November 12

The Kasshu Mansion Neo-Japan Colony 5:28 PM

Silence filled the house, as Domon sat in the living room amongst his friends, all of them dressed completely in black as they had all come back from the funeral of Dr. Kasshu. Domon sat looking forlorn as Chibodee, Sai, George and Argo looked around uncomfortably.

Down the hall, Rain sat with Nastasha, Cecil, Marie-Louise, Bunny, Cath, Janet and Shirley, who had accompanied their partners to Neo-Japan. The eight women sat in complete hush; one could have heard a pin drop a mile away. Rain glanced at the wedding band on her left hand, wondering what was so urgent that Domon had to talk about that she shouldn't be hearing.

"What in the world could they be talking about in there?" Nastasha's demanding voice broken the tense silence.

"It doesn't seem as though they are talking at all," replied the young princess, "it's too quiet."

"Excuse me for a moment, please," Mrs. Kasshu said, standing up, smoothing the wrinkles out of her black dress. Her shoes clicked softly against the ground as she made her way to the kitchen.

The silence amongst the 5 men was unnerving. The soft creak of the door opening at the other end of the room sounded like the drop of a bomb.

"Pardon me, gentlemen," Rain said stepping in with a tray with a pot of coffee and 5 mugs.

"It's alright, Sis," Sai Saici replied.

Rain set the tray down on the coffee table in front of the easy chair Domon was sitting in and excused herself from the room.

Domon picked up the pot and poured the dark liquid into one of the mugs. He held it in his hands watching the steam rise into the still, chilled air of the room. His pitch black eyes gazed into the deep liquid as if staring past his own reflection trying to see to the bottom of the mug.

There was a soft thud as Chibodee sprung from his seat. "Alright! Out with it Neo-Japan! Why did you call us all out here?"

"I, myself, have been wondering the same thing," George added.

"I, too, am curious," Argo stated.

"Yeah, what's the deal, Bro?" Sai chimed in.

Domon banged the mug down on the table, "It has to do with my father's death."

"We understand that you are upset about this, Bro, but what does that have to do with us?"

"I'll show you..." he said with a monotone ring to his voice. He stood and briskly walked out of the room. The others followed him.

He made his way to his father's laboratory and broke the yellow police barrier.

"Uh... Bro? Should we be going in here?" Sai asked as he peered into the doorway.

Chibodee pushed past Sai Saici wanting to find out what was so wrong and why Domon was wasting his time this way. George followed Chibodee inside, his usually confident stride uneasy as he saw a glimpse of broken glass on the ground. Argo trailed along silently, his stern face was emotionless looking at the slight wreckage. Sai Saici growled. "Don't leave me out here!" he said as he scampered to keep up.

Domon stopped in the main area of the laboratory where police teams had already began searching the area for clues. Prime Minister Karato was already there. "Domon, the police have uncovered this..." he said handing Domon a neatly folded piece of paper. Domon's eyes scanned the paper and dismissed Karato.

George peered around the wreckage, "Monsieur Domon, what caused all of this?"

"This is the reason I called the four of you here..." Domon began, "this wasn't merely murder; someone was after something here. My father was intrigued with the idea of immortality, hence the ability to self-recover in the Ultimate Gundam. Recently he was working on an immortality serum, word must have gotten out. The only reports we heard of where that at 11:50 PM on November 10, a ship was seen heading in the direction of Europe on Earth departing not far from here."

"If that falls into the wrong hands, there could be serious trouble!" Chibodee shouted.

"Do you know the identity of the knave who committed this deed?" George inquired; his melodic voice had a serious tone.

"Yes, we must find this person before it's too late, however with the Gundam fight so quickly approaching it may be a hard task," Argo mentioned.

"We could use that to our advantage," Sai piped up, "We could travel the Earth and with the 5 of us searching it would be easier than just one of us..."

The other 4 nodded and the plans were set, they agreed that they would use the Gundam fight as an excuse to track down the person who stole the serum and Dr. Kasshu's notebooks.

NEXT CHAPTER: The Gundam fight begins; Allenby doesn't listen to the warning she was given, and descends to Earth. However, shortly after she falls into the hands of the thieves, two familiar faces with dangerous ambitions.