Part 19: Mission 8 (Rescue Route) - The Price of Justice - Part 1
Aaaand, Ichitaka’s really climbed up the kill ladder with his massacre of the Earth Alliance mooks in the past mission. Only one kill separates our top aces from each other.
Random HP, armor and EN upgrade went around but Jeeg and, especially, Goh got some extra firepower for something I’ll want to do this mission.
And the Vardant and Hind-Kind are event units today, so Tetsuya and Shizuna had to join in together. Not ideal but it’s only for this mission, so we’ll be fine.
Ichitaka/Miu
Jeeg/Kyo
Yagyuu
Tetsuya/Shizuna
Iczer-1/Shizuru
Goh/Mira
Off we go.
We open at JUDA, Ishigami welcoming our team back. Reiji apologizes for moving the squad without clearing it with him first but, with the jammed comms, Ishigami doesn’t fault his decision. When Goh asks, Ishigami passes intel of our other half protecting the PLANTs from the Alliance’s nukes and being set to watch over the Frontier.
The Quarter’s been assigned to our team and, with that, it’ll be up to us to handle it if the Frontier Fleet does anything off. In exchange, while they remain cooperative, the Alliance will be unable to do anything against them without clearing it with us first.
Seems to Kyo that the Frontier got a better deal than we did out of this, but it beats leaving the Blue Cosmos free to tag them as enemies of Earth. On a different subject, Ishigami looked over a certain report Kyo submitted, and if it turns out to be correct, it’ll be nothing short of extraordinary. Kyo fears it’s not an impossible assumption, taking a look at the offworlders and the Katou Organization, so this certainly warrants further investigation.
What are they on about? Ishigami only says that things might be bigger than he expected. Still, it might not have anything to do with us, so he asks Reiji and Goh to pay him no mind. Goh won’t press the subject, but does raise the point that many of the organizations working with LOTUS joined presuming there’d be no secrets between us. If Ishigami knows something about the Katou Organization, Goh figures he should tell us.
Ishigami apologizes but figures it best not to say anything at the moment – Goh should understand, having previously kept the fact that he'd been fighting side-by-side with his ex from Anna. Fine. Regardless, Ishigami’ll tell us when the time is right and asks only that we carry out defending Earth from external threats while the rest of our crew remains in space.
Goh confirms, ready to take on any of the Mimetic Beasts, Katou, Darius and Jama foes – inwardly, he hopes Anna is watching over him.
Over by the mess hall, Ichitaka feels good to be back home. Mind, he’s checked with Rachel and Maki and there still hasn’t been any new clues regarding Grife. Shizuru sighs that it’s tough when your only option is to wait stuff out but it wasn’t all bad news: seems like Alice’s AI is showing some good growth over this time.
The door opens right then, Emi coming in with a batch of tea for everyone. Yamashita does wonder why she’s doing that, and she figured she ought to help with something since she can’t actually fight like we can.
Still, that’s some awfully green tea she’s serving – especially considering it’s supposed to be BLACK tea. Tsubaki takes a whiff and asks: “is this dried seaweed?” It is, much to Emi’s surprise, as she was sure she used the right stuff.
She apologizes profusely and moves to fix it, though Miu offers to do it herself – and teach her how to make tea in the process! As the two leave, Mira sighs that while she heard the girl had some partial amnesia, she’s shocked she can’t tell dried seaweed from tea leaves.
Ishigami hasn’t really told us much about her story and Alice didn’t even have time to compile her physical data – she’s been too focused on her subpilot duties. It’s still frustratingly tough for her to balance out both jobs at the same time but Shizuru tells her to keep at it. Indeed, Alice promises to stay the course!
“Hey, Shizuru, I don’t get any of that pep talk?” Tetsuya asks. “Nope”. Aaww…
By JUDA’s infirmary…
: How are you feeling, Nagisa?
: … Why are you here? You’re the last person I wanted to see.: Nagisa…: And stop calling me that, like you’re my friend! It’s your fault I went through that hell!: I apologize for forcing you aboard the Iczer Robo… But you’re my partner and, as such, I need you to fight. : Get out! Now! I don’t wanna hear any more of your crap!*Nagisa throws a glass at her.*
: Nagisa, calm down. You just woke up, so don’t stress yourself out. : Ms. Ogawa… Where are my mom and dad…?: Still missing, I’m afraid…: But why?! I thought that region went pretty much untouched by the Junius Seven drop!: JUDA’s using all of its resources to find them, so please be a bit more patient.: (Nagisa… when Cobalt attacked, your parents were already… but telling her the truth now, when her body and soul are so wounded, would be too much.): …And whose fault is it for putting me in this mess?: …: Didn’t I tell you get out?! What’re you still doing here?!: Let’s go, Iczer-1. We should let her rest…: Hm… Nagisa, I pray we’ll be able to fight together again soon. *They leave.*
: … : (Why… Why did you pick me? No… I don’t want to fight – I can’t.)
Cut to Misaki Middle School, Isabelle’s latest bit of news is of the Armas once again running amuck at the town of Misaki in Miura. It’s still unknown who were piloting the units or how large the extent of the damage is. Kouichi grumbles at them covering up the Katou Organization’s attack as Armas running amuck.
Quatre walks on over and sees that he’s watching the news, noticing that that “white Arma with the horns” isn’t even shown on the tape. Kouchi yells that the Linebarrel ISN’T AN ARMA, but soon slumps back in his chair: “The Linebarrel… my… (No. I don’t want or need that thing…)
Risako and Yajima inch over, the girl asking if Kouichi knows one Sheryl Nome – he doesn’t, and doesn’t care either. Well, she’ll tell him anyway: it’s this big-time singer from the new “Frontier Colony”. From what Risako’s heard she’s really pretty, but she can’t find any pictures or videos of her.
Kouichi calls FAKE NEWS and tells Risako that that’s not a colony, but a fleet of giant migrant ships built by the PLANTs. She should know better than to believe that. Still, Risako doesn’t appreciate his know-it-all attitude. Quatre, inwardly, sees that the rumor mill’s already running wild – seems like they couldn’t keep the information under control.
Either way, rumor has it that Sheryl’s songs are pretty good, but Risako hasn’t managed to hear anything – the only available sources are some leaks. She figured Kouichi might’ve heard about those and they haven’t spoken much recently, so… He once again sighs that he doesn’t care.
But a new problem arises, with Furuya stomping into the room and demanding Kouichi step outside. Sounds good to him – a good way to alleviate his bad mood – and a distraught Risako and Yajima run after. Quatre follows to keep watch, despite wanting to do more.
But it doesn’t take long for Kouichi to tear through Furuya’s mob – what happened to all his huffing and puffing? But Kouichi’s got a lesson to teach him and kicks the guy’s ass a bunch. With a battered Furuya begging forgiveness, the kid’s glad to see he now understands how strong he is (Linebarrel or not, he’s still THE STRONGEST!).
But he stops when Yajima and Risako tell him to, knowing he’d only be bullying the weak – Furuya’s favorite pastime – were he to continue. Oh, and he better not catch him messing with Shinji again OR ELSE. Furuya promises not to… only to raise the point that Shinji actually got transferred elsewhere.
Kouichi doesn’t remember hearing anything about that, which annoys Risako, as Shinji came to talk to him about it the day before he left, but seems he was just ignored. B-But Kouichi’s been busy being a Champion of Justice and all that.
Furuya silently fumes over his attitude, figuring he’ll need to ask one Domyoji for help; Kouichi then tells him to run off and not try this again. As Furuya and his mooks go, Risako is worried about Kouichi: he’s been acting like a thug lately and she’s heard tell of him picking fights with other students. He harrumphs and tells her to leave him alone before setting out.
Risako is confused but is sure that SOMETHING must’ve happened to make him change like that – and she figures Yajima knows something. “Can you wait until tomorrow? I’ll go talk with Kouichi and, then, I’ll tell you everything,” he says.
She agrees to it and promises to bring lunch for three tomorrow – hopefully they can all eat together as they used to. Quatre’s watching from afar, hoping nothing’ll come of whatever Yajima’s planning, but…
And he’s reported it all to Ishigami, who’s rather bothered by news that Kouichi’s taken to picking fights with regular folks as a way to showcase his strength. Seems like losing the Linebarrel pushed him over the edge. Ishigami asks Quatre to keep watching, figuring they’ll need to take action if Kouichi goes on acting like this.
One other thing: did Quatre hear of anything strange happening in Misaki yesterday? Not really, but Reiji says they’ve detected a Machina over there yesterday – several times, even, but the signal quickly disappeared, so they couldn’t get a bead on it. Like a ninja or ghost, Ishigami quips.
Well, anything happens, Quatre’s got his Sandrock ready to go. Wasn’t the thing supposed to be sealed away? Sure but Wufei and Trowa DID unseal theirs, so Quatre figured he couldn’t keep his stashed.
As he signs off, Ishigami ponders Kouichi. Reiji isn’t surprised at what they’re hearing, though: “He’s still just a middle-schooler, without a single clue of how he should use his strength… I know very well how that’s like.” Still, Ishigami doesn’t want to do anything yet – he believes the kid’s got the goods.
We’ll see about that later, as Yui reports the Machina signal reemerging within Misaki… and it vanishes just as suddenly. Are their sensors on the fritz? Rachel said everything’s fine, though. Ishigami, inwardly, seems to have an idea, though: “A disappearing Machina… One that got picked up after I left?”
Mission 8 (Rescue Route) – The Price of Justice
: What’d you call me here for?
: … Are you really gonna keep with that shtick?: What?: Kouichi, please… go back to how you used to be.: Aah?: Risako… she’s really worried. Said you’re not the Kouichi she knew, that you changed so fast… And I’m on the same page as her.: So that’s what you’re up to…: Huh…?: The little baby you’ve been taking care of since forever got strong and you don’t really like that, do ya?: So talking really ain’t getting me anywhere… I figured as much. Then let’s settle this, Kouichi.: Settle what?: Didn’t say before that you didn’t need my help anymore?: Yeah. I’m way stronger than you now. : Then prove it – prove you don’t need me anymore.: You wanna go? For real? You better cut it out, ‘cause you’re not winning this.: … Bring it, Kouichi! 
: Urgh!: So? You run your mouth like that and this is all you got?! You think because I lost the Linebarrel that you can take me?
: Aargh…: You’re wasting your time. You’re gonna lose.
: !: Then… put your money… where your mouth is…: You still not throwing the towel…? Fine. Then I’m gonna have to bash you into the dirt ‘til you realize that I’m in a whole different league!
: Gworgh…! What’s wrong…? I’m still… up…!: You…!
: (What… What’s going on…? Didn’t I want to beat him?)
: (Didn’t I wanna be like him?!)
: (Then why… why do I feel awful with every punch I land on him …?)
: Uuurgh…: S-Stop this already! Can’t you see that this is impossible for you?!: I… I took care of you… just ‘cause I wanted to catch Risako’s eye…: !!: But I… never realized how that was making you feel… I’m… a selfish lowlife… And that’s why she never really looked at me that way…: Y-Yajima… Why are you telling me that…? I-I’ve always thought of you as—: A Champion of Justice… huh?: Y-Yeah…: Well, relax, Kouichi… I’m just a brat… a common brat.: Yajima…: Sorry, Kouichi…: No, I’m sorry… I never considered how you—
: Waaah!
: Capture the Linebarrel… Eliminate the Factor…: Wh-Why…?! The Linebarrel isn’t here anymore!: Hrk… Kou…Ichi… You alright…?: Yajima…!
: (That steel beam… It ran him through…!): Urk…!: Y-Yo, Yajima, stop pulling my leg! Hang in there!: Hrrgh…: Damn it, what the hell should I do?!: Kouichi… What matters… isn’t what you should do…: Huh…: But what you… want to do… You’re finally strong… so use that… for good…: Eliminate the Factor…: Run… Kou…ichi…!: Huh?!
: Yajima… You…?!
: No biggie… Same ol’… song and dance…right?
: YAJIMAAAAAAA!!: Failed to eliminate the Factor… Failed to eliminate…!: You can’t say you’re sorry after all this time… Don’t give me that now…! You…!: AAAAAAAAH!!
: Line…barrell…!: Yajima… You said that what matters is what I want to do, right? Then, I…I…
: I wanna kill that son of a bitch!: Capture the Linebarrel! Eliminate the Factor!: You...! Raaaaaargh!!
: I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do!
: Is that… the Linebarrel?! And a Machina… is it—?! (By the other city block.)*Beep, beep!*
: Quatre, the Linebarrel’s back at Misaki!: I know! It’s right next to me, fighting some unknown Machina!: And the Linebarrel warped even without any input from Emi…!
: Does that mean it’s fully accepted that guy as its Factor?!: Whatever the case, I’ll try and hold down the Linebarrel and that Machina with the Sandrock!: Please do. Reiji and the others’ll be there soon!: Copy that!: I look away for just a second and this happens… damn it. Let’s go, Sandrock!
*Quatre rushes over and grabs the Linebarrel.*
: Kouichi, stop! You’re going to level the whole city – all that’ll come from this is more sorrow!: OUT OF MY WAY! He… He killed Yajima!!: Yajima?! No…!: Yajima… he protected me from the attack and…! Damn it all! LEMME GO!
: Argh!: You killed him! DIE!!: Don’t let anger and hatred guide your hand…! I have to do something or he’ll go down the same path I did!
: We’ll lend you a hand with that, Mr. Gundam.: You’re with the Dragon’s Hive, aren’t you?
: Oh, you folks know about us? Impressive, Preventers.
: No time to give them props, Kurara! We need to do something about the Linebarrel!
: Goddamn, it’s like this kid can’t go a day without going ballistic across town. Then—
: The red Dancouga!: What, again?!
: Let’s try this a bit more seriously today…
: Hrk…! This is so not the time for this!: Seriously, this mission just went from bad to worse…!: Screw it, then! Go even badder and take ‘em all on! : Good answer, Sakuya. Now we run wild and keep going ‘til we drop…!: At this rate, the town’ll…! 
We need to bring down the Stray Machina without losing Aoi or Quatre; that said, you’ll want to focus on downing the R-Daigun before that, as it carries a nice E-Save part. It’ll run below 14k HP, so this’ll call for a wee bit more strategy – first off, just hold the line until LOTUS gets here.
Feel free to tangle with the Daigun to start lowering her HP some, but ignore Kouichi or the Machina.
Gundam Sandrock Custom (Quatre Raberba Winner)
Pilot Skills:
Sword Cut
Shoot Down
Shield Defense
Guard
Support Defense L2
Attack Combo L1
Spirit Commands:
Scan
Focus
Mech Features:
Sword
Gun
Shield
Resupply Module
Anti-Beam Coating Mantle
Squad Bonus: HP+500, land terrain rating: A, debuff immunity
Our first EW Gundam makes for a pretty nice squaddie, and he’s made of sturdier stuff than usual. The squad bonus plus resupply module’ll help him fit in with many Supers, and there’s also the fact that he’ll eventually learn Bless.
And, if anything, he works well on water, so keep that in mind for whenever it’s needed.
Now let’s just move Quatre and Aoi due north – don’t waste time going after anyone this turn.
Enemy Phase!
The R-Daigun’s out of range, but the Stray Machina guns right for Kouichi.
: You killed Yajima! And now I’ll make you pay – by killing you with my own two hands!: Capture the Linebarrel… Eliminate the Factor…
They both regen a lot per turn, so this’ll go pretty much nowhere.
Player Phase!
: Everyone!: They got around pretty fast alright. Still, just a bit longer and…
: Quatre, are you hurt?: I’m fine; and more important than me is Kouichi. We need to stop him – fast!
: What happened?!: Apparently his friend… Yajima Hideaki shielded him from that Machina’s attack and died.
: !!: Oh, no…!: And Kouichi’s lost control because of that…!
: Kujo, Nagumo, this is a battlefield. There’s no room for needless sentimentality. : “Needless”—?! Our friend just died, Reiji!: I know, but he’s got a point – we can’t afford to be sad now. Look ahead. Spending time grieving’ll mean even more battle damage throughout town.: …!: Don’t let your emotions get the better of you; focus instead of ending this battle. Troops, coordinate with the Dancouga and the Gundam and immobilize the Linebarrel!
: You got it! There’re only a couple of guys to fight, so let’s go and wrap this up quick!*Beep, beep!*
: Hold on, Kenji! These signals are—
: The Katou Organization!
: We’ll be bringing you in today, Linebarrel.
: Quatre… I figured it was only a matter of time before we ran into each other.: Wufei…! I’ve some questions for you to answer!
: What do we do, boss? Leave the Gundam to forehead there?
: And do we try bringing in the Linebarrel or the stray? (Yulianne): The Linebarrel always takes priority – keep that in mind.
: Yeesh, these Katou guys just don’t quit with trying to snag the thing!: Let them come ‘cause this’ll always end the same: them running for the hills!: This’ll only get worse if we let the Katou units engage the Linebarrel and set Kouichi off further – keep them away!: Roger!
Can’t lose Reiji and Yamashita either. Now that we have our group and some morale fodder, we’ll want to get either Goh or Jeeg hyped enough to use their strongest weapon, to be supported by Ichitaka. Popping Fighting Spirit with that combo SHOULD be enough damage to wreck the R-Daigun around 14k HP.
We’re not in range, though, so everyone heads onward.
Enemy Phase!
Here she comes, but Mira’s covering Aoi.
???, taking little damage: “Do you think you can defend the Earth with that? From them?!”
On the flip side, she can’t even pop Mira’s barrier.
Here it goes again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu5UvBqpx88
: Those moves… It’s like he’s a completely different person from when we fought before. : Has he awakened as a Factor…?About half the Katou Armas are moving in.
Player Phase!
As Reiji moves in, Goh starts building morale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NxlAYWBm_k
Only now did I remember to get the Neo-Okusaer’s melee attack on camera!
And that survivor easily falls to Kenji.
One for Iczer-1, the other for Ichitaka.
Moving Quatre close enough to bring in Wufei.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLGzjMcMMLg
Also, damn, I dunno if they gave him more “oomph” or if those Armas are just so fragile.
Enemy Phase!
Perfect, except for him running underwater…
: Are you really fine with the war you’re waging, Wufei?!: Silence! I’m trailing this path because I believe in it! And in the name of true justice, I’ll endure any and all pain!: If that’s all you’ll say, then so be it! Come and fight me, Wufei!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_km_0vtSQuI
Wufei: “This is the path I chose, Quatre!”
Quatre: “I’ll also fight my own battles, Wufei!”
Aoi shaves off another 5.5k off the Daigun, with Goh taking a kill, Ichitaka and Miu taking…4. I was even holding him back, but Miu herself got very crit-happy!
Dmitri’s moving in now, but had nothing in range.
Player Phase!
Kenji took the first enemy of this pair, Goh has the other.
Ah, you’ll work.
That’s both down. Shizuna and Tetsuya nabbing the adjacent target.
Reiji’s got this nice combo opportunity here.
No kills but it leaves everyone very close.
Pop, pop, pop, they all fall to Ichitaka, Aoi, Yamashita and Quatre.
Enemy Phase!
While Wufei’s trading blows with Quatre, Yulianne finally comes over and target’s Goh.
: Pleased to meet you folks. My name’s Yulianne Faithful, Captain of the Katou Organization’s 7th Unit. : And I’ll be making sure none of you bug us ever again!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngpEmsGNXUo
Sawatari and Dmitri make the objectively better choice of attacking Yamashita... though he was protected by Ichitaka and his barrier.
Player Phase!
The R-Daigun’s pretty much ready to be killed, though our units aren’t in position. While that’s going on, we’ll get rid of the other Katou midbosses.
Boosh.
Dmitri sniffs at yet another failure, but warns that they haven’t given up on the Linebarrel yet.
As he runs off, Shizuna groans that she wanted to finish the guy off. Granted, Izuna didn’t expect a captain to die easily.
Sawatariiiii.
Out you go again.
Sawatari isn’t happy at his streak of failures – Masaki’s gonna have such a laugh at him. Then, at least, he’ll…
Goh sniffs that the guy always knows when it’s time to quit – a tough foe to get rid of, and Mira figures we’ll likely be facing him many times.
Some softening up from Goh and Ichitaka brings Wufei into the red.
Done.[/i]
Seems like Wufei’s orders deem the Linebarrel going berserk as an acceptable outcome. Still, he’ll need to keep on fighting – for what’s to come.
As he leaves, Quatre doesn’t understand why he always sets himself to trail such painful paths.
Enemy Phase!
Aaah…
Good thing I didn’t do much damage to her. The couple of remaining mooks fall to Aoi.
Player Phase!
Alright, pop Strike (to bypass the Daigun’s Stealth) and Fighting Spirit and off we go.
The R-Daigun gets a call from someone who says this is good enough for today – time to head back. As she goes, Kurara groans over it slipping through our fingers again.
When they asked before, Tanaka swore that he had no idea what the thing was and while Aoi doesn’t know for sure whether he’s being legit or not, silver lining is that’s one less enemy for us. Now carry on with their mission.
With that done, now it’s just a matter of handling the remaining enemies. We’ll start with Yulianne and go for the Stray Machina:
Tsubaki learns Attune from this, too!
Yulianne knows that it’d be dangerous to carry on with this and moves to take off. Plus, she can’t well give us her undivided attention now. We’ll play again some other time.
Kenji has no idea where she’s running off to and Kyo ponders if securing the Linebarrel isn’t the Katou Organization’s goal here.
: Capture the Linebarrel… Eliminate the Factor…: If only I’d spotted this Machina before…!
Tetsuya gets a boost to Support Defense, while Shizuna takes more Prevail.