The Mythos' DRAGOONS were not made for function under gravity so it was fortunate for YingJue that her first battle used a space environment, specifically, the debris belt from Gundam Seed. Almost immediately, every gundam found cover and began hiding behind the debris and asteroids, waiting for the others to pop their heads out. YingJue, however, sent her twelve small DRAGOONs out, four to seek out each enemy, while keeping her four large DRAGOONs mounted to her shoulders and back packs. Mythos peeked over the asteroid it was hiding behind and tilted its backpack and shoulder packs forward, pointing all four large DRAGOONs in the same direction and concentrated her fire on a large piece of debris in an attempt to flush out her enemies. This however, gave away her location as an enemy modified Sinanju peeked out from behind a nearby asteroid and began firing missiles at Mythos' asteroid. YingJue shot down missiles with her large DRAGOONs, while the four small ones she had sent off in the direction of the Sinanju zeroed in on him, attacking him from behind. the Sinanju turned around, to defend against both the DRAGOONs behind him and Mythos Gundam itself. YingJue landed a few good hits on the Sinanju, but multiple lasers came firing down unexpectedly on the Sinanju, damaging it heavily and disabling it, removing the Sinanju from the competition. YingJue looked up to see a modified Freedom Gundam, its plasma cannons, rail cannons, and beam rifle, still firing downwards, its special targeting system allowing it to destroy the four DRAGOONs YingJue had used to harass the Sinanju. Seeing that the Freedom could essentially take out all of her DRAGOONs, thus crippling her firepower, she called back the four that she had sent at the third enemy, a Serpent, which had fended off her DRAGOON fire with Mercurius-style planet defensors. Sending her remaining eight small DRAGOONs to deal with the Freedom, Mythos dodged to another large piece of debris as the relentless assault of the Freedom tore the asteroid apart. Occasional fire came from the Serpent who was trying to wear this battle out, but the Freedom, who the shots were aimed at as he was the most exposed, dodged the shots quite easily. YingJue took a chance and launched out her four large DRAGOONs as well and dashed forward with her beam javelin to engage the Freedom at close range. The Freedom obliged, pulling out its beam javelin as well. Yingjue would slash and parry, and every moment they disengaged, she would command her DRAGOONs to fire at the Freedom giving him no chance for respite, yet the pilot dodged magnificently, and still managed to gun a down a few more of her DRAGOONs. Suddenly, a volley of missiles came from the Serpent who was still waiting it out behind a derelict battleship, forcing both the Mythos and the Freedom to dodge. During this YingJue saw an opportunity to strike the Freedom down and lunged at him with her beam javelin. This however, was a feint, the Serpent had, amidst its missile volley, fired a beam at the Freedom. The Freedom, noticing this, opened itself up, leading the Mythos directly into the Serpent's beam. YingJue, who awareness had been divided between the Mythos, the Freedom, her DRAGOONs, and the missiles, had failed to notice the beam, so the Mythos took a direct shot in the shoulder, causing her arm and shoulder pack to fall off. As the Mythos was defended on both sides by the massive shielding its shoulder packs provided, it was now exposed, like a clam on a half shell. The Freedom took no time to press its advantage, pulling back and firing a single volley of cannon fire directly into the Mythos' expose side. Realizing that it was next, the Serpent began firing recklessly at the Freedom. The Freedom, dodging gracefully, flew off to grab his third kill of the match, leaving the Mythos, disabled and smoldering.
"The winner of Match 5 is Canada Champion Andrew Penn."
YingJue was devastated. She had lost her first match of the tournament and was off to a bad start. She had never had a free-for-all, and realized that China's Gunpla scene lacked match diversity, and focused on one-on-one duels. Keeping track of more than one opponent was something she had never had to deal with before. She would have to do extensive repairs on the Mythos, fortunately, she bought extra replacement DRAGOONs, Legends, and Nix Providences. The contestants all met in the middle and shook hands. The pilot for the SInanju looked a little sore at having been the first one to be taken out, while YingJue's admiration for Andrew, the pilot of the Freedom, slightly outweighed her resentment. "I've never seen anyone dodge like that," YingJue said.
"Hah," Andrew laughed, "The way you use your funnels, I'd think you were a real Coordinator or Newtype."
YingJue smiled a bit at the compliment.