Mobile Suit Gundam UC: The Rise of Garulu

Chapter 0:

Prologue

"As you can see…The power of 'newtypes' was essential in the one year war!" Said the teacher. We were about halfway through class and he had just finished showing a video of the famous Amuro Ray fighting in his Nu-Gundam during the battle against Zeon in space at their asteroid base. Most of the students in the class with me seemed to either be sleeping or daydreaming, but I was honestly too interested in the lesson to care.

"So, who would like to tell me the system used by the Nu-Gundam? Adam, how about you?" He said, calling on me as I raised my hand.

"The system was the 'Psycho-Frame', a system that increases a newtype's power and control over his suit. If I recall correctly, the Unicorn, Banshee, and Phoenix also used this system didn't they?" I asked.

"Very good Adam! Yes, all three of the mobile suits you mentioned used the 'Psycho-Frame', but what is the downside of using it?"

"I think it was that if used too often, then the user's mind may snap and thus the machine becomes no more than a beast upon a rampage."

"Excellent! At least one of you is paying attention. And with that, it is almost time for dismissal. Study hard! We have a test as soon as you get back from break!"

Most of the students groaned but I just gathered my things and walked out when the bell rang.

I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Adam; I don't have a last name. The reason is that I grew up in an orphanage. My parents apparently left me on the doorstep with just a note, a pocket watch, and a small silver necklace with a design similar to a skull and cross bones but with a sapphire wolf's head instead and crossed by two katanas, one made of ruby and one made of emerald. I lived there until I was 18, then I left to make room for other kids who might have needed a place to go.

That was about a year ago. Now I'm one of the best students in the Mobile Warfare Academy; a school in space created to teach people to be mobile suit designers, repairmen, and pilots. My idol, Banagher Links, was the pilot of the Unicorn Gundam. Although I want to be a pilot, I'm afraid that I won't last in battle. So I am learning to design them instead, but a lot of my ideas are rejected because they are so radical.

"Adam! Wait up!" I turned and saw my friend Maria Links floating over, yes I said Links, Banagher is her dad. Her shoulder-length black hair flowed out behind her and her green eyes sparkled with excitement. She was about 5'4" and had fair skin. Honestly, I'd had a crush on her for a while now...But didn't know if she felt the same way so I never say anything.

"What's up Maria?" I asked, letting go of the rail to let her catch up.

"I was wondering if you had any plans over the break, that's all."

"No not really, other than working on potential designs. Why do you ask?"

"Well, my family and I are planning to take a vacation at one the lunar hotels. Somehow, my dad got five tickets instead of four! Since they aren't refundable, I was wondering if you might want to come along with us." She said. At this point I was frozen in shock, but I covered it up by making it look like I was thinking. Here was a chance to go on vacation with my crush, meet my idol, and see the moon all at once! It seemed too good to be true!

"I'd love to but are you sure? I don't want to be a burden and-" I started to say before she cut me off.

"It's no problem, really! I just need to tell my dad, that's all. Why don't you go grab your stuff and meet me at the cafeteria, then we can board the shuttle. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds great! Thanks a lot Maria, I'll see you there!" I said as I grabbed another handle and went to my dorm room. It took about five minutes for me to get there. When I opened the door, I saw my roommate Jack packing his bag. Jack was 20, with red hair and blue eyes. He was one of the most popular guys in school, the girls loved him. Even so, he was definitely not your average dumb jock. He was almost as smart as me and even helped keep the bullies off of my tail.

"Hey Jack, have you seen my suitcase?" I asked, making him look up.

"Yeah, it's right over there in the closet. On the second shelf down from the top, why? Are you going somewhere?" He said in surprise.

"Yeah, I am. Maria said she got a fifth ticket to the moon by mistake, since they couldn't return it she asked me to come along. Can you believe it?" As I said this, I got my suitcase down and grabbed my sketchbook, notepad, and some pencils and pens.

"No way! Dude, you are so lucky! Maria must really like you if she wants you to come along with her on vacation. Say, doesn't that make you family?" He said while snickering at me.

"Oh shut up! It's not like that!" I said, although I couldn't help but blush at what he was implying.

He laughed for a few seconds but then calmed down and said, "Hey look, I made you a little present." As he did he pulled out a gift box that was blue with yellow stars and a black full moon wrapped with a red bow. I opened it up and a beam of red light scanned me.

When it finished, a little navy blue wolf-like robot with crimson eyes and gold detailing on its legs jumped out and spread his black angel wings. The wings were flecked with small touches of crimson and gold. It flew right at me and then landed on my shoulder before sitting down and looking at me with its gold tail wagging.

"Adam, this is Lobo. I made him in my spare time so I could surprise you. Do you like him?" Jack asked as I reached up and patted Lobo's head.

"Like him? I love him! This is so cool, thanks man!" I said as I shook his hand.

"No problem, now let's finish packing. I'm sure your girlfriend is waiting." He said, making me blush as I turned away to finish. Lobo helped to gather everything and I finished within five minutes.

I took another ride and went to the cafeteria. When I got there, I saw that Maria was being pinned to the wall by Mark, one of the school's biggest jocks (or jerks as I prefer to call them) and I heard him say, "Now why don't you leave behind that nerd and bring me along instead, I can show you a really fun time."

"Lobo, see that girl against the wall?" He nodded, "That's my friend. The one pinning her is my enemy. Now go get him!"

Lobo jumped off my shoulder and flared out his wings before dashing over and biting Mark right in the behind. He yelped in pain and Lobo let go before getting in front of Maria defensively.

"OW! Where the heck did this mutt come from?!" Mark said in annoyance before I stood next to Maria.

"I'd be careful what you say about Lobo here, unless you want me to tell him to cause some real damage." I said as Lobo growled menacingly.

Mark looked like he was about ready to wet his pants and made the smart decision to run off.

"Glad that's over, are you okay Maria?" I asked as I turned around, only to be caught in a hug.

"Thanks so much Adam! That son of a bitch wasn't taking no for an answer!" She said as I blushed redder than a tomato.

"It's no problem, but, uhh…could you let go? This is kinda awkward…" I asked nervously, she realized what she was doing and pulled back. I could see that she was blushing as well.

"Sorry Adam…I got caught up in the moment…But where did this cute little guy come from?" She asked as she bent down on one knee and Lobo came over to her.

"You mean Lobo here? My roommate Jack made him for me as a gift. I think he's bio-locked so that only I can tell him what to do. I hope you don't mind him coming along too." I explained as Lobo jumped up on her shoulder and started to nuzzle her face, making her giggle.

"Of course not, I think he and Haro will definitely enjoy each other's company." She said before Lobo came back to me.

"So how are we leaving?" I asked as I stroked Lobo's back.

"Well first we board the shuttle to Earth, and then my parents will meet us at the station. After that, we'll spend a few days at the house before going back to the station to board the shuttle for the moon."

"I see, well we had better get a move on then because the next shuttle leaves in 10 minutes." We both latched onto the handles and made it to the shuttle just as it was calling for final boarders. The ride took about an hour and for the most part, I read while Maria slept…On my shoulder. It was awkward, but I didn't want to wake her up, she was just too cute when she slept

When we were about to enter the atmosphere, I nudged Maria and she blushed when she realized what she'd been doing. We buckled up and landed a few minutes later.

Once the all clear was given, we entered the station and Maria started looking around. She seemed worried and I figured that she couldn't see her parents.

"Where are they?" she muttered under her breath, she was looking really nervous until I put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at me.

"I'm sure that they're here somewhere. This is a big crowd and so it's just hard to pick them out. But I would think that, being who they are, they would cause quite a commotion." I said, making her laugh a little.

"Well actually, they don't. People usually don't pay that much attention, so they usually think that my parents are just another married couple." She explained to me, then her eyes lit up and she started waving to someone. I followed her gaze and saw two people waving back who must have been her parents. I recognized Banagher easily, even if he did look older than he did in the school's files. The woman next to him was obviously Mineva Zabi, or Audrey Burne as she tended to go by.

They walked over and Banagher said, "Sorry we're late Maria. The traffic was horrible. Oh, who's this honey?"

"Oh, this is that guy I mentioned. Adam, this is my dad Banagher." Maria said. I stepped forward and put out my hand, which he shook.

"It's nice to meet you sir. I must say, I was surprised when Maria asked me of all people to join you all." I said as Lobo barked and flew onto my shoulder. "Whoops! It's okay boy, stand down. Sorry, this is Lobo. My roommate Mark made him and gave him to me before I left."

"Awww! He's so cute!" Audrey exclaimed, as she looked him over. He suddenly flew at her but just landed on her shoulder and did the same thing he did to Maria. "Stop it that tickles!" She said through her laughter.

"Come on Lobo, that's enough now." I called; he nuzzled her one more time before landing back on my shoulder. We went out and got into their car before setting off; as we drove things were quiet until Audrey asked me something.

"So Adam, what are your parents like?"

I tensed up and looked away sadly while Maria glared at her.

"MOM!" She called out, then she turned and put a hand on my shoulder, "Sorry Adam, I never told them." She then explained about my 'family situation' to them and her mother got a sad look in her eyes.

"Sorry Adam. I won't mention that again, but anyway we're almost there." She said. I didn't respond; I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts.

"Mom, Dad…Why did you leave me?" I thought before Lobo nuzzled me and brought me back into reality. I looked at the house and saw that it was just a simple brick and wood construct that, unless you knew better like I did, would easily be mistaken for belonging to just an average family.

"Welcome to our humble home." Banagher said as we walked up to the door and he unlocked it. When we got inside the first thing that we heard was a computerized voice saying, "Banagher! Banagher!"

The next minute a little green ball-shaped robot rolled up and unfolded a set of wings before jumping into Banagher's arms. He chuckled a little before turning to us.

"Look who's back Haro." As he said this he pointed at Maria and the robot immediately jumped at her.

"Maria! Maria!" It said. She laughed and picked him up as he made a sound that seemed like a kind of mix between a revving engine and a purr.

"Adam, Lobo, this is Haro. My dad made him a long time ago." She explained as Haro and Lobo noticed each other, both then immediately jumped down and scanned each other before running around and having fun in a game of 'tag'.

"Looks like those two are going to get along just fine with each other." I said before laughing along with Maria and her family, just then a little girl who looked to be about ten walked down the stairs. She saw Maria and immediately ran over to give her a hug.

"Big Sis, you're back!" She said happily as Maria hugged him back. Then she pulled away and saw me. "Hey Sis, who's this guy?"

"Ella, this is Adam. He's one of the best students in the academy and a good friend of mine. Adam, this is my little sister Ella." She explained as she walked over and shook my hand. She then saw Lobo and screamed.

"AWWW, IT'S SO CUTE!" She yelled as she ran over and wrapped him up in a hug. He struggled to get away before Audrey made Ella let go.

"Careful! Lobo may be strong, but you almost crushed him!" I said as calmly as I could, which wasn't very calmly at all, and making her look down sadly.

"I'm sorry…" She said and I realized that I had yelled.

"Me too…I didn't mean to yell. It's just that Lobo was a gift from a friend and I don't want to lose him."

There was an awkward silence before Banagher cleared his throat and said, "Well anyway, Maria mentioned to us that you wanted to design mobile suits right?" When I nodded he replied, "Do you mind showing us a few of your designs?"

"You mean it? Because I just so happen to have my notebook with me and it has a few designs in it." I said as I set down my bag and pulled it out. It was open to my current design in progress: a booster system that would boost speed by 688% and an emission system that let out a special particle which put the suit in a different time stream, increasing its speed by another 822%. This allows the suit to move at 15 times its original top speed.

"Wow…This is very advanced. I like it." Banagher said.

"Thanks, a lot of people just don't like my ideas because they are so different. The problem with this one is stabilizing the particles and adding a strong enough cooling system, otherwise the boost lasts about ten seconds and then the suit explodes."

"Whoa…That's wild." Audrey said with a shudder.

"How do you know what'll happen?" Ella asked curiously.

"Back at the academy, we have these computers that can run simulations of our designs. It's the latest way to test something, no risking lives, no material cost to build the prototypes, no matter how you look at it there's no better way to test a design." I answered plainly. She looked at me in surprise and then I showed them a few of my completed designs. When I reached the designs for a combat drone AI that would help to fight the wars and limit human casualties, I noticed that Banagher was looking at me thoughtfully.

"Mr. Links? Are you all right?" I asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"I'm fine, but may I speak with you in private out back later Adam? I have something to ask you." He replied.

"Sure why not. But for now, I'm kinda tired. Could someone show me where my room is so I can get some rest before dinner please?" I asked, Maria volunteered and I called Lobo before she led me to what she called 'the guest room'. I unpacked and took about a 30 minute nap before waking up and heading down to find that dinner was almost ready.

I went over and was about to grab some plates before Audrey stopped me.

"Now, now…I won't have a guest doing chores." She said.

"No it's fine; this is the least I can do since you invited me to come with you to the moon. Besides, I want to help." I replied as I put the plates on the table. Maria came down and saw me before shrugging and making drinks. She handed the cups to Ella, who brought them to me before I put them on the table. When the meal was finished cooking about ten minutes later, Maria called her father and he sat down next to Audrey. Haro then flew over to what looked like a kind of charging port for him and linked up as Lobo lay curled up around my feet. We made casual conversation until everyone was done. At which point most of them went up to bed.

Banagher asked me to follow him and he led me out to the back porch where we sat down in a couple of chairs facing each other.

"So what do you want to talk about Mr. Links?" I asked.

"Please, call me Banagher. I feel old when you call me that, anyway…I haven't told the others, but I'm actually the head of a certain project that is a funded by my late father's company-"

"You mean the Vist Foundation? The school files said you cut all ties with them."

"Yes well, it seems that there was a project that my father kept hidden from everyone on the moon. Now I run it, but the company is only a funding source. They don't own anything even related to it, but that's beside the point. The point is that the scientists working on the project are having quite a bit of trouble…However, you don't think like them. You seem to tend to think way outside the box and I think that that may be exactly what we need to help finish it. So I am going to ask that you help me finish it, I owe that much to my dad because if he hadn't given me the Unicorn then I would never have been able to save Audrey."

To say I was shocked would have been one of the century's biggest understatements. Here was my idol, asking me of all people to help him finish a project that even professional scientists were having trouble with!

"Sir, with all due respect, are you sure? I mean I'm not even finished with school yet and-" I started to say before he cut me off.

"I'm more certain than I've ever been. No matter what we try we keep running into the same problem. I think that your way of thinking might just help us solve it. So, are you in?" He asked as he put out his hand.

'Banagher Links, you just got yourself a new designer." I said as I shook it. We went to bed for the night and rested.

The next few days were pretty uneventful besides me getting a tour of the town, but even that was nothing extraordinary. It was just an average town with the basic things like a store, a pharmacy, and the usual things that small towns contained. The only thing that really stood out was the shuttle station, and nowadays they were everywhere.

On the day of departure, I was re-packing all my stuff when someone knocked on my door. I opened it and found Maria standing there.

"Hey Adam, are you ready to go?" She asked with a cheerful smile.

"Just about, I just need to finish packing and grab Lobo then I'll be all set." I replied while returning the smile. Then I walked back in and put the last of my things neatly into the suitcase before zipping it shut and called Lobo, who flew onto my shoulder. "There we go, that's everything."

We followed Maria out to the car and rode back to the station. We boarded the shuttle soon after we arrived and it took off.