"Man, that Lions Team guy was such an ass!" Marcel said, slamming his fist against the wall of the cafeteria.
"Calm down Marcel, don't let him get to you" Garret said, picking up a slice of beef with his fork.
"I just wanna smack him one" Marcel groaned, sitting down. "Hey Victoria, wanna go do some training to get you used to moving under gravity?" he asked the girl sitting across from Garret and himself.
"Sure, do you want to come Garret?" she asked the other young man.
"Sure, I haven't used a suit in gravity for a while" Garret replied. The three all boarded their mobile suits and deployed out on the airstrip of the base. Shortly after they headed out, a ZAKU, DINN and GuAIZ all joined them.
"So, that's the Duel that you stole huh?" the ZAKU pilot asked, approaching Garret.
"Stephan, correct?" Garret asked in reply, a tone of warning in his voice.
"Yeah that's right. So which one of you is the green?" Stephan asked, turning to face Marcel and Victoria.
"Seriously, you really wanna start this crap again?" Marcel asked, reaching for his training tomahawk.
"The GuAIZ R pilot then" Stephan said with a cocky grin, approaching Victoria.
"Stephan, do you really wanna do this? You heard what Commander Lions said!" the pilot of the DINN, Roberto warned.
"I dunno Roberto, that ZAKU pilot said that their little green could beat Stephan any day, I'm curious to see whether or not it's true" the GuAIZ pilot, Raquel commented.
"You game green?" Stephan taunted.
"My name is Victoria Mays, not 'green'. Yeah, I'll fight you" Victoria replied, readying her mock beam sabre.
"Victoria, are you sure this is a good idea?" Garret asked, looking over towards the girl.
"It's fine Garret, I'm not going to let this guy push me around just because I wear a green uniform" Victoria replied. All of the other pilots except for Stephan and Victoria moved away, watching wearily. Stephan pulled out his mock tomahawk and charged at Victoria. The girl raised her shield and blocked the vertical strike. She thrust back with her sabre, but the ZAKU leaned slightly to the side before stepping back.
"Come on, fight me" Stephan taunted, but Victoria wouldn't fall for it. She stood still, her weapon and shield ready. Stephan moved forward and tried a low sweep on Victoria's legs but the girl thrust her sabre down through one of the gaps in tomahawk, holding it to the ground. She quickly followed it up by slamming her shield into the ZAKU's head, causing Stephan to stagger and fall over. She pulled her beam sabre from the ground and pointed it down at Stephan's cockpit. "What the hell?!" Stephan roared. Victoria retracted her weapon and walked away, followed by Garret and Marcel.
"Dude, you got owned!" Roberto laughed, helping his comrade up.
"Shut up, I took it easy on her… stupid mistake I won't make again" Stephan grumbled.
The next morning came quickly and the four Falcon Team pilots boarded their machines. "Victoria, are you nervous?" Aston asked the girl as his GOUF was placed on the catapult.
"A little, yeah" the girl replied.
"Good, I'd be worried if you weren't. Nerves keep you on your toes; just don't let them take over. The Minerva and Ceres flew side-by-side, readying their mobile suit teams.
"Commander Falcon, we're reaching the Purity base, you're clear for launch now" Karl, the young man taking Victoria's job in the CIC stated.
"Roger that, Aston Falcon, GOUF Ignited, engage!" the Commander called out and his GOUF shot out from the Ceres' catapult.
"Load the ZAKU onto the catapult, Marcel, prepare to launch" Kyle's voice spoke through the hangar. Marcel's ZAKU was loaded onto the catapult and Marcel typed away on his keyboard. "Equip the Gunner Wizard" Kyle said. The pack was put on and the ZAKU crouched down slightly.
"This is Marcel North, Gunner ZAKU Warrior, bring it on!" the pilot called and he shot off to follow Aston.
"Now load the GuAIZ R, Victoria, prepare to launch" Kyle instructed. The GuAIZ was placed on the catapult and took up a launch position.
"Victoria Mays, GuAIZ R, mobilise!" the girl called as she was launched into the air.
"Now the Duel" Kyle called as the Gundam was placed onto the catapult.
"Garret Kross, Duel, soar!" Garret called and he joined his companions. He landed on the dirt and ran after his comrades. He looked back and saw the Buster, Impulse and a red ZAKU Gunner launch from the Minerva. The seven mobile suits all grouped together and headed for the base that they could see.
"Marcel, Meyrin, Dearka, fire off some long range attacks while myself and Lunamaria rush in. Garret, Victoria, cover me and Luna" Aston ordered and he activated his wing pack, soaring into the sky. The Force Impulse joined him and together they flew towards the base. Marcel and Meyrin fired off their energy cannons, sending red and white beams smashing through two large warehouses and Dearka's yellow beam struck another.
"Alright, there goes one of 'em!" Dearka called triumphantly. Three huge explosions erupted in the base as Garret and Victoria charged forward. From nowhere, they were joined by a second Duel; instinctively Garret drew his rifle and aimed it at the mobile suit.
"It's me" Yzak's voice spoke. "Nice reactions though" he commented. After ZAFT reproduced the Duel and Buster like Purity had, Yzak and Dearka were more than happy to accept their old Gundams back, even if they were slightly out-dated. The two Gundams and the GuAIZ moved in close as the base began deploying its mobile suits.
"Yzak, there's a Forbidden and Calamity headed towards you three" Aston's voice spoke to the other Commander. Yzak raised the gun on the shoulder of his assault shroud and aimed it at the two Gundams coming towards them. As he fired the weapon, the Forbidden stepped in front of its partner and raised its shields.
"I'll take the Forbidden, you two take the Calamity. Dearka, get over here!" Yzak ordered.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it" the Buster pilot spoke, raising both of his guns. Garret and Victoria moved to the side slightly as they headed for the Calamity.
"Victoria, watch out, the Calamity excels at ranged attacks!" Garret warned his friend and the two spread out. The blue Gundam fired its shoulder cannons at Garret who raised his shield in response, blocking the attack. Victoria charged forward, engaging the beam sabre in her shield.
"Filthy Coordinator, I'll kill you!" an older man's voice called from the Calamity as he took aim with his bazooka. He fired a shot at Victoria who was pushed back even though she blocked the attack with her shield. Garret ran forward, firing off his rifle to draw the enemy's attention. The Calamity pulled its arms back and readied its Scylla cannon, aimed straight for the stunned GuAIZ. Garret heard Victoria scream as the weapon readied to fire.
"You… bastard!" Garret roared. He threw his gun aside and pulled one of his beam sabres out, throwing it like a javelin straight into the chest cannon of the Calamity. The Gundam went rigid and then exploded violently as it began to fall over. He ran over to the GuAIZ R and put his hand on its shoulder. "Victoria! Are you ok?!" he called.
"Y…yeah I'm fine" she stuttered, holding back tears. Behind them, they heard another explosion as the Forbidden was destroyed by Yzak and Dearka.
"Wow, no sweat at all" Dearka commented, watching the explosion. In the sky above the base they could see the GOUF and Impulse engaging with a black and red mobile suit.
"Commander Joule, what mobile suit is that?" Garret asked, pointing to the enemy one with his mobile suit.
"The GAT-X370 Raider, the third Gundam to go with the Forbidden and Raider" Yzak replied as he joined the other two pilots.
"Lunamaria, distract it!" Aston called as he dodged a strike from the Raider's Mjollnir spherical breaker.
"Yes sir!" Lunamaria responded and she fired off several rounds from her beam rifle. The Raider transformed into its mobile armour form and sped towards the Impulse, firing off shots from the cannon in its head. Lunamaria danced around the shots as Aston positioned himself above the mobile armour. He held out his shield arm and a cable shot out from the GOUF's wrist, piercing the left wing of the black and red suit. The Raider transformed again and started to fall as Aston flew towards it with his sword out.
"Take this!" Aston roared as he soared down past the Gundam, slicing straight through the cockpit and skidding across the ground. He turned and watched the Gundam explode in mid-air before sheathing his sword in his shield. "Purity base confirmed destroyed. Richard, what's the status of the Lions Team?" the Commander asked.
"They've progressed into the centre of the city, Purity is putting up a strong fight, they have mobile suits in the city too" Captain Phillips replied.
"Right, we'll head there now and provide assistance" Aston said in reply. "Is that ok with you Yzak?" he asked the other commander.
"Yeah, let's go" Yzak replied and the mobile suit team began running for the city itself. The two ships followed, ready to fire on enemy troops that got too close. The two ZAKUs and the Buster both returned to the ship and stood at the ends of the catapults, secured to the ships themselves. The GOUF and Impulse flew through the air, sweeping their rifles across the city streets. The two Duels and the GuAIZ R ran through the streets themselves with their guns ready until they reached the centre of the city.
The two teams found the Lions Team engaged with a small squad of mass-produced mobile suits, mostly consisting of Dagger Ls and ZAKUs. The two DINNS of the Lions Team flew over the battlefield, sending a hail of bullets down into the enemy lines. Due to the lack of room in the battle area, the Falcon and Joule teams stood back, prepared to leap into the battle should one of the Lions Team fall. Aston and Lunamaria joined the two DINNs, flying over the battlefield, firing down on the Purity forces. The ZAFT pilots eventually broke through and destroyed all of the mobile suits Purity had deployed and they stood around the streets, doing a final sweep for any lingering enemies.
"That appears to be all of them" Aston stated, landing in a large paved area.
"Ha. That was pathetic, they really should defend their cities better!" Gerald laughed loudly. The Lions Team were cheering in victory as they stood throughout Sydney, raising their guns to the sky.
"Something seems off. Purity have been fighting with so much aggression until now, why leave such an important area so weakly defended like this…?" Garret muttered, his hands still gripping the controls of his suit.
"Aston! We're picking up an energy source approaching at high speed!" Richard yelled from the Ceres and the GOUF instantly perked its head up.
"What is it?" Aston asked, but Richard didn't have to answer the question, he saw the object within seconds. The mobile suit came to a halt between two buildings, it's black and red body shone in the sun light as it extended its black wings.
"ZGMF-X10A… it's the Freedom!" Kyle called as the data appeared on his screen. Where the Freedom had been white, this mobile suit was black and the blue sections had been recoloured in a blood red.
"Wrong… this, is the Tyranny Gundam" a cold voice spoke back in return. A video link appeared on the screens of all the mobile suits and ships, showing the pilot of the Gundam. He seemed thin with blonde hair that hung at his shoulders, a long piece of his fringe hanging down past his chin. His eyes were covered by a white visor. The grey screen of the visor prevented anyone from seeing the young man's eyes. A pale scar ran down over the left side of his lip. "Coordinators, you will be eliminated" the pilot spoke and the video disappeared.
"Cocky bastard!" Gerald yelled, charging forward in his CGUE. The Tyranny unsheathed its beam sabre and flew towards the white mobile suit at blinding speed.
"Commander!" Stephan called, holding out the hand of his ZAKU, as if wanting to pull the man back. But it was too late. The Tyranny drove its beam sabre through the cockpit of the CGUE, then grabbed it by the head and tossed it aside into a building as it exploded violently. The building collapsed, causing the Gundam to ascend into the air, looking down on the ZAFT pilots.
"Such speed…" Garret whispered, astounded.
"Everyone, fall back!" Aston called, flying his GOUF towards the Ceres. The Joule and Falcon teams began falling back to their respective ships while the Lions team just headed for whichever one was closer.
"You bastard, I'll avenge the Commander!" Stephen roared, firing his beam rifle at the black and red suit.
"Dammit Stephen, fall back!" Terrance called, turning his GuAIZ R around. Stephan roared as he sent a hail of beam shots flying towards the Tyranny. The Gundam flew forward, dodging the shots and pulling out its beam rifle with its free hand. The Gundam reached the ZAKU and rammed the point of its shield into the ZAKU's armpit, flinging its gun away. The pilot then placed the beam rifle against the cockpit of the green suit and pulled the trigger. He flung the ZAKU away on with the shield and watched as it exploded before turning his attention to the two retreating ships.
"Hmm, seems they got away" he said quietly, lowering his gun. "Two Minerva-class ships escaped. They have four Gundams on board consisting of two Duels, a Buster and an Impulse" he spoke into his communicator.
"It doesn't matter; you defended the city… mostly. Allen and Hilde have kept our hold in Perth but unfortunately the rest have fallen to ZAFT. We must take them back" a voice spoke back to him. "You did well Xero" the voice commented.