Part 45: Mission 16 (JUDA Route) - Operation JUDA Reclamation - Part 1
Alright, time to close up the JUDA Route. Ichitaka’s still got a hefty lead, though Quatre is starting to fall behind (as he should, really).
We got a bunch of cash last mission, so Ichitaka, Daiya and Kenji each get a boost in weapons and assorted stats; Shinji and Lulu get a boost in HP, EN and whatnot.
Kouichi’s still deploying as an event unit, so only Ichitaka’s free again. No need to switch things up from what we previously went through:
Kenji/Kyo
Daiya/Yanma
Quatre/Rei
Dick/Puria
Shinji/Yagyuu
Zechs/Noin
Ichitaka
Off we go.
We open up at JUDA, with Kiriyama asking if Reiji managed to figure out what LOTUS is up to. Is he worried? Not very, more like wondering where we might’ve run off to when he controls pretty much all facilities that’d be of use to us in Japan.
Doesn’t look like we’ve left the country or fled to the PLANTs… or maybe we have a secret base somewhere? He knows we’ll try something eventually, and is looking to make quite the spectacle out of it.
Well, Reiji tells him that he HAS, indeed, got a bead on us. Apparently we’ve taken shelter in the Dannar Base, which is odd as it was supposed to have been taken over by Domyoji’s men. Guess they had some more deserters.
How hard it is to find good people, huh? Kiriyama does remember hearing very good things about NEX’s Kurata and Orb’s Soga and Amagi… Does he want them scouted? Kiriyama sees Reiji glaring and says he was just pulling his leg – he is all the help he needs.
And, regardless, even if LOTUS has the Dannar Base, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re at a major disadvantage.
(Those names were an Ultra Seven reference – all, including Kiriyama, were members of the Ultra Garrison.)
With that in mind, the next step of his plan is to use the media to win the masses. LOTUS is bound to try and stage a “rebellion” against his new government soon, so he’s requested/forced Isabelle Cronkite to come over and report it all when it goes down.
Back to us, Misato’s taken over strategic command now that Reiji’s gone; normally they’d have to clear this with Une, but we still can’t get in touch with the world outside, so we’ll have to make an exception. No one’s complaining, so we’ll move on to lay out the details of Operation JUDA Reclamation.
First, Maki and Rachel make note that this Op isn’t just about recovering a building. See, JUDA’s main computer houses a TON of sensitive intel and technological data, including on our whole group; mind you, the thing has some powerful safeguards that the two of them personally designed, so they won’t be tapping into it easily… but these aren’t your run-of-the-mill foes either, and we certainly don’t want folks like them tinkering with the Machinas.
All in all, we need to get JUDA back immediately lest Kiriyama’s group have a chance to mess around in there, which is why Misato and the others rushed to put this operation together. We’ll be moving to disable all of the Jinrai drones throughout Japan and rescue the hostages tomorrow at 5am.
So, what are we going to do, Shinji asks. What we do best: shoot the place up and draw the enemy’s attention. Considering Kiriyama’s towering hubris and “showmanship”, he’ll keep the hostages as a final play to use against us – until then, we should have free rein to fight at will.
So we’ll be a diversion, Kyo surmises, and Sally confirms. We want Kiriyama and his peers’ eyes fixated on Misaki while our techs get ready to hack and disable the Jinrai drones. In the meantime, Yui will sneak into JUDA with a group via a secret entrance.
Kouichi didn’t expect the place to have secret entrances, but Yamashita explains that Ishigami had it set up precisely for a situation like this. Yui and the others will move to regain control of the Machinas and JUDA’s systems – once that’s done, they’ll have access to the building’s defenses, with which they’ll use to deal with Kiriyama’s underlings.
Izuna raises the point that their Machinas should still be under the effects of Reiji’s suppressor, but Rachel’s already developed a counter for that: the Drexler Soil Activator, or D.S.A. for short! It’ll neutralize the suppressor’s effects and energize the Machina’s D-S.O.I.L. See, it is based on the Bristol Interpretation of space-time tunneling by way of an engineering application of a pseudo-Tyndall Effect via quantum criticality, and...
The what in the where now? Ichitaka and Kouichi didn’t get any of that, while Kenji’s already been knocked asleep. Rachel isn’t amused, but Kyo says the gist of it is that the D.S.A. will nullify the suppressor. Does Kenji get it now?! “Eh? *Yawn*… Well, whatever, we just gotta get in there and tear stuff up, yeah?”
Maybe it’s best we leave it at that for him, Daiya shrugs. MOVING ON, Rachel says that the Machinas should be able to make a mess of the enemy from inside out, so Yamashita, Shizuna, Izuna and “Miu-Miu” will also be going in with the infiltration team.
Now, Misato expects a not-insignificant number of Jinrais to have been deployed at JUDA, and it’s all but certain that Kiriyama will come out with his own Machina eventually. The diversionary team will have a difficult battle ahead, but Kouichi’s all for it: we pull this off and we’ll both rescue the hostages and give Kiriyama a whooping, which sounds great to him!
Shizuna huffs that talking’s easy, but Kouichi notes that he won’t be doing it all alone – he’ll have the whole crew there to help, so he has a good feel for it. Rather, he wants Shizuna and her crew to be careful in their infiltration. She harrumphs a confirmation, grumbling that here she was getting worried for him… and Izuna has to stifle a laugh at her beet red face.
Regardless, we all know what our job will be, so Misato dismisses everyone to rest until the mission. Daiya already hustles Puria and Naoto to catch some forty winks, and while Puria grunts at what a mother hen he is, she’s not against it.
: Tomorrow… or, rather, a few hours later today, we’ll be kicking off Operation JUDA Reclamation… : They told us to get some sleep, but my eyes don’t wanna stay shut… What to do…?
: Kouichi…: Oh, Emi… Can’t sleep either?: I… I want to fight. I have to fight alongside you and the Linebarrel!: Huh…?! Are you crying, Emi…?: I still don’t remember anything… but I came into this world to keep it safe… I want it to be safe, but…: Mr. Ishigami’s death… and everyone’s friends and families being kidnapped… Not only can I not protect a single thing, it was my coming here that set it all in motion…: But if I can at least pilot with you and activate the Mode B, then I’ll do it…! I have to help the others in any way I can…! : No way, it’s too dangerous! Remember how that went last time? Who knows what’d happen to you if you used it again!: Besides, you already got stuff to do: infiltrate JUDA and get its systems out of Kiriyama’s hands! That’s a way to help the others, no?: But what if things take a turn for the worse again? You’ll—!: I’ll be alright… I won’t put you in a position where you have to burn yourself out like that again.: Huh…?: I’m gonna get a whole lot stronger – stronger than anyone else…! I’ll learn to handle the Linebarrel better than even you…! And then… I’ll keep you safe!
: Hm… I’ve been left behind.
: …
: So this is where you were, Yamashita… Alice and Misato are looking for you.: Hahah… there they go again. I bet they’re worried I might be all kinds of depressed, huh?: Well…: Tell them to quit worrying… is what I'd say, but it wouldn’t feel right to ask that of you. Alright, let’s go after them.: Are you really okay…? I mean, being betrayed by someone you trusted so much is…: None of this makes sense to me… What was Reiji thinking? Why would he do something like that…? Is that really the world he wants? The only way I’ll have answers is to ask him directly, so that’s what I’ll do.: Yamashita…
Mission 16 (JUDA Route) – Operation JUDA Reclamation
: And Hisataka was right on the money. They’re coming to retake the place in a hurry.
: Then we have but to nip their ambitions in the bud. This’ll be payback for Riku, too.
: Welcome home, LOTUS…!
: Eiji Kiriyama! We’re taking JUDA back here and now!
: There you are, LOTUS… Reiji said you’d try something like this. So how about I take the time to show you reactionary hounds on whose side true justice lies?: Reiji, you stay out of this. I’ll personally lay them all six feet under with my Pretender – it’ll be prime time material right there. 
: Yes, sir.: And everything’s ready with the TV crew, yes? Now to wait for the perfect moment to make my grand entrance.: The entire world will watch, live and uncut, as I mete out justice!
: (I can’t stand this man...)
: Everyone’s in position, Misato.
: And we’re all ready to go crazy around here!
: Time to repo our home from these creeps, people!
: Off we go, then! Begin Operation JUDA Reclamation!: (Take care, Emi…)
By JUDA’s secret entrance…
: They’ve started… How are the locks, Prof. Sakon?
: Just a little bit longer. Emi, could you help parse these codes?: Of course… The system is a bit old, but it’s pretty much identical to the one JUDA currently uses…*Blip.*
: And… there. This should be good. : Wow, you’re amazing, Emi.: Not at all, Miu. You’re the one who’s always out there fighting with the Painkiller…: Please, no need for modesty... Hm? That’s odd. The door should be unlocked, but it’s not opening…
: Lemme see… Ah, this bit here’s a bit rusty… Hup!*Break!*
: Okey-dokey… Lead the way, Ms. Ogawa.: Um… According to the map, it’s this way.: Good thing we brought Shizuka along.
: Let’s get to work then! We need to get JUDA back in order hands before Kouichi’s group gets in any trouble!
This one’s a bit of a test of endurance as not only are you down a decent number of units, staring at a hefty group of midbosses, but Kiriyama also has a LOT of mooks to send your way and will, eventually, come over himself.
Losing either Kouichi and the Daiku Maryu’s a game over, but what can really give you a hard time here is managing your resources – especially your SP since you’ll need it to connect reliably against the boss man. Try to lead with the likes of Kenji, Kouichi and Shinji as they’re rather untouchable by mooks even without any casts, saving most of your SP for the bosses proper.
Make note of the structures and forests around for the terrain bonus, too.
Kenji takes it while everyone else moves forward.
Enemy Phase!
Kouichi’s in a forest, so he’ll have no issues against the Jinrai.
: (Our job’s just to buy time…! This Op will succeed, and then JUDA and Japan’ll be free! I’ll make it so!): (No way I could ever look Ishigami in the eye if I screwed this up!)
Alright.
Daiya and Yanma go to town, the enemies’ attacks hitting them with the consistency of spitballs. That’s six kills for them, Daiya getting further invincible with an extra level to his Flame.
Player Phase!
Kouichi taunts the Katous and Kiriyama over how wimpy they are – we’ll rout them real easy! When Yulianne asks, however, Kiriyama tells them to let the kid ramble on, as it’ll be him who’ll be laughing when this is over. Rather, our glibness will make our eventual defeat all the sweeter to him.
We’re already raising some good hell, so Misato tells us to keep at it. Lulu, however, is worried: assuming nothing went wrong, it shouldn’t take too long to get JUDA’s systems under our control with Sakon and Shizuka helping… so why is she so ill at ease?
She’s brought back to reality when Rosa pokes her – she understands that she’s worried for our people, but she must carry on commanding. She apologizes and refocuses herself, right in time for Dick to challenge the Katous to try their hand on him.
Sawatari doesn’t appreciate our sass, and vows to bestow us with terror beyond anything we could imagine.
: OK, if we go through here, we should come out right at the HQ’s underground…
: What door is this? An elevator?
: Don’t matter. We just gotta push this button, yeah?*Press. Blip!*
: …: M-Mr. Ishigami!: By the time you see this, I’ll likely be dead.: It’s a hologram…: But don’t worry. Even now, I’ll continue to support you with every ounce of my strength.: That said, just as a precaution, I must confirm that you truly are members of LOTUS.: Confirm? How?: Please stand before the microphone and state your name, height, weight…: And your three sizes.: Wh-What the…?!: That’s some real private info he wants…: I guess it’s to check our voice print?: Bah… Fine, I guess we must. I am Yui Ogawa. I’m 1m 68cm tall, and I weight… *whisper, whisper*: My three sizes are… *whisper, whisper**BZZZZT!*
: I’m sorry. : Huh?!: There is a significant discrepancy between stated and measured data. As such, you are deemed to be posing as Yui Ogawa! *Ka-chunk!*
: WAAH!!: A trapdoor?!
: YOU HUGE IDIOOOOoooooo…*Faaaalliiiiiiiiing.*
: MS. OGAWA!!: Ms. Ogawa… your sacrifice will not be in vain…: Seems we won’t be making it to HQ that easily…: I can’t believe he’d pull one of his jokes even as part of a security check… I mean, I actually can believe it, but…
Carrying on...
Two kills, and the last three Jinrais falling to Kouichi and Zech.
Shinji’s still leading the charge, and he learns both Accel and Support Attack L2 upon weakening a couple of Stealth Armas.
Enemy Phase!
Soubi was the only Katou midboss that comes in to attack from the get-go.
: Your people have been taken hostage, but you’ll carry on fighting…? Still, true justice knows no defeat…It’s pointless to oppose it...!If your Linebarrels’ secret points are low, however, you get this:
: What a nice surprise, this. I didn’t think I’d get another chance to torture you so soon after the last… Oh, I’m just bursting with joy!
The midbosses can’t pop an A.T. Field without running Prevail first, though.
And again!
: Riku… Let the sight of the enemies I kill comfort you in the afterlife!
Try again.
After that it’s one kill for Lulu and Rei, four for Shinji.
Player Phase!
Kiriyama’s a bit surprised at how hard a fight they’re having his side not pulling any punches, but Reiji says he should be well aware of how strong LOTUS is. Well, whatever – the still have their trump card to play if things go south.
In the meantime, he tells Isabelle to get to “reporting”: “JUDA, once a den of evil and now under control by His Excellency Eiji Kiriyama, is currently under attack by villains seeking to claim it back…”
Daiya fumes at all that bullcrap, but Tsubaki can see that Isabelle’s hurting over having to do away with her journalistic integrity – she was supposed to report the truth, not this. That’s another person that needs our mission to succeed, Ichitaka figures, so we carry on.
Meanwhile, back in JUDA…
: By the time you see this, I’ll likely be dead.: But don’t worry. Even now, I’ll continue to support you with every ounce of my strength.: That’s the fifth time…: The door read “Stage 5”, even… How many of these do you figure there are?: Wouldn’t be as much of a pain in the ass if he didn’t say the same damn thing every time!: I’m starting to feel kind of stupid for how sad I got over his death…: Is this an actual security device…?: Now I will confirm whether or not you are members of LOTUS.*Toot, toot!*
: What is that…?!
: A synchro-game set up as an old-school party game by the looks of it... (Yes, this is THAT game Shinji and Asuka had to work with to sync-up. Someone call him and Rei over!): Now we begin the thrilling Stage 5!
Let’s get rid of Soubi while the other midbosses are hanging back.
Couple more hits and he’s down in the red.
While that’s going down, I kill a couple more mooks and that reduces their squad numbers under 10.
: Jinrais?!: Hahaha…! All of Japan belongs to me now, remember? Struggle as you might, I’ve allies from across the nation answering my call.: You bastard…!: (… But things I still going according to our plan. I gotta keep calm…): We cannot pull back. Carry on the offensive! : Is this the end?! The Katou Organization forces, which has pledged support to His Excellency’s political reform, are having difficulties facing LOTUS, those major cohorts of the former, incompetent government! Let us all pray for these brave souls…: …Kch!: Something the matter? Keep at it. You need to get the crowd hyped all the way ‘til the end…: Weird… the infiltration team’s taking longer than expected.: But our only choice now is to have faith in them.: Congratulations, you’ve beaten Stage 5! You may proceed!: Haah... haah…: I couldn’t feel my legs for a second there…: The president’s traps are very serious business, huh…: ... I don’t seem to have a lot of opportunities to be useful here.: Don’t be so sure – we’ve no idea what kind of traps are waiting for us and time’s short. We gotta hurry up!
Secret Alert!Have Kouichi destroy Soubi AGAIN.
Bam.
: Kouichi Hayase… Your feelings towards justice are very clear to me. : Wh-Why’re you bringing that up now…?: (Still, it is far too late for me to accept your justice… If I did, I…!)
: The Factor of that Machina… Soubi Nakajima, wasn’t it…? What’s up with him…?And we’ve officially broken the enemies’ defenses; they just don’t know it yet. The enemy reinforcements will come in four waves whenever you reduce their numbers to nine, but they’re not really a threat. See, the new Jinrais aren’t actually squads but solo-flying units – that means any of our guys can easily oneshot them with our good morale.
Sawatari and Yulianne should start moving in by now, but Wufei actually takes a bit longer because he’s a jerk like that. They allowed us to build morale, though, so their 15k-ish HP pools won’t last long. Get rid of them quick – better yet if you pull it off before the Jinrais close the distance.
With all that said, let’s fast forward!
: Damn it all… I’ve retreat. Forgive me, Riku, I couldn’t avenge you…!
: What kind of cards are you hiding from us, I wonder…? Don’t disappoint me now, boys!
: Whatever mission Hisataka gives out, I’ll just trust in him and do my job! Here I come, LOTUS!
: We’ve received a message over the Preventers’ secret line. Everything’s in place to deactivate the Jinrai drones throughout the country. : Now we just need to recover the Machinas and JUDA’s main systems, but…!
: Do you think something happened to the infiltration team…?!*Beep!*
: You’ve no need to worry about any of that…!: ?!: By the time you see this, I’ll likely be dead.: Mr. Ishigami… I wasn’t expecting you to actually have more than ten Stages set up…: Now I will confirm whether or not you are members of LOTUS. Stage 12… let the battle begin!: Battle…?*Door opens!*
: Hippo?!: A-A hippo monster?: Psh, are ya kidding me? We gotta fight this stupid-looking thing? This’ll be easy as pie.: … Ooh, no, on the contrary.: Ah?: Hippopotami are some of the more ferocious mammals on Earth. For instance, they are widely known to kill even crocodiles with their powerful bites.: Whaa?!: HIPPOOO!!: W-We gotta get out of here! : Hippopotami’s top speed can also reach upwards of 40 km/h. Running will do us no good.: Your grim trivia is about the last thing we needed to hear right now…!: … Hang back a minute, folks.: Shizuka… Do you have something in mind?: I’m just gonna give this bugger here a taste of how scary humans can be…!: HIPPOOO!!: TORYAAAAAA!!*Punch!*
: Hipoooo…!*Faint.*
: W-Wow… she knocked it out in just one punch…!: Alright, next!: Stage 12, clear! You may proceed!
: Hrm… what a crap mission this was. Bye, LOTUS.
: Hmph… Well, I guess this is about how I imagined things would turn out…
: If you cannot rise above a situation like this, then your dreams of saving mankind will be just that: dreams… Show me how strong you are!
: Our Jinrais and the Katou Organization are in an increasingly direr situation! Will His Excellency be capable of overcoming this crisis?!: ... Aren’t you deploying, Eiji?: I guess I will. I’d rather not annoy the commander by letting this show run on for too long.: Or would you be willing to help me break down the Katou Organization right tomorrow? : Heh... That’d be taking things too fast, Eiji.: It would, wouldn’t it? We need to get a solid foundation first. I’ll go get the Pretender ready to deploy – you handle the rest, Reiji.*Leaves.*
: …: Um… Are you…: Carry on with your transmission. Whatever happens, don’t stop.*Leaves.*
: He left… What is that guy up to…?: So, Ishigami’s security system’s giving us a lot more trouble than expected…?
: Right. I was, much to my regret, separated from the group halfway through, but I’d wager he had even craftier traps in place…: They must be incredibly ingenious if even you fell for them.: (Ooh… how am I going to tell them that I got cut right at the start over trying to keep up with the Joneses? I can’t…)
: And what’s going on with Yamashita and the others?: We don’t know that yet. Let’s just keep believing in them for now.: By the time you see this, I’ll likely be dead.: Stage 67… This is still going?: We might’ve had a rough start, but things are picking up for us. We’re managing to clear these ones nice and easy. : Now I will confirm whether or not you are members of LOTUS. Here is Stage 67!*Lights on!
: It’s… karaoke?!: You will need to score over 90 points to proceed, so give it your best shot. Duet performances are also OK. Oh, and the song catalogue and remotes are over there.: Singing… Blah, this would’ve been easy as pie if we had Rosa around…: Vice-Captain Rosa’s a good singer?: I’ve only heard that the Captain’s told me, but apparently she’s a professional, even. : Whining about should haves ain’t getting us anywhere! We’re outta time, so who’s singing?!: I can sing… kind of… : I’m afraid I’m also not very sure of myself in regards to that.: … I’ll do it. My father taught me this ballad, and I’m pretty confident I can sing it well. Kouichi and the others are working so hard outside, so I also need to do the same…! : (!! She’s doing it for Kouichi…): I-I’ll sing too!
: This outcome was to be expected. We’ll meet again, LOTUS.
Alright, we’ve all midbosses down, so I think this is a good point to stop. I’ll have the rest of the mission up in a day or two.
See you all then!