Gundam Wing- Classic:
The New Gundam Generation
By: Dragon's Fire Kai & Phoenix Tears
Part One
A Need For Heroes
"Ab honesto virum bonum nihil deterret." Senca. "Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable."
Prologue
Four years after Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Quatre Winner, Wufei Chang, and Trowa Barton defeated OZ in the great war of Operation Meteor, they settled down to live in peace. In the year A.C. 214 all of the pilots were missing. However, there were others who knew how to pilot Gundams. Five pilots, actually. Five of them, the same number as before. These pilots were also parents. A group of renegade Gundam pilots created new Mobile Dolls and formed a new organization, NEO OZ. The originators attacked and destroyed the five remaining pilots and captured their children. Eighteen years later, the organization had total power of the colonies. Two of the six children who were taken were taken had started remembering their pasts. They did not know their real names, but they knew they were brothers, and possibly twins. They named themselves Ray and Lance Hino. Ray and Lance, both eighteen, were built well, and were very smart. Ray was 5'11" and weighed 172 pounds. Lance, his identical twin, was and looked the same. This is their story...
Chapter I The Escape Plan
The light rays of the sun shone into the brothers' bedroom in their barracks. It was a simple room, really, but surprisingly big. Each had a queen-size bed on either side of the room. A bathroom and dining room were down the hall, east of Ray's bed. The living room, with a TV, was south of Lance's bed. Lance's bed that was usually made up by now was still occupied by Lance, and Ray, the one who usually slept the latest, was awake and already dressed. He was wearing a black tank top with blue jeans and his leather jacket.
"Lance, wake up. Lance!" Ray said, frustrated.
"Wha..why?" Lance asked groggily.
"Come on, let's go, we've gotta talk to Chang," Ray replied urgently.
"Okay, okay, I'm up," Lance said, pushing himself out of bed. He dressed in his green tank top, blue jeans, and leather jacket, then the twins made breakfast. Lance revived a lot with a cup of coffee.
"Come on, let's go down to the hanger," Ray said, strangely eager to talk to the Oz commander Wan Chang.
"Okay, just chill for a minute. Let's clean up," Lance replied. They cleaned up and headed for the door. Ray popped his jacket collar down.
"Why are you bringing your sketch pad?" Lance asked.
"'Cause I designed two new Gundams, Firebolt and Inferno."
"Oh," Lance replied, and let the matter drop. But he wondered why Ray had designed two Gundams for no apparent reason.
OZ soldiers had captured Ray and Lance long ago. They would have been killed, had it not been for their strange abilities. Ray, with the ability design incredibly powerful Gundams and Mobile Doll units, and Lance, with the ability to program and build the superior suits that his brother designed in very little time.
An OZ officer was standing near one of Ray's newest Doll designs, which had just been built.
"Commander Chang," Ray started, "I have designed two new Gundams and a new series of Dolls." He handed the commander his sketchpad. The commander looked over it.
"I don't think we can build your new dolls just yet. We just finished building these," Commander Chang said, pointing over his shoulder at the rows of Mobile Dolls.
"Why not?" asked Ray. "They're the most powerful I've ever designed."
"What? They are? Okay, we'll build them!"
"Great! The Gundams too?!" asked Lance.
"Sure, why not."
Ray and Lance walked back toward their quarters
"Lance?" Ray started.
"Yeah?"
"My plan is working," Ray finished. Lance looked at his twin in surprise, then turned to open the door to their barracks.
"What plan?" asked Lance.
"Listen for a minute, will ya?" replied Ray. Lance sat down on his bed, and waited for an explanation.
"After they build the Dolls and Gundams, they'll try them out first, right?" Ray looked uncharasterically excited.
"Yeah, why?" Lance asked, uncertain of what his brother was getting at.
"We pilot the Gundams, then in Inferno and Firebolt we'll fly right out of here," he concluded.
"What makes you think they're gonna let us pilot them?"
"Because only we are gonna be able to use the program you're gonna design!"
"Oh! Cool!" said Lance. "Let's do it!"
Chapter II Firebolt and Inferno
The next morning the put their plan into action.
"Ray, Lance," it was Commander Chang's voice over the intercom, "come to the flight simulator now."
"Let's go," Lance said sharply. But Ray could sense that his brother was as excited as he was to start preparing for their escape mission. They walked quickly to the simulator room.
"You two, into the simulator now," Chang ordered.
"Yes, sir," Ray and Lance chorused. They entered separate simulators. The controls hummed to life as the simulated battle data scrolled across the screen. Mobile Dolls and simulated enemy Gundams started attacking them. They handled the controls like they had done this all of their lives. In a matter of minutes they had destroyed dozens of Mobile Dolls and a handful of Gundams each.
Thirty minutes they emerged from the simulators.
"Very, very well done, both of you," congratulated Commander Chang.
"Thanks," said Ray. Neither of them looked the least bit tired from their battles.
"You will both be able to pilot a Gundam for OZ in the next battle against the colonies."
"Great!" Lance said with fake enthusiasm.
The next day, both brothers woke up early. They made some coffee and breakfast, then got ready to pilot their first Gundams. They had on the same outfits they always wore: tanktops, jeans, and leather jackets.
"Ray, Lance, you will pilot the Gundams San-tos and Fla-ran," said Chang.
"What?" cried Ray, outraged. "We wanted to pilot Firebolt and Inferno! No one else can pilot them."
"We have chosen Tal-scran and Mio-sang to pilot those suits," replied Chang, not at all bothered about Ray's outburst.
"No," Lance said, calmer than his brother, "My program will only let one of us pilot them."
"Sure," said Chang sarcastically.
"Okay, we'll make you a deal. You win you can kill us, we win, we get to keep the Gundams forever. Deal?" Ray proposed. Chang hesitated for a moment.
"Deal," Chang said finally. Secretly Chang had always wanted the twins dead but he was acting with restraint under higher orders.
"We'll let the OZ pilots go first," said Lance.
"You heard him, go on," Chang said to the other two pilots. They got in the Gundams, then came back out three minutes later.
"Sir, we can't get them to work," said one of the pilots. Ray and Lance looked at Chang with a smug look.
"Go, you two," Chang said to Ray and Lance. They jumped up, and climbed into the cockpits of the Gundams. The controls hummed to life and the Gundams started working. "Okay! You can keep Firebolt and Inferno!" he walked away, grumbling something about "Uppity teenagers."
Chapter III Matt, Quro, Taro, and Cat
The two brothers transformed their Gundams into jets and headed for the south side of the OZ complex and landed. They ran into the complex. 'ZZZM'. A laser blast narrowly missed them.
"Freeze you two!" somebody yelled. A tall blond woman and three tall brown haired men were standing in front of them, laser pistols drawn.
"Who are you?" Ray asked.
"We're OZ's private body guards. I'm Cat," the blonde woman introduced herself.
"I'm Matt."
"Quro."
"And I'm Taro."
"We're Ray and Lance Hino of Colony 12 and pilots of the Gundams Firebolt and Inferno," Ray said. Lance looked from one bodyguard to the next.
"Colony 12... that's where we're from. We've been trying to escape for years. We were taken when we were children. I still dream about it," Cat said. She put her pistol away. Matt, Quro, and Taro followed her example.
"We're escaping now," Lance said.
"Really? Can we come too?" asked Matt.
"Sure," said Ray, "Just give us three days to design and build you each a Gundam."
"Great! See you Saturday," said Taro. Quro had remained silent throughout the whole meeting. They walked off as Ray and Lance headed back to their quarters.
"Damn. I thought we were the only ones that OZ captured," Ray said.
"So did I. I guess OZ works on a larger scale than we thought," Lance replied. He sounded lost in thought. "Ray?"
"Hmmm?" Ray answered, punching the button too open the door to their barracks.
"When are you gonna design their Gundams?'
"I already have," he grabbed his sketchpad off of the table and opened it to a page with a complicated design on it. "Here's Tiger's Eye, Cyclone Wing, Scytho, and Bladewing."
"I'll start building them tomorrow then?"
"Fine with me," said Ray. Then they went to sleep early so that they could start early on the Gundams.
Chapter IV
Gundam Tiger's Eye
"Ray, Ray, wake up!" Lance exclaimed, shaking Ray.
"Wha d'ya want?" Ray asked sleepily. He sat up and stretched.
"We finished Gundam Tiger's Eye!" Ray stopped in mid-yawn.
"What? Really?" exclaimed Ray.
"Yeah. My guys worked all night to finish it," Lance replied. He leaned against the wall at the foot of Ray's bed. Ray could tell that he had been working hard. There was a grease smear on Lance's forehead, and several more on his jeans.
"The Gundam is Cat's, right?" Lance nodded. "Let's go give it to her then." They left, creeping down the hallways of the OZ complex. When they came to the forest where they had left their Gundams climbed into the cockpit and took off toward the south side of the complex. They landed behind the building where Cat and the others were staying. They walked through the door they had entered when they had first met their new friends. They silently opened the door and crept down to Cat's quarters.
"Knock knock," Ray said quietly against her door.
"Come in," Cat said in a whisper, barely audible to the twins. They opened the door and came in slowly as to not make any sudden noises. Lance closed the door quietly and they walked towards Cat who was writing what appeared to be a poem of some sort in the corner.
"Give me a minute," she said.
"Cool," Ray responded. She opened a folder and slid her papers in it, then slid the folder under her chair. Ray and Lance pulled up a couple of chairs to the table where she was sitting. Ray pulled a small CD out of his breast pocket and handed it to Cat.
"That's what your Gundam looks like and what it does," Lance said as she booted up her laptop. She put the disk in the computer. Instantly an image of Tiger's Eye appeared.
"I love it," she said, watching fascinated as the hologram rotated slowly, showing the suit. Type ran across the top of the screen.
"Good. Cause it's already landed behind the complex where ours are," Ray said
"Can I go see it?"
"No. After we finish the other Gundams, you can see them all together," Lance said.
"All right. See ya in two days," Cat said, waving.
"Okay, bye," the twins chorused, waving back. They crept back to their Gundams.
Chapter V
Gundam Cyclone Wing
Ray and Lance arrived back at their quarters after working on the Gundams. Around 2:00A.M. They went to sleep and got up early to start working on the next three Gundams. At 3:00 PM they had already finished Matt's Gundam, Cyclone Wing. That night they went and dropped Matt's Gundam off in the same place where they had dropped Cat's the previous day. They had informed Matt of his Gundam and given him the CD. Ray and Lance were about to re- enter the Gundams when someone called, "Hey, you two freeze!" The twins turned around to face six guards in black OZ body armor that had them at gunpoint.
"Okay, sorry, we were... uh.... Trying to find General Chang to give him this new design for Mobile Dolls," Ray said sickly.
"Yeah right," the guard smirked.
"Raise your hands above your heads, you're coming with us!" another guard said. Ray and Lance raised their hands over their heads
"We'll go quietly," Lance said.
"Oh no they won't," it was Cat and Matt also in full armor with their laser pistols drawn. They fired several times each, and the guards dropped.
"What the hell kinda stunt you tryin' to pull!" Cat screamed.
"We were trying to get back to our Gundams," Ray replied calmly. Cat and Matt put their guns back in their holsters then walked back to their quarters. Ray and Lance went to go get started on Scytho and Bladewing.
Chapter VI
Gundams Scytho and Bladewing
The twins immediately started working on Scytho. While Lance and his crew built Scytho, Ray looked over the schematics on Bladewing. Scytho was soon finished. The next day, the twins got up at 4:00 A.M. to fly the Gundam over to the hiding place where Tiger's Eye and Cyclone Wing were stored. As they had done with the other Gundams, Ray and Lance took the CD to Taro.
"Wow, so this is Scytho. When will we get to escape?" Taro inquired.
"When we finish Bladewing for Quro," Ray replied.
"It'll be finished by the end of the day," Lance chimed in. They left immediately to start working on
Bladewing. This time, Lance and his crew worked on the Gundam while Ray took the disk to Quro. Quro remained strangely silent, only nodding his thanks and approval at Ray. Ray got out of there as fast as he could. He found Lance working on the cockpit wiring.
"Quro sure is quiet," Ray said. Lance looked up from him job.
"Yeah, he is," Lance replied, wiping his forehead with a grease-stained hand.
"Hey, Ray, Lance! What's up?" a voice called. The twins looked down from their perch in the cockpit. Cat was standing by the right foot of the almost-completed Gundam. Ray and Lance waved at her. Cat climbed up the gigantic Gundam.
"What 'cha doing?" she asked as she climbed onto the open door that led to the cockpit.
"We're trying to finish Bladewing for Quro," replied Ray. Lance started fiddling with some wires for the guidance system.
"Quro? He's a quiet one," she said as she leaned against the doorway.
"Yeah, I kinda noticed. It creeps me out," Lance said, still fiddling with the same wires
"Here. Connect that wire to the output hole, and this one to the steering system," she said, reaching over to connect the wires. Lance gaped at her.
"Why is Quro so quiet?" asked Ray.
"I guess he's just shy. He talks to me though. Usually about what happened eighteen years ago," Cat said.
"What?" Ray and Lance asked, surprised.
"It's all in my poems. I wrote them that way so OZ wouldn't realize that at least one of us remembers our past," she said, eyes glazed over in thought. Ray shot Lance a look.
"So," Lance said, breaking the silence. "The Gundam is almost done. All we need to do is make sure it runs." Everyone cleared the area as Lance fired up the Gundam. It hummed to life as Lance pushed a few buttons. He powered it down, and then flew it over to the area where he had left the others.
"Now all we have to do is wait for the next battle. Here's some communicators," Ray said after they had all assembled in Cat's quarters. Lance handed them each a small radio.
A few hours later, the alarm sounded.
Chapter VII
The Escape
"Let's go!" Ray yelled as he pulled his jacket on and ran out the door. His brother was right behind him. Lance called Cat and the others on their communicators. He told them to help during the battle, but talk to no one. During the battle, they would run. To where, they didn't know. But they'd figure that out later. The twins jumped into their Gundams. Lance got into Firebolt, and Ray fired up Inferno. They jetted out of the hanger.
"Destroy all enemy mobile suits!" Commander Chang's voice came over the communicator. Mobile Dolls surrounded the twins. Ray and Lance attacked the suits with their beam scythes and sabers.
"Nani!" Lance swore as he was knocked against the front of his mobile suit. He swung his suit around as he saw the attacking suit get slashed apart. The suit exploded. When the dust cleared, Tiger's Eye stood there. It jetted off, disappearing from sight.
"What was that suit?" Chang asked over the radio. No one answered. Ray smirked as he sliced a few suits in half, and then jetted away to avoid the concussion of the explosions. He was hit from the side by a beam rifle. Inferno swung the beam scythe at his attacker. The suit was slashed from shoulder to hip, the top slid downward before it exploded. Ray turned the suit around again to see Firebolt in front of him on the ground with Tiger's Eye, Scytho, Cyclone Wing, and Bladewing in the air.
"Let's go," Lance said, opening up communications for the first time. They blasted off at the same time, leaving the rest of the troops to finish the battle.
"Where are we going?" asked Matt. "We have to go somewhere."
"Space, probably. We need to find a safe place," Ray said.
"How are we going to get there?" queried Taro.
"The mobile suits are equipped to go through the atmosphere. Am I the only one who read the suit description?" Cat said.
"Hey!" Taro retorted. "We read them too. But you read the same thing over and.."
"Don't start again you two," Matt interrupted.
"Quro? Any ideas?" Lance asked. They had turned on their visual communicators. Quro was studying the radar screen.
"I suggest we get out of here," he said. Right then, all their suits gave the warning bee-ee-eep.
"Ray, Lance, turn back now. This is a direct order from Commander Chang," came a voice over the communications system.
"How many people does it take to catch six teenagers in Gundams?" Ray inquired.
"I dunno. Let's find out," Cat answered. The group changed their Gundams into jets.
"Up! Into space!" yelled Matt. They jetted off, leaving the searchers in a cloud of exhaust.
"Eat my dust!" yelled Ray, pushing the throttle to full speed. The others followed suit.
"Stop or we'll shoot! This is your last chance," came the same voice over the intercom. Cat looked back and noted to speed of the suits.
"Damn! They're fast. But not fast enough," she said, pushing the throttle in even more while silently urging her suit to go faster.
"We may be able to beat them to the atmosphere," Taro said.
"It's worth a shot," replied Lance. Moments later their suits glowed red with the friction of going through the atmosphere. Their pursuers stopped, the suits not equipped for atmospheric flight.
"Where to?" Matt asked again.
"Ummm... How about Colony 12? I've heard they want to be liberated, and they're looking for Gundam pilots," Quro said.
"At least someone did their homework," said Cat. They set a course for Colony 12.
"Hold it," another voice said.
"What now? We're going to Colony 12. We mean no harm," Ray said.
"Why do you want to go there?"
"To get away from OZ," Taro spat.
"Why?" a mobile suit appeared in front of them. It was totally black, with red eyes. The upper torso and head were lined in red. It had a red beam scythe.
"We were taken from Colony 12 eighteen years ago. It's our home. We want to go back," Cat said.
"To get to the colony, you have to defeat me. If you are who you say you are, this should be easy," the voice said. An image appeared on the visual communicators. It was a man with black hair and tan skin. Lance thought he looked familiar but couldn't place it. "My name is Lanoll, from Colony 12, pilot of the mobile suit Gundam Bloodlust."
Lanoll lunged at Matt, signaling the start of the battle. He soon proved to be an even match for all six of them. They managed to land a few blows, but mainly Lanoll just dodged them. Every move Bloodlust made was carefully planned and deadly accurate. He pulled his beam scythe and lunged.
Chapter VIII
Farewell Friends
"Quro!" Cat yelled. Lanoll had just impaled the suit closest to him. Unfortunately, Bladewing was that suit. Lanoll pulled out his scythe and the suit exploded.
"Nooo!" Taro screamed. He turned to Lanoll, Buster Rifle ready. "I will avenge my friend!" He fired at the opposing suit.
"Taro! Calm down!" Matt yelled.
"No! My closest friend was just killed. How can I?"
"You're gonna get yourself killed! Is that what Quro would want?" Matt asked in an attempt to calm the seething pilot. Taro seemed to relax, but attacked again by firing his rifle. The blast missed by a good thirty feet.
"Taro, stop!" yelled Lance.
"Oh, shit! He's gonna get himself killed!" Ray exclaimed. Taro had discarded his rifle and now had
his beam sword. He and Lanoll were now in a battle to the death. Taro would lunge, and Lanoll would meet him. This went on for a long time before Lanoll finally disarmed Taro. Lanoll knocked him around for a little while before finally sticking his scythe through the Gundam's chest. The Gundam exploded around Lanoll's scythe.
"Taro!" Matt yelled.
"Who's next?" asked Lanoll. He sounded bored.
"This is stupid! How can this amount to anything?" Cat asked.
"What?" Lanoll asked. He sounded surprised.
"How can this amount to anything?" she repeated. "This is meaningless. Nothing can come from this. Someone once asked me 'How does two soldiers killing each other solve the problems of the world?' I'm asking you the same thing." No one answered.
"Well spoken. Your ideals remind me of the Peacecraft reign. Follow me," Lanoll said, flying away. The others followed him, confused. They flew toward the huge colony, and entered through a hanger.
"Can we trust him?" Ray asked.
"Do we really have a choice?" countered Matt. Silence settled over the group. Cat's shoulders started shaking with silent sobs. Lance pulled her to him, stroking her hair and murmuring something. Cat nodded her head and pulled away, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her denim jacket.
"Why do you fight for liberation from OZ?" asked Cat.
"I figured you, of all people, would know the answer to that question. We want peace. But the only way we can obtain it is to fight," Lanoll replied.
"There's got to be another way," Lance argued.
"Not that we can see. OZ crushed all of our hope for negotiating for peace. War is the only way left," the pilot replied. "We were hoping the Gundams could help us."
"We'll help you, under one condition," Ray started.
"You name it."
"Help us find our past," he finished.
"Done. We have DNA records for every person born in this colony since it was created," Lanoll replied. The group entered an elevator. The door closed and Lanoll pushed a button. They took the half-minute ride in silence. The doors opened, and the pilots followed Lanoll down a hallway.
"Your quarters," Lanoll said, pointing to Ray and Lance, "are right here. Before I forget, what are your names?"
"I'm Ray, and this is my twin, Lance. That's Matt, and the girl's Cat," Ray said, speaking for the whole group, as he usually did.
"Well, Ray, Lance, your quarters are right here," Lanoll repeated, punching a code in on the keypad. The twins watched his fingers, each memorizing the code for himself. They entered, and the door closed.
"Matt, your quarters are here," Lanoll said, punching in a different code. Matt memorized the code, and entered the room; door sliding shut behind him.
"Cat, your quarters are here," the black-haired man said, punching in yet another code. Cat memorized hers, and entered. "If you need anything just ask," he said before the door closed. All the rooms were set up in the same manner. Bed on one side, or in Ray and Lance's case, a bunk bed to one side. Otherwise, the quarters were set up the same way the ones on Earth are. There was a door on the East and West walls, though. The doors led to the next quarters. Each pilot climbed into his or her bed. Ray claimed the top bed for himself. The pilots were asleep before his or her head hit the pillow.
Chapter IX Space Colony
Cat woke up first. She stared at the ceiling, wondering how all this happened. Matt, Lance, and Ray, respectively, woke up and wondered the same thing. Cat exited her quarters through the door in the west wall.
"Good morning!" she said cheerfully when she stepped into Matt's quarters.
"Mornin'," Matt replied he was sitting at the table. Cat grabbed a chair and sat down opposite him. There came a knock from the door leading to the twins' quarters. The door opened, and Ray and Lance stepped in.
"Hey. I've got a question. What are we supposed to be doing, exactly?" asked Lance.
"I don't really know. When is the next battle?" asked Matt.
"I dunno. There's nothing we can really do until we get some instructions, or the next battle breaks out," Cat replied.
"We need to go out into the colony and investigate," Ray suggested.
"That is a good idea. How about we go and meet back here whenever we get back?" Matt replied. The others readily agreed. They exited the room, following the hallway. They passed several guards, and none questioned them as they passed.
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the outside colony?" Lance asked a passing soldier.
"Take this hallway, turn right at the first corridor, go straight until you run into the elevator. Take it to the bottom floor, and you should see the doors leading to the colony," the soldier replied.
"Thanks," Lance said, and the soldier walked off. The group followed the soldier's instructions, and soon they were outside.
"Wow. And to think I was born on this colony," Cat said. "I'm going to go find a bookstore. See-ya!" she said, calling the last part over her shoulder as she ran off.
"I'm just going to wander, and maybe find some food," Matt said, taking off in the opposite direction.
"I'll go find an art store that sells sketch pads. I want to see if there's any way to upgrade our Gundams," Ray said, and started walking straight ahead. Lance just wandered down the sidewalk, looking for nothing in particular.
The group came back, some hours later, each holding at least one shopping bag.
"I found what I was looking for," Ray said triumphantly. He was holding a brand new sketchpad under his arm.
"Ditto," Cat said, motioning to her two shopping bags. "I also found a laundry mat and a clothing store."
"I found a restaurant. Food in the colonies is much better than food on Earth," Matt said.
"The temple is amazing. I found the hanger where our Gundams are stored," Lance said.
"Good. I need a few repairs made on my Gundam," Ray said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Let's go set our stuff down, go some place to eat, and then start the repairs on our suits," Cat said.
"Is that okay? I haven't eaten anything since we escaped from OZ. I just now realized how hungry I am."
"Yeah FOOD!" Matt exclaimed. Everyone laughed.
"Yeah, Matt, FOOD," Ray and Lance chorused. They went upstairs, set down their bags, and met in front of the door of Matt's quarters.
"Where are we going?" Lance asked.
"I don't know. Did anyone see a restaurant while they were wondering around?" Cat asked.
"I did. It's like a food court. They've got everything," Matt said.
"Why does that not surprise me? Next to fighting, the first thing you think about is food," Cat teased.
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" The foursome walked down the hallway yet again, Cat and Matt still arguing. They didn't stop until they got to the food court. Each of them just ordered a buffet from a restaurant so they could get what ever they wanted. Lance chose a table, and the group sat down, Cat and Lance on one side, Ray and Matt on the other.
"Whatcha' writin', Cat?" Matt asked. Cat looked up at him.
"A poem. But this one doesn't make sense," she said. "It's like something was telling my brain what to write." The blonde haired woman frowned at the paper, brow wrinkling in concentration. She just sighed, closing the notebook and setting it on the table. The group ate their dinner in silence. Cat got up suddenly, grabbed her notebook, and raced away.
"That was odd. I wonder what happened to her?" Ray wondered out loud No one answered. "I'm going after her," he said, pushing back his chair. Lance and Matt looked at each other.
"Think we should go after them?" Matt asked.
"Nah. They'll be fine. Ray'll tell me what happened when he gets back," Lance replied. The two finished their dinner, left a tip, and walked off. Returning to the hanger, they started repairs on the Gundams, each wondering at Cat and Ray's strange behavior.
**Cat and Ray**
"Cat! Hey Cat! Wait up," Ray yelled. If the woman heard him, she paid no heed. She just kept on running. Ray ran after her, dodging the few pedestrians that were doing there shopping before the shops closed for the day. "Cat!" she finally stopped, leaning against a tree for support.
"Cat, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Everything," she muttered. "Help me back to the hanger. I think I hurt my foot running," she said, wincing as she tried to stand.
"What happened? What made you get up like that?" Ray said, supporting the limping pilot.
"A memory. The poem. It all makes sense! When we sat down to eat, it was like a gate opened up, and everything came spilling out. Bits and pieces of memory, just enough to shape into a poem. So far I've just used Quro's memories for my past. But. now I'm starting to remember my own," she said. They were almost to the hanger. "Each one of us has our own past. We've known each other since we were babies, though. Quro and Taro are the only ones that don't fit in the picture."
"What do you mean, they don't fit in the picture?"
"That's just it. They came from a different area. But they were taken the same time we were," she said.
"Here's the hanger. Do you feel like working on your Gundam?"
"Yeah. My foot is better now. I think I just twisted it a little. I can still climb up the Gundam."
"Who said anything about climbing? We're in outer space, remember? No gravity."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot," she said sheepishly. Ray walked over to his Gundam and pushed off. He grabbed a handhold on the bottom of his cockpit door. Cat did the same. They were just pulling themselves up and over when Lance and Matt noticed them.
"Hey! What's up?" Ray called.
"Nothing!" Matt called back. He got to work, reconfiguring the cockpit system that suffered minor damages when they battled with Bloodlust. Firebolt, Lance's Gundam, had damages to it's left arm, as did Ray's, only Inferno's right arm and back were damaged. Cat's was somehow the least damaged. But the radar and guidance systems were malfunctioning. Each got to work.
"Hey Lance! You messed up on my radar and guidance systems!"
"No I didn't! Ray did! He designed it!"
"But you built it! So you messed it up!"
"What's wrong with it?" Lance appeared in the cockpit door.
"I think you wired it wrong somehow or another. Either that, or it's just a faulty piece of equipment." She dismantled the radar screen, revealing a tangle of wires. Carefully, Lance reached around her to probe through the wires.
"Here ya go. This wire," he said, "should be connected here, not where it was." He replaced the screen. "Now, about that guidance system?"
"I can handle that. I've seen this problem before," she grabbed a screwdriver and pulled the panel above the throttle up. "You just switched the wires again."
"But I did every Gundam the same way," he argued.
"Maybe so, but you still did it wrong. If you do this," she said, demonstrating, "the Gundam's reaction time increases a little."
"What did you do?" he asked. Cat smiled shyly and proudly showed him a part.
"I've found you didn't need this. You also connect the steering wires directly into the engine wires."
"Cool," he said, and then he left to go work on his Gundam's arm. Ray grabbed a welding gun and started welding the arm back together. Lance reconnected the wires that were severed when his arm got hit. Now all Lance had to do was weld his Gundam's arm back together, like Ray. Matt was working on adjusting his cockpit, compensating for the weight of his weapons. Cat was perched on the edge of her cockpit door, writing in her notebook. Soon they were all done, and they went back to their rooms. It was about 1:45 A.M. After exchanging good nights, they each entered their own quarters and went to sleep.
Chapter X Battle in Space
The group was woken up by an alarm. The sound of running feet echoed down the hallway.
"What's going on?" Ray yelled.
"OZ attack!" one soldier yelled back.
"Let's go!" Lance yelled. The group joined the rest of the soldiers that were heading toward the hanger.
"They're after us, you know," Cat said.
"We know, Cat, we know," Lance said. "But they can't get what they can't catch." The group had reached the hanger. The each of the pilots got into their Gundams.
"If we went ahead and gave ourselves up, no one would get hurt," Matt said.
"No way! Even if it means we die, they're not gonna get us. We are the hope for the colonies. I would rather die than go back to that place," Lance said. "What would it mean to the colonies if we just gave up? We are their hope."
"Am I the only one who wants to show OZ that they can't get us?" Cat asked. "Let's go!"
"Let's do this. Remember: they can't get what they can't catch," Ray chimed in.
"Hey! That's my line!" Lance protested.
"I know," Ray said slyly.
"Save it for OZ, you two!" Cat yelled. She jetted out of the hanger; the others close behind her.
"Nice to see you," came Lanoll's voice over the communications system.
"Same to you," Ray replied.
"I already told the soldiers about all of you. They won't interfere with you unless you ask or you're in danger," the pilot informed them.
"We owe ya," Lance said, "big time."
"Don't mention it. We owe you," Lanoll said modestly. Each jetted off in their own direction to their own fight.
Matt found his first. A group of Mobile Dolls attacked him.
"New models? Man, OZ works fast," Matt said.
"I designed these," Ray said over the communications system.
"What?!" Cat yelled.
"I designed then, Lance built them. We were the top engineers for OZ," Ray explained.
"Well, tell me how to beat these stupid Dolls!" Cat yelled, trying to avoid the beam sword of one Mobile Doll while trying to blow up another.
"How am I supposed to know? I designed these right before we escaped! I didn't think we'd actually make it this far!"
"What?!" Matt yelled. "Oh, gee, thanks for telling us! Anything else?"
"The Dolls repair themselves," Ray almost whispered.
"WHAT?" the shout was from the remaining pilots, including Lanoll.
"They repair themselves. But if you cut them completely in half, they will explode. Take my word for it," Lance said.
"Okay, I think we got it," Lanoll said. "Just do what he says."
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers and the Gundam pilots answered.
The pilots again turned to their individual battles. Within ten minutes, most of the Dolls had been destroyed, but not without a drastic depletion in the colony soldier's numbers. The radar beeped.
"Back up troops!" Lanoll yelled. "Let's do this. Again." He sounded tired.
"Doesn't the colony have some Mobile Dolls? Or more soldiers?" Cat asked.
"This is most of our force. No Dolls whatsoever," Lanoll replied.
"I can help change that," Ray said.
"Hand over the Gundams and their pilots, Ray, Lance, Cat, Matt, Taro, and Quro," came Commander Chang's voice over the communications system.
"No fucking way!" Lance yelled through the communications system. "You trained us, you used us, and now we're back. You will not get out of this one alive."
"Oh, and I'm supposed to be scared? Mobile Dolls, attack!"
The new troops of Mobile Dolls flew at the soldiers. The pilots battled fiercely, but to no avail. Every time one Mobile Doll would get destroyed, three more would take their place.
"Use the Firebird program!" Lance yelled.
"The what?" Matt asked.
"It's a program I installed when I built the Gundams. Remember the ZERO system that Heero Yuy used? This program is similar; it's harder to master but a lot more effective. One catch though; it's designed for Ray and I only, but we'll have to risk it. There is a button on the top left corner of the radar screen. Press it," Lance instructed without taking his mind off of his battle. "I didn't include it in the suit description because I didn't want OZ to find it."
Each of the pilots pressed the button. Instantly, each was more aware of their surroundings. The Gundams entire main screens went red. Their reaction times increased drastically, and their blows became more deadly. They lost all emotion. They had soon destroyed more than half of the suits. Lance, Ray, and the others turned on Chang, leaving the rest of the soldiers to finish the Dolls.
"Who wants him?" Cat asked, voice flat.
"Me," Ray said his voice full of hate. "You took my talent to its extremes and further. You used me. Remind me to thank you one day," he said, voice flat and emotionless. "And now you will die."
"No, I won't. You cannot defeat me. You built this suit," Chang said, then his face paled. "You know its weaknesses."
"More than you do," Ray said, shoving his beam scythe into the suit's right leg. He pulled it out, and struck again. This time, he sliced it cleanly in half. The explosion rocked his Gundam, causing Ray to fly forward, elbow hitting the left of the radar screen. The Firebird program instantly turned off. Ray regained his emotions.
"What did I do?" he whispered. The other pilots turned off their own programs.
"You killed Chang," Matt replied.
"No, he didn't. The program did," Cat argued.
"That's what I programmed it to do. To take all emotion except hate out of the battle. To feel no mercy or pain," Lance said. "And it worked."
"A little too well," Cat added.
"Come on, the battle is over. Let's go back. OZ won't bother us anytime soon," Lanoll said. All the suits turned back toward the colony. Tiger's Eye turned around to look at the Earth just before she went in. The next day, each of the pilots took their DNA tests.
Chapter XI
Consequences
"Ahhhhh!" Matt woke up screaming.
"Matt, calm down!" Cat was yelling. She and the twins had run in the room when they heard Matt screaming.
"Lance, are nightmares a side-effect of that program?" Matt asked, trying to quell the shaking in his body.
"I don't really know. It hasn't been used before this battle," Lance answered. It was three days after the last battle. Each of the pilots had woken up at least once with nightmares, all unable to remember what the nightmare was about.
"What?! Never, ever, use a program in a Mobile Suit, Doll, or Gundam without first testing it out! You never know what could happen," Matt replied. He thankfully accepted the cup of water that Ray brought him. All but his left hand had stopped shaking.
"What were you dreaming about?" Cat asked.
"I don't know. It was really fuzzy," he closed his eyes in concentration. "There were OZ soldiers. And blood."
"And a woman lying on the floor in front of you, dead," Cat finished for him. Matt looked up at her, surprised. "That program of yours opened up a part of my mind that I didn't know I had."
"I know. I'm the same way. I see things, and then they happen," Lance said, and Ray nodded.
"Ditto. Only I see the past, not the future. But there's a part of my past that's blocked off," Ray said. "But I can also do something else. Watch," he instructed, holding his hand out toward the empty water glass sitting on a table beside the bed. Energy seemed to crackle around the boy's hand, then the cup lifted about a foot off of the table. He made a quick movement with his hand and it fell to the floor with a small clank.
"I can tell what people are thinking or feeling," Matt said, holding his left hand in his right one.
"Empathic and telepathic. Those are the only two I know."
"My God! It's three in the morning! What's going on?" Lanoll asked from the doorway.
"That's what we'd like to know," Ray said. "Matt woke up, screaming. Another nightmare."
"Another? What is that supposed mean?" the black-haired man asked.
"We've each had at least one nightmare since the last battle," Matt explained. "And it's showing. Every time someone taps me, drops something, or makes a loud noise, I jump." The rest of the pilots nodded.
"Would this have anything to do with that program?" Lanoll asked.
"It might. It hasn't been tested yet," Lance replied. Lanoll looked shocked for a moment, then quickly recovered. He grinned.
"That doesn't surprise me. Your DNA tests came back."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Cat asked.
"Ray and Lance act just like their father. They are the sons of the Gundam pilot, Duo Maxwell, pilot of Deathscythe Hell," Lanoll let the news sink in. Ray and Lance looked dumbstruck. "Matt, you're descended from Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of Sandrock Kai."
"I thought so," Matt replied. This time, it was Lanoll's turn looked shocked.
"Cat, you're related to Heero Yuy, pilot of Wing Zero, his daughter to be exact," he said. Cat looked shocked, smiled, then frowned.
"But there's two pilots left. What about Wufei Chang and Trowa Barton?" she asked, careful to put Wufei's family name first.
"I don't know about Trowa Barton, but I'm related to Wufei Chang," Lanoll replied.
"I knew you looked familiar!" Lance exclaimed. "Those tests also gave our real names, didn't they?"
"Yes, but that's not what I was looking for. I was looking to see who your ancestors were."
"What about Trowa?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. Nothing showed up on the records about Trowa. Maybe his descendants are still out there."
"I'm willing to bet that it was either Quro or Taro," Lance said. "If we had a picture, we could see if either of them, or both of them, were related to Trowa."
"That's all fine and dandy, but can we find that out in the morning?" Cat asked, stretching and yawning.
"Fine by me," Lanoll said, exiting the room. The others returned to their rooms. Ray returned to his bunk last, a single crystal tear rolling down his cheek. He lay down on his stomach, face buried in his pillow.
"It's okay, Ray. You had no control over that program. It's just as much my fault as yours," Lance said.
"I know. Damn!" he slammed his hands down on his pillow, shaking the entire bunk because he was on top. "I could have mastered that program!"
"No. Heero Yuy couldn't even master the ZERO system completely. This program is much more advanced. Don't blame yourself. He deserved it," Lance reassured his brother.
"Yes, he did," came Matt's voice from the doorway.
"I agree," Cat was just behind him. "We're not gonna get any sleep at all tonight, are we?"
"Nope," Lance, Ray, and Matt said.
"I figured," she said, and sat down on the foot of Lance's bed. "Want to talk about what's going on?"
"I think you already know. I killed Commander Chang. If OZ ever does recapture us, not only are they going to charge us with deserting and treason, but for assassination as well," Ray said.
"But you've said it yourself. They can't get what they can't catch," Cat replied.
"But we're a threat to this colony! Just by being here, we're putting millions of innocent lives in danger!" Ray exclaimed.
"Freedom doesn't come cheap, bro," Lance replied. "Something has to be paid."
"But not the colony."
"They don't care. Wouldn't you rather be dead than go back under OZ's dictatorship?" Matt asked. He walked over to a laptop that was sitting on the desk in one corner of the room. Booting it up, he proceeded to type.
"What are you doing?" asked Ray from the top bunk.
"Hacking OZ's main database," he said. "Maybe we can find something."
"Oh. Here, let me help," Ray said, climbing down from the top bunk. They all crowded around Matt and watched as he skirted all of the security systems. "Bingo." Text scrolled across the screen. "This is a broadcast about six kids that were stolen," he blanched, "eighteen years ago."
"This could be about us," Lance whispered. Matt stopped the text, and scrolled down slow enough to read.
"'Today, August 15, A.C. 245, OZ soldiers searched many homes in Colony 12, searching for the Gundam pilots that were rumored to be living there. Upon searching several homes, OZ's commander Chang found the pilot's homes, along with six small children, five boys and one girl. The pilots were killed on sight, but OZ took the children in to raise them as OZ soldiers,'" Ray read out loud.
"Huh. They didn't want to kill children because they knew that they could be a valuable weapon if the Gundams reappeared," Cat said. "They should have killed us when they had the chance."
"I agree. But then we wouldn't be here today to fight," Ray said.
"Exactly. If they had killed us when they had the chance, they wouldn't have any real opposition," Cat replied.
"You've got a point there," Matt said. He shut down the computer. "I copied some of their files onto this computer. OZ won't even notice."
"Good. The last thing we need is for OZ to know that we've been snooping around on their computers," Lance said. "Now, since it's obvious we're not going to get any sleep tonight, I suggest we start building some Mobile Dolls for the colony."
"I've got my sketch pad that I designed OZ's new Dolls in. I can make a few adjustments, and we've got something to build," Ray said.
"Good. As soon as you finish that, I'll start building," Lance said.
"I'll start working now," Ray replied, grabbing his old sketchpad and his new one to redesign the Dolls for the colony. Opening to a fresh pad, he grabbed a pencil and started drawing.
"Do you think you could increase the reaction time of the Dolls?" Cat asked.
"Sure. Make them a little more aerodynamic, too," Lance replied.
"Those Dolls I built for OZ have defects. Lots of them," Ray said.
"Like what?" Matt inquired.
"Their reaction times are, by today's standards, null. This weapons will explode if the battle too long, and you can't stop them from the OZ base," Ray replied without looking up from the page.
"I noticed that. I didn't do anything about it, though," Lance said. Cat was watching Ray draw the design.
"You know a bit about Mobile Suits, don't you?" Ray asked her, breaking the silence.
"When you live around them all your life, you can't help but learn a few things," Cat replied. "I'm going to go get my notebook," she said, walking out the door.
"She's weird," Lance commented.
"I know. You get used to it," Matt replied.
"Done," Ray said, handing the design to his brother. "Give it to Lanoll it the morning."
"Will do," Lance replied, looking over the design. "I'm not putting Firebird in them. It's not designed for Dolls."
"Good. We don't want to take any chances with OZ," Cat said, walking into the room. She was carrying a chessboard and her notebook.
"What's the board for?" Ray asked.
"To keep track of OZ's attacks and our retaliation," she said, setting the board out on the desk by the computer.
"Oh, I get it. OZ is black, and the colony is white," Lance said. "Watch." He set up the board, then took six white pawns and moved four of the up two spaces. "We're the pawns. We're expendable," he said, placing the other two on the side of the board.
"OZ," Ray said, taking a black knight, "did this." He moved it up so that it was diagonally from a white pawn. "And I took it." He then moved a pawn up one space.
"It doesn't work like a regular chess game," Matt observed.
"I know. None of us follow the rules," Cat added.
"What rules? In war, there are no rules," Ray said, voice flat.
Chapter XII Just Pawns
The next day, Lance and a few of the colony's top technicians started working on the Mobile Dolls.
Lanoll approved the design and building of the suits. Matt, Ray, and Cat helped as often as they could. Each had proven themselves as pretty good engineers. They all seemed pretty lost in thought. By the end of the day, they had about ten Dolls finished and ten more in the process of being built.
"Pawns. We're just pawns, " Cat muttered under her breath.
"What?" asked the engineer she was working with.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking out loud," she replied.
"I knew the Gundams would come back one day, but I didn't think I'd live to see it," the engineer said, taking off his cap to wipe his head, revealing thinning gray hair. "I'm Logan Estes," the man said, sticking out his hand.
"Cat," she replied, shaking his hand. "I never thought I'd be one of the pilots. I knew they would come back, too."
"What's OZ like?" the man asked.
"Total control. They have total control down on Earth. And they want more power, which means that they'll have to take over the colonies," Cat replied. "Mr. Estes..."
"Please, call me Logan."
"Okay, Logan. What do you know about the original Gundam pilots?"
"There were five in all, Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Quatre Winner, and Duo Maxwell," he said. "They all fought for the colonies, but then OZ persuaded the colonies to join them, leaving nowhere for the pilots to go. OZ used the colonies as pawns, but they quickly realized how important the colonies and Gundams were right after OZ tried to destroy the earth by sending the battle ship Libra crashing to earth. But Heero Yuy blew it up before it could collide," he said.
"Thanks, Logan. That helped a lot. I grew up in an OZ base, and I never really learned anything about the original Gundam pilots," Cat said.
"Anything else?" Logan asked.
"No, not right now," she declined. "See ya."
"So, you learned a little about the Gundams, huh?" Ray asked, walking up beside her.
"Yep," she said, lost in thought. "That's it!" she exclaimed, and took off running.
"What was that about?" Lance asked, walking up beside his twin while wiping his hands on a rag.
"Beats me. I'm betting we'll find out later."
"Let's go get something to eat," Matt commented, walking up. "I'm starved. Where's Cat?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" Ray said, holding his hands up. "Cat ran up to her room about three minutes ago. Yes, we can go eat."
"Cool," Matt replied. "Cat will catch up with us later. She misses meals sometimes, especially when she runs off like you said she did."
"Fine. Let's go," Lance said, and they walked out of the hanger and down a few blocks. They found Mexican restaurant, ordered, and waited.
"What are we going to do the next time OZ attacks?" Ray asked.
"Counter-attack. That's a dumb question," Lance replied.
"No. Hear me out. They're gonna attack harder this time, and with more suits. They wiped out nearly half of the colony's soldiers last time. They are capable of wiping out the colony's entire fleet, not to mention the colony itself," Ray said.
"Good point. What are you suggesting we do?" Matt asked.
"Leave the colonies out of it," Ray said. "We need to talk to Lanoll."
"The colonies are willing to fight," the waiter said. "I'm a pilot myself."
"You are willing to risk your life for a battle you can't possibly win?" Ray asked a little too loudly.
Some of the patrons turned around to look at the group.
"Ray, calm down," Lance said. "You've got people staring at us."
"Okay, okay. But you're willing to risk your life?"
"Yes. I'm not afraid of death. Soldiers shouldn't be. Excuse me, I've got to get back to work," the waiter said, and walked away. Another waiter brought them their food. Finishing the meal in silence, they paid and walked out.
"Where to?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. You pick," Ray said.
"Hanger. I want to see what we have left on the Mobile Dolls," Lance said, sounding preoccupied.
"What's wrong?" Ray whispered to his twin as they were walking down the street. Lance hesitated for a second, and then answered.
"Bad feeling."
"I noticed," Matt said from behind them. "We're going to be attacked again, aren't we?" he asked, jogging to catch up with them. They sat down on a bench under a nearby tree. Lance leaned his head back, watching the light play through the leaves on the tree.
"Yeah. It's not going to be good. OZ will attack tomorrow. This colony is going to be blown up," he said. "We can stop it though."
"What? No freaking way are they going to get this colony!" Matt exclaimed. "Not gonna happen. Not while we're around."
"How can we stop it?" Ray asked, concern showing through his voice.
"I don't know. To OZ, the colonies just pawns in a game of war."
"We know that all too well," said Cat's voice over the intercom. "Listen, there's a way we can stop them. I located a person that was related to a man named Howard, who worked with Duo Maxwell, and he's agreed to help us."
"How is that supposed to help us stop OZ from blowing up the colony?" Matt asked.
"He's a genius of a mechanic, and he agreed to give us some tools. He didn't say exactly what, though."
"Fine. Anything to keep the colony from blowing up," Ray said. He stood up. "Let's head back to our quarters to figure out how were supposed to counter this one."
"Pawns aren't as expendable as most people think," Cat warned. The group walked back to their quarters. Cat opened her door for the group and they sat down. Lance sat on the bed, and Ray grabbed a chair from the table, turned it backwards, and sat in it. Matt sat on the floor next to the door, and Cat perched on the desk after shoving some papers onto the other side. Matt suddenly got up and left. Reappearing a moment later, he was holding the chessboard. He sat it down in the middle of the floor, and then took his position by the door.
"What are we going to do?" Ray asked, breaking the silence.
"Stop OZ," Matt said.
"Easier said them done, Matt. How?" Cat asked. She jumped off of the desk and walked to the chessboard. Sitting down on the floor beside it, she waited.
"Okay, we've taken an OZ commander, or a knight in this case. The colony is the white king, and the OZ main base is the black king," Lance said. "So now all we have to do is figure out check mate."
"Very good, Lance. Cat take that black pawn, second from the end," Cat pointed to the pawn.
"Yeah that one. Move it up one space," Matt said. Cat moved the black pawn so that it was within striking distance of two white pawns. "That's what we have to do. All we have to do now is wait for OZ to make that move."
"And for that, we have to wait until tomorrow," Ray said. "Get a good night's sleep. We're gonna need it for the battle."
"I'll never be able to sleep tonight," Matt said.
"Yes, you will. Think about it. We've got the upper hand. Better Dolls, Gundams, not to mention the entire colony behind us," Cat pointed out.
Chapter XIII
Good-bye
The next day, about noon, the alarm sounded again. The pilot's doors slammed open at once. Ray ran over to Cat's quarters. To his surprise she was already up and loading her pistol. All around them soldiers were running to the main deck.
"To the main hanger," Cat said before Ray could ask where to go. He ran quickly down to the main deck and the hangers.
"Cat!" called Ray. She stopped and turned to face him. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Try to stay calm whatever you see me do, okay? Please?" She looked at him and thought for a second, then nodded. He turned back and launched himself upward toward his Gundam. He opened the hatch and powered up his controls, he powered up the Firebird program and his Gundam's entire interior became fire orange. Cat followed his example and the hanger began to shake. Lanoll's face suddenly appeared on his screen.
"Ray, the Dolls haven't been tested yet," Ray could tell by his voice that he was nervous.
"You won't like this but there's no time like the present," he heard Lanoll's voice crack and shut off the com link before he could argue. Ray sighed. They all transformed the new Kai suits into Neo-bird mode and took off. He grabbed a pair of data sunglasses from the dash and put them on. Data shades are used during points of extreme heat or light normally but Lance had done some improving on these. Whenever the wearer activated the glasses the status of his/her Gundam, the Firebird program, video links, and other abilities of the Gundams are usable on lenses.
Lance's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Ray snap to it." Ray shook himself out of his thoughts and looked outside his Gundam. A huge fleet of Mobile Dolls that resembled the old Virgo mobile suits had assembled. The new Dolls Ray designed were being smashed left and right.
"Call the dolls Back NOW!" he screamed over the com. Lanoll replied quickly.
"What for? I thought you said they could handle it."
"I WAS WRONG!!" he screamed before slicing through one of his own dolls. Lanoll quickly replied by calling back the troops. "Call back the mobile suits too only Gundams stand a chance." Lanoll did this too. He sighed. "Now the real battle begins," Ray thought.
"Ray!" it was Cat's voice. "These dolls look like the old Virgo models," she said. He looked at them for a while then responded.
"You're right, Cat. Do a check on them, find all weak points, and check the programs," he said. All they could do was stall, the check took precious time, and time they didn't have. If anyone tried to do anything but defend, they could all be destroyed. Five power-hungry Gundams against dozens of Dolls. Only Heero Yuy and his daughter could like stakes like these. Gundams Inferno Kai, Firebolt Kai, Tiger's Eye Kai, Kai Cyclone Wing, and Bloodlust Kai were all that stood between OZ and total domination. Then he noticed something; they were too near three space colonies. If they had to self-destruct their bodies would be blown into them. They had to take that risk.
"Okay got it," came Cat's voice, "they're modified versions of the Virgo suits. Only. five of 'em aren't dolls they're Gundams!" At that moment the entire fleet of dolls pulled back. Only five Gundams and five mobile suits remained. Ray attacked first, bringing his scythe down fast and hard. The suit quickly activated a magnetic shield, and the blade couldn't do damage. Next, Cat used her Tiger claws to send a powerful beam at her opponent, but the suit quickly moved away. Matt's turn, he powered his Gundam's buster rifles and fired.
" NO!!!" Ray yelled. "No full power attacks."
Then they saw why. The suit's shield absorbed the beam then activated a beam sword lunged towards Matt's Gundam and sent the beam through the middle. Matt's Gundam stood still for a few seconds before the mobile suit created a beam so huge it engulfed the entire Gundam in energy. It became dust and a microscope could only see the only pieces of Matt left. Ray pulled his Gundam's buster rifle and destroyed the remains of Cyclone.
"No. not. again. no. more. death," Cat whispered. "NO!" she yelled.
"Remember your promise Cat," Ray mouthed to her only.
"DON'T you say my name!" she exclaimed." You. you."
"You know what we have to do to win this battle, don't you, Cat?" he interrupted.
"The only way to win is.is. self-destruction," Cat admitted sadly over the comlink. Ray nodded, but Lance replied harshly.
"You're INSANE!" he yelled.
"Can ya blame her bro?" Ray asked
"Alright, fine then. I AM INSANE! DEAL WITH IT! Lead, follow, or GET OUT OF MY WAY!" she yelled back. Ray, Cat, Lance, and Lanoll picked up the detonators.
"On my count," Ray said, " Three. Two. One. NOW!" he screamed. They hit they're detonators right after opening the escape hatches. They were propelled towards the colonies. The main gates of the colonies were open so they could get in. if they survived. Armed with only the new beam weapons Lanoll had made for them, (Ray a Beam scythe, Cat twin heat beam scythes, Lance a beam sword, and Lanoll a beam trident) and there data glasses. Ray was blasted into colony 19. He flew into the colony and closed the entry gate. He removed his mask and looked into space. He saw Lanoll flying towards this colony... he missed the gate. As he hit the side his mask shattered. His face was sucked into his skull and the rest of his body imploded from the vacuum of space. Lanoll, his newest comrade in arms was dead.
"Good-bye, old friends," Ray said to the Gundams and Lanoll.
*AUTHOR'S NOTES*
Hello everybody! This is Dragon's Fire Kai or DFK for short. I'm revising this story and adding some to Part One until next week when Phoenix Tears will take over again. This story is being thought out a lot (especially during math class) so if there's NE thing you don't understand just stick with the story and I'll try to clear it up later. My friend and I have been writing this for months now and I think it'll come to an end soon. Well gotta get back to typing now so C-ya! Send comments, suggestions, questions, and flares (not that I'll listen to them) to either dragons_fire_kai@yahoo.com or ruby05_88@yahoo.com.
Hey! This is Phoenix Tears. I'm trying to clear a few things up right now, but if I miss anything, just drop one of us a line. Constructive criticism is also welcome. I've got other stories that I'm working on solo if you ask I'll send them to ya. Thanks for sticking with us. DFK's not lying when he says this stories been through a lot. My part was mainly in my extremely boring English class. I'm sure you know how that goes. L8er!
The New Gundam Generation
By: Dragon's Fire Kai & Phoenix Tears
Part One
A Need For Heroes
"Ab honesto virum bonum nihil deterret." Senca. "Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable."
Prologue
Four years after Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Quatre Winner, Wufei Chang, and Trowa Barton defeated OZ in the great war of Operation Meteor, they settled down to live in peace. In the year A.C. 214 all of the pilots were missing. However, there were others who knew how to pilot Gundams. Five pilots, actually. Five of them, the same number as before. These pilots were also parents. A group of renegade Gundam pilots created new Mobile Dolls and formed a new organization, NEO OZ. The originators attacked and destroyed the five remaining pilots and captured their children. Eighteen years later, the organization had total power of the colonies. Two of the six children who were taken were taken had started remembering their pasts. They did not know their real names, but they knew they were brothers, and possibly twins. They named themselves Ray and Lance Hino. Ray and Lance, both eighteen, were built well, and were very smart. Ray was 5'11" and weighed 172 pounds. Lance, his identical twin, was and looked the same. This is their story...
Chapter I The Escape Plan
The light rays of the sun shone into the brothers' bedroom in their barracks. It was a simple room, really, but surprisingly big. Each had a queen-size bed on either side of the room. A bathroom and dining room were down the hall, east of Ray's bed. The living room, with a TV, was south of Lance's bed. Lance's bed that was usually made up by now was still occupied by Lance, and Ray, the one who usually slept the latest, was awake and already dressed. He was wearing a black tank top with blue jeans and his leather jacket.
"Lance, wake up. Lance!" Ray said, frustrated.
"Wha..why?" Lance asked groggily.
"Come on, let's go, we've gotta talk to Chang," Ray replied urgently.
"Okay, okay, I'm up," Lance said, pushing himself out of bed. He dressed in his green tank top, blue jeans, and leather jacket, then the twins made breakfast. Lance revived a lot with a cup of coffee.
"Come on, let's go down to the hanger," Ray said, strangely eager to talk to the Oz commander Wan Chang.
"Okay, just chill for a minute. Let's clean up," Lance replied. They cleaned up and headed for the door. Ray popped his jacket collar down.
"Why are you bringing your sketch pad?" Lance asked.
"'Cause I designed two new Gundams, Firebolt and Inferno."
"Oh," Lance replied, and let the matter drop. But he wondered why Ray had designed two Gundams for no apparent reason.
OZ soldiers had captured Ray and Lance long ago. They would have been killed, had it not been for their strange abilities. Ray, with the ability design incredibly powerful Gundams and Mobile Doll units, and Lance, with the ability to program and build the superior suits that his brother designed in very little time.
An OZ officer was standing near one of Ray's newest Doll designs, which had just been built.
"Commander Chang," Ray started, "I have designed two new Gundams and a new series of Dolls." He handed the commander his sketchpad. The commander looked over it.
"I don't think we can build your new dolls just yet. We just finished building these," Commander Chang said, pointing over his shoulder at the rows of Mobile Dolls.
"Why not?" asked Ray. "They're the most powerful I've ever designed."
"What? They are? Okay, we'll build them!"
"Great! The Gundams too?!" asked Lance.
"Sure, why not."
Ray and Lance walked back toward their quarters
"Lance?" Ray started.
"Yeah?"
"My plan is working," Ray finished. Lance looked at his twin in surprise, then turned to open the door to their barracks.
"What plan?" asked Lance.
"Listen for a minute, will ya?" replied Ray. Lance sat down on his bed, and waited for an explanation.
"After they build the Dolls and Gundams, they'll try them out first, right?" Ray looked uncharasterically excited.
"Yeah, why?" Lance asked, uncertain of what his brother was getting at.
"We pilot the Gundams, then in Inferno and Firebolt we'll fly right out of here," he concluded.
"What makes you think they're gonna let us pilot them?"
"Because only we are gonna be able to use the program you're gonna design!"
"Oh! Cool!" said Lance. "Let's do it!"
Chapter II Firebolt and Inferno
The next morning the put their plan into action.
"Ray, Lance," it was Commander Chang's voice over the intercom, "come to the flight simulator now."
"Let's go," Lance said sharply. But Ray could sense that his brother was as excited as he was to start preparing for their escape mission. They walked quickly to the simulator room.
"You two, into the simulator now," Chang ordered.
"Yes, sir," Ray and Lance chorused. They entered separate simulators. The controls hummed to life as the simulated battle data scrolled across the screen. Mobile Dolls and simulated enemy Gundams started attacking them. They handled the controls like they had done this all of their lives. In a matter of minutes they had destroyed dozens of Mobile Dolls and a handful of Gundams each.
Thirty minutes they emerged from the simulators.
"Very, very well done, both of you," congratulated Commander Chang.
"Thanks," said Ray. Neither of them looked the least bit tired from their battles.
"You will both be able to pilot a Gundam for OZ in the next battle against the colonies."
"Great!" Lance said with fake enthusiasm.
The next day, both brothers woke up early. They made some coffee and breakfast, then got ready to pilot their first Gundams. They had on the same outfits they always wore: tanktops, jeans, and leather jackets.
"Ray, Lance, you will pilot the Gundams San-tos and Fla-ran," said Chang.
"What?" cried Ray, outraged. "We wanted to pilot Firebolt and Inferno! No one else can pilot them."
"We have chosen Tal-scran and Mio-sang to pilot those suits," replied Chang, not at all bothered about Ray's outburst.
"No," Lance said, calmer than his brother, "My program will only let one of us pilot them."
"Sure," said Chang sarcastically.
"Okay, we'll make you a deal. You win you can kill us, we win, we get to keep the Gundams forever. Deal?" Ray proposed. Chang hesitated for a moment.
"Deal," Chang said finally. Secretly Chang had always wanted the twins dead but he was acting with restraint under higher orders.
"We'll let the OZ pilots go first," said Lance.
"You heard him, go on," Chang said to the other two pilots. They got in the Gundams, then came back out three minutes later.
"Sir, we can't get them to work," said one of the pilots. Ray and Lance looked at Chang with a smug look.
"Go, you two," Chang said to Ray and Lance. They jumped up, and climbed into the cockpits of the Gundams. The controls hummed to life and the Gundams started working. "Okay! You can keep Firebolt and Inferno!" he walked away, grumbling something about "Uppity teenagers."
Chapter III Matt, Quro, Taro, and Cat
The two brothers transformed their Gundams into jets and headed for the south side of the OZ complex and landed. They ran into the complex. 'ZZZM'. A laser blast narrowly missed them.
"Freeze you two!" somebody yelled. A tall blond woman and three tall brown haired men were standing in front of them, laser pistols drawn.
"Who are you?" Ray asked.
"We're OZ's private body guards. I'm Cat," the blonde woman introduced herself.
"I'm Matt."
"Quro."
"And I'm Taro."
"We're Ray and Lance Hino of Colony 12 and pilots of the Gundams Firebolt and Inferno," Ray said. Lance looked from one bodyguard to the next.
"Colony 12... that's where we're from. We've been trying to escape for years. We were taken when we were children. I still dream about it," Cat said. She put her pistol away. Matt, Quro, and Taro followed her example.
"We're escaping now," Lance said.
"Really? Can we come too?" asked Matt.
"Sure," said Ray, "Just give us three days to design and build you each a Gundam."
"Great! See you Saturday," said Taro. Quro had remained silent throughout the whole meeting. They walked off as Ray and Lance headed back to their quarters.
"Damn. I thought we were the only ones that OZ captured," Ray said.
"So did I. I guess OZ works on a larger scale than we thought," Lance replied. He sounded lost in thought. "Ray?"
"Hmmm?" Ray answered, punching the button too open the door to their barracks.
"When are you gonna design their Gundams?'
"I already have," he grabbed his sketchpad off of the table and opened it to a page with a complicated design on it. "Here's Tiger's Eye, Cyclone Wing, Scytho, and Bladewing."
"I'll start building them tomorrow then?"
"Fine with me," said Ray. Then they went to sleep early so that they could start early on the Gundams.
Chapter IV
Gundam Tiger's Eye
"Ray, Ray, wake up!" Lance exclaimed, shaking Ray.
"Wha d'ya want?" Ray asked sleepily. He sat up and stretched.
"We finished Gundam Tiger's Eye!" Ray stopped in mid-yawn.
"What? Really?" exclaimed Ray.
"Yeah. My guys worked all night to finish it," Lance replied. He leaned against the wall at the foot of Ray's bed. Ray could tell that he had been working hard. There was a grease smear on Lance's forehead, and several more on his jeans.
"The Gundam is Cat's, right?" Lance nodded. "Let's go give it to her then." They left, creeping down the hallways of the OZ complex. When they came to the forest where they had left their Gundams climbed into the cockpit and took off toward the south side of the complex. They landed behind the building where Cat and the others were staying. They walked through the door they had entered when they had first met their new friends. They silently opened the door and crept down to Cat's quarters.
"Knock knock," Ray said quietly against her door.
"Come in," Cat said in a whisper, barely audible to the twins. They opened the door and came in slowly as to not make any sudden noises. Lance closed the door quietly and they walked towards Cat who was writing what appeared to be a poem of some sort in the corner.
"Give me a minute," she said.
"Cool," Ray responded. She opened a folder and slid her papers in it, then slid the folder under her chair. Ray and Lance pulled up a couple of chairs to the table where she was sitting. Ray pulled a small CD out of his breast pocket and handed it to Cat.
"That's what your Gundam looks like and what it does," Lance said as she booted up her laptop. She put the disk in the computer. Instantly an image of Tiger's Eye appeared.
"I love it," she said, watching fascinated as the hologram rotated slowly, showing the suit. Type ran across the top of the screen.
"Good. Cause it's already landed behind the complex where ours are," Ray said
"Can I go see it?"
"No. After we finish the other Gundams, you can see them all together," Lance said.
"All right. See ya in two days," Cat said, waving.
"Okay, bye," the twins chorused, waving back. They crept back to their Gundams.
Chapter V
Gundam Cyclone Wing
Ray and Lance arrived back at their quarters after working on the Gundams. Around 2:00A.M. They went to sleep and got up early to start working on the next three Gundams. At 3:00 PM they had already finished Matt's Gundam, Cyclone Wing. That night they went and dropped Matt's Gundam off in the same place where they had dropped Cat's the previous day. They had informed Matt of his Gundam and given him the CD. Ray and Lance were about to re- enter the Gundams when someone called, "Hey, you two freeze!" The twins turned around to face six guards in black OZ body armor that had them at gunpoint.
"Okay, sorry, we were... uh.... Trying to find General Chang to give him this new design for Mobile Dolls," Ray said sickly.
"Yeah right," the guard smirked.
"Raise your hands above your heads, you're coming with us!" another guard said. Ray and Lance raised their hands over their heads
"We'll go quietly," Lance said.
"Oh no they won't," it was Cat and Matt also in full armor with their laser pistols drawn. They fired several times each, and the guards dropped.
"What the hell kinda stunt you tryin' to pull!" Cat screamed.
"We were trying to get back to our Gundams," Ray replied calmly. Cat and Matt put their guns back in their holsters then walked back to their quarters. Ray and Lance went to go get started on Scytho and Bladewing.
Chapter VI
Gundams Scytho and Bladewing
The twins immediately started working on Scytho. While Lance and his crew built Scytho, Ray looked over the schematics on Bladewing. Scytho was soon finished. The next day, the twins got up at 4:00 A.M. to fly the Gundam over to the hiding place where Tiger's Eye and Cyclone Wing were stored. As they had done with the other Gundams, Ray and Lance took the CD to Taro.
"Wow, so this is Scytho. When will we get to escape?" Taro inquired.
"When we finish Bladewing for Quro," Ray replied.
"It'll be finished by the end of the day," Lance chimed in. They left immediately to start working on
Bladewing. This time, Lance and his crew worked on the Gundam while Ray took the disk to Quro. Quro remained strangely silent, only nodding his thanks and approval at Ray. Ray got out of there as fast as he could. He found Lance working on the cockpit wiring.
"Quro sure is quiet," Ray said. Lance looked up from him job.
"Yeah, he is," Lance replied, wiping his forehead with a grease-stained hand.
"Hey, Ray, Lance! What's up?" a voice called. The twins looked down from their perch in the cockpit. Cat was standing by the right foot of the almost-completed Gundam. Ray and Lance waved at her. Cat climbed up the gigantic Gundam.
"What 'cha doing?" she asked as she climbed onto the open door that led to the cockpit.
"We're trying to finish Bladewing for Quro," replied Ray. Lance started fiddling with some wires for the guidance system.
"Quro? He's a quiet one," she said as she leaned against the doorway.
"Yeah, I kinda noticed. It creeps me out," Lance said, still fiddling with the same wires
"Here. Connect that wire to the output hole, and this one to the steering system," she said, reaching over to connect the wires. Lance gaped at her.
"Why is Quro so quiet?" asked Ray.
"I guess he's just shy. He talks to me though. Usually about what happened eighteen years ago," Cat said.
"What?" Ray and Lance asked, surprised.
"It's all in my poems. I wrote them that way so OZ wouldn't realize that at least one of us remembers our past," she said, eyes glazed over in thought. Ray shot Lance a look.
"So," Lance said, breaking the silence. "The Gundam is almost done. All we need to do is make sure it runs." Everyone cleared the area as Lance fired up the Gundam. It hummed to life as Lance pushed a few buttons. He powered it down, and then flew it over to the area where he had left the others.
"Now all we have to do is wait for the next battle. Here's some communicators," Ray said after they had all assembled in Cat's quarters. Lance handed them each a small radio.
A few hours later, the alarm sounded.
Chapter VII
The Escape
"Let's go!" Ray yelled as he pulled his jacket on and ran out the door. His brother was right behind him. Lance called Cat and the others on their communicators. He told them to help during the battle, but talk to no one. During the battle, they would run. To where, they didn't know. But they'd figure that out later. The twins jumped into their Gundams. Lance got into Firebolt, and Ray fired up Inferno. They jetted out of the hanger.
"Destroy all enemy mobile suits!" Commander Chang's voice came over the communicator. Mobile Dolls surrounded the twins. Ray and Lance attacked the suits with their beam scythes and sabers.
"Nani!" Lance swore as he was knocked against the front of his mobile suit. He swung his suit around as he saw the attacking suit get slashed apart. The suit exploded. When the dust cleared, Tiger's Eye stood there. It jetted off, disappearing from sight.
"What was that suit?" Chang asked over the radio. No one answered. Ray smirked as he sliced a few suits in half, and then jetted away to avoid the concussion of the explosions. He was hit from the side by a beam rifle. Inferno swung the beam scythe at his attacker. The suit was slashed from shoulder to hip, the top slid downward before it exploded. Ray turned the suit around again to see Firebolt in front of him on the ground with Tiger's Eye, Scytho, Cyclone Wing, and Bladewing in the air.
"Let's go," Lance said, opening up communications for the first time. They blasted off at the same time, leaving the rest of the troops to finish the battle.
"Where are we going?" asked Matt. "We have to go somewhere."
"Space, probably. We need to find a safe place," Ray said.
"How are we going to get there?" queried Taro.
"The mobile suits are equipped to go through the atmosphere. Am I the only one who read the suit description?" Cat said.
"Hey!" Taro retorted. "We read them too. But you read the same thing over and.."
"Don't start again you two," Matt interrupted.
"Quro? Any ideas?" Lance asked. They had turned on their visual communicators. Quro was studying the radar screen.
"I suggest we get out of here," he said. Right then, all their suits gave the warning bee-ee-eep.
"Ray, Lance, turn back now. This is a direct order from Commander Chang," came a voice over the communications system.
"How many people does it take to catch six teenagers in Gundams?" Ray inquired.
"I dunno. Let's find out," Cat answered. The group changed their Gundams into jets.
"Up! Into space!" yelled Matt. They jetted off, leaving the searchers in a cloud of exhaust.
"Eat my dust!" yelled Ray, pushing the throttle to full speed. The others followed suit.
"Stop or we'll shoot! This is your last chance," came the same voice over the intercom. Cat looked back and noted to speed of the suits.
"Damn! They're fast. But not fast enough," she said, pushing the throttle in even more while silently urging her suit to go faster.
"We may be able to beat them to the atmosphere," Taro said.
"It's worth a shot," replied Lance. Moments later their suits glowed red with the friction of going through the atmosphere. Their pursuers stopped, the suits not equipped for atmospheric flight.
"Where to?" Matt asked again.
"Ummm... How about Colony 12? I've heard they want to be liberated, and they're looking for Gundam pilots," Quro said.
"At least someone did their homework," said Cat. They set a course for Colony 12.
"Hold it," another voice said.
"What now? We're going to Colony 12. We mean no harm," Ray said.
"Why do you want to go there?"
"To get away from OZ," Taro spat.
"Why?" a mobile suit appeared in front of them. It was totally black, with red eyes. The upper torso and head were lined in red. It had a red beam scythe.
"We were taken from Colony 12 eighteen years ago. It's our home. We want to go back," Cat said.
"To get to the colony, you have to defeat me. If you are who you say you are, this should be easy," the voice said. An image appeared on the visual communicators. It was a man with black hair and tan skin. Lance thought he looked familiar but couldn't place it. "My name is Lanoll, from Colony 12, pilot of the mobile suit Gundam Bloodlust."
Lanoll lunged at Matt, signaling the start of the battle. He soon proved to be an even match for all six of them. They managed to land a few blows, but mainly Lanoll just dodged them. Every move Bloodlust made was carefully planned and deadly accurate. He pulled his beam scythe and lunged.
Chapter VIII
Farewell Friends
"Quro!" Cat yelled. Lanoll had just impaled the suit closest to him. Unfortunately, Bladewing was that suit. Lanoll pulled out his scythe and the suit exploded.
"Nooo!" Taro screamed. He turned to Lanoll, Buster Rifle ready. "I will avenge my friend!" He fired at the opposing suit.
"Taro! Calm down!" Matt yelled.
"No! My closest friend was just killed. How can I?"
"You're gonna get yourself killed! Is that what Quro would want?" Matt asked in an attempt to calm the seething pilot. Taro seemed to relax, but attacked again by firing his rifle. The blast missed by a good thirty feet.
"Taro, stop!" yelled Lance.
"Oh, shit! He's gonna get himself killed!" Ray exclaimed. Taro had discarded his rifle and now had
his beam sword. He and Lanoll were now in a battle to the death. Taro would lunge, and Lanoll would meet him. This went on for a long time before Lanoll finally disarmed Taro. Lanoll knocked him around for a little while before finally sticking his scythe through the Gundam's chest. The Gundam exploded around Lanoll's scythe.
"Taro!" Matt yelled.
"Who's next?" asked Lanoll. He sounded bored.
"This is stupid! How can this amount to anything?" Cat asked.
"What?" Lanoll asked. He sounded surprised.
"How can this amount to anything?" she repeated. "This is meaningless. Nothing can come from this. Someone once asked me 'How does two soldiers killing each other solve the problems of the world?' I'm asking you the same thing." No one answered.
"Well spoken. Your ideals remind me of the Peacecraft reign. Follow me," Lanoll said, flying away. The others followed him, confused. They flew toward the huge colony, and entered through a hanger.
"Can we trust him?" Ray asked.
"Do we really have a choice?" countered Matt. Silence settled over the group. Cat's shoulders started shaking with silent sobs. Lance pulled her to him, stroking her hair and murmuring something. Cat nodded her head and pulled away, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her denim jacket.
"Why do you fight for liberation from OZ?" asked Cat.
"I figured you, of all people, would know the answer to that question. We want peace. But the only way we can obtain it is to fight," Lanoll replied.
"There's got to be another way," Lance argued.
"Not that we can see. OZ crushed all of our hope for negotiating for peace. War is the only way left," the pilot replied. "We were hoping the Gundams could help us."
"We'll help you, under one condition," Ray started.
"You name it."
"Help us find our past," he finished.
"Done. We have DNA records for every person born in this colony since it was created," Lanoll replied. The group entered an elevator. The door closed and Lanoll pushed a button. They took the half-minute ride in silence. The doors opened, and the pilots followed Lanoll down a hallway.
"Your quarters," Lanoll said, pointing to Ray and Lance, "are right here. Before I forget, what are your names?"
"I'm Ray, and this is my twin, Lance. That's Matt, and the girl's Cat," Ray said, speaking for the whole group, as he usually did.
"Well, Ray, Lance, your quarters are right here," Lanoll repeated, punching a code in on the keypad. The twins watched his fingers, each memorizing the code for himself. They entered, and the door closed.
"Matt, your quarters are here," Lanoll said, punching in a different code. Matt memorized the code, and entered the room; door sliding shut behind him.
"Cat, your quarters are here," the black-haired man said, punching in yet another code. Cat memorized hers, and entered. "If you need anything just ask," he said before the door closed. All the rooms were set up in the same manner. Bed on one side, or in Ray and Lance's case, a bunk bed to one side. Otherwise, the quarters were set up the same way the ones on Earth are. There was a door on the East and West walls, though. The doors led to the next quarters. Each pilot climbed into his or her bed. Ray claimed the top bed for himself. The pilots were asleep before his or her head hit the pillow.
Chapter IX Space Colony
Cat woke up first. She stared at the ceiling, wondering how all this happened. Matt, Lance, and Ray, respectively, woke up and wondered the same thing. Cat exited her quarters through the door in the west wall.
"Good morning!" she said cheerfully when she stepped into Matt's quarters.
"Mornin'," Matt replied he was sitting at the table. Cat grabbed a chair and sat down opposite him. There came a knock from the door leading to the twins' quarters. The door opened, and Ray and Lance stepped in.
"Hey. I've got a question. What are we supposed to be doing, exactly?" asked Lance.
"I don't really know. When is the next battle?" asked Matt.
"I dunno. There's nothing we can really do until we get some instructions, or the next battle breaks out," Cat replied.
"We need to go out into the colony and investigate," Ray suggested.
"That is a good idea. How about we go and meet back here whenever we get back?" Matt replied. The others readily agreed. They exited the room, following the hallway. They passed several guards, and none questioned them as they passed.
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the outside colony?" Lance asked a passing soldier.
"Take this hallway, turn right at the first corridor, go straight until you run into the elevator. Take it to the bottom floor, and you should see the doors leading to the colony," the soldier replied.
"Thanks," Lance said, and the soldier walked off. The group followed the soldier's instructions, and soon they were outside.
"Wow. And to think I was born on this colony," Cat said. "I'm going to go find a bookstore. See-ya!" she said, calling the last part over her shoulder as she ran off.
"I'm just going to wander, and maybe find some food," Matt said, taking off in the opposite direction.
"I'll go find an art store that sells sketch pads. I want to see if there's any way to upgrade our Gundams," Ray said, and started walking straight ahead. Lance just wandered down the sidewalk, looking for nothing in particular.
The group came back, some hours later, each holding at least one shopping bag.
"I found what I was looking for," Ray said triumphantly. He was holding a brand new sketchpad under his arm.
"Ditto," Cat said, motioning to her two shopping bags. "I also found a laundry mat and a clothing store."
"I found a restaurant. Food in the colonies is much better than food on Earth," Matt said.
"The temple is amazing. I found the hanger where our Gundams are stored," Lance said.
"Good. I need a few repairs made on my Gundam," Ray said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Let's go set our stuff down, go some place to eat, and then start the repairs on our suits," Cat said.
"Is that okay? I haven't eaten anything since we escaped from OZ. I just now realized how hungry I am."
"Yeah FOOD!" Matt exclaimed. Everyone laughed.
"Yeah, Matt, FOOD," Ray and Lance chorused. They went upstairs, set down their bags, and met in front of the door of Matt's quarters.
"Where are we going?" Lance asked.
"I don't know. Did anyone see a restaurant while they were wondering around?" Cat asked.
"I did. It's like a food court. They've got everything," Matt said.
"Why does that not surprise me? Next to fighting, the first thing you think about is food," Cat teased.
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" The foursome walked down the hallway yet again, Cat and Matt still arguing. They didn't stop until they got to the food court. Each of them just ordered a buffet from a restaurant so they could get what ever they wanted. Lance chose a table, and the group sat down, Cat and Lance on one side, Ray and Matt on the other.
"Whatcha' writin', Cat?" Matt asked. Cat looked up at him.
"A poem. But this one doesn't make sense," she said. "It's like something was telling my brain what to write." The blonde haired woman frowned at the paper, brow wrinkling in concentration. She just sighed, closing the notebook and setting it on the table. The group ate their dinner in silence. Cat got up suddenly, grabbed her notebook, and raced away.
"That was odd. I wonder what happened to her?" Ray wondered out loud No one answered. "I'm going after her," he said, pushing back his chair. Lance and Matt looked at each other.
"Think we should go after them?" Matt asked.
"Nah. They'll be fine. Ray'll tell me what happened when he gets back," Lance replied. The two finished their dinner, left a tip, and walked off. Returning to the hanger, they started repairs on the Gundams, each wondering at Cat and Ray's strange behavior.
**Cat and Ray**
"Cat! Hey Cat! Wait up," Ray yelled. If the woman heard him, she paid no heed. She just kept on running. Ray ran after her, dodging the few pedestrians that were doing there shopping before the shops closed for the day. "Cat!" she finally stopped, leaning against a tree for support.
"Cat, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Everything," she muttered. "Help me back to the hanger. I think I hurt my foot running," she said, wincing as she tried to stand.
"What happened? What made you get up like that?" Ray said, supporting the limping pilot.
"A memory. The poem. It all makes sense! When we sat down to eat, it was like a gate opened up, and everything came spilling out. Bits and pieces of memory, just enough to shape into a poem. So far I've just used Quro's memories for my past. But. now I'm starting to remember my own," she said. They were almost to the hanger. "Each one of us has our own past. We've known each other since we were babies, though. Quro and Taro are the only ones that don't fit in the picture."
"What do you mean, they don't fit in the picture?"
"That's just it. They came from a different area. But they were taken the same time we were," she said.
"Here's the hanger. Do you feel like working on your Gundam?"
"Yeah. My foot is better now. I think I just twisted it a little. I can still climb up the Gundam."
"Who said anything about climbing? We're in outer space, remember? No gravity."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot," she said sheepishly. Ray walked over to his Gundam and pushed off. He grabbed a handhold on the bottom of his cockpit door. Cat did the same. They were just pulling themselves up and over when Lance and Matt noticed them.
"Hey! What's up?" Ray called.
"Nothing!" Matt called back. He got to work, reconfiguring the cockpit system that suffered minor damages when they battled with Bloodlust. Firebolt, Lance's Gundam, had damages to it's left arm, as did Ray's, only Inferno's right arm and back were damaged. Cat's was somehow the least damaged. But the radar and guidance systems were malfunctioning. Each got to work.
"Hey Lance! You messed up on my radar and guidance systems!"
"No I didn't! Ray did! He designed it!"
"But you built it! So you messed it up!"
"What's wrong with it?" Lance appeared in the cockpit door.
"I think you wired it wrong somehow or another. Either that, or it's just a faulty piece of equipment." She dismantled the radar screen, revealing a tangle of wires. Carefully, Lance reached around her to probe through the wires.
"Here ya go. This wire," he said, "should be connected here, not where it was." He replaced the screen. "Now, about that guidance system?"
"I can handle that. I've seen this problem before," she grabbed a screwdriver and pulled the panel above the throttle up. "You just switched the wires again."
"But I did every Gundam the same way," he argued.
"Maybe so, but you still did it wrong. If you do this," she said, demonstrating, "the Gundam's reaction time increases a little."
"What did you do?" he asked. Cat smiled shyly and proudly showed him a part.
"I've found you didn't need this. You also connect the steering wires directly into the engine wires."
"Cool," he said, and then he left to go work on his Gundam's arm. Ray grabbed a welding gun and started welding the arm back together. Lance reconnected the wires that were severed when his arm got hit. Now all Lance had to do was weld his Gundam's arm back together, like Ray. Matt was working on adjusting his cockpit, compensating for the weight of his weapons. Cat was perched on the edge of her cockpit door, writing in her notebook. Soon they were all done, and they went back to their rooms. It was about 1:45 A.M. After exchanging good nights, they each entered their own quarters and went to sleep.
Chapter X Battle in Space
The group was woken up by an alarm. The sound of running feet echoed down the hallway.
"What's going on?" Ray yelled.
"OZ attack!" one soldier yelled back.
"Let's go!" Lance yelled. The group joined the rest of the soldiers that were heading toward the hanger.
"They're after us, you know," Cat said.
"We know, Cat, we know," Lance said. "But they can't get what they can't catch." The group had reached the hanger. The each of the pilots got into their Gundams.
"If we went ahead and gave ourselves up, no one would get hurt," Matt said.
"No way! Even if it means we die, they're not gonna get us. We are the hope for the colonies. I would rather die than go back to that place," Lance said. "What would it mean to the colonies if we just gave up? We are their hope."
"Am I the only one who wants to show OZ that they can't get us?" Cat asked. "Let's go!"
"Let's do this. Remember: they can't get what they can't catch," Ray chimed in.
"Hey! That's my line!" Lance protested.
"I know," Ray said slyly.
"Save it for OZ, you two!" Cat yelled. She jetted out of the hanger; the others close behind her.
"Nice to see you," came Lanoll's voice over the communications system.
"Same to you," Ray replied.
"I already told the soldiers about all of you. They won't interfere with you unless you ask or you're in danger," the pilot informed them.
"We owe ya," Lance said, "big time."
"Don't mention it. We owe you," Lanoll said modestly. Each jetted off in their own direction to their own fight.
Matt found his first. A group of Mobile Dolls attacked him.
"New models? Man, OZ works fast," Matt said.
"I designed these," Ray said over the communications system.
"What?!" Cat yelled.
"I designed then, Lance built them. We were the top engineers for OZ," Ray explained.
"Well, tell me how to beat these stupid Dolls!" Cat yelled, trying to avoid the beam sword of one Mobile Doll while trying to blow up another.
"How am I supposed to know? I designed these right before we escaped! I didn't think we'd actually make it this far!"
"What?!" Matt yelled. "Oh, gee, thanks for telling us! Anything else?"
"The Dolls repair themselves," Ray almost whispered.
"WHAT?" the shout was from the remaining pilots, including Lanoll.
"They repair themselves. But if you cut them completely in half, they will explode. Take my word for it," Lance said.
"Okay, I think we got it," Lanoll said. "Just do what he says."
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers and the Gundam pilots answered.
The pilots again turned to their individual battles. Within ten minutes, most of the Dolls had been destroyed, but not without a drastic depletion in the colony soldier's numbers. The radar beeped.
"Back up troops!" Lanoll yelled. "Let's do this. Again." He sounded tired.
"Doesn't the colony have some Mobile Dolls? Or more soldiers?" Cat asked.
"This is most of our force. No Dolls whatsoever," Lanoll replied.
"I can help change that," Ray said.
"Hand over the Gundams and their pilots, Ray, Lance, Cat, Matt, Taro, and Quro," came Commander Chang's voice over the communications system.
"No fucking way!" Lance yelled through the communications system. "You trained us, you used us, and now we're back. You will not get out of this one alive."
"Oh, and I'm supposed to be scared? Mobile Dolls, attack!"
The new troops of Mobile Dolls flew at the soldiers. The pilots battled fiercely, but to no avail. Every time one Mobile Doll would get destroyed, three more would take their place.
"Use the Firebird program!" Lance yelled.
"The what?" Matt asked.
"It's a program I installed when I built the Gundams. Remember the ZERO system that Heero Yuy used? This program is similar; it's harder to master but a lot more effective. One catch though; it's designed for Ray and I only, but we'll have to risk it. There is a button on the top left corner of the radar screen. Press it," Lance instructed without taking his mind off of his battle. "I didn't include it in the suit description because I didn't want OZ to find it."
Each of the pilots pressed the button. Instantly, each was more aware of their surroundings. The Gundams entire main screens went red. Their reaction times increased drastically, and their blows became more deadly. They lost all emotion. They had soon destroyed more than half of the suits. Lance, Ray, and the others turned on Chang, leaving the rest of the soldiers to finish the Dolls.
"Who wants him?" Cat asked, voice flat.
"Me," Ray said his voice full of hate. "You took my talent to its extremes and further. You used me. Remind me to thank you one day," he said, voice flat and emotionless. "And now you will die."
"No, I won't. You cannot defeat me. You built this suit," Chang said, then his face paled. "You know its weaknesses."
"More than you do," Ray said, shoving his beam scythe into the suit's right leg. He pulled it out, and struck again. This time, he sliced it cleanly in half. The explosion rocked his Gundam, causing Ray to fly forward, elbow hitting the left of the radar screen. The Firebird program instantly turned off. Ray regained his emotions.
"What did I do?" he whispered. The other pilots turned off their own programs.
"You killed Chang," Matt replied.
"No, he didn't. The program did," Cat argued.
"That's what I programmed it to do. To take all emotion except hate out of the battle. To feel no mercy or pain," Lance said. "And it worked."
"A little too well," Cat added.
"Come on, the battle is over. Let's go back. OZ won't bother us anytime soon," Lanoll said. All the suits turned back toward the colony. Tiger's Eye turned around to look at the Earth just before she went in. The next day, each of the pilots took their DNA tests.
Chapter XI
Consequences
"Ahhhhh!" Matt woke up screaming.
"Matt, calm down!" Cat was yelling. She and the twins had run in the room when they heard Matt screaming.
"Lance, are nightmares a side-effect of that program?" Matt asked, trying to quell the shaking in his body.
"I don't really know. It hasn't been used before this battle," Lance answered. It was three days after the last battle. Each of the pilots had woken up at least once with nightmares, all unable to remember what the nightmare was about.
"What?! Never, ever, use a program in a Mobile Suit, Doll, or Gundam without first testing it out! You never know what could happen," Matt replied. He thankfully accepted the cup of water that Ray brought him. All but his left hand had stopped shaking.
"What were you dreaming about?" Cat asked.
"I don't know. It was really fuzzy," he closed his eyes in concentration. "There were OZ soldiers. And blood."
"And a woman lying on the floor in front of you, dead," Cat finished for him. Matt looked up at her, surprised. "That program of yours opened up a part of my mind that I didn't know I had."
"I know. I'm the same way. I see things, and then they happen," Lance said, and Ray nodded.
"Ditto. Only I see the past, not the future. But there's a part of my past that's blocked off," Ray said. "But I can also do something else. Watch," he instructed, holding his hand out toward the empty water glass sitting on a table beside the bed. Energy seemed to crackle around the boy's hand, then the cup lifted about a foot off of the table. He made a quick movement with his hand and it fell to the floor with a small clank.
"I can tell what people are thinking or feeling," Matt said, holding his left hand in his right one.
"Empathic and telepathic. Those are the only two I know."
"My God! It's three in the morning! What's going on?" Lanoll asked from the doorway.
"That's what we'd like to know," Ray said. "Matt woke up, screaming. Another nightmare."
"Another? What is that supposed mean?" the black-haired man asked.
"We've each had at least one nightmare since the last battle," Matt explained. "And it's showing. Every time someone taps me, drops something, or makes a loud noise, I jump." The rest of the pilots nodded.
"Would this have anything to do with that program?" Lanoll asked.
"It might. It hasn't been tested yet," Lance replied. Lanoll looked shocked for a moment, then quickly recovered. He grinned.
"That doesn't surprise me. Your DNA tests came back."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Cat asked.
"Ray and Lance act just like their father. They are the sons of the Gundam pilot, Duo Maxwell, pilot of Deathscythe Hell," Lanoll let the news sink in. Ray and Lance looked dumbstruck. "Matt, you're descended from Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of Sandrock Kai."
"I thought so," Matt replied. This time, it was Lanoll's turn looked shocked.
"Cat, you're related to Heero Yuy, pilot of Wing Zero, his daughter to be exact," he said. Cat looked shocked, smiled, then frowned.
"But there's two pilots left. What about Wufei Chang and Trowa Barton?" she asked, careful to put Wufei's family name first.
"I don't know about Trowa Barton, but I'm related to Wufei Chang," Lanoll replied.
"I knew you looked familiar!" Lance exclaimed. "Those tests also gave our real names, didn't they?"
"Yes, but that's not what I was looking for. I was looking to see who your ancestors were."
"What about Trowa?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. Nothing showed up on the records about Trowa. Maybe his descendants are still out there."
"I'm willing to bet that it was either Quro or Taro," Lance said. "If we had a picture, we could see if either of them, or both of them, were related to Trowa."
"That's all fine and dandy, but can we find that out in the morning?" Cat asked, stretching and yawning.
"Fine by me," Lanoll said, exiting the room. The others returned to their rooms. Ray returned to his bunk last, a single crystal tear rolling down his cheek. He lay down on his stomach, face buried in his pillow.
"It's okay, Ray. You had no control over that program. It's just as much my fault as yours," Lance said.
"I know. Damn!" he slammed his hands down on his pillow, shaking the entire bunk because he was on top. "I could have mastered that program!"
"No. Heero Yuy couldn't even master the ZERO system completely. This program is much more advanced. Don't blame yourself. He deserved it," Lance reassured his brother.
"Yes, he did," came Matt's voice from the doorway.
"I agree," Cat was just behind him. "We're not gonna get any sleep at all tonight, are we?"
"Nope," Lance, Ray, and Matt said.
"I figured," she said, and sat down on the foot of Lance's bed. "Want to talk about what's going on?"
"I think you already know. I killed Commander Chang. If OZ ever does recapture us, not only are they going to charge us with deserting and treason, but for assassination as well," Ray said.
"But you've said it yourself. They can't get what they can't catch," Cat replied.
"But we're a threat to this colony! Just by being here, we're putting millions of innocent lives in danger!" Ray exclaimed.
"Freedom doesn't come cheap, bro," Lance replied. "Something has to be paid."
"But not the colony."
"They don't care. Wouldn't you rather be dead than go back under OZ's dictatorship?" Matt asked. He walked over to a laptop that was sitting on the desk in one corner of the room. Booting it up, he proceeded to type.
"What are you doing?" asked Ray from the top bunk.
"Hacking OZ's main database," he said. "Maybe we can find something."
"Oh. Here, let me help," Ray said, climbing down from the top bunk. They all crowded around Matt and watched as he skirted all of the security systems. "Bingo." Text scrolled across the screen. "This is a broadcast about six kids that were stolen," he blanched, "eighteen years ago."
"This could be about us," Lance whispered. Matt stopped the text, and scrolled down slow enough to read.
"'Today, August 15, A.C. 245, OZ soldiers searched many homes in Colony 12, searching for the Gundam pilots that were rumored to be living there. Upon searching several homes, OZ's commander Chang found the pilot's homes, along with six small children, five boys and one girl. The pilots were killed on sight, but OZ took the children in to raise them as OZ soldiers,'" Ray read out loud.
"Huh. They didn't want to kill children because they knew that they could be a valuable weapon if the Gundams reappeared," Cat said. "They should have killed us when they had the chance."
"I agree. But then we wouldn't be here today to fight," Ray said.
"Exactly. If they had killed us when they had the chance, they wouldn't have any real opposition," Cat replied.
"You've got a point there," Matt said. He shut down the computer. "I copied some of their files onto this computer. OZ won't even notice."
"Good. The last thing we need is for OZ to know that we've been snooping around on their computers," Lance said. "Now, since it's obvious we're not going to get any sleep tonight, I suggest we start building some Mobile Dolls for the colony."
"I've got my sketch pad that I designed OZ's new Dolls in. I can make a few adjustments, and we've got something to build," Ray said.
"Good. As soon as you finish that, I'll start building," Lance said.
"I'll start working now," Ray replied, grabbing his old sketchpad and his new one to redesign the Dolls for the colony. Opening to a fresh pad, he grabbed a pencil and started drawing.
"Do you think you could increase the reaction time of the Dolls?" Cat asked.
"Sure. Make them a little more aerodynamic, too," Lance replied.
"Those Dolls I built for OZ have defects. Lots of them," Ray said.
"Like what?" Matt inquired.
"Their reaction times are, by today's standards, null. This weapons will explode if the battle too long, and you can't stop them from the OZ base," Ray replied without looking up from the page.
"I noticed that. I didn't do anything about it, though," Lance said. Cat was watching Ray draw the design.
"You know a bit about Mobile Suits, don't you?" Ray asked her, breaking the silence.
"When you live around them all your life, you can't help but learn a few things," Cat replied. "I'm going to go get my notebook," she said, walking out the door.
"She's weird," Lance commented.
"I know. You get used to it," Matt replied.
"Done," Ray said, handing the design to his brother. "Give it to Lanoll it the morning."
"Will do," Lance replied, looking over the design. "I'm not putting Firebird in them. It's not designed for Dolls."
"Good. We don't want to take any chances with OZ," Cat said, walking into the room. She was carrying a chessboard and her notebook.
"What's the board for?" Ray asked.
"To keep track of OZ's attacks and our retaliation," she said, setting the board out on the desk by the computer.
"Oh, I get it. OZ is black, and the colony is white," Lance said. "Watch." He set up the board, then took six white pawns and moved four of the up two spaces. "We're the pawns. We're expendable," he said, placing the other two on the side of the board.
"OZ," Ray said, taking a black knight, "did this." He moved it up so that it was diagonally from a white pawn. "And I took it." He then moved a pawn up one space.
"It doesn't work like a regular chess game," Matt observed.
"I know. None of us follow the rules," Cat added.
"What rules? In war, there are no rules," Ray said, voice flat.
Chapter XII Just Pawns
The next day, Lance and a few of the colony's top technicians started working on the Mobile Dolls.
Lanoll approved the design and building of the suits. Matt, Ray, and Cat helped as often as they could. Each had proven themselves as pretty good engineers. They all seemed pretty lost in thought. By the end of the day, they had about ten Dolls finished and ten more in the process of being built.
"Pawns. We're just pawns, " Cat muttered under her breath.
"What?" asked the engineer she was working with.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking out loud," she replied.
"I knew the Gundams would come back one day, but I didn't think I'd live to see it," the engineer said, taking off his cap to wipe his head, revealing thinning gray hair. "I'm Logan Estes," the man said, sticking out his hand.
"Cat," she replied, shaking his hand. "I never thought I'd be one of the pilots. I knew they would come back, too."
"What's OZ like?" the man asked.
"Total control. They have total control down on Earth. And they want more power, which means that they'll have to take over the colonies," Cat replied. "Mr. Estes..."
"Please, call me Logan."
"Okay, Logan. What do you know about the original Gundam pilots?"
"There were five in all, Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Quatre Winner, and Duo Maxwell," he said. "They all fought for the colonies, but then OZ persuaded the colonies to join them, leaving nowhere for the pilots to go. OZ used the colonies as pawns, but they quickly realized how important the colonies and Gundams were right after OZ tried to destroy the earth by sending the battle ship Libra crashing to earth. But Heero Yuy blew it up before it could collide," he said.
"Thanks, Logan. That helped a lot. I grew up in an OZ base, and I never really learned anything about the original Gundam pilots," Cat said.
"Anything else?" Logan asked.
"No, not right now," she declined. "See ya."
"So, you learned a little about the Gundams, huh?" Ray asked, walking up beside her.
"Yep," she said, lost in thought. "That's it!" she exclaimed, and took off running.
"What was that about?" Lance asked, walking up beside his twin while wiping his hands on a rag.
"Beats me. I'm betting we'll find out later."
"Let's go get something to eat," Matt commented, walking up. "I'm starved. Where's Cat?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" Ray said, holding his hands up. "Cat ran up to her room about three minutes ago. Yes, we can go eat."
"Cool," Matt replied. "Cat will catch up with us later. She misses meals sometimes, especially when she runs off like you said she did."
"Fine. Let's go," Lance said, and they walked out of the hanger and down a few blocks. They found Mexican restaurant, ordered, and waited.
"What are we going to do the next time OZ attacks?" Ray asked.
"Counter-attack. That's a dumb question," Lance replied.
"No. Hear me out. They're gonna attack harder this time, and with more suits. They wiped out nearly half of the colony's soldiers last time. They are capable of wiping out the colony's entire fleet, not to mention the colony itself," Ray said.
"Good point. What are you suggesting we do?" Matt asked.
"Leave the colonies out of it," Ray said. "We need to talk to Lanoll."
"The colonies are willing to fight," the waiter said. "I'm a pilot myself."
"You are willing to risk your life for a battle you can't possibly win?" Ray asked a little too loudly.
Some of the patrons turned around to look at the group.
"Ray, calm down," Lance said. "You've got people staring at us."
"Okay, okay. But you're willing to risk your life?"
"Yes. I'm not afraid of death. Soldiers shouldn't be. Excuse me, I've got to get back to work," the waiter said, and walked away. Another waiter brought them their food. Finishing the meal in silence, they paid and walked out.
"Where to?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. You pick," Ray said.
"Hanger. I want to see what we have left on the Mobile Dolls," Lance said, sounding preoccupied.
"What's wrong?" Ray whispered to his twin as they were walking down the street. Lance hesitated for a second, and then answered.
"Bad feeling."
"I noticed," Matt said from behind them. "We're going to be attacked again, aren't we?" he asked, jogging to catch up with them. They sat down on a bench under a nearby tree. Lance leaned his head back, watching the light play through the leaves on the tree.
"Yeah. It's not going to be good. OZ will attack tomorrow. This colony is going to be blown up," he said. "We can stop it though."
"What? No freaking way are they going to get this colony!" Matt exclaimed. "Not gonna happen. Not while we're around."
"How can we stop it?" Ray asked, concern showing through his voice.
"I don't know. To OZ, the colonies just pawns in a game of war."
"We know that all too well," said Cat's voice over the intercom. "Listen, there's a way we can stop them. I located a person that was related to a man named Howard, who worked with Duo Maxwell, and he's agreed to help us."
"How is that supposed to help us stop OZ from blowing up the colony?" Matt asked.
"He's a genius of a mechanic, and he agreed to give us some tools. He didn't say exactly what, though."
"Fine. Anything to keep the colony from blowing up," Ray said. He stood up. "Let's head back to our quarters to figure out how were supposed to counter this one."
"Pawns aren't as expendable as most people think," Cat warned. The group walked back to their quarters. Cat opened her door for the group and they sat down. Lance sat on the bed, and Ray grabbed a chair from the table, turned it backwards, and sat in it. Matt sat on the floor next to the door, and Cat perched on the desk after shoving some papers onto the other side. Matt suddenly got up and left. Reappearing a moment later, he was holding the chessboard. He sat it down in the middle of the floor, and then took his position by the door.
"What are we going to do?" Ray asked, breaking the silence.
"Stop OZ," Matt said.
"Easier said them done, Matt. How?" Cat asked. She jumped off of the desk and walked to the chessboard. Sitting down on the floor beside it, she waited.
"Okay, we've taken an OZ commander, or a knight in this case. The colony is the white king, and the OZ main base is the black king," Lance said. "So now all we have to do is figure out check mate."
"Very good, Lance. Cat take that black pawn, second from the end," Cat pointed to the pawn.
"Yeah that one. Move it up one space," Matt said. Cat moved the black pawn so that it was within striking distance of two white pawns. "That's what we have to do. All we have to do now is wait for OZ to make that move."
"And for that, we have to wait until tomorrow," Ray said. "Get a good night's sleep. We're gonna need it for the battle."
"I'll never be able to sleep tonight," Matt said.
"Yes, you will. Think about it. We've got the upper hand. Better Dolls, Gundams, not to mention the entire colony behind us," Cat pointed out.
Chapter XIII
Good-bye
The next day, about noon, the alarm sounded again. The pilot's doors slammed open at once. Ray ran over to Cat's quarters. To his surprise she was already up and loading her pistol. All around them soldiers were running to the main deck.
"To the main hanger," Cat said before Ray could ask where to go. He ran quickly down to the main deck and the hangers.
"Cat!" called Ray. She stopped and turned to face him. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Try to stay calm whatever you see me do, okay? Please?" She looked at him and thought for a second, then nodded. He turned back and launched himself upward toward his Gundam. He opened the hatch and powered up his controls, he powered up the Firebird program and his Gundam's entire interior became fire orange. Cat followed his example and the hanger began to shake. Lanoll's face suddenly appeared on his screen.
"Ray, the Dolls haven't been tested yet," Ray could tell by his voice that he was nervous.
"You won't like this but there's no time like the present," he heard Lanoll's voice crack and shut off the com link before he could argue. Ray sighed. They all transformed the new Kai suits into Neo-bird mode and took off. He grabbed a pair of data sunglasses from the dash and put them on. Data shades are used during points of extreme heat or light normally but Lance had done some improving on these. Whenever the wearer activated the glasses the status of his/her Gundam, the Firebird program, video links, and other abilities of the Gundams are usable on lenses.
Lance's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Ray snap to it." Ray shook himself out of his thoughts and looked outside his Gundam. A huge fleet of Mobile Dolls that resembled the old Virgo mobile suits had assembled. The new Dolls Ray designed were being smashed left and right.
"Call the dolls Back NOW!" he screamed over the com. Lanoll replied quickly.
"What for? I thought you said they could handle it."
"I WAS WRONG!!" he screamed before slicing through one of his own dolls. Lanoll quickly replied by calling back the troops. "Call back the mobile suits too only Gundams stand a chance." Lanoll did this too. He sighed. "Now the real battle begins," Ray thought.
"Ray!" it was Cat's voice. "These dolls look like the old Virgo models," she said. He looked at them for a while then responded.
"You're right, Cat. Do a check on them, find all weak points, and check the programs," he said. All they could do was stall, the check took precious time, and time they didn't have. If anyone tried to do anything but defend, they could all be destroyed. Five power-hungry Gundams against dozens of Dolls. Only Heero Yuy and his daughter could like stakes like these. Gundams Inferno Kai, Firebolt Kai, Tiger's Eye Kai, Kai Cyclone Wing, and Bloodlust Kai were all that stood between OZ and total domination. Then he noticed something; they were too near three space colonies. If they had to self-destruct their bodies would be blown into them. They had to take that risk.
"Okay got it," came Cat's voice, "they're modified versions of the Virgo suits. Only. five of 'em aren't dolls they're Gundams!" At that moment the entire fleet of dolls pulled back. Only five Gundams and five mobile suits remained. Ray attacked first, bringing his scythe down fast and hard. The suit quickly activated a magnetic shield, and the blade couldn't do damage. Next, Cat used her Tiger claws to send a powerful beam at her opponent, but the suit quickly moved away. Matt's turn, he powered his Gundam's buster rifles and fired.
" NO!!!" Ray yelled. "No full power attacks."
Then they saw why. The suit's shield absorbed the beam then activated a beam sword lunged towards Matt's Gundam and sent the beam through the middle. Matt's Gundam stood still for a few seconds before the mobile suit created a beam so huge it engulfed the entire Gundam in energy. It became dust and a microscope could only see the only pieces of Matt left. Ray pulled his Gundam's buster rifle and destroyed the remains of Cyclone.
"No. not. again. no. more. death," Cat whispered. "NO!" she yelled.
"Remember your promise Cat," Ray mouthed to her only.
"DON'T you say my name!" she exclaimed." You. you."
"You know what we have to do to win this battle, don't you, Cat?" he interrupted.
"The only way to win is.is. self-destruction," Cat admitted sadly over the comlink. Ray nodded, but Lance replied harshly.
"You're INSANE!" he yelled.
"Can ya blame her bro?" Ray asked
"Alright, fine then. I AM INSANE! DEAL WITH IT! Lead, follow, or GET OUT OF MY WAY!" she yelled back. Ray, Cat, Lance, and Lanoll picked up the detonators.
"On my count," Ray said, " Three. Two. One. NOW!" he screamed. They hit they're detonators right after opening the escape hatches. They were propelled towards the colonies. The main gates of the colonies were open so they could get in. if they survived. Armed with only the new beam weapons Lanoll had made for them, (Ray a Beam scythe, Cat twin heat beam scythes, Lance a beam sword, and Lanoll a beam trident) and there data glasses. Ray was blasted into colony 19. He flew into the colony and closed the entry gate. He removed his mask and looked into space. He saw Lanoll flying towards this colony... he missed the gate. As he hit the side his mask shattered. His face was sucked into his skull and the rest of his body imploded from the vacuum of space. Lanoll, his newest comrade in arms was dead.
"Good-bye, old friends," Ray said to the Gundams and Lanoll.
*AUTHOR'S NOTES*
Hello everybody! This is Dragon's Fire Kai or DFK for short. I'm revising this story and adding some to Part One until next week when Phoenix Tears will take over again. This story is being thought out a lot (especially during math class) so if there's NE thing you don't understand just stick with the story and I'll try to clear it up later. My friend and I have been writing this for months now and I think it'll come to an end soon. Well gotta get back to typing now so C-ya! Send comments, suggestions, questions, and flares (not that I'll listen to them) to either dragons_fire_kai@yahoo.com or ruby05_88@yahoo.com.
Hey! This is Phoenix Tears. I'm trying to clear a few things up right now, but if I miss anything, just drop one of us a line. Constructive criticism is also welcome. I've got other stories that I'm working on solo if you ask I'll send them to ya. Thanks for sticking with us. DFK's not lying when he says this stories been through a lot. My part was mainly in my extremely boring English class. I'm sure you know how that goes. L8er!
