Chapter 115: SEED—Three People 1
Tolle sighed. "Damn this world's correcting force. No wonder the backpack of my Ginn malfunctioned."
"So it just didn't want me to disturb Cagalli and Athrun's little date, huh? Damn it!"
"Besides, it's not like I'd necessarily ruin their meeting… though I can't shake the feeling like I've got a little green on my head."
"But thinking about it, Cagalli was Athrun's girlfriend to begin with. No matter how you look at it, I'm the one stealing his girl, not the other way around."
"Guess I'll just let Athrun train Cagalli for a while. I'll just play with the finished version, a Cagalli whose personality has already been corrected. That's not bad at all."
"Yeah, Athrun is basically like a booster account leveler, and I'm just taking over the account he raised and having some fun."
"Yes, that's it, exactly!"
Tolle ended his train of thought and turned to Nami.
"Nami, what should I do now? Do you have any feasible plan?"
"Master, the best option now is for us to make an emergency landing in the sea, then use the underwater thrusters on the shoulders to bring us back to the Archangel. That way, we can quickly cool down the thrusters and safely return to the Archangel."
Something felt off to Tolle as he listened. After a few seconds of thought, it suddenly hit him. He asked Nami:
"Nami, if the Zero-Type Moebius thrusters go into the sea, won't they completely break down from thermal expansion and contraction?"
"Master, that's certain. The Zero-Type Moebius thrusters won't survive this. Unless… Master is willing to reveal my existence and let me repair the thrusters on the way back."
Tolle shook his head. "Forget it. I can't expose your existence right now. That would only cause a lot of trouble. No choice then… though being interrupted like this is annoying. Might as well go find Cagalli. Let's see how the world's correcting force reacts. Hehe, it'll definitely be interesting. Wonder if I'll end up disturbing their relationship."
With that, under Nami's control, the High-Performance Ginn slowly descended into the sea.
The moment it hit the water, thick white steam billowed up as seawater boiled off around the Zero-Type Moebius thrusters. The exhaust nozzles cracked and fell off instantly, sinking to the seabed. Tolle could only steer the High-Performance Ginn toward the island where Cagalli was.
Having nothing better to do, he opened the monitor linked to the neo DG cells in Cagalli's body to check her condition. He found her unconscious inside the Skygrasper cockpit.
Not long after, Cagalli finally came to. She tried operating the Skygrasper's system, but the screen went black and gave no response.
The seawater was steadily rising, soon to swallow the Skygrasper completely.
With no other choice, Cagalli climbed out of the cockpit, preparing to activate the distress beacon to call for help from the Archangel.
But fate had other plans. As soon as she opened the distress beacon box, a wave swept it away.
Helpless, Cagalli watched as the box drifted farther and farther away. Meanwhile, the Skygrasper was about to be submerged.
She could only think of another plan—swim to the island behind her.
Pushing through the jungle, Cagalli reached a highland and there discovered the Aegis Gundam and Athrun.
By then Tolle had also reached the area near Cagalli's Skygrasper. He disembarked from the High-Performance Ginn and slowly made his way toward her.
"Let the plot play out for a while," Tolle thought. "I'll give the world's correcting force a little face."
At that moment, Athrun noticed Cagalli. The two locked eyes for a few seconds.
Still panicked, Cagalli quickly drew her pistol and fired at Athrun.
But Athrun was a Coordinator—far too skilled to be killed so easily. He dodged to the side, the bullet merely grazing his arm.
He rolled quickly and hid behind a nearby rock.
The fiery princess, not seeing where Athrun had gone, cautiously advanced, determined to track him down and capture him.
Tolle winced. "You don't even know he's a Coordinator. Do you think you can win?"
Holding his head, Tolle sighed. "Even though you don't know you're a Coordinator yourself, your combat skills are nowhere near his, Princess."
Meanwhile, on the Archangel's bridge, Murrue asked Miriallia:
"Where did we lose track of Cagalli and Tolle? Any radio response?"
Tears glimmered in Miriallia's eyes. "No… still no response."
The radar operator reported: "The interference is too strong. We could only track them until they left the battle zone."
Murrue fell into deep thought. Seeing this, Natarle asked her seriously:
"Should we mark them as MIA?"
Sai, puzzled by the unfamiliar term, asked, "MIA? What does that mean?"
The radar operator explained: "It's short for 'Missing In Action.' It refers to military personnel who go missing during missions. Usually it's considered the same as being dead, just without the body to confirm it."
"Ah!" Miriallia cried out. She was close to tears, silently praying for Tolle's safe return.
Murrue didn't want to accept such an outcome either. She scolded Natarle:
"Lieutenant Badgiruel, it's too early to jump to conclusions. We can't assume they've been shot down."
After chastising Natarle, she asked Miriallia, "How much time until sunset?"
"About a little over an hour."
Natarle pressed, "Do we really want to conduct a search? This is ZAFT-controlled territory."
Murrue replied, "Searching by air might be difficult. Once repairs and resupply are done, have the Strike Gundam search underwater."
Natarle tried to dissuade her. "Captain—"
But Murrue cut her off, her voice sharp and commanding.
"I don't care what you write in your reports or records. I cannot ignore this! Those two are still young. We cannot give up on them so easily."
Natarle was stunned. It was her first time seeing Murrue so furious. She could only reluctantly back down.
Miriallia, too, was deeply grateful for Murrue's decision. As long as there was hope, she didn't want to give up on Tolle.
Back on the island, Cagalli continued cautiously advancing toward where Athrun was hiding.
Tolle, meanwhile, had climbed up a tall tree and was lying on a branch, ready to leisurely watch the encounter between Cagalli and Athrun.