S2 Chapter 5: Duel

James, Lisa, Omicron, and Ryukai stood facing the Nightmares. The innocent child was held by the one in the middle.

“Slayer.” James uttered.

“Greetings Captain Starbuck.” Slayer said smiling. “Glad to see you have come.”

“Address me by my proper title, Admiral Starbuck. Now give me my son.” he demanded.

“I will if you agree to fight me, Admiral.” he taunted with emphasis on the word Admiral.

“Fine.” he said stepping forward. Instantaneously another Nightmare took the child and delivered it to its mother. Charon and Abyssal Flare melted into pure shadow and created a ring of shadow around Starbuck and Slayer.

“We have to do something!” Lisa said crying with joy that her baby wasn’t hurt. “We can’t let James fight this shadow creature alone.

Ryukai and Omicron looked at each other. “That may not be wise,” said Ryukai. “If we interfere they may harm you or your husband. There are three of them and two of us.”

“What about Mika?” Lisa asked hopefully.

“She is in Station 13, searching for ways to bring EbilCorp down.” Omicron said.

In Station 13, Mika was searching the research labs. She found many failed devices designed for mind control, destroying planets, and other sinister tasks. To be safe she destroyed them all.

She was about to turn back when she noticed the wall was a different color near the bookcase. Sliding it back she found a hidden door. She opened it and climbed downwards and found herself looking at three mobile suits. Upon further inspection she found they were more than mobile suits...they ran on CDB. They were Gundams.

“How dare they...” she thought to herself looking at them. These Gundams were clearly based off the Dragonguard Gundams. Mika searched for files on them angrily and came across a folder with all the info she needed. EbilCorp had collected data based on the performance of the Dragonguard to create these Gundams.

“Valkyrie, Sentinel, and Ragnarok.” she muttered to herself looking at each one. Ragnarok was based off of Swordmagi, Sentinel on Guardian Spirit, and Valkyrie for Phoenix. “I might as well take these while I have the chance.” she said smiling.

Climbing into Valkyrie, because she knew it was similar to Phoenix, she opened the hangar door behind her. Moving through a secret escape passage, she exited Station 13. Valkyrie flew towards Loreon and as she moved she felt weak.

At the edge of Loreon’s atmosphere, she became faint. She felt herself break apart into light which surrounded and infused Valkyrie. With a sudden burst of strength Mika found herself as one with Valkyrie.

“This really is a Gundam.” she said surprised. Wings sprouted from Valkyrie and she propelled forward towards a dark barrier. Mika immediately spotted one of the Nightmares fighting Starbuck. She raised her right arm and extended a DG Beam Saber and swept down slicing the Nightmare in half.

The other two Nightmares emerged from the barrier to face the Gundam, but were too slow. Valkyrie aimed at the two with its DG Vulcans and fired causing the Nightmares to flee.

“Mika...” said Omicron sensing her presence. “Where did you get that Gundam?”

“It was an EbilCorp Gundam...but it is no longer.” she said amazed. “I merged with it...and changed it. It is now Valkyrie, a Dragonguard Gundam.”

“You can’t trust EbilCorp tech.” Ryukai said confused. He knew Mika had an aversion to all things EbilCorp. This was completely against her character.

“No...it isn’t anymore. I can feel it...it has completely changed. Like I said, I have merged with it.”

Mika went on to explain to them what she found. She told Omicron and Ryukai about the other Gundams, Sentinel and Ragnarok. Omicron took the news better than Ryukai.

“I still don’t trust it...” he said.

“It is working just like the Dragonguard did, Ryukai.” Omicron explained. “Mika wouldn’t have been able to merge with it if it wasn’t a true Gundam. You know that.”

“Still...” he said in a nervous tone. Omicron then realized why Ryukai was acting this way.

“You are scared.” he concluded. “Last time we merged with the original Dragonguard we were destroyed, and floated through hyperspace slowly regaining strength. You are scared that is going to happen again.”

Ryukai didn’t speak. Omicron continued on trying to assuage him. “That happened when we used all of our power to defeat Mephisto. We became pure light, and it had consequences like the dragonoid tried to warn us. As long as we don’t do that again we should be fine.”

“Perhaps but none of us know for sure.”

After a few more minutes of conversing about it, they both decided to claim the Gundams. Returning to Station 13 Omicron merged with Sentinel and Ryukai merged with Ragnarok. The feeling was amazing and he felt the power he had five years ago return. All doubt was cleansed from his mind.

All three of the new Dragonguard Gundams returned to Loreon and met with Lisa and James.

Admiral Starbuck smiled and laughed. “I feel like this has happened before.”

“Yeah well last time it didn’t end so well.” Ryukai said calmly. Now he was simply recognizing it as a fact. He was not nervous, and this felt strange to him. Why would merging with a machine make him feel this way? It was as if he did more than become the Gundam.

Lisa was talking on her cell phone. She put it back into her pocket and looked at the Gundams. “Odessa wants to speak with us. Apparently Mr. Z is in town.”

Next Time in Gundam: Shadow....A New Goal. The Dragonguard have been recreated and the world is dealing with the consequences of five years ago. A new enemy is about to arise that will give the heroes a new mission. The world may still be changing, but everyone must push forward against this new threat.