Part 72: Mission #9: I Choose to Remember Him as a Friend...

Mission #9: I Choose to Remember Him as a Friend...



We've made it to Yokohama, where, hopefully, Emma can get the party out of Japan.



: Anybody here?
: Kazuki! Ryogo!! What did you guys do!?
: Huh? What?
: Something wrong?
: You guys are all over the news!
: ! Turn up the volume.
: The suspects of the Yokosuka Base explosion are still on the run. The suspects' names are Kazuki Takemura and Ryogo Kusama. They are armed with wanzers, and considered dangerous.
Well, they do have wanzer and have killed several guys on their way here, so I guess it's not total lies.
: We're criminals now!?
: What about the JDF!? Why are we the ones being blamed!?
: They're making you scapegoats.
: They're all in on this!
: They'll catch us eventually.
: I'm going to join my party and leave Japan to investigate the accident. Why don't you come with me?
: You're asking us to leave Japan?
: You'll be captured here. Why don't we reveal the truth about the accident, and prove your innocence?
: It'd be better than getting captured...
: You haven't given up on Alisa, have you?
: Of course not! We'll get to the bottom of this.
I also appreciate that Kazuki is as creepily obsessed with Alisa in most of this branch. He realizes that there's not much chance of him rescuing her at the moment, so he's willing to, at least at the moment, cut bait.
: I'll sign on you later. Let's get out of here.
: Let's head to Honmokufuto!
: Hey, you guys must have a good reason. I'll give you a huge discount on everything. Ryogo, I'll teach you how to choose good items. Become a wise shopper.
As long as I let the thread decide what wanzers I build, I don't see how that's going to happen, especially if I have to keep buying rifles by the truckload.
: It'll also give you a simple upgrade. It'll raise your HP. I'll show you how to do it. Don't forget to resupply frequently. Even if there isn't a shop in town, there's always the network.
Which, you would think, would make the shops go out of business. I guess there are amazing government subsidies for brick and mortar shops in the future.
: What's up? Let's get outta here.
: Your innocence will be proven. Be patient.
: Shouldn't you try talking to the police?
If by talk, you mean 'killed several members of', then, yes.
: We can't... Maybe when the time comes.
: Okay, then take this with you.
: What's this?
: It has the police web address. Maybe it'll help.
: Thanks.
: Don't do anything stupid. Be careful, okay?



Can't we go ten minutes without a wanzer battle?



So we're just cruising down the 16, when, out of nowhere...



We get cut off by semi-trucks bearing the infamous 'kitty of destruction' sigil.
: !



Well, I suppose the old maxim, 'Live by the walking tanks stored in a trailer truck, die by the walking tanks stored in a trailer truck' is in operation here.
: Get out of here!
: They're firing in the city! Are they crazy!
: Those are your targets. Remember, I want them alive!
Liu is now evil, as shown by his sunglasses, since, as we all know, sunglasses automatically make anyone evil. Most people don't realize that Ray Charles was secretly one of the deadliest assassins of the 20th Century.
: Acknowledged!
: They're not kidding around.
: You idiots! Do you know what combat will do to this place?
: What's wrong, Kazuki! Start up the wanzer!
: Kazuki, You can contemplate about the world after we win!
I'm not sure that it's wise to worry about protecting civilians only after you kill dozens of them in the crossfire.
: Damn! I guess we have to fight!



Two Kasels, two Jinyos. The Kasel are, as usual, the real threat. The trucks stick around for a few turns, but have no weapons and will try to escape, You can kill them for a few extra points on the medal screen, but you'll just end up losing points on number of attack and turns, so it's probably a net-loss proposition.



This isn't a particularly interesting battle to be honest. I get lucky here as Ryogo stuns one of the Jinyos.



And Emma manages to score a body hit with a missile on the other one. Things are shaping up nicely.



One down.



And that's the other Jinyo, who ignored my warnings about it being dangerous to lie in the street and therefore had to be killed as an example to any others who would flout the laws of traffic safety.



Meanwhile, one of the Kasels simply will not move from his starting spot. In the game, there is a tendency for some enemy wanzers farther than about seven squares away to simply wait until one of your wanzers gets closer. The problem, for them, not me, is that missiles have a longer range, allowing me to pepper this Kasel with missiles without him doing anything about it.



The other Kasel is stunned and killed.



Right in the face...oh, before I forget, the first shop doesn't have any parts for sale, so I didn't open it up to submissions, but I did buy a few pieces of equipment to make things more manageable. Ryogo and Emma get shields, and Emma also gets a machine gun.



And Emma continues to blast that one Kasel with missiles. Okay, it's time to end this. Ryogo, Kazuki, bring me this Kasel's head on a platter. I'm sure that strategy will work out as well for me as it did Herod.



Done!



Beautiful/



: Are they willing to sacrifice everything to get what they want?
: Wait... Those aren't JDF.
: What do you mean!? Those are JDF wanzers.
: Look. They have no markings. Also, they're on unmarked trucks, and they started a fight in the city. That's not like the JDF.
Yeah, they only start fights on busy freeways.
: Who cares? As far as we know, they're after us!
: You're right. Let's go, before another fight starts in the city.
: Okay, we're goin' straight for Honmoku!

Next Time: The Big D

Special Vote!

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-or-

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