Original text [scans]
This is from around episode 12. Revive and Bring just got back from getting their asses handed to them. Ribbons slaps Wang and all that good stuff. The POV is all over the fucking place in this though, there’s one obvious shift into Regene’s perspective but in the middle of Revive’s section Ribbons’ thoughts show up for a couple lines for no fucking reason (I can’t imagine it’s anyone other than Ribbons, this should be from Revive’s POV, but he doesn’t talk like that). I’m putting the Ribbons thought lines in green or something because it’s weird. I really need to go back over this later and edit it because some parts are a real mess.
IN THIS SECTION: Bring and Revive are not happy about getting their asses kicked by humans; Ribbons isn’t happy about it either; Regene gloats to himself about successfully trolling Ribbons and seeing Wang get slapped, lulz ensue (literally).
133
In the same ship[1] in another room––inside the pilot’s room that was prepared for the personal use of the license holders[2], clad in his uniform, Revive punched the wall. This was unusual [behavior] for him, his voice was overflowing with emotion as well.
“[It' a disgrace/I can't believe-3] that we were defeated by humans…!”
There was another license holder in the room, Bring Stabity. The tall red-head leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, looking sullen. A few lines appeared in his brow, but if you weren’t familiar with his face you wouldn’t have noticed.
Even though their hearts were disturbed with discontent and discomfort, you could say that was natural.
Bring was overpowering Seravee while returning fire to the 00 and Revive was firing on Ptolemaios 2. Just when they were about to strike the finishing blow, the Garazzo and the Gadessa were each taken out by the 00 when it went Trans-am.
They, superior Innovators, were [defeated] like mere HUMANS![4]
We were supposed to destroy Celestial Being’s warship in no time, change history and complete the first phase of Aeolia’s plan with our own hands. [You] stretch your hand out toward the sweet fruit and even though [you] try to touch it with [your] fingertips, [your] arms are tied up by those who should be lowly subordinates, and [the fruit] is knocked into the mud.134
[Your] pride is seriously wounded and [you] are filled with rage.[5]
“If Ribbons had told us about the Twin Drive’s capabilities, [we wouldn't have suffered] that defeat….!”
Revive spat in his indignant state[6]. Bring remained silent, but it was clear that he shared the lilac-haired one’s feelings.
Revive and the others had heard that when the 00 docks with the newly developed support unit, the 0 Raiser, it becomes the 00 Raiser. But, they weren’t even informed that the 0 Raiser gave it functionality to control the Twin Drive System and stabilize the Trans-am system. The 00’s abilities even surpassed the expectations of Celestial Being who developed it, but Revive was unaware of that.
Then, when Revive was about to finish venting, they were both hit with quantum brainwave interference.
Revive looked up a bit and stared into space.
“…Ribbons Almark?”
Revive muttered originator’s name and turned toward his red-haired colleague.
“Bring, did you hear that?”135
Bring stopped leaning on the wall and nodded slightly. Using his rarely moved lips, he spoke the details that were transmitted to him.
“…The 00’s capture…”
“And even Hiling and Devine are being deployed…”
Putting a white-gloved finger to his lips, Revive [began] thinking. We may still capture the 00. Those who took up arms that surpassed [those of] the private armed organization that dreamed of changing the world, crushed the will of those who adhered to the idea, because it’s tied to the removal of a stone on the roadside with respect to the advancement of Aeolia’s plan.[7]
Besides, if you take Ribbons’ personal history into account, it’s not hard to sympathize with his desire to get the original solar furnaces back.
But….
Revive tilted his head slightly.
He’s throwing too much of our forces into it.
And he’s having two [more] Innovators enlist in A-LAWS.[8]
Revive couldn’t imagine that Ribbons had given up on their abilities, but with the Innovators, who had thus far been moving pieces from the shadows, appearing continually for short terms in public like this, it’s hard not to be a little suspicious.
“It couldn’t be.”136
Revive removed his finger from his lips.
“No way. Could it be that Ribbons doesn’t even know [the extent of] the Twin Drive’s abilities…?”Whether or not Ribbons Almark knew of the Twin Drive’s abilities was not clear to his fellow Innovators, but Regene Regetta, who was always by Ribbons’ side, observing him in great detail, suspected there was nearly a 100% chance that there was some piece of information about the Twin Drive System that Ribbons didn’t have.
There was already a few examples that seemed like proof [of that theory].
After the party Setsuna F Seiei and Tieria Erde had infiltrated, during an exchange in the VIP room, Ribbons had interrupted Regene’s words of admiration for the Twin Drive System a bit impetuously. Regene had just meant to string him along as a joke, but he fell for it magnificently.
Furthermore, when he took a peak at that last battle at Lagrange 3 via quantum brain waves, [he reacted] the same way. When Revive pierced the 00 Raiser with the Gadessa’s GN Beam Sabre, the prize that undoubtedly should have stopped, vanished like grains of sand, and reappeared in a completely different location––perceiving this, Ribbons got up from the sofa and made a noise.
“The machine quantized…!? The Gundam has a power I was unaware of…!?”137
But, the one act that followed was worth a glance, Regene smiled[10] as he recalled it. Wang Liu Ming who happened to be there spoke out of concern for Ribbons when he jumped out of his seat, but Ribbons responded with a slap.
The heiress, who styled herself the representative of humanity, fell to the floor turning her frightened eyes [away] and the head of the Innovators cold-heartedly looked down on her with a cruel expression.
It’s almost like a comedy, isn’t it?
Ribbons ordered Revive and Hiling and the others to capture the 00.
Perhaps his aim is to confiscate a toy.
Or maybe he just wants to take it back.
Or maybe he was enchanted by the Twin Drive System.
I don’t know anymore than that.
Even if I were to ask Ribbons, he’d probably just nimbly dodge the question.
But, isn’t this a crack in Ribbons’ [armor] that he’s never let anyone see up until now? Regene thought.
…This is going to be fun, isn’t it?138
Letting a glimpse of his ambition show through, Regene let out a solitary laugh in the mansion’s hallway.
Notes:
[1]- 同じ航宙艦: Same ship as Louise and Andrei are on, the previous scene was with them.
[2]- ワンマンアーミー: The text refers to license holders with the phrase “one man army” but it sounds retarded in English so I’m going with “license holder.”
[3]- Unfinished sentence. There’s no real way to make it trail off in the same spot and make sense in English as far as I can tell. Also, interesting note, Revive uses 人間 not ニンゲン like Hiling and Ribbons do.
[4]- 優良種たるイノベイターの彼らが、たかがニンゲンごときに: Lots of things in this one. First the 優良種たるイノベイター彼ら is something literally more like “they who are Innovators which is a superior race/kind” but I couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it than “superior Innovators” (I mention this mainly to clarify that it’s not that they’re a superior kind of Innovator, they’re Innovators and thus superior). Next, this is almost certainly a thought, not the narrator talking because it ends in an exclamation mark and there’s humans in kana again, BUT it’s in third person. So I don’t know for sure who’s thinking it (it has to be Ribbons, the next line is too fruity to be anyone else). Lastly, this is another unfinished sentence so “defeated” isn’t actually in there, there is no verb.
[5]- プライドがしたたかに傷つけられ、奔騰するような怒りがわき上がる: Also pertaining to the last line, all the 2nd person references could be 1st or even 3rd person depending on how you feel like reading it. And specific to this line the second clause is more literally “rage boils up like a sudden jump [in price/etc]” I couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it so I substituted it with a similar idea.
[6]- 憤懣やるかたないといった: at a loss as to what やるかたない is.
[7]- 世界の変革を夢想する私設武装組織から過ぎた武器取り上げるのは、理念に拘泥する彼らの意志をくじけさせ、イオリア計画の進行に対する路傍の石を排除することにつながるのだから: This sentence is a filthy mess and I don’t really know what’s going on because it’s long and confusing. I need to look at it again later, but right now I can’t wrap my head around it.
[8]- 二名のイノベイター: Small note, the counter he uses for the Innovators is an honorific one.
[9]- 十割: This is either 10% or 100%, I’m not sure (割 can be % or unit-of-10%, I don’t really know how it works in the context of probability).
[10]- 笑う: Smile and laugh are the same word in moon, Regene doesn’t seem like the type to laugh out loud easily so I figure it’s probably a smile. Also the last line wouldn’t be so significant if he was laughing earlier.
