(Author's Note: The Tarantula makes its appearance in this chapter, and by goodness, it's evil. Sorry, but one of the 08th MS Team becomes one of its victims in its violent rampage. I'll let you find out who it is... by the way, Keith gets one of the best lines in the story in this chapter. -^^-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Southeast Asia, our heroes have met up with the Kojima Battalion and agree to aid them if in return Kojima provides them with crew for the Speranza.
However, despite finding new allies, their mission still seems difficult...
_____________________________________________________________
Both Federation and Zeon forces stood, just outside Kojima Base.
"Alright, I got you your information. Any other way our forces can aid you?" Langley said from the cockpit of his Dom.
Keith smiled within the Lunar Titanium shell of his Gundam. "Sure... look after the base for us. Hopefully we'll be back."
"I doubt it, that damn Tarantula is one monster of a machine. We tried destroying it ourselves when we deserted, and we barely did any damage to the thing." Langley said sadly. "Good luck, anyhow."
"Alright. Shiro, call Kojima and tell him about the guys coming to protect the base. Let's move, people!" Keith yelled.
All at once, the massed Federation units of tanks, hover vehicles and even mobile suits began their trek west.
_____________________________________________________________________________
As the huge squads of mobile suits moved into the jungle, Keith and the rest of the mobile suit forces stopped. Around seventy Hover Trucks moved forward and found places to dig their sonar scanners into the ground. It was the only reliable way of locating mobile suits, as the emergence of transmission-jamming Minovsky particles had rendered most radar systems useless.
"We're doing great here! Let's just hope there's very few Zeon troops around here so we can get closer without too much hassle." James said over the comm.
"Even if there are, we probably outnumber and outpower them. Plus the jungle provides excellent cover, so they won't be able to find us so easily." Tiff replied from her borrowed Zaku Commander-type.
"That's fine for tanks and hovercrafts, but what if the Zeons have sonar too?" Keith wondered.
"Our MS have more power, from what I've seen... which admittedly, isn't much.." Michel said slightly apologetically.
Keith noticed Michel's tone. "Kid, I don't blame you for staying out of a mobile suit.
The stuff I've seen and done in one of those things.... well, it shocks me even today."
"Then why did you give me the controls of your buddy's old Gundam?"
Keith sighed. "Whether you like it or not, you need some proper experience with these things. It seems we need all the help we can get now, and I think you were the best choice. Besides, the only other one was Eledore and no way would I let him take the controls of a Mobile Suit." he answered, with a grin on his face.
"Hey, I heard that!" came Eledore's mock-angry voice over the comm, and the whole of the 08th MS Team burst into laughter, as of course they knew Eledore didn't want a mobile suit anyway. Eventually, this was drowned out by the slightly nervous laughter of the rest of the Federal troops.
Suddenly, one of the sonar crew had found something which cut the laughter short.
"We've got something.. 23 degrees west... four mobile suits... no, eight..." said one of the crewmen over the comm.
"Right. Let's make 'em our first kills. Move in and engage!"
__________________________________________________________________
Federation mobile suits swarmed through the jungle to attack the enemy.
The Zeonic mobile suits, mostly Zakus, put up a fight but were rapidly overwhelmed by the attacking enemies.
Keith was the first to enter combat, quickly slicing a Zaku in two and shooting another with his beam rifle. After those two kills he quickly backed off, staying around Michel's Ground Gundam.
Bullets filled the jungle, and almost all the pilots could hear was the sound of gunfire.
Evidently there had been some reinforcements sent in.
Keith sighed. "Alright, let's keep going. Destroy the enemy as we go!"
At once, the Federal forces began moving through the jungle. However, there had been casualties on both sides, not just the Zeons'.
Two Type-61 tanks had been destroyed, and three GM Ground Types had been slightly damaged.
Still, the Federal machines and their pilots pressed on, with the occasional sound of gunfire as a stray Zaku or other mobile suit was found and taken care of.
"Where the hell is the enemy?" Tiff wondered.
But after a while they advanced further, with little or no opposition to them.
"Eh.. why're you hanging around me?" Michel asked, after switching his commu systems to hail just the Gundam.
"...sorry.." Keith muttered, his face slightly reddening.
Afterwards, he moved towards the front of the marching MS.
As they neared the mountain, a huge, low rumbling noise was heard.
Suddenly, a quartet of Doms dashed past, firing a spread of bazooka shells. One by one, they hit Lunar Titanium armour and exploded.
As a group of GM Ground types and even some Ground Gundams fell, Keith leapt after the now-fleeing Doms. Gritting his teeth, he repeatedly pumped the firing trigger.
One after the other, the beams found their mark, pierced the Doms' heavy armour and blew them apart.
__________________________________________________________
"Did you see that?!" Tiff yelled. To them, the Gundam had moved far quicker than it should, aiming its weapon and repeatedly firing, turning some of the best ground-combat mobile suits ever into so much tattered scrap.
Over the comm, she could hear Keith's triumphant scream of "Who else wants some?!" Is this guy a Newtype? He's certainly fast enough to be.. she thought to herself.
Only one Dom was left. It turned, tossed its bazooka aside, and with its mono-eye blazing, drew its heat sabre.
"Go, I'll deal with this guy!" Keith yelled into the comm, as the Gundam dropped its beam rifle and reached for its beam sabre.
"What? No, we can't leave you!" Tiff replied, her voice tinged with fright.
"I said go! I think I can beat him! I'll catch up later!"
Tiff considered arguing further, but decided against it. There's a good chance he'll win, so why am I worrying?
Still, that didn't erase her fears. "Alright, you heard him. Continue advance!" she said, just as the Dom moved forward, swiping at the Gundam with its heat sabre.
The Gundam leapt back, finally pulling its beam sabre from its backpack and hurriedly igniting it. "Alright, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Keith growled, and he lunged.
The Dom quickly parried his attack, and retreated a little way. Keith moved the controls, and the Gundam leapt forward, its beam sabre in a downward slash.
The Dom was fast, but not fast enough. Its left arm had been sliced off, but it countered with a quick swing of its sabre.
Keith desperately yanked the left arm controls, and the Gundam's shield swung around, blocking the attack though part of it melted a little in the process.
"Take THIS!" screamed Keith as he swung again with the beam sabre. The Dom had no other arm to defend itself with, and Keith's blow hit and sliced a huge hole in its side while it was trying to pull its heat sabre from the Gundam's shield.
The Dom fell to the ground and something inside it exploded, its heat sabre still stuck.
Smoke unfurled from gaps in its armour, and Keith replaced his beam sabre and literally ripped the heat sabre from his now-cooling shield.
He sighed. Like the older tanks, internal fires were the death of many mobile suit pilots. "Coulda' chosen a better way to go, man..." he muttered, as he picked up the beam rifle and hurried to rejoin his comrades...
___________________________________________________________________
As the Gundam rushed to catch up with the rest of the force, Tiff noticed a very large, light green shape moving at speed towards them. "...the hell?" she wondered.
All of a sudden, there was a cry of, "That's it! Attack!" over the comm, and as one the Federal mobile suits began a frenzied barrage with whatever long-range weapons they had to hand.
This did next to nothing on the rapidly-approaching shape, and it responded by firing a huge burst of energy.
Over half of the remaining GM Ground Types were hit and seemed to evaporate in the spreading magenta glare of the mega particle cannon, and a series of explosions were heard.
"Evasive maneuvers!" screamed Shiro, as the horror bore down upon the survivors.
As the remaining units scattered, it screeched to a halt.
It was a titanic, terrible machine, with five machine gun turrets in each side of its body.
The huge mega-particle cannon was stored in its "head", and above it a large, malevolent mono-eye gazed at the Federal forces with a look almost like contempt.
As they watched in horror, the six "prongs" on the sides of its body unfolded and stretched, as sets of tank tracks retracted into them, it rose to its feet.
"The Tarantula..." whispered Eledore in awe.
All of a sudden, its machine guns opened fire, filling the area with lead.
Karen's "GM-Headed" Ground Gundam was noticeable among those running from this metal monster.
But the Tarantula had noticed her too. With one of its spider-like legs it slammed her into the ground.
"Karen! No!" yelled Eledore, as he frantically pulled at the "Fire" trigger on his Fanfan.
Missiles smashed into the huge bulk of the Tarantula, but it seemed to shrug off the assault with barely a scratch. It almost lazily returned fire, with a single missile that slammed into the Fanfan's left hover-engine, forcing it to land.
Helplessly, Eledore watched as the Tarantula lifted its leg off Karen, and began charging its mega-particle cannon again.
Suddenly, it flipped Karen's damaged Gundam into the air with a kick, and almost in slow motion, Eledore heard her scream, just as it fired its mega-particle cannon.
Again, the huge beam of magenta death melted through a mobile suit, and Eledore screamed, "NO!" as the Gundam exploded in a large fireball.
Almost immediately, he slumped back into his cockpit sobbing.
Insane laughter echoed through the comlink, as whatever madman was inside the steel shell of the Tarantula gloated.
Just then, Keith finally charged through the jungle.
A familiar voice boomed at him from the Tarantula, "Gundam?! I thought Jaburo finished you... I'll remedy that!"
Keith scowled and yelled back, "Sceers, you were behind it?!"
Sceers laughed. "Keith?...Of course I was. I thought you were dead too.. have you allied yourself with these narrow-minded dregs of the Federation?"
"It's better than fighting alongside madmen like you!"
"Oh, is it?!" Sceers screamed in anger. "Well, I'll show you just how much damage a 'madman' can do!"
Missile pods slid out from the underside of the Tarantula and fired a spread of small missiles, but Keith knew something like this was coming and had hit the thrusters.
As a result, the Gundam leapt into the sky with the missiles closely following.
It then turned around in mid-air and just seemed to look at the missiles heading towards it.
Now what do I do? I heard Gundam has some anti-aircraft or defensive weapon...Keith wondered. Then he made a decision, stabbed a button, and to his surprise the twin vulcan guns in the Gundam's head fired. One by one, the missiles were hit by the spray of bullets and split apart, exploding as they did so. The Gundam dropped to earth, but with some maneuvering landed right on top of the Tarantula.
"What the hell...?" growled Sceers. Keith drew his beam sabre again, and began slicing into the heavy, thick armour.
The Tarantula flailed in an attempt to force the Gundam off its back. Though it slid, its attacker clung on to part of the Tarantula's body with one metal hand, stabbing and slowly melting the thick armour with the beam sabre in its other.
Keith gritted his teeth. "You're not gonna get away with killing my friends!" he screamed, and the Gundam used its arm to heave itself forward with a huge burst of speed.
As Keith landed, he stabbed downwards and by a sheer stroke of luck the beam sabre pierced the Tarantula's armour and plunged right down into the reactor.
Sceers yelled, and instantly the Tarantula exploded in a ball of flame even larger than its hulking form, the Gundam sent flying by the blast.
With a smash and a skid, the Gundam landed onto the muddy and wet ground. Keith felt incredibly dizzy from the force of the blast, and as a result the Gundam seemed slightly shaky as it got up again.
"Well, that's that," he said, just before losing consiousness in the cockpit.
_________________________________________________________________
When Keith awoke, he found himself still in the Gundam. It was lying on its back and seemed to be moving horizontally.
Opening the cockpit, he climbed out. Standing on the Gundam's slightly scorched chest, he saw that the mobile suit was lying on a Federal truck in part of a convoy moving along a mountain road.
The wrecked Fanfan was on a truck in front, with several damaged GMs behind.
Grinning madly, Keith hopped back into the Gundam and began reactivating it.
He laughed to himself as the Gundam staggered to its feet, snapping the cables securing it to the truck and probably scaring the pants off the guy driving it.
Keith moved the controls, making the Gundam leap from the truck.
It landed heavily on the slope of the mountains, and with a little more movement it began picking up speed, sliding downwards.
Such a shame I can't use the shield as a 'board, Keith thought with a chuckle.
From this height, he saw what appeared to be a small fire in the rapidly-darkening gloom... and something near it gleaming. Is that them?
"Only one way to find out!" he yelled aloud, hitting the thrusters and plummeting the rest of the way.
As the Gundam neared the fire - which was definitely bigger than expected, obviously mobile suits had been used to gather timber for it -, Keith recognised the now slightly-dirtied silver of his old Zaku.
Gratefully, he spurred the Gundam to a halt, causing gouges in the turf.
In the light of the fire, he saw what seemed to be a celebration by both Federal and Zeonic troops.
Mobile suits of both sides lay around the edge of the huge campfire, and there were only a few tents around.
As the revellers noticed Keith and the Gundam's arrival, a huge, slightly rowdy cheer arose from the camp.
Moving the Gundam into a sitting position and climbing out, Keith was met by a massive crowd of his fellow troops, with most of the 08th MS Team, Tiff and James standing right in front of him.
"Brilliant! How on Earth did you do it?" shrieked Tiff, her face aglow with joy.
"By all the gods, that was incredible! You took out the Tarantula alone and you didn't even get a scratch! I saw you do it!" grinned James.
"You're friendly all of a sudden!" Keith laughed, playfully nudging James. "It was mostly luck, I had no clue the Gundam's vulcan guns could do that..." he confessed, a wide grin on his face.
"Designed for it? Man, they were MADE for that sort of thing! That, and teaching the Magellas who's boss!" James chuckled. "C'mon, luck or not, you're owed a drink!"
As Keith was good-naturedly yanked off to join the festivities, he couldn't help noticing the quiet sound of crying from somewhere outside the circle of firelight.
Despite victory, there were still those who had lost friends and loved ones.
__________________________________________________________________
"Anyhow, what happened after I destroyed the Tarantula?" Keith asked over a glass of ginger beer.
Even with victory assured for now, he really didn't like the idea of drinking. They'd probably be leaving for Luna II soon, and the utmost concentration would be needed.
"Well, we just kept on going. The Zeons mostly gave up after the Tarantula was destroyed, I guess they were too shocked to fight back.Then Langley ended up calling them..." James said, smirking.
"After a bit of a talk most of 'em ended up joining our side!" he laughed. Keith could smell alcohol on his breath.
"Oh, did Langley tell you how the base's doing?" Keith wryly wondered how Kojima would cope with a gang of ex-Zeon soldiers patrolling the base.
"Believe it or not, they HAVEN'T been at each other's throats. The guys at the base actually said we can leave tomorrow!" Tiff smiled.
"Really?! That's excellent news!" Keith exclaimed, almost leaping from his seat. "We head back to base tomorrow morning, yes?"
"Sure.... but who'll help man it?" asked Tiff.
At once, a swarm of Federal soldiers crowded around the three, like children eager to be chosen. Keith coughed, and stood up.
"You think you're good enough to fight with us, or are you just aching for a change in the old routine?
'Cause if you're going to come along, you'd better be the best. If we fail, the Federation is doomed. And I bet if the enemy get one sniff of what we're doing, they'll either send the creme de la creme of all MS pilots after us, or nuke Luna II.
That's what you're pledging to face if you come with us. Either Mobile Suit pilots capable of mass-murder without batting an eyelid, or the mother of all weapons. Still wanna come with us?"
At this dramatic speech, nearly all the Federal military stood aghast,
shocked at these bleak prospects, before returning to their earlier merrymaking with an odd quietness about them.
Only the surviving members of the 08th and a handful of others still stood in front of the trio. Keith's idea had worked: with any luck, these would be the right people.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eh, gloom-inducing speech, but it's true. The war's coming down to the wire now, and just about anything's possible. Anyhow, audience, reviewers, everyone else, I give you this chapter with a Merry Christmas, and I swear I'll try and do the next chapter as quick as possible after the festivities (I'll be so busy during then!)! -^^-;;;