Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Seed Shadow ❯ Episode 9 ( Chapter 10 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Episode 9
The episode opens with a flashback (you can tell it's a flashback by the classic black and white pictures). It's at the front cargo doors of Warehouse 24, its pouring rain. We can see a younger Jack crying, Tom is standing next to her he's got a hand on her shoulder. We can't hear anything, as if someone has push the mute button.
The camera is pointed straight at Jack, we see someone knee down and put his hand on Jack's other shoulder. The camera doesn't leave Jack's face so we can't see this new guy's face, but we hear one sentence clearly. It seems to be the new guy who says this in a sad voice
New Guy: Goodbye Jack.
We go back to the present which is shown by the sound of the workers of Warehouse 24 in the background and the color coming back on. We see Jack’s red eyes suddenly snap open as her head jerks back. She’s sitting down at a tool station and upon awakening looks around then sighs
Jack (Damn, I must of dose off.)
She looks at her watch, and then grabs a bunch of tools and puts them into her many pockets.
Jack: Well better go and look busy for Tom.
She says this more to herself than anyone, but Shadow coming out of nowhere answers anyway
Shadow: Well if you need something to do I have a Gundam that I would like you to take a look at.
Jack turns around surprise
Jack: Who the hell are you?
Shadow smile widens
Shadow: I am the great, awesome, and magnificent Shadow Zoomarey!
He does a little bow; Jack turns around and begins to walk away
Jack: Bye weird-o.
Shadow shocked chases after her
Shadow: Hey wait!
Jack continues walking away, she says rudely
Jack: Go away I'm busy.
Shadow replies in a good nature way
Shadow: You just said you weren't busy.
Jack (Crap he overheard that, nosy bastard!)
Jack: Look go bother some other mechanic, I don't want to look at your Gundam.
Shadow still following her is struggling to come up with an idea, and suddenly idea hits him. He stops and says
Shadow: Oh I see now.
The way he says this causes Jack to stop and slowly turn to look at him suspicious
Jack: See what?
Shadow still smiling walks over to Jack as he says
Shadow: No it's ok, I get it now; you must be a rookie mechanic.
Jack: Rookie?
Jack is clearly offended; Shadow sees this but goes on
Shadow: It's ok; it explains why you're nervous about working on a Gundam by yourself.
Jack: Nervous!
Jack very offended now
Shadow: Oh sure, I mean I saw how that other mechanic chewed you out because you made so many mistakes on that other Gundam.
Jack: MASTAKES?
Jack is now highly offended and insulted, Shadow sighs
Shadow: It's all right; I'll go and get one of the more senior male mechanics to look at my Gundam.
He puts the male comment in their to be extra insulting, it works
Jack: SO BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN I CAN'T BE A GOOD MECHANIC!
Shadow: I didn't mean it like that
Jack cuts him off, mad out of her mind, she gets in his face and screams
Jack: No, show me this Gundam and I'll show you just how good a mechanic I am!
Shadow starts walking leading Jack towards Nightwing. He's smiling; the kind of smile a salesman has when they talk someone into buying something.
Shadow (I am good.)
The scene cuts back to Nightwing, it looks the same as when we last saw it. The camera turns around and looks down to show Tom working at a computer terminal; he looks up when he hears Shadow.
Shadow: There he is.
Shadow's pointing to Nightwing. Jack is walking behind him and she seems to have calmed down. Tom raises an eyebrow when he sees her, and she also looks surprise for a minute when she sees him but she quickly regains her composer. She walks over to him
Tom: Jack.
Jack nods her head
Jack: Tom, let me see the repair profile.
Tom hands her a small portable computer screen (Think touch PDA only the size of a small computer screen) and she begins typing on it.
Jack: That idiot over there begged me to come and have a look at his Gundam.
She points to Shadow who's standing next to Nightwing. He's circling around it and seems to be in deep thought. Jack continues
Jack: Anyway who is he, some kind of VIP?
Tom: An old friend of mine asked me to look after them while they're in Junk City.
Shadow seems to have finished doing whatever he was doing. He walks over to Jack
Shadow: So how's he look.
Jack puts the computer monitor back on the computer terminal, she looks up at Shadow annoyed.
Jack: Like a waste of my time.
She turns around and begins to walk away and Shadow confused begins to follow. Tom is silently watching the scene unfold.
Shadow: Wait a minute what do you mean a waste of your time?
Jack turns around very annoyed
Jack: The only thing that needs repair on that Gundam is the outer armor dents, with some minor realignment of the inner circuitry!
Shadow: Ok
Shadow says this implying he doesn't understanding the issue, Jack explains.
Jack: This kind of work is a rookie's job, it's beneath me.
Jack folds her hands waiting for his response. Shadow is struggling to think of something
Shadow: Oh come on!
Jack turns her head away from him
Jack: NO, I refused to do this kind of degrading work.
Shadow looks to Tom for help who shrugs his shoulder.
Tom: Don't look at me, she's right this kind of repair work is normally left to the rookies. If it wasn't for the fact that you know Drake I wouldn't even give this Gundam a second glance and I'm not going to force my mechanic to work on it if she doesn't want to.
Jack smiles at Shadow triumphantly. Shadow is still struggling to think of something as Jack begins to walk away. Shadow chases after her
Shadow: Well if you think you can't handle
Jack cuts him off
Jack: Sorry but that only works once and I know for a fact that I could do that kind of work in my sleep.
She continues walking away. Shadow comes up with a last ditch effort
Shadow: What about if I agree to let you work on any parts or systems you want to?
Jack stops and turns around he's got her attention now.
Jack: Any system or part I want?
Shadow quickly amends the statement.
Shadow: As long as it improves the overall performance of the Gundam.
Jack is a little annoyed
Jack: I don’t like what you’re implying?
Shadow shrugs and says
Shadow: Nothing personal but you know how it goes, a mechanic gets all excited because he or she figure out how to increase the output of a system but doesn't realize that even though they increase the output of that system they lower the overall performance of the Gundam.
Jack is surprise by Shadow, Shadow still smiling continues
Shadow: You know, the same way a stubborn pilot might lower the performance of his Gundam because he refuses to lower his power levels in exchange for increase speed levels.
Jack eyes open even wider in surprise, and then she gives a soft chuckle and grins.
Jack: Heh Shadow Zoomarey right?
Shadow nods his head
Jack: I'm Jack Coldback.
She holds out her hand, Shadow shakes it and smiles
Shadow: Nice to finally get a name Jack.
Jack grins back
Jack: Nice to finally work with a pilot that isn't a complete idiot.
Shadow smiles at first taking this as a complement as Jack starts to walk towards his Gundam, then the complete idiot part makes its way through his brain.
Shadow: Hey wait a second what do mean by complete idiot?
Jack doesn't turn around
Jack: Nothing just for future notice when you try to speak mechanic, make sure you actually know what you're talking about.
Shadow is annoyed by this comment, he turns to Tom
Shadow: I thought I did a wonderful Job of faking mechanic speak.
Tom laughs
Tom: HAHAHH, Yea to a non-mechanic.
The scene cuts to Kenny who is working on a computer terminal. Kenny sighs as he hits a few keys and turns the computer off. He turns around when he hears Nick.
Nick: Hey mate.
Nick is walking with Cagalli who is in deep thought. Kenny walks over to them
Kenny: Hey Nick, Cagalli.
Cagalli nods but is still in deep thought. Kenny raises and eyebrow at Nick as they continue to walk.
Nick: Don't worry about it mate, so how did your search go mate?
Kenny sighs
Kenny: No luck, I tried to look up who had the best performance review, but their computer system is a mess. It took most of my time to go through it and pick out a couple of names, but when I went to talk to them they said they weren't interested.
Nick nods his head
Nick: Same problem here mate, only the rookie mechanics seemed interested in becoming a part of our team.
Kenny sighs again
Kenny: Well maybe Shadow or Roxas had more luck then we did.
They come up to Nightwing and spot Shadow and call out to him.
Kenny: Hey Shadow!
Shadow turns to look at them
Shadow: Hey guys!
He meets them halfway
Shadow: So how it go?
Kenny shakes his head
Kenny: No luck.
Nick: Same here mate.
Shadow: Oh
Shadow turns and looks at Cagalli who is still in deep thought. He walks up to her and begins taping her forehead.
Shadow: Hello Cagalli anyone in there?
Cagalli snaps back to the present and angrily slaps his hand anyway from her head.
Cagalli: Will you stop that!
Shadow shakes his hand in pain
Shadow: Ow that hurt.
Cagalli gets in his face
Cagalli: Good, just what the heck were you doing anyway!
Shadow starts glaring back at Cagalli
Shadow: I was trying to bring you back down to Sora!
Cagalli is momentarily confused by this, then she gets it. Kenny tries to break up the fight.
Kenny: Anyway we were talking about the progress we made on trying to find a mechanic.
Cagalli calming down steps away from Shadow and turns to Kenny
Cagalli: I didn't find anything.
Shadow smiles
Shadow: Aw poor princess.
Cagalli snaps at him
Cagalli: Can it!
Kenny intervenes again
Kenny: I wonder where Roxas is?
Shadow points behind Kenny
Shadow: She's coming right now.
Roxas moving on all fours is coming towards them. She looks sweaty as if she did an intense physical workout; she also has a big grin on her face. She walks up to them
Kenny: So how it go?
Roxas looks at Kenny surprise
Roxas: How what go?
Cagalli rolls her eyes,
Cagalli: Finding a mechanic, you know the whole reason why we're in Junk City to begin with!
Roxas: Oh that,
Cagalli is really tick now
Cagalli: Yes that! What have you been doing all this time!
Nick smiles as he figures out what Roxas has been doing
Nick: Someone has been getting lucky mate.
Kenny rolls his eyes
Kenny: Stop joking Nick, no way
Roxas ignores Kenny and answers Nick
Roxas: Yup
Everyone, except Nick, turns and looks at Roxas stun. Shadow recovers first
Shadow: You lucky
Cagalli cuts Shadow off
Cagalli: Roxas you perverted animal, how could you be so irresponsible, our whole point of coming here was to find a good mechanic, not so you could get laid!
Roxas pleading her case
Roxas: But I was helping to find a good mechanic. I was giving the mechanics I talked to a…physical; you know to make sure they were in good health.
Shadow grinning asks
Shadow: So how healthy were they?
Roxas licks her lips
Roxas: Deliciously healthy.
Cagalli turn to Shadow and yells at him
Cagalli: Stop encouraging her!
Shadow sighs
Shadow: Fine
He then turns to Roxas smiling and asks
Shadow: How about you give me a physical?
Cagalli: What!
Roxas looks at Shadow uninterested
Roxas: Sorry I still don't find you interesting enough.
Shadow deflates while Cagalli throws her hands up in frustration
Cagalli: I give up!
Roxas jumps and hugs Cagalli
Roxas: Aww, don't be mad Cagalli you'll always have a special place in my heart.
Cagalli struggles to get Roxas off her
Cagalli: Get off me pervert!
While they continue to struggle the camera turns to zoom in on Jack, working on Nightwing. She's got goggles on, in one hand she's using a blowtorch, in the other she's got a hammer.
She's using the blowtorch and hammer to smooth out the dents in the outer armor. We can hear the flames of the blowtorch heating the metal and the dull cling of the hammer hitting the metal, the volume goes (As if someone hits the lower volume button on the remote) down a little as we hear Jack's thoughts
Jack (Hm, A Basic Original huh, reminds me of the first time I worked on a Basic Original…..)
We have another flashback, we see Tom walking with Jack right behind him. Jack is clumsily carrying a tool box, but she has a huge excited happy smile on her face something we have yet to see from the present Jack excluding her occasional grins.
Tom: Alright today we'll have you work on a Basic Original Gundam.
Tom stops at a Gundam that looks identical to Nightwing. Jack looks at Tom unhappy
Jack: A Basic Original, come on.
Tom looks at Jack annoyed
Tom: What's wrong with the Basic Original?
Jack replies in a whiny voice
Jack: The Basic Original is boring. Can't I work on something else, like the Basic Heavy, or Viking Spear, I even heard that an animal model Gundam came in last night, let me work on one of those?
Tom sighs
Tom: First off Jack, those Gundams need repairs in areas and systems that you're not qualify enough to handle, and second you're a rookie so you do the rookie stuff.
Jack glares at him
Jack: Hey I'm not a rookie!
Suddenly her tool box opens and all her tools fall out causing Tom to laugh
Tom: HAHAHAH, says the mechanic who can't keep her tools in order!
Jack blushes and goes to pick up her tools and put them back into her tool box. Tom starts to walk off
Tom: Right I'll leave you to it.
Jack puts all the tools back in her tool box. She gets back up and sighs then walks over to the Basic Original Gundam, and begins to examine it. Suddenly we hear and see sparks from a blowtorch being used on the Gundam. Jack surprised and annoyed at the same time shouts
Jack: Hey who's there!
A person lifts his head up. He turns off the blowtorch puts it down and lifts up his goggles
Person: Hey there little sister.
He says in a good humor way similar to how Shadow greets people. He has curly brownish/blondish hair, he's not as buff as Tom but he's getting there, he's got determine but playful red eyes. Jack is very annoyed now
Jack: Mark what are you doing here? Are you here because Tom doesn't trust me to work on a Gundam by myself?
Mark smiles ignoring the rude way she asks the question
Mark: Chill sis, I didn't even know you were going to be working on this Gundam today.
Jack calms down as common sense kicks in
Jack: Oh, so why are you here?
Mark shrugs and says casually
Mark: I always work on a Basic Original Gundam whenever they come in.
Mark turns around and begins to mess around with some wires inside the hole he cut away with the blowtorch. Jack hands him a tool
Jack: I don't get it. The Basic Original Gundam is so boring, it's got nothing new to play around with; it's all just the Basic systems.
Mark looks up and grins at Jack
Mark: I suppose one could say it like that.
Jack eyes him
Jack: And how would you say it?
Mark's grin turns into a full blown smile
Mark: A mechanic’s dream!
Jack is surprise
Jack: Huh?
Mark smile never leaves his face
Mark: A true mechanic shouldn't just be interested in playing around and understanding the new technology, he should be trying to create his own systems and blueprints for a Gundam and what better Gundam to test these new systems and blueprints on then
Jack smiling at Mark's enthusiastic views finishes it for him
Jack: A Basic Original Gundam.
Mark smiles and nods at Jack
Mark: Yup, after all that's what it was design for.
Jack sighs then smiles
Jack: Fine, you can work on this Gundam under my supervision of course.
Mark smile disappears, he's surprise and a little insulted by this statement
Mark: Hey Rookie don't get a big head. Just because I want to work on this Gundam doesn't mean I'll agree to be your lackey!
Jack tick at being called a Rookie responses
Jack: Oh yes you will, because Tom assigned this Gundam to me, and if you want to touch it you need me to sign off on it and don't call me a rookie!
They glare at each other for a moment then Mark breaks out laughing
Mark: Hahahah, alright I give this one to you but only because you're my little sister after all, the future greatest mechanic in the world can't be seen taking orders from a brat.
Jack rolls her eyes
Jack: Not this again.
Mark ignores Jack and goes on
Mark: Someday I'm going to become the greatest mechanic this world has ever seen!
Jack sarcastically says
Jack: Yea right.
Mark grins at her and rubs the top of her head, showing the height difference, and messing up her hair
Mark: Hey brat, don't make fun of my dream!
The flashback ends with Mark laughing and Jack pushing his hand off her head. We come back to the present; Jack is still smoothing out the metal on the right arm of Nightwing.
Jack (I was such a rookie back then.)
Jack turns off the blowtorch and puts it into one of her pockets on her jacket. She lifts up her goggles, and looks closely at the spot she had been working on. It's still glowing red from the heat but we can see it's perfectly smooth.
Jack: Not a bad job if I say so myself.
The camera turns back to Shadow and co. Cagalli has manage to get Roxas off her. Roxas is on the ground scratching her head with her hands like a cat. Kenny turns to Shadow
Kenny: Wait a minute I just realize we haven't asked you yet how your search went for a mechanic.
All eyes turn to Shadow, he grins
Shadow: I found one.
Cagalli, Kenny, and Nick: What!
Cagalli: How come you didn't say something before?
Cagalli is very annoyed by Shadow holding out on them
Shadow: Don't be jealous of my mad skills Cagalli.
Cagalli very tick off now snaps
Cagalli: Who would be jealous of you!
Nick cuts in the middle of the two
Nick: Shadow where is this mechanic now?
Shadow points to Nightwing then yells
Shadow: Jack! Get down here!
Jack's head suddenly pops up from Nightwing. She jumps down and heads towards Shadow
Kenny: So Shadow what's he like?
Roxas start jumping up and down excited
Roxas: Is he buff, does he have muscles coming out of muscles; is he rough and manly looking?
Shadow is not sure how to answer the questions.
Shadow: Ummm well
While they're talking Jack walks up to them annoyed about being interrupted.
Jack: What do you want?
Kenny, Roxas, Cagalli, and Nick look at Jack surprise
Kenny: Um, who is this?
Shadow smiles
Shadow: Everyone I want you to meet Jack. Jack this is everyone.
Jack is still annoyed about being interrupted, but she's also thrown off guard by meeting these new people.
Jack: Um, hi.
She says awkwardly, Kenny still stun ask
Kenny: Wait you're Jack?
Jack not sure what's going on
Jack: Um, yea.
Cagalli: Short for Jackie?
Jack is now very annoyed most likely because she's been ask this question before, many times before.
Jack: No, just Jack.
Kenny breaks out laughing
Kenny: hahahaha, that's a guy's name.
Jack takes a wrench out of one of her pockets and whacks Kenny in the head with it. Kenny spins once then crumbles to the ground unconscious, Shadow, Nick, Cagalli, and Roxas are very surprise. Jack looks at them still pissed
Jack: Anyone else have something to say about my name!
Jack says threateningly, they shake their heads
Jack: Good!
Shadow moves right along as if nothing happen
Shadow: Anyway the person you just knocked out is Kenny, that's Cagalli, Nick, and Roxas.
He points to each of them in turn, Cagalli and Nick wave at her but it's clear that they're intimidated by her, Roxas however sighs.
Roxas: She's not my type.
Jack not sure what she means
Jack: Um, what?
Cagalli however snaps
Cagalli: Roxas is that all you think about!
Roxas ignores Cagalli, and jumps up once again hugging her
Roxas: But it's alright I still have my Cagalli!
Cagalli once again struggles to get Roxas off.
Cagalli: Get off me!
While there doing that Shadow turns to Nick and asks.
Shadow: Hey, Nick do you think you can take Kenny and get him some ice for that bump on his head.
Nick nods as if this is something he does every day
Nick: Sure, mate.
Nick picks up Kenny and begins to walk away. Cagalli still pushing Roxas off turns to Shadow concern
Cagalli: He'll be alright right?
Jack looks at Cagalli annoyed and answers
Jack: Relaxed he'll be up in a couple of hours, I didn't hit him hard enough to damage the skull.
Shadow smiling also adds
Shadow: Don't worry Kenny is use to taking hits like that, remember we come from Slyer.
Cagalli sighs with relief, Roxas sees this
Roxas: Aw, you were really worry weren't you; that is so cute!
Roxas goes to hug Cagalli even tighter. Cagalli is struggling now to keep Roxas off her; Jack watches this for a moment then turns around and begins to walk toward Nightwing
Jack: If that's all, I need to get back to work weird-ohs.
Shadow chases after her
Shadow: Oh come on I just wanted you to meet my Gundam Team.
Jack stops surprise then looks back at the "Team"
Jack: You're a Gundam Team?
Shadow smiles and puffs out his chest with pride
Shadow: Yup
Jack unbelieving asks
Jack: So where are your teammates Gundams?
Shadow deflates, embarrass by the answer
Shadow: Um, well they don't have one yet.
Jack now looks at Shadow skeptically
Jack: A Gundam Team with only one Gundam?
Shadow gets defensive
Shadow: Well we're a new team just starting out so we don't quite have all the things we need to actually participate in an official Gundam Fight.
Jack isn't impressed
Jack: No kidding, call me whenever that happens.
She says the last statement sarcastically implying she doesn't think they will ever be a Gundam Team. Jack turns around and starts to walk away when Shadow grabs her shoulder stopping her. She turns to look at him surprised, Shadow has a very serious look on his face
Shadow: Don't doubt my dream.
Shadow doesn't raise his voice, but the serious way he says this surprises Jack. Jack is wide eye when she asks
Jack: Dream?
Shadow smile once again returns
Shadow: My Dream is to become the Greatest Gundam Fighter this world has ever seen!
He shouts out, some people turn to look at him surprise but they continue to walk away ignoring him. Jack is very surprise, we hear Mark inside Jack's head.
Jack (Mark: My dream is to become the Greatest Mechanic this world has ever seen!)
Shadow waves his hand in Jack's face
Shadow: God, what is with people spacing out today?
Jack blinks, shakes her head then snaps at Shadow
Jack: Will you leave me alone so I can get back to work!
She storms off, leaving a stun Shadow
Shadow: What I do?
We cut outside to see the sun set, we cut back inside to see Kenny slowly wake up. He's set up against a wall near Nightwing. He groans as he regains his senses
Kenny: What hit me?
Shadow is standing nearby he smiles kindly at Kenny
Kenny: Good morning sleeping beauty.
Roxas is curl up in a ball similar to a dog on the wall a little bit away from the others. She has her eyes close but she answers him anyways.
Roxas: A wrench and the fury of a woman scorn.
Kenny remembers
Kenny: Oh, that.
Nick is standing leaning against the wall on the other side of Kenny. He chuckles a little
Nick: hehehe, like they say mate, Hell have no fury like a woman scorn.
Kenny begins rubbing the back of his head where Jack hit him.
Kenny: I didn't know she take it so bad.
Cagalli is sitting down on the other side of Nick. She's put her Guan dao on her lap so it's not in her way when she leans against the wall.
Cagalli: Well at least you know not to make fun of her name.
Kenny moans in pain again
Kenny: And it only cost me a lump on the head the size of a mountain.
Shadow grins at Kenny and lightly kicks his legs
Shadow: Come on, you got bigger bruises then that in Slyer.
Kenny laughs a little
Kenny: haha, yea right, so how long have I been out?
Shadow shrugs
Shadow: Only a couple of hours.
Jack walks up to them. Kenny slides a little further down afraid of her.
Jack: So he's awake.
She says to Shadow eyeing Kenny coldly. Shadow smiles seeming to not notice the tension
Shadow: Yup, how's Nightwing?
Jack turns to Shadow confused
Jack: Nightwing?
Shadow nods his head
Shadow: Yea, my Gundam.
Jack: You name your Gundam Nightwing?
Jack asks like he's an idiot, Shadow is offended
Shadow: Nightwing is a great name!
Jack holds up her hands
Jack: Fine, whatever. I need you to come with me to test out "Nightwing's" new systems.
Shadow is excited
Shadow: Did you finish him!
Jack has turn around and started to walk towards Nightwing
Jack: I only finish the right arm.
Shadow is a little disappointed
Shadow: Oh
He looks at the others. Roxas, Cagalli, and Nick seem to have fallen asleep, and Kenny is rubbing the back of his head.
Shadow: Kenny, you'll be alright keeping watch right?
Kenny looks up at Shadow and smiles
Kenny: You're kidding right, with this huge lump on my head I doubt I could get to sleep even if I wanted to.
Shadow nods his head, turns and goes after Jack. Jack is at a computer terminal, the computer terminal has a glove that goes up the length of the arm. She points to it as she says
Jack: Put that on.
Shadow does as Jack asks, the moment he puts the glove on his arm it starts to glow with the red line appearing (Think back to the Gundam Fight with the Warden, how his Pilot suit glow with red lines when the NS system activated) Shadow's muscles in his arm start involuntary flexing. He yelps more in surprise than pain, he then grits his teeth in pain, and glares at Jack. Jack is unconcern
Jack: Don't worry that's just a remote arm simulator for the NS system, its use in the final tests on Gundams that only need their limbs repair.
The NS system activates fully, which means the pain stops. Shadow calms down then says in a joking way.
Shadow: Man you could warn a guy first.
Jack moves along in a businessman way
Jack: Anyway I won't bother you with terms you don't understand but to cut a long story short, I increased the mobility and the power of the right arm.
Shadow gets excited
Shadow: Really?
Unfortunately Shadow forgets he has the NS system on. He clenches his hands into fist and brings them to his side, but because his right arm has the NS system on, Nightwing's right arm copies his movement hitting its own body. Jack gets very angry
Jack: You moron! Only your right arm has the NS system on so be careful!
When she says you moron, she hits him with her wrench, not as hard as she hits Kenny but enough that it hurt.
Shadow: Ow!
He goes to rub the spot she hit but once again he uses his right arm causing Nightwing to bash itself in the head.
Jack: Idiot! What did I just tell you! I thought you said you piloted this thing before!
Jack yells at him, Shadow is getting annoyed
Shadow: Look its different when the whole body doesn't have the NS system on!
Jack gets impatient
Jack: Will you just flex your arm!
Shadow doesn't get it
Shadow: Flex my arm?
Jack sighs
Jack: You know to get a feel for the new mobility and power adjustments.
Shadow gets it now
Shadow: Oh
Shadow turns to face Nightwing his face takes on a surprisingly focus look. He lifts up his arm Nightwing copies, he begins to flex each one of his fingers one at a time, Nightwing copies, he tense the muscles in his fingers, Nightwing copies, he moves each one of his fingers in a circular motion, Nightwing copies.
As he's doing this Jack is also looking intensely at Nightwing and Shadow, periodically she types something down on something that looks like a small PDA. They're both so focus on the task that they fail to see Tom come up and stand behind them. He has a look of surprise on his face
Tom (A common mistake most beginner Gundam Pilots make is to not check the flexibility of their Gundam, relying on the Gundam's power, speed and armor they just assume that the Gundam will be able to follow all of their movements but that's incorrect.
If the joints aren't properly maintain or are installed wrong it can severely limit the Gundam's movement; forcing the pilot to make unnecessary movements to compensate, and this will lower the overall performance of the Gundam. I don't know how many times I've seen rookie pilots drop their weapons during a fight because they fail to check the joints on their Gundam's fingers.)
While Tom's thinking this Shadow finishes checking the fingers. He clenches his hand into a fist and begins to move it in circle, Nightwing copies, Shadow smiles as he says
Shadow: This is incredible; you did an awesome job on increasing the flexibility!
He begins punching the air, Nightwing copies. Jack smiles
Jack: Of course and this is only one arm, wait into I finish the whole thing.
Shadow still rapidly punching the air
Shadow: Oh man I can't wait!
Tom choose this moment to make his presences known
Tom: Say kid did Drake tell you to check the flexibility of your Gundam like that?
Both Jack and Shadow turn around surprise,
Shadow: Um, No, Why?
Tom shrugs trying to pass this off as no big deal. Shadow's fool, but Jack is looking at Tom closely. Shadow is still moving around his arm testing the range of mobility.
Tom: Oh No reason, it's just unusual for a Gundam pilot to check that right off the bat.
Shadow: Oh, well you see when I was in my last Gundam Fight; when I was holding my beam saber I notice that my fingers wouldn't close all the way.
Shadow takes out his sword and shows them, Nightwing copies his grip without the sword. Jack nods her head
Jack (Not surprising with what I found, the finger joints clearly hadn't been look at in a while. It was to the point where I had to change out several of the parts and rebuild them from scratch.)
Shadow continues
Shadow: So I had to compensate by tightening the grip with my thumb, which was fine since I didn't have to use my beam saber for long.
Shadow demonstrates, Tom nods his head in understanding
Tom: But in a long lasting fight your thumb will get tired much more quickly causing you to drop you beam saber, and you figure all this out after one fight?
Shadow is a little embarrass
Shadow: Well it wasn't until I started using an actual sword that I notice it.
Tom nods his head impressed,
Jack: You can take the glove off now.
Jack hits a switch and the NS glow deactivates. Nightwing's arm drops down to its side, Shadow is focus on Nightwing so he doesn't notice Cagalli and the others walking up to him.
Cagalli: Are you done yet!
She seems highly annoyed. Roxas looks like she's sleep walking, she's even standing on two legs. Nick has his hat down low to cover his red tired eyes, and Kenny is still rubbing the lump on his head.
Cagalli: In case you can't tell we're all exhausted, and with the noise in this place we can't get a wink of sleep.
Shadow looks at her and smiles too happy to care about her rudeness
Shadow: As a matter of fact we are.
Cagalli is a little surprise by his attitude, Shadow goes on
Shadow: I Shadow Zoomarey, Leader of the
He pauses for a moment thinking, he turns to Kenny
Shadow: Hey Kenny remind me later to think of a name for our Gundam Team.
Kenny still rubbing his head
Kenny: Yea, whatever.
Shadow goes on
Shadow: Anyway, I have decided that Jack Coldback is to be our Gundam Team's mechanic!
He shouts and points to Jack, surprised all eyes turn to Jack who is the most surprised, but she regains her composer.
Jack: No.
Shadow is thrown off guard. Apparently nowhere in his mind had he consider her refusing
Shadow: HUH?
Jack sighs
Jack: Look I'll finish repairs on your Gundam tomorrow, however after that I'm done. I don't want to be a part of your Gundam Team.
Shadow goes to say something but Cagalli cuts him off
Cagalli: Can't we talk about this in the morning; I need to find a place to sleep!
Shadow goes to argue, but Nick cuts in
Nick: I think the Miss is right mate; we need to find a place to recharge first before we worry about any other things.
Roxas half asleep says
Roxas: Not…Nocturnal…need…sleep.
Shadow realizes he's out voted
Shadow: Fine, we'll find a hotel or somewhere to crash at.
Tom starts laughing
Tom: Hhahahahha, Hotel, hhahhahah, you think there's a hotel in Junk City, hahahahahhahaha.
Kenny, Cagalli, Roxas, Nick: What!
Tom calms down
Tom: What, did you think this city gets many tourists? There aren't any hotels in Junk City.
Kenny trying to suppress his growing panic asks
Kenny: Come on, where do the Gundam pilots sleep when you keep their Gundams overnight?
Tom: Normally on their ships.
Tom points to what appears to be the battleship section of the Warehouse
Roxas: Can't we just sleep outside again?
Nick shakes his head
Nick: Way to dangerous, especially if they think we have money.
They all start thinking, Tom steps forward and puts a hand on Jack's shoulder.
Tom: Why don't you stay at Jack's place?
Jack turns to Tom shocked an annoyed
Jack: What! You can't just go an offer my place without my permission.
Tom eyes Jack coolly
Tom: Just like you need permission from a pilot to work on certain systems.
Jack steps back and looks away
Jack: Oh, Josh told you about that.
Tom: Now Jack do you think there is anything in my Warehouse that I don't know about?
Jack doesn't answer but keeps her head down
Tom: Anyway you can consider this as punishment.
Jack still not ready to give in
Jack: Don't you think you're overstepping your boundaries?
Tom says in a very serious voice
Tom: It's either this or you're fired.
Jack flips out
Jack: What? For one incident!
Tom yells back
Tom: For three and that's only for this week!
Jack realizes he's right
Jack: Oh
Jack struggles to think of something but she fails
Jack: Alright.
Jack says reluctantly Roxas jumps up
Roxas: Yes!
Jack pissed storms off; Roxas, Cagalli, Nick and Kenny follow her. Shadow goes to follow her to but Tom grabs his arm, confused Shadow turns to look at him.
Tom: Hold on a minute kid, I want to talk to you.
Shadow: Ok what?
Tom looks Shadow straight in the eye
Tom: You should pick another mechanic to be on your Gundam Team.
Shadow narrows his eyes
Shadow: Why is that?
Tom seems to grow in size and glares down at Shadow
Tom: Because I said so.
He doesn't raise his voice but there's defiantly an edge to it. He steps closer to Shadow glaring down at him, but Shadow doesn't back down.
Shadow: No.
He says it with the same quiet edge as Tom. They continue to stare at each other, it can only be describe as a battle of wills, and then Tom sighs.
Tom: You have a better chance of stopping the sun setting than you do talking Jack into joining your team.
He turns around and walks away but he calls out over his shoulder.
Tom: You should also know that she's got a history.
Shadow: A history of what?
He calls out, Tom doesn't answer Shadow. Shadow watches Tom walk away.
Shadow (You can talk all you want Tom but Jack Coldback will be my Gundam Team's mechanic)
The episode ends with Shadow‘s eyes taking on a determine look.