[IC] Gundam Build Fighters: Xcellence

[Myviewing]

Hedy agreed with the obvious Kartal gave, "Yeah...I guess we've only got that much now." She turned to find Yingjue despite her victory being about as downbeat as she was yesterday with her loss. Hedy rubbed her chin when she asked herself, "Man it's weird. She's supposed to be capable of handling this sort of stuff isn't she? Unless something happened out there. Did she beat someone out there really good?" She checked the audience outside and found the varying levels of enthusiasm among the crowds. Among them the New Zealand crowd had an obvious right to be pleased but noticed the Thailand crowd had less pleasant reactions. The same thing could have been said among the several other nearby nations who were viewing the tournament though when she saw the other flags. For now Hedy simply shrugged any concern when she decided, "Must be her first time handling this kind of fan pressure. Hope nothing too crazy happens because of it."
A few moments passed when Genevieve thanked Hedy, "Thanks for the help out there. I probably wouldn't have made it otherwise."
"I'm glad we both managed to handle ourselves against the Patulia out there."
"So I tried to get a talk with Brian earlier. He wouldn't let me speak to him."
"Wow. That's mean. Why's he so secretive?"
"His Schwarz Bruder buddy said I would throw off his demeanor."
Hedy managed to get a last glance at the Carozzo cosplayer when she concluded, "He's got something to hide alright. Someone is going to find out at some point."

[Stern Algorithm]

Yingjue wondered what Gordon meant by his approval, and intended to find him and talk to him later. For the time being, she approached Hedy who was speaking to Genevieve. "Hedy, whenever you're free, I'd like to ask you some questions about how you fight with four beam sabers, and if possible, demonstrate it in a simulator. I've noticed my close-combat skills are a bit lacking." YingJue had the unfortunate tendency to think that more was better, and her thoughts on getting a backup suit in case the Mythos was damaged again turned towards the NZ-666 Kshatriya, which can wield six beam sabers, after Hedy had told her what The TC's specialty was.

[Sugihito]

Seeing the girls have plans post-period Kartal chose to go get lunch. "I'll get something to eat while you practice." He told them and left.

Kartal walked to the shopping small in the fighter's village to get something to eat. He found a food court with diverse range of food available from different restaurants. There was a Chinese retaurant that got his interest called the Liu Mei. As he made his order he got a device that will notify him when his meal is ready to claim and found an open seat at one of the counters. The German champion was sitting close playing around with an expensive looking mobile phone as she waited for her meal. "You're in the tournament right?" He asked her.
The German champion looked back. "Did the keffiyeh give away?" She asked back.
Turkish champion was blunt. "It did." He responded. "I usually expect it from a Middle Eastern champion though."
The German stopped using her phone. "I'm 1/8th Arab." She responded. "Rest came from a line of Prussians."
Kartal thought about that. "Is that part with the Prussians true?" He asked again.
"I'm not actually sure." She gave her answer. I just know my father escaped from East Germany to continue steel exporting with his family and met my mother after the wall fell."
Family history was interesting. "Me, I'm just a Turk." He replied. "So where were you at the second period?"
"I was in space." Lindemann responded. "Was it true that there was a Patulia on rampage?"
"It backfired for the guy. It got nearly everyone against him." Kartal spoke as his device started playing music. "Must be my meal. I'll be back." He told her and left.

Josef was looking around at the foodcourt for something he can eat. "Can't eat many of those things." He muttered, heading to a fried chicken joint.

[Myviewing]

Hedy had a little time to think before she heard Yingjue ask for a training period. Oh wow. Yingjue’s hoping for help in training from me? The stars are totally right! She thought this when she snapped her brain when she reminded herself, Oh crap. I can’t even pull off four beam sabers all that well! What do I do now?! She clenched a fist to her side when she reminded herself, The stars the stars! This is the perfect opportunity! She regained her confidence when she agreed, “Oh sure! I’d be more than happy to.”
Hedy took up the TC case when she saw Genevieve offer her a phone number slip, “Just be sure to call me if you need pointers. I take it you’ve managed to handle using just one saber right?”
Hedy accepted the phone number when she nodded, “Yeah of course. Anything that can assist the session. I’ll just have to go easy on her for a while is all.” She prepared her gunplay when she promised, “I’ll be sure to give as good a training session as possible. Believe me I don’t want to make you feel like you’re really bad with close combat but you might have guessed it’s not going to be an easy to pull through.”

[Stern Algorithm]

"The Mythos has two beam sabers that can combine into a double-sided beam javelin," Yingjue responded. "The large DRAGOONs are also tipped with beam spikes." YingJue set her Gunplay and had the Mythos pull both beams sabers out of the sheaths installed in the legs. She kept the sabers separated rather than combine them into the javelin because she figured she'd need the maneuverability to defend against four sabers coming at her. The Mythos readied a sideways defensive stance, with one shielded shoulder pack turned towards The TC.

[Sugihito]

Kid, building a large number of model kits fresh out of boxes took some time to observe Hedy and YingJue's battle. "Hmm... That girl is back again." He thought for a moment before reminding himself to finish those kits. "Torres wants 80 kits ready by tomorrow morning! I need to get back to work."

Kartal returned with a bowl of Chinese-style lamian and some soupy xiao long bao to where he was having the conversation with Lindemann, who got herself a meal of raw tuna on top of a bowl of rice, with miso soup and natto as a side. "Those look good." He commented on her meal.
The German champion smiled. "The food here taste great." And there's the diet problem after returning from Japan.
The Turkish champion snapped his chopstick into two. "Is there any other fighter to note?" He asked her.
Lindemann thought for a moment. "There's news that someone defeated the Thai champion during the second period." She told him. "Nobody anticipated that." She got out her phone to find a news site.
Kartal read through the news. There was one picture of the incident and much to his surprise, it was YingJue of all people. "I didn't see that coming either." He reacted, hiding the fact that he knows her.

At the staff meeting room the commentators and the Revolution brothers sat there to discuss the second period. "There's been no foul play." Torres read with some happiness. "We won't have to worry about calling an international referee."
Heine played through the period's footage. "You do have to agree that in every tournament someone will bring in a large model." He commented.
Saegusa read through the demographics of the audience. "And you as the image character got more views from the female audience." He added.
The image character got up. "I'll go get some interviews now." He announced and left, his brother following immediately.

[Myviewing]

Hedy prepared her gunpla when she saw YingJue ready and agreed, "You got it. Let's get started!"
The two battlers were in the training area of the rental corner when the chance for a new battle began. 'Please set you GP Base.' Both Hedy and YingJue set their gunplas ready for battle before the next step was taken.
‘Beginning Plavsky particle dispersal.’ The particles dispersed through the room to reveal the simulated battleground of a desert field without any obstacles. "This should work. Just some straight up swordplay should be enough to be ready for."
'Battle Start.' The TC and the Mythos were both clear for take off when the battle started. They launched towards one another while the TC had two of its beam sabers at the ready for the strike when Hedy tried to maintain the perfect balance of not going to easy on YingJue while still trying to give some sort of substantial training period.
"Okay now... Don't go easy, don't go easy, don't go easy, don't go easy, really don't go easy!" Hedy kept reminding herself of this and made a pincer motion with the two beam sabers towards the lower areas of the Mythos. The TC kept away from the shoulder pack in an attempt to gain some distance but managed to find the right area to swing towards for her attack.

[Stern Algorithm]

Though YingJue's shoulder packs provided the Mythos with defense from the sides, it hindered her ability to swing her sabers; though it limited her opponent to making mostly forward stabs, it limited her to doing pretty much the same thing as well. Yingjue tried her best to parry Hedy's attacks while looking for opportunities to stab past Hedy's defenses. However, Hedy was the more seasoned blademaster, so YingJue was usually on the defensive most of time. After a particularly close shave, the Mythos Gundam dashed back a bit and released its four large DRAGOONs, activating their beam spikes at their tips. The DRAGOONs hovered around her menacingly, like floating, beam-tipped lances. Since she was training to use six beam sabers for when she got a Kshatriya, using the two beam sabers in her hands and the four beam spikes would be a close enough assessment of her ability to handle six. The Mythos lunged forward along with her DRAGOONs, trying to exploit a blindside, but expecting Hedy to pull out her hidden arms at any moment.

[Sugihito]

Heine was near David's trailer to catch the Iron Mask cosplayer again. Miguel looked at the watch to see how much longer they will have to wait. "It's hard to tell how much longer it will take." He told his older brother.
Heine can agree. "We will wait for five more minutes." He replied. "We can always find someone else."

Josef entered the fried chicken joint and found a small queue. He lined up at the centre queue as it looked like the least crowded. The line became shorter after Gordon got his order of a bucket of fried chicken and left to eat outside, already eating a drumstick. It was finally Josef's turn and the cashier gave a welcoming smile. "Hello, may I take your order?"
Josef decided to go with the combo meal of two pieces of chicken, chips and a soft drink. "The combo meal please." He ordered. "Cola for the drink please."
The cashier typed in the order. "Would you like to have it here or takeaway sir?" She asked.
"Having here please."
The cash register presented the total to pay. Josef quickly got out his wallet with the insignia of the IDF. He got out two thousand yen out of his shekel filled wallet and received his change. "Thank you for your patronage." The cashier smiled as his order was placed on the tray.

Kartal felt uncomfortable after reading the news. "Say where are you planning to go after eating?" He asked to change the subject.
Lindemann gave a look. "I'm going to the training rooms after this." She replied. "I want a practice battle with someone."
The Turkish champion remembers that Hedy and YingJue are there also. "I see." He responded. "I'll be looking at some Gunpla for any improvements I can make to my models." He finished the broth of the lamian. "I might go there there to see my friends later."

[Myviewing]

Brian saw his Schwarz Bruder supporter arrive outside the stadium entrance reporting, "Checked ahead just as you said Dave. Those reporters from yesterday are hoping to catch you again."
Brian tapped his mask's chin wondering, "Outside the trailer and waiting?"
"Yeah I heard they only have a five minute span or so though."
Brian crossed his arms when he accepted, "Good enough. Just be sure to wait them out for right now."
"You sure Dave? They might try and gather info some other way."
"We'll simply have to meet their tricks with what we have. Stage a small mini-tournament to make them think we're exhausting our events."
The Bruder cosplayer shrugged in some worry when he accepted, "You're the boss. Have some good luck on that next event then Dave."
Brian turned towards the nearest clock to check the time and agreed, "It will be easy that much is certain."

The battle had been going as expected. YingJue was certainly a beginner but Hedy managed to meet every one of her attacks with a fair parry or block. Nothing was requiring the emergency arms at the moment but YingJue had clearly began to notice she had some kind of advantage. The DRAGOONs made their way towards Hedy while she rushed through her thoughts, "I should be doing all I can to win shouldn't I?" Before the DRAGOONs could make a swipe she remembered what she was striving for when she first arrived for this tournament. She regained her determination when she reached for a nearby panel, "Anything to get the next level!" The TC had its emergency arms deployed and made a block at the lower DRAGOONs while Hedy began to make an advance. The strikes and blocks were given but in time one of the emergency arms made its way towards one of the nearby DRAGOONs causing an explosion. Unfortunately for Hedy the explosion was enough that it managed to significantly damage her own TC's arm in exchange. "Oh come on! It can't go down that easy!" She continued to block while the attacks continued to make their way from the Mythos. "At least this way she might not find out my real weakness..."

[Stern Algorithm]

"Tch..." YingJue muttered as one of her DRAGOONs was destroyed. The Mythos pulled back, ready to let the fight end as she didn't want to incur too much additional damage. "What would you say is a requirement to being able to use four sabers simultaneously? Reflexes? Awareness?" She asked, wondering if there was some special trick to it.

[Sugihito]

Heine noticed a crowd near the trailer, lively as the tournament matches. The spot was beginning to be more crowded, prompting Heine and Miguel to have a look. There was a woman who cosplayed Charlotte Dunois that he can ask. "Excuse me, can you explain what's going on now?" He asked her.
"There's a mini tournament going on." The cosplayer explained. "The idea really came out of nowhere but it helps us in the fanclub know that we're not forgotton. Oh, and anyone can join."
A battle was already underway in the battlefield. A red-coloured Rick Dom looked for opponent that disappeared and stopped in the middle of space, allowing him to be quickly bested by the Union Flag he was fighting against. Heine signalled Miguel to go closer with the camera to record the scene.
Gordon also found the gathering near the Char fanclub. Fortunately he had a Gaplant to use when his Hambrabi needed to be prepared thanks to that Sunbird-Sandrock thing. He got himself to the battle while eating his chicken as he expect his opponents to be weak to pose a challenge and was right when he got his turn in the battlefield, defeating those that appeared to him.

Kartal was looking around a hobbyshop in the shopping mall. "I have no clue what to get." He muttered to himself. It sounded like he will be there for a while.

[Myviewing]

As soon as the TC disengaged from its contact with the Mythos Hedy saw that the situation was probably better not to move forward. Both had already lost a piece of their gunpla and would need repairs after the light skirmish. Hedy was quick to agree with the decision when she began to shut down her systems, "It's probably better we just end it here. We've both got our scratches now." Hedy looked over her TC gunpla thankful to see the arm was at least mostly intact after the skirmish and would be fixed with a simple payment.
Unfortunately she wasn't ready to explain her best chance of explaining how she managed to pull off the techniques necessary for such attacks. She thought hard about the subject before answering, "I'd say your best chance of mastering these sort of techniques would be a long series of trial and error. You'll probably be able to block off against any possible attacks if you check for what's coming and come up with your own techniques to stand much of a chance." She remembered YingJue's damages hoping to rectify the issue offering, "If it's no trouble I can help pay for the repairs you need."

[Stern Algorithm]

"I see," Yingjue replied to Hedy's statement about trial and error. She might have to reevaluate the direction she was taking. There was certainly room to learn new skills during a competition, but trying too many new things when it mattered might put her at a disadvantage; she was already down a match and couldn't afford another loss. "Thank you for training with me," YingJue said, "As for repairs, there's no need to worry about that, I keep spare DRAGOONs around since they get destroyed so easily. In fact, I think I should offer to pay for your repairs, since you were the one giving me pointers, and all I've done since arriving is letting people pay for me."

[Sugihito]

Lindemann arrived in the training room after the practice match between YingJue and Hedy finished. The room was mostly empty with the exception of Kid busy building models. Most of them were done but there were still more to go. "Just ten more... Just ten more..." He whispered to himself. The German champion decided to leave and look for something else to do, slightly disappointed.
Kartal was next to go to the training room and found the girls' training concluded. He wished to watch it but he can some other time. "So how did practice go?" He asked them. "I also found out fighters get discounts at the facilities here."

Gordon kept winning his fights. He only took a break to finish off his lunch, letting someone else fight without challenging him. His loss in the second period will be a minor setback for him as the Char-clone fanclub discovered.
Heine also took part in the battle with his GOUF. It turned out his opponent is a Gundam Mk II coloured red and pink like Casval's Gundam. "I'll test myself too!" He said before beginning the battle. It also gave a distraction for Brian to sneak back and the overall winner Gordon should be given attention of as well.

[Myviewing]

Hedy considered what YingJue observed when she agreed, "Uh yeah... I guess I probably..." Avoiding the time to make her look bad Hedy worded her explanation, "Don't think before I speak most of the time." "I say if you feel like it then it'd be great." "I did want that dessert anyway." As soon as Kartal and the German Champion entered the store Hedy greeted hoping to sound dedicated, "Oh hi Kartal. It went great. It sounds like YingJue managed to pick up on some big pointers. At least I'd hope, I managed to drill some pretty hard stuff in just the short amount of time I had."

David made his way into the trailer when he saw the tournament progressing. "Hehe. They can't seem to resist a good match after all." He commented to himself.
As the next Char fan lost to Gordon the Schwarz Bruder cosplayer asked a nearby observer, "Alright so how's the progress going?"
"Gordon Gable has been shredding through this gathering like it's nothing. He's using some wimpy Hambrabi and making short work of our best players."
"Aw damn. It's that guy who got stomped in the last round by Germany?"
"Yeah. I think there's a reason she's been making it this far into the tournament. Anybody who can beat that guy is going to be headed to the finals."
"You think he'll prove a challenge for David then?"
"He might. Any challenges that come up like these are going to be nothing less than a speed bump."
"I think I'll have to see how David reacts to this then."
The watching fan shook his head from what he just suggested asking, "What for real? Hey man I was... Oh boy." Only to find out it was too late when he made his way to the trailer where David was waiting.

"Hey David! Mr. Australia is out there giving us a hard time! How do you feel about going up against him?"
Brian quickly put his helmet on when he answered, "Eh whatever. Not really something to worry about."
The cosplayer turned around with disappointment commenting, "Ah man. Nobody is going to like hearing about this."
Brian recognized the suggestion this would arise among the club when he began to don more of his attire answering, "Hold up. I'm on my way out."
"Alright! Knew you had it in you Dave!"
Brian walked out with his Revenge Gunpla in hand and waved to the answer, "Whatever just keep the enthusiasm to a minimum." He made his way towards the gathering of a tournament asking no one in particular, "Okay. So I take it he's been waiting for a challenge right?"

[Sugihito]

Gordon found David, the leader of the Char-clones. "You must be the leader of this group." "You better give a better fight than your followers. I came all the way from England to join as a representative for Australia." He threw his finished up bucket of chicken bones to the Charlotte Dunois cosplayer, who barely caught it with her hands.
"PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE."
Gordon placed his Gaplant, the same model he used in besting his challengers when his Hambrabi needs to be fixed. The Gaplant wasn't customised, similar to his Hambrabi because he places priority on brute force over customisation. "I can still fight without my Hambrabi!" He boasted. "I fight with pure skill unlike those thaat customise theirs!"
"BEGINNING PLAVSKY PARTICLE DISPERSAL. FIELD 5: CITY."
The battlefield was in the junkyard of space-colony Shangri-la. The junkyard can make useful cover in the battle. "Mr. Mask Honcho, are you ready to fight?" Gordon provoked.

Kartal gave a nod. "There's something." He commented on Hedy's mentoring.
Lindemann briefly returned to the room to give a news. "There's a mock tournament going on at the Char-clone club." She told them before leaaving again.
The Turkish champion appreciated the news. "That's something we can watch for pointers too." He commented on it. "Let's go."

[Myviewing]

Hedy dropped her TC for the minor repairs at the counter when she agreed to Lindemann’s offer, “That sounds like fun. It should still be going by now.”

Once the preparations were made for the battle Brian heard the challenge from Gordon when he answered back, “Hold onto your table side Skippy. I’ll see if you’re worth the trouble.” He kept the communication line closed when he encouraged himself, “Okay. Just got to go in with my best skills. I can win without resorting to cheap stuff. I have a cover to keep up.” The battle began when the Gaplant began to charge towards Brian’s location. The Revenge Gundam had its high energy beam rifle prepared and began to fire towards its opponent’s location. Through a series of shots it seemed likely that the Gaplant would at least be taking damage but with the cover and the debris around them Brian had his Armor Schneider knife at the ready. “Just try and come in this way.”

As Hedy and the others made their way towards the tournament the gathering of Char clone fans were beginning to show a high amount of cheering. “Sounds like something is really getting intense.”

One of the cosplayers dressed as Mr. Bushido observed, “Looks like we’ve got some more attention drawn to this match.”
The Schwarz Bruder cosplayer agreed when he observed, “I’d think so. This probably the first time we’ve had two participants in one of our tournaments.”
“Hey wait. Ms. America is headed this way. Isn’t she in league with the French Champion or something?”
“She was. Oh man, I can’t really do much when they’re only looking to watch a match!”
“Even worse, we’re in the middle of a match. We can’t break of David’s concentration now.”
“Okay uh… You try and distract her for a sec and I’ll warn David real quick.”
“That’s something. Move out!” The two cosplayers rushed off to fulfill their duties while the battle continued outside.

[Stern Algorithm]

YingJue greeted Kartal and the German champion as well. "Training with Hedy has been very beneficial," YingJue agreed. Though she didn't really learn how to wield more than two beam sabers, she did realize that she should just first improve her melee capabilities and focus on her current strengths instead of trying to experiment with new techniques. She had for the moment forgotten the anxiety she had felt from backstabbing the Thai champion. And followed the others out to see the mock battle, where she recognized Gordon, the man who had commended her for taking advantage of Luang.

[Sugihito]

Gordon transformed his Gaplant to it's Mobile Armour mode, using it's speed and cover made from junk to evade the shots."I'm not a simple fighter Mr. Masked Honcho." He taunted. The Gaplant outflanked the Revenge Gundam and prepared to attack from behind. "Your custom model will not save you here!" He roared as he was preparing to strike.

Kartal observed the match that got attention from pretty much everyone. He can describe it as a match between a masked man of mystery against the beast that prowls that battlefield and they both have a chance of defeating the other.
Lindemann recognised the challenger as the fighter of the Hambrabi she bested in the second period. "I fought him earlier. Gordon Gable of Australia." She analysed. "Represents Australia despite being English. He rarely customises his models."
The Turkish champion listened to her information. "You think he can win?" He asked.
The German champion shook her head. "I don't know much about Holden." She gave her reply. "He stays under the radar in combat for some reason. I usually saw him with a Vigna Ghina but he's using a custom model."