Phase 3: A Falling World

"Damn it Luna, why can't you hurry it up?" Shinn grunted as he held his hand on top of his bleeding chest, he and Luna left Kira behind on the Core Splendor and started heading back to December City, the problem was that the Core Splendor was also damaged meaning the speed was low and with Shinn's condition; well he whined a lot.

"In case you don't remember, this ship was damaged too!" Lunamaria yelled, she liked Shinn sure, but when he just keeps nagging and whining it pisses her off. She activated the locator. "December City should be closed by," she said as she opened her eyes wide at all the stars. "Look at them Shinn, they're beautiful."

"Yeah, yeah." Shinn rolled his eyes; right now he was more worried about his body than some twinkling stars.

"Do you think Kira beat that guy?" Luna asked after a few minutes; it was better if she tried to make Shinn forget about his pain. Shinn grunted and shrugged. "You can at least say something, anyways, there it is." She looked over the glass as the two of them saw the field of hourglasses all lined up, they headed back to December City as Lunamaria sent a red signal, this notified the ZAFT Forces that it was a ZAFT ship.

"Finally." Shinn nodded.

"All right Shinn, come with us." The doctor grabbed Shinn and put him on a stretcher, which actually hurt him even more since he had to support the pressure. Lunamaria jumped out of the Core Splendor and sighed.

She looked back to see if the Freedom was back. "No sign of him yet." She frowned and turned around.

A plane was landing on the ORB airport; there was a kid around the age of sixteen seating in the plane. He looked around the plane to see all the people that were sitting down. He was wearing a white shirt with an eagle figure on the middle; he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. He had red hair and a pair of sunglasses on.

He was typing on his laptop as he looked at the data for some Mobile Suits. "So ORB's got new Mobile Suits." He opened the file. "XL-8912 Knight, ZI-3721 Lost and then XD-32098 Angel," he closed the laptop; unfortunately he couldn't see how they looked like he could only see the name. "I wonder which one I'll be piloting." He grinned.

The laptop beeped once and a window opened up, a girl was looking at him from the screen, she had brown hair that reached up to her neck, she had a pair of beautiful green eyes and a white skin. She was wearing a white uniform jacket with blue sleeves and what could be seen as a white skirt through the screen. "Oh, hey, Marilia." He said as he saw the face of the girl coming on the screen.

"Uma, where are you?" she asked with a stern look, Uma just laughed.

"I haven't even gotten to ORB yet, but thanks for the first class trip cousin, I really enjoyed it." He grabbed a glass of soda that was next to him and drank some. "And thanks for recommending me to pilot one of the new models."

"Well, you've been begging me for a long time, but just make sure you get here soon okay." She said and nodded.

"Okey dokie." Uma grinned as he closed the window. "Ohh Merri, I wonder how your life is now that Toll's gone even if it's been four years already." He nodded his head.

After the plane landed at the ORB airport Uma grabbed his travelling bag and walked out of the plane, he wasn't the kind of person to bring a lot of luggage with him, it saved him the trouble of getting all of his bags back. He walked into the airport and headed towards a nearby desk. "I know I told her I'll be there any minutes, but I wanna check some stuff out."

He sat down and took out his laptop as soon as he turned it on he got into a page that gave him the latest world news. "So the PLANTs where attacked by some weird terrorist that is said to be from the Earth Alliance, interesting." He scratched his chin.

"I don't care how long it takes, I want the new models ready by tonight!" he saw a girl surrounded by a bunch of ORB officials around here; she had a short blond hair that got halfway down her neck, she had two amber colored eyes and was wearing a purple long sleeve jacket with a pair of purple pants and a white neck shirt underneath the jacket.

"We know representative, but our engineers can only do so much especially if they're supposed to be more advanced than ZAFT models." One of the men said to her with a worried tone, she frowned and crossed her arms as she looked towards Uma.

"Wow, that's someone anyone would love," he chuckled sarcastically as he got up and grabbed his bag and put it on his shoulder. "Now, I should probably get some kind of, I don't know car or something." Uma shrugged and started walking.

Cagalli looked at him again as he passed her giving her a wink. "Hey you, what was that for?" she asked after turning around.

"Just a salute." Uma waved from behind as he kept on walking.

"Anyways, forget those three models, how are the plans for the Justice Defender going?" Cagalli asked after she made sure no one else was paying attention to them. The man stepped forward.

"It's almost ready, we only need to do a test run to make sure if it works well," the man's grin turned into a proud one; Cagalli just sighed as she looked at the sky through the transparent glass.

"After Kira told me what happened at the PLANTs, I got a little scared, that this peace was coming to an end again," Cagalli said with a sad look, after going through two wars she didn't want anything bad to happen that's why the three models and the top secret fourth one had to be ready soon. "That's why, after Athrun returns today, he'll be piloting it, and we used the prints from his own Mobile Suit so he has the right to pilot this one." She turned around and started walking and was followed by the three men.

"So, what are you gonna do about that Canard?" Lacus asked as she and Kira were watching some TV in their apartments, Kira stayed serious for the past week after what happened, and he couldn't stop thinking about what that guy said to him. Kira was wearing an aqua blue jacket and a blue shirt he had pair of jeans and black shoes while Lacus was wearing a pink dress.

"I don't know, just check some stuff out." He sighed then turned to Lacus. "I should be asking the same thing though, with what happened, what are you gonna do next?" Kira asked Lacus curiously, he got worried after hearing what happened to her, but thankful that Walfelt helped her out.

"I'm not gonna stay sitting down and forget about it, I'll tell the PLANTs about what happened." Lacus nodded as she and Kira exchanged looks.

"That'll get you in a lot of trouble, but, it's logical." He nodded his head as his cell phone rang. "It's Meyrin, she wants me to go down to the base and see the new model."

"It's ready?" Lacus asked.

"Yeah, the F7890-Archer, the XLF693-Saber, and the XRLA130-Armageddon." Kira answered without turning from the TV.

"Are you gonna go test them out?" Lacus asked with a curious look on her face. Kira was normally sent to test out new Mobile Suits, due to his skills and ways with computers, any mistake he found could be fixed easily, heck it was practically like his second job.

"Yeah I'll have to run a few checkups before we can be sure they work right," Kira nodded his head and went to change. "Unfortunately Shinn was supposed to help me test them, but due to him being in the hospital right now I'll have to test out all three models," he explained while putting on his uniform and grabbing his bag.

"That seems like a lot of work for you, you sure you want to do this?" Lacu asked with a worried look, she didn't want to see Kira stress himself too much at the moment, with all the subject about Canard going on.

"I'll be fine Lacus, someone's gotta make sure things go smoothly around here, and that's you and me," he raised his hand and motioned her to calm down before he kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the apartment.

Kira was once more into the Mobile Suit facility, a big building that led outside the plants, the main section where Mobile Suits were manufactured was in between space and the plants, as thus there was no gravity. "Hello Commander," a ZAFT Soldier greeted Kira as he floated by, two solders wearing green uniforms were standing in front of the door.

After Kira greeted them they passed an ID card on the two detectors that were on both sides and the doors opened up. "Thanks," Kira nodded his head as he floated inside.

"Oh, you must be Kira Yamato," Kira turned around to look at a man floating towards him, he was wearing the same uniform as Kira. He had a short blond hair that went down to his neck and a pale white skin; he also had a pair of green eyes. "We've been waiting, me and my pilots that is."

"Oh, you must be Commander Runa Sei, it's nice to meet you," Kira and Commander Runa shook hands as he looked over to the small compartment up ahead, where people normally gathered to talk. "You found Pilots for the other suits?" he asked.

"Yeah, you see, these Mobile Suits are supposed to be for my team, I only have two pilots but I heard you'll test one so, it should be okay," Runa nodded his head as he led Kira to the compartment. Kira floated inside to look at two teenagers looking out from the window.

One of them was a girl with long orange hair that went down to her back, she was wearing the red uniform and the buttons of the top were unbuttoned revealing the blue shirt she had under it and some of her bossom. She was wearing a red skirt and a pair of long black socks and had a pale white skin.

The other one was a boy, he looked like the girl except for the fact that his hair was spiky and short instead of long and lush, he was wearing the same uniform and the two top buttons were opened like his sister's but he had a red undershirt and of course, no bossom. "They're twins?" Kira asked looking at Runa.

"Oh yeah, kids, come say hi to Commander Yamato," Runa got the two teenager's attention as they turned to look at Kira.

"So this is Kira Yamato," the boy looked at him with an inspecting look before shrugging. "He doesn't look so tough, I can't believe he's the strong pilot everyone talks about," he groaned.

"Don't pay attention to my brother," the girl floated over to Kira and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you Commander Yamato, I'm Saki and that's my brother Aki, we're proud to be piloting alongside you today," she smiled at him. "Or at least I am."

"You're such a fan girl," Aki groaned and put his hands behind his head.

"It's nice to meet you two as well," Kira nodded his head while smiling at the two, their attitudes were so much like those of Shinn and Lunamaria that if they were to meet each other they'll probably get along instantly. "So, where are the Mobile Suits?" he asked while turning to look at Runa.

"It's those two over there," he pointed outside the glass window. Kira gasped when he saw the three Mobile Suits that were stationed there.

One of them was completely black at the moment due to the armor; it had grey arms and legs as well as its head. It had a cannon on its right arm as well as two Bazooka launchers on its back. The Mobile Suit had what looked like a bow on its left with a closed hole on its arm. The legs had what looked like propellers behind them as well. "That's the Archer, a Mobile Suit with great accuracy and speed, complete with armor power to make up for its lack of defense, but with a great Pilot that can match up it doesn't really matter," Runa started explaining.

"I'll be piloting that one, my reaction time is faster than my brothers," Saki smiled at Kira while Aki groaned, apparently not happy that his sister was taking pride on him being bad at reacting fast.

"Then, there's the Saber," Runa pointed over at the machine all the way to the right, it was completely gray with its armor, as well as its head and pair of eyes. It had a V shape object on its head and a gray shield on both arms. The shields itself had two beam sabers each, from behind you could see two propellers, it also had a glowing green object on its chest and two beam cannons on its legs. "The Saber has a balance defense and attack, equip with four beam sabers and cannons as well as its shields, it also has a special barrier generator on its chest which will block all of the attacks directed it at it till the light turns red, it lacks some balance and control so we need a Pilot with a lot of ability and skill to control the levers." He explained looking over at Aki.

"That's my forte in case you didn't know," Aki looked at Kira with a confident grin as he looked out at the Saber again, from looking at this kid Kira knew he had a lot of confidence in himself, which was remotely good.

"So Commander, that leaves you with the Armageddon," Runa pointed over at the Mobile Suit in the middle, Kira gasped, now noticing what it looked like.

The Armageddon looked just like the Strike Freedom; of course there were some difference between the two. The Armageddon was completely black and it had more wings than the Freedom and from what Kira could gather more cannons, it also had a green light just like the Saber's as well as a having a bow like weapon on its right arm.

"The Armageddon was based off on the data and plans for the Freedom and Strike Freedom as you can tell, it was equipped with the best features of that Mobile Suit along with the Archer and Saber, and some of the features from the Destiny to boost its speed," he started explaining before turning to look at Kira. "As you can closely tell, this Mobile Suit is well suited for someone like you, only the best of the best will be able to maneuver something like this without losing their heads."

"No way," Kira gasped while Aki and Saki both looked at him with confused looks. "I mean, sure, I'll pilot it,"

"That's good, I thought you were going to say you didn't want to," Runa sighed in relief.

"We'll see who's better in the practice session," Aki grinned, he was willing to do whatever he had to make sure Kira saw that he was strong. "I'll show you how good I really am,"

"But I'm better Commander, you can trust me on that," Saki grabbed Kira by the shoulders and turned him around so that he could look at her.

"You guys are both so eager, it's a practice match, if you just focus on whose best then you'll lose," Kira advised and walked out of the compartment. "Anyways, let's go test these guys out."

After they floated out of the compartment they each floated over to the respective Mobile Suits. They decided to test them out as they were instead of putting on their piloting suits; hopefully they wouldn't need to. "All right, let's see this," Kira went inside the Armageddon's cockpit and turned it on, it started the initializing sequence as various screens flashed including one that explained the meaning of the letters in the world GUNDAM. "Everything looks good so far," he said as two screen lit up, showing Aki and Saki.

"You sure you can do this Commander we wouldn't want you to get hurt or something," Aki said in a mocking tone, although he was trying as hard as he could to not make it sound obvious.

"Don't listen to him Commander, again, it's an honor to be piloting with you," Saki nodded her head before sticking her tongue out, apparently at her brother. "My brother's just a jerk."

"Shut up," Aki barked, Saki's screen just went off, and Aki frowned before turning off his screen while Kira was trying hard not to laugh.

"All right, let's do this," he turned the Phase Shift Armor on, though it didn't do much change, the Gundam was just a clearer shade of black now. The Saber and Archer were different though, the Saber's chest and arms turned into a darkish green, while its legs and head turned into white color. The Archer Gundam was a complete green colored the propellers on its legs and back being black.

After everything was done, the three Mobile Suits were ready to go and fly out of the sector and flying out into space at an amazing speed. Once they were out Kira noticed all the Zaku models that were sent to fight them. "We're gonna have to fight other pilots?" Saki asked with a confused tone in her voice.

"No, this Mobile Suits are being controlled from the base, there's no one piloting these, as long as we stay close to the PLANT they'll be controlled, if we go too far they'll stop moving," Kira explained while typing in the small keyboard that was inside the Armageddon. "But remember, we're still too close to the PLANT so don't fire unless you know you can hit the Mobile Suit."

"Yeah, whatever, let's go!" Aki exclaimed as he flew forward with the Saber. A green Zaku flew towards him, having large black chest armor along with a large green shield with three horn like sharp edges. "Take this!" he yelled as the Saber threw a punch, but the Zaku blocked it.

"Now!" The Saber took its chance to grab one of the Beam Sabers that were in the shield, he grabbed the one in the shield he was using as sliced the Zaku in half right away, creating a loud explosion. "Now that's a move no one can pull off,"

"That was too reckless," Kira warned while been surrounded by another group of Zakus. He looked down at the controllers of the Armageddon, will it really be so hard to control it, maybe even for him. Three Zakus prepared to tackle him as The Armageddon flew upwards at a great speed, Kira took out one of the rifles and fired them at one of the Zakus head.

The Zaku kept moving though and started flying again, pulling out a beam axe from its shield. Kira noticed the two Beam Sabers on the Armageddon's waist as he pulled one out and slashed the Zaku. Two more were heading towards him but he quickly maneuvered dodging the shield as he kicked the head off one of them before firing a shot from the rifle at the cockpit.

"No way," Kira gasped as he flew back avoiding swings from the beam axes. Saki turned around and focused one of the beams in the Archer's arm. A small sniper lense came out as she used it to pinpoint the shot.

"Got it," she said and fired a shot from the beam that hit the Zaku's cockpit, Kira looked over at her and gave her a thumbs up. "You're welcome," she smiled and waved back at him.

"I could've done that," Aki frowned from inside his cockpit. Kira then surprised the two pilots by flying upwards as he sent out various black pots that flew around in space firing shots at a great speed, the Zakus tried to dodge it but the beams ended up destroying them anyways by getting them from all corners. "That I couldn't have."

"This machine really is more advanced," Kira pointed out, he was still trying to figure out the differences between the Strike Freedom and the Armageddon but the difference was there, and it was really big. "We should be heading back."

"But there are still more out there," Aki whined by crossing the arms of the Saber.

"That doesn't matter, we've done what we came here to do, if you wanna test them out more do it tomorrow," Kira argued getting Aki and Saki to nod in unison. "Now let's go back," he turned the Armageddon around and started leading the two Mobile Suits back to the base.

"My head hurts," there was a small space ship floating around closed to earth, it looked like a normal ship except it was completely brown and had two cannons and Mobile Suit launchers on the sides. Inside there was a teenager with long black hair that went down to his waist, a short sleeved black shirt and a pair of black pants, this boy was Canard Pars the same pilot that tried to kill Kira Yamato a couple of days back. "Why does it hurt so much," Canard held his hand closed to his head while leaning forward and floating off the seat he was on.

"Having headaches again huh," Canard turned around to look at the teenager that had just entered the room, he had a spiky red hair that covered some of his forehead as well as a tanned skin, he was wearing a long sleeved blue uniform with a red neck, the uniform was open revealing the green shirt he had under it, he also had a pair of white pants.

"What do you want Keith?" Canard asked while trying to make the pain go away.

Keith grinned before walking into the room. "I just wanted to introduce you to the newest member of our team," he made way for someone to enter the room. Canard looked at the girl that had just gone in, she had a long brown hair that went down to her waist as well as a pale skin. She was wearing a pink long sleeved uniform with a pink skirt and had a black shirt under it.

But there were two things that grabbed Canard's attention. The girl had a bionic arm for her left one as well as a bionic eye for her right one, the other eye was closed and had a scar on it. "Canard, this is our new comrade, Mayu."

"Mayu?" Canard raised an eyebrow as he and the girl exchanged glares at each other.

"Please just give him a few more minutes," inside the ORB Morganrate Mobile Suit base two girls were talking, the girls were Miriallia and Cagalli who were discussing the matter of the new pilot not showing up yet. "I'm sure he's on his way."

"He better be, I don't have all day you know, I have a meeting to get to and I can't wait much longer," Cagalli argued while frowning, she hated the fact that she had to wait around on people on such a busy schedule.

"Trust me he should…" they both turned their attention to the doors that were just opening as a red haired teenager walked in. "Uma, there you are, what took you I've been sticking my neck out for you!" Miriallia exclaimed while looking over at Uma who walked inside and just waved. He and Cagalli looked at each other.

"You're that jerk from the airport!" she exclaimed while pointing at Uma who had a grin on her face.

"So you're the representative, I guess I shouldn't have acted that way before," Uma laughed while Miriallia looked at the two of them with a confused look on her face.

"Anyways, let me introduce myself properly," he raised his hand and pointed at himself. "My name's Uma Haw and from today on I'll be glad to be your new pilot."

Next Time: A Day of Rest