At that moment, inside the Free Gundam's enormous, high-tech cockpit, its pilot, Kira, stared intently at the main screen. Data poured across the holographic tactical displays like a torrential downpour, and the mobile suit soon completed its self-check and startup.
"!!"
Seeing this, Kira's pupils contracted slightly. He immediately piloted his mobile suit to draw the ZAFT army's first standardized beam rifle, the MA-M20 Lupus, which could be powered directly by its nuclear engine and had far greater output than ordinary GINNs or other mobile suits. He locked on to and took aim at the steel monster in the passage.
"..."
However, when he saw the two figures already fighting in the passage, one large and one small, he hesitated. In the end, his finger merely hovered over the beam rifle's trigger as he kept it charged and aimed, without firing right away.
He wanted to see for himself whether that little girl—that terrifying "Azazel"—was really strong enough to dismantle a Gundam with her bare hands.
After all, although that steel beast, the Thunderbolt Mech, wasn't technically a mobile suit, and its height of around five meters was nowhere near the twenty or so meters of a Gundam, its combat capabilities could still rival those of an ordinary mobile suit. It could even outperform one piloted by an average pilot. So if she really could win, that would say a lot.
"..."
While he was distracted, the heart-pounding battle continued to unfold on the screen.
In fact, Kira had already seen it while the mobile suit was running its self-check. At the very start of the fight, the steel monster—the Thunderbolt Mech—had suddenly launched itself forward like a raging bull. Its massive body barreled straight toward the little red figure, toward the little girl.
Its hydraulic joints had even let