Author's Notes

Sorry for the wait! I had so much to do this week!

Titanic X suggested this upcoming Shute-Captain-central story arc, and so I incorporated it into the various events and character development that's been going on. I hope you enjoy it :)

And before anyone asks, there's no shonen-ai or yaoi.

Disclaimer

Bandai and Sunrise own SD Gundam Force, and I do not. The OCs Aleda, Titan, and Myles are my creations.

Chapter 13: Magic Muddle

Aleda held the book open for Captain. "So, do you think you can translate it?" She, Captain, and Shute, inside Shute's cluttered workshop, huddled around a work table where a pair of silver roller blade attachments rested wheel-up amidst scattered skate design sketches.

"I have no guarantees, but I will certainly try my best," Captain said.

Shute leaned over the tome excitedly. "Awesome! I can't wait to see this spell!" he cheered.

"Thank you, Captain." Aleda beamed.

"Okay, okay, open it up! Show us!" Shute urged.

Aleda flipped the pages until she came to the one with the diagram of two people. "Here. It's this one." She pointed a white metal finger to the page.

Captain's visual sensors scanned the lines. "This passage contains significantly different features from the other text samples I have seen. Judging from the levels of sophistication and the etymological patterns, this is likely an older form of the Lacroan language. There may be some mistranslations."

"Try what you can," Aleda said.

"Alright." Captain skimmed the page, again. "'The Mind Look Spell. The spell allows two people to connect minds. Use it to find secrets. Cast it on two people.'"

"A mind-reading spell?" Shute volunteered.

"The meaning is uncertain, but that is possible," Captain said.

"That sounds so cool!" Shute said.

I could find out the enemy's secrets, maybe, Aleda thought. That would be a big help to Zero and everyone. Aloud, she asked, "How can I cast it?"

Captain returned his gaze to the diagram. "Let's see..." He glanced between Shute and Aleda. "From my understanding, the caster can can it on himself and another person, or on two other people. Who will participate?"

"Can you and I try it, Captain? It would be so cool to read your mind!" Shute piped up.

"I would be fine with that," Captain said with a nod. "What do you think, Aleda?"

"Sure."

"Okay, then place one hand on Shute and one hand on me." The three friends moved into position. "Now, there's a long spell in old Lacroan that you have to say," he said to Aleda.

"I'll repeat after you," Aleda said.

"Okay." Captain recited a long phrase that they could not understand, but Aleda repeated each syllable, closing her eyes to concentrate. Her magic circle sprouted, glowing blue, above them. Shute felt a low tingle in his body, as if he'd touched an electric outlet. Aleda echoed the next line, and he warmed. At the next recitation, he gained a feverish ache.

A blow hit Shute, though unlike most blows, it seemed to impact the whole length of his spine as well as the back of his head. Blackness inked over his vision.

Shute opened his eyes to see Aleda cradling her head. "Ow, ow..." Behind her was himself, shaking his head and then blinking. His eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern. Shute moved so that he could get his bearings, and Captain's arm came into view. "Captain," he sighed in relief, but his voice caught; his voice was deeper, and it had a familiar metallic edge to it.

Shute's face across the room frowned. "Me...?"

Shute moved his arms more, but all he saw were Captain's bulky hands in his face. "Captain? Captain?" he said, again, but that, too, sounded like Captain.

"Shute?" his other self said, eyes wide. "Is that you?"

"I'm here. I'm in here!" Shute stepped forward, and his feet clunked heavily against the floor.

Aleda's eyescreens darkened, and the Gundamess collapsed. "Aleda!" both Shute and Captain cried and rushed to her. The one with the human hands, grunting with the effort, turned her over. "She's unconscious," he observed. "And very heavy." He looked over his body. "I am not accustomed to human strength."

"It is you, Captain?" Shute asked again with Captain's voice.

His body—Captain—nodded. "Yes, Shute. And you appear to be in my frame, too."

Shute held Captain's hands—his own, now—in front of his face. "What happened?" He started to notice numbers and letters proceeding in the corner of his vision. Bar graphs and wave plots appeared. "Wh-what?" A green lens slid over his right eye, and everything glowed in bright colors ranging from blue to red. "Aaah!" Captain-in-Shute appeared bright yellow, orange, and red. And his heart rate was elevated above normal levels, his temperature was above average, and much of his brain activity centered around the amygdala, and—

"Shute! Settle down!" Captain said, touching his warm human hands to Shute's metallic shoulders. "It's going to be okay!"

Shute nodded. "Should I... scan Aleda?"

Captain stepped back. "If you can, yes."

Shute directed his optical sensors to the Gundamess between them. "Her energy levels are pretty low. Her body is in a low-power mode. I think the magic drained her too much at once, so her body used emergency protocols."

Captain nodded, his brown hair tuft bobbing with his head. "I'm glad that she is still functioning. Could you carry her to Kao Lyn?"

"I think so..." Shute bent down and slipped his large metal hands underneath the Gundamess's head and legs. He raised her slowly, wobbling. "W-Woah!" She nearly slid out of his grip, but he tightened his fingers and repositioned his hands. "I'm not very used to this body."

"Neither am I adjusted to yours," Captain admitted. "I theorize that we will need Aleda's magic in order to reverse the process."

"No percentage?" Shute asked. He tried to smirk but found that he couldn't: his face was as stiff as concrete.

"I don't have the data available to me to make the necessary calculations," Captain stated as he started to walk towards the door of Shute's workshop. "You have them."

"Oh." Shute followed behind with Aleda in his arms.

Baku, returning from a riceball snack in Shute's kitchen, spotted Shute and Captain walking quickly from the workshop—with an unconscious Aleda in Captain's arms. "Aleda!" He ran down the wood bridge to them. "Captain, what happened to her?" he asked the Gundam.

"She used powerful magic, and it seems to have drained her energy," Shute said. "We're taking her to Chief Kao Lyn to see if he can help her recover."

"Great." Baku shook his head. "She must have done something careless. I worried that this was gonna happen while Zero was gone." Looking at Captain and Shute, he said, "I'll go with you."

The two nodded.

Captain's v-fin's flipped upside-down and flashed. "Dark Axis activity detected," a voice echoed in the Gundam audio receptor. "Gundam Force must mobilize immediately!"

"U-Uh, okay," Captain squeaked.

"What was that, Captain?"

"Affirmative!"

"Okay. We're sending the Re-Equip ring your way."

Shute stepped in front of him. "Shute, no!"

Baku blinked. "Huh?"

"Let me talk to them," Shute demanded. He leaned into the side of Captain's helmet and said, "SDG base, do you read? We have a situation. Captain Gundam is not fit for combat. I repeat, Captain Gundam is not fit for combat."

"What is the situation?"

"An accident has rendered Captain Gundam inoperable for an unknown period of time."

Chief Haro's voice came over the connection. "If Captain can move, we need him. There are multiple bogies heading for the base."

Shute frowned, and Captain made no reply.

"Guneagle needs support in the air! He can't take this by himself!"

"I have to do it, Captain," Captain said.

Baku glanced back and forth between them. "What's going on?"

Shute looked at him grimly. "I'm Captain."

"And I'm Shute," Captain said.

"W-What?!" Baku jumped back. "How?!"

"We'll explain after this," Shute-in-Captain said as he walked to the Musha Gundam. "For now, watch Aleda for us." He extended his arms to hand the Gundamess to Baku.

Baku, wide-eyed, nodded and reached to take her.

Shute's metal hands slipped and dropped her. Thunk! Baku looked down at the Gundamess half-buried in dirt. "Sorry! It was an accident!" Shute spluttered.

"We're doomed," Baku moaned.

…

The Re-Equip Ring sailed towards Shute's house. Shute eyed it intently, studying the distance measurements and projected trajectory coordinate numbers on his readout. "Okay, so I just use my boosters at... now!" Blue exhaust flared from his feet and thrust him into the sky.

Shute knew from the readouts that he was supposed to arrive at the Re-Equip Ring in mere seconds, but numbers could not warn him about the sensation of flight. The Ring enlarged rapidly. I'm gonna miss it! he fretted. He angled himself—

—and crashed into the underside of the Re-Equip Ring. "Ow!" Shute instinctively flinched, but when he raised his hand to rub his helm, he realized that he didn't feel any pain, just a slight pressure where he'd jarred his head and dented the peak of his helmet.

Meanwhile, Captain and Baku watched worriedly from the ground as Shute-Captain ricocheted off the bottom rim of the Re-Equip Ring, which hovered to wait for him. "Ouch!" Baku winced. Aleda still lay unmoving in his arms.

Captain-Shute frowned. "I don't know what to do," he said.

"Maybe if you yell for him the way he does for you?" Baku suggested.

"He needs accuracy, not power," Captain replied.

…

On the White Base, Juli gaped. Chief Haro peered at the screen. "Did I just see what I think I did?" he asked.

"Captain Gundam's trajectory was off by almost 45 degrees," Juli said.

"What happened, Captain?" Chief Haro demanded.

…

"N-Nothing!" Shute said. He lowered the output of the boosters so that he could inch closer, with more control, to the Ring. After a few seconds, he reached out a metal hand and grasped a seam on the floating station. "Ah!" His hard fingers nearly slipped off the smooth surface, but Shute curled their tips more tightly so that he could hook into the lip.

"Captain Gundam, is your vestibular system working?" Chief Haro asked.

"Yes! Everything's working fine, Chief!" Shute said. Then, he muttered, "It's just me that's not working."

"I didn't copy, Captain."

"I said nothing, Chief!"

The blue flares snuffed as Shute deactivated his jet boosters and hauled himself around and over the lip of the Ring. "I made it," he laughed. A crackling blue field of energy awaited him, and Shute stepped forward. Once his body touched the field, it raised him into the center of the Ring. "Huh, so this auto-docks," Shute noted under his breath.

White claws extended toward him, and Shute held his cooling intake. That's right. This is where it takes me apart and replaces my arms and legs... He gulped.

…

"Something is wrong," Chief Haro said, turning. "Chief Kao Lyn, what do you make of Captain's behavior?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that someone else was in that frame," Kao Lyn replied. "His behavior doesn't match his personality profile at all."

Haro looked at the screen, where the Re-Equip Ring was lowering Captain Gundam's combat helmet and the reddish rocket booster attachments to complete the transformation. "That accident must have been more serious than I thought. Keep a close eye on him, Kao Lyn. We're taking him in for a check-up as soon as this battle is over."

…

The helmet clicked into place, triggering a sensation similar to fingers sliding down his scalp, only inside his head, instead. Shute shuddered from the strange feeling. Then, the rocket boosters plugged into his shoulders, sending a shiver down his central cord bundles as they connected with interior wiring. He wanted to grimace, but his mouth could only open and shut like a nutcracker doll. How does Captain get used to this? he wondered.

He triggered the mouthguard to snap together and hide his face. Okay, here we go. Shaking off his discomfort, he activated the rumbling rocket boosters. "Captain Gundam, launching!" he announced.

Shute rocketed out the Re-Equip Ring. Okay, so just gotta go to the coordinates... He wiggled his legs to steer right, but his trajectory jerked sharply, tipping him almost upside down. "Waaaaaahh!"

Baku clenched Aleda's shoulderguard tighter. "Captain, do something! Say something!"

Captain squeezed his rubbery fingers together. "I don't know what to do." He only watched as his Gundam body flew out of sight.

Shute slowly unwound his turn as numerous flying bodies appeared ahead. Maroon and black robots and many Zakos zoomed through the air with their large, yellow, purple-tipped booster packs. "Zapper Zaku and Destroyer Dom," Shute identified. "And Zakos." His fingers twitched automatically towards Captain's beam rifle. Shute slowed his intake. I can handle this. A lot is automatic programs. My computer knows how to fight, so...

Another body jet in from the side. Shute jumped, gripped the rifle, and cocked it, but his vision zoomed in on the unknown bogie, and he saw that it was a familiar flier. "Guneagle reporting in, Captain, sir!" Guneagle saluted him. "What's the plan?"

"Uh..."

Guneagle slowed to a hover. "Captain?"

"It's Shute," the boy squeaked.

"What's that about Shute?"

Machine gun bullets whizzed between them, and they turned their sights to maniacally-laughing Zapper Zaku. Dom pulled up beside him and launched two missiles at the flying Gundams as they started to part from the bullet stream.

The proximity sensor in Shute's systems alarmed him to the incoming missile. Shute gasped and wracked his CPU for a solution. Standard protocol: evade and/or early detonation. He fired the Vulcan cannons on the sides of his helmet—strangely enough, they didn't blow out his auditory senses the way he expected; the data was collected and converted into an appropriate volume registry in the seconds before it ran through the CPU as a sensation—and they scattered over the missiles—though not in an accurate fashion. One missile exploded harmlessly, but the Vulcan cannon bullets then veered to Guneagle's path.

"Woah!" Guneagle gasped as the bullets whizzed centimeters from his visor. He rolled out of the way, so that he avoided the bullets and also pulled the other homing missile into his ally's attack. The missile detonated without grazing him. "That was too close for comfort, Captain!"

"Sorry, Guneagle!" Shute frantically apologized.

"Captain, look out!" Guneagle called.

Shute wheeled, and Zapper Zaku, hovering inches away, grinned at him over the barrels of his machine gun. "You're slackin' off today, eh, Gundam?"

Reflexively, Shute swung and nailed a heavy metal fist into Zapper's head. "Ow!" While the 'bot reeled, Shute pounded his jetpack with the Vulcan cannon. It sparked. "Ah, no! Stop!"

Guneagle, meanwhile, kept Dom at bay with his beam rifle. However, Zako soldiers zoomed past him. "Oh, no!" Guneagle shot missiles from the underside of his wings into the Zako cluster. Though the Zakos veered desperately to escape, the missiles blew many away. Shattered yellow and purple jetpack pieces rained down with cries of "Zakooooooooooo!"

Zapper tailspinned toward the ground, his jetpack steaming. "Yeah! Got him!" Shute cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

…

Chief Haro raised an eyebrow behind his green mask. "There is definitely something wrong. I'd almost say he acts like..." He jolted. "It can't be!"

…

Shute heard the whistle of missiles and turned to see Dom firing rockets at Guneagle. "Gotcha!" He fired his Vulcan cannons, again. Dom flinched at the impacts, and a couple of the projectiles exploded in close range, singeing his face. But then the steady pounding of the bullets gave way to empty clacks. "Huh?" Clack-clack. The cannons moved, but nothing flew out, and a flashing red "0" at the top corner of Shute's view caught his attention. "Out of ammo, already?" He raised his beam rifle to fire.

…

"What do the readouts say, Chief Kao Lyn?" Haro asked.

"Hiyaaaaah!" Kao Lyn punched in front of the monitor. "Captain Gundam's functions are all normal, according to the sensors."

"Then why—"

"Captain Gundam is burning through his rifle's energy!" Juli interrupted.

…

Violet arced across the sky chasing Dom and several Zakos as Shute dragged the beam rifle's trajectory after them. Guneagle swerved. "Captain!" he yelled.

"Sorry!"

The stream of light faded and disappeared. Shute shook the beam rifle. "Oh, no! This one ran out, too?" He tossed the drained rifle, which dropped to an uphill clearing below.

"Ah! Captain!" Guneagle reached helplessly toward the gun as it fell.

…

A man with a huge backpack, thick boots, and long pants panted as he stepped out of the woods. He brushed the sweat from his forehead and lifted his backpack over his shoulder.

Thwack! He yelped as something heavy smacked his pack and knocked him over. The man peered over the edge of his humongous backpack to find a thick, silver gun. "Aaaaah!"

…

Shute jet at the Zakos, leading with his fist. Their ranks split under his punch like wrapping paper slicing apart between scissors. "I'm getting the hang of this!" the boy cried. Bam! His right booster exploded, then his left.

Dom's deep chuckles reached his audios as he began to fall. "'Bye-bye, Gundam!"

Shute screamed on the way down to the clearing. The last thing his visual receptors perceived before impact was a terrified hiker huddled under his oversized backpack.

…

Shute slowly regained his consciousness and sight. Past bright lights, he saw a high, green ceiling above him. SDG Base, he thought. His tensed joints slackened as he relaxed. I must have slept over. That was a weird dream, that I was Captain... The ceiling still appeared a blurry green smudge, but it was steadily solidifying in his vision. He blinked—or rather, he tried to, but his eyelids didn't move. Shute raised a hand to rub his eyes—and Captain's hand came over his face.

"Aaaaaaahhh!" Shute cried in Captain's voice.

"Shute!" Shute's human body rushed to his side, presenting uncharacteristically serious green eyes.

Kao Lyn bounded in behind human-Captain. "Shute, calm down!" the scientist urged him. "You're safe! You're okay!"

"Captain, we're still... still..." Shute shuddered. A loud hum replaced his organic pulse, and his entire body felt as if it were encased in a layer of bubble wrap—he couldn't even sense the room temperature. The hum of his new body drew his eyescreens down to his chest, where the Soul Drive compartment lay folded open, exposing the whirling, spherical core.

Captain nodded. "We are. Aleda, Guneagle, and Bakunetsumaru are right here." He gestured; Bakunetsumaru stood close by with a grim scowl, and on two other work tables next to Shute's lay Guneagle and the unconscious Gundamess.

Guneagle, whose wings and shoulder armor had been removed to expose inner circuitry, raised a hand in greeting. "Yo."

"What happened to the Dark Axis?" Shute asked.

"Guneagle disabled Destroyer Dom, and the Dark Axis retreated." Captain continued, "We can plan a way to reverse the transformation once Aleda regains consciousness."

"I can't believe this happened." Shute gaped at his huge hands. "Did we really switch bodies?"

Captain crossed his arms. "For all we know, our consciousnesses could still be in our bodies while we merely have the control and sensation of the other's body."

"I don't know if that makes much of a difference," Shute sighed.

"Don't worry, Shute!" Kao Lyn nodded reassuringly. "We'll do everything we can to return you to normal. Until then, stay here in White Base and relax."

"What about school? And Mom, Dad, and Nana?" Shute asked. Though his voice was as expressive as always—even though it was Captain's voice—his face allowed no show of the sadness and worry he felt.

"Uh... Well, I guess Captain will have to fill in for you." Kao Lyn scratched his head.

Captain nodded, bobbing his bang-tuft. "I'll cover for you, Shute."

"You? But, Captain, you don't know about school, and—"

"I have learned many of your routines at home and at school from your stories, Shute. I can do this."

A groan interrupted them. Everyone turned to Aleda as her eyescreens flickered on. "Hey, sleeping beauty," Guneagle called.

Aleda blinked and turned her head. "Huh...?"

Baku stepped between their berths. "Hey, Aleda!" he said cheerily. He brought a heavy hand down on Guneagle's chest, causing the flier to flinch. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," she answered.

"Aleda!" Shute said from his table. "The magic switched Captain and me!"

"What?" Aleda pushed herself up.

"The effect of the magic spell seems to have been to switch our conscious experiences," Captain said.

Aleda's eyes widened at the seriousness in those green human eyes. "Wait, you mean... you're Captain?"

The boy nodded.

"We should try the spell again and see if it switches us back," Shute said.

Baku stomped closer to Aleda's table. "Oh, no, you don't!" he said. "Aleda's too tired, and if you try it again, it might make things worse. We need to wait for Zero to come back, so he can help us figure this out. No one else knows what they're doing."

Aleda winced. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have tried that one. Zero told me not to do the ones in Ancient Lacroan..." She trailed off.

"Ah, so that's what it is." Baku put his hands on his hips. "I hope he knows how to fix it. Or else it's gonna be terrible for Shute and Captain."

Aleda curled in on herself, and Shute protested, "Baku, she feels bad about it, already."

"I'm not gonna mince words, Shute." Baku looked straight into the Gundamess's eyes. "It's disrespectful and foolish to ignore your teacher like that. I always listened to my master's instructions, and I'm sure Zero did, too. That's how we got where we are. If you don't want to listen, you don't want to learn."

"I'm sorry." Her emerald eyes pooled. "I'm sorry..."

The door hissed open. Everyone turned to see Chief Haro entering. "Chief!" The Gundam Force exchanged salutes.

"At ease. What is the status?"

"Guneagle suffered minor damage to his wing joints, and Aleda has regained consciousness." Kao Lyn thrust his finger at flesh-encased Captain. "Captain is a human, because of magic."

"What?!"

They explained the situation again to Haro, and the Chief sighed. "Captain Gundam, Shute, and Aleda," he said, "That was a very unwise move. In one fell swoop, two of our members have been incapacitated for an unknown duration. With Zero searching for Titan, we now have only Bakunetsumaru, Guneagle, Gunbike, and the Gundivers present to counter the Dark Axis. And, Gunbike's design supports Captain; as we discovered during Cobramaru's assault, he cannot easily maneuver off-road terrain. We are more vulnerable to the enemy now than ever before."

"I-I'm sorry," Aleda repeated.

"Where is the spell book right now?" Chief Haro demanded.

"At my house," Shute said.

"It will be returned here and confiscated for the time-being. Aleda, for your own safety, you are not to practice spells for a 48 hour period so that you can recover your strength."

She nodded and shut her eyes to hide the guilt that welled in them.

"As for you two, Captain and Shute: both of you are suspended from combat indefinitely. Shute will stay in White Base, and Captain will keep a low profile within Shute's home and daily life. I would keep you here, too, Captain, but Shute's mother will worry if her son is gone for too long."

"Understood, sir," Captain said, saluting.

Shute nodded. "Yes, sir."

…

Shortly after the conversation with Chief Haro, the lab cleared of all individuals but Aleda and Kao Lyn. The robotics scientist wanted to monitor Aleda longer for any other complications arising from the intense ancient spell. He'd wanted to monitor Captain and Shute longer, too, but they had had to leave with Chief Haro in order to plan a cover-up for the unusual switch. Guneagle had been completely fine. "Don't worry about me, babe," he'd said to Aleda with a wink emote that provoked a self-conscious blush in the Gundamess. "I'm a-okay. Ask me if you need any help after you're done." Then Baku had dragged him out roughly amid fultile protests.

Aleda waited calmly while the scanner bar attached to the table trawled over her. Kao Lyn stood at a console, immersed in the numbers and graphs on the screen. Once the bar had reached the other side and stopped, Aleda spoke up, "Kao Lyn?"

"Hm?"

"I had a question."

Kao Lyn turned his head slightly. "Oh?"

"Mobile citizens don't fall in love, right? So, why has Guneagle, um…"

"Flirted with you?"

"Yeah." Aleda blushed.

Kao Lyn grinned. "Several months ago, I released a software and hardware update to all mobile citizens that installed one of Titan's functions that I had cut before. It was a mechanism installed in the motherboard that included a piece that had a sort of polarity to it. It wasn't absolutely necessary for Gundams' function, so I didn't replicate it in my first desgns. But, I was afraid that my creations were missing something important, so I tried installing that mystery component—You can get up, now. I have enough scans." The scientist moved aside so that Aleda could slide off the table. Her mechanical feet tinked softly to the ground.

Kao Lyn continued, "It seems that the effect of that component is an attraction to an inversely polarized complementary component in your motherboard. I'm guessing that that component is in charge of romantic—or, rather, reproductive—attraction in Sola Diorama Gundams. Which means, I suppose, that you can expect many mobile citizens to start to behave strangely around you." He bashfully scratched his head. "I apologize for that."

Aleda took small, easy steps to test her systems. "All mobile citizens?"

"Yes, all of them."

"What about when Guneagle flirts with Juli and Pamela?"

Kao Lyn laughed. "Probably because there are almost no female robot targets for his energies. Humans can have strange attractions, too, you know."

Aleda giggled. "I guess."

"Okay, you are free to go for now." Kao Lyn spun. "If anything happens, though, come straight to me. I'll do what I can to help."

Aleda nodded.

As soon as she exited the lab, Aleda's grin fell. She drew her fingers across the front piece of her skirt. "All of them," she echoed to herself. "The mobile citizens..."

…

Shute clunked beside Captain towards the launch decks. His Soul Drive still hummed lightly in his chest—so lightly that he feared to breathe, as if such a small motion could displace the delicate core. He shivered as he remembered the sensation of the Soul Drive compartment closing: it had felt like a rumbly stomach, but in his chest and without queasiness.

He flexed a hand. "No offense, Captain, but this feels weird," he said to his displaced friend. The metal digits touched his palm, but the deadened feeling allowed him only to sense the resistance between the two surfaces, not the texture.

"None taken. I feel the same," Captain said, smiling slightly. "I have at least mastered one facial expression."

"That's great, Captain." Shute switched to a happy ^^ expression for his eyescreens. "I figured this one out."

"Good."

Shute's face returned to normal, and his eyescreens drifted to floor as they shuffled along.

"Are you alright, Shute?" Captain asked, his eyes scrunching in concern.

Shute jerked his gaze to Captain in surprise but said, "Yeah, I'm fine, Captain." How does he know how I feel, even though his body can't express anything?

Guneagle walked by them. "Hey, Captain! Shute! You doin' alright?"

"Yeah."

"We're operating well."

"Good. Hey, Shute!" Guneagle raised a hand. "Good job taking out that Zapper-whatsit guy!"

Shute grinned—and found that he couldn't. But, at least he was able to swing his hand for a high-five. "Ah, geeze, thanks!"

"Hey, just sayin' it like it is." With a salute, he said, "Good luck on the surface, Captain! Catch ya later!" and continued on.

"Am I doing alright, Captain?" Shute asked his best friend.

Captain smiled. "Yeah, you're doing fine. I hope I can perform well, too."

…

On the Gunperry, Zero sat apart from the GMs, who stood in neat rows chatting casually without changing their footing. Some of them rotated their torsos to see each other.

The blue lunchbox lay open in Zero's lap. The Winged Knight smoothly slid a deviled egg into his uncovered mouth and chewed on the rich, creamy snack. He "mm"ned in pleasure. Delicious as always, milady, he silently praised. He swallowed and reached for the next one. For a moment, he held it in his hand while his thoughts drifted to less encouraging topics. I wonder what I will find? I fear that Titan did not survive. He bit into the egg. I hope I'm wrong.

Author's Notes

Aleda already got in trouble XD Zero won't be happy when he gets back, but in the meantime, Aleda's gotta wing it on her own and take responsibility. ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) My weekend job is resuming tomorrow, so the next chapter will probably be up around the same time next week. This is a lot of new writing, so I don't have old stuff to save me time, which is both good and bad, because new writing tends to come out better.

Some interesting Captain facts I think I should explain: in SDGF, he noticeably does not feel pain. He gets ganked/dismembered/both several times, but though he struggles, he doesn't favor one limb or another, he doesn't really flinch, and he doesn't scream or otherwise complain about pain. This indicates to me that he does not experience pain and only suffers from loss of function due to damage. Thus, Shute's feeling unusually numb. However, Captain experiences the blunt force of a blow, and he also has sensors and self-diagnostic programs that tell him and the SDG what's damaged. The sensors and programs, however, don't manifest the damage report in the experience of pain, because that would be inconvenient during combat. Also, because of the lack of a system that reports outside stimuli as a sensory experience, Captain doesn't feel heat or cold, although he of course can measure the temperature; nor does he feel textures such as soft or hard, even though he is aware of the hardness, resilience, and molecular makeup of any material that he can scan or that he has stored in his internal database. He knows the exact pressure that he can apply to Shute in a hug without harming him, but he feels none of the warmth or softness from that affectionate expression. These traits apply to all Neotopian-made Gundams and mobile citizens in my fics.

Emotionally, though, Captain, Guneagle, Gunbike, and the rest of the Neotopian robots experience everything their Sola Diorama counterparts can—even romantic attraction, after Kao Lyn's upgrade. Most mobile citizens are very familiar and comfortable with their emotions, but Captain, who is a military unit with a personality that wishes to please superiors and authority figures, has not nurtured and explored his feelings much before meeting Shute and his other friends. Why has Captain not shown an attraction to Aleda like Guneagle? As Baku demonstrated, even robots with the ability to crush on someone won't all be attracted to the same kind of people. Captain appreciates Aleda as a comrade and a friend—or maybe a friend of a friend—but romance never crossed his mind.

Thanks again to Titanic X for beta reading and for giving me suggestions for this fun little arc!

Please review! And I'm still lookin' for beta number 2, so don't be shy if you think you might like to volunteer!

-Penelopi