Waiting for Perfect Virtue

00. Introduction

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This took too long for how many parts I dislike D; I may end up cutting back on the telling, too, and start the story proper at the equivalent of episode 17...

Basically it's to serve as an introduction for my friends who have expressed interest in reading the story but are not interested in actually seeing the show ;o
And... yeah, it's not exactly the same as the show...

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   Hi, my name's Shute, and I'll get you up to speed.

   I live in the city of Neotopia, where life is pretty much perfect for both its human and robot citizens.
   But lately, that peace has been threatened by the Dark Axis, invaders from another dimension. To defend Neotopia, we have the Gundam Force.
   Captain Gundam was built here and leads the Gundam Force, AND he's my best friend. He's a little stiff, but we're teaching him all about the magic of friendship taking it easy.
   Zero the Winged Knight, is a chivalrous Knight Gundam from Lacroa, which the Dark Axis has already conquered. Zero misses his homeland a lot and will do 'most anything to save it. He was sent here by the Princess of Lacroa in order to find allies.
   Bakunetsumaru the Blazing Samurai is a Musha Gundam from Ark. He's very passionate and is really into the Way of the Samurai. We don't really know how he got here -- he said he was pulled away in the middle of a battle against the Dark Axis.
   I'm also part of the Gundam Force, as an honorary member!
   The four of us didn't always work together, but with the Dark Axis on our collective doorstep, it didn't take long for us to team up -- and together, we're unbeatable!

   Captain and I first met when the Dark Axis first attacked Neotopia. He saved my life! But in the process, he got knocked out -- and fell into my workshop!
   I, uh, did my best to try and revive him, and... somehow... it finally worked. The Dark Axis made another move before we could get really introduced, and he left in such a hurry that he forgot his shield! So... I followed him. To give his shield back. You know?
   And after he defeated those goons, he decided it was OK to tell me his name, even though everything about him was top secret! Captain Gundam.

   Captain's superiors didn't like that he had talked to me, but they couldn't keep us apart, haha. Somehow, our friendship let Captain do amazing things!

   Not long after that, Zero appeared. Well, really, he reappeared; I think he didn't like to be around people, because of what had happened in his homeland, so he stayed in the forest. I think.
   The goon from before had come back with reinforcements, and Zero ended up saving my friend, Sayla, and I from a tight spot, and later realized that we could help him too and joined us!

   One of the S.D.G.'s projects is the Dimensional Transport Device, the brainchild of Bell Wood. He's a brilliant scientist and not much older than me, weirdly enough... But the Dark Axis noticed and came to destroy it! And this time they brought a new guy who likes his guns way too much for my liking.
   Fortunately for us, somehow -- maybe the transport device, maybe not, we can't tell -- someone else appeared from another dimension; Bakunetsumaru, the Blazing Samurai! And he made short work of the Dark Axis.

   Oh, I guess I should tell you a bit about the Dark Axis, too. They're an evil organization that hates organic life and wants to control all the robotic life!
   They seem to do their invading business from their ship, the Magna Musai. I haven't seen any other ships. I hope there aren't any more. One Musai is more than enough. They do have a separate headquarters though, and it is massive. I've seen it, but not been there. Can't say I'm looking forward to that, either...
   Zapper Zaku leads most of the attacks. He's got red armor, machine guns and is kind of a jerk all around.
   Grappler Gouf seems to be the most strategic of the lot, but he's still armed with some nasty claws and a missile launcher.
   Destroyer Dom is a big black robot with more guns than I've ever seen. I guess he's the muscle -- so to speak -- of the group.
   Then there are the Zako soldiers. They're not very strong, but they've got the strength-in-numbers thing going on.
   These guys wouldn't be so bad on their own, but they've got some nasty tricks up their sleeves.
   Control horns are devices that, when stuck on a robot, will put that robot under the Dark Axis' control! At least it's easy to undo, all you have to do is destroy the control horn and they'll go right back to normal.
   Bagu-bagu are a bigger problem. They're these little mecha-bugs that the zakos carry around in canisters. When released, they fly around looking for organic matter... and then they turn it to stone. For a while we had no way to turn them back, but we do now. I'll get to that later.

   So it's a good thing that it's not just the four of us against all those bad guys, right?
   We've got the whole S.D.G. -- the Super Dimensional Guard -- a secret organization dedicated to protecting Neotopia from the Dark Axis. It's headed by Chief Haro, a real mysterious guy. We don't know anything about him! There's also Chief Kao Lyn, who built all the robots. Our headquarters is Blanc Base, a floating ship suspended by cables held in place by a satellite!
   And I can't forget Guneagle, our aerial specialist, or the Gundiver squadron of the sea! We even have Captain's old instructor, Gunbike.
   We also have... had... Fenn, a Spirit Beast from Lacroa. Zero was given Fenn's egg when we had been transported to Lacroa by mysterious means.
   This is pretty important, so I'll say more about it. We met up with these triplet kids who turned out to be wizards, and they really didn't trust us at all, even though it turned out that they were the ones who had brought us there. Their names are Noa, Coa and Doa.
   We were all ambushed by Tallgeese, the Knight of Tempest and the guy who'd conquered Lacroa with the Dark Axis' help. He'd somehow gotten one of the Sacred Beasts of Lacroa to do his bidding, and with that kind of power on his side, we didn't stand a chance.
   But we survived, regrouped and won the triplets' trust! They gave Zero the Spirit Egg they had been guarding ever since the fall of Lacroa, and we managed to outwit Tallgeese and get away.
   From a safe place, the triplets sent us back to Neotopia... and turned to stone themselves. It was the power of the Egg that had kept them from petrifying along with the rest of Lacroa, and now that their duty was done, the Egg's magic left them.

   That wasn't the last we'd see of Tallgeese, either. He actually came TO Neotopia a few months later, and with reinforcements too. He trapped us in some kind of magic cube and tried to steal Fenn! But something really unexpected happened -- Fenn transformed into a big Feather Dragon and combined with Zero, turning him into Zero Custom, Knight of Silver Wings.
   Now it was Tallgeese who was no match, and he and his followers fell into a crack in the cube... but so did Fenn, in order to save us and send us back to Neotopia...
   I hope he's okay.

   Some evil Musha Gundams from Ark showed up, too. They were minions of Kibaomaru, the warlord who had allied with the Dark Axis, and their names were Ashuramaru and Cobramaru.
   Ashuramaru used to be a comrade of Bakunetsumaru's, but jealousy drove him to not just consider Baku a rival, but an enemy. He joined Kibaomaru and got new weapons and abilities, and came to challenge Baku to a duel.
   Their first match ended in a draw, but one of Baku's Sacred Swords was broken in half...
   Then, while Baku was recovering in Blanc Base, Cobramaru snuck in and tried to make it fall on the city! Captain and I beat him back just in time, but it was way too close for comfort.
   After a few days, Baku and Ashuramaru were ready to redo their duel. They returned to the bridge where they had fought earlier.
   But Zapper Zaku and the other Axis goons had other plans. They shot a ton of missiles at the bridge, trying to get Baku -- their aim was terrible, by the way, and they didn't even care if they hit their ally! It was awful. And then... the bridge collapsed. Zero rescued Baku, but there wasn't anything we could do about Ashuramaru...
   We looked later, but the only thing we found was one of Ashuramaru's swords. Baku took it... he uses it now, in place of the one his old friend broke.

   Things were quiet for a while after that. Bell worked hard on the Dimensional Transport Device (for once (but don't say I said that)). And then, disaster struck.

   The Dark Axis launched an all-out attack, sending a huge tank to knock down Blanc Base -- and it worked. We managed to land it in the desert outside the city, but our cover was blown, and that was just the start.
   A ton of flying Dogas appeared and released control horns all over the city! Captain had to use the Captain System, a specialized network that let him access Neotopia's Brain World. From there he could access the minds of every robot in Neotopia and free them of the control horns' influence. He found something else, too... he could even reach the Bagu-bagu's mind!
   And then... the Dark Axis mothership, the Magna Musai, came through the Zakorello portal. It shot at Captain and made the Re-Equip Ring he was using to connect to the Brain World fall into the sea! And while he was falling, two Dark Axis goons STOLE Captain's soul drive!
   The Musai also dispersed thousands of bagu-bagu, petrifying almost everyone in the city... and then it landed between the Towers in the center of the city and turned into this giant horn thing!
   And that's when the boss robot showed up. His name was Commander Sazabi and he was bad news.

   So I had to get Captain out of the sea, right? I dove in after him! and, uh... I don't... really remember how I did it, but the next thing I knew, both Captain and I were back on dry land, and Captain was in a new form 'Gunvehicle Mode'. We were on our way to reclaim Captain's soul drive from Sazabi!
   But Captain was like a sleepwalker... he could move, but he didn't respond to anyone. We still made it to the top of Sazabi's Horn of War, though! It was a close call, but I managed to get Captain's soul drive back -- thanks to everyone!
   From there it was a cinch getting it back into Captain's body, and then the fight was ON!
   And it was an incredible fight! Captain was victorious of course; he punched out Sazabi's soul drive (and why did he have one?! I guess we'll never know now...).
   With Sazabi's fall, the Horn of War collapsed too, and Zero had to carry Captain to safety.

   And after that?

   The city's a mess. It's a good thing the other cities are helping us, and the nearby space colonies have offered too. Between gathering up all the petrified people, cleaning up the Dark Axis' junk, and rebuilding... phew.
   We'd rounded up the remaining Dark Axis goons, including Zapper Zaku, Grappler Gouf and Destroyer Dom, but something happened and now no one knows where Grappler or Destroyer are. We haven't really looked hard for them, since they haven't been causing any trouble that we can find...
   The mechanics took over what was left of the Magna Musai and hid it away at one of the S.D.G.'s main labs. We didn't get to see what they were doing for a while!
   Kao Lyn worked hard to reprogram the Bagu-bagu. Apparently something happened while Captain was hacking into its mind that convinced him it was possible, but he'd hit a brick wall (so to speak) and invited us (the Gundam Force) to take a look. While he was showing us the bug's programming, Zero's chest crystal began to glow, and out came the feather that Fenn had given him before vanishing! It floated over to the bagu and combined with it... and turned it all white and feathery and stuff! And it could depetrify stuff. AND it turned all the other bagu in the area into the white'n'feathery form, too!
   So that was one major problem solved! A load off of everyone's back, for sure.

   Not long after that, the restored Musai was unveiled... only now it was in S.D.G. colors and called the Gundamusai! They were also making a navigator A.I. to run the ship, named Raimi.
   With the tough parts of the Gundamusai's restoration done, Bell moved on to play with the rest of the Dark Axis stuff we'd recovered. He was really excited about it all... kept calling it a 'recycle job'. I'm not sure he did anything more than put S.D.G. stickers on everything, though...
   It's mostly just junk, guns and bagu-bagu dispensers, anyway. But we did get the Zakorello Gate, the Dark Axis' method of transportation between dimensions. Not that we're sure HOW it got here, or why... we just kind of stumbled across it during cleanup. Mysterious!
   We also found a strange little phone-like device that we can use to talk to the Zakorello Gate, so we'll be bringing that with us to Lacroa too.

   That's right -- it's time to save Lacroa and Ark, and bring the fight to the Dark Axis! See you there!

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