Super Robot Taisen S Zero Reload

by Lily Nadesico

An overhauled version of Super Robot Wars S Zero, and a prequel to "Super Robot Wars S Reload". War is brewing, and a catastrophe the likes of which the world has never seen is slowly but surely coming true, as the main players in this deadly game start making their first steps on the way to clarify all the mysteries and prevent the worst from happening...

13. A City Under Siege

Super Robot Taisen S Zero Reloadd

oooooooooo

Chapter 13 - A City Under Siege

"Aggression code 707. Level D currently under way." Luna stated, looking in alarm at the flashing screen on the computer in front of her and Mizuki. That could only mean one thing... that the crisis they had been preparing for such a long time was finally about to strike! "Zeravire! So the sightings at Gear HQ were accurate... what are we going to do now?"

"For now, we need to trust that Gear HQ will be able to handle this... but I'm afraid this won't be easy." Mizuki stated, looking in worry at a couple of screens. In the streets of Tokyo, some of the monstrous battle robots known as Mecha Burst, the ruthless death machines programmed by the Gaizock to exterminate all sentient life, were tearing a path of destruction through the streets. One of them stopped by a small building and glared at it hatefully... before firing an energy beam from its eyes, which struck the construction and exploded on impact! One second later, the whole building collapsed with a deafening rumbling noise, burying several people who were inside and around it... and the mechanical monstrosity continued on its way, coldly determined to destroy everything unlucky enough to cross its way.

"Those things are rampaging through Tokyo." Mizuki stated, switching the view to that of a swarm of humanoid robots with oddly angular bodies, slightly elongated heads and laser guns mounted on their wrists. They certainly didn't look as impressive as the Mecha Bursts, but there was a much greater number of them. "Gulfer Principle Units confirmed as well. And Gear HQ couldn't launch Dendoh either. The problems are just piling up one after the other, huh?"

"The Earth Union government has currently called for an emergency meeting." a blue-haired maid announced. "Hopefully, we can clean up a bit of this mess and launch Gravion in time..."

Luna nodded, hoping that it wouldn't already be too late. Without Gravion and Dendoh on their side, their chances at stopping the invasion were looking grim indeed...

oooooooooo

When Eiji Shigure reached the end of the chute, his first instinct had been to simply walk along the large, darkened corridor extending in front of him, hoping this would get him out of that mess as quickly as possible. The noise of fighting and explosions, and the earth quaking under his feet, had convinced him that it was high time to get away from that place, before whatever was causing it came too close... but as fast as he ran, the corridor seemed to stretch into infinity before a faint light shone from what was hopefully a way out, far in the distance.

Knowing there was no other way to escape, Eiji sped up his pace and reached the large passageway at the end of the corridor... but much to his displeasure, what he found was not the exit to that crazy place, but rather a strange room that seemed to be a fancy cross between an hangar and a sanctuary. The ceiling towered above him, several dozens of feet above, and on the upper part of the room, a strange structure that seemed to have been sculpted in shining blue stone held up the most incredible thing Eiji had ever seen in his life.

It looked like the torso of an armor crafted for a being of colossal size, a blue color all over with golden highlight that looked like stylized wings in the center of the breastplate, spreading from a spherical red jewel embedded in the armor. A pair of light grey shoulder pads was connected to the armor, which lacked both the head and parts of the limbs, but even in its incomplete state, Eiji could guess that it was no less that 70 feet tall, and probably more.

The awe-struck young man held his breath and walked into the sanctuary, his eyes affixed to the gigantic incomplete robot hanging over him, his mind racing to ask himself what was going on, and what was that thing in front of him. He was so preoccupied with staring at the incomplete form of the robot, that he was not paying attention to his surroundings, and he stood in place, as if frozen in his tracks, when the red orb-like core of the contraption began glowing a gentle golden light, bathing the entire underground room in its radiance.

Eiji stepped back with a startled exclamation, and raised one hand to shield his eyes from the dazzling light. As his eyes rapidly became used to the illumination, he managed to make out a smaller figure taking form in front of the glowing core – as if it was walking out of the machine. The light began to dim down, allowing Eiji to get a clearer view of it…

It was a young man, about Eiji's age or a little younger, with short and well combed light blue hair and matching eyes, his face bearing a serene expression that seemed to be somewhat out of place in that strange situation, as if he couldn't be bothered to worry about it. His way of dressing was rather peculiar as well, being an elegant suit with matching shoes, and his whole being radiated a feeling of serenity that Eiji found rather unsettling.

The blue-haired young man stood in front of Eiji for a few moments, looking just a little bit bewildered at finding someone else in that place… and then smiled and closed his eyes in what was meant to be a peaceful greeting.

"You are just like me, aren't you?" He began. "Pleased to meet you."

It took Eiji a few moments to gather enough of his wits back to answer, and when he did, he surely didn't sound amused at all. "Who… who the Hell are you? What are you doing here? And what kind of place is this? How did I get here?" he bombarded the mysterious young man with questions, never once managing to break through his serenity.

"My, you don't seem to know much about this place." He answered, walking towards Eiji without a care in the world. "Then again, I do not blame you. I thought no one did besides me and a select few."

"What are you saying? What's going on here?" Eiji asked in frustration, before the mysterious young man brought up one hand and lightly touched him on his left cheek.

"Your skin. It's so much harder than mine." The stranger said with genuine wonder. However, Eiji did not take kindly to that guy acting so familiar to him, and reacted in anger

"Don't touch me!" Eiji growled, lunging in for a right hook to the other boy's face. The blue-haired young man reacted with a speed that could only be described as dazzling, and dodged the blow, leaving Eiji to hit nothing but air! Before the surprised redheaded boy could realize what was going on, his easygoing opponent was standing behind him, his attitude not having faded one bit...

"My name is Touga. What's yours?" the blue-haired boy asked as if nothing had happened.

Eiji grit his teeth in annoyance and turned around, trying to deliver a powerful roundabout kick to Touga's head... but once again, Touga reacted quickly and dodged the kick by simply tilting his own body backwards and causing the blow to cut through the air. Eiji stumbled a bit, but quickly took a fighting stance once again... while Touga, after a moment of puzzlement, simply smiled in amusement. He seemed to treat all of that as a game of sorts, which didn't exactly do much to calm down Eiji's nerves!

"Damn you... don't screw with me, pretty boy!" Eiji snarled, once again trying for a barrage of punches. Touga dodged all of the attacks with incredible calm and ease, weaving his way around Eiji with almost contemptuous ease, all the while keeping that bright smile. It was really beginning to infuriate Eiji... it seemed like Touga had not even realized that Eiji was trying to hurt him, and was acting as if this was some sort of game.

"Stand... still!" Eiji exclaimed. Hoping to catch Touga off guard, he lunged in for another punch... only for Touga to dodge that as well, and extend a leg ever so slightly and trip Eiji. The redheaded young man yelped in surprise and lost his balance, ending up facedown on the cold hard floor, his pride bruised more than his body.

"That was fun. Let's go another round!" Touga proposed cheerfully.

As much as he hated to admit it, Eiji knew when he was defeated. He picked himself up, wiped some dust off his suit, and sat despondently on the floor, thinking back on the actual reason why he was there...

"Hm? What's going on? Why are you sulking?" Touga asked obliviously.

Eiji hesitated for a few moments before answering. "Ayaka." he stated simply. The name actually seemed to have an effect on Touga, who blinked in surprise. "I am looking for my sister... Ayaka..."

"Ayaka?" Touga repeated. Eiji couldn't really understand whether he was really empathizing or was just clueless... "I have no idea... could you describe her to me?"

"I'm pretty sure you're seen her around." Eiji replied, emphasizing his words. "She's got a nice set of melons... a tight ass... in other words, she's quite a looker! And she was supposed to be around here somewhere, too."

Touga rubbed his chin with one hand as he honestly tried to visualize this Ayaka person, in spite of how vague Eiji's description was. "Hmm... no, I am afraid I do not know who you are talking about." he finally said, much to Eiji's frustration. He would have added more to his answer, if it wasn't for a sudden tremor that shook the strange room, and got the two boys' attention.

"Huh? What's that?" Eiji asked in alarm as he felt the ground shake underneath him. "Is this... an earthquake?"

The serene look on Touga's face quickly disappeared, only to be replaced by one of cold determination. "They're here." he stated simply. At the same time, several mechanisms on the unfinished robot hanging above them began to move, and a buzzing noise began to echo through the chamber.

"What? Who's here?" Eiji asked. "Who are 'they'?"

The earthquake began to intensify... and the floor moved under Eiji's feet, revealing a deep pit right next to him! Before Eiji could react, he realized he was standing on a sliding panel that was quickly retreating... and one second later, he lost his balance and fell in the pit with an alarmed scream!

"Huh? Hey... Aaaaaaaargh!"

"Be careful!" Touga exclaimed, rushing forward with one hand extended in order to catch Eiji before he fell. Driven by survival instinct, Eiji extended his own arm as well... just as his sight became obscured, and he was able to see the white face of a gigantic robot, its eyes orbs of emerald and a green orb embedded in the golden headpiece around its forehead. It was emerging from the walls of the strange room, looking majestic and powerful...

And that was all Eiji was able to see, before he fell into a sea of azure light, and all became dark...

oooooooooo

A group of humanoid Gulfer Principle Units, the humanoid assault units of the Gulfer army, landed in the streets of Tokyo and began taking aim, shooting down several planes who were converging on the place. A few bombers managed to last long enough to release several missiles, locking on the closest Principle Units... and managing to shoot down some of them before they were overwhelmed and shot down by the other enemies. At the same time, a pair of Mecha Burst Domiras, bird-headed killer robots with countless whip-like tentacles instead of arms, emerged from the nearby main street and showered the defenders of the Earth in a barrage of laser beams from their eyes. Few of the Earth Union fighters survived, and the few who did, understanding that they were outmatched, simply took their time to unload a last shower of missiles before engaging in a tactical retreat.

In the underground Gear HQ base, the situation was being kept under close surveillance... and it was clear that things were looking grim at the moment.

"What's going on? Why isn't our designated pilot onboard Dendoh yet?" asked Director Shibuya, a portly, robust man wearing a grey Earth Union military uniform. "And do we have words on our allies? Haven't they launched Gravion yet?"

"Negative, director Shibuya! It seems that they're having difficulties as well." Aiko answered, turning away from her position just a little bit. "As we speak, several cities throughout the Earth Sphere are under attack from the combined forces of the Gulfer, the Gaizock and the Zeravire!"

"Curses..." Shibuya muttered, sitting back in his chair. "Where on Earth is Kirakuni when you need him?"

"We have located him near Hoshimi-3..." Aiko answered.

"This is bad... the army's first wave of attacks is being repelled!" another operation exclaimed. "Right now, the civilians are being evacuated from the attacked areas."

Shibuya shook his head. "It couldn't have come at a less appropriate moment. Just when we were so close to getting ready."

A door slid open on the other side of the main room, and a short, greying man in his fifties, wearing a labcoat over his GEAR uniform and a pair of red-rimmed looking glasses walked into the room. "Aren't Vega and Kirakuni here yet? The enemy is heading for the underground lab." Dr. Inoue, GEAR's head scientist, inquired.

"From bad to worse..." Shibuya sighed. "Come on, Kirakuni, get here faster..."

oooooooooo

At that moment, the hapless Kirakuni was squeezing his way through a narrow street, in a desperate attempt to reach GEAR Headquarters in time, as explosions and panicked screams resonated all around him. "I'm doing all I can! Kirakuni is doing all he can!" He lamented, finally getting to the end of the narrow path. He stepped out of it, and looked up as a deafening noise rumbled in his ears… He was greeted with the sight of a terrifying creature about as large as a small plane, a mechanical monster covered in a bright red chassis, except for its insectile head and a pair of powerful tentacular arms bending in odd ways, ending in a pair of vicious looking pincers. An Orbiton, Kirakuni deduced. One of the mechanical monsters used by the Gulfer.

He was so preoccupied with the sight of the machine mowing down several fighters with its missiles, that he failed to see where he was going, and ended up going overboard and falling into a river! He quickly remerged with an embarassed expression and tried to look around. At least the evacuation of the civilians was well underway, and the enemies were still occupied with the military... but with how things were going, it wouldn't last for long. The young man quickly swam towards dry land and pulled himself up, stifling a sneeze.

"Ugh... this is just perfect!" he said sarcastically. "I must find a way to get to HQ before long, or this isn't going to end well..."

oooooooooo

Kappei Jin, at that moment, wasn't exactly a very happy camper himself. As soon as the alarm had sounded, the young boy had begun looking for his family members, but had been unable to find anyone inside his home. In a moment of anger and panic, Kappei threw open the entrance door and stepped outside, finding himself close to the coastline - as his father was a fisherman, that was the most obvious place for them to live. He saw that their fishing boat was still moored, and nobody seemed to be on board...

"Grandpa! Mom, dad! Where's everyone?" he called out, hoping for someone, anyone, to answer his call. Luckily, someone did answer - the family dog Chiyonishiki, a lilac-furred akita inu dog with an odd heart-shaped scar on his forehead, came running and barking in alarm, having been upset by the sudden arrival of the mechanical invaders. The Gulfer Principle Units were still swarming the city, and along with them came some strange black creatures that looked like some sort of futuristic black planes, with some glowing red highlights that made them look even more unnatural and sinister.

"Chiyonishiki! Good boy!" Kappei exclaimed in relief, kneeling down to pet the unusually colored dog, who responded by licking his face. "Where did everyone go? What's goin' on here?"

Chiyonishiki barked twice and ran towards the Jin family's fishing boat, jumping upon it with cat-like agility... and Kappei followed suit, hoping that his parents and grandparents were there already. But, much to his annoyance and worry, he found that no one was onboard the ship - it was completely empty, save for a radio-like instrument placed upon a table in the ship's hold.

"Huh? What the heck is this?" Kappei asked himself. His curiosity momentarily piqued despite the situation he was in, the young boy toched a panel on the front of the strange object. For half a second, nothing happened... then, a red light switched on, and a recorded voice, which Kappei recognized as belonging to his grandfather, began playing.

"There is no time to explain it all, Kappei..." the old man's voice spoke, in a tone both cold and worried. "You must remember. Lesson 2... and lesson 31... remember, Kappei!"

"Wh-what?" Kappei wondered, his eyes affixed to the red light blinking on and off in front of the radio-like object. "What does Lesson 2 and Lesson 31 mean? I dont remember anything like that..."

As he spoke, he found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from the red light blinking in front of the strange object... and as he did so, his eyes began to glaze over, as if he was being hypnotized. The young boy staggered back, and a few images came to his mind, as well as voices that he did not remember hearing before...

"Yes... Of course... Lesson 2... and Lesson 31... the ZamboAce... now I remember! It's... still not very clear, but... I know... yes... I know what I must do now..." Kappei murmured in a trance. He quickly shook himself out of it and, knowing what he had to do without really understanding how, and began running towards the front of the fishing boat. Immediately, something appeared right in front of him - a dome of sorts, which had been camouflaged to perfection all along, and now appeared in a blur of bright silverish colors. Chiyonishiki barked twice as a panel slid open on the dome's side, and Kappei nodded once and stepped inside, sliding down a long and narrow chute, until he landed feet first into what looked like a control room of sorts - something he would have imagined as part of some secret base in an anime, with several of his family members at the controls! He saw his older brother Ichitaro, a large boy several years older than he was, sitting at a console, still dressed in his light blue overalls, while his grandfather Hikozaemon was sitting at what looked like the command seat, nervously smoking his pipe through his thick, greying beard and moustache. A little further stood his parents, his father Gengoro and his mother Hanae, as well as his grandmother Maie... but what surprised him the most was seeing two teenagers just a little older than him standing by the rest of his family. A slim, black-haired young man, with a fringe covering his left eye was standing there, his arms crossed on his chest while he gave Kappei a jaunty greeting, while a spunky-looking girl, who seemed to be barely in her teen years, was present as well, her blond hair tied in a long ponytail behind her back.

He immediately recognized them - Uchuuta Kamie and Keiko Kamikita, his two older cousins, which he had not seen in a while. It didn't take a genius to realize that they were there for a very important reason, and that was obviously the death machines that were now attacking the city from outer space!

"Uchuuta! Keiko! What are you two doing here?" Kappei asked, getting in front of the two teenagers. "And what sort of place is this? I had no idea it was even here!"

The young man named Uchuuta smirked cockily. "Well, what do you Think, Kappei? We have come because we knew you could not be trusted to do this on Your own. Fighting against the Gaizock is no small thing after all." He answered.

Keiko, the blonde ponytailed girl, gave a small shrug. "Besides, you know that Zambot 3 can only be formed when all three of its components are present." She stated.

Kappei stopped for a moment. That name, Zambot 3… for some reason, he was sure this was not the first time he had heard of it. It sounded awfully familiar, though the young boy couldn't exactly put his finger on it. "Zambot 3? What are you talking about?" He asked. "Does that have to do with those monsters that have appeared just Now?"

Grandpa Hikozaemon rose from his seat, a worn wooden pipe between his lips, looking imposing and filled with convinction despite his old age. "I think you already know the answer to this question, Kappei." He answered. "After all, this is one of the first things we have taught you in your sleep for the last six months."

Hanae crossed here arms on her chest, clearly disapproving of those methods. "If it were all up to me, we would never have involved the children in this fighting." She commented.

Feeling confused, and yet getting the impression that a lot of things were Now much clearer than before, Kappei rubbed his chin… indeed, that was the only way many things he was suspecting made sense. "Now, now… hold on a second, everyone." He said, looking at Uchuuta and Keiko. "You meant to say… that during these last six months, we have been taught in our sleep about this Zambot 3 thing?"

"Hey, if it makes ya feel better, I ain't too keen on this way of doin' things either." Came Uchuuta's answer. "But I guess it was necessary, considering the danger we are facing."

As the truth of these words began sinking in, more memories that had somehow been implanted in his mind slowly came to the surface. He thought hard about the visions He had seen in his dreams for quite a few months now… the sight of ruined cities, an army of inhuman, immense mechanical monsters marching through the ruins of the civilizations they had exterminated… and a lone spaceship taking off from a doomed planet, reaching Earth after a long and dangerous journey through space… the few survivors trying to continue their lives in that place, getting ready for the second coming of their enemies…

It only too Kappei a few seconds to piece everything together. And in that moment filled with confusion and uncertainty, he understood.

"Yes… I remember now!" Kappei finally affirmed, looking at all the members of his huge family. "Uchuuta, Keiko and I were not born yet, but we are the last surviving inhabitants of planet Bial, after it was attacked and destroyed by the Gaizock and their allies."

"That is true, my son." Gengoro answered simply. Kappei's father was a man in his forties, with short, slightly curly dirty blond hair and a matching mustache, at that moment wearing a light blue uniform not too different from the one Hikozaemon had donned. "We were lucky enough to escape while our people were destroyed, but the Gaizock are not yet done with their rampage, and they will not be until the whole universe is emptied of all forms of life."

"This is our next and probably last chance to stop these invaders ". Keiko intervened. "This time, thanks to Zambot 3, we have a fighting chance at least."

"Man, that's some pretty heavy stuff." Kappei commented. Somehow, the reveal that he and his family were aliens coming from a far away doomed planet did not leave him as shocked and incredulous as it might have. "Well, in any case, what we have to do now is pretty clear. We get onboard our robots and send the Gaizock back to the scrapyard, don't we?"

"In a nutshell, that's the basic idea." Grandma Maie answered.

"Your robots have already been fine tuned and prepped." Ichitaro answered. "Kappei, you will pilot the main part, ZamboAce."

"Uchuuta, you are to pilot the Zambull, which has the greatest attack power of all the three parts of the Zambot." Hikozaemon continued. "Keiko, we're entrusting you with the Zambase. Make sure you can properly handle both attack and support."

"Yes, of course!" Uchuuta answered readily.

"We will do all we can to stop this invasion." Keiko continued.

For his part, Chiyonishiki expressed his assent by giving a loud bark in accordance with Kappei's confidence, and the youngest of the three pilots grinned and began walking towards the pilot chutes at a fast pace. "So, what are we waitin' for? Let's get our butts in gear and go kick some Gaizock ass!"

"Hey, hold on a second, son! You aren't going to go without your piloting suit, are you?" Gengoro exclaimed. Maie sighed in slight impatience and pointed to three tight piloting suits - one red, one blue and one green - that had been laid on a nearby table, complete with gloves, boots, jackets and helmets.

"Piloting will be dangerous enough as it is... we don't wanna take any unnecessary risks, do we?" Keiko said, mentally thinking that her younger cousin didn't seem to be the most qualified person for such an important job.

Kappei halted in his tracks with an annoyed expression on his face, and quickly turned around. "Ugh... why didn't you tell me that before? Fine, fine... let's ut these stupid suits on and get down to business!" he exclaimed. "The more we wait, the more those monsters wreck the place!"

"At least on that, I must agree with you..." Uchuuta answered, having already taken his piloting suit and starting to put it on...

oooooooooo

"Man, this is getting real bad... I hope Ginga and his family are safe now..." Hokuto exclaimed, as he and his family followed the huge crowd of civilians being guided towards the escape routes. The whole city was overwhelmed with chaos and panic, as the mostly one-sided battle between the Gaizock forces and the Gulfer killer robots raged on. Another wave of fighter planes of the Japanese Defense Force had been mostly wiped out, with only a few scarce reinforcements coming to try and stem the unstoppable assault of the invaders. Several city blocks had been demolished, and the destruction was slowly but surely inching towards them...

Jupiter barked in alarm when the side of a building near them was hit by a stray missile and plunged into the streets below with a tremendous crumbling noise. Luckily, there were no casualties, if only because, by some miracle, there were no people passing through that place at that moment, but it was still enough for everyone to panic even further and erupt into screaming and wailing!

"Aaaaah! This is it! We're all going to die!" a woman screamed in despair.

The crowd dispersed for a moment and then hurried down the street, almost plugging it with their sheer press... and Hokuto clung tightly to his father, looking around to see whether the rest of his family was there. Jupiter was still hanging close to them in a protective way... but as the young chestnut-haired boy raised his head to see if his mother was still there, he was unable to see her anywhere!

"O-Orie?" Mr. Kusanagi exclaimed, noticing his wife's absence as well. "Orie, where are you? Orie!"

Hokuto had been keeping it together admirably until then, but realizing that his mom had disappeared was the last straw. "Mom... Mom?" he called out, desperately looking around the crowwd to see whether she was around there. He was able to see Aki, the girl he had met that afternoon shortly before making friends with Ginga... and he was sure her friend Michi was there as well... but he couldn't see his mother anywhere!

"Mom! Mom! Where are you, mom?" Hokuto called out louder, hoping that Orie could hear him in the midst of all that chaos... but it was a futile hope, in that chaotic crowd and with the deafening noise of the nearby battle! "Ugh... Dad, please, I need to go! I need to look for Mom! We'll catch up with you later!"

"Wh-what? Hey, Hokuto, where are you going? Get back here!" Mr. Kusanagi exclaimed in panic, his fear of losing his son now adding to that for his wife. But it was too late - Hokuto had already run off, taking a side street and running back towards his home to see whether his Mom had been left behind somewhere. His heart pounding in his chest, desperately trying not to be seized by his anguish, Hokuto weaved his way through the crowd and turned his head in all directions, hoping to see at least one hint of his Mom anywhere. He was so intent on his search, that he could not see the small figure running behind him, and they ended up bumping into each other, losing their balance for a moment before they picked themselves up and looked at each other...

Much to Hokuto's surprise, it was Ginga, dressed in a red short-sleeved shirt over a black undershirt, a light yellow jacket and trousers, and white and black trainers, along with that ever-present band-aid that never seemed to leave his left cheekbone. He picked himself up, rubbing his backside with a comical expression of embarassment, and looked straight at Hokuto. "Owww... hey, watch where you're goin', you... oh, it's you! What are you doing running in the opposite direction? You're supposed to follow the crowd!"

"Oh... hi, Ginga... I could say the same about you, actually!" Hokuto protested. "Don't you have to evacuate as well?"

"Yeah, I'm going to do it eventually! But first I have to check something!" Ginga exclaimed. He quickly ran into a nearby street, and turned a right, only to hearsomeone crying from a parking lot... a little girl, alone and lost, was kneeling in the midst of the parked cars, calling for her parents. "Oh, no! That little girl there... I need to go help her!"

"Wait, Ginga! I'm helping as well!" Hokuto exclaimed. Jupiter ran up from behind and followed the two boys as they reached the crying little girl, and Ginga knelt down to give her a piggyback ride. "We need to take her somewhere safe... but where? Those monsters will get here soon!"

"We'll think of something on the way! Come on, let's get back to the evacuation!" Ginga exclaimed. "Quick, before something catches up!"

Jupiter turned to his left and barked twice in alarm... as an enormous, ominous shape obscured the moon and cast a dark shadow over the parking lot, causing the two boys' blood to run cold with terrible fear. Acting more on instinct than anything else, Ginga and Hokuto quickly glanced up... and saw, much to their horror, that one of the Mecha Burst Domiras had actually caught up, and was now towering over them! "Ah! Oh no! Not now!" Hokuto exclaimed in panic...

With a deafening crashing sound, the tentacled, bird-headed Mecha Burst landed in the parking lot, crushing a few cars underneath its gigantic feet and shaking the ground hard enough for both Hokuto and Ginga to lose their footing and fall prone! The two boys yelped in pain and alarm... and Jupiter whimpered in fear, running to his young master's side in a feeble attempt to stop the mechanical monster that was slowly but surely advancing towards them.

The Domira glanced at the terrified boys, the heroic dog and the crying little girl. Its cold, inhuman mind only had place for murder in it. It desired nothing but to destroy everything and everyone. To it, those defenseless people were nothing but targets to exterminate. It began to aim, as Ginga and Hokuto quickly picked themselves up and dragged the little girl along with them, in a desperate attempt to escape. Without hesitation, the death machine took aim...

oooooooooo

Inside his command room on the Bandock, Butcher was cackling with glee as he watched the Domira quickly catching up to Ginga, Hokuto, Jupiter and the little girl. He knew they had no chance of escaping, and their struggle to save themselves only made the atrocious scene all the more amusing to watch for him.

"Hahahahahaaaaa! Yes! That's what I like to see!" Butcher screeched. "Children represent the future of their race... which is why it is so amusing to slaughter them! Come on, my metallic toy! Blast them apart! But not too quickly! I want them to suffer first!"

oooooooooo

In the great hall where Sandman's party had been taking place only a few minutes before, all the guests were looking around in fear and confusion, wondering what exactly was going on. Gone was the festive atmosphere and the light-hearted banter... nearly everyone was gripped with icy terror as the floor shook under their feet.

"What... What's going on here?"

"We're under attack?"

"Impossible! How did the satellite barriers not intercept this?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for a few moments, please?" Raven, the masked red-headed man, called for the guests. Even though he looked tense and serious, he was keeping a cool head about everything that was going on, and was trying to avoid that the party dissolve into total chaos. "We apologize for this incident. Mr. Klein Sandman would share a few words with you. He will be with us in a matter of moments."

The guests' chattering quickly simmered down to a stunned silence... and they glanced up in anticipation as the large ivory-colored double doors behind Raven slowly opened, and a tall, elegant and handsome figure began to appear behind them. Klein Sandman, the famous billionaire businessman, was making his way to the main room, and almost everyone held his breath while keeping their eyes on the corridor.

The sound of steps got closer and closer... and finally, the figure stepped out into the light on the main hall, revealing himself for who he really was.

Klein Sandman was a tall, handsome, well-built man looking like the picture of style, elegance and refinement. Standing about six feet tall, he had short, neatly combed light purple hair and piercing golden eyes in a face that exuded confidence and intelligence. His black dress was rimmed with deep red fabric, and decorated with an ample white collar that revealed a black strip of cloth around his neck, his hands were clad in white gloves, and he was also wearing long black trousers and polished black shoes. A cane decorated with golden highlights and topped with an expertly cut emerald was held in his left hand. He finally stopped and stood in full view of his audience, followed by the adoring gazes of several of the maids...

"That's... him?" a woman asked in wonder.

A blond-haired, blue-eyed man in an immaculate white dress over a red shirt and a pink necktie, who was keeping his cool quite well considering the whole situation, took a sip from a glass of fine white wine before placing it on the table beside him. "Hm, so the big man finally showed up." he said with a boyish, sarcastic smile. "Let's hear what he has to say."

Sandman waited for a couple of seconds before extending a hand to his side and starting his speech, clearly going for dramatic effect. "Greetings, everyone. Sorry to have kept you waiting. Words cannot express how pleased I am at your presence here." he began, speaking in a warm, calm voice. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am... Klein Sandman."

He raised his glance, and despite the alarming position they were all in, several females could not help but squeal or giggle at the extremely good-looking man standing in front of them. The man in the white dress simply smiled and put down his half-empty glass, smiling to himself...

"Though I regret to say, I come with bad news." Sandman continued, his tone turned ever so slightly more somber. Slowly, he raised the hand he was holding his cane with, and the gem placed on top of it shone for a second... before a projected image appeared on the ceiling of the elegant hall. The crowd let out a collective gasp of surprise and fear - what they were seeing were the images of the attack being waged by the mysterious enemies from outer space. Gulfer Principle Units swarming upon Tokyo, Mecha Bursts and Orbitons rampaging through the streets, and a bunch of new, unidentified threats: black creatures with glowing red veins all over them, which looked like some sort of monstrous organic fighter plane. All of these things were converging upon Tokyo, taking their toll in human lives!

"At this very moment, humanity is under attack by a new enemy. As we speak, they have pushed their way through the satellite defence systems, and are attacking Tokyo." Sandman continued somberly. "I, along with some of my associates, have taken the liberty of organizing a few countermeasures to stop this new enemy. Forgive my indulgence, but it was necessary, considering the danger all now face."

"You appear to be very well informed about this, Mr. Sandman." the blond man dressed in white spoke, brimming with confidence bordering on arrogance. He paced away from the table he was at, and walked towards Sandman, keeping an hawkish gaze upon the violet-haired billionaire. "One might be forgiven for being a little suspicious about how you managed to know so much about these assailants in the first place."

"Hey, hold on a second..." a guest murmured, looking at the one who had just addressed Sandman. "That man, isn't he..."

"Yeah, that's Muruta Azrael, the famous industrialist... he's got a pretty high rank in the Earth Union's National Defense Industry Association." another one answered. "And I'm willing to bet good money that he had Mr. Sandman in his sights for quite a while now."

The blond man named Muruta Azrael continued to stare at Sandman in an almost defiant way, his smile never fading away from his face. "I believe Mr. Sandman owes us a bit of an explanation. Starting from some very important questions... that is, what sort of enemy are we dealing with? What can we expect from them? And above all... what sort of countermeasures has he prepared? Can we trust them to work?" he stated in a tone of almost smugness.

Sandman was unfazed, and simply nodded in agreement with the newcomer. "A fair point. It was my intention to answer this question anyway." he stated. "The enemy we now face is an alliance of dangerous entities from beyond known space. The Gulfer Machine Empire. The Gaizock. And above all, the creatures known as Zeravire. They are the enemy that has come to exterminate humanity."

"That's terrible! What... what can we do?" a woman exclaimed.

"Damn... as if all those alien invaders, Giganos Empire, Neo Zeon and ZAFT weren't enough!" another man cursed.

Sandman calmly but firmly raised a hand. "Ladies and gentlemen... please keep calm. Panicking will only play into our enemies' hands. Rest assured that countermeasures are already underway to stop these threats." he assured his audience. With a gesture of his hand, he raised his cane further, and the visual switched to the streets of Tokyo, being at the moment overrun with Gulfer and Gaizock battle robots... the Earth Union's fighters and bombers were trying their best to keep the invaders at bay, but they were fighting a losing battle. "Admittedly, the military cannot do much to stop them. But in a scarce few moments, you will see for yourselves that the tables will be turned."

Azrael frowned and kept his glance on the projected images on the ceiling. At the moment, as much as he disliked that, he was in no position to object to what Sandman seemed to be doing, and could only hope that whatever countermeasures Sandman and his allies had in mind, they would be enough to stop the aliens. But he swore to himself, if Sandman and his associates thought they could get the better of him, they were going to be sorely mistaken...

oooooooooo

Ginga and Hokuto were freezing in terror as the Mecha Burst Domira slowly but surely inched closer, a single step covering several of theirs. Jupiter, standing close to his master, growled at the mechanical monster, even though even he seemed to know how pointless that was going to be... and the little girl they had tried to rescue was standing close, trembling in fear. Their doom seemed to be sealed... there was no way they could hope to save themselves from that mechanical behemoth.

Hokuto managed to shake himself out of his fear, and called out to his loyal dog. "Jupiter! Please take the girl and get her away from here!" he exclaimed.

Jupiter turned to his young master with a whimper that sounded both incredulous and worried... and the little girl clung to his side. "THere is no time, Jupiter! Try to at least save her and yourself!" Hokuto continued.

Jupiter barked once, understanding the order even though he really wanted to stay at Hokuto's side. He knelt down just a bit, so that the girl could climb on his back... and then reluctantly made a break for it, running at his full speed towards the exit to the parking lot just as a certain someone was getting inside...

Susumu Kirakuni stopped for a moment at the sight of the gigantic Mecha Burst towering over Ginga and Hokuto, and barely registered Jupiter running past him with the little girl on his back. He froze in horror as the monstrous machine approached the two boys, fully intent on crushing them underfoot...

"This cannot be..." the young man murmured in horror, trying to look around for a way to stop the Mecha Burst from killing its targets... but he saw nothing that could help him with that.

"Damn..." Ginga murmured.

"What's going on?" Hokuto asked to no one in particular. "Why is this happening?"

At that point, the Mecha Burst was only one step away. It glared at Ginga and Hokuto with what could easily be construed as sadistic joy, and raised one gigantic foot to squish them like ants...

"You... you bastard!" both boys shouted at the same time.

But just as it seemed this was the end of the line for Ginga and Hokuto, the ground began to shake, and the Domira stepped back with an incredulous screech, its tentacles flailing around in confusion. The two boys jumped up in surprise as a large fissure opened up in the ground in front of them... and something huge and majestic began to rise from below! The head of a humongous humanoid robot appeared in front of them, and the Mecha Burst stepped back in surprise as a pair of robust steel arms followed up, catching Ginga and Hokuto in the palm on the mysterious robot's hands!

"Whoa! What's going on now?" Hokuto shouted as he saw the ground quickly getting away from him. At that moment, the robot rose completely from its underground lair, and the boys were ableto get a better look at it: it looked like some sort of medieval knight, its body covered in bright cobalt blue armor on its head, shoulders, chest and legs, along with a silver faceplate lowered on its head. Its arms were bulky, and several turbines encircled its forearms and its calves, while its hands were made in a robust dark grey metal alloy, with fully articulated and dexterous fingers. Its silver breastplate sported a golden symbol that reminded one of a four-pointed star. It stood about 80 feet tall, and despite its huge size, it seemed to be quite agile and nimble...

"You jerk! Let go of us!" Ginga shouted.

The humanoid robot complied immediately - its chestplate opened up with a loud sound, revealing a pair of cockpits in which it shoved Ginga and Hokuto without hesitation... and then it closed, the robot taking a fighting stance and getting ready to face the attacking Mecha Burst!

Kirakuni had been standing there in complete disbelief, watching all of this unfold in front of his eyes. "N-no way! Dendoh... just awoke? This... wasn't supposed to happen in this way!" he murmured, his eyes wide.

oooooooooo

Inside Gear HQ, the personnel was taking things with a lot more optimism. "Director Shibuya! We have finally received a signal from Dendoh!" an operator exclaimed. "Kirakuni has finally managed to get inside the cockpit!"

Shibuya smiled and sighed in relief. "Well, that's good to know. With all that's happened, we needed some good news at least."

"Hold on a moment, Director... something doesn't add up here!" Aiko intervened, taking a look at her monitor. "There is an anomaly! Kirakuni isn't inside the cockpit! Dendoh just moves on its own!"

"What?" Shibuya exclaimed. "How is that possible? Someone contact Vega at once! This is getting out of hand!"

oooooooooo

With a roaring sound, a red motorbike jumped over a collapsed bridge and raced at high speed towards the place where the robot called Dendoh had just risen. Zigzagging through chunks of concrete and the remains of cars and buildings, the blonde woman placed a hand on her helmet, and activated a comm device built into it, hoping to hear good news from HQ.

"Miss Vega! This is HQ! Do you copy?" Aiko's voice exclaimed from the comm channel. "We are facing an unexpected development. Dendoh just activated on its own!"

"What?" the woman asked in surprise. "Are... are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm getting a visual on it." Aiko confirmed. "Indeed... hold on a second, I'm getting a message from Kirakuni... he's telling me that Dendoh seized two schoolboys that were about to be killed by a Mecha Burst! They're inside Dendoh's cockpits as we speak!"

"Unbelievable... That Dendoh would find someone deemed worthy of being its pilot..." the woman named Vega murmured to herself. Then, she spoke into her communicator again. "What about our allies? Are Gravion and the Zambot team on the move?"

"I confirm that the three component robots of Zambot 3 have activated and are heading towards the battle zone right now." Aiko confirmed. "The Gran Knights seem to be about ready to launch as well."

"That's good news at least..." Vega concluded. "Okay, I'll get to where Dendoh is right away!"

With that, she put the pedal to the metal, and raced at the greatest speed she could muster towards Dendoh, getting the uneasy feeling this was not going to be simple...

oooooooooo

Of all the ways Hokuto Kusanagi had thought he'd spend the night, being stuck inside some sort of strange control room, strapped to a pilot's seat, was definitely the one he believed tobe the least likely. And yet... there he was, inside a sterile-looking cockpit in front of countless strange instruments that kinda reminded him of a plane's dashboard. Surely, it beat being a sitting duck while a gigantic monster with the head of an eagle and tentacles for arms tried to squish him like an ant, but this was not going to be very useful, if he was unable to get out of that predicament.

"Wh-what... what sort of place is this?" Hokuto asked himself. "And Ginga? Where is Ginga?"

As if to answer his latter question, a comm window popped up at Hokuto's side, showing Ginga's face as he was about to freak out! "Gaaaah! Where are we? What happened to us?" he asked.

Hokuto turned to his new friend, looking quite mortified at what was going on. "Ginga! You're here too?" he answered. "Well... I'm not sure what's going on exactly, but... I think we're inside that huge robot that just appeared!"

Ginga stood there for a moment, paralyzed in surprise... and then his eyes went as wide as saucers! "WHAAAAAAAT?"

Right outside Dendoh's cockpit, the Mecha Burst Domira decided it had had enough of waiting, and raised a bunch of its tentacles before slamming them upon Dendoh's chestplate with tremendous strength, rattling the cockpits inside and causing the blue robot to stagger! Ginga and Hokuto screamed as they were thrown around, but managed to remain upright as did Dendoh itself...

oooooooooo

"I apologize for the whole mess, director Shibuya." Kirakuni's voice came from Vega's comm device. "I was unable to get inside Dendoh's cockpit in time."

"How is this possible? How could that possibly happen?" Director Shibuya asked in frustration.

Vega's motorbike came to a screeching halt on a road close to the parking lot where the Mecha Burst Domira had tried to kill Ginga and Hokuto, and she cast a thoughtful look at the gigantic robot, taking the Domira's attack and barely even flinching.

"I can only assume it was Dendoh itself who chose its pilots." she ventured, adjusting the pale grey mask that covered the top half of her face, but left her deep brown eyes visible. A beautiful woman in her middle age, Vega had long, shining blond waist-length hair, wearing a rather form-fitting black bodysuit with white sleeves, along with a white jacket rimmed in navy blue, white ankle boots and a blue military beret. "In which case, all we can really do is have faith in its choice. Can I have a visual on the two pilots, please? I'll take care of guiding them."

She took off her helmet and pressed the side of her face mask, causing a strange lens-like contraption to cover the hole on her right eye. Immediately, the live feed of Dendoh's cockpits began to be shown on a mini-screen... first, the image of Ginga angrily flailing his arms about, in a feeble attempt to escape that sticky situation...

And then, the image from the second cockpit, with Hokuto sitting and trying to keep his cool, caused Vega's eyes to widen in dismay.

"What?" she asked to herself. "Oh no, not him... why did it have to turn out this way?"

oooooooooo

"Run for your lives!"

"They got us!"

"This is it!"

"I don't wanna die!"

An Orbiton and several Gulfer Principle Units had cornered a group of fleeing civilians, their weapons already pointed at them and ready to fire. There seemed to be no hope for the terrified people, who were huddling together in a desperate attempt to at leastcomfort each other in what were seemingly their last moments.

The Orbiton's artificial eye shone red as it scanned the targets in front of itself, and the Gulfer Principle Units all pointed their guns at the people...

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size, jackasses?"

A pair of gunshots rang through the air... and a pair of bullets struck two Principle Units in their heads, piercing through them with incredible ease! The mechanical monsters fell limply to the ground, electric sparkles spraying from the gaping holes in their heads, and shut down a moment later, while the others turned to their attacker... a humanoid robot covered in red armor on its chest, forearms and lower legs, a golden V-shaped emblem further protecting its chest, and a pair of short golden wings strapped to its back. Its hands and its waist were colored a deep blue, and it was holding a smoking robot-sized gun in both of them. The people it had just rescued looked at it in awe, while the Gulfer robots tried to analyze the newcomer and try to come up with a countermeasure...

"Ta-daaaan! ZamboAce to the rescue!" Kappei exclaimed from the cockpit of the gun-wielding robot, a cocky grin on his face before turning back to his enemies. Another Principle Unit was struck in the chest by an hail of bullets, being thrown back towards a ruined building and exploding upon impact! Before the other Gulfer units could retaliate, a tank-like vehicle emerged from a nearby street and fired two drill-like missiles that struck two more of the humanoid robots, punching a hole right through them! The civilians screamed in fear as the two Principle Units exploded, knocking some people down but luckily doing them no harm.

"Keep the gloating to a minimum, Kappei!" Uchuuta stated as he sat in his ZamBull. "We're here to save these people after all!"

The two remaining Principle Units tried to get away and fire from a more advantageous position... only for another vehicle to show up from above! Looking like a fighter plane, but bearing the same white, red and blue coloration of the other two newcomers, the ZamBase piloted by Keiko executed a strafing run on the Gulfer robots, showering them in machine gun fire, and downing the two remaining Principle Units. With an inhuman screech, the Orbiton took to the air, and the ZamBase did a manuever to lure it away from the civilians, with ZamboAce and ZamBull right behind.

"Guys! Stay close to me! We're going to need to be able to combine into Zambot 3 soon!" Keiko exclaimed in alarm, her onboard radars picking up the signatures of several Zeravire drones. "There's Zeravire here! They are joining the fray!"

"Doesn't matter! Let me at them, I'll take 'em down like amateurs!" Kappei gloated. "I won't even need to combine!"

Uchuuta sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Really, Kappei, this isn't the time to be showing off! Just follow our lead! We'll take the fight to a place where we won't do that much damage!" he stated, his ZamBull swerving to the side as a Zeravire drone swept down, firing a blast of energy that melted a slab of concrete...

oooooooooo

Inside a secret control room, Luna and Mizuki were awaiting anxiously for the signal to move out... and were relieved when the door behind them slid open, revealing the masked red-haired man, Raven, accompanied by a shy-looking green haired girl in a white-and-pink maid's dress wearing a pair of thick looking glasses. Both of them looked quite tense and concerned, which was quite understandable considering what was going on...

"Mr. Raven!" Luna exclaimed in relief as Raven stepped into the control room, nodding at the two girls in greeting. The green-haired girl in glasses did a quick bow and followed after Raven. "Oh, there's Eina too... we're glad to see you!"

"Luna. Mizuki. What's the situation?" Raven asked quickly.

The busty blonde shook her head. "Not too good. Gear HQ is having trouble with activating Dendoh. At least, Mr. Hikozaemon has confirmed to us that the Zambot 3 components have been launched." she answered. "But they're not going to be nearly enough to stem this invasion."

"Oh, no... this is awful!" Eina murmured as she looked at the screens. The Zeravire drones had joined the Gulfer and the Gaizock in their assaults, and now several of them were diving on Tokyo, like a bunch of alien kamikaze. "Those are... Soldier-type Zeravire drones!"

"About 80 of them are attacking Tokyo as we speak. Along with numerous Gulfer units and a smaller but significant number of Mecha Burst units." Raven only took a few seconds to assess the situation. "Alright, looks like we'll have to deal with this ourselves. Luna, Mizuki, Eina. Take your positions. As for Eiji Shigure, I will instruct him of what to do myself."

"Roger that." Mizuki answered. "Luna. Eina. With me!"

"Right away!" Luna exclaimed

"I'm coming! Wait for me!" Eina answered. The three girls quickly raced towards their units, leaving Raven and some personnel in the control room, monitoring the situation...

oooooooooo

Eiji had no idea where he was exactly... he was laying face down on a cold and hard floor, in a dark place where the only light was a strange white-blue luminescence in the distance. Carefully opening his eyes and looking around, the young man did a quick check for any injuries, and was surprised to see that he was completely unharmed, despite the fall he had just taken. He was not sure how that could have happened... but he had a hunch that it had been the strange light he had been bathed in when he had fallen...

"Ugh... what sort of place is this?" Eiji muttered to himself. "And where did that prettyboy go? Damn him, he just had to be all mysterious and stuff... ugh, next time, I won't go so easy on him!"

"Eiji..."

Eiji's eyes widened in surprise as he heard a female voice calling to him from somewhere, a voice he was oddly familiar with. But as he picked himself up and looked around, he saw nothing around himself. He was standing in the midst of a huge void, only the barest hint of a floor visible under his shoes, and that strange light coming from somewhere unknown.

"Eiji..."

"Ayaka? Is that you?" Eiji ventured, walking towards the light. The voice stopped calling to him, but Eiji continued walking in that direction, and towards the source of the light... There, inside a small depression in the floor, he saw a strange vehicle - similar to a motorbike, but without wheels, and with several strange indicators near the handles. The wheels were indeed substituted by a complex-looking set of magnetic devices, which seemed to be there in order to allow the vehicle to float a few inches above ground.

"Well, that's an airbike! Well, at least I can use this to get out of this crazy place!" Eiji stated in satisfaction as he sat in the pilot's seat. He was further relieved when he realized the ignition keys were on, and he quickly activated the futuristic vehicle.

Immediately, a circular green screen near the handles lit up... and several plexiglass panels rose from around Eiji, causing him to gasp in surprise.

"G-FACTOR CONFIRMED." an electronic voice droned. "ACCEPTOR ENTRY HAS BEEN CONCLUDED. PREPARING TO ENGAGE."

"Wh-What?" the red-headed young man asked in confusion. He felt the seat shift under him for a moment... and then, what had seemed like a futuristic motorbike picked up tremendous speed all of a sudden, and Eiji was pushed back in his seat by the immense acceleration! For several seconds, Eiji could do nothing but grit his teeth as a distant light came closer...

And a few seconds later, the vehicle he had just climbed on came out in the open, right above the besieged streets of Tokyo... and Eiji discovered, much to his horror, that he was at the controls of some sort of fighter plane, right in the middle of a fierce battle with robotic invaders coming from some remote corner of the universe!

His reaction was exactly what one might expect in such a situation.

Eiji looked numbly around himself for a while... and then screamed in panic!

oooooooooo

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: And finally, the story continues! The battle with the Gulfer Machine Empire, the Gaizock and the Zeravire is underway! I decided to introduce Uchuuta and Keiko right off the bat, in order not to prolong the story too much, and hopefully to introduce Zambot 3, the combined form of ZamboAce, ZamBull and ZamBase, in the next chapter! Ginga and Hokuto will soon get their first taste of real combat... as will Eiji, of course.

Hopefully I can get the start of these three series done with in the next chapter, or the next two chapters at most. It will soon be time to introduce two of my faves... Nadesico and Daitarn 3!

See you soon!