Mega Man X: Command Mission Part #29 - Update XXIX - Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life.

Part 29: Update XXIX - Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life.

Update XXIX - Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life.

Music: Hunter Base

Back at base, things have calmed down now that Scarface is gone.

We must never forgive those who would use Force Metal... Who would use technology... For evil!

And with that, everyone in base now has something new to say.

We’ll be okay if we all just work together, right? I'll do my best to help! We just have to try!

But first, let's go see Nana and R.

Video: Rebellion Base Revealed
Music: Dangerous - Machine - One - Hair

We've managed to track Scarface down to a spot that appears to be the Rebellion Army headquarters.

Although it's hard to be sure when you're trying to track a stealth warp.

Many parts of Giga City were designed to test the limits of Reploids. Believe me when I tell you, the Glacier is the harshest of them all.

Music: Hunter Base

Congratulations, Scarface, you just lead us straight to your base. Idiot.

Chapter 9 gives us our final Deployment spot, and there's something I really need from it.

While I idle for it, I get a set of Tank Parts and a Block All from Vanallia. The Block All is a FM that gives full immunity to status effects.

While that is slightly more useful than the Infinite Resist, the Block All is still rendered useless by Hyper Mode having status immunity built in.

A trip to the Ore Plant brings back a Reverse Water.

While the Reverse Fire is found at Ulfat, completing the set.

A bit more waiting, and the Melda Key is found. This is our goal for today.

X, you've come this far. You must believe in your abilities. And believe in your friends!

But first, everyone else at base has something to say.

Can you believe that talk about a Rebellion vision? Villains haven't earned the right to talk like that. So, I guess the reason the Rebellion Cadres are so strong... Is the Supra—Force Metal, right? I wonder why they don't put such a powerful resource to a better use? I don’t know, these Mavericks...

Fighting one—on—one with Scarface! Wow, I wish I could do that... Someday, maybe someday... Ho-ho! I am Massimo! Steel Massimo! Just you wait, dirty Rebellion! Massimo will be there to nip your nasty plans in the bud! Ah... I can talk tough, but the reality might be different... Ha ha... ha...

One-on-one? Was Scarface originally a solo boss fight? It would be a neat extension of the tutorial fight against Spider back in Chapter 2, having to constantly swap between X and X Fire to attack.

Well, this is the final run. Time to lay it on, X!

Music: Recapture Hope

headquarters. But what about the Supra-Force Metal? If they don't have it, then who does? Scarface mentioned a ”vision”... Hmph! Nothing that involves Mavericks can be called a vision!

And now they’re off to the enemy headquarters! Soon this fight will be settled once and for all! I’m a security guard for the base, so I'm always on duty here. I'm kinda bummed that I couldn't take part in the final battle, though...

And the offensive against the Rebellion headquarters has begun. Everybody! Come back safely!

Facts from the obtained data and from the recent attack were pieced together, revealing the enemy headquarters. So, my work was not in vain after all... In fact, I really helped out, didn't I?

Yes you did, computer girl. :unsmith:

Everybody is heading off to the Rebellion Army headquarters right now! Our long fight will be over soon!

You already drove him back? Wow, you guys are great!

Soon, there shall be no more base chats, and I shall be free of ramps.

Now I have to head back to town.

And back to the plant.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

At least the locked door isn't far.

Just go through the entrance.

And there it is!

With this, the only locked door left is the one in Central Tower.

Through the door is three tokens.

Even in a secret zone, elevators are everywhere.

At least we get a free Meltdown.

Video: Battle with Duckbill Mole

Just like Tianna's secret area and Rafflesian, we have a former Chapter boss that got their Chapter cut.

But wait! I forgot to introduce myself! I am Duckbill Mole! And behind me is the Mechaniloid, K-Ball.

This seems strange, but he's actually referring to that drill on his back, which is actually a mechaniloid.

And you are...? You're here to steal my treasure, the treasure the Rebellion gave me. But you can't have it! You’ll have to face the crazy hammer, Naguru D first!

Ready to tangle with Duckbill Mole!?

When the fight starts, a clone of him appears out of nowhere??? :psyduck:

Music: Steel Massimo

Back in action!

The two Moles have a mechanic where getting hit by a Fire-type move enables their more powerful moves. Hitting them with any Water attack, even an Ultra Blizzard, will disable them until one of them uses Ultra Fire again.

Ready for this!?

Said moves are Quake Hammer...

You're in for a shock!

And Mantle Assault. Both pose a sizable threat to Massimo.

It's party time!

But regardless of status, they'll always have access to Kamikaze Drill, which ignores defense and has a chance to debuff both Armor and Shield.

Each Mole has the same drop list, so the fight gives two tokens in total.

Cinnamon will be doing something other than slapping enemies or healing the party for the first time in her life, and will be tossing Ultra Blizzards to keep the Moles locked down.

Until I decided to stop so I could get footage for those moves, anyways.

X and Massimo will be doing their usual thing.

Killing one will make the other use Break Shield, so unlike Rafflesian where I wanted to alpha strike each enemy down in one round, I want to spread the damage between them.

Look at it.

This is what a 100% WE preview looks like.

A few turns in and one is already dead. Even if I put off Rafflesian until now, Duckbill Mole isn't anywhere near as much of a threat as her. While the Moles have more HP than her crew (58K/58K vs 31K/20K/20K), you can keep their best moves locked down for a long time with a full stock of Ultra Blizzards, and there's no real time crunch like Rafflesian's regen and buffs to punish a protracted fight. Plus, the 5 Chapters between her and him mean you'll almost certainly have the levels needed to take him on in a straight fight.

Kinda bizarre, considering you could fight Rafflesian as soon as you unlock the Deployment Center, while Duckbill Mole opens up right before you go fight Epsilon.

Of course, they are still a threat. Kamikaze Drill punches through X's defenses, and two of them in a row leave him in rough shape.

But as we all know, the only important hit point is the last, and the Moles swiftly fall. Nova Strike letting you swap targets makes it easy to set up a double FS for style points.

Music: Boss Victory Jingle + Trajectory of Battle II

Unlike Rafflesian, Axl doesn't get anything from this.

Which is a shame, the kid could really use more single target options.

Although Cinnamon got a boost, bringing her up to 7 hearts for a 70% heal.

Music: Secret Glacial Activity

Duckbill Mole wasn't guarding much. Just a single purple crystal.

Hmmmmmm, what could this pun-based name be?

Music: Irregular Battle II

Oh, just the other secret Hyper Mode, that's all! :getin:

This is it!

Zero's Absolute Zero Hyper Mode is a reference to Bass's combination with Treble back in the classic series. It gives Zero +50% LE, +100% Power, +50% Speed, +50% WE Gain, gains bonus evasion against C-type attacks, and reduces the Water damage he takes by 50%.

The wiki also says that Absolute Zero goes Berserk if he dips below 25% LE, but at this time I have damn near the entire rest of the game recorded, and it hasn't happened to me once.

Much like Ultimate Armor, Absolute Zero swaps out his Sub Weapons, now using Brutal Right and Killer Left. Both of these are Water element, while his normal attack is physical with a sky high crit chance.

You're finished!

It also changes his AT to the much more ominous sounding Calamitous Arts.

Similar to his normal Command Arts, Calamitous Arts has you inputting button combinations to attack. Unlike Command Arts, each hit is used when you input it, and the command you get is entirely random. More WE gives more time on the meter. Taking too long on an attack will make it roll a new one after a few seconds.

Each command has a different attack, and the six attacks are:

1) Up + X: Normal strength Water elemental attack that ignores Armor.
2) Right + X: High strength Water elemental attack.
3) Down + Y: Physical attack with a high damage range.
4) Left + Y: High strength Water elemental attack.
5) X + Y: Physical attack that has a 100% critical chance.
6) A: Weak Water elemental attack with a chance of inflicting Freeze.

He hits hard, but he does have some downsides to X's Ultimate Armor.

The main one is that damn near everything he has is Water elemental. Unlike Ultimate Armor where it can be used against everything, Absolute Zero has to stay in the bin if a Water element boss shows up, lest Zero heal him with anything other than a normal attack.

The second is that the damage on his AT is highly variable. You might get a string of X+Y and shred a boss with crits, you might get a whole lot of A and spend most of his AT plinking at a boss that's already immune to Freeze.

Even with these drawbacks, Absolute Zero is still a beast that will shred anything that moves.

Massimo has been a mainstay of my party ever since he joined in Tianna, but now Zero shall take his place.

Massimo might have another chance to shine down the line, but until then, he's earned his rest. :unsmith: