If you recognise it… I don't own it.
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"Gundam Wing"
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"How long till pick-up arrives?" Duo asked, sinking down onto a rock.
"Three hours." Quatre replied, "Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine, as soon as I can get my arm seen to." Duo retorted, "I landed funny after the fourth explosion."
"Broken?" Heero growled.
"You stay away from it." Duo almost snarled, "When it gets set I want pain-killers."
"As would be expected of…" Wufei began.
"Of a what, Fei?" Duo snapped, "A coward? Look I'm tired and grouchy. If you want to show me up let Heero set your leg. No way I'm letting him do my arm… Not with the likelihood that I'll pass out from the pain. We're still in hostile territory."
"Is anyone else hurt?" Quatre asked.
"A few close calls, but nothing serious." Heero answered.
"Not badly." Trowa added.
"Don't believe them." Duo countered, "Not all of the blood on me is mine."
Quatre moved to join Duo, swiping blood from his forehead.
The blood stained hand of the blond barely brushed the rock the braided boy was sat on, but it was enough.
"Move!" Trowa yelled.
"Get behind some rocks!" Heero barked.
The two boys obeyed without asking questions.
Once clear they looked back and saw that the rock was glowing… Or rather patterns in the rock were. Glowing a light blue colour.
"Oh-Two?" Heero glanced at his partner.
"I don't know." Duo breathed, "I don't think it's a bomb. Why would it give itself away?"
"False sense of security?" Trowa suggested.
"Let's just get out of here." Quatre said.
"We can't." Wufei countered, his hand pushing against the apparently thin air of the exit, "There seems to be some kind of force-field."
"I thought those were only science fiction." Duo stared.
By now the boys had been forced to shield their eyes. The glow had gotten stronger and was almost blinding, even behind the dubious protection of the rocks.
"You know," Duo chirped after a few minutes of building light, but no explosion, "I feel so seven years old right now. Hiding from a scary light."
Instantly the light almost disappeared. The Pilots peered over the shelters of the rocks. Now the only the patterns could just be seen glowing faintly.
For a few seconds nothing happened. Then the faint glow spread, following patterns in the surrounding rock.
It moved quicker than the boys could react, surrounding them and lighting the cave once more.
As quickly as it had spread the glow intensified, back to its earlier blinding intensity.
But the boys couldn't shield their eyes this time, frozen in shock and surprise.
In their eyes the light came and then faded into blackness, as they passed out, as one.
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"Heero?" Duo called out as he came around, still on the floor, "Trowa? Cat? Fei?"
Duo paused for a moment. His voice sounded wrong. It was pitched too high.
The cave was also much colder than he remembered.
There also seemed to be weight pushing him down. He could stand upright, but he felt heavy.
And wasn't his arm broken earlier?
Duo raised his arm in front of his eyes to look at the damage.
But he couldn't see it. It was hidden from view by fabric. Not even his hand was visible.
In the half-light of the cave, Duo looked down at himself. There were his boots and his trousers and his belt… All on the floor.
And there were his feet… Underneath him.
Duo looked around, comparing all the differences he could notice.
Most importantly was the fact that everything was bigger than it had been last time he had looked.
"I'm a kid." Duo whispered, "I've been turned into a little kid!"
Duo struggled out of his weapon bandoliers, leaving them almost haphazardly on the floor. He took off his jacket and rolled the sleeves up on his t-shirt.
Tearing a strip from the bottom he made a belt and a quick hair-tie. He didn't have time to braid it, but it wouldn't do for his hair to get in his way.
Slowly Duo moved to where he last remembered Quatre being, as the blond had been the closest to him. He feared what he would find.
There was a pile of clothes on the floor and a child sized bundle in the middle.
"Cat!" Duo shook the bundle, "Cat! Wake up! Wake up!"
"Who's that?" The bundle spoke.
"It's Duo, Cat!" Duo said.
A head of blond poked out from the clothes.
"No, it's not." Quatre frowned, "Duo's older than you."
"I think that's up for negotiation right now," Duo countered, "Look at yourself."
Quatre glanced down at himself and did a double take.
"What's happened to us?" He breathed.
"We're kids." Duo replied, "I don't know how."
"What about the others?"
"I don't know. You were the closest to my location… Here, let me help you get half-way decent."
"Thank you." Quatre nodded.
Duo tore another strip from his t-shirt to be used as belt for Quatre's shirt. He then tore off the bottom bits of the shirt so that Quatre wouldn't trip over them.
Quatre tore the sleeves, until they were short enough, if not even lengths.
"You find Heero." Quatre instructed, "I'll help Trowa. Then Wufei. He should still be at the exit of the cave. We don't want to spend any more time in here than we have to."
Duo nodded and ran off.
Quatre quickly found Trowa. The sometimes-clown was blinking blurry eyes, as if he were waking up from a long sleep. The single visible eye saw Quatre, and then narrowed slightly in a frown.
"Who?" Trowa started.
"Trowa," Quatre smiled, "Are you alright?"
"Quatre?" Trowa stared.
"We've been turned into kids." Quatre stated, "So have you."
Trowa raised his hands and looked at them in amazement. He felt the contours of his face.
"How?" Trowa breathed.
"We don't know."
"Quatre?" Duo called out, "Can Heero borrow Tro's second t-shirt?"
"What's the matter?" Quatre started to panic.
"Heero was wearing his lycra top, remember?" Duo replied, "There's no way its going to stay on him now."
"He's a kid, too?"
"Yeah. Cute as a button. But a kid. Trowa?"
"Kid." Quatre answered.
Trowa had managed to pull off his shorter sleeved t-shirt, which he held out to Quatre. Quatre took it to Duo, while Trowa shortened his remaining top.
Duo accepted the t-shirt and took it to Heero, while Quatre returned to help Trowa form a belt for the t-shirt.
Quatre and Trowa found Wufei, also a child. But already awake and staring at his miniaturised form.
"What do we do?" Duo asked when they were all together again.
"Leave." Wufei growled.
"But the Preventers are coming here to retrieve us." Quatre countered.
"We can't stay in the cave. It is not a safe location." Heero stated.
"It's safer than out there!" Duo remarked.
"If we stay close to the cave entrance, and away from the rocks," Trowa suggested, "We would maintain our position, and hopefully not compromise security."
"What about weapons?" Quatre reminded, "Can we even still use them?"
"I do not have the strength to hold my gun steady." Heero confessed after a long pause.
"One moment." Duo skittered off, back into the cave.
"Duo!" Quatre went to dash after him, but Trowa caught him.
"No, little one." Trowa murmured, "Do not risk it."
"Oh-Two!" Heero yelped. He had tried to catch the former street-rat, but failed.
"Here!" Duo grinned as he returned, only to be roughly tackled to the floor by a furious Heero.
"Do not risk yourself unnecessarily!" Heero snapped.
"Geeze!" Duo sighed, "I only went to get something. The way I figure, it was that rock in the centre that caused all of this… And I steered clear of it."
"And what if you were wrong?" Wufei snarled, "We lost over ten years last time…. I don't think we have ten left."
"Here," Duo repeated holding out his prize, "It's my hold-out. Ceramic. Really light."
Heero took the gun from Duo. He felt a bit more secure with it in his grasp. He could at least fight back now. He could defend what was important to him.
But still one gun among five was not a brilliant situation. Especially considering that they only had one clip of fifteen bullets.
"How long till pick-up?" Duo asked.
"Not sure." Quatre frowned, "None of us have watches anymore… And we're not going back in to fetch one."
"I'll go out and take a look-see." Duo declared. Only to be pulled back by Heero.
"What if you are spotted?" Heero snarled.
"They're looking for adults, not kids." Duo countered, "And do you honestly think they'd spot me? I've been hiding for longer than you… Don't insult my abilities, Yuy."
Heero let Duo go. Internally the Perfect Soldier was fighting his emotions. Duo's current appearance made his instincts yell at him to protect the child. His emotions wanted to protect Duo from everything around them.
However his memories and logic reminded him that Duo was capable of protecting himself.
So Heero just stood there. The weight of the gun, little though it was, a slight comfort to him.
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This would eventually be a cross-over, inspired by the Round Robin "My Big Baby Brother". However anyone who decided to adopt this start could take it wherever they wanted.
I just want to see if the opening is intriguing enough.