By Inside the club room, Asemu, Shawee and Macil work on their mobile suit. A news report on the radio discusses the Vagan attack yesterday, and Shawee and Macil comment that it’s a shame Asemu couldn’t see the battle. Asemu recalls Vargas telling him to keep it a secret that he piloted the AGE-1 Normal because the Vagans are probably after it. Shawee and Macil ask Asemu if he heard anything from Flit, but he says he hasn’t. Romary then comes into the club and thanks Asemu for yesterday, and she whispers into his ear that she knows to keep it a secret. She then says she’s looking forward to the tournament and leaves, so Shawee asks Asemu how long he’s been friends with her. Shawee says that youth is about friendship, love and mobile suits, but Asemu doesn’t know what he’s talking about, so the three start laughing. Outside, Zeheart recalls receiving a report from lackey Daz Roden about the Gundam’s location, which has been narrowed to the Asuno mansion. Shawee is surprised to hear that Zeheart now wants to join the club, and Zeheart says he can help with the mobile suit. After Zeheart suggests a few changes, the mobile suit performs much better when Asemu tests it. Shawee tells Zeheart he can join, and Asemu welcomes him into the club. The four begin working on the mobile suit to get ready for the tournament. Shawee works on the mobile suit’s foot, but the wrench comes loose and flies out of his head and toward Romary’s face, but Zeheart catches it at the last second. Zeheart walks home with a bag of parts and spots Daz in a neighborhood park. Zeheart sits down on a bench while Daz hides behind a tree and reports on the search for the Gundam. He says he’s certain the Gundam is hidden at the Asuno mansion, but it has strict security, and Zeheart offers to take care of it. Back at the club, Zeheart asks Asemu if they can go to his house and read Flit’s books on mobile suits for assistance. Asemu is reluctant at first, but Shawee and Macil convince him that it’s to improve the mobile suit, so he agrees.
Asemu brings his friends over to the house, and Emily tells him not to touch Flit’s things. Inside Flit’s study, Asemu picks out several books about mobile suits. Zeheart excuses himself to use the bathroom and heads over to the barn. He sticks a micro camera into the haystack and finds the AGE-1 Normal hidden inside. Later, the Mobile Suit Mock Battle Contest begins, and Asemu wins battle after battle. As the final round approaches, Asemu notices that Zeheart isn’t around. Daz drives through the city in a trailer carrying a Dorado. Zeheart makes a call and says they’ll begin the operation as scheduled, so she slips away. The announcers introduce Asemu’s final opponent, Farbie Delstoy of the Hartmansion School. Vargas, Josse and Hans watch the contest on TV, but they’re interrupted when Daz pulls up and activates his Dorado. Vargas calls Asemu with the AGE device and tells him a Vagan suit showed up, so Asemu runs off. Josse and Hans drive around in a jeep and fire a bazooka at the Dorado to distract it as Asemu speeds home on his motorcycle. Daz starts tearing apart the barn’s roof as Zeheart readies the Zedas R. Asemu reaches his house and is knocked away when Daz destroys his motorcycle. As Vargas and the others continue to distract Daz, Asemu activates the AGE-1 Normal, and Zeheart realizes that Asemu is the pilot. Daz dodges Asemu’s beam saber and pushes him back. He then attacks from above, but Flit cuts off the Dorado’s right hand. The Zedas R grabs Asemu from behind, and Daz charges in with his other beam saber, but Vargas activates a smokescreen that allows Asemu to break free. Asemu uses the smoke to attack Daz from behind and stabs the Dorado in the neck. However, Daz bails out of the cockpit in the head before it explodes. Zeheart attacks when the smoke clears, but he stops when he hears Romary call out Asemu’s name. Asemu uses the distraction to break free and tells Romary it’s dangerous to be there. Zeheart then spots three Genoace IIs approaching, so he transforms and escapes. Back at the club, Shawee laments the cancelation of the contest over the Vagan attack. Romary asks where Asemu and Zeheart are, and Macil says they’re not coming today. Elsewhere, Asemu and Vargas watch as the Gundam is brought to an EFF facility for storage. Daz reports to Zeheart that the Gundam has been moved to an unknown location, but Downes headquarters wants them to continue their infiltration mission until they capture the Gundam. Zeheart wonders why he feels relieved.
AGE‘s second generation continues by setting up some new character dynamics. In recognition of the shift away from Flit, he doesn’t appear in this episode at all. Zeheart joins the Mobile Suit Club as an infiltrator, with his true purpose being to determine the Gundam’s location. But not surprisingly, he develops a friendship with Asemu against his own desires. Romary shows up quite a bit in this episode, and it’s clear she has some attraction to Asemu. I don’t think there’s any ambiguity about what their destiny will be, given that future third generation hero Kio looks nearly identical to Romary. In this episode we’re also introduced to Zeheart’s lackey Daz, who looks like a low rent Wolverine. This guy just seems hopelessly incompetent in every respect. He talks about strict security at the Asuno mansion, which from what I’ve seen is just old man Vargas and his two farmhands. Daz then drives all through the city in a transport trailer with the Dorado’s feet sticking out very conspicuously, and that apparent security is so tight that he can just pull up the house and launch his mobile suit before anyone notices. Zeheart realizes that Asemu is the Gundam’s pilot, and that’s sure to cause problems in the future.
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