Gundam Warblade

Disclaimer: It's been a while since I updated this, so here goes: 
Ranma and Gundam Wing are not mine so don't bother suing me.

< >: Thoughts

Chapter 5
And Now the Gundam Thunderhawk

A month after the destruction of the Victoria Base

"There. That is all that I will teach you." Ranma stated as Wufei 
glowed with a bright red hue. The pilot of the Sheng Long was 
holding out his hands as if he had a ball between them A small dot 
of chi was flickering between the palms. 

"What? Is that it?" The Chinese boy turned to face his fellow 
Gundam pilot. His aura faded away as he glared at Ranma.

Ranma nodded. "What I've shown you were the basic foundations in 
which to harness your chi. I believe that you can develop the rest on 
your own. Besides, chi can manifest itself into many forms and is 
unique to each person. You should learn what best works for you, 
not try to copy another."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You see, I seem to remember something about trying to 
duplicate how a person projected his own chi, but it didn't work for 
me as well."

"What was it?" Wufei asked.

"I don't remember much, but it had something to do with being 
depressed, I think. I found that I couldn't get depressed enough, so I 
decided to try some other feeling and it worked."

"Like confidence?" The Chinese boy asked. "Is that the reason why 
your aura is different from mine?"

The pilot of the Warblade nodded. "You catch on quick. And from 
what I've seen, you seem to be using anger to project your chi, hence 
the red color. In any case, I think that it's time that we both get back 
to our missions to destroy OZ, don't you think?"

Wufei nodded as he held out a hand. "I thank you for all that 
you've shown me."

Ranma nodded as he took the hand and shook it. "It's nothing. 
Don't think that you owe me for anything. Think of it as a 
professional courtesy. From one warrior to another."

Sometime later

Ranma looked up at the sky as the Gundam Sheng Long departed 
from the hanger with thrusters blazing. He then turned back to his 
own Gundam and stared at it for a long while.

<Hmmm, even though I have been able to increase my own chi 
potential while training with Wufei, it's still not enough. I've been 
using my feelings of confidence as a medium to project my chi and 
that does drain me. I can't maintain fighting in my Gundam for very 
long. I may have to find a better way to harness and channel my chi, 
but how? >

Ranma had very little memories other than his training with Sensei 
X, the genius that had built the Warblade. He had no ideas how he 
was able to perform superhuman feats in the martial arts. He even 
knew the names of the special moves and how to train in them, yet 
he had no idea whatsoever as to how he came to learn them. When 
he slept, he would have vague and blurry images of some other 
place and time, but he could never make them out. It was at this 
moment that he heard an old and feminine voice in his head.

<Using your emotions to project your chi can be very draining and 
often unreliable. >

Ranma cocked his head in confusion. Where did THAT thought 
come from? He shook his head, then considered what that mystery 
voice had said. He decided that the unknown suggestion may have 
merit and attempted an experiment. Taking the proper stance, he 
started focusing on his feelings of confidence. A bright blue aura 
appeared about him. The martial artist and Gundam pilot then 
began to clear his mind of all emotions, while still concentrating on 
maintaining his aura. Slowly, but surely, the blue aura began to 
become paler in color, yet still glowed with the same brightness. 
Then, it happened.

Ranma felt the strain of maintain his chi lessen, yet he still felt 
more power building within him. He clenched his eyes shut and 
meditated more fluidly, going with the flow of power, rather than 
forcing it to the surface. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his 
chi was now a soft white, and that it was pulsating like a living 
thing. He raised an arm with palm spread out and aimed it at a 
mound of scrap metal that he had intended to recycle for later. He 
then willed a blast without using any emotion, other than the desire 
to do so.

A huge blast of chi launched itself in a massive beam, totally 
obliterating the pile into confetti. The recoil of the shot sent Ranma 
hurtling backward a dozen feet and made him land on his rear with 
a painful impact. His white aura suddenly dispersed with the sudden 
loss of concentration and Ranma found himself staring at the crater 
he had just created.

The Warblade's pilot was shocked to see that with just a simple 
gesture, he had pumped out more power than his most powerful 
confidence-fueled projectile. He looked down at his hands and 
wondered. He had not felt the same mental strain as before and even 
now, his body felt ready to project another one of those emotionless-
driven projectiles.

Ranma smiled as he realized what he had done. He had not used his 
feelings of confidence, but rather manipulated his chi in its purest 
state. The result was far more powerful. It was then that he 
considered other things. If he could actually be able to harness chi 
more efficiently without using any emotions, then that would mean 
that he would be able to pilot his Gundam without feeling mentally 
fatigued or emotionally drained. That was the main cause of 
Ranma's inability to fight a sustained battle. It wasn't so much of 
depleting his personal stores of chi. Sensei X had said that he had a 
phenomenal amount of the inner energy and his body was 
constantly replenishing it. (Ranma did not know that it was due to 
his fight with Saffron, which forced his body to generate more chi) 
It was just that using his emotions to project that energy was quite a 
strain and much of that energy was wasted as it was diffused by his 
emotions.

Had he just stumbled across a method to project his chi at near 
100% efficiency? That casual blast was proof that chi did not need 
emotion to be harnessed. Was it chi in its most pure state; a kind of 
RAW chi? 

If that was the case, then could it also be absorbed from the 
environment as well? Ranma had often wondered about the chi of 
nature. Could it be possible to access that potential as well? If it 
was, then his problems with long battles may be solved.

The Gundam pilot nodded as he decided that he needed to try this 
out with the Gundam Warblade. He had much to think about and 
experiment with in the next few weeks.

Over the next few weeks

The Gundams continued to wreak havoc on OZ bases and facilities, 
as Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Duo and Wufei use their mecha and 
personal skills to make things a living hell for the soldiers of Treize 
Khushrenada and Zech Marquis. During this time, Ranma perfected 
his new techniques of utilizing raw chi and also hit OZ where it 
hurts. However, as the Gundams chalk up victory after victory, OZ 
and the Romefellor Foundation begin their own plans of military 
expansion, with the creation of unmanned suit called Mobile Dolls 
and the planned assassinations of certain members of the space 
colonies, including Relena's father.

Operation Daybreak

"No! Father, you CAN'T DIE!" Relena screamed at her parent as he 
lay gravely wounded in the ambulance. Her tears began soaking the 
front of her father's shirt.

"Relena" The dying man groaned as he felt his life slipping away. 
"There is something I must tell you I am not your real father 
and your true name is not Relena Darlian, but Relena Peacecraft of 
the Sanq Kingdom

The treachery of OZ and their leaders is compounded even more as 
the peace-minded leaders of the Alliance are also slated for 
elimination.

"Look up there! An OZ shuttle!" Quatre said as he and the other 
Gundams stood amid the battlefield of the base where the Alliance 
generals were holding a meeting. As they saw the shuttle with the 
OZ name on it, Heero immediately assumed that the leaders of OZ 
are aboard, not knowing that the generals on the shuttle were 
actually suing for peace with the colonies.

Gundam 01 streaked up toward the shuttle in its bird-form as the 
others watched. Ranma, in the Gundam Warblade, began to feel 
uneasy as he saw Heero's Gundam transform with its beam saber 
held at the ready. Then something within him became cold as he 
realized that his fellow Gundam pilot was about to make a huge 
mistake.

"WAIT!"

However, Heero's devotion to completing the mission would not be 
stopped. With a single swipe of his weapon, the shuttle was sent 
crashing down toward the ground as a flaming wreckage as Heero 
Yuy smiled.

"Mission, completed."

Later on in Siberia

After the tragic deaths of the peace-minded members of the OZ 
Corporation, the Gundams were lured to the area on a trap set by 
Lady Une. Ranma was like an unstoppable demon as he piloted his 
Gundam toward the battle that was taking place between Heero and 
Zech Marquis. As he had grown even more proficient in 
manipulating raw chi, he was now able to hold his own against the 
hordes of LEO mobile suits for prolonged periods of time. The other 
Gundams were racking up kills by the score, but the Gundam 
Warblade was destroying enemy units faster than they could be sent 
out to the battle. Though the Gundams were superior fighting 
machines, the odds were stacked against them.

Ranma made his Gundam do a superb tuck and roll, evading a 
barrage of laserfire from a trio of LEO suits. He brought up one of 
his Chi Cannon Blades and fired. Unlike before, the beam that was 
released was not blue but pure white. The enemy Mobile Suits were 
literally reduced to smoking ruins as the beam ripped through them. 
The pilot within the Warblade smiled, as he felt no strain from 
releasing such a powerful attack. Since he and Wufei had parted 
ways, Ranma had put himself into some very intense training, both 
inside and outside of his mecha. Using his new technique of 
harnessing raw chi, Ranma no longer felt any mental or emotional 
exertion and he was now operating at peak efficiency. He had also 
updated the Chi Power System and the Warblade was handling the 
new output beautifully. Ranma found that he could indeed absorb 
chi from the environment, which helped him, conserve his own 
personal stores of chi. He felt that nothing could stop him now as he 
fought side-by-side with the other Gundams.

The Heavy Arms was laying down tremendous amounts of 
firepower and shredding OZ mobile suits to pieces. The Sandrock 
was cutting into its opponents with its heat shortels, like hot knives 
going through butter. The enemy units were systematically 
destroyed by an unseen adversary as the Deathscythe used its hyper-
jammers to sneak up on them and then cut them in half with its 
beam weapon. Wufei was ecstatic as his Sheng Long extended its 
Dragon Fang and crushed the head of a LEO suit. He was also 
glowing with a battle aura as he focused his anger and rage to 
power his movements, making movements so fast that his 
Gundam's controls could barely keep up.

Ranma looked at the Sheng Long and shook his head. He could 
sense the chi of the pilot within. It seemed that Wufei had indeed 
learned to harness and manipulate his chi, but at the rate he was 
going, he would soon burn himself out. The Warblade then began 
moving to where the Tallgeese was slugging it out with Gundam 
01. If that battle could be ended and the leader of this conflict was 
neutralized, then the operation could be successfully completed. 
Ranma's Chi Cannon Blades began to power up. Behind him, the 
Gundam Heavy Arms also ran toward the battle site.

It was then that his Gundam's communications systems activated 
and an image of Lady Une appeared on the screens. All fighting 
ceased as the woman began demanding that the Gundams 
surrender. Ranma was about to say something very impolite about 
what he thought of her demands when the images began displaying 
the home colonies of the Gundam Pilots. Lady Une then repeated 
her demands and stated that the colonies would be destroyed if they 
did not surrender.

<NO! Damn it! THOSE MONSTERS! > Ranma slammed a fist on 
his console. The battlefield became still as the others considered 
their options. On the site where the Tallgeese faced off against 
Heero's Gundam, the tension mounted. Behind Gundam 01, the 
Heavy Arms and the Warblade stood with weapons lowered.

It was then that Ranma's screens depicted a funny-looking old man 
with goggles.

"All right." The man, whose name was Doctor J, replied. "It seems 
we have no choice. We surrender."

The screen then depicted another old man with a headband with a 
rising sun emblem on it. Ranma instantly recognized the person.

"SENSEI X!"

Lady Une smiled as she then said in her communicator console. 
"Order the pilots to abandon their Gundams, NOW!"

Doctor J huffed while giving Une a haughty look. "I said that WE 
surrender, not the Gundams. We will not surrender the Gundams! I 
repeat, we will not surrender the Gundams!"

Sensei X also agreed with his colleague. "I agree, we WILL NOT 
SURENDER the Gundams!"

Ranma saw a blinking light on his console and recognized it as 
the SIGNAL. He pressed a button that caused the front hatch of the 
Warblade to open up. At the same time, Heero also exited his 
Gundam and stood before a surprised Zech Marquis.

"What?! They're only kids!" The Lightning Count gasped as he saw 
Heero and Ranma stand before him. THESE were the pilots of the 
most powerful Mobile Suits ever created?

Ranma held up the special switch in front of him as Heero did 
likewise. In a cold and emotionless tone, the pilot of Gundam 01 
said, "Mission accepted."

He pressed the button and Wing Gundam was enveloped in a bright 
light as the self-detonation device blew the machine to pieces. Heero 
was thrown clear of the blast and hit the ground hard before rolling 
to a stop. His body became deathly still as blood began to pool 
around his head.

Zech couldn't believe that someone would so willingly self-detonate. 
He then looked to the Warblade and saw the look of determination 
in Ranma's eyes.

Ranma nodded as he glowed with chi and said, "Seppuku pledge 
fulfilled." He then sent chi into the self-detonation switch to explode 
his Gundam. Sensei X had designed the Warblade's self-detonation 
device to be activated by Ranma's own chi energies and had 
nicknamed it the Seppuku Pledge. The results were just as 
devastating as the Warblade shuddered for a moment, before it too 
was consumed in a fairly large explosion. Ranma was also thrown 
off by the blast and landed near Heero's body and became still as 
well.

The other Gundam pilots were in a state of shock, as well as the OZ 
troops and Lady Une. It was then that she received a call from 
Treize by a smug Lucrezia Noin. Treize had just told her that Lady 
Une should have handled the situation with more grace.

As the Gundams began to withdraw, Trowa urged the Heavy Arms 
to pick up the battered bodies of both Heero and Ranma. Both 
warriors were still in shock as their lifeblood continued to flow 
away. 

A few days after OZ had threatened the colonies

Deep within the recesses of colony L7, a new weapon was being 
made ready for its journey to Earth. Its pilot, a young girl of barely 
sixteen years of age, nodded to the creator of the new Gundam as 
she received her final instructions.

"Remember Ceilia, your main targets will be OZ facilities and 
bases. I shall be feeding you specific information on which targets 
to attack when you arrive on Earth. Bring glory and honor to the 
Native Peoples Republic."

"Yes, grandmother." Celia Whitestar replied.

"Do not call me that." The aged woman said as she wagged a finger 
at her. "As of now, you shall refer to me as Chieftess V. Is that 
clear?"

"Yes, grand. I mean, Chieftess V. " The girl nodded as she gave 
the elder of her tribe a salute. The Gundam pilot was an athletic girl 
with long black hair tied in twin, lush tails, which were drawn over 
her shoulders. She was part Sioux on her mother's side and had 
sharp green eyes. She wore a space suit, which did nothing to hide 
her body's feminine curves. Her figure was tall and bespoke of 
agility and grace, but those who know of her, knew that she was a 
fighter to be reckoned with.

Behind her was the newest weapon of the colonies against OZ, the 
Gundam Thunderhawk. Like Heero Yuy's Gundam, the new 
machine was transformable and was currently in its vehicular mode. 
It resembled a cross between a space fighter and a bird of prey, but 
the front end was tapered off to a curved point, that resembled a 
beak, instead of mounting a Buster Rifle like Gundam 01.

The wings were shaped to resemble the feathered appendages of an 
actual bird and were mounted on pivotal joints for variable 
sweeping motions. Powerful thrusters mounted in the tail sections 
gave the Mobile Suit incredible speed and maneuverability. 
Gundam zero seven (as it would be later be called by OZ), was a 
sleek and deadly craft. It was colored tan with red highlights.

"A question, Chieftess V?"

"What is it, child?"

"Why did we wait so long to act against OZ? Why did we not 
launch during Operation Meteor?"

The old woman paused for a moment before answering. "Operation 
Meteor had changed its prerogatives during the final stages. We did 
not have the Thunderhawk ready at that time, and there were 
already six Gundams on Earth. There wasn't a need for another, 
since our colony had not been threatened at the time. But enough of 
that. OZ has raised the stakes and now, it is time that the colonies 
did likewise. Now go, and good hunting."

Celia nodded as she raised an arm and called out to her left. "Come 
on Free Wind!"

There was a sound of flapping of metallic wings as Celia's partner; 
a robotic hawk came swooping down to perch on her outstretched 
arm. The creation was another one of her grandmother's inventions. 
The automaton had a kind of artificial intelligence that simulated 
that of a real hawk, but it was equipped with sensory and scanning 
equipment and stealth devices, making it ideal for spy missions and 
reconnaissance. It had the ability to fly in atmosphere and with 
repulsor thrusters in its wings, could even maneuver in space. It was 
also equipped with lasers mounted in its eyes and sharp talons that 
could score through the strongest alloys. It had been programmed to 
defend the pilot of the Thunderhawk and respond to her commands.

In less than a minute, Celia Whitestar boarded her machine and the 
Gundam Thunderhawk was streaking toward the Earth.

To be continued

Author's Notes

Yes, I guess it does seem a bit rushed this chapter, but it took me a 
long while to get this much written down, considering that the 
original Gundam Wing series was forty-nine episodes long. Don't 
worry though, I will be getting more and more interaction between 
Ranma and the other Gundam pilots later on, but I just feel that I 
needed to jump ahead a bit. I didn't want to totally recycle the entire 
series and the readers have probably noticed the increasing 
differences between my story and the original Gundam Wing. There 
will be some new scenes and new characters introduced as Gundam 
Warblade progresses along. 

Who is this new Gundam pilot and what part does she play in this? 
Well, we'll just have to wait and see, right?


