Pilot Episode

Author's Note: This isn't too different from what I posted before, so if you read this when it was originally posted about a year ago I apologize. I'm trying to gauge interest for the story before I actually start plotting. If you want me to continue, just read all the way through the first three parts.

Part 1

"Hey Bastard, I bet I can beat you to Heliopolis," Naruto said. The space colony was represented as a tiny dot on the monitor of his mobile suit, with an indicator above it citing a bunch of its stats. It was a military base hidden in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that housed around thirty thousand enemy soldiers, and dozens of scientists conducting cutting edge research. They were here to sabotage the work of Tsunade Senju, who was building some kind of super weapon for the space colonies. Why she did this Naruto didn't know, nor did he care. She probably believed in eugenics, and thought that the Naturals, naturally born humans that resided on earth, were inferior to the Coordinators, superhumans with genetically designed genomes that came from space. So yeah, Naruto wasn't gonna lose much sleep over destroying some space nazi's life work.

"Idiot," Sasuke said through the communication line. "We don't want to go charging in. This is a stealth mission. Besides, it's not like a loser like you could ever beat me."

Naruto growled. It was a lame comeback, but stung because it was kind of true. Sasuke had a knack for finding the solar winds and riding them to victory. Naruto wasn't on Sasuke's level, not yet, and he never would be if he stopped trying. Naruto flipped the switch for overdrive, rotated his suit, and shot exhaust blasters out of his feet. His ship, Gundam 04 codenamed Kurama, accelerated rapidly, but he'd lined up the track to Heliopolis perfectly, and the g-forces attacked him from head-to-foot rather than chest-to-back or shoulder-to-shoulder. Easy. He switched to his rear camera, and saw that Shikamaru and Shino lagged behind, in Gundam 05 codenamed Shadow and Gundam 06 codenamed Bug. But where was Sasuke?

A red, white, and blue Gundam with metallic angel wings flew past him. Sasuke's Gundam: The Strike. Naruto growled and glanced at the controls. At three switches right next to one another. He'd already pulled one, but he'd need the other two for the upcoming battle. It would be foolish and irresponsible to waste precious fuel on a juvenile race with a friendly riv- Sasuke's smug handsome mug flashed in Naruto's mind- but no matter how tempting it would be to knock the arrogant ace down a couple pegs Naruto would not endanger the mission on a petty rival-... Well it appeared he'd accidently pressed the switch. Oh well. Gundam 04 rocketed forward, but he still found himself eating The Strike's exhaust until Sasuke disappeared into a cloud of metal asteroids. Naruto switched to a 2-D view, viewing the many asteroids as moving dots on a map. He carefully darted through them, trying to take the quickest route to Heliopolis. This wasn't a videogame though, where a stray rock would bounce off your suit. Any debris that so much as nicked his Gundam would do tremendous damage to his shields. They were always useless against a direct hit, but could normally redirect two glancing blows before shutting down. He'd wasted about a third of his ship's energy when he'd used the boosters to keep pace with Sasuke, so his shields only had enough energy for a single deflection. If they went down he'd have to return to White Base for repairs, and explain to old man Fugaku why he'd come back before their mission had even begun. No, it was better to be careful. Slowly but surely, Heliopolis transformed from a speck to a… a… It looked kind of like an electric beater, the kind you mixed dough with. Only bigger, and with trees and buildings on it. And maybe… Naruto squinted. Could he actually see the Coordinators roaming on the streets below?

"Took you long enough, Idiot," Sasuke said through the communication line. Naruto glanced around, but couldn't find The Strike. Just a bunch of big floating lumps of space granite. "Above you deadlast."

Ahh. There he was. With Shikamaru's black suit, and Shino's camouflaged suit. Naruto hung his head as he joined the rest of his team. "You're still nothing compared to Itachi."

"What did you say?" Sasuke asked, his rage transparent through the communication line.

"I'm saying that if Itachi-"

"Shino," Shikamaru interrupted. "Have your drones found any holes in Heliopolis'es security yet?"

"..." said Shino. His mobile suit shook his head.

Naruto noticed a flashing light, indicating a call from a private communication line. He accepted.

"Why'd you have to go and bring up Itachi?" Shikamaru complained. Naruto thought he heard some scratching noises through the line. "You know how Sasuke gets. Now he's gonna act like a total psycho. Damn, this mission's gonna be a real pain!"

Naruto sighed. "I know, I know. It's just… All the girls think he's the greatest thing since instant ramen, and all the commanders act like he's the best pilot since Hiashi Hyuga. He's even got a loving father dammit! I'd give anything to have what he's got, and he treats it like it's garbage."

"I don't know if I'd call Fugaku loving," Shikamaru said, and Naruto heard something scratching. "But I get it, he's a jerk. He irritates me too, but we need him, Naruto. We need him at his best."

"No we don't," Naruto said. "If he weren't here I could be the ace."

"Right. Sure," Shikamaru sighed. "Just don't bring up Itachi again okay? And Naruto, one more thing."

"What?" Naruto asked flatly.

"What were the contributing factors that started The Great Solar War? I know you love this kind of stuff, and I can't get any reception here."

Naruto frowned. "You're doing your History homework now?"

"I told my mother I'd get it done before I left for the mission," Shikamaru said miserably. "But I was tired so I took a nap in the holo room instead. I didn't have a choice! They finally reinstalled meadow hill on a cloudy day! You know how long I've been waiting for that one to come back!"

It was Shikamaru's favorite thing to complain about: No clouds in the holo room. He'd even written a strongly worded email to the old man about it. A lot of people thought that Shika was just a lazy good-for-nothing who didn't care about anything, but they didn't know of his passion for clouds and slacking off.

Someday, Naruto wanted to be the pilot to end the war, and finally see the old man happy. Someday, Sasuke wanted to surpass his older brother and make his father proud. If Naruto didn't know any better, he'd think that someday Shikamaru wanted to grow up and be a cloud.

"It all started with President Minato Namikaze of the Forest Colony in Mars," Naruto said. Everyone always said he looked just like the tyrant. Shikamaru and Shino told him that the reason he'd never been adopted was because of the resemblance. It wasn't cuz there was something horribly wrong with him. They had both told him that separately, as they were taken from the orphanage by their new parents. Someday Naruto would find a couple who would see past his appearance and take him in as their own. But well… Naruto still had the old man, he didn't need any paren- fuck Minato Namikaze! Fuck him, fuck him, fuck him!

"He killed millions of Naturals. He put them in camps, and gassed them like animals! He was a real freak, but eventually we- this is for a report right?"

"Yeah," said Shikamaru.

"Alright, we meaning The Trade Federation and The Union of Free Citizens, the two most powerful countries on earth, found peace. President Sarutobi and Commander Danzou agreed that we needed to do something big, to stop Namikaze. So we nuked 'em." Naruto shook his head. It had been a horrible thing to do, but it had been the best option they'd had. The Forest Colony had been pure evil back then. "A lot of civilians died, but at least we got President Namikaze and stopped the genocide. But the other space colonies, they didn't like what we'd done. They didn't care that he'd been killing Naturals," Naruto scowled. Coordinators didn't age like Naturals, and didn't put any value on the death of someone who would have inevitably died of old age anyways. "The genocide didn't matter to them. They thought the nuclear strike was unprovoked. So they attacked earth with PLANTS. Machines that made fission impossible. They said it was to neutralize the threat of nuclear weaponry, but… Billions died of hunger." Naruto had been a toddler then. He remembered dark nights, cold days, worried whispers, and empty stomachs. They'd eaten rats, then pigeons, then minnows, and in the winter sometimes nothing at all. He'd gotten weak and skinny, but so had everyone else. He'd had it easy. The old man was rich, and had spoiled them all. He'd heard of families that had eaten their clothes, their pets, and then each other. "We had no choice. The fuckin' Coordinators wanted us all dead! We had to defend-"

"You're a Coordinator Naruto," Shikamaru said, his voice heavy with concern. "So am I. So are Shino and Sasuke."

"I know that," Naruto said, and he did. He needed to be more understanding if he wanted the war to end. "After the PLANTS, earth declared war on the Sound Colony on the Moon, and the Martian colonies Sand and Forest. The colonies of Jupiter: Wind and Rain are neutral, or at least that's what we thought until-"

"No," Shino yelled through the open line. "All our work!" Shino's camouflaged suit dashed out of cover, straight at Heliopolis. It was the kind of move Naruto normally pulled. "Don't worry, I'm coming!"

"Wait," Shikamaru cried. "It's just a drone. You'll blow our- Damn it Naruto."

Naruto had followed Shino. Sneaking around was a bullshit tactic anyways. That's why he'd painted Kurama bright orange. "No use keeping our cover now!"

A charged beam cannon flew past him and hit the colony. There was no sound in space, but Naruto could still see the impact. The translucent metal got red hot, melted, and the container ruptured. Air blew out of the colony, making the ruptured hole even larger, and sent a few transparent metal bits of shrapnel kareeming towards them. Naruto let out three of his gun bits, remote control cannons that flew and acted separately from the rest of his Gundam, and lazily blasted 'em.

Sasuke holstered his beam cannon, and equipped The Strike's lightsaber. There was some technical name for it, but it was a freakin' laser sword, so what else could it be but a lightsaber? Naruto wanted a lightsaber. All he got were nine gun bits and nine remote shields. Sasuke was lucky the old man was his daddy, because it meant he got all the best toys.

"You too Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked.

"The Idiot's correct," Sasuke said. "Our cover's blown. Gotta attack now."

Shikamaru sighed, and joined the other three Gundams, as they blasted their way into the colony. There was no gunfire or anything, just a bunch of gawking soldiers dressed in civilian clothes. The four of them landed in a tight formation on a grassy field. It was weird, the military base looked a lot more like a school than anything else. Maybe they'd landed in a training facility? Well it didn't matter, reinforcements would be coming quick.

A quick layout of Heliopolis appeared on Naruto's monitor. That was great, but they still had no idea where Tsunade's laboratory was.

"Shino, where's Tsunade's Lab?" Sasuke asked.

"..." Said Shino. His mobile suit shrugged and flew off. "My drone is in danger. I must save it."

"It was your duty to find the lab," Sasuke said through the line, though Naruto doubted Shino was listening. "You'd better find it, or my father will have your-"

"Get me to a computer," Shikamaru sighed. "One on campus, and I'll find it."

"Campus?" Naruto asked.

"Classified," Sasuke said. "You haven't earned the clearance for those mission details."

"We don't have time," Shikamaru said. "I'm going to one of the libraries to hack into their security systems and find Tsunade's Lab. Sasuke, once I've done that I'll send you its location. Your job will be to destroy it."

"Naruto," said Shikamaru. "I'm giving you remote access to my Gundam until I can get back into it. It'll be your job to stall enemy reinforcements. In the meantime I'm going to need you to create a distraction so I can get out of here without a bunch of students taking pictures and leaking my identity online."

Naruto nodded, and rotated his gun bits, firing energy blasts at the ground. Soldiers- no students- panicked as several tons of dust launched into the air in multiple concussive blasts. Good. Naruto kept on firing, riling them into a frenzy.

Shikamaru's skinny frame disappeared into the crowd of students, and Naruto recollected his gun bits. He navigated his menu, and confirmed that Shikamaru had given him access to his Gundam. Sweet.

Naruto put Shika's Shadow Gundam through a series of exercises and stretches. Once he had a good feel for how it moved, he reached for its famous shadow whip, and cracked it against the ground. It was useless in his hands, but Shikamaru could use it to take control of any enemy ship it came into contact with.

"Would you put that thing away," Sasuke snapped. "Anyone who has ever piloted a mobile suit is going to know it's empty now. Just sit and wait."

Naruto tried. But he quickly got bored. "Hey Sasuke, hey Sasuke. Don't you think that girl is kinda cute?"

"Which one?"

"The one with the pink hair and the big forehead," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. If Sasuke was a man he'd have instantly spotted the girl. Her forehead was so big, so large, he wanted to kiss it, and she was a real firecracker, throwing rocks at his Gundam and making obscene gestures with her hands. What an absolute dream girl.

"I don't see her," Sasuke said angrily. "It doesn't matter anyways. We're on a mission. You shouldn't be looking at girls."

"Hmm," Naruto said sagely. "Maybe when you're a little older you'll appreciate their beauty."

"Is it true that last year you dressed up as one? You braided your hair into pigtails, stuffed a bra, and put on a dress?"

"Of course it is," Naruto said proudly. "My time as Naruko taught me a lot about how a woman sees the world. You know that while I was Naruko I was totally asked out by three dudes? I'd make a kickass babe!"

Sasuke said nothing for a while. "You're such a fag- Head's up. Enemy reinforcements have arrived."

Dozens of Zakus, smaller mobile suits armed with a single rifle, poured through the hole Sasuke had blasted in Heliopolis'es sky. Most of the Zakus were gray and boring, typical mooks of the Forest Colony, but one in the back was green. It must've been the enemy ace. Naruto never got to fight the enemy ace. That was reserved for Sasuke. Everyone treated him like he was so great, but it was only because Naruto never got a chance to show what he could do. Well that ended now.

Naruto roared, and charged at the Zakus. They rained energy beams down on him, but Naruto made his shield bits dance around him, deflecting the blasts. Action got quick, and there was no time for full thoughts. Left-right-front center-weave-right-down-up-left-left-right. Suddenly he was through the wave of enemies, and staring face to face with the enemy ace. The Green Zaku held up an arm, and the rest of the Zakus crowded around but did not interfere. Common military etiquette. Naruto had finally earned himself an ace duel.

Alright, he spread out his gun bits and shield bits, and started to dance around the Green Zaku. It fired a few energy shots, but Naruto jittered away easily. Easy, easy. Now it was his turn. The gun bits fired, and the Zaku charged at Naruto taking several hits. Naruto smirked, it was only a matter of time till the Zaku's shields broke and then the battle was- Shit. The Zaku was in his grill, and it- when had it pulled out a knife? Fuck it, Naruto ducked, narrowly dodging the opponent's thrust, and used his boosters to retreat. Okay that had been too close, he really needed to foc- The Zaku threw the knife. It clanked against Kurama's chest, right against the cockpit, and Naruto's forehead slammed against the control dashboard...

He blinked a couple times... Heard ringing... In his ears… Where was… Where was he again?… Umm… What was that?... Alarms… Flashing lights… Shields down-

Oh-shit-he-was-in-the-middle-of-a-battle-he'd-taken-a-hit-and-now-his-shields-were-down-and-now-the-enemy-was-where-was-the-enemy-oh-there-it-was-it-had-caught-the-knife-apparently-and-now-it-was-about-to-thrust-it-into-the-cockpit-and-Naruto-didn't-have-time-to-stop-it-

He didn't have time to stop it. Here? Like this? This was how Naruto Shimura was going to die? So young, and with so many regrets? Why had he been so petty, so focused on what he didn't have? Why couldn't he have enjoyed it more? Why couldn't- The Green Zaku started its killing thrust.

The knife wasn't serrated, but its edge was coated in a vibrating energy. The blade was straight and crept closer and closer to Naruto's cockpit. The enemy's visor was dark and soulless, and he was stupid for looking at the head anyways. The pilot would be hidden in the Zaku's chest. Naruto had never cared to think much about the individuals inside the enemy ships, but now he wanted to look into the eyes of the man who killed him. Strange really, that it only occurred to him now that there were actually people inside-

The enemy's knife exploded as a beam of energy ripped through it. Sasuke holstered his beam cannon, drew his lightsaber, and flew up to meet the enemy ace. It was a breach of military etiquette, and the enemy Zaku's weren't pleased. They rained energy beams down on him. Naruto's shield bits raced down and deflected the blows. Sasuke flew through the enemy horde, and engaged with the Green Zaku that had gotten within a hair of disemboweling Naruto.

"Bastard, you know that it's forbidden to interrupt a duel," Naruto said over the line, engaging with several zakus.

"You were about to die, idiot," Sasuke said, parrying the ace's knife

"There are cameras all over the place." Naruto babbled. "You've ruined your reputation forever."

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted thoughtfully. He sliced off the ace's right hand. "Are you crying?"

"No." Naruto sniffed, and whispered, "Thanks Sasuke."

"Please don't make this-"

"I'm in," Shikamaru's voice rang through the communication line. "I was able to find the location of Tsunade's Laboratory. Sasuke, I'm forwarding it to you."

"Took you long enough Shikamaru. Idiot, let the ace follow. I'm not done with him," Sasuke said, and his Gundam dashed away, heading South with full boosters. The Green Zaku hurried after him, as did the rest of the horde. But Naruto cut them off.

"Your battle is with me," Naruto said, but of course they couldn't hear him through the heavy walls of their mobile suits. Nonetheless they appeared to have understood. They all shot at him in unison.