Disclaimer: Nadesico isn't mine...But I wish it was!













Nadesico: Blue Hair and Love Part 3
By Gray For Jessica




"I just wanted to be a cook...why do I have to keep fighting?" Akito thought to himself as he forced his Aestivalis to maneuver around several incoming missiles. So far he and the other pilots had managed to take out a fairly large number of enemy ships. But the ridiculous difference in numbers pretty much assured that they would lose in a drawn out battle.
"If only we didn't have to concentrate on defending these transports, then we could have a chance."

Yurika watched in fear as Akito and the other pilots were slowly overwhelmed by the enemy forces. She winced as Akito took a particular nasty hit. He was okay though and continued fighting.
"What can I do? How can I help them? Akito, tell me what I should do, please!" These thoughts whirled in her head as she desperately tried to think of some way to help her beloved Akito and the others. But what could she do? There was only so much a captain could do in a combat situation like this one. She glanced around at all the various faces of her crew. Erina's scowl, Minato's encouraging smile, Megumi's sad visage, and of course Ruri's blank stare. Yurika then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again they were bright and optimistic once more.
"Akito, I know you can win. You have my support. The only thing I can do right now is believe in you, and I do. So for all our sakes Akito, you have to win."

Akito cursed as a stray missile struck his aestivalis in the side. He swerved to the left to dodge another barrage and opened fire on the offending batta. It exploded into a shower of flame and Akito breathed a temporary sigh of relief. Then he was hit from behind by several missiles which caused him to cry out slightly.
"Tenkawa! Pay attention! Otherwise get the hell out of my squad!" Nagare's arrogant voice blared on the intercom as Akito ground his teeth in frustration. Choosing to ignore the annoying pilot and focus his anger on something else, Akito spied a cluster of enemies nearby. He flew straight to them and before they could react, he dropped a grenade right in the center of them. The results were predictable. Akito grinned slightly.
"Sure am glad that Uribatake equipped us with these new midair grenades!" He thought to himself. He then noticed more enemies approaching and groaned.

Megumi watched in terror as her Akito was buffeted by Jovian attacks. He continued to fight valiantly however and she felt so fortunate to have him as her boyfriend. He hadn't actually admitted this fact yet. But she knew that it was the truth. Just as Ranma loved Akane, Kenshin loved Kaoru, or Heero loved Relena, she was sure that Akito loved her.

Akito dodged another missile barrage and yanked out his Aestivalis knife thingy(tm). He then thrust it directly into the center of a batta, causing the mechanical bug to die out and plummet to the waters below. Akito finally noticed that the Nadesico and the transports were now crossing over water. He then glanced over at the other aestivalis pilots. They were all holding their own but it looked like it wouldn't last.
"I have to do something, and fast!" The cook/pilot thought to himself as explosions echoed around him in every direction. He watched as more and more jovians appeared with the single purpose of killing everyone onboard those shuttles and then the Nadesico itself. He watched as a batta targeted one of the shuttles and prepared to shoot a volley of missiles at it. Cursing to himself, Akito swerved and rushed towards the batta, pushing his aestivalis to the limit and it's thrusters beyond that.
"Please let me make it in time!"

Everyone onboard the Nadesico watched in silent hope as Akito raced towards the lone batta. They all held their breaths for fear of disturbing the moment. The other pilots, too far away to help, also watched. Even the arrogant Nagare silently prayed for Akito's success. As for a certain captain with blue hair, she had her eyes closed in prayer as well.
"Please Akito, you can do it. I know you can."

Faster and faster the aestivalis went. Yet to Akito, it seemed like everything was going in slow motion. He saw the batta release it's missiles, a large swarm of angry locusts, ready to devour the shuttle that was targeted. He saw a little girl in a window of the transport watch the missiles in fascination and fear. But most of all, he saw that he wasn't going to make it in time.
"God no..." The little girl's eyes widened and her mouth opened in a silent scream that would never end. The missiles struck the transport and caused over half of its structure to explode with the roar of an enraged lion. Akito could only gape, his eyes wide, as the severely damaged craft finished exploding and what little was left plummeted into the icy waters below. He clenched his eyes shut and willed the little girl's face to go away. But it wouldn't. Akito angrily clenched his fists, his breathing became labored, and sweat pooled along his brow.
"I failed..." He whispered.
"They're all dead, all of them. Because of me."

Th-thump...
"My fault..."
Th-thump...
"All my fault..."
Th-thump...
Th-thump...
Th-thump...

"ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Everyone onboard the Nadesico heard Akito's cry of rage and sorrow. Megumi covered her ears. Minato bowed her head. Yurika slumped into her seat and watched as a single tear fell from her eye and shattered onto the shiny floor beneath her.
"Akito..."

Inside the cockpit of his aestivalis, Akito "Lady's man" Tenkawa sat with his head bowed, and his eyes obscured. One thing escaped his lips.
"No more..." His hands sought out the controls once more.
"No more..." His head lifted, showing emotionless brown eyes.

"No more..." The nano-machines on his hand glowed with power.

"NO MORE!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed as his aestivalis rocketed towards the main jovian fleet.
Back on the Nadesico, everyone was awestruck at his apparently suicidal attack. Then Uribatake's face appeared on the main screen.
"Captain, I'm not sure why, but according to my data, Tenkawa's aestivalis is operating at a level that is unheard of. It's going ten times faster than normal, and it's distortion field is over 300 times stronger than average." Yurika and everyone else blinked several times.
"How is that possible." Erina finally asked.
"The only thing I can come up with is that somehow he is getting his nanomachines to operate at a heightened level. This would in turn carry over into the aestivalis, thus making it operate faster and more efficiently. Tenkawa seems to have more control over his nano-machines than other pilots somehow."
Erina nodded slightly.
"Could it have something to do with why he is able to bosen jump?" She thought to herself.

Akito's aestivalis tore through the jovian ranks. Annihilating half the fleet in a few short minutes. The enraged pilot then turned his attention to the other half. He grinned almost sadistically and launched himself at them. His distortion filed expanded and anything caught in it was immediately destroyed. He flew right into a large battleship and exploded out the other side, causing it to detonate. He laughed and smashed through an entire squadron of batta. Within another few minutes, the other half of the fleet was dust. The scattered remnants of the attacking lizards fled immediately. Akito chased them right until they entered the chulip. He was about to follow when Yurika's face appeared on his screen.
"Akito, that's enough! Please, return to the ship. It's over." Akito seemed to snap out of his trnace and nodded slightly.
"O...okay Yurika. I'll be right there. He then turned his aetivalis around and flew back to the Nadesico. If he had looked own, he would have noticed that his nano-machines flashed once before returning to their normal color.




Author's notes: Whew, that was a toughie to write! Not only did I have writers block for a while, but it was hard expressing what Akito was feeling in this chapter. Seeing the latest Nadesico, which is volume seven, helped though. Anyway, sorry that this one isn't very romantic, but I had to get the big fight scene out of the way. In the next part, Akito must deal with his guilt, and the others must deal with a new and different Akito.
Please R+R!!! Even if you hate me! Let me know! Thanks, bye!
P.S If I spelled bosen jumping wrong, I apologize. That's how it sounded in the anime...