CHAPTER 09 : The Ruined Remnants

Back in Dreamstorm Carrier, at Yumezaki's office…

Mizuki: "I told you once more, stop going after Starlight Academy like a madman! You already went too far with that one!"

Tiara: "Why? I just wanted to show them the idols that you and I made. The idols that would pave our way to absolute victory."

Mizuki: "By using Otoshiro? No! I won't accept that! Because of her overpowered skills, you've changed! If you keep doing that, sooner or later all these skirmishes will turn into all-out mayhem! You got to reconsider that!"

Tiara: "Otoshiro is one of a kind, Kanzaki. An amazing musical prodigy. There's no way I would ditch her. She has the passion that no one else has. With that passion, I truly want to show the world how DreAca will make everyone's dreams possible."

Mizuki: "Otoshiro's influence has indeed clouded your judgement…"

Tiara: "But at least I'm doing it without having to kill anyone. Even our opponent knows that and always chose to disable our Mobile Suits instead of outright destroying them."

Mizuki: "But still… you're fighting against Orihime, the very person you used to serve! The Masquerade!"

Tiara: "If you don't like it, then just get outta here!"

Mizuki: "How ungrateful! I became your advisor to make sure you succeed in your dreams, not making other people suffer!"

Tiara: "Enough is enough!"

Mizuki is shocked to see how Yumezaki reacts against her protests. With so much frustration, she backs on Yumezaki.

Mizuki: "Then I've wasted my time here."

Mizuki quickly leaves the office, slamming the door shut as she gets out. Yumezaki sits back down.

Tiara: "Kanzaki Mizuki… the former Starlight Queen of Starlight Academy. With her current attitude, I'm afraid I have to get rid of her. After all, I already have Otoshiro in my disposal. Even an ex-Starlight Queen like her won't stand a chance against Otoshiro, just like how Otoshiro made short work of the current one back then."

In Seira's classroom, a bit long after Mizuki's protest..

Seira: "I heard Kanzaki Mizuki was arguing with Headmistress Yumezaki over our skirmishes against Starlight Academy. Is that true?"

Kii: "Oh, yeah, I heard that too."

Seira: "What is her problem, anyway? I mean, she was originally from Starlight Academy, not to mention she was the previous Starlight Queen before Aoi took her place. Then, she left Starlight and became our headmistress' advisor."

Kii: "After all, she still has strong connection with Starlight Academy and its idols. It should be obvious that she doesn't want any more bloodshed to happen between the schools."

Seira: "I am aware of that."

Kii: "Well, I wonder if the Starlight denizens know about Mizuki-san's problems here."

Seira: "They probably do. Yeah, probably."


In the corridors of Starlight Academy's main school building…

Yurika and Kaede have learned about Mizuki's current whereabouts, and are planning something to rescue her.

Yurika: "So, Mizuki is in DreAca… I couldn't believe it myself."

Kaede: "So do I. She definitely never expected DreAca to go that far."

Yurika: "It was that Seira who turned DreAca's headmistress one-eighty. She is the one to blame! I can't wait to suck her blood when I finally get the chance."

Kaede: "And I want to get Mizuki out of there if I can."

Yurika: "Yeah, IF ONLY… Uh, you know what? Why don't we try infiltrating DreAca and find her?"

Kaede: "That's what I thought. If we can retrieve Mizuki and bring her back here safely, then we can revive Tristar and have three complete units in our disposal along with Soleil and PowaPowaPuririn!"

Yurika: "Only then will the STAR-ANIS return from the dead, and we will be invincible."


Meanwhile, in the hangar…

Aoi: "So, I am getting my own three subordinates. Is that right?"

Johnny: "That is right, Kiriya-honey. After seeing how that Otoshiro-honey brought along her own subordinates. I think it is a good idea to give you some, too. And guess what, they have proven themselves to be very capable of operating these new units."

Johnny shows Aoi the new blue-colored Delta Plus units behind him.

Aoi: "There's another Delta Plus variant?"

Johnny: "Yup, these are the Bluegale Deltas. Roughly similar to Arisugawa-honey's Lime Delta, except with a different paint job. It's BLUE, like your color, which is why we picked that particular name."

Aoi: "Wow, my dream Mobile Suit from back then actually become real now. Odayaka janai! Anyway, I'd like to see my subordinates. Where are they now?"

Johnny: "Follow me, then."

Aoi follows Johnny to the control room. There, she meets her new subordinates, who're apparently her classmates.

Aoi: "Oh, hey. Weren't you three… my classmates?"

Johnny: "Yeah. Kuze Wakaba, Kimura Rio, and Matsue Nagisa. I know you would find them familiar to you."

Nagisa: "Hi there, Aoi. Looking forward of fighting together with you."

Rio: "Yes. We have training, y'know?"

Wakaba: "And you can rely on my precise calculations."

Aoi: "Uh, sure."

Johnny: "Like I told you before, they have proven themselves to be exceptionally good with their idol energy. Their synch-rate are in acceptable range to make sure they can keep assisting you in battle."

Aoi: "Good to hear that. Well, everyone, let's work together and bring an end to DreAca's wrath!"

All three: "Yes." (nods)

Unbeknownst to Aoi and the others in the control room, Yurika and Kaede sneaks into the hangar, enter their Mobile Suits, and goes to the launchpad. One of the crews noticed the two going out without authorization and quickly runs off to Johnny.

Crewman: "Johnny-sensei! Gundam Dark Rift and ReZEL Maple are taking off!"

Johnny: "What did you say?!"

Aoi, Johnny, and the three subordinates quickly run towards the launchpad. But they are too late as both Dark Rift and ReZEL Maple have launched already.

Aoi: "Yurika and Kaede?! Don't tell me they-!"

Johnny: "They must be heading to DreAca to retrieve Kanzaki-honey."

Aoi: "Just two of them trying to retrieve Mizuki?! How reckless of them! They haven't even got any authorization from Headmistress Orihime to do that!"

Johnny: "Kiriya-honey, perhaps it is time for you to bring your subordinates along. You got to chase them down and bring them back here before they end up engaging the enemy!"

Aoi: "Understood. Okay, friends. This will be your first sortie. You ready?"

All: "Ready!"

Rio: "We will fight at our fullest, Aoi. You can count on us."

Wakaba: "I'll make sure my analytical prowess will help you in our coming battles."

Nagisa: "I won't fail you, Aoi. Let's go get Yurika and Kaede back here before something worse happens!"

Aoi: "Yes. Now, let's get into the Mobile Suits!"

All: "Roger!"

Johnny: "Anyway, I'll try contacting Starmiya and Shibuki-honey so they can go help you too."

Aoi: "Okay."

Aoi quickly gets into her AoIris Gundam, while Rio, Wakaba, and Nagisa get into their Bluegale Deltas. The four goes to the launchpad, preparing for launch.

Aoi: "AoIris, Kiriya Aoi-!"

Rio: "Kimura Rio-!"

Wakaba: "Kuze Wakaba-!"

Nagisa: "Matsue Nagisa-!"

All three: "-Bluegale Delta!"

All: "Heading out!"

AoIris and the three Bluegale Deltas launches out, chasing down both the Dark Rift and ReZEL Maple. While in the hangar, Johnny contacts Ichigo and Ran to follow after Aoi. After that's done, he contacts Orihime.

Orihime: (through phone) "What did you say?! Toudou and Ichinose went out there to retrieve Kanzaki Mizuki from DreAca?!"

Johnny: "That is right, Academy Mother! I just sent Kiriya-honey and her new three subordinates to chase after them, and I also have just contacted Starmiya and Shibuki-honey to chase after them, too. Though I'm not actually telling Starmiya about Kanzaki-honey and her ties with DreAca on purpose."

Orihime: "We must follow them too, then."

Johnny: "We're going towards DreAca, too?"

Orihime: "Of course. Tell the operators to have Galaxy Starlight go at full-speed towards DreAca."

Johnny: "Roger!"

Following Orihime's order, Galaxy Starlight begins to move forward towards DreAca.


In DreAca's control room, Kii is on standby, constantly looking at the radar display with an extremely bored look on her face. Suddenly, the radar detects two Mobile Suits coming her way.

Kii: "Eh?! Two enemy units?!"

Kii quickly takes the communicator.

Kii: "Seira-chan, come in! Two enemy units heading toward our base! Seira-chan!"

Before long, Seira responded to Kii's call. She quickly runs to the hangar and get into the Core SWinger. Seira's subordinates are also on standby in their Dream Windams. They are then moved to the launchpads.

Seira: "So, it appears that they're going for the offensive now. But, only two of them?"

Kii: "Those units are the ones who kept preventing Sora-chan from fighting Ran."

Seira: "Them, huh? I should be able to make short work of them."

Kii: "But still you gotta stay alert, Seira-chan. Who knows if they might send reinforcements."

Seira: "Don't worry, I will."

Kii: "Well then, good luck. I'll have Sora-chan on standby too in case reinforcements come out."

Seira: "Okay… Otoshiro Seira, Core SWinger, heading out!"

Seira's Core SWinger heads out, followed by the top and the legs. After they combine into SWing Gundam, Seira's subordinates are launched and follows Seira to intercept Yurika and Kaede.

Tiara is observing Seira and her subordinates launch.

Tiara: "The two who are heading towards us must be the remnants of Tristar. I knew it. They must have known about Mizuki's whereabouts…"

In Mizuki's room…

Mizuki: "Two Mobile Suits coming this way… No way, could it be-? Yes, it must be them. If I can get enough distraction to get out from here. But, I probably can't, everyone is in battle stations right now and are being very cautious. They can easily catch me."


Meanwhile, Yurika and Kaede are still on the way to DreAca. Aoi and her team are quite behind, but Yurika and Kaede haven't noticed their presence yet.

Yurika: "How much further?"

Kaede: "At this speed, perhaps we will reach DreAca in about five minutes."

Yurika: "Good."

Kaede: "We better move faster. Can't let Mizuki be enslaved by DreAca any longer."

Both Yurika and Kaede boosts their speed, leaving Aoi's team behind.

Aoi: "They're speeding up? This is bad."

Wakaba: "Let's switch to Waverider mode. Aoi, you can go ahead and ride on one of our units."

Aoi: "Really? Thank you. And, oh, watch your distance."

The Bluegale Deltas transform into Waverider mode. Aoi rides on Rio's unit as they start to boost forward to catch up with Yurika and Kaede.


As Yurika and Kaede are getting closer and closer to DreAca, they finally get intercepted by Seira's team.

Seira: "You got some nerve trying to attack our base with just you two."

Yurika: "It's you again!"

Kaede: "Damn."

Seira: "Though I don't think I would need my subordinates for this, I can take you two alone. Because remember, I will always be one step ahead of you!"

Yurika: "I'm no Starlight Queen, yes. But, I am still the descendant of Vlad Tepes, the Dracula himself! Never underestimate this Toudou Yurika-sama!"

Kaede: "Not to mention we are remnants of Tristar!"

Seira: "Well, then. Prepare to meet your divine retribution!"

Seira rushes towards Yurika with her beam guitar blade ready. She attacks, and it gets parried by Yurika's beam claws.

Yurika: "Not until we take Mizuki back from your denizens of dread!"

Kaede fires her beam rifle at Seira, which gets dodged. Kaede then rushes forward.

Kaede: "And once we get her back to our, STAR-ANIS will then be revived and you will no longer stand a chance against us!"

Seira: "I'm afraid I won't let that happen. Team, time to attack!"

Houko: "Right!"

As Seira chases Yurika to the ground, her subordinates start attacking Kaede, giving her a hard time dodging their combined beam rifle shots. Kaede then transforms her ReZEL Maple into Waverider mode and flies away to chase down Seira and Yurika. Seira's subordinates then tries chasing Kaede too. But, some beam rifle shots almost hit them if they did not dodge quickly. It was Aoi and her team who has arrived on time.

Aoi: "Where is Yurika and Kaede?"

Wakaba: "There! They're heading below, towards the ground."

Nagisa: "That must be the SWing Gundam that they're chasing!"

Rio: "What should we do, first? Deal with these three or chase down SWing Gundam?"

Aoi: "I'd say I chase them down, while you girls engage those three. I trust in your skills!"

Nagisa: "Understood!"

Aoi: "After you're done with those three, you can go ahead and follow me below."

All: "Roger!"

Aoi rushes straight forward,distracting Seira's team with her Leviathan beam shots. As Aoi passes through them and goes below, Aoi's team transforms their Bluegale Deltas back into MS mode and starts engaging the Dream Windams of Seira's team. They exchange beam rifle shots against each other many times and occasionally having some beam saber clashes.


On the ground, both Yurika and Kaede are already engaging Seira. Even though it is a two-versus-one, Seira keeps gaining the upper hand against them.

Yurika: "Uh, she's so strong."

Yurika is parrying Seira's attack. But Seira is slowly pushing Yurika backwards before eventually knocking her away.

Kaede: "Nuts! It's up to me."

Kaede rushes toward Seira and swings her beam saber twice, vertically to the ground and then diagonally upwards. Both slashes gets dodged by Seira, with the second slash prompting her to leap upwards. She then counterattacks by firing her beam rifle mid-air at Kaede. Kaede quick-steps forward to dodge all of the shots.

Kaede: "You dare underestimate a super-idol like me?"

Seira: "Because after all, I am always one step ahead of anyone, even super-idols!"

Kaede: "Oh really? Then look right above you!"

Seira: "?!"

From out of nowhere, Aoi appears from right above Seira, firing the Leviathan right at her. It caught Seira off-guard, so she takes a few minor hits while dodging. Aoi comes right at Seira with her Azulmagia sword mode ready, and then does a downward slash, hitting the ground but missed Seira as she dodged it. Aoi continues the attack with an upward slash, which then gets parried with Seira's beam guitar blade.

Seira: "Aoi?! Where did you come from?!"

Aoi: "From the heavens above just like you. No, no, I've been following the two because I hear they want to set Mizuki free from your clutches."

Seira: "As if Headmistress would let her go that easily!"

The two let go of each other. Seira lands back on the ground, then clashes against Aoi again.

Aoi: "Seriously, you two, why would you run off like that?!"

Kaede: "I'm so sorry, Aoi. We were too fixated on re-energizing all our units."

Yurika: "We wanted to restore Tristar and make all three of our units become invincible."

Aoi: "But not like that, you're only putting yourself in danger now!"

Kaede: "We are close to DreAca, we should be able to do it!"

Aoi: "I also want to. But, not with this overpowered nemesis standing in our way!"

Aoi and Seira pushes each other quite hard, both ends up getting knocked back by their own force.

Aoi: "Ugh."

Aoi tries to stand up. Once she stands up, she suddenly remembers something.

Aoi: "Wait a sec. Why didn't I realize that? This AoIris Gundam is based from Celestial Being Mobile Suits. That could only mean… that one system exists within my Gundam!"

Seira: "Well, shall we continue?"

Aoi: "Of course. But, since my Gundam came from Anno Domini…"

Seira: "What?"

Aoi: "…it must have…"

Kaede: "Oh yes, it must be that system!"

Aoi: "TRANS-AM!"

In Yurika and Kaede's amazement and also Seira's shock, Aoi's AoIris Gundam glows red and its GN Drive begins to accelerate.

Seira: "Trans-Am System?!"

Back in Starlight's control room…

Naoto: "She activated the Trans-Am System? No, Kiriya! You can't! Your GN Drive is not fully fine-tuned for this system yet!"

Back to the battle…

Aoi: "I was right! It does have Trans-Am System! Now then, Seira, ready for some times-three action?"

Seira: "You literally took TOO MUCH steps with that system! I won't let you go any further now!"

Seira rushes toward Aoi and swings her beam guitar blade. Aoi dodges it by quick-stepping to the left, while also leaving afterimages behind.

Seira: "?!"

Aoi counters with a super-fast downward diagonal slash, Seira barely manages to parry it. Before Seira even realized that, Aoi engages her Leviathan and begins firing. Seira dodges the attack at the very last second by jumping upward with thrusters. Aoi also jumps and then does a lot of slashing against Seira, who ends up having a hard time parrying all those slashes.

Yurika: "Look at all those slashes."

Kaede: "My eyes can barely see them."

Yurika: "It looks like Aoi's winning. C'mon, Aoi! Weaken her enough so that I can suck her blood!"

Aoi still continues her relentless attacks. Seira tries to find an opening. Once she finds a perfect moment, she fires her beam rifle, but Aoi does a somersault to dodge the shot and immediately get behind Seira while being upside-down. Aoi fires the Leviathan several times, and the projectiles travel much faster and hits harder because of Trans-Am, leading to Seira getting hit by some of them.

Seira: "Agh!"

Seira falls to the ground with several bruises on her Gundam's body frame. She still tries to stand up and continue fighting. She suddenly sees Aoi right in front of her, ready to swing her Azulmagia again. She quick-steps back at the very last second, avoiding the attack. But Aoi's attack hits the ground hard enough that it causes a shockwave that knocks Seira back even further.

Seira: "No!"

Seira stands up once more.

Aoi: "Why won't you just collapse?"

Seira: "I repeatedly told you that I will always be one step ahead of you. That's why I can't afford to be defeated here."

Aoi: "But this Trans-Am has changed it, for I have tripled my number of steps I take, making me many-MANY steps ahead of you now. Now, this last strike will definitely make you collapse!"

Aoi rushes toward Seira, ready for the finishing blow. Seira takes a defensive stance trying to parry the attack once more. But, before Aoi could even land the attack, her GN Drive starts malfunctioning, her cockpit shows warnings all over the place, and the Trans-Am System is deactivated even before hitting its 3-minute time limit.

Aoi: "What in the world?!"

Naoto in the control room also expresses his frustration.

Naoto: "Dammit! I knew this is going to happen!"

AoIris' movement becomes weak because of its energy already drained after going Trans-Am also with its GN Drive malfunctioning, causing its energy generation to be slowed down tremendously.

Seira: "Her Trans-Am leads to malfunction?"

Aoi: "No way! The Gundam won't move as I wanted to! Why?!"

Seira: "That must be my lucky day. Time to get my revenge. HAA!"

Before Aoi could do anything, Seira gets up and does a flying kick right on the head. Aoi gets thrown pretty far behind.

Aoi: "UWAA!"

Aoi falls to the ground. She tries to get up, but it is so hard to do as her Gundam is having a hard time responding to her movements.

Kaede: "Aoi! Damn you, Seira!"

Yurika: "I won't let you!"

Yurika and Kaede moves in once more to engage Seira. Yurika lunges forward with her beam claws. Seira fends off the lunge, takes her beam rifle really fast, and then fires it right at the beam claw generator on the left arm. The generator explodes along with the left arm.

Yurika: "No way! But-!"

Yurika tries unleashing a thrust attack with her right arm, and it gets dodged. Seira quickly pulls out some aikido by grabbing Dark Rift's right arm, pulling it forward and causes Yurika to lose balance. Seira then kicks Yurika in the back, tossing her further and causing some damage to Dark Rift's back thruster.

Yurika: "Augh! Dammit!"

Kaede: "That's enough! Take this!"

Kaede comes in with her beam saber, it gets parried with Seira's beam guitar blade. Seira counters with a wide horizontal slash, leaving a wide cut on the ReZEL Maple's chest. Seira lunges forward, quickly punching Kaede three times in the face and knocking her back pretty far.

Kaede: "No!"

Kaede falls flat on the ground.

Aoi: "No, Yurika and Kaede are down… and my Gundam is barely working… Have I… lost?"

Seira walks toward Aoi while carrying her beam guitar blade.

Aoi: "?!"

Seira: "Ah, how the mighty have fallen. The Starlight Queen is now battered and weakened under my absolute power."

Aoi tries so hard to get up.

Aoi: "Why can't you just… stop your damn boastings?"

Seira: "But it is a fact, and none can deny it."

Aoi: "But I will always deny it!"

Seira: "If that was the case, then-!"

Before Aoi even managed to get up, Seira starts thrusting her beam guitar blade towards her in an attempt to stab the Gundam's head.

Aoi: "!"

But, all of a sudden, Kaede shows up right in front of Aoi. Her ReZEL Maple ends up getting stabbed right at its reactor, but not before she manages to fire her beam rifle twice and blow off SWing Gundam's left arm and head. The ReZEL Maple falls on its knees with SWing Gundam's beam guitar blade stuck on its torso.

Seira: "What the?!"

Aoi: "Kaede?!"

As the reactor of ReZEL Maple is going critical and Kaede is badly hurt in the process, she gives her last words to Aoi.

Kaede: "Please… save Mizuki… and eventually… put an end to… this unholy bastard…!"

As Kaede stops talking, the reactor starts exploding and ReZEL Maple is destroyed, killing Kaede in the resulting explosion. Aoi and Yurika watches in horror as one of their best friends and also their big fellow in STAR-ANIS fall right before their eyes. Seira looks extremely horrified for what she have done.

In DreAca, Mizuki also watches that horrible moment from the monitor in her room, and she is horrified to see Kaede meets her demise.

Mizuki: "Ka… Kaede…"

Seira: "Wh… why?"

Yurika: "No… You're kidding me…!"

Aoi: "How is this… HOW THIS IS POSSIBLE?!"

Aoi/Yurika: "KAEDEEEEEEEEEE!"

[TO BE CONTINUED]