In a large underground space of the Morgenroete, Inc., several mobile suits stood with training swords in hand.
Roz, sitting in Narrative Gundam, with a smirk on his face and adjusted parameters on a touchscreen panel, activating training mode for his weapons.
Honestly, Roz didn't really want to fight them. After all, he was used to picking targets in the cockpit, and they probably needed someone like Kira, who could feed them attacks properly.
Fighting too many rookies lowers skill. Roz urgently needed the "Amuro" of the simulation to pressure himself.
After completing the adjustments, Roz revealed his deadpan eyes, staring at Strike Gundam, marked by the surrounding cockpit system. No doubt, the cause of this "training deathmatch" was Mu, who had just received the Strike Gundam.
Roz sighed, recalling what had just happened.
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Following Erica's invitation, Roz went with Kira and the others to the hangar, where he saw Strike Gundam parked.
"…Wasn't this thing already blown up? And you still managed to fix it?!"
Looking at the completely intact mobile suit, Roz, who had heard Murrue say that Strike was destroyed by Aegis' self-detonation, was a bit stunned.
"After all, the G series is a joint project between Morgenroete, Inc. and the Earth Forces. As the technical director of the PS armor development team, Ms. Murrue certainly knows this well."
Erica had apparently, unknowingly, revealed some significant information.
"So, Morgenroete, Inc. restoring the G series is a piece of cake."
With that, lights on the other side turned on, revealing Buster Gundam, originally on Archangel, quietly stationed in the hangar.
Roz didn't notice this at all; instead, he squinted, staring at Murrue beside him.
"W-what… are you doing?"
Feeling a chill from Roz's gaze, Murrue's voice trembled slightly.
"Everyone's been busy all the way here; this isn't important. Of course, no one would ask."
"I just didn't think…"
Roz leaned close to Murrue. "I thought you only knew how to repair these mobile suits, but I didn't realize you were part of development."
"I'm not really a developer. In many Earth Federation R&D teams, technical directors don't need to understand the tech."
Murrue sensed several gazes on her and felt nervous, especially with Erica nearby, looking amused.
"Besides, you made adapters and chargers out of scrap before. Isn't that more impressive than me?"
Roz now wanted to replicate an action ingrained in his DNA from that vague memory—his tongue itching to taste it and comment, "the taste of a lie."
But thinking about it, Mu and Erica were just watching for fun, and nearby, Cagalli was overloaded mentally while Kira didn't know what to do. Roz quickly stepped back from Murrue.
"Alright, I'll let you off this time."
"Okay, small theater over. Let's get back to the main topic."
Seeing their fun abruptly end, Erica sighed, somewhat disappointed.
"When we recovered this mobile suit, it still had Kira's OS installed. I guess you wanted to give it to someone else, so you arbitrarily switched it to a civilian OS."
"I have experience piloting M1 Astray. Please let me pilot it."
Cagalli volunteered, having participated in M1 Astray testing before.
Kira and Roz each had a mobile suit; Murrue was captain; Mu was piloting Skygrasper; now, with M1 Astray experience, Cagalli had the advantage!
Clenching her fist internally, Cagalli felt that becoming Strike's pilot was almost guaranteed.
However, out of politeness…
"Of course, it depends on your consent."
Yet, like some micro-control master, she had met a rival!
"N-no… I vote against it."
Mu, silent for a long time, suddenly spoke and quickly opposed.
"Ah? Why?!"
Cagalli was stunned. There was an even stronger micro-control master?
"Because I want to pilot it."
Mu looked at Cagalli. "The battle intensity has been high; Skygrasper is already struggling."
For a moment, Cagalli was put in her place by Mu's words.
"Now we just happen to have two strong pilots… come fight me in a training battle."
Mu then targeted Kira and Roz, who was contemplating whether to start simulation training in Narrative cockpit to pressure himself.
"After all, there's no better way to grow than fighting a skilled opponent in simulation."
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Roz's gaze returned to the present. In the underground training space, several mobile suits stood, forming a pentagon formation.
Aside from Freedom, Strike, and Narrative Gundam, there were Orb's M1 Astray and the recently trial-produced, few in number, Jegan D-type.
Cagalli was sitting in the Jegan D-type, observing the full-cockpit view in front of her, somewhat surprised.
"So… this is… Roz's perspective?"
"Everyone, please note: although your weapons have been adjusted for training purposes, don't forget—the guy inside that Narrative can knock someone out with a single hit."
Erica's voice came through the underground space's broadcast system.
"In short… treat this battle as a real fight. Simulation begins!"
"Ha, perfect, let me test your skills, Roz!"
Mu, clearly excited, lifted the training "fluorescent tube" and advanced toward Roz.
"You already know my strength, don't you?"
Roz estimated the height and width of the underground space. Narrative Gundam's thrusters and attitude jets activated, gliding like a hovercraft to evade Mu's first swing. "Coming straight for me? Shouldn't you first go to Kira and get fed some moves?"
"Shut up, if we fight, we fight the strongest!"
Mu clearly ignored Roz's words, focusing solely on landing a hit on Roz's mobile suit.
"Alright… in that case."
Roz sighed, took a deep breath, and gripped the control stick tightly. "Don't die… no, don't give me a concussion."
Narrative Gundam abandoned evasive tactics. The two wire-controlled floating cannons on its backpack adjusted angles, acting like shoulder cannons, and projected red targeting lasers at Strike Gundam.
"No good!"
Mu barely stopped Strike's advance, raising the shield to block the two beams. The simulation system detected the shield being hit and emitted a "ding" through the speakers.
However, Mu raised the shield too much, completely hiding behind it.
Roz naturally seized the opportunity. Narrative Gundam quickly closed in, and before Mu could react, swung the fluorescent tube toward the shield.
Inside the cockpit, Mu felt a powerful impact, but continuous swings came from the left side of the shield.
Mu hurriedly adjusted the shield to maintain balance.
But the next moment, the attack came from the shield's right side. Narrative Gundam executed a diagonal swing from upper right to lower left, then a follow-up from lower left to upper right, directly knocking Strike's shield aside.
Then, the missile launcher at Narrative's waist activated, accompanied by an infrared targeting device hitting Strike several times, triggering loud alerts through Strike's speakers.
Seemingly disrupted, Strike's movement warped slightly and fell to the ground.
"Damn it, I can't see anything…"
Watching the simulation program interfere with his view, Mu grew anxious, frantically operating the mobile suit.
But soon, the suit stopped all movement.
"Ah? Why won't it move?"
Only then did Mu notice the reason.
Narrative Gundam's left hand had, without him realizing, drawn the beam saber hilt. The unactivated hilt pressed against Strike's cockpit armor.
"Colonel Flaga, Out!"
Erica's voice echoed through the underground space. Everyone turned to see Strike, fallen due to posture loss, and Narrative Gundam retracting the beam saber hilt.
"Colonel Flaga defeated so quickly?"
Cagalli, being fed moves by Kira, was momentarily stunned.
Then, an infrared beam accurately marked M1 Astray's cockpit, announcing another elimination.
"Mayura, Out!"
"Ah? How—so suddenly…"
M1 Astray's speakers carried the pilot Mayura's cry of despair.
"The battlefield doesn't give you time to dawdle!"
Roz's voice came through Narrative Gundam's speakers.
"Since you sit in these mobile suits, be prepared to fight opponents far superior in piloting skill and machine performance, and even to be shot down!"
Narrative Gundam, without anyone noticing, had maneuvered to the side of Freedom and the Jegan D-type, and an infrared beam immediately locked Cagalli's mobile suit.
Kira, reacting instantly, piloted Freedom using the suit's thrusters, mimicking Roz's method to keep the suit hovering, moving away from the Jegan D-type.
Sure enough, as Kira just left his original position, three infrared beams swept over, one nearly hitting Freedom's arm.
One of the beams directly shut off the "fluorescent tube" in his hand, forcing Kira to drop it.
"Cagalli, Out!"
With that judgment, Erica frowned.
It was her first close-up view of Roz in combat. There was no doubt that Roz's battle experience and piloting skill overwhelmed even ordinary opponents. Even Orb's elite pilots couldn't last a single round against him.
Now, only the two strongest remained in the training field.
"Cagalli, Mayura, watch closely and learn well."
Seeing top ace pilots fight up close was clearly a valuable learning opportunity.
Narrative Gundam continued hovering, firing red infrared beams from its beam rifle at Kira's shield.
Kira, unwilling to be outdone, fired Freedom's "Lupus Beam Rifle" at Roz in return.
At this moment, Kira and Roz were almost like performing a duet: suppressing each other with beam rifles while waiting for openings.
Mu, lying in his cockpit watching the scene, had a poor viewing experience. The air cushion movements of the two suits kicked up dust, visibly reducing the field of view.
Roz, calculating the timing, suddenly had Narrative Gundam dash toward Freedom.
"Here it comes!"
Kira, preferring shooting over melee and now without the "fluorescent tube," could only keep firing at Roz.
One might think of the beam saber hilt—though it also had infrared detection, Roz's "fluorescent tube" was still functional, while the beam saber hilt lacked physical collision volume.
Roz, however, did not follow Freedom's path. Instead, using reverse thrust, he stopped Narrative Gundam's movement.
The recoil kicked up dust and sand, slightly obscuring the battlefield.
Kira carefully observed the rising dust, finger on the trigger. Suddenly, he noticed a shield-shaped shadow similar to Narrative Gundam's, and fired toward it.
Immediately, a warning sound of a mobile suit part being destroyed came from the side, startling Kira.
He turned quickly and saw Narrative Gundam deploying its wire-controlled floating cannon, with the left-hand shield aimed at him.
In everyone's astonished view, a small missile launched from the shield tip and exploded.
But there was no expected flash or shrapnel.
The exploded contents dispersed around Freedom, rapidly inflating.
Large balloons, at least 80% similar to Narrative Gundam, floated near Freedom, but Kira's scanning radar detected them all as MS signals.
This novel tactic stunned everyone present.
Kira pushed aside the balloons, planning to escape the enclosed area. But as if triggered by a timer, the balloons rapidly inflated and detonated, interfering with Kira's radar.
The simulated program, affected by the disruption, slightly blurred Freedom's cockpit display.
That was enough.
Narrative Gundam suddenly burst from the dust and debris, swinging the "fluorescent tube" in its right hand toward Freedom.
Hearing the thrusters and the real swing of the blade, Kira executed an extreme backflip with Freedom in the underground space, then raised his shield and charged Narrative Gundam.
Roz pressed the pedal. Narrative Gundam avoided Freedom's charge path and swung toward Freedom's beam rifle.
Freedom's speakers emitted "Component Damaged," fitting Kira's plan. Freedom quickly released the beam rifle, performed an aerial spin, and struck Narrative's "tube" with its left-hand shield.
Roz countered fiercely. Narrative Gundam fired missiles from its waist and legs, infrared targeting Freedom at close range, causing Kira's view to shake violently.
Next moment, Freedom, after a full rotation, extended a "Xiphias" electromagnetic cannon from its hip.
Narrative Gundam's left hand, at some point, drew a beam rifle, aligning with the momentum from the struck tube, aiming at Freedom's cockpit mid-flight.
Without hesitation, two infrared beams appeared simultaneously.
"…Kira, Roz, the result is a tie… Simulation ends."
Erica's voice echoed through the underground space, announcing the simulation outcome.
Roz sat in the cockpit, turning off communications, staring at his palm.
"…Have I become weaker… because I've been fighting too many cannon fodder?"
After a moment of thought, Roz made a decision.
"Decided. Later, I'll train with Amuro and see if I can face a fully-equipped Nu Gundam."
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