And now, it's time for one of the major events of Char's Counterattack: the fall of Fifth Luna! Will it go as it did in the original anime, or will the mere presence of robots powered by hot blood and awesome serve to stave off tragedy?
Chapter 38 – Disaster Imminent! The Descent of Fifth Luna!
In spite of all the close calls, the spies had managed to get some extremely valuable information regarding the alliance between Neo Zeon and the Lunar Kingdom, as well as Char's plans, and made their reports once they had returned to the Ra Calium and Nadesico.
The two forces, led by Char and Gym Ghingnham, would guard the captured mining asteroid colony Fifth Luna while it was set to crash into the space colony of Neo Ireland. As a result, both colonies would plummet to Earth, dealing incalculable damage to the Earth's environment on impact.
"But why?" Kamille exclaimed in horrified disbelief. "Char fought alongside us against the Titans, even when they had sided with Axis! He would really try to destroy the Earth?!"
"Oh, he was an ally?" Kei said. "I find it hard to believe that he'd still do this after he had been with you guys."
"He said something about wanting to turn everyone in Newtypes," Loran answered. "That way, we'd all understand each other without any misconceptions."
"That sounds kinda nice," Sai Saichi chimed in. "If everyone understood each other, we'd be able to settle conflicts without fighting at all, whether through Gundam Fights or through war."
"Yes, but his method of going about fostering mutual understanding is completely wrong," George added; "I mean, he honestly thinks that dropping a pair of huge rocks onto the Earth will foster mutual understanding?"
"We get it," Tara groaned; "Char's nuts, he wants to mess stuff up, we have to stop him, blah-blah-blah. The 'what' is something we know; the 'why' we can figure out later; right now, let's figure out the 'how'."
"Agreed," Amuro replied.
Nicol woke up suddenly to find himself in bed inside a quiet house. He heard and felt a gentle sea breeze blew in through the open window. Standing near the door were two people - one he recognized, one he didn't. The one he knew was Lacus Clyne, daughter of Supreme Councilman Siegel Clyne.
"I was afraid you'd never wake up, Nicol," Lacus said. "But I'm glad to see you pulled through as well."
"...As well?" the green-haired young man asked, still a bit woozy.
"Yes. You and another person were saved by a man from the Junk Guild;" answered the other person; he was a young man with black hair, closed eyes, and robes that suggested him to be a man of the cloth. "I believe his name was Lowe Gear. He had the both of you treated, and even salvaged enough parts of the Blitz to make a new suit."
Nicol tried to get up, but winced as a still-healing wound in his side started throbbing.
"Please don't try to move too much," the man said with great concern. "You may be a Coordinator, but you still need your rest." As Nicol laid back again, he heard someone else enter.
"Lacus, is he..."
"Yes," she said to the newcomer. "Just now. You can chat all you want once you get into bed."
Nicol looked up and saw Kira standing in the doorway, bandaged up just like he was. Even in his weakened state, he quickly realized that this was the pilot of the Strike - the mobile suit that had almost killed him.
Yet the ZAFT pilot couldn't bring himself to hate him. After all, they were both soldiers. He watched Kira, with Lacus' help, slowly make his way to the adjacent bed and lie down.
"I know you just woke up, Nicol, but try to rest more," Lacus said kindly. "Good night, Kira. Good night, Nicol."
"Good night, Lacus," Kira said as he got under the covers. The singer smiled one more time as she flipped off the lights and closed the door. The two pilots stared up at the ceiling in silence for a few moments, hoping sleep would come quickly. But it wasn't long before Kira finally turned onto his side, and for the first time, spoke to the Blitz's pilot.
"Hey. You're the pilot of the Blitz, right?"
"Yeah. And you're the Strike's pilot?"
"I was...but let's not think of each other that way. You probably heard already, but my name's Kira...Kira Yamato."
"I guess we can do that. I'm Nicol Amalfi."
"Let's talk more in the morning, okay?" Kira said before turning back over.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow...Kira Yamato," Nicol said.
The Shuffle Alliance, Ryo of the Cyber Beast Force, Ryoma and Yoko met in a lounge, having been called together by Harry Ord.
"My friends," he began; "I believe now may be the best time to take back the Lunar Kingdom and reinstall Queen Dianna as its ruler."
"Huh? Why now?" Sai Saici asked. "There's the whole situation with Fifth Luna..."
"But as our spies stated, Gym will be leading the majority of his forces into battle as Char's ally."
"Oh, I get ya," Chibodee said. "That will leave just a few chumps behind at the palace!"
"Exactly," Harry replied with a smirk. "Our combined abilities should be more than sufficient to breach their defenses - especially with the plan I have spent every moment I could spare on."
Harry picked up a large piece of paper that was folded numerous times, and unfolded it. It was a copy of the palace grounds, with scribbled notes written all over it.
"Heh, you've been busy," Ryoma quipped. "I'd just barge in there and start kicking ass, but it looks like this could work too."
Harry smiled, and launched into a description of his plan...
The Sazabi and Turn X flew alongside a massive asteroid on the extreme edge of Earth's orbit. Joining them was a large group of Lunar Kingdom and Neo Zeon mobile suits.
"So, you're going to make a colony crash into another colony?" Gym asked with a chuckle. "Very interesting idea, Char Aznable. Of course, I could simply sweep over Neo Ireland with the Turn..."
"Both colonies need to be relatively intact for this plan to work, Ghingnham," Char replied. "Besides, based on the information you provided, the Turn X is only running at twenty percent of its full potential - not to mention it's had to have its arm replaced. It's in no condition to be using a weapon like that."
"Commander, two ships headed this way!" a Neo Zeon soldier called out. "One is confirmed to be Londo Bell's Ra Calium."
"And the other?"
"Unknown. But it appears that several mobile suits and Super Robots are deploying from both ships! Several smaller mobile weapons are deploying as well!"
Nu Gundam, Mazinkaiser, the Aestivalis of Akito and the three female pilots, Gurren Lagann, Zeta Gundam, Black Getter, Turn A Gundam, Granlif, Basara's custom Valkyrie and Combattler V were all flying toward them. A large contingent of Jegans provided additional fighting power to the group.
"There they are," Amuro said, leering. "Everyone, don't engage the enemy commanders unless you absolutely have to! Our priority is to prevent Fifth Luna from reaching Neo Ireland!"
"Basara, I find it odd that you're out here," Janus said. "Just the other day you said you didn't want to fight."
"After the whole mess back at the Tokyo Settlement went south," Basara replied. "I guess I had second thoughts. I'm not gonna say I like fighting, but I'm not gonna just sit back while you guys are out there givin' it your all!"
Basara whipped out his guitar.
"EVERYONE! LISTEN TO MY SONG!"
The rock star played a few riffs of Totsugeki Love Heart as DREAM moved forward into battle, then began his other role - keeping the enemy distracted with his music. As DREAM approached the asteroid, Amuro and Kamille accelerated, and saw Char's Sazabi.
"Kamille," Amuro ordered; "Let me deal with Char. Find a way inside and do whatever you can to stop those engines!"
"No, Commander; Not until I get an answer from him. Besides, if we work together, we might be able to stop him!"
"Commander," one of the Jegan pilots called out; "The enemy has sealed off any available entrances to Fifth Luna with some sort of high-powered beam shielding!"
Amuro's Newtype senses kicked in, and Nu Gundam dodged a red funnel.
"Sorry, Amuro, but no one in your little outfit is going to be able to stop Fifth Luna," Char said grimly as the Sazabi drew its beam saber. "Even a Super Robot can't push something that large back...not when it's aided by nuclear engines!"
"Quattro!" Kamille cried out as he lashed out at Char with his own beam saber, which was promptly parried.
"Kamille...you would still refer to me by that name? Even when I fight as the leader of Neo Zeon? You're as naive as ever..."
Nu and Zeta would clash repeatedly with Sazabi, with neither side able to land a blow.
Evangelion Unit 04 and GaoGaiGar readied themselves as their enemy reared up once more. Meanwhile, FuRyu, RaiRyu, and the two other dragon brothers grouped together with them. Their enemy was one of the 31 Machine Primevals. Each one resembled a human body part, but each was more powerful than even the Four Machine Kings combined.
Their foe this time was ZX-05, a monstrosity that looked like a human spine with very short ribs that served as legs. They were fighting near the Great Wall of China, the largest of all structures made by man until the first PLANTs were created.
"Kaworu, I know your specialty is fighting Angels rather than Zonder," Guy said; "But your assistance is most appreciated."
But before they could act, ZX-05 suddenly bolted and merged with the Great Wall itself. Numerous unlucky tourists were swallowed by the wall in the process. And within moments, those same tourists clawed their way out, now in the shape of Zonder Robos.
"What? They can produce Zonder Robos that quickly?!" the pilot of GaoGaiGar exclaimed. "Everyone, deal with the Zonder Robos! I'll handle the Primeval!" With that, GaoGaiGar took off, while the Evangelion and GGG robots opened fire on the enemy Zonder Robos.
The spine-shaped Primeval then embedded its body into the ground and started stretching out, extending itself higher and higher into space, with Guy putting the pedal to the metal just to keep up.
However, rising to such a high elevation under its own power was taking a toll on the mech's engines as the GS-Ride pushed the parts to their operational limits. Even so, Guy finally managed to overtake the Primeval.
But then the monstrosity opened its mouth, and Guy saw what appeared to be super-energized magma rising from below. He wasted no time in putting up a defense. Just as the super-energized magma spouted out, GaoGaiGar raised its arm to block the attack with a Protect Shade.
As if things couldn't get any worse, the engines on StealthGao finally gave out, and gravity took over, causing GaoGaiGar to fall to Earth.
"Guy!" Mikoto cried out as she watched this from GGG Orbital Base.
"Ushi, what's Amaterasu's position?" Geki called out to one of the operators, a short fat man with dark hair, especially squinted eyes, and a pointed nose.
"Its in the upper atmosphere...but the estimated distance from GaoGaiGar is 28,000! It might not make it in time!"
Mikoto gasped, dropped to her knees and began to cry with her teeth clenched from the knowledge that her beloved would be lost to her. As she cried, the red-haired young woman sobbed to no one in particular.'
"Please...someone...anyone...save Guy! I can't lose him! The world can't lose him! Please, if anyone can hear me...save...Guy..."
But someone, perhaps fate itself, did heed her prayers. A white Threshold opened up, and out swooped a massive robotic bird. As it sped towards GaoGaiGar, it shifted back to a mech that GGG recognized: Raideen.
Raideen grabbed GaoGaiGar and immediately started firing its own engines at full speed to slow their descent.
"Are you okay, Guy Shishioh?" the pilot of Raideen said.
"Thank you...and I don't even know your name." Guy said. Moments later, a massive golden ship, GGG's high speed Amaterasu vessel drew near.
"We can save the introductions for later. For now, I must deal with the Primeval!"
"What?"
Amaterasu extended a large grabber arm, which took hold of GaoGaiGar. With that, Raideen took off back towards the heavens.
"Soldato-J," Raideen's pilot said. "Guy Shishioh is safe and sound. Now we must destroy this Primeval before it deals any more damage!"
"Excellent work, Akira Hibiki!" the voice of Pizza said. "J-Ark has reached the core. I will deal with the core, while you deal with the body on the surface!"
Deep within the Earth's mantle, fifty kilometers beneath the surface, a white battleship with green, gold and black accents approached the other end of ZX-05. This mighty vessel, the J-Ark, had only three beings as its crew.
First was Kaidou Ikumi. Unbeknownst to anyone but his fellow crew, he was similar to Mamoru in that he could purify Zonder Cores.
Next was Tomoro. Once the Machine King Pinchernone, Kaidou had purified it, returning it to its original shape as the J-Ark's main control AI.
Finally, was Soldato-J. Once the Machine King Pizza, he too had been purified by Kaidou. His body was now covered in yellow-green armor with a massive green scarf, black tights and black gloves. On his arm was a reddish gem resembling a four-pointed star that emitted power very much like the G-Stone...the J-Jewel. Soldato-J now served as J-Ark's captain...as well as the pilot of its alternate form.
"I've been waiting for you, Spine of the 31 Machine Primevals! FUUUUUSION!"
J levitated into the air, and melded into the wall behind him. This initiated the ship's transformation process.
"J-BIRD! PLUG OUT!"
The entire bridge of the ship separated from the fuselage.
"MEGA...FUUUUUSION!"
The guns on the top of the ship disconnected as well, and split into two equal halves. Meanwhile, the fuselage transformed into the torso and legs of its alternate form, while the two sections of the gun section changed into arms and connected to sockets in the shoulders. Finally, the bridge reconnected to the fuselage, forming the robot's head. The green and gold fins on the head now served as a crown of sorts. A massive J-Jewel extended out from its head, and the crown moved up, revealing its eyes.
"KIIIING J-DEEEEEEEER!"
"Akira Hibiki...King J-Der is ready to commence the attack," Kaidou said.
"Ready! GOD-O BIRD...CHAAAAAAAAANGE!"
Raideen switched back to its bird form as it reached the outer atmosphere, then doubled back and charged right into the Machine Primeval's throat.
"GOD-O...THUNDAAAAAAAH!"
Meanwhile, on the other end, King J-Der did a quick spin kick to heavily damage Spine Primeval then pointed all the guns on its right arm at the crumbling menace.
"MASER CANNONS...FIRE!"
With a single salvo of powerful blasts, King J-Der blasted the entire lower part of the Primeval's body, while Raideen was annihilating the upper part from the inside.
When all was said and done, King J-Der held a Zonder Core in its hand.
"Five down...twenty-six to go..." J said grimly.
Harry's plan had gone splendidly. With so many accomplished fighters aiding him, and having secured the cooperation of much of the castle's staff, Harry made quick work of the palace guards. Ryoma kicked open the doors to the grand throne room; the chamber was colored mostly white and had high vaulted ceilings that seemed to touch the void. Sitting on the throne at the far end was Agrippa Maintainer, who was cowering in fear.
"Lieutenant Ord...y-y-you're not supposed to be in here!" the traitorous minister cried.
"Agrippa Maintainer..." Harry said angrily. "I am placing you under arrest for high treason against the throne!"
"P-please forgive me! I was just doing what I..."
"Spare us the theatrics, bro," Sai Saici said, rolling his eyes as Harry picked him up by the collar and tossed him off the throne. The minister tumbled down the short flight of stairs, allowing Sai to sit on top of him, grinning impishly.
"I assume he's going to stand trial, Sir Harry," George said. "Killing him would be foolish, I say."
"Indeed he will," Harry replied. "Queen Dianna believes that everyone deserves a fair trial, even treasonous plotters."
"Of course, with so much hard evidence and so many witnesses willing to testify, it's a foregone conclusion, really," Chibodee commented before kneeling down to address the prone minister. "You're gonna be locked up for a loooooooong time, pal."
Agrippa buried his face in the thick rug and sobbed.
The battle at Fifth Luna was a deadlock. Neither side was able to overpower the other. While DREAM had Super Robots, Neo Zeon and the Lunar Kingdom had sheer numbers.
But in the midst of the deadlock, the asteroid drew ever closer to Neo Ireland. As Char batted Kamille and Amuro away once more, he noticed that the asteroid was close enough.
"Start the nuclear engines now!" Char ordered. "That way, they won't be able to push it back; Gym, Gyunei, prepare to withdraw!"
Gym, who had been fighting Loran, scowled. As Loran fired shots from its powerful beam rifle, the Lunar general dodged before bolting. Gym scowled, hating to leave a battle unfinished, especially against the Turn X's brother.
"We'll have to leave our battle for another time, Loran Cehack," he declared; "Until then, enjoy the fireworks!"
"Damn it, they're getting away!" Koji cried angrily.
"No, Koji, leave them," Amuro ordered. "We have to stop Fifth Luna somehow!"
"First Groizer-X, now this?!" Janus groaned. "What is it with this world and falling objects, anyway?"
"Koji! Simon! Janus! Combattler Team! Try to divert the asteroid!" Bright ordered. The four Super Robots zoomed in to the side of Fifth Luna facing Earth and managed to grab onto it.
"All right, people," Janus said. "Let's shove this hunk of rock back into space!"
The four robots began to push, as their thrusters went all out, all to change the direction of the massive space colony to one that was away from Neo Ireland and the Earth. But even as they did, it still was getting closer and closer to the still-occupied colony.
"Damn it, these engines are something else!" Koji grunted. "Where the hell did they get so much energy from?!"
Dianna, who was watching all this, tried to think of something that could be done. Then it hit her. She rushed over to Bright.
"Captain Bright, please, let me speak to Loran!"
"Of course," the Ra Calium's captain answered politely, stepping aside. Dianna grabbed the microphone.
"Loran! Loran! I know how you can stop Fifth Luna...now, I know you vowed to never use it again..."
"You mean..." Loran gasped.
"Yes," Dianna said. "You can destroy Fifth Luna's engines with the Moonlight Butterfly!"
In most situations, Loran would have given this more thought. But with Fifth Luna due to crash into the space colony in less than sixty seconds, he remembered from his training that there were times one couldn't afford to hesitate.
"Yes. I'll do it, Your Highness."
Loran spurred the Turn A forward, diving towards Fifth Luna. He readied that dreaded weapon, and closed his eyes.
"Deploying Moonlight Butterfly...NOW!"
The wings of light and nanomachines spread out gloriously as the mech flew around Fifth Luna. As the nanomachines landed on the nuclear engines, they immediately began eating away the nuclear engines at an amazing speed, turning every last bit of it to useless sand. Thankfully, the nanomachines didn't go anywhere near the four robots trying to divert it. Once the asteroid had stopped accelerating, the four were able to gain ground against it.
"Hyoma, I'm rerouting all available power to thrusters!" Kosuke said, making the proper adjustments.
"All right then...Combattler V, maximum output!"
The jets on Combattler's feet fired at full blast, the energy shooting out for nearly one and a half miles.
"Xengar, let's do the same thing!" Janus said to his co-pilot.
"Understood!" Xengar's floating head bellowed. "Rerouting all available power to engines!"
"Mazinkaiser, full poweeeeerrrr!" Koji cried, putting his own mech's back into pushing Fifth Luna away.
"Viral, let's give it all we've got!" Simon called out to Viral. Both pilots let out blooded cries as the Spiral gauge rose to the top.
The four robots' combined effort finally managed to nudge Fifth Luna away from Neo Ireland...but only by the skin of its teeth. And it was headed for another colony as well.
"Guys, there's no way you can safely get it out!" Amuro ordered. "You'll have to destroy it!"
"Sure thing, boss!" Janus said. "Hey Basara, got any other songs? We've heard every one of your hits during the whole battle!"
"Are you kidding?! You haven't heard anything yet! This little number is something I like to call...DYNAMITE EXPLOSION!"
Basara rushed toward the four, readied his guitar and played an entirely new song. His Valkyrie began to shine brilliantly, filling the void with an immense amount of Spiritia as the rock star did what he did best.
Instantly, the four Super Robots' power radically increased, while their pilots felt their souls become filled to the brim with might and valor.
"Enumerations one through four, online..." Xengar chanted. "Malkuth, Netzach, Yesod and Hod permissions confirmed...releasing secondary seal..."
For the second time, Granlif ascended to its partially-unsealed form.
"Xengar, everyone, let's blast that thing to bits!" Janus called out as he changed into his white, rainbow-winged form.
"Combattler Team, let's drill through that thing!" Simon called out as he readied a Giga Drill Break.
"Gotcha, Simon!" Juzo replied. "Hyoma, you heard the man!"
"Right!" Hyoma cried. "CHOUDENJI SPIIIIIIIIIIN!"
"Koji, are you with me?" Janus said excitedly.
"You bet! Let's do this right now!" Koji replied.
"GRAAAAAN FIIIIIIIIIIREEEE!"
"FIREEEEEE BLASTER!"
As Combattler and Gurren Lagann drilled through Fifth Luna, the two blasts struck it. The energy of the four super-charged robots caused the asteroid to explode into countless pieces. Some of the pieces struck the colonies, while others descended to Earth. Thankfully, none of them were large enough to deal significant damage, and those that entered the atmosphere burned up on entry.
Char saw the explosion from out in the distance as he and his men withdrew.
"Char Aznable," Gym declared as he laughed wickedly at the Red Comet's failure, "this is the result of your unwillingness to trust in the power of the Turn X - your plan turned into a spectacular disaster for you!"
But Char paid him no heed.
Amuro...I don't know how you mustered up such powerful allies...but I won't let you win again. You can't always depend on miracles.
"Lord Ghingnham, we're receiving a transmission from the palace!" one of the Lunar Kingdom rebels said.
Gym glanced at his screen, and was shocked to see Harry Ord 's face.
"But...HOW?!" Gym roared. "How did you take the palace?!"
"You made the foolish choice of sending out too many troops to aid Char," Harry said smugly. "It was child's play to seize the palace as a result. But it also helped that your little aspirations of empire did not please Her Highness' subjects one bit. They will be more than happy to have her back."
"But I still have the Turn X and Neo Zeon on my side!" Gym replied. "I can easily..."
"No, Gym; You're returning to Axis with us," Char commanded. "We can't afford to act on that now."
The puffy-haired warrior growled and continued to follow Char and Gyunei, with the surviving rebels and Neo Zeon troops at their heels. He would have his revenge in due time...
Things certainly seem to be more optimistic in the Ruined World, it seems. Anyway, until next time, mecha fans!
