Gundam Ep. 19: Ramba Ral’s Attack

Amuro wanders around in the desert, and an old man tells him he can find water at a town called Sodon. Amuro walks over to the town and goes to a restaurant. Nearby, the White Base hides in a canyon as the crew conducts repairs. They wonder what Amuro is doing, and Kai suspects he might have joined the Zeon. Amuro sits down for a meal in the restaurant when he sees the Zeon pull up with two Samson trucks carrying mobile suits. Hamon comes in, followed by about a dozen soldiers and Ramba. Fraw drives around in the desert and heads for Sodon because she assumes Amuro has to eat there. Hamon buys food for Amuro, but he politely declines and says he isn’t a charity case. Ramba tells Hamon that Amuro is too young for her, and she says she simply likes him. Ramba is impressed with Amuro, and he offers the meal himself. Some of his soldiers capture Fraw and say she’s with the EFF. When Ramba sees Amuro pull a gun, he says he’s even more impressed. Amuro and Fraw drive away, and Ramba orders one of his men to follow them. Fraw asks Amuro if he was embarrassed to hold hands with her because Hamon was watching. She says he’s becoming more distant every day, and he ignores her. Amuro drives outside of town and gets off. Fraw says he’ll regret not coming back to the ship, and he counters he’ll live his own life. Fraw continues by herself to the ship, and the Zeon soldier reports its location to Ramba. He launches in the Gouf and is accompanied by a Zaku. Amuro wonders if Ramba and Hamon are the enemies he’s fighting when the Gouf flies overhead. They attack the White Base by surprise, and Amuro immediately goes to get the Gundam when he sees the attack.

To fend off the attack, Kai launches in the Guncannon, followed by Ryu and Hayato in the Guntank. Ramba uses his heat rod to electrocute the Guncannon. One of the Zaku pilots fires a missile at the Guntank and destroys one of the tire tracks. The Guntank is unable to move, but Hayato has an idea. He ejects the top of the Guntank so that Ryu can escape with the Core Fighter and look for Amuro. Ryu takes off, and after flying a short distance he sees the Gundam fighting the Gallop. He tells Amuro to go help the White Base while he takes on the Gallop. Ramba jumps onto the White Base and starts damaging the engines with his heat rod. Mirai knows the only way to stop him is to flip the ship over, and she does. Ramba is knocked off the ship, and he attacks Kai again and destroys one of the Guncannon’s cannons. Amuro arrives on the scene and shoots at Ramba, which allows Kai to escape. Ramba is able to avoid the beam rifle, so Amuro switches to his beam saber. They fight fiercely with their sabers and slice each other’s cockpits open. They recognize each other, and Amuro slices off both of the Gouf’s hands. He then drives the beam saber through the Gouf’s back, and Ramba jumps out and fires a grappling hook onto the Gundam. As the Gouf explodes, Ramba tells him that he won only because of the Gundam’s strength, not his own. Later, Amuro is thrown into the brig for desertion. Bright says his actions demoralized the crew, and Amuro begs to tell his side of the story. He asks Ryu why he risked his life looking for him, and Ryu says it was only to find the Gundam, not him. Bright and Ryu leave, and Amuro keeps calling out for them. Fraw walks by and thinks he’s a fool. Amuro knows he is the best pilot on the ship and starts pounding on the door to talk to someone. He eventually starts crying and realizes he must defeat Ramba.