Ranma Gundam 2008
By Tekkaman Xero
Chapter 3: Old friends/rivals return! Unveil the Shining Gundam!
"Emergency! Scramble all GMs! LONO forces are attacking the base!"
The emergency sirens blared like a Banshee as the MS pilots scrambled to get out in their Mobile Suits. Only in one place were the sirens virtually unheard.
In the hangar, the GP-01 was undergoing final checks before Xero went out. It was in Aerial Combat mode, and waiting for Xero to return from getting his deployment orders to his subordinates. The GP-01, the most advanced Mobile Suit to date, was not something it's builders were going to let launch if they were uncertain of whether or not it will work right.
So when Xero returned after they checked for about the 187th time(that's an exaggeration, people!!), they felt it was ready to go.
"Sir, be careful. It's a lot faster than the Mk. II, and more difficult to handle. Don't let it catch you off-guard."
"Don't worry. I'm the Alliance's best MS pilot, after all." And without another word, he was in the cockpit, powering up the Gundam. Within 30 seconds he was up in the thick of the fighting.
On the Grey Phantom, Nikita had just launched in the Mk. II. Followed closely by Ranma and Akane. Instead of her GM Cannon, Akane was in what was once Nikita's GM Custom, at Xero's recommendation.
"Ranma, you and Akane go join the main force. I'm going to link up with Xero."
"Got it." Ranma replied
"Are you sure?" Akane asked "Can't Xero take care of himself?"
"It never hurts to have some cover. He does need to adjust to the new Gundam." Just as much as I need to adjust to this!
The two martial artist MS pilots broke off and joined the main group.
"There's a lot of those new suits down here." Ranma commented.
"At least 30 of them." A member of the battle group replied. "There's a group to the east that have a small group of GMs pinned down."
"Akane, stay here. I'll handle it."
"No! I'm-"
"Akane!" Xero shouted, "Do as Ranma says! I think he has something planned."
"You know me too well. If anyone follows, they'll just get in the way."
Akane fumed at that, but calmed down when Nikita pointed out that included Xero as well.
As for the GMs Ranma was going to save, it wasn't going well. They were among the first units out, having been on board a Salamis class cruiser that was leaving just as the enemy arrived. There had initially been 6, but four of them had been shot down. Only the CO and XO were still active. And that wasn't going to last long.
Ranma came into view of the Gelgoogs attacking the GMs. After finding a well-hidden spot he could attack the eight Gelgoogs from, he powered down the reactor to the absolute minimum level for firing and targeting. Carefully taking aim at the cockpit of the nearest Gelgoog, he fired.
Scratch one Gelgoog.
The unit immediately adjacent to it noticed, unlike the rest of his group, that the shot had NOT come from the two GMs they were attacking, and turned towards where it had come from. Ranma noticed this and made it the next target. As the Gelgoog moved cautiously, he put himself in a perfect position for Ranma's next shot.
Scratch three more Gelgoogs.
THIS time the entire squad noticed. And their commander panicked. "That was only one shot!! He got three units!"
The Gelgoogs hesitated.
"GO!!" Lieutenant Commander Thomas Blue wasted no time in taking advantage of the enemy's hesitation. Both he and his XO moved out and made a charging attack, taking out one Gelgoog before they even realized what was happening.
Ranma, seeing this, powered up the reactor to full and moved in, smashing a Gelgoog's cockpit in with the GM's shield while using his beam saber to slash apart another one.
And how was Akane doing on HER end?
Surprisingly well, for her first time in a GM Custom. Though the enemy force moving in was large, it consisted mostly of Zakus and Doms. Akane was more than capable of handling these two types of MS, but when a Gelgoog decided to enter close quarters combat with her, she found herself unable to fight back effectively. The Gelgoog was much faster than the GM Custom.
"Stand still, damn you!!" Akane began firing the vulcans wildly, not having much success. "Dammit!!" How would Ranma do this? On that thought, Akane noticed the Gelgoog was doing two things: Toying with her, and following a repeating pattern. She came up with an idea of how to win.(1)
Noticing it came within a certain distance of her each time it made an attack, she made a guess on when it would move in, and waited. It moved in precisely when she predicted it would, and as soon as it moved in, she charged forward with the beam saber drawn, catching the enemy pilot off- guard and resulting in the suit's destruction as the beam saber plowed through the reactor.
In the air, Nikita and Xero were practically performing a dance routine as they fought off the Goufs and Dodai YS bombers. Each one would take any maneuvers necessary to avoid the fire from the two suits. But, since Nikita and Xero were experts at teamwork, every time a Gouf dodged one beam, two more would be fired. At least one of which would hit the Gouf.(2)
On the Grey Phantom's bridge, Joe watched the battles from various screens. "This isn't like usual.. LONO usually sends small forces in a quick strike. They rarely do large-scale assaults like this."
"Maybe they're getting desperate." the comm officer suggested
"I doubt it. I get the feeling this had something to do with our meeting. This is no mere coincidence."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"They knew the Supreme Commander was supposed to be at the Moscow base, I think. They attacked there, and now here, where the Supreme Commander was diverted to. I think. We have a spy somewhere in the chain of command."
"Captain, the enemy is beginning to retreat!"
Sure enough, the enemy was retreating. Ranma noticed it shortly after systematically dismembering a Dom which tried to engage him in close combat.
Xero and Nikita watched them pull back. "Weird."
"What's wrong, Xero?"
"They still had plenty of strength. They could have kept going. They gave up too easily."
Joe's voice entered onto the com system, "All right, all Grey Phantom MS back to the ship. We have to get to Japan."
Akane is starting to get a little OOC, I know. But in the middle of a war, people can, and WILL change. Also, Ranma has begun to train Akane, so that's had an effect as well. Remember that in this fic, the Gundam Mk. II carries two beam rifles in its aerial combat mode. Take that into account when picturing this battle.
Japan. Ranma was dreading that, knowing of a certain two people pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. He hadn't forgiven Ukyo or Shampoo for their part in the failed wedding. And hew knew if they came along on the ship it'd be just like back in Nerima. The Alliance was just too light on the military disciplines.
As they returned to the ship, Xero noticed the not-so-happy look on Ranma's face. "Worried about the possibility that your fiancés will end up here?"
"Can't fool you, can I?"
"I read people like books. And your face not noly tells the whole story, but it's practically screaming out 'READ ME, DAMMIT!'" Ranma couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "Don't worry. Me and my brother have already discussed it. IF they are assigned to the ship, we'll make sure they don't go overboard."
"Thanks. But you realize-"
"-it won't be easy. Trust me. From what you've told me, we know EXACTLY what buttons to push. I'll see you later. I have to bring the combat data from the new Gundam to my brother."
"See ya."
Up on the bridge.
"Captain, I've brought the combat data for GP-01."
"Good. And what about-"
"I have Ranma's data, as well."
"Good." Joe took the data disks from his brother and began to review them.
"Um, Joe. Me and Nikita wanted to talk to you about something." as if on cue, Nikita stepped onto the bridge.
"Yes?"
"It's about Ranma. We both noticed he's been trying to apply his martial arts skill to piloting his MS, but he can't do it very well. Even though he's adapted to the controls rather nicely."
"Your point being?"
"Sir," Nikita spoke up, "I've come up with a cockpit design that will allow him to fully integrate his martial arts into piloting the suit. Up to and including ki blasts."
"I know of it. I was looking through your equipment designs the other day for anything that may be of help."
"You knew?!"
"And I've already sent it to the boys at the Japanese research branch. A new Gundam-type MS containing your Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit is nearing completion. I wanted Saotome to try it out from the moment I sent it."
Xero leaned over and whispered to Nikita, "He's always one step ahead of us."
"One more thing. DO NOT tell Ranma, OR Akane about this. No one is to know outside of this room until we get there."
"Understood." They both replied.
"Little surprise for him, huh?" Xero commented.
"Exactly. Disimissed."
They saluted, and left.
In the hangar.
Ranma was doing some repair work on his GM. He had recently found himself to have a natural talent for repairing things and found himself working on his GM most of the time that he wasn't spending on Akane's training.
Nikita had been impressed with his talent. He had required only a blueprint of the GM's design before he was fixing every little problem his suit was suffering from. He had even helped Xero work on the Mk II back when it was Xero's MS.
But now the Mk II was Nikita's MS. And NO ONE touched NIKITA'S toys!
Xero climbed up to the cockpit where Ranma was currently working. "Hey, Ranma"
"Yo, Xero. What's the word?"
"We leave tomorrow. And with the engines at full speed, and upgraded, we should be in Japan in 36 hours. We've got the next 12 hours off if we choose. Wanna go get something to drink in town?"
"Sure. I could use a break."
Elsewhere on the ship, Nikita was working with Akane. One of Nikita's assignments had been to go over the MS controls with Akane and she currently had Akane running a simulation. One that had 5-to-1 odds AGAINST Akane. Needless to say, Akane went down hard.
"Can't I try SOMETHING easier?"
"There's NOTHING easier than this, Akane. On the battlefield, you need to be ready for even worse than that. I noticed you have one problem."
"What's that?"
"You fire blindly with your beam rifle. It HAS a limit. Don't stop moving. Take time to target the enemy Mobile Suit. You notice that in martial arts it's a good idea to keep moving do you can dodge better, the same goes for piloting a Mobile Suit. You have to be ready, and constant movement helps. The Suits computer will compensate for any movements you're making while targeting. Now.. TRY AGAIN!!!"
Akane eeped and did just that.
Nerima, Japan, Tendo Dojo.
Nabiki was annoyed. Ranma's Alliance file was untouchable. She'd been trying various ways to access it and see what the Alliance is saying about him for WEEKS. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open Ranma, or her sister's files. She'd long ago figured that Ranma's reason for not returning was that he'd joined the Alliance after that incident near Furinkan High.
Turning off her computer, she went downstairs to relax, maybe watch some TV. As soon as she'd confirmed that Ranma and Akane had joined the Alliance, she'd sold the information to Ukyo and Shampoo, who immediately signed up and as far as she knew were pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. All Nabiki had been able to confirm was that Ranma and Akane were both Mobile Suit pilots on the Grey Phantom. That wasn't enough. She wanted to know EVERYTHING about anything in the Alliance concerning them.
She'd only just sat down in front of the TV when Kasumi noticed the two large men in Alliance uniforms outside. "Oh, we have guests."
"Excuse me, miss." The taller of the two spoke, "We need to speak with Nabiki Tendo."
"That's m- uh-oh." Nabiki had not noticed the Alliance men before she rounded the corner after hearing the man ask for her.
"You're Nabiki Tendo?"
Nabiki did her best to not show the nervousness she felt. She had been trying to hack Alliance files so much lately that she could only assume these people were here concerning that fact. "Yes, I am."
"We need to have a few words with you." He glanced at Kasumi, "in private."
Nabiki led them to the dojo. "Talk fast. I have a feeling this is something I want to get done with quickly."
"Your friend, Ranma Saotome, recommended we enlist your help in this. From what we understand, you can find out anything about anyone throughout most of Japan. For the right price."
This took Nabiki a bit by surprise. She was expecting a confrontation concerning her recent hacking attempts. "That's right. There are limits to some things I can find, but I can find out almost anything you need to know."
"Our intelligence members have had no luck in finding out information on any suspected LONO insiders. We hope a less suspicious civilian check might be overlooked by whoever's keeping them from the information."
"Sounds to me like it'd be more suspicious."
"Not entirely. Background checks are fairly common from civilians. Every Alliance member has to have a yearly psych evaluation and the doctors are given temporary database access to do some checks on their patients. Most Alliance soldiers go to psychologists that aren't in the military. This can prove helpful to you. We can set up a temporary access for you."
Nabiki thought things over. Here were two Alliance officers, scratch that, one very important officer and a bodyguard, judging by how their standing and the fact that the other one hasn't said a word, offering her a chance to not only track down and pick out a traitor in the Alliance, but also giving her access in such a way that she could get the information on Ranma that she wanted. And they were offering to pay her. It didn't take too long to make up her mind. "Fine. Let's talk money, now."
And two hours of negotiation began. When the Alliance officers left, Nabiki was standing there with her down payment of 1,000,000 yen. With another 2 mil to be paid after the job was done. She knew she had to get right on this.
"Father! Nabiki! Mr. Saotome! Dinner's ready!"
.After dinner, that is.
A few hours later, over Asia, the Grey Phantom was now on it's way back to Japan.
Nikita was doing some tweaking on HER Gundam's beam rifle, giggling like a little schoolgirl all the while.
Akane was running some simulations in the cockpit of her GM.
Xero and Ranma were doing maintenance on one of GP-01's spare Core Fighters..
"Okay, Ranma, I think I got it, try it now!"
As told, Ranma powered up to engines. And sparks immediately started flying.
"WHOA! SHIT! TURN IT OFF!!! TURN IT OFF!!! TURNITOFF!!!!"
And through it all, the Grey Phantom's captain couldn't bring himself to think positive about things. The way the LONO forces had attacked and retreated last time still bothered him, though it had been almost 2 days since the battle. Another thing that disturbed him is LONO usually struck at least three bases in a 24-hour period. But there had been no reported attacks since the last battle they were in. Joe wished he could take that as a GOOD sign, but he had a very bad feeling.
"Xero! Nikita! Akane! Ranma! Blair!"
All five dropped what they were doing and paid damn close attention to their commanding officer. "We'll be arriving at the Tokyo Alliance Research Center in five hours. And Ranma, I have bad news. Your fiances' requests to join the Grey Phantom were approved."
"Oh, boy."
"Don't worry, kid." Xero spoke, "We'll make sure they leave you alone."
Ranma," Joe spoke again, "We have a surprise for you when we get there. It'll get you off the ship and away from them long enough for us to set the ground rules with them. See to it that you're ready to go as soon as we land."
Xero threw in his two cents, "That means get your UNIFORM on."
Akane wondered just WHAT they had for Ranma..
Five hours later, the Grey Phantom began it's approach to the Tokyo Research Center. Once the ship had safely landed, a team of Alliance researchers met the disembarking group, which consisted of Ranma, Joe, and a few Grey Phantom technicians(Xero and Nikita were staying on the ship to "break in" the new crew members).
"Welcome to the Tokyo Research Center. If you'll come with me, please."
The group didn't waste time. "Captain, as per the specs we designed the unit to efficiently utilize the pilot's skills to their fullest potential. Including the small beam generators in the arms. This unit is just a prototype, mind you, and we can't guarantee it's ability to operate at it's full potential."
"Don't worry. I'm sure that between Nikita, Xero, and Ranma we can work out any kinks as we come to them."
Soon after they were led to a Mobile Suit hangar. Joe stopped the group before turning in. "Ranma, when we arrived we told you there was a surprise here waiting for you. And it's waiting inside this hangar."
"A new Mobile Suit?"
"Not just ANY Mobile Suit. I present to you, the Shining Gundam."
The guard opened the door, and there it was, in all it's multi-colored glory. It was a little smaller than the GP-01's flight mode, but had a fancier design. Sharper, more pronounced epaulets over the shoulders, a sleek, quick-appearing design, and no weapons visible beyond the standard head vulcans.
"This Gundam is MINE?"
"A Gundam designed specifically for a martial artist. No more foot pedal and control sticks for you, kid. This Gundam uses a special Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit that traces your movements, allowing you to use every martial arts move you've ever learned. Two small beam generators in the arms allow the suit to mimic ki attacks, and therefore negating the need for standard weaponry. A suit designed with YOU in mind, Saotome."
By the time he had finished speaking, Ranma was already giving the suit a close examination.
Back on the Grey Phantom, Ukyo and sHampoo had just been brought on board, along with the other recruits. While Blair broke in the others, Xero and Nikita were giving Ukyo and Shampoo a SPECIAL welcome.
"Listen carefully, you two!" Xero spoke, in the voice of an experienced commander, and never giving the two a chance to protest anything he says. "The Alliance may be an unrestrictive military, but there ARE rules you must follow. First off, your engagements to Ranma Saotome mean NOTHING as long as you are on this ship! You are on the Alliance's most advanced battleship, and you will not harass Ranma at any time! Anything we see that we feel is harassment WILL get you thrown in the brig! You are under my command on this ship. As the newest pilots, you are also under Saotome's command. You are also under Akane's command." Shampoo tried to complain about that, but Xero wouldn't hear it, "Command in the Mboile Suit ranks on this ship is determined by experience!!! Unless you prove to have better skills than her, she has authority over you! Most importantly, you will be responsible for practicing when there are no battles in progress. When it comes to maintenance of your Suits, and training simulations, you will report to Nikita, call sign Ice Bitch. She is the head mechanic on the Grey Phantom, and in charge of the training sims. You WILL notify her when you are engaging a sim, and you WILL report problems with your Mobile Suits to her. Nikita, you take it from here."
"Thank you, Xero. Any complaints concerning you and Ranma OR Akane will also go through me. I will be responsible for determining punishments for any incidents involving these two. IF you came to the Grey Phantom in hopes of advancing your engagements and chances to "get" our young pilot, you are going to be sorely disappointed. The Alliance is not all fun and games. And you will do as ordered! UNDERSTOOD?!"
Both hesitated before responding, "Yes, ma'am!"
Nikita turned to the next in line in the chain of MS command, "Blair!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Once you're finished put our two new pilots through a practice phase."
"Understood!"
Xero and Nikita then left to take care of things concerning the Mobile Suits. "So what do we got, here?" Niktia asked.
"Ukyo is going to be taking command of the GM Cannon. Blair'll be moving up to Ranma's GM, and we'll finally be taking him off the gun turrets. Shampoo's been assigned to the new GM Sniper that they'll be loading on along with the Shining Gundam."
"I see. Any word on what's going on after this?"
"Rumor is we'll go back to scouring desolate areas for any sign of LONO bases."
"We've been doing a lot of running around since most of our GMs fell in that encounter in Africa."
"I know.. Hopefully the new pilots can handle what they have to do."
Meanwhile.
"Okay, you two, we're going to be doing a patrol of the Juuban district, but we'll also be doing some practice in combat. If you are targeted, you lose. You will follow my or Akane's orders at ALL TIMES! We move out as soon as your Suits are ready! GET MOVING!!!"
With Xero and Nikita's words still etched in their brains, Ukyo and Shampoo wasted no time in going to prepare their suits. Blair went to notify Akane of her task.
"This sucks." Ukyo commented, "We've been on the ship five minutes and we're already being sent out. I haven't gotten a chance to see my Ranchan yet!"
"I'm not any happier about it." Shampoo commented, "I want to see Ranma, too. But I guess we'll just have to wait."
Ukyo STILL wasn't used to hearing Shampoo speaking proper Japanese. When they'd joined up, one of the first things the commanders did was make sure Shampoo was taught proper Japanese. She had gotten the hang of it quickly and now it was hard to believe that just a few months ago this girl was speaking in the third person and in broken Japanese.
"And to make matters worse," Ukyo grumbled, "we have to take orders from AKANE!"
"Do you have a problem with that?!" A voice came from below.
"Um. No, Aka- I mean, ma'am."
"Don't be so formal, Ukyo. You can still call me by name."
Shampoo looked at how Akane was carrying herself and realized that Ranma had begun training her, "Aiya. Akane, you might be a match for me, soon!"
"Okay, enough with the chit-chat!" Blair shouted as he came on to the scene, "Finish up so we can move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
"SIR?! YOU CLOWNS GOT DUST IN YOUR EYES?! I'm not an officer! I WORK for a living! Call me Sarge when I'm giving an order."
"You two need to learn," Akane spoke, "That rank means nothing on this ship unless an order is being given. So unless you are being given an order it is okay to call other by name. Anyway, GET MOVING!! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!!!"
"Aiya! Akane doesn't screw around!!!"
A short while later.
"Man." Ukyo grumbled, "Why do I have to use this oversized artillery cannon?"
"Because it's all they had available and I proved to be better suited for the Sniper?"
"Oh, shut up." Ukyo's computer then registered that she'd been targeted..By Akane. "WHAAAAT?!"
"Rule number 1," Akane said through the comm., "Watch your back. As Ranma has taught me, MS combat can very easily be compared to a martial arts battle. If you don't pay attention, you'll go down FAST."
".Understood."
Blair's radar then picked up something. "Okay, listen up we've got four unidentified targets approaching from the northeast."
Akane checked her scanners, "I see them."
"Blair to Grey Phantom can you confirm the ID if the contacts?"
"Scanning.. IFF signals identifying them as LONO Mobile Suits."
"Okay, you pilots, no more practice, this is the real thing. This is probably just a scouting party but be on guard nonetheless."
"Grey Phantom to Blair, message from the Captain: Do not fire unless fired upon."
"What?!" Shampoo screamed, "Why?! That's stupid!"
"Beats me," Blair replied, "but the Captain usually has something up his sleeve."
Back on the Grey Phantom, they had just finished loading up the Shining Gundam. Joe went to where Xero was checking over the GP-01's systems. "Xero, go out there and plant a tracer on one of those suits. If this is just a scouting party they'll be returning to their base as soon as they're done. Blair, Akane and the newbies are positioned in the city. They're to attack only if attacked by the group."
"Gotcha. Nikita! Open up GP-01 for Ground-based combat!"
"Roger!"
A few equipment exchanges and Xero was out in the field waiting for the right opportunity to- "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!!!"
Right in the center of the formation was a very LARGE Mobile Suit. Easily 50% larger than a Gelgoog. It had six large missiles in two pods attached to it's back and an appearance that looked like someone slammed GP-01's light mode and a Gelgoog together. It also had one hell of a nasty-looking beam rifle.
"Good god," was all Blair managed to say.
"Get me a reading!" Joe shouted.
"It's no good, Joe!" the sensor operator shouted, "We can't scan that thing's internal structure! Something's itnerefering!"
"Grey Phantom to all Mobile Suits in the field! Previous orders are revoked. Destroy all incoming Mobile Suits!" He then turned on the ship's intercom system, "All hands, battle stations! Nikita! Ranma! Get out there immediately!"
As soon as Joe relayed his information to the base command center the entire base went on full alert. Unfortunately, being only a research facility, they were not as well-equipped as most Alliance bases. They had only two Stars of GM Customs available to aid the Grey Phantom's forces.
"Shampoo to Grey Phantom! Requesting permission to use the Sniper Rifle!"
"Permission granted. Nikita, get a team sent out with the rifle!!"
As Nikita and Ranma's Gundams departed the ship, a large truck containing the generator for Shampoo's Sniper Rifle left, as well. "Ranma, go meet up with Blair and the others. I'll cover the Sniper team."
"Right."
Nikita led the team over to Shampoo's location. The citizens had rushed to shelters at the first sign of LONO Mobile Suits, so the streets were deserted. Shampoo's Sniper location was somewhat distanced from the battleground, she'd chosen a spot near the Nerima district where the skyscrapers left her a mostly clear shot while hiding her Suit well enough that there was little chance she'd be spotted before she good get a shot fired.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as she arrived, she picked up six more Mobile suits coming from the opposite direction the first four were coming from. She didn't hesitate to notify everyone.
"Damn," Xero grumbled, "A pincer attack. Nikita, you, Blair, and Akane handle the other group. Me, Ranma, and Ukyo will take care of this group."
"Roger! You heard the man! Move it!!"
"Ranma, you've got the fastest unit, so you try to focus on the large suit. Me and Ukyo will take out those Gelgoogs."
"Got it." Ranma began powering up the several beam generators in his Gundam.
"You were right to be suspicious, Joe. I think they were waiting for us to come here, to deploy this new suit."
"However powerful it is," Ranma commented, "It's no match for me."
"Ranma, give your overinflated ego a rest, would ya?"
Then the Grey Phantom's sensor operator spotted something, "Three Musai- class battleships approaching from the east!!"
"Helm, lift off! All hands prepare to ship-to-ship combat! Charge the beam cannons and load the missile launchers!"
"This battle will not be easy, people," Xero spoke through the comm system, "Don't get killed out there."
"Captain, the Musais are headed directly towards us!"
"Turn Grey Phantom 180 degrees! Meet them head-on!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Don't let us down, now, Grey Phantom."
End chapter 3
Author's Notes: Been a while, huh? Well as anyone who reads Kagome's Heritage knows, I've finally gotten off my lazy ass and started writing again. I made this chapter extra long(I was actually planning to span THESE events out over the course of 2 chapters, originally!!!) to make up for the big wait. I'll be alternating fics, so after this is updated, I work on the next chapter of Kagome's Heritage, then back to this. I've put Flights of the Nova Cat on hold until this and Kagome's Heritage are complete.
On other notes, several people noticing Blair in previous chapters said he should be given more time. So I gave him more time. He's a skilled MS pilot but up until now all he's been doing is manning the guns since there wasn't a GM Custom available for him.
And you people don't honestly think I'm going to let Ukyo and Shampoo get away with the things they do in Nerima, do you?
I know I'm going to catch hell from Akane-haters (and lovers) for how she's changed since the fic has started, so I'm going to say this now: She's in the middle of a WAR!! Enough said.
This fic is now 3-5 chapters from finishing. There are some more events that need to be dealt with (like finding out who's the traitor) before I get to the big ending.
How many of you can guess what suit that big one I just mentioned is?
Chapter 3: Old friends/rivals return! Unveil the Shining Gundam!
"Emergency! Scramble all GMs! LONO forces are attacking the base!"
The emergency sirens blared like a Banshee as the MS pilots scrambled to get out in their Mobile Suits. Only in one place were the sirens virtually unheard.
In the hangar, the GP-01 was undergoing final checks before Xero went out. It was in Aerial Combat mode, and waiting for Xero to return from getting his deployment orders to his subordinates. The GP-01, the most advanced Mobile Suit to date, was not something it's builders were going to let launch if they were uncertain of whether or not it will work right.
So when Xero returned after they checked for about the 187th time(that's an exaggeration, people!!), they felt it was ready to go.
"Sir, be careful. It's a lot faster than the Mk. II, and more difficult to handle. Don't let it catch you off-guard."
"Don't worry. I'm the Alliance's best MS pilot, after all." And without another word, he was in the cockpit, powering up the Gundam. Within 30 seconds he was up in the thick of the fighting.
On the Grey Phantom, Nikita had just launched in the Mk. II. Followed closely by Ranma and Akane. Instead of her GM Cannon, Akane was in what was once Nikita's GM Custom, at Xero's recommendation.
"Ranma, you and Akane go join the main force. I'm going to link up with Xero."
"Got it." Ranma replied
"Are you sure?" Akane asked "Can't Xero take care of himself?"
"It never hurts to have some cover. He does need to adjust to the new Gundam." Just as much as I need to adjust to this!
The two martial artist MS pilots broke off and joined the main group.
"There's a lot of those new suits down here." Ranma commented.
"At least 30 of them." A member of the battle group replied. "There's a group to the east that have a small group of GMs pinned down."
"Akane, stay here. I'll handle it."
"No! I'm-"
"Akane!" Xero shouted, "Do as Ranma says! I think he has something planned."
"You know me too well. If anyone follows, they'll just get in the way."
Akane fumed at that, but calmed down when Nikita pointed out that included Xero as well.
As for the GMs Ranma was going to save, it wasn't going well. They were among the first units out, having been on board a Salamis class cruiser that was leaving just as the enemy arrived. There had initially been 6, but four of them had been shot down. Only the CO and XO were still active. And that wasn't going to last long.
Ranma came into view of the Gelgoogs attacking the GMs. After finding a well-hidden spot he could attack the eight Gelgoogs from, he powered down the reactor to the absolute minimum level for firing and targeting. Carefully taking aim at the cockpit of the nearest Gelgoog, he fired.
Scratch one Gelgoog.
The unit immediately adjacent to it noticed, unlike the rest of his group, that the shot had NOT come from the two GMs they were attacking, and turned towards where it had come from. Ranma noticed this and made it the next target. As the Gelgoog moved cautiously, he put himself in a perfect position for Ranma's next shot.
Scratch three more Gelgoogs.
THIS time the entire squad noticed. And their commander panicked. "That was only one shot!! He got three units!"
The Gelgoogs hesitated.
"GO!!" Lieutenant Commander Thomas Blue wasted no time in taking advantage of the enemy's hesitation. Both he and his XO moved out and made a charging attack, taking out one Gelgoog before they even realized what was happening.
Ranma, seeing this, powered up the reactor to full and moved in, smashing a Gelgoog's cockpit in with the GM's shield while using his beam saber to slash apart another one.
And how was Akane doing on HER end?
Surprisingly well, for her first time in a GM Custom. Though the enemy force moving in was large, it consisted mostly of Zakus and Doms. Akane was more than capable of handling these two types of MS, but when a Gelgoog decided to enter close quarters combat with her, she found herself unable to fight back effectively. The Gelgoog was much faster than the GM Custom.
"Stand still, damn you!!" Akane began firing the vulcans wildly, not having much success. "Dammit!!" How would Ranma do this? On that thought, Akane noticed the Gelgoog was doing two things: Toying with her, and following a repeating pattern. She came up with an idea of how to win.(1)
Noticing it came within a certain distance of her each time it made an attack, she made a guess on when it would move in, and waited. It moved in precisely when she predicted it would, and as soon as it moved in, she charged forward with the beam saber drawn, catching the enemy pilot off- guard and resulting in the suit's destruction as the beam saber plowed through the reactor.
In the air, Nikita and Xero were practically performing a dance routine as they fought off the Goufs and Dodai YS bombers. Each one would take any maneuvers necessary to avoid the fire from the two suits. But, since Nikita and Xero were experts at teamwork, every time a Gouf dodged one beam, two more would be fired. At least one of which would hit the Gouf.(2)
On the Grey Phantom's bridge, Joe watched the battles from various screens. "This isn't like usual.. LONO usually sends small forces in a quick strike. They rarely do large-scale assaults like this."
"Maybe they're getting desperate." the comm officer suggested
"I doubt it. I get the feeling this had something to do with our meeting. This is no mere coincidence."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"They knew the Supreme Commander was supposed to be at the Moscow base, I think. They attacked there, and now here, where the Supreme Commander was diverted to. I think. We have a spy somewhere in the chain of command."
"Captain, the enemy is beginning to retreat!"
Sure enough, the enemy was retreating. Ranma noticed it shortly after systematically dismembering a Dom which tried to engage him in close combat.
Xero and Nikita watched them pull back. "Weird."
"What's wrong, Xero?"
"They still had plenty of strength. They could have kept going. They gave up too easily."
Joe's voice entered onto the com system, "All right, all Grey Phantom MS back to the ship. We have to get to Japan."
Akane is starting to get a little OOC, I know. But in the middle of a war, people can, and WILL change. Also, Ranma has begun to train Akane, so that's had an effect as well. Remember that in this fic, the Gundam Mk. II carries two beam rifles in its aerial combat mode. Take that into account when picturing this battle.
Japan. Ranma was dreading that, knowing of a certain two people pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. He hadn't forgiven Ukyo or Shampoo for their part in the failed wedding. And hew knew if they came along on the ship it'd be just like back in Nerima. The Alliance was just too light on the military disciplines.
As they returned to the ship, Xero noticed the not-so-happy look on Ranma's face. "Worried about the possibility that your fiancés will end up here?"
"Can't fool you, can I?"
"I read people like books. And your face not noly tells the whole story, but it's practically screaming out 'READ ME, DAMMIT!'" Ranma couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "Don't worry. Me and my brother have already discussed it. IF they are assigned to the ship, we'll make sure they don't go overboard."
"Thanks. But you realize-"
"-it won't be easy. Trust me. From what you've told me, we know EXACTLY what buttons to push. I'll see you later. I have to bring the combat data from the new Gundam to my brother."
"See ya."
Up on the bridge.
"Captain, I've brought the combat data for GP-01."
"Good. And what about-"
"I have Ranma's data, as well."
"Good." Joe took the data disks from his brother and began to review them.
"Um, Joe. Me and Nikita wanted to talk to you about something." as if on cue, Nikita stepped onto the bridge.
"Yes?"
"It's about Ranma. We both noticed he's been trying to apply his martial arts skill to piloting his MS, but he can't do it very well. Even though he's adapted to the controls rather nicely."
"Your point being?"
"Sir," Nikita spoke up, "I've come up with a cockpit design that will allow him to fully integrate his martial arts into piloting the suit. Up to and including ki blasts."
"I know of it. I was looking through your equipment designs the other day for anything that may be of help."
"You knew?!"
"And I've already sent it to the boys at the Japanese research branch. A new Gundam-type MS containing your Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit is nearing completion. I wanted Saotome to try it out from the moment I sent it."
Xero leaned over and whispered to Nikita, "He's always one step ahead of us."
"One more thing. DO NOT tell Ranma, OR Akane about this. No one is to know outside of this room until we get there."
"Understood." They both replied.
"Little surprise for him, huh?" Xero commented.
"Exactly. Disimissed."
They saluted, and left.
In the hangar.
Ranma was doing some repair work on his GM. He had recently found himself to have a natural talent for repairing things and found himself working on his GM most of the time that he wasn't spending on Akane's training.
Nikita had been impressed with his talent. He had required only a blueprint of the GM's design before he was fixing every little problem his suit was suffering from. He had even helped Xero work on the Mk II back when it was Xero's MS.
But now the Mk II was Nikita's MS. And NO ONE touched NIKITA'S toys!
Xero climbed up to the cockpit where Ranma was currently working. "Hey, Ranma"
"Yo, Xero. What's the word?"
"We leave tomorrow. And with the engines at full speed, and upgraded, we should be in Japan in 36 hours. We've got the next 12 hours off if we choose. Wanna go get something to drink in town?"
"Sure. I could use a break."
Elsewhere on the ship, Nikita was working with Akane. One of Nikita's assignments had been to go over the MS controls with Akane and she currently had Akane running a simulation. One that had 5-to-1 odds AGAINST Akane. Needless to say, Akane went down hard.
"Can't I try SOMETHING easier?"
"There's NOTHING easier than this, Akane. On the battlefield, you need to be ready for even worse than that. I noticed you have one problem."
"What's that?"
"You fire blindly with your beam rifle. It HAS a limit. Don't stop moving. Take time to target the enemy Mobile Suit. You notice that in martial arts it's a good idea to keep moving do you can dodge better, the same goes for piloting a Mobile Suit. You have to be ready, and constant movement helps. The Suits computer will compensate for any movements you're making while targeting. Now.. TRY AGAIN!!!"
Akane eeped and did just that.
Nerima, Japan, Tendo Dojo.
Nabiki was annoyed. Ranma's Alliance file was untouchable. She'd been trying various ways to access it and see what the Alliance is saying about him for WEEKS. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open Ranma, or her sister's files. She'd long ago figured that Ranma's reason for not returning was that he'd joined the Alliance after that incident near Furinkan High.
Turning off her computer, she went downstairs to relax, maybe watch some TV. As soon as she'd confirmed that Ranma and Akane had joined the Alliance, she'd sold the information to Ukyo and Shampoo, who immediately signed up and as far as she knew were pushing for position on the Grey Phantom. All Nabiki had been able to confirm was that Ranma and Akane were both Mobile Suit pilots on the Grey Phantom. That wasn't enough. She wanted to know EVERYTHING about anything in the Alliance concerning them.
She'd only just sat down in front of the TV when Kasumi noticed the two large men in Alliance uniforms outside. "Oh, we have guests."
"Excuse me, miss." The taller of the two spoke, "We need to speak with Nabiki Tendo."
"That's m- uh-oh." Nabiki had not noticed the Alliance men before she rounded the corner after hearing the man ask for her.
"You're Nabiki Tendo?"
Nabiki did her best to not show the nervousness she felt. She had been trying to hack Alliance files so much lately that she could only assume these people were here concerning that fact. "Yes, I am."
"We need to have a few words with you." He glanced at Kasumi, "in private."
Nabiki led them to the dojo. "Talk fast. I have a feeling this is something I want to get done with quickly."
"Your friend, Ranma Saotome, recommended we enlist your help in this. From what we understand, you can find out anything about anyone throughout most of Japan. For the right price."
This took Nabiki a bit by surprise. She was expecting a confrontation concerning her recent hacking attempts. "That's right. There are limits to some things I can find, but I can find out almost anything you need to know."
"Our intelligence members have had no luck in finding out information on any suspected LONO insiders. We hope a less suspicious civilian check might be overlooked by whoever's keeping them from the information."
"Sounds to me like it'd be more suspicious."
"Not entirely. Background checks are fairly common from civilians. Every Alliance member has to have a yearly psych evaluation and the doctors are given temporary database access to do some checks on their patients. Most Alliance soldiers go to psychologists that aren't in the military. This can prove helpful to you. We can set up a temporary access for you."
Nabiki thought things over. Here were two Alliance officers, scratch that, one very important officer and a bodyguard, judging by how their standing and the fact that the other one hasn't said a word, offering her a chance to not only track down and pick out a traitor in the Alliance, but also giving her access in such a way that she could get the information on Ranma that she wanted. And they were offering to pay her. It didn't take too long to make up her mind. "Fine. Let's talk money, now."
And two hours of negotiation began. When the Alliance officers left, Nabiki was standing there with her down payment of 1,000,000 yen. With another 2 mil to be paid after the job was done. She knew she had to get right on this.
"Father! Nabiki! Mr. Saotome! Dinner's ready!"
.After dinner, that is.
A few hours later, over Asia, the Grey Phantom was now on it's way back to Japan.
Nikita was doing some tweaking on HER Gundam's beam rifle, giggling like a little schoolgirl all the while.
Akane was running some simulations in the cockpit of her GM.
Xero and Ranma were doing maintenance on one of GP-01's spare Core Fighters..
"Okay, Ranma, I think I got it, try it now!"
As told, Ranma powered up to engines. And sparks immediately started flying.
"WHOA! SHIT! TURN IT OFF!!! TURN IT OFF!!! TURNITOFF!!!!"
And through it all, the Grey Phantom's captain couldn't bring himself to think positive about things. The way the LONO forces had attacked and retreated last time still bothered him, though it had been almost 2 days since the battle. Another thing that disturbed him is LONO usually struck at least three bases in a 24-hour period. But there had been no reported attacks since the last battle they were in. Joe wished he could take that as a GOOD sign, but he had a very bad feeling.
"Xero! Nikita! Akane! Ranma! Blair!"
All five dropped what they were doing and paid damn close attention to their commanding officer. "We'll be arriving at the Tokyo Alliance Research Center in five hours. And Ranma, I have bad news. Your fiances' requests to join the Grey Phantom were approved."
"Oh, boy."
"Don't worry, kid." Xero spoke, "We'll make sure they leave you alone."
Ranma," Joe spoke again, "We have a surprise for you when we get there. It'll get you off the ship and away from them long enough for us to set the ground rules with them. See to it that you're ready to go as soon as we land."
Xero threw in his two cents, "That means get your UNIFORM on."
Akane wondered just WHAT they had for Ranma..
Five hours later, the Grey Phantom began it's approach to the Tokyo Research Center. Once the ship had safely landed, a team of Alliance researchers met the disembarking group, which consisted of Ranma, Joe, and a few Grey Phantom technicians(Xero and Nikita were staying on the ship to "break in" the new crew members).
"Welcome to the Tokyo Research Center. If you'll come with me, please."
The group didn't waste time. "Captain, as per the specs we designed the unit to efficiently utilize the pilot's skills to their fullest potential. Including the small beam generators in the arms. This unit is just a prototype, mind you, and we can't guarantee it's ability to operate at it's full potential."
"Don't worry. I'm sure that between Nikita, Xero, and Ranma we can work out any kinks as we come to them."
Soon after they were led to a Mobile Suit hangar. Joe stopped the group before turning in. "Ranma, when we arrived we told you there was a surprise here waiting for you. And it's waiting inside this hangar."
"A new Mobile Suit?"
"Not just ANY Mobile Suit. I present to you, the Shining Gundam."
The guard opened the door, and there it was, in all it's multi-colored glory. It was a little smaller than the GP-01's flight mode, but had a fancier design. Sharper, more pronounced epaulets over the shoulders, a sleek, quick-appearing design, and no weapons visible beyond the standard head vulcans.
"This Gundam is MINE?"
"A Gundam designed specifically for a martial artist. No more foot pedal and control sticks for you, kid. This Gundam uses a special Trace System Virtual Environment cockpit that traces your movements, allowing you to use every martial arts move you've ever learned. Two small beam generators in the arms allow the suit to mimic ki attacks, and therefore negating the need for standard weaponry. A suit designed with YOU in mind, Saotome."
By the time he had finished speaking, Ranma was already giving the suit a close examination.
Back on the Grey Phantom, Ukyo and sHampoo had just been brought on board, along with the other recruits. While Blair broke in the others, Xero and Nikita were giving Ukyo and Shampoo a SPECIAL welcome.
"Listen carefully, you two!" Xero spoke, in the voice of an experienced commander, and never giving the two a chance to protest anything he says. "The Alliance may be an unrestrictive military, but there ARE rules you must follow. First off, your engagements to Ranma Saotome mean NOTHING as long as you are on this ship! You are on the Alliance's most advanced battleship, and you will not harass Ranma at any time! Anything we see that we feel is harassment WILL get you thrown in the brig! You are under my command on this ship. As the newest pilots, you are also under Saotome's command. You are also under Akane's command." Shampoo tried to complain about that, but Xero wouldn't hear it, "Command in the Mboile Suit ranks on this ship is determined by experience!!! Unless you prove to have better skills than her, she has authority over you! Most importantly, you will be responsible for practicing when there are no battles in progress. When it comes to maintenance of your Suits, and training simulations, you will report to Nikita, call sign Ice Bitch. She is the head mechanic on the Grey Phantom, and in charge of the training sims. You WILL notify her when you are engaging a sim, and you WILL report problems with your Mobile Suits to her. Nikita, you take it from here."
"Thank you, Xero. Any complaints concerning you and Ranma OR Akane will also go through me. I will be responsible for determining punishments for any incidents involving these two. IF you came to the Grey Phantom in hopes of advancing your engagements and chances to "get" our young pilot, you are going to be sorely disappointed. The Alliance is not all fun and games. And you will do as ordered! UNDERSTOOD?!"
Both hesitated before responding, "Yes, ma'am!"
Nikita turned to the next in line in the chain of MS command, "Blair!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Once you're finished put our two new pilots through a practice phase."
"Understood!"
Xero and Nikita then left to take care of things concerning the Mobile Suits. "So what do we got, here?" Niktia asked.
"Ukyo is going to be taking command of the GM Cannon. Blair'll be moving up to Ranma's GM, and we'll finally be taking him off the gun turrets. Shampoo's been assigned to the new GM Sniper that they'll be loading on along with the Shining Gundam."
"I see. Any word on what's going on after this?"
"Rumor is we'll go back to scouring desolate areas for any sign of LONO bases."
"We've been doing a lot of running around since most of our GMs fell in that encounter in Africa."
"I know.. Hopefully the new pilots can handle what they have to do."
Meanwhile.
"Okay, you two, we're going to be doing a patrol of the Juuban district, but we'll also be doing some practice in combat. If you are targeted, you lose. You will follow my or Akane's orders at ALL TIMES! We move out as soon as your Suits are ready! GET MOVING!!!"
With Xero and Nikita's words still etched in their brains, Ukyo and Shampoo wasted no time in going to prepare their suits. Blair went to notify Akane of her task.
"This sucks." Ukyo commented, "We've been on the ship five minutes and we're already being sent out. I haven't gotten a chance to see my Ranchan yet!"
"I'm not any happier about it." Shampoo commented, "I want to see Ranma, too. But I guess we'll just have to wait."
Ukyo STILL wasn't used to hearing Shampoo speaking proper Japanese. When they'd joined up, one of the first things the commanders did was make sure Shampoo was taught proper Japanese. She had gotten the hang of it quickly and now it was hard to believe that just a few months ago this girl was speaking in the third person and in broken Japanese.
"And to make matters worse," Ukyo grumbled, "we have to take orders from AKANE!"
"Do you have a problem with that?!" A voice came from below.
"Um. No, Aka- I mean, ma'am."
"Don't be so formal, Ukyo. You can still call me by name."
Shampoo looked at how Akane was carrying herself and realized that Ranma had begun training her, "Aiya. Akane, you might be a match for me, soon!"
"Okay, enough with the chit-chat!" Blair shouted as he came on to the scene, "Finish up so we can move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
"SIR?! YOU CLOWNS GOT DUST IN YOUR EYES?! I'm not an officer! I WORK for a living! Call me Sarge when I'm giving an order."
"You two need to learn," Akane spoke, "That rank means nothing on this ship unless an order is being given. So unless you are being given an order it is okay to call other by name. Anyway, GET MOVING!! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!!!"
"Aiya! Akane doesn't screw around!!!"
A short while later.
"Man." Ukyo grumbled, "Why do I have to use this oversized artillery cannon?"
"Because it's all they had available and I proved to be better suited for the Sniper?"
"Oh, shut up." Ukyo's computer then registered that she'd been targeted..By Akane. "WHAAAAT?!"
"Rule number 1," Akane said through the comm., "Watch your back. As Ranma has taught me, MS combat can very easily be compared to a martial arts battle. If you don't pay attention, you'll go down FAST."
".Understood."
Blair's radar then picked up something. "Okay, listen up we've got four unidentified targets approaching from the northeast."
Akane checked her scanners, "I see them."
"Blair to Grey Phantom can you confirm the ID if the contacts?"
"Scanning.. IFF signals identifying them as LONO Mobile Suits."
"Okay, you pilots, no more practice, this is the real thing. This is probably just a scouting party but be on guard nonetheless."
"Grey Phantom to Blair, message from the Captain: Do not fire unless fired upon."
"What?!" Shampoo screamed, "Why?! That's stupid!"
"Beats me," Blair replied, "but the Captain usually has something up his sleeve."
Back on the Grey Phantom, they had just finished loading up the Shining Gundam. Joe went to where Xero was checking over the GP-01's systems. "Xero, go out there and plant a tracer on one of those suits. If this is just a scouting party they'll be returning to their base as soon as they're done. Blair, Akane and the newbies are positioned in the city. They're to attack only if attacked by the group."
"Gotcha. Nikita! Open up GP-01 for Ground-based combat!"
"Roger!"
A few equipment exchanges and Xero was out in the field waiting for the right opportunity to- "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!!!"
Right in the center of the formation was a very LARGE Mobile Suit. Easily 50% larger than a Gelgoog. It had six large missiles in two pods attached to it's back and an appearance that looked like someone slammed GP-01's light mode and a Gelgoog together. It also had one hell of a nasty-looking beam rifle.
"Good god," was all Blair managed to say.
"Get me a reading!" Joe shouted.
"It's no good, Joe!" the sensor operator shouted, "We can't scan that thing's internal structure! Something's itnerefering!"
"Grey Phantom to all Mobile Suits in the field! Previous orders are revoked. Destroy all incoming Mobile Suits!" He then turned on the ship's intercom system, "All hands, battle stations! Nikita! Ranma! Get out there immediately!"
As soon as Joe relayed his information to the base command center the entire base went on full alert. Unfortunately, being only a research facility, they were not as well-equipped as most Alliance bases. They had only two Stars of GM Customs available to aid the Grey Phantom's forces.
"Shampoo to Grey Phantom! Requesting permission to use the Sniper Rifle!"
"Permission granted. Nikita, get a team sent out with the rifle!!"
As Nikita and Ranma's Gundams departed the ship, a large truck containing the generator for Shampoo's Sniper Rifle left, as well. "Ranma, go meet up with Blair and the others. I'll cover the Sniper team."
"Right."
Nikita led the team over to Shampoo's location. The citizens had rushed to shelters at the first sign of LONO Mobile Suits, so the streets were deserted. Shampoo's Sniper location was somewhat distanced from the battleground, she'd chosen a spot near the Nerima district where the skyscrapers left her a mostly clear shot while hiding her Suit well enough that there was little chance she'd be spotted before she good get a shot fired.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as she arrived, she picked up six more Mobile suits coming from the opposite direction the first four were coming from. She didn't hesitate to notify everyone.
"Damn," Xero grumbled, "A pincer attack. Nikita, you, Blair, and Akane handle the other group. Me, Ranma, and Ukyo will take care of this group."
"Roger! You heard the man! Move it!!"
"Ranma, you've got the fastest unit, so you try to focus on the large suit. Me and Ukyo will take out those Gelgoogs."
"Got it." Ranma began powering up the several beam generators in his Gundam.
"You were right to be suspicious, Joe. I think they were waiting for us to come here, to deploy this new suit."
"However powerful it is," Ranma commented, "It's no match for me."
"Ranma, give your overinflated ego a rest, would ya?"
Then the Grey Phantom's sensor operator spotted something, "Three Musai- class battleships approaching from the east!!"
"Helm, lift off! All hands prepare to ship-to-ship combat! Charge the beam cannons and load the missile launchers!"
"This battle will not be easy, people," Xero spoke through the comm system, "Don't get killed out there."
"Captain, the Musais are headed directly towards us!"
"Turn Grey Phantom 180 degrees! Meet them head-on!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Don't let us down, now, Grey Phantom."
End chapter 3
Author's Notes: Been a while, huh? Well as anyone who reads Kagome's Heritage knows, I've finally gotten off my lazy ass and started writing again. I made this chapter extra long(I was actually planning to span THESE events out over the course of 2 chapters, originally!!!) to make up for the big wait. I'll be alternating fics, so after this is updated, I work on the next chapter of Kagome's Heritage, then back to this. I've put Flights of the Nova Cat on hold until this and Kagome's Heritage are complete.
On other notes, several people noticing Blair in previous chapters said he should be given more time. So I gave him more time. He's a skilled MS pilot but up until now all he's been doing is manning the guns since there wasn't a GM Custom available for him.
And you people don't honestly think I'm going to let Ukyo and Shampoo get away with the things they do in Nerima, do you?
I know I'm going to catch hell from Akane-haters (and lovers) for how she's changed since the fic has started, so I'm going to say this now: She's in the middle of a WAR!! Enough said.
This fic is now 3-5 chapters from finishing. There are some more events that need to be dealt with (like finding out who's the traitor) before I get to the big ending.
How many of you can guess what suit that big one I just mentioned is?