Chapter One: Yugi Asuka
September 18, 2008
The year CE 96, twenty years since the Second Bloody Valentine War, and though peace has been upheld with somewhat of ease these past two decades, it has recently begun to be bombarded with the weapon of doubt. Though diplomacy between the three factions; ZAFT, Orb and the Earth Alliance had been strong, the fracture that was caused by their long battles had left a scar, which has been exploited. Recent bombings of military installations, and attacks by unknown mobiles suits on the Earth Alliance's bases have caused calamity between ZAFT and EA (Earth Alliance). Tension grew and further infractions of the treaty continue, ZAFT blaming the Earth Alliance and in turn, the Earth Alliance has taken up arms against ZAFT. Orb continues its neutral middle, as their still young union of factions falls apart. To this very day, casualties are being delivered to both sides as the treaty begins to shatter into nothingness. However the final strike against this fragile "wall of peace" will be dealt sooner than anticipated. Surprise on their side, the secret Organization makes their move upon Carpentaria and the ZAFT Forces.
(Carpentaria: 10:41am)
Carpentaria Base…located in the Gulf of Carpentaria on the northern coast of Australia. A PLANT assigned territory and the first major base on earth, belonging to ZAFT. Being highly regarded as such leaves it as the main base on Earth where Mobile Suits are made. Not your typical Mobile Suits either, but such information is usually restricted to ZAFT forces knowledge. However, such knowledge has fallen into the wrong hands in the past; examples much like the beginning of the Bloody Valentine War as well as its successor, the Second Bloody Valentine War. In each of these wars, Mobile Suits were stolen and this as well as other anomalies led to a…breaking if you will in the treaty set between the forces of PLANT (ZAFT) and the Earth Alliance. Of course, who is to say that it is merely one or the other's fault? It was a different side each time and it is a simple example of how mankind is continuously revolving around war. Despite what everyone wants; Coordinators and Naturals alike, we constantly end up in war with each other. There is always a consuming conflict that ends up bringing about death and destruction. Is this really what Humanity wants? It's been a constantly repeated process…so maybe so. Twenty years since the Second Bloody Valentine War…and still nothing has changed.
Moving past the facts of history and maybe the future, the focus turns to those who reside in Carpentaria. Focus past the man and woman and look closer to man's side for the story this time revolves around a boy. In the past wars, there was something similar to this; a young individual who made a difference to the side in which they fought. Of course the names will never be forgotten or disregarded but at the present, leave the past where it is. The focus of this story is upon an individual who is named Yugi.
(Carpentaria: 10:45am)
It was not so much lively, but it certainly was not a ghost town. Of course, the main focus of livelihood might have been upon the Carpentaria Base where most of ZAFT's soldiers were, but that was aside from the case. Through the streets, the roar of a motorcycle could be heard, maneuvering in and out through what little traffic there was. Upon this motorcycle, was a young individual who wore no helmet; apparently he wasn't too concerned with safety, but he had no real reason to be. Being a Coordinator had some perks to it, which was expected. They were enhanced and thought to be revolutionary; they were created to be more than what the human should have been and despite the fact that they were created by Naturals; it was this fact…that they were better, which was the center-hood of war in the past. When one looked back, it was hard to understand the true motives behind creating a Coordinator if only to go to war against them, but that was how it was and there was no changing it now.
Returning to the young individual, he found himself coming to a slow stop as his eyes glanced along the sidewalks on either side of him. For a moment he seemed prepared to continue with his ride, but something stopped him. To his left, his eyes glanced over the petit frame of a girl…probably his age though he couldn't care much to be honest. It was not just the girl that made him stop, but what was going on with her. She was running, running away from a group of men and it was not even this that had caused the young male to keep his feet planted on the ground. The unusual nature of this scene was the look in that girl's eyes as she had ran by. She wasn't frightened or anything of the sort…she was leading them on. Playing with them in other words as the male watched her turn into an alleyway. What did she intend on doing then?
There really wasn't a great amount of time to consider that thought but whatever she was planning was certainly not along the lines of decent from what he had grasped of the look in her eyes. It was a bit of a concern and the fact that this boy was even a ZAFT soldier, though he may have been off at the moment, made it all the more distressing that he hand the situation. His foot pushed off from the
ground and his leg swung over as he removed himself from the motorcycle. He hadn't thought to maneuver towards the sidewalk, there wasn't time for that, but his feet carried him quickly, and despite the many honking horns that were being directed towards him, he did not bother to look back as he leapt over one of the parked cars along the sidewalk and entered the alleyway behind the group.
What is with people these days?
He couldn't help but think that and it was at the last moment that the girl noticed his arrival and immediately her faced changed to anger. It was another, could care less moment as the boy leapt into the air; far higher than what a Natural could perform and as he came down upon the first male, his knees fell down hard upon the collar bones and the man instantly collapsed as the teenager performed a front flip and landed before the fallen foe. His pace did not stop there; his feet had barely touched the ground before he was carried forward; his fist was just as fast as a bullet as it shot towards the face of one and keeping with the flow of things, he spun on the heel of his right foot and sent his left into the abdomen of the last individual. All in all, things had progressed rather smoothly; of course the sheer power of his kick had sent the final foe into the wall and there had been speculation as to whether something had cracked, but that was not so much important.
He sighed, a bit out of annoyance as he then turned and stared towards the young female. He couldn't say he was too happy of what he did now that he saw the look in her eyes; almost a pure hatred as it seemed as she walked towards him. He did nothing but look back at her for a moment, before turning on the spot and heading back out of the alley.
"Hey, why did you do that? I could have taken them on my own, you know." She had called out to him and this caused him to glance back at her momentarily. He couldn't help but to glance over her this time; she was shorter than he and he was at least five foot six. Probably around five foot four or so, and he couldn't even deny the fact that she was definitely not the average looking girl. She was definitely more than that with cropped light blue hair that stopped at her shoulders and her almost teal eyes that were penetrating his own eyes, which for the record were red. Red eyes with black hair that could almost resemble her own; it was shorter as it stopped at the lobe of his ears, but who was really checking?
He glanced at her again, before he simply shrugged. "I know, that's why I stopped it before you could." He began walking again and his words seemed to throw her off; her look of anger turning to surprise and she quickly picked up a pace to catch up to him.
"What do you mean you knew? Was it that predictable or are you just perceptive?" There was an obvious hint of sarcasm as she spoke the last option and that seemed a bit annoying to the young male as he glanced in her direction, a skeptical look upon his face. Did she really have to follow after him? Maybe he should have lied and left it at that. Too late to dwell on that possibility now though and so he continued walking for a while, crossing the street with her at his side, to his motorcycle.
"Not predictable…I'm just insightful to things like that." That was about as good an answer as he could possibly managed to give and even then, she didn't look too satisfied by it. As if she was accusing this comment as a lie. He swung his leg over to the other side of his motorcycle, in which he was still being honked at for and kicked the engine into life. However she stood before him, leaning on the windshield of the motor vehicle and staring at him intently. There was something about the smile she was giving him as well…more to her than meets the eye obviously, he thought to himself.
She let her smile fade away as she continued to look at him for a moment longer. "So what's your name, oh mighty savior?" Again with the sarcasm, but he let it go. Words never had done much for him unless it was something important. He couldn't tell if she was serious or not and would it really matter if he gave her his name? He wouldn't be here much longer anyway.
"…Yugi." One word, nice and simple. There was no need for a last name. He didn't want the possibility of a stalker, though he wondered just how many Yugis there could be in the world. What was the point in dwelling over it now; it was already too late.
She smiled again, but it was different this time…almost sincere though considering her previous smile, could it really be trusted. The teenager known as Yugi gave no smile back; a look of blankness and no emotion across the entirety of his face. They continued to stare for a while longer, until a beeping noise broke the silence. It took the girl a moment to realize that it was coming from her phone and as she glanced down at it, with mild curiosity, her face lit up like it could have been her birthday. She quickly put the phone away, and began running off in the direction Yugi had originally been going; she stopped suddenly and turned back to look at the confused teenager.
"The name is Arin; thanks for saving me, my little hero." She winked and began running again leaving Yugi watching her with a bit of confusion in his eyes. He sighed and his eyes glanced up toward the sky as he took in a deep breath.
"She could be lying about the name…definitely sarcasm in the whole hero thing." He shook his head and a slight smile appeared on his face. She was interesting…this girl named Arin. He closed his eyes and sat there for a moment enjoying the peace of the moment.
(Carpentaria: 10:59am)
"What's taking her so long?" A female voice spoke quietly and almost serenely as the question seemed to linger in the air.
"You know how Arin is; off in her own little world and all. Though she's really prolonging the mission. He won't be happy if we don't accomplish this." A male voice this time, and with no attempt in hiding the annoyance in his tone, it was recognizable that these two were within their teenage years.
The two were standing across the street and staring past the fence that was surrounding what was the mobile armory of the Carpentaria Base. The female was around five foot three and was your average brown haired, light brown-eyed girl. Meanwhile the male was all the more different, standing at six foot one and having a head full of blonde hair with blue eyes. There was also a tint of hazel within them if one cared to get close, but in all due honesty, you would not want to be too close to this individual. He stared down towards his hand, where he was absentmindedly releasing the flame from a portable lighter constantly.
"Is that really necessary Szayel?" The small girl was staring at his hand and watching the flame flicker on and off, before her gaze returned to the scene across the street.
The one known as Szayel shrugged and placed the lighter in his pocket before a sigh of extreme boredom filled the air. "I can't believe her; what the hell could she be doing at a time like this?"
"…Running towards us it would seem."
Szayel looked in the direction the young girl was staring and saw for a fact that the blue haired teal eyed girl was moving quickly in their direction, sprinting like a gazelle before she suddenly stopped beside her female acquaintance. She gave a quick wave, before turning to look across the street like the others had been.
Szayel was not too quick to let things go however, "where the hell were you? The mission is going to start any second now and you're just now getting here?"
Arin sighed and glanced towards him, a look of annoyance flashing through her eyes and despite the great size difference, Szayel could not help but look away as he muttered something under his breath. "I got caught up with something. It won't happen again, so relax." She smiled that same crazed but innocent looking smile and glanced back across the street as did Szayel.
The smallest female glanced up towards the sky as if looking for something before she began walking across the street. "It's about to begin, let's go."
Arin and Szayel glanced at each other before smiling and following after the girl. "You never cease to amaze with that ability of yours Shiya," Arin said cheerfully. The trio stopped at the gate, for a moment and it seemed as if they would do nothing, before off in the distance, there was a loud rumbling followed by a shockwave as a shuttle began to launch. Not just one shuttle either, but five shuttles took off from the Mass Driver and began to head slowly towards space.
Szayel smiled and a sadistic smile appeared on his face. "Time to have us a little fun."
(Carpentaria: 11:05am)
Yugi had taken off again but back in the opposite direction. He had escaped his daydream when the sound of his own phone beeped continuously and according to the message, something was definitely wrong. How was it that the base had launched five shuttles, all with nuclear weapons upon them? The base itself had no records of anything like that and despite the fact that the nuclear weapons were under lockdown, there they were escalating slowly into the atmosphere. He had taken it upon himself to return to base; he was the closest one to the base in the first place so he would
have to do something about the impending threat. His mind raced over the conversation he had only had a minute or so earlier:
"How did the nuclear weapons even come to be on board those shuttles without anyone knowing?"
A female's voice responded back, "we're not sure yet Yugi, but nonetheless they need to be taken care of before they leave the Earth. Return to base at once." She was obviously under a lot of pressure, from the strain in her voice. Yugi sighed and with one hand, turned on the spot and started heading off towards the base site.
"How much time is there before they exit Earth's atmosphere?"
"At the velocity they're traveling, we estimate around fifteen minutes. We're calling a Code Red situation at the moment, so hurry back."
He closed his phone but not before the simple, "Yes ma'am." was spoken into the phone.
Here he was now, racing off to get there before the shuttles could escape. How in the world had this happened though? Why were there still nuclear warheads stored here in the first place? Hadn't Coordinators and Naturals been living under peace for twenty years now? There was definitely something wrong with the situation and if ZAFT had no idea who had even authorized or set things up for that matter, then there was sure to be conflict.
He was upon the base site in no time and instead of heading towards the Mobile Armory where most of the Mobile Suits were stored, Yugi's cycle veered off in the complete opposite direction as he found himself speeding towards the docks. In a matter of moments he saw what it was he was looking for and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Stationed at the docks was a battleship; the Infinity which was scheduled for its ceremonial launch at the end of the week. Despite the fact that there was a treaty in place, that didn't take away from the fact that upon this ship, were ten mobile suits…one of which Yugi was particularly looking for.
He came to a screeching halt and quickly, his feet carried him to the ship, where he headed straight for the station where the mobile suits were residing.
"It's been twenty years…" He couldn't help feel a bit nostalgic despite the fact the past really didn't involve him at all. His eyes glanced over the Mobile Suits he ran by until finally, he came to a stop. He found himself staring at possibly ZAFT's most powerful mobile suit, even after twenty years of time…
The ZGMF-X42S Destiny.
There was not enough time to get suited up or anything like that. He couldn't help but feel a little excited as he grabbed hold of the line that would escalate him to the cockpit.
"Hey Yugi, what'd you think you're doing?"
He glanced down and saw one of the mechanics…Kado was calling out to him in confusion and immediately his voice had attracted a crowd of the other mechanics who were now wondering what he was doing entering a Mobile Suit that was not his.
"No time to waste and the Destiny is the fastest Mobile Suit we have." Yugi entered the cockpit and closed it as he sat himself down. He powered it up and looked over things, before a face appeared on the monitor before him.
"Yugi, what are you doing? The Destiny is to be piloted by Rai Kimimoto. You know this." The voice was of that same woman that spoke to Yugi over the phone, but he was not really paying attention at the moment. His eyes had widened at the mere sight of everything, but not in a good way.
"What the hell did Rai do to it? All the settings are completely off par with what the Destiny is truly capable of." He pulled the keyboard around and instantly, his fingers were in motion as he began work. "Can't believe I have to recalibrate all of these settings…and you're talking about giving him this Gundam? Honestly Captain, I think you could have chosen anyone else and had better luck." There was no hint of humor in his voice; his real focus was upon fixing and resetting everything to their original outputs; he even took it upon himself to escalate a few things and it wasn't with any surprise that Yugi found the current settings to be completely out of their true spec. capabilities.
The "Captain" as Yugi had just called her laughed at his words and Yugi glanced up to see her hand covering the entirety of her face. "It wasn't my call, so don't go putting blame on me. I suppose though that we don't have a choice though…the Destiny is the fastest Mobile Suit we have and so I'll permit the use of it this time. Besides it should be in your possession anyway; it's like your birthright."
Yugi smiled at the last couple of words and simply nodded.
"Prepare the Destiny for launch." There were echoes of "yes ma'am" and Yugi smiled as he finished the task before him and prepared for launch.
It was about another minute or two before the Captain turned back towards Yugi and smiled. "Ready when you are."
Yugi nodded and gripped the controls tightly. "Yugi Asuka. Destiny. Launching!"
The Mobile Suit shot off the launching zone and the thrusters kicked in, sending the Destiny shooting out towards the sky. After twenty years, the Destiny was once again in the sky and even more, under the control of its original pilot's son.
