In his office, looking through some notes on his computer, Chairman Hiroto is looking up the progress and info of all the students in the program. Six of them stood out from the rest however, they were Dani Hitashi, Alexis Vol, Kasumi Arashi, Rou Gernot, Alex Taylor, and Sakuya Kawashiro. Each profile had a head shot, some basic info, and stats, much like those seen in info of contestants in the Tournaments.

The door opens up as Instructor Satsuki enters in: "Well we managed to fix that little glitch in the system. The new models should be ready for mass production after a few more tests."

Hiroto responds: "That's excellent news. And how are all the students holding out?"

Satsuki replies as he walks up to the shelf behind the Chairman which had several photos: "Each one of them have shown plenty of improvement since they first came here. But I've seen more improvement in..."

Hiroto takes six photos that he was looking at: "These six, right?"

Satsuki nods as he places down a photo that shows both himself, the chairman, and one boy with a dark colored modified Reborns Gundam.

Hiroto closly examines each one of the six students: "I remember when Gunpla was still just starting up, and now look at how it's evolved."

Satsuki: "It has been quite a while. You really were something during the first tournament "Bull of Japan".

Hiroto chuckles: "Ah those were the days. But seeing the next generation, it really makes me proud."

Satsuki: "Though there's still plenty to learn."

Hiroto starts thinking: "What is the next plan you have come up with?" He asks as he looks at the six photos...

Chapter 3: Teamwork

It was a beautiful day today. The weather wasn't too hot, there was a light breeze, and a few clouds in the sky. Though they had suspended battles for the day, they had put some work tables so if people wanted to work outside on their models and get some fresh air they could. The buses were going to become available a little later today. Most students were outside, enjoying the weather, talking, working, ect. And some were getting a little help on their physical needs, including Alex. Instructor Johnson doubled as a coach, and was helping some students with improving their bodies so they can last longer in battles. Something Alex was gonna need since he was in the back of the small group.

Johnson calls out to the huffing Alex: "Come on Taylor! You won't last long in battles if you don't work hard!"

Alex: "Give... me... a... break! I never had to do this unless it was Gym, or when i'm running late for class!"

"Battle Ended" The Battle system said as the casual match Alexis had been ended in a draw.

It had been a battle between a six armed Burning/God Gundam, and a Custom Unicorn Gundam. It'd been a good match, pretty much from the start with both fighters demonstrating a decent amount of skill at the controls, enough to make the fight fun to watch anyway. Unlike her fight with Alex though, this one ended in a double KO, with a shot from the Unicorns Beam Magnum going between a pair of ranged 'Burning/God Fingers' resulting in both Gunpla being taken out at the same time.

Was kind of a shame they'd been totaled, she liked both builds, the custom Burning/God Gundam looked as though it had more then a little Sazabi in there, While the Unicorn looked like it had mostly original molded parts in the chest, shoulder armor, forearms, lower legs and in the head and crest.

Sakuya sighed as she ran unsure on why she even signed up for this "exercise" course. She wasn't out of shape easily keeping up with the coach's demands. Still if one thing was to be taken from this she got a sight she probably wouldn't forget anytime soon seeing supposed champ in Alex huffing for breath was a interesting sight she never knew he was that out of shape. Still she supposed promising to meet up with Alexis again after going through a bit of the plans she still was stuck at what to do. But one thing was for sure she will get a match using her normal gunplas. Nothing like the whole "straight build" fights she has been pushed into and while she understood where they were getting from she believed in the end it was more harm than good for some people.

Johnson responds: "But we've been only going for a mile so far. We still got two more miles to go!"

Alex's heart nearly sinks: "TWO?!"

Johnson: "You want to be a tougher fighter, then you got to be in better shape than that. It's more than just the quality of the model to become a winner."

Rou walked along the aisles of the office supply store, tossing random bags on rubber bands, coin batteries, copper wires, ink pens, and metal alligator clips into a hand basket. He had some strong theories about what some of these items could do on the field, he just needed a gunpla to test them. He went to the rather large gunpla store down the street and browsed. What mobile suit would effectively hold and utilize all these contraptions? Rou reached the HGUC section. He wasn't much of a UC fan at all, but one particular gunpla caught his attention. The HG Unicorn Banshee Normal. It was one of his all time favorites. Rou vastly preferred the streamlined look of the normal mode Unicorns. Along aide it was a Stark Jegan. The larger limbs would definitely help hold onto his test weapons. He snatched it up, checked out, and rushed home.

The group continues to jog, which takes them to the courtyard that's outside the facility. Johnson turns around and tells the group: "Alright everyone, let's rest up before we finish the last mile and a half."

Alex sighs in relief: "Thank good..."

But that's when Johnson calls out to Alex: "Taylor, i want you to be jogging in place!"

Alex was shocked: "Say what?!"

Johnson explains: "You were too far behind from the others today. Now start jogging in place, or everyone else will need to do another mile."

Some of the group started to complain and give very angry looks over to Alex.

@Suku Alex sighs and starts jogging in place. He was nearby Sakuya and mentions to her: "This has got to be cruel unreasonable punishment."

Rou got off of the town bus and spotted Alex and Sakuya breathing heavily and exercising. Suckers. Rou sat down under a shady tree and sifted through the various office supplies to support his theories. As clunky and goofy as they would look on a gunpla, they were some of the best components for Rou to test in the field.

Dani rolled up as the match finished between the two that Alexis was watching. "Sorry if it seems like i've latched onto you. You're just easy to talk to for me." Dani commented, then sipping on an orange soda in her lap. She had block sitting next to it. "Both of those gunpla were impressive, we're really surrounded by world class talent here. Yourself included." the girl said to alexis.

"It's fine, we're room mates, it's kinda expected, that said, your wrong, if I was 'world class', I'd made it to the 'big show' by now." She said as the two fights collected the remains of their Gunpla and swore that next time it wouldn't be a draw. "I can fight, and I know all kinds of tricks to bring a straight build up to a performance level enjoyed by some custom jobs, but even then I can barely crack the top 16 in the US circuit."

"I said we're surrounded by world class talent. These labs don't take in just any old schmuck to train. You beat out myself and my IQ sits at 175, that's nothing to scoff at." Dani said looking at her. She was concerned about Alexis's self esteem level and what she thought about her skill. "And to stop you from asking why i'm not solving world hunger or getting humanity into space faster or some other shit that people with high IQ's are usually known for, i realized a long time ago that even with a mental capacity and potential such as my own, i shouldn't waste time on things that don't make me happy. I'm still a kid and i know that i won't be this age forever, so i should enjoy it while i can instead of studying to get into somewhere that'll just drown me in more school work, which i don't enjoy and posses a rather large hatred for." she said with a giggle, but shook it off.
"You are good, you just need to believe in yourself and that you can get better. I see it in you, hell, i see us fighting on the world stage at one point." the girl said with a smile while looking up at her. "So if you don't try to improve yourself and i don't see you at that tournament next year, you'll have to live with that fact you were beaten by a cripple who's a highschool dropout." she said with a joking tone, trying to suppress her giggling.

Alexis shook her head "It's not a matter of 'believing in myself', it's a matter of ability verses preference." she said as she took her Exia out and looked at it. "I know I could build something great, and perfectly capable of getting me to the world stage, but I'd have to give up the kind of battle I get the most fulfillment out of to do it." she said as she set Exia down on the flat part of the railing. "I know 'we' can't continue like this" clearly meaning her and Exia with her use of 'we' "I can see the limits of the 'sleeper' build coming up fast, so I need to do something to stay competitive, I just donno what."

"He means well" Sakuya stated as she started to do stretches keeping in shape was something she was used to. Though she wasn't top shape she wasn't gasping for breath or out of breath really. "Still it does your body good to get into shape the teacher is right there are some people who are so absorbed into the battle they somehow receive some injuries as the gunpla." She continued she saw that happen once it was a odd case but they were still battling so it couldn't have been overly serious though it was still a interesting concept. Finishing up her stretches she toweled off her sweat from her face before leaning back waiting for the "coach" to dismiss them. After this she thought she would try to finish designs for a system for her Seravee. The idea itself just came to her but what she was planning on a system similar in nature the to "gates" used by the build strike of Sei Iori. Her plan was to use the energy gathered from shots to build up a burst of energy similar in nature to the twin satellite cannon from the double x but rather powered by energy gathered from absorbed shots. Though rather that gave her an idea why not tweak the back cannons of her Seravee to also function as a twin satellite cannon.

"Want help designing something that fits your preference and expands your abilities? because it's not impossible to have both." she said to the female, looking up at her. "I've designed block to be my only real need until something beats it, which to be fair, satsuki came close, but i just barely beat him." she said, a soft smile on her face as her gunpla looked like new.

Alexis shrugged "My preference is 'Exia', pretty much. By that I mean the weapons and systems. It's just the prefect representation of how I prefer to fight, unlike the 'monsters' I usually come up with on my own, which are cool an all but kinda fall into the category of 'something I've no interest in using', but I normally pitch those, the one I still have I only kept cause I like how it looks." Alexis sighed and thought a moment.

"You think part of my problem could be I'm to 'comfortable' with how I'm fighting and I just don't 'want' to change?" She asked, while remembering what Sakuya said about pushing boundary's.

"Well... you don't want to change. That's what i did, i loved fast and agile suits and i let my anger get the best of me, so i built Block to prove a point and now i can't really change it since i've kinda grown to love him. You saw how degraded my skills are with bi-pedal because of it." she explained. "You just need to tweak yourself, and if you like exia so much, why not use that as a base for a custom?" she asked Alexis, tilting her head slightly.

"Actually, Exia is the base for that one design, besides, you don't need legs in space or in the air, which, if you'll recall, soon as we actually started shooting each other, my Strike Freedom wasn't really on the ground so much as hovering." Alexis replied as she thought about some of her recent battles before flying to Japan. "No, I need to change, I've had to many close calls of late because the other guy had the range advantage."

Alexis collected Exia and started off. "Thanks Dani, I'm a go talk to our 'straight build' class instructor, see if I can swap from Wing Zero to something else, something that'll help me grow as a fighter."

@SukuAlex continued jogging in place as he comments: "Injuries to the fighter that are the same as the Gunpla? I've never heard of that happening. Though... *was thinking of a time he was feeling a little pain during a battle* ... nah, never mind. The only weird thing that happened to me was when those particles were coming from below me in the cockpit during my last match in the tournament."

Alexis walked down the halls toward the class room for the 'straight build' class and turned into the class room, to find it looked as though the class had just let out for now, with the professor in question there doing a bit of post class work.

"Hey, I gotta question. Can I change my suit for this class to another one?"

Rou stood up under the tree and walked towards Alex and Sakuya, who were both moderately sweaty. "Hey you. Why are you guys out here running? Its hotter than a beam saber out here." Rou crinkled the shopping bags with his hands nervously. He had grown used to Alex and was comfortable talking to him. Sakuya was another story. Rou had only conversed with her that one morning and had rarely seen her since.

@FerriteFoxAlex was still forced to jog in place before they would go to finish the other mile and a half: "Hey, it's not like i wanted to on this day, I wanted to take it easy, but according to instructor Johnson over there, that's the way that'll leave you to a weaker body, unfit for Gunpla battling in the pros. And you know what, doing all of this is giving me a new drive... to not fall behind and have everyone hate me."

Just then, Johnson calls out: "Alright people! Let's finish up that mile and a half! Taylor, I don't expect you to fall behind this time."

And with that, everyone heads out. Poor Alex though was still falling a bit behind. He sure was being pushed beyond the limits his body can handle.



@Lunar Templar Instructor Ran was in the room when Alexis came in to ask for the switch and he asks: "Change your Gunpla? Let's see... *he looks up in the records on his computer* Oh Miss Voll. You are using the Wing Zero Gundam EW model, am I right?"



*Later that afternoon*

Alex had caught up with Rou again after all the exersise for the morning at the same tree Rou came to earlier before. Alex however was flat on the ground on the other side of the tree and catching his breath. He had a few snack Onigiri with him that he got from the Lunch hour at the mess hall. He hadn't however gotten a chance yet at starting with them as he was talking: "I don't know how much longer i can go on with this Rou. At this rate, i'll still be too tired to even battle in Gunpla Battles... let alone lift my arms..."