Ever since the people of Earth first began migrating to the Colonies, many changes have come up. The people that lived in the Colonies found interesting side effects living there. The people there found that the lack of gravity, further proximity from the Sun’s harmful rays, and regulated temperatures have had adverse effects on their physiologic structures. The people there were much more athletic, stronger, faster, and were able to think quicker. When Mobile Suits were invented, those that were born and raised in the Colonies found themselves at the advantage when in battle as opposed to those from Earth. Those that had been trained to maximize these outer space abilities were far greater adversaries to face in battle. These "superior beings" were dubbed a special kind of human. They were called, "Newtypes." This training, which maximized a Newtype’s abilities, was an effective examination in testing one’s status as a Newtype or not.
In a world where war is no longer a threat to the people, there are few people left in the Colonies to test the Newtype theory. Some theorized that now that the war was over, the Newtypes were extinct, and that if any more Newtypes were to be born, it would be almost impossible to test them on whether they were a Newtype or not. Thus, the Newtypes have become all but forgotten.
The year is After Exodus 249. Very few people left in the world have the willpower left to endure hardships for other people. In a world where the slogan is "Kill or be killed," there are few who would ever be willing to make extreme sacrifices for others, and there are even less people living to make sacrifices for…
MOBILE SOLDIER N GUNDAM
THE NEW GUNDAM 03
By: L. Curtis Totty
He awoke, and wished he hadn’t, because he was in the same place as yesterday.
"What have I done? What the hell have I done?"
Lienfei Nathaniel’s eyes slowly opened, looking upon the grey ceiling in his jail cell. It was the start of the third month of his life sentence. He wanted to kill himself right then and there, one day after hearing the grim news.
"No…please…tell me it’s a horrible dream…"
It wasn’t.
"God…Donney…why did they kill you?" thought Nathaniel. "I’ve only been here for three months, and those bastards managed to figure out that it was you…"
He remembered it so well. He had been there, watching, when Donney, his friend and member of the Mobile Suit Gang known as the Dragon Slayers, killed all those members of the Endless Nomadic. He’d taken most of them out quickly.
For a long time, the police was doing nothing to stop the threat of the Mobile Suit Gangs. The United Earthsphere Alliance had already made the use of Mobile Suits illegal, but it wasn’t going to stop the Mobile Suit Gangs. The Colony Federation was pushing to allow the formation of a special team of elite Mobile Suit Police Squad. Finally, the United Earthsphere Alliance decided to form the Special Armored Mobile Law Enforcement Squadron, known to most people as the SAMLE Squad.
The SAMLES was created with the sole purpose of crushing the Mobile Suit Gangs in the Colonies. They finally began to crack down on the Mobile Suit Gangs, and one of the first gangs to be attacked was the Dragon Slayers.
Donney, Nathaniel’s lifelong friend, heard about the battle between the Dragon Slayers and the SAMLE Squad. He went off to the abandoned train yard warehouse to pick up his Mobile Suit, but when he got there, it was gone.
Nathaniel had stolen it, so that he would be arrested in place of Donney. Donney was three years older than Nathan was, but they were the best of friends, and Nate looked up to him. He remembered so vividly, when he was about to go and get Donney’s suit. Donney’s little sister Rannai had tried to stop him.
Rannai. All Nathaniel could think about was Rannai. The image of her beautiful face with her dark red hair and green eyes was practically etched into the underside of his eyelids. She was the same age as Nathaniel, and Donney had always noticed a spark between the two of them. He often urged Nate to ask his little sister out, but Nathaniel had always been too shy.
Nathaniel remembered well the day he was going off to find Donney’s suit before him. Luckily, Donney was at college, and Nathaniel’s high school was having a half-day, so when he arrived at Donney’s house, he was closer to the abandoned train yard where Donney’s suit was. He remembered well when he learned the news from Rannai.
"The SAMLE Squad has sent their troops to our Colony?"
"Yes, I called Donney and told him about just before you got here. They’re fighting with Donney’s gang right now. The SAMLE Squad is beating them!"
"Damn…I don’t believe this…"
"I called Don and told him about it. He said he was going to go get his Mobile Suit and fight, too!"
"What? He could be arrested…or even killed out there! The SAMLE Squad uses those new Mobile Soldier things! No human Mobile Suit Pilot stands a chance against them!"
"What are we going to do, Leafy?"
"I…I don’t know…I’m…I’m going to go get his Suit!"
"What? But Leafy, you can’t! They’ll arrest you! You’re no Mobile Suit Pilot! You mustn’t do this!"
"All the other Dragon Slayers are already fighting…Once they finish with them, they’ll probably pump the survivors for information, and they’ll eventually find out about Donney’s Suit, and then they’ll come after him and the Suit! I’ve got to get over there now so your brother will be okay!"
"No, Leafy! Don’t leave! You can’t take the blame for my brother!"
"Goodbye, Rannai…I won’t forget you guys in jail…Tell Donney I’ll miss him, too…"
"Leafy! Leafy, no! Please, stop! Come back!"
It was useless. Nathaniel’s idea to keep Donney safe had backfired. When he went to fight the SAMLE Squad, he was easily defeated. Too easily defeated.
The Endless Nomadic knew that Donney was a much better pilot than this guy who was arrested in only a few minutes of fighting was. They kept searching for Donney, and after nearly three months, they managed to find him…and kill him.
Upon hearing this, Nathaniel was devastated. The one he had sought to protect was dead, and even worse, the girl he loved was now missing. No one knew what happened to Rannai after that.
Nathaniel was left to stew alone in his cell on the top floor of the Space Penitentiary, and he would have the rest of his life to do it. He wanted so badly to go after the Endless Nomadic, and hopefully find Rannai, but there was no way he was getting out of jail now. He wanted so badly to see her again, and to hear her call him by that nickname "Leafy," derived from his Chinese surname, Lienfei.
"Rannai…I never even told you how I feel…"
Since being incarcerated, Nathaniel had gotten his frustration out in a variety of ways. He began training in the Space Penitentiary’s weight room, as well as passed time in the weightlessness room. He had become a powerful person among the inmates, and though many times he was assaulted by other convicts that wanted to steal something of his, he had always managed to defeat them easily, using his martial arts skills.
No one would touch this seventeen-year-old powerhouse. It was almost as if there was something that wasn’t quite right about him that enabled him to do these incredible things. He only became more dangerous each day. They especially began to fear him when he sewed that teal martial arts uniform of his, with baggy camouflage pants instead of the traditional style of pants. He received even fewer challengers after this.
But now, he was helpless. His attempt to protect his friend was fruitless, because he was now dead. The one girl he loved was missing, and there was nothing he could do. "I should have just stayed at home. None of this would’ve happened. Who knows, maybe Donney could have escaped those SAMLE officers…Now we’ll never know…
"Who the hell am I kidding? Donney would have died if he had tried to fight them himself! I was just delaying the inevitable…
"But what about Rannai? What could have happened if I had stayed with her? The Endless Nomadic…Surely they wouldn’t have come for her if Donney was already dead, would they?
"This is all my fault. If it weren’t for me, maybe Rannai would still be safe…"
"What have I done? What the hell have I done?"
That night, Nathaniel managed to force himself to sleep in his uncomfortable martial arts uniform, in that empty cell, by chewing on his long, graying blonde hair. However, he did not sleep long, because he was bothered by the ominous thumping noise he was hearing. It was probably just some insane-driven inmate making a pointless attempt at escape. His eyes closed again.
Shouting cries. People were waking up to see a frightening sight before them. Nathaniel was forced to awaken and walk to the window of his cell door to see what the commotion was all about.
When he slid open the peephole-door, all he could see was a bright, green, light. He stepped back and shielded his eyes. He slowly walked back to his cell door, and squinted as he peered through the window.
"What the hell is that?" asked Nathaniel.
Nathaniel looked at the facial profile of a giant robot, which was right there in front of his cell. It was standing on the ground floor of the Space Penitentiary, but it was so tall that its head came up to Nathan’s floor, where he saw naught but its head.
The head of this enormous robot turned to face Nathaniel’s cell, and its eyes glowed again. Its enormous body shifted positions, turning to face Nathaniel fully. Nathaniel watched as this enormous, metallic monster eyed him. Suddenly, Nathaniel heard a strange voice. It seemed to come from inside the robot itself.
"Stand clear of the door, Lienfei Nathaniel…"
"What the hell?" cried Nathan, as he fell backwards onto his bed. "How do you know my name?"
"The day has arrived for you to be freed…"
"…Free…?" asked Nathaniel. "I don’t understand…what’s going on? WHAT ARE YOU?"
"This magnificent device you see before you is a Mobile Suit made of Gundanium alloy. It’s called a Gundam…"
"A Mobile Suit? A Gundam?" asked Nathaniel. He was baffled by the mere appearance of a Mobile Suit here. Shouldn’t the guards have detected it before it arrived? "Why is this Gundam…here?"
"I have sent this Gundam here to serve you. I built this Gundam just for you, Nate…"
"Who are you?" asked Nathaniel. "Who?"
"There’s no time for that now. Just think of me as someone who was willing to help you out of a jam just this one time…"
"What?"
"Now stand back while I open your cell…"
Nathaniel hastily obeyed and moved as far back to the far end of his cell as he could. Suddenly, an enormous, yellow hunk of metal with a silver blade on one side, and what looked like a gun barrel on the end, plowed through the wall of his cell, exposing him to the outside. Nathaniel cautiously stepped out as the hunk of metal receded, and what he saw shocked him.
Nathaniel stood in front of the enormous Gundam, which was painted with mostly green, and some light, golden brown, much like the colors on those old camouflage uniforms that soldiers used to wear. All over its body were vents for releasing heat. On its back were large turbo boosters, which had smaller jet rockets protruding from them for added speed. Attached to the Gundam’s arms were a pair of enormous shields, each one with a pair of those yellow "hunks of metal" with the gun barrels on the end. Nathaniel was awestricken.
The Gundam extended its hand up to meet Nathaniel’s level. That eerie voice boomed again.
"Please…do step inside…"
Nathaniel slowly walked onto the hand, which lowered to the cockpit entrance. Nathaniel climbed inside, and sat in the pilot’s seat. Before him was a computer screen, and on it was a readout that read: "Remote control system disengaged…manual pilot mode in effect…Beginning tutorial/instructional sequence…Place your hands on a control or device to learn its function…." Nathaniel slowly placed his hands on a few controls, and was soon learning about his Gundam. He placed his hands on two levers, and discovered that they controlled the Gundam’s Dragon Ailerons, a pair of turbo jet boosters that could amazingly put out energy for flight quite quietly, which each had its own pair of smaller jet boosters for added speed. Each Dragon Aileron was capable of incredibly high-energy output, making it an incredibly fast Gundam.
Nathaniel checked out some other controls, and learned about the Gundam’s special abilities. Besides its super speed, attached to each arm were a pair of huge shields called the Hydra Fangs. On each side of them were the two golden metal protrusions, which had blades on them, creating the Thunder Talons. In between each pair of Thunder Talons was a small energy output area, which could emit a laser blade. The Hydra Fangs were connected to the arms via long, thick cords called the Caloric Cables, which extended to incredibly long lengths, and could become engorged with thermal energy from the Gundam and melt whatever they touched. At the ends of the Thunder Talons were small energy machineguns, called the Rapid Machines, which fired very fast, and very powerful laser bullets. The Gundam was also equipped with a special gadget called the Shadow Device, which could jam up energy radar detectors so that the Gundam could not be sensed, and, coupled with its incredible speed, it could go without even being seen as it flew through the sky and through outer space.
"This Gundam has incredible fighting power…With this, I might even be able to find Rannai, and then defeat those Mobile Suit Gangs, without even being detected…The stealth capabilities are amazing, and these weapons are incredible…"
"I have given you your Gundam…and so I bid you farewell…"
"Wait a minute! Just who the hell are you? Why are you helping me?" asked Nathaniel.
"Don’t worry about that for now…You have a mission to complete…"
Nathaniel noticed on his sensors that his "gracious benefactor" had not even bothered to jam the frequency, leaving him visible to all radar detectors. He thought about using his new Gundam to find him.
"I should go after him…Who knows what he plans on doing?" Nathaniel moved the levers of his Gundam, and made it fly back out the path it had taken to get to his section of the Space Penitentiary. Soon, he arrived at the airlock, and flew out into open space. He turned his Gundam in the direction in which his radar detected this mystery helper, but out of the corner of his Gundam’s camera screen, he could just make out the Colony Clusters. The Gundam took off in that direction. "There’s no time to look for this guy right now. It’s time to find Rannai. I think I’ll give this here Gundam a real name, like the ones that the Mobile Suit Pilots of the past used…"
"…The Gundam Talonfang Stealth…"
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