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.