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This article, Gundam Wing: Stone Serpent, is property of Therider. |
Gundam Wing: Stone Serpent is a side story about the Preventers and their young rookie pilot, Aaron Scout, taking place after the events of Endless Waltz. This side story involves Aaron and his encounters with a mysterious girl, Maria Selene, as well as his involvement in the Preventers.
Chapter One: Casting of the First Stone[]
Preventer Wind walked down the hallway to the mobile suit laboratory. He had come to check on his Tallgeese III, which had took a beating during the Mariemeia movement. He was walking towards the lab when he heard from behind him, "Preventer Wind!"
Wind turned and saw two men dragging a young boy's body. The young boy's body was limp, but stil breathing. "This unruly child was trying to take one of the mobile suits we took. What do we do with him?"
Wind smiled. "Tell me when he wakes up."
Aaron Scout awoke with a start. He looked around the room. It was a small room, with only a bed and a dresser. He turned to go back to sleep when the door opened. In walked a man, who clearly had authority. He had platinum blonde hair, and his eyes were covered by dark sunglasses.
Aaron stood up and asked, "Where am I?"
The man spoke, with a clear, low voice, "You're in a Preventers base on the Earth's moon. The reason we aren't floating in the air is-"
"-Because of Artificial Gravity. I know, I wasn't raised in a barn." Aaron stared into the glasses of the man. "Who are you? The last thing I remember was trying to take that mobile suit."
The man took off his glasses, revealing nail blue eyes, piercing into Aaron's question. "First, tell me who you are. Then, we'll talk."
"Scout. Aaron Scout."
"Preventer Wind. Now, let me ask you something."
Aaron scoffed, "Sure, it's not like you haven't asked me anything yet."
Wind smiled. "Well, now. Someone has a witty tongue." Then, Wind returned to his stoic nature. "Why did you try to take one of our mobile suits?"
"Wha-No, wait, that's a Mariemeia suit. A Serpent. That can't be yours."
Aaron looked at Wind, who remained stoic as he asked, "Where do you live? We'll drop you off there, with the hope you won't tell anyone you were here."
Aaron snapped. "I don't have a home! I never did and I never will." Aaron simply collapsed on his bed, and looked down.
Preventer Wind stayed silent, then asked, "Would you like to live here?"
Aaron looked up, a glimmer in his eyes, and asked, "You sure, Preventer?"
"If you're ready to support your own weight. You ever pilot a mobile suit before?"
"Just a few simulations. I was pretty good."
"Good, we'll put you as a rookie agent and see what you can do. You want a title, Preventer?"
Aaron smiled and asked one question. One question that lead to many adventures with the Preventers and the ESUN.
"Is Preventer Stone an option?"
Chapter Two: Divide by ZERO[]
"Ok, lets see how this works," Aaron muttered as he jumped into the pilot seat. The odd helmet Wind had given him was one size too big, but Aaron didn't mind.
This was Aaron's first practice as Preventer Stone. After two weeks of basic training, piloting a mobile suit in simulations and learning to shoot a realistic gun, Aaron was ready to become Preventer Stone.
"Before you become a Preventer, Aaron, You must be able to hold your own against anyone. Even me."
Wind had told him this before this training session. Aaron wondered if it meant anything. Maybe, he was going to duel one of the Gundam Pilots, of Operation Meteor.
Or, it was someone more sinister, like Treize Khushrenda, leader of OZ, or maybe even Milliardo Peacecraft, leader of White Fang.
Aaron opened up the comm channel and asked, "What are we doing today, Wind?"
"We;re dueling two opponents you might know well. Head to the Zero-gee room in your Serpent. I'll meet you there."
Aaron still wondered who it was.
When Aaron reached the zero-gee room, Wind spoke up, saying, "What took you so long?"
"I got lost, ok?"
Wind smiled. "Come on. Let's meet our opponents."
When they walked inside the Zero-Gee room in their mobile suits, there stood two Taurus, armed with beam cannons and a beam rifle on their back.
Wind frowned. "They have the advantage here. The Taurus was made for space."
Aaron scowled, then smiled, and said, "They don't have beam sabers. If you can get up close, so the cannon would have to hit him as well, they'd be toast."
Wind thought this over, and said, "They may be hiding them. Stay on your toes."
Aaron thought, No need. With the Serpent's long range bazooka, I can stay on the ground and aim at the Taurus.
The Taurus opened comms and asked, "We ready to go, Preventer?"
Wind responded, "Yes, Remy. We're ready. Tell Alberto to be ready as well." Wind turned to Aaron and asked, "You ready?"
"Ready than I'll ever be."
"Good. Let's go."
Wind took off in his Tallgesse, while Aaron stayed on the ground.
The room transformed, turning black like the outer reaches of space. The two Taurus then immediately transformed and flew off. Aaron cursed and moved the Serpent to follow them. Out of nowhere a beam shot nearly hit the Serpent's back thruster.
"I can't see them." Aaron searched the dashboard, asking himself, "Where the searchlight?" He looked towards the center of the dashboard, asking himself, "Is this it?"
He went to press it. His finger brushed against the hard glass, and a light came on.
Three words flashed on the screen; ZERO SYSTEM ACTIVATED.
A bright, yellow light turned on inside the mobile suit, and quickly grew with intensity. Immediately, Aaron's mind was overflowing with information. Aaron started to scream in pain as all the possible outcomes poured into his brain. Wind and the Taurus pilots stopped and watched as the Serpent stood still, while they heard Aaron screaming from the pain.
Aaron tried to get out of the mobile suit. The more he resisted, however, the stronger and faster the information came. Aaron reached for the mobile suit controls and began to move the Serpent towards the others, each step more slower than the last.
The last thing Aaron remembers was Wind opening the cockpit. Then, everything went dark.
Chapter Three: Revelation[]
"What happened, Aaron?"
Wind slammed his hand on the hospital bed, and asked again, "What happened in the training room, Aaron?" Aaron just looked down in complete confusion.
"Well, Preventer, the dashboard lit up and I only read one word on it before I had my blackout."
"What was the word, Aaron?"
Aaron looked up and yelled back, "ZERO! OKAY? IT SAID ZERO!" Then Aaron fell back and almost blacked out again.
Wind was shocked and forced Aaron to keep his eyes open. "Aaron, it said ZERO?"
Aaron came back to conciseness and said, "Yes Wind, it said ZERO. Now will you let me sleep for a bit? Thank you," and with that, Aaron went to sleep.
Wind pressed the dashboard inside of the MMS-007. A light came on saying, "ZERO SYSTEM ACTIVATED." Wind took a calm breath as the information filled his head.
As the system died down, Wind shook his head in disbelief. "He wasn't joking. This mobile suit has ZERO in it." He thought, Heero would have loved to see this. Wind wondered if he should tell Preventer Fire, and maybe she would know how it effected the boy.
Then Wind shook his head and thought, Maybe another time. Hopefully the boy won't need to use this suit anytime soon. But if warfare rises again, with mobile suits on each side, at least he should know how to use ZERO.
Wind left the cockpit, and walked away.
"My what?" Aaron looked confused at Wind.
"Your training. You need to learn how to use ZERO properly." Wind lowered his glasses and asked, "You do know what ZERO is, right?"
"Yeah, it's a combat analysis system, allowing ZERO to hook up with your mind-hehe, hook up-"
Wind sighed and asked, "Go on."
"And tell you what to do to reach victory. Right?"
"Right. After you finish your first mission-"
"My what?"
Wind smiled, "First mission. It's an escort mission. You need to link up with this group, find this girl, and escape back to here."
Aaron was silent for a second, then asked, "Okay, what's the catch?"
"We believe you may know this girl already."
"What? How would I...?"
As the picture came up in the small room they were in, Aaron almost choked on his words. It was Maria Selene, the girl he met in Canada.
Chapter Four: Braveheart[]
Maria stared into the beautiful sunset. No matter what she did, Maria couldn't seem to get out of this feeling she was in. She sighed and wonder how Aaron was.
That's all she thought about these days. Aaron has never left her mind when she saw him on the TV a few weeks ago. She never thought about him in this way before.
Was it love?
If it was, then Maria was head over heels in love with Aaron. She felt empty not thinking about him. Maria wondered if he felt the same way.
Father would never approve, Maria thought. Aaron was a poor orphan. He had no money, no family ties, nothing. Father would never want me to be alone with a beggar.
The ball was tomorrow night. Maria nearly gagged just thinking about it. The ball was to find a wealthy suitor for Maria. She looked at there favorite book, where the hero helps a serpent and in return, the serpent helps the hero resuce the damsel from the villain. Maria sighed and asked to the wind, "Where are you, my knight?"
"I'm standing right here."
Aaron turned the mobile suit and countered Wind's heat rod. The serpent kept turning until the body faced the Tallgeese completely. "What, don't like having an opponent staring down your back, Aaron?" Wind asked.
Aaron just smiled and said, 'Nope. But I do like them to run."
Wind almost laughed, "Run from what?"
Aaron spoke up, "This".
The shoulder of the Serpent rose up. Inside were missile launchers.
Wind's smile faded as he jumped and fled from the 4 homing missiles. Aaron took out his beam cannon and fired, grazing the Tallgeese's leg.
"Ok. I'm going to beat you!" Aaron yelled as he switched weapons and pulled his bazooka out. He fired one shot an it missed barely.
Wind asked, "Do you want to risk it? It's the only way you'll hit me."
Aaron sighed and said, "Ok. This might hurt both of us."
Aaron activated the dashboard. The same words came up again. ZERO SYSTEM ACTIVATED.
At once the information flooded in. Aaron remembered the lesions Wind gave him and calmed his mind and received the information with open arms. He allowed it to move his body, watching as the Serpent moved more gracefully than anyone could pilot it. Aaron choose to move to attack, reducing the information in other areas but intensifying it in combat. Aaron moved the machine into close range, pulled out a beam saber and clashed with the Tallgeese's beam saber.
Aaron focused his energy into defeating Wind. However, his grip on ZERO was slowly releasing itself. Aaron needed to finish it now, or lose.
Aaron opened up the shoulders again. Wind couldn't dodge it. The missiles impacted, dealing heavy damage to the shield arm.
Wind hit the ground with a thud. " You win," He conceded.
Aaron hit the ground a few seconds later. " i got a feeling that was the first lost you've felt in a while."
Wind smiled and said, "Yeah. I got to say, with ZERO helping you, there's no one you can't beat."
Aaron smiled.
"I have to WHAT?"
"Dance. It's proper manners to dance with a proper suitor. Maria will dance with all the other men in the room. When she gets to you, make a big impression."
"Easier said than done," Aaron sighed and said, "Why her? Is it because of something her parents did?"
Wind stoic look became even more stoic. "No, it what her father will do. He's creating an army of massive mobile armors to take over ESUN. To do that, however, he'll need money."
Aaron perked up. "Does anyone know besides the Preventers?"
Wind nodded. "A few suitors. They are your biggest competition, because they have the father's favor."
Aaron nodded. "So, when do I leave?"
Wind said, "Tomorrow."
"WHAT? You mean I have to learn all those dance move in TWO NIGHTS?"
"Yes."
Aaron collapsed on the floor. "It better be worth it."
Chapter Five: Dance of the Lovers[]
Aaron walked into the dance hall. The place was huge, with seven different chandeliers within. Despite it's size, the hall was mostly full, with mostly younger men, all eligible suitors for Maria. Wind called into the head piece, "Aaron, you hear me?"
"You don't have to yell, Wind. Please, my ears hurt already."
"Ok." Wind's volume became considerably lower. "You'll have to impress everyone there win your dance skills, but you,most importantly, must win over Maria's father with your charisma."
Aaron sighed, "Easier said than done. I have two left feet, Wind."
Wind sighed. "Well, you're gonna have to improvise. Just follow her movements."
Aaron nodded. "Ok, boss."
Aaron walked over to the party table. He grabbed a cup of water and began to drink it when all noise stopped. He looked looked up, and there was Maria, with her father, Bastion Selene. She started to walk down the stairs. Immediately all the suitors got up and walked into to a straight line. Aaron quietly sneaked to the back of the line.
It appeared this line was a line to show respect to Maria. Aaron silently hoped that she wouldn't recognize him.
Maria came past Aaron. Maria nodded her head, and Aaron respectfully did the same. He silently prayed she didn't turn back.
She didn't. She went back to her father, who was now at the end of the stairs. Aaron sighed heavily. Wind came back on the earpiece. "Aaron, you alright?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
Wind sounded a bit worried. "There was a disruption in the communication waves. Only our channel."
Aaron's face paled. "You mean there's a mole in our system?"
"I don't know, but if there is, then we must be careful."
Aaron nodded, and returned to the drinks table. As soon as he started to drink his water, however, Maria walked up to and tapped his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"Would you care to dance?"
Aaron stuttered, "Uh, yeah, sure."
Maria held out her hand. Aaron stared at it for a few seconds, then asked, "Well, what do you want me to do with that?"
"You're supposed to lead me, duh."
"Ok," Aaron shrugged and grabbed her hand and led Maria to the dance floor. It was a sweet song, resonating with both Maria and Aaron.
"You know, Aaron, you really are a dumbass."
Aaron sighed a bit. "So you knew it was me."
"Well, of course I knew. You stick out like a sore thumb. You moved to the back of the line, your awkwardness around me, and you moved to the drinks table too early. You clearly have a lot to learn about these parties."
"Well, maybe when I get you out of here, you can teach me those things."
Maria looked confused. "Get me out of here?"
"I got a job with these secret agent people. They're making me take you to stop your father's war projects." With that, he looked towards Maria's father. Their eyes connected, and Bastion looked confused. He then shrugged and walked away.
"I get you out of here later. Meet me by the west window. I'll have a cab ready to take us."
Maria nodded, and the song ended. "Beautiful song." Maria sighed.
"Yeah, isn't it "Endless Polka" or something?" Aaron smiled a stupid grin.
"You know what Aaron? You really are a dumbass."