Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dream To Reality ❯ The Black Lotus [Part 1/3]: The Challenge ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Author Notes: The aliens are back, and the gundams are called out for a challenge… but first, some Teen Drama, and Ashley getting what she deserves!

Chapter #13: The Black Lotus [Part 1]: The Challenge

The gundams walked into their cave. Phoenix as usually stood beside Heavyarms, it was still sponging the interesting readings it's pilot had, 'Now there is something to analyze' the gundam thought. "Damn it, I got a headache," Jessica muttered as she climbed out of the cockpit of her gundam. "Eh… I don't, did you hit you head on something?" Katie wondered. "No baka, HellRaiser obviously doesn't have the Zero System," Jessica nearly shouted.

The guys froze, each wondering if they just heard correctly. "Babe, did you just say Cosmic Phoenix has the… Zero system?" Duo was first to snap out of the shock. Heero looked up at the Phoenix, he didn't like this development, he had trouble controlling Wing Zero sometimes, he doubted Jessica had the same mental discipline not to be controlled and manipulated by the Zero System. "So what if I do have it?" Jessica replied, mentally kicking herself, she knew Heero would take it off. "What if you can't control it?" Quatre asked. "Then the onna will kill herself," Wufei threw in. "Nope… I'll kill you first, then I'll kill myself you S.O.B," Jessica shot back. "Jess, leave the baka alone," Sage spoke; she didn't want them to start a fight. Jessica grinned slightly but then her grin vanished, "I seriously would think it was obvious, I mean, how do you think I knew those two fighters were going to turn on me and fire. I was prepared for that stunt, and the system allowed me to dodge their fire with time to spare," Jessica folded her arms and turned away, she looked at the watch Phoenix gave her, one like Katie's except it was in Red and black, where Katie's was solid black.

"Jess, we aren't saying you can't handle it, maybe you can, but… what if you can't?" Mandy spoke in a worried tone. "Well then, I guess I got more then I bargained for when I designed Phoenix, Sage you know me, always the power hog, I thought the Zero System would suit me, I'm still waiting for Phoenix to prove me wrong, besides… I think I can tell an illusion from reality," Jessica made a few steps away from the group. Everyone left the girl alone, seining that arguing with her was to no avail; she was too stubborn to see it their way.

"They'll never understand," Jessica muttered as she leaned back against the wall of the chamber, her watch buzzed six am, morning, the sun would be rising about now. "Jessica, we understand, we just can't help but worry," she turned around at the sound of a voice. "Oh common Trowa, don't you start too! Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys before that Phoenix was Zero-Adept, but if I did, Heero wouldn't have let me pilot it, you know him, he thinks he's the only one capable of handling it, I just want a chance to prove him wrong." She bowed her head not willing to look up at him, especially after earlier that night, the image was still fresh in her head.

"Well if you think you can do it, I guess we only will have to see, just don't get too carried away, if you start losing control, stop and calm down, it's the best way to avoid losing it," Trowa spoke coolly, he placed a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture. "Thanks Trowa, at least someone believes in me," Jessica smiled at him, before she could stop herself she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek again. He was only mildly surprised. "Eh you two… Get a room," Mandy cockily stated. Jessica blushed; out of the corner of her eye she could see that Trowa had a tint of pink on his cheeks too. "Mandy, you are so dead!" she hissed. The girl laughed and moved away.

The teens moved to their car, they had to get home and get ready for school. They left their gundams alone, Phoenix finally had one important piece of the human puzzle, "Heavyarms, did my optics deceive me, or did my mistress kiss you master?" the gundam asked. Heavyarms remained for a second, "It would appear that you were right," he finally replied.

"Are you two going to get mushy?" came Deathscythe's voice. "Shut up demon," Phoenix hissed at him. "Oh I'm hurt, I'm so hurt I might stop functioning," the black gundam replied cockily. "Phoenix leave him alone," Came the cold voice of HellRaiser.

Phoenix would grin if it could, "Sure… I'll leave your… Boyfriend… alone," Phoenix laughed privately. If Hellraiser could blush, her entire faceplate would turn crimson about now, "He's not my boyfriend!" it called in mild anger. "Sure… tell that to my Zero System," Phoenix replied, still chuckling. The other gundams just listened in amusement; even Wing Zero couldn't help but chuckle privately to himself.

Meanwhile the pilots arrived back home to be met by Amber's less-then-pleased parents. "Where have you nine been?" William Koch asked. The gang immediately froze, "We went to McDonald's to get some breakfast, we always do," Sage said, hoping that was a good enough excuse, it was six forty five, and McDonald's opened at six.

William Koch eyed them severely but then calmed down with a sigh. "I thought we left a note by the hallway table," Amber picked up on Sage's little bluff and decided to add to it, "Duo did you leave that note?" she looked at Duo, hoping he would take the fall, "What note?" he looked at her as if she was insane, "Oh… that note… I forgot," he muttered unconsciously grabbing his braid, to prevent any yanking he knew he would be getting, it was a show, but having your braid pulled hurt, and it was damaging to his hair. "Oh it's ok we believe you," Elizabeth Koch stepped in.

The guys sighed and moved upstairs to get ready for school. "Thanks for taking that one Duo," Amber told him. "It wasn't much, I'm always in trouble anyways," he replied in a cocky way as if he was proud of constantly being in trouble, "Cocky bastard," Amber said jokingly, vanishing in her room. Duo shrugged and proceeded to the attic.

An hour later all ten were once again in the van, Sage was once again driving, the newspaper they brought wasn't encouraging, pictures of the ten gundams were on the front headlines, they were blurred, but they showed the sheer size of the machines compared to the factory building and the fire truck in front of the camera's view. There was even a picture of Phoenix in mid transformation, and one when it was just to blast off, showing its jet mode quite beautifully. "Well at least they don't have photos of us," Katie stated from the back seat. "True," Heero replied.

"When Mike sees Phoenix, he'll know I'm involved in this, that little bastard isn't as dumb as he seems sometimes," Jessica stated. "Who is this Mike?" Heero wondered if he were a threat, they'd have to take care of it. "Don't even think about hurting my cousin Heero, he maybe a nitwit, but he's still family. Contrary to what people believe, I love that little bozo, he maybe a cousin, but I love him like a brother, besides… he's the one that installed the four by four drive on this van, he's a grease monkey, maybe he even can come in handy," Jessica stated. "Fine," Heero replied in monotone.

As they walked into the classroom, Ashley immediately appeared beside Heero, "Hello Heero," she told him sweetly. Heero ignored her and moved to take a seat, "Oh Heero, I missed you," the girl began next. Heero ignored her once again in favor of readjusting his tie professionally. "Heero did you read the one about the giant alien machines they saw last night, oh that's so exciting, I would like to see one of them personally, that one with the angel wings in the picture is so… cool," Ashley droned on.

Heero nearly laughed at the irony of all of this, the girl had no clue that he was the pilot of that particular suit; of course he was going to keep her oblivious. "Ashley, if you think that suit is cool, go stalk it, and not Heero," Mandy voiced with a grin. "Mandy shut up, it's bad enough you stole my 'Queen Of The Dance' crown, now you want to annoy me? Who do you think you are?" Ashley hissed at the girl. Heero finally had enough of the ebony haired girl. He looked at Ashley with a death glare in his eyes, "Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but get it trough your head, I don't like you, and I never will! So you can just go chase some other guy, and stop annoying me." Ashley stared in utter shock, a second later the girl made a literal fool of herself by braking down into tears.

Jessica grinned like a chesher cat; her grin could only be described as conspirator's grin. She leaned over to Duo, "Aren't you going to tease him? If you wont… then I will," she told him. Duo grinned, "Nah, I only tease when it's something really good, maybe I'll go tease Quatre, he and Amber been certainly… chummy lately," he replied. "Run for the hills! The two conspirators are at it again!" Mandy called indicating Duo and Jessica. The two exchanged looks, "Mandy, you and Heero should really get a room!" Jessica said. Mandy promptly went red like a tomato, and Heero death-glared, if it was possible to die from one's glare, Duo and Jessica would be injured at least.

The two exchanged high fives and Jessica returned to her seat, grinning like a chesher cat, Mandy really hated that grin, it always spelled that the girl was up to something, and half the time, it wasn't anything good. "That was uncalled for," Sage spoke. "So says the stick in the mud," Jessica replied, not a second later. Sage folded her arms, "I don't know why we're best friends," she said quietly to herself. "And here I thought one Maxwell was bad enough," Wufei muttered, Sage heard him and she smiled slightly.

Jessica ignored his gibe in order to savor the moment of watching Ashley bawl her eyes out, Carol and Mimi were comforting her, intermediately glaring at Heero, who was in a trace-like state, looking like a living zombie. Jessica suddenly grinned, deciding to rekindle the fire a bit, "Ashley… I feel sorry for you," she said coldly. The girls stared at her in shock and the guys quirked an eyebrow. Ashley turned around in shock, "you do?" she asked. "About as much as I would feel sorry for a bug I was about to squish," laughter erupted from Sage, Mandy, Katie, and Amber. Ashley turned around and began to cry harder, Mimi and Carol death-glared Jessica, much to her private, perverse satisfaction.

Mandy clapped Jessica on the shoulder, "You gave us a scare back there, but damn… that's a new level of cruelty coming from you," she said. "Hey, all in a day's work, besides… she deserved it, they say strike the iron while it's hot, I just couldn't pass up on the golden opportunity," she folded her arms, satisfied with herself.

The day breezed by like the wind, it was evening the girls have finished all their homework and they were now lounging in the living room. Elizabeth Koch was sitting watch the TV Amber was sitting beside her. Each other gundams has showed them to a secret compartment in the cockpit where they found a communicator watch, Amber was fiddling with hers.

Suddenly Jessica's watch began to buzz, she instantly leapt to her feet. Mrs. Koch looked at the watch oddly, "the girl ran to the kitchen, so the adult figured the girl had something in the oven maybe. Jessica flicked up the display and activated the link, "What's up Phoenix, you have awful timing," the girl stated. Phoenix remained quiet a bit, "The aliens are back again, same factory… Wing Zero says there are over fifty fighters there now, he says they are probably trying to draw us out." The gundam stated coolly. "HEERO!" Jessica yelled. In the living room Heero nearly jumped fifty feet into the air. That call brought memories to him, none too pleasant. He raced into the kitchen, "What?" he asked in monotone. "The aliens are back… and they have a whole armada this time," Jessica told him.

Heero groaned, "How are we going to get out this one?" he wondered aloud. "I don't know, you're the perfect soldier, you think of something, I'm just getting ready to burn metal, if you know what I mean," Jessica spoke with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Heero grumbled but began to think up of something. Jessica meanwhile briefed the others and they agreed to help.

The nine of them moved to the door, but were stopped by Amber's mother, "Where are you nine going?" She asked. "Clubbin'," Jessica replied, "Don't worry Mrs. Koch, us girls got pepper spray," she added. As soon as they were in the van Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, "That was close…" she said. "No kidding," Mandy replied from the front seat, she sat there since Heero was driving again. "Well Heero… put the pedal to the metal, this baby can do faster then one hundred," Jessica told him. It escaped everyone's notice that Heero grinned.

Author Notes: Look out for the next chapter!