Entry 18: One Last Hurrah
The Eternal crashed into the Sea below, its engines no longer capable of supporting its own weight, even under Lunar gravity.
Smoke filled the bridge, as everyone coughed themselves awake. "St... status report!" Waltfeld yelled. "What the hell hit us?!"
"Radar coming back online!" Meer shouted. "Picking up... three Minerva class warships at 12 o'clock!"
"Fuck a duck!" Waltfeld cursed. "Kuzzey! Get whoever you can together and work of fire control! Meer, see if any of our weapons are still operational! We're sitting ducks out here!"
"Aye, sir!" the two saluted, as Kuzzey ran out of the room, and Meer began checking everything she could.
"Princess, you still alive up there?!" he called out to Lacus.
Lacus coughed heavily. "Still... holding on," she managed to say. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh?"
Waltfeld managed a slight smirk. "Glad to have ya back," he said. Then, he slammed his hand onto the console. "Pilots, you hear me?!"
Static buzzed on the speaker, before it connected to the hanger. "Rey Za Burrel here," Rey coughed. "We're still standing."
"What's the status of your mechs?" Lacus asked.
"Minimal repairs have been done!" Cagalli called out from the other end of the hanger. "They can move, but you really don't want to know how bad we are in the weapons department!"
"If you can fly, then fly!" Waltfeld shouted. "We no longer have the luxury of sitting around and waiting for repairs to finish!"
Another warning siren began to blare. "Brace for impact!" Meer shouted.
Reimu and Yukari struggled to keep the barrier up against the onslaught of beams and missiles. Dodging would have been one thing, but for something like the Eternal, which was now stationary, a good shield was the only option they had.
"How is this worse than before?!" Reimu yelled. "Wasn't 100 Mobile Suits bad enough?! How are three ships putting out more damage?!"
"Because we're exhausted!" Yukari shouted back. "No time to gather our bearings! Shinn Asuka, can you still fly?!"
Shinn leapt into the cockpit of the Destiny Impulse, and powered it up. "Still enough juice to work!" he shouted back. "Gonna have to cut some corners, though! Won't last for long if I keep the Phase Shift armour up!"
"It'll have to do!" Yukari stated. "Don't let this onslaught go on any longer!"
"Roger!" Shinn responded, as the Destiny Impulse took off once more. "Don't you two die on us!"
The MS, now a flat grey colour that lacked the utility of its Phase Shift armour, flew low at the waters level, where it was joined by the Freedom, Justice, and Strike Rouge. Each of the Mobile Suits were missing plates of armour, and between all four of them, only the Freedom had its beam rifle intact. "Let's not waste any time!" Rey stated. "We know what needs to be done! Let's make this quick!"
"Right!" shouted the other three pilots.
The Freedom aimed its beam rifle, the Balaena plasma cannon in its left wing, and its two waist-mounted Xiphas railguns, at the front-most warship, and fired, only for all shots to be deflected by some degree of barrier.
Rey cursed, as the four Mobile Suits launched from water level, and soared above the warships.
There, standing on the mast of the front-most ship, was a black haired man dressed like an ancient Japanese emperor. His clothes were a mixture of deep blue and regal purples, trimmed with gold. Truly, it didn't take a genius to figure out just who this man was.
"That's... gotta be Tsukuyomi," Shinn muttered. "The Lunar Emperor."
Tsukuyomi looked up, and locked eyes with Shinn Asuka. "... How disgusting," the emperor muttered. "That humans, even ones from another dimension, would desecrate our lands again."
"Desecrate your... You're the ones that invaded us!" Lunamaria shouted. "You don't get to act like the victim here!"
Tsukuyomi looked up impassively at the Justice, raised a hand, and...
There wasn't even time to process what had just happened. At one moment, there was nothing, and the next, a hole had been blown into the chest of the Justice. No grand flare, no pomp-and-circumstance, just... a hole through the cockpit.
The Justice began to fall from the sky, and Shinn finally snapped back to reality. "LUNAMARIA!" he screamed, flying after the falling mech. Before he could reach it, however, a large beam shot past, cutting him off.
The Justice crashed into the water, disappearing beneath the waves. A pit began to form in Shinn's stomach, as emotions threatened to boil over.
"Luna..." Rey muttered in disbelief. "Why... why like this?"
"Oh God," Cagalli said quietly, biting back tears. "She... she didn't deserve this!"
Shinn looked over at the source of the second attack. There, floating by one of the other two ships, backed by what may have been hundreds of Windams, was an orange Destiny.
Shinn could tell, without a shadow of a doubt, who was piloting it. "Ah, it missed," muttered the pilot, Kishin Sagume. "Here I was, hoping to kill you quickly."
"What... the hell is wrong with you people?" Shinn muttered in disbelief. "How... can you be so heartless? So cruel?"
The orange Destiny glared at him. "Because 'dying' is something only tools and the impure do."
At that point, something in Shinn's mind went 'snap'. With a loud, rage filled scream, he charged at Sagume, brandishing his mech's twin Excalibur beam swords.
The Destiny moved out of the way effortlessly, as the horde of Windams charged forward. In response, the Freedom and Strike Rouge intercepted them.
"Shinn! You focus on her!" Rey called out. "Leave the Lunar Rabbits to us!"
"Lunar..." Shinn muttered, briefly forgetting that part. Why did he forget it? It was feeling like he was overlooking something all of a sudden. Then, he realised: He couldn't hear their thoughts. "Be careful! Something... something's wrong with them! I can't hear them at all!"
"He'll pay..." Cagalli muttered darkly. "That bastard will pay!"
The Strike Rouge shot forth, brandishing its beam sabers. The Windams fired, yet as Shinn had said, something was wrong. Their movements were mechanical, and not in the precise way; they were like robots with too much crude oil in their joints. Perhaps even the term 'zombie' could be applied to them.
With a precise swipe of her beam saber, Cagalli cut a hole in one of the Windam's cockpit, and, turning her speaker on, peered into the cockpit. "Hey! Can you hear me?!" she called out. "We're here... to..." Bile rose up her throat, and she struggled to suppress it without taking her helmet off.
What sat inside the cockpit of that Windam might have, at one point, been called a 'person'. There was a semblance of what might have once been a lively, eager Lunar Rabbit, but now, all that remained was a half mutilated corpse with wires jammed into its skull that wasn't even given the dignity of being dead. What constituted for 'hands' were bolted, screwed, and riveted to the controls, and everything below the ribs was a mess of tubing and wires, and the bottoms jaw had, at some point, been ripped off to allow an ungodly amount of wires to fit. It was the sort of thing one might see in a triple-A blockbuster horror film.
"What... the fuck..." Cagalli muttered in horror. "What have they... done to you?"
She reacted too late when the Strike Rouge's sensors picked up an oncoming attack, and was only saved by Rey pulling her out of the way, causing the attack to strike the Windam instead, blowing it up.
"Pull yourself together, Cagalli Yula Athha!" Rey shouted. "This is no time to be daydreaming!"
"But... the pilots..." she continued to speak. "What did they do to them?"
Rey didn't have enough time to comment, as an onslaught of shots came their way from all directions. The enemy, however, made no attempts to dodge their own shots, and Windams fell in droves.
Shinn observed the scene in horror. "What... have you done to them?" he shouted. "What have you done!"
"Made the perfect soldiers," Sagume answered. "You'd better rejoice, Shinn Asuka. I needn't worry about my powers going awry when speaking about matters of the past." There was something entirely unpleasant about the way she was talking. It was... haughty. Full of itself. "The Lunar army has no need for soldiers who would disobey. We simply removed the option to do so. Make them part Rabbit, part machine. Effective, isn't it?"
Shinn let out a blood curdling scream. "YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!" He charged forward, swinging the dual Excalibur swords wildly. Due to the lack of power, however, it made keeping up with the new Destiny a trial in futility. Even if he could land a hit, though, the Phase Shift armour would have made it all for nought, anyway.
With a swing of her Arondight, Sagune slashed the two sword into pieces, and with a strong kick, sent the Destiny Impulse flying back to the wreckage of the Eternal. It's Wings of Light flared to life, and with the kind of speed and accuracy that would have been impossible even for a Coordinator, tore the wings from the Freedom, smashed the Aile Striker from the Rouge, and threw them towards the Eternal.
The three Mobile Suits crashed into the barrier that Reimu and Yukari were struggling to keep up, destroying it, and throwing the two down to the hull of the ship with the mechs.
Within the ship, Sara collapsed to the ground, as Shinn's knowledge of what had happened to her people flooded into her mind, and puked until her stomach was empty.
Within the hanger, Meyrin Hawke wailed in anguish, mourning the death of her sister.
In the halls, the fire extinguished fell from Kuzzey's hands. The fires may have been out, but even he could feel the defeated air that now permeated the ship.
Andrew Waltfeld collapsed into his chair, staring out at the ships that had stopped firing momentarily with a look of fear on his face.
Tears fell from the eyes of Meer Campbell, as she dread the fate that was coming their way.
And as for Lacus Clyne? She had fallen to her knees, a look of absolute despair and defeat on her face. "It's... all over..." she muttered tiredly. "There was... never really a chance for us... was there?"
The fronts of the Minerva class ships opened up, revealing their Tannhauser positron blasters. On the hull of the Eternal, the three Mobile Suits, as well as Reimu and Yukari, all struggled to get back on their feet and defend themselves.
This was going to be it; the end of their journey. It was a good run, but... at the end, there wasn't a chance in hell, was there?
The three Tannhausers fired, and everyone grit their teeth for the inevitable.
"... I won't allow it!"
A voice snapped them out of their despair, followed by a large, indomitable shadow, moving between the Eternal and the Minervas. A tall, heroic stature, who's height was roughly a third the length of most warships. From it's hands, a barrier the likes of which none had ever seen was erected, and the Tannhauser beams were deflected as if they were foam darts against a wall.
Tsukuyomi looked appropriately shocked at this turn of events. "What?" he muttered. "What is that... machine?"
The smoke dissipated, and there, standing in the way, was a gold and brown giant of a robot.
"Athrun Zala! Shin Hisoutensoku Mark Two!" shouted the pilot. "If you want to kill anyone else, you'll have to get through us first!"
Before the Lunar Emperor could question the use of the word 'us', a barrage of beams and missiles struck the rears of the other two Minerva class ships, causing chain reactions throughout them both, and destroying the two.
"What?!" Tsukuyomi repeated louded. "Who dares?!"
Aboard the bridge, one of the consoles began to beep.
"We're... receiving a message," Meer said in disbelief. "It says... 'Sorry we're late'."
An all too familiar ship came into vision. Primarily white in colour, with shades of grey and red accenting it. A kind of two-pronged front, from which launched two Skygraspers, as well as the Duel and Buster, now equipped with the same Jet Striker pack as the Windams.
There was no question about it. The Archangel had finally arrived.
As dozens of Yamawaro, lead by Marisa, Takane, Sanae, and Reisen, took off from the main deck, one final Mobile Suit was mounted on the launch pad. At a glance, one might have just said it was the Strike and called it a day, but that wouldn't have been giving it enough credit.
Generally, the Strike only equipped one Striker pack at a time. This time, though, it was packing all three of them at once, from the Sword Striker on its left arm, the Launcher Striker on its right, and the heavily modified Aile Striker on its back, retrofitted with the reactor of the Destiny it tore asunder mere days ago.
"Perfect Strike now ready for launch!" shouted a voice over the ship's comms. "All hands, brace for kickback!"
"Yamato-san, you read me?" Nitori's voice came through. "Remember, that new engine fixes this configuration's power problem, but your acceleration's pretty much gonna be untapped. Too much throttle, and you may just melt the Aile Striker."
"Ya hear that, kiddo?" Murdoch yelled. "That means no breaking the sound barrier! We'd like ya to come home in one piece, if only for your lady friend!"
"Understood," Kira Yamato responded, before switching communication channels to Tenshi, whom stood on the deck of the Archangel alongside Yakumo Ran. "Tenshi, Ran, we'll be leaving defense of the Archangel to you two."
"You got it!" Tenshi said, as she swung the Sword of Hisou down, and raised several large boulders. "We won't let a single shot past us!"
"You needn't worry, Yamato-san," Ran added. "Focus on your part, and we'll focus on ours."
A slight buzz, and someone else connected to the comms. "This is Reisen to all allies," spoke Reisen. "I've received some regrettable news. The pilots of the enemy machines... there's no saving them now."
"The hell do you mean?" Yzak Joule spoke up.
"According to Sara-san, they've been... mutilated. Fused with the machines, in a way," Reisen answered. "I'm afraid... the most we can give them is a proper send-off."
"I understand," Kira muttered sadly. "So, this is the cruel extent that people like Tsukuyomi and Kishin Sagume would go to, then?" A fire began to burn in Kira's heart. "Kira Yamato! Perfect Strike! Bringing light to the cruel world!"
The Perfect Strike launched, its Phase Shift armour turning its grey frame into its iconic colour combination, and the combination of the Moon's lower gravity and the Aile Striker's supped-up thrusters allowed for true, proper flight, even with the added weight of all three Striker packs.
What had once been a brutal, one-sided battle, had now been flipped on its head. The major advantage the Lunarian forces had had before was now stripped away, and given to to the crew of the Archangel in the form of numerous ace pilots.
From Marisa and Dearka firing massive lasers back to back, to Yzak and the Yamawaro firing a veritable wall of bullets, to the hit-and-run maneuvers of Flay, Mu, Reisen, and Sanae. Windams fell in droves, and that angered Tsukuyomi greatly.
As for Kishin Sagume, her attention was locked squarely on Kira Yamato.
The Destiny darted around at break-neck speed, firing its beam rifle ineffectively at the Strike. "You!" Sagume shouted. "If it wasn't for you... If it wasn't for you!"
Kira remained level headed as he made minor adjustments to his trajectory, dodging every shot with ease. "You brought this on yourself," he said. "You were the ones who started this war. You were the ones who invaded our world. You were the ones who killed first; you don't have the right to complain about us fighting back."
"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Sagume yelled, drawing out the Arondight sword. "You damnable, impure bastard! I... I'll kill you!"
The feeling of reality twisting washed over Kira. As if it wasn't obvious before, Kishin Sagume was now so unhinged that she didn't seem to realise her own powers taking effect. Drawing the Schwert Gewehr, Kira locked blades with Sagume, not saying a word.
By all accounts, the Destiny outperformed the Perfect Strike by a wide margin. If one was to put two equally skilled, mentally sound pilots behind the controls of both, the Destiny would have probably won, hands down.
The pilots, however, were not equal. Kishin Sagume was an erupting volcano raging against the tornado known as fate, while Kira Yamato was as calm as a river of a gentle spring day, going with the flow.
Breaking away from the blade lock, Kira swung at the Destiny's waist, exposing the cockpit to the world.
What he saw in there was both horrifying, and somehow, to be expected. "So, that's how far you've gone, then?" he muttered sadly. "You're burning in so much hatred, that you'd throw away everything."
"Shut UP!" Sagume yelled. "I refuse... I refuse to let myself die to the likes of scum like YOU!"
Once again, reality contorted. The Destiny charged, trying to strike the Strike's head, only for a clean slash of the Schwert Gewehr to remove the Destiny's forearms, and for Kira to shove the barrel of the Agni Hyper Impulse Cannon into the hole of the cockpit. Right into the mess of flesh and wires.
"Kishin Sagume," Kira said softly. "I've been where you are before. I know that burning hatred. You have my pity, but..." The barrel of the Agni became hot, as Sagume saw the energy charge deep within.
"You do not deserve my forgiveness."
The Agni fired, blowing clean through the Destiny, which fell all of ten feet before it exploded in nuclear fuelled fire.
Thus marked the death of the Lunarian Kishin Sagume. A truly pitiable person.
Tsukuyomi watched on in horror at the sight of the Destiny exploding.
"Sagu...me?" he muttered, still trying to process the shock. A Lunarian had just died, right in front of him. Such a thing had not happened in centuries, perhaps even millennia. Dying was something for those Earthling to do, not a Lunarian.
Up above, within the Skygrasper, Flay Allster saw an opportunity. "Sanae!" she called out. "I'm going to go for it!"
"Allster-san, you are absolutely insane to think about it!" Sanae shouted back. "Why would you think about doing something so astronomically risky?!"
"Because it's high time I did something both right and stupid!" Flay responded. "Besides, I'm only banking on a miracle!"
As the Skygrasper dived towards Tsukuyomi, Sanae let out an irritable sigh. "Sometimes, I hate my power!"
20mm rounds struck the hull of the Minerva class ship around Tsukuyomi. The emperor looked up, to see the oncoming Skygrasper rapidly approaching him. It was already too close for him to put up a barrier, so in a mix of rage and panic, two emotions he had not felt in aeons, he fired a blast at the machine, blasting one of its wings off.
Tsukuyomi made the mistake of taking his attention away from the Skygrasper as the pilot, Flay Allster, ejected from the machine, landed on the hull of the ship, and sprinted at him. By the time he realised, it was already too late, and the young Earthling was already upon him.
From her left hand, Flay tossed a small vial filled with a black, tar-like substance, which briefly hovered in front of Tsukuyomi's face, before Flay punched him in said face, breaking the vial on the way through, and splashing the substance all over him.
"You...!" Tsukuyomi cursed, staggering back. "How dare you!" He raised an arm, attempting to fire a blast at the purple haired girl, whom ducked out of the way. Tsukuyomi opened his mouth again to curse out this impudent girl, only for something small and cold to get shoved in it; another vial of that black stuff.
Flay allowed herself a victorious smirk, before slamming her fist up into the emperor's jaw, shattering the glass. As Tsukuyomi coughed and sputtered, a mixture of blood and black liquid spraying, Flay pivoted, ran, and leapt of the side of the ship, being caught by Sanae on the way down.
"Allster to all troops!" she shouted into her portable radio. "Blow that son of a bitch to kingdom come!"
Tsukuyomi looked up in abject terror at the formation of Mobile Suits, humans, and youkai above him, all aiming their weapons on his position. He raised both hands, and attempted to erect a barrier... only for an intense, burning pain to course through his veins, turning his arms into fountains of blood.
There was no words spoken. The Agni cannon, the Hyper Impulse Sniper, almost innumerable bullets and missiles, various different beams, and a Final Spark spell card, all homed in on him.
"Ah..." Tsukuyomi managed to utter. "I'm... going to die?"
Fearing the oncoming storm, Tsukuyomi closed his eyes.
The last warship exploded, and debris rained down on the Sea of Tranquillity.
Aboard the Eternal, everyone looked on in shock. "Is it..." Reimu muttered in disbelief. "Is it over? Did we... really survive it?"
"We... actually did," Shinn said quietly, equally shocked. "We're... still alive."
A gap opened besides them, and Yakumo Ran ran through. "Yukari-sama!" she exclaimed. "You're alright!"
Yukari, who was currently lying on her back, gave her Shikigami a small wave. "Hey, Ran," she said. "You mind... getting the ship to the shore? I'd do it myself, but... everything hurts."
Ran gave a small sigh, accompanied by a fond smile. "Of course, Yukari-sama," she responded, before tapping her earpiece. "Yakumo Ran here. I'm about to move the Eternal to the beach-side not for from your position."
"Archangel copies, Ran-san," Hatate responded. "We'll see you there in a bit."
Concentrating her power, Ran opened a larger gap, just under the Eternal, and dropped it through, placing it directly on the beach in question. The shock of the landing, though, caused just about everyone to fall over.
Shinn, who had been close to the edge of the hull, slid off, and landed in the sand below. It would have been a hard fall, had the Eternal not sunk a fair ways into the sand.
Shinn looked up at the starry skies, as days worth of exhaustion finally started to catch up to him. As he tried to force himself up, he noticed something along the shoreline; something large, red, and familiar.
A small twinge of hope swelled inside him, as he finally got back to his feet, and ran towards the wreckage of the Justice. Maybe, just maybe, things might work out for the better.
He climbed up the wreckage, as the rest of the Eternal's crew began to catch up, and peered through the hole.
But, there was no hope to be found inside the wreckage of a Mobile Suit. Tears flowed from Shinn's eyes, as he bit back at the sobs that threatened to escape his mouth.
"Shinn!" he heard Meyrin call out, the last person he'd want seeing this. "Please! Tell me she's alright! Tell me my sister's..."
Shinn saw in the corner of his eye that she was trying to climb the suit. "Stay back!" he shouted. "Don't... don't come any closer!"
Meyrin flinched in shock. "Sh... Shinn?"
"Don't... don't let this be the last thing you remember of her..." he continued, quieter. "This... this is too... too cruel..."
Shinn slid himself down the side of the Justice, and into the sand below. Meyrin tried to take a step forward, yet a hand on her shoulder stopped. She looked back, to see Rey gripping her tightly, a pained look on his face.
The metaphorical dam wall broke, and Meyrin Hawke collapsed into Rey's arms, crying.
Shinn stopped at the edge of the shore, where the ocean lapped at his ankles, and looked up at the Archangel as it slowly approached. Thousands of thoughts rushed through his head, in particular, the question 'why didn't they get here sooner?'. After their display against the Lunarians, the question of who might still be alive right now if they were even ten minutes ahead of schedule plagued his mind.
Yet, even then, he could be angry. He was just... so tired. Unable to pin blame on anyone.
A hand gently placed itself on the side of his arm. He looked over, to see Reimu at his side. She looked... just as tired as he felt.
There was no need for words. All they needed right now was each others company.
Further down the beach, Yukari stood alone, watching as Windam upon Windam fell into the ocean, being lost to the tranquil depths.
There was no denying it. This was the worst Incident anyone in Gensokyo had experienced in recent memory. The pain and the scars that had been inflicted on those that remained... they'd have to live with them for a long time.
By a lone tree, Yukari could see young Cagalli Yula Athha sobbing quietly, while both Sara the Lunar Rabbit and Andrew Waltfeld did what they could to console her.
A set of footsteps, which Yukari recognised as belonging to Lacus Clyne, was heard approaching her from behind. They sounded... slow. Strained. How such an emotion could be conveyed through walking was unknown, ever to Yukari.
"It's... finally over, isn't it?" Lacus asked, voice sounding hollow. "We've... won, right?"
Yukari didn't turn around, fearing what she was going to see. "Yeah," she muttered. "We... we won."
"It's strange," Lacus continued. "I... should be happy, but... I'm just so... tired. So numb."
Lacus staggered forward, leaning herself against Yukari's back. "You've... just been fighting for a long time," Yukari said, looking skywards. "You can... finally rest."
"Rest..." Lacus muttered tiredly. "I don't think I recall how to... Yukari, I..." She wrapped her arms around Yukari, trembling. "Why do I feel... so cold?"
Yukari bit her bottom lip, and placed her hand on Lacus'. It wasn't just that they felt cold; they felt ethereal. Tears began to fall from Yukari's eyes. "You're... you're going to be okay, Lacus," she said weakly. "It'll... it'll be fine, you hear?"
Lacus' grip around Yukari weakened, but she smiled none-the-less. "Thank you... my dear friend," she said. "I was... glad to have met you..."
At that point, her arms went slack, and fell away. In a panic, Yukari turned around. "Lacus!" she shouted.
But... there was no longer anyone there. Only the faintest of violet wisps, that drifted into the sky on the wind.
Finally the Archangel landed, kicking up water and causing it to fall like rain.
And, for the first time in ages, Yakumo Yukari allowed herself to cry.
A/N:
…
What is there to say, really? This is Gundam, after all.
But, there's still a little bit to go here. So, let's save the tears for a moment, yeah?
