Ramba Ral's Attack

Synopsis
Amuro is wandering the desert in a makeshift hooded cloak. He comes across a camp consisting of a single old man and asks him if he has any water. The man says no but tells Amuro that he can buy some water in the nearby town. Amuro thanks the man and departs, heading into town. Upon arrival, he enters a small bar and asks for food.

Meanwhile, the White Base crew are performing repairs. Bright asks Ryu if he is in consensus with everybody else regarding Amuro. Ryu asks if they're thinking of Amuro separately from the Gundam. Bright responds by saying that when the Gundam comes back, all the talk will be about Amuro. Ryu says that his opinion will depend on how Amuro is at that time.

Elsewhere, Amuro is sitting at the bar and chewing on a tough hunk of bread. Just then, a flatbed truck pulls up outside and a number of Zeon soldiers walk in. They have decided to stop there for a meal. Amuro watches cautiously, but is taken aback upon seeing Crowley Hamon walk through the door. She notices him staring, and walks to a nearby table to sit down. Then Ramba Ral walks in. Amuro watches even more cautiously as he takes a seat and banters with Hamon and his men. The waiter comes over and Hamon orders a meal for the men, along with an extra plate for Amuro. He is surprised. Ral notices and asks Hamon if she would like a kid like that. She says sure. Amuro goes back to his water.

Fraw Bow, meanwhile, is driving across the desert in her utility vehicle, still in pursuit of Amuro. She comes to the abandoned town and notices the Zeon transport parked there. In the bar, Amuro gets up and approaches Hamon, thanking her but telling her that he can't accept her charity. Ramba laughs heartily and informs Amuro that it's quite a thing to be liked by Hamon. The other men agree. Just then, one of the men that Ramba Ral posted outside hollers that he's caught an intruder. He brings Fraw Bow into the bar for Ramba to inspect, claiming that she may be a spy. Amuro lets slip that he recognizes her, causing Hamon to speculate that perhaps she is his girlfriend. Ramba approaches Amuro and lifts back his cloak, noticing that he'd been concealing a gun. Partly because he admires Amuro's courage, Ramba decides to let them go. However, he tells Amuro that if they ever meet on the battlefield, he won't be so lenient. Ramba tells Amuro to give it his best. Amuro thanks him and leaves with Fraw. After they're gone, Ramba Ral calls one of his men over and tells him to shadow Fraw, in hopes of being led back to White Base's location.

Outside, Fraw Bow tries to convince Amuro to come back to White Base. The two bicker. Amuro jumps into the driver's seat of the utility vehicle, picks up Fraw, and drives her to the edge of town. He then turns the car over to her and prepares to leave. She asks him if he's coming back, and he says no. She calls him stubborn and he replies that he'll never regret what he's doing. Fraw drives off into the desert. Ramba Ral's spy proceeds to follow her from a distance on a motorcycle and is eventually rewarded with the location of the base. He hides out and radios Ramba. Elsewhere, Ramba and his men prepare to sortie.

Back at White Base, Fraw gives the rest of the crew an update on Amuro. She also tells them what she saw outside the bar in town. Kai laughs and speculates that Amuro must've told the Zeon all about White Base. Bright tells him to knock it off. Mirai, however, declares that they should suspend operations and take up positions to intercept, to which Bright agrees. Mirai also gently reprimands Fraw for sneaking away to go find Amuro without asking permission.

Ramba Ral and his unit depart for the battlefield. Elsewhere, Amuro speculates on Ramba and Hamon, wondering if they were the adversaries the White Base crew has been fighting all this time. Just then, the Gouf and two Zaku II's pass directly overhead. Amuro is jolted out of his reverie as he realizes, to his horror, that they're heading for White Base. He quickly unearths the Gundam from the hill in which he had it buried and proceeds to fly off in hopes of arriving in time.

The Guncannon and Guntank have been launched into battle. Bright orders White Base to take off. Mirai complies, but can't quite get the base off the ground. Ryu, Hayato, and Kai vow to do what they can to keep any of Ramba's men from getting to the base. One of the Zakus fires, destroying one of the tank treads on the Guntank. The soldier is about to finish it off but is told by Ramba to concentrate on White Base instead. Hayato decides to force-eject the upper half of the Guntank, freeing Ryu's core fighter. Ryu flies off while Hayato becomes a stationary gun battery.

As Ryu flies overhead, he spies Amuro in a heated battle with the Gallop. Amuro lunges with his beam sword, destroying one of the thrusters. Just then, Ryu cuts in, offering to distract the Gallop so that Amuro can go aid White Base. As for White Base, Mirai has finally gotten it to take off and gain altitude. However, the navigator detects a Zaku closing in from behind. Since there are no aft gunners, Mirai hits the throttle, causing the engines to flare and vaporize it.

Ramba Ral leaps up onto White Base and begins to vandalize it. Sayla radios Kai and asks him if he can pick it off from his vantage point. At the helm, Mirai declares that she'll throw the Gouf off by having White Base perform a barrel roll. It works. The Gouf lands and Kai engages it in battle. He loses one of his cannons and is being shocked by the coil when Amuro arrives. Amuro engages the Gouf in battle, and Ramba scoffs that Amuro's accurate shooting is easy for the Gouf's computer to predict. Amuro's beam rifle, however, runs out of power, so he switches to a beam sword.

Ramba Ral reveals that among other things, the Gouf has a large beam scimitar. Amuro charges, and Ramba slices his shield in half. However, to his surprise, Amuro's not behind it. Ramba looks up just in time to see Amuro lunge down at him and slice a huge gash into the abdomen of his MS. Ramba retaliates by putting a gash into the front of the Gundam.

Amuro lunges again and manages to chop both of the hands off of the Gouf in one fell swoop. It is then that Ramba Ral and Amuro recognize each other. Amuro proceeds to destroy the Gouf, but Ramba Ral manages to bail out before it explodes. He watches White Base come to pick up the Gundam amid the flaming wreckage.

Amuro helps to retrieve the other vehicles, and is then promptly thrown into solitary confinement before he has a chance to get away again. Amuro begs Bright to listen to him, but he won't. The others walk away as Amuro frantically calls after them. He hollers that he's the best at using the Gundam successfully before breaking down into tears. He thinks of Ramba Ral and declares that he wants to beat him in combat. White Base flies off into the sunset.