"Waaagh!"
Accompanied by a shout very much in the Greenskin style, Setsuna was knocked to the ground by a heavy punch from Roz.
The sudden turn of events left everyone without time to react; Setsuna remained dazed until the moment Roz's heavy fist connected with his cheek.
"Setsuna!"
Only after Setsuna fell to the ground again did Lockon subconsciously speak up, trying to stop Roz.
"Stand up, Setsuna."
Roz ignored Lockon, instead staring fixatedly at Setsuna lying on the ground, his fists clenched tight.
"Didn't you say you were going to become a Gundam? Then stand up and show me your conviction!"
"..."
Setsuna wiped the corner of his mouth and stood up. Although Roz's punch hadn't left an open wound on his face, the intense pain made him subconsciously suck in a breath of cold air.
Setsuna tossed aside his pistol and raised his own fists.
"Hey, hey, hey... isn't this going a bit too far?!"
Watching the situation take a sudden nose-dive and seeing the two men abruptly prepare for hand-to-hand combat, Lockon was also stunned.
The moment Lockon finished his sentence, Roz and Setsuna moved almost simultaneously.
Setsuna swung his fist, making no secret of his intention to land a blow on Roz's face. However, Roz leaped up, delivering a standard flying kick aimed straight at Setsuna's stomach.
Setsuna was kicked back directly, rolling twice across the sand.
Roz didn't stop upon landing; he rushed quickly to Setsuna's side, grabbed him by the collar, and punched him once more.
"Ugh..."
The violent impact and the sensation of pain almost caused Setsuna to black out, but his combat instincts forced him to sharpen his focus. He threw a punch into Roz's face, making Roz's head tilt back slightly.
This was the first time since the brawl began that Setsuna managed a counterattack, though it didn't seem particularly effective at the moment.
"What's wrong? Haven't you eaten? Is this all your resolve amounts to?!"
Roz gritted his teeth as he looked at Setsuna, who was still trying to swing. "Use your full strength! Only those who can still stand here are qualified to preach!"
"Waaagh!"
As Roz's right fist slammed into Setsuna's cheek again, it was clearly visible that the cheek had begun to swell.
"Hah... I am... Gundam!"
By now, Setsuna's temper had been ignited by Roz.
Although his mouth was just as clumsy as Roz's, that didn't mean he lacked a temper.
"Gundam... will never lose!"
Setsuna roared, his left hand grabbing Roz's collar in return as he continued to hammer Roz's cheek with his right fist.
"Is that so? Then show me a win right now!"
Roz made no move to dodge, taking Setsuna's punch head-on. His head snapped back slightly, followed immediately by a headbutt that slammed into Setsuna's forehead.
Under the gaze of the others, the two seemed to have entered a sort of frenzied state. They abandoned all actual martial arts techniques, simply standing in place at close range, trading blow for blow.
Lockon's verbal attempts to smooth things over had no effect, and even Allelujah and Tieria, who possessed considerable combat skills themselves, found it difficult to intervene.
"Aaaaaah!"
Setsuna growled, leaving only his combat instincts behind as he swung his fists at Roz.
"What's the matter, Setsuna?! Your punches are getting soft! Where's your strength?!"
Feeling Setsuna losing steam and the power of the punches hitting him decreasing significantly, Roz questioned him through gritted teeth.
"The power of Gundam..."
As if provoked by Roz, Setsuna forced his spirit up and raised his fist once more. "God... will not lose!"
"A Gundam is no god! It's just an extension of us humans!"
Roz raised his fist and struck it against the one Setsuna aimed at him; for a moment, the two were locked in a stalemate. "You, who abandoned your self to sit in a Gundam—are you still even you?!"
"Sitting in the Gundam... I am Gundam!"
Setsuna bit his tongue. The sharp pain cleared his mind slightly.
"Unreasonable! Waaagh!"
Roz felt a sense of "hating that iron isn't becoming steel" regarding Setsuna's current state. After briefly charging up his right fist, he landed another punch squarely on Setsuna's face.
Unfortunately, this time Setsuna, engaged in this brawl with Roz, was not as resilient as Yzak had been. The hand gripping Roz's collar subconsciously loosened a fraction, and he was sent flying by the punch, tumbling twice across the beach.
"You're the one...!"
Lying on the sand, Setsuna rolled over, his eyes locked onto Roz with a death stare. Blood seeped from his split lip. "As long as there is power... as long as there is power to suppress everything, war can be stopped!"
"You binary-thinking brat, have you actually experienced war? Simple power alone can't solve any problem!"
"You haven't lived my life! How could you understand!" Setsuna roared, retorting at Roz.
Nearby, the Celestial Being trio fell into silence. They could see it now: Roz was using this brawl to peel back the layers of Setsuna's heart piece by piece, analyzing his state of mind, and then "correcting" him.
"And you haven't lived my life either!"
Roz wiped his own split lip, which was bleeding slightly, and strode toward the prone Setsuna. "Being deceived into creating machines supposed to benefit humanity, only for my works to become war machines used to harm countless people—even if I possess the power to change everything, that sin won't vanish. I carry it with me!"
"You merely joined a war, just like the later version of me. But the past me became the catalyst for war! Do you understand that pain?!"
Roz grabbed Setsuna's collar, hoisting him up from the sand once more.
"Watching innocent, naive children having their brains scooped out to become bloodless, tearless, maddened 'wetware'... When you destroy one branch of a mad organization like that, ten or twenty more pop up. What can simple power do? What can it protect?!"
"This is the 'power' you speak of! And it is exactly such simple power that defeats you today!"
Roz raised his fist, looking at the weakened Setsuna before him. "With no conviction and no plan, merely chasing raw strength—you, who have turned yourself into nothing but a weapon, can achieve nothing. You can't even protect your comrades!"
"You better remember this lesson well!"
"Waaaaagh!"
With Roz's final roar, a finishing heavy punch slammed into Setsuna's cheek, sending him flying.
Losing consciousness, Setsuna traced a parabola through the air before landing on the beach and rolling several times.
"Setsuna!"
Seeing that the confrontation had seemingly ended, Ian rushed toward Setsuna, who lay on the ground with his mouth open and eyes closed.
Roz remained in his punching stance, breathing heavily as he stared at the unconscious Setsuna. After calming down slightly, he slowly withdrew his fist and looked toward the Celestial Being Gundam pilots, who seemed to have much to say but were holding back.
"What... do you guys want to go a round with me too?"
"No, no, no... I think I'll pass. My old bones couldn't take that kind of thrashing," Lockon waved his hand, rejecting Roz's proposal. "As for the other two, you don't need to step in; I'll guide them myself."
To be honest, the scene of Roz and Setsuna brawling was truly intimidating. Even Tieria had been subconsciously suppressed by Roz's aura. If a fight really broke out, while Allelujah and Tieria might hold their own, Lockon admitted he wouldn't last.
Roz fell silent for a moment. He said nothing, merely staring at Tieria and Allelujah for a while. He patted Lockon on the shoulder, picked up his helmet from the ground, and walked toward Penelope.
Perhaps because Roz's "itching for a fight" aura was still lingering, Tieria subconsciously took two steps back as Roz passed him.
Then, under their watchful eyes, Roz returned to the cockpit of Penelope. He retracted the landing gear, and the machine slowly took flight, eventually vanishing into the night sky.
-----------------------------------
The four Celestial Being machines that had been parked on the beach were finally all stored away. Lockon and Allelujah returned to the shore, letting the sea breeze clear their heads.
As for Tieria, he had gone straight back to rest, his lifestyle as disciplined and predictable as a machine.
"Setsuna has been taken by Ian for emergency treatment. A mild concussion and some soft tissue contusions... Roz really didn't hold back."
Looking at the report on his communicator, Lockon shook his head helplessly.
After enduring this brawl—which looked like a farce but was actually a "correction"—and seeing Setsuna's current unconscious state, they no longer had the heart to carry out any "settling of scores." They just wanted to get some proper rest.
It was supposed to be a routine mission; how did it end up like this?
"But regardless, we've identified Setsuna's issues. I suppose you could call that a good thing," Allelujah said with a wave of his hand. "Let's just hope that once Setsuna wakes up, he'll be able to change."
"There's no telling with things like that. I'll go give him some counseling when the time comes."
At this, Lockon chuckled. "Defeating Setsuna using the very 'power' he kept talking about... leave it to Roz to come up with a move like that."
The sea breeze blew, making the leaves of the wild coconut trees along the coast rustle loudly. The two stood on the beach in silence.
"...What are you thinking about right now?"
Finally, Lockon spoke up. As the "big brother" of the team, he had to check in on his teammates' mental states from time to time.
"I'm just wondering... how did he pull off that hip-twist swivel? It looked borderline inhuman."
Allelujah stared at the surging surface of the sea as he voiced his confusion.
"...Don't ask me. I have no idea either."
-----------------------------------
Sitting in the cockpit of Penelope, Roz Links had not put his helmet back on; after all, a large portion of his face was now swollen.
Although he had looked fine moments ago, once he returned to the cockpit, the face that had been pummeled by Setsuna began to throb with pain. Setsuna was a young man, after all, and his striking power was quite formidable.
"Does it hurt?"
AllMind floated to Roz's side, reaching out to touch his wound. A tingling, numbing sensation spread over the burning injury, easing some of the pain.
"It's not too bad... It's a pity, Setsuna isn't as durable as Yzak. And if you don't beat some sense into him while lecturing him at the same time, he completely fails to realize where he's gone wrong."
Roz subconsciously curled his lip, but the movement pulled at his swollen cheek, causing him to grimace in pain. "Not 'Waaagh' at all."
While Roz's physical recovery speed was quite impressive now, it certainly wouldn't be fast enough to heal this completely in an instant.
"Regardless, the goal was achieved."
AllMind toyed with Roz's face, observing his bruised and swollen features.
"I imagine he will have a very deep impression of today's events."
As if discovering something, AllMind narrowed her eyes.
"Roz, do you remember those small amounts of Psycho-Frame that pierced your body and became one with you?"
"Yeah... you mean the crystals from after the Gryps Conflict? After those crystals entered my body, I didn't really feel any changes."
Roz was well aware that he had been pierced by, and even fused with, crystals from the Unicorn Gundam's Psycho-Frame.
AllMind smiled, extending her right index finger to tap Roz's swollen cheek.
"That's because those crystals, much like the old me, simply hadn't been activated yet."
Lines of glowing red circuitry appeared around Roz's injured area. Under the combined influence of his natural recovery and the microscopic Psycho-Frame residing within his body, the swelling and wounds inflicted by Setsuna gradually began to heal.
The burning sensation of the wound felt as if it had been instantly cooled; the pain receded so rapidly it gave Roz a sense of unreality.
"There, the wound is completely healed. No permanent disfigurement."
AllMind withdrew her hands and rested her right hand on her hip.
"The human body is quite miraculous, isn't it?"
"Yeah..."
Roz stroked his fully recovered face. After a moment of silence, he gave a thumbs up.
"Very Waaaaagh."
.....................