Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Gundam Wing: The little Princess
Chapter 3: Recollections of Change
"And soon the Alliance will be brought to justice for their crimes against the colonies!" proclaimed Mei Ran triumphantly, striking a valiant pose. Wu fei just ignored her over-enthusiastic husband, there was nothing for her to gain out of encouraging such idiotic behavior. Married by custom at 14, neither of them were exactly enthusiastic about being wed. Mei Ran just took her silence as a challenge though and moved to stand directly in from of Wu Fei, forcing her attention on him. "Why are you so gloomy all the time? A woman should smile when she hears that justice will be brought down on the wicked."
"Justice doesn't exist in this world," replied Wu Fei flatly, turning away from Mei Ran and focusing on the book she was studying, one on the history of ancient China.
"It's sad that you believe that," said Mei Ran. "But that's what I'm here for. I'm going to bring back justice to this world, and return faith to those like you who have lost it. That's why I'm now reclaiming the title of the ancient hero Nataku! His strength will be mine and justice will be served!"
"You're too weak to call yourself Nataku," replied Wu Fei, looking over her shoulder dispassionately at Mei Ran. "You couldn't even defeat me, let alone the whole Alliance. Weaklings should just sit back and let the strong rule. It's just a waste of time and effort otherwise."
"If you think you're so much stronger than me, then let's fight!" declared Mei Ran, taking a fighting stance. He was from the legendary Dragon Clan, which was once renowned for its fighting prowess, but was now reduced to a state of weakness, exiled to an ancient dying space colony on the fringes of human territory. Mei Ran was the strongest warrior in the modern Dragon Clan, but Wu Fei knew that didn't mean a thing.
Mei Ran waited for Wu Fei to take a fighting stance, which she still didn't. With a scowl of frustration, Mei Ran charged at Wu Fei, trying to force her hand. Wu Fei skillfully dodged under Mei Ran's attack and using his momentum against him, flipped the overextended warrior onto his back. When he tried to get up, he found Wu Fei's foot posed for a lethal strike right at his throat if he made a move to get up. They stared down each other for a moment, Mei Ran scowling while Wu Fei just stared impassively down at her husband. With a scoff Wu Fei moved away from her fallen foe and back to her book.
"You're so weak, this is pointless," said Wu Fei, flipping to find her lost book page. "Justice is only for those who are strong enough to take it."
"Then why don't you do so!" shot back Mei Ran, tears coming to his eyes. "You're strong, yet you do nothing! I need to be the strongest because of people like you!"
Before Wu Fei could respond, an alarm went off in the colony. Sirens and warning lights flashed throughout, signaling an imminent attack. Mei Ran's personal comm unit crackled to life.
"Sir," reported a technician who served the Dragon Clan. "Several of the Alliance military's Leo mobile suits have breached our perimeter and seem intent on wiping everything out. They have refused all attempts at communications and are headed to this base right now."
"The Alliance!" shouted Mei Ran, equal parts fear and excitement in his voice. He turned to look at Wu Fei, as if challenging her to say something. "I'll show you what true justice is when I wipe out these soldiers and make the will of the colonies known to the Alliance!"
"Have it your way," scoffed Wu Fei. "You're just going to waste your time."
"You're coming too!" said Mei Ran, grabbing Wu Fei's arm and dragging her down the hall towards the base's Hanger. Wu Fei just sighed and went with him. It was all a waste of time anyways. They ran through the maze of tunnels that made up the base, the sounds of explosions getting louder and louder as they went.
Eventually they made it to the base's hanger bay. The only vehicles in the hanger were two oversized mobile suits, one still missing some of the armor plating around it. The completed one was all white with a set of rocket boosters on its back. On its head it wore a helmet with a red synthetic plume on top as its only stylistic decoration. Wu Fei remembered it as the Tallgeese, the prototype model to the modern Leo mobile suit standard for use in the Alliance military force. The Tallgeese was larger than the standard Leo and had been deemed too expensive to produce and too demanding on the pilot to be safe for use. Only two units had been made, one stored here, and one in a museum on Earth. The other, still incomplete mobile suit was just as large, and much different from the Leo. Instead of being made out of Titanium it was made out of Gundanium Alloy, a metal that could only be made in outer space. This made it much tougher than its cousin and gave it the designation as a "Gundam". The Gundam itself was designated as the Shenlong Gundam, and it was to be outfitted with a wide variety of weaponry to make it suitable for almost all forms of combat.
"With these the Alliance won't know what hit them," smirked Mei Ran confidently. He ran to the Tallgeese, the only one of the pair that was completed, and hopped into the cockpit. With a wave he closed the cockpit and then shot out of the hanger, towards battle.
"What the hell does a weakling like him expect to be able to do?" asked Wu Fei.
"To end the oppression of the Colonies by the Alliance I'd assume," said a voice behind Wu Fei.
She turned around and saw the creator of the Tallgeese and Shenlong, Master O. He was a large bald man who at one time had been one of the premier geniuses for the Alliance, before defecting from Earth to help arm the colonies. He was also a master of various types of martial arts, making him a very dangerous foe. Wu Fei didn't know why he didn't pilot a mobile suit, she suspected he was either a hopeless pilot or had some type of illness that didn't allow it. Or was a coward, something Wu Fei didn't like considering.
"He's a weakling and a fool who doesn't know his own limits. He can't even beat me, a woman, in a fight."
"You're an exceptional person, I doubt most people could beat you in a fight," replied Master O. "It's not really a fair comparison."
"You can," admitted Wu Fei. Master O was one of the few people she couldn't beat, and who she liked sparring with for that very reason. It helped temper her sense of pride.
"Give it a few years when you actually have a decent reach and I won't stand a chance. But even so, Mei Ran will fight, because he believes in a higher goal, just like everyone else on this colony. We're all willing to give up our lives to defeat OZ and free the colonies."
"Which is why you are going to sacrifice the colony by dropping it on Earth for Operation Meteor," muttered Wu Fei darkly, her feelings on the plan well known.
"It's unfortunate that this attack had to happen now though," said Master O, ignoring her complaints. "The Alliance might very well exterminate everyone here before we can do anything. And all of our plans will be wasted."
"It was all a waste anyways. No one here is as strong as the alliance. The weak shouldn't even bother fighting."
The sound of explosions had only intensified while they were talking. Master O walked over to a console and turned it on. The images shown on the large screen were of the Tallgeese zooming across the battlefield, taking out a Leo suit with several well placed shots. But the Tallgeese was still out numbered four to one. Things would get worse if the Leos called in reinforcements; the Colony didn't have that option due to the jamming separating them from each other. Wu Fei watched as Mei Ran failed to control the thrust of the Tallgeese and almost crashed into the side of the colony. It was a big area but the Tallgeese was designed for open space, the thrusters were too powerful. And the G's inside of the suit must have been killer. Next to Wu Fei, Master O just shook his head.
"The suit's too powerful for a pilot of his level. It'll kill him in a matter of minutes at this rate, assuming those Leo's don't get him first," sighed Master O in resignation.
Wu Fei felt a cold feeling in her chest, something tightening. The enemy Leo's started to blast at the Tallgeese, only hitting with every couple shots, but each impact caused the feeling in her chest to grow worse. Unable to watch any longer, Wu Fei turned away from the monitor and ran across the hanger. Master O turned around and saw where she was headed, yelling out in panic.
"What are you doing!" he yelled as Wu Fei sat down in the cockpit to the Shenlong Gundam. "That Gundam isn't complete yet!"
"It's complete enough," replied Wu Fei, closing the cockpit and powering up the suits thrusters. She blasted off out of the hanger to where Mei Ran was. As she flew, she took stock of the weapons loaded onto the suit. Currently it only had a pair of headed mounted Vulcan guns and a beam glaive attached magnetically to its back. The right arm of the suit was missing completely and still undergoing development. It would have to be enough though.
Wu Fei emerged out into the open field of the colony and saw the fight ranging in its usually calm space. The flowers that covered the area had been flattened or blasted away in large swathes, leading to a haunting quality in the area. The Tallgeese flew around the area, only able to dodge the shots from the three Leo suits. Each time it did so though, its reaction for the next movement was just a fraction slower. It was only time before Mei Ran would be unable to dodge at all.
Taking the beam glaive in her left hand, Wu Fei charged at the nearest suit. The pilot, having been concentrating on taking out the Tallgeese was unprepared as they were chopped in half by the green energy beam. The pieces fell to the ground and exploded, a fuel line probably having been cut and ignited. The other two Leo's turned to react to the new threat but were too slow. With a yell, Wu Fei charged forward, her thrusters stirring up a large cloud of flowers around her.
"Yaaaa!" she yelled, swinging once more with her glaive, taking out another foe. She turned to look at the last enemy and pushed the switch to fire her Vulcan guns, riddling the enemy foe with bullets. She only stopped when the counter clicked empty. The last Leo collapsed to the ground, torn to shreds by the onslaught.
Wu Fei heard a crash behind her and turning around expecting more enemies instead saw the Tallgeese, collapses onto the ground, unmoving.
"Mei Ran!" she yelled, the constricting feeling in her chest returning.
She walked the Shenlong Gundam over to the Tallgeese and opened the cockpit. Dropping a line down, she descended to the ground as fast as she could. Jumping off several meters off the ground, WU Fei landed in a crouch and ran over to the Tall Geese. She pushed a button on the outside of the suit and entered in the override code, opening up the cockpit from the outside. Inside she saw Mei Ran, unmoving.
Mei Ran!" yelled Wu Fei, panic overrunning her. He didn't respond though, so she yelled again. "Mei Ran!"
"Wu Fei…" muttered Mei Ran, opening his eyes and looking at Wu Fei. "Ha, to be saved by my wife…"
"How are you feeling?" asked Wu Fei.
"How are the flowers?"
"The flowers?" asked Wu Fei, confused. "Those aren't important!"
"I failed to even protect some flowers from being destroyed, didn't I?"
"No, you're strong," replied Wu Fei. "Stronger than anyone else."
"You're much more worthy of the name Nataku than I am…" said Mei Ran, his voice trailing off at the end. His eyes closed and his head lolled to the side.
"Hey!" yelled Wu Fei," shaking Mei Ran, trying to get him to open his eyes once more. "Isn't it a husband's job to protect the wife?! Don't leave me now you coward! Open your eyes!"
Wu Fei opened her eyes, looking around the cockpit she had been sleeping in. She looked at the clock and saw that it would be time to start her mission in a few minutes. She hopped out of the cockpit, which was lowered to the ground, and looked around her surroundings. Nearby was a truck that had held the ordinance and parts she had just used to refuel and restock her Gundam. Next to the truck was a motorcycle and a large satchel, containing a large amount of explosives for use in her next mission. Turnng around she surveyed her Gundam, a cameo net draped over it. The Shenlong Gundam had been long completed and she had taken it to Earth to bring it the justice of the colonies.
"Earth has been so disappointing so far," Wu Fei said to the Gundam, making the final preparations for her mission. "Maybe we'll finally find a real challenge at this next place Nataku."
Author's Note: I'm sorry to everyone that this chapter took so long. I have Chapter 4 being edited by my beta as I write this and Chapter 5 was started and is a good way to being completed. The reason for this is that chapter 5 was originally chapter 3 and was put on hold due to me deciding that chapter 4 would make a better chapter 3. Also, so that I could deal with a big problem facing me in this fic: Wu Fei.
Now, I said in chapter 1 that switching Relena and Heero's genders didn't change things. And honestly, it changes none of the characters in the show that much, except for Wu Fei. Why is this? Because he's a jerk. Seriously, giving me so much trouble he has somehow become one of my favorite characters to write (not my favorite character(s), that's Relena and Heero, but he's still fun to write in a strange way). Going in, I knew all of the gender flips I was going to do, except for Wu Fei. Canonly he comes off as sexist, and his back story has to do with his wife dying. So, how do I take such a character and change their gender, or should I even bother?
At the time of facing this question, I also got busy with school work, so that contributed to the delay. It was when I was two chapters late posting that I finally started to figure out what I wanted to do. I'm showing Wing to the two 7th grade twin boys I tutor as a reward if they finish their work before I leave, and I was explaining the characters to them. They had just seen episode 4, the Victoria Base Nightmare and were, like when I had been their age, not huge fans of Wu Fei. I explained his back story, which helped things, but there was also the problem of his sexist attitude, which even they were aware of. As I thought it out and we talked, I realized that he isn't necessarily sexist. Wu Fei despies everyone who is weak, but tries to fight. He thinks only the strong should bear the burden, those like him who are strong have this obligation. He would have hated Noin even if she was a guy. It's why when he loses to Trieze that he freaks out so much, because it meant he was weak and shouldn't be fighting.
So I had my Wu Fei, and it was a concept I could do as a girl. But I realized that Wu Fei really comes off as an asshole if their's no back story to accompany her, so I needed that. I started writing it at the beginning of what was now chapter 3, having left off at right when Noin takes out Wu Fei's bike. I wanted to really get down this characters thoughts before I wrote them interacting with Noin. The back story went over 2000 words, so I split it off from the main chapter, partially for pacing and flow reasons.
And that's the story of my procrastination. Hopefully I'll get caught up by the end of this weekend so I can fall behind next weekend. ;)