Gundam 00 one-shot: A True Warrior

[Strike Zero]

Episode seventeen of Gundam 00 inspired me to write a short story, partially because I was thinking how much more awesome the battle would have been had one more man made an appearance, and partially because of a discussion that had been taking place in the Gundam 00 anime thread before the episode aired.

This is most certainly not a master piece--I've written fiction before, but not many fanfiction. But at any rate, I hope you enjoy it.

---

"Setsuna! Behind us!" came the panicked cry of Saji Crossroad.

"I know!" barked the Kurdish young man in reply. With a furl of motion, the 00 Raizer spun halfway-round and locked on to the piece of debris that was approaching the winged mobile suit and closing rapidly. The report of Setsuna's beam rifle sounded once. Twice. His shots flew true and the panel exploded into a plume of dust upon their impact.

This was merely one of the thousands of explosions that flashed on the pair's every left and right as they and the soldiers below made every effort to keep the pieces of the falling orbital elevator from striking the Earth's surface. From a distance, the scene was a spectacle--hundreds of mobile suits converging in the airspace above the solar city, all of them firing their weapons into the air to stave off the falling debris. The battle's epicenter, however, was nothing short of a hellstorm. Mobile suits and panels alike quickly became smoke and fire as either were hit by accelerated projectiles. The battle line was also a scene of chaos: there were no formations, no commands, not even any real sense of friend or foe; such things didn't matter at this point. The combined forces of the Gundams, Federation, Katharon, Coup d'état , and A-LAWS alike were for the moment, however brief it may be, joined together as one to prevent this terrible tragedy from becoming even worse.

Flying amidst it all, Saji could feel fear like he had never felt before--stronger even than when he had faced death at Colony Proud--as the 00 Raizer danced through the rain of fire. The 00's pilot proper, however, was a mask of determination, focusing every inch of his attention, his sheer will to the destruction of his targets--to the saving of the terrified people attempting to flee the area below.

"Setsuna!" Saji cried, his voice cracking ever slightly. "We're too far out! We're more likely to be hit by friendly fire at this range!"

"Our own range is too far limited for us to be positioned otherwise!" Setsuna replied through clenched teeth as he swerved around another falling panel. The 00's sword rifle flashed, tracking the piece as it descended, and destroyed it.

"Two more falling at point-oh-nine!" Saji reported, acting as the de facto support operator for Setsuna in this situation. Setsuna responded and fired without even having to aim--two more pieces of debris taken down. He spotted another high above and fired again, destroying it as well. Saji reported another to the left--Setsuna changed his rifle into blade mode and swung, cleaving the panel in two.

"What--oh no!" Saji screamed. "Setsuna, behind--!"

Using his sword proved to be a tactical error -- it had left him out of position to respond to yet another panel descending on the 00 Raizer from behind. Setsuna quickly primed his sword and turned to meet it, only to find that the piece was nearly on top of them. Too late! he realized, dread swimming through his stomach. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how quickly he twisted around to meet the panel, the 00 would not make it, and he knew the two of them would be destroyed here.


* * *

Standing aboard the deck of an A-LAWS land battleship deck, Mister Bushido sees everything. He sees the once-great orbital elevator waver just slightly on its foundation. He sees the hundreds of starbursts that are the panels that once made up the elevator's exterior wall start their decent to Earth. And he sees the hundreds of her citizens take up arms to defend her.

He feels... not nothing, that's for certain. What was it then? Anticipation? The Gundam with the Twin Drives was bound to be there, after all. Only, there was no chance for their duel to go uninterrupted. Could it be... remorse then? Remorse for all those who were about to lose their lives?

No. It couldn't be. The world was of no concern to him, how ever many lives were lost over the course of these conflicts was not important in the slightest -- not in the face of his ultimate ambition.

I bear no responsibility to such things, after all. The masked man mused to himself.

"What makes you so sure?"

The voice came from somewhere near, yet also so far away. Bushido turned to face its speaker. It was a man whose face he barely recognized -- he had not seen the face in over four years.

"You simply intend to stand here," the man continued, combing a hand through his curly blonde locks, "in the face of the possibility that thousands of innocent souls could lose their lives?"

"And why should I not?" Bushido demanded in reply. "Their lives cast no bearing on my own."

"Why should they have to?" the blonde man countered, and folded his arms out of disgust, his neatly-pressed and cared for blue uniform whispering just slightly as he did so. "Or perhaps I have misunderstood what it means to be a Flag Fighter?"

"A title from long ago, one I have long since abandoned," Bushido replied wearily with a wave of hand, turning back to the scene of the battle. "Don't think waving it in my face will serve to make a difference."

At this, the man smirked. "If there's even a face left to do so. All I see is a mask... and a pitiful excuse of a man behind it."

"I am more of a man than I have ever been," Bushido asserted vehemently. "I am stronger than ever... and will become the strongest by triumphing over the one opponent that cannot be triumphed. Gundam."

"I have no doubt that you can and shall..." the blonde man replied. "But if that is all that you amount to... if that is truly everything that you are... then you, as I thought, could not become any less of a man even if you tried."

At this, Bushido turned back. His face betrayed no emotion -- only his slight change in posture indicated the words had struck some sort of chord. "What was that?"

"You claim that your fight is honorable, yet it is nothing more than a sham. What you used to fight for was honorable--the sake of your friends, the lives of your squad mates. The honor of the Flag, the pride of the Fighters. Now...? Now you fight only for the glory of yourself. I do believe that Howard and Daryll would weep if they were to see what you have become.

"Tell me... 'Mister Bushido...' what 'honor' is there in fighting for oneself... while others suffer at the hands of the tides of war?"

Bushido remained silent. He had no reply.

"You fancy yourself a true warrior," the blonde man continued. "Then tell me... what should a true warrior be fighting for?"

* * *

Death was fast approaching. Setsuna was prepared for it, while Saji was terrified. Though their feelings were different, both knew that the outcome was certain. This is why they were utterly shocked to find their fate so abruptly changed. The panel was split along its length by a golden line of energy, then separate in half. The two pieces cleared the 00 by mere inches, sparing it from an early demise.

The Gundam's sensors registered a contact then, but the angle he was at caused a glare to prevent Setsuna from making it out. He raised a palm to shield his eyes, and was able to make out a mobile suit with twin sabers and a horned helm...

Setsuna's eyes widened. "That's...!"

Adjusting his line of sight just slightly, the form of his savior became clear: It was the suit of the man he had dueled not hours before; the strange horned Flag-like unit capable of using Trans-AM. The oriental-styled suit spun both blades in its hand once and held the right-gripped one over its head.

"I shall not allow you to be slain..." an all-too familiar voice crackled over the 00's radio. "before I am allowed to defeat you myself!"

A fresh flow of GN particles burst from the Masurao's back, and Setsuna watched in rapt fascination as Mister Bushido and his mobile suit surged even higher into the oncoming hail of metal. Saji looked on as well, though more with a sense of disbelief -- such a charge was nothing short of suicidal, after all. However, Mister Bushido was a man who was bound by no rules, and it appeared that even the laws of death would not apply to him on this day, for with blades flashing like a pair of angry eagle's talons, the Masurao mercilessly hacked into panel after panel as the never-ending debris continued to fall, while not sustaining even a single scratch to its carbon chassis.

Through this, he had exposed himself to a new danger -- he was now well within the field of the fire belonging to the hundreds of mobile suits below. Now he not only had the debris to contend with but the abundant supply of friendly fire streaming at him from below. And what did Mister Bushido do in response?

Why, he laughed of course.

The masked man sent the Masurao into a series of dizzying acrobatics, dodging the beams and accelerated solid rounds, all the while continuing to cleave the debris.

"What should a true warrior be fighting for...?"

Both shots and falling metal grazed past the Masurao's armor by mere centimeters. However, through sheer power of control, Mister Bushido did not allow a single one to touch him. He spun once and split a panel in two as it attempted to pass by at his back.

"THIS is my answer!"

The GN condensers on the Masuao's back flared to life, the resulting spray of particles appearing as a set of golden wings on the mobile suit's back.

"He fights for honor!"

The horned mobile suit burst forward, blades outstretched at either side, destroying two panels at the same time with the double motion as it passed.

"He fights for pride!"

One, two, three more panels fell to a furious series of slashes. A shadow was cast over the Masurao's form, and Mister Bushido looked up and regarded the panel descending over his head without much reaction.

"And on this day..."

The Masurao's blades hummed with ferocious energy as Bushido held them high.

"...he fights for his soul, and the soul of another, that burns as brightly as his own!"

Just as it appeared the fated piece was about to make end the masked man's life, there was a blinding motion and a brilliant flash of light above the Masurao's head as Mister Bushido struck. The panel split into over a dozen pieces and a shower of sparks and GN particles were cast over the black-clad mobile suit's form, the piece having been rended completely asunder by the dance of the deadly blades.

For several seconds, there was silence, a reprieve in the destruction, as if Bushido's sheer will and ferocity had managed to curb away from him any further challenges.

"Today, this man fights not for himself, but for the sake of one other alone… the one who he is to enter sweet battle with... where everything will finally be brought to an end."

Mister Bushido speaks these words with an expression of utmost intensity on his face, while behind him, Graham Aker lets out a low chuckle. "All this just for the sake of one soul? Just keep telling yourself that..."

[Dean_the_Young]

Interesting; Bushido lost (more) points by not fighting as well. I though Bushido slicing one of the big panels (the one Tieria had to trans-am) would have been appropriate, and I'm pleased to see that you had him do it.

[Strike Zero]

Interesting; Bushido lost (more) points by not fighting as well.

It wasn't really all that surprising that he didn't show up (nor would I be particularly disappointed if he didn't revert back to his old self, for that matter). It would, however, be an attractive character development for him to realize the short-sightedness of his attitude towards combat.

I though Bushido slicing one of the big panels (the one Tieria had to trans-am) would have been appropriate, and I'm pleased to see that you had him do it.

Had he shown up, something along those lines would have indeed been his Crowning Moment of Badass

[Thundermuffin]

Well done. A great character piece on a character many have found to be lacking in substance this season.