Part 57: Mission 20 (Himika Route) - Contact With the Unknown - Part 2
: I’ll concede that your strength exceeds my expectations, foolish Earthlings. 
: I won’t allow you to leave here alive, Neos Gold!: However, it is precisely because you struggled so that you will experience even greater pain. : What…?: Just about now, my Four Generals should be in pursuit of Iczer-2’s new partner, cutting a swathe of destruction as they do.*Beep, beep!*
: Captain, we’ve an emergency transmission from Island 1! Mihoshi Academy is under attack by some unknown bugs!
: What?!
: And at this hour… Nanase and the others are there!
: A-Aah…!
: Please, give Kawai back!
: That’s just not going to work, I’m afraid. You, alone, are the person we’re here for, Nagisa Kasumi.: Meaning everyone else are simply pawns for me to toy with until they’re broken… and I’ll very much enjoy slowly tearing them apart.
: If… If only Alto and the others were around, you…
: It’d make absolutely no difference. Whoever may be here, they’d all end the same way: food for by adorable bug servants. : And, so, I believe this girl can go first. Why don’t I start with this pretty face of hers…? Hmhmhm, hahahahah!: STOP! Stay away from her!*Nagisa’s struck by Insect’s bugs!*
: Urk… let Kawai… go…: You can’t fight those monsters, Nagisa! It’s impossible!: Heh… Look at you, risking your life to save your dear friends.: You’re a funny girl... And, you know what, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll make her scream a bit before handing her over to Lady Neos!: !!: (God, please… save her…!)
: Argh?!
: Hee, hee…: Huh… Wh-Who are you…?
: Heey Yo! I’m Iczer-3!: Iczer-3…? I heard of Iczer-1, but…: Oh, you know my big sis? What about granny there with the bugs?: “Granny”…? You dare address the mightiest of Lady Neos’ warriors so? I’ll make you rue your impudence.: And if she’s Iczer-1’s sister, then we must kill her…!: Ah! You two wanna play?!: Indeed. You should be honored to get the chance to fight me!: Let’s go, then, grannies!*Bzzt! Swoosh! Whiplash! Beam!
: Wow… that girl’s unbelievable…: (Iczer… What’s going on…? I feel like I know her… Actually, didn’t I see this in a dream…?)*Bzzt! Swoosh! Whiplash! Beam!
: Ooh, you grannies are strong! I like it!: … Buut, I think you’re a bit too weak to play with my big sis.: What did you say?!: Iczer… BOOOOMB!
*Craaaaaaash!*
: Woo-hoo! I win!: She’s… too strong…!: Inconceivable… How could such a tiny girl hurt my beautiful body…?: Insect…! We must report this… to Lady Neos…: Hm, we’ve no choice…!*Warp!*
: Aaw, they ran! Jerks!: Iczer-3… who are you?: Ah, Nagisa! I’m your partner!: My partner…?: Yep, that’s what Sister Gray said. So, Nagisa, lemme borrow a bit of your strength, okay? We’ll give those guys a whooping together!*Warp!*
: Hm… ooh… Nanase? What happened…?: Nagisa… vanished…!
: Ah…! What is the meaning of this, Fiber, Insect?: A-A thousand apologies… We were attacked by this girl. She called herself Iczer-3 and said she was Iczer-1’s sister…: Our attacks had no effect on her…: I accept your apology… but I also have no use for incompetent warriors.
: LADY NEOS!!: GWAAAAARGH!!
: Did she just destroy her own allies?!
: What’s the situation at the Frontier Fleet?!
: If you mean that big ol’ space ship, it’s all good! Both the bugs and the grannies got kicked out!: What’s going on…? I’m floating in space…?!
: H-Hey, isn’t that the Nyan-Nyan Nagisa?!: What’s she doing there…?
: Iczer-1, is that girl the one you escaped the Cthulhu with?: No, she’s not… who in the world…: Good to meet you, sis! I’m here to help you just like Sister Gray told me to!: “Gray”? Then, you’ve the Iczelio…: Yup, and I can also pilot the Iczer Robo. Take a look, too, Nagisa! This is my friend!: Iczer… Robo!: She’s…?
: What happened, Iczer-1?: The Iczer Robo was called elsewhere.
: What…? …Wait, this sensation… I know this…: Here we go, Nagisa!: …
: What are you doing, Lulu? We still have a battle to deal with.: Ah— I-I’m sorry. I was just a bit taken aback…: Your targets haven’t changed, troops! Destroy the Cthulhu while carrying on with the Ranka Attack experiment!
Iczer Robo (Iczer-3, Nagisa Kasumi)
Pilot Skills:
Sword Cut
Shoot Down
Prevail L4
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Attack Combo L2
Spirit Commands – Iczer-3:
Daunt
Focus
Spirit
Spirit Commands – Nagisa:
Trust
Attune
Iron Wall
Bless
Squad Bonus: exp earned +10%, mobility +5
Iczer-1, bulky edition. Iczer-3 has SLIGHTLY worse stats than her sisters, but she does have them beat in defenses and her attacks have lower EN costs.
On the other hand, on offense, Iczer-3 is straight-up worse than 1: in both forms, her weapons are varying degrees of weaker (from just 100 points less on the melee and beam attacks, to a full 500 less between 3’s strongest and Iczer-1/Robo Full Power).
And that’s an issue because, as you saw, there’s only ONE Iczer Robo to go around – you need to choose who uses it at a given time. Mind, you could make the point that, since Iczer-1’s stronger by herself, 3 needs the Robo more.
And, in case you’re wondering, Nagisa Kasumi is an exact mirror image of Nagisa Kanou down to the spirit command list, so don’t let that stop you from choosing one or the other.
Now, we’ve only a handful of Dilos left alive, so we’ll make quick work of those and converge upon Neos Gold.
While that’s going on, Iczer-3 has a chance to pull a nice chain attack with her melee attack:
: Game on! Let’s see which is stronger: you or the Iczer Robo!: Wh-What am I supposed to do here…? Gimme some sort of explanation, Iczer-3!: Here goes!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lim-xQnmrhU
Oh, and Neos Gold decided to start moving when she saw an opportunity of her own to chain attack.
: Damn that Big Gold! So she had another trick up her sleeve other than those monsters and giant robots?!: My mother is all-powerful… she far exceeds your feeble imagination. And, of course, so do I!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KR6q_IpN7M
And now we go deal with her properly!
: You may be young, but you are also an Iczer… Fine, I’ll deal with you in person.: You’ve got a lotta nerve sending people after Nagisa, Neos Gold!: Haah… Haah… Iczer-3… wait up…! I’m feeling… kind of…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_byhzX-N6w
: You had your goons attack Mihoshi Academy while it was completely defenseless?! There’s sordid and then there’s that, Neos Gold!: Hohohoho… I care not to comply with the standards of humans, foolish Earthling.: Well, you better! Because the Voltes is going to pay back the horror you put our friends through twice over!
: D’you really want to kill us and Iczer-1 so bad that you’d pull crap like that?!: Ohoho… No different from you and your unwillingness to coexist with the Vajra.: …! Then that’s what we are in your eyes, huh…? Then, I’ll…!
: Neos Gold… You’re 100% evil, no question about it! And our justice’s gonna put you down!: Your “justice”… I see. Then I believe I’ll kill you first.
: You Cthulhu are really running short on people by the looks of it. : Your insolent tongue won’t be wagging for long. Observe how weak you truly are.
: Disappear, Neos Gold! And take your evil power with you!: I’ll bring your head as a gift to my mother. Here is where you die, Iczer-1!
: Urgh…! Not bad, though this is hardly enough to best me.
: Her energy signal’s growing fainter! She’s going to…!: Ooh, no! This spawn’s mom messed with my sis and her friends so much, so she’s going down right here, right now!: Stop! Don’t rush—*Iczer-3 rushes Neos Gold down.*
: Yaah!
“See how you like my Iczelio Bomber!”
“Urgh… I… can’t…”
“Take this!”
“Rrrgh! Curse you… Iczer-3!!”
: Jeez, she’s tough!*Power doooown.*
: Eh?! Wh-What’s with the Iczer Robo?!
: Think it’s same thing that happened to our Nagisa?!: If the partner’s unable to synchronize herself, the Iczer Robo grows weak…!: Did something happen to her partner, then…?!
: …: Nagisa?! What is it, Nagisa?! Talk to me, please!: Fool… In your bid to claim victory, you’ve left yourself exposed.
: Huh?! Why’d the Iczer Robo leave?!: I’ve taken the liberty of seizing the Iczelio, source of you Iczers’ power. Rest assured that I’ll put it to very good use…: All that remains now is to capture Nagisa Kasumi…: Not on my watch!: Worry not, Iczer-3. I’ll also take the time to give you your just deserts.: (But if I fight here, Nagisa’ll be in danger… What do I do…?!): Die!
: Watch out!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJD4fTDNrg
: You OK, Iczer-1?!: Yes… as are the two of them… Urk…!: Very impressive, Iczer-1… I now see why Iczer-2’s been wounded so by your hand.: But, unfortunately, I, like you, no longer have any strength with which to fight. Much as I am loath to leave without Nagisa Kasumi, the Iczelio is a fine prize in itself. Once I’ve recovered my power, we shall meet again…!
: Stop… Neos Gold…*Faint.*
: Oh, no! Someone bring Iczer-1 and Nagisa to the Macross!: I’ll do it! I have to get them to that ship there, right?
That’s all the Vajra and Cthulhu taken care of, and Bobby’s very impressed with the amazing show Ranka put today. She was like the legendary Minmay herself, Mina thinks, but the singer’s too passé for Bobby. Basara’s a much better comparison… though he’s also old news in Lam’s eye.
Alto also praises her for the good work, but Ranka’s more worried about Nagisa and Iczer-1. We don’t know how they’re doing, but will check now; Ranka can’t come with, though, as she has exams to undergo…
Inwardly, though, she wonders to Alto and Ozma: “Is… Is this right?”
Couple of convos we missed today:
: (It’s true that, if this works, we’ll see a major dip in KIA cases. We’ll also have a way of regaining our footing and dealing with the Vajra… This is quite the conundrum for Ozma, hm?)--
: Oh, different bugs! Nagisa, can I play with them for just a bit? I bet they’re strong!: Th-Those are the Vajra, aren’t they?! No! Stay away from them!: Naah, don’t worry about it! I’m pretty strong too, you know!
Iczer-3 hurries to the Quarter’s infirmary in search of Nagisa and Iczer-1, and Alice has to tell her to keep her voice down – Nagisa’s still very weak. She’s not at risk, Canaria points out, and will recover with some rest.
Miu points out that the same happened with Nagisa Kanou during her first battle, where she exhausted herself due to controlling the Iczer Robo. Iczer-1 starts getting off her gurney, and Iczer-3 immediately apologizes for putting her here.
Alice protests that she’s still hurt and shouldn’t move around, but Iczer-1 says, regardless, she’ll soon be unable to move. Before that, though, she has something to do and looks at the asleep Nagisa Kasumi.
Canaria tells who she is, and since this Nagisa from another world is Iczer-3’s partner, she has a favor to ask.
: You’re leaving, Iczer-1…?: Yes. I must return to my ally’s side in order to heal my wounds. : Nagisa… I’m entrusting your protection, as well as that of the other Nagisa, to Iczer-3.: …
: Are we gonna see each other again?: My battles will continue until Neos Gold… and Big Gold are destroyed, and Earth is saved. So I promise to you all that I’ll return.: We’ll be looking forward to the day where we’ll fight side-by-side again, Iczer-1.: As will I. Take care of them, Iczer-3. And, Nagisa… farewell for now.: Bye, Iczer-1… and please come back to us.: Absolutely..!*Warp!*
: Iczer-3. I’m sure Iczer-1 and Canaria already said this to you, but…: If you’re going to be fighting with us, then you’ll need to listen to what we say and not act as rashly as you did.: I just screwed up when controlling the Iczer Robo, that’s it! I’ll do it right next time…!*Off she goes.*
: Oof, she’s quite the handful. What do we do? Just give her free rein?
: Is she the kind of kid that’d listen to us, even?: Nagisa Kasumi… we might just have to depend on her for this.
And BOTH Alto and Michel had to run a ton of laps around the hangar as punishment for bringing Sheryl over, and the latter is not happy that he wound up getting caught in that. Alto’s already apologized for it, damn it! Well, now that that’s done, Michel has to take off: this is their first time back in the Frontier in who knows how long, so he has a date!
As he leaves, Alto gets a call from Ranka: she wants to thank him for today, and apologizing for taking this long. She had to wait for Brera and the others to leave the room. Alto doesn’t blame her, since the guy has been assigned to her.
Either way, Ranka wants his opinion on the experiment. Well, everyone’s stoked over what happened, saying how this’ll make our fight with the Vajra way simpler, how it could be key to uncovering so much more, etc… And what does Alto, himself, think?
Well, wanting to expand and gain prosperity is a fundamental desire for any living beings, and when two groups have that same desire, that’s when conflict is born. This is what we have on our hands, and it seems survival comes down to either us or them… or maybe some other group, even.
Alto thinks we might be at a major crossroads here, and, in that case, he’s ready to do whatever’s necessary. Is it really okay, then? That’s what Alto thinks, at least, and that’s all the validation Ranka needs: if her song can help us even a little, then she’ll sing her heart out for Alto, his friends and Nagisa!
Speaking of, the doctors expect the girl to be awake tomorrow – he’ll let Ranka know if it happens, so he tells her to keep up the good work. With much gratitude, she hangs up, and while Alto’s glad that there wasn’t anything major wrong with Nagisa, he does have to wonder what might be up with Sheryl after they took her back to the hospital…
Cut to the President’s Office, Cathy’s investigation has born some fruit: she thinks Brera’s getting his orders from people connected to the Macross Galaxy, still believed to be in their original world, while the approval for today’s operation has Mishima’s fingerprints all over it. See, while Howard was very happy with the experiment’s results, he apparently wasn’t too keen on having it take place.
Ozma wonders if Cathy’s really fine with leading this investigation, what with her fiancée being involved, and she sighs that Mishima’s a very ambitious man. She used to think that was a good point of his… unlike someone else’s lack of ambition?
Cathy falls silent, so Ozma apologizes for crossing the line.
Speak of the devil, Luca’s been brought to Mishima’s office, and asks the man if both today’s experiment and the covert recovery of Fold Quartz from the Vajra corpses are being done in accordance to Birler’s wishes. What makes him think that? Well, the guy has an obvious reason to want the mineral: to create with it a network spanning even parallel worlds. A monopoly like that would essentially give the man dominion over the world.
Mishima praises the insight of L.A.I.’s heir, but he’s not quite right: Mishima’s no longer acting in accordance to Birler’s agenda. G, stepping out of the shadows, says they’re setting their sights way higher than Luca’s hypothesis.
But Mishima says they still need L.A.I. to continue its excellent work. They all want to get back to their original world, you see, meaning they need to stay alive until that can happen. Thus, he wants them to make good on the development of the new warhead.
That’s fine with Luca, but he does ask them to quite using their prototypes for unscheduled experiments. With that, he leaves, and G is very impressed with the kid. Well, he didn’t earn his position of technical advisor in L.A.I. by being charming – he’s a prodigy through and through.
But more important than him, Mishima wants to know how things’ll proceed with the Ranka Lee Experiment.
“Training requires both carrot and stick, you know,” G says… and takes away his disguise, revealing himself to be Grace! “So how about we give the ‘carrot’ some priority for now?” she says. Scary, scary woman.
Turns out Michel’s date was with Klan. Did she wait long? N-No, who would waste their time waiting for HIM? She’s clearly just got here! And, whoops, Alice is also around, apologizing for running late – not that Michel’ll complain, since he was late himself after running with Alto. “I thought this’d be my big chance and you brought someone else along…” Klan fumes silently.
Either way, Michel’s sorry for calling them over while they were off-duty, but he asks if they’ve found out anything about that mysterious medicine Sheryl was taking. Klan hasn’t anything yet, but she did call in a favor from a college friend to analyze it. Once the results are in, they’ll be sent over with an encryption only she can unlock.
Great, though Michel apologizes to her for all the work-talk during their first break in ages. Well, if that’s what he thinks, then maybe— “OK, now that that’s done, let’s go have some nice tea, Alice!,” Michel quips.
Whuh? B-But she’s an android, so drinking tea wouldn’t really do anything for her. Oh, don’t worry about that – the whole thing is about enjoying the ambiance, having fun and what not. As she drags her away, Klan’s disappointed in him: “You’re still running away, Michel…?”
: Hmhmhm… Thanks to the Cthulhu and those insects drawing the humans’ attention, I’ve managed to complete my preparations without any intrusions. : Oh, Bronze Bells, reveal the path that leads to the Iwato. 
: Oooh…?!
: Space-time is… splitting apart!
: The Iwato is appearing before us!: Hmhmhm… HAHAHAHA! At long last! The time has come to bring our ancient desire to fruition!