Parallel Works: Family


Family Day...

A day when families celebrate how much they love each other.

Brother thanks sister, son thanks mother, daughter thanks father, children thank adoptive and supporting parents, comrades appreciate those that they love as brothers.

Angel Groove has had some hard times ever since our founding. Termites...Rachni...Tripods...Giant Singing Diamonds...Dragons...Robot Hands that wear trench coats...and other messed up shit.

But Angel Groove remains dedicated to the growing family that is it's population and would like for all of you to have a safe and fun holiday.

And Now...a Word from the Officers of the Angel Groove Defense Force


Lieutenant Christina Wiseman

"Growing up, I had pretty loving parents." Chris' voice narrated as a slideshow of pictures showed a smiling Chris with her parents throughout her life, "I was an only child, so it was lonely sometimes...at least until my little brother moved in next door."

"Alfred was a great kid," Chris related while a clip showed a young, wide-eyed boy who ran out and excitedly pointed out a parked gundam while Chris and her future husband followed along, "Energetic, smart, kind, and sensitive...he even helped me out with some problems that I had. With a kid brother like him, a job as a Federation test pilot, and cool guy like Berney as a boyfriend and likely husband...I didn't think that anything could go wrong."

"Right up to the day Alfred was shot by a sniper." As the interior of the colony burned, Chris held the body of the slain boy as she cried over his peaceful smiling face, "Then Solomon's fleet thermally radiated the entire colony, killing virtually every single person on Side 6 except for the handful of people who could take refuge."

"In response, I betrayed the Federation and signed on with Zeon and the rest is history." A single photo showed Chris in a Zeon uniform salute a passing Char Aznable in front of her de-powered gundam.

"So remember...look after your little ones." Chris herself said while playing kickball with a group of kids, one of whom was being carried on her back and waved at the camera, "They'll help you just as much as you can help them! Happy Family's Day!"


Commander Shiro Amada

"To be honest, I never spent a lot of time with my family..." Shiro's voice narrated while the camera showed him in a space suit walking on the outside of a colony, "I was always out studying or exploring the asteroids around Side 2. I always dreamed about what life would be like on earth...hell, I always said to myself that I'd go to earth one day and leave the artificial life of a colony behind."

"And my wish was granted," The scene shifted to Shiro amidst a crowd of suffering people as they reached out to Shiro while the flesh rotted from their bones, "Thanks to a random Zaku that burst through the ground and fired a highly corrosive nerve gas that killed everyone on the colony and left me alone in a space suit to watch everyone that I've ever known and loved died."

"So I dedicated my life to destroying Zeon to avenge my home colony and became the commander of the 8th MS team!" The next scene showed Shiro's Ez8 cut a light blue Gouf in half and punch in the chest of a large Zeon Mobile Armor.

"Now life has gotten better since then, I married one of the hottest women in the cosmos, and became the father of ten..." Shiro said while the camera panned over a AC 95 family photo of Shiro, Aina, and a collection of children ranging from ages fifteen to four, "I mean...nine...beautiful children. But if there's anything that I'd try to do differently, it would be two things. One, not losing my leg...and two, spending more time with my family and letting them know how much I cared about them..."

"So Happy Family Day everyone and keep your families close!" Shiro himself shouted while sitting inside the cockpit of the Ez8, "Or you might...you know...lose them..."

"Like you lost twenty bucks the other night?"

"Michael!"


Lieutenant Aina Sahalen Amada

"Hi everyone," Aina started, sitting in a chair looking over a family album, "Family Day is a beautiful time to remember our families and how their love shaped our lives and made us into the people we are today."

"My parents died when I young...so I was raised by my brother, Ginieas." Aina explained as the camera shifted to her as a child playing with a new dress while her older brother stood nearby talking with a man in a Zeon uniform, "And how I loved him...we did everything together...adventures...parties...experiments...building mobile armors designed to destroy the Federation's fortified Headquarters. But we did it together and it was fun..."

"Until he shot me." The camera shifted to Aina being shot by her brother, leaving her to fall out of the open hatch of his mobile armor and fall out to the barren ground below, "Sure...he was badshit insane...sure...he was as rabid as Old Yeller right before he had to be put down...but he was still my brother. If there was anything that I regretted as the fist of my future husband's gundam slammed into his cockpit and mashed him into a mesh of blood, crushed organs and brittled down bone...it would be this."

"I never told him, that I loved him." Aina sadly said as she closed the photo album, "That and kicking his ass for shooting me and getting our whole team killed by breaking a ceasefire...but mainly that I loved him."

"So remember my story friends, and tell your brothers and sisters that you love them." Aina smiled as she placed the photo album on the table and watched two younger children who looked like her daughter run by playing Cops and Robbers, "Don't shoot them either...at least with a real gun...it'll leave them with nightmares assuming they survive. Happy Family Day!"


Lieutenant Kou Uraki

"Hey everyone!" Kou enthusiastically greeted as he seemingly jogged in place with a star covered backdrop behind him, "Well...I'm not really much for holidays, but I can share with a few things about the people in my life and how they impacted me." Kou stopped when a shooting star flew over him and he turned to look at it and smile.

"While I served on the Albion, my commanding officer was South Burning." Kou said while walking in front of life-size replica of the Albion, "He was a great man, but sometimes his gruff attitude rubbed against me...being the naive pilot that I was...but we managed to mend that friction and looking back, he was like a father to me..."

"Then he exploded," Kou shrugged his shoulders as a smaller clip showed South Burning in his final moments just before his GM was rocketed through space and exploded from a fuel problem, "And I was thrust into the position of leading the counter-defense against Zeon's Delaz Fleet with the loving support of my girlfriend, Nina Purpleton."

"Isn't she pretty?" Kou asked while showing a picture of Nina while typing away on a computer, "I thought so too and thought that I would have her in my life for as long as I lived, that she'd always be behind me, cheering me on as I fought to protect earth from Zeon..."

"That is...until she pointed a gun in my face and shot at me." The next image showed Nina just after she apparently shot at Kou while a wounded Zeon Ace fled behind her, "Turns out that my mortal enemy, Anabel Gato, was in fact her ex-boyfriend. So she left me and went with him, preventing me from stopping his plan to drop a colony on Earth...which of course succeeded." The camera shifted to a colony that penetrated the Earth's atmosphere and crashed in the mid-west of North America...specifically Kansas and Nebraska.

"So what I'm trying to say is..." Kou shook his head while trying badly to hide his visible discomfort, "Stay true to your family, betrayal only leaves you lonely. Happy Family's Day!"


Engineer Corps Commander Judau Ashta

"Sup folks!" Judau greeted after poking his head out of the track motor of a Guntank, "Judau here to wish you all a happy Family's Day!"

"Now mind you, I didn't really have what you'd call a traditional family..." Judau related while wiping off his face, "Mom was killed during a colony drop in 79 and dad left town without ever mentioning when he'd back...and he hasn't come back yet-"


"Stop! Stop the clip!" Mokuba protested with an expression of overwhelmed shock, "Your videos are all way too depressing!"

"Your brother told us to tell the truth, so we did." Kou replied, "Sorry if it's not sugar-coated for you."

"The videos are supposed to inspire people to enjoy Family Day! Not make them feel guilty about someone whose family life sucks! Who screen tested these videos?"

"Other members of the force."

"Figures..."

"It's the truth alright?" Aina said slightly offended, "Sorry that my brother actually did try to kill me after getting all our comrades killed and taking away my husband's leg when we sent him straight to hell!"

"Calm down Aina..." Shiro comforted his wife and then addressed the other officers, "Mokuba does have a point, we could be a bit less heavy handed with the general public."

"You mean how they're heavy-handed with me for no reason, Shiro?"

"Not now Kou!"

"We're not trying to make people feel bad..." Chris apologetically explained, "We just think that telling our stories would be a way for families to be more forward with how much they love each other instead of taking each other for granted..."

"You showed a little boy get shot through the chest and bled out on the floor-"

"That image is burnt into my memories already, no need for a play-by-play."

"And there's no need for you each of you to pattern your videos after a scene from Grave of the Fireflies!"

"You didn't even let me finish mine."

"I don't need to!" Mokuba shouted at an offended Judau, "Let me guess...you lost your first girlfriend before you found the second one and your grief threw you into a vegetative coma while Zeon farted nuclear charged meteors out of their asses? Or maybe your girlfriend was a manipulative bitch who just wanted to drive you to your death, but really grew to love you and apologized from the grave after your mortal enemy blew up the shuttle that she was on? Hang on! Did you kill her yourself after you accidently hypnotized her into going on a blind killing spree that murdered millions of people gathered in an arena?"

"No..." Judau answered, "If you'd let me finish, then you'll see!"

"Fine! Roll the clip, Kiyal!"


Engineer Corps Commander Judau Ashta...again

"Sup folks!" Judau greeted after poking his head out of the track motor of a Guntank, "Judau here to wish you all a happy Family's Day!"

"Now mind you, I didn't really have what you'd call a traditional family..." Judau related while wiping off his face, "Mom was killed during a colony drop in 79 and dad left town without ever mentioning when he'd back...and he hasn't come back yet. Honestly, I don't really care if he does at this point."

"Sure, people will come and go in your life all the time." Judau explained as a truck passed by carrying waving co-workers, "It's like with a tree...leaves come and go at the first sign of trouble, branches will stay close...but once they fall...they won't come back...the trunk and your roots are the strongest and most resilient part of the tree. That's something that will stay until the tree hollows out and dies."

"That's what family is, people who are with you no matter what." Judau went on, taking out a photo that showed his little sister, "I wasn't the perfect big brother to my sister, but I always did what I could to support her through her education and made sure to let her know how much I care. If you're watching this Leina...I want you to know that big brother's always going to be there for you."

"So if a slacker like me can be there for his sister..." Judau briefly laughed before he sternly looked at the camera, "What's your excuse? Be there for those who need you...or don't. Simple as that. Those who are already doing that...what are you listening to me for? You've already got this down! Happy Family's Day everyone!"


"Oh..." Mokuba blurted out, "That was actually...pretty positive..."

"I was honest and truthful...used my story to convey a message." Judau shrugged while he explained, "The difference between mine and everyone else's is that my story isn't nearly as heavy as these guys...sorry if I-"

"You were honest, that's what's important." Shiro agreed, "So how about it Mokuba?"

"Hell no!"

"K."

"Seto?" Mokuba asked, stunned that his brother was agreeing someone other than him, "But they're not really family friendly or inspiring-"

"What about our story?" Seto asked, "I even made a tape."

"This is gonna be rich..."


Kaiba Corp President and Angel Groove Owner/Designer/Mayor for Life...

Seto Yanzaki Kaiba

"Ah my little brother Mokuba..." Seto's voice narrated as various clips of Mokuba either gunning down would-be kidnappers or cleverly turning the tables on successful kidnappers were shown, "You know...life for the two of us wasn't always easy. We once had loving parents you know..."

"Until they died in a car accident." The camera shifted to a young Seto holding Mokuba's hand as they stood in a stricken and desolate wasteland with a red sky while a single hand stuck out from under a military grade jeep, "Neither of us are sure as to how the car got on top of them or why the entire area was made into a landscape straight from Pegasus' greatest nightmare. But I knew that I would have to be there for my little brother."

"So we found our way to an orphanage and were taken in." Seto went on as Seto was shown playing chess with an affluent Britainian Prince and frustrating him by never win, but never losing either, "Lots of people came to see me for the brilliant genius that I would grow up to become and wanted to adopt me. But when they refused to adopt Mokuba along with me, I refused them. Kushrinada...Udina...I didn't even budge to the Black Prince of Britannia when he wanted me to become his brother. After several dozen draws during a chess duel, he got angry and quit...vindicating my decision to turn away a life of luxury and royalty to stay poor and pissed on with my brother."

"Eventually I defeated Gorzaboro Kaiba in a chess duel and forced him to adopt both of us." The camera shifted to Gorzaboro slapping Seto around his officer while the head of Optimus Prime watched the deprived man torture his adopted child, "After years of grueling mental and physical torture where he wanted to mold me into the perfect heir to his company, I granted his wish by taking over Kaiba Corp and systematically destroying his life's work before his eyes while I laughed at his broken pride. I even pissed on his grave after he committed suicide and had an empty whorehouse built over it for stray dogs and cats to defecate and ruin."

"Then I tore down the house and "accidently" destroyed the grave along with it." Seto laughed as he went on, "I may have gone off point, but man was life hard. Gorzaboro...being an orphan...having our souls stolen by Pegasus...the King of Atlantis...and my technically dead step-brother...and threw it all, I was always there for my little brother."

"Sure, he got kidnapped more times than Princess Peach in a Mario game, but I eventually fixed that..." Seto finished when the camera showed him on top of a statue of a Blue Eyes White Dragon with his coattails blowing in the wind, "And even if I didn't, I'd still be there for my brother. Because he is my family and I love him."

"So if an egotistical jerk like me can be a loving brother to his family, what's keeping you?" Seto asked, looking directly at the camera, "Life's a bitch and then you die. But that doesn't mean you should be a bitch to your family, especially if they don't deserve your bitchy attitude. That's all from me, Happy Family's Day!"

"Also," Seto then held up his arm to reveal the contraption that was strapped onto it, "Don't forget to redeem your promo codes that you got in the mail kids! Redeem them within the next 72 hours and you'll reserve your free brand-new, personally signed, ornately fashioned, expertly polished Duel Monsters DUEL DISK SYSTEM! Trademark."


"That was..." Judau pretty much spoke for the rest of the Defense Force Officers, "Actually pretty good..."

"Now will you do another take?" Mokuba asked while Shiro wordlessly nodded, "Thought so..."

"But how are we supposed to find a balance between the depressing facts and a silver lining?"

"Find non-depressing facts and talk about those."

"We're still suffering from the depressing facts!"

"I just find a way, I wasn't offering any tips." Seto stated to a frustrated Kou, "Have em to me by next week or I'm halving the Defense Force's budget."

"You already did that last month!"

"Not hearing why I can't do it again..." Seto replied to a growling Shiro, "Later dwebs."

"I'm heading out to the Arcade with Kiyal!"

"And I care because?"

"Just letting you know..." Mokuba shyly answered his departing brother before addressing the Defense Force Commanders, "My advice...look for the positive things that came out of your experiences."

"What good could possibly come out of being betrayed by both sides, having your commanding officer killed, watching your lover defend and back your mortal enemy, and said action allows your mortal enemy to succeed in his goal which in turn labels you a complete and utter failure to the entire military field?"

"You get to work for us!" Mokuba shouted excitedly, "Don't lie and tell me that's not a nice deal."

"I'm still considering it..."

"I'll take it..." Mokuba accepted, "And don't worry, I'll make sure that Seto doesn't cut funding to the GB Project."

"Thanks Mokuba," Aina thanked the departing Mokuba, "What?"

"What does GB stand for?"

"If you must know...it means Gun Buster..." Aina said to her listening husband, "The Ultimate Anti-Weapon..."

"Call Roger..."

"Already done..." Chris said as she pulled out her phone, "I'm not getting our funding cut because of some commercial..."

"Least if we do, it won't be my fault..." Judau laughed as Kou glared at him and Chris just smiled with a violent glint in her sweet eyes, "What? It's the truth!"

"And the truth will set you free..."

"I really don't like how you said that Chris..."


Author's Note:

Thus concludes another Parallel Works!

And why not have an actual Family Day along with Mother's and Father's Day?

This one features pretty straight-up dark humor regarding the gundam pilots talking, but I believe it works in the end. There's really no way to try and sugar coat what most of them went through and even the changes that I made were pretty tough once I set them in my mind.