This chapter is considered special because of a certain isolated island's encounter between Athrun and Cagalli. Following that is a run towards the neutral country of ORB.

Read and enjoy.


Chapter 7- Sea Battles and Tropical Isles

That night after the Desert Dawn and its allies – the crew of the Archangel had defeated the Desert Tiger and his forces, there was a victory party since for once the freedom fighters did not lose a single man.

The fact that the both the Strike and Wing Zero had taken the brunt of the Bu-CUEs attacks early in the battle was enough for them to do their hit and run tactics with relative ease.

The rebels had also escaped with their lives when the said quadruped mobile suits were taken out and the whole battle was switched to the ships.

A few of the Ereka jeeps and missile launchers were actually targeted by the newly added mobile suits on top of the Lesseps at the start of the battle but the Skygraspers had kept them busy for a while with their beam and missile fire.

There was a short prayer for those who had died in the previous battle before the party even started. Afterwards, everyone had celebrated a great victory with laughter, booze, and food.

It was the last one that was making the Filipino pilot very happy. He did not care much for booze even though he already went past his own legal age but good food is another matter for him.

Ensign William Zapanta was already gorging himself on some well-cooked camel meat and chicken with a glass of cold water beside him. He had also ignored the stares and giggles that he had gotten from his fellow crewmembers for his eating habits.

Ensign Sai Argylle had to shake his head at how William had gnawed his drumstick like a famished wild animal. 'If Lacus were here, she'd definitely freak out. I wonder how she's doing up there in the PLANTs?'

Ensign Tolle Koenig had tapped on his friend's left shoulder as he had noticed that the orange haired teen was staring off into space before saying.

"Yo, Sai. Stop daydreamin' about your girlfriend. We have to eat our portions before the Bushwhackers eat 'em all."

"Bushwhackers?" Sai asked with his left eyebrow raised. In his mind, he was thinking on how the heck two well known professional wrestlers from nearly a century ago would be here in the desert.

Tolle had simply pointed at the two famished pilots that were now joined by Cagalli Yula who were eating a lot of food on their plates.

"Oh, I guess you're right." The orange haired crewmember said in surprise before he too had eaten his meal. 'Guess the Berserker ability and using the Zero system continuously have certain drawbacks, after all. I'll definitely prepare a lot of food if I'll ever invite those three to any meal after an exhausting battle.'

The other girls were simply shocked at the three pilots although they themselves had seen Kira and William go for seconds in the cafeteria after their grueling recent battles with the excuse that they were not full yet. George had simply thought that the said pilot's metabolism may have been sped up in the battles themselves as he had taken another swig at his wineglass.

He knew that all three pilots were nearly exhausted in the last series of battles and their bodies needed something to fill them up.

A tap on his right shoulder made look back into the eyes of Leodonir Kisaka. The blue haired freedom fighter put a finger to his lips before signaling the former politician to come with him.

Once both were out of earshot, Leodonir had asked the former politician on how the latter could help in solving a potential family problem.

"Personally, I'd rather not go in between Uzumi and his daughter but if either of them goes too far, then I would definitely step in." George replied with a serious tone. "My own daughter may be a little bratty sometimes but even she knows when to shut up and listen."

"Thank you," The tall freedom fighter said as he had left the area. The former politician had also headed back to the ship as he needed a little nap.

Along the way, he had noticed that Murrue was a little tipsy from the three glasses of wine that she had drank earlier and was being half carried by Mu to her quarters.

The former politician had also noticed Natarle sitting quietly on a wooden crate, a half filled wine glass in her right hand, as she had watched a certain gundam pilot finish off his meal before the said pilot was returning his plate and glasses to the rebels' dishwasher.

"How nice it is to be young and in love," George said with a chuckle as he was coming up the entrance ramp into the Archangel's interior.

-oOo-

Ten hours later, the Archangel was passing through a mountain pass wide enough for the warship to pass through.

At the end of the said mountain pass was a beach and beyond the beach was the Red Sea. For Archangel's bridge crew as well as the former politician and his daughter, the view was spectacular.

Murrue had also issued a ship-wide order that any off duty crewman may head for the deck in turns. She then told her Ex-O to pass the order along.

Natarle had asked the crew chief if the operating system for the new sonar detection system is ok since the Archangel was now hovering ten meters above the Red Sea.

Murdoch had replied that the "Kid" was still in the process of getting it on line even with Zero's and the other engineers' help.

The brunette Ex-O was about to admonish the crew chief on calling his superior officer – "Kid" when she had remembered that it was Kira's unofficial nickname in the ship.

Natarle then sighed loudly since she had noticed that rules and regulations were beginning to be thrown out the window with each passing day. This had made George look at her strangely before telling everyone that he would head up to the uppermost deck with his daughter.

In the meantime, Kuzzy and Dalida were having an argument on how would their fellow crewmember Jackie could properly use their newly installed sonar. The black haired male crewman could only sigh in despair at his two friends' argument before joining in.

Natarle then looked at her watch as she had eagerly waited for her shift to be over as she had to hold her head with her left hand at the ongoing argument between the three stooges at her right side.

'I wonder where William is anyway?' she thought in wonder as the gundam pilot had not been seen in his usual hangouts. 'Not that I want to know where he is right now.'

-oOo-

If Natarle had gone to the rear viewing deck or what is known as the poop deck in naval terms before her shift, she would have seen a very strange sight.

The Filipino pilot, the one who she was thinking about at the time, was leaning on the rails facing the Archangel's tail ever since he had gotten there, a good two hours before.

William had kept his white, blue, and green uniform's jacket as he was used to the heat and humidity even though he did sneeze at rouge piece of dust that had gotten inside his nose through the wind that was made by the Archangel's speedy crossing of the sea. A quick wipe of his upper lip with his handkerchief was enough to clean the snot of his face.

'Ew, good thing that no one's around.' William thought with some relief as he had folded the said item before stowing it in his left pants pocket. 'I wonder if it's true that someone would sneeze if someone else was talking about 'im. 'Nah... that's probably some old wives' tale.'

After leaning back to the hand rail, he had relished the smell of the sea as well as the feeling of the sea breezes milling around him while doing deep lung cleansing breaths.

William had also loved the sight of dolphins leaping above the water surface without a care in the world some distance from the ship's starboard side. All of these things had brought the Filipino pilot back to the times when he had ridden on inter-island ferries with his family while he was still young.

The gundam pilot had sighed for the umpteenth time when he was reminded of his family in his dimension and mentally wished that he could go home soon.

"William?"

The gundam pilot had turned around just in time to see Kira in his dress uniform. The only difference was that he had not worn the jacket part thus only a white T-shirt was seen other than his white pants.

"Hey, Kira." William said as he had faced the teen Coordinator. "Is the sonar ready fer use?"

"Yeah, Zero and the engineers from Artemis had helped a lot in giving me the needed parameters where I could base the detection with." The brunet said with a smile. "Sai's going for some overtime to figure out how to even read the signals correctly."

"Even though he'll have to wait a little longer to see this view, our safety would be more than enough reason to keep 'im there." The older teen said as he had again faced the sea.

"I wonder how Andrew and Aisha are," Kira said somberly as he had leaned on the railings on William's left.

"Well, I can guess that they're goin' to be hospitalized for a while," The Filipino said with a devilish smirk forming on his face. "Afterwards, they're gonna go at it like rabbits."

"Eww, I'm getting a very bad mental picture in my head." The brown haired teen replied as he was about to throw up. "Besides, how did you even know that they're lovers anyway?"

"It was just a hunch at first when Natarle and I had arrived at their home," William continued as he had paused to look at a seabird that the ship had passed by. "But the fact that they can actually communicate without even speaking tells volumes about their relationship."

"Gee, I never knew that you could actually notice that when we were at their home." Kira was saying as he had taken some deep breaths. "All I could think of is how the heck we could escape unharmed."

"I was actually thinking about that too," William added with a sigh. "I jus' noticed it while I was studying their movements at the time."

"Hey, guys." A familiar feminine voice had come at them from the opening hatch. "Whatcha talking about?"

"Just the Desert Tiger and his lovely Tigress," William replied as he had turned to look the now shocked form of Cagalli.

"Ugh, don't remind me about them," The blonde said as she had recovered from her shock and moved to Kira's left side in the railings.

"They're not dead, are they?" she added with a mix of anticipation and regret.

"Naw," The older teen said as he had turned back to the sea. "When I sliced the shoulder and cockpit part of the LaGOWE prior to the explosion, I had also nudged it a bit with Zero's left foot to make it fall a little farther from the rest of the body."

"Great," Cagalli said with a sneer. "Desert Dawn would still have to contend with them once again."

"I kinda doubt that ZAFT would let him take back his command," The Filipino said as he had rubbed his chin with his forefinger and thumb. "Most likely, they'll move him to another base or maybe a desk job in the PLANTs wherever that is."

"Seriously?!" Both Kira and Cagalli said in awe.

"Yep, Waltfield's a good commander per se but we pretty much handed his ass back to him last time." William replied with a wide grin. "I'm quite sure ZAFT Command would be very displeased with his recent performance."

"If that's the case, wouldn't they have another of their Earth side commanders chase us?" Kira said as he had analyzed the last spoken words.

"Actually… yes, they will."

"Even though that very scenario is possible since we have made ourselves a viable target for ZAFT, I would rather not jinx our peaceful journey though the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean."

The three teens had looked back at the hatch where Murrue and Mu were now standing in front of.

"She's right," Mu said as the teens had looked back at him. "Even though we're still having problems detecting anything under the waves, I'd rather have some peace and quiet for once."

In the bridge, both Early Warning Officer and his assistant had sneezed loudly as they had sensed a sudden chill. In response, Jackie Tonomura had told Sai to turn down the air conditioner a little.

As the teen was returning to his station, the two young men had noticed some blips moving rapidly in the sonar's screen. The ship's radar had also detected the presence of three aerial mobile suits in their twelve o'clock position.

With a nod, they then turned on the ship's alarm.

In the upper deck, Tolle had cursed his luck as his girlfriend - Miriallia was recalled to her station along with Kuzzy and Flay. It was necessary though since they all had seen some mobile suits in the distance if they squint. He was the last to go down since both Allsters had gone down first.

In the rear deck, the pilots had raced to their waiting machines with the captain of the ship taking the lead.

-oOo-

As soon as Murrue had reached her seat, everyone else was already doing their jobs. All she had to do was ask about the statuses of the ship and the battle. Natarle had reported that there were six DINNs in the air with three still to be identified enemies in the water.

Jackie then shouted to everyone in hearing range. "Incoming torpedoes from our twelve o'clock."

"Mister Neumann, bring the ship up twenty degrees." Murrue said in reply. "Natarle, have everyone prepare for mobile suit and anti-submarine warfare."

-oOo-

In the hanger, pretty much everyone had toppled over with the sudden ascent of the ship. The pilots were riding the said ascent in the cockpit of their machines.

As soon as the Archangel had leveled its flight, Miriallia's voice was heard telling everyone of the launching of all the mecha.

Both Skygraspers had taken off while both mobile suits had walked to the farthest end of the launch deck and tried to shoot down the underwater mobile suits that were later confirmed as GuOONs. The said underwater mobile suits had evaded the beams by diving into the drink before surfacing once again.

This time, they had shot a few missiles at the Archangel's underside before diving yet again.

After destroying the missiles with the help of the ship's underside CIWS and Wing Zero, Kira had followed them in the water with a bazooka that Admiral Halberton had left behind weeks ago.

William, on his part, had flown off to shoot down the DINNs that were firing on the ship's port and starboard sides. His gundam's new sniper beam rifle was enough for some needed accuracy when he had needed it most.

Soon, the GuOONs were destroyed and nearly all of the DINNs were shot down. Only one of the ZAFT aerial mobile suits had escaped to fight another day.

-oOo-

As nighttime came, William had found himself leaning on the railings in the rear deck beside a strangely content Natarle. Both of them were making small talk as they had enjoyed looking at the stars twinkling above them.

In the upper forward deck, a bunch of teens along with two superior officers were watching the spectacle down below even though the ship's command island is in the way. Mu had even made something that was supposed to be impossible possible by sneaking a kiss on the captain's left cheek.

The surprised captain had felt her cheeks heat up but she was too stunned to do anything else at the moment despite the laughter from the teens. In the meantime, the Casanova ace pilot had headed down the stairs, laughing all the way.

Kira had to shake his head at the reminder of the bet that both Mu and William had made months ago as their ship was nearing the debris belt at the time.

Little did they know that Athrun, Nichol, and Shiho were on their way to Gibraltar from the PLANTs to meet with their superior, Commander Rau Le Crueset.

-oOo-

While the Archangel was running through the Arabian Peninsula's shoreline; the pod that the Gammow had dropped to the Gibraltar base had landed safely.

The said pod had opened up to reveal the Aegis, the Blitz, and a Red CGUE.

Its human passengers like Athrun, Nichol, and Shiho had also disembarked after they had gotten used to Earth's gravity with the help of some motion sickness pills.

All three had taken a few minutes to familiarize themselves to the new surroundings.

Knowing that the Archangel was going to Alaska as per intercepted transmissions from the Eight Fleet and JOSH-A, they would have to stay planet side for a while.

When the La Cruset team had fully assembled in one of the bases' situation rooms, the blond commander then told them above the upcoming operation plan, code named: Operation Spit Break.

The plan, the attack and capture of the remaining mass driver in Earth Alliance hands – the Porto Panama mass driver, was now in full preparation with most of the ZAFTs forces concentrated on its two major bases nearest the objective – Gibraltar on its eastern side and Carpantaria on its western end.

The said forces were to be sent from bases to form a pincer attack on the Earth Alliance troops garrisoned on the all important facility.

"Ok, but what's that gotta do with us?" Dearka had asked his superior as he knew their original objectives were to capture or destroy the legged ship and its valuable mobile suits.

"Command wants you five to lead the attack from the Carpentaria base since the Earth Alliance would never expect an attack from there."

"Gee, this eerily reminds me of D-Day back in the Second World War." Nichol said as he had felt his hands nervously open and close in quick succession.

"You are correct, Nichol." Rau said with pride. "On both instances, the enemy had never even considered an attack from the farthest point of departure since common sense would tell them that an attack from the nearest base would be more practical."

"Plus, our forces would have to pass by the Kingdom of ORB's airspace which may force the country to join the war as well." Shiho had added from her place beside Yzak.

Dearka was actually teasing the white haired teen and his brown haired partner with kissy faces that was ignored by the lightly blushing soon to be couple as well as everyone else.

The blond had finally gotten the hint and listened to the given debriefing instead to everyone else's relief.

"Well then. Since I have some preparations of my own to finish, I leave this mission to all of you." The masked commander said with a smile. "As for the leader, I will assign this to…Athrun Zala."

Yzak expectedly had a fit since he wanted to lead the team this time. Athrun was shocked since he had little experience with leading a team before.

"Athrun, do not worry because I have faith that you will do a good job." With those words, Rau had taken his leave.

Hours later, the four transport planes with the three GAT series mobile suits plus one CGUE had taken off from the airfield. The last plane, which contained the Aegis, had developed some technical problems causing its flight to be delayed for five hours more.

Athrun had taken the extended break with a shrug as he took a needed cat nap in the meantime.

-oOo-

The next day, Athrun's transport plane was flying over the Lakshadsweep Sea near the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Unknown to either the blue haired Red Coat and the transport's pilot and co-pilot, the Archangel was also there.

The warship was battling the Morassim team for the second time since the latter's defeat in the Gulf of Aden. More than that, their craft's radars had picked up a fast moving bogey from their two o'clock position.

The pilot then began making evasive maneuvers as he had told the gunners seated behind him to open fire at the bogey now classified as a bandit in their screen. The co-pilot had also told their lone passenger to strap in his mobile suit in case of a crash landing.

Even though their aircraft did not have a Guul, they have been told that the Aegis is tough enough to survive a fall of about 10,000 feet even without Phase Armor. Athrun did as he was told but not before asking about the crew's fate.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." The co-pilot said. "We've been shot lots o' times before but we still got back safely. This'll be same as last time."

"Alright," The blue haired Coordinator said in the hopes of lightening the tense atmosphere. "Happy landings then."

"You too, Sir." The co-pilot said in the same jocular manner.

The two gunners had reported that a single Earth fighter was approaching them from below. This would explain why the fighter was picked up by radar much later then it was supposed to. A loud whoop from one of the gunners had confirmed that they had gotten a direct hit.

Their victory had lasted only for a few seconds though as a series of explosions from their engines on the left wing as well as various alarms in the cockpit itself had told them that their plane was going down.

"Alright then, everyone abandon ship." The pilot had told one of his crew as they had readied their parachutes. "Release the Aegis, Sergeant. Then let's get out of here."

"Yes, Sir."

-oOo-

Down below, the sounds of battle had never left the Archangel as seven DINNs had swarmed around it like angry wasps. Wombats and Helldarts had corkscrewed in the air as they had approached their evading targets.

Wing Zero was already handling the GuOONs that were firing on the now airborne warship with his sniper beam rifle while dodging some missiles that were shot at it. Mu, in the meantime, had just sunk the Vosgulov class submarine before he had noticed that they were one fighter short.

"Hey, has anyone seen Cagalli?" he had asked to the Combat Information Center.

"Negative, Commander." Natarle replied, confused with the given question. "She had gotten off course somehow during the course of the battle."

"Oh great," Mu replied as he had switched to the tactical net. "William, the little princess is missing. Can you guys even find her in this mess?"

"We cannot do so since it would seem that our radar is being jammed somehow," Zero replied as William was busy shooting the evasive ZnO with Zero's machine cannons. "Probably the neutron jammers within the vicinity."

Kira had decided to bait the maneuverable aquatic mobile suit to the water surface since he was having trouble slashing the said aquatic suit in the water with its anti-ship sword.

"I do suggest that we make a search and rescue mission as soon as this battle is over," The AI had added quickly as the ZnO had dived to avoid being shot at.

"I'm with you on that one, Zero." Mu replied as his Skygrasper had added its firepower to the battle.

Soon, Kira was able to defeat the Zno just before he had received the bad news from the tactical net. Even then, Murrue had only gave Tolle permission to sortie first in the Skygrasper since the other pilots were already tired enough to Kira's protests.

"Kira, that's enough." Flay said as she had slapped her boyfriend hard. "I'm worried about Cags too. But I would rather you have some rest before joining the search party since it would be dark soon."

The brunet had gone silent as he and his fellow pilots had eaten their dinner and slept for a while. Tolle's three hour search had turned up nothing as the second Skygrasper could have been moved by the ocean waves to another location altogether.

Around nine o' clock that night, William had tried his luck with Kira. Mu had stayed behind in case of a night attack with the Skygrasper's batteries being recharged. Miriallia had also given them a map of the sector where they would be searching.

The winged gundam had taken to the skies in the hopes that it would not be detected in the night sky. To be sure, William had flown his machine in Neo Bird mode as close to the water as possible so as not to use its hyper jammers unnecessarily.

Kira had the Strike equipped with the Launcher Striker pack as it had traveled on the ocean surface while trailing the flying gundam.

It was around midnight when Zero's long range sensors had registered two distress signals and another unidentified signal coming from an island about thirty nautical miles to the northwest from their current location.

"Kira, I've got somethin' from somewhere northwest of here." William was saying in the tactical net as his gundam had banked in the direction of the signals. "Contact the Archangel of what we found."

"I hope one of them is Cagalli but what's with the other two signals," Kira said as he had also turned the Strike in the same direction as the winged gundam.

"I dunno," The Filipino replied. "But we'll find that one out when we get there."

"Alright," Kira replied happily. "Strike to Archangel, we have two distress signals from the northwest direction about thirty nautical miles northeast of you. William and I are going to investigate the signals before reporting back."

"Alright, but be careful out there." Murrue replied sleepily since the others had not heard the incoming transmission in their half-asleep states.

"Yes, Ma'am."

-oOo-

Eight hours earlier, Cagalli had ditched her Skygrasper in the drink after taking on a ZAFT transport ship. The said aircraft had remained afloat long enough for it to be directed by the waves to an uninhabited island in the north after she had activated the craft's distress signal.

The blonde freedom fighter had found her chance to punch out of her disabled ride before swimming to the nearing shore, carrying her emergency kit. Cagalli then headed further inland as her craft had run aground in the beach behind her.

As the blonde teen had emerged at the other side of the island, she then saw a mobile suit's head above the rocks above another beach.

The presence of the familiar V-fin had made Cagalli think that it was one of the stolen prototypes. A later look had confirmed that it was a gray mobile suit that she had not even seen in action before.

She had later seen a blue haired young man in a red pilot suit studying the immediate area. In her mind, Cagalli had known that this young man was a ZAFT pilot based on her experiences with them in the Sahara.

The gutsy teen had slowly made her way down the slopes carefully so as not to attract attention while nearing the fallen holster lying in the beach that she thought was the item that the young man was looking for. She had kicked it away just in time for the now alert young man to draw a curved knife from its right leg sheath after taking the gun from it.

Cagalli had also known from experience that she had to take the first shot to win so she did. Too bad, it missed.

The young man then leapt for the rocks above Cagalli before landing near the girl to engage her in hand to hand combat. The blonde teen had tried to nail him with his own side arm but missed all the same since her opponent had thrown his knife at her as a sort of distraction. This maneuver had taken the girl by complete surprise as she was later seen sailing in the air courtesy of a simple hip throw, the hand gun already dropped.

Enraged and hurting from her rough landing in the sand, Cagalli had gone berserker and went for the young man's throat. In the process, the young man had lost his knife due to his opponent's painful twisting of his left wrist arm when the girl had caught up with him.

The blue haired teen was actually cursing his luck since he had just retrieved his knife by that time. The young man had to use all the hand to hand combat techniques he had known to get the crazy girl off him to no avail.

In the end, a light green seed had exploded in his mind's eye in his desperation and rising anger at the fact that he was losing badly. The two berserkers had squared off until the young man had pinned the girl in the sand with his arms and legs.

In her current mental state, Cagalli had screamed in fear and anger at the malicious look on her opponent's green eyes.

In Athrun's mind, the said scream was not that of a boy but rather a girl. This was enough for both of them to come out of their berserker modes.

The young man said his apologies just as rain began to fall. The teens had disengaged from each other as they stood up. Athrun then activated his suit's distress signal as soon as he got in before firing a sensor buoy at the sea beyond the sand's reach.

Cagalli then headed for the temporary shelter afforded to them by the mobile suit's raised shield arm. The young man had gotten down from his suit just in time for a rouge wave from the sea to splash them both.

Sputtering from their shared wet experience, the blue haired pilot had moved his mobile suit towards a patch of sand in front of a nearby cave with the girl following him as fast as she could.

They had later dried their wet clothes and boots on the fire that the girl had made from firewood that they had collected just before nightfall.

After eating some shared rations that the mobile suit pilot had, the pair had decided to introduce themselves to each other.

"I'm Cagalli," The former freedom fighter said as they shook hands.

"Well then, I'm Athrun."

-oOo-

After the sun had set, the two castaways were warming themselves to a shared blanket around the still burning bonfire where their clothes were being dried. They had talked about the war, the Bloody Valentine incident, and how it had affected them.

Cagalli had also talked about the secret G-series mobile suits that had wrecked havoc in Heliopolis. Athrun had countered that it was because of the creation of the GAT series that had doomed Heliopolis in the first place.

When Cagalli asked how Athrun had even known that fact, he simply replied that it was a secret.

"You watch too many episodes of Slayers, y'know." The freedom fighter said to change the subject for a little while.

"What can I say?" The ZAFT pilot replied with a smug smile. "It was a funny anime with plenty of action on the side."

"Men," Cagalli had muttered to herself.

Neither one of them had actually brought up the subject that they were both sharing a blanket while wearing only their underwear.

They had later talked about the friends that they had met in their journeys. Yet when they had talked about Tolle, William, and especially Kira, both of them had realized that they had a lot more in common than they had even thought.

Both teens had kept their suspicions to themselves though since they had gotten closer than they were only hours ago. More than that, Athrun had proven to be quite gentle in comparison to the tough Cagalli.

In spite of themselves, the teens had fallen asleep at about the same time that William and Kira had launched for their last patrol before the latter two would turn in for the night.

The castaways were later awakened by an incessant beeping from the Aegis that was set on standby mode. Yet the beeping stopped had just as quickly as it started. This had Athrun think that someone had deactivated the alarm from the inside of his machine's still open cockpit.

Drawing his knife, the blue haired soldier had told Cagalli to stay out of sight as he slowly walked towards the Aegis, his bare feet making little to no sounds in the rocky cave floor.

The blue haired Red Coat had slowly looked out of the cave to see nothing at first, even with the light of the full moon shining down on the beach itself. There was also no one in the Aegis' cockpit either as far as he could see.

This was why he was caught completely by surprise when Wing Zero had slowly landed in front of him VTOL style and the Strike had emerged from the crashing surf.

Cagalli's earlier suspicions were proven correct when the first words that came out of the smaller gundam's exterior speakers were – "Hey, Athrun. Have ya seen a blonde girl named Cagalli 'round here recently? By the way, nice boxers you've got there."

As the blonde pilot had neared the cave entrance where the Red Coat had remained standing with his head down, Cagalli could hear Athrun say half to himself - "Kill me now, please."

In addition, Athrun's curved knife was pointing downwards, and his cheeks had turned as red as his worn boxers. With a chuckle, the girl had also emerged from behind the surprised taller teen.

Kira's relief had showed in his voice when he had greeted her, only to gasp in shock when he realized what the blonde girl was wearing.

"Are you alright, Cagalli?" The brunet said though the suit's speakers. "Whoa, did you and Athrun do something before we arrived?"

"Yeah, what took you guys so long?" The rebel princess had yelled back just before blushing on what Kira had added to his question. She had also jerked a thumb at Athrun before continuing, "As for me and Lieutenant Pretty Boy here, we did not do anything."

Athrun had by then regained his wits (and turned down his blush too) and yelled. "Guys, I surrender and no, nothing happened between me and Cagalli or you would have to carry me in a stretcher out of this island."

Cagalli only smirked as that was exactly how Athrun would be leaving the island if he did anything inappropriate with her.

He did smile though at the given nickname. 'Dearka, I think I found what I'm looking for.'

"Uh, Athrun," William was saying as he was slowly descending from the gundam's opened cockpit to the slightly wet sand. "We could leave ya alone in this island y'know, just not with Cagalli of course."

After a beat, he then added. "We'll also take the Aegis back since it didn't belong to you anyway. Plus we'll escort Cagalli back to the ship since we 'ave a bunch of people worried for her back in the Angel."

"Yeah, Athrun," Kira said as his purple eyes had remained wide at the attire both Athrun and Cagalli were wearing or the lack of them, anyway. "We're not after you. Although, I'd rather you both get suited up since whoever would see you next would have thought that you had some 'company' here."

"It's not like that, Kira." Surprisingly, it was Cagalli who had spoken up as her cheeks turned red for the second time. "We were both splashed by a large wave when we came here so nothing happened. Plus if any of you guys tell what you saw here to anyone else, you're as good as dead."

"Anyway, I would like to reiterate my surrender to you three." The blue haired teen said with a heavy sigh. "If the Aegis is captured, then so should I. Otherwise, I'll be kicked out of the Red Coats and maybe even ZAFT for bungling a very important mission."

"Ok," William answered then looked around for something to tie Athrun's hands with. "If ya say so, Athurn."

He had later emerged from the cave with some bandage from the Red Coat's emergency bag which he had used to tie Athrun's hands with after the young man had put on his flight suit.

The Filipino then told Zero to take over the Aegis' operating system while he would use the controls to carry the fallen Skygrasper as he had escorted Athrun to his suit's cockpit where the latter teen would be strapped to.

"William, I'll carry the Skygrasper so Zero could focus more on flying the Aegis," Kira said as he had gone back to his machine's cockpit with the now fully clothed Cagalli.

The Strike had flown briefly to the other side of the island where Cagalli had moved to the Skygrasper's cockpit before the mobile suit had lifted the fighter out of the water.

The Strike had later joined the airborne Wing Zero in Neo Bird mode carrying the still powered down Aegis in its claws. All of them had headed for the waiting Archangel as the moon had slowly lowered to the waiting eastern horizon.

-oOo-

The mobile suits had arrived just before one o'clock in the morning. While Athrun was placed in a holding cell, the rest of the pilots had headed for their rooms.

All of them quickly had quickly fallen asleep in their exhaustion. Even Murrue was carried to her quarters by Mu since Natarle had gotten enough rest and would now take the graveyard shift.

"See you later, Nat," Mu said over his shoulder as he had carried the sleeping captain out of the door, bridal style.

"Don't call me that," The Executive Officer replied quickly with flushing cheeks.

"As for all of you, quit gawking and return to your posts," She added to the smirking and sniggering crewmembers (plus one giggling Flay) who had taken over the posts left by the last set of crewmembers. 'That La Flaga's got some nerve to call me by my nickname. Who does he think he is - my best friend in the world?!'

-oOo-

Back in the hallway, a certain captain of the Archangel had woken up to some rhythmic motion. As she moved her left arm back to her, it had hit a rather wide snag. In response, Murrue had moved it around the "snag" to rub her widening brown eyes.

As soon as Murrue did though, her brown eyes had widened ever further at the sight of a smirking Mu looking down at her.

"Glad you woke up, Sleeping Beauty," The blonde ace said as he had moved his left arm a bit to punch in the access code when he had looked back at his captain whose cheeks were burning red. "I was wondering what your room's access code is."

"As if I'd give it to you," Murrue said in response. "Let me down and I'll do it."

Mu did and the brunette officer had shakily stood up just enough to lean on the wall next to the twelve buttoned panel.

"Now go," The brown haired captain said as she had finally supported her weight. "That's an order, Commander."

"No can do," The ace pilot replied with a victorious smirk. "Don't forget I got the advantage of seniority here even if you are the captain of this ship. I'll just wait for the door to open and then carry you to bed."

"Alright, you may remain…Sir," Murrue said with a sexy purr as she had pushed the correct sequence of buttons that she had to hide from the blond pilot's view with her other hand.

"Good girl," Mu had once again lifted up the smaller woman and carried her to her bed as promised.

"Sleep tight-" Mu said in his best sensual voice as the door had slid closed. "-my dearest Captain."

The captain of the Archangel had to giggle like a high school girl at what had just transpired before falling asleep altogether.

-oOo-

In Carpentaria, a certain green haired Red Coat was disappointed that whatever distress signal that was caught by an AMRF-101C AWACS DINN had disappeared before the EWO had gotten a lock on its source's location. The fact that most of his teammates did not even care had not helped matters either.

Thankfully, Shiho had comforted the young Red Coat in his hour of need to the point of giving her fellow Red Coats a red hand mark on their cheeks. Yzak had gotten a double slapping for being an insensitive jerk as well as telling the brunette off who had ran away from the room while trying not to cry.

This had made the silver haired Coordinator feel regret for telling off the one person who was a source of comfort for him when the Intruders had disgraced him that one time in space.

'Damn it,' Yzak had thought to himself as he had watched Shiho flee the scene with Nicol following suit. 'Of all the times, I had to be a dickhead.'

Dearka did tease Yzak about his ability to repel any female including the one that he was having a crush on before getting himself decked and even beat up seconds later by a furious white haired pilot.

The other personnel on the base had simply shrugged their shoulders at the given events since they had thought it was simply due to stress at losing their friend and fellow team member to the legged ship.

A few days later, the Red Coats had gotten a lead on the location of the legged ship. Their mobile suits were transferred to a Vosgulov class submarine named Cousteau for transport to the Malacca Strait.

-oOo-

As the Joule team was approaching Indonesia, their target was already being engaged by yet another ZAFT commander trying to head up the ranks. Again, missiles exhausts, tungsten rounds, and plasma beams had heated the already hot tropical air even further. This did not even include the heat generated by various thrusters of the remaining Skygrasper and the mobile suits.

Tolle had taken over the piloting of Wing Zero for some "combat experience" as he put it to William and the others. Overall, it was a good decision as the brunet second stringer was proving to be a capable mobile suit pilot as he had gained more and more experience in the field than in the simulation pod.

In fact, the three defenders of the Archangel were making the latest enemy commander even regret taking on the legged ship as DINNs were being shot down like flies while GuOONS and even ZnOs were being destroyed underneath the waves.

Mu had even remarked that either the ZAFT forces on Earth were getting easier or they were getting better with each battle they fought. It was Kira who said that the latter was true since Tolle had continued to improve as a pilot.

The Archangel had already gone past Singapore when the Joule team had arrived at the battlefield, too late to even intervene. Since then a chase had ensued between the Cousteau and the Archangel on their way towards the Country of ORB.

-oOo-

The chase ended when the Cousteau had caught up with the Archangel in the southern part of the Mariana Islands, near ORB territorial waters.

The submarine had quickly surfaced for the four members of the Joule Team to launch immediately. They were joined by two DINNs and four GuOONs, the latter to keep the Strike busy underwater.

The battle itself was brutal for all concerned as Wing Zero had to contend with dealing with three of the four stolen mobile suits at one time while the Strike was still fighting underwater.

The Skygrasper and the Archangel were also being shot at by the aerial mobile suits that neither ship nor aircraft had not yet shot down but were still much into the fight.

"Damn it, I'm pretty much alone in this one," William said to himself as he had moved the control levers and foot pedals almost frantically.

Wing Zero had responded by evading the various beams and other projectiles shot at it while shooting back with its sniper rifle and even its machine cannons when given the chance.

Kira was having the same problem down below as he was again at the mercy of the four GuOONs. Nichol was most especially trying to kill the gundam pilot for destroying the Aegis in the night when it was reported missing.

"I didn't kill Athrun," William panted as the Blitz had continued its rampaging run. "We just took him under arrest when we have retrieved the Aegis. I'd rather he'd return to you but he wanted to stay with his machine."

"You lie," Nichol roared as he had gone on a series of slashing runs that were supported by his comrades' firepower. "I hope you see him in the afterlife."

"That's it," William said tersely as he had activated the ZERO system. "Playtime's over."

The Joule team was so much into exchanging fire with now more agile Wing Zero, the Skygrasper, and even the Archangel that they did not notice that both Kira had gone berserker.

It was only when they had heard the anguished cries of their fellow pilots in the tactical net as well as the explosions above and beneath the waves that they had learned that the odds had shifted to the Archangel's favor.

"Time fer you ta cool off," William said as he had used the remaining power of the sniper rifle to make a bull's eye at Yzak's Guul's center module, destroying it.

The Duel still exchanged fire with Wing Zero just before it had hit the water. Its pilot was swearing in the radio consistently the whole while.

"One down, three ta go," The Filipino said to himself with a feral smile as he had readied his suit's beam saber while stowing its sniper rifle.

The Skygrasper and the Strike, which had come up of the water equipped with the Sword Striker pack, did the same to the others in short order.

All four mobile suits had hit the drink one after the other and were eventually picked up by the Cousteau about 200 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Thankfully for them, both the ORB Forces as well as the Archangel had ignored them completely since they could still be detected by sonar at those depths.

Even then, the Archangel was mortally hurt in the battle and had to make a crash landing in ORB's territorial waters in full view of the ORB naval forces who were watching the battle at the time.

The said force was alerted hours earlier by their long range reconnaissance crafts when the battle had just started. Both mobile suits and support aircraft were recalled quickly to the Archangel as soon as the wounded ship was on the water.

Yet inside the ship, George was having a hard time in keeping his temper at the communication officer that did not even recognize him or Cagalli for that matter.

This was even when the blonde girl had told her whole name for everyone to hear, actually pausing the battle for a moment. As for the little princess, she was already exchanging barbed words with said officer before Kuzzy had cut the communication on their end.

Tolle was already tiring himself out in trying to keep the Archangel airborne since the other pilot (Arnold) had to take an extra hour of sleep from getting overtime during the chase.

Thankfully, Kisaka had advised that the Archangel play the wounded animal upon its landing on the water to which Murrue had no other choice but to comply. The Archangel did land but not without some ships firing on it in defiance of their earlier requests.

Even then, the warship had gone in further ORB's territory before the shells and missile barrage had stopped.

-oOo-

In the State House of the ORB government in Onogoro Island, Lord Uzumi Nara Attha had sighed in relief when the ORB Governing Committee had accepted his request that the Archangel be protected for various reasons.

He then left the Council House for Morgenroette Inc.'s main facility and factory. His brother, Homura had taken over the remaining proceedings.

'I'm glad that you have finally come here, my friend,' Uzumi thought as his limousine had approached its destination. 'Just like we have agreed upon the last time we talked. Yet your timing definitely leaves a lot to be desired…as usual.'

-oOo-

Back in the Archangel, George had to calm his nerves by drinking margaritas in the cafeteria. Joining him were the superior officers of the Archangel and some of the new recruits from Artemis. All of them were asking the former politician on what would ORB do to them once the ship had docked in port.

"I don't really know everyone," George said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Considering that Panama may be ZAFT's next target, I can already see the anxious faces of the ORB council upon our arrival. From here on, it will be up to Uzumi and him alone."

In the bridge, the former students were cheering Tolle on as he had duplicated Arnold Neumann's maneuver in Artemis. Even William was there with Birdy on his head as well. The docking was done precisely and Mirialia had decided to kiss her boyfriend on the lips as her reward for his successful piloting.

Once the kiss had turned to a full blown make out session, the others had left as quietly and quickly as they could with Kuzzy making barfing sounds as he made his way out. Sai had given his friend a slap upside the nape for his troubles.

-oOo-

In the Cousteau's sleeping quarters, Yzak was again punishing the non-living items in his rage upon being beaten by Wing Zero when he was about to grasp their victory.

Nichol was still angry at the lies that William had spouted in the radio. Dearka was not as mad as the others yet he had felt similarly humiliated when their Guuls were easily shot down by direct hits.

Shiho, on the other hand, was keeping quiet as she knew that William would not say such things if they were not true. She had remembered the time when she had joined Athrun and Rusty when they had first fought the Strike and Wing Zero in Heliopolis. Rusty was killed in the said dogfight but she still saw some camaraderie between Atrhun, Kira, and William in their little exchange in the airwaves.

Plus Yzak, no matter how cute he is, had gotten his humiliation coming in a later battle when he had boasted that -"No natural would make a monkey out of me".

If only, Yzak would realize that his thirst for revenge would only bring him tunnel vision, which was one of the things that a good soldier should never have. But Shiho knew that he would have to get out of that problem on his own.

The only thing she could do for the rest of the team was simply to be a comrade in arms and a friend outside of battle. The brown haired Red Coat had kept all the said information to herself though since it was not the proper time to reveal it yet.

-oOo-

What the Joule team did not know was that in fact Athrun was actually alive and not dead as they had believed. He was even enjoying the visits made by Kira, Cagalli, and their fellow teens in his cell when they were off duty.

The only sour points were when he was lectured by Kisaka and George for seeing the Princess of ORB only in her light green underwear. They had ignored the fact that Kira and William had seen her in the same way. In his mind, he had figured that this was a sort of off-tangent revenge for ZAFT's action in the war.

Then again, if his father had been there, he would have been made a laughing stock in the Academy for not being able to keep the Aegis as well as being friendly to a potential enemy (especially since he was wearing nothing else except his boxers).

'Jeez, I'd rather stay at that beach with Cagalli and the others than be lectured by those old guys,' The blue haired Coordinator had taught acidly.

"Athrun Zala?"

'Oh no,' Athurn thought as he was surprised to see George Allster again. 'Wonder what he wants?'

"Athrun, I would like to ask a favor from you," The older man said as he had leaned on the cell bars.

"If it would give me my freedom, I'm all ears," Athrun said with a bored tone.

"Actually, we have to release you anyway since Siegel would be after our heads not to mention your father," George replied with a sincere smile.

"So what could I get from this 'favor' then?"

"The satisfaction of making the Earth Alliance's Supreme Council into a bunch of fools that they really are," The former politician's smile had grown bigger the moment he said those words.

Mimicking the older man's smile, Athrun said simply. "I'm game. Let's hear it."

-oOo-

While George and Athrun were making plans for the Earth Alliance meeting weeks later, a certain middle aged woman and her teenaged charge were having a tug of war. The item in between being the younger woman's red T-shirt.

"Nanny, I'm more comfortable with this than that…that flimsy piece of cotton," The young woman nearly screamed as the said article of clothing had flown to a yet unknown landing site within the suite where the younger woman had stayed for the duration of her time after the Archangel had docked.

"Now, now. Lady Cagalli," The older woman called Mahna said in a soothing manner. "This is what princesses are supposed to be wearing."

The various crewmembers who had heard the exchange were leaning on the door and each other as they had tried to figure out what the heck was going on. The said door had opened to reveal Cagalli wearing a green strapless gown. A few wolf whistles were heard before Kisaka had shushed the growing crowd with a glare.

Both the bodyguard and the nanny had escorted the little princess through the hallways to the exterior hatch. Along the way, they had met George and Athrun Zala who were also escorted by armed guards.

Cagalli's face had mimicked a tomato in its ripeness when she had seen Athrun's shocked expression. George had seen this and remarked. "Well, Athrun my boy, you had just witnessed a rare event in life – a tomboy turning into a lady."

"Father, please," Flay said from her place beside Kira. "You're embarrassing her."

"Sorry, dear but I do remember a little tomboy of mine changing to a lady herself not too long ago," The former politician replied with a wistful smile. "Kids, they grow up too fast."

"Ouch," came a youngish male voice in the crowd. "Flay, I wasn't laughing at you. I just thought that what your father said was rather funny."

This time, the whole crowd had laughed before the royal troupe was joined by three pilots (one of them hopping briefly on his left foot) and three officers to the receiving room in the secret hanger.

Atrhun's boisterous laughter was also heard as he was led to his new quarters in ORB.


Well, at least Athrun got to laugh in this chapter since he certainly needed it. On the next chapter, rest and relaxation followed by a battle that would change everything. But before that, Ash and company would have their fill of ghosts... whether they like it or not.