This is the first chapter for the second section of my fanfiction, Gundam Seed Purity. If you have not read part one, please stop reading now. You can find part one on my profile. For all of my readers who enjoyed part one, I hope you enjoy part two just as much. Feel free to place a review or send me a private message anytime with your thoughts on my work.
Cosmic Era 75.
After a series of battles, Purity took control of the entire Australian continent. ZAFT forces struggled to hold their ground but held most of the continent, however due to Purity's overwhelming numbers and the use of their mass-produced Gundams they could not reclaim New South Wales or Western Australia. After a crippling defeat by Purity's Tyranny Gundam, the pilots of the Ceres were led by former Purity pilot, Hilde Regent to steal some of the organisation's Gundams. With the war against Purity slowly moving into a new stage, the crew of the Ceres would soon play a larger role than they ever could have imagined…
-Earth-
The pilots of the Ceres stood on the bridge of the Minerva-class ship, gathered near Captain Phillips who was reading something off one of the screens on his armrest. He rubbed his chin as he read the orders displayed there and the pilots watched in anticipation as they waited for him to read them aloud. Hilde rubbed her injured arm, having taken the sling off of it in order to pilot the Saviour back to the ship. "Well then, these orders are interesting" Captain Phillips said as he finished reading.
"What would they be?" Aston asked, watching as the older man adjusted his hat.
"We're to leave Australia for now and travel to Orb. There we are to become part of a group being formed as an Anti-Purity Squad under the leadership of Admiral Mu La Flaga from the EAF" Richard explained, turning to face the pilots.
"Orb huh? Isn't that where you were born Victoria?" Marcel asked, looking to the brown haired girl.
"Yeah, but we moved to the PLANTs just before the first war" Victoria said in reply.
"We're moving out immediately meaning that we won't be stopping for any supplies or repairs. The crew will hereby be required to ration all food and water and any essential repairs that need to be made must be done so as soon as possible" Richard spoke into the ship's loudspeaker.
"We'll go and fix the operating systems for those Gundams, I doubt Purity is just going to let us get away from that base with them" Aston spoke, motioning the other pilots towards the door. The five of them all returned to the hangar and boarded their respective mobile suits.
"Really getting sick of doing this" Garret said as he began typing away on the Duel's keyboard. His eyes lingered on the screen for barely a second at a time as his fingers flashed across the keys like lightning. "All done" he said as the system began to reboot. He moved the Duel's head around slightly, testing its reactions. "Just like new" he said, patting the console of the mobile suit.
Garret climbed out of his suit and noticed Hilde leaning against the wall near the Saviour as he descended. He walked over to her once he reached the floor and smiled. "I forgot; you don't have to rewrite your OS since you're a Natural huh?" he asked.
"That's right; unlike you guys I can't quite handle a Gundam without it" Hilde said in response.
"Are you going to be ok fighting against Purity?" the blonde pilot asked and Hilde sighed.
"It will be hard at first, but I need to face Alastair, I need to find out what he plans to do with Purity" she explained. "Not to mention, I really want to give Xero a good ass kicking" she said with a grin.
"I'm pretty sure every pilot on this ship does" Garret commented and Hilde nodded in agreement. The ship suddenly shook violently and Garret was forced to catch Hilde as she was thrown off her feet. "Are you ok?" he asked, standing her back up.
"I'm fine" she replied.
"Garret, its forces from the base, we need to head out!" Aston called from the Sword Calamity and Garret nodded, running towards his Gundam. He climbed into the cockpit and turned the suit on again, pulling the seatbelts over his body. "Has everyone finished rewriting their operating systems?" Aston asked the other pilots and they all acknowledged that they had. The Sword Calamity was placed on the catapult and Aston watched as the lights lit up green signaling he could launch. "Aston Falcon, Sword Calamity, engage!" he called and the orange Gundam was flung off the ship.
Marcel was the next to be loaded onto the catapult and he watched as his rifle and shield were loaded on. "Marcel North, Chaos, bring it on!" he roared and the grey Gundam slowly turned green as it flew along the catapult. The Saviour was quickly loaded on next and Hilde did a quick check of her systems.
"Hilde Regent, in the Saviour Gundam, let's rock!" the purple haired pilot said and the Gundam flew along the catapult, turning red before it was thrown into the air. After Hilde, it was Garret's turn to launch.
"All systems green. Garret Kross, Duel, soar!" he yelled as he left the Ceres to join the others.
"Karl, what is the enemy's fighting strength?" Victoria asked as the Strike was loaded onto the catapult.
"Two BuCUEs, three DINNs and a Blitz" Karl said in reply.
"Roger that, equip the Aile Striker" Victoria said and she watched as the flight pack was loaded on along with her weapons. "This is Victoria Mays, Aile Strike, mobilise!" she called and the Gundam flew out of the ship. The five Gundams all stood in a row as the Purity mobile suits came towards them.
"Hilde, Victoria, you take the DINNs, we'll handle the BuCUEs" Aston order and the two girls took off into the air, Hilde transforming into mobile armour form. Aston drew one of his sword and the other hand of his suit reached up towards one of the two beam boomerangs.
"Don't get shot Marcel!" Garret said, firing at the approaching BuCUEs.
"Ha! Same goes for you!" Marcel called as he fired his own rifle. The four-legged mobile suits danced around the shots and then fired a barrage of missiles at the three Gundams. "Not so fast!" Marcel said, deploying his gunbarrels. The green cylinder like objects moved in front of the three ZAFT Gundams and fired their own missiles to destroy those fired by the BuCUEs.
"Nicely done!" Aston called as he hurled his boomerang at the closest BuCUE. The initial attack missed but as the weapon returned it took off the mobile suit's missile pod. Marcel deployed his gunbarrels at the same BuCUE, firing the guns from one at the front of the Purity suit. As the BuCUE leapt into the air to avoid the attack, Marcel swung the other gunbarrel around behind it and fired straight through the Purity suit's cockpit.
"Don't you steal all the fun" Garret said, firing his Igelstellungs at the remaining BuCUE. A few of the bullets connected, leaving small marks in the blue body of the mobile suit. As the dog-like machine reached him and engaged its beam blades, Garret struck out, slamming the bottom of his shield into the BuCUE's eye and then firing a round from his rifle through its body.
Hilde's red mobile armour soared through the sky towards the DINNs with the Strike following a little behind with its beam rifle ready. Hilde fired the two Amfortas plasma beam cannons, instantly destroying one of the DINNs and causing the others to fly to the sides. Victoria quickly aimed her rifle and fired through the waist of one of them, watching as it exploded and the final DINN went to fire its shotgun at Hilde. "I don't think so" she said, quickly switching to mobile suit form, drawing one of her sabres and cutting through the mobile suit.
"What do you know, we worked faster than the boys" Victoria said happily with a triumphant grin. "But Karl said there was a Blitz, where is it?" she asked, looking around. Her question was answered quickly when a black shape materialized and leapt at the Duel with the beam sabre in its shield.
"Whoa!" Garret called, spinning around and blocking the attack just in time with his shield. The black Gundam jumped back fired two lancer darts at the blue and white suit. Garret quickly dispatched them with his Igelstellungs, put away his rifle and pulled out one of his beam sabres. The Blitz stood with its own sabre ready, almost staring the Duel down.
"Really think you can take me you Coordinator trash?" the Purity pilot taunted. Garret ignored the taunt and stood ready. The Blitz charged at Garret, leaping into the air and preparing for an overhead slash with its beam sabre. Marcel swung his gunbarrels around behind the Gundam and fired them, blasting the mobile suit forward. Aston followed the attack by hurling one of his beam boomerangs, taking out the Blitz's head then its legs on the way back. Garret thrust up with his beam sabre and pierced the cockpit of the Blitz, causing it to crackle for a second then explode.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Marcel declared triumphantly, thrusting the Chaos' fist into the air. Hilde and Victoria landed on the Ceres as the other three pilots headed towards the ship.
"Let's hope that's the last combat we see before we reach Orb" Aston said, getting on board the Ceres. Garret and Marcel followed and docked their mobile suits. The five pilots climbed out and gathered in the briefing room of the ship after changing back into their proper uniforms.
"Hey, Captain Phillips said this Anti-Purity squad was run by Admiral La Flaga didn't he? Wasn't he one of those really famous war heroes from the last two wars like the members of the Joule Team?" Victoria asked, looking at Garret.
"I think so yeah, I know they call him the Hawk of Endymion because he took down five ZAFT GINNs in the battle around the Endymion Crater in a single mobile armour" Garret explained in response. "Not only that they say he also piloted the Strike Gundam after Kira Yamato got the Freedom" Garret continued.
"Wow, maybe he could show me how to use it properly then" Victoria said.
"Hey Commander, are you going to be part of this squad too or is it just us?" Marcel asked, looking at the crimson haired man.
"What about Hilde, since she's not officially a ZAFT soldier?" Victoria added in.
"Well the message that Captain Phillips got said that the entire crew would be part of the group so I would assume that includes me. As for Hilde, I'm not entirely sure" Aston explained in reply. "The question is, do you still want to fight for us?" the Commander asked, turning to the purple haired pilot.
"I can't say it feels good shooting down the people I until only recently called allies, but I have to stick with this if I want to find out the truth from Alastair, not to mention there is someone else I have to stop him from manipulating too. Hopefully fighting alongside you can help me find him before it's too late" Hilde said, swinging back on her chair slightly.
"You mean that Buster pilot?" Garret asked, looking to the older pilot.
"Yeah, Allen. I can't let Alastair discard him like he did me" Hilde replied.
"Well it's settled then, Hilde comes with us as an official crew member of the Ceres" Aston said. He saw Marcel and Victoria smile and he was happy to see that Marcel seemed alright with the decision too, seeing Hilde fight against Purity must have led him to trust her a little more, he thought to himself.
"I gotta say Victoria, you picked up piloting that Strike pretty fast, does it handle ok?" Marcel asked, looking to the long haired girl.
"I could say the same for you with that Chaos. But yeah, the Strike handles like a dream, it has so much more mobility than the GuAIZ had" Victoria replied.
"Getting used to those gunbarrels is gonna be hard, it was actually really difficult to get them going where I wanted them to" the brown haired young man said, a smile sitting below his emerald eyes. "I'd say the Commander picked up on that Gundam of his pretty quick too" Marcel commented, looking at Aston.
"Yeah but he's an ace, and a member of FAITH, it's expected" Victoria said.
"Just because I'm a member of FAITH doesn't mean I can instantly pilot any mobile suit. The only reason I found the Sword Calamity relatively easy to pilot is because I'm already used to close combat mobile suits thanks to my old GOUF" Aston stated, overhearing the conversation. "Now, I think we should all get some rest, it's been a rough day already and we have no idea when the enemy could attack again. It's a long trip to Orb" the Commander stated before leaving the room.
"Yeah, I'm starved. I could eat an entire cow right now!" Marcel commented, stretching his arms.
"Yeah right, I'd like to see you polish that off shorty" Garret remarked, patting the shorter pilot on the head as he walked past.
"Hey, I've grown!" Marcel called, chasing after the blonde pilot.
Hilde shook her head and sighed. "Boys" she commented as her and Victoria also left the briefing room. The group of pilots, with the exception of Aston, all headed to the cafeteria and took a seat near the TV on the wall.
"Well look at that, time for another speech by Alastair" one of the soldiers commented, looking at the press conference that was being shown. Hilde looked up and saw Alastair in his typical white suit with his jet black hair tied back in the usual ponytail. She noticed that behind him stood Allen and a young boy, no older than fourteen that she had never seen before. He was much smaller than the two men with wild, brown hair and a set of hazel eyes that seemed to hold little emotion. His denim jacket was tattered, matching the look of his hair.
"Hey Hilde, who's the kid?" Garret asked, noticing him as well. Hilde merely shook her head in response and watched as her former master began to talk.