It was after-school time in Lake Victoria Academy. Noin, a name which Lucrezia called herself, packed her books and notebooks and headed back to her dormitory. The training in the Academy was really intense. It demanded highly on both mental and physical strengths. She had to learn some fighting skills and at the same time, political and historical issues. For fighting skills, Noin believed that she had enough strength, but her skills needed to be improved. However, for political and historical issues, she found these were a little bit difficult. Since she lived in a remote place all her life, she had lesser knowledge about these issues than other cadets. She was working hard to catch up with other cadets. A she thought about the things she learned in lessons, suddenly someone shouted at her, “Cadet Noin,” Noin looked up and saw a group of senior cadets. “thirty push-ups NOW!” one of them ordered. Noin obediently laid down her books and began to do the push-ups.
“Cadets Noin, thirty push-ups NOW!” A junior cadet heard the command. The voice came around the corner. This blonde-haired cadet turned around to see what happened. He was surprised to hear a female’s voice, “One, two, three…” Every word was said with determination. He looked at the back of the female cadet with amazement. She did the push-ups with energy and correct way. “Twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty” she quickly stood up and reported, “finished”. She said without hesitation or even gasping. The group of senior cadets grinned. They pushed her against the wall, teasing her, “What is your name, lassie?” She turned her head away; the blonde-haired cadet could not see her face. The group of senior cadets left and before they left, they kicked over her books and laughed. The female cadet sighed, she picked up her books and went away.
“Thirty push-ups” thought Noin, she smiled. She did not mind a bit. She was able to finish thirty push-ups under her father’s instruction two years ago. She had come to Lake Victoria Academy three months ago. She had to stay here for three years to undergo intensive training. After the training, she would become a soldier in a special unit called oz. She wanted to be soldier because she wanted to live a regular life and also she wanted to become stronger. There were far more male cadets than female cadets. She was often teased by the male cadets and tested by the senior cadets. “I’ll win their trusts someday.” she thought. She walked and walked, at last she came to her room, which was shared by three other female cadets and began to revise the materials again.
Lake Victoria Academy was situated near Lake Victoria and a hill with trees and brushes flourished on it. It provided trainings for cadets who were selected to become oz soldiers. The trainings were quite harsh, by the end of the training; only half of the cadets could graduate successfully. The training was divided into three terms, one year as a term. The cadets received the trainings of the skills of piloting and basic repairing of mobile suits; manipulating different kinds of equipments, e.g. radar, transporting vehicles and communication systems; computer hacking and also the cadets had to learn about the political and historical issues. Skills of piloting mobile suit were the most important skills a cadet had to learn, as all soldiers needed to pilot mobile suits in battlefield. Another important programme was to train cadets to fight in conditions of zero gravity. The best cadets would have the chance to station in space.
After dinner, Noin went to the Virtual Reality Room to practise the skills of piloting mobile suit. As a junior cadet, she could only practise the skills through virtual reality. After registration, she slipped into a cabin, a screen flashed as the system turned on. She could choose to battle with the computer or with other cadets in the room. Just then, the screen showed that another cadet had registered and chosen to battle with her. The identities of both cadets were not showed to both cadets. Noin agreed by clicking the icon. The battle began. At first, Noin was a little bit reserved, as she wanted to check her opponent’s ability. But later, when she found that her opponent was trying to beat her by every means, she fought back. As she fought, she realized that the skills of her opponent were higher than hers. Her opponent was fast, but Noin also reacted accordingly. She was cool-headed and always waited for a chance to attack. However, her plan failed. Her opponent was too fast. About 60% of her time, she spent on defending. “Am I fighting with a senior cadet?” she asked. “All right, I’ll try my best to battle with you.” she said to herself. She drew the shield towards her and hid her laser behind it. She escaped several attacks from her opponent. She then quickly drew her laser to hit her opponent from the sides. It was a true personal combat. None of them had advantage at that time. Suddenly, there was an announcement, both on the screen and from the speaker, “Cadet Noin, please report to the Staff Room I immediately.” She locked the system, freezing the motion of her part, then she typed a message to her opponent: Thanks for a nice combat. She then left the cabin and went to the staff room. She smiled and thought, “Finally, I can get along with those ‘big robots’” The door of another cabin were also opened, the same cadet with long, blonde hair could just see the back of Noin again.
Noin had never seen any mobile suits before she came to the Academy. At first, she found it hard to fight inside those mobile suits by simply controlling the control panel. Luckily, she has adapted to the control unit and began to show improvements in her controlling and fighting skills. She thought she was happy in the academy because she was going to be stronger person. The busy life also prevented her to look back to her past. All she wanted to do now was to become a good soldier. She never thought about war, but immersed in the studies she deeply interested in at that time.
