Part 154: Post-Intermission
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: Urgh...
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: Cotset, are you awake?
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: Ugh... What was I doing...?
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: Thank goodness... You're back to normal, right?
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: Normal...?
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: Er, well... You did, actually...
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: I'm a technician! Why would I do that!? Gawd, who do they think fixes this stuff!?
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: (.........)
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: Aw, man, listen to this guy. He did all of that himself!
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: But, it's nice to see that he's looking better again...
[SCENE CHANGE]
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: Looks like he's completely back to normal.
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: And the vaccine's gotten everyone's fever down, so that's two less things to worry about.
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: The problem now is Elche...
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: Blast those Innocent! What the heck did they do to Elche!?
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: (.........)
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: She was like a completely different person, wasn't she...
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: And she even had a ship like the Iron Gear...
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: (.........)
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: It looked like she was viewing us as the enemy. Don't tell me...
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: Yes... the Innocent have probably tampered with her mind.
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: Tampered with her mind...!? They can DO that?
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: Forcing people to fight by artificially inducing strong feelings of hatred... That was something done even back in our time.
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: Yes... I was like that once.
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: (.........)
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: I don't think so... Elche wasn't using Newtype equipment. So destroying her machine is no guarantee that you could break their hold on her mind. In a worst-case scenario, her entire personality could be altered...
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: Curse those Innocent! What do they take us for!?
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: It might not sound nice, but they probably think of you guys as test subjects.
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: That's like what that Biel guy was talking about...
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: Yeah, they did repeated live subject experiments to create the Civilians. It's no wonder they're capable of mental conditioning or artificial Newtype research.
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: (.........) Was it Kashim King who did all that to Elche!?
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: Probably. He really, really doesn't want us anywhere near Jop Point.
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: Playing around with people's hearts... Kashim King's got to pay!
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: Yeah...!
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: (.........)
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: (...Rosamy could turn out to be in Jop, too...)
[SCENE CHANGE]
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: (.........)
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: ...You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to...
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: Eh...!?
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: I used to be part of her Breaker team, but I left them when I wanted to test my own strength.
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: That's when you started acting against the Innocent?
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: Yes...
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: Is that why you're hostile now?
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: ...Sis used to only care about fighting and profits, but now she's become an Innocent follower...
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: What will you do now? If you keep this up, you might wind up having to fight her...
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: ...That's my intent. If Sis is going to walk her own path... Then I'm walking mine. ...Otherwise, there would be no point in separating at all...
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: Birin...
[SCENE CHANGE]
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: Right. There's the matter of Elche Cargo to consider, for one... It's believed that the Innocent at Jop have a serious amount of firepower at their disposal.
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: (.........)
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: And they're the type of people who exploit people's hearts with no hesitation... It's possible that they have plenty more artificial Newtypes like Caris, ready to use at a moment's notice.
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: So you want to give up on capturing Jop?
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: No, that's not it. I'm saying we need more time to investigate exactly what the enemy has.
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: I get you. Since Jop is more or less the Innocent's main stronghold... Attacking it head-on could be a pretty bad idea.
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: What do you think, Lieutenant Commander Fokker?
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: The issue's not the Walker Machines, it's that they've mass produced Iron Gear-class landships. So I'm with Jamil on this one...
Someone enters the room.
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: Kihel Heim? We're in the middle of a planning session at the moment.
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: (.........) I must meet with Arthur Rank as quickly as possible. And carry out peace negotiations between the Moon Race and the Innocent...
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: (.........)
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: I understand that, but Diana Sorrel isn't here. Negotiations won't be so simple...
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: What are you talking about?
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: (.........)
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: (.........)
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: There's only one person the Diana Counter's royal guard answers to...
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: (.........)
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: ! Y-you don't mean...
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: (.........)