Chapter 3

IN SUIT OF ARMOR

Morgenroete secret underground facility

Director and Chief Engineer Erica Simmons and Athrun Zala, watch as the ZGMF-X20A codename: 'Freedom'being crated up and ship off to a secret bunker somewhere in Orb after months of painstaking repair. They feel a great sadness seeing it as it reminds them of their deceased friend Kira.

The Freedom is perhaps the most powerful Mobile Suit ever built and there is no one other than Kira can pilot it and unleashed its full potential. Lacus would had the suit scrap, but she hasn't had the heart to do it so, instead she had it repaired and put it on storage.

"I'll see to the Freedom transport, Ms. Simmons"

"Thank you Athrun"

As Athrun left with the Freedom, just as a call came to Ms. Simmons cellphone

"Simmons here" she answered and a man identify himself

"Ms. Simmons, this is captain Macleod at gate 7," he said "There is a, I-I mean Ms. Lacus Clyne wishes to speak to you"

"Ms.Lacus, here, put her on" she ordered

"Ms.Lacus is this you?"

"Yes, this is me Ms.Simmons and hello," she replied

"Well Athrun just left to bring the Freedom to the Bunker, if you like,"

"Ms.Simmons, that won't be necessary" she said "I'm not here for that but something else"

"Something Else?" Ms.Simmons wondered

"I'm terribly sorry for my coming here without calling first; it's just that, I would like to ask a favor if you don't mind"

"A favor, what sort of favor?" Ms.Simmons was curious 'I wonder what sort of favor?'

Lacus and Ranma is led inside Morgenroete and along the way, they pass by a corps of MS Astrays, M-1 and Murasame being washed by maintenance teams using pressure hoses. Lacus watch Ranma and he looks quite nervous as they pass them by and to her amazement, she watched him dodge streams of high speed water that accidentally got sprayed on their path.

Lacus and the others just watch a real funny moment as Ranma seems to bend, twist and turn just to avoid getting soaked which is quite strange to them, for it seems like Ranma is attracting water towards him like a magnet, for they haven't gotten soak from all that water being sprayed around.

The last part of the show is when Ranma was just a few inches falling down on a puddle of water, he was flapping his arms like they're wings as his legs is trying pull him back.

"Help me, help me, help me!" he cried 'Oh God, I'll die if they see me transformed into a girl'

Fortunately, Lacus step up and grabbed Ranma belt from behind pulled him up saving him from embarrassment

"Thanks Lacus" he said feeling relieved as he was saved "I thought I was a goner"

"You are a very strange person Mr.Saotome" Lacus remark shaking her head

Mobile Suit Test Room One, later on

As Ms.Simmons prepares the Test Room, she still could not believe that Lacus talk her into letting an unauthorized individual inside Morgenroete and let him try their one of their MS. Lacus explained though vaguely, that she needed to know something. Looking down from the observation booth, Ranma is being shown to a standard MS control by an instructor.

"Ms.Lacus" Ms.Simmons question "Just what are we trying to prove here, and is this right letting this man in here?" Lacus understands her concerns and so she explains her reasons

"Mr.Saotome is an interesting person" she said remembering that time at the cliff "I just wanted to know if he has some potential to be a mobilesuit pilot" but the truth is, she wanted to satisfy her curiosity and Ms.Simmons seems to know this and yet she played along

"But you said, he has never seen or even piloted a mobile suit before"

"That's true Ms.Simmons; he's a complete amateur," she answered

Looking down the observation booth they watch Ranma go thru the controls of a Mobile Suit

Ranma absorbs the workings of a mobilesuit controls as his instructors showing it to him, and on a 3D image on a TV screen above the room of X105 'Strike' which what he's piloting, Ranma can see how one arm or leg move using the controls. Being one very fast learner, he memorizes how one switch one swing of a lever can move an arm up and down or move one leg forward with a pedal

'Their machine is excellent and yet it seems to be limited in some moves only a human body can do…and it really is like wearing a suit of armor' he thought

The instructor wave at the control booth signaling that Ranma is ready and Ms.Simmons nods in acknowledgement

"Mr.Saotome" she spoke to the comm speakers "We are ready when you are"

"Thank you Ms.Simmons"

And within moments, Ms.Simmons gives Ranma control over the Strike, and on Ranma first try, he first try to walk forward and that rewarded his Mobilesuit dropping face down on the ground and everyone sigh or shook their head with amusement as another beginner just kiss the ground again.

"Mr.Saotome, should I reset the test for you?" Ms.Simmons ask as not to sound amused by what happens

"No that's not necessary, Ms.Simmons" he replied and he went back to pilot the MS Saotome style.

'There are a few things I am grateful to my old man despite the torture training he put me thru'

"My old man once said that, in order for you to walk, you need to crawl first" he remark

Ranma MS is soon on both hands and legs and slowly began to crawl like a baby before learning to walk and for 10 minutes he was getting up on both feet slowly just like a baby trying to stand up on its own two feet and succeeded. The next 20 minutes he was walking casually, doing a squat walk, short hops and for a surprise to his small audience, Ranma made his MS do the Moon Walk.

"That's…very…Interesting, a Moon Walk you say" Ms.Simmons muttered she and everyone else was impressed even though they have no idea what's a Moon Walk is.

"What the heck is a Moon Walk?" muttered by a technician

(Turns out that, there is never a Michael Jackson on this world)

For 10 for minutes he did casual walks as he continues to explore all the possible moves his MS can do and inside the control booth. Everyone is just gawking at the man who's learning to pilot a mobile suit for the first time but acting like he's a well trained one.

Normally an ordinary person takes several months to learn to pilot a mobile suit and a coordinator can do half the time than a Natural. The young man piloting the Strike is doing it in less than an hour.

Starting from a crawl to a stand then a walk and now a run, a skip, a hop, tumble and to a jump and leap. For the next five hours Ranma is doing moves with his MS. Moves that the engineers recognize as Martial Arts and Gymnastic moves from Acrobatics, Boxing, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Karate and others. Doing such moves is very difficult even for season pilots as they only know the basics of MS piloting.

The engineers monitors the Strike condition as it goes thru such movements that they swore that it's nearing its endurance limit and yet so far it hasn't gone pass the line.

"Who the hell is this guy?" a tech ask as they are amazed at what they are seeing

"I like to know that myself" Spoke Ms.Simmons agreeing, for every test and readings they are getting says that he's using 100 percent of the Strike potential without redlining several systems

"Ms.Lacus," Ms.Simmons spoke to her "I find it hard to believe that this man have only for the first time piloted a mobile suit and yet, he's piloting one in the level of a pro"

Lacus did not reply for she's too en-trance at Ranma piloting skills 'Amazing' she thought 'The way he moves the Strike, he moves it not like a robot but like a human body'

As she watches over him, Lacus have thought that Ranma might be like someone in Kira level of skills. From what Kira have told her, when he first piloted the Strike he changed the old OS using his own OS which he made during his time in Heliopolis during which he attended engineering college and studied with Prof. Kato in robotic engineering. Kira develop an OS to operate their small scale MS which took him months to develop the OS to make their MS move as close to a human being as possible.

For Ranma case, he had absolutely have no knowledge of piloting an MS until now, what little information he got from his instructor and the way he's exploring the MS possible movements, he starts to developed his own MS skills. Only a short time passed, Ranma have finally learn what the Strike is capable of doing in comparison to the movement of a human body as well as its limitations, still, he work on the ones the Strike can do and created a his 'Saotome School of Mobilesuit Calisthenics'

"This machine of yours is amazing Ms.Simmons" he said "As far as I can tell, the Strike can do about 70 percent of what the human body can do in regards to basic movements."

"Ye-Yes, That's' correct Mr.Saotome" Ms.Simmons answered nearly stuttering

"Please call me Ranma" he said "Everyone else does"

While Ms.Simmons and Ranma are conversing, two of the engineers in another booth are talking to each other, arguing on something in whispers

"You tell her not me" the first tech, a woman said to the second tech a man

"Why should I? I am not the one who forgot to change the OS for this test!"

"Fine, well tell her later together, I'm not taking the rap alone you know!" she said

"Ok, ok we'll do it together!" he said agreeing

"Still, this guy is amazing that he's piloting the Strike with a Coordinator designed OS"

"Yeah, the guy is a Natural and he's moving it like Mr.Yamato" she said impressed by Ranma abilities

It was later on when Ranma and Lacus went home that the two techs told Ms.Simmons of what they forgot to do, and she was equally surprised at the revelation that Ranma Saotome was operating the Strike using the coordinator designed OS, the OS Kira Yamato uses.

"Wait, wait, are you telling me, he piloted the Strike with Mr.Yamato's old OS?" she ask them again disbelieving of what was told of him

"Yes Director it's true, were sorry" the female tech answered "We forgot to change the OS of the Strike, we are very sorry" they waited a moment and she said

"Alright then, make a report and I wanted on my desk today"

"Yes, Ma'am"

They left to make their report, leaving Ms.Simmons delve into such a revelation "He piloted the Strike like a coordinator, no, like Kira" she muttered to herself with amazement.

'Who ever this Ranma Saotome is, he possess excellent skills to operate a mobile suit with an OS for a Coordinator and pilot it even better than one' she opens a video file on several battles they have against Earth Alliance G-Units and from what she knows, these unit were manned by pilots that are referred to as 'Biological CPU' and further Intel about them revealed another name.

The Earth Alliance elite soldiers called 'Extended'.

Her information is still incomplete but she wonders if Ranma Saotome is one of these Extended.

'Could he be an Extended?"

To Be Continued