Muv-Luv Alternative: Mobile Fighter
Prologue
Living Forever
XXXX
Kyoto, Imperial Capital of the Empire of Japan
July 31st, 1998
XXXX
"Just do it! PLEASE!"
"I-I-I…"
"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF QUITTING!"
The roar of autogun fire and the stench of death and fire. The burning smell of ozone that makes the eyes water as the heat that saps all moisture from the body of man-made flame lashes out. The staccato of automatic fire, the whoosh of grenades launched, a bombardment of sound as it is of destruction that rattles the teeth and feels like you've been put into a vice that squeezes and releases at random intervals.
This is war on a personal level.
And it is the end.
How are they going to live?
Surrounded by Tanks and only one man to stem the tide.
The flash of ignition and a jetting stream of flame covers several Tanks as they approach. Lit on fire, they still tried to advance, but the fires burn so ferociously and hungrily, that they drop, limbs literally falling off the main body. The intense flames lick at the remains of other BETA and catch them on fire, creating a roaring firebreak in moments that consumes several Tanks that tried to cross it.
The autogun in the left hand flashes to life. It's bursts of gunfire sounding more like the low growling of a lawn mower with a deep tone to it. For how small it is and how weak it looks, BETA hide is not able to hold off the rounds that puncture deep, timed fuses detonating with small gouts of blood and gore as a well placed burst can tear open a Tank's mouth, shattering teeth and breaking the jawbone or if placed into the belly, rip the Tank open to die of extreme trauma.
"Please Yui! Please just do it!" the short haired girl in yellow and black looks down at her long haired friend in white and black, both of her arms are broken, there's blood on her lips from internal injuries and one eye is dyed a deep crimson red. "Just do it! PLEASE!"
She doesn't know what to do! Should she listen to her friend? Place her trust in the Amerikano?
What should she do?!
"Don't do it and consider that an order cadet!" she looks up at the Amerikano as he kicks, actually kicks!, a Tank in the jaw, causing it to fly up and flip onto its back and come landing down atop one of its fellows.
A grenade thrown as the two hit the shattered concrete beneath them and the resulting pyrotechnics leave pieces of Tank, and eaten human remains, all over the place.
"We will survive! So firm up and get ready to die old, wrinkled, grey, and surrounded by family! You hear me cadets! We're going to survive this!"
The entire time, he kept his focus on the Tanks surrounding them. A periscope camera moving erratically showing he knows what is going on around him.
"It's as good as any day to die!" the Amerikano continues even as a double whomp! whomp! fills the air as two disc-like projectiles fly over the heads of the unarmored maidens to explode against two Tanks and spread incendiary fire over several others, creating another roaring firebreak, "But you don't know the reason nor do you have a good reason to die this day! Do you hear me! Until you damn well do! NO DYING AND THAT'S AN ORDER!"
A BETA charges the armored man at that moment, but his knife suddenly cuts through the BETA from behind, nearly cutting the Tank open along its top and successfully decapitating it to return to its owner's hand.
"Otherwise, I'll have you shot for disobeying orders in combat!"
Somehow, he sounds serious enough to be dumbfounding.
Two Tanks close in, only for gunfire to riddle their fronts. Then the small charges detonate, shattering their fronts, severing the front limbs. Even in such a state, the Tank has a lethality rate of 68 percent. Two quick bursts into the guts solves that, plus something explosive that one of the Tanks had previously eaten that kills another Tank with secondary debris and shrapnel.
Another Tank attempts to attack the girls, but gets a rocket propelled grenade down its open mouth, causing it to explode and its remains to act as a barrier between the horde of Tanks and the two girls.
As the girl Yui watches, the BETA slowly begin to advance, taking heed of the lone guardian of the girls. The BETA are clearly adjusting their tactics to the threat and the corpses of their fallen.
For whatever reason, it was rare for BETA to strike their own. Usually that would only happen as a result of a trick or trap laid by human forces. With dead BETA surrounding, the BETA adjust their tactics as they advance. Some Tanks even pull their fallen brethren away and out of the area of the fight.
Not that it does much good.
The armored Amerikano weapon flashes back to life. More BETA fall dead. The Tanks close in, some from above, but the battle knife carves them into pieces.
A grenade hits a wall support and detonates. The avalanche of masonry, concrete, and steel kill a number of Tanks and wound several more.
The BETA keep coming.
An explosion of a pair of grenades and part of the roof comes down with its shatter support pillar. Yui can't tell how many BETA have been crushed or at least buried. Her purple eyes wide as a pipeline breaks, but nothing comes out.
For the Amerikano, that's a good thing. He takes aim and fires one round into a group of advancing Tanks.
The explosion causes Yui to reflectively cover her friend.
"Please Yui," the girl continues to beg, "Just do it already."
Hesitating for a brief moment, "I… can't. I'm sorry Kazusa, I can't! I don't want too! I can't shoot you! You're too important to me to lose! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Yui," the long haired girl coughs blood from her mouth, splattering it on the inside of her damaged helmet, "Please. I don't want to be eaten alive."
Before Yui can even start to formulate a reply in her head, the Amerikano shouts.
"I gave an order and I expect it to be followed! Is this the great Imperial Royal Guard? Quitters? It's not even halftime yet and you want to punch out like a whipped dog?"
Neither girl can answer, even as Yui's hand drifts to Kazusa sidearm. Yet the sound of the Amerikano's battle knife being driven so forcibly through a Tank's head, that the Tank is stapled to the ground causes both girls to flinch.
"In the Mobile Infantry, being surrounded and outnumbered is what we do! We're taught how to think of a way out. We're the guys no one likes and consider losers for not winning on the Moon!"
Both girls are surprised by the outburst. So that was the Amerikano force that fought. The USSC's Mobile Infantry. They had only heard about its existence and not much else.
"But if I die today, it better be because I saw you two to safety! That will be our success for this battle! You hear me! It may be selfish. It may be self-centered. But DAMMIT! We want to put a damn point into our Win Column!"
His small weapon suddenly clicks and the magazine pops off the top. He's out of ammo for it. It doesn't make him flinch as he stores it and pulls out the flamethrower again, igniting a torrent of flames that lights a number of BETA on fire.
"It's precisely because we are losers that we want to be winners! And winners DO. NOT. QUIT!"
The man did not know how to quit it seems. Even as he clearly began to run low on fuel for his flamethrower, he kept fighting. A number of firebreaks are burning wildly, forming barricades against the Tanks, keeping the BETA at bay.
Except for the one's overhead.
One Tank lands on the Amerikano, knocking him to the ground. Yui's hand draws Kazusa sidearm faster than she thought she ever could draw a weapon. Kazusa smiles, finally she will be released to know peace in death. Instead, her eyes widen as Yui is coated in red as the lower half of the BETA flips comically over them to land with a wet thud.
"Close," the Amerikano pushes himself back up to his feet, the top half of the dead Tank in hand, "only," he lifts up the carcass, "counts," he draws back with both hands, "in horse shoes," he then tosses the remains at a group of BETA, who promptly catch their late brother's remains, "and hand grenades!"
The hidden grenade in the severed top half detonates destroying the nearly empty fuel tank for the flamethrower that was clutched in one of the dead Tank's hands and engulf several BETA in the explosion and flames. Three BETA are killed outright and four are badly wounded. All the BETA in the area of the blast are on fire.
Amerikano unlimbers and grabs his next weapon. This one is a larger weapon to the smaller one he had been using before. It looks like a scaled down Assault Cannon, the main weapon of the Senjutsuhokōsentōki. The smaller weapon looks like an enlarged Israeli Uzi that is fed by a large magazine from on top of it and takes up most of its area surface.
Not this weapon. It's exactly like a miniature Assault cannon. Complete with a grenade launcher that fires High Explosive, Air Burst munitions that rends tightly packed Tanks. The weapon blazes away, at a slower rate of fire, given its much smaller size.
On the other hand, though, the weapon, firing larger rounds, means larger and more powerful explosive fillers.
The Tanks collapse after fewer shots, their fronts and heads shredded by the small explosives. Gore and ichor cover the floors and walls. BETA attempts to use the ceiling to drop down on them are gunned down without mercy, often bringing part of the roof with them, adding to the carnage and devastation.
An airburst even collapses a large chunk of the ceiling!
Tanks are crushed or have limbs severed. The survivors being torn up by gunfire or blasted apart by grenades.
And still the Tanks march, this time, going right back to their usual tactics of overwhelming swarm.
A few get close and discover a nasty surprise…
The big gun, has a third feature, twin shotgun barrels mounted to either side of the main weapons.
In alternate firing sequence, the Amerikano rips up the BETA that get too close to him and the girls. There is no explosive filler this time. Just metal balls. The spray of death sometimes passing through parts of the Tanks to inflict more damage or hit the next Tank in line.
It seems to take forever or an instant and the weapon is out of ammunition.
"Still more huh," the Amerikano states as the Tanks continue to increase in number.
Some are coming through broken doorways or through holes in the roof. A number come through the hole made by the Amerikano in the wall. The hole he burst through, weapons blazing just as Kazusa was about to die, either by the BETA tearing her apart, with one poised to bite her in two, or by Yui firing her pistol.
It was at that moment, that moment of indecision. With Kazusa's life over and the question being whether she would die screaming or die peacefully, Yui was hesitating at that critical moment, that the situation changed.
Bursting through the wall so suddenly, in a small mech-like suit of armor, he had grabbed all attention and both meant all attention was suddenly on him.
His gunfire had sprayed across all BETA near Kazusa, killing them and keeping others at bay. The staccato of his automatic weapon as precisely aimed fire tore up Tanks. A grenade was thrown, fire spreading as it detonated among the Tanks. The way was opened.
He jetted across the area on blue flames, firing an occasional burst at any Tank that tried to advance on either Yui or Kazusa. He flew with grace and precision, master of the air he cut through like a well made blade. His appearance and movements, made him look like a soaring eagle.
When he arrived at the ruined and literally torn open white Type-82 Zuikaku that Kazusa had piloted, he fought off the BETA attempting to rush them and then gently picked up the wounded girl.
Then, again on blue flame, he glided across to Yui and handed over the white clad girl.
Somehow, Yui had still emptied her weapon without thinking and then lost it in the confusion the two felt when the Amerikano had first arrived.
Both had looked up at the armored form. Its appearance like that of the early MMUs used in space development. A squat looking thing bristling with high tech gadgetry in plated armor and carrying a small arsenal of weapons.
Two powerful lights had illuminated the whole train terminal for them to see. A couple of flares later and the lights weren't needed anymore.
The two could see the outline of a face inside a yellowish transparent face plate with a green visor over the upper part. Green and yellow sensor nodes scanned along with a red lens telescopic periscope.
Over the left shoulder, what looked like an air intake system revealed itself to be a grenade launcher. Firing rocket propelled grenades that were disc shaped and could be directed by the design of the launcher to fire forward or even drawn along magnetic plates to spin off to the sides or even behind the suit with near perfect accuracy.
Mounted over the right shoulder is a small cannon that was fired sparingly. Firing both guided and unguided shells, rockets and missiles, it had wreaked havoc when the BETA had been at a distance.
Additional rockets and missiles had been stored in single tubes externally on the body. They had all been used in a single strike when several Grappler-class BETA had descended the stairs Yui had used earlier. The resulting explosion and gore and ichor had made it impossible to use the stairs any further.
Suddenly, two of those tubes proved they hadn't been previously used. One was a rocket that much was clear from how it streaked out on a straight course, ripping apart the support column that had been collapsed by the Amerikano's arrival. The column had already killed two Tanks when it fell on them. Now it exploded into deadly secondary debris, adding to the carnage of the rocket's detonation.
The other was a guided missile. It hit with unerring accuracy just above a doorway. The explosion collapsed the wall and brought down part of the next floor above. The Tanks not killed in the explosion and rain of shrapnel and debris, were killed when the collapse occurred and sealed the doorway shut.
The cannon suddenly spoke again and an HEAB detonated over four Tanks. The less said about what happened, would keep the contents of Yui's stomach down and inside her stomach.
Of course, there was still one more hand weapon to be drawn.
In this case, an appropriately scaled Light Machine Gun or Cannon. If Yui and Kazusa both had to guess, it fired the long storied 20mm. Previously humanity's choice for a Light Machine and Auto Cannon caliber.
And if it was anything like the previous two automatics, its ammunition is likely loaded with explosive fillers. No doubt more powerful than either of the other two combined.
The weapon itself looks like one would expect of a Light Machine Gun that is hand carried with barrel, stock, body, and a grip on top. It has both an ammunition belt and a box for ammunition, if the familiar 'x' pattern on the box is any indication, attached to it. The belt actually leads to barrel attached to the back of the Amerikano's suit. Two more boxes of ammunition are stored on the back of the suit as well, in a protected place that is easy to access.
Gripping the handle on top and charging the weapon, the Amerikano takes aim and the sound not unlike a damaged drum with a deep thrum fills the air…
Along with the fleshy sound of BETA being ripped apart as they are hit by the heavy rounds, even before the dulled explosions of explosives could sound.
When Tanks were hit by two or three or even four and five rounds of the LMG, the explosion that followed is guaranteed to leave a dead BETA later.
The BETA are just blown apart, literally. Pieces of them flying each and every direction of the compass. Some BETA just cease to be if they get caught in multiple explosions that consume their fellows.
Yui and Kazusa don't know how long it takes, but all too soon the three ammo boxes and the drum belt are expended.
Despite the destruction and the carnage, the BETA keep coming. Their numbers have stopped swelling, but their are still so many. They pass over their dead, through the mush and gore that used to be fellow Tanks. They easily cross the pocked marked and devastated floor, passing walls and doors that are punched full of holes. A support column, chewed up half its length and covered in the red paint that used to be Tank-class BETA, groans and then just shatters, dropping a wrecked stairwell onto the Tanks.
And still they continue to advance.
The Uzi and Assault Cannon-like weapons are both reloaded in the momentary breather as the new wave approaches.
The battle knife is drawn from the corpse of the BETA it had kept stapled to the ground.
The Tanks approach.
And the killing goes on and on.
The grenade launcher and the cannon both speak, firing madly. This is it. The final charge. If the Tanks approaching are killed, then the three just might escape this last stand yet.
The BETA swarm forward, charging heedlessly into the hailstorm of death.
Grenades are tossed and BETA are shredded and torn by the explosions.
The BETA keep advancing.
A rocket causes two Tanks to lose half of their bodies.
The BETA keep advancing.
The battle knife cuts and tears BETA that have gotten too close to pieces.
The BETA keep advancing.
A heavy kick removes teeth as a shotgun blast goes through one Tank to kill the one on the other side of it.
The BETA keep advancing.
Full automatic fire causes one Tank to dance as micro explosions inside of it cause it to implode on itself.
The BETA keep advancing.
Another function of the Assault Cannon is revealed… A Bayonet.
The BETA keep coming.
With a mighty battle cry, the Amerikano tears the arm off one Tank and beats the Tank and others to death with that arm.
There aren't so many BETA as there had been before.
When the bayonet broke, the Assault Cannon is thrown into a weakened wall and it caves, dropping a part of the building on the Tanks.
The BETA still keep coming despite their losses.
A BETA killed too close causes the grenade launcher to be damaged.
The BETA are nearly on top of them.
The Uzi is spent and broken. Its two pieces used to stab a Tank to death before each piece breaks further.
Yui shakily holds Kazusa's pistol, pointed at the now within reach Tank-class.
The LMG is unlimbered again and used as club.
The BETA are pushed back.
"Please Yui," Kazusa, falling in and out of consciousness begs again, "It's too late for me. Save yourselves. Please. Don't die. Live! Live for all of us!"
Knife in one hand, LMG in the other, BETA keep dying, but they also keep advancing.
"I can't Kazusa," Yui tears up again, how can she still cry? How?!
The knife breaks slicing the arm off a Tank. The lower half is still used to gouge several teeth out before the badly wounded Tank finally dies.
"Please Yui," Kazusa is also tearing up, both saltwater and blood, "Just do it. Please. Just do it!"
"I can't!" Yui shouts back, screaming as her tears stream down her face, pooling in the bottom of her helmet, "I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't do it Kazusa! I want to believe! I want us both to survive! To live!"
"PLEASE!" Kazusa begs, crying just as hard and screaming just as loud as blood and tears pool in her helmet, "JUST DO IT ALREADY! I DON'T WANT TO BE EATEN ALIVE! JUST DO IT! JUST DO IT! JUST DO IT!"
"NO!" Yui screams back as a Tank is grabbed before it grabs her and brutally killed by the armored man, "I WON'T! I WON'T! I WON'T! I WON'T KILL SOMEONE I LOVE LIKE A SISTER!"
Yui proceeds to embrace Kazusa, repeating over and over how she can't do it. How she won't do it. How much she loves Kazusa. How much like a sister she is to her.
"Yui... Please..." Kazusa is holding Yui back, both girls sobbing as they go through such a heart wrenching moment together, "If you mean that. If you mean I am a sister to you... Then please... End it for me and live... Live to be old, surrounded by family and friends... dying in peace... So at that moment... We can meet again... And be sisters once more... Please Yui... I love you too... Like a sister... I love you as much as I would any blood sister... But I do not want you to die with me... Please... Just do it and escape... Live for me... Live for both of us... Live for those who have died... And end this war... Please... Please... Kill me... Let me go peacefully... Sister! Please!
Before Yui can reply, as BETA die around them, the Amerikano shouts again, "ENOUGH! We're going to live!" he swings his LMG in a downward slash, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!"
And the Tanks is cleaved in two, the weapon shattering on impact with the broken concrete below, an explosion of metal and cement filling the air.
Then, with a roar of pure defiance, the Amerikano Mobile Infantry trooper grabs the two halves of the front of the dying Tank and then brings his hands together before separating them and tearing the Tank in two.
Before the stunned eyes of both girls, the trooper, continuing to roar, shoves the two halves down the throats of two more Tanks with such force that they explode out the back of the two, killing them instantly.
But another Tank jumps, intent on tackling the off balance defender.
Instead, though, heaven and the gods, for once, answers the prayers of three mothers praying for their children.
The yellow light looks like a beam…
Then the ground explodes.
As does the Tank.
Both girls are hurled into a nearby wall. Liberally coated in Tank blood, ichor, and remains. As is the wall behind them. Some of the blood and remains passing through holes punched by the power of Amerikano's weapon. A dead Tank that had been driven into the wall at some point is speared by a bone from the Tank killed in the blast, remaining fluids splattering the wall further.
Their lone protector ends up on his back not far from them. Coated in blood and scorched from the blast. He slides a dozen meters, leaving deep gouges in the cement and ripping decorative tiles that had somehow remained unharmed out of their places, shattering and scattering them.
And descending from above, only pillars of bluish-white flame, is a blue Senjutsuhokōsentōki with seeming reddish-brown eyes and a lone searchlight sweeping.
It's a thin machine. Built to emphasize agility, mobility, and maneuverability. Its two toe, spiked heel feet dig into the broken masonry and concrete of the terminal. It's eyes glowing as it observes its three allies who are down and the many enemy Tank-class BETA that are in the terminal, plus the reinforcements pouring in, some through news holes made by the BETA themselves moments before.
The Type-74 PB Blade Melee Halberd shifts, the blade's hilt and handle coming to rest over the left shoulder. The Assault Cannon is transferred to the clawed left hand as the right claw hand then draws the sword from its mount as locks disengage to release it.
With a slash through the air, the Type-98XR Takemikazuchi announces it is ready for battle.
The Tanks oblige with seemingly a battle cry and an all out charge on the greatest threat before them.
On thruster fire and with bursts of lights from the Assault Cannon, the Takemikazuchi engages at once. Then as the BETA reach the range of its blade, the very light itself seems to become like lightning as Tanks are cleaved through and pieces of BETA fly through the air every which way.
Against the wall, Yui watches the unfolding scene with consciousness quickly departing.
She watches the graceful, but deadly movements of the Takemikazuchi that seems to have step from the scrolls of yore and into the world of the real. Like the kami it is named for, it brings divine retribution upon the BETA for their tresspasses. Delivering final judgement upon their damned souls for all the hereafter.
And before she loses all consciousness, a shadow appears over her.
The Amerikano, whose faceplate doesn't hide gritted teeth and a pained expression as the armored suit now covers both girls, digging both feet and hands in and lowering itself just enough to provide maximum, unmoveable protection, even as a large piece of BETA bounces off and rocks the suit.
Yui then, finally, sees the scrapped and dulled printed name of the user...
BRIDGES
… in formerly bright yellow stenciling near the head piece.
Then Yui, like Kazusa, knows no more.
And immediately following them, is First Lieutenant Yuuya Bridges, United States Space Corps, 2nd Regiment/1st Brigade/1st Mobile Infantry Division.
Though his last sight, is the sudden arrival of four very familiar and extremely crazy MI Troopers, who had been looking for their missing CO for the last few days.
XXXX
The ringing phone is what woke her before the predawn gloom. Reaching over for her robe, she grabs it and wraps it around her body. Then she slips her slippers on and begins heading for the phone downstairs.
Whoever is calling her, sure has some patience as the phone continues to ring as she works her way through the darkness of her home, turning lights on and making it safe to walk.
Eventually, she reaches the first phone she can. It is still ringing. Someone wants to talk to her badly. Especially given the ungodly time it is.
Picking up the phone and putting to her ear, she speaks, "Hello? Bridges Residence, Mira Bridges speaking."
"Miss Bridges," the voice on the other end is an elderly man with a deep baritone, "This is Colonel Matthew C. Walters with the United States Space Corps, First Mobile Infantry Division."
Mira feels her breath catch. Her son's last assignment. She thought they had sent her everything that her son had when he was lost in battle. A hero they told her. Covering the retreat of his battalion single handily.
"Yes, Colonel Walters," she manages out, still wondering why he is calling her, "What can I do for you sir?"
"Miss Bridges, I am calling to inform you, that your son's status has been changed from Missing in Action, Presumed Killed to Wounded in Action and Safely Recovered," Colonel Walters informs Mira over the phone, the woman's blue eyes widening as her left hand suddenly covers her mouth and she collapses against the wall, sliding down it until she is seated on the floor.
Several items are knocked over, scattering and making noise. Immediately, her father is up and down the stairs beside her.
He then hears the phone.
"Hello? Missus Bridges? Hello? Are you okay ma'am? Hello? Do you require assistance?"
Picking it up, the man growls into the phone, "This is George Braxton Hood Bridges! Who is this?! What did you do to my daughter!?"
"Colonel Matthew C. Walters, USSC, First MI Division, sir," the baritone on the other side is respectful and a bit worried, "Is Miss Bridges alright sir?"
Taking a look at his daughter and seeing her wide eyes and her hands covering her mouth, "She's in shock! What did you tell her?" he demands with growl.
"Sir, I can understand her reaction," Colonel Walters began, "We're having it here at Fort Snyde as well. But your grandson, Miss Bridges' son, First Lieutenant Yuuya Louis Bridges, has recently had his status changed from Missing in Action, Presumed Killed to Wounded in Action and Safely Recovered."
"WHAT?!" George Bridges voice causes his wife, who had been tending to their daughter to turn her head to him as the rest of the visiting family looks on, "Yuuya's alive?! How did you find him?"
"We didn't sir," the colonel informs the Bridges Patriarch, "He managed to walk out of enemy territory and arrive in friendly territory to join a battle and cover the withdrawal of friendly forces and civilians. Willie's Wildcats over in the Third Regiment recovered him when they dropped in to also fight the same battle, much to their own surprise. Afterwards, he apparently saw some heavy action in Korea and later again in Japan. He was recovered by his own Company, Bad Company of the Seventh Battalion, Second Regiment. He was found via locator beacon after rescuing young Imperial Guard Cadets and their flight lead that were pushed up to the front. He helped cover the retreat of their squadron and his team before he became separated and later went on a solo SAR for the downed IRG pilots despite honorable injuries. He's apparently set a few records and according to the earliest available reports, may have well killed over a thousand Tank-class BETA single handed to protect two girls, one critically wounded, during the Fall of Kyoto before Bad Company's Bravo-1 Fire Team working with an IRG TSF safely retrieved all six down pilots and Lieutenant Bridges."
George Bridges had ended up on his own bottom at some point in the colonel's explanation. He just couldn't believe it. His grandson he never wanted, still has mixed feelings about, just did the impossible and went on to be hero.
"Stupid boy," Grandfather Bridges can only say, "Don't be worrying your mother by being a hero. It ain't right. Your job is supposed to come home safe and sound to her. Not go off and earn medals."
"These are early reports, Mister Bridges," Colonel Walters reiterates, "But the fact that the TSF pilot is the older cousin of one of the rescued girls, lends credence to your grandson's heroics. Especially since we are talking about a Regent Clan leader, not some rank and file Samurai or Fudai. Even though the cousin appears to be of the latter and the other girls of the former, plus one woman of the Bodyguards, the ones in red uniforms."
George Bridges just can't think right now. His mind is a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions. He cannot find anything to focus on. Then he turns when he feels pressure on his shoulder.
It's his wife and he knows what next to ask.
"Where's Yuuya now? Where's my grandson currently?"
"That's where we get to the bad news I'm afraid," the colonel's baritone is deeply apologetic and sympathetic and George Bridges wonders how many times he's made these calls? Did he also receive one at some point in time in the past? Many questions, no answers right now.
"First Lieutenant Bridges is currently still in Japan, getting emergency medical care. He was recovered seriously wounded sir, but do not worry too much. The division has been informed that he will survive and we are making arrangements to get him to Guam for further medical care before he is brought back to the States. At long last I might add. He's receiving treatment apparently from the Takamura Fudai Family's personal doctor."
A hitch in the old man's voice, before eyes narrow. The colonel on the other side having missed the sound and unknowing of the history between the Bridges and Takamura.
"From the report before me now, it appears that the Fudai girl saved, the yellow clad ones for clarification, is the daughter of the Takamura Fudai Family. He apparently kept her and a close friend safe from a regimental size force of BETA Tank-class. I'll admit, that sounds a bit farfetched, but if anyone can do it, it's a Mobile Infantry Trooper sir. The Takatsuka Clan leader was looking for her younger cousin when she received a distress call and moved in on the location, arriving just as your grandson ran out of ammunition and shattered his last weapon on the BETA, apparently killing a few with his hands before they were rescued. It appears that he was close to some friendly fire, not unusual given the more annoying and fatal capabilities of the Tank-class, but he then proceeded to place himself above the wounded girls and dig in to his position, using himself as a shield. The Takamura took the matter personally and arranged for their doctor to treat him as soon as he was removed from his broken armor. That's all I have at this time I'm afraid. You'll be informed further by an official letter and/or representative of the USSC. Though, from what I've been informed, your grandson may receive the Silver Star for his actions and we are still compiling what he's been up to since he was originally separated from his unit."
"I see…" George Bridges had gotten a few medals himself. Despite being a 'guest' of Japan after the Fall of the Philippines in 1942, he was hardly the ideal prisoner of war. Well… That would be the Japanese opinion. The American opinion was that he was one stubborn man that kept trying to escape and they could never get him to hold still enough to take his head off.
More than one guard lost a hand to their officers' swords and one guy had lost a hand and a leg.
Good times of sticking it, sometimes literally, to the Japanese.
Now… They are supposed to be allies… Well… Damn.
"Anything else?"
"Not at this time sir. We will keep you appraised as we learn more and can separate fact from fiction."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome sir. Have a good morning, as early as it starts."
"Yes, you too, colonel. Please get some rest. Goodbye."
"Goodbye Mister Bridges."
With that, one of his sons hangs up the phone for him as everyone waits with bated breath.
With a sigh and still a maelstrom of emotions, "Yuuya is alive. He managed to escape from enemy territory and link up with friendly forces and has been fighting ever since. He was seriously wounded during the Fall of Kyoto in Japan, but he was safely retrieved after defending some Japanese Imperial Guard Cadets that were shot down and wounded by the BETA. One of them was high ranked and so her family is looking after him until they can get him to an American hospital on Guam. That's all they have right now."
Silence. Absolute silence. It didn't seem that even the house could breath at that moment. The wind seemingly still.
Then it is all broken by Mira suddenly sniffling and then breaking out totally sobbing.
Immediately, Mira is being held by her mother. The single mother clutching onto her own as her body is wracked with sobs of grief and joy as tears soak her mother's robe and the sleeping gown beneath. The woman's careful hand movements to calm and ease her daughter who seems to have finally awoken from a terrible dream.
And it isn't long before the entire Bridges family is holding one another, tearfully thanking a higher power that their missing member is safe now. Hurt, far away, but found and safe for now.
They will learn more as time passes.
The Mobile Infantry has promised they would.
XXXX
A/N:
Okay, new story. Don't worry, the other one is being worked on. Unfortunately, I'm in a bit of bind at the moment, so I'm restricted in working on it.
So I did this one. One that has been bouncing around my head for a while. Now I've got this out and onto paper, figuratively saying anyways.
The prologue chapter this is and may be, but it's right in the thick of it.
Yuuya arriving in time to save the day. Battling off hordes of BETA Tank-class and rescuing the trapped maidens from a the evil monsters.
And he does it in style too.
As for what he is wearing, given how many of you have seen, played, or watched the more recent renditions of Starship Troopers, the suit Yuuya is wearing is actually from a 1988 rendition.
The suit comes from the OVA series Uchū no Senshi, which roughly translate close to Starship Troopers as 'Universal Soldiers' or 'Space Soldiers.' It is probably the most faithful following of any adaptation of Starship Troopers I have seen. Though there are still considerable differences, it is quite close to the original book, right down to Carl Jenkins being a computer whiz instead of a psychic and Johnnie Rico's first assignment is to Willie's Wildcats, instead of Razak's Roughnecks.
Additionally, unlike in the 1990's movie series, only Johnnie Rico's mother died. His father survived since the family actually didn't live in Buenos Aires. Johnnie's father was also supportive of his decision, saying he was old enough to make his own choices.
Later, in the books, the elder Rico would enlist and be reintroduced to the story looking for his new assignment as a freshly minted Corporal, when he asks his own son, now a Sergeant, where to find his ship!
Good book. Definitely a good read. Has a more serious tone than what you would find in the movies. A lot of differences exist between the movies and the book.
Anyways, since the USSC or United States Space Corps, which are supposed to exist in the Muv-Luv Alternative universe don't get much explained about… I decided to create the Mobile Infantry for them!
The MI were the poor guys who had to fight on the Moon and got their butts handed to them on a silver platter with golden silverware. So they are the guys with a poor reputation as Yuuya notes to the girls. So they have every reason to want to win the war.
I decided to use the armor from the Japanese version, because I felt it would work out well for this story. Better than the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles adaptation, that despite being more true itself, is still a bit further away from the original concept.
Plus, this is a mecha story.
And technically, the original Marauder Armors were like small mechs.
Hope you folks enjoy and as always, Read and Review!
Thank you very much in advance.
