Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
The DarkTower:
Anime's Unite
Chapter 11: The Western Group
The Wizard
Johan had arrived back at the Preventer Ship Relativity with the wagon-train of the Shuffle Alliance's Core Landers behind him. He wondered about the voices of Julia and Leto coming through the Com and how it was that they got there. Did they stow away? Nah, Johan thought, they know better than that, plus how did they know that we were leaving in the first place?
On the other hand they were growing up rather fast as children normally do and they had become Gundam pilots…pilots, Johan thought deeply. Lady Une was the one who ordered that the Preventer Teens Gundams be brought along; did she bring them along as well? No, for what possible reason?
Up ahead was the Great Tree with the Relativity next to it, its thick landing pads down and the mobile suit bay door open. Johan came up the mobile suit bay ramp and parked right next to his Gundam and headed straight for the bridge with the Shuffle Alliance and their families behind him. They followed Johan passed each deck of the relativity until they came to the bridge, which wasn't a cramped quarter's sort of place. It was actually quite a spacious like a small ballroom with the windows in 180 degree directions that looked out onto the landscape of this strange land. Below the windows were the rows of consoles where Preventer officers of lower rank operated them. In the center of the room, elevated above the floor like a throne was the captain's chair where Lady Une sat. She looked at the bridge and out the windows, her gaze as vigilant as an eagle or perhaps an owl.
Then her gaze turned concerned when she looked at the children who stood in the middle of the room. They were all there, Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, William Maxwell, Paul Marquise, Kaworu Nagisa, Julia and Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez. They were all there.
The door to the bridge opened and in came the Preventer Gundams who had all come back from making the survey of the land around the Relativity. But there was more, behind Johan was the Shuffle Alliance, a group of Gundam pilots that the Preventers had no seen in over 15 years, since before the Preventer Teens were born.
Lady Une stood to greet them, "Welcome Shuffle Alliance to the Preventer Ship Relativity."
"Very impressive." George commented as he looked around and he saw Trowa Barton his counterpart from the world of the Preventers. He noticed the same thing that the children of the Shuffle Alliance members saw in the Preventers. The Shuffle Alliance saw that the Preventers looked as though they had only aged a few years and yet they had teenage children. It was a very small elephant in the room which was only distracted by a larger issue.
The Preventers turned to face their children, much in the same way that most parents do when they find their children in places that they shouldn't.
"What are you doing here?" Heero asked of Hikaru very coldly
"Don't be mad at her." A familiar voice asked.
Heero looked up and saw his wife, Relena Peacecraft Yuy, standing before him in her pant suit as if she were going to some kind of negotiations between two colonies. "I know it may sound strange but it seems as if the children as well as a few others and I appeared here."
"It's true." Hikaru said, "My friends and I were getting ready for fencing class and then we found ourselves here on the bridge, it's true."
"She's right, Heero." Lady Une came down from the Captain's chair, "I witnessed it."
Lady Une gave her testimony that only thirty minutes previously she was there on the bridge monitoring activity and reading reports coming in from all over the ship to make sure all was well. As she sat in her captain's chair reading how the scanners had picked up some life signs, but there were only faint, possibly small animals. She felt bored by reading so much technical manual-like material that she decided to look out the window for a moment. As she stared she saw something appear on the bridge, at first it was faint like the outline of a fish at the bottom of a shallow muddy pond. She had gained apprehension as the images of people became clearer. They became familiar as well, that was when it had become very clear in that the Preventer Teens as well as Relena had appeared on the bridge of the Relativity.
"And that was when I called all of you back here." Lady Une finished
"That is really hard to believe." Duo said as he laid his hands behind his head.
"Do you think that I stowed away, dad?" William asked in a very uppity and huffy voice
"Well…" Duo said in cupping his chin comically
"I believe it." Domon stepped in, "I believe it all because the same thing happened to us, our children appeared out of nowhere, and they claim that one minute they were home and the next they were here."
"Wherever here is." Chibodee said as he looked out the window and into the strange land that they came to.
"Yes." Johan agreed whole heartedly, "I can feel something in this place."
"How so?" Rain asked the Gundam pilot in her doctor's curiosity as if asking a patient for symptoms.
"Well, a few months ago I came in contact with a very unusual gem called the Wizard's Glass and when I did I saw everything in this place that we have come to, the mountains, the trees, rivers, and all else. I some how feel…no…I know that we were all brought here for a reason…a pretty large one."
"Hmmm…" The Preventer Teen Kaworu Nagisa cupped his chin, "I know it too. I feel as though there's something very familiar in this place like…"
"Coming back to a place from your childhood?" Quatre finished with a question hoping that it would be the right way to put it.
"Yes, that's it exactly."
"Alright." Lady Une assumed her authority, "Johan, you say you saw this place in the Wizard's Glass, what do you suggest we do?"
Johan took a deep breath and thought about what he was going to say as well as how he was going to say it, "I think we should head northeast to that settlement that the sensors found. We may find some people there who could tell us a little more about this place, but I think we should travel by core lander because I think that there's an enemy here that might want us for very malice reasons."
"I couldn't agree more." Trowa agreed in his military state of mind, "If we do encounter anyone then we will stand a chance in fighting them by calling our Gundams."
"There is something else." Johan added, "I think that the children of the Shuffle Alliance should stay here on the Relativity."
"Why is that?" Miss Marie Louis asked
"I feel that it might be dangerous to go out there with our loved ones with us. Though since we don't know if and how many forces there are out there, then our children should come with us; Hikaru, Paul, William, Kaworu, Julia and Leto."
"Oh, they can go but we can't?" Kyoji Kasshu spoke out against this decision
"Kyoji." Rain scolded her son
Yet, Johan couldn't help but laugh, he went over to the little one and knelt down to him and looked him in the eye. "You really are your father's son; you have that same spirit, but understand this Kyoji Kasshu. Our children have had mobile suit combat experience which does give an edge to this situation. Do you understand?"
Kyoji sulked a little bit, "I guess so."
In that decision, George DeSand turned to his wife, Marie Louis and spoke to her, "Marie Louis, I want you to stay here with the Children."
"I know why you want me to stay, George." She said, "But I wish I could go with you."
"We don't know what dangers are out there, and I can't bear the thought of loosing you, and I don't think Juliet could stand the thought of loosing her mother."
"Of course not." Juliet spoke up
"Miss Marie Louis may stay here," Relena spoke up, "But I'm going with Heero and Hikaru," She then looked to Heero with a thin smile and a sarcastic look in her eyes, "Despite what you may say."
Heero smiled at his wife, "Some things never change about you, Relena."
After settling all of the family issues in this, Zechs Marquise spoke up in the discussion, "There is one other thing that we haven't thought of. This settlement to the northeast, what do we do once we get there?"
"I'll second with Johan," Quatre supported, "that we ask questions."
"Good." Lady Une finalized, "Make reports back to the ship every hour, understood?"
"Understood." The Preventer Gundams said in unison.
It didn't take very long for the Preventers, Shuffle Alliance, and the Preventer Teens to get into their core landers and head out to the north east. Towards the settlement that the scanners had picked up and of course there were a few who were very leery as well as skeptical about going there. After all, no one knows what's there, nor do they even know if the people there were friendly. All the things that were discussed in the briefing, but at least now most of them didn't have very much to worry about. That being the Shuffle Alliance didn't have to worry about their families getting involved, their wives and children all back on the Relativity and being cared for. With the exception of the Preventers, but they knew that if their children could defeat an enemy that had beaten them, then they could do anything.
The land around them was just as flat as Johan had reported it to be, just flat grassland, oh there were some rolling hills here and there, but nothing to really get excited about. It could be very easily compared to driving on a golf course. There was nothing really exciting, at least around them, but there was something in the distance that they all felt captivated by. There was a snow capped mountain in the distance with a dense growth for forest coming up to meet it like moss on a still stone.
With nothing around for miles around except the golf course-like grassland and the unchanging scenery, it was enough to put several of the Gundams to sleep. There was something that many of them had learned about from driving, an infliction called "road hypnosis". IT is where a person can fall asleep at the wheel from seeing much of the same for hours on end. Several of them had this very affliction and they were trying to distract themselves from falling asleep, which would send their core lander careening into the landscape or into another's lander.
Johan was feeling that way when he and the others in the core lander train were coming to the dense growth of forest near the foot of the snow capped mountain. His head bobbed back and forth, his chin nearly came to his chest when he snapped himself to attention to see it was time to make his voice report back to the Relativity. He reached down and opened the COM switch.
"Relativity" He called, "This is Preventer Star Dragon. Do you copy?"
The COM clicked for a moment
"We read you Star Dragon, go ahead." The operator's voice answered
"Making report, the Gundams and I have made no contact with any life out here on the plains. We are approximately 20 kilometers southwest of the settlement." Johan paused for a moment thinking about this place and how empty it all was, "Report note: If this is the only settlement out here then it could be possible that it's abandoned. If not then why aren't there any other settlements east of the mountain range?" He ended his report with, "That is all."
He reached down and turned the COM switch off. He was slowly being drawn back into the road hypnosis over the golf course plains. He tried to keep his mind off of it by thinking back to the events onboard the Relativity. He thought about how he and the other Preventers had armed their own children as if they had been drafted. In one way they were since they were brought to this place against their will and that their parents were deciding who would stay and who would go. Thinking of it that way, each parent had confronted their children. Each giving their own version of asking whether each child was willing to go through it.
Even Heero, he who truly loved his daughter, Hikaru, he had ever since the day she was born. He himself had a deeper sense of why he fought inside Preventer. He did it to protect the ones he loved: His wife Relena and his daughter Hikaru.
"Are you sure about this?" Heero asked his daughter as he handed her the belt that had the side arm and a new beam weapon. It had been the request of Hikaru that she have a new beam weapon. She wanted a beam bow like Julia's but she wanted it orange.
Hikaru took her weapon belt and looked to her fathers face with a smile, "I'll be just fine, dad."
So it was that the Preventer Teens were given back their beam weapons and their Gundams. Johan smiled as he thought about how fast the children had grown up, it felt like it was yesterday that Julia and Leto were sleeping against his chest, or that he and Haruka were carrying them on their shoulders.
Suddenly he thought about what if they were to get married sometime in the near future; then that would mean that he and Haruka would soon become grandparents. Still, he thought, they need to find someone first.
Johan's eyes dashed to one corner to a stray tree, it stood alone far away from the dense forest that was at the foot of the snow capped mountain in the distance. It was almost like some lone road sign that was the halfway point between two towns that were miles apart. It had lush branches which gave incredible shade and it was there that Johan saw a flash of something like seeing a while animal jumping around the bushes.
Johan had kept his eyes on the road but he kept looking back to that lone tree and in his second glance he saw it. Under the trees shade there was a figure. The distance from the tree did distort the visage of whatever it was but certain features were very clear. He saw the figre had a stick in his hand like an old man's cane or a hiker's staff and upon that area that he conceived to be the head was a large pointed hat. It was much like the old time wizards of ancient tales, the kind of stories about handsome knights, damsels in distress, wizards, dragons, swords, and sorcery.
With that figure standing under the tree he looked like he was waiting for something or someone. From it, Johan saw something else in his other hand, something long and thin. From the shadows of the figure came rings of smoke.
Johan took the wheel of the core lander and yanked it toward that tree. He thrust his foot down on the accelerator which sent the core lander speeding to the tree with that figure under it. Yet in his rush to get to that tree the figure there never bothered to move out of the way for fear of being hit. Whoever it was just stood there as if expecting either to die or for Johan to stop.
His friends called him over the COM
"Where are you going?"
"Johan stop!"
The please fell upon deaf ears since Johan's thoughts were focused upon that person under the tree. He gave no inch to slowing down until he was upon it, which he slammed upon the breaks that sent up clouds of dust and grass. Even at close range Johan still couldn't see who was under that tree with its shade covering the figures face, but the shapes were very distinctive. The shape was wizard-like with the pointed hat that was curved backward, the wooden staff in one hand and that thing in the other, which Johan figured out was the wizard's smoking pipe.
The wizard took one puff from his pop and blew out smoke rings in Johan's direction. They wafted away from the wizard and broke apart when they hit Johan's chest.
"Johan Rodriguez?" The Wizard asked before he took another puff from his pipe.
Johan felt stunned since this strange being hadn't introduced himself but called him by his name, "Um…" He uttered, "Yes, that's me."
"Good." The wizard puffed out smoke again; the smell of the smoke was so strong and acrid that Johan coughed when he caught one whiff of it. As he coughed the last of the smoke away from his lungs, he looked back to the wizard who stepped out of the shade of the lone tree. He was very old, very much like the wizard's of old that Johan had heard about and seen in fantasy paintings. His face was a network of wrinkles with a long curved nose above his gray beard that reached down the length of his gray robes. Johan gathered that if the beard went any further, the beard would have probably reached his feet. His staff looked like a piece that had been selectively pulled from an ancient tree with its twisted parts coming up past the wizards face as if each wooden part were fingers. He looked down at Johan with his beady eyes and smiled.
Behind Johan the others in the Core Lander Train had arrived with the others coming up to meet him.
"Hey Johan!" Duo called up to his friend, "What's the big idea? We have to get to that settlement."
The wizard stepped in as he looked down at all the people who were gathering around the tree like an arriving crowd at a rock concert. "Settlement?" He asked taking another puff from his pipe, "You must mean Riverden."
"Is that what's there?" Johan asked
"Yes." The wizard replied, "I can take you there, the Elves there have been expecting all of you."
"Elves?" Duo asked
"The Elves of Riverden." The wizard replied as he gathered up his cane and stepped away from the tree heading in the same direction as the Core Lander Train, "The king is waiting."
"Wait." Johan approached the wizard, "How do they know that we were coming? And who are you?"
"I am Gandalf the Gray." The Wizard replied, "Master Wizard and Guard to the one true King of Mydar."
The feeling of real awkwardness had washed completely over the Gundams, somehow everything about this seemed so clichéd. That they had somehow traveled into some sort of old fantasy novel where there is so much posturing about honor and dishonor between knights of old and wizards who duel with magic that mere mortals only wished to understand. Yet, there it was, a man who said that he was a Sorcerer.
"Mydar?" Domon repeated, "Is that what this place is?"
"Yes, it is." Gandalf replied, "Now, let's head to Riverden, the elves are anxious to meet all of you and there is so much to do."
None of the Gundams had said a thing, they knew that they were going in that direction, and the wizard did declare in a small way that it was a place that he knew. What could it hurt for him to come along, at least it was something to make a report on back to the Relativity. Each of the Gundams took their core lander, while Gandalf the Grey took his seat in the core lander belonging to Johan. As Gandalf rid along with the Preventer, Johan kept noticing how he was marveling at everything inside the lander. The panel, the floor, the seats, and even the glass over the cockpit.
"You look as though you had never seen something like this." Johan stated, then the thought to himself, of course he's probably never seen anything like it, and maybe this place is so far into the past that a lighter would seem like magic.
"Actually, I have." Gandalf answered
The answer shocked Johan, that a man of such old traditions as wizardry would know of such things as core landers. "What do you mean?"
"My master had such crafts thanks to another one of the guards."
Johan had to know something, "Do you know why my friends and I have come here?"
"I do, but now is not the time to tell you. First all of you must eat and rest, because you and the others are desperately needed in these dark times."
The Core Lander Train continued onward towards the snowcapped mountain in the East. Johan's core lander was in the lead with Gandalf giving directions like a side-seat driver. For a while there was nothing said between Gandalf and Johan, just to head towards the forest that meets the mountain.
It was at the edge of the forest, that there was a path that snaked its way into the undergrowth. Gandalf pointed to it and Johan followed into the path which was wide enough to take in his core lander and soon enough the others followed. The dense growth of the trees covered them only allowing small patches of light to come through like sunbeams on a cloudy day that were illuminated by the dust that the core landers kicked up. The trunks of the trees were wide and closely connected, their roots locking together like the fingers of two lovers, and the roots even had even spread into the path. It was a good thing that the core landers didn't have wheels like the ancient motorcars; otherwise it would have been an extremely bumpy trip.
The whole time that the Core Lander Train had started on the path through the forest, it felt as if they were going uphill. There was that gravity pulling feeling back into the seat until the core lander train came to the summit of the hill that they were climbing on the forest path. One by one they looked down from the summit into a valley.
In that valley, the forest came to meet the foothills of the mountain like the sea coming to meet the shore. From somewhere in the mountain was a river that rolled its way down into the valley where the trees stood tall on either side of its banks. At one point of the river, it took a severe drop where it became a waterfall that drained into valley to make another river that worked it's way though the forest once again. It was next to the waterfall that they saw it, Riverden. At first it was hard to see it, but it was there, perched on the side of the banks of the river were the waterfall drained into the valley. Its walls were stone, but at the same time they mimicked the flow of the tree trunks that sprouted upward and branched to make the artificial canopy.
They could only see Riverden for a short while before it was hidden again with the thick canopy of trees that covered their path once again.
"We're almost there." Gandalf had told Johan
Johan could feel it within himself, something warm, like coming inside to a warm fire after being out in the cold dead of winter. Yet, the feeling was put aside when an urgent call came through.
"Everyone!" It was Sai-Saici's voice, "We've got company! Right behind us!"
"Behind us?" Johan asked as he reached down for another switch. This time it was for his rear-view screen. It functioned much like a read-view mirror but since most of the core lander took up that area, a camera was installed to look in that direction. What Johan saw was terrifying and hard to figure out. Between the core landers and the canopy of trees, there were…riders…six of them.
The riders were sat upon things that rode through the air much like their core landers but they weren't core landers. Not in the same car-type style that the Gundams had, the ones that these riders were upon were like motorcycles. Each one of them black and silver, sleek and shining like the barrel of a long shotgun polished to high gloss. The riders upon these flying-cycles were dressed in black, long black robes that flapped in the wind, but amazingly enough their hoods stayed on which covered their faces. The only thing that showed through those hoods was that glow, twin red eyes that burned with unholy fury.
Johan looked to Gandalf whose beady eyes went wide he turned to Johan, "Drive faster."
With that Johan opened the COM Link, "All Gundams! Floor it!" And Johan threw his feet against the accelerator which sent him and Gandalf into the cushioned backs of their seats. While Johan's concentration sharpened to that of a surgical knife looking for turns in the road.
Left
Right
Right
Left
Right
Until there was a break in the trees and they had found a river, the thought of how deep the water was never occurred to Johan until he crossed it and continued on the forest path to Riverden. He never looked into the rear view monitor again until a split second later Sai-Saici called again.
"Hey, they've stopped." Johan looked into his rear view screen and saw that the Core Lander Train behind him had stopped.
"Stop the lander." Gandalf ordered
Johan followed and the lander stopped dead in its tracks as the cockpit glass of the lander opened and Gandalf the Gray hopped out. Driven by the desire to know what was going on back at the river, Johan got out and made sure he was armed and read to fight. Just like all those times in battle when he wanted to be sure that he was armed to the teeth to face his enemy. He came down the path his hand at his beam saber and looked out on the river bank and he saw the riders in black floating on the other side never moving.
One of them spoke, "Give us the Gundams, Wizard!"
Gandalf took his staff and pointed its head at the riders, "If you want them so bad come and get them yourself if you're able!"
The riders slowly inched their way into the water as Gandalf the Gray raised his staff up to the sky and began to utter something. All of the Gundams listened to what he was saying, but none of it made sense, it was a language none of them had ever heard. The words sounded so fluid like water rushing into one another and the voice he used to speak it was like he was singing in a tenor's voice. Their attention was drawn away from the language that Gandalf was using when above them they saw the sky darken very quickly. The clouds that were once white merged with one another, and then grew thicker and darker until all of the sun was blocked out. Above them they heard the rumbling of thunder and arcs of lightning that light up the sky for only flashes of instants.
Gandalf's voice grew louder as he raised his staff to the sky and a lightning bolt came down from the heavens to touch it and like the swipe of a sword, he swished the staff at the riders, sending out the arcs of lighting against them. Every one of them began to shake with the electricity going through them and the sheer power of the lightning burning away their black robes. With their robes burning away the Gundams could see what they were underneath their robed disguises. They were machines, metallic skeletons upon those flying-cycles with only red camera lenses for eyes. The lightning that Gandalf had sent at them illuminated their metallic design showing off their metallic bones. So eerily human that many of the Gundams felt ill just looking at the atrocities.
With only a few seconds of contact with the lighting, the metallic riders fell into the river along with their bikes at its side. As the bikers sunk to the bottom of the river, the Gundams looked back up to the sky and saw the dark clouds begin to dissipate like a strong wind blowing the storm far away.
"What the hell were those things?" Duo asked
Gandalf brought his staff back to its resting position against this shoulder and leaned against one of the core landers. "They were once warriors." He explained, "Great warriors of Mydar, until one day they were offered the chance to become immortal and infinitely powerful. On that day they gave over their flesh and blood for metal and electricity. They became lost souls, the Techno Wraiths, they no longer think for themselves. They only obey what their programs tell them to do and that program was to hunt all of you down."
"Alright!" Chibodee started up, "Why don't you cut the bullshit old man and tell us what all this is about?"
"Calm down, young one." Gandalf advised, "There's no need to get angry. All will be explained, Riverden is just up the hill."
Chibodee wasn't the only one who was angry about all this. Most of the Gundams were damn near infuriated by all of this. They've come to a place that they don't understand, confronting shit that rivals that of their greatest fears, and even worse their families had been dragged into it. So, they did have a right to know the answers and it seemed to them that Gandalf had them but wasn't going to give it to them. That was the most infuriating part to them of all of it. At least most of them except Johan, he was the most passive about this, either because he has the patience for it or because of that Wizard's Glass that showed him this place called Mydar.
The Gundams got back into their core landers and headed up the hill to Riverden.
It was only up the hill when the Core Lander Train had finally arrived at Riverden. It was such a quaint little place. Only from the distance of the previous hill that they were on before crossing the river could they only see a little bit of it. Yet, in coming to the enormously elaborately carved wooden gates did they see Riverden in a more personal light. The gates themselves never looked artificial in any way; the craft that had made this Elvish place had made it blend right into the stones of the slopes as well as the trunks of the trees. All of Riverden looked as if nature had created the fair city and the elves only came to live there within the past few thousand years.
The wooden gates of Riverden had opened and there waiting on the other side of the gates were the elves waiting for them. They weren't the cute little ones that the Gundams had thought of. The stereotypical kind that work with Santa at the North Pole, these Elves were tall, elegant, beautiful, both men and women of this race. It was absolutely incredible to the eyes of the Gundams that such beautiful people actually exist.
Some of them were speaking that language amongst themselves. It was the very same language that Gandalf had used when he dealt with the Techno Wraiths at the river. It seemed as if the language was in a singing voice. The language was just so beautiful when the Elves spoke it the trees seemed to echo with the language as well as the songs of these elves.
Standing in front of the crowd of elves that welcomed the Gundams was a tall elf that had a crown of golden lace upon his head. He was dressed in long brown and white robes that met the ground that was a scatter of leaves. His long brown hair stretched past his shoulders and he looked out at the Gundams with deep blue eyes that seemed to pierce them with it's gaze. Yet, he smiled.
"Welcome Gandalf." He called out to him, "And to your guests, Welcome to Riverden."
"Lord Hyrule." Gandalf bowed
"Before we move to any business I'm sure all of you must rest after such a long journey." King Hyrule had declared.
"No way!" Chibodee stepped forward, "I demand to know what the hell is going on."
"Please be calm, Chibodee Crocket."
"Hey, how'd you know my name?"
"All shall be explained in due time, but first rest and then we shall feast."
"Well, I'm never one to turn down an offer like that." Duo smiled
"Then it's settled." Hyrule agreed, "We shall discuss business after you have rested and eaten."
With the Gundams being shown to their own rooms within the house of Hyrule in the Elvish town of Riverden, there was some discussion being held between Gandalf the Gray and his old time friend, King Hyrule. The two of them had met in his library that had a balcony that looked to the waterfall and oversaw all of Riverden. The library itself was so open to the outside that there was practically no glass for windows. The spring time weather came in through it all and warmed the library, which was strewn with bookshelves along the walls, old books containing ancient knowledge of the Elves.
Gandalf and Hyrule looked down at Riverden from the balcony in thought, until one of them broke the ice.
"So, it is finally happened." Hyrule said, "Our lord and master has summoned an army to Mydar."
"Yes, but they can only be a piece of the army that he has brought."
"Gandalf." Hyrule said sternly, "If our master has summoned all he can to Mydar, then our enemies must know about it already. As you've told me the Techno Wraiths were already upon you when you crossed the River Snake, we must act quickly before they send reinforcements."
"They cannot go just yet, they still need to take something back to our master."
"I am aware of that, which is why when you told me that you spotted their ship near the Great Tree on Marty's Plain, I sent for the one who carries it."
"When will he arrive?"
"Possibly during the feast, if he's late…as usual."
The feast that night in the dinning hall of the house of Hyrule was wonderful. All of the Preventers, Shuffle Alliance, and their families sat down and ate the Elvish cuisine. It was actually nothing like what they had ever eaten before, but one thing was definitely for certain, there was not a single piece of meat in the dinner. Then again, it only occurred to some of the more steak-eating types at first (such as Chibodee, his son Champ, Duo and his son William), but the cuisine was so good that it was forgotten. Even the culinary expert Sai-Saici was overjoyed when he ate it.
"This is wonderful" he said to the king. "I don't know what you've put into it but it's just wonderful."
"Thank you, Sai-Saci." The King bowed his head
There was one other person that they had met at that dinner table; it was a young and very beautiful woman. Her shinning sandy blonde hair was longer than Hyrule's, it flowed down past her shoulders to her waist. The eyes that she had were a shade of blue that reminded the most poetic of the group of diamonds; she had blue diamonds for those kinds of eyes. She didn't even have to speak and she already entranced some of the men of the Gundams. At least for a moment and some of them had remembered that they were married. So they were introduced, King Hyrule had told them that she was his daughter, Zelda.
As the dinner had progressed and the minstrels played their Elven songs, the king himself looked out to the balcony to see that the sun had already set and nightfall had already arrived. "He's late" He muttered
"Who's late?" Trowa asked
The King explained, "When I heard of your arrival I had sent for the best Elvish Warrior in Mydar; Link."
"Alright." Chibodee had slammed his fist upon the table that sent several plates rumbling through the oak table, "You said that you'd explain what was going on around here, I think we've waited long enough to hear an explanation."
"Show some more respect to Lord Hyrule!" Gandalf demanded
"There's no need for that Gandalf." Hyrule had said with such a gentle hand, "They have been through quite an ordeal and I believe that they need an answer. Firstly, I knew all of your names from Gandalf, who found out about your arrival through his powers of magic, but the reason why all of you are here is this…"
Before Hyrule could say anything, the doors to the dinning hall burst open and there in the middle of it was a tall Elvish man with shortly cut blonde hair and greenish eyes that matched his tunic as well as his hat that was more looked more like a sleeping cap. Crisscrossing his chest was the belt for quiver filled with arrows that could be seen over his right shoulder. While going the other direction was the string of a bow whose arch could be seen over his right shoulder. At his side was the belt for his sword, whose handle was purple and elegantly carved. And upon his right arm was a large shield, which could have easily covered his whole body from an attack if he crouched down far enough into its curvature.
Lord Hyrule stood, "It's about time you arrived, Link. I hope that you don't mind that we started the feast without you."
"It's no trouble Lord Hyrule." Link had said with an exhausted breath, "I had run into some trouble while going past the Misty Mountains."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Wraiths, but I took care of them." He looked at the dinner table at the Preventers as well as the Shuffle Alliance, "Are these them?"
"Yes they are." Gandalf answered Link's question
"Then I suggest that we move quickly."
"Finally!" Chibodee cheered, "Someone's in the mood to get things going."
"Very well." Hyrule said as he continued to stand at the head of the dinner table, "Preventers and Shuffle Alliance, follow me please."
After the arrival of the Elvish Warrior Link, the Shuffle Alliance had dismissed their children to bed, while the Preventers and the Preventer Teens followed Hyrule, Link and Gandalf to an unknown part of Hyrule's house.
They came to a place that could have only been described as a stone patio. It was open to the outside air that was blowing cool gentle breezes as the as the sun set over the mountains sending down its golden rays onto the town of Riverden. At the head of this patio was a stone altar that Lord Hyrule stood behind as the Gundams took their seats in a great half-circle of chairs around the stone altar and so the meeting began.
"Friends of both old and new, you've been summoned here to answer against the Scourge of Mydar. All of your paths lead to this singular fate." Hyrule said like a preacher standing at his wooden podium at mass, "For those of you who don't know the story of our land, I shall tell it. Many, many ages ago, our lord and master had created the lands of Mydar from the fruits of his labors and imagination. He ruled our lands for centuries with grace, wisdom, and justice. Yet, it was his grace that brought about the greatest blight that our lands would ever know.
"From a place that none in Mydar know, came a legion of men, women, and creatures unlike any had laid eyes upon. They came to see our lord and he opened the doors of his great tower to them, but he was deceived. For these devious creatures called the Obsessed, lead by their lord Dark Eagle, ransacked our masters tower wanting nothing more than to take his power and use it for their own selfish reasons. They turned our lords Ivory Tower into a black shell of its former glory.
"It was from the moment that our lord had opened his doors to these despicable creatures the fate of our lands had been sealed. Realizing that the Obsessed wanted his power, our master has split his power into seven separate items and scattered them across the lands of Mydar. It is this reason why our master has opened the doors to allow all of you here; to free him from his captors. All of you are bound to this duty."
There was a long pause until a question was asked by Leto Rodriguez, "You mentioned seven separate items. Do you know what they are?"
"As a matter of fact, Leto son of Johan, we have one of them, but one of you must take it back our master and it has already chosen its bearer." Hyrule looked to his warrior Link, "Bring forth the sword, Link."
The Elvish warrior obeyed his king and brought out a very special looking sword from his side and placed it upon the stone podium. All looked upon it in amazement. It was beautiful, a wooden handle that was curved to fit the flow of a human hand. The blade shaped like a katana curving upward. All over the sword it was adorned with gold thread that seemed as if it was embedded into the sword itself. Gold strands curving, intertwining, and joining all the way from the bottom of the handle to the tip of the blade. The ones closest to the sword could even see writing upon the blade in that same gold that those strands were made of. It was a language none of them could read but were naturally curious what it said.
"Lord Hyrule" Domon spoke up, "if I may, what is so special about this sword?"
"You see Domon, King of Hearts." Hyrule explained, "The sword itself is a piece of our masters' power. It has such power that it is said that it could kill a demon and could slice through the strongest metal as if it was straw, but there is something all of you should be aware. For the reason that the sword is in essence a piece of our master, it has a mind of its own, its bearer was Link who had found it implanted in a stone at the peak of the Misty Mountains. Now, its new bearer will be…" Hyrule raised his hand and extended one of his long fingers and brought it over to the area where the Preventers sat. His finger, like the ball on a roulette wheel ready to land on any random number, landed upon one Gundam pilot.
"You…Johan son of Han" Hyrule said, "The sword has spoken to Link who had told me this. It has said that you shall be its carrier to the Dark Tower. This mission will not be easy, the road is long and it is not without peril. The Dark Tower itself is guarded by more than just the Obsessed. The land there that was once beautiful is now a wasteland, filled with fire and ash. And the Eye of the Hawk is always watching. Will you take this burden, Gundam pilot?"
Johan sat in his chair completely floored by the enormity of what was going on before him. Only a few hours ago did him and his friends arrive in a place that Johan had only read about in books. Still, he felt that pull, that call that the Wizard's Glass had burned into him all that time ago when the Lupin crew came to his universe. That feeling itself had only grown ten-fold since coming into this place called Mydar.
He rose out of his seat and walked over to the stone podium and looked down at the sword. It seemed so beautiful in his eyes, unlike any that he had seen in all his years of looking at swords.
"I will take it." Johan spoke as he reached out to take the sword for himself and to carry it to the Dark Tower. In his hand the sword began to change. Its shape and beauty had changed from its elegant and gold embodied design. It became a new sword right before the eyes of Johan and his friends. It was no longer that sword that the Elvish warrior brought to the stone podium. The sword became a katana with a new handle. Johan saw that its handle looked as purely white as ivory and engraved into that ivory was a dragon. A Chinese dragon that had wrapped its body around the handle of the sword while in its hand it held spheres that must have been jewels from a pirate's treasure. Johan saw that it was as beautiful as before but in such a different form.
"What the hell just happened?" Chibodee Crocket asked gazing at the sword in Johan's hands
"As I said before" Hyrule reiterated, "the sword has a mind of its own and it seems that it changed it form to suit its bearer."
"If the sword has chosen me" Johan proclaimed as he looked up and down at it, "then I will take it to the Dark Tower."
"If Johan is going, then I'll go with him." Haruka spoke out as she rose out of her seat to join her husbands' side
"That goes for us too!" The twins spoke up and joined their father.
"Thank you all." Johan smiled
"You will need other help." Gandalf the Gray volunteered, "The path shall not be an easy one and I shall come with you to free my master. My magic is at your disposal."
"I agree." Link said, "You have my sword and bow to aid you in this mission."
Johan looked to his friends and his best friend, Duo Maxwell stood up, "20 years and I've never backed away from helping you, buddy. I'm in."
"I will join you too." Wufei stood by Johan, "To deliver justice to the unjust."
"One should never give up until the end." Trowa stood, "That is what Heavyarms taught me."
"I'm definitely in." Quatre joined the support but then turned to the Perfect Soldier, "What about you Heero?"
Heero looked to Johan, "You know me."
The two of them paused and said in one united voice, "Mission accepted."
"And you have the help of the Shuffle Alliance." Domon volunteered showing his fist that burned with the crest of the King of Hearts
"Yes, that's true." Chibodee said to the Elvish king, "You do need people of strength and intelligence on this…mission…quest…thing."
"Well that puts you out, Chibodee." Duo whispered
Johan laughed, "Well my friends and family, we are The Fellowship of the Gundam once again!"
"TO THE FELLOWSHIP!" The Preventers and Shuffle Alliance had said in unison.
To be continued…