Part 19: Mission 10 - The Manipulated Devil
Kouji and Prof. Yumi discuss Kouji resuming his seat aboard Mazinger Z.
It and the Great Mazinger, their battles done, were offered to the Robot Museum as symbols of peace but now that new threats have emerged, Kouji is willing to fly his unit again. Plus, he figures this is what his grandpa and father would want.
Yumi accedes and will get in touch with the museum to make arrangements. And what about the Great’s pilot, Tetsuya? Undergoing rehab after the injuries he suffered in the final battle against the Mycenae Empire.
Knowing him, Kouji figures that means training; regardless, Yumi will have him and Jun join the Nahel Argama soon. Sayaka, Boss and co. will also be headed Kouji’s way, so things will be pretty lively aboard the ship.
After Yumi hangs up, Kouji tells Kaine that the fighting’s only going to get worse and using the TFO wouldn’t do. Both Mazingers have been at the museum for a while now and, from what Kouji’s heard, they’ve drawn a whole lot of kids over to the place.
Tap and Kaine are a bit curious, though, as to why he wanted to send his bot to such a place – wouldn’t it be better to just keep the thing stashed nearby, ready to use, like the Raideen?
Michiru explains that there are some in the Federation army that don’t care for civilians having such powerful machines; sending them to the museum was a way to placate them. The local staff still keep the Mazingers ready to deploy if need be.
Dangerous, Tap ponders; what if someone stole them? Yet another reason why Kouji is heading over to get it ASAP.
Daisuke wonders if Kouji’s sure about this – he thought he wanted to explore space aboard his TFO. He still is, though he’s putting that on hold for now. Once the fighting’s over, however, he’ll even expand the TFO to allow it to fly to any corner of the universe.
Kaine is amused Kouji’s got a dream like that but thinks it’s an appropriately manly undertaking. Tap laughs at the two acting all grown up despite their bath-peeping escapade.
How does he know about that? Roux told him – looks like she really was onto them.
Either way, Kouji will keep on helping Duke and the others restore peace in order to pave the way for his own dream. No time to waste, then, and Kaine tells him to go grab his bot already.
Kouji is ten minutes away from the Robot Museum, having taken the long way around to avoid any enemy spotting him. Then again, he figures no one would assume that the stuff on display at the museum are the legit Mazingers.
Maybe not but the suddenly-appearing Balendos has a good nose for easy prey and sends his mooks after Kouji – once he’s captured, they’ll pry intel on the Grendizer out of him.
Kouji can’t well run and risk the Vegans figuring out what’s up with the museum, so he’ll just have to break through their ranks.
You only need to kill two Minifoos with the TFO.
While doing so, Kouji levels up and gets Prevail L3
Kouji’s feeling pretty good but Balendos decides to cut his celebration short, sending the Saucerbeast Jinjin. The thing easily immobilizes the TFO and captures Kouji.
He’s brought inside the Mother Burn, where Balendos introduces himself properly – he’s got some questions to ask.
Kouji tells him to take a hike, prompting Balendos to zap him some – not as torture but, rather, to get a mind-control device to work its magic. Kouji yells back that tricks like those won’t break him and Balendos is more than willing on putting that theory to the test.
It doesn’t take long for the device to start working, so Balendos starts questioning him. For instance, what happened during his first battle? That was two years ago, against a mechabeast controlled by Baron Ashura – the first time he piloted his grandpa’s invincible robot, Mazinger. That which can become either a god or a devil.
Balendos is curious. What then? Kouji beat Dr. Hell and left to study in the US. Meanwhile, Tetsuya and the Great Mazinger fought and beat the Mycenae Empire.
And where are the two Mazingers now? In the Robot Museum, standing as symbols of peace.
That sounds perfect to Balendos and, with directions to where the museum is, he’s got a task for Kouji: grab the Mazinger and crush Duke with it.
Our people are looking into Kouji’s sudden disappearance from the Federation’s radar network. Asuka wonders if he could’ve decided to visit someplace else but, when Kaine asks, has no idea where.
“Shouldn’t you know since you’re such great peeping-tom buddies?” she fires back, causing Kaine to cringe that the story’s getting around. Asuka warns him that if he peeks at her while she's bathing he's going to shoot blood from his nose a good four meters in the air; Kaine can only quietly wonder if that’d be from the sight or from her punching him.
Regardless, Vega and Misato are worried at this unscheduled pit stop and decide to send someone to look – Duke offers to do it.
Mission 11 – The Manipulated Devil
Duke checks the museum up ahead and it doesn’t seem like anyone’s around… that is, until the Vegans pop out of the woodwork. Balendos comes over in the Great Mazinger, very happy to see Duke here by his lonesome.
When asked how he managed to get his hands on the thing, Balendos sasses that a little birdie told him about the museum.
And in comes Kouji with the Mazinger. Duke figures he was captured and Balendos gets straight to the point: “He’ll obey anything I say – anything. So if you want to save your friend’s life, you’ll hand over the Grendizer this instant.”
Duke shakes his fist at such villainy but Balendos doesn’t care, zapping Kouji some more to prove his point. Duke cannot bring himself to surrender the Grendizer, though, knowing that it’ll mean condemning this world to the same fate as Planet Fleed. Begging Kouji’s forgiveness, he readies himself to fight.
Balendos gets a kick out of his decision, not that it surprises him. “After all, this is the man who watched as his countrymen got slaughtered and fled to Earth – the one who abandoned even his little sister!”
Still, Duke will not allow the Grendizer to be turned into a force of evil like the Vegans. Balendos applauds his commitment but, unfortunately, it’s now time for him to pay the piper – he’ll die by the hands of the newest addition to the list of friends Duke’s forsaken!
He sics Kouji and his invincible bot over to fight; still, Duke is determined to find a way to rescue him.
Mission Objective: Reduce the Mazinger Z under 60% HP and use the convince command
Mission Failure: Grendizer or Mazinger destroyed, dealing damage to Great Mazinger
Kouji isn’t that resilient in his current state but both the Mazinger and Great Mazinger pack a hefty punch. Be somewhat careful because a clean hit from both their strongest attacks could take a big chunk off the Grendizer’s HP.
Duke moves onward and that’s all.
Enemy Phase!
Once more, Kouji grumbles about defeating Duke who, in return, thinks to himself that he needs to get in closer and find a way to break the mind control.
And they do the same.
Player Phase!
We’ll keep our distance as most of the Mazinger’s weapons are close-range.
: You’ll have to forgive me, Kouji, but I’ve to goad Balendos into a false sense of security!
: …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpWn-1G1e0
Enemy Phase!
Duke wrecks two Minifoos for morale, leaving the others as spares.
Just to avoid a lucky crit killing Kouji, I just have him defend.
Player Phase!
Just move Duke adjacent and select the command as instructed.
: Hrm?! What is he doing?!
: Pull yourself together, Kouji!: …: You’re being controlled by Balendos! Come back to your senses, Kouji!
: Urk…Grrgh…
: Damn it… it’s not working?!
: Fool; the mind controller is in here with me! So long as that’s intact, Kouji’ll obey!: Heh…heheheh…
: What’s so funny?!: You are, Balendos. Now I know what I must do to save him – my thanks!: Rrgh, curses…! Still, do you actually think you stand a chance against the Great Mazinger?!: The renowned hero responsible for defeating the Mycenae Empire… it’ll certainly be a strong enemy!: Hmhmhm… I will enjoy personally wringing the life out of you!: (The Great Mazinger could be a big boost to our forces, so I can’t destroy it…! I’ll just have to figure out some way to immobilize it!): W-wings…: ?!: The wings’… compartment…: Kouji?!: Hit it there… it’ll power down for a—: That’s enough out of you! Is the mind control not working?!*Zaaaaap!*
: !!: Kouji…! Hold on, I’ll be saving you soon!Enemy Phase!
We just need to get a hit to connect against Balendos. Better yet, he’ll readily seek us out now.
: Come and feel the might of the Great Mazinger!: I just have to get a clean hit on its back…!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQE3fIsl5dc
Ow.
: Damn it, he got me!: There! Come back to normal, Kouji!: Urgh….gck…!!: I told you, Duke Fleed! Nothing will work while the mind controller is still in one piece!: Come on, Kouji! I know a man of your caliber can break his control!: …Hrk…!: You and your Mazinger Z fought and beat Dr. Hell yourselves, so this should be nothing to you!: …Rrgh…!: Or are you going to let said Mazinger be turned into an agent of evil?!: !: Will you let it actually become a devil?!: Uurgh…! GRAAAAAH!!
: Wh-what?!: Kouji…!
: Sorry, Duke. For a second there, I almost forgot something real important…!: That the Mazinger’s no agent of evil, but of peace!: Idiocy! Didn’t you, yourself, say that it could be either a god or a devil?!
: Zip it! I don’t care about being either of those!: Wha?!: I’m Kouji Kabuto – pilot of the Mazinger Z, the guardian of peace. That’s more than enough to me!: Bl-Blast you…!: Kouji!
: Right, I’ll show this guy how a Mazinger oughta be used! And then I’ll yank Tetsuya’s Great right out from under him!Player Phase!
Kouji’s got his proper ride back and it’s pretty much tailor made for him: strong melee attacks and a bulky frame… though I do get kick out of the fact that switching to it has made Kouji more vulnerable than aboard his untouchable TFO.
Like I said before, it lacks a bit in range but we can make do – when it’s in range, the Mazinger’s pretty high-powered.
We still can’t destroy Balendos – we’ve to weaken him under 60%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GIv5leGPOU
Balendos sees that the Great Mazinger can’t handle much more and ejects. He hasn’t run, though, bringing in his forces to just destroy everything and be done with it.
He’s brought a gaggle of saucerbeasts, too, but the Nahel Argama arrives just then – time to fight back.
Now it’s just a straight clean-up. The new Saucerbeasts are stronger than other mooks we’ve fought thus far, and their AI likes to gang up on folks, but it’s easy if you take it slow.
Still not strong enough to break A.T. Fields, though.
With some help from Light and Asuka, Iino goes and blasts one of the Jinjins. And I just remembered I haven’t deployed Mondo’s worthless ass thus far… I’ll need to fix that next mission.
Let’s have Kirakuni engage his first enemy.
No kill but that’s fine – Beecha comes over and wraps it up.
Judau and Vega do their thing.
I long for the day where I no longer need this babysitting gig.
And Puru Two finally gets a boost to her Cyber Newtype powers.
Enemy Phase!
Those spare Minifoos serve their purpose as free kills for Kouji.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zOKdw8fwKo
Two-in-one Rocket Punches.
One thing that surprised me is that nearly all the Saucerbeasts seemed to have a problem with Ginga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x70M4v33FXc
At least it lets me show this.
Thankfully, the last Gubigubi is out of range and goes after Kaine.
These are especially annoying because they, obviously, have shields.
Puru Two and Beecha run after the stuff Ginga weakened, taking a kill each (and levels).
Go, Vega!
Perfect.
Not really any need for this but having the Cellfighter recharge the Dendoh gives some nice exp.
Eris learns trust, even.
While we close in on Balendos, we turn our sights to the surviving Koakoa.
Judau finishes it off.
Bright takes the last Gubigubi and, surprisingly, learns Accelerate.
Now to wrap this up!
: I don’t need the Great Mazinger to claim your head!: Well, I and the Grendizer would never be beaten by cowards!
: You’ve got some nerve using those dirty tricks against them, Balendos!: Kch… I could’ve destroyed both Duke Fleed and Kouji Kabuto had things stayed their course…!
: Hah… Seems to me that Mr. “Captain of the Vegan Royal Guard” isn’t too keen on taking care of things himself.
: Yeah, he must not be too sure of his own power if he’s gotta pit folks against each other.: How dare you!: Bring it, Balendos! Someone like you isn’t giving us pause in a straight-up fight!
: Too bad, grandpa! Did ya really think the Mazinger Z would be done in by a creep like you?
: Or the Great Mazinger or Grendizer, for that matter!: Enough, you brats! I’ll nail those impertinent mouths shut!
: Not happening! The two of us also got a major beef to settle with you after all that!
: I’m paying you back, with interest, for all that abuse!: Keep on crying, boy! I’ll have you six feet under soon!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtwSlD7oWY8
Notable drops today were a Magnetic Coating and Super Alloy Nu-Z. Akira also had stuff to say but I forgot that when deploying:
: Using mind control to force Kouji to attack his friend… there’s low and then there’s you…!: Your bellyaching means nothing to me! In battle, victory is everything!: And there’s just no way we’re letting you take that victory today!
Balendos isn’t too happy with this defeat but he DID manage to grab a lot of data on the Great and runs off with it.
That’s all enemies taken care of and a crisis averted. We got lucky, Douglas sighs in relief, as the Vegans could have easily just stolen both Mazingers.
You can always count on “Bad Guy Hubris”.
Boss and Sayaka show up right then, happy to see Kouji and the Mazinger safe. Sayaka figures that’s the unit that really suits him but Kouji insists the TFO also fits him like a glove.
Boss wants to know where the enemy is and his goons, Nuke and Mucha, point out that the battle’s already over – looks like they were too late for the party, despite Boss’ haste. Kouji appreciates the effort nonetheless.
While Kouji and Sayaka get reacquainted, Boss promises it’ll be smooth sailing now that he’s on the job – Nuke and Mucha are nowhere near as confident. Asuka looks on, pondering the arrival of another group of Three Stooges. Seems like we got quite a lot of those nowadays.
Asuka isn’t sure she’d put the Getter Team on the same level as Kaine and co, though Akira turns the table by asking if the three EVA kids don’t count as well? “You better not be bunching me together with that idiot and the First Child!” she threatens.
Boss asks around to find Daisuke (and is jealous of his good looks); when he speaks up, Sayaka calls in Hikaru.
Daisuke is surprised to say the least but Hikaru says she’s here to fight alongside him and the others. She made up her mind to do so during Operation Yashima and will not take “no” for an answer.
Sayaka vouches for her piloting skill, having received some extreme training in the Photon Lab. “S-Since when…?” Kouji asks and is ignored.
Daisuke isn’t too keen on having her, a woman, fighting and Asuka gets in his face: “Now that’s old-fashioned and then some. What about all the other girls in the team, huh?”. Daisuke argues that it isn’t women’s fate to do battle and then it’s Domon’s turn argue back: “When a person is determined to fight, their gender matters not. If you’re worried, then watch her back.”
Hikaru insists she wants to help and, at length, Daisuke understands and thanks her. Kouji’s glad to see that issue taken care of, though Asuka figures he shouldn’t say anything – today’s mess is all on him. True and that’s why he’ll be working twice as hard to make up for it and, in truth, she’s eager to see what the original Super Robot can do.
One last thing: Sayaka’s brought Kouji’s old pilot suit and helmet, courtesy of Shirou. Seeing these again is quite the nostalgic sight to him and Boss adds that Kouji’s brother worked daily on keeping the helmet shining.
So, now there’s the question: will Kouji wear his new suit or the old one?
This IS an actual choice, determining what appearance Kouji’ll have for the rest of the game. I don’t care too much about his skintight space suit, so it’s back to the classics!
And he switches to the Mazinger’s suit instantly! He’s very attached to it after wearing it for so long; had you chosen the other, he says he wants to keep those dear memories safe inside his head.
Location: Science Fortress Laboratory
Yumi contacts Kouji's father Kenzo to let him know that the Mazingers are all right, due to the efforts of Kouji and Daisuke.
Umon’s actually sent a recent request for Kenzo and he’s in the middle of putting the outer armor on a new Spazer; once that’s done, he’ll send it over to the guy. Umon and Yumi have also been building Earth Spazers of their own and they’re almost finished – hopefully, they’ll be useful to Kouji and the others.
As Yumi signs off, Tetsuya walks in, pleading with Kenzo to let him join the fight too.
Kenzo refuses, saying that he’s currently working on a fix for the Great Mazinger’s weak spot and also some new weapon. If Tetsuya’s to make proper use of all those, then his body needs to be in top shape – if he tried to use it now he'd probably be knocked unconscious. He understands how he feels but, right now, Tetsuya’s got to focus on his rehab.
Jun agrees, knowing that it won’t be long before he’s ready to get to work.
Tetsuya accepts, though asks if it’d be possible to speed up the modifications on the Great? Kenzo can do that, yes.
Meanwhile, Tetsuya tells Kouji and Ryouma to wait a bit more: he’ll rise from his ashes and they’ll fight together again.