Something I want to make clear from the start: This is shameless wish fulfillment disguised as a coherent plot. Allenby/OC, so if you really want her with Chibodee (or yourself) this might not be for you, but it could turn out okay. I made every attempt in my extensive planning to make sure nothing was too much of a stretch, but to get to that clarification, I need to write my way to the appropriate time to explain. It's going to sound like canon defilement for these first few chapters. Everything will be explained in time.

As a lover of all this wonderful fanfiction, I would recommend that you read some of the better stuff first. Take a look at my favorites for a few specific examples, but generally the more favorites it has, I'd recommend. Also, because I love them, I try to treat as many fanfics as possible as fanon, so be on the lookout for nods to the good stuff. And some of the okay stuff too. Assume a fanfic is fanon unless I write something that directly contradicts it.

One last thing before we get started; this story has been building for over a decade. I've played through it a few times from beginning to end during boring hours at work and in school, and I'm finally satisfied with it to write it down. The first chapters are rough, but for posterity they will stay that way. They're four years old. Almost a lifetime ago.

Let's get things started! Gundam Fight, all set! Ready… GO!

Elegy of the Victors

A great host of angels stood before the grimy Earth; angels of white, of red, of blue, of green. Angels dark as night and bright as day, all stood vigilant before their charge, their ward, their planet. Just half an orbit before, the great Devil had been cast down and destroyed, sparing the Earth from chaos and a slow, painful assimilation, yet now here these angels stood again. They were troubled, confused. They had defeated the great Devil with their combined strength and love, all for mankind below them. Yet mankind was angry. The angels once strode across the Earth leaving chaos in their wake, all for the glory of those above them. The Devil had been an angel, once, before its fall from Heaven. The angels were to blame. Yes, the new guardians of Earth and all her people caused this. By fighting for approval from on high they had caused this. And now Heaven would pay for the chaos wrought by its children.

Mankind raised swords skyward; swords of atomic fire, swords once used as chariots by the angels to strike down the great Devil from its high place. And Mother Earth had many swords to raise. The angels stood firm, waiting for the blows to begin, to shield their home from the wrath of man below. For many days they stood, valiantly at first. But soon the weaker angels grew tired, and left the strong to carry the burden. Now only a handful remained to turn the blades of Earth. They would not be enough.

March 23, 06:32, FC. 62; Low Earth Orbit

Beads of chilled sweat floated aimlessly in the cockpit of the Burning Gundam. Every so often one would float through the virtual screens in front of its Fighter, rippling and distorting the image of the blue planet in front of him. It had been eleven days since Domon Kasshu last sat down. Eleven days since the United Nations Coalition declared the Earth sovereign, and threatened to back up their claim with force of arms. The military mobile suits of countless nations, warships of both sea and sky, and thousands upon thousands of anti-orbital nuclear missiles, all mobilized spaceward at a moment's notice. His vision blurred, as sleep deprivation and zero-G fatigue slid their clammy hands across his muscles. Domon knew just how far those missiles could take their payload. They carried his friends and companions up into space, blasting through the atmosphere despite all of physics screaming and clawing at their unbalanced flight, desperately hoping to bring them down. Physics lost. Those missiles could reach the outer atmosphere and continue all the way to his home, and the homes of his friends.

To Rain.

One thought was enough. More beads scattered throughout the cockpit as Domon shook himself into attention, and the Burning Gundam lurched in response. The beads were hot now.

Domon surveyed the thinning web of mobile suits and Gundams collected in Earth orbit. Most of the colonial military remained, but their Busshi's and their national equivalents weren't fast enough to stop what might be coming. On this side, he could spot two Fantomas and a sprinkling of other mobile armors, each larger and slower than the last. This isn't enough. He looked to the planet below. Every green place down there wants to hurt us. Europe and Africa were slowly receding into night, and the Atlantic glistened in the sunlight. And how many ships are in that ocean? This isn't enough! What had once been solemn determination, and later smoldering frustration, was now wholly replaced by exhaustion and fears of failure slowly creeping out from the darkest places in Domon's mind.

Many members of the World Gundam Federation had been called back. They were too valuable to their home nations to be intercepting missiles on their behalf. The first to go was Neo Singapore's Ashura Gundam, followed shortly by Neo Kenya's Zebra, though at great reticence from Conta N'Doul. Those left apart from the Shuffle Alliance were the scores of Hurricane and Mermaid Gundams from Neo Holland and Neo Denmark, Kyral Mekirel in his Mandala and Allenby in Nobel. For a short time, a few Gundams designated for the next Fight had taken up positions, most notably Hans Holger and the massive Gundam Kraken, but their help lasted only a few days. We can't stop an attack with this few of us. Something has to happen now, or we lose everything. He opened up communications to Gundam Maxter a quarter of an orbit behind him.

"Chibodee, hey Chibodee, can you hear me?" Burning's screens crackled to life, and the pink highlights of Chibodee Crockett dominated Domon's field of vision. Chibodee was slumped forward in his cockpit, floating into the cockpit camera and half asleep.

"Agh, that you, Neo Japan?" He raised his hand to his forehead, and lazily pushed himself back into the center of the spherical Trace System. Chibodee was just as tired as Domon, if not more so. "I can't believe this crap. They expect us to wait up here forever?"

"How you feeling, Chibodee?" Domon said, "How many missiles 'you think you can cowboy through before they slip past?" He tried to put on a smile, but all he could muster was a grimace.

Chibodee bent backwards in a stretch, flipping Maxter end over end from the momentum shift. "Ah, about fifty, maybe, if I'm a good shot" he cracked a thin smile, "and you know I am." Domon noticed Chibodee still had a sprig of straw between his teeth.

"It's not enough, Chibodee. You know it's not." Domon's fists clenched in frustration. His fists had been ready for a week and a half, tensing and relaxing countless times as clouds, interference, and streaks of hypersonic aircraft were mistaken for launches. "I could give everything I have, every last ounce of strength, and these people could just-" Nano-polymer squeaked in protest as fingers dug into palm.

"Hey, easy there, Neo Japan. I've never seen you like this. Well, maybe once or twice, but…" Always the comedian. He shifted forward and stopped Maxter's absurd backflipping. "Come on, King 'a Hearts, we've been through way worse. Heck, the five of us fought a living colony and won. And the Guiana Highlands, where we were outnumbered hundreds, thousands to one? Come on, Domon, we can take 'em." He raised his fist, Queen of Spades glowing warmly through his trace suit. "As sick of this as I am, I can say with full confidence that the Shuffle Alliance can stand and fight for as long as it takes."

Six months ago that just might have been enough. The Shuffle Alliance was the strongest force in the solar system, through martial prowess and unbreakable bonds of friendship. Was. The power of love seemed to pale in comparison to the might of the atom. And there were trillions of deuterium atoms below them, waiting for orders.

Domon raised his own fist, also glowing with the warmth of the King of Hearts. Somewhere on the other side of the planet, the Ace of Clubs, Jack in Diamond and Black Joker radiated upon their bearers' hands. But it would not be enough. He had to do something now, to force one side or the other to see reason. He had to, or everything they had fought for in the last year would be blown away.

Chibodee waited patiently for a response, somewhat out of the ordinary for the normally take-action fighting dreamer. He saw Domon look up from his fist, and expected the King of Hearts to rise to the occasion, just as he always did. Instead, Chibodee barely managed to squeeze in a "Hey, wait a min-" before Domon slid his hand across the screen and closed the communication link.

Somewhere on Earth, a member of the United Nations Coalition received an urgent message from an unknown party, asking for a private communication.

Now everyone…

I'm sure many of you, dear readers, are in shock. After the defeat of the Dark Gundam, it seemed like there would be peace in the solar system for a long time to come. However, to the people of Earth, the grimy planet on which we live, it was too much to bear. Plot after plot unraveling in the spotlight, destroying any faith the people of Earth might still have in their colonial rulers. Corruption and backstabbing within the governing body that was supposed to keep them safe. And secret Gundam built by one of the colonies, designed to be sent down to Earth to heal the damage caused by the Gundam Fight, becoming the greatest threat to their planet since the Fight itself?

You might see why people would want to make a change.

The power of the Shuffle Alliance and the World Gundam Federation was just more evidence that the people of Earth needed their own voice in the chaos. If a small band of mobile suits from the colonies could defeat the monstrous Dark Gundam, what could they do to the dilapidated military and police forces on Earth, should they ever be given those orders? Now you know that such a thing would never happen, not with Domon Kasshu leading the Shuffle Alliance, but you must understand…

These people who have been fighting their whole lives just to survive wanted something more. They wanted the dreams and aspirations of the Gundam Fighters they were conditioned to love and adore; to stand up and fight with the strength of their own two fists! And the United Nations Coalition promised them that those dreams would be within their reach if they also banded together, just as the colonies did, to support one another and give each other strength. Strength that the colonies would see as defiance. So they embraced it, and put forth a declaration; that the nations of Earth would be free and independent of colonial rule, as long as the people of Earth could stand and fight.

But that was almost five years ago. Whatever it was that Domon Kasshu said, and whomever he said it to, was enough to bring the two conflicting parties together in cautiously optimistic negotiations. After many long nights of tense diplomacy, the United Colonies Federation agreed to allow the Earth the right to represent itself in the next Gundam Fight, as well as oversee all matters pertaining to the Fight and the rules by which it was to be overseen.

The first negotiation to take place between the Federation and the new Coalition was one regarding the Gundam Fight, or rather, the sponsor colony nations. Fighters would continue to be held blameless for any damage to the Earth and her cities, but the colonial governments would be responsible for reparations and reconstruction.

Second, the next League Finals would not be held in the previous victor nation of Japan, as tradition dictated. Instead, the decrepit city of San Francisco would be transformed into a sparkling jewel of competition and sportsmanship to host the 14th League Finals, to jump-start colonial reparations.

Third, and what may turn out to be the most important concession of all, being the acceptance of independent entries to compete in matches all the way up to the Finals, at which time their national allegiance must be declared. This decision brought a wave of outrage across the Earth, as citizens decried this new breed of freelancer Gundam Fighter as nothing but shameless mercenaries looking to reap the spoils of Earth; caring even less, if possible, about the results of their actions than any previous patriot Fighters. It should not come as a surprise to you that this concession was insisted upon by the United Colonies Federation, rather than the Coalition.

We now begin this new and exciting chapter of the Gundam Fight's storied history in space, just hours before Coalition shuttles are to begin transporting this year's Gundam Fighters and their crews down to Earth. But just as years before, the Gundam Fight feels different, and not just because of the drastic changes brought on recently. That's right, something else is out there, watching, waiting. For what, you may ask? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

I set up this great front end stating that all fanfics could be considered fanon, and then I drop the bombshells. Or launch them upwards, whatever. It's different, huh? And you ain't seen nothin' yet.

I would love to hear what I'm doing wrong so I can get it right for the next chapters. The original versions are gone, but I might stick them on at the end once this is done.