Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Trigun, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Readers Note: This is a re-post. Also this contains major spoilers for Trigun, so if you haven't seen the whole series I wouldn't recommend reading this.
Gundam Wing & Trigun
Trigundam
Episode 7: To Earth!
q
"Where could they have gone?" Meryl asked
There was a meeting held after the attack on the taken over colony X-18999, Knives and the Gung-Ho guns got away. Now the question that everyone in the briefing room had on their minds was where could they have gone? There could have been a great number of possibilities but they need to limit it down or figure a way to find them
"Couldn't' you scan for them?" Wolfwood asked
"We could follow Wing Zero's signal." Howard suggested, "But from what you've told me about this guy Knives, he could probably fool our tracking systems. We'd be chasing ghosts."
"Does Knives even know about the transmitter that's on Wing Zero?' Quatre asked, "If he doesn't know about it, then that plays to our advantage."
Johan nodded, "I think we should follow Wing Zero's signal and see if we are indeed chasing ghosts."
"Agreed." Lady Une concurred, "Howard, find Wing Zero's signal, then set a course for it. In the mean time we should repair the Gundams. Dismissed."
The officers of Preventer and the Peace Guns got up and let the briefing room leaving it only to be empty and quiet."
q
Approximately six hours later: Out in space, in the black depths that bridge the gaps between stars, planets and their satellites. In the middle of all this was a small resource satellite called MO7B, a failed resource satellite that was said to have a great deal of resources in Titanium, Gundanium, and even Gold. But alas this satellite only had Aluminum and Silicon, it was mined by the Winner family but there wasn't a great deal of those elements so it was abandoned a week ago, scheduled to be set to the sun in a couple of weeks.
The oxygen inside was still useable and it was in this resource satellite that Knives and the Gung-Ho Guns came to, after the very, very sneaky attack by the Gundams.
Knives had recovered enormously from the bullets that Duo Maxwell fired at him. Even though, amazingly enough, no bones were broken. Thanks to Knives ability to heal quickly her recovered in less than six hours. Despite that recovery he felt even more vengeful and angry at the Gundams. He slammed his fist into the steel wall interiors of the resource satellite that was once it's mining facility.
"Goddamn it!" He shouted as the profanity echoed smaller and smaller through the great cavern of metal and rock, "I thought those kids were human! How could they beat us, if they're human!"
Dominique and Id were behind the vengeful Knives staring at him wondering why this defeat came so swiftly. The Gundams were truly as legendary as Id had proclaimed, yet not one of the pilots had so much as a scratch. They were simply allowing them to come to them, the next battle will have to be a mobile suit battle. Id knew this and so did Dominique, given her limited knowledge of mobile suit battles but she still knew how to fight no matter what it was with. She looked towards her love with her fearful eye and she wanted to tell him what to do, to tell Knives the appropriate action.
Id kneeled once again and made his request, "Master, I humble ask of you to allow me to fight the Gundams in my Epyon."
Knives turned swiftly around in a blur of colors from his jumpsuit, he lifted his shoe backward and kicked Id in the chin, which sent him flying onto his back and grasping for his chin as it bled onto his red jumpsuit and across his chin.
"Very well!" Knives shouted, "Take your Epyon, and fight the Gundams, after it's over report to me and tell me if the Gundams have beaten you or you've beaten them, understand!"
"Yes, Master." Id got back onto his knees and kneeled like the loyal man he was, "I will."
q
"You were going to kill him." Vash stated to Johan,
The Peace Gun and the Gundam were walking down the steel wall-floor-ceiling fluorescent light hallway like two friends, side by side, but what they were going to discuss was less than friendly. They walked with a pace that was like that of a power walker. While far behind them Duo was doing a light jog to catch up. While he was catching up he was listening onto their conversation because he knew that Vash would have qualms about their tactics.
"I wasn't going to kill him." Johan stated
"Then what the hell was your buddy shooting Knives for? And on your command no less!"
"We were simply incapacitating him." Johan explained, "From what I've studied about telekinesis is that when the user is mentally unable or unconscious, he no longer has control. That's what I was doing with Knives, I was simply trying to break his control."
"But he could have died." Vash stated
"No," Johan refuted looking at Vash with eyes narrowed and brow lowered, "We at Preventer can't kill, it goes against our policies."
"But you were trained as soldiers?"
"Yes." Johan admitted with his eyes widening and eyebrows raising, "We were trained to be killing machines but now we had to revise our tactics in this new era of peace. But it's not us killing them I'm worried about."
Duo caught up with Vash and Johan, "What is it then?" Duo asked
Johan knew what he was asking about, "What worries me," he explained, "Is what Knives will do when he regroups. Knowing guys like this they'll either wait for us to make a mistake or he'll increase mobile doll troops enormously."
"The real question here is," Duo added
"Where he'll set up." Duo and Johan spoke in unison
"We can't do this with a sneak attack," Johan postulated, "We're going to have to go right for the throat. But I'm going to have to make some add-ons to Ryu."
Johan stopped as the steel set door to his left opened up to the mobile suit bay where the sounds of welders and grinding metal spouted out like a bad hose and the stench of melting metal and motor oil filled their nostrils.
"What kind of add-ons, this time?" Duo smiled
Johan walked in while Vash and Duo followed like sheep to their shepherd.
"When Ryu was first built I made it to be a combination of all the Gundams. Now it has it's own style. I'm going to add some things to Ryu from Heavyarms."
"Oh boy." Duo groaned, "Like what?"
"I'm going to add some missile packs in increase its fire power."
Johan walked across the catwalk past the Gundams as if they were the doors of a hallway. That is until he came to Ryu, he looked at it, starting at it and wondering. He turned around and looked down from the catwalk, leaning on his hands against the rail, and watched the technicians, engineers and laborers as if they were ants.
He then saw Howard in his high color Hawaiian shirt standing out among the ants of people, he cupped his hands to his mouth like a megaphone.
"Howard!" He called
"Yeah?" Howard answered
"Do we have any Gundanium on hand?"
"Sure! How much do you need?"
Johan made the calculations in his head for the amount but he needed to be certain that he was right. He pulled out his calculator to make sure that he was on the mark. The number came out: 3. He placed the calculator back in his white trench coat pocket, he cupped his hands again.
"I need 3 tons!"
"Got it!" Howard called from below among the ants of people; he called to someone, possibly the supply officer on the ground, "Bring 3 tons of Gundanium!"
Johan heard Vash's voice from behind his left ear, "You're serious."
"Of course I am, Vash." Johan smiled.
"I'm impressed that people like you could build such machines like these. To us, it's lost technology. All we care about is trying to survive from day to day."
Johan looked up but not at Vash, "With our help you can make your world into the Eden you dream of."
Even though John was looking up he heard a sound of crying. He looked down the catwalk at Duo whose face was as white as a sheet. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. The red coat of Vash the Stampede who stood right behind him drew Johan's attention. Johan slowly turned around and looked at Vash in the face to find him crying in the most ridiculous of fashions. He didn't even look as if he was genuinely crying it was more like mock crying.
"Thank you, Johan." Vash cried
Johan thought, "I can't believe this guy's crying this ridiculously. Sure I have when I saw Haruka after I thought she was dead but not like this."
"JOHAN!" A voice called to him from the floor below the catwalk
Johan looked down and saw Howard was calling to him, and to Howard's left amongst the ants of different people Johan saw stacks of Gundanium on cars like a train being pulled by an electric motor car.
"Here's the Gundanium you asked for." Howard reported from the ground below, "Also, we've gotten a fix on Wing Zero's transmitter. We've set a course for it, we'll be there in about 3 hours."
"More than I need." Johan whispered to himself, he walked past Duo and Vash he stepped up to the chest unit of Gundam Ryu, and reached for it's tiny control panel to open it. The cockpit came down with a whirring hiss. Johan took off his white trench coat and threw it in. He rolled up the sleeves of his black long sleeve shirt.
"Let's get to it." He said to himself.
q
The Gundam Epyon flew through the blackness of space like a bat out of hell. It's engines burning, it's pilot raging with anger like a wasp. Id the Lion, the third Gung-Ho Gun was angered as his face throbbed from Knives heel. He wanted to reach up to his face to feel it but he couldn't do it with the Eypon's helmet in the way. The helmet was to help display combat data at a close range to the eye and to give a more 3-D feel.
Within the helmet Id watched the outside world of space as he felt the warmth in his face with each twitch, breath and angry expression. Even when he spoke to himself or to Epyon he felt every surface of skin on his face sting like a thousand bees.
"I'm going to kill them." He laughed, "At last the Gundams will die for the death of Treize Kushrinada, my father." He looked up through space as if to Heaven, "Hey dad, this one's for you."
He smiled as he shoved the joystick far forward, sending the message to the engines to burn hotter and faster. As the engines pushed harder from the Epyon, Id thought back to the time before he left MO7B.
He was standing at the base of the Epyon, with the lift cable down and ready to lift him up to the cockpit. Dominique was behind him; she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him so tight that her breasts were mashed against his back. She didn't want him to leave, but Id's mission was vengeance, this is a battle that goes back to the day Id was born.
"Don't leave." Dominique pleaded
"I have to leave Dominique." Id said without moving he remained still with Dominique's breasts against his back and her arms around his waist, "I have to finish this battle or I won't live in peace."
"Come back, to me." Dominique pleaded
"I will."
"That's right I will." Id said to himself still flying the Epyon towards Peace Million.
q
"Lady Une!" Howard called, "There's a mobile suit approaching."
"What does the computer say about it?"
Howard and Lady Une were on the bridge monitoring this incoming mobile suit. It came across the screen like a shooting star. The screen zoomed in on this fast approaching mobile suit like a sniper. The picture enlarged and at first it was dirty and distorted but it was soon crystal clear as to what was approaching them. The mobile suit was in bird mode; it looked just like…
Lady Une froze where she stood, she felt as cold and clammy as a corpse. Yet in the same instance she felt hot and sweaty, was this a rebuilt Gundam by Treize Kushrinada or had someone else gotten the plans of the Epyon and built it themselves. It had to be identified yet the computer identified it as "Gundam Epyon". Lady Une thought about if for split second and sent a call to the pilot of the mobile suit.
"This is the Preventer Ship Peace Million. Identify yourself." She said as if giving an ultimatum.
There was no response from the Epyon, but at the last moment something came up. It wasn't a video from the cockpit of the Epyon, it was audio, and what Lady Une heard made her shiver right to her bones.
"I am the Third Gung-Ho Gun, Id the Lion." The voice sounded cold, calculating and ruthlessly savage, "I am here to challenge the Gundams. Send them out to me and I'll kill them."
Lady Une responded, "Why should we do that?"
"Revenge." The voice said, "I am here to avenge my father. You know the power behind his mobile suit, so send out the Gundams or I'll blow your ship all to hell! You have five minutes."
q
"He said we have five minutes." Lady Une explained, she told the Gundams of the approaching mobile suit and that the pilot demanded all the Gundams.
All of the Gundams and the Peace Guns sat in the Briefing Room hearing this latest news.
"I'll go this time." Heero volunteered
"Why, Heero?" Johan asked
Heero stared at Johan with those cold Cobalt blue eyes from across the table to Johan's green eyes; "It's only fair, you've fought the last two battles. So I'll go, plus I want to test the Vindicator against the Epyon."
"Alright Heero." Johan sighed, "Just remember we're here to back you up."
"That's right Heero." Quatre reassured
"But," Trowa refuted, "He requested all the Gundams. So if he beats Heero, then one of us will have to go out and fight him."
"What if he defeats us all?" Wolfwood asked
"Then we're screwed." Johan said, "Up the ass, up the wall and with a twist."
q
It was settled. Heero was set out to go out to duel the coming Epyon and possibly even kill the pilot. Because that is Heero's style, to kill whoever is in the way of Victory. But ever since that time when he renounced this style he seemed to have doubts of whether he should kill anyone for anything. Though what about this pilot who has threatened to destroy the ship Peace Million, will Heero have to kill him as well?
"Ready Midas?" Heero asked as he sat in the pilots' seat
"All systems are ready Heero." Midas stated, "The doors are open, you may launch when ready."
"Roger that." Heero said, "Launching."
The Vindicator launched from the mobile suit bay like the Epyon, a bat out of hell. The view inside the cockpit changed from the dismal oil stained gray walls of the mobile suit bay to the blackness of space with the Earth glowing in the background. Heero sped along towards the incoming Epyon.
The Midas zoomed in on the Epyon as it began to transform into its mobile suit stage. As it did Heero went directly to his Buster rifle, there was no time for small talk in this matter. The only thing to do was fight, as an old proverb stated, "There's a time to fight and a time to win". The time came, the battle between The Vindicator and the Epyon began.
Neither one of the pilot's spoke to each other, but as Heero went for the Vindicator's buster shield, the Epyon whipped out its heat rod and pulled it away from the grasp of the Vindicator.
Finally, a voice came through, "We don't need this."
Heero, said only one thing to the Midas, "Let me fight on my own this time."
"As you wish, Heero Yuy." Midas said
On the other side of this small battlefield, Id was speaking to the Epyon, "Epyon," He said, "Help me kill the Gundam. After he and the other Gundams are dead, then my father will be avenged."
"Let's start." Heero stated
q
Back on Peace Million, the plan was put into action. The plan this time was that while the pilot of the Epyon was fighting Heero, more than likely the Zero system would come on and his mind would be occupied by it. This is where Vash comes in, using his powers he would read the mind of the pilot to find out who he is and where Knives is going.
The remaining Gundams and the Peace Guns were waiting for the plan to work. Each of them sat on one chair on Peace Million's bridge, hoping that this "half-baked plan" as Wufei called it, would work.
"Are you getting anything Vash?" Quatre asked
It was known that Vash is telepathic, so he could read minds.
Vash was sitting next to Quatre with his eyes closed so shut that all Vash could see was never ending darkness. He was concentrating so hard that he couldn't hear Quatre's question, he simply kept thinking on the mind of the pilot.
From Vash's point of view, hearing people's minds (as he saw fit) sounded a lot like being in a crowded room at a party. He sifted through the voices of the people on Peace Million and honed in on the two minds in space, Heero and Id.
He heard their thoughts
"Come on, find out where the enemy is." Heero pleaded
"Die Gundams, Die!" Id shouted both verbally and in the depths of his one-track mind.
"Where is Knives?" Vash wondered, "Where could he be? We have to find him."
Vash began to feel the sides of his head begin to pound like a slow banging jack hammer or a gun being fired very slowly between each round.
BANG! BANG!
"Where is he?!" Vash shouted in his mind
He began to curl up, his teeth began to show and he began to groan as the thought in Id's mind became so clear to Vash. He heard a thought… no it was a conversation between Id the Lion and Knives. What was it? Vash wondered
"I'm going to go to Death Valley." Vash heard Knives say
"Death Valley." Vash spoke
He broke his own concentration as his body began to uncurl and his arms were thrown down to the floor, his head tilted back, sweat running down his face, his breath erratic and his head as dizzy as a carnival ride. The thought had been taken, now they knew where they were going.
"Death Valley." Vash exhaled, he swallowed his own saliva, "Death Valley."
Lady Une immediately knew where they were going, "Plot a course to Earth, prepare the mobile suit carrier and Gundams to your suits!!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" A crewmember shouted as the door opened and he dashed out to prepare the Gundams for battle.
"Understood!" The Gundams spoke in unison as they dashed out the door to the mobile suit bay.
Lady Une reached down to open a COM signal for Heero, "Heero, we have the location!"
"Understood." Heero responded coldly, "Midas, deploy all missiles at the Epyon."
"Understood, Heero Yuy. Deploying all missiles at Gundam mobile suit Epyon."
The Vindicator opened all it's missile bays like a spider displaying its fangs before it sinks them into its victim. The missiles launched out of their bays in a hailstorm of weapons at the Epyon.
The Epyon tried to evade the missiles, but there were simply too many of them, they came at him like an unavoidable typhoon at full speed. Yet he still tried to out maneuver them, he shoved the cockpit controls forward as hard as he could, sending the output of the engines to their maximum output but it was simply no use, foot by foot the missiles caught up with him and the explosion happened.
The dust, smoke and debris cleared and the Epyon was left in pieces. It's arms 30 feet away from the chest cavity, the legs ripped off, it's shield and heat rod in tatters, and the chest cavity damaged all to hell, yet the cockpit was untouched.
"Mission Complete." Heero Yuy stated and then started to laugh like a crazed mad man who has completed his next murder.
q
The Vindicator brought back the Epyon and it's pieces. The reason was that protocol stated that the office of Preventer must confiscate any mobile suit parts that are essential to its function. So Heero Yuy was following the protocols, and now that the battle is both lost and won the new mission may be set up on capturing or perhaps even killing the new enemy, Million's Knives.
Heero dragged the Epyon in using one of it's attach cables, which is used to haul large pieces of debris like a truck hauling a load. The Vindicator came into the massive mobile suit bay where the Gundams were being loaded into a mobile suit carrier that was similar to that of the mobile doll carriers. It was a long rectangular ship with opening doors at its base, where the Gundams were being loaded, one by one.
The Vindicator landed on it's feet with a soft thud while the Epyons Gundanium body came down with a loud crunch like metal smashing and scrapping against metal. It slid as it came in along the mobile suit bay floor leaving its scratches behind it like snail slime.
The loud metallic crunch and screech caught the attention of the Gundam Pilots, they watched as the severely damaged Epyon came close to the mobile suit carrier. With each second and excruciatingly painful sound the Epyon came closer sliding along the metal floor. Until it stopped just less than 10 feet away from the mobile suit carrier that was loading the Gundams.
Relief, Each of the Gundams exhaled knowing that if the Epyon had crashed into the mobile suit carrier it would have caused massive explosions within the mobile suit bay. The Gundam pilots would have died, and the chain reaction could have caused Peace Million to go up in smoke. It didn't, the Epyon's chest cavity lay in ruins, with its paint flecking off of it like peeling skin, carbon scoring all over it's chest cavity and it's limbs where the Gundam Vindicator stood.
The relief was short lived as the cockpit opened and out came the Third Gung-Ho Gun, Id the Lion. He came out in one swift motion like a river at high speed but he was in terrible shape, his hair messy like moss, blood was oozing down his face and his jumpsuit in shreds. In his hand he held his newly built gunblade, it came out in a silver flow like mercury and it stopped with it's barrel and sights pointing at one of the Gundam pilots. The one who was at the end of those sights was the pilot of the Clockwork, Alexandria DeLarge.
"DIE! GUNDAM!" Id screamed, "DIE!" His finger reached up and pulled the trigger back.
To be continued…
Author's Notes: This was another chapter that I wanted to end on a dramatic note. However what will happen in the next chapter will have to do with the character named "Alexandria DeLarge", what will happen to her might shock you a little bit.
Come back soon for more chapters of Trigundam…