middle of a fight princess?
He says this in his playful voice with a smile but his eyes are focus on Drake who is starring at them still with the bored expression. Cagalli coughs and groans still in pain but she understands Shadow and says while getting up
Cagalli: Don’t call me a princess!
She's on her knee's now and looking at Drake, suddenly Nick on his feet again starts shooting at Drake, Drake turns to Nick and begins dodging the bullets, the camera stays on Shadow and Cagalli
Shadow: Okay I have to say that it wasn't a bad idea to have more people help me with this fight. Come on lets double team him or are you going to sit there all day and take that kind of beating?
Cagalli glares at him and tightens her grip on her weapon
Cagalli: Day time is over you idiot, and let's do this!
They both charge Drake as he grabs Nick and throws him carefully so that Drake doesn’t break any of Nick’s bones, they come up behind and jump intending on doing a jump attack. Without turning around Drake jumps on his hands and kicks both Shadow and Cagalli while their still in midair sending them both flying again. The camera once again turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim flinches seeing how badly Drake is kicking their ass.
Tim: I knew I should have told them they need at least five people to have a 1% chance of beating Drake, but that Shadow guy was so enthusiastic that I folded at 3.
Tim shakes his head
Tim: They don't have a prayer of a chance of landing a hit on Drake.
Kenny looks at Tim angry
Kenny: You're wrong!
The is moving back and forth between Kenny and the fight with Drake, Drake is easily kicking the crap out of Shadow, Nick, and Cagalli. Tim looks at Kenny with surprise
Tim: Are you blind, it's pretty clear that Drake is going to kick the crap out of them.
Kenny: You're right and I’d be worried if Shadow had to win the fight but you said it yourself he only has to land a hit on him and if there's one thing Shadow's good at it's taking a beating.
Tim: If you think Shadow can outlast Drake in stamina, you're out of your mind. Drake can fight for hours on end without a break.
Kenny sits down
Kenny: Then you better sit down because this fight is going to be awhile.
Tim just stares at him and then sits down to, and that's how that scene ends. The next scene begins with the camera looking at the moon, judging from its position we can say that some time has pass, we can hear the sounds of Shadow and co. fighting Drake, but by the time the camera looks down we only see Shadow get thrown to the ground.
We look around to see Cagalli and Nick are also on the ground lying on their back. We can see that all three of them are exhausted, there is sweat pouring down their faces, and their breathing extremely heavily. The camera turns to Drake who looks the same as when he started the fight, and he still looks bored. The camera turns to Kenny and Tim who is sitting down, Tim looks at his watch
Tim: It's been a little over an hour now since the fight began, and they haven't quit. I've got to say that's impressive. However they've reach their limit, there's no way they can continue fighting, they're just too tired.
Kenny doesn't say anything but just looks at the fight, we turn to Drake
Drake (Well they can take a beating if nothing us but it's time to end this. Tim’s stupid restrictions are forcing me to pull all my punches and kicks so I can only do baby hits, hmmm let’s try some mind games.)
Drake begins talking out loud
Drake: Why don't you just quit it's obvious that you can't beat me, so why don't you just save yourself the time and pain.
The camera looks at Nick and Cagalli to see they're waning
Drake: I'll tell you what, how about I buy you guy's a nice 5 star hotel room for a week and I'll even throw in all the food you can eat. I'll even allow you to put your application file back in, once a manager see's that you spared with me for a little over a hour before quitting, I'm sure that they will sign your
Shadow: Shut up!
Shadow still on the ground had cut Drake off, surprising everyone, Shadow rolls over and gets on his knees, he takes his sword and stabs it into the ground and uses it like a walking stick to help him get up. He's obviously in pain and struggling but he grits his teeth as he says
Shadow: First off if we agree to that then we'd have to wait for someone to approve our application and I hate waiting.
This statement causes Cagalli and Nick to smile
Shadow: Second now that I've seen your skills I know for a fact that you're the only manager that I'll accept and last is my pride won't let me leave this fight until I've at least landed one hit on you!
Cagalli and Nick smiles widen, they start to get to their feet the camera turns to Kenny and Tim, Tim is impressed
Tim: Not only did he not get sway by Drake's mind games he inspired his teammates to get back up.
Kenny also smiling replies proudly
Kenny: That's Shadow for you, he could always inspire stupidly in everyone around him.
The camera cuts to Drake, who is frowning
Drake (Great, plan B didn't work so back to plan A, continue to beat the crap out of them until they surrender.)
Drake does a mental sigh as he goes into autopilot, no need for real intelligence against opponents of this level, Cagalli and Nick are on their feet holding their weapons, all three of them are glaring at Drake with a grim determination
Shadow: Let's do this!
Shadow screams out, he and Cagalli charge Drake. Shadow gets their first; he begins to swing his sword in a downward slash
Drake (Another downward slash, this guy doesn't learn.)
Drake moves to the side and begins to do a roundhouse kick on Shadow while he's still in mid swing, it should be noted that this is in slow motion, suddenly Cagalli's Dao spear head appears over Shadow's shoulder, Drake is taken by surprise
Drake (What a second attack!)
Drake stops his attack, the camera turns to his foot on the ground, we see it starts to change positions so that he can move back instead of forward, we look up to hear a gun shoot Drake looks over Shadow’s other shoulder to see (still in slow motion) that Nick has shoot at Drake we can see the bullet traveling through the air and can roughly judge that it we pass over Shadow's other shoulder and hit Drake, Drake is stun now
Drake (A third attack, three synchronized attacks!)
Time goes back at regular pace, Drake moves back as Shadow completes his swing, the bullet lands to the side of Drake's foot. Shadow bends down when he completes his swing allowing Cagalli to turn her weapon and do a side slash, three more bullet land around Drake's feet but it looks like Nick’s missing on purpose.
Drake’s face is full of frustration as he is force to step back again as Cagalli completes the swing but before he can counter attack Shadow is charging him and doing an upward slash as Cagalli moves behind him, bullets keep getting shoot around Drake's feet limiting his movement, Drake moves back again avoiding the hit but the moment he does Shadow steps back as Cagalli steps forward and slashes in a left downward strike.
Bullets are still keeping Drake from moving to the side as he moves back to avoid the hit, Cagalli steps back before he can counter attack as Shadow does a right downward slash, the camera turns to Tim and Kenny. Kenny is excited and Tim is shocked
Tim: That's the three fold tactic.
Kenny turns to Tim confused
Kenny: The what?
Now Tim looks and Kenny even more shocked
Tim: Three fold tactic, wait are you telling me that this is the first time they're doing this?
Kenny: This is the first time I'm hearing of it.
Tim begins talking more to himself
Tim: Amazing, to think they’re doing this just by instinct.
Kenny annoyed now
Kenny: That's nice mind telling me what it is?
Tim regains himself
Tim: The three fold tactic is a battle strategy design for battling a much stronger opponent. It requires three people, two close combat fighters and one long distance fighter.
While they're talking the camera is moving back and forth between them and the fight with Drake, we’re seeing the same basic thing as above, we also hear Drake saying Damn it in his head because of the frustration of not being able to counter attack
Tim: It works by having the two close combat fighting engage the enemy, they fight in an entwining manner, one person attacks, the enemy blocks, the moment the enemy blocks the attack the first attacker takes a step back at the same time the second attacker takes a step forward and begins his attack, they then continue to repeat the process. This process makes a counter attack impossible.
Kenny thinking
Kenny: But couldn't the enemy just side step around the attackers?
Tim: Which is why a long distance attacker is needed, he shoots to the sides of the enemy, and the attack will only hit the enemy if he moves to the side. Which means the only place he can move to is behind meaning he can't break the entwining attack.
Kenny thinks about this
Kenny: It makes sense, hahaha, good thing Shadow figured something like that out, and after this fight is over I can't wait to tell him that he wasn't the first one to think of this.
Kenny goes back to watching the fight but Tim is still thinking
Tim (No you're wrong, this tactic requires perfect timing and coordination, it's one thing for someone to think of it, but to use it in battle for the first time with no practice. Regardless of what you think Drake these kids defiantly have some kind of talent)
The camera turns back to the fight, Drake’s face looks even more frustrated as Cagalli attacks then steps back as Shadow attacks then he steps back as Cagalli attacks, and to his sides bullets keep landing.
Drake (Damn it, how could they know such an advance skill!)
Drake can feel his battle instincts struggle to kick in, to do or die, attack with all you’ve got but Drake resists those impulses and instead curses in his mind
Drake (Damn it if I was in better shape I could easily get out of this without doing anything drastic like using weapons or breaking bones. I can still get out of this but I’d definitely take a hit, only a scratch but since I didn’t define what a hit was it still counts arrrg. How could I have been so stupid to let my guard down and get caught in this trap?)
Cagalli's attack comes very, very close to hitting him
Drake (Damn it!)
The camera turns to his feet when he goes to make another step back, on Cagalli's attack his foot lands in a ditch causing him to lose balance for 1/10 of a second, time slows down
Drake (Crap!)
Shadow sees the opening, he smiles as he charges forward and does a jump attack
Drake (I can't dodge!)
Drake breaks and completely falls back on his instincts which aren’t very training friendly, time goes back to normal as we here a cling, metal hitting metal sound. We see that Drake has drawn some kind of knife from his sleeve to block Shadow's sword; Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick are stun.
The next second Drake is behind Shadow and Cagalli, Shadow and Cagalli are in the air blood is coming out of several slash wounds made by Drake but was too fast for us to see, Nick is even more shock now
Nick (What!)
Drake looks at Nick, suddenly three of his knives appear in Nick's right arm, Nick howls in pain and takes a knee as he drops his gun and grabs his wounded arm, the camera turns to Kenny who just comprehended what happen, his face is horrified
Kenny: Shadow!
He screams as he jumps down from Nightwing's hand, now that the danger has passed Drake comes to his senses and realizes he just went all out on basically a bunch of kids, like a racecar driver hitting the gas pedal while racing a bicycle
Drake: Crap.
The way he says it is like the way one would say crap if they forgot to throw out the trash just as their mother is coming to check on them, which in Drake's case is Tim who also jumps down from Nightwing's hand
Tim: Drake you asshole, I told you not to use your weapons or seriously hurt them! Since we’re reviewing their application they’re under our care, which means WE’RE LIABLE!
Tim is more mad than anything, Kenny rushes to Shadow who's lying on the ground unconscious, his face is full of worry as he checks Shadow's wounds, Tim has walk straight up to Drake mad as hell
Drake: Relaxed I didn't kill them…I don’t think I kill them anyway they've only passed out because of the sudden shock of losing a lot of blood. I also didn't hit any vitals, and that includes that cowboy over there.
Drake nods his head over at Nick, who's walking over to the group, Nick has pulled out the knives from his arm, he looks at Kenny who confirms with what Drake said, Kenny gets up and goes over to check on Cagalli, Tim is still mad
Tim: What are we going to do with them now?
He gestures at Shadow and Cagalli
Drake: You can drive them back to the clinic at the office; they can sleep there for the tonight.
Drake begins to walk over to Kenny, ending his conversation with Tim, Kenny looks at Drake a little nervous but not backing away from his injure comrades, Drake's expression is hard to read
Drake: When he wakes up tell him to come to my office in the morning.
Drake begins to walk away leaving the shock Kenny to collect his thoughts
Kenny: W-wait does that mean you've decided to accept our Gundam application?
Drake doesn't turn around; he looks up at the sky as he says
Drake: I'm sure going to miss being called The Rejecter.
Kenny's shock turns to joy, Nick is also very happy, Tim is stun, we end the scene with Kenny jumping in the air and cheering. The next scene opens up with flashbacks of Mr. 4 killing the party people, when Mr. 4 charges at the camera we cut to Cagalli suddenly bolting right up, she's sweating heavily, we can see that she's once again in a hospital room, she looks wildly to the sides of her as she collects her thoughts
Shadow: Bad dream?
She turns to the bed next her, Shadow is lying down with his legs cross and his hands behind his back, and he's smiling. Cagalli gets defensive
Cagalli: None of your business.
Shadow sits up and turns to face her, he's still smiling
Shadow: Ok, Ok, whatever, but you sure took your sweet time sleeping princess.
He says this in a playful way, Cagalli calms down and remembers last night
Cagalli: Oh yea….we got beat bad by Drake.
Shadow smile widens as he's about to say something, Kenny and Nick walk in, Nick's arm is all better. They seem to be carrying something
Nick: Sorry we took so long mates, good morning Cagalli.
He tips his hat at Cagalli; Kenny pulls from the bag two burgers which he throws at Shadow and Cagalli.
Kenny: We got you both cheeseburgers, Nick and I already ate.
Shadow already unwrapping his burger
Shadow: Thanks.
Cagalli is also unwrapping her burger but not as fast as Shadow
Cagalli: Cheeseburgers for breakfast?
Kenny says angry
Kenny: Well if you don't like it don't eat it.
Cagalli's stomach growls in response, Cagalli blushes and shuts up and eats her burger. They all laugh
Nick: Well I guess that answers that mate.
Nick turns to Shadow and pulls out a beer bottle
Nick: And I got the beer you asked for mate.
He tosses the bottle to Shadow who's already done with his burger, he opens it as Kenny says excitedly
Kenny: Alright let's get this celebration started.
Cagalli is confused
Cagalli: Celebration?
Kenny surprise turns to Shadow as Shadow starts drinking his beer
Kenny: You didn't tell her?
Shadow: I was going too.
Cagalli not liking being out of the loop turns to the smiling Shadow, Nick has passed a beer bottle to Kenny as they watch the interaction between Shadow and Cagalli
Cagalli: Tell me what?
Shadow's smile widens
Shadow: Well, Drake, The Rejecter, has accepted are application and agree to become our Gundam Manager.
He says this excitedly, Cagalli is stun then a smile starts to spread across her face then they all burst out laughing and cheering. Shadow, Nick, and Kenny start drinking their beer, Nick goes to hand one to Cagalli, Cagalli politely declines
Cagalli: That's okay I don't drink, I'm underage.
Shadow just stares at her then burst out laughing again
Shadow: Cagalli, you defiantly got to loosen up some more.
Cagalli is slightly offended
Cagalli: And what is that supposed to mean!
Nurse: Well I for one think not drinking after being serious wounded in combat is a fine principle.
They all laugh at this until they realize who said it; they all shut up and slowly face the Nurse who had walk in unnoticed by them, the Nurse looks mad
Nurse: Gentlemen what part of "No drinking" do you not understand?
Kenny and Nick wisely decide to just look down; Shadow was never one to be wise
Shadow: Oh come on I'm all healed.
He gets up and flexes to show the nurse, but the Nurse uses this moment to take all of the beers
Shadow: Hey
Nurse: Just because you're healed doesn't mean you can drink, you need to wait at least a day before you consume alcohol. I will throw these out.
Shadow does the whole dramatic actor thing
Shadow: No, not the beer, anything but the beer, you can take Kenny instead.
Kenny: Hey!
Cagalli and Nick burst out laughing even harder when Shadow says this, the Nurse walks away, Kenny looks at his watch
Kenny: Come on, our manager is waiting to talk to us.
The camera zooms out so that we can see the whole building, then zooms in on a different part of the building, we can see the gang walking through the office, the office workers are going around doing work but every time they think the gang isn't looking they stare at them, they are very curious about the team that got Drake to pass them, Cagalli is unsettle by the starring
Cagalli: They keep starring at us.
Shadow smiles and says in his joking way
Shadow: They’ve probably never seen such a perfect team before.
Cagalli rolls her eyes and says sarcastically
Cagalli: Yea that's it Shadow.
They walk into a meeting room, the only one there is Drake, and he's doing some paper work. Shadow smiles and says
Shadow: Hello MANAGER.
Drake glares at him as he takes a seat and puts his feet on the table; Cagalli, Kenny and Nick also sit down.
Drake: Not a day into it and I already regret passing you.
Kenny shrugs his shoulder
Kenny: You'll get used to it.
Shadow cuts in excited
Shadow: Alright so when's our first Gundam Fight?
Drake stares at Shadow, then burst out laughing
Drake: ahahhahaah, you think you're ready to Gundam Fight, hahahahaha.
Shadow not liking being laugh at
Shadow: What’s so freaking funny!
Drake calms himself down
Drake: You don't have the requirements to be a Gundam team.
Cagalli confused
Cagalli: Wait I thought you said
Drake cut's her off, she frowns not liking it
Drake: A Gundam team is require to have, 5 Gundam pilots, 5 Gundams, a computer programmer, a head mechanic, and an official GFC manager. You have a programmer, 3 Gundam pilots, 1 Gundam and me.
Nick in an objective tone says
Nick: So we need 2 more Gundam pilots, 4 more Gundams, and a mechanic.
Cagalli: Can't we share the Gundam?
Shadow answers before Drake does, he says this in a sober tone
Shadow: No, a Gundam is a reflection of the Pilot; it shouldn't be share like some common toy.
Cagalli, Nick and Kenny looks at him like he's nuts, but Drake looks at him nodding his head in respect
Drake: Well said, anyway the first thing you need is a heaf mechanic luckily I known a place where you can find one.
Shadow still a little tick about being laugh at
Shadow: Where?
Drake's smile widens
Drake: Junk City.
Cagalli looks at Drake like he's nuts
Cagalli: You're kidding right?
Drake gets serious
Drake: I assure you Junk City is a real city in Myrtus, if you leave right now it should take you, oh about 3 days by car to get there, oh and while you're there you can start looking for a ship.
Shadow: Ship, why do we need a ship?
Drake glares at Shadow
Drake: You don't right now, but later on, when you start having battles and missions outside the city you'll need transportation, so start price checking for ships.
Shadow grumbles but doesn’t say anything hearable
Drake: Oh one more thing.
He goes over to the cabinet and opens it revealing Shadow's katana, Cagalli's guan dao and the type of ammo Nick uses. There's a look of surprise on everyone's face
Drake: The world is a dangerous place and it's only going to get worse if you continue walking down the path of a Gundam Fighter, so take these weapons and try not to die.
Shadow, Cagalli, and Nick grab their weapons
Cagalli: Wouldn't guns be better.
Shadow answers
Shadow: It's not just the weapon that determines the outcome of a fight it's also the weapon holder.
Cagalli just rolls her eyes, Shadow hooks the sword to his belt, Cagalli puts her weapon over her back and Nick puts the ammo in a pack on his belt; Drake checks his watch and starts to head to the door
Drake: Well what are you standing around for get going!
He begins pushing them out of door, when they're all outside he slams the door shut as he says
Drake: And don't come back until you have everything!
Shadow starts banging on the door
Shadow: You jackass, don't just slam the door in someone's face!
Nick’s already focus on the next goal
Nick: So how are we going to get to Junk City without a car?
Kenny: Well if we walk it would only take about two weeks.
Cagalli looks at Kenny like he's nuts and says flatly but firmly
Cagalli: No.
Shadow over Drake slamming the door on his face turns to Cagalli
Shadow: Don't worry princess we'll come up with something.
The scene cuts back inside the meeting room, Drake goes to sit down
Drake: Alright you can come down now.
Three of Drake's knives appear in the ceiling in a triangle pattern, that title breaks and Tim falls down
Tim: Owww
Drake: That's what you get for being so nosy.
Tim gets up still rubbing his behind
Tim: Sorry but I was just curious to see what you would do, NEW MANAGER.
Drake glares at Tim, Tim gets serious
Tim: But sending them to Junk City, don't you think that's risky. Junk City is a dangerous place for new comers, not to mention the raiders, and the constant fights, plus you know that they don't have a car. The woods between here and Junk City are full of dangerous wild animals. You should have at least gone with them.
Drake is quiet as he takes all this in then he answers
Drake: Tim, you were right when you say that nobody is born great, and it's our job to mold and sharpen them until they become great, so that's what I’m doing now.
Tim is still worry
Tim: But
Drake cuts him off
Drake: Don't worry I checked the area, right now there are no Gundam Fighters with a rank higher than E in Junk City. This time of season they don't get much action so as long as they're back within a month they'll be fine.
Tim is still uncertain
Tim: But what about the woods?
Drake sighs
Drake: They're not idiots, I'm sure they've already figured a way to get to Junk City.
The scene cuts to the back of a hay pickup truck, Shadow and Nick are on one side across from them are Cagalli and Kenny. Kenny is watching the scenery, Nick is lying down with his hat over his eyes taking a nap, Shadow is also lying down but he's playing with his sword still in its sheath, Cagalli looks ticked off. They are all cover in hay and every time they hit a bump they get thrown up in the air. Cagalli is not happy.
Cagalli: This is your great idea!
Shadow doesn't like being yelled at
Shadow: Well I'm sorry princess if this isn't to your normal comfort level.
Cagalli doesn't like his attitude
Cagalli: What are you trying to say!
She gets up and gets in Shadow's face Shadow doesn't back down
Shadow: It means that you're spoiled!
Cagalli: Oh yea!
They're both sending daggers at each other with their eyes, suddenly the truck jumps up again causing them to headbutt each other. They both say at the same time
Shadow: Owwww
Cagalli: Owwww
Kenny laughs at them while they're rubbing their heads
Kenny: hahahaa, serves you idiots right, hahahaha.
Cagalli and Shadow say once again at the same time
Cagalli: Can it!
Shadow: Shut up!
Kenny still smiling
Kenny: Well you better cool it because we got another seven hours to go before we get off.
Cagalli looks at him
Cagalli: I though Drake said that it would take 3 days by car to get to Junk City.
Kenny nods his head
Kenny: It would, but this guy isn't going to Junk City. If we get out and cut across the woods at just the right time we can save a day on our travels.
Cagalli looks at Kenny impressed
Cagalli: How do you know that?
Kenny: Internet.
Cagalli is not sure how to react to that, Shadow however does
Shadow: So what are we going to do for seven hours?
Kenny yawns and lays down
Kenny: How about a nap?
Shadow: We already slept.
Kenny a little annoyed
Kenny: No you and Cagalli slept, me and Nick were busy filling out the paper work for the Gundam application, that and we had to watch the doctors treating you. So I'm taking a nap, you two can keep each other company and try not to kill one another.
An awkward silence follows this then Shadow speaks
Shadow: So what do you want to talk about?
Cagalli says the first thing that comes to mind
Cagalli: How about your real name?
Shadow just shrugs his shoulders
Shadow: It's Shadow Zoomarey.
Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: I find it very hard to believe that any parent would name their kid Shadow.
Shadow is offend
Shadow: Oh, and what about your name, why did they name you Cagalli?
Cagalli answers without thinking, angry at Shadow again
Cagalli: My father Uzumi
She stops in mid-sentence, Shadow senses her discomfort
Shadow: What is it?
Cagalli laughs a self-pity laugh of sadness
Cagalli: It's just I realizes, that I don't know why I was name Cagalli.
Shadow looks at her curious
Shadow: Didn't you ask your father, um, Uzumi?
Cagalli: He was my adoptive father; I don't even know the name of my birth father. I only have a picture of my birth mother.
Shadow: Oh
There is a sad pause
Shadow: Why don't you ask your adoptive father about it?
Cagalli answers in a matter of fact voice
Cagalli: Can't he's dead.
Shadow: Oh
Another awkward pause, Cagalli is watching the scenery pass by, her face is blank
Shadow: So, how good looking was your birth mother on a scale of 1 through 10.
Cagalli is shocked at Shadow, then angry
Cagalli: What the hell kind of question is that!
She starts moving to attack Shadow who starts to back up into a pile of hay; the truck hits a bump causing the pile of hay to land on Cagalli and Shadow. They get up to show they're both covered in hay, they look at each other then burst out laughing
Cagalli: hahahahah, you should see yourself in a mirror, hahhahhah.
Shadow: hahhahahah, looks who's talking, hahhahaha.
They both fall down from laugher, the scene cuts to the truck driving off leaving Shadow, Nick, Kenny, and Cagalli on the edge of the woods, they're waving at him
Shadow: Thanks for the ride.
Nick: Be safe mate.
Kenny: Have a nice trip.
Cagalli: Thanks for the lift.
The truck disappears from sight, they stop waving, and Nick turns to Kenny
Nick: So which way mate?
Kenny looks around then points in a direction
Kenny: That way.
Shadow: Well let's get started.
Shadow starts moving, Cagalli sighs then follows, we cut to scenes showing them walking in the woods, jumping over fallen trees, Shadow pulling a branch back and whacking Cagalli in the face with it, Cagalli chasing him, the scene goes back to normal as they approach a rope bridge. The rope bridge looks old and ready to fall any second, and it looks to be about a 7 story drop to the bottom of a river, Cagalli takes one look at the bridge and shakes her head
Cagalli: There is no way I’m going across that.
Nick nods his head
Nick: I'll agree with the miss on this one, that thing looks like it's going down with one strong wind.
Kenny is also reluctant to cross the bridge
Kenny: I guess we could find another way across.
Shadow was never one for caution
Shadow: Oh come on, quit acting like such scary cats.
Shadow begins to walk across the bridge
Shadow: See, This Bridge is perfectly fineaaaaaaaaaaaa
The bridge managed to last 10 seconds before it breaks, Shadow grabs on to one of the ropes and swings across, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny rush forward
Cagalli: Shadow!
Kenny: Shadow!
Nick: Mate!
Shadow is holding on with one hand, he grabs the rope with the other hand
Shadow: I'm okay sort of.
They sigh with relief, and then Cagalli calls out
Cagalli: Still think the bridge is safe?
Shadow: SO, not the time for that.
Kenny: Start climbing to the top.
Shadow starts climbing the rope ladder, he gets to the top and climbs over the ledge.
Shadow: So what now?
Kenny thinks for a moment, then comes up with an idea
Kenny: You see that mountain over their?
He points at (not really a mountain more like a very large hill) in the distance, Shadow uses his hands to shad his eyes so that he can see the hill better against the setting sun
Shadow: Yea
Kenny: Good, we'll meet under it by midnight.
Shadow nods his head
Shadow: Alright, see you in a couple of hours; oh by the way don't get eaten by the wildlife.
He says the last part with his joking smile then disappears into the trees, Cagalli a little nervous turns to Kenny
Cagalli: He was joking about the watch out for wildlife right?
Kenny hums
Kenny: hmmmm, well actually he's probably right about it, hahaha, I had completely forgotten that a lot of wild animals inhabit this area.
Cagalli is shocked
Cagalli: What!
Kenny rolls his eyes
Kenny: Oh would you relax; most of the dangerous ones are on the other side of that river.
He points in the direction Shadow headed
Nick: So you mean the dangerous animals are all over on that side with Shadow?
Kenny nods his head
Kenny: Yup, good thing he broke that bridge or else we might be in trouble.
Cagalli not believing her ears
Cagalli: What, how can you say that isn't Shadow your friend!
Kenny: Don't worry Shadow can take care of himself.
Nick starts walking towards the hill
Nick: I agree mates, but just to be on the safe side lets head to that hill and meet up with him as soon as possible.
Kenny nods his head and follows, Cagalli takes one last look over her shoulder towards the direction Shadow went then heads after them. We cut to Shadow he's walking by himself in the woods heading towards the hill.
The sun has passed the tree line making the forest dark, we start hearing animal noises, and every time a noise is made we see Shadow's eyes turn in that direction, after the fifth time there's a noise right behind him in the bushes, Shadow jumps around drawing his sword and pointing it at the bushes. He shouts out
Shadow: Alright who's there! Come out now!
A small fury animal jump out of the blushes and runs up a tree, Shadow relaxes a little
Shadow (It's nothing, stop jumping so easily!)
He thinks to himself as he hits his head with his fist
Shadow (There's nothing to be afraid of, if there was I'm sure Kenny would have said something.)
Satisfied with this he turns around just as a cheetah looking animal jumps at him. The episode ends with a freeze frame of the cheetah in midair about to land on a very surprise Shadow.