Chapter 33

skull- Maybe. Although, I doubt I'll use her for piloting a Mobile Suit.

Bright

"Are you certain of that?!" Yelled Bright as he heard what Amuro just relayed to him. The man prayed that he misheard Amuro. Unfortunately, Amuro then confirmed that he heard true.

"We're positive, Mr. Bright." Said Amuro with some shame in his voice. "Before we captured him, the man contacted someone with a radio. I think he was working for the Zeons." Bright cursed under his breath when he heard that. It was without a doubt that he was working for the Zeons. He may have even been apart of Ramba Ral's own unit. If that was true then it was only a matter of time before they came under attack from the Blue Giant and whatever else Zeon forces are in the area.

"Then go to Level One Battle stations!" Yelled Bright before relaying the same order to Sayla as well. "Amuro! Kai! Ryu! Hayato! Form a perimeter around the White Base. We don't where the enemy will attack us, so keep an eye on all directions! We'll try to send support if we can." As Sayla raised the alarm across the entire ship, Bright contacted Lilith via a radio he lent to her so she can contact him regarding anything from the Master Chief. When she answered him, after she finished telling the Master Chief, Bright spoke to her about Amuro.

"Lilith, I know you told me that Amuro may experience a relapse and that it can be easy to do so, but I need to know. How easy is it for Amuro to suffer a relapse? Because I need to know just how reliable he is out on the battlefield." Said Bright seriously as he contacted Lilith. Upon hearing that, Lilith sighed before speaking.

"Mr. Bright, the method used to help eliminate Amuro's painful memory is not something you can easily determine is effective or not." Said Lilith as she tried explaining the situation regarding Amuro again to Bright. "As I told you before, a relapse can occur in even the smallest of things. It depends on both the person as well as how severe the trauma was attached to the erased memory. I don't know Amuro enough as a person to confidently tell you he won't suffer a relapse from even the most miniscule of things that can related to the memory we erased from his mind. And even if I did, I still wouldn't confidently tell you what can and cannot trigger a relapse. Its up to Amuro's mind and his mind alone to identify something and see if it that can trigger a surge of memories. That's it."

"So, what you're saying is its possible Amuro is unreliable?" Asked Bright seriously. Upon hearing that, Lilith let a scowl grace her features. The boy could suffer a relapse from being in battle and that was all he cared about? If Amuro can actually fight or not?

"How can you possibly say that?" Demanded Lilith as she grasped her hips at frustration. "We're talking about a young human adolescent and his damaged mind and all you care about is whether or not he can fight! Don't you care about his wellbeing!" Upon hearing that, Bright scowled at Lilith. He felt the urge to go down to the Hanger Bay that Lilith was in so that he could slap her for saying that but refrained himself as that would not only be pointless but also very likely a good way to get him turned into something rather…unpleasant. Or worse.

"I do care about Amuro's wellbeing." Argued Bright as he spoke to Lilith, angry at her words. "But I also care about the wellbeing and safety of this crew as well. Its my duty as the captain of this ship to ensure the safety of its crew. To bring them all back home, safe and sound. And right now, the only way to do that is fighting our way out of this place and Amuro is one of our best pilots and fighters. If he's unable to fight well, then we not only lost one of our best chances of surviving the next Zeon attack, but we also put in danger the best hope we have of surviving this war. So please, Lilith, it may sound cruel, but I need to know all this so I can give this crew their best possible chance of surviving this battle." Upon hearing all that, Lilith sighed in frustration before telling him her opinion.

"In my opinion, he shouldn't even be out there fighting." Said Lilith as she continued to scowl. "However, if he must, try to keep the fighting to a minimum. As I said many times already, its up to Amuro and his own mind to determine what can cause a relapse. Nothing unless magic is involved." Bright sighed at that.

"Very well." Said Bright, not at all pleased with the information he was given. "Then let's hope that Amuro will hold it together while he's fighting out there." With that, be ended the call, leaving Lilith to her own thoughts and anger.

Continuing to scowl, Lilith thought of Bright and how her opinion of him was lowered a bit with what he just said. She didn't like how callous Bright towards Amuro's wellbeing nor did she like how he seemed to be so callous in sending these human teenagers into battle. She knew that they all had no choice, much as she hated to admit, but that didn't mean that Bright can be so cruel and cold in sending these teens to their potential deaths. Not to mention expose them to things that they shouldn't be exposed to in the first place at such a young age. It was wrong. It was monstrous. It was…

Lilith just sighed as she pinched her nose, trying to calm herself down. Just…why was she here? Was this some sort of sick punishment for all the wrongs she did to her sister and those she loved? It would certainly be a fine, if incredibly cruel, punishment for her. Forced to watch as young men and women fight for their lives against, not only their fellow humans, but also giant aliens monsters as well. And she couldn't do much but be in the sidelines, watching it all go down and hoping her side won, her magic not being able to help. In other words, she was useless.

"Just like how I was when Eda was taken by Belos." Thought Lilith in shame as she started remembering all her countless failures and shames throughout her life. Sighing, Lilith soon wondered how Eda will fare in this world and if she would do better than her. "Probably better. She always was better in dealing with the unusual." As she thought of her sister, she began wondering how she was faring back home and if she missed her?

"Lilith!" The yelling of her name caused the witch to snap out of her thoughts. Upon hearing the voice, she identified it as belonging to the Master Chief it was then that she remembered her original role prior to all this and cursed herself silently for forgetting it. Proceeding to the radio that allowed her to contact the Master Chief, she contacted the man and asked him what was wrong.

"Incoming contacts. Mobile Suits." Said Master Chief, causing Lilith's heart to sink. Another battle was going to occur and she wasn't sure if Amuro can take it.

Meanwhile
Master Chief

"We got three enemy Mobile Suits approaching the White Base." Said Master Chief as he saw two Zaku Mobile Suits being led by a single Gouf Mobile Suit. They were rapidly approaching the ravine the White Base was in. At the rate they were moving, it was clear to the Master Chief that they knew where the White Base was. So, he notified Lilith about the situation. "Tell Bright and the others that they're coming from my position and that they're approaching fast. I'll try to do what I can to help, but I have a feeling that there's more coming from my position as well."

"I understand." Said Lilith before speaking up. "Be careful. You're vulnerable out there."

"Understood." Said Master Chief before ending the transmission. With that, he continued to monitor the enemy Mobile Suits as they entered the ravine. Hopefully, their Mobile Suit pilots can hold the line against these Zeon Mobile Suits. Though, given what he had seen before in their earlier encounters, there was cause to believe that they will not be able to do so. The close confines of the ravine heavily favored the Gouf Mobile Suit and the Zakus were no doubt piloted by veteran pilots who will utilize the terrain to their advantage. And if that Gouf Mobile Suit was piloted by the Blue Giant, who Master Chief learned was one of the Principality of Zeon's best pilots, then their pilots were going to be in an even worse situation.

This meant that the Master Chief will need to aid the White Base's pilots as much as he possibly can if he wanted everyone to get out of this alive. Fortunately, the Zakus the White Base acquired throughout his time on it has given him knowledge on how to defeat them. Knowledge that he can put into effective when the fighting occurs.

"Joy, are you certain that it'll work?" Asked Master Chief as he got out of his hiding spot so he can help the White Base's pilots in defeating their enemy. He had a Spartan Laser with him, of course, but with the close confines of the ravine, he ran the risk of damaging his allies with the power of the Spartan Laser given the amount of power needed to penetrate a Mobile Suit's armor in order to do meaningful damage to one. Fortunately, Joy managed to find another way for him to take down a Zaku without a Mobile Suit of his own.

"I'm quite sure." Said Joy as she spoke to the Master Chief, having gone along with him during his stakeout. "Just place a smoke grenade around the neck area of the Mobile Suit, specifically the areas that leads to the internal workings of the mech and you should flood the cockpit with smoke. That will force the pilot to open the hatch leading to the cockpit, giving you an opportunity to either kill him or capture him once he does, effectively removing one enemy Mobile Suit from the battle. That will raise our chances of winning significantly. Even more if we can pull it off with the other Zaku. The enemy may become aware of our tactics, though, depending how fast you can pull it off, but I'm more than confident that you can pull it off. You have done even more impossible feats before, after all."

"What about the Gouf?" Asked Master Chief. Taking out the Zakus will certainly help, but the Blue Giant will most certainly be piloting the Gouf Mobile Suit. Making him the most dangerous opponent at the moment, thus making him a priority target.

"Well, you can try. The Gouf does seem to share the same frame as the Zaku. It may have the same structural layout as well. Personally, I think we should stick to disabling the two Zakus and let our Mobile Suits handle the Gouf, but the decision is yours on what to do." Said Joy as she relayed her thoughts on the question. She was fine with doing either option, honestly, but she knew that the Master Chief valued her input. They were partners after all.

"Understood." Said Master Chief as he walked towards the direction of the White Base. After a minute of walking, they heard the sounds of fighting. The battle has begun.

Amuro

While the Master Chief was on his way, the White Base's Mobile Suit team was fighting against Ramba Ral and his men. The pilots had engaged the Zeon Mobile Suit team some distance away from the White Base so as to not to endanger the crew with their battle. Hopefully nothing significant like another Mobile Suit team will try to take on the White Base while they engage this one. Which will be a good thing as the Zakus and Gouf were giving them a hard time as not only did the terrain seem to benefit them more but the Zeon Mobile Suits were piloted by experienced pilots it seemed.

"Watch out, Kai!" Yelled Amuro as a Zaku threw a grenade fit for a Mobile Suit towards the Guncannon, which was firing all its guns at the Gouf Mobile Suit, keeping it pinned down. The grenade, however, forced the Guncannon to move out of position as it let loose a series of explosions that forced Kai to move lest he suffer damage from the grenade. This lapse of suppressing fire allowed the Gouf to move out of its cover and advance towards the Gundam as it fended off the other Zaku, which had been giving the Guntank a hard time before Amuro came to help out both Hayato and Ryu. Now forced on a one-on-one battle with the Gouf, Amuro fired his beam rifle at the Gouf as it advanced. To Amuro's surprise, the Gouf kept dodging all of his shots despite his computer to get a lock on the Gouf Mobile Suit.

"My aim is perfect, so why am I missing?" Thought Amuro as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his computer. The actual answer was not his computer but rather Ramba Ral's. Between his previous battles with the Trojan Horse's Mobile Suits as well as data gathered from previous battles with the Trojan Horse given to him by Dozle Zabi, Ramba Ral's men were able to create a program that helped him predict the trajectory and speed of the White Mobile Suit's main weapon and a few other things as well. Hopefully, this will give Ramba Ral the edge he needed in order to win against the Trojan Horse.

Taking advantage of the program, Ramba Ral charged at the Gundam as it kept firing shots that kept missing the Gouf Mobile Suit. Once it got close enough, Ramba Ral launched the Gouf's Heat Rod against the Gundam.

Seeing the incoming Heat Rod and remembering what it could do, Amuro had the Gundam jump out of the way of the Heat Rod. As he fell from the air, Amuro aimed the Gundam's beam rifle again at the Gouf and fired at it again, hoping to have better luck this time. Unfortunately, that was not to be as the Gouf dodged the shots like last time. Seeing that the Gouf just kept dodging his attacks, Amuro decided that he needed to get up close and personnel. Something he was reluctant to do as that was where the Gouf excelled in combat. Remembering the training he received from the Master Chief, Amuro exhaled before swapping out his beam rifle for one of the Gundam's beam sabers. If he was going to be in melee, may as well have an appropriate weapon to go with it.

"So the pilot decided to go into close combat, eh?" Thought Ramba Ral as he saw the White Mobile Suit going for a close combat weapon. "Must have realized that they were better off going to close quarters then trying to kill me with ranged weapons. Too bad for them that this Gouf Mobile Suit excels in that sort of combat." With that in mind, Ramba Ral brought out his Gouf's Heat Saber and charged at the Federation Mobile Suit.

Letting out a yell, Amuro stabbed downward at the Gouf below him. This forced Ramba Ral to move out of the way of the Gundam's attack. Once he saw safe and the Gundam near him, Ramba Ral charged at the Gundam again.

Turning to face the Gouf Mobile Suit, Amuro quickly dodged out of the way of Ramba Ral's first flurry of attacks before countering with a few slashes of his own. Dodging the Gundam's attacks, Ramba Ral threw a slash at the Gundam while at the same time launching his Heat Rod at the Gundam. Seeing the two attacks coming at him, Amuro was forced to use his thruster pack in order to move out of the way of the attacks lest one of the attacks hits him. Unfortunately, Ramba Ral wanted him to do that.

As Amuro moved out of the way of the attacks, Ramba Ral activated his Mobile Suit's own thrusters and tackled the Gundam while it was in the air. Stunned at the reckless action, Amuro could do nothing but brace himself as the Gouf took him to one of the ravine's walls. Enduring the sudden crash, Amuro watched as the Gouf aimed its Heat Saber at the Gundam's main camera. Gasping at this, Amuro fired the Gundam's Vulcans at the Gouf's own main camera. This forced the Gouf to stop what it was doing and allow Amuro the chance to free himself from the Gouf's grip.

Having the Gundam headbutt the Gouf, Amuro then had the Gundam tackle the Gouf to the ground. Now with the upper hand, Amuro was about finish off the Gouf when a barrage of Zaku machinegun fire stunned Amuro enough for the Gouf to launch its Heat rod against the Gundam. Wrapping it around the Gundam's head, Ramba Ral sent an electric shock towards the Gundam. The electric shock coursed throughout the Gundam, damaging internal circuitry and causing the Gundam controls to go haywire.

"No!" Yelled Amuro as he was beginning to lose control of the Gundam's controls. He tried to find a way, anyway, to stop what was happening, but the Gouf had him where it wanted him and the Zaku that supported it was keeping an eye on the Gundam, ready to support the Gouf if it was necessary. It was just a matter of time before the Gouf disabled the Gundam, putting it out of the fight permanently and giving the Zeons a distinctive advantage in this fight. As Amuro tried in vain to figure out how to get out of this mess, Ramba Ral focused on achieving his goal of capturing the Trojan Horse and its Mobile Suit contents.

"Just a little more and we'll have this Mobile Suit and soon the rest of the Trojan Horse's contents. This is going well. A bit too well in fact." Thought Ramba Ral. With just a little more, he should be able to disable this Mobile Suit without damaging it too much, thus fulfilling one of his primary objectives. This was a good thing as Haman had just radioed in, telling him that she was on her way with the Gallop. With their land battleship on its way, their chances of victory will be assured. Ghien, the pilot that had just assisted Ramba Ral, disabled the tank-like Mobile Suit, enabling him to assist Ramba Ral in the first place, and with the white one disabled soon, that would leave only the red one and Ramba Ral was confident he and his men can deal with one single enemy Mobile Suit. And with all of them out of the way, the Trojan Horse was as good as theirs. And yet, despite all this wonderful news, Ramba Ral couldn't help but get a gut feeling that everything will go awry suddenly. It happened the last time he fought the Trojan Horse. What with that sudden attack that took out his last teammates and damaged his Gouf. Whose to say the same thing won't happen again?

"If the Trojan Horse is desperate enough, which it has to be given how the Zeon base damaged its engines according to them, then they may bring out the same thing that saved them the last time." Thought Ramba Ral as he thought about what happened last time. "The terrain certainly can help with hiding man-held laser weapons, if that was what took us out, so how come they don't have that equipment out? Are they waiting for something? Did something happen to that equipment?" Ramba Ral didn't want to know about the possibilities of why the Trojan Horse crew isn't deploying those weapons at the moment. So, as much as he didn't like to do it, his team and him may have to just capture the White Mobile Suit and call it a day. The longer they stay here, the more risk he was putting his men in. He was about to relay this to both Ghien and Stetch about this change of plans when suddenly Ghien suddenly yelled out in panic over the commlink.

"Ramba Ral, sir! I got smoke coming into the cockpit!" Yelled out Ghien as smoke filled up his cockpit and quickly as well. Far too quickly for it to be natural.

"Smoke!?" Yelled Ramba Ral in concern. Had the Trojan Horse another way to combat Mobile Suits without Mobile Suits of their own? Was that the reason they didn't employ the methods used before? Before he could think about it more, Ghien suddenly began screaming.

"Get away from me, you monster!" Yelled Ghien before a gunshot was heard through the transmission and then the feed suddenly went dead.

"Ghien!" Yelled Ramba Ral in concern for his teammate. "Ghien! Report! What attacked you?!" As Ramba Ral tried to contact his pilot, he didn't hear the sounds of something attaching to his Gouf soon after. He did, however, receive an alert from his Gouf that something was near the main camera of his Mobile Suit. Having just finished disabling the white Mobile Suit, Ramba Ral moved his Mobile Suit's head unit to find the issue. When he did, he was completely stunned at what he saw.

A giant of a man, wearing green armor that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie or book, was on the neck area of his Mobile Suit. Starring down at the Gouf's optics, the man quickly popped out several grenade-like objects and tossed them down on one of the Gouf's external vents around the neck of his Mobile Suit. Then, before Ramba Ral could do anything, smoke began filling up the insides of his Mobile Suit with some starting to fill up his cockpit. Realizing what was going on, Ramba Ral was forced to make a choice. Either open the cockpit hatch and let that giant have a chance to capture him or let the cockpit stay close and hope the smoke dissipate before his pilot suit runs out of air. That must what happened to Ghien and it cost the pilot his life. Ramba Ral refused to let that happen to him, so he decided to make a third option available to him.

Withdrawing his heat rod from the white Mobile Suit, Ramba Ral then tried to shake the mysterious armored figure off his Mobile Suit so he can safely open his cockpit to quickly remove the smoke. In addition, he was contacting Stetch to see if he can help him in removing this threat from his Mobile Suit.

"Stetch! I need your help! I got some crazy man on my Mobile Suit! He's trying to hijack my Mobile Suit!" Yelled Ramba Ral as he tried to shake off the green armored soldier, but he was a stubborn one. He held onto Ramba Ral's Mobile Suit once the Blue Giant began shaking the Mobile Suit in order to get rid of him. "He filled my Mobile Suit with smoke and its filling the cockpit. So if I open the hatch, I'm as good as dead."

"Understood, sir. I'll see what I can do." Said Stetch as he said while under fire from the red Federation Mobile Suit. Unlike the other two, this one was holding firm against its opponent. It kept its distance from the Zaku and utilized it's shoulder cannons to prevent it from getting closer. "I'm still dealing with the red one, but I'll see if I can help deal with that pest, sir."

"See if you can! And hurry! The smoke is filling up my cockpit!" Yelled Ramba Ral as the smoke started to become thick enough to obscure his vision. Looking at the main camera screen, Ramba Ral was amazed and stupefied to see the hostile soldier still holding on.

"How can someone handle that much force?" Thought Ramba Ral as the smoke finally obscured his vision completely. The last thing he saw clearly was the green-armored being holding onto his Mobile Suit. "Just what can of man is he? Is he a part of the V Project?" These thoughts and more filled Ramba Ral's mind as he continued to flail around to get rid of the soldier. Yet no matter how hard he tried, the soldier wouldn't let go. In fact, his grip hadn't changed since latching onto the Gouf Mobile Suit. Soon, the soldier looked at the Gundam and stared at it. After a few seconds, the soldier brought out another grenade, a different design from the ones he used earlier, and pulled the pin out before tossing it inside the vent he used for the first grenades.

This time, explosions rang out of the Mobile Suit as the newest grenade went off inside it. Secondary explosions soon erupted in the suit that caused system crashes to occur in Ramba Ral's cockpit.

"Well, I'll be!" Yelled Ramba Ral when he realized what was happening. Tried as he might to fight the inevitable, he couldn't do anything as his Mobile Suit computer crashed and his Mobile Suit was disabled as a result. "This soldier has got to be one of the bravest and most insane soldiers I have ever seen." Sighing as he realized he couldn't do anything but accept his inevitable capture, Ramba Ral accepted his fate.

"Guess it's all up to you, Hamon." Thought Ramba Ral as he thought of his lovely lover. "If these Feddies think they won against us, they're in for a shock."

Meanwhile

Master Chief

"Joy, what's the status of the Gundam?" Asked Master Chief after the Gouf Mobile Suit was disabled, which Joy had just confirmed. The fragmentation grenade bit wasn't in the original plan, but with the Gouf pilot refusing to open his cockpit, instead opting to shake the Master Chief off, John had to improvise a bit. And it worked out well.

"Disabled, but Amuro should be fine." Said Joy as she scanned the Gundam. "Aside from a few system crashes, the Gundam is actually pretty fine. The enemy pilot must have wanted to capture the Gundam intact."

"Along with everything else." Said Master Chief. He had seen the tactics of the Zeon forces just prior to springing into action. The way the Zaku disabled the Guntank and the Gouf disabling the Gundam rather than going for the kills made Master Chief believe the Zeons wanted to capture the Mobile Suits. No doubt to study and analyze them. According to Bright, the White Base's Mobile Suits were the only surviving batch of the Earth Federation's first ever functional Mobile Suits. Meaning they were prime targets for study if possible. Along with the White Base itself. And they would have succeeded in capturing it all if it weren't for Chief.

Truth be told, John regretted not being able to help the teens sooner, but between the distance and him needing to wait for the right moment to help so he can turn the tide of battle for them, left him unable to help the teen soldiers of the White Base sooner. Hopefully Amuro, Ryu, and Hayato were alright. As for Kai, there still seemed to be fighting from his side of the battlefield. He'll need to go there once he was sure Amuro was safe.

Jumping down of the disabled Gouf, which was starting to fall to the ground back first, Master Chief landed near the Gundam and called Lilith.

"Lilith, contact Bright and tell him that the Gundam and Guntank are down." Said Master Chief. "I'd taken out the Gouf and one of the Zakus. I'm on my way to help Kai take out the last Zaku after I'm sure Amuro is fine."

"Understood." Said Lilith with some relief in her voice. "Please, be careful out there."

"Affirmative." Said John before ending the call. He than scanned the Gundam so Joy can analyze it further.

"Yup." Said Joy after the scan was complete. "Just disabled. Nothing a good system restart can't fix along with some minor repairs. They really wanted this thing intact. Still, a bit longer and this thing may have been rendered inoperable for sometime. Guess the enemy pilot knew what he was doing."

"Is Amuro okay, Joy?" Asked Master Chief as he walked towards the cockpit of the Gundam so he can reassure Amuro that he was safe. After what he endured on that island, Master Chief wanted to make sure the boy was both safe and mentally stable after what they did to cure him.

"He should." Said Joy. "Just knock on the cockpit hatch and call him." Master Chief just gave a slight nod before knocking on the cockpit hatch.

"Amuro. It's John." Said Master Chief, loud enough for his voice to be heard from the other side of the metal hatch but gentle enough to reassure Amuro that he was a friend. As much as he can reassure that is. Soon, John heard Amuro's voice.

"Sir! Thank god. I thought that the Zeons." Said Amuro with no small relief in his voice. Even though the voice was muffled, Amuro can tell it was the Master Chief's voice. Never had he imagined he find comfort in the Master Chief's voice, yet here he was.

"The immediate ones are taken care of." Said Master Chief. "I'm on my way to help Kai with the last one. I'll be back with the others to get you back in the ship. Until then, sit tight. It'll be over soon."

"Understood, sir." Said Amuro, relief in his voice. He had honestly thought they lost the battle and that the Zeons were charging at the White Base. But no, the Master Chief came to save them. Save them like he saved the Gundam and him before. "Thank you." Master Chief didn't say anything, except for a gentle knock on the hatch. With that, he took off to help deal with the last Zeon Mobile Suit.

"Joy, tell Lilith that the last Zaku will be taken care of soon." Said Master Chief before going to a sprint. The faster they did this, the faster they can prepare for another assault. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last they will see the Zeons in the immediate future.