"Do not go too close to the water; you don't want them dragging you in!" Aston called to the other pilots as his Sword Calamity hovered in the air. The two Forbiddens quickly shot out of the water and flew towards the Ceres pilots. They readied their huge scythes and swung at the Calamity and Strike. Aston met the attack with his swords and Victoria quickly moved out of the way. Marcel noticed out of the corner of his eye, the shadows of the Abysses heading for the Ceres and turned his Gundam.
"Commander! The others are going for the Ceres, I'm moving to protect it!" he called before flying off.
"Victoria, go with him, us three will take these two!" Aston ordered and Victoria too flew away. Saviour did a quick dive to avoid a scythe attack from one of the Forbiddens before turning and firing its plasma beam cannons at the Gundam. The Forbidden spun around and deflected the beams before firing its Hresvelgr cannon, the beam curving down towards Hilde. She tilted her Gundam slightly so that the attack slammed into her shield. The Saviour was thrown by the explosion and was thrown towards the water.
Garret flew down and grabbed the Saviour as it transformed back into its mobile suit form. He pulled the red Gundam back up again and let Hilde transform again so she could rejoin the battle. "Are you ok?" Garret asked.
"Yeah, the attack just caught me by surprise" Hilde replied, rocketing away towards the Forbidden again, Garret close behind.
Victoria landed on the Ceres and aimed her beam rifle down at the dark shadows in the water coming towards the ship. "Let's make some waves!" Marcel called, pointing towards the water and firing off a barrage of missiles. The projectiles exploded on the water and caused the two blue and white Gundams to leap up, showing their mobile armour bodies. They aimed up at the Ceres and fired their Balaena Kai cannons. "No!" Marcel yelled as the beams travelled towards the ship. Before they connected, the ship's Tristans fired and slammed into the beams from the Abysses, causing an explosion before they connected.
"Captain Phillips, send out the Sword Striker pack, I'm going underwater!" Victoria called to the ship.
"Are you nuts? There's no way you can keep up with those things underwater!" Marcel yelled, hovering near the Ceres, waiting for the two Gundams to come out of the water again.
"That may be true, but if we just sit here and wait for them to pop up, they'll end up sinking the Ceres!" Victoria yelled in response. "Captain, please ready the Sword Striker" she said as she flew around towards the catapult.
"Victoria, I'm coming with you" Aston spoke as he headed towards the Ceres. "Most of my suit's weapons can be used underwater as well, Marcel you go help Garret and Hilde" he continued, looking at the Chaos.
"But… Commander…" Marcel protested but Aston cut him off.
"That's an order Marcel, do it!" he roared, flying down towards the water. Marcel sighed and flew his Gundam mobile armour to where Garret and Hilde were fighting the two Forbiddens. Aston looked over and saw Victoria equipping the Strike's sword equipment and then jumping into the water. "Guess that's my cue… lets go fishing" Commander Falcon said, leaping from his Guul and letting his silver and black Gundam fall into the ocean.
"Take this!" Garret roared, slamming the blade of his beam sabre into one of the shields of the Gundam nearest him. He pulled it down and then drove the end of his shield into the enemy Gundam's chest. The Forbidden fired it's Igelstellungs at the Duel but the attack merely bounced off its Phase Shift Armour. Garret pulled his shield away and then replaced it with his beam sabre, the blade going straight through the green Gundam's cockpit. He retracted his beam sabre and flew back as the Forbidden fell back and exploded.
"Marcel, cover me!" Hilde called, flying at the other Forbidden. Marcel deployed his gunbarrels and started firing their beam guns from random points around the Purity mobile suit, causing it to move around in a confined area to avoid them. As Hilde neared her opponent, she transformed the Saviour into its mobile suit form and drew its beam sabres. "You're mine!" she yelled, aiming for the cockpit of the Gundam with the weapons. Her eyes widened when the Forbidden suddenly turned on her, its massive scythe coming towards her in a wide arc. Marcel shot forward and clamped the Chaos' claws around the Forbidden's waist, squeezing them in and ripping the mobile suit in half. The pieces of the Gundam fell into the water before exploding, causing the water to shot up like a geyser. "Thanks" Hilde said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Anytime" Marcel replied, looking down at the water below the Ceres. The Strike and Sword Calamity travelled through the water towards to the two mobile armours that were heading for the Ceres.
"Victoria, be careful, just remember that your Strike won't handle the same underwater" Aston warned, readying his swords. Victoria acknowledged the order and readied her own sword. As the ZAFT pilots approached them, the Abysses turned and started towards them, firing off a number of torpedoes. The two sword wielding Gundams were thrown through the water by the explosions as the two Purity mobile suits approached them, planning to impale them with their lances. Aston fired off his rocket anchors and grappled onto one of the Abysses. "Victoria, catch!" he called, flinging the mobile suit towards the Strike.
"I've got it!" Victoria said, ramming the point of her sword against the Abyss. The attack pierced the body of the Gundam slightly but it didn't destroy it. She flung the Abyss away on her sword and backed away. "Commander, we have a problem!" Victoria called.
"Phase Shift…" Aston spoke slowly as he saw the results of Victoria's attack. "We need to get them out of the water!" he continued, dodging several more torpedoes.
"How?" the brunette girl asked, slamming her sword against the Abyss she was fighting as it came near her.
"Use your anchor, grab it and fling it out of the water, the others can shoot them with beam weapons when we do" Aston said dodging a charge attack. Victoria fired off her rocket anchor but the Abyss swam out of the way and then slammed into the Strike.
"Dammit!" Victoria yelled as she tumbled through the water.
"Victoria!" Aston called, sending his anchors at the Abyss attacking her. He grabbed onto it and started towards the top of the water. "Garret, shoot this!" the Commander called, flinging the struggling mobile armour out of the water. Garret raised his rifle as he saw the blue and white mobile armour transform when it exited the water.
"Marcel, get it if I miss" Garret said, pulling the trigger. The beam tore through the cockpit of the Gundam and the three ZAFT pilots hovering around the Ceres watched as it exploded and debris rained into the ocean. "Got it Commander" the blonde pilot said.
The Sword Calamity was shaken when a torpedo slammed into its torso. Aston was bounced around in the cockpit as he tried to stabilize his suit. Victoria fired her anchor and grappled onto one of the beam cannons on the top of the mobile armour and flung it out into the sky. Hilde flew down, seeing the machine come out of the water and readied her beam sabres. She flew past the Abyss, slicing through two sections of the fuselage and destroying the Purity machine. "Enemy neutralized" Hilde spoke and the two underwater pilots relaxed in their cockpits.
"Come on Victoria, let's get back to the ship" Aston spoke, heading towards the Ceres. Victoria followed close behind and the two boarded the ship, docking their machines with the others. Garret climbed out of his Duel and stood at its feet for a moment before approaching Victoria while she descended from the Strike.
"Are you ok?" the blonde pilot asked as the brunette girl took her helmet off.
"Yes, I'm ok, that was just a little scary" Victoria said in reply. "I really hope we don't see any more fighting before we get to Orb, I'm exhausted" she sighed.
"Yeah, we've been fighting almost nonstop, I think it's taking its toll on everyone" Garret sighed. "Where do they get their numbers? Not to mention the seemingly endless supply of mobile suits" the young pilot wondered, cracking his neck.
"There was something weird about those enemies we just fought; they were piloting their machines too skillfully. I don't know if it was just my imagination but those pilots seemed a cut above the rest" Aston said, walking over to Garret and Victoria with Hilde by his side. Marcel followed quickly behind, listening to the conversation.
"No it wasn't your imagination, I noticed it too. The pilots still weren't fantastic but their movements were a lot more fluid and their aim was much better" Hilde spoke.
"That's bad. If they're getting better pilots, we could be in danger" Marcel said, his hands shaking a little. "Do we really have a chance in this war?" he asked quietly, his eyes lowering to the floor.
"Don't say that Marcel. We knew they'd have to get better eventually, but we can't let that stop us. If Purity isn't stopped then this world is as good as screwed. Are you seriously just gonna sit back and let Alastair have his way?" Garret asked loudly with anger clear in his voice as he strode towards his friend.
"Seriously Garret, how the hell are we supposed to win this?! How the hell do we fight against that Tyranny bastard along with this unending army that Purity seems to pulling out of nowhere?! Answer me that! What hope do we have?" Marcel roared. Garret noticed the tears in his friend's eyes as he yelled. The brown haired pilot's body shook as he stared at Garret, he was afraid.
"How do we know if we can win or not or we don't try? Nobody is unbeatable, we can take down the Tyranny… we just have believe in ourselves and work together" Garret said, his voice lowering to a more calm level. "We'll win this war, trust me Marcel" the blonde pilot spoke, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Y…you're right, we just have to keep fighting" Marcel said quietly, calming down.
"Come on, let's go relax in the lounge, you come with us Victoria" Garret said, smiling at his two friends. The three began walking away but stopped when Hilde walked up behind them.
"May I join you all?" she asked the three younger pilots.
"Of course, you don't need to ask" Victoria said with a smile. "Would you like to come as well Commander?" she asked, looking at Aston.
"Thank you for the offer, but unfortunately I have other matters to attend to. Next time perhaps" Aston replied, walking past his comrades and leaving the hangar. The others proceeded to the ship's lounge after changing into their uniforms.
"I wonder how long it will be until we get to Orb…" Garret muttered, laying down on one of the couches and covering his eyes with his arm.
"I couldn't help but notice that you guys seem really close" Hilde spoke, looking between Garret and Marcel. The two looked at each other and laughed a little. "How did you too meet anyway?" the purple haired pilot asked.
"Well now, that was a while ago huh Marcel?" Garret asked, looking at his friend.
"Yeah, just over a year ago" the brown haired young man replied with a smile.