Disclaimer: See chapter one

Chap. 43

L5 colony

One of the more distant of the colonies, L5 is a colony that had been ravaged from the Radham war and which scars are still evident upon it. Within this colony, Wufei was currently stationed within the center of a small field behind an old, but prominent Chinese building. Dressed in white, he waited as his opponent shifted toward him and suddenly struck out with a swift punch. Wufei dodged to the side and the man quickly lifted his arm and shot his leg in a kick. Wufei spun around and lashed his leg out in a sweep, tripping his opponent. The man flipped off the floor, but Wufei was instantly upon him and struck forward with a palm, flooring the man again, but giving him no room to get up.

"Enough."

Wufei backed away as the man lifted himself up painfully and bowed. Wufei returned the gesture and then moved to the person who called the stop. It was an old man, wearing purple Chinese garments and hat. The two walked side by side silently for a while.

"I am grateful to you for letting me stay here, Master Lon." Wufei started.

"You have done well in your journey." the elder man returned. 'Your sword has served you well."

Wufei looked at his sword, which was currently sheathed to his side. "Yes. But I do not feel worthy of it."

"Strength is the soul." Lon spoke. "The soul is the battle against yourself. If you do not win against yourself, you will never defeat your enemy. We have fought against the evil in space for over 100 years, whether it comes in the form of Earth or Radham."

The elder's eyes then roved across the colony, "But the colony which protected us all these years does not have the strength to sustain life any longer, and is luring us to the path of ruin. Even so, we will pursue justice to the end." Turning his head, "Do you understand, Wufei?"

"Justice..." the young man whispered.

"True justice. To believe in one self, never lie to one self, never betray one self."

Suddenly, one of the men exited the building, "Master Lon! Sol-Tekka Dolls are approaching the colony in attack formation."

"What?" the elder exclaimed. "They have no respect, even for the dying."

"I will defeat the enemy." Wufei declared. "I will defeat evil itself."

Master Lon turned to him and saw the conviction in his eyes. Nodding in approval, "Then you have nothing to doubt. You will be the one to decide what is just. That is our will and thus, the will of your blade."

Wufei bowed to his master and then unsheathed his blade. The crystal embedded in it flashed opened and it glowed in brilliant light.

"Tek-Setta!!!!!"

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

Space Knight Command Center

David strolled around the headquarters in search of Dead. He had just a few minutes before the procedure and he had just enough time to check up on him. Walking outside, he soon happened upon the knight in question, sitting on the edge of a pier.

"Hey Dead. How are you?"

"What do you think?" Dead answered coldly.

"Right. Stupid question."

David stood by him and bent down to pick up one of the stones. Silently, he tossed the stone in the water and watched it skip away and eventually sink. He didn't know what to say to Dead, but in cases like this, there was nothing to say. He couldn't imagine what Dead was going through right now, so there was no point in trying. Still, he wished he could help. Just then, David's communicator beeped, signaling him to come to the lab.

"You should get going." Dead whispered.

David nodded and silently walked back inside.

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

Colony L2...

"You've never seen him before?"

"Nope, ah!"

After Duo returned to the colony, he related to Hilde about his deadly encounter with Tekkaman Sliver. Currently, she was massaging his shoulders which were sore from the fighting.

"Sorry." she apologized.

Duo relaxed a bit and continued, "And he wasn't a gundam either."

"Do you know why he came after you?"

He shrugged lightly, "Maybe he was having a bad day or something."

Hilde lifted her hands from off his shoulders and moved beside him, "Hey Duo, let's go someplace that's really fun."

"Somewhere...fun?" he questioned.

"Yeah, come on." She quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bench. Duo winced as he was yanked up, but Hilde paid no attention and continued to drag him.

"Come on, let's go!"

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

Colony orbit

As was stated inside, a horde of Sol-Tekka carriers, each carrying dozens of soulless machines approached and surrounded the colony. But they made no actual attack yet. It was as if they were waiting for something.

"The gundam has been sighted in the northern axis point."

The commander responded, "Roger. All units, commence the attack!"

The Dolls suddenly awakened from their slumber and locked on to the tekkaman, who was flying straight the space and charging at the horde.

"Guide my hand, Nataku!"

Altron's hand arose, showing his now double-sided trident lancer. With another burst of speed, he charged into and past the first doll. A second later, the doll exploded into bits. The dolls turned to attack and the battle began. Altron weaved through the energy fire and sliced through doll after doll, sometimes slicing five at once. Occasionally, Altron would twist around and use the back protrusion to fire energy beams to destroy them from afar. But mostly, it was Nataku who brought them down. Despite the active disruptors and the sheer number of the dolls, Altron was faring well. His power and speed were amplified by his own martial art skills and instincts. He managed to bring down half the dolls when the commander announced to him.

"Gundam tekkaman. We are prepared for an all-out assault on the colony. If you do not surrender immediately, the colony will be destroyed."

Altron suddenly halted in his attack and looked back at the colony. The close orbit of the colony was now surrounded by a large number of dolls. Altron growled. Even if he could reach them, he would never be fast enough to destroy them. Not before they caused serious damage to the colony structure. Inside, the inhabitants of the colony was aware of what as happening. As well as what was to happen.

"Is it ready?"

The young man nodded, "Yes master."

The old man stepped on the edge of the balcony and whispered to himself, "Farewell Wufei. Never forget the pride of our people. Our will lies with you now." Turning to the man...

"Do it."

Altron suddenly felt his master's decree in his mind and stared at the colony, "Master Lon, what...?"

"Fight Wufei and do not hesitate." Long answered telepathically. "Fight for justice."

Suddenly, the colony erupted in various areas, all in sequence. The explosions circled the colony and the structure, along with the dolls closest to it were destroyed. Altron watched in horror as his home was destroyed right before his eyes.

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

His anguished cry echoed out into the depths of space and he clenched hard his lancer. His eyes flashed red and he looked at the remaining Sol-Tekkas and dolls. Without using his colony as a shield, he was free to finish this battle. With another cry, he charged at the machines and mercilessly ripped them to bits. The carriers, now seeing the wrath of the tekkaman tried to escape, but it was futile and Altron gave them the same fate as their lifeless machines. When the last carrier was destroyed, Wufei stared out into the blackness of space.

"Justice..." he whispered to himself. Looking at his lancer once again, he cried aloud to the stars.

"Nataku. Show me what true justice is!"

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

Colony L2

It turns out that the place Hilde mentioned was a circus act that had just recently come into the colony on tour. Hilde had wanted to go ever since it had come and now she dragged Duo along for the ride. But Duo didn't mind (even though he complained about his sore muscles the entire way). In fact, he was currently enjoying himself a little too much.

"YAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Hilde shirked in slight embarrassment as he had jumped up and cheered, almost spilling the popcorn.

"Well, it's nice to see you're enjoying yourself."

Duo sat back down, a bit embarrassed himself, "Yeah."

His eyes gazed over the three circles and onto the high-wire act. The crowd was also watching in amazement as a clown balanced himself on the wire and walked across to the center without effort.

'Huh? That clown...Well, well, well.'

Suddenly, the clown bent his knees and shot up into the air, spinning in a triple somersault cartwheel. The crowd gasped as he descended and missed the wire. However, the clown swiftly grabbed the wire and rebounded back into the air, spinning yet again before landing on the wire, again with zero difficulty. The crowd cheered wildly as the clown walked off the wire and bowed his head.

"Wow." Hilde exclaimed while clapping. "That clown was really amazing."

A knowing grin crossed Duo's features, "You can say that again."

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

Space...

A troop of Sol-Tekka carriers on route toward the now destroyed L5 colony spotted an object coming right at them. As it neared, they instantly recognized it as a crystal hawk.

"Prepare to launch the...ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Too late as the crystal hawk slammed into the first carrier, destroying it instantly. The two remaining carrier watched it explode and the tekkaman materialize into form.

"You do not belong!"

With a roar, Altron charged at the next one and slashed with through it. It exploded and the gundam's crimson eyes locked on to its final target. The hatch of the carrier opened, about to release its Dolls. But Altron summoned forth his right dragon arm voltekka and unleashed the blast, destroying both the Dolls and the carrier. Altron simply watched the carrier exploded.

"I will destroy all who fight in space!"

His crystal hawk flared to life and Altron flew into space once again.

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

Laboratory...

Yuim, Natasha, and David had all come into the lab to prepare for the operation. Aki and Millia were stationed above them in the monitor booth in order to oversee their progress.

"Energy connections complete. Servos at 100%. We're ready, Chief."

Aki called into the intercom, "Go."

The three knights raised their crystals, "Tek-Setta!!!"

They all flared with the energy of their transformations and shot into the chambers stationed before them, fully transformed.

"Start the procedure."

The chambers began to bubble and glow, filtering around their armored bodies. In time, the armors themselves started to glow and shimmer in light. The knights struggled inside, but gave no indication that they were in any danger. Aki folded her arms across her chest.

'And now we wait.'

Millia turned her head slightly toward Aki. She didn't have to look at her friend's face to see that she was worried about the youths. Aki carried for them as if they were her own children and Millia knew that.

The soul of outer space told her so...

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

Circus

A little while after the acts were over in the circus, Duo snuck around in the back to find Trowa. As he trucked through the various equipment and animal cage, he happened upon him near the lion cages, feeding them.

"Hey Trowa." he waved as he stepped forward. "Nice act out there. You were great."

Trowa turned his head from the cage and looked at Duo with slight puzzlement. "Do I know you?"

"Huh?" Duo blinked in surprise. "I know you're a little weird Trowa, but what kind of question is that?"

The young man stood before him with uncertainty in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I don't remember you."

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Duo discovers that Trowa has lost him memory and is promptly chased away by Katherine, his 'sister.' Quatre left the Sank to lead the Maganac once again in order to protect the Sank, but Romefeller begins its initial attacks on both the Sank Kingdom and the Space Knights. With the tekkamen currently in hold due to the upgrades, the Space Knights are nearly defenseless. Next on Gundam Tekkaman: Cracked Shield