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 beta reading this chapter! Please check out her story, "The Long Road to Hell"!
On the Dark Side
Chapter 12: The Destruction of Meaning
As the last sliver of daylight disappeared from his screens, Domon couldn't fathom what was happening. The only illumination in the cockpit came from the dim glow of the consoles and his Shuffle Crest, the latter of which was practically searing his hand off.
There were loud creaking and groaning of metal all around him. The damaged chestplate bent and buckled inward and slowly began to open along the vertical cut that Ulube made. Living cables of every size plopped into the cockpit with a loud series of splattering noises. They immediately began crawling all over the walls and floor, squelching as they went. They pried open panels on all the consoles and inserted themselves into them, making the metal and plastic bulge outward as they slithered around inside. Sometimes, adjacent panels would fall open, causing them to spill out. Liquid metal leaked in between them and dripped from their cracks. It flowed up and over every surface as if it had a mind of its own, covering everything in a reflective silver coat.
Domon leaped out of the mobile trace unit as the cables oozed their way over. He hissed through his teeth as pain shot up his injured leg, causing him to double over on his hands and knees. Behind him, the wires curled all around the railings of the tracer before ripping open the floor panels and infesting its innards. The lights slowly went out, plunging the room into near darkness.
Domon felt something cold engulf his shins and left hand. By the light of his crest, he could see the silvery fluid slowly crawling up his legs and forearm. He blanched. He tried to shake it off of him, but his limbs were glued firmly to the floor and would not budge an inch. Meanwhile, the squishing sound of cables was coming closer and closer...
He began to shake with rage as he curled his right hand into a tight fist. He closed his eyes and poured every ounce of strength into his crest. If this worked for the former Shuffle Alliance and George, it could work for him.
The King of Hearts crest steadily glowed brighter until it bathed the entire cockpit in golden light. Domon's hair whipped wildly around, caught in a wind emanating from the crest. The liquid released his limbs, allowing him to stand back up. The tendrils stopped their digging before retreating back through the tunnels they made in the walls. Domon took a few steps forward, raising his arm above his head. The silver receded halfway out of the cockpit. The cables were desperately trying to untangle themselves from the mobile tracer, ripping out small pieces of it as they struggled to get free.
"This is the end, Dark Gundam!" he shouted. "And after I'm done with you, I'll do the same to Ulube!"
As bold as his words were, Domon began to feel his strength leaving him. His body was aching, his arm was trembling, and sweat was trickling down his forehead. He gritted his teeth as he tried to pour even more energy into the crest. It just wasn't enough, however; with a loud gasp, he fell to his hands and knees. His bad leg throbbed in agony. The light of his crest faded, and the cockpit once again went dark.
He screamed as something sharp stung him in the back of the neck. Immediately afterward, an intense chill rolled down his spine. Shivering, he reached up to find a cable burrowing into the base of his head, its filaments digging underneath his skin. He tried to pull it out but was knocked over by a wave of cold liquid. The slimy substance invaded his mouth and filled it with a metallic taste. It stung his eyes and crusted them shut. He struggled to his knees, choking on the foul fluid. He tried to wipe it off his face, but he only ended up smearing it everywhere.
A feminine monotone voice droned from the darkness.
Body temperature: 39.4°C.
Breathing rate: 50 breaths/minute.
Pulse rate: 180bpm.
Blood pressure: 130/80 mmHg.
Loudness: 125dB.
No concussion detected.
Simple fracture found in left tibia. Commencing immobilization and administering anti-inflammatory medication.
Domon's ankle locked up as the silver solidified around his broken leg, forming a sort of cast around it. Tendrils curled around his chest and legs and gently lifted him off the floor. He thrashed around wildly, but they held him fast. He tried to focus on his crest again, but it wouldn't even so much as flicker.
"Let go of me!" he roared as he clawed at his restraints. "I won't let you do to me what you did to Kyoji...or Rain!" His voice had a metallic ring to it, which he tried to ignore.
Do not resist, the woman's voice said, You will only make your injuries worse.
"Who's there?!" Domon barked in response.
Even though his eyes were closed, he could see another person materialize in front of him. It was a slim, feminine figure that was completely chrome. She sported a very familiar feathery haircut and headband. But one look into the pair of bright green voids she had for eyes instantly told him that this was not Rain.
"You monster!" Domon snarled, realizing what this thing was, "Stop pretending to be Rain!"
He put his palm out in front of him, ready to punish the fiend with a Sekiha Tenkyoken. However, the metal coating hardened around his mouth, preventing him from saying his mantra. He tried to pry it off his face, only to have his arms lock in place next.
"Stop that! Leave him alone!"
Domon didn't need to see her to know that Rain had just entered the cockpit. He felt the sludge on his face and arms soften before trickling off. It stayed solid around his broken shin, however. The cables lowered him back down to the floor, but kept his injured leg slightly lifted.
He opened his eyes to find the cockpit flooded with an eerie green glow. The cables infesting the ceiling were giving off the soft light. Rain was walking up to him in wearing what looked like her normal fightsuit. However, it went up to her chin, lacked the feedback antennae, and had a metallic sheen. She also had a cable sticking out of the back of her neck that trailed all the way down to the floor, and out large hole that had opened up in the back of the cockpit.
The Gundam Fighter wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. He shivered; her body was as cold as his was. In the distance, he spotted the Dark Gundam's avatar staring at them. Its eyes were wide, head tilted, and a blank expression on its face.
"Are you okay?" Domon asked Rain. "The Dark Gundam didn't hurt you, did it?"
"No, no, I'm fine," she replied, "What about you? Our... uhm, 'friend' here didn't mess with you too much, I hope?"
"It's done worse to me," Domon grumbled, shooting the chrome figure a glare. "You don't honestly trust that thing, do you?"
Rain grimaced, "No, I don't. That's why I deactivated some of its abilities."
The avatar turned up its nose and snorted.
"But it's still our only hope to defeat Ulube," she looked down at the metal-coated floor. "He's still outside. If we don't use the Dark Gundam's powers, he'll kill us both! I wish we didn't have to do this. I wish our friends were here to help, but..."
Domon held her hands. "It's alright, I understand," he reassured her. "I don't like it either. But if you say this is our only chance, I believe you. I'll help out in any way I can."
He looked up at the avatar and scowled, "If anything, I'll go along just to make sure that thing behaves itself!"
The silver copy glared back.
"Thank you, Domon," Rain said, her eyes glittering as she teared up.
She gave Domon a hug, and he returned the embrace. The cables in their necks twitched as a golden radiance traveled down from their points of attachment. It rapidly spread to the other tendrils, turning the entire cockpit gold. The avatar craned its head around, its blank green eyes bulging at this sudden change in color.
I do...not understand this...this...
It looked at its hands and feet to find that they, too, had become gilded. Its image skipped, glitched, and blurred as its silver form completely converted to gold. Its body filled with amber static before it disappeared in a bright, glittering flash.
Ulube peered out from behind a large boulder to see if the coast was clear. He had taken cover when he saw the Dark Gundam ensnare the Burning Gundam with its tendrils and swallow it whole. The fear of being next broke his concentration, and caused him to fall out of hyper-mode. He was fully expecting something horrible to happen immediately afterward - perhaps the Dark Gundam learning all of Domon's techniques or forming a "Burning Colony." Instead, his opponent had been silent for the past minute or two. He needed to find out what it was doing.
At the moment, the Dark Gundam was just standing there. It had reverted back to its original form, though its color scheme remained entirely silver. All of its burns were gone, and the holes in its body sealed up. Its normally thin midsection bulged around the outline of the absorbed Burning Gundam's legs.
Ulube weighed his options. Now seemed like a good time to retreat. On the other hand, his enemy's inaction also made it a prime opportunity to attack. Perhaps if he was fast enough, he could cut it open and kill both Domon and Rain...
He activated his beam saber and charged toward the immobile mobile fighter. He raised the blade, aiming for the Dark Gundam's chest. Suddenly, one of its silver hands reached up and grabbed him by the forearm. It effortlessly threw him several hundreds of meters away, causing him to crash into a low cliffside.
As he got back on his feet, he saw that the Dark Gundam was changing colors. Much to his horror, golden light radiated from its chest and covered the rest of its massive body. Ulube's sensors tried to read its energy emissions, but they all gave him errors; its power was greater than all of their scales.
It was also changing shape. A smaller pair of horns grew out of its head above the ones it had. Its huge shoulders became boxy and angular, though they retained the round vents. The Burning Gundam's six wings grew out of its back, followed by metal plates that formed in between them. The plates connected three of the appendages on each side, creating two solid wings. A rainbow halo appeared around them. Its optics activated, the right one blue, the left one red.
Golden tendrils shot out of the machine's wrists and snatched up the Burning Gundam's severed forearms. They were absorbed into the Dark Gundam's arms, which quickly copied their form. It opened its chest revealing two power regulators connected together with crisscrossing, bifurcating cables. A holographic image of the King of Hearts Shuffle Crest flashed over them. The monster let out an immense roar that caused the ground to shake almost as hard as the earthquake from earlier.
Ulube just stood there for a moment, staring with his jaw open.
"That's...that's not possible...," he mumbled to himself. How could those two Gundams possibly combine? The Dark Gundam and Domon were mortal enemies!
The abomination took a heavy step toward him. The earth trembled again, and his Gundam's frame rattled. Gold pixels and white noise static appeared in Ulube's field of vision around the monster's body. At that moment, he realized that he didn't care how two archnemeses would suddenly partner up. Now was definitely time to retreat. He put his beam saber away and flew off as fast as his battered test mobile fighter could fly.
The horrid thing was not going to let him escape so easily. Out of his rear cameras, the Major could see it flying after him. Despite its huge size and bulky frame, it was astoundingly fast - in seconds it was already upon him. It raised both of its arms as if to grab him out of the air. The left hand burned red, the right hand was a cold blue.
"No! Stay back!" he screamed.
He made a hard right turn just as the combined Gundam went to pounce on him. Its twin finger attacks hit the ground instead. Massive ice crystals erupted from the soil, throwing dirt and boulders everywhere. It was followed up by a massive explosion that sent Ulube hurtling forward. He was pelted with flying rocks as he skidded to a stop. The vaporized ice caused a dense fog to settle over the area.
Ulube picked himself up and scanned the area for his opponent. Everything around him was a dull white. He could barely see his Gundam's hands on his screens. Radar was picking up nothing but rocks. He ultimately decided to pick a direction and fly that way as fast as he could.
Just as he turned around, however, a gigantic figure emerged from the steam directly in front of him. The monster had changed shape. Its helmet was now rounded and had a mouthguard-like bar across its faceplate. Thick glove-like armor surrounded its forearms. Its chest was covered in rounded plates that somewhat resembled human pectoral muscles. Its larger Gundam face had disappeared from its lower abdomen, and its stout legs were shielded by long skirt armor. On its left shoulder was a short cape made of several strips of metal. Trailing behind it was a giant tendril "tail" with a dragon's head on the tip. It was still gold, and it was glaring at him with those red and blue optics.
His lower eyelid twitched as static crept into the corners of his vision. This Shuffle Alliance parody of the Grand Master Gundam was clearly meant to mock him, but he wasn't going to take the bait. He briefly opened his wireless communication again to summon the Fantomas from their hiding places. He had wanted to keep them in reserve in case he lost all of his Busshi and this Gundam, but the circumstances required their assistance.
Before he could make a move, the horrible amalgamation of Gundams suddenly swung its fist through the air. The jab created several fireballs which hurtled toward at him. He flew straight up, and they exploded right where he had been hovering.
As Ulube began to fly away from the beast, he suddenly received a warning that one of his Gundam's fingers was frozen. He looked at his hand and saw that the finger in question was covered in ice. Ice suddenly appeared on the adjacent finger. And then a finger on his other hand. Then he received the same error for his foot, immediately followed by a knee.
A glint of gold briefly shot past his front screens. He didn't need to see them to know that he was surrounded by dozens of golden Rose Bits. Each one was rapidly firing ice beams at him, concentrating their shots on his joints. He pushed his Gundam to fly faster, but they were able to keep up with him. The accumulating ice was beginning to slow him down and allow his opponent to catch up.
Ulube tightened his grip on the mobile tracer as his body twitched all over. He wished he could use the ZERO System, but he knew that it would simply halt his systems again. He then recalled that the Burning Slash Typhoon could destroy Rose Bits. He just hoped it didn't leave him too vulnerable.
However, he didn't even get a chance to reach for his beam saber. His Gundam was struck from behind and slammed into the ground on its face. He was flooded with dozens of error messages about crushed armor plating. The cockpit darkened as the rear screens cut to black.
Out of one of the side screens, Ulube could see the mechanical monster storming toward him. One of its arms had become long and rope-like, ending in a round mass the size of its head. Its dragon-headed tail was now slithering across the ground, its fanged maw gaping open.
Ulube tried to stand up, but the Gundam's iced-over joints refused to budge. The cockpit shook as the dragon head picked the damaged test fighter up in its jaws.
"No...no!" he cried as the tail began to drag him back to its main body. Gingerly, Ulube's trembling hand began to reach for the eject button.
Fortunately for him, his pair of Fantomas swooped down from the sky and landed on either side of the combined Gundam. Relieved, Ulube opened up a private connection to both of them and began issuing commands. One of them stood in front of his opponent to hold it back. The other stomped on the dragon tendril until it released him.
As he fell back to the ground, a few chunks of ice broke off his Gundam's joints. He made it stand up to the best of its ability while issuing one last command to the Fantomas - engage self destruct sequence. Ulube took off at top speed, not even bothering to look behind him until he heard two explosions in the distance.
Unable to see behind him, he stopped and turned around see if the wretched thing had at least been incapacitated. The dust was beginning to settle, but he saw no smoke or flames. Instead he saw the Burning Gundam, hunched over, unmoving. Its forearms were reattaching themselves, and its missing wing erupted from its smoldering stump. It was surrounded by a small lake of liquid metal.
It suddenly stood straight up and looked in his direction, its eyes glowing red and blue. The surrounding fluid began seethe, and the Burning Gundam's body suddenly became obscured by pixellated static. Ulube immediately left, not wanting to see its next perverted form anyway.
His eyes rapidly shifted over what screens were still functioning as he continued on his escape route. That thing could be on him at any minute. And sure enough, just as he was banking upward to fly over a high, steep cliff, his radar warned him of a very large object coming up from behind.
Ulube looked at the cliff in front of him. Getting an idea, he flew directly at it. His opponent followed him.
He charged directly at the cliff's face as his opponent bombarded him with golden tendrils. Some of them had hands and others had fanged jaws. His field of vision threatened to become overwhelmed with static.
Ulube unsheathed his beam saber and tried his best to defend himself from his enemy's many limbs as he continued to charge forward. Sometimes he would catch a glimpse of the combiner's main body. First it looked like it had gone back to its giant Rising Gundam form. Seconds later it was an oversized Burning Gundam. Then it became…him. A gigantic gold version of himself with an overly wide, fanged grin. It leered at him with those heterochromatic eyes. He knew it was mocking him again, but he couldn't help but gawk at it. In his hesitation, a couple of tendrils grabbed him by his legs. He cut himself loose and tried not to look at the fiend anymore.
The cliff was now less than a hundred meters away. At the very last second, Ulube flew straight up, almost scraping his test fighter's chest against the rocks. Just as he cleared the top, an enormous crash from below shook the entire plateau. Dust clouds billowed up everywhere from landslides caused from the shock. His vision was obscured from the debris, but he knew that the monster had crashed headlong into the cliff.
He knew he wasn't safe yet, of course; it wouldn't take long for that thing to get back on its feet. But as he steered his Gundam forward, it slowed down and came to a stop instead.
"What just happened...?" Puzzled, he checked the mobile suit's system status. He wasn't receiving any errors. He tried commanding it to fly again but it refused to budge. He began to hyperventilate through his mouth, despite lacking lungs. He needed to get out of there before that demon came to.
He stumbled as his Gundam suddenly lurched forward. It then turned itself around and began to slowly fly back over the cliff.
"No! Not that way!" he shouted at it while slamming his hand against the console.
The test fighter descended and gently landed in front of the cliffside. Embedded in the rock was an enormous golden, pixilated blob that resembled the Dark Gundam with its back turned to him. Perhaps it was his malfunctioning eyes, but he swore he saw its face grow out of the back of its head, its chest form out of its back, and its lower face exchange places with its skidplate.
"What is...h-happening?!" Ulube stammered as he continued to rapidly mash buttons on his console. He thought he finally got a response when a message appeared on his front screen. The words, however, told him differently.
"VERY CLEVER, BUT NOT CLEVER ENOUGH, 'GENIUS FIGHTER'."
His side screens panned down to show him his test fighter's body. Golden splotches covered his arms and legs.
"How...?" he was dumbfounded. Why didn't his security systems warn him that his systems were being compromised?
"Give it up, Ulube!" the Domon's voice barked at him.
The Major looked up to see the mechanical monster facing him. It had reverted back to its Dark and Burning Gundam hybrid form. Its gelatinous chest pulled open like a pair of curtains, revealing Domon and Rain inside. They were holding hands and glaring at him.
He slammed the eject button. No response.
"We're giving you one last chance to surrender!" Rain shouted.
He desperately tried to keep himself from trembling as he flattened one of his fingers and slipped it under the eject button.
"NO...never!" he roared, hoping his loudspeakers still functioned, "I...I'll never surrender to you, or your pet monster!"
The speakers did in fact work, as Domon replied with, "Then you leave us no choice."
He and Rain locked hands.
"This hand of mine is BURNING RED!"
"This hand of mine is FREEZING COLD!"
Domon pumped his arm, "Their loud tells us...!"
"...To grasp happiness!" Rain finished, pumping her arm.
They swung each other around, yelling simultaneously.
"ERUPTING...!"
"FREEZING...!"
They posed with Rain reclining in front and Domon standing in back. The hybrid Gundam spread it wings, creating a rainbow halo around them. Its conjoined power regulators emerged from its liquid armor.
"...BURNING FINGER!"
"...DARKNESS FINGER!"
They stood up beside each other, Domon's left hand glowing red and Rain's right hand glowing blue. They put their palms together, creating a purple light. Their mutant Gundam stretched its arms out in front of it.
"SEKIHA LOVE LOVE TENKYOKEN!"
The Dark Gundam roared as it fired off a purple projectile emblazoned with the King of Hearts crest. The image of a giant blonde man dressed in a crown and purple robe emerged from the projectile and charged at the helpless test Gundam. Its features were too clear to be a glitch or hallucination. Ulube removed his finger from the control panel and slammed the button one last time as the cockpit flooded with light.
The attack bore a heart-shaped hole through the Ulube's mobile fighter before it exploded. Domon and Rain looked down at the burning wreckage, looking for any signs of life.
"Is it over...?" Rain asked.
"I think so," the King of Hearts replied softly.
Before either one of them could relax, they were both overcome by a wave of dizziness followed by disorienting, jumbled feedback from the hybrid Gundam. Domon fell to his knees, and Rain leaned against a wall to steady herself. The combiner opened its fanged mouth wide and let out a long, pained moan as it buried its head in its hands.
ERROR! TH-THIS-THIS...EMOTION! I...DO NOT...UNDERSTAND! I CAN-N-NOT...PROCESS!
The machine's golden armor faded to back to silver and began to melt. Domon quickly ripped the cable out of the back of his neck, then ran over to Rain and did the same. She let out a sharp yelp as he did so, but he had no time to feel guilty. He reached under her knees and scooped her up in his arms.
"Hang on to me, Rain," he instructed. "We're getting outta here!"
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaped out of the open cockpit. A cascade of liquid metal splattered all over the spot they had been just been standing. The Gundam Fighter sailed through the air and landed on the ground on his good leg and the knee of his injured one. He took a few more giant leaps to make sure that he was clear of the melting machine before setting Rain on her feet.
They turned around and watched as the Dark Gundam's gelatinous body peeled itself off the Burning Gundam. The latter stood up straight, looking as if it had been completely repaired. Upon closer inspection, however, oozing green cables could be seen wriggling around inside its joints and under its armor. Meanwhile, the Dark Gundam reformed itself next to it, returning to its default form and colors. It stood there, unmoving, its optics off. The humans felt no sensations or emotions from it.
Domon sat down, his back against a rock, his broken leg straight out in front of him. The metal cast had turned black, blending in with his fightsuit.
"Imagine that," he remarked, "Looks like the Dark Gundam can't handle that attack, even if it's the one doing it!"
"I suppose," Rain replied, "Anyway, are you alright? How's your leg?"
"I'm fine," Domon smirked, "It's not even bothering me anymore."
Rain sighed at his response. She wouldn't be surprised if he broke his other leg too.
"It might not be hurting now, but try not to put any more weight on it anyway," she instructed, "Stay here for now, and I'll head back to the car. I'll call your father and let him know about this entire mess. I'll tell him we'll need an ambulance too."
"Now wait just a second," Domon argued as he began to pick himself up, "There's still a chance Ulube might still be around. And besides, it's not that-" He suddenly hissed in pain and sat back down.
"You see? That's why you shouldn't keep putting your weight on it," Rain scolded, "Just sit tight. I'll be fine. I'm pretty sure Ulube wouldn't have survived and explosion like th-"
A deep growl interrupted the humans' conversation. They looked up to see the Dark Gundam's optics flaring to life. It did not make a move, however; it simply stood there, rumbling softly. Domon and Rain felt muted contentment wash over them.
What a wonderful sensation that was! it exclaimed. I am not familiar with this emotion, but it supplies me with the most energy out of all those I've experienced!
"It's called 'love,'" Rain explained.
"Love." Yes, I believe I have heard of it, the Dark Gundam purred, May I have some more?
"Not right now," Rain answered, "We need to get you back to base first."
I cannot to go back to the hangar. I just escaped from there, The machine lowered its head.
"Yeah? Well, you don't have a choice!" Domon snapped at it while pointing behind him.
On the horizon, the sky was littered with dark dots that were slowly heading in their direction. As they approached, they revealed themselves to be a fleet of Neo Japanese military airships and mobile suits.
"Looks like help has already arrived," the Gundam Fighter said.
