I'm sorry that this chapter took so long.
I don't really have any good excuses for the long wait, other then I needed a small break from writing on this story. But I can honestly tell you guys that the next chapter shouldn't take nearly as long as this one.
Chapter 18
The sun hadn't even raised.
When the Minerva slowly sailed away from Carpentaria and began heading towards it's next destination, with a single Vosgulov class functioning as escort.
Everything on the ship was pretty much peaceful seeing as there was not all that much for any of them to do right now.
And the few that was actually awake this early was using the time to get some breakfast. But even that was done in silence, seeing as it was not everybody down there that was completely awake yet.
The only one who actually seemed to be function normally at this hour was Rey who was sitting by himself. Truly enjoying the delicious meal that was standing in front of him.
But the sight of him looking so fresh even before the sun was up.
Was more then enough to somewhat piss of Lunamaria, that was sitting beside her little sister and Shinn, that was both busy resting their heads on the table they where sitting at.
"Why can't he just act like a normal human being, when we are forced to get up even before the devil himself gets his shoes on" the red haired girl grumbled out in a unhappy tone, while watching Rey happily eating his food.
Hearing her complaining.
Shinn slowly lifted his head, and took a look over at his best friend, also wondering a bit how in the world Rey could stop being tired almost immediately after rolling out of bed.
But in the end the Impulse pilot quickly realized that he really didn't feel like solving such a big mystery this early.
So after watching Rey a bit longer he took a small glance over at Luna. "I don't really know Luna, I guess he is just a morning person" the boy said letting out a small yawn.
Before he once more placed his tired head on top of the table, making it seemed like he was just about ready to fall asleep there.
Not that he got the required time to do that, as Lunamaria's voice made sure to keep him awake. "Wow big help you where Shinn. Now I understand why he can be in such a good mood this early!" The girl said not doing anything to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
She wanted to make sure that Shinn realized that she was far from happy with his reply.
But much to her small disappointment he just took a brief glance up at her, with his two tired eyes, before he again returned to his half asleep state.
Not caring one bit about the slightly angry glare she was giving him, truthfully the only thing Shinn Asuka really wanted at the moment was a little time for himself.
So he could really wake up, not sit around like a half dead zombie that had returned to life not long ago, but fortunately he couldn't even do that before Luna interrupted his rest again.
"Ohhh good morning Athrun, I hope you slept well!" The red haired girl said in a sweet, yet very excited tone, that once more made Shinn glance up from the table.
Where he noticed that both Nicol and Athrun had just enter the mess hall.
And one short look at them, was enough for him to realized that they where just as cheerful in the morning as Rey was and he seriously didn't feel like dealing with that right now.
So it only took a few brief seconds before he again was laying on the table, not showing any kind of interested in any of the people around him, and much to his small relief none of the newcomers tried to get him to talk.
Which meant he could finally get the required time to wake up on his own, he didn't even hear what Athrun said back to Luna's loud cheerful greeting.
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Meanwhile Athrun was just getting over the small startle the red haired girl had given him.
He frankly hadn't expected that anybody would be greeting him so loudly this early in the morning.
But one look at the ZAKU pilots smiling face, made him realized that she hadn't yelled like that to frightened him. So after a second or two he gave her a small smile back, as he returned her greeting just not as loudly.
"Good morning to you too Luna, I slept fine thank you for asking" Athrun said, smiling briefly at the only female piloted on board the Minerva.
Before he walked past her and began making his way over towards the food, thinking hard about what need to be done on the Saviour once he was done eating.
The red gundam might be powerful. But there was a few things he would like to change on the OS now that he was down in the atmosphere. By doing that he could make sure that the mobile suit would function better, flying around down here.
But as he stood there trying to figure out what he should do first. He didn't even noticed the strange way Lunamaria was studying his broad back, with a curious look in both of her eyes.
It was only when he turned around again, and began making his way over to where Nicol was sitting that she finally looked away, and sat down beside her sister that was still peacefully resting on the table.
And if Luna didn't know any better she was almost sure that Meyrin was just about ready to go back to sleep while sitting there. And it was only after taking a closer look at her, that she realized that she really did have both eyes opened, and that she was busy watching whatever was happening around her.
"Meyrin you didn't spend half of the night playing video games again, did you?" Lunamaria asked in a small tone, that nobody else but the other red haired girl in there could hear.
And once Luna saw the somewhat guilty expression her sister had on her face. She immediately knew that she had been right in her assumption, which made her roll her eyes a single time.
"You know how mad the captain gets at you, if she caught you being sleepy, while on duty" Lunamaria said, while thinking about how much trouble her little sister had gotten in to last time she looked like she was about to fall asleep on the job.
Hearing her sister say that Meyrin finally moved her head up from the furniture she was resting on. And after looking at her older sister for a few seconds, she let out a tired breath.
"I couldn't help it sis, I couldn't fall asleep last night, and after a few hours just watching the ceiling, I decided to play just for a bit, but I guess I kinda got carried away, the game was just so exciting, I couldn't get myself to stop playing" She explained.
Just before she once more placed her head on the table, now at the very least looking somewhat more awake.
Seeing her do that, Luna rolled her eyes one more time. "If you are that exhausted go get some coffee or something so you can wake up. It wouldn't be long now before you are needed up on the bridge!" Luna said in a loud tone.
Hoping that her little sister wouldn't just ignore what she was saying right now.
But much to her small relief Meyrin did do what she told her and was soon back beside her drinking a cup of the hot refreshing liquid.
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But while pretty much all people in there was using the time to slack of this early morning.
None of them presence realized that there was some very serious thoughts going through Rey Za Burrel's head at the moment.
As he sat there eating his meal in his usual calm pace. For some reason the blond haired teenager couldn't help but wonder if it was truly a rational idea having Athrun Zala on board.
The boy might have helped them out a lot with stopping Junius Seven from hitting earth. But that certainly didn't change the fact that he was close friends with one of their worths enemies.
And that was more then enough reason for Rey to decided to keep a very close eye on Athrun Zala, to make extra sure that there would not come a day where he wouldn't suddenly betray them all.
He did not trusted the blue haired teenager any further then he could toss' the Saviour gundam. And from the small glance Rey had taken at the mobile suit when he got back to the ship yesterday, the red gundam looked quite heavy.
'Hmm maybe it would be best that I share these concerns with Gil. But for now I'll just keep him under observation. So he wouldn't try anything abnormal, that could mess up our plans' the boy thought.
Still watching Athrun just as he asked if Nicol could still play the piano as well as he use to.
Which Rey saw him nod yes to almost immediately, after swallowing what food he had in his mouth.
"Of course I can still play piano Athrun. But I have actually been considering trying to learn instrument like a violin or a cello" Nicol said, thinking about which one of the instrument would be hardest for him to master.
He wanted a serious challenge this time around, not something that almost came natural to him like playing on his piano.
Hearing him say that Athrun looked a bit thoughtful, before he gave Nicol his opinion on the two instrument.
"I honestly think you should go with the cello Nicol, that one sounds much better then the violin" Athrun said, while slightly wondering why he would always got a small headache every time he heard violin music.
And much to his small fortunate, Athrun didn't know anybody that could play that noisy instrument.
Which wasn't really something he thought should change anytime soon. And to his' small relief, he didn't have much to worry about before Nicol told him, that the cello was properly the one he would decided on in the end.
Seeing as that instrument would most likely provide the biggest challenge of the two of them. "But never mind that now Athrun. It's not like there is anywhere to buy one of them out here. But maybe once we get back to the Plants I can find a place to buy a cello!" Nicol said, thinking a few seconds about where exactly he should go to buy such an instrument.
Thinking briefly about Nicol's words, Athrun tried to remember if he had seen some sort of music instrument store, before he had left the Plants.
But in the end he just couldn't remember if he had noticed something like that.
It wasn't like he had much interested in play any kind of musical instrument. He was after all according to many of his friends completely tone deaf.
And just thinking back to how angry Myrna had gotten at him that one time he had tried to play the piano in Cagalli's house.
The older woman had almost been sure that he was trying to destroy the pure thing. And after listening to her telling him for almost two hours straight, that he need to practice a lot to play on a piano, he hadn't gone anywhere near the black instrument again, in all of that time he had been living there.
Something Cagalli had truly enjoyed teasing him with a lot.
She had told him more then a few times to keep an eye out for the piano, so it wouldn't attack him from behind one day when his back was turned.
"I'm sorry Nicol, but I can't help you with that, I don't really know all that much about musical instruments" the blue hair boy explained, as he took a small sip of the water that was just next to his plate.
But as he was doing that Nicol couldn't help but smile a bit. "I think, I can manage to find just the right instrument on my own. You are after all the most tone deaf person alive!" The green haired boy said with a small grin on his face, while thinking about how completely terrible it had sounded that one time back at the academy when all of them had gone out singing karaoke.
Which had actually been quite fun until it was Athrun's turn. Once that happened more then a few of them had left the place with great haste, not voluntarily wanting to be exposed to such horrifying torture.
And what made the whole experience even worth, was that Athrun did not know back then just how bad his singing could be, something all of them had made sure to mention once he was finally done singing, which had served to make the experience somewhat fun again.
Nicol couldn't even remember how many times all of them had been teasing Athrun with his music and singing abilities.
"Ok, ok Nicol no need to kick a man while he is down. I already know that I wouldn't be a great musician or anything like that anytime soon" Athrun said thinking a little about how much of a disaster it would be if he ever got up on a stage to perform a real live concert.
He was quite certain that the audience would be throwing fruits at him almost immediately after he started.
Which certainly didn't sound all that fun, but fortunately he didn't get much time to really figure out just how bad his musical career would be, before Nicol interrupted his thoughts.
"By the way Athrun there is actually something I have been wondering a bit about. Does the married couple still walks around with Haro and Birdy everywhere they go?" Nicol asked in a slightly curious tone, while thinking about how long it had been since he had last seen and talked with Kira and miss Lacus.
He might not show it all that much, but a small part of him really did miss them, and a great deal of the other old friends from the Archangel.
Hearing his friend's question Athrun got a somewhat thoughtful look on his face, while he sat there thinking about how often he saw Lacus and Kira walk around with their two small robots.
But after a few seconds he again looked back at Nicol.
"Hmm they don't always have them along, sometimes when they visit Cagalli and me they leave them back home, I guess they need some privacy from time to time" Athrun said, now thinking about where in the world the married couple could be.
For some reason no matter how hard he thought about it. He just couldn't figure out where exactly the Archangel had disappeared to, when it had left Orb.
Even true he had been using a lot of time to think about that, ever since the captain had told him about how the white space ship had kidnapped Cagalli.
But he just couldn't figure it out, and he knew that the only way he could get some answers was to talk with Kira and Cagalli, which could be pretty hard since he had no idea about where they could be.
"It doesn't sound like those two have change much" Nicol said a bit thoughtful, as he stood up and walked over and placed his plate and glass down on the kitchen counter at the end of the mess hall.
There the main chef and the rest of the kitchen staff, could easily spot them.
So they could get everything washed of, so it was ready to be used for the crews next meal, after doing that he once more walked over and sat down beside Athrun.
And it wasn't long after that, before the two of them again continued with their conversation.
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Elsewhere not that far away from the Minerva's route.
A single Spengler class was hidden away inside a minor canyon, where it was almost completely invisible from the outside world, and the only way anybody would discover that the war ship was in there was if they flew directly over the canyon.
And not once since the ship had hidden away in there, had there been anything nearby that could fly.
Which meant that things was actually quite peaceful in there, something most people wouldn't really be complaining all that much about. But three of the ships mobile suit pilots was getting quite bored.
They had been sitting around this damn place almost ever since they had gotten back to earth, and that was more then enough to make all three teenagers very frustrated.
As they sat out on the deck looking down at the water. Two of them talking quietly with each other about how completely boring this assignment was, and how long they had to stay there.
"I really don't get why Neo wants us to sit around here like this. I'm just about ready to make a few extra little air holes in the next person that gets in my way" Auel said in a creepy tone as he kept on playing with his gun.
Like it was the most normal thing ever to mess around with like this, but if anybody saw all the neat little tricks he was making with the weapon.
They would almost immediately realize that he was quite good at using that small thing to take the life away from another person.
And that he didn't care much about who exactly he help off in to an early grave. He did however not get much time to really show off before the green haired man that was sitting beside him took a small glance down at the weapon.
"Could you please put that thing away Auel? You know the Neo asked you a few days ago, to stop using your gun like it was a piece of toy" Sting said truly not like the way his blue haired friend kept on swinging the deadly little weapon around.
And what made Sting feel even more nervous about the entire display, was that he could easily tell that the Abyss piloted hadn't even bother to put on the safety on the gun.
"Ahhh stop your bellyaching Sting, I'm only doing this because I'm bored out of my mind. If there was something fun to do out here, I would not have to use my gun like this!" Auel said while pointing the weapon out over the ocean.
Obviously aiming at one of the seagulls that was flapping around out there, but the only reason why he didn't shot the pure creature.
Was because if he did something like that, the whole ship would most likely hear it, and there was no way in hell he wanted for Neo to confiscate his favorite toy.
He just didn't like going anywhere without having his gun around, he felt somewhat incomplete if it wasn't nearby. So he could use it to kill whatever Zaft soldier that got in his way.
And just thinking about how much pain he could cause one of their enemies with this little thing was more then enough to make him smile a bit, while he once more aimed the weapons out at one of the birds that was still flying around the ship.
Seeing him do that Sting slowly rolled his eyes a single time, as he turned his attention away from Auel and over towards the blond hair girl that was sitting on the other side of him.
Watching all the seagulls, and the calm blue ocean the John Paul Jones had been resting on the last few day, opposites of the clearly bored Abyss pilot.
Stella really didn't seemed to mind just sitting around out here like this, taking in the lovely view that could be seen from pretty much everywhere on the big war ship.
And just looking at the girl was enough for Sting to know that Stella was truly enjoying sitting around out here like this, feeling the gentle wind blowing softly through her short blond hair.
It actually amazed him a bit, how peaceful Stella could look from time to time. When she was fighting or piloting the Gaia she was clearly the most violent of the three of them.
Something she had showed a lot when they where stealing the three gundams and had to fight the one Zaft called the Impulse.
He and Auel almost had to force her to leave that fight. So they could get out of there, and seeing her now it actually was a bit difficult for him to believe that this was the same deadly girl, that had been inside the Gaia gundam, when they had fought against the Impulse.
But unfortunately Sting did not get much time to really think about the big difference between Stella's sweet girly personality, and her more mentally insane one.
Before they all heard Neo's voice called out to them in his normal kind tone. "There you three are! I have been looking all over the ship for you guys, there is a single thing I would like to ask you about!" The mask man explained.
While slowly looking the three kids over, immediately noticing that Auel was a bit more curious about finding out what he wanted.
And it did not take long before the blue haired teen got back up on his feet, where he slowly put his gun away, he knew from early conversation that Neo did not like talking with him if he was waving that thing around.
"Now what do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy being completely bored here!" The boy asked loudly.
Hoping that it wasn't something even more boring then sitting around out here watching all the dumb seagulls, making their way around the ship again and again.
Hearing the boy asked that Neo looked at him for a few seconds, and he could easily tell by Auel's expression, that the boy was running very low on patient with this
little assignment.
And one small glance over at Stella and Sting was more then enough to show him that they too where getting quite tired of being out here, not having anything to do.
But fortunately that was soon going to change, and with that in mind he gave the three teens a big smile. "Well if you are that occupied Auel, you might not want to go with the rest of us, when we head out to fight the Minerva. But that's all right the three of us will somehow manage to take that ship down on our own!" Neo said still having that grin on his face.
Hearing those words leave the mask man's mouth.
It took least then a second before the two other teenagers was up on their feet, and now standing almost directly in front of him.
"Is it true Neo, is the Minerva really coming here?" Stella asked in a somewhat wishful tone, as she thought about how much of a beating she owed the bastard in the Impulse.
She was already looking forward with great expectations to tear that damn machine apart.
Smiling a bit at the girl's question Neo slowly reached out and rubbed her hair in a gentle way. "Yes Stella it's the truth, we detected the ship heading in our direction not that long ago, and I for one think the four of us need to give that hunk of Zaft junk a little pay back for our last meeting, don't you guys agree?" He asked making sure to remind the teens about how their last battle with the Minerva had ended.
He was sure that by telling them something like that, he could increase their determination to destroy the grey Zaft ship.
And just seeing how certain of themselves Auel and Stella looked right now. Was enough for him to know that they would both do their best to take down the Minerva.
Sting on the other hand was much better at hiding his emotions about this matter then the two others.
But even as he was doing that, Neo could quite easily tell by the Chaos pilots expression that he too was feeling some happiness about once more have been granted the opportunity to get even with the Minerva, for their few previous defeats by the enormous Zaft space ship.
"I have already request permission to borrow all of the Windams that is stationed around the new base we are building. So now we should stand a fighting chance against the Minerva"
Neo said while again looking the three other members of Phantom Pain over to see if they had anything at all to add. Now that he was finally done explaining to them that they where not going to be the only once, that was going to fight in this battle.
But much to his small surprise, none of the teens seemed to care much about having some extra help in this battle.
If nothing else they seemed to be feeling quite impatient right now, it was pretty obvious that they where just waiting for him to tell them, that they should hurry up and get moving.
And seeing as the Minerva was still quite far away from their location.
The mask wearing man decided that he wanted to see who of them where going to yell at him first. And not much to his surprise, it did not even take a minute before one of them ran low on patient.
"Ok if the Minerva is so close by, then why the hell are we standing around here like this wasting time, me and the Abyss is just itching after tearing a hole or two in that damn ship!" Auel yelled loudly before he turned around and ran off towards the entrance of the John Paul Jones.
Determined to get in to his space suit as quickly as possible so he could get out there and destroy the Minerva.
Seeing the boy disappear in to the ship like that.
Neo slowly rolled his eyes a single time under the mask, as he mumbled something about that he was never going to change. And with that in mind he again looked back at the two other teens, that was still standing behind him.
"Lets go you two, if we are not there he might ran off to fight the Minerva on his own" Neo said, smiling at bit at the two other gundam pilots before he turned away, and walked off in the same direction as Auel, with Stella and Sting following closely behind him. Both of them clearly very excited about what they where going to do in just a few minutes.
And Neo too was truly looking forward to this battle with great expectation, this time there was just no way that the Minerva was going to escape from them without getting a serious ass kicking first.
He just hoped that the mechanics was done with the upgrading the engines on his purple Windam. That way the mobile suit should be able to fly even faster then a standard Windam.
Which would certainly give him a big advantage if he should end up fighting with the Impulse in this battle. That mobile suit and it's pilot had already proven more then once, that the Impulse gundam was a very fast machine, and that it should not be underestimated.
He did however not get long to think about that, before the blond girl behind him suddenly interrupted his thoughts. "Neo, if the Minerva is out at sea, then how am I going to fight it?" Stella asked, thinking about how her black mobile suit was made for ground battle, and did not have the ability to fly like the Chaos or swim like the Abyss.
She truly didn't want to be left being, while the others where fighting. She owe both the red ZAKU and the Impulse, a serious beating after her last engagement with those two mobile suits.
But once she heard Neo's next words she immediately got a disappointed expression on her face. "I'm sorry Stella, but you have to stay behind. For now there is just no way we can get the Gaia out to the Minerva. But perhaps if we a lucky we can force the Minerva in towards land, there you can finish it off. While the rest of us take care of the ships mobile suits" the blond man said.
As he again reached out and caress the girl's blond hair one more time. Before the three of them continued the rest of the way to the ships hangar, where Auel was already waiting for them over by the Abyss.
"It's about time you guys showed up, I'm going to be completely old and grey before we can get out there and destroy that ship!" The blue haired boy yelled out in a lot angry tone, that could no doubt be heard all over the hangar.
While he stood there glaring a bit at his three team mates, truly hating that they where taking so damn long to get ready, he want to get out of this ship now.
Hearing him say that Neo just let out a small sigh as he made his way past the boy and over to his Windam, not really caring if the boy had anything else to complain about.
There was however another person that had something to say about Auel's bad behaviour. Sting just couldn't help but feel a bit stressed out after spending a very big part of the morning, listening to all the complains the boy had over this assignment.
And he was seriously begin to get tired of Auel telling him every damn second how boring this place was.
"Why don't you just shut up for once today Auel and get in to the Abyss, you are really starting to get on my nerves!" Sting said in a somewhat annoyed tone, as he hurried walked off after Stella out of the hangar.
The two of them still need to get in to their own space suits, before they could go out in to combat with the Minerva. That apparently still hadn't noticed how close they where getting to it.
They where literally breathing down their necks now. Yet the ship still hadn't done anything that show that it knew that the John Paul Jones' mobile suits was getting ready to attack them.
And it did not take long before the two other pilots returned to the hangar. Now both of them dressed in there space suits, and without wasting anymore valuable time, they hurried got in to their mobile suits.
And shortly after that the hangar doors on the ship was opened. Where a single purple Windam and the Chaos gundam immediately took off in the direction the Minerva was suppose to be in.
Joined by a whole squadron of about thirty more Windams, and with the Abyss gundam following all of them quietly under water.
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At the same time back on the very ship Phantom Pain was going to attack, a great deal of the crew members had finally been able to somewhat shake of the deep tiredness many of them had felt because of their early departure.
So now many of them where busy doing whatever chore that need to be done around the ship.
But that of course didn't mean, that all of them where working hard right now.
The ships pilots didn't really have much to do right now, so they where using the time to just relax for a bit. Both Rey and Shinn was sitting over by themselves.
Each of them concentrating on the game of chess that was standing between them, while the other pilots was sitting at the other side of the room playing a game of cards with each other.
But even true the games didn't have anything in common, the five pilots was all enjoying the peacefulness that was surrounding them right now. It really was nice just sitting around here like this having nothing to do, other then being a bit lazy for a change.
The only time the silence was brought to a brief end was when Shinn lost his queen to Rey.
That did make the boy yell out a few minor courses, before he once more turned his attention back towards the game, with a deeply determined look in both of his eyes, there was just no way he was going to let Rey win this time around.
He was getting so damn tired of losing every time he played this game with Rey. He just had to find away to beat him, there just had to be some kind of weakness in the bizarre way Rey had placed all of his chess pieces.
But right now he just couldn't see it, even true he was completely sure that there just had to be someway to win against his friend in this game.
"I just have to think for a bit then I'm sure that I can find away to take you out Rey!" Shinn said in silence yet determined tone, as he took a short glance up at where his opponent's king was on the board.
Seeing it stand securely in the back with a knight and a single bishop, while the rest of Rey's chess pieces spread out all over the board.
Making certain that if Shinn was going to try and get close enough to Rey's king, he would no doubt lose a great deal of his own pieces in the process, which meant that there was a good change that he would end up losing this game.
So the only thing he could do right now was to try and take out the pieces he was close to. And with that in mind he reached out and moved his knights over in the direction of Rey's other bishop.
"Your turn!" The boy said in a loud tone, trying to show his friend that he wasn't going down that easily.
But much to his big disappointment Rey didn't react much to that. He just reached out and used one of his pawns to take the knight Shinn had just moved, and once he had placed that one over beside all the other chess pieces he had taken.
He slowly lifted his head, and gave the boy a small smile. "You should always take a good look around before you move Shinn" Rey advised him in a kind tone.
While watching the deep angry frown once more disappear from Shinn's face, as he looked up from the board and over at Rey where he gave him a small unhappy glare before he again turned his eyes down towards the game.
"Damn how did that happened?" He grumbled loudly, while again trying to find away to get up to the king without having to sacrifice too many of his own pieces.
He was already running a bit low, and if he didn't find some brilliant strategy very soon, he knew that he was surely going to lose this game.
But before he could really give it some thought the alarm began sounding loudly all over the ship. And it didn't even take a second before all of them heard Meyrin's voice telling them that all pilots should board their machines immediately.
"Ahh damn it, and I was just about to win!" Shinn yelled, while taking one last glance at the chess board before he and Rey ran full speed out of the mess hall with Luna following closely behind them.
Seeing his comrades leave with such a big hurry Nicol turned and looked back at Athrun. That was just standing there with a thoughtful look in both of his eyes, that made it pretty clear, that he was thinking very hard about what he should do now.
"Are you coming too Athrun?" The green haired pilot asked, while taking a brief glance down at the FAITH emblem hanging on Athrun's chest.
That little thing meant that Athrun was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted, so if he didn't want to go out there and fight, neither the captain or anybody else on the ship could order him to do it.
But one thing Nicol knew about Athrun, was that there was just no way, he was going to just stay on board the Minerva, while all of them where out there fighting for their lives.
And finally after standing there for a few seconds just waiting for his friend to give him some kind of response, Athrun slowly looked up from the floor and over at him.
"I'm going too Nicol, I am after all a crew member of this ship now, and I wanted to help you guys protect the Minerva from whatever is out there" Athrun said while thinking shortly about all the new people he had meet, since the very first time he and Cagalli sat foot on the giant Zaft ship.
He did however only do that for a small second, before he again began talking in a determined. "We better hurry and get down to the hangar Nicol, before the battle begins. The others a properly wondering what the two of us is doing right now!" Athrun said.
Just as he turned around and ran full speed out of the mess hall, with his friend running not far behind him.
And it wasn't long after before the two of them arrived at the hangar.
"What the heck took you two so long? We where actually begin to think we had to fight this battle on our own!" Lunamaria yelled loudly, making sure that both boys knew her opinion about them getting down here so late.
But neither Nicol or Athrun gave the girl any kind of response, they just took a small glance over at her, then decided that it was properly best just to ignore her for now. They really didn't have the time for a long discussion right now.
So without saying a single thing to the girl, the boys ran the rest of the way over to their mobile suits, both of them determined to get outside as quickly as possible.
Once the Saviour's cockpit was closed, Athrun immediately began powering the mobile suit up, just as the gundam was dropped down on to the catapult, but just as that happened the captain's face suddenly appeared on the monitor.
"Athrun Zala, once the battle starts I would like for you to take command of the other mobile suits!" The brown haired woman said.
Making the blue haired teen blink a few times, he hadn't really expected to be asked something like that, he did after all only join the Minerva's crew yesterday.
So he pretty much thought that Nicol was going to be in command, he was after all the most higher-ranking of all the other pilots, and he had been with the Minerva most longer then Athrun had, so he should already pretty much know what Shinn, Luna and Rey's strong points was, while being out in a battle.
But after shaking of the small surprise, he immediately nodded a single time in understanding as he told the woman that he understood her order, after that he hurried got in contact with Shinn and Nicol.
"Once we get outside I'll be the one in command!" He said in a loud tone, while waiting for them to give him some kind of reply, it didn't even take a second before Nicol acknowledged what Athrun had just said.
It did however take a few seconds before Shinn gave him a somewhat unhappy reply.
"Yes sir, I understand!" he said not doing anything to hide that he was clearly not satisfied with the idea of being bossed around by the newcomer, that had only been with the ship for a single day.
But before he could really give it all that much thought he was told that the Core Splendor was ready to head out.
Which meant that it did not take long before both of the gundams and Nicol's GOUF was out there, while Lunamaria and Rey was forced to wait behind for further orders.
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Once outside the three Zaft pilots took a quick look around at all the Windams gather around the ship.
But it was only when Shinn noticed that the Chaos was there too. That he brought an end to the slightly tense atmosphere, that had fell over them at the sight of how many enemies they where up against.
"So that one is here too, this time I'll take him out for sure!" The Impulse pilot yelled out in a determined tone.
Just before he pulled out on of the beam sabers and took of towards the green mobile suit, that he had already been facing so many times in the past.
But before he had the opportunity to even get close to the enemy gundam he fell under attack by five of the Windams.
And after cutting one of them down with the beam saber. He hurried got the rifle out again, and fired a well placed shot in to the chest area at the one Windam that was brainless enough to attack him from the front.
And once that one was out of the way he turned and fired a few more shots after another one of the white mobile suits.
Doing his best to make certain that none of his opponents had many chance to fight back. But as he was doing that he was suddenly attacked by a purple Windam that came flying with full speed towards him, firing of it's own beam rifle at the Impulse, forcing Shinn to use his shield to defend himself.
And just as the mobile suit flew right past him he hurried fired of the two machine guns in the Impulse chest area.
Forcing his opponent to evade sharply to the side, which was an opportunity Shinn quickly used to fire a few beams after the Windam. But much to his irritation none of the beams even came close to their intend target.
"Damn that guy is fast!" He yelled out. And was just about to take off after the purple mobile suit, that by now was flying around down by the ocean.
He did however not get all that far, when he was suddenly attacked by another group of Windams that was firing one beam after another after him.
But these guys was not nearly as good as the bastard inside the purple Windam.
So it really didn't take all that long before Shinn was fighting back with everything he got, he was completely determined to take down as many of the morons around him as possible, that way he could hurry after the more dangerous one of the Windams.
It was after all quite challenging taking down a person this good, and after using a few minutes to get rid of the closed Windams.
He once more chased of after the obvious leader of the bunch.
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Meanwhile Athrun had just finished taking down one of the Windams that had been attacking the Minerva.
After that he took a quick glance out at the Impulse that was still fighting about seven of the Earth Alliance mobile suits all on his own.
"Damn why did he run off like that?" Athrun asked in a displeased tone, just as he used the beam rifle to shoot down another one of the Windams.
But even as he was doing that, a small part of him was a bit angry at the way Shinn had taken off, without even thinking twice about his action, they where suppose stay near the Minerva and protect it.
Not do something so illogical as what Shinn had just done, by immediately rushing off to fight the Chaos.
The pilot of the Impulse might just carry some kind of grudge against the Chaos and it's pilot. But that certainly did not mean, he could do whatever he pleased.
Athrun had already made up an idea about how to take care of all the opponents out here. But before he could even try and explain his strategy for this battle to the two other pilots.
Shinn had decided to do battle on his own, and he hadn't even gotten anywhere near his green target before he was attack by the many Windams swarming around all over the place.
And even from all the way back here, Athrun could see that dark haired boy was having some serious problems dealing with a purple mobile suit that kept on attacking every single time, the opportunity showed itself.
But before Nicol could even begin explaining to Athrun that it was normal for Shinn to fight so reckless.
The Chaos dropped down from one of the clouds where it immediately fired off it's beam rifle and a great deal of other things down at the Saviour, that quickly transformed in to it's mobile armor mode and rolled away from the heavy attack.
Once somewhat safe Athrun got the Saviour back to it's standard mode where he hurried shoot off the plasma cannons up after the green gundam, that made a quick manoeuvre to the side, so the two red beams flew right past it.
Seeing him do that Athrun once more got the Saviour over in it mobile armor mode and took of after the enemy mobile suit that was still shooting after him with every single long range weapon it got.
"Nicol you stay back and cover the Minerva, while I take care of this guy!" Athrun yelled out.
Just before the Saviour disappeared in to one of the more thick clouds. Only reappear a second later, in it's mobile suit mode where it immediately fire both the beam rifle and the two plasma cannons at the Chaos.
But just as it seemed like the attacks was going to do some serious damage to the Chaos.
It hurried got it's shield up to take care of the single green beam that was coming right at him.
After that the enemy gundam rolled to the side to evade the next attack from the Saviour. But even as it was doing that, Athrun quickly took aim at the green gundam and once more fired of the plasma cannons after it.
Unfortunately the red beams didn't even came close to hitting the mobile suit.
Before the enemy piloted decided to use the same trick Athrun had used not long ago, by taking cover down in one of the clouds, that was pretty much floating around all over the place.
But even true Athrun couldn't see where the guy had disappeared to.
It didn't even take a minute before a small rain of beams flew straight at him from above.
Not even bothering to try and evade the attacks Athrun quickly manoeuvred the Saviour in between the first two beams then used the shield to take care of the rest of the heavy assault.
But even while doing that he fired of the beam rifle in to the cloud, but not all that surprisingly the Chaos wasn't there any longer.
Seeing that Athrun quickly transformed the Saviour in to mobile armor mode again, and took off full speed, not wanting to set himself up as an easy target by staying still to long.
And he had only just gotten his red gundam moving, when another attack came flying at him from behind. But that pretty much only served to tell Athrun where his opponent was hiding.
So after evading and getting past the whole assault, Athrun manoeuvre the Saviour directly above the thick cloud where he hurried transformed once more and let the gundam drop straight down in to the Chaos' hiding place with one of the beam sabers out.
And he had only just gotten in there when he spotted the green mobile suit just hanging there looking around, obviously trying to find him.
But before it had the opportunity to even noticed what was going on.
Athrun got down directly in front of the Chaos, where he immediately slammed the beam saber out towards the stolen gundam. But just as it looked like he was about to pierce the Chaos' cockpit and kill the pilot inside.
The green gundam quickly got it's shield up to defend itself and it was only a second later before it pulled out it's own beam saber and hammered it out after Athrun only to hit the shield too.
Which meant that now the two mobile suit was struggling quite hard to over power each other. But when the Chaos activated the two beam blades it had stored in both of it's feet and kicked out after the Saviour.
Athrun quickly throw himself backwards to avoid the attack.
And to make certain that the Chaos couldn't get anywhere near him while he was doing that, he hurried took aim and fired of the two plasma cannons at the green mobile suit, that of course evade up over the attacks while heading right for him.
And it was only a split second later when the two gundams slammed their beams sabers together again.
Now once more struggling hard for control, both pilots completely determined to win over each other no matter what.
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Meanwhile the Minerva was having a somewhat easy task taking down the few Windams that somehow succeed in getting past Nicol.
Who was still fighting hard to keep the Earth Forces mobile suits distracted.
But as the ship continued it's present course. Another hostility unit was hastily approaching them from by the deep blue ocean. Quite obviously planing to attack them from below.
"Captain the Abyss is closing in! The Nyiragongo is already sending out it's GOOhNs to intercept it!" Meyrin yelled in a loud tone, while she tried her best to figure out what the blue gundam was up to down in the water.
But unfortunately it was quite hard to see, just what exactly the water type mobile suit was doing, they where after all quite the distance away from it.
And before she could come up with a solution that would permitted them to see the Abyss gundam clearly. The captain yelled out a few orders to get Lunamaria and Rey ready to head on down there and help out, the already fighting GOOhNs.
Hearing the woman said that Meyrin immediately altered her task.
It wasn't like seeing the Abyss would actually help them out all that much in defeating the enemy mobile suit. And it was only shortly after that before the two ZAKUs left the Minerva, each of them armed with a bazooka.
And after watching those two disappear down in to the ocean.
Talia turned and looked back at Meyrin. "What is the Impulse and the Saviour doing right NOW?" The woman asked in a loud tone.
Truly wondering what in the world where keeping Athrun and Shinn so busy at the moment. That they could not help Nicol take care of all the Earth Forces mobile suits, that just kept on coming at them.
It actually was a bit amazing that Nicol was able to keep as many of them occupied, and the few of them that somehow succeed in getting past him, was only able to do that when his attention was turned towards another opponent.
It actually made Talia wonder a bit why the boy hadn't been assign to a gundam too. She had after all heard quite a bit about everything he had done while piloting the Blitz.
"Make sure to take down all the mobile suits that gets past Nicol! So they don't get the opportunity to attack him from behind!" The brown haired woman yelled in a loud tone.
Just as all of them witness the green haired boy cutting down yet another one of the Windams, that was buzzing around all over the place.
After that Arthur yelled out for the Tristans to be fired at three incoming Windams that was clearly trying to find a weakness in the Minerva's defenses.
Yet when two of them where shoot down, the last one immediately tried to get away from the ship. But he didn't get very far before Nicol wrapped his GOUF's heat rod around the Windam's body, and sent of a few thousand volt in to the machine.
And once that one blow up he hurried turned and wrapped the deadly weapon around another Windam, giving it the exact same treatment as the last Earth Forces mobile suit.
And after seeing that one crash down in to the ocean.
He immediately began firing the beam gun on the GOUF's right arm out towards a third Windam that was trying to shoot him down with it's beam rifle.
But whoever was inside the Earth Forces machine, had a bit more skill in using the mass-produced mobile suit then the two previous once.
But after dog fighting for a few very long minutes.
Nicol finally succeed in blasting a few holes through the hull of the Windam, making it blow up not all that far away from him. But just after seeing the mobile suit blow up.
Two beams came flying directly towards Nicol, completely destroying the left leg on the yellow GOUF, and once the shaking had finally stopped Nicol took a short glance down at his GOUF to see how bad the damage was.
But when it became clear for him that he could still fight, he hurried pulled out the beam sword and took of straight towards the mobile suits responsible for the damage.
"I have to take this guy out fast, so I can continue protecting the Minerva!" The green haired boy said in a very determined voice, while taking a glance around after the Impulse.
Where the heck was Shinn at a time like this, what in the world was he doing right now, the GOUF piloted wonder. Just as he slammed the beam sword out after his new opponent.
That quickly rolled to the side while firing it's beam rifle back after him, obviously trying to do even more damages to Nicol's yellow mobile suit.
Not that the Windam pilot had much luck with that idea.
And once Nicol began shooting back with his own long range weapon, the white mobile suit hurried began retreating away from him with great haste.
Still using it's beam rifle to make sure that there was still some distance between them.
But even with all the beams coming at him, Nicol really didn't have much trouble getting in close to the enemy mobile suit, that once more quickly retreated away from him, clearly hoping to somehow shake Nicol off, but the green haired boy just kept on follow the Windam no matter what it did to get rid of him.
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Elsewhere on the battlefield.
Neo was still being chased by the Impulse that was pretty much doing everything possible to take him out.
But because he made sure to keep moving around no matter what.
None of the beams that was fired at him, even came close to hitting him. But even true he hadn't taken any damage yet, he could not help but feel a little impressed by how talented the Impulse pilot was getting.
"He is really improving a lot. I wonder if he would be interested in working together with us!" Neo mumbled with a small smirk on his face. Just as he hurried turned around and fired of two shots up towards the Impulse aiming one of them at the head and the other at the cockpit.
But before any of the beams could get in contact with the gundam, the mobile suit quickly rolled to the side and fired of two beams back after him.
Which Neo evade by cutting the thrust down a bit so both shots flew directly over the Windam. After that he once more got his purple mobile suit moving just as two more green beams came flying straight at him.
"Hmm maybe it's not a good idea for us to be working together with this fellow! Somebody could get hurt having him around!" The blond man said, while firing a few more beams up at the Impulse that hurried used it's red shield to defend himself from the attacks. While still chasing after him with the same almost insane eagerness as before.
It actually seemed a bit like the Impulse pilot had completely forgotten both the Minerva and everything else around him.
Which in Neo's eyes was quite a good thing.
If this guy wasn't back there to defending the ship. There was a very good chance that Sting and Auel could somehow get past all of the ship's many weapons and destroy it.
But before he could think all that long about that two more beams flew past him, almost taking off the right arm straight of his mobile suit. "Ok, perhaps I should keep my attention on what I'm doing right now. Not what Sting and Auel is up to!" The mask man said, as he rolled sideways and fire a few shots back at the Impulse that duck down under the few beams he had just fired.
It was just about that time that Neo noticed that him and the Impulse was getting closer and closer to land.
"Apparently it's going to be very hard taking this guy down on my own. But perhaps Stella wouldn't mind giving me a hand with this fellow!" Neo mumbled quietly to himself, while taking one last glance at the gundam that was still flying around not that far behind him.
Which actually made a small smile ran over his lips, as he hurried change course and began flying full speed over the somewhat rocky beach below him, still with the Zaft gundam right on his heels.
But he hadn't gotten all that far, before he saw Stella's black four legged gundam coming with great haste towards them. And knowing what the blond girl was about to do, Neo quickly manoeuvred the Windam back up in to the air.
Where he immediately turned around and fired two shoots down at the Impulse.
Just as the Gaia gundam left the ground and jumped with full speed straight in to the Impulse, knocking both of them completely over.
Seeing that Neo was about to fire a few shots in to the back of the enemy gundam. But before he could do that, two red beams came flying straight towards him.
Which forced him to evade so he wouldn't get hit be the attack. And it was only a short second later before he saw the red mobile suit and the Chaos coming right at him, both of them fighting quite violently with each other.
"Damn I almost had that other guy!" The mask man mumbled in a slightly angry tone.
While he took off to help Sting against the Saviour, that did everything possible to keep both Sting and himself away from the battle that was now going on between the Gaia and the Impulse.
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At the same time down on the ground both gundams slammed their beam sabers together.
Each of them trying their hardest to somehow knock their opponent over, yet both mobile suits stayed firmly on their feet.
Just as the Gaia gundam did a quick jump backward, while firing off the two machine guns that was installed in it's head.
But Shinn just narrowed his eyes a bit as he ignored the smaller attack, and charged forward and once more slammed his beam saber out at the Gaia. That of course used it's own saber to counter the attack.
But before Shinn could try anything else, he suddenly heard a female voice that sound almost like it was just on the edge of being hysterical.
"DAMN YOU! I hate you so much, you stupid BASTARD!" The voice said loudly.
Which made Shinn wonder a bit where exactly that angry voice could be coming from. And it took him a few seconds to realize, that it was the pilot of the enemy mobile suit he was fighting right now, that was talking to him in such a crazy tone.
And before he could do anything to stop himself he said the very first thing that enter his mind. "What but you...you are a girl!" he said in a somewhat surprised tone.
Just as the Gaia once more rushed towards him, still with the beam saber ready to strike, and it was only a brief moment later before both their weapons meet each other one more time.
"What the heck did you expect me to be you moron! A Marsman perhaps?" Stella yelled out in a truly hateful tone, just as she gave the Impulse gundam a hard kick straight in to it's stomach area, making it take a few steps backwards, away from her to avoid falling over.
And before the bastard had the time to do anything else, Stella got the Gaia over in it's four legged mode and charge after the Impulse with full speed.
Now even more determined to knock the enemy gundam over. She truly wanted to kill this disrespectful bastard. That quite obviously didn't think that a female could pilot a gundam.
But just as she was about to land on top of the Impulse so she could tear the whole thing apart.
Her opponent suddenly turned and slammed his shield in to the side of the Gaia, sending it straight over in to a few trees, that was quite easily knock over because of the Gaia's weight.
After that the four legged mobile suit landed quite hard on it's back, which actually did frightened the blond haired girl a bit. She truly hadn't expected that the bastard would do something like that
And to make certain that the foolish idiot wouldn't attack her while she was still down.
Stella hurried transformed the Gaia back in to it's mobile suit mode, where she quickly pulled out the beam rifle and fired a few shoots after the Impulse.
That immediately jumped to the side to avoid the few beams she was firing after him.
"Damn you! Why don't you just stand still you brat, so I can be really kind to you?" She asked loudly. Just as she saw the Impulse coming right at her with it's beam saber out obviously still wanting to fight this battle in close combat.
Something Stella really didn't mind all that much, she was actually looking forward to smack her beam saber straight into the Impulse's cockpit.
And it did not take long before the dark haired boy and the blonde haired girl was struggling hard against each other. Both of them determined to make sure that only one of them left this battle still breathing.
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And while those two where having fun down on the ground.
Neo was watching them with a somewhat thoughtful look on his face, until he slowly turned and looked over at the red gundam.
Just as it shoot down the last of the Windams they had borrowed not long ago, only to start fighting with the Chaos right after. And even true Sting was really doing everything he could, to take down the red Zaft mobile suit.
It was becoming more and more obvious that there was no way he could win against that guy on his own. And one look back at the Gaia made it clear that it could take a very long time before Stella or the Impulse pilot would go down.
"Damn this isn't getting us anywhere!" He muttered somewhat displeased, as he fired a few more shots after the Saviour that quickly rolled to the side to avoid his attacks.
But even while it was doing that, Neo got in contact with his three comrades.
"Ok you guys we are leaving, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer!" The mask said in a bossy tone, that he knew for certain the three teens would listen to and obey.
But before he could say anything else to them.
He noticed that the Saviour was coming right at him.
And seeing as there was no way they could win this fight now. Neo truly didn't feel like doing battle with the red mobile suit. And fortunately before the Zaft machine could even begin attacking him.
Sting dropped down and fired of every single weapon the Chaos had after the fast moving red mobile suit, that of course immediately turned it's attention towards avoiding the heavy attack from the Chaos.
And now that the Saviour was occupied with something else.
Neo was just about to once more told the three kids that they where leaving this area and that there was no way they could finish their new base now.
He did however not get the opportunity say any of those things, when suddenly Auel cut him off quite loudly.
"Why the hell do we have to leave now? This is just starting to get fun!" The blue haired boy asked in a unhappy tone, while waiting somewhat impatiently for Neo to give him some kind of response to his question.
He just didn't get why they couldn't stay there any longer. He seriously wanted to make sure, that this small meeting with them, was one the Minerva would not forget anytime soon.
And he hadn't done that yet.
He might have smash up the three GOOhNs the idiotic Vosgulov class had send out after him. But that was not nearly enough to satisfied him, he need to do even more harmful things to the Zaft forces gather there.
But even as he sat there trying to figure out what else he could do.
He suddenly heard Neo telling him, that all of the Windams that had been with them at the begin of this battle had been taken out. And that it wouldn't be long now before the gundams would start running low on power.
"Damn you miserable loses, can't you do anything right?" He complained in a tone, that made it completely clear that this was bothering him quite a bit.
But even while being this angry he still manage to evade up over another missile the white ZAKU fired towards him. After that he immediately tried to shoot the two ZAKUs down.
But both of them was somehow able to avoided his attacks, not that he cared all that much about that right now.
He was far more busy listening to everything Neo was saying back to him. "You are one to talk about doing things right Auel, as far as I know you didn't take out any big targets either!" The mask man said back.
And just hearing those words was more enough to piss Auel all the more off.
There was just no choice now.
He had to make Zaft suffer now, and he already had a pretty good idea about what to do.
And with that in mind he quickly transformed the Abyss in to mobile armor mode.
Then turned around and took off towards the Vosgulov class, determined to make a few pretty holes in that damn piece junk. And once he had taken out the last the it's submarine's GOOhNs.
It did not take long before all the missiles the Abyss had left was fired straight towards Vosgulov class, that clearly tried hard to evade his attacks.
But there was just no way for the Zaft bastards to survive this, and once Auel had seen the grey submarine blow up, he let out a big happy laugh as he turned away from the sad remains of the Zaft Vosgulov class.
And sailed of full speed away from the territory, before any of the ZAKUs that was approaching him from behind could send of even more missiles after him.
"Hah! That's one big target for me and none for you!" The Abyss pilot bragged in a childish yet proud tone. While he continued heading back towards the John Paul Jones, not even bothering to take the time to wait for the others.
He want to get back to the ship as fast as possible, so he could do some serious bragging to the crew about what he had just done to that Vosgulov class.
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Hearing the blue haired boy's boasting so loudly.
Neo slowly rolled his eyes a single time, while he looked down after the Gaia that still hadn't given up on trying to defeat the Impulse.
And just seeing the somewhat reckless and brutal fighting style Stella was using at the moment. Was enough to make it very clear for him, that the enemy mobile suit was getting more and more on Stella's nerves.
The careless way she kept leaving herself open every single time she tried to cut down the Impulse with her saber.
Was enough for him to realize that it would only be a matter of time before the Zaft pilot would noticed that small weakness.
And knowing that, Neo once more call out after the blond girl, truly hoping that she would listen to him this time. He seriously did not wanted to resort to something more drastic, to get her away from area and the Impulse.
"Stella that's enough we are leaving this place before the Gaia can run out of power!" The mask man said still using that bossy tone. That he deeply hoped would be enough to make the stubborn female teenager retreat away from the Impulse. Before she would end up getting seriously injured or even killed, by fighting with that machine.
But not all that shocking the girl did have something to say about his decision to retreat.
"But Neo, I really wants to slaughter this guy. He is even more annoying now, then the last time I fought him!" She yelled with a deep anger in her voice, as she again tried to drill her saber in thought the Impulse's cockpit.
Yet before her weapon even got close, the other machine hurried jumped back to get some distance between them.
Those few words did make a somewhat thoughtful look run over Neo's face, as he tried to come up with a way to get the girl to leave before she actually ended up getting herself killed by the Impulse gundam.
And finally after a short minute or two he let out a small breath.
"Ok Stella what if I say that the next time we run in to the Minerva, you can have the Impulse all to yourself, that way you can be the one to destroy it!" Neo told her, feeling slightly concerned about how close the Impulse's was getting in stabbing it's beam saber, straight through the Gaia's somewhat exposed cockpit.
But before the deadly weapon could really do any serious damage, to Stella or to the black mobile suit.
The girl suddenly jumped quite far away from her opponent and took a small glance up at him. "You promise Neo? I can get this one all to myself right?" She asked in a sweet tone.
That actually made Neo wonder a bit, how in the world she could behave so innocent and childlike even in the midst of combat.
Those thoughts however did not linger in his mind for long. Before he noticed that the Impulse was moving around in a strange way, obviously getting ready to attack one more time.
Seeing that he again looked back at the Gaia. "Ok Stella it's a promise, now hurry up and get away before he can attack again!" Neo yelled again glaring back at the Impulse to see what it was doing now.
But just as it seemed like it was going to enter battle with the Gaia again, the black mobile suit transformed and ran off without looking back once.
And with the stubborn blond haired girl now out of danger, there wasn't really any need for Neo or Sting to waste any more valuable time there.
So after taking one last at the Impulse and the red mobile suit, that neither of them knew the name on. They both turned around and took of in the direction where the John Paul Jones was suppose to be waiting for them.
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Seeing that the Gaia was now gone Shinn hurried continued on.
He wanted to save all of those people, that apparently was being forced to work on the new bass the Earth Forces was building in this area, and it wasn't really all that hard to free them, since most of their defenses had pretty much been reduced to nothing at all.
And after destroying a few smaller cannons with the Impulse's machine guns it did not take him long, before he could let all of the prisoners out.
That immediately ran down to greet their families, that had been waiting for them outside of the big fence he had just pulled up from the ground not long.
But while he was so busy looking around for anything that could threaten the happy reunion that was going on down by his mobile suit's feet. He did not noticed that both Athrun and Nicol was looking down at him from above.
And before Shinn could make completely sure that there was no more Earth Forces soldiers around, that could cause any more trouble for all these cheerful people.
Athrun suddenly called out his name one more time. He had actually been doing that quite a lot in this battle. But this time however it sound much more demanding and serious, then the last few time.
"Shinn return to the Minerva immediately, that's an order!" The blue hair boy said, still not moving away from his position above the Impulse.
He wanted to make sure that Shinn was going to follow his orders this time around. He hadn't done that once since the battle started, even true Athrun had told him to go back and help Nicol more then a few times.
The last time Athrun had told him to do something was when Shinn had just began doing battle with the Gaia. But when Athrun had told him to retreat away from the black mobile suit.
Shinn had just yelled out for him to shut up, and that he could beat this damn thing with trouble at all. It did however seemed like the boy had the intention of doing what he said this time around.
And as both Nicol and him saw the Impulse take a few steps away from the civilians down there. He activated the thrusts and got the gundam back up in to the air.
Once he got up beside them he didn't say anything at first, he just looked at them for a few seconds, before he asked how long they where planing to hang around up there like this.
But neither Athrun or Nicol felt like having a long conversation with him at the moment.
So they just turned around and began making their way back to the Minerva.
"Hm what was that about?" Shinn wonder quietly.
Before he took off after his two team mates, that still didn't say anything to him, which was actually somewhat odd. Truth was he had quite honestly expected that they had a lot to say to him once the battle was over.
Not just sit around in a deep silence without making at least one single sound.
And when he saw the Saviour take a short glance back at him, he was fully prepared for Athrun to began yelling at him.
But much to his small surprise, it did not take long before the piloted of the red mobile suit once more turned his attention back towards the Minerva, that was getting more and more visible the closer they got to it.
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It was only a few minutes later when the three mobile suits enter the already opened hangar.
Once in there Nicol's GOUF was laid down on the floor, while the two gundams continued a bit further in to the ship, and was soon standing over by the wall.
Where each return to it's normal grey colour, after that it only took a second before the Saviour's cockpit flew open and Athrun began making his descend down to the floor.
Once down there, he took a quick glance over the few mechanics. That apparently wanted to ask with him about something, most likely if there was anything they need to do on the Saviour.
But before any of them could even get a single word out.
Athrun hurried went past them and towards the Impulse, where he could clearly see Shinn busy talking with Yolant and Vino about his achievements in the battle they had just been in.
The conversation however didn't really last for long, when Athrun walked in between them. And before any of them could figure out, what he was doing he lifted his hand and gave Shinn a very hard slap across the left side of his face.
"What the HECK WAS THAT FOR?" The Impulse pilot yelled so loud, that it could no doubt be heard through the entire hangar.
But even with the loud volume Athrun just continued standing there looking at Shinn with a somewhat unreadable expression on his face. But finally after a few very long seconds, the blue hair Saviour pilot let out a small breath.
As he once more began talking to Shinn. "I don't get how you got to be a soldier when you obviously can't obey orders. Just think about what could have happened to Nicol or the Minerva while you where out there chasing around after that purple Windam" Athrun said calm yet angry tone.
While he stood there waiting to hear what Shinn had to say about this.
And he didn't have to wait long before Shinn found something to say back.
"That bullshit! I took out more then half of the Windams out there, and I almost beat the Gaia too!" He yelled out, truly angry that Athrun had dared to hit him like this when he had done so much out there.
Athrun however just rised his right eyebrow a bit.
He just couldn't help but feel a somewhat disappointed that the boy hadn't even realized his mistake. So after looking at him a bit longer Athrun once more began speaking in the same somewhat hush tone as before.
"That has nothing at all to do with why I hit you Shinn. The reason why I did that was because you obviously don't think about your actions. You are suppose to be a Zaft soldier Shinn, not some crazy run amok hero who can't take responsibility for his own actions!"
And with those words out, Athrun pretty much felt like he had said everything he wanted to say to the other pilot.
And truly satisfied with that, the blue haired young man slowly turned away. And began making his way towards the exit of the hangar, with everybody else down there looking after him, until he was out of sight.
But before any of them could start talking about what had just happened, another person had something to tell the pilot of the Impulse.
"I too most admit, that I'm deeply disappointed in the way you handle the situation out there Shinn!" Nicol said, doing nothing to hide how thoughtless and completely reckless he thought Shinn's behaviour had been in the last battle.
So after standing there for a moment or two, looking straight in to Shinn's eyes.
Nicol gave him one last disapproval look.
Before he slowly made his way back over to his damage mobile suit. Wanting to hear how much time it would take, before his yellow GOUF would once more be fully ready for combat.
Thinking hard about everything his two team mates had just told him, Shinn finally muttered out a few unhappy curses.
As he quickly stormed out of the hangar before anybody else had the opportunity to say anything else to him, that would only serve to make him even more angry about this whole event.
He truly despised the idea of those two telling him that he had done something wrong. Especially when he had beaten the crap out of so many Earth Forces mobile suits, and saved so many innocence people.
But as he was taking off like that he didn't hear what some of the other people down there was saying.
"Don't you think they where a bit hard on him? I mean he did after all do a good very job out there" Luna said still.
Thinking about the little display between Shinn and the two other pilots, but before she could give it all that much thought the second ZAKU pilot on the Minerva told them his opinion about the whole affair.
"No I don't believe so Lunamaria. I'm sure that both of them have properly already realize that Shinn did a good job today. That however has nothing to do with the reason why they are angry at him. Shinn has to be taught, that he can't always disobey orders, whenever he feels like it" Rey explained, while looked away from the red hair girl and back at the Impulse.
Wondering a few seconds about if this would somehow effect the boy's fighting abilities in the gundam.
But knowing Shinn, he would most likely be even more determined now to show Athrun and Nicol how well he could fight in the next battle.
Which was truly a good thing, perhaps if Shinn continued improving with such a fast pace he might be ready to face off against Kira Yamato and the Freedom much sooner then him and Gilbert had ever expected.
"A bit longer now and we should be ready for it" Rey mumbled quietly to himself, as he turned and walked off without saying anything else, and not noticing the strange look Lunamaria was sending him as he disappeared out of the hangar.
And with him out of sight the female pilot let out a big sigh, as she too mumbled out a few words. "Why in the world, do I have to be the only sane piloted on board the Minerva?" The girl asked, while heading over towards Nicol's mobile suit.
Ever since she had gotten to know the former Blitz pilot, she had never once seen him behave like that before.
Which was something that actually worried her a bit, so she need to make sure that he was all right, before she began helping out with her own damage mobile suit.
Once up on the GOUF Luna immediately moved over to Nicol. That had just finished discussion the repairs on his mobile suit, and was now just sitting there with a thoughtful expression all over his face.
"Hey you, are you ok Nicol?" She asked, while dropping down beside him, watching him with a worried look in both of her eyes.
And just when she thought he hadn't heard her question and was about to repeat it.
Nicol slowly lifted his gaze over towards her.
"I'm all right Luna, I'm just feeling somewhat exhaust after everything that has been going on today. I know we won the battle, but it wasn't like it was done with great team work or something like that, just try and give it some thought Luna" He said, while thinking back to how the battle had gone.
It truly had been somewhat messed up.
But just as the girl was about to say something back, Nicol again began talking to her in that far away tone.
"We all pretty much fought by our self today. The only once that actually worked together was you and Rey, while I was fighting with Windams, Athrun was keeping the Chaos occupied, and Shinn was running around all over the place" Nicol explained, as he gave Lunamaria a small tired smile.
That truly made the red haired girl think very hard about his words.
And it only took a couple minutes before she came to the conclusion that Nicol was right about everything he had just said.
There hadn't really been all that much team work, in the fight they had been in not long ago.
It had been kinda messed up the way they had all been fighting. "Maybe next time, we will be able to do better!" She said in a determined tone, truly hoping that she could somehow cheer her friend up.
It just didn't suit Nicol to be this depressed.
He was normally such a nice and gentle person, that was pretty much always in a good mood, and she quite frankly prefer that over the depressing way he was behaving right now.
But much to her small disappointment, Nicol just gave her one more sad smile, as he again began talking in that creepy far away tone.
"The only way we will be able to work together as a real team is when Shinn, accept that Athrun is the one handing out orders, and the way he behaves that might take some time. You know as well as I do that Shinn doesn't like the idea of being bossed around, especially by a newcomer" Nicol said.
Just as he slowly leaned back, so he end up laying stretch out on top of his GOUF, just looking up at the ceiling with a worn out look on his face.
Thinking a bit about Nicol's words it didn't take long for Lunamaria to realize that he was right. Shinn never did like it when other people was bossing him around and telling him what to do.
She only had to remember their days at the academy to know that, the first instructor they had when they got there had been fun and well liked by pretty much everybody, even Shinn.
But the next one had been much more strict in his class' and not half as fun, as the first one.
And that man was not one Shinn had liked so it had taken a very long time for that instructor to get him to do what he said. It was only when he had threaten to throw Shinn out of the academy.
That Shinn had finally started to do some of the things the man had asked of him. But no matter what those task was, they where certainly not done with a great deal of respect.
For some reason Shinn could always find some inventive way to get that man angry at him. Even when doing whatever the bossy instructor had asked of him.
And just the thought alone about how many times Shinn had argued with that man, was all Luna needed to let out a truly big sigh.
"Ahhh man! All of us going to be dead and buried, before we can work together as a real team" she grumbled unhappy, as she laid down on the GOUF beside Nicol.
Now also watching the ceiling, with the exact same kind of expression, as the one Nicol had on his face.
Hearing her say that Nicol let out a small chuckle, while he continued resting peacefully there on top of his mobile suit.
"I think you are exaggerating a bit Lunamaria, I'm sure that everything will be fine, you just wait and see" he said before taking a brief glance over at her, where he saw her nod a single time in agreement.
Happy to see that, he once more rested his tired head on his already fold up arms.
After that nothing else was said between them. They just continued laying there for a long time, truly enjoying the thought that they didn't have to fight anymore today.
To be continued.