Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

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Phase 25 - The Yokosuka Bloodhound

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“Someone’s attacking! We’re under attack!”

The Junk Guild transport ship Whitehall was in a panic. There was machinegun fire everywhere around the lumbering modified Marseille III-class transport. There were missiles streaking towards it, exploding around the ship and further panicking its crew. The shots were coming from somewhere within all the debris surrounding the ship. And every so often there was a beam rifle shot that seemed to be coming from a mobile suit, but nobody could see the mobile suit that was firing the beams.

The captain clenched his teeth, trying to figure out what was going on.

“The port engine’s been hit!” one of the bridge crew cried.

“Captain!” another exclaimed. “At this rate we’ll be destroyed!”

The ship shuddered—the bridge crew looked up in horror as something began to cast a shadow over them.

Above them loomed the imposing black form of the Blitz Gundam, pointing its Trikeros down at the bridge..

“That’s the Blitz!” one of the bridge crew exclaimed in terror.

Inside the Blitz, a thin, ghostly-looking man in a black ZAFT flight suit smiled, the light flashing across his helmet’s tinted visor.

“The Yokosuka Bloodhound!” one of the Junk Guild crew screamed. “It’s the Yokosuka Bloodhound!”

Inside the Blitz, Kazuhiro Yokosuka smiled animally.

“Yes, gentlemen,” he said quietly. “It’s the Yokosuka Bloodhound.”

The Blitz fired.

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“Jeez,” Miki said with an airy sigh, “that’s the fourth freighter in two weeks.”

The galley was quiet as all eyes stared up uneasily at the monitor, and the news reports of another Junk Guild transport ambushed by a mysterious mobile suit.

“The reports are unsubstantiated,“ the anchor said with the usual emotionless drone of a news anchor, “but rumors say that the attacking mobile suit is equipped with Mirage Colloid, rendering it effectively invisible...“

Miki glanced at Stella, sitting next to her.

“What do you think?” she asked. “Do you think there’s a mobile suit with Mirage Colloid out there?”

Stella shrugged slowly. Across the table, Mike paused from his concerted campaign to devour another cup of instant ramen.

“Well,” he said through a mouthful of starchy noodle substitute, “we’re gonna find out.” He paused to swallow his mouthful of starchy noodle substitute. “That’s our next job.”

“What?” Miki asked in surprise. “We’re going to find this guy?”

“Find him and take him out,” Mike said, articulating his point with his plastic fork. “Junk Guild’s paying us big bucks to do it, too.”

“But if he’s got Mirage Colloid, we might not even be able to find him!” Miki protested. Mike shrugged.

“Eh, we're getting paid well for it, so I guess that’s our problem,” he said noncommittally, returning to his noodles. “Besides, we all know that it’s not gonna be us that’ll take him out.” He paused to scoop another forkful of noodles out of his cup. “It’ll be Shinn.”

“...how come it’s always Shinn?” Stella asked quietly. Mike blinked in surprise, and Miki looked over at her again. “Shinn always fights...”

“It’s what he does best,” Miki said awkwardly. Stella looked at her slowly.

“...but Shinn’s never happy,” she murmured.

Miki looked away uneasily.

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The Impulse stood silently in the back of the hangar, its dark eyes staring vigilantly forward. It was still pitted and scarred and darkened from its many battles, but the mechanics weren't about to spend their time and meager resources buffing out dents if they didn't have to, and so the Impulse would have to forever go into battle bearing the scars of the last one. The repairs that were needed were done, the CIWS were loaded, the fuel tanks were full, the OS was calibrated and recalibrated...

And yet Shinn still was looking for something to do.

He didn't want to think about what had happened on Copernicus. He didn't want to remember the fire and screams and fighting. He didn't want to remember the Minerva, Rey, the Chairman, any of the problems he left behind. He wanted to be busy. If his hands were busy, his mind would have to focus on what his hands were doing, and that would keep it from wandering back to everything.

He stared up at the Impulse. Gilbert had given it to him. He had told Shinn that it was meant for someone "special," whatever that meant. Shinn didn't want to be special. He just wanted...

...wanted what?

"Staring at your Gundam, are you?" a voice Shinn was growing all too accustomed to said. Shinn turned slowly, and found Kika drifting towards him from the corridor. She landed softly and looked inquisitively at him. "Now what's the problem?"

Shinn looked away from her, back at the Impulse. It stared back at him blankly, offering no answers.

"Shinn," Kika said, taking him by the shoulders and turning him around, forcing him to look at her. "I know you're all about being closed off, but at some point you have to realize that you can't just shut your problems out and hope they go away. You have to let other people in and let them help you."

Shinn looked away obstinately once again. "It's nothing," he said neutrally.

"Nothing is always something," Kika shot back. "Shinn, I want to help you. Talk to me."

Shinn looked back at her once again and blinked in surprise. He could feel concern—not from himself, he had no idea what to feel. But from her, he could see in her eyes that she was concerned. She wanted to know. She wouldn't hurt him. She wanted to help him.

"The riot in Copernicus," he said quietly. Kika nodded in understanding, but certainly did not look satisfied. "I'm still thinking about how those people went insane..."

"People do that when they keep suffering and see no hope in the future," she said. "It's not something I'd ever want to see happen to you, though." She paused. "But that's not all of it, is it?"

Shinn blinked again. "Wha—" he began helplessly.

"All this other shit must be on your mind too," Kika went on, "and that's what I'm more interested in. So what's up?"

Shinn dejectedly realized that there would be no hiding anything from her. "The Minerva won't leave me behind," he said. "They've followed me every step of the way." His face darkened for a moment. "Rey has followed me. He won't let me rest. He won't let me put his Newtype ideas behind him."

"Who is Rey anyways?" Kika asked. Shinn fell silent, trying to find words.

"Rey...was my friend," he began haltingly, unsure. Was Rey his friend? Rey had been there to pick him up when he fell, but Rey's solution had not been the right one. Was Rey still his friend? Did that mean he had betrayed Rey?

"And he was the one pushing all this Newtype stuff on you," Kika went on, trying to put the puzzle together, "and you couldn't handle it, and that's why you left?"

Shinn looked away. "Something like that."

Kika put her hands reassuringly on Shinn's shoulders. "You left of your own free will," she said. "You did what you felt was right. You shouldn't have any regrets."

"I don't," Shinn protested. "But...I just don't want to keep having the past chasing me down."

Kika sighed loudly and ruffled his hair with a playful smile.

"Sooner or later they'll give up. You just have to hold out until then," she said. "I know, it sucks, but there's not much else you can do."

Shinn looked away unhappily.

"There never is."

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The debris field of Lagrange Point 2 was silent. It was always silent, of course. Several battles in the Valentine War had been fought here, and this was the rumored stalking ground of the Yokosuka Bloodhound. Shinn surveyed the scene coldly from the cockpit of the Impulse Gundam. Somewhere out there, the rumors said, was a mobile suit that used the Mirage Colloid system. Some people called it a ghost from the Valentine War—the Blitz Gundam, one of the Earth Alliance's original prototype Gundams, stolen by ZAFT on Heliopolis, destroyed by the Strike on Earth.
Shinn, however, didn't believe in ghosts.

"I thought the Blitz was destroyed," Gan said uneasily, as her GINN Assault glanced around the debris field. Chris's 105 Dagger drifted in next to her.

"The Earth Alliance rebuilt their stolen Gundams after the war for testing purposes," he explained, "and tried to ship them off to their new headquarters. Along the way there was a guerilla attack by some people from South America, and somehow the Blitz was lost."

Shinn scowled. It was still battery-powered; it couldn't last forever.

"However," George added, as his CGUE floated past, "all the reports about the Bloodhound's attacks say that the victims are attacked from multiple angles at once." The CGUE's monoeye flicked around, its gaze sweeping over the debris field. "That must mean there's more than one mobile suit involved. Keep an eye out for—"

George never finished, as all hell promptly broke loose.

In an instant, there were machinegun rounds and missiles everywhere. Shinn felt them coming and darted back with a defensive burst of CIWS fire, but the return fire intensified, and Shinn took cover behind his shield.

"Where are they?!" Zora shouted, taking up her beam rifle, only to have it blown out of her GuAIZ's hand by a storm of machinegun fire.

"Just shoot back!" Chris shouted back, opening fire with his own beam rifle and not hitting anything. His 105 Dagger was pelted with machinegun fire, and he abandoned his sparking beam rifle before it exploded.

"They're everywhere!" George grunted, as a wave of machinegun fire buffeted his CGUE and forced it back. "We have to pull back! Contact the ship!"

Shinn blinked in surprise as a flash of realization tore across his consciousness—as the machinegun rounds bounced harmlessly off the Impulse's Phase Shift armor, he stared forward intently, his eyes darting among the flashes of light. They were coming from the same points—they were intermittent—

And there was only one person out there.

Shinn gunned the booster, plowing through the machinegun fire effortlessly.

"Shinn!" Stella exclaimed, taking off to follow him. Miki's GINN High Maneuver II dove into the Gaia's path.

"Don't!" she shouted. "Shinn can handle himself, help us pull back!"

Up ahead, Shinn scowled, lunging away from missiles and swimming against a current of machinegun fire. There was only one enemy up there. But how did he know?

A beam blast jarred his attention; the Impulse skirted to the side and came to a halt. The guns fell silent—Shinn looked up anxiously onto one broken asteroid.

The Blitz Gundam's eyes flashed.

"You're that kid that betrayed ZAFT," the amused voice of the Blitz's pilot intoned ominously. "I didn't expect you to come here and fight me."

Shinn scowled, clenching his teeth around the controls. This was his enemy; this was who he had to fight.

"Not very talkative, are we?" the Blitz's pilot asked with a chuckle. "Allow me to introduce myself. Kazuhiro Yokosuka, the Yokosuka Bloodhound." Shinn almost shuddered as his grin turned feral. "The pleasure's all mine."

The Blitz took off above with a beam rifle blast; Shinn's eyes flashed as the Impulse took off in pursuit. He fired his own rifle after the Blitz; it swept to the side, dodging Shinn's shot, and fired a trio of lancer darts at the Impulse.

"Don't make me laugh!" Shinn snarled, smacking the darts aside with his shield.

"Oh, a big man, are you?!" Kazuhiro laughed, taking off again and squeezing off a shot as the Blitz rocketed up over the Impulse's head. Shinn rolled out of the way and took off after the Blitz. The Blitz abruptly stopped and fired its anchor forward at Shinn; Shinn's eyes flashed again as he batted it aside with his shield and fired a beam rifle shot back at the Blitz. Kazuhiro grunted in surprise and deflected the shot with his Trikeros shield, pulling back and retracting his anchor. The Impulse followed with another beam shot; the Blitz ducked aside again and fired back with its own beam rifle.

"Dammit," Shinn grunted, deflecting the Blitz's shot with his shield.

"Not bad, little boy!" Kazuhiro cackled. "I guess what they said about you is true!" The Blitz rocketed forward, eyes gleaming. "I have the chance to be forever known as the man who took down the great traitor!"

"You can sure as hell try!" Shinn screamed back. The Impulse stormed forward and fired its rifle again, spoiling the Blitz's charge as it leapt aside. It fired back again with its rifle; Shinn fired a shot of his own to cancel out the Blitz's blast. "You're just some little outlaw! You don't scare me!"

"Oh, but I will!" Kazuhiro laughed; the Blitz drew a beam saber in its left hand and charged again. Shinn switched to his own saber and charged back; the Blitz swung its saber down to slice the Impulse in two; Shinn swung his saber out to horizontally spoil the Blitz's slash, and the two Gundams were stuck pushing against each other.

"It must be true after all!" Kazuhiro shouted. "You must be a Newtype!"

Shinn's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

The Blitz surged forward, using its saber to shove the Impulse away, and charged at the Impulse as it reeled backwards.

"It all makes sense now!" Kazuhiro screamed. "No wonder you were the Chairman's pride and joy! A little Newtype superman!"

"You bastard!" Shinn growled. "I'm no Newtype!"

The Blitz stormed in for the kill; Shinn struck back and deflected the Blitz's saber stroke with one of his own. The Blitz swung again, aiming for the Impulse's waist; Shinn blocked its slice with his saber again.

"In denial, are you?!" Kazuhiro laughed. "Deny all you want! The truth is the truth!" The Blitz surged again; Shinn pushed back with the aid of the Impulse's thrusters.

"Damn you," he grunted, as the Blitz charged again, pushing the Impulse back.

"I can't let you live!" Kazuhiro shrieked, his eyes bulging. "Someone like you can't just go running around! You have to die! DIE!"

The Blitz pulled back and fired its rifle again; Shinn narrowed his eyes and batted the shot aside with his beam saber. The Blitz dropped in on him with another saber slash.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Shinn growled, as the Impulse blazed backwards, dodging the Blitz's saber slash. He showered the Blitz with CIWS fire.

"I'll kill you and take away your power!" Kazuhiro cried. "You don't deserve it! Nobody does!" The Blitz charged again, slamming its saber down against the Impulse's.

"Damn you!" Shinn shouted back. "I'm not a Newtype!"

The seed exploded in Shinn's mind's eye; the Impulse surged; Kazuhiro blinked in disbelief as the Impulse pounded the Blitz back with a devastating kick to the face. The Blitz reeled; Kazuhiro threw the Blitz's beam saber to the defense as the Impulse followed up its kick with an overhead beam saber hack.

"I'm an ordinary human being!" Shinn screamed. The Impulse charged again, forcing the Blitz back with a punishing saber blow. "I don't have special powers! I just want to live and protect what I care about!"

The Blitz ducked backwards and charged again, saber pulled back for a counterattack. Shinn screamed as the Impulse swept forward, and with a crash, the Impulse used its shield to smash the Blitz full-on in the face, sending it staggering back.

Kazuhiro shook his head violently and glared at the Impulse.

"If you're not a Newtype," he said quietly, trembling with rage, "then you won't be able to fight back when I do this!"

The Blitz vanished.

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"They're automated guns," Mev said authoritatively on the bridge of the Kasselheim. "Don't worry about them. Just hang back and wait for the mobile suits to report in."

"Shinn's found him!" Kika exclaimed, looking anxiously over her shoulder at Mev. "It's just one mobile suit! But..." She trailed off, looking in disbelief at her displays. "It's the Blitz!"

"The Blitz?!" Mike cried in surprise. "That stolen EAF unit that got destroyed in the Valentine War?!"

"It doesn't matter where it came from," Mev said quickly. "The Kasselheim will hang back and wait for the outcome of Shinn's battle with the Blitz."

"What?!" Viima screamed, from her place behind the captain's chair. "Captain, how can you—"

Mev stood up and wheeled around to face her. "Viima, stop questioning Shinn," he snapped. "He has worked and fought for us. Now we will see just how good a pilot he is. Support him as you would support any other member of this ship's crew."

"But captain—" she protested.

"That's an order!" Mev barked, his brow furrowing. The bridge fell silent; Viima looked angrily.

"Yes sir," she murmured. Mev sat back down with an annoyed sigh.

"Captain!" Kika cried nervously. "The Blitz! It's...gone!"

Mev's brow furrowed again as he stared out towards the debris field.

Now is your chance to prove yourself, Shinn.

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"Where the hell did it go?!" Shinn screamed; he looked around frantically, as the Impulse pulled back.

Kazuhiro cackled gleefully. "I can't be seen!" he screamed. "I can't be heard! I'm perfectly invisible!"

The Impulse rattled; Shinn went flying as the invisible Blitz kicked the unsuspecting Impulse in the face.

"Dammit!" Shinn grunted, struggling to right himself. "He's using Mirage Colloid!"

"Well, little Newtype boy?!" Kazuhiro asked excitedly; the Blitz kicked the reeling Impulse in the back, jarring Shinn inside the Impulse's cockpit. "Can you fight what you can't see?"

"You bastard!" Shinn screamed back, swinging the Impulse's saber wildly. The Blitz was not there; it delivered a punishing kick to the side of the Impulse's head, sending it flying again.

"I'm the perfect ghost!" Kazuhiro shrieked. "Catch me, little Newtype boy! Catch me!"

The invisible Blitz fired its anchor, clamping it onto the Impulse's head, and with a scream, Kazuhiro sent the reeling Impulse careening into the side of an asteroid. Shinn grunted in pain as he was slammed backwards into his seat, and the Impulse quaked again as the Blitz stormed in and kicked it in the face, smashing its head back into the rock.

"Bastard!" Shinn screamed again, swinging his saber forward again; the Blitz skirted around him and kicked him in the back again, forcing him back out into the open. Kazuhiro grinned.

"DIE!" he shrieked; the Blitz took off and ignited its beam saber, raising it for a killing blow from behind.

Shinn's eyes widened as the familiar sensation of life returned. He looked over his shoulder; he saw an evil shape, dark and terrifying, rising over him. The Blitz's eyes glowed out from inside it; it swept over the Blitz, threatening to envelop him. Shinn felt the familiar pulse of a life, but it was twisted and dark, surrounded by this evil shape. A white bolt of energy split the air in front of him—

The Impulse whipped around and sliced off the Blitz's left arm at the elbow.

Kazuhiro's eyes bulged in disbelief; Shinn screamed as instinct took over, and he thrust his saber forward. It plunged into the Blitz's stomach—Kazuhiro shrieked as he vanished in a blaze of light—

The Blitz Gundam returned to the world with a flash; a moment later, it left with a thunderous explosion.

The Impulse went reeling backwards. Shinn stared in disbelief at the fireball before him. He had sensed the enemy; he had found him, in spite of his Mirage Colloid. He had felt his presence, seen that dark shape rising over them both—

He squeezed his eyes shut as he turned back towards the Kasselheim.

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Sting and Auel stood awkwardly on one end of the observation deck. Lee stood opposite them, arms crossed, looking out the observation deck's windows into space.

"I understand," he said. "You couldn't recapture Stella, so you let her go."

"We didn't have a choice!" Auel said defensively. "There was the riot going on and everything!"

"I never said I didn't understand," Lee said, looking back at Auel. He blinked in confusion. "This Impulse pilot, Shinn...will he take care of Stella?"

Sting looked out the windows unhappily. "He better," he said, "or I'll rip his fucking head off."

"We can still get her back, can't we?" Auel asked quietly.

Lee glanced at Sting. "Should we?" he asked back pointedly. Sting and Auel looked at each other in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Sting asked cautiously. Lee looked back out the windows.

"Did Stella try to go with you?" he asked.

Auel looked down at the floor. "No," he murmured.

"She stayed with Shinn," Sting said resignedly. "She's left us behind."

"She hasn't left you behind," Lee said, looking back at them both. "She wouldn't do that, because you are her friends. You have always been her friends. You have stood by her side and protected her with actions, not words, when Neo would only say he would protect her. She has simply left here and gone to a place where she is no longer under Neo's control." He paused. "Shinn will take care of her...won't he?"

Sting nodded hesitantly.

"Then that should be all that matters," Lee said quietly.

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Kika found Shinn in the starboard observation deck, pounding his fists angrily against the railing, and very nearly sobbing. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his flight suit; he was hunched over like he had been stabbed, as if he were trying to twist the railing with the sheer force of his emotion. And knowing how emotional he was, that was a very real possibility.

Kika immediately rushed to his side and seized him by the shoulders.

“Calm down!” she shouted at him; she immediately fell silent, though, as she saw his face. His face was haggard, streaked with tears; his eyes were dull, lifeless, and desolate; he was obviously a broken soul. It was frightening, terrifying, as he stared at her in disbelief. “Jesus, Shinn,” she said, turning him around to back him against the railing and keep him from going anywhere. “What happened to you?”

Shinn looked away angrily, tears flying around his head. “You wouldn’t understand!” he shouted. “Nobody would!” He tried to wrench himself out of her grip, but she held fast. “You can’t understand what it’s like to have this power!”

“So what if I can’t understand?” Kika yelled back. “That doesn’t mean I can’t help you!”

“And what can you do?!” Shinn snapped.

Kika promptly silenced him with a slap across the face. Shinn blinked in disbelief as another cloud of tears went flying around him.

“Goddammit, Shinn, why are you being so dense?!” she shouted in his face. “What do I have to do to make it clear to you that I fucking care about you?!” She shook him violently, glowering at him. “Now talk to me! I’m sick of sitting here watching you self-destruct because of this crazy idea some damn politician came up with and stuffed your head full of! You never tell me anything, you never let me in, you just keep feeding me the same bullshit about the Minerva and Newtypes! I’m not falling for that anymore! I WANT TO HELP YOU!”

Shinn blinked helplessly. “K-Kika...”

“What kind of human are you if you’re just going to shut out the people you need?!” Kika went on angrily. “Do you really think you can get everything from Stella?! You’re a human being, Shinn! Like it or not, you can’t go through life alone! You can’t just deal with all your problems yourself! You need me, Shinn! Now stop playing dumb and let me help you!”
Shinn stared at her in disbelief for a moment, his eyes wavering. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

“What happened when you were fighting the Blitz out there?” Kika asked, prodding for an answer. Shinn opened his mouth again, but again something stopped him from speaking. “Please, Shinn, talk to me, let me help you. I’m sick of watching you fall apart because you won’t let anyone help you.” She put a hand to his cheek, passing her thumb over the three scars on his face, and sighed unhappily. “Shinn—”

“I could feel him,” Shinn murmured quietly, staring forward blankly, almost like Stella. Kika blinked in surprise, but before she could say anything, he went on. “I saw a shape...an evil shape...I felt him...”

His eyes widened for a moment, and then he buried his face in Kika’s shoulder and sobbed. Kika blinked again, and instinctively wrapped him protectively in her arms.

“Dammit!” Shinn screamed, muffled by Kika’s shoulder, as he gripped her arms tightly and sobbed. “I can’t get away from it! I left the Minerva to leave this Newtype shit behind and I CAN‘T GET AWAY FROM IT!”

“Shinn—” Kika began.

“Is this what my life is supposed to be?!” Shinn shrieked, staring at her with wide, clouded eyes. “He challenged me! He told me that if I wasn’t a Newtype, I wouldn’t be able to beat him if he cloaked! I BEAT HIM! I have these powers that I don’t want, because they just bring me suffering! But I can’t get rid of them!” He buried his face back in her shoulder, sobbing again. “I can’t live like this, Kika! I can’t fight like this! How can I fight when I have to face the fear my enemies feel?! How can I fight when I feel the fear everyone is feeling?! How can I protect Stella when I can feel the people I‘m protecting her from?!”

“Shinn!” Kika interrupted, pulling him away far enough to look at his bleak, haggard face.

“I don’t want it to happen again!” he screamed, his eyes flashing as the tears clouded around him. Kika blinked again. “I want Stella to be safe! I don’t want her to die! I want to protect her! I couldn’t protect Mayu, but I’ll protect her! But I can’t do that if I can’t even fight the people who want to hurt her!” He shook his head violently, trembling from the force of his emotions. “I left ZAFT for a reason! I left all my friends! I lost all my friends! I lost my home, so I went to ZAFT, and I gave up that home too! I gave up everything for Stella! How can I keep going on trying to protect her when it’s so hard to even fight?!”

“Shinn!” Kika shouted, shaking him. Shinn snapped out of his screams with wide, bleary eyes. Kika sighed in relief. “Jeez, you are full of issues,” she said, shaking her head. She looked into his eyes and touched his cheek again. “You keep acting like you’re all alone,” she said.

“Who else is going to know how I feel?!” Shinn protested.

“That’s not the point,” Kika countered. “You aren’t all alone. I’m always here to help you.”

Shinn’s eyes filled with tears, and he collapsed against Kika, sobbing into her shoulder. She put her arms back around him and rubbed his back.

“You’ve got a lot of grief, and you’ve kept it all bottled up for two years,” Kika said gently as he sobbed. “Just let it out. It’ll be okay. I’ll be here.”

She stood in the hallway with Shinn for a long time.

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To be continued...