Gundam Seed Universe

CHAPTER 1

THE SEARCH FOR A NEW LIFE

Pang Tong went through the portal and landed on a steel floor. Not used to this sort of flooring, he lost his footing and fell. "How embarrassing," he said to himself. He stood up, and after getting his composure back, looked at the portal. "It's better if I leave it open," he said to himself, "I'll probably get kicked out of here soon anyway." Sure enough, he was rejected as soon as he asked. "Why not," Pang Tong asked.

"Because we already have more than enough people on this ship," Kira said, "I'm sorry, but we really don't need another tragedy." "What," Pang Tong asked.

"Listen, the point is that you can't stay. You could be a Zaft spy," said a blonde girl. "What makes you think that?", Pang Tong asked. "Because your wearing green." This was so ridiculous that Pang Tong could have slapped her, but that went against what he was, so he held back. "Who are you," Pang Tong asked, trying to sound polite. "I'm Cagali," the girl said, "And I think it's better if you leave." "Cagali's right," Athrun said. Kira looked at Athrun for a moment. "You know, you've been agreeing to a lot of things that Cagali has been suggesting lately. Why is that?" "Uh, well." "That's not relevant right now," Cagali said.

Pang Tong shrugged. "Whatever," he said. He turned to leave, but then saw something that horrified him. It was the portal. It had closed. There was a minute of confused silence. Then Athrun asked, "Weren't you leaving?" "I can't," Pang Tong said. He sounded calm, but in his mind he was desperately searching for an excuse. "Why not?" Cagali asked. "Because we're in space," Pang Tong said. Please work, he thought. "Oh, yeah," Kira said. "Hey, wait a minute, how did you get in here?" "Beats me," Pang Tong said.

"Works for me," Kira said, "He'll stay then." "What," Kagali nearly shouted. "Really," Pang Tong asked, barely believing his ears. "Sure," Kira said, "I'm sure Lacus can find you a place to stay." "Welcome to the Eternal," said Athrun. Pang Tong smiled (not that anybody could see it through his mask).

"Bastards," Pang Tong said bitterly. He was in the MS hangar. According to Lacus, there weren't any rooms available, so they gave him a pillow and a blanket and shoved him in the hangar. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get comfortable or warm. "That's it," he said. He took his staff and concentrated. Suddenly the orb in the staff turned bright red. "Fire," Pang Tong yelled. Suddenly a fireball came out of his staff and struck his blanket. "Oops," Pang Tong said. He didn't mind though. The fire was warm. But before he could enjoy it, the fire went out. Apparently, the temperature was so cold that the fire couldn't stay lit. "Damn it," Pang Tong said. He suddenly heard voices. "Hm?" Pang Tong grabbed his staff and followed the sounds.

When he got to the area where he heard the sounds (It was under the Justice Gundam), he saw Cagali and a pink-haired girl he recognized as Lacus sitting on the feet of the Gundam. They were looking down, apparently at a picture. "Oh my," Lacus said, giggling madly. "Yeah, isn't it unbelievable?" said Cagali. "And you're planning to show this to them?" Lacus asked. "Yep," Cagali answered, with a nasty grin. "Your so cruel," Lacus said, although it sounded more like admiration than disgust. "Let's go before somebody sees us," Cagali said. Pang Tong saw her place the photo under the gundam before leaving. As soon as he made sure that they were gone, he jumped down and grabbed the photo. "Now, let's see what we have here," he said. He looked at the photo, than gasped. "Good grief," he said. And they were planning to show this to people?, he thought, Talk about a reputation destroyer. He decided that he would keep the photo and show it to the victim. He might as well warn him.

The next day in the mess hall, people had stopped eating to stare at the masked man on the far table. They were amazed that the man could eat with his mask on. "How do you do that?" Kira asked after sitting beside Pang Tong. "Years of practice," he said. He slurped some of his drink through a straw. "Anyway Kira, there is something I have to show you," he said. "Oh, What is it," Kira asked. "Not here," Pang Tong said. He stood up and signaled Kira to come with him. Out in the hall, Pang Tong looked around to make sure there was no one around, then took the photo from his sleeve and showed it to Kira. "What is this?" Kira asked. He looked at the photo and gasped in horror. "Where did you get this!" he asked. "Calm down," Pang Tong said, "Kagali had it." "What," Kira said. "Yeah, she said she was going to show it to the whole crew," Pang Tong explained. Kira looked at the photo again. It was a photo of him and Athrun, and they were kissing.

"How could she?" Kira said, "She knew we didn't have a choice." "What do you mean," Pang Tong asked. "This was the day Athrun and I went to the beach," Kira said, "We had been kidnapped and the men who kidnapped us said that if we didn't kiss in front of the camera, they would kill us." Kira started to cry. What a wuss, Pang Tong thought. "Okay, stop crying, we'll get back at them." Pang Tong said. "How?" Kira asked between sobs. "By getting our own dirt on them."

Kira and Pang Tong went inside Lacus's room. "What better place to find some serious evidence of wrong doing than inside the room of the most innocent person in the ship," Pang Tong said. "Wow, this room's pretty fancy," Kira said. It really was. The floor was mahogany wood, and there was a king-sized bed in the middle. Besides the two sides of the bed were beautifully carved bedside tables. There was also a strangely placed projector with a screen in front of the bed. "Okay," Pang Tong said, "Search the drawers. Look for anything suspicious." "Right," Kira said. They started searching. They looked everywhere: the drawers, the closet, under the bed, but found nothing. While Pang Tong was looking in one drawer, he found something he considered peculiar: He found what looked like a string, or an assortment of strings looking like it was made to hold something. "I didn't think that girl was into knitting," he said. "What do you mean?" asked Kira. "This," Pang Tong said, showing the object to Kira, "She's not very good though. This can't be used for anything. Kira?" Pang Tong asked, looking at Kira's stunned face. "I can't believe she has that," Kira said stunned. "What?", Pang Tong said, "It's just some string." "Pang Tong, that's not string," Kira said. "What," Pang Tong asked confused, "Than what is it?" "That's a, well, a G-string," Kira said, blushing. "So it is a string," Pang Tong said. "Yeah, but it's not used for knitting," Kira said nervously. "No, Then what do they use it for," Pang Tong asked, very curious of what else could anyone use this for. "Women wear that," Kira said. "What!" Pang Tong said alarmed. He looked at the string before him. People wear this?, he thought. "Put that away," Kira said. "All right," Pang Tong said. So much for the innocent young girl, he thought.

Later in the search, Kira looked under the pillow and found two cases which had cartridges in them. One said PRIVATE and the other HOMELY. "Hey Pang Tong, look what I found," Kira said. Pang Tong looked at the boxes, than at the projector. "Hmm," Pang Tong said, "Let's watch, shall we?" After setting up the projector, Kira put the slides in it. "Let's see what Lacus has on 'private', eh?" Pang Tong said as he turned on the projector.

It was a slide show, and a stupid one at that. They were family photos, with Lacus on most of them. One she was holding hands with Athrun, another she was with her father, and another she was with some friends on the beach. Kira had almost fallen asleep when Pang Tong turned off the projector. "What idiot places family photos in 'private'?" he asked frustrated. It seemed as though Lacus was as clean as a whistle. "Well, let's try the homely photos," Kira said. "What could possibly be on homely?" Pang Tong asked. "I don't know, but it's worth a try, right?" Kira said. "Yeah, all right," Pang Tong said.

He replaced the slides and turned on the projector. Sure enough, the first photo was of Lacus smiling. "This is ridiculous," Pang Tong said. "Um, Pang Tong, look" Kira said. Pang Tong did, and his eyes widened. The next picture was Lacus holding a Uzi. "Well, that destroys her pacifist complexion," Pang Tong said. But it didn't stop there. The next slide was a picture of her shooting at a man with the Uzi. "What the-" Pang Tong said. The next slide she was collecting the man's blood with a champagne cup. The other one she was drinking it. "Oh my god," Kira said astonished. In the other photo she was over Kira. Pang Tong looked at Kira puzzled. "I don't remember that," Kira said, "Unless…" Kira's eyes widened. "Well?" Pang Tong asked. "That must have been when I was unconscious." Kira said. The next slide showed her smoking marijuana, another sniffing cocaine, another drinking beer in excess . "This is creepy," Pang Tong said. "Creepy," Kira said. He clearly found it horrifying. In another slide Lacus was torturing a servant with a hammer. In another she was driving a needle under a man's nail, in another she was slapping some girl relentlessly. Then a continuous and horrifying string of pictures of torture (where Lacus appeared on all of them). "I think we should stop watching this," Pang Tong said. This could cause Kira brain damage, he thought. The next picture had Cagali undressing. "No way," Pang Tong said. In the next was a scared looking Flay. In the other one Lacus and Cagali. Then Lacus part of an orgy so disturbing that normal people would never be able to stand it. Then another photo of Lacus, Cagali and Flay. Then a string of disturbing and similar pics appeared. Pang Tong was about to turn off the projector when suddenly, it ended.

Pang Tong and Kira just remained silent. "Homely, huh?" Pang Tong said. "Yeah," Kira said. "Let's get out of here," Pang Tong suggested. As they both stood up, Pang Tong took some of the slides and left the room. As they walked down the hall, an alarm went off, then an explosion. "All hands to Level 1 battle stations," said a voice over the intercom, "We are under attack." "Come on, Pang Tong," Kira said and ran. Pang Tong followed. Maybe a battle will shake off the disturbing images I saw, he thought, Still, I have feeling that I'm going to have a bad time here.