Gundam 00 Innovation
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam 00 or its characters. However, my original characters belong solely to me.
A/N: Thanks to Strike Destiny again for reviewing! I just realized that I have left out handy-dandy Haro in my story!
Chapter 3: Invasion of France
"Lockon, we're coming to your location," Setsuna said after he dealt the finishing blow to the enemy mobile suit. He made sure Thalassa was fine and that she was following him. "Lockon?"
"A- ah!" Lockon exclaimed as a result of being taken by surprise. "R- roger… hahahaha…"
"Is something wrong?" the young pilot asked, concerned by his comrade's stammering.
"I- I'm fine, it's nothing," the sniper replied and attempted to regain his composure. "There was a mobile suit earlier, but it retreated at such a high speed that I couldn't shoot it down."
At such a high speed? Setsuna pondered what type of mobile suit could have escaped so quickly. Perhaps it was a different type of mobile suit? One of the type the European division had warned them about? The pilot soon saw the Zabanya in the distance. He then scanned the rubble of the city beneath. "So they attacked the heart of Paris… how horrible…"
"Yeah, who knows how many people died here," Lockon whispered. "All because of false information…" Suddenly, a shadow flew in the Zabanya's cockpit and Setsuna flinched. The Krugis pilot blinked hard and was afraid that he was starting to hallucinate out of fatigue. Lockon looked over at the forgotten Gundam. "Hey, Miss Thalassa, are you okay?" But he received no answer. "Miss Thalassa?" A small noise then emitted from his speakers. He leaned closer and heard sniffles. She's… crying?
"Thalassa, we are Gundam Meisters," Setsuna said sternly. "Our duty is to preserve the peace of the world. However, there are many people who try to destroy that peace. An example of that is what lies right before your eyes. You will see people die. You will see cities destroyed. But after all that, what will keep you going… is your desire to change the world." There was a long pause of silence as the sniffles stopped.
"Are you done crying now, Miss Thalassa?" Lockon teased. "Done crying? Done crying?" cried his infamous Haro.
"I- I wasn't crying!" she answered with a slightly hoarse voice. She lifted her head and enabled the others to see that she was okay. "I'm fine. Let's go." But before the three Gundams could even make their way to the sky, enemy mobile suits appeared on their radars.
"Enemy approaching, enemy approaching!" Haro alerted and Lockon checked their numbers. "There's quite a few of them this time around," he reported. "Damn, we fell into a trap." He turned to face the incoming enemies. "Hang on tight…" he whispered as he lowered his eyepiece. "Lockon Stratos, sniping the targets!" A long beam shot out and fortunately, hit one of the mobile suits square in the chest. The enemy, aware of the Gundam Meisters' potential, dispersed.
"I-It's that one," a tiny voice murmured into the sniper's ear.
"That's- " Setsuna breathed. "That's the one! Those new models the White Knights have!" In response, the Zabanya targeted it.
"I'll shoot it down! You go worry- wait, Thalassa!" Lockon cried after the female pilot but she was already approaching the enemy at high speed. "That girl…"
"DIEEEEE!!" Thalassa cried as she approached the leader of the White Knight forces. "You're gonna pay for all those innocent people you killed back there!" She shot with her pistol, but the beam simply bounced off the enemy's strong armor. "HYAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"
"Lockon, I'm going after her!" Setsuna yelled as he quickly followed her trail.
"What the hell?!" the Gospel pilot said as he felt the beam ricochet off of his mobile suit. He hadn't expected such a reckless move. "You're going to regret that!" He pulled out his long saber and sparks flew when his blade collided with the Gundam's pistol. However, it was before long that the pistol shattered. Shocked, Thalassa suddenly retreated and fumbled with her controls, not completely adept under pressure. She saw that the enemy was approaching and she panicked. Everything froze and for a second, she thought that this was the end.
A horrible crunch caused her to snap out of her trance. There was Qan(T) in front of her slammed into the torso part of the enemy mobile suit. She shook violently, and didn't know whether to be absolutely terrified or relieved. She tried to calm herself down and think rationally, like she always did during the simulation runs. But these battles… they were different… they were the real thing.
"Brother Donum," one of the White Knight pilots called to their leader. "What are your orders?"
"Surround the sniper!" Donum cried. "We'll wipe out the city later!" Immediately after his order, mobile suits chased after Zabanya.
"Damn!" Lockon hissed as he tried to avoid beams. He switched to his shorter range equipment. "Take this!" He dealt several blows to the incoming suits, but their numbers and skill were too much to handle. "Gah!"
"Lockon!" Thalassa yelled. She immediately descended to his aide. Meanwhile, Qan(T) shoved the Gospel away from him and pulled out his sword. Setsuna charged and slashed with his sword, only to collide with that of the enemy.
Man, this guy is pretty good… Donum thought. He broke free from Qan(T) and to Setsuna's surprise, unleashed another blade.
I see… he's wields twin blades… Setsuna calculated. He left some space between them to anticipate his next move.
"God Mode."
In a burst of bright light, the enemy mobile suit disappeared. Setsuna glanced side to side, but couldn't find his opponent at all. Where did he go? He turned, expecting an ambush, but none came. There was absolute silence. Nothing was happening, but Setsuna didn't dare relax his grip. He's here somewhere… I know it! Then, he heard a small sound, a thin screeching noise. And before he knew it, something collapsed on him… hard.
"Trans-Am!"
The Zabanya glowed daring red and shot across the sky like a comet. The White Knights, unaware that the Gundam Meisters had such abilities, were retreated in awe. But they made the wrong choice. The Siren approached them and fired, sealing off their escape route. From behind, Lockon aimed at each with precision and speed. After a fury of beams and smoke, the enemy entourage was eliminated.
"Good job, Thalassa," Lockon sighed. "Good job, good job!" Haro repeated. Although he was relieved that his part of the battle was over, he was a little disturbed. I was pretty sure my time limit for Trans-Am wasn't up… Yet here he was now, in his regular state. The sniper looked up and above where his fellow comrade was fighting. But now, there was just a large screen of smoke. Lockon bit his lip. "Setsuna!"
A mobile suit suddenly intervened and ascended to where Qan(T) was supposed to be. The suffocating weight suddenly lifted and Setsuna opened his eyes. He found both his helmet and screen cracked, and he felt warm liquid run down his forehead. From his blurry vision, he made out a European Division mobile suit attacking his opponent. But it wasn't before long that it was eliminated by an explosion. However, several more European suits followed. A message came in for Setsuna.
"Please retreat, Celestial Being," one of the mobile suits' pilots said. "This is Lieutenant Borche from the European Division of the Peacekeepers. We're sorry we arrived so late. We were ambushed by some White Knights around the far outskirts of France. But since we are here now, please use this time to escape and recover." Although Setsuna was well aware that he was wounded and that his Gundam was quite damaged, he remained stubborn. He repositioned himself, but winced when he felt a sharp pain in his side. His vision was still fuzzy and his head throbbed.
What was that attack…? He wondered, but an answer to his question played out before him. Suddenly, one of the Peacekeepers was taken hostage by the enemy mobile suit. Utilizing its sword that had split into two prongs, it clasped the Peacekeeper tightly and slowly began to compress it. Is that… what happened to me? Suddenly, he understood and planned for action.
"Trans-Am!"
Setsuna closed his eyes, waiting for that sudden surge of energy, that dangerous red glow that would overcome his mobile suit, that miracle which would…
But nothing happened.
"Trans-Am!" Setsuna shouted again. Again, nothing happened. He gritted his teeth when he saw the Peacekeeper crushed between the Gospel's prongs. Why isn't Trans-Am working…? What's wrong? He watched helplessly as another mobile suit fell to the Gospel.
"Please leave," the lieutenant spoke to Setsuna again. "Please, it is our duty to preserve the peace of the world. We will do anything to achieve that peace."
"Celestial Being, retreat!" the tactical forecaster's voice projected from the speakers.
"Sumeragi Lee Noriega…" Setsuna said quietly, wanting to disobey her.
"Setsuna, Qan(T) is badly damaged… you can't take on that mobile suit in your current state," Sumeragi replied strictly. "Setsuna, I hate to tell you this… but please retreat." He knew he had no choice. With great hesitation, Setsuna turned his back to his allies, and returned to his mothership.
"I'm sorry," Sumeragi apologized. "But something has happened. I'll tell you all later in the meeting."
There was a good amount of whispering and chattering among the crew when Setsuna entered the meeting room onboard the Ptolemaios. Mileina grabbed his sleeve and tugged.
"Setsuna, have you seen Lockon?" she asked, eyes full of worry.
"Not since we docked, why?" he answered, actually curious now about his comrade's absence. Her pink-haired approached the pilot.
"According to rumors, he brought a civilian girl onboard," she said rather bitterly.
"What?! A civilian?" Setsuna exclaimed. He paused for a second and tried to judge the plausibility of this rumor. He couldn't deny that Lockon would never do such a thing, but to risk his identity and mission to take in a girl didn't sound likely either. "I won't believe it until I see it for myself."
The room suddenly settled when the sniper made his way in. It was evident that Lockon was aware of the many eyes that were placed on him, but he chose to ignore all of them. Everyone was curious, but no one dared to ask. And yet he had a complacent grin on his face, as if there was nothing wrong at all. He rested himself next to Setsuna and whispered in his ear.
"You should come with me to the brig later. She's a pretty one."
Shocked, Setsuna stared at him with wide eyes. His mouth opened to speak, but he was interrupted by the sliding of the door. In came Sumeragi with a deep frown.
"In the middle of our fight against the White Knights," she began, but her voice lacked confidence as it went on, "our connection with Veda was suddenly weakened. That is the main reason why I called our retreat." Murmurs of disbelief filled the room. "I can't seem to find the cause and even worse… I can't contact Tieria…" A gasp came from Mileina.
"B- but, what does that mean?" she asked in a worried tone.
"All we can do now is remain calm and try to use what we have," Sumeragi explained. "We can still launch and operate the Gundams like normal, but we cannot use highly-Veda associated abilities such as Trans-Am at the moment." She glanced at Setsuna and he suddenly understood what had happened. "We'll be on a break for now and we'll retreat to space for safety. Meanwhile, I will depend on you, Ian, to help us find a way around Veda. And I will try my best to contact Tieria." Her fists clenched tightly and it was obvious that she was only trying to be strong for the crew. "So I hope everyone will take this time to get a good rest and prepare for what is to come."
And thus, the shocking meeting finally concluded.
A/N: So I'm trying to make this a bit more interesting by adding twists, but I also decided to give the crew a small break since I realized that because I've been incorporating so many fighting scenes, I often forget about developing the characters! So look forward to the next chapter and please review! It would make me so happy!!