Side 7 Airspace

September 18, UC 0079

1650 Hours

"Amuro, pull back!" Bright yelled over the radio "That red Zaku's too much for you! You can't beat him!"

"No way!" Amuro protested. "I can do it! I didn't have the beam rifle before and I still took two out! I'll do it!" He had the targeting computer on and was focused on a red spot in the distance. The scope zoomed, he could clearly see the Zaku. "That's close enough!"

The shot missed. The target swiftly dodged it.

The Gundam was rocked by machine gun fire, but the shield it had equipped blocked the rounds.

Amuro tried to shoot the Zaku again, but once more, the beam rifle didn't hit it. So this is combat?!

The red mobile suit fired its machine gun again. Amuro shielded himself, but one lucky bullet hit the camera in the Gundam's head. The monitor was replaced by snow.

"Sub-cameras!" Amuro frantically changed frequency on the console to reach another camera on the Gundam. Once he did, though, the screen showed the foot of that red Zaku coming straight at him.

Char couldn't help but smile. This new mobile suit was impressively designed, but it was only as good as the guy inside of it.

Instruments detected a heat source close on his four. "There you are, Slender," he said. "Get behind him! Let's finish him off! We'll pay him back for Denim!"

"Yes, sir. Roger that!"

The two Zakus opened fire on the white suit; Char above and Slender below. Their target even lost its shield in the rain of bullets.

"Bye-bye," Char said, smugly. The smile on his face melted away quickly: even though they scored direct hits on it, the machine guns didn't so much as scratch it.

The mobile suit tried firing off its weapon again. Char dodged.

"Commander, this is it!" yelled Slender. "The weapon that killed Ash with just one shot!"

"That doesn't matter if he can't hit you," said Char. "Cover me, Slender!"

Slender's Zaku headed back toward Char's position, strafing the Federation mobile suit. But as the corporal's suit fired away, its target was point its gun right at it. A pink bolt appeared between them.

BOOM!

Jesus! Char couldn't believe his eyes. The Federation had somehow developed a miniature mega particle cannon of sorts. The only thing they had that could sink a Zaku in one hit prior to this was a battleship gun. Yet static was all he was getting from his channel with Slender.

"Amuro, get out of there!" Bright ordered. "The starboard mega particle cannon will cover you."

I don't need you to lose sleep over me. Amuro frantically fired the beam rifle at the remaining red Zaku. If it could one-shot a regular one, then the same could be said for this modified one. However, every time it wound up in his crosshairs, it moved away.

Finally, it got to the point where the gun wouldn't fire.

"Amuro! You've used up all its energy!" said Bright.

"Now you tell me," Amuro groaned. Bright was right: the energy gauge had bottomed out. Damn! Is this it?

Machine gun fire shook the Gundam again, but Amuro remembered the shoulder-mounted launcher. Claymore rounds rocketed toward the Zaku, only to be sidestepped.

A blinding pink ray suddenly ripped between the Zaku and the Gundam.

The red mobile suit turned tail and got out of there.

Somehow, Amuro had gotten a lucky break.

The Gundam touched down in the White Base's starboard hangar. Recovery operations were under way.

Ryu Jose was at the console when it touched down. "It's in," he told the tech. "Close the hangar doors."

"Can we give you a hand?"

Ryu took notice of Kai Shiden and Hayato Kobayashi approaching, gripping the rail pulleys used in zero-G conditions like this one. "Wait, it's dangerous," he told them. "It's not pressurized yet."

"Ah, I see."

Ryu laughed. "Well, you got guts."

The Gundam stomped into the hangar, its hull pretty scratched up and smoking. The maintenance crew was ordered to scramble."'

Kai turned to Hayato. "Yo, Hayato. You know what? I think Amuro's in that thing."

"Wha? That guy?"

"'cause his Dad made it. Maybe that's good. A team."

The bridge crew of the Falmel stood in attention as the lasercomm picked up an incoming call. The density of Minovsky particles in the area kicked up by the fight with the new Federation mobile suit caused the video to distort, but the audio was fine.

"Ohh, it's you. What is it? I'd hoped to celebrate the end of your mission last night. But because you were dawdling all the preparations went to waste."

The distortion of the video gradually eased down, revealing Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi: a giant of a man and Char's former headmaster from when he was in military school.

"This should make up for the missed feast, Admiral," Char told him. "We've discovered the Federation's Operation V."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes, sir! Side 7's construction block was indeed a secret factory," Char continued. "They already have a prototype and that supply ship has enough firepower to rate as a battleship."

Dozle grinned. "That's good info," he said. "As I'd expect from the Red Comet. So what do you want?"

"We paid a high price to gauge the abilities of their mobile suits," he said. "Five of the Zakus assigned to us have been sunk."

"You lost a whole team of Zakus?" Dozle said, flabbergasted. "Someone of your caliber?"

"Please remember this: the enemy's new mobile suits are that powerful. They could turn the tide of the whole war.
Dozle sighed. Char may be right. "I get it. You want supplies, you'll get 'em."

"I understand, sir," said Char. "I'll capture their mobile suits and I'll sink the ship. No matter what, they won't reach Earth."

"That's more like it," said Dozle. "That's the Char I know."

Amuro stepped out of the bridge elevator, escorted by Ryu. Even though he was happy to see Fraw Bow still safe, the young lieutenant junior grade was casting a stern look on the boy.

He approached Amuro and he looked everything but impressed. "So you're Amuro?" he asked. "You've got a lot to learn. Use of the Gundam in combat must be more efficient. We have no spare parts for these prototypes. These components can't be wasted!"

"What?" Amuro didn't believe this. He was thinking he'd get a "thank you" or something, not be grilled.

"So this was your first time piloting it?" the officer asked. "That's no excuse! Now the Gundam's in your hands. You're a pilot! You have a duty to protect this ship."

Amuro hung his head slightly, but didn't lose eye contact.

"Our situation requires me to say this. If you're going to do this, listen up. Otherwise, you can go back to Side 7!"

Fraw cut between the two of them in an attempt to cover for Amuro, but the boy shoved her aside.

Amuro knew very well. The ship didn't have another pilot. He was it. "I didn't say I'd do it and I don't know whether I can or not," said Amuro. "But I guess I don't have a choice, do I? Your name is Bright, isn't it? In that case…"

"Sure," said Bright. "Feel free to hate me. That will be all. Go get the Gundam fixed up. The mechanics are at your disposal. See to it." He walked away from the boy, gazing out into the stars ahead. "Amuro, don't make me regret my decision. If you do, I'll make sure that you'll regret it even more."

Freedom HQ: former base of operations of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, now an outpost for the Republic of Acorn. The cave was discovered by Sonic, Sally, and their friends back when they were just kids and Tails had barely gotten out of diapers; now, not a decade later, it was their stopping point at the end of the first day of the search for Bunnie.

Though Sally had gone to sleep, Sonic wasn't so lucky.

The hedgehog found himself on the sofa in the common room, staring up at the limestone ceiling. Coming back here was always a bittersweet experience, but Sonic never really had much time to settle back and contemplate the whole thing. He was only five years old when he'd first come to Knothole after being forced to flee Mobotropolis, the former capitol of Acorn, because of the Great War. It was intended to be a temporary stay, but after Julian's putsch he and his friends would be permanent residents. Even after the fact, old Colonel Stripe didn't want to throw in the towel. He kept waging guerilla war and sabotage operations against the tyrant.

He became their model.

Sonic rolled over on the sofa. He no longer faced the ceiling, but the Great Oak Slide.

Suddenly, in his mind's eye, he saw himself roll out of the hollow trunk.

Then, more figures joined in. "Sonic! My hero! Were you battling dozens of Robotnik's evil androids again?"

"Well, I hate to brag, Tails, but…"

"But he will… give him a chance!"

"Bragging's one thing, Rotor, leaving a trail for Robotnik to follow is another!"

"Have no fear, your royal worry wort! I took off at warp sonic speed! My feet never touched the ground!"

"Hmmph!"

Echoes from the past, visions of what was.

The hit-and-run ops started by Stripe against Robotnik hadn't ceased, but things seemed to be sillier, as if the direness of the Great War's aftermath had given way to some cornball gag comic for a time before things gradually normalized. It all happened, though: a giant salamander robot, a termite badnik that grew whenever it ate wood, and a phony fast food joint that gave everyone an artificial virus.

Sonic got off the couch and made his way out the door, holding an electric lantern.

It wasn't a very long walk to reach Eggman's handiwork. Flattened and burned shacks, broken palisades and fences, and the remains of the castle walls. The sad, hopeless condition of the remnants of the settlement hit the hedgehog like a freight train. He'd always tried to be a tough guy and wisecracker, but being in the Great Wastes by himself in the middle of the night really made Sonic feel like the last person on Mobius. He could see what Mina meant about not being able to translate the sight to words.

Sonic laid eyes on the remains of a tree, now just reduced to a scorched, limbless trunk near the remains of a few huts. Voices flooded his mind again: "What's it like to beat up Robotnik?" "How fast can you run?" "Didja punch him in the nose?" "Where can I get shoes like yours?"

Kids, all antsy to hear stories about his exploits against the former Warlord.

He blinked back a tear. Their Robotnik was dead, but they were fighting one from another world who took his place. Robotropolis, the city formerly known as Mobotropolis, was reduced to an atomic hellhole through GUN's ICBMs and shortly after Bunnie and Antoine got married, the Egg Fleet razed Knothole to the ground.

Day by day, it seemed as more and more of the old world was being wiped away. Triply so since the whole Mega Man adventure.

Sonic had given the gist about what had happened to the geography to Sally on the way over; thankfully the location hadn't been overwritten by Eggman. But would the same be said for the Great Desert?

He looked skyward. It was a clear night: countless stars and a nearly-invisible sliver of light, signifying the moon. The sky at night hasn't changed, Sonic thought. Are we still on Mobius? Did we travel through time?