Eliard felt the pride of wielding the Gundam well up in his throat. Even though it was called a Gundam, the Hazel Reserve Unit was a GM Quel with a Gundam Head mounted on it. In spite of that, calling the machine a Gundam had a special meaning. The history of that began with the ace Amuro Ray during the One Year War. Around the time of the GM’s development, it is said that early trials of a Ground Type Gundam were made on Earth. Furthermore, a new Gundam was developed for Amuro Ray and was waiting to be rolled out just when the One Year War was ending. The Zeon guerilla’s attempting to destroy it inside a colony were ultimately wiped out by the lone Gundam. There were rumors that three Gundam units were active during the Delaz Uprising, however records of that were officially erased and Eliard had never actually seen a photo of them.

The Gundam has a glorious history. And now, Eliard was piloting one of those Gundams.

Although it was a mock battle with Carl, it was natural to be enthusiastic. Having reached the regulated distance, the battle commenced. Eliard hit his unit behind a convenient rock. The targeting scope on the monitor moved around frantically. It was searching for Carl’s GM Sniper III.

“Where the hell are you?” muttered Eliard.

Comms were forbidden during mock battles so there was a sense of security that whatever was muttered in the cockpit wouldn’t be heard by anyone.

Suddenly, a beam passed the left side of his unit.

Eliard automatically threw the unit sideways and jumped out from behind the rock. It felt as though all the blood in his body shifted to one side due to the sudden G’s. He also felt a strange rotation in the machine. The long propellant produces momentum and he was unable to shift horizontally.

“It’s a problem even with this huge propellant tank.”

On the other hand, he didn’t have to worry about running out of propellant. The unit should far exceed the mobility of Carl’s GM Sniper III. But, the problem was the long range rifle. He’d have to stay far above the range. But today, Carl had the cannon mount.

“There!”

Carl’s unit went around behind Eliard, firing his rifle again as soon as the Hazel Reserve Unit turned around.

Using his thrusters, he had no choice but to move erratically.

Even though he was aware the output was set for training mode, he shivered when the beam approached. Staring intensely into the target scope, Eliard followed Carl’s signature. He fired several shots off from the beam rifle as a threat. But, Carl was at a safe distance. He was composed.

“So you’re not coming closer, eh?”

He charged towards Carl’s unit while shifting the unit side to side.

“What’s that?” came Carl’s voice out of the blue inside the cockpit.

The fool. Eliard thought.

They could only receive communications during training. Transmitting was prohibited.

Carl’s voice continued, “What appear to be three mobile suits are approaching. This isn’t a drill!”

Following that, another voice could be heard.

“This is the Aswan. Enemy confirmed. We’re lifting comm limits. Repeat. Enemy sighted. This is not a drill!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Carl cried out, “I’ve only got training weapons!”

There was no way to release the output limiter on the rifle from inside the cockpit. It was a step to prevent accidents during training. That brought about unfortunate results.

Eliard looked around at his four monitors. There. Three mobile suits.

It was only a small point of light reflecting the sunlight, but using telescopic mode he was able to confirm the units. He recognized two of the units, the Rick Dom and Zaku they encountered twice before. The other unit was a Gelgoog with a Zaku’s spike shield attached to its shoulder. It was the color of a production model. That meant the Zanzibar that was carrying them was somewhere nearby.

The Aswan was unable to locate them beforehand. Ahead, a small patch of space that would be a problem.

The three enemy units rapidly drew closer. Carl fired his long range beam rifle and the three units scattered.

As Carl threatened them, Eliard was somehow planning on luring them into close combat.

Even though his weapons weren’t useful, he had no choice but to fights with the specs.

If he hit his opponent with the full mass of the unit, they might be damaged. In short, he’d ram them.

The enemy that had spread out still had distance on them, as if they were being cautious of Carl’s rifle.

It was only a matter of time before they realize the limitations of the output. They had to find a way to get the upper hand somehow before it was too late…

The Gelgoog and Rick Dom headed for Carl’s unit.

Carl rapidly fired the shoulder cannon and long range beam rifle as he flied about. They made a wide circle around him for their dogfight. The Gelgoog and Rick Dom were cautious of Carl’s firearms.

The Zaku was right in front of Eliard’s unit.

“That’ pilot from before, huh?” muttered Eliard, “A veteran pilot. Maybe I should provoke him.”

Eliard didn’t fire his rifle. He advanced, swinging his machine back and forth fervently so his opponent couldn’t get a lock on him. He felt like he was in a shaker. The blood in his head boiled, and his insides twisted up. It managed to work. He managed to provoke his opponent. He wasn’t going to use a firearm, instead choosing to respond via close combat. Eliard rushed forward, intending to hurl himself at him, prepared to damage the armor.

It looked as though the Zaku was standing still in space.

“Don’t make light of me!” In an instant, the distance between Eliard’s Hazel and the Zaku shortened.

He prepared for the shock from the crash, but there wasn’t one. The Zaku had moved just before he crashed into it. He dodged him.

Eliard used his main thrusters to turn the unit around and decelerated. The Zaku was right in front of him, brandishing its heat hawk.

His heart seemed to well up in his throat from fear.

“Like hell you will!” he cried out to encourage himself as he moved the Hazel’s leg. At the same time, he poured everything into the main thrusters. A terrible shock came. He managed to kick the Zaku. He was able to seize the moment.

The Zaku began to rotate away, but was able to regain it’s posture with a short burst of its thrusters.

“Shit. I’ve got no chance at close combat!”

At that moment, Eliard became aware that something was approaching at high speed.

“Hold him off for a minute.” came Murphy’s voice. “That should be enough.”

Commander Murphy was on his way. With that alone, Eliard suddenly felt that he had the upper hand.

The Zaku fired his thrusters and headed for him.

Just then, he was frantic. Several times he rushed in and felt the violent clash.

And in spite of that, Eliard’s unit managed to hold out. Suddenly he sensed a strong light toward his left.

Looking back for a moment, he saw Murphy’s Hazel, the high mobility form that used the three shield boosters.

One of the shield boosters was engulfed in a ball of flames and the Rick Dom was blown apart. Murphy used the shield booster as a decoy and buried the Rick Dom before challenging the Gelgoog. The Zaku’s offensive had become lax; the pilot having witnessed the Rick Dom being done in. Now, there were two Gundams on the battlefield. Their forms should be a threat to them.

Eliard rammed into the Zaku again, knocking him off into space as if jettisoned by a catapult. It was possible it lost the will to fight back or maybe it was at a loss and would go and help the Gelgoog fighting Murphy’s unit.

A violent dogfight evolved between Murphy’s Hazel and the Gelgoog. It was no ordinary pilot in that Gelgoog. Both units fired their beam rifles at one another. The beam fired by the Gelgoog destroyed the shoulder armor on Murphy’s unit. At the same time, the beam fired by Murphy’s unit caught the Gelgoog from the front. The damage to the Gelgoog was severe and it saw it was unable to continue fighting. The Zaku was already in position to retreat.

The pilot escaped from the Rick Dom and Gelgoog. When the two pilots attached their towing cables to the Zaku he withdrew.

Eliard had escaped danger yet again. There was a despondency inside him following the fervent tension of the battle.

“That was good practice, wasn’t it?” came Murphy’s voice.

Carl responded to that, “Give me a break, will you?”

“Let’s get back to the ship.” replied Murphy.

Eliard realized he was gradually getting a feel for combat for himself.