Mobile Suit: Gundam Felis Leo
by +Master Quatre, AKA blue_dun
Well then... While I get the official preview all done, this will have to do for a little while.
Anyways, welcome to Mobile Suit: Gundam Felis Leo, my first official fanfiction (Albeit very OC'd.) In short, what you are about to read deals with a family whose first passion is justice, and the magnificent big-cat themed mechas that help them attain that. I guarantee you that there will be plenty of fight scenes through this piece, and a bit of romance... but that is still to be seen.
All in the magnificent, fast-paced, colorful writing that can only be done by me, +MQ!
Enjoy!
by +Master Quatre, AKA blue_dun
Well then... While I get the official preview all done, this will have to do for a little while.
Anyways, welcome to Mobile Suit: Gundam Felis Leo, my first official fanfiction (Albeit very OC'd.) In short, what you are about to read deals with a family whose first passion is justice, and the magnificent big-cat themed mechas that help them attain that. I guarantee you that there will be plenty of fight scenes through this piece, and a bit of romance... but that is still to be seen.
All in the magnificent, fast-paced, colorful writing that can only be done by me, +MQ!
Enjoy!
=== Prologue ===
She Stepped out of the Gundam.The World stopped.
Johnathan pressed his teeth together and ground them. So James had been right all along, then. He hadn't really believed his brother's crazy story until now. She looked too innocent, too dainty, but there was also a determinedness there, a bit of what he saw in himself.
But he had no time to think.This young lady had stolen an important piece of machinery, one that was more secret than anything else in the world, and needed to die. His hand clamped down on the joystick and the throttle went forward hard. With a mighty roar the Panther leaped forward, claws extended, prepared to rip the hide off the girl and the Gundam.
"NO!"
Another Mecha put itself between them, coming so close that it ruffled the girl's hair. It exhibited a burst of strength that shoved Black Panther so hard, it sent it sprawling on the ground. "Brother, I have no doubt now that this girl is innocent. Now I'm 100% sure that she is not to blame for anything we've accused her of. And it's clear that she's mastered Lyon's Pryde. You shouldn't be destroying her, you should be recruiting her, having her join our side. Neither you nor dad succeeded in taming the Lion."
Johnathan growled as he got up. "James, you idiot! What if all your conjectures are wrong? What if she is with Matthew Kestrel and his INMAOS [*]? We cannot afford to fall to him! He's the evil in this world, the one we've worked so hard to fight!"
"Look at her! Does she look like a spy to you?" James Riviera, the littlest brother in the family, driving Bengal's Cry, protested. "The fact that she hasn't left yet is a testimony to the fact that she's completely innocent!"
"Then how in the world did she find the Gundam hangars? It takes an extremely skilled- or extremely lucky- person to find them! And this girl doesn't look like she possesses any of those traits." Another voice broke into the conversation. It was Jeremy, James's big brother- by only five seconds. The three youngest Riviera boys- Jacob, Jeremy, and James- were sixteen, and triplets.
"Maybe that's something that she'll tell us, once we bring her in for proper questioning." James emphasized that last phrase very heavily.
Johnathan sighed. His little brother had a point, as he always did. "Justine, what do you think?"
Another gundam, a Mountain-lion themed one, uncrossed its legs and stood evenly on both feet. It nodded toward Johnathan, almost to say, "Let him win."
A swear word. "Alright."
James stepped out of the way, and Johnathan addressed the girl standing in Lyon's cockpit. "Get in the Gundam and come with us. Don't try anything funny or you will die this time."
The girl nodded her head and stepped back inside the mecha. Lyon's eyes flickered to life and its claws retracted. It looked around at the five of its kind that surrounded it and quietly followed the big black Gundam.
[*]- INMAOS- International Military Alliance of Soldiers
=== Chapter One ===
Two weeks earlier..."Godd*mn it!" Johnathan Riviera ripped off the virtual combat simulation goggles and threw them on the floor. "Dad, you made Lyon's software too strong, too rogue! It's not going to help us any if we can't control it!"
"I put all the necessary blocks on it, It's the Gundam's individual personality that adapts the software. Johnathan, son, I need to face the truth. Lyon may never be tamed. I've tried to myself, but even I, the creator, can't get it molded to my will. You were my last hope, my last chance to tame the beast inside."
Johnathan stepped out of the cockpit door. "I'm sorry I failed you."
Mr. Riviera sighed. "It's fine. go tell your brothers and sister about it; I bet they're excited to hear what you say."
~~~~~~
"How'd it go, Hotshot?" Jacob was leaning on the cold metal panels of the hall when the door to the underground passageway slid open for Johnathan.
"No go. I mean at first, it's smooth sailing, no waves or turbulence. I'd say that it's actually even more of a thrill than Black Panther is. There's some good software in that baby. But... then Lyon begins to rebel against you. It begins to make weird jerking motions and finally, you totally lose control."
"Well, that sucks. So you're stuck with Black Panther, then."
"Yeah." Johnathan sighed and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I guess I don't get to drive two Gundams like all of you."
"Jeez Johnathan. you don't have a clue, how lucky you are. It's hard to switch all the time, adapt to the Gundam's different weights and balances. Not to mention, you have the best Gundam out of all of us." Jeremy came through the corridor at that moment. "I've always been envious of you. No one had a gundam that even comes close to matching the caliber of Black Panther. Not even Saint Maxwell and Deathscythe."
With the sudden appearance of Justine, the whole family had gathered. Well, except James. Johnathan noted as he looked around. Kid's probably off gallivanting around somewhere. He's a handful. "Yeah, I could have probably beaten them. Too bad they're a long time gone."
"I know, right? Dad said he knew the great Saint, though, back when the man was still alive." Jeremy pointed out.
Justine nodded.
"We have better technology and better pilots though, too, now. But it shouldn't be that way. We should still be living in an era of peace."
"Quatre would have kept it if it wasn't for that stupid Kestrel and his organization INMAOS. That man needs a huge kick to the *ss, for destroying the peaceful earth-sphere those five pilots worked so hard to create!"
~~~~~~
"Alright, Kids, clear out." Maea came out of the nearby engineer's door and ushered the riffraff upstairs, through the secret passageway that led back to the Riviera Mansion. As the iron door hidden behind a bookcase slid open and mother and siblings stepped into the living room, James came tromping down the stairs. He paused when he felt the stares of his family and turned, at the same time hitting the pause button on his iPod Touch. "I'm running to town." He told them. "If I'm not back by sundown, send a Gundam after me."
As he walked out and shut the door, the family shrugged and went their separate ways. Would they ever be able to figure out that kid?
=== Chapter Two ===
Mayday Parade blasted in his ear and James Riviera smiled and danced around on the path to the nearby town of Maxwell. Many of the new, small towns that had been formed on Earth after the war had been named after the five heroes that had liberated humanity from OZ and Romefeller. Everywhere you looked, there were Quatres, Yuuys, and some even went as far as being Peacecrafts. Maxwell, though, had a legitimate reason for being named Maxwell. It was near the place where the saint had supposedly been born. He was buried nearby too: under a simple cross, in a small, fertile valley that was a rainbow in summer due to the wildflowers and during the winter, you could see the remains of a charred, broken gundam hidden in between piles of snow. This had been the place where Duo had detonated Deathscythe Hell after the conclusion of the Omega Gundam War [*].
When the town had come up for sale in AC 251, many rich aristocrats and madmen rushed to the scene. Competition became deadly. Many died, and the incident was almost labeled "The Maxwell War" and given a firm spot in the history books. But in the end, the Rivieras had rightly won the property and the town, and built their mansion on the hill. Adding a hidden Gundam hungar underneath hadn't been a problem, and the kids grew up learning how to fight in the nearby infertile plains.
~~~~~~
Today James had suddenly contracted an urge for some Blow Pops and so he had grabbed a little moola from his stuffed piggy bank and headed toward town. He knew about his brother not being able to control Lyon's Pryde, the hidden cameras he had planted down there told him everything. One click on the icon on his desktop, and the window would pop up. He would know everything that was going on in the house at the moment, in a quick sweep of the screen.
As normal, the walk to town was uneventful. The world seemed happy today; a kid dancing along to his iPod wasn't out of place. Everyone stared as he walked into town. Though James Riviera visited often, he was still an anomaly. All the other people in his family were cold, hard, and polite. This kid was too happy to be one of them. Some wondered if he was even a biological son.
But the ones that really knew him couldn't deny the fact that he was a Riviera. James possessed that certain brilliance, and his body (Most notably his arms) was strong. He could beat anyone at a footrace, an arm-wrestling match, or quiz bowl. He was just more genial than everyone else he lived with.
He sauntered up to the counter of the store with the bag of Blow Pops, and smiled at the checker working there. He faintly remembered dating her, but it had been so long ago that he couldn't remember. "Hi babe." Winking, he pushed his money and product over.
"Sugar rush for Mr. James Riviera tonight, eh?" She smiled at him and scanned the bag through. Though people always considered him an oddball, James was generally well-liked.
He scrambled for an answer and her name. All at once it came to him and he grinned. "If I do, you better make sure you lock your doors up really tight." Stuffing the change in his pocket, he opened the bag, pulled a watermelon sucker from it, tore off the wrapper, and stuck it in his mouth. With a final wink and smile he skipped out, the quarters jingling in his pocket.
Mariah stared after him for a moment, then fainted in the aisle.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, an alarm went off at the Rivieras'. Justine leaped out of her seat, and quickly dashed to the secret passageway. The others were a bit slower, but soon they were down at the big window that looked into the Mecha Chamber.
One was gone. The one in front.
Lyon's Pryde.
[*]- The name given to the war between the colonies and OZ that ended in AC 196.
=== Chapter Three ===
James was lounging in a tree, and had just chewed up the bubblegum from the Blow Pop when his cell phone rang. One look at the caller ID told him all he needed to know about who it was. Quickly, he flipped it open and casually remarked, "Hey, John. What's so important that you actually have to call me?" "Stand up and turn around." Johnathan's static-charged voice made James jump. His voice was hard.
James's face went white, but he obeyed. He hopped out of the tree and proceeded cautiously around the trunk of the tree.
The rest of the blood left his face as he pulled around. Black Panther stood there, Bengal Cry's arms wrapped around its neck. They had come for him, and were clearly on a mission. With a mighty heave the big black Gundam stood James's Gundam up on its feet. "Alright. Thanks." Hanging up, he sprinted toward Bengal's Cry, taking the cable ride up.
He dove in the cockpit and turned everything on. The screens flickered to life, and the faces of his siblings glared back at him.
"Bad enough you had to be gone today." Jacob growled.
"What's the rush? Are you mad at me?" James was confused. He had never received this kind of flak before when a mission came up and they had to hunt him down. On any other normal day, they would yell at him and call him an *sshole and a son of a b*tch. Justine's eyes would say things even worse. Everyone, today, seemed just... angry, out for revenge. Something horrible must have happened to make them this way. "What's wrong?"
"Almost the moment you left, someone broke into the hangar and stole Lyon's Pryde. We're not sure how far they got but it shouldn't be far considering the Gundam's rebellious personality." As James got buckled in, Johnathan debriefed him.
"Right." James locked and loaded, the gundam's claws sliding out of storage. "If it's any INMAOS lackey, they're going down."
~~~~~~
For hours they followed the homing signal. Lyon's Pryde and its passenger were going North-North-East, strangely, at a steady rate. Johnathan thought that the rogue Gundam would have rebelled a long, long time ago but though there were a few stops by the other party they moved along consistently. He found himself plagued with worry. What if it was a hostile being who had stolen- and apparently mastered- the new Gundam? Lyon's Pryde was quite a bit more powerful than even Black Panther. It could easily overtake them all- that is, with a skilled pilot behind the wheel.
"I see it!" Jacob's voice crackled through the receiver. He, by far, had the sharpest eyes of all his siblings. And indeed, they could see the stolen Gundam's orange-red mane ruffling in the wind. It wasn't jerking at all and was taking huge leaps across the plain. Desperately, Johnathan hammered on the throttle, and Black Panther leveled out into a four-legged, bounding gait that brought him a little closer to his family's stolen joy.
Suddenly, about thirty virgoes that had been laying low rose out of the trees. It indeed looked as if the five had been lured right into a trap!
Justine growled and dove right in, Mountain Cougar's powerful claws ripping through the tough steel OZ had put into their prize mobile dolls.
"damn it, it was an INMAOS plot!" Johnathan roared and shortly followed his sister.
James, in between all the fighting, though, looked back over his shoulder. Much to his surprise, Lyon's Pryde was locked in combat as well. Though it was fast, obviously the pilot was very inexperienced and wasn't having much luck shaking the Virgoes. Ragged chunks were torn out of the beautiful mane, and it was getting pretty overwhelmed. In a fit of sympathetic rage, James blew the head off a Virgo, and tore the gun out of its hand. Spinning around, he fired three shots the Gundam's way. They were dead on and three of Lyon's assailants fell useless to the ground, perfect holes in the sides of their head.
With a powerful leap, Bengal's Cry came to the stolen Mecha's rescue and with a few effortless movements, took out the Virgoes on either side of it.
James sat there for a second, huffing and puffing. Then, with a flick of his hand, he opened the comm channel to the other Gundam. "Hey, you alright in there?" He asked the other pilot, not really sure what kind of an answer he was going to get.
"Yeah... I think so. A bit battered and tired, that's all."
A feminine voice. Out of all the things he had expected to hear this was the one thing he hadn't thought of. In shock, he babbled into the mike: "Hey... erm, I'm sorry about this, but I'm afraid I have to shut you down-"
He still doesn't remember anything after that. He was out cold.
=== Chapter Four ===
"Well, I knew you'd be pissed if he died, so I brought him back with us. We had lost it anyway, there was no hope of catching up." James caught small snatches of conversation as he blinked his eyes open to view the Playboy poster on his ceiling. Waves of pain washed over him, especially around his right side. His abs burned the worst. Groaning, he sat up, and asked, "Wha---What happened?"
A nurse rushed to his side. "No! James, sir, don't move. You'll start bleeding again-"
"That damn pilot, the son of a bitch, punched your cockpit through, claws unsheathed. We had engineered it to be resilient to any blow it might take from gun or sword during a battle." Johnathan turned from his spot at the window and began to talk. "But nothing close to the power and strength of a blow from another Gundam."
"Right." James winced and pressed his hand to his side, where the bandages were turning crimson.
"Oh, yes, you knew about that, didn't you? Those cameras were pretty cleverly hidden. Anyway, Lyon's Pryde punched you through. You were lucky you didn't die where you sat."
"She got me." James smiled and muttered, and chuckled a little as the faces in front of him swam and he lost conciousness again.
~~~~~~
The next time he woke, cool air was blowing through the window of his room and not sunlight but moonlight illuminated the rug.
Maea, his mom, was sitting beside him, and she smiled gently as she realized her son was awake.
Remembering the hot nurse from last time and her advice, James moved not a muscle below his neck, he just asked one question: "The Gundam?"
"You'll have to use Malevolent Leopard for the moment, dear." His mom put her hand on his. "You have no idea how glad I am that you are all right."
His next question was simple enough, too. "My Blow Pops?"
Maea had to contain a full-bellied laugh, and she put her hand over her mouth. she reached behind her and produced his pack. "It's okay to sit up and check for yourself, you know."
Gently pushing himself up to rest against the backboard of the bed, he grabbed a sucker from the pack- watermelon again- jeez, this must be the best bag ever!- unwrapped it, and stuck it in his mouth. It was completely intact. "Well, I guess we have dad's beautiful seat cushion engineering to thank for this."
This time Maea laughed so loud that she woke everything up on the two-hundred acre estate. But suddenly the blanket fell off of James's chest, revealing her son's beautiful eight-pack set of abs, and she became all serious again. The image of him, unconscious, weak, helpless, and on the verge of death, rushed through her mind again. They carted him into the ER all mangled and now his physical state wasn't any different, though they had tried to fix him as best as they could. She choked on her next words: "H--Honey, I know it may be a little too early and all, but you'll need to face the truth soon enough anyway." Gently, she leaned over and unwrapped the extensive set of bandages that started at the end of her son's right arm and continued until they ended just below his waist.
He looked down and his eyes widened in shock: at his chrome-plated arm and side. Now he understood why the nurse had been so jumpy. That had been before the surgery to correct the holes in his body.
"Lyon's claw only scathed you, James. But... It took a lot from you. That hole, when we finally got it to stop bleeding, was so deep that you could see the ribs there and how badly they were fractured... No human body can heal completely from that."
"So they put metal plate there to protect it. How is it that even though I'm the youngest in the family, I'm the first one to get battle scars?" Despite his mother's melancholy attitude, the corners of James's mouth slipped up.
Maea found herself overtaken by a rare fit of anger. "We will get that pilot, and kill him, then burn the body!"
Suddenly her finger was at her mouth. He leaned forward, and whispered, "Don't blame her. She was only saving her own skin. I'm not even sure that she meant to hurt me."
It was Maea's turn to be shocked out of her wits. "you mean, that...?"
"Yes. I saw that it was in trouble, so I went to help. Then I flipped on the comm channel to it, since I was thinking about it and we were in range of each other. She seemed friendly enough at first but the moment I said, 'Shut Down', WHAM!" James punched his fist. It hurt a little.
"But that could have been the software responding to a threat..."
"EXACTLY! So, If my calculations are correct, that girl driving Lyon's Pryde is completely, totally innocent."
"But, The trap?"
James sighed. "That's been there for absolute years. A secret that I've been keeping. I thought that I would lead us into it one day and it would provide us with some pretty good training. But I didn't expect us to stumble into it when we did. Really threw a wrench in our gears. OZ set it up at the end of the Omega Gundam War."
"You slinky little- I heard about the cameras, too." Maea was starting to get pissed off at her son.
"Yeah, the cameras. Johnathan told me that you found them when I woke up the first time."
"We weren't happy, when we went through your laptop trying to find important Bengal's Cry software data and the hidden camera monitor popped up."
"Well at least I never missed a family meeting. Oh yeah, by the way, how long have I been conked out?"
"Two and a half weeks. Now shut your piehole and go to sleep."
=== Chapter Five ===
The next morning James woke up to a chorus. "Mornin, James, I'm loving your hardware."
"Good to see you're back with us."
"We were all so worried."
"You still haven't caught the Gundam yet, have you?" James's little smile tipped up. He could tell. They still weren't calling him an *sshole and a son of a b*tch. Therefore, they were still unsuccessful in their search and their minds, preoccupied.
"No we still haven't caught the little perp yet." Johnathan shook his head and growled. "It's seemed to have completely disappeared off our radar. But when we do catch him, he will PAY! He almost killed our little brother. He has somehow mastered Lion's Pryde. Therefore, they have managed to stay hidden for this long!"
"You mean SHE!" James's rising anger finally blew its top.
A standoff ensued as the meaning of James's statement sunk in.
"You mean to say it was a petty female who broke into the compound and stole our prize possession?" Jacob asked, incredulous.
"Yes. I know it for a fact." James nodded, pride flickering in his eyes. I've always loved underdogs. "I talked to her. After saving her from the Virgoes that were pummeling Lyon's Pryde."
"Waait--" Johnathan put his hand to his forehead- "You're saying that you had radio contact- spoke to her? And you are 100% sure that she is free from all blame?"
"Not 100%." James admitted. "But about 90%. I'm not even sure if it was her decision to hurt me, or if the Gundam registered my last two words- 'Shut Down'-"
"And retaliated against the pilot's wishes." Johnathan finished the sentence for him. He turned to Justine, searching for something- an answer maybe?
A period of silence ensued, in which Johnathan and Justine "Discussed" the situation. All it was really comprised of was a staring contest. As usual, Justine's eyes flashed, and Johnathan did his best to interpret.
"She's not convinced either. But we have agreed to remember your testimony and take into consideration the fact that our offending pilot may be a woman." Johnathan finally broke the calm.
"You'll lay off?" James replied at once, still wanting that leeway that would ensure the lady pilot's safety.
Johnathan swore under his breath, but gave. "Yes, we'll lay off when the conflict comes." But something Malicious still gleamed in his eyes. "But there's still a chance she'll be killed."
~~~~~~
James's recovery was slow. Setbacks plagued him, such as brittle vein snappage, and the fact the replacement neurons for his steel arm didn't work properly at first. But his lower half did fine, and he was walking in no time. Soon enough he made his first trip into town, where he showed off his new scars.
Well, he didn't really mean to. All he had wanted to do was show his best friend and mentor Master Jimhao. But somehow, the sensei's nosy daughter, Gwen (who also happened to have a major crush on James) overheard the conversation and told every girl she met that James Riviera had lost an arm and part of his side. Everyone was waiting for him as he walked out of town, and they begged him to show them his hardware.
But he wasn't that thick. James knew that the real goal was to have him take off his entire shirt. They had wanted to see his abs for longer than he could remember. Slowly, he nodded, and reached in his pocket. Drawing out his bowie, he cut the side of his shirt open and the sleeve, revealing in its entirety the bionic arm- but nothing else. The girls pretended to be all interested, but went away disappointed. That hard-headed, good-looking Riviera boy had beaten them again.
It was a few weeks, though, before he was able to get in the cockpit again.
While he was immobile he had spent a good chunk of time developing software for the new, improved Bengal's Cry that was in the works. The software featured, among other things, improved intelligence, response times, shock absorbency, and circuitry recovery times. Naming the new program hadn't really been a challenge for the youngest Riviera; He named it BOH1: Because Of Her, Number one. Which was all too true. It actually made his father laugh, the name pick.
~~~~~~
Finally he went out on patrol with his siblings, searching the surrounding area for the stolen Gundam and its pilot. This was basically the new Bengal's Cry's test run, and James was ecstatic to really try it out in combat. His family had promised him a chance in the combat simulator when they all got home, so he tried his best to pay attention and not get distracted by his surroundings.
Suddenly James got a funny feeling. Closing his eyes, he turned off course and stood stark still. By pure instinct he switched off his siblings' confused wonderings and opened the comm channel to Lyon's Pryde.
"Listen to me!" That feminine voice, full of anger and tenacity, crackled through. "You don't need to hate them because they created you! Especially don't hold it against the one in the tiger! He saved us last time, remember? LYON!"
With almost show-off speed and finesse, James caught the fist of the stolen gundam, that had just appeared out of the brush to his immediate right. It was then that James realized he had forgotten something in his software revisions... to update the strength settings. It was so very obvious once Lyon's Pryde and him were locked in a pushing match. The forest growth that Bengal's Cry had been standing on was completely gone, replaced by huge brown streaks of dirt.
The others turned and gasped as James put his whole muscle, mechanical and natural, into holding his position. It took Lyon by surprise, and despite its sheer power the black-and-orange gundam was able to push it back.
Quickly, Lyon rolled and regained its footing, then dived around Bengal's Cry straight into the four others.
The whole time the girl screamed at it: "No, Listen to me!"
James gritted his teeth and spat back, "Words aren't going to help, even though it may listen to you it goes in one ear and out the other.You've gotta show it who's boss! Put your whole strength behind those joysticks and slam your foot down on the floor pedal! Don't let up for anything!"
She obviously didn't realize he was listening: her gasp was audible. "A-alright."
In combat, Lyon hesitated, taking a couple hard blows from the Rivieras' Gundams. But soon it regained its footing and dodged blows, but didn't throw any. Eventually, it made its way out of the slugfest. James smiled triumphantly. She had regained control. James flipped all the comm circuits on again. Undoubtedly there would be a confrontation now.
As it broke the final Gundam, all of James's siblings spread out around the clearing, leaving Johnathan and Black Panther standing there in front of Lyon. The girl, in response, stretched Lyon up to its full height and shut it down.
It was then she emerged. James was instantly riveted to her. She wasn't really pretty, but had a nice face to look at. Big brown eyes, and red hair made her look like a flame burning there. The girl had that look of purity about her, when you're not quite a woman but not really a girl, and in that moment, James knew that he had been completely right all along. She was innocent. Everything that had happened was pure coincidence.
Much to James's horror, Johnathan tensed his muscles and leaped toward the girl. Instinctively James made his move, yelling a fierce 'No!' as he blocked Lyon with Bengal's Cry. He had just meant the move to stop Black Panther in its tracks but it ended up pushing the black gundam back like he had with Lyon earlier. "Brother," James started angrily, desperately, "I have no doubt now that this girl is innocent. Now I'm 100% sure that she is not to blame for anything we've accused her of. And it's clear that she's mastered Lyon's Pryde. You shouldn't be destroying her, you should be recruiting her, having her join our side!"
=== Chapter Six ===
Carry couldn't remember ever being this scared in her life. They had returned to the place where she had taken the Gundam from, and been told that she would stand trial in the Riviera courtroom in two weeks. Until then, she would be kept under constant surveillance, go to meals with the family, and wear the oldest sister's clothes. It was strange, she had thought that they would be all like the kid in the Tiger, kind and understanding. But that hadn't been the case. They completely shunned her and talked about her behind her back. They basically treated her like dog [censored]. The one in the black Gundam, named Johnathan, had tried to kill her, was pompous, and wouldn't even speak to her. But he was handsome... and she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off him. Over the next week and a half, she developed quite a big crush on the tall, powerful guy with the reserved face and expressive blue eyes. Unfortunately she could only sigh and get as much look time as she could with him.The only girl in the family obviously couldn't talk. Her name was Justine, and she was mute. But the fire burning in her eyes threatened to consume everything around her. She was excessively violent, that had been revealed when James had taken her back to the hangar one day and Justine had been doing battle training. She abused the gundam's power. But somehow Carry could sense that Mountain Cougar didn't mind. Justine was not the kind of person Carry wanted to hang out around.
The next two boys, Jacob and Jeremy, had personalities of their own, but Jacob took after Johnathan and Jeremy took after Justine. So they were strangers to her too.
The only ones that ever came in contact with her were the mom, Maea, the dad, Richard, and the youngest brother, James. He was the first friend she had made after they had gotten back to the mansion. He seemed to be the only nice one in the family. Right away after they had gotten back toward the living room James had seeked her out. "Hey, I'm James Riviera. It's really good to finally meet you. I apologize in advance for my family. They never took well to other people. What's your name?"
"Carry Westpoint." She had answered nervously. "I'm really sorry for causing you all this trouble. But I had just wanted to get out of the place I had wandered into..."
"Save the story for later. You'll be able to tell it in time. I've already decided to be your defense attorney. We'll win this, together." James had smiled confidently, and Carry had instantly felt better, though she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
He was an anomaly, all right. The kid was nice! James had loaned her his room, after finding out that she would have to sleep outside in a tent. He had introduced her to everyone. He had even helped her to make friends with his mom. Not to mention, he had already saved her life twice. Somehow, she felt comfortable with him around. She couldn't help but think that he acted like a knight in shining armor.
~~~~~~
One day she had just wanted to talk with him and had accidentally walked in on him in sweatpants and no shirt. It was then that she noticed for the first time that he had a bionic arm. And those abs... If he was the youngest, and had a perfect body like that, Carry wondered what Johnathan's looked like. When they noticed each other, instantly the blush rose in both of their cheeks. They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, blinking and making hem-haw sounds. Finally Carry had worked up the guts to speak. "H-how did you end up with a bionic arm like that?"
In reply James had just smiled his little smile and said not to worry about it, it wasn't important. He grabbed a shirt that was lying on the floor, the one he had worn the day before and put it on. "Is there anything else you need, Carry?"
"...Why do all your siblings hate me?" Carry rubbed a foot against the floor. "... I mean they haven't even made an attempt to meet me."
James sat down on the bed, and patted the space beside him. Carry went over and sat down there, looking up into James's eyes. "Well... The reason my family hates you..." He started, uncertainly, searching the rug, looking for an answer. "Well, the day you wandered into the hangars, earlier Johnathan had been in the simulator with it. You know how rogue the software was, right, and how much it hates us Rivieras? Well, he tried for hours on end, but he couldn't tame Lyon's Pryde. And trust me, he was ticked off. I had my secret cameras in there, watching the whole thing. It was just as Richard had dismissed Johnathan and was shutting down the Gundam that you slipped in the hangars."
"Yes, I rode the cable up and walked into the cockpit just as the doors were closing... I had no idea what I was doing. But what does that have to do with your family?"
"Hold on. Patience. So you ended up stealing Lyon. And that's mainly what we'll be trying you for on Monday. I was back in Maxwell, and my siblings had to come get me. They were mad, that somehow you had gotten in, and taken the most powerful Gundam that we have. And, as the radar revealed, you were moving along at quite a steady pace. So we guessed, quite accurately, that you had mastered Lyon."
"Lyon... is more powerful than the other nine Gundams in there?" Carry murmured, awed. "But your Tiger beat me in combat."
"The Gundam may be powerful, but you don't have that much experience with it. I've been driving my whole life. But, in short, Carry, what I'm trying to say is that they covet you. They admire you, deep down inside, but they hate that they do. I have no doubt that you have talent beyond our wildest dreams. But they are so jealous. That's why my siblings hate you the way they do." Then James smiled. "We'll change that, though, on Monday. We'll show them why and then they'll begin to open up. Carry... If we said so," He asked sheepishly, "... would you stay here?"
Carry bowed her head in thought. "Well, I guess living here is better than being all on my own. And I always get food. Oftentimes, when I was out on the streets, I wouldn't have a bite to eat for weeks on end. So... Yes. I'd gladly stay. Considering that you're still my friend." She grinned.
James laughed. "Of course, Carry. As long as you and I are still alive, I'll be your friend."
