Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 23: Virtues of a Super Ace
January 24, 74 CE
10 miles from the North Sea
10:17am
The attack came from out of nowhere, with no warning and no quarter given. Nine BABIs and eight BaCUE mobile suits had appeared in the ravine that they were flying through and suddenly opened fire upon the Archangel. The mobile suits by themselves wouldn't have made much of an impact on the warship thanks to its laminated armor and would likely have been shot down eventually from the CWIS or missiles. But it was the barrage of a land battleship that was hiding somewhere reasonably nearby in the hills and cliffs that was proving to be the real factor of danger to the Orb warship.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on here?" Murrue asked the bridge crew, confusion thick in her voice. "Why is ZAFT suddenly attacking us?!" None of the bridge could give her an answer of course, and she was forced to immediately turn her attention back to commanding her ship.
"Enemy missiles from stern!"
"Evade them!" Murrue ordered.
The Archangel began weaving from side to side as the barrage of warship-grade missile began raining down upon them. Without any mobile suits outside to protect it, the ship's CWIS and missile launchers had to rapidly respond. For the most part, they were successful in destroying the barrage but a select few did manage to sneak past and slam into the hull, further jolting the ship.
"Captain, I know you wanted to avoid fighting pointless battles," Lieutenant Amagi called up from his position in the combat command chair. "But if this keeps up, we're not going to make it! Please fight back! Or at least allow our Murasames to launch and cover the ship!"
"Yes, I understand," Murrue said, looking back at the man as she spoke. "But they're objective might be to force us to attack them. I intend to make it Orb with every one of your Murasames intact." A new wave of missiles came forth with the same results as the previous barrage, some slipping through and striking the ship.
"If we can just make it to the sea," Murrue said loudly. "Just hold on until then!"
"Yes madam!" the bridge crew responded, completely understanding her decision despite not necessarily agreeing with it.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Danger!
A strange sensation washed through him. A vague sense that told him it was time. That it was time for him to return, to awaken, to fight. He was in danger. The room and the sole occupant who shared it with him were in danger. The hallway and the large spaceship that the room was connected to were in danger. The potency of this danger was staggering, mind-numbing in its severity. This level of danger could only mean one outcome if it were allowed to happen: complete and utter destruction of the ship and death to all crewmembers and passengers aboard. And there was only one response he knew of that could prevent such an outcome.
As his mind began to rise back to the surface and settled back into its proper place, he let out a small groan as he felt his body be consumed by several other feelings. But unlike the instinctive fear that had roused him from his slumber, these feelings were not a good sign for him. They were of pain and excruciating heat that were usually caused by burn injuries. The pain covered just about every conceivable part of his body that there was. His head hurt, his arms hurt, his legs, his chest, his mind, he just plain hurt! On top of that, he felt like he was trapped within an oven. His body and the soft material that he was laying upon were most likely drenched in his sweat. And although someone had been kind enough to drape a rag upon his forehead, it had long ago lost any coolness or moisture to help him feel any better.
But that wasn't the only thing that was happening. Almost immediately after he'd come to the realization that he was in pain, Akira felt his bed—thus the entire ship—give a violent shake from a series of nearby dull explosions that almost knocked him onto the floor. The other person in the room with him was complaining quite loudly about all the shaking that was jostling him as yet another series of impacts struck the ship.
Ignoring the man near him, Akira sat up and winced deeply in his pain. Something inside him didn't agree with that movement he'd just made, a broken rib or two perhaps? He'd have to keep a close eye on himself and what he did then. His sudden movement quickly drew the attention of the long-haired blond man, momentarily silencing his ranting.
"So you're finally awake?" the man asked, sounding somewhat torn between relieved and annoyed. "You're timing couldn't be any worse, kid."
"What's going on?" he asked, gingerly holding his side as he climbed out of his bed. It came as a great, almost immeasurable, relief when his legs didn't give out from underneath him when he stood up. But the pain in his abdomen did give a momentary flare when he did so.
"You're aboard the Archangel and I do believe that ZAFT or the EA is finally trying to destroy this ship," the man said with an air of almost normalcy, as though he was discussing the weather. "I'd tell you to sit back down, but I get the feeling you're not going to listen to me, are you?"
"Nope," Akira said simply as he staggered towards the door. As he exited the room, he glanced back at the man and said, "Could you do me a favor and cover for me for as long as possible?"
The man didn't get a chance to answer before the door closed on him. Turning around, Akira turned his attention to the hallway that he'd found himself in. Looking down both ways, he couldn't but wonder just where the mobile suit hangar was. Despite how much he wanted to ask for help, he couldn't because he knew what they'd do instead.
As he was about to walk off in a random direction, Akira felt something…jolt within him. Blinking as a powerful yet strange sensation washed over him, he looked around again. Everything was exactly as it had been…except it felt different. It suddenly felt surreal, and yet he suddenly somehow knew where he was and how to get to where he wanted to go. It was like he was floating through the air, despite his body responding to his desires and moving through the hallways with his floating conscious.
Arriving at an elevator, he stared blankly at its keypad. It required a specific access code to be opened, but what was it? In the surreal feeling that he was experiencing, Akira suddenly noticed a young, brown-haired teenager in an Earth Forces' uniform come running down the hallway and stop in front of the elevator, rapidly punching in the access code. With his task completed, the teenaged soldier simply vanished from sight, allowing Akira to move forward and repeat the access code. A subtle hiss and the opening of the elevator's doors followed the code that Akira had entered.
Upon reaching the hangar level and exiting the elevator, Akira noticed that same brown-haired boy from earlier. Only this time he was exiting a nearby room wearing a blue pilot's uniform. Instantly, Akira understood: that was where the pilot dressing room was. And since he was likely going to into some pretty intense fighting, he didn't want to fly a mobile suit wearing only his torn pair of pants and the simple hospital gown. It took far longer than it should have for him to get dressed into a uniform that he'd managed to find that fit his size.
Entering the hangar itself, Akira experienced yet another flash of surrealism. In place of the fourteen Murasame that were packed into the mobile suit racks, he saw a lone Gundam mobile suit that was resting in the nearest rack. The surreal picture only lasted for but an instant, but it was still enough to add to his growing discomfort. What was going on?!
Shaking the images out of his head, Akira quickly ducked behind one of the mobile suit racks to examine the Orb mobile suits around. All it took was a mere glance at the machines' limbs for his experienced eyes to pick up the subtle signs and he couldn't help but feel aggravated. Despite being a nation that was lenient to Coordinators, not a single one of these Murasames was equipped to be piloted by a Coordinator, save for the yellow unit. But that unit was currently in pieces, apparently having taken some damage recently, maybe from the battle in Berlin?
Growling quietly, Akira began slinking through the hangar. He couldn't be certain that these were the only units that they had available from his current position. But he truly hoped that they weren't because he really didn't want a repeat of what had happened back at the Lohengrin Gate. As he was just starting to give up hope of finding something he could fly to fight in, he spotted the only machine that he could take. It was an antique, and more than likely to be shot down in the battle that was taking place. But it was still capable of being equipped with Striker packs, and that could give him a much needed edge!
Steeling his resolve, Akira scampered over to the machine and ducked inside it, hands flying over the controls immediately.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Miriallia was doing her duty, reporting all the positions of the incoming mobile suits and missiles as they constantly shifted and dodged. She really didn't like what she was seeing. The pilots of the BaCUEs were unquestionably more skilled than the BABIs. In the past few minutes, only three of them had been damaged and forced to retreat while about five of the BABIs had been.
Things weren't looking good at all. If only they could send out at least one or two mobile suits so they could take some of the pressure off the Archangel. If only Kira was well enough to pilot, he could fly one of the Murasames himself…
Shaking her mind out of those thoughts, she returned her attention to the screen in time to catch a warning. Bringing up the warning, she gasped as she watched the feed roll down her monitor. Speaking into her microphone, she immediately attempted to override the commands, "HEY! What are you doing?! Get out of there!" The abort launch commands wouldn't respond!
Her unintentionally loud shout drew a few glances from the bridge.
"What's happening, Miriallia?" Murrue asked.
Before she could give a response, the monitor at the front of the bridge suddenly lit up with Chief Murdock. "Captain! We've got a problem down here!"
"What's the problem?!"
"It's the kid! He's going out!"
"What?!" Murrue demanded, sounding very surprised and worried. "In his condition?!"
Then, over the bridge speakers, a hauntingly familiar voice called out, "Akira Iyadomi, launching!"
Immediately standing up, Cagalli took off her headset and ran towards the bridge door as she said, "I'm going out there. Mir, call the hangar to prep the Rouge!"
"Sit down!" Murrue barked instantly. "In this kind of battle—"
"Kira is fighting almost a dozen mobile suits while badly injured!" Cagalli snapped back even as she opened the door. "He needs all the help he can get!" Murrue wasn't able to respond to that before the door closed behind Cagalli.
Frowning unhappily, she turned to Miriallia and said, "Inform the hangar that the Strike Rouge is heading out."
"Yes madam," Miriallia responded and quickly set about her task.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Minerva
"We have a feed from the AWACS," Bart called out from his station. "It's a visual of the situation ahead."
The bridge crew of the Minerva all turned to watch the battle feed. The Archangel was in the center of the image, flying down a ravine that was caught in the midst of a strong snowstorm. There were trails of light indicating the CWIS of the legendary warship with quite a few bubbles of light appearing every so often at random intervals, signifying an explosion of some kind. Down in the pilots' debriefing room, the resident pilots of the Minerva studied the layout of the ravine as well as the general wave-like patterns that the Archangel's CWIS was putting out.
Though he'd never admit it, Shinn was reluctantly impressed with the sheer amount of guns that the ship possessed. It would make getting close enough to it to deliver a killing blow exceptionally difficult, even for his superior – no, godly! – piloting skills. But he'd bring down this 'legendary' warship, because he, unlike all others before him, was the greatest mobile suit pilot to have ever lived! Still, it was kind of a disappointment that the ship hadn't launched any mobile suits to defend it. He would've very much enjoyed killing a few more of those repulsive Orb citizens before turning his attention to the mothership. The world would be such a better place if that despicable nation had never existed!
Just as he was about to turn away, he noticed something out of the corner of the visual feed. Facing the monitor again, he studied the image carefully. There wasn't anything there…yet he could've sworn he'd seen something!
Just as he was about to shrug it off as his imagination, he caught sight of 'it' again. This time 'it' was rapidly rushing forward towards the camera itself! Just before the feed was cut off and replaced with static, Shinn had caught sight of a single airplane rushing the AWACS, beam cannon blazing.
"They sent out a single mobile armor to defend themselves?" Shinn wasn't sure if he felt horribly insulted or highly amused. "The arrogance of those bastards!"
"Shinn," Rey called out, stopping Shinn from entering the elevator. "Don't take that mobile armor pilot lightly. Remember, he just took out the AWACS by himself. Clearly, he's got some exceptional skill."
Pausing only for a moment, Shinn gave his best friend a grin as he stepped into the elevator and answered, "You worry too much, Rey."
Rey didn't have the chance to respond as the elevator doors suddenly closed behind Shinn.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Groaning loudly as he fought the pain that was tearing through his body, Akira put the Skygrasper into a sharp roll to the side. It was by mere centimeters that he managed to dodge the BABI's beams in the horribly sluggish-moving mobile armor.
With the Aile Strike attached to the Skygrasper's backside, Akira had a tremendous increase in speed and maneuverability now available to him. But it was practically negligible when compared to the run-of-the-mill mobile suits he was fighting against. And unlike most mobile suits, the Ailegrasper had many more of its own limitations than just its maneuverability. Like it only carried eight missiles, four thousand bullets, and enough battery power for about seventy-one beam cannon blasts. With the Aile Striker attached, the number of energy attacks available tripled, which was thanks to the airplane not using PS Armor. And while the Aile Striker gave it a badly-needed increase in mobility, it was still practically nothing when compared to the versatility of a mobile suit.
So Akira was forced to use his Ailegrasper's superior aerodynamic speed to make hit and run attacks against the BABIs and BaCUEs once he returned to defend the Archangel. This was proving to exceptionally difficult because of the number of enemies had to fight off at once.
Rolling his machine over, Akira used the shield mounted upon the portside to block the large multi-phase plasma blast that a BABI had just shot at him. Yet due to the Ailegrasper possessing nowhere near the bulk of a mobile suit, the powerful blast knocked the aircraft into a seemingly uncontrolled tumble through the air. And truthfully, to any other pilot, it would've been uncontrolled.
Managing to ignore the agony in his side and back, he used his enhanced reflexes and spatial awareness to fire off three shots. Surprised by the rapid response of a still-tumbling mobile armor, two passing BABIs were struck, one in the headpiece and the other in its wing stabilizers. The damage done forced both to retreat from the battle. Boosting his engines and ignoring the sharp stab of agony from the giant bruise that covered his back, Akira put the Ailegrasper into a lunge towards the BABI that had fired upon him.
As he closed in on the ZAFT machine, he pressed the fire button, expecting to have launched a missile. Instead, the Ailegrasper began spraying some of his machine guns upon the BABI. It was just his good fortune that the bullets were able to blow off its right arm and shatter the mono-sensor of its headpiece. Dammit! He cussed to himself. Who the hell designed this piece of crap?! No wonder so many Naturals were killed in the last war! Technological nightmares, that's what these things are.
Danger! Putting the Ailegrasper into a steep dive, Akira let out a loud howl of pain at once again being slammed into the pilot's seat and further abusing his bruised backside. Regardless of his pain, his quick response did manage to save his life from the hail of bullets that came arcing from behind him. It saved his life, but not without damage to the frail, old mobile armor. Some of the bullets had pierced the top right engine of the Aile Striker, killing it as gouts of black smoke erupted from it. Quickly shutting the engine down, Akira swung the Ailegrasper left, using the shield to block the BABI's follow-up shots.
Suddenly the BABI launched a volley of missiles. He couldn't dodge these! But he tried anyway, pulling sharply to the side…or he tried to when his broken rib suddenly sent an especially sharp stab of pain through him, causing to him falter. The missiles were still incoming, they were going to hit! He couldn't move in time to dodge because of his pain was limiting his movements!
Then a flash of pink beam energy shot between the two opponents, destroying the missiles as it circled around the BABI. Akira glanced behind him just in time to see the BABI reacting too late to a new attacker, who was already bringing its beam sword down. As the BABI exploded, silhouetting Akira's savior in flames, Akira quickly recognized the machine. The MBF-02 Strike Rouge, Miss Cagalli Yula Athha's personal mobile suit!
"You know, this is the second time I've saved your life, Kira," Cagalli said as she turned the Sword Strike Rouge to face the BaCUEs as she dropped to the ground. "I hope you're not going to make a habit out of this."
It took Akira just a moment to recollect himself before he was able to respond, "I had everything perfectly under control, Miss Cagalli. I'd have shot that bad boy down if you'd have just given me twenty more seconds with him."
"Oh really?" Cagalli asked in an almost teasing manner. "Then maybe I should just return to the Archangel and let you handle the rest by yourself?"
As they were speaking, a trio of BaCUEs had turned and rushed towards the Strike Rouge, igniting their beam sabers. The remaining pair of BaCUEs continued to harass the Archangel's belly with their railguns and missiles. The leader of the attacking trio opened up on Cagalli with its railguns. Cagalli hurriedly, if somewhat awkwardly jumped to the side and dodged the shots. The two other BaCUEs suddenly shot forward from around the leader's sides and aimed their missile launchers.
But before they could open fire, Akira came swooping down from behind and fired upon one of them, disabling the missile launcher and destroying the headpiece. The unexpected destruction of one of their partners caught the other BaCUEs by surprise, which was just what Cagalli needed to be able to throw her Midas Messers boomerang at the other one. The beam weapon sliced the bulky missile launcher clean off the BaCUE's backside.
"Well, if you insist on it," Akira said, picking up on their earlier conversation. "I suppose I could use a side-kick."
That earned a loud snort over the radio from Cagalli, even as she caught the rebounding weapon and jumped away from the charging BaCUE leader. "Yeah right, little brother," she muttered over the radio. "You're the side-kick here."
That statement froze Akira for just an instant. Little brother? Brother?! He was Cagalli Yula Athha, the youngest Chief Representative in the history of Orb and a war-hero of the First Valentine War, sibling?! How was that possible?
Snapping his mind back to the present, Akira swung the Ailegrasper around and watched as Cagalli attempted to fight off the remaining two BaCUEs. But it was sadly obvious that she was at the disadvantage, and not just because of her slight lack of experience. It was that her only long-range weaponry available were her Vulcan guns and boomerang.
"Cagalli," he called out. "I've got some little presents for you. Happy birthday!"
Flying low over the combatants, Akira ejected the beam rifle and shield down towards the pink Strike. Forewarned, Cagalli holstered her beam sword, leapt up and easily caught the falling objects. Immediately she brought them down to bear and unleashed a barrage of beams upon the BaCUEs, destroying one very quickly. Landing lightly, Cagalli was able to put her newly acquired shield to instant use, blocking the remaining BaCUE's railgun shots even as she shot out the mobile suit's knees.
Akira couldn't help but smile slightly at the young woman's accuracy. It would seem that she was much more accustomed to using the Aile Striker than the Sword Striker. In fact, he was willing to bet that if he hadn't taken the Aile Striker, she probably could've handled the entire attacking force all on her own without too much trouble.
Suddenly a trio of blinding flares suddenly lit up the area around the Archangel, the radar and other sensors inside the Ailegrasper suddenly died. Jamming shells?! Those could usually only be fired from a capital-class warship, which meant that the Archangel was about to get into a whole lot of trouble very quickly! This meant that—Danger!
Gritting his teeth against his pain as he was pressed back into the pilot's seat, Akira yanked the sluggish Ailegrasper upwards immediately. As he did so, a green beam shot through the space that he would've occupied had he not dodged. Putting the Ailegrasper into a series of rolls and dives, he proceeded to dodge a number of follow-up shots. However, halfway through these maneuvers, a stab of agony in his abdomen momentarily incapacitated Akira. This caused him to swing the Ailegrasper into a wide arcing turn, interrupting his earlier dodges, and unknowingly saving himself yet again from the unknown attacker. Quickly forcing his pain to the back of his mind, Akira brought his plane around, and felt no small amount of fear filter through his system as he spotted his newest enemy.
It was the Impulse!
In absolutely any other machine, Akira wouldn't be worried. But with him stuck in an antique jetfighter and matched against the most aggressive pilot that ZAFT had to offer, he realized his chances of survival had just plummeted drastically. Akira's only saving grace was that Shinn was using his beam rifle, meaning that Akira could still manage to survive – maybe even beat him – long enough to return to the Archangel. If Shinn took up a beam saber and closed the distance, he would be finished!
But Cagalli was out here and if he returned to the ship now…
"I've got no choice then," Akira muttered to himself. He needed to stay out here for as long as possible to draw the Impulse away from Archangel and Cagalli for the last precious few miles that the ship was from the sea. Calling out over the radio, he said, "Miss Cagalli, please return and defend the Archangel from those last two BaCUEs. I'll deal with this guy."
"But, Kira!" Cagalli yelled as she turned the Strike Rouge to face the Impulse. "If you do that, you'll be—!"
"GO NOW!!" Akira yelled over the radio, even as he forced the pathetically slow jetfighter into another series of dodges, narrowly evading the Impulse's shots. "You are far more important than I am! Besides, I can still win this fight!"
Perhaps it was the sheer force of will that Akira used when he ordered the girl to leave. Perhaps it was seeing him actually being able to repeatedly (even if just barely) dodge the Gundam's shots. Perhaps it was simply the fact that the only time Cagalli actually remembered her brother yelling at her was when she was being completely unreasonable in regards to something. Or perhaps it was all the aforementioned possibilities. Whatever the reason was, the Strike Rouge quickly turned and rushed off to rejoin the fleeing Archangel, leaving Akira and Shinn free of distractions.
Gunning the throttle, Akira went into a purposely large spin. The Impulse remained hovering in its position, merely firing upon the agile little armor as it circled around to attack it. Akira could see it in the Impulse's movements. There was an almost imperceptible laziness to the Impulse's shots, like it was merely shooting its rifle and expecting Akira to fly right into the beam. Shinn wasn't taking him seriously, no doubt expecting him to be some mere (pathetic) Natural pilot. That could work to Akira's advantage!
As he was spinning the Ailegrasper around to face the Impulse, his radio suddenly came to life with a woman's voice. Even as she began speaking, Akira began weaving as best he could between the Impulse's half-hearted shots.
"This is the captain of the Minerva speaking, Talia Gladys. Archangel, do you read me?" the woman introduced herself as. "Our orders are clear. Headquarters has assigned our ship the task of destroying the Archangel. However, if your ship and its mobile weapons cease all combat operations and surrender, we will likewise halt our attack. This is your only warning. We will not respond to any further proposals. I guarantee the safety of your crew and I hope you'll make the wise decision. Gladys out."
Akira quickly sent out a response into his radio to all who were capable of receiving it in the immediate area, namely the Archangel, Minerva, and even Cagalli and the Impulse. "The quickest path to peace is the one most drenched in blood. But is it the best path?"
There was only a moment of silence that followed Akira's statement, a silence that even the Impulse had momentary halted its attack. Akira could almost feel the confusion emitting from the many people who'd heard his question. They didn't seem to understand just what he was trying to say.
"This is Murrue Ramius speaking, I'm the captain of the Archangel," a voice over the radio suddenly said. "I truly appreciate your generous offer, thank you. But, regretfully, it is an offer that we simply cannot accept. Our ship still has work to do. Between the Alliance and the PLANTs, the world is once again split into two separate camps, and perhaps we seem like merely another meddling faction. However, that is precisely why we cannot afford to disappear at this time. I hope you'll allow us to take our leave from the battle."
That statement brought a small smile to Akira's face. Clearly, Murrue had understood what he'd been trying to say. That realization made Akira feel a lot better about his unexplainable impulse to protect the ship. With that thought in mind, he quickly refocused his mind on the battle at hand.
As he came charging forward, making a classic Natural suicide attack strategy, head to head, opened fire with his machine guns. The bullets predictably bounced uselessly off the VPS armor of the Gundam as he shot towards it. Just as he was almost upon it, he caught sight of something that immediately had Akira yanking back on the control yoke. The Impulse had grabbed a beam saber!
For just a split instant before he pulled back on the yoke, pain lanced up Akira's spine. That split second wince of pain caused Akira to respond just a little too late to the Impulse's swing towards his jetfighter. The distance between them had closed too greatly and the Impulse had only enough room and time to make a single slash. Thanks to Akira's last second evasion, only the tip of the beam saber connected and sent graving slash down through the entire length of the fuselage and part of the cockpit!
Akira let out a yell as the cockpit of the Ailegrasper suddenly exploded in fire and pummeled him with superheated shrapnel.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Shinn couldn't help the satisfied sneer from crawling across his face. That pilot of that mobile armor really was as stupid as he thought it was! Did he really believe that he'd be taken out by such a pathetic attack as that?! Spinning around, he launched his Gundam off towards the Archangel. The idiotic pilot of that armor didn't even desire a second's more of his attention.
As he came rushing to attack the warship's engines, he grinned widely as he opened fire upon the nearest one. The laminated armor surrounding the engine proved to be extremely tough, but it would fall under his power sooner or later. When the Archangel launched a series of missiles from its aft launcher tubes, Shinn pulled the Impulse into a sharp climb with his shield raised. Most of the missiles missed, but the select few that didn't were blocked.
Just as he was lowering his shield, a flash of pink on the backside of the Archangel was all the warning that Shinn got before a volley of beams came rushing up towards him. Raising his shield once again, he was forced to back off and away. Reaching a suitably safe distance away, he lowered his shield again and spotted his newest enemy. It was the Athha bitch's Strike Rouge! It was riding on the Archangel with its shield and rifle raised, just waiting for him to come back within its firing range.
But before he could do much more than glare hatefully at the pink Strike, an alarm sounded – a target lock?! Dodging to the side, Shinn spotted his attacker easily by following the trail of beams back to its source. What he saw surprised him. The mobile armor hadn't been destroyed?! Sure, its cockpit was blown open and had a long slash down the center of the fuselage which was a large plume of smoke trailing after it, but the Aile Striker on its stern was still in mostly one piece and was otherwise still up and flying!
"What kind of lunatic would still fight when his machine is like that?!" he wondered to himself absently as he was forced to dodge the now frantically firing mobile armor.
Sneering conceitedly, Shinn realized just what the pilot was trying to do. He wanted to draw Shinn away from the Archangel by pummeling the Impulse with this pathetic amount of firepower. Okay, if he wanted to die that badly, so be it!
Launching himself forward, Shinn once again switched his beam rifle for a saber as he came rushing in. At this range, there was no way the pilot could dodge! But just as he was drawing the saber back to make a slash, the mobile armor shifted and opened fire, blowing apart the saber hilt that was exposed under the Impulse's hand. Shinn was so surprised that he didn't manage to react until the plane had already shot passed him.
But when he did react, it was punctuated by an angry yell. How could he allow himself to be tricked like that into lowering his guard?! That bastard was going to pay! Grabbing his rifle, Shinn spun the Impulse around and immediately gave chase, pushing the Gundam's engines to their maximum. This time he wasn't aiming to toy with the armor, he wanted it destroyed now! Yet, somehow, the pilot seemed to be able to roll, twist, or otherwise evade all the shots that came its way. What was up with this guy?!
Then, just as he was about to give into his rage and trigger his battle calm, a lucky shot pierced the Aile Striker mounted upon its backside. It was with great pleasure that Shinn watched the striker explode. But his joy was short-lived; emerging from the top of the smoke cloud was the Skygrasper. It took a mere nanosecond for Shinn to realize just what the pilot had done. It had ejected the Aile Strike just before it blew up, then used the explosion as a source of propulsion to throw the Skygrasper into an upwards somersault!
Before Shinn could even think of dodging, the Skygrasper fired a single shot from the beam cannon mounted behind its cockpit. The beam drilled clear through the Impulse's headpiece and struck the small Force Silhouette. Though the VPS armor protected the majority of the Gundam, the Silhouette wasn't protected, which allowed the beam to pierce it and caused it to explode, sending the Impulse falling from the skies.
"Meyrin!" Shinn yelled instantly. "Send out the Chest Flyer and the Force Silhouette!"
"We don't have any more Force Silhouettes in storage!" Meyrin answered immediately. "That was the last one!"
"Then send out the Blast Silhouette!" he yelled, even more angry than he had been before. What was wrong with that girl?! Stupid bimbo!
"Chest Flyer, now launching," Meyrin reported diligently. "Impulse, standby for Blast Silhouette… Shinn, you're ordered to resume attacking the Archangel, reinforcements are incoming and will take out the mobile armor… Blast Silhouette, now launching."
Shinn just growled to himself before answering affirmatively. This wasn't right. He'd disgraced himself against a pathetic mobile armor and now wasn't being allowed to redeem himself! But orders were orders, and he knew that even he couldn't get away with everything.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Even if he wasn't spatial aware, Akira could've felt the rage emitting from the Impulse from twenty miles away. It drew a small, satisfied smirk across his face. The hotheaded pilot obviously didn't like that maneuver much, did he?
Akira couldn't help but thank his dear pink angel that he had decided to wear one of the Archangel's pilot suits. If he hadn't, he would've most certainly been blinded when that shrapnel had showered his face and be covered in a large number of burns and stab wounds. That and be unable to see or breathe from the freezing high speed winds that were racing through the newly-exposed cockpit. Although a small portion of him was grateful for the canopy damage, the freezing winds were doing absolute wonders at soothing the raging furnace that was the fever he was experiencing, even though he was having some trouble keeping his stomach from heaving itself into his helmet. But that was where his luck ended. With the damage done to his Skygrasper, he lost a fair amount of his sensors and radio equipment. He had to rely entirely upon his spatial awareness from now on.
As he was circling around to survey the battlefield, Akira noticed two things almost immediately. The first was the Minerva was predictably already sending the replacement parts for what Akira had just destroyed. In another thirty seconds, the Impulse would be back up and running as though nothing had even happened. The second was a sudden incoming pair of GOUF Ignited mobile suits.
Growling in aggravation, Akira turned to face off against the GOUFs. Without the Aile Striker, this was going to…difficult. With a loud battle cry, Akira gunned the throttle and went rocketing towards the closer of the pair. As he drew closer, the two GOUFs opened fire upon him with their wrist-mounted beam cannons. Without the Aile Striker to help accent his mobility, Akira was fortunate to not get blown to pieces outright. Awareness and luck enabled him to weave been the crisscrossing lines of fire until he was nearly upon the GOUF when one of them clipped the Skygrasper's portside engine, blowing it up!
But the GOUF wasn't moving. Did the pilot believe that the mobile armor was going to explode shortly after being hit like that? Smirking darkly to himself, Akira came up with a crazy idea. By this time, he was so close that a collision was practically unavoidable! Jamming the throttle forward, Akira sat back and yanked the emergency ejection lever, blasting the pilot's chair high into the air and safely away. It wasn't until the GOUF pilot had spotted the ejection seat rocketing away that he realized just what Akira was planning and attempted to dodge away. But it was way too late by then, the Skygrasper slammed full-throttle into the GOUF.
Although the Skygrasper was destroyed immediately, the GOUF was merely knocked mightily out of the skies, its superior armor alloys keeping the mobile suit relatively intact. But despite the armor, the pilot wasn't spared from a merciless beating inside the cockpit, which only further allowed the GOUF to continue its fall from the sky.
Landing heavily upon the snow-covered battlefield despite the parachute that was attacked to the seat, Akira let out a loud cry of agony as the pain in his abdomen gave a savage flare. He didn't fight gravity as it claimed him, but he most certainly embraced to freezing snow, letting its chill sooth his pain away to a more bearable level. After a few precious moments to regain his strength, Akira looked up and around his current position.
He was upon a cliff overlooking the ravine. About two miles away was the Archangel as it continued its attempt to flee the Minerva. Flying around it was the Impulse, now wearing its Blast Silhouette, and was showering the warship with volleys of missiles and plasma beams. Under that kind of barrage, the Archangel definitely wouldn't last more than few minutes at most! Looking around, Akira spotted the GOUF that he'd knocked down only a couple hundred meters away and immediately began stumbling over towards it.
"When this battle is over," he grumbled to himself as he reached the downed GOUF and began climbing up its leg. "I'm going to take a three-month vacation in New Zealand."
Reaching the cockpit, he quickly hacked the access code and opened the hatch. Inside he found the ZAFT pilot still sitting in his chair, his neck bent at an unnatural angle with the visor to his helmet shattered. The poor man's eyes were clearly glazed over in death. Choking back on the guilt that immediately rose up in him, Akira gently and respectfully eased the man out of his pilot's seat and laid him down on the armor of the GOUF.
Once climbing inside the GOUF and powering it back up, Akira let out a small sigh of relief. As far as damage went, most of it was trivial cockpit monitors and a few broken safety bracings (the likely cause of death for the pilot). The main monitor worked, as did the weapon systems and basic movement parameters. That was how he was very carefully able to lift the pilot off the GOUF's chest armor and lay him upon the ground.
Before taking off, Akira gave the pilot a respectful salute, silently begging forgiveness from the man's soul.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
1 mile from the North Sea
Shinn watched dispassionately as the accursed Archangel began to slowly lose altitude thanks to the damage he'd inflicted onto two of its engines and destroying the third, despite that bitch's best efforts to keep him distracted. The fact that the Archangel was still somehow managing to stay in the air surprised and annoyed him. Up until this point, he'd been mostly focusing on their engines and aft weapons systems.
Perhaps he should stop playing with the Athha bitch and her underlings and take them out once and for all? Yes, then no one would dare question that he was greatest pilot of all time! And when he finally found and killed Iyadomi, the shithead might begin to understand just how fully and utterly fucked he was for interfering with Shinn's life!
With these thoughts in mind, Shinn turned and launched a spray of Firefly missiles at the Strike Rouge. Seeing the missiles slam into the pink mobile suit and ignite into large explosions drew a deeply satisfied sneer upon his face. Now, if only he could've seen the bitch's expression before he'd incinerated her, then he could've died a happy man! He didn't bother to wait to see the extent of the damage he'd inflicted to the machine though. He had a much bigger fish to fry!
Turning his attention back upon the warship, he wove his way around the Archangel's CWIS and came to a hover in front of the bridge's viewport. With flashing eyes, the Impulse's camera was quickly able to spot the various crewmembers on the bridge of the Athha bitch's ship. Seeing their expressions morph into those of terror at the realization that they were about to die brought unspeakably great pleasure to Shinn. With his sneer growing slightly, he brought his Kerberos cannons up to bear and readied to incinerate the whole lot of them for their crimes against him!
Just as he was fingering the trigger, a red blur appeared out of nowhere and coiled itself around the Impulse's right cannon. A mighty yank accomplished two deeds in one act. It pulled the hovering Gundam roughly to the side, just enough for the near-pointblank shots to go horribly wide and miss. And it also damaged the captured Kerberos just as it was beginning to fire, causing the heavy beam cannon to explode and knock the Impulse tumbling down upon the Archangel's hull.
"What's going on?!" he demanded over the radio as he recovered and turned to face his attacker.
He saw a pair of GOUFs hovering fairly close by, with the heavily-damaged Strike Rouge using its remaining arm to point a beam rifle up towards them. However, even as he watched, one of the GOUFs suddenly lashed out with its Slayer Whip at its companion. Despite the pilot's best efforts, the attacked GOUF's headpiece was brutally smashed as the whip encircled its torso. The electrical discharges from the weapon pierced the GOUF and triggered a large explosion that tore it to pieces.
"What're you doing, you traitor?!" he yelled hatefully over the radio.
"How can I betray something if I never joined it?" a calm voice that Shinn vaguely recognized as the one from earlier asked as the GOUF withdrew its Tempest beam sword from its shield while retracting its whip. "But I will not allow you to sink the Archangel! And, Miss Cagalli, please board the Archangel right now!"
Shinn needed no further encouragement to unleash his full wrath upon the turncoat GOUF before him. Raising his remaining Kerberos cannon, he fired at his new enemy. But his enemy was no slouch, easily evading the blast while moving its shield into a defensive position.
Grabbing the Defiant beam javelin from his remaining Kerberos cannon, Shinn ignited it as he raced forward and began swinging the beam weapon in almost wild attacks to kill his enemy. "I'm going to kill you!!"
"You can try," the pilot answered just as calmly as he had before while his GOUF ducked and weaved between the Impulse's swings.
Realizing that his swings weren't even coming close to touching his enemy, Shinn snapped his Kerberos up and opened fire…only to miss yet again as the GOUF neatly sidestepped it. As it hovered there in midair, it raised its arm and gave a simple 'come on' gesture.
'Is he…Is he toying with me?' Shinn couldn't help but ask himself. His rage flared yet again after only a moment of consideration. His rage allowed him to access his battle calm as he realized just what the pilot was doing. 'HE'S TOYING WITH ME!!!'
With a loud roar of rage, he fired the Kerberos again. This time the GOUF wasn't quite entirely able to get clear in time, losing the lower half of its right leg and knee. As the GOUF began to retreat, Shinn pursued hotly, his Deluge railguns blazing furiously. But despite his best efforts, the GOUF managed to dodge the shots, often times by mere centimeters. The GOUF began to make a wide circle to turn around before rushing forward its Tempest sword at the ready.
Shinn quickly disengaged the legs module, causing the GOUF's sword to slash only air as it soared past. Quick as a flash, the module reattached itself as the Impulse spun around, Kerberos blazing furiously. Though the GOUF managed to dodge to the side at the last moment, one of the blasts were still able to blow off its left arm and shield. This destruction earned a slightly satisfied smirk from Shinn before he refocused his attention on the battle.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Archangel
Miriallia had first watched with fear as she saw one of the last three of the ZAFT mobile suits in the area managed to bypass the Archangel's CWIS and come within only a few short meters away from the bridge window. She, like most of the others in the bridge, barely had enough time to react before the Blast Impulse lifted its plasma cannons to fire pointblank into the ship. The next second passed as if in slow motion for Mir as suddenly a glowing red thing shot out of nowhere and yanked the Gundam away, saving the ship.
Once regaining her wits after her near-death, Miriallia focused her attention upon her station's console. It came as a great surprise to learn that a ZAFT mobile suit had been the one to save them, as well as disabling the second GOUF who was hovering nearby. With practiced ease, she was able to hack into the ZAFT radio frequency just in time to hear a brief argument between the Gundam pilot and their savior. Miriallia honestly felt extremely surprised and relieved when she quickly recognized the voice of their savior.
"Captain!" she called. "I've just hacked the ZAFT frequencies. The GOUF that's fighting the Impulse is being piloted by Kira!"
"What?!" several voices responded.
Recovering quickly, Murrue called, "What's Cagalli's status?"
"She's landing in the starboard catapult even as we speak, madam," Miriallia answered.
"We've reached the shore, Captain!" Neumann reported from the pilot's seat. "We can commence diving in about another five hundred meters."
"Keep pushing it!" Murrue ordered. "We're almost there, people."
"Enemy missiles incoming from stern! Seven of them!" Miriallia called out as she detected the small, fast-moving heat sources.
"Evade! Helldarts fire!"
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Growling angrily as he watched his foe spin around to face him again, Shinn tucked the cannon back and brought up its missile launcher end. With a quick lock, he fired the four remaining Firefly missiles at the GOUF. Immediately, the GOUF opened fire with its remaining Draupnir beam wrist cannon, but was only able to hit two of the four agile little missiles. As the other two rapidly closed the distance, the GOUF swung its sword forward and sliced both missiles apart in one swing.
"Meyrin! Send out the Sword Silhouette!" Shinn ordered as he fell into a deeper rage.
Truthfully, he hadn't expected that attack to work either, but it did provide a perfect distraction for him to sneak up from the side and disembowel the traitor! Just as he was stabbing the Defiant javelin forward, the GOUF rotated and caught the beam weapon with its own weapon. Even with the Blast Impulse using its superior engines to roughly push the GOUF backwards and out over the open sea, Shinn still couldn't force his way past the Tempest sword.
"How is this possible?!" Shinn demanded to himself angrily. "How can a mere GOUF give me so much trouble?! I'm a super ace!"
"You just don't get it, do you?" that irritatingly calm voice said up over the radio, as though reading Shinn's thoughts.
"Get what?!" Shinn snapped furiously as he broke away from the GOUF and tried to think up a new attack strategy.
"I can tell from the way you're piloting, you think you're invincible. But the fact is that you are far from being worthy of the title 'super ace pilot'," his enemy said as he once again danced out of the way of a plasma blast. "You may possess super-Coordinator reflexes, but you obviously can't think fast enough to keep up with that reaction speed! You're just fighting on instinct, on impulse."
"OH YEAH?!!" Shinn yelled in rage as he rushed forward and made a decisive swing to slice the cockpit apart. He missed once again with the GOUF merely rolling backwards away from the slash. As it rolled, its leg lashed out and kicked heavily into the Blast Impulse's torso, knocking the Gundam awkwardly to the side.
"That's why I can predict your actions," the pilot continued idly as he watched Shinn recover. "Reflexes and thought must be one. This synthesis is the mark of a true super ace!"
As the GOUF pilot was speaking, Shinn spotted the incoming Silhouette. Facing his enemy again, he fired his Deluge railguns at the machine, which were predictably dodged. But that was just what Shinn was hoping for, to distract the pilot from noticing the approaching weapons' pack. Rising into the air as the Silhouette arrived, Shinn returned the beam lance to its place in the Kerberos cannon while grabbing a hold of one of the beam boomerangs.
"This battle is over, right now!" Shinn yelled as he hurled the boomerang at the now charging GOUF. The rogue machine had raised its Tempest sword and deflected the deadly projectile away even as it dashed up underneath and behind the Impulse with its weapon already in motion. However the Impulse had already grabbed one of the Excalibur beam swords, and was turning to meet its enemy.
That was when two things happened at nearly the same time.
The first being the Minerva firing its Tannhauser positron cannon into the ocean to stop the limping Archangel from fleeing. That positron blast, fed by the oxygen and hydrogen of the saltwater, caused a massive explosion that consumed everything within a kilometer's reach of the origin point.
Meanwhile, the GOUF lashed out with a crippling slash across the Blast Impulse's backside, in an effort to slice the Gundam into halves.
"Why you!!" Shinn hollered in a blind rage as he reacted instantly.
He swung the Blast Impulse around and brought its Excalibur up in a disemboweling slash that left a blazing trail right through the unprotected left portion of the GOUF's entire torso. At the same time, the GOUF's sword chopped a diagonal slash through the remaining Kerberos and caused critical damage to the Silhouette and the Impulse's engines.
Both units were blown apart from one another from their own respective explosions. The GOUF's primary motor functions had been critically damaged from Shinn's final strike and fell into the turbulent sea below with most of its torso blown open like a gutted fish. In contrast, the Core Splendor managed to eject itself from the ruined pieces and fly away as the positron explosion swept over the area where their final climatic clash had just been dealt.
KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA
Archangel
The turbulence from the positron explosion was badly shaking the Archangel and made it extremely difficult to control the ship's descent into the churning waters. Cracks and hull breaches were quick to spread through the damaged portions of the hull and the sections closest to them. This allowed gouts of water to gush inside and flood the interior areas with increasing speed as the water level steadily raised. However, thanks to the quick response by the crew, many of the flooding areas were quickly evacuated and sealed off, thus saving the majority of the warship and crew from certain death.
It was a similar situation that Cagalli was facing. With the Impulse's parting shot on her before it had dashed off to face Kira, the Strike Rouge's entire right arm had been blown off and small fractures had appeared in the Rouge's armor, despite the Phase Shift Armor's remarkable resilience to physical attacks like those anti-armor missiles. Due to those fractures, water was slowly but steadily seeping into her machine as she attempted to navigate the murky waters.
In front of her she could barely see the GOUF that Kira had been piloting through the sand and soil that the positron explosion had stirred up from the seabed. But what she could see only caused her to hurry over to the machine with an increased pace. Its entire left side was blown open, water having instantly filled its interior when it fell into the sea. But what really caused Cagalli to hurry was that she could clearly see into the GOUF's cockpit, which had also been exposed. Inside she could see a limp figure floating in the pilot's seat.
"Kira?!" she called over the radio, hoping against hope that he was wearing a pressurized pilot suit and helmet to protect him from drowning. And all pilot helmets came equipped with a radio as an emergency feature, so he should've been able to hear Cagalli's voice. "Kira?! Are you okay?!"
She received no response as she finally reached the stolen ZAFT machine and carefully grabbed a hold of it with her Rouge's remaining arm. As she was slowly guiding the blue machine towards where the Archangel was fast sinking, a fairly large explosion suddenly flared to life, blasting out over the sea's surface and causing further turbulence to the already violent currents of the water. But Cagalli paid it no mind; she needed to get Kira to the infirmary!
…Again!
(AUTHOR'S NOTE) Whew! First I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you for FriedRice and FictionReader98's help with my work on this chapter. Truthfully, I doubt that this chapter would've turned out as well as it has without their help and criticism to remind to slow down and limit Akira's strength while flying the Skygrasper.
That was a whole lot of fun to write, especially where I had Akira owning Shinn. Yes, yes, I 'borrowed' that scene from Gundam 00 (again). I just really, really liked that scene, one of the best of the whole first season in my humble opinion.
But I have to wonder, how many of you were actually expecting Akira to have taken the Strike Rouge at first? Probably damn near all of you eh? I don't blame you for assuming that. Why? Because no one ever considers the possibility of sending Kira out to fight a battle in anything less than the Strike, Freedom, Strike Freedom, or some other mobile suit. But at the same time, they totally disregard the much more mass-produced mobile armors as (rightly so) inconsequential…unless they're carrying nuclear warheads.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is probably one of the first (if not the first) fanfics you've ever read to have done this, right? Kira flies a jetfighter in combat and doesn't do too bad of a job considering his injuries.