Quantum Age
He could see his hands grasp the control stick but he could no longer feel himself doing so. It was becoming a common thing for him, he was slowly losing his humanity, slowly becoming something beyond human - something beyond even what a Innovator could achieve. Most of his body was now a grey metallic colour as the ELS slowly transformed his living cells into ELS - it was a mutual agreement between the two, in order for the two to understand each other, Setsuna had to become inhuman and the ELS themselves had to become human, a hybrid that would rob Setsuna his humanity. It had started out as Setsuna trying to understand the mysterious creatures but now it had become something else, a new mission they knew they had to achieve - after all they were the only beings that could achieve quantum transportation.
The mission was simple - once Setsuna found out what had happened to the ELS' home world, both Setsuna and the collective ELS mind knew they could no longer just settle for a single planet. Thus they set out on this mission - to find worlds that were ready to have the conversation to come; to find worlds that were ready to communicate, to find worlds that also had beings which possessed quantum brain waves and ready them for when humans from Setsuna's home world of Earth could make contact one day. In a way, Setsuna was acting as advance scout in preparing both humans and possible worlds for when the time for conversation arrives.
Setsuna didn't know how long he had been away from the Sol system, he had lost all sense of time as his body slowly became ELS - only his head and internal organs had yet to be transformed but he no longer needed food nor water to survive - as once the ELS fully took over his body, would no longer needed his organic cells to replenish themselves. Setsuna had long lost count on how many worlds they had leapt through, one after the other but none so far held any signs of quantum brain waves nor any signs of higher brain capacity - there were worlds oddly similar to Earth where the Quantum System on board the 00 Qan[T] had detected life forms but Setsuna had never maneuver his Gundam close enough to those planets once the Quantum System and his own brain waves could not detect any quantum brain waves. There were even worlds where he had detected machines moving oddly like mobile suits but none of these held GN drives nor the old solar energy systems the UN had used before their own GN Drives, thus he simply ignored them as being anything significant. Setsuna had never allowed himself to make contact with those who where not ready for the conversation and merely activated his Quantum Burst system and leapt to the next world before the curious beings could investigate what he was.
He could see the odd rainbow colour lights that were flowing past his optical screen within his cockpit slowly disbursing and knew his transition from one world to the other was nearly complete. His centre console flashed:
QUANTUM SYSTEM
Transition In-Progress
Then as the lights all but disappeared, his screen once again flashed:
QUANTUM SYSTEM
Transition Complete
Purge Re-engage
He felt the Qan[T] shake as the outer shell reengaged with his Gundam and the sword bits closed the gate behind him and once again became part of his Gundam. The Qan[T] was still relatively the same as the day he had left from Ptolemaios - it had yet to seen combat and Setsuna doubt it would ever again; his mission was about contact not conflict.
His Gundam once again became it's normal formation and no longer in transition mode, Setsuna immidately set his Quantum System to scan for any signs of quantum brain waves. From his main console, he could see a nearby planet, pale blue in colour and oddly reminiscent of his own planet, Earth - but it was not Earth, it did not have any signs of Orbital Elevators. However, Setsuna did take note of the many cylinder shaped life supported colonies but that was nothing new, he had come across those before and they never contained any signs of quantum brain waves, therefore never interested him before.
While his Gundam scanned for quantum brain waves and any sign of intelligent life, it allowed Setsuna some time to rest - not that he needed it but closing his eyes was just another for him to maintain his humanity a little longer. It was only for a minute but Setsuna felt some stress - his abstract notion of stress - lift from his heavy body and the results of the scan flash up on his screen.
QUANTUM SYSTEM
Quantum Scan Complete
10000 QBW within 1 LY
It took him a minute to process it. He had never seen such a big number, ten thousand within one solar system. It had to be an error in his mind but the quantum system did not lie. Setsuna had to try for himself, but surely there had to be some kind of error - he closed his eyes and try to focus his mind as far out as possible. It took only a moment but he felt a sharp electric shock flow from the front of his head to the back, followed by another, then another, until he was no longer able to track them all. He was in total shock and the prospect of making contact with so many beings that possessed quantum brain waves excited him.
Just as Setsuna reached for his throttle, the blare of his alarms flared up to warm him of incoming fire and from the corner of his eye, he could see a large battle being waged - he had ignored that part of his screen until now, he was too shocked to see the number the Quantum System had presented him, he developed tunnel vision on only finding these beings. He could feel the flow of battle around him, both his experience as a Gundam Meister and his heightened senses of being an Innovato - he felt a large amount of energy coming towards the Qan[T] - with a simple flick of the controls, he easily dodged the high energy beam. A moment later, a black mobile suit flew past the still immobile Qan[T] - it was unlike any mobile suit and what Setsuna guessed was it's optical sensor lit up with a beeping sound. Setsuna also felt a slight pressure go through his head as the mobile suit past him.
The Quantum System immediately hacked through the mobile suit's computer system and the label on Qan[T]'s monitor changed from Unknown to Zedas M. From the pressure Setsuna had felt, he knew whoever was piloting the black mobile suit had quantum brain waves - Setsuna again concentrated, connecting his senses to whoever was piloting the black suit.
And in an instant he could hear the pilot's thoughts as if he or she was speaking to him directly, "What is the meaning of this? The Earth Federation had a third Gundam all this time? Does Zeheart know about this?"
Setsuna processed those thoughts - there were other suits in this world called Gundams just like his and from what he could understand, it must have also looked like his. However Setsuna did not have time to further process whoever's brain he had tapped into, as the black mobile suit was had made an u-turn and was once again coming for the Qan[T]. The black mobile suit flexed his right arm and extended a concentrated a beam saver from it's palm. It was becoming clear to Setsuna he could not reason with it's pilot, at least not while they were engaged in a battle. There was no time for Setsuna to think and his basic instincts as a Meister kicked in - he quickly released his GN Saber V and sliced the attacking mobile suit's arm off, then the other arm so that it could no longer attack the Qan[T].
With the other suit floating aimlessly in space, Setsuna used the hacking capability of Quantum System and connected his communication system with the mysterious black mobile suit. The image which flashed onto his screen shocked him - behind the mask of his opponent was none other than a human, there was no other explanation of what this being before him was. The pilot on the other end did not look so shocked to see Setsuna or his appearance as a human - his ELS skin was covered by his still blue pilot's suit.
"So the Earth Federation had another X-Rounder piloting a Gundam." The pilot laughed through his helmet.
"What is an X-Rounder?" Setsuna simply asked in his ever monotoned voice, the same voice he would use when conversing with everyone else.
"Haha, is this a joke Earthling?" Setsuna did not see the humour of it and was about to ask other questions he wished to be answered but once again his alarms began to blare and could see another black mobile suit, also labelled Zedas M rush towards them and Setsuna could tell the pilot also had quantum brain waves.
"Leave Dole alone!" He could hear the pilot, female from her voice yell through his head.
Again the Qan[T] raised his GN Sword but this time not to slice the arm off of the mobile suit but to block it's beam sabre.
"Dole get to safety!" Setsuna could hear the same female voice come through the still open link between the Qan[T] the first black mobile suit, "Hold him off for me Mink. He's an X-Rounder, don't take him likely." With that, the first mobile suit flew away as the second one blocked Qan[T] from pursuing it.
"Damn you Earthling! To think an Earthling could defeat us Vagen and a Magician's Eight at that." At this point Setsuna released his sword bits, tired from this battle but more anxious to find answers about these other worldly humans that also possessed quantum brain waves. With the sound of slicing metal, Setsuna knew his sword bits had done the job and disabled the female pilot's mobile suit.
Turning his attention to the majority of the battle, he could see the once black void of space light up with thousands of explosions as each side engaged with the other. His priority was to first stop this combat - it was the reason for Celestial Beings existence and even though he was now ELS, it did not stop him from his original mission, to stop all wars. He would have to worry about contacting these quantum brain waves later and prepare them for the conversation to come.
This was one of those instances where Setsuna had wished he still had 00 Riser - where the Qan[T] had better combat capabilities and the Quantum System, it did not make up for the 00 Riser's sheer speed and long range weapons. He pushed the Qan[T] hard but it was a weapon built on the intension of peacekeeping and he could only move his Gundam so fast. He could now see mobile suits from both sides, beast like mobile suits from one and simple frames from the other. The quantum system had updated itself and replaced each unit with their respective names. More suits attacked him and from what Setsuna could guess, these were similar to the ones that had attacked him earlier. Setsuna F. Seiei was an experience pilot, and when he could not sense any of them with quantum brain waves, he easily disabled them with the best of his ability.
Setsuna was about to do another sweep when his alarms alerted him to an on coming attack. He dodged and spotted who had attacked him. Another mobile similar to the ones that had attacked him before - they had called them selves Vagan but it made no difference what they called themselves, they were being aggressive, thus making them a threat to his mission and had to be disabled before they could have their conversation. The suit was black and gold with two shoulder mounts - rail guns.
The black suit came at him and at the same time it allowed Setsuna to scan for any signs of quantum brain waves - he found it but somehow it disturbed him. He had never came across brain waves like these - they were from a matured human but it felt undeveloped, that of a child. Setsuna also knew the pilot could sense him, that he knew the pilot of the Vagan suit knew Setsuna also had the same ability as him.
"What the hell are you? Are you Flit! Die!" He could hear a childish voice come through, angry and screaming in agony as the suit continuously swung his beam sabre at the Qan[T]. This pilot was not like the other two pilot with quantum brain waves he had fought before, Setsuna could tell he was skilled.
It had been a while since Setsuna had been in a real fight, his last challenge really coming from Ribbons and for the first part of the fight, he was being pushed back by this mysterious pilot. It only took a few minutes for Setsuna's experience to catch up with him and the fight then became par - this was another instance where Setsuna wished he still had the 00 Riser, especially when his opponent was using long range weapons and himself who preferred long range weapons whereas the Qan[T] was a close range unit.
The fight continued to rage and long enough for Setsuna to look through the anger of the Khronos pilot - as his main monitor again changed it's identification from Unknown to it's new name. There was almost too much emotion but Setsuna had well become accustomed to his quantum brain waves and past these mental barriers until he reached the mysterious pilot's inner thoughts. It was a familiar feeling for Setsuna, he could see the man in the mobile suit - at least, he could see how the pilot saw himself, usually from the memory of that person looking in a mirror but it wasn't uncommon for Setsuna to see something else. For a second the image was that of an middle age man, long unkept red hair and a scowl of a face but that image suddenly disappeared - who reminded him of Bring Stabity - and was replaced by a smug looking child no older than six - the same red hair and ghostly golden iris.
Setsuna knew his opponent had possessed a great amount of control over his quantum brain waves and could also see him as they connected with each other.
"Who the hell are you? Where's Flit!" The little boy screamed as his face scrunched with anger. The voice oddly sounded the same as Feldt, but Setsuna had blame it on not having been in her presence for so long.
"Setsuna F. Seiei." He replied, again in his usual monotone voice.
"Tch! Doesn't matter, you'll be warm up before I kill Flit." Setsuna did not know who Flit was but he could see that all this rage the boy held within himself was directed at this Flit.
Before Setsuna could react, he was awoken from his trance as his control panel warned him of a third party now entering the range of his Gundam and the red haired boy's suit. He calmly moved his eyes to see where his monitor had locked on to the incoming unit - it was labelled AGE-2DB but it held no special meaning to Setsuna but cautioned himself to make note of the interfering unit. Setsuna returned to his duel with the Khronos but was abruptly interrupted when the new unit fired between the two - and it finally allowed Setsuna to have a better look at the interfering unit, blue and red in colour and Setsuna guessed it to be a mobile armour by it's shape.
The AGE-2DB once again fired on Setsuna and the red haired boy - he tried to once again use his Innovator abilities to search for why this new unit was firing upon them but could only find the voice of the red haired boy.
"You again!" Was all Setsuna could hear before his own mind could no longer multitask and had to finally retreat from the incoming fire.
Setsuna followed the interfering unit as it flew by, between the Qan[T] and the Khronos - the red haired boy followed the new unit and Setsuna could guess they were familiar to one another. He instead opted for the safer option and watched from a distance but his fingers readied to react at anything. The next sequence could only leave Setsuna watching with his unmoving face, eyes concentrated on the new unit. It shifted and like many of the units he had seen Allelujah piloted, the new unit too changed from a mobile armour to a mobile suit - and one which Setsuna could never forget.
"Gundam!" Setsuna heard himself whispering.
The Gundam, which Setsuna guessed was called AGE-2 by it's designation, too had a double shoulder mounted rail guns but Setsuna could see they were removable and more than likely also acted as the unit's beam rifles. He followed, too curious as to how a Gundam could exist within another world other than the Sol System. The two units were now engaged in battle, blissfully unaware that the Qan[T] was still there - it allowed Setsuna to establish communication to the Gundam.
A face soon appeared on the Qan[T] main monitor, that of a boy concentrating on the battle at hand - a boy who had long flowing blonde hair and no older than he was when he first started out as Exia's pilot. It took a moment for the boy to realize Setsuna had established communication with him and was visibly shock to realize it was the pilot of the mysterious Gundam like mobile suit the boy had interfered with.
"You're that Gundam's pilot! Are you also a Federation pilot? Dad said nothing about another Gundam unit in the Federation. What's you're name?" The boy hurriedly asked, half concentrating on the battle with the Khronos.
"Setsuna F. Seiei," Again in his monotoned voice. "Celestial Beings' Gundam Meister."
"Celestial Being? Is that some sort of secret corps the Federation has?"
Setsuna shock his head, he too was confused at the current events and could not answer the boy, "What year is this?"
"Have you hit your head? 141 AG of course. Have you been in Healing Sleep?" Setsuna eliminated the idea of time travel and could only guess at the possibility of Gundams being developed outside of his own world as coincidence. It didn't really matter, Setsuna's mission was to find worlds with quantum brain waves, all to prepare for the conversation to come.
Setsuna followed suit with the Qan[T] as now the Khronos was on the run and AGE-2DB following in pursuit. Except for the Khronos and AGE-2 trading fire, Setsuna took a back seat from the fighting, using this time to observe the combat between the two - in another time, he would have jumped in, after all Celestial Beings' purpose was arms intervention but now he had a different mission.
The Qan[T] continued to follow but then, Setsuna felt a slight pressure - from the front of head and quickly making its way to the back of his spine. It felt different but at the same time familiar, the same feeling he felt while he used his quantum brain waves to control the Qan[T]'s sword bits. He continued to follow but kept an eye for any unusual weapons - even though he felt the quantum brain waves, Setsuna could not see any bits being launched from either of the units, his main monitor also detected nothing unusual.
The chase continued and Setsuna kept a close ear to both his communication system and quantum abilities in order to hear in on both the Khronos pilot and the AGE-2. It was not until his monitor located two more units and before Setsuna could react, they were already on top of the AGE-2. One unit, similar in the style of what he now called the Vagan faction, held the right side of the AGE-2. The other unit then held the other side, effectively making the Gundam immobile.
In the rush of pursuing the two combatants, Setsuna had not realized the Qan[T] had fallen behind - another case where he had wished for the speed capability of the 00 Riser. Just as he was about to launch his sword bits to interfere, the white flash streaked past him and freed the helpless Gundam. Setsuna could only watch, as moments later, the red haired boy used his beam sabre to stab the white mobile suit, nearly missing the cockpit. Setsuna knew that although the beam sabre had missed the cockpit of the white mobile suit, it was already too late and shielded himself for the forthcoming explosion which did happen moments later.
The Qan[T]'s communication with the AGE-2 went silent and Setsuna knew the pilot of the Gundam to be shocked - it was the same when Lockon had died right in front of his own eyes. Setsuna did not need to be prompted and accelerated the twin GN drives of the Qan[T] to its max output, pursuing the Khronos while the AGE-2 just stood, not making a single move.
Setsuna came upon Khronos, fresh off his kill. The Qan[T] readied himself, his GN Sword at the ready. Seconds later the two unit parried, Setsuna with his GN Sword and the Khronos with it's beam sabre. The red haired boy must have been coming off of a high after his kill, as Setsuna noticed a drop in awareness and reflexes from their engagement before. At a moment of loss concentration from the Khronos, Setsuna was able to set his GN Sword on to the left shoulder of the enemy mobile suit - slicing its arm clean off from the rest of the body.
He felt his brain pick up the voice of the boy, "Damn it, damn it, damn this! DIE!"
The Khronos circled around, one arm less but aiming his other sabre hand straight at the Qan[T] and charging quickly. It did not bother Setsuna, he knew he had already won the fight and prepared the GN Sword to disable the other arm. Yet, before the Khronos could get close enough, a flash of blue and white, the signs of the Gundam, flew across and took the other arm off of the Vagan.
"Who are you!" He could hear the two pilots from a combination of spying though their communication signals and through Setsuna's quantum brain wave.
"I'm….I'm…" He could hear the Gundam's pilot stumble through his speech, he was breathing hard from what Setsuna could tell, "The Gundam's Super Pilot! Asemu Asuno!"
The Gundam then raised his twin beam sabre and continued to attack the Khronos until all that was left was the suit's torso, the cockpit of the pilot. Setsuna could not sense the Gundam pilot through his quantum abilities but knew the anger he must have felt - the same mixed feeling of anger and lost when Lockon had died. He knew what was to come next but he stood by to watch helplessly - The Gundam raised his beam sabre one last time, before bringing it down and sliced the Khronos clean in half, a explosion followed.
Setsuna could hear the pilot, Asemu Asuno, breathing heavily as if this was his first kill. He did not have time to continue to watch, as seconds after the Khronos had been completely destroyed, another mobile suit, twice as fast approached - Setsuna could see the battle still continued on both side, more intense than before but he had not paid attention to the full extent of the battle in the first place, too interested on the quantum brain waves he had felt near by - two escaped and one killed.
The new suit was fast and it was only just as it made contact with Qan[T]'s GN Sword did Setsuna get a clear look at it. Red. And unlike the three quantum brain waves he had come across so far, this one was more defined, more concentrated, and more matured. Setsuna made mental contact while the suit circled around the Qan[T] and AGE-2.
"A X-Rounder? I did not realize the Earth Federation had another capable X-Rounder in their ranks." The new voice was smooth and calm, Setsuna could tell he was an experienced pilot.
"X-Rounder? I do not know what that is but if you are referring to my quantum brain waves then you are correct. My mission is to find those ready for the conversation to come." Setsuna replied through their mental link.
"So long as you block our path towards earth, you are an enemy of the Vagans and must be removed." The new pilot disconnected their mental link almost at will, only someone with a high capacity of quantum brain waves could have done something like that, Setsuna noted. It did not allow for him to find answers - answers such as who were these X-Rounders or Vagans and why they were at war with each other. It confused Setsuna greatly and frustrated him as to the silence the new pilot had. The only thing Setsuna could do was continue the fight and hopefully capture the red mobile suit so he could get more answers - harder than it seemed.
Setsuna activated his sword bits in order to keep some distance between him and the red suit, which was now labelled Zeydra. This new pilot preferred melee attacks and Setsuna took note that it's beam gun could also be used as a beam sabre - something he would have to keep track of as the battle prolonged. However, Setsuna nearly forgot the pilot also had innovator abilities and was easily dodging his sword bits. It was only a matter of time before the two suits crossed swords again.
"Zeheart!" The Qan[T]'s communication system came to life, it was the voice of the Gundam pilot. And soon, the AGE-2 too join the battle - although Setsuna had view the new entree as little more than an obstacle.
It was clear to Setsuna that the pilot of the Zeydra was the most skill of their little group - Setsuna had long let go of the need to prove himself the most skilled; he had come to terms with the idea there were more skill pilots in his own world, let along this. The battle continued, Setsuna had lost count of time - partly from his ELS transformation but also because he was lost in the excitement of it all - and little by little he knew both the Qan[T] and AGE-2 were taking damage. It would only be a matter of time for the two Gundams to retreat but Setsuna did not have a mothership to return to.
"Asemu! The Age System is acting up!" A new voice could be heard through Qan[T]'s communication link with the AGE-2. Setsuna did not know what the Age System was but he sincerely hoped it would help with the battle against this mysterious red suit.
However Setsuna noted the Qan[T] was acting strange, almost having a mind of its own. It become apparent when his main console had changed from combat mode to something he had not witness before - an impossibility as the Quantum System linked directly with his quantum brain waves and he was confident he knew all the ins and outs of the Qan[T].
QUANTUM SYSTEM
00 Riser Connecting
The Qan[T] started to move on itself, flying towards coordinates Setsuna had not entered and the Gundam itself had entered purge mode on-the-fly, it's outer shell disconnecting from the Qan[T]'s inner frame - it's shoulder mounted GN Drive moving back, overlapping it's other GN Drive. It was the same procedure as a quantum transition but Setsuna had not ordered one nor had the gate created through his shield bits appear. Instead, he could see at the corner of his monitor, a new unit flying towards the Qan[T].
"What's going on? Why isn't the AGE system connecting to AGE-2?" The confused voice of Asemu came through.
Setsuna took a closer look at the incoming unit and to his shock, it look nearly identical to 0 Riser. It was then Setsuna realized why his Gundam had took control and readied himself to dock with the 0 Riser.
It only took a few seconds for the two units to align and match each other's flight speed. With a push from the back of his pilot seat, Setsuna knew the docking process had been complete and his main console produced a report of the Qan[T]'s new body. It was nearly identical to the 00 Riser but it made up for Qan[T]'s unique GN Drive configuration. His shoulder Drive still overlapped the centre Drive, but the GN particles were being outputted through both his proxy wing Drives and his overlapped configuration - almost as if the new Qan[T] had three GN Drives, making it even faster than his original 00 Riser.
00 Qan[T] RISER
It was the only words coming from his centre console, "Setsuna F. Seiei. Gundam Double 0 Quanta, GO!"
The battle between the Qan[T] and the Zeydra once again resumed, but this time Setsuna felt himself more at home, as if he had returned to the comfort of the 00 Riser. Whatever this AGE system was, it knew exactly what Setsuna needed. And it gave him the upper hand, as in no time at all, Setsuna was easily matching and outmatching the Zeydra. From the sharp pains he felt from the opponent's quantum brain waves, Setsuna knew the pilot was now struggling.
It took no time at all for Setsuna to significantly damaged the Zeydra to the point of retreat. However the pilot of the Zeydra did not and was fighting to his last breath and Setsuna's quantum connection with the pilot was still shut tight. He made sure not to damage the Zeydra fatally, he still wanted to question the pilot. Having expect the pilot have retreated by now, Setsuna had not predicted a rouge beam sabre strike that had damaged the faux 0 Riser. Knowing that it was at the point of exploding and having done its job, Setsuna disconnected his Qan[T] with the faux 0 Riser - his original armour too returned and his shield mounted GN drive back to it's original position.
The faux 0 Riser exploded in a great flash of light, but it had done it's job and Setsuna could see the Zeydra retreating. In fact a quick visual scan of the battle field told him the battle was over and both side were retreating.
"Oi, who are you anyways?" It was the voice of the Gundam pilot, Asemu Asuno.
"Setsuna F. Seiei." Again Setsuna replied with him monotoned voice but this time he had a hint of disappointment in his tone. "This world is not yet ready for the conversation to come."
Without further expending on what he meant, Setsuna closed off the communication link to the pilot of the Gundam. Once again his centre console flared up and he was met with its familiar message:
QUANTUM SYSTEM
Transition Standby
And with a blink of the eye, the GNT-0000 00 Qan[T] disappeared through it's self created gate and Setsuna F. Seiei was once again met with the familiar light of the gateway, once again jumping from one world to the next.
Notes:
I've had this idea for a crossover for sometime now, although originally it was for a 00 and SEED crossover, but with my current writer's block for my other stories, I finally gave this a shot. It was always meant to be a one shot and if I get writer's block once again, I may indeed write a Seed or UC version of this - who knows, maybe Setsuna quantum leaps from AG to CE. If you like this idea but hate my writing, please feel free to write your own version. To be honest, I only write fics to get these ideas out there since no one ever replies on forum request and I much prefer reading over writing.
I wrote Desil as a child because he has a childish rivalry with Flit which seemed as if he never grew out of it. Also I assumed the ELS didn't just instantaneously take over Setsuna's body, so I took the liberty to write as if it was slowly taking over, like a cancer and spreading throughout his body and yet to take over the Qan[T] just yet.
For some reason I always thought it was "The Conversation to Come" and not "The Dialogue to Come". I didn't change it because it made more sense and I'm to lazy to press cmd+f.
Please review based on my writing, not what I got wrong on technical or chronological aspects. I once had some idiot comment on one of my fics saying I got the character history wrong, a fic that was posted a whole two weeks before it was revealed on the show. This fic will be/is posted on the Friday or Saturday before we find out what happens after Desil and Woolf's death - and I don't want a repeat of what happened with my other fic. If you want to flaunt your ego or knowledge of Gundam please do not do it in the reviews, there are quiz shows for such a need.