Gundam GQuuuuuuX Ep. 9: The Rose of Sharon

The GQuuuuuuX’s cockpit shakes violently as the suit begins atmospheric reentry. Haro tells Machu to put on a pilot suit and she asks if the suit can even enter the atmosphere. A pair of robotic arms in the cockpit braces Machu as the suit breaks through the atmosphere. Machu realizes that she’s in freefall with no parachute, but the Core Fighter automatically detaches, leaving the rest of the mobile suit to crash into the ocean. The Core Fighter travels a short distance before crashing near a secluded estate. The next morning, Machu wakes up in a lavish room and is attended by two maids, Vani and Kanchana. Vani declares that they have to tell the Mistress that Machu is awake, and when asked, Kanchana tells Machu that she’s at the Kabas estate. Machu turns on her phone but can’t get any signal because she’s out of range. She then stands up and realizes that Earth’s gravity is the same as in the colonies. She rushes to the window in hopes of seeing the ocean, but the view is blocked by mountains. She thinks back to how she escaped from the Sodon yesterday. Machu sat in the brig and was visited by Comoli, who returned her personal effects and Haro, plus some of her own clothes for Machu to wear. Comoli told Machu that phone calls weren’t allowed because it would reveal the ship’s position, but she could send texts that would be censored first. Machu turned on her phone and saw an endless scroll of notifications from Tamaki and friends at school. Comoli suggested that Machu contact Tamaki, but also commented that she wouldn’t be able to if she’d caused as much trouble as Machu had. Comoli then took Machu to Challia for interrogation. At the Kabas estate, Vani and Kanchana explain that the Mistress knew Machu was coming, so they had this room and a doctor already prepped yesterday. Vani explains that the Mistress’ dreams come true and Kanchana adds that she’d said the one who chases the rose would be descending from above. Machu wants to thank the Mistress, but Vani says she can’t right now because a new lover is coming. At the estate’s front door, Kabas welcomes a Zeon official. Machu wonders where she is and asks the maids if they’re being held against their will. Vani answers that they aren’t because they’re just maids, and that the nearby town is full of kids begging. Machu thinks back to her meeting with Challia, who said she was fortunate to have been born in Side 6. He mentioned how half of humanity perished in the way and that many people lost their homes and became refugees. Challia revealed to Machu that the Sodon was heading to Earth to protect a military facility, and Comoli chided him because that was classified info. He then asked Machu to tell him about Shuji and his connection to Char. Machu thought to herself that Shuji hadn’t been captured, and Challia verbally completed her thought by stating that Shuji and the Red Gundam went missing at Side 6. He then asked Machu if she knew where Shuji went and mentioned that he was searching for the Rose of Sharon. Challia explained that the Rose of Sharon appeared during the war and was an anomalous object that shouldn’t exist in this world, with the power to change the destiny of the Earth Sphere. Zeon recovered it and analyzed it at Granada, but then it disappeared. Challia mentioned that Shuji wasn’t the only one looking for it and asked Machu why he wanted it. Comoli commented that they wouldn’t learn anything from Machu, and she mentioned Earth, which Challia seized upon. Back in the brig, Machu thought to herself that she should go where Shuji is to see him. She then received a text from an unknown sender saying that her door would unlock. It then did, and she followed more texts to the hangar where the GQuuuuuuX was stored. Challia looked at a mirror of Machu’s phone and decided to let Machu go. Challia wondered who was sending the messages as Machu launched in the GQuuuuuuX and headed for Earth. At the Kabas estate, Machu looks down from her balcony and spots a young woman.

Machu sneaks around the estate and runs into two prostitutes, who recognize her as the Mistress’ guest. They warn her that she’ll be mistaken for a working girl if she hangs around her. Machu walks through a garden and thinks about how the maids were talking up the Mistress. She runs into the young woman sitting on a swing hanging from a tree. She talks about migratory birds and Machu thanks her for the help. Machu wonders if she knows this woman and thinks about the kira-kira. The woman asks Machu why she came because there’s no rose here, and Machu answers that she’s chasing a boy who was looking for the rose. Machu mentions hearing that the Mistress has dreams about the future, but she answers that she has the dreams of her counterpart on the other side, who is in love. She mentions that a young Zeon officer visited her counterpart and fell in love with her and bought her freedom. Machu then sees her in the kira-kira as she continues talking about her counterpart being ready to fight for the Zeon officer in space. Machu asks if she wants to go to space, and the Mistress answers that she is certain she’ll be free if she goes to space. She goes on and says that the Zeon officer dies fighting the EFF’s white mobile suit and that Zeon loses the war. Machu asks if they’re the bad guys, and the Mistress explains that the EFF pilot is also pure and that her other self loves both of them. She explains that she keeps meeting the Zeon officer in her dreams over and over, but they always end with him being killed by the EFF pilot. She says she can’t protect the ones she cares about, but the kira-kira vision ends when Kabas comes to tell her that her lover for the night has arrived. The woman says that it’s all a dream and tells Machu that her name is Lalah Sune. Kabas tells a guard that he’s in contact with the Mangaluru police and that they’ll hand Machu over to Zeon tomorrow. He thinks it’s a shame because if Machu stuck around she could make a name for herself. Back in Machu’s room, Vani and Kanchana tell Machu that they’re going to help her escape tonight, but they want her to take Lalah. They believe that Machu is the one who will take Lalah to space, and soon after they set the mansion on fire as a distraction. As Kabas and his guards search the grounds, Lalah takes Machu to the Core Fighter’s crash site. Machu tells Lalah to come with her because the Core Fighter is part of a mobile suit. Kabas shows up and points a rifle at Lalah, and she turns and spreads her arms to defend Machu. Lalah says she’s not going because she has to wait for “him.” Kabas fires and grazes Lalah’s hair. Lalah tells Machu she has things to do, and the Core Fighter automatically activates and takes off. The Core Fighter then flies over the ocean and dives into the water to dock with the GQuuuuuuX, which is sitting atop the Rose of Sharon. Machu wonders if it’s the Rose of Sharon and sees a flash of another Lalah inside it. The docked GQuuuuuuX deploys four balloons to float back to the surface, and Machu sees the Sodon descend from above. Zeon deploys a Mad Angler submarine and Gogg mobile suits to the site and Challia tells Comoli that they owe Machu thanks for leading them to the Rose of Sharon. Using tow cables, the Sodon pulls the Rose of Sharon out of the water and Comoli comments that it looks distorted. Challia comments that it must be in an unstable state in this universe. Comoli asks if it’s a spaceship and Challia answers that it’s not something Zeon made because it’s a specialized mobile armor that had its development halted. Comoli mentions that Machu wanted to know who was inside it, and Challia comments that Machu really is from a new generation of Newtypes. He thinks to himself that inside the Rose of Sharon is a girl frozen in time in an eternal sleep. She’s from the other side and he’s sure that Char saw her at Solomon.