Pheonix Rising
Pheonix
Rising
by Ratha
Part Five:Rise
of the Phoenix
"CHARGE!!!" Eiko yelled
as she aimed her bumper car at Heero and Trowa. She shrieked with laughter
as the three cars collided with a resounding crash. "Yeah! Two hundred
points for me! No where's that male chauvinist Wufei?" She shrieked again
as she was hit from behind and was answered with Wufei's laughter.
"That's for the impromptu
shower this morning!" Wufei hooted. Then he was nearly thrown from his
seat when Quatre rammed violently into him. "Quatre! Watch it! You can
get whiplash doing that, you know!"
The blonde pilot merely
stuck his tongue out at him and began chasing Duo with a manic grin.
Heero and Trowa then
joined Eiko in ganging up on the protesting Wufei.
"The Shinigami's to
the rescue!" Duo rammed into Wufei just before the bumper cars shut down
for the next set.
"Who's rescue, Bakagami?"
Wufei demanded indignantly.
Duo looked at him innocently.
"Why, Eiko's, of course!" Then he let out a yell and ran from the Chinese
pilot who was threatening his precious braid.
Eiko laughed and put
her hands behind her head as she walked with Heero, Trowa, and Quatre down
the midway. "I haven't had this much fun in years! You guys are a blast!"
"Well, we've never
had any kind of fun before you came along, Eiko," Quatre replied before
the other two could. "Though I'm not sure about Duo..."
"That Bakagami's always
having fun," Heero snorted.
"Ah, you're just jealous
of him!" Eiko said loftily. "You and Wufei. That's why you two always make
fun of him!"
"What?!" Heero yelped
in indignant shock, then whipped out his gun and aimed it at her forehead.
"Omae
o korosu."
She didn't even flinch.
Abruptly she snatched the weapon from him. "Lay off, Heero! What is it
with you and guns? If you must carry a gun, use one of these." She
handed the startled pilot a water gun.
He looked at it silently,
then promptly shot Trowa with it.
Trowa sputtered indignantly
while Quatre tried to muffle a laugh. Eiko didn't try to hide it and laughed
loudly at the big grin on Heero's face and the furious look on Trowa's.
"What's so funny?"
Duo asked as he and Wufei returned with cotton candy for everyone.
Heero's face was suddenly
blank. "Remember all those times I threatened to kill you, Duo?" he asked
quietly.
Duo's eyes widened
and he backed away. "Why?" he asked shakily.
Heero abruptly whirled
and shot Duo with the water gun.
Duo fell backwards
with a startled yelp and stared at him, jaw hanging in utter shock.
Eiko sniggered at the
stunned looks on both Duo and Wufei. Quatre was fighting futily not to
laugh while Trowa openly grinned.
Finally Duo found his
voice. "You got my cotton candy wet!" he whined.
Eiko shrieked with
laughter as the guys face-vaulted. "If-if this keeps up...y-y-you guys
are gon-gonna make me la-laugh to death!" she howled between laughs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 weeks later...
"Pheonix standing
by, Heero," Eiko reported quietly as the two gundams approached the
OZ base from the east while Quatre and Trowa approached from the south
and Wufei and Duo approached from the west.
"Roger that," Heero
grunted in response.
"Oi, Heero-niichan.
No 'Heero'-ics," she quipped and was rewarded with a soft laugh.
"Gotcha, motochan.
No self-destructing."
"Good, Heero! You're
finally learning! I'm finally getting through that thick head of yours!"
"Hn."
"Don't you 'Hn'
me! I-Duo! Versago and Tallgeese at two o'clock!"
"Thanks, babe!" crackled
Duo's voice over the audio-link.
"Quatre, there's
two keeps of Aries and Taurus on your tail!"
"Thanks for the warning,
Miss Eiko!"
"Heero! Look out!"
She lunged forward and knocked the Wing ZERO out of the way of a powerful
beam cannon that would have easily destroyed the powerful gundam.
"Thanks, Eiko." Heero
spun around and sliced through the cannon with his beam saber. "Damn OZ
idiots."
"Guys, promise me
you'll all come back in one piece," Eiko said softly.
"Of course, we will!"
Duo chirped brightly as he sliced through the Leos that attacked him. "We
always do! Don't we?"
"Baka," Heero
grunted. "Do you have a bad premonition about this battle, Eiko?"
"Not really. Just
a vague feeling of wrongness about this. Like one of us isn't going to
get back to base alive." She was silent for a moment, as were the others
as they closed in on the base.
"We'll promise to come
back in one piece on one condition, Miss Eiko," Quatre said suddenly.
"What's that?"
"That you promise to
come back in one piece, too."
"Yeah, babe! You gotta
promise that, too!
"Please, Eiko?"
Yes, Eiko."
"Promise us, Eiko."
She smiled in happy
surprise. "Yakusoku, niichans. I promise."
How sweet. I'm getting
cavities.
"Id!" She spun
around to see the Versago swiftly approaching her gundam, beam saber blazing.
She quickly held up her shield to block the attack. "Damn you, Id! I
don't have time for you now!"
Too bad. You'll
have to make time! This time I won't back down! He attacked
again, bringing his saber down on her shield repeatedly, making her fall
to one knee.
She gritted her teeth
and struggled to bring her own beam saber into play. But it was impossible
to do so, the way he was attacking, so she deployed the "cat's claws",
striking the other MS in the cockpit and throwing it back several hundred
yards. Taking the opportunity, she whipped out her beam saber and stood
ready.
"Very well, Id,"
she said grimly. "The final battle starts now."
"Eiko!" one of the
other gundam pilots shouted over the audio-link. "Eiko, don't-"
"This is my fight,
guys! Stay out of it! This battle will be the last one!" She viciously
turned off the audio-link and faced Id. "Bring it on, Colonel Id. May
the best warrior win."
I intend to.
Id lunged forward, saber held ready to attack.
She met him halfway,
the air crackling with the collision of their sabers. The two gundams leapt
back to circle each other like battling lions, pilots waiting for an opening
in each other's guard.
Suddenly the Versago
was hit hard by something from behind and Id spun around furiously. But
there was nothing there. He was hit again and he whirled around to again
find nothing. He saw the Pheonix standing silently off to the side as he
was hit repeatedly by his invisible attacker.
Damn you! Come out
and show yourself, you coward!
"But I am showing
myself, Id," Eiko's calm voice replied, her face appearing on his viewscreen,
surrounded by unearthly swirls of color and light.
His eyes widened in
surprise. How was this possible? The Gundam Pheonix had no viewscreens!
She didn't have the power to project her image like this! This was impossible!
"Impossible? Perhaps.
But my psi powers are greatly amplified when I am hooked up to my gundam.
My gundam is an extension of my body, it is my body, and I am its
brain." She smiled and the colors glowed brighter around her. "I
have reached a level that you never will. Your power is nothing compared
to mine now. You and OZ can no longer touch me, or my friends. I have the
power to destroy all of this universe with a thought. I am the Ultimate
Weapon, and I will destroy you if I must."
Her image suddenly
began to glow, becoming engulfed in flames before vanishing to reveal her
gundam was engulfed in flames. Id's jaw dropped as the huge machine began
to change, became purely flames. Everyone stopped to stare in awe at the
flaming shape of an enormous fiery bird.
"A phoenix..." someone
breathed.
The gigantic firebird
threw back its head and let out a spine-tingling shriek, opening its flaming
wings fully and flapping them. Waves of fire ran across the ground like
burning horses as the phoenix lifted into the air. Blue-green eyes flashed
as the bird circled overhead and surveyed the motionless MS below. Then
it turned toward the base and opened its beak. Fiery red molten lava spewed
out and engulfed the base, totally obliterating it.
"Holy shit..." Duo
whispered.
The phoenix shrieked
again and dove at the Versago.
Suddenly...
EIKO! NO! DON'T
DO IT! a mental voice cried loud enough for everyone on the battlefield
to hear.
The phoenix faltered
and banked away from the frozen gundam.
That's enough! You've
proven your point! Now calm down before you do something you'll regret!
The phoenix hovered
in midair for a moment, then the flames died away to reveal the Pheonix
gundam. Then it silently began to fall limply to the ground.
"EIKO!" six voices
cried as the gundam landed hard on the ground and didn't move.
Id spun to face the
five younger pilots. "You get her out of here! I'll make sure my soldiers
don't follow you! Hurry!"
Heero and Trowa were
the only ones that didn't hesitate as the Versago lunged at the stunned
Tallgeese and Leos.
"Is he on our side
now?" Duo asked in confusion.
"Yes," was the curt
reply. "Zechs! Get out of here before I kill you! Tell my father I'm through
with OZ!"
"Then you are a traitor,
Lord Id-"
"Go to hell! All of
you! I've had enough!"
The battlefield suddenly
exploded with white light and everything was silenced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, minna! I know
how everyone hates cliffhangers-I know I do!-but I had to stop here because
I want to save the rest of the good stuff until the next part. Stay tuned
to see how the G-gang gets out of THIS mess! Please R&R! Ja ne, minna!