Phase 4: Uzumi's Journey

"So what is the main purpose of you're organization," the young girl asked him. Liene walked slowly toward the large monitor.

"To ensure a lasting perfect peace in the universe," he said with a smile, "with this new technology I will create a fighting force which will protect the world from harm."

"And where do I play a role in that?" she asked gripping her daughter in her arms.

"Give me your child and she will be the cornerstone of peace," he said. He knew he had this girl, she was naive and did not really understand a thing about him. He had won many people over with his smooth words in the past months and now he finally had the last piece to his puzzle; an infant born to a simple dreaming girl.

"Her name is Meiko," the girl said, "the only thing left in my life."

"What are the exact odds if we are attacked?" Lacus asked looking at the data from the last battle. Her and Andrew Waltfeld had given the bridge crew a few minutes off so that they could discuss their future plans without worrying anyone . Lacus was tried of just floating toward the atmosphere, things were going too smoothly and she knew that something had to be coming for them.

"If we are attacked by the PLANT fleet we won't last very long," Andrew Waltfeld said looking at the large monitors on the bridge, "but if we're attacked by the same ship that got us leaving the plants then we may have a chance."

"Why is that?" Lacus asked floating toward the monitor knowing that it must have some important information for them.

"During the battle, when Yaro first went out he got everything redirected toward him," Waltfeld began causing Lacus to roll her eyes remembering her sons reckless antics, "I found out that the ship we were facing was not completed; it was quite obvious because it had guns but they seemed unable to fire. I pointed this out to Kiran who used his knowledge to hack the ships mainframe. You see since the ship was incomplete the firewalls necessary to keep Kiran out were not set up properly and even then with Kiran's skills I'm not sure anything could keep him out." Lacus smiled at the thought of her son; he was so much like Kira when it came to computers and yet he was still humble and sweet.

"And Kiran got the information necessary to defeat them?" Lacus spoke with a small level of hope in her voice.

"Well he only got a certain amount of information which he immediately transferred to me. He didn't have time to copy the entire mainframe and he didn't want to risk being detected by anyone. I haven't discovered much from the information that he did get but I did find out that the weapons systems are almost finished and will probably be done next time we see them since it is clear from this that they have no intention of just letting us slip away," he said with a sigh, "but I also found out that the two mobile suits we saw were the only ones the ship had on board and we have some information on them." With that he opened the two files on his monitor.

"The Pain and the Hatred," Lacus said with wonderment, "those names! There is nothing good about them, no intentions but to cause division and evil amoung both coordinators and naturals. They are not against me nor against coordinators but against the peace of the entire world," she spoke her thoughs allowed trying to make sense of everything.

"You can deduce that just by looking at the names?" Waltfeld said with a laugh.

"Not just the names," she responded, "but their actions are sinister. I saw the ROW emblem on their ship and yet they seem to be working with Jaley Lired against us." Lacus thought hard about what it all meant but she could not place anything. Could it be that Jaley was somehow associated with the group? She knew that it could not just be anti-coordinator if this was true. But if they weren't anti-coordinator then were their true intentions to disrupt the peace in the world? Was there something more to this plot?

"How does all this translate?" Waltfeld said with uncertainty.

"I don't know." There was nothing else to be said on that subject. In the sixteen years she had been the PLANT Chairwoman there had never been a plot so convoluted that she had to face on her own. Once she had fought off a blue cosmos group trying to take her life but she had Kira, Athrun and Cagalli always with her. As she though back to those events 14 years ago she remembered the extreme pains she was suffering with not seeing Kira very much. Cagalli had just had Uzumi but Athrun still worked to make sure Lacus was safe. Lacus shuddered as she thought about her narrow escape from the Gibraltar base and how Athrun had safely gotten her to ORB then Kira had saved her a few months after that and gotten her back to the PLANTs. No matter what trials she had faced Kira or Athrun were always by her and now she had neither of them.

"I wish Kira was here," she sighed tears filling her eyes as she thought of the love of her life. She reached to the ring on her left hand and looked out into space, "Where is he now? I wish I knew."

"He's probably thinking of you right now," Waltfeld comforted her. Lacus knew he was right, she could somehow feel Kira's mind brushing her own even though they were so far apart. What would he do in this situation? Would he know what the answer to everything was? Her thoughts were interrupted by the bridge door opening and Dearka Elsman walking in.

"How have you been Dearka?" she asked knowing what he had to have gone through out in space. He floated over to a nearby chair enjoying the free movement of the gravity-less environment.

"Well I can't fight in a mobile suit but the nurse says I can take a bridge position," he said, "if I'm needed that is." He grinned at the last words since he knew the the brige was slightly undermanned.

"Of course we can always use help," Waltfeld laughed leaning back on his chair after shutting down all the windows on his monitor. "You can start by getting me a cup of coffee." Lacus sighed and floated over to her seat in the center of the bridge.

"I don't want to be you're personal servant old man," Dearka said with a laugh.

"Old man?" Waltfeld whistled, "I'm not the one who got set back by a couple of new machines and youthful pilots."Dearka winced at the thought; he was a veteran pilot and he had successfully made it through some very tough battles. He was still very sore about his extremely quick loss but of course he blamed it on the state of his mobile suit and claimed it needed upgrades.

"Knock it off Waltfeld," Lacus sighed putting her head in her hands, "we have more important things to deal with."

"Like my need for coffee right now," he said standing out of his chair and floating toward the door, "I'll be back in a few minutes if everything stays quiet."

"And I pray it does," Lacus said floating toward the nearest computer.

"The weapons on the ship are now completely operational," the chief engineer said to Captain Giligan "we should be able to engage the Eternal in battle with no problem now."

"Good," the captain said with a chuckle, "now our plans can proceed."

"Well not quite," the engineer said, "we still need to upgrade the Pain's system."

"A system that will never be completed and that will never work," Gilligan sneered, "the higher ups are crazy if they think a new operating system is the key to a superior mobile suit! The skills of the pilot must be exceptional not the skills of the machine."

"Meiko has proven her worth," the engineer insisted, "she just need a little nudging along."

"You should be one of the higher ups! I've been telling them that for the past year," Gillagan laughed at his statement. Meiko was the most exceptional mobile suit pilot in ROW and he was lucky to have her on his team but it usually took a lot of urging to get her to fight a battle all out. His superiors forbid him from using certain "methods" of trickery and persuasion to get her to fight better and sometimes he was lost trying to deal with the innocent girl. He did not quite understand how she was still not cruel and unaffected; she had been a solider practically all her life. When she was 5 years old she begun mobile suit training, assassination training, and gun training. At age 7 she completed her first assassination mission with ease. At age 10 she had been assigned to a ground squadron in Africa and had taken out 10 Earth Alliance soldiers in a matter of minutes. At age 13 she was assigned her first mobile suit in one of Eurasia's many civil wars. Now at age 18 she hated killing and she was hardened beyond belief against cruelty. Gillagan could not understand what went wrong in her training.

"Captain," he turned to see an Ensign standing behind him out of breath.

"What is it," the captain grumbled.

"The Eternal is on our sensors now," the ensign said, "we should reach it in about fifteen minutes."

"Order the pilots to standby in their mobile suits," the captain commanded instantly rushing toward the bridge to assume command.

"But sir," the ensign spoke up, "Trey is still in detention!"

"Get him out on the battlefield!" The captain said floating faster toward the bridge. Lacus Clyne would give him no more tricks! Now was the time to take her and her coordinator family down!

"All hands, level 1 battle stations," rang throughout the ship. Yes it would all be over soon, Clyne's death as just the beginning of their master plan.

"All hands level 1 battle stations," ran through the Eternal. Yaro looked up from his computer and Uzumi looked up from his book. Both of them looked at each other then took off running toward the mobile suits.

"What do you think it is?" Yaro asked his young cousin.

"Might be those ROW agents you faced last time," Uzumi said with a worried tone, "lets hope they're not ready for us." The moment the two boys reached the mobile suit bay they were in their machines. Yaro quickly scanned every control in the cockpit and tried to remember the things Uzumi had told him. He knew the operating system would be easier than last time; Kiran had sat down and rewritten it 3 times before finally coming up with something he called perfect. Yaro had wanted to re-write it himself but Kiran was bored and he insisted that Yaro let him do it.

"You will be launching first," Leyas appeared on the screen to his right, "do not aim to kill! Your mission is to protect the Eternal. Once you get out there stick close to the ship until we can asses the situation."

"Right," Yaro said.

"Go ahead Visage," Leyas said loudly, "LAUNCH." Yaro began his launch sequence with ease. This was always his favorite part. He prepared himself for what might be coming.

"Yaro Yamato," he said, "Visage launching." He tried to remain calm as his suit whipped out into space. He maneuvered it quickly toward the Eternal and searched for his enemies. He saw a the same ship they had faced before still cowering in the distance. He searched for the two mobile suits but couldn't see them yet. Where were they? Why was everything so still?

"Whats going on," he asked Leyas.

"The Gundams are staying near their ship," Leyas said, "but there is no movement yet so remain calm."

"There is nothing calming about this," he grumbled.

"Watch out!" he heard Leyas's voice yell through the intercom and looked to see the two gundams bearing down on him and the ship fast. He turned on his targeting computer and shot at them but they dodged every shot.

"COME ON!" he yelled in frustration. He changed the position of his suit to a different angle sending him drifting away from the Eternal and shot toward the sides of the two suits. Their sudden speed decreased when they had to stop to raise their shields from Yaro's new found vantage point. He saw the black and green mobile suit speed toward him while the black and red one followed. Why were they attacking him first and not the ship?

Thrown off by their sudden move toward him Yaro jerked his mobile suit out of their line of fire. Where was Uzumi?

Meiko's movements were quick as her hands guided her gundam toward the strange white and blue mobile suit. She barely noticed the shots coming from him as her calloused hands took her toward him with ever increasing speed.

"Don't break away from formation Meiko," she heard Trey's voice coming over the radio, "we need to overwhelm him together."

"One of use could do the job credibly," she muttered as they drove the suit farther and farther from the eternal. She saw that the pilots movements began to become driven by panic and wondered why someone so untrained was in a mobile suit. Several times they began to advance toward him but he was clearly in defensive mode.

"Just attack already," she hissed at his movements. It would be much easier to destroy him once he lost his determined focus besides she would feel guilty killing someone who didn't make the first real move. She suddenly remembered that if he was a part of the Clyne faction than his intentions would be to protect and not to kill. Frustrated by the pilots intention to avoid harsh battle she bit into her lip and began a solo formation away from Trey.

"Meiko get back," Trey shouted, "we can take him together!"

"Not a chance!" she yelled moving her suit to provoke the other pilot. She spun rapidly around his firing range and pulled out her beam saber. This battle was going to be quick!

"Get Yaro back to the ship," Lacus yelled to Leyas.

"But Captain," Leyas said, "He's been driven out by the Pain, he needs help." The ship was engaged in heavy fire from the enemy ship as Lacus yelled commands to her crew.

"Where is Uzumi?" Commander Waltfeld yelled angrily, "get him out there!"

"But..." Lacus began to say something.

"Look," Waltfeld continued, "If we loosed Yaro and the Visage it won't matter that we kept the Journey's development a secret! Mobile suits are built to fight not to stand and look pretty!"

"When am I going out," Uzumi's face appeared on one of the main screens.

"Go!" Lacus yelled leaning forward in her seat.

"Yaro," Leyas began to yell, "Yaro, get back!"

"He'll be alright Leyas," Kiran said watching Uzumi fly out onto the battlefield. Now the numbers would be even; who would win?

"NO" Yaro yelled as the green and black gundam bore down on him. He quickly pulled his own beam saber out to defend himself against the crazed pilot. He knew that the pilot in the red and black gundam would now be able to shoot him down for target practice because of this but he had no choice.

"Yaro!" he heard Leyas's frantic voice again, "get back! Please get back!"

"Stop it!" Yaro yelled panicking more than before in the midst of his fight, "UZUMI!" He shouted with his hand on the universal radio frequency on accident. He quickly moved his hand cursing himself for being so panicked. He knew he had just reason to panic, he may have known a thing or two about mobile suits but he was definitely not ready to take down two obviously veteran pilots by himself. If only I could face just one! He quickly focused his mind on the task before him. He met the first gundam's beam saber attack when he noticed the other gundam's targeting. He quicky analyzed how to avoid the red and black gundams shots while still fighting the green and black one. As he let his panic go he began to think clearer.

Meiko was stunned when she heard a boys voice across her radio yelled 'Uzumi.' She stopped for a moment wondering how young the pilot was and how long he had piloted a mobile suit. She found her thoughts totally interrupted by a glitch in her radar.

"What?" she said in shock as she noticed Trey picking up where she left off in engaging the enemy mobile suit in close combat.

"Meiko watch out," she turned just in time to block a shot from a mobile suit approaching them fast. She looked back on her radar and he wasn't there! She gathered her thoughts and focused her mind on trying to perceive his next moves.

"DANG IT!" she yelled rushing to meet the suit. The pilot expertly maneuvered right past her as if she was not even there. Anger flowed through her now as she turned quickly to chase him. He ignored her and went immediately toward Trey and the blue and white suit. His movements were incredibly fluent and perfect, better than any enemy Meiko had ever encountered.

She flowed him as he drove Trey away from the blue and white suit.

"Formation 6F," Trey yelled to Meiko. Both ROW pilots began to focus completely on this new mobile suit. Meiko almost reached her position when the blue and white suit got in the way with his beam saber.

"No you don't." she heard the boys voice from the radio again. This boy may not be the best pilot she had ever faced but he was persistent. She met his attack with fluidity. Their mobile suits danced in a deadly waltz around each other searching for weak points. She found herself fascinated by the blue and whites suits sudden unpanicked movements, as if just the presence of the other suit was enough to give him peace of mind. Suddenly a force seemed unleashed from her opponent, his abilities were greater as if his hands suddenly understood what he was really trying to achieve. Meiko threw herself into the fight completely enjoying her worthy opponent and wondering why he had not fought like this earlier.

This strange pilot was more human than anyone she had ever fought, he understood his mobile suit pretty well yet he let fear take him over. Fear was something Meiko hadn't felt in battle since she was a child; fear was an emotion that overtook her when she was alone. She would never show her fear yet this pilot seemed to wear it through his actions. On the other hand this pilot was brave and strong; his dual personality surprised her and reminded her of herself.

"Evade," Lacus shouted as the enemy ship fired a collective group of missiles.

"Too late," Watlfeld yelled in response. Suddenly a beam shot from the distance taking out the misses. They saw Uzumi leading one of the enemy mobile suits back toward the ship. He was fighting and protecting at the same time. Lacus's mouth dropped open as she saw how he fought with both the fluidity of Athrun and the aggression of Cagalli. His movements were perfect and graceful as they were dangerous and deadly. He was the product of a lifetime of emergency preparation; Athrun had been very thorough he trained Uzumi.

"Where is the Visage," she asked Kiran suddenly wondering about how her son was doing out there.

"He is engaging the Pain in close combat and doing quite well," Kiran said throwing his head back, "my OS is flawless."

"He is incredible," Lacus heard Waltfeld say watching the movements of Uzumi's mobile suits. Waltfeld had a point, none of their pilots had been able to handle the Journey during testing. Its development had been a very long process along with the Visage. Neither were really finished but the Journey was the worst off. Uzumis handling of the incomplete mobile suit was almost unreal.

"Get a visual of Yaro up," Lacus yelled to Kiran.

"Rodger," Kiran said putting Yaro's fight on the screen. Yaro's movements were less graceful but they were not bad at all. Lacus felt tears reaching her eyes when she compared Yaro's fighting to Kira's early mobile suit battles. Kira had begun a little ungracefully but his raw skill soon became natural fluidity. Lacus hoped that circumstances would not force Yaro to become completely familiar with his mobile suits cockpit.

Uzumi maneuvered his mobile suit while remaining perfectly relaxed. The Hatred fought him with everything and Uzumi realized that its pilot obviously was not as good as he had originally assessed. The pilot of the Pain was much more skilled and he could see that she was limited only by her machine. Uzumi ducked under some more shots from the hatred and pulled out his beam saber. In a series of spirals he confused the pilot and ended up behind him. In a swift movement Uzumi cut off the back thrusters of the gundam throwing off the balance of the pilot who retaliated by swinging his own beam saber at the Journey's weapons pack.

With his main thrust gone the Hatred could not do much and Uzumi assumed that he would be running low on power soon. In a couple swift movements Uzumi hurried to aid Yaro who was close to being overpowered by the Pain.

"Let me handle this one," Uzumi said over his radio channel, "You protect the ship."

"Rodger that," Yaro's voice came over the intercom.

"Let's see you take me out!" Uzumi yelled as he used his beam saber to try and attack the pain which blocked his brilliantly. The battle with the Pain was not going to be as quick and easy as the battle with the hatred had been.

"The Hatred has been badly damaged and is heading back to the main ship," Leyas said in excitement as she analyzed the battle in front of her.

"More missiles coming from the prejudice!" Kiran yelled quickly.

"Preparing to intercept," they heard Yaro's voice and saw his face on one of the main monitors. Leyas looked up to see the missiles coming at the port side of the ship were being destroyed.

"Dearka aim our main cannon toward the ships engines," Lacus said to Commander Elsman.

"Rodger," Dearka said, acknowledging her command.

"We'll have to bear toward them again in order to accomplish a real hit!" Waltfeld shouted out.

"Then bear toward them," Lacus said.

"We can not risk it right now!" Dearka yelled.

"Uzumi is engaging the Pain and they are moving toward out direction!" Kiran yelled. Leyas looked up toward the main window to actually see what was happening and as the Pain got closer to the ship a feeling began to stir in the back of her mind. She put a hand to her head trying to shut it out but to became hard to focus on the task before her. Images began to rock through her brain as she fought the feeling attacking her.

"Get Yaro to use his largest cannon on the ships engines," Lacus yelled. Leyas was a bit confused by the change of plan since she had missed part of the yells. Her mind still refused to focus.

"Leyas," Kiran put a hand on her shoulder, "are you alright?" As her twin Kiran could naturally feel when Leyas was flustered but he didn't know why; the battle was turning in their favor, now if they could just take out that ship... Suddenly a blast from The Prejudice hit the port side of the ship causing it to shake violently.

"Leyas!" Lacus yelled, "get the message to Yaro now." Kiran shot a worried glace at his mother as Leyas continued to be slightly unresponsive. Leyas was struggling even more with the feeling inside her head and she looked up to see that The Pain's strong attacks seemed to be faltering a little as it drew closer to the ship. What was it about the pilot that was effecting her so strongly. Unable to control herself any longer she retreated into unconciousness.

"Leyas!" Kiran yelled pulling off his headset and jumping to see what was wrong with his sister.

"Kiran!" Lacus said, "return to your post and get Yaro to go after that ship!" Kiran saw Lacus rushing to Leyas and quickly obeyed his mother.

Kayla looked up toward the only monitor in her room as soon as she felt an intense feeling pressing onto her mind. Something familiar yet strange was out there.

"Haro," Lacus's pink Haro bounced around the little girl, "what seems to be the problem!" Kayla closed her eyes trying to understand what was happening to her. Something exploded in the back of her mind as a resolve filled her. Something more was coming! Something much bigger than ever before and she had to stop it! What was happening!

"My head," she mumbled, "this feeling! Haro!" She opened her eyes as the feeling began to mellow and suddenly it was gone. She stood up from her chair and walked toward the locked door. Haro opened the door easily and she walked down the hall, to where she didn't know.

Yaro made his way toward the ship in front of him dodging many missiles and beams. He noticed that the performance of the Pain, which had suddenly become shaky, was now back to normal. Uzumi had the mobile suit well occupied and with the Hatred out of the battle the attack on the enemy ship was almost completely free and easy. Yaro maneuvered his mobile suit around the ships main guns. A large blast hit his right side throwing him off balance. He quickly fought to regain control by ducking under the ship. He was met by guns at the bottom side. Shocked he spiraled downward to avoid being hit.

"Yaro! Where are you?" Kiran's voice echoed on his radio. Wasn't Leyas his Communicator? He didn't have time to think about it avoiding more shots from the ship.

"They have weapons everywhere!" Yaro yelled firing a few beams at some missile launchers.

"I'm sending you a map of the easiest course to take to the engines," Kiran said calmly, "follow it and once you reach the engines use your beam saber against them! There is no time to waste." Yaro looked down at one of his data computers and saw the route being mapped out. He quickly followed the route wondering if they were going to make it out of this. Suddenly a blast hit the back of his mobile suit sending it flying in the opposite direction he was sup-post to go in. The Visage was thrown away from the battlefield and electric shocks ran through it causing Yaro to cry out in pain. What was happening around him?

The Journey

Class: Clyne Faction Gundam series 83

Pilot: Yaro Yamato

ID: 2536LC

Specialty: Designed for speed and stealth, the Journey has a number of hidden specialties to protect it from all sorts of radar.

Appearance and weapons: Looks like the Aegis and has a transformable structure and it transforms into a plane like the Savior. The suit can several beam saber slots. The Sheild arm holds a special boomerang. It has several cannons built into its structure.

So another chapter up... I did a chapter breakdown a few days ago to estimate when to reveal certain aspects of the story. I really worked on writing this chapter because I wanted it to have a little more substance than the past few careful about guessing future events though I will try and give as many hints as a I can. I recently also broke down some of the main events of the sequel story and I am having a blast with all this! It's a bigger project than I have ever attempted but I really hope that everyone likes it! Please review, I tend to get more inspired when people review. Now that Gundam 00 season 2 is over I am left with a few mixed feelings about its ending, I really think the first season was better and that this season got a little crazy and the idea of aliens in Gundam 00 next year is really beginning to bug me. I am looking forward to the Gundam 00 movie next year of course but I really want to see a Gundam Seed movie with no aliens; sorry about the rant :). - Winterschill