Part 15: Chapter 15 (Battle) - The Black Arc Was Probably A Waste Of Money

Update 15 (Battle) - The Black Arc Was Probably A Waste Of Money



This is a long one, so let's jump right into it. So, if you recall last time, big fortress in the sky is going to rain death on us...



...and we need to blow up a crystal, there, to win. It has area-of-effect healing and fuel restoration, which is going to be annoying as hell.



On the plus side, we get to play with two COs this time! Max won the vote for topside in a landslide, and Sasha has been chosen for the main battle. Should be fun!



Right, we're ready. Let's fucking go.



Victory sounds good. Death, on the other hand, I would really like to avoid. But in this map, I'm not gonna have much choice... anyway, deployments.

Today’s Deployments
Rin, Infantry
Dave, Infantry
Nika, Mech
Alina, Mech
Dimitri, Tank
Fliss, Tank
Selena, Medium Tank
Boris, Medium Tank
Raynald, Fighter
Lucy, Fighter
Julian, Fighter
Harlow, Fighter
Yakov, Fighter
Klara, Fighter
Valentin, Fighter
Diana, Fighter
Ingo, Bomber
Zlata, Bomber

Yakov
Age: 20
Personality: The quiet, sullen twin.
Proficiencies: Recon, Fighter, Transport Copter, Rockets

Klara
Age: 24
Personality: Meek girl, goes berserk.
Proficiencies: Battle Copter, Fighter, Bomber, [unknown]

Valentin
Age: 18
Personality: Hates putting in effort.
Proficiencies: Fighter, Rockets, Missiles, Artillery

Zlata
Age: 30
Personality: Cheerful gearhead, loves tanks.
Proficiencies: Bomber, Medium Tank, Neotank, [unknown]



All those fancy machines are about to be nothin' but scrap.

Max, I can't control what happens up there. So-

My dude. I know what these soldiers mean to you. Don't worry - they'll all come back safe. I promise.



Let's see what info we get to begin with, whilst I think of a brilliant plan.



As the name implies, two COs team up and take turns issuing orders. Don't worry, the basic rules of engagement are unchanged. Now, this time we've got fighting on two fronts, which is dual-screen combat. So, we need to assign one CO to the main front and one CO to the second front.

Is that not what we just did?

Shush, I'm tutorialising. In Campaign mode, the second front is controlled automatically. But you should still check on it from time to time.

Gonna be watching it like a fucking HAWK.

Like any ordinary fight, the battle ends if you're defeated on the main front. The battle won't end if you lose on the second front, but the CO remaining on the main front will be left alone facing two enemy COs. This may seem a bit confusing, but I'll give you more advice as we go along.

I know what having two simultaneous fights is! Wait, are you..?

Here's one hint: winning the second front makes it easier to win the main front.

You ARE! You're patronising me!

Took you long enough. Now come on, my dude. If you're really the greatest strategist in Wars World, prove it now!



So, there are four different AI settings which we can access from the Intel menu option, and we'll be using several of them in this fight. Rachel will tell us this later on, but we can use it before she tells us about it, and it'll keep everyone alive (hopefully), so we may as well.

First is General. Don't, uh... actually know what that does, but presumably that's the usual "win the map" setting. Next is Defense, which I presume means that my units will prioritise not being in enemy range where possible.

Then there's Strike which is described as an aggressive posture, presumably used for like, attacking. But then, oddly, we have Assault, described as an offensive posture. I... have absolutely no idea what the difference between Strike and Assault is. I am sure the goons can inform me on the specifics of these four AI types, but at the very least, we'll see some of them in action in this map.

Speaking of the map, let's get to it; I leave the AI on Defense for now, to keep them away from the enemy fighters. There's quite a lot to do here, and it has to do with the second front. Rachel, just so I'm not repeating everything you're saying, care to explain?



You'll need to send fighters and bombers up to the second front. To do that, you'll need to use the Send command. You'll find it in the menu. Once you do that, the selected unit will be transferred to the second front. You won't be able to send helicopters, because they can't fly high enough.

I wouldn't send bro copters anyway. What are they going to do against fighters?

Point.



So, when you hit the Send command, you send your unit to the space as shown on the right. Here's a fun fact, though...



Where you move your plane to before sending corresponds with the upper map. So you can choose more advantageous places to send your planes up by moving them around. That should be useful - guess we'll see how it goes.



First things first, all our ground units just move forward and capture stuff. Like always, we need money, especially since Sasha's CO Power runs on money.



Then I get harassed when I try to send planes up. The three planes already up there are our Orange Star fighters, Lucy, Raynald of Châtillon and Julian. The Blue Moon fighters will be joining them once Rachel's said more things.



Now the unit you transferred can fight for the cause on the second front. All orders on the second front are issued automatically by the CO in charge there.

Don't remind me... really wish I could do something about that.

Oh, and CO Powers can't be used there, either. The action is too fast.

Oh, god, what? My planes are sitting ducks up there! Though I suppose that means Lash can't use her CO Power either...

Exactly - pros and cons.

Wait, Lash's CO Power is terrain-based, it wouldn't work up there anyway! This only hinders Max!

That's the way things are, unfortunately. Fight your way across the main front, but keep an eye on the second one, too!

I'm not letting it out of my goddamn sight. Those planes better be right back here once they're done.

Keep in mind that units sent to the second front can't come back. However, if you win on the second front, the surviving units will be added to the power meter, and that can be a huge advantage! Don't forget!

That could be very useful in the right circumstances.

Yeah, a nice free CO Power would be excellent. Well, let's trust in Max for now, and get on with this map.

I'm right behind you, my dude. What are your thoughts on our strategy?



Our strategy is as follows: I move the planes up this formation, whilst down below, I move Dimitri in the tank forward a bit. Nothing here will dare attack him, so he's pretty safe. The bombers are staying down below too, right now - Ingo and Zlata will be very handy for taking on the Black Arc, but whilst Lash's fighters are lurking around up there, I can't risk it. Once they're gone, I can send 'em up.



So, let's see what Koal's got planned for us.



The crystal does a little BWOO kinda thing, and everything around is presumably healed? They were on full health anyway, so...



and two HP at the beginning of each day. If we can stay close to the crystal, the advantage is ours. If the black crystal is destroyed, all of our plans will be shattered with it.

...Yes.

Indirect fire is a danger, but Omega Land itself is our unwitting ally in that regard. These sandstorms reduce the attack range of all distance weapons by one.

Their weapons will be useless, then. They will have to come to us with direct-combat units.

Yes. The allies will believe they have been forsaken by heaven. The Black Arc's bombs will keep the allies from making use of the center factory.

You intend to bomb the center area? I thought that's where I was to be deployed.

I've designed the Black Arc's bombs so they don't damage our own units.

...That's a relief.

I just love being deliciously evil AND brilliant! Tee hee hee!



A huge explosion rocks the central factory. Yeah, this is why we're not deploying anything from there right now. I can only presume that'd be 5 damage, or maybe more. Once the Arc's gone, we can worry about the factory.



This is how Koal's troops shape up - nothing really threatening moves forwards, besides maybe the bro copters. You'll also note that there's a few more fighters hanging around up on the top screen - those two at the back are going to be trouble if we're not careful.



Thankfully, our fighters are very careful, being on Defensive and all. They lurk just outside the range of Lash's fighters, and hopefully Lash will just kind of blunder into our range next turn. That'd be the dream.



Like fucking clockwork. This was as good of an opening turn as we could've asked for really, considering that I have basically no control over the second front.



What little control we have, though, we're absolutely going to abuse.



But, is it cool if I give any general orders to the units on the second front?

When you say "I", you mean "my dude, because he actually knows what he's talking about", right?

Yes, but don't insult your tag battle partner. Give some advice instead. First, open the map menu and select Intel, then tap AI.

You can see how if we hadn't done this on the first turn, we'd have lost at least a couple of fighters to Lash. This advice comes a little late.

Choose a strategy option to give your partner some idea of how to proceed. Change this setting on the fly to get the most out of your partner.



Oh, we will, Rachel, we will. Now I set the AI to aggressive to crush those fighters on the next turn.



More stuff captured here. Important captures include a base and an airport, both of which I'll be making use of - thanks, Dave and Rin!



Alina wasn't near enough to any property on the first turn to start capturing, so she's still midway through her capture.



The anti-air might not be a threat to Dimitri, but it certainly is to the bombers, so I set Zlata on it. Not only does she do tons of damage, but she one-shots it, which means Dimitri can move ahead, too.

"Zlata! Good to see you on the battlefield." Dimitri says. "Missed fightin' alongside you."

"You too, hun!" Zlata replies, beaming, and Dimitri goes bright red.

"Not in front of Orange Star, Zlata..." he mutters.



Ingo, meanwhile, can weaken this recon. See, the bombers are way more useful on the ground for the first couple of turns.



As Koal said, ranged units have reduced range in the sandstorm, but I still don't want anybody to run afoul of this artillery, so Dimitri massively weakens it by shooting it in the face.



And this is how our next turn ends. The main front isn't actually that bad, besides the orbital death cannon several thousand feet above us. There's nothing super threatening that we have to look out for.



I'm sure that'll change if we give Black Hole an opening. So, uh, let's not to do that.



This Dick Captures A Property: 9

The Black Arc bombed the central factory again, but I didn't show it because it didn't affect anybody.



The copters are getting close now. I'll probably need to make Dimitri retreat and kill them with...

Uh...

Oh, right, I sent all my fighters up. I've not really got anything down below that can kill copters easily.



Speaking of fighters, they get right to work. Both up top and down below, they begin attacking...



Obviously, it takes two hits, even with Max-powered fighters, but that's still quite a few fighters destroyed. Our first kill goes to Yakov!



Same happens down below, where Klara gets a kill, and Valentin grabs the final kill up north. One fighter left, and it's only on 3HP, so it's literally not a threat.

No, watch.



It tries to attack Lucy, and...



"Not today, Black Hole! You're dealing with the Queen of the Skies, now!" Lucy shouts.

"Nice work, Luce!" Ingo says. "Is it safe to come up?"

"Yup, and you'd better hurry - the Black Arc's preparing to fire again!" Lucy replies. Ingo nods, and Zlata prepares to fly up.

"Let's go!"



Well, things are already looking much better on the second front, and it's only day 3.



And Alina captured her thing! She is going to get attacked by that mech nearby, but with 3 defence stars and healing, she should be fine.



There is the small matter of this recon, though, which moved up to Rin and Dave but didn't actually attack. Rin opens fire first.

"I'm going to stop you right here!" she shouts, doing some damage.

Dave laughs. "Nice work, Rin. But you wanna see how a foot soldier destroys a vehicle?"

Alina glances into the distance, a look of wonderment on her face. "The Tankslayer... in action? I can't miss this!"



"C'mere, Black Hole! I'm Dave Ruston, the Tankslayer of Orange Star, and I'll teach every vehicle in your miserable army to fear my name!"

With that, Dave lets out a round of powerful gunfire, which tears through the weakened recon with ease.



"Incredible! You really are the best, Dave!" Rin says, gasping with delight. "I mean, in a completely non-admiring sense..."

"No worries, kid. Glad you enjoyed the show." Dave replies.

You'll note that we get an "Incredible!!" here. It's "Good" for killing a unit and "Excellent" for one-shotting them, so I presume "Incredible" is for killing something strong with an infantry? I've no idea, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Maybe it's just for Dave.



Annoyingly, due to the way this map is laid out, Dimitri can't really run very far. He can just about get out of their range, but I still need a more permanent solution.

"Damn, I need backup. Something that can take copters." Dimitri growls, glaring at the copters moving on his position.



"Do you even need to ask? Deploying now - I'll meet you on the battlefield." Diana replies.

Dimitri grins. "I was hoping you'd say that, Diana. Standing by!"



Meanwhile, it's time to move our bombers up. Zlata heads up, and as you can see, she's right next to these cannons that we need to take out.



I switch the AI to Assault in the meantime. I might be entirely wrong, but I view Strike as "kill enemies", whereas Assault is "kill enemies, destroy structures, progress the map", so I'm hoping by picking that, Ingo and Zlata will target the Black Cannons around the Arc, rather than try and move in on the fighters at the back that they absolutely cannot kill.



And here we are. The copters are the only problem - once they're gone, we can just march on the enemy. Well, assuming the Black Arc is taken out sooner rather than later, but the bombers should be fine with that.



Right, here we go.



The enemy mech does indeed target Alina, but thanks to her property, she does more damage in the counterattack, so that was no problem at all.



The copters keep moving forward. There's definitely nowhere Dimitri can run now, but this is why we have Diana, who can at least take out one of them. Meanwhile, up at the second front...



Wait, fighters can fire on those cannons too?! That's definitely not the case in AW2, but I am not complaining about this change. God, that makes things WAY easier up here.



And indeed, after Lucy weakens this cannon, Klara can just...

"Alright, Black Hole motherfuckers! Watch this cannon get ripped to shreds!! Kill, kill, kill!"

"Jeez, she's intense." Lucy murmurs. Dimitri nods.

"She's got berserk tendencies. Thank the heavens she's on our side, huh?"



BOOM! Nice.



The units we sent there have destroyed one of the Black Arc's cannons!

Three more to go! Our bomb worries are over once you knock out the other ones!

Way ahead of you!

My dude, keep sending units, and let's make the main front safer for our troops!

I'm glad you're psyched, but I think we have enough planes up there now. They'll be fine.



The next cannon falls to the upper fighters shortly afterwards...



And hey, wanna know a fun fact about Max's bombers? Just in case you forgot from Advance Wars 2.



Yeah, they one-shot Black Hole structures.



One cannon to go, and Ingo's in prime position to take it out!



There we go! Three days. That's got to be some kind of record. And would you believe that this was my first attempt at this map?



BOOYAH!

Grr... Never mind that. There is no need for panic. As long as we win on the surface, victory will be ours.

Ready to deploy.

(Good. When I give the order, you will guard the central factory. There is no room for error.)

Yeah, I know.

The second front has been secured. The CO will now report back to the main front.

Oh man, Max is joining us down below? This is gonna be a bloodbath!

Having his strength on our side will make things easier, certainly.

Yes! Now we'll be able to see the Tag Power in full effect! If both COs are on the main front, they can tag out to take turns issuing commands. To switch COs, all you have to is select Change from the map window. Selecting Change ends your turn, though, so don't do it until you're done. Once the power meters of both COs fill, you'll be able to use the Tag Power.

Now that sounds handy. Probably won't need it, but still, fun to have as an option.

I saw its power firsthand in our previous battle. The Tag Power is a power where both COs use their Super CO Powers back-to-back in the same turn!

Yeah, it sounds absolutely devastating in the wrong hands. Hawke, particularly...

To use a Tag Power, open the map window, select Tag, and get ready to rock!

God, Hawke and Drake, imagine that... or Olaf, even. The possibilities are incredible.

My dude, pay attention! The Orange Star Army has won on the secondary front!

What? Yeah, I know! Oh. Right. That means I've got shit to do on the main front.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. Prove that you're necessary, and win, right here, right now!

I'll be right beside you, my dude.

Me too! Let's crush Black Hole together!

Sounds like a plan. Alright, folks, here's what I've got in mind... so, first we need several medium tanks.

Have you ever come up with a plan that DIDN'T need several medium tanks?

Y-yes! _{Sometimes I use bombers.}



Right, let's keep this run of good fortune going! Onto the black crystal!



Alina can weaken this mech, but it's not quite a kill. Still, it's not even remotely a threat to anyone now, at least.



Considering the one enemy copter that's still hanging around, I move Rin and Dave to the forests, so they take less damage if it does decide to go for them.



"But there's two copters," you say.

You fool. One of them was in Diana's range. He was already dead.



Like Rachel said, we just got a huge amount of power from all those fighters and bombers. Tempting as it'd be to use a Tag Power right now, I feel like it'll be better if we save it for now. Besides, I might do something else instead.



The ground units are still going to be capturing stuff in the meantime - thanks, Nika. We need medium tanks and they're expensive.



Wonder how many of his life choices Koal is regretting at the moment. I bet it's several.



This Dick Captures A Property: 10



Annoyingly, they're now at the central factory. Kind of wanted that for myself, but I forgot to deploy something there last time. Anything I did deploy would've eaten an artillery hit, so I kind of didn't want to.

Ah well. We'll take it back by force soon enough.



The remaining copter goes for Dimitri, and does 5 damage to him, too. Ouch. At least it'll be dead soon, and then there'll be nothing to challenge my tanks.



That said, we are now at the point where we can deploy stronger tanks, so we may as well make a start on that.



This copter gets foregone conclusion'd.

And then, noticing Koal's CO Power bar, I decide to do something before I spend all my funds on a medium tank.



Oh yeah.



You might think the Tag Power is more useful, and you're probably right, but I'd rather stop Koal from using his extra movement bullshit right now.



As you can see, it dropped quite a ways. And since Sasha's CO Power is probably always going to charge faster than his Super CO Power, and we're making more money that we can spend every turn, Koal's only choice is to just use his CO Power, which is way less threatening.

God, Sasha's fun.



Right, now let's use all that money for more useful ends. First, Nika finishes capturing another property. We've almost got them all now.



There's a mech between Alina and the next city she wants to capture, so she finishes it off. Good riddance.



And now, the girl herself, Selena's back! Crush this map, Selena.



Dimitri's holding the line whilst the backup arrives, but he can't quite kill this artillery. Still, he's done enough damage that it's definitely going to retreat now.



More capturing, from Dave this time.



And that's our turn! We're doing just fine, honestly. I thought this map was going to be way harder.



Well, I probably shouldn't speak so soon, but seriously.



This Dick Captures A Property: 11

This one's especially annoying because, for once, it's an important property. They can deploy right to our front line with this, so we need to hold them off.



That's the only notable thing that happens though, so let's keep the medium tank train going.



Nice one, Dave.



More captures down below, too. We're nearly making enough to afford one medium tank a turn, I think, which is kind of impressive.



We're making 12100 (11000 plus the bonus 100 per property from Sasha), which is pretty neat. That does remind me though, now I've got medium tanks out, I should probably think about switching to Max to REALLY get some use out of them.



And another one, why not. Boris, representing Dimitri's Mercs!



Selena's surging ahead to cover the fighting, whilst you'll note that Dimitri's retreating again. I'm gonna heal him up at the property Dave just captured next turn. Also, I moved Diana up, because I figured she might help block off the enemies. This was an error, as you'll see shortly.



And like I said, may as well switch to Max.



He does hit like a truck, even if he's not nearly as hilariously strong as his Advance Wars 1 incarnation.



Let's just hope nothing bad happens.



...Nope, just more of that.

This Dick Captures A Property: 12



So, uh, the mech who captured the factory hops into this APC and fucks off...



Which leaves an open space for Diana to get rocked by an anti-air. Whoops.

"Diana! You alright?!" yells Dimitri.

"I'm fine, don't worry. We of Dimitri's Mercenaries are made out of tough stuff. Now then - let's see you try that again!" Diana replies. "...By which I mean, I'm going to retreat, by your leave, Dimitri."

"Of course. Get out of there - the mediums are on the way now."



OK, slight tactical error, that's fine. Let's not do that again.



Sorry, Diana. Go and heal at the airport.



We do some more capturing in the meantime, though we probably don't need the money anymore.



But you know, we do have some spare cash. May as well give the medium tanks some backup.



I deploy Fliss in a tank. The extra manoeuvrability should come in useful.



And here's how we shape up at the end of this turn. Selena and Boris are nearly in a position to move on the central factory - and from there, the black crystal.



Right. I think I've accounted for everything.



Well, looks like he settled for his CO Power. He knew we weren't going to let him get a SCOP off.



It's not terribly threatening, though. I don't think he even attacks anyone with it.

Madam Director!

Yeah?

My scouts have reported a medium tank is headed your way. This is where you earn your keep, dog. Defend that factory!

But I can only deploy as a-

Do you think me Jugger, or Lash? I will not listen to your bleating. Do as I command.

...Yes, sir.



The Director gets deployed at the factory. That could be troublesome.



Eh, gotta keep moving ahead, though. I'm sure we can squash her.



I order Selena to move on the Director.

"So, you're the Director..." murmurs Selena, peering out of her tank. The first thing she sees is Sturm's mask, and the second is the Director's face. She gives a gasp. "But... but!"

"Selena Hartford." the Director replies. "One of the finest soldiers in Orange Star, after Dave Ruston. You seem surprised."



"But... how is this possible? And why?" Selena breathes, still staring into the cold eye of the Director.

"It doesn't matter. Your orders are to destroy me, aren't they? Come on, then, Selena. SHOOT!"

"I... I... I'm sorry!" Selena cries, preparing to fire. "I must protect my country!"



The blast rips through the Director's tank, and the Director, for a few moments, doesn't speak.

Eventually, she looks up at Selena. "...You were holding back."



OK, not sure why Selena didn't just outright defeat the Director, but sure, whatever. Boris is capable of destroying this infantry, at least.



I move my tanks forward in such a way that Dave can approach the factory (to capture it) without being in the Director's range.



And this is how things end up. Is this where we're going to actually capture this Director now?



Somehow, I doubt it.



This Dick Captures A Property: 13



Selena shakes her head as the tank begins to move away, heading for Dimitri. "Wait, Director! You’re originally from Orange Star, aren’t you? Why did you abandon your country? Why won’t you-"

The Director scoffs at her. "Abandon my country?! Hah! My country abandoned me!"

"...I..."

As the tank rolls away, Selena hears the Director's last cold words. "I was raised to hate my country, not by teaching or doctrine, but by neglect and inequality."

Selena's eyes brim with tears. "Wait, don’t go..."

"Now then, Dimitri Volkov - show me what you can do!"

Dave narrows his eyes. "How the hell does she know everyone's names?"



They trade roughly equal blows, and there's now a mech on the factory. Thankfully, I think we can take the factory from a single measly mech, so good for us.



Koal really needed more funds on this map to be an actual threat. Then again, he probably spend fuckin' everything on the Black Arc. Which survived for, what, three days? Good use of money there, Koal.



Fliss drives up to finish off the Director, but again, as the tank explodes, she's already on her feet and rushing for safety.

Commander Koal, I... dammit. I'm getting out of here. I won't fall until I'm ready. Selena... there's no other path left for me.



Selena seems to be back to normal now, and she goes for the mech at full power, weakening it quite a bit.



Dave can't quite get close enough to the factory to capture it, so instead he finishes off the mech...



...Which allows Boris to sit on it, preventing anything else from being deployed there. Phew, that's one nightmare over with.



I realise that if I want to use the Tag Power in this battle, I'll need to recharge Sasha's bar a bit, so I switch back to her for now.



Sweet. I don't know how much longer this map is going to take, but hey, good to be prepared.



Koal, I think, is becoming increasingly aware that he is fucked.



His infantry, meanwhile, don't seem to be aware that anything is wrong at all.

This Dick Captures A Property: 14



Let's put the fear of God into them, shall we?

Or, well, two medium tanks. But what's the difference?



The range on these artilleries might be shorter, but I still don't want to wander into it accidentally, so I check where they can hit before moving in.



We can advance our tanks, no problem, and Dave is now capturing the factory. Or re-capturing, I guess. We did start with it.



Everyone else moves forward too, and I imagine Koal is now shitting himself. Look at his troops - he doesn't have a single thing that can actually dent a medium tank.

Besides the artilleries, but I've accounted for those like the genius that I am.



Flail uselessly, Koal. It would be amusing.



God, why do I always start sounding like a villain once a map's close to done..? I need to be less smug.



Right, let's take advantage of the fact that most of Koal's units spent that turn running the fuck away.



Dave captures the factory. Woo!

It isn't very useful to us. Boo.



Fliss can bully this infantry, too, since he made the weird decision to come closer to three machines of merciless death.



But yeah, Koal's units all ran away, meaning that the crystal is defenceless. So, Boris fires on it first...



And with one last shot from Selena...

"I swear, Director, I'll find you again. But for now, Black Hole - you can consider yourselves thoroughly defeated, by the brave soldiers of Orange Star and Blue Moon, and their mighty ACO, Commander my dude! BEGONE!"



And the crystal explodes. We're done here! That map wasn't remotely as bad as I was expecting.



Why do we even give him permission to speak?

The shame... The Director failed. The Black Arc was destroyed. The black crystal has been shattered.

Ha ha! You losers got shut down! You picked the wrong place to invade. As long as we're around, you'll get nothing!

Boooo! We got beat. C'mon, Koal, let's bounce out of here. We've still got you know what--one black crystal is not that big a deal.

It's the principle, Lash. The principle. Let us withdraw for now. Enjoy this victory feast, fools, for you shall starve tomorrow.

They never change, do they? They say what they want, and then vanish.

Max! We served Black Hole a hot bowl of smack down soup! WOOOOO!

I know, I know. Now get offa me...

Ha ha ha... Jake is happy, isn't he?

Both of us have a lot of memories from this place... I'm thrilled, too. I've got let everyone at home know what's happened.

Oh yeah, Nell will want a report on this.

Let me do it, my dude.

...Yeah, of course. This is your victory more than anyone else's, Rachel.

...Thank you, Commander my dude.

Lash's last words have me worried, though. What do you "you know what" is?

Hmm... It sounds like they've got a secret weapon up their sleeve, doesn't it?

Where are we rolling to next, Rachel? I've already got my battle mix picked out!

Bet it's not got any Eurobeat.

What's that?

Oh, my man, we have much to discuss.

Hah! Just because you picked your music doesn't mean we're ready to fight. We need more intel, the troops need rest, and I want a nice, long bath.

Oh, that sounds heavenly. A bath followed by a good book and some caviar.

Sweet! Let's get going... I've got all kinds of stories to tell my crew back home.

My dude, what are you smiling about?

Oh, nothing. I just... it's Rachel. She called me Commander my dude. She recognised me as an equal.

I think you've impressed everyone with that performance, so in some ways, I'm not surprised. But I'm happy for you, my dude. Keep up the good work.

Of course. I'm the most brilliant tactician who ever lived, after all.

Hah! I'd be careful if I were you. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.



We did it! A tidy S-rank, with some extra points for a crystal, apparently. Could've done better on power - I suppose, but there wasn't that much to kill, in my defence.



God bless you, Max, Sasha. You got my troops home safe. All of them.



So, another battle down, and what I presume is the end of the first, like, part of the game. This felt like a climactic battle, anyhow. Wonder what's gonna happen next?



This update has run overlong already, so we'll leave it there for now, with a nice journal entry from Rachel to round things off. Next time, though, it's another vote for two COs, with the usual crew: Jake, Rachel, Max, Colin or Sasha.

***

Update 16 (Intermission) - Glorious Victory