Chapter 4: Rice Balls and the Garden of Wisdom
The Gundamusai flew across the land, so high that the forests and fields beneath it were blurred together.
"Princess?" Shute called, walking down one of the ships many halls. "Princess!" He scratched the back of his head. This is weird. I wonder where she could be? The Princess of Lacroa had disappeared some time ago, and he had no idea where she went.He resumed his search. "Princess? Princess, where are you?"
-z-
In another hall, the fake princess was having another conference with Deathscythe.
"Yes, sir, Lord Deathscythe," She said, Deathscythe's magic circle in one palm, the White Bagubagu capsule in another. "The plan is going exactly as expected. I have the White Bagubagu that reverses petrification."
"Well done," Deathscythe's image in the magic circle said, "They're not suspicious of you, are they?"
"No, sir," She replied, "This ship is heading towards the Garden of Wisdom."
"Oh, there you are, princess!" Shute said, coming around a corner behind her.
Fake Rele blanched and whirled around, hiding her hands behind her back. The magic circle vanished.
"Oh! Hello there, Shute." She said with false cheer. Judging from his face, he didn't look like he had heard her speak to Deathscythe…
Shute, (who really hadn't heard anything) asked, "What happened?" He grinned teasingly. "Didja get lost?"
The fake princess grinned sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, that's right! You see, I got hungry, and I came down here…for…something to eat…" She began to improvise a false near-fate, staggering around, hand to her forehead.
"Hey, are you all right?" Shute asked, concerned.
"Yeah…" She murmured, steadying. Looks like he wouldn't be asking who she was talking to any time soon…
Then Shute said, "Oh! I have an idea!"
She looked at him.
-z-
Up on the Gundamusai's lookout, Captain and Zero kept watch. They had to be on the lookout for any assaults Deathscythe might send their way. However, Captain was the only one of the two to actually stay focused on this task. Zero was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.
"It appears that we are not being followed." Captain noted, watching the rear.
Zero stopped pacing and asked, "What's the status of the repairs?"
"65.25% complete." RAIMI reported, "I estimate repairs will be complete in 24 hours."
Zeros shook his head. "I don't think Deathscythe can keep quiet till then!"
"Well, let's stay alert then." Captain said, looking at Zero, who nodded back. He then asked, "By the way, what about Princess Relehimana?"
That was the wrong thing to ask. Zero snorted and disdainfully said, "Shute is taking care of her, if you can believe that," His tone became more frantic as he went on. "If you and I were not on combat alert right now, I'd be the one taking care of the princess!" He began to pace again, this time more hurriedly. "I'm so worried! What if he says something impolite to her?" Shute doesn't know anything about royalty! Ugh! I can't stand this!"
Captain stared at Zero as he made exaggerated gestures as he grieved, bemoaned, and whined about this circumstance.
-z-
In the ship's food storage, Shute dug through a crate full of supplies. The fake princess stood behind him, watching as he tossed a variety of foodstuffs and utensils away as he foraged.
"Ah, and I had all this organized!" Shute yelled as he powered through the cardboard boxes, "This is ridiculous! These guys can't keep anything-! It's in here somewhere!"
"Um, really," the fake princess said, "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Listen," Shute said, turning to her. "I'm a really good cook, it's no problem! I'm going to make you a royal feast!"
Before Shute could go back to his hunt, a robotic hand came up and whacked him with a paper fan. Shute fell back, doing an reverse somersault before coming to a stop on his face. Looking up, he saw that the fan had the character for GEN painted on it.
"Genkimaru must have set some kind of trap!" Shute growled angrily. That brat had been constantly raiding the storage, and he wouldn't put it past him to not try something like this. He could just imagine Genkimaru pulling down under his eye, blowing a raspberry.
Shute's eyes enflamed. "I won't give up!" He yelled, and dove back into the crate. As he tossed more stuff away, he said, "I said I was going to make a feast and I'm gonna- Ow!" A spring-loaded hammer hit him, the beginning of a new set of booby traps. "That hurt! I hate him- Ow!"
As she watched Shute stubbornly go head-to-head with booby-trapped crate, which tossed among other things, an Mmn out at him, she couldn't help but giggle. He was determined, she could give him that.
And to go to such lengths for someone else…
-z-
"I'm going to check the engine room." Captain stated, and walked off.
"Just a minute, Captain! Wait!" Zero cried, flustered. "I'm going with you!"
"Going with me?" Captain asked as the elevator descended, perplexed.
"Yes!" Zero affirmed, "After all, I am worried about the princess!" He began to pace. "I'm sure she must be having a hard time being so inconvenienced! Such a noble lady cannot be cared for by just anyone!" He held up a fist. "I'm the only one qualified to look after her properly!"
"Is that true?" Captain asked as the elevator stopped.
Zero looked at him. "Yes, it is!"
The doors of the elevator opened, and the Gundams walked into the hall.
"The princess needs to be accompanied by someone like me; a chivalrous warrior!" Zero proclaimed grandly.
"You should've seen it, princess! I've never seen Zero so embarrassed before in all my life!"
Zero's eyes bugged out. Shute and her majesty had just walked past him, without saying a word. Shute had a tray with a bucketful of rice and other things in his arms, while the princess had spoon and a scoop in her hands.
"There you are!" Zero cried, watching as they went into the elevator. "I- Shute," His tone became suspicious. "What are you doing?"
The two turned to face him.
Shute winked, chuckling. "It's a little secret."
"Zero," Princess Rele said, nodding in his direction. "I didn't see you there."
The elevator doors closed, leaving Zero- bug-eyed, pale from shock, and frozen stiff, where he was. Captain walked over and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"It looks like she's fine without you." He said reassuringly.
-z-
On the lookout, the fake princess watched as Shute, his back turned from her, worked with the things they collected from the food locker. He seemed to be packing something together…
"All done!" Shute said, and presented his creation to her. "Tada!"
She stared at the white object in his hand. "Uh…what is it?"
"It's something called a rice ball!" Shute replied, "Here! Try it!"
The fake princess awkwardly took the snack from Shute and examined it. "It's a rice ball?"
"Yup! It's good!" Shute said, and began to eat his own rice ball. In between bites he said, "You really need to try these! Don't be afraid! Just dig right in!" He set himself on the edge of the lookout. Looking up, he said, "I don't like to brag, but these are great," Looking back at the fake princess, he then said, "Actually, the ones that my mom make are even better!"
Fake Rele, who still had not taken a bite out of her rice ball, asked, "By 'mom', you mean 'mother'?"
Shute nodded. "Uh-huh," he looked off. "We haven't been able to communicate with Neotopia, so…mom must be worried." He remembered his life in Neotopia, before and in between his adventures and battles with the Gundam Force. Taking care of his baby sister, Nana, listening to his dad play his latest song on his guitar, talking with mom, all of them, together… "I wonder how my family's doing…"
Fake Rele saw the sadness in Shute's eyes and said, "I'm sure they're all fine."
Shute looked at her, pulled out of his thoughts.
"Don't worry," Fake Rele said, "I'm sure you'll get home to them soon."
Shute stared her for moment, touched, before nodding. "You bet!" He smiled, "I totally agree!"
She smiled back, giggling.
"In fact, I have some friends in Lacroa, too!" Shute went on, thinking about the triplets. Though he hadn't spent much time with them during the Gundam Force's brief trip to the ruined kingdom, a bond had developed between them. Leaving them to be petrified had been one of the hardest moments of his life. "I promised I would treat them to Neotopia food someday," He hopped off his seat. "That's why we must return Lacroa to its original, peaceful state! I know that we can do it all together! And princess, I'm sure you'll be happy too! Don't worry! Captain, Zero and I are all your friends!"
Fake Rele looked away, unable to meet Shute's eyes. She felt an unpleasant sensation run through her body. A feeling of wrongness that would not go away…
A klaxon went off.
"Princess Relehimana! Please come to the bridge!"
-z-
On elevator ride later and the pair were in the bridge, where Captain and Zero were looking out by the console.
"What happened?" Shute asked as the Gundams turned to face them.
"Your highness," RAIMI said, "We are approaching the designated coordinates."
Zero said, "We need you to navigate from here."
The fake princess nodded. It was time.
The Gundamusai flew over the land, coming up to a strange spot. From where they were, the crew could see a pattern of deep indentations in the ground- like rectangular holes- zig-zagging the landscape. They were so large that they easily fit a small town.
"What are those?" Zero asked.
"They look like footprints." Captain commented.
"Footprints?" Zero lambasted, "That's ridiculous! I think they are-!"
"They are footprints." Fake Rele said simply, cutting Zero off.
Zero looked at her, shocked and embarrassed. "They…they certainly are footprints, my lady…" He said weakly.
The Fake princess wasn't paying attention to him. She was staring intently at the 'footprints' counting each one.
"…ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen… Please," She pointed at one footprint on the right. "Have us land in that footprint!"
Shute and Captain exchanged looks.
"Let's go!" Shute said determinedly.
Captain nodded. "Roger."
-z-
The Gundamusai flew into the footprint, landing at the edge of a small forest near the back-right wall. From there, the fake princess led the group through the bushes and trees. As they walked, Shute, Captain, and Zero couldn't help but look around in wonder.
"Wow…" Shute murmured, "Kinda…creepy in here…are we almost there?"
Ahead of him, Fake Rele nodded. "There!"
Shute looked past her and saw some stone formations. They soon came upon a clearing, in the middle of which was some kind of altar-like setting, made of brown stone. There was an archway with strange writing carved on, as well as several pillars, one of which was broken. There was a brick square In the middle of the archway and pillars, with a marking in the center showing that something was supposed to be there.
"Wow..." Shute gasped, staring all around him. "This is the place? All I see are columns."
Zero turned to the princess and said, "Excuse me, princess, but may I kindly ask you…"
"Wait!" Captain cried, turning around. His targeting scope slid down and he scanned the surrounding bushes…
There! A Dark Pawn Leo was skulking about…watching them!
"Pawn!" Captain yelled. A dozen arrows flew from the bushes. "Watch out!"
Captain leapt in front of Shute protectively as the arrows pierced the ground before him. More arrows shot out, this time at the fake princess, Zero backed away, watching anxiously as they hit the ground. All around them, with cries of "Pawn!" Dark Pawn Leo popped their heads out of the bushes, surrounding the group and began to shuffle around them.
"Come to me!" Zero chanted, creating a magic circle above him. His shield fell from it into his hand. "Legendary sacred Vatras Sword!" He unsheathed his sword and took a fighting stance.
"Shute, look after the princess!" Captain ordered.
"Right away!" Shute yelled back, and grabbed the fake princess' hand. "Princess, please, take my hand!" He began to lead her away, taking her towards an empty spot in the area. Once they were gone, Captain and Zero stood back-to-back.
"Let's go!" Zero yelled.
"Why not!" Captain replied as the Pawn Leos stepped in closer.
The leader of the Pawn Leo gestured with his sword. "Pawn!"
The Pawns fired their crossbows again. Captain skillfully leaned out of the way of the arrows, and returned fire with the guns on his helmet. The shot Pawns turned back into dice, but more popped out of the bushes.
Captain assembled his V-Rod. "I've been granted special dispensation to use firearms!"
The Pawn Leos in the bushes responded to this by firing another slew of arrows. Captain twirled the V-Rod in front of him, deflecting the arrows away.
"Super Magical Violet Tornado!" Zero called, and sent a great wave of rose petal-laced winds at the Pawns in the bush. They cried "Pawn!" before becoming dice. "How dare such unsightly little creatures appear before my princess!" However, I wonder why these villains happen to be here! Only the royal family of Lacroa knew about the Garden of Wisdom's location, and only those close to them knew of its very existence. How did Deathscythe find out?
Meanwhile, Captain kept busy in the brick square with three Pawn Leos. Jumping between a pair, he knocked them out with two strikes of his V-Rod before glaring at the third. He knocked that one out before opening fire at another group.
As the Pawn Leos were returned to dice, Shute and the fake princess watched from behind a stray bush.
Shute punched the air, cheering. "Go, Captain! Go, Zero! Yeah!" Turning to the princess, he said, "Don't worry, those small fries are no match for Captain and Zero!"
Fake Rele nodded, a bit unnerved about all of this. Deathscythe never told her about an ambush…
"Pawn!"
Fake Rele whirled around saw the Pawn Leo leader standing on a rock behind him, holding his sword above them. She panicked, and without thinking, shoved Shute away.
"Look out!" She shrieked.
Shute fell forward a pace, and when he looked up, he saw the Pawn Leo about to strike the princess!
"Pawn!" The Pawn Leo growled.
The Gundams noticed this.
"You're highness!" Zero cried.
The Pawn Leo swung his sword down-
"Princess!" Zero screamed.
-And before he could complete the swing, Shute rammed into him, blasting forward with the boosters on his backpack. Shute drove the Pawn Leo into the rocky way behind him, and before the little soldier could recover, fired several globs of his super-glue from the shooter at him. The Pawn Leo found himself struggling against his gooey binds, pinned against rock. Shute turned back to the princess.
"Are you all right?" He asked.
The fake princess nodded. "What about you?"
Shute smiled. "Fine! This is nothing!"
Captain and Zero, in mid-step towards them, sighed and exchanged nods. Looked like everything was under control.
Fake Rele smiled, and then looked away sadly. Shute had just saved her, and she was taking them…
No, she had orders. She couldn't stop now.
-z-
The group returned to the stone square, and the fake princess walked up to the center. She held out her hand, and a ball of yellow light appeared under it. The floor underneath it opened up, and a black pedestal rose up. The Gundam Force watched in amazement as small yellow obelisks rose up on different corners of the square around them.
"Omnipotent power of the Garden of Wisdom," The fake princess called out, "Open the sealed door of knowledge that lies before me! Open the door of knowledge!"
The light sphere flashed and vanished, and the obelisks glowed. Then the floor began to shake and sink.
"Wh-what is it, an earthquake?" Shute asked.
"No," Captain realized, "We're descending to a lower level! Hold on, Shute!"
Like an ancient elevator, the square sank, carrying the group down. As they descended, they saw the walls of the hole they were going down lined with red writings, the same kind seen outside. They watched in amazement at this.
Then, they came upon a massive void. A pit of endless black, with giant monoliths and blocks of different colors, with that same writing carved on their sides. The light from their platform illuminated the giant room, dimly showing the walls.
Zero gazed at it all. "Is this…could this be…?"
"The Garden of Wisdom!" Captain gasped.
"Wow!" Shute cried. It was huge! "Now that we're here, Captain, how do we get started?"
As their platform stopped sinking, Captain said, "For now, let's split up and take a look around! Be careful!"
"Okay!" Shute replied, and made a rocket-powered jump to the closest block, a blue one. Captain rocketed towards a red one, while Zero flew towards a green one.
"I'm going to take a look over here!" He announced.
And so the search started as they looked for anything that might be of use in their plans. Shute and Captain wandered around while Zero examined the carvings on one blocks side.
"This is interesting…" He murmured.
Captain slid his targeting scope down and began to scan the room, hoping he could find anything unusual to help narrow the search down.
Shute, meanwhile, he made it to the purple block. As he walked around it, awed at everything, there came a rumbling. He looked toward the center of the platform and saw a pedestal like the one from the lift come. Intrigued, he walked over to it. He was just about to put his hand over it like Princess Rele did with the lift's pedestal, four rods popped out of it from each side.
"Ahh!" he cried, jumping back.
The rods began to light up, and each one small blocks of energy began to rise and fall in sequence, each in a different color. The center of the pedestal glowed, and began to emit light.
"Wow…" Shute murmured.
The light condensed and arranged itself into a cone. Shute watched as strange writings danced around it. The rest of the group came by to investigate.
"These…appear to be hieroglyphs." Captain noted.
"You're right," Zero said, "They're the ancient magic runes."
"Are you able to read them?" Captain asked.
"Not perfectly," Zero admitted, "But, yes, I can."
The fake princess stepped up between the two, her eyes on the light.
"What about you, Princess Relehimana?" Captain asked.
Fake Rele looked at him and shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid I can't read it completely either."
The watched the light show before them when dozens of pictures suddenly appeared. Each one seemed like an outline of some kind of creature, with a number of white dots underneath, a certain amount out of twelve. The higher up the pictures were, the more dots they had.
"What?" Shute asked.
"It looks like something that shows the ranks of this world's spirits." Zero said, staring up.
"Their sure are a lot of them…" Shute mumbled, trying to count them all. He recognized the one at the bottom as an Mmn, which had no dots at all.
"It seems the higher you look," Zero said, "The higher ranks the spirits are."
"The Griffin is here." Shute said, recognizing one of the spirits near the top. He then saw a white spirit at the second-highest row with seven dots. Pointing, he asked, "Hey, Zero! Is Fenn up there?"
Zero read the runes above the picture. "'Fey…zera…' You're right, Shute. It is the Feather Dragon."
"Oh, wow…" Shute said in awe, "He's got such a high rank. That's cause Fenn's so powerful- Huh?" Across from the picture of the Feather Dragon on the left was an identical picture, this one black. "That spirit…the one right next to Fenn…it looks just like Fenn!"
Zero stared at it. "I'll try to read it. It's spelled 'steerah'…Steal Dragon!"
"Looks like it is paired with Fenn." Captain remarked.
Zero glanced at him. "Yes, I suppose they have equal powers," He looked back up at the picture. "But I've never heard of…the Steel Dragon."
Shute pointed. "There is one more above them!"
Directly above the Feather and Steel Dragons was one larger picture. It was some kind of star-like cross with wings against rays of light coming forth. On the left and right of it were two pictures- a Gundam on the left, and a human on the right.
"Does that mean it's the strongest one?" Shute asked.
"Hmm…" Zero stared at the runes beneath the pictures. "Suh..Spire… I can't quite read it, but…"
"Superior Dragon."
The boys looked back at the princess, who had spoken.
"Did you say 'Superior Dragon'?" Zero asked, shocked.
"That's right." The fake princess said.
Captain and Zero exchanged looks before staring back up at the picture.
"So it really exists!" Zero commented. The Superior Dragon…the king of all spirits…
Captain was distracted from the pictures by an energy fluctuation his sensors picked up. Targeting scope down, he scanned the area, before noting a passageway on the wall.
"Energy surge detected!"
A quick trip across the room brought them to the entryway. The door was huge, the size of a house. Parts of the walls were broken off, lying in it, but they were so big that there was plenty of room underneath.
"Whoa!" Shute said, staring up at it. "Now that is one huge door!"
"It is presumably designed to emit something with a body height up to 17 meters." Captain estimated.
Shute pointed to the edge of the doorway and noted, "More runes!"
Zero turned and asked, "Princess, are you able to translate it?"
The fake princess shook her head. She had no idea what they meant.
Shute stared at the giant rock shards and asked, "Why do you suppose only this door is broken?"
Zero grunted. "Someone must have broken in. And I suspect it was-"
"Deathscythe!" Shute finished, realizing. So that was why all those Pawn Leos showed up outside!
"Yes," Captain said, "With a probability of 96.2%!"
Shute nodded. "It's him, yeah!"
"Looks like we have no choice but to go in!" Zero decided. The final battle with the villain was at hand. Whatever information the Knight of Darkness had found in this sacred place, they could not allow him to put to use.
Captain and Zero marched ahead. Shute walked after them, but stopped when he realized that the princess wasn't following them.
"Hey," He said, turning to her. "What's the matter?"
Fake Rele looked away, her eyes sad. She couldn't go through with it. she didn't want to!
Shute said, "Like I told you before: It's all right! We're all friends! And we're gonna protect you from danger! Like I told you-" he held out his hand. "You're okay!"
The fake princess did not appear reassured, but she followed him into the passage. As they walked down the hall, Shute stared, not just at the runes on the walls, but the images of the spirits as well.
"Strange place." Zero commented.
Behind, the fake Princess Rele dragged her feet, her head down, walking with the energy of a prisoner being taken to the gallows. They were her friends, and she…
They came to the end of the hall, and what lay ahead took Shute's breath away. The opening led them outside, with the twin moons of the world floating out in the night sky! But it was day when they entered the Garden! Leading from the doorway was a bridge that connected to a round platform, with form columns floating around it.
"What's this?" Zero asked as they walked outside.
"This is merely an hologram." Captain noted.
Shute pointed ahead. "Hey! Guys! Look!"
The Gundams looked. In the center of the platform was a statue of a petrified girl, reaching up and out.
"Huh?" Zero cried, "Princess?"
Zero looked up and saw a net of dark purple energy floating above the statue. In it was a comatose white dragon in light purple armor.
"Fenn!" he cried.
The group rushed forward, just stopping short of the actual platform.
"What's that?" Shute asked, "What's happening?"
The fake princess looked down, unable to say anything. This was it. There would be no more pretending now.
Suddenly, one of Deathscythe's platforms appeared, and from under it a black dragon flew out. It wore a sinister and spooky mask over its eyes, and its tail resembled a double-headed scythe. It gave a roar as it flew around, swooping over the Gundam Force.
"That- That can't be!" Zero cried, staring at the beast. "The Steel Dragon!"
As the Steel Dragon flew around, a malevolent cackle filled the air.
"Deathscythe!" Zero growled, watching as another one of the Knight of Darkness' platforms appeared in the air.
Deathscythe appeared on it. "Thank you for your efforts, Zero the Winged Knight!" He said, his tone shifting between its usual high pitch and deeper tone as his ghostly form began to fade away into a more solid…and familiar shape. "And those of you from other worlds!"
The ghostly form exploded away, revealing that of a Knight Gundam! Not more than a second later, the Steel Dragon hovered over him, and in a flash of green light he became a warrior wearing the spirit's mask, draped in a black cloak.
"That cannot be!" Zero gasped. He knew that form!
The eyes of his mask glowed red, the 'cloak' opened up to reveal they were bat-like wings, and Deathscythe, the Knight of Darkness declared, "The time to realize my deepest desire has finally arrived!"
