WyvernGold: Chapter 2

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"How is she?" Neuill stood over Dei's hospital bed.

"She's lost a lot of blood, and it won't stop. Her hand was severed, and we reattached it, but the blood's leaking through the sutures. We've cut off circulation to that arm, but we can't keep it like that." A doctor motioned to a primitive looking dialysis machine cleansing the blood coming out of her wrist and sending it back. "She's also suffered another heart attack. If it complicates further, we'll amputate."

"See that it doesn't get that far. She's the only one who can operate that Guymelef, and she needs both hands to do it."

"You realize that if she does lose her hand, she could simply receive a mechanical one."

"Which would take weeks to learn to control, and her accuracy would go down dramatically."

"But it's going to be a long while before she regains the use of her hand, if she ever gets the feeling back in it."

"NO… IT… WON'T."

"Understood." The doctor sighed.

"Wake her up."

The doctor didn't even bother looking up from the charts. "I won't. She needs rest, and she'll probably fall into shock with too much stress."

A mechanic ran into the tent. "Sir, WyvernGold's left arm has been repaired."

"Good, good! Hear that, Lieutenant? Get your lazy tail outta bed."

"What the heck do you think you're doing? She can't even hear you!! I- Oh my God…"

The doctor watched with his jaw hanging open as Dei regained consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, fixed on Neuill, and her mouth formed into an evil grin.

"Such a nice nap too. My chest still hurts. Tell them that there's something wrong with the engines."

"You heard the girl! Get to it!" Neuill barked and the mechanic was gone as quickly as he came.

"I don't understand…"

"Yspano and Mystic Moon technology."

Dei held up her hand and inspected it. It started broken and bloody, a pale brown-gray instead of the usual chocolate. Her wrist shifted and reset. As soon as she pulled off the tourniquet, her natural skin color came back. The sutures and dialysis machines were unlaced and removed without any problems. Dei flexed her hand and made a complex gesture in the air.

"I'm ready, sir."

"You set off in an hour."

"BUT-" the doctor could only point at Dei.

"You see she's well. You're a doctor, not a mom."

"In all due respect, sir. Quit being an ass. His job is to look out for my well being. I was lying here about to die 10 minutes ago. You could've at least told him how the Yspano technology worked. He was about to cut off my freaking arm."

"Just because I need you doesn't mean I have to put up with your mouth." He slapped her. "Get dressed. It's been cut to half an hour."

"It will take 3 hours for them to repair the engine."

"You remember the ancient scrolls."

"But I cannot self heal. The 'Melef only tells me what is wrong. Obviously YOU didn't read the scrolls or you'd know that." Dei narrowed her eyes.

"Then why didn't you ignore it and keep fighting?"

"I blacked out. I only remember a blast and waking up here."

"Well then the Melef knows more than you think it does, because it came back here and spit you out." Neuill chuckled under his breath. There was also the matter of his sick since of humor.

"Either way, I can't undo a heart attack."

"Fine. 6 hours. But you know how hard it is to fight those advanced Melefs."

"There's nothing I can do about that."

"I could stuff you in one of the working ones and have you fight them now and throw you back up there when it's repaired." He grinned.

"Like WyvernGold would permit that. Remember the others?"

"Grrr… You get off lucky, Lieutenant."

"Not that lucky, you insensitive pri–"

A Melef regiment returning interrupted her thoughts, the team of giant robots sounding like a metal stampede. Remembering the division of assignments earlier that week, Dei knew exactly who was coming back, and who wasn't. She leapt out of her bed and met the pilots outside.

"How much success?" She shouted up to the largest armor, a black one with a silver cape flowing behind it.

"I think the Mystic Moon is insulting us with the garbage they send here! All you have to do is throw the Melefs into each other and they explode! We took down 20 that way!" A woman several years older than Dei leapt out of the Guymelef and hugged her.

A Melef that looked like a gory skeleton spoke up. "Another interesting thing is that most of those Melefs didn't even have pilots! We happened to grab one that had simply stopped moving. When we opened 'er up, there was no one inside! Just a bunch of glass screens flashing!" The skeleton's pilot jumped down and stretched out. He was a few years younger than Dei, but almost two feet taller and had darker skin.

"Fras! Resia! I'm glad you had better luck than I did." Dei laughed sheepishly and gripped her wrist.

"I was just going to ask you why you were back here so early. The Melefs arriving through the gate are that easy to demolish?" Fras came up beside Dei and put his elbow on her shoulder.

"Not exactly. The Dragon came back here of its own free will and spit me out like a broken doll it didn't want anymore. As soon as it's finished with repairs I have to go back."

Resia quieted her voice. "Why does that fool Neuill insist on keeping that cursed piece of junk? He even fused it with the Yspano technology. I'm surprised the thing even works. I thought it didn't after it killed the first five soldiers."

"Well we can't get rid of it now. It insists on keeping me as its pilot. Can't destroy it or I go too. Yspano rules." Dei's eyes were fixed on the ground.

"…. Well, I don't know about you two, but I cannot fight on an empty stomach! Who wants lunch?" Fras tried desperately to lighten up the mood. He hated it when Dei turned quiet. It usually meant there was deep trouble ahead.

"I'm sorry, Fras. Come on. I'll tell you what I learned about these strange Melefs and WyvernGold."

"Is that what you call it now?" Resia raised her eyebrow.

"That's who it tells me it is."

"Now it's a who? It's not alive!" Fras laughed.

"I'll explain over the food." Dei rolled her eyes and led them to the middle of the camp.

~~~~~*~~~~~

Kai Tyson and Jeremy Or stood in Colonel Willis's office. They had been flown in immediately for the assignment, and filled in before they got there.

"Sir, how exactly will we get through the Mystic Gate without being detected? The Gaeans keep watch over the area now, and anyone who crosses through immediately disappears." Kai read more of her folder.

"Here's how it works. We have the base suit, the DragonSilver Gundam. To get you through the Gate, we modified it to look like a Gaean mobile suit. Major Or, you will have Major Tyson as your captive. When you get to Gaea, you'll travel until you get to the South Continent. That's where the shuttle carrying the mobile armor was last seen. Their armies probably have it stored. Once you find it, take it back and return here. Even with the modifications, the armor can still merge with the base suit, assuming it hasn't been modified. Then all you have to do is get back here. No side missions, no unnecessary sabotage, no unnecessary kills. That goes double for you, Tyson. Got it?"

"Understood sir. When do we leave?" Kai asked.

"We've set the mission to start immediately. Our day and evening seem to be the same, so the only thing we have in our favor is the ability to transport between the worlds. With it being dawn, it should be near impossible to see you."

"Yes sir." Kai and Jeremy saluted. They exited and headed for the base's West Hangar.

"Something is seriously wrong with this mission... I feel it." Jeremy hissed under his breath.

"I know. .... How come I have to be the hostage? I think you should be the hostage. It'd be more believable that I could kick your butt." Kai shook her head.

Jeremy looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Jeez, try to lighten the mood..."

"I just want to go in, get the suit, and get out. Once the mission is over, I want to get as far away from this as possible."

"What in the world are you talking about...?" Kai's eyes narrowed at the foreboding tone in his voice.

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Not much to say at the end of this one. I really wish you people would review my stories. Are they really that bad? Or maybe I should move it to an area with higher traffic.... *sigh* Just do me a favor and tell me what you think...