Part 5: Chaper 4: This is No Zaku, Boy!

Chaper 4: This is No Zaku, Boy!

Last time, Cheeto and Fritz had brought a mysterious, apparently genocidal girl back to Marie's house.


: Relax, she's in stable condition.
: Phew...Still, I wonder what she was doing all the way inside the Moon Ark?
: I don't know, but whatever the reason, I think there's more to her than meets the eye.
: What do you mean? Why don't we just ask her what she was doing there?
: Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to remember anything.


: Can I talk to her?
: She should be okay, but go easy on her. She only just woke up.


Meet our mystery girl. What's with this game and weird headpieces anyway?
: Who are you?
: Who are we!? We're the ones who saved you, that's who!
Oh Fritz, ever the ladies man.
: Oh, I'm sorry. I can't remember anything before waking up in this room.
: You don't remember anything?


: Nothing but my name.
: Hey, don't worry! It'll come back soon! And besides, names are all we need to introduce ourselves!
: Introduce ourselves?


: And this fashion accident over here's Fritz
: What!? There are your hand-me-downs!
: Hey, just kidding! Where's your sense of humor?
"And besides, nobody's making you wear that stupid helmet. Does that monocle thing even do anything?"
: Gimme a break...
: So, uh, what's your name?


: Aeon? That's an uncommon name.
: Do you mean it's strange?
: No, it's a great name! I like it! Anyway, nice to meet you, Aeon!
Smooth recovery, Cheeto.
: It's nice to meet you, too.
: Cheeto! Fritz!


: It sounded urgent!
: I wonder what it is!?
: I don't like the sound of this... Come on, Fritz! Let's get back to Angelina! Sorry Aeon, but we have to go! We'll be back later! You rest up for now!
: Thank you...
: Come on, let's go!


Using the power of narrative, we reach Angelina in no time flat.
: What is it!?
: Fort Verde, to the east of here, has been captured!
: Captured? Since we were last here...?
: Mobile Suits came out of nowhere. And not just one or two, but an entire army of them!


: The defense forces were wiped out. Now it's only a matter of time before Angelina is attacked. Please! I must ask you to take out those Mobile Suits for us! You're our only hope!
: I don't know if we can pull it off, but we'll see what we can do.
: Hey, when did we reach a decision? My life's on the line too, you know!
: I forgot to mention... There'll be a handsome reward if you can get rid of those Mobile Suits!


: Let's get going, then! Fort Verde, here we come!
: Is money the only thing you can think about?
: Come on, hurry up!


Well, here we are. Roughly in the old Eastern Bloc.
: Check out all these energy readings! They're all Mobile Suits! So the Constable was right. Fort Verde really has been taken! We'd better watch our step!


"Oh man... this is gonna be FUN."


Okay, now that Cheeto has himself an axe from that Zaku II we slaughtered last time it's time to explain boost attacks. We start by selecting Boost from the command menu...


And we select the generically-named "Boost Attack." Geez, Bandai.


Cheeto charges up his Mobile Suit...


Leaps towards the enemy...


And... misses, apparently. Let me try that again.


THERE we go. Boost attacks take a variety of forms. Over the course of our journey we'll see offensive boosts, defensive boosts, and even support boosts.


: We did it! We wiped out all the Mobile Suits!
Oh goddamnit Fritz! Why'd you go and say that?
: Huh? Why's the ground shaking!? Fritz! Watch out!
: What? You mean there's more?


The door opens as our heroes look towards the new disturbance.


"Uh oh... That's no Zaku, Fritz, no Zaku!"
: Be careful! We've never seen one like this before!
: You'll pay for what you've done... with your lives!
: We'll see about that! You'll be the one doing the paying!
: Ha! Don't make me laugh! Look at yourselves! You're a couple of stupid kids!
: W-What should we do!?
: Stay cool! If you freak out, it's all over!


Here it comes!


Oh goddamnit. A Gelgoog too? We're fucked.
: How many of them are there!?


: Huh? Who are you?
: I'm a Captain in the Eisengrad army! The name's Hal Vizardt!
Huh... I'm not so sure I should trust a high ranking officer who feels he needs to wear a mask...




You know what? Forget I said anything. This guy seems totally on the level
: That Mobile Suit is one of our enemies! Met me fight with you!
Hal joins your party!


: No matter, I'll crush you all!


: It's heavily armored and designed for close combat! Try to use ranged weapons to avoid being counterattacked! When BST appears in the upper right corner of your screen, it means he's getting readdy for a powerful Boost Attack! When that happens, it's safer to Defend that round!
Hey! I already explained Boost attacks! Summary of Hal's speech back there: "Let me do all the work. You two are a couple of pansies."


See? It kicked Fritz's ass and Hal kicked its.


: You're only delyaing the inevitable... S-soon... the entire world... will be crawling with Mobile Suits...


Man, I have been just awesome at screencapping these explosions.


: My name's Cheeto! We owe you one!
: I only helped a little. You both had what it takes!
: Guess we're pretty good, huh?
Well, YOU'RE pretty good at getting shot down.
: I've never seen anyone as young as you two fight so well. I'm on the verge of recruiting you for the Eisengrad army.
: Captain, is the Eisengrad army also fighting those guys?
Yes. Our army was formed to protect the people from those Mobile Suits. You seem to share our goals, so why don't you fight with us?


"Oh hell yes!!"
: My apologies. I was just kidding.
"Oh, you asshole..."
: I'm sure your own goals are more important. We face the same enemy, though, Let's keep up the good fight!
: Sure! You can count on us!


: Now then, I must return to Eisengrad. Till we meet again!
Hal left your party.
: Captain Hal's a cool guy. We can't let him down!
: Um, sorry to interrupt, but... Aren't you forgetting something?
: Huh? What?


: The reward! The reason why we came here!
"No, that's the reason YOU came here. I came here to kick some giant robot ass, and I accomplished that goal.
: Oh yeah... Money isn't everything, you know!
: Great! You won't mind if I take your share, then!
: That's not what I meant!
Hey guys...? Am I allowed to hate Fritz yet?

Next time: Eisengrad!

BONUS CONTENT:

The Great Fall


"90% of the world population lost their lives, and civilizaion, history, art, and science were all but wiped out. We sacrificed, within the span of a single week, what it had taken our forefathers thousands of years to create.
Still no indication of what caused this catastrope.

What we know:
*The Universal Century is an ancient, lost era.
*For the purposes of this game, there were no technological developments past the Char's Counterattack era, or UC0093
*The Great Fall lasted the span of a week.

What we can infer:
*The Great Fall was probably not caused by Char dropping Axis onto the Earth in UC0093, as that would have been an instant event rather than a week-long one.
*The Great Fall must have happened between UC0093 and UC0123 (which is when Gundam F91 takes place. There are no suits in this game from F91 on). What's strange about this is Universal Century is regarded as an ancient, lost era.

What we want to find out:
*What caused the Great Fall?

MSopedia


MS-07b Gouf
Mobile Suit Gundam - Prinicpality of Zeon
Intended to replace the Zaku II, this suit was made famous by Ramba Ral. It had a short lifespan because of development of the Dom.


MS-14a Gelgoog
Mobile Suit Gundam - Principality of Zeon
Designed as -another- replacement of the Zaku II, this Mobile Suit was deployed near the end of the One Year War. It's designed to use beam weaponry.