Gundam: A Gundam Enthusiast's Journey with a Mecha Girl

Kira unexpectedly heard his own name from Raven.

"Didn't you say you wanted to dedicate your strength to peace? This is a choice only noble people would make. If I were your parents, I would be very proud of you."

Looking at Raven's face, a surge of courage rose within Kira, dispelling the gloom that had been hanging over him.

"Teacher, I..."

But before Kira could even express his gratitude, the ship's alarm sounded along with Basiluru's command.

"All ships prepare for anti-submarine and anti-MS combat. All combat personnel, take your positions immediately. Pilots, proceed to the hangar and prepare for sortie!"

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Bakiru's voice calmed the panicked bridge crew down. When Maru arrived at the bridge and saw the bridge crew already prepared for battle, she had to admit that although she was the captain of the Archangel, once they entered combat, everyone would unconsciously rely on Bakiru, including Maru herself.

Maru returned to the captain's command seat and glanced at Basiluru's profile out of the corner of her eye.

These past few days, Bucky has been much quieter, and she has yet to give an answer regarding joining Halbarton's faction.

But now that she's in combat mode, Basiluru quickly returns to her usual self.

"Captain, please give me a little more time. We can discuss other matters once we are out of danger. Although we are only a short distance from Riob's territorial waters, our ship is still in peril. We must focus our attention on the battle at hand."

Noticing Murrue's gaze, Bakiruru leaned close to Murrue and whispered something.

Maru nodded gently, knowing that now was not the time to dwell on things unrelated to the battle.

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Not long ago, the ZAFT forces, the Posgolov-class submarine, the Kutos.

Sara's team of four were making their final preparations before the attack.

"I never thought long legs were really hidden here. You're really capable, Aslan."

"That's why I say he's the chief, right, Second Master?"

"Diego, you just wait, I'll deal with you when I get back to the ship!"

Setting aside the two bickering amongst themselves, Aslan took a deep breath and initiated the Aegis's self-checking process.

The Archangel was not hard to spot; the spaceship, hovering low in the sky and with its unique shape, was far too conspicuous.

For Aslan, what really matters is what to do next.

'Would you really harm your own friend?'

'I still don't want to fight you.'

The alternating voices of Kruze and Kira echoed in Athrun's ears, making him feel even worse.

Chapter 55 Underwater Warfare

Although the Archangel's engines were still damaged, ZAFT's pursuit force would not stop its attack and allow the Archangel to continue drifting slowly at low altitudes.

Knowing this, Bakirulu decisively ordered the Archangel to sail at full speed toward Orb's territorial waters, reducing the time to reach Orb's territorial waters to just a few minutes.

Although there is a risk that the engine might suddenly stall midway, it is better than continuing to drift at low altitude and being attacked unilaterally by ZAFT forces.

The unusual behavior of the Archangel's engine was, of course, noticed by the ZAFT forces.

Athrun decided to prioritize attacking the Archangel's engines. Four Gundams, riding on Geu, attacked from above, while four underwater MS Geun launched an attack from below the sea, flanking the Archangel from both above and below.

"Strike and Sky Overlord, please take charge of dealing with aerial attacks. The underwater enemies are to be handled by Captain Lei."

Faced with the ZAFT offensive, Bakiruru also made her own arrangements.

Because the Strike lost its flight-capable IWSP backpack in the final battle with Andrew, it could only use the empty backpack to fight off the four Gundams overhead, while the Dagger was equipped with the Lightning backpack to fight off the ZAFT army's underwater mobile suits.

This was not the first time Raven had fought in underwater combat. After the Archangel left North Africa and entered the Indian Ocean, it was repeatedly attacked by ZAFT's underwater forces. Unlike beam weapons, the Lightning Pack's railgun could also effectively exert its power underwater.

However, compared to the underwater mobile suits specially designed for ZAFT, the short sword, which was not specifically designed for underwater use, still appears slow and clumsy in water.

"The machine is so heavy, damn gravity!"

"Raven, shouldn't this be water resistance?"

"That's not important, it's coming!"

The display screen in front of Raven had several red boxes marked by Al, which were the eight M70 supercavitating torpedoes launched by Gern.

This type of torpedo has extremely high speed and exaggerated power, but its disadvantage is that it can only travel in a straight line and has very poor guidance. It is mostly used to attack targets with poor maneuverability, such as surface ships, and is not suitable for combat between mobile suits.

Therefore, Gern's pilot chose to launch supercavitating torpedoes at the start of the battle to try his luck, but Raven's Dagger, although not a mobile suit specifically designed for naval warfare, would not be easily hit by such an attack.

The thrusters propelled the short sword through the water's obstruction, past the gaps between the eight torpedoes, dodging each one, and steadily positioned the pre-assembled long-barreled railgun in front of it, its muzzle pointing towards the pitch-black darkness.

The underwater lighting was extremely dim, and even though El was working hard to process the images captured by the sensors, Raven couldn't visually pinpoint the enemy aircraft's location. The Lightning Backpack's large sensors also had limited detection range underwater.

But Raven didn't need to look; what he needed to do was sense and capture the enemy's fleeting killing intent.

'1, 2, 3, 4... There are four enemy planes in total... Got you!'

With auto-aiming disabled, Raven closed his eyes slightly, extending his senses to the surrounding sea, feeling the hostility directed at him, before pulling the trigger.

The railgun fired projectiles, and the shockwaves generated by the high-speed flight of the projectiles spread through the water.

The next second, an even larger shockwave came back from the darkness, and moments later, the wreckage of the MS floated on the surface of the sea.

This wasn't the first time Raven had done this; he had used similar methods to escape danger in previous underwater battles.

"What? Unit 4 has been shot down!"

The short sword's performance surprised the captain of the Gern squad.

"That mobile suit, which is clearly not designed for underwater use, is actually equipped with high-precision sonar specifically designed for underwater combat?"

Not knowing Raven's background, this was the only conclusion he could draw.

His original plan was to take advantage of Gurn's mobility and detection range in the water to eliminate Dagger while moving around, but Raven's attack forced him to change his tactics.

The three Gren quickly converged on the direction of the short sword, launching a salvo from the torpedo tubes on their wrists.

Unlike the previous supercavitating torpedoes, this torpedo did not lack guidance capabilities. However, Raven remained calm, handing over control of the machine to El and focusing on sensing the enemy's location.

"The second one!"

Another railgun projectile was fired, detonating several torpedoes in succession before piercing a swimming Gren aircraft. Seawater rushed in through the breached hull, and the water pressure quickly turned the Gren into a pile of scrap metal.

While firing, the Dagger continued to maneuver to avoid the torpedoes, but maneuvering alone was not enough to evade all the torpedoes. The Vulcan cannon on the head of the Dagger fired. Although the kinetic energy of the projectiles was greatly reduced underwater, it was still sufficient to intercept torpedoes that had come close to the Dagger, destroying several torpedoes that had come to the Dagger one by one.

However, while the Dagger was intercepting the torpedo, the remaining two Gren had already approached the Dagger.

The short sword's maneuverability was greatly reduced in the water, allowing the Gern to easily close the distance. The two Gerns showed no mercy, with the phonon cannons on their chests already having their ports opened, and green lasers beginning to shine on the short sword's fuselage.

But the dagger's next move was beyond their expectations.

Facing the pincer attack of two Gren, Dagger did not retreat, but instead charged forward, his long-barreled railgun piercing the chest of the Gren in front of him like a spear.

"A long cannon can be used in this way too!"

The railgun's point-blank shot pierced through Gern's pressure hull, the exploding bubbles obscuring the Dagger's fuselage, while the shockwave pushed the Dagger aside, causing Gern's sonic cannon to land in empty space.

"One last one. Ugh, this heavy feeling... I never want to fight a naval battle again in my life."

Raven was searching for the location of the last enemy plane, but before he could finish speaking, a violent tremor came from the leg of the short sword, followed by the hoarse voice of the enemy pilot transmitted through the contact circuit.

"Finally caught you, you bastard! Let's go to hell together!"

Dagger's legs were grabbed by Gern, and the two machines sank towards the seabed under the influence of gravity.

"This guy wants to die together with us?"

"Correction: The enemy aircraft has a complete pressure hull, and its resistance to water pressure is far greater than ours. If this continues, we will be the first to be crushed."

"There's no need to explain this!"

Raven slammed on the pedal, trying to break free from Gern's grip with the thrust of his short sword. However, Gern also activated the thrusters, dragging the short sword toward the seabed. The short sword alone was not enough to break free.

The railgun in Dagger's hand was completely destroyed by the point-blank shooting just now, and the Vulcan cannon was unable to penetrate Gern's armor in the water, but fortunately Dagger still had one last weapon left.

The hilt of the beam saber was held in the short sword's hand. Raven made the short sword bend over, then activated the thrusters, causing the short sword to flip over in the water, facing Gern, who was tightly hugging its legs.

The hilt of the beam saber was pressed against the front of Gern's cockpit.

The next moment, the beam saber was activated, and the high-energy particles instantly pierced through Gern's armor, completely burning the cockpit. However, the beam saber of the short sword was also overloaded instantly due to the influx of a large amount of seawater, and exploded in the short sword's hand.

Raven quickly kicked aside Gern's wreckage before the short sword could be crushed by the water pressure, and the thrusters sped up, propelling the short sword upwards and escaping the heavy pressure of the seawater.

The short sword broke through the water, but the situation on the surface of the sea did not become more optimistic just because Raven had taken care of the enemy's underwater mobile suit.

The Archangel's damaged engines were belching thick black smoke, while the Strike and Sky Overlord were struggling to hold on amidst the attack of four Gundams.

Chapter 56 Battles Overseas

The short sword that suddenly appeared from the water instantly drew everyone's attention on the main battlefield.

"That guy took down four Grenby all by himself? And that was in the water!"

Although Gren did not consider combat against mobile suits when it was first designed, it was, after all, a mobile suit designed specifically for the special environment of underwater. Its adaptability in underwater combat far exceeded that of the Dagger, and it was also equipped with weapons capable of destroying the Dagger.

However, the four Grenadiers, operating on their home turf, failed to shoot down the Dagger and were all shot down by the Dagger after only a few minutes.

Is this...right?

"Hey, Diego! What are you spacing out for? He's coming for you!"

Yzak's reminder brought Diego to his senses, but it was too late.

Although the GU flight pedal can carry mobile suits in the air, it can never give them the same level of agility in the air as it can in space.

Not to mention that what's standing on the GU is the Storm Gundam, which is a whole order of magnitude heavier than other mobile suits.

The short sword used its thrusters to climb to the highest point of the battlefield, hovered briefly, and locked onto the position of the Storm Gundam. By the time the short sword was pulled down by gravity, it had already adjusted its attitude. The main thrusters and attitude control nozzles worked together to make the short sword crash down rapidly.

"This move is called..."

"Super Lightning Kick!"

With a ceremonial voice from El, the Dagger's body transformed into a blue lightning bolt, aimed directly at the Blitz Gundam. Diego tried to use his weapon to force the Dagger back, but before he could pull the trigger, the Dagger's mechanical feet had already taken over the entire screen of his cockpit.

"Why am I the first one to leave again?!"

The short sword struck Storm in the chest, forcibly detaching Storm from Geu's body. Diego repeatedly pulled the trigger on the short sword, causing Storm's weapon to fire randomly into the sky. However, El, who had quickly taken control of Geu, easily dodged these shots.

"Diego! Damn it, that guy!"

Seeing the storm fall into the sea, Yzak abandoned his attack on the Archangel and immediately turned to chase after the Dagger.

"Come back, Yzak, our target is long legs!"

"Enough talk! I'm going to make that guy pay!"

The duel unleashed its firepower on the constantly dodging Dagger, firing beam rifles, railguns, and missiles from its shoulder and the GU all at it in one go.

"Raven, this is not good."

The GRU's agility is really limited. It can dodge direct-fire weapons, but it is powerless against a barrage of guided weapons.

The short sword is not in a good state either. Its main weapon, the railgun, was destroyed in the previous battle, and the ammunition in its head-mounted Vulcan cannon is almost gone. All that is left on its body is a beam sword.

However, Raven did not give up. He abandoned all thoughts of dodging, changed the direction of his short sword, and drew an arc in the air with a large number of missiles, heading straight for the location of the duel.

"Instead of running away, they're coming towards me? Perfect timing!"

Yzak decisively threw away the beam rifle and drew the beam sword from his back.

"Today I will kill you and wash away my shame!"

As the duel began, he stepped on the guillotine, wielding a beam saber, and charged toward the short sword like a knight of old. But what Yzak didn't expect was that Raven had no intention of engaging him in a prolonged fight from the very beginning.

The short sword suddenly rose from the Geu, ignoring the missiles chasing behind that shattered the Geu.

The smoke and dust from the explosion instantly filled the screen in front of Yzak, but he didn't fall for Raven's trick. Instead, he followed the short sword closely and quickly changed direction.

"Such petty tricks are useless. I'm going to take you down today!"

The duel, firmly locked onto the short sword, launched a full-force charge towards the short sword, which was facing away from the sun. The short sword had lost Geu, which meant it had lost the ability to stay airborne for a long time. Now, the short sword could not easily dodge the duel's attack.

"I've won this time. Fall, you blue thing!"

But just before the beam saber touched the short sword, a dark shadow rushed in front of the duel. Yzak decisively swung his beam saber, and the cherry-red beam saber sliced ​​through the machine that rushed in front of the duel. A violent explosion engulfed the duel, but before Yzak could feel relieved, an unexpected impact caused the duel to lose its balance and fall off the GU in a manner similar to a storm.

The next second, Yzak saw the short sword stepping on his Gou, but the additional equipment on the short sword had disappeared.

So that was just a backpack for short swords?

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"