DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, and the rest, you already know.

THE RETURN OF A FRIEND

It has already been at least a week and things between Taiho and Meia have been going good. At first people who had learned of their relationship were giving them weird looks, but they just shrugged them off, if they couldn't take them being together then they should mind their own business. But not so soon after that, everyone voiced they were fine with it, saying that had anticipated them actually getting together. This little news actually made them feel a lot better.

'I would have told them in a better way if it weren't for that damn Paiway,' Taiho thought as he walked through the halls of the ship. After Paiway had taken their picture on Christmas Eve, they both gave chase to her. What they didn't expect her to do was tip over a trashcan to stop them from chasing her. This surprised Taiho and made him trip over it, which in turn made Meia trip as well since she wasn't so far behind him. This made her get on top him with Taiho's hand around her waist. When they got their senses back, they did what any new couple would do at that moment, they kissed each other on the floor,' at least the chase didn't end in a bad way though,' Taiho thought happily.

He then entered the Duero's work area to see what he was doing. When he got inside, he saw Bart was their as well," hey you two, what's up?" he asked as he announced himself to let them know he was there.

"Hey Taiho," Bart said with a happy face. Bart had happily thanked Taiho for recommending the gift he gave to Jura. Taiho just said it really wasn't a problem and that he was only helping a friend out.

"Hello," Duero greeted back, even though he didn't show it, he was a little happy. It really helped that he made the painting for Parfet and that he was on the tech girl's good side and it was thanks to the Gundam pilot. Taiho said he would have thought of it himself and that he was giving a helpful hint that he would've thought later.

"So, what's going on guys?" Taiho asked as he leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Well, I still feel left out on the bridge. I mean it's only been a few moths since all of this started and tell you two the truth; I've been worried where I stand lately. You know what I mean?" he asked as he sat on the bed with comically complaining face," the bridge crew still treats me like a stranger and I can't shake that feeling that they're just using me," he then turned his head to Taiho with a hopeful face," you got any advice?"

Taiho really thought about this one,' it seems it's about that time for the women to get real sexist, good thing I got Barnette to cool down about being a feminist. Now to actually help Bart feel better about this, hmmm…' he then wondered what Bart could do instead of just cross-dress in front of the entire bridge crew," well, you could confront them this to them. Once you find out what is bugging them about you, you can start to work on what to do to get them to trust you better, how about that?"

"I don't know," Bart said as he really doubted it for a second before shrugging," but what could it hurt to try? If I can't talk them directly, how am I going to talk to them later if I need to talk to them about something else, right?"

"Right," Taiho replied with a smile on his face.

"Well, see ya guys, I'm going to see what I can do?" Bart said as he rushed out of the office to see what he could do to strengthen his relationship with the bridge crew.

"You seem to have become our source on how to better improve our relationship with women, and for that I thank you Taiho," the doctor said out the blue, which caught Taiho off guard.

"Uh, yeah, it's the least I can do seeing as how I'm the only guy from a planet that has such relations," Taiho said as he tried not to let this newly proclaimed position get to him," well, I gotta go, see ya doc," Taiho said as he remembered something and left.

"Bye," Duero said as he went back to his work.

'I gotta stop Hibiki from entering that changing room that girl is changing in, or it'll result in us guys getting the women's wrath,' Taiho thought as he ran through the halls, only to run into someone," oof," he said along with the person, he then shook his head and got up," I'm sorry, here let me you up…" he trailed off as he looked at the women who had a bear suit on with the bear head off, showing an aqua green haired women,' that's the girl Hibiki accidentally peeps on and makes the entire ship gun for us guys,' this made him smirk for a bit,' this is my chance to prevent that.'

"I don't need a man's help," she said with a little heat in her voice.

"Now come on, have I done anything to earn such hate?" asked as he kneeled down and help her up.

"No, but you're still a male," she argued as she kneeled down to pick up the bear head.

"I am, just as much as you are a female. Look, I'm not going to argue that we are both different, but we both have something that both genders have that are the same," Taiho said as he got ready to make this girl doubt the teachings she got from her planet of Mejale.

"Oh, and what would that be?" she said with a cocky smirk, feeling that what she believed wouldn't be doubted or broken.

"Both genders have feelings, the same skin, the same sensation of pain, and among other things. Sure, we may have different feelings, but we both can love, hate, be sad, and become confused. We have the same texture of skin that can heal, be scratched or wounded. And we both can feel that pain when we get cut, or wounded, or have our feelings hurt. These things lead me to believe that no matter what gender, what skin color, what class of people we are, that we all are equal to one another," Taiho answered as he lectured the woman on his beliefs, but then gave a smirk and shrugged," but that's what I believe, and it's not my place to question your beliefs, because everyone has to have their own beliefs to hang onto. It's up to the people themselves to believe whatever they can and continue on with a pleasurable life, like I do, now that I have Meia."

But she didn't hear him say the last part of his sayings, as the lecture on his beliefs made her think a bit on what she believed. Even though her mind was ranting that her beliefs were right no matter what, her heart was saying what he was saying was almost completely true," whatever," she said in almost a low growl.

Seeing this as a chance to prevent the situation in the series to not happen, he gave a smile to the girl," mind if I escort you to where ever you are going, I'll help you out and let you see what I mean about my belief," he said as he extended his hand.

She looked back and forth the hand and his face, but just sighed and nodded as she walked passed him," sure," she answered as went to go to the changing room.

As they both walked, Taiho tried his best to convert the women's sexist mind, but it was hard to do since her mind was dead set that men were the enemy and they were a disease to women. But Taiho could tell he was getting through to the woman, at least just a little. When they got to the changing room, she told him to stay outside and not come in, which he obeyed as he kept watch for Hibiki. Not a moment sooner, Dita and Hibiki came down the hall with food in their arms, with Hibiki carrying most of the luggage.

"Mr. Alien, can't you walk any faster?" Dita asked as she carried her single box of carrots.

"Yeah, yeah," he said as he wobbled around with three boxes stacked on top of each other in his arms," you're really annoying sometimes, ya know?" he then noticed Taiho standing outside the door of the changing room.

"I'll see ya in the kitchen," Dita said as she went ahead of the short man.

"Sensei, what are you doing here?" Hibiki asked as he stepped up to the Gundam pilot, but then he tripped a bit.

'Ah crap, gotta stop him,' Taiho thought frantically, as he caught Hibiki and the boxes just inches away from the door. Taiho let out a sigh of relief,' thank goodness I prevented that,' he then heard the door behind him open to show the woman behind him a different, but same colored bear suit, with the bear head on.

"I'm going back to the bridge," she said simply as she went around him. But he didn't expect her to do was wave goodbye to him," see ya," she said as she went around the corner.

'Well, I guess I got through to her,' he thought, as he felt glad that he prevented a 'man'-hunt to happen on the ship. He then dusted himself off and turned to his student and answered his previous question," I was accompanying that girl just now, but I guess I'm free now," he then looked at the boxes that he was carrying," need any help?"

"Naw, I got it," he then picked up the boxes and went to catch up with the bubbly redhead," see ya sensei," he said as he went around the corner.

Taiho then heard his watch communicator beep," yes, Taiho here, what is it?" he asked as Meia smiling face came up on the watches small screen," oh, and what do I owe the honor of my girlfriend calling me?" Taiho asked playfully.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked back with her own playfulness, but then gave a sigh with a serious look now on her face," it's time we told the crew about the new threat, because I have just received a signal similar to your Dark Angel Gundam," she then paused a bit," it might be the Dark Gundam," she said seriously.

"I see," he said with serious look on his face as well. Taiho then just sighed and shrugged," well, I guess its time then; I'll be down there, okay?"

"Okay, see you then," she said as she closed off communications with her boyfriend.

When he got there, he saw Paiway showing a video of Dita crying and Hibiki trying to see what was wrong with her, which Paiway was saying it was him yelling at her and hurting her feelings," hey girls, what's going?" he asks as he tries to look innocent of what is going on.

"You, what do have to say for this?" Paiway asks angrily at Taiho, who just looks at her with a bored look as she pointed to the recording.

Taiho just goes up to the video screen, readjusted the camera and showed the onions that were below Dita," what I have to say is that you weren't looking at the whole picture, as you can see, the onions are cut open and are having an affect on Dita's eyes and that Hibiki is trying to see what is wrong with her," she then looks at the floor with a little shame. Taiho just shook his head, but then got a serious look on his face," but that's not important now," he raised his voice to let those who in the room know what he was going to say," everyone, Meia and I have an announcement to make, this information involves the entire crew and the two planets we are trying to save, which I am going to announce throughout the ship," he then went up to the intercom and opened the channel to all the ship's speakers.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make," Taiho's voice went through the ships speakers, which caught the attention of everyone on the Nirvana," I have come upon some very bad news, it seems that the Harvesters are not our only enemies we have to worry about," Taiho then put a disc through a computer and sent the images throughout the ship. When everyone saw the Gundam head, everyone thought were but one thing, 'what the hell is that thing'," this is a minion of a very dangerous, evil, and powerful machine, a machine called the Dark Gundam. Yes, a Gundam, this Gundam has the power to topple the Harvester in one attack if it could. It has three powerful abilities, the ability to self recover, self multiply, and self evolve," he then paused a bit to let this information sink in everyone's heads," Meia has informed me that she has caught a signal that is very similar to that of my Dark Angel Gundam, so what I plan to do is to take my Gundam and head out to see if it is the Dark Gundam or a minion that is scouting, is out there in space," he then took a deep breath for a moment," and captain, I will talk to you later on how I know about this and what this all means to me, I can assure you of that." He then cut off the communication on the intercom.

"So, you're going to go out by yourself to see if it is the Dark Gundam?" Meia asks, as she didn't know he had that planned.

"Yeah, we need to be sure so that we can form an affective line of defense," Taiho answered with a serious face on.

"I know that, but…" she trailed off as she looked at the floor for a bit and walked up to him. She then put her arms around him in a hug. Taiho didn't know she was going to do that, but quickly put his arms around her. After a moment of silence, she looked up to him," just be careful out there, okay?" she asked with a look of worry on her face.

Taiho cupped his hand on her cheek and pecked her on the lips," you know I will," he answered as he smiled at her, but that smile quickly turned into a smirk," but you're worrying over nothing. If anything's got anything to worry about, it would have to be the Dark Gundam, since I'm going out to hunt it."

She shook her head at him and gave him a smile," whatever, just come back okay?" she asked.

"I will," he then got out of the embrace and turned his back to leave," see ya then," he said as he rushed off to the hangar.

When got in sight of the door of the hangar, he saw Hibiki standing by the entrance," where do you think you're going sensei?" he asked casually as he had his arms crossed while leaning on the door of the hangar room.

"You heard where I'm going; do you intend to stop me from going? Cause if you are…" he trailed off leaving the message to hang, but to also be known as a little bit of a threat.

Hibiki just rose his hands up in defense," I don't intend to do anything of the sort sensei, but I would have thought you would want to bring some reinforcements with you, just in case," he said with a smirk on his face and opened the hangar door.

"Huh? Now wait just a minute Hibiki…" but he was cut off as the short man raised his hand to stop him talking.

"You're not going to stop me from coming with you Taiho, and that's that," he said as he left no room for argument.

Taiho just slumped his shoulder and sighed," Whatever," he then walked passed him and with out looking at him, he spoke," just don't get yourself killed out there; I don't think Dita could handle your loss."

Blushing at the implications, the navy-haired man yelled at him in annoyance," what the hell does that annoying woman have to do with anything?" but Taiho chose the wise choice not to answer that, Hibiki needed to figure things out on his own, right?

Taiho and Hibiki got within the respective mechs and prepared to leave. As Taiho neared getting ready to leave, he received a call from someone on his communicator watch," Taiho here, what is it?" he then saw Meia's face on it, but along with her was Barnette," hey you two, what's going?"

"I just wanted to wish you luck one more time Taiho," Meia said truthfully, she then turned her head to the green-haired woman," go on and say what you wanted."

"Right," she said as she stepped to the screen," don't die out there because you just wanting to find out about this Gundam, you've become a valuable comrade and friend, and I'd be damned if I lost a friend like you, got it?" she asked with a stern face.

"Got it, and thanks, it's nice to know that I'm really appreciated," he said with a happy face,' this really has become a good life, even though it only took a war to receive such a good life,' Taiho thought as he went back to finishing up on his set-ups," well, until then you two," he said as he finished up.

"GOOD LUCK," they both said before they cut off communications.

Taiho and Hibiki then got up to the launch pads and waited for the respective hangars to open, "Hibiki Tokai, Vanguard, HEADING OUT," Hibiki announced for once as he launched from the launch pad.

"Taiho Lobo, Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," Taiho called out as he left himself. Once the two got some distance from the Nirvana, they saluted a goodbye to the ship.

Everyone saw the salute and watched the two sparkly tiny lights fly off in the distance. Meia had watched from the garden with her hand clenching on the cross she received from Taiho. Barnett saw this and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Meia turned and saw the green-haired woman give reassuring smile and smiled back, thanking her for the comfort. They both looked back to where they saw the both of them blast off and had one thought,' come back safely you two.'

"It seems it will take a while before we get to the source of the signal," Taiho informed his fellow pilot, he then put the Gundam on auto-pilot and rested himself on the floor of the G Gundam cockpit," get some rest, we'll need it if we run into whatever is there."

"Right," Hibiki said as he set his mech on auto-pilot as well and closed his eyes to rest for the rest of the trip.

It took at least half days worth of time for them to rest. As soon as they both woke up, they started to get bored with the distance they had to travel to get to the source, so they started to chat on what they could do to improve their martial arts and among other things. But they were both caught off as Taiho saw that the signal flicker a bit,' huh?' they next thing he knew, Taiho saw several unknown fighter signals coming towards them. As soon as he saw that, a barrage of blue lasers came towards them.

Taiho, being used to the ZERO system and his own senses of self-awareness, was able to dodge the shots easily. Hibiki though wasn't as lucky as one of the stray shots hit him in the right arm," Hibiki, are you alright?" Taiho called out to see if he friend was too injured to fight.

"I'm okay, they just grazed me," he said as he mech clutched it burning arm. He then looked on his radar and saw the multiple blips coming towards," heads up, we've got company," he called out as he got himself ready to destroy them.

Taiho took one look at them and knew who they were,' the Menalos fleet,' Taiho recognized the fighter and carrier ships. Seeing that Hibiki was about to go in and destroy them without a second thought, Taiho quickly signaled him," Hibiki, wait!!"

The Vanguard was about to blast off, but stopped and acted as if it was about to trip. The Vanguard then turned to the Gundam quickly," what, we should hurry up and take these guys out; they might be with the Harvesters."

"That may be, but we don't want to risk that, so just incapacitate them by cutting their engines, their wings, or whatever else you can think up, alright?" he asked as he didn't want to get on the bad side of the Menalos fleet that much,' they never sent out the whole fleet of fighters when Hibiki came, what's different this time?' he wondered as he saw the fighters draw in closer.

"Alright, if you say so sensei," he said as he made his Vanguard shrug," now then," he said as he turned back to the fight at hand and quickly grew a smirk," LET'S GO," he said as he blasted off.

Taiho just shook his head and followed not too far behind his supposed student. The first two fighters tried to shoot him down, but Taiho went right passed their fired rounds as he gripped the sword hilt on his back. As soon as he got close, he quickly slashed their wings off and put his blade beam back on his back.

When he got passed those two, four other fighters came up from behind and tried to shoot him down. But Taiho just weaved through the fire, turned upside down and fire his hand beam rifle, long range beam cannon, and shoulder gatling guns at them and took off their wings, engines, or both at the same time.

He saw two other fighters firing at him, but all the same, he went by the fire without a scratch, used his blade beam and cut through the one of the two others fighter's wings off. When he got some distance, he aimed his hand beam rifle and shot the engines.

"AAhh, dammit, this thing just won't go down, just like that other one," the surviving fighter pilot said as he gritted his teeth and looked at Hibiki's Vanguard. Hibiki wasn't doing as good as Taiho, but he wasn't too far behind him, with only getting scratches and grazes from stray shots from the fighters," I'll take that guy down," the pilot said as he rushed off to take down the Dark Angel Gundam.

Taiho was caught off guard as one of the fighters went in for ram,' what the hell is this guy thinking?!' he thought as he pushed the fighter off,' NOW!!' he thought as he took the blade boomerang from his shoulder and threw it at the fighter and cut off the right wing. He heard the pilot yell out in pain,' now to finish it,' he thought as he took his other boomerang and aimed it at the engines.

"STOP," a familiar voice called out, two beams came out of nowhere and shot the boomerangs that were going to hit the fighter. As soon as they were shot, they bounce right back to Taiho. Once they were back in his shoulders, he looked to see who shot them, only jump back to avoid a slash from a beam saber aimed to kill him.

"Whoa, now that was a…close…one," he slowed down as his eye widened at the mech before him. The Mech had blue colored wings, with some gold color here and there and jagged blue marks all over it while the whole body was completely white, but one thing came to Taiho's mind as he looked at the different colored schemed mech,' Strike…Freedom,' he thought as he looked at the mech.

He could tell it had the body frame of the Gundam from Gundam Seed Destiny. But the shoulder pads on it seemed rounder for some reason, which Taiho came to the conclusion of them being the boxer enhancements of the Gundam Maxter from G Gundam. He also saw that he had the shoulder vulcan guns of the Burning Gundam as well. Everything else was that of the Strike Freedom's weapons and defense equipment, as hit had its twin hand beam rifles behind its lower back, the wing DRAGOON units, the lower the rail cannon units just below the beam sabers that were on its hips, and the central long rang beam cannon in its chest. From he could tell, he also had the beam shields on both of the arms as well.

'Who could be piloting that custom Gundam,' Taiho thought as a whole barrage of other question went through his mind. But he was taken out of his thoughts as the other custom Gundam quickly rushed in with its beam saber," shit," was all Taiho could say as he took out his beam blade and burst open his energy wings. He then slung it over his shoulder and rushed the Gundam.

The two of them clashed each other as they made passes at each other with their blades. They then met a third time and struggled to dominate the other in strength,' who is this guy, he's just as good as me,' Taiho thought as he tried to push his blade further. They both then jumped away from each other, seeing as how that little battle was going nowhere.

Once the other Gundam got some distance, he took out both his hand beam rifle and combined them to form a single long rifle. He then shot a concentrated shot at Taiho, who for once, used his beam shield to block the shot,' you want a beam, I'll give you a beam,' Taiho thought as he cocked the long range beam rifle on his back and aimed at the Gundam. Taiho then pulled the trigger as the other custom Gundam fired its central beam cannon. The two beams met each other and tried to dominate each other, only to cancel each other out.

Hibiki, along with the fighters of the Menalos fleet had long since been done fighting, as Hibiki had talked over the communicator that they were just investigating a signal and that they were allies against the Harvesters. With that done, everyone just watched the two Gundams go at it with all the skill they had at the moment,' their testing each other,' Hibiki thought, as he watched Taiho fight the other Gundam. He knew he wasn't using all of his skill, and he also could tell the other person who was piloting the other Gundam, wasn't using all of his skill as well. He then saw them Taiho tackle the other Gundam into an asteroid, where no one could see what was going on.

Deep within the asteroid, the two continued to fight as they spun around in the chasms of the rock, while still holding on to each other with their blades in the middle. Taiho quickly got out of the lock and dashed ahead, he then opened the shoulder gatling guns and fired, but the other Gundam just dodged the shots. Once it got the chance, the other Gundam rushed, tackled Taiho, and pushed him through a wall. The other Gundam shot off a few rounds of his own as soon as he got up from the tackle, but Taiho quickly got up and blasted off. The white, but blue jagged Gundam quickly followed, but Taiho turned around just in time to put his beam shield up to block a blow from his beam saber.

Taiho used this moment to knee the Gundam in the gut, which made the Gundam stagger back a bit,' this guy is good,' the Dark Angel pilot thought as a smirk crept up on his face,' I'll find out who you are now,' he thought as he plunged his blade beam into the floor of the asteroid. The other Gundam cocked its head a bit in confusion, but Taiho answered a bit by cracking his Gundam's neck and knuckles, he then motioned him with his hand saying 'bring it on'.

The other Gundam just shook his head a bit, but quickly took out both its beam and connected them. But this is what surprised Taiho as the two connected beam saber's hilts extended and formed a staff. Once it stopped, two trident beam blades came out,' that's Shenlong Gundam Custom's trident staff,' Taiho thought as he saw the pink color of the blade turn green. The other Gundam then plunged the double sided beam trident into the asteroid's floor. Once it did that, he followed Taiho's and cracked the Gundam's neck a bit while doing the same to its knuckles. He then bounced up and down as if testing his movement of speed in the current environment. He then took a sort of boxer stance and waited for Taiho to make his move.

Taiho smirked at this, he was now getting a pretty good idea of who was piloting that Gundam,' now to find out if I'm right,' Taiho thought as he took a stance he used to use back at home. He then opened the speaker on his Gundam and spoke," this fight will determine who has the better skills, get ready," he called out as his muscled tighten a bit," GUNDAM FIGHT," he called out.

"READY," the familiar voice also called out from his Gundam.

"GO," they both said as the time as they both charged each other. They both charge with their fist cocked and punched forward. As soon as they passed as each other when they clashed each other's fists, they both started to do some of their movements. The white Gundam started to bounce around like a boxer as its feet shuffled back and forth with its body moving constantly. Taiho was moving around like he was Bruce Lee, while trying to make the white Gundam flinch with his feints of charging in with attacks.

Not a second later, the white Gundam let out a barrage of boxer styled punches at Taiho. With his martial arts extincts, he dodged the punches with some ease. Taiho then jumped up and gave his own barrage of attacks, only this time with his kicks. The white Gundam dodged the kicks in the way a boxer would. Once Taiho landed, they started to send punched to each other left and right.

When they broke off, the white Gundam threw a hard right hook into Taiho's face. This stunned him a bit enough for the white Gundam to send two jabs to his chest, a punch to his gut, and then a punch to face again which was followed up by an uppercut to the face.

Gritting his teeth, Taiho snapped his eyes open and quickly kicked the white Gundam right in the face. Taiho did a left, right kick to his face followed up by a hard downward kick on his shoulder. Taiho then quickly gave a hard punch to its gut. Once he saw him stunned for a bit, he did a barrage of punches to his gut, making the Gundam feel more pain to his gut. Once he was done with that little combo, he repaid the white Gundam and uppercut it right in the jaw. The Gundam flew up a bit, which left Taiho to follow it and give a hard kick that sent it right into the asteroids floor.

This didn't make it happy as it got right back up and charged forward with its hand cocked back to punch Taiho right back, but Taiho caught the punch. The white Gundam then sent its free hand to punch him again, only to once again be caught by Taiho's other hand. Seeing this going nowhere, they both separated their hands a bit to clasp each other's hands in a deadlock. They both struggled to dominate each other, as they did this, they area around them started to quake a bit from the power they were both putting out.

'It is him, I knew it,' Taiho thought as he kept up with the white Gundam's strength. After a minute or two passed, they both jumped away from each other, waiting for each other's next move. But now, Taiho wanted to finish this fight right now," hey, about we do our best attacks, winner takes all," Taiho proposed. The white Gundam stopped for a bit and nodded. The pilot then let out a bit of a battle cry as the shoulders pads on it blasted off and connected onto his fists.

"This hand of mine is burning red, its loud roar tells me to grasp victory," Taiho quoted as his hand started to glow bright red.

"ERUPTING BURNING…" Taiho called out as he dashed forward with his energy wings bursting open and his right hand bursting into flames.

"BURNING…" the white Gundam pilot called out as he dashed forward himself as the white metal like boxer glove started to turn red with his own wings bursting out.

"FINGER/PUNCH," they both called the last words of their attacks as they met each other in the middle of their charge.

"It's nice to know you're here…" Taiho said as he vid screen popped up on his three-sixty degree monitor, showing a black male in blue and white clothing. He had a white cap with a white du rag, a blue and white sports jersey with a number on it, blue faded baggy jeans, and white with blue striped addidas.

"…Marcus Kensington."

A/N: Well, that CH.10 for you guys. Yep, a new OC and a new Gundam, love it or hate it, your choice. Anyhow, you didn't think Taiho was the only one to go to the Vandread universe, but if you're wondering how he got there in the first place, you'll find out in the next chapter. As for the whole thing about the episode, I figure that since Taiho was there to help strengthen the relations between the men and women, it wouldn't be as bad as it was on the series. If anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX