Part 77: Mission 43 - Zero or Infinity - Part 2
So now we’re in a bit of a pickle. Ginga and Kirakuni are up there, surrounded by a bunch of bad stuff and all Vega can do is start freeing herself.
Enemy Phase!
Deondra has no qualms with sniping Ginga down.
: Aw, what’s the matter, boy? Lost your gut now that your dear buddy’s gone?
: No, because I’m gonna kick your asses and go get him back! I ain’t got time to get bummed out!
Luckily, stunning Subaru meant he still had Invincible running.
The Knight Errors are standing still for whatever reason and the Locks like to focus on Kirakuni. I reckon they could oneshot the Cellbooster with a clean hit and the 28%s they’re getting worry me, so I have him evade everything.
Thankfully, the RNG wasn’t feeling spiteful.
Vega’s got no problems, mind.
There goes the one she weakened. All other Zarios attack and get slapped away.
And then there’s Zero. Despite being a very accurate guy, he still can’t touch something as dodgy as the Valkyrie.
: Why did you kidnap Hokuto?! What are you Gulfer up to?!
: The Gears and Data Weapons are extremely dangerous to the Gulfer. Thus, it’s far better to have them under our leash.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3j7lXGDXA4
Player Phase!
: The Magnate Ten! They’re here…!
: Vega, you alright?!
: Misato…! Hokuto and the Ogre were…!!
: Huh?!
: The Gulfer took them!
: What?!
: And it wasn’t just them… the Gyandolar also stole the Meteor Cube…!
: Whaaat?!
: I-Is that true?!: Forgive us… we couldn’t stop them…
: … There’s no need to fret, Vega. Everything they took – Hokuto, the Knight Ogre and the Meteor Cube – we have but to take back. : Rom…!: But before that, we must first dispatch these Gyandolar and Gulfer assailants!
: All troops, deploy!
: Hm… all players are now present. Then I shall take it upon myself to keep you entertained for a while.
: Yer act’s juist aboot ower, Rom Stoll!
: I say the same to you, Devil Saturn 6! You’ll harm this town no more!
Gonna be splitting my forces a bit. Some to deal with the Gyandolar up top, some for the Gulferbelow.
The Errors are STILL only defending, so MAPWs are the quickest way to dispatch those (and I’m still lazy and impatient).
Double attacks are still king to bypass the Gulfer’s support defenses.
Hugo finishes these off.
Decided to bring in Sai for this to slowly get the Shuffles back to speed.
RahXephon joins up with him below, tearing through the mooks Vega had weakened.
The Falgos are still healthy but Vega can help.
There we go.
Cheap Double Burning fire can oneshot these Kasmodons.
Enemy Phase!
Didn’t have Ginga attack anything since I didn’t know whether the Errors would jump him. Felt it safer to let him keep Invincible.
Lucky crit means he can also oneshot these guys.
One thing I didn’t notice when we first fought Bug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8JfVcg1-5w
He can stun your guys with this, so we better watch it.
Mind you, that was a 26% hit, so I’m not too happy it connected.
Up top, the Bugs bash their heads against our Mazinger wall.
Clever girl…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDB77bACS_4
You can’t even defend when stunned, though shields and barriers still work.
Player Phase!
To hell with you all!
Thankfully, most of the mooks aren’t weak enough to be oneshotted by Masato even on a crit. Only a Bug and two Zarios die, though everything else is greatly weakened.
I DO want stuff to die right the hell now, though, lest Ginga get mobbed.
Two Errors down.
Now for cleanup.
The Bugs fall to Akira and Rain (who learns Love).
Quattro and Hugo nab the Errors while Tetsuya and Rom go for the remaining Zarios. Only the Gyandolar bosses remain.
Down below, the kung-fu brigade is deftly handling the mooks while Ayato sits stunned.
Like so.
There’s still another bunch of Gyandolar to the side but we’ll make short work of them.
Now let’s skip a turn and set upon the topside bosses.
: Outta my way, ya clown! I’m gonna bring Hokuto back!: GAHAHAHAHA! Ain’t friendship juist pure magic? Brings a tear tae my eyes!: Zip it! I’ll never forgive any of you for the crap you did!!
: Ye took tae long, Rom! ‘N’ ‘ere Ah wis, worrying that ye wid pop oot the woodwork like ye always do! : Bit even big big time ‘eroes cannae do anything whin thay rin late! GAHAHAHAHA!: Silence! I’ll have you all answer for this, even if it takes my life!
Saturn’s not too broken up with having to run off as getting the Meteor Cube was what mattered today. GAHAHAHA!
: I’ve no reason to hang around now that we’ve gotten our hands on the Meteor Cube… but, what the hell, I might as well play with you a bit, Rom!: But not for long, Deondra! Once I’ve destroyed you, I’ll put a definitive end to Gades!
Deondra has a laugh at how pissy we are over losing the Meteor Cube and Ogre. Still, we might as well accept that our fate’s been sealed.
There’ll be no victory against Gades now that he’s the Meteor Cube.
Down below, we get to work on the encroaching Gyandolar while setting up one last MAPW.
Enemy Phase!
Whole bunch of mooks already die off from attacking our kung-fu guys.
Oh, you’re still here.
We’ll deal with him next.
Player Phase!
These Viruses were slowly making their way from the other end of town. Now that they’re here, Ginga promptly MAPWs them all into oblivion.
These guys too.
All dead, so now all that’s left are Bug and Zero.
Bug questions what JUSTICE has ever done for us. Nothing!
Oh, I almost forgot:
Zero
Pilot Skills:
- Support Attack L2
- Revival – Instantly revives after being destroyed. Awards no money.
Zero’s a monster of a pilot with very accurate (high modifiers and S ranks) and strong attacks. And you can’t even farm him for cash!
Lack of Prevail means he’s not too bulky but, of course, that doesn’t matter when he can insta-revive upon death. Make sure you pack some defensive measures and at least some sort of accuracy boost against him.
Here we go.
: So this is Earth’s karate martial art… Impressive.
: Hrm… this guy’s evading so many of my strikes! He’s very good!
: This RoBeast… it is of a wholly different class from the others…!: Oh, you can grasp the extent of my strength? Your insight alone is already worthy of praise.
Zero is decently impressive, seeing how we were able to defeat the Spiral Castle. Still, they’ve gotten what they came here for, so he’ll retreat for today.
Misato asks Linda to track him but Zero’s signal has already vanished from our radars. We won’t be getting Hokuto back today and Ginga’s not happy.
Inwardly, Vega wonders what’ll become of humanity’s future now that we’ve lost Hokuto, the Ogre and the Meteor Cube…
Goodies earned were a High Spec. Radar and an Apogee Motor.
And here are the convos we missed:
: This man… he’s quite skilled!: Hmm… I certainly did not expect to find a Cronosian warrior – and a Tenkuu Chuushin Ken fighter, at that – in such a place…--
: I’ve heard stories of you… The Gulfer Emperor’s right hand man, said to be equal in strength even to Altair, captain of the imperial guard…!: That is correct, Prince. I am called Zero… may that knowledge comfort you in the afterlife.--
: To arms, Dendoh. We have no use for you now that the Ogre’s back in our grasp, so I’m afraid I must strike you down.: No way, idiot! Who’d save Hokuto if I got dropped here?!
Shibuya and Bright exchange apologizes for, respectively, needing to be bailed out and not making it here sooner – hunting the remnants of the Hundred Demons took us rather far away. Altair’s still alive, though very annoyed that he couldn’t stop Zero, though Vega pins the blame on her since the guy wasn’t even fully healed.
GEAR HQ’s already undergoing repairs but things will be unusable for a while… Meteor included. Ruri’s having Omoikane work on rebuilding the AI’s network to speed things up but the main problem is the theft of the Ogre and the Meteor Cube and Hokuto’s kidnapping.
All according to Zero’s scheme, Rom sighs, and he’s sure the guy’s also responsible for renewing the cooperation between the Gulfer and Gyandolar. A skilled and quite intelligent man, Jet assesses, here to lead the offensive against us in place of the late Spiral Castle. Altair warns that the guy’s far stronger than anything we’ve faced thus far.
When Quattro asks, Altair tells of Subaru: the Gulfer Emperor’s son and his “little brother”, so to speak. He was meant to succeed Altair as the Ogre’s pilot, though, unlike Zero, is an actual human. Only living people can control Gears, so he was taken by the Gulfer from somewhere as a baby. Vega wonders if he could also be a survivor from Arktos.
Still, the Ogre ultimately chose Hokuto as its pilot and Zero probably expected that, which is why he made plans to take both the kid and his black Gear Commander. Quattro’s rather impressed with the guy’s foresight.
As Ginga fumes, Keisuke and Saionji run in, having heard what happened from Shibuya. Vega apologizes to her husband for not being able to do anything but he’s not about to blame this on her. Besides, she needs to stay strong now.
Shibuya relates that both GEAR and the Federation are trying to find Hokuto but, so far, nothing’s come up. Ginga doesn’t understand what’s so difficult about that considering we know that he Gyandolar’s castle landed where the Haudragon’s old base was.
It’s not that simple, says Rom: the Demon Castle lies tucked away in a space between dimensions, so you can’t just rush over there willy-nilly and find the place. What’ll happen to Hokuto while we think, then?
Saionji figures the kid’s life is not in immediate danger since they took the time to take him in alive. Rather, Altair and Misato figure the more likely event is that Zero’ll try to turn Hokuto and the Ogre against us.
Ginga is appalled by the idea and while Quattro doesn’t want to admit it either, it’s a real possibility. Altair reminds Ginga of how powerful the Gulfer’s mind control can be, seeing what it did to him before.
There’s still the matter of the Meteor Cube, and considering it, Hokuto and the Ogre are likely inside the Demon Castle, we’ll need to think of a plan of attack. And quickly. Bright trusts Ruri and Misato can figure out a way for us to find and enter the place.
It’s looking like our next battle may be THE showdown with the Gyandolar, Bright telling Rom that it’d be best to deal with the guys now before the MU, Giganos and Martian Successors starting acting.
Rom apologizes that we need to contend with what is essentially a Cronosian problem but Amuro tells him not to worry. Considering all the times he and his group helped us, it’s our turn to repay some of it.
Then Rom turns to the sullen Ginga and says we’ll pool our strength together and rescue Hokuto just as we did to Vega, Altair and the other Data Weapons before.
Gades is very pleased with Ashura and Zero for bringing the Meteor Cube – now he is so very close to making his dream a reality. Gades offers Ashura any reward he desires and it’s an easy one: his title as the nº1 ranked commander is now permanent. Deondra quietly sniffs at the guy for piggybacking off their hard work to steal the Meteor Cube.
Zero has no need for a reward but, instead, would like to ask a question to Gades: what is he planning on using the Meteor Cube for? Grujios grunts that he’s being impolite but Gades does not mind. The reason he’s been looking for powerful energies – Meteor Cube included – is to gain eternal life.
The Cube itself isn’t enough to grant him that, Zero posits, and Gades confirms. Thus, he also plans to plunder all the various energies available in this planet as soon as Rom’s taken care of. Zero understands, though he has a feeling that is not the ONLY reason why Gades entered in this alliance with the Gulfer.
Why not? As fellow mechanical life forms, isn’t it natural for them to band together against the humans? Certainly… but Zero notes that there is a fundamental difference between the two races: the fact that the Gyandolar have come from a different universe. Grujios frowns.
And does he think that’s got something to do with Gades’ quest for Hyribead? Indeed, Zero believes his goals are more than just eternal life… perhaps he seeks to use all those powerful energies to also return to his original universe?
Gades praises how shrewd the guy is, though denies wanting to return to his old universe. Rather, he wants to outright travel to a wholly different one! Now that surprises Zero: despite all the power Gades has, he’ll simply leave Earth? Indeed and there’s a simple reason for it: this planet, this whole universe, is rapidly approaching its terminus.
That sounds like a rather fantastical story to Zero. Does Gades mean to say God is willing the universe to end? Gades has a laugh at his suggesting, saying he may look at it like that. He does not expect the Gulfer to have realized this but there is something of a grand will behind the universe.
Zero is familiar with concept via some human legends and folklore, though he did not expect Gades to actually believe it to be true. Gades isn’t fazed by his sneering as it does exist, going by names like “Infinite Power”, “Tuner”, “Observer” and what have you.
It is by that grand will that the universe has undergone countless cycles of death and rebirth… eventually arriving at this one. Thus, Gades wishes to use the Hyribead to break himself free of that endlessly repeating cycle.
Zero nods along, asking if Gades counts the seventh Data Weapon among said Hyribead. That depends on whether it has the power he wants; if not, he’ll readily let the Gulfer have it.
And what will Zero be doing now? Just hanging around here as he continues his mission to eliminate the Dendoh and the humans (and the Gyandolar as well, when the time comes).
Elsewhere in the castle, Zero figures Subaru would be glad that they managed to recover the Ogre. Well, while he doesn’t mean to go against his father’s command, one thing bothers him: did they really need to kidnap that kid, Hokuto?
Zero admits that, by rights, Subaru should take over the Ogre and use it to defeat the Dendoh now that Altair is “dead”. However, Subaru needn’t pilot the Ogre himself if they can defeat the Dendoh without – so long as he can make use of the thing, that is already good enough. This is all in accordance to what the Emperor said and Subaru remembers, though still doesn’t like it.
Still, they must obey the Emperor’s command. Moreover, Zero figures Hokuto should be waking up any minute now.
Over by a different room, they find Hokuto and he’s bit confused. Last thing he remembers was him and Subaru fighting AGAINST the Dendoh… Zero says Hokuto was injured a bit in the scuffle but he should be alright with a bit more rest. Subaru seems uneasy at all this but, when Hokuto asks, Zero says he’s just tired over watching over Hokuto for all the time he was out.
“Ah, I see… Sorry, Ginga… and thanks,” Hokuto slips. Subaru is further bothered and Zero starts to leave with him, leaving the Chips to take care of Hokuto. Outside, he tells Subaru that he shouldn’t fret over something like that.
Hokuto has essentially been reborn: his memories have been altered so that he is no longer an Earthling but someone who’s spent his entire life beside Subaru, someone who’ll pilot the Ogre in his name.
Mind, he’s bound to still be a bit confused due to the missing memories, so Zero asks Subaru to keep his mission in mind and act accordingly.
Later on, Subaru returns to visit Hokuto. He’s still a bit ill at ease and Hokuto asks what’s gotten him like that; he playfully pinches Subaru’s cheek in order to have him snap that moody look off his face (it works, kind of).
Zero says they’re worried about his health still, so he suggests Hokuto sleep some more. With that, Zero’ll be leaving the kid under Subaru’s care – what with him fighting in his name and what have you.
With that, Hokuto bids good night to GINGA and is off to sleep. Subaru quietly groans that that’s not his name.