Part 50: Mission 19 - Assault at Aso
Back again, and Kenji’s previous event deployment really helped him close the gap with Ichitaka.
Few more HP, Armor, EN and Accuracy upgrades to our Supers like the Nagahamas, Daiya, Shinji, etc.
As for Skill Parts, Kenji gets Ignore Size Difference, Daiya starts building up on Infight and Iczer-1 takes Counter to take advantage of her massive Skill stat.
And the Jeeg units are all still event deployments, so our teams haven’t changed:
Shinji/Quatre
Daiya/Yanma
Kouichi/Rei
Ichtiaka/Mil
Kouji/Puria
Iczer-1
Ozma/Luca
Alto/Michel
Tetsuya/Canaria
Domyoji/Athrun
Shinn/Klan
Heine/Anna
Zechs/Noin
Rey/Luna
Voltes/Mira
Combattler/Deceive
Dancouga/Yamashita
Dick/Jack
Forward!
We open up by Aso, with Kenji feeling Himika nearby. He and Baruba are still on the hunt.
At Build Base, Une is relating the far-reaching effects of Durandal’s speech. The people are, indeed, very cross with Logos for triggering this war and nations the world over are setting their forces to hunt them down. From reports Une’s receiving, members of Logos are being arrested as we speak and the organization is rapidly losing power.
The same can be said for the Earth Alliance which is crumbling – all nations that joined in, willingly or not, are leaving. That’s good news for us, Goh figures, but there’s still a problem in that we haven’t been able to find Djibril. And he still has Relena, who we’ll need to go rescue eventually. That said, Une wants us to focus on rescuing Kyo and Tsubaki right now.
Misato and Shiba both figure Himika took Tsubaki in order to use her powers as Priestess to extract the Bronze Bell from the old Jeeg’s head. Letting the Jama Kingdom gain access to that kind of power’ll have us facing a repeat of the battle fifty years ago, so Une wants it handled pronto.
As she ends the call, Zechs ponders that it’ll apparently be left to us to personally bury Lord Djibril.
By the infirmary, Ichitaka’s being told that we’ve no idea what happened with Alice. The staff simply doesn’t have enough data or time to figure it out, even with Kosuke and the others helping. Way Canaria sees it, we’re better off waiting until we’re back in JUDA to get Rachel and Maki in on this.
Alice has recovered from her crash, apologizing that she couldn’t come up with anything else back then. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. You wouldn’t have needed to pull that crazy stunt if I’d been stronger,” Ichitaka immediately says.
As for why she overheated and blacked out, she just couldn’t handle the strain of both controlling the flow of energy and doing the math to create a localized dimensional distortion. But it was only thanks to Ichitaka and Grife that the idea ever came to her, so she thanks him for it.
From what Kosuke’s seen, what she did was set the Rushbird’s input-output devices to operate at a very specific balance. Since they work by interacting with energy in subspace, she was able to trigger a temporary breakdown of the dimensional boundary.
In essence, she explains, it was like uniting plus and minus, fire and ice. This show Grife used to watch saw a similar event happen, where opposing forces were used in conjunction to create a brand new phenomenon. So, she figured the Rushbird would be capable of doing something to that effect. The calculations to make it happen were too much, of course.
A call comes in right then, and it seems we’re all deploying. Alice tells Canaria that she’s good to go – no problems at all – and Ichitaka wants to make up for letting Kenji run off on his own. We WILL be bringing both Tsubaki and Kyo home safely!
Kouji and the others got a pin on Kenji and found him headed into Aso’s underground. That’s gotta be where we’ll find Himika along with our friends.
Shiba gives us the go-ahead to deploy, as we both need to rescue the captives and make sure Himika doesn’t get her hands on the Bronze Bell.
Mission 19 – Assault at Aso
: Jama jamal dara jamal dara, meki mekimi dara mekimi dara...! Before long, your powers will be at my disposal!
: Kch...!
: Found you, Himika!: These rats dare enter my domain… Ikima!
: By your will!
: Outta my way! I ain’t playing around today!: Your bravado won’t help, Steel Jeeg! Come and behold the might of the Jama Kingdom!: Zip it! Give me Tsubaki and Kyo back!: Kenji…!: Tsubaki, you OK?! I’ll be there in a sec!: Huh…? Kyo ain’t there?! What’d you do with him?!: Who knows? But that’s hardly any concern for someone who’ll be a rotting carcass soon!: You’re not getting rid of me just like that! Let’s do this, Baruba!
: Grrooowwr!
Don’t lose Kenji or it’s game over. Evasion decay means that even with his massive evasiveness, he WILL get destroyed if you let the enemy swarm him, so let’s not do that.
Just pull him back a few to draw the enemy in and get a few shots while at it.
Enemy Phase!
Oh, that was actually right at the edge of Ikima’s range… blah.
: Kyo, where are you?! KYO!: Damn it, just hold on! I promise I’ll find you, and then all three of us’ll go home together!
That’s fine. As the Boya Kaengus start coming in, Kenji kills three.
Player Phase!
: Kenji, are you alright?!: G-Guys!
: Hey, you got any idea how worried you had us?!
: I’m just glad we got here in time!: Alright, then listen up. I still dunno where Kyo’s at, so let’s go and at least get Tsubaki to safety!
: …! Kyo’s…
: Got it. Then we’ll wreck these Haniwas real quick and look around for him!
: We’ll begin our rescue operation immediately! Good luck, troops!
Can’t lose the ships or Yagyuu either. This mission’s pretty much a repeat of the last one, only with more enemies to deal with. The amount of stuff means you’re recommended to watch your SP more than you usually do, so command auras are at a premium (remember that Jack and Yagyuu have it, too, so it’s not just Ozma and the ships).
The quantity of enemies also mean that you should keep a closer eye on any Super not packing a barrier or Iron Wall, as a mob of Haniwas can be rather dangerous if you head in too far. And, of course, you ought to be mindful of the Dai Kaengus draining your SP at point blank range.
Ikima’s closest, so you might as well get rid of him ASAP once your morale is going. After that, just spread out. And, FYI, try to move your crew up north as a group since folks lagging behind may be in a spot of trouble once Ikima is down.
With all that said, let’s fast forward since I play rather safely to conserve SP.
: Jeeg’s head is right around the corner. We do this right, and we might have a shot at it as well!
: What’s up? Use that barrier you had before, why don’t you! I feel like wrecking that thing!: A very transparent taunt. Are you trying to distract me?: Psh, he didn’t fall for it. Fine…: But I gotta make up for the trouble I caused the others, so I’ll tangle with you some!
: You guys’ve been making a mess of things for decades now, and it’s time to pay the piper!
: If we leave folks like you around, that’ll only mean more families getting broken up!: I’ll take that as a compliment. There is no greater joy to me than carrying out Her Majesty’s cause!
: The Giant of Flames, enemy of the Darius… I think you’ll be a bit of an amusing match.: Sorry, gramps. I’m here to rescue my friends, so I’m wrapping this up lickety-split!
: We’ve been doing this for WAY too long, Ikima! Haniwas oughta stay where they belong: six feet under! : I think not, Kouji Kabuto, for it is today, on this very land, where both Bronze Bells shall be ours!
: You only waste your time fighting us. We have the girl and the Bronze Bell squarely under our control. There will be no victory for you!: And you think that’s gonna convince me to ditch my friends? I’m fighting to the bitter end, and will be leaving with both Kyo and Tsubaki safe!
: Curse you, humans! CURSE YOU ALL!!
: Defeat is the only way this is ending for you! Accept it!: I refuse to sully Her Majesty’s sight with such disgrace! Uoooh!!
: Whaat?!: That’s quite the tenacity he has.: What, he put his ship back together with just “tenacity”?!: DIIIEE, JEEEEEG!!
: Uurgh!
: All of Jeeg’s energy readings are dropping!: Kenji, you OK?!: BWAHAHAHA! Do you see it now, Jeeg! This is the power bestowed unto us by Her Majesty!: Hrm! I ain’t losing this…! I… I’m gonna protect Tsubaki even if it takes my life!!: GROOOWR!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06fnctLxJxI
Kenji: “Outta my way, Ikima! I’m gonna save Tsubaki!!”
: Is he down now?!: How’dya like that, Ikima!: I-Impossible…!: Retreat at once, Ikima!: Urk…! Please forgive me, Your Majesty!
: The enemy carrier has retreated!
: The barrier surrounding Tsubaki is disappearing!*Kenji runs towards Himika’s altar.*
: And you’re next, Himika! We’re taking Tsubaki back with us!
: Hmhmhm… Surely you jest! My spell has already bound her!: What?!: And now, girl, I shall put your powers to great use!
: …!: Tsubaki! Pull yourself together, Tsubaki!: This time, Hiroshi Shiba’s Bronze Bell will be mine! Haaaah!
: Hey! The Bronze Bell’s!
: What happened?!
: …
: Look, there’s a man on the ground!: Hiroshi Shiba?!: AHAHA! At long last, it is mine! And, with it, the lot of you are as mere infants before me! Haaah!!
: Wh-What the?!: What is it, Kenji?!: I… I can’t move Jeeg!: I shall rip out your own Bronze Bell as well, Steel Jeeg!: We gotta do something or Kenji’ll be in big trouble! Cover him, folks!: You shall not interfere…! Rise, soldiers of the Underworld!
Aay, Kenji got a swanky new move: Baruba Jeeg is VERY strong, beating out the Mach Drill by a huge 800 points. It’s costly at 50 EN and only usable at point blank, but it’ll tear through everything.
… Or he would, but Kenji’s immobilized, weakened, with a bunch of angry mooks right there. I hope you have some Supers available to draw their attention or you might be in trouble! Just keep on killing in the meantime.
: Jama jamal dara jamal dara, meki mekimi dara mekimi dara...!: ...
: Grraaaargh!: Kenji!
: UWAAAAH!!
: Jeeg’s reverted back into the Raikouba?!
: Does that mean… she took his Bronze Bell?!*RUMBLE!*
: What’s going on?!: Hmhmhm…HAHAHAHAHA!
: What just happened?! I can’t move the Voltes!
: Come on, move, Linebarrel!: The Daiku Maryu too…!
: Shizuka!
: The flame’s burning just fine, but our output’s stunted!
: What in blazes…! Is that the Bronze Bells at work?!: Hmhmhm! AHAHAHA! And now I finally have both Bronze Bells! : I’ve no longer any use for this girl! I’ll obliterate her, along with Hiroshi Shiba and the Jeeg brat! And humanity will soon follow! AHAHAHAHAHA!!: Damn it…! Tsubaki! Open your eyes!: …: DIE!
: That’s enough!: …?!
: It’s been a very long time, Himika!: Kyo!
: You’re alright!: Hmph… all makes sense now. You were leading them from the shadows, I see. However, your reappearance comes far too late!: As I said before, that’s enough out of you!
: What?!: Kyo’s turned into a giant?!: Kyo… you’ve finally…
: I apologize for keeping you all in the dark. This is my real form.: I am an alien, one that arrived on Earth during ancient times. My real name is Takeru… : Whaat?! The hell’s going on?!: There were other aliens who traveled to Earth besides the Darius…?!: But, unfortunately, we’ve little time to speak. Kenji, now is the time for you and Tsubaki to take each other’s hands!: Wait, hold up there! I’m not getting anything you’re saying!: Tsubaki’s the priestess of Azabu’s Tamashiro Shrine, which has long safeguarded our bloodline. Of all the people in this world, she is the one true heiress to our will. : While you are the one who’s inherited the power to safeguard that will itself… And when both your powers are combined, a miracle will occur!: Slow down there! Are you—?!: “What is the Bronze Bell”… The way will open once you all understand its real significance! : Hmph! You waste your time! The Bronze Bells are both squarely in the palm of my hand!: Kenji, let me handle this! Go and take Tsubaki! … Take care of them, my friends.
: That’s… Captain! Our controls have been restored!
: Because of Kyo’s powers…?!
: Yak Deculture…!: This is all I can do for you. Come, Himika! Face me!: You mean to challenge me? Fool! I shall summon the Langoon forth and reduce this planet to dust! This shall be your communal grave! Haaah!!
*Rumble!*
: What?!*Beep, beep!*
: It’s… a dimensional distortion just popped up!: And the cave is falling apart due to the tremor! We’re going to be buried alive at this rate!
: Damn you, Himika… You couldn’t immobilize us, so now you’ll just try to crush us all?!: Ahahaha! See to it that they meet their end here, Amaso, Mimashi!
: Wait! Himika!!
: Kenji, get Tsubaki and Hiroshi aboard the Raikouba! I’m coming to pick you up!: Alright!
: Build Angel here! All friendlies successfully recovered!: OK, now we need to get out ASAP…
: Oh, no, you don’t!
: Crap, our way out!
: You won’t be getting away, humans!
: Himika’s ordered us to bury you all here!: Hrm! Then our only option is to force our way through them! Hurry!
: A desperate escape from a collapsing cave… Now that’s exciting!: We’re sending you the coordinates to our escape route, troops! You’ll have to escort our ships over there!
: Skull Leader to all units! We only need to have one of our motherships to escape and victory’ll be ours! Focus all your fire on clearing the road for them!: We dunno when this place’ll come crashing down, so we better move quick!: (Only reason I’m still alive is because of you, Kyo… Don’t die on me, man…!)
I really don’t know if there’s an actual time limit, but the game says there isn’t. So, while you COULD wrap this up by driving any ship to the escape point, there are also plenty of enemies around and they’d make for a hefty payout.
They’ll all blocking our way, too, so you might as well take them all out. It’ll be slow-ish, but worth it.
: We cannot let Kyo’s resolve go to waste! Lend me your strength, Nagisa!
: Y-You got it!
: Stay frosty, Mido, Saotome! Our mission’s to get Hiroshi and the rest to safety!: Yes, ma’am! I’ll drop anything that gets too close!: Hey, what’dya mean “And the rest”?! What am I, cargo?!: She didn't mean it like that, idiot, so shut your noise hole!: Glad you’re at least doing okay… And we’ll make sure everyone gets out of here like that! 
Even more Haniwas crop out the woodwork – a small courtesy, to make sure we’ve company once we’re all buried. Mimashi hopes that’ll keep us satisfied.
Not. Zechs tells us to ignore whatever enemies we can and make for the exit, lest we exhaust ourselves.
I was hoping this would be one of them “endless reinforcements” situations, but it actually isn’t. No more enemies will show up, so just kill these and carry on.
: Kyo, you better come back…! I don’t buy for one second that you’d leave us like that!
: Remember what Ozma said: if we can just have our flagships make it out, the rest’ll fall in place!: Yup! So all we gotta do is wreck the enemy blockade!
: I’m not one to run away, but getting buried alive’d be game over for everyone!: And Kyo also asked us to help Kenji and Tsubaki make it out safe!
: Quickly, Aoi. The Dancouga and its firepower should be more than capable of plowing through the enemy’s lines.
: Folks in my family always said: “he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day”. : I don’t like it, but I guess we’ll stick to your family’s maxim just for today.
: If you’re hoping for an easy escape, think again. Face my full might and let the memory of it follow you to the grave!
: Rrrgh! Way the wind is blowing, I…!
: Heheheh… Dealing with the other humans will be so easy if we just kill you all right here. : And, then, the world will be our oyster! DIIEE!!
: Geeeh! Why’d this have to happen?!
: Notify our troops that we’ve broken through the enemy lines. Tell them to either return to the ships or escape by themselves!
: Barely made it… Is everyone in one piece?
: They are. We’ve confirmed that all units made it out safely.: And Kyo?: We… cannot reach him.: …: Hm… ooh…: Tsubaki! You alright?!: I-I am, somehow…: Really?! Aah, that’s so good to hear! Seriously!: Thanks, Kenji. I kind of remember what happened… How you tried to save me…: Don’t worry about any of that right now. Just get some rest.: Okay…: Let’s head back to Build Base for now. Better to be safe and have Tsubaki and Hiroshi get examined.*Beep!*
: Are you all safe, my friends?: Commander, we’ve news for you. The original Steel Jeeg, who’d been MIA for fifty years, is with us… We’ve rescued Hiroshi Shiba.: …! 
: …
: …
: You’re safe now. Your vision might be blurry at the moment, but don’t worry. You’ll be seeing just fine soon.: You haven’t changed at all, huh, dad.: Hey, now, it’s been fifty years. I’ve changed plenty.: Did you? The way I see it… you’re the same as ever… You too, Micchi…: …! Hiroshi, I…: You look well.: Hiroshi…: I’m back, Micchi…
: I’ve waited for so long… to finally see you again…
: Kenji…: Heh… shame on me, huh? I managed to leave you behind just fine, but couldn’t actually do jack by myself. I saved Tsubaki and that guy, Hiroshi, and that’s fine and all… but I needed Kyo to bail me out.: Sorry, Ichitaka…. I don’t even know what to say about all that crap I gave you.: Don’t worry about it. I was in way over my head thinking I could’ve dragged you back by myself. : I kinda felt a bit worthless, too, after the whooping my bro gave me, so I know what you’re on about.: Well, the Bronze Bell getting stolen was real lame too. There’s a whole lot of big stuff’s going down, and the Raikouba ain’t turning into Jeeg…!*Door opens.*
: And it won’t turn, no matter how much you try.: You…! You’re the old…: Hiroshi Shiba. They’ve told me what happened during my fifty years of sleep… and about LOTUS, too.: That’s great, but what did you mean with “it won’t turn”?! Why can’t I transform into Jeeg?!: The Jeeg transformation is based around the Bronze Bell’s energy. It is the core, and without it, you’re going nowhere fast.: Whaat?! Then I can never transform again?!: Hm. And since Himika also stole my Bronze Bell, that applies to me too.: Aw, man...! What the hell are we gonna do, then?! The Jama Kingdom alone are growing a whole lot stronger and we’ve got our hands tied ‘round our backs?!: I didn’t know what to do back when I fought Himika either…: You…: “I’ve to beat her even if the price is my life…” All I remember from that battle was that that was fixated on my mind. : So I’ll try and think of a way to carry on fighting. You, yourself, should do the same. : Myself, huh…
So, later on, Shiba’s decided to call everyone around to explain what’s what with Kyo and Himika. Kenji has a bunch of questions, especially with the sudden reveal, and Micchi has another bomb to drop on him: the boy’s mom, Miya Kusanagi, was originally called Miyazu.
Yes, she was Kyo/Takeru’s sister, and an alien that’d arrived on Earth while humans had barely started to populate the planet – she and Kyo were responsible for first sealing away Himika and her peers, who would have brought ruin to Earth. After that, they both embarked on a deep sleep, until Shiba eventually uncovered them.
Tetsuya Kouji wonders if they went to sleep because they knew Himika and the others would eventually come back and wanted to settle things themselves. If that’s the case, Nagisa is blown away that they’d go to such lengths for a planet that wasn’t their own.
Shiba says it was due to a sense of responsibility, as it was their kind who gave life to Himika in the first place. Say what now? Iczer-1 explains: apparently, Kyo and Miyazu’s civilization at one point created them as warriors of destruction. They were sent to invade several other planets in the distant past.
Iczer-1 apologizes for keeping quiet about this, but Kyo only told her the truth as a safeguard in case he couldn’t tell us in person.
Whatever the case, Canaria sees the glaring similarity between the Himika’s group and the Zentradi, but, Luca notes, unlike the Protoculture, Kyo and Miyazu’s group apparently decided to keep their intervention with Earth’s own civilization to a bare minimum.
Shiba explains that they decided they couldn’t take over this beautiful world, instead choosing to live alongside the humans. Himika knew nothing but destruction, though, so she obviously wasn’t on board with that. They were left with no choice but to seal her away.
As for the Bronze Bells, one of which they’d entrusted to Hiroshi, Micchi says they are the control units for the spaceship Langoon that first brought Takeru, Miyazu and Himika here. Kenji remembers Himika mentioning that name, and the thing is very much a problem for us: so long as it exists, Himika and co. cannot die.
So, Ichitaka and Anna see, Himika stealing the Bronze Bells isn’t just a problem in that they can power themselves up: if they take control of the ship, they could turn themselves pretty much invincible.
Seems to Misato we need to find Kyo and go after Himika ASAP… which makes it very poor timing on Durandal’s part to call in with an emergency transmission right now. What could it be about, Talia wonders…