Chapter One
The Search begins
Quatre was sitting in the desert, watching the glorious sunset. He saw Trowa coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, but something had pulled his attention away from Trowa. Trowa had seen it too and was watching the sky. What had appeared to be a shooting star streaked across the sky and then broke apart into three sections falling to earth. "That was no shooting star." Trowa said blandly.
"Want to go see what it was?" Quatre asked. Trowa just nodded his head and Quatre headed to the mansion for a pair of dune buggies. Both of them set out on the buggies; Quatre heading to the one that crashed the closest and Trowa heading to the one that landed the farthest from where they were.
Quatre didn't arrive at the site until forty minutes later. When he was coming close, a tall woman with long blond hair walked towards him waving her arms.
"Hello! Could you help us please?" She called to him, cupping a hand around her mouth and waving with the other.
Quatre brought his dune buggy in and stopped next to her. She led him to where he could see the crash site. It wasn't in too much damage, but there were a few injuries. Quatre help tend to them, the worst being a few broken ribs. "Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself." Said the blond haired woman, "I'm Samantha Luneron; wife of the late Derek Luneron."
"I didn't know he had a wife." Said Quatre. "I'm Quatre Rebabera Winner."
"I'm sorry to hear about your father, Quatre. He was such a good man."
"I know." Sensing that Mrs. Luneron was still worried about something, Quatre spoke again. "There is something still bothering you, isn't there?"
She was slightly taken back at this but she nodded, and led him over to some chairs that were set up for them. "My daughter and her best friend were in different shuttles when we were attacked by mobile suits. I can't tell you how we escaped, but the suits still managed to damage our shuttles on our way to Earth. The three of us got separated. Sandra, my daughter, in one shuttle, Melinda in another, and whom you see here in the last. I'm worried about Sandra and Melinda, they were on the shuttles by themselves, piloting them."
Quatre smiled. "I'm sure they're fine. My friend Trowa Barton is heading for one of the shuttles now and I could organize a search party for the other." He stood up. "But for now, let's get you and your people to my house. You can stay there for as long as you like."
"We are in your debt Quatre." She said, and the rest of the crew nodding. Quatre just shook his head and smiled.
Even though the shuttle couldn't fly, it could still move across the sand on its landing gear, though very slowly. They followed Quatre on the dune buggy to his mansion.
* * *
Crash! A shuttle plowed through a giant sand dune and came to a stop at the edge of the cliff the dune was on. Something came crawling out of the wreckage. A girl, with short blond hair, collapsed on the sand, breathing heavily. After what seemed like forever, she got up and headed back to the wreckage of her shuttle. A vulture was witnessing what was going on, and let out a loud squawk when a suit climbed out of the twisted metal and gas fumes.
"Sandra Luneron reporting in. On Earth, separated from Mother and Melinda. Over." She said to her screen.
A message came up on her screen: Good, Stage One complete. There should be two Gundams here. Find them and meet up with Melinda and Mother. Stage Two; Hide your suit from site. Good Luck.
"Beginning Stage Two." The suit started up its boosters on the back and went over the cliff edge. She landed easily in the wet sand of the beach and walked along the cliff edge. She found just what she was looking for, a cave in the cliff face, hidden partially by the waves lapping at the lower portion. Sandra hid her suit there, and took out a small jetpack and flew once again to the top of the cliff. The pack had very little fuel to begin with so she was out by the time she was on the ground again. Sandra headed into the desert, the only sign that she had been there was her footprints with the pack next to them, and the smoking wreckage of her shuttle.
* * *
Trowa arrived at the crash site he was headed for in thirty minutes. "It wasn't as far as Quatre predicted." He thought. The shuttle was nestled between two trees as the very base of a small mountain. The shuttle itself was hardly damaged, but Trowa wasn't sure about the passengers. He got off his dune buggy and circled around the ship, but there was no sign of anyone being there. Then he heard it.
Trowa turned toward the mountain, realizing for the first time that there was a cave there. But the strangest thing was that there were sounds of machinery coming from it. He walked over there and stuck his head in the entrance. Trowa heard the click of shoes hitting the ground, and then a voice echoed in the cave, "Who's there? You better not mess with me."
Trowa backed away from the opening as a girl with fiery red hair and icy blue eyes came out, holding a gun. "There's no need for that." He said in his usual monotone. She stared at him and lowered the gun, but not her guard.
"Did you see anything?" she said flatly, nodding toward the cave entrance.
"No, it was too dark."
"Good." She slipped the gun into the small holster by her ankle and stood up. "Do you know where the rest of my, um, family is?" When he nodded, she asked if he could give her a ride, seeing that he came on dune buggy.
"Sure." The both rode on the dune buggy back to Quatre's house.
* * *
Mrs. Luneron was sitting anxiously in Quatre's living room, waiting for information on her daughter and her friend. Quatre walked in and handed her a cup of tea.
"No worries now, we'll find them." He walked over to the window and looked out. "Here comes Trowa right now, with a guest I believe."
Mrs. Luneron ran over to the window and looked out. "He found Melinda! Thank God!" She ran out of the room, totally forgetting about her tea in the excitement. Quatre watched from the window as the young girl jumped off of Trowa's dune buggy and into the open arms of Mrs. Luneron. "Melinda! Thank God you're alive!" Samantha said through her tears.
"No, thank Trowa! He's the one who found me." She leaned forward in what looked like a hug, but she whispered into Samantha's ear, "He almost saw the suit."
Samantha whispered back, " But he didn't, that's the good thing."
Quatre had come out and was standing near them. "Now we can send out the search parties for your daughter Sandra. I'll lead one. Trowa, would you mind leading another?" He said that he wouldn't.
"I will lead the third." Mrs. Luneron stated. "I will find my daughter."
Quatre looked them all in the eyes. "Then it is settled. We will begin immediately."
* * *
Each party had fifty or more members following the leader. They all spread out a fair distance to cover more territory in search of the missing Sandra Luneron. Quatre traveled a little ahead of his group so as to give warning for enemies. Instead…he found something partially covered in the sand. He stopped the dune buggy to see what it was that he found. As he started to lift it up, it moved and groaned. He turned the object over to reveal the face of a young girl. "She holds a resemblance to Samantha," he thought. Then it hit him. This was her daughter.
He carried Sandra and leaned her against the dune buggy. Reaching into his bag, Quatre pulled out a canteen of water and poured the liquid into her mouth. She coughed as the cool water ran down her parched throat. Her eyes opened slowly as she rasped out the word, "Enemies." She was looking up while she said it, causing Quatre to gaze up with her. Though the tiny dots of light were still far away, he could tell that they were Mobil Suits heading their direction.
Quatre lifted Sandra on to the back of the buggy and told her to hang on. He put the canteen away and pulled out a communicator. "Everyone, this is Quatre reporting! We've got enemies at the southern border and two points east! I have found the girl and am bringing her to the base. Prepare all suits for battle!" Then he headed home at top speed on his dune buggy.
* * *
Rasheem was watching the door as Quatre pulled up at top speed, blasts hitting the sand behind him as he raced for the door. Right as he reached the door, a bolt hit the ground behind him, sending him and Sandra flying though the door. He grabbed her as they went through the air, Quatre breaking Sandra's fall as he hit the floor. Mrs. Luneron came running up, called by one of Quatre's servants. Sandy was taken to the infirmary, followed by her mother, while Rasheem helped Quatre up.
"How is the battle going?" Quatre asked as he stood up.
"Not well Quatre. We have lost a lot of suits…and allies." Rasheem watched the boy's face grow sorrowful. "I'm afraid we need the Gundams."
"And risk exposing ourselves to Melinda, Sandra, and Mrs. Luneron?" Trowa cut in, walking up to Quatre and Rasheem.
Quatre spoke up, "Trowa, if we don't show ourselves, there won't BE a Melinda, Sandra, and Mrs. Luneron! This whole place will be destroyed by those suits out there, including the girls." Quatre watched Trowa's face carefully, seeing a slight change in it. "I can tell you don't want that to happen…and I don't either Trowa. If you don't want to risk it, that's fine, but I'm going to do it." He started heading for the room with the Gundams when Trowa stopped him.
"No…" he said softly, "We'll do it together." Quatre stopped and smiled at Trowa.
"Let's go!"
* * *
"MOTHER! I'm all right, please stop squeezing me so hard." Mrs. Luneron let go of her daughter, tears still springing from her eyes. Melinda was watching out the window, listening to the conversation between her friend and mother. Them she looked up, and her jaw dropped in surprise.
"Sandy…?" She said. Sandra and her mother went silent as Lindy motioned the young girl over to the window. "Check this out. It's a Gundam…right here on this base!" She said quietly as she watched Sandrock and Heavyarms being pulled out from an under ground holding area. As the Gundams were laid out, the girls could see Trowa and Quatre heading for them.
"They must work on them or something, they couldn't pilot them." Sandy said. But her theory was proved wrong as they watched the boys climb into the suits and took off to the battle. "They're the pilots we've been looking for…our mission, our success is right there." Sandra said softly, stunned.
"I can't believe that Quatre and Trowa are the Gundam pilots." Mrs. Luneron said when she came over to the window.
Melinda looked over at Sandy, her red hair and icy blue eyes sparkling. "They showed them- selves, risking everything just to fight, think we should?"
"You know it!" Sandra said as she ran for the door, Lindy right behind her.
"Be careful you two!" Sandra's mother called after them.
* * *
Lindy could see the two buggies that Quatre and Trowa used parked against the exit; the problem was getting by the guards. They were loyal servants of Quatre, prepared to defend the home and base with their lives. Sandy bent down and picked up a rock amongst all the sand and threw it against the wall away from the dune buggies. The guards heard the noise and went to investigate it, giving the girls a chance to get the vehicles started. They managed to get out the door into the midst of the battle before the guards came back. "See you on the battle field!" Melinda called to her friend Sandra as she pushed through the sand to the mountain base. Sandra went off to the wreckage of her ship, and the cliff cave where her suit was hidden.
* * *
The heated blade of Sandrock sizzled through the middle a Mobile Doll. The screen inside bleeped and put a yellow square on a small moving object. Quatre zoomed in on the object, his eyes going wide as he recognized Sandy on the dune buggy.
"What is she doing out here? She's going to get herself killed." He thought to himself. Quatre watched as reinforcements came in.
"There's what's left of my ship." Sandra said to herself. She stopped at the cliff edge and got off the vehicle. She could see Quatre in Sandrock battling the dolls. "I still can't believe that Quatre is the Gundam pilot I had to find. Too weird." She thought. Sandy pressed a button on her watch and waited at the cliff. Quatre watched what she was doing, curious and intrigued. Then he saw something fly straight up from the bottom of the cliff.
"What the…?" Quatre said when he saw the mobile suit land on the cliff next to Sandra. She climbed up into the suit and powered it up.
"Nobody shoots down my families' shuttles and gets away with it." Said Sandy. She flew up into the air, towards the mobile dolls. "Why don't you take this on for size?" she yelled, reaching on to her back and pulling out two twin, curved swords. They sliced through the two suits like a hot knife through butter. "That's only the beginning for attacking my family."
Rasheem came up on Quatre's screen. "Master Quatre, what is going on?"
"Rasheem, there's another Gundam here…and Sandra Luneron pilots it! It looks a lot like Sandrock." Quatre said, frozen with shock as he watched her battle. "I'm going to check on Trowa. If Sandy's a Gundam pilot, then maybe…"
* * *
The sound of bullets hitting metal alloy rang off the side of the mountain, filling the air with the sound. Trowa swerved back and forth through the Dolls, hitting them left and right with his huge gattling gun and jack knife in his arm. "Man, these Dolls are tougher than usual." He thought.
Melinda crossed from the sand onto the dirt and rock at the base of the mountain. A Doll had spotted her and fired repeated shots at her. "I can make it," she thought, "I have to reach Lion's Fang."
"What the hell is she doing out here?" Trowa said, his quiet personality vanishing as he spotted Lindy and the Doll chasing her. He flew over and destroyed the offending Doll right as Melinda drove into the cave. "Why did she go in there?" Trowa wondered. He didn't have to wonder long.
Melinda came shooting out, literally, hitting the Dolls that were coming up behind Trowa with a metal pinging sound ricocheting of the mountain. "Two Gundams weren't doing to well, let's see how four work." Lindy called out.
Trowa's screen beeped, and he hardly noticed Quatre appear. "Trowa…TROWA! Pay attention!" Trowa blinked and lifted his head, looking around and finding Quatre on screen. "What's wrong Trowa? Is something happening?"
"Melinda…Gundam Pilot…Like Heavyarms…" Trowa babbled.
" I know Trowa. Sandra's one too. And hers looks like Sandrock." Quatre smiled. "Well, I'd better get back to the battle. Can't let Sandra have all the fun." Quatre's image disappeared from the side screen.
Trowa snapped out of his shock and did one of his fancy moves, blasting a Doll apart with his gattling gun on his left arm and ripping a second apart with the jack knife hidden in his right.
* * *
The battle raged on, both sides growing weaker, the Doll supplies running low and the Gundam pilots getting more tired at every moment. But eventually the Dolls were ordered to retreat. This was good news for the Gundams. They all headed back to Quatre's, fuel and energy running to their limits. All were totally drained, and barely had the energy to get out of their Gundams.
Rasheem climbed up onto Sandrock and helped Quatre out. "How are you Master Quatre?" he asked.
"I'm fine Rasheem, thank goodness. How are the others?"
"Why don't you ask us yourself Quatre? We're standing right here." Quatre turned and faced the others once he had jumped down. Sandra gave him a big smile as Trowa and Melinda came up behind her.
"I don't…Why…How are you…?' Quatre stuttered as Trowa came over next to him. "How did you guys get to be Gundam pilots?" he finally spit out.
A laugh came from the side of the group, near the med. bay. "Remember how I told you I couldn't tell you how we escaped? The explanation is right in front of you." Mrs. Luneron walked out from the shadows, a broad smile on her face. Then she turned to the girls. "Aren't you girls forgetting a part of you mission?"
Melinda and Sandra stared at her with a blank look on their faces. "Huh, we are? What are we missing? We've defeated the enemy twice, made it to Earth, revealed ourselves to…That's it!" Sandra realized. She and Melinda turned around and headed for their Gundams.
Samantha smiled at Quatre. "They have already done what they are allowed to do. They can't tell you how they became pilots. Both they and I have been forbidden to tell you." Then she ran after the girls as fast as her dress would allow.
Quatre and Trowa came up on the Gundams Maelstrom and Lion's Fang. Both Gundams were lying down head to head, show the boys could see Sandra and Melinda at the same time. They were both at the heads of their suits and pulling something out of a small compartment. "What is going on up there?" Quatre asked.
Melinda jumped down and showed Quatre and Trowa what they were doing. "We forgot to take out these necklaces when we discovered that you guys were the pilots." A blipping sound was heard from inside Maelstrom. Sandy climbed in and sat/lied down in the cockpit. "What is it?" Lindy called.
Sandra read the screen a couple of times. "We got new orders, Melinda. Come see this!" Melinda climbed up and listened to Sandy's whispered information.
"I don't believe it! There are more of us?"
To pilots Zero-eight and Zero-nine:
Zero- three and Zero-four know of the pilots that fly Zero-one, Zero-two, and Zero-five. Your mission is to find another three pilots. Have Trowa Barton and Quatre Winner check with the other pilots about any more Gundams. The three others you seek will have the same mission. You will know them when you see them. Destroy anyone who will try to keep you from your mission. Do not let OZ know that there are more Gundams. Reunite all ten Gundams.
Trowa and Quatre had started to climb up the suit to see what was going on when Melinda jumped over to her suit and fired it up. "You boys better check with your comrades…they may have found some more Gundam pilots like ourselves." Sandy said. The two guys jumped off the Maelstrom as it started sitting up.
"We'll see ya later…We got places to go and pilots to find!" The two girls' suits were standing now, and began to walk to the doors.
As the doors opened up, sand began to start flying in as the repaired Luneron space shuttle pulled out in front of the doors. The back of the shuttle opened up and the two Gundams and their pilots were loaded on board. Trowa and Quatre had to block their faces as sand was blasted back at them even harder as the shuttle took off for the vastness of space. Trowa and Quatre were left standing in the hold with only their own Gundams as company.
"Let's go Quatre, they won't becoming back. We'd better start getting ready to check on the others."
As they started to walk back inside, Quatre said, "I don't see the point, we have no real enemy at this time-"
"Master Quatre!" Rasheem came running up to them with a paper in his hands.
"What is Rasheem?" He was handed the piece of paper and read it over. " I take back what I said Trowa, we just got our new orders. And we got to go after Sandra and Melinda. They will most likely know where the other pilots are."
"Master Quatre, there's more. You have to watch the television. Come."
The three of them ran into the control room to see the announcement that was being spread solar system wide. Every television that was on in every house on every colony and around the world was displaying the same announcement.
"Greeting those who still believe in the old ways of the Unified Space Forces. We the citizens of Colony 201 have declared war on not only the Unified Space Forces, but also the five pilots who ended the war of the original Operation Meteor and Mariemeia Kushrenada's rein. If it hadn't been for those five, we would have destroyed it ourselves. But now we declare to have our own independence from the USF. We are the soldiers who have had no where else to turn except each other. We are the leftovers of all the past wars and we know no other way of living. We are giving these people a reason to live and survive by fighting for our cause. We are the Dawn of Shadows on the peace of the universe and this war shall not end until one of those battling is completely destroyed. Those of you, who want somebody to blame for this, then blame yourselves for starting the wars that have allowed our military to grow.
Quatre and Trowa watched as the transmission was cut off. "Come on Trowa, we'd better go and find the others. Rasheem, prepare the suits to go into space."
"Yes Master Quatre."
* * *
"Did you see that Sandy?"
"It appears that our hunter has finally shown himself. This will make it easier to find the other girl Gundam pilots because they will be out battling the Dawn of Shadows as well."
Samantha was with the girls in the galley of the shuttle. "How about if we just give this enemy the code name OZ for the time being, like our orders say to. It says here that all the pilots will receive orders about this new enemy, but they won't receive their mission to find us until they meet up with their counterparts."
Samantha would have continued when one of the servants came in and informed them they had found what they believed to be Gundam pilots Zero-five and Zero-ten.
Sandra and Melinda stood up. And in unison said: "Let's Go!"
The Search begins
Quatre was sitting in the desert, watching the glorious sunset. He saw Trowa coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, but something had pulled his attention away from Trowa. Trowa had seen it too and was watching the sky. What had appeared to be a shooting star streaked across the sky and then broke apart into three sections falling to earth. "That was no shooting star." Trowa said blandly.
"Want to go see what it was?" Quatre asked. Trowa just nodded his head and Quatre headed to the mansion for a pair of dune buggies. Both of them set out on the buggies; Quatre heading to the one that crashed the closest and Trowa heading to the one that landed the farthest from where they were.
Quatre didn't arrive at the site until forty minutes later. When he was coming close, a tall woman with long blond hair walked towards him waving her arms.
"Hello! Could you help us please?" She called to him, cupping a hand around her mouth and waving with the other.
Quatre brought his dune buggy in and stopped next to her. She led him to where he could see the crash site. It wasn't in too much damage, but there were a few injuries. Quatre help tend to them, the worst being a few broken ribs. "Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself." Said the blond haired woman, "I'm Samantha Luneron; wife of the late Derek Luneron."
"I didn't know he had a wife." Said Quatre. "I'm Quatre Rebabera Winner."
"I'm sorry to hear about your father, Quatre. He was such a good man."
"I know." Sensing that Mrs. Luneron was still worried about something, Quatre spoke again. "There is something still bothering you, isn't there?"
She was slightly taken back at this but she nodded, and led him over to some chairs that were set up for them. "My daughter and her best friend were in different shuttles when we were attacked by mobile suits. I can't tell you how we escaped, but the suits still managed to damage our shuttles on our way to Earth. The three of us got separated. Sandra, my daughter, in one shuttle, Melinda in another, and whom you see here in the last. I'm worried about Sandra and Melinda, they were on the shuttles by themselves, piloting them."
Quatre smiled. "I'm sure they're fine. My friend Trowa Barton is heading for one of the shuttles now and I could organize a search party for the other." He stood up. "But for now, let's get you and your people to my house. You can stay there for as long as you like."
"We are in your debt Quatre." She said, and the rest of the crew nodding. Quatre just shook his head and smiled.
Even though the shuttle couldn't fly, it could still move across the sand on its landing gear, though very slowly. They followed Quatre on the dune buggy to his mansion.
* * *
Crash! A shuttle plowed through a giant sand dune and came to a stop at the edge of the cliff the dune was on. Something came crawling out of the wreckage. A girl, with short blond hair, collapsed on the sand, breathing heavily. After what seemed like forever, she got up and headed back to the wreckage of her shuttle. A vulture was witnessing what was going on, and let out a loud squawk when a suit climbed out of the twisted metal and gas fumes.
"Sandra Luneron reporting in. On Earth, separated from Mother and Melinda. Over." She said to her screen.
A message came up on her screen: Good, Stage One complete. There should be two Gundams here. Find them and meet up with Melinda and Mother. Stage Two; Hide your suit from site. Good Luck.
"Beginning Stage Two." The suit started up its boosters on the back and went over the cliff edge. She landed easily in the wet sand of the beach and walked along the cliff edge. She found just what she was looking for, a cave in the cliff face, hidden partially by the waves lapping at the lower portion. Sandra hid her suit there, and took out a small jetpack and flew once again to the top of the cliff. The pack had very little fuel to begin with so she was out by the time she was on the ground again. Sandra headed into the desert, the only sign that she had been there was her footprints with the pack next to them, and the smoking wreckage of her shuttle.
* * *
Trowa arrived at the crash site he was headed for in thirty minutes. "It wasn't as far as Quatre predicted." He thought. The shuttle was nestled between two trees as the very base of a small mountain. The shuttle itself was hardly damaged, but Trowa wasn't sure about the passengers. He got off his dune buggy and circled around the ship, but there was no sign of anyone being there. Then he heard it.
Trowa turned toward the mountain, realizing for the first time that there was a cave there. But the strangest thing was that there were sounds of machinery coming from it. He walked over there and stuck his head in the entrance. Trowa heard the click of shoes hitting the ground, and then a voice echoed in the cave, "Who's there? You better not mess with me."
Trowa backed away from the opening as a girl with fiery red hair and icy blue eyes came out, holding a gun. "There's no need for that." He said in his usual monotone. She stared at him and lowered the gun, but not her guard.
"Did you see anything?" she said flatly, nodding toward the cave entrance.
"No, it was too dark."
"Good." She slipped the gun into the small holster by her ankle and stood up. "Do you know where the rest of my, um, family is?" When he nodded, she asked if he could give her a ride, seeing that he came on dune buggy.
"Sure." The both rode on the dune buggy back to Quatre's house.
* * *
Mrs. Luneron was sitting anxiously in Quatre's living room, waiting for information on her daughter and her friend. Quatre walked in and handed her a cup of tea.
"No worries now, we'll find them." He walked over to the window and looked out. "Here comes Trowa right now, with a guest I believe."
Mrs. Luneron ran over to the window and looked out. "He found Melinda! Thank God!" She ran out of the room, totally forgetting about her tea in the excitement. Quatre watched from the window as the young girl jumped off of Trowa's dune buggy and into the open arms of Mrs. Luneron. "Melinda! Thank God you're alive!" Samantha said through her tears.
"No, thank Trowa! He's the one who found me." She leaned forward in what looked like a hug, but she whispered into Samantha's ear, "He almost saw the suit."
Samantha whispered back, " But he didn't, that's the good thing."
Quatre had come out and was standing near them. "Now we can send out the search parties for your daughter Sandra. I'll lead one. Trowa, would you mind leading another?" He said that he wouldn't.
"I will lead the third." Mrs. Luneron stated. "I will find my daughter."
Quatre looked them all in the eyes. "Then it is settled. We will begin immediately."
* * *
Each party had fifty or more members following the leader. They all spread out a fair distance to cover more territory in search of the missing Sandra Luneron. Quatre traveled a little ahead of his group so as to give warning for enemies. Instead…he found something partially covered in the sand. He stopped the dune buggy to see what it was that he found. As he started to lift it up, it moved and groaned. He turned the object over to reveal the face of a young girl. "She holds a resemblance to Samantha," he thought. Then it hit him. This was her daughter.
He carried Sandra and leaned her against the dune buggy. Reaching into his bag, Quatre pulled out a canteen of water and poured the liquid into her mouth. She coughed as the cool water ran down her parched throat. Her eyes opened slowly as she rasped out the word, "Enemies." She was looking up while she said it, causing Quatre to gaze up with her. Though the tiny dots of light were still far away, he could tell that they were Mobil Suits heading their direction.
Quatre lifted Sandra on to the back of the buggy and told her to hang on. He put the canteen away and pulled out a communicator. "Everyone, this is Quatre reporting! We've got enemies at the southern border and two points east! I have found the girl and am bringing her to the base. Prepare all suits for battle!" Then he headed home at top speed on his dune buggy.
* * *
Rasheem was watching the door as Quatre pulled up at top speed, blasts hitting the sand behind him as he raced for the door. Right as he reached the door, a bolt hit the ground behind him, sending him and Sandra flying though the door. He grabbed her as they went through the air, Quatre breaking Sandra's fall as he hit the floor. Mrs. Luneron came running up, called by one of Quatre's servants. Sandy was taken to the infirmary, followed by her mother, while Rasheem helped Quatre up.
"How is the battle going?" Quatre asked as he stood up.
"Not well Quatre. We have lost a lot of suits…and allies." Rasheem watched the boy's face grow sorrowful. "I'm afraid we need the Gundams."
"And risk exposing ourselves to Melinda, Sandra, and Mrs. Luneron?" Trowa cut in, walking up to Quatre and Rasheem.
Quatre spoke up, "Trowa, if we don't show ourselves, there won't BE a Melinda, Sandra, and Mrs. Luneron! This whole place will be destroyed by those suits out there, including the girls." Quatre watched Trowa's face carefully, seeing a slight change in it. "I can tell you don't want that to happen…and I don't either Trowa. If you don't want to risk it, that's fine, but I'm going to do it." He started heading for the room with the Gundams when Trowa stopped him.
"No…" he said softly, "We'll do it together." Quatre stopped and smiled at Trowa.
"Let's go!"
* * *
"MOTHER! I'm all right, please stop squeezing me so hard." Mrs. Luneron let go of her daughter, tears still springing from her eyes. Melinda was watching out the window, listening to the conversation between her friend and mother. Them she looked up, and her jaw dropped in surprise.
"Sandy…?" She said. Sandra and her mother went silent as Lindy motioned the young girl over to the window. "Check this out. It's a Gundam…right here on this base!" She said quietly as she watched Sandrock and Heavyarms being pulled out from an under ground holding area. As the Gundams were laid out, the girls could see Trowa and Quatre heading for them.
"They must work on them or something, they couldn't pilot them." Sandy said. But her theory was proved wrong as they watched the boys climb into the suits and took off to the battle. "They're the pilots we've been looking for…our mission, our success is right there." Sandra said softly, stunned.
"I can't believe that Quatre and Trowa are the Gundam pilots." Mrs. Luneron said when she came over to the window.
Melinda looked over at Sandy, her red hair and icy blue eyes sparkling. "They showed them- selves, risking everything just to fight, think we should?"
"You know it!" Sandra said as she ran for the door, Lindy right behind her.
"Be careful you two!" Sandra's mother called after them.
* * *
Lindy could see the two buggies that Quatre and Trowa used parked against the exit; the problem was getting by the guards. They were loyal servants of Quatre, prepared to defend the home and base with their lives. Sandy bent down and picked up a rock amongst all the sand and threw it against the wall away from the dune buggies. The guards heard the noise and went to investigate it, giving the girls a chance to get the vehicles started. They managed to get out the door into the midst of the battle before the guards came back. "See you on the battle field!" Melinda called to her friend Sandra as she pushed through the sand to the mountain base. Sandra went off to the wreckage of her ship, and the cliff cave where her suit was hidden.
* * *
The heated blade of Sandrock sizzled through the middle a Mobile Doll. The screen inside bleeped and put a yellow square on a small moving object. Quatre zoomed in on the object, his eyes going wide as he recognized Sandy on the dune buggy.
"What is she doing out here? She's going to get herself killed." He thought to himself. Quatre watched as reinforcements came in.
"There's what's left of my ship." Sandra said to herself. She stopped at the cliff edge and got off the vehicle. She could see Quatre in Sandrock battling the dolls. "I still can't believe that Quatre is the Gundam pilot I had to find. Too weird." She thought. Sandy pressed a button on her watch and waited at the cliff. Quatre watched what she was doing, curious and intrigued. Then he saw something fly straight up from the bottom of the cliff.
"What the…?" Quatre said when he saw the mobile suit land on the cliff next to Sandra. She climbed up into the suit and powered it up.
"Nobody shoots down my families' shuttles and gets away with it." Said Sandy. She flew up into the air, towards the mobile dolls. "Why don't you take this on for size?" she yelled, reaching on to her back and pulling out two twin, curved swords. They sliced through the two suits like a hot knife through butter. "That's only the beginning for attacking my family."
Rasheem came up on Quatre's screen. "Master Quatre, what is going on?"
"Rasheem, there's another Gundam here…and Sandra Luneron pilots it! It looks a lot like Sandrock." Quatre said, frozen with shock as he watched her battle. "I'm going to check on Trowa. If Sandy's a Gundam pilot, then maybe…"
* * *
The sound of bullets hitting metal alloy rang off the side of the mountain, filling the air with the sound. Trowa swerved back and forth through the Dolls, hitting them left and right with his huge gattling gun and jack knife in his arm. "Man, these Dolls are tougher than usual." He thought.
Melinda crossed from the sand onto the dirt and rock at the base of the mountain. A Doll had spotted her and fired repeated shots at her. "I can make it," she thought, "I have to reach Lion's Fang."
"What the hell is she doing out here?" Trowa said, his quiet personality vanishing as he spotted Lindy and the Doll chasing her. He flew over and destroyed the offending Doll right as Melinda drove into the cave. "Why did she go in there?" Trowa wondered. He didn't have to wonder long.
Melinda came shooting out, literally, hitting the Dolls that were coming up behind Trowa with a metal pinging sound ricocheting of the mountain. "Two Gundams weren't doing to well, let's see how four work." Lindy called out.
Trowa's screen beeped, and he hardly noticed Quatre appear. "Trowa…TROWA! Pay attention!" Trowa blinked and lifted his head, looking around and finding Quatre on screen. "What's wrong Trowa? Is something happening?"
"Melinda…Gundam Pilot…Like Heavyarms…" Trowa babbled.
" I know Trowa. Sandra's one too. And hers looks like Sandrock." Quatre smiled. "Well, I'd better get back to the battle. Can't let Sandra have all the fun." Quatre's image disappeared from the side screen.
Trowa snapped out of his shock and did one of his fancy moves, blasting a Doll apart with his gattling gun on his left arm and ripping a second apart with the jack knife hidden in his right.
* * *
The battle raged on, both sides growing weaker, the Doll supplies running low and the Gundam pilots getting more tired at every moment. But eventually the Dolls were ordered to retreat. This was good news for the Gundams. They all headed back to Quatre's, fuel and energy running to their limits. All were totally drained, and barely had the energy to get out of their Gundams.
Rasheem climbed up onto Sandrock and helped Quatre out. "How are you Master Quatre?" he asked.
"I'm fine Rasheem, thank goodness. How are the others?"
"Why don't you ask us yourself Quatre? We're standing right here." Quatre turned and faced the others once he had jumped down. Sandra gave him a big smile as Trowa and Melinda came up behind her.
"I don't…Why…How are you…?' Quatre stuttered as Trowa came over next to him. "How did you guys get to be Gundam pilots?" he finally spit out.
A laugh came from the side of the group, near the med. bay. "Remember how I told you I couldn't tell you how we escaped? The explanation is right in front of you." Mrs. Luneron walked out from the shadows, a broad smile on her face. Then she turned to the girls. "Aren't you girls forgetting a part of you mission?"
Melinda and Sandra stared at her with a blank look on their faces. "Huh, we are? What are we missing? We've defeated the enemy twice, made it to Earth, revealed ourselves to…That's it!" Sandra realized. She and Melinda turned around and headed for their Gundams.
Samantha smiled at Quatre. "They have already done what they are allowed to do. They can't tell you how they became pilots. Both they and I have been forbidden to tell you." Then she ran after the girls as fast as her dress would allow.
Quatre and Trowa came up on the Gundams Maelstrom and Lion's Fang. Both Gundams were lying down head to head, show the boys could see Sandra and Melinda at the same time. They were both at the heads of their suits and pulling something out of a small compartment. "What is going on up there?" Quatre asked.
Melinda jumped down and showed Quatre and Trowa what they were doing. "We forgot to take out these necklaces when we discovered that you guys were the pilots." A blipping sound was heard from inside Maelstrom. Sandy climbed in and sat/lied down in the cockpit. "What is it?" Lindy called.
Sandra read the screen a couple of times. "We got new orders, Melinda. Come see this!" Melinda climbed up and listened to Sandy's whispered information.
"I don't believe it! There are more of us?"
To pilots Zero-eight and Zero-nine:
Zero- three and Zero-four know of the pilots that fly Zero-one, Zero-two, and Zero-five. Your mission is to find another three pilots. Have Trowa Barton and Quatre Winner check with the other pilots about any more Gundams. The three others you seek will have the same mission. You will know them when you see them. Destroy anyone who will try to keep you from your mission. Do not let OZ know that there are more Gundams. Reunite all ten Gundams.
Trowa and Quatre had started to climb up the suit to see what was going on when Melinda jumped over to her suit and fired it up. "You boys better check with your comrades…they may have found some more Gundam pilots like ourselves." Sandy said. The two guys jumped off the Maelstrom as it started sitting up.
"We'll see ya later…We got places to go and pilots to find!" The two girls' suits were standing now, and began to walk to the doors.
As the doors opened up, sand began to start flying in as the repaired Luneron space shuttle pulled out in front of the doors. The back of the shuttle opened up and the two Gundams and their pilots were loaded on board. Trowa and Quatre had to block their faces as sand was blasted back at them even harder as the shuttle took off for the vastness of space. Trowa and Quatre were left standing in the hold with only their own Gundams as company.
"Let's go Quatre, they won't becoming back. We'd better start getting ready to check on the others."
As they started to walk back inside, Quatre said, "I don't see the point, we have no real enemy at this time-"
"Master Quatre!" Rasheem came running up to them with a paper in his hands.
"What is Rasheem?" He was handed the piece of paper and read it over. " I take back what I said Trowa, we just got our new orders. And we got to go after Sandra and Melinda. They will most likely know where the other pilots are."
"Master Quatre, there's more. You have to watch the television. Come."
The three of them ran into the control room to see the announcement that was being spread solar system wide. Every television that was on in every house on every colony and around the world was displaying the same announcement.
"Greeting those who still believe in the old ways of the Unified Space Forces. We the citizens of Colony 201 have declared war on not only the Unified Space Forces, but also the five pilots who ended the war of the original Operation Meteor and Mariemeia Kushrenada's rein. If it hadn't been for those five, we would have destroyed it ourselves. But now we declare to have our own independence from the USF. We are the soldiers who have had no where else to turn except each other. We are the leftovers of all the past wars and we know no other way of living. We are giving these people a reason to live and survive by fighting for our cause. We are the Dawn of Shadows on the peace of the universe and this war shall not end until one of those battling is completely destroyed. Those of you, who want somebody to blame for this, then blame yourselves for starting the wars that have allowed our military to grow.
Quatre and Trowa watched as the transmission was cut off. "Come on Trowa, we'd better go and find the others. Rasheem, prepare the suits to go into space."
"Yes Master Quatre."
* * *
"Did you see that Sandy?"
"It appears that our hunter has finally shown himself. This will make it easier to find the other girl Gundam pilots because they will be out battling the Dawn of Shadows as well."
Samantha was with the girls in the galley of the shuttle. "How about if we just give this enemy the code name OZ for the time being, like our orders say to. It says here that all the pilots will receive orders about this new enemy, but they won't receive their mission to find us until they meet up with their counterparts."
Samantha would have continued when one of the servants came in and informed them they had found what they believed to be Gundam pilots Zero-five and Zero-ten.
Sandra and Melinda stood up. And in unison said: "Let's Go!"