Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Seed Shadow ❯ Episode 8 ( Chapter 9 )
[ 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: 6 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 161 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Gundam SEED Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 12.30.2011 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 161 | Status: Work In Progress
Episode 8
The episode opens up with a view of Junk City. From what can be seen there are mountains of junk made out of old broken down Gundams, ships, and basically anything made out of metal. The piles differ in height but they're all over 2 stories high and they also differ in color with shades of bronze everywhere depending on how rusted some of the metals are. We can see one mountain junk pile that's over 30 stories high in the center of the city.
We can also see some houses made out of scrap metal, as well as some mines going into the junk piles. There’s a certain beauty about Junk City that’s hard to see or describe. The camera zooms in to show Shadow, Cagalli, Kenny, Nick, and Roxas. They're looking around taking in the sights, Nick whistles
Nick: So this is Junk City.
Shadow is looking around excited
Shadow: This place is awesome!
Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's nuts
Cagalli: Your kidding right, this place is like a landfill its cover it mountains of Junk.
Shadow turns around and faces Cagalli, and looks her straight in the eye
Shadow: Is that really all you can see?
Cagalli is taken back; Kenny smiles as he says
Kenny: Junk City holds the largest amount of broken down machinery in the galaxy. Most countries don't recognize it as a real city.
Cagalli still starring at Shadow but turns to Kenny curious
Cagalli: But wait, if most countries don't consider them a real city then how do they get funding?
Kenny: The City's main source of income comes from its 47 mechanic warehouses.
Nick who has been quietly listening asks a question
Nick: Mechanic warehouses?
Kenny: Yea, the mechanic's in the area scavenge different parts from different machinery then they either build brand new machinery from the old parts or they use the parts to repair broken down machinery.
Roxas who is walking on all fours asks
Roxas: How do you know all this stuff?
Kenny answers in a matter of fact voice
Kenny: The Internet.
Shadow interrupts
Shadow: That reminds me Drake sent Nightwing to one of the Mechanic Warehouses to be repair.
Roxas looks confused
Roxas: Nightwing?
Cagalli sighs
Cagalli: The stupid name Shadow gave to his Gundam.
Offending Shadow
Shadow: Hey, Nightwing is an awesome name!
Cagalli turns around to argue when Roxas butts in
Roxas: I agree.
Shadow and Roxas high-five
Shadow: HA!
Cagalli is shocked
Cagalli: What!
Cagalli stops moving, Roxas smiles
Roxas: You know your even cuter when you’re angry.
Cagalli throws up her hands in frustration
Cagalli: arhg, I give up!
Cagalli starts moving again
Kenny: Anyway we need to head down to the Warehouse where Shadow's Gundam is to claim the Gundam and get them to start repairs.
Nick: So mate do you know which Warehouse the Gundam is at?
Kenny stops, bring everyone to a stop he looks confused at Nick
Kenny: What?
Nick shrugs
Nick: Well you said it yourself mate, they're 47 different mechanic Warehouses all over the city right, so how are we going to figure out which one Drake sent it to?
Kenny does the Oh crap I didn't think of that face. He tries to cover it up but Nick see right through him.
Nick: Or was your plan to go to each and every Warehouse till we get lucky mate?
Before Kenny can answer Cagalli butts in angry
Cagalli: Well that's just great; we're going to have to spend all day walking from Warehouse to Warehouse, not to mention where are we going to spend the night!
Shadow smiling
Shadow: Having trouble sleeping on the grass princess?
Cagalli annoyed at the way he said princess snaps back
Cagalli: Yes! I was hoping we could stay at a place with an actual bed!
Roxas starring at some random piece of shiny metal says somewhat distracted
Roxas: Why don't you go to one Warehouse then check their computer network to see which Warehouse has the Gundam?
They all turn to stare at Roxas impressed, but that is quickly lost when she doesn't even look at them but instead turns her head sideways like a cat and begins to bat at the piece of shiny metal with her hand also like a cat.
Kenny: There now we have a game plan, the closest Warehouse is east of here so let's get going.
Nodding in agreement they all start walking east except Shadow who stands there with a smug smile. It takes a few moments but they realize that Shadow isn't following they stop and turn to stare at him. Cagalli annoyed and impatient to start looking for a hotel room asks
Cagalli: Hey, Shadow in case you're going deaf we're heading over to the Warehouse east of here so come on!
Shadow is unmoving his smug smiling never leaving his face
Shadow: Oh I heard you alright.
Kenny is confused
Kenny: Ok, Soooo?
Shadow: Nightwing isn't there.
Kenny’s not sure where he's going with this
Kenny: How do you know for sure?
Cagalli annoyed by the holdup says
Cagalli: Well unless you have a better place to check I'm heading there!
Shadow's smile widens, he was waiting someone to say that
Shadow: As a matter of fact I do.
Cagalli: Ok where?
Shadow closes his eyes appearing to concentrate then says
Shadow: I would say 10 kilometers south west of here.
Cagalli is surprise; she was not expecting him to give such an exacted answer. Nick is becoming suspicious of Shadow
Nick: And how do you know for sure mate?
The way Nick says this implies suspicion and Shadow mocks offended
Shadow: I'll have you know that a Gundam and a Gundam Pilot share a special connection, and we can tell each other's location at all times.
Roxas starts to walk in the direction Shadow pointed.
Cagalli: Where are you going Roxas?
Roxas shrugs her shoulder
Roxas: It's common in the forest for animals to develop a sense of where each other are.
Shadow: ha! That's Roxas for I believe in Shadow.
Nick sighs and also begins to move in the direction Shadow pointed. Kenny who's been in deep thought since Shadow said connection with his Gundam has a break through.
Kenny: A-ha!
Everyone stops and looks at him
Kenny: Shadow let me see your arm.
Shadow looks away acting guilty
Shadow: W-what for?
Cagalli smiles enjoying Shadow being exposed
Cagalli: Why don't you show him your arm, or are you hiding something?
Shadow glares at Cagalli, and then starts to lift his right arm. Kenny stops him
Kenny: Your other arm.
Shadow sighs defeated and then reluctantly lifts his left arm, revealing his Neon gauntlet. Nick and Roxas look at it closely having not taken notice of it before. Kenny triumphantly proclaims
Kenny: I knew it!
Cagalli confused asks
Cagalli: Wait, that's called the Neon gauntlet right?
Kenny explains
Kenny: Right, the Neon gauntlet was originally design to help pilots get to their Gundam. So I figured that Shadow must have play around with it and figured out how to bring up the GPS location of his Gundam.
Nick scratches his head
Nick: I figured that too, but what I want to know is why yours is black mate?
Shadow getting over being busted
Shadow: I painted it black.
Nick can't tell if Shadow is kidding. Cagalli having found out how Shadow knows the location of his Gundam grows impatient again.
Cagalli: Fine, whatever can we get going now?
Shadow sighs
Shadow: Fine
He lifts up his arm and begins to type on the Neon gauntlet with his other hand. He nods to show he confirmed the direction and the scene ends with them heading in the direction he pointed out. The next scene opens up in a Warehouse; the Warehouse is huge, about the size of a small football field. Gundams can be seen all over the place, they all seem to be going under some kind of repair.
There are people walking around and constantly moving, they're most likely mechanics, we can also see a series of catwalks where people are working on the upper parts of the Gundams or just seem to be staring out at the crowd, most likely the pilots of the Gundams waiting for their Gundam to be fixed. We can also see a couple of trucks moving around, they’re carrying parts for the Gundams.
We can see one truck with a Gundam arm, we look around to see another Gundam in the middle of getting its broken arm cut off. We can hear the sounds of metal hitting metal, drills, hammers, the blow torch cutting pieces of metal off, not to mention thousands of voices like a school cafeteria. The camera finally settles down on Shadow and co. who are close by the entrance. They're all staring around the place watching with fascination at the things going on. Nick whistles
Nick: This place is busier than a bee hive.
Roxas says in a daze
Roxas: So much shiny stuff.
Roxas starts to walk to some screws on the ground but Kenny grabs her T-shirt collar and pulls her back.
Kenny: Oh no you don't, last thing we need is for you to get us kick out because you started playing with stuff that doesn't belong to you.
Cagalli is wide eye and standing by Shadow
Cagalli: I've never seen anything like this; I mean I've been to a Mobile
Shadow cuts her off
Shadow: Gundam.
Cagalli corrects herself
Cagalli: A Gundam hanger before but it was nothing like this place, this place is just
She stops trying to think of the right word, Shadow smiles at her, and gives her one
Shadow: Incredible.
Cagalli looks at him for a moment then smiles
Cagalli: Yes…incredible.
She turns back to stare at the surroundings. Shadow is the first one to get over his amazement; he claps his hands to get everyone else's attention.
Shadow: Alright, let's find out who's in charge, find Nightwing, get Nightwing repair, and then find a mechanic for the team.
The way he list the things they need to do helps the others snap out of their trance
Kenny: Right, let's ask one of the mechanics who's in charge.
They start to walk to the closest Gundam being repair. The Gundam that's being repair seems to be finish; there are a couple of people shining it with rags giving the Gundam a shiny finish. Roxas eyes open wide
Roxas: Really shiny.
Cagalli: Let's talk to that guy.
Cagalli points to one of the workers shining the Gundam. Cagalli starts to walk over there but Nick grabs her shoulder stopping her. Cagalli turns around confused, but Nick nods to the direction of someone walking towards the Gundam. Shadow nods his head in response to show Nick he understands. The camera turns to the person walking towards the Gundam, he's wearing a brown pilot suit with his helmet under his arm.
He's got long dirty brown hair, it's most likely been awhile since he took a bath, and he's got one of those grins that say he's looking for trouble. He walks to one of the mechanics shining his Gundam and shouts
Pilot: Hey, You, is my Gundam ready yet?
He says asks this rudely, the mechanic sighs but he's used to rude customers
Mechanic: We’re just about finish with the shine you ask for sir, after that we'll be done.
The Pilot makes a sour face like this is a big inconvenience for him then he says in a rudely.
Pilot: Fine.
The mechanic turns to go back to his work but the pilot interrupts him again
Pilot: Hey, who do I talk to about the bill with?
The mechanic sighs again then gets off from the place he was shining and heads towards the Pilot as he says.
Mechanic: I guess you can talk to me about it.
The pilot holds up the bill to the mechanic
Pilot: These prices are outrages, do you guys think you can rip me off!
The pilot shouts at the mechanic. The mechanic is unfazed by the accusation he replies calmly.
Mechanic: Sir, I can assure you that those prices are the stander rate in Junk City; if you go to any other Warehouse they'll charge you the same thing.
The pilot snickers, and in a spoiled way says
Pilot: Well I'm not paying.
He then rips the bill up and throws the rip pieces at the mechanic. The mechanic looks at him coldly.
Mechanic: I would advise against that Sir.
Although he doesn't raise his voice there's an edge to it, but the pilot either doesn't notice or doesn't care. The pilot smirks and begins to walk over to his Gundam the mechanic turns but doesn't go after him
Pilot: Well my Gundam's 75 mm CIW's say otherwise.
With that he lifts up his left arm which has a Neon Gauntlet on it, unlike Shadow's Neon Gauntlet his is still the same metal color. He begins typing on the touch screen, the Gundam's eyes flash and then the head begins to move. The people who are working on the Gundam jump off in surprise. The Gundam’s head looks down at the mechanic who looks bored, the 75mm CIW's on the sides of the Gundam's head begins to fire at him.
Several people jump out of the way, while others turn to look at what's going on. The camera turns to see Cagalli and Roxas jump back in surprise but the mechanic, Nick, and Shadow don't move. The 75mm CIW's stop shooting, no one has been shot, people are turning in surprise towards the Gundam, and the stunned Pilot.
Pilot: W-wh-what! Why aren't you dead?
He shouts out, suddenly a voice comes out from behind him
Tom: If you had bothered to read the repair sheet, you would have realized that we don't put the ammo in till after you pay us.
The pilot turns around to face this new man, the new guy is very big, he's got beard stubble and his face looks old, like he's seen the world, we can also see that both his legs are robotic, he's skin is very tan from working in the sun to long, his eyes are very sharp, he's rubbing his hands with a rag to clean off oil or something.
He nods towards the mechanic as unspoken messages is pass between them, the mechanic nods his head in understanding and walks away. The pilot glares at the guy and begins to type on the touch screen of his Neon Gauntlet while backing towards his Gundam. Other bigger mechanics are coming over surrounding the pilot. They look ready for a fight and based on the pilot's small frame even one of them could take him out.
Tom: We also disengaged the computer hatch opener. So you would have to open the hatch manually if you wanted to get the hatch open.
Two of the big mechanics grab the pilot and lift him off the ground, the pilot begins to struggle
Pilot: Unhand me you bastards!
The mechanics ignored him; Tom goes on as if nothing is happening
Tom: We'll keep your Gundam until you can pay us.
The pilot looks to Tom shock
Pilot: Y-you can't!
Tom: Oh we can, now show this man to the door.
He says this last part to one of the mechanics holding the pilot, the mechanic grins and says
Big Mechanic: Yes Sir.
He and the other big mechanic begin to carry the pilot to the exit. The pilot still struggling yells over his shoulder
Pilot: You'll regret this you hear me you have no idea who you're dealing with!
Tom already walking away appears unconcern
Tom: Yea, Yea, Yea; if I had a pebble for every time some bum shouts that at me after he realized he couldn’t shoot his way to a free repair I’d have a mountain all to myself now.
The camera turns back to Shadow and co. Kenny whistles and looks at the mechanics impressed and a little afraid too.
Kenny: Well I guess we know now not to mess with those mechanics.
Cagalli nods her head; she also looks shocked by how fast things happened she turns her head to Shadow.
Cagalli: But how did you know that was going to happen?
Shadow shrugs his shoulders
Shadow: I didn't but Nick did, so I just went with it.
They all turn to stare at Nick with questions in their eyes. Nick just shrugs his shoulders
Nick: It wasn't that big a deal mate, I see a lot of jerks like him walk into the bar looking for trouble. Me and me mates just got good at telling who was looking for trouble.
Everyone nods their head thoughtful, but Kenny turns and asks Nick
Kenny: Ok, but how did you know the bullets were blanks?
Nick: Oh that, I could tell by the sound.
Kenny and Cagalli look at him in shock
Cagalli: By the sound?
Nick nods his head
Nick: Yea, a bullet exiting a barrel would have made a whooshing sound; I didn't hear the sound so I know they were blanks.
Nick turns to Shadow
Nick: But how did you know mate?
Shadow: I didn't I was following you.
Nick smiles
Nick: So if I was wrong mate, that means we both would have been screwed?
Shadow smiles back
Shadow: But you weren't.
Nick and Shadow stare at each for a moment smiling, then Roxas butts in
Roxas: Yea, that's great an all but did you see those guy's muscles, umm, I can't wait to sleep with one of them.
Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: Is that all that's on your mind?
Roxas jumps and hugs Cagalli
Roxas: You don't have to be jealous Cagalli; I'm still determined to sleep with you too.
Cagalli pushing Roxas off her
Cagalli: Get off me Pervert!
Shadow, Kenny, and Nick are ignoring the girls. Shadow nods towards Tom
Shadow: I say that guy's in charge.
Nick and Kenny nod their heads
Shadow: Well let's go ask him about Nightwing.
They start to walk over to where Tom is. Kenny calls over his shoulder
Kenny: Come on ladies.
Cagalli who had been pushing Roxas off her eagerly takes this opportunity to escape. Roxas sighs and begins to follow on two legs. They walk over to Tom who is working at a computer terminal.
Shadow: We like to speak to the person in charge.
Tom doesn't look up
Tom: That would be me, what do you want?
Kenny: We would like to talk to you about a Gundam that was shipped to you.
Tom still not looking up asks
Tom: Number?
Kenny is confused
Kenny: Number?
Tom finally looks up and says in a bored voice
Tom: When someone ships a Gundam to us we give them a verification number so when they come they can verify that's their Gundam. So what's the number?
Kenny looks to Shadow for answers Shadow shrugs. Tom is taking this all in with an eyebrow raise.
Tom: Sorry no number no Gundam.
Tom begins to turn away; Shadow desperate says the first thing that comes to mind
Shadow: uhm, Drake sent us!
Tom stops dead in his tracks, realization dawns on him as he turns to face them
Tom: Oh, so you're the new Gundam team Drake agree to manage.
Tom walks over to them surprising the gang by the sudden warm greeting
Tom: Sorry about the rude greeting before, I'm Tom Hors and welcome to Warehouse 24.
Cagalli: I'm Cagalli
Nick: Nick
Roxas: I'm Roxas
Kenny: Kenny
Shadow: I am the
Cagalli cuts him off
Cagalli: He's Shadow
Shadow glares at Cagalli
Shadow: Hey, don't cut someone's introduction off!
Shadow yells at Cagalli, Cagalli snaps back
Cagalli: Then don't make your introduction so long and stupid!
Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Nick sighs and then takes his hands and puts them on Cagalli and Shadow's head and forces them to head-butt
Cagalli and Shadow: Ow
They rub their heads as Nick turns to Tom who's taking this in with interested
Nick: Sorry about that mate.
Tom waves his hand dismissing the apology
Tom: No worries, in all honesty I was wondering what kind of people could get that stubborn man to agree to be their manager.
Shadow puffs out his chest with pride, Cagalli and Kenny are embarrassed by the comment, Nick and Roxas are unfazed
Tom: Anyway let me show you where your Gundam is?
They begin to walk with Tom in the lead
Roxas: This place is so big.
Roxas says wide eye still looking around she’s also back to walking on all fours, Tom laughs
Tom: hahahaha, I guess you can say that, we get about a 100 Gundams at a time to repair so it has to be big to fit them all.
They come to a stop at Nightwing, no one seems to be working on it, and it seems to be in the same state as when we last saw it.
Cagalli: Wow, the repairs are so good we can hardly notice.
She says sarcastically, Tom glares at her
Tom: For your information we were given instructions by Drake not to start the repairs until we discussed them with the pilot.
Tom turns to look at Shadow
Tom: A Mr. Shadow Zoomarey.
Shadow puff out his chest full of pride
Shadow: That would be me.
Tom: Oh so you're the crappy pilot.
Bursting Shadow’s growing ego. Cagalli and Roxas openly laughs; Nick and Kenny try hard to suppress their laughter.
Shadow: Who are you calling a crappy Pilot!
Tom laughs
Tom: Don't take it to personally kid, you just need more practice that's all.
Shadow settles down as Tom similes kindly at him
Shadow: Yea, I may be bad now but just you wait someday I going to be the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!
Tom is surprise by this statement. The others roll their eyes clearly used to Shadow shouting out his dreams; Tom then laughs
Tom: HAHAHAH, I like a man that isn't afraid to shout out his dream but I have to ask, why did you get a Basic Original.
Cagalli: A what?
Tom looks at them surprise
Tom: A Basic Original, wait are you telling me you had no idea?
They all look away confirming Tom's theory
Tom: Well I guess that explains why Drake sent you here. Alright tell me what you know about Gundams.
Cagalli jumps on that to prove she's not an idiot
Cagalli: Gundams are mass produce in factories and are organized solely by their serial number
Tom cuts her off
Tom: Wrong!
Cagalli is shocked
Shadow: Ha
Cagalli turns to glare at Shadow,
Tom: Don't worry it wasn't a bad guess, in fact from what I hear that's how they organized their Gundams on Earth. But it’s important that you understand that wouldn't work on Sora.
Cagalli looks back at Tom curious
Cagalli: Why?
Tom: Well on Earth most of the Gundams are made by the Governments so they're all made the same way in huge factories, which not counting new models makes it easy to know their fighting abilities since they’re all the same. Well I shouldn’t say all the same, they do vary by model but overall once you fought one model you know how to fight all Gundams of that model.
Tom: But on Sora there are a lot more freelance Gundam Pilots with their own mechanics. Thanks to the Gundam Fights mechanics are constantly playing around with their Gundam in order to get them to perform better. The result is that the Gundams no longer match the manufacture blue prints, so Gundams on Sora are like snowflakes, no two are alike. Which makes Gundam combat on Sora a lot more difficult.
Tom: It’s also why they’re not just simply classified by numbers but instead by a classification chart. Gundams are first classified by model such as sold or transformable; second by type like Basic, animal, or vehicle; third by class, Jet, Tiger; fourth manufacture; and finally by serial number. So for example your Gundam Nightwing is a Sold model Basic type Original class Lujo manufactured F23-8764-90874 serial Gundam, but most of the time we just refer to Gundams by their type and class.
Cagalli, Shadow, Nick, and Kenny nod their head in understanding, but Roxas on the ground scratching her ear with her foot asks
Roxas: So what's a Basic type Gundam?
Tom similes at her
Tom: Well just because the mechanics like to play around with the Gundam doesn't mean they want to build one from scratch but at the same time they risk serious damaging their starting model Gundams if they screw up too badly fiddling around with it especially since they’re not cheap or that easy to build, a whole risk vs. reward thing so a new line of Gundams called Basic came out to fix this problem.
Tom: They're Gundams that have some start up capabilities but are extremely simplistic in design so any mechanic worth his wrench would be able to build one with the right parts. This gives mechanics plenty of room to play around with the Gundam and not have to worry about breaking it beyond repair. Not to mention compare to the other types of Gundams Basics are dirt cheap plus they come in different classes with different specializations. For example The Basic Heavy Gundam specializes in power; The Basic Flash Gundam specializes in speed, The Basic Wing Gundam specializes in aerial combat, and so on.
A thought just occurs to Kenny
Kenny: So wait what's a Basic Original Gundam?
Tom similes at Kenny
Tom: The Basic Original Gundam was the original Basic model Gundam.
Cagalli curious asks
Cagalli: Why do they call it Basic Original?
Shadow: Because it's the Original model of the Basic series.
Tom: Correct now don't interrupt. Anyway it's not that fast, it's not that powerful, doesn't have any flight or Underwater capabilities, and it only comes with one beam saber.
Nick nods his head
Nick: So overall this baby can't do much.
This deeply offends Shadow.
Shadow: Hey!
Tom nods his head
Tom: Yup, this is the first time I've seen one in years, the only reason a person would buy it is because it's the cheapest Gundam out there.
Cagalli snickers at Shadow
Cagalli: Looks like you pick a crappy Gundam to steal.
Shadow yells at Cagalli
Shadow: Don't call my Gundam crappy!
Shadow and Cagalli start to glare at one another until Tom breaks into their argument
Tom: Anyway it doesn't look that badly damage, it's mostly the outer armor that's got dented up badly, but the internal circuits are all alright. You'll need some adjustments here and there but I would say that she should be up and running smoothly in a day.
Tom goes to signal some other mechanics
Tom: Well better get started.
Shadow: Wait!
Although Shadow didn't yell he says this very firmly surprising Tom
Tom: Huh, Why?
The others turn to look at Shadow too
Shadow: No disrespect but we didn't just come here to get Nightwing fix, we also came here to find a mechanic.
Tom, Cagalli, Kenny, and Roxas don't understand what he means but Nick puts it together
Nick: You want to use Nightwing as a final test to the new mechanic mate?
Kenny already thinking ahead
Kenny: Yea that's not a bad idea, that way if they screw something up
Tom cuts him off, clearly offended
Tom: My mechanics don't screw stuff up!
Kenny fixes what he was saying
Kenny: I mean do something we don't like; we can have the people here fix it.
Cagalli grudgingly admits
Cagalli: It's not a bad idea.
Shadow grins at her she glares at him, while they're doing that Roxas turns to Tom,
Roxas: I guess you're not going to save us the trouble by becoming our mechanic?
All eyes turn to Tom who laughs in response
Tom: hahahaa, sorry but I'm too old to be going around and being a Gundam Team's official mechanic.
Kenny sighs
Kenny: Well so much for the easily way out.
Roxas: Speak for yourself; this guy is way too old for my taste.
Tom is a little offended, Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: Roxas you do realize we're not here to pick up a man for you.
Roxas does puppy eyes at Cagalli
Roxas: Of course I know that all I want is for our mechanic to be good looking.
Shadow, Nick, Kenny and Tom laugh at Cagalli caught off guard by the puppy eyes
Shadow: Alright let's split up and look around and ask about who's the best mechanic.
Kenny: Why do we have to split up?
Shadow is annoyed by Kenny's question
Shadow: To cover more ground.
Nick: So what time are we meeting back up mate?
Shadow looks at the clock on his Neon Gauntlet
Shadow: We'll meet back here in 2 hours to share information on what we learned.
Cagalli sighs
Cagalli: I was looking forward to finding a place to stay and get a nice rest.
Shadow smiles
Shadow: Well you can do that, after all there's no way you could beat me.
Cagalli looks angrily at Shadow
Cagalli: Beat you at what?
Shadow still smiling
Shadow: At information gathering of course, your small girly muscles would never be able to keep going, and your poor social skills would never be able to charm information out of people.
Cagalli highly offended and pissed off shouts
Cagalli: I'll show you girly muscles and poor social skills!
Cagalli takes off. Shadow smiling takes off too as he shouts
Shadow: HA, I won't loss to you!
Kenny, Nick, Roxas, and Tom watch as they go in opposite directions
Tom: Well nothing like a good rivalry to get the energy going.
Roxas: Well anyway I've got a man I mean a lead on our mechanic. See you later
Roxas gets back on all fours and chases after a group of muscular mechanics, Nick sighs
Nick: Well better get going, don't want to be last mate.
Nick walks off. Kenny turns to Tom
Kenny: Hey do you mind if I take a look at your computer system?
Tom point his arm at a computer terminal
Tom: Not at all just don't change anything.
Kenny walks away. Tom similes as he watches them
Tom: Well I have to say Drake you certainly found some interesting people.
He says this to the air and then walks off. We next have a bunch of Freeze pictures of Cagalli, Nick, and Shadow talking to different people. We also have a freeze picture of Kenny working on the computer. The last pictures should be of Shadow talking to a mechanic, Shadow leaning on a leg of a Gundam, the Gundam leg falls backwards causing the Gundam to collapse, the mechanics looking angry at Shadow, Shadow running like hell away from the mechanics. The scene goes back to normal with Shadow breathing heavily behind a tool cart
Shadow: Damn those mechanics were fast.
Cagalli walks by Shadow and smiles when she sees him
Cagalli: Aw, tired already Shadow, but don't worry I'm heading over to talk to are future mechanic right now.
Cagalli walks away; Shadow regains his breath and calls back angrily
Shadow: Oh yea, well see about that!
With that he walks off. We cut outside to Cagalli and Nick, they seem to be walking in a housing district of Junk City. The houses are built into the piles of Junk, we can also see some people working on them, and children playing in the street although there don’t seem to be any cars. Cagalli is talking excitedly with Nick
Cagalli: I've got a good feeling about this guy Nick, everyone I've talk to says he's one of the best mechanics at Warehouse 24, he's also got a perfect record of customer satisfaction, and he has never made a mechanical error EVER.
Nick nods his head
Nick: That does sound impressive mate, but why did you ask me to come with you?
Cagalli seems embarrass,
Cagalli: Um, Well ….
Her eyes move back and forth nervously, Nick figures it out and says in a kind way
Nick: This place is known to have a high crime rate, not to mention little to no police so it's best if we travel in packs when outside mate.
Cagalli looks at him thankfully, and then turns to look at a group of men in their twenties
Cagalli: That's him.
She points to one of the boys
Nick: What's this mate's name?
Cagalli: Van, that's all I could find out.
They walk over to him
Cagalli: Excuse me could we talk to Van for a few minutes?
Van looks at them confused
Van: Um, Sure I guess.
The scene cuts back inside the Warehouse with Shadow walking around and looking around. Suddenly he hears shouting
Mechanic: You had no right Jack!
Jack: Hey don't tell me how to do my job!
Shadow turns to look at them, there's one big mechanic arguing with a female mechanic underneath a Gundam. The female mechanic seems small compare to the big muscular mechanic, she's got dirty blond hair tied in a ponytail behind her back, she's got a black glove on her left hand, she's wearing navy blue overalls, and she's also wearing what seems to be a homemade jacket.
The jacket seems to be made out of jeans and is also covered in pockets. Shadow subconsciously steps into the shadow of another Gundam; his dark clothes make him blend into the background. The fighting continues
Mechanic: You messed with the converted and reconfigured the Cyclops system!
He yells and points accusingly at her, she yells back
Jack: I improved the converter and Cyclops system! I increased the speed of the Gundam by 10%!
Mechanic: And decreased the power by 5%! Which if you had bothered to listen to the client you would know that is an absolute no-no!
Jack: Oh come on the power levels on this thing was more than enough to sacrifice 5%, but the speed on this thing was as fast as a turtle; it needed the speed boost and could lose some power!
Mechanic: That's not the point Jack! You went ahead and mess with systems you weren't supposed to! He only asks us to fix the left arm Koralex but you went ahead and started messing with the converter and the Cyclops system!
Jack: I made the Gundam better! Because of the speed increased the overall power of an attack will increase!
Mechanic: Well the client didn't see it that way; I just spent the last 30 minutes getting chewed out for allowing the converter and Cyclops system to be modified, even though I have no idea that it had!
Jack: Well if the pilot complained than he's an idiot!
The mechanic is red in the face. He begins to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and begins to talk in a calmer voice.
Mechanic: If the pilot wants to be an idiot than that's his choice, we are only supposed to mess with the systems he asks us to fix nothing else, so just undo what you did so we can get this Gundam finish.
Jack still angry turns around and begins to walk away
Jack: Undo it yourself!
She calls out over her shoulder as she continues walking away past Shadow still hiding in the Gundam’s shadow. He has one of those smiles that says he found what he's looking for, he walks out of the shadow and begins to follow Jack. The scene cuts back to Cagalli, Nick and Van, they're talking by one of the houses
Van: So basically you want me to become your official mechanic for your Gundam team.
Cagalli nods her head
Cagalli: That's right.
Van says in a very calm voice
Van: No
Cagalli is surprise
Cagalli: Huh?
Van gets up
Van: Thanks for the offer, but I'm happy here, so no.
Cagalli says the next statement without thinking
Cagalli: Ha how could you be happy here, this place is a dump.
If you ever had a moment when you said something that you instantly regretted saying out loud, something you said out of impulse, well that's what is going on to Cagalli right now. Cagalli instantly regrets what she said she puts a hand over her mouth, Van turns to look at her angry, some other people close by overhear
Person A: Did you hear what she just said?
Person B: That stuck up brat!
Person C: Let's teach her a lesson!
All persons: Yea!
They begin to move towards Cagalli, Cagalli looks at them afraid. Nick steps between them and Cagalli, he moves his cowboy coat back showing his gun to them, although his gun is still in its hostler the strap is off and his hand is on it. He looks at them with his sharp blue eyes.
Nick: This is a private conversation mates, so let's not do anything stupid.
The persons stop when Nick confronts them, Van is still angry at Cagalli
Van: Dump, a dump! How dare you call my home a dump! Oh I get it you must be some wealthy noble, so this city isn't shiny and doesn't have the fancy qualities of a big rich city but you know what it has its own unique beauty! And if you weren't so spoiled and open your eyes and really look around. You might just see it too.
Van seems to have vented his anger he turns around and begins to walk away from the shock/stun Cagalli, but he calls over his shoulder
Van: Whatever you may think of this place know that it's my home, and the only way I'm leaving it is in a body bag.
Cagalli starts to have flashbacks of Shadow asking her if that was really all she saw, and Van telling her to open her eyes and look around
Cagalli (Is-is there really a beauty here that I can't see?)
The episode ends with her wondering.
The episode opens up with a view of Junk City. From what can be seen there are mountains of junk made out of old broken down Gundams, ships, and basically anything made out of metal. The piles differ in height but they're all over 2 stories high and they also differ in color with shades of bronze everywhere depending on how rusted some of the metals are. We can see one mountain junk pile that's over 30 stories high in the center of the city.
We can also see some houses made out of scrap metal, as well as some mines going into the junk piles. There’s a certain beauty about Junk City that’s hard to see or describe. The camera zooms in to show Shadow, Cagalli, Kenny, Nick, and Roxas. They're looking around taking in the sights, Nick whistles
Nick: So this is Junk City.
Shadow is looking around excited
Shadow: This place is awesome!
Cagalli looks at Shadow like he's nuts
Cagalli: Your kidding right, this place is like a landfill its cover it mountains of Junk.
Shadow turns around and faces Cagalli, and looks her straight in the eye
Shadow: Is that really all you can see?
Cagalli is taken back; Kenny smiles as he says
Kenny: Junk City holds the largest amount of broken down machinery in the galaxy. Most countries don't recognize it as a real city.
Cagalli still starring at Shadow but turns to Kenny curious
Cagalli: But wait, if most countries don't consider them a real city then how do they get funding?
Kenny: The City's main source of income comes from its 47 mechanic warehouses.
Nick who has been quietly listening asks a question
Nick: Mechanic warehouses?
Kenny: Yea, the mechanic's in the area scavenge different parts from different machinery then they either build brand new machinery from the old parts or they use the parts to repair broken down machinery.
Roxas who is walking on all fours asks
Roxas: How do you know all this stuff?
Kenny answers in a matter of fact voice
Kenny: The Internet.
Shadow interrupts
Shadow: That reminds me Drake sent Nightwing to one of the Mechanic Warehouses to be repair.
Roxas looks confused
Roxas: Nightwing?
Cagalli sighs
Cagalli: The stupid name Shadow gave to his Gundam.
Offending Shadow
Shadow: Hey, Nightwing is an awesome name!
Cagalli turns around to argue when Roxas butts in
Roxas: I agree.
Shadow and Roxas high-five
Shadow: HA!
Cagalli is shocked
Cagalli: What!
Cagalli stops moving, Roxas smiles
Roxas: You know your even cuter when you’re angry.
Cagalli throws up her hands in frustration
Cagalli: arhg, I give up!
Cagalli starts moving again
Kenny: Anyway we need to head down to the Warehouse where Shadow's Gundam is to claim the Gundam and get them to start repairs.
Nick: So mate do you know which Warehouse the Gundam is at?
Kenny stops, bring everyone to a stop he looks confused at Nick
Kenny: What?
Nick shrugs
Nick: Well you said it yourself mate, they're 47 different mechanic Warehouses all over the city right, so how are we going to figure out which one Drake sent it to?
Kenny does the Oh crap I didn't think of that face. He tries to cover it up but Nick see right through him.
Nick: Or was your plan to go to each and every Warehouse till we get lucky mate?
Before Kenny can answer Cagalli butts in angry
Cagalli: Well that's just great; we're going to have to spend all day walking from Warehouse to Warehouse, not to mention where are we going to spend the night!
Shadow smiling
Shadow: Having trouble sleeping on the grass princess?
Cagalli annoyed at the way he said princess snaps back
Cagalli: Yes! I was hoping we could stay at a place with an actual bed!
Roxas starring at some random piece of shiny metal says somewhat distracted
Roxas: Why don't you go to one Warehouse then check their computer network to see which Warehouse has the Gundam?
They all turn to stare at Roxas impressed, but that is quickly lost when she doesn't even look at them but instead turns her head sideways like a cat and begins to bat at the piece of shiny metal with her hand also like a cat.
Kenny: There now we have a game plan, the closest Warehouse is east of here so let's get going.
Nodding in agreement they all start walking east except Shadow who stands there with a smug smile. It takes a few moments but they realize that Shadow isn't following they stop and turn to stare at him. Cagalli annoyed and impatient to start looking for a hotel room asks
Cagalli: Hey, Shadow in case you're going deaf we're heading over to the Warehouse east of here so come on!
Shadow is unmoving his smug smiling never leaving his face
Shadow: Oh I heard you alright.
Kenny is confused
Kenny: Ok, Soooo?
Shadow: Nightwing isn't there.
Kenny’s not sure where he's going with this
Kenny: How do you know for sure?
Cagalli annoyed by the holdup says
Cagalli: Well unless you have a better place to check I'm heading there!
Shadow's smile widens, he was waiting someone to say that
Shadow: As a matter of fact I do.
Cagalli: Ok where?
Shadow closes his eyes appearing to concentrate then says
Shadow: I would say 10 kilometers south west of here.
Cagalli is surprise; she was not expecting him to give such an exacted answer. Nick is becoming suspicious of Shadow
Nick: And how do you know for sure mate?
The way Nick says this implies suspicion and Shadow mocks offended
Shadow: I'll have you know that a Gundam and a Gundam Pilot share a special connection, and we can tell each other's location at all times.
Roxas starts to walk in the direction Shadow pointed.
Cagalli: Where are you going Roxas?
Roxas shrugs her shoulder
Roxas: It's common in the forest for animals to develop a sense of where each other are.
Shadow: ha! That's Roxas for I believe in Shadow.
Nick sighs and also begins to move in the direction Shadow pointed. Kenny who's been in deep thought since Shadow said connection with his Gundam has a break through.
Kenny: A-ha!
Everyone stops and looks at him
Kenny: Shadow let me see your arm.
Shadow looks away acting guilty
Shadow: W-what for?
Cagalli smiles enjoying Shadow being exposed
Cagalli: Why don't you show him your arm, or are you hiding something?
Shadow glares at Cagalli, and then starts to lift his right arm. Kenny stops him
Kenny: Your other arm.
Shadow sighs defeated and then reluctantly lifts his left arm, revealing his Neon gauntlet. Nick and Roxas look at it closely having not taken notice of it before. Kenny triumphantly proclaims
Kenny: I knew it!
Cagalli confused asks
Cagalli: Wait, that's called the Neon gauntlet right?
Kenny explains
Kenny: Right, the Neon gauntlet was originally design to help pilots get to their Gundam. So I figured that Shadow must have play around with it and figured out how to bring up the GPS location of his Gundam.
Nick scratches his head
Nick: I figured that too, but what I want to know is why yours is black mate?
Shadow getting over being busted
Shadow: I painted it black.
Nick can't tell if Shadow is kidding. Cagalli having found out how Shadow knows the location of his Gundam grows impatient again.
Cagalli: Fine, whatever can we get going now?
Shadow sighs
Shadow: Fine
He lifts up his arm and begins to type on the Neon gauntlet with his other hand. He nods to show he confirmed the direction and the scene ends with them heading in the direction he pointed out. The next scene opens up in a Warehouse; the Warehouse is huge, about the size of a small football field. Gundams can be seen all over the place, they all seem to be going under some kind of repair.
There are people walking around and constantly moving, they're most likely mechanics, we can also see a series of catwalks where people are working on the upper parts of the Gundams or just seem to be staring out at the crowd, most likely the pilots of the Gundams waiting for their Gundam to be fixed. We can also see a couple of trucks moving around, they’re carrying parts for the Gundams.
We can see one truck with a Gundam arm, we look around to see another Gundam in the middle of getting its broken arm cut off. We can hear the sounds of metal hitting metal, drills, hammers, the blow torch cutting pieces of metal off, not to mention thousands of voices like a school cafeteria. The camera finally settles down on Shadow and co. who are close by the entrance. They're all staring around the place watching with fascination at the things going on. Nick whistles
Nick: This place is busier than a bee hive.
Roxas says in a daze
Roxas: So much shiny stuff.
Roxas starts to walk to some screws on the ground but Kenny grabs her T-shirt collar and pulls her back.
Kenny: Oh no you don't, last thing we need is for you to get us kick out because you started playing with stuff that doesn't belong to you.
Cagalli is wide eye and standing by Shadow
Cagalli: I've never seen anything like this; I mean I've been to a Mobile
Shadow cuts her off
Shadow: Gundam.
Cagalli corrects herself
Cagalli: A Gundam hanger before but it was nothing like this place, this place is just
She stops trying to think of the right word, Shadow smiles at her, and gives her one
Shadow: Incredible.
Cagalli looks at him for a moment then smiles
Cagalli: Yes…incredible.
She turns back to stare at the surroundings. Shadow is the first one to get over his amazement; he claps his hands to get everyone else's attention.
Shadow: Alright, let's find out who's in charge, find Nightwing, get Nightwing repair, and then find a mechanic for the team.
The way he list the things they need to do helps the others snap out of their trance
Kenny: Right, let's ask one of the mechanics who's in charge.
They start to walk to the closest Gundam being repair. The Gundam that's being repair seems to be finish; there are a couple of people shining it with rags giving the Gundam a shiny finish. Roxas eyes open wide
Roxas: Really shiny.
Cagalli: Let's talk to that guy.
Cagalli points to one of the workers shining the Gundam. Cagalli starts to walk over there but Nick grabs her shoulder stopping her. Cagalli turns around confused, but Nick nods to the direction of someone walking towards the Gundam. Shadow nods his head in response to show Nick he understands. The camera turns to the person walking towards the Gundam, he's wearing a brown pilot suit with his helmet under his arm.
He's got long dirty brown hair, it's most likely been awhile since he took a bath, and he's got one of those grins that say he's looking for trouble. He walks to one of the mechanics shining his Gundam and shouts
Pilot: Hey, You, is my Gundam ready yet?
He says asks this rudely, the mechanic sighs but he's used to rude customers
Mechanic: We’re just about finish with the shine you ask for sir, after that we'll be done.
The Pilot makes a sour face like this is a big inconvenience for him then he says in a rudely.
Pilot: Fine.
The mechanic turns to go back to his work but the pilot interrupts him again
Pilot: Hey, who do I talk to about the bill with?
The mechanic sighs again then gets off from the place he was shining and heads towards the Pilot as he says.
Mechanic: I guess you can talk to me about it.
The pilot holds up the bill to the mechanic
Pilot: These prices are outrages, do you guys think you can rip me off!
The pilot shouts at the mechanic. The mechanic is unfazed by the accusation he replies calmly.
Mechanic: Sir, I can assure you that those prices are the stander rate in Junk City; if you go to any other Warehouse they'll charge you the same thing.
The pilot snickers, and in a spoiled way says
Pilot: Well I'm not paying.
He then rips the bill up and throws the rip pieces at the mechanic. The mechanic looks at him coldly.
Mechanic: I would advise against that Sir.
Although he doesn't raise his voice there's an edge to it, but the pilot either doesn't notice or doesn't care. The pilot smirks and begins to walk over to his Gundam the mechanic turns but doesn't go after him
Pilot: Well my Gundam's 75 mm CIW's say otherwise.
With that he lifts up his left arm which has a Neon Gauntlet on it, unlike Shadow's Neon Gauntlet his is still the same metal color. He begins typing on the touch screen, the Gundam's eyes flash and then the head begins to move. The people who are working on the Gundam jump off in surprise. The Gundam’s head looks down at the mechanic who looks bored, the 75mm CIW's on the sides of the Gundam's head begins to fire at him.
Several people jump out of the way, while others turn to look at what's going on. The camera turns to see Cagalli and Roxas jump back in surprise but the mechanic, Nick, and Shadow don't move. The 75mm CIW's stop shooting, no one has been shot, people are turning in surprise towards the Gundam, and the stunned Pilot.
Pilot: W-wh-what! Why aren't you dead?
He shouts out, suddenly a voice comes out from behind him
Tom: If you had bothered to read the repair sheet, you would have realized that we don't put the ammo in till after you pay us.
The pilot turns around to face this new man, the new guy is very big, he's got beard stubble and his face looks old, like he's seen the world, we can also see that both his legs are robotic, he's skin is very tan from working in the sun to long, his eyes are very sharp, he's rubbing his hands with a rag to clean off oil or something.
He nods towards the mechanic as unspoken messages is pass between them, the mechanic nods his head in understanding and walks away. The pilot glares at the guy and begins to type on the touch screen of his Neon Gauntlet while backing towards his Gundam. Other bigger mechanics are coming over surrounding the pilot. They look ready for a fight and based on the pilot's small frame even one of them could take him out.
Tom: We also disengaged the computer hatch opener. So you would have to open the hatch manually if you wanted to get the hatch open.
Two of the big mechanics grab the pilot and lift him off the ground, the pilot begins to struggle
Pilot: Unhand me you bastards!
The mechanics ignored him; Tom goes on as if nothing is happening
Tom: We'll keep your Gundam until you can pay us.
The pilot looks to Tom shock
Pilot: Y-you can't!
Tom: Oh we can, now show this man to the door.
He says this last part to one of the mechanics holding the pilot, the mechanic grins and says
Big Mechanic: Yes Sir.
He and the other big mechanic begin to carry the pilot to the exit. The pilot still struggling yells over his shoulder
Pilot: You'll regret this you hear me you have no idea who you're dealing with!
Tom already walking away appears unconcern
Tom: Yea, Yea, Yea; if I had a pebble for every time some bum shouts that at me after he realized he couldn’t shoot his way to a free repair I’d have a mountain all to myself now.
The camera turns back to Shadow and co. Kenny whistles and looks at the mechanics impressed and a little afraid too.
Kenny: Well I guess we know now not to mess with those mechanics.
Cagalli nods her head; she also looks shocked by how fast things happened she turns her head to Shadow.
Cagalli: But how did you know that was going to happen?
Shadow shrugs his shoulders
Shadow: I didn't but Nick did, so I just went with it.
They all turn to stare at Nick with questions in their eyes. Nick just shrugs his shoulders
Nick: It wasn't that big a deal mate, I see a lot of jerks like him walk into the bar looking for trouble. Me and me mates just got good at telling who was looking for trouble.
Everyone nods their head thoughtful, but Kenny turns and asks Nick
Kenny: Ok, but how did you know the bullets were blanks?
Nick: Oh that, I could tell by the sound.
Kenny and Cagalli look at him in shock
Cagalli: By the sound?
Nick nods his head
Nick: Yea, a bullet exiting a barrel would have made a whooshing sound; I didn't hear the sound so I know they were blanks.
Nick turns to Shadow
Nick: But how did you know mate?
Shadow: I didn't I was following you.
Nick smiles
Nick: So if I was wrong mate, that means we both would have been screwed?
Shadow smiles back
Shadow: But you weren't.
Nick and Shadow stare at each for a moment smiling, then Roxas butts in
Roxas: Yea, that's great an all but did you see those guy's muscles, umm, I can't wait to sleep with one of them.
Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: Is that all that's on your mind?
Roxas jumps and hugs Cagalli
Roxas: You don't have to be jealous Cagalli; I'm still determined to sleep with you too.
Cagalli pushing Roxas off her
Cagalli: Get off me Pervert!
Shadow, Kenny, and Nick are ignoring the girls. Shadow nods towards Tom
Shadow: I say that guy's in charge.
Nick and Kenny nod their heads
Shadow: Well let's go ask him about Nightwing.
They start to walk over to where Tom is. Kenny calls over his shoulder
Kenny: Come on ladies.
Cagalli who had been pushing Roxas off her eagerly takes this opportunity to escape. Roxas sighs and begins to follow on two legs. They walk over to Tom who is working at a computer terminal.
Shadow: We like to speak to the person in charge.
Tom doesn't look up
Tom: That would be me, what do you want?
Kenny: We would like to talk to you about a Gundam that was shipped to you.
Tom still not looking up asks
Tom: Number?
Kenny is confused
Kenny: Number?
Tom finally looks up and says in a bored voice
Tom: When someone ships a Gundam to us we give them a verification number so when they come they can verify that's their Gundam. So what's the number?
Kenny looks to Shadow for answers Shadow shrugs. Tom is taking this all in with an eyebrow raise.
Tom: Sorry no number no Gundam.
Tom begins to turn away; Shadow desperate says the first thing that comes to mind
Shadow: uhm, Drake sent us!
Tom stops dead in his tracks, realization dawns on him as he turns to face them
Tom: Oh, so you're the new Gundam team Drake agree to manage.
Tom walks over to them surprising the gang by the sudden warm greeting
Tom: Sorry about the rude greeting before, I'm Tom Hors and welcome to Warehouse 24.
Cagalli: I'm Cagalli
Nick: Nick
Roxas: I'm Roxas
Kenny: Kenny
Shadow: I am the
Cagalli cuts him off
Cagalli: He's Shadow
Shadow glares at Cagalli
Shadow: Hey, don't cut someone's introduction off!
Shadow yells at Cagalli, Cagalli snaps back
Cagalli: Then don't make your introduction so long and stupid!
Shadow and Cagalli start glaring at each other. Nick sighs and then takes his hands and puts them on Cagalli and Shadow's head and forces them to head-butt
Cagalli and Shadow: Ow
They rub their heads as Nick turns to Tom who's taking this in with interested
Nick: Sorry about that mate.
Tom waves his hand dismissing the apology
Tom: No worries, in all honesty I was wondering what kind of people could get that stubborn man to agree to be their manager.
Shadow puffs out his chest with pride, Cagalli and Kenny are embarrassed by the comment, Nick and Roxas are unfazed
Tom: Anyway let me show you where your Gundam is?
They begin to walk with Tom in the lead
Roxas: This place is so big.
Roxas says wide eye still looking around she’s also back to walking on all fours, Tom laughs
Tom: hahahaha, I guess you can say that, we get about a 100 Gundams at a time to repair so it has to be big to fit them all.
They come to a stop at Nightwing, no one seems to be working on it, and it seems to be in the same state as when we last saw it.
Cagalli: Wow, the repairs are so good we can hardly notice.
She says sarcastically, Tom glares at her
Tom: For your information we were given instructions by Drake not to start the repairs until we discussed them with the pilot.
Tom turns to look at Shadow
Tom: A Mr. Shadow Zoomarey.
Shadow puff out his chest full of pride
Shadow: That would be me.
Tom: Oh so you're the crappy pilot.
Bursting Shadow’s growing ego. Cagalli and Roxas openly laughs; Nick and Kenny try hard to suppress their laughter.
Shadow: Who are you calling a crappy Pilot!
Tom laughs
Tom: Don't take it to personally kid, you just need more practice that's all.
Shadow settles down as Tom similes kindly at him
Shadow: Yea, I may be bad now but just you wait someday I going to be the greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!
Tom is surprise by this statement. The others roll their eyes clearly used to Shadow shouting out his dreams; Tom then laughs
Tom: HAHAHAH, I like a man that isn't afraid to shout out his dream but I have to ask, why did you get a Basic Original.
Cagalli: A what?
Tom looks at them surprise
Tom: A Basic Original, wait are you telling me you had no idea?
They all look away confirming Tom's theory
Tom: Well I guess that explains why Drake sent you here. Alright tell me what you know about Gundams.
Cagalli jumps on that to prove she's not an idiot
Cagalli: Gundams are mass produce in factories and are organized solely by their serial number
Tom cuts her off
Tom: Wrong!
Cagalli is shocked
Shadow: Ha
Cagalli turns to glare at Shadow,
Tom: Don't worry it wasn't a bad guess, in fact from what I hear that's how they organized their Gundams on Earth. But it’s important that you understand that wouldn't work on Sora.
Cagalli looks back at Tom curious
Cagalli: Why?
Tom: Well on Earth most of the Gundams are made by the Governments so they're all made the same way in huge factories, which not counting new models makes it easy to know their fighting abilities since they’re all the same. Well I shouldn’t say all the same, they do vary by model but overall once you fought one model you know how to fight all Gundams of that model.
Tom: But on Sora there are a lot more freelance Gundam Pilots with their own mechanics. Thanks to the Gundam Fights mechanics are constantly playing around with their Gundam in order to get them to perform better. The result is that the Gundams no longer match the manufacture blue prints, so Gundams on Sora are like snowflakes, no two are alike. Which makes Gundam combat on Sora a lot more difficult.
Tom: It’s also why they’re not just simply classified by numbers but instead by a classification chart. Gundams are first classified by model such as sold or transformable; second by type like Basic, animal, or vehicle; third by class, Jet, Tiger; fourth manufacture; and finally by serial number. So for example your Gundam Nightwing is a Sold model Basic type Original class Lujo manufactured F23-8764-90874 serial Gundam, but most of the time we just refer to Gundams by their type and class.
Cagalli, Shadow, Nick, and Kenny nod their head in understanding, but Roxas on the ground scratching her ear with her foot asks
Roxas: So what's a Basic type Gundam?
Tom similes at her
Tom: Well just because the mechanics like to play around with the Gundam doesn't mean they want to build one from scratch but at the same time they risk serious damaging their starting model Gundams if they screw up too badly fiddling around with it especially since they’re not cheap or that easy to build, a whole risk vs. reward thing so a new line of Gundams called Basic came out to fix this problem.
Tom: They're Gundams that have some start up capabilities but are extremely simplistic in design so any mechanic worth his wrench would be able to build one with the right parts. This gives mechanics plenty of room to play around with the Gundam and not have to worry about breaking it beyond repair. Not to mention compare to the other types of Gundams Basics are dirt cheap plus they come in different classes with different specializations. For example The Basic Heavy Gundam specializes in power; The Basic Flash Gundam specializes in speed, The Basic Wing Gundam specializes in aerial combat, and so on.
A thought just occurs to Kenny
Kenny: So wait what's a Basic Original Gundam?
Tom similes at Kenny
Tom: The Basic Original Gundam was the original Basic model Gundam.
Cagalli curious asks
Cagalli: Why do they call it Basic Original?
Shadow: Because it's the Original model of the Basic series.
Tom: Correct now don't interrupt. Anyway it's not that fast, it's not that powerful, doesn't have any flight or Underwater capabilities, and it only comes with one beam saber.
Nick nods his head
Nick: So overall this baby can't do much.
This deeply offends Shadow.
Shadow: Hey!
Tom nods his head
Tom: Yup, this is the first time I've seen one in years, the only reason a person would buy it is because it's the cheapest Gundam out there.
Cagalli snickers at Shadow
Cagalli: Looks like you pick a crappy Gundam to steal.
Shadow yells at Cagalli
Shadow: Don't call my Gundam crappy!
Shadow and Cagalli start to glare at one another until Tom breaks into their argument
Tom: Anyway it doesn't look that badly damage, it's mostly the outer armor that's got dented up badly, but the internal circuits are all alright. You'll need some adjustments here and there but I would say that she should be up and running smoothly in a day.
Tom goes to signal some other mechanics
Tom: Well better get started.
Shadow: Wait!
Although Shadow didn't yell he says this very firmly surprising Tom
Tom: Huh, Why?
The others turn to look at Shadow too
Shadow: No disrespect but we didn't just come here to get Nightwing fix, we also came here to find a mechanic.
Tom, Cagalli, Kenny, and Roxas don't understand what he means but Nick puts it together
Nick: You want to use Nightwing as a final test to the new mechanic mate?
Kenny already thinking ahead
Kenny: Yea that's not a bad idea, that way if they screw something up
Tom cuts him off, clearly offended
Tom: My mechanics don't screw stuff up!
Kenny fixes what he was saying
Kenny: I mean do something we don't like; we can have the people here fix it.
Cagalli grudgingly admits
Cagalli: It's not a bad idea.
Shadow grins at her she glares at him, while they're doing that Roxas turns to Tom,
Roxas: I guess you're not going to save us the trouble by becoming our mechanic?
All eyes turn to Tom who laughs in response
Tom: hahahaa, sorry but I'm too old to be going around and being a Gundam Team's official mechanic.
Kenny sighs
Kenny: Well so much for the easily way out.
Roxas: Speak for yourself; this guy is way too old for my taste.
Tom is a little offended, Cagalli rolls her eyes
Cagalli: Roxas you do realize we're not here to pick up a man for you.
Roxas does puppy eyes at Cagalli
Roxas: Of course I know that all I want is for our mechanic to be good looking.
Shadow, Nick, Kenny and Tom laugh at Cagalli caught off guard by the puppy eyes
Shadow: Alright let's split up and look around and ask about who's the best mechanic.
Kenny: Why do we have to split up?
Shadow is annoyed by Kenny's question
Shadow: To cover more ground.
Nick: So what time are we meeting back up mate?
Shadow looks at the clock on his Neon Gauntlet
Shadow: We'll meet back here in 2 hours to share information on what we learned.
Cagalli sighs
Cagalli: I was looking forward to finding a place to stay and get a nice rest.
Shadow smiles
Shadow: Well you can do that, after all there's no way you could beat me.
Cagalli looks angrily at Shadow
Cagalli: Beat you at what?
Shadow still smiling
Shadow: At information gathering of course, your small girly muscles would never be able to keep going, and your poor social skills would never be able to charm information out of people.
Cagalli highly offended and pissed off shouts
Cagalli: I'll show you girly muscles and poor social skills!
Cagalli takes off. Shadow smiling takes off too as he shouts
Shadow: HA, I won't loss to you!
Kenny, Nick, Roxas, and Tom watch as they go in opposite directions
Tom: Well nothing like a good rivalry to get the energy going.
Roxas: Well anyway I've got a man I mean a lead on our mechanic. See you later
Roxas gets back on all fours and chases after a group of muscular mechanics, Nick sighs
Nick: Well better get going, don't want to be last mate.
Nick walks off. Kenny turns to Tom
Kenny: Hey do you mind if I take a look at your computer system?
Tom point his arm at a computer terminal
Tom: Not at all just don't change anything.
Kenny walks away. Tom similes as he watches them
Tom: Well I have to say Drake you certainly found some interesting people.
He says this to the air and then walks off. We next have a bunch of Freeze pictures of Cagalli, Nick, and Shadow talking to different people. We also have a freeze picture of Kenny working on the computer. The last pictures should be of Shadow talking to a mechanic, Shadow leaning on a leg of a Gundam, the Gundam leg falls backwards causing the Gundam to collapse, the mechanics looking angry at Shadow, Shadow running like hell away from the mechanics. The scene goes back to normal with Shadow breathing heavily behind a tool cart
Shadow: Damn those mechanics were fast.
Cagalli walks by Shadow and smiles when she sees him
Cagalli: Aw, tired already Shadow, but don't worry I'm heading over to talk to are future mechanic right now.
Cagalli walks away; Shadow regains his breath and calls back angrily
Shadow: Oh yea, well see about that!
With that he walks off. We cut outside to Cagalli and Nick, they seem to be walking in a housing district of Junk City. The houses are built into the piles of Junk, we can also see some people working on them, and children playing in the street although there don’t seem to be any cars. Cagalli is talking excitedly with Nick
Cagalli: I've got a good feeling about this guy Nick, everyone I've talk to says he's one of the best mechanics at Warehouse 24, he's also got a perfect record of customer satisfaction, and he has never made a mechanical error EVER.
Nick nods his head
Nick: That does sound impressive mate, but why did you ask me to come with you?
Cagalli seems embarrass,
Cagalli: Um, Well ….
Her eyes move back and forth nervously, Nick figures it out and says in a kind way
Nick: This place is known to have a high crime rate, not to mention little to no police so it's best if we travel in packs when outside mate.
Cagalli looks at him thankfully, and then turns to look at a group of men in their twenties
Cagalli: That's him.
She points to one of the boys
Nick: What's this mate's name?
Cagalli: Van, that's all I could find out.
They walk over to him
Cagalli: Excuse me could we talk to Van for a few minutes?
Van looks at them confused
Van: Um, Sure I guess.
The scene cuts back inside the Warehouse with Shadow walking around and looking around. Suddenly he hears shouting
Mechanic: You had no right Jack!
Jack: Hey don't tell me how to do my job!
Shadow turns to look at them, there's one big mechanic arguing with a female mechanic underneath a Gundam. The female mechanic seems small compare to the big muscular mechanic, she's got dirty blond hair tied in a ponytail behind her back, she's got a black glove on her left hand, she's wearing navy blue overalls, and she's also wearing what seems to be a homemade jacket.
The jacket seems to be made out of jeans and is also covered in pockets. Shadow subconsciously steps into the shadow of another Gundam; his dark clothes make him blend into the background. The fighting continues
Mechanic: You messed with the converted and reconfigured the Cyclops system!
He yells and points accusingly at her, she yells back
Jack: I improved the converter and Cyclops system! I increased the speed of the Gundam by 10%!
Mechanic: And decreased the power by 5%! Which if you had bothered to listen to the client you would know that is an absolute no-no!
Jack: Oh come on the power levels on this thing was more than enough to sacrifice 5%, but the speed on this thing was as fast as a turtle; it needed the speed boost and could lose some power!
Mechanic: That's not the point Jack! You went ahead and mess with systems you weren't supposed to! He only asks us to fix the left arm Koralex but you went ahead and started messing with the converter and the Cyclops system!
Jack: I made the Gundam better! Because of the speed increased the overall power of an attack will increase!
Mechanic: Well the client didn't see it that way; I just spent the last 30 minutes getting chewed out for allowing the converter and Cyclops system to be modified, even though I have no idea that it had!
Jack: Well if the pilot complained than he's an idiot!
The mechanic is red in the face. He begins to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and begins to talk in a calmer voice.
Mechanic: If the pilot wants to be an idiot than that's his choice, we are only supposed to mess with the systems he asks us to fix nothing else, so just undo what you did so we can get this Gundam finish.
Jack still angry turns around and begins to walk away
Jack: Undo it yourself!
She calls out over her shoulder as she continues walking away past Shadow still hiding in the Gundam’s shadow. He has one of those smiles that says he found what he's looking for, he walks out of the shadow and begins to follow Jack. The scene cuts back to Cagalli, Nick and Van, they're talking by one of the houses
Van: So basically you want me to become your official mechanic for your Gundam team.
Cagalli nods her head
Cagalli: That's right.
Van says in a very calm voice
Van: No
Cagalli is surprise
Cagalli: Huh?
Van gets up
Van: Thanks for the offer, but I'm happy here, so no.
Cagalli says the next statement without thinking
Cagalli: Ha how could you be happy here, this place is a dump.
If you ever had a moment when you said something that you instantly regretted saying out loud, something you said out of impulse, well that's what is going on to Cagalli right now. Cagalli instantly regrets what she said she puts a hand over her mouth, Van turns to look at her angry, some other people close by overhear
Person A: Did you hear what she just said?
Person B: That stuck up brat!
Person C: Let's teach her a lesson!
All persons: Yea!
They begin to move towards Cagalli, Cagalli looks at them afraid. Nick steps between them and Cagalli, he moves his cowboy coat back showing his gun to them, although his gun is still in its hostler the strap is off and his hand is on it. He looks at them with his sharp blue eyes.
Nick: This is a private conversation mates, so let's not do anything stupid.
The persons stop when Nick confronts them, Van is still angry at Cagalli
Van: Dump, a dump! How dare you call my home a dump! Oh I get it you must be some wealthy noble, so this city isn't shiny and doesn't have the fancy qualities of a big rich city but you know what it has its own unique beauty! And if you weren't so spoiled and open your eyes and really look around. You might just see it too.
Van seems to have vented his anger he turns around and begins to walk away from the shock/stun Cagalli, but he calls over his shoulder
Van: Whatever you may think of this place know that it's my home, and the only way I'm leaving it is in a body bag.
Cagalli starts to have flashbacks of Shadow asking her if that was really all she saw, and Van telling her to open her eyes and look around
Cagalli (Is-is there really a beauty here that I can't see?)
The episode ends with her wondering.