Gundam 00: Wings for the Future
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam 00 or Gundam ####. They are both property of Bandai and Sunrise.
Summary: A new group of GN Drive-equipped Gundams appear, claiming to be the final culmination of Aeolia's plan. And of course, Celestial Being is there to stop them. Takes place a year after second season of 00.
Phase 01: The Reign of Gundams
The dark haired man looked down at his white and blue mobile suit. His white and blue Gundam. Its wings were in the closed position. The preparations were almost finished. All he needed now was to install the GN Drive. He pressed the button on the pad in front of him, and the drive slid into place and locked itself into the Mobile Suit's back.
He smirked in satisfaction, as close as it came to a smile for him, and boarded the gundam. The hangar opened, revealing Earth, and he launched, heading towards the small blue sphere...
# # #
Feldt yawned and looked over at the sleeping figure next to her. She grinned and started for his abdomen. A pale hand reached out and caught her arm, and Setsuna opened his glowing Innovator eyes, smirking. Feldt frowned.
"Do you have to read my thoughts like that?"
Setsuna shrugged and sat up. The new Ptolemy III was significantly different in its operations, as it could now be powered just by 00 and keep up standard operations. At its heart was a huge GN Transformer which converted the power from just one into the output of several. Of course, they did not need to plug in one of the Gundams into the transformer, as Celestial Being and Ptolemy now had nearly eight GN Drives, five of which were now in the four Gundams on board.
Setsuna was standing and preparing to take a shower when the impact warning suddenly came on. Feldt looked up, eyes wide. She pulled the covers off of her body and sat up.
'Warning, incoming Mobile Suit. GN Particles detected. Gundam Meisters to Gundams.' The Ptolemy's A.I. keened. Setsuna quickly dressed into his blue flight suit and picked up his helmet. Feldt dressed as quickly as she could. Setsuna ran out the door, heading to the Mobile suit hangar, Feldt headed the other direction to the bridge.
# # #
Setsuna boarded 00 and pulled on his helmet. The repaired Gundam hummed to life as it disconnected from the GN Transformer. Lockon's visage filled a small communication screen that appeared, Sumeragi's filling up another.
'Is it a GNX model?' Lockon asked.
'No. It's a Gundam. And It's not releasing false GN Particles. They're real.' Setsuna and Lockon's shock registered on their faces. 'Go ahead and launch. It's heading for the former Union Space Elevator. Stop it before it reaches the elevator.'
Lockon and Setsuna chorused, "Roger." Setsuna watched the launch catapult open.
"00 is Launching." He throttled up the GN drives, and 00 flew out of the catapult.
# # #
Lockon drew his GN Sniper Rifle II in folded mode and throttled up on his own drive. "Cherudim, Lockon Stratos, Launching." The green Gundam shot forward and switched to sniper mode, Lockon drawing down Cherudim's sniper rifle control system and searching for the target. He saw a bird-like mobile armor approaching fast. "00, I'll cover you, hurry up and attach to 0 Raiser." He shot at the Mobile Armor. The torso twisted and the mobile armor broke its nose cone into a shield and long-barreled rifle, revealing the head unit.
Its wings flashed with GN particles, and boosted for Lockon. He switched his sniper rifle II to machine gun and started firing, circling around the Gundam. It aimed its large rifle and fired, unleashing a shot like a blast from Virtue's GN Bazooka in burst mode. A small cylinder of metal ejected from the shield-like attachment to the gun.
Lockon narrowed his eyes at the cylinder. A GN storage tank? Was that gun so powerful it needed its own battery to prevent the suit from losing power?
# # #
0 Raiser floated into position in the launch catapult. Its engines began to glow with GN particles.
'Ptolemios III, launching 0 Raiser, now!' The small fighter-like craft launched and instantly seperated, floating around 00, floating into place across the Twin Drive mobile suit. Setsuna waited as 0 Raiser synced up with 00's twin GN Drives. Setsuna smiled slightly as 00's main screen read: 00 Raiser- Complete. He throttled up and boosted for the mobile suit.
# # #
The white Gundam had drawn a GN Saber. Lockon fired at the Gundam. Suddenly, the Gundam was in Cherudim's face and sliced its rifle in half. Lockon's eyes went wide, and he dodged backwards, launching his GN Shield Bits, firing at the Gundam. The Gundam raised its red shield, blocking the shots, then fired its GN Vulcans, peppering Cherudim's armor. Lockon drew the Gundam's twin GN Pistol IIs. The unknown Gundam boosted at Lockon as he fired, blocking with its shield.
# # #
Setsuna saw the Gundam charging, GN Saber drawn back to eviscerate Cherudim in one slash. He was instantly in Trans-Am mode.
# # #
00 Raiser was suddenly in between Lockon and the new Gundam, blocking its saber with its GN Sword III. 00 Raiser pushed the Gundam back.
# # #
Setsuna stared at the new Gundam, which lowered its GN saber. Setsuna instantly thought: 'Mistake.' He quickly sliced at the Gundam, which reacted quickly. Setsuna still cut his way through the Gundam's GN saber, disarming it. The Gundam drew its rifle and fired. Setsuna was suddenly behind it, the beam annihilating the GN particle after-image produced by 00 Raiser's quantimization and fired his GN Sword III in rifle mode. The gundam blocked the shots with its shield and backed off.
The Gundam quickly transformed into Mobile Armor mode and boosted away. Setsuna chased after it in Trans-Am mode. Setsuna's eyes widened. This gundam was fast. It was managing to keep pace with Trans-Am at 25 percent. Nothing but another Trans-Am could do that. Setsuna throttled up to 50 percent, the saturation of GN Particles allowing his quantum brainwaves to expand and hear almost every thought in a mile's radius. Including the new Gundam's pilot's.
'Wing has lost element of surprise. Operation Meteor abort? Earth Federation may have been alerted by old Celestial Being operatives. No. Wing will continue first phase of Operation Meteor. Target must be shaken off.'
'Oh, really?' Setsuna came up right up on the Gundam's back and drew a beam saber. He dropped underneath the Gundam and saw its GN Drive. It was a true solar furnace. The Ptolemy had all five known drives. This must be a new one. Setsuna briefly put that train of thought away. He moved to slice the GN drive out of the Gundam when a linear round hit both him and the other Gundam. Setsuna looked to see a trio GN-XIII units approaching, one having a GN Katana at is side. Setsuna recognized Graham Acre's personalized suit. The other two fired their GN Lances.
Wing Gundam transformed and aimed its rifle at all three units. Setsuna's eyes widened. "GRAHAM! MOVE!!!" The custom GN-X dodged left just as the GN Buster Rifle fired, destroying the other two units. Graham boosted in, drawing his Katana. Wing drew its GN Saber from its shoulder, and Setsuna was instantly reminded of the 0 Gundam. One rifle, one beam saber, and one shield.
"Graham, keep him occupied long enough for me to remove his drive." The two units grappled with each other, spinning down to Earth. 'This guy's good.' Setsuna heard Graham thinking appreciatively. Setsuna simply had to grin. That crazy guy. He boosted down, sheathing both his swords, and gripped the GN Drive, twisted it until it clicked, and pulled the GN Drive free of the Wing Gundam. The Gundam, suddenly running just on what it had left in its own Condenser tanks, continued to fall, having lost its anti-gravity properties with the Drive. Graham fell along with its, still dueling the suit.
'Well, looks like I'll have to leave you.' Graham thought to the Wing Gundam. 'I have a fear of dying from great heights.' The GN-XIII hugged the Wing Gundam tight, paralyzing its arms, and ejected its GN Drive Tau and cockpit, boosting away.
'I suppose this is just fate for what I've done.' Setsuna saw the mental image of the young man, about as old as Setsuna had been when he first fought Graham in Gundam Exia, bombing A-Laws bases. Setsuna thought back to his first taste of war. The 10 year old Soran Ibram, the child who would become the Innovator and Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei, rushing at the large mobile suits alongside his fellow child soldiers. A light suddenly began shining, and 0 Gundam appeared from the light like one of Allah's many angels, and destroyed the mobile suits. Soran stared in wonder. Surely Allah had blessed him to carry out his will.
Setsuna thought back to the present. "We're both the same, aren't we?" He asked the falling Wing Gundam. He quickly ran a scan on the GN Drive in 00 Raiser's hands. It hadn't awakened Trans-Am yet. It was no real threat. Setsuna dropped the Drive. Setsuna then followed it down, deactivating Trans-Am. Setsuna activated 00 Raiser's cloaking system, a new addition from Exia. Setsuna would watch the pilot of that Gundam closely.
# # #
He was distantly aware the Gundam had ejected him. Back up crash protocols. He felt like he was floating. His suit could recycle oxygen for two days. After that he'd slowly die of carbon dioxide poisoning. He looked around. The sea was dark around him. His ears popped, and he realized the water would crush him. He began swimming towards the surface. He fought against gravity. When his head finally broke the surface, he saw a distant beach. He'd prefer dying trying to finish his mission.
He was just too tired to swim. Eventually, after floating around, he faded back to unconsciousness.
# # #
12 Hours Later, Azadistan Capital
Marina watched on the television as the GN-XIII and the white Gundam grappled, locking their swords. She saw some specks of green in the corner of the screen. She recognized those. Celestial Being had returned.
"Those stupid soldiers and all their stupid wars." Marina looked to the source of the voice, her new protégé, Relena Darlian. Marina smiled faintly at the 15 year old and looked back to the screen.
"Setsuna won't let it go that far." She said softly, almost to herself.
"My Lady, the Earth Federation's ambassador won't wait." Relena informed. Marina sighed and stood.
"Very well, show him in." Relena nodded to the doorman, and he opened the door. A pair of tall men, one of them blonde, wearing a mask over his face, the other more Germanic. The German bowed elegantly, and Marina gestured to the seat.
"Treize Kushrenada, welcome to Azadistan. I hope your trip was comfortable." Marina said.
"Actually, we flew in by Mobile suit." Marina's eyes widened as the 00 Raiser Gundam set down behind Treize and his escort, and crouched, then disappeared. Treize noticed her shocked expression and looked behind him to see nothing. He looked back to Marina.
"My Lady? Is something wrong?" Treize asked.
Marine recovered. "No, It's fine. Please, sit down, I just need to have my assistant take something to an important friend of mine I've just remembered about. This won't take a second." She quickly scribbled a note for Relena. If somebody you don't know asks to see me, escort him to my quarters and tell him to stay there and that I'll be there shortly. -Marina. She handed the note to Relena. Relena read it and nodded, and headed outside.
Marina smiled at Treize. "All right. I know why I'm here, but I'd like to know why you're here." Treize smiled.
"Of course. The Federation has been providing you supplies and personal for some time. Now we'd like your country to join." Marina's eyes widened. "Azadistan would be a wonderful for encouraging the other Middle Eastern countries to join us, and we'd like your support. We're expecting your decision in 30 days. We'd also be perfectly willing to wait longer if you need more time."
# # #
Setsuna stopped in front of the younger girl. She looked so pampered Setsuna had to mentally scoff. When he'd been her age he'd had seven broken bones and over 30 knife scars. Hell, he'd been smoking when he was 14. Setsuna saw the piece of paper in her hand and started for the door. He was dressed in his civilian clothing, having an extra outfit stored in 00 Raiser.
"Hello. I'm here to see Queen Marina Ismail." Setsuna said.
"My lady is busy with a Federation officer. She told me to escort you to her quarters." Setsuna offered the younger woman his arm. She put her hand in his elbow and lead him on. Relena kept on glancing at him, curious. "You're not from Azadistan, are you?" She finally asked.
Setsuna glanced at the young lady. "No. Originally I was from Kurd. Why do you ask?"
"I was wondering. You look old enough to have been around for Ali Al-Sanchez's civil war." Setsuna didn't respond. "Ali Al-Sanchez. I don't get how he was able to convince all those young children to join his organization." Setsuna stopped.
"Al-Sanchez was able to bring a crowd in a religious fervor when he talked. You listened. Then he had you. And in his defense, he was a skilled fighter. He trained his soldiers in Mahdi-Halud."
"How old were you during that war?" Relena asked.
"I was ten when I joined the KPSA." Relena stopped, shocked.
"You mean...you were...one of his..." Setsuna narrowed his eyes.
"One of his many child soldiers. One of the few to survive. Thanks to Celestial Being's first interventions. I was the sole witness to the first intervention. Later I joined the organization and became a Gundam Meister." Setsuna looked at the nearest pillar. "You know I can hear you." The blonde masked Federation officer stepped out of the shadows.
"So, which one did you pilot?" the officer asked in his smooth voice. "The orange one? You seem the type."
Setsuna didn't answer.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Zechs Merquise. And who am I speaking to?"
Setsuna merely looked straight at Zechs. "You're speaking to one of those who pilot Gundams. I'm an angel from space. A shining savior. I am Gundam." Relena looked from one to the other, then ran away.
"Zechs!" Treize called. Zechs looked to see Treize gesturing for him to come with him. Zechs started for Treize. He raised a hand in farewell.
"Be seeing you. Gundam." He said as a parting. Setsuna kept his eyes on him, then looked away and sighed.
"Setsuna!" Marina called. Setsuna turned and walked into Marina's office. As soon as the doors closed, Marina hugged Setsuna. Setsuna, to his own surprise, hugged her back. "I was worried about you. Your letter didn't mention where you were going."
"We took the Ptolemy II to Jupiter to repair and rebuild some of the GN Drives we'd lost in the battle with the Innovators."
"So how is everybody?" Marina asked.
"Allelujah and Soma left, and Tieria has become permanently fused with Veda. We have a pair of Gundams, Seravee and Arios, and no one around to pilot them. Feldt and I have become...close. And I also need a favor. I need an untraceable communications setup. My Gundam has one, but it's not nearly powerful enough."
Marina nodded. "I have one in my desk. I was planning to communicate with your with it." Setsuna smiled.
"You act like my mother sometimes." Setsuna said. Marina smiled and gestured him to sit at her desk. She pressed a button, and small screen opened from her desk. Setsuna quickly typed in a frequency. "I'm using a Celestial Being agent frequency. We still have a few agents here and there. Hopefully I'll get one who's not running deep cover." When he finished typing, he put on the headset. "This is Seven Swords. Calling any who share Schenburg's ideal, I need to speak with the King on High." After a minute, there was an answer.
'Affirmative, Seven Swords, this is Cloak and Dagger. I'm patching you with King on High.' Lockon and Sumeragi appeared on the screen. 'Seven Swords, is this line secure?' Lockon asked.
"Affirmative, Lance of Light. I am in Azadistan with Marina. The unknown Gundam has been identified as Wing Gundam. Meister still unknown. Possible Fereshte?"
'Negative, Seven Swords. We checked with Fereshte. They knew nothing of the Wing Gundam. King on High will rendezvous with Seven Swords. State of the Infinity Rising?'
"Infinity Rising is all green. Rendezvous acknowledged. Will link with Caretaker to research. Give greetings to Pinky from Seven Swords." Setsuna closed the communication and deleted the frequency. He thought of Feldt and smiled.
# # #
Relena only stopped once she was on the beach, and fell to her knees. Queen Marina was involved with someone from Celestial Being! And one of the people who'd piloted the gundams, too! She was distracted when a shadow in the water caught her eye. She looked to see a person bobbing in the water. She quickly pulled off her shoes and ran into the cold water, and started swimming. She reached the boy and grabbed his arm and started pulling him back to the beach.
She dragged him onto the beach and pulled off his helmet. He looked up at her, opening his eyes, dreary. Relena sighed. He was still alive. She noticed a symbol on his arm and leaned into to get a better look. Her eyes widened and winged symbol of Celestial Being.
"Celestial Being? Another one?" she said. The boy opened his eyes, suddenly aware. He looked at Relena and tackled her, Relena yelping in shock. He pulled a knife and raised it high, prepared to drive it into her chest.
"If you tell anybody about what you saw today, I'll kill you." he said, voice emotionless, eyes like black steel. Relena only nodded, unable to speak. He stood up and ripped off the Celestial Being patch and threw it into the ocean, then pulled off his flight suit, revealing a green sleeveless shirt and shorts, with combat boots. Relena sat up.
"You're...you're the pilot of that Gundam everybody's talking about, aren't you?" The boy looked at her.
"No. My name is Heero Yuy. And I didn't pilot that Gundam." He walked up the beach, putting his knife into his shorts pocket. Relena watched him go. She looked up at the capitol building to see that guy and Marina talking. Relena wondered if she should tell him about Heero. Relena thought about it and stood up, heading back.
# # #
Heero walked down the street, passing Zechs and Treize. As soon as he did, Zechs, stopped. Heero stopped cold, eyes wide. They both looked over their shoulder and stopped. Zechs stared at the boy, then looked him up and down. Just some civilian. He turned around and continued to follow Treize. Heero kept on looking. He needed to retrieve Wing. And he'd steal that guy's GN Drive to do it.
# # #
Feldt turned away from her screen to look at Sumeragi.
"There's an incoming shuttle. The pilot says he's from the Celestial Being." Sumeragi blinked.
# # #
The small shuttle came into the Ptolemy's launch catapult and boosted down carefully, setting down into the main hangar. Lockon walked up to meet the pilot, hands in his pockets. The door gave a hiss as pressure equalized, and he felt a slight change in the air in the hangar. The door slid open and out stepped a young man in a purple flight suit. He stopped on the ramp and pulled off his helmet, revealing his purple hair, and slid on a pair of glasses.
Lockon's jaw dropped. It couldn't be! Tieria was dead! Setsuna had said Tieria had joined with Veda! But he was standing right there, and he looked awfully alive.
"I'm not Tieria. Veda told me I should say that before I introduced myself. He said you'd understand. My name is Lunes Erde. I'm the replacement Gundam Meister for Seravee Gundam." Lockon blinked, then closed his mouth.
"Welcome the Ptolemy, I'm Lockon Stratos, Gundam Meister for Cherudim Gundam." Lockon offered his hand, Lunes just stared at it, confused. Lockon blinked then lowered his hand. He looked around, trying to think of something to say, scratching the back of his head, then looked back at Lunes.
"Well, I guess I'll show you your quarters." Lockon said.
"That's not necessary. Just show me the Seravee Gundam. I'll find my quarters on my own." Lunes said, emotionlessly. Lockon just stared.
"Sorry, but Celestial Being doesn't let new Meisters just roam around, especially not Innovators. Or what ever you are." Lockon said. Lunes blinked, but showed no other signs of being surprised.
"I'm not an Innovator. I'm an Innovade." He said. Lockon gritted his teeth.
"Whatever." Lockon turned away. "You'll be showed to Seravee when you actually have to launch. Until then, you will remain in your quarters. That's what Veda's orders were." Lockon looked over his shoulder at the Innovade.
"That's...surprising." Lunes said. He looked over at the orange Gundam Arios. "We still don't have a Meister for Arios?" He asked, further astounded. Lockon gritted his teeth, annoyed.
"Setsuna is just gonna love you." Lockon said, then started walking away.
"Why would Setsuna show affection for me? I'm not even acquainted with him." Lockon stopped dead in his tracks and tried to think of a good reason not to shoot himself in the head. And it was proving somewhat difficult.
# # #
Setsuna walked the 00 Raiser into the lonely mobile suit hangar and crouched it down. Setsuna made sure to set 00 Raiser's pilot lock to on and stepped out of the 00 Gundam's cockpit. The 00 Raiser began to shower GN Particles over Setsuna, and Setsuna's eyes flashed. The GN Particles turned red and formed a sphere around Setsuna, who began accessing Veda.
Tieria formed out of the red GN Particles. Setsuna nodded. Tieria nodded back.
"It's good to see you, Setsuna. I believe you want to ask me some questions."
"You know about the new Gundam that appeared earlier today. What do you and Veda know about it?" Setsuna asked.
"Nothing. Other than what I've managed to glean from news reports. Apparently it was fueled by a true Solar Furnace." Setsuna thought back to when he dropped the GN Drive so the Meister could recover it.
"It was. I removed the GN Drive, but I failed to bring it back to the Ptolemy. I judged that it was not a serious threat to Celestial Being at the time." Setsuna said.
Tieria's eyes widened. "Of course it's a threat! What if the Federation captures it and begin producing their own GN Drives!"
"Tieria, they can't. Celestial Being has most of the very few ships that can travel out that far. And they can't possibly build another of the Celestial Being's class. It's too big." Setsuna said.
"Veda agrees with you, but if the GN Drive becomes a major problem in the future, you are hereby ordered to destroy it and anything or anyone that might have come into contact with it that the Federation could possibly use to begin producing their own true GN Drives."
Setsuna paused before replying. "I understand."
"Also, I've sent a new Meister to the Ptolemy. You are to find Fon Spaak and Allelujah and Marie. If there is a new group of Celestial Being coming, the Ptolemy should have as many Meisters as there are available. Fon Spaak will pilot your old Exia." Setsuna's eyes widened at that. His Exia. He hadn't piloted it since he destroyed Ribbons and the 0 Gundam. He didn't reply. Setsuna couldn't imagine Exia being anybody's Gundam but his. He was the Gundam of Seven Swords.
"Understood."
# # #
Heero saw the aquatic mobile suit being lowered into dry dock. Perfect. With that suit he could easily retrieve Wing and replace its GN Drive. He quickly studied the base and formulated a plan to capture that mobile suit. He then turned away to get the materials he needed.
# # #
Setsuna left the hangar and stopped when he saw Graham standing next to the door. Graham smiled smugly and stood straight. Setsuna watched him as he faced towards Setsuna.
"I was wondering when you would show up again." Graham said.
"I would've thought you would've given up trying to defeat me." Setsuna replied.
"Who said I didn't?" Graham stepped closer to Setsuna. "But if I ever get a chance to fight you again on equal terms, I won't hesitate for one minute."
"Graham!" Graham and Setsuna both looked to see Billy running towards them with a laptop in hand. He stopped near the two pilots and took several deep gasps, catching his breath. "I finally got done debugging the sensor data of your escape pod. That Gundam wasn't made out of E-Carbon like the other Gundams were. It's something new. I ran it through all known alloys and got a match. Its the five toughest alloys melted together and showered with GN particles, nearly tripling its hardness while reducing the weight to barely half of E-Carbon. It's called Gundanium Alloy."
Setsuna's eyes went wide. "Gundanium...alloy?!"
"Yeah. We messed with this a couple years ago for improved armor on our GN-XIIIs. We couldn't get the damn thing to work. Whoever built this thing has technology rivaling Celestial Being."
# # #
Andrei and a very pregnant Marie watched as the TV displayed the two mobile suits grappling in free flight. Andrei glanced over his shoulder and then back to the TV. He turned off the television and stood up and walked over and flicked on the lights, revealing Allelujah.
# # #
An old man was leaning over a computer screen. He noticed a new blip and looked over his shoulder.
"I found it." A pony-tailed young man walked over and leaned over the other man's shoulder.
"So that's Wing, huh?" The young man asked.
"Yes." The younger man looked from the computer screen to the black Gundam sitting in the hangar.
"Well. We'll just have to retrieve it, then."
# # #
Well, this is my New Gundam Series. Some people have tried to cross SEED and 00, but I read a small article in Anime Insider and I realized Wing and 00 would mesh better. So, the first Gundam has appeared already, and Celestial Being has returned to Earth. Feel free to review and make any suggestions.