Chapter Six: Hail to the King-The Final Battle

Milliardo sat in his desk and smiled.

"Soon, it will happen again." he said to himself, "I'll make sure that your side wins this war, Father." Suddenly, Jion and Pagan rushed in.

"Sir!" yelled Jion, "We're getting reports that the Gundams are on their way here!" Milliardo nodded.

"Thank you, Jion." whispered Milliardo, folding his hands, "That is all." Jion stared at Milliardo for a second, and then left with Pagan. Milliardo smiled again.

"The fools." he said to himself, "They're helping me and they don't even know it. Today is December the 24th. Christmas Eve."

~

Earlier that day, the Gundam pilots had been plotting their attack.

"The Peacemillion took a beating from that last battle." said Duo, looking at the marks left by one of the SAGITARIUS' missiles, "I'm not too sure how I'll be of much help to you guys." Treize put his hand on Duo's shoulder.

"You've saved the Earth twice." he said, "Take Shenlong. Do it again."

Duo looked confused. "What'll you pilot then?" he asked. Treize smiled and began to walk away.

"Go on without me." he called back to them, "I'll catch up."

"Okay." Odin said, "There are two places Milliardo could be. The Neo OZ headquarters and the Fang headquarters. Solo, I want you and Duo to go to Fang headquarters. Raphaela and I will head towards Neo OZ. Any questions?"

Nobody spoke.

The four Gundam pilots took off.

~

On the television, Milliardo was making an announcement.

"Today is a sad day." he said, "It is my duty to inform the people of the Earth-Sphere that President Marshall Killgrave has been assasinated by the Fang terrorists. So, it is with a heavy heart that I accept my place as new ruler of the Earth-Sphere.

"In my first act as President, I hereby declare that the Presidency shall be abolished! I will be referred to from here on, as the King of the Earth-Sphere Kingdom."

In bed, Sally Po jumped up.

"In my second act," Milliardo continued, "I declare that the actions taken by the Fang and the renegade Gundam pilots will end NOW! I declare war on all terroists. The Gundams are my top priority." The crowd in front of him cheered.

~

Duo was having a blast piloting Shenlong.

"Y'know, I understand why Wu Fei liked this thing." siad Duo, "Since it's so much like the Deathscythe!" Solo laughed and then pointed ahead, at the Fang HQ.

The two Maxwells flew straight at the building.

"Lax security..." Duo said to himself, "Wait a minute... SON! GET OUT OF HERE!" Solo looked over at his father, who was escaping. Solo followed suit.

"Why are we running?" asked Solo.

"That's the decoy." said Duo, "It's rigged to..." Behind them, the Fang Headquarters exploded. Duo shrugged at his son and they flew off towards the Neo OZ headquarters.

~

The ZERO Heaven and the Heavy ARMS Revenge swept down towards the Neo OZ HQ. A force of about 200 LEOs charged at them.

"There's too many!" cried Raphaela, fighting off as many as she could.

"He must have gotten the people's support." said Odin to himself, "Well, I better give the people a good show!" Odin fired his Buster Rifle at a crowd of VIRGOs, coming from the East. To their West came a fleet of TAURUSs. Behind them came more SAGITARIUS.

Odin flew at the LEOs, swiping his beam sabre. They exploded in a grand flash of light.

"Where are the OZ Gundams?" asked Raphaela, as the Terra Sandrock arose from the ground.

"Rasid!" Raphaela cried, "We don't have to do this!"

"Of course we do, dear Raphaela!" Rasid retorted, lunging at her, "Only one of us shall survive this... the final battle!" Raphaela sighed as she dodged Sandrock's attacks.

Meanwhile, Odin battled the troops. He figured that the other Gundams would come soon. Even if it's only one, they'd be completely overwhelmed. They needed backup.

~

Duo and Solo flew towards OZ Headquarters. They were about ten miles away when they came across an encampment. There stood the Pandora Gundam they had seen on television. Duo flew in close.

Then he laughed.

"Son, take a look at this!" he chuckled, "Here we were thinking this to be some big, scary new enemy! It's just a VIRGO with a bunch of scrap parts attached to it! Ha!" Duo flew above the camp and pointed the Dragon at the camp.

"The Pandora may be a ruse," smiled Duo, blasting fire at the OZ installation below. "but I can't go off and leave a cadre of backup troops for OZ." Then, a green blur rushed by the two Maxwells.

"Well," said Solo, "speakin' o' backup..."

~

Odin was being crowded by the sheer amount of Mobile Suits surrounding him. The armies had bought into Milliardo more than Odin had thought. That was when the Hydra Serpent Gundam joined the fray.

"Did you guys miss me?" quipped Michael Howard, brandishing his own beam sabre, "I guess I'll be killing you now."

Howard raised the sword and pulled out his Serpent Cannon. He charged it and prepared to fire at Odin. Then, a green Mobile Suit appeared and raised it's right arm.

"My name is Treize Chang." he said, "For the Earth! For my parents! FOR NITAKU!" He ran the enlarged Dragon of the Altron Ultimus Gundam towards the Serpent. As Howard screamed, the Dragon enveloped his Gundam. There was an explosion, and Michael Howard was dead.

Duo and Solo showed up shortly thereafter.

"You took out Howard?" asked Solo, "Geez, Treize. You never leave me any of the good stuff!" Solo sliced apart a few dozen TAURUS'.

~

Inside the facility, Milliardo Khushrenada, Jion Marquise, Vinsfeld Tubarov, and Pagan stood watching the battle on a television.

"This is it." whispered Milliardo, "All those who matter to the outcome to this situation are here. Vinsfeld, my trusted friend, I'd like you to take the Ephyon out on the field. I'm not up for it today. Jion, go with the Tallgeese. I'll give orders from here." The two OZ soldiers left the room.

"Of course, it was all four of us I was referring to." smiled Milliardo, turning towards Pagan.
"In all the years of watching Trowa Barton infiltrate enemy organizations, you've learned nothing. You aren't any good at it... Heero." Pagan smiled back.

"You're good." said Heero, removing the skullcap that covered his spiky brown hair, "I had a hunch you knew. Of course, I wasn't going to give away anything. As you probably know, I've been feeding Duo information. That's just a secondary action, though. My main reason for being here is to avenge the deaths of my friends. The only friends I ever had."

~

The troops had all fallen back.

"They're probably waitin' for some sort of cadre of backup troops to come rushing in from a remote encampment ten miles away," snickered Duo, "Too bad for them."

Raphaela and Rasid had battled out of sight of the rest of the Gundams. Rasid was out for blood.

"Milliardo's been lying to you, Rasid!" Raphaela cried, "Don't you see?!" Rasid frowned.

"I know all about it." he muttered, "Everything's been a lie. I helped the man who killed my parents, for God's sake! I no longer have a purpose in this world. This battlefield will be my final resting place. But, I might just take you down with me." He charged at her.

Odin wiped the sweat from his brow. Suddenly, the other two Gundams appeared. The Ephyon Tyranus and the Tallgeese Knight.

"Damn." whispered Odin, "Guess I've got more work to do."

Treize yelled in anger as he blasted a stream of fire at the Ephyon.

"You're nothing." sneered Tubarov, "OZ is SUPREME!" He knocked the Altron to the ground.

"Treize!" yelled Duo, "Hang on!" He flew at the Ephyon and was swiped away as well. He landed next to the heavily damaged Altron.

"Duo..." stuttered Treize, "on your keypad. Type in the word... "NITAKU"..." Duo did as he was told. There was a flash of light and the workings of the two Gundams began to twist around. They began to combine.

Solo sat on the sidelines, watching the epic battles take place around him.

"Maybe I shouldn't have killed off Killgrave." he said to himself, "At least I wouldn't have to sit here and just watch." Then, something clicked in his head. "Waitaminute! That voice coming from Ephyon wasn't Khushrenada! That must mean... he's still inside the OZ headquarters! Deathscythe, see ya later, buddy." Solo silently left his Gundam and slinked into the OZ headquarters.

Odin stared at Jion.

"So," said Odin, "How are you related to Zechs?" Jion smiled, slowly brandishing his beam sabre.

"Milliardo Peacecraft is... my son." Odin was speechless. "My true name is Xerxes Peacecraft, and I am rightful King of the Sanc Kingdom. Before you ask, I was almost totally killed in the destruction of the Sanc Kingdom. My battered body was found by a clean-up crew from the Barton Foundation.

Dechem Barton had cybernetic enhancements attached to my body. This kept me alive. Then, Dechem sent me into a temporary state of suspeneded animation. I was to be Dechem's backup plan. This didn't go as well as he'd planned, however. He was killed during the Mariemaia Khushrenada situation and my body was left there. I was woken up three years ago by a man who said he was my Grandson. His name was Milliardo Peacecraft the Second. He is Zechs's son. Now, though, he's dropped the Peacecraft name. He's currently known as Miliardo Khushrenada."

~

Milliardo turned towards Heero and smiled.

"So, I just bet you know who I really am, don't you, Uncle Heero?"

"Sure I do," said Heero, "But why couldn't you do this as Zechs's son?"

"Grandfather would not have gone along with the plan if I had." Milliardo replied.

"Well," Heero sneered, "You've sure got yourself one Helluva plan." Milliardo smiled.

"Oh, but this is my master stroke, Uncle Heero! I will recreate the Eve War and finish what my father started!"

"And what is that?" asked Heero.

"Why, I'm so glad you asked." smiled Milliardo, "I am going to destroy the Earth. Although I may go down with it, my father was willing to die for his dream then, as well."

"Zechs was insane at that time!" retorted Heero, "He wouldn't condone this. But, how are you planning on destroying the planet anyway?" Milliardo smiled again.

"The Libra Cannon has been rebuilt and posistioned on a remote area of the moon. In exactly 45 minutes, the moon will be at the correct point in which to fire at the Earth. This cannon will not break down after every shot, however. It can also fire rapid shots as well. It should take about, say, four shots at the most to reduce the Earth to ash and cinders. The sheer force of the blast will most likely destroy the moon as well. Now, all that's left is to wait."

Heero looked at the ground, then at Milliardo.

"I won't let you." he said, "I... no, we all will destroy you. We will SURVIVE!"

~

The Sandrock charged once more at Heavy ARMS. He sliced off one of the Heavy ARMS' shoulder turrets. Rasid looked to the sky and laughed. Then, he saw the moon. A large, glinting object was pointing straight at the Earth. Straight at him.

"What?" he said to himself, "That's the... the Libra Cannon! Father showed it's schematics to me! It could destroy the entire planet in about three shots! Is this Milliardo's plan? My God..." Rasid stared blankly at the cannon for a while, and then turned towards Raphaela.

"Maybe I can atone for my sins, Raphaela." he said, "I'll save the planet..." With that, he flew into the night sky. Raphaela cried and went after him.

"A... metamorphosis...?" stuttered Tubarov, trying to come to grips with what he had just seen. The Shenlong and Altron had become one. They were now the Dragoon God Gundam. They were the most powerful Gundam in existence.

"Say goodnight, Tubarov," sneered Duo, destroying the Ephyon with one slash.

"Geez, Wu Fei was a genius." Duo whispered. Then, he looked up. Three streaks were heading towards the atmosphere.

"That's Heavy ARMS and Sandrock from the East," muttered Duo, "But that other thing... that's Peacemillion!" The unconscious Treize jumped up at this and cried out.

"Mom! Nooooooo!"

Odin, meanwhile, had already locked up with Jion.

"This is all you've got?" smiled Jion, "Well?!" Odin was waiting for this. The two Gundams were equally matched. Jion, or rather, Xerxes, was getting cocky. The ZERO Heaven's right arm pulled back, and a tiny beam cannon emerged from the wrist.

"This is over now." said Odin, "I'm going home." He fired and the Tallgeese Knight fell to the ground. Xerxes Peacecraft was dead.

That was when Odin recieved a message from the Peacemillion V. It read:

"This is Sally Po. I have figured out what OZ's plan is. They're going to wipe out the Earth with another Libra cannon. I have figured that the only way to stop it's destructive force is to send all of your Gundams to it, and activate the self-destruct mechanism. I am going to do the same with Peacemillion. Put your Gundams on auto-pilot and send them to these coordinates. I'll program them to self detonate.

Please, I need all of you to help. The Libra cannon is quite a bulky beast. It'll take an almost nuclear force to destroy it. This is all I can do to help. You must stop OZ on Earth yourselves.

Sincerely,

Sally Po

P.S. Treize, I love you."

Odin looked down at the Dragoon God Gundam and bowed his head. Treize was powerless to stop his mother from killing herself, even if it was for the good of the Earth. He pitied him. Odin quickly snapped out of it and programmed his Gundam to go to the moon. He ran over to the Deathscythe and did the same. He attached a cable to the Tallgeese from his ZERO Heaven. All the Gundams would go out together.

Duo grabbed Treize's unconscious body and set it on the ground outside the Dragoon God. Duo smiled and ran back in, programming it to self detonate on the moon. He jumped out of the Gundam and ran towards OZ headquarters. He saw Odin next to him.

~

Heero looked at Milliardo, who seemed quite full of himself.

"You know," said Heero, "Neither Zechs nor Treize would condone this. You're just a monster."
Milliardo smiled at Heero, "It really doesn't matter what my fathers would condone at this point, does it? I mean, there's really nothing that matters anymore. This world is doomed. The future will be rebuilt in the colonies. The roles of OZ, the Fang, and the Gundams, have been, shall we say, written out. Our time is done."

Heero smirked. "You're insane." At this, Milliardo screamed. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Heero. He pulled the trigger.

Heero felt nothing.

~

Rasid flew at high speed. He'd reach the moon in about 30 minutes. Probably enough time to rectify his mistakes. Suddenly, he was pelted in the back by a blast. He turned and was grabbed by Heavy ARMS.

"Let me be!" yelled Rasid, "I need to do this!"

"No you don't!" replied Raphaela, "The Gundam can go there on auto-pilot. Stay with us! You're... you're like my brother! I can't let you go!"

At this, Rasid stopped. He cried.

Raphaela knew that there wasn't enough time left to just sit here.

"Rasid!" she cried out, "Howard rebuilt your Gundam, so it should have the detachable torso! We can escape on it, and send my Gundam and what's left of yours to the Libra cannon!" Rasid slowly opened his eyes and looked at Raphaela's face. She was smiling. Her short, brown hair was hanging down past the sides of her helmet. But he just couldn't get past that smile. It was like his mother's. And his father's. He did have a reason to live. Rasid knew he had to protect the things in life that are like that. Things like her smile.

The Sandrock put out it's hand. Raphaela smiled brighter and programmed her Gundam to self-detonate. She got out of Heavy ARMS and into the torso of Sandrock. They were going home.

~

He looked at the screen. He could see Milliardo's chamber on the security camera. On the floor beside him lay the freshly shot bodies of two OZ soldiers.

"Will Treize's spirit never rest?" he said to himself, brushing back his long, white hair, "Even if it comes down to me killing you, boy, I'll make sure you go down." He slowly walked down the corridor towards Milliardo's chamber.

~

Heero looked down in horror as Solo's body fell to the ground. Blood poured out from underneath him.

"He... he saved me..." was all Heero could mutter. Solo had taken the bullet for a man he had never met.

Milliardo raised an eyebrow and looked down at Solo. He snickered. Heero charged at him, if only out of rage.

'I've changed so much.' thought Heero, 'Twenty years ago, I'd have never have done something like this. Never cried out and ran out at my enemy. I would have killed him stealthily and gotten out. But this is personal. This... is where I end this. Where I end what I started twenty years ago.'

Milliardo raised his gun and shot at Heero once more. He fell down. Pleased with himself, Milliardo turned towards the window once more and laughed to himself. In the reflection, he saw a figure coming towards him. Milliardo shot behind him, and Heero fell again.

'This battle is futile.' Milliardo thought to himself, 'It's almost... funny.' Milliardo laughed again. He heard footsteps coming towards him once more. Milliardo snarled.

"Don't you people ever die?"

Heero lunged at Milliardo, tackling him. The blood from his two bullet wounds splashed all over them.

"Face it, Yuy," Milliardo smiled, "You're just too old for this." Milliardo flipped Heero off of him. Heero flew threw the window towards the desert ground 25 feet below.

At that exact moment, Odin and Duo entered the room.

"Dad!" yelled Odin. He ran at Milliardo, punched him, and jumped out the window after his father.

"Idiot." laughed Milliardo, struggling to his feet. He was immediately put down by a kick to the head.

"Look what you've done to my son!" yelled Duo. He began punching Milliardo. Milliardo reached for the gun, which was lying on the floor to his right. Duo knocked it out the window, which gave Milliardo enough time to grab the knife in his boot. Duo felt a sharp pain in his hip and rolled over in pain.

"I win, do I not?" laughed Milliardo, standing triumphant once more. He was ready for his next assailant, however. He turned and dealt a roundhouse kick to Treize's stomach.

"Damn I'm good!" yelled Milliardo. Treize looked up to see something that would haunt him for years to come. Milliardo laughed. He laughed hard. He had hurt and killed so many, yet still, he laughed.

Then...boom.

Milliardo had barely felt the cold gun barrel in the back of his head. Death came quickly. He fell to the ground and looked up at the man who had shot and killed him. With his last breath, he uttered one word.

"Father..."

_

The story is over there... isn't it? Find out in the Epilogue, next chapter!

BOOYA! - Matt Ryan