A/N: Hello and welcome to another chapter. Wow. This is totally new for me, normally it took me about one to two months to get a chapter worked out on paper and at least another two weeks to complete it on PC… but now three chapters in less than three months. And I have to say that this chapter was also completely written on PC.

But enough about me being amazed about myself.

First things first: I'd like to make a few announcements.

Katosuki : At first I had mostly taken the events in space and written them in a way that I wanted, so it was probably a rewrite at this point. I apologize for this and will try to at least keep the battles from now on in the right order.

tomatooverlord: thank you for being the only creative reviewer so far. It really made me work on perfecting my grammar in order to provide a more fluid reading experience.

And I've got a few surprises in this chapter. One is definitely that it is twice as long as all my chapters before and I will try to keep the chapters on this length.

One more time I would like you to leave constructive reviews.

So, have fun reading and please Review!

Phase 7: A new Angel

"I think you don't mind me moving in?" she asked playfully.

"Not really but shouldn't we talk that over with the captain?" Kira asked back.

"If you think so," Lacus began to guide him towards his bed. "but for now we're going to get some sleep."

Suddenly she gave him a push and he landed on his bed. He didn't even get to get up on his elbows as Lacus was on top of him. Soon both of them laid side by side, Lacus resting her head on Kira's chest.

It didn't take long and sleep took hold of both of them.

"So this is the 'legged ship' as they call it." a ZAFT commander on a nearby dune stated. He wore a blue coat over his uniform and had brown skin and hair and blue eyes.

"Are we going to attack them commander Waltfeld?" his second in command, Martin DaCosta, asked.

"We should be careful, even the Le Creuset team wasn't able to shoot it down." Andy said with a slightly joking tone. "And Halberton's eighth fleet sacrificed themselves, so that this ship could get down here." With that he turned back and walked down the dune. There stood about five BuCues and at least a dozen of attack choppers.

"Gentleman, we are going to attack the legged ship." the desert tiger ordered.

"Sir, do we have permission to shoot it down?" one of the pilots asked eagerly.

"Hmmm…" Andy chuckled slightly. "…we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

The pilots headed to their respective machines and after a minute the BuCues and all the choppers took off.

Suddenly the alarms sounded throughout the Archangel.

"All hands to level one battle stations. I repeat all hands to level one battle stations. All pilots to their respective machines." sounded Miriallia's voice over the speakers.

Kira nearly dropped out of his bed as he heard the alarm. He quickly took jacket and ran off towards the locker room, but soon he decided otherwise and just ran to the Strike.

"APU connected. Launcher Striker standby. You're going out without pilot suit this time?" Miriallia asked concerned.

"It was quicker that way." Kira answered. "Just hurry up and get me out there. The Archangel could be destroyed if I don't go out there now." Those last words were spoken with a fierce determination in his eyes.

"But the Strike is a space mobile suit and will probably stand no chance against those BuCues." Murrue stated, not wanting to put her fellow crewmembers in unnecessary danger.

"I'll be fine. Just let me get out there." Kira said in a slightly angry tone.

"All right. Strike, you have permission for launch." Natarle suddenly interjected. "But pull out immediately if it gets too dangerous."

"Got it."

"Strike, you are clear for take-off." With that Miriallia opened the catapult doors.

"Kira Yamato, Strike. Launching." Kira said while engaging the catapult.

The Strike shot out of the catapult, landed… and immediately sank into the sand. Then suddenly a pair of attack choppers came flying around the dune and opened fire with their missile launchers.

Kira had no chance but to activate the phase-shift armor in order to block the attack. He raised the Strike to attack the choppers with the gattling of the launcher, but the choppers were far too quick in flying back behind the dune.

Then a BuCue came jumping at him, which he evaded by firing his thrusters to get the Strike airborne. He took aim with his Agni mega beam cannon and fired, but the dog like mobile suit was just too agile and sidestepped two more of his shots. Suddenly his alarms went off as another BuCue jumped up behind him. But it was too late and he was slammed back down into the sand.

"So this is the last of the prototypes from Heliopolis." Andy thought out loud while watching the whole fight from a nearby dune.

"Sir, apparently the pilot is a natural." DaCosta said, reading the data that had been sent to them by headquarters.

"Hmmm…" Andy switched on the comm. link in the jeep they were sitting in. "Lesseps, target the legged ship with the main cannons and fire when ready."

"Yes, sir." came the reply a few moments later.

Kira, meanwhile, had to give everything to just dodge the missiles, railgun rounds and punches from the BuCues. He did manage to squeeze off a shot or two in between their attacks, but none of them even scratched their target.

"Captain, heavy projectiles approaching from nine o'clock!"

"Pull the Archangel into the air! Avoid the attack!" Murrue ordered.

The Archangel did pull up, but half of the rounds still hit their target shaking the ship violently. At last this shock woke up Lacus. As she noticed that Kira wasn't there beside her she got worried. Well, she was worried every time he went out to battle but somehow she had a strange feeling that he maybe wouldn't return this time.

Alice too had been woken by the alarms and went down into the hangar, just to see the Strike moving into the catapult. She didn't hesitate long before getting into the Michael. She could worry about making the final adjustments for the suit later. For now it should be enough to at least fight off the attackers. The only thing to do was…

"Captain Ramius, I would like to have permission to launch as well." It was the face of Alice Tsubasa that popped up on one of the screens on the bridge.

"What?" needless to say that Murrue was confused.

"That mobile suit of yours is not suited for combat operations in the desert. Is it able to remain in the air?" Natarle asked on Murrues behalf.

"Yes, that shouldn't be a problem." Alice answered.

"Then you have permission to launch. But it's the same for you, if it gets too dangerous, pull out immediately." the second in command said.

"Lt. Badgiruel!" Murrue exclaimed turning towards the black haired woman.

"The more mobile suits we get out there the higher our chances for victory are."

"Michael you are clear for take-off." Miriallia announced opening the catapult.

"Thanks. Alice Tsubasa, Michael. Taking off." the white-blonde yelled as she engaged the catapult.

Kira pushed the thrusters to the maximum to avoid crashing into sand. The BuCue that slammed him down was about to fire his railguns point blank at the Strike as the backpack was pierced by a beam.

The backpack exploded and the BuCue retreated behind the next dune.

"You all right, Kira?" Alice asked as her face appeared on one of the Strikes sub screens.

"Yes, thanks for the help." he answered. "But can you operate this suit completely?"

"Well it's my first time in a Gundam, but I think I can do it." She replied dodging a few missiles form a BuCue.

"I need a few seconds to adjust the landing pressure, can you cover me for so long?" Kira asked flipping down the keyboard.

"Will do."

As on command all the BuCues and attack choppers pulled back. Then all of a sudden a red beam pierced the sky. Alice barely evaded being hit, but the beam still graced her left wing. As she looked into the direction the beam came from, she saw it. The black samurai-like mobile suit that had destroyed the Deadalus and single handed beat her father and her into submission. The last time they only survived because that suit left without a good reason. There was something she only noticed now about this suit. First: it was flying, without wings! Second: It emitted what seemed like black light particles from its back.

"A Gundam?" Both Kira and Alice exclaimed in unison.

"That's the same one that attacked us back in the debris belt." Alice said through grit teeth.

"What is that thing doing here?" Kira asked confused as he finished the configuration of the Strikes landing pressure.

"Go back and cover the Archangel, Kira. I'll keep him busy." With that she shot forwards, rifle blazing.

Kira was about to voice his objection as he noticed the BuCues approaching the Archangel. The first one that tried to attack the ship was kicked away by Kira. The other then turned around at him and fired everything they had.

Lacus who had switched on the screen to the outside cameras practically screamed out.

"KIRA!"

Kira somehow heard that scream although no comm. line was open to his quarters. No matter how he looked at it, right now he had no chance to avoid everything. That was when it happened. His mind cleared of all thoughts but those directed to protect the Archangel, to protect Lacus. To all watching it seemed like he did the impossible.

Kira spun between to railgun rounds, that destroyed almost half of the missiles behind him in a chain reaction, and slammed the Agni full force into the BuCue that fired the railguns. The mega- launcher impaled the dog like mobile suit. Kira then lifted the dog like mobile suit up and threw it into the path of the missiles, resulting in the destruction of the mobile suit.

Then he saw the next set of heavy projectiles approaching the Archangel. Kira didn't hesitate for long, he just threw the next BuCue in the line of fire, which intercepted one projectile. Then he took aim and fired the Agni, destroying the rest of the projectiles.

"Captain, next attack approaching!" Sai yelled.

"Evasive action!" Murrue ordered.

"There's no time!" Arnold exclaimed.

Right at that time one BuCue was thrown into the line of fire and the rest of the projectiles were destroyed by a blast from the Agni. The whole bridge crew was stunned.

"Captain, the Michael is engaging an unknown mobile suit." Miriallia said suddenly.

"What?"

"I'm putting the feed on screen."

The black mobile suit dodged every single shot with ease. As an answer the pilot just took one shot and destroyed the Michaels rifle. He then put away the rifle and pulled both of his hip mounted katana. Alice replied with drawing both of her beam sabers and blocked the first attack with her left saber. Her enemy suddenly pulled away the katana and struck at the Michaels left wrist. Alice decided to spin around and kick the attackers arm away. She then continued the spin and attacked the head of the samurai like mobile suit with her right beam saber using the centrifugal force to strengthen her blow.

But that didn't work. Her enemy blocked that strike with his katana again. She then proceeded to stab her left beam saber at where she presumed the cockpit was… but her enemy was no longer there. Her alarms went off as she felt a kick from behind, throwing her into the sand.

Kira had just forced the last BuCue and attack choppers into retreat as he suddenly felt wave of darkness approaching him from above. He barely dodged the swordstrike that went down inches away from his cockpit hatch. He could only avoid the next hit by sacrificing the Agni and pushing his thrusters to the maximum. But the black samurai was hot on his tail and charged after him immediately.

Kira pulled out both of his combat knives as he fired the gattling on his shoulder. But it was useless, the bullets just bounced off the armor of his enemy's suit. The samurai then stabbed both of its katana forwards directly at the Strikes cockpit. Kira managed to avoid a killing blow by pushing both blades away with his knives… but he was easily overpowered and the blades cut into the side of the cockpit.

The phase-shift failed and an explosion tore through the cockpit, while a shard of one of the cockpits severely hurt Kira's left eye. Now powerless the Strike collapsed to the ground, totally helpless before that monstrosity of a mobile suit.

The black samurai was about to stab one his katana into the cockpit to finish the job as he suddenly was kicked away. The pilot's eyes widened as he pulled his suit up to see what had hit him.

The Michael hovered over the ground, glowing white and emitted white particles from the thrusters in its wings. Alice opened her eyes, but with what seemed like electric circuits running through her pupils. She rushed the Michael forward with a speed that would totally crush her body here on earth, but it seemed like it didn't do her anything. She struck her sword forwards to cut off the arms of the samurai.

The black samurai moved his sword to intercept the blow, but as the beam sword clashed against the katana it cut right through it. As he saw that he immediately backed away and pulled out his rifle. But at the time he had pulled the rifle into firing position the Michael was no longer there. He just felt two shudders as his remaining fully intact katana fell to the ground as the hand was cut off and as the head of his mobile suit was cut off.

He opened a comm. line on a frequency he knew his enemy would hear.

"You've been lucky this time, but next time I will be prepared." He paused shortly. "I'm looking forward to our next battle… Innovater."

With that the he suddenly shot into the air and flew away at amazing speed.

Alice would have gone after him but right at that moment the Sakura Drive of the Michael shut down setting the Gundam back to its normal performance.

"What did he mean by calling me 'Innovater'?" she asked herself.

Her eyes turned back to normal in a matter of moments and she flew back to the Strike only to see jeeps to drive towards the Strike.

The Archangel landed near the Strike and Murdoch, a crew of mechanics, Murrue, Natarle, a medical team and of course Lacus rushed towards the Strike.

The people who drove the jeeps had already began getting Kira out of the cockpit. He didn't look good. Kira had burnt clothes, burnings all over his body and a wound over the left half of his face, which was bleeding very badly.

The medics and Lacus rushed over to them and took Kira on a stretcher and carried him back towards the Archangel. Lacus holding his hand. Kira briefly opened his right eye.

"Lacus…" he breathed catching her attention.

"Shhh… don't talk." Lacus said with tears in her eyes. "You'll be okay."

"I'm glad… you're… sa…fe…" with that he passed out.

"Kira!"

While Murdoch and the mechanics were bringing the Strike back to Archangel, with the help of Alice in the Michael, Murrue and Natarle were approached by who seemed like the leader of the group. Mu, who had launched during the fight against the black samurai to determine the location of the enemy battleship, landed his Skygrasper nearby and joined up with the other two leading officers.

"And you are?" Mu asked the whole crowd.

"My name is Sahib Ashman, I'm the leader of the Desert Dawn." said one of the group. He wore a light green bandana, a vest in a darker shade of green and brown pants and had a full beard.

"And I am…" Murrue began but was interrupted by a blond girl about Kira's age.

"Captain Murrue Ramius and Lt. Natarle Badgiruel…" the blond girl pointed at each of them as she mentioned the names. "… but I don't know who you are." she said as she pointed at Mu.

"I'm Commander Mu La Flaga." Mu replied. "And you are?"

"Cagalli Yula." said Sahib instead.

"So, I heard you guys fight against ZAFT?" Mu asked not wasting any time.

"We fight against anyone who tries to claim this territory for their own."

"So at the moment we have a common enemy." Murrue stated.

"But only for now." Sahib said seriously. "I guess you're trying to say that you want our help?"

"Since we don't know anything particular about the situation in this part of the world. Yes." Murrue replied honestly.

"I think we should continue this talk at our base then." Sahib waved his hand signaling them to follow their jeeps.

The rest of the group got back into their jeeps, only Cagalli took a look back at the Archangel. She couldn't make it out clearly, but that pilot had a striking resemblance to the boy who shoved her into the shelter at Heliopolis. And that girl was definitive the same that had been with him there.

At an unknown location on earth:

Setsuna was eating his dinner as he felt it. A sudden burst in quantum brainwaves, as Allelujah had called it. He had felt few individuals with those brainwaves since they first entered this universe, but it had never been so strong. This could only mean that one of those individuals had begun to innovate. But with the feeling there were images coming with it. Images of a black samurai like Gundam emitting black GN particles. This was troubling. He shot to his feet and charged out of the mess hall and towards the bridge. They had to do something about this. It was time to act, even if that was against the agreement they made with an organization on this earth.

"Setsuna…" a pink haired girl breathed as she saw him storming out of the mess hall.

A/N: As you probably have read it by now, I am doing a crossover with Gundam 00 or at least bring in some characters and mecha from this series. I hope to get the characters right and want to apologize beforehand if I get too out of character with any of them.

Since I am lazy I'm not going to move it into the crossover section. One more note is that this will include SetsunaXFeldt. Why? First, because I love pink hair, I really do. ^^

Second, it's the only couple that makes sense to me in the whole two seasons of Gundam 00.

You can find the specs for the black samurai down below and I also explain a bit about the Sakura Drive of the Michael.

And yes, I am dead serious about Alice being an Innovater, and I plan on innovating a few of the characters of the Gundam SEED cast as well.

Please leave a review and come again when I upload the next chapter.

Musha Gundam Mk. II

Height: 25 m

Weight: 81 t

Armor: improved phase-shift

Standard armament: 50 mm beam rifle, katana mounted on hip x2, Igelstellungs in the head x2, naginata (normally stored on the back)

Optional armament: any form of katana, rifle or spear

Appearance: practically the Musha Gundam Mk II from the game Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Notes: It is powered with a modified GN drive, like those the Gundams in Gundam 00 use, but it emits black particles instead of green and it is slightly more efficient.

Addition to the Michael:

Sakura Drive: The Sakura Drive is basically a more powerful miniature GN drive combined with a storage tank for GN particles. Although it can't power a mobile suit alone, it can be activated to cause a similar effect to Trans-AM. The concept is that the stored particles enhance the mobile suits performance by five times of the normal specs and doesn't strain the battery too much. But like Trans-AM it has a cool down of about 45 minutes or so until the storage tank is completely full.