“WISPs…attack…” commanded the monotonous Rhapsody. The six pods charge towards the Prophecy and fired a barrage of lasers, forcing to Leon to release the FUNNELs.
“Shit! FUNNELs, form a shield!” Leon commanded. Each of the FUNNELs emitted a small beam shield and combined together to form a large barrier in front of the Prophecy. The WISPs’ initial onslaught was blocked, forcing Rhapsody to recall them. “Snap out of it, Rhap!”
Rhapsody ignored Leon and continued her attack. The X-15 revealed 2 large beam cannons on its backpack and fired them at Leon, who was barely able to escape the shots.
“I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Exterminate the enemy…”
“Goddamn, I have no choice.” Leon thought to himself as he fired the Prophecy’s chest beam cannon at the X-15.
“WISPs…reflect…” The 6 pods shot out of the X-15’s shoulder shields and opened up, each revealing a reflective mirror shield. Each WISP positioned itself and Leon watched in horror as the Prophecy’s laser bounced off each WISP and was reflected back at him. Leon quickly equipped the Prophecy’s anti-ship sword and blocked the laser, at the cost of the sword.
“Damn it…”
-------------------
Estelle’s Geist unleashed a barrage of bullets from its gatling cannons. “I hate all of you! You’re the reason why I suffered so much…why were you created?! You’re all just a burden on humanity’s well-being!”
“You Naturals were the ones who started it! We never would have fought if you weren’t so afraid of George Glenn and his abilities!” Vale replied.
“I’m sick of hearing that same damn argument!”
“That’s because you know I’m right! People like you sicken me. You know that you screwed up but you never want to blame yourself.”
“SHUT UP!!!” Estelle yelled as she fired a beam cannon blast at Vale.
“Accept it! All of you Naturals have dug your own graves because of your stubbornness!” Vale replied as he dodged Estelle’s blast and fired the Shrike’s backpack beam cannons. Estelle let out a smirk as she pressed a button on her linear seat. The smoke from the explosion of the beam cannons cleared, and Estelle’s Geist was revealed without a single scratch on it. Vale’s eyes widened with shock as soon as he noticed a large barrier surrounding the Geist.
“Do you like it? It’s an old defense system called “Armure Lumiere” from a mobile suit codenamed Hyperion. I didn’t think that such archaic technology would be useful, but I was proven wrong.”
“Tch, I’ve dealt with that thing before. The pilot was some psycho kid looking for Kira Yamato. I’ve learned that that defense system has a 5 minute time limit. Your mobile suit’ll be dead once those 5 minutes are up.”
“I love it when you underestimate me. Didn’t you think we knew about that flaw when we incorporated the system into the mobile suit? We very much gotten rid of that 5 minute drain because the Armure Lumiere is powered by a separate battery.”
“And you’re telling me this because?”
“You’re gonna die before my Armure Lumiere runs out of power!”
“Hmph, I’ll find a way to beat your damned defense!” Vale yelled as he fired shots from his Shrike’s beam rifle at Estelle, only to have the shots absorbed by the Armure Lumiere barrier.
“It’s useless, Coordinator! My Armure Lumiere is invincible!” Estelle replied.
“Hmm, maybe a physical attack might penetrate the shield.” Vale thought to himself as he fired his final round of missiles at the Geist. Each missile’s explosion combined and formed a large smoke cloud, leading Vale to believe that his attack penetrated the barrier. But much to his chagrin a beam cannon blast shot out of the smoke cloud and blasted off his Shrike’s left leg. “Never trust a smoke cloud. Goddamn it, seems like I don’t remember how my fight with the Hyperion went. I’m gonna have to think fast, or else I’m screwed.”
“Time to die!!!” Estelle yelled as she fired a barrage of bullets at Vale, who was struggling to dodge because of the imbalance caused by the missing left leg. “Try all you want! You will eventually succumb to my attacks!”
“Damn it!!!” Vale yelled as he blocked the bullets with the Shrike’s shield. Estelle equipped her Geist with the beam cannon and fired it at the shield, destroying it due to the immense pressure unleashed on it. The Shrike flew back a couple feet due to the recoil but was able to recover in time to dodge Estelle’s beam cannon blasts. “Shit, I’m running out of options.” Vale suddenly remembered that he had one more weapon at his disposal. “These bolt discharge cannons better work…” Vale quickly flew around sporadically in an attempt to confuse Estelle so he could land a clear shot on the Geist. He hid behind some debris, grabbed a destroyed Ghost’s head, and began flying back towards the Geist. Estelle fired off another beam cannon blast that Vale easily dodged, giving him the opening he needed. He threw the Ghost’s head directly at the area of the barrier that protected the Geist’s head, temporarily blocking its view. Vale immediately charged the bolt discharge cannons to full power and fired it at Estelle, shorting out the Armure Lumiere’s battery.
“What the hell kind of a weapon was that?!” Estelle yelled out in shock.
“A weapon that gave me the edge I needed!” Vale replied as he purged the external armor on the Shrike’s left arm and activated the heat claw. He quickly charged towards Estelle’s stunned Geist and stabbed the cockpit. Estelle yelled out in agony before her helmet cracked open. Vale ripped the claw out of the cockpit and watched as the Geist floated around lifelessly. “Maybe this wouldn’t have happened to you if your situation was different.” Vale leaned back in his seat and sighed as his Shrike floated around in space. “I seriously need a freakin’ nap once all this is over. I wonder what happened to Erica…” He thought to himself as he slowly closed his eyes.
“Vale! Thank God you’re alright.” said Erica. Vale awoke from his daze and saw the Aozora in the distance.
“What happened to you, Erica?”
“We had to take care of a group of Specters that were attacking us.”
“God…how inconvenient. Let’s just hurry up and find Leon.”
-------------------
“You’re not giving me much choice, Rhap.” said Leon.
“WISPs…attack…”
“Ah damn it, not again…I just have to remember to not use beam weapons while those things are deployed. FUNNELs, form a shield!”
Rhapsody recalled the WISPs since Leon’s barrier was nearly impenetrable. Leon prepared his katars while Rhapsody was focused on her WISPs and charged towards her. She quickly noticed his attack and equipped the X-15 with its beam tonfas and parried Leon’s katar attack. Leon charged at the X-15 again and fired the Prophecy’s head vulcans and missiles as a distraction, allowing him to land a strong kick on it. The X-15 flew backwards due to the recoil but quickly recovered and charged up the cannon on its torso.
“Hm…that thing’ll probably shoot a straightforward beam…all I have to do is dodge it once and counterattack quickly.” Leon thought to himself.
“Die…” said the monotonous Rhapsody as she fired the X-15’s torso cannon. Leon flew left to dodge the beam but to his dismay the giant laser scattered into 40 smaller lasers, leaving little room for escape.
“What the hell?!” Leon yelled as he attempted to dodge each laser. He was able to dodge the initial 20 lasers but they soon caught up to him and began pummeling the Prophecy. Warning signs and alarms blared as the armor began breaking apart from the extreme heat and pressure. “Being killed by the girl I love. Damn, someone up there must really hate me.”
“Leon!!!” Vale yelled as he quickly flew to the Prophecy.
“I take that back. Someone up there has decided to have mercy on me. Hallelujah.”
“You alright?”
“I’ve been better.”
“Need help destroying that thing?”
“No…don’t destroy it. Rhap’s in it.”
“What?!”
“Long story, I’ll tell you later. Right now we just have to find a way to disable that thing without hurting Rhap.”
“Kinda impossible, don’t you think?”
“Damn it, use that brain of yours! Your Shrike has those bolt discharge cannons, remember?”
“Well yeah, but these things are sluggish. How do you expect me to land a hit on a mobile suit that is probably 3 times faster than mine? And I think that these things will still hurt her, even though they were designed to fry the onboard computer.”
“Have a little faith. Just fire ‘em when I tell you to.”
The Prophecy charged towards the X-15, which was firing rapid beam rifle shots at it. Leon didn’t care about dodging the shots; he just wanted to reach the X-15. Chunks of armor flew of the Prophecy as it was being pummeled by beam rifle shots, but Leon still charged towards it. Finally, he was able fly behind it and grab it in a submission hold. The X-15 struggled to break free by punching the Prophecy but was unable to escape.
“Hurry up and fire the damn things!” Leon yelled.
“Couldn’t you have thought of a better plan?!” Vale replied.
“Just do it! You have to knock the both of us out!”
“Don’t come crying to me when you end up in the medical bay!” Vale yelled as he fired a fully charged bolt blast at the Prophecy and X-15. Both Leon and Rhapsody yelled out in pain before blacking out. The Prophecy and the X-15 floated around space lifelessly until they were towed into the Aozora by Vale’s Shrike.
-------------------
Leon awoke and found himself on the balcony of his and Rhapsody’s home in Orb. He looked into the sky blankly until he heard a voice from behind him.
“You idiot…”
“Hm?”
“You didn’t have to do something so extreme.”
“You know that I’d jump over any mountain for you.”
“Sigh, you’re such an idiot. But that’s why I love you. I’ve been waiting for so long for you to come and get me. Thanks for saving me.”
“No problem. It’s just so good to hear your voice again, Rhap. It’s like a dream. Oh wait…it is a dream.”
The real Leon awoke from his dream and discovered that he was inside the medical bay.
“I hate my dreams…they always taunt me.” said a groggy Leon as he yawned and rubbed his left eye. He looked over at the bed next to him and saw Rhapsody sleeping peacefully.
“You know it wasn’t easy…extracting this device from her head. It was probably the cause of her weird behavior. We don’t know how much it has affected her or when she’ll wake up, but rest assured that she’ll be fine.” said Erica.
“Thank God…”
“Now get some rest, you crazy idiot.”
Leon walked over to Rhapsody and held her hand as he sat near her bedside. “I’m glad that you’re okay…and I’m sorry that this happened to you. I just want this nightmare to end soon, so we can get back to the life we cherished so much.” Leon said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Rhapsody woke up and saw that Leon was holding her hand. She held his hand tightly as she laid back in her bed.
“Thank you, Leon. You’ve repaired my broken wings so I could come back flying to you…”
-------------------
As soon as Fahren and his heavily damaged Geist landed inside the lunar base hangar, a lone soldier told him to go to Leison, the current commander of the lunar base.
“What do you want, Leison?” Fahren asked angrily.
“I’m sick of your screw-ups Fahren. You told me that Atlas was gone and that Sieghart was dead. You also let Landon and Vale escape…now the latter is attacking us with the intent of revenge. And also because of your screw-ups Landon was found dead and one of the prototypes you brought is being used against us. Do you have any idea how much trouble your mistakes are causing us?!” Leison replied.
“Hmph. Freakin’ old windbag…” Fahren muttered under his breath.
“The X-16 is complete, so you better not mess up this time.”
“Oh really, the X-16 is complete? Then I longer have a use for you…” Fahren replied as he pulled out a silenced handgun from his uniform and fired it at Leison’s arm.
“F…Fahren…what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you think? I’m finally disposing of you. It disgusted me…working alongside you stinkin’ Naturals. But I had to use you for my grand scheme.”
“Y…you’re a Coordinator, aren’t you?!”
“If you weren’t so stupid you would’ve known that when we first met!” Fahren retorted as he shot Leison in the head, instantly killing him. Fahren walked over to the desk and activated the incom system, addressing everyone inside the lunar base. “This is Commander Fahren Arcadia. I need everyone including mechanics, soldiers, pilots, engineers, etc. to go to room 358B for an emergency meeting.” As soon as Fahren finished his announcement he walked over to the hangar where the X-16 was stored.
-------------------
“Where the hell is Fahren? He’s the one that called this freakin’ meeting, he should be here!” yelled a soldier.
“Attention, everyone. You have all served your purpose and I thank you for your help. But, so long. This world has no use for Naturals.” said Fahren on the loudspeaker.
“What’s he talking about?” a soldier asked.
“Oh…my…God…” said another soldier as he pointed out the window. The X-16 flew out of the hangar and hovered over room 358B.
Fahren let out a chuckle before he commanded the DRAGOONs to destroy the room. “See you in hell! DRAGOONs, kill them all!” 12 wing-like pods launched from the X-16’s shoulders and backpack and fired an onslaught of lasers onto the room, killing each and every Natural inside of it. Fahren now had complete control over all of the AI units, the lunar base, and the X-16. “You’ll be my tool for saving all of the Coordinators…my beloved Elegy!”
