The Let's Play Archive

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

by cosmicPostman

Part 19: Chapter 19 (Battle) - Just Fucking Book It

Update 19 (Battle) - Just Fucking Book It

Welcome back, everybody, to fuckin' Fog of fuckin' War.



Urgh. So, votes were pretty slim but everyone was in agreement, pretty much.



Jake and Rachel for the orange team, and Sasha and Colin for the blue team.



Right, let's get into the map itself, shall we? You all know how I feel about Fog of War.



Today’s Deployments
Orange Star
Alfonse, Infantry
Dave, Mech
Michael, APC
Julian, Tank
Selena, Medium Tank
Fliss, Recon
Von Panzer, Recon
Lucy, Artillery
Carter, Artillery
Lloyd, Artillery
Paul, Rockets
Ingo, Rockets

Blue Moon
Harlow, Infantry
Boris, Infantry
Ivan, Infantry
Ludmilla, Lander
Valeria, Cruiser
Alina, Submarine
Eva, Battleship
Ignat, Battleship

Lloyd
Age: 39
Personality: Mighty seafaring pirate king.
Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Artillery, [unknown]

Ignat
Age: 28
Personality: Avid card game player.
Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Tank, Medium Tank



Well, it isn't! You know, Yellow Comet practices a martial art called aikido that uses an enemy's own power to defeat him...and that's what we'll do! It's a legitimate strategy.

Kinda with Rachel on this one, my man. We have to keep up with Black Hole's inventions, otherwise they'll just keep advancing beyond our capabilities.

THANK you, my dude! Now stand tall, look the enemy in the eye, and take that black boat!



Yeah, so, strategy? There isn't that much strategy in this map. Black Hole's army is huge and powerful, and we don't really have a hope in a head-on battle. Thankfully, we don't have to have a head-on battle - we just need to run for the lab, which is much less well-defended.



So. Let's run!

Dave hops into Michael, and as he does, he nods at Alfonse.

"I'll keep things held down at HQ. You guys get that lab as soon as possible - I don't know how much time Blue Moon's gonna be able to buy us." Alfonse says, saluting.

"No idea. We'll do what we can, though. Ready to rumble, Dave?" Michael replies.

"Of course I am. Let's get rollin' and then get out of here!"



Fliss is heading further ahead to scout out. As you can see, there's very little in terms of Black Hole units up here, so we really don't have to worry about much. Look at those forests around the lab, though. I bet you anything there's an artillery or rockets in one of those.



So yeah, despite the enormous army below us, we actually don't attack anything with Orange Star - everyone just heads up. Lloyd and Julian will be bringing up the rear down below, just in case Black Hole has any long-distance units like recons coming to harass me.

I say "just in case", but what I mean is "this isn't the first time I've done this map, and there is definitely a recon coming to murder my ass".

Anyway, that's Orange Star's first turn. Blue Moon next!



If they're caring enough to help their allies, how can they do this to the land? Healing with one hand and wounding with the other? It makes no sense.

I mean, not to spoil this introspection, Sasha, but they are healing THEIR OWN UNITS and wounding THE ENEMY, which seems pretty in-line with basically every military in the world.

Do you think that means there are all kinds of people on their side, too? You're the only one who would wonder about this kind of thing, Sasha. You really do have a kind heart.



Blue Moon's job is not really as important - in fact, they're not going to have very much impact on the battle at all, unfortunately. Still, we have them, so may as well do things with 'em.

"Hey guys!" Lucy says over the transceiver. "Do the blue team have visual on the Black Hole army?"

"Yep, I see 'em." Eva mutters, scanning through the fog, preparing to aim her battleship. "Lucy, you guys just keep forging ahead. We'll keep this army busy for as long as we can!"

"That's right - the Snowbound Free Company is ready for action!" Alina announces.



Ignat, in the lower battleship, takes a pot shot at this recon first. I want to get rid of the higher-movement enemies to buy Orange Star more time, and this recon would be annoying. There's another one somewhere else, but we've not got the vision to spot that right now, so Orange Star will just have to deal with it.



Eva can finish it off in the other battleship. Now, you might be wondering why I'm bothering to kill the recon when there's so much more incredibly dangerous shit, and that leads me onto the other problem of this map.

See, the strength of the army is a problem, but like, we could bottleneck them and slowly whittle them down with all of Orange Star's indirects and the battleship crew. No, the real problem is that if we try and take out any sizeable portion of this army, it'll give these fuckers their Tag Power, and trust me, we do not want that. This map is a game of holding Koal and Jugger off with force, but not using too much force so that their CO meters fill up all the way.



Harlow's just kind of hanging out on this island. I probably won't get to use them, but there are a few airports on this map which might be worth capturing, so they hop into Ludmilla to go for the nearest airport, to the east.

"Oh! G-goodness, you spooked me." Ludmilla says as she sees Harlow, wearing their usual mask of tragedy over their face. "You're Harlow, right?"

"That's me. And you're Ludmilla. I've heard a lot about you."

"All good, I hope?" Ludmilla says slyly, winking. She raises an eyebrow. "Wait, are you a guy? I don't want to assume, I just-"

"That's not something I discuss. They/them works for me." Harlow replies, shrugging. "Anyway, we've gotta get to that airport, right?"

"Right!" Ludmilla says. "Let's get going, then. Hopefully there's no enemy boats lurking around there..."



I decide I want to capture the unaffiliated buildings on this starting island, though, so I deploy some of Dimitri's Mercenaries to do the job: Boris and Ivan.



This is how Blue Moon's army starts out. I'm keeping them all around the home base just until I figure out where everything is. You'll have noticed by now that there are shitloads of black boats, and they're all carrying units; I'm constantly nervous that one of them's gonna drop off some soldiers in the Blue Moon port when I'm not expecting it.



Lo and behold, on Black Hole's turn some more black boats show up. The rest of the ground-based army just disappears into the fog - you can see a couple of them there. The artilleries in particular would have been quite annoying if I was planning to fight, but as stated, I am not and therefore I don't need to worry about them.



Fuck the artilleries. Let's keep moving forward.



Selena, Fliss and our other recon, Von Panzer, head further in.

"Ja, everything good, Fliss?" Von Panzer asks. Fliss nods.

"Y-yes, we're all good." she replies. "I still don't see any enemy units..."

"Hmm." Selena says, but doesn't elaborate further.

Over the transceiver, Lucy hears the conversation and turns to Ingo.

"Hey, Ingo, just between me and you... have you noticed that Selena's not been as talkative lately? She's acting how she used to - focussed completely on just doing the mission perfectly, and very little else."

"I know what you mean. I noticed it myself." Ingo replies, musing. "Wonder if that encounter with the Director spooked her? She seemed pretty shaken after it."

"Yeah, me and Rin share a room with her, and the night after that battle, she basically just listened to music the whole evening and didn't say a word." Lucy replies. "What could be going on? I'll bring it up with her the next chance I get!"

"Sounds good, Luce. We've got to look out for each other, right?"

"Of course!" Lucy says, beaming and grabbing Ingo's hand. "Speaking of, stick close to me. I'll cover you in this battle!"



Lloyd and Julian are bringing up the rear, as I said, so I move Julian in front of Lloyd, since tanks are bulky enough to survive recons for days.



The fog reveals that this was, in fact, an error.

Fuck.

"Hm... I think an enemy artillery unit's spotted me." Julian replies. "Not to worry. I can survive one hit."

Michael narrows his eyes and makes eye contact with Dave. They're both still suspicious of Julian.

"Aye, keep yerself safe though, Julian. Don't want to be losin' you unnecessarily!" Lloyd replies. "Besides, the quicker we win, the quicker I can get back on my ship. The land be agreein' with me less and less these days."



Well, as Julian said, he'll survive a hit. I'm just worried about potential recons coming to annoy me. I guess we'll see how it goes.



And Blue Moon's battleships are too far away to be of any use. Kind of regretting using them to shoot that recon on the first turn, now.



Ludmilla drops Harlow off at the airport without any complications, at least.



And look, black boats! Alina, thankfully, can one-shot them, so she'll be able to guard the port without much trouble.



I decide to ruin an anti-air's day primarily just because he's there.



That had no tactical benefit whatsoever. This does, though - Boris and Ivan are capturing properties for us. Well, Boris is - Ivan's still walking over to it.



Anyway, Black Hole get a turn now. More ominous fog movements and more me being stressed, hurray!



Also me regretting this all over again. Julian survives with 3HP, at least.



There's a lot of movements, but as we can see by the few visible units, they've not actually moved very far. So, uh, good for us?



Keep going, Orange Star team!



"Single enemy unit spotted." reports Fliss, scanning around with her recon. "Nothing else yet... but those forests look untrustworthy."

"Fliss, remain there for now. Von Panzer and Michael, move up and prepare to advance on the lab." Selena says, narrowing her eyes. "Listen carefully for my dude's orders. We cannot afford to slow down, no matter what enemies remain. I'll crush any that try to approach you!"



Von Panzer sits diagonally to Fliss, which means that Michael can move all the way up, but he can't be attacked at direct range. Safety first!



The rest of the ranged units and Selena just advance. Julian's now hiding behind the units he was supposed to protect, but it can't be helped, what with him being so low on HP. Hopefully the forests protect me. You'll note I've also moved Alfonse from the mountain to the forest - I don't really need to see the surrounding area, so he's better off just hiding until the map's done.



Right, Blue Moon, I almost forgot you guys were here. Is there anything vaguely useful for you to do?



I realised that subs are basically the recons of the sea, what with their stupid high vision, so I move Alina over to give Ignat a chance to hit something on land.



Whilst I'm deciding what I want him to shoot, Harlow starts capturing the airport.



80% on an artillery... probably worth it, just so Orange Star don't have any more surprises. Ignat prepares his battleship, then pulls out a trading card and grins down at it.

"I'm feeling lucky! So here, watch a pro card player at work!"



what.

are critical hits a thing now? I mean, obviously not, but 80% with a 10% luck modifier, how does that somehow one-shot?

fuck it, I'm not complaining. Nice one, Ignat!



Boris and Ivan continue their capturing shenanigans. I would say "Blue Moon needs money" but honestly, this map's nearly over. I get the vague sense that I wasn't supposed to just take my entire Orange Star squad north to beat the map as quickly as possible.



Somewhere, there is a very frustrated game designer saying "Rachel EXPLICITLY SAID that the orange team would send a SMALL SQUAD, not the ENTIRE FORCE, you're playing it WRONG". And to that game designer I say: I am attempting to finish this game deathless, I am already playing it wrong. Fuck you and add a playable my dude to the remakes. You're delaying them anyway, you've got time.



Black Hole is ready to continue irritating me. And they really are irritating this time around.



As you can see, the tank forces are slowly making their way through. God, Drake would've been nice on this map to slice their fuel.



But more importantly, this fucker! A tank comes charging out of the fog and opens fire on Von Panzer, causing Fliss to yell in fright.

"It's alright, my dude planned it like this!" Selena shouts. "A recon on the plains can survive most tanks; a recon on the roads cannot. Except, of course..."



If that recon is VON FUCKING PANZER. As you can see, he survives on 1HP as per usual.

"Hmmmmmph!" Von Panzer growls. "I am fine, Miss Fliss. We must strike at the heart of Schwarzes Loch's laboratory!"

"Y-yes! The Black Hole lab is nearby... Selena, can you cover the um, tank?"

"Of course. Michael, Fliss, Dave, move in." Selena replies. "We're almost done here."

"Provided there's nothing else hiding out in the fog..." mutters Michael as he prepares his APC to drive away.



These two nerds swap over, also.



They're trying to increase both CO Power meters, but I'm simply not going to let them get away with that.



Right! Lots for Orange Star to do today, so let's get on with it.



First thing we do is drop Dave off near the lab. I'm concerned that they might be something on the lab that would prevent me from dropping him there, so I drop him next to it instead, which is probably safer.



...Nothing. I'm suspicious.



I'm so suspicious that I get Fliss on checking-forest duty. The last thing I want is a problem to show up right at the end.



A fucking artillery and goddamn Dave's in range and if he takes any damage whatsoever it's going to add more days onto my capturing



Right, Von Panzer gets the hell out of dodge whilst Selena approaches this tank. She also decides that it's time for a critical hit as she rams her medium tank forward, her eyes blazing with hitherto-unseen passion.

"I have to keep fighting to find her again!" she yells, unleashing the full might of her bazooka.



One shot. And it's not even a Max-powered medium tank. God, I love medium tanks.



Ingo, hiding behind Lucy, realises that he can hit the artillery from here, and decides to help out the HQ crew.

"Incoming covering fire, guys!" he yells, blasting his rockets.

"Direct hit! Thanks, Ingo - that artillery'll think twice about trying to attack me now!" Dave says, grinning. "We might still be able to pull off this capture smoothly!"

"If anyone can do it, Dave, you can! Now get moving!" Alfonse replies over the transceiver. "Things are quiet at HQ... too quiet."



The enemy recon who's been following us for ages finally caught up, too, so I set Lucy on him. He's brought down to 1HP and immediately becomes a non-issue.



Finally, since Carter used his turn to move up and help the lab crew, Lloyd decides to hit this infantry, bringing it down to pretty low HP. I just don't want it grabbing any bases or anything, since that'd be very irritating right about now.



I move a few units around, but I leave Paul where he is - he's gonna help block off the recon for a bit, and maybe take some hits. Thanks, Paul!



Blue Moon, meanwhile, aren't... uh, doing much of anything, really. I don't really get why they're here, but hey, can't complain about free exp on Sasha. Some of you seem really intent on me getting Sasha some exp.



And we got an airport, thanks Harlow. I mean, Orange Star's literally at the lab and is ready to capture it, but hey, if this map had lasted longer, this would have been a very useful addition.



Ivan finishes his capturing and thus continues chilling with Boris. The mercs don't have much to do for the rest of the map now.



More black boats have shown up, and I'm still nervous about my port, so I move Eva onto it, just to block it off.



I know Ignat is there in a big fuckoff battleship. And I know there's a ton of dangerous units which I could be shooting.

But look to the right screen - look at how full the enemy COs' meters are. I can't risk it right now. Their tag power right about now would probably ruin me.



Let's play it safe. Just two more days until Dave's got the lab down, anyhow, provided he takes no chip damage from this artillery...



The weakened infantry shoots Michael for... no damage.



And then the weakened recon goes for Lucy and does... no damage, again.

Don't know why I was worried about them maxing out their CO meter. I'm pretty sure you have to do actual damage to fill that up.



This is more troublesome. Eva spots something moving towards her and gives a strangled yell.

"Sub! Submarine! It snuck past our defences and is at our port right now! I'm taking fire!"

"Sub?! Eva? Eva?!" Alina yells. "Are you alright?!"

Eva grits her teeth.

"I'm fine. It didn't do too much, but I'm screwed next time it attacks. Can't outrun it either - we move at the same speed. Dammit, this is..."

"No..." breathes Alina. "There's got to be a way out of this. There's got to be..."



Jugger's back.



Koal probably wanted to take a time-out after doing no damage twice in a row.



Right, well, Orange Star can't do anything about Blue Moon's sub situation, so we may as well just carry on getting that lab.



You'll note that the artillery, thanks to Ingo's quick thinking, decided to move to a base to heal instead of attacking, so Fliss can easily dispatch it, and Dave's not taken any damage. Finally, we can just capture a thing without annoying chip damage.



Almost done here. This map really isn't so bad if you employ the "just run for it" strategy.

That said, we do have one slight problem before we can finish this map.



It's partially to do with Eva and the submarine here, you see. She got some healing from the base but it's not going to be enough to save her, I don't think. So obviously we have to destroy the sub, right? We've got Valeria in a cruiser right there, she'd do it in a heartbeat.

Here's the issue.



Killing that artillery up north has pushed Jugger's CO Meter to juuuuust nearly full. Any more damage, pretty much, is going to tip it over the edge and put us on the receiving end of a Tag Power. So... we have to save Eva, but we can't destroy the sub. It's got the same movement as her, so she can't outrun it.

What do we do? The answer's simple when you think about it. We've got tight, cramped corners to fight in; may as well make use of them.

"Eva! Move south-east!" barks a voice over the transceiver.

"Valeria? Why?"

"Just do it!"



"It's not going to work. It'll just follow me!" Eva says, setting sail.

"I know it will. So we need to dissuade it." Valeria replies.

"Valeria, what are you..?" Alina asks.



Valeria sails into position, blocking off Eva from the sub's attacking range. She keeps her lips pursed tightly. "Allow me and my boat to be your shield, Eva. I owe you for sticking with the Snowbound Free Company, and for making Alina happy."

"Valeria..." breathes Eva. "Oh, man, I thought I was done for. Thank you. Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet." Valeria replies grimly. "Let's just hope Orange Star pull through sooner rather than later."



Alina's hiding out in a reef, just in case the sub decides she looks like a more preferable option than Valeria. A sub would never willingly initiate on a cruiser, I'm pretty sure, so we're good in this formation for now. And no damage means no Tag Power. Phew!



Do your worst, fuckers. I've got this map beat and you know it.



AAAAARGH NO DON'T DO CHIP DAMAGE TO DAVE

"Dave! If you take any damage, it's gonna slow down your capture of this lab-" Michael gasps, turning to his friend.



"Dave Ruston? Taking damage?" comes the gruff reply. "You must have me confused with somebody else."

"Oh, wow." Michael says, grinning with relief. "I always do underestimate you, huh? Now get that lab captured!"

"On it!"



This recon does no damage again. These guys are desperate to try and kill one of my units, aren't they?



Oh fuck a tank



Paul is damaged, but fine! Thanks again, Paul!



God, let's just get this done. I hate fog.



Lab down!



Hmph. This is your mess to clean up, Jugger. I'm leaving for the next battlefield.

... !!! ... Koal! Unfair! Unfair! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!

I haven't mentioned that I love Jugger's dialogue for at least a couple of parts. Jugger's dialogue? Top tier.



R&D needs to get started so we can deploy the black boats as soon as possible.

BRO BOAT GANG RISE UP

BRO BOATS

HELL YEAH YOU GET IT MY MAN

Sweet! We did it! Now we won't have to send so much stuff to the scrap heap.

Well, I'm glad the boys are happy, but do they have to be so loud about it?

We've made some real progress against Black Hole by acquiring these boats--perhaps we ought to celebrate whilst your research division is busy with the blueprints.

...You're right. I could do with a day off.



Ooh, A-rank. First of the campaign, if I'm not mistaken (I might be). Either way, it's not a surprise with a) how much Fog of War fucking sucks and b) how little combat we actually had in that map.



Once our CO's exp meter reaches 1000, in the meantime, they gain a rank and promote! Dunno what that means, but Rachel's on hand to explain.



You can now use special skills during battle!

We... we have those. They're called CO Powers.

No shut up these are different. There are two simple ways to set which skills you want to use: either tap Skill or press the X Button when you're on the Select CO screen!

Oh, like passive effects? I'm with you.

As you get stronger, you can learn more skills and even use up to four at once. If a CO reaches rank 10... Well, SOMETHING good could happen, but you'll have to figure that out for yourself!

Thank you, as always, for telling me everything without telling me ANYTHING.

Good luck! I'm rooting for you!

Don't sass me!



We also get some unique victory dialogue, so that's cool. Presumably it's because I deployed Rachel and Jake together.



We have unlocked the ability to deploy units as black boats!

Some soldiers have discovered a talent for controlling black boats, and the Proficiencies of some soldiers have been updated to reflect this. You can check the details of soldier proficiencies in The Allied Nations: Soldier Overview, available on the contents page.




Anyhow, we've got a new mission coming up. Lightning Strikes..? That's Eagle's SCOP, why is it being used for a Yellow Comet mission?

I assume it's Yellow Comet, anyway. One of those COs looks like Sensei.



Yes! The cavalry has arrived! Show them in, soldier.

Fucking finally, we've been waiting for DAYS.

Yes, ma'am.

Hey, big man comin' through! Ahhh, we're finally here at Allied HQ.

We're glad to see you here, Grimm.

You can't just say "Grimm" like we know who that is. Who is this guy?

Shh! Apparently he's some big shot CO from Yellow Comet. He trained under Sensei himself!

And you too, Sensei.

I can't seem to get away from the battle-field. It's enough to make me cranky.

Hey! It's Sensei! It's good to see you looking so fit!

Hah! It's Max. And Colin, too. Looks like we'll be teaming up again, boys.

Actually, it was Colin, Kanbei and Eagle who--nobody's listening to me, are they.

Not only are we rollin' with the legendary Sensei, but we also get Lightning Grimm!

Did I miss a fucking memo or something? Am I supposed to know who Lightning Grimm is?

They say your attacks are stupid fast and strong. You know, like lightning.

Hah! Cut it out! You're embarrassing me. It's all true, of course, but still. Before we go any further, we gotta get some things straight. Hey, Rachel! You and my dude are the big mustard of this outfit, but I know a lot of nothin' about you. If Sensei and I are gonna put our lives in your hands, we need to know more. You're gonna have to show us what you've got if you want to give the orders.

Oh god, of course. Sensei never fought with me, did he? He wouldn't have known what I was capable of.

I get it. You want to test me, huh?

Yep! You whip Sensei and me, and we'll fall in line with the rest of the troops.

Dude, we so don't have time for this.

Jake's being the voice of reason again. We should all be concerned.

It's OK, Jake. This is a good opportunity for us to learn each other's abilities. Especially since SOMEBODY apparently missed the memo about Grimm and what he's capable of.

THERE WAS NO MEMO.

You're on, Lightning Grimm! For your sake, I hope you're ready!

When am I not ready? C'mon, Sensei, let's do this.

You just love to stir up trouble, don't you? You know these kids are a solid group.

Yeah, but there are only two ways to get to know someone--fighting and eating. And believe it or not, I ain't hungry.

I don't know what you're talking about, but it seems everyone's ready to go. Guess I'll show 'em what a shriveled old soldier can do.

You ready, my dude?

I guess we've got no choice, huh? We can crush them, no problem. I just...

Hm?

Ah, nothing. I would have thought that she'd make an appearance, but...

Either way, we transition over to the battlefield, and this one is... busy-looking. But we see some wonderful old friends, and I'm not talking about Yellow Comet.



Missile silos? You mean those things on that island?

Yes. One thing to know about them is only foot soldiers can initiate a launch. They're easy to use--all you have to do is pick your target and fire away. They can attack anywhere on the map, and they're super powerful! Well, they can't hit targets on the second front--that's too far away.

Yeah, that makes sense. But I bet they can pretty much dominate the main front.

Oh, and another thing--their blast radius is big, so try not to damage allies, too.

Well, if they're that wicked, then we've got to snag that island!

Oh god, wait, we're fighting on two fronts? Not again...

That's right! This time, I'm going to take command of the main front. Look at the upper screen. As you can see, this is a dual-front map.

God damn it.

Actually, my dude, I wanted to talk to you about that. Last time, your partner CO controlled the action on the second front automatically.

Correct, and whilst I like Max, it was definitely the most stressful experience of my entire life.

I know. And...well, I know now that you're capable enough of handling two fronts. So, if you want to be in charge of everything, you can adjust the settings. Once I'm done here, open Intel on the menu, and find Auto CO.

Oh, you're gonna--thank you, Rachel. Trust me, letting me handle things is the right decision. And no sass or anything. I'm impressed.

Touch Auto CO to turn it on or off. If it sounds too hard, I'd leave it on.

Sigh. There it is.

I'm doing this because you've been annoying me slightly less lately. Plus, we need all the help that we can get on dual-front map. Do not make me regret this, OK?

I've never made anyone regret anything! I think.

You can still send units from the main front to the second front. I'll explain the process once we're in the field. Right, that's the ACO debrief done. Next, we need to discuss which CO is going to support me on this mission.

So, whilst Rachel's figuring that out, may as well check out Grimm and Sensei.



This guy has AW1 Sturm's schtick - better initiation, worse defences, it looks like. That should be fun to play around with, and fucking annoying as hell to fight against.



And his CO Powers are just raw damage increases. A nice uncomplicated CO, not bad.



Sensei's much the same as the previous game: lots of weird powers like stronger copters and higher support movement range, but all useful ones, at least.



Plus, his hilarious COP and SCOP. Can't wait to abuse those myself at some point. I bet there's some good maps for it.



As Rachel mentioned before, our promoted COs can also learn a skill! The ones we have at first rank, for those who aren't familiar, are as follows:

Bruiser (+5% direct attack damage)
Sharpshooter (+5% indirect attack damage)
Slam Guard (+8% direct-fire defence)
Snipe Guard (+8% indirect-fire defence)
Combat Pay (damage foes to earn cash)
Luck (random higher damage)

Though we can only equip one right now on each of our COs, they're useful passive effects. I look forward to unlocking even wilder ones later on in the game.



So! Lots to vote on today! Rachel's force-deployed on the main front, but we get free choice of Max Lv 0, Jake Lv 1, Colin Lv 0 or Sasha Lv 1, and for our Lv 1 COs, you can also choose a skill!

And once we've done all of that, we'll fight Lightning Grimm and Sensei, and see how we do... hopefully they're not too tough. At least I don't have to worry about deaths, since this is a sparring match. Of course I'm still going to try and do it deathless, but it matters less, at the very least.

See you all next week!

***

Update 20 (Intermission) - A Life Apart