Chapter 28

R reyes- My condolences. I can say nothing else of worth.

Cosmicsafe74- I see. That is utterly fascinating. Interesting idea, but one I'm not sure will be implemented. We'll see.

Joy

Amuro's mind

"Oh, this is so fascinating!" Thought Joy as she observed Amuro's mind while Chief and Fraw Bow was walking through the forest that they were in. A simulated forest that was inside Amuro Ray's head. And without an implant to help her do so. Oh, this was all so fascinating to the AI. Magic was so fascinating. If they were entirely free and weren't in constant danger of people with inferior technology trying to kill them, she would be talking with Lilith constantly over Magic and where it came from. For now, though, she had to focus on helping Chief and Fraw Bow in deleting Amuro's troublesome memory that was causing him PTSD issues. Another fascinating concept that Joy was archiving in her databanks to ask Lilith about among other things. While Joy was doing all this, Fraw Bow was speaking to Master Chief.

"Do you think we'll be here long?" Asked Fraw Bow as she stood close to the massive human that was Master Chief. "I mean, the Zeons could be attacking us any moment, and with you here and Amuro incapacitated, the White Base will struggle against them. Especially if that new Mobile Suit comes and fights them."

"We'll make the time." Said Master Chief as he looked at the various trees around them, noting how they all had a picture frame embedded in the trunk. He also noted that all the picture frames held a picture in them. Pictures that depicted Amuro at various points of his life. From when he was just a baby all the way up to his time in the White Base. Seeing that the memories were all over the place with Amuro's age with some of his baby memories with his teenage ones and vice versa, Fraw Bow spoke.

"What's with this disorganization?" Asked Fraw Bow as she looked at the memories. "Why are some of Amuro's baby memories with his teenager ones and his children ones mixed with his time in the White Base."

"It's probably because of his trauma." Theorized Joy as Chief went over to one tree and its memory, observing it. "It must have caused all this disorganization. At least, I think. This is all new to me after all." As Joy, Chief watched the memory before him, a time when Amuro was just a normal teen. It must have been before he was a part of the White Base crew as he wasn't wearing a military uniform of the Federation as he does now.

As he looked at the picture, Chief was a bit surprised when he saw it start to change and play like a movie to him. Master Chief, Fraw Bow, and Joy watched as the memory played.

"I remember this." Said Fraw Bow as she watched the memory play. "This was back at Side 7. Back when the Zeons…the Zeons attacked us and destroyed our home." Upon hearing that, Chief looked at Fraw Bow and asked if she would like to be away from here. The question caused Fraw Bow to shake her head. "No, it's okay. I can handle it. We're here in Amuro's memories after all. We're bound to come across some unpleasant memories. Even ones that hurt us too." Feeling tears in her eyes, Fraw Bow rubbed them a bit before looking at the memory again. "That must be the time when Amuro got to pilot the Gundam for the first time. Look, it's showing up getting into the cockpit."

"Fascinating." Said Joy as she watched this happen. "Just fascinating. Under less pressing matters, I would ask that we remain here a bit longer so I can see this go on and record it for study, but we got a mission to accomplish."

"Agreed." Said Chief before looking at Fraw Bow. "We need to move on. This isn't the memory that we're looking for."

"Of course." Said Fraw Bow upon hearing that. Tearing herself away from the image of Amuro getting into the Gundam for the first time and powering it up, she looked at the Spartan and spoke. "Let's get going. Amuro needs us to do…remove his memory of what happened on that island." Master Chief nodded at that and the two proceeded deeper into the forest to find the memory that they need to remove from Amuro's mind.

Meanwhile

Ramba Ral

"So these are our new Zakus?" Asked Ramba Ral as he looked at the new Zakus that were sent to him to serve as replacements for those that he lost after his last confrontation with the Trojan Horse. Knowing that it was suicide to attack the Trojan Horse with just one Mobile Suit, even if it's piloted by an ace pilot like himself, was suicide, Ramba Ral had asked M'Quve to send him new Zakus. He didn't need new pilots as he had plenty of pilots amongst his men. He just needed new Mobile Suits.

Despite some obvious reluctance coming from M'Quve's man that responded to their request, they received their replacement Mobile Suits in a remote, but safe location to receive a supply drop. The two Zakus were a little worse for wear but seemed to still be serviceable for combat.

"Yes sir. These Zakus have seen quite a number of battles since their arrival on Earth." Said Clamp as he handed Ramba Ral a field report on the Zakus. "But the recent maintenance report on them is very promising. They not only upgraded the unit's thrusters, but they also replaced the old joints with brand-new ones. They'll work better than our original Zakus, I believe sir." Trusting Clamp's judgment, Ramba Ral ordered the Fat Uncle to return back to M'Quve and left with Hamon for their Gallop battleship. As they walked away, Hamon spoke up to her lover.

"Ramba, what do you think happened back there? Back with the Trojan Horse?" Asked Hamon as they entered the Gallop. "What do you really think took out our Mobile Suits so easily and so quickly?" Ramba Ral just hummed at that as he remembered those events. How his Gouf was taken out of battle so quickly and his Zakus destroyed or captured as well. After they escaped, they assessed the damage done to his Gouf Mobile Suit. What they found left them in disbelief and shock. The former more than the latter because of how improbable it all was when they pieced together everything relating to the damage on the Gouf.

After some close examination, the engineers and technicians in Ramba Ral's unit concluded what attacked Ramba Ral's Gouf was a man-sized anti-tank laser weapon. Needless to say, that conclusion really left Ramba Ral and his entire command staff stumped and in disbelief.

Laser technology was, admittedly, used in everyday life like in ship propulsions or ship communications, something that was essential given Minovsky particle-related jamming, but laser weaponry was very uncommon. The reason is that it was much more practical to use beam weaponry based on Minovsky particles, not to mention easier to produce, than laser weaponry, which can easily be defeated by simple transparent coating. To defeat the transparent coating found in everyday life, one would have to produce an extremely powerful laser to overwhelm the coating. Something that a beam-based weapon can do more cheaply and more reliably than a laser ever could. As a result, laser-based weaponry research wasn't given much thought or funding by both the Principality or the Federation. There was also the added drawback of the power supply for a laser weapon needing to be impractically large for it to be even remotely useful. Another notch against laser weapon technology. These reasons were why Hamon and Clapp were very skeptical of their people when they claimed that it was a man-sized laser that caused damage to Ramba Ral's Gouf. Ramba Ral himself, however, wasn't so sure. He trusted his men and their knowledge in this field so he wasn't as skeptical as Hamon and Clapp were regarding their conclusion. Plus, he had seen the damage himself.

He wasn't exactly an in the field of science, but Ramba Ral was an expert in weapons and warfare. After inspecting the damage to his Gouf himself, Ramba Ral could see why his men came to the conclusion that it was laser weaponry that had done him in. The point of entry doesn't match that of projectile weapons and Ramba Ral's technicians assured him that there weren't any traces of Minovsky particles around the damaged areas. Ramba Ral even used a machine given by the engineers to check for himself and he saw that there were no traces of Minovsky particles around the damaged sections of his Gouf. Beam weapons always left traces of Minovsky particles in their wake. Without those, Ramba Ral knew for certain that it wasn't a beam weapon. Rather it was a laser weapon that did the damage. Still though, even with that proof, it was a lot to take in.

Why would the Federation take the time to develop man-sized laser weapons when there was a cheap and easily produced way to counter current laser technology in the fields of warfare? Did they find a way to overcome the weaknesses of laser weapons? That was a scary thought, but Ramba Ral was confused about why he was just now learning they had laser weapons.

The White Base had fought against the Zeon military quite a bit since coming from Side 7 according to reports, even going against the Red Comet himself, yet there was no mention of laser weapons throughout the various reports relating to the Trojan Horse and its capabilities. Being the unit sent to avenge Garma Zabi's death at the orders of Dozle Zabi, Ramba Ral's unit was given all that they knew about the Trojan Horse and its Mobile Suits in hopes it can help them succeed where the previous units failed. None of the information they had on the Trojan Horse mentioned anything about them possessing laser weapons. Or at least portable, man-sized ones. Ramba Ral supposed that they didn't hear about them because there wasn't a time for the Trojan Horse to use them practically and that it was only through sheer desperation that they used their laser weapons against them in their last battle. Despite the reasonable conclusion he came up with, Ramba Ral's gut feeling told him that wasn't it. Something else was afoot in the Trojan Horse and Ramba Ral wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing for him and his men. Regardless of that uncertainty, Ramba Ral had his orders and he had to follow them to the letter. Otherwise, the Trojan Horse's wrath will pale in comparison to Dozle's wrath when he learns of Ramba Ral's failure to avenge his brother.

"I trust our engineer's and techs' judgment, Hamon." Said Ramba Ral. "If they say it was a laser weapon that attacked my Gouf, then I believe them. Still, I can understand your skepticism, my dear. It does seem quite odd that the Federation would bother putting funding into laser weaponry when beam weaponry is much more practical to put money into than laser weapons ever could. Not to mention, there were no reports of the Trojan Horse having laser weapons in its arsenal. Maybe it wasn't developed yet when they left Side 7? Maybe they just didn't have time to use it effectively in their previous battles. If their laser weapons were indeed man-sized or at the very least capable of being mounted on a jeep, then it stands to reason why they didn't use them before."

"Even so." Said Hamon as she looked at her lover. "Why would the Federation bother to put money and time in making man-sized laser weapons? The V-project was all about making Mobile Suits and a ship to carry them wasn't it? So why bother making man-sized anti-Mobile Suits weapons with that?" Humming at that, Ramba Ral had to agree with his lover as well. It did seem illogical.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Hamon." Said Ramba Ral. "We'll, unfortunately, have to find this out the hard way or until we get some insider information from the Trojan Horse. Information I doubt we'll ever get. That crew is some fierce fighters, I tell you, Hamon. Especially the pilot of that white Mobile Suit. That one may have done poorly the last time we fought, but I have a feeling that they'll only get stronger as time goes on. And I'll be there to see it in action."

"In that case, should we ask Dozle for more support?" Asked Hamon as she looked in concern for her lover. "If the pilot gets better, that white one may prove to be a problem. The reports claim that one is the strongest Mobile Suit in the Trojan Horse's arsenal."

"Unfortunately, resources are spread thing everywhere, Hamon." Said Ramba Ral with a hint of frustration. "Otherwise we would have three Goufs from the start instead of one. Not to mention having the Zanzibar with us still. This war is really draining us dry, Hamon. If we don't win soon, I think that the Federation will win. They not only have more reserves than us, but they got more bodies as well." Hamon nodded in agreement at that, knowing that Ramba Ral was right. "Which is why Dozle had me sent here. To capture or destroy the Trojan Horse before it can change the course of the war for the Federation. Not only would this help our nation, Hamon, but it'll also help all of us. Not only will we get promotions for this, but we'll also be well-liked by the Zabis and all their political friends. And that will do well for all of us socially after this war is over. Don't worry, my dear, I have it all figured out." Hamon looked unconvinced but nodded, trusting Ramba Ral's judgment. With that, they went to get some dinner as well as plan their next move.

Meanwhile

White Base

Bright

"Are you sure that Amuro will be fine after this is all over?" Asked Bright as he looked at Lilith, who was looking at Fernando, who was standing guard over their prisoner with Ryu.

"He will be so long we don't mention the memory again." Said Lilith as he looked at Bright, wondering why he thought it was a good idea to bring this up now. Creating a bubble around the prisoner's cell door so that he won't hear, Lilith continued the conversation while Ryu and Fernando were looking in surprise at the sudden bubble. "Relapses of pain and traumatic memories can be quite…severe and detrimental to one's health so I recommend you tell everyone to not mention Amuro's little escapade to that island when he's around. Studies have shown that the sudden return of memories, especially those of pain and trauma, will…let's just say that it's a good idea to not mention them to Amuro again and leave it at that. If we accomplish that, then Amuro will go back to his normal self again."

"I understand." Said Bright as he processed this. "I'll be sure to inform everyone of this right away. *Sighs* Forgive me for asking that. This is all still…I'm still in shock that magic is a real thing and can do so much for so little. I mean magic alone can change everything in the Earth Sphere, but to know that it can do so much with just one spell…well that just adds even more value to it."

"Yes. I imagine magic will attract much attention from your Earth Federation and your Zeons." Said Lilith. "Both don't have access to magic, yes?"

"Correct." Said Bright as he looked at Lilith. "And I imagine the Earth Federation will have many questions for you once they realize what you can do and what you can provide for them."

"Really?" Asked Lilith as she looked at Bright with a raised eyebrow, a gut feeling telling her that she won't like the attention she'll receive from the Earth Federation when they figure out what she was. Or rather what she can provide to them. "And I'm assuming I won't like that attention, am I right?"

"I say yes." Said Fernando, having heard the question from Lilith. "One thing I know about governments, especially ones that in a long and costly war, they'll want to have anything that will give them power over those their fighting. I don't know what limits magic has, but I think what you showed so far would really attract the Earth Federation's attention. A lot of it not exactly the good kind of attention."

"And what kind of attention are you speaking about?" Asked Lilith to Fernando, someone she learned to trust since interacting with him.

"The kind that has you forcibly working for them nonstop until they squeezed everything they want from you." Said Fernando as he looked at Lilith seriously. Stunned to hear that, Lilith looked at Bright, who just sighed before nodding, seeing no reason to lie to her about what the Federation would do to her upon finding out about her magic.

Before the conversation can continue, the ship's alarms suddenly blared out, catching everyone's attention.

"No. We don't need this right now." Said Bright, swearing upon hearing the alarms. "Lilith, we'll have to continue this later. Guard the prisoner with Fernando until Chief and Fraw Bow…signal you to get them out of Amuro's mind." Before Lilith could speak, Bright left them for the bridge so he can see what was going on that caused the alarms to blare out. With him gone, Lilith walked over to Fernando and asked him if he truly believed what he said.

"Definitely." Said Fernando as he looked at Lilith. "I don't know much about the Earth Federation, but if it's anything like the UNSC or UEG, I'd say it's a guarantee that will happen. I mean magic being real alone is going to make people want to have it. There are just so many depictions and interpretations of magic that people will practically pour millions just to get even a tiny ounce of what you can provide to them. Or, maybe more likely, force you to give them what they want." Upon hearing that last sentence, Lilith felt a chill come up her spine as she imagined what Fernando meant by forcing her to give the Federation what they want. Remembering her experiences with Emperor Belos, Lilith could only imagine they would employ similar methods on her to get what they want. Perhaps even worse ones if that was possible. Gulping as she imagined worse methods, Lilith was about to ask Fernando about those methods when the bubble she put up for their prisoner popped, and said prisoner began speaking.

"C'mon, what's a guy got to do to get actual toiletry here?" Demanded Cozun as he looked at the three people guarding his cell. Rolling his eyes, Ryu spoke up.

"You'll get it soon." Said Ryu as he spoke to their prisoner. "Right now we got a situation that requires our full attention. So shut up, be calm, and wait until is resolved. You hear?" Cozun grumbled at that and sat down on his cot. Sighing, Lilith decided that now was the time to discuss this. Not when they had a prisoner that would whine and complain about his situation. Deciding to discuss this later with Fernando, Lilith went back to Amuro's room. The little signaler that she left back in Amuro's room and its linked counterpart in her pocket would have alerted her if either Fraw Bow or Master Chief rang their bells to signal her that they were done and it was time to bring them back to the real world. When they didn't ring, that meant they were still at work in erasing Amuro's little encounter with the aliens on that island. Even though she still had time it seemed, Lilith went back to check up on them. Also, so she can pull them out at a moment's notice if it was needed like now if the situation called for it. She wasn't like Eda, who does things so recklessly and without a care in the world about the consequences of her carelessness. Right?

As she walked, Lilith wondered how the two were doing and if they were making any progress in finding the memory they needed to erase.

Meanwhile

Master Chief

"I think I found it." Said Fraw Bow, catching Chief's attention. Looking away from the batch of trees he was looking at for Amuro's memories with the Banished, Chief went to Fraw Bow's location and saw that she was pointing to a specific tree. Looking at the picture frame on the tree trunk, Chief saw that it was indeed the memory that they were looking for. The memory of the Banished eating human remains was something that Chief wouldn't forget.

"My god." Said Fraw Bow as she watched the memory play out. "This is….this is horrible. Aliens eating humans. I never thought something like this can ever happen. It's…it's sickening. No wonder Amuro is how he is right now."

"And also why we're here." Said Chief as he aimed his assault rifle at the picture frame. "Stay back." Heeding Chief's words, Fraw Bow walked a bit back as Master Chief fired on the picture frame, shredding it to pieces. They then watched as the picture frame and the memory contained burned up.

"So is that it?" Asked Fraw Bow as the picture frame and memory burned. "Are we done here?"

"Let's do a final sweep first before we signal Lilith to take us out of here." Said Master Chief as he looked at Fraw Bow. "Just in case we need to eliminate a few more memories." Fraw Bow nodded in understanding at that. The two were about to leave when they suddenly felt and heard the ground shaking. Fraw Bow would have fallen to the ground if it weren't for Master Chief catching her in time. Just as Chief steadied the girl on her own two legs, Joy notified him of something up ahead.

"Chief we have something coming in front of us. Whatever it is, it's big." Said Joy, catching Chief's attention. Looking forward, Chief saw some dark shadows approaching them. Big shadows. Soon, the shadows dispersed and revealed something that Chief dreaded to see.

It was Amuro's Memory Guardian. Or his inner Amuro and it took the form of the Gundam. It was significantly smaller than the real one, around half the original size, but it still towered over them. It didn't have any weapons beyond the Vulcans, luck smiled on them for that at least, but Chief knew that the memory guardian was still a dangerous foe even without the Gundam's usual armaments.

Seeing the situation they were in, Chief told Fraw that the time was now for them to leave. There was no point in risking their lives when they can just leave immediately. Hoisting his gun, Chief grabbed Fraw Bow, carried her over his shoulders, and began to run away as the Gundam walked towards them, its yellow eyes glaring at them as if it was unhappy that they were in Amuro's mind. Chief didn't need to be an expert in magic or psychology to know why it was angry at them.

"Ring your bell, now." Said Master Chief as he ran. "We may not have much time."

"Got it." Said Fraw Bow as she recovered from the sudden pickup. Getting the bell from her pocket, Fraw Bow rang it. A few seconds passed and she rang it again, getting more and more panicked as if nothing happened. She was about to scream at Lilith when a bright golden light engulfed the both of them and they faded away. With its targets gone, the guardian of Amuro's memories stopped and looked at the spot where Fraw Bow and Master Chief used to be. After a second, it then went away in a field of smoke and fog, leaving nothing but massive footprints to provide proof that it was there in the first place.