A Battle for Pride
A Gundam Wing Fanfic by: Kelly M. Maraglia
*Gundam Wing is the property of its ingenious creators & I do not claim to own any piece of it* I apologize to the residents of Wisconsin who read this. I love your state, I really do. Everyone was saved don't worry. ^_^ Oh, & I really had a professor like this. Creepy, huh?
Keelia Drake was devastated. She had worked diligently on a paper for her graduate Psychology class and still she had received a C+. It was not the grade letter itself; it was the principle behind it. She had written a paper for the same professor as an undergraduate and received the same grade.
"Haven't I progressed as a writer?" She whispered painfully as her eyes filled with unshed tears. Her pride was crushed.
"This is injustice. It is unhonorable! My warrior's pride cannot handle this!" Keelia screamed to herself, as she tried to wipe inconspicuously tears from her eyes.
Suddenly a wide vortex appeared in the semicircle of chairs. Out of it stepped two classroom size mobile suits. One was blue and white and had its beam saber raised for battle. The other mobile suit was green and held a double-edged beam trident weapon.
Keelia smiled widely as she recognized Gundam Nataku from Gundam Wing as the second mobile suit.
The pilots of the mobile suits emerged from the cockpits. The pilot of the blue mobile suit looked older, but was only in his middle 20s. He sported red hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a blue and gold uniform and carried a fencing sword in one hand. Keelia recognized Trieze Krushenada from Gundam Wing and scowled. She never liked him, so she turned her attention to the Gundam, pilot.
He was a young Chinese boy of fifteen years. He wore a dark gray and red spacesuit, minus the helmet. His shoulder-length black hair was pulled back into a migraine-inducing ponytail. His onyx eyes blazed with hatred toward Trieze. He carried a katana in one hand. He fought for justice. He was Keelia's favorite Gundam pilot, Chang Wufei.
"Um, excuse me gentlemen, but we're in the middle of a class." Dr. Mudman, Keelia's professor, spoke nervously to the two armed men.
"It seems we will have to finish our battle another day, my friend. The vortex is closed and we do not wish to interrupt this class any7 longer." Trieze bowed slightly to Dr. Mudman and after moving his mobile suit out of the way, sat at the far side of the semicircle.
"You think you can walk away, you coward! Where is your honor and pride?" Wufei screamed angrily at Trieze. Keelia silently applauded.
Trieze promised Wufei they would finish their battle after the class was over, so Wufei left his Gundam in the middle of the room and stood by the door.
"Can you move your robot?" Dr. Mudman asked, patting Nataku. Keelia put her hand over her mouth to stop the laughter because she knew exactly what Wufei would do.
"Keep your weakling hands off my Nataku!" He raged, chasing the professor around the room with his katana. Keelia's head hit the desk as she broke down in giggles. Luckily, no one but her classmate Meg heard her.
Keelia pulled a chair from the corner of the room and placed next to hers by the door. Wufei moved Nataku to the now empty corner. Keelia offered him the chair by her. He glared at her, but accepted the seat.
"He probably thinks I'm a weak woman." Keelia giggled to herself.
With the mini-Gundam battle postponed, a crushing depression fell on the class. Dr. Mudman was taking questions on individual papers and most of the students looked sullen or angry.
"Woman, why is there a cloud over this classroom?" Wufei leaned toward Keelia and asked.
"We had to write a 20-page paper for this class and it counted for 25% of our grade. Our professor is a picky bastard, so most of us did badly." She explained.
"You all are weaklings. Learn from it and move on." Wufei scoffed.
"I understand that it's not the end of the world, but I know speak for myself when I say my pride was severely wounded!" Keelia let a little anger creep into her voice.
"You're not a warrior, what do you know of pride?" Wufei asked.
"Why am I not a warrior, just because I am physically weak or because I'm a woman? Tell me, Wufei!" Keelia stood and screamed at him. The class stopped and stared.
"How do you know my name?" He asked in surprise.
"Let's just say I watch too much anime, but let me tell you this, Chang Wufei, I am a warrior in mind, a scholar! Just as you used to be before Trieze ordered the attack on your colony that killed your wife! Am I wrong?" Keelia asked furiously.
Wufei hung his head, fighting off tears. Keelia knelt down beside the desk and looked him in the eye.
"I understand your sense of justice, honor, and pride. I also know that if I lost my boyfriend, I too would take off my glasses and give up my books to fight. Just as you did when Meilan, I mean Nataku died. I do not see it as revenge it is justice. I know you can beat Trieze, for Nataku and for justice!" She whispered comfortingly.
Wufei locked eyes with her, nodded, and stood.
"Trieze, we finish our battle now!" He demanded.
"As you wish, Wufei" Trieze said, rising from his seat. He turned to his mobile suit only to find it moving of its own accord across the room.
"Stop interrupting my class!" Dr. Mudman yelled from within the mobile suit.
"Why even bother, no one wants to listen to you tonight! You gave us bad grades!" Keelia screamed at him.
"Woman, go." Wufei spoke to Keelia. "Use Nataku, defend your honor."
"I am not worthy." Keelia whispered with eyes downcast.
Then Gundam Nataku knelt down and opened its cockpit in front of her.
"Nataku thinks you are." Wufei smirked.
Keelia bowed before the Gundam.
"Thank you Nataku." She whispered respectfully.
As she got in, she spotted Trieze joining Dr. Mudman in his mobile suit. Seeing this as well, Wufei climbed into his Gundam with Keelia.
The battle began. Nataku was just about to slice the other mobile suit in half when the vortex reopened. The mobile suits and their original pilots were sucked through it and it closed, leaving professor and student on the ground.
"I think you need to be punished." Dr. Mudman said with a crazy gleam in his eye.
"Since when was the Zero System in there, you already gave me a 'C', isn't that enough?" Keelia said nervously as she backed away from her now mad professor.
She thought he would lunge at her, but he simply pressed a button that looked like it was hooked up to something.
"Do you know what I just did?" He asked.
"What?" Keelia asked, afraid to hear the answer.
"I blew up Wisconsin," he said, grinning like a maniac.
Meg gasped. She knew Keelia's boyfriend, Marcus, lived in Wisconsin.
Keelia's knees collapsed beneath her, her eyes grew dark and filled with tears.
"Marcus!" Her grief-filled cry reached all the way to the Gundam Wing Universe. The vortex reopened and Wufei in Gundam Nataku reappeared. When he saw Keelia in a fetal position on the floor screaming, he left the cockpit and went to her side.
"Woman, what's wrong?" He screamed to her.
"Marcus, he killed Marcus!" Keelia cried into Wufei's shirt. Wufei looked confused.
"Marcus is … was her boyfriend. Dr. Mudman blew up the state he was in." Meg clarified.
Wufei turned angrily toward the professor. He was furious that Keelia now that to endure what he had when he lost his wife. His eyes found a bizarre-looking Gundam where the professor had been standing. The Gundam wore blue jeans, glasses and a fuzzy beard.
"It's Groovy Gundam!" Dr. Mudman announced from inside the sick-looking mobile suit. The class sweat dropped and fell over.
"Where the hell did that sad excuse for a Gundam come from?" Wufei shouted.
"You killed Trieze, so as a ghost, he made it for me." Dr. Mudman explained.
"That makes no sense. Why can ghosts make Gundams?" Keelia asked, sniffling.
"We don't know, it's your story, but we can. I would have made one for Wufei, but he already had one. So I just decided to haunt his." A voice coming from Wufei's Gundam spoke.
"That voice…" Wufei trailed off in shock.
"So the bookworm still remembers my voice? I am very happy to hear it." The voice continued as a ghostly mist flowed from Wufei's Gundam to take shape before him.
"N-Nataku" Wufei stammered.
"Hello Wufei, I have missed you. I am very proud of my warrior husband." Chang Meilan praised.
A great sadness fell on Wufei as he reached out to his wife, only to have his hand go right through her.
"Silly, I'm dead after all, and you were the smart one. I wish I had more time, but I don't so I made a Gundam for you Keelia." Nataku changed the subject quickly to prevent herself and Wufei from tears.
"I am not worthy." Keelia said sadly, bowing her head.
"Come on Keelia, does your name mean warrior or not?" Meilan demanded.
Keelia rose and took off her glasses.
"Yes it does!" She screamed, as her hair dramatically broke free from its braid and streamed out behind her.
"I made your Gundam look vampiric to fit your original created character. I called it Arcanum." Meilan presented Keelia with her Gundam. It was all black, similar to Deathscythe, but it sported a flowing black cape and a sword composed of flames.
"I will call it Mars. Thank you Nataku. Marcus, I shall seek justice for your death!" With her Gundam named, her gratitude shown, and her mission clear, Keelia climbed into her Gundam.
To begin the fight Groovy Gundam began doing some disco dances. Mars froze.
"Fight me seriously!" Keelia roared.
"I am this is my Gundam's attack! Isn't it groovy?" Dr. Mudman laughed.
"No one uses the word, groovy anymore, you freak! Die!" Keelia screamed and Mars' Sword of Flames sliced Groovy Gundam in half. It was all over.
Keelia emerged from her Gundam, but was not satisfied. She won justice for Marcus, but he was still gone.
Suddenly the vortex reopened and five people walked through, four of them were the other Gundam pilots from the Wing Universe.
"Yo Wu-Man, there you are!" Duo Maxwell called out, much to Wufei's dismay.
"Maxwell, don't call me that! Where the hell were you anyway? I thought you all followed me into the vortex." Wufei yelled in annoyance.
"Wu-Man" Meilan giggled, making Wufei glare at Duo more.
"Oh, a bomb went off in this state so we were saving people. When this one guy heard the bomb originated from here, he begged us to take him with us." Duo explained.
"You saved some people?" Keelia demanded, knocking Wufei out of the way and grabbing Duo's shirt.
"Whoa, calm down. Yeah, we did, looking for someone?" Duo asked.
"Yes, my boyfriend. He lived in that state. His name is…" Keelia began.
"Marcus" Duo supplied.
"How did you know?" Keelia asked, bewildered and hoping.
"Is this her?" Duo called to the person with the Gundam pilots.
"Yep, that's my crazy girlfriend." The young man replied. It was Marcus.
"Marcus, is that really you?" Keelia asked, fearing he would say no.
"Yes, were you crying for me?" Marcus asked, wiping a tear away.
"Is this the part where you tell me you're going to kill me?" Keelia joked.
"No, first I'd have to rip up an invitation of yours." Marcus returned the joke.
Heero raised an eyebrow.
Then the young lovers embraced and kissed passionately.
"Well, I guess the story is over now." Trowa commented.
"It was sweet though." Quatre added.
"It isn't over yet." Keelia interjected.
"The mission was for you to avenge your pride. What else is there?" Heero asked.
"The mission isn't over yet! I now use the power of the Fanfic Writer!" Keelia announced.
"First, all my classmates and I receive 'A's on those vile papers!" The class cheered as all the grades became A's.
"Second, I will reopen the vortex so you can return to your world. Nataku, take good care of Mars for me. As for the third thing, justice will be served!" Keelia pronounced smiling as the vortex sucked up all the characters and Gundams.
"What did you do?" Marcus asked.
"Set things right." Keelia replied.
In the Gundam Wing Universe…
Wufei looked at the Arcanum Gundam beside his Gundam. He wished he had a chance to say goodbye to Nataku. Suddenly the cockpit of Mars opened.
Wufei's eyes widened and a rare smile formed on his face. Chang Meilan jumped out of the cockpit and into her husband's waiting arms, fully alive.
"By the way, I accept you as my husband, Chang Wufei. Wo ai ni." She whispered to him.
"Yes Nataku, my wife. Wo ai ni." He whispered back before kissing his wife for the first time.
Quatre wiped a tear from his eye as Trowa and Heero simply smiled, happy for their friend. As for Duo, he was happy too, but the Great Shinigami never misses a chance for a great blackmail video.
^_^
The
End