Chapter 21: Waves of Sorrow [Earth]

[Nero]

-Burai Team 1-

The group of Burai quickly found themselves under attack by a Guarlion, and the one she was trying to hit from behind pushed forward to dodge her strike and hopefully get a clear shot at the Belgaphor's head while the other Burai she tried to attack simply evaded her fire, and turned it's bazooka towards the annoying AM and fired.

-Burai Team 2-

A second group of Burai launched from the Aroundight, and were heading towards the battle when the lead Burai caught sight of the Delta Gundam.

"Let's take that one out!" Quickly, the Glide wing assisted burai charged it, and opened up with their Bazookas on it.

-Gekka Team 2-

The Gekka that attacked the Belgaphor was crushed, but that didn't stop the other four as they maintained their charge. One however, started firing it's Handgun at the Belgaphor's head.

[Sume Gai]

-Martin Snow-

He and his team easily dodged the incoming fire, The Gekkas, knowing they were not a match, didn't engage the Saviour directly. Two got off quick Bazooka shots at the flying frame as they continued about routing any Stationary defenses they could

Sume Gai

The Black and Gold Armor lion bust from the tunnel. Gai spotted Kylern getting attacked by what looked like the Gebara Tetra and several Burais attacking. Zero was dueling Zaine and Rena was fighting some Mass Production KMFs. He wasn't sure which target to attack first, or for that matter with what.

Tallis Stenner

"oh..."

Tallis looked down clearly saddened by the news but didn't voice it. She had been quite fond of the Weis and Wan had given it to her, it was very special to her. Tallis took only a moment to find the elevator and join Kayla atop the Cattleya. a unit Tallis owned her life to.

"yes lets hurry I'd hate to make them worry any more."

[Omega]

-Zaine-

"You lousy... Get back here!" He quickly gave chase after the Black knight's leader, and followed him to the surface, where he had to block the Hadron shots, but switched the Exia's weapon to rifle mode, and opened up on Zero once he had a clear shot.

-Rena-

The Phase-Shift armor blocked the Bazooka rounds as Rena turned towards the group. "You don't seem to really want to fight..." She turned again towards the battle, and charged into it, with her beam rifle cautiously raised, she fired off a few shots at the Burai flying inbetween Kylern and a Guarlion.

[Kylern]

(Guess since I already responded to Cybs attack and haven't struck back I can deal with these pests on me)

-Kylern-

He crushed one Gekka and more were coming around. Several small-arms fire struck the back of the Belphagor's head causing some head-ache but didn't pierce. Once again they were trying to punch through Gundanium with light ballistics fire. But it was taking its tole as Kylern was pulled between fighting with the Tetra and these little pests.

But something in him continued to push him to fight. There was also a far off presence that he could almost smell too. The pressure of this fight and his need to win started to eat at him enough that his V Crystal began to pick up on it. The Belphagor was struck again but in the upper back causing the unit to stumble forward and onto its knees.

Far off Kayla would start to feel suddenly light-headed as Kylern dug in deep. "I refuse to lose here... You can not kill me!" He lifted his head up as his eyes ran blood red. The Crystal picked up on its owners will and triggered the Belphagor to respond.

-FLASH SYSTEM-

The Belphagor roared as it stood up and unleashed 8 heat wires, four from each arm, that shot out trying to grab and cut in half the four Gekka's that dared surround him. The demon-like Gundam had, had enough with these small fries and was determined to eliminate them in one go.

-Natalia-

Her first target made the mistake of not keeping its eyes on her. It would find her still behind it and the assault blade slashed horizontally across its mid-section. Then spinning around she kicked the upper half back behind her into the path of the bazooka rounds. She would teach these small fry that it was a mistake to ignore her.

[Nero]

-Zero-

Zero quickly raised the APT to block the GN Beams. "You... I can never forgive you for what you did! I WILL kill you here!!!" Once the APT Dissipated, He fired the crystal from his chest, and unleashed the SPT Cannon on Zaine.

-Shadow-

If Gai was paying attention, he'd notice a blue Tieren heading for the fight between Zaine and Zero.

It raised it's beam rifle and prepared to fire at the Exia...

-Burai Team 1-

The two remaining Burai charged the Guarlion with their Bazookas firing.

-Gekka Team 2-

The four Gekka were quite easily crushed under the might of the Belgaphor.

[Cybaster]

(Gah, calm down. Had to momentarily vanish. <<)

-Kalen-

The Belphagor's Hyper Beam Sword slashes down, clearing the sand where it cleaved --- only to find air as, a split second later, a second yellow Beam Saber suddenly lanced out from the Belphagor's right side from the sand cloud, slashing upwards and at the joint of the right extending claw arm to sever it into two; Shortly after the blow, the Gerbera Tetra fired all of its thrusters and took to the air again, the left arm machinegun firing another spray of fire at Kylern and Natalia.

That was when Kalen turned around to see the rest of the DC forces mobilizing, Lions and Guarlions blazing their way. "You stay out of this!" Was all Kalen yelled angrily as the Gerbera Tetra wheeled around and charged, sidestepping a Lion at the last second and carving it into two halves with its own Beam Saber in a horizontal slash. As the Gerbera Tetra swerved evasively, it came at another Guarlion, dashing away from a series of shots from it, and fired its machinegun, pelting the units with a hail of bullets that caused the Guarlion to plummet.

This battle was not over yet, Kalen sneered. Not by any means --- but where in hell were Aelfhere's troops? Aelfhere, you scheming coward, what's in your head...?

[Omega]

-Zaine-

He switched his weapon back to sword mode as he pushed upwards... "Zero... why? I have no reason to kill you!" He quickly batted the crystal aside and dodged the beam before raising his GN Sword, and throttled in at the Shinkirou.

(Nero, you ignored me on that one)
-Rena-

Natalia would find that the burai that charged her were destroyed effortlessly by a Red Gundam.

"Looks like you owe me one!" Rena said with a hint of glee.

[Strike Zero]

- Strike -

"Tsk."

Utilizing the reverse momentum gained from aburuptly transforming the Delta from waverider mode into mobile suit mode, Strike was able to nimbly flip up and over the initial bazooka barrage.

Strike glared down at the approaching Knightmare Frames.

"So... I guess I've gotta deal with these bugs?"

With a single swift motion, the Delta holstered its beam rifle and drew its beam saber in a brilliant flash of lighting, then charged at the lead Burai, shield held at the forefront. Once he had pushed in closed, Strike leveled the burning blade and shoved a deadly thrust into enemy Knightmare's midsection.


- Kayla -

Kayla took hold of Tallis hand and both of them dropped down into the Cattleya's cockpit. Reacting to her presence, the wide sphere became filled with light before generating a full 360-degree display of the armor's surroundings.

"Cattleya coming online. Engines charging," she announced, extending a hand forward. "Launching now--"

There was a tiny shimmering noise in the back of her mind, and for a moment her vision went out of focus.

What?

She took a slight step backwards to steady herself as she suddenly felt a loss of balance. A hand found its way up to her temple and Kayla stared down at the cockpit floor, wide-eyed.

What in the hell was that? It felt as though all of her energy had vanished for but a split second. But there weren't any problems with her body. What was it then... Zephyr again?

No... it was different... like Zephyr, but not like Zephyr.

Somebody... she knew.

But from where?

Kyle?

No... it wasn't Kyle either. This was...

This was...

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

"can't have that now. "

Gai had no trouble spotting the Tieren and Moved to intercept. Zaine wanted to fight Zero one on one. and Gai would honor that, for now. Gai opened fire with his right Split beam gun sending many weak yellow beams at the charging Tieren.

"It's not very polite to interrupt a duel."

-Martin Snow-

Martin quickly found himself embroiled in combat with AMs; trying to protect his team. He had Guarlion and a pair of Lions on him. The first Lion fell s he opened fire with his Baryon cannon.

A brave member of the Gekka team fired the last of his shells at the Guarlion only to find himself crushed at the mech used it's Break field to tank the attacks

Tallis Stenner

Tallis saw Kayla nearly lose her balance just as the Cattleya was launching. Though it was pointless Tallis move to catch Kayla should she fall.

"Is something the matter Lady Kayla."

A genuine concern radiated from her voice and expression.

[Kylern]

-Kylern-

He had indeed suffered from his lapse of focus as the enemy made contact with its own beam saber. The edge cut through the joint of the strike claw extension with Kylern barely able to disconnect from the real arm. The strike extension was slice off saving the main arm which caught the over-sized beam saber. The resulting work was kind of odd because it was unequal with a large claw arm on the left side and a normal one on the right.

But the enemy seemed to replicate his own mistake. The Tetra went for some poor little Lions leaving its back open. The Belphagor took advantage and launched into the air and fired off its atomic scissors at it aiming to clamp down on the boosters and chew them away. Kylern also launched four heat-wires, all from the claw arm at the Tetra aiming to grapple and slice into all four appendages.

-Natalia-

She was bout to turn and finish off the other small fry when someone else appeared on the scene. Rena disenigrated one of the Burai leaving one more for Natalia to cut down with the Guarlion's autocannon fire.

"Whatever... Lets leave this guy to Kylern and deal with the rest of these mice." She turned her machine around and then headed to intercept the other KMFs.

[Cybaster]

-Black Mage-

Despite his CO, Black Mage honestly didn't give a damn about who the Fandom outside were --- and who he was going to gank. To Black Mage, they were all fair game, and all deserved to be set on fire; The sole exception were Dark Star Knights, who Black Mage actually felt were a challenge for once. As such, as the others around him bustled by, Black Mage decided to take his stride, walking towards and into the hanger bay with a ^^ expression. There was no rush; the Fandom weren't going anywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still peeved about losing my knife, Black Mage cooed, ^^ing. So next time I'm going to get a Laser Knife instead, maybe one of those Fusion Cutters from an SCV, but I'm just going to have to cheer myself up by face-stabbing any and all Fandom I could find out there --- granted, I was planning to do that anyway, but now it actually has some kind of twisted significance---

Which was promptly lost when, the first step he took into the hanger deck, Black Mage stopped himself cold all of a sudden.

And fell to his knees.

As Black Mage suddenly felt his breathing constrict, his vision swimming and causing him to narrow his eyes in an unknown, odd sense of pain, and his nerves first ached and then burned to fight off paralysis, it was all Black Mage could do to force himself to stand, feet wobbling, hand leaning against the nearest wall for support. He lost his ^^ look at once; In fact, like this, Black Mage looked almost weak --- and dying. Black Mage moaned in panic; He knew what it was. He has felt it throughout his whole life.

And he cursed it for happening at the worst of times. No, no, no, nonononononono... Black Mage sneered angrily, shaking his head. It was all he could find himself doing. Not now. Not now, damnit, when I need to go out there and immolate as many Fandom as I could find! Why did this have to happen right now and not two hours later or something!? Bad timing! Very bad timing indeed!

But it would not be denied, and soon Black Mage found himself sprinting at full speed in the opposite direction, stumbling and pushing past anybody in his way, and racing through the corridors of Aidoneus Island; After awhile, somehow finding his way to his quarters, Black Mage would dash into it in a panicked hurry --- nearly tripping over his own robes in the process --- and close and lock the door behind him.

-Kalen-

Kalen Barnett, however, wasn't fooled again.

Noticing the Belphagor leaping behind him, Kalen accelerated the Gerbera Tetra at full speed upwards and wheeled around just as the Belphagor's Atomic Scissors came at him. Wheeling the Beam Saber around in wide sweeps, Kalen swung it at the incoming Atomic Scissor in retort, the momentum of the blow knocking the Gerbera Tetra further upwards --- and causing it to fire its left machinegun at the incoming heat wires as the Tetra slid away from it, attempting to shoot them down and at Kylern's unit at the same time.

[Nero]

(Srry Gai...)
-Zero-

"No reason? Let me give you one then..." He then held up a device. "You see, the moment I activate this, the nanomachines inside Tallis will stall for 5 minutes, then permanently rewrite Tallis' memories..." He then activated the device and dodged around the Exia's GN Sword. But putting some distance between them and raised the APT again as though challenging Zaine to try and drive the GN Sword through the Absolute Protection Territory.

-Shadow-

"Hm? Ah you must be the infamous Night Chaser, Sume Gai... I've got a question for you... Where is Wan Fey Lo?" Shadow dodged the attack, but if Gai noticed how he dodged the attack, it'd send a chill down his spine because it would seem familiar. Shadow raised his Tieren's Beam Rifle and fired a few shots at Gai.

-Burai Team 2-

Two Burai repositioned themselve on each side of the Delta while their leader held it's attention By dodging the thrust and dared the delta to try that again while the last two repostitioned themselves above and below the Delta... All four fired their Slash Harkens at it, and the lead Burai got off a few Bazooka shots at the Delta's upper torso.

[Kylern]

-Kylern-

He stayed in motion as well as the enemy tried to run away. As it slashed at the atomic scissor it cut into the armor forcing the weapon to return to the Belphagor wounded. The other scissor, while not finding its target wasn't finished. The weapon turned ever so slightly and fired its beam cannon up at the Tetra who seemed concerned with the heat wires at the moment.

The machine-gun did indeed catch two of the wires in its hail of bullets destroying the rocket motors and rendering them ineffective. The last two returned as well as the last scissor and the Belphagor attempted to get into striking range. Its left arm mounted claw continued to shrug off fire as well as it could while Kylern used the large hyper beam saber to slash at the Tetra.

Inside his cockpit Kylern was showing mental strain as he tried to control everything at this level. It wouldn't be long before small trickles of blood would start to run from his eyes and nose.

[Omega]

-Zaine-

"Wha...? Fine then, you want to die that badly, i'll be more than happy to oblige!" He rocketed at the KMF, GN Sword raised. Zaine pushed the throttle to the max to try and impale the Shinkirou.

-Rena-

"Got it." She turned to look around for something to fire at. Ultimately, her gaze came to rest on one of the three ships that looked different from those used by the Black Knights. Rena raised her Amfortas again and fired at it.

(Amfortas fired at Deimos)

[Cybaster]

-Morpheus and Emily-

At that moment, the Unicorn Gundam and Strike Noir rocketed outwards and, for a moment as they hovered above and in front of the hanger entrance with respective weapons drawn, Morpheus and Emily could only stare forward at the exchange between Lelouch and Zaine. Morpheus sighed; He overheard the conversation, and knew what Lelouch was doing was tantamount to asking Zaine to kill him.

But it was not Morpheus' place to intervene --- even if he was forced to.

"Morpheus!" Emily exclaimed, the Unicorn Gundam swerving and firing a powerful Beam Magnum shot at two of the Burais attacking Strike, the girl blinking and looking to her CO for advice. Emily sighed; Only Morpheus could know how Morpheus wanted this battle to fight --- and to end. How the battle actually did end was another matter. "What do we do?"

"We wait."

"Wait? But Morpheus, Miss Tallis, she---"

The Strike Noir held out its right arm outwards at that. Emily fell silent and nodded. "We'll wait and defend this entrance; There's more than enough pilots out there to repel the Black Knights here, and Lelouch's fight is with Zaine. But Emily, look closer. Try to feel what I'm keeping an eye on." Morpheus nodded, the Strike Noir looking forward. "Try to feel what I'm really concerned about."

I will trust him, Emily thought to herself, and squinted, expanding her senses forward, past the Black Knights, away from Aidoneus Island.

To the Highwind and Deimos further ahead.

"Okay..." Emily blinked.

"Feel, Emily. Reach out with your feelings."

Emily closed her eyes at that, sweeping her senses over the Highwind, forward, looking nowhere but forward, into the flow of time...and then, she felt it, and understood --- as she suddenly felt the vision again, vividly replaying in her mind, linking what Emily felt to what she saw of Zaine and Lelouch right now.

It made Emily's eyes widen wildly in panic in the same way.

"June..." Emily finally said, sighing. "She's on there."

"Yes." Morpheus answered, nodding in approval at Emily's Center of All. "Not only is she not out here, neither is Midrenn. And that other ship is sitting back..."

Emily's eyes narrowed in disdain. "...Waiting for Zero to die."

Morpheus nodded wistfully at that, the Strike Noir sidestrafing briefly to avoid fire from a Burai before returning fire with its Shorty Beam Rifles, both guns blazing a hail of beam shots at it. Morpheus' eyes trailed over to the Gerbera Tetra in the distance at that; Damn you, Kalen, Morpheus sighed in disapproval, for playing into exactly what I was afraid of. "Exactly. If anything happens to June, we might have to react and charge forward at once. Keep an eye on those two ships and get ready to surge with me on my command."

"Got it."

"Kirie? Where's the rest of the Light Warriors?" Morpheus called, switching channels.

"Masamune's on his way out," Was Kirie's reply; Emily, however, frowned as she noticed Kirie's voice sounding urgent. "But there's a problem, sir. I can't find Black Mage anywhere."

"Then find him and get him out here as soon as you can!" Morpheus bit back, causing Emily to wince. This was serious --- she could feel something coming their way. "Bring Masamune out first. After you find Black Mage, stay with Lady Lune..."

[Sume Gai]

(that had better be a bluff cause there is no way I'm allowing it otherwise.)
Sume Gai

Gai took note of a somewhat familiar evasion used by his foe. before moving aside to dodge the retaliation.

"Not quite sure... I suppose I killed him. I certainly hope that's the case."

as Gai strafed he was also closing in an elliptical path He fired his left Split beam gun this time a greater percent of the beams would be on target.

[Strike Zero]

- Kayla -

Kayla blinked, then shook her head.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

She re-steeled her focus and triggered the Cattleya's engines. The giant armor lurched forward and out of the hanger, gliding just a few meters over the sea.

What on Earth was that just now?

**EPIC TIME SKIP MANEUVER**

Traveling at optimum speed, the Cattleya arrived at her destination in just under one hour. Hawaii was in sight. She parked the armor in its designated berth and killed the power.

"We're back," Kayla announced. "Welcome home... Tallis Stenner."


- Strike -

The Delta twisted, positioning its shield between it and the Burai as it fired, deflecting the bazooka attack. That was not the end, however -- the Delta continued to move, swerving out of its position so as not to be struck by the oncoming wired blades. Thought they were small, Strike had been made well aware of what a tiny, nimble opponent could do to a mobile suit given the opportunity not too long ago, and he was not about to let such an incident befall him again. By avoiding, he allowed the Slash Harkens to speed straight past him.

Strike cast another glare at the opponents that surrounded him.

"You guys don't belong here."

Rather than go chasing the Burai that surrounded him, Strike refocused on the enemy that was closest -- his original target.

"Just disappear."

He surged forward and struck again, but not with the blade. Instead, he drew even closer aimed the tip of the Delta's pointed shield directly into the center of the Burai's torso, then swung the saber about high over his head in a follow-up move.

[Cybaster]

-Kalen-

"That claw has a Beam Gun on it!?"

It was too late. Before Kalen could evade properly, the shot from the Atomic Scissor carved through the left arm, in the middle, and exploded with its ammunition, sending the Gerbera Tetra rightwards with the explosion. Hurriedly regaining control, Kalen moved the Gerbera Tetra further upwards, back, and towards the Highwind, swinging his Beam Saber defensively and parrying the Hyper Beam Sword while the right arm machinegun kept up a steady barrage of fire.

The Belphagor had effectively kept Kalen on the defensive otherwise.

[Nero]

(It wasn't a bluff, but I did mean for Zero to die long before the timer ran out)
-Zero-

Seeing Zaine's charge, Zero smirked under the mask... "You've won..." The blade Impacted against the APT, and seemed to hold... but only for a few moments. Quickly, and quite easily, the blade drove through the APT, and in turn, the Shinkirou was impaled long before the timer would reach zero.

-Shadow-

"You... WHAT?!" In an outrage, Shadow released a mental attack that Gai would find all too familiar while he dodged around the beams...

-Kizu-

Seeing the cattleya return sent a wave of relief through Kizu. He quickly followed it into the hangar, and landed his Astraea nearby while climbing out of it's cockpit, stood near the MA, almost as if waiting for someone.

-Burai Team 2-

The lead unit got smashed by the shield, sending the others into a blind rage, allowing them to charge in... When they get clear shots, the remaining Burai emptied their bazookas on the Delta.

[Strike Zero]

- Strike -

The Delta snapped upward and transformed back into waverider mode, accelerating high into the air and away from the fresh barrage of bazooka rounds. Once he had climbed a few dozen meters, the Delta returned again to its mobile suit mode.

From there, Strike took aim at each of the Burais in sequence, priming his beam rifle and firing as fast as he could, creating a rain of energy that descended upon them from above.