Carbuncle! The SD Gundam Story, Chapter 5
Shute's completely Carbuncle now, and it's gonna be a battle to bring him back to the human world.
Chief Haro jumped as a bright red dot appeared on-screen, not far from his own house. He pressed the intercom that connected directly to Captain Gundam: "We've found him."
&&&
Nana LOVED the new, blue creature she had for a big brother! She rubbed and yanked at his fur, stroked and pounded his back, and wailed into his ear screams of delight. She was completely unaware that Shute was on the verge of tears, fighting hard to keep from crying. He would sniff and choke and swallow his breath, all the while unable to steer himself away from his reflection in the water. The water of his favorite singing spot; the tiny rock pool where the Gundams found him singing just once, just once and that was all. He curled two of his three new tails around Nana to keep her from falling in the pool as she babbled on and started crawling over his back.
Rustle rustle-
He lept to his four feet and snarled in the direction of the trees, watching as Captain stepped out of a patch of poison oak. "Shute?"
It was true; if you hadn't seen him change half-way, you wouldn't know it was him. He had the body of a Dacshund, the fur from his belly to his back getting darker and darker until he had a dark blue racing stripe running from his forehead gem to the tips of his three tails. His cat-like face was ruffled with fury, his tiny fangs protruding like a rattlesnake's. The ears that had been growing for the past five hours had finally stopped at his flanks; they were not as long as you might think, though, because Shute had shrunken to the size of a small Gold Retriever. Still accenting his ruby was his little tuft of hair, which refused to sink into his fur like the rest of his near-nonexistant body hair.
Shute gulped and stepped over Nana protectively, who began to take an interest in his belly fur. "They told you to say that, didn't you?"
Captain jerked in shock; dang, he' d guessed it. He couldn't let him get suspicious. "Shute, come on. We have to go back to the hospital."
"They're taking me to a vet..." Shute growled. "They think I am an animal, and you're on their side trying to take me back!"
The ground around Captain rumbled as Shute-buncle began to glow blue. The white Neotopian skirted out of the way of a floating piece of ground that shot out from under his feet. He held out his hands to Shute in a sign of surrender. "Shute, I'm not going to hurt you. Just give Nana to me, and I'll take you back home."
"You said you were taking me to the hospital..." hissed the aggrivated ex-human, who tucked a defensive paw around Nana's back. "If you had teeth, Captain, you'd be lying through them."
"Shute, you know I don't lie-"
"You won't stop calling me Shute!" screamed... well, you know. "You didn't recognize me back at the hospital! You're just reciting some hostage-situation rhetoric hoping I'll fall for it!"
Shute stepped back slowly, pulling Nana along with one of his claws. She began to fuss; this dragging sensation was very uncomfortable. Captain took this chance to step ahead, pushing Shute towards the water of the pool. "Sh- please, calm down. You haven't slept in at least a day; you're just tired. Come home with me, you can take a nap, and everything will be fine."
"No it won't!" Shute screamed, scooching back even more, making Nana scream in fury. He chirped in fear and cuddled his baby sister in his forelegs, nuzzling her and whispering baby noises in her ear. Captain took the liberty of strolling forward, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.
"Shute, please, come with me. You're not an animal." Captain reached down to try and take Nana away from him, only to have Shute growl in response. He withdrew his hand quickly. "You know that better yourself than anyone around you."
Shute-buncle whimpered, looking away in shame. "It's not true..."
Captain leaned down onto his knees. As he began to speak, a little voice rang into his ear. "Captain, Shute seems to have calmed down. Should we send reinforcements?"
Captain switched off his communicator; Kao Lyn, who was on the other line, took that as a definitive "no".
"Shute, think about it. You are you. You still talk like you, you still act like you, Nana still loves you. Not what you look like."
The blue Shute's eyes widened in thought; Nana still rubbed her brother's fur with love, sucking her patsy audibly. Captain also paused in thought...
:command.exe.facialrecognition/Shute
His Soul Drive began to purr from within his chest as his hands started to shine.
Command overriden. Target recognized as "Shute".
Captain reached out and took Shute in his arms, pulling back his faceplate and letting the boy nuzzle his bare cheeks. Nana found herself being tucked under one of Captain's arms while her brother covered her with his tails. "I'm sorry, Shute."
"You didn't know, Captain, it's okay." The Carbuncle-boy yawned and began to drift off into sleep. "You're right, though, I am really tired."
"I know." Captain stood up, holding Shute in one arm and Nana in the other. "Come on, let's go home."
" 'fraid not."
Captain jumped and turned completely in midair, his faceplate slammed shut and his beamsaber in front of him. Shute landed gracefully behind him, holding Nana in his teeth.
Who stood nearby was none other than...well, actually thisman had never been seen before in Neotopia.. He was tall and muscular, with long silver hair and turquoise eyes that glared indignantly. Hewore asort of.... black dress-thingy that suited his menacing look and he held a very, very, VERY long-bladed, long-handled sword (a "Masamune", it was called) at his side. His black-gloved hands held a ball of dark energy in them, and he grinned menacingly. "I'm afraid that the Carbuncle with have to come with me."
"Who are you?" Captain shouted, gripping his sword tighter.
He slipped the Masamune out of its sheath and whipped in about a few showy displays of swordplay. "Your worst nightmare."
Shute mumbled out of a mouthful of Nana. "Been therh,heardh thahh."
Sephiroth scowled, thinking about how hard it would be to get this ruby when the carbuncle was awake. and with a guardian, no less! "Ah, well." He said. "We'll just have to do this the HARD WAY!"
("Been therh,heardh thahh tooh!" Shute tried hard to keep from laughing.)
"Not on my life, you won't!" Captain uncharacteristicly grunted, his Soul Drive beginning to go into overdrive.
"Ah! Very well," Sephiroth smirked. "If you're offering your life, I'm going to have to take it." Sephiroth threw the ball of energy at Captain, whom was thrown back into the tree behind him, knocking over the tree which missed a hidden Zero and Baku by inches.
"YOW!" They cried. "Watch it!"
Shute's eyes opened wide, spying Baku and Zero behind a tree. "Whah're youh doingh hehre?"
"More toys to play with?" Sephiroth laughed. "What fun!"
"Shute," Captain said desperately. "Run!"
"Whah?!"
"JUST RUN!"
Shute began to run, only to find an invisible force pulling him back in. "NOOOO!" He cried as he was drawn back into the fight. Nana was crying loudly, and struggling in Shute's grip. Nana, be still! Shute thought. Too bad thinking wasn't going to help.
But screaming would! Shute threw his head back and tossed Nana into the air. "Zero, get Nana out of here!"
Zero, who was still trying to recover from almost getting flattened by a tree, snapped back to attention and caught Nana in one hand. He squeezed her into his arm and began to fly away, watching as Baku tried to slice Sephiroth in two. The Blazing Samurai barely dodged a sweep of the Masamune before a tiny dash of blue skittered under his legs. "Shute, no!"
Too late, for Shute had jumped up and launched his tiny teeth directly into Sephiroth's midsection, landing just a little higher than a very painful bite area.
"YEOW!" Sephiroth dropped his sword from shock and began whacking Shute over the head, suceeding only in jamming his teeth farther into his skin. "LEGGO LEGGO LEGGO!"
Captain took this chance to land a sharp blow on Sephiroth's back, and managed to send the black-clad man into the ground. Luckily (or perhaps not), Captain's beam saber was not designed to cut anything remotely resembling human skin, so Sephiroth merely felt the sensation of getting hit by a baseball bat being swung by Godzilla. Shute bounced behind Captain and snarled; Baku landed nearby and stood with his swords ready to swing.
Sephiroth shook his head and stood up slowly, a lone black wing spreading out of his back. "That... hurt, you so-"
"It's going to hurt more if you don't leave Shute alone." Captain pulled a rifle out of his back and pointed it at the one-winged angel's head. "Now, I'm asking you nicely: Put down your weapons and leave Neotopia immediately."
"I'm not leaving without a Carbuncle." Sephiroth began to raise his hand. "Sin ha-"
"Super Magical Violet Tornado!"
A gale of wind suddenly shot Sephiroth off of the ground and into a tree behind the trio of two Gundams and Carbuncle/Shute. Baku sighed in relief. "Zero!"
The Winged Knight flew into view, Shute being the only one to see his wings flapping in the wind to keep him aloft. "No need to worry, your savior is here," Zero boasted, holding his sword over his shoulder.
Bakunetsumaru rolled his eyes. "Could you have a bigger head, Zero?"
Zero narrowed his eyes. "Don't start with me-"
"CAPTAIN!"
Shute's scream was quickly followed by the exaggerated sound of an impact; Sephiroth's sword slammed into the ground just a few inches away from Shute's low-set shoulderblades. With Shute out of sight due to the cloud of dust, Sephiroth leapt up and attacked the only thing he could see; Zero.
Without knowing what had hit him, Zero was suddenly face-first into the ground, a long cut sliced into his back from the Masamune. Bakunetsumaru roared in anger and hit Sephiroth from below, sending the angel into the water pool. Sephiroth coughed out a few mouthfulls as Baku tried to help Zero up. Captain placed the barrel of his rifle directly next to Sephiroth's temple. "I'm telling you again: Put down your weapon and leave Neotopia-"
Shute bounced out from behind his friend, his Carbuncle fur ruffled in excitement. "-Immediately! Ha ha!" He stuck out his tongue and "PPBHHTTTPPPPBBBTTT!"ed Sephiroth.
The black-decked man sighed and shook his head. "Fine, then. I have one last word- no, wait, two."
Captain's finger tensed on the trigger.
"SIN HARVEST!"
DONE! WEEEEE! This battle scene was fun to write! With generous help from the original creator of the Carbuncle series, of course, Double F. Comments, Double F?
Double F: Yes! This is much fun, and I HELPED! Yes, I did! I did, yes, I help, and I'm so good, yes...
Me: O... kay. I was thinking more like comments on the story, the plot progression, how the characters reacted, etc.?
Double F: Well, I think it went really well, and we both did a good job on this chapter, and I can't WAIT to do the next one.
Me: (sighs) Okay, that should be it. DONE!
