The Fighters That Were
Note: I don't own G Gundam or any of the mobile fighters
Chap 1: Arrival of the Corporates! Behold Mijulner and Nightshade!
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Before we witness today's fight between Neo-Denmark and Neo-India we would like to introduce one of the two late arrivals here in the gundam fight. Representing the new nation Neo-Cyberdyne please welcome the Gundam Nightshade!"
The gates to the stadium opened and a giant chrome colored puddle moved slowly into the center of the ring. The stands were filled with people muttering to each other about the odd puddle that appeared. When it reached the center it stopped for a second and then started to move again, only this time it started to move upwards. The fans watched in amazement as slowly a humanoid form could made out. It appeared to be a gundam sized human hunched over. Once the humanoid shape had become definite the upper body started to straighten. When the head finally looked up the eyes opened and glowed a bright red. The details of the gundam started to appear At last it changed from the chrome color to black with silver and crimson in some places. The audience "oohed" and "ahhed" as it became apparent that yes the object in the center of the ring was indeed a gundam. The gundam marched forward a few steps so that people could see it better.
It was almost completely black; the only exceptions were its elbow and knee joints, which were crimson and its hands and feet, which were silver. The knuckles of the gundam had three metal studs on them that stood out about a foot above the hand. The feet also had the studs but the six-foot spike on each foot overshadowed that. On its left side there was a sheath that held a large gundanium broadsword. The left arm had a small rectangular shield with two curved spines on the front and a black box-like thing with an arrowhead sticking out of one side between them. The gundam just stood there for a few minutes before the chest opened up and the pilot stepped out.
He was about six-foot-three, with sandy blond hair that came down just below his ears. His fight suit was gray with a pattern that looked like the skeletal structure of a T-800 with Cyberdyne's logo on the chest. He was built like a bear and for some reason there was a slight reddish glow from his left eye.
"Introducing Neo-Cyberdyne's pilot, Kyle Marrinarri-Voligrad."
Kyle waved a little bit before going back into Nightshade's cockpit and walking out of the ring. After Nightshade had left the ring Neo-Denmark's Grimm Gundam and Neo-India's Shiva Gundam entered the ring to begin their fight. It lasted about twenty minutes before Grimm had its head taken off by a stray beam shot that bounced off of the barrier and was disqualified.
Later that evening after Neo-Greece's Hoplite Gundam had defeated Neo-New Zealand's Cook Gundam the announcer started talking once more.
"Now ladies and gentlemen just like we told you last night we are now going to introduce the second late arrival to the gundam fight. Neo-Umbrella's Gundam Mijulner!"
Before the gates to the ring could open a giant claw burst through the right side, it cut down at a diagonal angle before disappearing behind the door. Another claw burst through the left side of the door and cut it more creating an "X" shape. Then two hands reached through the gashes in the door and grabbed hold of it. With one great tug the doors were ripped off and a gray object jumped into the ring landing on one knee in the center. When the dust had settled the object stood up to reveal that it was a gundam.
It was dark gray all over with dark green eyes. On its left and right arm were a pair of ten-foot long gundanium claws. On each side of the gundams head was a single missile launcher, and its head had four vulcan cannons on it. There were missile pods mounted on the legs. Mounted on its right side was a battle hammer in a holder. The gundam proceeded to remove the hammer from it holder, when the hammer was out the handle telescoped outwards causing Mijulner to hold it with both hands. He spun the hammer once then slammed the hammer's base into the ground and came to a rest. The chest opened and the pilot walked out. He put a hand over his eyes to block out the sun and looked around at the audience.
He was six-foot even, with long blond hair that he had back in a high ponytail. His fight suit was dark blue with green arms and the Umbrella logo on its chest. He had a fairly slim but still muscular build. On his face was an expression that was a mix of amazement and great joy.
"Representing Neo-Umbrella… that can't be right. It says here the pilot's name is "M80o2". Well, if this is the case. Please welcome M80o2!"
M80o2 looked around some more and waved at the people in the audience before getting back in Mijulner and walking out of the arena. When he reached the outside he turned north and headed for Umbrella's Japanese H.Q. where he would be lodging. Upon arriving M80o2 stored Mijulner in the engineering bay for servicing and went into the building and took an elevator to the top so that he could meet with Chairman Burken.
"You're late." Burken said when M80o2 entered.
"So much for the "Welcome to Japan, so glad you got us to the finals in our first year." that I was hoping for." M80o2 replied. "Sorry, I took a little side trip to see if I could see any of the other countries gundams. I know three gundams have already been disqualified and one is so messed up the country might have to back down out of the tournament. Unfortunately I haven't seen a single one besides Mijulner." He laughed for a second until he noticed the cold stare Burken was giving him. "Sorry" He said weakly before sitting down in one of the big corporate type leather chairs that all of the Umbrella branches seemed to have. Just like all the others the chair was too hard on the sides and the actual seat cushion was far too soft and squishy. M80o2 always imagined someone sinking into one and never being seen again. He had to hold back a laugh when he imagined that it was Burken sinking this time.
"You made it to the finals. To be quite honest with you I'm amazed that you made it past the first four months of the Survival Eleven, but you have and the whole nation is proud of you. Even I am proud of you." At this M80o2 coughed something that sounded a lot like "yeah right." "However," Burken continued ignoring M80o2's rudeness. "It is not enough. You have to make it to the Battle Royal and win that as well. Most people think that it's a fluke that you made it this far and that you won't win a single battle here in the finals."
"You're one of them yourself." M80o2 commented
"You must prove them wrong!" Burken said through gritted teeth. His eyes started to bulge and if M80o2 didn't know better start turning the yellowish brown color that all the T-Virus line projects had. "If you actually win I will personally see to it that you are made very rich and powerful back on the colony. But first you must actually make it that far and that won't be easy, I can almost guarantee it. Since we are a first time nation they will go harder on us than any other nation except maybe Cyberdyne. The people at the top will probably give us one of the strongest contenders to fight right off the start."
"Yeah so? I made it this far I can beat anyone they throw at me"
"You've never fought people like these before. They're as tough as they come, especially those Shuffle members. You think you're strong? It's nothing compared to them."
"Your confidence in me is unbelievable." M80o2 remarked.
"If you don't stop with the cynical humor I'll throw you out and replace you with Fossil. That's a promise not a threat."
"Can I go now? I'm really tired."
"Fine. Get out of my sight! I don't want to see you until tomorrow morning for practice."
"Practice?" Groaned M80o2. "I'm not practicing here. I'm going sightseeing tomorrow. Then I'm gonna watch at least one of the fights." He could tell he was irritating Burken. "Oh and I think I need a real name, people think mine is a little weird."
"Your full name is T Project Line Experiment M80o2 Tyrant Class You should feel good that we shortened it to just M80o2."
"Yeah, well people think I'm a normal person not an experiment. M80o2 makes no sense to them."
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks." replied M80o2 as he left the office to find where he was to sleep for the night.
When he finally found the room he dropped his bags and looked around at what he had to deal with. It was a moderate sized room, nothing fancy Of course nothing was ever fancy for an experiment even if it was one of his caliber. There was a bed on one side of the main room. Opposite it was a desk and chair, probably oak but he couldn't tell. There was a small kitchen like area and a decent bathroom. Basically it was all that a person needed at a bare minimum; there wasn't even a TV.
"Well this sucks." M80o2 commented as he plopped down on the bed. "But I guess I can't complain, much, I should be grateful that I was even given a room instead of having to sleep in Mijulner. Still, the room in England was better. At least it had cable."
He turned to the only source of entertainment in the room, a radio, and fiddled with it until he found a station that he could tolerate. It played what he assumed was J-pop, a sort of mix of techno, parra-parra and pop, all of which he had heard before but never together like this. The music was good but he couldn't help but wonder what they were saying. While English was the standard language of almost every country on earth people still liked to make music in their original language. He listened with some interest but all he could understand was a "thank you" here an "I love you" there and a few other random words that didn't help him understand the meaning of the song at all. Slowly he drifted into a semi-pleasant sleep, where he had a curios dream.
He was walking along when suddenly two beam of light came down in front of him. Both beams formed outlines of people but he could see no real detail. One seemed to be a guy with a weird gray outline. The other was a girl with a blue outline and a very pleasant voice. Although he didn't understand anything the two outlines said or did he felt comforted by them especially the girl who he seemed to remember from somewhere that was just out his mental reach.
M80o2 woke up the next day feeling better than he had in a while and left the complex early so he could take in most of the sights Tokyo had to offer before lunch.
He spent the morning and part of the afternoon walking around Tokyo looking in shops and spending lots of money, mostly on food but a decent part was still spent on toys and mangas. No matter what people said M80o2 was still a kid at heart. A little after lunch all of the giant TVs that the streets in Tokyo seem to have switched from whatever they were showing to a generic female news anchor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as I hope you know today's first gundam fight between Neo-Cyberdyne's Gundam Nightshade and Neo-Brazil's Sugarcane Gundam is to start in one hour, that's 4:30pm, at the Mt. Fuji arena. We hope to see you there. Remember, Mt. Fuji 4:30pm."
"Goodie," said M80o2 as he walked to the nearest bus stop to catch a ride to Mt. Fuji. "Snack and a show."
Riding on the bus was a sort of new experience for M80o2. Sure he had ridden the double deckers that were common in England but there was still a major difference. Back there he could ride a bus without being so much as looked at but here, no it was different. The second he stepped on the bus he heard a collective gasp. Slowly he turned to look at the passengers. They were all staring at him with their mouths hung open. After a long awkward moment of silence he slowly walked to an empty seat, sat down and started to look out the window at the passing scenery. Finally the passengers started talking again but it was all in hushed whispers. Ever now and then someone would point at him and say what he assumed meant "gundam fighter."
"Are you a gundam fighter?" a little eight-year-old boy in the seat behind him asked.
"Why yes I am." Replied M80o2. "How'd you know?"
"I was in the arena last night and saw you come out in your gundam Mi… Mi…"
"Mijulner?"
"Yeah that's what it was called." said the boy with a slight smile on his face. "Your Neo-Um… um… um-bre-la's fighter."
"That's right. I represent Neo-Umbrella. Are you going to watch the gundam fight today?" M80o2 asked wanting to sound as cheerful as possible.
"Yes I am. I want Cy… however you say it, the other big business country like you, to win. I don't think Brazil has much of a chance. And plus the other countries gundam is so cool looking. Did you get to see him? I did. He was big and black and cool looking." The kid said in a vary happy voice.
"No, I didn't, this will be my first time seeing any gundams in the finals besides mine. From the sound of it I better watch out." he said jokingly. "This Cyberdyne gundam sounds tough. I hope I don't have to fight him. I might lose."
M80o2 started laughing until he looked back at the kid and saw the look in the child's eyes.
"No you won't. If you fight him you'll win. I know you will. He can't beat you. You're too nice a person to lose to him even if he's cool looking. You'll beat him and every other gundam in the fight."
"You think so?" asked M80o2 slightly amazed at the words the child was saying.
"Oh I don't think it. I know it."
"You do?" He said in mock amazement. Then his face softened. "Thank you. You have no idea what it means to me to have a fan."
The bus came to a halt at the base of a mountain and everyone started to get out and head up several very old looking stone path.
"Well I'll see you in the stadium hopefully." M80o2 said as he headed up one path and the kid another.
"Oh mister gundam fighter." The child called as M80o2 started to turn away.
"Yes?"
"While I think the other business's gundam is cool, I think yours is the coolest."
"Thanks." replied M80o2 as he turned and headed for the special entrance for fighters and their crew.
When he got there a guard stopped him.
"Sorry sir, but you can't use this door." the guard said holding up one large hand.
"Yes I can." Replied M80o2.
"Oh really?" Said the guard in mock amazement. "What country do you represent then?"
"Umbrella." M80o2 said as he shoved his ID into the guard's hand and walked through the door.
The guard looked at the card in disbelief. Finally he straightened up and chased after M80o2 to give him his ID back and apologize. When he finally caught up he was out of breath and slightly red; typical of a security guard who wasn't in the best of physical shape.
"So sorry Mr. M80o2. I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me sir." The guard begged. He looked so pathetic that M80o2 said it was alright, "just doing your job", and gave him five bucks to prove that there were no hard feelings.
The view from this restricted area was perfect. It was similar to sitting at the fifty-yard line at football games, you could see everything with ease. M80o2 marveled at his good luck and took a seat in the front row. This was the only spectator area inside the force field dome. Neo-Brazil's gundam was already in the ring waiting for his opponent to show up. It was a tall green gundam with some features that made it look kind of like sugarcane. Nothing really special but it was probably stronger than its looks made it seem.
4:30 was drawing ever closer and people started to get anxious. The other gundam still hadn't shown up. Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and a strange blue and black sphere formed in the ring. It kind of hovered for a minute then it began to increase in size. When it was about 30 feet in diameter it stopped growing and vanished all together. Where it had been was the Gundam Nightshade down on one knee with its arm folded across its chest. Slowly it rose and took three steps forward.
"Nice entrance." Commented M80o2. "Mine's better though."
Meanwhile Sugarcane Gundam had it's back turned to Nightshade Suddenly it spun around and threw two spear-looking things at Cyberdyne's gundam. Rather than run Nightshade through the two spears landed on either side of the gundam.
"Huh? You missed me." Kyle said as he tried to figure out why Neo-Brazil's gundam hadn't killed him on the first attack.
"Did I?" Asked Sugarcane's pilot in a thick Brazilian accent.
"What are you talking about?" Kyle had no idea what the other pilot was rambling about.
The two spears started to flash a red color and Kyle finally knew what it was that the other gundam had done. He also knew he didn't have time to escape. In the mere seconds it took him to figure all this out the weapons activated forming an energy grid with Nightshade in it. Kyle had been caught in a beam net. Because of the way the beams worked when they activated and ensnared Nightshade, it caused the gundam to go into a pose that made it look like it had been crucified.
When José (Brazil's Gundam Fighter) was sure that the other gundam was trapped in the net he removed a flat metal disk from Sugarcane's side and tossed it onto the ground. The disk started to puff up and eventually formed a sphere. Seeming satisfied the gundam turned and walked away from the metal sphere. When it reached the barrier that protected the audience the gundam once again stopped. Pausing only a second the gundam turned and ran head long back towards the sphere and still trapped Nightshade. When it finally reached the sphere, which didn't take long, the gundam cocked its right leg back and fired off a kick at the sphere. This caused said sphere to lift off the ground and fly straight at the Gundam Nightshade's head at break-neck speed. It was about then that Kyle realized that he wasn't trapped in a normal beam net, but a beam soccer goal. He also determined that the object heading straight towards him was in fact a giant metal soccer ball.
This whole train of thought took maybe one second to flash through Kyle's head. Oddly enough one second was about how much time it took the ball to impact with Nightshade's head. The ball made perfect contact and Nightshade's head shot straight back with such force that you could hear the bones in Kyle's neck snap. Nightshade's head formed a perfect 90° angle with its body, the audience went dead silent. The beam net flickered for a second and then deactivated, Nightshade fell to its knees and its arms fell to its sides. It did not move. José looked in disbelief for a second before lowering his foot and shouting "GOAL!!!!!!!". Still the spectators sat quiet. Then one of them gasped and pointed at Nightshade. Nightshade's hands were slowly working their way up towards the gundam's head. Fidgeting the hands finally grabbed hold of the head. In one fluid motion the Gundam snapped its neck back into place. Just like when it went the other way you could hear all the bones in Kyle's neck snap back into place. Calmly he lowered his hands and tilted his head first to the left then to the right, neck snapping more each time. Then the gundam stood up and looked straight at Sugarcane.
"Do you have any idea how much that HURT?!?!?!?!" Kyle yelled. "God, what were you thinking?! You don't kick soccer balls at people's heads!! God, my nose. I don't believe you. I think my nose is bleeding, and its all your fault!! If its broken I swear I'll find you and kill you!!"
"Your nose?" Asked José in a state of shock.
"Yes my nose. God it hurts so much!! You're gonna pay for that!" Kyle yelled as Nightshade took up a fighting stance and then charged straight at the startled Brazilian.
"B… b… bu…bu… But I broke your neck." José stammered.
"Think so?!?!?!" Kyle yelled as Nightshade reached Sugarcane Gundam.
Whatever happened next occurred so fast that no one not even M80o2 saw what happened. All that anyone could see was that one moment Nightshade was charging at Sugarcane and the next Sugarcane was flying backwards with its right leg missing. With its left arm Nightshade punched into the air, while this seemed pointless it wasn't because when Nightshade threw the punch the Marvashot (black cube with the spear head protruding from one side) on its left arm activated and fired off the spearhead. It impacted Sugarcane in the stomach area and barely missed José. The cable grew taunt and started retracting towards the main part of the Marvashot bringing the Sugarcane Gundam with it. Nightshade jumped into the air, the spearhead detached from the cable, and landed behind Sugarcane with its right index finger pointed at the back of Sugarcane's head.
"End." Said Kyle smugly.
"You're not human." Replied José
"You're right." Said Kyle in a slightly upbeat tone.
"What are you then?" José asked.
"That's not important right now." Kyle replied
The finger pointed at Sugarcane Gundam's head started to turn the weird chrome color that Nightshade was when it first appeared.
"You're a monster." José said in a mix of disgust and fear.
"WRONG!!!" Kyle yelled.
The tip of Nightshade's finger formed into a point. The finger then extended into and through Sugarcane's head emerging from the gundams left eye. For lack of a better term the finger had turned into a spine and impaled itself through Sugarcane in a blink of an eye. The camera used for the eye was still dangling from the very tip of the blade that had mysteriously formed out of Nightshade's finger. José screamed in pain. As quickly as it formed the spine turned back into a finger leaving a hole in the Brazilian gundam's head.
"I'm a machine." Kyle whispered in a tone so cold and mechanical that no human could create it without giving up part if not all of his or her soul.
Nightshade started to spin in a circle. This time rather than just one finger the whole right arm started to turn the chrome color. When Nightshade had spun 180° the right arm had formed into what looked like a machete. Finishing off the circle Nightshade brought the machete arm around and in one quick motion decapitated his opponent's gundam. With its left arm Nightshade grabbed Sugarcane and span it around so that the now headless gundam was facing it. With one quick front kick Nightshade sent Sugarcane flying towards its own beam net. Sugarcane got caught and went into the crucified pose. Kyle smiled.
"This." He said. "Is for what you did to my nose."
Nightshade reached down and grabbed the severed head that had once belonged to Sugarcane Gundam. The head was tossed into the air and Nightshade jumped up, span around, and delivered a right round kick to the head that sent it flying at Sugarcane Gundam with the force of a precision guided missile. Sugarcane took the full force of the head to its stomach and crumpled to the ground.
"Goal." Kyle said in a sickeningly sweet tone while Nightshade gave the peace sign.
Once again the audience was silent. Then one person stood up and cheered, then another and finally the whole stadium, except the people who were rooting for Sugarcane to win or had placed bets on Neo-Brazil.
Realizing it was her cue to speak the announcer quickly snapped out of her trance and stood up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. The winner is Neo-Cyberdyne's Gundam Nightshade piloted by Kyle Marrinarri-Voligrad." She pointed at the Nightshade as it headed towards the exit of the arena.
Medics were dispatched to check on José and were forced to cut the cockpit open to get him out because it had been crushed shut when Sugarcane's head had impacted it. José was rushed off to the nearest hospital for immediate care.
"Beautiful. Simply beautiful." M80o2 laughed as he stood there clapping. "I must meet this mister Marrinarri-Voligrad."
Later at the hospital.
Kyle entered the room that was assigned to José. He had with him a large gift basket. Filled with sugarcane.
"Hey buddy." Kyle said.
"What do you want?" José asked.
"I brought you a gift basket."
"What's it filled with?"
"Sugarcane." Kyle replied sweetly.
"Go away."
"Why?"
"Because you defeated me, put me in the hospital, and are now insulting me by trying to give me sugarcane."
"I'm not intentionally insulting you."
"Still. Go away."
"Fine but do you want any of this sugar…"
"NO!! Go away."
"Fine. But can I…"
"GO!!!!!"
Kyle grabbed the basket and left muttering something that sounded a lot like "bastard".
M80o2 was late getting back to Umbrella's Facilities because he had stayed to watch the next fight (Neo-Holland vs. Neo-Australia no real winner.) and he had gone to explore Tokyo more. It was about 2:00 A.M when he finally showed up. When he entered he was greeted by twelve or so men in full body armor with high-power assault-rifles pointed right at him.
"You're late! Burken wants you to see him so that some tests can be run on your Tyrant mode." The man who was more than likely the leader said.
"If all he wants is to give me a test why'd he send you Counter Measures guys?" M80o2 replied.
"Simple. Burken thought you might react hostilely so he sent us to make sure you came." The captain explained.
"Me? React hostilely?" M80o2 said in mock amazement. "What would give him an idea like that? Me? No. I'd never try something like that. Um what's your name? Mikhail? Come here for a second Mikhail I just want to talk." M80o2 raised his hands to show that he had no weapons then lowered his hands.
Mikhail walked forward slowly. His gun pointed at M80o2's head at all times. M80o2 looked him straight in the eyes and muttered "come on" in his calmest tone of voice. Mikhail sighed and lowered his gun. M80o2 smiled as Mikhail came closer. M80o2 closed his eyes and relaxed all the muscles in his body. Then his eyes snapped back open. Only this time they were a brownish yellow color with red where the pupils should have been. He threw his right arm back and it went stiff for a second. The back of his hand started to bulge before four two-foot long claws shot out at the knuckles. In one step he cleared the gap between him and Mikhail and slashed at the rifle cutting the barrel off and knocking the gun out of the captain's hands. M80o2 brought his right arm around his head and then upper-cutted mere inches from Mikhail. He stopped and looked around, every gun , minus the one he had cut up, was pointed at his head. He smiled.
"Drop your guns or you're all dead." M80o2 ordered.
"What are you talking about? You're the one about to take several hundred shots to the head." Mikhail stated.
"Look down." M80o2 told the captain. He did. Three of M80o2's four claws were through grenade pins. "You know I have a better chance of surviving the blast then you guys do. So if you don't all want to die drop your guns."
The guards looked at each other and then towards Mikhail who nodded to them. They dropped their guns. M80o2 slowly lowered his claws.
"Now listen to me." He said in a very cold and evil tone. "It's two A.M and I'm tired. I'm not in any mood to have any tests done on me right now. So you tell Burken I said I'm not participating now or ever." He paused closed his eyes and started to turn his back on Mikhail. He stopped and then turned back and pointed his claws at the captain's head. "Oh, Mikhail. Tell Burken that if he wants my cooperation then I get my freedom at the finals. I get to do whatever I want whenever I want. Understand. And tell him if he doesn't like it, he can come down here and settle things with Tyrant himself!"
M80o2 turned his head away from Mikhail, closed his eyes, took a quick deep breath, and pulled his arm back. Upon doing this his claws retracted back into his arm. M80o2 let out a yell in pain and fell to his knees holding his right wrist. Shaking, he let go of his wrist and reached into his left pocket. He took out a tube of something and with is left thumb popped the top off. He then rubbed whatever was in the tube over the cuts on his hand from where the claws had been. After he rubbed the stuff over the fourth mark he stood up and threw the tube in the trash.
'I'll never get used to that." He said. He turned to look at all the guards, minus Mikhail, staring at him. "Hey you three." He pointed to three guards on his left. "Could you help me take my stuff down to my room?" He asked pointing to all the boxes and bags filled with the stuff he bought earlier that day. "There's so much that I'd have to make four or five trips. Thanks."
Not wanting to anger the man who they were pretty sure wasn't human, they agreed and helped him take his stuff to his room. Even with the help they had to make two trips. As a way of saying "thank you" M80o2 gave each of them $50 for the help and let them pick out something from his newly created anime/manga/toy collection. They took the money but graciously turned down the offer on the toy/book/movie.
"You sure? Alright. You guys' loss." M80o2 said as they left. He spent the next several hours setting up everything to make his room more livable. It was about 6:00 A.M when he finally went to sleep.
M80o2 woke up refreshed the next day. It wasn't long though before he realized something wasn't right in his room. Maybe it was the fact that several of the toys he bought had fallen over during the night. Or maybe it was the CD's that had fallen onto the floor. Maybe it was the fact that he had left his newly purchased big screen TV on during the night. Or maybe, just maybe it was the fact that there was a Magnum Colt Python pointed at his head.
"Get up experiment!" The man holding the above mentioned gun ordered.
"You could be a little nicer you know. It's rude to wake a man up at gun point and then order them around like this." M80o2 replied grabbing a pillow and putting it over his face so he didn't have to look at the gun, or the man for that matter.
"I'm warning you experiment. Get up now or I'll shoot you. Burken said I could. He's pissed at the stunt you pulled last night, so he sent me to take care of my team's screw up. So either get up or say your prayers to what ever the hell things like you pray to." The man said in a tone of voice that was a little too loud and gruff for M80o2's liking.
"Wait a second." M80o2 said removing the pillow from his face. "You mean Mikhail isn't in charge of Counter Measures?"
"No, I am. He was just put in charge cause the top didn't think you'd do something like that last night." was the response.
"He's not? Damn, I liked him. Um, what's you name?" M80o2 asked.
"It's Nicolai."
"I don't like you Nicolai." M80o2 said as he got out of bed and yawned. He stretched and made a grab for the gun. Nicolai figured what he was doing and jumped back gun still aimed at M80o2's head. "Oh your good." he said when Nicolai dodged the move. "Hey can I at least get some clothes on before going to see Burken?"
"Why? You're already wearing pants." Nicolai responded.
"Fine. Can I put a shirt on?"
"No."
"I really don't like you Nicolai." M80o2 said as he made another grab for the gun, yet again he missed.
M80o2 was marched up to Burken's office on the top floor with the barrel of Nicolai's gun in his back the whole way. When he reached the office, he was shoved in and Nicolai closed and locked the door Burken was sitting in his chair, back turned, looking out the window. After a long pause he turned around and acknowledged M80o2's presence. He smiled and walked over to where M80o2 was standing.
"Good morning." He said "Did you sleep well?"
"Um, yes sir as a matter of fact I did." M80o2 replied not sure what to make of Burken's sudden niceness.
"Good." Burken said as he put his hands behind his back and activated the electric grid on the knuckles of his right hand. His voice got cold and angry "Cause this is the last time you'll enjoy a stunt like that!" Burken threw a right punch to M80o2's head and made contact.
It wasn't the punch that hurt him, it was the electricity. M80o2 reared away in pain as Burken made a grab for his hair. Burken's left hand found its target and grabbed it, holding up M80o2's head as he repeatedly punched the gundam fighter in the face. Blood started to trickle out of M80o2's nose as he was hit over and over again. He shut his eyes so that he wouldn't see the fist coming towards his face anymore. He felt his heart start beating faster and faster, he felt the knuckles on his right hand start to burn, he felt his lips start to curl up inside his mouth giving him an sadistic grin, he felt his legs and right arm start to strain, he felt his eyes change colors and the muscles on the left side of his chest and neck start to tense up. He knew what was happening, Chairman William Burken had pushed M80o2 over the edge and awaken his true form. Burken had asked the night before to check on M80o2's Tyrant mode, but this was going to be more than the arrogant chairman had asked for. M80o2's eyes snapped open and with his left hand grabbed Burken by the throat and tossed him across the room. M80o2 stood up but he was different. He was now six inches taller, his right arm was longer than his left by about six inches, the four claws were also longer (no idea how much longer because they were digging into the ground.), his lips were gone (the signature mark of all Tyrant class experiments), his eyes were the brownish yellow color with red pupils that he had shown earlier, and the muscles on the left side of his chest and his neck had bulged, hardened and turned a dark brown color (This was for extra protection of the experiments heart.) There M80o2 stood in his true form, his Tyrant mode.
"BURKEN!!!!!" M80o2 yelled, which is quite a feet considering he had no lips. "You heard me last night when I said I wasn't going to participate in any of your little experiments and I meant it!" Around this time M80o2 turned to the window that covered one side of the office and punched it. The glass shattered away. He turned to Burken and grabbed him again holding him out the window his claws pointed at the chairman's throat.
"Well I guess you got what you wanted didn't you? Didn't you?! You wanted the Tyrant and you got him. So now what? Listen up Burken cause this is how it's gonna go! Like I told you last night I get my freedom. As long as I'm in the Gundam Fight I get to keep my freedom. And when I win the Battle Royal I get my freedom for good! Next I'm moving out of here and am going to find someplace better to stay. Lastly, since I won't be around anymore I will only except messages delivered to me by Mikhail from Counter Measures. Understand! Do you have any comments or complaints?! If you do let me know so I can drop you out of this window right now!" When Burken shook his head "no" M80o2 let him go on the ground and turned to walk away.
"WHY YOU UNGREATFUL BASTARD!!!!" Burken yelled when he regained his composure and charged at M80o2 with the electrified hand.
M80o2 spun around on a dime and stopped his claws half an inch from the chairman's throat. "Don't push me, Burken." he instructed before slashing the door off it's hinges and threw Nicolai across the hall. He stormed down to his room where he finally went back to normal. Three hours later he was leaving the company building with the help of Mikhail and the three who helped him move his stuff the night before.
After an afternoon of searching M80o2 found an apartment complex with a room available for a moderate price, unfortunately it was next to a noisy ice machine. The rest of the day and part of the evening was spent setting up the room to M80o2's liking. To repay them for their generosity M80o2 took them out for a large dinner on him. After everyone was drunk they stumbled back to the building where Mikhail and the other three (Carlos, Lui, and Jim (everyone called Jim Shatner for some reason.)) talked there way onto two rooms at the end of the hall. Sleep came pretty quick and morning arrived later than usual.
The next day Mikhail got a call from Burken saying when M80o2's first fight was going to be. It was later that evening against Neo-Nepal's Gundam Shangri-La. Mikhail spread the message to Carlos Lui and Shatner. He then made himself breakfast before realizing he needed to tell M80o2.
"Um… boss… are you awake?" Mikhail asked as he knocked on M80o2's door.
"What do you mean by boss? Neither Burken or Nicolai are here." M80o2 replied groggily as he opened the door to his apartment.
"I mean you. Burken decided that the four of us are to act as your support crew so from now on you're our boss." was Mikhail's reply.
"Sweet!" Exclaimed M80o2. "I finally have some power to abuse… I mean… umm… oh forget it. I can at least guarantee we'll have fun. So what were you going to tell me?"
"Oh right." Mikhail said. "We found out your first opponent is going to be."
"Well… who is it?" M80o2 asked impatiently.
"Neo-Nepal's Gundam Shangri-La. The pilot is Kiral Mekirel. He's supposed to be really good this year. They say that his gundam this year combines the best parts of his past gundams, Tantra and Mandala.."
"Why do those names seem familiar? Oh well can't be all that important. So what do we need to do to get ready?"
Mikhail explained to M80o2 what was needed to get everything ready. M80o2 didn't like the fact that he had to go back to the Umbrella facility to get the gundam but he had no choice. He made it known however that if Nicolai or Burken try to do anything to him they were as good as dead. Mikhail assured M80o2 that neither Burken nor Nicolai would try anything and they finally left to retrieve the Gundam Mijulner. It took about an hour and a half to get to the hanger to get Mijulner and another two hours to get the gundam loaded and ready to go.
At the arena Kiral had already entered quietly and was waiting for his opponent to enter. His gundam, the Shangri-La, gleamed in the sun. It looked like a modified version of his old Tantra gundam. The main differences were that the head looked more like Mandala's, with the sash wrapped around the mouth, and it had the same staff that Kiral used to find his opponents. Unlike the last tournament though, he didn't need the staff to find his opponents, he could see.
Kiral had just started to meditate when an air raid siren came over all the speakers in the arena. He looked up and around before Shangri-La's radar picked up two jets approaching. The jets flew side be side until they were over the arena. When they were over the center they split and flew off in opposite directions one to the left, the other to the right. When they were about 600 yards apart they pulled up and started to do a flip. At the peak of the flip the jets rolled over and screamed towards each other. At about 100 yards the jets fired off several missiles each. The first missiles collided and the jets flew into the smoke created from the explosion. Several other explosions were heard. Then a bright light radiated out from the smoke. The smoke disappeared revealing the Umbrella logo in the air. The two jets then reappeared and flew through the center of the symbol then out of sight. The spectators gasped and then started clapping.
After about 20 seconds a low humming sound was heard from above the stadium. Everyone looked up to see a giant ship looming about 1000 yards above the arena. The words "Red Umbrella" could be seen on the side of the massive ship. The Red Umbrella was the flagship of Umbrella's space fleet, and was one of the few space class ships that could fly inside the earth's atmosphere. It was one of the three capitol ships in the fleet, the others were Blue Umbrella and Green Umbrella, and was the pride of the fleet. The two jets that had appeared earlier had been deployed from the Red Umbrella and were known as PCO-268MKII, or simply as Ponchos. Slowly a hatch on the bottom opened and something launched out of it. As the object fell towards earth the major engines on the Red Umbrella activated and it shot back into the atmosphere heading towards the colony. People looked at the falling object with interest It looked to be a drop pod, an atmospheric entry pod used to land unmanned mechs on Mars, but it had Umbrella's logo on it. About 100 yards above the ground small retro rockets fired on the bottom of the pod to slow it some. Clamps on the sides of the pod exploded outwards, well all but the last one on the right side of the pod. When landing the pods blow the clamps off and the pod splits in half, so that the mech lands and the two halves of the pod shoot back up into the atmosphere where they disintegrate. If the clamps don't all blow off there is a high chance the thing will explode. The audience gasped in fear as the rockets on the bottom of the pod increased in thrust and the pod exploded about 20 feet above the surface of the ring creating a large cloud of smoke and dust. The dust slowly settled and to everyone's surprise Gundam Mijulner was there on one knee in the ring with the hammer drawn out slightly resting on it looking completely untouched. There was a collective gasp of sorts as people finally registered that the gundam had somehow escaped the explosion and that the whole event was probably staged. Mijulner stood up and turned towards the opposing gundam.
"So this is the Gundam Shangri-La? That means that the pilot is Kiral Mekirel. It doesn't seem fair that I have to fight a blind guy. This will be too easy." M80o2 laughed.
"You think its funny, do you." Kiral called. "Well then you'll find this hilarious!"
Shangri-La suddenly lunged forwards and about one fifth of its staff came in contact with Mijulner's head. Mijulner's head jerked to the side and the gundam span around once in the air before crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
"I know what you're thinking. How did he do that when he's blind?" He asked as Mijulner stood back up. Now Kiral was laughing. "Well your information on me is a little old. I'm not blind anymore. I can see your gundam. And I can see that I'm going to win!" Shangri-La charged again.
This time however M80o2 was ready and Mijulner's hammer contacted with the staff. The gundams stood there clashed for a few seconds just looking at each other before they broke the clash and jumped back away from each other. Mijulner went into a sort of relaxed fighting stance. Less than a second later panels on the gundam's legs opened revealing six pods with eight missiles each on each leg. Kiral saw the missiles and said the first thing that came to his mind, "Oh shit!" Before he could actually finish the word "shit" the missiles launched and jetted straight for the Nepalian gundam. The Shangri-La attempted to dodge but a few of the missiles still made contact leaving black marks on the gundam's armor. The force of the multiple blasts caused the gundam to fly back and crash into the barrier around the ring. Kiral yelled out in pain. The gundam fell to its hands and knees. Kiral took a few deep breaths before getting up. His gundam jumped into the air and seemed to disappear. M80o2 looked around in confusion before he was struck on the right side of the head by Shangri-La's staff. The force of the blow caused Mijulner to spin, drop it's hammer, and stammer back some. Mijulner recovered its footing and was about to dash for the hammer when Shangri-La charged.
"Jigoku Mandala!" Kiral yelled as Shangri-La started to spin its staff. Almost instantly a ring of fire formed around the outer rim of the blurring staff. Then a stream of fire shot out straight at Mijulner. M80o2 brought his arms up to block but the pain became too much and he dropped his guard. Instantly Mijulner was consumed by the flames of the attack and fell to its knees. Slowly, painfully, Mijulner stood back up and got into a half stance. Then gathering all its strength threw a left punch for Shangri-La's head. Unfortunately for M80o2 Kiral saw the attack coming and used Shangri-La's claws to interlock with Mijulner's. With a twist and a flick Shangri-La sent Mijulner's arm dropping towards the ground. Mijulner, using the borrowed force of his left arm moving back threw a right punch and caught part of the ornament on the top of the staff. Apparently the ornament was what had the flamethrower in it and when it got cut it caused a chain reaction and exploded.
The explosion, which was larger than anyone expected, sent both gundams crashing into the barrier, and dropping to their knees. When they both stood back up they were smoking a little. Shangri-La's staff was now a charred black color instead of its original gold. Mijulner made a quick dash for the hammer and picked it up off the ground. While M80o2 was reaching for the hammer he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, something black and moving pretty fast. Mijulner quickly brought up it's hammer and slammed it into the object sending it to the left where it embedded itself in the ground.
Now that it was harmless M80o2 took time to see what it was. The object that had tried to attack Mijulner was Shangri-La's staff, although it looked a little shorter than it was supposed to. M80o2 figured that it was probably just embedded in the ground or something logical like that. But seeing how it was a gundam fight and things are rarely what they seem the staff wasn't very deep in the ground and fairly quickly fell taking up a chunk of earth with it. Deciding to examine the staff closer M80o2 noticed a hole that he was fairly certain wasn't there even after the ornament was cut off. He also concluded that the staff was indeed shorter than it had been. Before M80o2 could wonder what had happened to the staff he found out. A beam saber blade came lunging towards him and in shock he dropped the hammer again as he jumped back to avoid the blade. Unfortunately M80o2 wasn't fast enough and a second later the tip of the beam saber was pointed at Mijulner's neck.
"So you had a beam saber hidden in your staff eh? Nice trick." M80o2 said staring at the blade that could easily decapitate his gundam.
"Thank you." Kiral replied in mock courtesy. "However I must ask… what now?"
M80o2 smiled, "This."
The vulcans on Mijulner's head started to fire off. After a few quick rounds the missiles on Mijulner's shoulders also activated. Shangri-La was forced to jump back and with the sword cut the missiles in half with lightening fast reflexes. This brief distraction gave M80o2 enough time to charge forward and throw a right claw punch. The Shangri-La easily dodged the move by rotating so that the cockpit was no longer exposed and the right arm was forward.
"Trying to attack the cockpit?" Kiral called out.
"No, trying to trick ya."
As M80o2 gave his reply Mijulner threw a left punch and the claws tore into Shangri-La's right arm, the arm that happened to be holding the sword. The arm instantly went limp and the sword fell out and deactivated. Kiral let out a cry of pain and instinctively grabbed his right arm where the claws had struck. Mijulner once again picked up it's hammer and this time brought it crashing into Shangri-La's left shoulder crushing the armor and part of the joint so that the arm could only move below the elbow. Despite only being able to use half of one arm Kiral did a good job of blocking Mijulner's hammer attacks and every now and then taking a swipe at the opposing gundam.
After some time of blocking and swiping Kiral got bold and after deflecting one last attack jumped into the air. M80o2 looked up but could not see the Shangri-La because the sun was directly behind it. The gundam finally came into view, claws pointed directly at Mijulner's head, with barely enough time for Mijulner to role to the side to dodge. Shangri-La came down with such force that the claw sunk into the ground and could not get out. Taking advantage of the moment Mijulner jumped into the air and fired it's vulcans at Shangri-La. It was about now that Kiral had a flashback to his fight against Gentle Chapman in the 11th fight where he lost because he got his gundam's claw stuck in the ground. The same fight where he lost his eyesight. Snapping out of his flashback Kiral yelled out that he wouldn't lose like that again and started to pull at the claw again. With one last great effort Shangri-La pulled and stood up causing the arm to be ripped off below the elbow. Shangri-La the launched into the air and slammed it's left shoulder into Mijulner's chest.
With it's left hand Mijulner gabbed Shangri-La by the neck and pulled it off. With the right hand, which held the hammer, Mijulner knocked Shangri-La back to the ground. A second or two later Mijulner landed next to the other gundam and turned to face it.
"I'm going to end this now." M80o2 said as his gundam started to spin around. The gundam continued to spin faster and faster until it was just a blur. "This is the end for you Kiral." M80o2 called out. "But since you were such a good opponent I won't take your head. Now, face the inevitable end and behold my hammer's true power. PISTON OVERDRIVE!!"
Mijulner quit spinning and slammed the hammer into Shangri-La's waist while simultaneously brining it's right hand down the shaft of the hammer like a piston hitting the left hand. There was a pause for less than a second before a giant beam ripped through Shangri-La destroying it's leg joints and the ground around it.
"What kind of weapon is that?" Kiral asked in a weak voice as his now legless gundam crashed to the ground.
"There's a mega particle cannon built into the block of the hammer. I activate it by using the piston on the handle of the weapon"
"Ah…" Kiral replied before falling silent.
During the course of the battle the audience had been strangely quiet and weren't quite sure of what happened or how to react but finally it sunk in that someone had won and they, slowly at first, cheered for the victor.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. The winner is…… Neo-Umbrella's Gundam Mijulner and it's pilot M80o2." Declared the announcer speaking for the first time during the fight.
Later as M80o2 was walking back to the hanger to transport Mijulner back to Umbrella's facilities for repairs he was approached by someone from behind. The person laid a hand on M80o2's shoulder before he was even noticed. M80o2 spun around to find Kiral standing in front of him.
"I've come to pay my respects for your victory." Kiral said showing very little emotion if any in his voice. He then held out his right hand, which had his staff in it. "Here take this as a gift for winning."
"You're giving me your staff?" M80o2 asked in a mix of awe and confusion.
"No, not the staff I use now. However it is one I used to use. I feel it will do you some good to have it. It splits in half forming two swords each with a three foot blade. I used it before I lost my eyesight One sword is easier to wield when your blind than two is. Keep it and remember these two words when you're using it. Tango Kang. They will come in handy." Without saying anything else Kiral turned and left. M80o2 just stood there in shock holding the staff.
"Wait!" M80o2 called out before Kiral was out of earshot. "You said you got your eyesight back during the fight, how?"
Kiral stopped and turned around, a slight smile on his face. "That, I don't actually have my full eyesight back but I can see as long as I have my goggles on. It was a deal done with someone you should know well. He's from the other corporate country, said the goggles would make this years fight far more interesting. I think he was right, don't you?" Kiral smiled again and vanished into thin air.
"WAIT!!" M80o2 yelled out but Kiral was gone. "Damn! Hmm…. He said it'd do me good to have this staff… Tango Kang? What is that supposed to mean?" He asked himself when he was finally able to speak. Deciding to keep the staff and figure out what those words meant later M80o2 headed off to get Mijulner.
There were no Gundam Fights for the next few days, while actual reasons were unknown the International Fight Committee claimed that there were no fights so that the Fighters could get their Gundams into peak condition and still rest up before they had to compete again. Whatever the reason, none of the gundam fighters were about to complain.
The Shuffle Alliance decided to spend the time training for future fights, most of the remaining competitors decided to use the time to finally explore Neo-Japan, however a few decided to spend their time getting drunk. Kyle Voligrad and Hernando Rivera were the two who decided to partake in this event. M80o2 on the other hand spent most of his time looking for a decent arcade to hang out it. He finally found one not to far from the apartment he was staying in. Gaming wasn't as easy as he had thought it was going to be. Since he was a gundam fighter, and had won no less, he was constantly bugged by fans at crucial moments in the games resulting in it taking him around $20 American just to beat Ninja Attack.
Three days and 12 all time high scores later it was time for the fights to continue. The roster for who was to fight who was posted in the lobby of an old embassy. Neo-Umbrella was set to fight a country that, to the best of anyone's knowledge, wasn't even in the finals.
"This has got to be a mistake." M80o2 exclaimed. "Neo-Tibet didn't make it to the finals. Why am I fighting them? Well I guess I can't complain, not if I want to stay here and not get replaced by that idiot Fossil. What's the gundam's name again?" He looked back at the notice. A second later it dawned on him that the reason he couldn't figure out the name to save his life was because there was a smudge on the sheet. Beside the un-interpretable smudge of the name was a note saying that it's name meant "lucky" in Tibetan.
"So I'm fighting Neo-Tibet's……… Lucky Gundam? Well this should be interesting."
M80o2 was just about to leave the embassy when he overheard a fighter he hadn't seen before complain about his next opponent.
"I have to fight the Gundam Mijulner?!" Cried out the man. "That thing will kill me! I may be lucky but I'd need a frickin' miracle to beat him."
M80o2 spun around as fast as he could so he could see the guy he had to fight. The guy was about 5'11 with short spikey blond hair. His blue eyes were covered by a pair of yellow sunglasses. He wore a red Keiogi jacket with black Hakama pants. While this was all very odd, the oddest thing was that he wore a pair of traditional monk sandals. These are basically a flat piece of wood with another piece of wood 6 inches tall attached in the center at a perpendicular angle. (Author's Note: If you've seen Princess Mononoke, one of the monks in there wears the same kind of sandals.) So while he was less than six feet tall he appeared to be close to six and a half. When he saw M80o2 his mouth dropped and he took a step back.
"No way. It can't be you. You can't be M80o2 can you?" He asked.
"Yeah I am." came the reply. "And who might you be?"
"Me? I'm Akuma Anderson, representative of Neo-Tibet."
"Akuma Anderson huh? Doesn't sound very Tibetan to me." He took a step forward. Akuma took a step back. "Something the matter?"
"No, nothing at all." He replied hastily his body shaking some. M80o2 looked at this, grinned and ran forwards. Akuma jumped backwards and pulled a 5' metal pole seemingly out of nowhere. When M80o2 moved forwards again, instead of jumping back, he moved forwards and swung the pole at M80o2's head. Luckily M80o2 had the staff Kiral had given him with him and the attack was blocked. Without another word the two started to fight.
The fight was fast paced. Consisting of mainly swipes with their weapons. After about five minutes Akuma jumped back and got into a long reverse bow. He smiled as a lever appeared on his pole. He pushed the lever forwards and eight spikes sprang out towards the bottom of the staff. The lever retracted back in and Akuma smiled a little before attacking once again. This time the spiked part of the pole came down on the middle of M80o2's staff and with a crack it staff split in two. M80o2 smiled.
"Big mistake." M80o2 announced calmly as he brought the two halves up above his head. He smiled a big smile and then brought the two pieces downwards in a flash. When his hands had become level with his waist three foot long blades sprang out of the two pieces and the three foot long staff pieces retracted to about 11 inches long. Now instead of a staff, M80o2 had two swords.
Akuma looked and muttered "shit" to himself before M80o2 lunged again this time thrusting with the sword in his left hand and then taking a swing with his right sword. When Akuma dodged both attacks M80o2 spun around and did a sweep kick with his left leg. The sweep was dodged but the follow-up right round kick was not and Akuma flew forwards into a wall. Akuma regained his balance and got into another stance. He smiled again and this time a trigger appeared oh his pole.
"Goodbye M80o2." He said and pulled the trigger. Instantly the pole started firing off shots at Gattling-gun speed. M80o2 ran for cover but before he could make it he took two shots to his right arm and one to his right leg.
He collapsed behind a partially destroyed wall. His breathing was shallow but he wasn't bleeding. Sweat started to bead on his forehead and he had trouble keeping his eyes open. He felt his heartbeat almost double in speed and the familiar burning in his right hand returned to him. His eyes finally snapped open and they were the yellow-brown they had been when he was Tyrant. With lightning fast speed he jumped over the wall and ran head long at Akuma. Akuma in fear fired his staff again but none of the shots seemed to affect M80o2. Akuma turned to run but the hallway they were in was a dead end. M80o2 leapt into the air and crossed the swords above his head. In a deep, evil sounding voice he yelled to Akuma. "THIS IS THE END FOR YOU!!!! TANGO KANG!!!"
He brought the swords back down crossing them in front of him. Where the swords crossed a flaming X formed in the air and flew towards Akuma.
"No! No! Stay back!" Akuma yelled before the X hit him. He screamed in pain and flew back into the wall. He hit the ground with a sickening thump and before he could regain his bearings M80o2 was on top of him, claws pointed at his neck.
"This isn't over Akuma Anderson. Not by a long shot. We'll settle this Wednesday in the ring. Understand?"
And with that M80o2 got up and walked out of the embassy.