This is a bit late, but at least its on schedule... mostly. On the plus side, I can now celebrate this fanfic reaching a lenght of one hundred thousand words! YES!
The post was a bit rushed, so I apologize for any spelling or grammer errors in here, as I didn't have time to look through it thoroughly to get rid of those.
I think Sophia has more dialog in the scene with Cagalli then she's had in the entire fanfic up till now...
Uh... I'll talk more at the bottom. I don't want to spoil anything.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or any of the associated characters and mecha. The OC Christopher Dante is the property of Akatsuki Leader13. The other OCs in this chapter all belong to Solid Shark. The only thing in this chapter I own is the "Plot" (*cough* differences from episode *cough*), and the Murakumo Gundam... okay, so technically, Chris's particularly custom GINN is also mine, but...
Murrue, Mu, and Sophia watched as the guerillas ran about, preparing for battle. For them, it was essentially unavoidable, since it seemed ZAFT was attacking Tassil. Natarle had returned to the Archangel.
"What do you think we should do?" asked Murrue.
"Hmm…" said Mu. "If there's one thing about the Desert Tiger, it's that he's not known to be needlessly violent. But, of course, it's not as if I'm personally acquainted with the guy."
"Maybe not, but I know how he works," said Sophia. "Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of what's going on. It doesn't seem in keeping with the Tiger to attack a town full of civilians."
Mu shrugged. "So, what'll we do?" he asked, turning back to Murrue. "You think we should go too?"
"It wouldn't be a smart move to have the Archangel go anywhere," said Murrue. "We can't rule out the possibility of a second attack force. Someone should go, so how 'bout it, Commander?"
"You mean me?" asked Mu, almost incredulous.
"The Skygrasper is the quickest way to get there, right?" asked Murrue.
"That is true," said Mu.
"We'll both go," said Sophia. "If they're still there, one Skygrasper won't be enough to drive them off, and the Hawk here doesn't have my experience in atmospheric combat. The Archangel will be fine without me… after all, our main combat force is staying here."
With that, the two ran off.
"Just keep your eyes open you two!" said Murrue. "I'll also send a jeep with the doctor and some other crewmen to help!"
"Uh huh!" said Mu, idly waving back at her as he and Sophia continued to run.
A short while later, the Archangel's two Skygraspers passed over the resistance jeeps as they arrived at the burning ruins of Tassil.
"Whoa… this is bad," said Mu. "Total destruction. Huh?"
"Commander, you see that?" came Sophia's voice.
"Yeah," said Mu as the Skygraspers turned to fly over a large group of survivors.
"La Flaga here," said Mu, transmitting back to the Archangel. "There are survivors from the town. Or more precisely, a large number of people seem to be fine. I don't understand how or why."
"And the enemy?" asked Murrue.
"No sign of them," said Sophia.
Below, the resistance fighters jeeps stopped near the survivors, the two groups greeting each other with relief, while Mu and Sophia landed their Skygraspers nearby.
"Commander!" exclaimed Natarle as her own jeep stopped next to Mu's fighter. "What's going on?"
"Anyone who can move, give us a hand!" shouted Sahib. "Gather up the injured and bring them to this area!"
"Sahib!" came an elderly call. Sahib gasped slightly when he saw a slouched over figure holding a cane, being held up by a young boy.
"Yaru! Chief, you're alright!" cried Cagalli as she caught sight of the two and ran up to them.
"Father! Cagalli!" said Yaru happily.
"Yaru, I'm glad that you are okay," said Sahib. "Where are your mother and Enna?"
"Old man Shanzidan tripped and fell down while we were escaping, so they're looking after him," said Yaru. Sahib smiled slightly.
"Is that so?" he said, leaning forward and ruffling his son's hair slightly before turning his attention to the chief. "How many of our people were killed?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Not one life has been sacrificed," said the chief, drawing gasps of surprise from Sahib and Cagalli. "They issued a warning to us ahead of time. They said they were setting fire to the town and told us to run away."
"But… how can this be?" muttered Sahib. Sophia glanced at the ground, her growing suspicions now only short the word of Andrew Waltfeld from being utterly absolute.
"And then they set everything ablaze," continued the chief. "Food, ammunition, fuel… everything. Granted, we suffered no casualties. But what happens now? How are we expected to live?"
Many of the townsfolk and guerillas scowled angrily, and Sahib's hand curled into a fist.
"That dirty mangy dog," he said. "What must be going through that maniac's head?"
"Survival is possible y'know, as long you're alive," said Mu.
"What?" gasped Sahib, looking back the mobile armor ace with Cagalli.
"It appears that the Tiger has no intention of engaging in a serious battle with you," said Mu.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Sahib.
"This is likely payback for what you did to their forces last night," explained Mu, echoing Sophia's thoughts. "I have to say, it's pretty generous of the Tiger to let you off with something as relatively minor as this."
"You're kidding me!" exclaimed Cagalli, rushing into Mu's face. "You call this minor?! Having a town burnt to the ground is nothing to you? How can you even think of someone who'd do this as generous?" Sophia considered intervening, but decided to listen to the rest of Cagalli's spoiled, self-centered rant first—and to see how Mu would get himself out of this mess.
"No offense," said Mu. "I apologize if I upset you in any way. However, the enemy are professional soldiers. I'm sure even you can concede that if they were serious, it would've turned out much worse."
"That guy's nothing but a lousy, stinking coward," said Cagalli. "He burns down this town while were not even here and thinks of it as a victory?! Every time we go into battle, we manage to fight with courage! We even destroyed their BuCUEs in that last operation! That's why that jerk commander can only get us back with a cowardly response like this. To hell with the Desert Tiger!"
"Idiot!" said Sophia, drawing everyone's attention. They were all surprised to see Sophia glaring at Cagalli, who unconsciously stepped back. "You don't understand what war really is, do you? I fought with the Desert Tiger personally at El-Alamein, and I can tell you, he is no coward. He is a morally strong and courageous man who believes firmly in his duty to his home."
"Look around you!" said Sophia, motioning to the burning town and the townsfolk. "The Desert Tiger could've saved a lot of time simply burning down the entire town with everyone in it! How is warning them so that they don't end up dying pointlessly not generous?"
Sophia stepped forward, glaring daggers at Cagalli, who leaned away in fear of the older woman.
"Andrew Waltfeld does not call this a victory," said Sophia. "He calls this reality, getting even, for the soldiers of his that were lost to the Desert Dawn. You say you go into battle with courage and managed to destroy their BuCUEs in the last battle? Need I remind you that you only showed up at the last minute, and it was our pilots who lured them into a trap? Not a direct confrontation that destroyed them? Perhaps we wouldn't have survived without your help, but you certainly wouldn't have managed to bring down even one BuCUE without our help. And if you try to deny it, you're even more of an idiot than I thought."
Cagalli returned Sophia's glare angrily as the woman walked back to her Skygrasper, unwilling to stick around with self-centered brats like the blonde had just demonstrated herself to be.
Though they remained quiet, Sahib and Kisaka both agreed with Sophia's words.
"Sahib," called one of the guerillas.
"What is it?" asked Sahib.
"Over this way," said the guerilla, leading Sahib away.
"What is it? What's going on?" asked Sahib again when he reached the jeeps where some others were apparently waiting for him.
"It hasn't been that long since they withdrew from the area," said a guerilla sitting on the jeep. "We could still catch up to them!"
"What?" said Sahib incredulously.
"They'll be low on ammunition!" said a guerilla. "So now would be the perfect opportunity to attack them!"
"We will strike back at ZAFT," said a masked guerilla. "We can't just sit around here if we're being treated like this."
"Don't be ridiculous!" said Sahib. "If you're wondering what to do with your time, take care of the injured! Stay here and protect your wives and children. That is most important of all!"
"And how is that supposed to help our cause?" asked a third guerilla. "Look!" he said, pointing angrily over Sahib's shoulder at Tassil. "The Tassil we once knew is gone! Our homes, food, everything has been burnt to the ground! Are we supposed to sit back and weep with our wives and little ones?!"
"You can't be saying that we should reconcile ourselves to being the Tiger's lapdogs," said the masked guerilla. "Is that the case?"
Sahib was quiet, trying to restrain his anger over the stupidity and blind anger his men were showing.
"Time to go!" called on of the guerillas as the first of the jeeps drove away in pursuit of the ZAFT forces. Several more followed them.
"Ador!" called Sahib.
"Are you planning to go with them, Sahib?" asked Cagalli.
"They can't go alone," said Sahib grimly as another jeep pulled up and he rushed over to it.
"Huh? Sahib, wait, I'm coming with you!" said Cagalli, running up and trying to climb in the jeep, only to be knocked back by Sahib.
"Not now, you stay behind!" said Sahib as his jeep drove off. Cagalli coughed as she slightly breathed in the dust kicked up.
"Sahib!" she called, just before another jeep pulled up next to her.
"Climb aboard!" said Ahmed, the jeep's driver. Kisaka stood in the back of the vehicle. Cagalli nodded, and climbed into the passenger seat.
"Huh?" said Sahib, catching sight of the nearby jeep in the mirror. He looked back. "Cagalli, Ahmed, go back! You must not come with us!"
"We were the ones who defeated the BuCUEs the other day," said Ahmed, pulling the jeep up alongside Sahib's.
"We have no underground traps around here! Go back to the others!" said Sahib.
"There are lots of ways in which we can fight!" said Cagalli, smiling at the thought of proving the Earth Forces fighter ace wrong.
"I completely agree," said Ahmed before pushing the jeep faster. As he passed Sahib by, Kisaka and the guerilla leader shared a nod of understanding between them.
"I have to say, this is a land where both the wind and the people get very heated," commented Mu as the jeeps drove off.
"They're going to be wiped out!" said Natarle, shocked at Mu's calm attitude. "With they're mediocre equipment, they don't stand a chance against the BuCUEs!"
"You're right," said Mu. "What do we do?"
"Uh… don't ask me," said Natarle, suddenly understanding why Mu was so calm and complacent. "I haven't a clue."
"What did you just say?" asked Murrue. "They went after the enemy? But don't they realize how crazy that is?! Why didn't you try to stop them, commander, Sophia?"
"Like I could," said Mu. "They were so determined that if I'd tried, they'd attack us, and Sophia already did her part. More importantly… there are many injured here who need treatment. And there's the problem of food, especially water. What'll we do?"
Murrue was silent for a moment, considering her options. "It's clear there isn't a second attack force," said Murrue. "I'll have ensigns Yamato, Hirano, and Dante check up on them. We can't sit back and let them get killed. I'll have our remaining vehicles deliver water and medical supplies."
"Sounds good," said Sophia before the two pilots cut the communiqué.
"Crewmen Haw, order the Strike and Murakumo to initiate launch at once, with the GINN behind them on a Guul," ordered Murrue.
"Yes ma'am," said Miriallia. "Kira, Lacus, Chris? Prepare your machines for launch."
"Roger that," said the three simultaneously as the Strike and Murakumo were moved to the catapult.
"APU activated," said Mir over the hangar PA. "Connected to catapult. We'll attach the Aile Striker pack. Aile Striker, standby." As the Striker pack was attached, Miriallia continued. "All systems green. Course clear for launch. Strike, Murakumo, ready when you are."
With that, both mobile suits shot forth from the catapult, their brilliant Phase Shift armor activating as they blazed through the skies.
"APU activated, GINN connected to catapult. Guul operating at one hundred percent efficiency. All systems green. GINN, you are clear for launch."
Before Mir could quite finish, the GINN shot forth from the catapult, the Guul in close pursuit, and the platform opened up, the midnight blue mobile suit landing on it and blazing through the sky after its companions.
"Can't we go a little faster than this?" asked DaCosta as the strike force proceeded steadily through the desert.
"You're eager to get back, huh?" asked Andy.
"At the speed we're going, they'll catch up to us!" said DaCosta.
"Then we're meant to meet, it's fate," said Andy. "They're artillery trucks are no match against our BuCUEs." He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against his hands. "Whenever people are put to the test, I often hear them boast "I'd rather die". But do you think they honestly mean it?"
"Commander?" came the voice of the lead BuCUE pilot over the radio. "There are vehicles approaching us from behind. Six… no eight vehicles. They appear to be those of the resistance fighters."
"Huh?" said DaCosta.
"Maybe those people would rather die after all," commented Andy. Behind them, jeeps flew over the dunes, and a familiar blonde resistance fighter launch an RPG at the jeep that DaCosta heard coming and evaded.
"What now commander?" asked DaCosta.
"We have no choice, we're fighting back," said Andy calmly as DaCosta wheeled the jeep away.
"Go after the jeep," said a resistance fighter. "This time, we're hunting the Tiger!" With that, he launched another RPG towards the jeep, but one of the BuCUEs moved in the way, the projectile exploding harmlessly against the mobile suit's armor before it lifted one of its legs and attempted to crush the jeeps. The drivers pulled away in time, and Cagalli fired a grenade at the BuCUEs head, the explosion blinding the pilot, while Kisaka blasted another grenade at an exposed joint at the ankle, causing the BuCUE to collapse to the ground.
"Yeah!" said Ahmed.
"We did it!" cried Cagalli excitedly.
A missile truck fired at a BuCUE, but it jumped into the air, directly above the truck, and converted its legs to their high-speed caterpillar track mode. The BuCUE landed on the offending vehicle, crushing it entirely, and turned its attention to the remainder, chasing them.
The jeeps couldn't keep up with the BuCUE, and the two vehicles were crushed as well.
As the BuCUE converted back to its standard combat walking mode, Ahmed pulled his jeep underneath it, allowing Cagalli and Kisaka to fire grenades into its belly. Unfortunately, while the pilot was slightly shaken, the explosives inflicted no real damage to the BuCUE.
The BuCUE slowed down, getting behind the jeep, and lifted its leg.
"Jump off!" shouted Kisaka.
"Huh?" said Ahmed. Kisaka grabbed Cagalli and leapt from the jeep an instant before the BuCUE crashed its foot into the vehicle, sending the car and Ahmed flying.
"Ahmed!" cried Cagalli as the BuCUE set its foot back on the ground right next to the blonde and Kisaka. Seconds later, however, an RPG hit the BuCUE's shoulder.
Sahib shouted a battlecry of anger as he shouldered to more RPG launchers and fired, both grenades hitting the BuCUE directly, and drawing its attention away from Cagalli and Kisaka. As the BuCUE attempted to charge them, Sahib's jeep evaded it for a moment.
Sahib glanced at the downed BuCUE and the third BuCUE, which had largely ignored them up to this point, and thought back for an instant to the earlier complaints of his forces—forces now lying dead for meaningless, failed vengeance.
"Sahib!" called the driver, breaking the guerilla leader from his brief reverie as the combating BuCUE moved behind the jeep. Sahib shouldered his rocket launcher.
"Damn you!" he shouted.
In Waltfeld's jeep, DaCosta saw something on the radar.
"One heat source approaching from above," said DaCosta. "Commander, it's coming from…"
An instant later, a green dart of energy cut across the sky, hitting the desert sand near the BuCUE that was about to attack Sahib, drawing looks of shock from the pilot, Sahib, and Kisaka, who looked up to see a white and black winged mobile suit flying towards them.
"It's the Murakumo, really?" said Cagalli.
The Murakumo fired another shot from its rifle, once again hitting the sand near the BuCUE.
"I missed it," murmured Kira, somewhat surprised. His aim was precise, it should've hit… "Right, the heat convection must be causing it!"
The Murakumo touched down on the ground, running across the sands for a moment as Kira quickly typed new modifications into the OS and sent a signal back to the Strike and GINN behind him—both somewhat slower than the Murakumo in atmospheric flight.
As he finished, Kira leapt back into the air, and again took aim with his rifle. Dodging a short missile barrage from the BuCUE, Kira pulled the trigger, hitting the hardpoint connection between the BuCUE and its missile pod. The pod detached from the BuCUE and exploded behind it.
"Well…" said Andy, putting aside his binoculars.
"The weapon from the Earth Forces?" asked DaCosta. "They came to rescue them?"
"Check out that beam targeting," said Andy. "Has he instantly included the heat convection within the parameters? Hmm."
The Murakumo landed, and spread its shield to block a pair of incoming missiles.
"Three enemy machines… but one has been disabled," said Kira. "Huh?"
The Murakumo fired its Igelstellungs, destroying the large incoming projectile.
"That… that was a bazooka round from a Cattus rifle!" exclaimed Kira as the Strike and GINN arrived behind him. "Guys, look out! There are GINNs here!"
No sooner had he said that than a trio of GINNs appeared, along with a CGUE, all of them painted in a distinctive dark grey with a bird feather emblem on the shoulders.
"Those are…?" said DaCosta in shock. Andy smirked.
"I'll have to thank him later," said Andy, watching as the third BuCUE got back up, the out of alignment components of its leg restored. He picked up the radio. "Kirkwood."
"Yes sir?" asked Kirkwood, the pilot of the newly standing machine.
"Let me get in and pilot that BuCUE," he said.
"Commander?" asked DaCosta.
"Some things you can't be sure of until exchanging fire with one another," said Andy.
Meanwhile, in the Strike, Lacus stared in horror at the four humanoid mobile suits standing on a nearby dune.
"The Grey Demons," breathed Lacus. "Kira, Chris, watch out! Those machines belong to the Grey Demons! That CGUE pilot is the Grimaldi Falcon!"
"What?!" exclaimed Chris. Kira shared Lacus's horror. Even the citizens of Heliopolis knew all about the fearsome reputation of the Grimaldi Falcon and his Grey Demons.
"Yo, Falcon," said Andy over the radio as he climbed into Kirkwood's BuCUE.
"Long time no see, Andrew," said Falcon, his face appearing on a display screen. "You seem to be having a little trouble here."
Andy smirked. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I've got a favor to ask. Can you keep the Strike and the GINN busy while me and my boys deal with the Murakumo? There's something I want to check out."
"Certainly," said Falcon. "I'm curious to see how I'd fair against an Earth Forces mobile suit anyways."
"Ah geez," said Kira, spotting the downed BuCUE. "The third BuCUE's up and running again."
There was a pause for a moment as no one dared to breathe… then everything started up again.
"Assume formation delta," ordered Andy as the trio of BuCUEs charged the Murakumo. The GINN trio charged Chris, and the CGUE flew in for the Strike.
The BuCUEs all drove past the Murakumo in rapid succession, shaking him up, and preventing him from seeing the missile incoming. The explosive hit the Murakumo's face place, but was absorbed by the Phase Shift armor.
Kira drove the Murakumo into the air, dodging a few more missiles, and a BuCUE suddenly leapt up in front of him. The Igelstellungs fired, but the BuCUE twisted underneath them, and slammed the Murakumo with its forward legs, knocking Kira towards the ground.
"Even if you only use regular missiles, the Phase Shift loses its effectiveness after seventy-six hits," said Andy. The Murakumo's thrusters blazed to life, carrying Kira back to his feet. "When that happens, the rifle simultaneously runs out of power!"
Missiles blazed in at Kira, hitting the ground around the Murakumo, a few impacted on its armor. Waltfeld's BuCUE landed, and the other two retook their positions on its flank.
"Now, you weird and wonderful pilot, how you gonna get out of this jam?" said Andy.
Meanwhile, Lacus and Chris were prevented from helping Kira by the Grey Demons.
The shots from the Grimaldi Falcon were incredibly precise, hitting the most lightly armored sections of the Strike, and blowing off two of the binders on the vulnerable and non-PSA protected Aile Striker.
Lacus's attempts to return fire consistently failed as she grit her teeth. The Grimaldi Falcon's CGUE was no different from any other, but the man's handling of it was superb. Tossing away her rifle, Lacus grabbed one of the beam sabers and closed in, evading fire from the shield vulcan. She stabbed forward, but the Falcon intercepted with his shield, deflecting the blade upward.
Undeterred, Lacus turned the Strike's head to face the CGUE's other hand, and fired the Igelstellungs, damaging the wrist and piercing the rifle with a half-dozen rounds. She immediately activated her verniers, pulling the Strike back. Falcon let go of his weapon and jumped back as well, as the machine gun and its ammo exploded between them.
As undeterred by the destruction of his weapon as Lacus was by the failure of her beam saber attack, Falcon simply grabbed the CGUE's sword and activated his verniers, pushing himself towards the Strike at full speed. He stabbed forward, but the sword was intercepted by the Strike's shield, and Lacus in turn slashed down with her beam saber.
Falcon intercepted with his shield, and for a moment, the two machines seemed to be at a standstill.
Then, Lacus punched up her verniers, and used the superior strength of the Strike to push the CGUE back. Falcon grimaced slightly at the fact that the task was made easier by the soft sand of the battlefield.
Chris, meanwhile, was dancing about wildly on his Guul. While not as agile as the Aile Strike and Murakumo were, the Guul-equipped GINN was adequate enough for Chris to dodge.
Taking careful aim with his beam rifle, Chris shot off two rounds in rapid succession, but his maneuvers caused him to miss the evading GINNs.
"Oh well, looks like its time to be stupid," said Chris. He began firing the rifle wildly, and one shot actually ended up piercing one of the GINNs, the pilot blinded for an instant by the sand kicked up from the erratic shots.
Unfortunately, the rifle chose that moment to short out on him.
"Damn," muttered Chris, flying low to the ground. He tossed the rifle away and glanced around, realizing that he must've hit on of the GINNs.
"Oh crap, now I'm in trouble," he muttered to himself. Taking out a Grey Demon generally meant drawing the wrath of the rest down on your head.
Chris glanced up as his radar picked up. The Cattus-equipped GINN was right in front of him.
The Coordinator pilot smirked as a crazy idea suddenly came to mind. Sending a set of special instructions to the Guul, he leapt backwards off of the flight platform. The Guul continued forward, crashing into the surprised GINN pilot, and launched missiles point blank, blowing away the arms. The Guuls thrusters continued to burn, driving it forward, past the GINN, knocking the machine to the ground.
In the instant before he was attacked by the other GINN, Chris grabbed the MMI-M7S machine gun—the same one used by CGUE's—from his GINN's back waist and pumped the momentarily vulnerable GINN full of bullets.
As the machine exploded, Chris turned his attention to the last GINN, which was armed with only the standard equipment.
Setting his rifle aside, Chris, acting on what he knew of the Grey Demons, drew the CGUE sword from his back, dropped his shield, and held the blade in a two-handed stance.
He wasn't surprised when his enemy holstered their rifle and assumed a similar stance.
Gritting his teeth, Kira ran mental calculations as quickly as he could. He soon concluded that the only way things could've turned in this particular manner was if the BuCUEs were being led by the Desert Tiger himself. Meaning that third machine was being handled by a pilot far more experienced than him.
But Kira wouldn't be intimidated by that.
As Waltfeld's latest missile barrage closed in at his back, Kira's eyes narrowed. He pulled the Murakumo back, and the homing systems in the missiles tried to keep up with him, but instead crashed into each other, exploding harmlessly away from the Murakumo.
Pushing his controls, Kira brought the Murakumo around, and flew over the sands straight back at the BuCUEs. Shifting to the right, he dropped the Murakumo's expanded shield straight into the face of Waltfeld's left wingman, the turretless unit. Spinning around, he fired off a quick round at the unit, but the pilot managed to dodge—barely.
Andy spun his BuCUE around, charging the Murakumo once more.
"Attack him separately!" he ordered. "Let's try and throw him off-balance."
As the BuCUE fired missiles, Kira ducked the Murakumo down and blazed forward once more, evading the missiles entirely. The turretless BuCUE appeared in front of him and attempted to attack him with its body.
The Murakumo reached up and grabbed on of the Tsukuyomi—recently modified to improve their beam saber mode—and cut off one of the BuCUE's wings as he flew past, effortlessly evading its pathetic attempts to counterattack.
Kira charged at the other two BuCUEs. One of them launched a massive missile barrage. Kira's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly pulled back on the levers, turning the Murakumo on its back, and kicking up a massive sand cloud that impacted and destroyed the missiles.
Andy moved his BuCUE around the dust cloud while the other pilot jumped over it. But as he cleared the dirt, he screamed in horror as the Murakumo emerged right beneath him, rifle raised.
Kira pulled the trigger, the beam piercing the BuCUE's cockpit and turret, annihilating it as Kira stood the Murakumo back on the sand.
All around, people stared in surprise, the Grey Demons backing off as they watched the sudden turn of the tide.
"Now you've taken this way too far!" said Andy, charging at the Murakumo.
Kira, seeing Waltfeld's BuCUE head at him, shifted to the side, avoiding its leap, and lashed out with the Tsukuyomi, cutting off one of the legs, which landed in the sand.
"Hurry DaCosta, Falcon, we're retreating," said Andy.
"Right sir," said DaCosta.
"Well, quite impressive," said Falcon as he and the surviving GINN pulled back. "These pilots are first-rate, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh yeah," said Andy. Suddenly, the Desert Tiger grinned.
"Heh. Now that's my kind of guy," he said, thinking of the Murakumo pilot. "Been awhile since I had this much fun."
The Murakumo, Strike, and GINN stood in the desert, somehow looking like champion arena fighters standing victorious in the sand.
The three pilots left their cockpits and removed their helmets as they approaching the guerillas, Lacus and Chris taking up flanking positions behind Kira.
"You trying to get yourselves killed?" asked Kira, scowling. "In a place like this… there's absolutely no reason for any of yo—"
"That's the last straw!" said Cagalli, frustrated with being, in effect, called an idiot again, this time by someone her own age. She rushed forward, grabbing the front of Kira's pilot suit. "You heartless moron! Look!" She indicated Ahmed's body, lying on the ground, the guerilla boy already dead from his injuries.
"They all fought desperately!" said Cagalli. "We're all fighting desperately! All so that we can protect the things and people that are so important to us!"
Frustrated with the blonde idiot, Kira broke from her grip and viciously slapped her, surprising everyone, especially Lacus.
"What the hell can you protect when your feelings are the only weapons you've got?!" demanded Kira. Cagalli stared back at Kira in shock.
Lacus closed her eyes, her mind and heart echoing Kira's words in agreement.
Author's Note: *Giggling like a schoolgirl* Yes! That was fun! I think that may have been the most enjoyable battle I've written yet. Not because anything really changed between Kira and the BuCUEs, but because he didn't enter SEED mode here. That's something I don't think is shown very often. Additional instances of the SEED being used, sure, even new characters with the SEED, but I find it's very rare for a time that Kira actually used the SEED to be removed and done without him activating it. In fact, I don't think I've ever actually seen it, even when Kira had five allies helping him (the author always found some way to make Kira struggle...).
Chris gets to take down two GINNs from an elite team single-handedly. Note that, relatively speaking, those pilots were only 'rookies' within the Grey Demons, but it's still quite the accomplishment. I was originally going to include his brief duel with the last GINN (which he would've been losing, btw), and a bit more of Lacus's fight with the Grimaldi Falcon himself, but I decided to skip it.
Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed that! Now, I must go take a long break. I've been working my butt off for awhile now.
Please leave a review! Ja ne!