Part 73: Snake Tales: External Gazer (Chapter 12) - Tactical Finale Action

Snake Tales: External Gazer (Chapter 12) - Tactical Finale Action


Father and Son


External Gazer comes to its dramatic climax with a reenactment of the final battle of Sons of Liberty. Snake finds himself against a pissed off Solidus Snake on top of Federal Hall after a gigantic submarine crashed into and leveled a third of Manhattan. Don't ask. Long story.


Toward the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, ex-US President George "Solidus Snake" Sears inexplicably begins wielding a pair of swords. Likewise, often hated protagonist Raiden also decided to become a swordsman. So the final battle was, of course, a sword duel. Solid Snake tries to be slightly less anime than everyone around him, so he refrains from using any Hanzo steel for the proceedings. Unfortunately, this means the battle here is an unarmed man against Jimmy Carter in power armor with K-Mart brand Dr. Octopus tentacles and a pair of swords.

Needless to say, this is kind of unfair...


Solidus can use his robot tentacles (Yes he has robot tentacles. Don't ask.) to lash out at Snake or sweep the floor to trip him up. Raiden could counter this by blocking with his sword. Snake is pretty much limited to running away and hoping for the best. Likewise, the ground sweep is 100% more difficult to avoid than it was in the proper version of this battle. Raiden could perform a cartwheel to quickly evade attacks. This left him in the air for a second or so to avoid ground based swings. Snake's equivalent ability is a roll. You cannot roll over a tentacle swinging at foot level...


Solidus' tentacles can also fire miniature rockets. They have a semi-homing feature but are easily avoided by running in horizontally away from their path. Raiden was able to slice them out of the air before they exploded. Snake can backflip off missiles. But only in temperatures below freezing. Either way, that's another handicap to this battle.




In close range, Solidus Snake mostly sticks to sword swings with his twin blades Democrat and Republican. Yes. His swords are actually named Democrat and Republican. He left his Tea Party nunchucks at home. Raiden could block all of Solidus' sword strikes other than one or two power attacks. Snake can get sliced up faster than an onion on an infomercial if he sticks around and that is about it.


The pan-dimensional ex-President also has rocket boots. I have nothing to add to that statement.






One Snake has performed a punch-punch-roundhouse kick combo roughly two dozen times to bring his brother's stamina bar down to 50%, Solidus decides to ditch his tentacle enhancements because he likely finally realized they look fairly silly.




No longer encumbered by hentai based robotic enhancements, Solidus is now free to zoom around on his Presidential Rocket Boots to his heart's content. Stopping only to elbow Snake in the face or gut him with the political party representative sword of his choice.


The Presidential Rocket Boots leave a trail of fire in their wake. Much like how one cannot roll over a large flailing tube zipping along the ground, so too does fire fall under things people cannot roll over. Certainly, they can roll THROUGH flames. But there is a very real chance of being set ablaze in this process. As pictured.


However, despite being severely gimped in a battle stacked entirely against him, in the end Solid Snake manages to eventually roundhouse kick his alternate dimension evil twin brother into submission.



Solidus tumbled from the roof of Federal Hall. I threw my hand out for him, but caught nothing but air. Solidus' body fell in silence. I couldn't do anything but watch. The moment his body hit the ground, I was enveloped in a blindingly powerful light...


Memories of Hal



When the light cleared, I found myself in the hideout. Otacon and Olga stood right in front of me.

*raises hand* "Hi. Welcome back, Snake."
"Your return could mean that I'll be next to go."
"We'll miss you."
*smiles gently* "I'll miss you, too. But I have to go. There's somebody I want to see."
"Your kid?"
*looks surprised* "What? I don't have any children... not yet."
*lowers eyes embarrassed* "My husband is waiting for me."
"H-Husband?!"
"That's right. In my universe..."

I quickly interrupted her.

"No. We'd probably be better off not knowing."

Olga smiled broadly. A bright light enveloped her body, and she was gone.



"She's gone."
"Yeah."
"...But now that I think of it, the Snake standing in front of me seems different from the Snake I know from my universe...."

It was just as Otacon said. In an uncountable number of parallel universes, there had to be some that were incredibly similar. We hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary, but it was possible that the Otacon in front of me was a millimeter taller than the Otacon I knew. Or maybe he didn't like dogs. Perhaps his father was still alive. The memories we thought we shared might have been erased from existence. But there was no way to check for sure.

As I stood engrossed in though, Otacon extended an open palm.

"...The Snake in my universe owes me a hundred bucks."
"The Otacon from my universe wouldn't be angry even if I told him I accidentally broke one of his action figure toys."
*eyes widen* "What?! Which one did you break?!"

I let out a laugh. Soon both of us were laughing. We realized something. We might not have the same shared memories. And perhaps we'd be going to different universes shortly. But one thing was clear. We were friends....

The world filled bright light. Otacon and I shook hands.


Basic Actions ~ Beginner



When I came to, I was sitting in a chair in the hideout. I looked around the room. It was the same hideout as ever. There was no trace of the damage Solidus had caused. Had I returned to just before the whole incident even happened? My path of vision crossed with Otacon, who was sitting across from me.

"Did we come back?"

Judging from his tone of voice, it seemed he'd been through a similar experience to mine. But there had to be an uncountable number of universes where nearly the same thing had occurred. I didn't know if this Otacon had been in the same universe with me, and there was no way to check. But I didn't really care. The person sitting in front of me was Otacon.

*stretches* "It's all over..."
"Are you sure?"
"What do you mean?"
"...I just wonder if it's really over yet."

I told Otacon about what I couldn't get out of my head. When I faced Solidus at the end, I really hadn't wanted to fight him. But I did fight, and I killed him. It was as if I hadn't been in control of my own body.... Solidus said the Koppelthorn Engine and the VR system interfered with the parallel universes, but what if he was wrong? Or what if there was another device that allowed one to externally observe and interfere with a parallel universe...?

"You're thinking too much. And anyway..."
*leans toward Snake* "Did you say you broke one of my action figures?!"
"No, I was just..."

Suddenly the door opened, and in walked Mei Ling. She looked like nothing had happened to her at all.

"Hey, check this out!"

Mei Ling threw us the tabloid she'd brought with her.




The End...