"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BANSHEE WAS TAKEN?!?!" Iilya's shocked voice distorted the sounds coming over the comm links as Zinnerman sat in his Captain's chair while the Garenceries headed off of Mercury.

"Iilya." Char's voice interjected as Iilya stormed off to the side and leaded against a table as Char stepped in front of the camera to look at Zinnerman. "Explain, Zinnerman." Char said in a serious tone as Darren entered the bridge and stood below the Captain's seat.

"Someone laid a trap for us. They never intended to look for the data directly, and instead knew we would lead them to it. Once Marida and Darren retrieved the data, they sprung their trap to lure us away from the Garenceries. Once we went to aid them, their scouts made their move on the Banshee." Zinnerman explained the chain of events that led to the taking of the Gundam.

"Have you been able to track the Gundam?" Char asked him.

"No. With its systems offline, we were unable to pick up a laser signal. And the Garenceries is unequipped with a Psycho-Monitor to track the Banshee down using its Psycho-waves." Zinnerman said as Iilya was visibly worried with a strained face.

"If anyone is able to ever sync with the Banshee and activate the NT-D system...It could be the worst disaster ever to come out of mobile suits..." Iilya said with a heavy tone of worry as she could only imagine the destruction the Banshee would cause.

"To even start the Banshee's main systems, you would need a someone who is enhanced to be an equivalent of a Cyber-NewType. There isn't anyone we've seen yet that could raise concerns of that possibility." Char said as Iilya turned towards him.

"Despite the Aerial taking on most of the burden from the use of the GUND-Format, Suletta Mercury is still able to control it and wield the GUND-Format weapons aboard the Aerial." Iilya said as this was a point none of them could counter against. "The Council is full of liars...It's only a matter of time before an enhanced human shows themselves, or until something else comes out of the shadows from one of the company's." She said as she walked over to her desk and stared at a picture frame that showed a picture of you and her smiling in your school uniform. "...Load the Garenceries and other ships with Psycho-monitors. We must find it at once." She finished with before turning around and walking out of the office.

"Captain..." Zinnerman spoke up to asks for any other form of guidance as Char turned back to the screen.

"We'll relay a message back to Zeon and deploy other ships to search in the different zones. Focus your search near the other systems beside Mercury. Darren will also be staying with you, as if you do stumble upon the Banshee, he is the only one capable of piloting it and engaging in combat with the Gundam if need be." Char instructed them.

"Yes, Captain." Zinnerman replied as Char turned off the call and stared at himself in the black screen.

"Gundams...Truly a terrifying machines..." Char muttered before turning and leaving the room as they rushed to try and solve the dire problem faced in front of them.

Whilst your parents and the rest of your forces were now in high alert, you were busy being an unaware and normal student at Asticassia and showing Nika how to perform basic maintenance for the Unicorn through the cockpit's console. It was the morning cycle at school and Nika insisted on an early wakeup call to learn as much as she could from the Unicorn. She was sat in the pilot's seat as you pointed to different schematics laid out by the screen, making sure to only show her the maintenance process while the Gundam was still in its Unicorn mode.

"Finally, to check the condition of the joints, just drag over this screen..." You reached over to the other end of the console as you pulled a schematic window across the screen and blew up the image size for her to take a closer look. "...And it'll list any known issues that need to be tended to. Easy enough, right?" You asked as Nika seemed overwhelmed, but in an excited way.

"This is amazing, Y/N. Just how much engineering went into creating such a magnificent machine? Truly the Unicorn deserves this amount of special treatment." Nika said as she tapped a few buttons on the side of the seat and scrolled through different schematics.

"With a bit more time, you'll know this system like the  back of your hand, I'm sure of it." You said as the two of you shared a laugh. "...I hope you don't, though..." You thought to yourself as Nika powered off the cockpit and the center console lowered for her to exit the pilot seat.

"We've been at it for a while now, why don't we take a break and grab something to eat?" Nika suggested while climbing out of the cockpit as you followed her out.

"Yeah, sounds good." You replied as the two of you stepped onto the lift and began riding it down along the Unicorn's leg to the ground below.

"It's pretty cool." Nika said as you looked over to her as she smiled while looking at the Unicorn and the Aerial. "To think that our little Earth House, compared to the other houses, has two of the most incredible mobile suits that the academy has ever seen. It's like we're the cool kids of the academy." She said as you chuckled.

"It's nice that you think our mobile suits are that special, but really they're not that different from any of the others." You said as Nika looked to see you staring longingly at the Unicorn. "At the end of the day, they are just machines...It's the pilot in the cockpit that makes the machine seem so amazing. I'm sure that if you all had your own personal mobile suits, they'd seem just as amazing as ours..." You trailed off as you turned to look Nika eye to eye. "...because of you." You finished with as Nika was left speechless for a few seconds before you realized how that sounded and a blush spread across your face. "I-I mean 'you' as in the person that's piloting the mobile suit! Like if Chuchu had her own custom mobile suit, o-or...um, maybe Aliya, or Lilique...!" You were beginning to panic at trying to to change the meaning in your sentence.

"Y/N." Nika spoke up as you looked at her. "Thank you." Nika said with a gentle smile as you couldn't help but let a smile spread across your lips and look away with a pleased look.

"Yeah..." You said as the two of you enjoyed the ride down.

After you two made to the ground level though, your attention was caught when you saw Nuno and Ojelo walking over to the Aerial as they wore their mechanical suits.

"Jeez, couldn't this have waited until later?" Nuno said in a tired voice before yawning as he walked over to a console next to the Aerial's foot and began typing away at it.

"Ojelo? Nuno? Why are you two up so early?" The two of them turned when they heard Nika's voice as they saw you and her walking over.

"Oh, Nika, perfect timing. Could you head over to the mobile suit departure bay? Chuchu, Aliya, and Till could use the help over there." Ojelo said to her as you looked to see the Aerial's bay body arms open.

"Are you taking out the Aerial?" You asked in wonder.

"No, Suletta is, for her date." Nuno said as the roller that the Aerial was stood on came online and began rolling out the mobile suit and was prepped to leave the house.

"Her date? You mean with Elan? Why would she need the Aerial to go on a date?" You asked in confusion.

"Who knows? Apparently, Elan was the one who asked for this." Nuno said as this began nudging you in the more suspicious direction.

"Sorry, Y/N. I suppose we'll have to have a meal another time." Nika said as you smiled at her.

"No, don't worry. For things like this, it's best if your at the helm, right? I'll be off, then." You said to her as you waved to the three of them before leaving.

Just as you left the hangar, you immediately ran to the boys rooms where you quickly got changed into different clothing and headed out in your school uniform. While walking around the school, you were looking around for someone you thought would be able to help you pinpoint where Suletta and Elan would be taking the Aerial. You'd ask around trying to find the certain individual, and repeatedly you met with roadblocks and people who didn't know where this person was. It was about 30 minutes of walking around the school grounds and turning up nothing when you turned one corner, and instantly bumped heads into someone.

"Agh, out of the way!" You heard as you looked up to see Guel Jeturk, the person you were just looking for, rubbing his head as he wore gym attire. "You?" He said in confusion of seeing you.

"Guel, just my luck. I need to talk with you." You said as he walked pass you and around the corner, making you quickly follow.

"I don't have time for you. I've got more important business to check on." Guel said as he quickly walked down the hallway and exited the building in a furious manner.

"Suletta and Elan!" You called out while pushing pass the door as Guel stopped in his tracks and turned back to you. "That's the important business you have to deal with, right?" You said as the two of you stared each other down. "I have to see what they're up to, also. I won't be in your way." You said to him as he just silently turned around and continued onward as you followed after him as you took his silence as acceptance.

After following Guel away from the school grounds and towards one of the mobile suit training facilities, you walked inside one of the observation buildings as Guel marched through the halls and the two of you eventually reached an observation room. Guel walked up to one of the consoles and saw that a mobile suit was on the field moving around. Deciding to get a view of what was going on, he tapped a few buttons on the console before the large display in front of you two turned on and out on the field, the Aerial was walking around.

"Aerial..." You muttered in wonder of what was going on.

"Why the hell are they here? What does that guy want with the Mercurian? Hm?" Guel hummed in confusion as he zoomed in on one spot of the field and saw Suletta standing by herself watching the Aerial. "Why is she out on the field?" He said as you were also concerned.

"Then, is it Elan that's piloting the Aerial?" You said as Guel took off out of the room.

"Tch, I'll ask that bastard myself what he's up to." Guel said as he stormed off while you continued to watch the Aerial.

The Aerial came to a stop in the middle of the field as you were confused on what seemed to be happening with the Gundam. After a few more moments of nothing, you were shocked when the dark plates and outlines on the Aerial suddenly began to flash streams of red, and you realized that the Permet Score on the Aerial had been raised.

"Oh no...!" You said in worry as you bolted out of the room and after Guel. "Guel! Wait up!" You screamed as you ran as fast as you could after him.

Barely managing to catch up to Jeturk, the two of you hopped onto a field quad-bike as you watched the Aerial kneel down in front of Suletta and Elan climb out of the cockpit. You tried to focus your vision to see what was going on between the two of them, but it was too difficult to tell as Guel drove faster towards the pair. You watched Elan walk pass a frozen Suletta as Guel drifted the bike in between the two of them as you both hopped off as Elan took notice of you two.

"Elan! You bastard, what did..." Guel was about to begin interrogating Elan, but was cut off when he heard you speak.

"Sulleta...?" You said in worry as Guel turned to see Suletta had a shocked, sad look on her face with tears welling in her eyes, and this further turned up his anger as Guel furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth.

"What did you do to her? Depending on your answer..." Guel demanded to hear what Elan had just done to her, but Elan decided to take advantage of this situation.

"You'll ask for a duel?" Elan suddenly interrupted him, surprising Guel.

"What?" Guel responded in confusion.

"Perfect timing, Guel Jeturk. I challenge you...to a duel." Elan suddenly threw his metaphoric glove down in front of Guel as you and the hot-headed pilot were shocked by this sudden proposal.

With barely any time and reason to go between any of yourselves, the four of you suddenly found yourselves placed back in the Dueling Commitee's office where Guel and Elan would exchange their stakes and make this duel official. You and Suletta were stood off to one side of the room Secelia and Rouji were on the other side, and Shaddiq stood between Guel and Elan as witness to this duel as he prepared the two male teens for their match.

"Both parties, deposit your souls on Libra's scales. The duelists are Guel Jeturk and Elan Ceres. The location will be the 11th tactical testing sector. The one-on-one code will apply. Any objections?" Shaddiq asked the two duelists.

"None." Guel answered with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face.

"No objections." Elan answered in his usual monotone voice.

"It's been a while since we've seen duel among the three branches." Secilia said with excitement and amusement in her voice as she wore a smug grin on her face.

"Guel Jeturk. What is your stake in this duel?" Shaddiq asked the first duelists.

"That this jerk stays away from Suletta Mercury." Guel answered as this was a surprise for you all.

"Heh?" Shaddiq hummed in a surprised and amused tone.

"H-Hey, that's...none of your business!" Suletta chimed in as Guel turned to her in annoyance.

"Don't you get it? This guy is your enemy. He's from the three branches!" Guel reinforced the idea that Elan was not a good person to associate with.

"Doesn't that go for you too?" Suletta muttered as a conflicted look fell on Guel's face.

"I...Heck." Guel couldn't find a rebuttal against Suletta's argument as he just scoffed in annoyance.

"Mercurian Miss. This duel is between Guel and Elan. It's not your place to interfere."  Shaddiq kindly reminded Suletta of her place this duel.

"Yeah, but..." Suletta trailed off as you placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We can only sit this one out, Suletta. It's not our fight this time..." You said to her as Suletta fell silent.

"If you're unhappy with the result, then fight another duel yourself. Those are the rules that govern this school." Shaddiq reminded you two of the principle rules that this academy were run by as you both remained silent while he turned to the other duelists. "Elan Ceres, what is your stake in this duel?" Shaddiq asked.

"I..." Elan trailed off before turning his head to look Suletta eye to eye. "Suletta Mercury. If I win, I will fight a duel with you." He said as this was a shock to you both.

"Huh? What are you even saying right now? You should--!" You were about to argue, but Suletta interrupted.

"Very well." Suletta said as you looked at her in shock. 

"Suletta? Why?" You asked as she remained silent and the stakes were officially made.

"Alea jacta est. The duel is approved." Shaddiq clapped his hands together to seal the deal as both Guel and Elan left the office to prepare for their duel that would happen as soon as possible.

After the duel was officially announced to occur the same day, most students had time off during the event as you and Suletta were sent back to the Earth House to watch with the rest of your house members and the school. You were stood on the side watch the T.V. screen in the hangar with everyone else as Nuno and Ojelo spoke up in wonder of this duel.

"Why the heck are Elan and Guel dueling?" Ojelo asked while placing bets and watching the duel on his phone.

"It's perfectly obvious! Right, Ms. Suletta?" Lilique said with an excited tone as her thoughts on this duel were a misunderstanding for its real reason.

"That's not it." Suletta stammered nervously.

"This is a good development. Let them destroy each other." Miorine, who was also at the Earth House, spoke up with her arms crossed as she stood next to the table everyone else was sat at.

"You really are mean-spirited." Chuchu commented on Miorine's personality as you watched one mobile suit carrier containers arrive at the testing sector and a Jeturk Dilanza fly out on the other end of the field.

"KP001, Guel Jeturk. Dilanza...let's go!" Guel's voice comms were coming in loud and clear for the stream as he piloted his brother's mobile suit.

"Guel's made his entrance..." You thought as you watched the camera slowly pan to the mobile suit container that housed Elan. "Now what machine have you been hiding from us, Elan?" You wondered as the the crate began to open inside was a surprising machine indeed.

"KP002, Elan Ceres. Pharact, going out." Elan announced his arrival as his mobile departed from the container and finally set foot on the battlefield for all to see.

"Peil House has a new model, too?" Ojelo said in awe of the new mobile suit they were bearing witness to.

"Damn rich kids." Chuchu said in annoyance as you felt uneased by this machine.

"...What is that?" You wondered as there was an eerie feeling floating around the back of your neck while you stared at that machine.

"Both parties, face off." Shaddiq instructed the two duelists as both of them appeared on screen in their cockpits.

"Victory is never decided by mobile suit performance alone." Guel started.

"Nor by the skill of the pilot, alone." Elan continued.

"The result itself is the only truth!" The two of them finished the call in unison as the environment around them changed to a moon surface battle zone.

"Fix release." Shaddiq commenced the duel, and the two of them were off.

The Pharact flew across the field as it descended down into the canyon that the Dilanza was in and began to fire shots from its beam rifle down at the Dilanza as it traversed the rocky canyon it was in.

"The new model flies too, huh? Even so!" Guel took note, but was not intimidated as he leaped the Dilanza into the air and began firing his beam vulcans down at the Pharact as it flew along the canyon wall, avoiding the shots.

A huge burst of dust exploded as the Pharact took cover behind another rock formation as Elan heard an alarm go off and looked to see the Dilanza come over the formation with its axe raised for a heavy strike.

"In low gravity, the Dilanza can do that too!" Guel yelled as the Pharact turned and blocked the strike as a huge dust cloud kicked up once again before the two of their mobile suits flew out and Guel continued the chase.

"Go! Odds are 1.4-to-1!" Ojelo cheered for Guel and his bets as Nuno turned to him.

"I can't believe you bet on that guy." Nuno said in disbelief of Ojelo's bet.

"He's fighting too violently. Look at all the clouds of sand charged with static electricity!" Martin commented as you watched the duel worriedly.

"C'mon, Guel...Don't lose your cool." You thought with worry as the Pharact travled through the statically charged sand and Elan took notice of this effect.

"Regolith..." Elan muttered before another alarm blared as Guel appeared behind him from the sand cloud.

The Pharact narrowly dodged another heavy swing from the Dilanza's battle axe as the Regolith caused the Jeturk machine to move sluggishly for a moment. The Peil House mobile suit took to the air and disappeared above Jeturk as Elan began prepping his counterattack. 

"You'll be my assistant in testing the Pharact." Elan thought as his Pharact began to glow red on certain parts of its body.

"Huh?" Guel hummed in confusion of the red lights as you were shocked when the smoke cleared and the Pharact revealed its true form.

"The Pharact is..." Your arms dropped in shock as your eyes were widened and your heart dropped to your stomach. "...a Gundam?" You said in shock as Elan began to attack.

"Permet score...three." Elan called as small drone-like machines ejected from compartments on the Pharact and began flying towards Guel.

Suddenly, the small weapons that were deployed split and engaged a red laser in between each of their halves, creating a laser field all around the Dilanza. The swarm began firing and chasing down the Dilanza as Guel did his best to maneuver away from their attacks to avoid any damage.

"What the..." Guel scoffed in irritation as he began firing his beam vulcans to try and destroy as many as he could, only for them to avoid the blast and manage to fire a beam on the Dilanza's right leg and axe. "D-Damage!" Guel said as the right leg and arm holding the battle axe were suddenly disabled and offline. "No, it's not that." He said in confusion before an alert blared and he saw the Pharact fly higher and take aim with its beam rifle, firing shots as the crippled Dilanza narrowly avoided fire before the arm and leg suddenly came back online. "Functions are restored? That looks like..." Guel trailed off as this display of weaponry was worrying to you.

"What is that?" You asked in confusion.

"Electromagnetic stun beam." You heard as you turned around to see Nuno was the one to speak up. "They can stun mobile suits and temporarily disable a portion on contact." He explained as you turned back to the duel on screen.

"Just what reaction would that have on Psycho-Frame?" You wondered as you imagined a battle between the Unicorn and the Pharact as Guel's duel raged on.

The Dilanza rode across the canyon wall as it fired its beam cannon while trying to avoid coming into contact with the stun beams. Unfortunately, one of the beams managed to catch the arm that was firing at the Pharact as it was disabled and dropped the beam cannon to the ground below, losing another armament for the Dilanza as it only had its axe now.

"Damn it...in that case!" Guel yelled as the Dilanza slammed its axe onto the ground, creating a huge static cloud of sand as the lasers lost its target for a moment and Elan was surprised when he came barreling towards him from the cloud before blocking a laser with his axe. "As long as they don't touch me, this is nothing!" Guel began using the axe and other parts of his mobile suit that wouldn't affect movement as shields.

"You wish." Elan said as a field of stun beams began erecting in between the two of them.

"I'll make it through!" Guel yelled as he spun the axe around as a shield to barrel through the first set of stun beams before being forced to toss it away as he unsheathed a beam saber and maneuvered through the beam field successfully. "I did it!" Guel yelled, but his accomplishment was short lived when a his mobile suit was suddenly hit by a cloud of the statically charged sand, causing the Dilanza to freeze up and slide just short of the Pharact as the Gundam flew away.

Guel groaned in confusion before his Dilanza was instantly blasted by stun beams all over the armor, immobilizing the Jeturk machine as it crumbled to its knees. You were shocked by the sheer prowess the Pharact and Elan had as you knew what had happened.

"You can't be serious...The Regolith was charged by the electromagnetic stun beams and caused the Dilanza to overload?" You muttered as the camera showed the damage sustained by the Dilanza as it was frozen and defenseless. "Guel...!" Your breath fell short as this was the end for the Guel, as he had laid the foundation for his own defeat.

The Gundam Pharact raised its beam rifle and in one shot, the left arm of the Dilanza was torn off. You and others watched in shock and awe as Elan mercilessly tore the Dilanza apart blast after blast. At that moment, you felt your heart ache as you felt the despair and anguish that Guel was going through at the moment and watched sadly as the Dilanza collapsed onto its face while the Pharact descended down in front of it and tossed its rifle aside. Reaching out with one of its hands, the Pharact grabbed onto the antenna of the Dilanza and began pulling to rip it off as Guel trembled in the cockpit.

"Stop..." Guel muttered in a pained voice.

"The only way to defeat a Gundam..." Elan trailed off as Guel broke.

"I SAID STOP!!!!!!!" Guel let out an anguished cry as Elan coldly stared down at his opponent with no remorse.

"...is with a Gundam." Elan finished as not only did the antenna on the Dilanza snap off, but so did a sense of your hope as you knew that he was right, while you and the Gundam Unicorn that was stood behind you, watched this duel come to a shocking end.