Inside the familiar full-360 degree view cockpit, Roz had put on his pilot suit and was constantly operating the controls.
On the cockpit screen, a fierce battle was displayed.
A warship's thrusters had been destroyed, and it was drifting slowly by inertia, unable to change direction. Its main cannons and anti-air guns were all damaged, leaving a large void in its firepower.
After destroying another cannon on the ship named Ra Cailum, creating an even larger firepower vacuum, Roz instinctively maneuvered the mobile suit to dodge several incoming beams.
Three green Jegan Type-A units, cooperating with a white mobile suit deploying remote-controlled funnels, were relentlessly attacking Roz's suit.
"Nu Gundam…"
Seeing this familiar opponent, Roz gripped the control stick tightly.
The wire-guided funnels fired at the white suit from an odd angle. The white suit retaliated, deploying its own funnels to form a pyramid-shaped shield, blocking the continuous fire.
Taking advantage of the Nu Gundam being distracted by the wire-guided funnels, Roz maneuvered the Narrative Gundam and fired a rocket launcher at the three Jegan Type-A units.
Three high-explosive rockets hit precisely, producing three bursts of sparks on the cockpit screen.
In the next instant, Roz smoothly performed a reposition with the Narrative Gundam. The Nu Gundam's funnels appeared in a blind spot, continuously firing at the Narrative Gundam.
Dodging the attacks, Roz avoided covering fire from Ra Cailum and navigated around a small asteroid.
The Nu Gundam did not pursue directly but instead found a hidden spot on the asteroid, preparing to ambush the maneuvering Narrative Gundam.
As the Narrative Gundam's signal appeared, the Nu Gundam fired a few aimed shots at the red silhouette.
But soon, the red-glowing Narrative Gundam reappeared in another direction, its beam rifle continuously firing at the Nu Gundam. On one of the activated mental frames, a red-glowing shield and an electromagnetic rocket launcher were visible.
The Nu Gundam dodged the Narrative Gundam's fire and charged, while the rocket launcher on its back fired a projectile, destroying the electromagnetic rocket launcher beside the shield.
The Nu Gundam's funnels began dueling with the Narrative Gundam's wire-guided funnels. Particle beams and floating funnels clashed and maneuvered across the battlefield.
Narrative Gundam kept the Nu Gundam in sight, continuously harassing its movements with the beam rifle. In the next moment, the Nu Gundam appeared to be hit halfway, causing an explosion.
A brief calm fell; the Nu Gundam's funnels vanished, and the mobile suit seemed completely destroyed. But Roz stayed alert, knowing "Amuro" would not be defeated so easily.
Sure enough, Roz instinctively pressed the pedal, and a charged beam fired toward the Narrative Gundam.
He hastily abandoned the beam rifle, using the wire-guided funnels to intercept the attack, locking onto the beam's source.
After a blast, the target hit by the funnels appeared: the Nu Gundam's shield and beam rifle.
At the same time, the Nu Gundam's funnels precisely cut the wire controlling the Narrative Gundam's funnels, severing control.
"Not a chance!"
Roz activated the NTD system. As the mental frames engaged, psionic waves emanated from the Narrative Gundam, re-establishing control over the disconnected wire-guided funnels, and they began attacking the Nu Gundam's funnels. Disturbed by the NTD activation, the Nu Gundam's funnel movement slowed but remained under its control.
Using the interference, Narrative Gundam's funnels quickly detonated three of the Nu Gundam's funnels.
Under such an intense fire assault, Roz focused solely on evading the remaining attacks and using his funnels to destroy the opponent's.
Seizing an opening, the Nu Gundam appeared unexpectedly, swinging the beam saber on its backpack toward Narrative Gundam's head.
Narrative Gundam drew its beam saber to block, barely stopping the strike. One of Narrative Gundam's funnels was destroyed in the distraction.
Seeing the opportunity, the Nu Gundam and Narrative Gundam exchanged funnel fire over several rounds. Finally, under Roz's dual-operation control, a one-for-one exchange was completed, destroying all the opposing funnels.
The Nu Gundam, noticing Roz's momentary distraction, swung its high-powered beam saber diagonally from lower left to upper right, clashing with Narrative Gundam's beam saber.
"…Not good!"
Roz instinctively reached out with Narrative Gundam's left hand to draw the backup beam saber.
Unexpectedly, using Narrative Gundam's right hand to shield the camera, the Nu Gundam's high-powered beam saber extended a small secondary blade, like a dagger, piercing precisely into the Narrative Gundam cockpit.
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Inside the cockpit, the screen froze on the image of the Nu Gundam stabbing the Narrative Gundam's cockpit with its small beam saber.
Roz was silent for a moment before finally letting go of the tightly gripped control stick, slumping into the pilot seat.
He reached up to open his helmet's visor, took several deep breaths, and pulled a water pouch from the nearby storage box, taking several strong gulps.
"Fifth simulation exercise, and you've already set a new personal best, Roz."
Big Haro, who had quietly observed the entire simulation, spoke with genuine admiration, adding familiar cheers and applause through its speaker system.
"But I still lost… even worse than last time."
Roz capped the water pouch and placed it back in the storage box.
"A Nu Gundam randomly equipped with six funnels already forced me into a desperate fight… what about the next time it's another version?"
"…You seem a bit impatient, Roz."
Big Haro did not endorse Roz's current thoughts and state.
"No matter what, Amuro's piloting skill, even in a place like Courtyard filled with experts, ranks at the top. With your current combat experience, defeating him now is impossible."
"But after continuous battles, improving your experience and piloting skills, beating Amuro is not impossible."
Big Haro wagged the wings on its head.
"It's still too early; just give it your all for now."
"…Perhaps."
Roz tried to calm himself, letting go of the slight impatience from earlier.
"But you know, Big Haro, no matter the reason, in the battles ahead… I cannot lose. I cannot accept losing."
"…I understand, Roz. I completely understand."
Big Haro responded, helping Roz settle his mind.
"From now on, no more simulation exercises. We are about to prepare for Earth."
With that, the image of the Nu Gundam stabbing the cockpit disappeared, replaced by the feed from the exterior cargo cameras, revealing the view outside.
The blue planet slowly rotated before Roz's eyes. White clouds and the familiar continental plates were clearly visible.
A rocket carried Roz and the mobile suit toward the target.
For this transport, Big Haro did not use a shuttle but instead a previously manufactured backup rocket. Since the drop zone was near the battlefield, a one-time-use rocket was more practical.
What caught Roz's attention was the ZAFT fleet below, deploying troops. He even saw several white-painted ships just completing a rendezvous, clearly beginning a second wave of deployment.
"Looks like the battle has already been underway for some time."
Big Haro, observing the ZAFT fleet, wagged the wings on its head.
"Rest well. We're about to enter the atmosphere. The coming fight will be harsh."
"Understood…"
Roz took a deep breath, lowered the helmet visor again, and placed both hands on the control sticks.
"From here on, it's up to you, Big Haro."
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"Unknown aircraft detected… is that… a rocket?"
A ZAFT radar operator stared at the approaching, somewhat unfamiliar craft, moving at extreme speed.
"A rocket? Calculate its trajectory and target! All ships, go to Level 1 combat readiness!"
The captain of this ZAFT warship frowned upon hearing the report.
"Send a warning to the incoming craft. We're engaged in combat—have it reroute!"
Inside the rocket's cargo bay, upon receiving ZAFT's message, Big Haro glanced at it but ignored the warning, instead controlling the rocket to continue accelerating.
"Report: the rocket will not pass beneath us…"
Hearing the radar operator's calculation, the ZAFT captain exhaled slightly, but his heart immediately tightened again.
"It will be captured by Earth's gravity. The landing target is… Alaska Base?"
Using historical data on rocket landings and completing the calculations, the radar operator gave his assessment.
"Possibly an Earth Forces ballistic weapon, Captain. What shall we do?"
After pondering briefly, the captain sighed.
"…The Operation Spitbreak cannot fail. Whether it's an Earth weapon or not, we must eliminate interference with our troops' battle. Shoot it down with the ship's cannons!"
"Even if it's a civilian craft, getting this close means its owner is unlucky."
A Nazca-class battleship began adjusting its gun barrels, briefly aimed, and fired at the rocket carrying Roz.
Facing the incoming particle beam, Big Haro calmly separated the additional rockets and thrusters from the rear of the rocket, letting them collide with the beam and explode in midair.
"One hit… wait, the rocket separated, yet the cargo bay maintains its trajectory!"
"Keep firing!"
The Nazca-class ship continued attacking the rocket's cargo bay.
Roz could now clearly feel the vibrations caused by the cargo bay's armor scraping against the atmosphere… and the sensation of being captured by Earth's gravity.
Under Big Haro's control, the cargo bay adjusted its orientation. The original thrusters pointed downward for deceleration, while the upward-pointing tip separated again, blocking the Nazca-class's fire and shattering into fragments, forming a shower of tiny meteors.
One shattered fragment grazed the cargo bay's armor close by. Roz could even see from the cockpit the outside igniting from atmospheric friction, turning red-hot.
"Report: continued fire will affect our troops!"
"Tch…"
Watching the events unfold, the Nazca-class captain slammed his fist on the chair.
"Alert ground forces—tell them to be careful of its cargo bay!"
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Feeling the pull of gravity and seeing the damaged, heat-melted cargo bay structure, Roz took a deep breath, gripping the control sticks, ready for the cargo bay to disintegrate at any moment.
But Big Haro activated the cargo bay's thrusters, slowing its descent. The flames from atmospheric friction were extinguished by the strong wind.
Beyond the damaged gap lay an endless blue sky and waves of clouds. Roz calmly observed the view; past the cloud sea was the blue ocean below.
And countless ZAFT warships and bullets flying through the sky.
"We've arrived. Prepare for deployment, Roz."
Hearing Big Haro's voice, Roz tapped the screen twice, linking the cockpit to the mobile suit.
The previously dim yellow eyes of the head monitor lit up as the suit completed its self-check.
A stray beam somewhere grazed the cargo bay's armor, the sparks bouncing inside and even hitting the suit, but the power was too weak to cause any damage.
Roz silently controlled the suit, moving toward the gap.
"Narrative Gundam, High-Mobility B Equipment Type… Roz Links, sortie."
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"What is that… is this the Earth Forces ballistic weapon they mentioned?"
Stepping on the flight pedals, Nicol fired several beams from the Blitz Gundam at the rocket cargo bay steadily descending.
Now, with Athrun's Aegis self-destructed, Dearka and the Buster Gundam missing, and Yzak returning home with the severely damaged Duel Gundam, the only unit left to engage on-site was Nicol's Blitz.
During the first pursuit of Archangel when it left Orb, one of Blitz's arms had been cut off. Now equipped with an emergency replacement arm built from data, its performance was naturally inferior to the original, which explained the offset beams he was firing.
At this moment, as the unit with the highest performance on the battlefield, the burden of facing the enemy's top-tier forces fell squarely on Nicol's shoulders.
Before Nicol could launch another attack, he witnessed a scene he would never forget.
A mechanical hand, strangely familiar, reached out from the cargo bay's gap, gripping the exterior armor of the cargo bay. The immense force even deformed the outer plating.
Then, a figure leapt out from the cargo bay, jets of thick flames propelling it into the sky.
Nicol instinctively fired at the dark figure in the sky, but it twisted and avoided his beam, turning to rapidly approach Nicol.
"That is… that is…"
Seeing the familiar yet somehow uncanny head monitor, Nicol was astonished.
"A new G?!!"
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