Part 11: Mission 4 - Enter the Giant of Flames
And we’re back, Hyouma and Iczer-1 having joined the team as our new top and second top aces. You may realize that Iczer-1 isn’t in the Robo – she, as a proper super android, can just fight on foot while Nagisa’s out. Her range isn’t as good as the Robo’s but she moves way faster, so she’ll do fine.
Oh, and she joins pre-loaded with 40% upgrades. My guess is to make up for her lack of Ignore Size difference to compensate for the damage hit she’ll take due to being SS sized?
Regardless, most of my cash went into getting the Combattler and Godannar up to speed.
We’ve seven slots for the upcoming mission, so here’s how we’re going:
Ichitaka/Miu
Jeeg/Kyo
Kouji/Yagyuu
Yamashita/Tetsuya
Iczer-1/Shizuru
Goh/Mira
Combattler/Deceive
The Godannar can Twin Drive at 130 morale, so having Mira nearby’ll spare the hassle of having to get her adjacent to Goh. Moreover, her Accelerate will help him tremendously.
Yamashita’s our only range-focused unit, so Tetsuya’ll give him a boost. I paired the Combattler and Deceive together just to make them both hardier – I’ll likely break this duo later. Iczer-1 got stuck with Shizuru for lack of option; could’ve been Boss but I’m still queasy over the thought of sending him into the front lines.
Off we go!
By the Darius world, deep underground…
: I must say, I am impressed. (Her name’s Proist.): Not only did you manage to steal the Tenku Maryu and Daichi Maryu from me, you’ve also mastered the Raiking and Vulking. Impressive, indeed.
: But you still have NO CHANCE IN HELL against my Chou Maryu Dvorak! 
: The Chou Maryu… that thing’s a monster! (Puria): No, it’s not! The Dvorak’s beautiful and it’s what’ll let me get payback on Garis and destroy all you surface worms!: And while it’s still not 100%, it’s still more than good enough to burn trash like you to cinders! Have a taste of the Dvorak’s power! DEATH FIRE!
*Peew, woop! Flash!*
: I-It can’t be… a Death Cross Point?! (Rosa)
: What the hell… how can its flames trigger a Death Cross by themselves…?! (Sakon)
: Damn, that’s a real major card she kept on her sleeve. (Lee): AHAHAHAHA! And I won’t stop with you! I’ll turn my sights on the surface itself and kill everyone that lives here!
: Psh. Now that ain’t something I’m gonna let happen, Chou Maryu or not! (Daiya): Excuse me…?
: However big the enemy we face, if all our hearts are united, then we will find a way to win! (Lulu)
: Daiya Tsuwabuki, I am no longer Proist’s puppet. If it takes my life to defeat her, then so be it! (Norza)
: I’m also ready to fight by your side. I’ve a debt to repay to Lee Jian-xing! (Vestanu): Norza, Vestanu, you blasted traitors!: But alright – I might as well get rid of you worthless worms here and now! Disappear along with the surfacers!: If anyone’s disappearing around here, it’s you, Proist! Lee, Norza, we’re hitting her together!: Aye, aye! Vulking, go!: Raiking, forward!
: Gwaaargh!: How do ya like that, Proist?!: Hrm! It might be far from complete but I’m still surprised you could damage the Dvorak!: And there’s more where that came from!: Haaaaah!!: What’s the matter, Proist? Your unit isn’t living up to its name.Quick tangent: Tenku Maryu and Daichi Maryu would be, literally, Sky Dragon and Earth Dragon, while the Chou Maryu would be something akin to Grand Dragon.
: Don’t get so full of yourselves, maggots…! And, actually, I just had a wonderful little idea! A way to both split your forces and carry on my plan to slaughter the surfacers!: Not happening ‘cause you’re going down right now!: Think again, Gaiking!*Proist charges after Daiya and grabs him.*
: What?! Lemme go, Proist!: Heeheehee… Let’s cut you down to size first!*Brrrrt!*
: Crap, Parts #1 and #2 were broken off!: Daiya Tsuwabuki… Your forces will be nothing with you gone! And I’ll take my sweet time dealing with them!: The hell are you up to?!*Proist jumps off, the Dvorak pulling the Gaiking away.*
: You and the Dvorak’s parts are going on a trip to the surface, Gaiking!: Uwaaaaah!!
: Damn it, Daiya got dragged into the Death Cross Point!: DAIYAA!!*Puria flies into the portal.*
: Puria?!
: Sis! (Yanma): Hahaha, it’s done! Daiya Tsuwabuki is off on the surface now!: Proist…!: But I didn’t just get rid of that pest with this. The Dvorak’s parts went up with the Gaiking… : And those’ll regenerate and multiply, spawning Demonic and Iron Beasts to destroy the surface! Aahahahahaa!: Urk… How could this happen…!
: My lady Proist, we’ve come to rescue you. : Thank you, Nikita. Let us return to Arkholand for a moment and reorganize. With the Gaiking gone, the other are but minnows… there’s no rush to dispose of them.: Yes, ma’am!
: Curse you, Proist…!: Captain, we need to get in touch with the surface ASAP!: Right. Mr. Sakon, if you could see to it.: Aye, aye, I’ll go tell NEX about this.: (Daiya, Puria… please be safe.)
Somewhere up top, Puria has woken up at a beach and Daiya’s right by her side – they’re both in one piece but their situation ain’t exactly good. While she was passed out, Daiya took a look around and it seems they’re on a deserted island. Plus, both the Gaiking and Stinger are out of energy and immobile.
But Puria has a bigger concern: why is she NAKED?! Daiya explains that they got tossed into the ocean and that obviously left their suits soaking wet. He couldn’t well have left her like that, right? That’s not a very good excuse for stripping her, Puria grumbles, but Daiya figures it beats her catching a cold or worse.
Besides, it’s not like he cares much about seeing her naked. “Hrm… You could care A LITTLE, damn it,” she quietly fumes. Furthermore, Daiya ponders aloud that Puria’s looking to have about half of what Shizuka’s got… half of what?! “Y-You really shouldn’t waste your energy on nonsense,” Daiya stammers. “And what, exactly, is nonsense?!”
Now, now, he asks her to calm down as she oughta be hungry, right? She actually is, so they’ll split up and start looking for food: Daiya’ll poke around the waters while Puria checks the trees. Sounds good but, first things first, go and grab her clothes as they should be dry enough!
Some time later, Puria’s gathered up some mushrooms but Daiya quickly tosses a few away, saying that those are very poisonous. Still, looking at the local flora and fauna, he figures they’re somewhere around Japan.
Well, isn’t he a regular know-it-all? Courtesy of his father, Daiya says, who taught him loads of stuff about the sea, the mountains… everything nature-related, really. Regardless, the rest of the food is safe to eat, so Puria starts digging in.
Daiya does find it odd that while they’re come back to the surface, it now feels like they’re in a wholly alien world after the time they spent on the Darius world. He can’t stop himself from worrying about the folks still down there.
The two of them need to find their way back and the irony isn’t lost on Daiya of a surfacer like him, standing on the surface, acting like the underground is his home.
Over by JUDA’s lobby, Iczer-1 says Nagisa’s still in a coma. She’s considered using the Iczer Robo to try and speed up her recovery but figured that’s make the girl even more upset. Goh is a bit curious, though, wondering why Iczer-1 needs an earthling like Nagisa as her partner; unfortunately, she can’t give him any explanation other than saying that it might be fate at work.
Miu likes the idea of two people, predestined to meet, but Kenji isn’t too sure that sorta thing actually exists. Kyo points out that we’re living in a world where people have transcended time and space to be brought together with one another; that could well be seen as the hand of fate, operating at a level human imagination can’t even fathom.
Why’s he speaking like he’s seen that happen? Because he did, Kyo says, though he understands why Kenji wouldn’t be in on the take. There aren’t many examples of such encounters happening but the most famous one would be of the Daiku Maryu’s former captain.
See, he was a Darian man but he fell in love with an earthling woman and, together, they had a daughter – said daughter has followed in her father’s footsteps and now captains the Daiku Maryu herself.
That’s cool but Kenji’s got a question: “That girl, is she hot? Like, she’s gotta be bangin’, right?” Kyo begs him to cut it out, lest Iczer-1 get the wrong idea about humans, but she tells him not to worry. A friend of hers has told of how different earthlings can all be.
Her friend? Yes, someone who also noticed Big Gold’s control over the Cthulhu and left with Iczer-1. She wagers she’s likely mustering for their counterattack in a different dimension and hopes to introduce us to her eventually.
So, Mira sees, she wasn’t fighting all alone, huh? Indeed and that’s even less so now that she’s made such stalwart allies as us. All that’s missing is for Nagisa to wake up and Miu’s hoping she’ll get better soon.
Ichitaka’s running the sim with Yamashita and tries going for a feint attack. Yamashita likes to see him using the move he taught but, of course, he’s not falling for it. Boom, direct hit, Ichitaka loses. He really thought he had a chance today but at least he’s learning well. A loss is still a loss, though.
Alice tells him to keep his chin up: “Yamashita is a far more experienced pilot, so I see no problems at all with you losing to him a few… a lot of times while sparring!” If anything, Ichitaka appreciates the pep talk.
Goh steps out the simulator as well, a bit miffed with himself for the difficulty he had beating a rather low-level trial. He’s quite a bit rusty after these couple months of moping around. Can a seasoned vet like him actually lose his touch, Ichitaka wonders? Indeed, if you skimp out on training for even a day, it weakens you.
Still, Goh is determined to soldier on and overcome this – he better, lest he come to regret when an actual powerful enemy shows up. Ichitaka understands and thanks him for the lesson. Alice’s also paying attention and she’s eager to help Ichitaka figure out the best way to use that feint in battle. Yamashita’s going down next time!
That’s good to hear, because Yamashita wants to get Ichitaka way stronger before Reiji actually comes around – the JUDA squad leader is a very strict man.
Tsubaki comes in to try her hand at the sim and Alice is quick to hop off to let her have it. As soon as the girl sits, however, she lets out a yelp. What for? The seat’s burning hot, that’s what – she thought it’d even burned her legs.
Taking a closer look, Ichitaka notices that Alice’s literally very hot… though he doesn’t really know what her normal temperature is, of course. “Erm… The truth is that my main systems have been overheating these past few days…” she says.
Is she sick or something? Not really, as everything is operating within normal parameters and it is not unusual for her interior temperature to fluctuate depending on the processes she’s running. That said, her current surface temperature is nearing 90 °C / 194°F!!
OK, that calls for an analysis and Rachel is ready to help with that (she promises a worried Ichitaka that she’s not looking to pry her open, like before). Running a few scans, she sees the problem: since Alice was never built with the needed thought patterns for combat, her neural network is overloading under the strain of assessing the new input.
Additional synapses are being built to compensate for the calculation lag, but as she tries to optimize for combat the process constantly clashes with the maid AI’s own development.
Ichitaka didn’t get any of that, so Maki simplifies: could he study for his high school entrance exams AND work on his training and jobs as part of LOTUS? No way – his mind would probably break down from all that. And that’s exactly what’s going on with Alice.
Ichitaka can see how that’d overload her and says she needn’t worry about this added work – she can just focus on helping folks stay healthy and the basic sub-pilot stuff she’d already been doing. Rachel says that won’t fly, as trying to stop her AI from thinking about X or Y will just put added strain on her.
While Goh is no tech expert, he sees that perhaps the only option here is simply to wait until Alice’s AI has fully adapted itself to her new work circumstances. Rachel agrees: we’ll have to help her AI slowly develop around combat and get those thought patterns to take root. Kinda like weight-lifting.
Alice apologizes and says she’ll try not to think too much about combat, though Tsubaki also warns against her worrying too much about that.
There’s no time to relax, though, as Ishigami calls in and says we’ve just picked up an SOS from the Gaiking’s pilot. The bot’s currently stranded on a desert island and we’re warned to expect Darius pursuers as we head over.
So much for letting Alice cool off; best she can do is work hard, but not too hard, out there and hope that keeps her temperature low. The mechanics will have their own job to do, too: transport the recently manufactured Gaiking parts that NEX ordered over there.
When the things are loaded aboard the carrier, Shibakusa takes the helm and off he goes.
Mission 4 – Enter the Giant of Flames
Back at the island, Puria’s trying to generate enough flame in her unit to get it airborne but it’s not happening. There’s no land in sight and with the amount she’s got, she couldn’t even fly a few dozen kilometers. Still, Daiya takes solace of the fact that the flames haven’t gone out.
That’s true and Puria remembers Daimon saying that the flame is like the machine’s own life and it never really runs out completely. What they need right now is some Hydrute to really stoke the flames. Indeed, Daiya figures they can keep trying this by themselves all they want, they’re not getting anywhere without a decent amount of Hydrute Flares.
And their situation is getting worse as the flame inside Gaiking starts flickering – a sign of incoming enemies. What are they going to do, when they can’t even get their units running properly?
They better think fast because the enemies are here: a bunch of Darius Army monsters. Daiya figures this is it and tells Puria to run off but, of course, she’s not even willing to entertain that idea. Daiya apologizes, saying it’s his fault she’s in a situation like this but Puria doesn’t mind – she was ready to die fighting the second the came aboard the Daiku Maryu.
As the monsters start blasting them, Daiya’s irked by something: the aura he’s sensing from them is just like the Chou Maryu’s. As the attacks start piling on, Puria decides to go for broke and gets her unit flying: she tells Daiya to go hide while she buys as much time as can be.
Her flame’s not doing too good, yes, but if he’s right and they’re near Japan, then some help should be on the way. She oughta be able to keep these things busy until they get here.
Daiya decides to trust her with this – she IS the Daiku Maryu’s top ace – but she better not die. That’s her line, of course.
There are plenty of enemies and losing Puria’s a game over, so keep your distance. You just need to make it to turn 3.
Stinger (Puria Richardson)
Pilot Skills:
Flame L2 (炎) - Increases Accuracy, Evasion, Critical %, and Armor. Increases with each level.
Prevail L3
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Spirit Commands:
Accelerate
Alert
Mech Features:
Repair Module
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Air terrain rating = A
Standard support unit, only decently survivable with Puria’s Flame giving it that bonus. It won’t be hitting too hard but it could make for a decent squaddie with that Accel and squad bonus.
But I’ll play it safe and move her far away.
Enemy Phase!
Only three mooks move, the others standing by.
Repeat this for the next turn, so let’s skip ahead.
Player Phase!
: Huh?! What’s the Dancouga doing here?!
: Heh, what’s going on here? A buncha baddies ganging up on someone?
: The Darius have sent quite the feast over today – we’ve got both Demonic and Iron Beasts to pick from.
: So, how do you guys want your BBQ today? Medium rare or well done?
: Eeh, I’m gonna have to pass on undercooked Demon Beast, thanks. *Beep, beep!*
: Come on, now, kids. Go and do your part as good ol’ champions of justice!: Yeah, yeah… Psh, but I really don’t like having to work with NEX.: How come, Sakuya? You’ve a problem with them?: Even a homeless like me does, yeah.*Aoi moves over to Puria.*
: Richie, wasn’t it? Back off and let Team D handle this one.: I owe you one – didn’t expect the Dancouga to show up, that’s for damn sure.: Just doing our job and all that. Don’t worry about it.: Alright, I won’t then. But just lemme get one thing clear: the name’s Puria Richardson. Not “Richie”. : Ah, my apologies, Miss Richardson. : …Hm? Already? Roger that.. : Um, Team D? You’ve been cleared to use the Dankuuken.: The “Dankuuken”? I’m guessing that’s a new secret weapons or something?: I’m sending the data over to you right now. The weapon should be unlocked.: This data’s for… an ultrasonic sword?: And why, exactly, did you just come out and give us a new weapon? Orders from the top?: Eeh, something like that, yes.: Are you ever going to give us a straight answer?: Sorry, I’m just the middleman here. And, in any case, it’s just for a little bit longer, alright? Now if you would…: OK! Then…: Let’s go wild!: Aw, I wanted to say that…
Alright, we can get on the offensive now.
: Ain’t no other way around it after Daiya said that – I have to make it through this!
Eeh, only 1.2k…
Get busy, Aoi.
And he lives with 93, son of a bitch.
Enemy Phase!
Aoi gets mobbed, killing her old target and doing a number of the remaining two – they don’t do much against L’s beefy Dancouga.
The other Demonic and Iron Beasts are moving in now.
Player Phase!
: Backup! Now that’s just what we needed!
: Those are… ah, I get it! That LOTUS group Lulu talked about is finally open for business!: Here come the legit Champions of Justice.: And the bot we helped in Miura’s also here.
: Ooh, it’s the Dancouga! … Ergh, no, I gotta stop fanboying so much! Breathe…!: Huh, he’s joined LOTUS too?*Ping!*
: I’ve detected the Gaiking – it’s inside those woods.
: Yeah, that’s the Gaiking right there! And the enemies are all closing in on him!
: More like some of the Gaiking, what with us having to bring over his legs and arms ‘n’ all.
: OK, then the Dancouga’ll run interference while we get those parts over to him!: Can you hear us, Daiya Tsuwabuki?: Y-Yeah, I do!
: We’ve brought some spare parts for you, so hurry up and combine into the Gaiking!
: These arms and legs got a whole lotta flame in them! You’ll be all set to go crazy after you’ve combined!: Alright! Send ‘em over, please!
: Gaiking, parts #1 and #2 – launch!
: Haaaaah! Take a look, Puria! My flame’s burning hot again!: Yeah, now you can take the fight to them!: Are you watching, pops? Seems the new parts are working just fine.: Yeah, I’m monitoring them. ‘Course, I wouldn’t expect anything else from our work!: Hm? But the color’s a bit different from usual.: It looks kinda ugly, really…
: Oh, I learned about that the other day! Those parts have lost their Phase Shift effect because the battery’s running empty!: Nah, much as I’m sorry to say, we couldn’t slap some Phase Shift Armor into the Gaiking. 
: Meaning it’s just an aesthetics issue, right?: Aesthetics, schmestetics! All that matters is if it does the job!: Here goes! Hydro! BLAZER!!
: What?! It didn’t do jack!: The hell? Then the faux-Zolmanium we made really can’t generate flame on the same level as the original?: You alright, Daiya?: Yeah, it’ll be fine! I’ll just cover the difference with some of my own inner flame! : That said, this one feels a lot weaker than the Gaiking… so let’s call it the Kaikink.: “Kaikink”? Well, I guess that name does sound like it’s missing something.: Still, a lot of folks from the surface poured their hopes into these arms and legs and this flame! So I’m gonna be fighting as hard as I can with ‘em! Good to be working with all you guys!: Well, we better bolt outta here before we start getting in the way. Take care out there folks – wrecked mechs can be fixed but there ain’t anything we can do for the dead!
: Heh, guess Shibakusa’s given us the go-ahead. Time to get to work, people!
Now we just need to keep Daiya and Aoi in one piece and that’s not difficult, provided you don’t rush them up front.
Kaikink (Daiya Tsuwabuki)
Pilot Skills:
Flame L4
Sword Cut
Shield Defense (…the Kaikink has neither sword nor shield. Maybe the Gaiking?)
Prevail L3
Spirit Commands:
Invincible
Strike
Squad Bonus: Crit ratio +10, accuracy +5
If you’re coming here from K, you’ll find that the Gaiking-series bots are actually usable in that they massively reduced the EN costs of its weapons. Range is pretty piss and it’s got looooow armor (550 less than the Dancouga!) since surface construction is so much crap but at least that’s somewhat made up by Daiya’s Flame.
Still, do stick with Daiya because he’ll eventually become a powerhouse (though he doesn’t cheat like Kouji and Kenji) – the kid’s a good pilot, just stuck in a subpar bot right now. The Kaikink does fly and has decent movement right out the box, though, so he doesn’t even NEED Accel like Kouji does.
Just a few steps forward, lest he get mobbed next turn.
: The people of the surface made these parts… and my flame’ll make ‘em burn strong enough to rival the Gaiking!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFqi7gYLwL4
I do like how the hand crumples up after the hit.
Iczer-1 doesn’t need a mech to kick ass.
: Rest easy, Nagisa… I’ll bring a swift end to any who try to invade Earth!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Yv4vD1640
Bam!
Nothing else in range now, so everyone moves forward.
Enemy Phase!
The main wave of mooks is right upon us, though only Ichitaka gets attacked.
: How’s your temperature going, Alice? You’re not overworking yourself back there, right?: I-I'm managing to rearrange my thoughts and processes based around parallels with chores! No problems… mostly!: Our movement is a bit more sluggish now… but we should still be fine. Here we go!
He and Miu block pretty much all damage before laying the hurt.
Player Phase!
Iczer-1 also has a lightsaber, in case you still weren’t sure if she kicked enough ass by herself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofzfv8ykEEo
The Darius beasts are beefy but not enough.
Ichitaka finishes his target and learns Strike after the level up.
Little help from Yamashita and this one’s primed up for Aoi’s new trick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56gymG7_3Eo
: Wow, it’s so pretty… This is the Dankuuken?: Why exactly is the Dancouga so strong? What for…?: Oho, so it had a big, bad sword tucked away, eh? You’re pretty good, Dancouga.
: Yup; that was a nice swing. : Ahahah… Guess it was, for a first timer, huh?: Hey, I love a pat on the back as much as the next guy…: But how about we save that glee for when we get back to base?
And, for that matter, we’ll take the weakened Galgoras and use it to show off Jeeg Breaker’s cool dynamic finish:
: So this is the Darius Army, eh? Yow, they’re huuuge… Still, they’re gonna need more than size to take me out! How about a demonstration?!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G48I8WKtbMc
“WHO’S UP NEXT?!”
Still a bunch to go, so Kouji and Yagyuu focus-fire this here Galgoras.
: I’ve never fought these things before… Still, you’re gonna find that I didn’t spend all that time handling Mechabeasts for nothing!
Good, good.
Hyouma’ll take this one, in hopes it’ll kamikaze against someone good.
: Hey, Darius! If you think your beasts are gonna drop Mr. Hyouma Aoi, wrecker of Mecha and Mimetic Beasts, then I’ve got an upcoming news flash for you!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAZ0gspBzfw
And here’s the Deceive’s signature move. Now, if one would just explain to me how you make an AI hallucinate…
Enemy Phase!
I set Aoi with Iron Wall way up ahead and the enemies are very willing to play ball. One thing I noticed is that she’s quite parry-happy this mission (only two out of like 8 attacks have connected).
Attacking Ichitaka isn’t a much better idea.
Gone.
Nearby, Hyouma takes three kills from weakened enemies (and weakens another 4). Juzo learns Mercy.
Player Phase!
And now this is just a matter of cleaning stuff up. The three farthest monsters have somewhat midboss-y stats but they’re certainly not enough to give our folks pause – focus-fire will take them out easy.
Here’s the summary:
: Demonic Beasts, Iron Beasts – they’ll all end the same when facing the Godannar’s raw power! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoK6qUksS5A
: Shouldn’t be too long before Reiji comes back, so I better bring home the goods!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKR7zaBGXc
It’s best attack doesn’t even have a dynamic finish! Come on, the surface could do better than this!
Oh, and this Domega had the bad luck of being chosen as test dummy for Hyouma’s strongest weapon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgR2-5_SgM4
Classic.
Turns out Breast Fire doesn’t have a DK, either. That’s the last one, though!
And the radar’s clear, so Tanaka quickly asks the Dancouga to come home. Resident psychiatrist, Ru Riruri, is on hand to remind them that today’s counseling day so she’ll be waiting them all by her office.
Aoi sighs that they’re always forced to dance to Tanaka and co.’s tune and Kurara’s frustrated that they’ve yet to get any answers for their questions. Why were they chosen to pilot the Dancouga and why are they always fighting for the weaker side? Wondering here’ll only be a waste of time, though, so off they go.
Nearby, a mysterious unit is measuring the Dancouga’s strength. Something seems to bother the pilot. The unit vanishes, no one even noticing its presence, and Ichitaka figures the Dancouga must be real busy to always be leaving in a hurry like that. Yamashita says we’ll be plenty busy ourselves soon and Ichitaka’s ready to handle the rhythm in order to find the professor.
Goh asks Puria and Daiya to join us back at JUDA and Yamashita confirms that, indeed, they’ve been reassigned to LOTUS. Not too long ago, we’ve been told by NEX that Cpt. Lulu had given it her official sanction. If they heard from the Daiku Maryu, that means everyone in the underground is safe and that’s a weight off Daiya’s shoulders. It’ll be a bit before they can come up here themselves, mind.
But, regardless, Kenji wants to head back ASAP as he’s hungry as no one’s business. Daiya’s also willing to eat just about anything we’ve to offer, as he and Puria haven’t had a good meal since getting sent up here.
Good news, then: Ishigami will treat us to a bunch of his homemade sushi and that’s perfect to Daiya, having grown in a fishing village and all. Ishigami’ll have a banquet ready for his arrival.
As Daiya jumps for joy, Izuna and Shizuna flinch at the upcoming pile of the president’s sushi foisted upon us. Yui does point out that there’s someone here waiting to see Daiya, mind.
Back at JUDA, Daiya and Puria properly introduce themselves and thanks everyone for the assist. Kouji had heard the stories but is surprised to get more young fellas joining our team. Shizuru huffs an apology for being one of the few bumping the average age up but, if anything, Tetsuya is super-OK with her “adult appeal”. As for the person who was waiting for Daiya, it’s his friend Naoto.
Seems like someone from NEX stopped by Daiya’s house and told of his return to the surface. Naoto really wanted to see Daiya again after how suddenly he left for the Darius World, so he insisted on coming over. As for the kid’s mom, Naoto says she’s very worried but Daiya has a promise to keep before he can go back to her.
Naoto starts getting all choked up and Puria is quick to tell him to cut that crap out: “You just waltz in here like you own the place, yack our ears off and, to wrap things up, start crying up a storm? Come on, now – where’d they dig up this kid?”
Daiya calms her down and apologizes to Naoto for his partner’s sharp tongue. Who is this? Puria. And she’s a girl? Can’t he tell just by looking at her?! Alright, let’s ease up a bit. As for the kid, he’s Naoto Hayami, a classmate of Daiya.
And as for the promise he mentioned, Daiya explains that, on the day he boarded the Daiku Maryu, he swore to his mom that he wouldn’t come back until, first, the Darius are beaten to kingdom come and, two, he’s found and brought his dad home. Still, Hyouma doesn’t think he should keep his mom worrying like that – why not at least send her a letter or something?
He says that because, as an orphan, he didn’t have a chance to have either parents in his life, so those who do shouldn’t take them for granted. Ichitaka didn’t know about that – turns out he’s an orphan too and has no idea where he’d be if Grife hadn’t taken care of him. He almost certainly wouldn’t be here and that’s all the more reason to find him ASAP.
Speaking of missing people, Alice’s just heard info that Kouichi has apparently come back to school! And how is he? Well… he’s a lot different, to say the least – violent. “A symptom of calcium deficiency?” she wonders. Then again, she’s combed through the data of the other Factors and none of them have displayed such symptoms.
Yamashita seems to have an idea of what’s actually going on…
But there’s no time for that – Ishigami strolls into the room and salutes everyone. “It’s the sushi guy!” Daiya cheers. That and, you know, president of JUDA Corporation and local commander of LOTUS. Daiya’s surprised that the guy’s a bigwig and, in that case, asks if the Daiku Maryu’s said anything regarding the Darius Army guys we fought.
Something bugging him? There is, yes: those beasties gave Daiya the same “feel” as the Dvorak. They never did that before. And it’s not a coincidence as, true to Proist’s promise, those Iron and Demonic Beasts were spawned by the broken up parts of the Dvorak that got sent up here.
That’s really, really bad, thinks Daiya, but Goh tells him that messes like this is precisely what LOTUS was made for. Kosuke agrees, figuring that, with all our myriad organizations working together, it’s only a matter of time before we find and destroy the Dvorak bits. And, hell, if all we’ll get are monsters like the ones just now, the Anti-Darius Arma and SDF teams should be able to take them on.
Anything worse shows up, we’ll walk on over and give ‘em what for, Hyouma adds! Ishigami likes it and believes nothing could possibly give us pause with everyone working together. With that in mind, it’s sushi time!
Daiya doesn’t need to be told twice and Ishigami likes the gusto with which he eats – as children should be. Everyone else care to partake? “Yeaah, boy! I’m so hungry, I can’t even think straight,” Kenji cries out and starts stuffing himself.
On the flip side, Izuna and Miu aren’t fans of Ishigami’s sushi and, to make things worse, he’s made a LOT to account for everyone. Do they all need to eat? Maybe not as Daiya and Kenji are ALREADY demanding more. Shizuna hopes this won’t push Ishigami into making even more of the stuff…
Elsewhere…
: Hrm…? Where am I?: Hands, legs, torso… all bound. Silver lining is they at least didn’t gag me…*Beep!*
: Ah, I see you’ve awakened, Professor Grife.: And you are? The boss of those fellows who kidnapped me, I’d wager?: Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it? Maybe I am their boss, maybe I’m not…: Why don’t you stop beating around the bush, you weasel? : “Weasel”? I got that quite often, back in the day – about ten years ago, I think…: … Oh, but now is hardly the time for a trip down memory lane. Apologies if this is rather abrupt, but I’ve a small request to make of you, Professor…: What…?