Author's note: Others own the rights to the G-Gundam characters.  All other characters are my creations.  Please do not use them without my permission.

Shadow Life – Part 8

By:  Diane Maher



          The next morning, Karla felt more refreshed than she had in a long time.  Today, she would challenge George de Sand to a gundam fight.  Despite her inner fear of the man, she found herself looking forward to the fight.

          The only thing that bothered her at the moment was Claus' statement that he was now the President of Neo-Austria.  She went into the communications room, turned on the computer and pulled up one of the news sites on the web.  One of the headlines read, "President of Neo-Austria Commits Suicide - Investigation Continues.  New President Claus Stromberg inaugurated..."

          Karla snorted.  "Suicide my ass! The man was probably murdered by Claus!"

          "What's that?" asked Niklas from the hallway.

          "It's in the news that the President of Neo-Austria committed suicide," replied Karla.

          "Hmmm.  Given Claus' concern for how you are doing – or rather, how he thinks you should be doing - in the gundam fight, it seems odd that he would jeopardize his new position to come here to antagonize you," commented Niklas as he came into the room and looked over her shoulder.

          "There's nothing odd about it.  He used to be my boyfriend.  I can't believe I fell for him!" said Karla.

          "Claus is your ex-boyfriend?" asked Niklas.  "And isn't he the reason that you're going through all this?"

          "Yes.  After what's happened, I'm surprised that I didn't see through Claus' deception.  I now understand that he betrayed me long before my father erased my existence."

          "What do you mean?" inquired Niklas, perplexed.

          "The evidence that the Neo-Austrian government showed to my father was surveillance footage of Claus and me sleeping together and making love.  It was explicit and nothing was blocked out to spare me embarrassment in my father's eyes.  I knew that my father disapproved of Claus, but you know how impetuous young lovers are."

          Niklas inhaled sharply.  "I...I had no idea.  How could they do that to you?"

          Karla shrugged.  "My choice of boyfriend was poor and I've paid for it dearly.  Who knows how many people have seen that footage during their investigation!" she said dejectedly.

          Niklas felt his heart lurch at how Karla had been treated and wanted desperately to hug and comfort her.  He was finding it difficult to resist the urge when she continued, "Since they showed that explicit footage to my father and me, my dignity has been in shreds.  Only now am I finally gaining it back."

          "As for young love, I really don't have much experience there.  I've been a loner for most of my life.  I do take after my father in quite a few ways, I suppose," Niklas commented as he leaned against the wall, put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet.

          When Karla didn't reply, Niklas asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what's the big deal with you and Claus sleeping together?"

          "It wasn't a big deal until Claus was arrested.  When they searched his place, that's when the schematics for Shadow Gundam's prototype were found," replied Karla.

          "Why was he arrested? I mean, what put the authorities on to him in the first place?" asked Niklas.

          Karla replied with a shrug, "I never thought to ask.  All I knew was that the man I loved was in trouble."

          Niklas touched her shoulder and leaned close.  "His well-being was all you cared about, wasn't it?"

          Nodding, Karla stood and crossed to the door.  "That's all in the past.  I must deal with things as they are now.  As far as I'm concerned, Claus is my enemy," said Karla.

          "Yet you are now in a position where you must follow his orders because he's the President of Neo-Austria," commented Niklas.

          When Karla turned and looked at Niklas, there was a distant look in her dark eyes.  He felt like she was staring right through him.  She blinked and her tone was emotionless when she replied, "I am between a rock and a hard place."

          "It would seem so," Niklas commented dryly.

          "It also seems that the prototype schematics were another excuse to make me bow down to their wills.  I was weak, I was foolish, I was..." cried Karla as she slammed her fist against the doorframe.

          "Human?" Niklas finished.

          Karla looked at him with a pained expression on her face and then there was a knock on the outside door.  She composed herself and pulled on her mask.

          "You're still going to wear the mask?" asked Niklas.

          "In gundam matches and outside this place, yes, I am going to continue wearing the mask," said Karla.  "When I'm here with you inside this place, I probably won't."

          The knock was louder and more persistent now.  Karla went to answer it.  She inhaled sharply as she saw George de Sand of Neo-France standing there.

          "Mademoiselle!" George said in greeting.  "I see you're recovered from our last match."

          "Yes," replied Karla.  She tried to keep her fear out of her voice as she spoke to him.

          George continued, "I wish to challenge you to another match."

          Folding her arms over her chest, Karla said, "I hope you're more in control of yourself this time."  Karla thought she saw fear in George's eyes, but that lasted only a moment and was swiftly replaced by indignation as though her comment wounded his pride as a knight.

          "Do you accept my challenge?" inquired George.

          "Of course," replied Karla as she put one hand on her hip.

          "At noon, to the west, there is a flat uninhabited plain where we can fight.  See you then."  George turned and walked away.

          Niklas came up behind her.  "You sound confident."

          "I am and I owe it all to you," said Karla.

          "What do you mean, you owe it all to me?" asked Niklas.

          Karla shrugged.  "You helped me overcome a massive barrier to realizing my full potential as a fighter."

          Niklas' brow rose and he nervously asked, "I did? How? What did I do?"

          Karla closed her eyes, shook her head and chuckled.  When she opened them again, she said, "You have helped me to learn to trust again."  With a wink, she added, "Perhaps even more than that, but only time will tell."

          I hope so, Niklas thought as he watched Karla's every move.  Glancing at his watch, he said, "There's half an hour before your fight.  I'm going to do a quick diagnostic on Midnight Gundam's systems."

          "Okay!" called Karla as she went to stretch for a few minutes and mentally prepare for the upcoming match with George.  She must overcome her irrational fear of the Frenchman or else she would lose this battle.

          Karla went to a private meditation chamber that she'd set up during the first month of the gundam fight.  It was furnished with few things, a straw mat where she sat cross-legged and braziers where she could burn incense if she so desired.  However, today, she chose to turn on the small bubbling fountain of water.  She dimmed the lights and closed the door, hung her mask on a small wall hook, and left her shoes next to the door.  Silently, she crossed the room, sat cross-legged on the straw mat and focused her mind inwards.

          The sound of the water relaxed her slightly tense muscles and her mind was soon at peace.  She was able to focus her mind towards her inner strength and power, which she realized she hadn't been able to do since before meeting up with Schwarz or Niklas.  She breathed evenly so as not to disturb this focus and remembered how it felt so if she needed to, she could call on it during battle.

          Twenty minutes later, Karla brought herself out of her focused state.  She now felt mentally prepared for her battle with George de Sand and whatever he would throw her way.  She stood, crossed to the door, put on her shoes and took her mask from its place on the hook.  As she opened the door, she pulled on her mask and headed for her gundam. 

          Karla climbed into her gundam's cockpit with a lot more confidence than she'd felt in a long time.  There was a determined look in her eyes as she headed for the area that George indicated for the match to take place.  Upon her arrival, she found the Gundam Rose waiting for her and George was sitting on its open hand.

          "I see you decided to face me.  Good," commented George.

          "Gundam fight, standby!" called Karla.

          George returned to his cockpit.  When it was closed, Gundam Rose's eyes flashed blue.  "Ready!"

          "GO!" they both shouted in unison as they charged one another.

          After a brief bout of punches, Karla saw she was getting nowhere fast.  She said, "Midnight swords! This time, the sword hilts slid out and forward into her hand from their hidden compartments inside her gundam's wrists.  She remembered that this was slightly different from the mark one version of Midnight Gundam.  An instant later, she held two long black katana blades in her hands.

          George paused, stepped back, pulled his saber from its scabbard and attacked Midnight Gundam.  The sight of his enemy with two blades didn't deter him in the least.  They began dueling with their blades and were fairly evenly matched until Karla managed to flip George's saber out of his hand.

          "Rose streamers!" George called out.

          The metallic cape over George's left arm sprang upwards, revealing the compartments beneath.  The rose streamers flew out of their compartments and circled Karla's gundam.  She watched as they hovered around her for a moment before the streams of energy began to connect them.  Before the energy net could be completed, she made her gundam disappear and reappeared on the other side of the net.  She sheathed her swords.

          "Rose bits!" George called.

          "Obsidian stars!" Karla cried out.  Two large black throwing stars appeared in her hands and she threw them towards the compartments where the rose bits were just starting to come out.  The stars hit their targets and the exploding compartments and rose bits knocked Gundam Rose to the ground and disabled the other two compartments.

          Karla took this advantage to charge over to George and again pulled out her swords.  She jumped and when she came down, she crossed her swords over Gundam Rose's neck and stood with one leg on his metal cape so he couldn't try anything.

          "I believe I have won this fight," said Karla.

          Gundam Rose relaxed beneath her and George's face appeared on her screen.  "Yes, you have.  Well done.  It seems that I must continue to improve if I am to defeat the likes of you."

          Karla commented quietly, "I believe that you know of someone who can help you in that regard."

          "Yes," said George.  "His name is Domon Kasshu of Neo-Japan."

          "You will find Domon in the Guiana Highlands of South America, George de Sand," said Karla.  With that, she stood, turned, walked away and vanished.



          As she returned to her transport, Karla settled Midnight Gundam in its place and the ship took off for the Guiana Highlands.

          She showered and changed clothes before waltzing into what passed for a living room and plopping onto the couch.  A few minutes later, with the ship on autopilot, Niklas came in and joined her.

          "You did well today," observed Niklas.

          "Thanks," responded Karla.  "I didn't feel any fear towards George today.  He also didn't lose his mind during the battle.  I must still keep my guard up around him, don't you think?"

          "I think that you must do what you feel is right," commented Niklas.

          "I shall," said Karla with a determined look in her eyes.

          "I believe that George was sufficiently humiliated by his defeat today that he will seek out Domon Kasshu.  It's funny how they all seem to gravitate towards him as their 'stronger opponent'," observed Niklas.

          "I too should seek out a stronger opponent, but in my case, it will be Schwarz.  However, we should set out for the Guiana Highlands, as that is where Schwarz said we would find him.  Perhaps he can explain George's strange behavior before and why it didn't affect him during our battle today."

          "We're on our way there now," Niklas said.  "By the way, there is a message for you to call Claus."

          "What does that scum want now?" muttered Karla angrily.

          Niklas shrugged.  "He probably wants you to seek out Domon Kasshu and challenge him."

          Karla looked up at the ceiling.  "Are you serious?"

          "That's what I would suspect, but I didn't contact him.  The message was specifically for you to call him," said Niklas.

          "Phooey! Let Claus wait until tomorrow.  I'm tired of having to jump at the government's every whim," said Karla.

          "I wouldn't wait if I were you.  His message sounded like there would be some serious consequences for you if you didn't contact him soon," said Niklas.

          Shrugging, Karla stood and went to the communications room.  As she sat to the desk, she turned on the computer and pulled on her black mask.  After pressing several keys and entering a code, she found herself waiting as the line at the other end buzzed.

          A moment later, an exasperated face appeared.  "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Claus demanded.  "I'm trying to eat my dinner!"

          "I know exactly what time it is," replied Karla icily.  "I was told that you wanted to speak to me."

          "Oh, I didn't realize it was you, Karla," stuttered Claus as his politician mask slid over his face.  "I want you to seek out the fighter from Neo-Japan.  He would be a powerful opponent for you to fight."

          "We are headed for his location now," said Karla.  She loved the effect the black mask had on people.  It was much more intimidating than the flag mask.

          "Good," said Claus as he took a bite of a roll.  "Um, exactly where are you headed?"

          "To the Guiana Highlands in South America," replied Karla.  "The Neo-Japan fighter has been reported in the area."

          "I see.  Good luck," said Claus as he closed the channel.

          Karla turned off the computer and considered Claus' body language as well as his words.  His rudeness was something new, she observed as she pulled off her mask.  Perhaps it's just this new position of President that has him a bit on edge.  She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.  Something is wrong! I don't know what, but Claus was acting really strange just now! thought Karla.



          Claus closed the channel and muttered, "It seems that you were right, Master Asia.  Domon Kasshu is in the Guiana Highlands."

          Master came out from the shadows of the room.  "So you're sending that woman after him?" he asked, incredulous.  "She doesn't stand a chance against Domon, even without control of his super mode."

          Quiet laughter came from Claus.  "You obviously know nothing about Karla Geist.  She is trained in the same techniques as your nemesis Schwarz Bruder from Neo-Germany."

          "What?!?" responded Master.  He turned away from Claus before continuing, "Humph! It still won't make any difference! If she continues to the Guiana Highlands, then she will die there with the members of the Shuffle Alliance."

          Claus said nothing and Master Asia left the room.  A blinking light on his console told Claus that someone was on the line.  After hearing the door close behind Master Asia, Claus took the call.

          "Are you alone?" asked the caller.

          "Yes," replied Claus.  "Have you considered my proposal?"

          "I have and I accept your offer.  Please come to Geneva in Neo-Switzerland and bring the items we will need," said the mysterious caller.

          "I shall be there tomorrow," replied Claus as he closed the channel.  He left to make preparations to make the short trip from Neo-Austria to Neo-Switzerland.