CHAPTER29-DOROTHY'S CRUSH

Scorpio returns to Moon Base One, only to find Hilde Shreibecker and Duo Maxwell waiting for him at the port. Duo, very angry at Phantom for allowing Crimson to butcher him stands face to face (well, face to chin) with Scorpio, demanding answers. Hilde, however recognizes Scorpio as Thomas Walker, and this throws the Boss Scorpion off. The situation gets more complicated when Crimson unmasks in front of them, revealing that he was once part of Duo's past. Sylvia and Ma Ranieri get involved as well before any fisticuffs can occur, but Quattre begs Crimson to give him a shuttle to get Trowa. Duo and Scorpio escape the chaos (Lewis-Tua fans are next door) and have a heart to heart. Scorpio realizes he can't distrust the Gundams forever. Silver meanwhile, goes off on a secret mission....but this story isn't about HIM!

Dorothy Catalonia looked up at the soft, azure skies of the Sanq Kingdom which she was about to move into. She sighed, and lifted the last of her bags into her dorm room. Throwing her long, banded blonde hair back, she stared at the window, her split eyebrows showing a hint of disappointment.

"No fighter planes today........" she mused. "when will this war ever start??"

She took off her waistcoat and laid down on the soft bed. Sure, it was very similar to the bed she had at Catalonia castle where Duke Dermail had raised her, but it felt so different. The silky sheets, the fluffy pillows were all the same, but there was something about this kingdom that made her twitch somehow. She urgently took to unpacking her things, putting her dresses and spare headbands neatly into the wardrobe

and cupboards. She smiled at her neatness, giving herself a thumbs up.

"Beautiful! Not as glorious as a war or space battle, but the battle for neatness is very tiring!"

She flopped down onto the bed again, this time resting her head on the silky smooth pillow. The pillow seemed to slide with each turn her slender body made, and Dorothy knew it wasn't the silk. She fished under the mattress for the "princess pea", but she found nothing. Looking under her pillow, she discovered a picture of a Mobile Suit holding a sword, raising it over a doomed Leo. Its pose was grand, yet imposing.

Dorothy gleefully stared at the rest of the album, which were mostly shots of the Mobile Suit in action, which of course she loved. Her Grandfather Duke Dermail wouldn't have had it any other way. She loved the precise cuts the saber made, the way the photographer captured the fear of the Leo pilots. The last photo was a close up of the pilot himself. Dorothy wondered who this masked man was.

"Zechs Marquise? Naah...the beard tells me he isn't.....who could this guy be?"

She liked the mask. Silvery, with two eye slits, the mask had groove down the middle that made it point directly at whoever was staring at it. The pilot's dark brown eyes seemed to glare through the mask, making it very intimidating, even for a side shot. Some writing at the back of the picture read "Silver Scorpion-the man I wanna marry. Signed, *Insert name of Relena groupie*"

"A powerful warrior like this, mmmm...that girl has good taste!" she excalimed, putting the picture in her bag.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Dorothy opened it, and saw the three Relena groupies outside, anxious for something.

"Yes?"

"Um...."one of them stammered. "I think I left something in that room when I moved out......"

"What could that be?"

"It was...uhhh*blushes* a photo of my boyfriend."

"BOYFRIEND?" Dorothy cackled. I don't see anyone's boyfriend in MY room, minna-san! You must be awflly mistaken!"

"Why you little.....:

"Stop it, you three! It IS her room after all!" It was Relena Peaccraft.

"Relena-sama! This poor thing's looking for her boyfriend!"

Relena waved the Groupies away and introduced herself.

"I am Relena Peacecraft, of the Sanq Kingdom. But it seems you know me already, Miss....."

"Catalonia. Dorothy Catalonia." They shook hands.

"I hear you're new here? Let me show you around. We have a lot of excellent facilites to offer."

"Hmmmm....:Dorothy pondered. "Do you have a computer database?"

"But of course, Miss Catalonia. I'll let Pargan here show you."

"Thank you, but please call me Dorothy, Relena-sama. You'll be in most of my classes anyway."

"As you wish, Dorothy. Pargan? Escort Dorothy here to the database. I have a diplomacy class at 2.00pm and i do not want to be late," Relena said as she skirted off.

"She doesn't need it." Dorothy proclaimed.

Dorothy went back into her room to change, and she followed Pargan to the database. Pargan told her she could spend as much time as she wanted, but not to bother the other student in the database room, who was also doing research. When Dorothy asked Pargan what kind of research, he just shrugged. All he knew was he was new to the school as well. Pargan asked her the same question, and she gleefully showed him the Silver Scorpion picture.

"Oh, that ruffian. The girls here are bonkers about this fellow. I don't know what they see in a man who wears a mask....."

"He fights hard and well, like Cousin Treize and Zechs Marquise. He makes war fun!"

"I'll leave you to your research then." Pargan bowed and walked off.

[COMPUTER ROOM]

Dorothy entered the marble tiled computer room, looking around for the other student. All she saw was a blob of golden hair bobbing up and down from behind a screen, typing furiously at a screen, mumbling to himself. As Pargan had requested, she tiptoed onto a console and activated it. Opening up the search engine, she put the picture in the scanner and entered the code name. A barrage of pictures and reports filled the screen, most of them Yo Momma news reports on the SandRock theft. Dorothy typed in a few more key terms, to narrow it down to Silver Scorpion.

NAME: SILVER SCORPION

IDENTITY UNKNOWN

MOBILE SUIT: BELIEVED TO BE SCORPIO CLASS SUIT,DESIGN UNCONFIRMED

MODUS OPERANDI: SABER ATTACK, CHAINGUN (Movie shows)

STATUS: TERMINATE ON SIGHT.

"Oooh, a rebel. He must be fighting for a cause!"

MOTIVES: DISRUPTING THE PEACE OF OZ, AIDING REBELLIOUS MAGUANAC FORCES.IS A MEMBER OF TERRORIST GROUP THE SCORPIONS (Picture shows) CONSIDER ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

"Let's look at the other data....let's see....Siberia...earlier this year...."

A newsman's face came to life.

"The situation has gone from bad to worse to ironic for the OZ forces at Siberia base. Today, they managed to hold off the destructive Gundams (SandRock and DeathScythe retreating, Heero exploding), but in turn lost the coveted Torus shipment to a group of rebellious individuals, apparently led by this individual in this Mobile Suit."

Phantom Scorpio appeared on screen, with the blue Shining Finger glowing ominously in the ruins of the missile satellite. Dorothy hears the declaration of war by Phantom, and jumped with exitement.

"Where was I when all this happenned?"

"Do you mind?" Quattre gestured from behind his screen. "I'm doing some serious research here...."

"I'm sorry, these Scorpions are sooo coool! Look at that Phantom destroy the satellite! BAM!"

"Scorpions.......Trowa, did they erase your memory? I came back a second time for you and your sister said you were gone....."Quattre thought to himself.

Dorothy was now jiggling with exitement. Seeing the Scorpiomk II in action, bravely taming the Aries attacks with deft strokes of its blade, Dorothy hugged the screen.

"Silver-kun, you light up my life........."she said as she kissed his picture.

"Excuse me, but can you please lend me your system, Miss?"Quattre stood up. "In your exitement, your leg pulled my power cord....."

As their eyes met, Dorothy sensed a sort of Deja Vu, but Quattre's pleading eyes made her agree. The gentle GUndam pilot sat down in Dorothy's place, with Catalonia hunching over his shoulder.

"What are you looking for, boy?"

"I'm....uhh looking for a friend, one I lost touch with sometime ago....he used to run with a travelling circus, now I have to see him again."

Quattre continued his search for Trowa,this time using his actual name. Catherine had told him to go away the first time, but the second time she slapped Quattre again, telling him that Trowa left to find him, even amnesiac.Now Quattre was determined to find him again, to deliver his HeavyArms (standing in the forest he landed in) to him.

"Why don't you try searching OZ records?? You're taking up my time, boy!"

"I'm sorry.....I'll be faster!" Quattre bowed."Gomen nasai, el-sahib"

"Oh, an Arab. Your people have such an intresting past, especially in war! What battles raged between the Maguanacs and the Alliance!"

Quattre ignored her and checked OZ's travel records. Suprisingly, he found a direct match, with Trowa headed for Colony 4, Quattre's own colony.

"Wow! This is excellent! Thanks for the idea!"

Instinctively, Dorothy cackled with appreciative glee. But Quattre kissed her on the cheek and ran out the door. Dorothy paused for a moment, taking in what she had experienced. A boy had kissed her on the cheek....for finding some useless data?

"Eyewwww."

Dorothy sat on her chair once more and resumed her search for information on the Scorpions. She pressed another link, with another Yo Momma news special, this time in colony 4 during the evolution for Wing Zero.

"The Winner Colony was thrown into chaos today, as OZ forces forcibly removed Winner Senior, the CEO of Winner Enterprises and respected pacifist leader of the colonies. Winner himself was injured by the brouhaha and died soon after. His daughter Iria also died. The clashes between the anti-OZ terrorist group the Scorpions, seen here (Phantom and Jauhara) and the OZ organization has sacrificed many,though both sides claim each other responsible for the violence."

"NEWS FLASH! A Gundam is escaping from the colony! Phantom Scorpio is chasing it! Folks, hang on to your hats!"

Dorothy deactivated the video and sat back.

"Without Silver-kun, they seem like a bunch of theives and vigilantes. He's got nobility and....a mysteroious face no one has seen.........I only see the other three in these acts of cowardice (showing Crimson's beam shower in China and the SandRock theft). Ah, SIlver, if you could only teach these ruffians the meaning of war.....then we might have ourselves a great big battle!!"

Dorothy looked at the fan picture again, and ran another search on his profile.

"Yo Momma news reporting here *BOOM* from Antarctic Base. Several Mobile suit pilots are in hot pursuit of these Aries model unit. W-w-wait! There seems to be a combat situaiton on the ground! Let's get a chopper over there!"

Dorothy gasped." Silver-kun!! He's taking on...Tallgeese???? He's CRAZY!!"

Dorothy witnessed the battle between Silver and Zechs, noticing the tremendous speed of the Tallgeese, as well as Zech's superb skill and agility. She bit her nails as she saw Silver's ingenious escape,firing on the walls of the glacier to hide himself and run. She clapped, only to see the news chopper shot down by stray fire, terminating the report. She admired Silver even more, kissing his picture again before tucking it safely into her bag pocket.

"Silver Scorpion.....I hope I get to meet a great warrior like you!!" she twirled.

"It's just too bad you're fighting OZ....and my grandfather runs the Romefeller Foundation, OZ's backers....oh well, I don't care...my mission comes first."

Dorothy took out her compact and pressed on the powder. Duke Dermail's image came on screen.

"You managed to get in, granddaughter?"

"Yes, Grandfather. I even met Relena-sama earlier today."

"What's that on your cheek? A blush?"

"Nothing, Grandfather. It's the air conditioning, that's all. Other wise everything's fine. There was this strange boy earlier though..."

"Excellent, Dorothy. I'm counting on you to be my eyes and ears in the Sanq Kindgom. Report to me in six hours time, or when something intresting comes to your attention.. Understood?"

Dorothy nodded and signed off. Phase one complete, now for that 2.00 class.

[DIPLOMACY CLASS]

Quattre twitched nervously as he was itching to get rid of this class and head for L4, before Trowa left again. It was no help to him that the new girl next to him was giving him angry looks for the little 'incident' in the computer room. The teacher stood up and began to address the class.

"Students, we have a newcomer here. I'd like you all to welcome Dorothy Catalonia. She hails from Predappio* Italy and will be with us for the rest of the term. I hope you can make her welcome."

A paper plane hit her from the back. It was one of the Relena Groupies.

"Welcome, Catalonia......,they sneered.

"Don't mind them, Dorothy, they're just a little obnoxious at times," Relena assured her as her attention returned to Quattre.

"I'm Quattre Raberba Winner....sorry about that little uh.....in the library....it's just I haven't seen Trowa in a long time......"

"Oh Quattreo, don't worry about it......I've seen wimps like you before.......it's nothing to be ashamed of, being a pacifist family member.I prefer the glory of battle!"

"Yes, my family......"

Professor Bagina stood up and gave his lecture on diplomacy, a subject that bored the whole class stiff. Dorothy was fast asleep as the bell rang, with Quattre barely awake.

"Professor Bagina, I;d better take her to her dorm..... usually your 'spacenoid' speeches send people to sleep after ONE hour. I guess she's new."

"Quattre, take her back to her room. But no hanky panky, you hear?"

"Yes, Professor Bagina. *beep* yes, char boiled eggs for tommorow, matron."

"CHAR?WHO'S CHAR?" Professor Bagina hid under his table.

[DOROTHY'S ROOM]

Quattre placed the blond girl on her bed, taking care not to wake her . As he set her on the bed, she noticed the set of pictures she had assembled on the dresser before heading to class. It showed each of the Scorpions in their victory poses, with Silver occupying the golden frame.

"Thank you Scorpions..........but Trowa has moved on..."

He tucked her in, and turned off the light, exiting the room.

"Quattre, it isn't like you to accost the new girls."

"MIss Noin....heheh.....um...she fell asleep in class.....Professor Bagina told me to take her to her room.

"You're leaving?" She noticed his bag.

"Yes, I'm going to find Trowa. Thanks to Dorothy, I have a lead on his whereabouts. Thank you too, for all your help. Thank Relena too. I couldn't have done anything without her kind hospitality."

Quattre bowed and left.

"Dorothy Catalonia...where have I heard that name before?"

(Dorothy in her sleep): SIlver-kuuuun...:)

*NOTE*Predappio is the birthplace of Mussolini, Italy's favourite warmonger:)

[LUXEMBOURG]

<Leo>: Nothing to report, Colonel Treize. All clear.

(Scorpio mkII floats in the lake)

(A dark figure scales the castle walls)

<Silver>: Phantom had the right idea....I'm going to duel with Kushrenada, to end all this. With this saber, I'll avenge Ventai and the others!

<batman and robin>: Hey, this is our wall!

(Silver cuts batman's line): Not tonight.

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