CE Incident Report, Banquet Invitation (Hurry Up and Invest)

April 1st, April Fools' Day.

Noer was discharged from the hospital and walked into the military academy wearing the uniform of the MS Training Class.

The campus was peaceful~

However, thousands of miles away on Earth, it was not so peaceful.

Cries of condemnation and curses could be heard endlessly.

Countless Naturals, who were originally neutral, took to the streets, carrying banners against PLANT and shouting curses.

The voice of opposition to PLANT, for the first time, drowned out everything else in an overwhelming manner.

Even neutral Orb could only silently allow its citizens to take to the streets to shout and cheer.

"Sigh, things are getting troublesome..."

In the Orb conference room, Yulaas Hah looked at the scene on the television broadcast and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Due to the Neutron Jammers emitted by PLANT, Earth's energy was running low.

The next day~

As the Earth's Naturals were filled with righteous indignation, PLANT began to land countless base facilities in batches from orbit in the port of Capantaria, in the Australian region of the Oceania Union.

And within a mere 48 hours, the foundation of the Capantaria base was completed.

The Alliance Military's Pacific Fleet set out to intercept, but was utterly defeated.

April 17th.

The Earth Alliance Military's 5th and 6th Fleets, targeting PLANT's homeland, launched their attack from Ptolemaios.

Near the resource satellite Jachin=due, managed by PLANT, they engaged in battle with the intercepting ZAFT forces (the "First Battle of Yachin Due").

The PLANT Council also passed a proposal at this moment to convert Yachin Due into a defensive fortress...

May 3rd.

ZAFT began its offensive, targeting the lunar base Ptolemaios, and established a base on the inner side of the Moon, in Lorenz Crater.

From then on, the two sides divided the Moon in two, with Grimaldi Crater as the boundary, and conflicts continuously occurred.

It was only now that both sides truly began to fight with fervor. If the previous wars were mainly caused by the political elites of both sides, and the soldiers still retained some reason and humanity, Then from now on, the soldiers and civilians below began a war based primarily on revenge.

At this point, there was no other voice within the armies of both sides except to destroy the enemy.

The successive wars ignited the flames of revenge in the lowest-level soldiers and civilians.

May 20th, Capantaria base completed. It was equipped with the aerial combat MS "Dinn," which had long been developed as Earth's combat force.

May 22nd, ZAFT used Capantaria base as a bridgehead to conquer bases on Earth, beginning its invasion of the Mediterranean.

May 25th, off the coast of Casablanca, the Alliance Military's (with the Eurasian Federation as the main force) Mediterranean Fleet clashed with ZAFT's submersible carrier fleet (First Battle of Casablanca Sea). The underwater MS "GOOhN" made its combat debut. ZAFT won this battle and invaded the Mediterranean. They began their invasion southward from the northern coast of Africa. And began constructing the Gibraltar base.

May 30th, "Battle of Suez (Canal)"; at Alamein, which became the battlefield, the Alliance Military and ZAFT ground forces engaged in a fierce battle.

Although ZAFT initially struggled against the Eurasian Federation's large tank units, they achieved great results with the ground combat MS "BucUe" under Andrew Waltfeld's brilliant strategy. Subsequently, ZAFT began its southward advance from the northern coast of Africa (the "African Front") and expanded its influence.

Andrew Waltfeld was also known as the "Desert Tiger."

While the outside world was engulfed in flames of war, there was a rare moment of peace behind the scenes at PLANT.

"Noel Cassia, you brat, stop right there!"

On the military academy grounds, Noer, who had been slacking off, was about to make a run for it when he was called out by a white-haired, tsundere man.

Hearing the shouts from behind, Noer couldn't help but roll his eyes. He turned around and said helplessly, "Why are you still clinging to me like this?"

This person was none other than the notoriously tsundere man in the SEED world – Yzak.

Ever since he was forcibly assigned to the MS Training Class due to the previous accident, he had formed a fated connection with Yzak.

Why a fated connection? Because Noer happened to transfer into Yzak's class – MS Training Class 1!

Faced with Noer, who achieved 'brilliant results' on his first time piloting an MS, Yzak unhesitatingly proposed a sparring match with Noer.

The result was that Noer was brutally beaten. Noer himself didn't know how the previous situation had occurred, so...

Yzak, having won, seemed to have found confidence in Noer. The next day, he went to find Athrun, and the result... was wonderful, at least comfortable for Noer.

So it later evolved into Yzak being thrashed by Athrun, then running to Noer to regain his confidence, and then confidently going back to Athrun to get thrashed again...

Back and forth, Noer eventually gave up and became a laid-back youth!

"What do you mean clinging to me? Where are you planning to go, you brat?" Yzak Joule walked over with Diakka and Latis.

"It's after school, so I'm going home to sleep, of course." Noer was speechless. Where else could he go after school besides home to sleep?

"Home? Did you forget something, you brat?" Yzak asked in surprise.

"Can you stop calling me 'you brat' every other word? Do you know how punchable you are with that attitude!" Noer couldn't take it anymore.

Yzak's catchphrases were "you brat," "you guy," "you..."

"Tsk~ Finally, someone said it!" Diakka on the side raised an eyebrow and whistled. It wasn't easy, someone finally said that to the tsundere.

Latis on the side also showed surprise, and silently gave Noer a thumbs-up!

"You little..."

"Let's go, let's go, there's an MS training machine over there, let's have a practical session!"

Noer said as he stepped forward and pulled Yzak towards the MS training grounds. Noer had truly endured Yzak's catchphrase for a long time, and for the past few days, Yzak had been like a shadow, wanting to beat him up.

Today, he absolutely had to vent!

Winning or losing wasn't the point; the main thing was to get this anger out of his system!

"You think I'm afraid of you! Bring it on!"

Yzak's tsundere nature wasn't ordinary; he was the type to act immediately. He said he was going to the training grounds for a match.

"Alright, alright! Are you two sick or something!"

Diakka on the side was completely speechless and quickly stepped forward with Latis to pull the two apart, saying, "Didn't we say we were going to Athrun's family gathering today?"

"What gathering?"

"There's such a thing?"

Noer and Yzak both froze.

"It's fine if Noer doesn't remember, but Yzak, weren't you just talking about this?" Diakka was shocked. Did these two really have memory problems?

Noer genuinely didn't remember anything about it.

As for Yzak...

"What's wrong with you two?"

Just as Noer and the other were confused, Athrun walked over from behind with Nicol.

Seeing this, Diakka released Yzak and spread his hands, saying, "The main person is here, you two talk to him."

"Ahem, Noer said he's not feeling well and doesn't want to attend any damn banquet!" Yzak coughed and pointed at Noer not far away.

"Huh? When did I say that?" Noer was speechless. How come he never realized Yzak had this ability before?

Athrun Sarra's gaze flickered between the two, and he automatically ignored the topic, saying, "Noer, actually, it wasn't me who invited you this time, but my father. He wants to meet you."

"Your father!?" Noer's eyes widened slightly. Athrun's father, wasn't that Patrick Zala?

He wanted to see him? Why?

"Actually, there are quite a few people attending this party, and you know some of them," Athrun continued when Noer remained unmoved.

"I know them?" Noer was stunned. To be honest, he hadn't met many people since arriving at PLANT.

"Rau Le Creuset, and..."

"Stop! I suddenly feel a stomach ache, so I..."

Noer's refusal was immediate. It wasn't for any other reason than a simple stomach ache.

"I heard Lacus Clyne is also going, and she's supposed to sing live," Diakka said leisurely before Noer could finish refusing.

"I... I've thought about it. Athrun, as my best friend, your father's invitation, I must attend even if I'm sick! I have to give him this face!"

"..."