Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament ❯ Level 1, Match 14 ( Chapter 19 )

Episode 19

Level 1, Match 14

Written By
Mark Moore

Ireland has defeated China and remains in the tournament. Now, attention shifts to the next match.

Sunday, November 4, 2007, 4:52 PM, Eastern Daylight Time

The United States military base where the Gundam was being tested was Aznable Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The Gundam was in a hangar.

Lunamaria Hawke, the Gundam's test pilot, was sitting in the cockpit, which was located in the Gundam's chest area.

Emma Sheen stood on the platform adjacent to the cockpit, watching Lunamaria. Standing at consoles on the platform were Nina Purpleton and Lucette Audevie, the two engineers that had designed the Gundam for the United States Government. They worked for Anaheim Electronics and were currently under military command while on this project. The fourth person on the platform was Relena Peacecraft. She was interested in the proceedings but was primarily there to give moral support to Emma.

"Okay, raise the right arm."

At Nina's request, Lunamaria pulled the lever on her console that controlled the right arm. The arm slowly rose up until it was pointing straight up.

Nina smiled. "Good. Now, make a fist."

Lunamaria pressed the right fist button. The Gundam's right hand closed into a fist.

Nina nodded. "Good!"

"I think she can take a break for a while. I'd like to set up a test of the Gundam's flight duration."

Nina nodded. "Agreed, Lucette. Power down, Lunamaria."

Lunamaria opened the Gundam's hand, lowered its arm, and shut off the Gundam. The blue glow in the Gundam's eyes disappeared.

Lunamaria got out of the cockpit.

Nina looked at Emma. "I'll get some engineers to clear the area."

"How long will that take?" Emma asked her.

"Maybe a half-hour."

Murrue Ramius, Emma's superior officer, walked into the hangar.

Emma and Lunamaria saluted her. "Captain!"

"At ease. How's the Gundam coming along, Nina?"

"Pretty well. We're going to test the Gundam's flight duration. I'm getting engineers to clear the area."

"I guess you were so caught up in your work that you forgot about the time. Match 14 is going to start soon."

Nina smiled. "Thanks for reminding us. Let's go to my house to watch it. I'll cook dinner."

Murrue smiled. "Sounds good."

Emma, Relena, Murrue, and Lunamaria gathered in the living room in Nina and Lucette's house and took their seats.

Nina and Lucette, each carrying a tray with three large glasses filled with cola, walked into the living room. The other four women each took a glass. Nina and Lucette set the trays on the table, each took a glass, and sat down.

Nina turned on the television.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Level 1, Match 14, of the First Gundam Tournament. We're here live in front of the Vaishnava Jagannath temple in Puri. Allow me to introduce myself to those of you watching at home. My name is Bright Noa. I am the commentator for this tournament. Today's match is India versus Zambia. The Indian pilot is Pratibha Singh. The Zambian pilot is Levy Chiluba. India's Gundam - the brown one - is 21 meters tall, 1 meter of which is taken up by the head. It is armed with a beam rifle. Zambia's Gundam - the black one - is 22 meters tall, 0.5 meters of which is taken up by the head. It is armed with a beam rifle. The match is about to begin."

"Fight!" a simulated male voice declared over a speaker.

Pratibha moved his Gundam forward and punched Zambia's Gundam with its right fist. Zambia's Gundam was knocked back a bit.

Levy made his Gundam jump into the air, then he fired at India's Gundam with the beam rifle in its left hand. The shots hit India's Gundam repeatedly.

Pratibha fired at Zambia's Gundam repeatedly with the beam rifle in his Gundam's left hand. The shots hit Zambia's Gundam repeatedly.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of Zambia's Gundam declared.

"Take that!" Pratibha yelled.

"Take this!" Levy yelled.

Levy fired his Gundam's beam rifle repeatedly, hitting India's Gundam over and over again.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of India's Gundam declared.

"You won't do that again!" Pratibha exclaimed.

Pratibha kicked Zambia's Gundam ten times with his Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of Zambia's Gundam declared.

Levy kicked India's Gundam repeatedly with his Gundam's left leg.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of India's Gundam declared.

Pratibha fired his Gundam's beam rifle. Levy activated his Gundam's thrusters and flew his Gundam into the sky, dodging the blast.

Levy fired his Gundam's beam rifle repeatedly at India's Gundam, hitting it repeatedly.

"Checkmate!" the simulated male voice of India's Gundam declared.

Pratibha's Gundam fell backwards.

"Well done! Glory to the winner!" the simulated male voice declared over a speaker.

"Damn it!" Pratibha exclaimed. "How could this happen?!"

"And there you have it. Zambia has beaten India. This is quite a surprise. India is out of the competition, but it is allowed to assist another nation of its choice. Zambia moves on to Level 2. There will be more coverage on your evening news. Thank you for joining us."

Nina turned off the television.

"We've got some time before the evening news begins. I'll make dinner now." Nina stood up.

Lucette stood up. "I'll help you."

Nina and Lucette collected the empty glasses, placed them on the trays, and carried them into the kitchen.

Nina placed one whole chicken each in three rotisseries, closed the doors, plugged the rotisseries into outlets, and set the timer on each of them.

Lucette quickly washed the glasses and set them to dry.

The women walked back into the living room.

They took their seats.

The evening news came on.

Peter Jenkins, the lead anchor, was sitting at his desk in New York City.

"Good evening, everyone. The fourteenth match of the first level of the First Gundam Tournament was held in front of the Vaishnava Jagannath temple in Puri this afternoon. The participants were India and Zambia. Zambia won. It will move on to Level 2. India, meanwhile, having been eliminated from the tournament, has announced today that it will back the United States in the tournament. We turn to our White House correspondent, Donald Samuelson. Donald, how is the White House reacting to Zambia's victory and India's defeat?"

"Peter, the White House is happy that Zambia won this match, because it did not want India to win. However, it is pleased that India will be supporting us."

"Will the resources of India help the United States?"

"It's possible, Peter, but we really won't know until we see the resulting Gundam in action."

"All right. Donald Samuelson, many thanks. Now for the day's other news."

Nina turned off the television.

"Dinner should be ready." Nina stood up.

The rest of the women stood up as well.

Nina opened the rotisseries and took out the chickens. She placed them on plates. She unplugged the rotisseries.

Nina and Lucette took the plates to the table and sat down with the other women.

Each woman took a chicken leg, a chicken wing, and half of a chicken breast; placed them on her own plate; and started eating.

"What do you think of the match?" Murrue asked.

Emma swallowed a piece of chicken. "I'm surprised that India lost. Its Gundam was impressive."

Relena laughed. "I think it surprised everyone."

Lunamaria smiled. "I think it was just dumb luck. Zambia's Gundam isn't that good. They'll be eliminated in Level 2."

Murrue smiled in amusement. "You seem confident."

Nina looked at Lucette. "I look forward to analyzing India's Gundam."

Lucette considered that for a moment. "Yeah. We need to get them over here as soon as possible."

Murrue frowned. "I'll call them tonight. Once we finish dinner, let's go back to base and run some simulations."

The women entered the simulation room in the base.

Emma got into the simulator. "Okay, I'm ready."

Murrue made some selections on the computer console. "Using the battle data that was sent to us from today's match, I'm going to program the drone to be a combination of our, Australia's, Niger's, Kuwait's, the United Kingdom's, Turkey's, Poland's, Russia's, Iran's, Austria's, Israel's, Venezuela's, Lebanon's, France's, Iraq's, Jordan's, Egypt's, Spain's, Syria's, Italy's, Yemen's, Germany's, Saudi Arabia's, Japan's, China's, Ireland's, India's, and Zambia's Gundams. If you can beat this, it won't be a guarantee of victory in your next match, but it should boost your confidence. Okay, try this."

The screens inside the simulator turned on. They displayed a city street at night. Skyscrapers appeared to Emma's left. A drone of Emma's Gundam appeared in front of her.

"Fight!" the simulator's male voice declared.

Emma moved her Gundam forward. She swung the left arm at the drone. The drone jumped and avoided the attack. Emma jumped and fired her beam rifle. The blasts hit the drone repeatedly. Emma then kicked the drone three times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

Emma knew that she had caused damage to the drone. She activated her Gundam's thrusters and flew the Gundam into the sky. She fired at the drone with her beam rifle.

"Not enough power!"

Emma's Gundam landed back on the street. The Gundam didn't have enough power for long flights and had to recharge.

The drone came at Emma and kicked her Gundam five times with its left leg. Emma punched the drone three times with her Gundam's right fist. Then she kicked it six times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

Emma knew that she was close to victory. She kicked the drone ten times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Checkmate!"

The drone fell down.

"Well done! Glory to the winner!"

The simulation ended. The screens went black.

Emma got out of the simulator.

Murrue smiled. "Pretty good, Emma."

Nina looked at the statistics on her screen. "Your reflexes are pretty good."

Lucette looked at the statistics as well. "So is your strategy."

Emma walked over to them and smiled. "Thanks."

Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament

Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament

In Montreal, Canada, Christina MacKenzie, Reccoa Londe, and Flay Allster sped down a road in Christina's red convertible. They were listening to "Don't Say You Love Me" by M2M on the radio.

They soon arrived at École du Ciel.

Christina parked her convertible in one of the faculty parking spaces.

After parking the car and getting out of it, Christina, Reccoa, and Flay walked to the school's entrance. It was a cool Autumn evening. A gentle breeze was blowing.

Christina inhaled the fresh air and exhaled. "I love Autumn so much."

Flay inhaled the fresh air and exhaled. "I love it, too."

Reccoa inhaled the fresh air and exhaled. "I love it, too."

Christina opened the door to one of the buildings and stood aside. Flay walked into the building, Reccoa followed her, and Christina followed her.

They walked down a corridor and over to an office.

Christina knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Christina opened the door and walked into the office. Reccoa followed her. Flay followed and closed the door behind her.

Natarle Badgiruel, Christina's superior officer and the school's dean, was sitting behind her desk.

Une Antonn was sitting in a chair in Natarle's office.

Christina saluted Natarle. "Lieutenant Christina MacKenzie reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease, Lieutenant."

Christina relaxed.

Natarle smiled. "I'll take you three to check in on the Gundam first, then I want you to hit the simulator."

Christina smiled. "Hehe."

Natarle stood up. "Not like that, Chris. Let's go to the hangar."

Christina grinned. "Yes, sir!"

Une stood up. "I think you'll find that the Gundam is coming along quite nicely."

Natarle, Une, Christina, Reccoa, and Flay each submitted to thumbprint and retinal scans outside the hangar. Then Natarle typed in a code on the keypad.

The hangar doors opened.

Natarle, Une, Christina, Reccoa, and Flay walked into the hangar.

The hangar doors closed.

Soon, they arrived at the Gundam.

"So what's been done to it?" Christina asked Natarle.

"Patience, Christina. Miriallia will explain."

Natarle, Une, Christina, Reccoa, and Flay walked into the elevator. Natarle pressed Up, and the elevator rose. It stopped at the chest area, and the five women got out of the elevator.

Miriallia Haw, the Gundam's head engineer and communications officer, was standing at a console. Standing with her was Stella Loussier. Catherine Bloom was also standing there, staring at the Gundam in fascination.

Miriallia turned to face Natarle and saluted. "Sir!"

"At ease."

Miriallia relaxed.

"How's the Gundam coming along?" Natarle asked.

"Well enough. It'll be ready in time."

"I want you to bring Christina, Reccoa, and Flay up to speed."

"Well, basically, I added more coolant to keep the temperature lower, added another fuel tank to make your flights last longer, and added more armor over vital areas to increase your endurance. It was a bit pricey, but I think it'll pay off when you win your first match."

Christina smiled. "You seem to have a lot of confidence in me, Miriallia."

Miriallia smiled. "Think positively."

"I'll try."

"Stella helped me with the upgrades."

Stella smiled. "I look forward to your first match."

"Will you be ready in time?" Miriallia asked Christina.

"I believe so. I've practiced in the simulator for many hours."

"On your way there now?" Miriallia asked.

Christina smiled. "Of course."

Miriallia turned to face the Gundam. "Asuna! Come on out!"

The Gundam's cockpit, which was located in the chest area, opened, and Asuna Elmarit, the test pilot, got out.

"Asuna, Christina is going in the sim. Let's go and watch her."

Asuna smiled. "Okay."

All of the women walked over to the elevator and rode down to the floor.

Miriallia smiled. "All right, Christina, let's see how you do."

The women entered the simulation room in another building on the campus.

Christina got into the first simulator. "Okay, I'm ready."

Natarle made some selections on the computer console. "Let's try a computer opponent first. Using the battle data that was sent to us from today's match, I'm going to program the drone to be a combination of our, Australia's, Niger's, Kuwait's, the United Kingdom's, Turkey's, Poland's, Russia's, Iran's, Austria's, Israel's, Venezuela's, Lebanon's, France's, Iraq's, Jordan's, the United States', Egypt's, Spain's, Syria's, Italy's, Yemen's, Germany's, Saudi Arabia's, Japan's, China's, Ireland's, India's, and Zambia's Gundams. If you can beat this, it won't be a guarantee of victory in your match, but it should boost your confidence. Okay, try this."

The screens inside the simulator turned on. They displayed a dock. The ocean appeared to Christina's left. The drone appeared in front of her. A thunderstorm was approaching. There were dark clouds in the sky. Lightning flashed. Christina heard thunder. There was a light chop to the water.

"Fight!" the simulator's male voice declared.

Christina moved her Gundam forward. She swung the left arm at the drone. The drone jumped and avoided the attack. Christina jumped and fired her beam rifle. The blasts hit the drone repeatedly. Christina then kicked the drone three times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

Christina knew that she had caused damage to the drone. She activated her Gundam's thrusters and flew the Gundam into the sky. She fired at the drone with her beam rifle.

"Not enough power!"

Christina's Gundam landed back on the dock. The Gundam didn't have enough power for long flights and had to recharge.

The chop in the water was now medium.

The drone came at Christina and kicked her Gundam five times with its left leg. Christina punched the drone three times with her Gundam's right fist. Then she kicked it six times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

The chop in the water was now heavy. Water was splashing onto the dock.

Christina knew that she was close to victory. She kicked the drone ten times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Checkmate!"

The drone fell down.

"Well done! Glory to the winner!"

The simulation ended. The screens went black.

Christina got out of the simulator.

Natarle smiled. "Pretty good, Christina."

Miriallia looked at the statistics on her screen. "Your reflexes are pretty good."

Catherine looked at the statistics as well. "So is your strategy."

Christina walked over to them. "I don't know. All that it proves is that I can defeat Australia's, Niger's, Kuwait's, the United Kingdom's, Turkey's, Poland's, Russia's, Iran's, Austria's, Israel's, Venezuela's, Lebanon's, France's, Iraq's, Jordan's, the United States', Egypt's, Spain's, Syria's, Italy's, Yemen's, Germany's, Saudi Arabia's, Japan's, China's, Ireland's, India's, and Zambia's Gundams."

Flay frowned. "She's right. Who knows what the other nations have?"

Asuna gave Emma a cheerful smile. "Don't worry, Christina. The real thing feels just like the simulator. I think you'll be able to use our Gundam to its full potential."

Christina smiled at her. "I wish I was as confident."

"Do you want to try fighting a human opponent?" Miriallia asked.

"Sure."

"Okay, get in."

Christina got into the first simulator. "Okay, I'm ready."

Miriallia made some selections on the computer console. "I switched the program to 2-player mode. Do I have a volunteer?"

Asuna walked over to the second simulator. "I'll try it."

"Okay. Hop in."

Asuna got into the second simulator. "Okay, I'm ready."

The screens inside the simulators turned on. They displayed a dock. The ocean appeared to Christina's left and Asuna's right. A thunderstorm was approaching. There were dark clouds in the sky. Lightning flashed. Christina and Asuna heard thunder. There was a light chop to the water.

"Fight!" the simulator's male voice declared.

Christina moved her Gundam forward. She swung the left arm at Asuna's Gundam. Asuna jumped and avoided the attack. Christina jumped and fired her beam rifle. The blasts hit Asuna's Gundam repeatedly. Christina then kicked Asuna's Gundam three times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

Christina knew that she had caused damage to Asuna's Gundam. She activated her Gundam's thrusters and flew the Gundam into the sky. She fired at Asuna's Gundam with her beam rifle.

"Not enough power!"

Christina's Gundam landed back on the dock. The Gundam didn't have enough power for long flights and had to recharge.

The chop in the water was now medium.

Asuna came at Christina and kicked her Gundam five times with her Gundam's left leg. Christina punched Asuna's Gundam three times with her Gundam's right fist. Then she kicked it three times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Overheating!"

The chop in the water was now heavy. Water was splashing onto the dock.

Christina knew that she was close to victory. She kicked Asuna's Gundam five times with her Gundam's right leg.

"Checkmate!"

Asuna's Gundam fell down.

"Well done! Glory to the winner!"

The simulation ended. The screens went black.

Christina got out of her simulator.

Asuna got out of her simulator.

Asuna smiled. "Pretty good, Christina."

Christina smiled. "Thank you, Asuna. It was fun."

The next match is Denmark versus Brazil. Who will win?

Next on "Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament":

"Level 1, Match 15"

You will race with the tide.