Chapter 14- Gundamize! Sincerity and Hope
From the mountain path to another forest… but this forest was creepy… it was foggy and the trees looked scary… even in the day…
"Okay… this is really creepy" Mato sai1d looking around nervously.
"You can say that again…its like we're in a horror movie or something…" Haruna said.
"Ugh… its all muddy here…" Nagi said stepping on mud.
"Uhh guys… I don't think we're in forest…" I said.
As we went in deeper… we realized it wasn't a forest… but a swamp
"A swamp… this is a dangerous place… we should be careful" Milhi said.
We walked along the mud… but it seemed like it was getting deeper.
"Its getting deeper…" Taiga said
Shining Gundam then lifter Taiga onto his shoulders.
"Ah! Shining! Whats wrong with you?" Taiga said.
"Look, the mud gets deeper from here, its best that you girls let your partners carry you while traversing through here" Shining said
"True, there are a lot of dangerous things in this mud" Wing said lifting Mei up on his shoulders.
As per all the Gundam did lift their partners up as they kept going… and true enough the Shining's words the mud got deeper and deeper till only the Gundam's shoulders were visible… their partners had to stand on their shoulders to avoid getting muddy.
Until finally they made it out of the swamp and into a forest… but this time the sky was showing and the trees seemed to form a circle.
"Made it out at last…" Nagi said with a sigh
"Fate… are you okay?" Nanoha said helping her friend down
"Yes… im okay, thanks Nanoha, thank you too Gundam" Fate said stepping down.
"It is no problem" Gundam said being polite.
"Exia… you're all muddy…" I said.
"It is just mud Miss Kaname… I'll be fine" Exia said wiping it off, as per the other Gundam did once their partners got off them.
"Wow… this place is so nice" Milhi said taking a seat on the clean grass.
"Yes it is… " Mei said admiring the flowers that were growing.
"Its like one of those things you'd see in a picture book! But the real thing!" Mato said happily jumping around
"Wow… I wish I could have taken a picture of this place… its priceless…" Taiga said admiring the scenery
"Why don't we rest here then?" I suggested.
"Yeah! Now you're talking leader!" Mato said.
The Gundam and us sat down on the soft grass and just relaxed.
"Say guys… do you think Old Man Turn A knows about this place?" X asked.
"Maybe, after all he's a veteran warrior" F91 said.
"If he doesn't why don't we take him here? That way he can read in peace" X said.
"Not a bad idea" Shining said.
Wing Gundam though was admiring a flower… it was white and had a yellow core.
"I didn't know you liked flowers Wing?" Mei said
Wing said nothing,
"How about this one?" Mei said showing Wing a yellow flower with a white core.
"Beautfiul…" Wing said
Mei giggled.
Shining Gundam too was admiring a flower
"It isn't manly for a Gundam to be liking flowers you know." Taiga said
"Who said anything about being manly? This flower reminds me of my master" Shining said.
"Master?" Taiga asked
"I do practice martial arts… and I had a master who taught me all this… his name was Kowloon Gundam… he was the strongest fighter of all the land, and he was one of those Gundam who fought against the Dark Masters with a chosen child… but ever since that day I never saw him again"" Shining said.
"So your master was a hero huh? Then what does that make you?" Taiga said.
Shining said nothing as he got up and transferred to a different spot.
"Geez… whats his problem?" Taiga said.
"Wow! Look at the birds!" Mato said..
"Flying V formation… nice" Victory said.
"Maybe we should make-up an attack that has "Flying V" in it? What do you think?" Milhi asked Victory.
"F-Flying V?" Victory said.
"Yeah, I think it would suit you!" Milhi said.
"Hmmmm" Victory said thinking about it.
"Haruna? Haruna!" I called out looking for her.
"Yes?" She said returning with some sandwiches.
"S-sandwiches…? Where did you get those?" I asked.
"Oh, I brought some from home, I went back to the swamp to find some meat… and turns out the Wild Boar that live in the swamp taste great!" Haruna said.
"Y-you went hunting without our consent?"
"Hey leader take it easy, F91's alongside me, he'll protect me"
"With my life" F91 said carrying sandwiches.
"Now what do you say to a little snack? Im sure everyone's hungry" Haruna grinned
My stomach grumbled, "Y-yeah… lets eat!" I said embarrassed.
Haruna served sandwiches to everyone, and again, Haruna really knew how to choose her food well, if this really is Wild Boar meat then it tastes absolutely great!
We then got ready to leave… this place was amazing though that I didn't want to leave yet… but I had to remember that we were still on a mission to save this world!
From that forest path it was a winding country road.
"Are we going the right way Fate?" I asked.
"Yes, this is the path to the town… it shouldn't be too far from here." Fate said looking at a map.
We went on walking… there were fields… and it looked just about right to be harvested… but where were the people?
We saw smoke in the distance… maybe a village was near?
To our horror though we saw a small town that was burned to the ground.
"What… happened here?" Gundam said.
"Bandits" Fate said.
"Bandits?" Gundam asked.
"Yes… when the village people were accompanying me, they told me about these bandits… they pillage towns and burn them to the ground…" Fate said.
"Why haven't I heard of them?" Exia said.
"Maybe its because we've been away for so long" Wing said.
"Well well well… what do we have here?" a voice said.
We looked around, and we were surrounded by these green machines armed with machine guns
"Gundam? Travelling with humans? You must be the chosen children?" A Gundam said
"And just who are you?" X said.
"Still your tongue young one! I am Raven Gundam, the leader of the Raven Raiders!"
"And I am his accomplice Aries!" Said a flying machine.
Raven Gundam looked like a Gundam… but he was colored in a deep purple… and he had these huge black wings and talons on his arms, Aries was a flying machine… it could transform though… and it looked heavily armed.
"Now hand over all your valuables" Raven Gundam said.
"Yeah yeah! Hand 'em over!" Aries said.
"Valuables? Like what?" Mato said
"I-I don't know…! Lets see what you have!"
Mato stepped up.
"Mato!" Zeta said
"I'll be fine Zeta!"
Mato emptied her bag, and all she had was things for camping.
"This is… what you chosen children carry…?" Raven Gundam said expecting something much more valuable.
"Yep! Camping stuff!" Mato said.
"Ugh, all of you empty your belongings here!" Raven Gundam yelled.
"Well leader?" Nanoha said.
"Do it. I don't think we have anything that they want…" I said "…just be sure to hide your crest tags and G-Vices"
Nagi hid behind Milhi and hid the G-Terminal that Turn A gave us in her skirt pocket, then we emptied our belongings…
"What… are these things?" Raven Gundam said poking around.
"Boss?"
Raven Gundam looked at the things… notebook… mirror… spices… clothes… none of which really caught his attention.
"Come on you kids must have something valuable! This stuff is garbage! Don't you have any money or anything?" Raven Gundam said angrily.
"Garbage? How dare you! Those spices are worth more than your worthless behind!" Haruna said angrily
"And where might I ask did you get this?" Raven Gundam said.
"From my house in the human world!"
"Tch, look kid, if you want REAL spices try looking around in the wild, try them I promise you that you'll throw away this garbage" Raven Gundam said
"Why you…!"
"Haruna!" I said trying to hold her back.
"Seriously… I thought you kids were loaded…" Raven Gundam said disappointed while shaking his head.
"Boss Boss! Why don't we take them instead!" Aries suggested
"Take them?"
"Yeah, Yeah! Sell them in the black market!"
"You know that's against Raider code" Raven Gundam said.
"But Boss…!"
"No, let them go" Raven Gundam said.
"You're… letting us go?" Mei said.
"Yeah, we're just after your valuables."
"Then… why did you do this to the town?" Fate said pointing at the ruins.
"Whoa, whoa, we only pillage but we don't kill! Its against Raider Code!" Raven Gundam said.
"Raider… Code"? I asked.
"Yeah, Raiders only live to take valuables, but we never hurt or kill!"
"Wow…" Milhi said amazed.
"You must be thinking of Bandits… now those guys are something else… they steal and kill… and they leave nothing behind… so you can say that this was their doing" Raven Gundam said.
"Being a Raider sounds… cool" Taiga said.
"Hehe then why don't you join us after you mission?" Raven Gundam said.
"Why not?" Taiga said.
"Being a Raider? It doesn't suit you" Shining Gundam said.
"What? Who asked for your opinion anyway?" Taiga said angrily
Shining Gundam said nothing
"Hey hey, I thought chosen children and Gundam weren't supposed to be fighting?"
"Yeah well, he started it! If I could I'd rather have you as my Partner Raven Gundam!" Taiga said coldly
"Kh…!" Shining Gundam said walking away
"Whoa whoa, me your partner? Not gonna happen, that saving the world thing isn't really what im cut out for. Besides being a Raider is much more fun!"
"Wish I became a Raider instead of some chosen child!" Taiga said while laughing
"Miss Aisaka… you should really apologize to Shining Gundam…" Mei said sadly.
"No way! I don't want him hampering my decisions! I want to do things my way!" Taiga said
"Hey I like you free-spiritedness but the little lady is right, you should apologize to your partner" Raven Gundam said.
"No way!"
Raven Gundam sighed along with Mei.
"I… was wrong about you guys" Milhi said
"Hey don't worry about it doll-face, we may live like this but hurting anyone is just plain wrong"
"D-doll face?"
"Hey! Show some respect!" Nagi yelled.
"Whoa, sorry there princess! Didn't mean to get on your bad side!" Raven Gundam said.
"Nagi!" Milhi said scolding her
"I-im sorry" Nagi said looking down.
"Boss…!" Aries said trying to force his boss to take one of them
"No Aries. Okay you girls are free to go, come on boys lets get going." Raven Gundam said.
"Th-thank you" Mei said.
"Think nothing of it, but if we ever run into you again we're taking your valuables!"
We then giggled, these Raiders are pretty nice guys... if you don't have any valuables that is.
We picked up our things and put them back into our bag, and Haruna was still grumbling.
They were walking off in the distance when Aries's visor glowed yellow
Aries let out a roar.
"Aries! What's wrong with you?" Raven Gundam said.
"CHOSEN CHILDREN!" Aries said as it rushed to attack us.
Before it did Raven Gundam was able to stop him.
"Stop it Aries! What gotten into you?" Raven yelled.
"KILL! CHOSEN CHILDREN!" Aries yelled again.
"No! Its against Raider Code!" Raven Gundam yelled.
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" Aries yelled over and over again.
"Get out of here! It looks like he's serious! RUN!" Raven Gundam yelled while the rest of his Raiders tried to hold Aries back.
We ran, and, we just kept on running… what happened to Aries? There was just too much to think about…
"Aries! Get a grip! We don't kill!" Raven Gundam said still trying to restrain his friend.
Aries let out a roar and it went out of control, and knocked all the Raiders including Raven Gundam back and went after us.
It boosted using its thrusters and caught up with us in no time.
"I-it caught up?" Fate said.
"Okay, there's nothing holding you back now Gundam! Gundamize!" Nanoha said taking out her G-Vice
"If they will so will we! Victory! Gundamize!" Milhi said taking out her G-Vice too
But nothing happened.
"What? Why can't you Gundamize?" Nanoha said.
"I-I don't know…!" Gundam said as Aries charged at us firing is vulcans wildly.
"Get back!" Exia said shielding me from bullets.
"Ah!" I said while taking cover, "Exia!"
"These shots are nothing to us! But if you get hit… I'd rather not imagine what would happen!" Exia said blocking with this shield.
"Aries!" Raven Gundam called out followed by his fellow Raiders.
Aries paid no attention to his friend and still kept on attacking us.
Rave Gundam then punched his friend, and it made him angry. It loaded ammo into its guns and fired at all of his comrades… but something was wrong… those bullets were different… when it hit them some purple thing consumed each one of them…
"That's…!" F91 said.
We watched helplessly as they turned into monsters, infront of us.
"Gh…! What is this? Guys! Snap out of it!" Raven Gundam said still being strong.
"WE KILL CHOSEN CHILDREN NOW!" Aries said looking as the purple thing consumed his friend,
"Ar…ies…" Raven Gundam's last words were as he mutated into a monster… his wings changed, and so did his armor… the same could be said at his henchmen… they looked more monstrous than ever…
"The Regeneration Program…!" Gundam said
"But... in bullets?" X said
"Raven Gundam!" Taiga yelled out
The once Raven Gundam attacked Taiga and almost hit her.
"Snap out of it!" Taiga yelled
"Miss Aisaka!" Mei said running to help her
"Mei!" Wing Gundam said as he followed
"Mei! Wing!" Haruna yelled as the rest of us were surrounded.
Nagi took our her G-Vice as it analyzed the Zaku's: "Zaku, Rookie Level machine… they use different weapons and are dangerous in numbers, its special attack is the Zaku Bombardment… so any ideas?" Nagi said.
"We fight" Nanoha said.
"I like that" Nagi said.
"Gundam! Hyper Bazooka!"
"X Beam Rifle!"
The attacks were strong enough to knock them back but they weren't defeated yet.
"Lets do this! F91! Beam Chainsaw!" Haruna commanded.
F91 released his Beam Chainsaws from his hands and slashed away.
"Here we go Zeta Gundam! Hyper Mega Launcher!" Mato said as the Launcher materialized in Zeta's hand
"Now its on!" Zeta said as he used the Beam Bayonet and knocked them back.
Milhi, and I were surrounded as well.
"Sorry guys" I said "Exia! GN Sword Dance!"
"And im sorry as well Raiders… Victory! Beam Rifle! Go!"
Exia moved in a rapid movement and slashed each one of the Raiders defeating them in one hit, Victory then fired his beam rifle and hit them, but it took several shots before they went down.
"Hey is it just me or do our weapons have an effect now?" X said,
"Maybe its because they're not so big" F91 said.
"Cool!" X said fighting back.
"Raven Gundam!" Taiga said to this creature as it kept on attacking her.
The creature wasn't responding though, it just kept on attacking and attacking.
"Miss Aisaka!" Mei said
"Mei! Get out of here!" Taiga said while dodging the attacks of that creature.
"Where's Shining Gundam?" Mei said
"I don't know and I don't care! He's useless! I don't need a partner to win!" Taiga yelled and she smashed a rock on the creature.
"Miss Aisaka…!" Mei said.
"KILL!" Aries said as it lunged for Mei, but Wing Gundam blocked it with his shield.
"Mei! Pay attention! We have to fight!" Wing said trying to hold back the wild Aries.
"Y-yes! Wing! Use your Beam Saber!"
Wing drew his Beam Saber and fought back, but Aries was much quicker and stronger that it knocked Wing back with one swipe of his hand… then again this Aries wasn't the Aries we saw for the first time… this one was mutated…
"Wing!"
"Guh…! The Regeneration Program made him even more stronger…!" Wing said.
Menawhile Taiga was still struggling with the once Raven Gundam
"Why… why did this have to happen…?" Taiga said to herself as she grabbed another rock and smashed it into this creature "I don't need that Shining Gundam…! I can defeat this thing alone!" Taiga yelled.
Mei heard it and ran over to Taiga
"Mei!" Wing said still parrying a sword blow from Aries
"TAKE THIS YOU!" Taiga said as she picked up another rock and smashed it on Raven…. But still to no avail.
Raven Gundam then hit Taiga with a swipe of his hand and knocked Taiga back causing her to hit a wall.
"Kh..!" Taiga said trying to get up, but she coughed in pain instead.
Raven Gundam then picked up a rock and was about to drop it on Taiga when Mei came in and shoved her out of the way.
"A-are you alright..? Miss Aisaka?" Mei said.
"Why did you help me? I can defeat this thing by myself!" Taiga yelled at Mei.
Mei then slapped Taiga.
"Mei…!" Taiga said holding her cheek from pain.
"Listen… you aren't alone! You have us with you! Stop being such a brat!" Mei said angrily.
Raven Gundam then lifted another rock and was about to smash Taiga and Mei when a flying kick came out of nowhere.
Taiga and Mei looked up, and saw Shining Gundam infront of them.
"Shining Gundam…!" Taiga said.
"Miss Misaki is right, you aren't alone Taiga!" Shining said fighting Raven Gundam off.
"Mei!" Wing said as he rushed to Mei's side
"What are you thinking?" Wing said scolding her.
"I had to do that! If I didn't then Taiga would have…!"
Raven Gundam then tried to smashing Shining Gundam with his giant arm repeatedly when Wing Gundam kicked it in the face knocking it back.
"Wing…!"
"You're right Shining… we aren't alone! We have our partners with us!"
"Yes!" Shining said pushing Raven Gundam away.
"Shining I…I…"
"Taiga?"
"I need you… I was fool to think that I could defeat this thing without you…"
"Taiga…"
Raven Gundam then tried smashing Shining Gundam again but Shining Gundam caught the blow.
"No more! I am not independent! I need help! I need you Shining Gundam!" Taiga said as she punched Raven Gundam knocking him back.
As Taiga punched Raven Gundam, her hand had some sort of… power on it…
"Taiga…! Your hand..!" Mei said
"What… is this?" Taiga said looking at it.
"Could this be… the legendary Gundam Soul?" Shining said
"Gundam Soul?" Taiga asked.
"Yes… this is only a power that some chosen children rarely have… and you have it…" Shining said
"What does it do?" Taiga asked.
Then her G-Vice began to glow, she took it out using her left hand and she saw on the screen:
GUNDAM SOUL CHARGE
"Gundam Soul… charge?"
"Taiga I think the G-Vice wants you to touch it" Mei said.
"Touch it? But what if something happens?"
"If something does… then I'll be here for you…!" Mei said.
Mei's G-Vice began to glow as well
"Mei! Your G-Vice!" Taiga said.
"Could this be…? Lets do this… together!" Mei said
"Mei! Alright!"
Taiga touched her G-Vice with her right hand with the Gundam Soul then she instinctively said:
"Gundam Soul! Charge!" Then a bright light engulfed Shining Gundam
The G-Vice showed on screen: EVOLUTION_
Mei and Taiga's G-Vice then glowed and it engulfed both Wing and Shining in a bright light
As they said:
"Wing Gundam Gundamize to…!"
"Shining Gundam! Gundamize to…!"
The bright light then faded
And there standing infront of us were two Gundam as they said
"Wing Gundam Katoki!"
"Gundam Spegiel!"
"Wing…" Mei said amazed
"Shining…" Taiga said amazed as well
Wing Gundam Katoki looked like Wing Gundam… but his wings were bigger and his armor looked cooler, and he could fly.
Gundam Spiegel was a Black Gundam with two blades on his arms, and he looked like he was wearing a helmet and he stood there with his arms folded… like a ninja.
We then saw the bright lights coming from Mei and Taiga's direction
"That light…!" Exia said.
"Did they… Gundamize?" X said.
Nanoha and Milhi's G-Vices then started beeping.
"Looks like when they Gundamized we can too! Milhi!" Nanoha said to Milhi
"Yes!" Milhi said in agreement
Our G-Vices shined and a bright light engulfed Gundam and Victory.
"Gundam Gundamize to…!"
"Victory Gundam Gundamize to…!"
the bright light then faded as they said:
"Perfect Gundam!"
"V2 Gundam!"
"Alright! lets give them a licking!" Nanoha said
"You got it!" Milhi said.
It took just Perfect Gundam and V2 to take all the mutated Raiders out.
Meanwhile with Mei and Taiga…
Aries and Raven Gundam charged at them, but the two didn't look scared instead Gundam Spiegel kicked Raven in the face, while Wing Gundam Katoki smashed Aries with his shield.
Mei took out her G-Vice and analyzed Wing Gundam Katoki:
"Wing Gundam Katoki… Champion Level Gundam… it is the Gundamized version of Wing Gundam, its speed, accuracy and power have been increased to suit its fighting style, its special attack is the Buster Rifle Burst"
Taiga did the same and analyzed Gundam Spiegel
"Gundam Spiegel, Champion Level Gundam… it is Shining Gundam Gundamized with more speed agility and precision as well as power, Spegiel moves and attacks are like a Ninjas… its special move is Spegiel Hurricane.
Mei looked at Wing Gundam's weapons:
Head Mounted Vulcans
Shoulder mounted Machine Cannons
Beam Saber
Bird Mode
Buster Rifle
Buster Rifle Full power
Taiga looked at her weapons too:
Kunai
Explosive Kunai
Twin Blades
Beam Net
Sturm Und Drang
"Lets do this Miss Aisaka!" Mei said.
"Yes lets!"
"Wing Gundam! Use your Buster Rifle!"
"Gundam Spiegel! Beat Rush!"
Wing Gundam drew his Buster Rifle, and it was bigger and it looked more deadly and took aim
In a flash Gundam Spiegel disappeared and appeared infront of the two then it started to punch them rapidly from all angles, Spiegel was so fast that they couldn't retaliate.
Wing Gundam then locked on.
"Spiegel! Get out of there!" Taiga commanded him.
Spiegel then disappeared and re-appeared infront of Taiga as Wing fired his Buster Rifle hitting both of the Raiders.
They took the hit… but they were regenerating…
"That's right! The Regeneration Program!"
"Then we'll have to finish them off in one hit…!" Mei said as she looked at Taiga and they nodded in unison.
"Wing Gundam! Buster Rifle Full Power!" Mei cried out.
"Gundam Spiegel! Sturm Und Drang!" Taiga cried out as well
Wing Gundam's eyes lit up as he took aim and focused all his energy into one powerful shot.
Gundam Spiegel disappeared then reappeared in front of the two mutated Raiders then started to spin rapidly, as his spinning was getting faster and faster, he extended the blades on his arms, so everytime he'd spin and the faster he got the blades would damage the opponent as he yelled: "STURM UND DRANG!"
Wing Gundam told Taiga and Mei to take cover, which they did, then Wing fired his Buster Rifle, the force from the Buster Rifle was sot powerful it scorched the ground and left a scar on the earth… some would say that it matched X's Satellite Cannon, Spiegel disappeared in time when the Buster Rifle shot hit the two and reappeared alongside Wing Gundam Katoki
It worked… the two were defeated and were disappearing into nothing…
Taiga and Mei looked out… and could say nothing but knelt down instead in prayer
Our group caught up with Taiga and Mei, and we saw them kneeling down praying… and couldn't help but do the same.
They then finished their prayer and we got up too as Wing and Spiegel reverted back to their old forms.
"Shining… I…"
"You're a fool."
"Hahaha… I am aren't I?"
"Yes, you are, but you are still my foolish partner, my foolish parter whom I will stick by!" Shining said.
Taiga smiled, then laughed.
"Wing… how did you Gundamize…? I didn't do anything…" Mei said
"That's what you think… but you gave us hope…"
"Hope…?"
"Yes… Taiga was losing hope and so were Shining and I… then you talked to Taiga again renewing her hope that she had lost"
"Wing…" Mei said embracing him.
"You guys Gundamized again! When's it gonna be my turn?" X said ranting
We shared a laugh, but our laughter was short…
We then made crosses to honor those who had died here, it was the least we could do…
"Regeneration Program… unforgivable...!" Taiga said getting up again.
"That's why we have to get to that town, who knows if its still there?" Nanoha said.
We moved on, looking back at this place which was once a town, and with little sadness in our hearts.