Gundam Stands Upon the Earth

Then, the screen slowly displayed the name of the machine, shining with a mysterious light.

GAT-X106 Blaze

"Blaze...?"

Xia Ya unconsciously murmured the name, his golden brows drawing together slightly.

A trace of obvious confusion passed through his eyes, only to be replaced by deeper curiosity and scrutiny.

This name, this model number, did not exist at all in his memory database—in the story script of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, which he knew so well.

The GAT-X Series, the five prototype units secretly developed by the Earth Alliance at Heliopolis—Strike Gundam, Aegis Gundam, Duel Gundam, Buster Gundam, and Blitz Gundam.

This was information he had long since memorized, the cornerstone upon which he had built his initial plans.

Yet now, this machine called "Blaze" had appeared here out of nowhere like a ghost, becoming a "sixth member" that should never have existed.

Why was it here? Who had built it? Was it a hidden trump card of the Earth Forces, or a secret project of Morgenroete?

Countless questions flooded his mind in an instant, bringing with them unease over this unknown variable.

The plan had gone off course from the very beginning, and by a major margin at that.

Missing out on the Blitz Gundam had already put him on guard, but the appearance of this Blaze Gundam cast an even thicker fog over the road ahead.

Yet beneath the fog, opportunity lay hidden as well.

Xia Ya's gaze swiftly shifted from confusion to sharpness, like a bird of prey spotting new quarry. This mysterious machine might have been fate's compensation for his failure to seize the Blitz Gundam—another vessel of power, more unexpected and perhaps even more formidable.

"I need it... I need it." He muttered, his tone carrying unquestionable resolve.

He had come to this world bearing ambitions and goals far beyond the ordinary.

It was a grand plan capable of overturning the current order, one that required immense power to set in motion. Whether to confront enemies destined to rise in the future or to carve out a path of his own between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, he desperately needed strength.

Primal, overwhelming strength—strength enough to let him gain a foothold in this war-torn Cosmic Era.

This "Blaze" before him might be the strongest weapon he could currently grasp.

"Lend me your power, Blaze..."

There was determination and longing in his voice, as if he were holding a conversation of souls with this mysterious machine across space, time, and matter.

His faintly trembling hands gradually steadied and began moving expertly across the complex control panel.

Every button press and every movement of the control sticks was precise and fluid, as though he had been born to sit here.

It was not entirely instinct. More than that, it came from the grueling efforts he had made afterward.

Smooth hydraulic sounds and faint vibrations came from within the machine, while the view captured by the external monitors began to rise.

Under his control, that enormous steel body slowly rose upright from the restraints of the maintenance platform.

Through the main screen, the burning factory buildings, scattered fleeing figures, orange-red fireballs from explosions, and billowing smoke formed a scene like a painting of hell.

Yet in Xia Ya's eyes, this infernal world filled with flying flames strangely resembled a wild, passionate welcoming ceremony, as though it were offering the most primal salute to this steel knight entering the battlefield for the first time.

Becoming a qualified Mobile Suit pilot was no easy task.

Elite piloting skills were the foundation of everything, but equally important was a deep understanding and command of the machine's operating system, or OS—a system as complex as the stars.

Without suitable OS support, even the most powerful machine was nothing but scrap metal, and even the most brilliant control inputs could not be fully realized.

For this day, for the ability to truly command these steel giants, after arriving in this world and confirming both the timeline and his circumstances, he had resolutely enrolled in Heliopolis Industrial College to specialize in programming and systems engineering.

For him, it had not been an easy road.

To be honest, rigorous and tedious programming was not a talent buried deep in his soul. Compared to maneuvering strategically or fighting on the battlefield, he often felt overwhelmed when faced with cold lines of logic and code. Night after night, he buried himself before virtual screens, battling complex algorithms and lengthy code as he tried to understand the system frameworks built around modes of thought available to Coordinators but beyond the reach of Naturals. Difficulties, setbacks, and self-doubt crashed over him again and again like waves.

But he had endured. With willpower far beyond ordinary people and an intense desire to achieve his goal, he absorbed knowledge with near-obsessive madness.

He clearly remembered how, during those days, every day and every night had felt like immersion in a boundless ocean of code, his brain running at high speed without pause.

If he had been the person from his "previous life," muddling through without even knowing what he wanted and living only by inertia, he would likely have suffered a mental breakdown and gone completely mad under such intense academic pressure.

But this life was different. He had a clear goal, a mission that had to be completed.

And now, none of that effort had been wasted.

When his fingertips touched the crude, primitive—almost catastrophically terrible—OS interface of the Blaze Gundam, he did not panic like an ordinary person would.

He had enough confidence to say that after several years of intensive study, his knowledge of MS operating systems was absolutely no worse than that of ordinary Coordinator soldiers.

That confidence was not unfounded.

In fact, during the recently concluded semester evaluations, he—a Natural—had forced his way through a crowd of Coordinator students who had nearly monopolized the top rankings in every science and engineering subject, successfully taking first place overall in programming-related courses.

In a technical field dominated by Coordinators, this was undoubtedly an achievement that drew attention—and the best proof of his ability.

...Even so, the slightest trace of pride had barely surfaced before he forcefully crushed it.

Arrogance was the breeding ground of failure, and the lesson from before was still fresh in his mind.

It had been his excessive confidence in his own abilities, as well as his underestimation of ZAFT's speed, that had caused his carefully laid first plan to seize the Blitz Gundam to collapse completely.

That black phantom equipped with the Mirage Colloid stealth system had been taken away almost right beneath his eyes. Every time he recalled it, he felt both annoyance and vigilance.

"I can't make the same mistake again." He silently warned himself, his gaze turning sharp and focused once more.

On the battlefield, situations changed in an instant. The slightest oversight could lead to irreversible ruin.

"Neural connection synchronization confirmed. Control module directly linked to molecular ion pump, power stable. Beginning reconstruction of neural link mapping network... Updating motor cortex drive parameters... Initializing and activating feedforward control loop... Loading Coriolis force correction parameters... Connecting standard combat movement routine library, authorization verified... System core modules online. Now, boot sequence start!"

His fingers danced swiftly between the virtual keyboard and physical controls as he murmured a series of complex technical commands.

Part of his brain was fully focused on modifying and optimizing the OS at its most fundamental level, attempting to rewrite the primitive interface into something more suited to his habits and better able to bring out the machine's potential. Meanwhile, another part of his mind, spinning at high speed, could not help comparing the situation with the plot of the original work—Kira Yamato, the boy known as the Ultimate Coordinator, should also have been in the cockpit of the Strike Gundam right now, tearing his hair out over an equally disastrous initial OS, shouldn't he?

Between the two of them, who was rewriting their OS faster?

The thought flashed through his mind only briefly before he immediately focused all his attention on the work at hand.

In the original story, Kira had endlessly complained about Strike Gundam's initial OS, calling it clumsy, sluggish, and difficult to control. Now it was Xia Ya's turn to experience it firsthand.

Sure enough, it was utterly awful! Command inputs had obvious delays, feedback was vague, and the interfaces for many advanced maneuvers had not even been opened.

He had originally thought that, as a Natural, adapting to this system—perhaps designed for ordinary Earth Alliance pilots—would be slightly easier for him than it would be for Kira, who was a Coordinator.

But reality mercilessly shattered that fantasy—no, absolutely not!

The design philosophy behind this OS was simply inhuman. No wonder even a genius like Kira had needed to rewrite it.

As his thoughts drifted, he could not help feeling sincere admiration for Captain Murrue Ramius, who in the original story had taken command in a crisis and piloted the Strike Gundam against a ZAFT Ginn.

It was impressive that she had managed, in such a critical moment, to pilot the almost immobile Strike Gundam while dealing with such a hostile operating system and fight Michel Aiman's battle-hardened Ginn for so long.

Certainly, the Strike Gundam's Phase Shift Armor, or PS Armor, provided powerful defensive capability and greatly made up for its lack of mobility. But that could not erase Miss Murrue's astonishing courage, decisiveness, and basic piloting skill.

"...There. The basic optimization is complete!"

After a stretch of tense but efficient work, the new OS configuration was finally set up. Xia Ya let out a long breath, feeling fine beads of sweat form at his temples. He pressed the confirmation button to reboot the system.

In an instant, every screen in the cockpit went dark, then lit up again with a brand-new interface and smoother visual effects.

The configured programs began operating like a precision clockwork mechanism infused with a soul, every gear turning in perfect alignment.

The machine's exterior indicator lights flashed in sequence according to the preset order, eventually stabilizing in a bright operational state like a star of hope lit in the darkness.

Then the PS Armor activated, and at the same time, the vector thrusters on its back violently spewed two thick streams of blazing-white particles that warped the air with heat.

Enormous thrust acted on the machine in an instant. The Gundam called "Blaze" surged forward like a primordial beast breaking free of its chains, smashing through the factory ceiling and piercing straight toward Heliopolis's simulated sky!

"Urgh!" The intense G-force slammed Xia Ya hard against the pilot seat.

An indescribable sensation assaulted his senses—a mixture of the fullness of being wrapped in immense power and the strange floating feeling brought by high-speed flight.

It was so novel, and so intoxicating.

Was it because he was not wearing a pilot suit with G-force protection?

He pondered it silently. After all, this was his first real MS combat experience. Lacking experience, he found it hard to accurately judge the difference in sensation.

Yet the sense of power flooding through his body was undeniably real.

It was as though a pair of warm, strong, invisible hands were holding him tightly—not restraining him, but supporting him, merging with him.

Rather than causing even the slightest discomfort, that sensation of power was like a potent stimulant, igniting a desire for battle and conquest that had long lain dormant deep within him.

Blood raced faster through his veins, and every cell in his body seemed to cheer.

After a brief adjustment period, Xia Ya immediately turned his attention back to the battlefield.

"Where's the Strike Gundam? Kira and the others..." He frowned slightly, a trace of doubt rising within him.

While focusing completely on setting up the Blaze Gundam's OS, he had nearly blocked out most information from the outside world.

Now that he had risen into the sky and looked carefully, he realized in surprise that the Strike Gundam, which should have been nearby, had vanished.

"It's not in its original position..." His sharp gaze swept across the battlefield below. Combining what he remembered of the plot, he quickly reached a conclusion. "If that's the case, Strike must have already been tied up by the Ginn and entered combat!"

He had to find them quickly! He immediately opened the radar targeting interface while ordering the optical sensors to conduct a full scan.

"...Found them!" A few seconds later, the radar screen caught two powerful signals moving at high speed, like lamps in the night.

Almost simultaneously, the optical zoom on the main camera successfully locked onto the targets, presenting clear images on the main screen.

Just as he had expected.

On a street in the industrial district not far below, a machine clad in dazzling PS Armor, painted in those incomparably familiar blue, white, and red colors, was none other than the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam!

Its movements looked somewhat clumsy, but the armor flowing with an energetic sheen was extraordinarily sturdy.

Opposite it stood a mass-produced MS painted dark gray, relatively rough in appearance and even somewhat bulky—ZAFT's ZGMF-1017 Ginn.

At this moment, the two Mobile Suits, representing different factions and different technological philosophies, had already launched into a breathtaking chase and battle amid the ruined colonial satellite district.

The Ginn struck first. Its thick 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun let out a deafening roar, its black muzzle spewing dense streams of fire as a barrage of large-caliber tracer rounds poured down upon the Strike Gundam like a raging storm.

Every shell was enough to easily tear apart conventional armor and trigger a violent explosion. The Ginn's pilot was clearly attempting to use this dense barrage to restrict Strike Gundam's movement and force it into a corner.

Yet faced with that surging rain of bullets, Strike Gundam's response was almost "arrogant."

It barely made any evasive movements, merely adjusting its posture slightly.

The incoming shells, whistling through the air, struck Strike Gundam's blue, white, and red armor as though they had hit an invisible, absolutely solid energy barrier.

"Clang, clang, clang—!" Amid the dense sounds of metal striking metal, the bullets were deflected, distorted, and shattered, scattering harmless yet dazzling sparks of energy across the PS Armor's surface like fireworks at a festival.

The miraculous properties of PS Armor were fully displayed at that moment, reducing the threat posed by conventional ballistic weapons to a minimum.

Taking advantage of the brief window in which its PS Armor absorbed the attack, Strike Gundam suddenly ignited its thrusters and rapidly pulled back.

Its movements began to grow more agile than before. Though still somewhat awkward, they faintly revealed a coordination unlike its initial state.

The selection and execution of those evasive maneuvers were not top-tier, but they were precise and effective, carrying a unique nimbleness as though it were constantly learning and adapting.

"That control... it really is Kira." Watching Strike's movements on the screen, Xia Ya became even more certain of his judgment.

Though he meant no disrespect to Captain Murrue, based on his understanding of their abilities, while Miss Murrue's experience and determination were worthy of praise, there was indeed a gap difficult to ignore between her and Kira Yamato—the Ultimate Coordinator blessed with the SEED Factor—in terms of precise MS controls and instantaneous reactions.

Only Kira could have begun, in such a short time and under the pressure of live combat, to gradually explore and initially draw out part of Strike Gundam's potential.

However, although Strike Gundam's movements were steadily becoming more nimble as it defended against and evaded the Ginn's gunfire, it never launched an effective counterattack. It did not even make a move to draw its weapon.

"Just as I thought..." A sharp gleam flashed in Xia Ya's eyes. "Kira must be desperately rewriting Strike's OS right now! How far has he gotten?"

A subtle sense of competition surfaced again. Had his own speed in modifying Blaze's OS been fast or slow? How did it compare with Kira's?

...No, wait. Thinking carefully, it had been Miss Murrue who initially launched in the Strike Gundam. She had piloted it with that primitive OS against Michel for a while before Kira took over.

On his side, he had started the machine and modified it immediately. Perhaps because of that difference in timing, he had "won" this silent OS modification contest?

Kira was surely optimizing and rewriting the operating system in every gap between combat, racing against time so he could truly command this high-performance new machine.

The pressure he faced was far greater than Xia Ya's had been while merely modifying the OS.

"...!"

Just as Xia Ya considered this, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed! The Ginn's pilot was clearly highly experienced in combat. He seemed to have seen through Strike Gundam's predicament—defending without attacking, its movements still awkward.

While continuing what appeared to be casual suppressive fire with his assault rifle, he controlled the Ginn to stride rapidly toward the Strike Gundam.

The instant it came close enough, it suddenly stowed its rifle and, with a lightning-fast motion of its right hand, drew the physical melee weapon mounted on its waist armor—the Heavy Cleaver, rough in shape and gleaming with cold metallic light along its edge!

"A physical blade?!" Xia Ya's heart tightened.

Of course he knew that since Strike Gundam possessed PS Armor, this physical slash should theoretically be unable to cause structural damage to its armor as long as its energy supply remained sufficient.

But! PS Armor could defend against cutting, piercing, and explosive impacts, yet it could not fully negate pure kinetic force!

That heavy cleaver, carrying the tremendous momentum of the Ginn's charge, came crashing down. Even if it could not penetrate the armor, the force contained within it would be enough to cause serious consequences!

Sure enough!

On the screen, Strike Gundam seemed completely unprepared for its opponent to suddenly switch to a melee weapon—or perhaps Kira was so focused on modifying the OS that he simply had no time to react.

"Clang—!!!" A heavy, teeth-grinding crash came through the communications channel as the Heavy Cleaver slammed into Strike Gundam's left shoulder armor.

The PS Armor erupted with an even brighter glow in response, successfully resisting the blade's cutting force. But the overwhelming impact was transmitted directly into the machine's frame without reservation!

Having been caught completely unprepared, Strike Gundam took the powerful blow like a giant struck by a warhammer. Its enormous body lurched sharply to one side, its balance utterly shattered!

The blue, white, and red giant stumbled back two steps, its feet scraping harshly across the ground as it swayed, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Kira and Murrue in the cockpit had probably already been shaken senseless by that violent impact.

"Damn it!" Xia Ya's pupils suddenly contracted at the sight. Before his mind could even form a clear command, his body was already driven by battle instinct.

"Blaze—!!!"

He let out an instinctive roar, as though trying to pour his will into the machine.

He slammed the main thruster pedal all the way down! The vector thrusters on its back instantly surged to maximum output, blasting forth particle streams even more violent and blazing than before!

The immense G-force crushed him against the seat again, and it felt as if his internal organs had been squeezed out of place.

But he could not spare a thought for that now. His eyes remained locked on the Ginn, which was pulling back its Heavy Cleaver and seemingly preparing to deliver a second, then third strike upon the unbalanced Strike Gundam!

He clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums, using every ounce of strength in his body to resist the physiological limits imposed by the sudden acceleration.

The invisible hand of G-force tore at his body, and darkness began creeping in around the edges of his vision, but he had no thought of slowing down.

The Blaze Gundam transformed into a crimson meteor, tearing through the air and charging fiercely toward the Ginn's rear flank with incomparable force!

It moved so fast that it even left behind a brief crimson afterimage born from extreme heat and high-speed friction!

The Ginn's pilot—Michel Aiman—had clearly noticed this sudden threat carrying the scent of destruction.

Its mono-eye sensor snapped toward the approaching Blaze Gundam, and as its sensors caught the rapidly enlarging crimson figure, a flicker of shock passed through it.

------Did it notice me?!

The thought flashed through Xia Ya's mind, only to be overwhelmed in the next instant by a stronger will.

No! It didn't matter anymore! This was the moment!

Fly—!!!

He screamed wildly in his heart, as though he were about to set his very soul ablaze.

Piloting the Blaze Gundam like an enraged meteor falling from the heavens, he crashed into the Ginn's side waist with an overwhelming force!

Boom—!!!

A deafeningly dull explosion erupted, as though even space itself were trembling! It was the most primal, most brutal collision of steel against steel!

Caught off guard by the savage surprise attack, the Ginn was like a massive body struck head-on by a speeding train. Its enormous frame instantly lost all balance and was violently hurled away by the tremendous kinetic force like a kite with its string cut!

It traced a miserable arc through the air, tumbling helplessly as it crashed toward the industrial factory buildings behind it.

Amid a screech of twisting metal and cracking concrete, the Ginn's massive body smashed a huge hole through the building's outer wall. With a thunderous crash, it slammed into the rubble below, kicking up a cloud of dust and temporarily losing its ability to move.

The recoil from the impact made the Blaze Gundam tremble slightly as well, but Xia Ya relied on its superior performance and an instant adjustment to steadily regain control, hovering in midair.

"Ha... ha..." He panted heavily. That burst of extreme acceleration and collision had taken an enormous toll on both his body and mind. But for now, the crisis had passed.

"Ah, right, weapons!" Only then did he suddenly remember that he had relied entirely on the mobile suit's momentum to save the day just now, without using any weapons at all.

Cold sweat broke out instantly. If the Ginn had reacted a little faster, or if his angle of impact had been even slightly off... the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He hurriedly opened the weapon management interface, his fingers trembling slightly as they swiped across the screen while he nervously checked the Blaze Gundam's armament configuration.

"One High-Energy Beam Rifle, mounted on the back. Then... the handles on the back should be Beam Sabers. Two of them. Inside the shield... no Gatling gun? And there are no 'Hedgehog Array' close-in defense guns on the head either?!"

When he saw the simple, almost shabby weapon list displayed on the screen, he could not help muttering a curse. "Damn it! Is that really all there is?! It doesn't even have basic self-defense weapons?"

Though he had only caught a glimpse of it, the Blaze Gundam's appearance had been full of raw power, even carrying the savage air of a heavily armed unit.

Its thick shoulder armor and the explosive design of its leg thrusters, for example, had both made it seem as though it should have carried a far richer and more varied arsenal.

But reality was brutally sparse—just the most basic configuration of one rifle and two sabers.

Wasn't this weapon selection a little too simple?! It had even fewer standard weapons than the Strike Gundam's default loadout. The Strike Gundam at least had two 75mm "Hedgehog Array" automatic close-in defense cannons on its head.

Facing the potentially fiercer battles to come, a powerful sense of unease and worry rose within him.

A lack of weapon types meant fewer tactical options and weaker adaptability.

But there was no longer any time for hesitation or complaints.

He quickly reached out and controlled the mechanical arm to remove the High-Energy Beam Rifle from its back.

He steadily aimed the barrel at the Ginn in the distance, where the dust had yet to fully settle and it was struggling to crawl out of the ruins. Taking up a standard firing stance, he prepared for the next round of combat.