Sibling Rivalry

[Roromi 417]

“Again!” Her voice stern but sincere. “You’ll never be able to hit me with that attitude.” The boy breathed in ragged gasps. He was tired, tried of attacking, and tired of constantly being belittled by that witch of a woman. 

Two mobile suits stood face each other on a scenic plateau. Around them was a vast desert with monumental landmarks and a vast emptiness that seemed to lead on to the edge of the horizon. The boy, Casval Creed was using a gold colored variant of the Gundam Astray Red Frame with its’ iconic katana held with both hands. Opposite of the samurai-esque suit was the Mercurius from Gundam Wing with its deflectors swirling around the suit confidently, the arms of Sayla Creed’s Gunpla crossed in front in supreme confidence. 

“I’ll get you this time!” He roared as he brought his katana down towards the taunting red mobile suit. Of course his attack didn’t hit, it never did. Always striking and never hitting, that was the story of his life. Indeed the katana blade slowed down as if hitting a web and remained poised in midair, tendrils of electricity licking around the weapon as it remained frozen midair. The red frame variant pulled its’ sword out wide to slide off the invisible field protecting the Mercurius. Casval Creed cried out in disgusting, stomping away from his sister Sayla. “I don’t believe you…” he started as he slowly brought the Gunpla around to face his sister. “Every time I hit your shield my sword just bounces off!”

The Mercurius was already shaking its’ head as Sayla, no Artesia the diver, started to chastise, “you underestimate your weapon. Father used to use that mobile suit all the time you know? I’ve seen-“

“Yes! Yes! I’ve seen his battles too you know!” Casval cut back angrily. Still the Mercurius was shaking its’ head, “so you’ve seen him do the very thing you say is impossible? You disappoint me for being a seed fanboy and not understanding the potential of Gerbera Straight!” Sayla’s tone seemed branched from vast patience with her younger brother and it wasn’t the first time he was glad for her calm demeanor. She continued as if reading his silence as a prompt to continue. “Father used that very sword against a similar unit as mine to cut through the shield. Gerbera Straight can deflect energy, and not just beam shots. Just like a real katana it all depends on how you angle that blade for your cut.” She motioned for the sword from her brother and he offered the weapon. In short order she was moving the weapon through a familiar routine. Near the end of her movement she called her shield deflectors in front the gold colored red frame and effortlessly she smashed the blade down through the force field. To Casval’s credit he was able to quick step behind himself in time to dodge the attack. 

Artesia held the tip of the sword aimed at the Astray’s neck for a long while. “See?” She asked rather confidently. Casval was still frustrated from all his failures but he held back any snarky responses and gulped down his pride before admitting. “Th-thank you sis…” Artesia chuckled and stood the Mercurius up straight. “I think that’s enough training for not little bro! How about we log off to today?” Casval let out a sigh and agreed after a moment, “sure... same time tomorrow?” 

“Sure!”

—-

The night air was cool, as the chill wind gently floated through the air. Casval stood in the large backyard of their house, bokken in hand. The teen swung the piece of wood up and down over his head in a precise motion. Beads of sweat dripped off his head as he continued the routine repeatedly. With each strike she shuffled forward in his steps, each strike bringing his footing along with the mock attacks. He would reach the end of the grassy area only to turn on his heel and repeat the process to the opposite end of the lawn. The Creed complex was large, located outside of Tokyo in the country side. The house itself was a modern affair with a large back garden fenced in to the estate. 

Casval cried out with his attacks, trying to derive power from each swing of the bokken. By this point in his exercise he was getting exhausted but still his sister’s words echoed in his head about holding the weapon right. While the real world may have not been GBN he figured some principles of the concept could carry through. He reached the end of the lawn once more and collapsed on his rump and leaned back on his hands to stare up at the cloudy night sky. 

“I was once like you… of course I didn’t have a nice private backyard to practice in.” Casval arched an eye brow and turned back to see his father, Marco Creed approach him from behind. “Oh? Do you still have the moves?” Casval couldn’t help but taunt as he tossed the wooden sword at his father. Marco didn’t miss a beat as he caught the blade mid air by the handle and quickly presented it on guard and properly swung the blade down overhead much like Casval had been doing just a few moments before. His old man flashed him a toothy grin and presented the blade back humbly to his son, “some people might say that I do.” Marco chided as he sat down next to his boy. “Sayla told me you were using my old red frame to practice in GBN today. Did you like it?’ 

Casval was already grinning and nodded his head, “yeah! I mean its’ hardly a red frame the way you have it colored but it was a lot of fun to use!” Marco smiled as he gazed up at the clouds then looked back down at his son, “well in that case how about you fix it up right?’ The man reached into a pocket of the jacket he wore and produced the familiar Gunpla from before. “I want you to have it. Not just to take it, I want you to tune it up, give it your own flavor to it if you will?” 

The teen hesitantly reached out for the model, of course he had used it before but now it suddenly seemed so much different to him. “You want me to rebuilt it?” Marco was nodding and smiling at his clever son, “yes. I think it’s a fine machine to start off with. I’m curious to see what you’ll do with it.” 

Casval’s eyes dropped down to the figurine in his hands now and studied the real grade red frame which had its red traded for a shade of gold. Slowly the boy began nodding more to himself than his father, “I’ll do it… I’ll make you proud!” Marco was already chuckling at the boys response however, “you already have son!”

—-

The familiar cross armed pose of the Mercurius wasn’t so daunting this time around as Casval swung in at his sister. The mobile suit stepped back with each incoming attack but each attack was still foiled by the floating defenders. “You would think with all your practice you would know how to do it now?” Artesia taunted as her brother roared out another attack. The blade did seem to dig in a little deeper against the force field this time around and Sayla did raise her eyebrow at that. “C’mon! You think the random divers are going to be as forgiving as me? They’ll eat you alive! And you call yourself a Creed?” 

Casval flared his nostrils at her remark and he paused as he raised the blade over his head. He angled his hands over the controls and in turn shifted his grip ever so slightly on the weapon. He sucked in his breath and before striking started to let out a roar from his belly, the blade trailing down in a swift motion. Just like that, Gerbera Straight sliced through the force field, just like that the katana arced in towards the Mercurius head, just like that Artesia raised up her shield saber, igniting the blade just in time to parry the attack. 

They remained poised in that position for along while, Casval catching his breath as he realized he made his sister draw her weapon finally. There was finally a chuckle emanated from the opposing red mobile suit, “well well… took you long enough, Char… from now own we can start the real training brother. Are you ready to start living up to your name at last?” 

A grin spread on Casval’s lips and he nodded, “I’m ready sis!” The Mercurius batted away the Katana and the floating energy shield replaced in front of Sayla, “again!” She commanded. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Roromi

[Roromi 417]

It was an involuntary reaction, to hold his breath. Of course it didn’t make much sense to in a game, but he just felt like he needed to if he was going to hit the target. The golden blast from his rifle reached out to caress the side of the Tarus mobile doll. “One more!” Casval cried out as he released the trigger to line up another shot. 

A red streak shot past his cross hairs as Sayla’s Mercurius slashed down at an incoming mobile doll. The space around them shimmered as her force field absorbed more abuse from the relentless dolls. “Don’t get careless Casval!” 

“I’m not!” The boy growled as he let loose another volley from his Vayette. It was an almost comical site seeing the blue mobile suit strapped with Gerbera Straight on the left hip, but it did give the novice diver more options if he wasn’t quick enough with the trigger. Another golden blast reached out from his barrel and seemingly glanced off three more Taurus dolls, all of which erupted into explosions. 

This wasn’t a normal space simulation or mission. It was a type of “firefight” scenario with waves of progressively harder and harder opponents. As much as Casval hated to admit it, him and Sayla were relying more and more on her shield to get them by. As if reading his thoughts Sayla barked out, “move and shoot Char cmon!”

Realizing his mistake in thinking he was a sniper, Casval pushed the controls to start juking the Vayette. “Anyone can stand still and aim, it takes skill to move and shoot!” Sayla more calmly explained to her little brother. Indeed, things seem to get more hectic, but more manageable, as he moved around. He treated the beam cannon almost like a staff, or spear as he squeezed the trigger to longer shots while still aiming. It was perhaps the biggest benefit to the beam weapon versus a traditional projectile. 

Slowly but surely the duo thinned out the ranks until Sayla pulled out her beam pistol to shoot the last doll. She breathed a sigh of relief, “well that was crazy!” She announced as they got into their moment of reprieve between waves. 

Casval himself took a big deep breath, “whoa yeah! This is starting to get intense sis!” He paused as he looked over his statics, noting that he was even beginning to creep up on Sayla’s kill count. “Do you really think we’ll be able to do this whole challenge alone?”

His question did make Sayla pause to consider Casval’s wisdom, “no I suppose you might be right. Should I open the party up for a quick joiner?” 

“Yeah! Go for it sis!” 

The two didn’t have to wait long, a few minutes later a new suit materialized right between the brother and sister. Casval perked up some as he noted the presence of the gray GNX IV command type. “Hi there!” He greeted cheerily, to which he was meet with a long pause before a melodic voice replied, “hello… Char?” The girl laughed before added, “I’m surprised they let you pick that handle? That’s pretty neat! Oh and Artesia? Are you two really siblings?” 

Sayla replied back before Casval could break his grin, “wouldn’t you like to know?” She teased playfully, “it’s nice to meet you too… Meer!” 

Just then the face of the pink haired girl popped up in Casval’s comm window showing the grimace of a determined looking Lacus Clyne. The girl had her hair up and it took Casval a second to realize she had her hair in a “Haman Kahn” style cut which was amusing to see on the polar opposite character’s face. “So what are we up against?” Meer asked eagerly. 

“Wow you’re cute! I love the look Meer!” Sayla enthusiastically replied before Casval could reply seriously. Oh boy, if they get talking about fashion we’ll never start this next wave. “Mobile dolls!” Casval cried out suddenly, “we should be fighting a mix of Taurus dolls and first generation Virgos this next round!” As attractive as Meer was, Casval was determined to try and stay focused on his training. He cautiously scanned the GNX to see how the weapons the newcomer had and was nodding his head with each one he saw. 

Meer blushed at Sayla’s comment and before she could reciprocate the comment. The boy, Char, gave her the rundown on the situation. Deciding that gal talk could wait she smiled and nodded, “sounds good to me! I’m ready when you guys are!” Her response made Sayla refocus on the mission, “Roger that! Next wave incoming!” 

The space field shimmered as if considering the request to start the next wave, an odd thing in itself for how seamless GBN could be. There was a long pause and nothing happened for awhile. Just as the silence was beginning to get nerve wracking Casval called out, “uhh you did tell it to start right?” His words trailed away though as his jaw hung slack at the sight in front of the trio. “Psycho?” Was all the teen could mutter as the giant black gundam came into view. 

“Move it Casval!” Sayla screamed in terror as the big gundam reach out to try and grab the Vayette. Casval was so awestruck that he fumbled with the controls in response. He wasn’t going to escape the monstrous hand from grabbing him. What the giant would do to him after that he dare not imagine. Fortunately his fears were squashed as a pink blast jutted into the back of the reaching hand sending it away to barely graze Casval. It was enough of an opening that the boy was able to start reacting, and he moved the Vayette in strafing pattern, shots reaching out from his cannon to pelt the Psycho Gundam. “thanks for the save Meer!” Casval cried out breathlessly as he got this head more in the game. 

“Don’t thank me yet!” The young woman cried out as he followed up with her attack with a GN blade coming in hard for the Psycho’s wrist. The blow was solid as the blade sunk in deeply but it wasn’t enough to cleave the limb free. Instead the enemy jerked back the hand to slap the GNX away in a spin. Meer’s attack wasn’t without merit however as Sayla came in hard to dive in at the Psycho’s chest. 

“Just how did this get here?” She cried out as she plunged the golden blade of her saber into the collar bone region of the Goliath suit. In an odd response the Pyscho Gundam suddenly jerked it’s head to headbutt the Mercurius away. It then retracted its’ arms to puff out its’ chest in a manner, the cannon there gleaming with power ready to burst.

“Not yet!” Sayla retorted as her shields jumped in close the emitter for the dangerous weapon and blocked the shots point blank. As if on cue Sayla and Meer both charged in, beam sabers in hand to slice in on the dangerous Titan. Casval wasn’t one to be shown up knew he had to do his part, he kept his weapon trained on the head of the mobile suit. Yellow beams constantly barraging the head in an attempt to destroy if not blind the opponent. The shield emitters weren’t indestructible, however resilient they were, and started to smoke and sizzle in a sign of being over powered by the beam cannon. “My shields!” Sayla cried out, “They won’t last much longer!”

“They won’t need to!” Meer yelled as she repeatedly slashed with her beam saber against the unusually resilient armor of the behemoth. She took Artesia’s warning as her cue and slipped down to the smoke surrounding the cannon and damaged shield parts. “Trans am!” She screamed in defiance and the GNX glowed a bright pink all over, she brought her beam saber to poise for a precise strike and found the opening, sending the weapon deep into the belly of the Gundam. As she struck she channeled as much power as she could into the weapon. 

Casval seeing Meer’s courageous attack knew he had to match that move for maximum effect. He practically tossed the beam rifle aside and drew the katana. He roared out in defiance as he came in fast for the Pyscho’s head. Even as he raised the sword over his head he thought back to the training him and his sister did, he thought about that special sensation when he knew he was holding the weapon just right. 

The glossy edge of Gerbera Straight ate in greedily into the forehead of the Psycho gundam, he cleanly cleaved the face of the monster in two. His attack was magnified as Sayla came in a split second after him to swiftly behead the gundam with her yellow beam saber. Explosions soon riddled the entire body of the gundam as began ripping itself apart. Everyone was knocked back as a shockwave of debris and flame hit them all from the exploding behemoth. 

For a long while no one said a word. Everyone caught their breath and digested just what had happened. In a shaky voice Casval called out, “thanks Meer… I don’t know if we could have defeated that guy if you weren’t here.”

Meer couldn’t help but laugh at the notion, “well this wasn’t quite the mission I thought I’d be joining but it certainly was exciting! Thanks, both of you.”

Sayla chuckled too from the fierce battle, “Say! You’re not in a force already are you Meer? We fly solo ourselves but for just meeting up we make quite the team don’t you think?” 

Meer stopped laughing, although the smile didn’t leave her face, “I can’t argue about that. Truth be told I am in one already, but… well I’ve been thinking about leaving… too much drama.” As she answered, her thoughts lingered on Shinn and Stella and the relationship they had been in, not to mention everything that happened with Gabriel. “Tell you want, let me think about your offer Artesia. It might be time for me to make a change.” 

The older sister laughed at the response, “I’ll take that for now!” She then looked at her brother, “as for you Char… you did really good out there. I can tell that you’re improving. Father would be proud.” 

Casval did blush at that comment, especially since it was over an open channel. “Gee thanks sis. How about we log off and tell him about this? Maybe he’ll have a better clue why the game glitched like this?” 

Sayla nodded her agreement, “good idea! But first!” Sayla brought up her menu and sent Meer a friend request. “We’ll keep in touch songstress of the stars! Ciao!” 

The two siblings logged off leaving Meer to stare at the wreckage of the giant mobile suit. It felt odd that something so random could happen. It was unnerving that it seemed to keep happening to her however. “Gabe…” she mused quietly to herself, feeling as if this situation could somehow be linked to that boy.