Disclaimer's Note- Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and After War Gundam X are owned by Sunrise Inc. and whoever made them. As I do not own either, I don't own any of it.
Summary- A slight Gundam Seed and Gundam X crossover that follows along with the storyline of Gundam Seed with several small changes. During a surprise attack on his hometown, fifteen-year old Ryo is hit by a car and wakes up in the world of the Cosmic Era. There, he is given the opportunity to change the history of Gundam Seed forever in anyway, for better or for worse. As his adventures show him just how little he knows about the bitter conditions of war, however, he slowly learns that great power really does come with great responsibility.
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Phase 00- Beginnings
December 7, A.D. 2006, Okinawa, Japan
"I dunno, they both look the same to me."
"Look, just hurry up and make up your mind, will ya? I don't have all day."
"Okay, okay! I'll take the one on the right," I finally said and my friend flipped the card over to reveal a Jack of Clubs.
"Whoops, looks like you guessed wrong, Ryo," he said, grinning "Now give me my five bucks."
"Nothing doing, we didn't shake on it," I replied and got up from the table, grabbing my jacket from my chair, "I'm out of here."
"Dammit, Ryo, you always use that same dumb excuse over and over again!" my friend groaned, rolling his eyes, "You just can't stand the fact that you lost another bet!" I ignored him but he was right, I had to have the crappiest luck in the world when it came to bets. Every time I tried to get some money, I always ended up losing it instead; and my luck was the same whenever I tried something that involved chance; like the time when I tried to sneak back into my house after being gone for almost the whole night. I had forgotten about the alarm and…well, you can guess what happened next. Like my friend had said, my name is Ryo Mouri, a name that's as strange as the way I look. My jet black hair matches my eyes and at 15, I'm already approaching 5' 8.5". Anyway, I had just gotten out of the building and was heading across the street when I suddenly felt a tingling sensation in my head, like something was trying to warn me of approaching danger. Stopping, I looked around, searching for whatever had caused the sense of foreboding in my mind and just when I was about to give up and keep walking, I suddenly caught sight of someone tossing something off of a rooftop. Squinting harder, my eyes went wide when I realized what it was.
"Is that…it's a grenade!" I shouted and everyone around me looked at me like I was crazy for a split second before the thing exploded a few yards away. "I told you so!" I sighed as everyone started panicking and running around screaming, "But you just had to go and not listen to me, didn't you?!" Just then I saw another explosive get tossed into the crowd and I shouted again, "Look out! There's another…" I never got a chance to finish because it exploded before I could and by now, everyone was freaking out. It was then that I caught sight of the attacker and that he was aiming something and when I looked closer; I realized that he was pointing the nozzle of a grenade launcher right at the building next to me. "Great…" I thought, "There are rocket men too?" Before I could warn everyone else, however, the guy fired and the round exploded on the wall of the building, causing rubble to come crashing down as the pedestrians continued to run. That was when things went completely nuts. As I was crossing the street to avoid getting crushed by the rubble, I turned my head and saw a car headed straight for me. Maybe it was because of the chaos that was happening all around me, maybe it was because I was so surprised to see the car, or maybe I was just real stupid but whatever the reason was, I didn't move, hell, I couldn't move. And so there I was, just standing there like a complete moron and then the thing hit me. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was more screaming, the sensation of being sandwiched between a pair of whales, and then the sound of another explosion but then again, it could have just been my organs getting demolished from the force of the car.
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"How bad is it?"
"It's nothing serious, just a broken rib or two, that's all."
"Incredible, no ordinary human could have survived that."
"Well, that's because he's not an ordinary human."
"Oh, right, I sometimes forget that Coordinators are a bit more durable than those Naturals."
"Shh, look! He's waking up!" Wait a minute; I just got hit by a car, didn't I? So how come I'm hearing people talking about Coordinators and Naturals? And why are they talking about them anyway, doesn't that stuff only exist in Gundam Seed? But that last statement was true, I did feel my strength returning to me little by little until I could finally open my eyes up and for a moment, I thought that I was seeing things, because the white room that I was in definitely didn't look familiar and neither did the people that were around me. One of them, a woman with black hair like my own and blue eyes, leaned down until her face was almost touching mine and said sweetly, "Hey, you feeling okay?" I quickly recognized her as the person who had said that I was waking up.
"Um, yeah, I guess," I groaned, "But…who are you?"
"It's just as I feared," another person sighed, probably a doctor, "The impact must have caused a major concussion and severe damage to his memory; he can't remember anything that happened before the accident."
"Hey, now hold on just a second," I replied, feeling a bit irritated as I sat up, "Look, I may not know who all of you people are or where I am, but I do know that I don't have amnesia. I remember that I was hit by a car before I blacked out, my favorite color is red, and that my birthday is on the first of March!" When I said that, they looked at each other with worried looks on their faces and it was then that I knew something wasn't right. Where the hell was I, anyway? "Okay, can someone please tell me what's going on here?" I asked them, "Who are you? Where am I exactly? And why were you talking about Coordinators and Naturals? That stuff only exists in Gundam Seed."
"Wait," the last one of them said, probably the woman's husband, "You know about the G?"
"Gundam? It's one of the most successful anime shows where I come from, didn't you know that?" I replied, cocking an eyebrow and then added, "Wait, hold on a second, did you just say something about a G? As in a Gundam?"
"Shh!" he said and then looked around to see if anyone was around listening, "Listen, I can't explain it here but I'll show you what I mean when we get home."
"Get home?" I asked, getting more and more impatient, "What are you talking about? Who are you? And for the last time, where am I?!"
"We're your parents, son," the woman answered, "You're in the hospital. It's January twenty-third, Cosmic Era 70. We're on the space colony Junius Seven."
"J-Junius Seven?!" I stammered, "You mean the colony that was destroyed during the Bloody Valentine tragedy?" They looked at each other again and then shrugged.
"It's worse than I thought," the doctor murmured, "His mind must have been scrambled as well."
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It took a while, but Ryo finally managed to get used to his new way of life. His "father", Oliver Mouri, was apparently a successful and well known politician, supposedly the Representative of Junius City. He was amazed at the size of the building the family lived in, as he hadn't even seen pictures of places this big. His "mother" was more into medicine than politics but she still made a lot, so it would appear that he would have it easy. The only problem was that it was rather difficult to adjust to his new lifestyle. Ryo figured this out one day when he went out for a walk and discovered that he was being followed by several men in black suits. At first, he had done what he could to ignore them but after about fifteen minutes, Ryo finally rushed home only to find out that they were just body guards assigned to protect him. Despite several attempts to persuade his "parents" that he could manage without them, nothing could be done to relieve him of them and eventually, Ryo chose to give up and get used to their presence. Of course, it was still a bother to have them around a lot, since he couldn't go anywhere without seeing them hiding behind newspapers or standing just a little bit away from him near a stationary object.
Another problem that Ryo faced was that there was so little that he could do, as he didn't recognize anybody due to his "amnesia", which Ryo still refused to believe he had. Because of this, he barely had anyone to talk to and although he joined a few online forums, it wasn't the same as talking to a real person face-to-face. He had once discovered a picture of another boy with green hair and eyes that were colored what looked like chestnut and had asked who he was. All his mother had done was sigh and tell him that the boy was an old friend of his and that if it was possible, they would go to visit them one day, as they lived on a different colony. And so Ryo was left with another thing to think about as the days of January slowly slipped by, spending most of them in quiet solitude. That, however, was about to change; starting with a chance meeting that would forever change his life.
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It had been weeks after I woke up in the hospital and I had gone out to take a little stroll around the park, just to ease my mind from its present ponderings. It was a rather nice day and I was just starting to enjoy myself, despite the fact that I knew that the guys that those bodyguards of mine were following my every step, when something in an alleyway caught my attention. Stopping to get a good look, I saw that it was in fact a girl sitting on the ground and judging by the way that she dressed, I figured that she was one of the many street urchin that lived in these parts of the city and it took me a few seconds to guess that she was about a year or so younger than I was. Whenever someone walked by, she would hold out an empty soup-can (I think it was tomato) for them to put some change in, except she wasn't having much luck, as most of the people just ignored her or pushed her away. Normally, I didn't really pay attention to the homeless but the sight of this girl had me fixed to my spot and I eventually found myself growing frustrated with each person who passed her without as much as a glance.
Trouble started, though, a gang of boys older than I was showed up and then shoved her to the ground forcefully when she went up to them. I expected them to walk on but to my surprise and disgust, they formed a circle and began kicking her while she struggled to get away.
"Oh, come on," I frowned, "That's just not right…" Glancing over my shoulder, I waved over a bodyguard, who quickly and discreetly walked over to me.
"Is there something that you need, sir?" he asked when he was close enough.
"You carry a tazer, right?" I asked, pointing at his suit.
"Um, yes, sir," he nodded, looking a bit confused behind his shades, "But why…?" Before he could finish, I held up my hand, palm up in front of him.
"Give it here," I whispered and after giving me an odd look, he reached into his suit and pulled out the stun-device before handing it to me. "Great," I nodded and held it up, "Now…you just point and click, right?"
"Yes, sir, but I really don't see…" he blinked before I aimed the device and activated it for a second. Moments later, one of the attackers was on the ground and rolling around, grabbing his family jewels while he screamed in pain as a grin cracked across my face.
"What the hell?" one of them exclaimed, "What just happened?" I took that moment to duck behind a trash bin and then nail the bastard in the ass while his back was turned. By now, the gang was getting a bit nervous and started to move away. Of course, I couldn't resist giving the last guy one last good zap before they ran off. Chuckling, I got out from behind the trash bin and made sure the gang was out of sight before I handed the tazer back to the guard and dismissed them.
"Oh, and Simmons," I said as they left.
"Sir?"
"If you tell a single soul about this," I warned and pointed to gang member who was hobbling away, "You're gonna end up like that guy."
"My lips are sealed, sir," he nodded and walked off. When they had gone, I looked back at the girl, who was lying on the ground curled up in a ball, crying.
"Hey, you okay there?" I asked and walked over to her, "Those guys didn't hurt you too badly, did they?" I obviously got her attention because she looked up and by golly, I had never seen a deeper shade of blue than the one in her teary eyes. "Do you need some help?" I offered, crouching next to her, "I'm sure I could get you to somewhere safe."
"N-no," she stammered, "I'm okay." She wiped her face with a dirty sleeve and I took a closer look at her as she dusted herself off. Her hair looked like a pair of wings that hung down from the sides of her face and the rest of it had been tied back into a long ponytail that hung down to her waist while her bangs hung down to her eyebrows. To my surprise, I found myself thinking that she would have been rather pretty if she wasn't in such a poor state.
"So…what's your name?" I asked, trying to change the subject, "I'm Ryo Mouri."
"I…" she replied hesitantly and a bit sadly, "...I don't...have a name."
"You don't?" I blinked, a bit surprised, "Well, that's not good, everyone needs a name, right?" She nodded and I thought for a little. It was then that I realized that she looked like a character from another Gundam series that I thoroughly enjoyed and told her, "I know! Why don't we call you Tiffa? Tiffa Adil, do you like that?" A thoughtful look crossed her face and then nodded.
"Alright then," I smiled, "Tiffa it is."
"Tee hee, I like you, you're funny," she giggled, "You're nice too…you're not like those other people."
"Eh, I get that a lot" I shrugged and as she gave me a confused look, I remembered that I had something to do, so I added, "Listen, Tiffa, I've got to run right now, so I'll see you tomorrow then, right?" She nodded with a smile and I smiled too before getting up and saying good bye. When I had done that, I hurried off back home.
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"So this is it?"
"Yes, this is the G."
"Hmm, it looks oddly familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before," I said as my father and I looked at the Mobile Suit in front of us. Or should I say, Mobile Armor, it would be more suiting for what it looked like. It looked more or less what the X Gundam would look like if it were turned into a plane. The shield was attached to the top of the Satellite Cannon, which was pointing straight forward, and the wings were positioned to look like those of a jet, despite the fact that they were aligned at a forty-five degree angle. It was basically a transformed Wing Gundam, only it was the GX instead of the Wing Gundam. "Think I can fly it?" I asked, hoping that he would oblige.
"Well, I don't see why not," he replied, with a slight shrug "But it'll take a while, even if you are a Coordinator."
"If you say so," I shrugged. I still didn't really believe that I was really a Coordinator like my dad told me I was but then again, there was a lot of stuff that I didn't really believe at the moment. Of course, that didn't mean that I didn't want to try it out, as I had always wanted to use a Mobile Suit.
For the next few weeks, I basically followed the same schedule; get up, go meet Tiffa for a while, then head to the hangar to work on the Mobile Suit simulator. I became so absorbed in this that I almost forgot what everything that had happened before. Then, one day, I woke up and looked at the calendar and saw that it was Valentine's Day. Something in my head stirred but I didn't know what it was, so I ignored it for most of the day. It was only when I was back in the Mobile Suit hanger when I realized what had been nagging me. Today was the day that the Bloody Valentine was supposed to happen, the day that a battle was to break out between ZAFT and the Earth Forces just outside the colony and result in its destruction via nuclear missile, causing the war between Coordinators and Naturals to begin. Then, something else clicked. I was had become pretty familiar with the Mobile Suit that I had named "X Gundam" because of the practice stimulators that I had done and maybe, just maybe, I could use the power of the Gundam to stop the Bloody Valentine from happening. And then, the war between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance would never occur!
As this exciting thought ran through my head, however, another thought occurred to me. There was, of course, the nagging possibility of failure. Even though the Gundam possessed great power, it still wasn't indestructible and even Phase Shift armor didn't last forever; one nuke was all it would take to turn me into part of space. With this thought in mind, I paused and tried to think. Was it really worth the risk to go out into the middle of a battle to protect something that would probably get destroyed anyway? I then mentally smacked myself and turned before hurrying out of the hangar and into the streets. If I did fail and still somehow manage to survive while the colony got destroyed, I needed to make sure that I wasn't the only one who got out of the whole mess alive.
I don't know how long I had been running for but I knew that every second that passed was another second that I didn't have to prevent the whole colony from being reduced to scrap, along with everyone living on it. Then, I turned what seemed to be the fifth corner and saw Tiffa sitting on the ground like she usually was when I went out to see her. Only this time, there wasn't any time for much conversation.
"Hey! Tiffa!" I called out to her and she looked up at me in surprise as I ran over to her.
"Oh! Hello there!" she smiled as she stood up, "I didn't expect you to come until later…"
"There's no time for that right now!" I interrupted sharply and grabbed her shoulders, startling her, "C'mon, this is serious!" Saying that, I took her hand and pulled her along, saying, "Hurry! They'll be here any second!"
"W-wait!" she stammered as she struggled to keep up, "Where are we going?! What's going on?!"
"I'll explain everything later!" I replied without looking back, "Right now, we have to get to the hanger!"
"Th-the hanger?!" she exclaimed, "But…I thought that was a restricted area!"
"Well," I said with a small grin, "Let's just say that I have certain connections." She didn't say anything after that; I guessed that she was saving her breath for running. After a few minutes, we were at the main entrance of the Mobile Suit Hanger and when we reached the door, I quickly punched in the security code that I had memorized from the times that I had watched my father had used it. As soon as the door hissed open, I hurried inside, pulling Tiffa along with me.
"Hey! What are you doing in here?!" I heard someone shout, "This is a restricted…."
"My name is Ryo Mouri!" I yelled back, "If you have any doubts, just ask my father!" I didn't hear him say anything else and I guessed that he had gotten the message. Soon, we had reached the doorway to the docking area and I quickly opened it, rushing past the maintenance crew as they walked around.
"Sir?! Is something wrong?" I heard one call out, "How come you're in such a hurry?! And who's that with you?!"
"There's no time for that!" I replied as I raced towards the Gundam, which was still in Mobile Armor mode, "Just hurry up and get this thing ready for launch!"
"What?! Sir, you're crazy!" he exclaimed, "You're not seriously going to pilot that thing, are you?!"
"I've done pilot simulations!" I said, "I already know how to work it!"
"But sir!" he complained, "That Mobile Suit is still in its prototype stage, we don't know if everything's even working properly! And besides, you don't have a pilot suit on!"
"If I can pull this off, I'll come back for one later!" I shouted back, "But there's not much time left! Now hurry up and get this thing ready for launch!" By now, I had reached the cockpit and after helping Tiffa into it, I climbed in as well and closed the hatch. "Stay behind my seat," I told her as I started up the O.S. and the screens flashed to life, "This could get a little rough. Deck Crew, what the hell are you doing up there?! Clear the damn gate already!"
"Y-yes sir!" I heard him say through the intercom in the cockpit, "Opening the main hatch! Linear catapult is fully operational! You are good to go, sir, good luck!"
"Ryo Mouri! X Gundam! Launching!" I shouted and pushed the two control handles on each arm rest forward. At that moment, the force of the machine being pushed forward by the Linear Catapult forced me back into my seat and I saw Tiffa trying her best not to fall over from the corner of my eye. Soon, however, the sensation passed as the Gundam departed from the catapult and I stepped on a pedal on the floor to activate the thrusters. As I cruised around, I looked at the view screens and watched as the vast void of space passed me by; it was a wondrous sight to behold. "Wow, I never thought that space was this big!" I said in amazement, "Will you just look at that, Tiffa?" I looked back at her and saw that her eyes were shining in wonder and that was enough for me to know how she was feeling. Then, I noticed that she was looking a bit frightened and I couldn't blame her, she had probably never seen space this close before. "Hey, don't be scared," I told her and smiled, "I promise that I'll do my best to..." Before I could finish, however, a beeping sound from the controls cut me off, signifying that the radar had picked something up, so I instantly zoomed the main camera in on the disturbance. "They're here!" I thought when I saw several Mobius Mobile Armors approaching and then said to Tiffa, "Hold on tight, this could get a little ugly." Saying that, I pushed the pedal down again and steered the Gundam right towards the incoming Mobile Armors, where several Nelson and Drake-class ships were staying behind.
"W-what are those?" Tiffa asked fearfully when she looked at the front screen, "Are they ships?"
"They're Mobile Armors, the actual ships are behind them," I replied, narrowing my eyes, "And they're not here to say Happy Valentine's Day. Those Mobiuses are carrying nuclear missiles and they're heading right for Junius Seven with a purpose: to destroy it." I heard her gasp in fear and shock as I continued, "That's why we're out here, we're gonna try and stop them from destroying the colony."
"We?" she blinked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't exactly focus my attention on all three screens at once, you know," I said, even though I was lying a little, "So I need you to constantly keep an eye on a screen or two in case something tries to sneak up on us, okay?" She nodded, though she didn't look very convinced. I returned the nod and then reached over and pressed the button that would activate the Gundam's Phase Shift armor, which would protect us from bullets and most explosions but not against beam weapons as long as it stayed active. The power meter immediately lit up to show that it was active before I accessed the combat computer to view the armaments. So far, all weapons were unable to be used because the Gundam was in Mobile Armor mode except for the Satellite Cannon, which acted as a Scylla Cannon in Mobile Armor mode. "Well, at least I have something good that I can use," I thought as the targeting visor moved into position over my eyes, "But I probably shouldn't use it until I get closer, I can't afford to miss, especially since this thing is still in its prototype stage like that guy said." By now, I could see several of ZAFT's Nazca and Laurasia class ships moving out as well, launching their Ginn Mobile Suits to counter the incoming Mobiuses. I waited a little until I was in range before tightening my grip around the trigger, preparing to shoot. I sort of wished that I could have seen the look on the faces of the Mobile Armor Pilots when they saw the Gundam heading for them but I didn't let that thought distract me as I tried to get a solid lock-on.
As soon as the targeting rings had merged into one and turned red, I pulled the trigger with my finger and felt the cockpit jerk a bit as a wide burst of energy exploded from the nozzle of the main gun. A few seconds later, a bright ball of fire appeared as the beam hit its target and destroyed it. Meanwhile, the other Mobiuses had scattered in an attempt to maneuver around me and I made a sharp turn to face them again. I fired again and this time, I only managed to damage one severely but it was intact enough for it to pull out. Figuring that it wouldn't be any trouble, I ignored it and continued to pursue the others. After another shot, another Mobile Armor was gone and there were about four or five left. This time, I maneuvered so that I was to the side of them and fired again, hoping to take out the last of them all at once. However, at least two managed to escape undamaged while the other three exploded in balls of flame. "That wasn't too hard," I thought, "Now to just…" At that moment, my radar picked up more incoming objects and I zoomed in the camera to see what it was. "What?! Reinforcements?!" I thought in alarm when I saw that it was what looked like a small fleet of Mobiuses, "But how…wait, of course! That one Mobius that I let go! It must have gone and called for support when it escaped! Crap, I should've destroyed it when I had the chance!"
"We don't care how much firepower your fancy little craft has, Coordinator!" I heard one of the pilots say, "We'll destroy you and the colonies, you contaminated freak!"
"What did you say?!" I snarled in response, "Eat this, you bastard!" With that, I fired again, not bothering to get any closer. "It's kind of convenient," I thought as I watched balls of flame flare up, "That they're all bunched together like that, it makes destroying them a lot easier." By now, the Ginns had joined the battle and were shooting down Mobius units left and right. Just then, the radar picked up something else and this time, it was something else that was a lot faster. I suddenly remembered that Mobiuses could be armed with normal missiles and railguns as well as nuclear missiles but by then it was too late, the cockpit shook violently as the missiles hit the Gundam on its left side.
"Look out! Here come more!" I heard Tiffa exclaim and I looked at the left screen to see more of them headed towards us.
"Ah crap!" I exclaimed and tried to maneuver away from them but they were too fast, the cockpit shook again and I grunted as I struggled to keep the Mobile Suit steady. "I didn't want to have to resort to this," I thought as I gasped for breath, "But this Mobile Armor mode isn't going to be much use against all these Mobiuses. Well, here goes nothing…" With that thought, I reached out and hit a switch that would transform the Gundam into Mobile Suit mode. The lower torso rotated around completely as the Satellite Cannon and wings rotated so that the one was pointing straight up and the other was sticking out to the left. The head swiveled around to face forward and the shoulder armor rotated up to complete the transformation as the shield folded itself down to form a beam rifle. The Gundam's combat computer automatically made its right hand reach out and grab hold of the beam rifle's handle before a new combat interface appeared on the screen.
"W-what the hell?!" I heard one of the Mobius pilots exclaim, "That…that Mobile Armor! It just transformed into a Mobile Suit!"
"It doesn't matter!" another one replied, "Just shoot it down so that we can move on to more important matters!"
"We'll see who shoots who down!" I said and aimed the beam rifle at a cluster of Mobiuses before firing a hot pink energy beam at them from the weapon before it pierced two of them and destroyed them, taking out another in the explosion. I gunned the thrusters again and the wings rotated and then split to form a rather flat "X" shape behind the Gundam while the Satellite Cannon pointed straight down as I flew towards another group of Mobile Armors. After destroying a few with a couple of shots from the beam rifle, another few flew out from behind the smoke and fired their railguns at me. I used the thrusters to dodge and then fired off the Gundam's four-barreled shoulder Igelstellung gun before finishing off the rest with the four chest Igelstellungs. However, the radar signaled that even more were on their way and I turned the Gundam to face them. "This is getting annoying," I thought as I transformed the beam rifle back into a shield and attached it to the left arm, "Just how many of those things are there?!"
Figuring that it would be easier to go after the ships, I had the Gundam draw its large beam sword that was connected to the back of the Satellite Cannon and flew forward to intercept the incoming Mobius fleet. At first, I was able to destroy a few easily with the long, pale green blade but then they split up and gave me a straight shot at the Alliance fleet. I quickly scanned the fleet, looking for their flagship. Quickly spotting an Agamemnon-class carrier, I quickly flew towards it, cutting through the bridge of a Drake-class ship on the way. Mobiuses seemed to suddenly swarm in from all directions as I approached the carrier, trying to prevent me from reaching it. I ignored them and pressed on until finally, I had the X Gundam thrust its saber into the bridge, leaving the ship dead in space. "Ha! Now for the others," I grinned when all of a sudden, I heard warning sound from the monitor and I was shocked to see that the battery was almost completely depleted. And still, more of the Mobile Armors came until I was almost completely surrounded while a few others armed with nukes started to slip through ZAFT's defenses, heading for the colony.
"Give it up, Coordinator!" one of the pilots gloated, "We've got you completely outnumbered, so you might as well just surrender now!"
"God, now I'm in deep shit," I thought, "If I fight them, I'll just drain my battery and then I'll be a sitting duck when the Phase Shift goes down. But if I surrender, the colony will get destroyed and there's no telling what they'll do with Tiffa and I when that's over. So there's one last thing I could do…but doing it's gonna be a big risk. If I screw this up, I could destroy what I'm trying to protect. Well, here goes…" I narrowed my eyes and flipped up a cover that was on the sideboard before saying, "This is our only chance to beat them, Tiffa, but I'll do my best to pull it off."
"What do you mean?" she asked and I answered by pressing the button beneath the cover that I had just flipped up. All at once, the screen changed to reveal an "X" shaped power meter as the wings rotated and then opened into a full "X" shape while the Satellite Cannon folded over the Gundam's right shoulder. As the Gundam grasped the weapon, I noticed a streak of light heading for us and then, it struck the green area in front of the cockpit and the wings began to glow a brilliant white. The forearm covers, the lower leg armor, the bands on the shoulder armor, and two shafts that were close to the shoulder armor began to glow bright blue as the power meter began to fill up with red.
"Better get the ZAFT guys out of the way…" I thought and activated the Gundam's comm. before saying, "Attention, ZAFT forces! This is Ryo Mouri from the Junius 7 Agricultural PLANT! This unit is about to fire a large-scale beam weapon, please withdraw at once!" "W-what's going on?!" Tiffa asked fearfully and then all of a sudden, she seemed to realize what was going and frantically said, "No! Don't fire it! The weapon's too powerful!"
"I'm sorry," I frowned, "But I've got no choice, I either shoot or we all die." I tightened my finger around the trigger as the power meter filled up completely and shouted to the Mobiuses, "You think I'm gonna give up to people like you?! Well think again!" With that, I pulled the trigger and massive wave of white energy erupted from the Satellite Cannon's nozzle, engulfing the Mobile Armors in its path and then I moved the control stick to have the Gundam move the Satellite Cannon around as it fired. The beam continued to go on as Mobile Armor and warship alike were annihilated by the white energy.
And that was where things went completely wrong.
One of the Mobius pilots, probably in a desperate attempt to complete his mission, launched a nuclear missile right at the Gundam and I instinctively moved the Satellite Cannon to face it. I managed to destroy it in time before it hit but the shockwave shook the cockpit, causing my hand to slip and move the control stick in the wrong direction. As the last few Mobiuses disappeared in the light, the blast continued to move on; towards Junius Seven. "No!" I thought in alarm and tried to stop the beam but it was too late, I could do nothing but watch in horror as the shot wiped out the ZAFT Mobile Suits and ships before and then cut a hole into the colony's center and a second later, a blinding explosion filled the black void of space as it exploded. I heard Tiffa scream in horror behind me and my own eyes were hurting from the brightness of the explosion. "N-no…." I said slowly before slamming my fist onto the armrest and shouting, "God dammit! It wasn't supposed to have been this way!"
And for the next few minutes, I just sat in the pilot's seat, trying not to break down in tears after the horrible tragedy that I had just caused. When the whole ordeal started, I planned to save Junius Seven and prevent the Bloody Valentine from ever happening and now, I had been the one who caused it. I had rewritten the entire history of the Cosmic Era, alright, but not the way that I had planned to. In fact, I was wishing that I could try again, that I could make things go the way that they should be. I knew, though, that it would never happen and that I had just blown my only chance. The whole time, Tiffa was squeezing my arm tightly, trying not to cry too but then, I noticed that the expression on her face had changed. I looked closer and saw that instead of sorrow, she now had a look of intense fear on her face and she was breathing in sharp gasps. "Tiffa?" I said to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you…okay?" She didn't reply and I was just about to ask her again when she grabbed her head with her hands and started screaming in pain. "T-Tiffa?!" I exclaimed, "What…what are you…what's wrong?! Tiffa?!" The only response that I got from her was more screaming and then that was when I remembered something. In Gundam X, Tiffa was a Newtype, and this girl that looked like her might be one too. Because of their powers, they could feel the emotions of living things and when the colony was destroyed, the fear and pain of the hundreds upon thousands of inhabitants as they died must have rushed into her at an unbearable rate.
"Wait a minute…" I thought to myself, "Cosmic Era Newtypes are different from others…so why is she…?" All of a sudden, she passed out right in the middle of a scream and I had to grab hold of her to keep her from floating around in the cockpit and pulled her down so that she was lying across my lap. I knew that we needed to head somewhere, so I deactivated the Gundam's phase-shift armor and transformed it back into Mobile Armor mode. "Sorry, everyone," I thought sadly as I activated the thrusters, "I let you all down." Taking one last look at where Junius Seven had once been, I then turned my attention back to the monitor and then took off at full speed, leaving behind the scattered pieces of what had been my home and the last few bits of innocence I had had left.
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After several hours of traveling through the black void of space, I finally came upon the Lagrange Point 3 colony cluster, the place where the neutral colony Heliopolis was located. I figured that since it was a neutral colony, I would be able to get in without any trouble but I was proven wrong when a transmission came from the Space Port Control Center saying, "This is Heliopolis Space Port Control Center contacting approaching vessel! Identify yourself and your reason for being here at once!"
"These people sure are uptight for a neutral colony," I thought before replying, "This is the pilot of this craft to Port Control! This vessel is from the Agricultural PLANT Junius 7, I'm requesting permission to dock!"
"Hold on a second," they said, "If you're from Junius Seven, why is your vessel armed?"
"My ship's weapon is for defensive uses only," I lied, "I have no intention of using it in this territory, now do I have permission to dock or not?"
"Not yet, you don't," they responded, "Just why are you here in the first place? How do we know that you're not a ZAFT pilot?" By now, I was getting irritated and deep down, a bit desperate, and so I did what I had to do.
"Listen, I'm only going to tell this to you once," I sighed, "Junius Seven…was destroyed a few hours ago and I used this vessel to escape along with a friend of mine. Right now, she's in bad condition and she needs a doctor right way. Please, let me dock and I promise that I won't trouble you any further, I even have a recording of what happened if you don't believe me." There was an awkward silence and I was just about to give up and try another colony when they gave me their answer.
"…Very well," they said, "Permission to dock granted. Please proceed." At that moment, the hanger door opened and a light-flight path appeared before I slowly guided the Gundam inside. Once I had safely docked, I opened the cockpit and carried Tiffa out, using the weak gravity to float to the ground gently. A maintenance team appeared and one of them asked me, "Are you the pilot of this vessel?" I nodded and they continued, "You're awfully young to be piloting something like that."
"Well, I've had some practice," I replied, "I guess I just have a knack for this stuff."
"If you say so," the person shrugged and then nodded at Tiffa, "We'll get your friend to the nearest infirmary; you can come with us if you want." I nodded and he immediately hailed for a transport.
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By the time that everything had been taken care of, I was amazed at the hospitality that the people of Heliopolis had to offer towards newcomers. They had already given Tiffa and I a place to stay and they told me that they would cover the bills for us until we could get a job, so I had nothing to worry about. In fact, they even advised that I go and walk around for a bit so that I could get used to the place. As I walked around through the streets, I looked around and saw that here, everyone seemed to have no worries whatsoever; it was like Heliopolis was just a safe haven for people wanting to get away from the world. I sighed, knowing that in a matter of months, Heliopolis would also be destroyed, just like Junius Seven had been. "Why is it…" I wondered, "That the good people are the ones that die first?" I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't watch where I was going and walked right into someone. "Sorry," I apologized quickly, rubbing my forehead, "I just got a little distracted and didn't see you."
"It's alright," the person replied in a friendly way and I looked up to see a boy who looked vaguely familiar. He was about my height and looked just about as old as I was. He had brown hair and violet eyes and I had a strange feeling that I knew this guy but I just couldn't put my finger on it. "So, you new around here?" he asked, jolting me from my thoughts.
"Um, yeah," I nodded, "I, uh, just got here today…"
"Really?" he asked, "Where are you staying?"
"That apartment over there…I think…" I said, taking a piece of paper from my pocket and looking at it, "The one on Gera Street…"
"Awesome!" the stranger grinned, "That's where I live! You must be going to the Technical Institute too!"
"Um…yeah…" I nodded slowly, "Sure…"
"Did you come here by yourself?" he suddenly asked, "Or with your family."
"By…by myself…" I stammered, "I'm an orphan, so…"
"Oh, I see," he said, a sympathetic look coming to his eyes, "So, what's your name?"
"Ryo Mouri," I told him, "What about you?"
"I'm Kira," the boy said, "Kira Yamato. Nice to meet you, Ryo."