Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Universal Clash ❯ Mysteries ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: The boys belong to Bandai, Sunrise, whoever else. The Palos race belongs to me.
Author's note: All names are coincidental.

Ryo smashed his fist into another soldier and blocked Sekhmet's powerful blow. "Well, now what!!??"
"Isn't it obvious!?" Cale snarled. "You all will perish!"
"Sorry," Sage snapped, "but I'm not in the mood to die!"
"You don't have a choice!" Dais growled and sent Sage flying backwards into Rowen and they were both smashed into a wall.
Cye jumped backwards and came dangerously close to having his head cleaved off by Sekhmet. "This isn't working! We have to retreat!"
"We shall not give you the opportunity," Sekhmet said quietly and knocked down Ryo. "We are commanded to take your gems and destroy all those who pose a threat to our master."
"NO!" Ryo shouted. "Listen! Dais, Cale, Sekhmet, I know you guys are in there somewhere. You have to be strong. Don't let the darkness overcome you."
Cale stopped fighting and struggled to control himself. "Why can't I move? What's wrong with me? What am I doing?"
Sekhmet dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. "I'm no tool. I won't be used!"
"Leave us alone!" Dais screamed.
Energy erupted from their bodies and flew up into the air. The Ronins were thrown backwards and slammed into the walls all around. When the smoke cleared, the Warlords were on the ground unconscious.
Rowen struggled to stand and walked over to them. "They're out cold."
Sage went over and rolled Dais on his back. "You're right. They seem to be fine though."
"What's up with that?" Kento asked.
"I'm not sure Kento," Sage replied. "But it's a little odd."
"No," Kento said. "I mean, what's up with the sky?"
Ryo looked up and gapped. "A mountain?"
Cye shrugged. "Whatever it is, it isn't in the right place. Mountains belong in the ground, not the sky."
"Especially not upside down," Rowen added.
"Uh, did any of you guys notice we weren't fighting Anubis?" Rowen asked.
"Yeah," Ryo realized. "Where is he?"

Anubis groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Where am I?" He rolled over and pushed himself up. Dusting off his legs, he looked around the field. "Anybody out there!?"
"I am."
Anubis jumped and looked behind him. "Uh, yeah, um, where am I?"
"I should be the one asking the questions here. I am a Palos."
Anubis looked at it closely. "Wow, how fascinating. Does it have batteries? Where does the voice come from?" He grabbed it and started pulling on its ears.
"Hey! Lemme go!" it cried out furious. "I'm not a toy! I'm a living creature!"
Anubis dropped it and looked closer. "Huh? Wait, I've seen one of you before. It was in the picture I saw." He reached under his armor and pulled out a photo. "See?"
The photo showed all those people vanishing. It also showed a Palos within the light.
"Oops," the Palos muttered. "What a slipup. I can't believe she did that."
"What's your name?" Anubis asked. "Mine's Anubis."
"My name is Senna," she replied. "And I know what your name is. How come you wanted to come here?"
Anubis shrugged. "I was following orders from my Master."
Senna cocked her little head. "Really?"
"Really," Anubis said. "Sure, I was curious, but curiosity killed the cat."
"Answers brought it back," Senna replied cheerfully. "At any rate, you need to come with me."
Anubis looked at her. "Why?"
Senna sighed. "Because, you need to understand everything. You need to know."
"Know what?" Anubis asked. "I know what I'm doing. I just have to follow orders given to me."
"Really?" Senna asked. "You need to see what the pilots believe. You need to see what the Ronins believe. You need to see what the Palos believe. You need to see what your fellow Warlords believe. Then, you need to think on what you believe."
Anubis thought hard. "What I believe? I believe in . . ." He stopped. "What do I believe in?" he thought. "All right, I will come with you. I must know and learn."
Senna smiled. "Okay! Come with me! We will go to our sacred temple in the mountains. One of the pilots is sick, and Orra's henchmen attacked our villages."
Anubis followed Senna towards the forests, where he could barely see a mountain in the distance.

Wufei carefully removed the grate without making any noise. He slowly inched forward, and then swung his body down to the floor, where he landed silently. He looked around and swiftly and silently scouted the area. Going back to where the others waited, he motioned for them to come down.
One by one, the Palos soldiers dropped quietly to the ground. Trowa followed, looking behind him to make sure no one had followed them.
"What do we do now?" a soldier asked.
"We need to make sure the entrances here are not guarded," Wufei said. "I want one of you to go to the door and keep a lookout."
Trowa walked over to the reactor and studied it carefully. "We are going to have to be careful about this. We can't just blow it up. The chain reaction will kill us all before we had time to get outside."
"Then we need to do it slowly," Wufei told him. "Can you drain the energy?"
"I need somewhere to put it," Trowa answered. "Where do you suggest?"
"How about all the little things they use," a soldier suggested. "You know, like the water heater and such."
Trowa looked at Wufei. "Water heater? If I do that, we might have time before they realize that the power source is diminishing. We will have to be quick, though. The heat from the water might make it hard for us to move through the vents."
"Let's do it," Wufei said. "Soldiers. I want several of you to go back to where we entered the vents. Make sure that when we arrive, no one will be there to hinder us. Spy through the vents."
Ten of them nodded and went back through the vents. Trowa started rearranging the power system to go to the heating system.
"We might not have time," Trowa muttered. "I need five more minutes before it uploads and starts to work."
"Emergency!" A soldier cried out softly. "Enemy troops!"
The Palos soldiers went to the vent and entered it. Wufei was about to enter it himself when he noticed Trowa was still working.
"Trowa! Come on!" Wufei told him. "Forget it! We can come back when those troops leave!"
"They'll get suspicious," Trowa muttered. "I have to change it back." He typed furiously, changing the program back to its original state. He finished just as he heard voices outside the door.
"No time," Trowa said. "Shut it." He ducked behind several large boxes.
Wufei quickly and quietly shut the grate and backed up. He glanced cautiously through the bars and saw someone.
"Are you sure the system said that someone was changing the program?" one soldier said to his companion.
"Yeah, I'm sure," the other replied. "But this monitor says that nothing has been changed. It is still the same as it was last time the routine examination occurred."
"Wait a minute," Wufei thought. "Alla and the elder didn't say anything about humans here."
Several tense minutes later, the troops left, and Trowa carefully got up. He went over to the door and peered out. The troops had left and were going down the hall.
"All clear," Trowa confirmed.
Wufei looked at the other soldiers. "Wait here or go back. That was too close for comfort. We can't have that many in the room at the same time."
The Palos soldiers nodded. Several went back while some others stayed put in case of an emergency.
Wufei dropped back into the room. "Trowa? Where those humans?"
"Yes," Trowa said as he continued his work. "Did Alla or anyone else mention that some of the troops here were human?"
"No," Wufei said as he went to the door to keep watch. "No one told me."
"They aren't real humans," a Palos soldier said from the grate.
Wufei looked over at him. "What do you mean?"
"Orra mutated human DNA to create fighters," the soldier replied. "I believe it was a simple process. It was to simply change the person's vital fluids and add some creature's blood in one's body and make it perfect."
Trowa's typing faltered. "Change one's vital fluid? Add a creature's blood? Like what?"
The soldier shrugged from the vent. "I think that there is DNA added to the original blood. It makes them fight longer and more powerfully, thus creating a perfect soldier."
"A perfect soldier?" Wufei thought. "That sounds almost like . . . Heero." He looked over to Trowa, who had continued his programming.
Trowa didn't look up. "How do you know about this process?" he asked the soldier.
"We also use it," came the reply. "We use it for our domesticated animals to help us in the fields and other things around the village. That is all I know of that we do, I promise you."
Wufei sighed as he looked out the door. "How much longer?"
"Not long now," Trowa replied. "Give me thirty seconds."
Wufei bounced nervously as soldiers turned down the hall from the farthest corridor and started marching towards them. "Hurry, Trowa."
Trowa finished typing. "There! Done!" Wufei turned from the door. "Let's go then."
Trowa made sure that the process had been completed and followed Wufei through the vents.
"We have a problem," a Palos soldier said as they caught up to the others. "There are troops walking around now. They didn't appear until a few minutes ago."
"Did they figure out they were being infiltrated?" Wufei asked.
His question was soon answered. Two soldiers stopped underneath them and started talking.
"How were your tests?" one asked the other.
"Perfect," replied the other. "Unlike you. You need to get you scores up or they will kill you."
"I missed one question," the first responded. "It's not like I fail every course."
"Don't be stupid," the second said. "You still feel emotions when you kill. You need to remove those feelings or you will get shot in the head."
The two of them walked off, bickering about the test scores and other things.
"What is going on?" Wufei asked softly. "This seems like the place that would train people like Heero."
"Yeah," agreed Trowa. "But he's never said anything about this before. Do you think he knows?"
"I don't know," Wufei answered. "But we're in for a long wait."
The group settled themselves down, hoping that the heating system wouldn't heat up the ducts too fast, killing them.

"Life sucks," Duo rambled as they walked. "Life really, really, really sucks. I mean, who would voluntarily come to a place that has creepy spirits killing my best buddy, has a landscape that is tougher than Wufei's meatloaf, and has the weirdest creatures on the face of the Earth. No offense Kell."
"None taken," Kell said.
Mia sighed. "Duo, please stop complaining. It's getting depressing."
"And why can't I complain?" Duo asked. "I'm a priest, I can complain to God all I want."
"Then please complain in your head," Quatre pleaded. "Duo, I know you're tired. So am I. We just have to find honesty poison blossoms and those Alpha feathers, but their whereabouts are unknown."
Duo sighed. "Didn't the elder say they were relatively close to each other?" he asked.
Kell shrugged. "Yeah, well, relatively close might be, about, five miles."
Duo stopped at his words. "What?"
"Five miles," Kell replied. "Since we need three things, we just have to look in the vicinity of fifteen square miles."
Thud.
Quatre knelt by an unconscious Duo. "Duo? Wake up." He gently patted his face.
"He's out cold," Mia observed. "Kell, that was one big shock you gave him. Poor Duo."
Kell shrugged again. "Fifteen square miles is not that much."
"NOT THAT MUCH!?" Duo yelled and shot up, knocking Quatre in the forehead. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NOT THAT MUCH!?" He lunged forward at Kell, who yelped and backed away.
"Duo!!" Mia cried and grabbed him. "Calm yourself!" She struggled as she tried to hold him back.
"Duo," Quatre soothed, rubbing the bruise that was forming on his head, "Maybe we should take a break. We need to sleep right now."
Duo collapsed. "I'm sorry guys," he muttered. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Yeah, I'm tired, but I'm a Gundam pilot. I should be able to handle this kind of things. If Heero were here, we could all be unconscious and he'd carry all of us around looking for this stuff."
"I know what you mean," Quatre said quietly. "We shouldn't give up, Duo. Heero wouldn't give up if it were one of us."
"That's the thing," Duo said and stood up. "Maybe this is telling us something."
"Like what?" Quatre asked.
Duo shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe like we rely too much on Heero for our problems. He is usually the one that helps out when we need him, maybe this is telling us to walk on our own two feet. I think Heero gets really annoyed with us sometimes. That's probably why he ran away, remember?"
"He was probably trying to sort out his own problems," Mia said. "We all have personal dilemmas."
"Exactly," Duo said. "We all have our own problems. And we keep going to other people to help us. That's it!" Duo shouted into the air. "I promise that I'll walk on my own feet and try to sort out my own problems! I won't rely on people so much anymore!"
A blue light exploded in the darkness. It shot off toward the forests to the right.
"After that light!" Duo yelled after a moment.
Everyone ran after the pale blue light, wondering what it was.

"Heero? Are you sure you're all right?" Relena asked concerned.
Heero nodded. "Yes, I'm all right." His voice was tired.
Alla rubbed against his leg as they walked. "Maybe we should rest."
"In a little while," Heero said. He shook his head to clear it. "Alla? Is there something over there?" he asked, pointing to the left towards a field with grass that went over Heero's head.
"I don't know," Alla replied. "Do you Terro?"
Terro shook his head. "No, not really."
"What do you mean, not really?" Relena asked.
"There's a rumor that a demon lives in the tall grass," Terro answered. "I don't know if the rumor is real or not, but I don't really want to find out."
Heero was staring into the grass. "There's something there."
A small creature suddenly sprang out of the grass and tackled Heero to the ground.
"AAA!!" Terro screamed and ran behind Relena. "It's the demon!"
"No, it's not," Heero said. He got up and held the squirming animal away form him, studying it closely.
"Then what is it?" Alla asked, also hiding behind Relena.
Heero looked closely. "I don't know. It's strange, it's like I should know, but I don't."
"Like when you were pointing out those buildings on the hill?" Alla asked.
"What buildings?" Relena asked. "We haven't seen anything for miles."
Heero looked towards the grass. He started walking towards the field, still holding the animal. "Someone's waiting for me."
Relena, Terro, and Alla ran after him. "What do you mean?" Terro asked.
Heero dropped the animal, which ran away into the grass. "There's someone out there, waiting for me. I have to go there." He started running.
"Wait!" Relena cried out and ran after him, Alla and Terro following closely behind.
"Dang," Terro gasped as they ran. "For a sick guy, he sure can move."
Heero suddenly slowed to stop in front of the grass that grew over two stories.
"You really should hire someone to cut this," Relena said as she looked at the grass.
"We can't," Alla said. "It would cost too much to cut all this grass. So we just left it alone."
Heero was gasping for air as he looked at the grass. He started walking into the grass when Alla bit into his shirt and held him back. Terro jumped in front of Heero and started pushing him back.
"What's wrong?" Relena asked.
"I know there is a demon in there," Terro stated. "This isn't a rumor that was started to scare little kids. This one's real. If Heero goes in there, he'll release a power that none of us will be able to stop."
Heero was still trying to go into the grass. "But, I have to. That was my mission. Release the monster inside Pandemonium. I have to complete my mission."
"When were you ordered to release a demon!?" Relena cried as she held him back.
"Before," Heero said. "Before I was . . . I was . . . was . . . ugh," he groaned as he collapsed.
Relena, Alla, and Terro also collapsed. "That was hard," Terro said as they sat on the ground, Heero behind them. "He's strong when he's sick."
"What is going on!?" Alla suddenly exploded. "How does Heero know these things? How does he know where the ancient buildings are, and where Orra's headquarters is? How does he know these things?"
"I'm not sure," Relena said. "I know he's never told me about this place if he's really been here."
"Maybe he's a reincarnation," Terro suggested. "You know, maybe one of Orra's henchmen died and was reincarnated as Heero, and now past memories are starting to come back to him."
Relena was about to tell him he was being silly when an idea came to her. "Of course. Past memories. Maybe he has been here before."
Alla and Terro looked at her. "Huh?" Terro asked.
"Maybe he has been here," Relena repeated. "When he left, his memories were erased, and now that he's back they are coming back to him. Maybe that's it."
"Let's just get going," Terro said. "We really need to get away from this grass, and we still have quite a walk ahead of us."
Relena carefully tried to lift Heero, and realized he was lighter than she originally thought.
"Hey, you're pretty strong Relena," Terro admired. "Think you can carry me too?"
"Something's making him lighter," Alla said, whacking Terro on the back of his head. "Don't be stupid. Kell isn't as dense as you."
Terro glared at Alla as he rubbed his head. "You know, Alla, you don't have to be so mean. Besides, Kell is twice as dense as me. Just 'cause you like him . . ."
"I do not!" Alla shouted indignantly. "You take that back!"
"Never!" Terro countered. "I don't have to take that back because I know it's true. You like him!"
Alla tackled Terro and they started fighting. "You jerk! I'm gonna rip your ears off!"
"Kell and Alla sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Terro sang.
"Will you hurry up!" Relena called out. She was out of the tall grass and walking away. "The demon is going to eat you if you don't stop!"
Alla and Terro stared at her retreating back. They stopped fighting and looked at each other.
"WAIT!!" they screamed in unison. They darted off after her, running as fast as they could.

Author's note: Well, the mystery keeps building. What's going to happen next? I'm trying to tie this whole thing up, but it's not ending.