Astral Machine
Chapter Eleven: Switching Shoes
Less than a week later their units are ready for battle and the Alliance Human team is rushed back into the fray, ending their brief vacation and training sessions. As the days continue the human's fatigue quickly grows and it becomes obvious that their energy drain isn't simply due to fighting for long periods of time on the front lines. Sylphiel is the first to contract a minor virus that makes her unable to pilot the Delta unit safely. It is a culmination of stress, lack of rest, and being in a foreign environment for so long. Rezo assures everyone that after a week of rest she'll be fine, but this isn't what concerns Zelgadis.
While he's glad the team came up with alternative pilots to man their mecha partners Zelgadis is worried that this cold will quickly pass from one member to another and cripple the team when the fighting is at its heaviest.
Sadly his prediction is true despite Rezo's best efforts to keep them all healthy. He's a talented doctor but even the great Rezo doesn't know the cure to the common human cold. A cold is a terrible beast, perhaps not the worst illness one can contract but still irritating and detrimental to a functional life. Especially while fighting a war.
Not a day later Gourry admits to feeling a tickle in his throat, followed closely by Lina. Zelgadis easily takes Gourry's word for it, but is less inclined to take Lina seriously since she likes to complain about any little thing that bothers her unless it damages her pride. As soon as their powerful redhead leader mentions her possible sickness though, Rezo and Xellos take it very seriously and proceed to train Amelia and Zelgadis in higher level spells.
Zelgadis is not thrilled.
Normally he would revel in being trained one on one by his grandfather, but as is expected Rezo focuses on training Amelia, while Xellos takes him on.
Of course Rezo would train the pretty little princess over his own flesh and blood. Damn it, that man can't even see the cute thing clearly with his crippled eyes . . . not that Zelgadis is particularly attracted to Amelia's bubbly personality, but he's well aware she has a few attractive assets.
But no he's stuck with the fruitcake.
After training for an hour, since that's about all the time they can spare, Amelia and Zelgadis go to the mess hall. The others are all resting hoping to hold off their inevitable sickness and so for perhaps the first time Amelia and Zelgadis are actually alone together.
Zelgadis finds it rather awkward.
"I'm not sure I can take Miss Lina's place if she really does get sick," Amelia comments after a long stretch of silence. She twirls some noodles around her fork and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully.
"At least it's just a cold," Zelgadis says in turn, feeling obligated to at least answer the princess. He still doesn't necessarily approve of the royal fighting a war, but she has proven herself capable this past month. She is a strong and fairly competent person. "Worst case one of us would be killed, that's one of the reasons we came up with the alternative positions in the first place."
"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia barks and nearly stands to her feet in outrage. "How can you say such a thing?"
"It's the truth," Zelgadis shrugs, behaving coldly unintentionally. "This is a war we're fighting. We're lucky we can even get sick days. The only reason we do is because we're lowly humans saving face for the Alliance."
"Don't say that! We're not just pawns!" Before he knows what's happening Amelia's face is inches from his own. He blushes scarlet despite his best efforts to remain nonchalant. He's never been very good interacting with the opposite sex, even as a grown adult. Perhaps it is because Eris has been the only woman in his life, everyone else close to him has always been male.
Before Zelgadis can wrestle his red features into submission Amelia brazenly continues. "The Alliance is using us yes, I'm well aware of the politics involved, but we are contributing something to the war! Without us the Ryzoku wouldn't have all those files from the Mazoku. Without us they wouldn't have been able to defeat Sherra. Without us they wouldn't have been able to push them back further from the border. We are making a difference! Even something that might have been for the sake of convenience can be used for good and we're living proof of that!"
For a solid ten seconds Zelgadis is left speechless, forced to churn through Amelia's words a little longer because of his elevated blood pressure. "You have a point," he finally relinquishes, making the princess draw back a fraction in surprise. "But you don't know what a real war is either. A real war requires sacrifice and I'm sure you've noticed that we haven't sacrificed anything yet."
"We almost lost Mister Xellos," Amelia doesn't argue outright and takes a seat much to Zelgadis's relief.
Zelgadis is tempted to say that losing Xellos wouldn't be a loss or a sacrifice, but he manages to keep this thought barred. "He made a sacrifice to be here, he knows what he's fighting for."
"Didn't you make a sacrifice too?" Amelia perceptively points out in a soft voice, knowing that the subject is touchy at best.
" . . . I want this war to end," Zelgadis chooses to say and stands to his feet. He doesn't like the direction this conversation is headed. Much too deep and honest.
With a snap of her wrist Amelia grabs Zelgadis's hand to keep him from leaving. "I knew you were a hero of justice," she beams up with pride and Zelgadis cringes. "You're sacrifice won't be in vain Mister Zelgadis. We will end this war together!" With that she proceeds to hug him and Zelgadis tries to gently pry her off.
His face is burning up once again, but no matter how insistent he is the girls grip is much too strong. Finally she senses his distress and releases him bashfully as he clears his throat. "That wasn't very professional," Zelgadis mumbles.
"We're more than just co-workers Mister Zelgadis, we're friends," Amelia informs him innocently and from there they part ways.
In the following days Amelia and Zelgadis continue to train even as Gourry insists that he can fight despite his oncoming cold, but Rezo won't hear it. The elder man knows that plowing through a cold will only make the symptoms worse and prolong the recovery so he forces Gourry to rest, leaving Beta unmanned. Meanwhile, Lina continues to fight despite a massive headache and long hours. Since the Alpha unit is a tough position to fill, the stubborn redhead continues to fight for Amelia's sake, despite her raw throat.
Even though she continues to fight she is more than willing to let loose verbal complaints every chance she gets.
One day later Lina is unable to get up from bed and leaves Zelgadis to man Alpha, much to Amelia's relief. She will continue to pilot Sylphiel's unit Delta, while Xellos pilots his Gamma unit. While he tries not to let it show, Zelgadis is incredibly nervous as he is strapped into the Alpha unit. Moving it feels almost as cumbersome as piloting the H5-Soldier models back on Tillmar.
When they are ready, they are sent out to fight, but to Zelgadis's relief are not expected to fight on the front lines. Instead Milgazia positions them as support, helping move damaged machines, relaying information or blasting debris. Despite being mildly insulted, Zelgadis doesn't complain and experiments with his magical abilities while cleaning up wreckage. This is going well until the Mazoku units notice the Alliances A-star team hanging back.
"The enemy line is shifting," Xellos reports as Zelgadis is investigating an enemy unit. Ever the curious one, the chimera starts dissecting the piece of machinery before outright destroying it. Where else is he going to get his hands on such a valuable piece of equipment after all?
Xellos's words are enough to bring Zelgadis out of his happy place and he makes swift work on his little project by casting a powerful fire blast. "Where is its focus?" Zelgadis asks. His eyes dart over several screens while another set in his mind flicks on and off. Even with the Alpha unit he can make use of some of his mechanical enhancements.
"Straight towards us," Xellos answers happily and Zelgadis can almost swear he hears the Mazoku giggle.
"Of course they are," Zelgadis grinds. "Probably want to take out the 'humans hope' while were easy pickings."
"Well, we won't let them," Amelia calls enthusiastically. "We might be in different units we are unfamiliar with but that doesn't mean we're powerless. They won't know what hit them." In conjunction with her promise Amelia erects three large shields around their units, strong enough to act as battering rams.
"This might be a simple plan but let's bowl them over long enough for Milgazia to reorganize his troops," Zelgadis orders flipping on several switches and refocusing the sensors onto the coming enemy force.
"Stand down," Milgazia's voice orders through the communications link, forcing Zelgadis to grind his teeth. "Do not engage the enemy in battle. We'll handle this."
As he says this the Mazoku use their ever annoying ability to seemingly disappear and just so happen to reappear behind most of the Ryzoku force. Zelgadis cocks an eyebrow up at a man he knows can't see him. Is this what Lina has to put up with everyday. He's typically too busy organizing data to pay any mind to whatever Milgazia says unless it is a direct order.
"I realize they're trying to goad us into battle sir, but we aren't powerless," he tells Milgazia as respectfully as he can. After several hours practicing in the Alpha unit he feels comfortable enough to do his job properly. "We won't engage them in direct battle but barrel past them to join your main force. We'll keep doing that until you can wear them down."
". . . You're just as brash as Lina," Milgazia actually sounds pleased to Zelgadis's surprise. "Very well, we'll start with your plan."
Milgazia's voice cuts out and Zelgadis proceeds to rocket towards the enemy like a canon ball, with Xellos and Amelia beside him. The plan is simple and somewhat insulting to Zelgadis's genius, but simple or not it works and that's all that matters at the end of the day. Yet like every plan he's ever come up with, it never goes as he would prefer.
As they barrel past an enemy unit, the shield Amelia has constructed for him fizzles out. He manages to get behind several Ryzoku units, but that doesn't keep a talented Mazoku from porting directly inside the Alpha unit. Caught by surprise, Zelgadis releases the controls and attempts an astral spell, but he isn't fast enough.
The enemy Mazoku's arm turns into an inky black blade that he plunges into his left shoulder. Zelgadis screams and releases his raw astral attack onto the Mazoku who is not expecting it.
The Mazoku screams join his own as the entire left side of his enemy is torn into shreds. Before the Mazoku can recover, Zelgadis plants his feet against the Mazoku's abdomen and shoves him off, plastering him to the window. Without waiting to see what the Mazoku will do Zelgadis releases the straps keeping him in the seat and launches himself at the window. Using the Mazoku's own blade like arm he ends the soldier's life.
Aware of what's happened, Amelia swoops in and latches onto his unit. From there she enters the small cockpit and gasps when she sees the dead Mazoku floating against the window. When she notices Zelgadis's bleeding shoulder she forgets about the dead Mazoku and rushes to heal him.
Xellos takes care of any enemy units who get too close with the Dragon units swelling in to support him. After applying emergency aid to Zelgadis, they dispose of the body and return to the battle with the Alpha and Delta units still latched to each other. If they could return to the base they would, but the Mazoku are swarming, energized by their near success.
That's the closest they ever get. Furious with the Mazoku, Zelgadis barrages the enemy with a volley of powerful fireballs that ignites the entire force as if it were a dry forest. But this is not enough. To be sure they won't rally, he next hacks the enemy units, making it impossible for them to see or communicate without enduring a grating buzz in their ears. The Gamma unit is much better suited to hacking but that does not mean that Alpha is incapable of it.
When the skirmish dies down, Amelia brings Zelgadis back to the base with Xellos following close behind. As soon as he opens the units cockpit Amelia is there along with Eris and Vrumugun who immediately start poking and prodding him with various medical instruments. "Mister Zelgadis. I didn't realize my shield was about to break," she tells him in a rush. "I had no idea the Mazoku would do something like that. I'm so sorry!"
"I'm the one who thought of that stupid plan," Zelgadis winces as Eris sticks something in his arm. He frowns at the woman, but she doesn't bother looking at him.
"It was a good plan! It's my fault you got hurt," Amelia's head sags. "I should have been paying more attention. If I had been more careful I-"
"Amelia!" Zelgadis shouts, causing the woman to give a start.
Her eyes widen and she looks about ready to cry. All these weeks of trying to keep her friends alive in this war is catching up to her. Zelgadis knows as a princess of Seyruun that she's seen her share of death in her short life, but she has a caring heart that feels responsible for any death she may cause.
"It won't happen again," Zelgadis assures her, trying to sound less cold. "A hero of justice doesn't make the same mistake twice, am I right?"
Blinking her eyes, Amelia stands a little straighter. Slowly a small smile stretches her lips as she rubs some of the moister from her eye. "That's right," she says and Zelgadis unknowingly smiles back at her.
"Zelgadis good to see you alive," Xellos pokes his head above Vrumugun's and Zelgadis grimaces. "Did you manage to hack the Mazoku mainframe?"
"What's it to you?" Zelgadis grinds.
"I'm merely surprised you were able to manage such a thing from the Alpha unit," he replies.
"Aren't I full of surprises," Zelgadis snuffs.
"You never know where a fight might take you," Xellos cryptically replies, with one eye winking open.
Before he can question the monster, Eris shoots a sedative into his arm. "Must you Eris?"
"You're shoulder was sliced open Zelgadis, surly you want a drug to help with the pain," she pats him on said shoulder causing him to wince every time she touches it. "Be a big boy."
If she didn't just help heal his arm he'd chew her out and bring up something to embarrass her.
From there they get something to eat before checking in on the sick members of their team. They're sick, but in good hands. Lina is furious that Zelgadis killed a Mazoku in her cockpit, but she's got enough sense to also be grateful they are all still alive. Rezo fusses over him a little because of his injury, but that is nothing new. Zelgadis likes to think he's received worse injuries in the past. That surgery he endured being one of them.
Author's Note: There is a lot of Amelia in this chapter, which I find to be a nice change. I also realize, as Zelgadis pointed out, that war is horrible. No such thing as a break in war. Since I didn't want to kill Lina and the others though, I made them sick so I could switch the mecha pilot positions for fun. Not realistic, but better than killing the characters.