Chapter 124: The Night of Tea Tasting in Jaburo (Side Stories)
(Note: Occasionally, I update side stories or "what-if" scenarios just for fun. These aren't part of the main plot. Like this one—I wrote it while watching Grand Blue.)
The scene before him made Eli regret, for the first time, that his Newtype abilities couldn't help him decipher the true meaning behind people's words in everyday life.
A group of muscular men, bare-chested, were reveling with bottles of alcohol in hand. One of them stood atop a table, sweat glistening on his bronze muscles as he tilted his head back, downing vodka. The liquor trickled down his neck, winding across his pecs.
"Come on, you Jaburo weaklings! Witness my Grand Cannon!" Drunken shouts filled the air.
Eli felt as if his legs were weighed down with lead, unable to move. Istha, standing beside him, sighed helplessly, raising a hand to cover her eyes as if she couldn't bear to watch.
"Hee-ra! Hee-ra! Keep drinking!" The intoxicated cheers rang out.
After a long silence, Istha finally stepped forward.
After all, these were her subordinates. She should at least say a few words to them.
Arcadia suddenly appeared from the side, handing her a cup of oolong tea.
"If you're going to say something, have a drink first!"
He flashed a bright, carefree smile.
Though his shirt was nowhere to be seen, at least he still looked relatively normal.
Eli figured he might as well take the chance to calm his nerves—this was his first time leading, after all.
He took a large gulp.
Then, without a word, he pulled a lighter from his pocket and held it to the cup.
"The hell?! Why is oolong tea flammable?!"
"Hah? If it doesn't ignite, is it even oolong tea? And don't think I didn't notice—you pretended not to recognize me last time, didn't you? Even though we already know each other inside and out!"
"Get lost! You were the one who didn't recognize me—"
Before Eli could finish, a strong hand suddenly clamped around his throat.
Through his peripheral vision, he saw a man—completely shirtless—who had gone out of his way to hang a colonel's insignia around his neck.
"Tonight… is Yakyuken Night!"
Feeling the firm muscles pressing against him, Eli's expression grew increasingly rigid.
He watched as Arcadia mixed whiskey and vodka together, and in that moment, he finally understood the true nature of this so-called oolong tea.
"Drink it."
A cup of "oolong tea" was shoved into Eli's hands.
And under the expectant gazes of the crowd—before he even realized it—he had already tilted his head back and downed it in one go.
Chapter 124: The Undertakers Take Action!
"Tch, those brainless bastards seem to have set their sights on us."
On the side of a mountain, atop a protruding rock formation, someone peered down through binoculars.
Gritting his teeth, he spoke.
His clothes were already in tatters, with rolled-up sleeves and pant legs covered in scratches. The entire outfit had faded, as if he had worn nothing else for a long time.
Yet, the style of the uniform was all too familiar—it was the officer's uniform of Zeon, the very force that had sparked what was arguably the most significant war in human history not long ago.
"Damn it. You, go inside and notify everyone. We need to prepare to move."
The officer ordered a rifle-toting subordinate in a low voice before pressing himself against the rocky surface, carefully observing the four incoming mobile suits below.
There—Gundams!
A Gundam with red eyes led the formation. On the right side of its chest armor was a distinctive emblem.
This was Undertakers, a Federation cleanup unit feared by Zeon remnants—nicknamed "the Brainless Ones."
"Just Federation lapdogs!"
The officer cursed under his breath before turning and heading into a cave hidden by the mountainside.
"Get ready to evacuate!" he shouted.
"Hah? And what about all these supplies? We went through a lot of trouble to get them!"
"Yeah, we wouldn't have been exposed if you greedy bastards hadn't stockpiled so much!"
The officer grabbed the speaker by the collar, yanking him off balance.
He glared at the crude, foul-mouthed black man in front of him.
If Zeon hadn't been stolen away by those weak-willed Deikuns, they wouldn't have had to collaborate with these crude African Liberation Front rebels—a bunch of junkies dreaming of founding their own nation.
To the officer, who had fought for his country's sovereignty for years, it was almost laughable that anyone dared call themselves a "liberator" now.
But at this point, Zeon remnants had no choice but to trade with such groups for survival.
"Take only what you can carry. The rest gets abandoned. Don't risk your lives over supplies. Red Wolf, can I count on you to cover us?"
He turned and shouted into the cave.
From the pitch-black depths, about ten meters in, a circular glow suddenly lit up.
"Understood. I'll hold them off."
A steady female voice echoed from the darkness.
Then, the sound of heavy metallic footsteps rang out as the source of the glow came into view—
An MS Zaku.
The very war machine that had once given Zeon the courage to challenge the Federation.
"You all go ahead. I'll catch up."
"There's a Gundam this time. Be careful."
The officer said no more, jumping into a jeep and speeding off in the opposite direction.
The Brainless Ones had worked alongside infantry before, but since this was a spur-of-the-moment supply trade, the officer doubted they'd had time to mobilize ground troops.
That was why he dared to flee by jeep.
Meanwhile, the mobile suit known as Red Wolf positioned itself at the cave entrance, cautiously peering out toward the valley below.
One Gundam. Three GMs.
Notably, these GMs carried extra weapons and armor, making them different from standard units.
Red Wolf waited a little longer, allowing them to get closer.
Ammunition was limited—she needed to take out at least one GM with her first rocket shot to stand a chance against the Gundam.
Her gaze lingered on the Gundam's head.
She had seen a similar one in Europe once…
Shaking her head, she forced the memories away.
This was her first battle against this cleanup unit.
For the past ten months, the Federation had been relentless, forming multiple eradication squads, leaving Zeon remnants with no escape.
Among them, the Brainless Ones, who roamed across the globe, were the most infamous.
According to the whispers among the remnants, this squad had never lost a battle.
A beeping sound indicated that Red Wolf had locked onto a GM carrying a recoilless cannon—her biggest threat.
She pulled the trigger!
The rocket streaked toward its target—only to be detonated mid-air by a barrage of bullets!
Red Wolf's eyes darted to the source—one of the GMs, now shouldering a Gatling gun, had just obliterated her rocket.
That GM's visor had also dropped into a targeting mode, locking onto her position.
The four mobile suits collectively turned their optical sensors toward her.
Rocket launcher in hand, perched on the mountainside, Red Wolf blinked.
—
"Iria Solari, right? Zeon European Forces Captain."
Holding a dossier, Eli compared it to the disheveled prisoner before him.
Aside from firing that single rocket, her Zaku had barely put up a fight.
Arcadia, piloting a GM Striker, had closed the distance in an instant and severed both of the Zaku's arms.
What was laughable was that the pilot had pleaded, "I'm just a mother who wants to see her child."
Arcadia had coldly replied, "My mother died in Sydney," before swiftly impaling an ambushing Gouf with his beam saber.
Solari had then voluntarily exited her cockpit and surrendered.
So, Eli and his team had decided to interrogate her here.
"You even took down a Gundam once? Let me see… Gundam EX…"
Eli raised an eyebrow.
He had heard of that name before.
When they had named the EZ-SR, the mechanics had mentioned that Gundam EX had been destroyed.
The pilot had been a kid around Amuro's age.
Eli's expression darkened as he looked at Solari with disgust.
"Using underhanded tactics like today?"
"No! It wasn't like that! You should understand!"
Seeing the prisoner grow agitated, Eli waved a hand dismissively, no longer interested in listening.
She was a Newtype.
That much had become clear during their conversation.
But so what?
She was still just another Zeon remnant.
—
"Zzt… Captain, we've eliminated the escaping targets, but the scene is a mess."
Through his comms, Io, piloting a Sniper GM II, reported on the other squad's status.
"I told you to take prisoners if possible. We wanted to use this to root out the African Liberation Front."
"No choice—they even tried to self-destruct. I had to retaliate."
Leaning against the GM Kai - Electronic Warfare Type piloted by Ryan, Eli let out a sigh.
The Electronic Warfare Type featured an active phased array radar mounted on its right shoulder, linked to a mechanical arm for directional adjustments. It specialized in battlefield communication jamming and electronic disruption.
However, to reduce strain on its reactor, the unit was exclusively equipped with ballistic weaponry.
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