Jack's arm holding the shield dropped it and shot up, catching the hand holding his beam saber and he kicked the other Duel away, grabbing the shield and jetting back. "Athrun Zala is a war criminal and where I'm from, your smoking corpse was pulled out of this cockpit! I don't mind doing the same to you!" This time Jack went on the offensive, using a combination of attacks with his beam rifle and beam saber, swapping between them quickly, to put the other Duel where he wanted before he jetted forward and thrust with his beam saber forward towards the other cockpit. "Go to hell you bastard!"

"Yzak! I got you!" Aida shouted taking a quick pot shot at James before turning her attention back to Mask as Yzak back pedaled and retrieved his own shield and beam rifle and fired off some rapid shots at the enemy gundam. "I didn't ask for your help mind your own business! As for that 'other me' he must've been half the man I am! But no one! No one bad mouths Athrun! He might be an ass but he's still my friend!" Yzak said as he suddenly and surprisingly quickly managed to not only deflect but knock the beam saber used by James upward and then with a quick side thrust knocked the saber out of Duel's hands and proceeded to slash towards James.

James grimaced but didn't give up, catching the other Duel's hand holding the saber again and this time forcing him to drop the saber before throwing the other Duel over his shoulder as he turns and pulls up his beam rifle, firing several quick shots at it before holstering it again and retrieving the fallen beam saber from nearby. "Don't think for a second I'm going to let you walk away from this alive, Yzak. It's my duty as a member of the Earth Alliance military and I made a promise to my parent's I kill every ZAFT pilot I met." Jetting forward, he unleashes a series of quick slashes towards the Duel.

"Tch." Lee said as he raised an arm to block the minor damage from the Vulcan's.
"How could you understand my need to protect those precious to me! I'm a kuntala, and must show my pride!" He yelled going for a round house with his beam sabers to try and take out that dangerous rifle of hers.

Donna accepted the hand and return a smile. "Certainly." She answered back. "I can help with the lyrics. I will be able to find some inspiration somewhere." The thoughts went into the large book by Leo Tolstoy in the room. "The Instructor has been silent and budy lately. Maybe this can help him too." She gave further thinking. "Also we have the other new pilots and allies. I have not interacted with some them yet, but I wonder if this will get us the chance to know more about them. Understanding can allow us to work more effectively too."

The suddenly blasts from the skies heralded the arrival of the unlikely duo of Paul 'Black Star' Lyons and Elpeo 'Puru' Ple. The funnels circled the area and Yzak for forced onto the defensive completely taking rather severe damage to his armor and his suit's arms. "DAMN IT! MORE OF THEM!? We got no choice...Aida fall back to base!" Yzak shouted as Aida used her suit's beam wire to force away Mask having lost her rifle to a beam saber slash. "I guess we got no choice! I'm sorry Yzak this is probably my fault if I was a better pilot-" Aida said quick to take the blame for their sudden change of fortune. Yzak held up his shield as he back pedaled hard falling back as Aida used her thrusters to try and dodge the shots Paul sent towards her with his beam rifle. They were precise but they missed as Aida sustained damage from both Mask, Grant, and Paul. "ZAFT scum like you need to be put in your places!" Paul roared his anger made apparent to Puru who could feel his deep rooted hatred of the organization coming forth. "Eat it suckers!" Grant shouted triumphantly as he opened fire on Yzak blowing off a chunk of Duel's shielding. "Hold on this is Baker all forces don't shoot to kill! This is an order from Jason! Don't shoot to kill! We're encrypting this message so they can't hear it but if we're going to track them back to base we're going to need at least one of them in working condition." Williams said in a hurry as Puru came up, "Wha-but they're bad people right? Why would we let them risk getting off safe?" Puru questioned confused as Paul answered swiftly if somewhat controlled, "Because if we want to catch all the bad people we need to find their head and cut it off. Like a snake. You can hurt a worm but cutting off it's tail but it won't fully be dead unless you cut off it's brain." Paul said as he begrudgingly held back on his shots intentionally missing Aida now. "Leave it to the captain to think up a plan on the spot." Grant said with unease but he trusted his captain that was set in stone. "We have Grant moving forward to prepare to track them." Williams said as Graham came in. "Come on guys don't you trust me? I hate missing out on a good fight but if we can find the big cheese we can get a better one." Graham said as if he really needed to give his opinion on the matter. "This plan is satisfactory I suppose. Though I'm sure there would be better ways to approach this." commented Hiling Care with disinterest on the subject entirely.

===

"Alright that sounds great...hmmm who should we ask for help with this? Puru? She's a good girl and she loves people. How about Williams? She's a tad bit on the official side of things but if she lets her hair down I'm sure she'd be helpful. She talks to a lot of people so she'd know what kind of things they like I'm sure. I'm not sure who else we could get involved...would your instructor friend be of any help in this?" Baker asked putting her finger on her chin and tapping it trying to think about who would be the most useful in the situation given. She wanted to make the people feel better. And not just the crew...she hoped they could find more friends and allies who wouldn't fight them at the drop of a hat. But it seemed nothing but hostile people lived in this world...

James slammed his fist into his viewport as Yzak got away and he deactivated the beam saber before retrieving his own. Letting Yzak get away was a mistake... He stored his own before looking over the one he'd taken from Yzak and opened his channels back up. "I took one of Yzak's beam sabers but don't seem to have room for it. Anyone need a spare?" He kept his face from being too exposed, his anger and disapproval of the plan showing just a little more than he knew it should have been.

"Ah, a great plan. Let the wounded retreat to their nest and wipe out the whole of them." Mask said over the radio. He transformed once more and began following from a distance. "That space pirate will lose her suit next time. I just need to think up a small plan to retrieve it. Ah." He said to himself realizing just how to do it. "I'll take her Photon Batteries for my own suit."

"Come on guys I could use some help here!" Puru said with a frown as Paul tried to force back the enemy pilot though she was swifter and lighter than he was making it easier for her to dodge his shots than he'd like. "Hey Mask your little friend is talented. Not too much but she's good." Paul said to Mask in annoyance as he continued to force her away. Eventually she managed to get entirely away as Puru managed to fight off Yzak. "I'll defeat you I swear! Count on me coming back for your heads you fascist pigs!" Yzak said as he pulled back the two retreating into the distance. Paul landed down heavily on the ground next to Grant. "So do you think 'he' is with them?" Grant asked as Paul turned to his ally. "You know 'him'." Grant asked as Paul grunted, "Lao or George?" Paul simply asked as Grant uncomfortably shifted in his seat and declined to answer and Paul looked towards his allies. "Are you all alright? Everyone in one piece? Speaking of the saber just give it to Grant or I and I'll bring it back to Yuri to store with the other captured weapons." Paul said as Puru landed and the machine started to literally jump with joy mimicking a excited Puru. "Yay Yay YAY! WE DID IT GUYS! WE BEAT THE BAD GUYS AGAIN!"

Jack hands Paul the saber before turning and glancing at Puru and drawing his rifle, he takes a position watching the two retreat. "Hate to be a killjoy, but while Yzak Joule is still alive, we haven't won anything. And if there's another version of Yzak here..." That meant it was going to get more dangerous if Athrun was also here. Another Athrun...that...man, I hate this multiverse crap.

"So? We kicked his butt and trashed his suit right? It's not like he's gonna be much of a threat when Mr. Graham gets back to us on where they're heading. Come on Mr. Lieutenant Guy you can't really be this grumpy. You gotta take joy in the small things. That's what I was told by Judau at any rate. I think it's pretty good advice personally." Puru said with a smile as Williams giggled. "What's wrong Jameson? If Puru says they're done I think they're done. If a smart little girl like Puru thinks a person is toast that means they're pretty bad shape." Williams said with a giggle. "Look you guys can stay out there or return to base as you will. You're mission is over as of the moment. We're biding out time now when Jason figures out the specifics we're going to wipe out ZAFT, and hopefully, Zeon as well."

Jack shrugs and stays where he is. "I'll stay out here for a while longer. But there's something they were talking about that bugs me. Something about facilities that could have the answers to why we're here."

"This is Captain Jason Hiyan. I have answers on that it's just that none of you have ever bothered to actually come to my meetings or are too new to have done so. I've had Yuri study them and he has found some stuff on them. I've shared some of it with Blackstar but that's about it. So do as you will Mr. Jack." Jason said simply before cutting off his own communication line.

"This is Captain Mask. I'm trailing them back to their base. Scouting in my Elf Bullock's Fighter mode. If things get hairy I'll disperse Minovsky Particles and make my way back to the ship." Mask radioed in.

"What part of 'Hiling Care and Graham are tracking them' did you not understand? I'm using my GN Particles to distrupt their communications so they won't be able to just radio for help. I don't need the help of some random pedestrian mask." Hiling said flat out dismissing Mask's intention to track the others. "As blunt as she is I have to agree I think Hiling Care and I are more than sufficient for the task. Don't let your personal issues with that one pilot get in your way of thinking. You can deal with her once I find the whole she's in." Graham said to Mask in an attempt to appease both parties.

"Right... Powering the Duel down to save energy, Jack opens the cockpit and climbs on the arm, laying down and looking up at the sky while wondering what kind of creature had a twisted enough sense of humor to put all these people on one planet and wage yet another war. "Well mom, dad, I'll find a way home and make ZAFT pay. But first, I gotta clean up things here..."

"Tch. Fine. I'm breaking off." Mask said as he turned around in (Kuntala) shame. "If you see that Space Pirate, she's mine!" He said gritting his teeth. She knows something, I just know it.

"There's no point in being here...I'm going back to base." Paul resigned as he jumped into the sky and blasted off towards the base. He couldn't help but ponder on Grant's words. He wondered if George was here, knowing his luck he was, and he cherished the thought of putting him down for everything he's done to him. As for Lao...a rabid dog with charisma. Nothing to note other than his connection to OMNI potentially being troublesome. If other OMNI Members were here they'd possibly be fooled by Lao's knowledge of OMNI's working and he'd convince them to attack The Sundown. He couldn't let that happen.

===

"Huh? Lieutenant! Oh fine...I'll be coming back too I guess but...hey Mr. Mask are you ok? I'm not sure if you recognize me but I'm Puru and it's nice to meet you. Is there anything wrong that I can help you with? I feel your hatred. I don't know what but I'll help you if I can. But...I didn't get the feeling that girl was a bad one. I felt...confusion and anger coming from her. Before he left us Gabriel said my powers were unique and that I could use them to read people. I'm sorry if I'm getting too personal I can't help it. Judau would help a friend in need so I will too." Puru offered to Mask.

===

Grant walked over to James and looked down at him. "You know just because the enemy is gone doesn't mean there aren't more nearby you know? I'd join you but my third eye tells me I'd be better off in the cockpit right now. Need to get something off your chest before heading back to base big guy? If it's something big then I'd say you better speak to the Doc. He's got a degree in mental health. I forget the technical term for it but he is a psychiatrist by trade." said Grant as the dagger loomed over the fellow pilot. "Ah who am I kidding...you're not one of my squad you probably don't want to listen to my advice. After all I'm just some dude from the southern US."

Jack sighed and shook his head, still looking up at the sky. "Not anything that the doc can help me with Grant. Trust me on that." Standing again, he looks around and frowns, remembering what the captain had said. Of course he'd say something like that. Man, if the guy ever expects me to trust him completely, a little more information would be nice... With a mental sigh, he heads back into Duel's cockpit and powers back up, sealing it and looking around. "So, how long do you think it'll take them to track that pair?"

Mask calmed slightly. He saw something in Puru that reminded him of...
"Manny." He said quietly. He took off his mask.
"Thank you, Puru. You're a good kid." He said as he took out his canteen and took a drink. He needed to stop rushing into the heat of battle. Just because he is top of his class, doesn't mean he's unfailable.
"I needed that." He said replacing the mask.
"Ready for the next order."