ship_manifesto

Title: You're my Strength
Author: Maria (frannie_arnoul@Yahoo.es)
Fandom: Kidou Butouden God Gundam/Mobile Fighter God Gundam/G-Gundam
Pairing: Domon Kasshu/Rain Mikamura (G Gundam)
Disclaimer: Yasuhiro Imagawa and Bandai pwn G Gundam, not me. Thank God. :P
Warning: Spoilers for the whole 49-episodes series. And all the images used here come from Gundam Plus

Thanks to people like

sporkgoddess,

straya and

neptunesubmerge for their G Gundam information and fanwork, which helped out a DEAL!

Ah!, and since the manifest is SO LONG, I'm dividing it in two parts.

You're My Strength: The Domon Kasshu x Rain Mikamura Ship Manifesto

My only hope,
(All the times I've tried)
My only peace,
(To walk away from you)
My only joy, my only strength,
(I fall into your abounding grace)

My only power, my only life,
(And love is where I am)
My only love..

-- Evanescence, "October"

Basic Story

After years of abuse, the Earth is impossibly polluted, so the major part of humanity has moved to the colonies. They want to leave the Earth to heal itself, as well as to explore the space...

To avoid possible wars, the former-countries-no-colonies reached for an agreement. Every four years, each colony builds a Gundam Fighter (a mobile suit specially built for close combat) and choose a martial artist as its pilot, then send them to Earth to fight other opponents. Under the rules set by the United Colonies Federation and the Gundam Fight Committee, all Gundams will enter the Gundam Fight Tournament, and the last one standing will give its home colony the right to lead the space colonies until the next Fight.

12 Gundam fights have been held. But this time, in the year FC 60... something will change all of the rules.

Samurai Heart: Domon Kasshu

The hero is 20-year-old martial artist Domon, son of the famous Gundam scientist Raizo Kasshu, and his wife Mikino. Domon's 8 year older brother, Kyoji, was also very talented, growing up to become his father's right hand. So, Domon's early childhood was pretty much a normal one, until...

When Domon was 10 years old, Dr. Kasshu was contacted by Master Asia aka Toho Fuhai (Undefeated of the East), the most famous martial artist. He asked the Kasshus to let him train Domon, who had great potential to become the inheritor of his fighting style. The family accepted, so soon after he and the boy left Neo Japan and spent years in the Earth area known as the Guyana Highlands... training, learning, knowing each other. Domon grew up into a strong fighter, talented enough to receive from his "second father" his crest of "King of Hearts" before they parted ways and he found himself trapped in the Gundam Fight...

Domon is VERY hard to deal with. He's quick to anger, hard to calm down, snarky, and tends to solve things through fighting rather than through reason. This doesn't mean he's a bad person; if you're lucky enough to break his shell, you'll find a man with a strong sense of honor, a big protective streak and a heart of gold. He also deals very badly with any kind of loss, specially if his friends are caught in between; that explains why he doesn't seem to care for anybody else... he tends to push them away, due to his fear of losing them...

Healing Soul: Rain Mikamura

During his early childhood, Domon met a girl his age named Rain Mikamura. She was the daughter of Dr. Mikamura, Raizo's close friend; so, it was pretty natural for both kids to play together while the father and Kyoji talked about science and Gundams...

Rain led a normal student life after Domon left, attending later the Colony university to study medicine, and even found love with Saette Gyuzelle, the captain of the wrestling team. But suddenly, her father called her in, and she had to become Domon's partner in the Gundam Fight since she's very skilled with both machines and medicine ~~and is pretty much the only one able to stand him in a regular basis~~...

Rain is a sweet young woman, almost always cool and collected, trying to find and analyze what lurks behind of everything, and preferring logic and words rather than impulse and action. Also, she's a very good listener, and kind of motherly even at some points. This does NOT mean, though, that she's a pushover or Domon's bitch. There are several scenes where she gets mad at Domon because he behaves unreasonably, bitchy, or downright stupid; even if he doesn't listen to her, she will always find a way to make her points clear. And this doesn't only include Domon; she has small tolerance for foolish or cruel people, and before she asks for help, she will at least make the try to find the solution herself.

The Battlefield known as Earth: Storyline, Canon Hints and Evidences (part 1)

When Domon went back home... he found it destroyed. His father and brother were accused of treason, since they built the uber-powerful Devil Gundam - to supposedly conquer the galaxy with it. Kyoji seized the Devil Gundam and fled; Mikino was shot and died, and Raizo was captured and cryogenically frozen. Dr. Kasshu's friend Dr. Mikamura and military leader Urube Ishikawa told Domon that he had a chance to save his dad... if he agreed to be the Gundam Fighter for the colony. Domon agreed and went back to Earth, with his Shining Gundam (built by Dr. Mikamura specially for the Gundam Fight) and a triple mission: to capture Kyoji, destroy the Devil Gundam, and win the Fight.

In the early parts, it seems that Domon cares for nothing but the Fight and no one else but himself. However, Domon's nature kind of betrays him at some points, and you see that he *does* care for the others. One of those moments is episode 8 (Old Grudge: Revenge of the Space Police); when faced with the possibility of Rain being hurt or killed, as she and Neo-Canadian Fighter Andrew Graham are in a very dangerous position (they're in the cockpit of Andrew's Gundam, which is just about to fall down a cliff), Domon, who is immobilized and completely unable to help them in any way, suddenly yells at his fellow Fighter Argo Gulskii (who was fighting Andrew when the incident happened) that he'll do practically anything he want to, even offering his own Gundam's head, if he spares Rain and saves her. Now, according to the GF rules, if a Gundam loses its head section or has it severely damaged, that means *immediate disqualification*... and Domon isn't someone who has nothing to lose. One has to wonder how come Domon, who is apparently self-centered and cold, is willing to throw everything away for the sake of his partner. It doesn't exactly mean "OMG I =3 U", or something by those lines, but even then once can't help but wonder that the Hell's going on with Domon himself.

Another of those "I care more than you'd guess" moments regarding Domon and Rain is episode 11 (Reunion in the Falling Rain). Rain has been reunited with the boyfriend she had to abandon, Saette Gyuzelle, who is now the Gundam Fighter for Neo Turkey - who has been infected with the Devil Gundam Cells, the instrument used by the Devil Gundam to spread its reign of terror. Domon finds lots of suspicious stuff centered on the man (including a picture of both him and Rain in his Gundam's cockpit), and even comes to question Rain's loyalty to him ("Is this all just a part of your duty as a doctor...?"). While the scene in episode 8 could be easily interpreted as "I don't want to lose anybody else again!", this one can be more taken as a sort of "relationship hinting" one, since Rain highly hesitated to tell Saette who was Domon, and Domon may have been capable of feeling jealous as his reaction to being asked why was he sulking at a bar ("Looks like your woman left you", the bartender says). In the end, Domon fights Saette and, due to Rain's pleas, he spares his life (he's supposed to kill anyone involved in the Devil Gundam issue), and then Rain returns to his side and continues traveling with him.

In the following episodes (the Shinjuku arc), things speed up more than a bit. We're introduced to Master Asia, five Gundam Fighters who managed to befriend Domon (Neo America's Chibodee Crocket, Neo France's George Do Sand, Neo China's Sai Saishi and the aforementioned Argo Gulskii from Neo Russia) are also infected with DG Cells, and a mysterious black Gundam is running around. At one point (episode 13 Big Trouble! Domon vs. Big 5 ) - , while Domon is out there investigating, Rain is attacked by some odd mobile suits, and despite not being a trained Fighter she suits up and tried to fight back. When Domon arrives after managing to barely escape from his brainwashed friends, she's hard-pressed and almost defeated, so Domon decides to keep on fighting and tells Rain to leave him there and escape. However, Rain refuses and says she's Domon partner and equal, and that she'll fight. Domon actually *agrees* to let her stay, and they perform an empowered Shining Finger and win the fight.

However, Master Asia pledges his loyalty to... the Devil Gundam, and this absolutely shocks and crushes Domon. He just can't accept the fact that one of the most important persons to him has practically disowned him, even when the Master's former partners of the Shuffle Alliance (an organization of very powerful fighters that watches over the Gundam Fight) tell him that all ties with him are broken. Even after his friends are back to normal (thanks to the Shuffles, who actually sacrifice themselves to cleanse their selves from the DC Cells), Domon is still in denial. For worse, the Devil Gundam itself appears, and Domon fails to fight his now-evil brother, and only the intervention of a mysterious masked Gundam Fighter from Neo Germany named Schwarz Bruder saved Domon from being either killed or brainwashed. Domon then decides to come back to the Guyana Highlands to train and improve both his skills and his mental strength, hoping to become a better Fighter - and Rain, who has stayed by his side, follows him.

In the Guyana Highlands arc, the DomonxRain contents increase. After some episodes where Domon keeps testing his skills along with his friends (who are now the inheritors of the Shuffle Alliance crests, along with him) and Rain is still there helping him and the guys, the Devil Gundam and Master Asia suddenly re-appear, and one BIG showdown will take place. In episode 22 (Breakthrough! Warriors' Strong Tie), after the first fight against the common enemy (where Rain again suits up and helps Domon to fight back), it turns out that Rain has caught a fever and isn't able to finish all the repairs to the Gundam. Domon tells her to rest, but again Rain tells him that the Shining Gundam is also partially hers and she's the only one able to repair it - then Domon says he'll make the repairs under her guidance, and she accepts after he promises to let her stay by his side. However, this is a promise he can't keep, since things are getting REALLY ugly; so, he asks Argo's warden Natasha to take care of Rain, and she takes her to Neo Hong Kong where the rest of the Gundam Fight will take place.

When Rain awakens in episode 24 (Bright New Star! The Birth Of The God Gundam), Domon still hasn't arrived, since he and Schwarz have stayed behind to fight both the Devil Gundam and Master Asia. She meets up with her father, who he has sent to Domon the Gundam that he should use for the upcoming fights: the God Gundam, the upgraded and much more powerful version of Shining, which was almost destroyed in the battle Domon won against the Devil Gundam. However, Dr. Mikamura still needs to transfer Shining Gundam's battle data to God, so he gives Rain a micro brainwave transmitter and tells her to use it. She does so, and then has visions of Domon's let-motives to fight, all the persons important to him... which also include her. This gives her the strength to fulfill the last part, and all the data is transferred. The scene where the Shining Gundam reaches for God, then the data is fully transferred, and while at it Rain tells Domon that she understands him now, is full of symbolism: images of both Gundams reaching for each other, then of Domon and Rain doing likewise and holding hands, etc.. Domon is then able to take control of the God Gundam, defeats Master Asia, and manages to reach Neo Hong Kong just in time. Rain goes to him and cries, shouting at him for worrying her so much, and then Domon holds her and says he's sorry...

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