Chapter 07: Rated E for Everyone
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I stare at the body in front of me. He's not moving—not even flinching when I place my hand on his forehead and brush a few strands of hair away from his closed eyes.
He looks so still, so lifeless… so small. It's strange how someone who once held so much noise inside can look this quiet now. His mind is buried too deep for me to reach; even my NewType senses can't find a trace of it. Maybe I'll try again later—when I'm stronger.
"Sleep well, Elan," I whisper, setting an apple on the bedside table beside him. "And I hope you'll only have good dreams from now on." A faint smile tugs at my lips, though it doesn't quite reach my eyes.
When I step outside, the door closes softly behind me, and I pull my usual mask back on. "Anything else to report, Barara?" I ask, voice steady again.
"GN Drive Tau has finished its development," she says through the comms, and that makes me stop mid-step.
"That's 3 days sooner than you told me before," I mutter, brow furrowing.
"The development team went all-out when they heard they'd be credited as the key contributors to discovering this 'new energy,'" she replies with a shrug I can practically hear through her tone.
I arch a brow. "Any traitors or potential leakers?"
"Please," she scoffs, a smirk audible in her voice. "I'm an Innovator. I can read minds."
"Then I'll leave it to you," I say, shrugging like it's nothing. Inside, I'm relieved — Barara's the kind of person you don't worry about.
I drop into the chair outside Elan's room and flip open my student notebook. An ad for GUND-ARM, Inc. glows on the page: Suletta dancing across the screen, impossible and bright. Even tired, her smile cuts through the gloom. I haven't seen her like that in a while. It makes my chest warm in a dumb, protective way.
Three weeks. I've been hovering around the hospital for nearly three weeks now. Time's weird here. Guess it's about time I go back to school and pretend life's normal. I wonder what Miorine and Suletta have been up to while I've been playing nurse-maid.
-----x-----
"You're late!" Miorine's already standing there, arms crossed, delivering that trademark glare like a warning shot.
"Sorry, Mio-Mio! I was just catching up with my friend who sleeps a lot," I joke, trying to keep things light. The laugh comes easy—too easy—but Miorine's face changes the second I say it. The edges fall away, and something heavier takes the place of her usual scowl.
"That's great! With Cadell here, we don't need to find any more helpers!" Suletta chirps, pure sunshine as always, oblivious to the little secrets tucked under my words. Bless her.
"Helper?" I ask, tilting my head.
"We're having a duel with Grassley House," Lilique replies. Since I've been hanging around Earth House a lot—thanks to my two best friends—most of them have gotten used to me by now. Some even talk to me without flinching. Progress.
The moment I hear the word duel, I turn to Miorine. My eyes probably sparkle like a kid staring at a new Gunpla kit.
She stares back, her expression already screaming, Don't even start.
"Okay," she finally says, exhaling hard. "You can use your G-Self."
Another sigh follows immediately after, deeper this time. Poor girl's patience must have an expiration date.
"Nice." I flash her a grin and give her a thumbs-up.
"G-Self?" Ojelo blinks. "What's that?"
"My personal mobile suit," I say with pride. "I couldn't use it last time because Miorine forbade me to." I give her an exaggerated pout.
"You wanted to bring a Gundam to a school duel," Miorine shoots back with that signature glare. "Of course, I had to stop you."
"A Gundam as a personal mobile suit…" Ojelo mutters, rubbing his temples. "Yeah, company owners are built different."
"Oh, right. I should probably bring it here, huh?" I glance around the room. The others exchange looks somewhere between curiosity and mild fear.
Chuchu stays quiet. Her arms are crossed, her expression unreadable. She's not glaring for once, which almost worries me more.
-----x-----
"Woah!"
The collective gasp from the group makes me grin a little. The students of Earth House stand frozen, eyes wide as they take in the sight of G-Self towering in front of them. The hangar lights glint off its muted armor, dull silver and white with faint hints of blue tracing the frame. It's almost serene right now, standing motionless under the floodlights.
Nika, though, looks like she's about to ascend to heaven. Her eyes are practically glowing. I walk toward her, and when I stop in front of her, she glances up at me with a nervous smile. I can tell she's torn between curiosity and worry, like she's wondering if I'm about to scold her again.
I rest both hands gently on her shoulders. "Perhaps I've treated you harshly," I begin, a little dramatic on purpose. "Your smile's the same as before—it's hard to look at—but after spending five minutes with that person at the party, I guess yours isn't too bad."
Her eyebrows twitch. "…Thank you?" she says, tilting her head slightly, still unsure if that was a compliment or an insult.
"You can ask me if you've got any questions about G-Self," I offer, stepping aside so she can get a better look.
Nika's curiosity immediately takes over. "What's G-Self made of? I haven't seen anything like that before," she says, her hands already tracing the air along its silhouette as if measuring invisible lines.
"Photon Frame," I reply, releasing her shoulders and folding my arms.
The words hang there for a second. Most of them probably have no clue what that means.
"Hey, Cadell?" someone calls. I don't even turn around. "Yes?"
"Why's your G-Self's color so muted?" Oh, that's Ojelo's voice. Of course.
"Because it hasn't been booted up yet," I answer simply.
"You mean your mobile suit changes color when it's powered on?" he asks again, disbelief creeping into his tone.
"Yes, it does," I say, grinning now.
"Alright, enough gawking at the G-Self," Miorine cuts in sharply, hands on her hips like the queen she is. "Let's focus on planning for tomorrow's battle."
Then her gaze zeroes in on me. "And you," she says, pointing like I'm some delinquent caught skipping class. "Which pack are you using tomorrow?"
I tap my chin, pretending to think it through, though I already know my options. The obvious choice would be the Perfect Pack—it's reliable, efficient, and, well, perfect. But… nah.
"I'll go with the Universe Booster," I say after a moment. "Tomorrow's battle is about Suletta and Aerial. The spotlight should be on them. I'll handle the other five."
The room goes quiet for a beat before Nuno raises a hand hesitantly. "Uh… won't the attention be on you if you're fighting five at once?"
I blink. "...You know, that's a fair point."
But before I can say anything else, Miorine just nods like I've said something genius. "No, let's go with that. One Gundam to hold off five others while Suletta and Aerial deal with their leader."
I stare at her.
Et tu, Miorine?
What in the actual hell are you smoking? Even I know this is a bad plan — and I'm the one who came up with it!
She's already scribbling down notes, though, and everyone else seems to just… go along with it. Nika's nodding thoughtfully like it's some brilliant military tactic.
I drag a hand down my face and sigh. "Fine. But if I die of blood pressure tomorrow, I'm haunting all of you."
-----x-----
I'm definitely dying of blood pressure today. What the hell was Miorine even thinking?!
Instead of sending out all six of us like we'd discussed before, she only sent Suletta and me! That's it. Two people. Against Grassley. I swear, she's trying to kill me.
Five Beguir-Pente surround me in a wide circle, their sleek purple frames glinting under the harsh arena lights. Huh, I'm honestly surprised Shaddiq didn't come himself. Guess he'd rather let his harem do the dirty work for him. Well, his loss.
I glance at the formation and mentally assign labels. Girl 1. Girl 2. Girl 3. Girl 4. And Sabina.
What? That Sabina girl's got a great figure — hard not to remember her.
"Where is that bitch Lilique?!" Girl 3 yells, her voice cutting through the comms, shrill and demanding.
"Sorry, she's busy," I reply, letting out a short laugh as G-Self's visor flares to life, glowing blue. "Guess you'll have to be satisfied with me."
I grip the controls tighter, feeling the familiar hum of the Photon Frame beneath my fingertips. The G-Self's systems boot in sync with my heartbeat, each pulse echoing in the cockpit like a drum before battle. The pressure's already building in my chest — but honestly? That just makes it more fun.
I start deploying my eight C-Funnels, letting them fan out around the G-Self like a halo of shimmering blades. The air hums with their energy, blue light arcing between them as if they're eager to move on their own. "Well? What are you girls waiting for?" I grin and flick my wrist, making a little come at me gesture.
"Come."
"A Gundam," Girl 2 mutters through the comms, calm but wary. "I didn't have any reports that Venus Globe had produced a single mobile suit."
She doesn't wait for a reply — her Beguir-Pente fires, a sharp beam slicing toward me.
"Bold of you to assume I'd let my company's info leak," I shoot back, raising my shield. The beam hits — and dissolves into light. My [Absorb Shield] eats it up like candy.
"It can also absorb laser beams?!" Girl 4 gasps.
"Of course!" I can't help but laugh, high on the thrill of it all.
I flick my eyes to the monitor and send two C-Funnels toward each of them, splitting my focus between the swirling targets. The blades dart like hunting dogs, energy trails painting the air as I push G-Self forward — straight at Sabina.
"Sabina!" Girl 1's voice crackles through. "Should we use that now?"
"Alright," Sabina replies without hesitation. Oh, this'll be good.
They boot up the Antidote system, thinking it'll neutralize my tech. But my C-Funnels don't even stutter — they keep dancing through their formation, striking and weaving with perfect precision.
"What—?! Why isn't the Antidote working?!" Girl 3 practically screams.
"Human mind, babies!" I shout back, laughing. "I'm manually controlling all eight of them — with the power of sheer human mind!"
The Psycommu system hums softly behind me, feeding off the rhythm of my thoughts. Normally, C-Funnels would use the Psycho-Follow System from the AGE line, but I'm not an X-Rounder — I'm a NewType. My brainwaves sync with the funnels perfectly. It's not supposed to work this way… and yet it does.
"Are you saying you're controlling nine different things right now?!" Sabina's voice wavers for just a second — that mix of awe and disbelief I live for.
"Oh, you flatter me," I reply, just as a stray beam from Girl 1 streaks toward me. I raise my shield again and grin when it vanishes into the void. "Nice try."
"You monster," Girl 2 hisses over the comm. Wow—name-calling already? Cute.
"Hey, don't be rude," I snap back, grinning. "Come on, I'll let you shoot me for free. I won't even fight back." I say it to bait them, but their attention's glued to the C-Funnels while I play cat-and-mouse with Sabina.
I sheath the beam saber and flick the [RG System] online. The suit answers like a coiled spring — servos whine, hydraulics tighten, everything gets sharper. I step forward and punch Sabina's unit right in the face. It's a clean, mechanical hit that rattles her cockpit feed. A roundhouse to the torso follows, and she staggers.
"I'll show you why these hands are rated E for everyone," I taunt, feeling the rush. Their screams flood the channel. "Sabina!" Girl 1 yells. Sabina grits her teeth on the comm. "Don't you dare mock me!" she spits.
"Come then. Come at me like you mean it." A beam darts toward me; my Absorb Shield drinks it up. The HUD flashes — eighty percent charge. Not bad.
Sabina charges with a shield raised. Cute. I KICK it hard enough to make the composite crack. The RG boost pushes G-Self's strength past normal limits; her frame wobbles back.
"Fun playing with you girls, but—" another beam slices in from a blind spot; I absorb it. "This is the end," I say, smile wide in the helmet. [Discharge Mode] primes.
The Power Gate blossoms above G-Self — call it a Plavsky knockoff if you want, but the effect's the same: raw output spikes. Wings slide out of the back like blades unfolding. G-Self rockets forward, speed razor-bright.
I go surgical. The funnels keep them distracted; I move through the openings they leave and cut. Arms. Legs. Heads. Not because I like it — because this is a duel and stopping them means stopping them, efficiently. Their suits break apart under the synch of my strikes and the funnels' harassment; bits fly, servos scream, control loops die. By the time it's over, their mobile suits are nothing but smoking junk.
Standing in the cockpit, chest pounding, I let the aftertaste of adrenaline and metal roll through me.
Now, how is Suletta doing? I hover above ground to see how she's doing and… huh? Aerial stood triumphant over the ruined form of the Michaelis, its Blade Antenna neatly severed. Good job, girl. Watching her win feels like watching the sun come back after weeks of rain.
「 Winner
Earth House
Miorine Rembran 」
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Author's Note;
I apologize if the duel felt too short and you didn't get to see Suletta's battle. Battle scenes are really hard for me to write, and I don't want to do it again to keep my mind from melting. Please let me know if you find any errors in the chapter!
Did you know that I dreamed about this fight scene about six or seven times while I was in the hospital bed? In all of them, the G-Else would fall from nowhere, battle Cadell, and then they'd both disappear for years. So, a timeskip would happen, and then Cadell would come back with a different name. Shocker, right?
But no. That's not what happens here. In this chapter, Cadell will just bitch-slap everyone.
Canon will officially go out the window once Season 1 ends. Stay tuned!
You can read four more chapters in advance on my P-word site! It's /Zimrence