Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament ❯ Level 4, Match 1 ( Chapter 44 )

Episode 44

Level 4, Match 1

Written By
Mark Moore

Author's note: With this episode, we're at the halfway point of Level 4. I'm so glad that "Dancing With the Stars" is over for a while and that "Smallville" and "Knight Rider" are off until January. That gives me more time to write. This story is dedicated to Quicky, one of my pet Zebra Finches, who died on Wednesday, November 26. Rest in peace, Quicky. Enjoy the story. Feedback is welcome.

The United States' match against Iran is here. Emma Sheen is concerned regarding her performance, and the entire team is hoping for a victory.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007, 9:00 AM, Iranian Time

"Can you hear me, Emma?" Nina asked.

"Yes."

"Good."

"How's the Gundam coming along?" Emma asked.

"Good. It's ready as it'll ever be. How about you?"

"I'm worried."

"We all have our concerns."

"I understand that Lech Marcinkiewicz's family is watching this match on television. Good luck, Emma. If it comes down to it, don't hesitate to kill the fucker."

Emma frowned. "Understood, sir."

Emma looked at her screens. The cover was being removed, and she got a look at Iran's Gundam. It was sand-colored. There was a beam rifle in its left hand.

The Iranian Gundam's cockpit door opened. The Iranian pilot got into the elevator, rode up to the chest level, and got into the cockpit. He then closed his cockpit.

"Emma, the introductions are about to be made. Receive the audio."

At Murrue's order, Emma pressed a button.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Level 4, Match 1, of the First Gundam Tournament. We're here live in Dasht-e Kavir in Iran. Allow me to introduce myself to those of you watching at home. My name is Bright Noa. I am the commentator for this tournament. Today's match is Iran versus the United States. The Iranian pilot is Ali Ahmadinejad. The United States' pilot is Emma Sheen. Iran's Gundam - the sandy one - is 22.5 meters tall, 0.5 meters of which is taken up by the head. It is armed with a beam rifle, missiles, and I don't wanna know what else. The United States' Gundam - the white and dark blue one - is 19.6 meters tall, 1.1 meters of which is taken up by the head. It is armed with a beam rifle. The match is about to begin."

"Fight!" a simulated male voice declared over a speaker.

Ali moved his Gundam forward and punched Emma's Gundam with its right fist. Emma's Gundam was knocked back a bit.

Emma made her Gundam jump into the air, then she fired at Ali's Gundam with the beam rifle in its right hand. The shots hit Ali's Gundam repeatedly.

Ali fired at Emma's Gundam repeatedly with the beam rifle in his Gundam's left hand. Emma flew her Gundam forward, out of the way of the beams, and landed her Gundam on top of Ali's Gundam.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of Ali's Gundam declared.

Emma made her Gundam jump forward, landed behind Ali's Gundam, and turned around.

Emma fired her Gundam's beam rifle repeatedly, hitting Ali's Gundam over and over again.

"Overheating!" the simulated male voice of Ali's Gundam declared.

Emma selected the SHINING BLUE FIRE option on her Gundam's computer console.

Panels on the arms of Emma's Gundam slid open, and the missiles rose out of the arms.

"Are you intending to use the missiles, Emma?" Nina asked.

Ali made his Gundam run at Emma. Emma made her Gundam jump backwards.

"Not unless I have to."

Panels on the arms of Ali's Gundam slid open.

Missiles rose out of the arms of Ali's Gundam.

Emma selected the MISSILE option on her Gundam's computer console.

The 2 missiles were fired from Emma's Gundam.

Ali fired his missiles. They headed for Emma's Gundam.

Emma's missiles destroyed Ali's missiles and homed in on his Gundam.

They impacted.

"Check-!" the simulated male voice of Ali's Gundam started to declare.

Ali's Gundam exploded.

"Well done! Glory to the winner!" the simulated male voice declared over a speaker.

"And there you have it. The United States has beaten Iran. Iran's pilot tried to do it again. He tried to kill Emma Sheen, the American pilot, but she ended up killing him. It seems Emma Sheen is all right. It was close, but the United States' win is entirely due to pilot Emma Sheen's impressive strategy. Iran is out of the competition, but it is allowed to assist another nation of its choice. The United States moves on to Level 5. There will be more coverage on your evening news. Thank you for joining us."

Emma sat in her cockpit, shocked.

"Emma, you did it! You won!" Nina exclaimed.

Emma frowned. "Big fucking deal."

"Are you okay, Emma?" Murrue asked.

"No, sir."

"Emma, I'm so sorry. For what it's worth, I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Take a break. We'll see you in a few hours."

"Thank you, sir."

The screens went black.

A message briefly appeared on the screens: "CONTACT WITH REMOTE HOST LOST". That was briefly followed by "SATELLITE UPLINK TERMINATED".

Emma got out of the first simulator.

Sayla turned off the simulator. "Well done, Emma."

Relena hugged Emma.

Emma hugged Relena.

Emma felt sick. She suddenly let go of Relena. "Relena, let go."

Relena let go of Emma.

Emma vomited onto the floor.

Matilda walked over to Emma. "I can't know how it feels to take a life, but I want you to know that I'm here for you, if you need me."

Sayla walked over to Emma. "All of us are here for you, Emma."

Fraw walked over to Emma. "Definitely."

"Thank you, everyone. I appreciate it."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Relena asked Emma.

"Not really. Not right now. I just...wanna get something to drink."

Emma, Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw walked out of the simulation room.

"How bad is it?" Murrue asked.

Nina was looking over some preliminary statistics. "Not bad. It shouldn't take long for us to fix it. Other than that, the battery needs to be recharged, and more coolant needs to be added."

Murrue smiled. "Awesome. Less work and more money for us."

Lunamaria smiled. "Emma rocked today."

Murrue looked at Lunamaria. "Yeah, she was good."

"Emma was glorious! So awesome!" Dorothy exclaimed.

Lucette smiled. "All of that sim training paid off."

Murrue looked at Lucette. "Yep."

Sally frowned. "Aren't you forgetting something? Emma killed someone. That poor girl. I wonder how she's feeling."

Karen looked at Sally. "Thank you. I was wondering when someone was gonna bring that up."

Emma, Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw walked through the corridor outside of the simulation room.

They stopped at a vending machine.

"Want an energy drink?" Relena asked Emma.

"Why do I need an energy drink? So I can stay up all night? I'll be doing that anyway."

Relena frowned. "You look terrible, hon. You're pale. You need to replace the vitamins that you lost."

"Okay."

Relena took her wallet out of her front-left pants pocket, unzipped the coin purse, and took out some quarters. She zipped the coin purse and put her wallet back into her pocket. She bought 5 regular energy colas.

Emma, Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw each took 1 can out of the machine, opened them, and took a sip.

"I'd never killed anyone before today. I'd never even shot anyone. What I've done today sickens me."

Relena placed her right hand on Emma's left shoulder, unable to offer any words of comfort.

Emma knocked on Murrue's office door.

"Come in."

Emma opened the door and walked into the office. Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw followed. Fraw closed the door behind her.

Murrue was sitting behind her desk. Sally, Nina, Lucette, Dorothy, Karen, and Lunamaria were sitting in chairs.

Emma saluted Murrue. "Lieutenant Emma Sheen reporting as ordered, sir."

Relena saluted Murrue. "Ensign Relena Peacecraft reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease, Lieutenant, Ensign."

Emma and Relena relaxed.

"We recently got back. I suppose you don't feel like celebrating."

Emma frowned. "You assume correctly, sir."

Murrue stood up. Sally, Nina, Lucette, Dorothy, Karen, and Lunamaria stood up as well.

Murrue hugged Emma. Emma hugged Murrue.

"How are you feeling?" Murrue asked her.

"Ill."

"When we're finished here, you can take the rest of the evening off."

"Thank you, sir."

Murrue and Emma let go of each other.

Murrue frowned. "Now that we've won our fourth match, we're in the final 2. We have to work even harder now, because the competition is at a whole new level. Our competitor, whoever it will be, will be the best sixteenth of the starting group."

Each woman silently thought about that for a moment.

"The evening news will be on shortly. I want everyone to watch it."

Murrue pressed a button and turned the television on the back wall on.

The evening news came on.

Peter Jenkins, the lead anchor, was sitting at his desk in New York City.

"Good evening, everyone. The first match of the fourth level of the First Gundam Tournament was held in Iran this afternoon. The participants were Iran and the United States. The United States won. It will move on to Level 5. Iran, meanwhile, having been eliminated from the tournament, has announced today that it will not back any nation in the tournament. We're now at the halfway point of Level 4. Half of the stage for Level 5 is set. The United States will participate. We turn to our White House correspondent, Donald Samuelson. Donald, how is the White House reacting to this?"

"Peter, the White House is ecstatic that the United States won its fourth match and knocked Iran out of this tournament."

"Donald, what about the legality of Emma Sheen fighting by remote?"

"Iran tried to have the United States disqualified, Peter, but, technically, Emma Sheen did fight in Iran. Not surprisingly, the United Nations sided with the United States in this matter."

"All right. Donald Samuelson, many thanks. Now for the day's other news."

Murrue turned off the television.

"Emma, starting tomorrow, get in all of the training that you can before our final match."

"Yes, sir."

"Nina and Lucette, get the Gundam repaired. Keep everyone that you need as long as you need them."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir."

"Lunamaria and Relena, until the major repairs are done, assist Emma in her sim training."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir."

"Matilda, protect Emma and Relena."

"Yes, sir."

Sally looked at Dorothy. "Dorothy, help Nina and Lucette with the repairs."

"Yes, sir."

Sally looked at Sayla and Karen. "Sayla, Karen, help Emma with her training, whether it's sim or live."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir."

Sally looked at Fraw. "You, too, Fraw."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed. Get to work, everyone."

Emma opened the door and walked out of the office. Sayla, Fraw, Relena, Matilda, Nina, Lucette, Dorothy, Karen, and Lunamaria followed her. Lunamaria closed the door behind her.

Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament

Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament

Relena, Emma, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw sped down a highway in Emma's yellow convertible. Relena was driving. Emma was in the passenger seat. Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw were in the back seat. They were listening to "In Your Eyes" by Samantha Newark on the radio.

It was dark. The headlights were on.

"How are you feeling?" Relena asked Emma, keeping her eyes on the road.

"A bit better but...still pretty shitty."

Suddenly, a car pulled in front of Relena from the right lane.

Relena stepped on the brake pedal and honked the horn. "Asshole! What's your fucking problem?! I swear they shouldn't let morons drive."

Relena stepped on the gas pedal and started driving again.

"Seriously, it should be required that people take competency tests to drive, vote, and have children."

Emma looked at Relena. "I get what you're saying, and I agree, but it won't happen. We're a nation of whiners and idiots. We believe that we're entitled to everything that we want whenever we want it. We graduate people that can't read their own diplomas from high school. A lot of voters don't know the name of the Vice-President or how many states that we have. What do you expect?"

Relena turned left onto another street.

"I expect too much, apparently."

They reached Emma and Relena's house.

Relena brought the car to a stop in the driveway.

Emma, Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw walked into Emma and Relena's living room.

Fraw closed and locked the front door.

"Who wants some hot Earl Grey tea?" Relena offered.

The rest of the women accepted the offer.

Emma, Relena, Matilda, Sayla, and Fraw sat at the picnic table in their backyard. Relena to Emma's left. Matilda sat to Emma's right. Sayla and Fraw sat across from them, Fraw to Sayla's right.

Wind blew, making their hair blow in the wind.

They each sipped tea to warm themselves up.

"What do we do now?" Relena asked.

Emma shrugged. "I don't want to do anything tonight except relax. I need to sort things out."

"Who are left in the tournament?" Sayla asked.

Emma thought about that for a moment. "Us, Japan, and Canada."

"1 of those last 2 will be gone in the next 3 days."

"That's right, Fraw. Also, the tournament will be over in 6 days. That's a little less than 1 week from now. Well, the main threat has been dealt with. Whoever wins doesn't much matter now."

Matilda frowned. "Don't you want the United States to win?"

"Yeah, I guess. Let's talk about something else, please."

Sayla sipped her tea to warm herself up. "I've been having these dreams recently. They're weird. I can't quite put them into words. I'm working in space. Fraw is there. So is Matilda, but Matilda died."

Matilda frowned. "You have quite an imagination, Sayla."

Fraw sipped her tea to warm herself up. "The thing is I've been having those same dreams recently. What about you, Matilda?"

Matilda sipped her tea to warm herself up. "I haven't had any dreams, but...I have had a feeling of déjà vécu regarding you 2 ever since we met, and I've increasingly been having a fear of death."

Emma looked at Matilda. "I've recently been having the same fear of death, and it wasn't just due to the upcoming battle with Iran. It was a fundamental, overwhelming feeling of morbidity."

Relena sipped her tea to warm herself up. "I've had the same type of dreams. I'm in space. Sally and Dorothy are there. I don't know. It's like...visions of a past life."

"You think we're recalling moments in our past lives?" Sayla asked.

Fraw was confused. "Wait a minute. How could we be in space in our past lives?"

"For that matter, how could we be the same people in our past lives?" Matilda asked.

Emma sipped her tea to warm herself up. "Well, maybe it's not just our past lives. Maybe we lived in another universe as alternate versions of ourselves."

Relena chuckled. "This is getting ridiculous."

"Why?" Emma asked. "Alternate universes could exist. Assuming reincarnation is a spiritual truth, who's to say that our souls are bound to 1 universe. What if we cross over, living as ourselves over and over again until, well, until we get it right?"

Matilda smiled. "Interesting theory, Emma."

"There could be a universe in which disco is still popular. There could be a universe in which the Confederacy won the Civil War. There could be a universe in which the British won the American Revolution. There could be a universe in which space travel and mobile suit combat are perfectly common occurrences. There could be a universe in which there's a popular cartoon series called 'Op-Noot the Booger' about an anthropomorphic booger super-hero." Emma looked at Relena and smiled in amusement. "There could be a universe in which you attend Catholic school, Relena."

"ugh! Goddess forbid! You take that back!" Relena exclaimed.

Emma chuckled. "Anyway, my point is we don't know what happened before we were born or what happens after we die. I actually find reincarnation as ourselves in different situations with multiple chances at living rewarding lives to be pretty comforting."

Relena thought about that for a moment. "Well, maybe, but...why are we remembering these things now?"

Emma shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe because we're meeting each other again. Maybe because of the emergence of the Gundams in this universe."

Matilda yawned and stood up. "Well, this has been a fascinating conversation, but I think I'll turn in. We've got a lot of practicing to do tomorrow."

Emma, Relena, Sayla, and Fraw stood up as well.

Emma yawned. "Yeah, me, too. Who knows? Maybe I'll dream of Gundam battles in a past life."

Murrue and Lunamaria walked into the hangar. Murrue was horny, and she couldn't ignore the feeling between her legs any longer.

"What are we doing here?" Lunamaria asked. "I thought we were going to your place."

"I can't wait until we get home, sweetie. I'm horny, and I need you now."

"Now? Where are we going to find the privacy?"

"What about in the cockpit?"

"The cockpit?"

Murrue smiled. "Sure. Come on. It'll be fun."

"Okay."

Murrue and Lunamaria walked over to the chest area.

Murrue opened the cockpit.

Lunamaria climbed into the cockpit.

Murrue climbed into the cockpit and lied on top of Lunamaria, facing her.

Murrue closed the cockpit.

When their privacy was assured, Murrue kissed Lunamaria on the lips.

Murrue parted her own lips and shoved her tongue into Lunamaria's mouth.

After a while, Murrue finished the kiss.

"I've been wanting to do that all day."

Murrue licked Lunamaria's face repeatedly.

"Mmm, that feels good, sweetie."

Murrue smiled. "I'm glad that you like it. Would you like me to lick lower?"

"Ooh, yes. Please."

"Then you'll have to take off your clothes."

Lunamaria took off her clothes.

Murrue likewise took off her own clothes.

Nina, Dorothy, and Lucette were lying in Nina and Lucette's bed. Dorothy was between Nina, who was to her right, and Lucette, who was to her left. The three women were cuddling each other. Nina and Dorothy were currently french-kissing.

Nina finished the kiss and licked Dorothy on the lips once. "I love you, Dorothy."

Dorothy smiled. "Mmm, I love you, too, Nina."

Dorothy turned around. Dorothy and Lucette french-kissed.

Lucette finished the kiss and licked Dorothy on the lips once. "I love you, Dorothy."

Dorothy smiled. "Mmm, I love you, too, Lucette."

Nina smiled. "I've got an idea. Why don't we take off our clothes and fuck for a few hours?"

Lucette smiled. "Since when do we not fuck for a few hours at night?"

Nina, Dorothy, and Lucette took off their clothes and threw them onto the floor.

Murrue, Sally, Lunamaria, and Karen were lying in Murrue's bed. Sally was to Murrue's left, Lunamaria was to Sally's left, and Karen was to Lunamaria's left. Murrue and Sally were cuddling each other and french-kissing. Lunamaria and Karen were cuddling each other and french-kissing.

Murrue finished her kiss and licked Sally on the lips once. "I love you, Sally."

Sally smiled. "Mmm, I love you, too, Murrue."

Lunamaria finished her kiss and licked Karen on the lips once. "I love you, Karen."

Karen smiled. "Mmm, I love you, too, Lunamaria."

Murrue smiled. "I've got an idea. Why don't we take off our clothes and fuck for a few hours?"

Lunamaria smiled. "Since when do we not fuck for a few hours at night?"

Karen looked at Murrue. "I'm definitely in the mood for fucking."

Murrue, Sally, Lunamaria, and Karen took off their clothes and threw them onto the floor.

As Japan's and Canada's fourth Gundam match approaches, Fa Yuiry and Christina MacKenzie are concerned with their respective performances.

Next on "Mobile Suit Gundam Tournament":

"Convergence"

You will race with the tide.