It was that dream again. A golden humanoid robot and against a greyish and glowing blue animal shaped mech. The pair clashed and it seemed so slow and deliberate compared to other mecha like mobile suits or variable fighters.
Was this a vision the future? Just a weird dream? Why was he the one dreaming of this so often? Why wasn't there any Londo Bell mechs around? Where was that battle happening and did it involve him at all?
Saigi Junki wasn't sure what the meaning of his dream was as he awakened and tried to remember where he put his glasses on the nightstand next to his bed.
"What does that mean?" he muttered as he grabbed his glasses.
And why did he have this odd feeling of a draft in that dream too?
V-V-V
Shu Shirakawa did not have much time for this. A distraction was drawing attention away from the repair bay that held Zeorymer. With what amounted to a bunch of mercenaries making a lot of noise keeping everyone busy and out of Shu's way for long enough to derail some things.
And really for Shu finding soldiers of fortune to do that was incredibly easy. The nation of Moralia alone helped him in that.
"Ah Doctor Kihara," Shu muttered. "Working so hard to make sure all your plans go off without a hitch."
Shu then smirked. The "good" doctor's plans had been set up quite well. But the man hadn't planned for someone smart enough to see what they were and get involved. If anything Masaki Kihara believed no one was that intelligent.
Shu was going to enjoy taking a wrecking ball to the house of cards that surrounded Zeorymer and proving how wrong that belief was. It was be such a pleasure.
He got into the cockpit of the mech and inserted something into a data port. Once the program was uploaded into Zeorymer he removed any evidence he'd ever been in the repair bay.
Shu had a smirk on his face and looked forward to seeing how the digital ghost of sorts inside Zeorymer was going to react to his surprise. That was going to be so fun to see and one of the reasons that Doctor Kihara wasn't getting deleted outright.
Perhaps his less passive nature and knowledge would be useful for Masato Akitsu to have. It all was to make sure the good doctor knew exactly how thin of ice he was on and to be considered nothing more than a rude guest in the body of his "son".
Even to Shu Masato being the clone of Doctor Kihara made things a bit difficult in terms of relation and such. And of course there was another person with his DNA that Doctor Kihara had as a backup for his plans. One that wasn't aware they still could pilot Zeorymer like the wanted. At least in theory they could be able to.
Shu knew that Tau Dragon was moving beyond what Doctor Kihara wanted as genetically altered or not they weren't stupid enough to believe they could win without using every single asset they had available to the fullest.
Hence why he had sure that Zeorymer could be used to the fullest and defang or at least weaken the cybernetic ghost of Doctor Kihara so that incredibly powerful mech could be of use in the upcoming days. To deal with a Tau Dragon forced to fight smarter and with everything that answered Professor Denton's call.
The Go-Lion team proved to be a boon, but what else had heard the message to come to Earth? And exactly how unfriendly and dangerous would they be?
What disturbed the genius was that he didn't know and not knowing in this cause could be extremely fatal to himself and the entire planet. He just knew that an open call to the universe to visit the Earth was going to get someone that wished to wreck it.
H.G. Wells seemed to be right on what alien life was like in many ways. Or at least the template for many alien species that Earth encountered fight with those Martians in terms of personality.
Which made the open invitation to the Earth broadcast across the stars problematic to say the least.
'Perhaps the projects Professor Graife is working on can also help deal with any problems that will bring,' Shu mused to himself.
And having Doctor Kihara see someone making something remarkable close to his Zeorymer would be very amusing to see. Shu had a trollish smirk on his face thinking about that. Given the late doctor's arrogance there was no way that he'd take it well that someone could make something like that.
V-V-V
Sieg Altreet listened to the translated message for the third time and turned to his sister Sally Emil.
"We really are going to have to hurry finding the C.U.B.E. if the locals let people do that," Sieg remarked. "Not sure why he's expecting peaceful contact but Fairery and the Soul Gunner must have ended up in some off the beaten path part of the galaxy."
Interstellar war had destroyed their home planet so they knew what that scientist was courting was nothing but destruction of all he held dear.
"A pity as he sounds like he really does want to meet sentient life to make friends," Sally sighed.
"Yeah he's going to learn the hard way how things really are in space," Sieg commented. The planet of Guardisword was gone and the people holed up in some more or less pocket dimension to hide out due contact with other species in the cosmos.
Which didn't mean Sieg wanted that Professor Denton to go through that. If anything he found it sad such a hopeful message would lead to ruin.
"Think it will be hard to find the Soul Gunner?" Sally asked.
"How many mecha can one world have even if they do manage to make an imitation of the Soul Gunner?" Sieg replied.
He had no idea how much he'd regret that glib comment.
Though not as much as his leader would regret the existence of Coop. Oh was he going to regret such a force of chaos existing.
V-V-V
Remus Lupin found himself wondering if Hogwarts was run as slapdash when he was a student or not. There seemed to be no order or reason to what he had to do as DADA teacher. He knew he'd been away from Wizarding World for awhile but there didn't seem to be anything standard for this job.
Just looking at Lockhart's shameless promotion that had been the seven books he'd wanted the students to buy gave him a headache. That alone should have had Dumbledore telling him to knock it off and go with some decent DADA books.
'Looks like I have to teach the students two years worth of material just off this trash,' Remus thought darkly. 'And see if anyone before him knew what they were bloody doing with this job.'
Of course Lockhart also claiming to turn a rampaging werewolf back to human form was the biggest load of dragon dung ever written down. If such a charm existed Remus was sure at least one of the Hogwarts staff would have known it. Or at least they'd have known of it given how important it would be.
With that charm dealing with his "furry problem' won't have been an issue and likely one of his co-workers won't have a deeply personal reason to hate his guts.
Not that Remus blamed Severus for that. Nearly getting bitten or killed did that to people even if they liked each other. Which was as far from how Severus and the Marauders could be in terms of interpersonal interaction.
What Remus did blame was Dumbledore for being a "leader of the light" and so much many other titles hadn't told the Minister no for letting Dementors around the school. He might not have the full understand of the political landscape, but Remus was sure that even after being thrown out of Hogwarts for a brief period that Dumbledore should easily be able to get a somewhat more sane response to deal with that traitor. The head the DMLE and various other departments as well as wealthy citizens had children at Hogwarts and collectively could put their foot down and Fudge would have to reconsider.
Remus was tempted to offer making another Marauder Map but he was sure no one use it properly.
It pained Remus to realize he'd consider how this was being handled to be bumbling. Like no one was thinking if the Dementors kissed some students there would be hell to pay for everyone. Especially if it was the son or daughter of someone important.
'I don't expect much common sense but one would think the Minister of Magic would try avoiding something that could end up being political suicide,' Remus mused.
And this didn't even cover Harry being part of Londo Bell. A group that had a low tolerance for dragon dung and bumbling fools. Which disturbed Remus in it seeming Hogwarts had a lot of that now.
Remus wondered how long Hogwarts would be standing if they met the bitter man teaching potions here. Severus would be likely dead if one of the Getter team was there. The Death Caprice Squad would also put down Severus like a rabid dog if he annoyed them.
Remus considered the part he had at getting Severus to be that bitter something he regretted deeply. One that any apologizing for won't go well.
'Magic can't fix everything,' Remus thought with a sigh. A lesson he wondered if he taught it would sink in. He figured he had to at least try.
He also wondered how blunt Severus was going to be in telling the students about werewolves on the days he took over DADA. Remus knew the man too well to not know that was his plan.
Slughorn would probably sigh give that was as subtle as a brick through a window.
Yet Remus didn't have anyone else that could take over for him on those days. Oh he'd like Dumbledore to take over for those days but he was definitely too busy and it felt wrong ask someone so important to do that.
Remus tried to imagine Ryoma Nagare finding out about skelegrow and taking over for those days. It involved Hagrid and insane pets and one overworked healer putting everyone back together again.
Remus still was tempted if he could get that as an option. Given the things Hagrid had talked about happening to Harry Remus hoped for Londo Bell to show up.
Fighting a troll on Halloween? His broom going out of control and it only is remembered because of a miracle play that won a game?! A detention in the middle of the Forbidden Forest as a First Year to see what was killing unicorns?! Being attacked by blunders with a mind of their own? His being found out to be a Parseltongue in the middle of a dueling club?!
And from how Hagrid described it there hadn't been any investigation into any of those incidents. True Hagrid left off some details, which actually worried Remus in what Hagrid might have forgot or not mention, but it sounded like Hogwarts was some independent fiefdom from the Ministry of Magic.
He had a feeling Lily would be displeased to say the least if just one of those happened to Harry. If all of those she'd probably want to kill the staff. And James would give them a pranking hell that make them wish to be dead….if he was in a good mood.
'I'm starting to feel they must be joking when it comes this place being safe for Harry,' Remus mused darkly.
Londo Bell might be the only force able to tell the staff what they can or can't do in regards to Harry. Something Remus doubted he'd have a ghost of a chance doing.
It also made Remus want to watch closely and see if just not having any parental figures able to throw their weight around meant people did whatever they wanted at Hogwarts. He wondered if that was why the Marauders got away with so much involving Severus.
That such a thing could be true made Remus's blood run cold and wonder what sort of school he was working for. And if this was the greatest school for magic what did the worst ones look like?
Yet somehow Remus had this feeling Hogwarts was a lot closer to the bottom than the top in many ways.
It was something he did not like at all and hated to have to admit. Hogwarts was looking far worse than he remembered it to be in those halcyon days as a student. The time he had friends and things seemed a bit brighter than now in many ways.
"And this is where those that become part of the Ministry of Magic are taught," Remus grumbled. "No wonder that place is a complete and utter mess."
Once again Remus wondered if the lesson of it not being a good idea to mess with Londo Bell was going to be taught this year as well. And that was a lesson that would be brutal as so many children to one degree or another looked down on muggle things. Even among the "Light" side a dismissive attitude towards the muggle world existed. One the Ministry wanted as explaining why wizards and witches were on the Earth while muggles had space colonies, lunar colonies they could easy see and colonize on Mars and Jupiter was politically embarrassing. To say nothing of the extrasolar colonies that were being set up thanks to the FTL drive the Macross had.
'Of course I'm sure the beliefs of most of the children at Hogwarts is parroting whatever their parents have told them,' Remus thought to himself.
Remus hoped that Harry was having a better day he was given the DADA job was becoming more and more a pain in his backside by the day and classes hadn't even started yet. No wonder even if that curse didn't exist no one wanted to stick around for a second year. This shite probably could drive even a saint insane.
V-V-V
For some reason was Harry entered the auditorium he wondered what his team captain Oliver Wood giving a speech on whatever was going to likely try to end all life on Earth. And somehow given what Londo Bell was like Harry was sure it won't the weirdest thing they would experience. Or frankly even the weirdest experience that week for them.
Harry wondered who the group of new people was that were seated around Ken and Ryo. He also blinked and blushed seeing what the representative of Dannar base was wearing. It didn't look very practical and probably make Sirus pant like the dog he turned into.
There also was the guy dressed in black and had what was clearly a black clad android with him. Harry had no idea who that was. He wasn't sure if even Hermione could memorize everyone that was in Londo Bell, who they were allied with, and who they battled.
Even Admiral Misumaru looked completely serious as he got behind the podium. A three dimensional hologram of a floating island appeared overhead.
"This is Machine Island," he said clearly and dead serious. "We have 66 hours before it crashes into the Earth. And merely the sort of destruction a land mass hitting the Earth is not what we are going to have. If it hits it will cause an explosion that will end all life on the planet. Other than possibly Orphan but that is merely a maybe. The Dinosaur Empire likely will be still be around but that's also just a guess."
Even Kyosuke didn't want to bet on that as the projections of Machine Island's destruction was going to be massive. Even Orphan and the Dinosaur Empire being where they were didn't seem to be enough protection.
Harry was starting to wonder if someone came crashing in about a troll on the loose if this bunch would need five minutes to deal with it. As it looked like the fate of the entire planet was on the line again.
One more Harry wondered if that would make his next year Hogwarts even more insane as he was getting use to planet ending threats. One thing Harry was sure of was that he didn't have any pants wetting fear of Riddle anymore. He was nothing more than a dangerous maniac with no morals and not this powerful being that seemed birthed from magic.
Without the myth Riddle was just a man. A murderous man that needed to be stopped and deal with whatever allowed him to cheat death, but still only a man.
"The Skull Force will be sent in first though the Gravity Curtain," Admiral Misumaru continued.
Ken grinned hearing that. "Good we get to be the first to smash things."
"Be warned we don't have any idea what exactly is on Machine Island," the admiral said looking Ken in the eye. "Since the great war contact has been cut with the island so what welcome you will get is unknown."
Harry tried to recall what the great war was again. Was that the war with the Muge Empire? Or was it the war between Earth and Zeon that the Zentradi showing up caused a major shake up? So many conflicts to keep track of. Even one called the Oz War happened while he was at Hogwarts. And there was the so called Angel War that Harry had been part of that just gotten started.
There were people that didn't think the Angels were anything but Mimetic Beasts with a new name or Mimetic Beasts that Doctor Hell had altered in some way. Harry didn't think that was true, but he could see why some people would believe that.
"Even Kyosuke-kun won't bet on the locals being friendly," Excellen remarked and drove Harry from his thoughts.
"Pretty much," Kyosuke agreed.
"After Skull Force leads the way the rest of the taskforce will move in," Admiral Misumaru stated as he was used to Excellen's comments. "The hope is our negotiator can get the local factions in control of the mecha production plans to aid us."
Left unsaid was that if they didn't want to play nice for Londo Bell to beat the crap out of them and see which of them was causing the problem.
Not that Roger Smith had a problem with that as they had a strict deadline before the planet would be wrecked.
So there not being any chances taken made sense to him. There wasn't time to mess around with reluctant leaders.
"Any questions?" the admiral asked.
There was merely silence.
"Let's get to work," Admiral Misumaru said once more with an uncharacteristic seriousness.
V-V-V
To say the transport that had Green Falcon Squad on it was tense was an understatement. Some morbidly believed they'd be dead before they even got through the Gravity Curtain let alone onto the floating island.
Calvina Coulange wondered how she got made part of this dead men walking corps. She'd considered her fight with that Angel to be a disaster and the odds of fighting something less dangerous were not good. It was like she'd been put on a suicide squad of some kind.
Of course she noticed many of the other recruits were as disturbed to hear someone say they were a bunch of red shirts. Thankfully not all the members of this squad enjoyed being called that and glared at the man.
Chuck Keith laughed nervously and hoped the changes to his Gundam meant he could use the main gun of it and not nearly cause the reactor to explode. That would really be a bad thing for him and the rest of Green Falcon Squad.
Still Lowe Gruele had been part of the team to fix the problem so it should work fine. Keith was sure that this mission was going to make or break his mech. He was hoping for make over break of course.
The transport ship then shook violently as it crossed the the Gravity Curtain. And it it didn't seem strong enough to stop people from coming or going for the floating island. It was clearly not easy on ships but it seemed odd no one had managed to through that and out beyond Machine Island again.
Then came the weapons fire that made it clear that visitors to Machine Island were not wanted by at least one of the factions. And that explained why no one had made contact with the locals and gotten out.
Captain Scarlet Hibiki was very glad the command center wasn't at the front of the transport and it also used sensors and such with no glass for looking out of. She was pretty sure if it was she'd be dead now.
She took stock to see who was unable to pilot their mech as the welcome they got and the fact the three production plants on Machine Island could make mecha meant they were soon going to have company.
Even Lt. Nanbu of the ATX team won't bet on it being friendly company. Joshua refused outright to bet on that sucker's bet.
"With our luck one of them probably thinks they are in a Mad Max movie," Ed the Ripper muttered.
No one was going to rule that out. Or that somehow aliens had conquered Machine Island and were using it as a forward base to conquer the Earth. That sort of thing came up a lot after all so it have happened here.
Captain Hibiki wondered what Ken and Ryo were doing as she and the others scrambled for their mechs. They got their own transport as the one time the whole unit had been sent together...well that incident made it clear to never do that again.
'I'm sure they'll show up as dramatically as they can,' she mused. 'They are such drama queens when they want to be.'
Something she was sure was said to the pair would make them react violently. Even if she said that to them. Or even if the Getter team said it to them to be honest.
Machine Island looked like a desolate wasteland as the Wingle, GM III, various Jegan variants, and Gundams launched. It looked to be barren rock with no signs of life. Yet there had to be some sort of life to shoot at them.
"If anyone mockingly asks for us to come out and play...shoot them," Captain Hibiki ordered.
Kou took to the skies to see if anyone was coming to welcome them. He really hoped to not be shot out of the sky instantly. He blinked as the mecha coming towards them looked very familiar and not in a good way.
Anything that looked like the mech forces of Doctor Hell made him very nervous. You did not pick something that looked that menacing because it looked cool.
That they opened fire on him made their intentions crystal clear.
Kou Iraki returned fire with the long beam rifle of the Gerbera and it cut through the armor like it wasn't there. The locals pulled back. Though Kou doubted his beam rifle would stop the locals from attacking him for very long.
"Huh it might not be wishful thinking that weapon can cut through any armor that isn't specially treated or made of Super Alloy," Kou muttered.
"The locals are not friendly, repeat the locals are not friendly," Kou reported. "Also they look like Doctor Hell's mecha."
"I believe that usually goes hand in hand," Captain Scarlet remarked. "Give them a warm welcome everyone!"
Joshua Radcliffe fired the cannons on the Cannongan in the crowd of definitely not wellwishers.
Calvina fired her hyper bazooka and the rounds split into numerous small projectiles. Those small projectiles shredded the invaders like shotgun pellets.
Ed the Ripper fired the hip mounted missiles of his Jegan B Type at the invaders as well.
Chuck Keith fired the BFG class long range beam rifle on the Blossom and took his Gundam not exploding or the cockpit turning red from warnings coming up a good thing. It seemed the "twin terrors" of mecha customizing had pulled through.
"Called it," Edward Harrelson called out as they got to see what some of the pilots looked like on the sensors.
The Kiba Army all looked like they were trying out for extras in a Mad Max movie.
"How..cliche," Xine Espio muttered. She then had her Jegan Normal Type run at full speed at the locals.
Xine pulled out her beam saber and charged through the unorganized locals.
If the locals knew the normal weapons load of a GM III they'd be shocked to see it armed with a Rezel's mega beam launcher. Tsubasa Yuki was not going to play around and knew she'd need the heavy firepower for this mission.
Captain Scarlet took the sky with her Wingle. The armor on the locals proved to be subpar when the Wiggle easily destroyed them with the ankle blades. Clearly it was a matter of quantity and not quality for the Kiba Army.
The Wingle then pulled a rapier out of one of the breasts of the unit.
"I swear the designers of this, the Mazinger Angels and the female shaped Anti-Mimetic Beast mecha needed someone to cut the juvenile crap and the breasts on robots fixation," Captain Scarlet muttered.
If any of Green Falcon Squad heard that comment they didn't say anything.
Suddenly there was an explosion of rock and the coarse ground of the floating island. Mazinkaiser SKL rose up from the ground and was ready to fight.
"Wow they're not all dead yet," Ken Kaido remarked. "But the day is still young."
"Is he talking about our enemies or us?" Calvina inquired.
"Take your pick," Scarlet sighed.
Ryo then switched in as the main pilot of Mazinkaiser SKL. The mech was then a blur of movement and demolished what remaining invading forces there were.
"Pretty sure whoever leads that bunch is going to be a pain to deal with the entire time," Captain Scarlet sighed.
"Let's just hope for finding someone in charge that isn't insane," Xine commented.
They didn't exactly have high hopes for that happening. Not with the welcome they had already gotten on Machine Island.
"We need to clear the area for the others," Captain Scarlet ordered. "As we need a way off this place after we complete the mission."
That none of the locals had a way off Machine Island was a given. The Road Warrior rejects would have done so otherwise.
V-V-V
Harry stared at his Rezel. At least he thought it was his robot. It was no longer blue and now painted red, and likely at least three times faster than a normal Rezel. It also had the Gundam V ornament on the head. The weapon systems likely also had been upgraded in some fashion as well. They likely had enhanced the weapons payload of the mech by adding a beam lance or a hyper bazooka or the still in planning stage beam boomerang.
Though Harry won't be surprised if his Rezel now had some sort of mobile armor add on like that one Gundam had when fighting the 4th Angel. It made Harry smile thinking what driving a mobile armor piloting mobile suit around Hogwarts would make the students and teachers do.
"Coop and Lowe?" Harry asked rhetorically.
"Yeah," Mu Flaga replied with an amused expression. "Those two really do make the impossible possible when it comes to mech upgrades don't they?"
"This is because they weren't let play with the Brain Powerds and Evangelions isn't it?" Harry sighed.
No one disputed that. Astonaige Medoz merely tried to understand their madness and keep them from working on units that the owners of the mechs would violently complain.
Amuro and Camile kept a very close eye on Coop and Lowe when they even touched their Gundams.
Harry was almost certain that a magnetic coating had been applied to the joints of his Rezel. He also was certain that the reactor of his mech had been made more powerful, and the amount of parts it had when he first got it still being in the mech was extremely low.
And yet Harry had a feeling he was going to need those upgrades for this mission. This one seemed to have even more on the line than usual.
He also wondered if what had been done to his Rezel would become a Rezel Kai or Rezel Harry or Rezel Potter variant. That actually amused Harry that he might become known for that.
"I also gave the pair a hand in that," Hayato admitted. "It was definitely interesting."
Harry wondered that meant the rumors Hayato was being groomed by Professor Saotome to take over as head of Saotome Labs and make Getters when he retired was true. It did fit with the man's very loose standards for things for his successor to be a psychopath.
It made Harry wonder if Professor Saotome had the same standards that Hogwarts had for DADA teachers. In fact he was surprised Sirius wasn't offered the job especially after Riddle taught for a year.
'And for a dark lord who believed there was no good or evil just might he sure was a lousy teacher,' Harry mused to himself.
Harry nearly chuckled at that odd thought as he could imagine some of the people worked with snarking that he should be teaching that in class and not when he's about to kill the person.
Harry had to admit he knew some very strange and flippant people. And that it was going to be hard when he got back to Hogwarts to avoid reacting like they would to the professors.
Making that even harder was Harry imagining the professors telling Major Zonvolt or Sirius about his being disrespectful to them. Neither of them really was going to care. Harry also looked forward to seeing if they even commented on Sirius having signed his permission slip to visit Hogsmeade. Especially if they fed him a line about not letting him go because Sirius was on the loose.
"I still am not letting even you touch my Evangelion," Kaworu remarked to Hayato.
The psychopath merely chuckled at that. Kaworu wondered if SEELE left Hayato Jin alone as he'd probably do something insane to them just to for a laugh.
"So they try upgrading your mech yet?" Harry asked Mu.
"Not yet," Mu admitted. "Though I won't be surprised if that does happen sooner or later."
"Yeah they do that to everyone's mech if they can," Hayato commented. "Lowe got asked to improve Sayla's gundam to be as good as Amuro's."
"He and Coop have gone beyond that," Mu commented. "So far beyond that Amuro's mech needed some upgrades."
"I noticed," Harry quipped.
"And not sure if that Works GINN Lowe uses has any original parts left in it," Mu shrugged. "And he wants an actual combat mech to alter and show he can disable mechs with something stronger than a linear gun or whatever weapons his mech has now."
"Did he really cut a Leo up and leave the pilot exposed to air but unharmed?" Harry inquired.
Mu and Hayato nodded. They were there and got to see it happen.
"Lowe enjoys showing off his ability to not kill people in very flashy ways," Hayato said an amused expression.
The Macbeth then shook as the ship entered the Gravity Curtain and also had to deal with antiaircraft weapons.
"Well that's not friendly," Hayato Jin remarked.
"Guns aren't exactly friendly," Harry noted.
On the bridge Bright Noah would agree with that assessment. However he was in a position to do something about it in this case.
"Fire the main batteries at those gun emplacements," Bright ordered.
The Macbeth unleashed hell on the unwelcome mat that had been set up on Machine Island. The antiaircraft emplacements didn't stand a chance to the weapons of the Macbeth.
"At least now we know what happened to everyone who has visited Machine Island," Wind noted.
"I just hope that the Green Falcon Squad is still alive," Captain Bright admitted.
Their track record on that was really bad. Like red shirts on Star Trek level bad in staying alive. It made people wonder what those that became part of Green Falcon Squad did to warrant that death sentence.
"In either case I'm sure that Mazinkaiser SKL will be there," Wind commented.
"Of course they will be," Meran stated.
That was pretty much the only thing they could depend on involving the Skull Force.
Seeing a base camp using the downed ship and more than Mazinkaiser SKL was a shock to the crew of the Macbeth.
"What kept you?" Ken asked as he stealth carrier wasn't that damaged.
Kaworu considered Ken Kaido an insane and hot blooded lillium. One he doubted Third Impact would actually do anything to. If anything he'd just find it really annoying and do something to stop it.
'Then again I doubt that it'd do much more than that to most of Londo Bell,' Kaworu admitted to himself.
Even more worrying to the Angel of Free Will was if Father would survive the destruction Machine Island would cause. He really wasn't sure at this point if he would come through it alive.
'Even though that would be funny in a morbid way for Machine Island hitting the Earth to completely destroy SEELE's plans,' Kaworu thought to himself.
"How did Doctor Hell get up here?" Koji asked as he saw the remains of the local mecha.
"We don't believe they were with Doctor Hell and his forces," Joshua replied.
"Not that really is much of an improvement," Chuck Keith remarked.
"Enough chatter," Captain Scarlet said cutting the conversation. "We got to move anything of value to the Macbeth."
She was not leaving behind anything for the locals to take and make use of.
"Understood," Harry replied as he landed his Rezel.
Though Harry got queasy seeing the dead bodies removed from the fallen craft along with Rezels. He usually didn't see death quite so closely. Usually there wasn't enough left of the bodies to fill a sandwich bag. It also was something Harry had avoided thinking about.
"Yeah it's never easy," Mu told Harry.
The fact Kou and Chuck sounded like they were trying extremely hard to avoid throwing up made it clear to Harry he wasn't alone in that.
For Kou and Chuck now was when they had a chance for things to sink in for them. The adrenaline rush had worn off and people they had been talking to not that long ago were dead. It struck the pair of newly minted soldiers hard.
Ken sighed. "The newbies."
"Not everyone has been a soldier of fortune and used to that sort of thing," Sanger noted.
"At least I avoided looking like I was completely drunk while driving a mech," Ken snorted. How Gauron could show his face in public after Londo Bell had seen the expressions he made while in a mech he had no idea.
Harry made a note to look up what that was a reference to later.
"In any case this bunch might actually last for a while," Ryo stated referring to Green Falcon Squad.
No one was sure exactly how to take that compliment.
V-V-V
After everything had been removed the Macbeth soon found what looked like the good part of Machine Island. There was green grass, clear water in lakes and it actually looked people could live in the region.
An octagonal shaped crystal fortress appeared to be the only building in the region.
It also had giant female shaped robots with swords ready to defend the region from any invaders.
There also appeared to be a barrier that had gone up around the area.
"So does your wife believe you when you talk about what your days are like?" Wind asked.
"Don't you have better things to do Mr. Peacecraft?" Bright Noah commented sharply.
"Fine I'll get ready to launch," Wind said getting the hint.
"Thank you," Bright stated feeling at least one smart ass would be off the bridge.
Meran said nothing. He was rather used to this job being very strange.
"Now how we call whoever is in charge down there," Bright mused.
"She seems to be calling us," Meran commented.
If a 21st century anime fan had seen Aila was a dead ringer for the adult version of Hinata Hyuuga from Naruto. The only real difference was Aila had pale blue eyes and not lavender ones.
"Greetings captain," Aila stated. "I need your help."
Bright took that in stride as he had seen a lot of weird things since first taking command of the White Base.
"And what would that require us to do?" Bright inquired. "We need to stop Machine Island from causing a disaster that might even kill the Dinosaur Empire."
"That is the threat I need your help in stopping," Aila admitted.
Bright doubted there would be any problems on that. He just hoped he wasn't going to be doublecrossed as that got extremely annoying really quick.
"So what can you tell us about the other factions?" Bright inquired.
"Neither of them are sane nor would listen to you," Aila said sadly. "Nor would they care that the entire world would be ended."
"That is what we were afraid of," Bright grumbled.
"Also I believe Kiba himself is with his troops," Aila told him. "He would be the leader of the troops you had faced before."
"Captain we have a lot of mechs coming towards us."
"Launch everyone," Bright ordered.
V-V-V
Harry quickly realized that the invading forces had a lot more on their mind than just fighting as some them actually groped the female mecha along with trying to take the female pilots. Which was a terrible idea Harry was sure would get them killed.
"Hands off!" Sayla yelled as she as many offending limbs as she could with a hyper beam saber. Coop and Lowe also had done some more work on Sayla's MP Nu Gundam along with Harry's Rezel.
Captain Scarlet struck down the Kiba Army 'soldiers' with the Wingle's rapier.
Noin simply shot the lecher driven mechs in the face with her Taurus's main weapon. Sayla also helped by using the forearm mounted beam spray guns on her Gundam. An improvement from the MP Nu Gundam they had added to Amuro's Nu Gundam.
Shizuru Fujimura let the Kiba Army have it with the Core Gunner.
Katrina introduced the perverts to the jet magnums her custom Gespenst had.
Canard Pars snorted as he let loose on the Kiba Army with his beam submachine gun. "I almost pity them."
"I don't," Amuro remarked as he used Nu Gundam's forearm mounted beam spray guns.
"Keep your hands to yourselves boys," Excellen remarked as she sniped the Mechabeast looking mechs. "And call me Professor Browning Kou."
Kou had no idea what to make of this flirty woman. Other than he had heard she guy with a very unique custom mech as a boyfriend.
Kousuke didn't waste his revolver stakes on the small fries.
Cutey Honey aimed for the cockpits of the lecher driven mechs with her boomerangs. Something about them really angered her.
"That's no way to treat anyone!" Bullet yelled and let the punk mech pilots have it with the Huckebein's photon rifle.
"Agreed," Roger Smith said with disdain for Kiba Army as he let them have it with Big O's missile launchers.
Harry tested out the beam lance he had. Which was more like a mega beam lance.
"They never do anything small do they?" Harry remarked staring at the massive beam of energy at the end of the lance that went through two or three of the invading mechs.
"Warn us next time you do that!" one the Psycho Gear pilots yelled.
"Hey first time I used it and wasn't sure how modified it was by Lowe and Coop," Harry snapped.
"Coop?" another of the Psycho Gear pilots asked.
There was a massive explosion and Megas came out of the new crater.
"Pilot of that," Harry admitted.
"Oh…."
"Time to have some fun before Coop ends this," Ken grinned as he took control of Mazinkaiser SKL.
Ken put Mazinkaiser SKL's sword into one of the hands and fired off the fists. The blade sliced through the mecha like they were made of hot butter.
Suddenly massive metal tentacles wrapped around Mazinkaiser SKL.
"Hey I'm not your date," Ken growled.
"Quit clowning around," Kyosuke stated to the pair as he unloaded the claymores on the mech holding them.
The rocket fist returned and cut through the tentacles. Kiba grinned as this fight was going to be fun. The green leaped out of it's ride and kicked Mazinkaiser SKL in the face.
"This might actually be longer than a minute," Ken grinned.
Kiba laughed. "And I was thinking the same thing."
"Someone just shoot him or we will be here all day," Kyosuke remarked. "Which we really don't have the time for."
The Bakuryuki dodged a swipe by Sanger's Grungust Type O and pulled out a sword of its own.
"Would you even care if Machine Island hit the Earth?" Ryo inquired.
"Why should I?" Kiba replied to that question.
Roger Smith had to resist groaning in annoyance. It was hard to deal with people like that without just using Big O on them.
It also confirmed some of the information they had gotten on the locals. And that they weren't being lied to on at least one part.
If they were lucky all of it might be true and they won't have to fight their allies. That sort of backstabbing really got annoying fast.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Excellen remarked. "Some barbarian who ruled beyond the Thunderdome?"
Kiba wasn't sure what about that insulted him the most.
Then giant arrows started flying through the air at everyone.
"Hey!" Kiba yelled. "He can't let me have some fun without sticking his warlord nose in my business."
The Garan Army had gotten involved and they wanted everyone else dead.
Amuro groaned when he saw the red X Battlers were three times better than the normal unit.
"Does everyone have to imitate Char like that?" Amuro groused.
"Probably," Sayla shrugged.
Kaworu let the X Battlers have it with his Evangelion's dual chainsaw. He was amused at the strange things he saw on this job.
Mari flew in and in gerwalk mode tried to behead the Bakuruyki.
"You I like," Kiba chuckled. "Probably kill you first though."
Ken found it amusing as he destroyed the Bakuruyki's sword easily. It was definitely not made of Super Alloy or any other super durable material.
"Find it at the bottom of a box of cereal?" Ken joked. "Or in a box of Crackerjacks?"
"Shut up," Kiba growled.
The Bakuruyki then shook violently as the Alt Eisen drove a stake revolver through the back of the mech's head and through the left optic.
Ken took advantage of that to slice Kiba's mech in half. A massive explosion rocked the battlefield and covered up that Kiba was surprisingly lightly injured for that. True he scared by the explosion, one of his eyes likely blinded, and his face disfigured but that explosion should have turned him into chunks someone would need a tweezer to put into a sandwich bag.
The Garan Army didn't seem to care that Kiba was dead and merely kept on their attack against any all other forces.
That spoke of a higher dedication than Kiba's bunch had as they were trying to make a break for it.
Trying the key word as it was really doing them no good as Shin Getter One flew in and slashed them with a pair of tomahawks.
"Who said you could leave the party just yet?" Ryoma cackled. "We're just getting started!"
"You don't want to miss out," Katrina Trask said with an evil smirk on her face.
"Just don't take too long," Sanger ordered.
"Yeah we know," Ken stated to the Sword that Pierces Evil. "We kind of want the planet intact too you know."
Sanger said nothing but fire the chest based hyper blaster at the Garan Army. The energy blast tore through the oddly armed mecha.
With his usual war cry Coop elbow dropped one of the X Battlers. Well perhaps he was aiming for one but he crushed a lot of them.
Mari had a lot better luck beheading X Battlers than she had with Kiba's mech.
"I just love getting close and personal," Mari grinned.
"We noticed," Excellen commented.
Harry then saw how fast his improved Rezel could move and the answer was really fast now. It had more speed and power than even the red X Battlers. The mega beam lance was as devastating on the Garan Army as it was the Kiba Army.
"Try to avoid getting in front of that thing Arado," Seolla ordered as she was picking off Kiba Army mecha with her Huckebein M's G-Railgun. "I don't want to see you testing your luck against something Lowe and Coop made again."
"I don't intend to," Arado called out as he was hacking X Battlers with a beam sword.
"Junk that's what you are...junk," Captain Scarlet remarked as the Garan Army proved to be no more effect against the Wiggle.
"I agree," Kaworu nodded as he was demolishing any and all mecha that attacked him. He enjoyed having the massive arrows the Garan Army was using just fall to the ground after hitting his Evangelion's AT Field.
"It is like they haven't heard of a forcefield," Canard mused as he was using the Lightwave barrier of his Hyperion do the same thing with the massive arrows.
"Style over substance," Tetsuya commented as he merely sliced up the Garan Army with Great Mazinger's sword.
"We need to get to where these factions are based and see who is messing things up," Captain Scarlet ordered.
"Shouldn't be long now," Hayato remarked.
The Kiba Army and Garan Army were not happy to hear that accurate estimate of their standing power against Londo Bell.
Completely unnoticed in the mop up was Kiba managing to get up and start the long walk he'd need to make to Garan's headquarters. He knew who could tell him where it was lived there. The mecha that was part of what kept Machine Island floating.
A mech made by the WSO named Iron Kaiser.
V-V-V
It didn't take Londo Bell long to check Kiba's base to make sure he wasn't behind the problem with Machine Island.
Which left just Garan as they learned who the third leader was called.
That Garan's base looked like samurai fortress was not a surprise to anyone.
"Talk about taking a theme and sticking to it," Ken Kaido mused.
"Let's knock on the door," Ryoma grinned as he fired a Getter Ray at the fortress.
The base defenses came alive and X Battlers scrambled to attack them.
"Forward!" Sanger called out as he lead the charge.
A massive silver, green, and grey mech then joined the battle.
"Such rude guests," Garan remarked.
"Would you have let us check and stop what is causing Machine Island to be on a collision course?" Musashi asked.
"Of course not," Garan remarked as he parried the sword of Mazinkaiser SKL with his spear.
"Well Mr. Grumpy pants we kind of like the Earth having life on it," Excellen remarked.
"It is where most of us have our stuff," Jamie added.
Garan wasn't moved by that and used the dragon's head end of his spear to fire lighting at Great Mazinger.
Tetsuya flew over the Geistteles and fired down a double thunder break.
Mu, Sayla, and Amuro then flew in and showed Garan why fighting a trio of Newtypes was a terrible idea. Even with all the speed and durability of the Geistteles it had gashes covering it after that attack.
Evangelion 06 smashed any and all defenses of the castle that tried to attack Londo Bell like it was in a giant monster movie. Kaworu was sure Coop could have mentioned a bunch he was sure to be reminded of.
"Let's keep these mechs busy," Captain Scarlet called out to Green Falcon Squad as the X Battlers tried to help their leader.
Xine fired the missiles in her Jegan's shield at the X Battlers.
"ATX team give them support," Kyosuke ordered as he shot an X Battler in the face with the Alt Eisen's arm mounted autocannon.
"Well that will keep the small fries busy," Ken remarked as Ryo took over as main pilot for Mazinkaiser SKL.
Ryo went on the offensive against Garan and Garan was sure he could easily handle that unit by itself. Which wasn't the case as he had a lot of other units with skilled pilots attacking him.
Ryo also aimed for the damage that already had been done to the Geistteles to slow down the mech even further.
Garan knew he needed an edge as he wasn't going to win being on the defensive but Himiko suddenly went silent. The backlash at that shocked Garan and he didn't move. It was a bad time as Shin Getter Two drove through the center of the Geistteles with its drill arm.
"Well that's done so we can…" Ken remarked when suddenly everything started to shake.
Captain Scarlet Hibiki felt dread as it seemed someone had managed to find what she hoped would remain hidden and left alone.
Suddenly a red and dark grey mech rose out of the ground. Kiba cackled.
"Wow…" Ryoma commented. "You look pretty good for a guy who had a mech explode around them."
"You guys won't," Kiba remarked with a crazy gleam in his good eye.
Gravity then started going crazy. Massive rocks started being ripped off the ground and flying at Londo Bell.
Captain Scarlet separated the Wing Cross from the Wingle.
"You two are going to need this," she said to Ken and Ryo.
Ken chuckled as he took over as main pilot again. "Goodie."
The Wing Cross combined with Mazinkaiser SKL and the mech took the skies.
"We have a time limit so we don't have time to play with you," Ryo commented.
Kiba didn't notice the rest of Londo Bell making a break for the Macbeth as he tried to deal with Mazinkaiser SKL.
They knew better than to stick around for this mess as Machine Island was coming apart. Even Coop was leaving.
"Why won't you just die?!" Kiba yelled as the Mazinkaiser SKL was able to match his every attack blow for blow.
It was quite likely that the same technology was used in both mecha.
The Mazinkaiser SKL then grabbed the Iron Kaiser and drove in the massive hole that had opened in the ground. The Iron Kaiser got slammed into the core of Machine Island.
"Let's see you survive this!" Ken yelled as he fired the Inferno Blaster at full power at Iron Kaiser and the main core for the Gravity Curtain.
Kiba screamed as he finally died. He wasn't coming back from this.
V-V-V
Harry was shocked at several things. One that the region of Machine Island that had the only pleasant inhabitants survived and now was an island in the ocean, and second that the Death Caprice Squad survived what they were at ground zero of.
He snorted realizing this was going to be fun to tell Sirius and wondered what insanity he was going to have to deal with next.
V-V-V
Those living on Frontier IV space colony had no idea that the more or less peaceful lives they had were about to come to end.
The Radam and Tekkaman Dagger were coming.
V-V-V
Chapter Notes
Saigi Junki is from Reideen. He's in for some crazy times ahead.
Shu Shirakawa is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. A chessmaster, schemer, scientist, alchemist, and has a mech that can shoot black holes at things. His game plan always suits him, and he doesn't like being controlled at all.
Sieg Altreet and Sally Emil are from Super Robot Wars CG. They have no idea the sort of monsters they serve.
Ryo Magami and Ken Kaido are from Mazinkaiser SKL and pilots of the titular mech for the show.
Admiral Misumaru is from Martian Successor Nadesico. A bit flighty but he cares and has morals.
Kyosuke Nanbu is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. He is stoic, but don't mistake that for a lack of emotion. He also likes to bet on the long shots.
Excellen Browning is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. She is flighty, sweet and also a great sharp shooter. She also has secrets even she is unaware of.
Roger Smith is from Big O. A negotiator from a city without memories and pilot of the Big O.
Calvina Coulange is from Super Robot Wars J. She has the callsign of the White Lynx and feels in over her head with the Skull Force.
Chuck Keith is from Gundam Stardust Memories. He's just become an ensign and got shoved into the deep end of mecha craziness with the Skull Force.
Lowe Gruele is from Gundam SEED Astray and is a member of the Junk Guild. He loves customizing mecha.
Captain Scarlet Hibiki is from Mazinkaiser SKL. She is the no nonsense commander of the Skull Force.
Joshua Radcliffe is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. Also a gambler but he prefers not to bet on the long odds.
Edward Harrelson aka Ed the Ripper is from Gundam SEED side material. Really doesn't like being called by his nickname.
Kou Uraki is from Gundam Stardust Memories. He's going to learn how to handle his Gundam really fast.
Xine Espio is from Super Robot Wars Z. Sultry and thankfully not a fangirl of one crazy and messed up guy.
Coop is from Megas XLR and is pure chaos in motion.
Mu La Flaga is from Gundam SEED. Called the Hawk of Endymion and has no idea his father cloned himself a few times.
Astonaige Medoz is from Gundam Zeta. A mechanic and designer of the Zeta Gundam with Camile Bidan.
Amuro Ray is from the original Gundam series and is the first Gundam pilot.
Hayato Jin is from Getter Robo and is a psychopath.
Kaworu Nagisa is from Neon Genesis Evangelion. He is the Angel of Free Will and actually the most stable Evangelion pilot. It is a toss up if Gendo Ikari was trying to top Professor Saotome in hiring of maniacs or not.
Bright Noah is from the original Gundam series and has been the captain of the ships the heros have used up for a great deal of the UC era.
Preventer Wind aka Zechs Merquise aka Milliardo Peacecraft is from Gundam Wing. He is the Char of that series.
Meran is from Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack. He is the XO of the ship and he's seen some weird things due to being in Londo Bell.
Sayla Mass is from the original Gundam series. She is Char's sister and also a newtype. Not someone you want to anger in a fight.
Lucrezia Noin is Gundam Wing and does pretty well fighting in a mass produced unit.
Shizuru Fujimura is from Godannar. Pilot of Core Gunner and let's just say that mech doesn't stand out among the Mazinger Angels.
Katrina Trask is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. She has two modes excited angry and furious angry. She is the leader of Octo Squad.
Canard Pars is from Gundam SEED X Astray. A supposedly failed Ultimate Coordinator he has a chip on his shoulder the size of Jupiter about it. Also a very good mech pilot and all that together makes him very dangerous. A member of Octo Squad in the fic.
Cutey Honey is from Cutey Honey and this version was in Mazinger Angels. A master of disguise and not a lightweight in a fight.
Brooklyn "Bullet" Luckfield is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. Trying to learn to be like Sanger.
Mari Illustrious Makinami is Neon Genesis Evangelion. She's basically Ryoma Nagare with a candy shell.
Ryoma Nagare is from Getter Robo and is a complete and utter psychopath.
Sanger Zonvolt is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation and one of the most badass mecha pilots around.
Arado Balanga is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. He has a heart of gold, and a head that is more a brick. He and Seolla have a complicated relationship. He tends to go in close and tank it as a fighting style.
Seolla Schweitzer is from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. She is a sharp shooter and tends to stick to long range attacks.
Jamie is from Megas XLR. He's not someone to count in a fight. And yet there is more to Jamie than even he knows.