Behold! The next part of my Gundam Wing story: The Search Continues.
All disclaimers hold as before. Quick recap (or if you didn't follow the first time): Five mysterious Gundam pilots (Catana, Jetta, Kaylynn, Li and Lita) have been searching for the original group (Duo, Heero, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei). They find Duo in a school on a colony, but the others are already gone and he doesn't know where. After staging the rescue of Jetta from the in school suspension, they split up and are now continuing their search. Duo and Kaylynn are together, Lita and Catana are together and Li is with Jetta. This is the story of Duo and Kaylynn and their findings. Oh yes, a brief but important warning. Beware Kaylynn's excuse for Li and Jetta's companionship. Don't be mad at me D.O.S. It was a thought I had that I needed to get out of my head. So…you have been warned.
Duo and Kaylynn's crafts were sized just right so that she could actually land hers inside of his ship. The two of them were sitting in the cockpit, talking. Kaylynn was enthusiastically telling him about her companions. "Catana is just a kid who learned to pilot a Gundam out of necessity when her colony was being attacked," She explained, "She was confronted about it later and became a pilot. I met her when you all came to Earth. I was already there. I'm Treize Kushrenada's daughter you know. I hate my father. We'll probably kill him eventually. All he's good for is getting stuff and power. Lita's one of those soldier-since-birth types. She became an orphan and had to learn early on how to stay alive. She has a talent for survival. She's stronger then the rest of us in an emotional and physical sense. I met her during one of my father's visits to the colonies several years ago. She's one of my best friends. Li I met when he came to Earth. He was a war orphan too. I don't really know that much about him on a personal level. He's kind of closed if you haven't noticed. But he's a real good friend to have. He knows a lot about computers. That's why he gets the laptop. Jetta has a sad story. Jetta's dad was a political leader and her mom was a reverend's daughter. Her dad, her mom, her two little brothers and her dog were killed when she was thirteen, execution style, and right in front of her. That didn't make her real happy. So she took a Gundam and started a revenge strike. She finally came to Earth and gave up. She went to Earth three years before everyone else. That's when I met her. She was a real wreck. She was torn between keeping up her killing spree and just breaking down and begging God for forgiveness. She did the forgiveness thing. She's real religious. You have to be careful what you do and say around her. She can get scary" Duo listened intently. He never met anyone who could keep talking tirelessly for as long as she could, aside from himself. He was scared to ask too many questions, but one kept leaping around on the tip of his tongue. "What's the deal with Li and Jetta?" he asked when she had finished talking, "Are they a couple or something? I mean they're always together and he seemed really put out when she went missing" Kaylynn almost died thinking of what faces Jetta and Li would have made to that question. "No," she said, "Their not a couple. Their just that way because he's seen her with her clothes off" Duo did a double take. Kaylynn just laughed at the look of shock on his face. She could tell that was the last thing he'd been expecting. "Well not all of her clothes. That's how they met," she explained, "Li was hospitalized for awhile a few years ago. It was the same time Jetta's family was murdered. They had attempted to kill her too, but they didn't. She was put in the same hospital. She didn't want to be or stay there. So she tried to escape. After threatening several people, she found her clothes and her trusty handgun. She ducked into a room to avoid security. There was no one in there so she tried to put on her clothes. She had her bra on and as she was pulling up her underwear, back end to the door of course, when the person occupying the room came back. He saw her butt and bra-ed-ness and freaked. She grabbed a blanket and finished changing behind it. He was too in shock to do anything. When he could speak again he agreed to let her hide in his room until things calmed down. They talked and became pretty good friends. She even stayed longer then she thought she would. When they met up on Earth, they were pretty happy to see each other" Duo nodded. He had had suspicions before, but now he was convinced that this group was insane. He liked that. They saw the colony they had been heading for. Kaylynn had been chatting the whole way, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed her company. They landed on the colony. "So everything should be set up for us at the school right?" he asked. She nodded confidently. It was still early in the day so they walked into the school. It was just a day school so they left their stuff in the ship. They found the main office. As planned, they were expected. They were posing as the Maxwell twins. They kinda looked alike if you were upside down and squinting really hard. But then again not all twins look alike. The clerk handed them schedules. Luckily they were identical, they had all the same classes. A staff member was paged to give them a quick tour. They peered inside all the classrooms they could see into, but with no luck. There was only one high school on the colony, if they were on this colony, they'd be here. When they were taken to the class they were supposed to be attending, Duo saw Heero in a different room. The two of them were ushered in and introduced. Before the lesson was resumed, Duo asked if he could go to the bathroom. "Kind of a long trip, you know?" he said. He was excused and he went out into the hall. He found Heero's room and stood just outside the door. He had to start making motions to get Heero's attention. Some other kids noticed him too. He mouthed to Heero to meet him in front of the building after school. When Heero understood, he went back to his room and sat down next to Kaylynn. He whispered the plan to her and they turned their attention to the class, well…at least Duo did.
After school Heero walked out and looked around for Duo. He found him standing next to the flagpole with a strange girl. "What are you doing here," Heero asked. Duo smiled at him. By now he was used to the pessimistic attitude Heero had. "I want you to meet someone," Duo said, "This is Kaylynn" He leaned toward Heero's ear and whispered, "A Gundam pilot" Heero's eyes got wide for a second. He looked at the both of them like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why haven't we heard of another Gundam then?" Heero asked quietly. Duo gave him a look. "Not an-other," he said, "Five others. We only make up half the team. They've been fighting too. They've just been more secretive about it. They're an interesting group if you hear some of their stories" He thought about the events in Li's hospital room and couldn't help but smile again. Heero cocked his eyebrows. "We should go somewhere more secret," he said, "Anyone could hear us out here" They agreed and followed him to an abandoned house, where he had taken up residence. They all sat on the floor and said hardly anything. Kaylynn almost burst. She thrived on speech. "So," she started, "How are we gonna get everyone together?" Heero looked at her as if the breaking of the silence had wounded him somehow. "I suppose if we radioed your friends we could have them all come here when they've found everyone," Duo suggested. Kaylynn agreed. It made sense and she wasn't really up to trying to form her own plan. They decided to go back to her craft and radio from there.
After reporting finding Heero to the others and giving them a rendezvous point, the three of them returned to the house to wait for Saturday morning to come. They had dragged some food back with them and were now eating, Duo and Kaylynn enthusiastically and happily, Heero not so much. Kaylynn was appalled by Heero's silence and was desperately trying to get him to say something besides 'Hm'. She pointed her fork at him. "Say catsup," she demanded. Heero replied with, "Hm" Kaylynn repeated herself.
"Catsup!"
"Hm"
"Catsup!"
"Hm"
"Say catsup, damn it!"
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," he said and continued eating.
"That's not catsup!" she shrieked.
"Hey," Duo said, smiling broadly, "At least he didn't say 'Hm' right?" Kaylynn smiled in recognition.
"Yeah!" she laughed, pointing an accusing finger at Heero, "You spoke!" He replied with a simple 'Hm', which thoroughly pissed off Kaylynn. She was silent for a while as she ate. After dinner they cleared away their mess and were sitting in a circle again. Darkness was falling outside. Duo and Kaylynn were having a lively conversation about Heero's grumpiness. Heero charged forward after Duo and pointed his pistol at him. "Do you ever shut up or will I have to shut you up?" he growled. Duo shoved him back a little ways.
"Will you lay off," Duo snapped, "This is what we're talkin' about. You can't take a joke"
"I'll show you a joke," Heero snarled, cocking his gun.
"Will you two knock it off," Kaylynn yelled. She pointed at Duo. "Let's stop talking about him then," she said, and then rounded on Heero, "And will you just say catsup!" Heero put his gun away and sat back down while Duo chuckled softly. "I can already tell that this is gonna be loads of fun," he said.
"Oh," said Kaylynn sarcastically, "Oodles! I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up till you have to" She walked out of the living room and found a study that still had a busted couch in it. She unrolled a blanket she'd brought from her ship and settled in
She woke up on her own mid morning of the next day. She wasn't sure where the guys would have slept so she just started looking around the house. She was horrified to find the house deserted aside from herself. "I'm…all alone," she whimpered, then started to bawl. She quite quit crying when she heard a buzzing sound. She answered her videophone. It was one of Treize's cronies. "Miss Kushrenada," he addressed her, "Your father wishes that you return home. He is leaving to a meeting on a colony and he wishes you to be back before his departure" Kaylynn glared at the screen. "Tell my father, that I'll come home when I'm ready!" she screamed, "I'm in the middle of some important business! I don't interrupt him when he's off on his little trips! And you know what? Don't ever call me again! I don't like you! I don't like your attitude! I don't like your voice and I don't like your face! So next time I need to be contacted, have someone else do it, cause I'll get sick and puke all over if I ever see you again!" She maintained her screaming until she had finished and jabbed the disconnect button and snapped the phone shut. When she lowered it she came face to face with the blank and blinking faces of Duo and Heero. They had walked in on the end of her conversation. "What?!" she asked cheerfully. They each had a bag of groceries in their hand. When Kaylynn saw this she dove for Duo's bag. "What'd you get? I'm starving," she snapped. The two stayed still as she rummaged through the bag. "Hey Heero," she said distantly, "You didn't kill some old person for this stuff did you?" She got no response but silence. Kaylynn stopped and held up a box and looked at all sides of the package. "Speaking of old peoples' food," she said shaking it, "Just what the heck is this supposed to be? Rabbit food? Fish food? …Kibble?" Duo moved forward when she ripped open the package and began to rummage through its contents. He knelt down next to her and asked her to give him the box in a very parent-to-small-child voice. She hugged the box to her and in an overly juvenile voice said no. Heero rolled his eyes and walked past them, reaching over and snatching the box from her as he went. She started crying and chucked her shoe at him. He ducked into the kitchen as the shoe flew past him. After a while, Duo's coddling had an effect and she stopped screaming and just had tears rolling down her cheeks. Then he took a chance and left her alone while he went to get her some food. Heero was busy with his own meal when he got in the kitchen. "You didn't have to take it from her like that, you know," Duo said to him. Heero looked at him and swallowed what he was chewing. "She's not a baby," he said, "You can't treat her like she is one" Duo had his back turned and was mocking Heero silently as he put food on a plate. He left the room with, "You don't have to be so mean though" as his last comment. Heero sighed. It was going to be a long, long war.
Several days later they received a message on Kaylynn's videophone. It was Catana. They had found two of the other pilots, but Lita had been shot. She wasn't in any danger of losing her life, but they would not be able to travel for a few days. They had to go to them. So they phoned Li and Jetta. "This is the second colony we've been to in the last week," Li said. His speech was stabbed by occasional static that told Kaylynn that they were on a colony quite distant from them. "We haven't seen any sign of them" Li stated. Kaylynn filled him in that there was only one left to be found. Trowa Barton. Li confirmed his understanding and said that if they didn't find anyone on the colony they had just arrived at, that they would meet the others on the colony Lita and Catana had started on and start over from there. After getting everything sorted out, Kaylynn shut off the phone and the three of them packed up. When they left it was as if they had never been there. Heero went back to his ship and Kaylynn and Duo got into Duo's. They met up in orbit and took off for the colony. The trip would most likely take two days. Heero was just glad he didn't have to spend those two days with Kaylynn. Kaylynn and Duo, however, were happy as clams in their own weird little way.
Alrighty then. This is the end of the chapter. I hope you have enjoyed it thus far. And soon you will get the story on Lita being shot. Get the story? I sound like an anchorperson. Oh well. The point is that this and the next chapter take place at the same time and the ends meet up at the beginning of the chapter after the next one. Never mind. You'll get it when you get there. Don't forget to review.