Anyone has tried swinging a sword or throwing a punch underwater, would be impressed by the resistance caused by water flow.
Even fighting with one's own body underwater is difficult; piloting a massive mobile suit in close combat underwater is even more so.
"Hah… hah… the water resistance is huge."
Inside Strike Gundam's cockpit, Kira panted lightly.
It was like playing a fighting game with extreme lag: every time Kira tried to swing the sword at the GOOhNs hovering around Strike Gundam, they would dodge just before the attack landed.
Luckily, Strike Gundam's frame was strong enough that the battle wouldn't cause structural damage; otherwise, Kira couldn't have swung with such amplitude.
"But… fighting strong enemies, I can handle it…"
Kira was grateful for Roz's guidance, but that didn't mean his combat level was low.
Even by Coordinators' standards, Kira's progress had been remarkably fast.
Although Roz handled the high-intensity battles, just by reviewing combat footage and fighting other minor mobile suits, Kira could now reliably destroy limbs of other mobile suits with shooting.
"If normal attacks are dodged…"
As if a switch had been flipped, Kira's eyes glazed over, focusing on the GOOhN rapidly charging at Strike Gundam as indicated by the cockpit display.
The GOOhN's speed, attack angle, arm position, and the timing of its approach…
"Now!"
Before the GOOhN reached him, Strike Gundam swung its swords.
As if foreseeing the attack, the GOOhN's right shoulder collided precisely with the tip of the sword. The point of impact was cleanly split in two.
The separation of its right arm distorted the GOOhN's posture slightly, reducing its forward speed for stability.
Kira seized the opportunity, braving the water pressure. Strike Gundam cut off both of the GOOhN's legs and then its remaining left arm. In less than thirty seconds, this ZAFT aquatic unit, the GOOhN, was completely unable to resist.
Seeing the GOOhN's limbs destroyed, Kira shifted his attention to the other GOOhNs nearby.
Meanwhile, Jesta and ZnO were also engaged in combat.
"Tch… left arm destroyed, this one's tricky."
Marco glanced at ZnO's left hand, damaged by the cluster rocket explosion, now marked in red on the system.
ZnO leaned slightly forward, activating its underwater thrusters, charging at Jesta at incredible speed.
Roz pushed the control stick, trying to evade ZnO's trajectory and find an opening.
But Jesta's movements underwater were sluggish. Even with Roz's rapid input, ZnO turned and its intact right claw struck Jesta's shield.
Jesta was pushed back two steps by the sudden impact.
"Ugh…"
Feeling an impact he hadn't experienced in a long time, Roz gritted his teeth.
Before he could adjust Jesta's posture, ZnO quickly stopped underwater, changed direction, and charged again.
Roz planned to punch, but calculated he wouldn't have time, so he maintained the dual-shield stance.
ZnO repeatedly swung its right arm, its hard claws smashing against Jesta's shields.
"Opportunity… opportunity…"
Roz focused intently, waiting for ZnO to expose a flaw.
As the commander of ZAFT's Indian Ocean unit, Marco's piloting skills were top-tier, especially in his familiar underwater combat; controlling ZnO was almost instinctive.
Suddenly, an explosion from the surface sent a massive shockwave, slightly altering ZnO's trajectory. A stiff, semi-uncontrolled feeling came from the prosthetic joint in ZnO's right arm, making Marco hesitate mid-action.
"Now!"
Roz saw ZnO's movements slightly distort. He pushed the control stick, swinging Jesta's left-hand shield toward ZnO's striking right claw.
"You won't succeed!"
Marco saw what was happening. He wanted to activate the sonic generator, but ZnO's palm-mounted Phonon Maser Cannon couldn't adjust its angle in time. Firing it directly would only hit the seabed.
So Marco pressed the trigger on his control stick. The fish-launchers surrounding ZnO's head monitor fired four torpedoes at Jesta.
"What? There?!"
Roz was slightly surprised but quickly maneuvered the control stick to try to dodge the torpedoes.
"It's too late!"
Due to water resistance, it looked impossible to evade in time. Roz's pupils shrank. He raised Jesta's left shield, trying to block the torpedoes as best as possible.
Suddenly, a faint emerald light appeared in Jesta's red visor.
"Eh? What's happening?"
Accompanied by Haro's surprised voice, Roz noticed the Unicorn-style cockpit he'd installed starting to operate.
In his astonishment, the screen flashed the letters "NTD," and then the control sticks and buttons retracted. The seat reclined into a lounge chair.
The crimson UI replaced the original interface. Jesta, seemingly ignoring water resistance, moved with land-like agility and speed, dodging to ZnO's right side. Raising its right hand, it used the shield's edge to precisely cut ZnO's remaining palm.
"What? Why isn't the frame fatigue increasing, but decreasing?!"
Haro's voice sounded confused.
"This isn't my suit? Nothing strange has been added…"
"I just picked a random words at the time… Roz, could it be your mental-frame pieces actually have a soul?"
Roz ignored Haro's questions. He just stared as Jesta, under NTD mode, ignored water resistance and executed exactly what he intended.
"…Jegan?"
Jesta's head monitor tilted slightly, but Roz's view didn't change.
Without any input from Roz, Jesta rapidly approached ZnO, striking its right shoulder with the left shield in a hammering motion.
"What? That fast?"
Seeing Jesta act so differently from its previous sluggishness, Marco was confused and tried to activate the thrusters to distance ZnO.
Jesta flipped its arms, grabbed ZnO's right shoulder, pulling it to the seabed. Its right fist, holding the shield, smashed precisely into ZnO's left torpedo launcher, deforming the hatch.
Then Jesta flipped over ZnO, held the shield with its left hand again, and smashed ZnO's right torpedo launcher.
Like a boxing match, Jesta's crimson visor glimmered faintly green. Its hands moved continuously, hammering blow after blow onto ZnO's cockpit.
ZnO's armor deformed rapidly under the repeated impacts. Marco watched helplessly as his cockpit began leaking.
Finally, Jesta slammed both shields onto ZnO's cockpit. The built-in missile launchers fired two cluster rockets each, hitting the already-deformed cockpit with precision.
Jesta kicked the now-immobile ZnO away and skillfully leapt back.
The explosion reflected in Jesta's visor.
Once the suit readjusted its posture, the green glow in Jesta's visor disappeared. The cockpit extended its controls again, returning to normal.
Roz watched everything silently for a moment, then maneuvered Jesta to face Strike Gundam's direction.
At that moment, Strike Gundam had just severed the last GOOhN's limbs.
"…Roz, Kira, Mu has destroyed the enemy's mothership."
A communication request came from Archangel. Murrue's voice sounded through the comm.
"Return to the ship. We're about to depart."
-----------------------------------
The two mobile suits returned to Archangel's hangar via the launch rail.
Although they had just fought underwater, the heat generated by their operation had evaporated much of the water, so the hangar wasn't flooded.
Especially Strike Gundam—despite traveling only a short distance, the water on its body had already dried completely.
When Roz docked Jesta in the hangar, the comm system picked up Mu and Murdoch's voices.
"What? You mean the 'young lady' didn't come back at all?"
"I don't know. Only your Skygrasper returned. I never saw the one she was piloting."
"Ahhh… If I'd known, I wouldn't have let her fly that Skygrasper."
On the cockpit screen, Mu removed his helmet, scratching his head frantically.
"I'll go ask Murrue and the others. We can't just leave that kid here…"
Mu jumped down from the Skygrasper and ran toward the bridge.
The cockpit display turned off, and the overhead lights switched to a soft glow. Roz held the control stick, lost in thought.
"Roz, I just did a self-check."
Haro suddenly wagged the wings on its head. Its cyan eyes flickered, and its tone was serious.
"Even though I don't understand why the frame fatigue dropped so much, it still needs a bit of maintenance. Besides, the suit just went into the sea."
"…Understood."
Roz nodded. "But Jesta—or rather, Jegan?"
"The one who took over the suit earlier, that was her, right?"
"I don't know if she can be awakened. When she woke earlier, your brainwave fluctuations were intense."
Haro wagged its wings. "Anyway, you should rest for now. You're tired too."
"As for Jesta, leave it to me. Trust me as your partner."
The cockpit door opened. Haro's intentions were clear.
Roz wearily exited the cockpit, standing on the high walkway. He turned to look at Jesta.
Jesta didn't move, as if asleep. Haro had activated maintenance mode, letting other Haros with mechanical arms perform the check.
"Right… it hasn't activated yet."
After watching for a while, Roz smiled.
"But… I'm glad to see you again, Jegan—or no, now Jesta."
"If possible, please fight alongside me again, as before."
"Pfft…"
Even though the power was off, Jesta's heat vents suddenly activated, blowing hot air. The airflow, like a hand, lightly brushed Roz's face, making the surrounding air feel warmer.
The sudden venting startled the maintenance crew busy in the hangar. Although puzzled why the suit would vent while off, they quickly returned to work.
"Roz…"
Christina approached, handing him a towel to wipe his sweat.
"…Is it her?"
Looking at Jesta in maintenance, Christina asked.
"Yeah… that's right. Jegan—now Jesta."
Roz took the towel, draping it over his neck.
"Okay, leave this to me."
Christina nodded and skillfully took out a tablet from her pocket.
Roz nodded and intended to leave the hangar.
As he reached the door, a strange feeling of being watched made him turn.
But the source was the already-powered-down Jesta. Its slightly lowered head monitor, and its unlit visor with no red glow, left Roz uncertain of the camera's exact position after docking.
Roz stayed silent for a moment, then stepped forward, leaving the hangar.
-----------------------------------
When Roz arrived at the bridge, the scene was already in chaos.
Mu, having changed out of his pilot suit, was in a heated discussion with Natarle Badgiruel, while Murrue held her head and frowned at the map on the screen.
Standing at the far edge of the bridge, "Rambo" furrowed his brow, seemingly calculating something.
"Roz? You're here."
Murrue rubbed her temples to clear her head a bit.
"Cagalli's Skygrasper didn't return. She's missing."
"Yeah, I heard that back in the hangar."
Roz walked over to Sai Argyle, patting his shoulder. His expression was calm, but his eyes were serious.
"Did you receive any distress signal from Cagalli?"
"She may have sent one, but the interference is too strong. We can't receive it."
Sai was also flustered, frantically trying to locate Cagalli's signal.
"Calm down, Sai. This isn't the time to panic."
Murrue noticed the anxious tone in Sai's voice.
"During the recent battle… the distance the Skygrasper could have flown…"
Roz moved from the lower deck to stand beside Murrue, gesturing as he considered the situation.
He looked up at the map and drew a circle with his hand.
"We'll search those uninhabited islands. Kira and I will go check them out."
Looking at the islands within the circle, Roz suggested his plan.
Though the islands were scattered, with Jesta's cameras and radar, and the cockpit's marking functions, they might be able to locate the missing Cagalli quickly.
"How long until sunset?"
Murrue understood Roz's intention and asked Miriallia Haw.
"Two more hours."
"Phew… then we'll leave it to you, Roz."
.................