Disclaimer: See the prologue for more information, anyway let's try this again...this is the first official chapter of my Super Robot Wars story as I decided to fix up the two chapters of this story in order to make it look way better as I felt the original version of the chapters sucked and I was new to writing Super Robot Wars stories at the time.

Super Robot Wars Ragnarok

Collapsing Land Part 1

By EmperorDraco7 and co-written by Lily Nadesico

January 25th, Cosmic Era 71…

Heliopolis, a neutral colony belonging to the Orb Union was a peaceful place for everyone who wished to stay out of the current war that was taking place outside… the civilians were enjoying their normal everyday lives like nothing was happening. In nearby a park was a young man in his teenage years with short brown hair and violet colored eyes, he was busy working on something while on his laptop, news involving a battle that was taking place was being shown on the main screen.

"Birdy!" a small mechanical bird chirped up, glancing down at the young man while he worked when another voice was heard calling out to him.

"Kira!" Kira Yamato looked up to see that his friends Tolle Koenig and Miriallia Haw arrived to greet with him, causing him to smile when they joined up. "Oh there you are, Professor Kato's been looking for you."

"What again?" asked Kira, curious on what the Professor wanted now though he figured that it might be something important and decided not to further question on that for now.

"He asked us to bring you in right away" Mir told him, she guessed that Kira was currently busy with other things at the moment. "Well are you working on something else?"

"Too much, I still haven't even finished all the stuff that he dumped on me yesterday" he explained to them as they moved over to where he was sitting and took notice towards the news as well.

"Some development on the news?" wondered Tolle with Mir being just as curious on her boyfriend and Kira couldn't help but nod his head to confirm what was going on.

"Yeah, Taiwan apparently…" said Kira, showing the two more on the current situation on the news involving what's happening on Earth and neither one of them were happy about it at all. "They attacked Kaoshiung and quickly overwhelmed the defenders."

"This is troubling…" Miriallia voiced her concern over the whole situation. "Kaoshiung is very close to Orb, our homeland… isn't this going to cause trouble?"

Tolle didn't seem too concerned about it. "Oh, there's no need to worry about that, Mir." He answered with a shrug. "I mean, Orb is neutral, and ZAFT doesn't have any interest in ruining the good cred they've earned among the citizens of space. Especially since they would have Britannia to deal with as well."

"Still, I think it's rather foolish that humans keep fighting among each other, when there are more pressing matters we should attend to." Kira commented. "After all the trouble that stemmed from Second Impact, and with the menace of Dr. Hell, Celestial Being, the Jovian Lizards and those scientists from Orphan, among other problems, you'd think Earthlings would know better than to waste resources fighting each other."

"On the other hand, well… there is the fact that no conventional weapon can harm the Angels… those strange monsters that have been popping up all over the world in recent times." Tolle answered. "So, for that matter, there wouldn't be much the Atlantic Federation, Britannia or the like would be able to do anyway. That shield-like thing the Angels have… A.T. Field, if I recall correctly… protects them from most conventional weapons."

"You've got a point there… I just hope that they will find a way to neutralize the A.T. Field and defeat the Angels." Kira said, before quickly gathering his things and starting to walk with Tolle and Miriallia to the place where Professor Kato was at. "Well then… let's just get this over with." He said, his eyes wandering to a small robotic bird that was now fluttering around him. His mind went back to the days where he and his friend Athrun Zala attended school on the lunar colonies, before escalating tensions between the Earth Sphere and the Moon colonies forced them to part ways. That small robotic bird, Birdy, was something Athrun had created for Kira as a memento of him, and Kira had always treasured it with fondness…

As Kira and his friends went about their everyday lives, they had no way of knowing that, not too far away from them, an Alliance ship was docking in their colony, carrying someone that was soon going to be part of an incredible event that was going to change Kira's life forever… and not just that! Earth Alliance lieutenant Mu La Flaga, a blond and professional-looking ensign, had joined that ship along with five specially-trained pilots, in order to participate in something that might soon turn the tide of the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT… but, being an expert in war tactics, Mu had a nagging feeling that things weren't going to be as easy as the cadets just climbing on board the new machines and laying waste to the ZAFT forces… At the moment, Mu was staring out of the window, in the cold depths of space, and thinking of a score that had never been truly settled… he would not have been surprised if he knew that his sworn enemy, ZAFT ace pilot Rau Le Creuset, was on their trail, ready to attack and disrupt everything at the last possible moment.

"Well, nothing to do but wait and see. But if I know that old fox Le Creuset, he's already on the tracks of the G-Weapons." He murmured to himself. "Meh… everyone I've spoken to says that ZAFT won't dare attack Heliopolis as a neutral colony. But I'm sick of hearing this crap. Le Creuset is ruthless enough to pull off such a stunt…"

Needless to say, he was rather curious on the fact that the new mobile suits that were in development could turn the tide in this war and he had heard that other threats had been appearing such as the Jovian Lizards and the Vagan as if the Angels that were already attacking the Earth since the Second Impact wasn't already bad enough.

Yet, he also couldn't help but feel bad for the innocent lives that were lost on Mars and that things had been getting worse there since then…. Even though there was a force there that a well known Earth Federation Commander that he had heard of was not too fond about.

He had already seen the assigned pilots on the simulator and from what he witnessed first hand at their performance, they have to struggle just to get their respective machine to move despite the training they had gotten from the infamous Alliance Instructor Rena Imelia herself and the fact that Rena didn't have that much of a hassle with the simulator astounded him even to this very day.

Needless to say, he was informed that a single Nazca-class ship was detected nearby just moments before they docked and while that ship wouldn't dare to try and hostile actions on a neutral colony, he still had a bad feeling that this Nazca-class belonged to a certain ZAFT ace.

"If it's who I think it is, then I doubt this colony would be safe… still I wish I knew what he was planning" Mu muttered to himself, as he sure as hell wouldn't forget the battle where he and Rau first crossed paths with one another and it wasn't one that he wanted to remember either….

It was several months ago, when the Grimaldi Front launched an all-out assault on the Earth Alliance's base within the Endymion Crater and the Alliance's Moebius Mobile Armors, while powerful proved to be no match for ZAFT's ZGMF-1017 GINNs as the humanoid machines would easily tear their opponents apart without any effort yet the Alliance still proved to put up a fight despite their disadvantage and the Moebius Zero squadron of the Third Fleet was no exception as they were piloted by an elite group of pilots with a sense of spatial awareness that is required to be able to use the wired Gunbarrels.

Mu, being among the famed squadron was able to take out several GINNs that he came across while trying his best to defend the base with all his skill, he wasn't the only one as his fellow Moebius Zero pilots Kain and Russel were just as capable of fending off the GINNs themselves, yet as good as he was, this would become a nightmare as he ended up encountering a ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type, which was a unit that usually ZAFT aces would operate.

The pilot he fought, wasn't like any of the other ZAFT pilots he had come across as he felt a strange sensation from his opponent and wondered who he was though the battle between the two proved to be in a stalemate as one of the Zero's Gunbarrels had been destroyed when he least expected it which made him wonder even more on the opponent in question.

"Well, I guess these questions are better left for later." Mu mused to himself, rubbing his forehead as he went back to his position. "We should be arriving at our destination shortly, and it would be a good idea to be ready for anything. You never know when ZAFT or those Vagan bastards are going to pull a fast one on us."

However, just as these events were unfolding, more mundane facts were taking place in Heliopolis, near the premises of the school Kira and his friends were attending. A young man with messy sandy blond hair tied in a ponytail behind his head, a somewhat dark complexion and a dark gray school uniform was standing between a bunch of tough-looking kids his own age – about 16 or 17 – and a couple of terrified juniors, who seemed to have been bullied by the older kids and were now standing behind him.

"Hey, Asemu Asuno, keep your nose out of it!" one of the bullies said, glaring threateningly at the blond, who just stood undaunted in his place, hands in his pockets and his eyes darting dangerously at the bullies.

"Yeah, go somewhere else with that attitude of yours!" another bully challenged him. But the blond young man refused to budge once again, and simply stood in the bullies' way, shielding his younger friends with his body.

"All I ask of you is to stop picking on those weaker than yourselves." Asemu calmly spoke, addressing the three punks. "I do not wish to fight, but if you insist, I will do so."

"Tch. To Hell with that! You asked for it, you little prick!" one of the punks said, as he dashed forward and tried to nail Asemu with a right hook… but Asemu quickly dodged sideways and grabbed his opponent's flailing arm, flipping him over his shoulder judo style and causing him to painfully slam his back into the ground!

"I gave you fair warning." Asemu said simply.

Impressed and shocked at the young man's skill, the other two punks roared in rage and dashed in to attack him as well, hoping to double team and overpower him. "Ugh… damn you, Asuno! Don't think you're a big shot just because your father is an Atlantic Federation bigwig!" one of them yelled, trying to hit Asemu with a left punch. But the blond youth reacted faster than either of them anticipated, and both of them were left flailing at thin air before Asemu tripped them both and sent them tumbling over their companion who had tried to attack earlier. The three bullies ended up in a goofy-looking dog pile, and they could do nothing but quickly scatter and run away, throwing empty threats at Asemu.

"Ugh… damn you, Asuno! We'll get you for that someday, remember!" one of the bullies yelled as he ran away, leaving Asemu completely indifferent. The blond shrugged his shoulders and began walking away as if nothing had happened, only to be called by the students he had saved.

"Hey, Asuno… thanks! We owe you one!" he said in relief, hugging his girlfriend who was with him. However, Asemu didn't seem to mind and simply nodded to the two younger students before beginning to walk away. Which he would have done if he wasn't held back by a familiar female voice calling to him.

"Asemu Asuno!" the voice of a girl his age called to him, and Asemu stopped in his tracks and winced before turning to the one who had just spoken – a pretty girl about his same age with short reddish-brown hair and green eyes, wearing the standard female school uniform, who was walking up to Asemu with a playfully cross expression on her face, sighing in a tired way as she got closer. "Asemu, don't tell me you were looking for trouble again! You know that the teachers don't like it when you get in a fistfight!"

"Please, Romary, give me a break… it's not like I wanted to fight. Those punks forced me into it." Asemu answered, rubbing his forehead. The girl sighed again, accepting that as an excuse, and then began walking along with Asemu, trying to change the topic.

"Okay, okay… I guess I can't blame you for that." she answered. "Anyway… I just wanted to ask, how's the Mobile Suit for your club going? I know you've been working on it quite a lot."

"Yeah and it shouldn't be long before its ready, I just need more time…" explained Asemu, thinking back towards the Mobile Suit that he and his friends Shawee Belton and Macil Boyd were currently working on right now especially as the upcoming tournament is approaching and he wants to win no matter what.

Romary remained silent for more than a few seconds and was about to speak when two of his friends arrived. "Hey Romary." One of them called to her, which she knew that she needed to get going but she turned her attention back towards Asemu.

"I'll see you later" she told him, before heading off to meet with the two and the blonde-haired teen silently smiled at the girl as he was going to join with Shawee and Macil to continue working on their project.

As this was going on, Kira, Tolle and Mir took notice towards a small group of girls having a small conversation of some sort like most girls their age would do; usually about what they tend to do during their spare time after school such as hanging out at the mall or spending time with one another at the park, needless to say one of girls, a lovely red-head in a cute pink dress saw the group. "Miriallia! What a surprise seeing you here!" she said to the brunette, happily greeting her while accompanied by her two friends.

"We were just on our way to school when we saw you nearby" explained Mir, even though she was glad to see her best friend and all, she was rather curious on what they were talking about earlier. "What brings you here Flay?"

"Oh nothing really, just talking about something that you might be aware of" smirked Misha, as there was something that she was dying to tell Mir much to Flay's slight annoyance as it concerns one of their other friends. "Flay recently got a letter from Sai and she claims that nothing's going on between the two of them but we know that it's actually not the case if you know what I mean?"

"Alright already would you give it a rest?" asked Flay, not being too thrilled about this as what she and Sai were doing isn't any of their business as she wanted to change the subject right now. "Mir, we were just planning to head to the mall after school and if you want… you could come along with us."

"I'll have to check my schedule but I will see what I can do" answered Mir, smiling a bit at the slightly younger girl though three unknown adults interrupted the conversation, one of them was a woman with raven-black hair.

"If you're not getting in, mind if I do?"

"Oh, we're sorry… please" said Tolle, allowing the strange adults to pass by and made the students rather curious on whom they were, though now wasn't the time to question that since they needed to get to school before Professor Kato starts worrying. Then again, he grinned at Kira before speaking. "Looks like you have some competition Kira Yamato."

"Tolle, knock it off… We don't have time for this, we're gonna be late" reminded Kira, not in the mood for Tolle's teasing right now even though Mir did find it cute that their friend actually had a liking for Flay that the others never knew and it seems that Sai beat him to the punch when it comes to a lovely girl like her.

Outside in the depths of space, a single Nazca-class ship was hiding behind an asteroid and in the bridge, a blonde-haired man wearing a white mask and the white uniform worn by ZAFT Commanders glanced at the view screen. "Try not to look so frustrated Ades…" began the man, glancing at the ship's captain, who seemed rather stern involving what's going to happen.

"Well I can't image that it'd be too late to hear back from the council at least."

"It will be too late, I have a sixth sense about these things…" he responded to Ades, briefly taking a look at a picture that he had in his hand which showed a mobile suit that seemed to be of interest to him before letting it float away while the captain remained silent. "If we don't seize the moment now, later we'll pay with our lives for our reluctance to take action…" he continued on, this mission needed to occur if they are to bring an end to this war much sooner. "The Earth Forces' new mobile weapons, we must secure them before they attempt to move them."

As this was happening, the five ZAFT redcoats who had been selected for the mission to capture the Earth Forces' new Mobile Suits were making the final preparations. The leader of the team, Athrun Zala, a sad-looking 16-year-old young man with shoulder-long hair and deep green eyes, checked his weapons one final time, mentally steeling himself for what he was about to do, and addressed the rest of his team in order to make sure everything was in place. In front of him stood his comrades Nicol Amalfi, Dearka Elsman, Yzak Joule and Rusty McKenzie, all wearing their red coats which signified their rank and skill in the ZAFT army. All of them seemed to be already armed and ready to undertake the mission.

"So… is everything ready?" Athrun asked his comrades in arms, failing to hide a tone of worry and uneasiness in his voice. He had this uneasy feeling that things were not going as smoothly as usual, though he had no idea why. "We are to reach Heliopolis and infiltrate the Morgenroete hangars, in order to steal the G-Weapons, while our comrades and Commander Le Crueset provide a distraction for us to get it. Miguel and his wingmen should be able to accomplish this without any problem. As soon as we're in, we wait for the right moment, and then we get into the Morgenroete base and take the G-Weapons. There should be exactly one for each of us. As for the new Earth Alliance battleship, we should be able to force it in the open by using the bunker busters. Is everything clear?"

"Yes, of course. There should be no problem with that." answered Rusty McKenzie, a young man with longish orange hair who seemed to be just a little older than Athrun. "Though, personally, I do feel a little bit sorry for the citizens of Heliopolis. I mean, of course we have to do this for the sake of our country, but they sure have no idea why all this is happening to them. They were neutral, after all." "Feh. They sure can talk a big deal about their neutrality, but the truth is, they are building weapons for the Earth Alliance." said Yzak Joule, an arrogant-looking young man with white hair. "They brought this upon themselves, plain and simple."

"Yeah, we have no business feeling sorry for them." said Dearka Elsmann, the dark-skinned blond teenager who also happened to be Yzak's best friend. "They have no right to claim neutrality after favoring the Earth Alliance so much. And speaking of which, there's also the fact that the newest brainchild of the AGE project is hidden there somewhere, right? I'm not exactly a fan of the Vagan, but I think that Mobile Suit will be better used if we can capture, study and reverse-engineer it."

"We'll think about that when we come to that bridge. For now, we need to review the information we have on the G-Weapons." Nicol, the youngest of the five redcoats, a pleasant-looking young man with curly lime-green hair and matching eyes, stated. "Strike, Aegis, Blitz, Buster and Duel. All of them equipped with the newest Phase Shift Armor, which confers them protection against mass-based weapons. Furthermore, the Strike has the unusual feature of being equippable with Packs, which allow it to change weaponry and abilities according to the situation."

"Well, aren't I lucky? I get the one with the most gimmicks!" Rusty joked, drawing a short laugh from Dearka and Nicol, and an annoyed glare from Yzak.

"Alright guys, don't keep us waiting…" came the voice of green-coat pilot Miguel Aiman, another part of the team that will be preparing to capture the Earth Alliance mobile suits and his customized ZGMF-1017 GINN is being given some last updates before it gets ready for launch. Even though he wasn't in red like his five comrades, he was an ace GINN among the Le Creuset Team. "The Gamow's arrival will be delayed so we'll have to make do with what we have right now."

"Understood, let's go" began Rusty, the other redcoats nodded and got ready to begin the operation, which requires getting past the defenses that Heliopolis has up while the Vesalius provides the perfect diversion to keep the Alliance forces distracted until the task was completed. "For ZAFT as they say."

Back at the colony, Asemu was currently at his class and was rather surprised when a new student was being introduced to the school. "This is Zeheart Galette. He'll be joining your class as of today" began the teacher, revealing a young man about 17 years of age with silver-hair and donning the same school uniform that the class was wearing. "Be nice to him."

"Hello" said the newest student, examining the class with his golden eyes though what got his attention was Asemu himself, who didn't say a word as he wondered a bit about the silver-haired youth in question while at the same time, thinking back towards the dinner he had with his family last night.

Flashback

It was late at night as the Asuno family was having a lovely dinner together, especially now that Flit Asuno was able to spend some time with them despite having previously had his duties within the military however it wasn't just any night, it was Asemu's 17th birthday as well. "Happy birthday, big brother!" smiled Asemu's 15 year old younger sister Unoa Asuno, happy for her older brother becoming 17.

"Thanks Unoa" said Asemu, smiling back at the girl before taking a small sip of the drink that he had in his hand and turned his attention towards his father. "Anyway, it's rare for you to be able to come home, Dad."

"That's right" added the lovely Emily Asuno, watching her husband having his sip since it's been a long while since he was even able to come home. "How long has it been?"

"Longer than I would care to admit." Flit Asuno, an hardened man in his late thirties with dark green hair and mustache, answered. "Ever since those damn Vagans renewed their attack on the Earth Alliance territories, we have been hard pressed to push them back. And it doesn't help that they have developed new weapons and Mobile Suits. I'm sorry I have not been able to spend as much time as I would have liked with you."

"It's okay, Dad." The young boy answered with a short nod. "I realize that your duty is very important and you can't just leave it."

Flit gave his son a sad smile, making Asemu wonder what kind of secret was behind his reluctance to speak about his past. He did know that his father had been fighting the Vagan ever since the previous war, when Flit was just 14 and had been forced to pilot the Gundam AGE-1 to fight against the invaders that were threatening to take over the colonies. All he knew was that his father always froze up whenever the topic of the previous Vagan war came up. He always answered that he would tell him more when the right time came up, and Asemu always dropped the subject out of respect for his father. Still, he had to admit he was rather curious to know what had happened in his past, if only so that he could help his father with it…

END FLASHBACK

Turning back to reality, Asemu took a good look at the newcomer – he was a good-looking young man with a somewhat dark complexion and shoulder-long white hair, golden eyes and a serious, detached expression on his face, wearing the standard school uniform and standing tall in front of the rest of the classroom. He seemed to be trying to look as formal as possible, and Asemu felt some sort of connection with him, for some reason.

"My name is Zeheart Galette." The new pupil said in a strong voice. "I will be a pupil in this school for today on. Pleased to meet you."

With that, Zeheart bowed to the rest of the class, who stood up and bowed back before the teacher showed him his place. "Alright, Zeheart Galette, you may take that empty desk near the window. You'll be near Asemu Asuno, the blond-haired young man over there."

Zeheart nodded and began walking to his desk, while Asemu blinked twice and followed the newcomer. He still tried to keep a stoic, aloof demeanor, and Asemu was rather intrigued at his strange attitude. There was something about this mysterious young man that really drew Asemu to him.

The white-haired new pupil reached his desk and sat down on it… and right then, he realized that Asemu was looking at him. Somewhat curious to know what Asemu wanted to ask, Zeheart turned to him. "Is anything the matter?" he asked, not sounding like he cared very much.

"Nothing much, really." Asemu answered with a slight nod. "I was just thinking that perhaps, since you're new here and all, you wouldn't mind someone helping you around. If there I anything you might need, or if you want to ask any question, well, you can always ask me, and I'll help you however I can."

This time, Asemu felt some surprise showing on the stoic young man's face, and Zeheart stood in silence for a moment, before nodding graciously. "Alright, I will remember that. Thank you, I might have to ask you about something later anyway." He said. Asemu smiled a little, pleased that he had been able to help him at least a little.

"You are welcome." He said, before the teacher called for attention, and the lesson began…

Tolle, Mir and Kira had just arrived on time for their class especially as it was about to take place and saw that both Sai Argyle and Kuzzey Buskirk were already there, but at the same time they were glad to see the others never the less. "Well Kira, looks like you finally made it" said Sai, being the first to greet the three while smiling at them. "Kuzzey and I were beginning to get worried and started to think you weren't going to get here on time so what happened?"

"Sorry, it's a long story…" began Kira, though noticed that there was someone standing by the wall nearby and from the way that person was dress, it didn't seem like one of the students in their class either, even Tolle and Mir were curious about who it was.

"Who is that?" asked Tolle, deciding to ask Kuzzey about whoever this person was, wondering if it was a male or female to which the other boy shook his head as not much was known about the new comer that arrived before Kira, Tolle and Mir.

"That's Professor Kato's guest, they were apparently told to wait here" he explained to Tolle when Kira joined in upon realizing that Kato wasn't there yet, which made him a bit more confused at this very moment.

"So where's the Prof? He asked Kuzzey, then Sai came up to Kira with a disk in his hand as he was told to give it to him right away which in turn got the brown-haired young man's attention. "Sai… what's up?"

"I almost forgot, Professor Kato wanted me to give you this… its extra stuff" said the blonde-haired male, placing the disk into his friend's hand. Kira sighed, a little annoyed that he was looking forward to extra work, but quickly shrugged and put the disk in his bag.

"Okay, thank you, Sai. I'll take a good look at it." The brown-haired Coordinator answered with a nod… just a split second before everything went to Hell!

All of a sudden, without warning, there was an explosion and the whole colony was violently shaken, as if it had hit a meteor, causing several students and civilians to be knocked down among screams of surprise and terror! Kira managed to get a hold on the closest desk, while Tolle shielded Miriallia with his body and saved her from falling to the ground! The others were either thrown to the ground, or found themselves fumbling to keep their balance, and the colony soon was overcome by a wave of panic that caused chaos all around!

"What? What's going on here?" Kira exclaimed, loking around himself in order to see if his friends were still alright. Luckily, all of them seemed to be pretty much unscathed, and even the mysterious person he had seen at the other end of the room had managed to get a hold of the nearest wall, stopping himself from falling.

Kuzzey shook his head and looked around in panic. "I… I have no idea, Kira! It seems like we've hit a meteor!"

"What? But… but this can't be! There were no meteors around!" Miriallia exclaimed, with Tolle trying to help her stand straight. She had been so startled that she was feeling her knees buckle under her body. "What… what just happened?"

There was another explosion, and more civilians were tossed around by the shaking and the shockwaves, while a voiceover called for the civilians to find shelter. "Attention. Attention. We have been attacked by a group of Mobile Suits belonging to the ZAFT forces. All civilian personnel is to reach the shelters and remain there until new orders are given. Please, no panic! Keep your cool and try to help people on your way to the shelters!"

"What? ZAFT… ZAFT is attacking us?" Sai exclaimed in shock. "How is that possible? We… we are supposed to be neutral! How is it that they've decided to attack us?"

"I… have no idea!" Kira exclaimed, still trying to make sense of what had happened. "But… this is no time to wonder about that! We need to get to the shelters, right now!"

"Kira is right, let's hurry!" Tolle exclaimed… only to stop when he saw the mysterious person wearing a brown beret running off in a whole other direction, apparently oblivious to what was going on! "Hey! Where the Hell is that guy going? Is he crazy or what? He's going to get himself killed there!"

"I'll go get him!" Kira said, beginning to run after the mysterious person. "You guys keep running and get to safety! Don't worry, I'll get him and then join you in the shelters!"

"O… Okay! Be careful, Kira!" Miriallia murmured, while Kira ran through a dangerously unstable corridor after the mysterious person.

"Wait up! Where are you going?" Kira called after him. "That place is dangerous! You should join us in the shelters! ZAFT is attacking us!"

"Mind your own damn business! I have my reasons!" the person shouted back, and Kira was shocked to hear a female voice coming from the unknown person. Another explosion rocked the corridor, and Kira managed to get a hold of the girl before she was knoced down, her beret falling of her head and revealing shining, shoulder-long blond hair framing a cute face that still seemed to be etched in an angry frown. The brown-haired Coordinator was taken aback for a moment, blinking dumbly under the blonde girl's annoyed glare.

"You… you are a girl…" Kira murmured, mentally kicking himself for being such a master of the obvious.

Of course, this got the young blonde going. "Yeah, I'm a girl, so what?" she fired back while being annoyed. "What did you think I was? Let's hear it!"

Kira right now was at a loss of words; especially as he turned to see the girl in question turn her attention towards the direction that she was heading earlier. "Go back now, I need to check up on something on my own!" she told him, yet he didn't seem to like the idea of her going off alone, which was the reason why he went after her in the first place despite being separated from the others.

"That's easy for you to say, how will am I going to retrace my steps?" asked Kira, knowing that the way back was now completely sealed off, deciding it would best to get himself and the girl that he followed to the nearest shelter as trying to get back the way they came was currently out of the question. "Let's see, this way!"

"Let go of me you jerk!"

"Listen, we can't stay… all we know the colony might be destroyed during the attack, even though I'm not sure why ZAFT is doing something like this!" he responded while the blonde-haired female struggled to get out of his grip and he realized something as well, Asemu and his friends were still in there class which meant he can only hope they can get out of there on time. "There's still some shelters left in the factory district!"

Everyone in the class that Asemu and his friends were attending were all nearly shaken off their feet as the tremors caused the entire room to rock violently. "What the?!" exclaimed the elder child of the Asuno family as he had a bad feeling about what's going on at the outside, opening the door and seeing people were evacuating. "What's happening? Is it a Vagan attack?"

"No, it's ZAFT!" answered one of the students at Morgenroete, much to Asemu's shock as he would never have thought ZAFT would be the ones attacking a neutral colony belonging to the Orb Union as he would have thought the Vagans would be the culprits since the conflict between them and the Earthsphere had begun long ago. "Some of their mobile suits have entered the colony!"

Nearby, Zeheart was rather surprised by this revelation, as it might compromise the mission he currently was assigned but the fact that ZAFT is attacking Heliopolis made him suspect that they must be after something rather important as the student in question continued with what he said. "You guys better get out of here too, for all I know… the colony might actually get destroyed in the conflict" with that, the student left while Asemu gritted his teeth as there was no way in hell he would allow the colony to perish even if it was to ZAFT or any other enemy.

He knew that he had to do something, just then he realized he still had the gift that his father gave to him on his birthday and made his way out of the classroom… As he made his way down the stairs, he tried to call his mother and his younger sister; unfortunately there was no response from anyone at his home. "It's no use; I can't get anyone on the line… Dammit!" he said to himself, putting on his helmet and rode off on his motorcycle to get back home as quickly as possible, what he saw made his eyes widen in complete shock.

Three ZGMF-1017 GINNs were attacking the defending Earth Alliance forces, making quick work of the missile trucks and linear tanks that opposed them as explosions were taking place everywhere….There was nothing but destruction as he mentally wondered on what reason for ZAFT to do something like this…

His thoughts were interrupted when he stopped to see that Romary was lying on the ground, unable to properly sit up. "Romary!" he called out, going to his girlfriend's side to see that she was hurt but the injury wasn't too serious. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… but I sprained my ankle and…" she didn't finish what she was going to say as she winced at the pain she was now feeling and Asemu knew he couldn't just leave her there as she might end up getting killed by one of the ZAFT mobile suits within the area.

"Hop on!" he told her, making her somewhat surprised before he continued. "Right now it's too dangerous for you to remain here." Remaining silent, Romary knew there wasn't time to argue as she was helped onto the motorcycle despite her sprained ankle, at least he could get her to a safe place for now since his home should be near the institute so if he can get there…. Maybe there could be a chance to save the colony though he witnessed a group of people that was fleeing from the scene to get to safety and it didn't take long for Romary to recognize one of them.

"Flay!"

"Flay? Isn't she a friend of yours?" Asemu asked, noticing that the young redhead was looking around herself as if in panic, obviously looking for a shelter. Along with her were two other girls her own age, one with Brown hair and pigtails, and one with short black hair. They seemed to have been left behind when everyone scrambled to the shelters, and now they seemed to have nowhere to go...

"Yeah, she is..." Romary answered. "And... Those with her are Misha and Jessica! We have to help them somehow... Do you have enough space on your motorbike?"

Asemu quickly checked. It was going to get a Little cramped, but he was going to make it work. "We'll make do with what we have." He answered, quickly getting to the girls and stopping close to them. "Everyone, Hop on! We need to get away from this place as soon as possible!"

"Asuno?" Flay exclaimed in surprise. "Romary, you too? What the heck is going on here? Who are these people attacking us?"

"Please, Flay, we have no time for that!" Romary answered, motioning for the girls to Hop onboard the motorbike. "I don't really know who these attackers are or what they want with us, but we have to be quick!"

"She's right, Flay, you know..." Misha, the pigtailed brunette, answered. "If we stay this close to the fighting, we'll end up as casualties! We Need to get away from here and quickly!"

"But where are we supposed to go?" Flay asked in panic. "There isn't a single shelter around here! Where can we go to get to safety?"

"I think we should go to my house... My father is probably there as well. He's been fighting in the first Vagan war, and he's with the Earth Alliance military anyway. I think he'll have a better idea of what to do."

"Okay... As long as it get away from the fighting, I'm good with it!" Jessica answered. Reluctantly, Flay and her friends took a seat alongside Romary, trying to fit in what little room they had. "Are you doing okay, Romary? Your leg doesn't Look very good..."

"Don't worry about that, Jessica, it's nothing serious..." Romary answered with a small wince. "Rather, what about Zeheart? Do you think he managed to get to a shelter already? I haven't seen him in all this mess..."

"I sure hope he did, and Kira and the others as well..." Asemu answered, before putting the pedal to the metal and rushing towards his home as fast as he could, the girls hanging on as much as they could...

In the meantime, Zeheart Galette was heading for the factory district itself, making contact with someone on the phone while wanting to be sure he was alone. "That's right, I've gotten information on the route to infiltrate the colony." he replied, yet the attack GINNs were more focused on taking out the opposing EA forces than him. "The operation will begin soon but it seems the ZAFT military is already launching an attack as we speak... I am somewhat curious on what they hope to gain by beating us to the punch."

Needless to say, his curiosity was increased as he bore witness to five soldiers making there way to the factory district and he needed to be certain that the colony is hiding something that nobody is aware of. "Destroy any parts we can't carry and the factories! Intel indicates five units have been developed!" Yzak Joule informed the other redcoat soldiers with him, noticing there were three large machines that laid on their backs just outside of Morgenroete guarded by EA soldiers. "Are the other two still inside?"

"Rusty and I will continue" came the voice of Athrun Zala, while the two that were being guarded won't be so hard to capture, the remaining targets are going to be an entirely different story to say the least. "Yzak, you guys take these three!"

"Make sure you watch our backs okay?" Rusty was the next to speak, especially as their commander wants those mobile weapons intact and had a feeling that one of them would be extremely useful due to a unique ability it has but best not to mention it until after the operation is successful. "Make sure you don't end up killed though!"

"Go for it!" Yzak responded to the two as they continued to approach the district then he turned his attention towards Dearka and Nicol before continuing their part of the mission. "If you're piloting one, make sure you disarm the self-destruct first!"

The three without a hint of hesitation took down many of the defending Alliance soldiers, with Yzak finding it pathetic that the Naturals they were taking out had managed to build those machines to counter their own mobile suits in the first-place, all the more reason to prevent them from gaining an advantage against the PLANTs in the war after what had happened to Junius Seven last year.

As this was happening, Kira and the blonde-haired young lady he had followed had managed to reach the factory district but both were shocked that not only was there fighting taking place between the ZAFT forces and those of the Earth Alliance but there were also two machines resting on the ground below. "Hey those are..." began Kira as the girl fell to her knees in complete dismay.

"I knew it... The new prototype Earth Alliance Mobile Weapons..." she spoke as she didn't sound to happy about the fact that the rumours she heard about mobile being developed were indeed true. "Father I know you betrayed us all!"

Needless to say, a woman with brown-hair that stopped at the bottom of her neck and donning an orange outfit took aim at the two teens but didn't fire the moment she realized they were civilians and not enemy soldiers. "Those are children?" she asked herself as the two quickly headed for the nearest shelter.

"Crying won't help you, come on this way!" he told her, knowing it was much too dangerous for them to remain here any longer, unfortunately the battle wasn't going too well as the woman was informed that a single Nazca-class ship was outside the colony moments before the pilot who tried to warn met his end in the battle taking place in space.

"Crap!" she muttered, a gunshot passed her and went back to shooting the approaching ZAFT soldiers... The only problem was that she is nearly out of ammo, when one of her fellow EA troops closest to her saw the expression but that wasn't the only thing he bore witness to. "Miss Murrue, behind you!"

"What?" she exclaimed, turning around to the place where Rusty was hiding. The young ZAFT recruit had managed to sneak by unseen and had reached a place where he could ambush the Earth Forces soldiers... but just as he stepped out of his ambush place and fired, Murrue shot reflexively and struck Rusty in the chest! With a look of horror and disbelief in his eyes, Rusty staggered backwards, placing a hand on the bullet wound puncturing his heart... and fell limply to the ground a second later.

"Rusty!" Athrun exclaimed in dismay. "Dammit! They got Rusty!"

Gritting his teeth in anger, Athrun fired a couple rounds at Murrue, and the brunette woman managed to avoid getting hit in a vital area, though a single bullet found its mark, embedding itself in her arm! It was just a flesh wound, but the sudden, piercing pain forced Murrue to drop her weapon with a yelp, and no Earth Forces soldier had remained alive to cover her! Athrun tried to fire again and finish her off, but his gun clicked without firing anything, and the younf ZAFT redcoat discarded his weapon and unsheathed his combat knife, dashing towards Murrue! The young woman widened her eyes, thinking this was it for her... but she did not expect Kira to throw himself at the ZAFT soldier, knocking him down with the sheer force of the impact! Athrun quickly recovered his wits and wrestled with Kira on the ground, trying to retrieve the knife he had dropped...

And that was when their eyes met and they immediately recognized each other!

"Ki... Kira?" Athrun murmured in horror and disbelief.

"Athrun?" Kira asked back, as he could not believe his best friend back when he was at the academy on the Moon had actually become a ZAFT soldier. "Athrun... is that really you?"

That gave Murrue the opening she needed to recover her gun and fire a couple shots at Athrun, who was shaken out of his funk and instinctively dove for cover, avoiding the bullets but missing his chance to take out Murrue. Seeing as the situation was desperate, Murrue did the only thing she could think of at the moment and grabbed Kira by a wrist, before getting into the cockipt of the closest Mobile Suit - one of those sleek, elegant-looking Mobile Suits that reminded Kira of the Gundam used by the Earth Forces ace pilot Flit Asuno during the previous war with the Vagan, more than seventeen years before. Murrue quickly closed the cockpit hatch, before sitting at the controls and activating the war machine. "Move back behind the seat!" she told him, needing some space in order to properly get the mobile suit ready for action. "At least we can save this one, even I should be able to operate it."

Kira remained silent and his thoughts were on his previous encounter with his longtime best friend since childhood and the mobile suits that laid beside them, the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam, it couldn't have been him and if so, why the hell would he ever join ZAFT in the first place though he would witness something appearing on the startup menu.

General

Unilateral

Neruo-Link

Dispersive

Automatic

Maneuver

"Gundam?" Its Phase Shift Armor lit up, covering the Gundam in a beautiful mix of white, blue and red, and the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam rose up, breaking its restraints!

In the meanwhile, Nicol, Dearka and Yzak had managed to hijack three of the Earth Forces' G-Weapons, one of each of them - Dearka had taken the heavily-armored GAT-X103 Buster Gundam, a bulky-looking machine armed with a powerful long-range beam rifle, while Nicol had taken possession of the sleek GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam, while Yzak had managed to get the basic-looking GAT-X102 Duel Gundam. "Wow pretty impressive" grinned Yzak, quite intrigued at how his machine was well-built and showing how superior it was to their standard GINNs. "Dearka, how's yours?"

"Great! Update activated, nerve links reconstructed, calibration set, it'll move!" said Dearka, having gotten his Gundam onto its feet as a GINN was taking out any EA soldiers that were standing in their way or trying to stop them from taking the three mobile suits in question.

"And Nicol?"

The youngest member of the Le Creuset Team was quickly rewriting his mobile suit's OS and making sure it would be able to move properly once it was up. "Not yet... almost there!" he replied, soon enough all three were on their feet, equipped with their respective weapons at hand.

They saw that Athrun and Rusty had not yet managed to take the other two remaining G-Weapons, and they were somewhat worried about that - though in Yzak's case, he would not be caught dead admitting that he cared about Athrun's safety.

"Where are Athrun and Rusty?" asked Dearka, somewhat concerned that about his two comrades at arms since it usually wouldn't take them this long to accomplish a mission like this, more so unlike how their previous mission ended in failure as Miguel's orange GINN had lost an arm fighting against a customized GINN belonging to the Serpent Tail Mercenary Gai Murakumo, sure it was just minor damage but there wasn't enough time for him to have his GINN repaired before this operation so Rau had him pilot a standard GINN instead. "They sure are taking their time aren't they?"

Yzak simply shrugged, realzing that the two know what they were doing when they went into the factory district to capture the remaining machines. "I don't think they would have too much trouble but let's stick to the plan and bring these three mobile suits to Commander Le Creuset before anything goes wrong! Besides, if worse comes to it then Miguel can assist them!" he told Dearka and Nicol, the three captured Gundams activated their thrusters as they made their escape from the colony so to be brought to the Vesalius intact.

Mu was deployed into battle along with fellow Moebius Mobile Armor pilots Luke and Gale, all three were the most skilled chosen to become part of the crew for the newly constructed warship known as the Archangel unfortunately things didn't go too well as some of the ZAFT GINNs had managed to enter Heliopolis. "I should have known this would happen!" he commented to himself moments before launching and witnessing first-hand that the MAW-01 Mistrals were easily shot down and destroyed by the GINNs that were still in the depths of space. "Take this!"

He activated the gunbarrels from his famed Moebius Zero, which caught one of the GINN pilots off-guard before shooting the ZAFT mobile suit down, causing it to explode in a flash of pink light though this got the attention of Rau from within the bridge of the Vesalius, his sense of spartial awareness alerted him that his rival had just entered the fray. "So he's here..." he commented to himself and turned his attention towards Ades. "Captain, prepare my CGUE... It seems we have an annoying fly buzzing around."

"Commander Le Creuset?" Ades was surprised to hear this as Rau got off his seat and headed towards the hanger, usually he would never head out into the frontlines personally unless there was a reason for him to do so.

"We can't afford to take any chances even despite the fact the Vesalius is a supperior vessel, it is important that we size all five of the newly constructed mobile suits as quickly as possible" explained Rau, before informing the crew to stay on high alert just in case some unseen turn of events change the outcome of this operation. "I'm counting on you to handle things while I am gone."

Asemu was mentally cursing how everything was going straight to hell but knew he had to get Romary, Flay and her two friends somewhere safe... luckily the safetest place he could think of was his house as he knew there was no time to get them to a shelter with all the chaos that was happening. "So how long until we reach your house Asemu?" asked Flay, realizing that Mir and the others must still be at the school which made her even more worried and frightened than ever since the ZAFT forces began their attack and they were trying to avoid being shot by the GINNs. "What about the others? Are they alright?"

"Not much longer... if I'm right, then father hid something there that can help fight off the enemy mobile suits!" answered Asemu, needless to say the girls he was bringing with him there wondered what he was talking about right now, sure his father was a veteran Earth Alliance pilot but right now they might not be able to contact the Commander from wherever he was right now. Running as fast as he could, the blond teenager rushed towards his house and stopped his motorbike right in front of it, allowing Flay, Misha and Jessica to dismount while he carried Romary bridal style because of her injured ankle. "Here we are… I think Vargas should be around here… or at least, I hope so!"

"Vargas? Who is that?" Flay asked, looking with alarm at the approaching destruction.

"He was a member of the Diva's crew in the first Vagan War… he was tasked with maintaining the mobile suits, and after that he came to live with us and still executed maintenance work on my father's Gundam." Asemu explained. Just then, as if summoned by his words, a funny-looking, somewhat portly old man with unruly grey hair and bushy matching mustache and beard came to greet him. "Vargas! I'm glad you're safe!"

"Asemu, dear boy, I'm glad you're here. I knew you would have come." Vargas greeted the young boy, smiling and adjusting his thick red goggles. "Please come with me to the stable. That's where your Dad and I hid the Gundam!"

"Thank you… please, Vargas, take care of Romary and her friends here!" Asemu stated, gently laying Romary on the ground so that her back was leaning on the walls of the house. "Romary, you and the girls stay here, please. I will try and chase the Vagan and ZAFT away from the colony."

"Asemu, what are you saying? You… you are going to climb in a Mobile suit and fight?" Romary exclaimed in alarm, as Misha knelt down to tend to her injured ankle.

"I don't have much of a choice now…" the young man answered with a sigh. "When I was young, my father always said that someday, it would be my duty to protect everyone, and now I understand what he meant. Therefore, I will fight."

"Asemu… I know I won't change your mind, but please be careful!" Romary said, giving Asemu a worried glance while two workers, whom Romary knew by the names of Josse Maris and Hans Rouge, rushed into the stable in order to remove the stacks of hay that had been used to cover the Gundam.

"Don't worry, Romary… I plan to!" Asemu answered, before nodding at her and rushing into the stable where the Gundam AGE-1 was being kept. As soon as he went in, Josse and Hans had just finished unveiling the Gundam, and Asemu stood for a moment to admire the impressive Mobile Suit in front of him – it was easily about 18 meters tall, with a sleek frame that mostly consisted of polished white metal, turning blue on the chest and red around the abdomen and on the bottom of its feet. Its head sported the usual V-shaped antenna that was the trademark of a Gundam, as well as the metal mouthpiece and the narrow light blue eyes. It looked powerful and majestic, and for a moment, Asemu found himself at a loss about what to do. But it only lasted one second: he soon steeled his resolve and walked to the cockpit while Vargas opened it up.

"This is the Gundam AGE-1 Normal, the weapon your father used in his war. And now, if you want, it is yours. The choice is yours, young man. Do your best, and try not to have any regrets." Vargas recommended the boy, who nodded and climbed onboard the cockpit, before sitting in front of the console and starting the Mobile Suit up. The Gundam AGE-1's eyes lit up, and while the stable's roof opened up, Asemu moved the controls to make the mighty Mobile Suit climb to its feet.

"Dad… you knew this would happen, didn't you?" Asemu murmured to himself when the AGE-1 finally got to an upright position. Then, he took off, leaving the girls and the family inservients to stare in awe while it reached the battle zone!

As soon as he got there, he saw that the situation was getting quite desperate, as a number of Dorado Mobile Suit, sleek purple Mobile Suits with an elongated head and black limbs, as well as a large beam cannon mounted on their left shoulder, were busy tearing down the residential area! The AGE-1 quickly drew both its beam sabers and swept down on the closest Dorado, cleaving its left arm off its shoulder with a powerful slash! The purple Vagan MS turned around, as if in surprise, and tried to attack with its chest-mounted Diffuse Beam Cannon, but Asemu was faster and pierced the enemy MS right in the chest with the other beam saber, shattering the cannon and destroying the Dorado!

Apparently, the Vangans were starting to cause problems in Heliopolis as well, just when he thought they only had the ZAFT GINNs to worry about, especially as the Dorados somehow managed to find their own way into the colony and were tearing through anything that was in their path, he could only hope that Kira and his friends don't end up in the crossfire right now. Speaking of Kira's friends, they were running through the streets of Heliopolis in hopes of finding the nearest shelter to get into, if there were any remaining for them to enter. "What the?!" exclaimed Tolle, he and the others were shocked as a GINN was shown destroying two opposing linear tanks that targeted him but what came next was even more shocking as the Aegis and the Strike bursted from within the dying factory district and the former landed right next to the GINN.

"Athrun, what happened?" asked Miguel, hoping that Athrun and Rusty didn't have too much trouble with their part of the mission.

"Rusty failed..."

"What?!" exclaimed the blonde-haired ZAFT pilot, not liking the news and if Rusty wasn't able to get the Strike, then that would mean that someone else is operating it which from what he saw, the Gundam had difficulty with movement. "Are you saying that..."

"Yes..." answered Athrun, slowly nodding his head as much as he wished he was making it up, he actually wasn't since he saw first-hand who was at the district and the officer that took Rusty's life was something he can't get out of his head, though that wasn't the thing bothering him the most, what did was the fact his childhood friend Kira Yamato was there too. "The final machine is piloted by an Alliance officer."

Kira mentally cursed as Murrue shouldn't even be using this machine, let alone trying to fight an enemy unit in her injured state, as if this wasn't bad enough, there were still civilians that have yet to be properly evacuated into a shelter and among them were his friends from the technical college much to his dismay. "What are they doing here?" he asked, not wanting to believe that they were in harm's way and it couldn't be at a worse possible time as the GINN had a sword drawn seeing the Strike as an easy target.

"Okay, I'll capture this machine... you go ahead and get yours out of here!" Miguel informed Athrun, then prepared to attack the Strike while the Aegis just stood in place, with the blue-haired ZAFT redcoat in deep thought as he began to rewrite the OS to his captured mobile suit, yet his head was still thinking back to that encounter in the district.

Kira, no it can't be... there's no way he could have been there... he thought to himself, praying that Miguel can at least capture the remaining Gundam intact so he wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of having to fight against his best friend. While Miguel was one of the more skilled GINN pilots from the Le Creuset Team, the Strike managed to barely avoid a slash that was targeting it and to Murrue, if it had made contact, she might not survive it while having a civilian in the cockpit with her wasn't making things any easier. Before Kira could even say a word, the alarm alerted them that the GINN they were facing was charging at them again but this time, Murrue decided to allow the sword to hit the Strike since she knew that the G-Project machines all shared something in common as the enemy ZAFT pilot's eyes widened in shock as the physical blade made contact with the Gundam but no damage was done to it for some reason.

"What the?!" exclaimed Miguel, not liking what he saw and backed away to better asset the event that had occurred, mentally wondering why his sword had not done any damage to the enemy mobile suit at all, a sign the Earth Alliance had discovered a means to protect themselves without even a shield. "How come that mobile suit changed color all of a sudden?"

"That was the activation of the Phase Shift Armor, something that is found only on the five mobile suits developed by the Earth Alliance" explained Athrun, demonstrating by activating the Aegis' PS Armor which changed the colors to red. "Once activated, it renders all projectile and impact weapons in battle useless."

One lone missile truck emerged from the ruins, opening fire at the Aegis which had no trouble shooting down the missiles and taking the truck out as well.. However, it seems that there would be other complications as one of the GINN pilots in the colony made contact with Miguel. "Miguel, Athrun... we have trouble... Were being attacked by..." the pilot never got to finish what he was going to say as communications were cut off after a loud scream was here.

"Hello? Hello?! Dammit! " he exclaimed, no matter how much he tried to reestablish transmission with one of his allied pilots, there was still no response while having a bad feeling that things are starting to go straight to hell with what's going on and what it was that's suddenly attacking. "Athrun, you need to return to the ship, you can't stick around any longer... I'll handle things here!"

Remaining silent for more than a few seconds, Athrun gave one last glance at the Strike and Miguel's GINN then activated the thrusters, taking the Aegis back to the Vesalius to join with the captured Duel, Buster and Blitz which should be onboard the Nazca-class ship by now if Yzak, Dearka and Nicol didn't have any trouble themselves, leaving the lone ZAFT mobile suit to face off against the remaining Earth Alliance Gundam which fired the CIWS only for the bullets to be easily avoided by the enemy unit that Murrue was currently fighting against and Kira could see why the Strike wasn't fighting well, aside from the brown-haired liuetenant having been shot in the shoulder by Athrun. The calibration's off... he thought, to make matters worse is Tolle, Mir, Kuzzey and Sai could get hurt in the battle that was taking place. With a sudden lunge, Kira took Murrue's place at the controls of the Strike and gave Miguel's GINN an hard push, causing the Magic Bullet of Dusk to stumble backwards with an annoyed grunt! As soon as he saw that Miguel was distracted, Kira gave a look at the Gundam's operating system, and shook his head. No wonder the Gundam was moving so badly…

"It's a miracle this Mobile Suit can even stand, the operating system is terrible!" Kira exclaimed, starting to reprogram the OS on the fly before Miguel could get back his bearings. Murrue blinked in disbelief, wondering just how a seemingly normal young boy from a civilian colony could be able to work on a Mobile Suit's OS that handily… let alone pilot it better than she was able to! By the time Miguel was back on guard, Kira had managed to reprogram the OS to the point where the Strike could fight decently against that GINN…

Seeing that he was not facing an opponent that could be underestimated, Miguel frowned and took out his Ion Cannon, aiming a powerful beam at the Strike, knowing that the Phase-Shift Armor was going to be useless against beam weapons. The Strike readily stepped aside and dodged the beam, which went on and demolished a building in the distance, but Miguel was not aiming to hit him directly: as soon as he saw that the pilot of the Strike was distracted, he rushed him and tackled the Gundam around its midsection, trying to drag it to the ground.

"No matter how strong your Phase-Shift Armor is, it won't help if your Mobile Suit can't move!" Miguel exclaimed, trying to pin the powerful Gundam against the wall of a ruined building, and causing its remains to turn into so much rubble. The Strike's hands reached down for the Armor Schneiders hoisted at its sides, and managed to get a hold of them, quickly raising them up and stabbing the GINN in the side!

"AAAARGH! Damn you…" Miguel exclaimed, relinquishing his grip on the Strike and allowing Kira to make another move. The other Armor Schneider shot forward, and struck the GINN in the shoulder, causing some serious damage and causing the opposing GINN to stagger! "I had no idea this Mobile Suit was that powerful… and with a complete beginner at the controls too!"

Unfortunately, with the way the GINN had been damaged, it wouldn't survive another attack as it seems the GAT-X105 Strike was starting to perform a whole hell of alot better as Kira was able to stab the remaining Armor Schneider into the GINN's head... stopping it dead in its tracks. "Argh... hydro not responding... multi-drive systems offline!" he cursed, realizing that he would be dead in a matter of minutes so rather than meeting such a fate, he activated the GINN's self-destruct sequence before bailing out.

Needless to say, it didn't go unoticed by Murrue as she saw that Miguel was leaving the scene and had actually left his mobile suit behind which meant only one thing. "This doesn't look good, step away from the GINN!" unfortunately her warning came tooo late as the GINN self-destructed and while the Phase Shift was able to protect the Gundam from any damage, it nearly knocked Murrue and Kira off the seat inside the cockpit.

Tolle, Mir, Sai and Kuzzey managed to find a safe place as the ZAFT mobile suit's destruction ended up alerting surviving GINN pilots still in the colony... Having no idea on what the hell was going on, deciding to head to the scene as this was happening... Asemu proved to be able to defeat the attacking Vagans that were tearing Heliopolis apart from the inside when he detected the explosion from nearby. "Just what was that?" he wondered, needing to get there as soon as possible but at the same time he couldn't leave Flay, Romary, Jessica or Misha behind let alone Vargas since by this point all the shelters were locked down. "I must be out of my mind..."

He headed back to the house, then held the Gundam AGE-1's hands to the five civillians that were on the ground. "Hop onto the Gundam's hands!" he said, much to their dismay, realizing that there was only a matter of time before more Vagans show up and from the way they fought, they wouldn't hesitate in destroying anything in their path, ZAFT or otherwise. "There's no time to argue just hurry before more of those things show up!"

"You heard Asemu, let's get going!" insisted Romary, being helped onto the Gundam AGE-1's hands by Vargas before he did the same for Flay and her friends, then he himself got up just as the young Asuno detected approaching enemy mobile suits heading for where the explosion was coming from which means that whatever it was had taken priorty to the ZAFT pilots and he needed to know why.

"Alright, here goes nothing!" he said, jetting off in the direction of the explosion only to be noticed by two GINNs that were not too far from where he was headed for and needless to say, they were truly shocked to see a mobile suit that they weren't aware of within the colony though on another note, it could work to their advantage if they can capture or destroy it. "Oh great..."

"Another mobile suit?!" exclaimed one of the GINN pilots, watching the AGE-1 approaching the battlefield that Miguel escaped from and upon further inspection on the screen, he recognized what the mobile suit in question one which was piloted by one person and one person alone. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If it is, then we'll make sure to capture it for Commander Le Creuset!" replied the other GINN pilot, both aimed their machine guns at the AGE-1 then opened fire, forcing Asemu to evade since he couldn't fight them with the five people that he had in his Gundam's hands, not wanting to risk their safety and at the same time, he couldn't avoid the enemy machines forever. "Where do you think you're going buddy-boy?"

"Damn!" cursed the blonde-haired young man, while the girls held on with their dear life and he wished that his machine had two head-mounted CIWS on the sides so he wouldn't have to deal with playing on the defensive. "Can things get any worse?"

He realized that it was about to get much worse than he could possibly imagine but at the same time, there was some hope as a large explosion came from the colony's harbor shaft as a warship managed to break through into the colony's intererior, causing Kira's friends and even Kira himself to be shocked at the sight of the warship in question hovered above the ground below. "What is that?" he asked, having no idea on where that warship is but it didn't look anything like the ZAFT vessels or the Diva, which was under the command of Asemu's father Flit Asuno and if it were an allied ship then at least he could get the girls and Vargas there before taking the enemy on. "Alright, hang on tight... this could prove to be tricky!"

Romary and her friends didn't have much of a choice, though Vargas had a feeling that he knew what the warship war as he had heard of the Earth Alliance developing moble suits and a waship to support them o be used against ZAFT while it was a smart idea, they hadn't realized the risk that had just taken place now that the ZAFT forces know about the G-Weapons while the AGE-1's existence in Heliopolis had remained a secret until now. Onboard the Archangel, a woman with short black hair and a small group of surviving Alliance crew members of the ship were in the bridge. . "We've broken through the harbor's exit!" came the voice of one of the crew members alerting the woman that they were now inside of Heliopolis. "We're in the colony's interior!"

"Morgenroete's been destroyed!" added one of the other male EA members onboard as they soon took noticed to the Strike kneeling down and there were enemy mobile suits heading in their location as they speak . "The Strike has been activated!"

"Oh great… Wait a minute, the Strike is active?!" muttered the black-haired woman, realizing that if the Strike is still within the colony and not attacking them then it would mean that it might still be in their hands. "X-105 Strike, do you copy! Who's the pilot?!"

"That voice…" began Murrue, she was close to losing consciousness but was relieved when she saw the warship in front of them and gave Kira a reassuring smile to show that the ship in question wasn't an enemy then made contact with their apparent reinforcements. "This is X-105 Strike, Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, 5th special division speaking!"

This surprised the woman upon hearing the voice of the brown-haired Lieutenant and at the same time, she was somewhat relieved. "Lieutenant Ramius?!" she asked, and then her expression changed to a more serious one since they were in a rather bad situation right now. "This is Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, I'm grateful that you're alright but what happened?"

"Ensign Badgiruel, why are you…"

"The ship's alright, however all other high ranking officers including the Captain assigned to this vessel perished when the explosions went off" explained Natarle, much to Murrue's dismay at hearing that the ship's original captain had been killed at the start of this attack. "Only a dozen of us were left, mostly non-commissioned officers, fortunately Crewman Neumann and I were inside the shaft and managed to survive."

The brown-haired woman was at an even more devastated state the moment she learned of this dreadful event. "The captain is… No, it can't be!" she spoke, though there was time to remorse later since with approaching mobile suits headed here, the Strike would need one of the specially designed Striker Packs in order to better fend them off. "Kira, that's the newly constructed assault ship known as the Archangel, I've been assigned to it as part of the crew… please take me there!"

"Understood" began Kira, jetting off to the Archangel to get Murrue there since she was still injured from being shot by Athrun back at the factory district so she needed some help and as this was going on… the AGE-1 was just closing in on the area while hoping that they could at least be certain that the ship was friendly since it didn't perform any hostile actions right now

"Earth Alliance warship, this is the pilot of the AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1 Normal... I request permission to bring five refugees onboard, one of them had been injured during the attack!" he hailed the warship known as the Archangel in hopes of getting permission to bring Flay, Romary, Jessica, Misha and Vargas onto the ship so he can fight the enemy while continuing to avoid bullet fire from the GINNs that were after him.

Needless to say, Heliopolis shook violently as the Outer colony wall had been damaged which was a sign that it was an attack from either ZAFT or the Vagans so either way, they needed to be better prepared to combat the enemy as the hazard level has increased to 9, there would be no way to get the nine civilians that were still in the area into shelters as Asemu and Vargas had feared…. While everyone could understand why the Vagans want to destroy the colony, the commander of the ZAFT forces was another story since this is supposed to be Neutral territory.

It wasn't till long before additional enemy mobile suits were detected entering the colony via the dome hole in the outer wall. "Ensign Badgirule!" came Murrue's voice from within the mobile suit hanger, alerting everyone in the bridge.

"The most experienced officer here is you, Lieutenant Ramius" said Natarle, knowing that with the intended captain of the Archangel dead then it would mean that Murrue is next in command of the newly constructed vessel and at the same time, wondered about the mobile suit that had just hailed them as from the view screen on the bridge it looked as if it was the infamous AGE-1 piloted by Commander Flit Asuno himself yet the voice didn't sound like him at all. "I'd thought I might act as your proxy from now on."

"Me?!" exclaimed Murrue, shocked that she was now the captain of the Archangel but decided not to argue with it and after having heard the approaching pilot informing them of civilians that he has under his care then they shouldn't leave them to die in the ensuring battle. "In that case… Archangel, be prepared for level one battle stations and be ready to open fire the moment the enemy arrives!"

She then turned her attention towards the Strike which needed to be sent back out into battle as soon as possible…. Odds are they were going to have one hell of a battle to endure. "Kira, make sure you equip the Sword Striker Pack onboard the ship when you get a chance!" she informed the civilian operating the remaining Gundam that they had in their possession.

"Hold up, please!" Kira quickly spoke up as he was getting ready to head back out there and from the way things are going, it might not be wise to leave his friends behind. "At this rate, Heliopolis is going to end up in ruins!"

"I know!" responded Murrue while leaning against the wall of the hanger itself and wincing at the pain her shoulder was still feeling, but there wasn't anything more they could do since they needed to act right here and then. "But what are we supposed to do about it?!"

"I understand… still at the very least, please take my friend in!" said Kira, if he was going to head out into battle again then he needed to be certain the others were in a safe place on the Archangel. "The hazard level is now at 9, so they can't enter the shelters anymore!"

Murrue didn't say a word and with the additional civilians that were still out there without any sort of protection… she had no choice but to comply. "Very well then…" she once again made contact with the bridge. "Ensign Badgirule, there are some children and civilians who were unable to get to the shelters. Please accommodate them along with the ones the approaching pilot has with him."

"Captain, are you sure? This ship is…"

Natarle didn't get to finish her sentence as Murrue interrupted, giving her an immediate order. "Do it!" she yelled, making the raven-haired woman in the bridge give a small sigh, having nearly forgotten how stubborn her fellow EA officer can be at times. "Well take off as soon as they're onboard!"

"Understood…" Natarle's voice replied, having no authority against the new captain and opened the port-side hatch so to allow not only the AGE-1 on board but Kira's friends as well and had the Archangel target the two GINNs attacking Asemu's machine with the Gottfrieds while at the same time, informing the young Asuno via a message to be careful not to be in the ship's line of fire which he silently complied by performing a 360 barrel roll moments before the two powerful beam cannons fired at the GINNs, forcing them to move out of the way to avoid being obliterated though at least it kept them off Asemu's back long enough to land onto the EA vessel's hanger.

From the sky, a single ZGMF-515 CGUE accompanied by a squadron of GINNs equipped with weapons normally designed to take out heavy bases took notice to the white warship that had landed on the ground. "A new warship? The Team failed to destroy it?" began the pilot, who was none other than the masked commander Rau Le Creuset himself. "If this is the case and if the remaining unit was able to take out Miguel's GINN then we cannot allow either of them to leave the colony."

Having the machine gun armed in the CGUE's right hand and the gatling shield in its left hand, Rau won't want to take any chances with the enemy ship or whatever was taking out his GINNs. "Take out that newly constructed Earth Forces warship, don't underestimate them!" It was then that he sensed something was amiss and at the same time, it felt familiar too. "I see… there seems to be a rather annoying fly buzzing around here too."

The moment he said that, he saw an orange mobile armor coming down at him and all four wired gunbarrels activated before firing down upon the CGUE though his Coordinator reflexes managed to save him from being torn apart, he immediately recognized the attacking armor. "You've always seem to be getting in my way Mu La Flaga though I can imagine you feel the same way about me!" He said, now he was certain that the pilot that attacked him was his nemesis and rival in this war.

Inside the cockpit of the orange mobile armor known as the TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero, Mu La Flaga mentally cursed as the battle was starting to take a turn for the worse with both his fellow Moebius pilots Luke and Gale had perished in the conflict while the ship he was assigned to was shot down and destroyed, leaving him as the only survivor. "Bastard, is that you Rau Le Creuset?" he asked, realizing that Rau is the one who began the attack on Heliopolis and he was shocked the moment he saw the Archangel, wondering what it is.

While this was going on, the GINNs began approaching the Archangel but the good news is, the AGE-1's shield and DODS Rifle were already onboard so Asemu only needed the armaments themselves since it was just GINNs and a CGUE they were up against while the Strike was being equipped with the Sword Striker after being connected to the Starboard Catapult. "The Sword Striker… it's equipped with a blade?" wondered Kira, he had to have the PS Armor off in order to get the Striker Pack equipped though at least it replenished the Strike's battery life yet his curiosity was on the AGE-1 since he wasn't aware of who the pilot was and vice-versa in the case of the Strike. "Everyone should be accommodated by now, still what is that other machine? Still, why am I doing this?

Both machines were given the final preparations before being allowed to launch into the battlefield from the respective catapults, especially as that lone Moebius Zero might end up ganged up on and destroyed if they didn't do anything about it. "Asemu Asuno, Gundam AGE-1 taking off!"

"Kira Yamato, Strike Gundam… launching!"

To Be Continued….

A/Ns: Here is the beginning of my Super Robot Wars again, I felt that the chapters could be done better and now that I have graduated from college I will have some time to work on my fics again while I look for a job. I would once again like to thank Lily Nadesico, a fellow mecha fan and author of her own Super Robot Wars story, for not only becoming my co-writer but for inspiring me to write this story as she recently decided to rewrite her Super Robot Wars S fic and the first chapter of the new version is already up, with chapter 2 being in the works as we speak.

Also I am saying that now that I fixed up my chapters a bit, I will do my best in working on chapter 3 in order to get my saga back on track so I haven't given up on the story completely. I just been busy with real life stuff that needed to be dealt with and for that, I apologize.