>>5620171In the distance a pair of specks emerges on the horizon, launching from a far off mobile suit hangar and blasting into the sky with a trails of white hot exhaust. You squint and can see immediately that they’re Zaku’s off some kind, but even your eyes struggle to pick up small details so far away - They’re closing the distance fast, faster than the other Zakus did, and growing quickly in size. It looks like someone has serious up armored a Zaku, but that speed and the size of those exhaust plumes could only mean they have thrusters to match…
The pair of heavier mobile suits land surprisingly gently on the ground only a hundred meters or so from the stands, scorching the grass and kicking up a dust cloud but little else - The pilots must be good to control them so well. A wash of wind blows past as even at this distance the effects of their enormous thrusters can still be felt, even a faint heat. Many of the lightly armored sections of the Zaku have been reinforced, a shoulder shield protecting one arm and heavy scalloped plating covering nearly the entirety of the other. The enlarged thruster nozzles are a more subtle detail, but they’re there… and what is with that head crest? It even has a chest vulcan in one of those module slots you saw earlier - It’s a <span class="mu-i">far</span> more impressive sight fully assembled.
“It almost looks like an ancient centurion, or maybe a gladiator! They’re fantastic!” Vivima says, covering her mouth with one hand as she barely contains her excitement, “Are those royal guard insignia?”
“To commemorate the first mobile suit use and honor the fallen,” Gil informs her, and you can’t help but feel something stir in your heart at seeing them - You didn’t know those guards well, but many men died to ensure you had another day of life; you fought besides some of them before they fell… <span class="mu-i">You</span> were named after a fallen bodyguard, and only now are you beginning to understand the depths of why your true father must have chosen the name.
You’re snapped out your self-reflection by the booming voice emanating from one of the testbed Zaku’s loudspeakers, a heavy drawl blasting across the stands, “It’s a shame y’ll couldn’t see us in our real colors, ain’t that right Ortega?”
“You know it, Mash!” The other green Zaku thunders, “Damn shame about Gaia too, left on his ass…”
“Turn yer damn speaker off, there’s a lady listenin’!”
“You had yers on first! Looky there, she loves it!”
Vivima’s giggling in way you’ve not heard often, cheeks red as the two Zakus bicker over her, and she gives them both a small wave.
