Falcon of Tekkadan

Chapter 37: Battle for Chryse

Barbatos had arrived just in time to save Ride from the Plumas. Phoenix was looking in the distance after setting down the truck full of civilians.

"Hey big brother, nice of you to join the party." Kenji said.

"Are the civilians okay?" Mikazuki asked.

"They were given quite a fright, but they're alive." Kenji said.

"Mr. Mikazuki..." Ride started. "I did something I shouldn't have. If Kenji wasn't here to save those people, I..."

"Ride, can you move?" Mikazuki asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." Ride was testing the controls but his Shiden isn't moving. "But this Shiden can't..."

"Okay." Mikazuki then noticed something. "What's this?"

"Mr. Mikazuki?" Ride asked.

"Barbatos?" Mikazuki asked his Gundam Frame.

"Big brother? Is something wrong?" Kenji asked.

Ride noticed his alarms going off. "Mr. Mikazuki, Kenji, look!"

Kenji saw the Mobile Armor in the distance, but he started to feel a little weird, like there was something conflicting within Phoenix. "Phoenix? What's wrong?"

"Mr. Mikazuki." Hush appeared in his Shiden. "What do we do next? Mr. Mikazuki?"

"That's weird." Mikazuki said.

"What is it?" Hush asked.

"Barbatos isn't responding..." Mikazuki said.

"What? How?" Hush asked.

Kenji noticed his nose was bleeding again, he tried to use the controls, but Phoenix wasn't moving. There was a notification on the screen that said: "Alaya-Vijnana System Safe Mode Activated."

Kenji was confused. "Safe Mode? What? Big brother, Hush. It's not just Barbatos. Phoenix isn't responding either."

"Phoenix too? What's going on here?" Hush asked.

It wasn't just Barbatos and Phoenix, Gusion was also having problems when it saw the Mobile Armor, but Akihiro fell unconscious as a result. Luckily, Chad was able to get the Mobile Armor's attention and lead it back to the planned route towards the ambush point. Once the Mobile Armor was out of sight, Phoenix could move again, so Kenji was able to move the civilians safely to the ground to where Barbatos is. There, everyone waited for Pops to arrive with Gusion.

Once Pops had arrived, Zack got to work looking at the Gundam Frames' system logs and trying to get Akihiro out of Gusion. The civilians were let out of the truck and were being cared for by some of the Tekkadan members who arrived.

"Zack, how's Akihiro?" Pops asked Zack, who was checking on Akihiro.

"No good. Still unconscious." Zack said.

"We can't take him off the Alaya-Vijnana System like this." Pops said.

"Pops, where's Ride?" Mikazuki asked, now out of Barbatos, with Kenji and Hush right beside him.

"He was hurt so I sent him back to Headquarters." Pops said. "Mikazuki, Kenji, are you two okay?"

"I'm fine. But ever since it saw that bird, Barbatos stopped listening to me." Mikazuki said.

"The Mobile Armor? What's going on?" Pops asked.

"Same for me, even though I was able to move Phoenix after that thing left. My screen said "Alaya-Vijnana System Safe Mode Activated" when the Mobile Armor was in sight. You know anything about that?" Kenji asked.

"Safe Mode?" Zack said. "That might be related to their limiters."

"What do you mean?" Pops asked as he approached Zack.

"Look at this." Zack gave Pops the tablet he was working on. "It's the system logs for Barbatos, Phoenix, and Gusion. Seems like the data feeding back to the pilot is being excessively limited. But the output limiter for the machine has been released. So, the Mobile Suit is trying to go full throttle, and it's colliding with the system trying to protect the pilot, which I think is the Safe Mode that Kenji mentioned. I'm guessing that's why both machines aren't working right."

"Where did you learn that?" Pops asked.

"I used to study this stuff in school before I joined Tekkadan. I'm actually pretty smart." Zack said.

"Then do something about it. We've got to fight that Mobile Armor." Hush said.

"Yeah, that's the problem." Zack said. "In order to make the Gundam Frames move, the pilot would have to disable Safe Mode, but doing so would increase the amount of data feeding back to the pilot, possibly more than what the human brain can handle."

"Just like what happened in Edmonton with Mikazuki..." Pops said.

Kenji looked at Mikazuki. "If the first time resulted in big brother losing function in both his right eye and his right arm, what will be the price of a second time...?"

Pops went ahead and reported it to Orga, telling him that they shouldn't use the Gundam Frames. Orga, remembering Edmonton, agreed. Kenji then went with Mikazuki and Pops to meet with Orga, along with their Gundam Frames.

Kenji was listening to Tekkadan's communications on the way to Orga. He heard that a Gjallarhorn Graze fired at the Mobile Armor, causing it to speed through the ambush point. Kenji immediately realized it was Iok Kujan again.

"Lord Dunce woke it up, and he messed up our ambush plan twice! Putting the lives of civilians in danger!" Kenji thought. "If I ever get my hands on that moron...!"

Once they arrived at Orga's location, they saw him talking with Merribit, with everything that's happened, whatever they were talking about wasn't good.

"What's the plan?" Mikazuki asked Orga, getting his attention.

Merribit also turned to see the three of them. "Mikazuki."

"Want me to go?" Mikazuki asked.

"Big brother, you know what will happen, right?" Kenji said.

Pops was concerned. "I told you..."

"For once, both of you stand back and watch." Orga turned to Merribit. "Call Shino."

"So you mean..." Pops said.

"Yeah. We're going to use Flauros." Orga said.

"That weird looking Gundam Frame we found?" Kenji asked.

"I see." Pops said.

Merribit turned to Pops. "But you said it's dangerous to get a Gundam Frame close to it."

"Nah, it's the perfect machine for a time like this." Pops said.

"Shino had it painted pink, didn't he...?" Kenji thought as his eye twitched.

Merribit was confused. "What?"

"After you split them up?" Mikazuki asked.

"We go for the Mobile Armor with all that we've got." Orga said.

"So, we're rolling the dice on this one?" Kenji asked.

"Is it enough?" Mikazuki asked.

Orga faced Mikazuki. "Well..."

Suddenly the communicator rang. "Call from Lord Fareed." Merribit said.

"Finally." Orga said as he answered the call.

He proceeded to tell McGillis about the Gundam Frame issue as well as what he plans to do with the cannon on Gundam Flauros, which is fire at the cliff to cause a rockslide that will separate the Mobile Armor and the Plumas.

"It'll work out now." Orga said after he ended the call. "They'll be great help..."

"Is that fine with you?" Pops asked. "Wasn't this our chance to show them just how strong Tekkadan is? The king of Mars might sound tempting, but one small mistake and it could be a troublesome title. Depending on how we move from here, it'll decide whether we'll be equals or just another pawn of theirs. It'll affect the entire power balance."

"It can't be helped. We can't forsake Chryse." Orga said.

"I'll go." Mikazuki said.

This surprised Orga. "I told you to watch from the sidelines. If we can split the main body from the small ones, this plan will be a fair enough success. There's no need to risk anything just for saving our face. Besides, the Shiden I got from Teiwaz is on its way here now. If need be..."

"No." Mikazuki said.

"What..." Orga saw Mikazuki staring at him.

"I won't let you." Mikazuki said. "I'll go before you do."

Orga gripped the communicator receiver. "That's enough. You heard what Pops said. I can't let you on Barbatos. If those limiters act up again... You'll..."

"It's okay." Mikazuki said. "If Barbatos still works, things won't be any worse."

Orga was speechless. "Mika..."

Kenji was too. "Big brother..."

"Remember what you told me, Orga?" Mikazuki asked. "The shortest route."

"This is different." Orga said. "If that means losing you..."

"What are you saying?" Mikazuki asked. "My life was given to me by you, Orga. I have to use my all for you."

Orga was silent for a minute, then he spoke again. "Let McGillis and Isurugi take on the Mobile Armor first. If they take care of it, then you don't need to anything. But if not..."

Mikazuki nodded. "I understand."

"Go ahead and take Phoenix's sword while you're at it, you might need it, big brother." Kenji said.

"Thanks." Mikazuki said before he went to prepare Barbatos.

"I hope Mac takes care of it first..." Kenji said to Orga.

"Me too..." Orga said.

The new plan was being set up as Shino was heading towards his assigned location. All available Mobile Suits are getting ready to either hold off the Plumas or take on the Mobile Armor, Barbatos was going to wait nearby in case McGillis and Isurugi fail, and Kenji was with Orga and Merribit, overseeing the plan and managing communications.

Orga contacted Shino. "Shino, the Mobile Armor is getting close. Hurry."

"I'm on it!" Shino said.

Another voice came up. "2nd lookout point, here. The Mobile Armor has passed."

"Roger that. Withdraw quickly." Merribit said. She looked at the map. Then she alerted the Mobile Suit pilots. "10 seconds until the Mobile Armor arrives."

"All hear that?" Orga asked. "We're going to stop it here. No matter what it takes."

"It's here!" Merribit said.

Kenji looked at the current positions of the Mobile Armor and the Plumas, he noticed the Plumas were surrounding the Mobile Armor. "Oh no, it'll be impossible to separate them with a rockslide now!"

"What do we do, Boss?" Shino asked. "I'm at the point now. But I can't see the target from here."

"Someone needs to get in there and draw the Mobile Armor away, but who's going to do something that crazy?" Kenji asked.

Then he heard a voice on the communicator. "I'll go."

Kenji recognized the voice. "Ride? Shouldn't you be back at base resting?"

"That's my Ryusei-Go III!" Shino yelled.

"Ride? Did you just steal Shino's Shiden?" Kenji asked.

Kenji looked at the map and saw Ryusei-Go III, piloted by Ride, leading the Mobile Armor away from the Plumas.

"Nice job Ride! Shino! It's all you now!" Kenji said.

"Shino!" Orga yelled.

"Do it! Galaxy Cannon! Fire!" Shino yelled as he fired Flauros' twin cannons at the cliff, causing a rockslide that separated the Plumas from the Mobile Armor. "Did you see that? That's my Ryusei-Go IV! The rest is up to you guys."

"Come on Mac, don't let us down." Kenji said.

After a few minutes of battle, Merribit got an update. "The Mobile Armor broke through our defensive line."

"Chad!" Orga called out.

"We've got our hands full!" Chad said.

"Then that means..." Kenji said.

"Kenji come on!" Orga yelled as he started running to the nearest Mobile Worker.

"Right!" Kenji said as he got on top of the Mobile Worker.

Orga started to drive the Mobile Worker to where the Mobile Armor was. On the way there, Kenji swore he saw Barbatos fly by toward the gorge. Then he saw the beam weapon fired, the shockwave shook the Mobile Worker but Orga kept it moving and Kenji held on. Once the arrived, Kenji jumped off onto the cliff while Orga opened the hatch and climbed out. They both saw Barbatos, with both its longsword and Phoenix's katana, facing the Mobile Armor, its eyes changing from green to red.