Here's Chapter 4! Everyone goes to Earth, where Katra, Kari, and Woofei take a little side trip to the Winner estate where Kari and Katra start to become even closer to each other. Plus, this wouldn't be much of a chapter if the new enemy or Zex (Hint hint!) didn't appear either would it? Well, here goes!
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Chapter 4
"Is everything ready?" Nown asked a soldier next to her.
"Yes Lieutenant Nown, the shuttle is ready for the trip to the earth," he said with a salute.
"Good," she said.
Then she turned around to the others that waited from behind her.
"The shuttles ready to go, we'd better board," she said to them.
They nodded and went over to the small civilian shuttle that would take them to Earth. It only had room for the six Gundam pilots, Relena, Nown, a few soldiers, and a cargo bay that just barely fit the six Gundams' Mobile Suits. They had chosen such a small shuttle because if their enemy was looking for them then they wouldn't suspect such a small ship for civilians. They all boarded the shuttle and took seats. Closest to the cockpit was Duo and Heero, in the seats beside them was Trowa and Woofei. Behind Heero and Duo were Relena and Nown, next to them was Kari and Katra, and behind them in the last few seats were the soldiers that were coming with them.
The hanger doors opened and the thrusters on the shuttle flared on. The shuttle made its way into space smoothly until they were almost halfway to Earth. That's when they heard something go off in the cockpit.
"What's going on?" Nown asked as she stood up in her seat.
"We've been spotted ma'am!" one of the soldiers in the cockpit told her. "Should we high tail it to Earth?"
"No, we're still too far away, we'll have to hold them off or get rid of them," she answered, turning to the Gundam pilots.
"Don't even ask," Duo said, holding his hands up. "I'm not turning down a fight now after sitting still for nearly and hour."
"Why not?" Kari said. "If it's Zex then he's got some payback coming anyway."
The two stood up and headed back to the cargo bay.
"I doubt that there's that many," said Duo. "The two of us will probably be enough to get rid of them."
"Or to hold them Duo. We are not going to just jump in and destroy them," Kari said forcefully.
"Okay, okay, let's just get going already," he said.
The two got into their Gundams and the bay doors opened. They flew out to confront only about six Mobile Suits.
"If you surrender to us now, then we'll spare you," Kari said to them.
"Geez, sometimes you sound too much like Katra," Duo said.
"Drop dead!" the lead Mobile Suit pilot shouted at her.
"Do their answers always have to sound like that?" Duo said as he rolled his eyes.
"Shut up and fight already!" Kari said.
"Alright, now you sound more like my kinda' kid!" he said as he lunged forward.
The other Mobile Suits got the idea and lunged forward at him. Unfortunately, Duo was going to fast and so were the other Mobile Suits. It suddenly hit Kari that if Duo collided with the others, then there wouldn't be any Duo for Heero to drive insane!
"Duo! Get outta' there before you get yourself killed you idiot!" Kari exclaimed.
"Okay, now that just sounded like me talkin' ta' Heero," Duo said.
"Just shut up and move!"
Duo made a quick maneuver and just barely missed the Mobile Suits.
"Took ya' long enough," Kari said.
"Aw, so sue me," he answered. "Now let's get rid of these guys."
"Right. Switch to Movement Sensing Mode!"
Kari switched modes just as a Mobile Suit was lunging at her. She pulled out her Beam Boomerang and threw it. It went right past the head of the Mobile Suit and the pilot laughed.
"Nice try kid, but it's going to take a little more than that to get rid of us," he said.
"Oh, believe me, I didn't even need to aim that to know that it's going to hit you," she answered.
He just laughed. Then, without him realizing it, the Boomerang made a sharp turn, flew back and went right through the middle of the Mobile Suit, and then it exploded. Kari caught it and attached it back onto her Gundam. Then it was Duo's turn. He brought out his Beam Sword.
"You think we're afraid of your Beam Sword kid?" the pilot in front of him asked.
"I didn't think you would be, but I do know that anyone who sees the Great Destroyer has a date with his Maker," Duo said with a smirk.
"Bring it on," he said to Duo.
"Suit yourself. Haayaa!" he shouted as he went toward them.
One swipe of his Beam Sword and three were gone in a flash. The last remaining two turned and tried to high tail out of there, but Kari and Duo certainly weren't letting them go that easily.
"Oh no you don't," Kari said as she and Duo blasted their thrusters on and, to the pilots horror, were right in front of the Mobile Suits.
They charged their Beam Cannons and fired them quickly. The two Suits disappeared in a flash of fire.
"Well that was easy enough," Duo said.
"Yeah, but just in case, we should stay in our Gundams and protect the shuttle," Kari said.
"But we could attract more enemy Suits," Duo said.
"Aw, so what, we pretty close to earth, and besides, if we have some trouble, then we can just get the others out here," Kari answered.
Duo agreed and they contacted Nown and told her their plans.
"Kari, sometimes you scare me," Duo said.
"Why?" she said, confused.
"Well," he said with a laugh, "sometimes you sound like Katra with wanting to let the enemy live if they surrender. Then sometimes you sound like Heero, with being forceful and everything. Then there are times when you sound just like me, like earlier when you told me that I was an idiot, when you told me to shut up, and a couple of other things, that sounded exactly like me talking to Heero. It just sorta' surprised me and freaked me out."
Kari gave a little giggle.
"Yeah, I guess I did sound like all of you guys a couple of times, but I can't really help it. I was trained to be able to change my personality fairly easily. I can usually do it when I want to, but sometimes I just do it spontaneously."
"Man Kari, who trained you to be a Gundam anyway?" Duo asked.
That's when Kari gave a serious look at the picture of Duo's face on her screen.
"Okay, now don't you start doing the Heero thing on me," he said.
"Sorry Duo, but I'm not allowed to tell a single person who trained me or made my Gundam, Nereia. I'm not even allowed to tell Heero," she said with extreme seriousness.
"Yeah, I understand, just forget what I said," he answered.
She nodded and nothing more was said about it.
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"Master Katra!" the large, dark, burly man exclaimed as he came toward the small party from space.
"Rasheed, what are you doing here?" Katra asked with a smile as the man walked up to him.
"Master Katra, your mother requests that you come to see her immediately. She saw the message you sent to her about the new enemy planning on attacking the estate. She would like you and the other Gundams to come and help protect it."
"Well, would you guys mind if we went to the estate now?" he asked as he turned to the others.
"Well, we were planning on going to the Sank Kingdom beforehand," said Nown.
"Well, why don't just you and two others go Katra? If they do attack, I'm sure that three would be enough to get rid of them. Hey, don't you two give me that look. I meant that three would be enough to get rid of them or to hold them off," said Duo.
Kari and Katra had both given him a Look when he had talked about getting rid of the enemy if they attacked.
"I guess that would work," Katra said.
"I'll go with you Katra," Kari said.
"I will too," said Woofei.
The others looked at him with a bit of surprise. He wasn't the type that would actually shun everyone, but he didn't usually volunteer openly to go along with anyone, anywhere. Though the others agreed, so it was settled. They planned on going to the Winner estate and if nothing happened within a few days then they would meet the others in the Sank Kingdom.
"What about our Gundams?" Katra asked.
"Don't worry, I've already arranged for a truck to take them ahead of us," Rasheed replied.
Katra nodded in approval.
"Take care of yourselves," said Trowa.
They nodded and went to a large car that was waiting for them. The three pilots climbed inside.
"Master Katra, you've been very missed back at the estate. Especially by your mother and me," Rasheed said.
"Well, I've missed home too. I can't wait to show you guys the estate," Katra said.
"I'm glad that we're going with you Katra," Kari said.
He nodded and they sat back and relaxed a little during the long trip.
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The car pulled up in front of a large Victorian house. Kari looked at it in awe as she stepped out of the car. The house was huge, with large balconies and windows. The four walked into the house.
"Mistress Winner, Master Katra is here," Rasheed called out.
When there was no answer, Rasheed turned to Katra.
"She must be down below," he said.
He nodded.
"What do you mean, down below?" Woofei asked.
"Come with me and I'll show you," Katra said, motioning for them to follow him outside.
They followed Katra outside and around to the side of the house. He stepped onto a patch of dirt and Woofei, Kari, and Rasheed followed suit. Katra flipped up a shingle on the house and pressed a button under it. Woofei and Kari were surprised to feel a large jolt and were even more surprised when the patch of dirt began to move down into the ground. It soon gave one more jolt after a few minutes when it came to a stop. They stepped off and looked around. They found themselves in a rather large Mobile Suit hanger.
There were Aries and Leos everywhere and their Gundams stood near the hanger door where mechanics were working on them.
"Katra!" a blond haired woman called as she ran over to them.
"Mother!"
Mrs. Winner ran up and gave Katra a tight hug.
"Oh Katra it's so good to see you, I've missed you so much," she said.
"I've missed you too Mother," he said.
"Oh, these are two of the other Gundam pilots aren't they? I remember Woofei, and this must be Kari," she said as she walked over to the. "Kari, Katra told me about you in his message. So, your Heero's sister?"
"Yes Mrs. Winner, I just found him about a week ago," Kari answered.
Mrs. Winner smiled and then turned back to Katra.
"Katra, why don't you show them around while your Mobile Suits are being worked on, I'm sure that they'd like to see the compound."
"Sure Mother," he said as he turned back to the other two. "Come on, I'll show you around."
The three teenagers walked out of the large hanger doors and into bright sunlight. They looked around to find themselves in the middle of a large market place. There were a lot of people around, which made the market place very busy.
"Stay close," Katra said. "It gets busy around here at this time of day, and it's easy to get lost.
The other two nodded and followed Katra, Kari next to him and Woofei lagging behind a little. As they walked along, Woofei couldn't help looking at Kari a lot.
"She really does resemble Heero a lot. Sometimes I just can't get over how she reminds us all of him," he thought as he walked along. "She and Katra seem to get along very well too. I wonder if..."
His thoughts stopped as he looked at Kari and Katra again. He watched, slowly, as if he were deciding whether to do it or not, as Katra carefully slipped his hand into Kari's. She looked surprised for a moment, as if she might pull away, but she then smiled at the blond haired boy and kept her hand in his.
"Maybe Duo was right about them," he thought.
Then Kari smiled back at Woofei.
"Come on Woofei, we don't want to lose you," she said.
He nodded and walked a little faster so that he was closer to them. They walked a little farther until a strange noise could be heard. Everyone else in the streets kept on with their daily lives, obviously not hearing the sound, but Kari stopped dead in her tracks when the sound reached her ears.
"Kari, what's the matter?" Woofei asked from behind.
That's when Katra noticed that she had stopped. He turned back around and looked at her. Her hand had slipped from his. She was standing in her spot, her face etched with concentration. Her eyes were cold.
"Kari?" Katra asked quietly.
She closed her eyes and listened. That's when the other two faintly heard the sound.
"Mobile Suits, Leos. They're coming this way," she said with the uttermost seriousness as she opened her eyes.
"Kari, are you sure?" Katra asked.
His question was answered when sirens began to go off.
"Attention everyone," Abara's voice blared over a speaker. "Enemy Leos are headed this way. We suggest that you all find shelter immediately. You should find safety in an orderly fashion and…."
His voice disappeared as the speaker exploded from a gunshot. The three pilots gasped and the people around them broke into a frenzied panic as six Leos landed only about one hundred feet away from them. The Mobile Suits turned to the people. Then, one of them fired a large shot. The three teenagers jumped out of the way, Woofei to the left and Kari and Katra to the right. Woofei lunged behind a small pile of metal. Kari and Katra were still out in the open. Katra put his arm tightly around Kari as they squeezed their eyes shut. He pushed Kari's head down as he lowered his own as the shot made contact with the ground. Hard. There was a large explosion of fire and dust.
It rushed past the three. When it cleared, Woofei looked over the pile of metal, and the other two lifted their heads. The Leos were gone. Then they heard screams to the left of them. They looked over to see the mobile suits in front of the crowd. To the surprise of the other two, Kari jumped up and ran at the Mobile Suits.
"Kari! What are you doing?!" Woofei called after her.
She didn't answer, but just kept running. Then, when she was right behind them, she stopped.
"Hey you slime bags! Over here," she called as she flared her arms about.
The Leos turned around.
"Come and get me!" she shouted.
"We'll get to you soon enough kid," one of the pilots said to her.
"Hey, wait a second," another pilot said as the hand of his Mobile Suit lifted up. "That's one of the Gundam pilots! We have to get rid of her first!"
Then the rest of the Leos turned on her.
"OOOOH shoot," Kari said as she turned around and began to run to her left, away from Katra, Woofei, and the people.
"Kari, what in the heck do you think you're doing!?" Katra called to her.
"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm distracting them! Go get the Gundams and bring them back here," she called back.
"But Kari!" Katra said.
"Don't argue! Just go!" she shouted as she ran around a building corner.
Woofei jumped up, and was about to go after Kari, but Katra stopped him.
"No, let's get the Gundams, we're no help without them," he said.
"But Katra," he said.
"Don't worry, I trust her," Katra said.
Woofei nodded and they began to run back to the hanger.
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"What have I gotten myself into?!" Kari thought frantically to herself as she ran. "There's no way those guys are going at their highest speed. I'm surprised they haven't caught up with me already. Well, I've only got one idea to get them off my back, and I sure as heck hope that it works."
Kari came to a sudden stop. The Leos passed right over her. Then she sped into a nearby alley. She jumped, flipped, and landed on a clothesline.
"How in the world does Trowa do this?" she thought as she balanced on the thin cord.
She held her breath as the Leos passed her again. Then they passed again and she thought that she was in the clear, but then one of them spotted her.
"There she is," he called to the others.
Kari jumped down and landed softly on the ground. Then she high tailed it out of the alley. She was glad to see that all of the people had cleared the streets. She ran down two more blocks, the Leos right at her heels. She was in the middle of another street when one of the pilots fired at her again. She took this chance to jump into another alley, since the flying dirt and smoke hid her movements. She held her breath again as they passed her. She breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't turn back. Then, without warning, a large shadow covered her.
"Please let it be Katra, please let it be Katra," she thought.
Then she opened up her eyes and looked above her. It wasn't Katra.
"Dang it!" she shouted as she turned around to go out the other way.
She gasped as she turned around. That way was blocked too. She looked up. Two more were on top of the buildings that she was between. She looked around frantically, searching for any way out. There was none. Her arms hung down at her sides as she looked around helplessly. Kari was trapped.
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Katra and Woofei were running at high speed toward the hanger. They finally reached it within five minutes, but it seemed a lot longer to them. They bound up the steps and bolted inside. They headed to their Gundams, where a mechanic was standing, wiping his hands on a red cloth. He looked at them with surprise as they ran over.
"Somethin' wrong?" he asked.
"We need the Gundams, now," Woofei said.
"Well, your in luck, I just finished some special work on that one," he said as he pointed to the 06.
They grabbed the cords and were pulled up.
"Thanks a lot," Katra said as his cockpit hatch closed.
"Pleasures all mine," he said. "Believe me, pleasures all mine."
Katra's Gundam, Sand Rock, grabbed onto the Nereia and they headed out.
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"Aw jeez," Kari said as she looked from side to side. "I really screwed up now."
She gasped as one of the Leos reached in its metal hand to grab her. She pressed up against the wall as best she could as it neared her. Suddenly, a curved Beam Scythe slashed out and cut off the Leos arm. It started a chain reaction and the whole Suit exploded. She smiled as she looked up.
"Duo!" she exclaimed.
There stood the Death Scythe, the sun glistening behind it. It shot its gun out and destroyed the Leos one by one.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," his voice came from the 02 as he lowered the hand of his Gundam for Kari to climb on.
"Thanks Duo, I owe you one," she smiled.
He smiled back. Then they heard a sound, not to far away.
"Looks like your boyfriend's coming," he said.
"Duo!" she yelled.
He just laughed. Soon, Nataku, Woofei's Gundam, and Sand Rock were with them.
"Some other Leos spotted us, they're pretty far behind, probably so we wouldn't notice them," Katra said.
"Well to bad for them," Duo said.
"Here Kari," Katra said as he set down the 06.
Duo reached the 02's hand in front of Kari's cockpit, and she hopped out.
"Come on, we'd better get to those Leos. They've been looking for us, and now they're going to find us," Woofei said.
Kari linked up her Gundam, and they went back the way that Woofei and Katra had come.
"Hey, Duo," Katra said to him.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving her."
"No problem buddy. I know that you would have been upset if something had happened to your girlfriend."
"Duo!" Katra exclaimed.
He just laughed again.
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They soon confronted the rest of the Leos. They found them rather restless when they actually saw the four of them.
"Hey guys, miss your friends?" Duo asked.
"What are you talking about?" one of them said.
"Let's just say that they had a close encounter with the Great Destroyer," he smirked.
"What?! All of them gone?!" they shouted at him.
"Yep."
"You'll pay for that!" they shouted. "Let's get them troops!"
"If that's the way you want it, then you got something coming," Duo said.
He lunged forward with Death Scythe, as did Katra and Woofei.
"Kari, come on," Duo said over his screen communicator.
"I'm trying," she said. "It seems like it won't move, but I'll try again."
"Alright," he said as he blew up a Leo. "We could use you out here."
Kari gripped her control sticks and thrust them forward. 06 gave a jolt, but wouldn't move forward.
"What the?"
She tried again, but this time, it didn't even jolt.
"Kari, what's going on?" Duo said.
He was surprised to see her worried face look at him.
"My controls are jammed!" she said.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed.
"I said that my controls are jammed, I can't get my Gundam to move," she repeated as she typed frivolously on her control panel.
"You gotta' be kiddn' me!" he exclaimed again.
"I'm not."
"What's going on?" Woofei asked.
"Kari's controls are jammed!"
"Don't get hyper Duo, I'm trying to fix it now," Kari said as she focused on the panel.
"What could have happened to Kari's Gundam?" Katra thought.
He gasped as he remembered what the mechanic had said. "I just finished some special work on that one."
"Woofei, the mechanic said that he had just finished doing something on Kari's Gundam, this must have been it!"
"But why didn't it happen to ours?"
"He didn't have time, we weren't gone that long."
"Kari," Katra said, "your controls were jammed by the mechanic working on it. You have to get control back, or you're sunk."
"You're right Katra," she said as she typed. "It was a rather complicated virus that he put in my system, but it's nothing that I can't over ride. It's going to take me a few minutes though."
"Right, I'll cover you," said Katra.
"Thanks," she said as she slipped beneath her control panel to be confronted by a mess of wires and microchips.
Katra was doing pretty well protecting Kari, until they started to fire at him all at once, instead of one at a time.
"Katra, go fight them," Kari said.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. They won't bother with me as much if all three of you are fighting them. Besides, I've almost over ridden the virus."
"Alright," he said, unreassured.
So he went to fight with Duo and Woofei. Kari lay underneath her control panel, pulling and prodding at the many wires, microchips and cables.
"Dang it!" she exclaimed as she was hit by a shot.
It had jostled up her hands and she had pulled a wire out of whack. She moved some other parts around and put it in a different place. She grabbed a microchip and jammed it quickly into a different slot. Suddenly, lights went on and her controls went back online.
"Yes! I'm back on! Man do I rock or what," she said to herself.
She went over to the others.
"Move back guys, they're mine," she said.
The three moved to the side.
"I'm going to ask this and I don't know why," she said to herself, and then to the Leo pilots she said. "I'll spare your lives if you surrender."
"Get a life Gundam scum bag," one of them said.
"Why do they always have to say something like that?" she groaned. "Switch to Movement Sensing Mode!"
She switched and turned to them.
"Putting a virus in my Gundam, and try to hit me when I'm down? I don't think so, you are gonna' get your butts kicked for that."
"Man, are you dead," Duo mumbled at the Leo pilots with a smirk.
"Bring it on!" one shouted as he lunged forward. "A kid like you can't get rid of an experienced pilot like me!"
Duo sniggered and then started laughing hysterically.
"Shut up Duo! You're distracting me!" Kari shouted at him as she also flew forward.
Kari bought out her Beam Boomerang. She gave it a flick and it straightened into a Beam Sword. She and the Leo went head on toward each other, and then passed. They had seemed to have done nothing but missed one another.
"Whoa, Kari's aim is getting off," Duo said.
But then Kari's Gundam stood up straight, and the Leo disappeared in a roar of flames behind her.
"Or not," Katra said with a small laugh.
"Oh yeah, I was really distracting before," Duo said sarcastically.
Kari had heard him, but ignored it. She just turned to the rest of the Leos. Then she brought out her Beam Cannon.
"Kari, don't! You might destroy some of the buildings," Katra said urgently to her.
"Now Katra, do you really think that I'm that bad at aiming?" Kari responded.
"Well, no, but just be careful," he sighed.
She just smiled as she charged her Cannon up. She fired it a single time and the last seven Leos disappeared in the flames. Then, with a sigh of relief, she turned to the others.
"I think I've seen enough of the city now, how about going to meet the others?" she said with a smile.
"I couldn't agree more," Katra said.
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"Katra, are you sure you have to go?" his mother asked.
"I'm sorry Mother, but the sooner we get back to the others, the better."
"Mrs. Winner, it's very important that we get back to Heero and the others as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling that something might happen to them," Kari said as she shouldered her backpack.
"Are you sure that you should trust that feeling? You might be mistaken."
"I know that is a possibility, but the chances of me being wrong are very slim."
"Besides Mrs. Winner, Kari did know that the Leos were coming before anyone else. She also knew what type they were. I think it's in everyone's best interest to trust her feelings right now," Woofei said.
Katra frowned when he saw the sad look on his Mother's face. He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. She gazed up at her son.
"Please be careful Katra," she said.
"Don't worry, we'll take care of him," Duo said with a goofy smile as he popped up behind Katra.
He grabbed Katra around the neck and gave him a noogy. Katra laughed as he tried to get out of his friend's grasp, but failed. Mrs. Winner smiled and laughed quietly. Woofei let a small smile slip, but only for a few seconds. Kari saw it though and she smiled at the thought. It quickly vanished though when she got a cold chill down her spine.
"I have a feeling," she thought uneasily, "that we won't have this happiness for long."
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"Kari!" Heero exclaimed as he, Relena, and Trowa ran toward the descending Gundams.
"Heero!" she exclaimed.
She ran to him. They stood there for a moment then Kari grabbed him in a hug. He was surprised, but hugged her back. He wasn't used to being hugged.
"I've got to get used to this," Heero thought.
"I'm glad you're alright," he said aloud. "Mrs. Winner contacted us and told us what happened. I heard that you had a bit of a close encounter with a couple of the Leos."
"Yep, but she handled it like her brother would," Duo said.
He looked down at her. He surprised the others, except Kari, when he smiled contently at her. Heero was proud of his little sister.
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That night, Katra and Kari walked together in the Sank Kingdom's enchanting rose garden. They held hands as they as they strolled through the beautiful rows filled with the red, white, yellow flowers.
"Aren't they beautiful Katra?" Kari said as she stopped to admire a bush full of red and white roses.
"Not as beautiful as you are," he said to her.
She stood up and looked at him. He smiled gently at her. She smiled back. She leaned up toward him and kissed him gently.
"Hey lovebirds!" Duo exclaimed from an upstairs window.
Kari and Katra started and looked up at him. He smirked.
"Save your kissin' for later, Doctor J is up here on the computer, he has some information about our new enemy."
The two looked at each other, nodded, and began to run into the palace and upstairs. They found the other Gundams clustered around a computer screen in one of the rooms. They parted a little so that the two could squeeze in to look at the screen.
On the screen was an aged man. His hair was white, and his face wrinkled. He had strange glasses over his eyes and one hand was a mechanical claw.
"Hello everyone, I see that Kari has finally joined you," he said.
"Hello Doctor J," Kari said.
She said this as if it were no big deal. It was obvious to the others that she had met him before.
"Doctor J, you said you had information about the new enemy," Heero said.
"Yes, but it is very limited information. I only have about three things that I can tell you about it. Number one, their name is CORE.
"CORE?" Trowa said.
"Yes," Doctor J answered. "Kari was told about them in her training."
They looked at her. The young girl had a look of dead seriousness on her face.
"I've handled CORE once before, and I have to tell you that they're just like OZ, only stronger at times," Kari said.
"Well, Doctor J, what were the other two things that you wanted to tell us?" Katra said.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to leave," Kari said.
"Huh? But Kari, what about the information on CORE?" Duo asked.
"Like I said, I've dealt with Core before," she said as she turned and started toward the door. Then she turned her head and looked at them. "I don't want to relive my encounter with them."
Then she turned and walked out of the door, shutting it behind her.
"Sheesh! Man, what got into her?" Duo said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "She sounded just like Heero."
"Please excuse Kari," Doctor J said. "Her one battle with CORE effected her a bit more than we expected."
"What do you mean?" Trowa said.
"Why don't you ask her yourself? She's actually been in contact with CORE. She might know more than I do."
"Thanks Doctor J," Heero said.
"I'll send you your next mission as soon as possible," he said, and then blanked out.
The five teenagers then walked out to find Kari. They found her leaning against the wall near one of the windows.
"Kari, are you alright?" Katra asked.
"I'm fine," she said rather coldly.
"Kari, please tell us what bothers you about CORE. We need to know about them."
She sighed and looked at them. Her eyes were stern, yet sad at the same time. They looked cold and hard when the moonlight that streamed through the window reflected on them. She sighed again.
"Alright guys, I guess you're not going to give me any other choice," she too a deep breath and began. "I'll start first by saying that CORE is a very old and very secret organization. They were formed even before OZ or Romepheler came into existence. Well, a long time ago, when the colonies were just beginning to be built in space, there were people who deeply opposed the Earth's people living in space. They formed into an Alliance, which grew with its propaganda. This is how they formed CORE. There was also another group, which eventually formed into what we know as OZ."
"When I began my Gundam pilot training, CORE was still relatively small, but still rather powerful. Now they are even stronger because after the last war, many old OZ and Romepheler Foundation soldiers began to join CORE. Now I fear that they are planning to start another war. Even bloodier than the last one."
"Kari," Woofei said, "Doctor J said that you had encountered CORE before. Isn't there anything you can tell us about them?"
"I hate to relive it but I guess I'll tell you."
"Kari, what was so bad that happened that you don't even want to talk about it?" Duo asked.
"When I was training you guys, I didn't train alone."
"What do you mean?" Katra asked.
"I mean that other people were being trained to become Gundam pilots at the same time I was, and we were all trained together. They were planning to make a whole other group of Gundam pilots. The only problem was that there was to many of us at one time. Six of us was too much for them."
"They were training a whole new fleet of Gundam pilots?" Trowa said.
"They were nuts," Duo said. "We were trained separately, and I gotta' say that when I was trained that they had enough trouble with just me."
"You're always trouble," Heero said.
"What?!" Duo exclaimed.
"Go on and finish Kari," Katra said.
"Well, as we were being trained, they took a special interest in me. So they spent more time on me then any of the others, and that is where they made a mistake. After about six months of training, we were all sent on a mission to stop CORE from destroying a Mobile Suit base. All six of us were sent with the soldier who supervised us. He was very kind. His name was O'Brien and he was a wonderful soldier."
"Well, we went that day. We found that it was a large number of Aries, Virgos, and Taurus'. We thought that it would be easy, but we were wrong, at least the others were. We fought for nearly three hours, and then, tragedy struck among us. The CORE soldiers had been putting up a good fight, and everyone was tired, and a few of us were getting careless."
"Suddenly, three Virgos came at me. I fought as best as I could, but I got more than I gave. Then, one of ours, his name was Carson, he was a lot like you Duo, was attacked. He was attacked by two Aries suits that were stronger than he was. He destroyed one, but the other was still behind him. He tried to turn around to get it, but the Aries pilot was to fast. He made a quick movement and it Beam Sword was through the middle of Carson's Gundam."
"Once he was gone, his best friend Lance sprung into action. He was sort of your counterpart Woofei. He was too sure of himself though. It only took one Taurus to get rid of him in less than three minutes. Then the counterparts of Trowa, or as we called him, Cloud, and Katra, known as Gunther , stepped up. I told them to stay back, that they'd get themselves killed, but they wouldn't listen. O'Brien was so sure that they would listen tome that he started yelling at them. You see, I was the leader of the six of us, and the others had never gone against what I said before."
"So, they didn't last long. I was enraged and wanted to go and fight what was left of the soldiers, but Heero's counterpart, Imagisaki, told me to stay back. I actually listened to him. He was killed. That was it for me. I sprung forward, only to be met by a bombardment of bullets. O'Brien went in front of me, and told me to leave. I told him that I wouldn't, but he was too persistent, and so I left him. The last thing I saw when I turned around was O'Brien's Leo disappearing in a burst of flames. That was the last time that I ever saw my mentor, or my comrades."
"Kari, this really effected you didn't it?" Katra asked.
She nodded.
"But why did this effect you more than any other battle you've been in?" Duo asked. "You've probably seen countless people die and yet this stays in your mind."
Her hands curled into tight fists as she held back her tears. She turned and walked toward the window.
"When, I went back," she said shakily, "they told me to forget about it, that it wasn't important. I was so infuriated and began to yell at them. I asked them if they realized that it had been their fault. I told them that they had been foolish to spend more time on me then on the others. They made me even madder when they said that they did realize it, but didn't care. Then I brought up O'Brien, and they said that he was no loss."
She stopped and stood in the shadows by the window.
"Kari," Duo said.
Her fists were clenched tightly. They couldn't see her face, but the saw her tears, shining silver in the moonlight.
"They didn't understand, no one understands," she said. "Gunther, Cloud, Imagisaki, Lance, Carson and O'Brien, weren't just my partners, they weren't even just my friends. They were a part of me. We all shared a deep bond with one another. I couldn't just forget them and go on. I was desperate. So desperate that I decided that if they couldn't be with me, then I would be with them."
"You don't mean," Duo started.
"Yes, I was going to self detonate. The night before I was going to do it, I snuck out of the small space station that we were on. I took the Nereia to the Mobile Suit station that everything had happened on. I looked around, and was happy to see something had remained of all of them. I still have what I found there with me today."
She pulled six small items out of her backpack. She held out a pair of glasses.
"These were Carson's. I was surprised to see them in such good shape. They only had a few good scratches on them."
Then she pulled out a small knife, a bit larger than that of a Boy Scout's. It had a green handle with a carving of a golden dragon on it. She flipped the blade up to reveal its silver luster.
"This was Lance's. It meant the world to him. He told me that it had been given to him by his father."
Then she pulled out a small book. It was obviously hand made because of the writing that was scrawled on the cover.
"This was Gunther's. He was the youngest of the six of us. He would always love it when I would tell him stories that I made up. I think that he sort of considered me as the older sister that he never had. You see his parents had died when he was very young. That's what most of us were. Orphans."
She put the book away and took out a strip of cloth and a beat up baseball cap.
"This cloth was Imagisaki's and the cap was Cloud's. They never really told me anything about them. All I know is that you would never see Imagisaki without this cloth around his neck, or Cloud without his cap."
She stuffed everything inside her backpack again and turned back to them.
"I never found anything of O'Brien's."
She said this all shakily, yet, with an amazing strength.
"I heard, just weeks before I met you all, that their bodies had been found, and were buried in honor at the cemetery where many other soldiers were buried. I couldn't make the funeral, and I feel awful for that. When I went back that night, I attached explosives to the Nereia, and was ready to self detonate. I did press the button, but nothing happened."
"Right then, one of my trainers came around the corner. He told me to take the 06, and find Heero. He told me that he didn't agree with the others about not caring about how the others had died. He also told me before I left that he was very, very proud of me."
She looked at them.
"Now do you see why that battle hurts me so much inside? Do you see why I care so much, about how these pilots died and why the other deaths don't mean so much to me?!"
"Kari," Katra said.
"This is why! They were as important to me as Heero is! They didn't understand, and.." she stopped and looked at them. "And neither do you."
Then she turned and ran past them, down the hallway, and disappeared into the darkness.
"I'll go talk to her," Katra sighed as he started down the hallway after her.
Heero reached out his hand and stopped him by gripping his shoulder.
"No, I'll talk to her Katra," he said.
Then he walked down the hall, with Duo staring after him.
"Man, that kid has changed him for the better," he said. "He usually wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that someone was upset. Much less go after them."
"We'd better leave them alone and go to our own rooms," Trowa said.
They agreed and split up in the hall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night, Duo sat straight up in bed.
"What was that?" he thought.
He thought that the sounds of a shout and a door slamming had woken him up. Then he heard the sound of footsteps past his door. They sounded like someone stomping. Then, they died down the hall.
"Hm, came from the direction of Kari's room," he said to himself.
He shrugged and lay down again. If something were wrong, then she would have woken everyone else up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Duo awoke to the sun shining through his window. What had happened last night? Oh yeah, he had heard footsteps that came from Kari's room. He shrugged again and changed his clothes. Then he left his room and headed down to the dining room, where breakfast would be at…
"Man, what time is it anyway?" he thought.
He looked at a large grandfather clock in the hall.
"5:50?!" he said aloud. "Man, I gotta' wait a couple of hours until everyone else is actually awake."
He sighed and went down to the dining room anyway to wait. He was surprised when he walked in to find Kari standing by the window.
"H-Hey Kar, mornin'," he said rather cautiously, in case she was still upset.
She turned her head and seemed to just then acknowledge his presence.
"Good morning Duo," she said before she took a sip of tea from her cup.
He let out a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't mad at him anymore, even if she did have a cold tone to her voice.
"There's coffee in the kitchen," she said sort of off handedly.
Duo gave a smile of thanks and went in to the kitchen to pour himself some coffee. Then he came back out and sat at the large table.
"Hey, I'm not gonna' bite," he laughed when Kari stayed at her spot by the window.
She shrugged and sat down across from him.
"Don't like coffee?" he asked her, just to make some conversation.
"I prefer tea."
"So, aahh, when did you wake up?"
" 'Round four," she mumbled.
"Man, and I thought I had woken up early."
She just stayed silent. The silence that filled the room made Duo uncomfortable.
"So, Kari, I heard a noise that came from your room last night," he said.
She looked up at him. Her was surprised to she her looking a bit surprised. She quickly looked down again and sipped her tea.
"Oh, I thought that everyone was asleep," she said.
"What was that?"
"Oh, it was nothing, I was just talking to Heero," she said.
He said nothing else as Trowa and Woofei walked into the room.
"Morning," Duo said cheerfully.
They just nodded and walked into the kitchen. As soon as they were gone, Duo sighed.
"Ugghh, sometimes they're as bad as Heero," he said.
Kari remained silent.
"Good morning," Katra said as he walked into the room.
"G'morning Katra," Kari mumbled from behind her cup.
He took a seat next to her as Trowa and Woofei walked back in.
"Where's Heero?" Trowa asked.
He said this mainly to Kari, but she looked at him, turned her head away, and pretty much ignored his question. Just then, Heero walked into the room.
"Mornin'," Duo said yet again.
He stayed silent and sat down away from the others. Duo kept looking between Heero and Kari with a confused look on his face. Suddenly, Kari sat her cup down and stood up. Without another word, she walked past the others and left. Katra looked at Duo. Duo just shrugged.
"Hey Heero, what's with you and Kari?" he asked.
He didn't even make eye contact. He just stayed silent and stared at the table.
"Fine," Duo said. "Annoy me to death, see if I care."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Later that day, a siren went off from somewhere on the grounds. Duo, Katra, Trowa, and Woofei jumped up. They had been in the large sitting room for the last couple of hours. Heero had gone straight up to his room after breakfast (in which he had eaten nothing), and Kari still hadn't left her room. They left the sitting room and started toward the door. As they past the stairs, Heero came down, with Kari lagging behind him.
They left the palace and ran across the grounds toward a small Mobile Suit hanger in which the Gundams were stored, and each pilot ran to their own. As Duo was about to grab his cord, he stopped.
"Uh, Duo?" Kari said from behind him.
"Yeah?" he asked as he turned around.
She looked up at him. He then noticed, for the first time that day, that she looked older, and tired. He had a feeling that she and Heero hadn't just been talking late last night. He thought that they had probably been talking all night, and, by the look on Kari's face, their conversation hadn't gone well.
"Could you do a favor for me while we're out there?" she said, breaking his train of thought.
"Uh, sure Kar, what is it?"
"Could you watch Heero's back for me?"
"Me? Cover him? No offense Kar, but I think that's kind of a dumb favor because he can certainly take care of himself."
"I know, but I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen, and, well… I would just really appreciate it if you would just watch his back."
"Okay Kar, whatever you say," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Thanks Duo."
Then she turned and ran over to the 06. Duo watched as she jumped into her cockpit and then grabbed his cord and was pulled up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Kari, look out! There's a Taurus behind you!" Katra called to her.
She whirled around and thrust her now un-curved Beam Boomerang through the Taurus's middle.
"Thanks Katra," she sighed with relief.
They had been out fighting Virgos' and Taurus' for what seemed like hours now. Duo had tried to do Kari's favor, but he had given up within the first ten minutes because Heero was having absolutely no trouble at all. Duo did keep his eye on Kari though. For some reason, her reflexes weren't as quick as usual. Duo had gotten her out of trouble at least four times, and he was getting worried about her.
What really got him steamed though was that Heero wasn't even paying attention to Kari. One time when she was in trouble, a Virgo and two Taurus' had surrounded her. She had just taken a hard hit before that and was really out of it. Katra was busy and so were Trowa and Woofei. Heero had just destroyed a Virgo, but paid no attention to her. Duo had destroyed the Taurus in front of him a flown over to Kari. The Mobile Suits were just charging up their guns.
"NO WAY ARE YOU GOING NEAR HER!" he shouted as he sliced them all with his Beam Scythe.
That's when he noticed that Heero had noticed that Kari was in trouble, but had just stood there. Duo had given him flames about it, but he had stayed silent.
Now, Kari was getting back into what was happening, but still needed help from the others once in a while. Soon all of the Mobile Suits were gone, but there was still tension in the air.
"Let's head back," Heero said.
"No wait," Kari said as the hand of the Nereia went up, signaling for him to stop.
They all stopped and listened as the sound of a Mobile Suits thrusters could be heard.
"Over there!" Kari cried.
They all turned around to find the TallGeese standing in front of them. Duo lunged at him, but Zex easily dodged him.
"I'm not bothering with any of you today except those two," he said as he pointed at Heero and Kari.
"Stay back guys," Kari said.
"But Kari," Duo said.
"I said, stay back," she said through gritted teeth.
Duo shut up and stayed behind them with the others.
"If you'll notice kid, your Gundam hasn't exactly functioned to its full capacity in this battle," Zex said to Kari.
She stayed silent.
"Well that's because I've taken the liberty of changing some of the wires in you Mobile Suit. And if you'll look under your control panel, you'll see that I've planted some explosives there."
Kari gasped. She thrust her head under her control panel to be confronted by dynamite attached to it.
"Kari, was he bluffing?" Katra asked.
"NO!" she exclaimed.
"How much time do you have?" Duo asked.
"ABOUT FIFTEEN SECONDS!"
She slammed her fist on to the button to open her cockpit. She jumped out and into the air. The Nereia exploded behind her. She fell to the ground, hard. Before she could do anything, the TallGeese reached out its hand and grabbed her.
"PUT HER DOWN!" Katra screamed.
"Not on your life kid," he said.
Then, he sent a shock of electricity down the arm of his Mobile Suit and into the hand. Kari screamed as the electric shock streamed through her body.
"KARI!" Heero shouted.
This was the first time he had talked to her that day. He climbed out of his cockpit and glared at the TallGeese. It stopped the shock and Kari slumped over its hand, gasping for breath.
"Put, her, down," Heero growled.
"I will on one condition," he said.
"What's that?"
"Self detonate."
"No way Zex."
"Suit yourself."
Then he started the shock up again and Kari screamed.
"STOP IT!" he shouted.
Zex stopped and she slumped over again.
"Alright, I'll do it."
Kari opened her eyes to see a blurred vision of Heero with his self-detonator.
"Heero, don't do it," she called over to him weakly.
He looked down at her.
"Heero, I don't care what happens to me, just don't self detonate. You've got your whole life and I don't want to see you end it now."
"Kari," he said as tears began to brim on his eyes.
"Please don't, you mean everything to me Heero and I… AAAAHHHH!!"
Zex had sent another shock to her, and this time, he didn't stop.
"Kari no!" Heero yelled. "Stop it Zex!"
But he didn't. Heero squeezed his eyes shut.
"I love you Kari," he said as a tear fell down each cheek
Then he held up his self-detonator and opened his eyes, determination and tears filling them.
"Fate, excepted," he called out.
Then he pressed the red button. The outline of the 01 glowed, and then it exploded. Heero's body flew limply through the air, tears flying from his eyes. He landed on the ground and didn't move.
"HEERO!" Kari screamed. "NO!"
She slumped over the TallGeese's hand as tears fell willingly from her tortured looking gray eyes.
"No," she whispered again.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over all of them. They all looked up to find a Gundam much like the 01 flying toward them.
"Wing Zero!" Woofei exclaimed.
They all looked on as Wing Zero flew forward and sliced off the arm of the TallGeese that still gripped Kari. It fell to the ground and Kari pulled herself out.
"Heero!" she cried as she began to run toward him.
But she was still too weak. Halfway to him, she fell. Then the Wing Zero flew over to her and landed next to Heero. It reached down its hand and grabbed the limp form of Heero.
"No! Leave him alone!" Kari screamed.
The Zero ignored her. It then turned and took off.
"NO!" Kari screamed again as she pounded her fist into the ground. "No, no, no, no."
Duo swore as she slammed his fist into his control panel. The others just stood there, speechless.
"I did my job," Zex said.
Without another word, he grabbed the detached arm of his Mobile Suit and flew away. The Gundams didn't bother to stop him. Soon, they were all out of their Gundams. They all frowned as they stood behind a kneeling Kari. She was looking through the debris. She finally came upon something that made the tears come back to her eyes. It was Heero's necklace. She cradled it in her hands as she cried. Katra was about to go over to her, but Trowa put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"I yelled at him," she said suddenly.
"What?" Woofei said.
"Late night, what you head Duo, was not just us talking. Heero and I had been in my room since I had left the hallway and he had followed me. We had been arguing the whole time. When he said that I should just put it behind me, I got fed up. We yelled at each other for a couple more minutes and then he left. I felt awful the whole night about our fight, and I couldn't sleep. That's why I was up so early. Now I can't even apologize to him. It's all my fault too. I should have checked my Gundam before we left. Then this wouldn't have happened."
She stood up as she cried.
"I'm so sorry Heero, I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Trowa walked over to her.
"Kari," he said.
She turned around. He brought back his hand. Then he swung around and punched her hard in the cheek. She fell to the ground and looked up at him.
"Trowa, what are you doin'?!" Duo exclaimed.
"Kari," he said again.
He reached his hand down, she took it and he pulled her up.
"Thanks Trowa, I needed that," she said.
"Anytime," he answered.
"I'm sorry guys, I know that I was just blaming myself for something that I couldn't control, and was just feeling sorry for myself."
Then tears fell down her cheeks again as she looked up at them.
"But I still can't help missing him," she said.
"Aw Kar," Katra said.
He walked over and put his arms around her, and held her tight.
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` So, how was it? I know that it was really long, but I had to fit everything in that I said would be there. Chapter 5 will be out as soon as I can write it. So don't worry, this is only the beginning. Well, read and review! Sayonara!