Disclaimer: Mobile Fighter G Gundam is owned by Bandai and Sunrise. I just write about it in my spare time.
Author's Note: Many thanks to ALittleSalty1 for all the help!
On the Dark Side
Chapter 9: Ambush! The Experimental Gundam!
Dr. Kasshu groggily stared at the screen in front of him. He read it over the data a dozen times, but he still didn't remember what it said. As he struggled to read through it again, his eyes slowly closed. Minutes later, he woke up when his head bobbed forward. He had lost count of how many times he dozed off.
"You gonna be okay, doctor?" Ken suddenly asked him. Damn, was it that obvious?
"I'll be alright, Ken," the exhausted Dr. Kasshu mumbled a reply. "Don't worry about me."
In reality, he was having trouble sleeping of late, and last night was particularly rough. He had had a horrible dream in which everything on Earth had been devoured by a liquid metal made of DG Cells - the buildings, the plants, the animals, the people, everything except for him. Then the Dark Gundam appeared, towering over him. It taunted him with Major Ulube's words: the future belonged to DG Cells, the ultimate form of life. Even though the Dark Colony had been defeated, the cells had been spread throughout the solar system due to the battle. They had infected countless mobile suits, spaceships, and people. It was only a matter of time before they all succumbed to their infections. Unless he was able to create enough anti-nanomachine resin to destroy all technology from the Earth to Jupiter, he'd never be able to permanently eradicate the cells. If he had a problem with that, then he shouldn't have invented them in the first place! The Gundam then melted into a massive wave of silver, which crashed down on him and tried to smother him. He woke up, and found himself having difficulty breathing. He was never able to go back to sleep after that.
Oddly enough, the real Dark Gundam was behaving itself today. So far, it hadn't growled nor glared at them. It didn't send them any threatening messages. Its optics were turned off, and it was mostly motionless - only the occasional shifting of its weight told him it was still online.
He gazed blankly at the screen again. He had discovered something interesting in the Dark Gundam's CPU the other day. Ever since it came back online a few months ago, it had been trying to contact its core life unit - that is to say, Rain. And every time it did, an unknown program would interfere and stop the signal. It was almost as if the Gundam had downloaded a virus!
However, thanks to the machine's self-evolution ability, it eventually found a way to work around the "virus." It was able to briefly make contact with Rain a few times before the program was able to disconnect it. When tried to connect again hours later, it finally was able to make a lasting connection with Rain by somehow shutting down the virus. This happened on the day the hijacked mobile suits shot down the cargo ship carrying the Gundam, and it temporarily escaped.
The fact that it could "connect" to Rain disturbed him. How was it connecting to her? Was she secretly infected with DG Cells the whole time? When she was released from the hospital after the incident, he was told she had a clean bill of health. Maybe she was infected before, and was cured now? Maybe he was being paranoid due to lack of sleep, and it wasn't even communicating with her using DG Cells?
However it managed to connect with her, it did it two more times after it was recaptured. The first was on the night of the incident - that time it became very active in the wee hours of the morning, but refused to let him see what it was doing. It connected with Rain for about fifteen minutes, with the virus trying to sabotage it the whole time. Eventually, the connection was severed by Rain herself.
The second connection was...last night? He had to read that over a few times to make sure his sleep deprived brain wasn't hallucinating that. Last night it made a connection for over twenty minutes right around midnight. The virus did not interfere this time; in fact, it seemed to be gone. Maybe it had been deleted? Even stranger, the Dark Gundam disconnected itself this time.
Dr. Kasshu looked blearily at a few folders that might contain additional information. He had a feeling he knew what was going to happen, but he needed to try anyway. He slowly moved his mouse over to the folder and tried to open it. Sure enough, he got an error. And sure enough, the heretofore quiet Dark Gundam started growling at them.
"Uh-oh! I don't think it liked that!" Ken cried. Thankfully, the young lab assistant was starting to get used to the machine's bad attitude. He flinched, but didn't jump out of his seat this time.
The doctor, on the other hand, was way too tired to put up with its nonsense. He spun around in his chair and gave the snarling machine the sternest look he could manage through bloodshot eyes. He wasn't trembling at all this time.
"You realize I'm the only person in the solar system that doesn't want to see you destroyed, right?" he scolded it.
The Gundam stopped growling at him, but kept glaring.
"I'm sure you're smart enough now to understand what dismantling is, and don't want it done to you," Dr. Kasshu continued. "The truth is I don't either. You're my life's work - I don't want to see all those years of research go down the drain! I can help you. I can try to find a way to make sure they don't destroy you! But you need to stop being so hostile. Do you understand?"
The Dark Gundam continued to stare at him for a few moments. Then it looked away, letting out an indignant snort through its vents.
Several weeks passed. After quite a bit of prodding by Rain, Domon had x-rays taken of his neck. Thankfully, none of his vertebrae nor his hyoid bone had been broken by the stranger's attempt to strangle him. He was probably going to be bruised for awhile, though.
As for Rain, she never received any more messages from the Dark Gundam, be they texts or hallucinations. She was free of long nightmares and chills running down her spine. The only downside is that she no longer saw Kyoji anymore. She never did get to find out about what he was and what happened to him since the Dark Gundam didn't get to finish its explanation. Wherever he was, she hoped he was okay.
The stranger was nowhere to be seen. They never saw any mysterious people following them around when they went out, or hanging around their apartment building. Nevertheless, Domon had been on high alert ever since. He was always looking over his shoulder, peering out windows, and insisting on going everywhere with Rain, even if she was just going down the block for coffee. She had a feeling he was going to be like this for awhile...not that she blamed him for it.
There was one thing that made her nervous, however. She had been watching TV one day when a breaking news story suddenly interrupted her game show. A Neo Japanese military base had been broken into, this time one on Earth. Not many details were given due to government secrecy, but it did say a Gundam had been stolen. It was highly suspected that the previous mobile suit hijackers were to blame. Rain became instantly worried that their stalker was involved. Was he going to come after them in a Gundam now? Well, at least Domon still had access to the Burning Gundam for the time being. If he challenged them, Domon could easily beat him.
...Right? She was reminded of what the Dark Gundam had said to her: what would she do if something happened to Domon? What if someone killed him? She still didn't want to think about that. She reminded herself that the Dark Gundam only said that to try to scare her into piloting it. Even if tragedy were to strike, there was no way she would willingly crawl into its cockpit.
Besides that little incident, it seemed like life was starting to get back to normal. One seemingly average morning, Domon asked Rain if she could help with some spur-of-the-moment maintenance on the Burning Gundam. With nothing else to do, she agreed. Hours later, the two of them drove down to the abandoned warehouse where Domon was currently hiding his Gundam. The place was huge; there was easily enough room for a large mobile suit to stand up in it. The main dock was big enough for a space-faring cargo ship to enter. She thought she heard that this building was used to store steel about ten years ago.
They got to work, with Domon hopping inside his Gundam and suiting up, while Rain remained outside and began readying the equipment. For about an hour, they performed routine maintenance on the Burning Gundam, and then did a battery of diagnostic tests. Everything seemed to be running just fine.
Once they were finished, Domon made the Burning Gundam crouch down on one bent knee. He then opened its chest plates and peered out, still in his black latex fightsuit. "So how's everything look, Rain?"
"Well, it passed all the tests," she answered. "It should be good to go."
"Good to hear."
"So...what's the story, Domon? How come the Burning Gundam needed maintenance on such short notice? Do you need to use it, or...?"
"No, nothing like that," he explained. "I got an email from Chibodee the other day. Said the Gundam Maxter was never the same after the battle with the Dark Colony. Says it's sluggish and sometimes unresponsive. His crew claimed that sometimes it would start twitching on its own. Just wanted to make sure the Burning Gundam was alright."
"Wow, that doesn't sound good!" Rain replied. "Sounds like he's got a system-wide short circuit!"
She paused when she heard a loud noise outside. It sounded like the grinding of gears, followed by something huge hitting the ground. Since there were still active businesses around here, she assumed it was just probably some construction equipment shifting around or a cargo vehicle unloading.
"Anyway, you don't need to worry about the Burning Gundam," she told Domon. "It's running perfectly fine."
"That's great," he replied. "Hey, after I get the fightsuit off, you wanna go out for lunch?"
"Sure," Rain said with a smile. "That would be lov-"
In a bright flash of light, most of the building was suddenly ripped away by a giant beam. Rain felt the heat of the beam singe her skin, and the roar nearly ruptured her eardrums. The force of the blast knocked her off her feet, and she landed on her side. Domon had braced himself in the frame of the cockpit's entrance, but the shock nearly caused him to fall out. Thinking quickly, he jumped down from the Burning Gundam's cockpit, grabbed Rain, and then jumped right back into the cockpit with her. He then closed its chest, and made his Gundam punch right through the crumbling roof of the collapsing warehouse.
"Rain! Are you okay?!" he cried, once they made it to safety. He was still holding her up, as she was unsteady on her feet.
Rain was somewhat in a daze, as everything had happened so quickly. Her ears were ringing from the explosion, so Domon's voice sounded muffled. The shoulder she landed on ached. "I think so," she said. "What happened?"
"It looked like someone fired a beam cannon at us," he answered.
The two of them searched the panoramic screens, trying to find the source of the blast. It wasn't hard; all they had to do was follow the line of burnt trees and scorched buildings up to a glint of blue metal. Rain was about to point it out, but then the metallic glint stood up on its own. It revealed itself to be a Busshi with its weapon drawn and pointed right at them.
Domon carefully placed Rain outside the mobile trace rings. "Might wanna hang on to something!" he told her. "I don't think that guy is done with us yet!"
Fortunately for them, it apparently was. Just as Domon prepared himself to dodge another shot, the Busshi holstered its weapon and flew away.
"W-what the-? Just where do you think you're going?!" the Gundam Fighter shouted as the offending mobile suit escaped. "Get back here and fight like a man!"
"I wonder if it's our 'friend' from earlier?" Rain asked.
"If it is, good!" Domon remarked. "It means I'll get to take care of him for good this time!"
"Domon, you're not seriously thinking about-" Rain started to say before she suddenly felt the floor drop as the Burning Gundam descended.
Domon landed it on the ground and opened the cockpit. He let Rain jump out, but he stayed inside.
"I'm going after him," he announced. "I can't let him get away with what he just did! Find somewhere safe, and I'll let you know when I'm done with him!"
"Wait, Domon!" Rain tried to say as the cockpit closed. She quickly backed away and shielded her face with her arms as the Burning Gundam stood back up and took off after the fleeing Busshi.
She rubbed her face and sighed. Impulsiveness, thy name was Domon Kasshu. Well, she wasn't going to let him run straight into trouble. She didn't have her wrist communicator on her to track the Burning Gundam, but she could still try to follow them.
She ran around the ruined building to the parking lot, glancing over her shoulders to make sure that there were no other suspicious mobile suits hiding among the buildings. When she reached her car, she found that it had not made it through the attack entirely unscathed; a few small chunks of concrete had landed on its hood, denting it badly and putting a big crack in her windshield. She cleared off the rubble as quickly as she could before getting in and starting the car. Fortunately for her, the engine had not been damaged, and it hummed to life. Rain zoomed out of the parking lot and sped off in the general direction that the two mobile suits flew off in.
Domon fumed as the Burning Gundam flew past the city limits and out into the surrounding wastelands. Whoever was behind this was going to pay. Trying to kill him was one thing; he had lots of guys try to kill him in the past year. But trying to kill Rain too? That was unforgivable. If that mysterious stranger was involved, Domon was going to personally make sure he didn't get away this time.
Moments later, a dark blur appeared onscreen. It was hovering in the sky and far off in the distance. Domon picked up speed to get a better look at it. As he closed in, the blurry shape became a single dark blue mobile suit. A Busshi.
Domon turned on his louspeakers. "Hey, you! What's the big idea trying to kill me and Rain like that, huh?!" he screamed at the fleeing machine.
It didn't answer.
"Oh, more silent treatment?!" the Gundam Fighter continued to yell at it. "You're that guy from before, aren't you?!"
No response.
Domon opened fire with his vulcan guns to try and force the Busshi to land. Unfortunately, it somehow managed to dodge all of his shots. Strangely enough, it didn't turn around to fire back. Whatever, he wasn't interested in why suddenly refusing to fight. He whipped out his beam saber and tried to fly in close. If bullets didn't work, maybe an Erupting Burning Slash would!
Just as he was beginning to concentrate his energy into his saber, his screens suddenly filled with light. He was violently tossed around his cockpit as the Burning Gundam was hit from all sides by beams. The side of his mobile trace system hit him right in the gut and knocked the wind out of him as his Gundam took a nosedive and crashed to the ground.
He groaned as he slowly picked himself up. He told himself that he'd be okay - he'd taken harder hits before. He looked up to see himself surrounded by about a dozen Busshi who were coming out from behind large rocks or slopes. They were all pointing their guns at him. The one he had been chasing landed nearby and also took aim at him. Were these the hijacked mobile suits from a few months ago? Perhaps. Right now, he didn't care where they came from; their pilots were itching for a fight, and he was going to give it to them.
He made the Burning Gundam stand up and holster its weapon. He watched his opponents carefully, waiting for just the right moment. Just as they were pulling the triggers on their rifles, he jumped straight up in hopes that the Busshi would end up shooting each other. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. He found himself being thrown around like a pinball as another barrage of beam fire hit him from all directions.
He crashed to the ground again. How did they know? Did he somehow jump too soon? Wait...could they be equipped with the ZERO System? If his mysterious stalker really was involved with the hijacking, it was possible. It would certainly explain their great dodging skills and accuracy.
Domon stood back up. He already knew that the ZERO System wasn't perfect. The key to defeating someone using it was to fake them out. And he had just the perfect move to confuse his opponents. He had only used it once against Chibodee in the Gundam Fight finals, but he could still remember how to do it.
His cockpit was flooded with a golden light as he calmed his mind and concentrated. The Burning Gundam's wings opened up, a circular rainbow appearing between them.
"BURNING SHADOWS!" Domon roared as ten identical images of his Gundam suddenly materialized on the field.
At first it seemed to be working. All of the Busshi stood still, their optics panning back and forth over the new Gundams. But before Domon could make a move, they opened fire again. Every single beam struck the real Burning Gundam, and its shadows quickly evaporated.
The young Gundam Fighter was able to brace himself against his mobile tracer, which prevented him from being bounced around by the latest onslaught. He tried to fly his Gundam out of harm's way, but he kept flying straight into more beams; the Busshi were firing directly into his path. He tried veering around randomly in order to trip them up, but for every missed shot there were two direct hits. One lucky shot managed to rip off one of his wings.
What was he going to do? At this rate, the Burning Gundam was going to be the one getting roasted for once! But then, by some miracle, the beams began to miss him entirely. Domon looked at his screens to find the ground below trembling. At first he thought his cameras were just glitching from all the damage, but then he heard the omnipresent low rumbling. He watched as the Busshi lost their footing and even fell to the ground.
He smirked. He never thought he'd find himself glad to see an earthquake. He found it ironic that the revolutionary software that allowed his enemies to predict all his moves couldn't predict a tremor in a highly seismic country. No wonder it was scrapped!
His opponents were now in complete disarray; they were either struggling to get back on their feet, or trying not to fall down again. It was the perfect time to strike, and he had to really make his next move count. Once again, he decided to use something from the Gundam Fight finals. He hadn't done it in midair before, but if it worked, he might be able to take out all of the Busshi at once.
He unsheathed his beam saber again. He concentrated his energy into it, which caused the beam to grow and fan out.
"BURNING SLASH TYPHOON!" Domon shouted as he began to spin in place. The Burning Gundam whirled with him, kicking up high winds as it spun faster and faster. Any Busshi that were able to stand up were now plastered to the still shaking ground.
"...And now, HEAT END!"
A wave of energy burst from the Burning Gundam in all directions. The Busshi were fried both inside and out, causing many of them to explode.
Moments later, Domon stopped his spinning. Once the dizziness wore off, he took a quick survey of the battlefield. All of his opponents lay scattered around in unmoving burnt heaps. Many of them were in pieces, and some of them had fires burning in their wrecked chassis. Meanwhile, the ground, rocks, and trees had all stopped shaking and the rumbles had ceased.
Since it seemed safe enough to come down, Domon landed his Gundam back on the ground. He noticed a distinct lack of pilots climbing out or ejecting from the ruined mobile suits. He stepped up to a Busshi that had its cockpit torn open. No one was inside. Were they all drones?
If they were, that meant that someone out there had to be controlling them. Domon had a good feeling that person was nearby; he was getting that same feeling of unease he had back when he took Fuunsaiki out for a ride and discovered that he had a stalker.
"I know you're out there!" he yelled through his loudspeakers.
His voice echoed around the sparse trees, cliffs, and high crags. Seconds passed, but nothing happened.
"There's no point in hiding!" Domon yelled again. "Come on out...ULUBE!"
In reality, he wasn't completely sure if Major Ulube was the culprit. When he unmasked that mysterious stranger, he saw a man with long hair that looked to be about ten years older than him. Ulube was the first person he thought of. He later remembered that there were other people he knew with similar features, but Ulube still made the most sense. He would know the Neo Japanese military bases inside and out, and therefore he would know how to successfully break into them. He knew how to keep quiet about his plans, and smart enough not to give himself away. And most importantly, he had been completely infested by DG Cells, meaning he probably regenerated when the Dark Gundam came back online.
As Domon was about to search the area for his foe, something yanked the Burning Gundam backwards. Someone had just bear hugged him from behind, their arms underneath his armpits. At first he thought that a Busshi had survived, but a quick glance over his shoulder revealed his new assailant to be another Gundam. It didn't look at all familiar.
"Let go of me!" the Gundam Fighter barked at it.
The pilot, if there was a pilot, said nothing. The mysterious Gundam carefully moved one of its hands over to the Burning Gundam's neck, and started feeling around the various wires and pistons. He assumed the person was trying to remove his head unit. Did nobody tell this guy that rule was only valid during a Gundam Fight? It didn't matter; the mystery fighter had loosened his grip and distracted himself. Domon could now pull his one arm free and-
The cockpit was suddenly plunged into darkness. Domon even heard the Burning Gundam's engine power down. He then felt his mobile suit begin to tilt backward. He tried to hold on to his mobile tracer as it fell over, but he lost his grip and fell out on the way down. He was slammed against a wall as the Burning Gundam landed flat on its back.
Domon's head was swimming as he struggled to sit up. One of his legs hurt like hell. The only light in the cockpit came from sparks that periodically flew out of his control systems, but it was enough for him to find the mobile tracer's bars. He grabbed onto it and tried to lift himself up, but his sore leg went out from under him with a sickening crack. He fell back down again.
It was then that his opponent finally spoke.
"So you already figured me out, did you Domon?" he heard Ulube's voice say. "Tell me, was I that obvious?"
This can't be happening. That's what Rain thought to herself as she saw the Burning Gundam fall to the ground, lifeless.
She had parked her car on the shoulder of a quiet, two-lane road that was about a half kilometer away from the battlefield. It was up on a moderately-high cliff, giving her a good view. Unfortunately, she didn't like what she saw.
She had worked very hard to follow Domon and that Busshi by car, tracking them by sight alone. She had been forced to stop when a sudden earthquake hit, delaying her for a few minutes. When she finally caught up with them, she found a rather burnt-up looking Burning Gundam surrounded by many scrapped Busshi. First, she was glad to see that Domon was okay. Next, she wondered if those Busshi were the stolen ones from a few months ago. Finally, she grumbled to herself about how the heck she was going to fix that Gundam now. One of its wings was even torn off!
Her aggravation subsided when she heard Domon yelling over his loudspeakers, accusing Major Ulube of being behind the attack. She became greatly confused. Ulube was dead; thanks to the Dark Gundam sharing its information with her, she could remember his completely-mechanized body disintegrating. Was Domon getting paranoid?
That's when the other Gundam jumped out from behind a large, craggy rock formation and grabbed Domon from behind. It was a very plain-looking mobile suit; it didn't even have a paint job except for blue and gold armor on its lower arms. She recognized it as an experimental Gundam, used to test new weapons and armor before they were applied to official mobile suits. She wasn't sure what it did or how, but a second later, the Burning Gundam went completely limp in its arms. She found herself calling Domon's name as she watched him topple over.
The test Gundam triumphantly placed a foot on the Burning Gundam's chest. Rain felt nauseated and had to lean against her car when she heard Major Ulube's voice come over the loudspeakers. Domon was right; he was the one who attacked them. It was probably safe to say he was the one who hijacked those Busshi, as well as the strange man who had been stalking them. But how had he survived? She then realized that if the Dark Gundam could recover after seemingly being destroyed, so could Ulube.
She watched helplessly as the plain, steel grey Gundam took out a beam saber and began to cut open the Burning Gundam's chest plates. No doubt Ulube was trying to open the cockpit so he could grab Domon and squash him. She couldn't just stand there and watch, she had to do something! But what? She could call the police, but they probably wouldn't make it on time. They were out in the middle of nowhere. And even if they came, would they be able to fight off a Gundam? Here on Earth, the police forces didn't have access to the most recent technology. Some didn't even have their own mobile suits.
She felt a chill as her mind raced, desperately trying to think of something - anything - she could do. A suddenly darkening sky distracted her from the situation. She looked up, confused. It was the middle of the afternoon, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
The gloom continued to grow until she could no longer see the two Gundams in front of her. Eventually, the darkness blotted out everything around her. Her entire body grew cold. A new wave of dread swept over her when she realized what was happening. But how was it even possible...?
Rain felt a sharp sting on her shoulder. She turned to find her green-eyed silver copy smiling at her with its hand on her arm. The silver lake was right behind it, lapping up against her car and rolling across the road.
Good afternoon, Rain Mikamura, the Dark Gundam's avatar greeted her. I know you told me not to contact you, but I have important news. I have escaped my prison and am headed your way. Please remain here, and I will arrive shortly.
Tears came to Rain's eyes. She didn't understand how the evil machine even got loose in the first place. Was it the earthquake? How was it even coming for her without a life unit? Did it find a temporary one? She just didn't know. All she knew was that two of her worst nightmares were now happening at the same time. What horrible thing did she do to deserve this?
Then, in desperation, a terrible thought crossed her mind. The Dark Gundam was, well, a Gundam. Yes, it had a mind of its own, but it was still a mobile suit all the same. If she were to use it against Ulube, he'd never stand a chance, not even with the ZERO System.
NO! What was she thinking?! She couldn't pilot the Dark Gundam! Last time, it tried to build a new Dark Colony. The only reason it didn't succeed was because she escaped using her anti-nanomachines – which she completely used up weeks ago while cleaning Domon's wounds. Besides, the big devil would never let her defend the Gundam Fighter in question. In fact, it would probably find some way to go back on its word about killing humans and make him its first victim!
...She didn't know it would do any of that. What she did know is that if she didn't do something soon, Ulube would kill Domon. She couldn't see them, but she could hear the screeching of metal as the beam saber continued to rip open the Burning Gundam's cockpit.
No! There had to be a better way! Maybe she could run down there and see if any of those Busshi still functioned, even partially. As long as one of them could fire its beam cannon, she could save Domon.
...Those Busshi were burning piles of slag. Even if she found one intact enough to shoot at Ulube, his ZERO System would allow him to predict and dodge all of her shots. Then he'd kill both of them.
Maybe there was another mobile suit she could find? Didn't Ulube steal a couple of Fantomas, too?
...Yes, but where were they? She didn't have time to go looking around for them, Ulube was about to kill Domon. Even if she did find them, they would probably still be under the Major's control.
But-
...Domon was going to DIE.
Rain fell to her knees and covered her face. A few sobs escaped her throat. Her doppelganger knelt down beside her.
What is wrong? it asked. Is my presence upsetting you?
She wiped away her tears as she turned to face the avatar. She tried to tell it something, but the words wouldn't come out. After several tries, she finally uttered the most difficult sentence in her life.
"...I need your help."
