A/N: Double Chapter today folks!

"Adrian?" Ramba gasped,

"Dad?" Adrian dropped his suitcase and ran up to his dad, wrapping him in a hug. Neither man said a word as stayed wrapped like that. Finally Adrian let go,

"It's been years, and this is where you've been? Right next door to me?"

"Not like I'm exactly happy about it." Ramba joked, "This is nothing short of amazing however. Imagine how overjoyed your mother would be to see you! How's Rosary doing?"

"She…"Adrian looked down, "left for Earth this morning."

"Earth?! What for?!"

"She accepted an invitation to a Federation Academy."

Ramba's face fell, "I...see."

"Dad I'm sorry-"

"No Adrian. I'm sorry. I took you out of the frying pan and into the fire by letting you and Rosary remain undisturbed at the Academy. I should've pulled you out before all this happened." Ramba looked up, "Speaking of - isn't it early for you to graduate?"

"Well...yes but I got graduated-early/expelled for my role in the Dawn Rebellion." Adrian said to him sheepishly

"What?! That's hardly fair! Two-thirds of the academy were in it. Why were you expelled?!"

"I...did lead thirty-six students to hold the crew of two armored battalions hostage, then blow them up."

Ramba's mouth drop, "That was you who blew up the Federation armored depot? With the men inside?!"

"Well...we couldn't let them stop us? And we couldn't man all the tanks and Guntanks so…"

Ramba sighed, "I'd be angry if I wasn't so impressed. How'd you do it?"

"It was easy, we baited them all into the main machine hangars then we forced them to surrender."

Ramba nodded, "A master of guerilla warfare. Exactly like I would've done!" Ramba put his arm around Adrian, "Come on, now that I'm sure you're ready for it, come and meet the crew."

"Ello boys!" Ramba said cheerfully, "Found our newbie!"

"Eh?" Gaia said, "He looks fresh out of the Academy!"

"I graduated third. Right after Garma Zabi and Char Aznable."

"Impressive." Ortega mentioned, "But grades in school and real combat are two different things."

"Believe me, he has the skills. Did you know he led thirty-six cadets to capture two entire Feddie armored battalions!"

"Now that's bullshit." Mash said, "No way this greenhorn did that."

"His Mobile Suit experience is what I'm worried about, do you have any at all?"

"I've done simulations with Mobile Workers in my final year. Approximately 140 hours."

"140 hours of simulations! That's too few-"

Mash was about to continue when he heard a new voice from the doorway. "Alright boys. You can compare medals and dick sizes later. Right now we got work to do."

"Here comes the Bitch of Banchi." Ramba coughed, and the trio in front of him snickered.

The woman heard, she didn't show it. "Alright, is everyone here?!"

"2nd Lt. Miguel Gaia, present."

"2nd Lt. Hannes Mash, present!"

"Lt. Ramba Ral and XO, present!"

"2nd Lt. Torres Ortega, present!"

"Ensign Ryan Sahalin, present!"

"Ah, Ryan Sahalin, one of the ZNDA's shining stars." Erika noted, "You know me, Captain Erika Lynne. I'll be leading the 01st Mobile Assault Team - a test team for the YMS-05 Zaku I." Erika looked across the room, "I swear, Cima still isn't here?"

"Jr. Lieutenant Cima Garahau, present." A raven haired woman with more than a degree of sass walked in.

Erika rolled her eyes, Adrian could tell she did not like this woman. "Part of this unit." Cima walked forward,

"Right...that's her. Jr. Lieutenant Cima," Erika cleared her throat, "We'll be helping test the YMS-05 Zaku I, which is planned to be the first mass-production model Mobile Suit, under the name of the MS-05A Zaku I. Any questions?"

"No ma'am!" The group of soldiers replied, and she nodded,

"Good! We begin testing in two weeks" She saluted, "Sieg Zeon!"

"Sieg Zeon!" They saluted before dismissing themselves.

"Alright, two weeks isn't alot of time to get you acclimated to an actual mobile suit." Ramba said, "We'll need to get you started on training immediately."

Ramba stuck to his word, the week was a mix of getting yelled at by Erika, laughed at by the - now self proclaimed - Black Tri-Stars, and corrected by his father.

"No! No! No!" Ramba told him over the radio, "You're relying to much on the Autobalancer, try controlling the AMBAC more, it makes your movements unpredictable." Ramba's blue MW-01L threw a fist straight at Adrian, knocking him off balance and causing his own MW-02 to stumble.

"I'm trying!" Adrian rapidly pulled the lever for the yaw before boosting up behind him, grabbing his training heat hawk, he landed behind his father right before turning around and swiping at his head with his heat hawk.

Ramba barely had time to raise his shield to delfect the heat hawk, and the power behind Adrian's swing left a nasty burn mark across it.

"Good! Keep it up!" Ramba complimented, and that was exactly what Adrian did. Using the AMBAC to initiate sudden changes in direction mid-air, Ramba found it hard to predict and counter Adrian's increasingly more powerful blows.

Finally Ramba slipped, as Adrian knocked him back, his shield fell for a moment. 'I see it! An opening!' He thought instinctively, and raised his heat hawk to cut his head off,

Exactly as Ramba wanted, Adrian had left himself exposed to Ramba's own attack, and thrusting it like a spear, Ramba drove his heat hawk right through Adrian's right arm.

"What?!" Adrian gasped in surprise.

"Always be ready for a shift in the battle! Your opponent may not be using his full strength!" Ramba grabbed Adrian's remaining arm with his claw, and hacked it off with his Hawk before slicing through the MS-02s head.

Adrian took off his helmet in frustration. "That's the fourth time I've lost today alone."

"Don't beat yourself up too much," Ramba said encouragingly, "You did a lot better this time."

"Yeah, he actually had to try." Gaia snickered over the radio.

"Hey, why don't you see a doctor? I'm concerned about those moles, I think they're growing."

"Why you little-"

"Alright you two! That's enough!" Ramba yelled at them both, "Ryan, get out, you need to rest."

Adrian climbed out of the Mobile Worker extremely frustrated, 'I can never seem to beat him…'

Mess Hall

Once Adrian picked up his food, he began to walk towards the table his father sat at, but stopped a

few feet away when he began to hear their conversation.

"Honestly you guys, cut the kid some slack." Ramba said to the Tri-Stars.

"Oh come on, the kids are so green he makes an agricultural block look dead." Ortega complained, "Seriously, this is his - what - thirteenth loss this week? He'll be shredded by the Feds. Mobile Suit or not."

"So he's a little bad at the Worker. So what? Everyone had to start somewhere,"

"Well, he hasn't gone anywhere. Worst comes to worst, he may be pulled from the 01st." Mash said, and he looked up from his food, he seemed surprised, "It's nothing personal-"

"No...it's alright." Adrian shook his head, "You're right. I don't have the experience necessary." Adrian sat down with them, his face impassive.

From then on, over the next few weeks things changed for Adrian. His self-consciousness, unknown to him, began to manifest as a heightened awareness of other people's feelings. Which, in turn, began to awaken his own Newtype abilities.

Adrian stalked towards Ramba. Once again challenging him in MS combat. This time, Adrian moved first, before Ramba could react, Adrian charged at him. But right as Ramba made a move for Adrian, he suddenly used his vernier thrusters to slide to the side and attack from Ramba's flank. Ramba barely had time to react by blocking Adrian's thrust with his Heat Hawk.

'This is a huge difference from our last match!' Ramba thought, 'How's he performing so well so suddenly?' Ever since the Tri-Stars had made fun of him so badly, Adrian's performance seemed to grow by leaps and bounds, he could accurately predict Ramba's moves, and was even capable of trashing a great deal of his MW-01.

Ramba was forced back into the present moment by Adrian using his left manipulator to grab Ramba's shield. Ramba tore it out of his hands,

And played right into them at the same time.

Letting go at the last second, Ramba's AMBAC system turned against him as the Worker lost it's balance. Adrian raised his Heat Hawk and with a single blow, cleaved Ramba's worker from the side of the neck all the way across the chest in a diagonal line. Taking its head and right arm with it.

The 01st Mobile Assault Team watched in collective awe. Adrian had gone from being the worst of the team to one of the best on it.

"Can't say I'll be kicked of the team now you guys, hm?" Adrian gloated over the radio.

Gaia hmphed, "Don't get cocky, you just got lucky!"

"Call it what you will. Luck is just as powerful as skill, and is just as fair."

"Brat."

"I heard that."

Mash cut the comms, "I know."