"Michelle, are you done putting in that code yet!" A black hair girl yelled up to the open cockpit of a very sleek but powerful looking Gundam. A sandy-color haired girl poked her head out from the cockpit.
"Um, yeah. I'm almost done?" She said, a bit nervously. The girl on the ground looked rather annoyed.
"Do you need me to come up there!?" She yelled.
"No, I got it Emily, stay there!" An arm waved her off. Emily, the black haired girl, sighed and walked up to a hanging rope with a loop at the bottom. She put her foot in the loop and tugged on the rope. It started pulling her upwards, and stopped at just the right height for her to hop into the cockpit. Inside was barely big enough for two people. Michelle was busy tapping over a computer in the far back.
The two of them may have been best friends from diapers, but they were so far apart from each other, not just on personalities either. Emily was incredibly smart, smarter than anyone else her age, and even better than most of the adults she knew. She practically programmed the entire Gundam they were standing in.
Her father was a brilliant scientist, who ended up working for the government because of the pay. Her and her mother lived in a small village on the edge of the floating Neo-Canada. It was as far away from the government as possible, so Emily rarely saw her father, but it was safer there for Michelle's family, who her parents were good friends with.
Michelle is definitely what you would call different. She is only half-human, her father was a black smith but ran away when he found out what Michelle and her mother were. They are Sayens, an extremely powerful alien race.
Looking at Michelle, she wore a white tank top with ragged hand-me down jeans. Her arms were muscular for a girl, but not over muscular that you would notice from far away. She was ten times stronger than she looked though; it's just the way her race is. They are trained from birth for combat in marital arts so they can control this strength.
The other strange thing is that they are born with a tail, prehensile like a monkey. The fur on it always matched the color of the owner's hair, so Michelle's was slightly on the tannish side. There are very few of her race left, because of a war on their home planet, Michelle's grandfather found his family moving towards Earth, where a small colony settled on the outskirts, maybe two or three families. They ended up scattering to all the other Neo-countries instead of living in one place, to protect themselves from the humans.
"You're doing it wrong." Emily sang in Michelle's ear. Michelle jumped and hit her head on the ceiling of the cockpit.
"Ow!! Don't do that!" She said, rubbing the top of her head. Michelle looked extremely tired and worn out, but other than that in high spirits. In fact both girls looked worn out.
"Look, you put the code in backwards. I told you specifically what to do!" Emily said looking at what Michelle had put into the computer.
"You did, I don't remember that?" Michelle said handing over the paper she had in her hand. Emily shook her head and pushed Michelle out of the way and began rapping on the computer. Michelle just sat down and watched. She wasn't good at the technical things, which was why Emily was around. Michelle was only here to compete as the fighter, the Neo-Canadian government exploiting her alien powers. Michelle slowly slipped into a dream, tired from fatigue of all her sleepless nights.
Someone was coming towards her, a woman holding a heart with a sword through it. This puzzled Michelle greatly. She went to ask what it meant but nothing came out of her mouth. The woman came closer and pushed the heart and sword into Michelle's body. It felt warm and comforting, but also powerful.
"The Queen has been passed. You bear the mark of a Leader." The woman said, and then Michelle woke up from a kick to the head. Emily was trained in Martial Arts as well, growing up with Michelle she kind of had to learn some. Emily would be a black belt if she took actual lessons, both of them were at that level, though when sparring Michelle had to remember not to use her strength.
"Ow! Hey what was that for?" Michelle said, snapping awake.
"You fell asleep on me again. Besides your hand was glowing so I thought you were using Kai in your sleep." Emily said, pointing to Michelle's right hand. Kai was the type of energy Michelle was able to use in battle. It's a mix between fighting spirit and life energy, also another typical advancement of her race. It can be formed into a beam or projectile sized shapes to be thrown or shot. Michelle looked down and saw it was glowing red, not her normal yellow. A symbol had appeared on the back of her hand, it was the head of a Queen from a deck of cards, but behind it was a Heart with a sword through it, just like in her dream.
"WHAT THE HECK!!" She jumped to her feet, waving her hand around trying to get it off. When that didn't work she started rubbing it, but it still didn't go away.
"Michelle just relax!" Emily said, grabbing her friend's shoulders. As Michelle calmed down, the mark slowly faded away into her skin. They both stared at the back of Michelle's hand for a while, to see if it was going to come back. Michelle slumped to the ground again, out of energy.
"Why are you so tired today? Normally you have more energy than I do." Emily asked, putting in the final codes. She pushed the computer back into the side of the Gundam, and it lit up showing that it was accepting it. Michelle just looked away.
"No reason." Emily could see the bruises on Michelle's back when she turned away, and it made her almost sick. Then she noticed some fresh marks.
"You didn't sleep last night did you? He beat you again?" Emily said, grabbing Michelle's shoulder.
"It's not that bad! I can handle a few sleepless nights." She shrugged Emily off.
"Did you get to eat at least?" Emily asked, getting concerned. Michelle just looked at the ground.
"Michelle!! Why didn't you tell me! I could have handled things today so you could have slept in my room! I would have brought you some food!" She said, smacking Michelle in the back of the head.
"Yeah, that worked out so well last time. I got extra lashings and you ended up starving that night. Not again. I can handle it!" She jumped out of the cockpit. Emily rushed over in time to see her swing from a few of the structure beams above the Gundam and settle into a corner by the very high roof. She sighed, knowing she could never reach her up there. Michelle was a very proud person, as well as very stubborn.
"Emily! Michelle! Where are you!?" Someone shouted. It sent chills up Emily's spine when she heard it. It was a strong male voice, no older than twenty seven. Emily peeked out of the Gundam and saw him, about five feet nine inches, taller than both girls. Short light brown hair spiked in the front matched his devil ice blue eyes. He was thin, a good build, perfect stud for any girl who walked by, but he was the source of all evil the girls lived with. Today he was wearing a pair of tight jeans with a green military jacket. He was the one put in charge of care of the girls by the military.
Emily quickly took the rope back down to the ground, not able to jump like Michelle could. The man saw her coming down and headed in her direction.
"Where's the freak?" He asked, looking right in her eyes. Emily held back a punch to his face and was about to point up in the rafters when Michelle floated over to them.
"I'm right here, what do you want?" She said, landing gently on the ground. Another advantage of Michelle's race is that they have developed a levitation power advanced enough that they can fly. The man slapped her across the face, but Michelle just stood there and took it.
"That is NOT how you address me creature." He was about to slap her again when Emily stepped in between them and took the blow. Michelle lunged at the man this time, knocking him to the ground. She pinned him there and drew her fist back about to punch it straight through his face. She stopped though, frozen in mid punch. She had gotten careless in her fury, and the man now had the tip of her tail clenched in his fist. Her tail was her strength and her one weakness. As long as she had her tail, she had all her Sayen powers at their fullest potential, but when her tail is grabbed or squeezed, she goes completely numb, all her strength drained out of her body, all her powers gone. She becomes weak, limp, and unable to move on her own. She stays this way for hours at least, sometimes it gets worse and she is out for days or weeks.
"General Lance, the Leader is here waiting for you!" A solider said from the door. Lance, the man gripping Michelle's tail, stood up, still gripping her tail tightly. Michelle was frozen in that position till Lance moved and then she collapsed on the ground. Emily ran over to her, wrenching Michelle's poor tail out of Lance's iron grip. Lance looked at Michelle and smacked himself in the forehead.
"I forgot about that meeting. It was supposed to be present at it!" Lance kicked Michelle's body. "I hate it when she pisses me off." He stormed out. "Oh, and if it's not awake in half an hour, you leave it here and meet me in the lobby." He growled, slamming the door on his way out. Emily dragged Michelle's body over to the Gundam's foot were she was able to put her up in a sitting position.
"Great. Why does he always do this?!" Emily said, kicking the Gundam. It rang through the empty hanger. She slumped down next to Michelle and started to cry. They had both turned seventeen last month, their birthdays two weeks apart from each other. It had been a year since they were kidnapped from their home on the edge of Neo-Canada by the government and the military. They had found out about Michelle's family from somewhere, and proceeded to capture them for their own gain.
Michelle's mom had had her tail removed when she had fallen in love with Michelle's dad. Though it was gone she still was a whole Sayen, which is where Michelle inherited her powers. So when the government saw that Michelle's mom, Cassandra, had no tail, they instantly locked her up and went after Michelle, knowing that she would be more powerful because of the tail.
They already knew about Emily's genius from her father, because he bragged about her at work all the time, so proud of her. Little did he know it would cost him his life when he tried to stop them. They took Emily so that she could be forced to program an unstoppable Gundam to be piloted by Michelle, since she knew most of Michelle's capabilities. So ever since then, the two girls have been prisoners of the government, working on building a Gundam, and working Michelle to the bone to get her to fight in the upcoming Gundam Fight #14. They were like slaves, and to keep them focused, they locked away Michelle's mother somewhere where they can't find her, and Emily's mother was shipped away to serve the Leader of Neo-Canada, easier to keep an eye on.
To preserve the Earth and try to rebuild it, the Gundam Fight has been reduced to nothing more than a Tournament held in the pervious winner's domain. No more scattering across the globe eliminating the competition before the Finals. Neo-Japan knew what they were doing, and none of the other countries seemed to object to it. It is basically a battle between countries using their strongest fighters to try and claim rule over the universe for four years, until the next Gundam Fight. Evil leaders will do anything to win this title, at all cost.
"Emily, stop crying. I'm okay." Michelle whispered. Her eyes fluttered open, and she moved her head to look at her friend. Emily sniffled and wiped the tears from her face.
"How can you take this all the time? It's been a year now, and I've never seen you break once!" She asked. Michelle sighed, still very weak.
"You'd be surprised." Was all she said. Michelle pushed herself to her feet and wobbled a bit. She smiled at Emily.
"Guess it wasn't as bad today. He must have grabbed on the wrong way." She stumbled forward and Emily caught her. "I think I'll lean on you though." She chuckled. They headed for the door that headed to the main lobby. Michelle wrapped her tail around her waist like a belt, so it wasn't as obvious.
The lobby was filled with government officials and guarded by the military. Emily and Michelle paused and looked around as everyone stared at them in their torn up raggy clothes.
"We so stand out more than normal here." Emily whispered. Michelle nodded her head, used to be singled out, but this was a bit much. Lance noticed them, and signaled them to approach him. Emily leaned over and whispered to Michelle.
"Just do what he says. I can't carry you all the way to the basement if he decides to do it again." It was more of a slight hiss in her voice. Michelle just nodded her head, not happy with it though. They approached Lance, heads bowed so they weren't looking at him.
"Lady Vedette, I present to you the next Gundam Fighter, specifically chosen for strength, agility, and special abilities." Lance said. Looking down, the girls could only see a set of feet hanging off the couch. They were in dark blue high heals, and tight dark nylons.
"So, you have gotten the creature up to her maximum potential?" They heard her say. Her voice was very strong, commanding, and threatening. Besides that it had a beautiful ring to it. Something else was bothering Michelle though. Her heightened senses were picking something odd up. There was something in the air, a familiar scent that was bothering her. It smelt like Emily, but not as strong. Michelle instantly looked up and looked around the room. She saw, in the far corner, near the door to the room areas, was a woman she knew so well. It was Emily's mother, Sarah, standing with her hand over her mouth like she was going to cry. They made eye contact, and Michelle saw her jump a bit. She didn't understand till she was doubled over in pain from a punch to the stomach.
"Pay attention! You are lucky to be standing here right now!" Lance growled. Lady Vedette stood up. Emily and Michelle looked up at her at this point, Michelle not as much. She was average height, maybe in her late twenties. Her face was smooth, and she had piercing green eyes. She had brown hair with streaks of blond going through it. Her outfit consisted of a short skirt the same color as her shoes and a dark green military jacket over a white blouse. Her military jacket had many more medals than Lance's though.
Michelle looked her in the eyes and stood up, staring straight into her face. Lance was about to hit her again but Lady Vedette stopped him. They were locked in a glare for a few seconds that felt like hours. She slapped Michelle across the face, raking her with her nails, and red lines formed and started to bleed. Michelle didn't flinch or move a muscle at all.
"You have a strong spirit and a lot of pride in that body of yours. It belongs to me now. You serve me, and only me. No questions, you answer to only me and General Lance. You are my tool to winning rule over the universe, and I am determined to get it this year!" She was right in Michelle's face. With the heels on, Michelle had to slightly look up at her, but she bet with the heels off they would have been the same height. Lady Vedette moved towards Emily this time, and Michelle heard Sarah tense up.
"Ah, Dave Seirona's daughter, Emily right?" She asked. Emily just glared at her. "You look a lot like your father, same hair, though you have your mother's eyes." She laughed. "You're the brains behind the beast aren't you? Seems logical otherwise they wouldn't have taken you too." Emily clenched her fist. She may only be half human, but Emily knew Michelle was not a monster or beast, and she hated hearing it.
"Actually, Emily has been helping design the Gundam. With her knowledge on the creature's abilities and her expertise with computers and machines, she was able to design perfect programs that will give us great advantages." Lance stepped in. Lady Vedette grinned.
"Keep her around then. We don't want the creature to get lonely do we?" She walked back to the couch and sat down. Michelle motioned with her eyes towards Emily's mom for Emily to notice. She took the hint and looked. Her mom broke into tears when she saw Emily's face. Emily swallowed hard, clenching her fist and holding back her own tears. It was the first time she'd seen her mother in a year. She was ashamed on the state she was in, and for her mother to see her like that.
"Are preparations all set with the Gundam and the travel equipment?" Lady Vedette asked, bringing the girls' attention back to her. Lance nodded her head.
"Yes, everything is set and operational."
"Good. Opening Day is in two days. You leave for Earth, to the Gundam Fight arena, tomorrow!" She grinned. Michelle and Emily swallowed hard. The thing they had been dreading, was about to begin.