I'm going to say it, I hate this lockdown. I can barely go anywhere these days. Granted I have more time to work on my stories and catch up on my reading, but I want to get out of the house. I feel like I am going to go insane if I have to spend a whole month not working, not to mention it's making it harder for me to watch newer anime, like A Certain Scientific Railgun and other series.

Well, one review is better than none so I will answer it. SaurusRock625: I hired the Bad Batch to deal with any comments the Zako trio makes towards organic beings, plus I am trying to think of a Crossover story focusing on them.

Ok, lets get the ball rolling and its time to bring in a character who's known for his anger, but is completely different in my story. Disclaimers are the same as always, enjoy.

Chapter 15: Innocence of Youth Part 2: Reunion Between Brothers

As the sun shone brightly over the desert sand, a pack of Beowulf's looked up as passing over them were two warships. One of the warships was colored red and grey and measured at three-hundred and fifty meters long and propelled by fourteen thrusters. A total of twelve 40mm CIWS guns protected the ship from enemy aircraft and missiles while mounted above its two launch bays were two dual beam cannons. Numerous missile launchers and four torpedo launchers were a part of the ship's arsenal along with a single 42cm triple cannon mounted underneath the launch bay for one of its mobile suits and completing the ships arsenal was a the powerful QZX-1 Tannhauser positron cannon. Its name Minerva.

Following close behind the Minerva was the Ptolemaios 2. A two-hundred- and fifty-one-meter Assault Mobile Weapons carry, the Ptolemaios was powered by GN Condensers and had a total of 14 GN thrusters and 2 main GN thrusters. For armament, the Ptolemaios 2 was armed two dual GN Cannons, four GN Cannon turrets, six GN Flak Guns, twelve GN large missile launchers, thirty-eight GN missile launchers and four GN torpedo launchers.

Using E-Carbon for its armor, it served as the command ship of Colonel Sergei Smirnov, the Wild Bear of Atlas. Acting as his second in command was Colonel Kati Mannequin while commanding the ship was Summer Lee Noriega, the tactical forecaster of the Smirnov's mobile suit unit. Systems engineer Felt Grace, gunner Lasse Aeon, Helmsman Lichtendahl Tsrey and CIC Operator Christina Sierra continued to monitor the situation they were getting from one of their scouts. "Colonel, the situation is still the same. Massive Frozen Talon forces are attacking the Archangel. The Strike was also attacked by several unknown mobile suits." Kati reported to the Colonel who was in the hanger bay of the Ptolemaios readying to launch in his red and white Veritech Flanker-E.

"Understood. Have the Meisters launch first. I'll launch once they finish arming my machine. Contact the Minerva and have them launch their machines as well. Prepare for anti-air and anti-mobile suit combat!" The Colonel said from one of the container bays where the Gundam's of his forces were about to launch.

One of them was a dark green and grey sniper model, another was an orange and grey high mobility type while the final one was a black and grey heavily armored assault type mobile suit with four cannons, two mounted on the back and two on the knees. While each was designed for a different style of combat, each of them had a face known by all. "Meisters! You are clear to launch. Engage the enemy forces on the ground!" the Bear Faunus Colonel said to the pilots who were ready to launch.

"Leave it to us. We'll keep them busy." A somewhat laid-back voice said from the sniper Gundam before it launched. The other two Gundam's were launched as well with the orange one changing into a mobile armor.

"Andrei, Patrick, Marie. Prepare to sortie in your Veritechs and remember to watch each other's backs out there. This is our first time flying these machines, so they may not have all the bugs worked out, just remember your training." The Colonel said to the three pilots.

"Andrei, your mother will want both of us to come home safe so let's not have her expect both of us to die." Sergei said to the pilot who was also a Bear Faunus like him but looked more like a human, in fact he was a Human/Faunus Hybrid.

"Roger that, colonel." Andrei said before he climbed into the cockpit of his Veritech which had a yellow and grey paint job with the number 13 painted on its tail fins. The girl, Marie who had white hair and gold eyes climbed into the cockpit of her Veritech, which was painted in a two-tone green and grey while the last pilot, Patrick waited for the canopy of his Veritech which had a standard dark grey paint job.

"Andrei Smirnov, Terminator, launching."

"Patrick Colasour, Lightning, launching."

"Marie Parfacy, Fulcrum, heading out."

As his fellow pilots launched, Sergei waited for his own machine to be loaded onto the catapult before he was given the green light. "Sergei Smirnov, Flanker-E, launching!" The colonel said as he was catapulted out of the ship and into the air where he joined up with the other Veritechs.

Talia Gladys, captain of the Minerva and one of the few hidden coordinators in the Roughnecks also issued the orders for the mobile suits on her ship to be launched as well. These pilots were Heine Westenfluss in the ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam, Miguel Aiman in his captured customized ZGMF-1017 GINN, Shino Hahnenfuss in her Veritech Foxhound, Rey Za Burrel in the ZGMF-1001/M Blaze Zaku Phantom and Lunamaria Hawke in her ZGMF-1001/A1 Gunner Zaku. Ray, Lunamaria and Miguel's mobile suits were captured from the White Fang and customized to the specifications of their pilots.

"Hey sis, be careful out there ok? This is your first-time piloting that Zaku in combat." Meyrin Hawke, the Minerva's communications officer and Luna's younger sister said over the radio from her position on the bridge.

"You worry too much Meyrin. Besides, I can handle myself in mobile suit combat and while this may not be my Windam or the Veritech I'm to be given, those bastards won't know what hit them." Luna said.

"Don't worry Lunamaria. You'll do fine, and Meyrin, I'll keep an eye on your older sister." Heine chimed in from the Saviours cockpit, waiting for orders to launch.

"That only makes me worry a lot more." Meyrin said with more worry then before. She would have said more, but Miguel interrupted them.

"Let's stop flapping our gums and get a move on. The Archangel can't hold out much longer." He reminded the others just as he got the greenlight to launch. "Miguel, GINN launching!" he said as his GINN was catapulted out of the Minerva's hanger.

"Shino Hahnesfuss, Foxhound taking off!" Shino said as her mobile suit was launched.

"Rey Za Burrel, Zaku, heading out." Rey said calmly.

Once her comrades Zaku was launched, it was Luna's turn. "Hey, Luna. Let me know where the Strike is. I've got a debut to pay and I always pay my debuts." Another of Luna's fellow pilots said, waiting for their turn to take off.

"Don't worry. I'll keep my eyes open." Luna answered before she was cleared to launch. "Lunamaria Hawke! Zaku, I'm taking off." She shouted and felt her body lurch back into her pilots' seat as her own mobile suit was launched into the air. As for the pilot she talked too, he waited by the side of his blue and white fighter plane.

Once the other mobile suits left the ships, Sergei gave a new set of orders. "All airborne mobile suits are to engage the enemy air units. Ground based mobile suits are to engage enemy ground units. Miss Hawke, you're to locate the Strike and give us a status update on its condition." Sergei ordered.

"Copy that, Colonel!" Luna replied.

Meanwhile, Robert looked in a mix of fear and surprise that hovering in front of him was the Vayeate and Mercurius. Two mobile suits built from Gundamium alloy that were stolen from the location where they were locked away never to be used again. However, the one that he was more concerned about was the Gundam among them. Epyon; known as the Berserker was a mobile suit built for close quarters combat and featured a transformation system giving it the appearance of a two headed-dragon Grimm. "Those mobile suits should have been locked away! Where did they come from?" Robert asked a loud.

"How we got them doesn't matter for someone like you. You'll be the latest victim for me and Epyon." A female voice said over the radio on open frequencies. The pilot of Epyon then ignited its primary weapon, a massive beam sword attached to the suit by a cord and charged towards the Strike.

"You wish!" Robert responded and drew one of the Strike's beam sabers which he brought up to block the Epyon's attack. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you're not going to stop me from saving my friend! I made a promise to Mr. Allster and I am going to keep it!" Robert shouted, parrying the enemy's blade before he took the Strike down to the desert below.

Epyon followed suit with the Mercurius following it while the Vayeate stayed above and opened up with its beam cannon. Heavy beam cannon rounds fired with the rate of a machine gun with the intention of taking down the Strike. Robert dodged the enemy cannon fire by zigzagging too keep the Vayeate from getting a lock on him. "Vayeate's only weapon is that beam cannon. Mercurius has a medium ranged beam gun, shield/beam saber hybrid and those energy shield bits and Epyon has only close-range weapons like that sword of its." Robert observed. He read up on these monstrous mobile suits and their equipment but had yet to figure out a plan to counter them.

His concentration was broken when he turned his eyes in front of him and saw that the Epyon and Mercurius had overtaken him and landed right in front of him. "Damn it!" he cursed and pulled back on his controls and tried to bring the Strike up. He failed and the Epyon slashed at the lower thrusters of the Aile pack, with the lower thrusters destroyed, the Strike's maneuverability was cut drastically.

"Running away won't help you. You'll die here and now!" Epyon's pilot shouted and attacked. Raising its beam sword, the berserker attempted to slice the Strike in half down the middle but Robert brought the Strike's shield up to block the attack. Or so he thought.

Much to his surprise, the beam sword of his attacker cut right through the shields anti-beam coating and destroyed it. "That's impossible!" Robert said and drew the Strike's second beam saber and held them in the reverse grip position.

The pilot of Epyon laughed before speaking. "This isn't the Epyon from the history books, this is the new and improved Epyon and I am its master!" the mystery pilot said with pride and brought the emerald blade down onto the Strike. Raising his machines own beam sabers to counter the attack, Robert felt the Strike being pushed down into the sand while the Vayeate took aim and fired its beam cannon.

A powerful blast from the blue mobile suits cannon hit the Strike right in the back while the Mercurius fired its own beam weapon. Both blasts hit their mark, draining the Strike of some of its battery power, thankfully the Strike's battery was improved with double the capacity. Even so, Robert knew he couldn't take to many more hits. Quickly, he swept Epyon of its feet and used the chance to power up the remaining thrusters on the Aile pack and brought his sabers up just in time to block a blast from Mercurius's beam gun.

He blocked one blast, but failed to count for the Vayeate to fire its own cannon at full power. The blast knocked the Strike onto its back allowing the Epyon to damage the Aile pack even further. Just when it looked like Robert was done for, Duo and the Deathsychte Hell Alpha arrived and went after the Mercurius while Quatre went after the Vayeate. At the same time, Lunamaria arrived and downed several enemy Windam's with her Zaku's beam assault rifle. "Lunamaria to Minerva. I've spotted the Strike and it's engaging the Epyon. I say again, it's engaging the Epyon!" Luna shouted into the radio.

Everyone on all the ships nearly trembled in fear at the name Epyon, save for one pilot in particular. "Captain. Let me sortie, please!"

Talia thought for a moment. If she did nothing, the Strike and the Soul Drive would be destroyed while on the other hand she could be sending one her pilots to their death, the choice was one she knew would end in death. She was about to make her choice when Ironwood contacted her. "General!" she said with a salute.

"Talia. I know that Epyon is a dangerous mobile suit, but if we stand by and do nothing the Strike and its pilot will be destroyed. I am ordering…no I am asking you, send him out!" Ironwood said. Talia nodded and gave the order for the pilot to launch.

The blue and white fighter jet blasted out of the Minerva followed by three silhouettes, one with a pair of legs, one with a pair of arms, a beam rifle and head while the last one had a set of red and black wings. "Hang on, I'm coming." The pilot said as they rocketed towards the Strike's location.

"Hey Kid! Get out of there! You're no match for Epyon in your current condition!" Duo said over the radio, blocking a blow from the Mercurius's beam sword. His words fell on deaf ears as Robert was barely conscious, he was bleeding from his forehead, the cockpit of his Gundam was wrecked badly and his controls weren't responding the way he wanted them too. Too weak to speak, Robert looked to his monitor as Epyon walked towards the downed Strike with its beam sword powered up.

"Take comfort that your death will help fulfill my destiny." The pilot of Epyon said. Yzak, Dearka and Nicol along with Halberton, Mu and Murrue saw this and were seconds away from going in for an attack when Epyon was hit from behind by a swarm of missiles. Everyone turned to the source as the fighter jet shifted into that of a cockpit before the silhouettes launched from the Minerva flew in and combined into a Gundam with a color scheme similar to the Strike. The new Gundam landed on the sand with its beam sabers drawn.

"You think you can come after my friend and get away with it? Well you've got another thing coming. I won't let you kill my brother!" The pilot said over the radio. To Roberts surprise and delight, he knew the voice of the pilot.

"Shinn…Asuka. You're…a pilot?" Robert said weakly before passing out.

From inside the cockpit of his Gundam, Shinn looked at the Epyon, his machines beam sabers at the ready and waited for his opponent to make a move. "Now its my turn to return the favor." Shinn said as both he and Epyon's pilot waited to see who would make the first move.

(Ignited starts)

"So, you want to die for this fool. Find, then I'll start with you!" the pilot shouted and kicked in Epyon's thrusters and surged towards Shinn and his Gundam.

"Hey, Impulse. Let's show this bitch what happens when you mess with a friend of the Asuka's." Shinn said and took his Gundam into the air. Epyons attack missed and the Impulse landed behind them and delivered a powerful side kick into the enemies back. "If you made the Strike your enemy, then that makes you my enemy!" Shinn roared and fired his Gundam's 20mm Vulcans at Epyon.

"Little fool." The Epyon pilot muttered and spun their machine around to try and take out the Impulse. Luckily, Shinn utilized the Impulse's combining ability and detached the chest flyer from the leg flyer to avoid the blow. Once again, Shinn fired his Vulcans at the Epyon. Since they were a defensive weapon, they did little damage to Epyon's armor, but he wasn't trying to attack the Epyon.

"I'm no fool." Shinn declared and ceased his attack with his Vulcans and pushed the Impulse forwards to Epyon where he clashed his beam sabers with his opponents beam sword. "I'm the one keeping you busy!" Shinn added and pushed the Epyon back.

Epyon then turned towards the direction of the Strike where was still lying motionless as Admiral Halberton's Windam, Murrue's Astray and Mu's Skygrasper landed to check on the Strike and the condition of its pilot. "I'LL KILL HIM!" the pilot of the enemy mobile suit shouted.

"No, you won't. I won't let you!" Shinn declared clashed with the Epyon once again. This time, Shinn sheathed one of the Impulse's beam sabers and used the other one to land a direct hit on Epyon, severing its sword holding arm.

Having lost their main weapon, the Epyon and its pilot retreated along with the Vayeate and Mercurius leaving behind a few enemy machines. "Their leader losses an arm and they leave their own men behind? What kind of commander does that!?" Shinn asked and drew his machines beam rifle as the Duel, Blitz and Buster landed beside the Impulse.

"Even we don't know who the pilot of Epyon is. All we know is that they have killed hundreds of soldiers with that damn machine, Gundam's are meant to be the protectors of the world not used for mass murder!" Yzak said with a snarl and fired all of his machine's weapons taking out a few Strike Daggers.

"Take it from us kid, we've seen the carnage that mobile suit has done at its not pretty." Dearka added before he fired off numerous rounds from the Busters rifle and gun launcher while Nicol swooped in with the Blitz, firing its beam rifle at several more mobile suits.

"We won't let them stop us! Flay is counting on us and we will save her!" Nicol said determinedly allowing the Heavyarms custom to flank the enemy and fire all both its double gatling gun and twin beam gatling at the remaining enemy units.

"Never thought I would work alongside a few legends or three of the stolen G-Weapons!" Shinn said impressively and hacked a Strike Dagger with the Impulse's beam saber before firing its beam rifle. "You know a lot of pilots in the regular forces are impressed with your skills and have been saying that they will be the ones to take you down." Shinn added, bringing up the Impulse's shield to block a round from an enemy Dagger's beam rifle.

"They'll have to get in line and its going to be a very long line. None of us plan on dying anytime soon!" Yzak retorted, firing the Duels 75mm Vulcans and eliminated several missiles fired from several Spearheads.

"Not to raise any alarms, but the Blitz is running low on power. Yzak, Dearka what about you guys?" Nicol asked in concern for his fellow pilots.

"Power levels are dangerously low." Dearka responded.

"Same thing for the Duel." Yzak added.

"Pull out! Get to the Archangel and resupply on there. I've still got some power left in the Impulse, so I'll cover you!" Shinn stated to the three. The Buster, Duel and Blitz then quickly retreated back to the Archangel while Shinn laid down covering fire. A few shots from the Impulse's beam rifle took out four enemy Windam's allowing three of the four stolen G-Weapons to retreat inside the Archangel while Rey and Luna's Zaku's along with Miguel's GINN landed to give him some much needed back up. Following them were two of the three Gundam's launched from the Ptolemaios landed behind them.

(End song)

"Targeted and firing!" the pilot of the sniper unit shouted and opened up with their sniper rifle, sending GN particle blasts towards the remaining enemy machines while the one with the double bazookas on its shoulders fired away as well after combining one of its bazooka's with one of the shoulder cannons!

"Compressed particles released! GN Buster Cannon, firing!" the pilot of the heavy assault mobile suit said to no one in particular. The fire from the combined weapon blew apart every mobile suit caught in the blast. Those that remained, quickly began to retreat.

"That was quite an eventful first…" Shinn began before he remembered. "Robert!" he shouted and looked back to see that the Strike's cockpit was opened and its pilot was on a stretcher being brought onto the Archangel.

"Shinn! Bring the Impulse back to the Minerva! I know your friend means a lot too you but the Archangel isn't equipped to handle the maintance and resupply of the Impulse. Once your machine is back in the hanger, you can see your friend." Talia said with sympathy in her voice.

"Roger, captain." Shinn replied and did just that. When he brought the Impulse into the Minerva's hanger, he was greeted by the cheers and congratulations of several crew members of the Minerva, including Vino Durpe and Yolan Kent who like most of the crew of the Minerva were Coordinators and Faunus.

"Shinn you were amazing! You kicked Epyons…" Vino began but Shinn just rushed out of the hanger, changed out of his pilots suit and into his uniform and immediately boarded a Bullhead that was bringing Talia and her deputy captain Arthur Trine to the Archangel

No sooner had the Bullhead landed in the Archangels hanger, Shinn was about to run to the Medical bay but ran into Larry who then guided him to the medical bay. When he arrived at the medical bay, he found that Robert was hooked up to a heartrate monitor, had an IV tube connected to a blood pack and had his pilots uniform removed. "Robert!" Shinn shouted and was about to rush into the medical room but was held back by the Admiral.

"I know, I'm worried about him as well. But the doctors on the Archangel have the best training. He couldn't be in better hands. He will be alright." Halberton said to Shinn assuring him that his friend and son would be alright. Shinn nodded in agreement before he saw Cody waiting by the door to be by Roberts side. "Sorry boy, but until the doctors are finished you can't go in." The Admiral said to the dog.

The dog whimpered, knowing his owner was in pain and wanting to be by their side, but understood what the Admiral was saying. However, the dog did go up to Shinn's side and when Shinn petted the dog it became calm.

"I have to go attend a meeting with the others, but I'll be back to check on him soon. Can I trust you to keep the dog out of trouble? It seems that he stowed away before we left Vale." Halberton asked Shinn with a chuckle. Shinn agreed and the Admiral left for the officers' quarters where Talia, Sergei, Kati, Arthur, Ironwood, Natarle, Sumeragi, Duo, Quatre, Yzak and large bearded puma Faunus. "Sorry for the delay. I was concerned for my son." Halberton explained.

"No need to apologize, I understand. Family is important, if Robert were my son, I'd be more concerned about his wellbeing then the status of the Strike. Speaking of the machine, I am concerned about the fact that someone has stolen those three mobile suits and how the Epyon's sword was able to destroy the Strike's shield." Ironwood said in agreement.

"At least we were able to acquire that arm from Epyon. Analyzing that could give us a clue to who modified them." Natarle added in.

"I thought that Atlas had locked away Epyon and those other two machines. How the hell were they stolen?" Duo asked.

"We did lock them away, but several officers were given the details about their location. It's possible that Sutherland was part of the threat, but he didn't even know about their location and they were stolen two years ago." Ironwood explained.

"Whoever stole them obviously knows a thing or two about the Atlas systems and Gundamium." Sergei added.

"We can worry about that later. Right now, our top priority is to locate and rescue Flay." Yzak said getting everyone's attention. He then put down his scroll and brought up a map of the desert. "Prior to learning about Flay's abduction, my comrades and I learned about a Frozen Talon facility located in the middle of the desert." The silver haired pilot began before the map zoomed in on an oasis several miles from their current location.

"This is a facility used by the Torneque Schnee and his allies during the days of the Dark War. Mobile armors like the one in encountered in Vacuo were built there before it was wiped out by the allied forces and Gjallarhorn. Since then it's been abandoned, but our intel suggests that Frozen Talon is using it for something far worse." Yzak explained.

"Your intel is missing a few details." A voice said as the doors to the lounge opened up and stepping through was Andrew Waltfeld and his partner/lover Aisha Conner. A tiger Faunus and Coordinator of thirty years old with purple eyes and brown hair, Andrew Waltfeld better known by his nickname 'Desert Tiger' for his renowned tactics and combat skills, he lead a group called the Flying Tigers a sort of PMC group of Faunus, Humans and Coordinators who worked in eliminating large nests of Grimm that most Huntsmen and Huntresses couldn't handle on their own, in fact many of their pilots were former White Fang members who left the former activist turned terrorist group. He also had a 'unique' interest in coffee, often creating new blends which his men enjoyed.

Like her lover, Aisha is also a Coordinator but unlike Andrew she was a human with pale skin, dark blue hair with orange stripes on both sides and dark green eyes. She was also a capable mobile suit pilot. Behind them was Martin DaCosta, Andrews second in command and a Coordinator. DaCosta then put his scroll down on the table and another map of the area Yzak had mentioned overlapped it, showing more locations. "We managed to acquire this intel from a damaged Frozen Talon Strike Dagger and it looks like there are more facilities then what you were told about. Each of them is a possible location where Miss Allster is being held. But if we were to search them all once at a time, they'd probably destroy the others and any evidence linking them to the death of Mr. Allster. Some of them may be fakes meant to throw us off are game." Andrew explained. "I already sent a few captured Mobile Dolls to several of those locations and they were just fakes." He added.

"We'll need to send teams to each location and check to see which one is the location where Flay is, or at the very least give us an idea where she is being held." Ironwood said in agreement. "However, we're not doing this without the Strike. We need all the firepower we can get." He added before turning to Murrue. "How long will it take for the Aile pack to be repaired?"

"According to Chief Murdoch, it will take about six hours give or take. But it does us no good with Robert in the medical wing, we have yet to determine how long it will take him to recover." Murrue answered, looking at Yzak.

"I hate having to keep Flay waiting, but we don't have a choice. Until Robert is back on his feet, we'll hold off on checking out each location." Yzak said bitterly. Halberton looked to the young Coordinator and understood his feelings. "Still, we should at least keep an eye on each of those facilities." He added.

"I think I can help with that." the Puma Faunus said. "My name is Rasid Kurama and I am the captain of the Maganac Corps. You could say we are sort of a private army that works with Master Quatre and his allies. We also know the deserts of Anima and Vacuo very well so we can keep an eye on them without being seen." Rasid stated.

"Very well, seeing as none of us here have command over your group you should do as you see fit." Ironwood answered, saluting Rasid. Rasid returned the salute and once the meeting had concluded, the Maganac Corps machines slit up into separate groups of five to check each of the locations. As for Duo and his allies, they stayed behind to protect the task force and the ships while they were being resupplied from the Desert Tigers forces.

"Well buddy, looks like we get to kick some more ass and we get to do it alongside the Strike. Too bad Heero is working with the docs on that machine." Duo said to the Deathscythe. While his machine couldn't talk back, Duo always felt like his mobile suit heard every word he spoke.

"Well, whatever Heero is working on, I'm sure he'll be back again soon." Andrew said as he walked over to Duo with two cups of coffee in his hands. "Here, I find that when the desert is cold a good cup of coffee warms you up. Try it, this is one of my latest blends." The tiger faunus added, handing Duo one of the cups.

Duo took a sip and found the blend to be very good. "Not bad. I always say a good cup of joe really warms up the soul." Duo complimented. Andrew smiled and sipped his own cup as the cool desert air swept a few tumbleweeds blew past the ships.

A couple of days passed by and the Maganac Corps had yet to report in about the locations they went to check. A fierce sandstorm had the entire desert region in its grasp, grounding the ships and any mobile suit from launching save for Quatre and the Sandrock the later of who opted to scout the perimeter for any signs of enemy scouts. It came as a shock to everyone that the pilot of the Sandrock Paladin was the heir to the Winner Corporation. Sadly, the corporation was taken from him by Frozen Talon who murdered his Father, Zayeed Winner and began to use the corporation to build mobile suits and weapons instead of the normally peaceful electronics they built.

General Ironwood finished making a few adjustments to his mobile suit, the Tallgeese which had its old Titanium Alloy armor swapped out for Gundamium alloy. Known as the 'Leo Prototype' the Tallgeese served as the basis for mobile suits like the Leo, Aries and the legendary Wing-Zero. Ironwood was one of the few people who could master the Tallgeese and its 'Super Vernier' boosters.

Pilots like Sergei, Andrei, Larry, Leon, Shino, Patrick and Marie had a in dept discussion about their versions of the Veritechs and each of them said the same thing, while they were only flying the prototypes each version has its pros and cons but the strength of each machine was the 55mm gun pod.

The three pilots of from the Ptolemaios, Lyle Dylandy better known by his codename 'Lockon Stratos', Tieria Erde and Allelujah Haptism, pilots of the Cherudim, Arios and Seravee Gundam's along with Miss Sumeragi and Kati confirmed their worst fears. The mobile suits that attacked the Strike were the Gundam Throne Ein's, Gundam Throne Zwei and Gundam Throne Drei, each of them was powered by 'pseudo GN drives' the particles of which are very poisonous to the body of Human's, Faunus and Coordinators. These machines were responsible for numerous attacks on military bases and civilian areas, each of the locations attacked were hit hard cause the negative emotions from the people who survived to attract the Grimm who killed the survivors.

As for Robert, he was still unconscious but fully healed. During those days, Shinn was allowed be by Roberts side and Cody was also with them. When Lunamaria and Meyrin asked Shinn how he knew Robert, Shinn revealed that he met Robert when he was traveling through Solitas during his search for his sister and during that time, he protected Shinn and his sister Mayu when they got lost during a snowstorm and found themselves surrounded by a horde of Grimm. When he and his sister were brought back to their home in Mantle, Shinn's parents were very grateful and treated Robert to a nice meal.

Since then both Shinn and Mayu came to see Robert as a brother and it was that reason that he and his family were in Vale when the Dark Army attacked. A skilled pilot and fueled by his desire to protect his family, Shinn was the ideal test pilot for the Impulse Gundam which like the Strike utilized different silhouettes like the Strikes packs. Unlike Robert, Shinn had no problems with killing his enemies in battle as compared to Robert who hated having to kill. Still, Shinn respected Robert as one who would do whatever it would take to protect the ones he cared about.

"You've just got to wake up." Shinn prayed quietly as he scratched Cody's ears. His prayers were answered when he heard Robert groan. "Doctor! He's awake!" Shinn called out. Moments later, one of the doctors returned as Roberts eyes opened up and he was greeted by Cody who was licking his face in joy. As Robert slowly started to wake up, Lunamaria and Meyrin entered the medical center with Meyrin getting a little too close to Robert who shot up so quick that Meyrin jumped and landed on her butt.

"Geez sis, you really are jumpy." Lunamaria said trying to hide her laughter as she helped her sister up just as Talia, Murrue, Halberton, La Flaga and Ironwood. "Well it looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake." The older Hawke sister said, looking at Roberts scar. "Nice scar."

"Nice skirt. But it looks like it's a little short." Robert shot back. Luna looked to her skirt and blushed a bit until she realized Robert was joking. "Made you look." Robert said with a little laughter in his voice. Luna didn't like that and slapped Robert hard across the face. "Ow not the face!" he shouted.

"Jeez Luna, cut him some slack. He held his own against the Throne units and Epyon so its clear that he might still be a little sore." Shinn said to his fellow pilot. Luna blushed at Shinn's comment but Shinn didn't notice it that much. "How you doing? Been a while since we last saw each other." Shinn said to Robert.

"SHINN?!" Robert said shocked. "Wait, you were the pilot of that Gundam?!" he asked in just as much shock as before.

"Yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you when my family and I were in Vale. But then the attack came and I was more focused on protecting my family and then you showed up and saved our lives, so I couldn't really tell you that I'm a pilot. So, I guess now's a good a time as any." Shinn explained.

"Well, let me say congratulations on becoming a pilot. I take it you've joined the Roughnecks?" Robert asked rising from the bed he was on the last few days while Cody sat by his feet.

"He is, but not just yet. I was having the Minerva run some final checks when I called into active duty." Ironwood explained. "I must say its an honor to meet you." Ironwood said to Robert. Robert smiled at the General and was humbled to say the least. Meeting the leader of the Roughnecks was an honor many people didn't have happen to them.

"The honor's all mine." Robert answered, saluting the general.

"Please, drop the formality." Ironwood responded. "Looks like you're fully healed. I think you're ready to head back out." The General added before he looked to the other captains who agreed.

"The Maganac Corps just reported in. They went to check out a few locations and reported that the locations have been abandoned. There's one location left but they can't get to it. We're sending out the Impulse, Buster, Duel and Blitz and it would be wise for the Strike to join them." Teiria said as he, Lockon and Allelujah entered the medical room. "However, your abilities as a pilot and your lack to kill make you a liability. You're not worthy of piloting a Gundam." Tieria added, bluntly.

"Worthy or not." Robert began as he got out of bed. "I was given the Strike by someone who trusts me to use it to its full potential. If I have to kill, I'll kill and I will hate it. But Flay needs me, I made a promise to her father before he died to find her and protect so I'm going to do that." he added, putting on a sleeveless white hoodie with a black skull before grabbing his weapons.

"Knock it off. If he wants to go out, that's fine. He has a reason and whoever gave him the Strike trusts him." Lockon said in Roberts defense.

"Then its decided. The Impulse, Strike, Duel, Buster and Blitz will head to the final location and investigate. The Archangel and the other ships will follow once the area has been cleared of all hostiles." Halberton said.

The other commanding officers agreed and in no time, the five Gundams were ready to launch. The Buster, Blitz and Duel launched once they were secured to their Guul units and headed off towards in the direction of the last facility once the Impulse and Strike were launched. Following them was the Deathsycthe Hell Alpha. Duo volunteered to provide assistance for the group, should they need any back up.

None of the pilots had any idea what they were about to find.

Zako Zako hour

"Zako, Zako, Zako… Zako Zako hour"

"Ladies and gentle bots, welcome to the Zako Zako hour. Today's meeting is all about… Why the heck is Shinn Asuka acting different than he does in Gundam Seed Destiny?" The Zako with the red mic asked the audience.

"I don't understand it. Why is the Impulse Pilot acting way out of character, it doesn't make any sense Zako!" the yellow mic Zako asked.

"I can answer that." The Author says walking onto the stage. "After reading the Gundam Seed Prime series by lyokoMarvelanime which is a great series, I took a cue from the part were a certain Wrecker with wrecking balls saved Shinn's family and gave him something to protect." The author explains. "Plus, I feel sorry for Shinn, having to witness his family being killed right in front of him was something I hate, so I decided to take a que and do him justice." The author adds.

"Guess that makes sense. But why have the Impulse and Strike work side by side? Wasn't one of them destroyed and the other built two years later?" the Zako with the blue mic asks.

"True, but I always wanted to see the Strike and Impulse fight side by side and this was the end result." The author asks before noticing a few Grimm sneaking up on the trio and unloaded his trusty pistols on the creatures of darkness. "GET OFF THE STAGE!"

"That guy scares me, Zako." The Red mic Zako says as the curtains close.

"Anyway, everyone for the future of the Dark Axis, ZAKO SOLDIER FIGHT!"

ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam

Type: Modular Multi-Mode mobile suit

Power Source: Ultracompact Energy Battery

Armor: Variable Phase Shift armor

Weapons: 20mm CIWS, 2xM71-AAK anti-armor knives, beam rifle, mobile shield

Force Silhouette: 20mm CIWS, anti-armor knives, beam sabers, mobile shield, beam rifle

Sword Silhouette: 20mm CIWS, Anti-ship laser sword, beam rifle, mobile shield, anti-armor knives, beam boomerang

Blast Silhouette: 20mm CIWS, beam rifle, mobile shield, 2x hyper velocity rail cannons, beam javelin, anti-armor knives, 2x high-energy long-range beam cannons, 2x quad missile launchers.

Special equipment: Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System

Pilot: Shinn Asuka.

Considered to be the cousin of the Strike, the Impulse Gundam like the Strike is a multi-purpose Gundam capable of utilizing several packs designed for a specific role. Sword for close quarters, Blast for assault missions and Force for high mobility. While it uses Phase Shift armor like the G-Weapons, the color of the Phase Shift depends on the pack being used.

OZ-13MSX1 Vayeate

Type: Prototype Offensive Mobile Suit

Power Source: Ultracompact Fusion Reactor

Armor: Gundamium Alloy

Weapon: Beam Cannon

Pilot: Unknown

One of the two Gundanium alloy built mobile suits, the Vayeate is designed with to work with Mercurius. Its primary weapon is its powerful beam cannon which is said to be powerful enough to melt through Gundanium alloy. Like the Mercurius and Epyon, it was locked away by Atlas but later stolen by an unknown party.

OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius

Type: Prototype Defensive Mobile Suit

Power Source: Ultracompact Fusion Reactor

Armor: Gundanium Alloy

Weapons: Beam Gun, Crash Shield, Planet Defensor

Pilot: Unknown

Built around the same time as Vayeate, the Mercurius was built to work with the Vayeate was designed with close quarters combat in mind, hence the beam saber integrated into the crash shield. The planet defensor's project an energy shield which protect the Mercurius or its allies. Both the Vayeate's beam cannon and Mercurius's planet defensors were incorporated into the Virgo Mobile Doll. Like the Vayeate and Epyon, Mercurius was locked away but later stolen.

OZ-13MS Epyon

Type: Transformable Close Quarters Combat Mobile Suit

Power Source: Ultracompact Fusion Reactor

Armor: Gundanium Alloy

Weapons: Beam Sword, Epyon Claws, Heat Rod, Shield

Special feature: Trans-formation mode

Pilot: Unknown

The most dangerous of the three suits stolen from Atlas, Epyon earned the nickname the Berserker due to the powerful Epyon System which drives the pilot for total victory. A mobile suit built for dueling, the Epyon lacks any ranged weapons. Built from the data of the Tallgeese and the other Gundam's Epyon is said to be the most dangerous Gundam in the world. As such, it was locked away because of the danger it possesses but it along with the Vayeate and Mercurius were stolen by an unknown party.

Again, I will say that Shinn is a different character because of what happened to him and Vale. Of all the characters in the Gundam franchise I feel sorry for, Shinn is at the top of the list. Anyway, please read and review and I will see you next time.