You know what I just realized? I was looking over the past chapters, and realized that my technical terms suck! So I'm just apologizing right now for all those technical term errors that I've made because I've never paid a huge amount of attention to them on the show, so I don't really know what everything's called. Oh, well. If ever I need to be corrected on something, just let me know!
Now for my thank yous:
Sword of the soul: You can say that as many times as you like. . It makes me feel great, so thank you!
Shadow Fox777: Tee hee. I'm sure glad it's a good thing, though. . (I like happy faces) .
ORB-01 Akatsuki and jgal: hint hint Wait and see! I have something really interesting planned for Kira and Rin, but I'll say no more. Keep reading! Thanks for the reviews! .
And now, the disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, neither do you, but as for Rin and the Harmony...I was going to make this rhyme but I can't think of anything...never mind. You dig it. On with the next chappie! Remember, three reviews before I update!
CHAPTEREIGHT – THE RETURN OF A TEAMMATE
A few days passed, and Rin was still unable to catch a glimpse of the Freedom's pilot. She was, however, able to meet most of the Archangel's crew. She was surprised but delighted to see that there were three soldiers about her age, possibly a year or two older. One of them was a girl. Her name was Miriallia, and she was actually quite pretty. However, she didn't talk much. The other two boys were named Kuzzey and Sai. Rin did not get to know Kuzzey very well because he was discharged soon after arriving at Orb. Sai, on the other hand, was staying along with Miriallia, and he was very polite with Rin. She also introduced herself in person to Captain Murrue Ramius and also to the pilot of the sky grasper, Mu La Flaga. While speaking with the latter, she was able to ask about the pilot of the Freedom.
"He was an amazing pilot," Rin told Mu. "Amazing, especially for a natural." She looked at him shrewdly, and right away he seemed to know where she was getting at. "Of course, he's not a natural like you are, is he?"
Mu shook his head with a smile. "Nah, that youngster's a coordinator, though he was never a student of the ZAFT military."
Rin was surprised. That meant that there was probably no way she knew him. "Oh," she said after a pause. "I guess I wouldn't have met him back on the PLANTS."
Now it was Mu's turn to be surprised. "So you're a coordinator as well?" he said, and there was slight suspicion in his voice.
"Yeah," Rin said with a nonchalant shrug, "but I ditched ZAFT. Orb is fighting for a much better cause, I've realized."
Mu grinned. "That's good to hear. You and the youngster, you're both amazing pilots. It'd be good to have people like you around. I suppose you're about seventeen?"
"Nope, fourteen!" Rin said with a wild grin.
Mu was again surprised. "So young…and ZAFT let you into the military at such a young age?"
Rin shrugged. "I don't think they cared about my age, as long as I was good with a mobile suit." Besides, Nicol joined the military when he was fifteen, and I'm a much stronger pilot than he is – was.
A few minutes later, Rin decided to make some adjustments to her mobile suit. "Well, I'm off to work on the Harmony," she told Mu. "But can you do me a big favor?"
"Shoot," he said.
"Could you thank the pilot of the Freedom for me? You know, for saving me? And can you tell him that he's really good?"
Mu smiled. "That's all people tell him these days," he said with a chuckle. "But sure, I'll tell him for you."
"Thanks, Commander La Flaga!" Rin exclaimed, and with a salute and a wave, she left him to go work on her mobile suit.
As she was typing at a crazily fast speed, she noticed a bunch of equipment changes she'd need to make to better suit her machine. She got permission from Cagalli to get her ship upgraded and a bunch of workers were assigned to the task. After working with them for a couple of hours, Rin left them, knowing that everything was under control and that it would all be done by the next day.
However, Rin received grave news the next day, before the upgrading was finished. The Atlantic Federation of the Earth Alliance was planning to attack Orb since they refused to join them. The Archangel, fully repaired, was going out to protect Orb, and would be forced to fight its own kind. Rin, of course, was going to be fighting, too. On the plus side, she was going to get to fight with the Freedom again – something she was much looking forward to. But unfortunately, the Harmony's repairs weren't finished yet. She would have to wait while everyone else went out to fight. Rin sighed. Patience was definitely not a virtue of hers.
She had originally decided to oversee the final adjustments to her ship, but it was too boring and she desperately wanted to know how the fighting was going. Before anyone could warn her that she was doing something dangerous, she ran outside to observe the fight. What she saw amazed her. Someone else was watching the fight, and suddenly turned to run in a direction close to hers…and it was Dearka!
"Dearka!" Rin yelled, running to him, and he stopped to face her.
"Rin? Rin! What're you doing here?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm a soldier or Orb now," she informed him, very happy to see that he was alive and well. "What about you?"
"The Archangel took me prisoner in our last fight," he explained, "and I've just been released. But Morgan Rate took back my mobile suit."
He was in a hurry, she could tell. But why? "What's got you so fired up?" she asked.
"I want to help the legged ship," he said simply. "And for that, I need my mobile suit."
Rin looked at him weirdly. So his opinions had changed as well. But then she grinned, knowing exactly what to do. "You have no idea where they're keeping your mobile suit, but I've got a sure guess," she told him. "Come with me. I'll take you to the Buster. It's not far from here. Let's hurry!" And with that, she took off for one of the buildings, with Dearka right at her heels, staring at her in amazement.
Shortly after returning Dearka his mobile suit and witnessing him savethe legged shipfrom a critical hit, Rin received word that the Harmony had finished being upgraded. She hurriedly took off and joined the fray. Orb was being attacked from so many sides at once that she knew it would be best to work on the opposite side the Freedom was fighting on, so that they could save as much of Orb as they could.
There were a lot of mobile armors, mobile suits and other machines in the area that she hurried to, and there were no Orb soldiers in sight, but Rin easily made mincemeat of the enemies by firing off six beams at once, each one hitting at least three enemies, an ability that was just added after she had seen the Freedom use that technique while they fought together. Rin concluded that the Earth Alliance's weakest soldiers had probably been sent to this remote area, because even any accomplished natural would be able to outwit these machines.
After scanning the nearby areas (to find no enemies) and checking in with Cagalli, Rin hurried to help the Freedom. Apparently there were three incredibly strong mobile armors that needed to be dealt with. Rin hoped that she'd get there in time. She'd heard that the Freedom was having trouble fighting them off, which made her wonder what kind of tricks the Earth Alliance had up their sleeves.
The Buster was busy protecting the Archangel, and La Flaga was elsewhere with three other Orb mobile suits, fighting off other enemies. For some odd reason, Mu was now piloting a repaired Strike, a fact that gave her a sudden chill. She quickly shook that feeling off and rushed to help the Freedom. He was just ahead, fighting the mobile armors, but he was outnumbered, surrounded, and facing machines with very good techniques. One of them could even deflect beams. A direct hit would be unavoidable at this point for the Freedom. As Rin zoomed over to help, but with her calculations she realized suddenly that no matter how much speed she put on, she wasn't going to make it in time. He was going to be hit!
She put on an extra burst of speed in desperation, even though she knew it wouldn't work, but suddenly a red mobile suit appeared out of nowhere to block the shot. Despite her shock, Rin didn't waste another second and fired at the enemy mobile armor, knocking it aside for the time being by catching them by surprise. Then she took a good look at the new red mobile suit. It was identified as the Justice, but it looked so much like the Aegis… It couldn't have been, though. That machine was destroyed. An upgraded one, perhaps? That had to be it. And the style was so familiar. But then…that could only mean that the pilot…was Athrun!
"Athrun?" she said tentatively through the communicator. "Is that you?"
He answered her, and the Freedom as well, "This is Athrun Zala of ZAFT special forces. Do you read me, Harmony – Rin, isn't it?"
"Loud and clear!" she answered happily, hardly able to contain her excitement. Athrun was back. Athrun was back!
Athrun then continued, "And do you read me, Freedom? Or should I say, Kira Yamato?"
Kira. That name rang a bell somewhere in Rin's mind, giving her an odd chill. She knew that name, but she couldn't for the life of her remember where she'd heard it. Kira…who was he? At least she knew his name, but still…for some reason, thinking about it gave her an odd feeling of foreboding.
Because she was lost in her thoughts, she completely missed the reply that Kira made to Athrun, but Athrun's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. "I came here on orders to take back or destroy the Freedom, but I have no intention of doing so. I just want to talk."
"All right, then!" Rin jumped in excitedly, so both boys could hear. Some of her old personality was coming back to her now, after all the seriousness that was a part of mourning. "There's no time for talk now; we're fighting a war! But after the battle, you can talk all you like! Until then, Athrun, are you gonna help us or what?"
"Yes," he answered to you and Kira. "So let's get them!"
"Right on!" you agreed.
Now they were on equal terms with the mobile armors. Now the tables were about to turn.