AN: Hey how about that, new chapter up already! I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I'm so close to a lot of the major points in this story that I just had to get this out as soon as I could. Before we go on, let's answer some reviews.
First off a review from "Czar Joseph" that was posted back in Chapter 18: I have already mentioned when the Dinobots would appear in an authors note a few chapters back so, not to be rude or anything, but if you want that question answered, go back and look in that chapter. It'll be the author's note of Chapter 9 just so you know.
Next off is a question also posted back in Chapter 18 from "Lone Gundam": Well...It depends on your definition of Cybertronian technology. I will say that the Freedom and Justice will have a bit of a change due to the Transformers being on Earth, but I won't say anything more than that. Don't worry though, the chapter in which the Freedom first appears at all is just a short ways off. I'd honestly say like one or maybe two chapters after this one or so give or take.
Sorry for not answering these questions sooner, but hey now you know.
?: And knowing is half the battle! G.I. Joe!
AN: What the?! What are you doing here Wheeljack?
Wheeljack: What I thought it would be good for me to make an appearance this time.
AN: Sorry Jackie, no time for that today, but you can do the disclaimer if you want.
Wheeljack: Eh I'll take what I can get. lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
AN: Okay, it's showtime!
Chapter 20: Blades of Vengeance
As soon as the Strike was aboard the Archangel, and the Autobots were aboard the Omega II, the two ships had left the combat zone at maximum speed, or rather at the Archangel's maximum speed since the Omega II was capable of much faster speeds than the Earth Forces ship. As soon as Kira had brought his mobile suit in and stepped onto the floor from the cockpit, he was immediately greeted by Murdoch and the other engineers, the former of which led the round of congratulations saying, "Good work kid. I hear ya finally got one of 'em."
Though it was meant as a comment, to Kira it was just a reminder of the fact he had just committed a horrible act that no good person should have to perform. It was not long into the round of congratulations he was receiving until he finally snapped as Kira nearly shouted, "Stop it! I just killed someone! How could…how could you say I did a good job out there?!"
"What's the big deal? You've been doing this for a while now," one of the engineers pointed out. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say, as Kira found himself getting more horrified with himself, and angrier with the men that were surrounding him.
"Hey cut it out! Can't you see the kid's exhausted," Mu shouted as he shoved one of the men in orange work clothes aside, attempting to come to Kira's rescue. He then held out his hand to Kira as he softly told him, "Kira, come on. Let's get out of here."
Kira just glared at the offered hand for a moment before he turned away and stormed out of the hangar. He barely registered the confused mutterings of the engineers or Murdoch telling them to get back to work, nor did he notice that Mu was chasing after him until the blonde pilot was right next to him saying, "They didn't mean to upset you."
Kira just ignored him as he sped up his pace to move ahead, but even so, Mu continued trying to cheer the young man up saying, "You know we all consider you one of us Kira."
"Yeah I know that," Kira stated somberly, finally acknowledging that Mu was there.
It was still not enough for La Flaga, who simply growled and placed a hand on Kira's shoulder, finally getting the ensign to stop. "Kira, we're not murderers," Mu told him in a no-nonsense tone. "But we are soldiers, and we're fighting a war here! If you don't get them, they'll get you. That goes for you, for me, for all of us!"
"I know that," Kira shouted, throwing La Flaga an angry glare to meet the one that the commander now had on his face.
"Get a grip kid, or it'll cost you your life," La Flaga told him heatedly, almost making it sound like an order, something that Mu hardly ever did with Kira. Kira just responded by continuing to glare at La Flaga until something started to beep in his ear.
Kira quickly realized that it was the Autobot communicator he often used while he was in Orb, which he had elected to have on him at all times just in case, even in his mobile suit. Realizing this, and the fact that Mu's was also going off, the two tapped the devices that were still in place giving the go ahead to whomever was on the other end. It turned out to be Elita One who told them, "Kira, Optimus has requested that you come over to Omega II for a moment. He's already cleared it with Captain Ramius and Lieutenant Badgiruel, so we're just waiting for your okay to say that you're ready to come over."
Kira paused for a moment to calm himself down a bit before he responded saying, "Okay, just give me a minute to change out of my pilot suit."
"Not a problem. Once you're ready though, head for the Archangel's hangar. It's the only part of the ship most of us feel okay with opening a Ground Bridge in at this time."
"Roger that," Kira answered before he cut the communication and then walked off to the locker room to retrieve his regular uniform. As he watched him go, Mu found he could not help but continue to glare after Kira for a moment. The commander did not like killing others anymore than Kira did, but the fact was Kira was not just a civilian anymore, he was a soldier, and that meant that sometimes they would have to kill others in order to ensure he and others survived in a battle. After calming down for a moment though, Mu remembered that Kira was still young, and where Kira came from, so it made sense that what had just happened would rattle him.
After watching Kira go for another minute or so, Mu himself moved to the locker room to change out of his pilot suit as well, the whole time thinking to himself, Whatever Optimus has to say to the kid, I hope that he has a better time with him than I just did, and that it's the right thing for Kira to hear.
It was almost an hour later that Kira finally found himself aboard the Omega II, decked out in his standard blue and white Earth Forces uniform. As soon as he came through the Ground Bridge, he found Wheeljack there waiting for him, with a sad expression when the Wrecker saw him, something Kira found looked a bit strange on Wheeljack. After a moment, Wheeljack finally told Kira to follow him, and began to lead Kira off to where Optimus was waiting for him.
It was at that moment that the reality finally hit Kira that he was actually aboard the Autobot's ship. While he suspected that the Archangel's captain, Commander La Flaga, and Lieutenant Badgiruel had all been aboard the massive ship at one point or another, this was actually the first time that Kira himself had been here. He took a moment as he was walking to really let it sink in and look around the interior of the massive ship. Even if it was just a hallway, the fact he was actually inside such a massive transport was an amazing fact in and of itself. The hallway alone was massive enough that Kira felt that he would only be able to get anywhere on the ship quickly enough in an emergency if he was in the Strike or another mobile suit, and the doors all seemed just as large. The whole time he moved through the gold colored passage, he could not help but wonder if this was how an ant felt whenever it wandered into a human vehicle of some sort, and at the same time he also could not help but feel that this alone really reinforced the facts behind the Autobots' alien origins. Simply put, Kira felt that the only other time he was even close being this overwhelmed was after his first real battle in the Strike, which was just after the destruction of Heliopolis.
Kira was brought out of his musings when Wheeljack announced to him that they had reached their destination, and motioned for Kira to go on ahead inside. As soon as Kira passed through into the room, with the door immediately shutting behind him, he looked to see Optimus and Bumblebee sitting there waiting for him, and both 'Bots looked very saddened about something. Optimus motioned for Kira to come over, and as soon as he had, Bumblebee gently lifted him up onto the table that was situated between himself and Optimus so that Kira could be closer to their eyelevel.
Kira waited for a moment, wanting to hear what Optimus and Bumblebee had to say, before Optimus finally stated, "I am sorry for what happened in that previous battle Kira."
Now Kira was confused. He was half expecting Optimus to start telling him something similar to what La Flaga had told him just a short while ago on the Archangel, not for him to apologize to him for something. Optimus saw Kira's confusion and continued on saying, "I am well aware how you feel about taking the life of another, as you have mentioned it to myself and others many times before, even if only out of a reflexive reaction such as that. I know that it is something that is weighing heavily on your conscious, and both Bumblebee and I wish we could have done more to stop it. However, despite this we cannot change what has happened."
"So I should just act like it didn't happen and just keep on fighting, and actually start trying to kill people," Kira demanded without really meaning to. Before he could apologize for his tone, Optimus raised a hand to say that it was alright.
"I am not saying that you should try to kill anyone, Kira. What I am saying is that if you let the actions or inactions from a past battle affect you too greatly, then it will cost you a great deal." Optimus then paused for a moment to let this sink in before he continued saying, "I understand how you feel my friend, as I too went through the same thing that you are going through at this moment in the early days of the war on Cybertron. I merely wish to tell you these things so that you may avoid making the same mistakes that I and my fellow Autobots have all made in the past in your own battles."
Kira nodded in understanding at this, and he instantly knew that Optimus was right. Even so, that did little to change a number of things about what had previously happened, as he knew for a fact that many actions in his next battle would be a direct result of the previous one. Optimus saw this and gave Bumblebee a small glance, to which the scout replied with a nod, and then got up to return to the bridge.
Bumblebee was about to say something to Kira, but before he could Kira gave the scout a sad, yet grateful smile as he said, "Thank you for what you did back there Bee. Saving that pilot before I accidentally took two lives."
Bumblebee knew that Kira was referring to when the scout saved the pilot of the Blitz from being struck down by the Strike's Anti-Ship sword and nodded in response to Kira's thanks. He then sat there with his friend in silence for another moment before he finally broached the topic that he was about to earlier as he trilled, "You know that we may not have to fight the 'Cons or that Z.A.F.T. team before we reach Alaska right?"
"I know that there's a chance we won't Bumblebee, but I also know Athrun, or rather the Athrun of today. Those guys will come after us again one more time at least before we reach Alaska, I'm sure of it," Kira answered grimly.
Bumblebee gave Kira a conceding nod at that, acknowledging a fact that he and the other Autobots knew all too well already as well. The main reason the scout told his friend that was just an attempt to try and start a conversation really. "Even so, do you think that you'll be ready for a battle like that? The chances of Athrun coming after you in any way other than one of revenge are not very high you know."
"I know Bee, and it all reminds me of what he said."
"Who?"
"Andrew Waltfeld, the desert tiger," Kira replied solemnly. The thought of the now supposedly deceased Z.A.F.T. commander still haunted Kira even though he was not the one who had ended him. "He told me that there are no definitive rules in war so it's nearly impossible to decide who wins and who loses, and then he asked if I thought that the only way to truly win was once all your enemies were destroyed. I wasn't sure what the right answer to that was. Is completely annihilating the enemy the only way for one side to win, or is there another way? If there isn't then does that mean that I'll have to destroy Athrun?"
Bumblebee stared at Kira sadly for a moment, before he let out the best sigh he could managed and whirred, "I can't answer that Kira. I don't think anyone really can other than you. I've been fighting in the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons for so long that I doubt any of us can really see a way for the war to end peacefully. Whatever you decide to do though, just know that I'll have your back no matter what. Optimus and I both promised your parents that we would watch out for you and make sure you came back to them alive, and neither one of us intends to break that promise so long as our sparks burn brightly and we can do something to ensure it."
Kira smiled at Bumblebee as he thanked Bumblebee for what the scout had said, and a moment later, after just sitting in a comfortable silence, Bumblebee led Kira back to the Omega II's Ground Bridge to allow Kira to return to the Archangel. As he entered the green vortex later, Kira found that while he still had a lot to think about concerning the upcoming battle, he felt that he may at least be close to knowing the answer to one of the questions that was plaguing his mind.
While Kira was not the only who was dealing with issues from the last battle, the issues that the Zala team had with it were much different, and being handled in a much different manner. Athrun, Nicol, and Dearka were all doing their best to keep their emotions of the loss of Jaylen contained as they finished changing out of their pilot suits and back into their regular, red Z.A.F.T. uniforms, but since it had just taken place so recently, the thoughts of said loss were still fresh in their minds. The fact that Yzak was doing a far less better job containing himself than the rest of them was not helping.
"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! DAMN IT," Yzak hollered as he continuously punched the metal locker doors, still having not made any moves to change out of his own pilot suit. Despite the fact that Yzak's reception and regular attitude towards Jaylen was not what most would consider welcoming, the sliver haired pilot would not deny that he cared a great deal about his comrades, especially those who were on the same team as him. There was no doubt in any of the minds of the others that Yzak would likely be reacting the same way if any of them had perished.
Yzak then kicked one of the lockers hard, and was then brought out of his ranting when he saw Jaylen's uniform inside of it. Dearka thought that now was as good a time as any to try and calm his friend down, but he was obviously mistaken as Yzak started rounding his anger on the others, particularly Athrun as he shouted, "Why did she have to die like that?! And why out here?! WELL?!"
At that point, Athrun's self control slipped as well, and he moved to grab Yzak by his collar, when surprisingly Nicol beat him to the punch and hit Yzak in the face as hard as he could. "Why don't you just say it Yzak?! That it was mine and Athrun's fault! She only died because she was trying to save Athrun when I failed to and then let my guard down after getting tackled out of the Strike's way by that Autobot," Nicol shouted, voicing both his and Athrun's thoughts.
It came as an extreme shock to everyone, that Nicol, the most calm, and level headed among them, had actually lost his temper like this, shouted out like he just had, and gone so far as to even punch Yzak. This was a side of Nicol that none of them had ever seen all that often, if ever, and the look of pure anger on the green haired boy's face was scary. Before anything else could happen, Athrun and Dearka moved to hold back Nicol and Yzak respectively before their friends could continue to try and tear the other apart. "Stop it Nicol," Athrun shouted.
"You too Yzak," Dearka reasoned. "Fighting each other isn't gonna help us one bit." That seemed to calm everyone down at least a bit to the point that Dearka and Athrun felt it was safe to release their holds on the other two. Dearka then threw Athrun an apologetic look for what he was about to say next, which Athrun understood after the blonde stated as angrily as he could manage, "Remember the Strike is our real enemy here!"
Dearka really did not want to say that, having met Kira and finding that the young man would not have willingly wanted to kill someone, but he knew it had to be said if he were to get Yzak and Nicol to calm down. It seemed to have the desired effect and then some as Yzak declared, "I know that, obviously. He's the one who killed our friend Miguel, gave me this scar, and now the one who killed Jaylen. Next time we meet, I'll get him."
With that Yzak ran out of the room, with Dearka hot on his tail, the latter of whom shot Athrun another look saying that he would do what he could to calm the silver haired pilot down, to which Athrun gave a small nod. After watching the two go, Nicol felt he could not hold back his tears any longer, and began to let them fall as he slumped down on a nearby chair, and Athrun was about to join him when his gaze fell on Jaylen's uniform. Knowing that they would have to clear out her personal effects eventually, Athrun thought it best if he go ahead and at least move her uniform out of the locker. As he did though, the sound of papers falling caught Athrun's attention.
Nicol heard it as well, and turned to see that when Athrun moved Jaylen's uniform out of the locker, a number of papers and a few pictures had fallen out of the locker. After moving to get a better look at the papers, he saw that they were actually letters that Jaylen wrote to her brother, who was actually in a majority of the pictures that had fallen out as well. "These are all…for Heine…," Nicol stated softly, but not softly enough for Athrun to not hear him. "Some of these say that she was really proud to have been assigned to work with us, and even more go on about how much she missed him and couldn't wait to see him later."
Nicol heard another bang, and thought that Yzak had resumed hitting the walls or something in anger at first until he realized the sound had come from behind him. Nicol turned around and saw that Athrun had been the one to hit the metal lockers with his free hand as he leaned up against them with his head down in anguish as he muttered, "Damn it. It should've been me. I should've been the one to die not her…Jaylen."
Nicol moved to try and comfort Athrun, but found that he did not know what to say, because he blamed himself for Jaylen's death just as much as Athrun did. At least that was what he thought until he heard Athrun continue on saying, "It's all because…I was too weak to kill Kira in the past. It was my weakness that killed you!"
Now Nicol was confused. Who was Kira, what weakness was Athrun talking about, and what did any of that have to do with Jaylen's death? "Athrun," Nicol asked when he found his voice. "What're you talking about?"
Athrun turned around, his own tears still falling from his eyes as he turned to Nicol and stated, "Kira Yamato is the pilot of the Strike, a Coordinator like us, and he was once my friend many years ago."
Nicol was as completely stunned by this revelation as Dearka had been when he found out this fact, but unlike Dearka, he did not start shouting at Athrun as he could see that Athrun was having a hard enough time dealing with all of this. Instead, he simply sat down next to Athrun and asked, "Who else knows about this?"
"Besides you, only my father, Commander Le Creuset, and Dearka know," Athrun told him, but he did not stop there. "When the commander told me that it was the Strike that gave Yzak that scar of his, he asked me if I would shoot it down or be shot down, and I didn't know what my answer was then, but now…"
Nicol placed a hand on Athrun's shoulder and gave a small, teary smile as he said, "I'm sorry that you've been having to go through all of that Athrun, and I know what you must be thinking now, but just so you know, whatever you decide I'll be right there with you, so don't worry. We'll get him."
"No Nicol," Athrun stated. When Nicol looked at Athrun in shock at that outburst, he saw Athrun glance at Jaylen's letters and photos in sadness before his eyes gained a fire of determination and anger unlike anything Nicol had ever seen in Athrun before. "I'll kill him," Athrun swore just loud enough for Nicol to hear. "The next time we meet, I don't care what any of you guys do. This is my responsibility, and I swear I will do what I should've done before, and I will kill him."
What neither of the two boys knew was that Dreadwing had overheard their conversation via the comm. link in Athrun's pocket that had accidentally activated and opened a direct channel to him alone. Once he heard that statement, Dreadwing knew the same thing that Nicol knew right when the piano playing pilot saw the look in Athrun's eyes. Athrun Zala was out for revenge, and even if it meant he would end up killing his best friend, nothing was going to stand in his way.
The following day, everyone on the Archangel and the Omega II were hoping to cross the Tropic of Cancer by that evening and finally be able to get word from Alaska, but no one was all that optimistic about the idea that they had lost the Decepticon-Z.A.F.T. team that had been pursuing them. Ramius and Badgiruel were both hopeful that they had finally lost said team after the last battle, but when they asked Optimus what he thought, he gave the impression that he knew for a fact that their pursuers were still not far behind them. With that in mind, everyone was preparing themselves for one more confrontation with said team, and this time they were determined to lose them.
On the Vosgulov class submarine that Athrun and the Zala team were aboard, said team and the Decepticons aboard the Havoc were more determined than ever to bring down the Strike, and it seemed they would get their chance soon enough. Sometime close to sunrise, the Z.A.F.T. submarine's radar had located the Archangel and the Omega II, and determined that the two ships were heading for a small group of islands, and with sunrise upon them, they had the perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Knowing all this, Athrun immediately ordered his fellow pilots to their machines to prepare for takeoff. The Zala team and Dreadwing's unit swore that this time, today would be the day that they would bring down the Legged Ship and the Autobot vessel, or at the very least ensure that the Strike was destroyed.
The alert on the Archangel's radar of enemy readings went off almost minutes after the first light of the sun had shown over the horizon, and the Omega II's confirmation came only seconds after. Both ships had instantly gone to red alert and level one battle stations, prompting Optimus and all his Autobots, save for Elita One and Hound, who would remain on the bridge, to quickly grab whatever weapons they could and race out to meet their foes, while Mu La Flaga and Kira raced for the lockers to suit up in their pilot suits and launch as well.
As Kira was heading to grab his pilot suit, a soft voice called out to him, "Kira wait!"
Kira turned and instantly gained an annoyed look when he saw that Flay was the one who had stopped him. That look of annoyance quickly changed to confusion when he saw that Flay truly had a look of genuine sadness and hope on her face as she struggled to say whatever it was she was trying to say. Kira gave her a minute before snapping her back to the reality that he did not have time to chat right now as he told as reassuringly as he could with a small smile, "Sorry Flay, not now, but maybe later okay?"
Flay looked at Kira in surprise, not expecting Kira to have told her that they may talk later. It showed that despite what had happened between them, Kira was still willing to at least give her a chance to patch things up with their friendship at the very least. Flay figured that was really the best she could have hoped for and gave Kira a small nod in understanding before letting him continue on his way to get his pilot suit.
Not long after, the entire Archangel shook from the force of an explosion courtesy of the Buster firing a shot that just barely missed the white ship as it moved hard to port in order to evade. The Omega II was not so lucky in evading their opponents first attack, as Thundercracker and Skywarp both landed a few successful hits with a missile barrage of their own. Before either one of the Seekers had a chance to celebrate their success in hitting the mighty Autobot ship, they were forced back by a volley of energon blasts from Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Jazz.
Optimus and Bumblebee then moved to try and force the four Z.A.F.T. Gundams to back off from their attack on the Archangel as the Strike moved to the rear deck of said ship, but before they could fire off more than two shots, they found themselves under fire from Dreadwing and Slipstream. "Back off Autobots," Slipstream shouted.
"For once I must agree with Slipstream, Prime," Dreadwing stated as he transformed and brought his sword down in a vertical slash as he landed on the Omega II. As Optimus blocked Dreadwing's attack with his left arm blade, Dreadwing finished what he was saying earlier by stating, "This battle is a matter of honor for the Z.A.F.T. pilots, and a chance for them to avenge their fallen comrade. As someone who understands that sort of pain, I cannot allow you or your Autobots to interfere."
"Then I suppose that we will just have to force our way through you," Optimus shouted as he pushed Dreadwing back, and then moved to fire his Ion Blaster at point blank range. Dreadwing knocked the large weapon aside just before it fired, and then swung his sword at Optimus's head. Optimus was quick to duck under the blade before retaliating with an upward slash from his own sword which struck home and caused Dreadwing to stumble for a moment.
Seeing the opening that Optimus had provided, Bumblebee moved to try and assist his commander, when Slipstream used her Hyper Speed ability to run up and slam her fist into the scout in a hard uppercut that knocked the scout back long enough for her to land a kick that sent him further away from the battle between Optimus and Dreadwing. "Sorry Scout," Slipstream mocked. "But you've got other things to worry about."
Optimus and Bumblebee were not the only ones having problems with the attacking Decepticons, as Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Jazz found themselves struggling to deal with Breakdown and the Decimators. "I had heard how bad the Decimators were, but with Breakdown rolling in on the action, this whole thing is an entire planet sized helping of worse," Jazz commented as he fired his Scatter Blaster at Barricade in an attempt to get the Decimator leader at least to back off a bit.
"If you think this is bad, you should try dealing with all of those Wrecker wannabes at once," Wheeljack told the Autobot first lieutenant as he fired a few rounds from his Path Blaster at Blackout. Wheeljack knew that it would be ideal to keep that particular Decimator away from the two ships, but unfortunately, every time he was able to cause Blackout to move back, Thundercracker or Airachnid was quick to swoop in and fire a few shots off at him that had him pull back as well.
"Aw what's the matter Autobots? Are we too much for you to handle," Barricade shouted as he swiftly avoided another shot from Jazz on his Decepticon jetpack, which seemed to be more capable than the ones the Autobots were using at the moment. "I guess the big bad Team Prime isn't all it's cracked up to be after all."
"Oh I know he did not just go there," Jazz shouted as he whipped out his default blaster to increase his fire power in his attacks on the irritating 'Con. Before Jazz could fire off that many rounds though, Junkheap touched down in front of him, and slammed a long staff into Jazz's side hard, knocking the smooth talking Autobot across the deck.
Jazz looked up as he struggled to his feet to find that he was right in Airachnid's crosshairs, and braced himself for the worst, when a blast knocked Airachnid away hard enough to cause her to transform and assume robot mode and land on her spider-like appendages. Looking to the source, the two saw Arcee running up and firing multiple rounds at both Airachnid and anything else that she could that happened to have a Decepticon symbol on it. "Nice shootin' girl," Jazz thanked as Arcee ran past him.
"You can thank me later," Arcee told him as she rolled to the side to avoid an attack from Thundercracker. "For right now, less talking, more shooting!"
"Or you could both just hold still and let me end your existence for good," Skywarp called out as he and Thundercracker attacked the two together in a synchronous movement that only true siblings could accomplish. Bulkhead was quick to come to the rescue of his two comrades as he took the brunt of the Seekers' attack and allowed Arcee and Jazz to use him as a springboard and jump up retaliate with their own attacks.
"You okay there Bulk," Jazz asked after he landed and took cover behind some raised flaps on the deck.
"Yeah, it just grazed me," Bulkhead replied. The Autobots were all soon rattled by an explosion a moment later from both their ship and the Archangel. "Hound what just happened," Bulkhead shouted into his comm. link as he too took cover as best he could.
"The Archangel just took a serious hit from a combined attack from the Buster and the Blitz after the Aegis provided the perfect set-up for them. La Flaga's doing all he can to drive the two back, and Kira has already knocked the Duel out of action, but even so at the rate things are going, the ship will have to make an emergency landing," Hound replied as he fired on the Decepticons with some of the Omega II's cannons.
"They're not the only ones," Elita then continued. "The Omega II's taking some serious punishment as well. It may not be as bad as the Archangel but if things keep up we may have to make an emergency landing as well."
"Understood," Optimus called from where he was, still engaged in battle with Dreadwing. "Elita prepare to bring the Omega II in close to the Archangel. Once the ship goes down give them the best covering fire you can as you land the ship. Direct all unnecessary power to the shields as soon as you do."
"Prime, not to question your orders, but if we do that we'll be sitting ducks as well," Jazz argued as he fired on Blackout and Airachnid, who had managed to get back into the air after catching Wheeljack in her webbing for a moment.
"Better to bring the ship down under our own power than have Blackout bring it down for us to a point where we won't be able to help the Archangel at all," Wheeljack argued as he slashed the webs on his foot apart with one of his swords.
"…Understood," Elita finally answered. The Autobots knew they could trust Optimus's judgment when it came to his orders on the battlefield, but they still could not help the uneasiness that was quickly overcoming them about this battle. Even so, they would not allow themselves nor the Archangel to be brought down so easily after all they had been through since arriving on Earth, and they were determined to show the 'Cons just that as they charged into the battle again while the two ships descended towards a nearby island.
"I'm not sure how much longer I can maintain a stable lift," Neumann shouted from his station at the helm.
"It's imperative that you stabilize us," Murrue shouted.
"Use the backup Levitator if you have to," Natarle ordered.
At that point, Tolle decided he could no longer just sit by and do nothing, so he rose from his chair and stated, "I'm taking the Sky Grasper out! We're in trouble unless we do something!"
"No Crewman Koenig, hold it," Murrue tried to protest, but found herself cut off when the ship was hit by enemy fire once again. She did nothing more to stop him after that, and instead decided to focus all her attention on the battle they were facing.
Not a moment after they had received confirmation that Tolle had launched Sky Grasper two, Neumann shouted, "I can't keep her stable any longer!"
"Emergency landing! All hands, brace for impact," Captain Ramius ordered.
"Buster and Blitz at two o' clock," Sai warned.
"Aim the Gottfrieds and Valiant," Badgiruel ordered, already thinking a few steps ahead for when the ship hit the ground. Not a moment later, the Archangel had completed an emergency landing on the nearby landing, and thankfully no one on board the ship was hurt. Unfortunately, the fact that the ship was rendered immobile did not go unnoticed by Dearka and Nicol.
"We've got 'em now," Nicol shouted.
"Yeah, they're nothing more than a sitting duck," Dearka agreed with a grin as he readied the Buster's rifles. Before either of them could fire on the Archangel though, they were attacked by a beam blast themselves. They looked to see Mu flying in with his Sky Grasper's guns blazing. Dearka quickly retaliated and landed a successful hit that knocked the Hawk of Endymion out of the air, but not before he himself was hit hard enough to send the Buster to the ground as well.
"Dearka," Nicol called out, but before he could do anymore, he too was hit hard by an attack from behind. Spinning the Blitz around, Nicol saw that the Omega II was close by and firing on him. Nicol did his best to retaliate, but unfortunately, his efforts were in vain, and ended up causing Slipstream to be knocked out of the fight instead, just before he ended up crashing down next to the Blitz.
"Nicol are you okay," Dearka shouted as he tried to get the Buster to move.
"Yeah I'm alright, but the Blitz isn't. Nearly everything is completely shot," Nicol responded. "What about you?"
"Same story," Dearka growled. A second later, their warning sensors alerted them to the fact that the Archangel had its guns trained on the both of them. Dearka growled and simply did the only thing he could think of, an action the Nicol quickly mirrored. The two of them both opened their cockpits, and climbed out with their hands up.
Everyone on the Archangel was completely shocked at this, and Natarle ended up being the one to ask the question everyone was thinking. "Are they surrendering?"
An explosion from the Omega II quickly brought everyone out of their stupor, as Sai shouted out, "The Autobots are barely holding their own! The 'Cons have them all but pinned down!"
"What's Optimus's status," Natarle inquired.
"He's locked in combat with Dreadwing along with Bumblebee. It doesn't seem like the guy's giving him much room to move and assist his own forces let alone us."
Murrue and Natarle shared a quick glance and knew that they were both hoping the same thing. That Optimus and the Autobots would be alright.
Bumblebee was quick to move to help Optimus with Dreadwing after Slipstream was shot down accidentally by the Blitz, and the scout was doing everything he could to back his commander up when he noticed the Archangel went down. Another glance showed him and Optimus that Mu's Sky Grasper had been taken out as well, and one other thing that had them both extremely worried. There was no sign of the Strike or the Aegis. "Elita, Archangel! Do either of you have the Strike's current location," Optimus requested as he parried a sword strike from Dreadwing that allowed Bumblebee to land a right hook to Dreadwing's face.
"Yes Optimus," Miriallia replied. "The Strike is currently engaged with the Aegis a little ways ahead of the Archangel."
Optimus's worries were immediately intensified when he heard that. He then discarded his Ion Blaster and pulled out his Energon Battle Axe to meet Dreadwing's sword as he ordered, "Bumblebee move to Kira's location at once! I shall handle Dreadwing!"
"Are you sure," Bumblebee buzzed in concern as he dodged a blast from Thundercracker.
"I am. Kira needs you more than we do right now. That is an order!" Optimus was now all but shouting at the scout, and Bumblebee could hear just how worried Optimus was from the sound of his voice, but there was also something Bumblebee almost never heard in Optimus voice as well.
Desperation.
Bumblebee nodded in reply to say that he understood, and then after shooting a few rounds from his default blaster at the Thundercracker to drive him back, the scout began to run in the direction that Miriallia had just indicated. This did not go unnoticed by Dreadwing however, and the 'Con pushed Optimus back so that he could try to draw a bead on the retreating scout, only to have to block a swing from Optimus's axe that would have cut him in half as Optimus shouted, "Your battle is with me alone Dreadwing!"
As soon as Bumblebee's feet hit the ground, he headed off with a running start and transformed into vehicle mode to race towards where he hoped the Strike would still be when he arrived at said location. Though his wheels slipped and slid a bit in the now muddy ground, Bumblebee would not let that stop him as he kept thinking Just hang on Kira. I'm coming. I just hope that I'm not too late.
Lightning crashed across the sky, and thunder split the air, as the Aegis and the Strike traded blows in a fierce battle that none should ever have to endure. Two childhood friends were clashing against each other in a battle to destroy the other. One out of revenge for his fallen comrade and friend that he swore to avenge, and the other in an attempt to protect those he cared about and in only an attempt to just stop his old friend. An outside observer would look upon this battle, and think that the two were fierce enemies from day one, and in Athrun's mind, enemies was exactly what he and Kira were at that moment.
"How could you do it Kira? How could you murder Jaylen," Athrun shouted in anger as he fired the Aegis's Scylla Cannon at the one he once considered a friend.
Kira had no retort for that as he evaded the beam just by the skin of the Strike's teeth. Before he could retaliate though, he heard someone shout out to him, and saw a Sky Grasper flying up and firing on the Aegis a moment later. "Tolle no, stay back," Kira shouted out to his friend that had come to try and help.
What happened next seemed to cause all time to either slow down or completely stop, as the Aegis leapt into the air to avoid the missile barrage that Tolle launched, and then gave its shield a hard toss towards its attacker. The last thing that Tolle saw was that bright, red shield spinning towards him just before it struck his cockpit and ended his life as his friend cried out his name in anguish.
The next moment, Kira felt a massive anger overcome him, and a familiar sensation of something within him bursting to life, and he charged the Strike toward the Aegis, now seeing only red, and he was not referring to the color of his opponent's mobile suit. "You'll pay for that Athrun," Kira shouted in anger as his tears at the loss of his friend began to roll down his face.
In his attack, Kira severed one of the arms of Aegis with a swift blow from his beam saber, and then knocked the mobile suit back with a powerful kick. Athrun was only disoriented by this for a moment and was quick to take to the air to regain his balance. Athrun then answered his Kira's cries of anguish with his own as he shouted, "I'm gonna kill you!"
The next thing that Athrun knew, something inside of him also seemed to burst and release a great amount of power as it did. The battle between the two had gone from a battle in a war, to a duel between friends who had become enemies, and was now an all out brawl in which only one would survive. The Aegis was able to return the favor of the Strike severing its arm, by slicing off the arm that held the Strike's shield, only to have its head slashed off a second later. Soon after, the Aegis had slashed open the Strike's cockpit, and gave Athrun an opening to end this once and for all.
"Athrun," Kira cried out as he charged.
"Kira," Athrun shouted in response as he changed the Aegis to its mobile armor mode and grabbed the Strike in its powerful grasp, and this time Athrun was not going to push it back or drag it off with him. This time he prepared to fire the Scylla Cannon at point blank range, right into Kira's cockpit, but before he could the Aegis lost what power it had left and powered down its Phase Shift armor.
Seeing the Strike beginning to fight back and get free, Athrun saw only one option left to him for victory, and opened a panel to type in the code necessary to carry that action out. As soon as he finished, the computer screen on his console displayed a running countdown, and Athrun then immediately ejected himself from his mobile suit, the whole time thinking to himself, It's over Kira. I've won. Say hi to your comrade when you see them in the next life.
Kira saw Athrun eject and immediately knew what was about to happen, but there was no time for him to do anything now. A moment later, there was a flash from the Aegis, and the once red mobile suit instantly self-destructed in a massive explosion, taking the captive Strike with it.
She could not think of what to say, nor could she believe what her readouts were showing her. As Miriallia looked at her screen after hearing a loud explosion that seemed to shake the entire island, all she could hear from the lines to both Tolle's Sky Grasper and the Strike was a constant, never-ending beep that soon became nothing more than silence, while the screen itself read only one thing about both of the machines her friend and the man she loved were in. The signal had been lost.
A massive explosion could be heard all across the small island, as the skies were lit up with the blaze that followed as a result. As Bumblebee sped along towards where Kira showed have been, he was instantly brought to a hard stop as soon as he heard the explosion, and saw the resulting blaze. As soon as he had stopped and assumed robot mode, he had the terrible confirmation that his optics were not malfunctioning, as the explosion had come from the exact same place that his friend was said to be at.
The sight was not just seen by Bumblebee though, as the sound of the explosion had brought the battling Autobots and Decepticons to a halt as they looked off in the direction of the source, fear etched on the faces of every Autobot there, while Dreadwing had a small look of pride on his own as he thought, Well done Athrun. You've fulfilled your promise to your comrade.
Optimus could only look on in horror as he gave a silent gasp of his own disbelief, barely registering the fact that Dreadwing had ordered his unit to fall back saying that they had accomplished their goals for the moment. As he did, he and every other Autobot present found that somehow, they could all here the cries of anguish that came in an all too familiar whir that simply shouted, "KIRA!"
A little ways off from where the explosion had happened, a man by the name of Reverend Malchio had seen the battle from his cottage home and saw that from the explosion, a young man had landed near his garden. As he hurried over to inspect the person, he found that it was a young boy with dark hair wearing a blue and white pilot suit. After checking him for a pulse, Malchio knew that he had to get this person medical treatment, and there was only one place he could think of to bring him. Malchio then turned to look behind him as a massive shadow fell over him and stated, "Do you think you can get this boy to the PLANTs without your supposed 'captors' noticing?"
The figure that stood behind him was mostly shadowed but one could tell that it was another Cybertronian due to the fact that he was as large, if not larger, than a mobile suit, had a pair of wings extending from his back, and was intelligent enough to state in a British accent, "It should be no problem at all lad. Those old clankers haven't noticed me being able to slip out yet, and I can assure you that they won't catch this old bloke of a Bot doing so today."
A moment later, unknown to anyone but Malchio, a large, red and white jet had rocketed into the air with the injured man aboard. His destination, the home of the former PLANT Supreme Chairman.
AN: Okay, in case that stuff at the end wasn't obvious enough, then I'm gonna say that your a major idiot for not recognize who that pilot was.
Wheeljack: What about the Transformer that transported said pilot to the PLANTs? I'm assuming that he's probably an Autobot, but who was he?
AN: Well you'll just have to wait and see to find out. For those of you who can figure it out though, please don't say anything in the reviews and spoil it for everyone.
Wheeljack: Still that battle between Athrun and Kira was something else, just like in the anime, but how come we weren't able to do anything?
AN: Well I wanted that battle to go as unchanged as possible due to how epic it was and what happened during and afterwards, so naturally I had to set things up so that Dreadwing had the 'Cons fighting the Autobots so fiercely that they couldn't move to help Kira or the Archangel and so that by the time anyone could try to help, it would've already been too late. That being said, I really hope that I did that battle between Athrun and Kira justice, because as I was writing it, and even now after I've written it, I can't help but feel that it could've been written at least a little better. It might be just me, but still...
Wheeljack: Yeah I getcha. Anyways, onto the preview!
AN: Hey! That's my line!...
A great friend and powerful warrior seems to have fallen, and the crew of both the Archangel and the Omega II are finding themselves thrown into great sadness and grief. Though they cannot allow themselves to grieve for long, as the Archangel's commanding officers must meet with the Earth Forces Commanders along with Optimus, Jazz, and Elita for a formal inquiry of the actions of the two ships, which will leave a bad taste in all their mouths, and lead Optimus to wonder just how much of the Earth's population is like the Decepticons in the way of deceit, betrayal, harshness, and brutality in all things possible. Confrontations and revelations await many on Earth, both on and off of the Archangel and among both friend and foe, and a familiar face awakens in the care of Lacus Clyne, wondering why. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 21: Grieving and Suspicions. Fight through the grieving skies as the Autobots begin to fight for the truth Gundam!
Please read and review, and I'll see you guys next time!