Part 28: Update XXVIII - Let us fight vehemently, with courage and pride, without fear.

Update XXVIII - Let us fight vehemently, with courage and pride, without fear.

Video: Chapter 9 Objective
Music: Respond!


Yes, Colonel... The Supra-Force Metal is extremely dangerous. It must be dealt with.

Well, now that the interference has been eliminated, we’ll be able to lend you our support. I'm planning to lead a unit straight into Giga City myself. We’ll help find the Supra-Force Metal. X, go to the Rebellion Army HQ and...

An alarm starts blaring.



Intruder alert! It's an attack!



The Rebellion has known where we are the entire time, you'd think they would mount another assault sooner.

Music: Hunter Base


What could this mean? Why would they launch an attack?

Until this gets dealt with, Deployments and the Sky Room are locked out.



An Air Bus is standing by. Hurry and get prepared and jump on board!

Now, I could do that...



But they've had numerous opportunities to do that... Why now?

But I'd rather talk to everyone first.



Whoever it is, he must be terribly strong!



Let's go! If you don't hurry up, I'll take him out for you!





We’re gonna take them all on eventually anyway, right? We should be glad they're showing up on our doorstep.



To get to Central Tower, you’ll have to go from the lower floor.

Music: Recapture Hope


You engage the enemy squad! They should be in South Square. Take the Air Bus to get there. X, engage the enemy squad! Hurry to South Square!



If the enemy invades this area, what on earth will happen to me?

I'd normally say that medics are usually off-limits when attacking, but X and the gang have been killing every Preon Nurse and Doc they've seen, so I think they'll throw that one right out the window. Sorry, lady!



Nana is analyzing it now. Please wait a little longer. As soon as she's done, she'll give you a report. My, oh, my! That was a tough code to crack! I just hope the data we found is of use to somebody.



Except for me, sitting here, hoping that everybody will be safe.



I just hope they all come back safely.



But my fight is here. It's an ongoing battle against poorly maintained weapons! That’s the way I see it.





The base is fairly empty today, we're already done!



Rebellion troops have invaded, so fighting will begin as soon as you land. Are you ready to go?

Yes/No





Video: Battle with Scarface
Music: The Rebellion's Mission






I have come to avenge my fallen comrades, and to take back the Supra—Force Metal!

Jokes on him, we don't even have it!



You want the Supra—Force Metal?!

That's right! We need it to realize our vision! It’s essential. Now, return it to us!





Show me the extent of your power!

Music: Executive Battle


His normal attack is a flash step, like Shadow way back when.



Plasma Ball is the usual auto-crit move.



You don't know what pain is!

While Plasma Array hits the entire party and inflicts Bind.



Take this!

And Electro Breaker absorbs 20% of everyone's LE to heal himself.



Remember how Massimo was able to use the much weaker Shock Lance to outdamage the Interceptor against Thunder weak enemies?

Well the Shock Lance Beta is only a few points weaker than the Interceptor.

He also has the most useless Tank Energy drop in the game, considering this is the only fight here and I can refill my tanks for free at the bed any time I want.



Unlike every boss since Shadow, Scarface is able to survive more than two ATs.



Because he has a counter system, and Massimo and Ultimate Armor X both have S-type ATs, so one would end up getting blocked.



I tried to be clever, and break out X Fire one last time.

My plan was to have X use Power Charge and wait, then Massimo could use his AT and swap Scarface to blocking S-type damage, giving X an opening.



Except waiting moved his next turn up, ruining my plan.



So I pop it anyways, Massimo will be able to shred him anyways.



Even with a single Power Charge, barriers are strong.



At least ATs can't trigger a counter.



It isn't often Massimo gets a chance to fully charge, normally I stick to single charged ATs.



It works much better.



Scarface is so close to death at this point it doesn't really matter what I do.



So with one shot from X to shift his stance, Scarface gets scratched into submission by Cinnamon.



Commander Epsilon!

Music: Boss Victory Jingle + Trajectory of Battle II




And now Massimo has access to even bigger Thunder shenanigans.

You know, for what little we have left of this game.

Music: The Rebellion's Fate


What is this ideal you’re after?! ...And what does a dangerous weapon like Supra-Force Metal have to do with it?!

The Rebellion and its Commander... Do not wish to wage war! Why pit Reploid against Reploid?!

Ahahahahahahahahaha.



Holy shit Massimo got a voiced line.

Why stir up trouble?

Shut up Massimo, don't agree with him! Did you forget what Silver Horn did to True Massimo?

Because you deny us our dream! Commander Epsilon ordered us not to attack unless provoked. I've come here of my own volition.

Hey, remember when Jango tried to blow up Central Tower, did every civilian on it provoke him then? Did all the POWs at Tianna provoke Silver Horn to torture them to death after they surrendered?

When I fought you, I realized that you're not the kind of Reploid that would use power to achieve crazed aims. So why in the world would you use a deadly weapon like Supra-Force Metal, and risk creating Mavericks?

A weapon?



'Can', my ass, you were actively using it as a weapon! You had it shoved into a missle, for Christ's sake!

But Supra-Force Metal was originally created to heighten the capabilities of Reploids. By using it to improve ourselves, we have the potential to evolve by our own will!

I find it interesting how even after all this time, modern Reploids still haven't caught up with X, who was designed to evolve from day 1.



No! We possess will. We have life! We must take our destiny into our hands!

But... You're playing with fire. What if you cause a Maverick epidemic?

Who are you to judge!? Only future generations will have the right to say whether we are truly Maverick or not. But, enough talk!

I mean, the Rebellion sorta isn't helping itself with the company it keeps. When you keep literal torturers in your ranks and even one of your top officers is playing you for fools, you can't really deny that it dings your public image.



A pity we were not fated to join forces. Today I shall retreat. You had best pray we never meet again!

Music: Central Tower


Well we're already in town, might as well see how everyone is holding up after the attack.



Hmm... One can never know for sure. I'm going to stay on watch here. All clear on the eastern front! All clear on the western front!



When I came under attack. I figured I should take the initiative, but when I tried to hit him, I got hit myself. Yeowch! Ow ow ow... I should've just stayed hidden.



The thing was, the Rebellion soldiers didn’t attack any of the Reploids in the city. It was scary when the Rebellion troops hit the town... strange and scary.

The writing here gets a bit mixed up. Everyone in base explicitly stated that only Scarface attacked Central Tower, but a number of people here will mention multiple Rebellion soldiers.



Take a look at this town. It hasn’t suffered a scratch. I don't understand the Rebellion. Just what are they after?



The only entirely new things here are the Head Hammer, a weapon for Cinnamon with an added Berserk effect, and the Preon Killer, a gun for Axl that deals bonus damage against Preons.

Considering we're going into the Rebellion base, there will almost certainly be a ton of Preons.



The Gain WE +10 is now in store, completely defeating any sense of pride from being able to make them.

If you look back at the reward screen after Scarface, you'll see that Zero is only level 28. So if I didn't do any level grinding for Rafflesian and put her off until now I would gain access to the recipe after it shows up in store! You can't even make the argument that refining them would be cheaper, as making a Gain WE +10 uses a Backup, which costs 5,000z!

This is what I mean by the FMG being half baked, there's just no real reason to interact with the damn thing on a normal playthrough.

On a different note, the store also stocks a Thunder Resist and Minus Metal 20.



At least I can do the reasonable thing, and instantly buy a full set.



Look at it, that's 55% WE per turn! Ultimate Armor alone bumps that up to 77%, add in Cinnamon and Energy Field and we've finally hit 100% WE per turn! 6 turns of Ultimate Armor, 6 turns of full powered Nova Strikes!



And he fixed my wound! Now why the heck would he do that? Just what is the Rebellion fighting for?



You never know with them. They could still be lurking somewhere. I'd be totally freaked if they popped out of hiding! Scary!



I spotted a Rebellion soldier, and I've been running ever since. (pant pant...) I can’t go any farther... I'm too tired to take another step.



Argh! I’ve never been this busy! What? I don't look a bit busy, you say? How can you say such a thing?! You wouldn't believe all the transmissions requesting security guards! Yes, this is East Square Security. Yes, I’m sending support immediately.



I'm on guard to watch out for Rebellion soldiers. In these times of crisis, we have to come together to protect the citizens. Don’t you worry. Even if they dare come back, we won't let ’em in the city.



I’m so very thankful for you. Be safe out there!



We may need to prepare anti-air defenses for the next attack. As soon as you start talking about anti-air defenses, everybody gets nervous.



I was just hanging out around here, when the alarm suddenly goes off! I look up, and there’s a Rebellion transport flying by! The city was in a real panic... It was all awfully scary!



Who would've thought that the Rebellion would come back to New Hope? The Rebellion is gone now, right? (shudder shudder shudder)...



That was so scary! It was the first time I'd seen a real life Rebellion soldier! No enemies! All clear!



But we can’t afford to get soft. They might be planning to come back the instant the coast is clear. Better safe than sorry. I'm going to keep patrolling the area.



Fending off Scarface changes up what people say at base, so we'll cover that next time, but as a bonus:



If you do badly against Scarface...



And get the party killed...





The game continues on, making Scarface the sassiest character in the game!

This is the only time the game allows you throw a fight like this, which makes a bit of sense. You don't have access to any shops while Scarface is here, or any way to get some levels, so an underleveled or less skilled player who ended up burning all their revives on Ferham and didn't have a backup save slot could have ended up softlocked here if beating him was mandatory.

Next time: