The Scorpion Stings



"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones!"

--Albert Einstein (opening quote)

The Scorpion Stings is a chapter in When the Cold Breeze Blows Away. In this chapter, the Rah-Rah-Robot must lead all the Grand Alliance and Coalition of the Red Star mechas and aircraft in providing support for 120 anti-ballistic missile crew members and 60 Gundams of the First JSDF Gundam Platoon from the Japan Self-Defense Forces stationed in Kyushu to save Hiroshima and Nagasaki from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-launched North Korean Hwasong-15 ICBM missiles during Operation Scorpion and the Last Day.

The chapter takes place at the same time of a previous chapter, "War Never Changes." Arnold Perlstein asks what would happen next now that the world is destroyed by nuclear weapons, and Ralphie Tennelli responds they should just end the charade. Dorothy Ann Rourke objects and goes on to say there will never be anymore nuclear attacks over Hiroshima and Nagasaki like in August 15. However, Ralphie counters by informing them that António Guterres told them to do whatever they want, assuming that he doesn't want to take a term of his own anymore. Carlos then states that nobody can replace him, and that the Secreary-General is the Secreary-General.

Wanda then states that Guterres was only confused, but he'll recover. Ralphie asks what would happen after that. After a brief silence, Arnold continues to build on D.A.'s point that Hiroshima and Nagasaki never intended to be destroyed again by nuclear weapons, and Keesha Franklin tells that they owe it to Emperor Naruhito and his royal family, the government of Japan, the Supreme Commander of South Japan Luna Loud, the municipal governments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the prefectural governments of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Prefectures and the entire United Nations, including Ms. Frizzle. Completely angered, Ralphie agrees that what they are saying are what he knows, but slams his fist on his palm while telling them they have to do something, or it would be too late. Arnold angrily states that he's only looking out for himself if they failed to protect the two cities, and Ralphie, angered, tells him to mind his words before they could ride on the Rah-Rah-Robot once more.

After successfully saving Hiroshima and Nagasaki from terrorist-hacked nuclear missiles, the Rah-Rah-Robot and all the other mechas and aircraft of the two respective alliances band together to fight against the leaders of the Samgada Squadron and the Chutka Squadron, Chup Kyung-Gu (Samgada) and Somun In-Ho (Chutka), who are both riding on Mikoyan MiG-29s.

Transcript
"Oh what now?" said Arnold. "Well, the time has come, so we should have to finish the spectacle real soon," Ralphie responded. Dorothy Ann, Ralphie's sworn archnemesis, got mad about what Ralphie was saying, so she said, "What's that supposed to mean? Do you want us to give up? Do you want to see Hiroshima and Nagasaki get blown up again as modern cities? Do you want to destroy hope for peace? Then this is unthinkable!"

D.A. got mad, and soon she shouted at him, "Emperor Naruhito of Japan and Secretary-General António Guterres of the United Nations have always made clear, we will not give up. We will not let the peace-loving cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be destroyed again. We will not let the Genbaku Dome be destroyed completely into nothingness but only an empty plot. We won't get a chance to abolish all the remaining nuclear weapons after we all did so in this war. If you do so, peace is only yesterday's news... forever. We only have 15 minutes till everybody in there are toast. August 1945 will never repeat itself! Never!"

"But you've heard it yourself, the Secretary-General of the United Nations does not want to lead it anymore," Ralphie said. "Do what you want, those were exactly his words. The organization just failed to keep the peace for Earth from World War III, but it'll try again after this."

"No one in the organization can replace him until all of the crises have been resolved peacefully, no one yet," Carlos angrily said. "The Secretary-General is the Secretary-General! The United Nations may have all but dissolved, but the UN Enclave must do its best to end this horrific nightmare that we're about to face."

"The Führer has lost his composure. He will get it back again," said Wanda. "Oh, goody. when that has happened, what would happen afterwards?" Ralphie wondered. "Certainly, we must not give up. We must save Hiroshima and Nagasaki from an impending doom they've been waiting for. We can't let history repeat itself. That would never be in the sense of the Emperor and his royal family, the national government of South Japan, the respective municipal and prefectural governments and the UN, even Supreme Commander Luna Loud herself!" Arnold angrily said. "Yes, and we are committed to Commander Frizzle's will too!" Wanda agreed.

Ralphie announced, "Well, these are all good idea phrases! On the contrary, we must do something now!" He continued with a soft-spoken voice, "Otherwise we have missed every chance."

"Well then, if you fail saving Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even seeing the nuclear warheads explode over these two cities, then you only want to save yourself!" Arnold yelled angrily.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Ralphie spoke quietly. The crew are ready to save the two cities... just one last time.

While in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japan Self-Defense Forces prepared to deploy the First JSDF Gundam Platoon with 120 anti-ballistic missile crew members to defend both of two cities due to both of two cities are last defensive station of anti-ballistic missile.

Therefore,another mechas were deployed to help the First JSDF Gundam Platoon and South Japan. I know North Korea decided to launch two more missiles that would head towards the already-nuked cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that have been reborn decades later, even today. Now the Coalition betrayed North Korea and knew that it's secretly funded with the terrorists' alleged collaborations with the Global Liberation Union, so we decided to make the Grand Alliance and the Coalition of the Red Star do a ceasefire together and end the Third World War with one last battle in our hands: our last mission, is to defend Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We'll have to work together out there too instead of fighting each other. This stalemate won't be the same.

We'll make these two cities as a place where we can give peace a new start on even the nuclear wastelands once we did our best to defend these two cities successfully.

Well, that'll be hard, but hopefully, we'll do the impossible. I'll do the same too.

The briefing came on. General Kinuko Okamoto of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are ready to give us a briefing.

"Listen up: Hiroshima and Nagasaki are today's peace-loving cities that were once bombed by two American B-29 Superfortresses: Enola Gay and Bockscar, with their secret freefalling nuclear bombs: Little Boy and Fat Man, both respectively on August 6th and 9th, 1945, only to be reborn long after the bombings, but now the creation of terrorist-hacked North Korean Hwasong-15 ICBMs were detected by our radar at 0215 hours. With these two cities under critical danger, we believe it's now ready to be launched in 0745 hours, and would impact on the same time of the explosion at 0815 hours. At the same time, another one will do the same at 1032 hours, then all the way down to 1102 hours as well. We have calculated the Hwasong-15s' courses of descent from their previous orbit. Their estimated landing point are at the same ground zeroes: near Shima Hospital for Hiroshima, and in a hypocenter memorial park in Nagasaki. Get to the missile warheads' descent point as quickly as possible, and destroy all of them before they hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You must complete the mission, and come back alive. Anything less is not acceptable. Desert Storm, as you join forces with the JSDF, Grand Alliance and Coalition of the Red Star missile defense systems, aircraft and mechas, we all wish you the best of luck. Launch."

"This is it, children: the ultimate matchup, the main event, the grand finale, and most importantly of all; your final sortie... it's almost kidna sad, huh?" said a controller while using the Urban View Grand Tower as a makeshift mecha launchpad at the same time. "Alright, launch preparations complete."

"This is AWACS Kvadrat of the Unified Soviet Red Assault Command Air Force. Hurry to the target area," said the AWACS Kvadrat captain. "The later you get there, the less time you'll have to attack the Hwasong-15 warheads. The Hwasong-15 warheads will descend to a vulnerable altitutde in 5 minutes.

Trivia

 * Each of the Rah-Rah-Robot crew member has the following hachimakis worn on their heads (and underneath their helmets):
 * For Arnold: Ichiban (一番, number one)
 * For Carlos: Gōkaku (ごうかく,合格 success)
 * For Wanda: Hisshō (必勝, determined to win)
 * For Ralphie: Nihon/Nippon (日本, Japan)
 * For Dorothy Ann: Kamikaze (神風, divine wind)
 * For Keesha: Tōkon (とうこん,闘魂 fighting spirit)