Chapter 4- Card Slash!

I woke up all stiff, my body simply refused to move, and it was in the afternoon already.

"Wh-what…happened last night?"

I Got my bag and took my G-terminal out.

"Exia?"

"Yes Miss Kaname? You certainly look better now".

"What… happened to us last night?"

"Ah yes… after the battle with that green machine, the police escorted you all home, and if I remember correctly, you collapsed on your bed exhausted".

"I-I see… so it wasn't a dream…"

'Are you okay Miss Kaname?"

"Y-yeah… sorry… I was just thinking about Takamachi…"

"Ah the partner of Gundam?"

"Y-yeah… I don't get why she has to be so cold… and for my own sake? What does that mean Exia?"

"I-I really wish I could answer you…im sorry"

"ahahaha… its fine… thanks anyway…"

I then put the G-terminal down dressed up casually and went down to eat.

"Madoka?"

"Mom?"

"Come here we need to talk"

"Uh-oh…" I gulped.

We sat down in the kitchen and boy did mom and dad not look happy.

"Madoka… why did the police escort you home last night?" Dad said.

"Uhm well… Sayaka was kidnapped by some goon… and well… I uhm… tried to save her but…"

"Tried to save her? Madoka, do you have any idea what would have happened to you if that goon tried to hurt you?" Mom said angrily.

"…"

"And Princess Biscotti was with you too? Imagine what would happen if the both of you got hurt or killed!"

I couldn't talk and was on the verge of crying.

"But…. We do commend you for trying to save Sayaka…"

"Wh-what?"

"Risking your life to save Sayaka… that's my girl" said Mom now with a smile.

"I never thought you'd try to save Sayaka though… you've got more bite than you look Madoka… im so proud of you."

My tears and sadness turned into happiness and laughter as I hugged my parents.

"Oh yeah… Princess Biscotti was looking for you, saying that you should come over to her house."

"Milhi? Really?"

"Yes, here's a letter" dad said handing me a letter.

The letter read:

"Hello Miss Kaname, I had fun singing and having that wonderful Gundam Battle last night! If I may I would like to spend more time with you and your friends! Please let us stay in my house and have some fun!

Sincerely yours

Millhiore Franno Biscotti".

"W-wow… the Princess inviting me…?"

"Go on Madoka. Go meet the Princess it'll be fun!" Dad said.

I hugged my parents and got dressed up.

"Your parent's really love you don't they Miss Kaname?"

"You heard?"

"Indeed, heard your happy laughter."

I felt embarrassed yet happy.

I finally finished dressing up, went down, kissed mom and dad goodbye and went off.

Sayaka sent me a text message saying that we should meet up in the same Karaoke Bar. And we did. Homura was with us too.

We waited for a bit. Then a limousine came and there was Milhi waving at us. We got in her and made our way to Milhi's house.

"Kyaaah! So this is a limousine huh?" said Sayaka all happy.

"Ahahaha… is this your first time to be riding in one Miss Miki?"

"Yeah! Its amazing!"

Milhi laughed.

"U-Umm… Princess?"

"Yes Miss Homura?"

"Y-y-you look so cute outside of our school uniform…." Homura blushed.

"Oh why, thank you!" Milhi said as she pat Homura on the head making Homura smile.

I stayed quiet and simply enjoyed the moment.

After a while we finally got to Milhi's house… and it was big… absolutely big.

"Well here we are girls! Lets have so fun!"

We were greeted by an army of Maids, and have some fun we did. Milhi showed us around her house, the poolside, the dining room, the library, the study room, all were so big we couldn't say anything.

Meanwhile Victory and Exia were talking.

"Its been a long time huh Exia?"

"Yes, it has… im surprised you made it to the Human World with no problems at all."

"Yeah, im pretty shocked too… hehe. I thought I'd never make it here"

"If I may… how did you meet this… uhhh Princess?"

"Man, you're so uptight Exia! Chill a little bro!"

"Ch-chill?"

"Hehehe its Human-speak for take it easy! Learned it while I was looking for a chosen child!"

"I-I see…"

"Ohh right, how I met Milhi right? Well apparently the kids I found before thought of me as a simple plaything, I tried talking to them but they just played with me till they got bored and well… threw me away."

"…"

"Hey hey don't be sad, it not over yet! True enough I was thrown away… but it's a good thing I was on top of these ummm… garbage cans? I was sad to be honest, then Milhi saw me and said: "Isn't this a Gundam Terminal?", then picked me up…. But then we were attacked… by Byalant."

"Byalant… isn't he one of the Titans?"

"Yep, that Byalant alright, to think I respected him once, but he just tried to hurt Milhi, I got mad and well came out of my terminal, Milhi looked shocked but I told her to command me what to do… and sad to say she isn't good at all."

"Really? What about the last time?"

"She must be acting strong… she said so herself, since she is a princess she's gotta do that as to not look bad in front of her subordinates and country."

"I see… so what happened to that fight with you and Byalant?"

"Well… we somehow won… he left with saying: "We won't let you return to the Gundam World with the Chosen Children". And well I talked to Milhi and from that day on I vowed to protect her and she vowed to help us and get stronger while she's at it."

"True enough it seems like she has potential."

"Yep, we've been practicing ever since, im sure she's gotten the hang of these Games now."

"Indeed that is good, but we still have to find the others."

"Yep, true there man…"

And after awhile….

"Well we certainly worked up a sweat there huh? Shall we go swimming?

"Swimming? What that huge pool! Yeah! Lets go!"

"B-but… we don't have bathing suits…."

Milhi giggled, "Im prepared, don't worry!". Then she lead us to a dressing room with all sorts of swimsuits… and boy it was hard to choose… but after a bit we were able to pick the sizes for us.

"Wow Milhi! This is amazing!" Sayaka said showing off her nice body and perfect fitting swimsuit.

"Wonderful miss Miki! It suits you very well!"

"Wh-what about me Princess…?" Homura said shyly showing off a pretty good body with swimsuit as well.

"Oh my! Very cute!"

Homura blushed.

I stepped out pretty late. And well… sad to say no one commented on me.

"Madoka! Come on in!"

I jumped in and splashed on everyone. It was great; we swam and played all day.

"Haah! That was great!" Sayaka said crashing down on a sofa.

"Indeed! That was so much fun!" said Milhi with a huge smile.

Homura and I just giggled.

"So what next?" said Sayaka.

"Hmm… checking the time, its already 8 o clock…" how about we have an early dinner?" said Milhi.

"Yeah! That sounds great said Sayaka gleefully".

We went to Milhi's room to wait for our dinner… and wow it was amazing… her bed was huge, she had 2 sofa's in her room, a big study desk, bookshelves… everything a princess could ask for.

"W-wow… living the life of a princess must be great…" said Homura timidly.

"Hahaha… sad to say it isn't so Miss Akemi… attending meetings… having to do so much paperwork… all afterschool too… I barely have anytime for myself…"

"I-im sorry…"

"Ahahaha its fine! You girls gave me the best day ever today!"

I stayed silent a looked at the books Milhi had… all were about politics, and ruling… she really had it rough.

Just then a powerful wind blew inside Milhi's room. We were blinded for a second... then we saw a Blue Machine… it had one eye and a Long Iron sword, and it was holding Sayaka and Homura, who were unconscious.

"Sayaka! Homura!" I yelled.

"Come and get me." The one eyed machine said as it jumped off the window sill, we went to look, and it headed to the nearby forest.

"Milhi! We have to go after that thing!"

"Yes we have to! Kidnapping our friends is just unforgivable!"

We ran downstairs out the door and outside Milhi's house to the forest path, strangely it wasn't dark at all… it was well lit, and at the end of the trail we saw the one eyed blue machine waiting for us.

"Hehehe so you came… but only 2 chosen children? What happened to your other friend?"

"He must be referring to Nanoha…" I thought.

Then Milhi stepped up.

"You unforgivable heathen! Kidnapping our friends! I will not tolerate this! I will punish you in the name of the Biscotti Empire!"

"Whoa whoa… take it easy there… firstly this wasn't my idea… im just a mercenary, im paid to do this, don't take it personally okay?"

"Very well then". Milhi said releasing Victory out of his Terminal. "I will handle this Miss Kaname."

"Milhi…"

"You may be a mercenary, but I will not tolerate the fact that you kidnapped my friends! Prepare yourself!"

"GUNDAM BATTLE INITIATED. BATTLEGROUND FOREST ARENA. GUNDAM BATTLE SET UP….READY… FIGHT!"

"Lets see what you've got then chosen child." The one eyed-blue machine said shooting up a chaff grenade in the air.

We were blinded, then the blue machine had an electric rod wrapped around Victory, and without any warning it sent a powerful electric shock and shocked Victory.

Victory cried out in pain, and the damage to Milhi's armor was big.

"Victory! Grab the rod that's shocking you and slam him on the ground!"

Victory did as he was told. The blue machine was shocked that the Gundam could still move after being electrocuted and held on to his electric rod… but was prepared, just as he was about to hit the ground he cut off his rod and kicked Victory in the face.

"What? no way!"

"Nice try, but im no ordinary mercenary."

"Victory are you okay?"

"Yeah I can still go on! Come on lets do this!"

"Alright! Beam shots now!"

"Victory drew his beam rifle and fired some shots, which were deflected by the blue machine's shield."

Milhi looked at her G-terminal. "I see… so physical shields like that have a limit, but shield's like Victory use up energy!" Milhi thought, "Okay keep the pressure up!"

Victory kept on shooting, and eventually the blue machine's shield broke.

"Yeah! That's the way!"

"No way! My shield!"

"Now Victory! Saber Slash!"

Victory lunged for the blue machine, but he was faster than Milhi thought, and countered victory by parrying his saber and punching him in his chest, sending him flying.

"Ah no way!"

"Listen Princess, when it comes to close combat, im second to none, just give it up."

"Close combat… I've never practiced close range battling…!"

Then in a rapid movement the blue machine dashed with immense speed and hit victory with his shoulder, then hitting him with a chop on the head.

"Victory! No!"

it looked like it was over… Milhi's Armor Points were drastically low, and she barely did and damage to the blue machine.

"I-is this it…?" Milhi said kneeling down, as if admitting defeat.

"Tell you what, ill make this quick and painless, just command him to kneel over so I can cut his head off."

"Princess! I believe in you! We can still do this!" Victory yelled out.

Then a bright light shone in Milhi's terminal…. Then as if a miracle happened, in Milhi's hand were Cards…. Gundam Modify Cards, and now her G-Terminal could use them.

"Milhi…! Those are…!"

"Yes! Yes they are! Cards!"

"Hey hey what is this? Cards? So what?" said the blue machine.

"They aren't just any ordinary cards! Victory knock him back!"

in an instant Victory punched the blue machine with tremendous force causing it to fly back and causing damage.

"Are you ready Victory?"

"Ready!"

Milhi drew a card and slid it into the G-Terminal saying: "Card Slash! Dual Beam Gatling Gun Plug-in EW!"

Then in Victory's hands two huge Gatling Guns formed.

"Fire away!"

Victory did so, and his aim was dead on. Every bullet scored a direct hit, but the damage wasn't so bad.

"Not enough huh? Okay then one more time!" Milhi drew another card, and slid it in the terminal, "Card Slash! Missile Pod Plug-in EW!"

then on victory's lower legs and shoulders had Missile Pods.

"Do it! Full burst!"

Victory then unleashed all his Missiles and Gatling rounds, not giving the blue machine enough time to react causing each shot to deal critical damage and reducing his armor points to zero.

"AND ITS GLORY TO THE WINNER! VICTORY GUNDAM WINS!"

"Princess…!"

"We…We won!" Milhi said running over to Victory giving him a hug.

The blue machine then rose up again all scarred and damaged.

"Heh… looks like I lost… not bad Chosen Child…"

"Are you okay?"

"Im cool… once a mercenary has failed his job its over."

"What do you mean-"

with that two more machines arrived on the scene… one was a one-eyed purple machine armed with a giant bazooka, and the other was another one eyed machine with a shield and beam rapier.

"Looks like you lost Mr. Mercenary…. And you know what that means."

"Yeah… im prepared for it…"

"Come, it is time."

"No! Where are you taking him?"

"The Chosen Children huh? Very well then, we will dispose of you ourselves." The one eyed machine with his rapier stabbed the blue machine causing his damage to heal, but it somehow made him change… his voice was no more and he looked more vicious than ever, and all he could do was growl.

"What…. what did you do?"

"This is the fate of all Mercenaries in the Gundam World… they fail… and one stab of my Rapier turns them into mindless beasts."

"Heh, shall we get this battle on?" said the one eyed purple machine.

"Gh…! Can you still fight Victory?"

"Yeah! Im still raring to go!"

"Exia! Lets help!"

"Alright!"

"Hmph, 2 on 3? Okay then—"

Then suddenly a we heard a familiar voice again.

"2 on 3 huh? Count me in."

We looked back and it was Takamachi again.

"Takamachi!"

"Sorry to intrude in your property Princess, but these guys had a very strong signal. I had to see where it was coming from and who was causing it".

"Th-that's okay…"

"3 Chosen Children huh? This is gonna be fun…"

"GUNDAM BATTLE STANDBY. FULL 3 ON 3 BATTLE! BATTLEGROUND FOREST ARENA. GUNDAM BATTLE SET UP… READY… GO!"

Without warning , what was once the blue machine dashed with amazing speed and with a very powerful tackle it send Exia, Victory and Gundam all flying in separate directions.

"What?"

"No way!"

"Kh…!"

"Do you girls like it? much more powerful now isn't he?"

"Gh…! How could you…!" said Milhi fuming with anger.

The blue machine then made for Victory trying to stab him with his rapier, but Exia parried it.

"Im your opponent!" Exia said

"Miss Kaname…"

"Milhi we'll handle this! Close range is our specialty!"

Exia then parried the blow and struck back with his GN Sword.

"What power!" said the machine desperately trying to counter.

The purple machine then shot bazooka rounds at Gundam while Gundam was dodging attacks from the wild blue machine.

"This other is strong mistress… its hard to keep up with him!"

"Don't worry Gundam… after that last hit, im not gonna let them hit you again! Aim your beam rifle and fire at his Bazooka! Then once that wild machine charges at you, turn his own strength against him and kick him toward that bazooka guy!"

Gundam did as he was told, he missed his shot, but it made the purple machine falter, and the blue machine charged again with high speed, Gundam made a backflip and kicked the wild machine with full force causing him to smash into the purple machine dealing critical damage.

"Guh! Get off me you oaf!"

The wild machine went wild and started attacking the purple machine mercilessly causing his armor points to be reduced to nothing.

"What? Its going wild? This is bad!" the other one-eyed rapier wielding machine then made for his fallen comrade and said: "Hmph he's gone out of control, looks like you 3 will have to deal with him! Goodbye!" it said as he exited the arena with his friend.

"PLAYERS HAVE EXITED, NOW CHANGING TO 3 ON 1 BATTLE "

"What… whats with him? He's going berserk!" said Victory.

"I-I don't know…" said Exia.

"It looks like he lost all ability to think! We have no choice but to destroy him!"

"Destroy him? But…"

"…It's the only thing to do." Milhi said looking sad

"Milhi?"

"Now you get it. " said Nanoha coldly and smugly, "We have to attack together, you can use Card Slash now right Princess?"

"Y-yes…"

"Then lets combine our strength! Kaname, you cant do anything yet so, do what you can!"

That remark made me feel really bad.

Nanoha and Milhi drew cards and slashed them into the terminals

"Card Slash! Full Burst Plug-in EW!" said Milhi

"Card Slash! Mega Rider Plug-in S!" said Nanoha

"Exia! Draw your GN Sword and get ready!"

Exia drew his GN Sword and prepared to strike.

The wild blue machine charged at us again.

"Go Gundam! Mega Rider Raid!"

"Victory! Full Auto burst!"

The Gundam on his Mega Rider fired powerful beams, hitting the wild machine and tearing him up with each shot, as the bullets and missiles that were launched at him, but it still kept on going.

"Exia finish it off!"

Exia drew his GN Sword and cut the wild machine in half causing him to explode.

"PLAYER TERMINATED! VICTORY GOES THE THE TEAM OF 3!"

The battle was over… but I felt sad… why did they do that to their comrade? Or a mercenary? Why did they have to turn him into a mindless beast?

"Rest in peace… Mercenary…" Milhi said holding her hands in a prayer-like position while kneeling down with her eyes closed.

Nanoha kept silent and just bowed her head down.

I just tried to keep my tears in… it was too much to bear.

Then we saw Sayaka and Homura regaining consciousness.

"Miss Miki! Miss Akemi!" Milhi said running over to them.

"Milhi…? What happened?" Sayaka said clutching her head.

"Oh ummm… we were playing here and well… you two played so much that you lost consciousness! Ehehehehe…." Milhi lied.

"R-really? Whoa… what happened here? Its looks like a battlefield…. Or something…"

"Oh it's really been like this…"

"Princess…."

"Are okay? Lets go inside and have some dinner okay?"

"Sure! Im star- WHAAAAAAT?" Sayaka shouted while pointing her hand at Nanoha, "What is SHE doing here huh?"

"I'll be taking my leave now. It seems that im not wanted." She said as she was walking away.

"Miss Miki! Umm… Miss Takamachi? Please stay for dinner! We had a great game with you! Please!"

"But Princess…!"

"Y-yeah! Please! You helped us with our game after all!" I said trying to convince Nanoha.

Nanoha then faced us with a beautiful smile and said: "very well then… thank you".

Milhi and I were stunned to see her once poker-face/battle-face turned beautiful smile….

Nanoha walked up to us and said: "Some of us haven't met yet am I correct? My name is Takamachi Nanoha… it's very nice to meet you all".

We walked inside and had a wonderful dinner… and as for Nanoha… well we seemed to enjoy her company… well least Milhi and Homura did… Sayaka was still giving her the evil eye while I was too intimidated to even share a friendly conversation with her, let along talk to her…

We ended around 11 o'clock, and Milhi brought us each home, but Nanoha and I were the last ones to leave… while in Milhi's limousine…

"I truly thank you for being hospitable to me Princess… but this does not make us friends. I will defeat the both of you." Nanoha said coldly.

"Please Miss Takamachi… please don't act so cold… if you want to tell us something please do..!"

"Alright then you want me to say something? I will save the Gundam World and… Ugh, nevermind, thank you for the ride" Nanoha said stepping out.

"Save the Gundam World and…? Who do you think she was referring to Miss Kaname?"

"I-I wish I knew…"

We both sighed, and giggled after our sigh.

"It looks like this is your stop, thank you again for coming over Miss Kaname."

"No thank you Princess! I had a great day!"

Milhi waved goodbye as her limo drove away, I entered my house with Tatsuya greeting me by tackling me and knocking me over.

"Tatsuya!"

"Madoka, Madoka!" he said hugging me, I couldn't help but giggle and hug him back.

"Looks like you had a great day Madoka" Mom said.

"Had fun with Sayaka and the Princess?"

"Yep! I did!"

"Well it's late already, don't stay up too late okay?"

I then went to my room and changed into my sleeping clothes, and crashed on my bed falling asleep.

Meanwhile Nanoha was in her room talking to Gundam.

"It looks like you enjoyed yourself today Mistress…."

"Silence… those girls will never replace her…"

"Mistress…"

"Don't feel sorry for me, im the one to blame for this anyway."

"But…"

"Im sorry… its just… we have no leads on where your friends are… and without them we wont be able to go to the Gundam World…"

"True… but I think we still have time to find the others… its only been 2 weeks since…"

"But your world and… "Her"…"

"I wish I knew what to say in situations like these… im sorry."

"Nevermind… lets just find the rest of the Chosen Children so that we can go to your World already…" Nanoha said falling asleep.