There should be another assault! Don't let your guard down!
Izuru!
What's wrong? Izuru, are you all right?
This is Red 5. I just... I just...
What the heck did you just do?!
What happened?
I just saw something disturbing.
What?!
What's that?
Like what? Was it a ghostie?
Right! I need to give pursuit.
What gives? Why isn't it moving?
What's going on, Izuru?
What did you see?
During battle, I-
Red 5, you are prohibited from further communication.
You must not tell anyone about what you just witnessed.
Upon your return, come report to me immediately.
Yes, Ma'am.
Izuru, what happened?!
Respond, Izuru!
It's working?
What's wrong with him now?
Maybe he got an owie?
His unit may have taken some damage, but Izuru is fine.
Hey, look!
All of the enemy vessels are pulling out of the battle zone?
Does that mean we won?
Yay!
We won! We won!
But why? They had victory in their grasp...
That was a piece of cake! Yay!
"Disclosure"
The entire enemy fleet is retreating!
We will begin accepting injured onto our ship!
What should we do?
Commence a running fight?
If we could, I would have issued the orders already!
The tactical heavy laser system has been damaged beyond repair!
I am unable to reach the squad that was guarding it.
The convoy vessel, Stout, is requesting help.
Likewise, the convoy vessel, Shiloh, is also requesting help.
We're also receiving distress signals
from ships in the first and second lines of defense that are unable to move.
Earth's GDF Headquarters are still on the line.
They would like a detailed damage report.
Purple 2 has boarded!
Both the unit and pilot are unharmed.
Welcome back, Miss. You did wonderful.
Kei!
Are you okay? Kei!
Hang in there!
I-I'm sorry...
Calm down, Kei. The battle is over now.
We're glad to see you made it back safe and sound.
Team Rabbits fought valiantly out there.
We're all very proud of you.
Now leave the rest to us and try to take it easy.
Where is Red 5?
Has Izuru made it back yet?
I don't know.
I haven't heard one way or the other.
Did something happen to Red 5?
Doberman and Rabbits are the
only squads that didn't suffer any casualties.
For them to survive that battle royal essentially unscathed,
their units must be something else!
No kiddin'!
We're the ones who assembled these puppies and kept them up an' running!
There's no way the Wulgaru could touch 'em!
Right. We owe it all to you.
Thank you for-
Ow!
That's not what you should be saying, you lame pilot!
Wha-?!
Was that the best you could do?!
Watching you pissed me off!
Well, excuse me!
Man, you suck!
Next time you're gonna get shot down and die if you keep this up!
If that doesn't sit well if you, train harder to-
Hey! Watch what you say!
But it's all true!
Let go of me, Papa! Let go, dammit!
I'm sorry about that foul mouth of hers.
There's no reason to hold me back!
She must have inherited it from my wife.
Just you wait, you...! You...! You little...!
Believe it or not, she was worried about you.
Please don't hold it against her.
I'll get you, dammit!
It-it's fine. After all, she's right...
You lame pilot!
They sure did a number on you!
But in a way, you were lucky.
If it had gone any deeper, that would have been the end of you, Icchan.
Icchan?
It doesn't look like your transmission cables or drives got damaged.
Are you sure that it suddenly stopped responding to your orders?
Yes. When I tried to pursue an enemy unit, it wouldn't budge.
Which means it must have been the JURIA-SYSTEM.
That's the only explanation I can come up with.
So the AHSMB tried to defend itself?
Looks like it's gonna take a while
for you to tame this bunking bronco.
That means I still haven't mastered my unit, doesn't it?
You got into a dogfight with the enemy, right?
What was he like?
Could you see his face?
Or what he looked like?
Well, uh...
Okay, okay, stop! That's enough chit-chat.
Isn't the captain waiting? You'd better run.
R-right!
Anyway, please take good care of my unit for me.
And then the enemy showed himself to me.
I was surprised to see that he looked human.
He looked just like that lady I met at the pool.
At the pool?
Right.
We aren't supposed to remember our pasts,
but for some odd reason, I remembered her.
And then-
That's enough.
You may not mention this
to anyone henceforth, not even the members of Team Rabbits.
I've always found it strange!
Who was that lady?
Why is she the only person I remember?
Instructor, do you know what she-
I am no longer your instructor.
I'm your captain.
I will issue further orders later.
You may leave.
But-
You are dismissed!
I need to report to the commander...
"This duel was amusing."
"Let us fight again, primitive creature!"
In other words, he has identified Red 5 as his target?
Most likely.
I never expected this to happen...
Now that it has come to this,
I believe it is necessary to enlighten Team Rabbits of the situation,
at least to a certain degree.
It is quite likely that the Wulgaru will go after them.
We must psychologically prepare them for what is to come,
although I consider doing so most cruel...
Are you worried about that young man?
That is a given.
He may have forgotten about me, but I still remember him.
If only I could see that he is indeed well...
You may go near the exam room if you like.
Of course, you will not be permitted to speak with him directly.
Why do you always hang out in my room?!
Go sleep in your own rooms!
I'm too excited to sleep!
When I'm by myself, I keep thinking about that battle.
Besides, we can see all of the returning ally ships from this room.
We were beaten like dogs, didn't we?
What?! But didn't we win?
The Wulgaru ran away!
I don't know why, but it's true that the enemy pulled back.
Regardless, Earth suffered far heavier losses.
Forty percent...
...of our forces were literally annihilated.
Hey, something smells really good!
I lit an aroma candle.
I heard they can have soothing properties.
Yeah?
I wonder what's keeping Izuru...
I bet quarantine is taking a while.
After all, they said his cockpit got torn wide open.
Can't sleep?
"Lame pilot."
That's what I got called... by a member of my pit crew.
If I had done a better job issuing orders,
the battle may have gone better.
If someone else had been the leader...
If it had been him...
Just maybe, more lives...
You're overthinking things!
I doubt anyone could have done better.
There is no way I could have handled it.
Um, I'm not really sure how to put it,
but I felt like I could rely on you back there!
Those words held a drop of salvation...
He really is taking forever.
He's in the exam room, right? I'll check on him!
They probably won't let you in!
I'll check anyway!
Izuru!
Thank goodness!
Where have you been? What happened?
Is something the matter?
Hey, say something!
K-Kei!
S-sorry.
Why...?
Wait!
Izuru!
Why? What is she doing here?
Please wait! Who are you?
Let's go back. Please hurry!
What's going on?
Izuru, not gonna eat that?
Huh? Nah, I'm not hungry.
Then I'll take it!
The food is the only thing
that's leveled up since we've moved to this base!
Hey, what's going on?
Huh? In regard to? It's so good!
That's what I'd like to know!
You two've been acting strange since last night.
What the heck happened?
They're all dead? That's horrible.
I bet it'll take a while to regroup our forces.
Looks like we'll be abandoning Ceres Base.
Apparently the higher-ups have absolutely no idea what to do next.
What is going to happen to us?
The big wigs are already pointing their fingers at each other.
It won't be long before this base is overridden with injured soldiers.
If they strike again now...
We wouldn't last a minute.
What's wrong? You look so glum!
It's the lunch lady!
What are you doing here?
Did you come after me?
Dang, that's awe-
I got reassigned shortly after you left.
They said that this base was a bit understaffed.
I know it's been crazy since you arrived,
but don't let one lost battle get you down in the dumps!
You're the heroes who saved Earth, you know.
We're heroes?
We are?
That's what the news keeps calling you.
Yesterday's battle was a huge victory for Earth!
It says that Team Rabbits is a group of young heroes
who magnificently repelled the flood of enemy ships!
Really? So we were a big help after all!
This is just a repeat of last time!
They need to throw out some heroes whenever we lose.
Like I said, don't look so glum!
Come on, Asagi! You ought to eat more.
Want me to bring you seconds?
No, my stomach is starting to hurt again...
May we join you?
Uh, sure. Feel free.
Aren't you the operators...?
I am Communications Manager Siegfried von Westernach.
I'm Guiliano Visconti.
Hey, where is my milk?
Oh, sorry!
R-right! Just one moment please.
I can't handle second tier studs!
Excuse me for being third tier!
Sorry for interrupting your meal.
We always talk over the monitor,
so we were hoping to speak with you in person.
Okay! I love octopus and squid, especially their pickled innards!
How long do you expect it to take to reorganize the fleet?
I couldn't say.
As it stands now, we don't even know
the exact scale of our losses.
But not all of the news is bad!
We learned that your AHSMB
units are able to fight on par with the enemy.
I imagine we'll build upon your AHSMB team and regroup around that.
But if you flip it around,
the AHSMB units were the only thing doing any damage, right?
Now, now.
They should already be working on increasing AHSMB unit production.
Although even we aren't privy to the details.
Tamaki, this is important! Are you paying attention?
I-I can't pick one at the drop of a hat!
I can't, I can't, I can't! I just can't!
You've got your hands full, don't you?
Huh?
How about I treat everyone to dessert?
Please order anything you like!
Then I'll take a space-sized Star Rose Parfait!
FRUIT PARFAIT: LIMITED TIME ONLY STAR ROSE PARFAIT: SPACE SIZE
That was fast...
Everyone from Team Rabbits!
I've got a message from Captain Suzukaze!
For all of us?
Eh?! But I was just about to have dessert!
She needs you pronto!
Team Rabbits is to meet in Operating Room No. 7 immediately.
That's all!
At ease!
As you are aware, the GDF suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Ceres.
Henceforth, I imagine the AHSMB teams, starting with Team Rabbits,
will be sent on an increasing number of missions.
In preparation for the upcoming battles,
I have decided to divulge certain information with you in advance.
However, everything said here is of the utmost confidential of nature.
If you tell anyone...
We'll meet the firing squad?!
I'll start with this video.
Wasn't I supposed to keep this a secret?
We'll go over it in a bit.
What the heck? We're fighting humans?
He's saying something to Izuru...!
He isn't human.
He may resemble us, but he is a completely different species.
He looks damn nasty!
Really? I think he's cool.
He's the enemy! The enemy!
Do you like anyone that looks cool?
I wouldn't say that...
But you might be right!
Is this what you were referring to?
It's not just his appearance.
His fighter moves a lot like our AHSMB units.
Exactly! Our AHSMBs utilize their technology.
Once, two pieces of information were leaked through a certain route.
The first was that the Wulgaru were preparing to invade Earth.
The second was the basic technology behind the AHSMB units.
That was the intel.
The AHSMBs that Team Rabbits currently
pilot were developed using that leaked technology.
So we've been piloting Wulgaru fighters?
Their basic plans may hail from Wulgaru origins,
but we are the ones who adapted them for human pilots.
The JURIA-SYSTEM was also developed by a member of the MJP.
Excuse me...
How did that leaked information get to Earth to begin with?
How did we find out that the Wulgaru were
after Earth and learn how the AHSMB work?
A Wulgaru defector delivered the information to Earth.
A defector...?
I will let her explain the situation in detail.
It's you...!
So we meet again.
"The Hunter and the Hunted"