Disclaimer: Same as before. You know the drill.

Chap. 32

AN: Added Sandrock Zero image to my website

Colony...

Zero continued to stare at the newly-arrived Tekkaman Blade. His grip tightened on his lancer and he suddenly charged at blinding speed. But Blade was ready for him and lashed out with his lancer, causing the weapons to clash heavily. Zero then struck out with a fist, but Blade ducked his head off to the side and kicked away. Zero backed off a bit and attacked again. Again, the two clashed and struggled to overwhelm one another.

"I don't want to destroy you, Blade." Zero muttered. "So stay away from me."

Blade responded, "I will not let you suffer from your own heart, Quatre."

"What?"

Blade continued, seeing that he had gotten his attention, "I know what happened to your father. And as a result, you lost your way. A result of your kind heart."

Zero pushed away and shook visibly in rage. "What do you know?! You don't even know me!" He raised the lancer and screamed.

"RAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zero rushed at Blade again and the battle continued.

*************

Lunar Base

The battle commenced as the Taurus Sol-Tekkas battled the new Virgo Sol-Tekka Dolls. The Dolls were bigger than the standard Sol-Tekka and armed with quantum pulse cannons. Their shoulders were equipped with disruptor crystals, but they were deactivated since they weren't fighting tekkamen. They were also covered with strange vein-like wires that glowed darkly. Despite their bulk and size, the Dolls performed extremely well as they began to quickly overpower the Tauruses. Lady Une, leading the attack, found that she was up again more than she could handle. But she knew she had to get into the base and reach the gundams. She managed to make it to the surface of the moon and headed for the docking bay, but a Virgo caught sight of her and locked on.

"Raaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"

Lady Une turned to see on of the Tauruses charge into the Virgo and crash, destroying both of them. Lady Une silently thanked the fallen soldier and headed inside.

************

Inside, the guards were taking Fera to her prison cell when one of the explosions from the battle above rocked the corridor. The guard turned briefly and Fera saw her chance to escape. She quickly elbowed the guard closest, causing him to stumble back into on of his compatriots. Without a second thought, Fera dashed down the corridor and turned around the corner. She closed the door behind her and sealed it off. She could hear banging from the other side and knew it would be a matter of time before they forced their way in. Fera looked around for an escape and was surprised by where she was. 'Prison block 719.' She continued to look around and she looked in one of the cells. She found both Duo and Wufei, both unconscious and on the floor. She looked to the side and saw that the oxygen had been shut off. Meaning that they were suffocating.

'Oh, no. I have to get them out.'

There was no handle to open the doors with and the locks were sealed tight on them. She looked around for something to force it open, but there was nothing. And to top it off, the soldier were beginning to force through.

'I'm in trouble.'

*********

A fierce firefight took place as Lady Une and a few loyal soldiers fought their way to one of the control rooms. As the soldiers gave her cover, Lady Une made her way into the room and accessed the prison locks. But as she continued to work...

"I knew you would try something like this." Turning around, she saw Tuberoff standing with a gun trained right on her.

"Freeing the gundam tekkamen sounds just like the foolish move Trieze would make."

Lady Une faced him without a hint of fear, "If you understood anything at all, then you'd realize that what you're doing goes against everything in the human spirit."

"Human spirit, bah." Tuberoff scoffed. "The Dolls are humanities new form of warfare. The ultimate expendable soldiers, capable of exceeding everything a human can do in battle without the risk of mortality."

"And what of the ones who fought and died?" Lady Une countered. "The Dolls will dishonor those who fought in the past, who gave up their lives for what they believed. A Doll can not do that. And it is that quality that makes the human race strong."

Tuberoff didn't respond to her words and merely raised the gun slightly.

"You fear death, Tuberoff. That's why you rely on soulless dolls. And that's why you won't shoot." Then she swiftly pressed a button on the console, unlocking the prison cells that held both the gundams and the scientists. But...

Bang!

Tuberoff had shot her and Lady Une slumped to the ground. Tuberoff put away the pistol. "I said you would deal with death. Goodbye, Lady."

Then he turned and walked out, leaving the dying Lady Une on the ground. She managed to glimpse at the monitor to see that the gundams were now beginning to make their escape. She gave a brief smile.

"They...live...My...gift...to you..." she whispered before falling unconscious.

***********

Fera was awakening the gundams. After she tried to help them out, the door mysteriously unlocked before her. She opened the door and moved in as Duo and Wufei, now sensing the air, were coming to. Wufei was the first to awaken.

"You."

Fera nodded to him, "We meet again."

At this point, Duo had awoken and looked over to Wufei and their apparent savior.

"Whoa, you're a cute one."

Fera gave a quick smile before answering, "I'm afraid you'll have to save the pleasantries for later. Right now, we have to escape."

"I'm with you on that. Coming Wufei? Huh?"

Wufei had disappeared into the hallway. The two of them looked out of the prison to see the guards on the ground, unconscious. They looked at Wufei in disbelief, but he didn't seem to be paying them any attention. He continued to move down the hall until he came to another room. Opening the door, he reached in for something and pulled back out. It was his sword. Wufei then turned to the others.

"Yeah, now I'm ready."

******************

The battle raged on as the Dolls were now slaughtering the Tauruses. The soulless machines moved swiftly like the Radham and blasted their human opponents one by one. As they did, inside, Fera and the two gundam had made their way into one of the shuttle bays.

"It's going to be rough, but we have to try."  She indicated to the boys. "Come on, let's go."

However, Duo and Wufei didn't board the ship.

"Sorry lady, but I'm afraid this is where we go our separate ways." Duo said shortly.

Fera looked at them with worry, "But I thought the disruptors..."

"Don't worry." Duo waved off. "We have a little surprise for them. Besides, you'll need cover to get out of here."

Fera continued to stare and she glanced over at Wufei, who simply stared back. She then nodded, "Okay. Perhaps we'll meet again."

Fera boarded the shuttle and the hanger doors slowly began to open.

"It's going to be one heck of a fight. We can't fight them for long."

Wufei merely shrugged, "It's enough that we're even alive. We can't be choosy."

Duo gave his signature grin, "Well, shall we?"

Wufei grinned back, "Sure. Why not?"

"Tek-Setta!!!!!!"

Twin bursts of light exploded behind the shuttle as it left the docking area and soared outside. As it flew out of lunar orbit, two Virgos caught sight of it and aimed to fire. But two flashes of light soared right at them and they exploded in a blaze of fire. The surrounding Virgos looked as two figures emerged from the flames.

"Tekkaman Hellscythe!"

"Tekkaman Altron!"

The two new tekkamen charged to attack. Tekkaman Hellscythe looked somewhat the same, except for a few changes in the armor, which had become almost all black, giving it a sleeker look. It also had two long wing-protrusions coming out of its back, almost like a bat.  His lancer had changed and was now a double-scythe lancer. Altron was also similar to its previous form except that it was now green in color. Two dragon gauntlets were on his arms and he now had a trident lancer that was bladed on both ends. The two tekkamen threw themselves into the battle and took dominance over the Dolls. A few of the Dolls activated their disruptors, but the gundams were completely unaffected by them. It wasn't long before both of them made their escape, but they demolished a good number of Dolls before leaving without any injury to themselves.

******************

Colony

Srriiinnnnnggggg!!!!! Shrraaaannnnnnggggggggg!!!!!!!

The area over the colony glistened with the streaks of light as the two tekkamen battle each other. Despite Zero's immense power, Blade was able to hold his own against him. Blade flew back and charged in toward Zero, lancer in stabbing position. Zero saw the attack and parried it aside. He then lashed upward with a slice of his own, but Blade moved off to the side and the lancer missed him totally. On impulse, he kicked his leg out, hitting Zero in the face and causing him to hovered back. The gem on Zero's forehead glistened angrily and Zero charged at him, boosters open. Blade was caught in a tackle, but held on to Zero while activating his own boosters, causing them to spin around. Both tekkamen headed straight for the colony and Blade decided to let go and he separated from his grasp. The two tekkamen landed on the colony surface and Zero rushed to attack again. The loud clash of their lancers echoed into space as they tried to push each other away. Blade struggled for a bit and then loosened his hold and let Zero fly right by him. But Zero wasn't completely off guard by this and happened to twirl around and block Blade's incoming attack. Again, they held each other in position and they flew off of the colony. Zero gave a loud cry at Blade's resilience and pushed his lancer aside in order to punch him in the face. Blade's head lurched back and he flew back down to the colony with a crash. However, Blade was far from done and simply sat up.

"What I know is that you are one of the kindest people I've seen, Quatre. But because of that, you will be hurt the worse. I can't understand that, but I know how it is." Blade stood up. "My friends are like that and because of that, they get hurt many times over. I fight to prevent that pain. You can do the same."

Zero shook his head violently, "No! NO!!!!!!"

Dropping his lancer, Zero suddenly pointed both his arms at Blade, empowering the Voltekka cells once again. Blade looked in surprise as Zero unleashed the Voltekka. But before anything else could happened, a blue object suddenly swooped in from of the beam and took it head on.

It was the Vayaete...

Krreeeeaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

The beam nearly demolished the blue Sol-Tekka suit, but again the armor managed to kep in partially in tact. But it began to spark as the damage was far too extensive.

"Quatre! Please stop. This battle isn't necessary."

Trowa's voice finally broke through to Quatre, "Trowa?"

Trowa began to use the last of the booster power to move away from the colony as he continued to speak to Quatre.

"Please listen. Blade is right. You are a kind person. And in wars, it is they who are hurt the most. We just have to accept that and move on, for such kindness is also needed. And we must battle with ourselves to come to the right conclusions." He then pleaded, "Please Quatre, don't let this be you. Return to the kind person that you once were. Please..."

KABOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

At the sight of the Vayaete exploded, Zero gripped his head and screamed...

"TROWA!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

As he let out his wail of agony, the remaining cells on his body began to open up and gather energy. Blade saw this and was now horrified. 'He's lost it totally. He's going for full power!'

As Blade saw this, another object flew up to Zero in attack. It was Heero in the Mercerius. He charged at Zero in order to knock him out of his unknown rage, but the massive energy of the Voltekka charging was disrupting the Sol-Tekka's controls. And if that wasn't bad enough, the energy also repelled him back, hurling him against to colony. The Voltekka was now fully charged and at Quatre's cries, it opened fire on the colony. But Blade had one more ace up his sleeve.

"Reflectors!"

Blade's shoulder Voltekka cells opened, but they didn't fire. Rather, Blade stood waiting for the colossal energy that was coming at him. Then the cells shimmered to life and began absorbing the beam. Blade struggled with the energy for a bit before it reversed direction, heading straight at its owner and hitting him full force.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The beam swarmed past him and through space, leaving behind the unmoving, charred body of Sandrock Zero. Blade moved in close and detected that Quatre was still alive.

"Uggghhhhh….Tro…wa…"

Blade looked up in the direction Trowa had flown the damaged Vayaete. There was no sign of his body and all that was left was the debris from the destroyed Sol-Tekka. Looking over to the colony, he saw Mercerius, also unmoving. But he can tell the Heero was alive as well, although unconscious.

Turning back, Blade examined Zero further. He detected a strange energy in him that was fading away. 'Just as I thought. It's the same as Dead End.'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Dolls mobilized, Romefeller launches Operation Nova and moves with its plans to crush the remaining rebel forces against them. But they meet a slight roadblock when Trieze's followers, calling themselves the Trieze Faction, fight against them. Meanwhile, Blade recovers Heero and Quatre, but is unsure what to do with them. Next on Gundam Tekkaman: The Eternal Flame of Shooting Stars.