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This is a collection of quotes from the Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny novels, both the
English release by Tokyopop, and the original Japanese versions.
Gundam SEED (Japanese)
Floating next to him, Yzak confirmed the safety of his friend, his fuselage, then, relieved, the tension drained from his shoulders. Dearka's voice entered the communication device.
"Thank you. You saved me."
"It's not that I'm helping you particularly!"
Yzak spoke impulsively, confused by the changes in his own heart.
This is unforgivable, he thought,
Why did I help this guy?! I can't allow my feelings to change. I have to put these feelings aside... Right now, there's a job to be done. This battle must be stopped, and not only for the protection of PLANT... To that end, I can't afford to focus on personal feelings.
Gundam SEED (English)
Outside, on the upper deck of the Morgenroate factory, a young, platinum haired Coordinator turned to his companions. "It's exactly like Commander Klueze said," he murmered. The cold tone of his voice matched his icy expression.
Yzak Jule was a first class ZAFT pilot -- constantly in competition with Athrun. Athrun, for his part, kept as much distance from Yzak as he could.
Next to Yzak, Dearka Elthman snickered. "If we poke them, perhaps they'll come running out of their holes." With straw colored hair and dark skin, the cynical, hot-blooded pilot made a good counter-balance for Yzak. Athrun got the distinct impression Yzak and Dearka made for a dangerous team.
Yzak, piloting the Duel, wouldn't let up, despite these orders. He rained fire down on the Strike obsessively. Poor Yzak didn't know that Kira was a Coordinator and
that was why he could evade attacks so easily. Athrun knew the boy's pride was wounded, but still, that was his best friend out there.
"Yzak!" he admonished. "We've been ordered to retreat!"
But neither Yzak nor Dearka withdrew.
Yzak flung Athrun up against the row of lockers in the shower room. His handsome face twisted in anger; he grasped Athrun by the collar. "You -- how
dare you? If you hadn't butted in like a glory-seeking idiot! Thank to your blalant disregard of orders, the entire mission was a total failure!"
Dearka stood by, mumbling curses and egging Yzak on. Athrun remained silent and kept his arms slack. He and Yzak had never gotten along: Yzak held a long-standing grudge against him. Both Dearka and Yzak had strong ambitions and they regarded Athrun as their top rival.
Yzak glared at Athrun and then pushed him aside. He stomped out of the room, Dearka following close behind.
Dearka shook his head as he watched from the deck. Yzak stood beside him. "The Earth Forces put together quite a defense," he said. "But Nicol's Gundam will do the trick. Even if he is a little coward."
"Then let's not waste those ten crucial minutes," Yzak said.
Nicol looked away. "The coward's gone quiet," Dearka said.
Yzak ignored them both. "We have ten minutes to make something happen. Or we can sit here and watch our only opportunity get away."
"I second that," Dearka said. "We won't know if our surprise attack works unless we try it, right?"
Nicol stammered, "I know, but--"
Yzak interrupted, "The Vesalius will return home soon. They'll be greeted with the news that we've sunk the legged ship." The boy's eyes lit up; he was thirsty for glory. With the Vesalius away, he could finally get out from Athrun's shadow. "Are you with me?"
"Absolutely!" Dearka replied.
Nicol nodded weakly.
"Yzak? Are you alright? Yzak? Dearka called.
The only sounds coming from the Duel were groans, followed by a furious whisper, "It hurts... it hurts..." as Nicol rushed them toward the Gamow.
"I am relieved to hear that you both made it to Gibraltar safely," Klueze said smoothly.
Gibraltar was one of ZAFT's frontline bases. Both Dearka Elthman and Yzak Jule, pilots of the Buster and Duel mobile suits, had been pulled into Earth's gravity during the battle with the Eighth Fleet. The only reason they'd survived the ride through the atmosphere in the mobile suits without any heat shielding was because of the Phase Shift Armor. They were also fortunate enough to land in the waters of the Mediterranean, near friendly lines.
There was no doubt it had been a wild ride, and it was an experience neither of them ever wanted to repeat. Now they had to face their silver-masked commander -- the enigmatic Raww Le Klueze.
"Unfortunately, the legged ship and the Strike escaped because of your reluctance to obey orders, but it may yet prove fortunate that you landed on Earth together."
Dearka hated the man's dulcet voice. It didn't matter that he sounded less cold and deadly over the speakers.
"The legged ship is now the target of our land forces, but I want you two to stay on deck. Of course, none of this would be necessary if you had successfully completed your mission."
The message ended. Dearka leaned back in his chair, and looked at his bandaged comrade standing beside him. "This sucks. Does he want us to crawl around the earth looking for the legged ship with the other forces?"
Both Dearka and Yzak were aces. They wouldn't even
be on Klueze's team if they weren't the best of the best.So it vexed them to no end that they were grounded. It was their contention that the mobile suits belonged in space. Of course, that was a normal belief for second-generation Coordinators who had spent their entire lives in space. To them, being on Earth was highly unnatural.
Dearka was surprised to see Yzak carefully removing the bandage that hid half of his face. Yzak had been wounded in the first battle with Strike. Dearka didn't think it was that serious, since he had joined in the last battle, despite the wound. But now that he saw the extent of it, he gasped.
A large, ugly, scar diagonally crossed Yzak's youthful face. Dearka knew that current medical technology could heal such scars. It only remained because Yzak wanted to keep it as a grim reminder of the battle.
His face twisted in anger as he spoke through clenched teeth, "We will find them. And when we do, we will
destroy them without mercy!"
DaCosta went out to greet the new arrivals. Both pilots held up their hands against the dust-filled wind. Waltfeld hailed them.
"What an awful place," said the one with blond hair.
A deep voice spoke from behind them. "You have to learn to adapt you body to the desert."
The two newcomers turned around, blinking because of the sand. DaCosta hadn't expected Waltfeld to join them on deck.
"Welcome to the Lesseps. I'm Commander Andrew Waltfeld."
Both young men came to attention and saluted.
"Yzak Jule, of the Klueze team, reporting for duty!"
DaCosta involuntarily stared at the large scar that crossed his face.
"Dearka Elthman, the same."
"Welcome. You must have had a
hard time adjusting from space." Waltfeld's words were insincere. Then, staring at Yzak's face, he said, "When a soldier doesn't correct a correctable scar, it's because he's sworn something on it. Am I wrong?"
DaCosta shuddered when his superior officer didn't mince words. Yzak looked away as if his feelings were hurt, but Waltfeld pursued it. "Is it a sign of disgrace?"
Enraged, Yzak shouted, "Never mind my face! Where's the legged ship?!"
DaCosta sighed. This was hardly an auspicious beginning. It was Waldfelt's fault for challenging Yzak, but the boy shouldn't have snapped at his commander on their first meeting.
Waltfeld wore an orange and black striped flight suit, resembling a tiger. Fangs were drawn on his helmet. As he briskly walked toward his mobile suit, an angry voice called out, "This is outrageous!"
Waltfeld turned and faced the young pilots from Klueze's team. Yzak faces was nearly purple. "We were sent to fight the Earth Forces. Why are we being stationed on the Lesseps?!"
"Because those are my orders," Waldfelt answered.
"But we have more experience fighting against them."
"Yes, the wrong experience," Aisha interrupted. "Losing."
Both pilots watched as she joined Waltfeld's side. She wore a pale pink flight suit.
Waltfeld gave her a look, silently asking her not to antagonize them any further. Then he turned back to the pilots. "Your machines are built for space. They can't keep up with the speed of BuCUES."
"But that's--!" Yzak would have said more, but Dearka grabbed his shoulders and stopped him.
"Enough, Yzak. That's an order. Excuse us."
Dearka led Yzak away, while Waltfeld and Aisha continued toward their mobile suit.
"It's our job, Commander! We must destroy them with our own hands!" Yzak growled, clenching his fists.
"I feel the same way, Commander!" Dearka jumped in.
Athrun and Nicol looked at Dearka in surprise.
"I've tasted too much humiliation because of that traitor!" Dearka explained.
"I guess that makes us the Zala Team, eh?" Dearka sneered.
Athrun found both Dearka and Yzak glaring at him as he left the room. Clearly, neither wanted to work under him.
Suddenly, the door opened and Yzak entered.
"Any news about Athrun?"
Yzak spread out both hands dramatically. "Members of the Zala Team! I have news of our first glorious mission. It should bring us great honor as we perform a search and rescue for our own esteemed commander!"
Dearka laughed.
"That's it?" Nicol was indignant.
"HQ has its own problems, you know-- something about a war," Yzak replied, rolling his eyes. "They said if we wanted to find out commander, we'd have to do it ourselves."
"It's getting late. Let's search tomorrow," Dearka said. "I don't want to miss dinner."
Yzak threw the printout on the table.
"Do they expect us to believe this crap?!" he cried.
He referred to the official statement Orb had released. "We're being made to look like fools." He glared sharply at Athrun.
The Zala team had gathered in the briefing room of the Cousteau, a submarine hiding in the waters just outside of Orb's territory.
"I bet the legged ship's already escaped from Orb," added Dearka.
"Dearka!" Nicol scolded him.
But it was natural that Yzak and Dearka were indignant. Not only had the Archangel escaped from their grasp once again, but they had little reason to believe the official pronouncement from Orb. After all, Heliopolis was an Orb colony that had illegaly constructed the Archangel and the X Number mobile suits.
"It doesn't matter what we believe." Athrun held up his copy of the Orb pronouncement. "As long as this is Orb's formal statement, we can't refute it."
"What?!" Yzak yelled.
"Why don't we just break through, destroy the legged ship, and then escape?" asked Dearka.
"It's not like Heliopolis,"Athrun answered. "If we attack Orb, it'll only bring them in on the Earth Alliance's side. That's a situation ZAFT high command would rather avoid, considering the power of their military force."
"How rational of you, Commander," Yzak sneered.
Even though Orb didn't have a sizeable military, they were well-armed with the most advanced weaponry in existence. Of course Morgenroete, the state-run company, designed the very mobile suits the Zala team was using.
"So what are we going to do? Just go home?" Dearka asked sardonically.
"Carpentaria will pressure the Orb government through diplomary channels," Athrun said, pausing long enough to see Yzak roll his eyes. "while we infiltrate Orb on our own reconnaissance mission."
After a long pause, Yzak threw his hands in the air as if giving up. "Fine, if that's the best we can do."
"That's the best we can do," Athrun assured him.
"Sounds good to me," Nicol added.
"Yeah, whatever." Dearka stood and left the room.
Yzak followed him out, but paused at the doorway. "I'll listen to your commands, Athrun, but just remember at the end of the day,
I'm the one who takes out the Strike."
"Yeah, peace is nice. This is a nice country. The girls are cute," Dearka added.
"What does that have to do with
peace?!" Yzak asked, annoyed.
Dearka shrugged. "Well, even the Natural girls are hot."
"Since when were you so interested in girls?" Yzak snapped at Dearka.
"You mean we're just going to sit here and wait?!" Yzak yelled.
Athrun had canceled their mission to return to the island the next day. He didn't need to return now that he knew Kira was there. He had all the evidence he needed that the Archangel was hidden in Orb. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell anyone else
how he knew.
"We need to stand by until we're resupplied. A cargo ship is en route."
"And then what?" Demanded Dearka.
"And then we ambush the legged ship,"
His team looked at each other, confused.
"How do we do that?" Nicol asked.
"We wait for them here." Athrun pointed to a spot on the map. There was nothing but the blue ocean.
"I know the legged ship is in Orb. Since we can't do anything while it's there, we're going to wait and attack once it leaves."
"And how do you know it's there?" Yzak insisted.
Athrun hesitated. "I can't tell you."
"This is crap!" Yzak threw his cup across the room.
"What if you're wrong?" asked Dearka.
"I'm not."
"Yeah, right. You magically know where the legged ship is and which direction it's going in. But if you're wrong, then we sit here in the middle of nowhere while it escapes!" Yzak kicked the table to emphasize his last word.
"We already know it's heading toward Alaska. Once they leave Orb--"
"
If it's still there," Yzak interrupted.
"Once they leave Orb, we're bound to run into them as they head north."
Yzak slumped down in a chair.
Fine, Yzak thought.
Athrun is our commander. I'll follow his orders. At least if this ambush fails, Athrun will be demoted. Perhaps then I'll get my chance to lead the team to victory.
Yzak beat his hands against the wall with all his might. His knuckles were bleeding. "Damn it all to hell!"
Athrun and Dearka silently changed out of their flight uniforms.
Yzak turned and violently kicked one of the lockers. One of the doors swung open and a red uniform fell out.
"Yzak!" Dearka pointed.
Yzak stopped in surprise when he finally noticed he'd kicked open Nicol's locker. He slumped forward, his energy spent.
"Why did he have to die?" Yzak moaned. "Why?"
Athrun grabbed Yzak's collar and shoved him against the lockers. "If there's something you want to say, say it!"
Yzak hung limply in his arms as a tear slid down his face. His fight was gone.
"That it's my fault. That he dies because of me!" Athrun continued shouting, ready for a fight.
"Athrun! Stop it!" Dearka stepped between them. "The two of you fighting won't solve anything! It's the
Strike that we have to defeat!"
"I know that!" Yzak shouted back, tears streaming down his cheeks. "He killed Miguel, too! I'll never forgive him!"
Yzak ran from the locker room, sobbing.
There was a tense silence.
"I'm going to make sure he's okay." After glancing at the uniform, Dearka turned and followed after Yzak.
Gundam SEED Destiny (Japanese)
Coming soon.
