An advanced guide for experienced modelers, from building blocks to hand-building Gundams

Then, Sano began to swing his right arm continuously, and his hard claws hit Zesta's shield.

"Opportunity... Opportunity..." Ross observed the situation intently, waiting for Sano to reveal a flaw.

As the captain of the ZAFT force in the Indian Ocean, Marco's driving skills are naturally not bad, not to mention that he has returned to the underwater combat he is most familiar with, and his control of the Zono is like instinct.

Suddenly, an explosion from the sea surface produced a huge impact force, causing Sano's direction to be slightly deformed. A stiff and somewhat out-of-control feeling came from the prosthetic interface of his right arm, causing Marco to pause in his movements.

"Now!" Ross noticed a slight change in Sano's movements and pushed the joystick. Zesta swung the shield in his left hand towards Sano's right claw.

"I won't let you succeed!" Marco saw the scene in front of him and wanted to activate the sound wave generator, but there was no time to adjust the angle of the sound wave generator in Sano's hand. If it was fired directly, it would only hit the ground.

So, Marco pressed the trigger on the joystick, and the fish launch port surrounding the monitor on Sano's head fired four torpedoes at Zesta.

"What? That place?!" Rhodes was a little surprised, but he quickly moved the joystick to avoid the torpedoes.

"It's too late!" Seeing that it was too late to dodge due to the interference of water resistance, Ross's pupils shrank slightly, and he raised the shield in Zesta's left hand, trying to block the torpedo as much as possible.

Suddenly, a hint of emerald green light appeared in Zesta's red sunglasses.

"Hey, hey, hey? What happened?" Along with Big Hello's surprised voice, the Unicorn cockpit, which Ross was originally confused about why it was installed, began to operate.

Under Rhodes's surprised gaze, the three letters "NTD" flashed on the screen, and then the joystick and buttons were retracted, and the backrest of the chair tilted back, turning it into a reclining chair.

The crimson UI replaced the original one. Zesta seemed to ignore the resistance of the water flow. With the same agility and speed as in a land battle, he dodged to Sano's right side, raised his right hand, and used the edge of the shield to accurately cut off Sano's remaining palm.

"What's going on? Why isn't the skeleton fatigue increasing, but decreasing?!" Big Hello sounded a bit confused. "That's not right. Didn't I take over this machine? I didn't add anything weird to it."

"I just picked an adjective at random. Could it be that those pieces of your mental skeleton really have organic souls, Ross?"

Ross ignored Big Haro's question at this moment, and just watched in a daze as Zesta, in the self-starting NTD mode, ignored the influence of the water resistance and completed his desired action.

"...Jegan?"

Zesta's head-mounted monitor lowered slightly, but Ross's perspective remained unchanged.

Without any instructions from Ross, Zesta quickly approached Sano and punched Sano's right shoulder with his left shield.

"What? So fast?" Seeing that Zesta's movements were no longer as slow as before, Marco became confused and planned to activate the thrusters to move away from Zesta.

Zesta flipped his arm, accurately grabbed Sano's right shoulder, and dragged him to the bottom of the sea. His right fist, with the shield, accurately hit the torpedo launch port on the left side of Sano, directly deforming the cover.

Then, Zesta turned over and rode on Sano, holding the shield with his left hand again, and smashed the torpedo launch port on the right side of Sano, deforming it.

Just like a boxing match, Zesta's crimson sunglasses shone with a hint of green, and his hands kept moving, punching Sano's cockpit one after another.

Sano's armor deformed rapidly, and under the continuous impact, Marco watched helplessly as the cockpit he was in was smashed and leaked.

Finally, as Zesta's two shields smashed into Sano's cockpit, the missile launchers built into the two shields also fired two cluster rockets each, accurately hitting Sano's deformed cockpit.

Zesta kicked the immobilized Sano away and jumped back skillfully.

The light from Sano's explosion reflected on Zesta's sunglasses.

As the machine readjusted its posture, the green light in Zesta's sunglasses disappeared, and even the cockpit extended its joystick again, returning to its original appearance.

Ross looked at everything in front of him, was silent for a while, and then controlled Zesta to turn and look in the direction of the Strike Gundam.

At this time, the Strike Gundam just cut off the limbs of the last Gun.

"...Rods, Kira, and Mu have destroyed the enemy's mothership." The Archangel sent a communication request, and Mari's voice came from the communicator. "Please return to the ship, we will be leaving soon."

……

The two machines returned to the Archangel's hangar via the ejection track.

Although a battle had just taken place underwater, the heat from the operation of the aircraft had evaporated a lot of water, preventing the cabin from being flooded.

Especially the Strike Gundam, even though it was just a short distance, the moisture on the body had already dried up.

But when Ross docked Zesta in the hangar, the voices of Mu and Madoc came through the radio.

"What? Are you saying that the young lady hasn't come back at all?"

"I don't know. Only your Sky-King returned. I didn't even see the Sky-King she was flying."

“Ahhh… If I had known, I wouldn’t have let her fly that Sky-King.” On the cockpit screen, Mu took off his helmet and scratched his head frantically.

"I'll go ask Malu and the others. We can't just leave the child here..."

Mu flipped over and jumped off the Sky King, running towards the bridge.

The cockpit image was turned off, and the overhead light strip turned on a soft light. Rhodes held the joystick, but he didn't know what he was thinking.

"Rods, I just did a self-check." Big Haro suddenly waved the wings on his head, his emerald eyes flashing, and his tone was a little serious. "I don't know why the skeleton's fatigue value has dropped so much, but it still needs a minor inspection, especially since the machine just entered the sea."

"...Yeah, I understand." Ross nodded. "But, Zesta, no, what about Jegan?"

"She was the one who took over the machine just now, right?"

"I don't know if I can wake her up. When she woke up just now, your brain waves were very violent." Big Hello waved his wings. "Anyway, go and rest for a while. You are very tired now."

"As for Zesta, leave it to me. Trust me as your partner."

The cockpit door opened, and it was obvious what Big Hallo meant.

Ross walked down from the cockpit wearily, stood on the high aisle, and turned to look at Zesta in front of him.

As if asleep, Zesta did not move, but allowed Big Haro to turn on the maintenance mode and let the other Haros operating the robotic arms to carry out the maintenance.

"That's right... it hasn't started yet." After looking at it for a long time, Ross suddenly laughed. "But it's nice to see you again, Jegan... no, I should call you Jesta now."

"If possible, please fight with me like before."

"Puff..." Although the power had been turned off, Zesta's heat dissipation vents suddenly started up, spewing out a stream of scorching hot air. These streams of air gently caressed Ross's face like a hand, making Ross feel the temperature around him rise slightly.

The sudden sound of cooling startled the maintenance team, who were busy in the hangar. Although confused as to why the cooling vents suddenly opened when the machine was closed, they quickly returned to their work.

"Roz..." Christina walked to Roz's side and handed him a towel to wipe his sweat.

"...Is it her?" Christina asked this question while turning to look at Zesta who was getting ready.

"Yeah...yes, it's Jegan. Now I should call you Zesta." Ross took the towel and put it around his neck.

"Okay, leave this to me." Christina nodded and skillfully took out a tablet from her pocket.

Ross nodded and prepared to leave the hangar.

But just as he reached the door of the hangar, he felt an inexplicable sense of being watched, and Ross turned his head to look over.

However, the source came from Zesta, who had already shut down. The slightly lowered head monitor and the sunglasses that were no longer on, so the red light was not on, made Ross unclear about the position of Zesta's camera after parking in the hangar.

Ross was silent for a moment, then walked out of the hangar.

……

When Ross arrived at the bridge, the scene was in chaos.

Mu, who had changed out of his pilot's suit, was having a heated discussion with Bakilulu, while Mariu covered his head with his hands, frowning as he looked at the map on the screen.

"Rambo", standing at the very edge of the bridge, frowned, as if thinking about something.

"Roz? You're here." Maru rubbed his temples to sober himself up a bit. "The Sky King piloted by Cagalli hasn't returned. She's missing."

"Yeah, I heard it in the hangar." Ross walked over to Sai's side and patted him on the shoulder. His expression was calm, but his eyes were a little serious. "Didn't you receive Cagalli's distress signal?"

"Maybe she has sent it, but the interference is too great and we can't receive it." Saiyi was also very anxious at this time, constantly trying to search for Cagalli's signal.

"Calm down, Saiyi. Now is not the time to panic." Malu could hear the panic in Saiyi's tone.

"The duration of the battle just now...the distance the Sky Overlord flew..." Ross walked from the lower level to Maru's side, gesturing in his mind.

Ross looked up at the map and drew a circle on it with his hand.

"Kira and I will go search those uninhabited islands later." Seeing the several uninhabited islands in the circle, Ross put forward his own idea.

Although these uninhabited islands are quite messy, relying on Zesta's surveillance cameras and radar, as well as the marking function of the cockpit, it may be possible to quickly find the missing Cagalli.

"How long until sunset?" Malu understood what Ross meant and asked Mirialia.

"Two hours left."

"Huh... I'll leave it to you, Ross."

----split line----

PS: I’ve recovered from my cold and should be able to update normally starting tomorrow.

I can only say that the medicine is really strong. After taking the medicine in the morning, I slept until two or three in the afternoon.

I guess the second chapter won’t be out tonight, so I’ll have to push it until tomorrow.

Volume 42: Chapter I almost forgot to type, send it!

"Is Cagalli's landing location really in this area?" Kira, who was driving the Strike Gundam, looked a little worried.

At this time, an hour and a half had passed since we set out, and it had just rained.

"Cagallie is definitely a skilled pilot of the Sky-King," Mu said over the comms, keeping the plane steady while monitoring the information displayed by the scanner. "In the event of a crash, humans will subconsciously choose to land on land if possible."

"As a professional pilot, I have a lot to say about this."

"Don't worry, Kira." Ross was also flying the Zesta at a low altitude. "The Zesta's marking program didn't detect the Sky King's distress beacon. Keep going."

Although it seemed that Zesta's battery didn't last very long during the battle, that was because Zesta was doing high-intensity exercise and spraying a lot of fluids at the time.

When cruising at a constant speed, Jesta, equipped with a high-mobility backpack, can still run for a long time.

"DiDi Di Di Di Di Di Di Di Di..."

Seeing the sunset appearing on the sea, Ross was about to call Kira and Mu back when a warning sounded in the cockpit.

An inverted triangle mark appeared on the sea level in the distance.

"I've found a distress beacon. Follow me." Rhodes pushed the joystick and stepped on the pedal.

Zesta quickly changed direction and flew in one direction at high speed. The flames from the nozzle hit the sea surface, splashing a series of water.

Soon, an uninhabited island appeared in front of Ross, and the crashed Sky King on it was also marked by Zesta in the cockpit.

The door of the crashed Skymaster was opened, and there was no one in the cockpit.

"...This is Ross, Cagalli, can you hear me?" Ross adjusted the communication channel of the distress beacon and began to try to contact Cagalli.

But there was no response, and there was nothing in the communication channel except white noise.

"Repeat, this is Ross, Cagalli, can you hear me?" Ross frowned and opened the safety of Zesta's weapon.

The beam carbine is activated, ready to attack at any time.

"I repeat, this is Ross, Cagalli, please reply." Zesta slowed down slightly and raised the beam carbine in his hand, ready to destroy anything that suddenly appeared.

"Zizi... This is Cagalli, I'm safe!" Just as Zesta was about to reach the coastline of the uninhabited island, Cagalli's voice came from the communication.

Suddenly, Cagalli ran out from the dense forest next to the crashed Sky King and waved towards Zesta.

Seeing Cagalli's appearance, Ross relaxed a little.

But when Zesta landed, a mark suddenly appeared in the cockpit in a remote direction. The number and name on it made Ross stunned.

"It's such a relief to see that you're okay, Miss..." Mu's voice came from the communication channel. Obviously, everyone was relieved that Cagalli was safe and sound.

"Kira will be here soon."

The Sky King began to circle in the air, but apparently scanned nothing else.

"This is an uninhabited island. There might be some wild animals in the dense forest. You're lucky, Cagalli." Ross thought for a moment, and decided to try to get something out of Cagalli. "Have you seen anyone else here?"

"People? Didn't you say this was an uninhabited island? Where did the other people come from?" Hearing Ross's question, Cagalli was obviously stunned for a moment, but then she denied it.

Little did he know that Ross had already magnified the image and was observing Cagalli's situation.

My clothes were dry, but it had rained not long ago, so it was impossible to start a fire in the dense forest. There was no shelter nearby, not even a fire pit...

"Is that so... Then, my friends over there can come out now." Ross suddenly turned on the loudspeaker, and the sound echoed across the uninhabited island.

Then, Zesta raised the beam carbine in his hand and aimed in a certain direction. Seeing the sudden development before her, Cagalli almost had a heart and lung arrest.

"There's no point dodging! My mech's radar has already detected you and marked you." Ross narrowed his eyes. Zesta reached out with his left hand, gripped the beam carbine, and entered sniper mode. "Warning shot next!"

Zesta's beam hit the small hillside near the mark, blowing up a small part of the mountain.

At this time, a red machine left there and flew into the air.

"GAT X-303 Holy Shield?!" Mu, who was hovering in the air, grabbed the joystick tightly. "Why is it here?"

"...Cub, your new suit's performance is truly astonishing. If I'm not mistaken, the Earth Army fighters shouldn't have detected me just now." Athrun in the Aegis Gundam was silent for a moment before speaking in public. "Since we're both stranded on this uninhabited island, and I helped her, how about you just pretend you didn't see me?"