Summary: Sora… a world possessing far more advanced technology than Earth, and wielding the weapons known as Gundam. Now one team is about to take the world by storm as they strive to show the rest of Sora that a Gundam team is not about money, glory, sex, fame, or power, but rather the dreams that people fight for and that hope for a better future can be a powerful motivator, despite what others may say! Note: I don't own Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED: Shadow. Both belong to their respective owners.

GUNDAM SEED

Dreams of Hope

Yeah, I know. Things are looking bad and then some miracle happens. Well, that's what happened with me… Wait a minute! I'm getting ahead of myself. I guess I should start from the beginning, but I won't. It would take too long, and as it stands, we're not going to have enough time. So long story short, my name's Terra White, and I'm the leader of the American Dreamers.

Who are the American Dreamers, you ask?

We're one of the best Gundam Teams around. Well, we're going to be, anyway.

We come from a country on Sora called the United States of Ameros, which is modeled after the now defunct United States of America. Our country is a democracy, one of the oldest democracies around if not the oldest. We're also the most advanced, in possession of some of the most cutting-edge technology on the planet. Our armed forces are also some of the best.

Right now, however, there's a situation going on.

A civil war is brewing. And not between two factions of states.

One of our states, Somera, was taken over by a man named Gregory Wolfram, a former citizen of Ameros. He's now the dictator of the Someran Empire, and he wants to expand his rule to other countries. And we can't allow that.

The reason: our country is the only one that supports human rights and the belief that if one follows their dreams then anything can happen. That is why we are called the America of Sora.

Currently the situation in Somera is not good, and because of a horrifying drug produced by Gregory's scientists, Ameros' soldiers can't get close without suffering incredible losses. Whatever it is, it's got the government worried, so people protested and finally got them to form a new Gundam Team: us.

Now it's our mission to find out what's going on, and if possible, save Somera and take the world by storm!

American Dreamers, roll out!

Chapter 1: New Dreams

The thief grunted as he catapulted off the edge of the roof, flipping and landing on the street in the same position as a cat. He got to his feet and broke out into a run carrying his stolen goods. He sneered as he glanced down at the box in his grasp. "Heh. Way too easy," he remarked.

"Hey! Stop, thief!" a male voice cried. He turned and his eyes widened as he spotted the police cruisers coming up in front of him.

"I don't think so!" the man snapped. He plunged a hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a pistol, firing the shots with one hand and cradling his cargo with the other. He ran down a nearby street before ducking into a school parking lot.

He slid behind a tree and stuffed his pistol back into his pocket before chuckling and opening the box to examine its contents. His grin only grew wider as he stared at the gleaming metallic gauntlet within.

"With this, I'll be sure to become a Gundam Fighter!" he purred.

He suddenly perked up, his eyes flicking over to where the cops were coming his way. "Heh. So you found me, huh? Nice try, but you won't get me a second time!" he called. He grabbed his pistol and opened up on the police cruisers, forcing the officers to fire back from the front of their vehicles.

The thief turned and ran, discarding the box as he did so. He slipped the gauntlet on his arm and clenched his fist. He turned and ran backwards while holding his hand aloft. "Nice try, cops! But now I'm on my way to becoming a Gundam Fighter! Nothing can stop me now!" he taunted.

He returned to his original position and grinned as he did so. Now he was sure to pull a lot more heists, and perhaps he could even show those cops a thing or two! Thoughts of this nature filled his head and clouded his mind's judgment. He didn't even bother to consider that he might be fighting others as well when he joined the ranks.

The man kept running as he slipped into the neighborhood and vanished amongst the crowd. He sneered as he glanced back, his eyes not picking out any trace of the cops.

The thief turned his attention to the new gauntlet he now wore. The screen stood out amongst the other buttons and functions of the device, and the metal gleamed in the sunlight. "Perfect," he remarked. "Now all I gotta do is steal one of them Gundams and I'm all set!"

He lowered his arm and looked around the square of the small town he was in. "Now to get out of here before the county cops come back."

The thief ran off towards the train station further down the street.

"Hold it!"

The man suddenly stopped, his eyes looking around for the source of the voice.

"If you're trying to steal from my hometown, then you got another thing coming, bub!" the voice snarled.

The next thing the thief knew, a powerful figure leapt down from a tree and landed right in front of him. The man was five-foot eleven, and he was powerfully built, with bright silver eyes and jungle green hair. He had tan skin and wore a green T-shirt with the country's flag on the front and black cargo shorts. Sandals adorned his feet and on his back was a brown backpack. On his left arm was a camouflage-colored gauntlet with the same screen and buttons as the one the man was wearing.

He stood up and hefted his own gauntlet. "Don't think that you're the only one!" he remarked.

"Back off! Nothing's gonna stop me! Nothing, ya hear!?" the thief ranted.

The green-haired man scoffed. "As if. You have no idea what it means, do you?"

"Do you?!" the thief roared.

"Actually, I do!" the other man growled. "Now, drop the Neon Gauntlet, I'll let you off the hook. Or else!" He held up a rock in his right hand and clenched, crushing it into pebbles.

"Hah! You think you can scare me, Coordinator?" the thief asked.

The Coordinator snarled as he dropped the pebbles. "So, that didn't convince you, huh? Well, maybe this will!" he roared, charging at the thief.

The younger man flipped to the side and landed on his feet, sneering as he whipped out his pistol and aimed it at the older man. "Die!" he cried.

The Coordinator's silver eyes flashed and he crouched, leaping to the side as the thief pulled the trigger, sending bullets flying his way. He dodged the bullets and snagged a tree branch off the ground, tensing his body and throwing it like a Frisbee. The branch spun through the air and nailed the thief in the hand, causing him to drop the gun. "AH!" He clutched his injured hand and looked up, his eyes blazing. "Why you…! You'll pay for that!" he cried.

"I don't think so!" the other man said. "Now drop the Gauntlet and I'll go easy on you!"

He punched his fist into his open hand as he said this. "I'm not normally one for violence, but in this case I'll make an exception!"

The thief could see that he was outmatched at this point. He reluctantly reached up and removed the silver gauntlet, handing it to the older man as he walked up. Once he had it in his possession, he drew back a fist and smirked. "Night!"

That was the last thing the thief saw before he was knocked out.

Henry Green smiled as he scanned the newspapers. The headline read Gauntlet Thief Arrested, and it showed a picture of the same man he helped catch a few days ago in his hometown of Hutcho. The man still had the black eye he gave him after knocking him out, and it showed in the photograph.

"So that guy tried to steal a Neon Gauntlet?" one of his friends asked.

"Yeah. The guy had a desire to become a Gundam Fighter, no doubt because he wanted to be a thief," Henry remarked with a shake of his head. He laughed a little. "It's actually quite ridiculous now that I think about it."

Hannah Wilson rolled her eyes. "I wonder what gave him that idea."

Henry just scoffed. "As if I'd know." He then folded the paper and laid it on the rec-room table. "So, what's new with you? Didn't your folks contact you for something?"

Hannah nodded as she adjusted the thick braid hanging down her back. "Yeah. My grandfather's got cancer," she said softly.

The Coordinator fell silent. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," he murmured.

"It's all right. It was bound to happen sooner or later," she said. "He's had this tendency to get it for some time now. It's a family thing."

"Bet you're glad you got adopted, huh?" Henry remarked with a grin.

Hannah nodded slowly. "Yeah… But that still doesn't mean it won't hurt."

"I understand," Henry remarked. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can go visit him for a bit if you want."

"I don't know if she'll allow it. I mean, we've got a tournament coming up in just a few weeks," Hannah said as she looked out the window.

Henry frowned. "Oh, yeah. I forgot. Let's just hope that she does allow it."

The younger woman smiled. "Thanks, Henry. You're the best."

Henry smiled back. "Yeah. After all, we're friends, right?"

Both burst out laughing.

Hannah Wilson was just three years younger than Henry, and she was also a Natural, or unmodified human being, but that didn't stop her from being a useful ally in combat. She stood at five-foot-nine and had thick brown hair braided down her back, stopping just at the middle of her back. She wore a red T-shirt with a brown vest over it and blue jeans with sneakers. Her eyes were bright green and she had tan skin. On her left forearm she wore what appeared to be a knight's gauntlet with the rest of the finger covers missing, only this gauntlet had a screen and buttons on it and it was colored a misty grey.

Henry Green was her exact opposite. He stood at five-foot-eleven and he had jungle green hair with bright silver eyes, a mark of his heritage as a Coordinator. He was muscular and athletic with tan skin. He wore a T-shirt with the flag of Ameros on the front and a brown backpack was draped over his chair. He wore black cargo shorts and on his feet were sandals. On his left arm he wore the same gauntlet as Hannah, but it was camouflage colored.

"So, any news on the Bloods?" Henry asked once both calmed down.

Hannah nodded. "Yeah. They just recently entered another tournament and kicked the other teams back across the arena. Some people were even hospitalized before the matches. The government is really having a field day with this."

"Damn. Those guys are nothing but trouble," he muttered. "I sure wish we could show them a thing or two!"

"Well, you may just get that chance," a voice said.

The two turned to face the door as it slid open to reveal the speaker. Dan Kito stepped into the room and closed the door. At 24 years old, Dan was the second youngest member of the team, but with his height of six feet even and his black hair cut short, he looked older. He was fairly muscular for his age, and he had bright glacier blue eyes. He wore a black tank top with an ancient Amerosian symbol for hope on the front and he currently wore blue jean shorts. His feet were encased within heavy steel-toed boots that looked scuffed and dirty. On his left arm he wore a gauntlet as well, but his was black with a red slash mark on the side.

"Dan. I take it you have something for us?" Henry asked.

The young man nodded. "Yes. It turns out that the Bloods have been entered in the tournament we're in.

"So then that means we're gonna need to be on high alert," Hannah noted.

"Not as much as you'd think," a second voice remarked as the door to the adjoining restroom slid open. Zeke Hughs emerged, rubbing his hands on a towel. "The tournament doesn't start for a few weeks, remember?"

Zeke Hughs was only twenty-seven, yet he was one of their best hackers on the team. His red hair was tied back in a loose ponytail that went down to his waist. He had playful blue eyes that stood out, and he had tanned skin. His body was lanky in build, but he was very fit for someone of his frame type. He stood at five-foot-eleven and a half, just a half inch under Dan's height. He wore blue shorts and black sneakers, which contrasted with the sunset yellow T-shirt he wore. On the front of the shirt was the Autobot logo and on the back was the Decepticon symbol, a mark of his liking of the series Transformers. He too wore a gauntlet like the others, but his was a dark red color.

"What happened this time, Zeke?" Henry groaned.

"A backed-up toilet," was the Coordinator's answer. "Don't ask. Not even I know how."

"I think it might've been Dominick," Hannah replied. "He's always gotten airsick."

"Not like this," Zeke said. He tossed the towel aside into a trashcan. "Either he might be coming down with something, or someone forgot to flush before he puked."

"If that's the case, then that's gonna be out of commission for a while," Dan murmured.

"Yeah, it seems like it," Zeke said.

The door to the room slid open again and the four turned to face the doorway as two more people entered.

The first was a woman in her mid-twenties with short black hair and steel grey eyes, one of which had a scar going across it. She stood at an imposing six-foot-one and she had a muscular but athletic build. She wore a black T-shirt and green camouflage fatigues with a green trench coat that ended at her knees. Combat boots adorned her feet and she wore a fingerless glove on her right hand. A white American star stood out on her coat's left shoulder. She too wore a gauntlet, but hers was camouflage colored in urban warfare colors.

Her companion was a bit shorter at five-foot-eleven, and he had bright golden eyes with black hair tied back at the nape of the neck, going down to his middle back. He had tan skin, and he was fairly muscular, but not too much. He wore a white jacket and red T-shirt with blue jeans and red and black sneakers. He also wore a gauntlet with black, white, gold, and blue coloring.

"Terra! Akira! What're you doing here?" Hannah blurted.

"It's about the Bloods, isn't it?" Dan hissed.

"Not exactly, Dan," Terra White answered. "It's more or less about the civil war."

"Damn! Not that again!" Henry groaned. "It's been what, at least three years since it broke out?"

"Yeah. I mean, what could be so big as to be a problem within that?" Dan asked.

"Something's going on that's got the higher ups convinced it could turn south for us," Akira Nishikama replied. "We're not sure as to what it is, but Tony's got a few good ideas."

"What's he saying this time?" Hannah asked sarcastically. "That they're employing zombies or something?"

"The doc doesn't know for sure, but he thinks that there might be something wrong with the Someran soldiers' physiology," Dan replied.

"How'd you know that?" Terra asked in mild shock.

He jerked a thumb at his Neon Gauntlet. "I was there, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot that he asked you to help restrain the soldier when he went cannibalistic on one of the other doctors," Henry said. "I still don't know what caused it."

"Even Tony doesn't know," Zeke remarked. "And that's saying something, considering the guy used to work in poisons and drugs for a few years before being reassigned."

Terra nodded. "Yeah. But this is still serious considering the entire situation."

Everyone somberly nodded as they recalled how this all began.

The day it all began was a normal day in the beginning, but later that afternoon, news began to filter down from the higher echelons of the United States of Ameros' government that there was a rebellion brewing in Somera, a province further north of the country. At first it was just whispers and people thought nothing of it. The news was dismissed as a mere coincidence and unrest.

Three months later, however, a bombing took place within the capitol of Somera, Jishto, and a new government was formed. The head was none other than Gregory Wolfram, a former scientist for Ameros' leading company NanoWare. The news spread rapidly and within weeks people all over Ameros learned that the rebellion was spreading across the state. In two months flat, the people of Somera were subdued and the armed forces previously stationed there were driven out and back across the Amerian Channel, the dividing channel between the mainland and the northern state.

The government began to try and figure out a way to reclaim the state, now dubbed the Someran Empire by Wolfram, but it proved to be a lot easier said than done due to the soldiers knowing the terrain and due to their fighting style. The Someran Empire began to create a navy and army, but due to the limited resources, this led to very few ships and a ton of failures. The only thing they were able to create effectively were Gundams.

So it became a stalemate. Ameros couldn't attack for fear of losing their mineral assets in the new country, and Somera gained the advantage to try and blackmail them. But that didn't stop the government from trying to gain a few tricks to counter this.

The Ameros President, Lianne Wilkson, tried to negotiate with Wolfram, but he turned her down. Still, she kept at it in an attempt to stall for time while the Ameros Navy mounted an invasion fleet under cover of darkness and clouds. The negotiations went on for three weeks before they broke down and the naval fleet launched its attack.

What happened could only be described as a massacre of both sides. The gunfights that followed led to three ships sunk and fifteen badly damaged with another fifty in varying states of damage. The Somerans, however, lost three hundred dead and fifteen hundred wounded with another two thousand missing. The casualties were high on both sides, but not as costly as it could have been.

The next attempt involved sending a small SEAL team ashore, only for half of them to be murdered in their sleep and their bodies missing. One managed to get back from an unknown location with half his leg missing and his left eye gouged out. He was so terrified that he refused to speak to anyone save his superior, and even then it was hard to get the information out of him.

The words he uttered horrified her and the report was sent directly to the President when she submitted it to her divisional commander. The President, after reading the report, established a committee to try and verify this, which led to further research and study on captured Someran soldiers.

The results were horrifying to say the least.

But now they had an idea of what to expect.

Less than three weeks later, Somera tried to launch an invasion of another nation off to their right side, but Ameros, allied with the nation of Gunthers, sent troops to the border and helped the Guntherians fight them off. The two allies succeeded in driving them back with very few losses, mostly due to the Ameros Air Force. Wolfram, now the Emperor, declared war the following day.

Ameros responded in kind with a particle missile barrage from several of their vessels.

The particle missiles devastated one of the cities, but this was just his answer to ten long years of planning and scheming.

The war had begun.

Henry shifted as he returned to the present from his journey down memory lane. "I still don't get why that guy had to go and kill the governor of Somera. I mean, couldn't he just defect and create his own nation?"

"I don't think he wanted to do just that," Dan admitted. "My father worked with him once and he said that Wolfram was a bit nutty, especially after the Nano Wars."

"Don't even remind me!" Hannah grumbled. "One of my cousins was in that. And she nearly died because of it!"

"Hey. Just be glad that our defense forces found the answer to that one," Zeke said.

"I know," Hannah said. "I am. I just don't want to recall it because she was right there in the city when it broke out."

"Those terrorists were nuts if they thought they could weaponize nanobots," Akira muttered.

"Tell me about it. We just got lucky that we were able to reverse it," Terra said.

The five nodded.

And so ends the first chapter. Sorry if it's so short. Next one will be longer. Enjoy!