Chapter Four

Duo crept through the dark hallway. His gun cocked, he turned a corner, sharply, but only to find nothing threatening.

"Man, this is boring. Where's all the guards and stuff? Talk about stuff, where's the mobile suits?" Duo was very confused, but tense nonetheless.

As he began to walk, he nearly tripped over what looked like a giant button.

"Hmmm, I wonder if I do this." he said as he jumped on it.

A large door opened to his left.

"Jeez, I wouldn't of noticed a thing like that." Duo commented as he approached the opening.

It was very cold. And pitch black. He slowly headed inside.

Wufei quietly made his way down his corridor. So far, nothing, he thought. A soldier darted past a door a few feet in front of him. A couple seconds later he dashed back to see what was waiting for him in that hallway. Wufei fired and the soldier fell down, dead.

"Now that that's done, I'm sure there's more on the way." Wufei said to himself.

He ran past him, to turn right, towards a fairly large door. It had a special computer code. An easy thing for a Gundam pilot to crack. He was done in a matter of minutes. As he went in, a dozen tiny lights turned on all around him. A dark form outlined the light.

Trowa strode down his hallway, peering in numerous doors, to find nothing. He could see another hallway ahead, with one more room to go. The door was closed. He slowly opened it, and to find something very surprising.

Someone, or something was struggling in the far corner.

"Who's there?" he asked.

All he got was a muffled cry, that sounded like, "Help me! Get me out!"

A puzzled Trowa lowered his gun, and approached what looked like a girl. A very beautiful girl. She had medium long jet black hair done up in odangos. Her violet eyes looked up at him fearfully.

Quatre walked swiftly down his corridor. His eyes quickly darted inside every door, and he held his gun firmly in his hand.

"Where are the mobile suits? We sure need them." He said, approaching a fairly large room.

He slunk against the wall, and pointed his gun dead ahead as he ran in. Something was glowing a shocking blue-green in the darkness. He slowly walked over to it, and inspected it.

"Eh?! What IS this? What do I do now?" he asked no one with an uncertain look on his face.

He picked it up, unknowing of what it might do. It was in the shape of a cube, about the size of a tennis ball. It continued to glow in his outstretched hand. All of the sudden, he wasn't in the dark, damp room anymore.

Heero stealthily walked down the hallway. It led to what appeared to be a dome, with unknown mobile suits in it.

"Looks like I found out where the mobile suits are. But they're not Tauruses, in fact I've never seen them before." Heero shrugged and silently crept over.

There was no one there to stop him from going inside, but not before carefully looking around the area first. Someone was waiting for him inside.

"Hm, I see you've made it here." The unknown soldier said, sounding impressed.

Heero pointed the gun at her.

"There'll be no need for that, Heero Yuy. I'm Yuki Kawazuko. I came here to dispose of this filthy organization. I'm part of HOWL, against BAK." she said, wanting to join sides with him.

Heero narrowed his eyes, "How did you know I'd be here?"

"Don't worry. I know all about you pilots, and I'm here to help! Where's everyone else?" Yuki asked seriously, but friendly at the same time.

Trowa untied the girl.

"Uh, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you so very much! I'm Yoshi Hayabaru, part of HOWL, a small group determined to defeat BAK, that's who's been staging all these battles and doing all this damage. You're Trowa Barton, right?" she explained.

Trowa was shocked, "Y-yeah, I'm-"

"I know, I know all about the Gundam pilots. No need to explain. Follow me!" Yoshi said as she ran down another passage leading to the mobile suits.

As Wufei gawked, the form revealed a girl, his age. She had short blonde hair in pigtails. He stared into her light blue eyes.

"Who are you, woman?" he demanded.

"Jeez, ya don't have to be that way. I'm Hibishi Gudayama, part of HOWL. We're against all the battles and war started by BAK. We're on your side!" Hibishi explained.

"Uh-huh. Can you tell me where the mobile suits are located?" Wufei asked sheepishly.

"Of course. I'm headed there myself. Come on." Hibishi said as she headed in the direction of the dome.

He followed swiftly.

Duo peered around the room until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Some sort of portal began to form on the back wall.

"What the hell." Duo trailed off.

The portal glowed sky blue, and a girl with long red hair in a high ponytail braid stepped out.

"Hey! Who are you?!" he asked, very dumb founded.

"Hi there Duo! I'm Kimi Toshibo. I'm in a group called HOWL, and we're trying to stop BAK, this place's head organization. Come with me! To the mobile suit dome!" she said quickly, her green eyes shining.

"Yeah, yeah I get it. But how'd you know my name?!" he asked suspiciously, his cobalt blue eyes sizing her up.

"I know everything,.oh, just come on!" Kimi urged him.

"Ok! Ok!" Duo said hurriedly and followed her.

Yoshi, Hibishi, and Kimi ran up to meet up with Yuki. Yuki's long, light blue hair flailed as she ran towards Yoshi. Her magenta eyes brightened as she wrapped her arms around Yoshi.

"Yoshi! I'm so glad we all got here safe! And I see we all completed the first part of our mission," Yuki said as she turned to face the 4 pilots, "Wait. Where's Quatre?"

"Yeah, where is he? How come he didn't get escorted here by a beautiful girl?" Duo wanted to know.

Kimi blushed, and giggled coyly. Yuki gave her a harsh slap on the back, to silence her.

At that moment, a stunned Quatre appeared right in front of them, holding the blue-green box.

"Nani? Uh, Quatre, what is that you're holding?" Trowa said, shocked and confused.

"I really don't know." Quatre replied with a shrug, "But look who I found."

Kaoru stepped from behind him, "Heh heh, hello everyone."

Wufei made a face, "What happened to being a tour guide?"

"Hey, it was just a cover!" Kaoru responded, then turned to Hibishi.

Hibishi's eyes watered, and embraced Kaoru tightly.

"Oh my god.I thought you had been killed during that ambush!" Hibishi cried out as she hugged Kaoru.

Kaoru too started to tear up, "I thought all of you had been killed also, in that same attack."

Yuki and Kimi ran over too, to comfort Kaoru.

Kimi said, very solemnly, "I thought for sure there was no way we'd find you again!"

"I'm so happy HOWL is reunited! But we have to be careful. Even though we took over this base, there might still be a few around." Yuki advised.

"Yeah, I came across a straggler. Don't worry, I took care of him." Wufei assured.

"We would have taken these Waks and used them to destroy the other BAK bases, but we knew HOWL just couldn't get rid of BAK alone." Yoshi informed the pilots, "That's why you all were brought here."

"Umm, we were on our way here, as a matter of fact, we were about to bomb the whole place. We found it strange that it was almost deserted here." Heero stated.

"Hold on here. Are you telling me there's only four of you in HOWL?" Quatre just couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"Oh no. There were many others, 2 years ago. But after that OZ attack, just about everyone was wiped out, except us." Kimi filled them in shortly.

"Hm,....hey! Watch out, I see someone coming!" Duo warned everyone.

Relena made an absurd face, "ALRIGHT! That's it! I'm heading in, I mean come on! I haven't seen anyone go in or out for hours!"

"So?" Duette shrugged.

"Are ya coming with me, Duette? Cause I'm leaving now to look for them!" Relena stated boldly.

"YES! I must find out what's taking my Duo so long!" Duette agreed.

They both ran to where they last saw the boys. The trap door was easily found. Both ladies descended inside.

"I'll be right back, hold on a sec, everyone!" Yuki said as she ran back to where the original doorway was.

"Uh, okay!" Kimi said, not knowing what she was talking about.

Yuki was nearly there when she could hear the shouts: "DUO!!"

"HEEERO!!"

Relena and Duette desperately wanted to know where in the hell their men were.

"Hey! You guys, follow me, they're over here!" Yuki yelled as she got closer.

"Who are YOU?!" they both asked together.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Yuki Kawazuko." She smiled, "I'm on your side! Follow me!"

Duette and Relena stared at each other, shrugged, and started to follow her, asking questions all the way.

Meanwhile, back at the mobile suit dome.

"Hey, would you mind telling me how you can just pop through a blue portal?" Duo very much wanted to know.

"Oh, you mean that door?" Kimi giggled, "Just a screwed up door, I don't know! I didn't design this place! At least I figured out how it works."

"Well, I guess you know who we are know." Quatre said to Kaoru.

"Yeah, but that goes for me, too." Kaoru confessed, "I can.fly mobile suits."

Quatre gave an incredulous look, "You do?! Nah, you're kidding, ne?"

Kaoru shook her head, "No joke, I pilot the Ginga Breeze.a Gundam designed by a friend."

"Jeez, does anybody else have any more freaky secrets?" Duo had had enough of all this 'Oh, I have a confession to make.' crap.

"Hell no." Hibishi answered glumly, not feeling like revealing anymore, not yet.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Trowa saved me!" Yoshi piped up.

Trowa blushed.

"He DID? WOW! Someone's hitting off pretty fast!" Kimi said as she slapped Yoshi on the back.

Yoshi coughed, wide eyed, and nearly choked on the gum in her mouth.

"Gah!..Umm, you have to admit, quite the hero." Yoshi said as she recovered.

Trowa didn't know what to say, "Well, I couldn't just leave you there," he blushed some more.

Just then, Yuki returned with Duette and Relena.

Duette nearly knocked Duo over, "YAY! DUO?!! Are you ok?!"

"Ugh! I'm fine! HEY, what are you doing here! It's dangerous!" Duo said before Duette kissed him.

"Hmm, not really. We took over." Kimi replied, a bit engrossed in the scene.

She had never seen anything like that before, not such a seductive encounter.

Heero was a bit overwhelmed by how tight Relena's hug was, "Eugh, Relena. You shouldn't be here!"

"Oh but Heero! I'm sorry, I just got so worried." Relena shook her head aimlessly, and let go of Heero.

They had quite an audience. Everyone was a bit dazed after that. Heero stood with Relena, Duo with Duette, Trowa with Yoshi, Wufei with Hibishi, Yuki with Kimi, and Quatre with Kaoru.

They each had their own small conversations, which had nothing to do with what they should have been doing. None of them even knew why they weren't doing anything. Like control.

Chapter Five



"Thank you for untying me, Trowa." Yoshi said as she gazed into his green eyes.

"How did you get in such a mess anyway?" Trowa asked.

"Well, I don't really know. I was supposed to specifically find you, so I went in this one room. But there must have been.I don't know. Something knocked me out and when I woke up, I was tied up. I needed badly to find you, before any other bases found out what was going on, so I called out for help. I didn't think I'd find anyone." Yoshi explained extensively.

"Well," Trowa said softly, "I found you."

"So, can you pilot a mobile suit too?" he asked quietly.

"As a matter of fact, I pilot the Gundam Crashing Hope." She answered wistfully.

"Relena, please don't do something like that ever again. I don't want to lose you." Heero said, very concerned.

"I just got tired of waiting and not knowing what was going on. I felt that I had to do something. I'm sorry." Relena apologized.

"Oh, it's alright. As long as you're safe." Heero said compassionately as he kissed her lightly.

"Hmm, you know, you're a really good pilot." Hibishi complimented Wufei.

"Yeah.hey. How did you know? Oh, that's right, you said you knew everything." Wufei wanted answers.

"It's just the way things turned out, I guess. But hey, we can pilot Gundams just as well as Kaoru can." Hibishi stated, "We had the same special training you all had, at the same time too. My Gundam is called Eternal Flame."

Wufei was somehow lost in her pale blue eyes, "Hm, that's interesting. You're smarter than the average woman."

Hibishi was a bit bewildered, and didn't know if she was supposed to be flattered or offended, "..thanks."

Yuki also piloted a Gundam, Rising Ki. Kimi piloted the Dragon Wing.

Things were going very smoothly. Yuki felt so right putting people together. But her eyes faltered at the thought of love. Her love, back in A.C 196. He was a pilot too, before Yuki knew she was too, and had gone off to fight in order to protect her and the colony. He never returned. Kou, I miss you so much, Yuki thought to herself. She stood silently, deep in thought, beside Kimi.

Kimi was somewhere else entirely. Her mind was floating on the edge of destiny. How did they all come to be here, having all been trained to be Gundam pilots? Relena and Duette were factors not taken in account for. All 5 girls had been good friends with Furlene, and she's the one that somehow knew everything that was going to happen in A.C.199, including meeting the 5 Gundam pilots. Kimi, Yuki, Kaoru, Hibishi, and Yoshi were the original female counterparts for the pilots. That was before Furlene died, and before Heero knew of Relena, and Duo met Duette. Furlene was the mysterious, legendary leader of all the Gundam pilots, not including Milliardo Peacecraft. It all intertwined with their destinies. Too bad Furlene was dead, Kimi thought, I was too young when she left us, if she was alive, I'd be asking so many questions.so many.

"I didn't think I was gonna see you again, Kaoru. I just thought you were an innocent person in a BIG mess." Quatre said.

"Yeah, I almost wish it was that way. I'm quite lucky to be here anyway." Kaoru replied, with mixed feelings.

"Why? Did something happen?" Quatre was curious, "I don't know very much about you. You seem to know all about us Gundam pilots."

"Well, back in A.C.195, I was on this one colony, near the resource satellite. That wasn't long before.I lost someone. I was just about to leave the colony, when a mysterious suit with tremendous power attacked. I didn't get it at all." Kaoru stopped to collect her wits.

Quatre's mind floated back to when he first piloted Wing Zero. It couldn't be, he thought, it must be a coincidence.

Kaoru continued, "The pilot had to be mad. He kept firing this beam cannon, over and over, nicking the sides of the colony. Then he came inside, and started spontaneously destroying things. It was a Gundam, this I'm sure of. But it couldn't have been any of you, right?"

Kaoru faced Quatre, who just stood motionless, eyes a bit wide.

"Uh, Quatre? What's the matter? Do you know?" she asked, confused.

Duo came over just then, and hung his hand around Quatre's shoulder, "Hey man, aren't ya gonna tell her? Heh heh, that was you in there!"

Quatre shook his head, "Uh-uh! No way!"

Duo sweat dropped, "Uh, dude, it was you! You were all psycho and crap! Damn, that was some killing spree! From what Heero told me, anyway."

Kaoru couldn't speak. She couldn't believe such a caring soul like Quatre's had lost all sense and nearly killed her unknowingly.

Duette piped in, "Yep! Gee, Quatre! That would have been a big boo-boo, ne?"

Quatre couldn't stop himself before he took her hands in his, "Look, I'm really sorry. I wasn't myself, it was the zero system, and it had control over me. Just like it did for the rest of us pilots. If I had known."

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Kaoru said with some difficulty, "you were doing that against your will."

"Well, some of it was bitter rage that my father was killed because his comrades betrayed him. And I felt.umm, I was just wacked out, okay? I want to forget all that." Quatre explained.

"Ahem, and he's mastered that system now, along with Heero and Milliardo!" Duo added, "I wish I had mastered it."

"Aww, don't worry Duo dear! I still think you're the sexiest man alive!" Duette said as she hugged him tightly.

"Heh heh heh, gee thanks Duette. I'm really looking forward to you showing the proof in that statement." Duo replied with resent.

Hibishi walked up to them with Wufei, unusually cheery. She's usually a bit moody and sticks to business. But afterwards, she really loosens up to the person Yuki, Yoshi, Kaoru and Kimi know best.

Yuki was shaken from her thoughts when everyone was just standing around her, staring into space, if not her.

"Uh.guys. Here's what we should do, can you hear me?" Yuki said loudly.

Everyone woke up. They nodded their heads, now listening intently.

"Ok, the wise thing to do would be to check every single room in this whole base. This can't get out, alright?" Yuki said to the group.

Relena had almost forgotten, "What about the guard outside? Someone should take care of him."

"What an idiot. How could he not know what was happening?" Trowa wanted to know.

"I'll do it." Kimi said, anxious for some action.

"Alright, be back soon, ok Kimi? A clean kill, get it?" Yoshi confirmed with Kimi.

She could get a little out of hand at times when it comes to killing an enemy.

"Yeah, it's just one soldier." Wufei said.

"Oh Heero! Can I go with her? Please!" Relena begged.

"Na-nani?!" Heero was stunned, "WHY? You want to go with Kimi and watch some person get killed?"

"No, I just want to do something. I'll be alright, Heero." Relena pushed.

"Heero, just let her go. It shouldn't take long." Quatre said, wanting to get on with it, so they could be back and they could continue to untangle all this chaos.

So, in the end, Heero gave up in trying to divert Relena from her wishes. While they were gone, everyone else went into the dome to try to figure out what the new mobile suits were all about. Luckily, the appropriate type of equipment was already there. They each examined the main parts. They didn't find too many characteristics that were different from all they'd seen. Nothing any of these pilots couldn't handle.

"Where could all of this been.planned?" Duo asked darkly as he took another stare at the strange mobile suits.

The color of the suits was silver, with ominous green areas, like where the cockpit opened up. They were relatively medium sized, that of about a Taurus. Actually, they resembled Tauruses pretty well, except for the colors. But there were also numerous modifications that went far beyond a Taurus. Each suit was equipped with a small beam sword. Sort of like a dagger.

"So, you don't know that much about these suits either?" Trowa asked Yuki.

"Well, I know some of us have piloted one of these before, in extreme situations." Yuki replied.

"Yeah, but not here. No, it was far away, back in space." Hibishi stated.

Wufei's eyes widened as her turned to her, "Nani? Duo! How come we didn't know that?!"

"Uh, well, maybe cause we were on vacation!" Duo answered quickly, "Oh, dammit, wait a sec.yeah! How come, Heero?"

"Ahem, Heero!"

Heero climbed in one of the Waks. Everyone expected him to take off, but he didn't. He wanted Relena to be back with the others first. All he did was inspect all of the controls to see if anything was different, or to find out why it was so special. After about 8 minutes of silence, or as close to silence as it could get, it was interrupted when Kimi and Relena suddenly appeared through the "portal like" door.

"You guys! We've got to hurry!" Kimi said breathlessly, "The soldier is gone!"

They had ran all the way back, after seeing no one anywhere near the base.

"Huh? I thought you were supposed to kill him!" Wufei questioned with suspicion.

"He must have found out somehow, and now he's gone to inform BAK!" Relena said with dismay.

Heero sorted the situation, and before anyone else could say anything, sped off through the top hatch, which was luckily already open.

"O-oi! You can't just speed off--jeez!" Duo yelled as he got farther away.

"Oh boy, I guess he's taking matters into his own hands, ne?" Hibishi said, calmly.

"Well, he may think he can accomplish it alone, but he doesn't even know where he's going. I'm going with him." Trowa stated as he got in a Wak, and followed Heero.

"Kay, Duo, you are staying with me here, right?" Duette asked as she started to undo his braid.

"Whoa, stop it!" Duo said as he tore it from her grip.

"But it's messy! I want to fix it!" that was only half of it, and Duo knew it.

"Heero and Trowa can't do this together either," Quatre said, "Let's send a few more of us out to search for BAK."

"Sounds good, but make sure to keep enough of us here in case BAK soldiers return." Kimi agreed.

"Here's what we should do, since we can't just leave Relena and Duette here. Me, Wufei, and Kimi will go search; and Duo, Quatre, Kaoru, Hibishi, and Yoshi will stay here to defend our base with Relena and Duette." Yuki planned.

"I'm not saying that I'll go just because you told me to, I think that's a good plan and you'll need me." Wufei confirmed his thoughts freely.

Everyone else agreed, and the three of them left to fight the upcoming BAK fleets with Heero and Trowa, and the rest stayed to defend the base. They knew it wouldn't be long before someone arrived. The Rising Ki, and Dragon Wing, along with the Wak Wufei was piloting, sped off through the top hatch.