Part 38: Mission 14 - Nighttime Deathmatch
Here we are again, and, surprise, Quatre’s been bumped off the top ace list by Iczer-1. Ichitaka still has a four kill lead, while she and Kenji are tied.
Cash money goes to upping Alto’s (he’ll likely see plenty of action) and Great Mazinger’s weapons, while Shinji and Daiya get a few boosts here and there (FYI: on barrier units, armor > HP as a pip on the former can be the difference between a block or not).
All of the Godannar folks are event units today, so we switch things up a bit:
Jeeg/Kyo
Reiji/Klan (not ideal but it’ll serve for now)
Dancouga/Rei
Iczer-1/Puria
Kouji/Yagyuu
Tetsuya/Canaria
Ozma/Luca
Alto/Michel
Zechs/Noin
Daiya/Yanma
Kouichi/Quatre (HP bonus means Kouichi regens more and the EN regen is always nice for him)
Shinji/Yamashita (their weapon spread is pretty similar, and the Squad Bonuses complement each other well, so they’ll fit together nicely)
Combattler/Shizuna
Voltes/Dick (better than wasting Klan’s +mobility on a super, and, hey, Double Image)
Ichitaka/Miu
Forward!
We open up at the Frontier, where Grace tells Sheryl that she couldn’t find much about the Galaxy: the main island was severely damaged when the Vajra attack and they had to perform and emergency Fold. Where they ended up at is anyone’s guess, though the question may be purely academic and, Sheryl sighs, we ARE in a different world.
Grace tells her not to look so glum, though, as she heard rumors that a way back may not be impossible. In that case Sheryl wants to leave the hospital right away and show everyone that she’s still going strong, but Grace vetoes that. She’s still running a fever and, as such, her whole agenda’s been cancelled until she’s made a full recovery.
Sheryl doesn’t like that, saying she can’t skip out on her work any more than she already has. “Are you scared, maybe? I suppose that’s understandable; Ranka’s been growing more popular by the day, plus, Lacus and Eida’s have quite the rock-solid fan-base,” Grace thinks.
Sheryl tries playing it cool, and Grace tells her not to worry: as soon as she’s better, she’ll have more gigs than she’ll know what to do with. Grace takes off, leaving an annoyed Sheryl behind. Why is she being hospitalized for so long? If I was only because of her fever, she’d already be home…
And Grace gets her evil face on to have a laugh: Sheryl, that is Faery 9, is already finished.
And Alice’s just approached the JUDA eggheads with a request: she wants her AI modified to a full-on combat configuration. Rachel is very much against the idea as doing so would require formatting her mind – her memories, everything she’s learned, would be gone. Still, Alice wants it done as she’s not confident she can properly assist Ichitaka in battle the way she is.
Maki understands where she’s coming from, but there’s a problem: making that switch now wouldn’t change her performance at all. See, throughout all her exposure to combat since this started, Alice’s current AI has already grown to the point where it’s actually better than the old combat AI that Grife had designed.
Alice didn’t expect to hear that, so Iczer-1 suggests that she have some faith in her own potential. Rachel agrees: she’s certain that Alice will be able to handle the Straybird when it shows up again. Furthermore, Iczer-1 reminds her, we’ll all be there to help so she shouldn’t see this as a fight she’ll need to face alone.
Indeed, Iczer-1 ponders that she also has her own rival to defeat – Iczer-2 is out there and we’ve no idea when she might strike again. And, for that matter, the Cthulhu have been strangely quiet since their last assault. What could Big Gold be planning?
Rest of our folks are at a park near JUDA, playing with some miniature practice bots (though Kouji’s having a hard time controlling is, crashing into Boss). Shinji’s not too sure about giving that a try, but Misato suggest he go for it. Everyone needs to have some fun, and Rei, of all people, taking part in the game. Why not follow her example?
Shinji’s a bit surprised, asking the girl if she knows how to control these things. Her answer is a short denial – she might still be angry over what he said about Gendou. Ru DID say he didn’t have anything to worry about, but yeah…
Shizuru sees that folks are starting to get the hang of the bots, but that’s no reason to relax – they can still get hurt if they mess around too much. And once everyone’s ready, we’ll be moving to a game of soccer WITH the practice bots! Kenji asks why, and she says it’ll both help them adapt more easily in case they need to switch units and, also, bolster teamwork.
Hyouma and Kosuke can see that training like this is how she managed to handle the Godannar as quickly as she did, but what Kenji wants to know is why she brought out this soccer thing. He’s only just now figured out how to get the bot moving right. Not so with Anna, though, who’s been working with these things since she started training and is an old hand at manning them!
But, wait, Hiyoshi objects, doesn’t that mean that any team with Anna’ll have a big advantage? Not quite, as Shizuru promises to enter the other team as a way to keep things balanced.
Noin looks on at how much Shizuru’s putting on her plate, Zechs figuring she’s doing this to offset her deficiencies with the Godannar, help Anna train, relax our crew and improve ourselves all in one stroke. What’s bugging Misato is how much JUDA’s rolling in cash to be able to afford all these training robots.
She’s actually a bit jealous – maybe they could send some of those big bucks to NERV? The budget they get from the Japanese government sure doesn’t cover all they need. Odd, as Zechs would expect the organization responsible for preventing the Third Impact to be rolling in it.
The Dannar and Build Bases don’t get a lot of kickbacks, either, but Misato still finds it strange how especially unfriendly the Japanese government is to NERV. Maybe it’s due to Gendou’s abrasive personality?
Noin isn’t too sure, inwardly thinking that there could be people who don’t want NERV growing too strong, and, thus, keep their cash flow limited. That’s not Logos, mind, as she’s heard those guys have cut all contact with NERV for some reason.
Misato was actually hoping to get some info out of this exchange, but quietly sees that no one’s talking. Or could it be that these old Preventer agents don’t know anything about SEELE?
Some time later, training’s all done. Even Alice rushed on over to take part in it, and she explains to Chizuru that she wanted to get any pilot training she can. Ichitaka worries that she’s overworking herself since she already has so much to do, but Alice explains that Ru’s arrival reduced some of her workload. So, she has some new free time and figured she’d spend it with us.
Well, if she’s not pushing herself too hard, then there’s nothing wrong with that – we were just taken aback with how suddenly she arrived. Either way, Shizuru asks how everyone felt handling different units – difficult? Very much so to Ichitaka, who’s glad he could at least make do with the Rushbird.
Indeed, Kosuke agrees that while this was mostly a game, it’s clear that there’s a big difference when you’re running a simulator and actually piloting something. Alto himself managed to get around once he got the hang of it – maybe the princess is a training bot savant, Michel quips.
That’ll be all for today, then, and Shizuru asks everyone to keep what we’ve learned in mind as there’ll be more come tomorrow. Boss strikes a pose, saying he’s already looking forward to it – he’s always willing to learn – and, judging by the Combattler folks’ agreement, most of today’s team will be present tomorrow. For today, however, Shizuru still has some addition training with Anna, so they both take off.
Everyone’s beat, with Chizuru and Tsubaki already making a beeline for the bath with the rest of the girls. Kenji and Boss immediately smell the OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. What’re they grinning there for, Puria asks. Nothing, nothing! Certainly nothing naughty… oh, crap, Boss has a nosebleed.
Tetsuya can see their minds are going places, so he says the girls will have the private bath while Kenji and Boss stay at the public one. Mind you, Reiji’s already there so Tetsuya hopes they enjoy the scalding-hot water the guy goes for.
Kenji thought that was just a crazy rumor, but, nope, Kouichi took a dip once and it seriously felt like Hell. Perfect, says Tsubaki, as maybe the heat will help sterilize their dirty minds – Shizuna and the others will be relaxing plenty while they burn, though. Please waaaaaait!
Ranka’s songs can be heard playing throughout the dorms and Ichitaka sees that she’s really getting famous – lot of folks are talking about her at his school. Not just there, even, as Nagisa saw in the news that the whole world is coming down with Ranka Fever, even the Earth Alliance nations! Pretty impressive to Kouji that her music is crossing boundaries that words couldn’t.
Quatre warns against getting a prejudiced view of the Alliance nations, though, as while the military might be around Blue Cosmos’ tentacles, the civilians themselves are in no way as narrow-minded as them. Moreover, Kyo adds that there were plenty of countries that didn’t have a choice in whether they joined the Alliance or not (like Orb, for instance).
Hell, Miu figures the Alliance military could be talked to normally, but it’s the fear that fills their minds that takes away any room for dialogue. Sayaka would rather we drop this dark subject, and just be happy that Ranka’s music is finally getting around.
Luca himself is amazed at how fast she grew into a star, and Alto takes it to show that she’s the real deal – she wouldn’t have made it otherwise. Indeed, Johnny sees that she’s got it all going for her: she’s got real talent, the camera loves her and she has some major marketing force on her side.
As Aoi smirks at his businessman spirit still going strong, Johnny explains to Daiya that everything points to Ranka’s manager himself being someone who’s actually devoted to showing how great her music is to the world. Daiya remembers the old guy from before, and agrees that he had this spark in his eyes while he worked.
This talk reminds Kouji of how beautiful that island they filmed at was – he’d like to go back there once things calm down. Boss himself would like to see a sequel to that movie, still starring Ranka and with Sheryl making another theme for it… And, speaking of, what happened to Sheryl? Shizuna knows how big of a deal she is at the Frontier, so it’s very weird that she hasn’t done anything lately.
Ozma related that she was going to undergo some exams after returning to the Frontier, but she seemed well enough when she left us. Why hasn’t she been discharged yet? Maybe they’re just being cautious and having her take an extended rest, Nagisa wonders.
Yui calls in right then, for Alto, saying a video disk arrived for his group from Mishoshi Academy – it was sent by Nagisa (Kasumi) and Nanase.
So Alto plays the disk, Nagisa greeting him, asking if everyone’s doing fine, and immediately scaring our Nagisa with how much she looks like her. At least now she sees why Michel and the others were so confused when they first met her. Nanase chimes in, reporting how Ranka told them of how hard we’re working down on Earth and how it’s totally a flu that’s kept us from coming back (Luca gets all wistful at the sight of her).
Seems that Ranka cooked up a story to avoid outing Alto and co as mercs, and while the girls wanted to get in touch with us directly, civilians are currently forbidden from contacting Earth – thus, the video disk.
And, as a special guest for this, they’ve called in Ranka to leave a message as well! She’s doing fine herself, as is her work, though she’s a bit sad she can’t see Alto; after Nagisa reminds her, Ranka notes that she went to see Sheryl and the girl looked bored out of her skull. So, she’d like to ask Alto to record a video himself to help cheer her up.
Oh, and since we “know” some of those LOTUS guys and they’re friends with Sheryl, maybe he could ask them to join in on that? And that’s it for the call, Alto and the others saddened to hear that Sheryl’s still hospitalized. Megumi can see how she, a singer unable to sing, would be bummed out – she’s in the same situation as Goh, Tetsuya Kouji sees. Alto better get to it right away, he thinks.
And it’s time to check in with Djibril again, who proclaims himself to not be the kind of man that gets hung up on the past – doesn’t mean there isn’t a limit to his patience regarding Neo’s string of failures, though.
He understands that losses are inevitable in war as the enemy can grow desperate, and sometimes thinks go awry… but orders are only given out because their success is necessary, and they must be accomplished. Neo says he understands, in which case he better start producing some results – else Logos’ plans will start going south.
Now, regarding his next mission, they’ve just completed the construction of the Destroy Gundams, so they’ll be sending them his way. Had the Phantom Pain successfully taken out the Minerva back when they could, none of this would be necessary, but, fine, they’ll roll with it.
He’ll also be sending him the Gundam Heavy Arms – the pilot’s a loyal Blue Cosmos soldier – so Neo needs to get the western Eurasian front pacified NOW. He can do that, right? Inwardly, Neo ponders the two Destroys he’s getting; one will have to go to Sting, and the other will inevitably have go to Stella who an “agent” rescued at Diokia.
Oh, what an unpleasant job he has.
Cut to Kiriyama Heavy Industries, where the CEO’s conferring with a suspiciously Katou-like portrait. Jinrais have been deployed in bases throughout the country, so they’re ready to proceed to the next phase.
Indeed, all preparations are complete and they’re poised to take action at the appointed time – they’ll soon free this country all those incompetent politicians and bureaucrats! The speaker will be looking ward to it.
And, uh oh, Domyoji is here and Kiriyama tells him to make ready to deploy – he’ll be leading the Jinrai troops. Domyoji is very grateful, while Kiriyama is busy counting his chickens: “Soon I shall rise to be the leader of this nation. Hmhmhmhm…”
*BASH!*
: That’s it! Now put some “oomph” into it!
: Yes, ma’am!: Hesitation makes you an easy read! Have faith in yourself and attack!: Yes, ma’am!: And keep an eye on how fast the Plasma Drive’s turning! You won’t be able to combine with how it is right now!: I’m sorry, ma’am!: If you’ve got time to apologize, then concentrate on your handling!: Yes, ma’am!!: Here we go! Drive Change, GO!: Drive Cha— WAAAAH!!*BOOM!*
: And the combination’s a failure… both units are trashed.: I’m so sorry! I’ve been screwing this up so much…: No, this one’s on me – I ran my mouth for too long. And I think this is enough for today. Good work.: Thank you very much!*Anna takes off.*
: …Whew, alright. I could also use a breather, I think…
: …: Mira? What are you doing here?: … Hard at work until late, huh?: Anna’s the one who’s been working hard – I’m just lending her a hand.: Hm…: She’s really giving this all she’s got, likely hoping to bring some peace of mind to Goh with it.: … I’ve been bringing dinner to Goh’s room these past days, but he won’t even say a word to me.: Reminds me of how he was five years ago after he lost you… Actually, no, it’s not that bad right now.: Huh…: Back then, it was like life had lost all meaning to him. He’d wake up, eat, and go to bed… that was all he did every day. He was dead in almost every sense of the word. : … He really loved you with all his heart.: Goh…: But, before anyone realized it, he met that darling girl and even got married… Her strength played a major role in helping him go back to who he was.: … Five years that are a blank to me, but where so much happened to him.: Mira…: Did I lose him in those five years…?: … You’ll be fine. I, on the other hand, didn’t even try fighting in the first place.: Shizuru…: Actually… I just didn’t have the courage to fight – the courage to speak what I felt out loud…: And that’s why I’ve decided to help Anna become an even better pilot than me. Then I’ll be able to make peace with everything.: That’s why you’re doing all this for her…?: …Ah, never mind. Forget I said anything, alright? If Anna got wind of that, I’d lose all respect as her teacher.: (I… I don’t think I could be like you, Shizuru…)*Alert!*
: The alarms?!*Beep!*
: We’ve an emergency! Mimetic Beasts have been sighted at the industrial complex by the Dannar Base! LOTUS is to deploy immediately! Repeat…: Urgh, and here I was hoping to get a shower and some sleep…!: Let’s get going, Shizuru!
Mission 14 – Nighttime Deathmatch
Misato is NOT happy with these things interrupting her beauty sleep (that’s gonna give her wrinkles!); Kenji himself is having a hard time moving with how much his burnt skin stings, but Kouji suggests he be glad that’s all he ended up getting. He oughta to check in with Alice once this is over.
Letting this industrial complex get trashed would have far reaching consequences, so Reiji commands us to deal with the Mimetic Beasts before that. Shizuru’s eager to wrap this up fast and Tetsuya Kouji’s got her back. Goh himself is cheering Anna on, and she’s ready to get to work.
Don’t lose the ships, Shizuru or Anna. This mission’s pretty simple, though the few water areas might some Mimetic Beasts a bit hardier (but that’s why we have Daiya and Kenji around).
I’ll be sending about 1/3 of my troops down SE to deal with the things, but the remaining will stay up here for what’s to come. In hindsight, this was my inner Skill Point voice telling me to rush, but I reckon the simpler (albeit slower) way would simply be to park my guys at the NE corner and let the mobs come to us.
Regardless, this still isn’t too dangerous (especially if your vanguard guys are immune the EN drain).
Player Phase!
Fast forward a full turn and our guys are here. I sent the Valkyries, Voltes, Combattler, Zechs and Iczer-1 over.
That’s one of her, Michel, Dick and Shizuna.
The plot’ll kick in when we get the mooks under 15.
Enemy Phase!
And Dick’s team takes a pummeling, though nothing TOO bad. On the flip side, they take 4 kills, while Hyouma and Zechs take another – that pushes us past the threshold.
Another batch of Mimetic Beasts pop out of the woodwork, much to Tetsuya and Mira’s annoyance. Ichitaka hopes that’s the last of them, but in comes new heat signals. More of them? No, it’s Ken and Lou (Anna isn’t happy that she’s still with him), and he immediately charges after a specific Mimetic Beasts.
The thing readily slaps him away, but Ken is undeterred: “This sensation… You may change your form, but I can tell who you are! I have long waited for this day!” Ken’s been searching for this particular Beast for a long time.
Shizuru’s just about to move after him when Kiriko phones in and tells us to keep away: we cannot risk stimulating his fighting instincts recklessly. Goh sees where this is going, and, indeed, the ferocity he’s displaying right now means he runs the risk of triggering the Rabid Syndrome. And if he loses control, there’ll be no stopping him.
Kurara and Aoi figure she means what happened with Moukaku, so Reiji tells everyone to focus solely on the Mimetic Beasts. We’re to minimize our attacks at the Menage Zero as much as we can.
Our objective now is to kill the Type 18 Mimetic Beast, and it’s not actually that more of a threat than the regular ones.
It only has 13.3k HP, and nothing to fall back on. That said, you’ll want to have plenty of morale to go around by the time you kill it.
The new Beasts are mostly moving in, while our southern detachment is hard at work: Ozma takes another kill.
Mind you, Lou and Ken won’t attack us either, so be careful they don’t steal your kills.
Player Phase!
Off go our sniper boys.
Yamashita doesn’t hit quite as hard, unfortunately.
Underwater mooks means Daiya gets to lead the charge, while Ichitaka and Aoi each take one of the flying Beasts by our ships.
Survivors are promptly hunted down, lest Ken take them.
Bam.
Oh, and down south, I’m having Combattler take the front with Iron Wall. His and Shizuna’s boosted HP will all but guarantee the AI comes running and their immunity to debuffs makes for prime tanking material.
While Alto and Ozma’s teams both take some weakened targets, Zechs follows up on the Voltes crew.
Alright.
Jeeg’s combined weapons work just fine against underwater targets, mind, so he can very easily oneshot these.
Oh, why not? Reiji and Kouichi’s teams are dodgy enough.
And that’s three kills for Jeffrey.
Enemy Phase!
And the AI sticks to the plan perfectly. The southern group SWARMS Hyouma, he and Shizuna raking in a total of 7 kills. Iczer-1 takes two, while Zechs takes in another one.
Oh, and this guy decides to go after Ozma just because.
That’s one for him and Luca. And, by the by, Daiya just took another 3 underwater mooks up top.
Ken’s plinking away at stuff.
Player Phase!
And that’s pretty much game for us. Only a handful of mooks are left, and they easily fall to Kouichi, Jeeg, Daiya and Aoi. Now we’ll wreck the Type 18 and get things moving.
Here comes the moneeeeeeeey!
: The new Mimetic Beast has started to regenerate!
: Psh, the thing’s as much of a pain as the rest of ‘em!
: Stay away from that one! It is mine! HAAAAH!*Ken moves after the Type 18.*
: The only thing my blade cannot slice is myself! ROSAAAAAA!
: What the—! A robot came out of it?!
: That Beast had something like that inside of it…?!
: What is that bot…?
: It belonged to someone very dear to Ken.
: Someone dear to him?
: … And he’s been searching for it all this time?: We meet again at last, Celleblader. How have I waited for this moment… If only I could see you again, Rosa…: … … Lou, do you think you can pilot it?: Ah?: We cannot well leave it here. Will you pilot it or not?: … I will!*Lou moves over to the Celleblader.*
: … Sorry, Diver, dad…
: This is the machine of Ken’s beloved… Here we go, Celleblader!: Let us combine, Lou!: Aye, aye! Celleblader, GO!!: Blade Gainer – Twin Drive!!
: Th-They combined?!: HAAAAH! DIIIIIEEEEEE!!
: Wow…: That’s how strong he actually is…?!: Haah… Haah… Rosa… I’ve finally, finally crushed it… Urk…grgh…GWAAAAAH!: Ken?!: ?! Something’s wrong with him!: Is that… Did he trigger the Rabid Syndrome?!: Oh, no! Anna, get away from there!
: GRAAAAAAAH!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBwc_WtlUqo
: Shizuru!: A-An…na…
: Shizuru, is something wrong?!: Her mental graphs are all dipping!: Captain, recover the Dannar! I’m headed to the hangar!
: Daiku Maryu, full speed forward!
: Shizuru! Shizuru, you alright?!
: …
: She’s passed out… I’ll get her to the infirmary.: Dr. Franklin… take care of her, please.: I will. Leave it to me.: Menage Zero… you’ll pay for this!
: We’re going, Dannar!: Goh, you’re…!: Goh, get back immediately! You cannot fight!: No… I need to settle this with my own two hands!: And what will you do if you also fall to the Rabid Syndrome?!: I’ll take care of this before it comes to that!: Anna, stop him! That’s an order!: Please don’t, Anna! If you love me as my wife, then you won’t do that!: Stop him! Now!: Even if I tried to stop him, I doubt he’d listen! Best way out of this is to settle things quickly so he can get back!: And we’re bring Lou along with us!: Took the words out of my mouth.: Mr. Moritsugu!
: … I haven’t the authority to stop him. If anything happens, I shall take full responsibility and handle it accordingly.
: Oof, now that’s cold.: Alice, can I ask you to keep a close eye on Goh for any signs of the Insania Virus?
: Yes, sir!: And Ms. Kizaki, I am counting on you to provide tactical insight to both minimize damage to the compound and the duration of this battle.: Copy that.
: We’ll help you too!: Hrm…!: I suppose all we can do is pray that the virus doesn’t go active… Attack, all of you!: I’m sorry, mom!
: We gotta make this the quickest showdown in history, then!
: And we’ll pay back what he did to Shizuru twice as hard!: This all ends today!: I… I’ll kill you all!!
Blade Gainer Twin Drive Mode (Ken, Lou Roux)
Pilot Skills:
Sword Cut
Break Morale Limit (気力限界突破 – morale limit increased to 170)
Predict
Prevail L9
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Crazy-ass Ken is bulky as hell with that Prevail L9 and is, by a significant margin, the hardest-hitting enemy we’ve found. That being said, he’s not too dangerous because he still suffers from his original problem of very limited range: 1-3 is his best, and many of our guys can reach beyond that.
Do note that he’ll be very hard to dispose of if you let him take a dip in water, so draw him out if that’s the case.
Let’s get right into it.
Can’t believe it took me three whole games to get some Akira Kushida going here! : Take a look, Goh! I’ll take this guy out, and bring both Lou and some peace to you!: You, defeat me?! Don’t make me laugh! The likes of you are no match to the Blade Gainer!
: … I can’t be beaten. I cannot show myself defeated, not to Goh, not to her…!: I see the doubt festering in your heart…. You’ll inflict not even a single wound on me in that state!: I’ve no doubts about how I feel…!
: Bring it on, Menage Zero! I’m here to wreck heinous baddies like you!: You amuse me… But I haven’t the time to play with you!
: How dare you hurt Shizuru so, Menage Zero! I’ll make you pay for that even if I have to succumb to the Rabid Syndrome!: Your resolve also runs that deep, hm…? As you wish. I’ll face you in earnest out of respect for that!
Goh: “I’m taking Lou back, Blade Gainer!”
: No… I’m not done yet!: Ken, that’s enough!: Don’t talk back to me!: !: Please… Lou… Let me… fight to the end…: Ken…: UWOOOOOO!!
: GAAH!!: Goh!*Anna moves after him.*
: Stay away! I won’t let you hurt him!: Anna, don’t! I… I couldn’t bear to lose you!: Oh, Goh… what would you do without me? You would forget to change your socks, you’d be scarfing down sweets, waltzing around naked after taking a bath…: You’d oversleep all the time if I wasn’t there to wake you up, too! You… You can’t do anything without me!: Anna…: Which is why I wouldn’t die like this. I still have so much to help you with throughout our lives! So, I… I’ll always be here with you!: …: (She’s the one Goh leans on today… If I hadn’t died five years ago, that might’ve been me…): Then… you’ll die together!: Goh, let’s combine!: Alright! Drive Change, GO!
: Dannar, ON!: Revolver, OPEN!
: Godannar – Twin Drive!
: Yeah! They got their twin drive going!: (I want nothing but for the one I love to be happy… Goh living a long life, finding someone new and being happy with her are all in line with that…): (So why… why does it hurt so much…?): We’ll put an end to this before the Plasma Drive reaches its limit!: You got it!: DEEYAAAAA!!: HAAAAAAH!!
: They did it…!
: It’s like he never left the pilot seat…: Guh…!: Ken!: Lou, I’m sorry…: Don’t. I chose this…
: W-Wait! You’re not— Urk!: Goh?!: I-I’m fine. Don’t worry about it…!: Are you sure, Saruwatari?: Yeah, it’s nothing!
: You’re not pulling our leg, are you? You know what you’re not supposed to go too far here.: I told you, I’m fine! Have some faith in me!
: Goh…: Now let’s go…! I’ll take out every one of these monsters!: Goh…
Done!
That’s all Mimetic Beasts confirmed destroyed, and Goh’s looking pretty tired. He’s sweating a lot, too. Alice isn’t detecting the Insania Virus coming active yet, but Goh isn’t 100% fine either. Kiriko calls Goh and Anna back to the Dannar Base to run some exams right away.
Anna apologizes to Reiji for having to take off like this, but he doesn’t mind – actually, he already expected this. Ichitaka hopes Goh’ll be fine, but at least Sayaka points out the silver lining that he didn’t trigger the Rabid Syndrome.
Indeed, Michel figures our main concern now should be Shizuru – he fears she had a concussion or something. Tetsuya Kouji is sure she’ll be up and about real soon, though.
At the Dannar Base, the exams have already come in: Goh’s body is showing signs of tremendous stress equivalent to the Rabid Syndrome. While his mental fortitude is holding for now, Kiriko knows there’s a limit to that. So what will happen to him? Well, he should stabilize if he gets plenty of rest, but if the Insania Virus flares up again, he’ll go full-on Rabid Syndrome and it’ll be impossible for him to recover.
All in all, Kiriko tells Anna that Goh can NOT pilot the ever Dannar again – it’s the only way to save his life. Kagemaru steps in, reporting that they’ve recovered the Cosmo Diver and that they could transfer it over to LOTUS for us to use. There’s the matter of who’d pilot it, and while Kiriko would normally choose Shizuru, she’s already manning the Dannar.
On cue, Franklin calls the Base with news: while Shizuru’s still alive, her situation is critical. Honestly, he doesn’t know if she can be saved and, even if that happens, she’s in a coma and her chances of coming out of it aren’t looking good.
The news hits Anna hard, knowing Shizuru’s in that state because she shielded her…
: …: Shizuru… Why…!: This has gotta be some sick joke...! You’re saying she might never open her eyes again?!: Her internal wounds were far greater than the external ones. I’ve done all that I can, but…: But… maybe you got your diagnosis wrong, right, Doc? Right?!
: She… She said she was going to continue our training tomorrow…
: You can’t go back on your word, Shizuru! Damn it, why’s any of this happening?!: Damn it… that son of a bitch, Menage Zero…!: (Shizuru… What will Anna do without you around…?)*Door opens.*
: Shizuru!: …: This… This is my fault…! If I was better at controlling the Goh Okusaer, none of this would’ve happened… I… I… AAAAAAH!!
: Anna…: Shizuru… Shizuru… I’m sorry…!*Door opens.*
: Pull yourself together, Anna. This comes as a heavy blow to everyone, not just you.
: Professor, how’s Goh?: …: Don’t do this to us, Prof… Nothing happened to him too, right?!: … He’s fine, somehow. But there’ll be no going back if he has another outbreak.: What…? The Insania Virus has grown that strong?!: It’s only his strong mind that’s kept him from breaking.: It’s all because of me… I should have stopped him, or fought harder, or, or…!
: Anna... We all did everything we could out there.: And while I know that won’t make you feel any better, beating ourselves over what happened won’t bring Shizuru back. : Guys…
At the Daiku Maryu’s bridge, Goh’s back and apologizes for the worry him rushing out with the Dannar caused us. He’s being allowed to continue with us as part of our advisory team, but he’ll need to take it easy. Ichitaka’s relieved, as losing Goh would’ve hit him hard.
There are still no prospects on a cure of the Rabid Syndrome, Franklin and Rosa sigh, despite the fact that JUDA and all other major scientific institutes working to try and find something. It might be a while until any breakthroughs, unfortunately.
But another problem comes in right then: “Captain Lulu, we’ve an emergency transmission from JUDA!” Emi yells. The scene ends as Lulu takes the call.