Gundam: From Piece to Player

Despite Char's outstanding performance, wiping out almost an entire squadron of mobile suits from Karma, Karma still managed to destroy their training battalion's command post first.

But war is not a game for one person. In the end, the overall collapse led to a complete loss, and no defeat is pleasant, especially after all the effort and sacrifice.

Therefore, Char was not too enthusiastic about the invitation extended by Garma: "I belong to the Space Force's Attack Force, and my mobile suit's OS is adapted to the space environment, which is different from combat within the colonies."

"Then this time I'll give you the home-field advantage and let you test it in the space environment. I happen to have a test machine here, which has already been modified."

"Oh?"

Karma's words had stirred up Char's competitive spirit.

"Since that's the case, let's give it a try. How should we conduct the drill?"

"One-on-one, you and I will fight one-on-one."

Upon hearing this, Xia couldn't even suppress the upward curve of his lips beneath his mask.

Young master, don't cry if you lose.

He might not be as good as Garma in military command, but when it comes to MS piloting alone, Char is confident that there is no stronger pilot in the current Zeon military.

Since the other party has provoked him like this, he has no reason to hold back.

After a quick check-up, the Red Zaku was launched from the port on the side of the island. Char was still not wearing his pilot suit, confident that he would not be shot down.

Just like testing the power of the Zaku, the accelerator was floored.

The Zaku II also sped up, the force of the push pressing Char into the seat, and the dashboard even spun to the red warning zone. The modified Red Zaku has the ability to stabilize the machine at high speeds, which is used to maintain control at high speeds and ensure that it does not lose control at high speeds.

It flew out parallel to the solar panels of the colony below, and the rapid retreat of the huge solar panels demonstrated the powerful acceleration of the red Zaku.

After circling this area of ​​space, Xia, still feeling exhilarated, took a deep breath, only to have his machine's sensors sound an alarm.

Since there is no combat-level concentration of Minovsky particles in space, the radar on the machine can still function.

The speed at which that small dot moved on the radar screen was quite outrageous.

A dozen seconds later, a small blue dot appeared on the screen, rapidly magnifying until it could be seen with the naked eye.

A gray and white machine with an X-shaped thruster on its back and numerous radiators resembling shark gills on its torso.

Of course, the most eye-catching feature is the body's 'face'.

The V-shaped antenna, the three horizontal bars on the nose of the aircraft, and the green double-eye monitors seem to be staring at him.

For some reason, Char felt a little nauseous.

"Kalma, what kind of mobile suit is this?"

“This is the mobile suit that lost the bid to the Zaku, the EMS-04 Zidar.” Karma didn’t hide his pride. “Zid Corporation gave it to me, and I made some minor modifications.”

Char had heard rumors about this machine.

The machine that exploded during testing due to engine overload, along with its pilot.

How dare Karma pilot such a dangerous machine?

Despite thinking this to himself, Char still praised, "Wow, Karma, I didn't expect you to actually get your hands on this mobile suit."

“After all, I’m already a general, so I have these privileges.” Karma’s voice came through the communication channel.

"Can we begin?"

"Okay."

Char's fighting spirit surged; he also wanted to see what this bombed machine was capable of.

The gray-white machine trailed a beautiful tail spin in the air, raising its solid bullet rifle towards Char.

They fired a series of shots.

Xia dared not be careless. He dodged and simultaneously raised his machine gun to counterattack. Both were in a state of high-speed movement, and he adopted a hit-and-run tactic.

However, Char's piloting experience was superior, and he predicted the trajectory of the Garma mobile suit.

"Watch out, I might bite your butt."

Char's mobile suit turned faster, attempting to align Garma's mobile suit at the 6 o'clock position, trying to put it within the aiming crosshair.

It's over, Char thought.

"Did you really bite it?"

Karma said casually, pressing the accelerator further down.

In an instant, the X-shaped central thruster of the machine in front burst out with a dazzling blue light like a star, and then quickly shrank from view, like the taillights of the car in front of you suddenly shrinking on the highway.

Are you kidding me?

Char continued to press down, only to find that the accelerator was already pressed against the floor of the cockpit. The immense push-back feeling and the frequent red warning lights on the dashboard indicated that his personal Zaku had accelerated to its limit.

However, the blue tail flame ahead continued to shrink.

The Red Zaku, known for its speed, was surprisingly outpaced by its opponent on a straight line.

If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't in a non-rice grain environment, the other party would probably have already escaped Zaku's detection range by now.

The next moment, the object collision alarm system suddenly sounded.

Before Char could react, the machine emitted a simulated shockwave.

"Watch where you're going, BOOM, BOOM."

Listening to Karma's words, Xia realized that these were mines that Karma had scattered along her flight path.

It was precisely because Char was too eager to catch up and flew along the opponent's flight path that the Red Zaku crashed head-on into the mine at high speed.

Xia Ya's face was extremely ugly; he had never experienced suffering two hidden losses in such a short period of time before.

Still in my forte: MS piloting.

The exercise system showed that the Red Zaku suffered 30% damage after hitting the mine. If it were a real mine hit at such a high speed, let alone continue fighting, the machine would be at risk of being detonated and disintegrating.

"I'm here, Char, where are you looking?"

By the time the enemy was spotted again, they were already more than 9 kilometers away. Char raised his hand to aim, but then realized that the distance was already close to the firing range of the Zaku machine gun.

Not to mention that the enemy's machine has such an exaggerated speed that it's impossible to hit it even if you try.

He had no choice but to chase again, and Karma calmly accelerated to widen the distance.

This process was repeated several times.

It felt like a dog chasing a car.

Left with no other option, Char turned on his radio to provoke them.

"Kalma, I admit your machine is faster, but that won't guarantee you final victory!"

Chapter 42 Twin Furnaces

Karma did not immediately respond to Char's provocation.

He also needed to catch his breath after the high G-force of the acceleration, even though he was wearing a specially designed anti-load driving suit.

His mobile suit, after being equipped with an X-shaped propulsion backpack, became the first mobile suit in the Universal Century to be equipped with a dual-core fusion reactor.

The body's mass increased by only 20%, but its energy output increased to 180% of the original.

The simple equation, energy = 1/2 mass + velocity squared, allows us to calculate that the top speed of the Garma MS is 1.7 times that of the Zda prototype... In terms of the five-dimensional attributes of this mobile suit alone, it absolutely deserves the name "Gundam".

Let alone Char's Red Zaku, he's now confident he can escape unscathed from Amuro Ray (RX-78-2 Magnetic Coating Type) after he awakens his Newtype abilities...

You definitely can't beat them in a fight, so try catching up to them.

To prevent the device from crashing under such high-performance configuration, no expense is spared in the investment in cooling systems and thermal management.

As a military design expert, Karma would never attempt to mass-produce this monster... but rather use it as a testing platform for various new types of equipment.

The power generation of the two reactors is sufficient to power all the mobile suit weapons developed by Zeon and the Federation during the One Year War... If long-term combat endurance is not the goal, it can also be equipped with beam weapons for mobile suits in the later stages.

"What's wrong, Karma? Are you scared?"

If it were just a normal game of make-believe at the military academy, Char wouldn't have provoked him. It's clear that Char got a little carried away with the fight.

"Now that you're ready, it's my turn."

Karma piloted the machine and began to approach the Red Zaku.

Seeing this, Char also drove his Red Zaku towards him.

The two sides passed each other, but neither launched an attack... They both wanted to be the ones to strike last in the battle.

Karma's voice came through the communication channel, "Char, do you know why my prototype lost the bid?"

"Didn't it explode due to overload during testing?"

"Besides that, it also requires 1.8 times the resources to build a Zaku."

"So, have you solved that problem?"

"It's solved, but unfortunately the resources required for the additional cooling system alone are equivalent to those of two Zaku."

"So you're saying your machine is expensive enough to guarantee your victory?"

Gundam swooped down from the airspace above the Red Zaku, its weapon having been switched from a rifle to a rocket launcher.

Meanwhile, the Red Zagu also set up its backup rocket launcher and swooped upwards.

Like the instant of cavalry clash, three rockets from their launchers were fired at each other simultaneously. The rockets crisscrossed each other, one hitting the decorations on the lower body of the Gundam, while the Red Zaku was hit by a rocket on the monitor.

Due to previous damage, the system determined that Red Zaku had lost the ability to continue fighting in this battle.

"Haha, I won!" Karma's jubilation could be felt by Xia even through the communication channel: "Want to play again?"

"One instance doesn't prove anything."

Four more simulated battles followed. After Karma won one more game, Char, who already knew Zda's fighting style, won the next three games thanks to his superior experience in space combat.

Char Aznable managed to salvage his reputation by coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2.

Char was able to win because he used almost all the piloting skills he had learned in his life, and another reason was that neither side used close combat to avoid damaging their mobile suits during the training...

Otherwise, Char would have known just how powerful his Gundam was.

While piloting skills can compensate for some differences in MS performance, the machine's performance remains the most important factor in determining victory in battle.